Chapter 1

Sociology: Studying Social Problems

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.

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

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

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?

Social Constructionist Approach

• Social problems arise as people define conditions:

• As undesirable

• In need of change

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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”

The Social Conflict Approach

• Marxism: Problems and Class Conflict

• Capitalists

• Proletarians

• Multiculturalism: Problems of Racial

and Ethnic Inequality

• Feminism: Problems and Gender Conflict

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?

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

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

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

Field Research: Joining In

• Also called participant observation

• Involves researchers observing people while joining in their everyday activities

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

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

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?

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

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.

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”

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?

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

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

Politics: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions

• A modern design of a political spectrum

Politics: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions

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