Social Problems, Sixth Edition

Rating:
Summary: Fallacy Arguments Detract from Insightful Points
Review: I find that there are numerous tokens of insight within the book making this book a valuable textbook for students; however I am rather shocked and concerned by the lack of evidentiary support and existing fallacy argumentation.

For example, Henslin discusses whether sociologists have a responsibility to be involved or whether sociologist should be objectively impartial. He states many perspectives with "they say", "they observe", "they try", "they should produce", etc. (Henslin 21). I am curious who "they" are? Are there papers or prominent sociologists in the field that are making these points?

In the next chapter, Henslin uses a slippery slope fallacy argument to express his opinion that "physician-assisted suicide" is wrong. He notes "Once we initiate such a process (at first only for those who desire it), we find ourselves on a slippery slope that could lead to the practice of having committees define who has become a 'burden' to society. In the hands of some, this could lead to genocide" (Henslin 25).

Overall I think the book is decent, but unfortunately, just being aware of problems and subjective opinions is not enough because fallacy arguments and lack of evidence will not help our society or our students to reason objectively. Although this book will help students have useful insights in social problems in society, they may be at a greater disadvantage without being able to reason objectively. An objective student can see social problems objectively even contribute to solutions in many ways, such as combating the manipulation by exploitive corporations and political institutions, and offering solutions with convincing evidence and reasoning.