Global Social Problems: Exam 1

Sociology Defintion

How people interact and are affected by the scientific study of social life and interconnection through society

Social Structure

Organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together compose society

Example: Family, Economics, Government, Eduction, Religion

Sociological Imagination (C. Wright Mills)

Neither the life or an individual nor the history of a society can be understand without understanding both:

• Personal Troubles

• Public Issues

Personal Troubles

Private problems that happen inside our individual life

Example: Falling an exam, Locking your keys in your car

Public Issues

Big problems rooted in a society.

Example: Millions of people losing their jobs due to the economy crash

Agency

Individuals do have the freedom to act on our choices “free will” existing with or without societal norms

Example: Think of Natalie Nunn song “I be doin what I want”

Globalization

Countries global economics, political, cultural, and environmental interconnections with each other through trade, technology, etc.

Example: Global Food Chains, Entertainment and Music

Globality

A social condition, characterized by economics, politics, cultures, and environments. Interconnections; makes existing borders and boundaries irrelevant.

Example: Global Supply Chain

Global Imaginary

People’s growing consciousness of global connectivity destabilizes the conventional nation-state image

Example: Olympics, World Cup

Glocalization

The process where global forces, products, or ideas are adapted to fit local cultures, preferences, and conditions

Example: Fast-food chain menu change to match it’s local region diets

Hybridization

The blending/mixing of cultures to form a new mixed identities and practices

Example: Mexican-American Culture

The Success of Keynesianism & The Golden Age of Capitalism

• 1940s-1960s

• Interventionist state

• Economic growth

• Wage growth

• Social Safety Net

Rise of the American Middle Class

The Success of Keynesianism & The “Golden Age” of Capitalism is also known for?

The Rise of the American Middle Class

Shift to Neoliberalism: Stagnation

Stagnant demand, high unemployment, high inflation

Shift to Neoliberalism

• Stagnation

• 1970s (Abandon the gold-based monetary system)

  • Trade deficit: Paying for imports with gold reserves

• Oil crisis because OPEC was formed

• Public Debt

• Decreased power of the economic elite

Neoliberalism (Adam Smith, David Ricardo)

The free market can take care of all our needs

• Self-regulating mechanisms; Supply and demand, rather than central planners

• The rationality of the free market; constraints interfere with natural efficiency of markets, “fittest: rise to the top

Less Government Role in Economy (Neoliberalism)

• Privatization (Pro-business)

• Deregulation

• Low taxes/ austerity

• Free trade, get rid of tariffs on imports and other barriers to trade

Conflation of market freedom and other types of freedom (press, expression, democracy)

Conflict Theory Defintion

Society involves sets of competing interest groups; social order is based on conflict, coercion, and power

Example: Worker-Capitalist Exploitation, Labor Strikes and Unions

Karl Marx: Conflict Theory

Those who benefit (Bourgeoisie) are motivated to maintain it

Bourgeoisie Example: Business owners, merchants, and wealthy people

Proletariat: The working class who own no means of production and must sell their labor wages

Proletariat Example: Farm Hands, Transport Drivers

Bourgeoisie Definition

Capitalist class that owns factories, large offices, and financial capital (major assets)

Fake Consciousness Ideology by Karl Marx

Working class people are lead to adopt beliefs and values that hide their exploitation

Example: Consumerism

Class Consciousness by Karl Max

The awareness born out of collective struggle

Example: Labor Union Strikes

Hegemony Definition

Power or dominance one group holds over another

Gramsci (Hegemony)

Economics to ideas: Force to consent “Common sense”); political society to civil society

• Begin with ideologies we share

Example: The United States Post-World War II

Ideology

System of meaning that helps define and explain the world; helps you make value judgements about the world, locate identities and interests

• Normalization

• Neoliberal ideologies

Example: Communism

Normalization

Boundaries; presence and absence

Power of Transnational Corporations (TNC)

Complex web of transnational economic interconnections that is created through flow of goods, services and capital

Example: Jobs, Workers, Money → moves across borders

General Agreements on Trades and Tariffs (GATT)

Started in the 1950s

1994: becomes → World Trade Organization (WTO)

135 country members but allow corporations to “consult”

WTO puts burden on governments to justify their trade policies

Social Darwinism

Founded by Charles Darwin

• “Survival of the fittest” → human groups and individuals compete for wealth, power, and survival, and that the winners are naturally superior

