Angles Of Vision: How To Understand Social Problems

Angles of Vision is a compact text that provides students with basic information about social problems and teaches them a strategy for understanding these issues. Students learn how to distinguish between individual and structural analyses and the importance of placing issues in a historical and international context to gain a clearer understanding. In so doing, students come to appreciate that sociology is a hypothesis-testing discipline. The author uses metaphors, vignettes, and humor to convey the fundamental concepts, key findings, and methods by which sociologists understand social problems.Each chapter is organized to facilitate students understanding. First the issue is presented. The reasons why it is considered a social problem are explained along with a brief history. Second, historical and international data on the issue are sketched, ordinarily in simple tables or figures. The historical data go back as far as plausible, usually a century or more. The international data usually compare the U.S. with Western European nations, such as the U.K., France, and others. Third, the consequences of the issue are discussed. Fourth, the way individuals affect and are affected by the problem is outlined. Fifth, the relationship between social structure and the problem is explained. Finally, the implications of the problem are reviewed. Jargon-free writing style and use of humor and anecdotes clearly illustrate concepts and hold student's interest. Historical and international data provide students with a broader and more empirical basis with which to examine social problems. Looks at social problems from different ?angles of vision? such as individual or structural. Emphasizes the importance of hypothesis testing. Angles of Vision is a compact text that provides students with a strategy for understanding social problems. Ten readable chapters cover: abortion, gender inequality, racial and ethnic inequality, poverty, drugs, homicide, aging, health. Chapters begin with a brief outline of what is to follow, and end with a short list of further reading. Each chapter succinctly addresses the dimensions of the problem, its consequences, its effect on individuals, its effect on the social structure, and its implications. Key studies, comprehensive historical and comparative data, fundamental concepts, and key methods are explained using metaphors, vignettes, and humor that will draw your students in, while giving them a firm grounding in social problems.

Leonard Beeghley is professor of sociology at the University of Florida at Gainesville.