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Welcome to SOCY 3300, Advanced Social Problems. This is the first of what I call videocasts
or video podcast lectures. First things first, these videocasts should not take the place
of reading the actual chapters. These are just introductions.
Okay, so, I’m Rob Kadel, I teach in the Sociology Department. Please feel free to
call me Rob, or, if you prefer, you can call me Dr. Kadel or Professor Kadel. Please just
don’t call me Mr. Kadel, because that’s my dad.
In this videocast, we’re going to cover Macionis chapters 1 and 10, an introduction
to Social Problems, and then also some information about the economy. The first concept I want
to start off with — because we’ll discuss this time and again this term — is “sensationalism
sells.” A lot of what we’ll discuss are social problems that may seem worse than they
are or that don’t seem like problems at all. A lot of this has to do with media coverage.
Those things that are sensational or provocative are the things that get media coverage. So
remember, sensationalism sells!
Okay, let’s kick off this videocast with an important definition, an Institution. In
sociology, an institution is not a brick-and-mortar building like you’d think of a school as
an institution or a prison where people are institutionalized. In sociology, an institution
is a well established and organized pattern of group behavior accepted as a fundamental
part of society – for example, religion, political structure (including government),
economy, family, education (both within schools and outside).
Next, What is Sociology? – well, “socio” refers to the social world, and logos means
the study of something. So sociology is the study of the social world.
More specifically, sociology is the scientific study of groups. So, whereas psychology studies
individuals, sociology studies groups. We study collective actions and meanings within
and among groups - those that the group defines or that are outside of group definitions.
So, Where did it start?
August Comte is most often consider the founder of sociology. He believed there were natural
laws of human behavior which the social chaos from the Industrial Revolution were out of
line with. He sought to realign humanity with these laws and used the scientific method
to do so.
There are also some main sociological founders including Emile Durkheim. Now, he made the
distinction between primitive and modern societies, that modern societies are characterized by
a division of labor. This is what holds modern societies together, but the sacred and religious
(and collective conscience of) held primitive societies together. Norms (social order) were
derived from a collective consciousness. Durkheim researched what happens when norms are violated
(deviance) and when individuals feel that norms don’t apply to them anymore (like
suicide and anomie).
Another founder of modern sociology is Karl Marx. To Marx, all society rests on the economy
-- legal, political, cultural superstructures are built upon the economic structure of society.
Marx discussed the economic history of the world as a progression of economic exploitation
of the have-nots by the haves -- primitive communism (pre-ancient-empire periods), slavery
(Egypt, Rome), feudalism, capitalism, socialism (education), communism (utopia?). Thus all
social relationships are based on conflict between groups, usually those with power and
those without. These two groups are the bourgeoisie and proletariat, respectively.
Some people ask, Why are Marx’s theories still popular if the Soviet Union fell? Well
first, the Soviet Union was never really communist, they were Marxist socialist -- still a state
— a government — still a currency, etc. And further, although the progression to communism
may not be veritable, conflict relationships are now most prevalent in sociological analysis
-- many social problems we’ll study are based on conflict, between men and women,
ethnic groups, and, yes, social classes.
Lastly, we have as a founder of modern sociology, Max Weber. He emphasized understanding from
your subjects’ perspectives and experiences, what’s known as verstehen. Weber built on
Marx’s theories but stressed that conflict arises not just in economic sphere (and then
trickles down to other institutions) but arises in every facet of society -- e.g., religion,
the family, politics, etc. One of Weber’s biggest contribution?: Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber explained the rise of the spirit of capitalism from
the ethics of Protestant Christians. E.g., Ben Franklin - “A penny saved is a penny
earned.” And lastly, Weber was very adamant about maintaining objective rationality in
one’s research.
There are three major theories of sociology that we’ll use in this course. Three different
lenses, so to speak, through which we’ll view society.
The first is structural functionalism – from Durkheim – that society’s institutions
(made up of individuals) define appropriate behaviors for its members and thus define
order. Social problems arise because of rapid social change (e.g., technology, transportation,
communication) to which institutions can’t keep up.
The second is conflict theory – from Marx and Weber – that inequality (economic, political,
etc.) generates social conflict among groups. This structure favors a select few who then
exploit the rest, thus social problems arise because the powerful don’t often have the
powerless groups’ interests in mind.
