3. Learning Objectives
1.1 Understand how sociologists approach the study
of social problems.
1.2 Explain the complex nature of defining a
social problem.
1.3 Describe the two main types of social problems.
1.4 Explain and apply the sociological imagination to
different social problems.
1.5 Compare/contrast the person-blame approach to
social problems and the system-blame approach.
1.6 Understand the four basic research designs and
research methods that sociologists use to study
social problems.
4. Introduction
• Immigration and the browning of America
• The graying of America
• The inequality gap
• The increasing power of money to influence
elections and public policy
5. Introduction
continued
• Globalization and the transformation of the
economy
• The plight of the poor
• The environmental impact
• Growing global inequality
• An increasingly dangerous world
6. Introduction
continued
The number of people seeking refuge in homeless shelters has
increased dramatically in recent years.
8. 1.1 - History of Social Problems
Theory
• Early U.S. sociologists (absolutist)
– The medical model
– Focus on deviant individuals
• 1920s and 1930s
– Focus on conditions of society that foster social
problems
• Modern sociologists
– Focus on the subjective nature of social problems
10. LO 1.1
Sociologists have shifted viewpoint over
time, initially defining social problems as
a(an) __________ to looking at problems in
context today.
A. necessary evil
B. subjective reality
C. pathology
D. indefinable situation
11. LO 1.1
Sociologists have shifted viewpoint over
time, initially defining social problems as
a(an) __________ to looking at problems in
context today.
A. necessary evil
B. subjective reality
C. pathology
D. indefinable situation
12. LO 1.1
According to sociologists today, social
problems are defined by a group or
audience.
A. True
B. False
13. LO 1.1
According to sociologists today, social
problems are defined by a group or
audience.
A. True
B. False
14. 1.2 - Toward a Definition of Social
Problems
• Objective reality of social problems
– Watch for definitions provided by those in
power
– Objectivity has limits
15. LO 1.2
Social problems carry both a subjective
definition and a(an) __________.
A. abnormality
B. rationality
C. creative interpretation
D. objective reality
16. LO 1.2
Social problems carry both a subjective
definition and a(an) __________.
A. abnormality
B. rationality
C. creative interpretation
D. objective reality
17. LO 1.2
Social problems are best defined by those in
power.
A. True
B. False
18. LO 1.2
Social problems are best defined by those in
power.
A. True
B. False
19. 1.3 - Types of Social Problems
• Norm Violations
• Social Conditions
20. LO 1.3 - Norm Violations
• Discrepancy between social standards and
reality
• Examines violations of the social norm: deviant
behavior
• Assumes that norm violators are symptoms of
social problems, not the social problem
• Social problems are relative
21. LO 1.3 - Social Conditions
• Psychic and material suffering
• Who benefits from the existing
arrangements?
• Focus on the bias of the system rather
than on problem individuals
22. LO 1.3
The distribution of __________ in society is
the key to understanding the conditions that
cause social problems.
A. education
B. power
C. prestige
D. structure
23. LO 1.3
The distribution of __________ in society is
the key to understanding the conditions that
cause social problems.
A. education
B. power
C. prestige
D. structure
24. LO 1.3
According to the textbook, deviants are not
entirely to blame for their behavior.
A. True
B. False
25. LO 1.3
According to the text, deviants are not
entirely to blame for their behavior.
A. True
B. False
26. 1.4 - The Sociological Imagination
• C. Wright Mills (1916-1962)
• The ability to see the link between
individual circumstances and the structure
of society
27. LO 1.4
By using our sociological imagination in the
study of social problems, Mills believed that
we would look at changing __________ ,
not people.
A. objective reality
B. normative behavior
C. the social structure
D. public opinion
28. LO 1.4
By using our sociological imagination in the
study of social problems, Mills believed that
we would look at changing __________ ,
not people.
A. objective reality
B. normative behavior
C. the social structure
D. public opinion
29. LO 1.4
The sociological imagination allows us to
see the link between our personal troubles
and the social structure.
