Donileen R. Loseke

In Narrative Productions of Meanings: Exploring the Work of Stories in Social Life, Donileen R. Loseke examines the importance of stories in an anti-science, anti-fact era where a multitude of personal, social, and political problems surround meaning. This book’s basic argument is that, within such a world, narrative productions of meaning are particularly important because stories can appeal simultaneously to thinking,feeling, and moral evaluation, and because they can do this in ways that have cultural, interactional, and personal dimensions. This book develops a framework for social science examinations of narrative; it outlines relationships between stories, storytelling, and culture; and it explores the characteristics of several types of stories including self stories, stories that persuade mass audiences that public resources are required to resolve intolerable conditions, and stories that justify the contents of public policy. It concludes with relationships between stories and democratic politics. In multiple ways, this analysis crosses common divides: It draws from literature spanning multiple disciplines; it treats thinking, feeling, and moral evaluation as inseparable; it bridges cultural and social psychological perspectives; and it demonstrates relationships between story structure and the work people do with stories.

Narrative research is an increasingly popular qualitative method across the social sciences. This book has two purposes: firstly to show students and researchers how to do research on narrative topics, particularly on questions about narrative productions of meaning, and secondly to explain some fundamentals of research methods suitable for exploring these topics. A final part of the book provides empirical examples of how such research is done. These chapters use small amounts of data to examine the analytic tasks of designing research questions, finding appropriate data, sampling decisions, contextualization, data categorization, and communicating study findings.

In Narrative Productions of Meanings: Exploring the Work of Stories in Social Life, Donileen Loseke examines the importance of stories in an anti-science, anti-fact era where heterogeneity, rapid change, complexity, and moral fragmentation combine to create a multitude of personal, social, and political problems surrounding meaning. The book’s basic argument is that, within such a world, narrative productions of meaning are particularly important because stories can appeal simultaneously to thinking and feeling and moral evaluation, and because they can do this in ways that have cultural, interactional, and personal dimensions. Narrative Productions of Meaning develops a framework for social science examinations of narrative; it outlines relationships between stories, storytelling, and culture, and it explores the characteristics of several types of stories including self stories that create coherence from the chaos of personal experience, stories that persuade mass audiences that public resources are required to resolve intolerable conditions, and stories that justify the contents of public policy and the organization of social services. It concludes with issues about relationships between stories and the processes of democratic politics. Narrative Productions of Meaning demonstrates the ways in which stories create meaning and how this meaning shapes both subjective understandings and material realities. In multiple ways, this analysis crosses common divides: It draws from literature spanning multiple disciplines; it treats thinking, feeling, and moral evaluation as inseparable; it bridges cultural and social psychological perspectives; it demonstrates relationships between story structure and the work people do with stories.

The new second edition of this distinctive and widely adopted textbook brings into the classroom an overview of how images of social problems can shape not only public policy and social services, but also the ways in which we make sense of ourselves and others. It introduces two primary changes. First, some attention is devoted to the "new social movements" that emphasize social change through identity transformation rather than through structural change. Second, the text now also looks more closely at the importance of emotions in constructing public consciousness of social problems. When the first edition was published, Teaching Sociology noted, "Loseke does a superb job explaining the relationship between sociology and social problems in a text that is very well research and engaging, yet with tremendous attention to detail and accuracy... [W]ould provide a solid base for any social problems class." Contemporary Sociology wrote that the book is "engagingly well written in a personal, unpretentious style, and well informed by the author's knowledge of the professional literature."

Focused on the underlying logic behind social research, Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design encourages readers to understand research methods as a way of thinking. The book provides a concise overview of the basic principles of social research, including the characteristics of research questions, the importance of literature reviews, variations in data generation techniques, and sampling. The Second Edition includes a revised chapter on research foundations, with focus on the philosophy of science and ethics; an emphasis on critical thinking; additional attention to evaluating research; and a new selection of briefer, multidisciplinary journal articles designed to be accessible to a wide variety of readers.

