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