Authored by leading educators and authorities on the subject, this comprehensive text provides a multiplicity of approaches to social problems. They range from the positivist, objectivist, and scientific to the constuctionist, subjectivist, and humanist. They deal with a large variety of social problems including various aspects of inequality, deviance, institutions, and globalization. All of these approaches are presented in 16 fast-paced, easily readable chapters divided into five parts. Each chapter opens with an engaging vignette, to be followed by discussions of the nature and extent of a social problem, the conflicting views of the problem, various sociological theories of the problem, global aspects of the problem, social policies for dealing with the problem, and sociological insights on the problem that students can use to enhance their lives. Each chapter concludes with a summary, critical thinking questions, and internet resources.