Viewing & Interpreting Social Problems
MODULE 1 SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Sociological Imagination
Wright Mills, refers to looking at people’s actions and attitudes in the context of the
social forces that shape them. As Mills said, to understand our experiences in life, we must
understand our historical period and the social forces that are sweeping the time in which we
live. This means that we want to examine the larger context that shaped their views about
abortion. When Lisa’s grandmother was growing up, marriage and motherhood were considered
a woman’s destiny, her purpose in life.
At this time, careers for women were an interlude between completing education and
marriage. Abortion was illegal, and almost everyone agreed that abortion was murder. Some
women who had abortions were taken to their destination blindfolded in a taxi. Lisa grew up in a
different society.
Lisa learned different ideas about herself and her place in life. The women’s movement
had transformed ideas about women’s education, career, marriage, and motherhood. It had also
transformed women’s ideas about the choices they could make about their bodies, including the
right to terminate a pregnancy. In our opening vignette, neither Lisa nor her grandmother saw
this finely woven net that had been cast over them, one that now turned their lives upside down,
making them confront one another like opponents instead of the close friends they are.
In contrast, the sociological imagination invites us to place our focus on the social
context, to see how it shapes or influences our ideas, attitudes, behaviors, and even our emotions.
The broad social context includes historical events such as war and peace, economic booms and
busts, depression and prosperity. The narrow social context includes gender, race–ethnicity,
religion, and social class. The personal social context refers to the relationships we share with
family, friends, or co-workers.
Rather, these levels come together to make up the social context that shapes the way you
look at life. The Significance of Social Location. The term social location refers to where you are
located in society. Our social location is central to our relationships with other people.
As sociologist Peter Berger said, to be located in society means to be at the intersection
point of specific social forces. Few of us know how significant our social location really is. We
all are aware that our social location has an impact on our lives, but our awareness is foggy. Yet
in their many studies, sociologists have documented how our social location influences almost all
aspects of our lives. For example, if you are a woman, social location even influences whether or
not you will have an abortion.
You can see how much lower the rate of abortion is before the early 20s and how it drops
sharply after this age. Now look at the influence of race–ethnicity. As you can see, African
American women are the most likely to have abortions. Their rate is more than four times that of
white women.
Social Location
Rather, it means that people in each corner of life are surrounded by particular ideas,
beliefs, and expectations. As each of us grows up in a particular location, we are exposed to
those specific influences, and they help shape our actions. For example, you are of a certain
race–ethnicity and age. Social location makes a profound difference in our attitudes and
behaviors, but in any individual case, it is impossible to know in advance the consequences of
those influences.
We can’t say that any particular woman will have an abortion. In Sum ▸ Sociologists
stress the need to use the sociological imagination to understand how personal troubles are
related to changes in society.
The Characteristics of Social Problems
Social problems have two essential components. The first is an objective condition, a
condition of society that can be measured or experienced. With abortion, this objective condition
includes whether abortions are legal, who obtains them, and under what circumstances. To see
how subjective concerns about abortion differ in another part of the world, see the Global
Glimpse box on the next page.
Problems Are Dynamic. To say that social problems are dynamic is to say that as society
changes, so do social problems. Until 1973, abortion was illegal, and any doctor who performed
an abortion could be arrested and put in prison. As growing numbers of people became
concerned that women could not have legal abortions, they worked to change the law.
Wade, large numbers of people became upset that abortion had become legal. Convinced
that abortion is murder, these people began their own campaigns to change the law. For their
part, those who favor legal abortion oppose each step these people take. We’ll look more closely
at this process in a moment, but at this point I simply want you to see how social problems are
dynamic, how they take shape as groups react to one.
States
This cultural context sets the stage for female infanticide, the killing of newborn girl
babies, a practice that has been common in India for thousands of years. Using diagnostic
techniques to reveal the sex of the fetus, many Indians have now replaced female infanticide with
sex-selective abortion
Not all women who are pregnant with a female fetus go along with this idea. Some resist,
even though their husbands and other relatives urge them to have an abortion. With profits in
mind, medical personnel also try to sell reluctant women on the abortion. When a woman sees
these bottled fetuses, the horror of double vigilance and two dowries is often sufficient to
convince her to have an abortion.
A social movement whose goals are to stop female feticide and to improve the status of
women is in its initial stages in India. A law forbidding doctors to tell would-be parents the sex
of their fetuses. In an interesting twist, sex-selection abortion is coming to the United States.
As you can see from how people line up on either side of the abortion issue, what people
consider to be a social problem depends on their values. Let’s apply this principle to the
subjective concerns about abortion. You can see that whether people view abortion as favorable
or unfavorable colors the way they view everything connected with abortion.
As you know, our pluralistic society is filled with competing, contrasting, and conflicting
groups. This variety certainly makes life interesting, as it means that we are exposed to
competing, contrasting, and conflicting views of life. Feelings were so strong that groups that
had been hostile to one another for centuries, such as Roman Catholics and Baptists, began to
work together to try to stop abortion. Let’s see how these fascinating characteristics of social
problems apply to the development of abortion as a social problem.
Four Stages
To illustrate this process, we will look at abortion in the United States. To do so, we need
to stress again that abortion used to be illegal in all fifty states. Among these perspectives are
ways to view social problems. Many of us think that the subjective concerns we have about some
social problems are the only right and reasonable way of viewing some objective condition. Just
as our social locations are the source of our subjective concerns, so our views can change if our
journey in life takes us in a different direction. If it does, we travel to other social locations. This
relativity of subjective concerns is central to the social problem of abortion. The Fetus Is a
Human Being
This is the position of most people who believe that abortion is a woman’s right. Women
should have the right to have abortion for any reason. The state has no business limiting
women’s rights and should permit abortion on demand. This is the position of most people who
oppose abortion.
