Welcome to Soc 2 online: American Social Problems

This course will analyze the major social problems confronting Americans in the 20^th century. There will be an emphasis on future trends.

This course will challenge you to think on both a micro and a macro level.

How do we define social problems?

What makes one issue a personal problem and another a social problem?

How you define a problem has a direct impact on the possible solutions offered to that problem. For example, if you feel that alcoholism is a personal problem, you would feel that the problem would be best handled by the individual. Society would not need to be involved. If, however, you define alcoholism as a social problem, the society has a vested interest in solving that problem.

Assignments due:

The following assignments will be due by the date on the homepage of the course.

• Student Activity 1

• Post and respond to discussion board

Americans tend to view many social problems as personal problems—those that can be explained in terms of qualities of the individual and feeling that the causes and solutions are because of their doing.

Causes, consequences, and coping are all key components for dealing with problems, whether those problems are personal or social. At either level they seek to address the fundamental questions of why and how we should respond.

A crucial point is this: We must be alert to the potential confusion of social problems with personal problems in order to deal more effectively with either or both.

Personal Problem: one whose causes and solutions lie within the individual and his or her own environment.

Social Problem: one whose causes and solutions lie outside the individual and the immediate environment.

Social Problem: exists when an influential group asserts that a certain social condition affecting a large number of people is a problem that may be remedied by collective action.

The authors of your text define a social problem as a condition or pattern of behavior that

(1) contradicts some other condition or pattern of behavior and is defined as incompatible with the desired quality of life;

(2) is caused, facilitated, or prolonged by factors that operate at multiple levels of social life;

(3) involves intergroup conflict; and

(4) requires social actions to be resolved. 

They use the major insights of structural-functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism to construct a model of mutual influence between structural, social psychological, and social interactional factors.  These factors are used to explain how problems affect the quality of life, how problems are manifested at multiple levels of social life, and why problems require social action for their resolution.

Influential group: one that appears capable of heaving a significant impact on social policy at the national level.

The degree of a group’s influence is measured by:

1. the number of those expressing the concern

2. the strength with which the concern is expressed

3. the power of those expressing the concern

asserts that a certain social condition: must be asserted by one or more influential groups

affecting a large number of people: must be widespread, but not necessarily severe

remedied by collective action: if the condition is deemed unchangeable.

The Causes of Problems

o   All problems are not social, and many social problems have personal aspects

o   EX:  suicide

The Consequences of Problems

o   The sense of inadequacy – blaming or downgrading oneself.

o   Individual strategies are employed to cope with the problem, such as coping mechanisms.

o   The victim is blamed.

o   The offender is castigated.

Social Movement: a large group of people who have joined together to preserve or change a social condition.

Social movements often try to resolve social problems.

Spector and Kitsuse state that social movements more through a series of 4 stages:

1. Agitation

2. Legitimation and Co-Option

3. Bureaucratization and Reaction

4. Re-Emergence of the Movement

Believed that sociologists could resolve social problems through educating people of the causes

Studied the social problem of suicide

Linked suicide to group involvement

Concerned with inequality

Advocated radical social change to eliminate social problems

Advocated solving social problems as a scientist would

First study the problem scientifically and offer solutions.

Political participation on social issues and social problems generally are determined by their political stance—ie: conservative or liberal.

Liberals generally believe that social programs are a popular legitimate function of modern industrial society and that these programs should be geared at helping individuals achieve self-fulfillment.

Conservatives generally believe that social programs should be provided only when an individual’s needs are not properly met thought other social institutions, primarily the family.

Sociology offers a variety of solutions to social problems, and these proposals are usually based on sociological theory.

• Seek to explain social behavior in terms of biological traits of humans

• EX: theories of alcoholism that claims genetics play a part in becoming a alcoholic

• EX: Psychoanalytic theories (Freud)

• Proposed by Ivan Pavlov, J.B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner

• Behavior that is rewarded will continue—behavior that is punished will cease

• EX: Differential Association theory to explain deviance

• Originally developed by Emile Durkheim

• Society is viewed as a system of highly inter-related parts.

• Functionalism states that all social systems strive for equilibrium or balance

• When one part of the body or system is not working, the other parts attempt to get the system back in harmony

• There are both manifest functions and latent functions of a social system

• According to the functionalist perspective, social problems are a result of a society becoming disorganized

• Social disorganization: occurs when a large organization or an entire society is imperfectly organized to achieve its goals and maintain its stability.

• Conflict Theory asserts that there is a basic struggle between the group or groups that have power, with the group or groups that do not.

