Donileen R. Loseke - Böcker

Like the first edition of this distinctive and widely adopted textbook, the new second edition 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 from the first edition. First, this edition devotes some attention to the ”new social movements” that emphasize social change through identity transformation rather than through structural change. Second, it also looks more closely at the importance of emotions in constructing public consciousness of social problems. Although Thinking About Social Problems can be used as a stand-alone short text and a corrective on received notions of studying the objective indicators of one problem a week, Donileen Loseke and Joel Best have provided an accompanying reader, Social Problems: Constructionist Readings, which can be used by those who wish to teach the course with reference to empirical examples of social problems examined from constructionist perspectives. Finally, an instructor’s manual on a CD-ROM will be available for instructors who adopt the new edition.

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION:

"These essays are exemplary in conceptualization, organization, and delivery. The messages are crystal clear, the readability superb. This book stands as a model of editorial excellence. The design of the volume is unique and responds well to a clear need in the subdiscipline of family violence, which remains fraught with diversity and dissention. . . . This piece of work is honest and effectively illuminates the growing pains of a very young and ideologically loaded subdiscipline that is anchored by an interdisciplinary and heterogeneous collection of smart people. Current Controversies on Family Violence is a powerful addition to the family violence literature. I recommend it as required reading for family violence courses. Gelles and Loseke are to be commended for their excellent idea, their tenacity, their directness and candor as expressed in the framing materials, their sensitive insights, and their superb editorial skills."

--Ann Goetting, Western Kentucky University

"Gelles and Loseke accomplish their goal of encouraging debate among family violence researchers....does the best job I have seen at presenting the spectrum of approaches to the problem in a fair objective manner....an outstanding contribution to family violence research."

--JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The study of family violence is surrounded by multiple controversies. Experts in this field do not agree about what should be studied and condemned (Is spanking violence? Is women's violence toward men a major social problem? If it is, how should it be measured? What, specifically, should be condemned as date rape?)  Experts also disagree about the causes of violence (Individual pathology? The structure of gender or families?), as well as about what should be done to eliminate it (Do child sexual abuse education programs or family preservation programs work?).  Now in its Second Edition, Current Controversies on Family Violence contains thoughtful--often heated--discussions that highlight the most current controversies, research, and policy directions in the family violence area. This volume includes chapters by academic and public policy researchers, therapists, lawyers, victim advocates and educators. Some of the controversies in the First Edition have been deleted while new ones have been added. Chapters in this Second Edition also are shorter and more accessible to readers who are not already experts in family violence.

This is an excellent and necessary resource for students and researchers of interpersonal violence, sociology, social work, nursing, gender studies, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and gerontology.

 

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION:

"These essays are exemplary in conceptualization, organization, and delivery. The messages are crystal clear, the readability superb. This book stands as a model of editorial excellence. The design of the volume is unique and responds well to a clear need in the subdiscipline of family violence, which remains fraught with diversity and dissention. . . . This piece of work is honest and effectively illuminates the growing pains of a very young and ideologically loaded subdiscipline that is anchored by an interdisciplinary and heterogeneous collection of smart people. Current Controversies on Family Violence is a powerful addition to the family violence literature. I recommend it as required reading for family violence courses. Gelles and Loseke are to be commended for their excellent idea, their tenacity, their directness and candor as expressed in the framing materials, their sensitive insights, and their superb editorial skills."

--Ann Goetting, Western Kentucky University

"Gelles and Loseke accomplish their goal of encouraging debate among family violence researchers....does the best job I have seen at presenting the spectrum of approaches to the problem in a fair objective manner....an outstanding contribution to family violence research."

--JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The study of family violence is surrounded by multiple controversies. Experts in this field do not agree about what should be studied and condemned (Is spanking violence? Is women's violence toward men a major social problem? If it is, how should it be measured? What, specifically, should be condemned as date rape?)  Experts also disagree about the causes of violence (Individual pathology? The structure of gender or families?), as well as about what should be done to eliminate it (Do child sexual abuse education programs or family preservation programs work?).  Now in its Second Edition, Current Controversies on Family Violence contains thoughtful--often heated--discussions that highlight the most current controversies, research, and policy directions in the family violence area. This volume includes chapters by academic and public policy researchers, therapists, lawyers, victim advocates and educators. Some of the controversies in the First Edition have been deleted while new ones have been added. Chapters in this Second Edition also are shorter and more accessible to readers who are not already experts in family violence.

This is an excellent and necessary resource for students and researchers of interpersonal violence, sociology, social work, nursing, gender studies, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and gerontology.

 

Explores how standardized images of problems and people inform and shape social services for women who have been assaulted.Arguing that we commonly understand "wife abuse" and the "battered woman" in terms of standardized images of problems and people, the author explores how these images inform and shape social services for women who have been assaulted. Using ethnographic data of shelter work from the perspective of workers, she shows how these standardized images affect organizational structure and how front-line workers make sense of their interventions into clients' lives.

In Narrative Productions of Meanings: Exploring the Work of Stories in Social Life, Donileen R. Loseke examines the importance of stories in an anti-science, anti-fact era where a multitude of personal, social, and political problems surround meaning. This book’s basic argument is that, within such a world, narrative productions of meaning are particularly important because stories can appeal simultaneously to thinking,feeling, and moral evaluation, and because they can do this in ways that have cultural, interactional, and personal dimensions. This bookdevelops a framework for social science examinations of narrative; it outlines relationships between stories, storytelling, and culture; and it explores the characteristics of several types of stories including self stories, stories that persuade mass audiences that public resources are required to resolve intolerable conditions, and stories that justify the contents of public policy. It concludes with relationships between stories and democratic politics. In multiple ways, this analysis crosses common divides: It draws from literature spanning multiple disciplines; it treats thinking, feeling, and moral evaluation as inseparable; it bridges cultural and social psychological perspectives; and it demonstrates relationships between story structure and the work people do with stories.

Focused on the underlying logic behind social research, Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design encourages readers to understand research methods as a way of thinking. The book provides a concise overview of the basic principles of social research, including the characteristics of research questions, the importance of literature reviews, variations in data generation techniques, and sampling. The Second Edition includes a revised chapter on research foundations, with focus on the philosophy of science and ethics; an emphasis on critical thinking; additional attention to evaluating research; and a new selection of briefer, multidisciplinary journal articles designed to be accessible to a wide variety of readers.