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A COMPLETE LEARNING PACKAGE
Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action goes beyond the typical presentation
of contemporary social issues, examining the social and structural forces that determine our
social problems; considering various policies and programs that attempt to address these
problems; and recognizing how we can be part of the solution to social problems in our
communities.
• The text includes FIVE CHAPTERS THAT FOCUS ON THE BASIS OF
SOCIAL INEQUALITY and emphasizes how social class and poverty, race and
ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and age contribute to our experience and
understanding of social problems.
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• “EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS†uses quantitative data to tell the story of a
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Leon-Guerrero, Anna, author.
Title: Social problems : community, policy and social action / Anna Leon-Guerrero, Pacific Lutheran University.
Description: Sixth Edition. | Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications, [2018] |
Revised edition of the author’s Social problems, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018017892 | ISBN 9781506362724 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Social problems—United States. | Social problems. | Critical thinking.
Classification: LCC HN59.2 .L46 2018 | DDC 306.0973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018017892
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p.ix
BRIEF CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1 • Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
PART I • THE BASES OF INEQUALITY
Chapter 2 • Social Class
Chapter 3 • Race and Ethnicity
Chapter 4 • Gender
Chapter 5 • Sexual Orientation
Chapter 6 • Age and Aging
PART II • OUR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Chapter 7 • Families
Chapter 8 • Education
Chapter 9 • Work and the Economy
Chapter 10 • Health and Medicine
Chapter 11 • The Media
PART III • OUR SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL WORLDS
Chapter 12 • Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Chapter 13 • Crime and Criminal Justice
Chapter 14 • Urbanization and Population Growth
Chapter 15 • The Environment
Chapter 16 • War and Terrorism
14
PART IV • INDIVIDUAL ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Chapter 17 • Social Problems and Social Action
Glossary
References
Index
15
p.x
DETAILED CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
Using Our Sociological Imagination
What Is a Social Problem?
The Negative Consequences of Social Problems
Objective and Subjective Realities of Social Problems
The History of Social Problems
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Identifying Global Threats
• IN FOCUS: A Review of Sociology
Understanding the Sociological Perspective
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
The Science of Sociology
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Data Matters
The Transformation From Problem to Solution
Making Sociological Connections
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Judith Auerbach
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Doing Sociology
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part I • The Bases of Inequality
2. Social Class
16
What Does It Mean to Be Poor?
The Federal Definitions of Poverty
Who Are the Poor?
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Demographics of Poverty
Sociological Perspectives on Social Class and Poverty
Functionalist Perspective
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Income Inequality in China
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
p.xi
Interactionist Perspective
• IN FOCUS: The Power of Political Action Committees
The Consequences of Poverty
Food Insecurity and Hunger
Affordable Housing
Health
Responding to Class Inequalities
U.S. Welfare Policy
Life After Welfare
Earned Income Tax Credit
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Mauricio Lim Miller
Changing the Definition—Redefining Poverty
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Critical Thinking
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
3. Race and Ethnicity
Defining Race and Ethnicity
Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Integration
Sociological Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
17
Interactionist Perspective
• IN FOCUS: Black Lives Matter
The Consequences of Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
U.S. Immigration
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Recently Arrived Immigrant Population
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Global Immigration
Income and Wealth
Education
Health
Responding to Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
Immigration Policy Since 2009
Affirmative Action
Employment
Education
Encouraging Diversity and Inclusivity
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Sofia Campos
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: The Science of Sociology: Values vs. Facts
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
4. Gender
Sociological Perspectives on Gender Inequality
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
p.xii
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Sarah McBride
Interactionist Perspective
• IN FOCUS: Gender Identity Terms
The Consequences of Gender Inequality
Occupational Sex Segregation
Income Inequality
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: The Wage Gap
Gender Nonconformity Discrimination
18
Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault
Responding to Gender Inequalities
Feminist Movements and Social Policies
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Leaving No Girl Behind
Title IX
Expanding Trans and Intersex Rights
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Sociology as a Science: Theory and Data
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
5. Sexual Orientation
Sociological Perspectives on Sexual Orientation and Inequality
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Interactionist Perspective
Sexual Orientation and Inequality
State and Federal Legislation
The Rights and Recognition of Same-Sex Couples
Employment
Military Service
Responding to Sexual Orientation Inequalities
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Gay Military Service Policies
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Support for Same-Sex Marriage
• IN FOCUS: Gay-Friendly Campuses
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Dan Savage
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Internships and Service Learning
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
6. Age and Aging
Our Aging World
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Aging in China
Sociological Perspectives on Age, Aging, and Inequality
19
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
p.xiii
The Consequences of Age Inequality
Ageism
Age and Social Class
Health and Medical Care
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Elderly Income Sources
Ageism in the Workplace
Responding to Age Inequalities
• IN FOCUS: The Political Influence of Young and Older Voters
Social Security
Medicare
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Barbara Young
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Social Work
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part II • Our Social Institutions
7. Families
Myths of the Family
Sociological Perspectives on the Family
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Interactionist Perspective
Problems in the Family
Divorce
Violence and Neglect
Teen Pregnancy and Newborn Abandonment
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Teen Birthrates
• IN FOCUS: Teen Parenting and Education
20
The Problems of Time and Money
Community, Policy, and Social Action
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Community Responses to Domestic Violence and Neglect
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Parental Leave Policies
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Wynona Ward
Teen Pregnancy and Infant Abandonment
Expanding the Definition of Family
Cohabitation
Grandparents as Parents
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Paralegals and Legal Assistants
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
8. Education
The New Educational Standard
Sociological Perspectives on Education
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Earning a bachelor’s degree
p.xiv
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Problems and Challenges in Education
The Problem of Basic Literacy
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Educational Tracking and Testing in Japan
Inequality in Educational Access and Achievement
• IN FOCUS: Controlling the Cost of Higher Education
Violence and Harassment in Schools
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Policy Responses—The Basis for Educational Reform
Promoting Educational Opportunities— Head Start and Prekindergarten
Mentoring, Supporting, and Valuing Networks
21
Antiviolence and Antibullying Programs in Schools
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Wendy Kopp
Does Having a Choice Improve Education?
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Afterschool Education
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
9. Work and the Economy
The Changing Nature of Work
Sociological Perspectives on Work
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Problems in Work and the Economy
Unemployment and Underemployment
Globalization
Minimum Wage
A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Characteristics of Minimum-Wage
Workers
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Policies
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Mexico’s Maquiladoras
• IN FOCUS: Sweatshop Labor
The Living Wage Movement
Worker-Friendly Businesses— Conducting Business a Different Way
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Jerry Greenfield
Organized and Fighting Back
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Law
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
22
p.xv
10. Health and Medicine
Sociological Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Medicine
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Health Inequalities and Problems
Gender
Education
The Cost of Health Care
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Health Care Utilization
The Uninsured Population
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Health Care Reform
State Reform
• IN FOCUS: U.S. Health Insurance and Health Care Delivery Systems
Federal Reform
Children’s Health Insurance Program
State Prescription Drug Plans
Community-Based Health Centers
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Not-So-Foreign Models of Health Care
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Victoria Hale
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Medicine
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
11. The Media
Sociological Perspectives on the Media
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: International Women’s Media Foundation
23
The Media and Social Problems
Loss of Privacy
The Digital Haves and Have-Nots
• IN FOCUS: The Boundary-less Workplace
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Internet Use
The Death of the Newspaper?
Driving Distracted
Do You Trust the News Media?
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Communications Commission and the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Who Is Watching the Media?
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Geena Davis
Media Literacy and Digital Literacy
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Software Development
p.xvi
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part III • Our Social and Physical Worlds
12. Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Sociological Perspectives on Drug Abuse
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
What Is Drug Abuse?
Alcohol
Tobacco and Nicotine
Marijuana
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: The Marijuana Legalization Movement
Opioids
The Problems of Drug Abuse
Drug Use in the Workplace
24
Problem Drinking Among Teens and Young Adults
Punishment or Treatment?
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Programs
Drug Legalization
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Support for the Legalization of
Marijuana
Drug Treatment and Prevention Programs
• IN FOCUS: College Drug Programs
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Shilo Jama
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Public Health
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
13. Crime and Criminal Justice
Sociological Perspectives on Crime
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Sources of Crime Statistics
Types of Crime
Violent Crime
Property Crime
Juvenile Delinquency
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Intimate Partner and Nonpartner
Violence Against Women
White-Collar Crime
p.xvii
The Inequalities of Crime—Offenders and Victims
Offenders
Victims
Our Current Response to Crime
25
The Police
Prisons
The Death Penalty
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Policing in Brazil
Community, Policy, and Social Action
U.S. Department of Justice
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs
Community Responses to Disparities in Policing
Community Approaches to Law
• IN FOCUS: Assault Weapons
Prison Advocacy and Death Penalty Reform
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Max Kenner
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Probation and Parole Officers
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
14. Urbanization and Population Growth
Urban Sociology and Demography
The Processes of Urbanization and Suburbanization
Population Growth and Composition
Sociological Perspectives on Urbanization and Population Growth
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Global Urbanization and Population Growth
Interactionist Perspective
The Consequences of Urbanization and Population Growth
Urban Living Environment
Homelessness
Gentrification
Urban Sprawl and Transportation
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Commuting
• IN FOCUS: Living Car Free
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Magic Johnson
26
Community, Policy, and Social Action
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Urban Revitalization Programs
Creating Sustainable Communities
Housing and Homelessness Programs
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Nonprofit Work
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
p.xviii
15. The Environment
Environmental Problems Are Human Problems
Sociological Perspectives on Environmental Problems
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Social Problems and the Environment
Climate Change
Air Quality
Hazardous Waste Sites and Brownfields
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Home Sweet Landfill
Water Quality and Supply
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Waste and Recycling
Land Conservation and Wilderness Protection
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Responses
State and Local Responses
Environmental Interest Groups
Environmental Justice Movement
• IN FOCUS: Local and Sustainable Food
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Chad Pregracke
Is Your School Green?
27
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Research
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
16. War and Terrorism
Defining Conflict
War
U.S. Conflicts
Terrorism
Sociological Perspectives on War and Terrorism
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: U.S. Global Engagement
The Problems of War and Terrorism
The Impact of War and Terrorism
• IN FOCUS: The Hidden Costs of War
The Next Threat
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Northern Ireland Self-Rule
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Political Diplomacy
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Setsuko Thurlow
The Use of Economic Sanctions
p.xix
Military Response
Antiwar and Peace Movements
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Working and Volunteering Abroad
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part IV • Individual Action and Social Change
28
17. Social Problems and Social Action
Understanding Social Movements
How Do Social Movements Begin?
How Have Reform Movements Made a Difference?
• IN FOCUS: Student Activism
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Nongovernmental Organizations as a Source of
Change
Making the Last Connection
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Camila Vallejo
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Who Is Politically Engaged?
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Graduate Study
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Glossary
References
Index
29
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Media Library
SAGE Core Concepts AP News Clips
Chapter 1 Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 1.1: The Sociological Imagination
SAGE Core Concepts 1.2: The Social Construction of Reality
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 1.3: Me Too at the Golden Globes (Tarana Burke)
Chapter 2 Social Class
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SAGE Core Concepts 2.1: What is Social Class
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AP News Clips 2.2: The Feminization of Poverty
AP News Clips 2.3: Homeless in Hawaii
Chapter 3 Race and Ethnicity
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SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 3.1: Race and Ethnicity
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 3.2: Ferguson Demonstrations
AP News Clips 3.3: US Immigration Protest
30
Chapter 4 Gender
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SAGE Core Concepts 4.2: Gender and Gender Socialization
SAGE Core Concepts 4.3: Addressing Sexual Assault on Campus
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AP News Clips 4.1: Gender Stereotypes
Chapter 5 Sexual Orientation
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AP News Clips 5.1: Sexuality, Race, and HIV
AP News Clips 5.2: LGBTQ Service Members
AP News Clips 5.3: LGBTQ Adoption
Chapter 6 Age and Aging
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AP News Clips 6.2: President Obama Highlights Issues Facing Aging Americans
AP News Clips 6.3: Aging Suit
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SAGE Core Concepts 7.3: Multigenerational Families
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Chapter 8 Education
31
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SAGE Core Concepts 8.1: Education and Inequality
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AP News Clips 8.2: Declining School Conditions in Venezuela
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Chapter 9 Work and the Economy
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AP News Clips 9.1: President Obama Speaking about Fair Pay
AP News Clips 9.2: Supreme Court Case About Woman Wearing Hijab
AP News Clips 9.3: Possible Solutions to Underemployment
Chapter 10 Health and Medicine
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AP News Clips 10.2: Waiting for Organ Donors
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Chapter 11 The Media
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Chapter 12 Alcohol and Drug Abuse
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32
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 12.1: Drinking Culture in the Workplace
AP News Clips 12.2: Federal Marijuana Reaction
AP News Clips 12.3: US Opioid Epidemic
Chapter 13 Crime and Criminal Justice
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 13.1: Juvenile Locked Up For Life
AP News Clips 13.2: The Death Penalty at San Quentin
AP News Clips 13.3: US Gun Violence Debate
Chapter 14 Urbanization and Population Growth
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 14.1: Suburbanization of Asian Americans, Decline of Historic
Chinatowns
AP News Clips 14.2: Rise of Homeslessness in Seattle
AP News Clips 14.3: Long Commute
Chapter 15 The Environment
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AP News Clips 15.1: Renewable Energy
AP News Clips 15.2: Annual Precipitation
AP News Clips 15.3: Global Warming in the Arctic
Chapter 16 War and Terrorism
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 16.1: US Women in Combat Roles
AP News Clips 16.2: PTSD and Suicide Among Veterans
33
AP News Clips 16.3: Antiwar Protests
Chapter 17 Social Problems and Social Action
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 17.1: Occupy Wall Street
AP News Clips 17.2: Opening of the Civil Rights Museum
AP News Clips 17.3: Volunteer Bike Rides for the Elderly
34
p.xx
PREFACE
I wrote this text with two goals in mind: to offer a better understanding of the social problems we
experience in our world and to begin working toward real solutions. In the pages that follow, I
present three connections to achieve these goals. The first connection is between sociology and the
study of social problems. Using your sociological imagination (which you’ll learn more about in
Chapter 1), you will be able to identify the social and structural forces that determine our social
problems. I think you’ll discover that this course is interesting, challenging, and sometimes
frustrating (sort of like real-life discussions about social problems). After you review these different
social problems, you may ask, “What can be done about all this?†The second connection is between
social problems and their solutions. In each chapter, we review selected social policies along with
innovative programs that attempt to address or correct these problems. The final connection is one
that I ask you to make yourself: recognizing the social problems in your community and identifying
how you can be part of the solution.
LEARNING FEATURES OF THIS TEXT
The three connections are made evident in each chapter and throughout the text through a variety
of specific learning features:
• A focus on the basis of social inequalities. Using a sociological perspective, we examine how
race and ethnicity, gender, social class, sexual orientation, and age determine our life chances.
Chapters 2 through 6 focus specifically on these bases of social inequality and how each
contributes to our experience of social problems.
• A focus on the global experience of social problems. Throughout the text, the consequences
of social problems throughout the world are highlighted, drawing upon data and research from
international scholars and sociologists. In a boxed chapter feature, Taking a World View,
specific social problems or responses are examined from a global perspective. We look at
China’s aging population (Chapter 6), Japan’s educational tracking system (Chapter 8),
Mexico’s maquiladoras (Chapter 9), the International Women’s Media Foundation (Chapter
11), and marijuana legalization in other countries (Chapter 12).
• A focus on social policy and social action. Each chapter includes a discussion on relevant
social policies or programs. In addition, each chapter highlights how individuals or groups have
made a difference in their community. The chapters include personal stories, some from
35
professionals in their field, others from ordinary individuals who accomplish extraordinary
things. Several feature those who began their activism as young adults or college students. For
example, in Chapter 8, you’ll meet Wendy Kopp, the woman behind the Teach for America
program; in Chapter 13, you’ll meet Max Kenner, founder of the Bard Prison Initiative, an
educational program for prisoners; and in Chapter 17, you’ll read the story of Camila Vallejo,
who began her activism while she was a student at the University of Chile. The text concludes
with a chapter titled “Social Problems and Social Action†that identifies ways you can become
more involved.
• “What Does It Mean to Me?†exercises. Each chapter includes questions or activities that
can be completed by small student groups or on your own. Although some questions require
you to collect data and information on what is going on in your own state, city, or campus,
most of the exercises ask you to reflect on the material and consider how the social problem
affects you. These exercises take you out of the classroom, away from the textbook, and into
your community!
p.xxi
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SIXTH EDITION
I have made a number of revisions in response to comments and feedback from the many instructors
who adopted the earlier editions and from other interested instructors and their students.
• Expanding the sociological perspectives. Four theoretical perspectives (functionalist,
conflict, feminist, and interactionist) are presented in each chapter, identifying how each
perspective defines the causes and consequences of specific problems. Additional material has
been incorporated in Chapter 3 (impact of immigrants on the economy), Chapter 4 (gender
binary and transgender identity), Chapter 9 (the living wage movement), Chapter 11 (media
portrayal of women athletes), and Chapter 13 (disparities in policing), In Chapter 1, I’ve
included a general overview of basic sociological terms and concepts.
• Keeping it current. The focus of this text is unlike most other social problems texts,
featuring a strong emphasis on social policy and action. It is necessary with each edition to
provide an update on significant social policy decisions and debates. In this edition, the
following social policy discussions have been updated: immigration (Chapter 3), LGBTQ
rights (Chapter 5), the Affordable Care Act (Chapter 10), Internet neutrality (Chapter 11),
opioid use (Chapter 12), and assault weapons (Chapter 13).
• Data matters. Data are important for understanding the extent of our social problems and
recognizing populations vulnerable to them. In each revision I update data sources and
incorporate new research findings. In this edition, each chapter includes a new feature,
Exploring Social Problems, offering a closer empirical examination of social problems such as
36
elderly income sources, minimum-wage employment, health care access, violence against
women, and Internet access.
• Life after college. What can you do with a sociology undergraduate degree? Almost
anything. And to prove it to you, each chapter includes a Sociology at Work feature, reviewing
the invaluable workplace skills that you’ll develop as a Sociology major and presenting stories of
sociology graduates who continue to rely on their sociological imaginations in their field of
work.
I wanted to write a book that captured the experiences that I’ve shared with students in my own
social problems course. I sensed the frustration and futility that many felt by the end of the semester
—imagine all those weeks of discussing nothing else but “problemsâ€! I decided that my message
about the importance of understanding social problems should be complemented with a message on
the importance of taking social action.
Social action doesn’t happen just in Washington, DC, or in your state’s capital, and political leaders
aren’t the only ones engaged in such efforts. Social action takes place on your campus, in your
neighborhood, in your town, in whatever you define as your community.
There were stories to be told by ordinary people—community, church, business, or student leaders
—who recognized that they had the power to make a difference in the community. No act is too
small to make a difference. Despite the persistence and severity of many social problems, members
of our community have not given up.
I hope that by the time you reach the end of this text, with your newfound sociological imagination,
you will find your own path to social action. Wherever it leads you, I wish you all the best.
p.xxii
ANCILLARIES
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37
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38
p.xxiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action represents a deeply personal and professional
journey. My heartfelt thanks to Jerry Westby for being the first to recognize and support my vision.
Along with Denise Simon, Jerry guided me through the first three editions of this text, sharing my
commitment to my message of social action. For this edition, I was fortunate to work with Jeff
Lasser and Sarah Dillard. They challenged and encouraged me to reimagine the content and
instructional features of this text. My thanks to both of them for their unwavering support.
I am indebted to Tracy Buyan for her fine production support, to Colleen Brennan for her thorough
and thoughtful copyediting, and to Susan Wortmann for her work on the ancillary materials and
features.
The following sociologists served as the first audience and reviewers for this text. Thank you all for
your encouragement and for your insightful comments and suggestions, many of which have been
incorporated in this sixth edition.
For the sixth edition:
Katherine Abbott, University of New Hampshire
Karl Botchway, New York City College of Technology
Maisha N. Jones, Los Angeles Southwest College
Megan McDrew, Hartnell College
Stephanie Medley-Rath, Indiana University Kokomo
Julia Spence, Johnson County Community College
For the fifth edition:
Karen Allen, Arkansas State University
Todd Michael Callais, University of Cincinnati–Blue Ash
Robert M. Clark, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College
Kate D’Arcy, University of Bedfordshire, Applied Social Studies
Sue Dowden, El Camino College
John J. Errigo, III, Chestnut Hill College
Aimee E. Huard, Nashua Community College
39
Linda L. Jasper, Indiana University Southeast
Rosalind Kopfstein, Western Connecticut State University
For the fourth edition:
Kathleen Baldwin, Olympic College
Angela Jones, Elon University
Thomas R. Lake, SUNY Dutchess Community College
p.xxiv
Minu Mathur, College of San Mateo
Johnny Underwood, Carteret Community College
For the third edition:
Doug Degher, Northern Arizona University
Mark J. Guillette, Valencia Community College–Osceola Campus
Eric Jorrey, Bowling Green State University
Amanda Jungels, Georgia State University
Mary Kniskern, University of Maryland, Virginia–Maryland Regional College of Veterinary
Medicine
Sandy Martinez, Central Washington University
Sophie Nathenson, The University of Utah
Bob Parker, University of Nevada School of Medicine
Matthew Sargent, Madison Area Technical College–Downtown
Athena Smith, Hillsborough Community College–Dale Mabry Campus
Annie Tuttle, The Florida State University College of Law
Mike Victor, The University of Texas Science Health Center at Tyler
For the second edition:
Donna Abrams, Georgia Highlands College
Brian C. Aldrich, Winona State University
Carl Backman, Auburn University
Janet Cosbey, Eastern Illinois University
Janine Dewitt-Heffner, Marymount University
Ronald Ferguson, Ridgewater College
Mark J. Guillette, Valencia Community College
40
Gaetano Guzzo, Wright State University
Jason Hendrickson, State University of New York at Albany
Judith Hennessy, Central Washington University
Ronald Huskin, Del Mar College
Richard Jenks, Indiana University Southeast
Rohald Meneses, University of Florida
Paul Mills, University of Alabama
Adam Moskowitz, Columbus State Community College
Wendy Ng, San Jose State University
Robert Parker, University of Nevada Las Vegas
James Roberts, University of Scranton
Katherine R. Rowell, Sinclair Community College
Rita Sakitt, Suffolk County Community College
Frank Salamone, Iona College
Jim Sikora, Illinois Wesleyan College
p.xxv
For the first edition:
Arfa Aflatooni, Linn-Benton Community College
Joanne Ardovini, Sam Houston State University
Bernadette Barton, Morehead State University
Allison Camelot, California State University, Fullerton
Janine Dewitt-Heffner, Marymount University
Dan Dexheimer, University of Florida
Woody Doane, University of Hartford
Joe Dupris, California State University, Humboldt
Rachel Einwohner, Purdue University
Heather Smith Feldhaus, Bloomsburg University
Jim Fenelon, California State University, San Bernardino
Bobbie Fields, Central Piedmont Community College
Debbie Franzman, Allan Hancock College
Marcie Goodman, University of Utah
41
George Gross, Northern Michigan University
Mark J. Guillette, Valencia Community College
Julia Hall, Drexel University
Dan W. Hayden, University of Southern Indiana
Chuck Hohm, San Diego State University
Leslie Houts, University of Florida
James R. Hunter, Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis
K. Land, Duke University
Nick Larsen, Chapman University
Kari Lerum, Seattle University
Stephen Light, SUNY Plattsburgh
Dennis Loo, Cal Poly Pomona
Scott Lukas, Lake Tahoe Community College
Christina Myers, Oklahoma State University
Paul Roof, San Juan College
Kim Saliba, Portland Community College
Norma K. Simmons, Washington State University
Deborah Sullivan, Arizona State University
Mary Texeira, California State University, San Bernardino
Linda A. Treiber, North Carolina State University
Gailynn White, Citrus College
Anthony W. Zumpetta, West Chester University
My thanks to my AKD colleagues Michele Kozimor-King, Erik Larsen, and Amy Orr for
connecting me with their star alums. And to each sociology alum, thank you for sharing your
amazing stories of success, vocation, and sociology with me and my readers.
p.xxvi
I am grateful for the extraordinary assistance of Michael Clark during this revision. His research and
editing support, along with his keen sense of making the material accessible to students, were
invaluable.
I dedicate this book to the two people who have been with me from the beginning of this journey:
to my mentor, Byron D. Steiger, and to my husband, Brian W. Sullivan. From Byron, I learned the
importance of loving one’s work. Thank you for showing me what an excellent teacher can and
42
should be. From Brian, I learned the value of caring for one’s community and the environment.
Thank you for all that you do—this book would not have been possible without you.
43
p.xxvii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Clark
Anna Leon-Guerrero is a professor of sociology at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma,
Washington. A recipient of the university’s Faculty Excellence Award and the K. T. Tang Award
for Excellence in Research, she teaches courses on statistics, sociological theory, and social
problems. As a social service program evaluator and consultant, she has focused her research on
welfare reform, employment strategies for the working poor, and program assessment. She is the
coauthor of Social Statistics for a Diverse Society and Essentials of Social Statistics for a Diverse Society
(with Chava Frankfort-Nachmias).
44
p.xxviii
©TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
p.1
45
1
SOCIOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF SOCIAL
PROBLEMS
Media Library
CHAPTER 1 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 1.1: The Sociological Imagination
SAGE Core Concepts 1.2: The Social Construction of Reality
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 1.3: Me Too at the Golden Globes (Tarana Burke)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.1 Define the sociological imagination.
1.2 Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
1.3 Compare the four sociological perspectives.
1.4 Explain how sociology is a science.
1.5 Identify the role of social policy, advocacy, and innovation in addressing social problems.
If I asked everyone in your class what they believe is the most important social problem facing the
United States, there would be many different answers: income inequality, racism, terrorism, or
health care. Most would agree that some or all of these are social problems. But which is the most
important, and how would we solve it?
Suppose I asked the same question in a South African college classroom. AIDS is likely to be one of
the responses from South African college students. According to UNAIDS (2017), 36.7 million
adults and children worldwide were living with HIV and 1.8 million people became newly infected
with HIV in 2016. Africa remains the epicenter of the pandemic, with more than 19.4 million
HIV-infected adults and children (refer to Table 1.1). However, effective risk-reduction strategies,
along with new treatments for HIV/AIDS, have saved countless lives in the United States. During
the early 1980s, nearly 150,000 Americans were infected with the disease each year, but by the early
46
1990s, the number of new cases of infection had dropped to 50,000 per year. In 2014, there were an
estimated 37,600 new HIV infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2007, 2013,
2017).
TABLE 1.1 â– Number of Individuals Living With HIV, Regional Data for 2016
Source: UNAIDS 2017.
Note: The total number of HIV infections is 36.7 million. HIV infection data for the Caribbean (310,000) and Middle East and
North Africa (230,000) are not reported in the table.
Globalization, defined as the process of increasing transborder connectedness (Hytrek and
Zentgraf 2007)—whether economically, politically, environmentally, or socially—poses new
challenges and opportunities for understanding and solving social problems. We cannot understand
the nature of social problems by simply taking a national or local perspective. Taking a global
perspective allows us to look at the interrelations between countries and their social problems
(Heiner 2002). We are not the only country to experience social problems. Knowledge based on
research to understand and policies to address social problems in the United States could be applied
in other countries, and what other countries have learned based on their social problems could be
applied in the United States. Finally, we all need a little help from our neighbors—we can increase
our connectedness and goodwill with other countries through implementing solutions
collaboratively rather than alone. So what do you think? Is HIV/AIDS in South Africa a problem
only for South Africans, or is it also a problem for those living in the United States?
p.2
What Does It Mean to Me?
What do you consider to be the most important social problem? Explain the reasons for your
answer.
47
This is how we spend much of our public conversation—on the Senate floor, on afternoon talk
shows, at work, or in the classroom—arguing, analyzing, and trying to figure out which problem is
most serious and what needs to be done about it. In casual or sometimes heated conversations, we
offer opinions about the economy, terrorism, climate change, or appropriate policies for the African
AIDS pandemic. Often, these explanations are not based on firsthand data collection or on an
exhaustive review of the literature. For the most part, they are based on our opinions and life
experiences, or they are just good guesses.
What this text and your course offer is a sociological perspective on social problems. Unlike any
other discipline, sociology provides us with a form of self-consciousness, an awareness that our
personal experiences are often caused by structural or social forces. Sociology is the systematic
study of individuals, groups, and social structures. A sociologist examines the relationship between
individuals and society, which includes such social institutions as the family, the military, the
economy, and education. As a social science, sociology offers an objective and systematic approach
to understanding the causes of social problems. From a sociological perspective, problems and their
solutions don’t just involve individuals; they also have a great deal to do with the social structures in
our society. C. Wright Mills (1959/2000) first promoted this perspective in his 1959 essay, “The
Promise.â€
USING OUR SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
According to Mills, the sociological imagination can help us distinguish between personal troubles
and public issues. The sociological imagination is the ability to link our personal lives and
experiences with our social world. Mills (1959/2000) described how personal troubles occur within
the “character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relationships with others†(p.
8), whereas public issues are a “public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be
threatened†(p. 8). As a result, the individual, or those in contact with that individual, can resolve a
trouble, but the resolution of an issue requires public debate about what values are being threatened
and the source of such a threat.
Let’s consider unemployment. One man unemployed is his own personal trouble. Resolving his
unemployment involves reviewing his current situation, reassessing his skills, considering his job
opportunities, and submitting his résumés or job applications to employers. Once he has a new job,
his personal trouble is over. However, what happens when your city or state experiences high levels
of unemployment? What happens when there is a nationwide problem of unemployment? This
affects not just one person but, rather, thousands or millions. A personal trouble has been
transformed into a public issue. This is the case not just because of how many people it affects;
something becomes an issue because of the public values it threatens. Unemployment threatens our
sense of economic security. It challenges our belief that everyone can work hard to succeed.
Unemployment raises questions about society’s obligations to help those without a job.
p.3
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Archive Photos/stringer
A key distinction between a personal trouble and a public issue is how each one can be remedied. According to C. Wright
Mills, an individual may be able to solve a trouble, but a public issue can be resolved only by society and its social structures.
We can make the personal trouble–public issue connection with regard to another issue, one that
you might already be aware of, that is, the cost of higher education. In 2014, during a rally at
Florida’s Coral Reef High School, President Barack Obama announced an initiative to help
students complete the federal student aid application form, part of an effort to broaden access to
higher education. Coral Reef senior David Scherker, an aspiring filmmaker, was in the audience. At
the time, David was waiting to hear about the status of his admission to several colleges and
universities, including Florida State University and University of Southern California. He worried
about his financial aid offers and whether he would be able to attend the school of his choice (NPR
2014). Is this a personal trouble facing only David? Or is this a public issue?
College cost has become a serious social problem because the “barriers that make higher education
unaffordable serve to erode our economic well being, our civic values, and our democratic idealsâ€
(Callan and Finney 2002:10). Although most Americans still believe that a college education is
essential for one’s success, increasingly they also believe that qualified and motivated students do not
have the opportunity to attend college (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education
and Public Agenda 2010). The data support this. Nearly one half of all college-qualified, low- and
moderate-income high school graduates are unable to afford college and have lower rates of
bachelor’s degree attainment than their middle- and high-income peers (Advisory Committee on
Student Financial Assistance 2006). Although only about a third of students pay the published
tuition or sticker price, the cost of tuition has risen at a faster rate than family income or student
financial aid. For the academic year 2016–2017, at a four-year college in-state total fees (tuition,
room, and board) were $20,090 (a 2.7% increase from 2015–2016); at four-year private institutions,
49
the average cost was $45,370 (a 3.4% increase from 2015–2016) (College Board 2017).
The majority of students receive some form of assistance through scholarships, federal grants, or
state aid. The financial burden of a college education is unevenly distributed, with low- and
moderate-income students and families experiencing most of the burden. In 2007, even after grant
aid, low-income families paid or borrowed an amount equivalent to 72% of their family income to
cover one year of tuition. In contrast, families with incomes between $54,001 and $80,400 had to
finance the equivalent of 27% of their family income for tuition. The percentage was lowest for
families with incomes over $115,400 at 14% (Education Trust 2011). The average indebtedness for
a graduating college senior in 2016 is in the range of $20,000 to $36,350 (Institute for College
Access & Success 2017).
As Mills explained, “to be aware of the ideal of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be
capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieus. To be able to do that is to possess
the sociological imagination†(Mills 1959/2000:10–11). The sociological imagination challenges the
claim that the problem is “natural†or based on individual failures, instead reminding us that the
problem is rooted in society, in our social structures themselves (Irwin 2001). For example, can we
solve unemployment by telling every unemployed person to work harder? Could David solve his
tuition problem by taking out student loans? Or would this create additional personal troubles? The
sociological imagination emphasizes the structural bases of social problems, making us aware of the
economic, political, and social structures that govern employment and unemployment trends and
the cost of higher education. Individuals may have agency (the ability to make their own choices),
but their actions and even their choices may be constrained by the realities of the social structure.
Throughout this text, we apply our sociological imagination to the study of social problems. Before
we proceed, we need to understand what a social problem is.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 1.1: The Sociological Imagination
50
p.4
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is the annual cost of attending your college or university? What did you and/or your family
consider before making your final school decision? How much were finances included in your
considerations?
WHAT IS A SOCIAL PROBLEM?
The Negative Consequences of Social Problems
A social problem is a social condition or pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for
individuals, our social world, or our physical world. A social problem such as unemployment,
alcoholism, drug abuse, or HIV/AIDS may negatively affect a person’s life and health, along with
the well-being of that person’s family and friends. Problems can threaten our social institutions, for
example, the family (spousal abuse), education (the rising cost of college tuition), or the economy
(unemployment). Our physical and social worlds can be threatened by problems related to
urbanization (lack of affordable housing) and the environment (climate change). You will note from
the examples in this paragraph that social problems are inherently social in their causes,
consequences, and solutions.
Objective and Subjective Realities of Social Problems
A social problem has objective and subjective realities. A social condition does not have to be
personally experienced by every individual to be considered a social problem. The objective reality
of a social problem comes from acknowledging that a particular social condition exists. Objective
realities of a social problem can be confirmed by collection of data. For example, we know from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) that more than 1.1 million Americans were
living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2014. You or I do not have to have been infected with HIV to
know that the disease is real, with real human and social consequences. We can confirm the realities
of HIV/AIDS by observing infected individuals and their families in our own community, at AIDS
programs, or in hospitals.
The subjective reality of a social problem addresses how a problem becomes defined as a problem.
This idea is based on the concept of the social construction of reality. Coined by Peter Berger
and Thomas Luckmann (1966), the term refers to how our world is a social creation, originating
and evolving through our everyday thoughts and actions. Most of the time, we assume and act as
51
though the world is a given, objectively predetermined outside our existence. However, according to
Berger and Luckmann, we also apply subjective meanings to our existence and experience. In other
words, our experiences don’t just happen to us. Good, bad, positive, or negative, we attach meanings
to our reality.
From this perspective, social problems are not objectively predetermined. They become real only
when they are subjectively defined or perceived as problematic. This perspective is known as social
constructionism. Recognizing the subjective aspects of social problems allows us to understand
how a social condition may be defined as a problem by one segment of society but be completely
ignored by another. For example, do you believe AIDS is a social problem? Some may argue that it
is a problem only if you are the one infected with the disease or if you are morally corrupt or sexually
promiscuous. Actually, some would not consider AIDS a problem at all, considering the medical
and public health advances that have successfully reduced the spread of the disease in the United
States. Yet others would argue that AIDS still qualifies as a social problem.
Sociologist Donileen Loseke (2003) explained, “Conditions might exist, people might be hurt by
them, but conditions are not social problems until humans categorize them as troublesome and in
need of repair†(p. 14). To frame their work, social constructionists ask the following set of
questions:
p.5
What do people say or do to convince others that a troublesome condition exists that must be changed? What are the
consequences of the typical ways that social problems attract concern? How do our subjective understandings of social
problems change the objective characteristics of our world? How do these understandings change how we think about our
own lives and the lives of those around us? (Loseke and Best 2003:3–4)
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 1.2: The Social Construction of Reality
52
The social constructionist perspective focuses on how a problem is socially defined, in a dialectic
process between individuals interacting with each other and with their social world. In the next
section, we’ll learn how the problem of HIV/AIDS was socially constructed.
THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Problems don’t appear overnight; rather, as Malcolm Spector and John Kituse (1987) argued, the
identification of a social problem is part of a subjective process. Spector and Kituse identified four
stages to the process. Stage 1 is defined as a transformation process: taking a private trouble and
transforming it into a public issue. In this stage, an influential group, activists, or advocates call
attention to and define an issue as a social problem. The first HIV infection cases were documented
in the United States in 1979. The disease was originally referred to as the “gay plague†because the
first group to be identified with the disease was gay men from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New
York. The association of HIV/AIDS with this specific population led to its first being defined as a
sexual epidemic rather than a public health threat. Gay activists and public health officials mobilized
to increase awareness and began to change the public’s perception of the disease in the early 1980s.
Stage 2 is the legitimization process: formalizing the manner in which the social problem or
complaints generated by the problem are handled. For example, an organization or public policy
could be created to respond to the condition. An existing organization, such as a federal or state
agency, could also be charged with taking care of the situation. In either instance, these
organizations begin to legitimize the problem by creating and implementing a formal response. In
the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS task forces were created in the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the World Health Organization. Similar groups were convened in the United
Kingdom, France, and other countries. Although no single organization or country was in charge,
all were intent on identifying the disease and finding a cure. Activists looked for public
legitimization of the disease from then President Ronald Reagan. But Reagan did not acknowledge
AIDS until 1985, when he was asked directly about the disease during a press conference. His first
public statement about the disease came in 1987 at the Third International Conference on AIDS.
By then, nearly 36,000 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS and more than 20,000 had died.
AIDS advocates blamed Reagan’s slow and ineffective response for these deaths and the increasing
spread of the disease.
Stage 3 is a conflict stage, when Stage 2 routines are unable to address the problem. During Stage 3,
activists, advocates, and victims of the problem experience feelings of distrust and cynicism toward
the formal response organizations. Stage 3 activities include readjusting the formal response system:
renegotiating procedures, reforming practices, and engaging in administrative or organizational
restructuring. Many early public health protocols were revised in response to increased
understanding about how HIV/AIDS is spread and treated. For example, patient isolation was
common during the first stages of the disease. Teenager Ryan White had to petition for the right to
attend public school with his classmates. Ryan and his mother’s experiences also shed light on the
53
difficulties faced by low-income, uninsured, or underinsured individuals and families living with
HIV/AIDS. After his death in 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act to
provide for the unmet health needs of individuals with HIV/AIDS. The act continues to provide
support for nearly 500,000 individuals annually, making it the largest federal government program
for those living with the disease.
p.6
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
IDENTIFYING THE GLOBAL THREATS
In 2017, the Pew Research Center asked residents in 38 countries what they perceived as the
greatest threat to their country. According to the center, “people around the globe identify ISIS
and climate change as the leading threats to national security†(Poushter and Manevich 2017).
Table 1.2 shows survey results grouped in six regions and the United States.
TABLE 1.2 â– 2017 Global Threats by World Region (Median Percentage Saying Each
Is a Major Threat to Our Country)
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
*ISIS item was only asked across four countries in the Middle East and North Africa. No median was calculated.
54
+Question not asked in country.
ISIS is the primary concern for respondents in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the United States,
with more than 60% identifying it as the major threat. Except for the Middle East, the
majority of survey respondents (more than 50%) also selected global climate change as a major
threat. The highest percentage was in Latin America (74%). For the remaining threat items,
notice how the median percentages vary in intensity across the reported world regions.
Which of these do you think is the greatest threat to the United States? The greatest threat to
the world?
p.7
IN FOCUS
A REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY
According to Jeanne Ballantine and Keith Roberts (2012), sociologists examine the software
and hardware of society. A society consists of individuals who live together in a specific
geographic area, who interact with each other, and who cooperate for the attainment of
common goals.
The software is our culture. Each society has a culture that serves as a system of guidelines for
living. A culture includes norms (rules of behavior shared by members of society and rooted in a
value system), values (shared judgments about what is desirable or undesirable, right or wrong,
good or bad), and beliefs (ideas about life, the way society works, and where one fits in).
The hardware comprises the enduring social structures that bring order to our lives. This
includes the positions or statuses that we occupy in society (student, athlete, employee,
roommate) and the social groups to which we belong and identify with (our family, our local
place of worship, our workplace). Social institutions are the most complex hardware. Social
institutions, such as the family, religion, or education, are relatively permanent social units of
roles, rules, relationships, and organized activities devoted to meeting human needs and to
directing and controlling human behavior (Ballantine and Roberts 2012).
Finally, Stage 4 begins when groups believe that they can no longer work within the established
system. Advocates or activists are faced with two options: to radically change the existing system or
to work outside the system. As an alternative to the government and public health agencies’
55
response to HIV/AIDS, numerous independent advocacy and research groups were formed. One
such group is AIDS United (first called AIDS Action), formed in 1984 by a coalition of AIDS
service organizations. In an effort to end AIDS in our country, AIDS United embraced a multi-
strategy of research, granting funding, policy making, and advocacy. Through its Access to Care
program, AIDS United supports innovative, evidence-based, collaborative programs serving low-
income and marginalized individuals living with HIV. Access to Care not only supports the health
and care of HIV patients but also provides job training, housing stabilization, and peer support
(AIDS United 2014). In 2017, AIDS United joined other organizations to express concern over the
lack of focus on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Strategic Plan for FY2018–2022. The organizations lobbied the
Trump administration to implement an inclusive strategic plan to eradicate HIV and to address
worsening trends in STDs (AIDS United 2017).
UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
The way sociologists conduct sociology and study social problems begins first with their view on
how the world works. Based on a theory—a set of assumptions and propositions used for
explanation, prediction, and understanding—sociologists begin to define the relationship between
society and individuals and to describe the causes and consequences of social problems.
Theories vary in their level of analysis, focusing on a macro (societal) or a micro (individual) level
of analysis. Theories help inform the direction of sociological research and data analysis. In the
following section, we review four theoretical perspectives—functionalist, conflict, feminist, and
interactionist—and how each perspective explains and examines social problems. Research methods
used by sociologists are summarized in the next section.
Functionalist Perspective
Among the theorists most associated with the functionalist perspective is French sociologist Émile
Durkheim. Borrowing from biology, Durkheim likened society to a human body. As the body has
essential organs, each with a specific function, he theorized that society has its own organs:
institutions such as the family, religion, education, economics, and politics. These organs or social
structures have essential and specialized functions. For example, the institution of the family
maintains the health and socialization of our young and creates a basic economic unit. The
institution of education provides knowledge and skills for women and men to work and live in
society. No other institution can do what the family or education does.
p.8
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division [LC-USZ62- 37768]
Jane Addams’s (center) sociological perspective informed her connection to her Chicago community and led her to a life of
social action. She developed programs to assist the poor and advocated legislative and political reforms.
Durkheim proposed that the function of society is to civilize or control individual actions. He wrote,
“It is civilization that has made man what he is; it is what distinguishes him from the animal: man is
man only because he is civilized†(Durkheim 1914/1973:149). The social order can be threatened
during periods of rapid social change, such as industrialization or political upheaval, when social
norms and values are likely to be in transition. During this state of normlessness or anomie,
Durkheim believed, society is particularly prone to social problems. As a result, social problems
cannot be solved by changing the individual; rather, the problem has to be solved at the societal
level. The entire social structure or the affected part of the social structure needs to be repaired.
The functionalist perspective, as its name suggests, examines the functions or consequences of the
structure of society. Functionalists use a macro perspective, focusing on how society creates and
maintains social order. Social problems are not analyzed in terms of how “bad†they are for society.
Rather, a functionalist asks, how does the social problem emerge from society? Does the social
problem serve a function?
The systematic study of social problems began with the sociologists at the University of Chicago.
Part of what has been called the Chicago School of Sociology, scholars such as Ernest W. Burgess,
Homer Hoyt, Robert E. Park, Edward Ullman, and Louis Wirth used their city as an urban
laboratory, pursuing field studies of poverty, crime, and drug abuse during the 1920s and 1930s.
Through their research, they captured the real experiences of individuals experiencing social
problems, noting the positive and negative consequences of urbanization and industrialization
(Ritzer 2000). Taking it one step further, sociologists Jane Addams and Charlotte Gilman studied
urban life in Chicago and developed programs to assist the poor and lobbied for legislative and
57
political reform (Adams and Sydie 2001).
According to Robert Merton (1957), social structures can have positive benefits as well as negative
consequences, which he called dysfunctions. A social problem such as homelessness has a clear set of
dysfunctions but can also have positive consequences or functions. One could argue that
homelessness is clearly dysfunctional and unpleasant for the women, men, and children who
experience it, and for a city or community, homelessness can serve as a public embarrassment. Yet a
functionalist would say that homelessness is beneficial for at least one part of society, or else it would
cease to exist. The population of the homeless supports an industry of social service agencies,
religious organizations, community groups, and service workers. In addition, the homeless also
highlight problems in other parts of our social structure, namely, the problems of the lack of a
livable wage or affordable housing.
Conflict Perspective
Like functionalism, conflict theories examine the macro level of our society, its structures and
institutions. Whereas functionalists argue that society is held together by norms, values, and a
common morality, those holding a conflict perspective consider how society is held together by
power and coercion (Ritzer 2000) for the benefit of those in power. In this view, social problems
emerge from the continuing conflict between groups in our society—based on social class, gender,
race, or ethnicity—and in the conflict, the dominant groups usually win. There are multiple levels of
domination; as Patricia Hill Collins (1990) described, domination “operates not only by structuring
power from the top down but by simultaneously annexing the power as energy of those on the
bottom for its own ends†(pp. 227–28).
p.9
As a result, this perspective offers no easy solutions to social problems. The system could be
completely overhauled, but that is unlikely to happen. We could reform parts of the structure, but
those in power would retain their control. The biggest social problem from this perspective is the
system itself and the inequality it perpetuates.
The first to make this argument was German philosopher and activist Karl Marx. Conflict,
according to Marx, emerged from the economic substructure of capitalism, which defined all other
social structures and social relations. He focused on the conflict based on social class, created by the
tension between the proletariat (workers) and the bourgeoisie (owners). Capitalism did more than
separate the haves from the have-nots. Unlike Durkheim, who believed that society created a
civilized man, Marx argued that a capitalist society created a man alienated from his species being,
from his true self. Alienation occurred on multiple levels: Man would become increasingly
alienated from his work, the product of his work, other workers, and, finally, his own human
potential. For example, a salesperson might be so involved in the process of her work that she
doesn’t spend quality time with her coworkers, talk with her customers, or stop and appreciate the
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merchandise. Each sale transaction is the same; all customers and workers are treated alike. The
salesperson cannot achieve her human potential through this type of mindless unfulfilling labor.
According to Marx, workers needed to achieve a class consciousness, an awareness of their social
position and oppression, so they could unite and overthrow capitalism, replacing it with a more
egalitarian socialist and eventually communist structure.
From a conflict perspective, all social problems can be traced back to the economic substructure of capitalism. According to
Karl Marx, the organization of capitalist labor erodes one’s human potential or what Marx referred to as species being.
Widening Marx’s emphasis on the capitalist class structure, contemporary conflict theorists have
argued that conflict emerges from other social bases, such as values, resources, and interests. Mills
(1959/2000) argued the existence of a “power elite,†a small group of political, business, and military
leaders who control our society. Ralf Dahrendorf (1959) explained that conflict of interest is
inherent in any relationship because those in powerful positions will always seek to maintain their
dominance. Lewis Coser (1956) focused on the functional aspects of conflict, arguing that conflict
creates and maintains group solidarity by clarifying the positions and boundaries between groups.
Conflict theorists may also take a social constructionist approach, examining how powerful political,
economic, and social interest groups subjectively define social problems.
Feminist Perspective
Rosemarie Tong (1989) explained that “feminist theory is not one, but many, theories or
perspectives and that each feminist theory or perspective attempts to describe women’s oppression,
to explain its causes and consequences, and to prescribe strategies for women’s liberation†(p. 1). By
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analyzing the situations and lives of women in society, the feminist perspective defines gender and
other areas of oppression (i.e., race and ethnicity, age, social class, sexual orientation, and disability)
as the source of social inequality, group conflict, and social problems. For feminists, the patriarchal
society is the basis of social problems. Patriarchy refers to a society in which men dominate women
and justify their domination through devaluation; however, the definition of patriarchy has been
broadened to include societies in which powerful groups dominate and devalue the powerless
(Kaplan 1994).
p.10
SHANNON STAPLETON/Reuters
Individuals come together in public rallies to voice their concerns about HIV/AIDS policies and funding. These
demonstrations galvanize the efforts of advocacy and activist groups, as well as educate the public about HIV/AIDS.
Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Jill Niebrugge-Brantley (2004) explained that feminist theory was
established as a new sociological perspective in the 1970s, largely because of the growing presence of
women in the discipline and the strength of the women’s movement. Feminist theory treats the
experiences of women as the starting point in all sociological investigations, seeing the world from
the vantage point of women in the social world and seeking to promote a better world for women
and for humankind.
Although the study of social problems is not the center of feminist theory, throughout its history,
feminist theory has been critical of existing social arrangements and has focused on such concepts as
social change, power, and social inequality (Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley 2004). Major
research in the field has included Jessie Bernard’s (1972/1982) study of gender inequality in
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marriage, Collins’s (1990) development of Black feminist thought, Dorothy Smith’s (1987)
sociology from the standpoint of women, and Nancy Chodorow’s (1978) psychoanalytic feminism
and reproduction of mothering. Although sociologists in this perspective may adopt a conflict,
functionalist, or interactionist perspective, their focus remains on how men and women are situated
in society, not just differently but also unequally (Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley 2004).
Interactionist Perspective
An interactionist perspective focuses on how we use language, words, and symbols to create and
maintain our social reality. This micro-level perspective highlights what we take for granted: the
expectations, rules, and norms that we learn and practice without even noticing. In our interaction
with others, we become the products and creators of our social reality. Through our interaction,
social problems are created and defined. More than any other perspective, interactionists stress
human agency—the active role of individuals in creating their social environment (Ballantine and
Roberts 2012).
p.11
George Herbert Mead provided the foundation of this perspective. Also a member of the Chicago
School of Sociology, Mead (1934/1962) argued that society consists of the organized and patterned
interactions among individuals. As Mead defined it, the self is a mental and social process, the
reflective ability to see others in relation to ourselves and to see ourselves in relation to others. Our
interactions are based on language, based on words. The words we use to communicate with are
symbols, representations of something else. The symbols have no inherent meaning and require
human interpretation. The term symbolic interactionism was coined by Herbert Blumer in 1937.
Building on Mead’s work, Blumer emphasized how the existence of mind, self, and society emerge
from interaction and the use and understanding of symbols (Turner 1998).
How does the self emerge from interaction? Consider the roles that you and I play. As a university
professor, I am aware of what is expected of me; as university students, you are aware of what it
means to be a student. There are no posted guides in the classroom that instruct us where to stand,
how to dress, or what to bring to class. Even before we enter the classroom, we know how we are
supposed to behave and even our places in the classroom. We act based on our past experiences and
based on what we have come to accept as definitions of each role. But we need each other to create
this reality; our interaction in the classroom reaffirms each of our roles and the larger educational
institution. Imagine what it takes to maintain this reality: consensus not just between a single
professor and his or her students but between every professor and every student on campus, on every
university campus, ultimately reaffirming the structure of a university classroom and higher
education.
So, how do social problems emerge from interaction? First, for social problems such as juvenile
delinquency, an interactionist would argue that the problem behavior is learned from others.
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According to this perspective, no one is born a juvenile delinquent. As with any other role we play,
people learn how to become juvenile delinquents. Although the perspective does not answer the
question of where or from whom the first delinquent child learned this behavior, it attempts to
explain how deviant behavior is learned through interaction with others.
Second, social problems emerge from the definitions themselves. Objective social problems do not
exist; they become real only in how they are defined or labeled. A sociologist using this perspective
would examine who or what group is defining the problem and who or what is being defined as
deviant or a social problem. As we have already seen with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United
States, the problem became real only when activists and public health workers called attention to the
disease.
Third, the solutions to social problems also emerge from our definitions. Helen Schneider and
Anne Ingram (1993) argued that the social construction of target populations influences the
distribution of policy benefits or policy burdens. Target populations are groups of individuals
experiencing a specific social problem; these groups gain policy attention through their socially
constructed identity and political power. The authors identified four categories: Advantaged target
populations are positively constructed and politically powerful (likely to receive policy benefits),
contenders are politically powerful yet negatively constructed (likely to receive policy benefits when
public interest is high), dependent target populations have positive social construction but low
political power (few policy resources would be allocated to this group), and deviant target
populations are both politically weak and negatively constructed (least likely to receive any benefits).
Jean Schroedel and Daniel Jordan (1998) applied the target population model to U.S. Senate voting
patterns between 1982 and 1992, examining the allocation of federal funds to four distinct
HIV/AIDS groups. As Schneider and Ingram’s (1993) theory would predict, the groups receiving
the most funding were those in the advantaged category (war veterans and health care workers),
followed by contenders (gay and bisexual men and the general population with AIDS), dependents
(spouses and the public), and, finally, deviants (intravenous drug users, criminals, and prisoners).
p.12
What Does It Mean to Me?
A summary of these sociological perspectives is presented in Table 1.3. These sociological
perspectives are reintroduced in each chapter as we examine a new social problem or set of
problems. As you review each perspective, do not attempt to classify one as the definitive
explanation. Consider how each perspective focuses on different aspects of society and its social
problems. Which perspective(s) best fits with your understanding of society or your understanding
of social problems?
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TABLE 1.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: A General Approach to Examining
Social Problems
THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is a science of our social world, based on information derived from research (Ritzer 2013).
Science relies on logical and systematic methods to investigate social phenomena (Chambliss and
Schutt 2016) and encompasses the knowledge produced by these investigations (Schutt 2012). All
research begins with a theory or theories to help identify the phenomenon we’re trying to explain
and provide explanations for the social patterns or causal relationships between variables (Frankfort-
Nachmias and Leon-Guerrero 2017). We practice empiricism, using our five senses to gather data
(Ritzer 2013; Ballantine, Roberts, and Korgen 2018) and allowing the evidence to inform our
theories about how the world works.
Sociological research is divided into two areas: basic and applied. The knowledge we gain through
basic research expands our understanding of the causes and consequences of a social problem, for
example, identifying the predictors of HIV/AIDS or examining the rate of homelessness among
AIDS patients. Conversely, applied research involves the pursuit of knowledge for program
application or policy evaluation (Katzer, Cook, and Crouch 1998); effective program practices
documented through applied research can be incorporated into social and medical programs serving
HIV/AIDS patients.
p.13
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Variables are a property of people or objects that can take on two or more values. For example, as
we try to explain HIV/AIDS, we may have a specific explanation about the relationship between
two variables: social class and HIV infection. Social class could be measured according to household
or individual income, whereas HIV infection could be measured as a positive test for the HIV
antibodies. The relationship between these variables can be stated in a hypothesis, a tentative
statement about how the variables are related to each other. We could predict that HIV infection
would be higher among lower-income men and women. In this hypothesis statement, we’ve
identified a dependent variable (the variable to be explained, HIV infection) along with an
independent variable (the variable expected to account for the cause of the dependent variable,
social class). Data, the information we collect, may confirm or refute this hypothesis.
Research methods (i.e., how sociologists collect data) can include quantitative or qualitative
approaches or a combination. Quantitative methods rely on the collection of statistical data. They
require the specification of variables and scales collected through surveys, interviews, or
questionnaires. Qualitative methods are designed to capture social life as participants experience
it. These methods involve field observation, depth interviews, or focus groups. Following are
definitions of each specific method.
Survey research: This is data collection based on responses to a series of questions. Surveys can be
offered in several formats: a self-administered mailed survey, group surveys, in-person interviews, or
telephone surveys. For example, information from HIV/AIDS patients may be collected by a survey
sent directly in the mail or by a telephone or in-person interview (e.g., Simoni et al. 2006; Sambisa,
Curtis, and Mishra 2010).
Qualitative methods: This category includes data collection conducted in the field, emphasizing the
observations about natural behavior as experienced or witnessed by the researcher. Methods include
participant observation (a method for gathering data that involves developing a sustained
relationship with people while they go about their normal activities), focus groups (unstructured
group interviews in which a focus group leader actively encourages discussion among participants on
the topics of interest), or intensive (depth) interviewing (open-ended, relatively unstructured
questioning in which the interviewer seeks in-depth information on the interviewee’s feelings,
experiences, and perceptions). Sociologists have used various qualitative methods in HIV/AIDS
research—collecting data through participant observation at clinics or support groups and focus
groups or depth interviews with patients, health care providers, or key informants (e.g., Chakrapani
et al. 2007; Akintola 2010).
Historical and comparative methods: This is research that focuses on one historical period (historical
events research) or traces a sequence of events over time (historical process research). Comparative
research involves multiple cases or data from more than one time period. For example, researchers
have examined the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS treatments over time (e.g., Fumaz et al. 2007) and
compared infection rates between men and women (e.g., Ballesteros et al. 2006).
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Secondary data analysis: Secondary data analysis usually involves the analysis of previously collected
data that are used in a new analysis. Large public survey data sets, such as the U.S. Census, the
General Social Survey, the National Election Survey, or the International Social Survey Programme,
can be used, as can data collected in experimental studies or with qualitative data sets. For
HIV/AIDS research, a secondary data analysis could be based on existing medical records (e.g.,
Tabi and Vogel 2006) or a routine health survey (e.g., Sambisa et al. 2010). The key to secondary
data analysis is that the data were not originally collected by the researcher but were collected by
another researcher and for a different purpose.
p.14
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
DATA MATTERS
In addition to reviewing sociological perspectives about the causes and consequences of
social problems, a hallmark of this text is the incorporation of current data about the
experience of a specific social problem.
In each chapter, the Exploring Social Problems feature will highlight data collected by
government sources, such as the U.S. Census Bureau or the U.S. Department of Justice,
or public opinion polls, such as those conducted by the Pew Research Center. For
example, in Chapter 2, we’ll review the characteristics of those in poverty. In Chapter 8,
we will examine the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree. And in Chapter 11,
we’ll review Internet use by key demographic variables.
As we just reviewed in the “Science of Sociology,†empirical evidence is part of the
scientific process. Some social scientists disagree about the applied use of data, arguing
that the role of science is to simply describe the world as it is. Others (like me)
acknowledge how research and data not only inform our understanding of a social
problem but also identify a solution or a path to some desired change. Lawmakers, public
leaders, professionals, and advocates utilize research and data to inform policy,
programming, and education. Simply stated, social problems research and data are
important not only for expanding what we know about the causes and consequences of
problems but also for identifying what can be done to address them.
The U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making was established in 2016 by
legislation cosponsored by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murray.
65
Releasing a set of recommendations to improve access and use of government data, the
commission (Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making 2017) stated, “The
American People want a government that functions efficiently and responsibly addresses
the problems that face this country. Policy makers must have good information on which
to base their decision about improving the viability and effectiveness of government
programs and policies.†In October 2017, Ryan and Murray introduced the Foundations
for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act. The act is intended to improve the ability of
researchers and statisticians both inside and outside the government to use government
data to better inform important policy decisions, implementing many of the commission’s
recommendations. As of March 2018, the legislation was passed in the House and is
awaiting a Senate decision.
THE TRANSFORMATION FROM PROBLEM TO
SOLUTION
Although Mills identified the relationship between a personal trouble and a public issue, less has
been said about the transformation of issue to solution. Mills leads us in the right direction by
identifying the relationship between public issues and social institutions. By continuing to use our
sociological imagination and recognizing the role of larger social, cultural, and structural forces, we
can identify appropriate measures to address these social problems. Mills (1959/2000) suggested
how “the educational and political role of social science in a democracy is to help cultivate and
sustain publics and individuals that are able to develop, to live with, and to act upon adequate
definitions of personal and social realities†(p. 192).
p.15
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AP Photo/Wichita Falls Times Record News, Torin Halsey
With more than 70 national organizations around the world, Habitat for Humanity is supported primarily by local
volunteers. In this photo, volunteers from the Rochester Institute of Technology are building a home during their spring
break in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Modern history reveals that Americans do not like to stand by and do nothing about social
problems. Most Americans support efforts to reduce homelessness, improve the quality of
education, or find a cure for HIV/AIDS. In some cases, there are no limits to our efforts. Helping
our nation’s poor has been an administrative priority of many U.S. presidents. President Franklin
Roosevelt proposed sweeping social reforms during his New Deal in 1935, and President Lyndon
Johnson declared the War on Poverty in 1964. President Bill Clinton offered to “change welfare as
we know it†with broad reforms outlined in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996. In 2003, President George W. Bush supported the reauthorization of
the 1996 welfare reform bill. During his term in office, President Obama addressed poverty through
community development programs like the Promise Zones Initiative. No president or Congress has
ever promised to eliminate poverty; instead, each promised only to improve the system serving the
poor or to reduce the number of poor in our society.
Solutions require social action—in the form of social policy, advocacy, and innovation—to address
problems at their structural or individual levels. Social policy is the enactment of a course of action
through a formal law or program. Policy making usually begins with identification of a problem that
should be addressed; then, specific guidelines are developed regarding what should be done to
address the problem. Policy directly changes the social structure, particularly how our government,
an organization, or our community responds to a social problem. Think about it this way: Policies
reflect and shape the way we view social problems and the people affected by these problems
(Schneider and Ingram 1997). According to Jacob Lew, President Barack Obama’s budget director,
“the [federal] budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and
aspirations†(quoted in Herbert 2011:11). In addition, policy governs the behavior and interaction of
individuals, controlling who has access to benefits and aid (Ellis 2003). Social policies are always
being enacted.
Social advocates use their resources to support, educate, and empower individuals and their
communities. Advocates work to improve social services, change social policies, and mobilize
individuals. During his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama recalled his work as a community
organizer for the Developing Communities Project in Chicago’s far South Side. The church-based
organization served White, Black, and Latino blue-collar neighborhoods by addressing education,
public safety, and housing issues.
p.16
PREMIUM VIDEO
67
AP News Clips 1.3: Me Too at the Golden Globes (Tarana Burke)
Karen Kasmauski/Getty Images
Service and volunteer opportunities are available to college and university students in the United States and abroad. This
student is doing her service work in Kingston, Jamaica, through Emory University’s nursing program.
Social innovation may take the form of a policy, a program, or advocacy that features an untested
or unique approach. Innovation usually starts at the community level, but it can grow into national
and international programming. Millard and Linda Fuller developed the concept of “partnership
housing†in 1965, partnering those in need of adequate shelter with community volunteers to build
simple interest-free houses. In 1976, the Fullers’ concept became Habitat for Humanity
International, a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing program responsible for building more
than 1 million houses worldwide. When Millard Fuller was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, President Clinton described Habitat for Humanity as
“the most successful continuous community service project in the history of the United Statesâ€
(Habitat for Humanity 2004).
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MAKING SOCIOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS
In his book Social Things: An Introduction to the Sociological Life, Charles Lemert (1997) wrote that
sociology is often presented as a thing to be studied. Instead, he argued that sociology is something
to be “lived,†becoming a way of life. Lemert (1997) wrote,
To use one’s sociological imagination, whether to practical or professional end, is to look at the events in one’s life, to see
them for what they truly are, then to figure out how the structures of the wider world make social things the way they are.
No one is a sociologist until she does this the best she can. (p. 105)
We can use our sociological imagination, as Lemert (1997) recommended, but we can also take it a
step further. As Marx (1972) maintained, “the philosophers have only interpreted the world, in
various ways; the point, however is to change it†(p. 107).
Throughout this text, we explore three connections. The first connection is the one between
personal troubles and public issues. Each sociological perspective—functionalist, conflict, feminist,
and interactionist—highlights how social problems emerge from our social structure or social
interaction. While maintaining its primary focus on problems within the United States, this text
also addresses the experience of social problems in other countries and nations. The comparative
perspective will enhance your understanding of the social problems we experience here.
The sociological imagination will also help us make a second connection: the one between social
problems and social solutions. Mills believed that the most important value of sociology is in its
potential to enrich and encourage the lives of all individuals (Lemert 1997). In each chapter, we
review selected social policies, advocacy programs, and innovative approaches that attempt to
address or solve these problems.
Textbooks on this subject present neat individual chapters on a social problem, reviewing the
sociological issues and sometimes providing some suggestions about how it can and should be
addressed. This book follows the same outline but takes a closer look at community-based
approaches, ultimately identifying how you can be part of the solution in your community.
p.17
I should warn you that this text will not identify a perfect set of solutions to our social problems.
Individual action may be powerless against the social structure. Some individuals or groups will have
more power or advantage over others. Solutions, like the problems they address, are embedded
within complex interconnected social systems (Fine 2006). Sometimes solutions create other
problems. For example, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief of Health Mickey
Chopra reports that as countries, such as the United States, have focused their attention and
funding on the AIDS epidemic worldwide, deaths due to preventable or treatable diseases (e.g.,
diarrhea and pneumonia) have increased. Diarrhea kills 1.5 million children a year in developing
countries, more than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined (Dugger 2009). A program may have
worked, but it might no longer exist because of lack of funding or political and public support.
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Programs and policies are never permanent; they can be modified. Consistent with standards
established in many European countries, in 2014 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted the
prohibition on blood donation from gay and bisexual men, but kept the prohibition in place for men
who have had sex with a man in the last year.
In communities such as yours and mine, individuals and community groups are taking action against
social problems. They are women, men, and children, common citizens and professionals, from
different backgrounds and experiences. Whether they are working within the system or working to
change the system, these individuals are part of their community’s solution to a problem. The goal
might be to solve one social problem or several or to create what Joel Feagin (2002) described as a
“new global system that reduces injustice, is democratically accountable to all people, offers a decent
standard of living for all, and operates in a sustainable relation to earth’s other living systems†(p.
17). As Gary Fine (2006) observed, “those who care about social problems are obligated to use their
best knowledge to increase the store of freedom, justice and equality†(p. 14). In the end, I hope you
agree that it is important that we continue to do something about the social problems we
experience.
In addition, I ask you to make the final connection to social problems and solutions in your
community. For this quarter or semester, instead of focusing only on problems reported in your local
newspaper or the morning news program, start paying attention to the solutions offered by
professionals, leaders, and advocates. Through the Internet or through local programs and agencies,
take this opportunity to investigate what social action is taking place in your community. Regardless
of whether you define your “community†as your campus, your residential neighborhood, or the city
where your college is located, consider what avenues of change can be taken and whether you can be
part of that effort.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What Feagin (2002) described has also been referred to as social justice. Although the term is widely
used, there is no single definition. Social justice has different meanings and will vary depending on
one’s ideology, discipline, and experience. One way to think of social justice is to consider what
constitutes a “perfect†society and what it takes to make that happen. How would you define social
justice? What is your “perfect†society?
I often tell my students that the problem with being a sociologist is that my sociological imagination
has no “off†switch. In almost everything I read, see, or do, there is some sociological application, a
link between my personal experiences and the broader social experience that I share with everyone
else, including you. As you progress through this text and your course, I hope that you will begin to
70
use your own sociological imagination and see connections between problems and their solutions
that you never saw before.
p.18
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
JUDITH AUERBACH
Since earning her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, Judith
Auerbach has been working outside academia on HIV/AIDS medical research and health
policy issues related to women. Throughout her career, Auerbach has had many distinguished
appointments—assistant director for social and behavioral sciences in the White House Office
of Science and Technology Policy, senior program officer at the Institute of Medicine of the
National Academy of Sciences, director of the Behavioral and Social Science Program and
HIV prevention science coordinator in the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes
of Health, and vice president for public policy and program development at amfAR. Currently
Auerbach is an adjunct professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San
Francisco.
In 2011, Auerbach described her role as a public sociologist:
I have a PhD in sociology, but I have chosen to work outside of academia almost all of my career—in government,
research, policy, advocacy, and community-based organizations. In all these domains, I have attempted to bring the
insights of sociology to bear on medical research and health policy deliberations focused on HIV/AIDS, women’s
health, and gender equity. (Quoted in International AIDS Society 2011)
This has sometimes been a challenging role, as I am usually the lone social scientist in the biomedical conversation,
particularly around so-called “biomedical technologies†for HIV prevention. Having to constantly educate and
convince others about the existence and contributions of social science is exhausting and frustrating. It boggles me
that I still have to make the case for understanding the relational and contextual nature of HIV transmission and the
need to recognize that people and technologies are interactive and interdependent. But, I have seen progress in recent
years, so I’m happy to keep playing the social science missionary through my publications, presentations, and inputs at
meetings and conferences. (Quoted in Mapping Pathways 2011)
Auerbach and her research colleagues are collecting qualitative data on women’s attitudes and
knowledge about taking a daily oral pill as part of an HIV prevention protocol. They advocate
shifting the HIV/AIDS public health response “from an ‘emergency’ approach to a longer-term
response†(quoted in Mapping Pathways 2011) addressing the maintenance of the disease and
its transmission.
What other social problems could a public sociologist study?
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
DOING SOCIOLOGY
At the end of each chapter, the Sociology at Work feature will examine how your sociological
imagination and skills can be used in the workplace.
You may be most familiar with how your sociology professors use their sociological
imagination as teachers and researchers. Yet sociology is practiced in a variety of ways and
settings beyond academia. Hans Zetterberg, in his 1964 article “The Practical Use of
Sociological Knowledge,†identified five roles for sociologists: decision maker, educator,
commentator/critic, researcher, and consultant. Notice that none of these roles includes
sociologist in the title. People are doing sociology, using sociological methods and skills or
applying their sociological imagination in their work, even though sociology or sociologist is
not part of their job description.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017), many Sociology bachelor’s degree
holders find positions in related fields, such as social services, education, or public policy. Based
on their survey of recent bachelor’s degree graduates, the American Sociological Association
(Spalter-Roth and Van Vooren 2008) reported that about one quarter of full-time working
graduates were employed in social service and counseling occupations. Almost 70% of
graduates who reported that their jobs were closely related to their Sociology major were very
satisfied with their jobs.
In Chapters 2 through 5, we will review how your sociology learning experiences and skill
development will be important for your postcollege work life. Specific occupations will be
examined in Chapters 6 through 15, including social work, criminal justice, public health,
education, and medicine. Told through stories of Sociology alumni, these features highlight
how sociology can be used in the workplace. In Chapter 16, we’ll discuss opportunities in the
global job market, and we’ll conclude with a discussion on postgraduate study in Chapter 17.
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CHAPTER REVIEW
1.1 Define the sociological imagination.
The sociological imagination is the ability to recognize the links between our personal
lives and experiences and our social world.
1.2 Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
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A social problem is a social condition that has negative consequences for individuals, our
social world, or the physical world. A social problem has objective and subjective realities.
The identification of a social problem is a process that happens over time.
1.3 Compare the four sociological perspectives.
A functionalist considers how the social problem emerges from society itself. From a
conflict perspective, social problems arise from conflict based upon social class or
competing interest groups. By analyzing the situations and lives of women in society,
feminist theory defines gender (and sometimes race or social class) as a source of social
inequality, group conflict, and social problems. An interactionist focuses on how we use
language, words, and symbols to construct and define social problems.
1.4 Explain how sociology is a science.
Sociology is a science of our social world. Sociology relies on logical and systematic
methods to investigate social phenomena. The knowledge we gain through basic research
expands our understanding of the causes and consequences of a social problem, whereas
applied research involves the pursuit of knowledge for program application or policy
evaluation.
1.5 Explain the roles of social policy, advocacy, and innovation in addressing social problems.
Solutions require social action—in the form of social policy, advocacy, and innovation—to
address problems at their structural or individual levels. Social policy is the enactment of a
course of action through a formal law or program. Social advocates use their resources to
support, educate, and empower individuals and their communities. Social innovation may
take the form of a policy, a program, or advocacy that features an untested or unique
approach. Innovation usually starts at the community level but can be applied to national
and international programming.
KEY TERMS
alienation, 9
anomie, 8
applied research, 12
basic research, 12
bourgeoisie, 9
class consciousness, 9
conflict perspective, 8
dependent variable, 13
dysfunctions, 8
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empiricism, 12
feminist perspective, 9
functionalist perspective, 8
globalization, 1
human agency, 10
hypothesis, 13
independent variable, 13
interactionist perspective, 10
macro level of analysis, 7
micro level of analysis, 7
objective reality, 4
patriarchy, 9
proletariat, 9
qualitative methods, 13
quantitative methods, 13
science, 12
social construction of reality, 4
social constructionism, 4
social innovation, 16
social policy, 15
social problem, 4
sociological imagination, 2
sociology, 2
species being, 9
subjective reality, 4
symbolic interactionism, 11
theory, 7
variables, 13
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How does the sociological imagination help us understand social problems?
2. Select two of the sociological perspectives introduced in this chapter. Compare and contrast
how each defines a social problem. What solutions does each perspective offer?
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3. Apply your sociological imagination to the problem of the increasing cost of college. Is this
a personal problem only for students who can’t afford tuition? Or is the increasing cost of
tuition a public issue?
4. Using the social constructionist perspective, analyze how the primary messages in the 2016
presidential campaign were defined by the candidates, political leaders, the media, and public
interest groups. In your opinion, what was defined as a social problem?
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5. Explain how science and the scientific method help us understand social problems. How is
this different from a commonsense understanding of social problems?
6. Select two research methods and explain how each could be used to examine the impact of
the rising cost of college on students, their families, and the institution of higher education.
7. What is the relationship among social advocacy, innovation, and policy?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
p.21
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©AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
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76
THE BASES OF
INEQUALITY
PART
I
Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to the ranking of individuals into social
strata or groups. We are divided into groups such as women versus men or African Americans
versus Asian Americans. Our lives are also transformed because of our group membership. In
U.S. society, being different has come to mean that we are unequal.
The differences between social strata become more apparent when we recognize how some
individuals are more likely to experience social problems than others are. Attached to each
social position are life chances, a term Max Weber used to describe the consequences of social
stratification, how each social position provides particular access to goods and services such as
wealth, food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care. Sociologists refer to the unequal
distribution of resources, services, and positions as social inequality.
In the next five chapters, we will explore two basic sociological questions: Why does social
inequality exist, and how are we different from one another? We will review sociological
theories that attempt to explain and examine the consequences of social inequality. Although
the five bases of inequality are discussed in separate chapters, real life happens at the
intersection of our social class, racial and ethnic identity, gender, sexual orientation, and age.
These bases of inequality simultaneously define and affect us. We need to recognize how each
social characteristic (class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or age) shapes the history,
experiences, and opportunities of men, women, and children in the United States (Shapiro
2004) and throughout the world. Your life experience may have less to do with your ability or
your hard work and more to do with how (well) you are positioned in society. Ultimately, this
includes your experience of social problems.
If this is your first sociology course, these chapters will provide you with an overview of several
core sociological concepts. If you have already had a sociology course, welcome back; these
chapters should provide a good review.
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2
SOCIAL CLASS
Media Library
CHAPTER 2 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 2.1: What is Social Class
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 2.2: The Feminization of Poverty
AP News Clips 2.3: Homeless in Hawaii
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
2.1 Explain the different definitions of poverty.
2.2 Compare the four sociological perspectives on social class and poverty.
2.3 Identify two consequences of poverty.
2.4 Explain the evolution of U.S. welfare policy.
2.5 Assess whether life after welfare has improved after the passage of PRWORA.
The United States is perceived as one of the world’s richest countries. Nonetheless, economic
inequality is one of the most important and visible of America’s social problems (McCall 2002).
President Barack Obama identified “the combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing
mobility†as “the defining challenge of our time†(White House 2013). Sociologists Steve McNamee
and Robert Miller (2014) observed:
Opinion polls consistently show that Americans continue to embrace the American Dream. But as they strive to achieve it,
they have found that it has become more difficult simply to keep up and make ends meet. Instead of “getting ahead,â€
Americans often find themselves working harder just to stay in place, and despite their best efforts, many find themselves
“falling behindâ€â€”worse off than they were earlier in their lives or compared to their parents at similar points in their lives.
(p. 217)
Many Americans believe that their economic status is declining or not improving at all and that
there is increasing tension between the rich and the poor (Pew Research Center 2008; Drake 2013).
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About two thirds of the 2012 Pew Research Center sample agree that the rich are getting richer and
the poor are getting poorer, and more than half believe it is a bad thing for our society (Drake
2013). Economic anxiety, a concern about future finances (e.g., job security, saving for retirement or
college), was identified as a contributing factor in the 2016 election of President Donald Trump.
Data reveal that the American middle class is no longer the economic majority. In 2015, there were
120.8 million adults in middle-income households compared with 121.3 million in lower- and
upper-income households combined. Growth is largest among upper-income households (Pew
Research Center 2015).
In this chapter, we will examine how the overall distribution of wages and earnings has become
more unequal and how the distance between the wealthy and the poor has widened considerably in
recent decades and worsened during the Great Recession of 2007–2009. The Occupy Wall Street
movement highlighted wealth and income inequality through its central protest question: Are you a
member of the wealthy 1% or part of the remaining 99%? Martin Marger (2002) wrote, “Measured
in various ways, the gap between rich and poor in the United States is wider than [in] any other
society with comparable economic institutions and standards of living†(p. 48).
According to the U.S. Census, for 2016 the median income was $59,039 (Semega, Fontenot, and
Kollar 2017). The U.S. Census examines income distribution by dividing the U.S. household
population into fifths or quintiles. If all U.S. income were equally divided, each quintile would
receive one fifth of the total income. However, based on U.S. Census data for 2016, 51.5% of the
total U.S. income was earned by households in the highest quintile or among households making
$121,019 or more. The lowest 20% of households (earning $24,002 or less per year) had 3.1% of the
total income (Semega et al. 2017). Between 2009 and 2013, the top 1% accounted for 85.1% of the
total income growth in the United States (Sommeiller, Price, and Wazeter 2016). (Refer to Table
2.1 for the share of aggregate income for 2016.)
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TABLE 2.1 â– Share of Aggregate Income Received by Each Fifth, 2016
Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
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Wealth, rather than income, may be more important in determining one’s economic inequality.
Wealth is usually defined as the value of assets (checking and savings accounts, property, vehicles,
and stocks) owned by a household (Keister and Moller 2000) at a point in time. Wealth is measured
in two ways: gross assets (the total value of the assets someone owns) and net worth (the value of
assets owned minus the amount of debt owed) (Gilbert 2003). Wealth is more stable within families
and across generations than is income, occupation, or education (Conley 1999) and can be used to
secure or produce wealth, enhancing one’s life chances.
As Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro (1995) explained,
Wealth is a particularly important indicator of individual and family access to life chances. Wealth is a special form of money
not used to purchase milk and shoes and other life necessities. More often it is used to create opportunities, secure a desired
stature and standard of living, or pass class status along to one’s children. . . . The command over resources that wealth
entails is more encompassing than income or education, and closer in meaning and theoretical significance to our traditional
notions of economic well-being and access to life chances. (p. 2)
Wealth preserves the division between the wealthy and the nonwealthy, providing an important
mechanism for the intergenerational transmission of inequality (Gilbert 2003). Scott Sernau (2001)
wrote,
Wealth begets wealth. . . . It ensures that those near the bottom will be called on to spend almost all of their incomes and
that what wealth they might acquire, such as an aging automobile or an aging house in a vulnerable neighborhood, will more
likely depreciate than increase in value, and the poor will get nowhere. (p. 69)
Data reveal that wealth is more unequally distributed and more concentrated than income. Since the
early 1920s, the top 1% of wealth holders have owned an average of 30% of household wealth.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, the top 1% of wealth owners owned more than 45% of all net
worth and nearly 50% of all financial assets (Keister and Moller 2000; Wolff 2006). From 2007 to
2010, the proportion of families that reported they had saved money in the previous year fell from
56.4% to 52%. During the same period, median net worth decreased for all income groups except
the top 10% (Bricker et al. 2012).
Richard Fry and Rakesh Kochhar (2014) reported that the wealth gap between upper-income and
middle-income Americans reached its highest level on record in 2013. The median wealth of upper-
income families ($639,400) was 6.6 times greater than the median wealth of middle-income families
($96,500). The wealth ratio is 70 times larger between upper-income and lower-income Americans
($9,300). Fry and Kochhar attribute the decline in middle-class and lower-class family wealth to the
Great Recession of 2007–2009, describing these families as “financially stuck†and stating that “the
economy recovery has yet to be felt for them.â€
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PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 2.1: What is Social Class
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Consider your own income and wealth status. How would you define your social class based on your
own income and wealth? Your family’s income and wealth? Which reveals more about your life
chances?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POOR?
The often-cited definition of poverty offered by the World Bank is an income of $1.90 per day.
This represents “extreme poverty,†the minimal amount necessary for a person to fulfill his or her
basic needs. According to the organization (World Bank 2009),
Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not being
able to go to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.
Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and
freedom.
Due to significant improvements in education, gender equality, health care, environmental
degradation, and hunger, there has been a decline in both the overall poverty rate and the number of
poor, according to the World Bank. In 2013, a total of 767 million people (10.7% of the world’s
population) in the developing world had consumption levels below $1.90, lower than the 1.85
billion (35% of the population) in 1990 (World Bank 2016).
©iStock.com/Peeter Viisimaa
Not everyone in our society can achieve the dream of owning a home. For almost 600,000 Americans, home is life on the
streets, in shelters, and in transitional housing.
Sociologists offer two definitions of poverty: absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute
poverty refers to a lack of basic necessities, such as food, shelter, and income. Relative poverty
refers to a situation in which some people fail to achieve the average income or lifestyle enjoyed by
the rest of society. Our mainstream standard of living defines the “average†American lifestyle.
Individuals living in relative poverty may be able to afford basic necessities, but they cannot
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maintain a standard of living comparable to that of other members of society. Relative poverty
emphasizes the inequality of income and the growing gap between the richest and poorest
Americans. A definition reflecting the relative nature of income inequality was adopted by the
European Council of Ministers: “The poor shall be taken to mean persons, families and groups of
persons whose resources (material, cultural and societal) are so limited as to exclude them from the
minimum acceptable way of life in the member state in which they live†(European Commission
1985).
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The Federal Definitions of Poverty
There are two federal policy measures of poverty: the poverty threshold and the poverty guidelines.
These measures are important for statistical purposes and for determining eligibility for social
service programs.
