George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A largely self-taught sociologist, Ritzer is most widely known in the scholarly community for his distinctive contributions to the study of consumption, globalization, metatheory, and classical, modern and postmodern social theory. Ritzer is an academic celebrity, however, as a result of The McDonaldization of Society (5th edition 2008; first published in 1993), which is among the most popular monographs ever penned by a sociologist. A pessimist in the Weberian tradition, Ritzer has expanded and developed his highly critical analysis of contemporary social life in such monographs as Enchanting a Disenchanted World, as well as the aptly titled The Globalization of Nothing. Moving in what appears to be the completely opposite direction, he is currently working on The Outsourcing of Everything (co-authored with Craig Lair and to be published in 2009).

The Handbook of Social Problems: A Comparative International Perspective provides a unique, broadly comparative perspective on the current state of social problems and deviance in a variety of societies around the world. Editor George Ritzer, along with leading U.S. and global sociologists, examines the relationship between social problems and a society’s level of development and affluence.

The essays in this volume focus on interrelated issues involved in the relationship between social problems and the level of development and affluence. The Handbook explores the theory of the weakness of the strong-in other words, strong or wealthy nations may have greater vulnerability to some social problems than less developed or affluent societies. This theory is clearly illustrated in this volume by the aftermath of September 11, 2001depicting the vulnerability of the U.S. to social problems in far-removed corners of the world. In addition, the international and comparative essays in this volume cover other important issues such as the impact of modern technologies on social problems, ecological problems, global inequality, health as a social problem, and much more.

The Handbook of Social Problems is a vital resource for sociologists and graduate students, as well as an excellent addition to any academic library.