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Global Problems, Global Solutions
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Global Problems, Global Solutions
Prospects for a Better World

First Edition
  • JoAnn Chirico - The Pennsylvania State University, University College


October 2018 | 648 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

Global Problems, Global Solutions: Prospects for a Better World approaches social problems from a global perspective with an emphasis on using one’s sociological imagination. Perfect for instructors who involve students in research, this text connects problems borne by individuals to regional, global and historical forces, and stresses the importance of evidence in forming opinions and policies addressing social issues. The book introduces readers to the complexities of the major problems that confront us today such as violent conflict, poverty, climate change, human trafficking and other issues that we encounter in our lives. It book concludes with a chapter on politics and government, underscoring the need for good governance at all levels–and cooperation among many layers of government–to build a better world.



 
Introduction
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Chapter 1. Private Troubles and Social Problems: Developing a Sociological Imagination
It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

 
Private Troubles, Public Issues

 
Vulnerability to Global Problems

 
Using a Social Science Lens

 
Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

 
Perspectives for Studying Problems

 
Understanding the Global Order

 
 
Part I: Nourishing Human Capital
 
Chapter 2. Socioeconomic Fault Lines: Inequality, Poverty, and Development
How Well Does the Global Economy Function?

 
Understanding Inequality

 
Impacts of Global Poverty and Inequality

 
Quality of Life Along Levels of Development

 
Origins of Contemporary Inequality Among Nations

 
Factors Influencing Varying Levels of Development

 
Varying Pathways to Development

 
Fighting Poverty and Inequality

 
 
Chapter 3. Starving in the Shadow of Plenty
The Global Food System

 
Food Security

 
How Can We Fix Our Broken Food System?

 
Food Safety Nets

 
 
Chapter 4. Optimizing Human Capital: Good Health
The Global Burden of Disease

 
How Our Lifestyles Harm Us: Non-Communicable Disease

 
Discrimination in Health Care

 
Anomie in the 21st Century: Mental Health Concerns

 
Infectious Outbreak, Epidemic, Pandemic

 
Making Health Care Work

 
Coordinated Action

 
 
Chapter 5. Expanding Horizons Through Lifelong Learning
Achieving Universal Education

 
Measuring Quality Education

 
The Pivotal Problem of Funding

 
Reaching More with Education

 
Improving the Quality of Education

 
 
Part II: Restoring Civility to Social Life
 
Chapter 6. From Difference to Discrimination: Fault Lines of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion
Defining Difference: Diversity and Meaning

 
Burned by the Sun or White Like the Ice: The Social Creation of Race

 
The Rights of Indigenous Communities: The "First" Peoples

 
Human Rights, Life Chances, and Discrimination

 
Falling Between the Cracks: Statelessness in a World of States

 
Having the Wrong Religion Could Cost You Your Life

 
Confronting Discrimination and Persecution

 
 
Chapter 7. You Can't Empower Us with Chickens: Gender Through the Lifespan
Gender Inequality and Human Development

 
Gender Inequities Throughout the Lifespan

 
 
Chapter 8. When Life Becomes a Commodity: Human and Wildlife Trafficking
Globalization Effects on Crime

 
Individual and Environmental Vulnerability to Transnational Organized Crime

 
The Legal Framework to Combat Transnational Organized Crime

 
Human Trafficking: When People Become a Commodity

 
Combatting Human Trafficking

 
Trafficking in Wildlife: Flora and Fauna

 
 
Chapter 9. Transnational Property Crimes
The War on Drug Trafficking

 
The Human Cost of Illegal Drugs

 
Death and Violence Along Trafficking Routes

 
Economic Costs of Drugs and Alternative Development

 
Trafficking in Firearms and Weaponry

 
Intellectual Property Crime: Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods

 
Emerging Crimes

 
Combatting Cybercrime: The Legislative Framework

 
Combatting Transnational Crimes

 
 
Chapter 10. The Challenge of Political Violence
The Nature of War, Armed Conflict, and Political Instability

 
Correlates and Causes of Violent Conflicts

 
Consequences and Costs of Violent Conflict

 
The Conflict Trap

 
Protecting Peace and Problems of Peacemaking

 
Promoting Peace and Getting Out of the Conflict Trap

 
 
Part III: Sustaining Natural and Manufactured Environments
 
Chapter 11. Global Flows of Refugees
Types of Migration

 
Global Flows of Refugees

 
Life as a Refugee

 
The "Solutions"

 
Internally Displaced Persons

 
 
Chapter 12. Environmental and Economic Migration
What Is a Migrant?

 
Patterns of Migration

 
Displaced by Climate Change and Environmental Disaster

 
Demographic, Economic, and Social Impacts of Migration

 
Populist Backlash to Immigration

 
Mitigating the Challenges of Migration

 
 
Chapter 13. Destruction and Depletion of the Natural Environment
Scope of Environmental Problems

 
Chemical Contaminants

 
Air, Land, and Water Degradation and Depletion

 
Developing Nations and Toxic Dumping

 
Pollution in the Developing World

 
Water Pollution in the Developed World

 
Environmental Assessment in the United States

 
Depletion of Water Resources

 
The Global Water Regime

 
A Global View: Air Pollution

 
Land Degradation

 
The Forests

 
The Global Chemical Regime

 
Escaping the Toxic: Living Green

 
 
Chapter 14. Climate Change and Global Warming
The Threat of Climate Change

 
The Symptoms of a Changing Climate

 
Extreme Weather and Displaced People

 
Health and Nutrition Effects

 
The Environmental Regime

 
"Greening" the Earth: Sustainable Development

 
 
Chapter 15. Urbanization: The Lure of the Cities
What Makes a City?

 
What Does it Mean to Be Urban?

 
Contemporary Cities

 
The Urban Slums: Cities of Tomorrow?

 
Achieving Urban Sustainability

 
 
Chapter 16. A World Gone Awry? The State of Governance
Is the World Unmanageable?

 
Goals of Governance

 
Layers of Governance

 
A Normative Basis for Good Governance

 
Meeting the Challenges of Governance

 
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

Instructor site

study.sagepub.com/chiricogsp

Password-protected Instructor Resources include the following:

  • Microsoft® Word test bank is available containing multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and essay questions for each chapter. The test bank provides you with a diverse range of pre-written options as well as the opportunity for editing any question and/or inserting your own personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding.
  • Editable, chapter-specific Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides offer you complete flexibility in easily creating a multimedia presentation for your course. Highlight essential content, features, and artwork from the book.
  • Lecture notes that summarize key concepts by chapter to help in lecture preparation and class discussions.
Student Site

study.sagepub.com/chiricogsp

The open-access Student Study Site includes the following:

·         Mobile-friendly web quizzes allow for independent assessment of progress made in learning course material.

Key features

KEY FEATURES: 

  • Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which recognizes a single global system and the interdependence of problems across national borders, is used as a framework that explores three broad themes–"Building Human Capital," "Incivility," and "Our Environments”
  • Rich data in easily-understood language highlights the relationships among problems and supporting claims and shows the importance of evidence as well as how to find patterns and analyze data.
  • Mini research exercises guide students in gathering and analyzing data from online sources such as Amnesty International and the World Bank, teaching them how important social facts and forces are measured.
  • Opening vignettes focus on lived experiences in different regions of the world, illustrating the connection between personal problems and larger social and political forces.
  • Critical thinking questions, requiring students to confront moral and ethical questions and to weigh evidence to form an opinion, help them to see the complexity of global issues.
  • Examples of how civil society organizations address social problems demonstrate how citizen groups can influence governments and international organizations.



For instructors

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