This past spring, TSP’s Sarah Lageson spoke with University of Delaware Professor Joel Best about his new textbook, Social Problems. The episode of Office Hours briefly reviews the book and covers a few concepts that are important for anyone teaching social problems. Best explains what poverty and globalization have in common, how he teaches students about social constructionism, and the impetus behind the book. He also discusses how social problems are defined as well as his work on the flip side of social problems, social fads.
Comments 3
Letta Page — July 4, 2012
Are there any particular sections you'd recommend if classes can't listen to the entire interview, or is this one you'd recommend as a listen-at-home, discuss-in-class item?
Jessica Fields — September 24, 2012
I really, really love teaching with Best's textbook. I listened to this podcast as I got ready to teach my third semester of Social Problems as a way to re-enter Best's text. I also assigned it as an out-of-class text so students could "meet" the author of the text and get a sense of the work ahead. Toward the end of the semester, we will listen to the podcast so they can (1) appreciate that, after a semester's work, the terms and thinking are now familiar to them and (2) gain that bigger picture perspective as they begin to prepare for the final.