Midterm Chapter 1 Sullivan Approaches to the Study of Social Problems Sociology offers one of the most useful approaches to understanding social problems and finding solutions to them Social problems involve public issues and are not merely personal troubles They are fundamentally social in nature because their causes and solutions have to do with the workings of society Four social conditions that can play a part in the mergence of social problems are deviation from group values and norms a decline in the effectiveness of social institutions extensive social and cultural diversity and the exercise of power The sociological imagination is the ability to recognize the relationship between what is happening in your own personal life and the social forces that surround you Sociological insights are formulated into theories Very general explanations of social reality are called theoretical perspective The three major theoretical perspectives in sociology today are functionalism conflict theory and interactionism From the functionalist perspective society is viewed as a system made up of interrelated and interdependent parts each performing a function that contributes to the operation of the whole society Social problems arise when some element of society becomes dysfunctional and interferes with the efficient operation or stability of the system or the achievement of society goals Form the conflict perspective society is viewed as consisting of a variety of groups who struggle with one another to attain scarce societal resources that are considered valuable Social problems arise when a group believing that its interests are not being met or that it is not receiving sufficient scarce resources works to overcome what it perceives are a disadvantage The interactionist perspective focuses on every day social interaction among people rather than on larger societal structures It emphasizes the importance of definition and interpretation and the role of shared expectations in shaping behavior Social problems arise when a condition is defined by an influential group as stigmatizing or threatening to its values and disruptive of normal social expectations Theories must be tested through research which for sociologists is based on the scientific method Science emphasizes objective and systematic observation as a source of knowledge Theories are linked to research through hypotheses which are tentative statements that can be tested about the relationship between two or more factors Although the subject is controversial most scientists emphasize the importance of objectivity or the attempt to prevent personal values from affecting the outcome of research There are a number of factors to watch for in assessing research data Including sampling problems the assessment of causality measurement problems and assessing the claims people make Solutions social problems can focus on prevention intervention social reform reconstruction or alleviating consequences The best means for finding effective solutions to social problems is through interplay between the development of social policy and its assessment through scientific research However not all problems can or should be solved because the costs may be too high or there may be disagreement over how to solve them Chapter 2 Sullivan Growth of Corporate and Government Power Political and economic institutions focus on a central issue in society the exercise of power in the allocation of scarce resources The social problem associated with these institutions is the abuse of power The economies of most nations today are market economies which are based on the exchange of money for goods and services in the marketplace The three main types of modern economic systems are capitalism socialism and mixed economies The dominant form of business in modern economies is the corporation which has many advantages over individually owned businesses Economic resources have become highly concentrated in a small number of very large corporations Such concentration can take the form of monopolies oligopolies conglomerates and multinational or global corporations The number and size of unions in the United States has grown substantially over the past century but they have declined some in the past few decades Government has also grown substantially in the past two centuries because it has taken on the responsibility for social and economic policy and because people demand so much more of it Globally immense political and economic power is concentrated in a few large corporations and global financial institutions From the functionalist perspective big government and bus business are problems because they can lead to policies and practices that are inconsistent with cultural values and political and economic reality From the conflict perspective concentration of power becomes a social problem when some influential group believes that it is not receiving its fair share of resources and strives to do something about it There are two major models of power distribution in the United States the power elite model and the pluralist model The realities of holding power are more complex than either model suggests Globally world system theory describes how and why political and economic power is concentrated among a number of nations The concentration of power creates many problems for society including a reduction in economic competition the dominance of corporate profit making goals over societal goals threats to democratic institutions the dwindling of unions worker dislocation and unemployment and abuse of government authority Efforts to alleviate problems stemming from the concentration and abuse of power have focused on a number of policies shrinking the size of the government and budget deficits reorganizing government and budget deficits reorganizing government so that abuses are less likely encouraging collective action by citizens that serves as a counterbalance to government and corporate power globalizing the labor force and reorganizing the economy in ways that reduce worker exploitation and unemployment Chapter 3 Sullivan Family Related Problems The family is a social institution based on kinship that functions to replace members of society and to nurture them In the United States today people practice monogamy and egalitarianism is encouraged Families vary in configuration but usually fall into one of three categories extended nuclear or modified extended The