Joel Best, author of the best-selling Damned Lies and Statistics, and new coauthor Brian Monahan offer a fresh approach to the social problems course. Rather than overloading students with details and data, the book focuses on how and why particular conditions come to be constructed as social problems. Each chapter explores a different stage of the construction process, ending with a rich case study that applies the concepts to a contemporary issue. In this way, the authors equip students with the tools needed to analyze any social problem they encounter in the media.

‘Popular culture’ is more than just a broad term for entertainment and frivolous diversions and is highly relevant to many aspects of society.In this exciting textbook, the authors offer insights into the important, but often overlooked, relationship between popular culture and social problems. Drawing on historical and topical examples, they apply an innovative theoretical framework to examine how facets of popular culture—from movies and music, to toys and games, as well as billboards, bumper stickers, and bracelets—shape how we think about, and respond to, social issues. Including student features and evocative case studies, this is the first book to make the link between popular culture and social problems and will help students understand the relationship between them. Deftly combining the fun and irreverence of popular culture with a critical scholarly inquiry, this timely book delivers an engaging account of how our interactions with popular culture matter more than we think!

Joel Best, author of the best-selling Damned Lies and Statistics, and new coauthor Brian Monahan offer a fresh approach to the social problems course. Rather than overloading students with details and data, the book focuses on how and why particular conditions come to be constructed as social problems. Each chapter explores a different stage of the construction process, ending with a rich case study that applies the concepts to a contemporary issue. In this way, the authors equip students with the tools needed to analyze any social problem they encounter in the media.

‘Popular culture’ is more than just a broad term for entertainment and frivolous diversions and is highly relevant to many aspects of society.In this exciting textbook, the authors offer insights into the important, but often overlooked, relationship between popular culture and social problems. Drawing on historical and topical examples, they apply an innovative theoretical framework to examine how facets of popular culture—from movies and music, to toys and games, as well as billboards, bumper stickers, and bracelets—shape how we think about, and respond to, social issues. Including student features and evocative case studies, this is the first book to make the link between popular culture and social problems and will help students understand the relationship between them. Deftly combining the fun and irreverence of popular culture with a critical scholarly inquiry, this timely book delivers an engaging account of how our interactions with popular culture matter more than we think!