• Conflict is inevitable in this struggle for power, and can often be beneficial for society

• There are contradictory interests of competing groups

• EX: Women’s Suffrage Movement; Civil Rights Movement

• Focuses on individuals rather that larger social structures

• Examines the ways social life is constructed through interaction

• EX: Labeling Theory to explain deviance

Quality of Life

•         Americans evaluate their quality of life according to how well they are doing

–        Financially,

–        Physically,

–        Emotionally,

–        Socially, and

–        Culturally

Multiple Levels of Social Problems

•         Individual level

•         Group levels

•         Societal levels

•         Global levels

Social Action for Resolution

•         Ex:  protest groups

•         When some members feel there is a problem—but not enough in society that do.

•         Generally there are opposing viewpoints ie:  pro life and pro choice

The Changing Nature of Social Problems

•         Problems may rise and fall in terms of perceived importance

•         EX:  poverty

o   Not really an issue before 1944

Analyzing Social Problems

•         Get the feel of the problem by seeing how it affects people’s lives and examining how the problem involves a contradiction and is defined as incompatible with the desired quality of life.

•         Analyze the multiple-level factors involved.

•         Consider various ways to attack the problem.

Recognizing Fallacies

CRITICAL THINKING:  RECOGNIZING FALLACIES

·           The study of society and social problems is a tricky business. 

·           Human beings as individuals, as collectivities, in groups, or in organizations are elusive subjects for serious study. 

·           One way we can appreciate the elusiveness is to examine ourselves as "mythmakers" who are led astray by various fallacies of thinking. 

·           These fallacies cloud rather than clarify key issues with which students of social problems must deal.

The study of society and social problems is a tricky business. Be alert to at least nine types of fallacies:

1. The fallacy of dramatic instance refers to the tendency to over generalize, to use one, two, or three cases to support an entire argument.

o   Difficult, because it is based partly on fact

 

2. The fallacy of retrospective determinism is the argument that things could not have worked out any other way than the way they did.

o   A very negative attitude

o   Implies that things HAD to happen as they did.

 

3. The fallacy of misplaced concreteness refers to making what is abstract into something concrete (reification).

o   EX:  “society” is often blamed—like it is a person or object.

o   Very difficult to fix something that is vague

REIFICATION:  Defining what is abstract as something concrete. 

 

4. The fallacy of personal attack involves diverting attention from the issue and focusing it on the personality (ad hominem). EX: Blaming poorly performing students for their lack of achievement.

o   Avoids the actual social problem

o   Blaming the victim

 

5. The fallacy of appeal to prejudice involves using popular prejudices or passions to convince others of the correctness of one's position.

o   Use of popular slogans or myths to sway people emotionally

o   Danger here is that myths perpetuate social problems

 

6. The fallacy of authority involves an illegitimate appeal to authority. EX: Women who stay in domestic violence situations because they feel a "higher authority"; or that everything you see on TV is true.

o   You accept things as fact BECAUSE of the person in authority

o   The illegitimate appeal to authority

o   The authority may be ambiguous.

o   The authority may be irrelevant to the problem.

o   The authority may be pursuing a bias rather than studying the problem. 

 

 

7. The fallacy of circular reasoning refers to using conclusions to support the assumptions that were necessary to make the conclusions

8. The fallacy of composition involves arguing that what is true of the part is also true of the whole.

o   You cannot assume that what is true for an individual is true for the group

 

9. The fallacy of Non sequitur means "it does not follow," and the fallacy of non sequitur involves using statistics in a misleading fashion: as though the data speak for themselves. EX: assuming that anyone can reach the highest levels of education.

o   EX:  crime stats may reflect different or improved measuring techniques rather than increase in crime rates.

 

 

PLUS:

·        Fallacies and the Mass Media

o   The media contribute to misunderstandings by committing or facilitating the various fallacies.

o   Media reports can fall into the fallacies of dramatic instance and authority via the way a story is reported and our belief that media represent authority in the matter of information.

o   Be alert, thoughtful, and cautious about the things you read and hear about social problems.

o   Remember media’s function is to entertain!

 

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You are asked to write a one page summary of what you know about social problems and what you hope to get out of this course.  You are asked to discuss your specific areas of interest in the course material.  Please do NOT use the course text for this assignment.  You will not be graded on what you do or do not include--merely on your submission of the required aspects of the assignment.  Also, provide a list of topics that you think should be of most concern to society and that require immediate attention.  Explain your reasons for the problems you listed.

Email a copy to Instructor.

NOTE:  You will receive an email from instructor when your assignment is graded.  Please check your grade book at the Pageout site OFTEN to ensure accuracy of grades.

Discussion Question

Don't forget to answer the discussion question by clicking the discuss button below!