On the Shelf from CCBC Libraries
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Poverty, by America
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a "provocative and compelling" (NPR) argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it. "Urgent and accessible . . . Its moral force is a gut punch."--The New Yorker ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: The Washington Post, Time, Esquire, Newsweek, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Elle, Salon, Lit Hub, Kirkus Reviews The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow. Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom.
Call Number: HC110.P6 D46 2023 -
Abandoned
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For the majority of young adults today, the transition to independence is a time of excitement and possibility. But 4.5 million young people or a stunning 11.5 percent of youth aged sixteen to twenty-four experience entry into adulthood as abrupt abandonment, a time of disconnection from school, work, and family. For this growing population of Americans, which includes kids aging out of foster care and those entangled with the justice system, life screeches to a halt when adulthood arrives. Abandoned is the first-ever exploration of this tale of dead ends and broken dreams.
Call Number: HQ799.7 .K56 2020 -
Divided We Stand
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More than forty years ago, two women's movements drew a line in the sand between liberals and conservatives. The far-reaching legacy of that rift is still felt today. One of Smithsonian Magazine's "Ten Best History Books of the Year" Gloria Steinem was quoted in 2015 (the New Yorker) as saying the National Women's Conference in 1977 "may take the prize as the most important event nobody knows about." After the United Nations established International Women's Year (IWY) in 1975, Congress mandated and funded state conferences to elect delegates to attend the National Women's Conference in Houston in 1977. At that conference, Bella Abzug, Steinem, and other feminists adopted a National Plan of Action, endorsing the hot-button issues of abortion rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and gay rights--the latter a new issue in national politics. Across town, Phyllis Schlafly, Lottie Beth Hobbs, and the conservative women's movement held a massive rally to protest federally funded feminism and launch a Pro-Family movement. Although much has been written about the role that social issues have played in politics, little attention has been given to the historical impact of women activists on both sides. DIVIDED WE STAND reveals how the battle between feminists and their conservative challengers divided the nation as Democrats continued to support women's rights and Republicans cast themselves as the party of family values. The women's rights movement and the conservative women's movement have irrevocably affected the course of modern American history. We cannot fully understand the present without appreciating the events leading up to Houston and thereafter.
Call Number: HQ1421 .S683 2017 -
Social Problems
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For courses in Social Problems Frame social problems, and identify solutions, through the lens of politics. Always controversial, and ever more polarizing in today's political climate, social problems take up a huge chunk of our cultural bandwidth. Rather than simply presenting social problems as a series of facts, the sixth edition of Social Problems focuses on how people construct problems, and how they develop potential solutions, based on their political attitudes. Analyzing issues from liberal, radical-left, conservative, and libertarian points of view, author John Macionis explains why people disagree about what the problems are, and how one person's "problem" may well be another's "solution." Once you understand how social problems are defined politically, you'll be able to develop your own positions, and you'll have the knowledge you need to engage in solving social problems through activism and political discussion. Social Problems, Sixth Edition is also available via REVEL(tm), an immersive learning experience designed for the way today's students read, think, and learn. Learn more.
Call Number: HN16 .M24 2015 -
The Solution Revolution
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Government Alone Can't Solve Society's Biggest Problems World hunger. Climate change. Crumbling infrastructure. It's clear that in today's era of fiscal constraints and political gridlock, we can no longer turn to government alone to tackle these and other towering social problems. What's required is a new, more collaborative and productive economic system. The Solution Revolution brings hope--revealing just such a burgeoning new economy where players from across the spectrum of business, government, philanthropy, and social enterprise converge to solve big problems and create public value. By erasing public-private sector boundaries, the solution economy is unlocking trillions of dollars in social benefit and commercial value. Where tough societal problems persist, new problem solvers are crowdfunding, ridesharing, app-developing, or impact-investing to design innovative new solutions for seemingly intractable problems. Providing low-cost health care, fighting poverty, creating renewable energy, and preventing obesity are just a few of the tough challenges that also represent tremendous opportunities for those at the vanguard of this movement. They create markets for social good and trade solutions instead of dollars to fill the gap between what government can provide and what citizens need. So what drives the solution economy? Who are these new players and how are their roles changing? How can we grow the movement? And how can we participate? Deloitte's William D. Eggers and Paul Macmillan answer these questions and more, and they introduce us to the people and organizations driving the revolution--from edgy social enterprises growing at a clip of 15 percent a year, to megafoundations, to Fortune 500 companies delivering social good on the path to profit. Recyclebank, RelayRides, and LivingGoods are just a few of the innovative organizations you'll read about in this book. Government cannot handle alone the huge challenges facing our global society--and it shouldn't. We need a different economic paradigm that can flexibly draw on resources, combine efforts, and create value, while improving the lives of citizens. The Solution Revolution shows the way.
