Introduction to Sociology

The Social Context: 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
  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
  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:
    • Individuals and groups
    • Cross societies and geographic regions
    • Change over time due to changing definitions of conditions, and the
    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
  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
  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
  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

Conducting Research Studies

• It’s important for the general public to understand the structure and execution of research studies in order to be informed citizens

• Sociologists progress through the following stages in conducting research on a social problem

Stage One: Formulating a Research Question

• A research study usually begins with a research question

• Question may come from the researcher’s own life experiences, personal values, test a particular sociological theory, or reflect current events or concerns of community groups/activist organizations

  • Eg. Why does homelessness exist?

Stage Two: Reviewing the Literature

• A review of published material on the topic to find out what is already known about it

  • Eg. Governments are not doing enough to lower homelessness in society

Stage Three: Defining Variables

• Variable: any measurable event, characteristic, or property that varies or is subject to change

• Researchers must operationally define the variables they study to specify how a variable is to be measured

• Operational definitions are particularly important for defining variables that cannot be directly observed; specify how a variable is to be measured

  • Eg. Homelessness is defined as a person who lacks a permanent, regular,
    and safe shelter

Stage Four: Formulating a Hypothesis

• Hypothesis: a prediction about how one variable is related to another variable

• Dependent variable: the variable that the researcher wants to explain

• Independent variable: the variable that is expected to explain change in the dependent variable

• In formulating a hypothesis, researchers predict how the independent variable affects the dependent variable

  • Eg. Communities that lack living wage mandates tend to have higher homelessness rates

Methods of Data Collection

• Experiments involve manipulating the independent variable to determine how it affects the dependent variable

  • Assess causation by manipulating the independent variable to determine how it affects the dependent variable

  • Requires one or more experimental groups that are exposed to the experimental treatment(s) and a control group that is not exposed

  • Major strength: provides evidence for causal relationships

  • Major weakness: results from small samples and artificial laboratory settings; may not be generalizable to people in natural settings

• Surveys involve eliciting information from respondents through questions

  • Requires a representative sample

    • Sample: a portion of the population, selected to be representative so that information from the sample is generalizable to a larger population

  • Types of surveys include:

    • Interviews

      • Advantages: interviewers can clarify questions and follow up on answers

      • Disadvantages: cost; lack of privacy and anonymity that may result in respondents refusing to participate or concealing or altering information

    • Questionnaires

      • Advantages: Less expensive and less time-consuming; Provide privacy and anonymity to the respondents thus increasing the likelihood of truthful answers

      • Disadvantage: difficult to obtain an adequate response rate

    • Web-based surveys

      • A new method of conducting survey research through web-based surveys

      • Reduce many of the problems associated with traditional surveys.

• Field research involves observing social behavior in settings in which it occurs naturally

  • Participant observation: the researcher participates in the phenomenon being studied to obtain an insider’s perspective

  • Nonparticipant observation: the researcher observes the phenomenon being studied without actively participating

  • Sometimes sociologists conduct in-depth detailed analyses or case studies of an individual, group, or event

  • Advantage: Provides detailed information about values, rituals, norms, behaviors, symbols, beliefs, and emotions of those being studied

  • Disadvantages: Researchers' observations may be biased; findings may not be generalizable due to small samples

• Secondary data: data that have already been collected by other researchers or government agencies or that exist as historical documents

  • Advantages: Researchers avoid time and expense of collecting data and is readily accessible; Often based on large, representative samples

  • Disadvantage: Researcher is limited to the data already collected

Physical and Mental Health

Global Context: The COVID-19 Pandemic

• World Health Organization (WHO) and social problems

  • Health: a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being

  • The study of social problems is inherently intertwined with the study of health

  • Pandemic: a worldwide disease outbreak

• COVID-19 is a pandemic

  • Death rate: the number of people per 100,000 in a population that die in a specific period

  • Contact tracing: focuses on identifying contacting people exposed to others with positive test results

  • Positivity rate: the percentage of positive results for every 100 tests

  • The first reported cases were identified in the Wuhan, Hubie province of China

Overview of Global Health

Classifying Countries

• When comparing health outcomes, sociologists generally classify countries by level of economic development

  • High-income country: a country with a relatively high gross national income per capita

    • Aka “most-developed countries”

  • Middle-income country: a country with a relatively low gross national income per capita

    • Aka “less-developed countries” or “developing countries”

  • Low-income country: one of the poorest countries in the world

    • Aka “least-developed countries”

• Figures such as life expectancy and cause of death vary significantly between countries with different levels of wealth

Key Concepts

• Life expectancy: the average number of years that individuals born during a
  specific year can expect to live

  • Japan (84 years) versus Central African Republic (53 years)

  • Higher in high-income countries

• Mortality: death

  • Noninfectious versus infectious disease

  • Vary globally, often correlated with a country’s level of economic development

• Infant mortality rate: the number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age per 1,000 live births

  • Averages 4 to 48 deaths/1,000 live births around the globe

  • Under-5 mortality rate: the number of deaths of children under age 5 per 1,000 live births

  • Both of these rates are much higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries

• Maternal mortality rate: the number of deaths from complications associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and unsafe abortion

  • More than 94% of maternal deaths occur in low-income countries

  • 

• Herd immunity: the point at which enough people in a population have been exposed to or immunized from an infectious agent to stop its spread

Globalization and Health

• Globalization

  • International organizations monitor and report outbreaks of disease, disseminate guidelines for controlling and treating disease, and share medical knowledge and research findings

  • Global travel is the primary means through which illnesses are transmitted between countries

  • International trade agreements influence health

    • Access to range of goods including tobacco and processed foods

    • Globesity is a consequence of growing middle-class in poor countries

      • Globesity: the high prevalence of obesity around the world

• Medical tourism: a global industry that involves traveling, primarily across international borders, for the purpose of obtaining medical care

• Medical tourism takes place for three main reasons:

  • To obtain medical treatment that is not available in their home country

  • To avoid waiting periods for treatment

  • To save money on the cost of medical treatment

Applying Sociological Theories

Structural-Functionalist Perspective

• Health care is a social institution that functions to maintain the well-being of individuals and the society