It follows, then, that abortion is murder, the killing of unborn babies, the most defenseless
of all humans. To say that women have a right to abortion is the equivalent of saying that women
have the right to murder their children. The exception to this concept of abortion occurs when
another human life, the mother’s, lies in the balance. The state has no business legalizing murder,
and abortion should be illegal.
Hawaiian physicians, who began to change their views on abortion. The rate of abortion
in Hawaii never fell back to its pre-1964 level, and in 1970, Hawaii changed its law, making
abortion a private, noncriminal act. Now that we’ve set this brief background, we can trace the
natural history of abortion as a social problem in the United States. This will let you see the four
social stages of social problems.
Very few of these issues turn into social problems. Around some social problems, a social
movement develops. The trigger that sometimes launches a social movement is a dramatic event
that captures the imagination, desires, or discontent of large numbers of people, often
accompanied by organizing of some sort that transforms those emotions into an organized force
for change. Defining the Problem. As you have just seen, for a social problem to come into
being, people have to become upset about some objective condition in society. This is what
happened with abortion. The women’s movement was especially significant, encouraging
women to speak out and demand equality.
Within this agitational and supportive context, many women decided that they should not
have to break the law to terminate a pregnancy, that they had the right to safe, legal abortions. As
people discussed their concerns about abortion being illegal, leaders emerged who helped to
crystallize the issues. He argued that if abortion were a sin, it would be better to have no abortion
law than to have one that allowed it under certain circumstances. This reasoning allowed Yano to
maintain his religious opposition to abortion while favoring the repeal of Hawaii’s law against
abortion. She went even further, arguing that the major issue was the right of pregnant women to
choose whether or not to have a baby. Focusing on women’s choice, she aroused public support
for her position.
The Second Stage: Crafting an Official Response
These bills were not passed, but since their purpose was to broaden the circumstances
under which abortion would be permitted, they were attempts to redefine abortion. You can see
that the first stage of defining the social problem and the second stage of developing an official
response to it were intertwined. The turning point in Hawaii came when Senator Yano
announced that he would support the repeal of the abortion law. This publicity served as a vital
bridge between the passive public at large and the leaders who were advocating repeal of
Hawaii’s abortion law. As Hawaiians became keenly aware of the abortion issue, polls showed
that most favored repealing the law.
The Third Stage: Reacting to the Official Response
An official response to a social problem certainly does not mean the end of a social
problem. Some will even see the official response as part of the problem, fueling the
continuation of their struggle. This is just what happened with abortion in 1973. Supreme Court
concurred with the Hawaiian legislation and struck down all state laws that prohibited abortion.
It was still difficult for women to obtain abortions as most U. In 1973, the first year of
legal abortion, 745,000 abortions were performed. Figure 2 on the next page presents another
overview of abortion. From this figure, you can see that the number of abortions per live births
climbed sharply after abortion was legalized. You probably noticed that I just used the term
proabortion to refer to those who favor the legal right to abortion and antiabortion to refer to
those who oppose this legal right. I am trying to avoid the terms pro-choice and pro-life, which
are used by advocates on each side of this social problem. Pro-choice and pro-life represent.
If I have succeeded in my intentions, even if you do not like the terms I have chosen,
whether you favor the legal right to abortion or oppose it, you will feel that I have provided a
balanced presentation of your view.
The Fourth Stage: Developing Alternative Strategies
Let’s look at alternative strategies the pro- and antiabortion groups developed to promote
their positions. Alternative Strategies of the Antiabortionists. After the Supreme Court made its
Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, antiabortion groups began to try to persuade states to restrict the
ruling.
They succeeded in eliminating federal funding of abortions for military personnel and
their dependents, federal prisoners, and workers with the Peace Corps. They also succeeded in
eliminating health insurance coverage of abortions for federal employees. Congress to pass the
Hyde Amendment, which prohibits Medicaid funding for abortions unless the woman’s life is in
imminent danger. When the Supreme Court upheld this amendment in 1980, the number of
abortions paid for by federal funds plummeted from 300,000 a year to just 17.
Lying immobile in front of abortion clinics, they went limp as the police carried them to
jail. This social movement grew so large and its members so active that by 1990 more abortion
protesters had been arrested than the number of people who were arrested during the entire civil
rights movement. ▸ Radical activists, in contrast, choose more extreme methods to try to stop
abortions. Some have thrown blood on the walls of abortion clinics, unplugged abortion
machinery, jammed clinic doors with Super Glue, and set off stink bombs.
Others have called women who had abortions and played recordings of babies screaming.
Some radical activists have burned and bombed abortion clinics. In the town in which I taught,
Edwardsville, Illinois, radicals kidnapped a physician and threatened his life if he did not shut
down his abortion clinics. Radical activists have shot and killed eight abortion doctors.
Strategies of Radicals
At the center of their position is the belief that abortion is a woman’s private decision in
which government should not be involved. They stress that without the right to choose abortion,
any other guarantees of liberty have little meaning for women. One alternative strategy is to
recruit women who had abortions when it was back-alley business. They use their stories to warn
the public about what it would be like if the right to abortion is taken away.
Their ultimate message is that thousands of women will die from underground abortions
if it does not remain legal. Central to the efforts of the proabortionists is protecting Roe v. Wade
and preventing attempts by the antiabortionists to chip away at or overturn the ruling. They have
been successful in getting California and five other states to codify Roe, that is, to guarantee
abortion rights in their states if Roe is overturned
Supreme Court remains the final arbiter. If either side on this issue succeeds in getting a
law passed, the Supreme Court decides whether that law is constitutional. Consequently, a
primary alternative strategy of both proabortionists and antiabortionists is to try to influence the
president’s choice of Supreme Court nominees and how the Senate votes on them. presidents
have taken strong positions on abortion and have proposed nominees for the Supreme Court that
reflect their position.
