SOC 100 Week 5 (6 slide excluding reference)
Social Change
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What is Social Change?
Social change is a considerable alteration in societal norms through social movements, technological advancements, and environmental shifts.
Examples of social changes throughout history include the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Rights Movement, and more.
Social change is a considerable alteration in the current societal norms. These alterations do not happen overnight but rather through months if not years of painstaking movements that span the continent. Some social changes can even span generations before fully coming into effect. The U.S. has experienced many considerable social changes throughout history, that have had lasting effects even today. Some of these social changes include the Revolutionary War and the separation from England, which brought about the ability to create a whole new set of social norms. The Civil War the abolishment of slavery, the practice of slavery in the U.S. began in 1619 and lasted until 1863. The Civil Rights Movement took place between the 1950s and the 1960s and was a struggle for equality between blacks and whites, this movement held countless marches and even ended the lives of some memorable individuals. Finally, the Women’s Rights Movement began in 1848 and lasted until 1920, this movement brought about a significant change in the lives of women and afforded them equal rights to their male counterparts. Many more significant social changes took place throughout history, and each one brought new social norms creating the society we know today
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What is a Community?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the legal definition of a community is “the people who live in a particular place or region and usually are linked by some common interests.” (Merriam-Webster, 2019)
Communities can include our neighborhoods, groups we are apart of, and our city as a whole.
The beauty of a community is that it can be anything and everything. We can have communities built within communities, and we can even be apart of numerous different communities at the same time. A community can become apart of someone’s identity. The Merriam-Webster dictionary provides the legal definition of a community as “the people who live in a particular place or region and usually are linked by some common interests.” (Merriam-Webster, 2019) This means that for people, our community can not only be the specific neighborhood we live in, but also groups we are apart of and even the city we live in as a whole. Communities are only as restrictive as we make them.
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Community Wide Social Problems
Community wide social problems can range from something small such as overgrown landscapes that creates eyesores within communities to graffiti in parks, destruction of community property, property theft, parking violations, speeding, and improper disposal of pet waste.
Every community has its own set of social problems, even the communities that appear to have nothing to hide or improve upon. Social problems that exist in a housing development may not exist in an apartment complex and vice versa, just as problems that may exist in an impoverished community may not exist in a prosperous community and vice versa. Social problems exist to provoke necessary social changes and to keep society moving forward and not backward. Social problems within a community can be something as trivial as overgrown landscape that creates eyesores, to things more complex such as graffiti in parks, destruction of community property, property theft, parking violations, speeding, and improper disposal of pet waste.
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Social Problem Within My Community
The rate of homelessness has begun to rise in Arizona again.
The increase in homelessness has brought an increase in the number of panhandlers.
Panhandlers create unsafe driving situations on the roads and at intersections.
Figure 1. Number of People Experiencing Homelessness in Arizona, by type, 2007-2018 (2019)
Arizona has begun to see to a rise in the homeless population, and that rise is continuing into 2019. With the increase in the number of homeless on the streets, Arizona has also begun to see an increase in the number of panhandlers on the streets. Panhandlers are not inherently bad for the community. However, they can begin to pose safety risks for themselves and those around them. In my immediate city, the number of panhandlers has gotten so high that the individuals can be seen getting into altercations over street corners. They can also be seen dashing in between cars at red lights to retrieve money being held out open windows. In some instances, they will even begin knocking on the windows of vehicles in the hopes of receiving money from strangers. These individuals bring about an increased risk of accidents happening as they typically appear to have no regard for their safety or those around them.
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Theoretical Perspective on Social Problem
What is the conflict theory?
“A theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources.” (Griffiths et al., 2017)
Under the premise that society is a competition for resources, conflict theorists would view homelessness as an inevitable outcome in society because of the separation of classes and the inequal distribution of wealth between the classes.
The nature of homelessness fits into the conflict theory rather well, as it creates a separation in classes on its own. Individuals in a society are constantly fighting over jobs and financial stability. There is a clear separation in terms of wealth, one of the most valuable resources, between those that are homeless and those that are not and the unequal distribution of wealth among members of society.
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Social Influences to Address the Problem
Potential Solutions
Law enforcement
Homeless programs
In order to solve to problem of homelessness and panhandling, the problem first needs to be addressed.
Law enforcement tends to ignore the homeless population unless they are breaking the law, and even then, they tend to ignore those laws in Arizona. In 2017 Arizona made panhandling on street corners illegal, yet the police do nothing to stop it, which allows the safety risks to continue.
Arizona has very few shelters, and the ones that do exist are continuously are on waiting lists or are for specific demographics. Providing more resources to the homeless that not only get them off the streets but also help to provide a meaningful chance at changing their current path can help solve the problem. Arizona seems to have the covers pulled over its head to avoid addressing the growing issue of homelessness.
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Resources
Community | Definition Of Community By Merriam-Webster. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community
Griffiths, H., Keirns, N., & Strayer, E., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Scaramuzzo, G., Sadler, T (2017). Introduction to Sociology (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781948847087/.
National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2019). Arizona. Retrieved from https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness- statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/arizona/
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