Social Problems Test 2

Economy

• Social systems (institution)

• Controls goods & services

• Production

• Distribution

• Consumption

Politics

Social systems (institution)

Makes decisions about “how to live” (taxes)

Means of production

• the “stuff” of an economy 

• Raw materials

• Equipment

• Factories

• Market: where goods are sold

Capitalism

• Private ownership of means of production

• Markets are controlled by supply and demand

• Characterized by competition

• Little oversight by government

Problems with Capitalism

• Concentration of wealth & lots of economic inequality

• “Free market” means:

• Market determines both wages & prices

• No worker protection

Socialism

• Collective ownership of means of production

• Community more important than individual success

• Government steers the economy

Problems with socialism

• Characterized by low standards of living

• Limitations on personal freedom

State capitalism

• State heavily invested in private enterprise

• Government acts as a corporation

• Ex: state-owned oil companies

Welfare capitalism

• Extensive social supports 

• High taxes support welfare programs

• Ex: Scandinavian countries

Political Economy

• Impossible to separate economic systems from political systems

• Call those linkages “political economy”

• Capitalist political economies: limited regulation creates economic opportunity

Money and politics

• Corporations make up the vast majority of American economy

• Consistent with capitalist economic system

• Government support of private businesses

• As customers

• In the form of subsidies, favorable regulation, etc.

• Connections between the economy & the political system

• Money flows into politics via special interest groups, corporations

• Lobbying: SIGs advocating for their issues with elected representatives

Data related to money in politics

Donations from

• Employees

• PACs (political action comity)

• Corporate accounts

Donating to

• Federal candidates

• Parties

• PACs

• Nonpartisan political organizations

Political polarization

• Increasing political division

• Positive distinction

• “my” group is good; “other” groups are bad

• American major parties have been drifting further apart

Racial Ideology & Polarization

• Ethnonationalism: ideology that connects national identity to one ethnoracial group

• Protectionist, anti-immigration

• Combination of political polarization & ethnonationalism is powerful 

Characteristics of U.S economy

• Economic system: capitalism

• (State? Welfare? Free market?)

• Mode of production

• Agrarian / agricultural

• Industrial

• Postindustrial / service

Primary Labor Market

• “professions”

• Well-paid

• Employee benefits

• Stable employment

Secondary Labor Market

• Poorly paid

• Few benefits

• Little advancement

• Unstable employment

Marx ideals

• Under industrial capitalism workers are powerless

• This creates feelings of isolation

• From process of work

• From products of work

• From others

• From self

Weber ideals

• Work and society are depersonalized

• Rationalization / efficiency isn't “natural”

• Efficiency doesn't care about humans

Mode of Production & Unions

• Service sector jobs historically not unionized

• How do the needs of service sector workers differ from industrial workers?

Resistance to Unionization

• Corporations / employers punish workers who try to unionize

• “Right to Work” laws: workers can't be required to join a union

Technology Changes Work

• Automation (incl. AI) good for

• Repetitive tasks

• Dangerous tasks

• Automation (incl. AI) not good for

• Creative tasks

• Interactive tasks

Effects of Technology

• Removes Separation of home and work

•  Service-sector “piece work”

• Pervasive surveillance

Burnout

• Extreme emotional and physical exhaustion as a result of work factors

• Bad for both workers & employers

Great Resignation & Quiet Quitting

• ~47 million Americans left jobs in 2021

• Others “quite quit”

Conservative Perspective on Work

• Tends to favor free markets

• Problems in the market should correct themselves given enough time

• Recognize need for some social supports

• Individuals responsible for their relationships with the labor market

Liberal Perspective on Work

• Markets require regulation

• Social welfare

• Minimum wage, taxation

• Workplace safety

Radical Perspective on Work

• Markets are the problem

• Regulation won't fix fundamental issues

• Start over completely!

• Marx would say workers should own the means of production

• Government should look out for best interests of entire population

Formal Education & Industrialization

• Moves away from the home

• Industrial economy requires literacy

• Mandatory education by early 20^th century

• To 16 years or completion of 8^th grade 

Inequalities Within US Education

• Inequalities mirrored in education outcomes

• Generally better outcomes for white & wealthy students

• Exception: gender

Ethnoracial Diversity in Schools

• De jure school segregation from late 1800s through mid-20th century 

• De facto segregation that algins with residential segregation 

• Even diverse schools trend towards internal segregation

• “tracking” steers white kids towards advanced classes

• ELL need steers immigrant kids into separate classes

• And other factors

Connections of school to Criminal Justice

• Most simple explanation

• When police are in schools, disciplinary issues can become criminal issues

• More complex explanation:

• Combination of factors make SROs more common in majority-minority schools

• Trend towards adultification of minority kids

History of SPOs

• Response to belief that school violence a social problem

• Esp. Columbine shooting

• Significant federal funding for programs

• Coincided with a general decline in crime rates

• Violence socially constructed in racial context

King & Schindler fixing problems with SPO’s

Short term:

• Limit scope of SRO duties

• Clearly defined roles associated with fewer referrals to criminal system

Medium term:

• Replace SPOs with social supports

• Redirect funding from policing to social services

• Instead:

• More counselors & social workers

• Restorative justice programs

Long term:

• Large scale policy changes to break connection between school & criminal justice system

• Alternative discipline systems

• Focus on community as a whole

Segregation: Not just Race

• Comparison: two schools in Catahoula Parish, LA

• Block HS: primarily black, underfunded, etc.

• Harrisonburg HS: mostly white, better funding

• School funding based on property taxes

• Plus, supplemental funding from “bond issues”

• What's the problem with saying the block HS community should raise taxes to fund repairs?

Functionalism on Education

• Education's role in upward mobility

• Schools' role in labor force preparedness, socialization

• Education system not doing its job is a social problem

Conflict Theory on Education

• Unequal access to quality education reinforces other inequalities

• Tracking reflects and reinforces existing inequalities

Conservative solutions on education

• Premise:  government has total control over public education. This is bad!

• Solutions focus on competition & parent choice

• Charter schools

• Magnet schools

• Voucher programs

Liberal Solutions on education

• Premise: public education exists in larger context of economic, racial inequalities

• Solutions focus on shoring up existing public education systems, nationwide standards

Demography

• Study human population

• Trends upwards and downwards

• Causes of those trends

Causes of Global Population Growth

• High fertility

• Low mortality

Problems of Population Growth

• Environmental impacts

• Resource limitations (esp. Food)

• This creates inequality on local & global scale

Global Stratification

• Power (of all kinds) is not evenly distributed between nation-states!

• Current interest: global wealth

• Roots in colonialism, continued in global capitalism

GDP

gross domestic product, a measure of the size of a nation's economy  

GDP per capital

GDP divided by population

Classifying Global Inequality

• High income nations

• Advanced tech, high productivity; ~79% income

• Middle income nations

• Combo industrial & rural; ~ 19% income

• Low-income nations

• Mostly rural; ~ 2% income

Absolute poverty

life threatening poverty 

Relative poverty

lack of typical resources