Sociology of Social Problems

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Sociology of Social Problems
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crisis is the order of the day issues
troubles

• Starvation, poverty
• War
• Disease
• Apathy/alienation
• Racism
• Pessimism

• Job loss
• Divorce
• Victimization
• Time crunch

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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?

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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, were subjects in nature,
  too!)

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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

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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 isnt all research considered biased?

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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

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Rank in order of status

• Student
• Professor
• TV talking head (e.g., Bill OReilly)
• President of U.S.
• Presidents Press Secretary
• Janitor

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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

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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.

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Read page 13 carefully
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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

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Free will ideology

• Individual choices and efforts determine fate
  (http//sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsdagss0
  4 )
• Choices are not determined by social structure
• Strong basis in religious faith (Judeo-Christian)
  and capitalism
• Problems neglects social patterns constraints,
  influences on ideas

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Human nature

• Religious or biological determinism
• Examples
• the poor will always be with us
• people are greedy thats human nature
• Problem fails to account for cross-cultural
  patterns

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Two ways ideology asserts itself

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

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How does Heiner resolve the problem of bias?

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

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Critical perspective

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

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Social constructionism

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

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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)
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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

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Heiners illustration of constructionist model
(figure 1.2, p. 6)
A
B
C
D
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Heiners illustration (modified)
A
B
C
D
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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

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Critical constructionism

• Informed by Gramscis 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

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Critical constructionism

• Counters human nature argument with
  cross-cultural comparisons human nature is
  variable

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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. Whats the Matter With Kansas?

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Globalization

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

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Sociological imagination

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

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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)
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Shafers model for critical analysis of social
problems