Call Number: HD60 .E337 2013 -
Social Problems in a Diverse Society
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This text focuses on the significance of race, class, and gender; uses personal narratives to convey how problems are experienced by individuals and groups; and applies sociological perspectives throughout to examine social issues. In the fifth edition of Social Problems in a Diverse Society, author Diana Kendall continues to focus on the significance of race, class, and gender as key factors in our understanding of social problems in the United Stated and around the globe. Throughout the text, all people - but particularly people of color and white women - are shown not merely as "victims" of social problems, but as individuals who resist discrimination and inequality and seek to bring about changes in families, schools, workplaces, and the larger society. The author, who specializes in social theory, uses the three main sociological perspectives throughout the text, along with contemporary feminist and humanist perspectives. Authentic, first person accounts - "real words from real people" create interest and show how the problems being discussed affect people as they go about their daily lives. This new edition has numerous new references, many new boxed features, and substantial updating throughout.
Call Number: HN17.5 .K457 2010
Other Useful Guides
Other Useful Guides
Streaming Videos
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Our Fires Still Burn This compelling one hour documentary invites viewers into the lives of contemporary Native Americans. It dispels the myth that American Indians have disappeared from the American horizon, and reveals how they continue to persist, heal from the past, confront the challenges of today, keep their culture alive, and make significant contributions to society. The tragic history of Native Americans is considered by many to be our “American Holocaust.” This can be seen in the history of the Boarding School Era, during which time Native children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed into boarding schools. Interviewees explain how this past trauma continues to negatively impact their emotional and physical health today and contribute to urgent social problems.
Databases
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SocINDEX This link opens in a new window
Articles on sociology topics including criminal justice, gender studies, racial studies, social services, and social work.
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Sociology Database This link opens in a new window
Articles on sociology topics including criminal justice, gender studies, racial studies, social services, and social work.
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Social Science Database
Articles on social science topics like communication, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology.
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ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Articles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
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Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Articles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
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SIRS Issues Researcher This link opens in a new window
Viewpoint essays, topic essays, and news and magazine articles on controversial issues. Browse for topics or search.
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Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Viewpoint essays, topic essays, and news and magazine articles on controversial issues. Browse for topics or search.
Online from CCBC Libraries
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News of Baltimore
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This book examines how the media approached long-standing and long-simmering issues of race, class, violence, and social responsibility in Baltimore during the demonstrations, violence, and public debate in the spring of 2015. Contributors take Baltimore to be an important place, symbol, and marker, though the issues are certainly not unique to Baltimore: they have crucial implications for contemporary journalism in the U.S. These events prompt several questions: How well did journalism do, in Baltimore, nearby and nationally, in explaining the endemic issues besetting Baltimore? What might have been done differently? What is the responsibility of journalists to anticipate and cover these problems? How should they cover social problems in urban areas? What do the answers to such questions suggest about how journalists should in future cover such problems?
Publication Date: 2017-06-01 -
Social Issues in Living Color [3 Volumes]
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Offering fresh and exciting approaches to solving global problems, this book creatively views challenging social issues through the lens of racial and ethnic psychology.As the demographic makeup of the American population continues to evolve, understanding and addressing the psychological needs of ethnic minorities in the United States becomes more important to the overall health and well-being of society. This three-volume set is the first publication to explicitly tackle social issues from the perspective of racial and ethnic psychology. It uniquely presents racial and ethnic psychological perspectives on topics such as media, criminal justice, racism, climate change, gender bias, and health and mental health disparities.Volume one introduces readers to the basic scientific concepts of racial and ethnic minority psychology and then examines the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. It also addresses how race and ethnicity affect communication styles, leadership styles, and media. The second volume discusses the experiences of individuals within racial and ethnic minorities, including overt racism, covert racism, and colonialism, and addresses how ethnic minority psychology plays a role in our educational system, poverty, global climate change, and sustainability. The third volume covers ethics in health and research, considers the causes of health and mental health disparities, and identifies diversity initiatives that can improve the health and well-being of all citizens, not just racial and ethnic minority citizens.
Publication Date: 2017-02-16 -
Social Workers As Game Changers
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Designed to promote active, hands-on learning, this unique book is composed of 11 chapter-length case studies that prepare students to address the types of challenging social issues they will encounter as practicing social workers. The cases--covering topics from immigration, gangs, and education to race, mental health, and end-of-life care--illustrate the interrelationship between the micro, mezzo, and macro levels and facilitate not just recall of facts, but also higher-level learning. Each case allows students to confront realistic scenarios as they evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information, resulting in more engaged and informed classroom discussions.
