Agenda for Social Justice

President's Welcome

The difference between the Society for the Study of Social Problems and most other academic professional organizations is that for over fifty years, the SSSP has worked to bring excellent scholarship on the pressing issues of the day to agents of change and to apply that knowledge to solutions for those social problems. Our Society’s founders really did believe the point was not to simply understand society, but to change it! Today our society is dedicated to nourishing a form of “public sociology” that is designed to be useful to policy makers and activists. It is our way of giving something back to people and institutions that participate in the difficult but essential work of crafting progressive solutions to contemporary social problems. It is in that spirit that we offer the Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions 2016. I am very proud to be part of an organization that produces this sort of fine publication and I do believe that it will, indeed, help set the agenda for social justice in the coming years. Thanks to all the authors and particularly the tireless work of Glenn W. Muschert and the SSSP Justice 21 Committee!

Sincerely,

David A. Smith, University of California, Irvine
SSSP President, 2015-2016


The Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions 2016 provides accessible insights into some of the most pressing social problems in the United States and proposes public policy responses to those problems. It offers recommendations for action by elected officials, policy makers, and the public around key issues for social justice, including  a discussion of the role of key issues of sustainability and technology in the development and timbre of future social problems. 


"Accessible summaries of social science research on some of the most critical social problems we face....an invaluable guide to developing awareness, understanding and movement toward a more just and sustainable world." Kathleen Ferraro, Northern Arizona University, and SSSP President 2003-2004


Agenda for Social Justice cover
 

2016 Committee Members
Glenn W. Muschert, Chair 
Miami University

Brian V. Klocke
Faculty Against Rape

Robert Perrucci
Purdue University

Jon Shefner
University of Tennessee

Previous AgendasAgenda for Social Justice, Solutions 2012

Agenda for Social Justice, Solutions 2008

Agenda for Social Justice, Solutions 2004 

Access Options

The Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions for 2016 is now available for wide public distribution.

Please click here for a PDF of the 
Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions 2016.

Purchasing Options:

The Agenda is available in hard copy and e-reader versions for a nominal fee. Please consider purchasing the Agenda to support the SSSP!

Click here for Policy Press purchasing information.

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Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions 2016 is the first issue published by Policy Press. 

Table of Contents

Editors: Glenn W. Muschert; Brian V. Klocke; Robert Perrucci; Jon Shefner

Front Matter

President’s Welcome
      
by David A. Smith, Ph.D.
Editorial Introduction
     by Glenn W. Muschert, Ph.D. and Brian V. Klocke, Ph.D.

SECTION I Gender, Sexuality, and Injustice

Chapter 1. Campus Sexual Assault: Addressing a Systemic Social Problem in the United States
     by Kristen M. Budd, Ph.D.; Alana Van Gundy, Ph.D.; Glenn W. Muschert, Ph.D.; and Rose Marie Ward, Ph.D.

Chapter 2. Missing Rights and Misplaced Justice for Sex Workers in the United States
     by Crystal A. Jackson, Ph.D. and Jennifer J. Reed

SECTION II Public and Environmental Health

Chapter 3. Factory Farming: Impacts and Potential Solutions
     by Ryan Gunderson, Ph.D.; Diana Stuart, Ph.D.; and Brian Petersen, Ph.D.

Chapter 4. Solutions to the Social Problem of Food Insecurity in the United States
     by Leslie Hossfeld, Ph.D.; Brooke Kelly, Ph.D.; and Julia Waity, Ph.D. 

Chapter 5. After Health Care Reform: Enduring Challenges for Justice in the American Health Care System
     by Jennifer Roebuck Bulanda, Ph.D.

SECTION III Race, Labor, and Poverty

Chapter 6. Global Labor Social Justice on University Campuses
     by Michelle Christian, Ph.D.

Chapter 7. When Home Disappears: How the Rise in Urban Foreclosures and Evictions Threatens Families
     by Obie Clayton, Ph.D. and Barbara Harris Combs, J.D.

Chapter 8. The Racial Implications of Immigration Policy
     by Trenita B. Childers and San Juanita García, Ph.D.

SECTION IV Criminal (In)Justice

Chapter 9. Gun Violence in the U.S.: Prevalence, Consequences, and Policy Implications
     by Kellie R. Lynch, Ph.D.; Tony P. Love, Ph.D.; and Claire M. Renzetti, Ph.D. 

Chapter 10. American Prisons: Consequences of Mass Incarceration
     by Alana Van Gundy, Ph.D.

SECTION V Looking Forward

Chapter 11. The Surprising Link between Sustainability and Social Justice
    by Amitai Etzioni, Ph.D. 

Chapter 12. Techno-fallacies in the Search for Solutions to Social Problems
   
 by Gary T. Marx, Ph.D.

End Matter
Afterword: The importance of Social Movements for Transformative Policy Solutions Towards Inclusive Social Justice and
     by Brian V. Klocke, Ph.D.