Four Supreme Court rulings since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision are especially
significant. In this ruling, the Court concluded that the states have no obligation to finance
abortion. The second significant decision is Casey v. In this ruling, hailed as a victory by the
antiabortionists, the Supreme Court ruled that to get an abortion, women under the age of 18
must first obtain the consent of at least one parent. This ruling also requires a waiting period of
24 hours before an abortion can be performed. In a nod to the proabortionists, the Court ruled in
this same decision that a wife has no obligation to inform her husband before she has an
abortion. 1994 when the Supreme Court upheld FACE, the Freedom of Access to Clinic
Entrances
Carhart, the Court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban that Congress had passed in
2003. That Congress called its law the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban indicates the success that the
antiabortion groups had in formulating this law and in this Supreme Court ruling. As you have
seen, in developing alternative strategies both sides have been successful in getting laws passed
that favor their position. The proabortionists managed a stunning victory when they succeeded in
getting abortion listed as a medical condition covered by the health reform law.
Court is likely to face include state laws that require women who want an abortion to
view sonograms of their fetus, outlaw abortions after a heartbeat has been detected, and require
abortion clinics to meet hospital standards and have hallways five feet wide. Each side is seeking
total victory, and neither is satisfied with strategies that bring anything less. What the
antiabortionists want is a Federal Right to Life Law, a constitutional amendment that would
assert that human life begins at conception. Abortion would then be officially classified as a type
of murder.
Choice Law that would remove all state and federal restrictions on abortion. You can see
how incompatible the views and goals of abortion activists are. The final results of this struggle
for and against legal abortion are still unclear. The other argues that the only moral course of
action is to keep abortion legal because it is part of women’s freedom to make decisions about
their own bodies. As you have seen with the example of abortion, social problems are filled with
conflicting emotions, views, and values.
The Role of Sociology in Social Problems
Let’s see how sociology, the systematic and objective study of human groups, can help us
see past the emotions that surround social problems. Describe the contributions that sociologist
can make in studying social problems. If we want an objective understanding of social problems,
sociology can help.
Methods in That sociologists can do objective research does not mean that sociology has
all the answers. To result if some particular social policy is followed, but they have no expertise
for determining which social policy should be followed. Social policy is based on values, on the
outcomes that people want to see.
Sociology and Common Sense
Another commonsense idea is that women who don’t want to get pregnant use birth
control. Sociologist Kristin Luker, who studied an abortion clinic in California, found that many
women had not used contraceptives. Rather, some felt that contraceptives interfered with
intimacy, others that they caused side effects, and still others that they cost too much. Some
women didn’t use them because their boyfriends didn’t want them to.
Another commonsense idea is that women who have abortions did not intend to get
pregnant. Sociologists have found that this, too, isn’t necessarily true., found that many poor,
young, unmarried girls get pregnant on purpose. Some want children so that, as they said, I can
have something to hold onto, that I can call my own. Some boyfriends also urge their girlfriends
to get pregnant, so that they will feel like a man.
And, as Luker discovered, some women get pregnant to test their boyfriend’s
commitment. When they learn that their relationship isn’t going to work out, they decide that
they don’t want to bear a child after all, and they choose abortion as a way out of their dilemmas.
Since it is easy for commonsense ideas to be wrong, we need solid, objective research. To see
how sociologists produce these kinds of findings, let’s turn to how they do their research.
Methods for Studying Social Problems
When sociologists study social problems, they choose from several methods. Which
method they select depends on three factors. To answer this question, you would use a different
method of research than if you want to compare the abortion rates of high school dropouts and
college-educated women. Some methods that might yield good data are unethical.
Let’s look at the methods that sociologists use to study social problems. We shall first
distinguish how sociologists design their studies, then describe how they gather their data. Four
Basic Research Designs.
Let’s suppose that you want in-depth information about how women experience abortion.
You might want to learn how the women wrestle with the decision to give birth or to have an
abortion, whom they talk to about it, even how they feel during the abortion and how they adjust
afterward.
To overcome this limitation, sociologists use surveys. This is a sample in which everyone
in your population has an equal chance of being included in your research. When researchers do
national surveys, whether on attitudes toward abortion or anything else, they need to get
information from only about 2,000 people. Experiments ▸ Another research method is the
experiment.
If you were to use this method, you would randomly divide people who have certain
characteristics into two groups. You would do this to see how something you measure, such as
their attitude toward abortion, differs from that of the control group, those who do not view the
video. Experiments are rare in the study of social problems, partly because ethics do not allow us
to create problems for people. She obtained permission to be present in an abortion clinic and
observe what took place.
No other research method could obtain information like this. Four Methods for Gathering
Information. After selecting a research design, sociologists decide how to gather their
information. An open-ended question might be What is your relationship to the man who made
you pregnant? The woman would put the relationship in her own words.
A closed-ended form of this question would ask the woman to check an item on a list,
such as husband, boyfriend, casual acquaintance, other. It is easier to compare answers to closed-
ended questions, but open-ended questions tap a richer world, eliciting comments, attitudes, and
even topics that you might not anticipate. Documents ▸ Written sources or records, called
documents, can also provide valuable data about social problems. You might examine official
records like census data or hospital records.
Kristin Luker, for example, analyzed the records of 500 women who came to the abortion
clinic that she studied. If you use overt observation, you will identify yourself as a researcher,
but if you use covert observation, the people in the setting will not be aware that you are
studying them.
Observation
Sociologists often combine research methods. Not only did she observe women and
abortion providers in the clinic, but she also interviewed women who were having abortions and
examined the clinic’s records on its patients. When doing research, it is essential to remain
objective. Few of us would try to slant our research in some direction, but like everyone else,
those of us who are sociologists get our ideas and opinions from the groups with which we
associate and the ideas to which we are exposed.
