America at Risk : The Crisis of Hope, Trust, and Caring
ISBN: 9780742566323
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: Social Science;

In America at Risk: The Crisis of Hope, Trust, and Caring, Robert Perrucci and Carolyn C. Perrucci identify the broad economic and technological changes that have led to the loss of high wage jobs, declining opportunity, and increased income and wealth inequality. These changes have altered the way that Americans think about themselves, their future, and the lives of their children and neighbors. Focusing on the erosion of trust, hope, and caring between and among Americans and their social institutions, the authors confront the challenge by proposing policies that will build hope (through jobs and wages) in order to promote greater trust of institutions and more caring for the less fortunate. Examining data from the past thirty-year period, Perrucci and Perrucci apply a critical sociological lens to view the dominant economic, political, and cultural institutions that have shaped the main social problems facing Americans. They challenge Americans to act on behalf of their individual and collective interests by becoming informed and involved in developing new solutions to improve their lives.


Robert Perrucci is professor of sociology at Purdue University. He has served as president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, associate editor of the American Sociological Review, and editor of the American Sociologist, Social Problems, and Contemporary Sociology. In 2005 he received the Lee Founders Career Achievement Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Carolyn C. Perrucci is professor of sociology at Purdue University. She has co-authored or co-edited three books: Marriage and the Family: A Critical Analysis and Proposals for Change, Women in Scientific and Engineering Professions, and Plant Closings: International Context and Social Costs. She has contributed to numerous journals, including: American Sociological Review, International Journal of the Humanities, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Social Problems, Sociology and Social Research, Sociology of Education, and The Sociological Quarterly.
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