Publication Date: 2017-02-28 -
How the Drug War Ruins American Lives
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This book reveals the disturbing truth about how the escalation of the War on Drugs over the past 30 years has eroded the human and property rights of Americans--while doing little to stop drug trafficking or use. Unique in its perspective, this eye-opening book looks at the drug war as a rights issue and concludes that Americans' civil liberties are clearly being violated. The volume proceeds from two premises: that over the past 30 years, America's War on Drugs has done more harm than good; and that if the United States is going to reform the criminal justice system, the public must understand that this "war" is empowered by the profits it provides to law enforcement and other groups. A central factor causing the upsurge in the drug war, the author explains, is the fact that laws were passed in the 1980s that allowed law enforcement to profit from seizing property based on scanty evidence and without criminal charges. His meticulous research has revealed that this "policing for profit" is responsible for a variety of assaults on civil liberties, including mass incarceration, SWAT teams, and random drug sweeps. A second factor that infects every aspect of the War on Drugs is racism--the widespread stereotyping of drug traffickers as African Americans and Latinos. These issues and more are explored in this book that lays bare what the media largely ignores. Shows that the War on Drugs has failed to achieve the goals that were originally set Argues that this war continues to erode human and property rights Explores how the climate of the War on Drugs is changing Discusses the powerful actors that support the continued drug war Shares provocative accounts of the impact of the drug war on regular citizens Includes links to further reading and video evidence
Publication Date: 2016-03-21 -
Sociologists in Action on Inequalities
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Sociologists in Action on Inequalities: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality is a brief anthology of original readings that are perfect for Race and Ethnicity; Race, Class, and Gender; Introduction to Sociology; Social Problems; Social Inequality; Senior Capstone and other courses taught through the central lens of diversity. Like its companion Sociologists in Action volume, on social change and social justice, this collection brings together dozens of accounts of sociologists who are using their sociology to make a positive impact on society. Each of the 30 selections describe, through firsthand experience, how sociology can be used to address enduring problems of prejudice and discrimination based on race, nationality, class, gender, and sexuality. Discussion questions and suggested readings and resources at the end of every chapter will provide students with opportunities to delve further into the topics covered and help create full and nuanced discussions, grounded in the "real world" work of public and applied sociologists. Contributor to the SAGE Teaching Innovations and Professional Development Award Find out more at www.sagepub.com/sociologyaward
Publication Date: 2014-05-30 -
22 Ideas to Fix the World
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The aftershocks of the 2008 financial crisis still reverberate throughout the globe. Markets are down, unemployment is up, and nations from Greece to Ireland find their very infrastructure on the brink of collapse. There is also a crisis in the management of global affairs, with the institutions of global governance challenged as never before, accompanied by conflicts ranging from Syria, to Iran, to Mali. Domestically, the bases for democratic legitimacy, social sustainability, and environmental adaptability are also changing. In this unique volume from the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations and the Social Science Research Council, some of the world's greatest minds--from Nobel Prize winners to long-time activists--explore what the prolonged instability of the so-called Great Recession means for our traditional understanding of how governments can and should function. Through interviews that are sure to spark lively debate, 22 Ideas to Fix the World presents both analysis of past geopolitical events and possible solutions and predictions for the future. The book surveys issues relevant to the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Speaking from a variety of perspectives, including economic, social, developmental, and political, the discussions here increase our understanding of what's wrong with the world and how to get it right. Interviewees explore topics like the Arab Spring, the influence of international financial organizations, the possibilities for the growth of democracy, the acceleration of global warming, and how to develop enforceable standards for market and social regulation. These inspiring exchanges from some of our most sophisticated thinkers on world policy are honest, brief, and easily understood, presenting thought-provoking ideas in a clear and accessible manner that cuts through the academic jargon that too often obscures more than it reveals. 22 Ideas to Fix the World is living history in the finest sense--a lasting chronicle of the state of the global community today. Interviews with: Zygmunt Bauman, Shimshon Bichler & Jonathan Nitzan, Craig Calhoun, Ha-Joon Chang, Fred Dallmayr, Mike Davis, Bob Deacon, Kemal Dervis, Jiemian Yang, Peter J. Katzenstein, Ivan Krastev, Will Kymlicka, Manuel F. Montes, José Antonio Ocampo, Vladimir Popov, Jospeh Stiglitz, Olzhas Suleimenov, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Immanuel Wallerstein, Paul Watson, Vladimir Yakunin, Muhammad Yunus
Publication Date: 2013-09-09
