San Antonio College Library

The author explores the shifting perceptions over time of victims as blameworthy, blameless, pathetic, or heroic figures. She also links those images to their real-world consequences, demonstrating that they dominate the ways in which people think about intimate violence and individual responsibility. Her analysis cuts to the core of fundamental issues at the center of debates about crime and deviance, victimization, and social problems.

"The Sometime Connection introduces a variety of theoretical perspectives on the connection between public opinion and policy and applies them to six social policy topics: abortion, affirmative action, welfare, Social Security, corrections, and pornography. The book provides complete policy histories, information on trends in public opinion, and a diagnosis of the role that public opinion has played in the development of policy for each of the six...

"The Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade declared that the Constitution protected decisions regarding abortion--but the debate was far from over, continuing to be a political battleground to this day. In the decades since the case was decided, the American debate on abortion has moved away from the issues that the justices confronted more than three decades ago. Bringing to light key documents that illuminate the case and its political context,...

Explores and reports on the faith and religious beliefs of the American people ; based on a survey taken just before Christmas 1988.

Mexico's views of the United States have been characterized as stridently anti-American, but recent policy changes in Mexico culminating with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) mark a fundamental transformation in Mexicos relationship with the U.S. This original book answers questions about the impact of these policy changes on Mexican nationalism and Mexicans perceptions of the U.S. Have popular and elite views of the U.S. changed? Has...

"The public rely upon media representations to help interpret and make sense of the many complexities relating to climate science and governance. Media representations of climate issues - from news to entertainment - are powerful and important links between people's everyday realities and experiences, and the ways in which they are discussed by scientists, policymakers and public actors. A dynamic mix of influences - from internal workings of mass...

Using the state of California as a model, Eric Smith explores how much the public understands energy policy, what the public wants officials to do about U.S. energy problems, and how governments will cope with energy shortages in the future.

From the Publisher: At the heart of any history of controversial films is a strange paradox: while films, especially popular and mainstream films, are often portrayed as meaningless products of popular culture, those popular films involved in public controversies become the focal point of enormous cultural energy, political attention, and profoundly conflicting sets of principles. The ongoing culture wars continue to shape the American political landscape,...