Example: Racial Hierarchy

John Maynard Keynes

Supply and demand inadequate; government intervention can support and strengthen the economy

WWII

When government spent more on military, the economy boomed, in line with Keynesian economics

Keynes & Great Depression: More government role in economy

• Regulation

• Monetary and fiscal policy to reduce inflation and create jobs

• Taxation and redistribution

• Social Security Net

Structural Functionalism

Society as system of interrelated parts. Work together; shared values, norms, rules, Maintain social order

• Solidarity

• Social Control

Solidarity

Level of connectedness one feels to others in the environment

Example: Protests/Strikes and Disaster Relief

Social Control

Social mechanisms that regulate a person’s action

Example: structured rules, laws, everyday interpersonal interactions, unwritten rules, and cultural norms

Cultural Relativism

A person’s beliefs, values, and practices should be understood and judged within the context of their own culture, rather than by the standards of another

Example: Tipping Culture, Eye Contact

Ethnocentric/Ethnocentricism

Using one’s own culture or ethnicity as a standard to judge and evaluate other people, cultures, or customs

Example: Believing your own group is superior

Rational Choice Theory

Individuals make logical choices by weighing costs and benefits to maximize their personal benefit

Example: Consumer purchases, Healthcare plans

Social Reproduction Theory

Capitalism relies on the daily and generational work of making and sustaining human life

Example: Cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, and healthcare

Migration

The temporary or permanent movement of people from one place to another; stay outside your country of residence for at least 1-year

Migrants

• Documented

• Undocumented (irregular, illegal)

Forcibly Displaced People

• Refugees

• Asylum seekers/Asylees

• Stateless people

• Returnees

• Internally displaced people

• Parolee (temporary status)

Naturalization Act of 1790

Any free white person of “good character” who has been living in the US for two years can apply for citizenship

• Irish & German immigration in 1800s

• 
  

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Ellis Island open in 1892

1.3 million enters US in 1907 alone

Immigration Act of 1917

Literacy requirements

Immigration Act of 1924 (quotas)

Bracero Program (‘42-’64), McCarran-Walter Act (‘52), Operation Peter Pan (‘60-’62)

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (quota system ends)

U.S grants a base of 675,000 permanent immigrant visas (“Green card”) per year

• Employment visas (around 140,000/year)

• U.S citizens spouses, parents, and children under the age of 21 ( around 226,000 to 480,000/year)

International Migration

2024: Around 304 million International migrants in the world (3.7 percent of the global population)

Basis for Eligibility: TPS

Country-wide conditions (war, environmental disasters, or epidemics)

Basis for Eligibility: Asylum Status

Individual persecution (targeted based on race, religion, politics)

Basis of Eligibility: Refugee Status

Individual persecution

(targeted based on race, religion, politics)

Location When Applying: TPS

Must already be inside the U.S

Location When Applying: Asylum Status

Must be Inside the U.S or at a port of entry

Location When Applying: Refugee Status

Must apply from outside the U.S

Proof Required: TPS

No proof of personal targeting is needed. You only prove you are a national of that country and were living in the U.S. by a certain date

Proof Required: Asylum Status

High burden of proof. You must prove you specifically were harmed or have well-founded fear of being harmed

Proof Required: Refugee Status

High burden of proof. You must prove you specifically were harmed or have well-founded fear of being harmed

Active TPS Designated Countries in US

• El Salvador:

• Lebanon

• Sudan

• Ukraine

El Salvador: TPS in US

Extended through September 9 2026

Lebanon: TPS in US

Designated through November 27, 2026, in response to ongoing conflict

Sudan: TPS in US

Extended through October 19. 2026

Refugees in U.S.

• 1956-1957: First refugees in US from Hungary (“Cold War refugees”)

• Refugee Act of 1980 → U.S Refugees resettlement act

• 2026: Refugee cap of 7,500 slots, prioritizing white Afrikaners from South Africa

Refugee Act of 1980:

U.S refugee resettlement act

• Cap set by President; U.S. presidents have allowed an average annual admissions ceiling (Cap) of approximately 90,000 → 95,000 refugees, with actual yearly arrivals averaging around 70,000 → 80,000

US Agency For International Development

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) focuses on poverty relief, formed under JFK

Criticism of USAID

Companies ultimately profit more than countries; little $$$ makes it to local areas