• Failures in the health care system are dysfunctions that impact large numbers of people and other social institutions such as the economy

• Social change impacts health, and health concerns impact social change

• Latent dysfunctions: unintended or unrecognized consequences

  • Use of antibiotics in agriculture and the connection to antimicrobial resistance among humans

Conflict Perspective

• Socioeconomic status or social class, power, and profit motive have an impact on illness and health care

• Health care industrial complex

  • Powerful groups and wealthy corporations influence health-related policies and laws

  • 600 million was spent by health industry in 2019 lobbying Congress

  • Pharma corporations decide which drugs and products to develop

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

• Meanings, definitions, and labels influence health, illness, and health care

• Meanings are learned through interaction with others and through media messages and portrayals

• Society or groups come to decide and agree what social conditions are defined as illnesses or diseases

• Medicalization: labeling behaviors and conditions as medical problems

  • Individual experiences of distress into shared experiences of illness

    • Eg. childbirth, menopause, death, etc.

Health Disparities in the United States

• Health disparity: a preventable difference in exposure to disease or injury or in opportunities to achieve optimal health across social groups

• Social stratification: systems of social inequality by which a society divides people into groups with unequal access to wealth, material and social resources, and power

  • Socioeconomic status or social class

    • Educational attainment, occupation, and household income

    • Low socioeconomic status and poor communities linked to:

      • Lower life expectancy and leading causal factor of poor health

      • Greater stress and fewest resources to cope

      • Hospitals more likely to be understaffed and lack life-saving equipment

      • COVID-19 deaths in U.S. are higher in low-income counties

      • Food deserts: areas that lack access to grocery stores

    • Health also affects socioeconomic status and ability to pursue education, employment training, and employment itself

  • Race/ethnicity

    • Income, education, housing, toxins, and access to healthcare

      • Black Americans, Native Americans, and Alaska Natives have lower than average health outcomes

    • COVID-19 disproportionately impacts underserved groups

      • Overcrowded and collective-living arrangements

      • Employed in essential jobs

      • Higher rates of chronic conditions

    • Hispanic Paradox

      • Hispanic cultural values promote family and community closeness, and traditional healthy diets which control for risk factors

        

  • Gender

    • Men have more access to social power, privileges, resources, and opportunities but lower life expectancy

      • Greater exposure to occupational hazards

      • Social norms encourage risk-taking behaviors

      • Less likely to seek health care and disclose symptoms

      • Less likely to take COVID-19 seriously and take precautions

      • Higher rates of antisocial personality disorder, and alcohol abuse

    • Women’s health is impacted by gender inequalities

      • Economic, political, and spousal inequalities

      • Higher rates of depression and anxiety

Mental Illness: The Hidden Epidemic

• Mental health: psychological, emotional, and social well-being

• Mental illness: all mental disorders characterized by sustained patterns of abnormal thinking, mood, or behaviors that are accompanied by significant distress and/or impairment in daily functioning

  • Stigma: a discrediting label that affects an individual’s self-concept and disqualifies that person from full social acceptance

  • Stigma surrounding mental illness is partly due to misconceptions about their causes, such as that mental illness is caused by personal weakness, or results from engaging in immoral behavior

  • The media often reinforces violent stereotypes through selective news reports and stereotypical portrayals in fictional crime shows and dramas

• Extent and impact of mental illness

  • In 2019, nearly 1 in 5 adults had a mental illness in the past year

  • The highest prevalence was among 18- to 25-year-olds

  • About 65% received treatment

  • Almost half of adolescents (13-18) had been diagnosed with a mental disorder in their lifetime

  • Depression and anxiety are the most common in U.S. and around globe

  • Untreated mental illness has many social consequences

    • Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. and second leading cause of death among 10- to 34-year-olds

• Mental illness among college students

  • In 2019, 1 in 3 college students had been diagnosed or treated for a mental
    health condition in the past year

    • 24% had been diagnosed for depression

    • 22% had been diagnosed for anxiety

    • 12% had been diagnosed for panic attacks

    • More than 1 in 4 college students reported that anxiety affected their academic performance; 1 in 5 reported that depression affected their academic performance

• Treatment of mental illness

  • Deinstitutionalization: the shift during the 1960s from in-patient care to community-based mental health centers and drug therapies

    • Legislation passed prohibiting committing people to psychiatric hospitals against their will unless they posed a danger to themselves

    • Community-based mental health centers have not adequately met mental health care needs as millions of Americans go without care

  • Criminalization of mental illness: the view that correctional facilities have replaced the mental health asylums of the past

Strategies for Action

• Improving health in middle- and low-income countries

  • Access to adequate nutrition, clean water, and sanitation

  • Increase immunizations and distribute mosquito nets to prevent malaria

  • Provide access to quality reproductive care and family planning services

  • Provide women education and income-producing opportunities

• Improving mental health care

  • Eliminate stigma surrounding mental illness

  • Improve access to mental health services

    • Recruit more mental health professionals

    • Improve health insurance coverage

    • Expand mental health screening

    • Make mental health screenings a standard practice reimbursed by insurance companies

  • Support the mental health needs of college students

Problems in American Health Care

Health Insurance Options

• Universal health care system: system of health care, typically financed by the government, that ensures health care coverage for all members

• The United States is the only developed country without universal healthcare

  • Private insurance coverage exists mainly through employers and employee contributions

  • Private insurance is also purchased by individuals through Affordable Care Act exchanges

• Managed care: any medical insurance plan that controls costs through monitoring and controlling the decisions of health care providers

• Medical debt: debt that results when people cannot afford to pay their medical bills

• Medicare

  • Federally funded program provides health insurance benefits to elderly, disabled, and those with advanced kidney disease

  • Medicare recipients pay monthly premiums, copays, and partial or full costs for long-term care, vision, dental, and prescriptions

  • Over seven million seniors cannot afford prescriptions

• Medicaid

  • Public health insurance funded by federal and state governments and covers individuals who meet low-income eligibility criteria

