Social Problems and Ideologies

Social Problems and Ideologies: The Impact of Federalism, Capitalism, Neoliberalism, Libertarianism, and Populism on American Social Problems takes a structural approach to American social problems by examining the foundational ideologies that create, maintain, and make it difficult to resolve those problems.

Remarkably, much of that ideological framework has come to dominate American society only in the last fifty years. A brief, readable chapter on each of the five topics tells the story of seemingly complicated ideas in a way that is concise, engaging, and directly connected—through innumerable examples—to the contemporary American landscape. With the 2024 presidential election heightening the relevance of its material, this book offers a scholarly but accessible perspective on the forces shaping American social problems. Social problems can be complex, multi-dimensional, shifting, and sometimes intractable. To manage some of the challenges intrinsic to teaching such material, Social Problems and Ideologies is structured so that students can read a chapter in one or two sittings, instructors can devote two or three weeks to its in-depth analysis, and the entire volume can be completed in a semester. The ideologies covered in each chapter connect to and build upon one another. Using the illustrative news articles at the end of each chapter, students will be able to see the operation of course material in real time. By the end of the semester, they will have the conceptual tools by which to understand “where” we are, how we got here, and the complexities that attend American social problems. This structure aims to provide students with material that is interesting, respectful of their time, and manageable emotionally, which is especially important in social problems courses.

This book will be an important foundational text for use in social problems, political sociology, and sociology of culture courses, as well as in courses in American political studies, and contemporary American culture and history.

Karen E. Rosenblum is Associate Professor Emerita of Sociology at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, where she also served as Vice President of University Life. She was twice named a Fulbright Senior Lecturer for East Asia (Japan and South Korea). At George Mason’s campus in South Korea, she was a faculty member in Global Studies. She specializes in social problems and comparative approaches to stigma, and with Toni-Michelle C. Travis, co-authored The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race and Ethnicity, Sex and Gender, Social Class, Sexuality, and Disability.

Toni-Michelle C. Travis is Professor Emerita of Government and Politics at the Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. She was a fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford and Visiting Professor of Political Science at Simmons College She specializes in American government and federalism and has served as a political analyst on Virginia and national politics. She has taught and conducted research on urban, racial and ethnic, and Virginia politics, and is co-author of The Meaning of Difference and of Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics.