social problums

**Three key elements of sociological imagination:** 

connection between behavioral patterns and social forces

* Historical
* Anthropological: different groups of people
* Critical

The Life Cycle of a Social Problem

1. Initial Awareness - something is wrong
2. Public Issue- this is a big issue
3. Active Debate: Causes/Policies
4. Political "Solution" (may be temporary -> back to Step 1 bc it is unusual to solve a problem completely)

Lessons of Social Problem Life Cycle

- Different people/ groups see issues in distinct ways depending on ideology and material interests
- Even the most "technical" social problems are ultimately "political"
- Powerful people (and those with media access) get to set agendas and mold discussions

social pathology

* social Darwinism- survival of the fittest
* Some people are less fit → fit/isolate them and let them die
* BIOLOGICAL
* Modern Proponents: "innate inferiority"/THE BELL CURVE → Strongly suggest that black people are less intelligent than white (IQ test is inherited )

WEAKNESS:

* non-sociological and based on faulty biology


* victim blaming

Social Disorganization

* truly sociological
* functionalism"/rapid change causes problems - rising "deviance," etc.
* Policy: restore equilibrium, readjust society, help deviants "fit in"

WEAKNESS:

* group blaming

Social Structural

* Emphasizes how society routinely generates conflicts and inequality
* change institutional political **economy** not individuals → NON-person blaming

WEAKNESS:


1. `Extreme` version denies any personal responsibility → perceiving people as “robots”

why do ppl believe in fake news

* We often “believe” things we don't fully understand or cant fully explain: climate change, the contagion of the COVID virus
* confirmation bias
* people believe what they want to believe → MOTIVATED REASONING (The Atlantic-Beck)
* misinformation can spread quickly
* no trust in US → motivated by fear and insecurity
* possibility of social threats, which steers them away from wanting to see the truth

How to combat fake news

* With information followed by disscussion and debate that encourages ciritical thinking

Capitalism (ideal typical)

competition between rich and poor people

* private property


* personal profit
* competition (many buyers/sellers)
* Laissez-faire (no government interference)

Monopoly Capitalism (actually existing)

big companies controlling everything ex: amazon

* megamergers
* Oligopoly- two or three companies are competing 


* Interlocking Directorates
* Transnational or Multinational Corporations

Socialism (Ideal typical)

* Democratization and participation
* Egalitarianism- equality and same social power
* Community (cooperation)
* Public ownership of basic industry

Corporate Socialism (actually existing)

\-Privatization of profit

* Various corporate "bailouts" → gov saving banks
* **political system bias that favors rich and corporate interests**
* ppl without money are not well represented in politics
* big businesses have control over legal policies

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Uneven distribution of income 

* US income inequality is *much higher*
* tax cuts with rich and creates debt with poor
* cuts of funding in social services, health, education
* Deregulation of banks, stock market, trade etc -> massive profits for business 

The US poverty line

poverty: lack of income/resources

* assumes that poor families spend one third of their income on food
* "real" poverty line should **be more than 50% higher**
* It underestimates the true rate of poverty in the US → leaves out housing, medical, and transportation

**Innate inferiority Theory (explains poverty)**

* bell curve and biological reasoning
* you are poor because you are weak

WEAKNESS:

* victim blaming
* poverty is inevitable
* accepts IQ as legit reason
* encourages policymakers to ignore poverty

**Culture inferiority theory (explains poverty)**

* Poor have different values/lifestyles from the mainstream
* These cultural differences are crucial disadvantage that explain continued poverty

WEAKNESS:

* The poor largely share the dominant values

**Structual Theories (explains poverty)**

* How society is organized creates poverty/inequality and makes certain kinds of people especially vulnerable to economic distress
* Institutional discrimination: accepted social arrangements and ways of doing things disadvangous various “minority groups”

Political Economical Approaches - Capitalism

* Capitalism prioritizes profits rather than needs; globalization and high tech economy → promotes poverty
* employers don’t pay workers
* investments decisions are made without regard for employees
* businesses move offshore to lower costs and maximize profits (less jobs)

Why Poverty is Rising

* Presidents push:
* to cut welfare and public assistance
* budget cuts for food stamps, job training, and aid
* 2008 Recession led to loss of high paying jobs in manufacturing and increase of low paying sector service jobs (fast food, mail)

Strategies to End Poverty

Job training, guaranteed incomes, income supports, higher minimum wages, new job creations, childcare, health insurance

Define Minority Groups

* powerless
* appear differently
* negative stereotyping
* unfair treatment and discrimination

Theoretical Views of Race

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* Social pathology: biological inferiority
* Race (genes) -> IQ
* IQ -> socioeconomic status (SES)
* Social disorganization -