The poverty threshold is the original federal poverty measure developed by the Social Security
Administration and updated each year by the U.S. Census Bureau. The threshold is used to
estimate the number of people in poverty. Originally developed by Mollie Orshansky for the Social
Security Administration in 1964, the original poverty threshold was based on the economy food
plan, the least costly of four nutritionally adequate food plans designed by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA). Based on the 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey, the USDA
determined that families of three or more people spent about one third of their after-tax income on
food. The poverty threshold was set at three times the cost of the economy food plan. The
definition of the poverty threshold was revised in 1969 and 1981. Since 1969, annual adjustments in
the levels have been based on the consumer price index instead of changes in the cost of foods in the
economy food plan.
The poverty threshold considers money or cash income before taxes and excludes capital gains and
noncash benefits (public housing, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
The poverty threshold does not apply to people residing in military barracks or institutional group
quarters or to unrelated individuals younger than age 15 (foster children). In addition, the definition
of the poverty threshold does not vary geographically.
The poverty guidelines, issued each year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
are used to determine family or individual eligibility for federal programs such as Head Start, the
National School Lunch Program, or the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The
poverty guidelines are designated by the year in which they are issued. For example, the guidelines
issued in January 2017 are designated as the 2017 poverty guidelines, but the guidelines reflect price
changes through the calendar year 2016. There are separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and
Hawaii. The current poverty threshold and guidelines are presented in Tables 2.2 and 2.3.
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TABLE 2.2 â– Poverty Threshold in 2017 by Size of Family and Number of Related
Children Under 18 Years (in Dollars)
Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
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TABLE 2.3 â– 2017 Federal Poverty Guidelines (in Dollars)
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2017.
Who Are the Poor?
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In 2016, the poverty rate was 12.7% or 40.6 million, compared with the most recent low poverty
rate of 11.3%, or 31.6 million, in 2000 (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 2007; Semega et al.
2017). (Refer to U.S. Data Map 2.1 and this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for a
summary of 2016 poverty statistics.)
U.S. DATA MAP 2.1 â– Percentage of People in Poverty by State, 2016
Source: Bishaw and Benson 2017.
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
DEMOGRAPHICS OF POVERTY
85
As presented in U.S. State Map 2.1, in 2016, the South had the highest poverty rate
(14.1%) followed by the West (12.8%), the Midwest (11.7%), and the Northeast (10.8%)
(Semega et al. 2017). The states with the highest three-year average (2014–2016) poverty
rates were Louisiana, New Mexico, and Mississippi. The variation in regional rates of
poverty may be due to people-specific characteristics (percentage of racial/ethnic
minorities, female heads of households) or characteristics based on place (labor market,
cost of living).
Your social position determines your life chances of being poor. Groups most likely to
experience poverty in the United States are women (especially female householders with
no husband present), children, or ethnic/racial minorities (refer to Figures 2.1 through
2.3).
What do you think? Why are these groups more susceptible to poverty than other groups?
FIGURE 2.1 â– Percentage Below Poverty Level by Gender, 2016
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Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
FIGURE 2.2 â– Percentage Below Poverty by Age, 2016
Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
FIGURE 2.3 â– Percentage Below Poverty by Race and Ethnicity, 2016
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Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
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Based on 2016 U.S. poverty figures and redefined racial and ethnic categories, Whites (who
reported being White and no other race category, along with Whites who reported being White
plus another race category) compose the largest group of poor individuals in the United States.
Although 41.5% of the U.S. poor are non-Hispanic Whites, the poverty rate for non-Hispanic
Whites is the lowest, at 8.8%. Blacks continue to have the highest poverty rate, 22.0%, followed by
Hispanics with a rate of 19.4% (Semega et al. 2017). Racial segregation and discrimination have
contributed to the high rate of minority poverty in the United States. Minority groups are
disadvantaged by their lower levels of education, lower levels of work experience, lower wages, and
chronic health problems—all characteristics associated with higher poverty rates (Iceland 2003).
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty (2001), children are more likely to live in
poverty than Americans in any other age group. Family economic conditions affect the material and
social resources available to children. The quality of their education, the neighborhood environment,
and exposure to environmental contaminants may reinforce and widen the gaps between poorer and
more affluent children and adults (Holzer et al. 2008).
The 2016 poverty rate among children is higher in the United States than in most other major
Western industrialized nations, ranking 9th, at 20%. (Refer to Figure 2.4.) The United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released its 2016 report on child well-being in rich countries,
identifying the percentage of children living in relative poverty (in households with income below
50% of the national median income). Israel ranks highest at 27.5%, while the lowest relative child
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poverty rate is in Finland (3.7%) (UNICEF Office of Research 2016).
FIGURE 2.4 â– The Percentage of Children (Age up to 17) Living in Households With
Income Below 50% of the National Median Income, 2016
Source: Adapted from UNICEF Office of Research 2016.
The poverty rate for U.S. children peaked in 1993 at 22.5%. In 2016, the poverty rate among U.S.
children was 18% (DeNavas-Walt et al. 2007; Semega et al. 2017). The risk of being poor remains
high among specific groups. In 2012, there were more poor Hispanic children (5.8 million) than
poor Black (4.1 million) or poor White non-Hispanic children (5.2 million). More than two thirds
of poor children lived in families with at least one working family member. There remains a wide
variation in children’s poverty rates among states; in 2012, rates ranged from 13.2% in North
Dakota to 34.7% in Mississippi among children under age 18 (Children’s Defense Fund 2014).
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In 2016, families with a female householder and no spouse present were more likely to be poor than
were families with a male householder and no spouse present, 26.6% versus 31.1%. In contrast, the
poverty rate for married-couple families was 5.1% (Semega et al. 2017). Single-parent families are
more vulnerable to poverty because there is only one adult income earner, and female heads of
household are disadvantaged even further because women in general make less money than men do.
In their analysis of data from the Luxembourg Income Study, Lee Rainwater and Timothy
Smeeding (2003) concluded that American single mothers’ children fare worse than the majority of
their global counterparts. The poverty rate among U.S. children living in single-mother families is
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close to 50%; the rate is slightly lower in Germany (48%) and Australia (46%). Countries with
poverty rates below 20% include Sweden (7%), Finland (8%), Denmark (11%), Belgium (13%), and
Norway (14%). Generous social wage (e.g., unemployment) and social welfare programs reduce the
poverty rate in these Nordic countries. Rainwater and Smeeding noted that, all combined, U.S.
wage and welfare programs are much smaller than similar programs in other countries.
Poverty rates vary across geographic areas because of differences in person-specific and place-
specific characteristics (Levernier, Partridge, and Rickman 2000). A region may have a higher rate
of poverty because it contains disproportionately higher shares of demographic groups associated
with greater poverty, such as racial/ethnic minority groups, female heads of household, and low-
skilled workers. Area poverty is also related to place-specific factors, such as the region’s economic
performance, employment growth, industry structure, and cost of living.
There is an additional category of poverty—the working poor. These are men and women who have
spent at least 27 weeks working or looking for work but whose incomes have fallen below the
official poverty level. In 2015, there were 8.6 million working poor (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2017). Black and Hispanic workers were more than twice as likely as White or Asian workers to be
working poor. Individuals with less than a high school diploma were more likely to be classified as
working poor than college graduates were. Service occupations accounted for more than one third
(38%) of all those classified as working poor (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017).
David Brady, Andrew Fullerton, and Jennifer Moren Cross (2010) compared the status of the
working poor in the United States to that of 17 other affluent Western democracies. The rate of
working poverty was highest in the United States (14.5% of the population). Belgium had the
lowest rate of working poor at 2.23%. The sociologists documented how several demographic
characteristics were related to the likelihood of being working poor—individuals from households
with one income earner, with more children, or with a young household head with low educational
attainment.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CLASS AND
POVERTY
Why do some prosper while others remain poor? Why does poverty persist in some families, but
other families are able to improve their economic situation? In this section, we will review the four
sociological perspectives to understand the bases of class inequality.
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists assume that not everyone in society can and should be equal. From this perspective,
inequality is necessary for the social order, and it is equally important how each of us recognizes and
accepts our status in the social structure. Erving Goffman (1951), an interactionist, offered a
functional explanation of social stratification, defining it as a universal characteristic of social life.
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Goffman argued that as we interact with one another, accepting our status in society and
acknowledging the status of others, we provide “harmony†to the social order. But “this kind of
harmony requires that the occupant of each status act towards others in a manner which conveys the
impression that his conception of himself and of them is the same as their conception of themselves
and him†(Goffman 1951:294).
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
INCOME INEQUALITY IN CHINA
China’s income inequality provides an interesting contrast with U.S. inequality. A 2012 survey
conducted by Peking University’s Chinese Family Panel Studies revealed that households in
the top 5% of the income bracket earned 23% of China’s total household income, while
households in the lowest 5% earned 0.1% of the total income. Average annual income for a
family was about $2,100 (converted into U.S. dollars). Average family income was higher for
urban families ($2,600) compared to rural families ($1,600) (Wong 2013).
Shi Li, Hiroshi Sato, and Terry Sicular (2013) identify the role of strong structural forces that
continue to shape China’s income inequality. They describe two sources of inequality rooted in
government practices and regulations.
One source is the persistent divide between urban and rural populations, regulated by China’s
household registration system, also known as the hukou system, established during the Maoist
era in the late 1950s. The hukou system serves as an internal passport mechanism to control
domestic population movements, limiting migration from rural to urban areas. Since the mid-
1990s, as China has moved toward more democratic reforms, Communist Party leaders have
revised hukou to make it easier for rural migrants to move into urban areas and obtain higher-
paying jobs. Yet there are still structural barriers—expensive housing, lack of public services,
and lack of health care access—limiting the permanent relocation of rural workers. As a result,
rural-to-urban migration is often temporary (Sicular 2013).
Another source of income inequality has been the creation of private property acquisition (Li et
al. 2013). During the Maoist era, private property ownership was prohibited. Laws in the
1990s allowed private property ownership, most of it in urban real estate markets.
Complementary legislation also allowed private business ownership. While these policies have
lifted many Chinese out of poverty, the privatization of property and business ownership fueled
wealth accumulation among urban dwellers and an already privileged upper class (Sicular
2013). According to the Chinese Family Panel Studies, more than 87% of families owned or
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partially owned property in 2012 (Wong 2013). Recently, the Chinese government tightened
banking and real estate policies in an effort to control a booming real estate market. In 2013,
single-person households were banned from buying more than one residence in Beijing, the
country’s capital.
Summarize how structural forces continue to shape China’s income inequality.
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KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS
Although most of China’s citizens have increased their household income and standard of living, poverty still exists in
the country. According to the United Nations, about 12% of the country lives on less than $1.25 per day.
Functionalists contend that some individuals are more important to society because of their function
to society. For example, society values the lifesaving work of a medical surgeon more than the retail
function of a grocery store cashier. Based on the value of one’s work or talent, society rewards
individuals at the top of the social structure (surgeons) with more wealth, income, or power than
those lower down in the social structure (grocery cashiers). According to this perspective, individuals
are sorted according to their abilities or characteristics—their age, strength, intelligence, physical
ability, or even sex—to play their particular role for society. Certain individuals are better suited for
their positions in society than others. Our social institutions, especially education, sort everyone into
their proper places and reward them accordingly. Because not all of us can (or should) become
surgeons, the system ensures that only the most talented and qualified become surgeons. In many
ways, the functionalist argument reinforces the belief that we are naturally different.
p.34
What Does It Mean to Me?
The functionalist perspective is often criticized for its value argument. Does society accurately assess
and reward a position for its value, for its function? For example, the projected median salary of a
kindergarten and elementary school teacher in 2016 is $55,490 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2015), whereas the predicted median salary of a National Basketball Association (NBA) player in
2016–2017 is $3.75 million (Gaines 2016). How does society determine the value of a professional
basketball player? Of a public school teacher?
Functionalists observe that poverty is a product of our social structure. Specifically, rapid economic
and technological changes have eliminated the need for low-skilled labor, creating a population of
workers who are unskilled and untrained for this new economy. In many ways, theorists from this
perspective expect this disparity among workers, arguing that only the most qualified should fill the
important jobs in society and be rewarded for their talent.
Herbert Gans (1971) argued that poverty exists because it is functional for society. Gans explained
that the poor uphold the legitimacy of dominant norms. The poor help reinforce cultural ideals of
hard work and the notion that anyone can succeed if only he or she tries (so if you fail, it is your
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fault). Poverty helps preserve social boundaries. It separates the haves from the have-nots by their
economics and according to their educational attainment, marriage, and residence. The poor also
provide a low-wage labor pool to do the “dirty work†that no one else wants to do. Gans (1995)
maintained that the positive functions of poverty should be considered in any antipoverty policy.
Our social welfare system, designed to address the problem of poverty, has been accused of being
dysfunctional itself; critics suggest that the welfare bureaucracy is primarily concerned with its own
survival. Poverty helps create jobs for the nonpoor, particularly the social welfare system designed to
assist the poor. As a result, the social welfare bureaucracy will develop programs and structures that
will only ensure its survival and legitimacy. Based on personal experience working with and for the
system, Theresa Funiciello (1993) observed, “Countless middle class people were making money,
building careers, becoming powerful and otherwise benefiting from poverty. . . . The poverty
industry once again substituted its own interests for that of poor people†(p. xix). We will discuss
this further in the next perspective.
Conflict Perspective
Like the functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective argues that inequality is inevitable, but for
different reasons. For a functionalist, inequality is necessary because of the different positions and
roles needed in society. From a conflict perspective, inequality is systematically created and
maintained by those trying to preserve their advantage over the system.
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For Karl Marx, one’s social class is solely determined by one’s position in the economic system: You
are either a worker or an owner of the means of production. Nancy Krieger, David Williams, and
Nancy Moss (1997) offered this explanation of class:
Class, as such, is not an a priori property of individual human beings, but is a social relationship created by societies. One
additional and central component of class relations involves an asymmetry of economic exploitation, whereby owners of
resources (e.g. capital) gain economically from the labor effort of non-owners who work for them. (p. 346)
But social class, according to Max Weber, is multidimensional. Economic factors include income,
the money earned for one’s work, and wealth, the value of one’s personal assets such as savings and
property. A person’s social class is also influenced by prestige, the amount of social respect or
standing given to an individual based on occupation. We assign higher prestige to occupations that
require specialized education or training, that provide some social good to society, or that make
more money. A final component of class is power. Weber defined power as the ability to achieve
one’s goals despite the opposition of others. Power is the ability to do whatever you want because no
one can stop you.
Power is not limited to individuals. People with similar interests (or with similar income, wealth,
and prestige backgrounds) often collaborate to increase their advantage in society. C. Wright Mills
(1959/2000) argued that the United States is ruled by what he called a power elite. According to
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Mills, this elite group is composed of business, political, and military leaders. This elite group has
absolute power because of its ability to withhold resources and prevent others from realizing their
interests. Mills identified how the power elite effectively make decisions regarding economic policy
and national security—controlling the difference between a boom economy and a bust economy or
peace and war abroad (Gilbert 2003). Refer to this chapter’s In Focus feature for an in-depth look at
the modern power elite.
Michael Harrington (1963) argued, “The real explanation of why the poor are where they are is that
they made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents, in the wrong section of the country, in
the wrong industry, or in the wrong racial or ethnic group†(p. 21). Inequalities built into our social
structure create and perpetuate poverty. As Manning Marable (2000) stated, capitalism is fraud.
Although it promotes the idea that everyone has a fair and equal chance to succeed, advantages are
given to members of particular groups based on their gender, race, or social class.
Conflict theorists assert that poverty exists because those in power want to maintain and expand
their base of power and interests, with little left to share with others. Welfare bureaucracies—local,
state, and national—represent important interest groups that influence the creation and
implementation of welfare policies. A welfare policy reflects the political economy of the community
in which it is implemented (Handler and Hasenfeld 1991).
Francis Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward (1993) concluded that the principal function of welfare
is to allow the capitalist class to maintain control over labor. Welfare policy has been used by the
state to stifle protest and to enforce submissive work norms. During periods of economic crisis, the
state expands welfare rolls to pacify the poor and reduce the likelihood of serious uprising. However,
during economic growth or stability, the state attempts to reduce the number of people on welfare,
forcing the poor or dislocated workers back into the expanding labor force. Those who remain on
welfare are condemned and stigmatized for their dependence on the system. For example, in 2017,
at least 15 states passed legislation to require drug testing or screening for public assistance
applicants or recipients, and at least 20 more states proposed similar legislation during the year
(National Conference of State Legislatures 2017).
Opponents of this policy argue that punitive testing policies perpetuate the stereotype that people
on public assistance are morally corrupt and more likely to use drugs. It also distracts from the need
for and access to drug treatment and prevention. A 2012 assessment of the Florida welfare drug test
law revealed that there were no direct savings for the state; contrary to the law’s intent, it did not
identify many drug users and had no effect on reducing the number of individuals applying for
welfare assistance (Alvarez 2012). The Florida law was struck down by a federal appeals court in
2014; the court ruled that the state failed to demonstrate that drug abuse was more prevalent or
unique among Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) clients than the general
population.
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Feminist Perspective
Feminist scholars define the welfare state as an arena of political struggle. The drive to maintain
male dominance and the patriarchal family is assumed to be the principal force shaping the
formation, implementation, and outcomes of U.S. welfare policy (Neubeck and Cazenave 2001).
Social welfare scholar Mimi Abramovitz (1996) noted that welfare has historically distinguished
between the deserving poor (widows with children) and the undeserving poor (single and divorced
mothers). In the 1970s and 1980s, media and politicians created the image of the “Cadillac driving,
champagne sipping, penthouse living welfare queens†(Zucchino 1999:13), suggesting that women
—specifically, single mothers—were abusing welfare assistance. Women were accused of having
more children to avoid work and to increase their welfare benefits. Marriage, hard work, honesty,
and abstinence were offered as solutions to their poverty. The negative stereotypes of poor women
stigmatized these women and fueled support for punitive social policies (Abramovitz 1996), and
they continue to be a part of welfare policies today.
The bias against women is reproduced systematically in our social institutions. Fraser (1989) argued
that there are two types of welfare programs: masculine programs related to the labor market (social
security, unemployment compensation) and feminine programs related to the family or household
(Aid to Families with Dependent Children [AFDC], food stamps, and Medicaid). The welfare
system is separate and unequal. Fraser believes that masculine programs are rational, generous, and
nonintrusive, whereas feminine programs are inadequate, intrusive, and humiliating. The
quintessential program for women, AFDC, institutionalized the feminization of poverty by failing
to provide adequate support, training, and income to ensure self-sufficiency for women (Gordon
1994). The program operated from 1935 to 1996.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 2.2: The Feminization of Poverty
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Our current welfare system, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
(PRWORA) and its TANF program, have been criticized for its treatment of women and their
families. PRWORA created a pool of disciplined low-wage laborers: women who must take any job
that is available or find themselves and their families penalized by the government (Piven 2002).
With its emphasis on work as the path to self-sufficiency, TANF forces women back to the same
low-pay, low-skill jobs that may have led them to their poverty in the first place (Lafer 2002;
Gilman 2012). The new program requirements, as Debra Henderson, Ann Tickamyer, and Barry
Tadlock (2005) argued, also deny women the choice to be full-time mothers. Eligibility guidelines
force poor women to work, making them choose between the competing roles of good mother and
good welfare recipient. The new policies fail to address the real barriers facing women: low job skills
and educational attainment, racism and discrimination in the labor market, and the competing
demands of work and caring for their children.
Interactionist Perspective
An interactionist would draw attention to how class differences are communicated through symbols,
how the meaning of these symbols is constructed or constrained by social forces, and how these
symbols reproduce social inequality. Our language reflects the quality of life that is associated with
different amounts of economic resources. We distinguish the “very rich†from the “stinking richâ€
and someone who is “poor†from someone who is “dirt poor†(Rainwater and Smeeding 2003).
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IN FOCUS
THE POWER OF POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES
G. William Domhoff (2002) argued that real power is distributive power, the power
individuals or groups have over other individuals or groups. Power matters when a group has
the ability to control strategic resources and opportunities to obtain such resources. Money,
land, information, and skills are strategic resources when they are needed by individuals to do
what they want to do (Hachen 2001). Domhoff argued that distributive power is limited to an
elite group of individuals whose economic, political, and social relationships are closely
interrelated. Control over four major social networks—economic, political, military, and
religious—can be turned into a strong organizational base for wielding power (Mann 1986).
Political action committees (PACs) have been characterized as extensions of the influence of
the power elite. Whereas contributions to a candidate’s campaign are limited to $2,500 per
election from each individual donor, PACs, or super PACs as they are more often referred to,
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can collect unlimited amounts from individuals and corporations. In 1947, corporations were
banned from using their profits to endorse or oppose political candidates; however, in 2010,
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the restriction unconstitutional and allowed corporations the
same rights as individuals when it comes to political speech (the donation of money).
Campaign-finance reform activists predicted that the ruling would increase the influence of
special interest groups, allowing what has been characterized as a corruption of our democracy
or corporate electioneering. Although PACs cannot formally coordinate their activities or
communicate exclusively with candidates, PACs are closely aligned with candidates and
important sources for campaign money. For example, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated
$10 million to Winning Our Future, the PAC that supported Newt Gingrich’s 2012
presidential campaign. The Adelsons are longtime friends and supporters of Gingrich. Their
contribution was described as leveling the political playing field between Gingrich and
Governor Mitt Romney in critical primaries in Florida and South Carolina (Confessore 2012).
The Adelsons also supported Restore Our Future, Romney’s PAC.
Another influential political coalition is the group of organizations known as the 527s,
independent political groups named for a section of the Internal Revenue Service tax code that
regulates the financial activities of all political groups. As with PACs, there are no restrictions
on contributions to 527s. During the 2004 presidential election, Senator John Kerry was
targeted by the 527 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who falsely attacked his Vietnam service
record. The campaign was so memorable that the term swift boating has come to refer to an
untrue or unfair political attack.
Some sociologists have suggested that poverty is based on a culture of poverty, a set of norms,
values, and beliefs that encourage and perpetuate poverty. In this view, moral deficiencies of
individuals or their families lead to a life of poverty. Oscar Lewis (1969), Edward Banfield (1974),
and Myron Magnet (1993/2000) argued that the poor are socialized differently (e.g., living from
moment to moment) and are likely to pass these values on to their children. Patterns of generational
poverty—poor parents have poor children, who in turn become poor adults, and so on—seem to
support this theory.
Yet the culture of poverty explanation has been widely criticized. Opponents argue that there is no
evidence that the poor have a different set of values and beliefs. This perspective defines poverty as a
persistent state; that is, once you are poor, your values prohibit you from ever getting out of poverty.
In fact, poverty data reveal that for most individuals and families, continuous spells of poverty are
likely to last less than two years (Harris 1993).
Interactionists also focus on the public’s perception of welfare and of welfare recipients. Most
Americans do not know any welfare recipients personally or have any direct contact with the welfare
system. Their views on welfare are likely to be shaped by what they see on television and by what
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they read in newspapers and magazines (Weaver 2000). As a society, we have developed a sense of
the “undeserving poorâ€; dependent mothers and fathers and nonworking recipients have become
powerful negative symbols in society (Norris and Thompson 1995). Critics of social programs for
the poor fear that the United States is becoming an entitlement society, creating a large segment of
the population who would rather depend on government benefits than work (Sherman, Greenstein,
and Ruffing 2012). During the 2012 presidential campaign, Governor Mitt Romney was secretly
taped promoting this negative rhetoric of public assistance. In his comments, Romney referred to
the 47% of Americans who were dependent on the government and who believed they were victims.
Romney said his job was “not to worry about those people.†His statements are at odds with welfare
program facts: More than 90% of those on entitlement and mandatory programs are the elderly
(people aged 65 and older), disabled, and members of working households (Sherman et al. 2012).
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Martin Gilens (1999) explained that welfare has become a code word for race. Race and racism are
important in understanding public and political support for antipoverty programs (Lieberman 1998;
Neubeck and Cazenave 2001; Quadagno 1994). Gilens stated that Americans perceive welfare as a
Black phenomenon, believing that Blacks make up 50% of the poor population (compared with an
actual 25%). This belief is exacerbated by the notion that Blacks are on welfare not because of
blocked opportunities but largely because of their lack of effort.
Gilens (1999) asserted that the news media are primarily responsible for building this image of
Black poverty, that is, for the “racialization of poverty.†During the War on Poverty in the early
1960s, the media focused on White rural America, but as the civil rights movement began to build
in the mid-1960s, the media turned their attention to urban poverty, and the racial character of
poverty coverage changed. Between 1965 and 1967, sensationalized portrayals of Black poverty were
used to depict the waste, inefficiency, or abuse of the welfare system, whereas positive coverage of
poverty was more likely to include pictures and portrayals of Whites. After 1967 and for most of the
following three decades, larger proportions of Blacks appeared in news coverage of most poverty
topics. “Black faces are unlikely to be found in media stories on the most sympathetic subgroups of
the poor, just as they are comparatively absent from media coverage of poverty during times of
heightened sympathy for the poor†(Gilens 1999:132). According to Gilens, this exaggerated link
between Blacks and poverty is a serious obstacle to public support for antipoverty programs.
A review of all sociological perspectives is presented in Table 2.4.
TABLE 2.4 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Social Class
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Who or what has shaped your beliefs about the causes of poverty and about those who are poor?
THE CONSEQUENCES OF POVERTY
This section is not an exhaustive list of the consequences of poverty. Remaining chapters will also
highlight the relationship between social class and the experience of a specific social problem (such
as educational attainment or access to health care). Given the intersectionality of all the bases of
inequality covered in this section of the book, there is a persistent overlap in the experience of social
problems as a result of one’s class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and age.
Food Insecurity and Hunger
About 12.3% of households, or 15.6 million American families, were food insecure for at least some
time throughout 2016 (Coleman-Jensen et al. 2017). Analysts attribute the increase to rising
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unemployment rates and food prices. Food insecure means that these families did not always have
access to enough food for all members of the household to enjoy active and healthy lives. Fifty-nine
percent of the food-insecure households said they had participated during the previous month in
one or more federal food and nutrition assistance programs—the National School Lunch Program,
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (described later), or the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. The prevalence of food insecurity is higher
for certain groups: single-female-headed households with children (21.1%), Black households
(12.8%), Hispanic households (12.7%), and households with income below the poverty line (21.0%)
(Coleman-Jensen et al. 2017). Food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas than
in suburban areas and exurban areas around larger cities.
The USDA provided food assistance through one of 17 public food assistance programs. The U.S.
food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is the
nation’s largest nutrition program for low-income individuals and families. During 2015, the
program served an average of 45.4 million low-income Americans each month. The average
monthly benefit was $126 per person, $256 per household. Food stamps cannot be used to buy
nonfood items (personal hygiene supplies, paper products), alcoholic beverages, vitamins and
medicines, hot food products, or any food that will be eaten in the store. The Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities (2013a) described SNAP as a powerful tool in fighting poverty. Serving as a bridge
program, SNAP provides temporary assistance to individuals and families during periods of
unemployment or a crisis (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2013a). Although SNAP and
other USDA programs have been shown to be effective in improving the purchasing power and
nutritional status of specific populations, a large segment of low-income Americans are not being
adequately served or served at all by these programs. In 2012, only 67% of individuals who qualified
for SNAP benefits participated in the program (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2013a).
For one week in 2007, Governor Theodore R. Kulongoski (D-OR) challenged fellow Oregonians
to join him and his wife Mary in living on an average Oregon food stamp budget of $21 per week
per person, or $3 a day. His efforts drew state, national, and global attention to food insecurity in
his home state of Oregon, as well as the need for the federal government to preserve the current
level of food stamp benefits. Before his challenge week, the governor and his wife had each spent an
average of $51 per week on food, not including his meals while at work or during official functions;
during his challenge week, their final food bill was $20.97 per person. Governor Kulongoski
reported several challenges he and his wife experienced throughout the week—the demoralizing
experience of not having enough to pay for all the food in their cart, having to make tough decisions
on the quality and amount of food they could purchase, and experiencing hunger throughout the
week as their food supply ran out (Kulongoski 2007). Since Kulongoski’s challenge, there have been
annual food stamp budget challenges sponsored by faith leaders, politicians, and news reporters,
highlighting the difficulties of eating a healthy and sustainable diet on the standard food stamp
allotments.
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Republican congressional leaders supported deep cuts in the SNAP program in 2013, arguing that
the program had grown too big and expensive and was another source of government dependency.
Republicans advocated closing program loopholes and adding work requirements for recipients.
When the 2014 Farm Bill was signed into law, it included $8.7 billion in cuts in the SNAP budget
over 10 years, with some pilot work programs (Grovum 2014). Policy analysts predicted that the
reduction would affect 850,000 recipients in 14 states and the District of Columbia, reducing their
monthly benefit by an average of $90. However, most have been able to preserve their SNAP
benefits by relying on a SNAP loophole, the “Heat and Eat†provision. Under the provision, a
household is entitled to more food aid if it is enrolled in the federally funded Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Previously, households would be eligible for LIHEAP if
they received a minimum of $1.00 per year. Congress changed the law, increasing the minimum to
$20 per year. In response, states increased their LIHEAP funding to support the new federal
minimum, thus ensuring SNAP eligibility to more individuals and families (Grovum 2014).
As reported by Briefel et al. (2003), food pantries and emergency kitchens play an important role in
the nutritional safety net for America’s low-income and needy populations. These organizations are
part of the Emergency Food Assistance System, a network of private organizations operating with
some federal support. Almost one third of pantry client households and two fifths of kitchen client
households are at or below 50% of the poverty line. The mean monthly income is $781 for pantry
client households and $708 for kitchen client households. Food pantries considered by Briefel et al.
were likely to serve families with children (45% of households included children), whereas
emergency kitchens were likely to serve men living alone (38%) or single adults living with other
adults (18%).
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (2016) reported that emergency food assistance had increased by an
average of 2% in 25 surveyed cities. Low wages were identified as the leading cause of hunger,
followed by high housing costs and poverty. Sixty-three percent of individuals requesting emergency
food assistance were from families. In 2016, an average of 13.8% of the people needing emergency
food assistance did not receive it.
©Steve Debenport/Getty Images
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Food pantries and emergency kitchens play an important role in the nutritional safety net for America’s low income and
needy populations (Briefel et al. 2003).
Affordable Housing
Although most Americans still aspire to own a home, for many poor and working Americans, home
ownership is just a dream (Freeman 2002). Despite the decline in home sales and values, housing
affordability has declined (Savage 1999). The generally accepted definition of affordability is for a
family to pay no more than 28% of its annual income on housing (30% for a rental unit). Nearly one
in four working households (households where individuals work more than 20 hours per week and
have a household income of no more than 120% of the median income in the area) spends more
than half its income on housing costs (Williams 2012). Renters are more than twice as likely as
homeowners to pay more than half their income for housing (Fischer and Sard 2013).
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Lance Freeman (2002) explained that because housing is the single largest expenditure for most
households, “housing affordability has the potential to affect all domains of life that are subject to
cost constraints, including health†(p. 710). Most families pay their rent first, buying basic needs
such as food, clothing, and health care with what they have left. The lack of public assistance,
increasing prices, slow wage growth, and a limited inventory of affordable apartments and houses
make it nearly impossible for some to find adequate housing (Pugh 2007).
The combination of low earnings and scarce housing assistance results in serious housing problems
for the working poor. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (Aurand et al.
2017), there is no state where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest one- or two-
bedroom unit. In 2017, it took, on average, 2.9 minimum-wage jobs to afford a modest two-
bedroom unit. About 50% of all renters were using over 30% of their income for housing (Aurand et
al. 2017).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 2.3: Homeless in Hawaii
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Johnnie McDowell and his wife have a household income of almost $100,000 a year, but with car
payments (both commute to work), student loans, a weak credit report and little savings, the family
cannot afford to buy a home (Searcey 2015). A starter home in their Westfield, New Jersey,
neighborhood costs $200,000. They currently live in a duplex, paying a monthly rent of $1,400.
They could move to a more affordable neighborhood but have decided to stay in Westfield for their
good schools. Their monthly expenses include $800 for their daughter’s preschool.
Increasing the minimum wage would not solve the affordable housing problem. Low-income
households would remain at higher risk for experiencing housing instability, eviction, poor housing
conditions, and homelessness.
Health
Regardless of the country where a person lives, social class is a major determinant of one’s health
and life expectancy (Braveman and Tarimo 2002); those lower on the socioeconomic ladder have
worse health than those above them (Marmot 2004). The link between class and health has been
confirmed in studies conducted in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and Western
Europe (Cockerman 2004). Although no factor has been singled out as the primary link between
socioeconomic position and health, scholars have offered many factors—standard of living, work
conditions, housing conditions, access to better-quality food, leisure activities, and the social and
psychological connections with others at work, at home, or in the community—to explain the
relationship (Krieger et al. 1997). According to Nancy Krieger and her colleagues (1997) “poor
living and working conditions impair health and shorten lives†(p. 343).
©iStock.com/Ingrid_Hendriksen
Housing is the single largest expenditure for most households. Low earnings and scarce housing assistance results in serious
housing problems for the working poor.
Rose Weitz (2001) offered several explanations for the unhealthy relationship between poverty and
illness. The type of work available to poorly educated people can cause illness or death by exposing
them to hazardous conditions. Poor and middle-class individuals who live in poor neighborhoods
are exposed to air, noise, water, and chemical pollution that can increase rates of morbidity and
mortality. Inadequate and unsafe housing contributes to infectious and chronic diseases, injuries,
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and illnesses, including lead poisoning when children eat peeling paint. The diet of the poor
increases the risk of illness. The poor have little time or opportunity to practice healthy activities
such as exercise, and because of life stresses, they may also be encouraged to adopt behaviors that
might further endanger their health. Finally, poverty limits individual access to preventative and
therapeutic health care.
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The relationship between health and social class afflicts those most vulnerable, the young. Children
in poor or near-poor families are two to three times more likely not to have a usual source of health
care than are children in nonpoor families (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics 2007). Access to a regular doctor or care facility for physical examinations, preventative
care, screening, and immunizations can facilitate the timely and appropriate use of pediatric services
for youth. Even children on public insurance (which includes Medicaid and the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program) are more likely not to have a usual source of care than are children with
private insurance. Children in families below the poverty level have lower rates of immunization and
yearly dental checkups (both basic preventative care practices) than do children at or above the
poverty level (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics 2007). Refer to Chapter
10, “Health and Medicine,†for more on the impact of social class on health care access and quality.
RESPONDING TO CLASS INEQUALITIES
U.S. Welfare Policy
Throughout the 20th century, U.S. welfare policy has been caught between two values: the desire to
help those who cannot help themselves and the concern that assistance could create dependency
(Weil and Feingold 2002). The centerpiece of the social welfare system was established by the
passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. The act endorsed a system of assistance programs that
would provide for Americans who could not care for themselves: widows, the elderly, the
unemployed, and the poor.
Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, assistance was provided in four categories:
general relief, work relief, social insurance, and categorical assistance. General relief was given to
those who were not able to work; most of the people receiving general relief were single men. Work
relief programs gave government jobs to those who were unemployed through programs such as the
Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. Social insurance programs
included social security and unemployment compensation. Categorical assistance was given to poor
families with dependent children, to the blind, and to the elderly. To serve this group, the original
welfare assistance program, Aid to Dependent Children (later renamed AFDC), was created
(Cammisa 1998).
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©iStock.com/HultonArchive
Soup kitchens emerged in the United States during the Great Depression, operated primarily by churches and local charities.
Soup and bread meals were easy to prepare and serve to the poor and unemployed.
Categorical programs became the most controversial, and the social insurance programs were the
most popular. It was widely believed that social insurance paid people for working, whereas
categorical programs paid people for not working. Shortly after these programs were implemented,
officials became concerned that individuals might become dependent on government relief
(Cammisa 1998). Even President Roosevelt (quoted in Patterson 1981) expressed his doubts about
the system he helped create: “Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral
disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to
administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit†(p. 60).
The next great expansion of the welfare system occurred in the mid-1960s, when President Lyndon
Johnson (1965) declared a War on Poverty and implemented his plan to create a Great Society.
Rehabilitation of the poor was the cornerstone of Johnson’s policies, and what followed was an
explosion of social programs: Head Start, Upward Bound, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Job Corps,
public housing, and affirmative action. Although poverty was not completely eliminated, defenders
of the Great Society say that these programs alleviated poverty, reduced racial discrimination,
reduced the stigma attached to being poor, and helped standardize government assistance to the
poor. Conversely, opponents claim that these programs coddled the poor and created a generation
that expected entitlements from the government (Cammisa 1998).
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During the more than 50 years when the AFDC program operated, welfare rolls were increasing,
and, even worse, recipients were staying on government assistance for longer periods. In a strange
irony, welfare, the solution for the problem of poverty, became a problem itself (Norris and
Thompson 1995). Between 1986 and 1996, many states began to experiment with welfare reforms.
Wisconsin was the first state to implement such a reform with a program that included work
requirements, benefit limits, and employment goals.
In 1996, PRWORA was passed with a new focus on helping clients achieve self-sufficiency through
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employment. PRWORA was a bipartisan welfare reform plan to reduce recipients’ dependence on
government assistance through strict work requirements and welfare time limits. Replacing AFDC,
the new welfare program is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Instead of
treating assistance as an entitlement, as it was under AFDC, TANF declares that government help
is temporary and has to be earned. Under TANF, there is a federal lifetime limit of 60 months (five
years) of assistance, although states may put shorter limits on benefits. PRWORA also gave states
primary responsibility for designing their assistance programs and for determining eligibility and
benefits.
The act had an immediate effect on the number of poor. When PRWORA became law, the poverty
rate was 13.7%; 36.5 million individuals were poor, by the government’s definition. A year later, the
rate had declined to 13.3%, and 35.6 million were poor. Rates declined to their lowest point in
2000, 11.3% or 31.6 million. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2000 poverty rate was the
lowest since 1979 (DeNavas-Walt et al. 2007).
PRWORA was reauthorized under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The reauthorization
requires states to engage more TANF clients in productive work activities leading to self-sufficiency.
The five-year cumulative lifetime limit for TANF recipients remains unchanged. Funding was also
provided for healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood initiatives (U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services 2006).
During the 2007–2009 recession, there was increased concern that poverty was on the rise, straining
the safety net of TANF and other government support programs. A depressed economy challenges
everyone, but especially those already poor. According to Austin Nichols (2011), history shows that
unemployment and poverty rates continue to rise after a recession ends. The effects of poverty
deepen over time as individuals exhaust private resources and temporary benefits. The rate of deep
poverty (incomes less than half the poverty level) increased from 6.3% in 2009 to 6.7% in 2010.
Nichols (2011) advised, “Federal government initiatives are laudable, but cash-strapped families
scarred by the labor market and housing market collapses will need more direct help, temporary or
not†(p. 2).
Life After Welfare
A strong economy and increased aid to low-income working families contributed to the immediate
decline in welfare caseloads after PRWORA (Besharov 2002). Welfare officials often point to how
the first to leave welfare were those with the most employable skills. However, research indicates
that the early employment success of welfare reform diminished as the economy faltered. According
to the Urban Institute, 32% of welfare recipients were in paid jobs in 1999, but the number had
fallen to 28% by 2002. Employment also declined for those who left welfare, from 50% in 1999 to
42% in 2002 (Zedlewski and Loprest 2003).
Under federal law, states are required to engage at least 50% of TANF families in work activities
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(e.g., employment or job search). The law limits the degree to which education and training count
toward the work participation rate. According to the Center for Women Policy Studies (2002), after
PRWORA, college enrollment among low-income women declined. Yet studies indicate that
former TANF recipients with a college education are more likely to stay employed and less likely to
return to welfare. For example, a study among former welfare recipients in Oregon found that only
52% of those with less than a high school diploma were employed after two years. In contrast, 90%
of former TANF recipients with a bachelor’s degree were still employed. Since 1996, 49 states—
Oklahoma and the District of Columbia are exceptions—passed legislation to allow secondary
education to count as activity under PRWORA.
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Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, and Jill Weigt (2010) examined the consequences of welfare reform
among poor individuals and their families in Oregon from 1998 to 2002. Although more than half
to three quarters of the TANF clients they followed were employed when they left the welfare rolls,
they were working in low-wage occupations and earning wages so low that almost half had incomes
below the official poverty line. Once off welfare, the majority of families continued to struggle to
make ends meet and were forced to make tough decisions—for example, putting off medical care,
skipping meals to stretch their food budget, or dealing with their utilities being turned off. Many
continued to rely on benefits from Oregon’s Adult and Family Services. The sociologists concluded
that self-sufficiency was still elusive for many families. “Having to depend on low-wage work leaves
millions of families facing a combination of job insecurity, inadequate household income, long hours
of work, unsatisfactory child care arrangements, and lack of health insurance, sick leave or
retirement benefits†(Morgen et al. 2010:148).
Although TANF evaluation studies reveal overall increases in employment, income, and earnings of
families formerly on welfare, many families remained poor or near poor and struggled to maintain
employment (Hennessy 2005) even before the 2007 recession. In their five-year study of TANF
recipients in New Jersey, Robert Wood, Quinn Moore, and Anu Rangarajan (2008) found that
recipients experienced economic progress and setbacks in the years after entering the program. On
average, recipients’ employment and income levels increased and poverty levels declined for
recipients during the five-year period. However, their average income levels were low, about
$20,000 per year, and almost half had incomes below the poverty line. Many recipients exited the
labor market or returned to poverty sometime during the five years they were tracked. Most at risk
were those without a high school diploma, with limited work histories, and with work-limiting
health conditions.
Eugenie Hildebrandt and Sheryl Kelber (2012) examined the experiences of women who were in
different stages of TANF participation in a large Wisconsin urban county. Wisconsin was one of
the first states to experiment with work-based welfare and program limits. Their study included
women who had exhausted their time limit. Hildebrandt and Kelber discovered that the women
were unable to meet the needs of their families during or after being in the TANF program. They
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concluded, “TANF does not have the depth, breadth, or flexibility to adequately address multiple,
complex barriers to work†(p. 138). “Barriers of limited education and work skills for well-paying
jobs, chronic mental and physical health problems, and personal and family challenges left them few
options for escaping poverty†(p. 139). Among the women in the terminated group, the majority
had chronic health problems (93%) and depressive symptoms (78%).
In 2012, the Obama administration gave states more control over how they administer their TANF
program, instituting an experimental program for states to “test alternative and innovative strategies,
policies and procedures that are designed to improve employment outcomes for needy familiesâ€
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2012). In 2017, the Trump Administration
announced plans to rescind Obama’s experimental program and reinstate the work-related activities
requirement for all adults receiving TANF support.
Earned Income Tax Credit
Enacted in 1975, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program provides federal tax relief for
low-income working families, especially those with children. The credit reduces the amount of
federal tax owed and usually results in a tax refund for those who qualify. Similar programs are
offered in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and New Zealand. To qualify for the U.S.
program, adults must be employed. A single parent with one child who had family income of less
than $39,617 (or $45,207 for a married couple with one child) in 2017 could get a credit of as much
as $3,400. The EITC can be claimed for children under age 19, or under age 24 if they are still in
college.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
MAURICIO LIM MILLER
Mauricio Lim Miller is the founder and CEO of the Family Independence Initiative (FII), a
nontraditional antipoverty program. FII was launched as a research project by Lim Miller and
then Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown in 2001. The program allows low-income families to find
their own way to self-sufficiency, establishing their own initiatives and finding success. Instead
of telling poor families what to do, FII provides a context in which families “can discover for
themselves what’s important to them and how they can best achieve those goals†(Burak
2001:27). According to Lim Miller (quoted in Bornstein 2011),
when you come into a community that is vulnerable with professionals with power and preset ideas, it is overpowering
to families and it can hold them back. Nobody wants to hear that because we are all good guys. But the focus on need
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undermines our ability to see their strengths—and their ability to see their own strengths.
The program promotes the importance of connections through social networks, greater
choices, and the ability to create economic capital.
FII began with 25 families in three cohorts—8 African American families, 6 Salvadoran
refugee families, and 11 Iu Mien families (Bornstein 2011). Family groups are asked to write
down their goals (e.g., improving child’s grades, starting business, buying a home), with FII
promising to pay each family $30 for every success, a maximum of $200 per month. Families
need to work on their plans together and report their progress to each other and to FII staff.
The program structure builds a social network and social capital among the participating
families (Burak 2011). The program is unstructured, but “the families have done well because
we give them room to do whatever they feel they need to do to get ahead,†says Lim (quoted in
Fessler 2012).
Assessment data revealed that among the first group of 25 families, household incomes
increased 25% after two years. Even after FII’s payments stopped, incomes continued to
increase, up to 40% higher than the baseline. Lim Miller also established his program in
Hawaii and San Francisco. Client success was documented at these sites, with family incomes
increasing by 23% and savings by 240% (Bornstein 2011).
In 2010, Lim Miller was invited to join President Obama’s White House Council for
Community Solutions, a group of individuals who have “dedicated their lives and careers to
civic engagement and social innovation†(White House 2010).
As of 2017, the program had established eight program sites.
Expansions of the program in the late 1980s and early 1990s made the credit more generous for
families with two or more children. In 1994, a small credit was made available to low-income
families without children (Freidman 2000). Receipt of the EITC does not affect receipt of other
programs such as food stamp benefits, Medicaid, or housing subsidies. In 2009, the EITC was
expanded to low-earning single and married workers without children, noncustodial parents, and
parents with adult independent children.
Supporters of the EITC argue that the program strengthens family self-sufficiency, provides
families with more disposable income, and encourages work among welfare recipients. The program
acts as a short-term safety net during periods of shock to income (e.g., loss of job) or family
structure (e.g., divorce) or as a long-term income support for multiple spells of income loss or
poverty (Dowd and Horowitz 2011). Families use their credits to cover basic necessities, home
repair, vehicle maintenance, or education expenses (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2012).
Almost half of EITC recipients planned to save all or part of their refund (Smeeding, Ross, and
O’Conner 1999). The program is credited with lifting more children out of poverty than any other
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government program (Llobrera and Zahradnik 2004).
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In 2017, 26 states and the District of Columbia offered a state-level earned income credit for
residents, usually a percentage of the federal credit.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Will economic inequality ever be eliminated?
Changing the Definition—Redefining Poverty
The calculation of the U.S. poverty measure has been described as outdated due to how
consumption patterns and the types of family needs have changed. For example, the cost of housing
now constitutes a larger proportion of household expenses than it did in the 1960s (Ruggles 1990).
Due to the rising costs of goods and services other than food (the primary basis for the current
poverty calculation), the poverty measure underestimates the income needed for all household
necessities (Christopher 2005).
In 1995, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) called for a new poverty measure to
include the three basic categories of food, clothing, and shelter (and utilities) and a small amount to
cover other needs such as household supplies, child care, personal care, and non-work-related
transportation. Because the census measure does not show how taxes, noncash benefits, and work-
related child care and medical expenses affect people’s well-being, the NAS panel cautioned that the
current poverty measure cannot reflect how policy changes in these areas affect the poor. In
addition, the measure does not consider how the cost of basic goods (food and shelter) has changed
since the 1960s. As we have already discussed, the federal poverty measurement assumes that costs
are the same across most of the states, except Hawaii and Alaska. It does not make sense that a
family of four in Manhattan, New York, is expected to spend the same amount of money for food,
clothing, and shelter as a family of four in Manhattan, Kansas (Bhargava and Kuriansky 2002).
The U.S. Census Bureau has been calculating experimental measures of poverty since 1999. For
2001, in measuring the overall poverty rate, the experimental measures reported higher levels of
poverty, especially when accounting for geographic differences in housing costs and for medical out-
of-pocket expenses. Although the official rate was 11.7%, experimental measures varied between
12.3% and 12.9%. When looking at the poverty rate for specific groups, the experimental measures
tend to present a poverty population that looks more like the total population in terms of its mix of
people: the elderly, White non-Hispanic individuals, and Hispanics (Short 2001).
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In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau released the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). Rebecca
Blank (2011) explained that the SPM provides an alternative way to look at economic need among
the lowest-income families. While adjusting for geographic differences, the measure considers the
dollar amount spent on food, clothing, utilities and housing, medical needs, and work-related
transportation. The measure also considers household income resources, including noncash
government benefits such as SNAP and the EITC. The official poverty statistics, according to
Blank, are incomplete when it comes to reporting the effect of the government policy on the poor.
For example, when SNAP benefits are counted as income, they lift almost 4 million people above
the poverty line and reduce poverty for millions more (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
2013b).
Although the SPM will not replace the official measure, it has led to a reexamination of the extent
of poverty in the United States. Results showed higher SPM poverty rates than the official measure
for most groups. For 2010, according to the official poverty measure, there were 46.6 million people
(or 15.2% of the population) living in poverty. With the SPM calculation, the poverty estimate
increased to 49.1 million (16%). The distribution of poverty also changes, with higher proportions
of poor among adults aged 18 to 64 years and adults 65 and older, married-couple families and
families with male householders, Whites, Asians, the foreign born, homeowners with mortgages,
and those with private health insurance (Short 2011).
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
CRITICAL THINKING
Your college education involves more than just learning new things; it also includes developing
the skills to apply your new knowledge. This skill is referred to as critical thinking. The
American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U 2013) defines critical thinking as
“a habit of the mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts
and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.†A good critical thinker is
able to apply these habits in “various and changing situations encountered in all walks of lifeâ€
(AAC&U 2013). What does critical thinking look like? Critical thinking does not consist of
one specific activity or outcome; rather it involves the use of reason, logic, and evidence to solve
a problem, to evaluate a claim or situation, or to investigate a new aspect of our social world.
Take, for example, the subject of this chapter: social class. Most sociological discussions about
social class begin with a discussion on Karl Marx. A critical thinker would not simply accept
Marx’s theory as the only explanation about social class but would also consider alternative
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perspectives and explanations, some that might even disagree with Marx. A critical thinker
would look for evidence, considering whether historical data support or refute Marx’s theory on
the rise of the proletariat class. Critical thinking can also involve applying Marx’s theory to the
way that we live and work now. What would Marx think about our solutions for poverty?
Critical thinking is valued in the new workplace. According to a 2013 survey of business and
nonprofit leaders, 75% of respondents said they wanted more educational emphasis on critical
thinking, along with complex problem solving, written and oral communication, and applied
knowledge in real-world settings (Hart Research Associates 2013).
How have you applied critical thinking in your sociology courses?
How could you use this skill in the workplace?
CHAPTER REVIEW
2.1 Explain the different definitions of poverty.
Absolute poverty refers to a lack of basic necessities, such as food, shelter, and income.
Relative poverty refers to a situation where people fail to achieve the average income or
lifestyle enjoyed by the rest of society. Relative poverty emphasizes the inequality of
income and the growing gap between the richest and poorest Americans. The poverty
threshold is the original federal poverty measure developed by the Social Security
Administration and is used for estimating the number of people in poverty annually by the
Census Bureau. Poverty guidelines (issued each year by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services) are used for determining family or individual eligibility for federal
programs.
2.2 Compare the four sociological perspectives on social class and poverty.
Functionalists observe that class inequality is a product of our social structure. Lower
wages and poverty are natural consequences of this system of stratification. Conflict
theorists assert that poverty exists because those in power want to maintain and expand
their base of power and interests, with little left to share with others. Welfare
bureaucracies—local, state, and national—represent important interest groups that
influence the creation and implementation of welfare policies. Feminist scholars argue
that the welfare state is an arena of political struggle. The drive to maintain male
dominance and the patriarchal family is assumed to be the principal force shaping the
formation, implementation, and outcomes of U.S. welfare policy. Interactionists explain
how poverty is a learned phenomenon. This perspective also focuses on the public’s
perceptions about poverty.
2.3 Identify two consequences of poverty.
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Food insecurity is defined as food insufficient for all family members to enjoy active and
healthy lives for at least some time during the year. For a variety of reasons, poor families
encounter higher food prices and a smaller selection of food than other families. Housing
is another problem; the combination of low earnings and scarce housing assistance results
in serious housing problems for the working poor.
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2.4 Explain the evolution of U.S. welfare policy.
The centerpiece of the social welfare system was established by the passage of the Social
Security Act of 1935. The act endorsed a system of assistance programs that would
provide for Americans who could not care for themselves: widows, the elderly, the
unemployed, and the poor. Welfare policies and programs were expanded under Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society reforms, yet policy makers
grew concerned about increasing dependence on social welfare programming. A new era
of social welfare began with the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act. PRWORA was a bipartisan welfare reform plan to reduce recipients’
dependence on government assistance through strict work requirements and welfare time
limits.
2.5 Assess whether life after welfare has improved since the passage of PRWORA.
PRWORA had an immediate effect in reducing the number of people on welfare.
However, although employment has increased among welfare recipients, many recipients
have little education or work experience, have limited employment benefits, and continue
to struggle to achieve self-sufficiency.
KEY TERMS
absolute poverty, 27
culture of poverty, 37
distributive power, 37
food insecure, 39
income, 35
life chances, 26
poverty guidelines, 28
poverty threshold, 28
power, 35
power elite, 35
prestige, 35
relative poverty, 27
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social inequality, 36
social stratification, 32
wealth, 35
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Examine the difference between income and wealth. Which do you think is the better
measure of social class?
2. How would you describe a middle-class lifestyle? What are its characteristics—housing,
vacations, cars, and lifestyle? Estimate what it takes to lead this middle-class life.
3. Review the different definitions of poverty (from sociologists and according to federal
policy). What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
4. Functionalists assume that not everyone in society can and should be equal. Do you agree
with this statement? Why or why not?
5. How would Marx and Weber define your social status, that of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and
that of your sociology professor?
6. How has the welfare system (past and present) discriminated against women?
7. The chapter reviews three consequences of poverty—health care, food insecurity, and
housing. Which do you think is most serious and why? What other consequences of poverty
can you identify?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
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©Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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3
RACE AND ETHNICITY
Media Library
CHAPTER 3 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 3.1: Race and Ethnicity
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 3.2: Ferguson Demonstrations
AP News Clips 3.3: US Immigration Protest
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
3.1 Describe the difference between race and ethnic groups.
3.2 Identify the different types of institutional discrimination.
3.3 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and
ethnicity.
3.4 Describe the impact of immigrant workers on the U.S. labor force.
3.5 Explain how the college experience increases racial/ethnic diversity awareness.
Days after White nationalists and counter protestors clashed on their campus, University of Virginia
(UVA) students gathered to express their solidarity against hate and racism. Three people died, and
more than 30 individuals were injured in a series of violent clashes over the August 2017 weekend.
UVA students assembled under a banner that read, “Our mission therefore is to confront ignorance
with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity.
Racism can, will and must be defeated†(Kelly 2017). The university’s rector Frank Conner (2017)
acknowledged, “We all need to transform our anger at the actions of this past weekend so as to
rededicate our energy, our talents, and our hearts to our institutional purpose of developing citizen
leaders in all fields of endeavor to evolve into a more perfect union. If we are to succeed in that
purpose, we must be honest about the issues facing our society.â€
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The United States is a diverse racial and ethnic society. The U.S. Census Bureau (2012b) predicts
that by 2043, non-Hispanic Whites will no longer make up the majority of the U.S. population.
Acting Census Bureau director Thomas L. Mesenbourg (U.S. Census Bureau 2012b) described the
United States as a “plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest
single group, but no group is in the majority.†The minority population (Hispanic, Black, Asian,
American Indians, and Alaska Natives) is projected to account for 57% of the population by 2060
(U.S. Census Bureau 2012b).
Adding to the diversity of our population are increasing numbers of immigrants, their migration to
the United States and throughout the world spurred by the global economy. In 2013, 69% of
international migrants lived in high-income countries (nations with an average per capita income of
$12,616 or more, such as the United States and Germany) compared with 57% in 1990 (Connor,
Cohn, and Gonzalez-Barrera 2013). Population mobility since the middle of the 20th century has
been characterized by unprecedented volume, speed, and geographical range (Collin and Lee 2003).
At the end of 2015, 243 million people, lived in a country other than their birth country (United
Nations 2016). As Zygmunt Bauman (2000) said, “the world is on the move†(p. 77). Regionally,
Europe has the largest number of international migrants (about 76 million), followed by Asia (75
million) and North America (54 million) (United Nations 2016) (refer to Table 3.1).
Racial divisions remain a defining feature of our social lives (Brown 2013). Complete racial equality
and harmony remain elusive in the United States. In this chapter, we explore how one’s racial and
ethnic status serves as a basis of inequality. Like social class, race or ethnicity alters one’s life
chances, and members of particular groups experience an increased likelihood of experiencing
particular social problems. We begin first with understanding how race and ethnicity are defined.
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TABLE 3.1 â– Regional Distribution of International Migrants, 1960 and 2015
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Source: United Nations 2009, 2016.
*Oceania includes Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand.
DEFINING RACE AND ETHNICITY
The term race has been applied broadly to groups with similar physical features (the White race),
religion (the Jewish race), or the entire human species (the human race) (Marger 2002). However,
generations of migration, intermarriage, and adaptations to different physical environments have
produced a mixture of races. There is no such thing as a “pure†race.
© David McNew/Getty Images
In fiscal year 2016, more than 750,000 people were naturalized. To be eligible for citizenship, immigrants must meet
requirements set by immigration laws. Eligibility includes age (at least 18 years of age or older) and residency (at least 3 or 5
years as a permanent resident), along with other requirements.
Social scientists reject the biological notions of race, instead favoring an approach that treats race as
a social construct. In Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s, Michael
Omi and Howard Winant (1994) explained how race is a “concept which signifies and symbolizes
social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies†(p. 54). Instead of
thinking of race as something “objective,†the authors argued that we can imagine race as an
“illusion,†a subjective social, political, and cultural construct. In the United States, race tends to be a
bipolar construct—White versus non-White. According to the authors, “the meaning of race is
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defined and contested throughout society, in both collective action and personal practice. In the
process, racial categories themselves are formed, transformed, destroyed, and reformed†(Omi and
Winant 1994:21). Robert Redfield (1958) said it simply: “Race is, so to speak, a human inventionâ€
(p. 67).
Race may be a social construction, but that does not make race any less powerful and controlling
(Myers 2005). Omi and Winant (1994) argued that although particular stereotypes and meanings
can change, “the presence of a system of racial meaning and stereotypes, of racial ideology, seems to
be a permanent feature of U.S. culture†(p. 63).
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Ethnic groups are set off to some degree from other groups by displaying a unique set of cultural
traits, such as their language, religion, or diet. Members of an ethnic group perceive themselves as
members of an ethnic community, sharing common historical roots and experiences. All of us, to
one extent or another, have an ethnic identity. Increasingly, the terms race and ethnicity are
presented as a single construct pointing to how both terms are being conflated (Budrys 2003).
Martin Marger (2002) explained how ethnicity serves as a basis of social ranking, ranking a person
according to the status of his or her ethnic group. Although class and ethnicity are separate
dimensions of stratification, they are closely related: “In virtually all multiethnic societies, people’s
ethnic classification becomes an important factor in the distribution of societal rewards and hence,
their economic and political class positions. The ethnic and class hierarchies are largely parallel and
interwoven†(Marger 2002:286).
The federal definition of ethnicity is based on the Office of Management and Budget’s 1977
guideline (U.S. Census Bureau 2005), which defines ethnicity in terms of Hispanic/non-Hispanic
status, contrary to the conventional social scientific definition as presented in the previous
paragraphs. The U.S. Census treats Hispanic origin and race as separate and distinct concepts; as a
result, Hispanics may be of any race.
Since 2002, Hispanic Americans have been the nation’s largest ethnic minority group. The U.S.
Census Bureau includes in this category women and men who are Mexican, Central and South
American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Hispanic. The 2016 ethnic and racial composition
estimates of the United States are presented in Table 3.2. In 2012, the U.S. Census reported for the
first time that minority (non-White) births were the majority—50.4% of children younger than age
1 year were Hispanic, Black, Asian, or of mixed race. Non-Hispanic Whites accounted for 49.6% of
all births in a 12-month period (U.S. Census Bureau 2012a). Commenting on the report,
demographer William Frey (quoted in Tavernise 2012:A1) said, “This is an important tipping
point . . . [a] transformation from a mostly white baby boomer culture to a more globalized
multiethnic country that we’re becoming.†By 2020, more than half of the nation’s children will be
part of a minority race or ethnic group (Colby and Ortman 2015).
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TABLE 3.2 â– Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Race, 2016
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2016a.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 3.1: Race and Ethnicity
The U.S. Census distinguishes between native and foreign-born residents. Native refers to anyone
born in the United States or a U.S. island area such as Puerto Rico or the Northern Mariana Islands
or born abroad of a U.S. citizen parent; foreign born refers to anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at
birth. Elizabeth Grieco (2010) wrote, “The foreign born, through their own diverse origins, will
contribute to the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States. How they translate their own
backgrounds and report their adopted identities have important implications for the nation’s racial
and ethnic composition.†In 2015, among the 43.2 million foreign born in the United States, most
were from South and East Asia and from Mexico (both 27%, as displayed in Figure 3.1).
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FIGURE 3.1 â– Region of Birth for Immigrants in the U.S. (Percentage by World Region),
2017
Source: Lopez and Bialik 2017.
What Does It Mean to Me?
In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice requested the addition of a new citizenship question on the
2020 Census. The Department of Justice maintained that the question was necessary to better
enforce the Voting Rights Act. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 170
civil and human rights groups (2018) wrote against the request, saying, “Adding this question would
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jeopardize the accuracy of the 2020 Census in every state and every community by deterring many
people from responding.†Despite these expressed concerns, in March 2018, the U.S. Department
of Commerce announced the question would be included in the census. Explain how the citizenship
question would risk the accuracy of the 2020 Census.
Refugees are defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1980 as “aliens outside the United
States who are unable or unwilling to return to his/her country of origin for persecution or fear of
persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political opinion.†Data on the number of admitted refugees are collected annually by the U.S.
Department of State. In 2017, 53,716 persons were admitted as refugees, the majority from Near
East/South Asia (U.S. Department of State 2017).
Tracy Ore (2003) acknowledged that externally created labels for some groups are not always
accepted by those viewed as belonging to a particular group. For example, those of Latin American
descent may not consider themselves to be “Hispanic.†In this text, I’ve adopted Ore’s practice
regarding which racial and ethnic terms are used. In my own material, I use Latino to refer to those
of Latin American descent, and Black and African American interchangeably. However, original
terms used by authors or researchers (e.g., Hispanic as used by the U.S. Census Bureau) are not
altered.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
You may not be able to tell from my last name (Leon-Guerrero), but I consider my ethnic identity
to be Japanese. I am Japanese not only because of my Japanese mother but also because of the
Japanese traditions I practice, the Japanese words I use, and even the Japanese foods I like to eat. Do
you have an ethnic identity? If you do, how do you maintain it?
PATTERNS OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC INTEGRATION
Sociologists explain that ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group values and behaviors are
right and even better than all others. Feeling positive about one’s group is important for group
solidarity and loyalty. However, it can lead groups and individuals to believe that certain racial or
ethnic groups are inferior and that discriminatory practices against them are justified. This is called
racism.
Although not all inequality can be attributed to racism, our nation’s history reveals that particular
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groups have been singled out and subject to unfair treatment. Certain groups have been subject to
individual discrimination and institutional discrimination. Individual discrimination includes
actions against minority members by individuals. Actions may range from avoiding contact with
minority group members to physical or verbal attacks against minority group members. Institutional
discrimination is practiced by the government, social institutions, and organizations. Institutional
discrimination may include segregation, exclusion, or expulsion.
Segregation refers to the physical and social separation of ethnic or racial groups. Although we
consider explicit segregation to be illegal and a thing of the past, ethnic and racial segregation still
occurs in neighborhoods, schools, and personal relationships. According to Debra Van Ausdale and
Joe Feagin (2001),
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection [LC-DIG-fsa-8a26761]
Jim Crow laws mandated the segregation of Whites and Blacks in public facilities, schools, and transportation in U.S.
southern states. The laws were enforced until 1954 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that
the racial segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 further prohibited racial discrimination, ending Jim Crow laws once and for all.
racial discrimination and segregation are still central organizing factors in contemporary U.S. society. For the most part,
Whites and Blacks do not live in the same neighborhoods, attend the same schools at all educational levels, enter into close
friendships or other intimate relationships with one another, or share comparable opinions on a wide variety of political
matters. The same is true, though sometimes to a lesser extent, for Whites and other Americans of color, such as most
Latino, Native and Asian American groups. Despite progress since the 1960s, U.S. society remains intensely segregated
across color lines. Generally speaking, Whites and people of color do not occupy the same social space or social status. (p.
29)
Exclusion refers to the practice of prohibiting or restricting the entry or participation of groups in
society. In March 1882, U.S. Congressman Edward K. Valentine declared, “The [immigration] gate
must be closed†(Gyory 1998:238). That year, Valentine, along with other congressional leaders,
approved the Chinese Exclusion Act. From 1882 to 1943, the United States prohibited Chinese
immigration because of concerns that Chinese laborers would compete with American workers. The
Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 established national-origin quotas, giving priority to European
immigrants. Through the 1940s, immigration was defined as a hindrance rather than a benefit to
the United States.
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Finally, expulsion is the removal of a group by direct force or intimidation. Native Americans in
the United States were forcibly removed from their homelands by early settlers and the federal
government before and after the American Revolutionary War. During the 1830s, members of the
Cherokee and other nations were forcibly relocated to government-designated Indian territory
(present-day Oklahoma). Their journey is known as the Trail of Tears, where thousands died along
the way. In 2006, journalist Eliot Jaspin documented the extent of racial expulsion that occurred in
towns from central Texas through Georgia. After the Civil War through the 1920s, White residents
expelled nearly all Black persons from their communities, usually using direct physical force.
Thirteen countywide expulsions were documented in eight states between 1864 and 1923 in which
4,000 Blacks were driven out of their communities.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RACIAL AND
ETHNIC INEQUALITIES
Functionalist Perspective
Theorists from the functionalist perspective believe that the differences between racial and ethnic
groups are largely cultural. The solution is assimilation, a process whereby minority group
members become part of the dominant group, losing their original distinct group identity. This
process is consistent with America’s image as the “melting pot.†Milton Gordon (1964) presented a
seven-stage assimilation model that begins first with cultural assimilation (change of cultural
patterns, e.g., learning the English language), followed by structural assimilation (interaction with
members of the dominant group), marital assimilation (intermarriage), identification assimilation
(developing a sense of national identity, e.g., identifying as an American, rather than as an Asian
American), attitude receptional assimilation (absence of prejudiced thoughts among dominant and
minority group members), behavioral receptional assimilation (absence of discrimination; e.g., lower
wages for minorities would not exist), and finally civic assimilation (absence of value and power
conflicts).
Assimilation is said to allow a society to maintain its equilibrium (a goal of the functionalist
perspective) if all members of society, regardless of their racial or ethnic identity, adopt one
dominant culture. This is often characterized as a voluntary process. Critics argue that this
perspective assumes that social integration is a shared goal and that members of the minority group
are willing to assume the dominant group’s identity and culture, assuming that the dominant culture
is the one and only preferred culture (Myers 2005). The perspective also assumes that assimilation is
the same experience for all ethnic groups, ignoring the historical legacy of slavery and racial
discrimination in our society.
Assimilation is not the only means to achieve racial/ethnic stability. Other countries maintain
pluralism, where each ethnic or racial group maintains its own culture (cultural pluralism) or a
separate set of social structures and institutions (structural pluralism). Cultural pluralism is also
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referred to as multiculturalism. Switzerland, which has a number of different nationalities and
religions, is an example of a pluralistic society. The country, also referred to as the Swiss
Confederation, has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Relationships
between each ethnic group are described for the most part as harmonious because each of the
ethnically diverse parts joined the confederation voluntarily seeking protection (Farley 2005). In his
examination of pluralism in the United States, Min Zhou (2004) noted, “As America becomes
increasingly multiethnic, and as ethnic Americans become integral in our society, it becomes more
and more evident that there is no contradiction between an ethnic identity and an American
identity†(p. 153).
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Conflict Perspective
According to sociologist and activist W. E. B. Du Bois (1996), perhaps it is wrong “to speak of race
at all as a concept, rather than as a group of contradictory forces, facts and tendencies†(p. 532). The
problem of the 20th century, wrote Du Bois, is “the color line.â€
Conflict theorists focus on how the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations divide groups while
maintaining a dominant group. The dominant group may be defined according to racial or ethnic
categories, but it can also be defined according to social class. Instead of relationships being based
on consensus (or assimilation), relationships are based on power, force, and coercion. Ethnocentrism
and racism maintain the status quo by dividing individuals along racial and ethnic lines (Myers
2005).
Drawing upon Marx’s class analysis, Du Bois was one of the first theorists to observe the connection
between racism and capitalist-class oppression in the United States and throughout the world. He
noted the link between racist ideas and actions to maintain a Eurocentric system of domination
(Feagin and Batur 2004). Du Bois (1996) wrote,
Throughout the world today organized groups of men by monopoly of economic and physical power, legal enactment and
intellectual training are limiting with great determination and unflagging zeal the development of other groups; and that the
concentration particularly on economic power today puts the majority of mankind into a slavery to the rest. (p. 532)
Marxist theorists argue that immigrants constitute a reserve army of workers, members of the
working class performing jobs that native workers no longer perform. Michael Samers (2003)
suggested that immigrants are a “quantitatively and qualitatively flexible labour force for capitalists
which divides and weakens working class organization and drives down the value of labour powerâ€
(p. 557). Capitalist businesses profit from migrant workers because they are cheap and flexible—
easily hired during times of economic growth and easily fired during economic recessions. In 2013,
approximately 60,000 immigrants worked in the federal detention centers, working for 13 cents an
hour. Immigrants held in local county jails also worked for free or in exchange for sodas or candy.
Their work usually involves meal preparation or janitorial work. This labor practice, though
voluntary and cost-saving (about $40 million per year for federal detention centers), has come under
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attack by detainees and immigrant advocates (Urbina 2014). Several lawsuits have been filed against
private-prison Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractors for exploiting and coercing
immigrant labor.
Hana Brown (2013) posited a racialized conflict theory regarding the development of welfare
policies. Her use of the term racialized (versus racial) emphasizes the constructed nature of race.
Racialized conflicts are “a series of events that draw boundaries based on racial difference, polarize
political groups along racial lines and involve explicitly race-based claims†(p. 401). Brown predicted
several effects of racialized conflict on the formation of welfare policy. First, Whites may feel
threatened by a larger or growing minority population and may perceive that minorities are too
reliant on public assistance. These beliefs become institutionalized in the political discourse,
transforming welfare into a racialized issue. Finally, racialized conflict divides political groups along
racial lines and encourages political leaders to exploit the existing racialized tensions in their favor.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 3.2: Ferguson Demonstrations
Brown offered empirical support of her hypotheses based on Georgia’s 1993–1994 welfare reform.
Georgia’s welfare legislation was preceded by a controversial proposal by Governor Zell Miller to
remove the Confederate emblem from the state flag. Response to his proposal was racially divided,
with the majority of Whites opposing and the majority of Blacks supporting the governor. The flag
proposal never materialized, but it ignited racial tension and racialized the state’s political discourse.
Whites felt threatened by and resentful of Blacks, and this affected the welfare debate. According to
Brown (2013), Miller’s decision to shift his attention from the state flag to welfare reform “proved a
politically convenient way to appeal to white resentment and threat, exploit the prevailing racial
discourses, and resurrect his political career†(p. 421). Georgia passed one of the strictest and most
punitive welfare programs emphasizing work and education.
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Feminist Perspective
Feminist theory has attempted to account for and focus on the experiences of women and other
marginalized groups in society. Feminist theory intersects with multiculturalism through the
analysis of multiple systems of oppression, not just gender, but including categories of race, class,
sexual orientation, nation of origin, language, culture, and ethnicity. Most notably, Patricia Hill
Collins’s (2000) Black feminist theory emerges from this perspective. Black feminists identify the
value of a theoretical perspective that addresses the simultaneity of race, class, and gender
oppression. The Black Lives Matter movement has embraced this intersectionality (refer to this
chapter’s In Focus feature for more information).
Black feminist scholars note the misguided application of traditional feminist perspectives of “the
family,†“patriarchy,†and “reproduction†to understand the experience of Black women’s lives. Black
women do not lead parallel lives, but rather lead different lives. British scholar Hazel Carby (1985)
argued that because Black women are subject to simultaneous oppression based on class, race, and
patriarchy, the application of traditional (White) feminist perspectives is not appropriate and is
actually misleading in attempts to comprehend the true experience of Black women. As an example,
Carby (1985) analyzed an article on women in third-world manufacturing. Carby highlighted how
the photographs accompanying the article are of “anonymous Black women.†She observed, “This
anonymity and the tendency to generalize into meaninglessness, the oppression of an amorphous
category called ‘Third World Women,’ are symptomatic of the ways in which the specificity of our
experiences and oppression are subsumed under inapplicable concepts and theories†(Carby
1985:394).
Applying theoretical perspectives from Black and postcolonial feminist theory, Cecile Thun (2012)
explained how immigrant women are minoritized and excluded from the majority feminist agenda
in Norway. Based on her interviews with members of feminist organizations, Thun concluded that
White Norwegian women are defined as the norm for being a woman or a feminist, while other
women are considered deviant and are subsequently excluded from the majority feminist agenda. In
other words, ethnic minority and immigrant women are not considered Norwegian women. She
argued this is a “hegemonic representation of feminism, immigrants/ethnic minorities and
Norwegians are constituted as mutually exclusive categories. . . . Immigrants are thereby excluded
from the imagined Norwegian nation. The terms have elements of hierarchy and work as boundary
markers†(p. 46). She suggested opening up a more intersectional perspective to include racism and
ethnic discrimination in the Norwegian feminist agenda.
Interactionist Perspective
Sociologists believe that race is a social construct. We learn about racial and ethnic categories of
White, Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, and immigrant through our social interaction. The
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meaning and values of these and other categories are provided by our social institutions, families,
and friends (Ore 2003). As much as I and other social scientists inform our students about the
unsubstantiated use of the term race, for most students, race is real. The term is loaded with social,
cultural, and political baggage, making deconstructing it difficult to accomplish.
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IN FOCUS
BLACK LIVES MATTER
“Black lives matter is a simple affirmative sentence,†wrote theological scholar Wil Gafney
(2017:204). “The need to affirm, explain, or qualify the affirmation stems from the fact that
this statement is not universally accepted as truthful or legitimate claim. Concomitantly, the
inverse proposition is always present: Black lives do not matter. That proposition requires no
amplification for explanation. It is the ground on which all other claims about black life seem
to rest in this society.†According to Judith Butler, “The statement is so important because it
states the obvious, but the obvious has not yet been historically realized†(quoted in Yancy and
Butler 2015).
The phrase Black Lives Matter (BLM) was first used by activist Alicia Garza on a Facebook
post in July 2012. Garza and others were responding to the shooting death of 17-year-old
Trayvon Martin. The use of #BlackLivesMatter swelled on Twitter and Facebook in summer
2014 after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The movement has been described
as a “powerful new form of civil rights activism†combining street protest with social media
(Joseph 2016).
According to Lee Rainie, Pew Center’s Director of Internet, Science and Technology
Research, BLM “is a very powerful example of how a hashtag now is attached to a movement,
and a movement, in some ways has grown around a hashtag—a series of really painful and
really powerful conversations are taking place in a brand-new space†(quoted in Choski 2016).
BLM is best known for its protests of fatal police shootings of unarmed African American
men.
Support of the movement has not been universal. Critics claim that the group has been
ineffectual, without a clear direction or strategy. Others have described the group as a threat.
BLM cofounder Patrisse Cullors offered this response, “Black Lives Matter is very relevant
today, especially given the rise of white supremacists and white nationalists across, not just this
country, but across the globe. And so our work over the last four years has been putting anti-
black racism on the map, talking about the impact of anti-black racism has on this country, has
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on local government, has on policy and how it actually impacts the everyday life of black
people†(quoted in Simmons and Kaleem 2017).
Black Lives Matter has transformed into an intersectional movement, calling out the
oppression and marginalization of women, LGBTQ individuals, the disabled, undocumented
and other groups, and has expanded its focus to social policy and legislative reforms. As of
August 2017, BLM has 40 independent chapters, including chapters in Canada and Britain.
In November 2017, the group was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, Australia’s leading award
for global peacemakers.
Social scientists have noted how people are raced, how race itself is not a category but a practice.
Howard McGary (1999) defined the practice as “a commonly accepted course of action that may be
over time habitual in nature; a course of action that specifies certain forms of behavior as permissible
and others impermissible, with rewards and penalties assigned accordingly†(p. 83). In this way,
racial categories and identities serve as intersections of social beliefs, perceptions, and activities that
are reinforced by enduring systems of rewards and penalties (Shuford 2001). Racial practices are not
uniform. For example, whereas in the United States we are accustomed to racial categorizations
(e.g., the Census Bureau’s race measurement), France’s census does not include measures for race,
ethnicity, or religion.
Individuals are attempting to redefine racial boundaries by proposing the creation and
acknowledgment of a new racial category: multiracial, or mixed race. This is different from other
ethnic movements that work within the existing racial frameworks. For example, Latinos may
challenge the meaning and use of the Census category Hispanic, but they are not trying to create a
new racial identity (DaCosta 2007). Members of the multicultural movement advocate the formal
acceptance of the multiracial category on U.S. Census and other governmental forms and have also
worked on broader issues of racial and social justice (Bernstein and De la Cruz 2009). Based on a
2015 Pew Research Center survey, 7% of U.S. adults identified having a mix or multiple race
background (Pew Research Center 2015a).
Scholars have also observed the phenomenon of ethnic attrition, individuals choosing not to self-
identify as a member of a particular ethnic group. Brian Duncan and Stephen Trejo (2011) found
that about 30% of third-generation Mexican youth in their study failed to identify as Mexican,
choosing instead to identify as White. These youth were more likely to have parents with higher
levels of educational attainment and have more years of schooling themselves than youth who
identified as Mexican. Scholars of race in Latin America have also confirmed patterns of
intergenerational Whitening. Highly educated non-White Brazilians were found to be more likely
to label their children White than less-educated non-White Brazilians (Schwartzman 2007).
A summary of all theoretical perspectives is provided in Table 3.3.
133
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TABLE 3.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Race and
Ethnicity
THE CONSEQUENCES OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC
INEQUALITIES
U.S. Immigration
Most U.S. families have an immigration history, whether it is based upon stories of relatives as long
as four generations ago or as recent as the current generation. Immigration involves leaving one’s
country of origin to move to another. The United Nations uses the analogy of multiple doors of a
house to describe the different ways migrants enter a country. Migrants can enter a house through
the front door (as permanent settlers), the side door (temporary visitors and workers), or the back
door (undocumented migrants). Back-door migrants have been the recent focus of much political
and economic debate.
The regulation of immigration became a federal responsibility in 1875, and the Immigration Service
was established in 1891. Before this, all immigrants were allowed to enter and become permanent
134
residents. The Great Wave of immigration occurred from 1900 to 1920, when nearly 24 million
immigrants, mostly European, arrived in the United States. Congress passed a national immigrant
quota system in 1921, limiting the number of immigrants by national groups based on their
representation in U.S. Census figures. The quota system, along with the Depression and World
War II, slowed the flow of immigrants for several decades.
In 1965, Congress replaced the national quota system with a preference system designed to reunite
immigrant families and attract skilled immigrants. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act is
credited with transforming the U.S. demographic profile. The percentage of immigrants in the U.S.
population grew from 5% of the population in 1965 to 14% in 2015 (Pew Research Center 2015b).
During President George W. Bush’s term in office (2001–2009), undocumented immigration
became a primary concern for Americans, responding to the threat of terrorism and increasing
competition in a struggling economy. The number of unauthorized immigrants peaked at 12 million
in 2007 (Krogstad and Passel 2014). While acknowledging the country’s immigration heritage, the
administration proposed strengthening security at our southern border with Mexico and establishing
a temporary worker program without the benefit of amnesty. The plan was criticized for creating a
class of workers who would never become fully integrated in U.S. society and for focusing
specifically on Mexican workers, ignoring all other immigrant groups.
p.61
Many of those against immigration claim that immigrants compete with U.S.-born workers for jobs.
This argument persists in spite of consistent economic and labor force analyses that confirm how
immigrants are a positive addition to the economy (Borjas 1994) and have little effect on wages and
employment of native workers (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine 2017).
Prior immigrants (those who are most often the substitutes for newer arriving immigrants) are most
likely to experience a decline in wages, followed by native-born high school dropouts (National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine 2017).
As of 2016, the number of unauthorized immigrants was estimated at 11.3 million (Krogstad,
Passel, and Cohn 2017). According to Jens Manuel Krogstad, Jeffrey Passel, and D’Vera Cohn
(2017), there were 5.6 million Mexican unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in 2015
and 2016, compared with a peak of 7 million in 2007. The number of unauthorized immigrants
from nations other than Mexico were estimated to be slightly higher at 5.7 million. The emigration
decline of those from Mexico has been attributed to the Great Recession, declining job
opportunities in the housing and construction industry, increasing border enforcement, a rise in
deportations, and increasing dangers associated with border crossings (Krogstad and Passel 2014).
However, as Joseph Healey and Eileen O’Brien (2017) observed, “like past waves of immigrants,
even the least skilled and educated are determined to find a better way of life for themselves and
their children, even if the cost of doing so is living on the margins of the larger society†(p. 303).
Although there are no industries in which immigrants outnumber the U.S.-born employees, lawful
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and unauthorized immigrants are concentrated in specific industries. For 2014, the top industry for
lawful immigrants was retail (10% of lawful immigrants), educational services (8%), and non-
hospital health care services. For unauthorized immigrant workers, the leading industries were
construction (16%), restaurants (14%), and administrative and support services (9%) (Desilver
2017). Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for a closer look at the
characteristics of the recently arrived immigrant population.
©David McNew/Getty Images
On February 16, 2017, businesses shut down and immigrants refused work or to spend money in protest of the Trump
administration’s immigration policies. The Day Without Immigrants was staged to show the country what an economy
without immigrant labor would mean for our way of life.
Immigration enforcement practices were intensified under President Bush’s administration. One
strategy included increasing U.S.–Mexico border patrol and enforcement. However, Douglas
Massey, Jorge Durand, and Karen Pren (2016) argued that the escalation of border enforcement was
a failure. Although most believed that increased border enforcement would slow undocumented
immigration, the researchers found that enforcement had several unexpected consequences. As the
cost of undocumented border crossing increased, undocumented migrants had to stay in the United
States longer to make the crossing profitable. As the risk of death and injury increased with each
border crossing, migrants made the decision to minimize their number of crossings, not by
remaining in Mexico but by staying in the United States.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 3.3: US Immigration Protest
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The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have
been criticized for targeting immigrants with minor offenses, sometimes breaking up families in the
process. Human Rights Watch (2009) reported that since stricter deportation laws were passed in
1996, most immigrants have been deported for minor offenses (such as marijuana possession or
traffic offenses). Among legal immigrants who were deported, over 70% had been convicted for
nonviolent crimes. Many had lived in the United States for years and were separated from family
members. Researchers from the Urban Institute documented short- and long-term effects on
children with deported or detained parents. These children experienced financial, food, and housing
hardships in addition to behavioral changes such as changes in eating and sleeping habits and higher
degrees of fear and anxiety (Chaudry et al. 2010).
