1.1 Understanding Social Problems

A Divided Nation

• Globalization: the growing economic, cultural, and technological interdependence between countries and regions
  • While some social problems are universal, others impact only the nation in which they appear
• Politics in America
  • System characterized by two-parties with differing philosophies about the role of government, social, and economic policies
  • Democrats or progressives are liberal with left leaning views
  • Republicans or reactionaries are conservative with right leaning views
• Political partisanship: deeply held views by political party supporters with little to no motivation to \n compromise with opposing political views
• Political tribalism: unquestioning loyalty to a political belief or party
• Roots of political partisanship
  • During the Vietnam War, there was much political and social divisiveness
• Social forces that contribute to political partisanship include:
  • Political extremism
  • Greater racial, religious, and ethnic diversity
  • Leaders who demonize opponents
  • Increased class division
  • Disinformation campaigns
• Populist movements: emphasize “the people” rather than the “government elite” and their political parties, tend to be conservative, right to far-right leaning, anti-immigrant, nationalistic, and anti-globalist

Fundamentals of Sociology

Social Problems

• Social problem: a social condition that a segment of society views as harmful to members of \n society and in need of remedy
  • The media has major influence over how social problems are defined
• Objective elements of a social problem
  • Existence of a social condition
  • Awareness of social conditions occurs through life experiences, reports in the media, and education
• Subjective elements of a social problem
  • Belief that a particular social condition is harmful to society or a segment of society and that it should and can be changed
  • These are not considered social problems unless a segment of society believes these conditions diminish the quality of human life
• Variability in definitions of social problems
  • Disagreements about what is a social problem vary on the basis of: \n • Individuals and groups \n • Cross societies and geographic regions \n • Change over time due to changing definitions of conditions, and the \n conditions themselves change

Social Structures

• Social structure: how society is organized
  • Includes different segments and relationships within a society
• Institutions: established and lasting patterns of social relationships
  • Include family, religion, politics, mass media, medicine, science and technology, etc.
  • Lack of effectiveness of institutions meeting the needs of a society and changes contribute and are responsible for many social problems
  • Made up of social groups
  • Status: a position occupied by people in social groups
  • Statuses are associated with roles like rights, obligations, and expectations
  • Earned status: a status that society assigns to an individual on the basis of factors over which the individual has some control
    • Eg. high school graduate
  • Ascribed status: a status that society assigns to an individual on the basis of factors over which the individual has no control
    • Eg. race
  • Role: the set of rights, obligations, and expectations associated with a status
• Social group: two or more people who have a common identity, interact, and form a social relationship
  • Primary group: a social group usually consisting of a small number of individuals characterized by intimate and informal interaction
  • Secondary group: a social group involving small or large numbers of individuals, groups that are task-oriented and are characterized by impersonal and formal interaction

Elements of Culture

• Culture: the meanings and ways of life that characterize a society
• Beliefs: definitions and explanations about what is assumed to be true
• Values: social agreements about what is considered good and bad, right and wrong, desirable and undesirable
• Norms: socially defined rules of behavior and serve as guidelines for our behavior and expectations of the behavior of others
• Sanctions: consequences for conforming to or violating norms
• Symbols: representations and include language, gestures, and objects whose meanings are commonly understood by the members of a society

The Sociological Imagination

• The sociological imagination is a term coined by sociologist C. Wright Mills (1959) and refers to the ability for us to see the connections between our personal lives and the social world in which we live
• Using our sociological imagination allows us to see our own personal troubles as public issues and make connections between events and connections in our lives within the social and historical context \n that we live
  • Eg. rather than obesity being a personal trouble, we understand it as part of the social structure and culture, and reframe it as a public issue

Levels of analysis

• Macrosociology: social problems stem from an institutional level
• Microsociology: examines the social psychological dynamics of individuals interacting in small groups

Theoretical Perspectives

• Sociological theories help sociologists explain and predict the social world and provide us with perspectives about social life

  • Theoretical perspectives allow to understand and examine a variety of explanations about the causes of and possible solutions to social problems

• Structural-Functionalist Perspective: views society as working through interconnected parts

• Functions: elements in society that maintain stability and social equilibrium while dysfunctions disrupt social equilibrium

  • Manifest functions: intended and commonly recognized consequences
  • Latent functions: unintended and hidden consequences
  • Eg. College prepares people for the workforce, college is a place for people to meet their potential mates
  • Structural-Functionalist Perspective and Social Problems Explanations
  • Social pathology: views social problems as a sickness, for example, the view that the family institution contributes to juvenile delinquency
    • This view is similar to a disease confined to a bodily organ (institution) yet impacting the entire body (society)
  • Social disorganization: views social problems occurring when society undergoes rapid change as this creates anomie
  • Anomie: normlessness, in which norms or expectations for appropriate behaviors are weak
  • Eg. the increase in family violence during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Conflict perspective: views society as composed of groups and interests competing for power and \n resources and based on the work of Karl Marx

  • Two classes emerged during the industrialization of society and the proliferation of capitalism
  • Bourgeoisie class: the owners of the means of production who operate with a profit motive
  • Proletariat class: workers who sell their labor to earn wages
  • The bourgeoisie not only use their power to exploit workers, they control the institutions of society to their advantage
  • Conflict Perspective and Social Problems Explanations
    • Marxist Conflict theories focus social problems that result from class inequality inherent in a capitalistic system
    • Eg. companies failing to pay workers a living wage resulting in higher rates of working people living in poverty
    • Non-Marxist Conflict theories focus on social conflict that results from competing values and interests among social groups
      • Eg. the political partisanship among the Democratic and Republican parties

• Symbolic interactionist perspective: a condition must be defined or recognized as a social \n problem for it to be a social problem

  • Human behavior is influenced by definitions and meanings that are created and maintained through symbolic interaction with others including verbal and nonverbal communication

  • Social interaction shapes our identity or sense of self; we develop our self-concept by observing how others interact with us and label us

  • Symbolic Interactionist Perspective and Social Problems Explanations

  • Blumer’s Stages of a Social Problem

    1. Societal recognition: the process by which a social problem is “born”
    2. Social legitimation: when the social problem is recognized by the larger community
    3. Mobilization for action that leads to the development and implementation of a plan for dealing with the problem

• Labeling theory: views a social condition or group as problematic if it is labeled as such

  • Eg. people living in cars (problematic) versus people living while vacationing in recreational vehicles (RVs) (acceptable)

• Social constructionism: argues that social reality is created by individuals who interpret the social world around them and therefore social problems are subjective

  • Eg. the views and laws surrounding medical and recreational use of marijuana

• Alienation: a sense of powerlessness and meaninglessness in people’s lives

Understanding Social Problems

• The Industrial Revolution brought about massive societal changes
  • Influence of religion decreased
  • As people moved from rural to urban settings, populations in cities grew rapidly
  • Families became smaller as dependence on family members decreased
• Social problems unique to industrialization emerged and became widespread
  • The need to study these social issues became urgent
  • The field of sociology developed in response