A. True
B. False
30. LO 1.4
The sociological imagination allows us to
see the link between our personal troubles
and the social structure.
A. True
B. False
31. 1.5 - Social Structure as the Basic
Unit of Analysis
• Person-Blame Approach versus System-
Blame Approach
• Reasons for Focusing on the System-
Blame Approach
32. LO 1.5 - Person-Blame Approach Versus
System-Blame Approach
• Why do children in poor schools fail?
– Cultural deprivation
• Why do criminals recidivate?
– Greed, lack of control, aggression
• Approach has serious problems
– Social Darwinism
33. LO 1.5
Why do some criminals commit crimes after they are
released from prison? Is it entirely their fault, or are there
social forces that limit their choices and lead them to
continued criminal behavior?
34. LO 1.5 - Reasons for Focusing on the
System-Blame Approach
• System-blamers point to deficiencies
within societal institutions
• Perspective coincides with the sociological
approach
• Sociologists ask: Who benefits under the
existing social structure? Who does not
benefit?
35. LO 1.5
System-blamers explain social problems by
looking at deficiencies in __________.
A. social systems
B. individual behavior
C. parental discipline
D. objective reality
36. LO 1.5
System-blamers explain social problems by
looking at deficiencies in __________.
A. social systems
B. individual behavior
C. parental discipline
D. objective reality
37. LO 1.5
Ascribing differences in school performance
to cultural deprivation implies that the
dominant group is inferior.
A. True
B. False
38. LO 1.5
Ascribing differences in school performance
to cultural deprivation implies that the
dominant group is inferior.
A. True
B. False
39. 1.6 – Sociological Methods: The
Craft of Sociology
• Sociological Questions
• Problems in Collecting Data
• Sources of Data
40. LO 1.6 - Sociological Questions
• Facts
• Comparative questions
• Historical trends
• Go beyond “fact” to “why” with sociological
theory
41.
42. LO 1.6 - Problems in Collecting Data
• Sociological dilemma
– Can we be objective?
• Challenging value neutrality
– Moral indifference?
– Impossible?
– Political?
• Bias is inevitable in studying social problems
– Sociologists must maintain integrity
43. LO 1.6 - Problems in Collecting Data
continued
• Everyone is a scientist, with faults
– Bias
– Faulty sampling
– Faulty generalizations
• Sociology is more than common sense
44. LO 1.6 - Sources of Data
• Survey Research
• Experiments
• Observation
• Existing Data
45. LO 1.6 - Explorer Activity: Theories of
Social Problems: Sociological Theories
• http://www.socialexplorer.com/pearson/plink.aspx?• Please log into MySocLab with your
username and password before accessing
this link.
46. LO 1.6 - Video: Research Methods
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_
47. LO 1.6
Dr. Smith, a sociologist, wants to
understand the impact of a new teaching
method on test scores. The best source of
data for Dr. Smith is ___________.
A. survey
B. experiment
C. existing data
D. observation
48. LO 1.6
Dr. Smith, a sociologist, wants to
understand the impact of a new teaching
method on test scores. The best source of
data for Dr. Smith is ___________.
A. survey
B. experiment
C. existing data
D. observation
49. LO 1.6
Remaining value neutral in research is
important to the science of sociology.
A. True
B. False
50. LO 1.6
Remaining value neutral in research is
important to the science of sociology.
A. True
B. False
51. LO 1.6
Question for Discussion
Explain the sociological definition of social
problems outlined in the text. Discuss issues
with the definition.
Notas do Editor
The U.S. population reached 300 million in 2006.
By 2043, the U.S. population could be 400 million.
What effect will the increase in population have on social problems?
The following are issues to consider as we move forward:
[[Have students look in the textbook for more information in each of these issues affecting America.]]
Immigration and the browning of America
By 2042, nonwhites will surpass whites in population.
The graying of America
After 2030, one in five U.S. residents will be at least 65.