  • Physicians less likely to accept Medicaid over private insurance because government reimbursement for fees are lower and slower

• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

  • A public health insurance program, jointly funded by the federal and state governments, that provides health insurance coverage for children whose families meet income eligibility standards

• Military Health System (MHS) and TRICARE

  • The federal entity that provides medical care in military hospitals and clinics, and in combat zones and at bases overseas and on ships, and that provides health insurance known as Tricare to active duty service members, military retirees, their eligible family members, and their survivors

• Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

  • A system of hospitals, clinics, counseling centers, and long-term care facilities that provides care to military veterans

  • Recent changes impact more co-payments especially for family members and conditions not related to military service

• Indian Health Service

  • A federal agency that provides health services to members of 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their descendants

  • Funding appropriated annually by Congress

  • Lower coverage than Medicare, Medicaid, and VHA leaving many Indigenous Americans and Alaskans without access to health care

• Uninsured

  • In 2019, 8% (29.3 million Americans) did not have health insurance for the entire year

    • People of color, nonelderly adults, and children are less likely to be insured

    • 73% of noninsured families had one or more full-time employed member

      • Companies do not offer insurance, employees might not be eligible due to part-time status or waiting periods, and some employees cannot afford the premiums

High Health Care Costs

• The United States spends more on health care per person than any other country in the world

  • Health care costs average $10,966 per person

  • Health care is 17% of the national GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

  • Two-thirds of all bankruptcies are related to health care debt

  • One-fourth of U.S. adults report that they or a family member postponed treatment for a serious medical condition due to cost

  • Compared to other industrialized countries, the U.S. has lower life
    expectancies and higher maternal and infant mortality rates

• Factors contributing to health care costs

  • High cost of administration

  • U.S. spends three times more on health administrative costs

  • Higher-cost services and prescription drugs

  • In the U.S., people spend more on medical procedures

  • In 2019, nearly one-third of U.S. adults reported not taking prescription medications at some point in the previous year due to cost

  • One estimate suggests there are 125K deaths annually associated with skipping medications

Other Major Issues

• Lack of competition and transparency

  • Patients often experience surprise billing especially common for emergency services

  • Medical practitioners often charge patients with private insurance higher fees than are allowed for Medicare patients

• Higher utilization of hospitals and specialists

  • A third of all health care expenditures in the U.S. are for hospitals

  • In communities where uninsured people lack access to health clinics, they are more likely to utilize emergency services

• Preexisting conditions: illnesses or injuries that occurred before a person begins coverage under a new health insurance plan

• Parity: a concept requiring equality between mental health care insurance coverage and other health care coverage

Understanding Epidemiological and Health Care-Related Problems

• The sociological view of illness and health care examines both social causes and social consequences of health problems

• Families, communities, and society are impacted when individuals cannot support themselves due to physical or mental illness

• COVID-19 showed how illness can affect all aspects of social life

• A comprehensive approach to improving the health of a society requires a society-wide commitment to addressing diverse societal issues

Strategies for Action

• Expanding U.S. health coverage

  • The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded health coverage and mandated coverage for pre-existing medical conditions

    • Health care reform legislation that President Obama signed into law in 2010, with the goal of expanding health insurance coverage to more Americans. Also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare

  • Supporters for a single-payer health care system in which a single tax-financed public insurance program replaces private insurance, argue that the $400 billion in potential savings would cover every U.S. resident

Drugs and Alcohol

Global Context: Drug Use and Abuse

• Drug: any substance other than food that alters the structure or functioning of a living organism when it enters the bloodstream

  • In 2018, 1 in 19 adults between the ages of 15 and 64 used at least one illicit drug.

  • In 2016, over 3 million deaths were attributable to alcohol.

  • Nearly 17% of the adult population smokes cigarettes, and 80% of the people who smoke cigarettes are from low- and middle-income countries.

• Sociologically, the term drug refers to any chemical substance that:

  • Has a direct effect on users’ physical, psychological, and/or intellectual functioning,

  • Has the potential to be abused, and

  • Has adverse consequences for individuals and/or society.

• Differences in drug use can be attributed to variations in drug policies.

  • Policies include treating drug use as public health issues, widespread prohibition, and criminalization of drug use and distribution such as the case with the War on Drugs in the U.S.

  • 

  • War on drugs: a public policy approach to the illicit drug trade in the United States, initially implemented by the Nixon administration in the 1970s, which focused on the widespread prohibition and criminalization of drug use and distribution

• In the United States, cultural definitions of drug use are contradictory.

  • Some drugs are condemned while others encouraged and tolerated.

  • In the 1800s and early 1900s, opium was used in medicines as a pain reliever, and morphine as a treatment for dysentery and fatigue.

  • Amphetamine-based inhalers were legally available until 1949, and cocaine was an ingredient in Coca-Cola until 1906, when it was replaced with the caffeine drug.

• Use of illegal drugs in the United States is common.

  • In 2018, nearly one out of every five Americans aged 12 and older had used an illicit drug in the month prior to the survey year.

Sociological Theories of Drug Use and Abuse

Key Terms

• Drug abuse: when acceptable social standards of drug use are violated, resulting in adverse physiological, psychological, and/or social consequences

• Chemical dependency: a condition where drug abuse is compulsive; users are unable to stop

• Substance use disorder: a medical diagnosis used when recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically significant health problems, disabilities, and inability to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home

• Theories of drug use explain how structural and cultural forces, biological and psychological factors, influence drug use and society’s responses to it.

Applying Theories

• Structural-Functionalist Perspective

  • Drug abuse is a response to anomie or weakening of societal norms that occurs during rapid social change.

    • Inconsistencies and social strains lead to drug use. Economic disruption and social isolation during COVID-19 led to more than 32% increase in alcohol consumption.

  • Anomie can also exist at an individual level when a person suffers estrangement and turmoil.

    • Eg. An adolescent whose parents are experiencing divorce

  • Drug use is a response to the absence of a perceived bond between the individual and society.

• Conflict Perspective

  • Powerful class influence definitions of what drugs are illegal, and penalties for illegal drug production, sales, and use.

