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Social Problems

Social Problems. What is Sociology? Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions-- Paradigms Dualistic Nature--Subjective/Objective What is a Sociologist? Peter Berger’s Invitation to Sociology. Social Problems.

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Social Problems

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  1. Social Problems • What is Sociology?Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions--ParadigmsDualistic Nature--Subjective/Objective • What is a Sociologist?Peter Berger’s Invitation to Sociology

  2. Social Problems • What is the Sociological Perspective?Personal Experience as a Way of Understanding the World 1. No Knowledge of other Cultures/societies 2. Masks Larger Social Patterns 3. Accept Errors of Fact

  3. Social Problems • Leon Festinger’s “Need to Know” TypificationsFritz Heider’s “Naïve Psychology” • People fall victim to their own attitudes and perceptions, which are based on personal experience

  4. Social Problems • C. Wright Mills’s “Personal Troubles vs. Public Issues • What is the Sociological Perspective? 1) Removes us from the Familiar 2) Forces us to Critically Examine Phenomenon 3) Conscious Effort to Question the Obvious

  5. Social Problems • What is a Social Problem?Elements: 1) Influential Group Defines a Social Condition as Threatening its Values 2) When Condition Affects a Large # of People 3) When the Condition can be Remedied by Collective Action

  6. Social Problems • Life Cycle of a Social Problem1) Defining a Social Problem: Moral Entrepreneurs2) Transformation into a Public Issue3) Debating Causes and Solutions Personal Attribution Systemic Attribution

  7. Social Problems 4) Role of Power • Main Perspectives in Sociology Structural Functionalism Conflict Symbolic Interactionism

  8. Crime as a Social Problem • Why is Crime Bad? Harm Costs • The Social Distortion of CrimeJames Q. Wilson’s Crime as Box Scores

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  10. Crime as a Social Problem 3. Credit Cards 4. Central Park Jogger II. Unable/Unwilling to Control/Contain Crime A) Lack of Reporting B) Our own involvement as Offenders 1. 40% Burglaries

  11. Crime as a Social Problem 2. Large % of Homicides 3. Rapes C. Lack of Consensus on Punishment 1. Disparity in Sentencing D. Build More Prisons 1. Taxes 2. NIMBYISM

  12. Crime as a Social Problem E. Focus on “Wrong” Issues 1. War on Drugs 2. More Cops=Less Crime 3. Ban Guns=Less Crime Measuring CrimeA. Uniform Crime ReportsB. National Crime SurveyC. Self-Report Studies

  13. Crime as a Social Problem HomicideA. Interactionist Perspective 1. Jack Katz’s Seductions of CrimeB. Culturalist Perspective 1. Marvin Wolfgang’s Subculture of Violence hypothesis

  14. Crime as a Social Problem C. Structuralist Perspective 1. Anomie 2. Racial Inequality 3. Identity Mass Murder 1. Criminal Gangs 2. Family Killing --Suicide by Proxy 3. Multiple Murderer (all at once/serial)

  15. Criminal Justice as a Social Problem I.Criminal Justice SystemA. Police B. CourtsC.Corrections Is it Really a System at all? A. The Police 1. Patrol

  16. Criminal Justice as a Social Problem I.Criminal Justice SystemA. Police B. CourtsC.Corrections Is it Really a System at all? A. The Police

  17. Criminal Justice as a Social Problem Other functions:1. Fighting Crime2. Maintaining Order 3. Providing Social Service Preventive Patrol--RationaleDoes it Work? 1. Amount of Time Spent on Patrol

  18. Criminal Justice as a Social Problem 2. Questions about Effectiveness Inside vs. Outside Crimes How Likely are Officers to Encounter Crimes in Progress?

  19. Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment (1974)

  20. Police and Policing • Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment (1974) Divide southern portion of city Matched police beats. 1. Doubled/Tripled patrol 2. Eliminated Patrol 3. Control Group

  21. Police and Policing • Effects of K.C. Study Crime-- UCR and Victimization Surveys Fear of Crime Reporting Crime Prevention of Crime by residents Response time by police • Think of cost involved of adding one 24 hour patrol

  22. Police and Policing • Community Policing • Problem Oriented PolicingSARA modelDoes it work? • Community Crime PreventionPassive/Active Programs Block Watch Operation ID

  23. Community Crime Prevention • Active ProgramsThe Guardian AngelsKenney’s Study • One Ray of HopeCrime Prevention Through Environmental Design

  24. Community Crime Prevention • Oscar Newman’s Defensible SpaceTerritoriality, Surveillance, Image, Milieu • Contemporary Applications

  25. Community Crime Prevention • The Panacea Phenomenon--Jim Finckenaur Bandwagon Early Success Exaggeration Program Evaluation Frustration

  26. Community Crime Prevention • Crime Displacement Temporal Spatial Method Target Crime Type

  27. Sexual Deviance • Where are we with regard to sexuality/morality in this country? • Three main areas of discussion PornographyHomosexualityProstitution

  28. Sexual Deviance • Prostitution has always existed…and we’ve always said it has been wrong. • American Social Hygiene Association 1904 Prostitution is immoralProstitution corrupts innocent womenProstitution is a public health issue • Existence of Red Light Districts

  29. Sexual Deviance • Police: District Zone Strategy • Crusade against vice led to dispersion of prostitutes • Extent of problem today—what does history teach us? • UCR= 90,000 arrests and 175 million dollar industry

  30. Sexual Deviance • Police think of prostitution as a nuisance crime, but….district zone strategy • Some community crime prevention tactics used by residents to thwart prostitution • Where do the feminists weigh in on this issue? • Sociologically, how can we understand prostitution? Kingsley Davis’s Functionalist .View of Prostitution

  31. Sexual Deviance • Should we legalize prostitution? Would that solve the problem? • What about the rise and interest in gentlemen’s clubs? Is this sex for the millenium or is it prostitution and organized crime in a different package?

  32. Sexual Deviance • Male Prostitution—what are they and why would anyone study them? • What about Male Prostitution in New York City? • What do we know about Male Prostitution History of family abuse, sexual abuse, Low educational achievement, sex at an early age, first encounter in hustling. What is their sexual orientation?

  33. Sexual Deviance • Hustling in Times Square—the study. • So what do we know? What is the social organization of hustling? • What are the three main issues related to the study: Crack AIDS Urban Redevelopment

  34. Sexual Deviance • What about gay hustlers? How are they different from “straight” hustlers? • Finally, how are hustlers different from transvestites, cross dressers, and transsexuals? • |-------|-------------|----------------|-------------|-------| crossdressers/transvestites/transgenderist/transsexual|

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