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
RECENTLY ARRIVED IMMIGRANT POPULATION
According to the Pew Research Center (2015c), recently arrived immigrants are different
from their counterparts of 50 years ago.
Figure 3.2 displays the educational attainment of immigrants between 1970 and 2013
(Pew Research Center 2015c). Those coming to the United States are better educated
than earlier cohorts. For example, half of newly arrived immigrants in 1970 had at least a
high school degree, but in 2013, 77% did. Improved educational levels are the result of
rising educational attainment in countries of origin. In the highest educational categories
(data not shown), immigrants are more likely than their U.S.-born peers to have earned a
bachelor’s degree (41% of immigrants vs. 30% of native born) or an advanced degree (18%
of immigrants vs. 11% of native born).
Data presented in Figure 3.3 summarizes the occupation distribution of recently arrived
immigrants. Based on 2013 data, which occupations are recently arrived immigrants most
likely to be employed in? How has this changed from 1970? What do you think? Does
this confirm or contradict your perception of immigrant employment?
FIGURE 3.2 â– Educational Attainment of Immigrants Aged 25 and Older
137
(Percentages), 1970 and 2013
Source: Pew Research Center 2015c.
* No available data for 1970.
FIGURE 3.3 â– Occupation Distribution of Recently Arrived Immigrants (1970 and
2013)
138
Source: Pew Research Center 2015c.
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
GLOBAL IMMIGRATION
Migration has been elevated to a top international policy concern (Düvell 2005), largely
because of the threat of terrorism and the challenge of global politics. Migrants now depart
from and arrive in almost every country in the world. Politically and morally, migration pits
two basic principles against each other: On one hand is the right of individuals to move freely
across borders for economic or personal reasons, and on the other is the country’s right to self-
govern, to regulate its borders, and to determine the difference between a citizen and an alien
(Benhabib 2012). France, Germany, Greece and other countries have seen an increase in pro-
and anti-immigration protests, as well as increased hate crime acts against immigrants. In
2018, far-right and populist candidates swept Italy’s national election, running on platforms
that embraced anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim messaging.
Riots by immigrants took place in France in 2005 and in Italy during 2008–2010. In Italy,
there are 4 million legal immigrants and estimates of more unauthorized immigrants residing
in the country. Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the International Organization for
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Migration, described how immigrant workers live in semislavery. The riots, according to Di
Giacomo, revealed how “many Italian economic realities are based on the exploitation of low-
cost foreign labor, living in subhuman conditions, without human rights†(Donadio 2010a:A7).
The African laborers were paid under the table, about $30 a day, for picking fruit (Donadio
2010b). Asian and African immigrants in Greece have been the targets of violence and physical
attacks since 2010. The violence has been fueled by public discontent over the economy and
concern over job losses as well as demonization of immigrants in the press and in the political
arena. From a social constructionist’s perspective, immigrants were portrayed as the source of
Greece’s economic woes, defining them as a social problem and threat.
Migration flows are regarded as a threat to national and global stability, with some calling for
an international migration policy (Düvell 2005). Globalization has intensified the need to
coordinate and harmonize government policies. The United States, Canada, Great Britain,
France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Japan have increased policy coordination
regarding immigration, refugee admissions, and programs to integrate foreigners and their
family members already present in each country (Lee 2006). Several countries have instituted
immigration quotas and restrictions. In 2014, Swiss voters narrowly approved immigration
quotas for European Union citizens. (Switzerland is not a member of the European Union.)
Analysts describe the vote as a response to a growing concern that immigrants are eroding the
Swiss lifestyle and culture. According to the European Commission, the vote went against the
principle of the free movement of people (Baghdjian and Schmieder 2014).
From 2015 to 2017, the European Union struggled to relocate the thousands of asylum seekers
from the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa. In 2017, the Court Justice of the European
Union ruled that all EU countries were obligated to accept migrants under an established quota
system. Hungary and Slovakia refused to accept any refugees (Kanter 2017).
Would you support the closing of our borders to all new immigrants? Why or why not?
What Does It Mean to Me?
Immigration is part of a complex interdependent system, where native-born Americans depend on
immigrants for their labor and immigrants depend on the economic opportunities that are available
in U.S. society. Is immigration defined as a problem in your state? Who is affected and how?
Income and Wealth
“Race is so associated with class in the United States that it might not be direct discrimination, but
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it still matters indirectly,†says sociologist Dalton Conley (Ohlemacher 2006:A6). Data reported by
the U.S. Census reveal that Black households had the lowest median income in 2015 ($39,490), or
61% of the median income for non-Hispanic White households ($65,041). The median income for
Hispanic households was $47,675, 73% of the median for non-Hispanic White households. Asian
households had the highest median income ($81,431), 125% of the median for non-Hispanic White
households (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017). Approximately 17% of all foreign born were
living in poverty in 2015 (Lopez and Radford 2017).
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Because of years of discrimination, low educational attainment, high unemployment, or
underemployment, Blacks and Hispanics have not been able to achieve the same earnings or level of
wealth as White Americans have. Rakesh Kochhar and Anthony Cilluffo (2017) documented how
the Great Recession of 2007–2009 set in motion a prolonged decline in wealth of American
families, widening the wealth gap between White, Black, and Hispanic households. Net worth is
defined as the difference between a family’s gross assets and their liabilities. Comparing 2007 and
2016 median net worth for lower-income households, White families experienced greater losses in
wealth during the recession than Hispanic and Black families. In 2016, among lower- and middle-
income households, White families had four times as much wealth as Black families and three times
as much as Hispanic families (refer to Figure 3.4).
FIGURE 3.4 â– Median Net Worth of Lower- and Middle-Income Households by Race (in
2016 Dollars), 2016
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Source: Kochhar and Cilluffo 2017.
p.65
One measure of wealth is home ownership. Home ownership is one of the primary means of
accumulating wealth (Williams, Nesiba, and Diaz McConnell 2005). It enables families to finance
college and invest in their future. Historically, home ownership grew among White middle-class
families after World War II, when veterans had access to government and credit programs that
made home ownership more affordable. However, Blacks and other minority groups have been
denied similar access because of structural barriers such as discrimination, low income, and lack of
credit access. Feagin (1999) identified how inequality in home ownership has contributed to
inequality in other aspects of American life. Specifically, Blacks have been disadvantaged because of
their lack of home ownership, particularly in their inability to provide their children with “the kind
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of education or other cultural advantages necessary for their children to compete equally or fairly
with Whites†(Feagin 1999:86).
In 2004, U.S. home ownership reached a record high of 69.2%, with nearly 73.4 million Americans
owning their own homes. However, racial gaps in home ownership persist. In the third quarter of
2017, 72.5% of White households owned their own homes, compared with 42% of Black and 46%
of Hispanic households (U.S. Census Bureau 2017).
Education
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education ruled that racial
segregation in public schools was illegal. Reaction to the ruling was mixed, with a strong response
from the South. A major confrontation occurred in Arkansas, when Governor Orval Faubus used
the state’s National Guard to block the admission of nine Black students into Little Rock Central
High School. The students persisted and successfully gained entry to the school the next day with
1,000 U.S. Army paratroopers at their side. The Little Rock incident has been identified as a
catalyst for school integration throughout the South. Despite resistance to the Court’s ruling, legally
segregated education had disappeared by the mid-1970s.
However, a different type of segregation persists, called de facto segregation. De facto segregation
refers to a subtler process of segregation that is the result of other processes, such as housing
segregation, rather than an official policy (Farley 2005). Here, we clearly see the intersection of race
and class. Schools have become economically segregated, with children of middle- and upper-class
families attending predominantly White suburban schools and the children of poorer parents
attending racially mixed urban schools (Gagné and Tewksbury 2003). Researchers, teachers, and
policy makers have all observed a great disparity in the quality of education students receive in the
United States (for more on social problems related to education, turn to Chapter 8). Educational
systems reinforce patterns of social class inequality and, along with it, racial inequality (Farley 2005).
Although Latinos have the lowest educational achievement rates compared with all other major
racial and ethnic groups in the United States (refer to Table 3.4), there has been a recent increase in
rates of high school completion and college enrollment. Richard Fry and Paul Taylor (2013)
reported that for the class of 2012, 69% of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college,
compared with 67% of their White student peers. This percentage is an increase from what was
reported for the class of 2000, when only 49% of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college.
Fry and Taylor attributed the increase in Hispanic college enrollment to two structural factors: a
tough and competitive job market and the importance Latino families place on a college education.
In 2016, 47% of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college, the same figure as their White
peers (Pew Research Center 2017).
TABLE 3.4 â– Educational Attainment of Population Age 25 and Older by Race and
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Ethnicity (Percentages Reported), 2015
Source: Data from U.S.Census Bureau, 2015 Current Population Survey.
Much of the research on the achievement gap between Latinos and White students has focused on
the characteristics of the students (family income, parents’ level of education). However, according
to the Pew Hispanic Center (Fry 2005), we need to also consider the social context of Hispanic
students’ learning, noting how educators and policy makers have more influence over the
characteristics of their schools than over the characteristics of students. Based on their state and
national assessment of the basic characteristics of public high schools for Hispanic and other
students, the Pew Hispanic Center found that Latinos were more likely than Whites or Blacks to
attend the largest public high schools (enrollment of at least 1,838 students). More than 56% of
Hispanics attend large schools, compared with 32% of Blacks and 26% of Whites. Schools with
larger enrollments are associated with lower student achievement and higher dropout rates. In
addition, the center reported that Hispanics are more likely to be in high schools with lower
instructional resources, including higher student-to-teacher ratios, which has been associated with
lower academic performance. Nearly 37% of Hispanics are educated in public high schools with a
student-to-teacher ratio greater than 22 to 1, compared with 14% of Blacks and 13% of White
students (Fry 2005).
p.66
In June 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court, voting 5 to 4, invalidated the use of race to assign students
to public schools, even if the goal was to achieve racial integration of a district’s schools. The ruling
addressed public school practices in Seattle, Washington (where 41% of all public school students
are White), and Louisville, Kentucky (where two thirds of all public school students are White).
Legal experts and educators were divided about whether the ruling affirmed or betrayed Brown v.
Board of Education. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts asserted, “Simply because
the school districts may seek a worthy goal [racial integration] does not mean they are free to
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discriminate on the basis of race to achieve it.†Despite voting with the majority, Justice Anthony
M. Kennedy said in a separate statement that achieving racial diversity and addressing the problem
of de facto segregation were issues that school districts could constitutionally pursue as long as the
programs were “sufficiently ‘narrowly tailored’†(Greenhouse 2007:A1).
Health
“Although race may be a social construct, it produces profound biological manifestations through
stress, decreased services, decreased medications, and decreased hospital procedures†(Gabard and
Cooper 1998:346). Despite the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), racial
disparities in access to health care and outcomes are pervasive. Data reveal that in a voluntary,
employment-based health care system, racial and ethnic minority group members are more likely to
be uninsured or publicly insured. In 2016, White non-Hispanics had the lowest uninsured rate
(6.3%), compared with Blacks (15.9%), Asians (7.6%), and Hispanics (16%) (Barnett and Berchick
2017). Naturalized citizens have the same ACA access and requirements as U.S.-born citizens,
while lawfully present immigrants have limited coverage. Undocumented immigrants have no
federal coverage, but they are eligible for emergency care under federal law and nonemergency
health services at community health centers. Children of undocumented parents are eligible for
Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
p.67
W. Michael Byrd and Linda Clayton (2002) asserted that the health crisis among African
Americans and poor populations is fueled by a medical-social culture laden with ideological,
intellectual and scientific, and discriminatory race and class problems. They believe that America’s
health system is predicated on the belief that the poor and “unworthy†of our society do not deserve
decent health. Consequently, health professionals, as well as research and educational systems,
engage in what they describe as “self serving and elite behavior†that marginalizes and ignores the
problems of health care for minority and disadvantaged groups. They caution that our failure to
address, and eventually resolve, these race- and class-based health policy, structural, medical-social,
and cultural problems plaguing the American health care system could potentially undermine any
possibility of a level playing field in health and health care for African American and other poor
populations—eroding at the front end the very foundations of American democracy (Byrd and
Clayton 2002:572–73).
One solution to addressing racial disparities in health is to increase awareness of the problem. A
national survey concluded that only 46% of American adults were aware of health disparities
between Whites and Blacks. The study also revealed that most Americans attributed poor health
outcomes to poor choices and health behaviors rather than the social conditions that initiate and
sustain them (Booske, Robert, and Rohan 2011). However, increasing public awareness does not
guarantee that people will want to act upon these inequalities. The next step would be to connect
the problem of poor health outcomes with racial inequality and racism. It isn’t just about saying
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racial and ethnic health disparities exist but also identifying the source of the disparities, possibly
building a political climate to facilitate social change (Williams and Purdie-Vaughns 2016).
In the next section, other responses to racial and ethnic inequalities are identified.
RESPONDING TO RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITIES
Immigration Policy Since 2009
According to sociologist Joanna Dreby (2015), “No immigration policy, except for an entirely open
system of immigration, can completely remove unauthorized individuals. From this perspective, the
question is not how to eliminate the number of unauthorized but what approach to use in dealing
with this population†(p. 191). Since the George W. Bush administration was in office, there have
been several federal and state approaches to addressing immigration.
In 2009, as the Bush plan had, Obama officials promoted the need for tougher enforcement laws
against undocumented immigrants and employers who hire them, a streamlined system for legal
immigration, and a system for undocumented immigrants to earn legal status (Preston 2009). At the
same time, the Obama administration promised a more compassionate approach to enforcement
that would focus on felony criminal offenders. In 2011, 396,906 immigrants were deported—the
largest number in the history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Fifty-five percent were
convicted of felonies or misdemeanors (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 2011). The
Obama administration’s continued focus on punitive enforcement strategies was criticized for failing
to encourage and promote assimilation among immigrants and their children. Nationwide polls
showed broad support for tougher border and workplace enforcement, while also establishing an
opportunity for citizenship.
After the U.S. Congress was unable to pass a bipartisan immigration bill, the states took matters
into their own hands, debating similar immigration issues in their own state legislatures (Preston
2007). Between 2005 and 2011, more than 8,000 bills related to immigration were introduced
throughout the country, and approximately 1,700 were signed into law (National Conference of
State Legislatures 2011). These laws addressed a range of immigration issues, including the use of
unauthorized illegal workers, the use of false identification (e.g., Social Security), and the extension
of education and health care benefits to legal immigrants.
Arizona legislators passed senate bill (SB) 1070, the toughest immigration bill, in 2010, requiring
local law enforcement agencies and officers to demand proof of citizenship from suspected illegal
immigrants. Failure to carry proper documentation, even if one is a legal immigrant, is defined as a
misdemeanor. In 2011, 31 states introduced legislation replicating all or part of SB 1070. Voters in
five states—Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Utah—successfully passed
immigration laws modeled after SB 1070. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld part of
Arizona’s law, permitting the “show me your papers†provision, while ruling that the state could not
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pursue policies that undermined or conflicted with federal law, for example, by making it a crime
under state law for immigrants to fail to register under a federal law, making it a state crime for
illegal immigrants to work, and allowing police to arrest individuals without warrants (Liptak 2012).
In 2016, as part of a settlement with a coalition of immigrant rights groups, Arizona’s state attorney
general announced that police officers would no longer demand proof of residency from people
suspected of being in the country illegally, eliminating the “show me your papers†provision.
p.68
©Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images
DACA student Evelin Flores attends Eastern Conneticut State University. Her family brought her from Mexico when she
was a baby. Flores recieves scholarship support from The Dream US scholarship program.
The impact of immigration, especially on youth and young adults, has been the focus of federal and
state government debate. Second generation applies to those born in the United States to one or
more foreign-born parents. Based on key measures of socioeconomic attainment (income, college
graduation, home ownership, and poverty rates), most second-generation Americans are better off
than first-generation Americans. Their characteristics resemble the full U.S. adult population (Pew
Research 2013). In contrast, the 1.5 generation refers to individuals who immigrated to the United
States as a child or an adolescent. The parents of the 1.5 generation are foreign born. Members of
the 1.5 generation are described as living between two worlds; even though they spend most of their
life in the United States, they still are not legal citizens.
Through executive action, in 2012 the Obama administration blocked the deportation of more than
800,000 migrants who came to the United States before age 16 (Preston and Cushman 2012; White
House 2012). The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) allows those who have lived in
the United States for at least five years and are currently enrolled in school, high school graduates,
or military veterans in good standing to work legally and to obtain driver’s licenses. Immigrants
convicted of a felony, a serious misdemeanor, or three less serious misdemeanors are not eligible for
the program. As of March 2018, there were approximately 700,000 active DACA recipients (U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services 2018).
As congressional gridlock on immigration continued in 2014, President Obama announced a series
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of executive actions that would grant up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants protection from
deportation. His order created a deferred action program for parents of U.S. citizens.
Undocumented immigrant parents would have to pass background checks, pay fees, and show that
their child was born before the president’s announcement. The president also announced the
extension of DACA eligibility to men and women who entered the United States as children before
January 2010, regardless of how old they are today (White House 2014).
In September 2017, President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to phase
out DACA, giving Congress six months to devise a legislative solution that would provide some of
the DACA protections. President Obama (2017) responded to the announcement, saying in part,
“That action today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question. Whatever
concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten
the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no
threat, who are not taking anything away from the rest of us.†A series of federal court rulings placed
a temporary stay on President Trump’s plan to end DACA and removed the congressional deadline.
As of June 2018, no new DACA legislation has been introduced in Congress. U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services will continue accepting DACA renewal applications.
p.69
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice has executed 49,983 orders of
removal for unauthorized immigrants, up 27.8% over the same time period in 2016 (U.S.
Department of Justice 2017). Agents are now permitted to arrest and deport anyone who is here
illegally. In December 2017, in an effort to discourage future border crossings, the Trump
administration announced plans to separate parents from their children if they are caught illegally
entering the country. Migrant advocates argued that the policy would jeopardize the safety of the
families fleeing Central America and would inflict devastating trauma on the children (Miroff
2017).
Affirmative Action
Since its inception 50 years ago, affirmative action has been a “contentious issue on national, state,
and local levels†(Yee 2001:135). Affirmative action is a policy that has attempted to improve
minority access to occupational and educational opportunities (Woodhouse 2002). No federal
initiatives enforced affirmative action until 1961, when President John Kennedy signed Executive
Order 10925. The order created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and forbade
employers with federal contracts from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, or
religion in their hiring practices. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil
Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin by
private employers, agencies, and educational institutions receiving federal funds (Swink 2003).
In June 1965, during a graduation speech at Howard University, President Johnson spoke for the
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first time about the importance of providing opportunities to minority groups, an important
objective of affirmative action. According to Johnson (1965),
you do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race
and then say, “You are free to compete with all others†and still justly believe you have been completely fair. Thus it is not
enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. This is the
next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. (p. 636)
EMPLOYMENT In September 1965, President Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, which
required government contractors to “take affirmative action†toward prospective minority employees
in all aspects of hiring and employment. Contractors are required to take specific proactive measures
to ensure equality in hiring without regard to race, religion, and national origin. The order also
established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), charged with enforcing and
monitoring compliance among federal contractors. In 1967, President Johnson amended the order
to include discrimination based on gender (Swink 2003). In 1969, President Richard Nixon
initiated the Philadelphia Plan, which required federal contractors to develop affirmative action
plans by setting minimum levels of minority participation for federal construction projects in
Philadelphia and three other cities (Idelson 1995). This was the first order that endorsed the use of
specific goals for desegregating the workplace (Kotlowski 1998), but it did not include fixed quotas
(Woodhouse 2002). India’s affirmative action program relies on quotas in the public (government)
sector. In Northern Ireland, affirmative action is practiced in public and private sectors, including
government contractors, and does not rely on quotas (Muttarak et al. 2013).
According to Dawn Swink (2003), “While the initial efforts of affirmative action were directed
primarily at federal government employment and private industry, affirmative action gradually
extended into other areas, including admissions programs in higher education†(pp. 214–15). State
and local governments followed the lead of the federal government and took formal steps to
encourage employers to diversify their workforces.
p.70
Opponents of affirmative action believe that such policies encourage preferential treatment for
minorities (Woodhouse 2002), giving women and ethnic minorities an unfair advantage over White
males (Yee 2001). Affirmative action, say its critics, promotes “reverse discrimination,†the hiring of
unqualified minorities and women at the expense of qualified White males (Pincus 2003). Some
believe affirmative action has not worked and ultimately results in the stigmatization of those who
benefit from the policies (Herring and Collins 1995; Heilman, Block, and Stahatos 1997).
Proponents argue that only through affirmative action policies can we address the historical societal
discrimination that minorities experienced in the past (Kaplan and Lee 1995). Although these
policies have not created true equality, there have been important accomplishments (Tsang and
Dietz 2001). As a result of affirmative action, women and people of color have gained increased
access to forms of public employment and education that were once closed to them (Yee 2001). Yet
research indicates that ethnic minorities and women do not have an unfair advantage over White
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men. Women and ethnic minorities are not receiving equal compensation compared to White males
with similar education and background (Tsang and Dietz 2001). Wage disparities and job
segregation continue to exist in the workplace (Harris 2009).
G. L. A. Harris (2009) explained that although the record on affirmation action is mixed, there is
evidence that without the policy and the use of gender, race, and/or other ethnicity as part of the
employment hiring process, the employment status of women and underrepresented minorities
would be worse. Affirmative action has been the “only comprehensive set of policies that has given
women and people of color opportunities for better paying jobs and access to higher education that
did not exist before†(Yee 2001:137). There is also evidence that White employees benefit from the
inclusion of these groups in the workplace; for example, companies with more than 100 employees
with affirmation action programs have higher earnings for Whites, women, and minority employee
groups (Pincus 2003).
Shawn Woodhouse (1999, 2002) argued that the differences in individual perceptions of affirmative
action policy may be related to the differences of racial group histories and socialization experiences.
She wrote,
Based upon these rationalizations, it is implicit that individuals interpret affirmative action through an ethnic specific lens.
In other words, most individuals will assess their group condition when considering contentious legislation such as
affirmative action because after all, a group’s history impacts its view of American society. (Woodhouse 2002:158)
EDUCATION Based on Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, affirmative action policies have
been applied to student recruitment, admissions, and financial aid programs. Title VI permits the
consideration of race, national origin, sex, or disability to provide opportunities to a class of
disqualified people, such as minorities and women, who have been denied educational opportunities.
Affirmative action policies have been supported as remedies for past discrimination as means of
encouraging diversity in higher education and as a tool for social justice. Such policies also have
economic motivations, helping disadvantaged populations achieve economic self-sufficiency.
Affirmative action practices were affirmed in the 1978 Supreme Court decision in the Regents of the
University of California v. Bakke, suggesting that race-sensitive policies were necessary to create
diverse campus environments (American Council on Education and American Association of
University Professors 2000; Springer 2005).
Although affirmative action has been practiced since the Bakke decision, it has been under attack,
particularly via challenges of the diversity argument in the Supreme Court’s decision. The first
challenge occurred in one of our most diverse states, California. In 1995, the California Board of
Regents banned the use of affirmative action guidelines in admissions. In 1996, California voters
followed and passed Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative, which effectively
dismantled the state’s affirmative action programs in education and employment. Also in 1996, a
federal appeals court ruling struck down affirmative action in Texas. In the Hopwood v. Texas
decision, the ruling referred to affirmative action policies as a form of discrimination against White
students. State of Washington voters passed an initiative in 1998 that banned the use of race-
150
conscious affirmative action in schools. In 1999, Florida governor Jeb Bush banned the use of
affirmative action in admission to his state’s schools.
p.71
The Hopwood ruling led to a decline in the number of minority students enrolling in Texas A&M
and the University of Texas (Yardley 2002). California’s state universities experienced a similar drop
in minority student applications and enrollment after the Bakke decision and the California Civil
Rights Initiative. In response, states have instituted other practices with the goal of increasing
minority student recruitment. For example, California and Texas have initiated percentage
solutions. In Texas, the top 10% of all graduating seniors are automatically admitted into the
University of Texas system. (In 2009, the Texas Legislature voted to put limits on the program,
setting enrollment caps on the number of students let in under the rule at 75% of the entering class.)
California initiated a similar plan, covering only the top 4% of students, and Florida implemented
the One Florida Initiative, allowing the top 20% of graduating high school seniors into the state’s
public colleges and universities (Schemo 2001). As of 2014, all three plans remain in effect.
For more than a decade, the University of Michigan’s affirmation action program has been disputed.
In 2000, a federal judge upheld the University of Michigan’s program, ruling that “a racially and
ethnically diverse student body produces significant educational benefits such that diversity, in the
context of higher education, constitutes a compelling governmental interest†(Wilgoren 2000:A32).
In 2003, the case was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, and in a 5 to 4 vote, the Court upheld
the University of Michigan’s consideration of race for admission into its law school. Writing for the
majority, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor stated, “In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy
in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and
qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity†(Greenhouse 2003:A1). In a separate decision, the
U.S. Supreme Court voted 6 to 1, invalidating the university’s affirmative action program for
admission into its undergraduate program (Greenhouse 2003). In November 2006, Michigan voters
approved Proposal 2, a state constitutional amendment banning consideration of race or gender in
public university admissions or government hiring or contracting. Following the state’s challenge to
the amendment, in 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Proposal 2, ending race-based admissions
at any Michigan state schools or at any other public university in states that have ended the practice.
As of 2014, 10 states have outlawed the use of affirmative action in public schools. In most of these
states, there has been a decrease in the enrollment of Black and Hispanic students in their most
selective colleges and universities (Liptak 2014). To achieve diversity among their student body,
colleges and universities will have to focus on student socioeconomic status rather than race.
In their analysis of 1980–2015 U.S. Department of Education data, Jeremy Ashkenas, Haeyoung
Park, and Adam Pearce (2017) concluded that “even after decades of affirmative action, black and
Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges and universities that they
were 35 years ago.†In 2015, Black students comprised 6% of college freshmen but represented 15%
of college-age Americans. Hispanic students represented 22% of college-age Americans, but
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comprised 13% of college freshmen.
Encouraging Diversity and Inclusivity
Accelerated global migration and a resurgence of racial/ethnic conflicts characterized the close of
the 20th century (Wittig and Grant-Thompson 1998) and the first two decades of the 21st century.
In an effort to reduce racial/ethnic conflict and to encourage multiculturalism, researchers,
educators, political and community leaders, and community members have implemented programs
targeting racism and prejudice. Acknowledging that both are complex phenomena with individual,
cultural, and structural components, these strategies attempt to address some or most of the
components.
p.72
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
How ethnically and racially diverse is your community? What are the largest ethnic and racial groups?
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SOFIA CAMPOS
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Sofia was 6 years old when she moved with her family from Peru to the United States. Sofia
and her siblings quickly adjusted to their new lives in Los Angeles. It was not until she was
accepted into UCLA that Sofia discovered that her family had immigrated illegally. Her
mother revealed the secret when Sofia needed a Social Security number to apply for federal
scholarships. Sofia explained, “I was angry at first that she hadn’t told me. But I understand
why they did that. It was to protect us for as long as they could, like any parent would do with
their child†(quoted in Del Barco 2012).
Although she was able to pay in-state tuition (California is one of 13 states that allow
undocumented students to pay in-state tuition), she could not receive any scholarships. Sophia
worked her way through college and, in five years, graduated with a double major in
International Developmental Studies and Political Science.
Sofia began her activism while she was at UCLA. Inspired by her own experiences, her focus
was on undocumented student rights. “That hateful language, you know, like ‘illegal, alien,
wetback leach.’ People were talking about my brother, my sister, my mom, my dad. How can
these people, who don’t know me at all, who don’t know the love that exists within my family,
how can you be just so hateful?†(quoted in Del Barco 2012). She was a central figure in several
UCLA student organizations, promoting the federal and California versions of the DREAM
Act, also known as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act. Sofia
currently serves as the board chair of United We Dream, the largest network of undocumented
immigrant youth. In 2014, she was enrolled in a master’s program at MIT (United We Stand
2014).
The DREAM Act was first introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2001. The DREAM Act
would enact two major changes in the current law: (1) Certain immigrant students who have
grown up in the United States would be permitted to apply for temporary legal status and to
eventually obtain permanent legal status and qualify for U.S. citizenship if they went to college
or served in the U.S. military, and (2) the federal provision that penalizes states that provide in-
state tuition without regard to immigration status would be eliminated. Although the federal
DREAM Act has not been passed, 18 states, including California, have passed their own
versions of the act, extending in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented college
students.
Opponents of the DREAM Act argue that it is unfair to American-born and legal immigrant
college students and their families. What do you think about the DREAM Act proposals? Has
your state adopted a DREAM Act?
p.73
Kathleen Korgen, J. Mahon, and Gabe Wang (2003) believe that colleges and universities have the
potential to counter the effects of segregated neighborhoods and socialization in primary and
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secondary schools. Interaction among races thrust together on a college campus provides a unique
opportunity for individuals to experience and discuss the aspects of racial/ethnic diversity in their
lives, some for the first time (Odell, Korgen, and Wang 2005). Increased interaction with members
of different groups should allow individuals an opportunity to learn from others, reducing hostility
and prejudice (Shook and Fazio 2008). Interpersonal interactions with racially diverse peers also
promote civic engagement, especially if the engagement is diversity related (Bowman 2011).
Students report less discrimination and bias at colleges and universities where they perceive a
stronger institutional commitment to diversity (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning,
Evaluation and Policy Development 2016). Schools achieve this through many approaches:
instituting programs to increase the cultural competency of administration, faculty, staff, and
students; including cultural competency training in new student orientation; and personal mentoring
and counselling for students who are part of the underrepresented school population. A diverse
faculty also plays a role in achieving an inclusive institution; it is important that students see
themselves reflected in the faculty and curriculum (U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development 2016).
Increasing numbers of colleges and universities are instituting course requirements that encourage
students to examine diversity in the United States and globally. The Association of American
Colleges and Universities (2000) reported that 62% of schools have a diversity course requirement or
were in the process of developing one. This is quite an increase from 1990, when only 15% of
colleges and universities had such a requirement. Cocurricular programming may also include
cultural awareness workshops, identity-based student organizations, and multicultural events
(Bowman 2011). Research is emerging on the effectiveness of diversity programming on college and
university campuses. In one such study, D. A. Grinde (2001) found that more than 85% of
University of Vermont students believed that diversity courses strengthened their understanding and
appreciation of cultural diversity. In general, there appears to be an overall positive effect of
curricular and cocurricular diversity activities in reducing the racial bias in college students. White
students benefit more from these diversity activities than students of color (Denson 2009).
©Dan MacMedan/Getty Images
#OscarsSoWhite began as a movement in 2015, in response to a slate of all white acting nominees. In response, the
154
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences diversified its voting membership by race, gender and age. (Pictured here is
Viola Davis with her 2017 Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.)
Educational programs are used most often to promote diversity in public and private workplaces.
These programs attempt to eliminate incorrect stereotypes and unfounded prejudices by providing
new information to participants (Farley 2005). Diversity training is thought to make managers
aware of how their biases affect their actions in the workplace (Kalev, Dobbin, and Kelly 2006).
Research indicates that such programs are effective when people are not made to feel defensive over
past behavior but are participating in a learning process of new (vs. old) ideas. This has also been
found to be effective in diversity simulation and experiential exercises (i.e., role-playing) (Farley
2005). These programs are designed to familiarize employees with antidiscrimination laws, to
suggest behavioral changes that could address bias, and to increase cultural awareness and cross-
cultural communication among employees (Bendick, Egan, and Lofhjelm 1998).
Business leaders are motivated to address diversity on principle and because they recognize that their
company’s productivity and success depend on it (Galagan 1993). General diversity and
management programs have been established in companies such as Aetna, Ernst & Young, General
Mills, and Hewlett-Packard. All programs note the importance of creating an “inclusive†workforce
and work environment. In addition to diversity training or sensitivity programs, businesses have
successfully implemented diversity management programs, targeting the development and
advancement of women and people of color in their organizations.
p.74
What Does It Mean to Me?
What diversity courses or programs are offered at your university? How have these experiences
changed your perspective on racial and ethnic diversity?
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY: VALUES VS. FACTS
Almost everyone has an opinion about our country’s immigration policy. Supporting amnesty
for all undocumented immigrants is a value statement, as is expressing support for deporting
every undocumented man, woman, and child. These opinions reflect our values, the way we
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think things should be (Day 2009). We demonstrate our values even in our language; for when
we choose to use to refer to someone as “illegal†versus “undocumented,†we are expressing a
value statement.
But, as a student of sociology, you have learned that sociology and other social sciences require
a separation of our values from the pursuit of knowledge. Whereas values are subjective and
feeling based, knowledge is objective and can be tested or validated empirically, based upon
evidence (Levy 1973). The goal of science is to collect facts, to identify the way things are (Day
2009).
In Chapter 1, we considered how values influence what we choose to care about or research. A
sociologist may study immigration policies because he was an immigrant himself or because he
values a pluralistic society, yet the sociologist must collect and analyze his data objectively, not
allowing his values or experiences to obscure the objective research process.
Throughout your college experience, you will encounter many contentious and divisive issues in
the classroom, perhaps several in this social problems course. Your ability to distinguish values
from facts and to separate objective from subjective realities is important in your development
as a social scientist, which we’ll continue to examine in Chapter 4’s Sociology at Work feature.
Identify the objective versus subjective realities of immigration in the United States. Is it
difficult to distinguish between values and facts? Why or why not?
CHAPTER REVIEW
3.1 Describe the difference between race and ethnic groups.
From a biological perspective, a race can be defined as a group or population that shares a
set of genetic characteristics and physical features. Social scientists reject the biological
notion of race, instead treating race as a social construct. Ethnic groups are set off to some
degree from other groups by displaying a unique set of cultural traits, such as their
language, religion, or diet.
3.2 Identify the different types of institutional discrimination.
Institutional discrimination may include segregation, exclusion, or expulsion. Segregation
refers to the physical and social separation of ethnic or racial groups. Exclusion refers to
the practice of prohibiting or restricting the entry or participation of groups in society.
Expulsion is the removal of a group by using direct force or intimidation.
3.3 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and ethnicity.
Functionalists believe that the differences between racial and ethnic groups are largely
cultural. The solution is assimilation, a process whereby minority group members become
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part of the dominant group, losing their original distinct group identity. Conflict theorists
focus on how the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations divide groups while maintaining
a dominant group. Ethnocentrism and racism maintain the status quo by dividing
individuals along racial and ethnic lines. Feminist theory intersects with multiculturalism
through the analysis of multiple systems of oppression, including categories of race, class,
sexual orientation, nation of origin, language, culture, and ethnicity. From an
interactionist perspective, race is a social construct. Social scientists have noted how
people are raced, how race itself is not a category but a practice.
p.75
3.4 Describe the impact of immigrants on the U.S. labor force.
No single occupation or industry is composed entirely of immigrant labor. Economic and
labor force analyses indicate that immigrants are a positive addition to the economy and
have little effect on wages and employment of native workers.
3.5 Explain how the college experience increases racial/ethnic diversity awareness.
Interaction among races thrust together on a college campus provides a unique
opportunity for individuals to experience and discuss the aspects of racial/ethnic diversity
in their lives, and to learn from others, reducing hostility and prejudice.
KEY TERMS
1.5 generation, 68
assimilation, 56
de facto segregation, 65
ethnic attrition, 59
ethnic groups, 53
ethnocentrism, 55
exclusion, 55
expulsion, 56
foreign-born, 53
individual discrimination, 55
institutional discrimination, 55
multiracial, 59
native, 53
pluralism, 56
race, 52
racism, 55
157
refugees, 54
second generation, 68
segregation, 55
transnational, 75
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Describe the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States.
2. How are race and ethnicity socially constructed? Why do you think racial distinctions
persist?
3. Distinguish between assimilation and pluralism (or multiculturalism). What are the
advantages and disadvantages of each? Which model best describes racial and ethnic relations
in the United States?
4. The term transnational has been used to describe the immigrants who “maintain familial,
economic, cultural, and political ties across international borders, in effect making the home
and host society a single arena for social action†(Foner 2000:170). In effect, transnationals
have two homes. Is this functional for society? Is it functional for the life of an immigrant?
5. The interactionist perspective argues that certain races or ethnicities are bestowed power
and privilege not given to other groups. Do you agree with this statement? What examples of
privilege can you think of, and what are their consequences?
6. What is affirmative action, and what are some ways it has been used to address institutional
discrimination?
7. Explain how having contact and interaction with other racial or ethnic groups (at school or
at work) reduces interracial prejudice.
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
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©iStock.com/nito100
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4
GENDER
Media Library
CHAPTER 4 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 4.2: Gender and Gender Socialization
SAGE Core Concepts 4.3: Addressing Sexual Assault on Campus
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 4.1: Gender Stereotypes
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
4.1 Describe how the different sociological perspectives explain sex and gender-based
inequalities.
4.2 Identify the consequences of gender inequality
4.3 Describe the impact of discrimination on gender nonconformists.
4.4 Discuss the effects and prevalence of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
4.5 Describe the four waves of feminism and explore recent social and legal developments in
movements for gender equality.
There is no society where men and women perform identical functions, nor are they ranked or
treated equally. Regardless of their level of technological development or the complexity of their
social structure, all societies have some form of gender inequality (Marger 2008). Some may argue
that there are fundamental differences between males and females based on fixed physiological
differences or our sex. Yes, there are biological differences—our sexual organs, our hormones, and
other physiological aspects—that are relatively fixed at birth (Marger 2008), but more than that
makes us unequal.
Sociologists focus on the differences determined by our society and our culture, our gender.
Although we are born male and female, we must understand and learn what it means to be
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masculine or feminine, the expectations associated with our sex. Gender legitimates certain
behaviors and ways of thinking over others; it grants privilege to one group over another (Tickner
2002). Sexism refers to prejudice or discrimination based solely on someone’s sex or gender.
Although sexism has come to refer to negative beliefs and actions directed toward women, men can
also be subject to sexism.
Social scientists believe that gender differences are not caused by biological differences; rather, they
are a product of socialization, prejudice, discrimination, and other forms of social control (Bem
1993). For example, religious ideologies can define and regulate gender differences. According to
Islamic tradition, women are relegated to home and family life, while men dominate everything
outside the home. A strong patriarchal system is enforced among Mormon fundamentalists in the
United States.
Consider the history of women in the U.S. Senate. There is nothing automatic at birth that makes
men more suited to become senators than women. The first woman senator was Rebecca Latimer
Felton, sworn into office on November 21, 1922. The Georgia senator was appointed to fill a
vacancy and served for only one day. In the early 1990s, there were only two women senators. In
1992, Patty Murray, from my home state of Washington, was the first elected woman senator to
have young children at home during her term in office (Stolberg 2003). A record number of 21
women were elected to serve in the 2017 U.S. Senate. Despite the record number of women serving
in Congress, the United States is behind other countries in female representation in national
parliament or congress. Refer to Table 4.1 for more information.
TABLE 4.1 â– Ten Countries With the Highest Percentage of Seats in National Parliaments
Held by Women, October 2017
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Source: Adapted from Inter-Parliamentary Union 2017.
Note: In the list compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2017), the United States ranks 101st; 19.4% of seats are held by
women.
From a sociological perspective, gender is not just an identity, it is also a social structure. The
gender binary describes how gender is socially constructed on a spectrum, classifying masculinity
and femininity as two opposing, distinct categorizations (Fitzgerald and Grossman 2018).
Masculinity and femininity have no meaning separate from the other; they are defined in relation to
each other. For example, men are socially expected to be aggressive, strong, and independent,
whereas women are expected to be vulnerable, weak, and dependent (Fitzgerald and Grossman
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2018). The gender binary also assumes a hierarchy, reducing what is feminine subordinate to the
dominant masculine category. As a result, the gender public binary impacts our language,
personality traits, career choices, and even which bathroom we use. Most individuals are cisgender;
that is, their gender identity corresponds to their assigned sex at birth.
p.78
Transgender individuals (those whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned
to at birth) make up an estimated 0.3% to 5% of the adult population in the United States (Gates
2017). There is great variability among individuals who identify as transgender. In 2016, Sarah
McBride took the stage at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the first transgender
person to address a major political party convention. The day before her DNC speech, McBride
told reporters, “As we have this discussion around trans equality and trans issues nationally, . . . we
can never forget that behind those debates and those dialogues are real people that hurt when they
are made fun of, that hurt when they are targeted for discrimination and that have the same dreams
and aspirations as everyone else†(Steinmetz 2016).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 4.1: Gender Stereotypes
What Does It Mean to Me?
In 2011, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy named Rear Admiral Sandra Stosz its first female
superintendent. She is the first woman to lead a U.S. service academy. Examine the academic
leadership in your university. How many top positions are held by men? By women? Is leadership
gendered at your university?
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER
INEQUALITY
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists argue that gender inequality is inevitable because of the gendered division of labor
in the household. According to Émile Durkheim, social evolution led to the exaggeration of sex
differences in personalities and abilities. In the most basic of social institutions, the family, it
became necessary for men and women to establish role differentiation as well as functional
interdependence. In other words, men and women would have complementary but different roles in
the household.
Durkheim (2007) wrote of the biological differences between men and women, claiming that
women had smaller brain capacity than males: “Woman retired from warfare and public affairs and
consecrated her entire life to her family†(p. 43). As a result, women led completely different lives
than men. This division of labor applied both in and out of the home. Women were charged with
familial roles, taking care of their children and their home, whereas men were charged with public
work roles, assuming their primary role as family breadwinner. This division of labor may have been
practical in preindustrial society, and yet these roles remain gender specific in modern society
(Marger 2008). Although women have transitioned from a housekeeper role to a dual role of earner
and caregiver, men’s involvement in domestic work remains low.
The principle that women and men are suited to different roles extends to the workplace. Women
dominate service and caring professions (e.g., teaching, health care, sales, and administrative
support), while men are overrepresented in instrumental work (e.g., construction, heavy labor, and
mechanics). Even in the same professions, men and women are on different professional tracks.
Among medical students, women choose primary care specialties, whereas a higher percentage of
men choose surgical specialties. Women place a greater emphasis on the physician–patient
relationship than do men (McFarland and Rhoades 1998). For more on occupational segregation,
refer to the section of this chapter titled “The Consequences of Gender Inequality.â€
p.79
This gendered division of labor and gender roles is held as the standard for society. Gender
inequality is defined not as a product of differential power but rather as a functional necessity
(Marger 2008). Yet women who assert their rights for social and economic equality are seen as
attacking the structure of society (Bonvillian 2006). Theorists from this perspective note that as
increasing numbers of women have entered the workforce, the number of divorces and the
frequency of nonmarital childbearing have also increased. They suggest that children are more likely
to suffer from divorce, more likely to become delinquent without adequate parental supervision, and
more likely to be disadvantaged economically and socially if born to a single mother (Bonvillian
2006; Farley 2005). According to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, most Americans believe that
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the increase in the number of working women has made it harder for parents to raise children and
harder for marriages to succeed (Wang, Parker, and Taylor 2013). From this perspective, a change
in gender roles (among women in particular) undermines the stability of the family (Farley 2005)
and, ultimately, society.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Gender inequality exists because it benefits a group in power (i.e., men) and with power to shape
society. Theorists from conflict and feminist perspectives argue that women will remain in their
subordinate position as long as men maintain their social, economic, and cultural advantage in
society. A system where men are dominant over women is referred to as a patriarchy, as defined
earlier in Chapter 1.
Women’s subordinate position in society is linked to their relationship to the means of production.
As the next section of this chapter describes, compared with women, men are rewarded in our
capitalist economy with higher wages, more prestige, and greater authority in the workplace
(Bonvillian 2006). At home, men are treated with deference by their wives and children.
Nancy Bonvillian (2006) explained the interrelationship between patriarchal social relations and
capitalist economies. As capitalistic economies developed, they incorporated preexisting patriarchal
relations. Capitalism benefits from women’s subordinate position at home. Women are willing to
work in different types of jobs and for different wages than men because they define themselves
according to their familial relationships as supporters rather than as breadwinners.
©AMER HILABI/AFP/Getty Images
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In 2017, by royal decree, women in Saudi Arabia were granted the right to drive. Saudi leaders expressed hope with these
new driving rights, Saudi women would increase their labor force participation.
Capitalism also takes advantage of men’s adherence to patriarchal values, subordinating men to their
employers just as patriarchal relations subordinate women to men. Men are duty bound to their jobs
because of a sense of self-worth and obligation tied to their ability to provide for their families
(Bonvillian 2006). As men are limited to their prescribed positions in the economy and production,
their inner emotional states are devalued in society. According to L. Böhnisch (2003), this limits the
development of their full human potential (much as Marx cautioned), also contributing to a range of
male problems (e.g., health and chronic illnesses, risk-taking, and violence).
Early feminist scholars treated gender as an individual attribute, as a property of individuals or as
part of the role that was acquired through socialization. However, contemporary feminist theorists
define gender as a system of social practices that creates and maintains gender distinctions and
inequalities (Ridgeway and Smith-Lovin 1999). Challenges against the gender binary and the
expansion of gender identities (refer to this chapter’s In Focus feature) confirm how gender identity
is no longer given. Gender is referred to as a process, where gender is continually produced and
reproduced, and sometimes contested. Not only is gender an individual characteristic, but also it
exists within patterns of social interaction and social institutions (Wharton 2004).
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SARAH MCBRIDE
© AP Photo/Paul Sancya
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Sarah McBride was the first transgender person to address a major poltiical party convention.
Sarah McBride publicly revealed her transgender identity as she ended her term as student
body president at American University in 2012. In a letter published in the university paper,
McBride confessed that she had wrestled with her gender identity all of her life.
McBride described how she was greeted with support and unconditional love when she shared
her identity with family and close friends. “This was the first time that my parents have had to
worry about my safety, my job prospects, and my acceptance . . . I grew up in an upper-income
household, in an accepting environment and with incredible educational opportunities. I never
worried about my family’s reaction†(McBride 2012). She acknowledged that for many trans
individuals, “the reality is far bleaker; coming out oftentimes means getting kicked out of your
home.â€
After graduating from American University, McBride worked as an intern for the White
House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, focusing on LGBT issues.
Her political activism led her home to Delaware, where she was appointed to the board of
directors of Equality Delaware, the state’s primary LGBTQ advocacy organization. She is
credited with successfully leading lobbying efforts in support of hate crime legislation and legal
protections for transgender individuals.
During her speech before the 2016 Democratic National Convention, McBride recognized her
late husband, Andrew Cray, a fellow advocate for LGBT rights. She noted that even though
much progress has been made in the protections for transgender people, there is still work to
do. McBride asked, “Will we be a nation where there’s only one way to love, one way to look,
one way to live? Or, will we be a nation where everyone has the freedom to live openly and
equally?â€
McBride currently serves as the National Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.
Gender inequality is a product of a complex set of social forces: “These may include the actions of
individuals, but they are also found in expectations that guide social interaction, the composition of
social groups, and the structures and practices of the institutions†(Wharton 2004:157). Sexism may
be an individual act, but it can also become institutionalized in our organizations or through laws
and common practices. From this perspective, tackling gender inequality means questioning
gendered structures at various levels (labor, child care, socialization, family) and addressing the
experience of cisgender and transgender people equally.
Interactionist Perspective
As interactionists explain, many social values and meanings are expressed in our language.
Language, wrote Stephanie Wildman and Adrienne Davis (2000), “contributes to the invisibility
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and regeneration of privilege†(p. 50). These scholars argued that we need to sort individuals into
categories such as race and gender. Upon hearing that someone has a new baby, why is it important
to ask if it’s a girl or a boy? This type of social categorization is important because it sets into motion
the production of gender difference and inequality. Norms, values, and beliefs about the differences
between boys and girls and men and women are reinforced through the gender socialization process.
We won’t know how to relate to this child without knowing its gender, and children won’t
understand what it means to be male or female in our society unless they are socialized accordingly.
People respond to others based on what they believe is expected of them and assume that others will
do the same (Wharton 2004).
p.81
Wildman and Davis noted that characteristics of those who are privileged become societal norms—
the standard of what is good, correct, and normal versus bad, incorrect, and aberrant. In terms of
gender, men are privileged and serve as the standard by which all are measured. Wildman and Davis
(2000) refer to Catharine MacKinnon’s observation that, among many things, “men’s physiology
defines most sports, their health needs largely define insurance coverage . . . their perspectives and
concerns define quality in scholarship, their experiences and obsessions define merit, . . . their image
defines god, and their genitals define sex†(p. 54).
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 4.2: Gender and Gender Socialization
Male privilege defines many aspects of American culture from a distinctly male point of view. For
example, the use of he is accepted as an all-inclusive pronoun, but a generic she is not permitted;
some actually get upset if you try to use it (if you have any doubt, try referring to God as she). The
response, according to Wildman and Davis, is not about incorrect grammar; rather, it is about
challenging the system of male privilege. Indeed, the language of gender identity has expanded as
169
increasing numbers of individuals adopt gender-nonconforming identities (refer to this chapter’s In
Focus feature). Our language is evolving to recognize these new gender categories.
A summary of the sociological perspectives is presented in Table 4.2.
TABLE 4.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Gender
p.82
IN FOCUS
GENDER IDENTITY TERMS
Presented here is a list of selected gender identity terms distributed by GLAAD (2017) and the
Human Rights Campaign (2017).
Gender expression. The external appearance of one’s gender identity.
Gender fluid. A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender.
Gender identity. A person’s internal, deeply held sense of their gender.
Gender non-conforming. Term used to describe people whose gender expression is different
from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity.
170
Gender questioning. A person who may be processing, questioning, or exploring how they
want to express their gender identity.
Genderqueer or Queer. People who reject the static categories of gender and embrace a fluidity
of gender identity. The term is not a synonym for transgender or transsexual. People who
identify as genderqueer may see themselves as both male and female, neither male nor female,
or completely outside these categories. The term non-binary may also be used.
Transition. The complex process of altering one’s birth sex. The process may include medical,
personal, and legal steps.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The Disney Channel’s Doc McStuffins features an African American girl in pigtails who runs a home
clinic for her stuffed animals and dolls. Her mom is a doctor, and her dad stays at home. Doc
McStuffins has been praised for being a positive and inspirational role model for African American
girls. According to the American Medical Association, in 2012, there were 18,533 Black female
physicians, 2% of all U.S. doctors (Elber 2012). What role do the media play in shaping gender
identity? In shaping occupational choices for boys and girls?
THE CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER INEQUALITY
Gender inequality is a persistent feature of all modern societies. In this section, we will review the
consequences of inequality in women’s employment and income. Additional discussions on gender
inequality are presented in Chapter 8, “Education,†and Chapter 9, “Work and the Economy.†The
section ends with an examination of violence against women.
Occupational Sex Segregation
Sex segregation in the workplace remains a historical and contemporary fact. Despite educational
and occupational gains made by women, women continue to dominate traditionally female
occupations, a phenomenon referred to as occupational sex segregation. These occupations
include preschool and kindergarten teachers (96.8%), secretaries and administrative assistants
(94.5%), and teacher assistants (91.4%) (U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau 2015). For
the top five occupations of employed U.S. women, refer to Table 4.3. Researchers confirm that
working in an occupation with a large proportion of female workers leads to lower wages, lower
prestige, worse working conditions, and slower career mobility for both men and women (Perales
2013).
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p.83
TABLE 4.3 â– Five Leading Occupations for Employed Women, 2015 (Annual Averages)
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau 2015.
©iStock.com/kali9
The U.S. labor force continues to be segregated along gender lines. Although a small percentage of women (25% or less) are
employed in traditionally male blue-collar occupations (such as construction, truck driving, and carpentry), women continue
to dominate administrative (clerical) and service occupations, constituting more than 80% of employees in these occupations
(U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau 2015).
Social scientists examine two types of sex segregation in the workplace: horizontal and vertical.
Horizontal segregation represents the separation of women into nonmanual labor and men into
manual labor sectors. Vertical segregation identifies the elevation of men into the best-paid and
most desirable occupations in nonmanual and manual labor sectors, whereas women remain in
lower-paid positions with no job mobility.
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Maria Charles and David Grusky (2004) identified several social factors that promote and reproduce
horizontal segregation. Employer and institutional discrimination help maintain the separation of
women and men in the workplace, for example, by excluding women intentionally or
unintentionally from physically strenuous jobs. The process of child socialization encourages girls
and boys to internalize sex-typed expectations of others, which in turn shapes their occupational
aspirations and preferences. Sociologists have examined how girls and boys are subject to differential
gender socialization from birth. Traditional gender role stereotypes are reinforced through the
family, school, peers, and the media with images of what is appropriate behavior for girls and boys.
This includes defining appropriate occupations for women versus men.
Internalization of sex-typed expectations also leads workers to believe that if they transgress norms
about gender-appropriate labor, they will be subject to sanctions (from disapproval from their
parents to harassment from fellow workers). Years of horizontal segregation have given the
advantage to men who have a disproportionate number of peers and network ties in the manual
sector.
Vertical segregation is based on deeply rooted and widely shared cultural beliefs that men are more
competent than women and are better suited than women for positions of power. According to
Charles and Grusky (2004), vertical segregation is reproduced because it is consistent with the value
of “male primacy.†In her analysis of vertical segregation among men and women on Wall Street,
Louise Marie Roth (2006) discovered how the gendered division of labor in the family spilled over
into the workplace. Wall Street’s workaholic culture assumes that the ideal employee has no external
(family) obligations, setting work as the primary priority. Because child care is defined as women’s
responsibility, Wall Street women were routinely penalized for having families. Women were
expected to quit once they had children and were often treated differently after the birth of children.
On the other hand, male Wall Street professionals were perceived as more committed and stable
when they were married and had children. Roth concluded that males with traditional stay-at-home
wives were able to maintain their ideal employee role.
p.84
What Does It Mean to Me?
What are your beliefs about who should be responsible for child care? When you become a parent,
how will you manage your parental and workplace roles?
Occupational sex segregation is a worldwide phenomenon. Many studies have examined segregation
cross-nationally and have found that although it is a feature of all industrial societies, the degree to
which it exists varies. In her analysis of vertical and horizontal segregation in 10 countries, including
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the United States, Charles (2003) found that women were underrepresented in the manual sector
and that within the manual and nonmanual sectors, women’s occupations were of lower average
status. She reported the highest levels of horizontal segregation in Sweden and France, where
women are about 30 times more likely to work in white-collar than in blue-collar sectors. The
likelihood is lower in the United States—women are 14 times more likely to work in white-collar
sectors. The highest levels of vertical segregation were found in France and in the United Kingdom.
Vertical segregation for the United States was third lowest among the 10 countries Charles
examined. The countries with the lowest levels of horizontal and vertical segregation were Portugal
and Italy, which Charles attributed to the countries’ development of two main occupational groups
—professionals and craft-operations workers.
Jane Elliot’s (2005) research revealed that there was greater occupational segregation between men
and women and between full-time and part-time working women in the United Kingdom than in
the United States. She characterized employed women in the United Kingdom as having a
“returner†pattern of labor participation (periodic employment vs. continual employment as in the
United States) and noted that UK women are primarily concentrated in occupational groups that
rely on part-time labor. UK labor laws encourage the hiring of part-time employees versus full-time
employees, which encourages women’s employment patterns. Elliot suggested that UK women may
be less attached to their employment than U.S. women are because national health services are
available in the United Kingdom regardless of employment. In the United States, one’s employer
usually provides health insurance.
Income Inequality
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (Hegewisch and Williams-Baron 2017), in
2016, for every dollar earned by a man, a woman made 80.5 cents (refer to Table 4.4 for wage gap
data from 1960 to 2016). U.S. Data Map 4.1 reports the wage gap between women and men by
state. Another way to measure the earning difference is to examine wage ratios, comparing the
annual earnings of women and women who work full-time all year—what is the difference in men’s
and women’s lifetime earnings? Stephen Rose and Heidi Hartmann (2004) examined data for 1983
to 1998 and concluded that women workers in their prime earning years make 38% of what men
make. During the 15-year period, an average prime-age working woman earned only $273,592
compared with $722,693 earned by the average working man (in 1999 dollars).
p.85
TABLE 4.4 ■Gender Wage Gap, 1960–2016
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Sources: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2015; Hegewisch and Williams-Baron 2017.
U.S. DATA MAP 4.1 â– Gender Wage Gap by State as Ratio of Median Earnings for
Women and Men Working Full-Time, Year-Round, 2016
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Source: National Women’s Law Center 2017.
p.86
Why do men earn more? Social scientists have attempted to answer the question, offering different
explanations for the earning gap. Some have emphasized the role of human capital, the knowledge
and skills workers acquire through education, training, and work experience. Human capital
theory suggests that women earn less than men do because of differences in the kind and amount of
human capital they acquire (Wharton 2004). Because their labor force participation is assumed to be
interrupted by marriage and childrearing responsibilities, most women will invest less in their job-
related human capital or will choose occupations that provide flexible hours or lesser penalties after
reentry (e.g., teaching). In the United States, women have less continuous work experience than
men do; their labor is interrupted by childbirth and child-rearing. Yet, research indicates that even
among women with continuous work experience, their earnings are less than men’s (England 2001).
Another explanation offered by social scientists focuses on the devaluation of women’s work. A
higher societal value is placed on men than on women, and this is reproduced within the workplace.
Caring or emotional labor is undervalued and defined as women’s work, whereas professional or
corporate skills are valued and defined as men’s work. The relative worth of men’s and women’s
economic activities is assessed within this value system, with men and masculine activities being
valued more highly than women and feminine activities (Wharton 2004). According to Maume
(1999), a higher value is granted to male occupations or job skills, permitting discrimination against
the type of jobs women do, but not against women themselves.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court limited workers’ ability to challenge wage discrimination in court.
The Supreme Court ruled that employees could not challenge ongoing compensation discrimination
if the employer’s original discriminatory act or decision occurred more than 180 days earlier. Prior to
this decision, each discriminatory paycheck was treated as a separate discriminatory act and reset the
180-day clock allowed for filing a claim. In the original case, Lilly Ledbetter, an area manager at
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, charged that she was paid less than her 15 male counterparts.
Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month, and the lowest-paid male manager received $4,286 per
month. Although a jury awarded Ledbetter $3.3 million in damages, the court of appeals reversed
the verdict, stating that her case was filed too late.
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Whitehouse.gov
At the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, President Obama stated that the issue of fair pay isn’t just a
women’s issue. According to Obama, the bill ensures that all Americans are able to make a living and provide for their
families. The law’s namesake was at the president’s side at the signing of the act. (She is shown standing behind him, just to
his right, in this photo.)
p.87
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
THE WAGE GAP
Based on U.S. State Map 4.1, The wage gap is largest in Louisiana (.70), Utah (.70), and
West Virginia (.72). The states with the smallest wage gaps are New York (.89),
California (.88), and Florida (.87). Where does your state rank?
Overall, the 2016 wage gap is 80 cents. However, the wage gap is larger for African
American and Hispanic women (refer to Figure 4.1). As presented in Table 4.4 progress
on the wage gap has been slow. The lowest ratio was recorded in the 1970s. A woman
working full-time, year-round made 59 cents for every dollar paid to her male counterpart.
What do you think? Which sociological theories offer the best explanation for why the
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gender wage gap still exists? For the variation between state wage gaps?
FIGURE 4.1 â– Ratio of Median Earnings for Minority Women Working Full-Time,
Year-Round, 2015
Source: National Women’s Law Center 2017.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in January 2009.
The act reinstated the prior law that allowed pay discrimination claims on the basis of sex, race,
national origin, age, religion, and disability to accrue whenever an employee received a
discriminatory paycheck. At the signing of the bill, Ledbetter acknowledged that she would not
receive any money as a result of the law named after her. “Goodyear will never have to pay me what
it cheated me out of. . . . But with the president’s signature today I have an even richer rewardâ€
(quoted in Stolberg 2009).
GENDER NONCONFORMITY DISCRIMINATION
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No social space exists in Western societies for individuals who deviate from binary gender systems
(Lorber 1994; Gagné and Tewksbury 1998). Transgender people are systematically oppressed and
experience high rates of violence (Factor and Rothblum 2008), discrimination, physical threats, and
harassment (Nadal, Skolnik, and Wong 2012). Trans people experience worse health outcomes than
their cisgender peers (Institute of Medicine 2011), including attempted suicide, depression, and
substance abuse. Gender nonconformity seems to also result in rejection and victimization, leading
to loss of social support from parents and peers (Sandfort, Melendez, and Diaz 2007).
In their analysis of data from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, Lisa Miller and Eric
Grollman (2015) concluded that transgender people who experience daily discrimination are more
likely to engage in health-harming behaviors, such as attempted suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, and
smoking. Trans people who are viewed as gender nonconforming face more major and day-to-day
discrimination and are more likely to engage in health-harming behaviors compared with more
gender conforming trans people. Additionally, the researchers identified differential experiences by
gender, race, and income. Trans men reported fewer events of workplace discrimination than trans
women. Multiracial and lower-income trans people faced more transphobic discrimination and were
more likely to engage in health-harming behaviors.
p.88
Shanna Kattari and her colleagues (2017) also examined data from the 2010 National Transgender
Discrimination Survey. They concluded that transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals
who identified as bi-/multiracial or Latino had higher rates of discrimination than White
transgender and gender-nonconforming people in attempting to access support in several social
service contexts: mental health centers, drug treatment programs, domestic violence shelters, and
rape crisis centers.
INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
A global review of scientific data on the prevalence and effects of intimate partner violence and
sexual violence by someone other than a partner was cosponsored by the World Health
Organization, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the South African
Medical Research Council. Results of the collaborative review were released in 2013, documenting
the continuing violence against women and recommending how health agencies and programs
should respond (World Health Organization 2013).
Based upon selected published literature since 2008 and multi-country surveys, the researchers
estimated that 35% of women worldwide suffer physical or sexual violence, with the most common
form of abuse being physical violence inflicted by an intimate partner. Globally, only 7% of women
have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner. The systematic killing of women,
femicide, is different from the murder of men and often involves sexual violence. As many as 38%
of all murders of women are committed by a husband or boyfriend.
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In 2006, the United Nations attributed violence against women to historically unequal power
relations between men and women and pervasive discrimination against women. Violence, said the
United Nations, “is one of the key means through which male control over women’s agency and
sexuality are maintained†(United Nations 2006:1). Violence against women is not confined to one
nation, culture, or region; however, a woman’s personal experience of violence is likely to be shaped
by her ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, and/or religion.
The 2013 World Health joint report identifies intimate partner violence as a major contributor to
women’s problems related to mental health, sexual and productive health, maternal health, and
neonatal health. For example, women who experience partner violence are more than twice as likely
to experience depression and in some areas are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV than women
who do not suffer partner violence. The authors concluded,
The findings underpin the need for the health sector to take intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women
more seriously. All health-care providers should be trained to understand the relationship between violence and women’s ill
health and to be able to respond appropriately. . . . This evidence highlights the need to address the economic and
sociocultural factors that foster a culture of violence against women. (World Health Organization 2013:35–36)
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 4.3: Addressing Sexual Assault on Campus
p.89
RESPONDING TO GENDER INEQUALITIES
Feminist Movements and Social Policies
Historians mark the beginning of the feminist movement in the United States and throughout the
world in the 19th century. The U.S. feminist movement began in 1848 with the first Women’s
Rights Convention. A group of women, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, adopted
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a declaration of sentiments demanding, among other things, women’s right to vote. During the
same time, the women’s suffrage movement began in Great Britain, with increasing demands for
women’s political and economic equality. The Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 affirmed for U.S.
women the right to vote. In Great Britain, women were given the right to vote in 1918.
The feminist movement has been defined in “waves,†the first beginning in the 19th century,
followed by the second during the 20th century. Politically, the second wave focused on expanding
legal rights for women, linking individual, social, and political inequalities. The “personal is
political†was one of the most popular feminist slogans of this wave (Phillips and Cree 2014).
During this period, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, prohibiting sexual
harassment in the workplace and providing equal workplace opportunities for women and minorities
(refer to Chapter 3, “Race and Ethnicity,†for a discussion on affirmative action in employment and
education), and Title IX of the Education Amendments was passed in 1972 (refer to the next
section).
The movement was unsuccessful in passing the Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which proposed, “Equality of rights under law
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of sex.†Although
passed by the U.S. Congress in 1972, the ERA was not ratified by the required 38 states to become
a constitutional amendment. In 1977, Indiana became the 35th state to ratify the amendment. ERA
ratification bills have been introduced in the remaining states without any success.
The third wave of feminism began in the 1990s. Although second-wave feminists are credited with
achieving greater gender equality, they are criticized for assuming the universalization of the White
woman’s experience and for focusing exclusively on oppression based solely on sex. The third wave
of feminism attempts to address multiple sources of oppression—acknowledging oppression based
on race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation in addition to sex. Instead of focusing on
gender equality within one country or nation, the focus has expanded to a goal of global equality.
Some third-wave activists even distance themselves from the use of the term feminist, believing the
term is too confining or negative.
A fourth wave of feminism has been noted in scholarly and popular literature. The wave is defined
in various ways. Brazilian sociologists Solange Simões and Marlise Matos (2009) defined the term
as a process of gendered democratic institutionalization and policy making, which includes a
“revitalization of a classic feminist rights agenda under the influence of transnational feminism and
the globalization of local women’s agendas†(p. 95). The fourth wave synthesizes the second wave’s
emphasis on equality and the third wave’s focus on global inequality. Fourth-wave feminism has also
been described as a movement without one cohesive cause, leader, or platform. Younger women, to
whom equality and rights have always been granted, seek new ways to remain politically and socially
engaged, particularly through social media.
The European Union, since the late 1990s, has embraced gender mainstreaming as its main
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strategy for addressing gender inequality in policy making. It is defined as the integration of the
gender perspective into every stage of the policy process (design, implementation, monitoring, and
evaluation). Gender mainstreaming is based on the understanding that all policies have the potential
to impact social and demographic groups differently, thus creating and sustaining unequal power
relations (Paterson and Scala 2017). For example, gender mainstreaming may explicitly consider the
experiences of men, such as parental leave as a jurisdictional claim for men or labor policies for men
in female-dominated occupations (e.g., nursing) (Scambor and Scambor 2008). Gender
mainstreaming can also apply to health care, equally promoting women’s and men’s health care
needs (Kuhlmann and Annandale 2012). In many countries, coronary heart disease is defined
through a masculine lens, influencing all areas of medical care from prevention to rehabilitation.
Not only does this lead to overlooking women’s cardiac needs, but it also may negatively impact
men who do not seem to fit the model of hegemonic masculinity (Riska 2010).
p.90
What Does It Mean to Me?
Do you identify as a feminist? Why or why not? What does being a feminist mean to you?
Title IX
Among the achievements of the second wave of feminism was the passage of Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX of the Education Amendments prohibits the exclusion of
any person from participation in an educational program or the denial of benefits based on one’s sex
(Woodhouse 2002). The preamble to Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to
discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.â€
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
LEAVING NO GIRL BEHIND
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Southbank Centre
Malala Yousafzai was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. At 17 years of age, Yousafzai is the youngest
Nobel recipient.
Malala Yousafzai was shot in the face at point-blank range by a masked Taliban gunman on
her way to school. This 15-year-old girl was targeted for advocating girls’ education in
Pakistan. As an 11-year-old, she had faced the media and criticized the Taliban for taking
away her basic right to education. She said into the camera, “You may stop me from going to
school, but you will not stop me from learning.†The assassination attempt transformed Malala
into a global ambassador and advocate.
Despite overall progress in girls’ educational access and achievement, a generation of young
women has been left behind. This is the conclusion that has been made by the United Nations
Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) (2013b). In 2011, there were 31 million girls out of
school; 55% are expected never to enroll. The UNGEI estimates that women account for
almost two thirds of the world’s illiterate population.
UNGEI attributes the lack of girls’ educational participation to structural factors, namely,
values and norms that discriminate against girls, preventing them from attending and
remaining in schools. Even in areas where they enroll in equal numbers in primary education,
girls are likely to drop out before reaching secondary education as a result of child marriage,
early pregnancy, gender-based violence in schools and at home, and the burden of domestic
labor (UNGEI 2013a).
Research has demonstrated that education improves women’s economic security in the world’s
poorest countries “and makes it more likely [for women] not just to be employed, but also to
hold jobs that are more secure and provide good working conditions and decent pay†(UNGEI
2013b:20). Public health workers have also observed that education improves the health of
children. Educated women ensure that their children are vaccinated and are likely to practice
preventative health measures, thus reducing infant and child mortality due to pneumonia or
diarrhea.
After surviving her injuries, Malala and her family relocated permanently to the United
Kingdom. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was named an adviser on global education by Prime
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Minister Gordon Brown. Malala established her own organization, Malala Fund, and
continues to serve as an advocate for girls’ education. Malala was honored with the 2014 Nobel
Peace Prize. In 2017, Malala announced that she was accepted to Oxford University.
How else does education improve the quality of life for girls and young women?
p.91
© Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
In 2014–2015, 3,287,735 girls participated in high school sports programs (National Federation of State High School
Associations 2016). The top three sports were track and field, basketball, and volleyball. Title IX is credited with increasing
girls’ participation in high school sports.
In particular, the law requires that members of both sexes have equal opportunities to participate in
sports and enjoy the benefits of competitive athletics (National Women’s Law Center 2002b).
According to Title IX, schools receiving federal aid are required to offer women and men equal
opportunities to participate in athletics. This can be done in one of three ways: (1) Schools
demonstrate that the percentage of men and women athletes is about the same as the percentage of
men and women students enrolled (also referred to as the “proportionality ruleâ€), (2) the school has
a history and a continuing practice of expanding opportunities for women students, or (3) the school
is fully and effectively meeting its women students’ interests and abilities to participate in sports. In
addition, schools must equitably allocate athletic scholarships. The overall share of financial aid
going to women athletes should be the same as the percentage of women athletes participating in
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the athletic program. Finally, schools must treat men and women equally in all aspects of sports
programming. This requirement applies to supplies and equipment, the scheduling of games and
practices, financial support for travel, and the assignment and compensation of coaches (National
Women’s Law Center 2002a).
The law has been widely credited with increasing women’s participation in high school and
collegiate sports and for women’s achievement in education. For instance, in the 1971–1972 season,
294,015 girls participated in high school athletics (comprising 7% of all high school athletes); by
2010–2011, the number had grown to nearly 3 million (41% of all high school athletes). In 1971–
1972, 29,977 females participated in collegiate athletics (15% of all college athletes); by 2010–2011,
the number exceeded 190,000 (44% of all college athletes) (National Coalition for Women and
Girls in Education 2012). The representation of women in athletic leadership has also increased. In
2008, almost 15,000 women were employed in intercollegiate athletics, as athletic directors, coaches,
or trainers. One out of five athletic directors is a woman, the highest representation since the mid-
1970s (Acosta and Carpenter 2009). Regarding college enrollment, in 1973, 41% of women high
school graduates were enrolled in college; in 2016 the percentage increased to 71.9% (U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics 2017).
p.92
On the 38th anniversary of Title IX in 2010, in addition to noting the progress made in women’s
athletics, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan identified the need to ensure safe learning
environments free from sexual violence and assault. Colleges and universities receiving federal
funding were required under Title IX to respond promptly and effectively to sexual violence against
students. This included schools’ efforts to prevent sexual violence, the creation of enforcement
strategies, and the implementation of investigation procedures. In 2014, President Barack Obama
created the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, maintaining the
administration’s commitment to ending sexual violence on college campuses. Later that year, the
U.S. Department of Education released a list of 55 colleges and universities under investigation for
possible violations over the handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints (U.S.
Department of Education 2014).
In 2014, professors from Harvard University’s Law School signed an open letter saying the
university’s new procedures to handle sexual misconduct, complying with the Department of
Education guidelines, “lack the most basic elements of fairness and due process†and were
“overwhelmingly stacked against the accused†(quoted in Bagenstos 2015). Other universities and
colleges struggled to find the balance between responding to sexual violence and ensuring a fair
process. The guidelines required all schools to lower their standard of proof when investigating
sexual assault or harassment claims. The 2011 policy did not guarantee the accused access to a
hearing, did not require an appeals process, and did not require appeals to be considered by an
independent entity. In 2017, Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded the 2011
sexual violence and assault guidelines, allowing the application of a higher standard of proof to bring
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cases against accused students. DeVos left it up to schools to decide which standard of proof they
prefer.
Expanding Trans and Intersex Rights
Protecting the legal rights of transgender people has emerged as the new battleground for the
LGBTQ community. In 2016, the federal government issued an interpretation of Title IX,
permitting people to use the bathroom facility consistent with their gender identity. Law scholar
Catherine Jean Archibald (2016), wrote, “This interpretation is consistent with the current medical
and psychiatric recommendations for the treatment of transgender individuals and accommodates
those individuals who clearly and consistently identify with being either male or female†(p. 2).
Colorado was the first state to rule that a six-year-old transgender girl, born a boy, must be allowed
to use the girls’ bathroom at her school. Despite legal progress for the transgender community, local
ordinances and state laws continue to discriminate against this emerging population.
In 2017, the Trump administration reversed two transgender protections established by the Obama
administration. Transgender individuals were first allowed to openly serve in the military in 2016.
Citing the need to keep the U.S. military focused on “decisive and overwhelming victory,†President
Trump announced that transgender individuals would not be accepted or allowed to serve in the
military. Trump claimed that the military could not be burdened with increasing medical costs for
transgender service members. Several federal judges blocked Trump’s ban, ruling that it would
violate constitutional rights to due process and equal protection. All military branches did not heed
the ban and continued to enlist transgender individuals. However, in March 2018, Trump signed a
new policy memo, explicitly disqualifying transgender persons who require or have undergone
gender transition from military service. Transgender troops currently serving may remain in the
military, but would be required to serve according to their gender at birth. It is estimated that
between 3,000 and 15,000 transgender troops would be affected by the new policy (Seck 2018).
The Trump administration rescinded protections for transgender students to use bathrooms that
corresponded to their gender identity in 2017. The administration also maintained that schools
must protect transgender students from bullying. Individual schools would be able to determine
whether transgender students can use the bathrooms that they wish (Peters, Becker, and Hirschfeld
Davis 2017).
p.93
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
SOCIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE: THEORY AND DATA
186
Your Sociology major requirements will likely include coursework in research methods and
statistics. In your methods course, you’ll learn different ways to collect qualitative and
quantitative data. You will use a data software program such as SPSS, SAS, or R to analyze
your data. But the important skill that you’ll acquire is the ability to make sense of data, to
analyze it, and to apply it.
One of my favorite sociology quotes comes from Peter Berger’s (1963) classic Invitation to
Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective: “Statistical data by themselves do not make sociology. They
become sociology when they are sociologically interpreted, put within a theoretical frame of
reference that is sociological†(p. 11). Although data are important in answering sociological
questions, the data themselves do not constitute sociology (Berger 1963); it is you (the
sociologist) who makes the data sociological.
For example, in this chapter we’ve reviewed the gender wage gap. In Table 4.4, wage gap data
for 1960 to 2014 are presented. The data in the table are just numbers. Human capital theory,
the devaluation of women’s work, or theories on vertical or horizontal segregation help us
better understand the persistent wage gap between women and men. These theories identify
how cultural beliefs, such as the belief that women will invest less in their employment as a
result of marriage and childbearing responsibilities, are replicated in the workplace and
reinforce gender income inequality.
Sociologists Kathleen Korgen, Jonathan White, and Shelley White (2011) explained the power
of sociological research methods and their connection to sociological theory:
In order to make society better, we must first have a firm understanding of how and why it functions in the ways it
does. Following the basic steps of scientific research helps us to see and measure patterns in society, so that we can
better understand how it operates. Once we have done so, we can then begin to understand why it operates that way
(through critical, sociological analysis and theories). (p. 39)
How is analyzing and understanding data an important workplace skill?
CHAPTER REVIEW
4.1 Describe how the different sociological perspectives explain sex and gender-based inequalities.
According to functionalists, gender inequality is defined not as a product of differential
power but rather as a functional necessity. Theorists from both conflict and feminist
perspectives argue that women will remain in their subordinate position as long as men
maintain their social, economic, and cultural advantage in society. From a conflict
perspective, women’s subordinate position in society is linked to their relationship to the
means of production. Contemporary feminist theorists refer to gender as a process, a
system of social practices that creates and maintains gender distinctions and inequalities.
From an interactionist’s perspective, language defines and maintains privilege in society;
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regarding gender, men are privileged and set many standards.
4.2 Identify the consequences of gender inequality
Gender inequality is persistent and affects everyone. Sex segregation in the workplace
continues to be an issue in the United States. Researchers confirm that working in an
occupation with a large proportion of female workers leads to lower wages, lower prestige,
worse working conditions, and slower career mobility. On average, women continue to
earn 80.5 cents for every dollar that a man earns in the United States, potentially because
of social responsibilities women are expected to perform outside of work or the
devaluation of women’s work.
4.3 Describe the impact of discrimination on gender nonconformists.
Transgender and gender nonconforming people are systemically oppressed and experience
high rates of violence, discrimination, physical threats, and harassment. Trans people
experience worse health outcomes than their cisgender peers, including attempted suicide,
depression, and substance abuse.
4.4 Discuss the effects and prevalence of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
Researchers estimate that 35% of women worldwide suffer physical or sexual violence,
often perpetrated by an intimate partner. The United Nations has attributed violence
against women to historically unequal power relations between men and women and
pervasive discrimination against women. Intimate partner violence has been identified as a
major contributor to poor mental, sexual, maternal, and neonatal health.
p.94
4.5 Describe the four waves of feminism and explore recent social and legal developments in
movements for gender equality.
The first wave began in the 19th century, with women’s suffrage as its primary goal. The
second wave began in the 20th century, with increased political focus on ensuring legal
rights for women. The third wave of feminism began in the 1990s, attempting to address
multiple sources of oppression and acknowledging oppression based on race and ethnicity,
social class, sexual orientation, and sex. The emerging fourth wave synthesizes the second
wave’s emphasis on equality and the third wave’s focus on global inequality. Fourth-wave
feminism has also been described as a movement without one cohesive cause, leader, or
platform. Title IX was a product of second wave feminism and prohibits the exclusion of
anyone from participating in an educational program based on one’s sex. Expanding
protections for trans and intersex people is a growing concern for LGBTQ people.
KEY TERMS
cisgender, 77
188
devaluation of women’s work, 86
femicide, 88
gender, 77
gender binary, 77
gender mainstreaming, 89
gendered division of labor, 78
horizontal segregation, 83
human capital, 86
human capital theory, 86
occupational sex segregation, 82
sex, 77
sexism, 77
transgender, 78
vertical segregation, 83
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What is the difference between sex and gender? How is gender socially constructed?
2. Define sexism. Identify one example of institutional sexism.
3. Examine occupational segregation from the functionalist and conflict perspectives.
4. From an interactionist perspective, Wildman and Davis (2000) offered several examples of
how our language privileges men over women. Can you identify cases of women’s privilege over
men?
5. The gender role socialization process reinforces our beliefs about the differences between
men and women. Is it possible to raise boys and girls the same way, to be gender neutral in the
socialization process? Why or why not?
6. How do sociologists explain the wage gap between men and women? Do you think it is
possible to reduce or eliminate the gap?
7. Explain the importance of the four waves of feminism.
8. We take special note of female firsts—the first woman secretary of state (Madeleine
Albright), the first woman Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi), the first woman president of
Harvard University (Drew Gilpin Faust), and the first woman to lead General Motors (Mary
Barra). All these events occurred during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, two centuries
189
after the beginning of the feminist movement. In your opinion, has the feminist movement
been successful? What remains to be achieved? Would you describe yourself as a feminist?
Why or why not?
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5
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Media Library
CHAPTER 5 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 5.1: Sexuality, Race, and HIV
AP News Clips 5.2: LGBTQ Service Members
AP News Clips 5.3: LGBTQ Adoption
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
5.1 Define sexual orientation.
5.2 Explain how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality.
5.3 Identify ongoing discrimination and inequality against the LGBTQ community.
In a 2009 announcement that led to worldwide condemnation, lawmakers in Uganda considered
adopting an antihomosexuality law, proposing the death penalty for certain homosexual acts (e.g.,
with a minor, if the perpetrator was HIV positive, or for serial offenders) (Gettleman 2010). David
Kato was one of the leading voices against the legislation. Despite threats of violence and harm,
Kato, an openly gay man, maintained, “If we keep on hiding, they will say we are not here.†Kato
cofounded the advocacy group Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). In 2011, Kato was murdered
several weeks after winning a court decision over a Ugandan tabloid that called for the killing of
homosexuals. Uganda’s antihomosexuality bill was passed in 2013, substituting the death penalty
clause with life imprisonment. SMUG reported an increase in the cases of intimidation and violence
against Uganda’s homosexual population after the passage of the bill. In 2014, Uganda’s
constitutional court overturned the law. The gay and lesbian community celebrated the ruling with
its first gay pride rally.
One’s sexual orientation serves as a basis of inequality. Sexual orientation is defined as the
classification of individuals according to their preference for emotional-sexual relationships and
lifestyle with persons of the same sex (homosexuality) or persons of the opposite sex
(heterosexuality). Bisexuality refers to emotional and sexual attractions to members of one’s own
192
sex and members of other sexes. As we learned in Chapter 4, the term transgender does not refer to a
specific sexual orientation; rather, it refers to individuals whose gender identity is different from the
one assigned to them at birth. Transgender individuals may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, or
bisexual (Nagoshi, Hohn, and Nagoshi 2017). Queer refers to someone who falls outside of the
norms surrounding gender and sexuality (Fitzgerald and Grossman 2018). The term LGBTQ is
often used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals as a group.
There is no definitive study on the number of individuals who identify as homosexual or bisexual.
The Gallup Organization, which has polled over 1,600,000 American adults on sexual orientation
from 2012 to 2016, found that 4.1% of respondents in 2016 identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender (Gates 2017), a 0.6% increase over the 2012 figure. In 2014, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that less than 3% of the U.S. population identify as gay.
Based on the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, 1.6% of adults self-identify as gay or lesbian
and 0.7% as bisexual (Ward et al. 2014).
Gay rights have progressed in the United States and globally. In 1996, South Africa became the first
country to establish a constitutional ban against discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 2000,
Vermont was the first U.S. state to recognize civil unions between same-sex partners; in 2004,
Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme
Court rendered its decision in favor of marriage equality. Although national polls indicate increased
support of LGBTQ individuals, as a group they are still not immune to the experience of social
problems. LGBTQ activists have shifted their attention to other areas of inequality and
discrimination in housing and employment and discrimination against the transgender population.
