Global Perspectives on Social Issues
7 total works
Women's Roles and Statuses the World Over
by Stephanie Hepburn and Rita J Simon
Published 13 April 2006
Women's Roles and Statuses the World Over stands alone in the unique contribution it makes to the field of women's rights. Based solely on statistics and empirical data as opposed to opinion, authors Stephanie Hepburn and Rita Simon have crafted an important contribution to the study of women in society by comparing women's position in society within 26 nations throughout the world. This distinctive work addresses the status of women in the areas of education, work force, marriage and divorce, the Constitution, abortion and contraceptives, public office, military service, and health care. The countries selected reflect a representative pool of the world's cultures, religions, traditions, races, laws, and politics. Hepburn and Simon present the weaknesses, strengths, and progress or digression of each of the selected nations, painting a clear picture of how much more progress must occur in order to set men and women on equal footing. Women's Roles and Statuses the World Over is intended to serve scholars and general audiences alike as a handbook providing empirical data and comprehensive references on the social issues, problems, and practices that affect women today.
Global Perspectives on Social Issues: Marriage and Divorce examines the history of marriage and divorce and the role played by both institutions in the lives of citizens around the world. Using a broad range of detailed information and statistics from twenty-five countries, Rita J. Simon and Howard Altstein explore the regulations and customs surrounding marriage and divorce from a global perspective. Topics such as social restrictions on marriage, marriage and sexual identity, property transference, and child custody are discussed, with examples drawn from a wide range of cultures. The second book in the Global Perspectives series, Marriage and Divorce employs both sociological and anthropological techniques to address a variety of fascinating issues about the place of marriage and divorce in modern life. The volume serves as an interesting and valuable resource for anyone interested in these social institutions.
Illicit Drug Policies, Trafficking, and Use the World Over
by Caterina Gouvis Roman, Heather Ahn-Redding, and Rita J Simon
Published 25 April 2005
Have the nations of the world begun to converge with respect to drug policy? Which countries have remained apart from the international dialogue? Which have taken steps to forge new, more liberal policies stressing education, treatment, and alternative community-based intervention? Focusing specifically on cannabis, cocaine, and heroin, Illicit Drug Policies, Trafficking, and Use the World Over presents a brief history and analysis of the current laws and policies regarding illicit drugs—widely considered to be a growing international health threat—in twenty five different countries. With its wide breadth of data and analysis, this volume will be valuable for both scholars and students of this seemingly intractable social, legal, and political problem.
In the past thirty years, women and crime has become a major intellectual and professional specialty. The Crimes Women Commit: The Punishments They Receive represents the third edition of Women in Crime, a classic in the field by Rita J. Simon first published in 1975. This revised and updated edition takes advantage of the fact that women are more represented in official crime statistics today than they have been at any time since systemic national data has been available. Rita J. Simon and Heather Ahn-Redding present the most current demographic data and updates of the arrest, conviction, and prison statistics reported in the first and second editions as they examine issues such as women's labor force participation, the percentage of female-headed households in which women are the caretakers of young children, as well as trends in how female crime statistics are reported. This classic text will become an essential tool for teachers and researchers within criminology and criminal justice, and among the subfields within sociology, psychology, and economics, where research on women who commit crimes has grown into a major area of interest.
In Global Perspectives on Social Issues: Education, Rita J. Simon and Lisa Banks provide a broad perspective on education in twenty countries. This work examines and compares the system of education, literacy rates, enrollment rates, types of public and private schools, years of compulsory education, and the amount of money the government allocates to education in the different societies. Each country's demographic characteristics and political, social, and economic institutions are summarized. The influence of each nation's political and cultural ideology on the educational system is discussed. This third book in the Global Perspectives on Social Issues series grants scholars and policy makers an overview of the steps being taken by governments and educational organizations worldwide to increase the quality, standards, goals, and accessibility of education.
A Comparative Analysis of Capital Punishment
by Rita J Simon and Dagny A. Blaskovich
Published 15 August 2002
A Comparative Analysis of Capital Punishment provides a concise and detailed history of the death penalty. Incorporating and synthesizing public opinion data and empirical studies, Simon and Blaskovich's work compares, across societies, the offense types punishable by death, the level of public support for the death penalty, the forms the penalty takes, and the categories of persons exempt from punishment. It examines the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent offenses, especially homicide, the extent to which innocent persons have become the victims of capital punishment, and occurrences of state sponsored genocide and democide. This book is a practical and useful tool for public policy makers, criminal justice practitioners, students, and anyone who seeks to better understand the worldwide debate on this controversial social issue.
Pornography is a volatile issue in the United States—depending on the source of opinion, it can be viewed as either demeaning or empowering. Global Perspectives on Social Issues: Pornography asks whether the issue is similarly contentious around the world. Richard Procida and Rita Simon collect in this volume a wealth of data on laws, regulations, and public opinion regarding pornography in a wide sample of countries in both the West and the East. The authors pose and discuss the following questions: Is censorship of pornography correlated with authoritarianism? Does the censorship of pornography lead to the censorship of other more valuable speech, such as political or artistic speech? How much of a factor is pornography in violence against women and the sexual abuse of children? Is the United States more, or less, prudish than other nations around the world, particularly other Western democratic nations? The book reveals a variety of approaches to the treatment of pornography, providing sociologists, legal scholars, and women's rights activists with a valuable reference tool.