Sociology of Social Problems

Slide 1:Sociology of Social Problems

Slide 2:�crisis is the order of the day�; issues & troubles

Starvation, poverty War Disease Apathy/alienation Racism Pessimism Job loss Divorce Victimization Time crunch

Slide 3:How do you know something is a Social Problem?

Affects group, large number, or society Bad or harmful Judgment Implies values: abstract beliefs about good/bad, right/wrong, preferred (norms: rules to guide behavior) Subjective or objective?

Slide 4:Sociology as science

An attempt to gain the power and effectiveness of knowledge recognized in natural sciences Need to base conclusions on empirical facts But humans are subjects in society (Recently: well, okay, we�re subjects in nature, too!)

Slide 5:Sociology as science

Need empirical (observable, objective) facts But also need to explain and show the significance of these facts Weber: use subjectivity for significance, objectivity in observation

Slide 6:The question of bias

Whose side are we on? (Becker, 1967) Is it possible to not have personal and political sympathies? To do research not affected by them? Why isn�t all research considered biased?

Slide 7:Hierarchy of credibility

��credibility and the right to be heard are differently distributed through the ranks of the system.� (6) Status: position based on amount of prestige Status order: a hierarchy

Slide 8:Rank in order of status:

Student Professor TV talking head (e.g., Bill O�Reilly) President of U.S. President�s Press Secretary Janitor

Slide 9:Everybody knows

�The sociologist who favors officialdom will be spared the accusation of bias.� (8) Why? �definition of reality� questioned ? some loss of political power

Slide 10:Definition of reality (what �everyone knows�)

�Officials� are �responsible� People have earned their positions. Therefore they deserve our respect. The check is in the mail. The government never lies.

Slide 11:Read page 13 carefully

Slide 12:What �everybody knows�

Ideology: a system of taken-for-granted ideas, having the effect of supporting a system of power relations �Free will� and �human nature� two powerful ideologies in U.S. today (Heiner: 11-12) Both involve �unthinking acceptance of the hierarchy of credibility�

Slide 13:Free will ideology

Individual choices and efforts determine fate (http://sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsda+gss04 ) Choices are not determined by social structure Strong basis in religious faith (Judeo-Christian) and capitalism Problems: neglects social patterns: constraints, influences on ideas

Slide 14:Human nature

Religious or biological determinism Examples: �the poor will always be with us� �people are greedy; that�s human nature� Problem: fails to account for cross-cultural patterns

Slide 15:Two ways ideology asserts itself

�everybody knows� (ideology per se) �in my experience� (anecdote reinforcing ideology) Contrast this with generalizable, empirical evidence

Slide 16:How does Heiner resolve the problem of bias?

Critical constructionism Synthesis of two sociological approaches: critical perspective (conflict theory) and social constructionism

Slide 17:Critical perspective

1970�s students, now professors Conflict perspective: focus on inequalities as source of problems Social movement based Advocate radical change in social system

Slide 18:Social constructionism

Grew in 1970�s, very influential in �90s Focus on how problems become defined Problems as process, subjective definition as key

Slide 19:�A problem is a phenomenon regarded as bad or undesirable by a significant number of people, or a number of significant people who mobilize to eliminate it.� (Heiner: 3)

Slide 20:Why this approach?

Problem of subjectivity in defining problems Social constructionism provides a position that is more objective by focusing on others� definition of problem Critical perspective considers structures of power and influence

Slide 21:Heiner�s illustration of constructionist model (figure 1.2, p. 6)

A B C D

Slide 22:Heiner�s illustration (modified)

A B C D

Slide 23:Critical constructionism

Emphasizes the role of elite interests in problem construction Problems in the �mainstream� view, i.e. those that the media promote Media reflect elite interests

Slide 24:Critical constructionism

Informed by Gramsci�s work Elite (capitalist class in capitalism) maintains cultural hegemony This allows them to shape ideology (�common sense,� taken-for-granted assumptions, such as �human nature� argument) Gramsci: counterhegemony is possible

Slide 25:Critical constructionism

Counters human nature argument with cross-cultural comparisons: �human nature� is variable

Slide 26:Critical constructionism

American extreme individualism is a form of hegemony It encourages the kinds of freedom that permit corporate dominance Freedom from regulation or social control over big business allows their power free range Ironic, given conditions of those below the elite; Cf. What�s the Matter With Kansas?

Slide 27:Globalization

Tendency toward ethnocentrism: Judging other cultures by one�s own cultural standards Americans viewed as particularly so Globalization renders this a dangerous view: Jihad vs. McWorld Global economy Political conflict Cultural homogenization

Slide 28:Sociological imagination

C. Wright Mills� seminal work (1959) Personal troubles of milieu Public issues of social structure �What we experience in various and specific milieux�is often caused by structural changes.� Institutions are �intricately connected with one another�

Slide 29:�To be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieux. To be able to do that is to possess the sociological imagination.�-C. Wright Mills, Sociological Imagination (11)

Slide 30:Shafer�s model for critical analysis of social problems