Moynihan Thesis

* “The Vanishing Black Family,” black people aren’t because lack of jobs, they are poor because of their “ghetto culture”
* To promote “personal responsibility” and “the work ethic,” poor single mothers with children over three must find employment 

1996 Welfare Reform (Clinton)

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* denies aid to mothers and children
* Denies aid to legal immigrants
* Imposes 5-year lifetime limit for mothers
* Provides almost no funding for childcare, job training, etc

Assumptions:

1 . free market will solve issue - people are desperate enough to find work when forced


2. welfare dependency - people don’t have work ethic and have “culture of poverty”

Bias Theory

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Dominant groups are biased towards minorities (make assumptions, believe the race problem is solved)

Levels of Discrimination

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1. Derogation: Stereotyping language, culture, popular depiction, TV
2. Denial: exclusion, segregation
3. Violence: kkk, lynching, gay-bashing, SA ex) police brutality

Institutional Racism

explicit attitudes or racial bias of individuals by the existence of systematic.

Themes:


1. History helps to determine present conditions and affects resistance to change
2. Discrimination can occur without individual conscious bigotry or racism
3. Institutional discrimination is more invisible than individual racism
4. Institutional discrimination is reinforced because institutions are interrelated

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Trends in US Racial and Ethnic Relations

1. Hostile towards immigrants (more immigrants causes tensions in society)
2. Hate crimes against Hispanics and people people “who look Muslim” are rising
3. The widespread police practice of profiling and maltreating Blacks and Latinos, and Arab-Americans
4. Rising racial and ethnic tensions on a college campus

Affirmative Action

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1st: Passive nondiscrmiantion

2nd: Pure affirmative action

3rd: Affirmative action with a preferential selection

4th: Hard Quotas

Immigration Patterns

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* Settlement to different regions- less in big cities and farms
* California as the “harbinger” of the future, whites now minorities 
* More than ¼ of US “non-white”
* Immigration part of US population growth

Why “gender” not “sex”

Many of the crucial differences actually may NOT be due to biology (ex: socialization)

* We “play” certain “parts” based position, status, etc

Cost of Traditional Gender Roles

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* For women:
* Relative powerlessness
* Limits of Academic/occupational potential
* Lower respect for women's abilities
* Lower self-esteem
* Create identity problems “am i a mother or a career person”
* “Empty nest syndrome” -> kid leaves -> now what
* Aging and feminine beauty
* For men:
* Limits full development emotionally and psychologically
* distance from family/interpersonal communication
* Tends to steer men away from traditionally “female” jobs or avocations (homophobia)
* May explain why men life expectancy is lower than men

Androgyny as an alternative

Refers to when someone is not required to play a male or female role

How Technology has Influenced Gender Relations

* Frees people from biologically based roles (ex. jobs requiring physical strength)
* contraceptives and reproductive technology access
* tv perpetuates ideas about gender roles

Societal Costs of Gender inequality

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* Limits use of human talents through discrimination
* Underpaying women hurts family and the domestic economy 
* Rising feminist consciousness and activism create disruptions like lawsuits

Heteronormality

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* Heteronormality- heterosexuality is normal and everything else is deviant
* Well known attempts to force hetronormality involve gay weddings/”religous freedom” and the transgender “bathroom bill”

Myths about Family

* dad is breadwinner, mom is homemaker, two kids in family
* in reality, both parents can work. there are many single parent families and extended family homes

Recent trends about Family

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* Young adults living with parents because of very high housing costs
* High housing costs also leading to more “nonfamily households” (unrelated people living in one household)
* Fewer households with children – more parents are either not having children or postponing them; more minority households have children
* Rising number of dual-worker families – raises the issue of family/work balance for parents and issue of “family leave”; childcare is expensive 
* Children of single parents face various challenges: lower academic achievement, higher absenteeism, and drop out, more drug use, and more issues in their own marriages 

Consequences of Divorce for Men & Women

Men

* better off economically
* "freed" from childcare (more time for other activities including work and school)
* depression, loneliness, and psychological issues

Women

* initiate 2/3 of all divorces
* mothers with children struggle to parent and survive economically

Causes of Child Abuse

* mentally ill parents, actually only 10%


* 30% of child abusers were abused as children themselves
* Chronic substance abuse and addiction
* high correlation between poverty and child abuse and neglect

Consequences of Child abuse

* brain damage, growth, speech problems, etc.


* depression and low self-esteem


* language deficits and learning disabilities


* do poorly in school on various measures


* Anti-social behavior, aggression, fear, anger, stress, poor coping ability
* Victims more likely to run away or have contact with police