Thinking about Social Problems: An Introduction to Constructionist Perspectives (Second Edition)

The new second edition of this distinctive and widely adopted textbook brings into the classroom an overview of how images of social problems can shape not only public policy and social services, but also the ways in which we make sense of ourselves and others. It introduces two primary changes. First, some attention is devoted to the “new social movements” that emphasize social change through identity transformation rather than through structural change. Second, the text now also looks more closely at the importance of emotions in constructing public consciousness of social problems.

When the first edition was published, Teaching Sociology noted, “Loseke does a superb job explaining the relationship between sociology and social problems in a text that is very well research and engaging, yet with tremendous attention to detail and accuracy… [W]ould provide a solid base for any social problems class.” Contemporary Sociology wrote that the book is “engagingly well written in a personal, unpretentious style, and well informed by the author’s knowledge of the professional literature.”

This second edition of a classroom text devotes more attention to new social movements that emphasize social change through identity transformation rather than through structural change, and looks more closely at the importance of emotion in constructing public consciousness of social problems. The author teaches at the University of South Florida. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Canadian Journal of Sociology Online - Mitch Berbrier

[E]xtraordinarily lucid writing by an active researcher who clearly has a masterful grasp on this perspective.

Donileen R. Loseke is professor of sociology at the University of South Florida. A past president of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, she is the author of The Battered Woman and Shelters: The Social Construction of Wife Abuse, and coeditor (with Richard Gelles) of Current Controversies on Family Violence.