  • Drug use occurs in response to inequality perpetuated by a capitalist system and is a means of escaping oppression and frustration.

    • Alcohol is mainly consumed by white males who are more likely to be in positions of power and profit from the sales and distribution of liquor.

    • Racial disparities in drug arrests and incarceration persist.

  • Historical pattern continues as the increase in opioid use primarily by white people is referred to as the opioid epidemic, provoking sympathy.

• Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

  • Emphasizes the importance of definitions and labeling, and meanings.

  • People internalize labels that influence their drug use.

  • Drug use is learned via verbal and non-verbal language and interactions.

    • Peer influence and social media are strong predictors of teen substance use.

    • Interactions between teens and parents provide a strong source of drug abuse prevention.

  • Symbols are used for political and economic agendas and campaigns against drug use (D.A.R.E., M.A.D.D.).

• Biological Theories

  • Focused on genetics in predisposing one to drug use

    • Genetics are not destiny since lifestyle choice and environmental factors have a significant influence on the likelihood of addiction.

• Psychological Theories

  • Psychological explanations focus on the tendency of certain personality types to be more susceptible to drug use.

    • Substance use disorder is disproportionately high among people with mental illness and may be reflective of a cumulative burden of social factors.

Patterns of Drug Use in the United States

Alcohol: The Drug of Choice

• Heavy drinking: five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of five or more days in the past 30 days

  • 11.8% of respondents in Dept. of Health and Human Services survey

• Binge drinking: drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least one day in the past 30 days

  • 48% of respondents in the same 2018 survey

  • 12- to 20-year-olds consume 90% of their alcohol in this manner.

  • Males are more likely to binge drink compared to females.

• Drinking culture and social context influence binge drinking behavior.

Tobacco and Nicotine

• In 2018, fewer than one in six Americans were current smokers.

• Characteristics of smokers:

  • Male

  • Native Americans and Black Americans

  • Adults with a GED

  • People who identify as LGBT → often smoke due to psychological distress

• In 2019, more than one-third of 8th, 10th, and 12th grades reported using e- cigarettes in the past month.

• E-cigarette: a battery-operated device that produces a vapor that contains nicotine, which can then be inhaled

Marijuana

• States have been easing legal restrictions on marijuana.

  • Many fear that marijuana is a gateway drug.

    • Gateway drug: a drug which commonly leads people to experiment with and use other drugs

  • Research findings show that people who experiment with one drug are likely to experiment with another, and drug users use several drugs concurrently.

  • Fear about potential harms of marijuana.

  • There is widespread support for some form of decriminalization.

• 

Prescription Drugs and the Opioid Crisis

• Psychotherapeutic drug: the non-medical use of any prescription pain reliever, stimulant, sedative, or tranquilizer

• Nearly two-thirds of all drug overdose deaths in 2017 were due to the misuse of prescription painkillers.

• Deaths over the last twenty years included prescription drugs, heroin, and synthetic opioid overdose deaths.

• Drug lords now use sophisticated techniques to target middle America with less expensive and more available heroin.

Meth: The Resurging Epidemic

• Usage rates and admissions to treatment program for methamphetamine abuse showed a steady decline after a peak in 2005.

• Between 2008 and 2015, amphetamine hospitalizations increased by 245% and surpassed a 45% increase in opioid-related hospitalizations.

• Those seeking help for substance abuse disorders are reporting polydrug abuse disorder.

  • Polydrug abuse: occurs when a user becomes dependent on two or more drugs simultaneously

  • Secondary addiction to a drug helps to counteract the negative effects of the primary drug.

Societal Consequences

The Cost to Children and Family

• Approximately 1 in 10 children under the age of 18 lives with a parent in need of treatment for drug or alcohol dependency.

• These children are more likely to:

  • Live in an environment riddled with conflict.

  • Have a higher probability of physical illness including injuries or death from an automobile accident.

  • Suffer with child abuse and neglect.

• 1 in 3 children in foster care was removed due to parental drug use.

  • Grand-family: to children being raised by non=parental family members

Crime and Drugs

• At least 65% of the U.S. prison population is estimated to have an active substance use disorder.

  • Another 20% did not meet definition of a substance abuse disorder but were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of their crime.

  • Crime and drug use are associated with low socioeconomic status.

  • Some criminal offenses are directly the result of drug and alcohol use, possession, sale, etc.

The High Price of Alcohol and Other Drug Use

• The annual cost of substance abuse and addiction is $467.7 billion.

• The annual cost of alcohol abuse is $249 billion or $2.05 per drink.

  • $179 billion in lost workplace productivity, $28 billion to treat people for health problems due to excessive drinking, $25 billion connected to alcohol-related crimes, and $13 billion in car crashes caused by alcohol impairment

• Annual costs of smoking-related illnesses in the United States is at least $300 billion, much of which are absorbed by taxpayers.

• Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against pharmaceutical companies for the destruction of lives and economic costs from the opioid epidemic.

Physical and Mental Health Costs

• Alcohol abuse causes 1 in 10 deaths annually among 20–64-year-olds.

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders predictors include:

  • Late recognition of pregnancy by mother, amount of alcohol consumed by mother 3 months prior to pregnancy, and quantity of alcohol consumed by father.

  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS): a syndrome characterized by serious physical and mental handicaps as a result of maternal drinking during pregnancy

• Cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke impact the health of the smoker and others including infants and fetuses.

• Children who work in tobacco fields risk green tobacco sickness from the absorption of nicotine through the skin from tobacco leaves.

• Drug use and abuse disproportionately effect the vulnerable in society.

The Cost of Drug Use on the Environment

• Cultivation, production, and trafficking impacts the natural environment.

  • Narco-deforestation describes the fast rate of tropical forest loss due to cocaine trafficking in Central and South African countries.

  • Crack: an illegal crystallized drug product produced by boiling a mixture of baking soda, water, and cocaine

• Crime displacement: illicit drug producers moving to remote areas to avoid detection.

  • Water contamination, endangering fish and wildlife, and clear-cutting of natural vegetation are a few environmental consequences in Mexico and the United States.