The struggle for equal protection and equal rights continues.
p.98
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL
ORIENTATION AND INEQUALITY
Our understanding of sexuality or sexual orientation is based upon research from biology,
psychology, and sociology. Each discipline examines the causes and consequences of sexuality from
its unique and sometimes controversial point of view.
Researchers exploring the biological basis of sexuality have considered two theoretical approaches.
The first is neurohormonal theory, arguing that homosexuality is caused by atypical sex hormone
levels in utero. Human studies have suggested that specific centers in the brain are related to sexual
orientation and sexual behavior. The second approach is based upon behavioral genetics, identifying
the source and magnitude of genetic influences on sexual orientation. This line of research was first
motivated by the idea that gay men are genetically female, a hypothesis that was eventually
discredited.
Confirmation of the genetic link to sexuality has been found through comparative studies of
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identical twins (twins who have nearly identical genetic makeup) and fraternal twins (twins who
share some similar genetic makeup). Bailey and Pillard (1991) and Bailey and Bell (1993) found it
more likely that identical twins will both be gay (if one is gay) than is the case for fraternal twins. In
their assessment of biological research on sexual orientation, Brian Mustanski, Meredith Chivers,
and J. Michael Bailey (2002) concluded that sexual orientation is influenced by biological factors to
some degree. They say that the questions that remain to be answered are how and when these
biological factors act and to what degree these factors influence sexual orientation in women and
men.
Early psychological studies treated homosexuality as a pathology, as a mental illness. This
perspective was not universal among psychologists. Havelock Ellis argued that homosexuality was
inborn and therefore could not be considered a disease (Robinson 1976). Sigmund Freud believed
that all humans were innately bisexual and that homosexuality and heterosexuality were the result of
social and personal experiences. Both agreed that homosexuality was not an illness.
However, homosexuality was explicitly defined as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric
Association in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1973; a diagnosis for
ego-dystonic homosexuality was introduced in 1980 but removed entirely in 1986. The World
Health Organization removed a similar classification from its International Classification of Diseases
and Related Health Problems in 1992. The declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness was in
response to empirical research but also to more favorable cultural and social norms pertaining to
homosexuality.
Shifting away from homosexuality as an illness, scientists currently examine the impact of a
homosexual or a transgender identity. Rates of mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety,
substance abuse, and suicidality) are higher among homosexual men and women and transgender
individuals in part because of the social discrimination and cultural stigmatization they experience.
Researchers in this field also examine the causes of negative attitudes toward homosexuals and
transgender persons. A socially determined prejudice, homophobia is an irrational fear or
intolerance of homosexuals (Lehne 1995). Homophobia is particularly directed at gay men.
Transphobia is the negative beliefs and attitudes about transgender people (Hill and Willoughby
2005). It is different from homophobia, in that the prejudice is directed toward those who do not
conform to an expected gender role or identity rather than toward one’s sexual orientation (Nagoshi
et al. 2008).
In contrast to these biological and psychological perspectives, the sociological perspective examines
the social and structural factors that affect sex orientation.
Functionalist Perspective
Theorists from this perspective examine how society maintains our social order. Émile Durkheim
argued that our social order depends on how well society can control individual behavior. Our
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sexuality—our most basic human behavior—is controlled by society’s norms and values.
Functionalists identify how society upholds heterosexuality and a marital union between a man and
a woman as ideal normative behavior. This is also referred to as institutionalized heterosexuality,
the set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the heterosexual family as the societal
norm (Lind 2004).
p.99
Our legal, political, and social structures work in harmony to support these ideals (the conflict
perspective of this is presented in the next section). Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) denied federal recognition of same-sex unions, defining marriage as a legal union only
between a man and a woman. This legislation served as a declaration about how the heterosexual
family is valued and how all other family forms are not. Society grants legitimate kinship and
familial obligations only through the heterosexual family. Consequently, society defines all other
forms of sexuality and families that do not fit this ideal image as problematic. These forms are
considered deviant or unnatural because they do not fit society’s ideal.
Nonetheless, during the past decades, the LGBTQ community and its allies have effectively
influenced family rights, employment, and discrimination policies throughout the world. The
movement has been successful largely because of its ability to affect institutional (macro) level
changes—the focus of the functionalist perspective.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Gore Vidal (1988) observed the following:
In order for a ruling class to rule, there must be arbitrary prohibitions. Of all prohibitions, sexual taboo is the most useful
because sex involves everyone. . . . we have allowed our governors to divide the population into two teams. One team is
good, godly, straight; the other is evil, sick, and vicious.
Vidal’s statement addresses the focus of both of these perspectives, that conflict in our society is
based on sexual orientation, with heterosexuals having been given the advantage. This reaffirmation
of heterosexuality as the moral standard is the basis of the culture wars, the struggle over creating
and regulating codes of personal, social, and sexual behavior for every American. Contemporary
culture wars have also concerned issues of race, ethnicity, and immigration, but the majority of
culture wars revolve around issues of sexuality and gender (Bronski 1998).
Sociologists recognize that heterosexuals are granted a privileged place in our society.
Heterosexism assumes that heterosexuality is the norm, encouraging discrimination in favor of
heterosexuals and against homosexuals. Heterosexual privilege is defined as the set of privileges or
advantages granted to some people because of their heterosexuality.
From a conflict perspective, Amy Lind (2004) identified how DOMA helped institutionalize
heterosexism because it blocked future proactive and protective legislation for gays and lesbians. She
focused specifically on heterosexual bias in social welfare policy, identifying its impact in three ways:
195
through policies that explicitly target LGBT individuals as abnormal or deviant, through federal
definitions that assume that all families are heterosexual, and through policies that overlook LGBT
poverty and social needs because of stereotypes about affluence among LGBT families.
Evidence of the first type of heterosexual bias can be found in federal legislation such as DOMA
and policy initiatives such as the healthy marriage promotion and fatherhood programs promoted by
President George W. Bush. Current legislation funds marriage education programs that promote
“abstinence only†curricula in schools. Lind (2004) explained that gay, lesbian, and bisexual
adolescents have no access to sexual education that pertains to their sexual experience. In an effort to
preserve the traditional heterosexual family, these programs deny LGBT people their rights and
needs.
A similar heterosexual bias exists in the study of domestic violence. Because the traditional feminist
analysis of violence focused on the subjugation of women by men, our understanding of the
experience of victims and the solutions to address domestic violence is through a rigid heterosexual
lens (Guadalupe-Diaz and Yglesias 2013), thus leaving gaps in our understanding of violence in
lesbian or gay relationships.
p.100
“Theorizing about domestic violence in lesbian relationships is highly contested,†wrote Jude Irwin
(2008:201). He argued that there are many shortcomings to relying on a “one size fits all†model to
explain domestic violence in lesbian relationships. “Dominant heteronormative discourses lead to an
absence of talk about violence in lesbian relationships, excluding lesbians who experience violence.
This exclusion works both to create and maintain the invisibility of violence in lesbian relationships
and simultaneously constitute domestic violence as only a heterosexual issue†(p. 206). The impact is
significant as victims are unable to acknowledge the reality of the violence. Based on interviews with
Australian lesbians who identified as survivors of domestic violence, Irwin discovered that many
women remained silent because they saw domestic violence as a heterosexual issue that did not
affect them. Only in the past decade has gender-neutral language been incorporated into domestic
violence policy and advocacy efforts (National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 2010).
What Does It Mean to Me?
What other examples of heterosexual bias can you identify? Is heterosexuality still valued as the
norm?
Interactionist Perspective
In our society, no one gets “outed†for being straight. There is little controversy in identifying
196
someone as heterosexual. Socially, culturally, and legally, the heterosexual lifestyle is promoted and
praised. Although homosexuality has existed in most societies, it has usually been attached to a
negative label— abnormal, sinful, or inappropriate. A homosexual identity also becomes a master
status, an identity that determines how others view individuals and how individuals view
themselves. Even if a gay man is a doctor or a father, the only status that matters is that he is gay.
©iStock.com/Portra
According to the conflict perspective, heterosexism encourages discrimination against homosexual and transgender
individuals. What is the impact of such discrimination on individuals and families? What is the best way to respond to
heterosexism?
p.101
Interactionists examine how sexual orientation is constructed within a social context. We tend to
think of heterosexuality as unchanging and universal; however, as Jonathan Katz (2003) explained,
the term is a social invention that “designates a word and concept, a norm and role, an individual
and group identity, a behavior and a feeling, and a peculiar sexual-political institution particular to
the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries†(p. 145). Although heterosexuality existed before then,
it was actually named in the early 19th century. “The titling and envisioning of heterosexuality did
play an important role in consolidating the construction of the heterosexual’s social existence†(Katz
2003:145). He argued that acknowledging heterosexuality as a social invention—time bound and
culturally specific—challenges the power of the heterosexual ideal.
Interactionists also examine the process of how individuals identify themselves as homosexual, what
scholars describe as part of the development of a gay identity. Coming out (being gay and disclosing
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it to others) has come to symbolize the pursuit of individual rights and self-identification (Chou
2001). Coming out implies not just the disclosure of a gay identity but also the individual’s positive
attitude toward and commitment to that identity (Dubé 2000). The disclosure of a gay identity
merges a private sexual identity with a public social identity (Cass 1979). To come out successfully,
a gay individual needs social and institutional support, in the form of support from family and
friends, legal protection from discrimination and violence, cultural acceptance, financial equality,
and access to health services (D’Augelli 1998).
The process of coming out to family members is particularly stressful for lesbian, gay, and bisexual
(LGB) youth. Fear of parental reactions has been identified as a major reason that LGB youth do
not come out to their families (D’Augelli, Hershberger, and Pilkington 1998). Following disclosure,
youth report verbal abuse and even physical attacks by family members. Youth who lived with their
families and disclosed their sexual orientation were victimized by their families more often than
were youth who had not disclosed their orientation (D’Augelli et al. 1998).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 5.1: Sexuality, Race, and HIV
To avoid negative response from others, young lesbians and gay men hide their sexual orientation
from family and friends (Rivers and Carragher 2003). Gay and lesbian youth may use one or more
of the following concealment strategies: inhibiting behaviors and interests associated with
homosexuality, limiting exposure to the opposite sex, avoiding exposure to information about
homosexuality, assuming antigay positions, establishing heterosexual relationships, and avoiding
homoerotic feelings through substance abuse (Radkowsky and Siegel 1997). Research is
inconclusive about how effective such concealment strategies are in reducing anxiety among lesbian
and gay youth.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Is your sexual orientation a master status? Why or why not?
A summary of sociological theories regarding sexual orientation and inequality is presented in Table
5.1.
TABLE 5.1 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Sexual
Orientation
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND INEQUALITY
LGBTQ individuals and their families are subject to social inequalities through practices of
discrimination and prejudice, many of them surprisingly institutionalized in formal law. Fifty-five
percent of those surveyed in a 2017 GLAAD and Harris Poll reported discrimination based on their
sexual orientation or gender identity (GLAAD and Harris Poll 2018). LGBTQ individuals are at a
“significantly increased risk for disparate health outcomes†if they reside in a state that fails to
extend equal protections or rights to them (Pomeranz 2018:67). Research confirms the increased
rate of generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, chronic depression, and substance
abuse disorders among LGB respondents living in states with constitutional amendments banning
same-sex marriage or without policies extending protections against hate crimes and employment
discrimination (Hatzenbuehler, Keyes, and Hasin 2009; Hatzenbuehler et al. 2010).
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In this section, we’ll review historical and continuing inequalities based on sexual orientation.
State and Federal Legislation
In 1998, John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were fined $200 and spent a night in jail for violating a
Texas statute that prohibited “deviate sexual intercourse†between two people of the same sex.
Sodomy laws criminalize oral and anal sex between two adults. Although the laws may apply to
homosexuals and heterosexuals, sodomy laws are more vigorously applied against same-sex partners.
Twelve U.S. states still had state sodomy laws in 2014 (in 1960, sodomy was outlawed in every
state). The Texas statute did not apply to heterosexual couples.
Their case was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2003. Attorneys for Lawrence and
Garner argued that the Texas law was an invasion of their privacy and violated the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it unfairly targeted same-sex couples. Attorneys for
the state argued that Texas had the right to set moral standards for its residents. In June 2003, the
Court voted 6 to 3 to overrule the Texas law and all other remaining sodomy laws. Writing for the
decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, “The state cannot demean their [homosexuals’] existence or
control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime†(Greenhouse 2003:A17).
According to Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal (2003), “this ruling starts an
entirely new chapter in our fight for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.â€
p.103
In 2009, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to grant gay individuals protection under hate-crime
laws. The legislation was in response to the brutal deaths of James Byrd Jr., an African American
who was dragged to death in Texas, and Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten
and left to die in Wyoming. The federal hate-crime law, enacted in 1968, had been limited to
crimes based on race, color, religion, and national origin. Whereas the law was supported by civil
rights and law enforcement groups, some conservative and religious groups opposed the legislation,
saying that the bill would create special classes of federally protected crime victims. The 2009
legislation also extended protections for disabled individuals. At the signing of the bill, President
Barack Obama promised that people would be protected from violence based on “what they look
like, who they love, how they pray or who they are†(Feller 2009).
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the first-of-its-kind California law that bans psychological
counseling aimed at changing the sexual orientations of gay and lesbian minors. Conversion or
reparative therapy refers to counseling and psychotherapy to eliminate sexual desires for members of
one’s own sex (American Psychological Association 2008). Under the 2012 California law,
reparative therapy is prohibited for patients under the age of 18. Governor Jerry Brown and gay
rights advocates supported the law, arguing that these therapies have no medical or scientific basis.
The American Psychiatric Association determined that reparative therapy poses a risk of depression,
anxiety, self-hatred, and self-destructive behavior for patients (Levs 2012). New Jersey was the
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second state to ban sexual orientation conversion therapy. As of April 2018, nine other states had
banned conversion therapy for minors.
California was the first state to ban the gay panic defense in cases where a murder defendant justifies
his violence to learning that the victim was gay. The defense was presented for one of the men who
murdered Matthew Shepard in 1998. California banned this defense tactic in 2014, and Illinois and
Rhode Island followed in 2018. Gay or trans panic defenses have been used in courts in half of the
states, even though no state penal code recognizes it as a freestanding defense (Gonzales 2017).
The Rights and Recognition of Same-Sex Couples
Before 2013, DOMA permitted states to ban all recognition of same-sex marriages. According to
the law, the federal government would not accept marriage licenses granted to same-sex couples,
regardless of whether a state provided equal license privileges to all types of partnerships. DOMA
denied these couples the same federal benefits that are available to or required for married opposite-
sex couples. Gay and lesbian families were denied common legal protections that nongay families
take for granted, such as adoption, custody, guardianship, social security, and inheritance.
The legal recognition of same-sex couples began incrementally at the federal level. In June 2002,
President George W. Bush signed into law the Mychal Judge Act, which allows federal death
benefits to be paid to the same-sex partners of firefighters and police officers who die in the line of
duty (Bumiller 2002). In 2006, the federal Pension Protection Act became law, containing two key
provisions that extend financial protections to same-sex couples and Americans who leave their
retirement savings to non-spouse beneficiaries. Under the law, an individual’s retirement plan
benefit can be transferred to a domestic partner or other non-spouse beneficiary. The second
provision allows gay couples and others with non-spouse beneficiaries to draw on their retirement
funds in the case of a medical or financial emergency. And in 2010, President Barack Obama
instructed the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to draft rules requiring
hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments (which includes most of the nation’s
medical facilities) to grant all patients the right to say who has visitation rights and who can help
make medical decisions. These rules would allow full recognition of advanced health directives
among gay and lesbian couples.
Same-sex marriages, unions, and partnerships were counted for the first time in the 2010 Census.
The 2010 U.S. Census estimated that there were 131,729 same-sex married-couple households and
514,735 same-sex unmarried-partner households (O’Connell and Feliz 2011).
In 2011, President Obama directed the U.S. Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in court
after concluding that the law was unconstitutional (C. Savage and Stolberg 2011). In 2013, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional.
p.104
201
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not keep same-sex couples from marrying
and must recognize their unions. Justice Anthony Kennedy highlighted the importance of the ruling
for couples with children. “Without the recognition, stability and predictability marriage offers,
their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. . . The marriage laws
at issue here thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples†(quoted in Liptak 2015).
Refer to Table 5.2 for a list of other countries where same-sex marriage is legal.
TABLE 5.2 â– Countries Where Same-Sex Marriage Is Legal Nationwide, as of December
2017
202
Note: Italy offers most or all spousal rights to same-sex couples but stops short of marriage. Countries that offer some spousal
rights to same-sex couples include Croatia, Hungary, Israel, and Switzerland.
203
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is your opinion on the rights of same-sex couples? Who or what has influenced your beliefs?
Employment
The need to “manage a disreputable sexual identity at the workplace†has been called the most
persistent problem facing lesbians and gay men (Schneider 1986:464). One in four LGBT
employees experienced employment discrimination in the last five years (Out & Equal 2017). Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sex. Sex has been interpreted to mean
gender, which means that protection on the basis of sexual orientation is not covered.
M. V. Lee Badgett and Mary King (1997) noted that, unlike discrimination based on easily
observable characteristics such as skin color or gender, discrimination against gays and lesbians must
be based on knowledge or suspicion of someone’s sexual orientation. Lesbians and gay men who
reveal their sexual orientation risk loss of income and lower chances at career advancement. A review
of existing studies on workplace discrimination reveals that somewhere between one quarter and two
thirds of LGB people report losing their jobs or missing promotions because of their sexual
orientation.
Currently there is no federal law that protects LGBT individuals from employment discrimination,
although 22 states and the District of Columbia prohibit employment discrimination based on
sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was
first introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2009. If passed, the act would provide basic protections
against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Professional competitive sports have been referred to as the “last closet.†“Sports associate boys and
men with masculine dominance by constructing their identities and sculpting their bodies to align
with hegemonic perspectives of masculinist embodiment and expression†(Anderson 2011:250.
Since 2012, several professional and collegiate players have revealed their sexual orientation: Jason
Collins (NBA), Brittney Griner (WNBA), and Michael Sam (NFL). Nearly all professional sport
leagues ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, religion, and ethnicity. Yet Cyd
Zeigler, editor of Outsports, an online publication covering LGBT men and women in sports, said,
p.105
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©iStock.com/Rawpixel
Due to the way marriage equality laws evolved, many same-sex couples have multiple relationship statuses. Though the 2015
Supreme Court ruling opened the door to marriage equality for same-sex couples, the dissolution of same-sex civil unions or
marriages is still legally complicated. There are no national data on the rate of same-sex divorce.
I think homophobia for decades has been more entrenched in sports than it has in most other areas in our culture. . . . It
starts when these kids are young. And they’re five years old and 10 years old and playing sports and the coach calls them a
faggot and tells them not to be a sissy and this idea that being a faggot is less than being a man. (Quoted in Chibbaro 2013)
Upon his retirement from the NBA, Collins (2014) said,
©Ida Mae Astute/ABC via Getty Images
In 2014, Michael Sam was the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL.
When we get to the point where a gay pro athlete is no longer forced to live in fear that he’ll be shunned by teammates or
outed by tabloids, when we get to the point where he plays while his significant other waits in the family room, when we get
to the point where he’s not compelled to hide his true self and is able to live an authentic life, then coming out won’t be such
a big deal. But we’re not there yet.
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Military Service
During his first presidential campaign, Bill Clinton promised to extend full civil rights to gays and
lesbians, including those in military service (Belkin 2003). The military policy at that time banned
gay and lesbian individuals from the armed forces, stating that homosexuality was incompatible with
military service. (For information on gay military service in other countries, refer to this chapter’s
Taking a World View feature.) In 1993, President Clinton suspended the policy, and the National
Defense Authorization Act became law.
p.106
Part of the law is the infamous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†(DADT) policy, a political compromise
criticized since its inception. According to the policy, known homosexuals were not allowed to serve
in the U.S. military, but the military was banned from asking enlistees questions about their sexual
orientation. In addition, significant restrictions were placed on commanders wanting to investigate
whether a soldier was gay (the complete policy was “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t
Harassâ€). Service members who disclosed that they were homosexual were still subject to military
discharge. Between the inception of DADT and the end of 2009, more than 13,000 service
members were discharged (Servicemembers Legal Defense Network 2007); from World War II to
the repeal of DADT in 2011, an estimated 114,000 military personnel were discharged because of
their sexual orientation (Burke 2013). It is not known how many gay and lesbian service members
did not reenlist because of the policy without revealing their homosexuality.
In 2007, John Shalikashvili, retired army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
declared his support for the repeal of the DADT policy. Shalikashvili (2007) described how his
conversations with gay soldiers and marines, some with Iraq combat experience, “showed me how
much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers†(p. A19).
He also cited evidence from a poll of 500 service members returning from service in Afghanistan
and Iraq, indicating that 75% of those surveyed were comfortable interacting with gay people. In the
same year, the Pentagon revealed that 58 Arabic-language experts had been discharged from
military service since the inception of the policy because they were gay. U.S. House representatives
were critical of the Pentagon, believing that the policy and its actions were homophobic rather than
focused on the country’s national security needs.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 5.2: LGBTQ Service Members
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A congressional bill to repeal DADT was enacted in December 2010. In 2011, a ruling from a
federal appeals court barred further enforcement of DADT. DADT ended on September 20, 2011.
In their assessment of the repeal of DADT, Aaron Belkin and his colleagues (2012) concluded that
the repeal “has had no overall negative impact on military readiness or its component dimensions,
including cohesion, recruitment, retention, assaults, harassment, or morale. . . . [G]reater openness
and honesty resulting from the repeal seem to have promoted increased understanding, respect and
acceptance†(p. 4). It is estimated that gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members make up at least
2% of the U.S. military’s active duty and reserve forces (Bumiller 2012).
RESPONDING TO SEXUAL ORIENTATION
INEQUALITIES
According to the Human Rights Campaign (2014a), “the patchwork nature of current LGBT civil
rights protections protects millions of people, but leaves millions more subject to uncertainty and
potential discrimination that impacts their safety, their family and their very way of life.â€
Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, reported
that “one of the main things we are doing is fighting against the post-marriage backlash.†In 2016,
there were more than 200 anti-LGBT bills introduced (Stack 2016). State legislators have
sponsored bills that preempt local protections and target transgender people to allow discrimination
(ACLU 2018). Many have used the religious freedom argument to support denying services to
LGBT people.
Nondiscrimination Protections. There are no explicit protections prohibiting the denial of credit
(including housing loans) based on sexual orientation or gender identity, no consistent federal
protections for students based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and no federal protections
that prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in public spaces, such as hotels or restaurants
(Human Rights Campaign 2014b).
p.107
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
GAY MILITARY SERVICE POLICIES
207
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Defense allowed gay soldiers to march in their uniforms in a gay pride parade for the
first time in U.S. history.
In addition to the United States, more than 140 countries allow open homosexual military
service. Aaron Belkin (2003) examined the early experiences of four countries that lifted their
bans on homosexual military personnel. In each country—Australia, Canada, Israel, and Great
Britain—the bans were lifted with opposition from the military services.
Belkin explained that each of these four countries lifted its ban for different reasons. In
Canada, the ban was lifted in 1992, after federal courts ruled that the military policy violated
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ban was also lifted in 1992 in Australia,
when Prime Minister Paul Keating argued that the ban was not consistent with his country’s
integration of several international human rights conventions into its domestic laws and codes.
Israel’s military ban was lifted in 1993 after public response to Knesset hearings on the matter.
In 1999, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Great Britain’s gay ban violated the
right to privacy guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights.
None of the military personnel, academics, veterans, politicians, and nongovernmental
observers interviewed for Belkin’s research believed that lifting the gay bans undermined
“military performance, readiness, or cohesion, lead [sic] to increased difficulties in recruiting or
retention or increased the rate of HIV infection among the troops†(Belkin 2003:110). Grim
predictions and anxiety about how military personnel would refuse to work with or share
showers, undress, or sleep in the same room with gay soldiers were not substantiated in these
countries. Many who were interviewed described the policy change as a “non-event†or “not
that big a deal for us†and said that the change was “accepted in ‘true military tradition’â€
(Belkin 2003:110–11).
Interviewed military leaders stressed that all soldiers were held to the same standard of
professional conduct regardless of sexual orientation or personal beliefs about homosexuality.
Belkin (2003) stated that none of the four militaries attempted to force military personnel to
accept homosexuality. Data from the four countries confirm that soldiers refrained from the
abuse and harassment of homosexual military personnel, although gay bashing and sexual
208
harassment cases were documented in two of the countries (Australia and Israel).
During the war with Iraq, before the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,†U.S. forces served side
by side with allied forces from nine countries that allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly. In
some cases, these forces worked together in integrated units (Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network 2007).
From a social constructionist perspective, how was the repeal of gay military service bans (not
just in the United States) framed by supporters and opponents? What was the social problem
both sides were trying to address?
In 2015, 21 Senate Republicans sponsored the First Amendment Defense Act, which would permit
discrimination by individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations against same-sex couples,
single parents, and unmarried couples based on religious belief and moral conviction. There was no
vote on the bill, and the bill has not been reintroduced in Congress.
In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in case involving the refusal of a Colorado baker
to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Baker Jack Phillips maintained that he would not provide
any services to support a same-sex marriage because it would be against his own religious beliefs.
The couple filed a complaint with Colorado’s civil rights commission. Phillips lost the case before
the Colorado Supreme Court and was granted a U.S. Supreme Court hearing. In June 2018, the
Supreme Court ruled in Phillips’s favor, but in its ruling the Court did not resolve the primary
dispute between gay rights and religious objections.
p.108
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
SUPPORT FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
The majority of Americans, 62%, say that they support same-sex marriage, according to a
2017 Pew Research Center poll. Yet support for same-sex marriage varies by demographic
characteristics, such as race, education, and political ideology (refer to Table 5.3). Based
on the data, what patterns in support can you identify?
Social scientists hypothesize that support for same-sex marriage increases as more
individuals have contact or relationships with LGBTQ individuals. What do you think?
Why would contact with LGBTQ individuals increase support for same-sex marriage?
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TABLE 5.3 â– Support for Same-Sex Marriage by Selected Demographic
Characteristics
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
Family Legislation. Until 2010, Florida was the only state that explicitly forbade adoption by
unmarried gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals. First enacted in 1977, the Florida law was ruled
unconstitutional by a state court of appeals. Currently, all states permit adoption by single LGBT
parents and same-sex couples. There are no explicit prohibitions for a same-sex partner to adopt his
or her partner’s child (also called second-parent adoption) in most states, although some state laws
(e.g., California and New York) explicitly permit these adoptions.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 5.3: LGBTQ Adoption
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The Human Rights Campaign (2015a) has noted that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented among
the foster care population because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. These youth have a
higher average number of foster care placements and a higher likelihood of living in a group setting
than do non-LGBTQ youth. Only 24 states have laws or agency policies that prohibit
discrimination against foster youth based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Human
Rights Campaign calls for legislation to protect LGBTQ youth and for LGBT cultural competency
training for foster care agencies and parents. As of 2017, only nine states require LGBT-inclusive
cultural competency training (Movement Advancement Project 2017a).
p.109
IN FOCUS
GAY-FRIENDLY CAMPUSES
The best estimate of the number of LGBT students in grades 9 through 12 is about 8% (or 1.3
million students) of the total student population (Kahn et al. 2016). LGBT youth have been a
driving force behind creating change in their schools and communities. Support groups and
organized student activities have emerged in states such as California, Illinois, and
Washington, providing valuable support to LGBT teens and their friends and families (Bohan
and Russell 1999; Human Rights Watch 2001).
One such student group is the Gay–Straight Alliance (GSA) in East High School in Salt Lake
City, Utah. As Janis Bohan and Glenda M. Russell (1999) chronicled, a group of students
proposed creating a student alliance to provide a support network for LGBT students and their
heterosexual friends in October 1995. In response to the students’ proposal, the school board
and the state legislature banned all noncurricular clubs rather than allow the GSA. The club
continued to meet, paying rental and insurance fees for the use of school facilities. According
to Bohan and Russell, students indicated that the club had a positive impact on their lives. The
alliance served as a safe refuge, decreasing their feelings of isolation and vulnerability, students
said, and they reported decreases in substance abuse, depression, suicidal impulses, truancy, and
conflict with parents. The straight student members also reported positive effects. In
September 2000, Utah’s Salt Lake City School District Board of Education voted to permit
noncurricular student groups to meet on school grounds, reversing its 1995 decision against the
GSA (Human Rights Watch 2001). According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network, there are more than 4,000 registered clubs for LGBT students and their friends
throughout the United States.
Schools are allowing students to participate in the national Day of Silence in April; a vow of
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silence for the day symbolizes the silencing effect of antigay harassment and bullying. The
event was founded in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia. In 2012, the day was
observed in 9,000 schools in more than 70 countries, and the movement continues to grow.
Although some religious and parent groups object to what they consider “promotion†of
homosexuality, most agree that it is important to create and promote a safe school environment
for LGBT youth.
“What campuses do you consider to be LGBT-friendly?†This question was posed by the
editors of the Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students. In 2006, the editors collected
nominations from current LGBT college students as well as additional information from
interviews with students and faculty or staff members from the nominated schools.
The editors based their final selections on 10 criteria, as reported in the guide. According to
editor Bruce Steele, the editors intended to assess “the effort that’s being put forth by the
colleges themselves to make their LGBT students comfortable†(Rosenbloom 2006:S2). The
10 criteria are as follows:
1. Active LGBT student organization(s) on campus. Prospective LGBT students are
looking for a sense of community with their peers and organizations that can offer social,
educational, and leadership opportunities on campus.
2. Out LGBT students. Prospective students look for other LGBT students to be visible and
active in academic and campus life settings.
3. Out LGBT faculty and staff. LGBT faculty and staff can serve as advisers and visible role
models for LGBT students.
4. LGBT-inclusive policies. Supportive campuses should have policies that include “sexual
orientation†in their discrimination policy or have policies supporting same-sex domestic
partner benefits.
5. Visible signs of pride. The prominent presence of rainbow flags and pink triangles can
create a sense of openness, safety, and inclusion.
6. Out LGBT allies from the top down. Support from college administrators and alumni is
essential to LGBT students.
7. LGBT-inclusive housing and gender-neutral bathrooms. Campuses may have options for
LGBT-themed housing to foster a living and learning atmosphere for students.
8. Established LGBT campus center. What committed campus resources are available for
LGBT students and organizations?
9. LGBT/Queer Studies academic major or minor. Students are looking for classes where
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they can learn about LGBT identity, politics, and history.
10. Liberal attitude and vibrant LGBT social scene. LGBT students want to be accepted
fully. Students may want to live on a campus or in a city that offers queer entertainment.
Based on these criteria, would your school qualify as a LGBT-friendly campus? How does your
campus support LGBT students?
p.110
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
DAN SAVAGE
© AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Dan Savage (left) is pictured here with his husband Terry Miller (right). The couple married in 2012 after
Washington voters passed a ballot initiative extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.
After hearing the news of the suicide of Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old gay teen who reportedly
endured bullying at school, Dan Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, posted a video about
their lives—their family, their friends, and experiences they say they would have missed if they
had killed themselves when they were bullied as teens.
Explaining that gay teenagers do not have access to positive gay role models, information, or
resources, Savage wrote, “I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could
have told Billy that it gets better. I wish I could have told him that, however bad things were,
however isolated and alone he was, it gets better†(D. Savage 2010). Savage invited others to
tell gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender teens that “it gets better†and submit their video to his
YouTube channel. Savage (quoted in Chen 2012) explained,
The goal is to build and maintain these videos and all the support in them for LGBT kids who are growing up right
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now: 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds; people who are nine years old right now but who will see these videos in five to six
years. We want to make sure that videos are still being made and that LGBT kids know how to find these videos,
how to find us.
As described on its website, the It Gets Better Project has become a worldwide movement,
with more than 65,000 personal videos reminding LGBTQ teens that they are not alone and
that it will get better. Celebrities, politicians, professional athletes, and activists have posted
their submissions.
Visit the website at www.itgetsbetter.org.
Employment Protections. As of March 2018, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act had yet to
be passed in the U.S. Congress. Protections against public and private workplace discrimination
because of one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity exist in 21 states, the District of
Columbia, and several hundred U.S. cities and counties (Movement Advancement Project 2017b).
Eighty-nine percent of all Fortune 500 companies have antidiscrimination policies that include
sexual orientation, and 66% have policies that include gender identity (Human Rights Campaign
2015b).
What Does It Mean to Me?
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights
of lesbians, gay men, transgender individuals, and people with HIV/AIDS. The organization
identifies each state that prohibits sexual orientation discrimination in employment. Investigate your
state’s discrimination laws by logging on to Lambda Legal’s website. If your state has such laws, a
brief summary of the legislation is included.
p.111
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
INTERNSHIPS AND SERVICE LEARNING
Experiential learning allows students to learn from direct experience. It is the process of
learning by doing, also referred to as active learning. There are two types of experiential
learning opportunities that can help you learn more about yourself and help refine your
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professional goals.
An internship is described as a pre-professional experience. A student is employed in an
organization to learn job or career skills specific to an organization (social service office) or
occupation (social worker). Internships may be paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time,
completed with or without academic credit. Through your internship, you gain on-the-job
experience to include on your résumé.
Service learning is defined as “an educational experience involving an organized service activity
with structured reflection to guide students’ learning†(Bringle and Hatcher 1999). Usually
partnering with a community organization or program, students provide a range of services
such as painting, cleaning, food service, or working with individuals or families. According to
Sam Marullo (1996), service learning “bridges theory and practice, offering a crucible for
learning that enables students to test theories with life experiences, and forces upon them an
evaluation of their knowledge and understanding grounded in their service experience†(p.
118).
Internships or service learning should not be confused with volunteer community service. If
you are a weekend volunteer at your local soup kitchen, no one will expect you to write a paper
about your experiences. Experiential learning includes an academic component or expectation.
As part of your experience, you may be assigned readings and required to write a final project,
paper, or reflection journal.
Investigate your department or school’s experiential learning options. Some departments
manage their own list of internship placements or may coordinate with an internship or service
learning office. Consider the experience you will gain and the work skills you can develop.
Marullo (1996) asserted that through these experiential learning experiences,
critical thinking skills are enhanced because students are forced to confront simplistic and individualistic explanations
of social problems with the complex realities they see in their volunteer work. Real world problems and constraints
help students to develop their problem solving skills. Students’ conflict resolution skills are developed because the
situations in which they serve are rife with conflict. (p. 123)
What type of internship or service learning experience would you like to explore?
CHAPTER REVIEW
5.1 Define sexual orientation.
Sexual orientation is defined as the classification of individuals according to their
preference for emotional-sexual relationships and lifestyle with persons of the same sex
(homosexuality) or persons of the opposite sex (heterosexuality). Bisexuality refers to
emotional and sexual attractions to persons of either sex.
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5.2 Describe how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality.
Functionalists identify how society upholds heterosexuality and a marital union between a
man and a woman as ideal normative behavior. This is also referred to as institutionalized
heterosexuality, the set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the heterosexual
family as the societal norm. From the conflict and feminist perspectives, heterosexuals are
granted a privileged place in our society. Heterosexual privilege is defined as the set of
privileges or advantages granted to some people because of their heterosexuality.
Interactionists examine how sexual orientation is constructed within a social context. The
development of a gay identity has familial, social, legal, financial, religious, and health
implications.
5.3 Identify ongoing discrimination and inequality against the LGBTQ community.
One in four LGBTQ employees has experienced employment discrimination in the past
five years. Much of the discrimination is institutional: There are no explicit protections
prohibiting the denial of credit (including housing loans) based on sexual orientation or
gender identity, no consistent federal protections for students based on sexual orientation
or gender identity, and no federal protections that prohibit discrimination against
LGBTQ people in public spaces, such as hotels or restaurants.
p.112
KEY TERMS
bisexuality, 97
heterosexism, 99
heterosexuality, 97
homophobia, 98
homosexuality, 97
institutionalized heterosexuality, 98
LGBTQ, 97
master status, 100
queer, 97
sexual orientation, 97
transphobia, 98
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast the biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives on sexual
orientation.
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2. Examine how heterosexuality is privileged in society.
3. How, from a sociological perspective, is our sexual orientation defined/controlled by our
norms, values, and language?
4. Explain the role of power and privilege in understanding sexual orientation.
5. How has repeal of the military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†affected military service by
gays and lesbians?
6. Explain how gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals are discriminated against in the
workplace.
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p.113
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p.114
©iStock.com/michaeljung
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6
AGE AND AGING
Media Library
CHAPTER 6 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 6.1: Students Reside in Retirement Homes
AP News Clips 6.2: President Obama Highlights Issues Facing Aging Americans
AP News Clips 6.3: Aging Suit
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
6.1 Explain how age is both a biological and a social classification.
6.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging, and inequality.
6.3 Explain how age serves as a basis for prejudice or discrimination.
6.4 Evaluate past and present efforts to ameliorate age-based concerns.
More than 500 retired scientists and researchers volunteered as first responders to the nuclear plant
accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in 2011. The Skilled Veterans Corps volunteers
ranged in age from 60 to 78. According to Yasuteru Yamada, a retired physicist, “young workers
who may reproduce a younger generation and are themselves more susceptible to the effects of
radiation should not be engaged in such work. This job is a call for senior citizens like me†(quoted
in Glionna 2011a). The story of Yamada and his colleagues was characterized as “a lesson about
growing old gracefully, about demonstrating the sheer willfulness in an aging body†(Glionna
2011b). Yamada maintains that he is nobody’s hero. Despite their expertise and their willingness to
help, the volunteers were not permitted to assist with the cleanup.
Age is both a biological and a social classification (McConatha et al. 2003). There are social dictates
regarding age—socially and culturally defined expectations about the meaning of age, our
understanding of it, and our responses to it (Calasanti and Slevin 2001). We make a fuss over the
77-year-old Ironman triathlete and the 13-year-old college student because they are unexpected or
deemed unusual for people of their age. Age distinguishes acceptable behavior for different social
219
groups. Voting, the legal consumption of alcohol, military enlistment, and the ability to hold certain
elected offices (you can’t be president of the United States until you are at least 35 years old) are
examples of formal age norms. Informal age norms also demonstrate how a society defines what is
considered appropriate by age (Calasanti and Slevin 2001).
Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/Getty Images
Age is both a biological and a social classification. Active seniors expand our beliefs and expectations of elderly behavior and
roles.
p.116
Sociologists examine age and the process of aging through a life course perspective. This
perspective examines the entire course of human life from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood to
old age. The life course perspective tends to view “stages of life†as social constructions that reflect
the broader structural conditions of society (Moody and Sasser 2018). Aging occurs within a social
context: One’s social class, education, occupation, gender, and race will determine how one
experiences adolescence or old age. However, there is also room for individuals to make their own
choices in interpreting or embracing age-related roles (Moody and Sasser 2018). Gerontology is
the specific study of aging and the elderly, the primary focus of this chapter.
OUR AGING WORLD
Much has been written about the graying or aging of America, a change in our demographic
structure referred to as population aging (Clark et al. 2004). One way to confirm population aging
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is to look at the median age of the U.S. population. (The median age is the age where half the
population is older and the other half is younger.) The median age was 17 years in 1820 and 23
years in 1900, and by 2000 it had increased to 35 years. By 2030, the median age is predicted to
increase to 42 years.
Demography is the study of the size, composition, and distribution of populations, and
demographers have identified several reasons for population aging. First, population aging is caused
by a decline in birthrates (Moody 2018). With a smaller number of children, the average age of the
population increases. In 1900, America was a relatively young population, with children and
teenagers making up 40% of the population. By 1990, however, the proportion of youth had
dropped to 24%, where it remains today (Howden and Meyer 2011).
Population aging can also occur because of improvements in life expectancy as a result of medical
and technological advances (Moody 2018), improved access to health care, healthier lifestyles, and
better health before 65 years of age (National Center for Health Statistics 2009). As people live
longer, the average age of the population increases. In 1900, life expectancy at birth was 47 years;
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the life expectancy for a child born in
2015 is 78.8 years (Hoyert and Xu 2012; National Center for Health Statistics 2017).
Longer life expectancy has also made it necessary to redefine what it means to be old or elderly.
Gerontology scholars and researchers now make the distinction between the young-old (aged 65–
75), the old-old (aged 75–84), and the oldest-old (aged 85 or older) (Moody and Sasser 2018).
Unless noted otherwise, the use of the term elderly in this chapter will refer to those aged 65 or
older.
Finally, the process of population aging can be influenced because of birth cohorts (Moody and
Sasser 2018). A cohort is a group of people born during a particular period who experience common
life events during the same historical period. For example, the Depression of the 1930s produced a
small birth cohort that had a minimal impact on the average age of the population. However, the
baby boom cohort after World War II is a very large cohort, and its middle-age baby boomers will
contribute to the aging of the U.S. population. When Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, our nation’s first
baby boomer, born January 1, 1946, applied for her Social Security benefits in 2007, Social Security
commissioner Michael Astrue said it signaled “America’s silver tsunami†(Ohlemacher 2007:A1).
An estimated 10,000 people a day will become eligible for Social Security benefits during the next
two decades (Ohlemacher 2007). The aging of the United States is reported in Table 6.1. Data
from the U.S. Census Bureau dramatically show the effect of the baby boom generation on the
overall age structure.
p.117
TABLE 6.1 ■Percentage Aged 65 and Older of the Total U.S. Population: 2000–2050,
Projected
221
Source: West et al. 2014; Mather, Jacobsen, and Pollard 2016.
Note: The reference population for these data is the resident population.
Demographers predict that the number of Americans aged 65 or older will increase over several
decades. To provide a context for aging in the United States, it is helpful to examine trends in the
rest of the world (He et al. 2005). Populations are aging in all countries, though the level and pace
vary by geographic region. Fertility decline, improved health and longevity, and increasing
urbanization have contributed to the unprecedented growth of older populations throughout the
world. In 2015, 617 million people (8.5%) in the world were 65 years old or older; by 2050, the
number is projected to increase to 1.6 billion (16.7%) (He, Goodkind, and Kowal 2016).
Figure 6.1 shows the percentage of elderly in the population from 2015 and projected through 2030
and 2050. Europe and Northern America will continue to have the highest percentage of elderly in
the world, while the percentage of elderly in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean are
predicted to more than double as a result of high fertility and low mortality rates (West et al. 2014).
In comparison, Africa is the youngest region, still in the early stages of a demographic transition,
with high fertility rates and a young population (He et al. 2016).
FIGURE 6.1 â– Percentage Aged 65 and Older of the Total Population for Each World
Region: 2015, 2030, and 2050
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Source: He et al. 2016.
Gerontologist Harry Moody (2006) warned, “Population aging is a long-range trend that will
characterize our society as we continue into the 21st century. It is a force we all will cope with for
the rest of our lives†(p. xxiii). Population aging means an increase in the number or proportion of
elderly and signals the need for changes in health care, employment status, living arrangements, and
social welfare for the elderly and the rest of society.
The aging of U.S. society is likely to transform state, regional, city, and suburban populations,
creating competition over resource allocation such as funding for schools versus senior services. As
reported by the U.S. Census Bureau (2017), in 2016 the median age had increased in most areas of
the country. The state with the highest median age was Maine at 44.6 years, followed by New
Hampshire (43.0 years) and Vermont (42.7 years). The county of Sumter, Florida, has the highest
median age of 67.1 years, an increase from 49.2 years in 2000. The states with the lowest median
age were Utah (30.8 years), Alaska (33.9 years) and the District of Columbia (33.9 years).
p.118
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
AGING IN CHINA
The growth of the older population in China is expected to accelerate in the next 50 years,
surpassing the aging population in many Western European countries and the United States.
Charles Kincannon, Wan He, and Loraine West (2005) reported that more than a half century
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ago, 1 in 25 Chinese people was aged 65 years or older, but by the beginning of the 21st
century, 1 in every 14 Chinese was an older person.
©iStock.com/yanjf
Multigenerational households provide a safety net of support and care for elderly Chinese.
According to population projections by the U.S. Census Bureau’s International Programs
center, China’s older population will quadruple. Given China’s total population of over 1.2
billion in 2000, this accelerated aging process will involve huge numbers of people. By 2050, it
is projected, there will be 349.0 million people 65 years old or older in China, almost one
fourth more than the total population of the United States in 2000 (Kincannon et al.
2005:245). (In contrast, the 2050 projection for the number of elderly in the United States is
33.7 million.) The progressive aging of its older population has serious consequences on health
costs and access in China.
Elderly Chinese rely on a variety of sources for financial support. In 2000, just over half the
Chinese men aged 65 or over who were no longer working relied primarily on their family for
financial support, while 4 in 10 received primary support from a retirement pension. Older
women were far more likely to be dependent on their families for support (82%) and much less
likely to rely on a retirement pension (13%) (Kincannon et al. 2005:250).
The health care needs of the Chinese elderly will sharply increase in the coming years; the
country must consider medical reform and health care access for this growing population
segment (Hu and Huang 2016). Reliance on family support is greatest among the oldest-old
Chinese population, largely because they are not eligible to receive benefits under China’s
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pension system (first established in the 1950s and limited to those with at least 20 years of
employment) or, if they do qualify, because pension benefits are insufficient to use as the
primary source of financial support.
Currently there are four types of public health insurance systems: medical insurance for urban
workers, medical insurance for urban residents, a new rural cooperative medical insurance, and
public health insurance (Hu and Huang 2016). There is no specific insurance program for the
elderly (Hu and Huang 2016); however, since the 1990s, China’s government policies have
expanded community social services for the elderly. Community-based in-home care has
gained popularity in urban areas. In this model of care, the elderly receive supplemental or
respite care at home if their children work and are unable to care for them or if their children
do not live with them (Xu and Chow 2011). Researchers predict that as China expands its
system of social insurance programs, reliance on family support is likely to decline.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The younger population in the United States has become more ethnically diverse. According to
Sandra Colby and Jennifer Ortman (2015), minorities now constitute 50.3% of the population 5
years of age or younger (versus the proportion of non-Hispanic Whites, 49.7%). On the other hand,
minorities make up only 18% of those aged 85 years or older (81.5% are non-Hispanic Whites).
What is the impact of this race-generational divide for communities? What are some of the policy
and budgetary implications of this divide? How is the demographic profile changing in your
community?
p.119
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AGE, AGING, AND
INEQUALITY
Functionalist Perspective
Age helps maintain the stability of society by providing a set of roles and expectations for each
particular age group or for a particular life stage. These roles are reinforced by our major social
institutions—education, the economy, and family. We assume that children, 18 years old or
younger, should be in school. After high school graduation, young adults have the choice of entering
the workforce or continuing their education (where their student role continues), whereas adulthood
is a time set aside to build one’s career and to begin a family. Retirement is another important age-
225
related stage, with societal roles and expectations for a retired person.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The term boomerangers refers to young adults who leave home for college but return after
graduation because of economic constraints or personal choice. Surveys of recent college graduates
conducted in the early 2000s noted that nearly half of those surveyed expected to live with their
families for some period. According to Richard Fry (2016), 32.1% of adults 18 to 34 years old were
living with their parents in 2014. Young men were more likely to live with a parent than young
women. Is boomeranging a viable transitional stage for recent college graduates? For you?
Consider how each age group has its own function or role—the young attend school preparing for
their adult lives, adults are employed and building their lives, and the elderly retire.
Disengagement theory defines aging as a natural process of withdrawal from active participation
in social life. Older people disengage from society (from their work and certain parts of their lives),
and in turn, society disengages from them (Turner 1996). The theory contends that people enter
and exit a set of roles throughout their lives. These transitions are natural and functional for society
(Mabry and Bengston 2005; Moody 2006).
This process is portrayed as orderly, timely, and necessary for the well-being of the entire society.
For example, in the workplace, older workers must relinquish their jobs to make room for younger
workers in the labor market. This process is socially supported through retirement plans, pensions,
and Medicare (Mabry and Bengston 2005). Disengagement is portrayed as positive for the elderly
because it enables them to participate in activities and a lifestyle that earlier would not have been
possible (they may become more fully engaged in community, family, or leisure activities). The final
form of disengagement is death.
This perspective assumes that all elderly will eventually disengage from their social and productive
lives, when we know that continued activity and engagement remains an option for many seniors.
This theory also fails to acknowledge how vulnerable and powerless adults are in their older years. Is
disengagement natural or forced by society? The next perspective answers this question.
Conflict Perspective
The modernization theory of aging suggests that the role and status of the elderly declines with
industrialization. Specifically, their power, wealth, and prestige are linked with their labor
contribution or relationship to the means of production. In hunting and gathering societies, the
elderly had a low status because they were unable to contribute to the primary means of production.
However, their status increased during the time of stable agricultural societies, when older people
226
controlled land ownership. In modern industrial society, life experience is surpassed by technological
expertise; thus, the status of the elderly declines.
p.120
J.D. Pooley/Getty Images
The modernization theory of aging suggests that the declining status of the elderly is associated with their decreasing
economic and labor contribution. What status do we attribute to the position of store greeter? High or low?
From a conflict perspective, the two groups at odds with one another are the young and the old. As
Donald Cowgill (1974) explained, society systematically advantages the young, supported by what
he calls the “cult of youthâ€â€”a value system that glorifies youth “as a symbol of beauty, vigor and
progress and discriminates in favor of youth in employment and in the allocation of community
resources†(pp. 15–16).
Cowgill (1974) identified how four aspects of modernization lower the status of older people. The
first is health technology. Modern health advances improve the population’s overall health and
longevity. This creates an older and healthier workforce, willing and able to stay in the labor force a
bit longer: “As the lives of workers are prolonged, death no longer creates openings in the labor
force as it once did†(Cowgill 1974:12). Society then creates a new opening through retirement,
forcing people out of their most valued and senior roles in the labor force. Elderly workers are
reduced to retirement status with less income and influence.
The next two aspects, education and economic technology, are related to one another. In a modern
society, the young have more opportunities to acquire education and training. The status of younger
members of society is elevated because they become more literate than their parents. Society relies
on their increased literacy in the workplace, creating new information- and technology-based
occupations. The people most qualified for these positions are the younger, more literate workers.
Older workers perform more traditional jobs, some that are less valued or that eventually become
obsolete.
The final aspect is urbanization. A modern society is more urban, characterized by increased social
mobility and migration. Cowgill (1974) argued that the young migrate more than the old do. The
migration produces a physical and emotional separation between a child and the family of origin,
227
tearing down the bonds of the extended family. Yet it also promotes the cultural image of the young
moving to something better, while the old are left behind.
Researchers have challenged the assumption that modernization and economic conditions
automatically lead to the status decline of the elderly. Sociologists and anthropologists have
documented that the status of older persons varies by race and ethnicity, gender, culture, and social
class. Among Hispanics and Asians, where multigenerational households are common, the elderly
are respected and honored.
Feminist Perspective
Women constitute the majority in the U.S. older population. In 2010, there were 23 million women
aged 65 years or older, compared with 17 million men (U.S. Census Bureau 2012). Women
outnumber men in the older population at every single year of age from 65 to 100 years and older
(Werner 2011). The standards of our culture create more problems for women than for men as they
transition into their middle and later years. Women seem more vulnerable to societal pressure to
retain their youth and, consequently, face more questions about their self-worth, which may lead to
serious problems ranging from low self-esteem to depression (Saucier 2004). Questions about self-
worth and value are also raised in the workplace, where researchers have documented that women
experience greater age discrimination at all ages than do men (Duncan and Loretto 2004). In many
ways, aging is socially constructed through a gendered lens.
p.121
©Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images
According to the feminist perspective, beauty ideals shape the self-image of young girls, adult women, and older women.
Susan Sontag (1979) noted that society is much more permissive about aging in men. She wrote
about the double standard of aging: Men are judged in our culture according to what they can do
(their competence, power, and control), but women are judged according to their appearance and
beauty. Women’s identity is more closely associated with their physical appearance than is the
identity of men. As a result, society considers men distinguished in their old age, but women must
disguise the fact that they are aging. Sontag argued that because women are unable to maintain their
228
youthful looks as they age, they are pressured to defend themselves against aging at all costs.
Feminist scholars argue that the cosmetics industry focuses on a male and youth standard. Although
cosmetic products are advertised for women’s use (ever notice that there are no male cosmetics
counters at your department store?), feminists assert that the industry is responding to the male-
defined standard of female beauty. In addition, the industry is responding to the image of
unattainable youthful beauty upheld by society (Calasanti, Slevin, and King 2006). When Laura
Hurd Clarke (2000) interviewed women aged 61 to 92, she discovered that although older women
say that their overall health is more important to them than physical attractiveness, they still exhibit
an internalization of ageist beauty norms. As Sontag (quoted in Freedman 1986:200) said, “women
are trained to want to continue looking like girls forever.â€
This perspective also examines how ageism and sexism are reflected in the media. Older adults are
underrepresented in U.S. film, television programs, and advertisements in comparison with younger
adults, and older women are less likely to be featured than older men (Peterson and Ross 1997;
Sanders 2002). When older women are portrayed, their characters represent negative stereotypes
and are often shown as less successful compared with older men. Similar patterns also have been
documented in German media (Kessler, Rakoczy, and Staudinger 2004).
Interactionist Perspective
Interactionists reveal how our age-related roles are socially defined and expected. Age is tied to a
system of matching people and roles (Hagestad and Uhlenberg 2005). What does it mean to be
middle aged? Middle age is not just measured according to years but is also associated with a set of
role expectations. We share a definition of what it means to be middle aged, and there is an
expectation that we need to assume a particular role once we are middle aged.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Who or what defines aging in our society? How are these definitions perpetuated, and how can they
be altered?
p.122
These role expectations stigmatize particular age groups. Stigma, coined by Erving Goffman
(1963/1986), is defined as a discrediting attribute. Older adults are discredited in society,
stereotyped as less capable, fragile, weak, and frail. Ageism or the stereotyping of (or discrimination
against) older adults can damage the self-concepts of the elderly (Miller, Leyell, and Mazachek
2004) and represents a self-perpetuating cycle of fears that old and younger adults have toward
aging in general, disability, death, competition for resources, and the perceived inferiority of
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particular individuals (Yang and Levkoff 2005). These images may increase social isolation,
dependency, and elder abuse and may become a self-fulfilling prophecy for others (Thornton 2002).
However, researchers have found that older adults from cultures with more positive attitudes toward
aging than mainstream society may be able to avoid exposure to or internalization of the negative
stereotypes of old age (Levy and Langer 1994).
Interactionists examine how the problems associated with aging have been defined and by whom.
Society relies on trained experts such as gerontologists, physicians, nurses, and social workers to
identify and respond to the problems of aging. Yet research indicates that this group of professionals
is just as likely to be prejudiced against older people as other groups are. A. J. Levenson (1981)
argued, “Medical students’ attitudes have reflected a prejudice against older persons surpassed only
by their racial prejudice†(p. 61). He points to medical schools as part of the problem, putting little
value on geriatrics as a specialty. Doctors often think that because aging cannot be stopped, illnesses
associated with old age are not that important.
The medical industry has not ignored aging completely. Although controversial, the medical and
cosmetics industries actively promote antiaging vitamins, hormones, surgeries, and pharmaceutical
drugs, encouraging wellness to patients and clients while sending a message that they can “beat back
old age†(Wilson 2007:BU1). Americans spend nearly $50 billion per year on antiaging vitamins,
treatments, hormones, and pharmaceutical drugs (Wilson 2007). Are we responding to a genuine
problem or one carefully manufactured by the medical and cosmetics industries?
A summary of all sociological perspectives is presented in Table 6.2.
TABLE 6.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Age and Aging
230
p.123
THE CONSEQUENCES OF AGE INEQUALITY
Ageism
Ageism is defined by Robert Butler (1969) as the “systematic stereotyping of and discrimination
against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish this with skin color and
gender†(p. 243). Todd Nelson (2005) described ageism as “prejudice against our feared self.†He
suggests that age prejudice is one of the most socially condoned and institutionalized forms of
prejudice. For example, a standard message in birthday greeting cards is how unfortunate one is to
be a year older. In 2012, researcher Ye Luo and his colleagues reported that 63% of older adults
reported at least one type of everyday discrimination (e.g., being treated with less courtesy, receiving
poorer service, being threatened or harassed). Among older adults, Blacks; separated, widowed, or
divorced individuals; and those with lower household assets have higher levels of discrimination
than Whites, married individuals, and those with more assets (Luo et al. 2012).
Ageism marks a sharp distinction between “us†and “them.†William Bytheway (1995) explained it
this way: “The issues of these pronouns creates a conceptual map on which groups of people are
variously included and excluded. In particular, the old who are discriminated against occupy a
different territory on these us/them maps from ‘us’†(p. 117).
Older adults tend to be marginalized, institutionalized, and stripped of their responsibility, dignity,
and power (Nelson 2002). Dependency is one of the most negative attributes of being identified as
“old†in our society (Calasanti and Slevin 2001). Stereotypes about the capacities, activities, and
interests of older people reinforce the view that they are incapable of caring for themselves (Pampel
1998). Older adults are not generally disliked, but they are likely to be victims of paternalistic
prejudice, which stereotypes them as likable but incompetent (Packer and Chasteen 2006). There is
widespread acceptance of negative stereotypes about the elderly regarding their intellectual decline,
conservatism, sexual decline, and lack of productivity (Levin and Levin 1980).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 6.1: Students Reside in Retirement Homes
231
In a comparative study of young adults in the United States and Germany, German young adults
tended to view aging more negatively than did Americans in the sample (McConatha et al. 2003).
Germans were more likely to be pessimistic about the likelihood of finding contentment in old age
and did not expect to feel good about life when they were older. The study attributed the differences
in aging attitudes to Germany’s more prevalent negative stereotypes of older people, a response to
the increasing costs of providing extended pension and health benefits to the elderly in Germany.
On the other hand, in the United States, effective political advocacy groups, increasingly healthy
and influential older adults, and educational aging programs may account for a reduction of ageism.
The study also revealed that American and German women were more concerned about age-related
physical changes than were men.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Jasim McConatha and her colleagues (2003) asked young adult Germans and Americans what age
they considered “old.†The average age that Germans reported was 64 years for men and 60 for
women; the U.S. sample reported younger ages—53 years for men and 48 for women. What age do
you consider old? What expectations do you have about growing older?
Age and Social Class
The most economically vulnerable in our society are very young or old. As discussed in Chapter 2,
the rate of child poverty in the United States is one of the highest among Western industrialized
countries. According to the U.S. Census, the poverty rate for children was 18%, or 13.2 million, in
2016 (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017). For a more extensive discussion on children and
poverty, refer to Chapter 2, “Social Class.â€
p.124
Whereas most of us envision a retirement filled with leisure activities, travel, and good living, there
is another possibility—that one’s retirement will be a time of serious economic hardship. In 2016,
4.7 million elderly (or 9.3%) were living in poverty in the United States (Semega et al. 2017).
Retirement represents a precipitous income drop for most elderly (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and
Smith 2012). The median income by age of householder was highest, at $77,213, for those aged 45
to 54 years in 2016 (Semega et al. 2017). Median income begins to decline with the next age group,
those aged 55 to 64, to $65,239. Finally, for those aged 65 or older, the reported median income
was $39,823 (Semega et al. 2017). For 2012, poor older adults relied on Social Security benefits
more than higher-income older adults (refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for
more information).
232
The economic recession of 2007–2009 depleted the incomes and savings of many older workers,
leading some to admit that they are unable or afraid to retire. For example, 58-year-old Barbara
Petrucci, a hospital employee from Atlanta, Georgia, set aside her dreams for an early retirement.
After family savings were depleted by the declining stock market, Petrucci admitted that retirement
is “an elusive dream†(Rampell and Saltmarsh 2009).
As we discussed in earlier chapters, the inequalities based on race/ethnicity and gender will also
determine one’s economic status. Poverty rates among the elderly vary by gender and race/ethnicity.
Older women have higher rates of poverty than older men do, 10.6% versus 7.6% (Semega et al.
2017). Women are especially susceptible to economic insecurity because of a number of factors.
Women have longer life expectancies and are more likely to be widowed and live alone in old age.
Because of gender differences in employment and salaries, women are likely to have less retirement
income than men do. During 1999, women aged 65 or older received, on average, $8,000 annually
as pension income, whereas men received $14,000 annually (He et al. 2005). Non-Hispanic White
elderly have lower poverty rates than other reported racial groups. Blacks have the highest rate
(19.3%), followed by Latinos (19.0%) and Whites (7.4%) (Rhee 2012).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Robinson 2007), older women face
distinctly different challenges to maintaining their health compared with older men. The financing
and availability of health care is particularly important for older women. Because women make up a
higher proportion of the older and frailer population, are less likely to have a spouse to assist them,
and need more help with personal care and routine needs, older women use more health care and
long-term care services than men do. Most older adults are covered by Medicare, but because older
women rely on long-term care (not covered under Medicare), they make higher out-of-pocket
payments or rely on Medicaid more often than older men do. Women rely on informal (unpaid)
caregivers (adult children, family members, or friends), community-based services (senior centers
and convenient transportation), and formal (paid) care services (home health care and nursing home
care).
In 2015, children were at greater risk of poverty in 20 of the 28 European Union (EU28) member
states than the elderly. The percentage of children living in a household at risk for poverty ranged
from a low of 14.0% in Sweden to a high of 40% in Romania and Bulgaria. Childhood poverty was
attributed to several factors: parents’ labor market situation, household composition, and the
effectiveness of government intervention and income support (Eurostat 2016).
Health and Medical Care
Much as they are more economically vulnerable, the young and the old experience the highest
health risks among all age groups. We think of death as something that happens in one’s old age,
yet the age group with the highest risk of mortality comprises newborns and infants within their
first year of life. For 2017, the infant mortality rate was 5.80 deaths per 1,000 births (Central
Intelligence Agency 2017). The three leading causes of death among infants are congenital birth
233
defects, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. Among the elderly, the majority of
deaths are caused by heart disease, cancer, and stroke. The elderly also experience chronic conditions
such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart disease, which may contribute to fatal
disorders. The elderly are more likely to experience chronic illnesses than younger age groups do,
46% versus 12% (Moody 2006).
p.125
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
ELDERLY INCOME SOURCES
Retirement income has been described as a three-legged stool, comprised of Social
Security, private pensions, and individual savings and other income that yields income.
Social Security is funded through the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance
program. The earliest age that workers can receive benefits is 62, although benefits at that
age are about 25% lower than they would be at full retirement age. Full retirement is often
associated with 65 years of age, but your actual retirement age will depend on your birth
year. For those born in 1937 or earlier, retirement is 65 years. With each year from 1939,
the retirement age is extended by monthly increments. For example, for someone born in
1941, his or her retirement age is 65 and 8 months. Currently the highest retirement age
is 67 for those born in 1960 or later.
Retirement income is not equally distributed across the population of the elderly (Figure
6.2). Describe the difference in the income sources between the three income household
groups presented in Figure 6.2. Which group is more dependent on social security? Do
you think this is an advantage or a disadvantage?
Employment after age 65 is an option, but not for every elderly man and woman (Mather
et al. 2015). Figure 6.3 displays the labor force participation rate for older adults by
education and sex. What is the pattern of employment by educational attainment and
gender? What do you think? Which group is more advantaged?
FIGURE 6.2 â– Income Sources for the Population Aged 65 and Older, Lower-,
Middle- and High-Income Households, Percentages Reported, 2014
234
Source: Adapted from Mather et al. 2015. U.S. Census Bureau.
FIGURE 6.3 ■Labor Force Participation Rates of Older Adults Aged 65–74, by
Education and Sex, 2014
Source: Adapted from Mather et al. 2015. U.S. Census Bureau.
235
p.126
Geriatrics is a medical specialty that focuses on diseases of the elderly; some are chronic, not all are
life threatening, and others will eventually lead to death. The most prevalent chronic disease of the
elderly is arthritis, inflammation of the joints and a leading cause of disability in the United States.
Other geriatric diseases include osteoporosis (deterioration of bone tissue, prevalent among women),
Parkinson’s disease (a degenerative neurological disorder), and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
(progressive loss of mental abilities and functions). For the last set of diseases, it should be noted
that most older adults experience no mental impairment at all (Moody 2006). (A discussion of
caregiving and elder abuse is presented in Chapter 7, “Families.â€)
American elderly, who constitute 13% of our population, consume more than 35% of total health
expenditures—more than four times what is spent on younger people (Moody 2006). The United
States spends about 17.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care—the largest
expenditure in this category among industrialized countries. During 2015, total health care spending
reached $3.2 trillion, with an average of $9,990 spent per person (Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services 2016).
Sociologist Corey Abramson (2015) explained “when the challenges of ‘old age’ present themselves
to us, what they mean and how we can respond are contingent on inequalities both past and
present†(p. 2). Although life expectancy continues to rise, according to Abramson, “race, class, and
gender divisions continue to profoundly shape the length and trajectory of our lives†(p. 7). For
example, disparities in material resources and wealth shape seniors’ options, opportunities, and
outcomes. According to Abramson, seniors from affluent neighborhoods have a greater variety and
higher quality of local services provided by government and volunteer organizations. These same
seniors can also draw upon personal or familiar wealth (i.e., homeownership, pensions, or
supplemental health insurance) to support their aging needs. In comparison, poor or working-class
seniors have fewer wealth resources and are more likely to rely on public or social services than are
affluent seniors.
236
©iStock.com/CasarsaGuru
It is estimated that a million Americans live in some type of senior living community. There are a range of community
options, from independent living to skilled nursing homes.
p.127
Ageism in the Workplace
In some businesses, age discrimination has an acronym, TFO, “too f___ing old†(Fisher 2004:46).
Although much attention has been given to the marginalization of Black, Latino, or female workers,
members of another labor force group—older workers—have experienced their own set of unique
problems.
In 2016, 34.4 million Americans aged 55 to 64 were employed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2017). Helen Dennis and Kathryn Thomas (2007) and Linda Barrington (2015) documented that
ageism continues to affect the hiring and promotion of older workers and workplace attitudes
toward them. For example, in a field study, employers were over 40% more likely to call a female job
candidate for an interview if the high school graduation date on the résumé indicated that the
applicant was younger rather than older. Ageism restricts job opportunities for mature workers, as
they are not offered the same promotion opportunities, training, or compensation as younger
workers. Managers have mixed perceptions about older workers. Although older workers are valued
for their work habits, skills, and performance, negative perceptions also exist. Older workers are
perceived as inflexible, unwilling to adapt to technology, less productive, and more expensive (due to
health insurance costs) when compared with younger workers.
237
In the United States, older workers are protected under the Age Discrimination in Employment
Act of 1967. The act prohibits employers from discriminating based on age against people 40 to 64
years old. However, in 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court created a tougher burden of proof for
plaintiffs in age bias cases. An employee would have to prove that age was the decisive factor (as
opposed to a motivating factor) in an adverse employment decision. All EU countries have
legislation banning age discrimination in employment, although in the United Kingdom 65 years
old is considered the default mandatory retirement age.
In their study of older women’s employment agency placements in Auckland, New Zealand, Jocelyn
Handy and Doreen Davy (2007) identified gendered ageism as a key barrier to permanent full-time
employment for older women. Tracking women applicants in their mid-40s to early 60s, Handy and
Davy documented that these women, despite their skills and qualifications, faced negative
stereotypes concerning their appearance (looking their age) and a lack of “team fit.†One job seeker
explained how a placement consultant told her that she was not suited for a position because she
would remind the manager of his mother. Consultants valued physical presentation (beauty and
youth) and also acknowledged that younger managers would perceive older workers as a threat. The
older job seekers were often placed in low-paid, low-skill temporary positions. The researchers
concluded, “The gendered ageism affecting mature female clerical workers will not be solved simply
by countering common stereotypes concerning older workers’ skills and necessitates greater
attention to combating prejudices surrounding inter-age dynamics within the workplace†(pp. 95–
96).
The Columbia Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health sponsors the Age Smart
Employer Awards, honoring companies that retain and support an older workforce (Columbia
University 2018). Silvercup Studios, New York City’s full-service television and film production
facility, was a 2018 award finalist. More than half of Silvercup’s employees are over 50 years of age.
Silvercup Studios and the other award winners were recognized for policies and practices that
included tuition reimbursement, intergenerational mentoring and training programs, part-time
work schedules, flexible work schedules, and phased retirement plans. According to Linda Fried,
Mailman School dean, “No society can afford to lose the value that experienced older workers bring.
Engagement in meaningful employment is a core pillar of societies that will benefit from our longer
lives.â€
RESPONDING TO AGE INEQUALITIES
Social Security and Medicare are social insurance programs designed to protect citizens against a
specific set of risks. In the case of Social Security, the risk is that one might have insufficient
resources at retirement and that one’s resources might not last one’s lifetime. How much health care
will we need, and for how long are the risks addressed by Medicare? Both are proven, effective
antipoverty programs, supporting elderly financial independence and enabling the elderly to live
better and healthier lives (Feder and Friedland 2005). Since their inception, however, both
238
programs have been the subjects of much debate.
p.128
IN FOCUS
THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF YOUNG AND OLDER
VOTERS
Fitzgerald/CandidatePhotos/Newscom
Older Americans have higher rates of voter registration than younger Americans. In addition, older men and women
are more likely to contribute to a political campaign and contact their elected representatives regarding issues that
matter to them.
The enactment of Social Security, Medicare, and other old age–related policies has created a
political constituency of older beneficiaries (Campbell 2003) and, along with it, the perception
of political might. A form of ageism, the stereotype of “greedy†older voters willing to put their
needs (Social Security and Medicare) ahead of the needs of other age groups, is accepted in
many social, political, and media circles (Street and Crossman 2006).
Robert Binstock (2005, 2006) revealed some truths and myths about this perception of senior
power. He explained that the senior political power model builds on the fact that older people
represent a significant proportion of the electorate. Age is associated with voter registration and
actual voting, which is also related to the length of residence in one’s home, along with one’s
level of knowledge about political and social issues. Older persons are likely to have resided in
their homes longer than have younger persons, and older people tend to be more
knowledgeable about politics and news issues than younger people are. Studies indicate that
older persons’ high level of interest in politics does not decline even as they reach advanced old
age.
In addition to their higher rates of voting participation, the elderly have higher rates of
participation in other political areas. The elderly make campaign contributions at higher rates
than do younger people—about 28% of all contributions to the 2000 presidential campaign
239
came from older persons. Older voters are twice as likely to contact their state and federal
representatives about issues that matter to them as younger voters are.
So, what impact does the voting participation by elderly Americans have on elections? One
noticeable impact is on how it shapes candidate behavior—candidates actively court the senior
vote. Recent presidential candidates have made key appearances at senior centers or promoted
their proposals on Social Security and Medicare to selected senior audiences. But Binstock
(2006) argued that the senior vote does not have a “distinctive impact on the outcome of
elections†(p. 26). He explained that older Americans do not vote cohesively or as a bloc. Their
votes are as diverse as those of any other age group, divided along partisan, class, gender, and
racial lines. Age is just one characteristic among many that influence voting patterns.
However, according to Scott Keeter, Juliana Horowitz, and Alec Tyson (2008), young voters
have emerged as a key voting bloc for the Democratic Party. Since 2004, the majority of those
under the age of 30 years have voted for a Democratic candidate in the general election. In
2008, 66% of voters 18 to 29 years of age voted for Barack Obama compared with 53% of all
voters. This is the largest measured difference since exit polling began in 1972. Young voters
are more ethnically and racially diverse and are less likely to be affiliated with a religious
tradition than voters age 30 years or older. Additionally, voters 18 to 29 years of age expressed
liberal views on the role of government (in solving problems) and were more likely to
disapprove of the Iraq war than older voters. Although younger voters were less likely to
contribute money to a campaign, the 18- to 29-year-old voter group had a rate of campaign
event participation in battleground states higher than that of any other age group (Keeter et al.
2008). In 2012, President Obama received 60% of the youth vote in his campaign for
reelection (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement 2012). In
the 2016 presidential election, Secretary Hillary Clinton received 55% of the 18- to 29-year-
old vote, while President Trump received 37% of the vote (Tyson and Maniam 2016).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 6.2: President Obama Highlights Issues Facing Aging Americans
240
Social Security
Social Security was first enacted with the Social Security Act of 1935. A year before, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt convened an executive committee to examine economic insecurity,
responding to the nation’s Great Depression. The committee’s recommendation was to create a
program to address the long-range problem of economic security for the aged and poor, focusing
not on providing social assistance (such as welfare assistance) but rather on a social insurance plan
against an uncertain future (Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees 2007). We tend to
think of Social Security only as the monthly payments one receives after retiring, but the program
also supports unemployment insurance, aid to dependent children, and state grants to provide
medical care.
p.129
Demographic shifts have led to new ways to think about aging and economic security throughout
the world. The current public pension system in the United States and in most of Europe is a pay-
as-you-go system—current workers support current beneficiaries of the program (Curl and
Hokenstad 2006), or today’s workers pay for today’s retirees (Moody 2006). Angela Curl and M. C.
Hokenstad (2006) compared the U.S. Social Security system with public pension systems in Sweden
and Canada. In Sweden, pensions are based on average life expectancy at the time of retirement.
Workers can retire any time after 61 years of age, but the later they retire, the higher their payments
will be. Because of the availability of part-time jobs and the flexible work environment, the program
allows Swedes to draw a partial pension for partial retirement. The elderly can mix their
employment income with their pension funds. The system is funded by an 18.5% payroll tax (the
United States collects 12.4%). Unlike the U.S. system, Sweden’s system is partially privatized.
Individuals can invest the money from their pension account, or the government invests on their
behalf.
The Canadian public pension system is described as combining “income protection for older adults
with policies that promote flexibility†(Curl and Hokenstad 2006:95). The Canadian system has
three parts: the Old Age Security program, the Canada Pension Plan, and private pensions and
savings. The minimum age of eligibility for early retirement benefits is 60 years. Canada collects a
9.9% payroll tax to support the program. Like the United States, both Canada and Sweden have
residency requirements (persons must have lived for a certain number of years in the country) and a
universal guaranteed monthly minimum benefit. The researchers praised both countries for
promoting flexibility in retirement through gradual or partial retirement programs.
In the United States, policy analysts have long warned about the danger of having few workers
paying for the benefits for a growing number of retirees. At the time the Social Security system was
established, the elderly constituted 5% of the population (Moody 2006), and the average life
expectancy was about 50 years of age (Curl and Hokenstad 2006). The proportion of the elderly in
2000 grew to 12% and is projected to increase to 21% by 2050 (He et al. 2005). In 2017, the U.S.
241
Social Security Administration paid benefits of $955 billion to nearly 62 million beneficiaries. On
average, Social Security benefits represent about 33% of elderly income (Social Security
Administration 2017).
The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees (2007), a nonpartisan panel responsible for
reporting on the financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds, projected that tax revenues will
fall below actual program costs in 2017. That is the year when the program will spend more than it
receives through payroll deductions. The trustees predict that the trust funds will be exhausted in
2041 (OASDI Trustees 2007). Any worker born after 1975 will reach full retirement age after the
trust fund is depleted. At the release of their 2007 report, the Social Security and Medicare Boards
of Trustees warned, “The longer we wait to address these challenges, the more limited will be the
options available, the greater will be the required adjustments, and the more severe the potential
detrimental economic impact on our nation.â€
Medicare
The nation’s largest health insurance program, Medicare, covers about 56 million elderly or disabled
Americans. Medicare has two parts: Part A (hospital insurance) helps pay for care received as an
inpatient in critical access hospitals or skilled nursing facilities, as well as some home health care;
Part B (physician and outpatient coverage) pays for medically necessary services and supplies that are
not covered under Part A. Each part is financed under a different structure. Part A is offered as an
automatic premium because most recipients (or their spouses) paid Medicare taxes while they were
working. Part A is financed through a payroll tax paid equally by employers and workers. Three
fourths of the financing for Medicare Part B is received from general tax revenues, and the
remaining quarter is financed directly through paid premiums, $134.00 (for those with individual
incomes of $85,000 or less) or $187.50 or higher (for those with individual incomes higher than
$85,000) in 2017.
p.130
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
BARBARA YOUNG
Encore.org is a nonprofit organization supporting older individuals as they pursue jobs in the
nonprofit or public sector during the second half of their lives. The organization honors
outstanding older employees with the annual Purpose Prize (Encore.org 2014). Barbara Young
was a 2013 prize honoree (Encore.org 2013).
At the age of 63, Young joined the staff of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)
242
as a national organizer. Since arriving to the United States from Barbados in 1993 with her five
children, Young had worked as a bus conductor and then as a full-time nanny.
In 2001, Young enrolled in a nanny course for CPS and first-aid training, but the course also
exposed Young to the history and labor abuses of domestic work. Young described this as a
pivotal moment, helping her decide to change the way nannies and other domestic workers
define themselves and their work. “If the work you are doing is lifting up and enhancing the
life of another person, then that work has value. This is the work that domestic workers do, day
in and day out†(quoted in Encore.org 2013). Young worked first with the local Domestic
Workers United before joining the national staff of NDWA.
In describing her work as a union organizer, Young said, “The goal was to let people know they
matter, they are important, the job they were doing was important. And if I could get them to
come and be a part of this organization [Domestic Workers United]—for me, it was building
power, lifting up voices and building power†(quoted in Raab 2013). “And I want every
domestic worker to see themselves as professionals, and to really know within themselves that
they are a great big help and support in this economy†(quoted in Raab 2013).
Young was instrumental in the 2010 passage of New York State’s Domestic Workers’ Bill of
Rights, which requires payment at minimum wage, higher overtime pay, and paid time off.
Medicare does not cover all senior medical needs. For example, while coronary bypass surgery is
fully covered by Medicare, an annual physical exam that might identify hypertension or recommend
a preventative diet is not. As Harry Moody and Jennifer Sasser (2018) described,
No consensus has been mobilized to make Medicare a universal public program for long-term care, mental health treatment,
or early detection of illness, which might be beneficial in the long run. Medicare will not pay for regular physical
examinations or for dental care. … Medicare reflects the same priorities favored by the health care system for the nonaging
population. (p. 149)
Since the program’s inception, some have been concerned that Medicare spending, especially for
Part A, will outpace its revenue sources (Moon 1999). Medicare has been referred to as a pay-as-
you-go system; every payroll tax dollar that is contributed into the fund is immediately spent by
those currently enrolled (Goodman 1998). Since 2008, the trust has been spending more on benefits
than it has been receiving through payroll taxes. In a 2014 report, the trustees warned that the
Medicare fund would be depleted by 2030 (Social Security Administration 2014).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 6.3: Aging Suit
243
Political rhetoric continues to swirl around how to preserve the system while trying to expand its
services to an ever-increasing population of elderly. In 2003, the U.S. Congress passed the Medicare
reform law, which included a prescription drug benefit for the first time in the program’s history.
The bill provides for a prescription drug benefit for older and disabled Americans, offered and
managed by private insurers and health plans under contract with the federal government. Critics
attacked the plan for its coverage gap, arguing that the bill failed to provide seniors with substantial
relief for the cost of prescription drugs. Seniors with low incomes will qualify for extra assistance
under the bill. The cost of the bill is estimated at more than $900 billion over 10 years. Analysts
predict that the reform bill will have little effect on slowing down the increasing costs of
prescription drugs and medical services for the elderly.
p.131
The traditional nursing home care model is no longer considered financially viable or medically
justified. There has been an increase in the utilization of older adult managed care at home, at day
care centers, and in visits to specialists (Berger 2012). Similar programs have been adopted in
Canada, such as the Comprehensive Home Option for Integrated Care of the Elderly (CHOICE).
CHOICE has been credited with keeping elderly men and women healthier longer and out of long-
term care homes because medical workers are able to more closely monitor their patients’ health
(Howell 2011). Medicare and other medical service organizations have encouraged the use of older
volunteers as health coaches, advocates, and aides to help individuals and families navigate through
the health care system. For example, the Rose Community Foundation in Denver trains older adults
as community health workers (Pope 2012).
For more on increasing medical costs and alternative models of care, refer to Chapter 10, “Health
and Medicine.â€
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
SOCIAL WORK
Kacie Blanchard – Class of 2006
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Communications
In a survey of BA Sociology graduates, the American Sociological Association (Spalter-Roth
and Van Vooren 2008) reported that that largest category of alums working full-time (27%)
were employed in social service and counseling occupations. Social work is the primary
occupational field in the social services. Preparing for a career as a social worker can be
244
ambiguous, as positions vary widely, from caseworker to mental health assistant to clinical
social worker. To enter the field of social work, a bachelor’s degree is the most common
requirement; however, a clinical position may require a master’s degree and up to two years of
experience.
After completing her Sociology BA, Kacie Blanchard earned a Master of Social Work degree
in a two-year accredited program. She credits her internship experience with helping her
identify her career path. “I was unsure what direction my degree would take me until I had the
experience of working with child protective services. Once I had this opportunity, I knew I
wanted to attend graduate school and become a social worker. I then saw social work as putting
sociology into action.â€
In her current position as a medical social worker, Kacie works with clients to assess their need
for placement and home safety following changes in their health and medical needs. She also
conducts mental health assessments, identifying psychosocial needs to assist patients upon their
return from the hospital to maintain their health and safety. Kacie also works as a crisis
intervention therapist on a mobile outreach crisis team. In Kacie’s occupation, interpersonal
skills are important because of the specific nature of the work—helping clients from diverse
populations during some of the most difficult times in their lives.
When asked how she applies sociology in her social work practice, Kacie replied,
Knowledge of social systems and the entire picture of each individual with the understanding of psycho-social history
assists me each day to direct my interventions and predict outcomes. Sociology is the foundation of my social work
practice. Sociology ignited my passion and is the root of my daily interactions as a social worker. I continue to engage
my sociological imagination by remembering this foundation and applying it to my career as a social worker.
For current Sociology majors, Kacie recommends
focusing on an aspect of sociology that is most interesting to them, whether that be criminal studies, child welfare,
family systems, and use that as a starting point for a career. For me, my introduction into child welfare started my
career path that continues to grow. Keep your connections with sociology classmates and professors for networking
and support.
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CHAPTER REVIEW
6.1 Explain how age is both a biological and a social classification.
Our age is measured biologically, by how old we are, and we have socially and culturally
defined expectations about the meaning of age, our understanding of it, and our responses
to it. Age distinguishes acceptable behavior for different social groups.
6.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging, and inequality.
Functionalists rely on disengagement theory to explain aging as a natural process of
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withdrawal from active participation in social life; people enter and exit a set of roles
throughout their lives. Conflict theorists offer the modernization theory of aging to
explain how the role and status of the elderly decline with industrialization. The power,
wealth, and prestige of the elderly are linked with their labor contribution or their
relationship to the means of production. According to the feminist perspective, the
standards of our culture create more problems for women than for men as they transition
into their middle and later years. Interactionists reveal how our age-related roles are
socially defined and expected.