The inequality gap
The inequality gap now is at record levels, resulting in a diminished middle class.
The increasing power of money to influence elections and public policy
A 2010 Supreme Court decision allows corporations and other organizations to spend unlimited amounts to elect or defeat political candidates.
As the population of the United States and of the Earth continues to grow, the scope of social problems will change. [[Keep students discussing the issues presented in the introduction.]]
Globalization and the transformation of the economy
Shift from manufacturing to service economy has resulted in less job security and fewer benefits for the American worker.
The plight of the poor
Nearly one in six Americans is poor.
The environmental impact
The United States, at about 4.5 percent of the world’s population, consumes one-fourth of the world’s energy.
Growing global inequality
Today, an estimated 1.1 billion people are undernourished.
An increasingly dangerous world
Higher world population has an impact on poverty, hunger, water shortages, disease, and political chaos.
With the increased population in the United States and across the globe, we will see changes to problems.
With economic shifts, the number of people pushed into homelessness increases.
Social problems in the United States have an impact on adults as well as children. Although social problems cause hardships for adults, the future seems bleak when children are affected.
The textbook will consider potential solutions to social problems.
Early sociologists (absolutists) and the medical model of society presumed universal criteria of normality.
Social problems were the result of “bad people.”
Maladjusted people were abnormal because of mental deficiency, mental disorder, lack of education, or incomplete socialization.
They were assessing if a “pathology” was present and causing a social problem.
Alcoholism, suicide, homicide, and theft were social problems.
We might agree, but this approach leaves out the complexity of social problems.
A shift away from absolutism and on to societal conditions that foster problems occurred in the 1920s and 1930s.
Societies undergoing rapid change from the processes of migration, urbanization, and industrialization were thought to have pockets of social disorganization.
Crime, family breakdown, and mental disorders
Social problems are based on the audience or group defining them as a problem.
Social problems are contextual. They vary over time and group.
Example: pollution has not always been a “social problem.”
Sociologists have difficulty agreeing on an adequate definition of social problems.
There is continuing debate over the unit of analysis: Is the focus of inquiry on individuals or social systems? Related to the latter is the issue of numbers: How many people have to be affected before something is a social problem?
The social problems addressed in the textbook focus is on the dark side of social life.
Readers, it is hoped, will find the exploration of the dark side of social life intriguing, insightful, and useful,
Social problems carry an objective reality.
Material or psychic suffering (poverty, institutional racism)
Social conditions that limit opportunities in a country that values equal opportunity
Discrepancies between values and actual conditions
Normative approach assumes that some kinds of actions are likely to be judged bad in any context.
Therefore, it is important to identify, describe, and explain situations that are objective social problems.
The powerful—the agencies of government, business, and the media—provide statistical data (such as crime rates) that may define social reality in a way that manipulates public opinion, thereby controlling behaviors that threaten the status quo (and their power).
Two problems with relying on only objective definitions of social problems:
Looking only at social problems defined by the powerful overlooks problems experienced by those with no power and accepts the inequities experienced by minority group members.
Looking only at social problems defined by public opinion limits problems to behaviors and actions that disrupt the existing social order.
— Assumes that the existing order is the “only way”
— Leaves out questions about the distribution of justice, education, and power
— Focuses exclusively on those who deviate
— Excludes the unethical, illegal, and destructive actions of powerful individuals, groups, and institutions
— Ignores the covert institutional violence brought about by racist and sexist policies, unjust tax laws, inequitable systems of healthcare and justice, and exploitation by the corporate world
Chapter 1, Activity 1
How Do You Define Social Problems?
This activity is a good icebreaker for the class. It also gives you an indication of why your students are taking the course, how they view social problems, and which problems concern them. Ask your students to:
Individually write down the three most important social problems in society as defined by most people.
Individually write down the three most important social problems to them personally.
Have them break off into small groups to discuss their viewpoints. Each group must decide which social problem is the number one social problem confronting society. They must select a spokesperson from each group, and then report their highlights to the class at large. They need to justify their choice of social problem.