Strategies for Action

Two Primary Approaches

• Demand reduction: focuses on reducing the demand for drugs through treatment, prevention, and research

  • Drug courts: special courts that divert drug offenders to treatment programs in lieu of probation or incarceration

  • Harm reduction: a public health position that advocates reducing the harmful consequences of drug use for the user as well as for society as a whole

• Supply reduction: focuses on reducing the supply of drugs available on the streets through international efforts, interdiction, and domestic law enforcement

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Prescription Drugs

• Economic Incentives

  • Increase cost of product through taxation

• Government Regulation

  • Nonsmoking policies, age restrictions, regulation of markets

• Legal Action

  • Lawsuits and settlements

Criminalization Strategies and The War on Drugs

• Race, Gender, and Social Class Inequalities

  • Rate of imprisonment on drug charges is nearly six times higher for Black Americans compared to Whites.

  • In 2017, 25% of women in prison were convicted of a drug offense, compared with 14% of men.

  • Social class measured by education and neighborhood poverty is the strongest predictor of drug related incarceration.

• Drug Policy Reforms and Drug Courts

• Deregulation and Legalization

• 

Medicalization Strategy: Addiction as Disease Management

• Inpatient and Outpatient Treatment

• Twelve Step Program

• Community-Based Prevention and Public Health Strategies

• Prevention

• Public Education Campaign

• Warning Labels

• Family, School, and Community Based Prevention Programs

• Warning Labels

Two Primary Issues

• Two issues need to be understood in drug use:

  • Why does the individual use alcohol or other drugs?

    • Many individuals have been failed by society.

    • Policies addressing the social cause of drug use must be a priority.

  • Why does drug use vary dramatically across societies, often independent of a country’s drug policies?

    • A more balanced approach is needed recognizing that not all drugs have the same impact on individuals and societies.

Crime and Social Control

Global Context: International Crime and Social Control

• Crime is ubiquitous; no countries are completely devoid of crime.

• Most countries organize justice systems by police, courts, and prisons.

• Adult males make up the largest category of crime suspects.

• Theft is the most common crime and violent crime is relatively rare.

• Crime rates are usually expressed as number/100,000 people.

  • Violent and property crimes are two major types of crimes.

  • Transnational crime: a crime that occurs across one or more national borders

Understanding Crime and Social Control

• Inequality in society, emphasis on material well-being, and corporate profit produce societal strains and individual frustrations

• There has been a recent decline in crime rates.

  • A shift from punitive to prevention policies will reduce the human and economic costs of crime.

• Restorative justice: a philosophy concerned with reconciling conflict among the victim, the offender, and the community

  • Response to the current state of criminal justice

  • Focuses on repairing the relationship between the victim, offender, and community

Sources of Crime

• Crime: a violation of a federal, state, or local criminal law

  • The offender must have acted voluntarily and with intent and have no legally acceptable excuse.

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

• Sheriff and police departments voluntarily report to the FBI annually the number of reported crimes and arrests.

• Clearance rate: a percentage of cases in which arrests, charges, and referrals to courts have been made

  • Large numbers of crimes go unreported.

  • Police might not record reported crimes.

  • Crime rates might be exaggerated due to external pressures and policing motivations.

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) (Started in 2021)

• Phases out UCR system

• Details on every crime incident and separate offenses within incident

• Collects data on victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and offenders, arrestees, and property involved in crimes

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

• Attempts to account for unreported crimes

  • Dark figure of crime: unreported crime

• Large scale annual survey interviews a representative sample of 150k people over 12 years old in 95k households to collect data about victimization, relationship to and characteristics of offender, and harm.

Self-Report Offender Surveys

• Surveys that collect data from people about their criminal behaviors.

• Attempt to bridge the gap between unreported crimes but are still subject to exaggeration and concealment.

• Reveal that almost every adult has engaged in some criminal behavior.

• Crime funnel helps us understand why only some are convicted.

  • Behavior must become known to have occurred.

  • Behavior must come to the attention of the police, who then file a report, investigate, and make an arrest.

  • Arrestees must go through a preliminary hearing, an arraignment, and a trial, at which they may or may not be convicted.

Applying Sociological Theories

Structural-Functionalist Perspective (Merton)

• Functions of crime include group cohesion and social change (Durkheim).

• Anomie Theory

  • When society limits legitimate means to acquire cultural goals, the resulting strain leads to criminal behaviors.

  • Conformity occurs when culturally defined goals are accepted and socially legitimate means to achieve them exist.

  • Innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion are expressions of strain.

• General Strain Theory (Agnew)

  • When a person experiences strain this leads to criminal behavior.

• Subcultural Theories

  • Some groups have values and attitudes conducive to violence.

  • Members adopt the crime-promoting attitudes of the group.

• Control Theory (Hirschi)

  • Social bond: the bond between individuals and the social order that constrains some individuals from violating social norms

  • Social bonds prevent some people from criminal behaviors.

  • Social bonds include attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.

Conflict Perspective

• Focus is on how laws are created and enforced by those in power to protect the interests of the ruling class

• Connection between societal social inequality and crime rates.

  • The greater the income inequality, the higher the homicide rate.

  • In cities with high unemployment, unemployed defendants have a substantially higher probability of pretrial detention.

  • Female prostitutes are more likely to face arrest compared to the men who seek their services.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

• Labeling Theory (Becker)

  • Being labeled deviant leads to further deviant behavior.