6.3 Explain how age serves as a basis for prejudice or discrimination.
Ageism is the systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people, primarily the
elderly. Age distinguishes acceptable behavior for different social groups.
6.4 Evaluate past and present efforts to ameliorate age-based concerns.
Social Security and Medicare are designed to protect citizens against economic insecurity
and lack of access to health care. In the United States, Social Security is a pay-as-you-go
system. Current workers support current beneficiaries of the program. Policy analysts have
expressed concern about the danger of having few workers paying for the benefits for a
growing number of retirees. Medicare is the country’s largest health insurance program. It
does not cover all senior medical needs and analysts have been concerned that Medicare
spending will outpace its revenue sources.
KEY TERMS
ageism, 122
boomerangers, 119
demography, 116
disengagement theory, 119
double standard of aging, 121
gerontology, 116
life course perspective, 116
modernization theory of aging, 119
population aging, 116
stigma, 122
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How do social norms—formal or informal—shape our definition of age?
2. Identify the societal consequences of population aging.
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3. Disengagement theory defines aging as a natural process of withdrawal from active social
participation. Do you think this disengagement is a natural process or brought on by social
factors? Explain.
4. From an interactionist’s perspective, how can we improve the status of the elderly?
5. In what ways are elderly women disadvantaged in society in comparison with elderly men?
6. Compare and contrast the U.S. Social Security system with the pension systems in Sweden
and Canada.
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
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OUR SOCIAL
INSTITUTIONS
PART
II
Émile Durkheim first described the importance of our social institutions. He likened them to
organs in a human body. Each organ does one specific thing—a heart is responsible for the
circulatory system, a brain is the key to the nervous system, and a pair of lungs regulates the
respiratory system. If something happens to the heart, its functions cannot be assumed by other
organs, and as a result, the body as a whole becomes compromised.
Social institutions are defined as a stable set of statuses, roles, groups, and organizations that
provide a foundation for addressing fundamental societal needs (Newman 2006), each with a
specific role in society. As discussed in Chapter 1, Durkheim believed that an essential set of
institutions is necessary for society to function. For our discussion, we focus on five institutions
—family, education, work and the economy, health and medicine, and the media.
If you’ve taken an Introduction to Sociology course, these institutions may have been presented
as the basis for socialization—what do we need to learn to make us human, and how do we
learn through each of these institutions? However, in the chapters that follow, our focus is on
the social problems affecting each institution. You will learn how the bases of inequality we
reviewed in Part I are intricately related to the social problems based in each institution. Each
chapter concludes with a discussion about the policies and community efforts that are being
made to address these social problems.
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7
FAMILIES
Media Library
CHAPTER 7 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 7.1: Defining the Family
SAGE Core Concepts 7.3: Multigenerational Families
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 7.2: Elder Abuse
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
7.1 Identify myths and misconceptions about families and family life.
7.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family.
7.3 Identify common family problems and discuss the ways they affect society.
7.4 Discuss social and political efforts to protect families and children.
Do you recall the first “crew†you ever hung out with? You know the one—all its members know
each other, speak the same language, laugh at the same jokes, dress alike, and maybe even look alike.
Sound familiar? These are the people with whom you slept, ate, and lived in your own home: your
family.
You may not always think of it this way, but your family is part of the larger social institution of
“the family.†Consider for a moment that your family was among the 82 million family groups
counted by the U.S. Census in 2016 (U.S. Census Bureau 2017). What does your family have in
common with the other family groups? Your first response might be that your family has nothing in
common with the others. No other family has the unique arrangement or history of individuals
related through blood or by choice. From this position, any problem experienced by your family,
such as a divorce, would be defined as a personal trouble. A divorce is a private family matter kept
among immediate family members. It would be none of anyone else’s business.
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If we use our sociological imagination, however, we can uncover the links between our personal
family experiences and our social world. Divorce is not just a family matter but also a public issue.
Looking at the recent divorce rate of 3.2 divorces per 1,000 people (Centers of Disease Control and
Prevention 2017a), divorce occurs not in just one household but in millions of U.S. households. It
affects the economic and social well-being of millions of women, men, and children. Divorce
challenges the fundamental values of home and love and the value of the family itself. Divorce could
be everyone’s business.
In this chapter, our goal is to explore this private, yet public, world of the family. For our discussion,
we define the family as a construct of meaning and relationships both emotional and economic. The
family is a social unit based on kinship relations—relations based on blood, and those created by
choice, marriage, partnership, or adoption. A household is defined as an economic and residential
unit. These definitions allow for the diversity of families that we discuss in this chapter, while not
presenting one configuration as the standard. As you’ll see, the family as we think we know it may
not exist at all.
What Does It Mean to Me?
In January 2018, a 17-year-old girl led authorities to her home in Riverside County, California,
revealing years of horror and abuse at the hands of her parents. David and Louise Turpin were
charged with torture, false imprisonment, child abuse, and abuse of a dependent adult. Authorities
described how the 13 siblings were beaten and starved, chained to their beds for weeks at a time,
and allowed to shower only once a year (Sanchez and Vercammen 2018). Neighbors reported that
they respected the family’s privacy and had no reason to interfere. This incident highlights how
family life is considered private by society and how, in this case, child abuse was unsuspected for
many years. What would you have done if you were a neighbor? Should problems in the family be
considered private troubles or public issues?
p.138
MYTHS OF THE FAMILY
The nuclear family—two parents and their biological children living together—is exalted as the
ideal family. Yet families are much more diverse than this. First, the percentage of families
composed of married couples with children declined from 40.3% in 1970 to 19.6% in 2010 (Vespa,
Lewis, and Kreider 2013). Take note—the traditional family form, married with children, is less
than a quarter of all U.S. households. The largest family form is married couples without children
(29.1%).
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Public attitudes are shifting away from traditional ideals of marriage and childbearing in Western
industrialized societies such as the United States, Austria (West) Germany, Great Britain, Ireland,
and the Netherlands. Zoya Gubernskaya (2010) found that female, never-married, better-educated,
employed, and secularized individuals had less traditional views about marriage and children.
Support for the statement that “people who want children ought to get married†declined in these
countries from 1988 to 2002. Gubernskaya attributed the increasing nontraditionalism to a rise in
secularization, a shift toward individualism, and an increasing focus on education and employment
achievement that are at odds with traditional family formation.
Second, the only increase in family groups during this period came in the category of “other family
households.†Other family households include families with other relatives residing, what we also
refer to as extended families. When President Obama moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
much attention was paid to the fact that his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, would also be a
resident. The last time a mother-in-law had been a full-time White House resident was during
Harry Truman’s presidency. Other family households made up 17.8% of all U.S. households in
2012, increasing from 10.6% in 1970. Included in this category are 8.2 million single-parent
families, 6 million headed by mothers and 2.2 million headed by fathers. Finally, there has been an
increase in the percentage of nonfamily households (refer to Table 7.1).
TABLE 7.1 â– Households by Type: 1970 and 2012 (Percentage)
Sources: Kreider and Elliot 2009, Figure 1; Vespa, Lewis, and Kreider 2013.
Note: Columns may not add to 100% due to rounding.
The share of adults living without a spouse or a partner increased from 39% in 2007 to 42% in 2017
(Fry 2017). According to demographer Richard Fry (2017), given the stability or decline of divorce
253
rates since the 1980s, divorce has not contributed to this increase. Men are less likely than women to
be unpartnered. Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree are less likely to be living with a spouse or
partner. White and Asian adults are also less likely to be unpartnered than Hispanic or black adults
(Fry 2017).
In addition to the false image of the nuclear family, we embrace other myths about the family. We
tend to believe that the families of the past were better and happier than modern families are. We
believe that families should be safe havens, protecting their members from harm and danger. And a
final myth relates to the topic of this book: We also assume that the family and its failings lead to
many of our social problems.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 7.1: Defining the Family
There is a persistent belief that nontraditional families, such as divorced, fatherless, or working-
mother families, threaten and erode the integrity of the family as an institution. These
“pathological†family forms are blamed for drug abuse, delinquency, illiteracy, and crime. As a
group, female-headed households were condemned in the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, also known as the Welfare Reform Act, for their
dependency on the public welfare system.
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE FAMILY
Functionalist Perspective
From a functionalist perspective, the family serves many important functions in society. Some
functionalists claim that the family is the most vital social institution. The family serves as a child’s
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primary group, the first group membership we claim. We inherit not only the color of our hair or
eyes but also our family’s social position. The family confers social status and class. The family helps
define who we are and how we find our place in society. And, without the family, who would
provide for the essential needs of the child: affection, socialization, economic support, and
protection?
Social problems emerge as the family struggles to adapt to a modern society. Functionalists have
noted how many of the family’s original functions have been taken over by organized religion,
education, work, and the government in modern society (Lenski and Lenski 1987), but still, the
family is expected to provide its remaining functions of raising children and providing affection and
companionship for its members (Popenoe 1993). From a functionalist perspective, the family is
inextricably linked to the rest of society. The family does not work alone; rather, it functions in
concert with the other institutions. Changes in other institutions, such as the economy, politics, or
law, contribute to changes and problems in the family.
Consider the education of children. Before the establishment of mandatory public school systems,
the family educated its own children. As a formal system, education has become its own institution,
taking primary responsibility for educating and socializing everyone’s children. Functionalists
examine how the institutions of the family and education effectively work together. To what extent
should parents participate in their children’s education, and to what extent is the educational system
responsible for raising our children?
Because of this perspective’s emphasis on the family and its social and emotional functions, when
the family fails—as in the case of divorce or domestic violence—functionalists take these problems
seriously. These problems afflict the family and, according to functionalists, can lead to additional
problems in society, such as crime, poverty, or delinquency.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
For the conflict theorist, the family is a system of inequality where conflict is normal. Conflict can
derive from economic or power inequalities between spouses or family members. From a feminist
perspective, inequality emerges from the patriarchal family system, where men control decision
making in the family. Persistent social ideals that view the woman as homemaker and the man as
breadwinner are problematic from both perspectives. Men’s social and economic status increases as
their work outside the home is more visible and rewarded, whereas women’s work inside the home
remains invisible and uncompensated.
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The family structure, as our society has come to define it, upholds a system of male social and
economic domination. Theorist Friedrich Engels argued that the family was the chief source of
female enslavement. Within the family, Engels believed, the husband represented the bourgeois,
whereas his wife represented the proletariat (Engels 1902). Among the middle class, where property
255
is the primary consideration, marriage was a respectable form of prostitution. Just as members of the
proletariat were oppressed in the economy, women were oppressed at home. Freedom for women,
wrote Engels, would come with their economic independence and participation in the workplace
(activities based outside the home).
Feminist theory also examines power within the family. According to this perspective, men can
maintain their position of power in the family through violence or the threat of violence against
women. Feminists argue that domestic violence cannot be solely explained by men’s individual
attitudes and behavior. Rather, violence against women is linked to larger social structures of male
dominance, such as political, economic, and other social institutions like the family. Theorists have
encouraged the integration of feminist analyses of gender and power to better comprehend the
mechanisms leading to violence, arguing that to stop such violence, structures of gender inequality
must change (Brownmiller 1975).
Feminist theorists acknowledge the diversity of the domestic violence experience (Abraham and
Tastsoglou 2016). According to Tricia Bent-Goodley (2005), “research has largely focused on
White and poor women, despite the fact that domestic violence crosses race, ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, religion and sexual orientation†(p. 197). She noted that this narrow research
focus has encouraged the perception that women of color, middle- and upper-class women, and
women in same-sex relationships do not experience domestic violence, despite evidence to the
contrary. And although data indicate that disabled women experience a greater risk of abuse and
violence in comparison with the general population, studies on the nature of the oppression and
consequences of domestic abuse against women with disabilities still remain largely ignored (Mays
2006).
Families are also subject to powerful economic and political interest groups that control family social
programs and policies. Conflict arises when the needs of particular family forms are promoted while
others are ignored. To resolve social problems in the family, both perspectives suggest the need for
structural change.
Interactionist Perspective
Through social interaction, we create and maintain our definition of a family. As we do this, it
affects our larger social definition of what everyone’s family should be like and how we envision the
family that we create for ourselves.
Within our own families, our interaction through words, symbols, and meanings defines our
expectation of what the family should be like. How many children are in the family? Who does the
housecleaning? Who gets to carve the holiday turkey? What does it mean to be a wife, a husband, a
partner? As a family, we collectively create and maintain a family definition on which members
agree. Problems arise when there is conflict about how the family is defined. A couple starting their
own family must negotiate their own way of doing things. Two partners may carry definitions and
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expectations from their families of origin, but together, they create a new family reality.
Problems may also occur when partners’ expectations of family or marriage do not match their real
lives. In our culture, romantic love is idealized, misleading individuals to believe that they are
destined for a fulfilling emotional partnership with one perfect mate. After the realities of life set in,
including the first fight, the notion of romantic love is shattered. Couples recognize that it may take
more than romantic love to make a relationship work.
p.141
John Ewing/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
Does the family pictured here align with your image of what a family is? From an interactionist perspective, how do we learn
about different family forms?
Conflict also arises when a family arrangement is different from societal norms and expectations.
Blended families, gay or lesbian families, or single-parent families become social problems based
only on how they deviate from the definition of a “normal†family. Society assigns meaning to
particular family groups or relations. More than half a century ago, when a child was born to
unmarried parents, it was assumed that the child was unwanted and that the child’s future would be
less than promising. There was a major social stigma with being referred to as a bastard child. But
because currently one in three births involves parents who are not legally married, and most births
are wanted or planned, the use of the term bastard has disappeared, as has the stigma attached to
such a birth (Rutter and Tienda 2005).
257
But definitions vary by culture. In South Korea, there is still a strong negative stigma regarding
unwed motherhood. In 2007, 2% of all births in South Korea were to unmarried women, compared
with 40% of all U.S. births. The Korean discussion on unmarried motherhood has focused on how
to eradicate the “evil†of unmarried motherhood as it threatens the patriarchal social structure (Kim
and Davis 2003). Journalist Choe Sang-Hun (2009) reported that “social pressure drives thousands
of unmarried women to choose between abortion, which is illegal but rampant, and adoption, which
is considered socially shameful but is encouraged by the government†(p. A6). Unmarried women
who decide to raise a child risk a life of poverty and disgrace, even being ostracized by family
members. Lee Mee-Kyong, whose family disowned her after the birth of her son, said, “Once you
become an unwed mom, you’re branded as immoral and a failure. You fall to the bottom rung of
society†(quoted in Sang-Hun 2009:A6).
Putting all our separate definitions of the family together, we create a portrait of what the family
should be like. But as some political and religious forces uphold and encourage a heteronormative
conception of the nuclear family as the norm, by default, other family forms are considered deviant
against some set of moral codes, or not families at all (Smith 1993). Heteronormativity refers to
the promotion of heterosexual, married, monogamous, White, and upper-middle-class norms
(Branzel 2005).
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However, in 2010, sociologists Brian Powell, Catherine Bolzendahl, Claudia Geist, and Lara Carr
Steelman reported that our definition of the family was expanding. In the 2003 Constructing the
Family Survey, respondents were asked about which living arrangements constituted a family. Each
survey respondent indicated that an arrangement with a husband, a wife, and children constituted a
family. However, the majority also defined the following as a family: single mothers (94%) or single
fathers (94.2%) with children and married couples with no children (93.1%). According to the
researchers, “the most-agreed-upon family forms tend to rely on at least one of two prerequisites:
the presence in the home of a child, and a legal heterosexual relationship—or, more precisely, a
relationship that is not a same-sex relationship or a cohabitating heterosexual one†(Powell et al.
2010:20). There was less agreement that an unmarried cohabitating couple with children could be
defined as a family (78.7%). For arrangements with same-sex couples, couples with children were
more likely to be defined as a family than couples without children (e.g., 55% of the sample defined
two women with children as a family compared with 26.8% who defined two women with no
children as a family) (Powell et al. 2010).
Refer to Table 7.2 for a summary of all sociological perspectives on the family.
TABLE 7.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: The Family
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What Does It Mean to Me?
From 2008 through 2013, 41% of all U.S. births were to unmarried women, compared with 28% of
all births in 1990 and 11% in 1970 (Solomon-Fears 2014). The fastest growth in nonmarital births
is among White women in their 20s with some college education (DeParle and Tavernise 2012). A
significant number of unwed mothers are in cohabiting relationships; women who have a nonmarital
birth are less likely than other women to eventually marry (Solomon-Fears 2014). Which
sociological perspective best explains the increase in the percentage of nonmarital births? Are
nonmarital births a social problem?
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PROBLEMS IN THE FAMILY
Divorce
If you do an Internet search on divorce, you might be surprised at your search results. In addition to
divorce facts and access to support groups, you’ll find handy guides to completing your own divorce
paperwork. Looking to save time, money, and pain? Please try our services. Looking for a divorce
lawyer? Why not search for one online? And if you’d like to send a divorce greeting card that says,
“Happy to be without you,†you can find one of those online, too.
Divorce was a rare occurrence until the 1970s. In the 1950s and 1960s, the divorce rate was about
2.2 to 2.6 per 1,000 individuals (U.S. Census Bureau 1999). With the introduction of no-fault
divorce laws in the 1970s, the divorce rate began to climb, reaching a high of 5.3 in two separate
years, 1979 and 1981 (U.S. Census Bureau 1999). The increase in divorce rates has been attributed
259
to other factors: the increasing economic independence of women, the transition from extended to
nuclear family forms, and the increasing geographic and occupational mobility of families.
Furthermore, as our societal and cultural norms about divorce have changed, the stigma attached to
divorce has decreased.
In recent years, the divorce rate has remained stable, around 3.5 divorces per 1,000 individuals in the
total U.S. population. The rate was 4.0 in 2000, declining to 3.2 in 2016 (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention 2017a). The U.S. marital rate declined during the same period: from 8.2 for
2000 to 6.9 for 2016 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2017a). When compared with
European Union (EU) countries, the United States has the higher divorce rate. For 2013 the
estimated divorce rate for the EU was 1.9 per 1,000 (Eurostat 2018). EU marital rates were also
lower for 2013, 4.1 per 1,000 (Eurostat 2018).
Recent U.S. Census data on divorce indicate that certain groups are more susceptible to divorce
than others. The divorce rate for adults aged 25 to 39 years has declined from 30 per 1,000 in 1990
to 24 per 1,000 in 2015 (Stepler 2017a). The decline in divorce is correlated with the delay of
marriage. Those who do marry are likely to be college-educated, and as a group, college-educated
adults have lower rates of divorce. In contrast, the divorce rate for adults 50 years of age or older has
increased from 5 per 1,000 in 1990 to 10 per 1,000 in 2015. The increasing divorce rate for older
adults has been attributed to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation. As described by Renee
Stepler (2017b), “Their marital instability earlier in life is contributing to the rising divorce rate . . .
since remarriages tend to be less stable than first marriages. The divorce rate for adults ages 50 and
older in remarriages is double that rate of those who have only been married once.†Stepler also
noted the negative effects of gray divorce: These divorcees are less financially secure than married
and widowed adults, especially among women.
Sociologists have paid particular attention to immediate and long-term effects of divorce on
children. In general, the research indicates that children with divorced parents have moderately
poorer life and educational outcomes (emotional well-being, academic achievement, labor force
participation, divorce, and teenage childbearing) than do children living with both parents (Amato
2000; Hetherington and Kelly 2002). For example, boys living with a divorced mother are four
times more likely to display severe delinquency or to engage in early sexual intercourse than are
those living in two-parent households (Simons 1996). Some of these effects carry into adolescence
and young adulthood (Amato and Keith 1991; Cherlin, Kiernan, and Chase-Lansdale 1995), with
more negative outcomes for adult females than for adult males, such as a greater incidence of
relationship conflict or difficulty with intimate relationships. Children of divorce have less
commitment to the idea of lifelong marriage than children from intact families (Amato and DeBoer
2001) and have a higher likelihood of instability in their own marriages (Wolfinger 2005).
Conversely, research also suggests that marital separation is beneficial to the well-being of children
(Videon 2002). Favorable outcomes have included increased maturity, enhanced self-esteem, and
increased empathy among children from divorced families (Brooks Conway, Christensen, and
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Herlihy 2003). Parent–child relations are important influences on children’s well-being, even
mediating the effects of marital dissolution (Videon 2002). Divorce is less disruptive if both parents
maintain a positive relationship with the child, if parental conflict decreases after separation or
divorce, and if the level of socioeconomic resources for the child is not reduced (Amato and Keith
1991). Coparenting is related to fewer behavior problems compared to parallel parenting and single
parenting (Amato, Kane, and James 2011).
p.144
Research consistently indicates that although men experience minimal economic declines after
divorce, most women experience a substantial decline in household income and increased
dependence on social welfare (Smock 1994). Data from the 2001 U.S. Census show that although
only 15% of recently divorced men lived in households where they (or someone they lived with)
received noncash public assistance, more than twice as many recently divorced women (or someone
they lived with) received noncash public assistance (34%) (Kreider 2005). As first reported in
Chapter 2, the poverty rate among female-headed households (no male present) is 26.6%, compared
with 13.1% among male-headed households (no female present) (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar
2017).
In his analysis of 14 countries in the European Union, Wilfred Uunk (2004) documented a 24%
decline in women’s median household income after divorce—comparable, he says, to the income
change experienced by U.S. women after divorce. Uunk’s research revealed that median income
declines were lower among divorced women from southern European countries (Greece, Italy,
Spain, and Portugal) and Scandinavian countries (Demark and Finland), but higher among women
from Austria, France, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom.
Declines in economic well-being also occur among women from previously cohabiting couples
(Avellar and Smock 2005). Cohabiting couples have more precarious financial circumstances,
experiencing lower personal and household incomes than married couples. After the dissolution of a
relationship, the level of household income for cohabiting men declines 10%, but it declines 33% for
cohabiting women. After the dissolution of a cohabiting relationship, women have a higher level of
poverty than men, 30% versus 20%. Hispanic and African American women are more vulnerable
than White women to experiencing economic decline. Cohabiting relationships may also include
children affected by the same economic decline. These children are even more vulnerable, because
cohabiting mothers have less access to their former partner’s income than divorced mothers do.
Violence and Neglect
INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE One of the myths mentioned at the beginning of this
chapter is that the family provides a safe place for its members. This myth ignores the incidence of
violence and abuse in families. Family violence is unique because the aggressor and the victim(s) are
part of the same relational unit, with emotional bonds, attachments, and particular power dynamics
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(Breines and Gordon 1983). Figure 7.1 shows percentages of various victim–offender relationships
in domestic violence victimizations.
FIGURE 7.1 ■Victim–Offender Relationships in Domestic Violence Victimizations, by Sex
of Victim (Percentages), 2003–2012
Source: Truman and Morgan 2014.
aIncludes intimate partners, immediate family members, and other relatives.
bIncludes current or former spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends.
cIncludes parents, children and siblings.
In the United States, more than 1 in 3 women (or 35.6%) and more than 1 in 4 men (28.5%)
reported that they had been raped or physically assaulted by a current or former intimate partner in
their lifetime (Black et al. 2011). Data confirm that violence by an intimate partner is a common
experience worldwide. A review of more than 50 population-based studies in 35 countries revealed
that between 10% and 52% of women reported that they had been physically abused by an intimate
partner at some point in their lives (Garcia-Moreno et al. 2006).
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Research has consistently linked specific social factors to family violence: low socioeconomic status,
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social and structural stress, and social isolation (Gelles and Maynard 1987). Feminist researchers
argue that domestic violence is rooted in gender and represents men’s attempts to maintain
dominance and control over women (Anderson 1997). Comparative data reveal how the severity and
pattern of violence against women is higher in countries with high societal violence and low
empowerment of women (Garcia-Moreno et al. 2006).
Studies have also documented how domestic violence is a significant predictor in maternal parenting
behavior. Intimate partner violence involving a female victim often occurs in a household where a
child is present. According to Alytia Levendosky and Sandra Graham-Bermann (2000),
psychological abuse, rather than physical abuse, is more likely to negatively affect a mother’s
parenting, which in turn is related to children’s behaviors. The researchers reported that a mother’s
experience with psychological abuse is significantly related to a child’s antisocial behavior. Children
in middle childhood begin to identify with the aggressor and act in emotionally aggressive ways
toward their mothers. Yet female victims identify positive and negative impacts on their parenting
from domestic violence (Levendosky, Lynch, and Graham-Bermann 2000). Battered women report
that their emotional feelings or concerns make parenting difficult, noting the reduced amount of
quality time or emotional energy they can devote to their children. But these women also report
increased empathy and caring toward their children. Researchers suggest that battered women
actively work to protect their children from the effects of violence in their household.
CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT Some children are subject to abuse and neglect in their
families. Whereas physical, sexual, and emotional abuses are often identified, cases of neglect often
go unnoticed. Physical abuse is defined as nonaccidental physical injury, from bruising to death;
on the other hand, neglect is characterized by a failure to provide for a child’s basic needs (e.g.,
healthy regular meals), and it can be physical, educational (failure to enroll a school-age child in
school, allowing chronic truancy), or emotional (spousal abuse in the child’s presence, permitting
drug or alcohol use by the child, inattention to a child’s needs for affection) in nature (Child
Welfare Information Gateway 2007).
p.146
The immediate emotional and behavioral effects of abuse and neglect—isolation, fear, low academic
achievement, delinquency—may lead to lifelong consequences, including low self-esteem,
depression, criminal behavior, and adult abusive behavior (Child Welfare Information Gateway
2006). In 2015, 683,000 children were victims of maltreatment. Most child victims, about 63.4%,
suffered from neglect. Tragically, about 1,670 children died as a result of abuse or neglect in 2015.
Almost 75% of all child fatalities were younger than three years of age (U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services 2017).
Multiple factors related to the child, the parent or caregiver, the family structure, and the
environment have been identified as contributing to child maltreatment. Despite that children are
not responsible for being victims of maltreatment, certain factors make some children more
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vulnerable than others. For example, children with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities are
at higher risk for maltreatment than other children. Infants and young children are vulnerable to
particular forms of maltreatment, such as shaken baby syndrome. Teenagers are at greater risk for
sexual abuse. Evidence indicates that many abusing parents were victims of abuse and neglect
themselves as children. Marital conflict, domestic violence, single parenthood, unemployment, and
financial stress can increase the likelihood of maltreatment (Goldman et al. 2003). Poverty is
consistently identified as a risk factor for child abuse. It is not clear whether the relationship exists
because of the stresses associated with poverty or if reporting is higher because of the constant
scrutiny of poor families by social agencies. Poor health care, lack of social and familial support, and
fragmented social services have been linked with both poverty and child abuse (Bethea 1999).
ELDER ABUSE AND MISTREATMENT The elderly are also victims of abuse, usually
when in the care of their older children and their families. Elder abuse can also occur within a
nursing home or hospital setting. Federal definitions of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation first
appeared in the 1987 Amendments to the Older Americans Act (National Center on Elder Abuse
2002a). Elder abuse can consist of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse, neglect or abandonment,
or financial exploitation. Domestic elder abuse refers to any form of maltreatment of an older person
by someone who has a special relationship with the elder (a spouse, child, friend, or caregiver);
institutional elder abuse refers to forms of abuse that occur in residential facilities for older people.
The number of U.S. adults aged 60 years or older is projected to increase from 35 million in 2000 to
more than 72 million by 2030 (He et al. 2005). As the population ages, there will be an increased
need for long-term care of the elderly, with spouses and adult children assuming the role of
caretaker. An estimated 15 million individuals provide informal care to relatives and friends
(Navaie-Waliser et al. 2002). Although caregiving can positively affect the physical and
psychological well-being of care recipients, the added burden of elder care may strain the family’s
and the caregiver’s emotional and financial resources.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 7.2: Elder Abuse
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The National Elder Mistreatment Study estimates that about 11% of community-residing men and
women reported experiencing at least one form of mistreatment (emotional, physical, sexual, or
potential neglect) in the past year (National Institute of Justice 2015). Financial exploitation by a
family member was reported by 5.2% of elders. Elder mistreatment, particularly with family
perpetrators, has been attributed to a range of explanations: family dynamics, low household income
or unemployment, poor health, the experience of a prior traumatic event, and low levels of social
support (U.S. Department of Justice 2015). A major risk factor is dependency: Abusers tend to be
more dependent on the elderly person for housing, money, and transportation than are relatives who
do not abuse (Lang 1993; U.S. Department of Justice 2015).
An additional risk of maltreatment was identified by Martin Stevens and his colleagues (2013).
Applying the interactionist perspective, Stevens et al. (2013) examined the relationship between the
loss of dignity among elders in long-term institutional care in the United Kingdom and
maltreatment. The researchers argued that patterns of micro-interaction—that is, positioning older
people with care as less able, less worthy of interaction, and not complete people—could lead to a
loss of dignity and increased risk of maltreatment. These interactions create and reproduce an
organizational culture that may facilitate or inhibit mistreatment.
p.147
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
TEEN BIRTHRATES
Based on data presented in Table 7.3, U.S. adolescent birthrates have declined since 2007,
likely influenced by increasing educational opportunities for young women, modern
contraception, rising age in marriage, and legalization of abortion (Lindberg, Santelli, and
Desai 2016).
However, historically, birthrates are higher among Hispanic and Black adolescent females
than among White adolescent females. Birthrates for Black (31.8) and Hispanic (34.9)
teens remain higher than for any other ethnic/racial group. The lowest rate was reported
for Asian or Pacific Islander teens at 6.9 live births per 1,000 women (Centers for Disease
Control 2017b). Although Hispanics and Blacks have the highest teen birthrates, those
rates have had the most dramatic decline in recent years. Since 2007, Hispanics had the
highest reduction of 40%, followed by Blacks with a 30% decline. The birthrate for White
teens declined by 11%.
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What do you think? What social factors may have contributed to the decline in teen
birthrates for each of these groups?
TABLE 7.3 ■Births per 1,000 Females Aged 15–19 by Race/Ethnicity, 2007–2015
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control 2017b.
Teen Pregnancy and Newborn Abandonment
The U.S. birthrate for teenagers (aged 15–19 years) is the highest in the developed world. For 2015,
the teen birthrate was 22.3 live births per 1,000 (Centers for Disease Control 2017b). The U.S. teen
birthrate has been attributed to a range of factors, from inadequate sexuality education to declining
morals (Somers and Fahlman 2001). Heather Weaver, Gary Smith, and Susan Kippax (2005) noted
that the number of births per 1,000 U.S. adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 years was 8.5
times greater than in the Netherlands, 5.5 times greater than in France, and 3 times greater than in
Australia. Research suggests that earlier or more frequent sexual activity among U.S. teens is not the
cause of the higher birthrates; rather, sexually active American teens are less likely to use
contraceptives than are their European peers (Card 1999; Kirby 2007). Jessica Silk and Diana
Romero (2013) argued that cultural norms in the United States are “less open and supportive about
sexual behavior among adolescents†(p. 1356). Although comprehensive sex education has been
shown to be effective in reducing sexual risk-taking and negative social and health outcomes, it is
denied to American youth for cultural reasons (Kirby 2007). The popular discourse on family values
and framing sex education as a family matter has prevented health and human service providers and
sexuality educators from delivering sex and health education to youth (Silk and Romero 2013). This
chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature provides more information on teen birthrates.
p.148
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IN FOCUS
TEEN PARENTING AND EDUCATION
© Sandra Teddy/Getty Images
Researchers have found that teen mothers with the best life outcomes are those who had higher educational
aspirations and better-educated and financially stable families.
Pregnant teens and teen parents were routinely expelled from school until Title IX prohibited
public schools from discriminating against them. High school graduation rates and college
enrollment are lower for teen mothers than for those bearing children later in life, although
some longitudinal research reveals that most teen mothers improve their education, income,
and employment over time (Furstenberg 2007). Frank F. Furstenberg, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn,
and S. Philip Morgan (1987) found that teen mothers with the best life outcomes are those
who have higher educational aspirations and better-educated and financially stable families.
In her longitudinal study, Lee SmithBattle (2007) examined the impact of parenting on 19
teen mothers’ educational goals and school progress. Contrary to popular belief, she observed
the teens’ renewed commitment to their education. However, based on the accounts of the teen
mothers, she discovered that “schools exacerbated their difficulties by failing to provide
educational options or by enforcing policies that disregard their complex realities†(SmithBattle
2007:366). She wrote,
In addition to work demands, family responsibilities, and transportation difficulties, school policies and practices
created additional barriers that undermined teens’ aspirations and hindered their school progress . . . continuing or
remaining in school was complicated by cumbersome enrollment processes, stringent attendance policies, lack of
educational options, and bureaucratic mismanagement.
Kate’s schooling was interrupted for a full year as a result of enrollment difficulties and limited-schooling options.
When morning sickness led to many school absences early in her pregnancy, she was referred to the pregnancy school
in her urban district. Because home tutoring was not offered as an option, she was forced to withdraw when enrolling
in the pregnancy school proved insurmountable. . . .
Kate’s mother added that “we just gave up†when Kate’s home school failed to transfer her transcript to the pregnancy
school in a timely manner. Jenna was also referred to the pregnancy program but refused to be transferred because of
its poor academic reputation. She dropped out near the end of her pregnancy for a full year because homeschooling
267
was not offered. As she said, “When I was 7 or 8 months pregnant, I stopped going to school. When the new
semester started, I withdrew, because after the baby, I would have had to wait a certain amount of weeks to go back
and then I’d end up failing. So it was no use.†. . .
p.149
[A] cascade of negative events, including inflexible school policies and disciplinary practices, landed Dawn, a suburban
student, in educational limbo. After being homeschooled for several months, she returned to her senior year expecting
to graduate with her class. She was eventually notified that she would not graduate because she had not completed
assignments for one course, presumably because the teacher of that course had not relayed them to her homeschooling
teacher. Deeply disappointed, Dawn resolved to return to school the following fall and take the few credits she needed
to graduate. At the beginning of the fall semester, Dawn was driving her son to day care, going on to school, and
leaving midmorning for work. Her plan to graduate at the end of the fall semester crumbled when the school principal
revoked her parking privileges for a declining grade point average after a car accident led to the lack of transportation
and several absences. Without a parking pass, Dawn could not drive her son to day care or go to work after school.
She was thoroughly discouraged and lacked the skills and family support to appeal to the school board. Her student
status was further complicated when she was kicked out of her home and moved in with her grandmother, who
resided in a different school district.
“I’m tryin’ to get into a school here in the city. But they’re tellin’ me that I have to go two semesters in order to
graduate from this new school, when I only would have had to go one semester to graduate from my school. It’s just a
mess . . . I actually want to go to school and they won’t let me because of something stupid.â€
At her last interview, she was considering reenrolling in her suburban school so that she could complete the few
credits she needed to graduate. Her plans seemed unrealistic because of the lengthy driving time involved (at least 30
to 40 minutes one way) and the complex scheduling that would be required with day care and an employer.
(SmithBattle 2007:360–63)
SmithBattle (2007) concluded,
The gap between teen mothers’ aspirations and the support to achieve them suggests that educators and other
professionals are missing a critical opportunity to promote teen mothers’ school-progress and their long-term
educational attainment and success. Schools that cultivate teen mothers’ educational ambitions may ultimately
contribute to positive chain reactions and the reduction of teen mothers’ prior adversity. (p. 369)
In Chapter 1, we learned how C. Wright Mills distinguished between a private trouble and a
public issue. Explain how Mills would define Kate’s experiences. Is she experiencing a private
trouble or a public issue?
Source: Reprinted with permission from SmithBattle 2007.
The provision of free or subsidized contraceptives is associated with relatively low birthrates (Sedgh
et al. 2014). The rate of contraceptive use at first intercourse was highest among Dutch (85%) and
Australian (90% for males and 95% for females) teens, followed by French (74% and 77%) and U.S.
(a minimum of 65%) youth. School-based sex education programs are mandatory in the
Netherlands, France, and Australia (Weaver et al. 2005). There are no federal laws in the United
States that require sexual health education in schools.
Teen mothers, in comparison with their childless peers, are more likely to be poorer and less
educated, less likely to be married, and more likely to come from families with lower incomes
268
(Hoffman 1998). Their children often lag behind in standards of early development (Hoffman
1998); are less likely to receive proper nutrition, health care, and cognitive stimulation (Annie E.
Casey Foundation 1998); and are at greater risk of social behavioral problems and lower intellectual
and academic achievement (Hoffman 2006). Early childbearing also affects teen fathers. Teen
fathers are more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors such as alcohol abuse or drug dealing. In
addition, they complete fewer years of school and earn less per year (Annie E. Casey Foundation
1998).
p.150
Significant public costs are also associated with adolescent childbearing. For 2004, the estimated
annual cost to taxpayers of births to young mothers was $9 billion, taking into consideration lost tax
revenue, public assistance, health care for children, child welfare, and the criminal justice system
(Hoffman 2006). Costs related to births to women 17 years old or younger were higher per birth
than for those 18 to 19 years of age.
Although teenage childbirth has always been considered a social problem, reports of abandoned
babies found in trash bins, restrooms, parks, and public buildings capture the public’s attention. The
first case that caught national attention was “Prom Mom†Melissa Drexler. While attending her
senior prom in 1997, Drexler gave birth to a full-term baby boy in a bathroom stall. She wrapped
her baby in several plastic bags, left him in a garbage can, and returned to her prom. She pleaded
guilty to manslaughter. There is no comprehensive national reporting system for abandoned babies.
The Problems of Time and Money
According to Beck (1992), “families . . . become the scene of continuous juggling of diverging
multiple ambitions among occupational necessities, educational constraints, parental duties and the
monotony of housework†(p. 89). In a survey conducted by the Radcliffe Public Policy Center
(2000), nearly all respondents reported feeling pressed for time in their lives, wanting to spend more
time with their families, have more flexible work options, and even just have more time to sleep. In
an analysis of couples in eight EU countries, Tanja van der Lippe, Annet Jager, and Yvonne Kops
(2006) concluded that work–home pressure was highest among couples from Sweden, the United
Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Even in Sweden with its family-friendly policies, couples felt the
pressure to successfully combine paid work and family life, especially when negotiating long working
hours and overtime.
Families with children must determine how best to provide financial support, while making sure
their children have parental time. Suzanne Bianchi, John Robinson, and Melissa Milkie (2006)
reported that in about 30% of families with children, both parents work full-time. Compared with
their counterparts in other countries, a higher percentage of American dual-worker couples work
long weeks (80 or more hours combined), leaving less family time during the week. Mothers still
spend more time with children, an average of 13 hours per week compared with 7 hours per week
269
for fathers. Mothers do most of the routine care (custodial daily care) of children, whereas fathers
spend their time with children doing interactive activities (enrichment activities such as talking or
reading to them) (Bianchi et al. 2006). To spend time with their children, working mothers will
reduce their time for housework, personal and leisure time, and find ways to multitask (Craig and
Powell 2013).
According to Lillian Rubin (1995), economic realities make it especially difficult for working-class
parents to maintain their juggling act. In her book Families on the Fault Line, Rubin documented
how structural changes in the economy undermine the quality of life among working-class families.
This is a functional argument: Because the family is part of our larger social system, what happens at
an economic level will inevitably affect the family. The reality of long workdays and workweeks
takes its toll on families: The loss of intimacy between couples, the lack of time for couples and their
children, tense renegotiations over household work, and juggling child care arrangements are just
some of the issues that working families face.
p.151
© REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
In 2015, military family members outnumbered military personnel by 1.3 to 1. There were 1,728,710 dependent family
members, including spouses, children, and adult dependents (U.S. Department of Defense 2016).
Rubin’s study shed some light on the condition of working-class families, but often overlooked is
the plight of lower-income families—too rich to be classified as living in poverty but still too poor to
be working class. In a two-year study, Lisa Dodson, Tiffany Manuel, and Ellen Bravo (2002)
270
studied lower-income families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Denver, Colorado; and Boston,
Massachusetts. The researchers concluded that lower-income families deal with basic problems on a
daily basis: managing the safety, health, and education of their children while staying employed.
Lower-income parents are not “bad†parents; it’s just that their parenting may require more time
and resources than they have. Among low-income families, there is a higher prevalence of children
with chronic health issues or special learning needs; at least two thirds of the families in the Dodson
et al. study reported having a child with special needs. These children require much more time and
patience from their parents, sometimes jeopardizing parents’ ability to maintain employment and
earnings. To support lower-income parents, the authors recommended comprehensive and flexible
child care, along with workplace flexibility (taking time off work, adjusting their work schedule)
(Dodson et al. 2002).
The recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars heightened our awareness of the difficulties associated with
families separated by war. Research on the adjustment of children and adolescents of deployed
military personnel indicates that the separation experience is stressful. Parental deployment has been
linked with several negative youth outcomes, including depression (Jensen, Martin, and Watanabe
1996), behavioral problems (Levai et al. 1994), and poor academic performance (Hiew 1992). Boys
suffer more effects of disruption than girls (Johnson et al. 2007). Because they are more aware of the
risks involved in deployment, school-aged children, compared with younger children, experience
more anxiety and concern about the safety of the absent parent (Andres and Moelker 2011). More
than 100,000 female soldiers who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been mothers.
As reported by Lizette Alvarez (2009), the majority of deployed women are primary caregivers, and
a third are single mothers like Army Specialist Jaymie Holschlag. While she was deployed in Iraq,
Holschlag’s 10-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter lived with their grandparents. Concerned
about the effects of her deployment on her children and herself, Holschlag requested a transfer
when she returned home.
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 was envisioned as a way to help employees
balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of their families. The act provides employees
with as many as 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also provides for group health
benefits during the employee’s leave. The FMLA applies to all public agencies and all private
employers with 50 or more workers. To be eligible, employees must work at least 1,250 hours per
year. In 2008, the FMLA was expanded to include families of wounded military personnel.
p.152
As of 2014, 11 states and the District of Columbia have enacted their own family and medical leave
laws, extending the coverage provided by the FMLA or extending coverage to those not eligible
271
under FMLA guidelines. In 2004, California became the first state to enact a law that provides paid
family care leave. The California Family Rights Act allows employees to take paid leave to care for a
child, spouse, parent, or domestic partner who has a serious health condition or to bond with a new
child. Paid leave was extended to workers to care for a parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, or
sibling in 2013. Employees who take such leave can receive 55% of their pay up to $1,067 per week
for a maximum of six weeks. The California law applies to all employers, not just those with 50 or
more employees (State of California, Economic Development Department 2014).
Although there is strong support for the FMLA and its stated goals, the act has also been criticized
since its enactment. Almost 50% of workers are not covered by the FMLA because they work for
private employers not covered under the law or small businesses employing fewer than 50 people.
Although it has been used an estimated 100 million times, nearly two thirds of eligible workers have
not taken advantage of the FMLA because they can’t afford the lost wages (National Partnership for
Women and Families 2009).
Community Responses to Domestic Violence and Neglect
Responses to domestic violence can be characterized as having a distinct community approach. In
the area of child abuse, the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention established
community-based children’s advocacy centers to provide coordinated support for victims in the
investigation, treatment, prosecution, and prevention of child abuse in all 50 states. Programs at
each center are uniquely designed by community professionals and volunteers to best meet their
community’s needs. One such center is Project Harmony, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Project
Harmony provides medical exams, assessment, and referrals. Project Harmony serves children who
are victims of abuse and their nonabusing family members. By placing project staff and
representatives from child protective services and law enforcement in the same facility, Project
Harmony attempts to improve communication and coordination among all professionals involved in
a child’s case. Refer to this chapter’s Voices in the Community feature to learn more about a rural
support program based in Vermont.
Since its inception in 1995, the Office on Violence Against Women has handled the U.S.
Department of Justice’s legal and policy issues regarding violence against women. The office offers a
series of program and policy technical papers for individuals, leaders, and communities to support
their efforts to end violence against women. These papers highlight some of the best program
models and practices and were produced by the Promising Practices Initiative of the STOP
Violence Against Women Grants Technical Assistance Project (Little, Malefyt, and Walker 1998).
Two featured programs, still operating in 2017, are the following:
• The Minnesota Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) was developed in 1980 and
serves as a national and international program model. It was the first program of its kind to
coordinate the intervention activities of each criminal justice agency in one city. Also known as
272
the Duluth Model, the goals of DAIP include victim safety, offender accountability, and
changes in the climate of tolerance toward violence in the Duluth community. The program
offers a men’s nonviolence education program, a national training and technical assistance
program, and a victim advocacy program for Native Americans through the Mending the
Sacred Hoop project.
p.153
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
PARENTAL LEAVE POLICIES
Rebecca Ray, Janet Gornick, and John Schmitt (2010) examined the generosity and the
gendered structure of parental leave policies in 21 high-income countries. The researchers
argued that the duration and benefit levels of parental leave policies are important because the
policies
can shape the time that employed parents have to care for family members at home. In addition, leave policies can
strengthen or weaken women’s labour market attachment, depending, to a large degree, on their design. Likewise,
leave policies can influence men’s share in family caregiving, as policy rules affect the availability of leave for men and
shape their incentives for take-up. (Ray et al. 2010:199)
Ray and colleagues’ analysis reveals a range of leave policies for two-parent families, from 14
weeks in Switzerland to over 300 weeks in Spain and France (refer to Figure 7.2). The United
States ranks 20th with 24 weeks. Switzerland ranks last but provides 80% of a mother’s usual
earnings during the parental leave period.
FIGURE 7.2 â– Total and Full-Time-Equivalent (FTE) Paid Parental Leave for Two-
Parent Families, in Weeks
273
Source: Ray, Rebecca, Janet Gornick, and John Schmitt. 2010. “Who Cares? Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality in
Parental Leave Policy Designs in 21 Countries.†Journal of European Social Policy 20: 203.
A second key dimension of parental leave is whether it is paid and, if so, how generously. For many low- and middle-
income families, unpaid leave is not particularly helpful because families cannot afford the time away from work. The
United States provides a striking example. According to a 2000 U.S. Department of Labor survey, for example, over a
22-month period in 1999 and 2000, 3.5 million people in the United States needed leave for family or medical
reasons but did not take it; almost 80% of those who did not take the leave said they could not afford to do so.
Most countries provide between three months and one year of FTE (full time equivalent) paid leave. Denmark falls
right at the middle of the paid-leave scale, guaranteeing about 20 weeks of FTE paid leave. No country provides more
than one year of FTE paid leave, but Sweden and Germany each offer 47 weeks. Five other countries offer at least six
months of FTE paid leave: Norway (44 weeks), Greece (34 weeks), Finland (32 weeks), Canada (29 weeks) and Japan
(26 weeks). (Ray et al. 2010:203)
The researchers also note that Australia and the United States offer no paid leave to two-
parent families.
What does the extent of parental leave coverage reveal about the social and familial values of
each country?
p.154
• The Women’s Center and Shelter (WC&S) of Greater Pittsburgh was founded in 1974.
WC&S coordinates its program efforts with the medical community, criminal justice agencies,
and other organizations. The program focuses on the ability of women to take control of their
own lives. WC&S provides comprehensive victim services, which include parenting education
and legal and medical advocacy. WC&S has also created a school-based curriculum, called
Hands Are Not for Hurting, aimed at middle and high school students in the Pittsburgh
274
Public School District. The curriculum uses age-appropriate lessons that encourage nonviolent
conflict resolution and teach youth that they are responsible for the choices they make.
The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) believes that community education and outreach are
important in combating the problem of elder abuse and neglect. The NCEA supports community
“sentinel†programs, which train and educate professionals and volunteers to identify and refer
potential victims of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. In 1999, the NCEA established partnerships
with the Humane Society of the United States, the Meals on Wheels Association of America, and
the National Association of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Directors. These organizations
were selected because of their unique access to isolated elders in their homes. The NCEA funded six
coalition projects in Arizona, California, New York, North Carolina, and Utah. The program
trained more than 1,000 professionals and volunteers to serve as sentinels; as a result, there was an
increase in the number of abuse referrals in communities where sentinels were used. Administrators
also noticed an increase in the level of satisfaction among volunteers, who, as a result of the project,
were able to assist individuals they believed might be victims or potential victims (National Center
on Elder Abuse 2002b).
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
WYNONA WARD
Wynona Ward thought she had left her violent childhood behind her. But in 1991, when her
sisters called to inform her that their brother Richard had raped a child in the family, she was
not surprised. The child had also been raped by her grandfather—Ward’s father—years earlier.
Ward describes Richard as “living up to his father’s expectations. He was expected to grow up
to be a child abuser†(quoted in Jetter 2000). Ward, her mother, and her siblings were
subjected to years of sexual and physical abuse by her father. She and other family members
supported the victim during her brother’s trial and subsequent incarceration. The experience
motivated Ward to enroll in law school. After graduating from Vermont Law School, Ward
established Have Justice Will Travel, a mobile law office serving battered women in Vermont.
Driving more than 30,000 miles a year, Ward is able to reach victims who otherwise would not
have access to legal or social services. With her mobile office (her truck is equipped with a
radio, scanner, computer, and printer), Ward brings support and hope to women who have
none. The group also provides transportation to and from court hearings and free legal
representation. Ward says, “[We] work with these women so they can become strong and
independent and self-reliant and be able to support themselves and their children†(as quoted
in Brown 2010).
275
Since 1998, Have Justice Will Travel has assisted 10,000 victims with legal and social services.
From its humble start at Ward’s kitchen table, the program has expanded to three locations
with the assistance of staff and student volunteers from Ward’s alma mater, Dartmouth
College, and other local colleges. Ward divides her time on the road between working with
clients and writing grant proposals to support the program. Growing her program to serve
more women and their families continues to be her goal.
Everyday [sic] in this country, we have more and more women that are working in social services, more women that
are entering the legal field, more people that can have empathy for victims. . . . Different donors have asked me,
“Well, how are you going to expand Have Justice?†There’s only one Wynona. But I say to them, “No, you’re wrong.
There are many Wynonas out there.†(Ward 2002)
How effective is Have Justice Will Travel? Does the program address the problem at an
individual or structural level?
p.155
Teen Pregnancy and Infant Abandonment
From an interactionist perspective, sex education has been framed as a private, family issue. There
are no U.S. federal laws that require sexual health education in schools. According to health
professionals and educators, this framework has denied young men and women access to basic sex
education information and services (Silk and Romero 2013). As a result, sexual health education has
been defined as the responsibility of social and health service programmers. In the 1980s, these
programmers defined prevention as an effective way to address the problems of teen pregnancy and
parenthood (Card 1999). In the 1990s, several new prevention approaches emerged, particularly
after the passage of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. Under Section 905 of the act, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services was mandated to ensure that at least 25% of all U.S.
communities had teen pregnancy prevention programs in place. Most states identified target goals
related to teen birthrates.
Curriculum-based sexual health education programs are categorized into two groups (Kirby 2007).
The most prominent form, abstinence-only programs, promotes abstinence from sex and not
condom or other contraceptive use. Comprehensive programs promote abstinence along with
condom and other contraceptive use. Programming in both groups may vary. For example, some
abstinence programs emphasize abstinence until marriage, whereas others do not. Some
comprehensive programs feature only an educational component; others include contraceptive
services.
In his review of abstinence-only program evaluations, Douglas Kirby (2007) noted that only a small
number of abstinence programs have been evaluated. He concluded, based on the limited research,
that there was little evidence to suggest that any particular abstinence program delays the initiation
of sex. Kirby found that comprehensive programs were more likely to have a positive impact on teen
276
sexual behavior—at least 40% of the programs resulted in increased condom and contraceptive use.
Researchers also documented increased abstinence, reduced numbers of sexual partners, and delayed
initiation of sex among students participating in comprehensive programs.
In response to newborn and infant abandonment, since 1999 all states have passed laws that offer
safe and confidential means to relinquish unwanted newborns without the threat of prosecution for
child abandonment. State laws vary according to the child’s age (72 hours to 1 year old) and the
personnel or places authorized to accept the infant (hospital personnel, emergency rooms, church,
and police).
It is unclear how effective these safe-surrender or safe-haven laws have been in reducing infant
abandonment or death. New Jersey, home of the first infant abandonment case that gained national
attention, passed a safe-haven law in August 2000. It is estimated that more than 100 New Jersey
babies have been surrendered and were adopted, placed in foster care, or returned to their mothers
since the law was enacted. In 2006, however, six dead newborns were found abandoned in New
York, despite the state’s safe-haven laws. Critics argue that the state’s safe-haven laws were poorly
advertised, with most residents not knowing about the laws’ provisions. In Illinois, a discussion of
the safe-haven law is included in the high school health curriculum, possibly ensuring more
awareness among high-risk youth (Buckley 2007).
In 2007, a mother abandoned her 3-month-old baby boy at a neonatal clinic in Rome, Italy. She
was the first to use Casilino Polyclinic’s modern foundling wheel. The original foundling wheel,
used in the Middle Ages, was a revolving wooden barrel built into the church’s exterior wall; the
mother could deposit her baby and turn the wheel, and the baby would be safely protected inside the
church. The Rome clinic uses a small modern structure equipped with a heated cradle and a
respirator. Also available at other Italian hospitals and churches, these structures are equipped with
an alarm to alert medical or church staff when a child is deposited. Foundling wheels or designated
drop-off locations for unwanted newborns are used in other countries such as Germany,
Switzerland, and the Czech Republic (Povoledo 2007).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Investigate your state’s safe-haven law. What are the features of the law? What protections does it
offer the mother? How many children have been protected under the law? How well do you think
the law has been promoted?
Expanding the Definition of Family
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The family traditionally defined as a nuclear form of mom, dad, and children is in decline.
Sociologist Judith Stacey (1996) described how the nuclear family system has been replaced by what
she calls a postmodern family condition, one characterized by diverse family patterns and forms,
where no single family form is dominant. Broader definitions of the family cover a range of
relationships, living arrangements, and emotional and financial support arrangements (Harris 2008).
Indeed, “a single, all-encompassing definition of ‘family’ may be impossible to achieve†(Erera 2002,
p. 3).
The proportion of nuclear families is decreasing and being replaced with family structures that
include single-parent, blended, adoptive, foster, grandparent, and same-sex-partner households
(Copeland and White 1991). The increasing diversity of American families requires that we
broaden our research and policy agendas beyond traditional family forms (Demo 1992). Perhaps one
solution to the “problem†of families is to appreciate and embrace other family forms. Let’s examine
two family forms: cohabitation and grandparents as primary caregivers to grandchildren.
COHABITATION Larry Bumpass (1998) argued that the increase in cohabitation reflects and
reinforces the declining significance of marriage as a life course marker in our society. He reported
that almost half of the young adults in the United States have lived in a cohabiting union at some
point in their lives, a trend reflected in most Western societies. Cohabiting is defined as sexual
partners not married to each other but residing in the same household.
In total, 7% of U.S. adults (or 18 million) were cohabiting in 2016 (Stepler 2017b). Almost half of
the adult cohabitors are between 18 and 24 years of age. Data on the proportion of households
cohabiting for selected countries are presented in Figure 7.3. In 11 European countries, cohabiting
partners have the possibility of entering a civil union (via registration) other than marriage. In other
countries, cohabiting couples who have not registered their union, but have lived together for a
specific period of time, are considered to have the same legal rights and obligations as married
couples or partners who have formalized their relationships. For example, in Australia and New
Zealand, couples living together for a specific period of time are legally considered to be in a
partnership with status equal to marriage (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development 2010). Many countries have responded to the increasing number of cohabitating
couples by expanding their rights and legal recognition.
FIGURE 7.3 â– Percentage of Cohabiting Households for Selected Countries, 2011
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Source: Adapted from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2016.
Researchers acknowledge that not all cohabitations will eventually lead to marriage and may instead
serve as alternative forms of marriage (Manning and Smock 2002), even though marriage still
represents the cultural ideal, signaling a higher level of commitment. For many, cohabitation is
considered a pathway to marriage. The percentage of marriages that began as cohabitating
relationships rose from 41% in the early 1980s to 65% of marriages between 1995 and 2002
(Manning and Jones 2006).
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Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and David Popenoe (2005) cited a study that concluded that premarital
cohabitation, when limited to a woman’s future husband, was not associated with an elevated risk of
divorce. Conversely, they observed, “No evidence has yet been found that those who cohabit before
marriage have stronger marriages than those who do not.†For data collected in 2002, the
probability of a woman’s marriage lasting 10 years if she had cohabited before marriage was lower
than the probability of a woman’s marriage lasting the same amount of time if she did not cohabit
before marriage (61% vs. 66%) (Goodwin, Mosher, and Chandra 2010). However, the difference
between the two groups is not significant. If a couple were engaged when they began cohabiting, the
probability that the woman’s marriage would survive 10 years was similar (65%) to the probability
for couples who did not cohabit at all (66%) (Goodwin et al. 2010).
The increase of cohabitation has coincided with the increase in unmarried childbearing—more than
40% of cohabiting couple households contain children (National Marriage Project 2013). Although
data indicate that about two fifths of all children will live with their mother and a cohabiting partner
and that about a third of the time children spend with unmarried mothers is spent in a cohabiting
relationship, family scholars acknowledge that more needs to be known about the impact of
cohabitation on the family experiences and life outcomes of these children (Bumpass and Lu 2000).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Does cohabitation threaten the institution of marriage? How does it redefine or challenge our
definition of the “family�
GRANDPARENTS AS PARENTS Fifty-nine-year-old Pat and Ken Owens of Lewistown,
Maryland, are the primary caretakers of their grandchildren, Michael and Brandi (Armas 2002). In
2014, an estimated 1.5 million children lived their grandparents, without a parent present, an
increase from 950,000 children living with their grandparents in 1970 (U.S. Census Bureau 2015).
In comparison with households with one or two parents, children living with grandparents are more
likely to live in poverty and have limited access to health care and other resources (Ellis and
Simmons 2014). The role of grandparents as primary guardians to grandchildren has not been
addressed in many other countries. In the United Kingdom, a study of 870 grandparents revealed
that only 0.5% had custodial care of their grandchildren, while 61% were their grandchild’s regular
day care provider (Clarke and Roberts 2004).
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Grandparents may assume caretaking responsibilities when parents are unable to live with or care
for their children because of death, illness, divorce, incarceration, substance abuse, or child abuse or
neglect. According to U.S. Census data, in 2012, White children were more likely than children of
other ethnic/racial groups to live in a grandparent’s household with or without a parent present
(Ellis and Simmons 2014). The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been identified as a significant
contributor to African American grandparents assuming primary parenting roles (Crewe 2012).
Pat and Ken Owens had not heard from Michael and Brandi’s mother for two years and had only
recently begun receiving financial support from Michael’s father. The alternative for their
grandchildren would have been foster care, something that Pat Owens did not want to happen: “I
don’t want to make it sound like it’s easy because there are some tough, tense times. But I’m very
proud of the fact that all the grandchildren still play together and go to school together†(Armas
2002:A6).
Research identifies how grandparents who care for their grandchildren are at high risk for emotional
and physical distress. This distress is related to a deficit of social resources, such as marital status,
social support, economic resources, and the demands of the caregiving role itself. Grandparent
caregivers are more likely to experience depression and suffer from fair to poor physical health and
activity limitations than are grandparents in more traditional roles (Chase Goodman and Silverstein
2006). Counseling and the use of school programs (tutoring and special education) provide
grandparents and grandchildren some emotional and academic support (Trail Ross and Aday 2006;
Kelch-Oliver 2011). Despite the negative consequences, grandparents also report satisfaction and
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rewards related to caring for their grandchildren.
©iStock.com/mihailomilovanovic
Grandparents may assume caretaking responsibilities when parents are unable to live with or care for their children.
According to the U.S. Census, White children are more likely than children of other racial or ethnic groups to live in a
grandparent’s household with or without a parent present.
The sudden responsibility for children leaves many grandparents on fixed incomes with unexpected
financial burdens. In one study, children living in a grandparent’s household without a parent
present were twice as likely to be living below the poverty level as were children living with both
grandparents and a parent. Children who lived with just their grandparents were also at risk of not
being covered by health insurance (Fields 2003). If eligible, grandparents can get assistance through
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Some states, such as Illinois, Pennsylvania,
and Wisconsin, offer guardianship or kinship care subsidy programs for grandparents.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 7.3: Multigenerational Families
Emotional and social support is available for grandparent-headed households. Local grandparent
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support groups are listed by organizations such as AARP and Generations United. These
organizations also provide fact sheets, community links, and suggestions for clothing and school
supplies, recipes, and travel and activity guides for grandparents and their grandchildren. AARP
(2002) has recognized several model support programs such as the Kinship Support Network in San
Francisco, California; Project Healthy Grandparents in Atlanta, Georgia; and Grandma’s Kids
Kinship Support Program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
PARALEGALS AND LEGAL ASSISTANTS
Carlos Sandoval—Class of 2013
Undergraduate Major: Sociology Undergraduate Minor(s): Philosophy, Religion
Paralegals and legal assistants do a variety of tasks to support lawyers in law firms, corporate
legal departments, and government agencies. Many law firms utilize paralegals and legal
assistants in an attempt to lower their expenses and billing costs to clients and to increase the
efficiency of their legal services (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014). Carlos Sandoval
initially wanted to work for a police department or correctional facility, but after graduating he
was hired as a legal assistant for a county prosecutor’s office. He is currently assigned to the
Family Support Division doing mostly clerical work, interacting with clients, organizing files
and documents, scheduling hearings, and mailing out notices for court dates.
There are many ways to become a paralegal or legal assistant. Some community colleges offer
an associate’s degree in paralegal studies, and some law firms hire college graduates with a
bachelor’s degree (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014). Previous work experience is preferred
but not necessary. During Carlos’s job interview, sociology helped him address his lack of job
experience:
Having minimal work experience, it is hard to talk about what skills you have or how you can apply your previous
experience to this new job. That being said, as soon as I walked into the interview, I tried to apply sociology to every
question I was asked. This allowed me to continue talking about any particular subject with confidence. For example,
one of the questions asked was “How do you feel about working with minority groups and groups from lower-income
families?†I began by explaining what I know about groups in poverty and minority groups and how they may be less
fortunate than others and not have all the resources they may need. I don’t remember much from the interview, but I
do remember having used sociology in each of my answers.
Carlos credits his internship experiences at a juvenile detention center and at a child protective
services office with helping him develop work experiences with clients and confidential cases.
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He says,
Although they may have not been related to my job now, my previous employers gave excellent references for my
work ethic and skills. At the end of the day, all an employer wants is a good worker and someone they can see
themselves working with. I believe it was my interview and references that gave me this job.
Carlos offers the following career and job search advice for undergraduates:
The first advice I would give is to do as many internships and volunteer positions as you can for the field you are
trying to work in. Even if the job is not directly relatable, the reference you will receive from doing good work is truly
invaluable. This also allows you to experience different fields and find out which is right for you. Next I would say
apply for as many jobs as possible. Many employers take a long time to hire someone. Even though it feels like
everyone is rejecting you, employers will begin to call back all at the same time. Also, visit any and all preparedness
workshops, if they are available. Especially for government jobs with standardized tests, there are workshops and
practice tests that are available; people often fail for simply not studying.
CHAPTER REVIEW
7.1 Identify myths and misconceptions about families and family life.
Although the nuclear family is exalted as the ideal family in the United States, in reality,
families are much more diverse. Many women in Western countries have less traditional
views about marriage and baring children. Similarly, fewer people believe that people who
want children should be married. Extended families, single parent families, and
cohabitation are also common.
7.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family.
From a functionalist perspective, social problems emerge as the family struggles to adapt
to a modern society. According to conflict theory, the family is a system of inequality
where conflict is normal. Conflict can derive from economic or power inequalities
between spouses or family members. From a feminist perspective, inequality emerges from
the patriarchal family system, where men control decision-making in the family.
According to interactionists, we create and maintain our definition of a family through
social interaction. This process affects our larger social definition what everyone’s family
should be like and the kind of family that we create for ourselves.
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7.3 Identify common family problems and discuss the ways they affect society.
Every year, there are about 3.5 divorces per 1,000 individuals in the United States.
Marriage rates have declined at the same time. While children of divorce may have less
commitment to the idea of lifelong marriage, there is also research to suggest that marital
separation is beneficial to children. Women often experience a substantial decline in
household income after divorce, while men do not. Intimate partner violence, child abuse
and neglect, and elder abuse and mistreatment can substantially affect families as a whole.
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The birth rate among teens in the United States is the highest in the world. Teen mothers
are more likely to be poor and are less likely to be educated or married and are more likely
to come from low income families. Their children are more likely to experience
developmental delays.
7.4 Discuss social and political efforts to protect families and children.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was envisioned as a way to help families
balance needs at home and work. It allows for 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave per
year. However, this act only applies to companies employing more than 50 people. Many
domestic violence prevention and protection programs have a community-based approach,
including Project Harmony. In efforts to combat teen pregnancy and infant abandonment,
many have advocated for comprehensive, rather than abstinence-only sexual health
education programs. Researchers have found these programs to be more effective.
KEY TERMS
cohabiting, 156
extended families, 138
family, 137
heteronormativity, 141
household, 137
neglect, 145
nuclear family, 138
physical abuse, 145
social institutions, 137
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast the myths and realities of the American family.
2. Even though the nuclear family is not the statistical majority in our society, its image as the
“perfect†family persists. Why do you think this is the case? How could the “perfect†family be
redefined?
3. How does capitalism influence family structure and relationships? Do you agree with this
perspective? Why or why not?
4. How does society’s definition of the “family†lead to social problems, prejudice, and
discrimination?
5. Identify the effects of divorce on children and adults.
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6. What is the relationship between teen parenthood and educational attainment? What can
be done to support the academic success of teen parents?
7. Explain the difference between abstinence-only and comprehensive sexual health education
programs.
8. Compare the United States with other countries on the following family demographics (as
reported in this chapter): marriage, divorce, teen pregnancy, and cohabitation.
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
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8
EDUCATION
Media Library
CHAPTER 8 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 8.1: Education and Inequality
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 8.2: Declining School Conditions in Venezuela
AP News Clips 8.3: School Funding Gaps
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
8.1 Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to
education.
8.2 Explain the process of educational tracking.
8.3 Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender, and race and ethnicity.
8.4 Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
8.5 Assess whether school choice has improved educational outcomes.
Education is assumed to be the great equalizer in our society. There are inspirational stories of
women and men who, after a tough childhood or adulthood, complete their education, become
successful members of society, and are held as role models. Education is presented as an essential
part of their success, serving as a cure for personal or situational shortcomings. If you are poor,
education can make you rich. If your childhood was less than perfect, a college degree can make up
for it. On the occasion of launching the Head Start program in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson is
quoted as saying, “If it weren’t for education, I’d still be looking at the southern end of a
northbound mule†(Zigler and Muenchow 1992).
Yet along with these images of success, we are bombarded with images of failure. Media coverage
and political rhetoric highlight problems with our educational system, particularly with our public
287
schools. In recent state and national political campaigns, the quality of teaching and the preparation
of teachers were scrutinized, and school districts with low scores on standardized exams were
criticized. U.S. students are said to be falling behind the accelerated pace of higher education
internationally. Although 43% of 25- to 64-year-old Americans have earned an associate’s degree or
higher, there are several industrial countries with higher rates of college attainment (refer to Figure
8.1). Additionally, the increase in the proportion of the population with a college degree is lower in
the United States (a 7% increase between 2000 and 2012) in comparison with other industrialized
countries (an average of 11% over the same time period) (Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development 2014). In 2006, a panel of education, labor, and public policy experts, including
two former education secretaries, warned that if the United States does not keep pace with the
educational gains made in other countries, our standard of living will be seriously compromised.
FIGURE 8.1 ■Percentage of Adults 25–64 Years of Age With an Associate’s Degree or
Higher, 2015 (Only Countries 40% or Higher Reported)
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2018.
p.164
So which is it: Is education a key to individual success or an institutional failure? In this chapter,
we’ll first examine this question by reviewing our educational system from different sociological
perspectives. Then we’ll explore current social problems in education, along with policy and
program responses.
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THE NEW EDUCATIONAL STANDARD
We tend to define a high school diploma as the educational standard of the past, now replaced with
a bachelor’s degree. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau confirm that the US. population is
increasingly more educated (see Table 8.1 and Exploring Social Problems).
TABLE 8.1 â– Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years and Older, 2016
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2017.
For 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau (2017) reported that 88.4% of adults (25 years and older) had
completed at least a high school diploma, and more than 33% of all adults had attained at least a
bachelor’s degree. Educational attainment levels of adults will continue to rise as younger, more
educated age groups replace older, less educated ones.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Compare the educational attainment of three generations of your family: yourself, your parents, and
your grandparents. Are younger generations more educated than older generations in your family?
Why or why not?
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION
Functionalist Perspective
The institution of education has a set of manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions are
intended goals or consequences of the activities within an institution. Education’s primary manifest
function should come as no surprise: It is to educate! The other manifest functions include
socialization, personal development, and employment. Our educational system ensures that each of
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us will be appropriately socialized and adequately educated to become a contributing member of
society (and the labor force). As Nicola Ansell (2008) wrote, “Educational systems view children as
‘human becomings’ that they are explicitly preparing for work†(p. 808). We learn skills and
knowledge, as well as about society’s norms, values, and beliefs, which are necessary for our survival
and, ultimately, the society’s survival.
p.165
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
EARNING A BACHELOR’S DEGREE
The 1990 Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act requires all schools to
publish their graduate rates, that is, the percentage of students who complete their
program within 150% of the normal time for completion, which is six years for students
enrolled in four-year bachelor’s degree program. Students who transfer and complete their
degree in another school are not counted as completers in these data.
Contact your institutional research office about your school’s graduation rates since 2000.
How does your school compare with other schools in your state?
Populations in the Northeast had the highest proportions with a bachelor’s degree or
higher. The state with the highest proportion was Massachusetts (41.2%). West Virginia
had the lowest proportion (19.6%). What do you think? Using your sociological
imagination, why does the proportion completing a bachelor’s degree or higher vary by
state?
U.S. DATA MAP 8.1 â– Percentage of Adult Population 25 Years or Older With
Bachelor’s Degree or Higher by State, 2016
290
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2017.
p.166
Education’s latent functions may be less obvious. One unintended function that education serves
is as a public babysitter. No other institution can claim such a monopoly over the total number of
hours, months, and years of a child’s life. From kindergarten through high school, parents can rely
on teachers, administrators, and counselors for their child’s education and for supervision,
socialization, and discipline. In addition, education controls the entry of young women and men
into the labor force and the timing of that entry. Consider the surge in employment rates after high
school and college graduation. There is always a rush to get a job each summer; employers rely on
the temporary labor of high school and college students during busy summer months. Finally,
education establishes and protects social networks by ensuring that individuals with similar
backgrounds, education, and interests are able to form friendships, partnerships, or romantic bonds.
Functionalists argue that education has been assigned so many additional tasks that it struggles in its
primary task to educate the young. In addition to its own main functions, our educational system
has taken over functions of other institutions. For example, the educational system provides services
to students with family problems, emotional needs, or physical challenges. Schools also provide
services for parents in the form of adult education or parenting classes.
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Conflict Perspective
Conflict theorists do not see education as an equalizer; rather, they consider education a “dividerâ€â€”
dividing the haves from the have-nots in our society. Conflict theorists focus on the social and
economic inequalities inherent in our educational system and on how the system perpetuates these
inequalities.
Conflict theorists highlight the socialization function of education as part of the indoctrination of
Western bureaucratic ideology. The popular posters and books on “what I learned in kindergartenâ€
could serve as the official list of adult life rules: Share everything, play fair, and put things back
where you found them. Never mind kindergarten—the indoctrination can begin as early as nursery
school. Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1972) described a child’s experience in nursery school as an
“organizational experience†creating an organizational child. Carefully instructed and supervised
by their teachers, students are guided through their day in ordered agendas; they are rewarded for
conformity, and any signs of individuality are discouraged. The organizational child is sufficiently
prepared for the demands and constraints of a bureaucratic adult world.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 8.1: Education and Inequality
Although we consider education the primary method of achieving equality and mobility in our
society, conflict theorists argue that it actually sustains the structure of inequality. As Martin Marger
(2008) explained, the relationship between education and socioeconomic status operates in a cycle
perpetuated from one generation to the next. It begins with high-income and high-status parents
who can ensure a greater amount and greater quality of education for their children. Pierre Bourdieu
(1977) argued that children from upper- and middle-class families are advantaged in our educational
system due to their possession of cultural capital, linguistic and cultural competence, and
familiarity with culture that is passed on by their parents and their social position. Children whose
292
parents introduce them to a culture consistent with the class-based assumptions of education are
more likely to succeed than those whose parents do not (Lareau 2003).
But there is another form of capital to consider. Social capital refers to investments in social
relationships and networks (Lin 2011) and is also distributed unequally by social class. Young
children who are more engaged in extracurricular activities and have increased opportunities to build
personal relationships with adults outside their immediate family demonstrate greater academic
progress than children who lack access to these activities or opportunities (Freeman and Condron
2011).
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© LWA/Dann Tardif
From a conflict perspective, we do not invest the same amount of public spending, political interest, or public attention in
the educational achievement of students from lower social classes compared to students from middle or upper classes.
Jonathan Kozol, in his classic studies Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools (1991) and The
Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America (2005), presented a
discouraging portrait of student learning in inner-city schools that are understaffed, undersupplied,
and in disrepair. This educational inequality is created by public school systems that rely on property
taxes to finance school staffing and operations. As a result, a caste system has emerged in our
educational system. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, de
facto school segregation still exists. Income and residential segregation have led to greater
differentiation in school quality and opportunities between rich and poor neighborhoods (Reardon
2011).
The gap between the haves and the have-nots is so wide it seems impossible to attain educational
equity. As Kozol (1991) observed,
children in one set of schools are educated to be governors; children in another set of schools are trained to be governed. The
former are given the imaginative range to mobilize ideas for economic growth; the latter are provided with the discipline to
do the narrow tasks the first group will prescribe. (p. 176)
Kozol introduces us to 8-year-old Alliyah. At the time, the New York City Board of Education
spent $8,000 for her education in a public school in the Bronx. She would have received a public
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education worth $12,000 had she been educated in a typical White suburb of New York and worth
$18,000 if she had resided in a wealthy White suburb. According to Kozol (2005), what society
chooses to spend on lower-class neighborhoods and schools “surely tells us something about what
we think these kids are worth to us in human terms and in the contributions they may someday
make to our society†(p. 44).
Feminist Perspective
Inequalities are based not just on social class but also on gender. Research reveals the persistent
replication of gender relations in schools, evidenced by the privileging of males, their voices, and
their activities in the classroom, on the playground, and in hallways (D. E. Smith 2000).
One of my favorite illustrations of the privilege given to a male voice comes from my own discipline.
In sociology, there is a concept called the “definition of the situation,†which refers to the phrase “If
men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences†(Thomas and Thomas 1928:572).
The concept is an important one to the symbolic interactionist perspective and is often attributed
solely to sociologist W. I. Thomas. However, the correct attribution is to Thomas and his wife,
Dorothy Swaine Thomas. R. S. Smith (1995) investigated the citation in more than 244
introductory sociology textbooks and found that most attributed the concept solely to W. I.
Thomas. One reason for the omission of Swaine Thomas is that she may not have contributed to
the phrase (although there is no documented evidence to support this), but R. S. Smith (1995)
suggested that the omission is because of a professional and structural ideology that historically
represented sociology as a “male†domain. Smith noted that the citations began to include Swaine
Thomas after the mid-1970s, a time when sociology and introductory texts began to respond to and
to reflect the changes brought about by a growing women’s movement and increasing numbers of
female sociologists.
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Gender bias and gender stereotypes work to exclude and alienate girls early in their educational
experience (American Association of University Women 1992; Sadker and Sadker 1994; Sadker and
Zittleman 2009). Males have favored status in education, particularly in their interactions with their
teachers. In the classroom, girls are invisible, often treated as second-class educational citizens. This
is how Myra and David Sadker (1994) explained the subtle yet consequential gender bias in the
classrooms they visited. After observing teachers and their interactions with girls and boys in more
than 100 elementary classrooms, the Sadkers found that teachers were more responsive to boys and
were more likely to teach them actively. Overall, girls received less attention, whereas boys got a
double dose, both negative and positive. Boys received more praise, corrections, and feedback,
whereas girls received a cursory “OK†response from their teachers. Sadker and Sadker concluded
that over time, the unequal distribution of teacher time and attention may take its toll on girls’ self-
esteem, achievement rates, test scores, and, ultimately, careers. In a 2009 follow-up study, David
Sadker and Karen Zittleman confirmed a reduction of classroom gender bias but recommended that
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much more work needed to be done to eliminate gender bias.
For example, Sian Beilock and her colleagues examined the effects of teacher math anxiety on
student math anxiety in an elementary school setting (cited in Schmid 2010). They found that
students tend to model themselves after adults of the same sex. A female teacher who is anxious
about math may pass on the same concerns to her female students, reinforcing the belief that boys
are better at math than girls. Although student math anxiety was not related to teacher math anxiety
at the beginning of the school year, by the end of the year, the more anxious teachers were about
their math skills, the more likely it was that their female students agreed that boys are good at math
and girls are good at reading. Girls who agreed with this statement scored lower on math tests than
boys and girls who had not developed this belief (Schmid 2010).
Structural factors along with interpersonal dynamics also contribute to the creation and maintenance
of gender inequality on college and university campuses (Stombler and Yancey Martin 1994). Men
and women experience college differently and have markedly different outcomes (Jacobs 1996).
College women are subjected to male domination through their peer relations (Stombler and
Yancey Martin 1994) in the classroom, in romantic involvements (Holland and Eisenhart 1990),
and in organized activities. Even activities such as fraternity “little sister†programs, which Mindy
Stombler and Patricia Yancey Martin (1994) studied, provide the structural and interpersonal
dynamics necessary to create an atmosphere conducive to women’s subordination.
Interactionist Perspective
Sadker and Sadker’s 1994 study identified the differential effects of teacher communication on
female and male students. The interaction between teachers and students daily reinforces the
structure and inequalities of the classroom and the educational system. From this micro perspective,
sociologists focus on how classroom dynamics and practices educate the perfect students and at the
same time create the not-so-perfect ones. In what ways does classroom interaction educate and
create?
Assessment and testing are standard practices in education. Students are routinely graded and
evaluated based on their work and ability. Interactionists would argue that along with assessment
comes unintended consequences. Based on test results, students may be placed in different ability or
occupational tracks. In the practice called tracking, advanced learners are separated from regular
learners; students are identified as college bound versus work bound.
Advocates of tracking argue that the practice increases educational effectiveness by allowing teachers
to target students at their ability level (Hallinan 1994). Yet placing students in tracks has been
controversial because of the presumed negative effects on some students. Opponents argue that
labels such as an upper versus lower track or “special†or slow learners are used systematically to deny
a group of students access to education (Ansalone 2004). In addition to creating unequal learning
opportunities (Hallinan 2003), tracking may encourage teachers, parents, and others to view
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students differently according to their track, and as a result, their true potential may be hindered
(Adams and Evans 1996). African Americans, Latinos, and students from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds are less likely to enroll in advanced placement or honors courses (Mickelson and
Everett 2008). Countries that practice ability tracking have greater educational inequity than
countries that do not track their students (Schofield 2010). Although tracking is intended to aid
students, it may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy: Students will fail because they are expected to do
so.
p.169
Despite the documented negative consequences of tracking, the practice continues in approximately
60% of all elementary schools and 80% of all secondary schools (Ansalone 2001). Although
interactionists do not assess the appropriateness of the label, they would address how the label
affects students’ identity and educational outcomes. Issues of inequality must also be addressed if the
data suggest that students of particular gender or ethnic/racial categories are targeted for tracking.
A summary of all sociological perspectives on education is presented in Table 8.2.
TABLE 8.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Education
PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES IN EDUCATION
The idea that there is a public education crisis is not a new one. A 1918 government report referred
to the “erosion of family life, disappearing fathers, working mothers, the decline of religious
institutions, changes in the workplace, and the millions of newly arrived immigrants†as potential
sources of the public education crisis (Meier 1995:9). At the time, the government’s response was
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the creation of the modern school system with two tracks, one for terminal high school degrees and
the other for college-bound students (Meier 1995).
The current call for educational reform was initiated during President Ronald Reagan’s
administration. In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education released its report, A
Nation at Risk: The Imperatives for Educational Reform, a scathing indictment of the education
system. The commission was created by Secretary of Education T. H. Bell to respond to what he
called the “widespread public perception that something is seriously remiss in our educational
system†(National Commission on Excellence in Education 1983:7). Claiming that we are raising a
scientifically and technologically illiterate generation, the commission noted the relatively poor
performance of American students in comparison with their international peers, declining
standardized test scores, the weaknesses of our school programs and educators, and the lack of a
skilled American workforce (National Commission on Excellence in Education 1983).
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The educational reform movement marches on, gaining momentum with each elected president. At
one time or another, each president after Reagan has referred to himself as the “Education
President,†declaring an educational crisis and calling for change. Educators and reformers agree
that this is an exciting time for American education (Ravitch and Viteritti 1997). Under George H.
W. Bush’s administration, Congress passed America 2000, which was followed by the Goals 2000:
Educate America Act in 1994 during Bill Clinton’s administration. Congress passed the No Child
Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 under George W. Bush’s administration. All congressional acts
call for coordinated improvements and sweeping reform of our educational system.
David Berliner and Bruce Biddle (1995) contend that the crisis in public education is a
manufactured one, constructed by well-meaning or not-so-well-meaning politicians, educational
experts, and business leaders. Berliner and Biddle don’t believe that public schools are problem free;
rather, by focusing on the manufactured crisis, they believe we’re not addressing the real problems
facing our schools, those based in social and economic inequalities. What is the evidence regarding
these problems and challenges to our educational system? Let’s first examine the basis of education:
literacy.
The Problem of Basic Literacy
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2013) estimates
that there are more than 781 million illiterate adults and 126 million illiterate youth in the world.
Most live in South and West Asia, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Multiple barriers restrict the
achievement of widespread literacy; these barriers include insufficient access to quality education,
weak support for youth exiting the educational system, poorly funded and fragmented educational
programs, and limited opportunities for adult learning. Literacy disparities are associated with
gender, poverty, place of residence, ethnicity, language, and disabilities. Gender disparities are
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particularly pronounced in developing countries. Women account for 64% (UNESCO 2013) of
adults worldwide who cannot read and write (refer to Table 8.3).
TABLE 8.3 â– Estimated Number of Illiterate Adults (Aged 15+) and Percentage Who are
Female, 2011
Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 2013.