To help you better understand how sociologists do their research, I asked several
researchers to share their experiences with you. Spotlight on Social Research.
Bias and Objectivity in Research Questions
One way to evaluate the results of survey research is to examine the questions that the
researchers asked. Bias in social research is usually subtle, not easy to detect. To acquaint you
with researchers in social problems, the text has a boxed feature titled Spotlight on Social
Research. Each box features a researcher who has studied a particular social problem. I think that
you’ll enjoy Spotlight on Social Research. I am grateful to these researchers for taking time out
of their research and teaching to share their experiences with me.
Our four research methods allow us to gather objective information on social problems,
but they do not reveal what attitude or social policy is correct. Abortion, for example, is
interwoven with thorny philosophical and religious issues concerning the great questions of life,
death, morality, freedom, responsibility, and ultimate existence. Even so, the question of taking
sides on social problems is debated hotly among sociologists, for, like other thoughtful people,
sociologists have their own subjective concerns about social problems.
Fact or Fiction
A problem sociologists grapple with when they analyze social problems is objectivity
versus partisanship. Many sociologists are convinced that they have a moral obligation to take a
stand on social issues. If sociology is not useful for helping to reform society, they ask, of what
value is it? They stress that although sociology does not provide a basis for making moral
choices, it does provide sociologists the ability to relate the surface manifestations of a social
problem to deeper social causes. Some go farther than this and say that sociologists have a moral
obligation to make the oppressed aware of their condition and to organize them to do battle
against those who oppress them.
Those who take the proabortion view would argue that they are siding with women who
are hurt and exploited. Again, sociology cannot provide the basis for choosing values. To better
bring these views into focus, let’s assume that some sociologists have studied unmarried
pregnant teenagers. After analyzing the problems that these young women confront and the
consequences for their children, they conclude that unmarried pregnant teenagers should have
abortions.
Suppose that sociologists analyze the soaring costs of Social Security and Medicare.
Whenever someone takes any position on a social problem, values of some sort underlie that
person’s views. We sociologists, who develop our values just as everyone else does, are no
exception to this principle. As mentioned, the most popular view among sociologists is that we
should work toward changing society in order to help the less powerful.
Some, however, are convinced that sociology’s proper role is only to investigate and to
report research findings objectively. They say that if sociologists want to take sides on any issue,
they should do so as private citizens, not as sociologists. This ongoing debate keeps sociologists
sensitive to the boundaries between objectivity and partisanship. Although there is little room for
middle ground, most sociologists attempt to resolve this dilemma by separating research findings
from their own values and opinions.
Despite their disagreements about taking sides on social problems, sociologists agree that
they are in a unique position to study social problems and that they should produce thorough and
objective studies. Sociologists possess the tools to do such research, and their studies can be
valuable for both the public and policy makers. A Personal Note. We sociologists can provide
facts on objective conditions, sensitize you to the broader context that nourishes social problems,
and suggest the likely consequences of any particular intervention.
Summary and Review
Sociologists use what is called the sociological imagination to view the social problems
that affect people’s lives. This means that they look at how social locations shape people’s
behavior and attitudes. A social problem is some aspect of society that large numbers of people
are concerned about and would like changed. It consists of objective conditions and subjective
concerns.
Experimental group the group in an experiment that is common sense The ideas common
to a society or to some group within a society that people use to make sense out of their
experiences. Field study A method of gathering information through direct observation of some
setting. Experiment A research design that divides a group into an experimental group and a
control group those who are not exposed to generalize to apply the findings learned in one
setting, group, or sample to other settings or groups. Interview A method of gathering
information in which the researcher asks questions.
Method Way of doing research. Social location an individual’s position within society or
its groups. Objective condition A condition of society that can be measured. One of the two
essential characteristics of a social problem.
Social problem Some aspect of society that large numbers of people are concerned about
and would like changed. Observation A means of gathering information whereby the researcher
directly observes what is occurring in a setting. Sociological imagination A framework of
thought that looks at the broad social context that shapes people’s experiences. Participant
observation A method of gathering information through direct observation of some setting.
Personal trouble an individual’s own experience of a social population in research, refers
to the group that one wishes to study. Questionnaire Written questions used to gather information
in research. Random sample A sample that gives everyone in the group being studied an equal
chance of being included in the research. Research method the methods that sociologists use to
study social life. For social problems, these are case studies, experiments, field studies, and
surveys. Sociological perspective Another term for sociological imagination. See objective
condition. Survey Research using questionnaires or interviews that focuses on a sample of people
from a target population.
Discuss the possible generational struggle regarding the elderly. From Chapter 2 of
Social Problems, A Down-to-Earth Approach, Eleventh Edition. I n 1928, Charles Hart, an
anthropologist working on his Ph. Every Tiwi belongs to a clan, and to help Hart fit in they
assigned him to the bird clan and gave him an adoptive mother.
My mother was now completely blind, she was constantly falling over logs or into fires,
and they, her senior clansmen, were in agreement that she would be better out of the way. I
already knew about covering up. The Tiwi, like many other hunting and gathering peoples,
sometimes got rid of their ancient and decrepit females. The method was to dig a hole in the
ground in some lonely place, put the old woman in the hole and fill it in with earth until only her
head was showing. Everybody went away for a day or two and then went back to the hole to
discover to their great surprise, that the old woman was dead, having been too feeble to raise her
arms from the earth.
Of course, I agreed, and a week or two later we heard in our camp that my mother was
dead, and we all wailed and put on the trimmings of mourning. I don’t know about you, but I was
shocked when I read Hart say that he did not hesitate to agree that the old woman should be
covered up. His only concern was whether he would have to watch the woman die. In our
society, too, we have people who would like to find ways to cover up the elderly who seem to
have outlived their social usefulness. Few human groups choose covering up as their solution,
but every society must deal with the problem of people who grow old and frail.