Sociologists examine the discrepancy between the defined social standard and reality.
Those who go too far outside the social standard, or the norm, are labeled deviants.
Location in the social structure (race/ethnicity, gender, class, age, occupation, role) and in space (region, size of community, neighborhood) may lead to deviant behavior.
Norm violators, the “deviants,” should not be entirely blamed for their deviance. They are victims of the society that they reside in; the system is to blame.
Situations affecting deviants (such as the barriers to success faced by minority group members) help explain why some categories of people participate disproportionately in deviant behavior.
Social problems are culturally defined and socially labeled.
Sociologists are interested in the social and cultural processes that label some acts and persons as deviant and others as normal.
Sociologists are interested in the relativity of social problems.
The law is an instrument of those in power.
Acts labeled deviant are so labeled because they conflict with the interests of those in power.
To comprehend the labeling process, we must understand not only the norms and values of society but also that interest groups that hold the power.
Focus is on who benefits and who suffers because of the organization of society.
Institutionalized deviance—Societal arrangements organized in ways that are unresponsive to many human needs
Examples:
When healthcare is unequally distributed
When poverty persists for million
When tax laws permit a business to write off 50 percent of a $100 luncheon but prohibit a truck driver from writing off a bologna sandwich
When government is run by the few for the benefit of the few
When businesses supposedly in competition fix prices to gouge the consumer
When the criminal justice system is biased against the poor and people of color
Social problems—(1) societally induced conditions that cause psychic and material suffering for any segment of the population and (2) acts and conditions that violate norms and values of society
The distribution of power in society is the key to understanding these social problems.
Mills: the point of sociology is to realize that individual circumstances are linked to the structure of society.
View the world from the perspective of others
Focus on the social, economic, and historical circumstances that cause individual problems
Question the structural arrangements of society
Sociological imagination: permits seeing of solutions to social problems, not in terms of changing problem people, but in terms of changing the structure of society.
Chapter 1, Activity 2
Do You Have a Sociological Imagination?
This activity is a good way to get students to really understand the sociological perspective versus other perspectives on social problems.
Have the students break into small groups. Give each group a particular social problem to analyze.
Groups must explain the social problem using C. Wright Mills’ concept of the sociological imagination.
How would they explain the same social problem using a psychological perspective? A biological perspective?
The question: Do social problems stem from the individual or from the social system?
Person-Blame Approach
Assumes that social problems result from the pathologies of individuals
Very strong tendency for individuals—laypeople, police officers, judges, lawmakers, and social scientists alike—to perceive social problems and prescribe remedies from an individualistic perspective
Example: Blaming the individual for being poor, not addressing the distribution of wealth, low-wage work, and problems of poor families generation after generation
Helps explain the reluctance of people in authority to provide adequate welfare, healthcare, and compensatory programs for the disadvantaged
System-Blame Approach
Assumes that social problems result from social conditions
Person-blame approach
Looks for explanations of failure and recidivism in the individual with the “problem”
Assumes cultural deprivation
(1) culture not exposed to the educational opportunities of the middle class
(2) implication that culture is inferior or deficient
Defines a social problem as behavior that deviates from the norms and standards of society
Questions the exceptions (because people do not ordinarily examine critically the way things are done in society)
Consequences of person-blame approach
Fails to address societal causes; social problems remain in place
Frees many from blame (the government, the economy, the system of stratification, the system of justice, and the educational system)
Justifies a form of social Darwinism
The strong tendency to blame social problems on individuals rather than on the social system lies in how people tend to look at social problems.
