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