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According to the Literacy Volunteers of America (2002), very few U.S. adults are truly illiterate, yet
the United States is not a literacy superpower (ProLiteracy Worldwide 2006). What continues to be
of concern is the number of adults with low literacy skills who are unable to find and retain
employment, support their children’s education, and participate in their communities. Basic literacy
skills, such as understanding and using information in texts (newspapers, books, a warranty form) or
instructional documents (maps, job applications) or completing mathematical operations (filling out
an order form, balancing a checkbook), are related to social, educational, and economic outcomes
(Sum, Kirsch, and Taggart 2002).
Data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (ProLiteracy Worldwide 2006) reveal
that 30 million U.S. adults demonstrated skills at the “below basic†level (from being nonliterate in
English to being able to follow written directions to fill out a form). About 63 million adults
demonstrated skills at the basic level (having basic literacy skills to read and understand information
in short, simple documents). A total of 43% of all Americans are estimated to be at these two levels.
In contrast, 57% of Americans were categorized at the higher levels—intermediate (able to complete
moderately challenging literacy tasks, e.g., refer to a reference document for information) and
proficient (able to read and integrate various materials) (ProLiteracy Worldwide 2006).
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
EDUCATIONAL TRACKING AND TESTING IN JAPAN
After World War II, Japan adopted a 6-3-3-4 model of education that includes six years of
elementary school (shogakko), three years of junior high school (chugakko), three years of high
school (kotogakko), and four years of university study. Tracking does not occur in Japanese
elementary and junior high schools; instead, Japan’s educational system emphasizes effort and
hard work, discounting differences in ability. No effort is made to identify below- or above-
average children in the classroom. All elementary and junior high schools offer the same
curriculum, regulated by the national Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (MEXT) (Ansalone 2004).
However, a highly competitive form of tracking (ruikei) begins at the high school level,
separating students into two distinct tracks: general high schools leading to college and
vocational high schools leading to jobs. Educational leaders argue that this system is able to
accommodate students’ different interests and talents and improves students’ overall
performance on national entrance exams (Ansalone 2004). Entrance examinations, also known
as jyuken higoku (examination hell), serve as the major sorting mechanism for Japan’s high
schools and colleges (Bjork and Tsuneyoshi 2005).
Unintentionally, this tracking system has created a two-tier system of schools. Vocational high
schools are students’ second choice (Ono 2001). In his analysis of vocational high schools in
the city of Kobe, Thomas Rohlen (1983) reported that one vocational high school draws
students from the lower third of graduating ninth graders in the city. When asked if they had
had a choice, 80% of the students said they would rather have attended a general high school.
Vocational high schools have developed a negative reputation for school violence, smoking, and
drug abuse, and their students are considered second-class citizens (Rohlen 1983). In his
comparative analysis of educational systems in Japan and the United States, George Ansalone
(2004) concluded that tracking “promotes differentiation of the curricula, teacher expectations,
school misconduct, race, class, gender bias, and the development of separate friendship
patterns. When tracking is employed, upper-track students receive a higher quantity and
quality of instruction from more qualified instructors who utilize a greater variety of
instructional techniques†(p. 150).
During the last two decades of the 20th century, several significant changes occurred in the
Japanese educational system. First, government leaders and educational scholars asserted that
the emphasis on entrance examinations combined with the demands on students to learn large
volumes of content had actually dulled students’ interest in learning (Bjork and Tsuneyoshi
2005). Educational reforms began in the 1970s, reducing the amount of material covered by
teachers, incorporating more student-centered and integrated learning in the classroom, and
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reducing the intensity of student learning and testing. MEXT referred to these reform policies
as yutori kyoiku or reduced-intensity reforms. Response to the reforms has been mixed, with
some applauding the new student-centered emphasis of the curriculum but others worrying
about the impact of a “watered down†curriculum (Bjork and Tsuneyoshi 2005).
Second, admissions into Japan’s universities became less competitive. Japan’s population of 18-
year-olds has decreased by more than half a million since 1992, and Japanese universities have
had trouble recruiting students. According to Rie Mori (2002), entrance examinations were
expected to identify the best students for university education, but this is no longer necessary
because there are more universities to accept students who do not score well on the exams. The
universalization of higher education in Japan has led to a greater number of students entering
universities who are not as high achieving as students of the past. Japanese higher education
must figure out how to educate students with a broader range of learning styles and abilities
(Mori 2002).
How has tracking been part of your educational experience? Does tracking take place in your
college?
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The U.S. Department of Education reports that individuals at higher levels of literacy are more
likely to be employed, to work more weeks per year, and to earn higher wages than are individuals
with lower levels of literacy (Kirsch et al. 2002). Education increases an individual’s literacy skills,
which determine educational success. Basic academic skills influence such educational outcomes as
high school completion, college enrollment, persistence in college, field of study, and type of degree
obtained (Sum et al. 2002).
Although the United States spends more per capita on education than other high-income countries,
U.S. literacy scores are only average (or below average) in a global context. In 2015, the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) administered its Programme
for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 15-year-olds from 72 countries across the globe.
The assessment compared math, reading, and science literacy scores among students from these
nations. The U.S. students ranked 41st out of 72 countries in literacy proficiency (decoding written
words, interpreting and evaluating complex texts), 34th in numeracy proficiency (solving math
problems), and 50th in scientific literacy. The nations that scored higher include Japan, Korea,
Singapore, Canada, Ireland, and most of Scandinavia. The report revealed that socioeconomic
background had a stronger effect on proficiency levels in the United States than in other OECD
countries (OECD 2016).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 8.2: Declining School Conditions in Venezuela
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Inequality in Educational Access and Achievement
SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATION Socioeconomic status is one of the most powerful
predictors of student achievement (College Entrance Examination Board 1999). The likelihood of
dropping out of high school is five times higher among students from lower-income families than
among their peers in high-income families (Laird et al. 2006). Dropping out of high school is
related to negative economic outcomes. For example, in the second quarter of 2017, weekly median
income of persons who had not completed a high school degree was $515. In contrast, the median
income of persons who had completed at least a high school credential (e.g., general equivalency
diploma) was $718 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017).
Students from lower-income homes or who have parents with little formal education score lower on
average than students from families earning more than $100,000 per year or who have parents with
a bachelor’s degree or higher. In 2013, the average critical reading SAT score was 434 for a student
with a family income below $20,000 versus 522 for a student with a family income of $100,000 to
$120,000. The highest average score was 565 for students with a family income greater than
$200,000. For students with parental education less than a high school diploma, the average critical
reading score was 423. In contrast, students with parental education of at least a bachelor’s degree
had an average score of 523. For students with parental education of a graduate degree, the average
critical reading score was 560 (College Board 2013).
High-income families can invest more time and resources into their children’s cognitive
development than lower-income families; high-income families have greater socioeconomic and
social resources that benefit their children than lower-income families (Reardon 2011); and,
according to Douglas Downey, Paul von Hippel, and Beckett Broh (2004), the primary source of
inequality between children of high and low socioeconomic status lies in the children’s disparate
nonschool (home and neighborhood) environments.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 8.3: School Funding Gaps
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Research suggests that spending time in novel environments (not at home or at school and not
being cared for by a parent or day care provider) and in particular activities (interactive play) has
educational benefits. When Meredith Phillips (2011) examined the socioeconomic differences in
how parents spend their time with children, she found that high-income children spend about 1,300
more hours in novel places between birth and six years of age than low-income children. For
example, high-income infants and toddlers spend an additional four and a half hours per week in
indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, at church, or at businesses when compared with infants and
toddlers from low-income families. After children begin school, the time in novel contexts
continues as high-income children and children with college-educated mothers spend three more
hours per week in novel places than low-income children or children in less-educated families.
Phillips hypothesizes that exposure to novel contexts is directly related to income, as families with
higher incomes have more money to spend on novel-context activities and settings.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
What other reasons might explain someone dropping out of school? Is dropping out of school a
personal trouble or a public issue?
In research conducted by the Public Agenda organization (J. Johnson et al. 2009), the number-one
reason students gave for leaving college is that they had to simultaneously balance work and school.
College dropouts were less likely to report being bored or not enjoying their classes as the reason
why they quit. More than half of those who left school identified the “need to work and make
money†and the stress related to juggling both. Most students did not receive financial assistance
from their families or from their schools. Public Agenda researchers suggest that today’s college
students are not leading the stereotypical college life of balancing classes and weekend parties;
instead, they are balancing classes with working to pay rent.
IN FOCUS
CONTROLLING THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION
A college education is still part of the American Dream. Sallie Mae, a financial service
company specializing in education, annually releases a national report on how college tuition is
managed by parents and their students. In the 2012 report, Sallie Mae and Ipsos (an
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independent marketing research company) found that 83% of college students and parents
strongly agreed that higher education is an investment in the future, college is needed now
more than ever (70%), and college is the path to earning more money (69%).
But the truth is that most young adults do not attend a four-year college. According to Paul
Taylor and his colleagues (2011), the main barrier to higher education is financial. Among
individuals 18 to 34 years old who are not in school and do not have a bachelor’s degree, about
two thirds report that they are not continuing their education in order to support a family;
more than half say they prefer to work and make money (Taylor et al. 2011).
In his 2012 State of the Union speech, Barack Obama called on the federal government, states,
colleges, and universities to promote access and affordability in higher education. Obama
proposed educational and legislative reforms tying federal campus aid to responsible tuition
policies. Aiming primarily at state colleges and universities, Obama outlined financial
incentives for schools to contain their tuition, enhance teaching and learning, and increase
affordability and graduation rates (White House 2012).
The president’s announcement received a mixture of praise and caution from educational
leaders and college groups (Field 2012). David Warren (2012), director of the National
Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said,
The collective challenge facing the nation is to make college more affordable, without losing our position of having
the best higher education system in the world. . . . The answer is not going to come from more federal controls on
colleges or states, by telling families to judge the value of an education by the amount young graduates earn in the first
few years after they graduate.
Warren, along with other academic leaders, warned about the unintended consequences of
Obama’s proposals—reducing educational quality, cutting back essential student services, and
disproportionately harming schools that serve larger numbers of at-risk students (Field 2012).
Sallie Mae and Ipsos (2012) reported that, in 2012, families adjusted how they paid for college
in three ways. First, parents cut their contributions from income and savings. For 2012, parents
spent an average of $5,955 from their income and savings, down from $6,664 in 2011. Second,
fewer families utilized scholarships—35% in 2012 compared with 45% in 2011. Some of this
decline is attributed to colleges reducing the number of scholarships that they are able to offer.
Finally, students paid more out of pocket through their savings and income and borrowing
more in 2012 than in previous years. In 2012, students contributed 18% of the total cost of
college through borrowing compared with 15% the previous year and 14% in 2008–2010.
Are finances the only barrier to higher education? What other barriers can you identify?
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Peter Sacks (2009) observed that our educational system, despite the promise of equal opportunity,
is profoundly stratified. There is a growing concentration of lower- and working-class students in
community colleges, while middle- and upper-class students are more likely to attend four-year
colleges and universities. How would you describe the class composition of your school? Does it
recruit or cater to a particular social class? How does this compare with other colleges or universities
in your area?
GENDER AND EDUCATION In the fall of 2017, 11.5 million women and 8.9 million men
enrolled in undergraduate programs. In postbaccalaureate programs, there were about 1.7 million
females and 1.2 million males (National Center for Education Statistics 2017a). Women represent a
56% majority in higher education (college or university) enrollment. In all measures—percentage of
high school graduates completing college preparatory curriculum, percentage of high school
graduates immediately enrolling in college, and total higher education enrollment—women rank
higher than men. The American Council on Education (ACE) (King 2006) attributes the
increasing enrollment and degree attainment figures for women to the rising share of young women
taking college preparatory courses during the 1990s and 2000s. Yet ACE concludes that there is “no
consensus on the causes of the gender gap and little comprehensive empirical research upon which
to base firm conclusions†(King 2006). That other industrialized countries are experiencing similar
educational gains for women suggests that this phenomenon is not just an American one.
However, there is still some traditional gender segregation by major (refer to Figure 8.2). Men
receive most bachelor’s degrees in math, computer science, and engineering (78.6%), while the
percentage of women graduates is highest in the health professions (85.1%) and education (79.5%).
FIGURE 8.2 ■Bachelor’s Degrees Conferred by Field of Study and Gender, 2014–2015
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Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics 2017b.
The continued domination of men in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) fields remains a concern. Even though gender differences in advanced-level math and
science course enrollment have disappeared (Riegle-Crumb, Farkas, and Muller 2006) and girls are
earning slightly higher grades in math and science classes than boys (U.S. Department of Education
2007), fewer women than men pursue these majors in college (Hill, Corbett, and St. Rose 2010).
A study by Linda K. Silverman (1986) suggested that females will eventually achieve less than males
because they are gradually conditioned by “powerful environmental influences†such as the
educational system, peers, and parents to believe that they are less capable than males. A hidden
curriculum perpetuates gender inequalities in math and science courses. This curriculum takes the
form of differential treatment in the classroom, where boys tend to dominate class discussion and
monopolize their instructors’ time and attention, whereas girls are silenced and their insecurities
reinforced (Linn and Kessel 1996). Research suggests that girls, especially gifted ones, fail to achieve
their potential because of lower expectations of success, the attribution of any success to chance, and
the belief that success will lead to negative social consequences (Silverman 1986).
Catherine Hill, Christianne Corbett, and Andresse St. Rose (2010) confirmed the effects of the
social structure and the social environment on girls’ achievements and interests in science and math.
The researchers identified how girls and women face persistent messages that STEM studies and
successes are incompatible with traditional gender roles and expectations. Two negative stereotypes
—girls are not as good as boys in math, and scientific work is better suited to boys and men—affect
women’s and girls’ performance and aspirations in math and science. Hill and her colleagues
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recommended exposing girls to successful female role models to help counter these negative
stereotypes.
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ETHNICITY/RACE AND EDUCATION
About 3.4 million students entered kindergarten in U.S. public schools last fall and already . . . researchers foresee widely
different futures for them. Whether they are White, Black, Hispanic, Native American or Asian American will, to a large
extent, predict their success in school. (R. C. Johnson and Viadero 2000:1)
In the mid-1990s, underrepresented minorities received less than 13% of all the bachelor’s degrees
awarded (College Entrance Examination Board 1999). The College Entrance Examination Board
noted that in the latter half of the 1990s, only small percentages of Black, Hispanic, and Native
American high school seniors in the National Assessment of Educational Progress test samples had
scores “typical†of students who are well prepared for college. Few students in these groups had
scores indicating academic skills required for the most selective colleges or universities.
Persistent academic achievement gaps remain between Black, Hispanic, and Native American
students and their White and Asian peers (refer to Figure 8.3 for differences in educational
attainment). For example, among the 2013 college-bound students, White and Asian students had
the highest average SAT ERW (evidence-based reading and writing) score: 565 for Whites and 569
for Asians (College Board 2017). Lower ERW scores were reported for Black students (479),
Hispanic/Latino students (500), and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students (498). The
same pattern exists for SAT mathematics. The challenges to our educational system will only
increase if demographic predictions hold true. Current educational gaps among racial and ethnic
categories have the potential to grow into larger sources of inequality and social conflict.
FIGURE 8.3 â– Differences in Educational Attainment (in Percentages) by Race and
Hispanic Origin for Adults Aged 25 and Older, 2015
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Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics 2017d.
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Mario Tama/Getty Images
The 2014 graduation rate for first-time full-time undergraduate students who were first enrolled in fall 2008 was 59.6%
(National Center for Education Statistics 2017c). Graduation rates were highest for Asian (70.6%) students, followed by
White (63.2%), Hispanic (53.5%), and Black (40.9%) students.
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Ethnicity/race, along with poverty, defines major sources of disadvantage in educational outcomes
(Maruyama 2003). For example, among Latino families, poverty produces significant educational
disadvantages: Parents may work multiple jobs, may not have the time to spend reading or going
over homework with their children, and may not have the skills to read to their children. Economics
also plays a role in dropout decisions. To support their families, Latino/a teens may leave school for
a paying job. The power of parental and peer influence on Latino/a educational attainment has also
been recognized. Parents may have expectations for their children that conflict with school
expectations or requirements (American Association of University Women 2001).
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According to Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson (1995), the pressure to conform to an image or a
stereotype is so strong that it can actually impair intellectual performance. Steele and his colleagues
tested the effects of a stereotype threat among African American (Steele and Aronson 1995; Steele
1997) and female college students (Spencer, Steele, and Quinn 1999). The stereotype threat is the
risk of confirming in oneself a characteristic that is part of a negative stereotype about one’s group.
The threat is situational, present only when a person can be judged, be treated in terms of the
group, or self-fulfill negative stereotypes about the group (and the self) (Spencer et al. 1999). In
their studies, Steele and his colleagues investigated the effect of the stereotype that African
Americans and women have lower academic abilities than do White or male students.
It doesn’t matter if the individual actually believes the stereotype; if the stereotype demeans
something of importance, such as one’s intellectual ability, the threat can be disrupting enough to
impair intellectual performance (Steele and Aronson 1995). Subjects were compared in test-taking
situations using Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), or
American College Test (ACT) sample questions. In all study conditions where the tests were
represented as affected by gender or race, African American and female students underperformed
their comparison group. In situations where the stereotype threat was moderated (where subjects
were not told that the tests produced gender differences or where subjects were not asked to report
their race on the examination form), African American and female students performed as well as
White or male students.
Violence and Harassment in Schools
School violence can be characterized on a continuum that includes aggressive behavior, harassment,
property crimes, threats, and physical assault (Flannery 1997). Despite the public concern over
school homicides, the percentage of youth homicides occurring at school is less than 2% of the total
number of youth homicides. Victims of school violence may include students, teachers, and staff
members. For the 2010–2011 school year, there were 1,336 homicides of youth aged 5 to 18. Eleven
of those homicides occurred at school; the remaining 1,325 deaths occurred away from school.
There were a total of 31 student, staff, and non-student school-associated violent deaths for the
same year (Robers et al. 2014).
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The deadliest U.S. incident took place in April 2007 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, where 33 students and faculty were killed by a student. The deadliest international
incident occurred in 1996 when a gunman killed 16 primary school students and one teacher, as well
as himself, in Scotland. Although schools have been characterized as “battlegrounds†where both
teachers and students fear for their safety (Kingery et al. 1993), they remain a safe place for students,
the risk of a violent death being less than 1 in 2 million (Dinkes et al. 2009).
The 2015 national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) survey
conducted annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that
nationwide about 5.6% of students had missed more than one day of school because they felt unsafe
at school or on their way to or from school (CDC 2016). Among all students, 16.2% said they
carried a weapon (a gun, knife, or club) on the school campus. About 6.0% of all students reported
being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, and about 22.6% of students had
been in a physical fight on school property (CDC 2016).
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are subject to verbal and physical harassment
in high schools and middle schools. As reported by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network’s 2015 National School Climate Survey, 57.6% of LGBT youth reported feeling unsafe in
school because of their sexual orientation (Kosciw et al. 2016). About 27% had experienced some
form of physical harassment because of their sexual orientation; 13.0% had been physically assaulted
for the same reason. Almost 86% of the surveyed students reported being verbally harassed in school
the past year. The majority of students who had been harassed or assaulted did not report the
incident to school staff or administrators. LGBT students’ experience with harassment negatively
affected their school attendance, their academic performance, and, ultimately, their college
aspirations. Students who experienced more frequent harassment, either verbal or physical, were
more likely to indicate that they were not planning to go on to college than were students who did
not experience the same type of harassment (Kosciw et al. 2016).
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© John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
According to Hill and Kearl (2011), 48% of all students experience some sort of sexual harassment during their school lives.
The extent of sexual harassment in schools has been documented by the Educational Foundation of
the American Association of University Women (AAUW) (Hill and Kearl 2011). According to its
2010–2011 report, 48% of students experience some form of sexual harassment during their school
lives. Girls are more likely than boys to experience sexual harassment. How is sexual harassment
defined in schools? The definition offered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(2001) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 reads,
Unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes
sexual harassment when submission or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment,
unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work
environment.
In schools, sexual harassment can include sexual messages written on walls or in locker rooms,
sexual rumors, being flashed or mooned, being brushed up against in a sexual way, being shown
sexual pictures or material of sexual content (Fineran 2002), and being harassed online (e.g.,
receiving unwelcome comments or photos through texts, being the subject of sexual rumors or
information) (Hill and Kearl 2011). Sexual harassment of students has serious consequences,
including mental health symptoms (such as loss of appetite, disturbances in sleep, feelings of
isolation, and sadness) and school performance difficulties (Fineran 2002).
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COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
As a nation, we support the principle of educational excellence and, along with it, the assumption of
educational opportunity for all, but in reality, we have an educational system that embraces these
ideas yet fails to achieve them (Ravitch 1997). The educational experiences of poor and minority
students fundamentally conflict with the principles of public education, namely, that public schools
should provide these children with opportunities so that all children can succeed as a result of hard
work and talent (Maruyama 2003). Reformers argue that school choice, standardized testing, and
school vouchers are improving our educational system. Critics argue that these strategies threaten to
erode an already-weak public school structure. There is a deepening chasm between what the
American public deems important in education (safety, skills, discipline) and the goals of the reform
movement (access, standardization, multiculturalism) (Finn 1997). Although we have not
completely abandoned our public educational system, we still have not found a way to agree on what
is appropriate or essential to save it.
Policy Responses—The Basis for Educational Reform
Providing fuel to the reform movement have been congressional acts passed in 1994 and 2001.
Although they were adopted under presidents from different political parties, both congressional
acts provide strong support for school reform and, along with it, changes to our educational system.
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act introduced the notion of “standards-based reform†at the
state and community levels. This 1994 act, signed into law by President Clinton, provided the
grounds for sweeping reform at all levels and from all angles: curriculum and instruction,
professional development, assessment and accountability, school and leadership organization, and
parental and community involvement. However, school reform hinged on the use of student
performance standards and the creation of the National Education Standards and Improvement
Council. A summary of the act reported, “Performance standards clearly define what student work
should look like [at] different stages of academic progress and for diverse learners†(“Goals 2000â€
1998:14). The act established performance and content standards in math, English, science, and
social studies, and it encouraged participation from the entire community—local officials, educators,
parents, and community leaders—in raising academic standards and achievement.
When George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, he approved a plan that
increased federal pressure on states to pursue a standards-based reform agenda. Under NCLB, states
are required to institute a system of standardized testing for all public school students in Grades 3 to
8 and high school, about 45 million tests annually. Each state must have a plan for adequate yearly
progress (AYP) toward the goal of academic proficiency for all students, a 100% rate regardless of
economic status, ethnicity/race, gender, or disability, by 2014.
The more controversial elements of the act signed by George W. Bush included the provision for
public school choice and charter schools. The act provided support for permitting children in
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chronically failing public schools to transfer to other schools with better academic records. The bill
also provided for annual testing of students in reading and math in the third to eighth grades, which
would establish academic records for comparison. If there were no improvements in test results in
two years, parents would have the option to move their children to another school. In such an event,
the school district would be required to pay for the child’s transportation to a better school, and the
failing school would lose the per-pupil payment. Critics argued that such school choice provisions
would work only if there were schools to choose from within a district and if there was room in
these schools. The law does not provide school leaders with the means to create new slots for
students (Schemo 2002).
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Although expressing commitment to the basic intent of NCLB, many state leaders and educators
expressed frustration in implementing the act’s requirements and achieving its goals. In particular,
school administrators and educators were critical of a key feature of NCLB: the one-size-fits-all
accountability standard that assumes that all schools, districts, and groups of students will
demonstrate progress according to the standardized measures. The standards, said critics, seriously
compromise the abilities of schools to address the unique educational needs of special education
students, low-income and minority students, and students with limited English proficiency.
In their 2010 proposal to reauthorize NCLB, the Obama administration set a new educational goal:
“Every student should graduate from high school ready for college or a career regardless of their
income, race, ethnic or language background, or disability status†by 2020 (U.S. Department of
Education 2010:3). The proposal identified four policy and programming areas: improving teaching
and principal effectiveness, providing information to families to evaluate and improve their
children’s schools and to educators to help improve student learning, implementing college- and
career-ready standards and assessments, and improving student learning and achievement in the
lowest-performing schools by providing support and effective interventions. In 2012, the Obama
administration granted NCLB waivers to 24 states, in exchange for adopting the administration’s
educational standards and a new focus on accountability and teacher effectiveness. These states will
need to set new performance targets for students and schools but will not be sanctioned as they were
under the old law for schools failing or for not making adequate progress. More states will seek a
waiver under the new plan (Hu 2012). Many characterized this as the beginning of the end of the
NCLB era.
As of 2017, 41 states have voluntarily adopted a set of college and career-ready standards for
English language arts/literacy and math for all kindergarten through 12th-grade students. The
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) propose clear and consistent standards for what a child
should know and be able to do at each grade level, allowing school districts to design their own
curricula and teachers to implement their own teaching methods. CCSS encourages students to
demonstrate and learn critical thinking skills, moving away from memorization to a deeper
understanding of material. However, critics argue that the standards do not consider the diversity of
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the U.S. student population and fail to consider the differences in student learning. Several states
that originally adopted CCSS have since opted out. National polls suggest that parents, teachers,
and students have grown tired and suspicious of high-stakes standardized testing (Kirp 2014).
Although Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos claimed in 2018 that the Common Core was “dead,â€
most states are still using some form of the CCSS.
Promoting Educational Opportunities—Head Start and
Prekindergarten
Called the most popular and most romantic of the War on Poverty efforts (Traub 2000), Head Start
remains the largest early childhood program. More than 30 million poor and at-risk preschoolers
have been served under Head Start since 1965. Head Start began with a simple model of service:
organized preschool centers. At these centers, programs focused on the “whole child,†examining
and encouraging physical and mental health. Integrating strong parental involvement, Head Start
provided a unique program targeting child development and school preparedness. Over the years,
the Head Start program expanded to serve school-age children, high school students, pregnant
women, and Head Start parents. In 1994, amendments to the Head Start Act established Early
Head Start (EHS) services targeting economically disadvantaged families with children 3 years old
or younger. EHS serves both children and their families through a comprehensive service plan that
promotes child development and family self-sufficiency (Wall et al. 2000).
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The effectiveness of Head Start programming, particularly the educational component, has been the
focus of public and government debate (Washington and Oyemade Bailey 1995). Early program
research and evaluation efforts were spotty, with the major findings pointing to short-term or “fade
out†gains in student learning and testing (Washington and Oyemade Bailey 1995). In its 2005
impact study report, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services compared the
performance of Head Start children with non–Head Start children from fall 2002 through summer
2005. For Head Start children in both age groups, small to moderate positive effects were found in
prereading, prewriting, and vocabulary skills. Both groups also had significantly better access to
health care; in addition, the 3-year-olds reported significantly better overall health than did the
non–Head Start group. Positive parenting practices (e.g., reading to one’s child) were also
documented for children in both Head Start age groups (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services 2005). Head Start was reauthorized in 2007 with increased funding for Migrant and
Seasonal Head Start and the Indian Head Start programs. The reauthorization also increased
educational requirements for Head Start teachers.
As of 2013, there were 53 state-funded preschool programs in 40 states and in the District of
Columbia (Barnett et al. 2013). These programs are funded, controlled, and administered by the
state, serving children ages 3 and 4. About 1.3 million children attended state-funded
prekindergarten (pre–K) in 2013. Pre–K programs have gained popularity as an alternative to Head
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Start, promising a preschool experience for all children, regardless of economic need.
The first universal pre–K program was established in Georgia in 1996. The program is open to all
4-year-olds regardless of household income. In their comparison between Head Start and Georgia
pre–K students, Gary Henry, Craig Gordon, and Dana Rickman (2006) concluded that
economically disadvantaged pre–K students were better prepared for kindergarten than children
who attended Head Start. Pre–K students performed significantly higher in picture–word
vocabulary, recognition of letters and words, and oral and written skills at the beginning of
kindergarten than their Head Start peers.
Research indicates that effective, high-quality pre–K programming can improve the academic and
social-emotional outcomes for students, with some effects lasting into middle and high school. For
example, in their analysis of pre–K education in Tulsa, Oklahoma, William Gormley, Deborah
Phillips, and Sara Anderson (2018) found that pre–K alumni perform better than other students in
middle school: higher math achievement scores, enrollment in honors courses, and grade retention.
Mentoring, Supporting, and Valuing Networks
In its 1992 report, the AAUW called on local communities and schools to promote programs that
encourage and support girls studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Studies indicate that most girls and women learn best in cooperative, rather than competitive,
learning activities. With seed money from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the AAUW Educational
Foundation initiated the Girls Can! Community Coalitions Project in 1996. The project funded 10
community-based projects that encouraged schools and community groups to improve girls’
educational opportunities.
AAUW continues its support of STEM projects through the National Girls Collaborative Project
established in 2005. The National Girls Collaborative Project goals include maximizing access to
shared resources within projects and with public and private organizations interested in expanding
girls’ STEM participation, strengthening the capacity of existing and evolving projects by sharing
promising research and program models, and using the collaboration of individual girl-serving
STEM programs to create the tipping point for gender equity in STEM (National Girls
Collaborative Project 2014).
Fourteen regional collaborative sites operate in California, Florida, Massachusetts, the mid-
Atlantic, and the Northwest. Small mini-grants help fund tutoring, career days, field trips, and
special events to expose girls and boys to STEM education and careers. One such grant helped fund
California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS), a month-long
residential academic experience for top California high school students in science and mathematics.
Students reside at one of four University of California campuses—Davis, Irvine, San Diego, or
Santa Cruz—while taking COSMOS classes in their areas of interest.
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Mentoring can also begin in one’s own community and among friends. In 1996, Michele Deane
noticed that a number of girls in her Boyle Heights (Los Angeles, California) neighborhood did not
have anything to do after school. She created a youth organization for local Mexican American and
Latin American girls and women, beginning with a group of her friends, that now serves more than
200 girls and women each year. According to Deane, her organization, Girls Today, Women
Tomorrow, created a state of consciousness for thinking “biggerâ€:
What do I want to do? Who can I become with the support of everyone around me? It’s a state of consciousness coming
from the world around you instead of seeing only the obstacles. Once they saw other people doing it, they started doing it
for their friends, for the younger kids growing up. (Quoted in Wiland and Bell 2006:187)
The volunteer program includes fitness activities, a computer lab, video shooting and editing classes,
and a community garden. The garden serves as a connection to the environment and the girls’ Latin
culture and raises their awareness about the kind and quality of food they consume. Program
graduates return to the program and serve as mentors and volunteers. Ginette Sanchez credits the
program with her academic and life successes: “I always thought that I wouldn’t have a future. Now
that I have positive role models, I’m going to college and I’m being positive by thinking that I’m
going to be someone in life as well†(quoted in Wiland and Bell 2006:189).
What Does It Mean to Me?
What type of learning experiences or opportunities supported your learning in middle school or
high school? How did these experiences lead you to college?
Antiviolence and Antibullying Programs in Schools
As awareness of school violence has increased, so have the calls for effective means of prevention
(Aber, Brown, and Henrich 1999). The current focus is less on reacting to school violence and more
on promoting school safety through prevention, planning, and preparation (Shaw 2001).
The largest and longest-running school program focusing on conflict resolution and intergroup
relations is the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP). Initiated in 1985 in New York City
by the local chapter of Educators for Social Responsibility, the program is a research-based K–12
school program in social and emotional learning. RCCP is in 400 schools nationwide, serving 6,000
teachers and more than 175,000 students. RCCP begins with the assumption that aggression and
violent behavior are learned and therefore can be reduced through education. The program teaches
children conflict resolution skills, promotes intercultural understanding, and provides models and
opportunities for positive ways of dealing with conflict and differences. For kindergarten students,
puppets and other objects are used to illustrate how conflict can be resolved by talking rather than
hitting. RCCP includes training for teachers, parents, administrators, and school staff.
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An evaluation of the New York City programs indicated that students who received RCCP
instruction developed more positively than did students without any RCCP exposure. RCCP
students were more prosocial, perceived their world in a less hostile way, saw violence as
unacceptable, and chose nonviolent ways to resolve conflict. Reading and math scores were higher
for RCCP students, especially those who had 25 RCCP lessons over the school year. Evaluators
concluded that the RCCP-intensive children were more able to focus on academics when there was
less conflict with peers (Shaw 2001).
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
WENDY KOPP
BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS/Newscom
Wendy Kopp was the first to receive the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, an honor presented to Americans
under the age of 40 for their commitment to public service.
Wendy Kopp’s vision for Teach for America began as her senior undergraduate thesis. This
Princeton graduate is the youngest and only female to receive the university’s Woodrow
Wilson Award, the highest honor bestowed to alumni. In the following excerpt from her book
One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America and What I Learned Along the
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Way, Kopp (2001) explains how Teach for America began with an idea:
Princeton University was not the most likely place to become concerned about what’s wrong in education, but it made
me aware of students’ unequal access to the kind of educational excellence I had previously taken for granted. I got to
know students who had attended public schools in urban areas—thoughtful, smart people—as well as students who
attended the East Coast prep schools. I saw the first group struggle to meet the academic demands of Princeton and
the second group refer to it as a “cake walk.†Clearly at Princeton I could not glimpse the depths of educational
inequity in our country, but the disparities I did see got me thinking. It’s really not fair, I thought, that where you’re
born in our country plays a role in determining your educational prospects.
In an effort to figure out what could be done about this problem, I organized a conference about the issue. At this
time I led an organization called the Foundation for Student Communication. . . . So in November of my senior year,
my colleagues and I gathered together fifty students and business leaders from across the country to propose action
plans for improving our educational system. . . .
At one point during a discussion group, after hearing yet another student express interest in teaching, I had a sudden
idea: Why didn’t this country have a national teacher corps of top recent college graduates who would commit to
teach in urban and rural public schools? A teacher corps would provide another option to the two-year corporate
training programs and grad schools. It would speak to all college seniors who were searching for something
meaningful to do with our lives. . . .
The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that this simple idea was potentially very powerful. If top
recent college graduates devoted two years to teaching in public schools, they could have a real impact on the lives of
disadvantaged kids. Because of their energy and commitment, they would be relentless in their efforts to ensure their
students achieved. They would throw themselves into their jobs, working investment-banking hours in classrooms
instead of skyscrapers on Wall Street. They would question the way things are and fight to do what was right for
children.
Beyond influencing children’s lives directly, a national teacher corps could produce a change in the very consciousness
of our country. . . .
In the end, I produced “A Plan and Argument for the Creation of a National Teacher Corps,†which looked at the
educational needs in urban and rural areas, the growing idealism and spirit of service among college students, and the
interest of the philanthropic sector in improving education. The thesis presented an ambitious plan: In our first year,
the corps would inspire thoughts of graduating college students to apply. We would then select, train, and place five
hundred of them as teachers in five or six urban and rural areas across the country. (Kopp 2001:5–6, 10)
In its first year, Teach for America received 2,500 applications, of which, as Kopp planned, 500
were selected and trained for two years of teaching. Since then, more than 56,000 teachers and
leaders have been placed or are currently placed in more than 50 urban and rural sites
throughout the United States. Corps members’ salaries and health benefits are paid directly by
the school districts they are placed in.
Kopp adapted the Teach for America model to a global model, cofounding Teach for All in
2007.
What social problem does Teach for America address? What evidence is necessary to
determine if it is an effective strategy?
Source: Kopp 2001:5–6, 10. Published by PublicAffairs, a member of Perseus Books Group.
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The Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act were introduced in
Congress in 2011 in an effort to support safe schools and enrich the learning environment. Both
bills would require schools that accept federal funding to track, create policy regarding, and
demonstrate reduction in bullying and harassment incidents. Bullying and harassment data would be
reported biennially. Ensuring the safety and well-being of all students, the bills were especially
applauded for their focus on students with disabilities and LGBT students.
With the increase in school violence, more attention has been given to school safety through
security screening or police–school liaison projects. Schools are more aware of the links between
safety and violence and other student behaviors such as dropout rates, academic failures, bullying,
and suicide (Shaw 2001). Violence prevention programs have become common throughout the
country, with the primary focus on early education. In addition to the RCCP, national initiatives
include the Office of Safe and Healthy Students and the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative.
Regional initiatives include the PeaceBuilders elementary program and Students Against Violence
Everywhere. U.S. and international approaches focus more on school safety and less on school
violence, use programs to serve students and the entire school population, develop school–
community partnerships, and use evaluated program models (Shaw 2001). The most effective
school-based violence prevention programs are those that include parental involvement and support,
with parents backing school limits and consequences at home (Flannery 1997). Antiviolence
programs have also been established on college and university campuses. As noted in Chapter 4,
“Gender,†schools receiving federal funding under Title IX are required to respond promptly and
effectively to sexual violence against students.
Does Having a Choice Improve Education?
There is a new term now, public school choice. Data issued by the National Center for Education
Statistics reveal that more parents are turning away from local public schools to private schools or
charter schools (Zernike 2010). As of fall 2014, 42 states and the District of Columbia have passed
charter school legislation. There were 6,750 charter schools in operation as of fall 2014, with 2.7
million students enrolled (National Center for Education Statistics 2016). Additionally, charter
school enrollment has increased across all categories nationwide, with only Alabama, Kentucky,
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia failing to pass
charter school legislation.
Parents and children have two additional options within the public education system: magnet
schools and charter schools. Magnet schools offer specialized educational programs from elementary
school through high school. These schools are organized around a theme such as performing arts,
science, technology, or business or around different instructional designs such as free (where
students can direct their own education) or open schools (with informal classroom designs). Often,
magnet schools are placed in racially isolated schools or neighborhoods to encourage students of
other races to enroll. Magnet schools have been criticized for creating a two-tier system of education
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(Kahlenberg 2002).
Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate free from most state laws and
local school board policies that apply to traditional public schools. Charter schools are funded with
public funds, like public schools. A charter contract establishes the school’s operation, usually
limited to three to five years, detailing the school’s mission and instructional goals, student
population, educational outcomes, and assessment methods, along with a management and financial
plan. These schools have grown in popularity since 1991, when Minnesota became the first state to
pass an outcome-based school law. Charter schools are characterized by innovative teaching
practices and accountability to students and families. If a school fails to meet its goals, it cannot be
renewed under its charter.
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School choice has become an even hotter topic with the idea of school vouchers. Simply stated,
school vouchers allow the transfer of public school funds to support a student’s transfer to a private
school, which may include religious institutions. Supporters of school vouchers argue that the
system would give parents more choice and freedom in school selection and would create incentives
for school improvement (Good and Braden 2000; Kennedy 2001).
Opponents argue that vouchers would siphon money away from public schools, removing any ability
to resolve the schools’ problems, thus only increasing problems. Others argue that schooling is a
public good and must be provided by the government to all children (Good and Braden 2000)
equally and fairly. In June 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school voucher programs did
not violate any church-versus-state separation and upheld the constitutionality of using public funds
to support private school systems (Bumiller 2002). Charter schools have been criticized for
increasing income and racial school segregation. David Garcia (2008) documented how charter
elementary school choosers enter charter schools that are more racially segregated than the schools
they exited. High school choosers enter charter schools that are as racially segregated as or more
integrated than the school districts they exited.
A number of education and social science researchers have noted the paradox of charter school
reform: Although these schools provide parents and educators with an opportunity to more actively
participate in the content, organization, and governance of public schools, charter schools often
benefit people who are able to gather private resources (Stambach and Crow Becker 2006).
According to researchers Salvatore Saporito and Annette Lareau (1999), if there is one consistent
finding on school choice, it is that students from poorer families or with less educated parents are
less likely to apply to or participate in public choice programs than are those from middle-class
families. In addition, the researchers raise questions about the school selection process for White
and African American families. Although school choice advocates suggest that promoting racial
equality is one of the by-products of school choice, Saporito and Lareau found that White families
as a group are more likely to avoid schools with higher percentages of Black students, whereas
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African American families show no such sensitivity to race. African American families in their study
were likely to select schools with lower poverty rates. The researchers concluded that race was a
persistent factor in the choice process. Their findings have been confirmed by other researchers,
suggesting the need to examine the social and political processes by which race and class
stratification are perpetuated (Stambach and Crow Becker 2006).
On the effectiveness of voucher programs and charter or magnet schools, the research remains
mixed. The same issues concerning charter schools and voucher systems continue to be the subject
of inquiry and debate: defining clear systems of accountability, establishing comparable performance
standards, and ensuring the racial and economic integration of students.
Research conducted by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (2013) at Stanford
University concluded that charter school students in 26 states had greater learning gains in reading
than their student peers in traditional public schools. In the National Charter School Study 2013,
center researchers also reported that there was no difference in learning gains in mathematics
between charter school and traditional public school students. Charter school enrollment increased
among poor, Black, and Hispanic students. The study concluded with the recommendation for
policy makers to raise performance and accountability standards for charter schools and to hold
these schools to higher standards.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
AFTERSCHOOL EDUCATION
320
Sergio Beltran
Sergio Beltran—Class of 2010
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Anthropology
Afterschool programs (ASPs) provide safe structured learning environments for students
outside their regular school day. Typically, these programs operate for two to three hours
following the end of the school day. ASPs may address one or many areas of student
development: academic (tutoring, homework), enrichment (sports, art), service (volunteering),
or vocational or college preparation. Approximately 20% to 30% of U.S. youth spend three to
five afternoons a week in organized afterschool programs (Halpern 2003). ASPs are run by
teachers or paraeducators (teaching assistants). Each state has its own educational and
qualifying requirements to become a teacher or paraeducator.
Sergio is an afterschool tutoring and resource center coordinator in a local nonprofit
organization. His work has many elements: coordinating homework tutoring, running
structured programs for student groups, and forming and maintaining community partnerships
with principals and counselors. The latest program he’s implemented involves the exploration
of social justice through heroes and “sheroes†(their word for woman heroes) from cultures that
represent the center’s community (e.g., Somalia, Ethiopia, Southeast Asia, Latin America).
Sociology gave Sergio a new perspective, especially as a man of color:
I try to help my students think about how they fit into the world. Sociology is embodied in the work I do; for
example, last year my staff and I focused on the content that we provide to our youth. Many of our families are
immigrant and refugee families who live in a public/subsidized housing community. Our focus lately has been
encouraging our youth to learn more about their racial identity and the empowerment of their culture. Last year we
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did a project on immigration and life experiences via story telling. The goal was to give our youth a safe and
welcoming environment to share their life struggles, success, and concerns about coming to the United States.
Sergio offers several recommendations to current students:
[A mentor] helped me remain organized (in my final years) and understand careers I could pursue post graduation. I
also think networking with colleagues on a regular basis would be an excellent idea. I wish I would have done this
while still in school, rather than after. You can get a better understanding of where your colleagues are interning or
maybe even working. You will have the opportunity to meet other people in the field as well and explore different
options. Lastly, remain active in your community. I believe that being a big part of your communities opens doors for
you later in life.
CHAPTER REVIEW
8.1 Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to education.
Education’s primary manifest function is to educate. The other manifest functions include
personal development, proper socialization, and employment. Conflict theorists focus on
the social and economic inequalities inherent in our educational system and how the
system perpetuates these inequalities. Inequalities are based not just on social class but also
on gender. Research reveals the persistent replication of gender relations in schools. From
an interactionist perspective, the interaction between teachers and students reinforces the
structure and inequalities of the classroom and the educational system.
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8.2 Explain the process of educational tracking.
Based on test results, students may be placed in different ability or occupational tracks. In
the practice called tracking, advanced learners are separated from regular learners; students
are identified as college bound versus work bound. Advocates of tracking argue that the
practice increases educational effectiveness by allowing teachers to target students at their
ability level, yet placing students in tracks has been controversial because of the presumed
negative effects on some students.
8.3 Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender, and race and ethnicity.
Socioeconomic status is one of the most powerful predictors of student achievement. The
likelihood of dropping out of high school is higher among students from lower-income
families. Census data indicate slight differences in educational attainment for men and
women. A hidden curriculum perpetuates gender inequalities in math and science courses.
Persistent academic achievement gaps remain between Black, Hispanic, and Native
American students and their White and Asian peers. Latino/a students are at greater risk
of not finishing school than any other ethnic/racial group.
8.4 Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
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The focus on standards-based reform characterizes the modern educational reform
movement. During their terms in office, Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama advocated
educational policies that linked educational success with student test results. President
Obama implemented performance standards related to career and college readiness.
8.5 Assess whether school choice has improved educational outcomes.
The research is mixed on the effectiveness of school choice, as educators, scholars, and
policy analysts debate the importance of defining clear systems of accountability,
establishing comparable performance standards, and ensuring the racial and economic
integration of students in any comparative analysis. Researchers have consistently
identified how families with social and economic capital are able to take advantage of
school options for their children.
KEY TERMS
cultural capital, 166
latent functions, 166
manifest functions, 164
organizational child, 166
social capital, 166
stereotype threat, 177
tracking, 168
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Explain the shift in the educational standards from high school degree to college degree.
2. How does the educational system socialize children for adulthood and employment? Which
theoretical perspectives support this argument?
3. Do you think tracking is a necessary educational practice? In your answer, consider
evidence from Japan’s tracking system.
4. Explain how social class, gender, and race/ethnicity contribute to educational inequality in
the United States.
5. How effective are U.S. policies, including NCLB, in improving educational achievement?
6. Is public school choice a viable educational alternative? Why or why not?
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©FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
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9
WORK AND THE ECONOMY
Media Library
CHAPTER 9 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 9.1: President Obama Speaking about Fair Pay
AP News Clips 9.2: Supreme Court Case About Woman Wearing Hijab
AP News Clips 9.3: Possible Solutions to Underemployment
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
9.1 Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.
9.2 Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
9.3 Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment.
9.4 Identify which forms of discrimination workers are protected against.
9.5 Identify how labor unions have changed their membership strategy.
News headlines in our country often refer to unemployment as a social problem. Between 2008 and
2009, the United States lost 8.4 million jobs, or about 6.1% of all payroll employment, the largest
job loss since the Great Depression (Economic Policy Institute 2012). The Great Recession of
2007–2009 was referred to as “one of the most difficult financial and economic episodes in modern
history†by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke (2009).
Unemployment was no longer limited to people of color, immigrants, or the undereducated. Unique
to the recent recession was its impact on the educated and the (formerly) middle class. Many more
people, across different demographic groups, experienced the hardships of unemployment. For
January 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018a) reported that 4.1% of men and women in
the United States were unemployed. This is the lowest unemployment rate since 2008 (U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics 2018a). In the European Union, the unemployment rate was 7.4% in October
2017, with rates being highest in Greece and Spain (Eurostat 2017).
326
The 2016 U.S. median household income was estimated at $59,039 (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar,
2017). The 2016 real household income was 8.0% higher than in 2007 ($54,489), the year before
the recession.
Although political and economic attention has shifted to job creation, economic stimulus packages,
and unemployment, these aren’t the only problems facing workers. For some, work remains a
dangerous place, leading to injury or death. Others are victims of discrimination or harassment in
the workplace. And for many men and women, even though they are employed, their paychecks do
not provide a livable wage.
In 2012, hundreds of fast-food workers staged sit-ins or one-day work strikes around the country.
Workers and protestors even appeared at McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Illinois just in time
for the 2014 annual shareholder meeting. Holding signs that read, “Low pay is not okay†and “We
are worth more,†workers and protest organizers were demanding a $15-per-hour wage and the
right to unionize. In 2016, an average McDonald’s employee made $10.00 per hour before taxes.
Work isn’t just what we do; work is a basic and important social institution. It fuels our economy
and provides economic support for individuals and families. Work is also important for our social
and psychological well-being. Individuals find a sense of fulfillment and happiness, and for most,
work provides a self-identity. Much of our social status is conferred through our occupation or the
type of work we do. Because of the importance of work, problems related to work become
categorized as social problems, as everyone’s problem. In this chapter, we examine the work that we
do, the social organization of work itself, and the social problems associated with our work and
economy. We begin first with a review of the changing nature of work.
p.190
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is the highest hourly wage you’ve earned? Would you describe it as a livable wage?
THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORK
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the means of production shifted from agricultural to
industrial. In agrarian societies, economic production was very simple, based primarily on family
agriculture and hunting or gathering activities. Each family provided its own food, shelter, and
clothing. This changed during the Industrial Revolution, an economic shift in how people
worked and how they earned a living. Family production was replaced with market production, in
which capitalist owners paid workers wages to produce goods (Reskin and Padavic 1994).
327
As a whole, we don’t produce goods anymore; we provide services. Since the late 1960s, the U.S.
economy has shifted from a manufacturing to a service-based economy (Brady and Wallace 2001).
In 1950, manufacturing accounted for 33.7% of all nonfarm jobs; by 2000, manufacturing’s share
had dropped to 14% (Pollina 2003). The service revolution is an economy dominated by service
and information occupations. Table 9.1 lists the 10 fastest-growing projected occupations between
2012 and 2022. Only one category involves manufacturing (brick and stonemasons), whereas the
rest involve jobs in health care and service.
TABLE 9.1 â– Ten Occupations With the Largest Projected Job Growth (in Thousands),
2012–2022
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2013.
This shift has been referred to as deindustrialization, a widespread, systematic disinvestment in
our nation’s manufacturing and production capacities (Bluestone and Harrison 1982). Less
manufacturing takes place in the United States because most jobs and plants have been transferred
to other countries. The expansion of industrialization in other regions such as Asia, the Caribbean,
Eastern Europe, and Africa has encouraged managers to reduce their manufacturing costs by
exporting manufacturing jobs there (T. Sullivan 2004). In addition, U.S. factories have closed as a
result of mergers or acquisitions as well as poor business. And thanks to technological advances, it
takes fewer people to produce the same amount of goods.
p.191
328
U.S. manufacturing lost 5.7 million or about 33% of manufacturing jobs in the 2000s. Affected
areas have experienced devastating social and economic losses, turning some into ghost towns
(Brady and Wallace 2001) or leading cities into deep debt or bankruptcy—the plight of Cleveland,
Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan. The phenomenon was also observed in Great Britain in the 1970s
and 1980s in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester (Carley 2000). Lost manufacturing jobs are
often replaced with unstable, low-paying service jobs or no jobs at all. As a result, cities may
experience a significant loss of revenue to support basic public services such as police, fire protection,
and schools (Bluestone and Harrison 1982).
In addition to the transformation in the type of work we do, there has been a transformation in who
is doing the work. The first significant workforce change began in World War II with the entry of
record numbers of women into the workplace. In 1940, the majority of 11.5 million employed
women were working as blue-collar, domestic, or service workers out of economic necessity (Gluck
1987). White and Black women’s entry into defense jobs signaled a major breakthrough. One fourth
of all White women and nearly 40% of Black women were wage earners who had previously worked
in lower-paid clerical, service, or manufacturing jobs.
By 1944, 16% of working women held jobs in war industries. At the height of wartime production,
the number of married women in the workplace outnumbered single working women for the first
time in U.S. labor history. Almost one in three women defense workers were former full-time
homemakers. In Los Angeles, women made up 40% of the aircraft production workforce.
These heavy industry jobs may have paid better, but the jobs held an important symbolic value:
These jobs were men’s jobs. After the war, although the proportion of women workers in durable
manufacturing increased in many cities, many women were forced back into low-paying, female-
dominated occupations (Gluck 1987) or back to their homes.
Labor force participation rates have increased steadily for White, Black, and Hispanic women since
World War II (see Table 9.2). In 2016, 57% of women aged 16 years or older were labor force
participants (working or looking for work) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017a). In 2016, women
dominated financial (52%), education and health services (75%), and leisure and hospitality (51%)
occupations (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017a). In 2010, for the first time in U.S. history,
women outnumbered men in the workplace (nonfarm jobs)—50.3% versus 49.7%. Legislation
ensuring gender equality, along with increasing higher education enrollment among women, has
improved women’s value and participation in the labor market (Economist 2009).
TABLE 9.2 â– Civilian Labor Force Participation Rates (%) for White, Black, and Hispanic
Women, 1930–2026
329
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017b; U.S. Census Bureau 1951, 1960, 1966.
Note: n.a. = not available.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Just for one week, count the number of times you hand cash, a credit card, or a check to someone
for payment. How many times do you hand it to a woman? Mary Frank Fox and Sharlene Hesse-
Biber (1984) offered the following description of the typical working woman—a working mother
who attended high school and has little or no college experience, working in a retail, clerical, or
service occupation. View the current list of the leading occupations for employed women at the U.S.
Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau website. Has “women’s work†changed? Why or why not?
The second workforce change has been the record numbers of elderly Americans returning to work.
Since the mid-1980s, the labor force participation rates of older Americans have consistently
increased (Toossi 2005). In 2014, 40% of Americans aged 55 or older were employed in the labor
force (Toossi and Torpey 2017). The percentage of Americans aged 55 or older staying employed or
going back to work after retirement is projected to increase by 2020, more than for any other age
group (refer to Figure 9.1) (Toossi 2012).
FIGURE 9.1 â– Projected Percentage Change in Number of Labor Force Participants by Age
330
Group, 2010–2020
Source: Toosi, Mitra. 2012. “Employment Outlook: 2010–2020: Labor Force Projections to 2020: A More Slowly Growing
Workforce.†Retrieved October 9, 2014 (http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/art3full.pdf).
p.192
Although Americans are working longer, partly because they are living longer, additional factors
contribute to the increase in age 55-plus employment. Government policies have eliminated
mandatory retirements and outlawed age discrimination in the workplace. In 2000, older Americans
were also encouraged to go back to work with the removal of age restrictions and taxes on their
earned wages (Toossi 2005). Stung by the economic recession, some older Americans delayed their
retirement.
Immigration is the source of the last workforce shift, affecting the numbers and diversity of labor
331
force participants. The number of foreign-born workers rose from a low of 4.3 million in 1970, to
11.6 million in 1990, to 17.3 million in 2000. In 2016, there were 27.0 million foreign workers in
the United States, about 16.9% of the labor force (Newburger and Gryn 2009; U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics 2017c). Foreign-born workers are more likely to be male, less educated, and
younger (in their late 20s and early 30s) than native-born workers. Ronald Pollina (2003) predicted
that, as our native population continues to age, the U.S. workforce will become increasingly
dependent on foreign-born workers.
p.193
In 2016, foreign-born workers were more likely than native-born workers to be employed in service
occupations and less likely to be employed in management, professional, and sales and office
occupations. Among foreign workers, 43.6% lived in the West and the Northeast (U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics 2017d). Immigrants settle in regions with perceived economic opportunities,
seeking established ethnic enclaves that provide interpersonal and job support (Mosisa 2002). In
2016, the median weekly earnings of full-time foreign-born workers was $715, about 80% of the
earnings of full-time native-born workers ($860) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017e).
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON WORK
Functionalist Perspective
According to the functionalist perspective, work serves specific functions in society. Our work
provides us with some predictability about our life experiences. We can expect to begin paid
employment around the age of 18 or after high school graduation (or we could delay it for four or
five more years by attending college and graduate school). Your work may determine when you get
married, when you have your first child, and when you purchase your home. Work serves as an
important social structure as we become stratified according to our occupations and our income.
Finally, even for the most independent among us, the way we live depends on the work of thousands
—for our food, clothing, safety, education, and health. Our lives are bound to the products and
activities of the labor force (Hall 1994).
Recall that from this perspective, work can also produce a set of dysfunctions that can lead to social
problems (or that may be problems themselves). Employers encourage workers to become involved
with their work, hoping to increase their productivity as well as their quality of work (a function).
However, getting too involved in one’s work may lead to job stress, overwork, and job dissatisfaction
for workers (all are dysfunctional). Although technology improves the speed and quality of work for
some (a function), as machines replace human laborers, technology can also lead to job and wage
losses (dysfunctions). According to a 2017 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, nearly 40% of U.S.
jobs could be replaced by robots within 15 years (Glaser 2017). Estimated job loss is lower in other
countries: 30% in the United Kingdom, 35% in Germany, and 21% in Japan. U.S. workers are more
susceptible to job loss because they engage in routine labor, such as paper filing.
332
As some researchers have focused on the functions and dysfunctions of work, others have tried to
understand the nature of work itself. Frederick W. Taylor, a mechanical engineer, offered an
analysis that revolutionized 19th- and 20th-century industrial work. Using what he called scientific
management, Taylor broke down the functional elements of work, identifying the most efficient,
fastest, best way to complete a task. In one of his first research projects, Taylor determined the best
shovel design for shoveling coal. He believed that with the right tools and the perfect system, any
worker could improve his or her work productivity, all for the benefit of the company. In his book
The Principles of Scientific Management, Taylor (1911) wrote, “In the past the man has been first; in
the future the system must be first†(p. 5).
Although scientific management in its pure form has rarely been implemented, Taylor’s principles
continue to serve as the foundation for modern management ideology and technologies of work
organization (Bahnisch 2000). Beyond simply changing how work was organized, Taylor offered his
ideas about the organization of work: the need for defining a clear authority structure, separating
planning from operational groups, providing bonuses for workers, and insisting on task
specialization. In contrast, Max Weber (1925/1978) warned that in exchange for the efficiency and
predictability of bureaucracy, workers would lose their individual freedom, ultimately dehumanizing
their labor. Indeed, Taylor’s model shifted power to management, forcing skilled workers to give up
control of their own work (Hirschhorn 1984), which was a cause for concern expressed by theorists
from the next theoretical perspective.
p.194
Published by International Pub. Co., Cleveland, Ohio.
From a conflict perspective, capitalism produces an unequal social structure. Owners of the means of production occupy the
highest position, while laborers occupy the lowest.
333
Conflict Perspective
Power, explained Karl Marx, is determined according to one’s relationship to the means of
production. Owners of the means of production possess all the power in the system, he believed,
with little (probably nothing) left for workers. As workers labor only to make products and profits
for owners, workers’ energies are consumed in the production of things over which they have no real
power, control, or ownership (Zeitlin 1997). According to Marx, man’s labor becomes a means to
an end; we work only to earn money. Marx predicted that eventually we would become alienated or
separated from our labor, from what we produce, from our fellow workers, and from our human
potential. Instead of work providing a transformation and fulfillment of our human potential, work
would become the place where we felt least human (Ritzer 2000).
Modern systems of work continue to erode workers’ power over their labor. For example, the 2013
death of 31-year-old Miwa Sado, a journalist for NHK, Japan’s state-run broadcasting company,
was attributed to karoshi or death by overwork (Inoue and Specia 2017). Prior to her death she had
worked more than 150 hours of overtime. She died of congestive heart failure, working until
midnight every day, without weekends off. In 2016, in nearly a quarter of Japanese companies, some
employees routinely worked more than 80 hours of overtime per month. Karoshi is blamed on a
work culture that considers exhaustion a sign of diligence to one’s work and employer. Japan’s Labor
Bureau released a study documenting that karoshi was a problem, especially among younger workers.
The government has admitted that death by overwork is a serious problem.
Deskilling refers to the systematic reconstruction of jobs so that they require fewer skills and,
ultimately, management can have more control over workers (Hall 1994). Although Taylor (1911)
proposed scientific management as a means of improving production, sociologist Harry Braverman
(1974) argued that by altering production systems, capitalists and management increase their control
over workers. Once dependent on the workers’ abilities, the nature of work shifts to managerial and
organizational priorities. Management, according to Braverman (1974), “controls each step of the
labor process and its mode of execution†(p. 119). This heightened level of control and routinization
increases worker alienation and hinders creativity and flexibility among workers. Deskilling may also
limit job prospects for the employee, as job tasks and specialization become company specific, not
transferrable to another (Jagoda 2013).
Although Marx predicted that capitalism would disappear, capitalism has grown stronger, and at the
same time, the social and economic inequalities in U.S. society have increased. Capitalism has
become more than just an economic system; it is an entire political, cultural, and social order
(Parenti 1988). Modern capitalism includes the rise and domination of corporations and large
business enterprises with U.S. and global interests. Conflict theorists argue that capitalist and
corporate leaders maintain their power and economic advantage at the expense of their workers and
the general public.
p.195
334
Feminist Perspective
From a feminist perspective, work is a gendered institution. Through the actions, beliefs, and
interactions of workers and their employers, as well as the policies and practices of the workplace
(Reskin and Padavic 1994), men’s and women’s identities as workers are created, reproduced, and
then solidified in the everyday routines of informal work groups and formal workers’ organizations
(Brenner 1998). We already discussed the importance of World War II for women’s employment,
but recall that after the war, there was pressure on women to resume their roles as housewives or to
assume more appropriate occupations. As a gendered institution, work defined the roles appropriate
for World War II women and defines them for women today. The workplace does not treat women
and men equally. Women are concentrated in different—and lower-ranking—occupations than
men, and women are paid less than men (Reskin and Padavic 1994).
A fundamental feature of work is the gendered division of labor, the assignment of different tasks
and work to men and women. This division of labor leads to a devaluing of female workers and their
work, providing some justification for the differential compensation between men and women
(Reskin and Padavic 1994). In the United States, as in most other countries, women earn less than
men (England and Browne 1992). There is no country in the world where women make the same as
or more than men (refer to Figure 9.2). In the early 1960s, U.S. women earned about 59 cents for
every dollar earned by men (Armas 2004). In 2016, for every dollar a man earned, a woman made
80.5 cents (National Committee on Pay Equity 2017). (Refer to Table 9.3 for a comparison of
women’s median weekly earnings by race, for 2016.)
FIGURE 9.2 â– Distance From Gender Parity by Region, 2016
335
Source: World Economic Forum 2016.
TABLE 9.3 â– Median Weekly Earnings for All Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers in the
United States, 2016
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017e.
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PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 9.1: President Obama Speaking about Fair Pay
In pay, compared with men, women are disadvantaged because they are in lower-paying feminized
jobs or because they are paid less for the same work (Budig 2002). Sociologists and feminist scholars
insist that no natural differences between men and women would lead to this. Instead, these
researchers offer several structural explanations for the differences: differential socialization (women
are socialized to pursue careers that traditionally pay less or are lower in status), differential training
(men are better educated, so should be rewarded with higher pay), and workplace discrimination
(Reskin and Padavic 1994). For additional discussion of these perspectives, refer to Chapter 4,
“Gender.â€
p.196
A problem feminist advocates and scholars have addressed is workplace discrimination based on
pregnancy or motherhood. In a 2006 study of women in the United Kingdom, one in six women
identified revealing their pregnancy to their employer as one of the most challenging experiences of
their work career (Phillips 2006). The U.S. federal government has enacted several laws protecting
mothers against discrimination. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) allows both
men and women to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Feminist
scholars argue that FMLA assumes that women can afford to take leave, perpetuating stereotypes
that women are dependent on men as providers and that women, not men, are the primary
caregivers and less dedicated employees (Reuter 2005).
What Does It Mean to Me?
337
In 1996, there was only one female chief executive officer (CEO) of a Fortune 500 company. In
2017, there were 32 female CEOs, 6.4% of all Fortune 500 CEOs. From a sociological perspective,
why aren’t there more women CEOs? Are women less qualified to lead a major corporation? What
would it take to increase the number of female CEOs?
Interactionist Perspective
The sociologies of work and symbolic interaction were developed side by side in the 1920s and
1930s at the University of Chicago. There are strong similarities between the two sociological
perspectives: In the same way that symbolic interactionists are interested in how individuals
negotiate their social order, the sociologists of work are interested in the negotiated order of work
(Ritzer 1989). Interactionists address norms in the workplace, how workers interact with their peers,
how workers deal with stress, and how workers find meaning in the work they do. This perspective
allows us to understand the process by which individuals understand, interpret, and create their
work.
p.197
For example, Geraldine Byrne and Robert Heyman (1997) interviewed nurses in the United
Kingdom, investigating the relationship between their perceptions of work and patients and how it
influenced their communication with patients. The researchers noted how nurses distinguished their
work with “major trauma†and “minor†patients. They defined their work as more valuable and
satisfying in trauma cases, giving them an opportunity to feel technically expert and rewardingly
useful. Their time with minor patients was described as boring or repetitive and a small part of their
daily work. Although nurses felt that all patients experience some anxiety in the hospital, they felt
that those with more serious illnesses or injuries would be more anxious than others. As a result,
they spent more time with the seriously ill or injured patients, but they made sure to “pop in†with
all patients as a way of demonstrating that they had not forgotten about them and providing some
nursing contact.
According to symbolic interactionists, we attach labels and meanings to an individual’s work (and
major). If you meet a fellow student for the first time, one of the first questions you may ask is
“What’s your major?†Why ask about a major? Think of it as a shortcut for who you are. Based
simply on whether you are a Sociology major or a Physics major, people make assumptions about
how much you study or your academic quality. This is no different from asking someone what he or
she does for a living. These social constructs create an order to our work and our lives, but they can
also create social problems.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 9.2: Supreme Court Case About Woman Wearing Hijab
338
Problems arise when these social constructs serve as the basis of job discrimination. A study by
researchers from the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed
discrimination in the recruiting process based only on what was perceived about someone’s first
name (Bertrand and Mullainathan 2003). Researchers sent 5,000 résumés in response to job
advertisements in the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. First names were selected based on a review
of local birth certificates. Fictional applicants with “White†first names—Neil, Brett, Emily, and Jill
—received one callback for every 10 résumés mailed out. In contrast, equivalent “Black†applicants
—with names such as Aisha, Rasheed, Kareem, and Tamika—received one response for every 15
résumés sent. Other aspects of discrimination were revealed in the study. If the résumé indicated
that the applicant lived in a wealthier, more educated, or more White neighborhood, the rate of
callbacks increased. This effect did not vary by race.
p.198
Although employers report positive attitudes toward people with disabilities, actual hiring rates
reveal an opposite trend. Since 1986, the jobless rate of people with disabilities has been around
66%. Researchers have attributed the persistence of stigma regarding the disabled and the negative
impact on hiring them to a variety of reasons. For many, disability is associated with low or no
ability, poor performance, or unsafe work behavior (Rubin and Roessler 2008). Employers are also
concerned about the perceived costs of accommodations and the possibility of other workers
demanding special consideration themselves (Schur, Kruse, and Blanck 2005). The stigma attached
to disability is compounded by other personal characteristics such as age, race or ethnicity, or
gender; these individuals are doubly disadvantaged in the workplace (McMahon et al. 2008).
See Table 9.4 for a summary of all perspectives.
TABLE 9.4 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Work and the Economy
339
PROBLEMS IN WORK AND THE ECONOMY
Unemployment and Underemployment
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018a), about 147.8 million Americans were
employed and 6.1 million were unemployed in January 2018. Compared with the (seasonally
adjusted) 3.5% unemployment rate for Whites, the rate was 7.7% for African Americans and 5.0%
for Hispanics. Approximately 1.4 million individuals were long-term unemployed or unemployed
for 27 weeks or more (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018a).
The recent recession has been characterized as a man’s recession or a “mancession.†In 2008–2009,
the U.S. unemployment rate for men increased more steeply than the rate for women, largely as a
result of layoffs in manufacturing and construction, where men made up roughly 70% and 85% of
the workforce, respectively (Cook 2009). On the other hand, women are concentrated in
occupations that are more resistant to the economic decline, such as health, education, and public
service. Health care employment has been among the strongest during this recession (Rampell
2010). As of January 2018, 3.9% of men aged 16 or older were unemployed, compared with 3.6% of
women in the same age group (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018a).
The unemployment rate for young adults has been a concern in the United States and globally. In
the United States, the unemployment for all four-year college graduates is 4.5%; however, the
unemployment rate for recent four-year graduates is higher (6.8%), and for recent high school
graduates it is nearly 24% (Carnevale, Jayasundera, and Cheah 2012). A college degree has been
described as “the best umbrella in this historic economic storm and the best preparation for the
economy that is emerging in recovery†(Carnevale et al. 2012:1). For Europeans 15 to 24 years of
age (level of education not identified), the rate of unemployment was 21.6% in 2011 (Eurostat
2012).
In addition to unemployment, we should be aware of another rate, underemployment.
Underemployment is defined as the number of employed individuals who are working in a job
that underpays them, is not equal to their skill level, or involves fewer working hours than they
would prefer (taking a part-time job when a full-time job is not available). In January 2018, the
number of people working part-time because of cutbacks or because they were unable to find a full-
time job was 5.0 million (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018a).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 9.3: Possible Solutions to Underemployment
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There is significant variation in unemployment and underemployment rates. People who are young,
non-college-educated, and members of ethnic/racial minorities have higher underemployment rates
(Bernstein 1997). Minority group underemployment is significantly higher than underemployment
among non-Hispanic Whites. Min Zhou (1993) reported that at least 40% of the members of each
minority group he analyzed (Puerto Ricans, Blacks, Mexicans, Cubans, Chinese, and Japanese) were
underemployed. In particular, Blacks and Puerto Ricans have the highest rates of labor force
nonparticipation (i.e., were not in the labor force and had not worked in the last two years) and
joblessness. Joblessness includes subemployment (individuals who were not in the labor force but
worked within the last two years) and underemployment rates (based on either low wage or
occupational mismatch). Recent immigrants, a large portion of the Asian and Hispanic minority
groups, may have difficulty in securing employment because of lack of job skills or language
proficiency and, as a result, are more likely underemployed than are native-born and non-Hispanic
White workers (DeJong and Madamba 2001).
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Scholars have documented the destructive effects of joblessness on overall health (Rodriguez 2001)
and emotional well-being (Darity 2003). Unemployment has been consistently linked with higher
levels of alienation, anxiety, and depression (Rodriguez 2001) and a lower sense of overall health
(Lopez del Amo Gonzalez, Benitez and Martin-Martin 2018). Cross-national data reveal that long
periods of unemployment are related to increased rates of suicide and spousal abuse (Darity 2003).
Among Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites, long-term exposure to unemployment produces a
“scarred worker effect.†The experience of unemployment undermines the worker’s will to perform,
leading that person to become less productive and less employable in the future (Rodriguez 2001).
Globalization
Globalization, introduced in Chapter 1, is a process whereby goods, information, people,
communication, and forms of culture move across national boundaries. Although we tend to think
of globalization as an economic phenomenon, we should not lose sight of its political, social, and
cultural implications (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006).
Globalization has transformed the nature of economic activity (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006). It has
been credited with bringing the world together—creating a world market where all businesses,
employers, and employees must compete. This competition keeps corporations focused on
innovation, quality, and production. Increasing productivity and output create more jobs and
stimulate economic growth (Weidenbaum 2006), creating a new middle class and reducing poverty
in many countries (Yergin 2006). The United States has benefited from globalization, having
experienced a doubling in foreign trade during the 1990s, which led to the creation of more than 17
million new jobs (Yergin 2006).
Yet globalization has its dark side (Weidenbaum 2006). Foremost, worker security has declined
341
everywhere, including in the United States. Skilled workers are threatened by the unfair competition
of low-cost sweatshops, of cheaper labor to be found in other nations. Corporations are moving to
lower-wage economies, shifting their production from the United States to Mexico to China (where
the average manufacturing wage is 61 cents per hour) (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006). President
Donald Trump’s most consistent policy position has been his resistance to globalization. His plan
for his first 100 days in office—renegotiate or withdraw from NAFTA, establish tariffs, and
abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership—highlights his vision for a more insular and protectionist
U.S. economy.
There are conflicting assessments on the relationship between globalization and poverty. Some
highlight that progress in poverty reduction has been limited and geographically isolated (Weller
and Hersh 2006). Others conclude that globalization has reduced global poverty (pointing to the
overall reduction of the number of poor according to the World Bank standard, discussed in
Chapter 2), while also warning about the threat from the persistent inequality between rich and
poor countries. The benefits of globalization are not equally distributed. Developed (rich) countries
are able to reap more economic benefits from less developed (poor) countries through the system of
globalization (Shin 2009).
Women are particularly vulnerable in the new global economy. The global assembly line is filled
with girls and women engaged in work that is low-wage, temporary, part-time, or home-based and
usually performed under unsafe working conditions. More than half the world’s legal and illegal
immigrants are women—third-world women moving to postindustrial societies for jobs as nannies,
maids, and sex workers (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006).
p.200
Minimum Wage
One way the United States addresses economic inequality is through the federal minimum wage. A
three-step wage increase was passed by Congress in 2007, when the minimum hourly wage was
$5.15. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25. However, when adjusted for inflation, the
current federal minimum is still less than the minimum wage from 1961 to 1981 (Filion 2009).
Most states have a minimum wage above the federal minimum.
While the minimum wage raises the wages of low-income workers in general, many low-income
families continue to move in and out of poverty. Data indicate that low-wage or poverty-level
workers are likely to be minority, female, non-college-educated, and nonunion, working in low-end
sales and service occupations (Bernstein 1997; Bernstein, Hartmann, and Schmitt 1999; U.S.
Department of Labor 2002; Mishel, Bernstein, and Shierholz 2009). Refer to Exploring Social
Problems for more information about minimum wage workers.
In her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich explored
life and work on minimum wage in three states: Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. Working as a hotel
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maid, a nursing home aide, a sales clerk, a waitress, and a cleaning woman, Ehrenreich rated her
work performance as a B or maybe even a B+. In each new job, Ehrenreich had to master new
terms, new skills, and new tools (and not as quickly as she thought she would be able to master
them). How did Ehrenreich survive on minimum wage? She discovered that she needed to work
two jobs or seven days a week to achieve a “decent fit†between her income and her expenses. She
describes getting her meals down to a “scienceâ€: chopped meat, beans, cheese, and noodles when she
had a kitchen in which to cook; if not, fast food at about $9 per day. For housing, she shuffled
between motel rooms and apartments, moving to a trailer park at one point. Ehrenreich (2001)
concluded,
Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can
barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don’t need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and
rents too high. (p. 199)
A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017h), there were 5,190 fatal work injuries in
2016. The majority of fatalities occurred in men, mostly caused by the type of work they do. The
private construction industry had the highest number of fatal occupational injuries, about 20% in
2016. Highway or transportation incidents are the most common cause of fatal work injuries (about
40%). Workplace homicides accounted for 9% of all work-related fatal occupational injuries in
2016.
In 2016, a total of 2.9 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses were reported in private industry
workplaces, a rate of about 2.9 cases per 100 full-time workers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2017i). Approximately 95% of these cases were injuries, most occurring in the health care and social
assistance sector. The goods-producing industries had the largest share of occupational illnesses,
about 39.2% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017i). The U.S. Department of Labor monitors
illnesses such as skin diseases, respiratory conditions, and poisonings. New reported workplace
illnesses were related directly to work activity, such as contact dermatitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Some conditions, such as long-term illnesses related to exposure to carcinogens, are usually
underreported and not adequately recognized (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2009).
The 2010 explosions at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and the Deepwater Horizon
oil platform in the Mississippi River Delta heightened concerns about the safety of industrial
workers. In West Virginia, 29 were killed in an explosion in the country’s worst mine disaster in 40
years. These incidents led to an ongoing reevaluation of mine regulation, employee training, and
safety and the development of emergency response teams, along with improvements in underground
communications technology. Coal mining is an inherently dangerous occupation, with deaths and
injuries having been documented worldwide. China and Russia have the largest number of coal
mine fatalities annually. The Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in the deaths of 11 operators
and is the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history.
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p.201
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
CHARACTERISTICS OF MINIMUM WAGE
WORKERS
The probability of earning minimum wage or lower varies by your social characteristics.
Figures 9.3 and 9.4 display data on the percentage of minimum wage workers by gender,
occupation, and educational attainment.
Review the data presented in Figure 9.3. Overall, a higher percentage of women work at
or below the minimum wage than men. Those 25 years or older are more likely to work at
or below the minimum wage level than those 16 to 24 years of age.
Based on the data presented in Figure 9.4, which occupation has the highest rate of
workers earning at or below minimum wage? Which jobs within this occupation would
earn below minimum wage?
What do you think? How does the gendered division of labor contribute to the minimum
wage patterns presented in Figures 9.3 and 9.4?
FIGURE 9.3 â– Percentage of Workers Earning Minimum Wage or Below, by Gender
and Age, 2016
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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017g.
Note: Due to rounding, these percentages do not add up to 100%.
FIGURE 9.4 â– Percentage of Workers Earning Minimum Wage or Below, by
Occupation, 2016
345
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017g.
p.202
U.S. Coast Guard
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in the deaths of 11 workers and led to the largest marine oil spill in U.S.
history.
346
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (2003) defines job stress as
the harmful emotional or physical response that occurs when a job’s characteristics do not match the
capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Certain job conditions are likely to lead to job stress:
a heavy workload, little sense of worker control, a poor social environment, uncertain job
expectations, or job insecurity. Eventually, job stress can lead to illness, injury, or job failure. Studies
have analyzed the impact of stress on our physical health, noting the relationship of stress to sleep
disturbances, ulcers, headaches, or strained relationships with family or friends. Recent evidence
suggests that stress also plays a role in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease,
musculoskeletal disorders, and psychological disorders (NIOSH 2003).
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Policies
When President William Howard Taft signed Public Law 426-62 in March 1913, he created the
U.S. Department of Labor. From the beginning, the department was intended to foster and
promote the welfare of U.S. wage earners, to improve working conditions, and to advance
opportunities for profitable employment. In its current mission statement, the department includes
improving working conditions, advancing opportunities for profitable employment, protecting
retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, and strengthening collective
bargaining as part of its charge. The department administers and enforces more than 180 federal
laws that regulate workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
MEXICO’S MAQUILADORAS
Maquiladoras are textile, electronics, furniture, chemical, processed food, or machinery
assembly factories where workers assemble imported materials for export (Abell 1999;
Lindquist 2001). The maquiladora program allows imported U.S. materials to enter Mexico
without tariffs; when the finished goods are sent back to the United States, the shipper pays
duties only on the value added by the manufacturer in Mexico (Abell 1999; Gruben 2001). The
program began in 1965 as an employment alternative for Mexican agricultural workers. Drawn
to Mexico because of its proximity to U.S. borders and by low labor costs, nearly every large
U.S. manufacturer has a maquiladora location. Several Asian and European companies,
including Sony, Sanyo, Samsung, Hitachi, and Philips, also have maquiladora locations
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(Lindquist 2001). An estimated 5,000 export manufacturers are located along Mexico’s border
with the United States, employing over 1.3 million workers (Bacon 2011). The maquiladora
program has been described as the engine of growth in Mexico (Mollick and Ibarra-Salazar
2013).
The maquiladora program became controversial as soon as it appeared (Gruben 2001).
Supporters of the maquiladora program argue that if these plants had not relocated in Mexico,
they would have gone to other low-wage countries. Opponents argue that the program helped
U.S. firms and others take advantage of the low-wage Mexican labor force. The maquiladoras
have been criticized for their treatment of female workers, dangerous work conditions, and
impact on the physical and social environment of border towns.
Most maquiladora workers are women. Yolanda is a worker from Piedras Negras.
As the sun rises, Yolanda is already awake and working—carrying water from a nearby well,
cooking breakfast over an open fire, and cleaning the one-room home that she and her
husband built out of cardboard, wood, and tin. She puts on her blue company jacket and
boards the school bus that will take her and her neighbors across Piedras Negras to a large
assembly plant. Yolanda and 800 coworkers each earn US$25 to US$35 a week for 48 hours’
work, sewing clothing for a New York–based corporation that subcontracts for Eddie Bauer,
Joe Boxer, and other U.S. brands. These wages will buy less than half of their families’ basic
needs (Abell 1999:595).
Yolanda’s job provides a wage, but it is not adequate to support her or her family. The daily
salary for maquiladora women is about $4.67, described not as a standard of living but, rather,
as a standard for survival (Moffatt 2005). According to Elizabeth Fussell (2000), early
maquiladora factories attracted the “elite†of the Mexican female labor force: young, childless,
educated women. Current maquiladora laborers are likely to be the least-skilled Mexican
women: slightly older, poorly educated women with young children (Fussell 2000).
Yolanda’s town of Piedras Negras is no different from other maquiladora towns such as
Tijuana and Matamoros. Once-quaint border towns have been transformed by maquiladora
activity. Despite their profits, companies do not invest in the physical and social infrastructure
of these border towns. As a result, most factory neighborhoods lack basic health and public
services such as clean drinking water or sewage systems, electricity, schools, health facilities,
and adequate housing (Abell 1999).
Sexual harassment is often used as a method of intimidation in the maquiladora. Supervisors
taunt female workers and proposition them by offering lighter workloads in exchange for dates
and sexual favors. Supervisors have also sexually assaulted female workers. Women, on and off
their jobs, are subject to intimidation and violence (Moffatt 2005). As noted by Joanna
Swanger (2007), female factory workers are subject to a deep and violent sexism, a culture that
regards them as little more than prostitutes.
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Under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), tariff breaks formerly
limited to all imported parts, supplies, and equipment used by Mexican maquiladoras now also
apply to manufacturers in Canada and the United States (Lindquist 2001). During the recent
national debate about immigration, NAFTA and the maquiladora program were blamed for
failing to improve Mexico’s economic and business infrastructure and thus failing to reduce
illegal immigration in the United States.
In addition to the FLSA, the Department of Labor enforces several statutes applicable to most
workplaces. It regulates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (pension and welfare benefit
plans), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (ensuring work and a workplace free from serious
hazards), the Family and Medical Leave Act (granting eligible employees as many as 12 weeks of
unpaid leave for family care or medical leave), and several acts that cover workers’ compensation for
illness, disability, or death resulting from work performance.
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IN FOCUS
SWEATSHOP LABOR
©iStock.com/EdStock
Although there is no legal definition of a sweatshop, the term has come to refer to the exploitation of workers with no
livable wages or benefits, working in poor or hazardous working conditions.
According to Sweatshop Watch (2003), there is no legal definition of a “sweatshop.†The
General Accounting Office (1994) defines a sweatshop as a workplace that violates more than
one federal or state labor law. The term has come to include exploitation of workers, for
example, with no livable wages or benefits, poor and hazardous working conditions, and
possible verbal or physical abuse (Sweatshop Watch 2003); employers who fail to treat workers
with dignity and violate basic human rights (Co-op America 2003); and businesses that violate
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wage or child labor laws and safety or health regulations (Foo 1994). The term sweatshop was
first used in the 19th century to describe a subcontracting system in which the contractors
earned profits from the margin between the amount they received for a contract and the
amount paid to their workers. The margin was “sweated†from the workers because they
received minimal wages for long hours in unsafe working conditions (Sweatshop Watch 2003).
Jill Esbenshade (2008) described the networks of production that promote sweatshops and
labor exploitation. She identified how a single company, like Gap or Levi Strauss, relies on
manufacturing in dozens of countries on four or five continents supported by an extensive
competitive network of agents, factories, and small subcontractors. This type of production
arrangement severs the legal liability of the brand-name companies from the workers who
make their products. For example, in 2012, Apple was scrutinized for poor working conditions
among iPad production workers in China. Esbenshade (2008) explained, “For garment workers
this means they have little leverage in the production system, and in general have not been able
to successfully organize to change their conditions. Garment factories, with little capital
investment, close down and move on when confronted with an organized and demanding labor
force†(p. 457). Clothing and other lightly manufactured products sold in the United States are
made in more than 100 countries (International Labor Rights Forum 2011).