System-blame approach
Reasons for focusing on system-blame approach
Balance is needed between person-blame and system-blame approaches
Sociologists focus on the social determinants of behavior and critical analysis of the social structure
Institutional framework of society is the source of many social problems
Examples: Racism, pollution, unequal distribution of healthcare, poverty, and war
Why do children fail at school?
irrelevant curriculum
class-biased IQ tests
tracking systems
overcrowded classrooms
differential allocation of resources within school districts
insensitive teachers with low expectations
Why do criminals recidivate?
penal system
scarcity of employment for ex-criminals
the schools; to wit, 20 to 30 percent of inmates are functionally illiterate
menial jobs
low wages
no job security
no fringe benefits
Dangers of system blame approach
Social problems have both individual and systemic origins
Individuals, obviously, can be malicious and aggressive
Views individuals as robots controlled totally by their social environment
Absolves individuals from responsibility for their actions
Analysis of social problems depends on reliable data and logical reasoning
How do sociologists gather reliable data and make valid conclusions?
Sociologists try to uncover and understand facts
Sociologists ask questions that get at factual details
Example: Does the public education system provide equal education?
Look at cost per pupil between school districts
Look at teacher/student ratios
Look at fees charged for extracurriculars
Sociologists ask comparative questions
Sociologists compare contexts
Example: comparisons of test scores, poverty, crime rates, etc., among industrialized nations
Sociologists like to understand historical trends
Sociologists like to see changes in the “facts” over time
Sociologists go beyond the factual to ask why
Examples:
Why have real wages (controlling for inflation) declined since 1973 in the United States?
Why are the poor, poor?
Why do birthrates decline with industrialization?
Why is the United States the most violent (as measured by murder, rape, and assault rates) industrialized society?
Sociological theory
a set of ideas that explains a range of human behavior and a variety of social and societal events
helps guide research
How would sociologists examine this figure?
Some questions sociologists may ask:
What accounts for the plateau of men’s earnings from 1972 on and the gradual increase in the earnings of women during those years?
While the gap between men and women has narrowed, why is the female-to-male ratio still so low?
What kept female-to-male ratio stable at around 60 percent from 1959 to 1982?
Sociological dilemma is one of objectivity
Sociologists have values and ideals that guide their behavior
But sociologists are also scientists and should remain objective
Ideal of value neutrality (absolutely free of bias in research) can be challenged on three positions:
Sociologists use morals to decide what they study
Science has constructive and destructive potentials
Sociologist need to minimize destructive potentials
Purely neutral positions impossible
Information sociologists have access to is biased (e.g., questioning inmates about prison is inherently biased)
Values of researchers determine questions asked
Research will either support or undermine existing societal arrangements
Sociological research is political in nature and not value free
Sociologists must have scientific integrity and recognize biases
In a way everyone can study and learn about social phenomena. Everyone is a scientist, but they have a number of faults.
We all approach situations with bias.
Additional problems emerge when we use our own life as the “example” or we make assumptions from a single case.
This faulty sampling leads to faulty generalizations about social problems.
When we rely on common sense for our explanations, we miss part of the story.
Our judgments and interpretations are also affected by prevailing myths and stereotypes.
We just “know” certain things to be true, when they actually may be contradicted by scientific evidence.
The textbook presents a number of examples of “common sense” examples about the poor and racial minorities.
Survey research uses interviews or questionnaires to obtain information.
They use a sample of the population to obtain information.
Surveys done well, with random samples can be very powerful, generalizing to the entire population.
Longitudinal surveys, allows for unique data collection. This type of research collects information about the same persons over many years
Experiments can determine cause and effect.
A control group is compared to the experimental group which is given the item of study (e.g., education, contact with a group)
Observation allows detailed information about a group or organization.
The researcher, without intervention, can observe as accurately as possible what occurs in a community, group, or social event.
Sociologists can use data collected by others. This existing data is typically collected by large agencies or the government.
Existing data is usually cheaper and easier for a researcher to use.
The downfall is it may not have exactly the questions desired.
Chapter 1, Activity 3
How Do You Pick an Appropriate Research Method?
Have the students break into small groups. Each group will be studying the topic of divorce.
Assign groups a research method: survey research, experiment, observation, or existing data.
Each group must come up with a research question regarding divorce and design a brief study using their assigned research method to answer that question.
Report to the class and discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and problems of social science research.