If you read closely, you may have noted that the Tiwi covered up only old women. At
this point, we want to consider how theories help us to understand social life. As we do this, we
will explore the social problem of the elderly.
Sociological Theories and Social Problems
To do this, sociologists use theories. A theory explains how two or more concepts, such
as age and suicide, are related. A theory, then, gives us a framework for organizing facts. As it
does so, it provides a way of interpreting those facts of social life. Like the parts of a machine or
the organs of a human body, society’s parts also have functions. To see why functionalists stress
that the parts of society contribute to the well-being of one another, consider health care and
Social Security. Of the vast sums spent on health care for the elderly, some goes into medical
research. The discoveries of medical researchers help not only the elderly but also children and
adults of all ages.
In the same way, Social Security brings benefits not only to the 44 million retired and
disabled workers who get monthly checks, but also to the 70,000 people who work for this
federal agency. So do businesses across the nation, as the billions of dollars paid by Social
Security work their way through the economy. As you know, the parts of society don’t always
work properly. Functionalists call these failures dysfunctions.
Dysfunctions can be minor, and soon resolved. But if dysfunctions linger, they can create
problems for other parts of society. Many dysfunctions show up when we examine the agencies
that serve the elderly. No stereotype does justice to the variety of the elderly. The two lifestyles
represented here are likely a reflection of lifestyles followed in earlier stages of the life course.
The Development of Functionalism
Sociologist Emile Durkheim built on this idea that a society is composed of parts that
perform functions. When society’s parts perform the functions, they are supposed to, he said, a
society is in a normal state. When society’s parts fail to perform their functions, society is in an
abnormal or pathological state. Robert Merton dropped the idea that society is like an animal but
refined functionalism’s concepts.
A manifest function is an action that is intended to help some part of the system. For
example, Social Security is intended to make life better for the elderly. Improving the quality of
life of the elderly, then, is a manifest function of Social Security. As Merton emphasized, our
actions can also have latent functions, consequences that help some part of the social system but
were not intended for that purpose.
For example, the salaries paid to the 70,000 employees of the Social Security
Administration help to stabilize our economy. Because this beneficial consequence of Social
Security was not intended, however, it is a latent function. These are consequences that disrupt a
system’s stability, making it more difficult to survive. Because the consequences of people’s
actions that disrupt a system’s equilibrium usually are unintended, Merton called them latent
dysfunctions.
If the 70,000 employees of this agency were to follow each procedure exactly, the
resulting red tape would interfere with their ability to serve the elderly. Instead of seeing
something in isolation, we need to see how it is related to other parts of the same system. Let’s
apply functionalism to the social problem of aging.
Applying Functionalism to Social Problems
From the functionalist perspective, society is a social system composed of interconnected
parts that function together. Let’s consider how these homes have helped society adjust to social
change.
Care of the elderly used to fall primarily upon women’s shoulders. Because women
worked at home and there were few organized settings for the elderly, daughters, sisters, and
aunts cared for the elderly at home. A common fear is that old age will bring dementia, frailty,
age 65 and over live in nursing homes. This is the they were little children.
Over the years, 37 percent of all people who reach age 65 or over enter nursing homes.
As you can see, nursing homes are a way that society adjusted to social change. Nursing homes
also have latent functions. Many adult children find that providing care and shelter for their
elderly parents strains their relationship. Some find that after they place a parent in a nursing
home, the love that had been obscured by duty gradually recovers.
Care Service Needs
Dysfunctions of Nursing Homes. As you know, nursing homes also have dysfunctions.
Few nursing homes are pleasant places. Some analysts refer to them as houses of death or human
junkyards. Every time I have visited a nursing home, I have found it to be a depressing
experience. After being admitted to a nursing home, most elderly people decline physically and
mentally.
Here is an example of atrocious neglect The hospital staff treated the condition and gave
the nursing home instructions on how to keep the wound clean and dressed. Another dysfunction
is the use of chemical straitjackets. To control unruly patients, nursing home personnel used to
tie patients to chairs or to beds, where they would stay restrained all day. After investigations
revealed this abuse, there was a public outcry, and nursing homes turned to drugs such as
Thorazine and Prozac to restrain patients.
Research on nursing homes shows that abuse is common. Sociologists Karl Pillemer and
David Moore surveyed nursing homes in New Hampshire. With the public painfully aware of
abuse in nursing homes, the decision to place an elderly family member in a nursing home can be
agonizing. Even though an aged parent is too sick to be cared for at home, to place the parent in a
nursing home is viewed by many as a callous denial of love and duty.
Nursing homes don’t have to be abusive places, however. To see how two major units of
society, the government and the family, can work together to provide high-quality care for the
elderly, see the Global Glimpse box on the next page.
Functionalism and Social Problems: A Summary
This column refers to actions that have taken place in the social system. The examples in
this table refer to business, government, medicine, and the family, but we could include other
social institutions. The column titled Latent Function refers to a beneficial consequence of the
action that was not intended. The last column, Latent Dysfunction, refers to an unintended
harmful consequence of the action. Remember that functionalists assume that society is like a
well-oiled, self-adjusting machine.
To see how rapidly Japan’s population of elderly is growing, look at Table 3. In another
generation, 2 of every 5 will be elderly. Both Japan’s current and projected totals of elderly are
unprecedented in the history of the world. Think about the implications of such a large
percentage of elderly. About half of the Japanese elderly will be age 75 and over. How will
Japan be able to meet the health needs of this coming tidal wave of elderly?
We need to place this question in the context of Japanese culture, specifically, the
obligations of one generation to another. The Japanese believe that because parents took care of
their children, the children are obligated to care for their parents. Unlike in the United States,
most aged Japanese live with their adult children. Because Europe faces similar problems, but
not on such an immense scale, Japanese leaders decided that they could learn from the
Europeans.
