TEACHING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Steeped in the belief that teaching is a form of activism in and of itself, the mission of the Teaching Social Problems Division is to engage its members in constructive and meaningful dialogue about pedagogical innovations and best practices that center the value of social problems-based teaching for both expanding knowledge and harnessing solutions. The Teaching Social Problems Division defines teaching to broadly encompass knowledge production and communication beyond the traditional academic classroom, linking research and teaching to community-based research, service learning, activism and advocacy for human rights. To that end, we provide networking opportunities, information about innovative teaching techniques, teaching materials and resources, and support for faculty members, with respect towards the diversity of the intellectual traditions present in our respective discipline. Together we hope to empower each other in active service of a more inclusive, social just and humane world.  

Division members are invited to join our Facebook community.

Below we provide a (non-exhaustive) list of readings for members and sympathizers to engage with.

Division mission statement edited in November 2025 by Janelle M. Pham, Oglethorpe University, Teaching Social Problems Division Chair, 2025-2027. Division mission statement reviewed in November 2024 by Morena Tartari, Northumbria University, Newcastle, Teaching Social Problems Division Chair, 2023-2025. No edits were made. Division mission statement edited in November 2023 by Morena Tartari, Babeș-Bolyai University, Teaching Social Problems Division Chair, 2023-2025.

Some Readings:

Ayers, William. 2010. To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. 3rd Ed. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Coghlan, Catherine L. and Denise W. Huggins. 2004. “’That’s Not Fair!’: A Simulation Exercise in Social Stratification and Structural Inequality.” Teaching Sociology 32(2):177-87.

Deegan, Mary Jo. 2013. Jane Addams, The Hull House School of Sociology, and Social justice, 1895-1932. Humanity and Society, Volume 37, Issue 3. 

Dello Buono, R. A. 2013. “Time to Change the Subject: A New Sociology of Praxis.” Critical Sociology. Volume 39, Number. 6.

Desmond, Scott A. “Prioritizing Social Problems: An Exercise for Exploring Students’ Attitudes about Social Problems.” Teaching Sociology 33(1):59-65.

Dolgon, Corey. 2013. “Teaching and Learning,” in the Handbook of Sociology and Human Rights, edited by David Brunsma, Keri Iyall Smith and Brian Gran. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

Dolgon Corey and Chris Baker. 2010. Social Problems: A Service Learning Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Eitzen, D. Stanley and Kenneth Stewart. 2006. Solutions to Social Problems from the Bottom Up: Successful Social Movements. NY: Allyn and Bacon.

Huisman, Kimberly. “Developing a Sociological Imagination by Doing Sociology: A Methods-based Service-learning Course on Women and Immigration.” Teaching Sociology (38)2:106-118.

Johnson, Brett. 2005. “Overcoming ‘Doom and Gloom’: Empowering Students in Courses on Social Problems, Injustice, and Inequality.” Teaching Sociology 33(1):44-58.

Korgen, Kathleen, Shelley White, and Jonathan White. 2014. Sociologists in Action, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Lee, Albert McClung. 1976. “Sociology For Whom? Presidential Address” The American Sociological Review, Volume 41, Number 6.

LeMoyne, T., & Davis, J. M. (2011). Debunking Common Sense and the Taken for Granted: A Pedagogical Strategy for Teaching Social Problems. Teaching Sociology, 39(1), 103-110.

Lenski, G. 1996. Rethinking the introductory course. Teaching Sociology, 10(2), 153–68.

Lewis, Tammy L. 2004. “Service Learning for Social Change? Lessons from a Liberal Arts College.” Teaching Sociology 32(1):94-108.

Lewntin, Richard. et. al. 1996. The Cold War & the University: Toward an Intellectual History of the Postwar Years. New York: The New Press.

Loeske, Donileen. 2003. Thinking About Social Problems. 2ed. New York: Routledge.

Lowry, D. (2016). What Should Activist Scholars Teach in the Social Problems Classroom? Social Problems Literacy for Civic Engagement. Teaching Sociology, 44(3), 177-187.

Lynd, Robert. 1939. Knowledge for What? The Place of Social Science in American Culture. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

Morton, Mavis, Corey Dolgon, James Pennell and Timothy Maher. 2011. Civic Engagement and Public Sociology: Two "Movements" in Search of a Mission. Journal of Applied Social Sciences, Vol. 6 Issue 1.

Nyden, Philip; Leslie Hossfield, and Gwendolyn Nyden. 2012. Public Sociology: Research, Action, and Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Platts, T. K. (2019). Analyzing the Social Construction of Media Claims: Enhancing Media Literacy in Social Problems Classes. Teaching Sociology, 47(1), 43-50.

Saltmarsh, John and Edward Zlotkowski. 2011. Higher Education and Democracy: Essays on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Sandy, Marie. 2013. Tracing the Liberal Arts Traditions in Support of Service-learning and Public-engaged Scholarship in the Humanities. Humanity & Society. Volume 37, Issue 4.

Schwartz, Michael & R. Tyson Smith. 2010. Beyond the Core: The Hot Topic(al) Alternative to the Survey-Based Introduction to Sociology Course. The American Sociologist 41:249–276.

Silver, I. (2019). Seeing Social Problems: The Hidden Stories Behind Contemporary Issues. SAGE Publications.

Simpson, Christopher. 1999. Universities and Empire: Money and Politics in the Social Sciences during the Cold War. New York: The New Press.

Trevino, Javier. 2012. “The Challenge of Service Sociology.” Social Problems. Volume 59, Issue 1.

Tuchman, Gaye. 2009. Wannabe U: Inside the Corporate University. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Wolf, R. (1996). Review of ‘thinking sociologically, an introduction to the discipline’. Teaching Sociology, 24(4), 407.

Wynn, C. E., Ziff, E., Snyder, A. H., Schmidt, K. T., & Hill, L. L. (2023). The Sociological Role of Empathy in the Classroom. Teaching Sociology, 51(2), 181-192.