This text is well-grounded in scholarship, synthesizes a number of streams of thought, and then proposes thought-provoking applications for an existing approach to social and behavioral change through social marketing. It could be used with a number of courses and disciplines. The level of detail, use of various sources and the variety of examples make it appropriate for graduate level studies. It can also serve the social marketing or behavior change practitioner who wishes to enhance or expand his or her field of practice to include "upstream" approaches.

- Written by a highly regarded academic in the Social Marketing community.

- Encourages Social Marketers to think beyond the "downstream" market of individuals whose behavior they are trying to influence to include the "upstream" market of individuals whose participation is needed to make changes.

- Utilizes and synthesizes a number of different strands of scholarship (the evolution of social problems, the science of framing, the process of social change, social marketing history and elements, etc.)