All U.S. manufacturers must follow the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which establishes
federal minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and industrial homework standards. The
Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division makes routine enforcement sweeps in major
garment centers, fining businesses that are in violation of the FLSA. Globally, antisweatshop
activists have increased regulatory and monitoring systems in producing countries and have
pressured contractors to improve working conditions and to recognize unions (Esbenshade
2008).
There have been two legislative responses to the labor market and income consequences of the
recent recession. In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into
law. ARRA was a stimulus package that allowed for benefit increases and tax cuts for households,
along with federal investments in infrastructure and technology. A second stimulus package, the Tax
Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act, was signed into law in
2010. This package extended temporary income and payroll tax cuts and provided additional
funding for emergency unemployment compensation.
Two labor issues continue to be debated in Congress. The first is raising the minimum wage. In
2001, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representative David Bonior of Michigan, both
Democrats, introduced legislation that proposed a $1.50 raise in the minimum wage over three
years. Efforts to increase the minimum wage are supported by unions and poverty organizations,
which argue that doing so will help the nation’s working poor and low-income families. Opponents,
350
who include members of the business community and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue that
increasing the minimum wage would put an unnecessary stress on medium-size and small businesses
but would not decrease poverty. Some predict that businesses would be forced to eliminate jobs,
reduce work hours, or close altogether. Results from policy analyses and academic research have not
provided conclusive evidence for either argument (Information for Decision Making 2000). In
2007, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that would increase the minimum wage to $7.25 over
two years. Congress has not passed a minimum wage law since 2007.
p.205
The second issue involves protection against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established in 1964 by Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act. The EEOC monitors and enforces several federal statutes regarding
employment discrimination based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, gender,
national origin, or religion), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967), the Vocational
Rehabilitation Act (1973), and the Americans With Disabilities Act (1990). The U.S. EEOC
(2018) has received between 84,000 and 93,000 charges of employment discrimination annually
since 2012.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on
sexual orientation, has been introduced in every Congress (except the 109th) since 1994. The bill
has yet to pass. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have passed laws prohibiting
employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and 32 states and Washington, DC, also
prohibit discrimination based on gender identity (Human Rights Campaign 2015). In 2015,
President Obama’s executive order prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity by all federal contractors went into effect.
The Living Wage Movement
The term living wage was first used in the 1800s, as labor activists argued that employers should pay
employees wages high enough to support themselves and a family. More recently, living wages have
been promoted as a policy tool to address economic and social inequality (Luce 2012). Maryland
became the first state to require a living wage, effective October 2007. In 2011, Maryland employers
with state contracts were required to pay workers a minimum of $12.49 an hour in the Baltimore
and Washington, DC, areas and $9.39 an hour in rural counties (Maryland Department of Labor,
Licensing and Regulation 2011). States, unwilling to wait for congressional action on a federal
minimum wage increase, have passed higher minimum wage laws during the past decade (Uchitelle
2006). Between 2004 and 2009, 29 states increased their minimum wage. City and county
governments have done the same. Seattle residents voted to increase the city’s minimum wage to
$15 per hour by 2018. Mayors in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco were also promoting
higher minimum wages for their residents. Currently there are living wage ordinances in 38 cities
and counties (UC Berkeley Labor Center 2017).
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Although opponents claim that higher living wages will hurt the local economy, research has not
confirmed these negative consequences. Based on scholarly research and city program evaluation,
there is no evidence of increased costs for city contracts (and higher taxes for city residents) or a
decrease in the number of firms bidding on contracts as a result of living wage ordinances.
Additionally, none of the existing studies documented employment loss (Luce 2012).
What has been consistently noted is how the living wage increases workers’ wages. Based on a study
of Boston workers, the living wage ordinance raised earnings by $6,950 per year, from $21,770 to
$28,720, for workers who stayed with the same employer before and after the ordinance. Stephanie
Luce (2012) argued,
The ordinances are not always enough to raise workers out of poverty, and still do not reach enough workers. They are
difficult to enforce and, in fact, have been repealed or blocked in some cities. Where implementation is more successful, it
requires constant effort by workers or worker organizations to monitor employers and the city. (p. 19)
In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama endorsed a $10.10 national minimum
wage. He later signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage for individuals working on new
federal service contracts to $10.10 per hour. There are living wage campaigns in the United
Kingdom, Canada, and Japan.
p.206
©Scott Heins/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In 2018, teachers in Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia coordinated statewide strikes to protest the lack of
funding for public schools. Education scholars and policy makers argue that the strikes call attention to low teacher salaries,
but also to the overall decline in respect for the teaching profession.
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Worker-Friendly Businesses—Conducting Business a Different Way
Each year Fortune magazine releases a list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.†In 2007, the
magazine wrote,
Ten years ago, when we began compiling this list, the idea that your employer would deliver your groceries (a new perk at
Microsoft) or allow you to do your laundry at work (Google) might have seemed crazy. . . . Indeed, much has changed in the
American workplace over the past decade. (Levering and Moskowitz 2007:94)
The number one company on Fortune’s 2016 list was Google. This employer features 30 free
gourmet cafeterias in its Mountain View, California, headquarters. But Google was named number
one for more than its food. This business rewards its 73,000 employees with benefits that include
competitive salaries and stock options, on-site laundry and dry cleaning, outdoor and indoor
recreational facilities, a community-supported fishery program, and a generous parental leave
program (22 weeks for new mothers and 12 weeks for new fathers).
There is no big secret to creating worker-friendly organizations, although some organizations are
slow to learn their values. Beyond the standard employee benefit package of vacations, health care,
retirement plans, and life insurance, innovative employers have used dependent care, flexible work
options, expanded leave time, and enhanced traditional benefits to attract and retain employees.
More than half of U.S. employees are actively looking for a new job (Harter and Adkins 2017).
Employers who demonstrate their commitment to their workforce have reduced employee turnover,
increased employee satisfaction, and improved worker productivity (Schmidt and Duenas 2002).
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
JERRY GREENFIELD
©Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s Foundation
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Businesses have also found a way to give back to their communities, to combine their work
with their social activism. Often identified as a socially responsible corporate leader is Ben &
Jerry’s. In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened their first ice cream shop in
Burlington, Vermont. Almost 40 years later, there are more than 500 Ben & Jerry’s Scoop
Shops worldwide. When Cohen and Greenfield sold their company to Unilever in 2001, the
deal included an independent board of directors to safeguard Ben & Jerry’s now infamous
corporate mission: to make the best products, to be financially successful, and to stand up for
social causes (Schug 2017).
According to Greenfield (quoted in J. Fox 2008), “Most people . . . view corporations as selfish
entities, and we didn’t want to have that kind of business, so we said we’re going to see if we
can be different. . . The traditional thinking is that environmental and social responsibility
takes away from profitability, but our experience is the exact opposite.†Greenfield offers a
different model of business: “The normal definition of business is that a business is an entity
that produces a product or provides a service. Well, at Ben & Jerry’s, we started to define it
differently; we said that a business is a combination of organized human energy plus money
which equals power†(quoted in O’Reilly 2017).
He explains, “We (Ben & Jerry’s) takes a different approach. We try to do good deeds and act
in the consumer’s interest. I don’t think the whole world is going to start acting that way
overnight, but there are tangible benefits of doing it. For example, people that work for the
company feel better about what they are doing, employees feel more motivated†(quoted in J.
Fox 2008).
Greenfield serves as president of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, established in 1985. The
foundation is funded by a percentage of Ben & Jerry’s annual pretax profits and a matching gift
program for all employees (Ben & Jerry’s Foundation 2018). The foundation identifies itself as
a social justice organization, believing that people most affected by a problem are in the best
position to determine the solutions to that problem and true change is possible only when
underlying, systemic forces are understood and addressed. The foundation awards more than
$1.8 million each year to support community action, social change, sustainability, and other
initiatives.
Flexible work hours help facilitate an employee’s work–life balance, especially for women (C.
Sullivan and Lewis 2001). Female employees can change their schedules to take children to school,
be home when children return from school, or attend special school events (McDonald et al. 2005).
Flexible work hours also permit employees to manage other personal matters. Employees who
choose to work nonstandard hours or to work remotely may increase their production as a result of
fewer distractions or creating an environment that optimizes their creativity and work flow
(Shockley and Allen 2012).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
What work benefits inspires you to be more productive or to enjoy your work more? How can work
be structured to make you a happier worker?
p.208
Organized and Fighting Back
Historically, labor unions have served as bargaining agents for workers, fighting for fair wages, safe
work environments, and benefits from employers. Many of the worker benefits advocated by early
labor unions are now mandated through federal, state, or local labor laws. In our changing and
global economy, unions cannot sustain themselves by simply negotiating pay, benefits, and working
rights. To remain vital and relevant, unions need to develop multilevel strategies and use new skills
(Lazes and Savage 2000). In 1983, the first year when union membership data were available, the
rate of membership was 20.1%, accounting for 17.7 million union members. For 2016, the rate of
membership was 10.7% with a total of 14.8 million members (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2018b).
Following years of declining membership, U.S. unions shifted their membership strategy (Fantasia
and Voss 2004). Changing their focus from the declining U.S. manufacturing sector, union
organizers began to successfully rebuild their membership in the service and public sectors
dominated by female, immigrant, and minority workers. During 2017, membership in the
manufacturing industries was 9.1%, and employees in the protective service industries had the
highest rate of membership, 34.7% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018b). Unions are presented as
organizational vehicles of social solidarity, “emphasizing direct [worker] action as an important
source of collective power†(Fantasia and Voss 2004:128). In addition, these unions have a strong
orientation toward social justice that appeals to their new members, connecting the labor movement
with the movement for social citizenship and universal civil rights (Fantasia and Voss 2004) and
encouraging broad-based movement building and worker self-organization (Avendaño and Hiatt
2012).
In recent years, innovative collaborations have been forged. Unions have collaborated with other
types of social movements to better support workers and their families. Nonunion social movements
include worker advocacy groups representing women, immigrants, racial and ethnic groups, and
working families. Living-wage campaigns and worker centers have also been part of the effort to
increase worker power (Kalleberg 2011).
One example of union innovation is the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees
(UNITE). In 1996, it launched a “Stop Sweatshops†campaign linking union, consumer, student,
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civil rights, and women’s groups in the fight against sweatshops. UNITE helped form United
Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) in 1997, bringing together a coalition of student groups to
raise awareness about the problem of sweatshop labor in the manufacturing of collegiate clothing
(caps, shirts, and sweatshirts sold in campus stores). In March 1998, Duke University adopted the
nation’s first code of conduct for university trademark licensees. Under the code, any clothing with
the Duke logo would be subject to labor and human rights standards. The student group Duke
Students Against Sweatshops played a key role in shaping the antisweatshop code (Sweatshop
Watch 2000). In 2004, UNITE announced that it was merging with the Hotel Employees and
Restaurant Employees International Union. The new union, called UNITE HERE (2012),
represents workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry,
and airport industries in Canada and the United States.
Also working with USAS is the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP). This campus-based
coalition supports the growing economic justice movement among college students by “making links
between campus and community organizing, providing skills training to build lasting student
organizations, and developing campaigns that win concrete victories for working families†(Student
Labor Action Project 2007). The organization sponsors a national student labor week of action each
year, highlighting issues such as the DREAM Act, fair contracts for campus employees,
environmental and workforce sustainability, and living wages. In recent years, SLAP has also
organized against educational cuts in state budgets and increasing tuition.
p.209
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
LAW
356
Courtesy of Stacey Stone Semmler
Stacey Stone Semmler
Stacey Stone Semmler—Class of 2006
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Political Science
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says that being a lawyer is one of the best jobs in
the world, because “every lawyer, no matter whom they represent, is trying to help someone. . .
. To me, lawyering is the height of service†(quoted in Campos 2013).
Earning a juris doctor (JD) degree usually takes seven years of full-time study—completing an
undergraduate degree followed by three years of law school. Most states require practicing
lawyers to earn their degree at an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited program. There
are more than 200 accredited law schools in the United States; the majority of schools require
applicants to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). In the second and third year of
law school, students can customize their coursework for a particular area of law practice. There
are many major areas of law practice, including bankruptcy, business, civil rights, criminal,
environment, family, labor, and tax law. In order to practice, one must successfully complete
licensure, also referred to as a state bar exam.
Stacey Stone Semmler practices civil litigation in a variety of fields, including insurance
defense, commercial debt collection, election and campaign finance law, and construction and
workers’ compensation defense. Her undergraduate internship at Girl Scouts Beyond Bars
inspired her career and served as an important experience.
357
That opportunity demonstrated to me that the law has power. It truly motivated me to attend law school. I gained so
much experience in interacting with a variety of people and personalities from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and
social classes. My current job is not necessarily directly related to my work with Girl Scouts; however, each time I
interviewed for a job, that experience was discussed.
Sociology is still part of her work, especially during a trial.
In my field we often have to consider the perception, especially when representing a corporation. If we have multiple
lawyers, will it look bad? If we have too much technology, does it look like the poor opposing party is just being
outspent? There are numerous things to consider. It also is beneficial when picking a jury. You have to consider your
client and how he/she will be judged by the person who sits before you on a panel based on things such as their race,
social class, job position, relationships, and community involvement.
CHAPTER REVIEW
9.1 Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.
During the late 18th century and early 19th century, the means of production shifted from
agricultural to industrial. In agrarian societies, economic production was very simple,
based primarily on family agriculture and hunting or gathering activities. During the
Industrial Revolution, an economic shift occurred in how people worked and how they
earned a living. Family production was replaced with market production, in which
capitalist owners paid workers wages to produce goods.
p.210
9.2 Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
According to the functionalist perspective, work serves specific functions in society. Our
work provides us with some predictability about our life experiences. Conflict theorists
argue that capitalist and corporate leaders maintain their power and economic advantage
at the expense of their workers and the general public. From a feminist perspective, work
is a gendered institution. Men’s and women’s identities as workers are created,
reproduced, and then solidified in the everyday routines of informal work groups and
formal workers’ organizations. According to symbolic interactionists, we attach labels and
meanings to an individual’s work. These social constructs create an order to our work and
our lives but can also create social problems.
9.3 Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment.
Whereas unemployment is defined as the number of individuals who are looking for a job,
underemployment is the number of employed individuals who are working in a job that
underpays them, is not equal to their skill level, or involves fewer working hours than they
would prefer. Both are measured by the U.S. Department of Labor.
9.4 Identify which forms of discrimination workers are protected against.
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U.S. workers are protected against discrimination based on race, color, gender, national
origin, religion, age, and disabilities. Although states have passed laws prohibiting
employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, there is no federal law in place.
9.5 Identify how labor unions have changed their membership strategy.
Union organizers have rebuilt their membership in the service and public sectors
dominated by female, immigrant, and minority workers. These unions have a strong
orientation toward social justice that appeals to new members, connecting the labor
movement with the movement for social citizenship and universal civil rights and
encouraging broad-based movement building and worker self-organization. Student
groups have provided strong support for unions and living wage organizations on college
campses.
KEY TERMS
deindustrialization, 190
Industrial Revolution, 190
scientific management, 193
service revolution, 190
sweatshop, 204
underemployment, 198
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Which population of workers has changed the U.S. workplace the most—women or
foreign-born workers? Explain the reason for your answer.
2. Using a coffee barista as an example, identify and explain Karl Marx’s theory of worker
alienation.
3. Why and how are women disadvantaged in the workforce—in both the types of jobs they
occupy and their salary level?
4. Identify the positive and negative consequences of globalization.
5. From a functionalist and conflict perspective, examine the role of a contingent workforce in
the U.S. economy.
6. Why have labor unions declined in membership? How can labor unions expand their
appeal and membership to workers, and how can they do this during the economic recession?
7. Human trafficking includes the involuntary movement of individuals within one country or
359
from one country to another for exploitation. Exploitation may include physical labor or sexual
exploitation (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Anti–Human Trafficking Unit
2006). In 2012, the United Nations reported that 2.4 million people are victims of human
trafficking at any one time, with the majority being exploited as sexual slaves (Lederer 2012).
The United States is reported to be a frequent destination country where victims are brought to
be exploited, yet not much is discussed about our country’s role in human trafficking. Is
trafficking a U.S. social problem? Why or why not?
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360
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10
HEALTH AND MEDICINE
Media Library
CHAPTER 10 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 10.1: PTSD Therapy through Dance
AP News Clips 10.2: Waiting for Organ Donors
AP News Clips 10.3: US Healthcare Analysis
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
10.1 Describe the social determinants of health.
10.2 Explain the three measures of epidemiology.
10.3 Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health
and medicine.
10.4 Identify the relationship between education and health.
10.5 Summarize the different models of health care in the United States.
If you are thinking that this is going to be a discussion about human physiology and theories about
germs and viruses, full of medical terms, you’re wrong. Although medicine can identify the
biological pathways to disease (Wilkinson 1996), we will need a sociological perspective to address
the social determinants of health. “Health is a result of an individual’s genetic makeup, income and
educational status, health behaviors, communities in which the individual lives, and the
environments to which he or she is exposed†(Lurie and Dubowitz 2007:1119). To better
understand the connection between our social structure and health, we must investigate how our
political economy, our corporate structure, and the distribution of resources and power influence
health and illness (Conrad 2001a).
Consider the gross inequalities in health between and within countries. Life expectancy at birth is
highest for a child born in Japan (81.9 years) and lowest for one born in Sierra Leone (34 years).
Within the United States, there is a 20-year gap in life expectancy between the most and least
362
advantaged populations (Marmot 2005). There is no biological reason why life expectancy should be
48 years longer in Japan than in Sierra Leone or why there is a gap in life expectancy between the
rich and the poor in the United States. In Health, United States, 2016 (National Center for Health
Statistics 2017), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that life
expectancy had reached 78.8 years (see Table 10.1). Although Americans are living longer, life
expectancy gains have lagged behind other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) countries (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation 2013).
TABLE 10.1 â– Life Expectancy at Birth in Years According to Race and Sex in the United
States, Selected Years
Sources: National Center for Health Statistics 2014; National Center for Health Statistics 2017.
When two U.S. aid workers contracted the Ebola virus while working in West Africa in 2014, they
were flown back to the states and treated with an experimental drug. There is no vaccine for this
hemorrhagic virus. News of the experimental and special treatment of the doctor and nurse raised
criticism, most notably why ZMapp was not available in West Africa but was made available in the
United States to two White aid workers. As of the end of 2014, Ebola had infected 15,145 people
and killed 5,420 in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria. Between 60% and 90% of those
infected had died from the disease. The aid workers were declared fully recovered, although it is
unclear whether the drug, ZMapp, contributed to their recovery.
Finally, consider how politics and the law serve as agents of health system change. Before the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (also referred to as the Affordable Care Act,
ACA, or Obamacare), 44 million Americans did not have health insurance. President Barack
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Obama said he was signing the bill on behalf of his mother, along with others who struggled to find
affordable and comprehensive health coverage. The signing of the bill enshrined “the core principle
that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care†(Obama 2010).
Yet in 2017, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order to eliminate ACA subsidies
to health insurance companies, he maintained, “Congress needs to repeal and replace the disastrous
Obamacare law and provide real relief to the American people†(quoted in Pear, Haberman, and
Abelson 2017).
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTH, ILLNESS,
AND MEDICINE
The sociology of health and illness includes the field of epidemiology. Epidemiology is the study
of the patterns in the distribution and frequency of sickness, injury, and death and the social factors
that shape them. Epidemiologists are like detectives, investigating how and why groups of
individuals become sick or injured (Cockerman and Glasser 2001). They don’t focus on individuals;
rather, epidemiologists focus on communities and populations, addressing how health and illness
experiences are based on social factors such as gender, age, race, social class, or behavior
(Cockerman and Glasser 2001). Epidemiology has successfully increased public awareness about the
risk factors associated with disease and illness, leading many to quit smoking, to participate in more
physical exercise, and to eat healthier diets (Link and Phelan 2001).
For example, type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, occurs when the body does not
produce enough insulin or when the cells ignore the insulin. An estimated 30.3 million Americans
have type 2 diabetes (diagnosed or undiagnosed). However, the disease can be effectively managed
with healthy behaviors such as meal planning, exercise, and weight management (American
Diabetes Association 2018). Modernization, fast foods, and physical inactivity have led to
significant increases in the number of type 2 diabetes cases in countries such as Brazil and India.
Indian public health officials estimate that by 2040 there will be 123 million diabetic patients ages
20 to 79 (International Diabetes Federation 2017). A disease that usually affects the old is affecting
the younger Indian population, primarily because they have adopted a modern lifestyle and diet
(Kleinfield 2006). Similar dire predictions are made for China: It is expected that by 2040 there will
be 150 million Chinese with diabetes (International Diabetes Federation 2017).
What Does It Mean to Me?
All of us practice healthy behaviors we believe or were told can prevent or cure illness or disease.
Brushing our teeth is one practice that we routinely do without really remembering why we do it.
What other healthy behaviors do you practice? Why do you do them? Where did you learn them?
364
p.215
Epidemiologists use three primary measures of health status: fertility, mortality, and morbidity.
These data are routinely collected by the National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. Fertility is
the level of childbearing for an individual or a population. The basic measure of fertility is the crude
birthrate, the number of live births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in a population. The U.S. crude
birthrate for 2017 was 12.5 births per 1,000 women (CIA Factbook 2017). Related to this is the
measure of fecundity, the maximum number of children that could be born (based on the number
of women of childbearing age in the population).
In the early 1900s, a woman could expect to give birth to about four children, whereas a woman
during the Great Depression of the 1930s could expect to have only two (U.S. Census Bureau
2002). The lowest number of births per woman was 1.8 children in the mid-1970s. Since then, the
rate has averaged around two births per woman. Fertility is determined by a set of biological factors,
such as the health and nutrition of childbearing women. But innovations in medicine, in the form of
infertility treatments, have made childbirth possible for women who once considered it impossible.
Social factors, such as our social values and definitions of the role of women, the ideal family size,
and the timing of childbirth, can influence fertility. Fertility rates have also been determined by the
ethnic and foreign-born composition of the population. Demographer Kenneth Johnson explains,
“You could shut off immigration tomorrow and the impact of the foreign born on U.S. demographic
trends would still be a powerful force†(quoted in Roberts 2010:A13).
Mortality is the incidence of death in a population. The basic measure of mortality is the crude
death rate, the number of deaths per 100,000 people in a population in a given year. For 2015, the
U.S. death rate was 844 deaths per 100,000 people (Murphy et al. 2017). In the United States, it is
unlikely that we’ll die from acute infectious diseases, such as an intestinal infection or measles.
Rather, the leading causes of death are chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease, cancer,
stroke, and chronic lower respiratory disease, all of which have been linked to heredity, diet, stress,
and exercise. The leading causes of death vary considerably by age. The leading cause of death of
college-age Americans is unintentional injuries, followed by homicide and suicide. Among the
elderly, mortality caused by chronic diseases (heart disease, cancer, chronic bronchitis, diabetes) is
more prevalent.
Infant mortality is the rate of infant death per 1,000 live births. For 2015, the infant mortality rate
was 5.90 deaths per 1,000 live births (Murphy et al. 2017). The three leading causes of death among
U.S. infants were congenital birth defects, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS). Infant mortality is considered a basic indicator of the well-being of a population, reflecting
the social, economic, health, and environmental conditions in which children and their mothers live.
Although infant mortality rates in the United States have declined, rates are disproportionately
higher for minority children. In 2015, the highest rate, 11.73 deaths per 1,000 live births, for infants
of non-Hispanic Black mothers, was more than double the death rate of infants born to White
mothers (4.82) (Murphy et al 2017).
365
The infant mortality rate is historically higher in the United States than in other developed
countries. (Refer to Figure 10.1 for a comparison of 2010 infant mortality rates.) Alice Chen, Emily
Oster, and Heidi Williams (2016) concluded that in the United States, lower socioeconomic groups
had much higher postneonatal (from the end of the first month to a year after birth) mortality rates
when compared with higher socioeconomic groups. In Finland and Austria (countries where
mothers’ socioeconomic data were available), postneonatal mortality rates were similar across all
socioeconomic groups. This difference may be due to the fact that maternal health care is more
widely and uniformly available in countries with national health care programs (UNICEF 2012)
such as Finland and Austria. Chen et al. (2016) suggest the implementation of a home nurse visit
program in the United States. The program, practiced in Finland, Austria and most EU countries,
schedules in-home visits with nurse, parents and infants, providing well-baby checkups along with
advice and support for parents. Evaluations of such programs have demonstrated mortality
reductions, especially for infant deaths related to SIDS or accidents.
FIGURE 10.1 â– Infant Mortality Rates: Selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development Countries, 2010
Source: MacDorman et al. 2014.
p.216
366
Morbidity is the study of illnesses and disease. Illness refers to the social experience and
consequences of having a disease, whereas disease refers to a biological or physiological problem that
affects the human body (Weitz 2001). Epidemiologists track the incidence rate, the number of
new cases within a population during a specific period, along with the prevalence rate, the total
number of cases involving a specific health problem during a specific period (Weitz 2001). For
example, the 2015 incidence rate for diabetes was 1.5 million people age 20 years or older; the
prevalence rate was 30.3 million or 9.4% of the population (American Diabetes Association 2016).
Incidence rates help measure the spread of acute illnesses, which strike suddenly and disappear
quickly, such as chicken pox or the flu. The prevalence rate measures the frequency of long-term or
chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, asthma, or HIV (Weitz 2001). The National Center for Health
Statistics publishes the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a weekly summary of surveillance
information on reported diseases and deaths.
In addition to epidemiological analyses, sociologists have applied theoretical perspectives to better
explain the social problems of health and illness.
p.217
Functionalist Perspective
Émile Durkheim conducted the first empirical analysis of suicide in the late 1800s. Before
Durkheim’s work, scientists attributed suicide primarily to psychological or individual factors.
However, Durkheim treated suicide as a social fact and identified the relationship between suicide
and the level of social attachment or regulation between an individual and society. His research is
the first true epidemiological analysis, and, most important, it revealed the relationship between
illness and the larger social structure. The stability of society is paramount from a functionalist’s
perspective. Consider for a moment what happens when you become sick. When are you sick
enough not to attend class? How do others begin to treat you? According to the functionalist
perspective, illness has a legitimate place in society. The first sociological theory of illness was
offered by Talcott Parsons (1951); the theory addresses how individuals are expected to act and to
be treated while sick (Weitz 2001), a set of rights and responsibilities condoned by society (Barclay
2012). This set of behaviors is part of Parsons’s theory of the sick role.
The sick role has four parts. In the first, sick people are excused from fulfilling their normal social
role. Illness allows them to be excused from work, from chores around the house, or even from
attending class! Second, sick people are not held responsible for the illness. The flu that’s going
around is no one’s fault, so you aren’t personally blamed if you catch it (although your roommates
may blame you if they catch what you have). Third, sick people must try to get well. Illness is
considered a temporary condition, and sick people are expected to take care of themselves with
appropriate measures. In relation to this, Parsons offers the last part, that sick people are expected to
visit medical authorities and to follow their advice.
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Although Parsons legitimized the social role of illness, he also identified a critical source of the
problem in health care today. In the fourth element, Parsons identified the authority and control of
the physician. Even though you’re the one who is sick, the doctor has the ultimate power to
diagnose your condition and to tell you that you’re “really†sick.
Doctors play a prominent role in managing our illnesses, but they don’t do it alone. Doctors, along
with nurses, pharmaceutical corporations, hospitals, and health insurers, form a powerful medical
industry. The medical industry has served us well with its technological and scientific advances,
offering a wider array of medical services and treatment options. However, this industry has also
created a set of problems, or dysfunctions, as functionalists like to refer to them. Medicine has
shifted from a general practitioner model (a family doctor who took care of all your needs) to a
specialist model (where one doctor treats you for a specific ailment). You are receiving quality care,
but at a price (and you are paying to be treated by many different doctors, instead of just one). As a
result, health care costs have become less affordable, leaving many without adequate coverage and
care. The system intended to heal us does not treat everyone fairly. We will explore this further in
the next perspective.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The last time you were sick, did you comply with the sick role? Did you see your physician or visit
your school’s health clinic? How did you play your sick role?
Conflict Perspective
According to conflict theorists, patterns of health and illness are not accidental or solely the result of
an individual’s actions. Conflict theorists identify how these patterns are related to systematic
inequalities based on ethnicity/race or gender and on differences in power, values, and interests.
p.218
Conflict theorists may take a traditional Marxist position and argue that our medical industry is
based on a capitalist system, founded not on the value of human life but on a pure profit motive. A
conflict theorist argues that instead of defining health care as a right, our capitalistic system treats
health care as a valuable commodity dispensed to the highest bidder. Studies consistently find that
those in upper social classes have better health, health insurance, and medical access than men and
women of lower socioeconomic status. The alternative would be a dramatic change in the medical
system, ensuring that health care is provided to all regardless of their race, class, or gender.
According to this perspective, what we have in place is a medical system driven by economics. In
their investigation of pharmaceutical companies in the United States and Latin America, Rebeca
368
Jasso-Aguilar and Howard Waitzkin (2011) documented how the government, transnational
corporations, and international governance bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO)
are favorable partners with pharmaceutical companies. WHO, although it has promoted various
initiatives and funding for mental health in low- and middle-income countries (Saraceno and
Saxena 2004), also “contributed to the expansion of the market for pharmaceutical products and
health insurance companies, while generally disregarding culturally-based ways of healing and
patient–healer interaction†(Jasso-Aguilar and Waitzkin 2001, p. 249). The researchers warn about
the increasing reliance of poor countries on a Western model of disease and treatment.
The medical system itself ensures that those already in charge maintain power. In health care, no
other group has greater power than medical physicians and their professional organization, the
American Medical Association (AMA), established in 1847. In his book The Social Transformation
of American Medicine, Paul Starr (1982) explained how the AMA’s authority over the medical
profession and education was secured in the early 1900s, with a series of events that culminated with
the Flexner Report. The 1910 report was written by Abraham Flexner and was commissioned by
the Carnegie Foundation and supported by the AMA. Through the report, Flexner and the AMA
were able to pass judgment on the quality of each medical school, based on an assessment of its
curriculum, facilities, faculty, admission requirements, and state licensing record. This report
eventually led to strict licensing criteria for all medical schools, which led to the closure of schools
that could not meet the new standards. Starr reveals that although the increased standards and
school closures may have improved the quality of medical training and care, they also increased the
homogeneity and cohesiveness of the profession. From 162 schools in 1906, the number of medical
schools dropped to 81 by 1922. Some of the closed schools were exclusively for African Americans
and women. According to Rose Weitz (2001), with the increasing cost of education and higher
educational prerequisites, fewer minorities, women, immigrants, and poor students could meet the
requirements. As a result,
fewer doctors were available who would practice in minority communities and who understood the special concerns of
minority or female patients. At the same time, simply because doctors were now more homogenously White, male, and
upper class, their status grew, encouraging more hierarchical relationships between doctors and patients. (Weitz 2001:327)
The legacy of the Flexner Report—higher medical standards and more limited access to medical
education and care—continues to this day. Examinations of the social and economic backgrounds of
medical students in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain confirm that medical students
tend to be recruited from families with higher socioeconomic standing and with medical
professionals among their members (Magnus and Mick 2000; Mathers and Parry 2009). Only 8.9%
of practicing doctors identify as African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans (Association
of American Medical Colleges 2017).
p.219
What Does It Mean to Me?
369
The consumer movement has shifted some of the power in the doctor–patient relationship to the
patient. Drug ads, previously reserved for professional medical journals, are now commonly featured
in popular magazines and in television advertisements. Pharmaceutical companies routinely take two
or three full-page ads, featuring drug warnings, side effects, and precautions, along with a
description of their drug and its benefits. It sometimes is difficult to figure out what the drug is for.
How has this popular diffusion of pharmaceutical information redefined the relationship between
doctor and patient? Between your doctor and you?
Feminist Perspective
According to Peter Conrad (2001b), illness and how we treat it can reflect cultural assumptions and
biases about a particular group. Take, for example, the case of women and their medical care.
Conrad explains that throughout history, there are examples of medical and scientific explanations
for women’s health and illnesses that reflect dominant and often negative conceptions of women.
Since the 1930s, women’s natural physical conditions and experiences, such as childbirth,
menopause, premenstrual syndrome, and menstruation, have been medicalized. Medicalization
refers to the process through which a condition or behavior becomes defined as a medical problem
(Weitz 2001). Although the medicalization of these conditions may have been effective in treating
women, various feminist theorists see it as an extension of medicine’s control of women (Conrad
2001b), specifically normal female experiences linked with the female reproductive system (Markens
1996), inappropriately emphasizing the psychological, biomedical, or sociocultural origins
(Hamilton 1994). Once a condition is defined as a medical problem, medicine, rather than the
woman herself, gains control of its diagnosis and treatment.
Menopause, a natural physiological event for women, was defined in the medical community as a
“deficiency disease†in the 1960s when commercial production of estrogen replacement therapy
became available (Lock 1993; Conrad 2001b). Although a few medical writers refer to menopause
as a natural process, many continue to describe it as a “hormonal imbalance†that leads to a
“menopausal syndrome†(Lock 1993). Although estrogen replacement treatment has been presented
as a means for women to retain their femininity and to maintain good health, feminists argue that
menopause is not an illness; actually, estrogen therapy may not be necessary and may be dangerous
(Conrad 2001b) and may do little to improve the quality of older women’s lives (Haney 2003).
Studies have suggested that the meanings and experiences of menopause may also be bound by
cultural definitions. In North America, where women are defined by their youth and beauty, aging
women are set up as a target for medicalization. In Japan, however, public attention focuses on a
woman’s life course experience. For a middle-aged Japanese woman, what matters is how well she
fulfills her social and familial duties, especially the care of elderly family members, rather than her
physical or medical experiences. The Japanese medical community has a different perspective on
menopause than its American colleagues do: Most doctors in Japan define menopause as natural and
370
an inevitable part of the aging process (Lock 1993). Asian American midlife women also report
lower rates of physical and psychological symptoms related to menopause compared with midlife
women from other ethnic groups (Sievert et al. 2007).
The gender pay gap we discussed in Chapters 4 and 9 also exists among physicians. Historically,
female physicians earn less than male physicians, the difference previously attributed to specialty
choice (women selecting general practice, while men choose specialty fields) and hours worked
(women working fewer hours than men). However, research has confirmed that salary differences
continue to exist, even after controlling for specialty, practice type, and hours worked. Seth Seabury,
Amitabh Chandra, and Anupam Jena (2013) reported that the 1987–1990 earnings of male
physicians were higher than those of female physicians by $33,480. Although they also controlled
for differences in hours worked and years of experience, the gender gap in physician earnings
continued to increase over time: $34,620 in 1996–2000 and $56,019 in 2006–2010.
p.220
Interactionist Perspective
From the interactionist perspective, health, illness, and medical responses are socially constructed
and maintained. In the previous sections, we discussed how health issues are defined by powerful
interest or political groups. We just reviewed how the medicalization of women’s conditions reflects
our cultural assumptions or biases about women. Each example demonstrates how social, political,
and cultural meanings affect our definition and response to health and illness.
A patient’s experience with the medical system can be disempowering (Goffman 1961), but the
experience can be mediated by social meaning and interpretations (Lambert et al. 1997). According
to Suni Peterson, Martin Heesacker, and Robert C. Schwartz (2001), when people contract a
disease, they define their illness according to a socially constructed definition of the disease, which
includes a set of images, beliefs, and perceptions. Patients use these definitions to create a personal
meaning for their diagnosis and to determine their subsequent behavior. The authors argue that
these social constructs have a greater influence on the patient’s actions and decisions about his or her
health than recommendations from health professionals do.
Sociologists also examine how the relationship between doctors and their patients is created and
maintained through interaction. In particular, sociologists focus on how medical professionals use
their expertise and knowledge to maintain control over patients. Research indicates that doctors’
power depends on their cultural authority, their economic independence, cultural differences
between patients and doctors, and doctors’ presumed superiority to patients (Weitz 2001). Studies
consistently demonstrate the systematic differences in the level of information provided by
physicians to their patients. Although differences might be attributed to the doctor responding to a
patient’s particular communication style, researchers argue that information varies according to the
doctor’s impressions of a patient (e.g., intelligence), subjective judgments about what information
371
the patient needs (Street 1991), and status differentials between doctor and patient (male vs. female
or White vs. non-White) (Peck and Conner 2011). Educated and younger patients tend to receive
more diagnostic information, as do patients who ask more questions and express more concerns;
doctors are likely to communicate as equals with their educated, older male patients (Street 1991).
African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics are more likely than Whites to experience
difficulties in communicating with their doctors. The difficulties include not understanding their
doctors, not feeling that their doctors are listening to them, and having questions for their doctors
that they did not ask (Collins et al. 2002).
© George Steinmetz/Corbis
Gender salary inequality exists in the medical profession. Overall, female physicians earn less than male physicians, even
after controlling for specialty, practice type, and hours worked (Seabury et al. 2013).
p.221
Interactionists and social constructionists also investigate how a disease is socially constructed. This
doesn’t mean that disease and illness do not exist. Rather, the focus is on how illness is created and
sustained according to a set of shared social beliefs or definitions. For example, posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) didn’t exist prior to 1980. PTSD is constructed and maintained through a set of
medical, legal, and social definitions. The condition was first identified by Vietnam veterans who
wanted to change the military culture around war trauma. The term has also been associated with
the symptoms women experience after sexual assault (Smith and Whooley 2015). The social
construction of disease has been applied to infertility (Greil, McQuillan, and Slauson-Blevins 2011),
attention-deficit disorder (Mather 2012), and HIV/AIDS.
372
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 10.1: PTSD Therapy through Dance
For a summary of sociological perspectives on health and medicine, see Table 10.2.
TABLE 10.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Health and Medicine
373
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What Does It Mean to Me?
What shared social beliefs and definitions do we share about breast cancer for women? Breast cancer
for men?
HEALTH INEQUALITIES AND PROBLEMS
Gender
As noted in Table 10.1, women live about five years longer than men. The three leading causes of
death for males and females are identical: heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Although women live
longer than men, women experience higher rates of nonfatal chronic conditions (Waldron 2001;
Weitz 2001). Men experience higher rates of fatal illness, dying more quickly than women when
illness occurs (Waldron 2001; Weitz 2001).
374
These differences in mortality have been attributed to three factors: genetics, risk-taking, and health
care (Waldron 2001). Biological differences seem to favor women; more females than males survive
at every age (Weitz 2001). Because of differences in gender roles, men are more likely to engage in
risk-taking behaviors or potentially dangerous activities such as driving too fast or incautiously,
using legal or illegal drugs, or participating in dangerous sports (Waldron 2001). The workplace
offers more dangers for men. More men than women are employed, and men’s jobs tend to be more
hazardous (Waldron 2001); men are more likely to be victims of fatal workplace incidents than
women (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017). Finally, because women obtain more routine health
examinations than men do, their health problems are identified early enough for effective
intervention (Weitz 2001). Typically, women eat healthier diets and smoke and drink less alcohol
than men do (Calnan 1987).
Most women are aware of their risk of breast cancer, the most common cancer for women. Consider
how the month of October has become synonymous with breast cancer (and anything pink). This is
quite a cultural shift from 1974, when Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald Ford, shared news about
her breast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy. Her openness about the disease was described as
revolutionary and led to increased interest in breast cancer research and funding. According to
Barbara Ehrenreich (2010), today
©iStock.com/kali9
The Breast Cancer Action organization has been critical of the pink campaign for breast cancer. The organization believes
that the campaign ignores the social and economic disparities related to breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survival.
it’s the biggest disease on the cultural map, bigger than AIDS, cystic fibrosis or spinal injury, bigger even than those more
prolific killers of women— heart disease, lung cancer and stroke. There are hundreds of websites devoted to it, not to
mention newsletters, support groups and a whole genre of first-person breast cancer books.
Deborah Mayer (2012) cautioned that there are “many shades of pink†and identifies the
“resentment from those with less visible cancers or other disease groups who have not benefited as
much from all this public awareness and support†(p. 441). Breast Cancer Action (2017) has been
critical of the pink campaign, led mainly by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, for simplifying the
disease and ignoring significant social and economic disparities related to diagnosis, treatment, and
survival. Its Think Before You Pink campaign was launched in 2002, calling for more transparency
and accountability by companies that participate in breast cancer fundraising.
375
p.223
Education
A similar relationship has been documented between education and health: the higher your
education is, the better your health will be (no matter how it is measured—mortality, morbidity, or
other general health measures). Education might be a more important correlate to good health than
is one’s occupation or income (Grossman and Kaestner 1997), as it serves as a pathway to health
because it is a resource itself (Mirowsky and Ross 2005).
Recent studies on the effects of compulsory education in Sweden, Denmark, England, and Wales
consistently identify that a longer educational experience leads to better health (Kolata 2007).
Michael Murphy and his colleagues (2006) identified mortality trends by educational level for
Russian men and women between 1980 and 2001. Murphy et al. concluded that better-educated
men and women had a significant mortality advantage over less-educated men and women. In 1980,
life expectancy at age 20 for university-educated men was three years greater than for men with only
an elementary education. By 2001, however, the gap between university- and elementary-educated
men had increased to 11 years. Similar differentials were also noted among Russian women.
Researchers suggest that education helps individuals choose and practice a healthier lifestyle
regarding diet, exercise, and other health choices. Highly educated men and women are likely to
visit their primary physicians more often and regularly and may be more willing to use new medical
technologies or medicines. Knowledge about the health consequences of smoking and drinking has
been shown to decrease smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. Educated parents will also
transmit their healthier lifestyle to their children (Grossman and Kaestner 1997). Education
represents both the long-term influence of early life circumstances and the influence of adult
circumstances on adult health (Beckles and Truman 2011).
Researchers have demonstrated the link between education and future orientation. Future-oriented
individuals attend school for longer periods. Educated individuals are able to link their current
actions to their future, not only for their education but also for preventative health care practices.
For example, a future-oriented person will say, “I’m going to college now so that I can have a good
job when I graduate.†Applied to health behaviors, the same person will say, “I won’t start smoking
because I know there are long-term health consequences of smoking.†Studies have shown that men
and women who discount the future are more likely to become addicted to alcohol or other drugs
(Becker and Mulligan 1994).
For more information about what other demographic characteristics are related to health care
utilization, refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature.
What Does It Mean to Me?
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How has your education influenced your health and lifestyle choices?
The Cost of Health Care
The United States spends almost 18% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care—the
largest expenditure in this category among industrialized countries. (A per capita spending
comparison with other countries is presented in Figure 10.5.) In 2012, total health care spending
reached $3.3 trillion, with an average of $10,348 spent per person in health expenses (Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services 2017). U.S. national health care spending had grown more slowly
after 2010, attributed to the Great Recession and to a sluggish economy. More Americans delayed
visits to their doctors or hospitals, reduced their prescription drug purchases (Pear 2012), or lost
their insurance coverage along with their jobs (Lowrey 2012). Changes in Medicare’s payment
policies, growth in patient cost-sharing, and state efforts to contain Medicaid costs have also been
identified as contributing to the decline in health spending (Holahan and McMorrow 2013).
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION
Multiple social factors determine how much health care people use, the types of health
care they access, and the timing of that care. Gender, race/ethnicity, and age are just some
of the demographic characteristics tracked by medical and public health researchers.
Health care utilization for 1997 through 2012 is presented in Figures 10.2 through 10.4.
Health care utilization is defined as accessing a doctor, visiting an emergency department,
or having a home visit four to nine times in the past year and is reported by percentages
for each group. Review each figure and identify the group or groups with the lower
percentages of utilization.
What do you think? What types of educational or outreach programs would increase the
number of health care visits?
377
FIGURE 10.2 â– Percentage of Americans Who Had Doctor, Emergency Department,
or Home Visits Four to Nine Times in the Past 12 Months, by Gender
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2014.
FIGURE 10.3 â– Percentage of Americans Who Had Doctor, Emergency Department,
or Home Visits Four to Nine Times in the Past 12 Months, by Ethnicity
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Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2014.
FIGURE 10.4 â– Percentage of Americans Who Had Doctor, Emergency Department,
or Home Visits Four to Nine Times in the Past 12 Months, by Age
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2014.
p.225
FIGURE 10.5 â– Total Health Expenditures per Capita, Top Ten Countries, 2016 (or
Nearest Year)
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Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2017.
Even though the U.S. health system is the most expensive in the world, “comparative analyses
consistently show the United States underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions
of [health] performance†(Davis et al. 2007:viii). In their pre–Affordable Care Act analyses of health
care systems and outcomes in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom,
and the United States, Karen Davis and her colleagues (2007) concluded that the United States
failed to achieve better health outcomes and scored last on the dimensions of access, quality,
efficiency, and equity despite spending the most per capita on health care.
Given our lack of universal health care coverage, when compared with these other nations, more
Americans are uninsured or underinsured and are more unlikely to seek necessary care because of
costs. Davis and her colleagues (2007) identified how
other nations ensure the accessibility of care through universal health insurance systems and through better ties between
patients and the physician practices that serve as their long term “medical home.†. . . It is also apparent that the U.S. is
lagging in adoption of information technology and national policies that promote quality improvement. (p. viii)
Information systems in countries such as Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom
enhance the ability of physicians to monitor patients’ chronic conditions and medication use. These
countries also routinely use nonphysician clinicians to assist with patients with chronic diseases.
Germany ranked first on access to health care (the ability of patients to obtain affordable care in a
timely manner), and the United Kingdom ranked first for health care quality (safe, coordinated, and
patient-centered health care), efficiency (maximizing the quality of care and outcomes given the
system’s resources), and equity (providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal
characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status). The United States ranked last
on both measures.
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Jose Luis Pelaez Inc./Getty Images
The fastest-growing sector of medical care is prescription drug spending. In 2016, $328.6 billion was spent on prescription
drugs. The cost of drugs remains a significant burden for elderly Americans.
The cost of medical care, particularly out-of-pocket expenses, is a financial burden even to those
with health insurance. Harvard researchers concluded that illness or medical bills contributed to
62% of all bankruptcies in 2007 (Sack 2010). More than three fourths of those with medical debt
had medical insurance (Sack 2010). Although spending on prescription drugs in the United States is
the highest in the world, economic hard times caused some patients to alter their spending or their
dosage of prescription drugs (Saul 2008). Through the first eight months of 2008, the number of all
dispensed prescriptions was lower than in the same period of time in 2007 (Saul 2008). The
decrease was attributed to individual cost-cutting measures, causing concern among physicians
about the health and well-being of their patients. Patients reduced their medications (cutting their
pills in half or taking medications every other day) or, among those who could no longer afford their
medications, stopped taking their medicine altogether without consulting their physician (Saul
2008).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 10.2: Waiting for Organ Donors
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Policy makers and consumers have been keeping an eye on the cost of prescription drugs, one of the
fastest-growing sectors of medical care. Increases in drug costs are expected to outstrip the overall
growth in health care spending for the next 10 years. Spending for prescription drugs in 2016
totaled $328.6 billion (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 2017).
The Uninsured Population
A year before the full implementation of the ACA insurance mandate, surveyed Americans reported
the primary reason for not being insured was the affordability of coverage, followed by loss of
employment (Kaiser Family Foundation 2014). (Refer to the In Focus discussion for a summary of
health insurance plans.) Data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that 42.0 million Americans or
13.4% of the U.S. population had no health insurance at any time during 2013 (Smith and Medalia
2014). As reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation (2014), almost a third of uninsured adults went
without medical care because of its high cost. Most uninsured were in low-income working families;
nearly 8 in 10 were in a family with a worker. Adults were more likely to be uninsured than
children. People of color were at a higher risk of being uninsured than non-Hispanic Whites.
It is estimated that roughly 20 million Americans have been covered under ACA provisions,
including Medicaid expansion since 2010. There is no doubt that the number of uninsured has
declined, but there are still uninsured Americans. In 2016, 8.8% of the population or 28.1 million
did not have health insurance (Barnett and Berchick 2017). The social and demographic patterns
among the uninsured persist: Those in poverty, ethnic minorities, and foreign-born individuals are
most likely to not have health insurance.
Larisa Antonisse and her colleagues (2017) reviewed 153 studies on the impact of state Medicaid
expansions under ACA. Medicaid expansion was controversial, not only for the increased cost to
states but also because of claims that the program is ineffectual and may also be associated with
worse health (Belluck 2012). More than a dozen Republican governors announced that their states
would not comply with the ACA Medicaid expansion. According to the researchers, Medicaid
expansion (1) positively impacts access to care and utilization of health care services among the low-
income population, (2) improves the affordability of care and financial security among the low-
income population, and (3) is associated with improvements in measures of self-reported health.
Despite the concerns about the cost of Medicaid expansion, there was no significant increase in
spending from state funds and no significant reductions in state spending on education,
transportation, or other state programs. The researchers conclude with a warning: “With ACA
repeal and replacement remaining a priority for the Trump Administration and Congress, these
findings suggest that gains in coverage and access as well as economic benefits to states and
providers are at stake if the Medicaid expansion is repealed.†We’ll discuss more about ACA’s future
in the section “Health Care Reform—Federal Reform.â€
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COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Health Care Reform
STATE REFORM Before the enactment of ACA, several states aggressively moved forward on
health reform, and several—Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington
—expressed commitment to providing health coverage for all their citizens.
Hawaii was one of the first states to act on health care reform. In 1974, the state passed the Hawaii
Prepaid Health Care Act, requiring employers to provide health insurance for all employees
working more than 20 hours per week and to pay at least 50% of the cost. Hawaii is the only state
that requires employer payments to medical insurance under a congressional exemption of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). ERISA bars states from requiring all
employers to offer health insurance, from regulating or taxing self-insured plans, and from
mandating the specific benefits to be covered by employer health plans (Beatrice 1996). Hawaii’s
plan also limits employees’ share of the insurance premium expenses to no more than 1.5% of their
income. The requirements under this law are stricter than those imposed under the ACA. The
Department of Health and Human Services granted Hawaii a State Innovation Waiver under the
ACA. Recently there has been a call to repeal or at least revise the Prepaid Health Care Act because
of increasing health care costs. The percentage of uninsured Hawaiians is 3.3% (Barnett and
Berchick 2017).
IN FOCUS
U.S. HEALTH INSURANCE AND HEALTH CARE
DELIVERY SYSTEMS
The U.S. health care system is often referred to as a private health care system, but in reality, it
is a mixed system of public and private insurance (Oberlander 2002). (Refer to the Taking a
World View section of this chapter for more information.) Most Americans receive health
insurance from their employers. This type of insurance is referred to as group insurance or as
employment-based private insurance. Employers buy into a health insurance program, paying
for part or all of the cost of the insurance premiums. A premium is a monthly fee to maintain
your health coverage.
Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance coverage was expanded through three
avenues: subsidizing insurance premiums for lower-income individuals and families, expanding
the coverage of Medicare and Medicaid, and legally requiring everyone to sign up for a policy.
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That handy insurance card in your wallet identifies your insurance provider, the amount of your
deductible (payment due at the time of service), and the amount of coverage for prescription
drugs or emergency services. There are many different types of group insurance programs:
Fee-for-service plan. Under this plan, also known as an indemnity health plan, insurance
companies pay fees for services provided to the people covered by the policy. This type of
program emphasizes patient choice and immediate patient care.
Health maintenance organization (HMO). These organizations operate as prepaid health plans.
For your premium, the HMO provides you and your family comprehensive care. This plan is
also known as managed health care, a plan that controls costs by controlling access to care.
You’ll be assigned to a primary care provider, who will provide most of your medical care, but if
necessary, that doctor will refer you to specialists within the HMO practice or to providers
contracted by the HMO. Under the plan, there is limited coverage for any treatment outside
the HMO network.
Preferred provider organization (PPO). A PPO is a combination of the fee-for-service and
HMO plan. With a PPO, you can manage your own health care needs by selecting your own
doctors. These specialists will be on a preferred provider list supported by the PPO plan. If you
use a provider outside your plan, you may have to pay a larger percentage of your health care
expenses.
Federal health plans. Medicare is available to Americans 65 years or older or those with
disabilities, whereas Medicaid pays for medical and long-term care for the poor; low-income
children, pregnant women, and elderly; the medically needy; and people requiring institutional
care.
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Massachusetts became the first state to provide universal health care coverage to all of its residents
in 2006. The plan allowed the state to provide sliding-scale coverage, low-cost coverage, and free
insurance coverage to uninsured residents depending on their income, age, or employment status.
Individuals who can afford health insurance would be penalized on their state income taxes if they
do not purchase it (a feature similar to that of the ACA). There were modest provisions included in
the plan to control costs, but not enough. Massachusetts spends 23% more per person on health care
($9,000) than the national average ($8,000). While spending continues to be a concern, analysts
have noted how health care reform has led to gains in access to and use of health care in the state
(Long, Stockley, and Dahlen 2012). Massachusetts government and health industry officials agreed
that universal coverage would not be sustainable if they did not address the growth of health care
spending (Sack 2009). In 2012, the state legislature passed a bill that would not allow health care
spending to grow any faster than the state’s economy through 2017 (Goodnough 2012). At 2.5%,
Massachusetts has the lowest rate of uninsured (Barnett and Berchick 2017).
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MinnesotaCare became law in Minnesota in 1992. Also known as the HealthRight Act, the
legislation included a variety of laws aimed at reducing costs and expanding access to health care for
the uninsured (Beatrice 1996). MinnesotaCare is funded through a tax on health care providers and
through enrollee premiums (based on family size, number of people covered, and income) (Sacks,
Kutyla, and Silow-Carroll 2002). The act set price controls for health care spending (repealed in
1997), set statewide managed care guidelines, initially mandated that all non-HMO physicians
follow a state fee structure (repealed in 1995), placed all HMOs under the regulation of the
Commission of Health, and mandated that HMOs be nonprofit (Citizens Council on Health Care
2003). The act also subsidized health insurance for low- and middle-income uninsured families and
individuals. Minnesota placed all MinnesotaCare recipients into HMOs (Beatrice 1996; Citizens
Council on Health Care 2003). Four percent of Minnesotans are uninsured (Bennett and Berchick
2017).
Funding for these state programs rely on cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments, which lower co-
pays and deductibles for about 7 million Americans with incomes 100% to 250% of the poverty
level. In 2017, there were nearly 5.9 million exchange enrollees receiving CSRs. In October 2017,
the Trump administration announced its decision to eliminate these federal payments to insurers. A
federal judge denied a request from 19 state attorneys general (including attorneys general from
Massachusetts and Minnesota) to prevent the termination of CSR payments. Insurance companies
had already anticipated the elimination of CSR funding and increased their 2018 rates to cover the
CSR costs.
FEDERAL REFORM During his first administration, President Bill Clinton said problems
connected with the U.S. health care system were the most pressing in the United States. In 1993,
Clinton pushed for passage of the Health Security Act, an attempt at comprehensive health care
reform. The act would have required all employers to provide health insurance to their employees
and would have given small businesses and unemployed Americans subsidies to purchase insurance.
After Congress rejected Clinton’s health care plan, Americans looked to the private market to
restrain health care costs and to enhance patient care and choice. U.S. medicine moved aggressively
toward managed care arrangements, HMOs, and for-profit health plans (Oberlander 2002).
Sixteen years later, with Democratic majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the
Senate, President Barack Obama declared “a season for action. . . . Now is the time to deliver on
health care†(Obama 2009). After months of contentious and politically charged debate, Congress
passed a compromise health reform bill in March 2010. Obama signed the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, into
law. Several ACA elements went into immediate effect: Young adults up to age 26 remain covered
by their parents’ health insurance, plans were available for those with preexisting conditions, and
lifetime limits on coverage were eliminated.
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The full implementation of the law was challenged in the country’s highest court. In 2012, the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ACA, examining specifically the individual
health insurance mandate and the portion of the law that will require states to expand their
Medicaid rolls by 2014. The majority of justices likened the penalty for not obtaining health
insurance to a tax. “Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to
pass upon its wisdom or fairness,†wrote Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. (quoted in Liptak
2012:A1). The Medicaid expansion was upheld by the Court, but states would be permitted to keep
their current federal money for Medicaid while refusing to expand the program. The Court ruled
that states could decide whether to go along with the expansion without penalties to their existing
Medicaid payments (Liptak 2012).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 10.3: US Healthcare Analysis
Despite public approval of ACA, since coming into office, President Trump repeatedly
characterized ACA as an expensive disaster, promising to repeal and replace it. When the
Republican-led Congress failed to pass an ACA repeal bill in October 2017, Trump issued two
executive orders. First, he asked the U.S. Department of Labor to study how to make it easier for
small businesses and individuals to buy health insurance through nationwide association health
across state lines. The order also allowed consumers to buy short-term policies that don’t comply
with ACA’s protections for those with preexisting conditions. Second, he ended CSR payments to
health insurers (discussed earlier in “Health Care Reform—State Reformâ€). The GOP’s 2018 tax
bill included a provision to repeal the individual mandate that requires most Americans to carry a
minimum level of health coverage. The mandate was intended to share the risk of health coverage
among healthy and unhealthy Americans. Without the mandate, young, healthy Americans are
unlikely to purchase health insurance, increasing the average cost for those who do (Silvers 2017).
No comprehensive replacement for the program has been offered by the president or congressional
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leaders.
Children’s Health Insurance Program
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was adopted in 1997 as an amendment to the
Social Security Act, Title XXI. The program is administered under the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services. CHIP enables states to implement their own children’s health insurance
programs for uninsured low-income children 18 years old or younger and targets the children of
working parents or grandparents. The insurance plan pays for regular checkups, immunizations,
prescription medicines, and hospitalizations. CHIP uses comprehensive outreach materials and
educational programs to recruit eligible children and their families, especially through elementary
and secondary schools. In many states, as CHIP enrollments began, so did Medicaid enrollments.
Based on his concern that CHIP expansion would be too costly and would be a step toward
universal health coverage, in fall 2007, George W. Bush vetoed a House bill that proposed coverage
for more than 10 million children as well as expansion of coverage to include dental services, mental
illness, and pregnant women with low incomes. The expansion bill was supported by many state
governors whose states were running out of federal funds to support the program (Pear 2007).
CHIP advocates accused the president and his congressional supporters of placing their concerns for
socialized medicine over the necessary expansion of health coverage for children. With the House
unable to override the president’s veto, the administration promised to work with Congress on a bill
compromise.
In 2009, Obama signed the CHIP expansion bill. The measure provided coverage to an additional 4
million uninsured children over the next five years, raising the total number of uninsured children
covered by the program to 11 million. Obama praised the program for providing access to quality
affordable health care and emphasized the program’s importance during a time when families had
lost their jobs and health insurance. The bill was passed with partisan support from House and
Senate Democrats. The expansion was financed with a 62-cent-per-pack increase in the federal tax
on cigarettes.
Federal funds for the program ran out in September 2017, but the program was extended for six
years as part of a broader federal budget agreement in January 2018.
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State Prescription Drug Plans
U.S. laws prohibit the importation of drugs from other countries into the United States, unless their
safety is certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health and Human
Services Task Force on Drug Importation concluded that savings on foreign drugs were not as much
as consumers would expect and warned about significant risks to consumers purchasing imported
drugs. The report questioned the safety and effectiveness of foreign-made drugs.
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At the release of the report, consumer and health advocates weighed in, criticizing the task force for
failing to address the fundamental problem of providing affordable prescription drugs to those who
cannot afford them. Unlike other countries, in the United States drug prices are set according to
market demands. Critics often remark how U.S. patients subsidize the rest of the world’s drug
supply. The U.S. constitutes less than 5% of the world’s population but buys more than 50% of its
prescription drugs (Werth 2013).
Despite the federal restrictions, several states and cities permit their residents to buy prescription
drugs from other countries. Maine is the first state to allow residents to buy mail-order drugs from
accredited pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America objected to the legislation, arguing that access to the foreign drugs would jeopardize
patient safety. Supporters of the law argued that Maine residents would have access to affordable
medication.
In an effort to control drug costs for their residents, several states have offered innovative cost-
control models. More than 300,000 people in Pennsylvania are enrolled in the Pharmaceutical
Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) or in PACENET. For PACE, men and women 65
years or older can enroll in the program if they have annual incomes less than $23,500 for an
individual or $31,500 per couple. The program is financed largely from state lottery proceeds. The
program requires the use of low-cost generic drugs, which account for about 45% of all filled
prescriptions. PACE was established in 1984 with strong bipartisan support, but with the rising cost
of drugs and the increasing number of patients, lawmakers are looking for more cost-cutting
strategies (Pear 2002). Pennsylvania also supports PACENET, an assistance program available for
elderly individuals with household incomes between $14,500 and $23,500, or between $17,700 and
$31,500 per couple. PACE and PACENET members pay a $6 or $8 co-pay for generic
prescription drugs.
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© AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
On the 25th Anniversary of Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Sarah Cameron and others called
for the continued coverage of uninsured children and teens under the program. Cameron holds a photo of her two sons,
both covered under CHIP.
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Community-Based Health Centers
Community health centers (CHCs) were based on neighborhood health clinics first established
during the War on Poverty in the 1960s. CHCs are operated by a variety of nonprofit organizations,
health departments, religious and faith-based organizations, medical organizations, and schools.
Costs are covered through a variety of sources, ranging from private insurance to government
contracts or grants. These centers have been called the most effective tool to reduce health
disparities and can increase access to health care to the poor, racial and ethnic minorities, and other
underserved populations (Hargreaves, Arnold, and Blot 2006).
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) administers the network of nearly
1,400 nonprofit centers, sometimes also referred to as Federally Qualified Health Centers. These
centers provide comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care to medically
underserved communities and vulnerable populations. Health centers are located in every state, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. In 2016, more
than 23 million people were served at these centers. It is estimated that 1 of out every 13 people
relies on an HRSA-funded clinic for primary care (HRSA 2017).
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The Erie Family Health Center, based in Chicago, Illinois, serves more than 70,000 medical
patients each year (Erie Family Health Center 2017). The clinic was established in 1957 by
volunteer physicians with a mission of health care as a right, not a privilege. The clinic serves
patients at 13 sites across the city, including several large primary care facilities and school-based
health centers and a freestanding teen health provider. Almost 80% of its patients are Hispanics,
54% are served in Spanish, and 68% are female. Eighty-three percent come from households with
incomes below the federal poverty line.
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
NOT-SO-FOREIGN MODELS OF HEALTH CARE
Opponents of health care reform equated Obama’s plan to “socialized medicine,†believing that
increasing government control of health care is intrusive and restrictive. Journalist T. R. Reid
(2009) describes the term socialized medicine as a powerful political weapon, first used in 1947
to disparage President Truman’s national health care proposal. But, as Reid explains, the
argument against socialized medicine is flawed. First, most national health care systems are not
socialized. Many countries provide universal health care using private doctors, hospitals, and
insurance plans. In fact, there is no single health care system in the world that is exclusively
government owned and operated. Second, the United States already has socialized medicine,
government-run medicine, in the form of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Medicare system.
As Reid (2009) explains, “We’re like no other country, because the United States maintains so
many separate systems for separate classes of people†(p. 21). In his 2009 book The Healing of
America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, Reid identifies the four
separate systems of health care in the United States:
1. Bismarck model. For most working Americans under 65 years of age, health care
coverage is similar to the health systems in Germany, France, and Japan. Under this
model, the worker and the employer share the cost of health insurance premiums.
2. Beveridge model. Native Americans, military personnel, and veterans are covered under
health care systems much like Great Britain and Cuba. Care is provided by doctors who
are government employees working in government-owned clinics and hospitals. Patients
who use this system never receive a medical bill.
3. National health insurance model. Americans over the age of 65 are covered under
Medicare, a system similar to the Canadian health system. Most health care providers are
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private, but the payer is a single government-run insurance program that every citizen pays
into.
4. Out-of-pocket model. Americans without a health insurance policy are no different from
citizens in poor countries such as Cambodia or parts of rural China or India. If medical
care is available, individuals have to pay the bill out of their own pocket. Care is often
available from emergency rooms or community-based free clinics.
In his analysis of these different models of care, Reid (2009) concludes that no system is
perfect. Health care reform debates are taking place in other countries.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
VICTORIA HALE
John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation—See more at
http://www.macfound.org/fellows/781/#sthash.Vh2F6fC8.dpuf
Victoria Hale combined her pharmaceutical background with a mission to reduce health inequities. She currently
leads Medicines360.
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In 2005, Victoria Hale was named by Esquire magazine as its businesswoman of the year. She
is the director and founder of the Institute for OneWorld Health, the first nonprofit
pharmaceutical company in the United States.
Hale was working as an analyst for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research and then at Genentech (a biotechnology firm) when she first
envisioned her company. Her position in the pharmaceutical industry allowed her to see how
drugs were being set aside simply because they were not making enough money. The industry
dedicates less than 10% of its total research and development budget to eradicating diseases of
the developing world, which account for 90% of the world’s total infections (Heffernan 2005).
Of the more than 1,500 drugs marketed worldwide between 1974 and 2004, only 21, or 1.3%,
were used to treat diseases of the developing world (Buse 2006).
She established OneWorld Health to accomplish what she believed the industry should be
doing—investing in the development and distribution of drugs that could be used to eradicate
diseases in the developing world. Says Hale, “We deliberately chose neglected diseases that
others were not working on. . . . There has been little research done on these diseases, and
limited money for research or development. We don’t choose projects because money is
available, we choose projects and then we go find funding†(quoted in Roth 2006:2).
Hale’s strategy was simple. She searched for drugs whose patents had expired or were not being
used because of low profit margins. The first drug OneWorld Health invested in was
paromomycin, an antibiotic that cures a parasitic disease called visceral leishmaniasis, also
known as black fever or kala-azar. The disease afflicts half a million people annually worldwide,
particularly in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, and Sudan. Hale discovered that the
development of paromomycin had been shelved before its clinical trials were completed. After
continuing and completing clinical trials with the drug, Hale found a company, Gland Pharma,
based in Hyderabad, India, that agreed to produce paromomycin and sell it for $10 per full
course of treatment, affordable for the poor people of India.
The use of paromomycin was approved in India in late 2006. The government publicly
announced its goal of eradicating the disease by 2010. Eradication dates were also set in
Bangladesh and Nepal for 2015. After dealing with the initial skepticism of the pharmaceutical
industry and its executives, Hale’s OneWorld Health has been heralded as an innovative,
socially minded organization. Hale’s work will continue: “You can’t take care of all two billion
of the world’s poorest poor at one time. But you can go disease by disease and determine which
one you can succeed with†(quoted in Roth 2006:2). OneWorld Health is working on three
additional drugs—for malaria (the most severe parasitic disease), diarrhea (the number-two
killer of children in the developing world), and soil-transmitted hookworm infection (nearly 2
billion people have active infections).
In 2009, Hale founded Medicines360. The organization’s mission is to “address unmet needs
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of women by developing innovative, affordable, and sustainable medical solutions,†beginning
with access to birth control (Medicines360 2014). In 2011, OneWorld Health became an
affiliate organization with PATH, an international nonprofit organization committed to health
equity and health solutions.
Under the ACA, a five-year $11 billion fund was established for the operation, expansion, and
construction of 300 new health centers and the renovation of 600 clinics. The program ran out of
funds in September 2017.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
MEDICINE
Courtesy of Matthew Peters
Matthew Peters
Matthew Peters—Class of 2013
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minors: Biology, Chemistry
All U.S. physicians complete four years of undergraduate school, four years of medical school,
393
and three to eight years in an internship or residency program depending on their specialty.
Although no specific undergraduate major is required, all students must complete prerequisite
coursework in biology, chemistry, physics, English, mathematics, and the social sciences
(sociology) and humanities. Applicants must also submit letters of recommendation, Medical
College Admission Test scores, and evidence of volunteer or service experience in a health care
setting (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014.
When he started his undergraduate program, Matthew Peters knew that he wanted to be a
doctor but didn’t know anything about sociology. But after taking two sociology courses,
Matthew decided to become a Sociology major while remaining on his prerequisite track for
medical school. According to Matthew,
Sociology in many ways is what brought me to medicine. To my knowledge, there are not many physician-
sociologists, but I believe that is beginning to change, primarily because our country is currently engaged in big
conversations about the future of healthcare in our country, from the social determinants of health to health equity.
On the patient-care side of things, I believe that my sociological imagination makes me a more aware, sensitive, and
thoughtful physician. Although it is easy to become caught up in the science of medicine, my “soci-brain†(as my wife
puts it) has a tendency to make me pull back, think about a patient’s social context, then use that perspective to shape
the encounter and care of the patient.
Through his Sociology program, Matthew completed a summer internship at a federally
funded community health center. The experience was invaluable:
Although my tasks as an intern were not always traditional sociological work, the position really opened my eyes to
the experiences of various disadvantaged populations as I began to see the disparities they face to receive fair and equal
care. Working with large homeless, immigrant, and recently released convict populations challenged me to rethink my
idealistic views of medicine in our country, while also realizing that my draw to medicine isn’t simply a fascination or
interest; it’s a vocation and a mission.
“Do what excites you—even if you do not immediately see how it connects to sociology. Sure,
there are ‘traditional’ sociology careers that are great for some, but do not let yourself feel
locked into something that you are not enthusiastic about,†says Matthew. “That is one of the
best things about sociology—it helps us to be aware of the boxes that contain us in everyday life
and step outside of them. Sociology is more than a skill set; it is a way of thinking that I believe
can make you more successful in any field.â€
CHAPTER REVIEW
10.1 Describe the social determinants of health.
A sociological perspective addresses the social determinants of health. Research
continues to demonstrate the relationship between the individual and society and the
structural effects on health: how our health is affected by our social position, work,
families, education, and wealth and poverty.
10.2 Explain the three measures of epidemiology.
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Epidemiology is the study of the patterns in the distribution and frequency of
sickness, injury, and death and the social factors that shape them. Epidemiologists
focus on communities and populations, addressing how health and illness experiences
are based on social factors such as gender, age, race, social class, and behavior.
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10.3 Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and
medicine.
According to the functionalist perspective, illness has a legitimate place in society.
Conflict theorists believe that patterns of health and illness reflect systematic
inequalities based on ethnicity/race or gender and differences in power, values, and
interests. Although the medicalization of such conditions as premenstrual syndrome
and menopause may have been effective in treating women, various feminist theorists
see this trend as an extension of medicine’s control of women. From an
interactionist’s perspective, health, illness, and medical responses are socially
constructed and maintained.
10.4 Identify the relationship between education and health.
Researchers suggest that education helps individuals choose and practice a healthier
lifestyle regarding diet, exercise, and other health choices. Highly educated men and
women are likely to visit their primary physicians more often and regularly and may
be more willing to use new medical technologies or medicines. Educated parents will
transmit their healthier lifestyle to their children.
10.5 Summarize the different models of health care in the United States.
There are four models of health care: (1) the Bismarck model, in which the worker
and the employer share the cost of health insurance premiums; (2) the Beveridge
model, in which care is provided by doctors who are government employees in
government-owned clinics and hospitals; (3) the national health insurance model, in
which every citizen pays into a single government-run insurance program; and (4)
the out-of-pocket model, in which patients pay for their care out of their own
pocket.
KEY TERMS
acute illnesses, 216
epidemiology, 214
fecundity, 215
fertility, 215
incidence rate, 216
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infant mortality, 215
medicalization, 219
morbidity, 216
mortality, 215
prevalence rate, 216
sick role, 217
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How is health examined from a sociological perspective?
2. How is illness functional in society? What behavior is expected from someone who is sick?
3. Explain from a conflict perspective how health inequalities are shaped by conflict and
competing interests between groups.
4. Using eating disorders as the basis for your answer, examine how illness and disease are
socially constructed.
5. Review the inequalities of health and health care access by gender, race/ethnicity, and social
class.
6. Why is the United States the last industrial country to adopt a national health care
program? Which sociological perspective(s) best explains why public and political support for
health care reform has been difficult to achieve?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
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OUR SOCIAL AND
PHYSICAL WORLDS
PART
III
Drug abuse and criminal behavior are usually perceived as personal troubles. Both are
considered deviant behavior, deviating from the normal expectation of not abusing drugs or
engaging in criminal activity. We tend to believe that someone turns to drug use or criminal
activity because of some personal defect, individual failure, or weakness. Yet both can be
defined as public issues, emerging from the social structure and threatening the quality of
human life.
Drug abuse and crime are the subject and focus of extensive scholarly research attempting to
understand the extent and origins of both. Both problems also receive global attention,
including from governments and public agencies monitoring and combating drug abuse and
crime in their part of the world. These problems will be discussed in Chapters 12 and 13.
In the last three chapters of Part III, we will review social problems that affect our physical and
natural worlds—problems related to urbanization (Chapter 14), the environment (Chapter 15),
and war and terrorism (Chapter 16).
Although these issues involve our physical and natural worlds, both have definite human
connections—humans cause these problems or experience consequences as a result of them.
Environmentalist Paul Hawken (1993) explained, “Human activity is part of the natural world,
in the largest sense, but human activity ignores the means-and-ends, give-and-take factors that
are inherent in any maturing ecosystem†(p. 26). “Starting a war is a very bad idea,†wrote New
York Times columnist Paul Krugman (2014), “but it keeps happening anyway.â€
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11
THE MEDIA
Media Library
CHAPTER 11 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 11.1: Media, Technology, and Social Movements
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 11.2: The Role of Facebook in Society
AP News Clips 11.3: Women in Egypt’s Media
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
11.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to
the media.
11.2 Discuss social problems related to the media including loss of privacy, the digital divide,
and media trustworthiness.
11.3 Identify policies and movements that relate to media consumption and consumer
protection.
Imagine that you wake up tomorrow in a sort of “Twilight Zone†parallel society where everything is the
same except that media do not exist: no television, no movies, no radio, no recorded music, no computers, no
Internet, no books or magazines or newspapers.
—Croteau and Hoynes (2000:5)
What would your life be like without the media? Without communication, and the media to
communicate with, there would be no society. The term media is the plural of medium, derived from
the Latin word medias, which means middle. A medium is a method of communication—television,
telephone, cable, Internet, radio, or print—between (or in the middle of) a sender and a receiver.
But taken all together, the media, as defined by David Croteau and William Hoynes (2000), are
the “different technological processes that facilitate communication between the sender of the
message and the receiver of that message†(p. 7).
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Communication is a basic social activity (Seymour-Ure 1974). It is impossible not to communicate
and not to come in contact with the media. Today’s college students are described as “digital
natives†who are technology dependent and capable of accessing information instantly and using
many technological devices for everyday living and communication (Black 2010). Take a moment
and inventory the number of devices you own—cell phone, laptop, desktop, e-reader, iPod, digital
camera? It is estimated that by the age of 21, Millennials have averaged 10,000 hours playing video
games, 2,000 hours watching television, 10,000 hours on the cell phone, and have sent or read
200,000 e-mails (Barnes, Marateo, and Ferris 2007).
What Does It Mean to Me?
For at least a week, monitor your own media usage. How many hours of television do you watch?
How many hours are you on the Internet and on your phone? Would it be possible for you to live a
day without media?
The media reflect “the evolution of a nation that has increasingly seized on the need and desire for
more leisure time†(Alexander and Hanson 1995:i). Technological developments have increased our
range of media choices, from the growing number of broadcast and cable channels to the ever-
increasing number of Internet websites. New technologies have also increased our viewing control of
and access to the media. For example, technology allows us to choose where and when we want to
see a recent film. Are you taking a long road trip? You can download your favorite movie to your
notebook or your phone and watch it on the road. Need to access your e-mail? You can check e-
mail with a wireless connection in your classroom or with your phone from nearly any location. In
fact, u cn comnC8 w/yr F W txt msg A3 (translation: You can communicate with your friends with
text messaging anytime, anywhere, anyplace). As Croteau and Hoynes (2001) observed, “We
navigate through a vast mass media environment unprecedented in human history†(p. 3).
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PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 11.1: Media, Technology, and Social Movements
401
Yet the media have been blamed for creating and promoting social problems and accused of being a
problem themselves. Media critics have expressed concern about the highly controlled process by
which the images that we see are conceived, produced, and disseminated by media conglomerates.
Social researchers and policy makers have identified the unequal advantage some social groups have
over others in our increasingly high-tech media environment. Are we losing our individual rights
and privacy for the sake of increasing connectivity? Before we review the media and their related
social problems, we first examine the media from a sociological perspective.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The digital equivalent of hanging out can be found on social networking sites such as Facebook and
Snapchat. These social media sites provide opportunities for personal expression and connection.
How do these sites provide a way to connect with others? Do they improve your relationships with
others? Why or why not?
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE MEDIA
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists examine the structural relationship between the media and other social institutions.
Even before the content is created, political, economic, and social realities set the stage for media
content. The media are shaped by the social and economic conditions of American life and by
society’s beliefs about the nature of men and women and the nature of society (Peterson 1981). The
first American printing press arrived in Boston along with a group of Puritans fleeing England in
1638. The press became an instrument of religion and government, used to print a freeman’s oath
that presented the conditions of citizenship in this new country, as well as an almanac and a book of
hymns (Peterson 1981).
Samir Hussein / Getty Images
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An estimated 18.6 million U.S. households watched television coverage of the 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and
Kate Middleton. In addition to network and cable television programming, the ceremony was streamed live online via
Facebook, Yahoo, and Hulu. iPad and iPhone apps also allowed fans to follow the royal nuptials.
Through electronic and print messages, the media continue to frame our understandings about our
lives, our nation, and our world. The media serve as a link between individuals, communities, and
nations. They help create a collective consciousness, a term used by Émile Durkheim to describe the
set of shared norms and beliefs in a society. The mass media provide people with a sense of
connection that few other institutions can offer.
The Internet has emerged as an important political tool for communication and organization.
Millennial activists, like leaders and members of Black Lives Matter, rely on social media for
recruitment and mobilization (Taylor 2016). Paul Mason (2013) observed that social media has
enabled these activists “to outwit the police, to beam their message into the newsrooms of global
media, and above all to assert a cool, cutting-edge identity†(pp. 76–77).
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John Moore/Getty Images
Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter were credited with helping organize Egyptian protestors during the
2011 Arab Spring.
Live media events, such as the Olympics, the Super Bowl, or the Oscars, are community-building
events. People gather in groups to watch, talk about what they see, and share the sense that they are
watching something special (Schudson 1986). News events captured by the media, such as the 2015
U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and the 2017
Las Vegas shooting connect a nation and even the world.
In particular, television has contributed to a corresponding nationalization of politics and issues,
taking local or regional events and turning them into national debates. Socially and politically, the
media make our world smaller. Thanks to various forms of social media, the world watched as
millions of Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square in 2011 demanding the overthrow of the regime
of President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak resigned after 18 days of demonstrations. Facebook and
Twitter are credited with unifying protestors and ultimately shaping the political debate.
403
The media have been accused of creating serious dysfunctions and social problems in society. For
example, research has documented the link between viewing of media violence and the development
of aggression, particularly among children who watch dramatic violence on television and film.
Television has been called the “other parent†or the “black box,†accused of draining the life and
intelligence out of its young viewers. Popular media culture has been accused of undermining our
educational system and subverting traditional literacy (Postman 1989). E. Alison Holman and her
colleagues (2014) presented evidence on how “widespread media coverage extends the boundaries of
local disasters, transmitting their impact beyond the directly exposed populations and turning them
into collective traumas†(p. 93). They discovered that repeated exposure to media coverage of the
2013 Boston Marathon bombing was related to higher levels of acute stress among non-Boston
residents. Similar patterns of collective trauma were observed after the Oklahoma City bombing and
the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
Conflict Perspective
The media, according to Noam Chomsky (1989), are like any other business. The fundamental
principle in American media is to attract an audience to sell to advertisers. Yes, you read that
correctly. Commercial television and radio programming depend on advertising revenue, and in
turn, the networks promise that you, the consumer audience, will buy the advertisers’ products. “The
market model of the media is based on the ability of a network to deliver audiences to these
advertisers†(Croteau and Hoynes 2001:6).
In the United States, media organizations are likely to be part of larger conglomerates where profit
making is the most important goal (Ball-Rokeach and Cantor 1986). Since the very beginning of
mass communications, ideas, information, and profit have mixed. The first books printed in the
colonies may have been devoted to religion, but the printers made money (Porter 1981). The media,
according to conflict theorists, can be fully understood only when we learn who controls them.
One of the clearest, and some say most problematic, trends in the media is the increasing
consolidation of ownership. The corporate media play a major role in managing consumer demand,
producing messages that support corporate capitalism, and promoting political events and social
issues (Kellner 1995). In 1984, more than 50 corporations controlled most of our newspapers,
magazines, broadcasting, books, and movies. By 2004, Ben Bagdikian was arguing that there were
five media giants. The top five entertainment multinational conglomerates controlling the media for
2011 are listed in Table 11.1. These companies are truly multimedia corporations, producing
movies, books, magazines, newspapers, television programming, music, videos, toys, and theme
parks in the global marketplace. Under this increasing media consolidation, women- and minority-
owned broadcasting has declined. People of color own only 3% of commercial television stations
(Wade 2008).
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TABLE 11.1 â– Five Largest Entertainment Companies
Source: Adapted from CNN Money 2011.
Miller (2002) warned that the most corrosive influence of media conglomerates was their impact on
journalism. Journalism has traditionally been referred to as the fourth estate, an independent
institutional source of political and social power that monitors the actions of other powerful
institutions such as politics, economics, and religion. However, conflict theorists remind us that
someone is in charge of the fourth estate. Those who control the media are able to manipulate what
we see, read, and hear. The media, serving the interest of interlocking state and corporate powers,
frame messages in a way that supports the ruling elite and limits the variety of messages that we
read, see, and hear (Chomsky 1989).
Edward Jay Epstein (1981) revealed that what we consider news is not the product of chance events;
rather, “it is the result of decisions made within a news organization†(p. 119). He explained that the
crucial decisions on what constitutes news—what will and won’t be covered—are made not by the
journalists but by executives of the news organization. Although the public expects news reporters to
act like independent fair-minded professionals, reporters are employees of corporations that control
their hiring, firing, and daily management (Bagdikian 1997). News executives are in control of the
selection and deployment of specific reporters, the expenditure of time and resources for gathering
the news, and the allocation of space for the presentation of news (Epstein 1981). And because they
are economically motivated, news organizations are mindful of their audiences’ preferences and try
405
to cater to those preferences as much as possible (Baron 2006). The corporate takeover of news
media has shifted its business model from news to entertainment.
Regina Branton and Johanna Dunaway (2008) concluded that audience preferences and newspaper
profit motives result in differences between English and Spanish news coverage of immigration in
the United States. Results of Branton and Dunaway’s 2008 study show that Spanish-language news
outlets generated a larger volume of immigration coverage than English-language outlets. On the
other hand, English-language news media were more likely to focus on negative aspects of
immigration than were Spanish-language media outlets. Both patterns, according to the researchers,
are motivated by profit and the desire to satisfy their different target audiences. Branton and
Dunaway (2008) suggested that conflicting media coverage may even contribute to the differences
in immigration attitudes between Anglos and Latinos.
