Crisis in American Institutions

Eighth Edition
Jerome H. Skolnick Elliott Currie
University of California, Berkeley

* HarperCoWinsPublishers

Contents

Preface

ix 1

Introduction: Approaches to Social Problems Systemic I Problems 15 17

CORPORATE POWER

1 Pinto Madness Mark Dowie 20 How the Ford Motor Company built a car that could burst into flames on impact. 2 The Artful Dodgers Morton Mintz 36 How tobacco executives evaded liability for their dangerous products. 3 When They Close the Factory Gates: How Big Steel Scrapped a Community John Logue 48 Why a profitable industry was shut down by its corporate owners. 4 Missing from the News Ben H. Bagdikian 57 How an increasingly concentrated media industry shapes the news. II ECONOMIC CRISIS 64

5 The Specter of Full Employment Robert Lekachman 66 Unemployment is bad for workers but not so bad for business. 6 Boomtown and Bust-town Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison 72 Unregulated economic growth often has costs, too. 7 Bonfire of the S and Ls: How Did It Happen? Steven Waldman and Rich Thomas 81 The dimensions and causes of the greatest regulatory disaster of the century. 8 Buyouts: The LBO Lobby Makes Its Move on Washington Max Holland and Viveca Novak 89 Why Congress won't control Wall Street's economic shenanigans. v

vi III INEQUALITY 101

Contents

9 The Fading Dream: Economic Crisis and the New Inequality Elliott Currie, Robert Dunn, and David Fogarty 104 On the changing shape of inequality in America. 10 Poor Children in Rich Countries Timothy Smeeding and Barbara Boyld Torrey 127 Poverty among children is much more widespread in the United States than in most other industrial countries. 11 Why We Have Homelessness Peter H. Rossi 140 The basic problems of homelessness are growing poverty and lack of affordable housing. 12 Hunger in America: The Growing Epidemic Physician Task Force on Hunger in America 155 Living on dog food in Chicago and other scandals. IV RACISM 161

13 Blacks and American Society National Research Council 164 There has been much progress, but stark gaps remain. 14 A New Pool of Talent Phillip Hoose 182 On the discriminationblatant and subtlefaced by young black swimmers. 15 U.S. Hispanics: Challenging Issues for the 1990s Rafael Valdivieso and Cary Davis 192 Latinos in the United States face many and varied obstacles to equality. 16 A Piece of the Pie Stanley Lieberson 200 Why moving up in America has been harder for some groups than others. V SEXISM 210

17 The Longest War Carol Tavris and Carole Offir 213 Stereotyped sex roles persist throughout the world. 18 The Balance Sheets of Economic Weil-Being Victor R. Fuchs 227 Despite some changes, American women have not reached economic parity with men. 19 Abortion Under Seige Sarah Mills 232 One woman's struggle with the abortion decision. 20 "Fetal Rights": A New Assault on Feminism Katha Pollitt 240 How concern for the rights of the unborn may infringe on those of women. Institutions in Crisis 255 253

VI THE FAMILY

21 Worlds of Pain Lillian Breslow Rubin 258 Changing roles and needs create problems for working-class families.

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22 Teenage Pregnancy in Developed Countries Elise F. Jones, Jacqueline Darroch Forrest, Noreen Goldman, Stanley K. Henshaw, Richard Lincoln, Jeannie I. Rosoff, Charles F. Westoff, and Deirdre Wulf 277 Why the United States has the highest teenage birthrates in the industrialized world. 23 Children at Risk Marian Wright Edelman 295 Families and children are faring poorly in the face of economic changes in America. 24 Addressing the Nation's Child Care Crisis: The School of the Tuxnty-First Century Edward F. Zigler 307 Women are in the paid work force in growing numbers, but provision of child care lags far behind. VII THE ENVIRONMENT 317

25 The Economic Meaning of Ecology Barry Commoner 320 How the drive for private profit is a source of pollution. 26 American Ground Transport Bradford Curie Snell 327 How the automobile and oil industries eliminated alternatives to the private car. 27 The Toxic Cloud Michael H. Brown 342 The threat from toxic chemicals in the air we breathe is growing. 28 The Changing Atmosphere Thomas E. Graedel and Paul J. Crutzen 349 Global warming, a depleted ozone layer, and other consequences of human intervention. VIII THE WORKPLACE 358

29 The Distribution of Work and Income Wassily W. Leontief 361 Recent technological change is altering the meaning of work. 30 Working Hard, Getting Nowhere Morris S. Thompson and Cass Peterson 370 What life is like for the increasing numbers of Americans working in poorly paid jobs. 31 Life on the Global Assembly Line Barbara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes 379 Women's work in the new international sweatshops. 32 The Road Warriors Steve Turner 394 How "deregulation" undermines truckers' morale and everyone's safety. IX HEALTH AND WELFARE 402

33 The Mirage of Reform Paul Starr 405 Why the United States lags behind other countries in the provision of health insurance.

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34 Excess Mortality in Harlem Colin McCord, M.D. and Harold P. Freeman, M.D. 426 Life expectancy is lower for men in Harlem, USA, than in Bangladesh. 35 AIDS: The Epidemic and the Society Mary Catherine Bateson and Richard Goldsby 433 AIDS is more than a medical issue: It is also a reflection of deep social problems. 36 The Relief of Welfare Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward 447 How the welfare system regulates the poor in the service of private ends. X CRIME AND JUSTICE 464

37 Crime and Work Elliott Currie 467 The complex but powerful relationship between unemployment and crime. 38 Crack Dilemmas in Search of an Answer Jerome H. Skolnick 478 Law enforcement alone can't stop the crack epidemic. 39 Corporate Crime and Violence Russell Mokhiber 496 Large corporations are some of the worst criminals of all. 40 Decisions of Death David Brck 514 How the death penalty is racially biased. XI NATIONAL SECURITY 526

41 The Search for National Security Richard J. Barnet 529 Real security has less and less to do with military power. 42 Wasteful Weapons Center for Defense Information 536 Why we spend so much on weaponsand get so little. 43 Inside Central America Phillip Berryman 551 How American policy ignores Central American realities. 44 Nuclear War and Climatic Catastrophe: Some Policy Implications Carl Sagan 563 The effects of nuclear war could be even more disastrous than we thought. XII EPILOGUE: OPTIONS AND STRATEGIES 575

45 Economic Justice for All Catholic Bishops of the United States 578 A call for an "experiment in securing economic rights." 46 More Government, Not Less Gar Alperovitz and Jeff Faux 591 Government has an important role in building an economy that puts human needs first. 47 Planning for Economic Conversion Seymour Melman and Lloyd J. Dumas 597 How to shift our economy from military to civilian purposes. 48 Seize the Day Robert Heilbroner 608 Rebuilding the nation's physical infrastructure is an urgent priority.