Ch.1 What Are Social Problems? Flashcards
What is a Social Problem?
A social condition or behaviour that is thought t warrant public concern and collective action.
What is Intersectionality?
It is a concept that describes how inequalities based on gender identity, race, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, and other forms of inequality intersect to exacerbate the inequalities that individuals experience.
What are the 2 components to a social problem?
- objective element
- subjective element
What is an objective element?
measurable features of a social condition.
What is a subjective element?
People’s perceptions and evaluations of the social world.
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
- Language and culture shape the way we see the world around us.
- Language leads us to perceive and understand the world in certain ways.
- Language is going to shape the reality around us.
What is Social Structure?
- Term that is given to all of the interconnected relationships of the various social groups and institutions in which people create and become part of.
- Provides the framework for all social interaction.
What are the 4 components of social structure?
- Social Institutions
- Groups
- Status
- Roles
Describe Social Institutions:
An institution is an organized set of beliefs and rules that determine how society fulfills its basic needs. For example, the economy.
**Family can also be considered an institution.
Describe Groups:
People who interact, share identity, and are interdependent (depend on one another in some way or capacity).
Describe Status:
A socially defined position with rights, duties, and expectations.
A status means what you are.
There are 2 types of statuses, what are they?
- Ascribed: given to you.
- Achieved: was earned. (Can be + or -)
Describe roles:
Behaviours associated with a status. People hold a status, it is a position, they perform a role, they act a particular way.
Structural Functionalism:
Is a theoretical perspective that focuses on social order and stability.
What does structural functionalism suggests?
- It suggests that society is characterized by consensus on shared values. In other words, we all agree on what is important in society.
- Equilibrium or balance is maintained if all parts of society are working smoothly. If one part breaks down, this adversely impacts other parts of society.
What kind of level analysis does structural functionalism uses?
It uses a macrosociological approach in focusing on the societal, rather than the individual, level of analysis.
What is the main critique of structural functionalism?
The assumption that it makes about consensus on shared values. For structural functionalists, society is analogous to the human body. Just as the human body is made up of parts that are all interrelated, society is made up of institutions that are interrelated.
Structural Functionalism: what do Davis and Moore (1945) argued?
They argued that inequality arises bc we need to pay higher incomes to people who have the most important jobs in society. Higher incomes are needed to entice people to undertake the hard work and training needed for jobs that come with higher incomes.
Structural Functionalism: different critiques…
- ignores the reality that many inequalities are based on inherited wealth.
- some jobs are extremely important for society but don’t come with very high salaries.
- assumes that economic rewards are the only effective motivators for people and fails to take into accounts other intrinsic aspects of work.
***According to structural functionalists, the cause of most social problems is due to the failure of institutions to fulfill their roles.
What is Conflict Theory?
- It has its roots in the idea of Karl Marx who wrote about class inequality and differences in wealth and opportunity btw workers and the owners of capital.
What do conflict theorists criticize?
Conflict theorists criticize functionalists sociologists for ignoring the inequality, conflict, and disagreement that exist among members of society.
What are the critiques about conflict theory?
It has been critiqued for overlooking other forms of inequality, such as those based on gender, race, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation.
What is Symbolic Interactionism?
It studies the ways people interpret and respond to the actions of others. For symbolic interactionists, society and its problems are products of continuous micro-level interactions (online and offline).
How do symbolic interactionists see society?
They see society as actively created by people who interact and share meanings, definitions, and interpretations with one another.
Individuals communicate through verbal and non-verbal communication. The word “symbol” in the name refers to the fact that we communicate and interact with the use of symbols, whether it is a wave or an emoji.