  • Primary deviance: deviance committed before a person is labeled an offender

  • Secondary deviance: deviance which results from being caught and labeled

• Differential Association Theory

  • Individuals learn the values and attitudes associated with crime as well as the techniques and motivations for criminal behavior through interactions with others

Types of Crime

• Index crime: street crime

  • Defined by the FBI as the most serious

  • Violent offenses or crimes against a person

    • Eg. homicide, assault, rape, robbery

    • Classic rape: rape committed by a stranger, with the use of a weapon, resulting in serious bodily injury to the victim

    • Acquaintance rape: rape committed by someone known to the victim

  • Crimes against property

    • Eg. larceny, motor vehicle theft, burglary, arson

    • Larceny: simple theft which does not entail force or the use of force, or breaking and entering

• Vice crime/victimless crime: illegal activities that have no complaining participant(s) and are often thought of as crimes against morality

  • Eg. illegal drugs, engaging in or soliciting prostitution, illegal gambling, pornography

• Organized crime: activity conducted by members of an organization arranged in a hierarchal structure devoted primarily to making money through illegal means

• White collar crime: fraud committed by business and government professionals

  • Characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust

  • Motivated by financial gain and do not use physical threat or violence

  • Reasons for lack of punishment in white collar crime:

    • Organizations dismiss parties involved

    • Crimes go undetected within the complex bureaucracies of organizations

    • Prosecution is difficult due to the burden of time and resources

      • Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) do not require a guilty plea and are used as alternatives to adjudication and usually only require large fine by offending entity

• Occupational crime: motivated by financial individual gain and include employee theft, embezzlement, and insurance fraud

• Corporate crime: benefits a business entity

  • Eg. price fixing, antitrust violations (unfair practices to shut out other competing corporations), security fraud (illegal investment behaviors)

  • Corporate violence: the production of unsafe products and failure to provide a safe working environment for employees

• Political crime: against the government or serves the interests of government officials

• Cybercrime/computer crime: electronic devices are the targets or means of criminal activity

  • Eg. hacking, identity theft, internet fraud, ransomware, online child pornography, child sexual exploitation

  • Ransomware: a form of malware intrusion in which a criminal holds an individual’s or company’s computer “hostage”

  • Identity theft was the second common consumer complaint in 2019.

  • Individuals with low levels of self-control, risk avoidance, and self-awareness, along with high levels of trust, are more susceptible to internet fraud.

  • Online gaming is a common target for child sexual exploitation.

• Juvenile delinquency and gangs

  • Status offense: a violation that can only be committed by a minor

    • Eg. running away from home, truancy, underage drinking

  • Delinquent offense: a violation that can also be committed by adults

    • Excluding traffic violations, minors were 7% of all arrests in 2019

    • Like adults, juveniles commit a higher number of property than violent crimes, and males are more likely to be arrested than females.

  • Mara Salvatrucha (MS13)

    • One of the largest gangs in the United States

    • Originated in the 1970s in Los Angeles by El Salvadorian refugees

    • Primarily a social organization and secondarily a criminal organization

Demographic Patterns of Crime

Gender

• Women are less likely to commit crime than men.

• 2015–2019 arrest rates for women increased but gender gap remains

• Feminist criminology: focuses on gender inequality crime and victimhood

  • Arrest rates for runaway juvenile females are higher than males due to sexual abuse in homes and paternalistic attitudes by police toward girls.

• Differential involvement: the idea that certain groups of people are more likely to be involved in crime

  • Eg. men are statistically more likely to commit crime than women

Age

• Criminal activity is more common among younger than older people.

  • Protected from many of the legal penalties.

  • More likely to be unemployed or employed in low-wage jobs.

  • Peer influence is stronger.

Race and Social Class

• Black people are 13% of population but account for 36.4% of all arrests for violent offenses and 29.8% of all arrests for property offenses.

  • Difference in police practices in Black and White neighborhoods

  • In cities with Black mayors or a civilian police review boards, the percentage of Black residents in a neighborhood do not predict violent crime.

• Racial profiling: the practice of targeting suspects based on race

• People of color are overrepresented in the lower classes.

Region

• Violent crime rates increase as population size increases.

  • Social control is higher in small groups that socialize their members to engage in law-abiding behavior.

  • Large concentrations of poor and unemployed people often correlate with higher crime rates.

• Violent and property crimes are highest in southern states.

  • High rates of poverty

  • High rates of gun ownership

  • Warmer climate that facilitates victimization by increasing the frequency of social interaction

  • Can be explained by subculture of violence theory

Victimization Experiences

• Women have a higher rate than men.

• People of color have a higher rate than white people.

• People between the ages of 18-24 have a higher rate than the general population.

Societal Costs of Crime and Social Control

• Physical injury and loss of life

  • Eg. Environmental pollutants produced by multinational corporations.

  • U.S. Public Health Service cited violence as one of the top health concerns facing Americans.

• High price of crime

  • Direct losses and illicit transfer of property due to crimes

  • Medical spending and economic losses of criminal violence

  • Spending on illicit activities

  • Consumer spending on prevention and protection

  • Government spending to control crime

• Social and psychological costs

  • Public fear shapes individual and social actions.

  • Americans believe crime is a serious problem.

  • Safety gender gap: women express significantly lower rates of feeling safe than men

• Cost to children and families

  • 50% of adults have experienced having a family member in jail or prison.

    • Financial toll including bail, court costs, restitution, loss of income, etc.

    • Physical and mental health consequences

    • Family stability suffers

Strategies for Action

• Local crime-fighting initiatives

  • Technology

    • Hard technology: drones, metal detectors, biometric surveillance, etc.

      • Biometric surveillance: surveillance used to identify a specific person through the imaging of their distinct physical characteristics

    • Soft technology: Amber Alert, social media, facial recognition, etc.

  • Youth and community programs

• Rethinking law enforcement practices

  • Overt differential law enforcement: police officer biases

  • Covert differential law enforcement: cultural and structural factors

  • Differential involvement: frequency with law based on behaviors

  • Breeding ground hypothesis: argues that incarceration serves to increase criminal behavior through the transmission of criminal skills, techniques, and motivations

• Criminal justice policy

  • U.S. criminal justice system is based on deterrence or the threat of harm.