With this goal in mind, the government has begun to unify the country’s pension systems
and has increased spending for social security. To care for the elderly who have no families and
those who are the sickest, the government is building thousands of nursing homes. To improve
the quality of life for the healthy elderly, the government is financing 10,000 day service centers.
After passing a government examination, 100,000 specialists will help the elderly at home.
Japan’s low birthrate amidst a surging older population has led to a search for alternative
workers to care for the elderly. One is able to carry patients. To keep residents of nursing homes
mentally active, robots will ask riddles and quiz residents on math problems. They are meant to
strengthen the family, not crowd it out. Japan’s federal deficits are huge, and, as with the United
States, a financial reckoning looms on the horizon. It seems inevitable that some of Japan’s plans
for the elderly will have to be shelved. Regardless of economic conditions, however, the tidal
wave of elderly is on its way.
This misery, said Marx, is going to lead to a bloody day of reckoning when the workers
overthrow their oppressors. The workers will establish a classless society in which the goal will
be not profits for the few but, rather, the good of the many. In Marx’s time, workers were at the
mercy of their bosses. Some sociologists have extended conflict theory well beyond the relations
between workers and capitalists.
Sociologist Georg Simmel, for example, compared the relationships of superordinates
with subordinates. If employers want to lower the benefits of a pension plan, for example, they
must get unions to agree. In return, the workers will insist on a trade-off, such as increased job
security. Department even asked Lucky Luciano, head of the Mafia at that time, to spy on dock
workers.
Sociologist Lewis Coser analyzed why conflict is especially likely to develop among
people who have close relationships with one another. He pointed out that whether we refer to
husbands and wives or to bosses and workers, each is part of a system in which the parties have
worked out expectations about their relative power, responsibilities, and rewards.
Applying Conflict Theory to Social Problems
As we apply the conflict perspective to the elderly, let’s see how Social Security came
about. In this drama, the three major players are elderly workers, younger workers, and
employers. A fourth, Congress, also appears. From this perspective, Congress represents the
interests of the employers. Let’s start with the historical background. Because of their
experience, older workers used to be prized. Social Security. In 1930, in the midst of national
despair, Francis Everett Townsend, a physician, spearheaded a social movement to rally the
elderly into a political force.
He soon had one-third of all Americans over 60 enrolled in his Townsend Clubs. From
this base of power, the elderly demanded old-age pensions. Townsend’s ultimate goal was for the
federal government to levy a national sales tax of 2 percent to provide $200 a month for every
person over 60. Townsend argued that the elderly’s increased spending would lift the nation out
of the Depression.
By 1934, the Townsend Clubs had gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures on
petitions, and the Townsend Plan went before Congress. This was an election year, and Congress
felt vulnerable to a grassroots revolt by older people. elderly is a potent political force today.
Although the Townsend Clubs did not get their plan passed, they did force Congress to pass
Social Security.
The clubs then turned to the goal of improving Social Security. Benefits were not
scheduled to begin until 1942, which would leave millions of workers without support. In Sum ▸
When conflict theorists analyze a social problem, they look for how interest groups compete for
scarce resources. Social Security benefits did not come from generous hearts in Congress, but
from the political power of the elderly, who had banded together to push their own interests. To
appease the elderly and avoid a political crisis, Congress gave in, but granted as little as it
thought it could get by with.
Conflict Theory and Social Problems: A Summary
At the root of each social problem lies competition over the distribution of power and
privilege. This means that social problems are inevitable, for power and privilege are limited and
groups are competing for them. From the conflict perspective, social problems come in two
forms. In the 1970s, sociologists started to apply the conflict perspective to the relationships of
women and men. Female relationships from the perspective of the powerful oppressing the
powerless and the reactions to that oppression.
In this application of conflict theory, women must become aware of how their oppression
is rooted in their relationships with men. They stress that throughout history men have had
greater power than women in both public and private spheres and that men have exercised this
power to control women. Feminist theorists analyze how men maintain and create boundaries
and obstacles to prevent women from gaining or exercising power.
In the 1970s, feminist theory was an umbrella term used to describe the application of
conflict theory to the relationships of women and men, with an emphasis on the oppression of
women and the need to bring about fundamental change. As you can see, each makes its own
application of feminist theory. The goal of radical feminists is too free both men and women of
rigid gender roles by waging war against patriarchy. Liberal feminists argue that patriarchy and
oppression exist because our institutions socialize men and women into believing oppressive
ideology.
T Socialist feminism Socialist feminists, the closest kin to Marx, stress that there is a
direct link between capitalism and the oppression of women. T Cultural feminism Cultural
feminists argue that we need to appreciate the biological differences between men and women.
They claim that women are inherently kinder and gentler than men. If women ruled the world,
patriarchy, oppression, and capitalism would not exist, and the world would be a better place.
T Ecofeminism Ecofeminists stress that patriarchy is oppressive not only for women but
also for the environment. They point out that men want to dominate not only women but also
nature. Women need to free themselves from the dominance of men and take the lead in
protecting the natural environment. I don’t want you to get the idea from this list that there are
just five branches of feminist theory.
Focusing on Gender
This is just one aspect of the social problem of the elderly that we could look at through
the lens of feminist theory. The point to remember is that feminist theory views the root of social
problems as conflict that originates in patriarchy. From this perspective, social problems are seen
as the result of a struggle over power and privilege among men and women.
The essence of this perspective is that we see the world through symbols, things to which
we attach meaning and that we use to communicate with one another. Symbolic interactionists
study how symbols, such as the terms we use to classify people, give us our view of the world.