And finally, symbolic interactionism, the notion that the social world is a product
of the interactions among social actors. It’s a term coined by Herbert Blumer. It’s important
in looking at the connections between people and large social institutions -- how do institutions
arise? How do they “think” — a concept that comes from sociologist Mary Douglas?
Well, social institutions “think” by the interactions among the actors inside the institutions.
Okay, so, What is a social problem? – Well, a social problem is a condition which is recognized
to systematically disadvantage or harm a specific segment or a significant number of the society’s
population. In other words, a social problem is a problem that affects lots of people,
not just a few. Furthermore, it is a problem that is recognized as affecting lots of people.
For example, spousal abuse was not considered a social problem until the media brought it
to our attention a couple of decades ago. It was first considered the problem of a few
deviants, or considered a private, family matter. Now it’s considered a social issue
— between 2 and 6 milion woman are abused each year by their partners/spouses.
Moving on to Macionis Chapter 10, What is an economy? – it is a system for the management
and development of a society’s scarce human and material resources. “Scarce” is the
key word there. If there were enough of everything to go around, we wouldn’t need an economy
to manage it. But there isn’t enough oil, there aren’t enough million-dollar houses,
we don’t have enough fresh water. So our economic system manages these and thousands
of other resources.
What are some characteristics of the U.S. economy?
First, let’s talk Oligopolies – (also known as shared monopolies). These exist when
you have control of an industry by a small number of companies. Increasingly (as in during
the last half-century) they are a defining characteristic of U.S. industries. Now over
60% of all goods produced in the U.S. are produced in oligopolistic industries.
* FYI: a couple of important terms: “industry” vs. “firm” – we have an auto industry
of which GM is a participating firm. Firms make up industries.
* Interestingly, Lee Iacocca — who once ran GM and later Chrysler, once said: “If
you have absolutely unrestrained competition in the marketplace, pretty soon you’ll end
up with no competition at all.” Another characteristic of the U.S. economy?
Increasing Service-Sector Jobs. There are basically three kinds of these: 1) services
for the affluent (like banking, real estate, law); 2) welfare services (health care, education,
government); and 3) services provided by the underpaid (building services, custodial services,
retail, food service). * So here’s the big catch in the U.S. economy,
a transition from manufacturing jobs to service jobs. Low-skilled workers who would’ve been
in manufacturing are now in these low-skilled service positions. Big difference: earnings
are about 1/2 of manufacturing jobs and benefits are about only 2/5 of the value of those provided
by manufacturing jobs. The next characteristic of the U.S. economy?
Unemployment: most economists consider healthy unemployment to be 3-4% annually, made up
of transitional and chronic unemployment. * Transitional is basically just people who
are between jobs * Chronic unemployment is people who are generally
unemployable, for example, those with severe physical limitations, those with severe mental
illness, the homeless * The national unemployment rate about 4 years
ago reached a high of around 9 – 10%. Right now, we stand at about seven-and-a-half percent.
There’s also Underemployment -- people are being forced to take jobs for which they are
overqualified. Why? Why so much education, but not the jobs to fill the bill? Later in
the course we’ll talk about “status competition” and this increased educational levels, even
if not necessary. Approx. one-fourth of undergrads go on to graduage or professional training
and this number is increasing. * The least skilled individuals in the economy
will find themselves the big losers in the job competition.
So those are just a few characteristics of the U.S. economy. Be sure to read Chapter
10 in Macionis to get the full picture.
Now, How is the U.S. faring in the global economy?
* This can be characterized by increased multinationalization of corporations and production because of
* Inexpensive raw materials * Inexpensive labor costs overseas
* Virtually unregulated industries overseas * U.S. investment in foreign companies
* Regulatory legislation increases production costs, but many say these are necessary to
protect consumers, environment, etc. * Our government didn’t regulate the flow
of foreign goods while other countries’ governments did
* Lastly, U.S. workers’ demands for increased wages relative to other countries, but necessary
to live in our increasingly expensive economy. * This has lead to a big trade deficit. Currently,
we’re buying $235 billion in international goods while we’re selling only about $190
billion. That’s lots of red ink on the balance sheet.
Okay, so that’s it for me. Most of these videocasts will be a bit shorter because we
will rarely cover two chapters in a week. Remember, in order to pass the quizzes and
participate in the discussions, you need to read the text book. So head on over to Macionis
chapters 1 and 10, and then I will see you online!