Preface I. Examining Social Problems Introduction 1 The Changing Meanings of Spanking - Phillip W. Davis 2 Bullying as a Social Problem in Great Britain - Frank Furedi 3 The Problem with the Earthquake Problem - Robert A. Stallings 4 Reality Television Constructs Crime - Gray Cavender II. Claims-Makers and Audiences Introduction 5 Audiences Evaluate Statistics - Joel Best 6 Promoters of Hate Crime Legislation - Valerie Jenness and Kendal Broad 7 Psychiatrists Construct Homosexuality - Stuart A. Kirk and Herb Kutchins 8 Television Talk Shows Construct Morality - Kathleen S. Lowney III. Constructing Conditions Introduction 9 Smoking Problems in Japan - Jun Ayukawa 10 Crime Frames and their Sponsors - Theodore Sasson 11 Framing in the Fathers' Rights Movement - Gwyneth I. Williams and Rhys H. Williams 12 Factory Farming as a Social Problem - Karl R. Kunkel IV. Constructing People Introduction 13 The Rhetorical Appeal of Random Violence - Joel Best 14 Prostitutes Respond to AIDS - Valerie Jenness 15 Science Constructs PMS - Anne E. Figert 16 Multicultural Education as Moral Drama - Shan Netson-Rowe V. Constructing Solutions Introduction 17 The Homeless Mentally 111 and Involuntary Hospitalization - Donileen R. Loseke 18 Constructing a War on Drugs - Craig Reinarman and Harry G. Levine 19 Urine Testing and Social Control - William J. Staudenmeier 20 The Size Acceptance Movement - Jeffery Sobal VI. Social Problems and Everyday Life Introduction 21 Constructing the Need for Low Fat Food - S. Bryn Austin 22 Pregnant Women as a Social Problem - Carol Brooks-Gardner 23 Constructing Sexually Marginalized Catholics - Donileen R. Loseke and James C. Cavendish 24 The Beliefs of Recovery Religion - Kathleen S. Lowney VII. Social Problems and Troubled People Introduction 25 Medicalizing Childhood - Dorothy Pawluch 26 Teaching Gifted Children - Leslie Margolin 27 Constructing Insanity in Involuntary Commitment Hearings - James A. Holstein 28 Formula Stories and Support Groups for Battered Women - Donileen'R. Loseke VIII. Evaluating Constructionist Perspectives on Social Problems Introduction 29 Crack Babies and the Politics of Mothering - Jacqueline Litt and Maureen McNeil 30 The Symbolic Meanings of Pedophile Priests - Philip Jenkins 31 Horror Stories and the Construction of Child Abuse - John M. Johnson 32 Constructing the Jewish Problem in Nazi Germany - Ronald J. Berger