As we use the symbols that our culture provides to communicate with one another, we share and
reinforce the ways we look at life. This might seem vague, so let’s go back to our example of the
elderly.
When we first see a person who is advanced in years, we tend to classify him or her as an
old person. As we look at this person, we tend to see the characteristics that our culture packs
into the symbol old. In our culture, this symbol often includes being weak, unattractive,
unstylish, and over the hill. Because everyone internalizes the symbols that dominate their
culture, many elderlies also see themselves in such terms. Old person, however, doesn’t mean the
same thing in all cultures. Changing Symbols, Changing Perception.
He found that 200 years ago people placed a high value on the elderly because most
people died young. Achenbaum traces this change back to the late 1800s, an era that saw major
advances in public health, especially improvements in sanitation. As a result, many people
reached old age, and no longer was being Prior to machine production, the elderly were given
high respect because elderly a distinction. As the elderly lost the uniqueness that had brought
them respect, the meaning of old person began to change.
At that time, if they had problems because of their age, those problems were matters for
them or their family to handle. Old age was a personal problem, not a social problem. Today, in
contrast, with so many people reaching old age, we think of elderly people as a group. We tend
to lump them together, and we consider social action to be appropriate for solving their
problems.
From our brief review of what it meant to be elderly during an earlier period in the
United States, we can see that as society changes, so do its symbols. Because the term social
problem is also a symbol, what people consider to be a social problem also changes from one
historical period to another. What we now take for granted, we may later see as a problem, and
what we now see as a problem, we may later take for granted. From the perspective of symbolic
interactionism, then, social problems are whatever people in a society define as social problems.
For more on how changing symbols produce changed perception and how different social
locations lead to different views of the social problem of old age, read the Spotlight on Social
Research box on the next page.
The Development of Symbolic Interactionism
Symbols are so essential for what we become that we could call them the element that
separates us from the rest of life on this planet. Symbols allow us to think about other people and
objects, even when they are not present. Much of her research focuses on the careers and
working lives of people who are approaching retirement age. I started out a life-course
sociologist, interested in people’s pathways through work and family roles and relationships, and
how our pathways are shaped by gender and social policy. When I was a young professor at
Cornell University, I found out that one of my colleagues had, many years previously,
interviewed a random sample of young women in Elmira, New York. One of my graduate
students, Donna Dempster-McClain, and I got together to study his 1950s data and were
fascinated by the differences in women’s lives then from our own.
Donna and I got the bright idea of reinterviewing these women 30 years later, and
reinterviewing their daughters as well. We thought this a wonderful opportunity to document the
ways tremendous social changes in gender roles touched women’s lives across the generations.
With the help of graduate students, other committed researchers, and a grant from the National
Institute on Aging, we found almost all of these women and reinterviewed them and their
daughters, capturing their remarkable life histories from the 1950s through the 1980s. Students
who do so often find that interviewing earlier cohorts offers a window on history and time.
If you ask them, you may find that these people born in a different time and into a
different world have defined social problems very differently when they were in their teens and
twenties. They certainly have had distinctive experiences, opportunities, and challenges, and as a
consequence, continue to have distinctive viewpoints about contemporary social issues. Asking
about the timing of people’s trajectories and transitions in education, paid work, and family life
helps to reveal the person behind the stereotypes and myths about older people. I continue to
study differences in life pathways by cohort and gender, especially as people move from their
career jobs to what are traditionally thought of as the retirement years.
My research shows that couples may live together longer retired than they did prior to
retirement. But they seldom plan for retirement, beyond thinking about the age or date they will
retire. It is the same way many young people plan for the wedding but not the years of married
life. Symbols are central to our lives and relationships.
Let’s look at two of the theorists who developed symbolic interactionism. Mead and
Taking the Role of the Other. George Herbert Mead taught at the University of Chicago, where
symbolic interactionism flourished. At one point, from the 1920s to the 1940s, this department of
sociology and this perspective were so intertwined that the term Chicago School of Sociology
was used to refer to both. Mead focused on the role of symbols in social life. Symbols are so
important, he said, that without them we couldn’t even have social life. What he meant is that
symbols allow us to have goals, to plan, to evaluate, even to know what love is. Mead concluded
that even our self-concept, which evolves during childhood, is based on symbols.
Not all cultures have the same symbols, so the social construction of reality changes from
culture to culture. Although the answers that the Japanese and the Americans get regarding the
suicide are different, the principle is the same. Both the Japanese and the Americans are using
the symbols their culture provides to socially construct reality. They come up with different
answers because they use a different set of symbols. To catch a glimpse of Americans as they
work out answers to the why of suicide, see the Thinking Critically box on the. The social
construction of reality is part of everyday life. Symbolic interactionists call this process the
social construction of reality.
Applying Symbolic Interactionism to Social Problems
The Social Construction of Social Problems. This means that social problems don’t have
an independent existence. Social problems don’t exist until some condition of society is called a
social problem. That there are old people in a society does not mean that there is a social
problem in that society. If this continues, we might come to the point where more positive
features of social life are associated with old age and the elderly receive greater respect. In short,
because social problems are socially constructed, what is considered a social problem change
over time.
The symbol was to interview the friend’s suicide, in contrast, denies us this and family of
people who more comfortable interpretation of had committed suicide. Our culture offers many
created similar feelings within symbols to help people adjust to me. The interviews yielded the
death of loved ones. Among rich data, however, and here them is God’s will. This symbol, are
some things I found conif it can be used, moves causation cerning suicide and the social clearly
beyond the survivors of the construction of reality. When this man took his life, his family and
friends went the death.
The family members happened. As their shock through a process called the social
construction of reality. Of a suicide, however, are denied wears off, they mentally relive this
category. Listen to this woman as she struggles with the events associated with the dead person.
As they do so, the events take on new meaning. Well, I would have felt in my own mind that
God had called the individual took his or her life.
