Publisher's Synopsis
Social Issues: Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations is an anthology that uses the sociological perspective to enhance understanding of the social, economic, political, and cultural forces that shape social issues in the United States. Based on the premise that not all social issues are social problems, this anthology expands the definition of social issues from problems that need "fixing" to opportunities for improving what already seems to work. This anthology is not intended to be exhaustive. The articles discuss social inequalities in selected institutional contexts, and were chosen to stimulate readers to think about social issues for which there are no precedents (for example, impacts of the Internet on patterns of communication and interaction), as well as to think about familiar issues in unprecedented ways. Conceptualizing social issues not only as challenges but also as opportunities will hopefully encourage approaches to social issues that are flexible, creative, and innovative. Cheryl B. Leggon, an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology, was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her work on the impact of the intersections of race/ethnicity and gender on science and engineering careers. Also a member of Sigma Xi, she earned a BA in Sociology from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago.