  • Rehabilitation versus incapacitation and impact on recidivism (reoffending)

    • Breeding ground hypothesis: argues that incarceration increases because people learn criminal skills in prisons

    • Lowering prison sentences and capital punishment reform could be an option in lowering recidivism rates

  • Qualified immunity: a legal principle that protects police officers from lawsuits if, at the time of their alleged misconduct, they did not know their behavior was unlawful

  • Probation vs. incapacitation

    • Probation: the conditional release of an offender who, for a specific time period and subject to certain conditions, remains under court supervision in the community

    • Incapacitation: criminal justice philosophy that argues that recidivism can be reduced by placing offenders in prison so that they are unable to commit further crimes against the general public

      • Parole: release from prison, for a specific time period and subject to certain conditions, before an inmate’s sentence is finished

• Federal and state laws

  • Gun control and other policies

• International efforts

  • Interpol: the largest international police organization in the world

Familial Issues

The Global Context: Family Forms and Norms around the World

• Family: a kinship system of all relatives living together or recognized as a social unit, including adopted members

  • Shaped by social and cultural context

  • Monogamy: marriage between two partners

    • Serial monogamy: a succession of marriages in which a person has more than one spouse over a lifetime but is legally married to only one person at a time

  • Polygamy: marriage that allows for multiple spouses

    • Outlawed in the US in the late 1800s

    • Bigamy: the criminal offense in the United States of marrying one person while still legally married to another

    • Polyandry: the concurrent marriage of one woman to two or more men

    • Polygyny: the concurrent marriage of one man to two or more women

  • Arranged marriage: the selection of spouses by family members

    • Increased education, urbanization, and exposure to Western cultural norms and values are responsible for declines in arranged marriage

  • Arranged marriages are different than forced marriages

    • Forced marriage: marriage that takes place without the consent of one or both of the people involved

• Patriarchy: male power dominated system and decision making

  • Women in less developed countries:

    • Have 4 to 5 children on average

    • 50% marry before age 18

  • Rates of birth to unmarried mothers are high in different regions of the globe including Central and South America, and in Northern and Western Europe, although children do not necessarily live in single-parent homes.

• Same-sex marriage was first legalized in the Netherlands in 2001 and is legal in 29 countries (Feb 2023).

  • The United States legalized same-sex marriage in 2015.

Contemporary American Families

• Changing relationships

  • There has been an increase in interracial and same-sex couples.

  • Women and men are staying single longer and marrying later in life.

  • Marriage has decreased, but cohabitation rates have increased.

  • Divorce rates have decreased.

    • Cohabitating couples often do not undergo divorce proceedings.

    • People are getting married older and enjoy protective factors including higher education and greater financial stability.

• Gray divorces are increasing

  • Gray divorce: a divorce which takes place later in life

  • Married people age 50 and older are twice as likely to get divorced today than they were in 1990.

• Changing lives of children

  • Women are delaying childbearing or remaining child free.

    • Enables women to pursue education and professional careers.

    • In 2018, the U.S. fertility rate dropped to an all-time low.

  • The United States has the highest percentage of children living in single-parent homes.

  • 69.9% of married mothers and 73.2% of unmarried mothers are employed.

    • Mothers are somewhat less likely to work full-time than fathers, especially when children are of preschool ages.

    • Childcare is a problem for women who work nontraditional hours.

• Blended families

  • Blended family: a non-nuclear family

  • About 16% children live in a blended family.

  • 40% of all married couples with children are stepfamilies.

  • Stepparents and stepchildren do not have the same legal rights and responsibilities as biological/adopted children and biological/adoptive parents

  • 6% of children will experience at least one foster care placement.

    • About half of the children who exit the foster care system are reunified with their biological families.

    • 1 in 10 children live with grandparent(s) → grandfamily

  • About one-in-five children are living with a single mom

• Homogamy: relationships between two people with the same sociodemographic characteristics, such as race, religion, education, etc.

Sociological Theories of Familial Issues

Structural-Functionalist Perspective

• Family is a social institution and therefore meets societal functions.

  • Produce and socialize new society members

  • Regulate sexual activity and procreation

  • Provide physical and emotional care for family members

• Traditional gender roles contribute to family functioning.

  • The expressive role is taken on by women.

    • Expressive role: manage household tasks, provide emotional care, and nurture family members

  • The instrumental role is taken on by men.

    • Instrumental role: earn income and make key decisions

• Marital decline perspective: the view that divorce and single-parenthood have contributed to a variety of social problems

Conflict Perspective

• Focus on how capitalism, social class, and power influence families.

  • Feminist theory is critical of traditional patriarchal male domination.

  • Wives taking their husband’s last name and children taking their father’s name implies that wives and children are their property.

• Gendered distribution of labor: the assumption that certain types of jobs and activities will be completed by men and others by women

• The wealthy and powerful shape family programs and policies.

• The interests of companies are often at odds with the needs of families.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

• Seeks to understand how meaning of marriage and family has changed.

• Marital resiliency perspective: the view that marriage continues to be valued and is a symbol of a successful personal life rather than for the tangible resources it provides

  • Divorce occurs because individuals refuse to settle for a bad marriage.

• Interactions with family members have a significant impact on our self-concepts such as self-esteem.

Strategies for Action

• Expand definition of family

  • Include unmarried couples and children to access benefits and protections

• Reduce unplanned non-marital childbearing

  • Sex education programs in public schools

    • Comprehensive sex education: educational programs that include information about sexuality, sexual consent, reproduction, contraception, and STD prevention

  • Increase access to contraception for low-income women

• Workplace and economic supports

  • Maximize employment and earnings

  • Offer job training, employment assistance, and flexible workplace policies

• Strategies to strengthen families during and after divorce

  • Increase in divorce education and mediation programs

  • Increase child support payments programs

  • Increase child support payments programs

• Domestic violence and abuse prevention strategies

  • Reduce violence-provoking stress by reducing poverty and unemployment

  • Increase adequate housing, childcare programs and facilities, nutrition medical care, and educational opportunities

  • Increase public education and media campaigns to reduce domestic violence

  • Ban corporal punishment

    • Corporal punishment is banned in 60 countries and 28 more countries are currently committed to banning

• Help for victims of abuse

  • Increase financial resources for local domestic violence programs to offer emergency shelter, transitional housing, legal services, counseling, assistance with employment, transportation, food, medical care, and childcare

• Legal action against abusers

  • Many states require the arrest of perpetrator even when victim does not press charges.

  • Abusers can be required by courts to receive treatment which typically includes counseling and conflict resolution, but success rates for these interventions are low.