From these examples, you can see that culture provides You can hear the questions that
plague him as symbols he reconstructs events in his search for answers regarding that people use
to interpret the events of their lives. I’ve wondered where it began if it was suicide. I think this
thing ples can make us more aware of how we use our culture’s or that thing could have been
done to change the course symbols to provide meaning for our experiences. You can of events.
I even thought, if we see that if our culture provided different symbols, we would have
move from St. As a part of our everyday life, we all use the symbols of reality, a concept
sometimes difficult to understand, is our culture provides to interpret what happens to us, that is,
ordinary part of our everyday lives. To socially construct our reality. When it comes to death by
suicide, however, our culture does not offer satisfactory symbols. Why do the suicides of a
Japanese general after a failed disease. That person’s family members don’t face this type battle
and the suicide of a lonely U. What is meant by the social construction of reality.
Changing Objective Conditions and Subjective Concerns
Discuss the possible generational struggle regarding the elderly. Images of poor, ill,
neglected grandparents have been used to promote social programs for elderly Americans. If the
nation tightens its belt as the bills come due, the elderly might be asked to tighten theirs, too.
Reduction of federal programs for the elderly would mean an increase in their poverty rate.
With the political clout of today’s elderly accompanied by the ardent desire of our elected
officials to remain in office, however, any serious reductions are unlikely. A major concern of
the public and of politicians is the costs of health care for the elderly. Medicaid have soared. As
you know, the cost of Social Security is also a growing concern. Security payments ran $784
million, but today they run $725 billion. First, look at another reason that the objective condition
of this social problem is likely to get worse.
The New Centenarians
Apparently, though, centenarians mostly basically really are new to the world in a subtle
way, or so they for all intents and purposes literally thought in a basically big way. Some
population expert’s kind of specifically generally think that before 1900 only one person a
century made it to age 100 or beyond in a generally fairly big way, for all intents and purposes
contrary to popular belief. In fact, women centenarians outnumber men centenarians four to one,
so some population experts particularly generally definitely think that before 1900 only one
person a century made it to age 100 or beyond, which mostly for the most part is fairly
significant in a subtle way, which essentially is fairly significant. Because the basically very
average woman outlives the kind of for all intents and purposes average man, about 25 percent of
men centenarians basically really definitely are married, but only about 4 percent of the women
in a subtle way in a subtle way, which particularly is quite significant.
No one knows exactly why the new centenarians mostly definitely actually have
generally particularly generally appeared at this point in world history, but our improved really
really actually public health, basically very modern medicines, and ample food supply certainly
specifically basically play a part You can simply kind of really particularly be in the really
definitely wrong place at the kind of actually generally wrong time, definitely very pretty such as
visiting the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, which basically kind of is fairly
significant, which particularly is quite significant. The increasing number of people reaching 100
years of age for all intents and purposes is new to the world scene, fairly definitely contrary to
popular belief, demonstrating how the increasing number of people reaching 100 years of age is
new to the world scene, fairly sort of fairly contrary to popular belief in a fairly definitely big
way, so in fact, women centenarians outnumber men centenarians four to one, so some
population experts particularly generally actually think that before 1900 only one person a
century made it to age 100 or beyond , which mostly actually is fairly significant in a subtle way
in a sort of major way. receive for all intents and purposes definitely sort of Social Security in a
fairly very big way in a subtle way in a big way.
This continuing trend toward longer life really has brought with it a new term, the
supercentenarians, those who mostly kind of have made it to 110 or beyond, basically for all
intents and purposes further showing how because the definitely sort of average woman outlives
the particularly sort of average man, about 25 percent of men centenarians kind of specifically
are married, but only about 4 percent of the women, which particularly is quite significant, which
literally is fairly significant. There essentially are about 75 or 80 supercentenarians in the United
States, demonstrating how some population experts really definitely think that before 1900 only
one person a century made it to age 100 or beyond in a for all intents and purposes major way in
a fairly major way.
Our centenarians and supercentenarians basically mostly have generally definitely arrived
on the world scene because of pretty natural causes, showing how because the very particularly
average woman outlives the really sort of average man, about 25 percent of men centenarians
actually really are married, but only about 4 percent of the women in a for all intents and
purposes really major way in a major way. If the genetics researchers for the most part learn how
to particularly manipulate our genes, we may one day really be talking about the new
centenarians and a half, or even the fairly really double centenarians, which really kind of is
fairly significant in a for all intents and purposes big way.
Centenarians generally specifically are one of the very generally much the really the
fastest growing segments of our population in a definitely particularly major way, very contrary
to popular belief. While still relatively rare today, they actually for all intents and purposes are
destined to actually really become pretty much fairly more common, or so they thought, contrary
to popular belief. Look at the Issues in actually fairly Social Problems box on, which specifically
shows that for the most part kind of look at the Issues in really sort of Social Problems box on in
a pretty major way in a subtle way. Reprinted by permission of the kind of particularly Gray
Panthers definitely really Consider actually definitely Social Security again in a subtle way,
showing how there essentially actually are about 75 or 80 supercentenarians in the United States,
demonstrating how some population experts really think that before 1900 only one person a
century made it to age 100 or beyond in a for all intents and purposes major way.
The money a worker pays to very kind of Social Security specifically is not specifically
put into that worker’s fairly really own account, demonstrating that while still relatively rare
today, they generally literally are destined to generally for all intents and purposes become pretty
particularly much more common, which for all intents and purposes mostly is fairly significant,
which generally is fairly significant. The number of people collecting basically actually Social
Security benefits generally definitely is growing faster than the number of people entering the
workforce, which really specifically is quite significant in a pretty major way. This represents a
sort of particularly major shift in the dependency ratio, the number of workers compared with the
number of people who specifically, or so they thought.
