Why Sociology? This is a Sociology class and social problems falls within the sociological theories. Many other "ologies" study certain problems, but Sociology studies them all!

Sociology is the scientific study of societies and human social behavior, and it provides one of the most useful approaches for understanding social problems and a most effective tool for finding solutions to them.

That is what the book says, you tell me what you think when we get done! I already tend to disagree. I don’t think anyone has the most effective tool for finding solutions or everything would be solved! DUH!

The book says:

A social problem exists when an influential group defines a social condition as threatening its values; when the condition affects a large number of people; and when the condition can be remedied by collective action!

HUH?

An influential group?

This is a group that has significant impact on public debate and social policy.

As far as this definition is concerned they are not talking about personal struggles, but the struggles of groups who have the backing enough to have a movement or collectively gotten together to speak up!

The groups opposing discrimination against women have been able to mount a campaign that has forced politicians and the public nationwide to listen to their demands.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have not gotten the political backing and have not gotten the public to wholly listen to their message, thus they are not one of the "groups".

As Sociology is concerned the mere existence of a social condition does not make it problematic, no matter how harmful it may be.

Example, Smoking has been linked to lung cancer for years but people did not connect it with a social problem until there was biomedical research to prove it!

Conditions are viewed as social problems when they threaten a groups values.

Values – are peoples ideas bout what is good or bad, right or wring.

The controversy – Who decides what is right and what is wrong. Different backgrounds and cultures would answer this differently!

The more people they (Social Problems) effect, the more likely they are to be publicly departed and defined as a problem that society should address.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, and other vagaries of nature, for example, are harmful and frightening natural disasters, but they would not be considered social problems because they are not created by social conditions.

The book describes four distinct social conditions that can play a role in the emergence of social problems: deviation from group values and norms, a decline in the effective of social institutions, extensive social and cultural diversity, and the exercise if power

Norms = are much more specific and concrete than values they are rules of conduct that guide people’s behavior.

Deviance = Behaviors or characteristics that violate important group norms and as a consequence are reacted to with social disapproval.

Social Institutions = relatively stable clusters of social relationships that involve people working together to meet some basic needs of society. (i.e. the family, religion, education).

Subculture = is a group within a culture that shares some of the beliefs, values, and norms of the larger culture but also has some that are distinctly its own.

Examples = teenagers, Cubans in Miami, gays in most large cities, skinheads, the drug set, prison inmates. Everyone belongs to a subculture based on age, sex social standing, religion, leisure pastimes, or other characteristics.

Ethnocentrism = the tendency to view one’s own culture or subculture as the best and to judge other cultures or subcultures in comparison to it.

Power = is the ability of one group to realize its will, even in the face of resistance from other groups.

Authority = refers to legitimate power that is obeyed because people believe it is right and proper that they obey.

A term coined by C. Wright Mills (1959) that refers to the ability to understand the relationship between what is happening in people’s personal lives and the social forces that surround them.

This is a set of statements that explains the relationship between phenomena.

Theoretical perspectives provide some fundamental assumptions about the nature and operation of society and commonly as sources of the more specific theories.

There are three approaches (Theoretical Perspectives) the book uses to describe these social problems they are: The Functionalist Perspective, the Conflict Perspective, and the Interactionist Perspective.

The thought comes grew out of the similarities early sociologists observed between society and biological organisms.

The human body for example is composed of many parts, but they are all interconnected. One dies and the rest follow.

Society is a system made up of a number of interrelated elements, each performing a function that contributes to the operation of the whole.

This perspective is based o the idea that society consists of different groups who struggle with one another to attain the scarce societal resources that are considered valuable, be they money , power, prestige or the authority to impose one’s values on society.

Karl Marx provided the foundation for the conflict perspective when he viewed society as consisting of different social classes.

Although Marx was and is thought as an extremist he had some good points about class struggle.

The United States, for example, professes to value equality for all. Yet at one time or another, African Americans, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, women, and Jews have suffered severe discrimination!

Group whose members share distinct and common concerns and who benefit from similar social policies and practices.

Examples are National Rifle Association, the Sierra Club, ACLU, NAACP.

In the conflict view, social change involves redistributing scarce resources among various interest groups

This perspective focuses on everyday social interaction among individuals rather than on large societal structures such as politics, education, and the like.

When working from the Interactionist Perspective one feels that sociedty consists of people interactions with one another; to understand society one must understand the individual.