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION: "These essays are exemplary in conceptualization, organization, and delivery. The messages are crystal clear, the readability superb. This book stands as a model of editorial excellence. The design of the volume is unique and responds well to a clear need in the subdiscipline of family violence, which remains fraught with diversity and dissention. . . . This piece of work is honest and effectively illuminates the growing pains of a very young and ideologically loaded subdiscipline that is anchored by an interdisciplinary and heterogeneous collection of smart people. Current Controversies on Family Violence is a powerful addition to the family violence literature. I recommend it as required reading for family violence courses. Gelles and Loseke are to be commended for their excellent idea, their tenacity, their directness and candor as expressed in the framing materials, their sensitive insights, and their superb editorial skills." --Ann Goetting, Western Kentucky University "Gelles and Loseke accomplish their goal of encouraging debate among family violence researchers....does the best job I have seen at presenting the spectrum of approaches to the problem in a fair objective manner....an outstanding contribution to family violence research." --JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY The study of family violence is surrounded by multiple controversies. Experts in this field do not agree about what should be studied and condemned (Is spanking violence? Is women's violence toward men a major social problem? If it is, how should it be measured? What, specifically, should be condemned as date rape?) Experts also disagree about the causes of violence (Individual pathology? The structure of gender or families?), as well as about what should be done to eliminate it (Do child sexual abuse education programs or family preservation programs work?). Now in its Second Edition, Current Controversies on Family Violence contains thoughtful--often heated--discussions that highlight the most current controversies, research, and policy directions in the family violence area. This volume includes chapters by academic and public policy researchers, therapists, lawyers, victim advocates and educators. Some of the controversies in the First Edition have been deleted while new ones have been added. Chapters in this Second Edition also are shorter and more accessible to readers who are not already experts in family violence. This is an excellent and necessary resource for students and researchers of interpersonal violence, sociology, social work, nursing, gender studies, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and gerontology.

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION: "These essays are exemplary in conceptualization, organization, and delivery. The messages are crystal clear, the readability superb. This book stands as a model of editorial excellence. The design of the volume is unique and responds well to a clear need in the subdiscipline of family violence, which remains fraught with diversity and dissention. . . . This piece of work is honest and effectively illuminates the growing pains of a very young and ideologically loaded subdiscipline that is anchored by an interdisciplinary and heterogeneous collection of smart people. Current Controversies on Family Violence is a powerful addition to the family violence literature. I recommend it as required reading for family violence courses. Gelles and Loseke are to be commended for their excellent idea, their tenacity, their directness and candor as expressed in the framing materials, their sensitive insights, and their superb editorial skills." --Ann Goetting, Western Kentucky University "Gelles and Loseke accomplish their goal of encouraging debate among family violence researchers....does the best job I have seen at presenting the spectrum of approaches to the problem in a fair objective manner....an outstanding contribution to family violence research." --JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY The study of family violence is surrounded by multiple controversies. Experts in this field do not agree about what should be studied and condemned (Is spanking violence? Is women's violence toward men a major social problem? If it is, how should it be measured? What, specifically, should be condemned as date rape?) Experts also disagree about the causes of violence (Individual pathology? The structure of gender or families?), as well as about what should be done to eliminate it (Do child sexual abuse education programs or family preservation programs work?). Now in its Second Edition, Current Controversies on Family Violence contains thoughtful--often heated--discussions that highlight the most current controversies, research, and policy directions in the family violence area. This volume includes chapters by academic and public policy researchers, therapists, lawyers, victim advocates and educators. Some of the controversies in the First Edition have been deleted while new ones have been added. Chapters in this Second Edition also are shorter and more accessible to readers who are not already experts in family violence. This is an excellent and necessary resource for students and researchers of interpersonal violence, sociology, social work, nursing, gender studies, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and gerontology.

Like the first edition of this distinctive and widely adopted textbook, the new second edition brings into the classroom an overview of how images of social problems can shape not only public policy and social services, but also the ways in which we make sense of ourselves and others. It introduces two primary changes from the first edition. First, this edition devotes some attention to the ”new social movements” that emphasize social change through identity transformation rather than through structural change. Second, it also looks more closely at the importance of emotions in constructing public consciousness of social problems. Although Thinking About Social Problems can be used as a stand-alone short text and a corrective on received notions of studying the objective indicators of one problem a week, Donileen Loseke and Joel Best have provided an accompanying reader, Social Problems: Constructionist Readings, which can be used by those who wish to teach the course with reference to empirical examples of social problems examined from constructionist perspectives. Finally, an instructor’s manual on a CD-ROM will be available for instructors who adopt the new edition.