Social Problems, the flagship journal of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP)?established in 1951, continues to make invaluable contributions to current sociology. A?prominent reference source for researchers from all around the world, this journal enables?scholars to follow the academic discussions, topics, trends, and policies in the field. The main?objective of SSSP’s journal is to provide an open space for discussion of social problems?as well as to contribute to the formulation of social policies regarding these issues. Henslin?and Roesti (1976) conducted a content analysis covering all the articles published in Social?Problems between the years 1952 and 1975 with the aim of designating what social problem?topics were included, their comparative frequency in various time periods, and their related?trends. In this study, Henslin and Roesti (1976) also presented an analysis of the articles?in terms and trends of the policy suggestions as well as the target audience to whom the?policies were directed. Deriving inspiration from Henslin and Roesti’s study, and as a?follow-up, this current research analyzes the articles published between the years 1976 and?2012 in Social Problems, acknowledging the journal’s worldwide appeal for researchers?particularly involved in the sociology of social problems. In other words, to complement?the analysis of published articles between 1952 and 1975, the authors aimed at making?a content analysis in a new context, now dealing with the articles published during 1976?and 2012. However, the content analysis in this current study was particularly conducted?on the sociological studies published in the journal. The researchers utilized MAXQDA?software to analyze the content of articles published in sociology, and in other related?disciplines in conjunction with sociology. The main purpose of this content analysis was?to create an outline of the articles published in the journal, constructing a general profile?of Social Problems between 1976 and 2012. It was this study’s objective to determine, in?this time period, which social problem topics were included in these articles, the trends of?the topics, distribution by country regarding research on social problem topics, the methods?and techniques used in the studies, and the theoretical explanations utilized in the studies,?as well as the interpretation of the study’s findings. Key Words: Social problems, ‘Journal of Social Problems’ , MAXQDA
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