Chapter 1 Sociology: Studying Social Problems€¦ · The Symbolic-Interaction Approach •Labeling...
Transcript of Chapter 1 Sociology: Studying Social Problems€¦ · The Symbolic-Interaction Approach •Labeling...
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Chapter 1
Sociology: Studying Social Problems
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Seeing Patterns: The Sociological Perspective
• Sociology is the systematic study of human societies.
• Society is a term referring to people who live within a territory and share many patterns of behaviors.
• Culture refers to a way of life including widespread values, beliefs, and behavior.
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Further:
• People experience social problems in very personal ways
• Sociology shows that the problems we face are not only the results of personal choices but reflect the operation of society itself
• C. Wright Mills used the sociological imagination to show that our personal troubles are really social issues that affect many people – ourselves included
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Defining Social Problems
• A social problem
• is a condition that undermines the well-being of some or all members of society
• is usually a matter of public controversy
• Determining social problems can be controversial
• subjective and objective realities may
actually end up being quite different
• what people identify as the most serious
social problems varies over time
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Defining Social Problems
A
Homicide
B
Use of
Automobiles
C
School
Shootings
D
Use of iPods
Is it Subjectively considered a serious problem?
Yes No
Yes
No
Does it
objectively
cause
harm to
thousands
of people?
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Social Constructionist Approach
• Social problems arise as people define conditions:
• As undesirable
• In need of change
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Life Cycle of a Social Problem
• Formalization• Claims are
discussed by government officials
• Decline• Problem gets solved
• It runs out of money
• The media and public move on
• Coalescence• The media
embraces the problem
• Emergence• People identify a
problem
Initial claims are
made
Claims are publicized
Claims are recognized and part of
political debate
Public interest in
claims goes down
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Claims Making
• Process of convincing the public that a particular issue or situation should be defined as a social problem
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving
• AIDS
• Sexual Harassment
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Defining Social Problems
•One indication that people recognize an issue as a social problem is the formation of a social movement
•an organized effort at claims making
that tries to shape the way people think about an issue in order to encourage or discourage social change
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Stages in Social Movements
• Social movements progress through four distinct stages:
•Emergence• Initial Claims are made
•Coalescence• Claims are Publicized (Media)
•Formalization• Claims become part of the political debate
•Decline• Public interest goes down
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Eight assertions that form the foundation for the analysis of social
problems:1. Social problems result from the ways in
which society operates.
2. Social problems are not caused by bad people.
3. Social problems are socially constructed as people define a condition as harmful and in need of change.
4. People see problems differently.
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Further:
5. Definitions of problems change over time.
6. Problems involve subjective values as well as objective facts.
7. Many – but not all – problems can be solved.
8. Various social problems are related.
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Looking Beyond Ourselves: A Global Perspective
• A global outlook shows
• Harmful conditions often cross national boundaries
• Many of the problems that we in the U.S. face are more serious elsewhere
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Analyzing Social Problems:The Role of Theory
Theory:
a statement of how and why specific
facts are related
Theoretical Approach:
a basic image of society that guides
thinking and research
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The Structural-Functional Approach
• A theoretical framework that sees society as
a system of many interrelated parts
• Social Institutions: the main parts of this system (organized to meet basic human needs)
• education
• family
• economics
• politics
• religion
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The Structural-Functional Approach
• Early Functionalism: Problems as Social Pathology
• The “Chicago School”: Problems as Disorganization
• More Recent Functionalism: Problems as Dysfunctions
• Manifest versus Latent Functions
• Eufunctions (positive functions) versus Dysfunctions
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The Social Conflict Approach
• A theoretical framework that sees society as divided by inequality and conflict
• Social problems arise because our society is divided into “haves” and “have-nots”
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The Social Conflict Approach
• Marxism: Problems and Class Conflict
• Capitalists
• Proletarians
• Multiculturalism: Problems of Racial
and Ethnic Inequality
• Feminism: Problems and Gender Conflict
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The Symbolic-Interaction Approach
• A theoretical framework that sees society as the product of individuals interacting with one another (Micro Level Approach)
• 2 Key Questions of the Symbolic-Interaction Approach:
• How do people become involved in problematic behavior?
• How do people come to define issues as social problems in the first place?
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The Symbolic-Interaction Approach
• Learning Theory: Problems and the Social Environment
• Learn attitudes and behaviors from those around us
• People learn problematic behavior from others
• Drug Use, Theft, Prostitution, etc.
• People do not decide to engage in these behaviors, other circumstances are involved
• Often people “drift” to these behaviors over time
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The Symbolic-Interaction Approach
• Labeling Theory: Problems and Social
Definitions
How others define a particular behavior
• What is the difference between a “social drinker” and a “drunk” (problem drinker)• Who is defining the situation– parents, teachers,
peers, other drinkers
• Who is doing the drinking– men/women, adults/kids
• Where does the drinking take place– party, bar, city park
• When does the drinking take place-- Saturday night or Sunday morning
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A researcher asks subjects to respond to items in a questionnaire or interview.
• A questionnaire is a series of items a researcher presents to subjects for their response
• In an interview, the researcher meets face to face with respondents to discuss a particular issue
• While questionnaires offer a chance for greater breadth of opinion, interviews can provide greater depth of understanding
Survey Research: Asking Questions
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Field Research: Joining In
• Also called participant observation
• Involves researchers observing people while joining in their everyday activities
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Experimental Research:
Looking For Causes• Experiment: a method by which a
researcher investigates cause-and-effect relationships under highly controlled conditions
• Most experiments are carried out in
specially designed laboratories
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Secondary Analysis:
Using Available Data
• A common major research method that is based on collection of data originally collected by others
• Internet Data– May or May not be accurate (you must always consider the source)
• Census Bureau– good source of data
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Truth, Science, and Politics
• Max Weber’s “value-free” approach
• Just the “Facts”, don’t try to solve the problem
• The “value commitment” approach
• Take sides and try to improve the conditions of people
• Is “objective” research even possible?
• Are we always out to change things for the better?
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Truth and Statistics
• Check how terms are defined
• How does the researcher define what they are measuring?
• Numbers are subject to error
• Numbers can and do lie
• People often “spin” their statistics
• Data can be presented to advance the argument
the researcher is trying to make
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Responding to Social Problems: Social Policy
• Social policy refers to formal strategies to affect how society operates.
• What are our policies dealing with: segregation, gun control, homelessness, pornography, health care, quality of education, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, poverty, etc.
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Responding to Social Problems: Social Policy
• The evaluation of social policy: Does the policy (law) work to solve the problem?
• No Child Left Behind for example:
• How is success defined? • Short or long term
• What are the costs? • Results vs. Costs
• Whom should get the help?• “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure”
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Policy and Culture
• Social policy tends to be shaped by existing cultural values
• Many programs seem like the “right thing to do”, but who decides what is right and wrong?
• How do we know what is the right approach to address a social problem?
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Policy and Politics
• Conservatives: seek to limit the scope of societal change (focus is on shortcomings of individuals, not society)
• Liberals: favor more sweeping change in society (see problems in the organization of society)
• Radicals: support policies that go beyond mere reform
• can be either ultra liberal or ultra conservative
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Politics: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions
• The Political Spectrum: a continuum representing a range of political attitudes from “left” to “right”
• Social Issues: political debates involving moral judgments about how people should live
• Economic Issues: political debates about how a society should distribute material resources
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Politics: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions
• A modern design of a political spectrum
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Politics: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions
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Who Thinks What?
• Two good predictors of political attitudes are education and wealth – both of which are elements of social class
• The fact that social class affects social and economic attitudes differently means that most people have some combination of liberal and conservative attitudes