Social Pathology Flashcards
What is social pathology
Define social problems
State the difference between social problems and social pathology
•A problem that is limited only to the level of an individual person or to only few groups may not be regarded as a social problem.true or false
- The term social pathology generally refers to the pathos of society, i.e., the “social diseases” that affect society.
- Social problems are those diseased conditions of society that affect its normal functioning.
• A social pathology affects society, or its institutions and organizations at large. However, the very term social problem may mean any problem that has social origins, affecting at least two persons, that goes beyond mere psychological and physiological levels
True
Some social problems are universal in their nature; this means that they occur everywhere across all societies.
•They may be derived from the fundamental similarity of the nature, origin and destiny of all human societies.
•Anthropologists argue that, all human beings share common bio-psychological problems and as such they have more or less similar basic interests, questions, fears, etc.
True or false
State seven social problems all types of societies face
societies face such kinds of social problems such as;
•juvenile delinquencies
•marriage breakdown and divorce
•parent-children conflicts
•tensions over limited resources between groups
•wars and inter-group skirmishes, alcoholism, environmental pollution, prostitution, homelessness, begging, etc.
Drug abuse or substance abuse(not smoking cuz it’s not a social disease)
What are the manifestations of the specific cultural and ecological settings of a society, as well as the reflections of the socio-historical and political dimensions of the society.
What also reflect the level of technological advancement a society has arrived at. And give an example
Name six social problems specific to developing societies
Social problems that come from local conditions
Social problems
Example:the major social problems that abound in the industrially complex society of the West include environmental pollution, marital breakdown and familial conflicts, juvenile delinquencies, suicide, drug addiction, and the collapse of morality, among others.
Developing societies suffer from such kinds of social problems as urban slums, housing shortage, urban and rural poverty, sanitation problems, famine, ethnic conflicts, lack of good governance and corruption, streetism and homelessness, among others.
What is deviance,crime,stigma
Explain relative deviance
Deviance” is nonjudgmental term true or false
Deviance
•Violation of Rules or Norms. Deviance is behavior that members of a group or society see as violating their norms.
Behaviour that violates significant social norms”
- Crime
- Violation of Norms as Laws
- Stigma
- Blemishes on “Normal” Identity
Relative Deviance •What is Deviant to some is not Deviant to others Example: •Divorce •Mistaken identity •
Explain four social functions of deviance
State two uses of norms and define social control
Clarify norms •Defined as boundaries •Unify the groups- identify the outsider •Diffusing tension-only if a minor act •Demonstrations •Promoting social change- •if a lot of people violate a norm •Providing jobs: It provides jobs so people who are deviant provides jobs for counselors ,jailers,police officers
Norms Make Social Life Possible by Making behaviour Predictable
•Norms Bring Social Order
•Social Control - Formal and Informal Means of Enforcing Norms
Informal means example is the chief’s palace
Norms are dos and donts
Whether an action or behavior is considered deviant depends on ?
Definition of deviance varies according to ?
Time
Place
Social situations
Groups
Name three broad types of explanations of deviance
Explain those types
The main three perspectives of deviance are?
There are psychological and sociological explanations of deviance.
•
Psychological theories focus on the personality of individuals.
•Focus on Conditions Within Individuals
•Personality Disorders
•
•
Sociological theories focus on the forces beyond the individual.
•Look for Answers Outside Individuals
•Social Class
If a person is deviant it’s society that made him or her that way
•
Sociobiology:
Certain genetic and biochemical abnormalities lead individuals to commit deviance and criminal acts .Look for Answers Inside Individuals,Genetic Predispositions.
some people are deviant by nature and some are deviant because of their family
Symbolic interactionist perspective
Functionalist perspective
Conflict perspective
Define differentiation association theory as a symbolic interactionist perspective of deviance,labeling theory and control theory(and the types of the control theory)
Explain how rejecting labels explains deviance
Differential association theory maintains that people learn deviant acts through socialization. Learn to Deviate or Conform Through Group Association •Families •Friends, Neighbours •Subculture •Prison or Freedom?
•
According to the control theory, every person is naturally prone to deviance, but most of us conform to norms because of effective system of inner and outer control.
•It is those who have less effective control who deviate.
Inner controls: Morality
•Conscience
•Religious Principles
Outer controls: Attachments •Commitments •Involvements •Beliefs that actions are morally wrong •
Labeling theory states that behaviors are deviant when and only because people label them as such(Caffrey and Mundy, 1995).
Focuses on the Significance of Labels
•Labels Become Part of Self-Concept
•Propel Towards or Away from Deviance
Denial of Responsibility
•Denial of Injury
•Denial of a Victim
explain the strain theory under functional perspective
Structural strain theory maintains that deviance occurs when conformity to widely accepted norms of behavior fail to satisfy legitimate, culturally approved desires. Social Values Generate Crime
•Cultural Goals
•Institutional Means
•Strain Leads to Anomie
How can deviance be functional?
Clarifies Moral Boundaries and Affirms Norms
•Promotes Social Unity
•Promotes Social Change:
What are the four deviant paths according to Merton’s deviance typology as a functionalist perspective and explain them
Innovators
•Ritualism
•Retreatism
•Rebellion
It is a response due to the strain generated by our culture’s emphasis on wealth and the lack of opportunities to get rich, which causes people to be innovators by engaging in stealing and selling drugs
Ritualism
•It refers to the inability to reach a cultural goal thus embracing the rules to the point where the people in question lose sight of their larger goals in order to feel respectable. Ritualists reject society’s goals but accept society’s institutionalised means.
Retreating:It is the rejection of both cultural goals and means, letting the person in question drop out.
Rebellion
•This is similar to retreatism, but they go one step further to a counterculture that supports other social orders that already exists (rule breaking).
•They create new goals and means to replace those of society, creating not only new goals to achieve but also new ways to achieve these goals that other rebels will find acceptable
Who are the conformists
They accept society’s goals and the socially acceptable means of achieving them
Which group of people or mode of adaption do not feel the strain that leads to anomie(state of lawlessness),accept cultural goals (ends results) and accept institutional means (the normal or standard way to get to where you want to get to or achieve what you want to achieve)
Conformists
Which group of people feel the strain that leads to anomie,accept cultural goals but reject institutional means and give an example
Innovators
Example: in class someone’s goal is to get an A in class and the normal way to do so is to learn to get it but instead of using this normal way,an innovator will cheat instead thereby rejecting the institutional means but accepting the cultural goal
Which group of people feel the strain that leads to anomie,reject cultural goals but accept institutional means
Ritualism