Contraception and Abortion

• Contraception

  • Family planning: control of when or if one has children using contraception and abstinence; critical to well-being

    • To get maternity healthcare, 10% of countries require women to be married and 25% require consent from husband for contraception

  • In the United States, the lack of knowledge (especially among teenagers) is a barrier.

    • 25% of girls and third of boys get no information from parents on how to communicate sexual boundaries, STDs, birth control, or sex itself.

    • Annually, almost 5% of women between of 15–44 years old have an unintended pregnancy or about 45% of annual pregnancies.

• Abortion: the removal of an embryo or fetus from a woman's uterus before it can survive on its own

  • Abortion is a complex issue for societies due to the pressures of conflicting attitudes and reality of high rates of unintended and unwanted pregnancy.

  • Pro-choice advocates believe that freedom of choice is a central human value, that procreation choices must be free of government interference, and that women have a right to self-determination.

  • Pro-life advocates argue that an unborn fetus has a right to live and be protected, that abortion is immoral, and that alternative means of resolving an unwanted pregnancy should be found.

  • TRAP laws: laws designed to restrict access to abortion through targeted restrictions on abortion providers

Problems Associated with Divorce

• Social causes of divorce

  • Changing function of marriage and a focus on individualism.

  • Increased economic autonomy of women.

  • Increased work demands and stressors balancing work and family.

  • Inequality in marital division of labor.

    • Second shift: women coming home from work to provide childcare and housework, which impacts marital satisfaction

  • No-fault divorce laws laws enacted in 1970s citing irreconcilable differences as only condition for divorce

• Intergenerational patterns

  • Having divorced parents increases likelihood of divorce.

  • Divorce might be more socially acceptable in families with prior divorce.

  • Children of divorced parents might not have adequate conflict resolution skills.

  • Risk factors for divorce might be passed down to children.

  • Since divorce rates are down among younger generations, new research is needed

  • Longer life expectancy

• Consequences of divorce

  • Physical and mental health consequences

  • Economic consequences

  • Effects on children and young adults include the risk of emotional and behavioral problems and parent-child relationships.

    • Shared-custody arrangements result in better outcomes.

    • Number of transitions for children is a predictor for negative outcomes.

    • Most children are resilient and some children welcome divorce.

Domestic Violence and Abuse

• Intimate partner violence and abuse (IPV): abuse or aggression committed against individuals by their current or former spouses, cohabiting partners, boyfriends, or girlfriends

  • Physical, sexual, stalking, and psychological aggression/abuse.

    • Physical abuse: when a person hurts or tries to hurt a partner by hitting, kicking, or using another type of physical force

    • Sexual abuse: forcing or attempting to force a partner to take part in a sex act, sexual touching, or a nonphysical sexual event (e.g., sexting) when the partner does not or cannot consent

    • Stalking: a pattern of repeated, unwanted attention and contact by a partner that causes fear or concern for one’s own safety or the safety of someone close to the victim

    • Psychological abuse: the use of verbal and nonverbal communication (e.g., yelling, belittling, insulting) with the intent to harm another person mentally or emotionally and/or to exert control over another person

  • In the United States about 25% of women and 10% of men have experienced sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking during their lifetime

    • Surveys indicate that females report engaging in acts of IPV at rates equivalent to or exceeding the rates reported by male perpetrators.

    • IPV starts early in the form of teen dating violence, especially for women.

      • Teen dating violence: intimate partner violence that occurs before the age of 18

  • Rehabilitative alimony: alimony that is paid to an ex-spouse for a specified length of time to allow the recipient time to find a job or to complete education or job training

• Types of IPV

  • Situational couple: occasional acts of violence

  • Coercive controlling: battering and intimate terrorism

  • Violent resistance: self-defense or in-defense of others

  • Separation-instigated: triggered by the departure of a partner

• Effects of intimate partner violence and abuse

  • About 41% of females and 14% of males have physical injury and about 1 in 6 homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner.

  • Victims and children who witness violence are at risk for mental health issues and repeating patterns as adults in their relationships.

• Child abuse: the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child under the age of 18 by a person who is responsible for the child’s welfare

  • 1 in 4 adults around the world have been physically abused as children.

  • In low- and middle-income countries, three-quarters of children 2–14 years experience violent discipline in the home.

  • Neglect is the most common form of child abuse.

    • Neglect: a form of abuse involving the failure to provide adequate attention, supervision, nutrition, hygiene, health care, and a safe and clean living environment for a minor child or a dependent elderly individual

  • Highest rate of child abuse is for children one year old or younger.

  • Effects of child abuse range from mental health issues, head trauma, shaken baby syndrome, brain damage, physical disability and disfigurement, drug use, sexual dysfunction, lower marital satisfaction, etc.

    • Abusive head trauma/shaken baby syndrome: form of inflicted brain injury resulting from violent shaking or blunt impact; a leading cause of death in children under 1 year

• Elder abuse: the physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse, and neglect. Neglect is the most common

  • About 10% of elderly have experienced elder abuse and most are women.

  • Most perpetrators are adult children, followed by other family members and spouses or intimate partners

• Parent abuse: the physical violence, threats, intimidation, and property damage

  • More likely to be perpetrated by teenage son to single mother

• Sibling abuse: the most frequent type of aggression in American society

  • Unreported due to the cultural view that it is normal sibling rivalry.

  • Over one-third of sex abuse is by minors and 93% of these are brothers sexually abusing younger sisters.

• Snowball sampling: a technique in which one participant in a study recommends others who might be interested in participating

• Eugenics: the practice of selectively mating people with specific traits considered to be desirable with the belief that it will “improve” the human race

Risk Factors

• Individual, relationship, and family risk factors

  • Having witnessed or been a victim of abuse as a child, past violent or aggressive behavior, lack of employment and other stressful life events or circumstances, and drug and alcohol use.

  • More prevalent among low-income due to the stressors of poverty

• Gender inequality and gender socialization

  • Historical view and treatment of women and children as property.

  • Traditional male gender roles have taught men to be aggressive and to be dominant in male/female relationships

• Cultural acceptance of corporal punishment (spanking)