Feminist Perspective
Douglas Kellner (1995) wrote that the media represent “a contested terrain, reproducing on the
cultural level the fundamental conflicts within society†(p. 101). Feminist theorists attempt to
understand how the media represent and devalue women and minorities. This perspective examines
how the media either use stereotypes disparaging women and minorities or completely exclude them
from media images (Eschholz, Bufkin, and Long 2002).
One of the most important lessons young children learn is expected gender roles, learning masculine
versus feminine behaviors. Although these lessons are taught by parents and teachers, a significant
source of cultural gendered messages is television programs (Powell and Abels 2002). Regular
exposure to television’s stereotypical gender roles has been associated with young children having
more stereotypical beliefs about masculine and feminine characteristics and activities (Signorielli and
Lears 1992). In his analysis of children’s programming, Mark Barner (1999) found that women are
typically portrayed in passive roles as housewives, waitresses, and secretaries, whereas men are seen
in active roles as construction workers or doctors. Rivadeneyra and Ward (2005) argued, “If women
are seldom portrayed as problem solvers, heroines, and working mothers, and if men are rarely
depicted as nurturant and sensitive, viewers’ own self-conceptions, aspirations and gender ideologies
may become equally constrained†(p. 454).
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Feminist scholarship demonstrates that the media undermine women, especially those who
challenge traditional gender roles (Gibson 2009). In her analysis of the coverage of female athletes,
Mary Jo Kane (2011) wrote, “Study after study has revealed that newspaper and TV coverage
around the globe routinely and systematically focuses on the athletic exploits for male athletes while
offering hypersexualized images of their female counterparts.†Women are more likely to be
portrayed in ways that emphasize their femininity rather than their athletic prowess. When Corey
Cogdell-Unrein won a gold medal for women’s trap shooting in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games,
406
some media outlets simply identified her as the wife of Chicago Bears lineman Mitch Unrein,
ignoring details of her trap-shooting career and her Olympic Games achievement. Kane (2011)
concluded that “media images that emphasize femininity/sexuality actually suppress interest in, not
to mention respect for, women’s sports.â€
Researchers have identified how female political candidates receive different attention from their
male counterparts. News reports focus on political women’s physical appearance, lifestyle, and
family life rather than on campaign issues and how women are the targets of negative coverage
regarding their lack of experience and knowledge (Wasburn and Wasburn 2011). Coverage about a
female candidate’s political positions will feature women’s topics such as abortion, child care, or
education as opposed to men’s issues such as the economy or national security. Philo Wasburn and
Mara Wasburn (2011), in their analysis of media coverage of Governor Sarah Palin’s vice
presidential campaign, concluded that “with respect to the coverage of political women, the political
culture of America’s commercial media remained largely unchanged through decades of election
cycles†(p. 1039). Although there was more coverage of Palin than Joe Biden, the Democratic vice
presidential candidate, Palin was objectified by the media and treated as a sex object through
references to her beauty queen background, her appearance, and her wardrobe. There was frequent
mention of her lack of national and global political experience, and policy coverage was focused on
her take on women’s issues.
Interactionist Perspective
In what they tell us and what they choose not to tell us, the media define our social world (McNair
1998). The interactionist perspective focuses on the symbols and messages of the media and how
the media come to define our “reality.†It might be best to view the media, as Michael Gurevitch
and Mark Levy (1985) suggested, as “a site on which various social groups, institutions, and
ideologies struggle over the definition and construction of social reality†(p. 9).
©iStock.com/BasSlabbers
Female political candidates receive different media attention from their male counterparts. News reports focus on political
women’s physical appearance, fashion, and family life rather than on campaign issues.
The mass media become the authority at any given moment for “what is true and what is false, what
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is reality and what is fantasy, what is important and what is trivial†(Bagdikian 1997:xliv). The mass
media define what events are newsworthy. The first criterion is proximity; events happening close
are more newsworthy than those happening at a greater distance. Second, deviation is an important
criterion. Events that can be reported as disruptions (natural disasters, unexpected deaths, murders),
deviations from cultural or social norms of behavior (especially sexual, e.g., philandering clergy or
politicians), and lifestyle deviance (alternative lifestyle reports) make the news (Galtung and Ruge
1973).
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Sociologist Herbert Gans (1979) explained that the news isn’t about just anyone; it is usually about
“knowns.†Women and men identified by their position in government or their fame and fortune are
automatically newsworthy. Knowns are elites in all walks of life, but especially from politics, the
entertainment industry, and sports. Incumbent presidents appear in the news most often. The
president is the only individual whose routine activities are noteworthy. (When was the last time
that a news crew followed your every move?) In recent years, “celebutantes†(daughters from wealthy
or famous families), such as the Kardashian sisters, have been deemed newsworthy by the media,
with their every move and fumble chronicled.
One of the biggest news stories of the late 20th century was the death of Princess Diana. The facts
and circumstances of her 1997 death and the fairy-tale life that preceded it conformed to all the
criteria of newsworthiness. Although it occurred in France, her death involved cultural proximity:
Princess Diana was a worldwide celebrity. The nonstop coverage of her life and death began as a
story of celebrity fascination but ended as an international tragedy (McNair 1998). Shortly after
Princess Diana’s death, Mother Teresa, a renowned humanitarian, died. Although Mother Teresa’s
death was a news story, it never got the same attention and coverage as the death of Princess Diana
did. As journalist Daniel Schorr (1998) said, the difference between the two women’s lives was “the
difference between a noble life well lived and a media image well cultivated. . . . Mother Teresa was
celebrated, but was not a celebrity†(p. 15).
The mass media play a large role in shaping public agendas by influencing what people think about
(Shaw and McCombs 1997) and, ultimately, what people consider a social problem (Altheide
1997). David Altheide (1997) described the news media as part of the “problem-generating
machine†produced by an entertainment-oriented media industry. The news informs the public, but
its message is also intended to serve as entertainment, an opportunity for voyeurism, and a “quick
fix†rather than providing an understanding of the underlying social causes of the problem.
Altheide (1997) argued that the fear pervasive in American society is mostly produced through
messages presented by the news media. The disproportionate coverage of crime and violence in the
news media affects readers and viewers (Glassner 1997). Especially in the case of violent crime
coverage, the public is misled to overestimate the prevalence of crime and their chances of
victimization (Roberts et al. 2002). Despite evidence that Americans have a comparative advantage
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in regard to diseases, accidents, nutrition, medical care, and life expectancy, American women and
men perceive themselves to be at greater risk than do their counterparts elsewhere and express fears
about this (Altheide 1997). In a national poll, respondents were asked why they believe the country
has a serious crime problem. About 76% said they had seen serious crime in the media, whereas only
22% said they had had a personal experience with crime (Glassner 1997).
For a summary of sociological perspectives on the media, see Table 11.2.
TABLE 11.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: The Media
What Does It Mean to Me?
From an interactionist’s perspective, how does the media define what is newsworthy? Is there a way
to alter the media’s influence?
THE MEDIA AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Loss of Privacy
Erving Goffman (1959) theorized that individuals practice impression management, creating a
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favorable impression of themselves to others. He argued that we maintain a distinction between a
public self (performing on a front stage for the benefit of others) and a more private self (more
natural and comfortable on the backstage). However, the advent of social media has increasingly
blurred the lines between public and private. “Before our children can walk or talk, we teach them to
share. So it is no wonder that we have flocked to social media, a platform based on sharing, to share
everything from our birth dates to films of our child’s birth,†said Julie Brill, commissioner of the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (quoted in Naoum 2012).
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S MEDIA FOUNDATION
The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) is an international network of
women journalists promoting the status of women in news media. The IWMF (2018) believes
that “news media worldwide are not truly free and representative without the equal voice of
women.†The foundation supports women through global education programs and grants and
conducts research on the status of women journalists, documenting the dangers faced by
women working in news media. As stated in its 2011–2012 report, “Through pioneering
programs and opportunities for women journalists, the IWMF effects change in newsrooms.
We empower women journalists with the training, support and network they need to become
leaders in the news industry, and we promote freedom of the press by recognizing brave
reporters who speak out on global issues†(IWMF 2013:1).
Each year, the IWMF honors several women journalists with the Courage in Journalism
Award. In 2017, Hadeel al-Yamani was recognized as the first female Al Jazeera Arabic
correspondent in Yemen. She was appointed to the position when she was 21 years old. al-
Yamani is quoted as saying how the bloodshed she’s witnessed during the civil war in her
country motivates her to cover the human side of the conflict. “Sometimes it is easier for me to
delve into certain areas inaccessible by men. I’m able to cover stories that male journalists
cannot.†Women, according to al-Yamani, “can covey the humanitarian reality to the entire
world†(IWMF 2017).
In 2011, IWMF released an international study of women in the news media, based on survey
data collected from 522 news companies in 59 nations. IWMF researchers concluded that
women are marginalized within the profession, with significant gender stratification in news
organizations and newsrooms in several countries and world regions. Although the writers of
the report offered no recommendations about how to resolve the underrepresentation of
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women in news media, the report does provide “comprehensive data on which to make a clear
determination about where women currently fit into the news-making operation or in the
decision-making or ownership structure of their companies†(IWMF 2011:7).
For example, 73% of the top management jobs were occupied by men compared to 27%
occupied by women. Top management jobs included publishers, chief executive officers, and
chief financial officers of news organizations. A higher representation of women in top
management was found in Eastern Europe and Nordic Europe. In the United States, women
occupied less than a fourth of top management positions. Among senior professionals, women
represented 41% of the news gathering, editing, and writing positions. Senior professionals
include senior writers, anchors, and producers. Among the ranks of news reporters, women
held 36% of the jobs compared with 64% by men (IWMF 2011).
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And in some cases you do not have a choice in what information you share. Documents leaked by
former National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor Edward Snowden in 2013 confirmed that
for years the agency was intercepting phone calls and online communications of American citizens.
Under its PRISM program, the agency was gathering data on non-U.S. citizens through its access
of Apple, Facebook, Google, Skype, and Yahoo servers. Although the agency was accused of
violating the U.S. Constitution and several federal privacy laws, General Keith Alexander (then
chief of the NSA) defended the program, citing the PATRIOT Act. According to Alexander, the
agency’s phone and Internet surveillance programs were essential to preventing terrorist acts around
the world (Bash and Cohen 2013). In 2014, a British court ruled that electronic mass surveillance
under programs like PRISM were legal and had enough safeguards to protect individuals’ online
privacy (Scott 2014).
Websites routinely track your personal information and online activities (Nguyen 2011). Websites
and online applications use cookies to track information about users. Cookies allow website
operators to see your browsing history, store your log-in information, and help personalize sites by
remembering your preferences and searches from previous visits. Although many Internet users have
learned how to disable cookies through control panels, most Internet users do not do so. Facebook
and other social media networks also maintain and track personal data about their users, including
where the users live and users’ personal interests and activities. Many Facebook applications
(including Zynga, the creator of the online game FarmVille) were transmitting Facebook user IDs
to advertisers and Internet tracking firms. Facebook and Zynga both pledge not to share personally
identifiable information with third parties (Nguyen 2011).
Facebook’s privacy policies have been scrutinized by media watch groups, politicians, and
consumers. In 2011, Facebook settled Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it deceived
users by telling them that it would keep their Facebook information private, although it was sharing
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users’ personal data with others. According to its settlement, Facebook must not make any deceptive
privacy claims, is required to get consumers’ approval before making changes in data sharing, and is
required to obtain assessments of its privacy practices by independent, third-party auditors through
2031 (FTC 2011). In 2018, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a political firm hired by
President Trump’s election campaign, collected information on about 87 million Facebook users in
the United States and the United Kingdom without their permission and may have used the
information to influence voters in their countries (Held 2018). Cambridge Analytica claims that it
deleted all the retrieved data and never used any of the data on behalf of the Trump campaign.
Facebook instituted immediate restrictions on data access by third-party developers and apps. Mark
Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, confirmed that the company was trying to protect user
information, but “we didn’t focus enough on preventing abuse and thinking through how people
could use these tools to do harm†(quoted in Held 2018).
The Digital Haves and Have-Nots
The term digital divide was first used in the mid-1990s by policy leaders and social scientists
concerned about the emerging split between those with and those without access to computers and
the Internet. It is more than just a first-world problem of access. The term refers to the gap
separating individuals who have access to new forms of technology from those who do not. In
addition, others have identified a gap between those who can effectively use new information and
communication tools and those who cannot (Gunkel 2003). Despite the increasing diffusion of
computers and an overall increase in Internet use, a deep divide remains “between those who possess
the resources, education and skills to reap the benefits from the technology and those who do notâ€
(Servon 2002:4).
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IN FOCUS
THE BOUNDARY-LESS WORKPLACE
Wendy Boswell and Julie Olson-Buchanan (2007) described how communication technology
(CT) has changed the media we use to communicate with each other in the workplace, but also
how it has significantly changed our connection to work. CT allows for greater flexibility in
managing one’s work, but it may give employees little opportunity to disengage from work. We
don’t think much about responding to a voice message after dinner or checking e-mail
messages while on vacation. Although employees may not be officially on the job, CT has
“enabled an anytime-anywhere connectedness of employees to their work†(Fenner and Renn
2004:184).
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Teresa Sullivan (2014) cautioned against the merging of work versus non-work time. Referring
to Lewis Coser’s (1974) concept of greedy institutions, she highlighted how different
institutions compete for the limited energies and time commitments of individuals. The
workplace has become our primary greedy institution via CT. “Continuous connectivity allows
employers to reach into the after hours of their employees’ lives, extending the workday beyond
its traditional limits. And globalization, which extends a firm’s reach across many time zones,
requires more workers to be alert and responsive for more hours of the day†(Sullivan 2014:4).
CT use during non-work time has been positively correlated to an employee’s workload and
career ambitions. Remaining connected is viewed as a convenient means to keep up with one’s
work and as a way to get ahead in one’s organization or occupation (Boswell and Olson-
Buchanan 2007). This high level of connectivity could be described as an expectation of our
work. At the same time, CT use during non-working hours has been linked to higher
employee stress levels, job burnout, and lower job satisfaction (Fonner and Roloff 2010;
Leonardi, Treem, and Jackson 2010). In their 2014 study, Kevin Wright and his colleagues
discovered that as the number of outside-of-work hours increased via CT, perceptions of work
versus life conflict increased. Individuals noted how their personal life suffered or their personal
needs were neglected because of checking in on their work online.
Daimler, the German automobile corporation, announced that its employees could take
advantage of a Mail on Holiday program. The program automatically deletes all incoming e-
mail while an employee is on vacation. The sender is notified that the e-mail has not been
received and then is asked to contact a substitute. How does this program alter expectations of
the employee?
The divide is also a global phenomenon. As of 2016, 47% of the world’s population is on the
Internet (Taylor 2016). According to data collected by the Central Intelligence Agency (2015),
China and the European Union have the most Internet users—more than 300 million users each
(refer to Figure 11.1). Developing non-Western countries such as those in Africa, South America,
and South Asia have fewer than a million Internet users.
FIGURE 11.1 â– Top 10 Internet Users in 2014, by Country
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Source: Central Intelligence Agency 2017.
The Internet has been described as both empowering and discriminating, enabling residents in some
countries to pursue a better life while others are left behind (Guillén and Suárez 2005). Cross-
national research has linked the diffusion of Internet technology with developed service sector
economies, an educated population, economic development, and significant research and
development investment. Users in less developed countries have basic access problems: economic
(cost of basic necessities vs. cost of Internet access), technological (varying ability of local networks),
and geographical (limited access outside urban areas) aspects (Vartanova 2002). Mainly because of
income differentials, the Internet is beyond the reach of global citizens. For example, in countries
with low human development, the average annual income is about $1,200 (in U.S. dollars); the cost
of owning a cheap personal computer would take more than half of that income, about $700
(United Nations Development Programme 2001; Drori 2004). On the other hand, pay-as-you-go
plans have made cellular phones more affordable. Nearly 40% of all adults living in poverty are
cellular-only users compared with 21% of adults with higher incomes (Blumberg et al. 2011). Some
states also provide cellular phone subsidies for low-income residents.
The digital divide implies a chain of causality. Access and ability to use computers and Internet
technology help improve one’s social and economic well-being; lack of access to computers and the
Internet harms one’s life chances. But it is also true that those who are already marginalized in
society have fewer opportunities to access and use computers and the Internet (Warschauer 2003).
Among persons with incomes of $30,000 or less, only 79% have broadband access compared with
98% of individuals with incomes more than $75,000. The U.S. Census Bureau (2010) projected that
the average consumer would spend almost $1,000 for media usage (e.g., television, Internet, cell
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phone, and radio) in 2010. In contrast, in 2004, the average consumer spent $770. Data also
indicate that rates of broadband usage are higher among individuals with a bachelor’s degree or
more (97%) than among those less than a high school degree (65%) (Pew Research Center 2018).
p.246
The digital divide is a symptom of a larger social problem in the United States: social inequality
based on income, educational attainment, and ethnicity/race. Data from the Pew Research Center
(2017) reveal how Internet use is divided along demographic and socioeconomic lines. Internet use
is higher among Whites and Blacks than among Hispanics. Higher Internet use is positively
associated with higher incomes and educational attainment. (Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social
Problems feature for more information about the digital divide.) However, as digital access has
improved, researchers have noted an overall increase in the use of media for time wasting among
youth and continuing disparities. As reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Rideout, Foehr,
and Roberts 2010), youth whose parents attained a high school degree or less spend more time per
day exposed to media (television, music, video games, and movies) than youth whose parents have a
college degree.
Internet access is not the only issue facing underserved communities. Wendy Lazarus and Francisco
Mora (2000) identified four online content barriers. The greatest barrier is the lack of locally
relevant information. They discovered that low-income users seek practical and relevant information
that affects their daily lives, on topics such as education (adult high school degree programs), family
(low-cost child care), finances (news on public benefits, consumer information), health (local clinics,
low-cost insurance resources), and personal enrichment (foreign-language newspapers). In some
instances, information may be available in printed documents, but these may be difficult to locate or
obtain. General information may exist online, but it might not be suitable for low-income
audiences. For example, online housing services might list high-end rental units rather than lower-
rent housing.
p.247
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
INTERNET USE
In 1995, only 14% of U.S. adults had Internet access, mostly through dial-up modem
connections, according to the Pew Research Center. Forty-two percent had never heard of
the Internet. Two decades later, 87% of U.S. adults were using the Internet for either
work or personal use (Fox and Rainie 2014).
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Figures 11.2 through 11.4 present 2000 and 2016 U.S. data on Internet use based on
three demographic variables—age, education, and income.
How would you describe the change in Internet use between the two reported years?
Which demographic characteristic has had the most increase in level of use?
Fifty-three percent of Internet users say it would be very hard to give up the Internet (Fox
and Rainie 2014). What do you think? Could you give up Internet access in some or all
parts of your life?
FIGURE 11.2 â– Internet Use by Educational Attainment, 2000 and 2016 (Percentage
of Adults Age 18+ Reported)
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
FIGURE 11.3 â– Internet Use by Income Level, 2000 and 2016 (Percentage of Adults
Age 18+ Reported)
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Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
FIGURE 11.4 â– Internet Use by Age, 2000 and 2016 (Percentage of Adults Age 18+
Reported)
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
417
p.248
The second barrier identified by Lazarus and Mora (2000) is the lack of information at a basic
literacy level. According to the authors, a number of online tutorials that review computer program
and Internet skills are written at a higher level of literacy. The third barrier is the need for content
for non-English speakers. There is little government material (e.g., on voting, Medicare, or taxes)
translated into Spanish. The fourth barrier is a need for more websites that reflect diverse cultural
heritages and practices.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Is there a digital divide among students at your school? What advantages are there for students who
own and use laptops and/or smartphones? What do you think is the minimum equipment
requirement for staying digitally connected or for being technologically literate?
The Death of the Newspaper?
As the fourth estate, journalism serves as a watchdog for government activities. Independent
reporters, especially through print media, keep the public informed about political issues and
activities. According to Robert McChesney and John Nichols (2010), citizens should have “media
that regard the state secret as an assault to popular governance, that watch the politically and
economically powerful with a suspicious eye, [and] that recognize as their duty the informing and
enlightening of citizens†(p. 2).
In our increasingly digital age, newspaper readership has declined while the use of online news
sources has increased. When asked what was the most helpful media source to learn about the 2016
presidential election, surveyed Americans identified cable news (24%), social media (14%) and local
television (14%). Local newspapers (print) were only identified by 3% of the sample; national papers
(print) were identified by 2% (Gottfried et al. 2016).
This transition has caused concern among those in the newspaper industry: owners and employees.
According to the Newspaper Association of America (2012), in 2000, there were 1,468 daily papers.
By 2014, the number of daily papers had declined to 1,331 (Pew Research Center 2016). Nearly
every large paper has fewer pages and fewer articles; some have eliminated entire sections (Pérez-
Peña 2009). Although some argue that news is more accessible via the Internet, the quality and
content of the news is changing. According to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in
Journalism (Mitchell and Rosenstiel 2012), the decline in print newspapers will mean “less coverage
of government in suburbs or remote cities, pulling back on state government coverage, the
decimation of specialty beats like science or religion, fewer feature stories and elimination of many
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weekday feature sections.â€
So what will take the place of your local newspaper? Several online companies have created
hyperlocal news sites that allow readers to create their own neighborhood-focused news site—with
stories, information, and advertising catering to their specific interests and needs. But some think
that online news services are not the same. In a 2009 Senate hearing on journalism, Senator
Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) testified, “As local newspapers disappear, we lose an important check on
local governments, state governments, the federal government, elected officials, corporations, school
districts, businesses, individuals and more. Newspapers and the investigative journalism they provide
are essential in a free, democratic society and must be preserved†(quoted in Tucker 2009:8).
Driving Distracted
In 2007, a 53-year-old male driver was checking his e-mail while driving and caused a five-car
pileup on Interstate 5 outside of Seattle, Washington. Driving while texting (DWT) is part of the
growing phenomenon of distracted driving. Texting, along with the use of cell phones while driving,
has been attributed to at least 1.3 million traffic accidents. Cell phone use causes more crashes than
texting—1.3 million versus 200,000. According to the National Safety Council (2010), 28% of all
traffic accidents involve talking and texting on cell phones. Drivers who use a cell phone—handheld
or hands-free—are four times more likely to be involved in an accident.
p.249
The Seattle incident led to the passage of two laws, the first of their kind in the nation. One law
prohibits driving while texting, and the second prohibits the use of a handheld phone while driving.
Both laws are secondary enforcement laws, which means a driver will be ticketed for the offense
only if pulled over for another driving violation. Public support for laws banning cell phone use
while driving is gaining momentum (National Safety Council 2010). Since 2009, 47 states have
enacted bans on texting while driving, and 38 states have enacted total cell phone bans for young
drivers. Fourteen states ban the use of handheld devices while driving (Governors Highway Safety
Association 2017).
In an executive order signed by President Obama, federal employees are not allowed to text while
driving. The federal government also plans to ban texting by interstate bus drivers and truckers. The
use of cell phones may be limited to emergency situations.
Do You Trust the News Media?
Whether we are reading an online news story, watching local news, or checking a Twitter feed, we
rely on news reporters for most if not all our information about our community and the world.
There was a level of implicit trust in the relationship between news media and media consumer, but
now there is increasing doubt about the accuracy and reliability of what we read and hear. In 1985,
55% of those surveyed felt that the news media usually get their facts straight, while 34% believed
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that news organizations usually provide inaccurate reports. In 2011, the percentages had switched:
25% of those surveyed felt that the news media get the facts straight, and 66% believed their stories
are often inaccurate (Pew Research Center 2011).
Media observers maintain that each time President Trump embraces the term “fake news†to
respond to critical news stories about his presidency, he undermines our trust in the free press.
Other world leaders have adopted Trump’s strategy, invoking fake news as a response to negative
press (Erlanger 2017). Steven Erlanger (2017) reminds us, “The problem, of course, is that fake
news is a real problem.â€
©iStock.com/sshepard
Texting, along with the general use of cell phones while driving, contributes to at least 1.3 million traffic accidents per year.
p.250
The rise of social media has allowed anyone to create and disseminate misinformation, with a larger
audience as a target. Although Americans rely heavily on social media for their news, in 2017, just
5% of web-using adults reported having a lot of trust in the information they receive (Barthel and
Mitchell 2017). Local news organizations received the highest level of trust. Although fake news or
information has been associated with the Internet for a while, “it is only in the last two years that
organised, systematic misinformation campaigns, often linked to governments, have emerged, and
their effect on democracy and society scrutinized†(Titcomb and Carson 2017). During the 2016
presidential election, Russia released false information about Hillary Clinton and her campaign in
an effort to sway the presidential election. According to Erlanger (2017), “The presence of fake
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news in the globalized stream of media content helps blur the line with traditional, fact-based
news.â€
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 11.2: The Role of Facebook in Society
The public debate about whether U.S. media are liberal or conservative has also sensitized the public
to how the media could be manipulative or subjective in content. In addition, people are increasingly
distrustful of the large multinational corporations that own and control most of the news media
(Project for Excellence in Journalism 2004). Approximately 70% of Americans believe news
organizations tend to favor one side rather than treat all sides fairly (Barthel and Mitchell 2017).
Yet, according to a 2016 Pew survey, the majority of Americans believe that it is the news media’s
responsibility to fact check political candidates and campaigns (Barthel, Gottfried, and Lu 2016).
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Communications Commission and the Telecommunications
Act of 1996
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established by the Communications Act of
1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio,
television, wire, satellite, and cable. As an independent agency, the FCC oversees violations of
federal law and policies and reports directly to the U.S. Congress (FCC 2018. Under current FCC
rules, radio stations and broadcast television channels cannot air indecent language or material that
shows or describes sexual or excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children may be
watching. In response to a violation, the FCC may issue a warning, revoke a station’s license, or
impose a monetary fine. In the entire history of the FCC, the commission has fined only two
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television stations for indecency (K. Kelly, Clark, and Kulman 2004).
Introduced a week before the Super Bowl in 2004, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act was
designed to amend the Communications Act of 1934. The bipartisan bill increased penalties to
$500,000 for violating FCC regulations. Broadcasters could also lose their license if they violated
indecency standards three times. The act would not apply to cable television programming. In the
case of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, each CBS station that aired the program could have
been fined as much as $27,500. After the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show (and Janet Jackson’s
wardrobe malfunction), television broadcasters began to police their programming more closely.
Through the FCC, the public can file complaints on a range of issues: billing disputes, wireless
questions, telephone company advertising practices, telephone slamming (switching a consumer’s
telephone service without permission), unsolicited telephone marketing calls, and indecency and
obscenity complaints. Along with the FTC, the FCC is enforcing the National Do Not Call
Registry, which went into effect in October 2002. At the end of FY2016, the registry contained
more than 226 million actively registered phone numbers.
p.251
The first major overhaul of the original 1934 act, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, was seen as
a way to encourage competition in the communications industry. The law specified how local
telephone carriers may compete, how and under what circumstances local exchange carriers can
provide long-distance services, and ways to deregulate cable television rates. Also included in the act
are provisions to make telecommunications more accessible to disabled Americans. The
Communications Decency Act makes it a crime to knowingly convey pornography over the Internet
on a website accessible to children.
Although the act was presented as an opportunity to encourage competition and break down media
monopolies, industry watchers noted that the 1996 law swept away the minimal consumer and
diversity protections of the original 1934 act. The 1996 act reduced competition and allowed more
cooperation between media giants. Data reviewed in an earlier section of this chapter seem to
support this. The new law permitted some of the largest industries—those not active in creating
media content, such as telephone companies—to enter the television, radio, and cable industry. New
industries joined older media companies to form interlocking partnerships, rather than become
independent competitors as the act’s supporters had predicted.
In 2015, the FCC adopted strong net neutrality rules based on Title II of the Communications Act.
Net neutrality means that the Internet enables and protects free speech, preserving an open Internet.
Under these rules, broadband service was defined as a utility, no different from water or electrical
service. As a utility, broadband service would be accessible to everyone. The rules prohibited
Internet providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, from blocking websites or any content that they
may disagree with or bundling services or “fast lane†access for premium customers. In 2017, the
FCC voted to repeal the net neutrality rules. The repeal was led by FCC director Ajit Pai, a former
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associate general counsel for Verizon Communications, Inc. A coalition of state attorneys general
announced that they would sue the FCC to prohibit the repeal. In March 2018, Washington
became the first state to pass a law protecting net neutrality for its residents. Several other states are
considering net neutrality bills.
Who Is Watching the Media?
Facebook and Twitter executives revealed that hundreds of Russian-linked accounts were discovered
in 2017, where fictional people posing as U.S. activists attempted to influence the outcome of the
2016 presidential election. RT and Sputnik, Russia’s state-funded foreign media networks were
described as “the most effective propaganda operation of the 21st century so far†(Jankowicz 2017).
While Facebook announced that it was hiring new staff members to clean up bots (computer
programs that act like humans) and monitor illegal activity on its site, lawmakers are encouraging
strict government oversight of social media sites.
Several organizations attempt to improve and protect the integrity of journalists in print, electronic,
and Internet media. The Project for Excellence in Journalism (2004) began as an initiative by
journalists to clarify and raise the standards of American journalism. The project serves as a research
organization, conducting an annual review of local television news, producing a series of content
studies on press performance, and offering educational programs for journalists. The project also
provides information to the public about what to expect from the press, how to write a letter to the
editor, and how to talk to the news media. In 2014, the project was renamed the Pew Research
Center’s Journalism Project.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 11.3: Women in Egypt’s Media
Another organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists, is an independent, nonprofit
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organization promoting press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the
news without fear of reprisal. The organization documents attacks on the press worldwide,
including the number of journalists killed, missing, or imprisoned. For 2017, the committee
reported that 34 journalists were killed; international journalists covering conflict and dangerous
situations in Iraq, Syria, and Mexico were at higher risk (Committee to Protect Journalists 2017).
p.252
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
GEENA DAVIS
Splash News/Newscom
Geena Davis visits a class of second graders to promote lessons on gender stereotypes in the media. Davis leads the
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, operating as advocate for more girls and women in television and films,
in front of and behind the camera.
Responding to the lack of female characters in television and motion picture programming,
Geena Davis founded the See Jane program to promote and advance gender balance in media
for children 11 years of age or younger. Davis (2006) explained that after she gave birth to her
daughter and began to watch preschool programs, she did a study of her own, examining the
characters in her daughter’s videos, and she realized that the programs were dominated by male
characters. The See Jane program was renamed the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in
Media.
Where the Girls Aren’t was the first research project sponsored by the program, using content
analysis to examine 101 top-grossing G-rated animated and live action films from 1990 to
2004 (J. Kelly and Smith 2006). Researchers Joe Kelly and Stacy Smith found that in these
films, there were three male characters for every one female character. Twenty-three percent of
speaking characters were female, whereas more than 80% of film narrators were male. This
gender imbalance can affect children’s gender development, reinforcing children’s stereotypical
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attitudes and beliefs about gender. According to Davis, “By making it common for our
youngest children to see everywhere a balance of active and complex male and female
characters, girls and boys will grow up to empathize with and care more about each other’s
stories†(quoted in J. Kelly and Smith 2006:9–10).
In the institute’s 2014 study, Stacy Smith, Marc Choueiti, and Katherine Pieper examined
female characters in the most popular films released between January 2010 and May 2013 in 11
countries. Their study confirms the continuing absence of women and girls on screen. Based on
a total of 5,799 speaking or named characters on screen, only 31% were female, a gender ratio
of 2.24 males to every 1 female. Only 23.3% of the films had a girl or woman as the lead or co-
lead in the story. When females were shown, they were more than two times likely to be shown
in sexually revealing clothing (24.8% vs. 9.4%), thin (38.5% vs. 15.7%), or partially or fully
naked (24.2% vs. 11.5%) than males (Smith, Choueiti, and Pieper 2014). Smith and her
colleagues highlighted the important relationship between filmmaker gender and character
gender—films with at least one female director or writer have a higher percentage of
girls/women on the screen than those without—and concluded that the industry needs more
female directors and writers to improve the number of female lead characters.
Certainly Davis’s experience on the film Thelma and Louise helped her recognize the impact of
a strong female character on women and men. She acknowledges the effect of media images on
adults, but her concern is on the impact on children. “We know that kids learn their value by
seeing themselves reflected in the culture. They say, ‘I see myself! I must matter. I must
count.’†Her goal is for media portrayals to be “normal and natural for children to see worlds
and characters—be they Martians or dinosaurs or talking toaster ovens—that are roughly half
female and male. Just like the real world that our kids live in†(Davis 2006).
In addition to ongoing research, the institute continues to educate parents and child
professionals about the importance of gender equity in the media. The program’s goal is to see
females constituting half of all characters in media made for young children.
Media Literacy and Digital Literacy
Scholars, policy makers, and educators continue to make efforts to promote media literacy, the
ability to understand, analyze, and critique media content. It is about shifting from the role of a
passive receiver of media to an active critical receiver and includes asking several questions: For
whom is this media message intended? Who wants to reach this audience, and why? From whose
perspective is this story being told? Whose voices are being heard, and whose are absent? (Media
Awareness Network 2004). This type of literacy develops one’s abilities to examine the social and
commercial context of media messages as well as the consequences of those messages (Considine,
Horton, and Moorman 2009). Media literacy is important for the development of democracy and
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active citizenship, lifelong learning, and economic and labor competitiveness (Livingstone, Van
Couvering, and Thumin 2004).
p.253
The definition of literacy has expanded to include digital media. Digital literacy refers to an
individual’s ability to appropriately use digital tools and skills to identify, manage, evaluate, analyze,
and synthesize digital sources; to construct new knowledge; and to communicate with others
(Martin 2006). Elizabeth Thoman and Tessa Jolls (2004) observed how “teens today have no
memory of life without television; kindergarteners know only a world with cell phones, laptops,
instant messaging, and movies on DVD. To ignore the media-rich environment they bring with
them to school is to shortchange them for life.â€
Since 2007, the European Commission has promoted a set of guiding principles and initiatives
promoting media literacy, with a focus on digital media and technology, claiming,
The rapid rise of digital technology and its increasing use in business, education and cultural activities has offered new
challenges as well as new opportunities. With the nature of media changing and the volume of information increasing, it is
important to ensure that individuals have the necessary skills to be able to use and make informed decisions about media and
digital technologies. (European Commission 2014)
There is no U.S. federal initiative regarding media literacy.
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Jenny Grinblo—Class of 2011
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Global Citizenship
Software developers write the hidden codes for your word processing program or for your
favorite app on your phone. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014) describes software
developers as the “creative minds†behind computer programming. To enter this occupational
field, you will need a bachelor’s degree, usually in a related area like Computer Science. You
should also have strong computer programming skills. There are two types of software
developers: applications software developers, who design computer applications such as games,
and systems software developers, who create operating systems for computers (U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics 2014).
Since graduating in 2011, Sociology alum Jenny Grinblo has worked in a mobile app agency in
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London, where she leads the User Experience and Design Team. She describes her job as an
intersection of her internship (as a graphic designer in a local theatre) and her Sociology
degree. Jenny helps “build digital products which balance client business needs and end-user
needs well, and are useful, easy to use, and provide a positive experience.†She adds,
A large part of my work is being able to ignite empathy among our team and clients, so that they can “walk in the
shoes†of our apps’ end users. I frequently employ ethnographic interviewing, surveys, and do the equivalent of
literature reviews of relevant resources. I’ve also given talks and run workshops to teach people how to employ
qualitative research methods in order to uncover people’s needs and find patterns in individual stories.
Jenny received the majority of her career advice from networking (in person and via Twitter)
and online resources (job postings, LinkedIn, and blogs). To current majors considering their
future employment, Jenny says,
I would advise Sociology majors to look beyond their immediate academic activities and make a list of the skills and
interests they possess, for example: writing, understanding people, gathering a lot of information and making sense of
it, etc., and look for intersections between those interests and skills, rather than trying to apply a portion of them due
to a perceived lack of options. I was lucky to meet a mentor who suggested that the combination of my skills could be
applied in the User Experience field, but there might be other fields out there that can allow Sociology majors to build
on their core skills and interests in a similar way.
p.254
CHAPTER REVIEW
11.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the
media.
Functionalists examine the structural relationship between the media and other social
institutions that affect content, including the social and economic conditions of
American life and society’s beliefs about the nature of men, women, and society.
Conflict theorists believe that the media can be fully understood only when we learn
who controls them. The media frame messages in a way that supports the ruling elite
and limits the variety of messages that we read, see, and hear. Feminist theorists
attempt to understand how the media represent and devalue women and minorities.
They examine how the media either use stereotypes disparaging women and
minorities or completely exclude them. The interactionist perspective focuses on the
symbols and messages of the media and how the media come to define our social
reality.
11.2 Discuss social problems related to the media including loss of privacy, the digital divide, and
media trustworthiness.
In the digital age, there is growing concern over privacy rights, especially on the
Internet. Many websites track personal information. Others, including Facebook,
have been accused of sharing user information without user consent. The digital
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divide refers to the growing social, economic, and political split between those with
and without access to computers and the Internet. When people do not have the
ability to access content online, they are excluded from a growing part of public life.
Although media bias has been a concern for many years, doubts about accuracy and
reliability continue to grow. False accusations of “fake news†undermine American
trust in the free press.
11.3 Identify policies and movements that relate to media consumption and consumer protection.
The Federal Communications Commission is charged with regulating interstate and
international communications radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It monitors
federal laws pertaining to indecent language, depictions of sexuality, and the Do Not
Call Registry. Media literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, and critique media
content. As media consumption continues to grow, scholars, policy makers, and
educators are focusing on media literacy as an essential skill for the 21st century.
KEY TERMS
digital divide, 244
digital literacy, 253
impression management, 242
media, 237
media literacy, 252
social media, 238
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Explain how the media serve to unite and divide members of society.
2. How is control over the content of the media (according to conflict and feminist
perspectives) problematic? What groups are in conflict?
3. From an interactionist perspective, examine how Carrie Fisher’s death met the three
criteria for newsworthiness.
4. How is one’s access to media and technology related to one’s life chances?
5. Which sociological perspective could best explain how trust is earned by new agencies and
outlets? Do you trust the news media? Why or why not?
6. Define what is meant by media literacy. How does media literacy mitigate the harmful
effects of the media?
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12
ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
Media Library
CHAPTER 12 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 12.1: Drinking Culture in the Workplace
AP News Clips 12.2: Federal Marijuana Reaction
AP News Clips 12.3: US Opioid Epidemic
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
12.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives account for alcohol and drug
problems.
12.2 Define drug abuse and drug addiction.
12.3 Describe the impact of drug use and discuss issues of treatment and punishment.
12.4 Evaluate political and social efforts to mitigate the negative effects of drug use.
President Richard Nixon first declared the War on Drugs in 1971. Some refer to it as a war with
“no rules, no boundaries, no end†(PBS 2000). Since the mid-1980s, the United States has adopted
a series of aggressive law enforcement strategies and criminal justice policies aimed at reducing and
punishing drug abuse (Fellner 2000). Changes in federal law require all sentenced federal offenders
to serve at least 87% of their court-imposed sentences. Many drug offenders are subject to
mandatory minimum sentences based on the type and quantity of drugs involved in their arrest
(Scalia 2001). According to the most recent Uniform Crime Report (Federal Bureau of
Investigation 2017), 1,572,579 drug arrests were made in 2016. Although some consider the large
number of drug arrests a good sign, critics charge that mandatory sentencing denies drug users what
they really need: access to treatment. Tougher sentencing has failed to decrease the availability of
drugs and has failed to reduce illicit drug use. And some say that the drug war’s greatest legacy is the
increase in the prison population; since 1980, the number of drug offenders in federal prison has
increased by 21 times (Washington Post 2014).
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There seems to be no argument about the seriousness of the drug problem in the United States and
worldwide. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 27.1 million
Americans (or 9.4%) aged 12 or older reportedly were current users of illicit drugs other than
marijuana (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA] 2016). The
most widely produced and consumed illicit drug is cannabis, or marijuana. (Refer to Figure 12.1 for
illicit drug use among persons aged 12 years or older and Figure 12.2 for cannabis use by country.)
Over 15 million American adults abuse alcohol or are alcoholics (National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA] 2016). Globally, about 3.3 million deaths were attributed to
alcohol consumption (World Health Organization 2015).
FIGURE 12.1 â– Past-Month Illicit Drug Use (Top Five) Among Persons Aged 12 or
Older, by Drug, 2015
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 2016.
FIGURE 12.2 â– Annual Prevalence of Cannabis Use as a Percentage of the Population
Aged 15–64, Selected Countries, Estimates From 2016
432
Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2017.
Although we might focus first on one drug user and his or her personal trouble with drugs, it
doesn’t take long to recognize how drug use affects the user’s family and friends, workplace or
school, and neighbors and community. Throughout this chapter, we will examine the social problem
of drug abuse, reviewing its extent, its social consequences, and our solutions. We begin first with a
look at how the sociological perspectives address the problem of drug abuse.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DRUG ABUSE
Biological and psychological theories attempt to explain how drug abuse is based on the individual.
Both perspectives assume that there is little a person can do to escape from his or her abuse: A
person’s abuse is genetic or inherited. Abuse may emerge from a biological or chemical
predisposition or from a personality or behavioral disorder. Such explanations also have
consequences for treatment. Programs focus on the individual, arguing that the abuser needs to be
“fixed.†Although both perspectives have been important in shaping our understanding of drug
abuse, these perspectives cannot explain the social or structural determinants of drug abuse. In this
next section, we will examine how sociological perspectives address the problems of drug abuse.
p.260
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists argue that society provides us with norms or guidelines on drug use. Cross-cultural
studies reveal that there is variation in the way people expect to behave when they drink. For
433
example, violent behavior is associated with alcohol consumption in the United States, Great
Britain, and Australia; yet drinking behavior is described as “peaceful and harmonious†in
Mediterranean and South African countries (Social Issues Research Centre 1998).
p.261
A set of social norms identifies the appropriate use of drugs and alcohol. The use of prescription
drugs, as directed by a physician, is considered acceptable behavior. Prescription drugs alleviate pain,
reduce fevers, and curb infections. Alcohol in moderation may be routinely consumed with meals,
for celebration, or for health benefits. One glass of red wine a day has been shown to reduce one’s
risk of heart disease.
Yet society also provides norms regarding the excessive use of drugs. For example, college students
share the perception that excessive college drinking is a cultural norm (Butler 1993); this perception
is reinforced by the media and advertisers (Lederman et al. 2003). Aaron Brower (2002) argued that
binge drinking is determined by and is a product of the college environment. For example, because
of particular organization norms that support binge drinking, members of Greek social
organizations have higher rates of binge drinking when compared with other college students
(Chauvin 2012). Event-specific drinking (e.g., 21st birthday, spring break, and sports tailgating) is
promoted via shared norms and practices (Geisner et al. 2014). According to Brower (2002), unlike
alcoholics, college students are able to turn their willingness to binge drink on and off depending on
their circumstances (e.g., whether they have to study for an exam).
To explain drug abuse, functionalists identify a culture or the social structure as the cause. In
examining substance abuse among adolescents, researchers contend that peers may be the most
influential (Allen et al. 2003). Howard Kaplan, Steven Martin, and Cynthia Robbins (1984) wrote,
“The use of illicit drugs persists as part of ongoing peer subculture(s) which may endorse, if not
require, use of illicit drugs†(p. 271). Peer influence may be direct or indirect: Peers provide social
opportunities to engage in substance abuse, and peers shape attitudes toward substance abuse
(Leventhal and Cleary 1980; Prinstein and Wang 2005).
Émile Durkheim believed that under conditions of rapid cultural change, there would be an absence
of common social norms and controls, a state he called anomie. If people lack norms to control their
behavior, they are likely to pursue self- destructive behaviors such as alcohol abuse (Caetano, Clark,
and Tam 1998). During periods when individuals are socially isolated (such as moving to a new
neighborhood, experiencing a divorce, or starting a new school year), they may experience high
levels of stress or anxiety, which may lead to deviant behaviors, including drug abuse. Society can
also be the source of role strain—when an individual has insufficient resources to deal with
demanding social situations or circumstances. The strain occurs when the demands of one’s role
exceed one’s ability and resources to fulfill that role (Wheaton 1990). Illicit drug use or self-
medication can be perceived as an adaptive coping response to stress—people turn to drug use to
reduce their level of stress (Crutchfield and Gove 1984). For example, Shelly McGrath, Catherine
434
Marcum, and Heith Copes (2012) documented that drug use was used as a coping strategy among
adult prisoners experiencing a sense of danger or stress during their incarceration.
Conflict Perspective
Although many drugs can be abused, conflict theorists argue that intentional decisions have been
made over which drugs are illegal and which ones are not. Powerful political and business interest
groups are able to manipulate our images of drugs and their users.
Economist Arthur Benavie (2009) explained how the War on Drugs in this country is defined by
subjective social, religious, and political positions. For example, drugs are classified by five
schedules, categories that define their susceptibility to abuse and medical application. Criminal
penalties are applied to the drugs in Schedules I and II, dangerous drugs with a high potential for
abuse. Benavie highlighted how the classification of these drugs is determined by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) rather than the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Surgeon General.
p.262
Encyclopædia Dramatica
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, cocaine was promoted as a medicinal ingredient to treat pain or coughing. Heroin
and opium were also used in over-the-counter treatments.
Our history of drug laws, concluded Benavie (2009), has little to do with objective information
about the effects or dangers of illicit drugs. Drug policy has been fueled by racial, ethnic, and
economic antagonisms. For example, heroin, opium, and marijuana were considered legal substances
in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but public opinion and law changed when their use was
linked to ethnic minorities and crime. Opium smoking, most associated with Chinese immigrants
brought here to work on the railroads, became the subject of intense antidrug efforts after
completion of the railroad system. At the same time, the oral consumption of opium, more
widespread among Whites, was never considered problematic (Reinarman and Levine 1997).
According to Benavie (2009), the War on Drugs is a crusade, fueled by a fear of social disorder and
disease, a perceived threat to our capitalistic economic structure, and a religious crusade against sin
435
and vice.
Feminist Perspective
Theorists and practitioners in the field of alcohol and drug abuse have ignored the experiences
unique to women, ethnic groups, gay and lesbian populations, and other marginalized groups.
Women face unique social stigmatization as a result of their drug use and may also experience
discrimination as they attempt to receive treatment (Drug Policy Alliance 2003).
The scientific literature did not address women’s addiction until the 1970s. Specifically, there has
been a lack of sensitivity to the range of drug abuse experiences beyond the male or White
perspective. Early prevention and treatment models treated female abusers no differently than men
were treated, failing to provide comprehensive services for women such as prenatal and gynecologic
care, contraceptive counseling, job training, and abuse counseling (Roberts 1991). However, there is
increasing recognition of the importance of gender-specific and gender-sensitive treatment models,
including the development of separate women’s treatment programs. Female users have a variety of
different treatment and psychosocial needs, influenced by their backgrounds, experiences, and drug
problems. Most outpatient clinics do not provide child care, and many residential programs do not
admit children (Roberts 1991). Single, career-oriented women without children will have different
treatment needs and priorities than will single mothers or married mothers (National Clearinghouse
for Alcohol and Drug Information 2003a).
Data suggest that the dramatic increase in women’s imprisonment (refer to Chapter 13) is due
primarily to the prosecution of drug offenses, leading some researchers to characterize the War on
Drugs as the war on women (Bush-Baskette 1998). Katherine Beckett (1995) and Dorothy Roberts
(1991) described how women of color were unfairly targeted in the War on Drugs in the 1980s. As
crack cocaine use spread throughout the inner cities, prosecutors shifted their attention to drug use
among pregnant women, making drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy a crime. The approach
treated pregnant drug users as criminals and was “aimed at punishing rather than empowering
women who use drugs during their pregnancy†(Beckett 1995:589). As Beckett (1995) explained,
“Prosecutions of women for prenatal conduct thus create a gender specific system of punishment
and obscure the fact that male behavior, socio-economic conditions, and environmental pollutants
may also affect fetal health†(p. 588). Roberts (1991) argued that poor Black women are the primary
targets for prosecutors. Research indicates that African American women are about 10 times more
likely than are other women to be reported to civil authorities for drug use.
p.263
In the 1990s, federal drug legislation shifted to methamphetamine offenses, making some of the
penalties similar to crack cocaine offenses. Although methamphetamine convictions were last
among the five types of drugs women were convicted for in 1996 (10.3%), Stephanie Bush-Baskette
and Vivian Smith (2012) reported that by 2006, the number of methamphetamine convictions had
436
doubled (23%). There was a 300% increase in the number of women convicted and sentenced for
methamphetamine offenses between 1996 and 2006. White women represented the largest
percentages of women incarcerated for methamphetamine. The majority of those women had little
or no prior criminal record.
Interactionist Perspective
Sociologists Edwin Sutherland and Howard Becker argued that deviant behavior, such as drug
abuse, is learned through others. Sutherland (1939) proposed the theory of differential association
to explain how we learn specific behaviors and norms from the groups we have contact with.
Deviance, explained Sutherland, is learned from people who engage in deviant behavior.
Researchers have confirmed the role of differential association with alcohol consumption and
prescription drug misuse (Watkins 2016). In his classic study “Becoming a Marijuana User,†Becker
(1963) demonstrated how a novice user is introduced to smoking marijuana by more experienced
users. Learning is the key in his study:
No one becomes a user without (1) learning to smoke the drug in a way which will produce real effects; (2) learning to
recognize the effects and connect them with drug use . . . ; and (3) learning to enjoy the sensations he perceives. (Becker
1963:58)
p.264
This perspective also addresses how individuals or groups are labeled abusers and how society
responds to them. For example, consider alcohol abuse among the Native American population.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are leading causes of mortality among Native Americans, and there
are disproportionately higher rates of alcohol-related crimes among Native Americans. Yet Malcolm
Holmes and Judith Antell (2001) argued that alcohol abuse and its related problems are not entirely
objective phenomena; they also involve interpretation and stigmatization of deviant behavior. One
persistent societal myth maintains that as a group, Native Americans have problems handling
alcohol. However, research indicates that factors such as demography (a young population) and
geography (rural Western environment) may explain high rates of alcohol-related problems in
Native American populations.
The authors highlighted the considerable variation in drinking patterns within and between tribal
communities; there is a large segment of the Native population that do not drink or are non–
problem drinkers (Hawkins and La Marr 2012). The social construction of the “drunken Indianâ€
stereotype links alcohol abuse to the perceived “weaker†cultural and individual characteristics of
Native Americans. Holmes and Antell (2001) explained, “The persistence of such myths in the
symbolic-moral universe of the dominant White culture, despite evidence to the contrary, suggests
that alcohol use by Native Americans still documents allegations of weak will and moral degeneracyâ€
(p. 154).
For a summary of these four sociological perspectives on drug abuse, see Table 12.1.
437
TABLE 12.1 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Alcohol and Drug Abuse
WHAT IS DRUG ABUSE?
Drug abuse is the use of any drug or medication for a reason other than the one it was intended to
serve or in a manner or in quantities other than directed, which can lead to clinically significant
impairment or distress. Drug addiction refers to physical or psychological dependence on the drug
or medication. Although many drugs can be abused, three drugs will be reviewed in the following
section—alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana—along with rave or club drugs. Marijuana and club drugs
are considered illicit (illegal) drugs. Most of the information presented in this section is based on
data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP).
Alcohol
Alcohol is the most abused drug in the United States. Although the consumption of alcohol by itself
is not a social problem, the continuous and excessive use of alcohol can become problematic. Four
symptoms are associated with alcohol dependence or alcoholism: craving (a strong need to drink),
loss of control (not being able to stop drinking once drinking begins), physical dependence
(experiencing withdrawal symptoms), and tolerance (the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to
get “highâ€) (NIAAA 2003b). Alcohol use is related to a wide range of adverse health and social
438
consequences, both acute (traffic deaths or other injuries) and chronic (stroke, alcohol dependence,
liver damage) (NIAAA 2005).
National surveys reveal the differences in alcohol consumption by individual attributes, cultural
factors, and structural factors. For example, in 2013, current drinking (12 or more drinks in the past
year) among adults was highest for Whites and persons reporting two or more races. Heavy alcohol
use (five drinks on a single day at least once a month for adults) was highest among Native
Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders and Whites. Overall, alcohol consumption was lowest among
Asian, Hispanic, and Black adults and Asian and Black college students (SAMHSA 2014).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 12.1: Drinking Culture in the Workplace
Studies suggest that ethnic/racial groups have different sets of norms and values regulating drinking.
Whereas some groups exhibit low rates of problem drinking because their culture associates the use
of alcohol primarily with eating, social occasions, or rituals (Herd and Grube 1996), other
ethnic/racial groups may consider drinking as an activity separate from eating or ritual celebrations,
leading to higher rates of problem drinking. In an examination between first- and second-
generation Asian American adults, second-generation adults are at higher risk for alcohol use or
abuse. Some researchers attribute this higher risk to the process of acculturation—when individuals
from different cultures come together, practices and behaviors that are different from one’s own
group may be adopted or learned. Due to acculturation, second-generation Asian Americans begin
to develop drinking behaviors similar to their non-Asian peers (Iwamoto, Takamatsu, and
Castellanos 2012).
p.265
Although social class, occupational and social roles, and family history of alcohol use all play a role
in determining the drinking patterns of people in general, specific factors put women particularly at
439
risk (Collins and McNair 2003). Research indicates that a woman’s risk for drinking increases with
the experience of negative affective states, such as depression (Hesselbrock and Hesselbrock 1997)
or loneliness, and negative life events, such as physical or sexual abuse during childhood or
adulthood (Wilsnack et al. 1997). Other factors decrease women’s chances of developing alcohol
problems. Traditionally, women are socialized to abstain from alcohol use or to drink less than men
(Filmore et al. 1997). Women who do not participate in the labor force may have less access to
alcohol than men do (Wilsnack and Wilsnack 1992), and women’s roles as wife and mother may
also discourage alcohol intake (Leonard and Rothbard 1999).
What Does It Mean to Me?
How would you describe the drinking culture on your campus? Is alcohol consumption an
acceptable and normal part of college life? Why or why not?
Tobacco and Nicotine
Tobacco is the world’s number-one problem drug, killing more people than all other drugs
combined (Goode 2004). According to the World Health Organization (2014), if current smoking
patterns continued, by 2030, 8 million people per year worldwide would die of diseases caused by
cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoking is the most prevalent form of nicotine addiction, and tobacco
is the most frequently used addictive drug in the United States (National Clearinghouse for Alcohol
and Drug Information 2003b). Nicotine is both a stimulant and a sedative to the central nervous
system. An average cigarette contains about 10 milligrams of nicotine. Through inhaling the
cigarette smoke, the smoker takes in 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette. In 2015, 52 million
Americans (or 19.4%) reported current use of a tobacco product (SAMHSA 2016).
In the United States, the prevalence of smoking is highest among Native Americans and Alaska
Natives (40.1%), followed by persons who reported two or more races (31.2%), Whites (29.5%),
Blacks (27.3%), and Hispanics (21.9%) (SAMHSA 2014). Thirty-seven percent of young adults
aged 18 to 25 years were current smokers (SAMHSA 2014).
Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of cancer in the United States. It has
been linked to most cases of lung cancer in Europe and in the United States (Crispo et al. 2004).
Smoking has also been linked to other lung diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema,
and to cancers of the mouth, stomach, kidney, bladder, cervix, pancreas, and larynx. The overall
death rates from cancer are twice as high among smokers as nonsmokers (NIDA 1998). It is
estimated that more than 400,000 annual deaths are attributable to cigarette smoking in the United
States (American Lung Association 2006).
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Passive or secondhand smoke is a major source of indoor air contaminants. Nonsmokers exposed to
secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25% to 30%
and lung cancer by 20% to 30% (NIDA 2006). Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause about 3,000
lung cancer deaths per year and may contribute to as many as 34,000 deaths related to cardiovascular
disease in the United States (NIDA 1998; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]
2014a). More than 20% of the European Union population aged 15 years or older was exposed to
tobacco smoke indoors on a daily basis (Eurostat 2016).
p.266
Despite the persistent public health message that smoking is bad for your health, smoking among
teenagers has been on the rise since 1991 (Lewinsohn et al. 2000). In a study comparing adolescent
smokers with nonsmokers, adolescent smokers were found to have more stressful environments,
more academic problems, and poorer coping skills than nonsmokers have. Adolescent smoking has
also been associated with a number of environmental factors, such as disruptive home environment,
parental and peer smoking, low social support from family and friends, conflict with parents, and
stressful life events (Lewinsohn et al. 2000). About three out of four teen smokers will become adult
smokers (CDC 2014b).
E-cigarettes arrived on the U.S. market in 2007. The cigarettes are battery operated, turning
nicotine and other chemicals into a vapor. Smoking e-cigarettes is also referred to as vaping. As of
March 2018, the FDA had not reviewed clinical studies about the safety of e-cigarettes. The FDA
had not approved any e-cigarette product for therapeutic use or as a cessation aid. Concerns have
been raised about the appeal of the e-cigarettes to the teen market and how e-cigarette use could
lead to the use of combustible tobacco cigarettes among youth. In 2016, e-cigarettes were the most
commonly used tobacco product among high school (11.3%) and middle school (4.3%) students
(Jamal et al. 2017).
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, widely used by adolescents and young adults
(NIDA 2002). An estimated 182.5 million (3.8%) of the world’s population used cannabis at least
once during the past year (UNODC 2016). It is a favorite drug among youth and adolescents, with
use (at least once in a lifetime) estimated as high as 37% in some countries (UNODC 2006). The
major active chemical in marijuana is THC or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which causes the
mind-altering effects of the drug. THC is also the main active ingredient in oral medications used
to treat nausea in chemotherapy patients and to stimulate appetite in AIDS patients (ONDCP
2006).
According to the CDC, 38.4% of surveyed high school students and 49% of college students
reported lifetime use of marijuana. Longitudinal data show increases in marijuana use during the
1960s and 1970s, declines in the 1980s, and increasing use since the 1990s (NIDA 2002). In 2015,
441
there were a reported 22.2 million current (past-month) users of the drug, or 8.3% of the population
(SAMHSA 2016).
Acute marijuana use can impair short-term memory, judgment, and other cognitive functions, as
well as a person’s coordination and balance, and it can increase heart rate. Chronic abuse of the drug
can lead to addiction, as well as increased risk of chronic cough, bronchitis, or emphysema.
Addictive use of the drug may interfere with family, school, or work activities. Smoking marijuana
increases the risk of lung cancer and cancer in other parts of the respiratory tract more than smoking
tobacco does (NIDA 2002). Marijuana smoke contains 50% to 70% more carcinogenic
hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke does (ONDCP 2006). Because marijuana users inhale more
deeply and hold their breath longer than cigarette smokers do, they are exposed to more
carcinogenic smoke than cigarette smokers are.
What Does It Mean to Me?
As of 2017, 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws legalizing marijuana in some form.
Opponents of these laws argue that marijuana is not a safe or benign substance, characterizing it as a
gateway drug to other more serious drug abuse. What do you think? Is marijuana a safe drug or not?
p.267
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
THE MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION MOVEMENT
Marijuana is grown in almost every country in the world, ranging from personal home
cultivation to large-scale farm and warehouse operations. In 2012, more than 5 tons of
cannabis were seized. The largest quantity was seized in the United States, which accounts for
over 60% of the seizures worldwide. The area with the second highest number of seizures was
Central and South America and the Caribbean (UNODC 2014).
The small South American country of Uruguay was the first in the world to legally regulate the
production, sale, and consumption of marijuana for adults. (Portugal was the first country to
decriminalize the use of all drugs. Norway decriminalized drugs at the end of 2017.) Beginning
in 2014, Uruguayans over the age of 18 have had legal access to marijuana through home
cultivation of up to 6 plants per household, membership clubs where 15 to 45 members can
442
collectively grow up to 99 plants, or sales of up to 10 grams per week through licensed
pharmacies. The system is regulated through the Institute for Regulation and Control of
Cannabis (IRCCA) and includes educational and health programming for residents (Hetzer
2014). The 2012 legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington has been credited with
encouraging legalization efforts in other states and other countries.
In its 2014 report, the UNODC expressed concern regarding cannabis legalization in
Washington and Colorado. The organization warned, “While it is not yet clear how the market
will change, the commercialization of cannabis may also significantly affect drug-use behaviors.
Commercialization implies motivated selling, which can lead to directed advertisements that
promote and encourage consumption†(p. 43).
Since 2012, there has been no systematic data collection or assessment of the impact of
marijuana legalization. According to the Drug Policy Alliance (2016), “It is too early to draw
any line-in-the-sand conclusion about the effects of marijuana legislation. However,
preliminary reports suggest that the effects of legalization have either been positive or
negligible†(p. 3). Results from the Washington Healthy Youth Survey and the Healthy Kids
Colorado Survey, collected post-legalization, revealed no increase in the overall rate of
marijuana use among youth. Similar results were reported for Alaska and Oregon youth.
Marijuana tax revenues in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have all exceeded initial
revenue estimates.
Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, and other countries have expressed interest in changing their
marijuana laws, moving to some form of legalization. Economics is often cited as the
motivation for legalization.
Do you agree with the UNODC’s concern about the commercialization of marijuana? Why or
why not?
Opioids
In October 2017, President Donald Trump declared a public health emergency to deal with opioid
use. Opioids are a class of drugs used to reduce pain and include prescription drugs (e.g., oxycodone,
Vicodin, morphine, and methadone), fentanyl (a synthetic opioid pain reliever) and heroin (an
illegal opioid) (CDC 2017). Regular use, even prescribed by a physician, can lead to dependence,
and when misused, opioids can lead to overdose incidents and deaths (NIDA 2017). Trump
promised, “We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.â€
The CDC (2017) reported that from 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people died from drug
overdoses. Ninety-one Americans die each day from an opioid overdose. Almost 2 million
Americans abused or were dependent on prescription opioids in 2014. The amount of opioids sold
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to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. During the same time
period, deaths from prescription opioids more than quadrupled. The CDC estimated the economic
burden of prescription opioid misuse is $78.5 billion a year, which includes health care costs, lost
productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice (NIDA 2017).
The interactionist perspective asserts that certain individuals and groups are labeled as abusers and
this shapes how society, especially lawmakers, police, and medical providers, responds to them.
When opioid epidemics were presented as a problem among poor inner-city African Americans, the
public response was zero tolerance and severe punishment (imprisonment). In contrast, as the
current epidemic is perceived as a problem affecting White, middle-class individuals addicted to
prescription drugs, more humane responses (e.g., treatment and supervised injection facilities) have
been suggested (Drug Policy Alliance 2017). Department of Health and Human Services Secretary
Thomas Price (2017) announced five strategies to deal with this public health emergency:
improving access to treatment and recovery services, promoting use of overdose-reversing drugs,
strengthening our understanding of the epidemic through better public health surveillance,
providing support for cutting-edge research on pain and addiction, and advancing better practices
for pain management.
p.268
THE PROBLEMS OF DRUG ABUSE
Drug Use in the Workplace
Employers have always been concerned about the impact of substance abuse on their workers and
their businesses because drug use may undermine employee productivity, safety, and health (Frone
2004). It is estimated that 14 million U.S. workers meet the diagnostic criteria for substance
dependence (Jacobson and Sacco 2012). Drug abuse cost American businesses $120 billion in lost
productivity, due mainly to labor participation costs, participation in drug abuse treatment,
incarceration, and premature death (ONDCP 2014).
In their examination of occupational risk factors for drug abuse, Scott MacDonald, Samantha
Wells, and T. Cameron Wild (1999) found that problem drinking or drug use was linked to the
quality and organization of work, drinking subcultures at work, and the safety of the workplace.
Respondents reporting alcohol problems were more likely to have jobs involving repetitive tasks and
dangerous working conditions. Respondents with alcohol problems were also more likely to drink
with coworkers and experience some social pressure to drink. The same pattern was true for workers
with drug problems: They considered their jobs “boring†or repetitive, they identified their job as
dangerous, they experienced stress at work, or they were likely to be part of a drinking subculture at
work. Among all factors they identified, the presence of a drinking subculture at work was the
strongest risk factor for alcohol and drug abuse.
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By occupation, the highest rates of illicit drug use and heavy drinking were reported by construction
workers (15.6%), sales personnel (11.4%), and food preparation, wait staff, and bartenders (11.2%)
(U.S. Department of Labor 2014). Among employed adults, White, non-Hispanic males between
the ages of 18 and 25 who have less than a high school education are likely to report the highest
rates of heavy drinking and illicit drug use (U.S. Department of Labor 2003).
©Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Sarah Wilson (center) joins other activists and recovering drug uers at a New York City rally calling for bolder political
action to combat the opioid crisis.
Problem Drinking Among Teens and Young Adults
For 2016, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reported that the highest
prevalence of binge drinking (drinking five or more drinks within a few hours or within one sitting)
was for young adults aged 18 to 25 (38.4%). In contrast, the percentage of youth between the ages
of 12 and 17 years binge drinking was 4.9% (SAMSHA 2017). By the time they reach the eighth
grade, nearly 50% of U.S. adolescents report having had at least one drink, and more than 20%
report having been drunk (NIAAA 2003b). In 2015, the Monitoring the Future Survey (conducted
annually by the NIAAA) reported that 10% of 8th graders and 35% of 12th graders drank alcohol in
the past 30 days, and 5% of 8th graders and 17% of 12th graders binge drank during the past two
weeks (CDC 2016).
An international comparative study on drinking trends among 15- and 16-year-olds revealed that
teens in the United Kingdom were among those most likely to drink heavily and to experience
intoxication. In 2003, 52% of boys and 56% of girls reported binge drinking in the past 30 days
(Plant, Miller, and Plant 2005). From 1995 to 2003, although there was no significant increase in
the proportion of boys engaging in binge drinking, researchers observed a sharp increase in the
proportion of girls binge drinking since 1999. The rise in binge drinking among girls is consistent
with recent reports documenting the increase in heavy episodic or binge drinking among young
women in Britain. The majority of surveyed teens, 75%, reported that they had at some time “been
drunk†in 2003. Researchers concluded that U.K. teenagers drink in ways that are potentially
harmful and that binge drinking among U.K. teens is a matter of real concern (Plant et al. 2005).
p.269
445
Binge drinking among college students has been called a major U.S. public health concern (Clapp,
Shillington, and Segars 2000). (Refer to Figure 12.3 for a comparison of heavy drinking among
those enrolled full-time in college and those who are not. Drinking rates are consistently higher for
those enrolled full-time.) Henry Wechsler (1996) reported results from the 1996 Harvard School of
Public Health College Alcohol Study, highlighting how binge drinking had become widespread
among college students. In the Wechsler study, binge drinking was defined as five or more drinks in
a row one or more times during a two-week period for men and four or more drinks in a row one or
more times during a two-week period for women. The author explained that men, students younger
than 24, fraternity and sorority residents, Whites, students in athletics, and students who socialize
more are most likely to binge drink. On average, students who engaged in high-risk behaviors such
as illicit drug use, unsafe sexual activity, and cigarette smoking were more likely to be binge
drinkers. In contrast, students who were involved in community service, the arts, or studying were
less likely to be binge drinkers (Wechsler 1996).
FIGURE 12.3 ■Heavy Alcohol Use Among Adults Aged 18–22, by College Enrollment,
2002–2013
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 2014.
p.270
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REUTERS/Gerardo Garcia
Binge drinking among college students has been called a major U.S. public health concern. According to the 2016 National
Institute for Drug Use and Health, 38.4% of 18- to 25-year olds reported binge drinking during the year (SAMHSA 2017).
Although the demographic and social correlates of college drinking have been consistently identified
in many studies, attempts to explain the behavior through various sociological perspectives have
been limited. Most prevalent in the literature are theories that identify drinking as part of the social
learning process—theories that address the role of peer groups, students’ attitudes, and perceptions
as well as the social construction of drinking norms related to alcohol consumption. Similar social
learning theories have also been linked to substance abuse (Durkin, Wolfe, and Clark 2005).
Access to alcohol is also related to problem drinking. Weitzman et al. (2003) reported a positive
relationship between alcohol outlet density (number of bars and liquor stores near campus) and
frequent drinking (drinking on 10 or more occasions in the past 30 days), heavy drinking (five or
more drinks at an off-campus party), and drinking problems (self-reported).
The Task Force of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (2010)
concluded that 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-
related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes. About half a million students
between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured while under the influence of alcohol, and
more than 600,000 students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking. In addition,
the task force reports that 25% of college students report academic consequences (poor grades, poor
performance, missing classes) as a result of their drinking, and more than 150,000 develop an
alcohol-related health problem. Based on self-reports about their drinking, 31% of college students
meet the criteria for alcohol abuse, and 6% meet the criteria for alcohol dependence (Task Force of
the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2010).
Brower (2002) explained that there is no evidence that drinking in college leads to later-life
alcoholism or long-term alcohol abuse. He wrote, “Real life is a strong disincentive for the kind of
binge drinking that college students do†(Brower 2002:255). He suggested using the term episodic
high-risk drinking to describe more accurately how college students drink, that is, infrequently
drinking a large quantity of alcohol in a short period. Brower and other researchers have described a
“maturing out†of college drinking, shifting to moderate alcohol consumption with no associated
447
alcohol use problems. The maturing-out process usually coincides with life changes such as
employment, marriage, or a general shift to a conventional lifestyle.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is the drinking policy on your campus? Does your campus culture promote safe drinking?
What educational or service programs are provided for students who abuse alcohol?
Punishment or Treatment?
Stricter federal policies have increased the number of men and women serving jail or prison time for
drug-related offenses. As conflict and symbolic interaction theories suggest, drug laws are not
enforced equally, with certain groups being singled out. In 2012, about 75% of drug offenders in
federal prison were either African American (39%) or Hispanic (37%) (Taxy, Samuels, and Adams
2015). The majority of crack cocaine offenders were Black (88%). More than half of the cocaine
(54.2%) and marijuana (59%) offenders were Hispanic or Latino. Drug enforcement usually targets
urban and poor neighborhoods while ignoring drug use among middle- or upper-class people.
Whereas our society treats middle- or upper-class drug use as a personal crisis, lower-class drug use
is defined as criminal.
p.271
Sasha Abramsky (2003) explained that with tougher drug laws, the U.S. drug war was taken away
from public health and medical officials and placed into the hands of law enforcement and the
courts. The notion that drug abuse is a disease was replaced with the idea that drug abuse is a crime.
A punishment model has also been adopted in China, where its rehabilitation centers serve as forced
labor camps punishing, not treating, addicts (Jacobs 2010). In contrast, the Netherlands defines
drug abuse as a public health issue and has implemented harm reduction strategies, placing the
priority on drug education and treatment rather than on punishment.
However, as overall crime rates began to decline, public support for the get-tough-on-drugs policy
in the United States began to wane. Research conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed how
63% of Americans favored rolling back mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug
offenders and 67% believed drug use should be treated as a disease rather than as a crime (DeSilver
2014).
Abramsky (2003) identified key legislative changes in several states. Arizona and California passed
legislation that diverted thousands of drug offenders into treatment programs instead of prisons. In
1998, Michigan repealed its mandatory life sentence law for those caught in the possession of more
than 650 grams of certain narcotics. In 2002, Michigan governor John Engler signed legislation that
448
rolled back the state’s tough mandatory minimum drug sentences. The Kansas Sentencing
Commission proposed reforms of the state’s mandatory sentencing codes, along with expansion of
treatment programs. The reforms were accepted in March 2003. Although California’s 2010 ballot
initiative to legalize marijuana did not pass, that same year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed into law a bill that reduced the penalty for marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to a
nonarrestable infraction (e.g., a traffic ticket).
At the federal level, the Obama administration, through the ONDCP, focused on addiction as a
disease and called for increases in drug prevention and treatment programs for all who need them,
including drug-involved offenders. In 2010, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act into
law, reducing the disparity in the amounts of powder cocaine and crack cocaine required for the
imposition of mandatory minimum sentences. In 2011, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to
retroactively apply the new guidelines to individuals sentenced before the federal law was enacted. In
2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Fair Sentencing Act, reducing the same
sentencing disparity in crack versus powder cocaine offenses.
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Programs
Throughout the first part of this chapter, I have already referred to three U.S. offices: NIDA, the
ONDCP, and the NIAAA. All three programs are federally funded.
The NIAAA was established after the passage of the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1970. Signed into law by President
Richard Nixon, the legislation acknowledged alcohol abuse and alcoholism as major public health
concerns. The law instructed the NIAAA to “develop and conduct comprehensive health,
education, research, and planning programs for the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse and
alcoholism and for the rehabilitation of alcohol abusers and alcoholics†(NIAAA 2003a). Since then,
the NIAAA’s mission has been revised to include support and implementation of biomedical and
behavioral research, policy studies, and research in a range of scientific areas to address the causes,
consequences, treatment, and prevention of alcoholism and alcohol-related problems (NIAAA
2003b).
p.272
NIDA was established in 1974 as the federal office for research, treatment, prevention, training
services, and data collection on the nature and extent of drug abuse. Like the NIAAA, NIDA is
part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal biomedical and behavioral research agency.
NIDA’s stated mission is to bring “the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addictionâ€
(NIDA 2007). NIDA supports more than 85% of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug
abuse and addiction.
449
The ONDCP is the newest federal drug program, operated through the White House. Established
in 1988 through the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, the ONDCP’s mission was to set national priorities,
design comprehensive research-based strategies, and certify federal drug control budgets. According
to the act, the purpose of the office was to prevent young people from using illegal drugs, reduce the
number of drug users, and decrease the availability of drugs (ONDCP 2003). Ten years later, the
ONDCP’s mission was expanded under the Reauthorization Act of 1998. Some of the legislative
requirements included a commitment to a five-year national drug control program budget, the
establishment of a parents’ advisory council on drug abuse, development of a long-term national
drug strategy, and increased reporting to Congress on drug control activities (ONDCP 2003). The
act also provided support for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program,
coordinating local, state, and federal law enforcement drug control efforts.
Illegal drug use continues despite the efforts of these three lead agencies. The War on Drugs comes
with huge economic costs, with the Trump administration requesting $26 billion for prevention and
treatment programs, law enforcement, and incarceration for 2018. After the release of the proposed
budget, the president was criticized for not fully funding the war on the opioid epidemic, requesting
$6 billion less than the previous year.
Drug Legalization
The contemporary debate about the legalization of drugs emerged in 1988 during a meeting of the
U.S. Conference of Mayors. Baltimore’s Kurt L. Schmoke called for a national debate on drug
control policies and the potential benefits of legalizing marijuana and other illicit substances
(Inciardi 1999). Proponents present several arguments for the legalization of drugs: Current drug
laws and law enforcement initiatives have failed to eradicate the drug problem, arresting and
incarcerating individuals for drug offenses does nothing to alleviate the drug problem, drug crimes
are actually victimless crimes, legalization will lead to a reduction in drug-related crimes and
violence and improve the quality of life in inner cities, and legalization will also eliminate serious
health risks by providing clean and high-quality substances (Cussen and Block 2000; Silbering
2001). Many supporters of legalization argue that drugs should be legalized based on the libertarian
legal code (Trevino and Richard 2002), namely, that the legalization of drugs would give a basic
civil liberty back to citizens by granting them control over their own bodies (Cussen and Block
2000).
The term legalization is often used interchangeably with another term, decriminalization. The terms
vary in the extent to which the law can regulate the distribution and consumption of drugs. In
general, decriminalization means keeping criminal penalties but reducing their severity or
removing some kinds of behavior from inclusion under the law (e.g., eliminating bans on the use of
drug paraphernalia). Some would support regulating drugs in the same way alcohol and tobacco are
regulated, whereas others would argue for no restrictions at all. Legalization suggests removing
drugs from the control of the law entirely (Weisheit and Johnson 1992).
450
Several European countries, including Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, have moved
toward drug legalization or decriminalization in some form. The country most identified with
liberal drug policies is the Netherlands. Since the mid-1970s, Netherlands coffee shops have been
allowed to sell marijuana products. Although possession and sale of marijuana are not legal, in
practice sales through these shops are not prosecuted, and buyers (18 years of age or older) are not
prosecuted for possession of small (personal use) amounts.
p.273
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 12.2: Federal Marijuana Reaction
In the United States, drug legalization is generally opposed by the medical and public health
community (Trevino and Richard 2002). The American Medical Association has consistently
opposed the legalization of all illegal drugs, arguing that most research shows drugs, particularly
cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines, are harmful to an individual’s health. Opponents charge
that drug use is a significant factor in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, and
drug users are more likely to engage in risky behaviors and in criminal activity (Trevino and Richard
2002). The DEA has also been clear about its opposition to drug legalization, citing concerns about
potential increases in drug use and addiction, drug-related crimes, and costs related to drug
treatment and criminal justice.
In the 1990s, the drug debate began to change, with legalization proponents advocating a “harm
reduction†approach. Many opposed to legalization began to accept aspects of the harm reduction
approach. Harm reduction is a principle suggesting that “managing drug misuse is more appropriate
than attempting to stop it altogether†(Inciardi 1999:3). Proponents acknowledge that current drug
policies are not working, but they are still not in favor of full decriminalization (McBride, Terry,
and Inciardi 1999). The harm reduction approach emphasizes treatment, rehabilitation, and
451
education (McBride et al. 1999), including advocacy for changes in drug policies (such as
legalization), HIV/AIDS-related interventions, broader drug treatment options, counseling and
clinical case management for those who want to continue using drugs, and ancillary interventions
(housing, healing centers, advocacy groups) (Inciardi 1999). Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social
Problems feature for a discussion on the legalization of marijuana.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is your position on the legalization of drugs? What are the intended and unintended
consequences of drug legalization?
Drug Treatment and Prevention Programs
INDIVIDUAL APPROACHES Drug addiction is a “treatable disorder†(NIDA 2003.
According to SAMHSA, 23.5 million persons 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit (or illegal)
drug or alcohol abuse problem in 2009 (NIDA 2011). Only 2.6 million received treatment in a
special facility. Most treatment admissions involved alcohol abuse.
Traditional treatment programs focus on treating the individual and his or her addiction. The
ultimate goal of treatment is to enable users to achieve lasting abstinence from the drug, but the
immediate treatment goals are to reduce drug use, improve users’ ability to function, and minimize
their medical and social complications from drug use.
Treatment may come in two forms: Behavioral treatment includes counseling, support groups,
family therapy, or psychotherapy; medication therapy, such as maintenance treatment for heroin
addicts, may be used to suppress drug withdrawal symptoms and craving. Short-term treatment
programs can include residential treatment, medication therapy, or drug-free outpatient therapy.
Long-term programs (longer than six months) may include highly structured residential therapeutic
community treatment or, in the case of heroin users, methadone maintenance outpatient treatment.
Research conducted during the past 25 years indicates that treatment does work to reduce drug
intake and drug-related crimes. Patients who stay in treatment longer than three months have better
outcomes than do people who undergo shorter treatments (NIDA 2003.
WORKPLACE STRATEGIES Certain employers, such as employers in the transportation
industry and organizations with federal contracts in excess of $100,000, are required by law to have
drug-free workplace programs. The federal government, through the Drug-Free Workplace
Program, also encourages private employers to implement such programs in an effort to reduce and
eliminate the negative effects of alcohol and drug use in the workplace (SAMHSA 2003b). It is
estimated that more than 80% of employers implement drug testing at the workplace. After
452
implementing a drug-free workplace program, employers, unions, and employees are likely to see a
decrease in administrative work losses (sick leave abuse, health insurance claims, disability payments,
and accident costs), hidden losses (poor performance, material waste, turnover, and premature
death), legal losses (grievances, threat to public safety, work site security), and costs of health and
mental health care services (SAMHSA 2003a).
p.274
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
SUPPORT OF THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA
Although general support for the legalization of marijuana has shifted in recent years
(refer to Figure 12.4), there is still some variation by social group (refer to Figures 12.5
and 12.6).
How would you describe the difference in legalization support by generational group
(Millennials born 1981–1997, Gen X born 1965–1980, Boomers born 1946–1964, and
Silent born 1928–1945) as reported in Figure 12.6? How does age affect level of support?
What do you think? From a sociological perspective, how are attitudes about marijuana
legalization dependent upon social or structural factors?
FIGURE 12.4 â– Percentage Who Support Legalization of Marijuana, 1990, 2000,
2017
453
Source: Adapted from Geiger 2018.
FIGURE 12.5 â– Percentage Who Support Legalization of Marijuana, by Political
View, 2017
Source: Adapted from Geiger 2018.
454
FIGURE 12.6 â– Percentage Who Support Legalization of Marijuana by Age Cohort,
2017
Source: Adapted from Geiger 2018.
p.275
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 12.3: US Opioid Epidemic
455
Drug-testing programs have been subject to lawsuits during the past decade for challenging the
employees’ right to privacy and their constitutional freedom from unreasonable searches by the
government (SAMHSA 2003b). There have also been challenges to the accuracy of drug tests.
Critics have asserted a positive test does not always correlate with poor job performance, a criterion
for assessing the adverse effects of drugs (Klingner, Roberts, and Patterson 1998). Consistent with
conflict theories on drug use, some have argued that drug testing promotes various political agendas
and reflects the manipulation of interest groups that market and sell drug testing and security
services (Klingner et al. 1998). Yet many U.S. companies consider drug-testing programs part of an
effective policy against substance abuse among workers (Hoffman and Larison 1999). Drug testing
is also part of a preventative strategy; for example, the U.S. Department of Labor (2007) reported
that between 10% and 20% of workers who die on the job test positive for alcohol or other drugs.
IN FOCUS
COLLEGE DRUG PROGRAMS
“Drug use puts college students at risk for experiencing a range of adverse health, behavioural,
and social consequences†(Dennhardt and Murphy 2013:2609). Based on national surveys of
college students, it is estimated that one in five college students use drugs (including
marijuana) each month and approximately 5% report daily use.
Colleges and universities play critical roles in the prevention and early intervention of drug use,
as they are able to implement large-scale prevention and educational programming to reach
young adult students. In their review of 94 college drug prevention programs, Andris Ziemelis,
Ronald Buckman, and Abdulaziz Elfessi (2002) identified three prevention models that
produced the most favorable outcomes of drug use prevention efforts. The first model includes
student participation and involvement, such as volunteer services, advisory boards, or task
forces, to discourage alcohol or other drug use or abuse. The researchers documented how
these activities reinforce students’ beliefs that they are in control of the outcomes in their lives
and that their efforts and contributions are valued. This model encourages student ownership
and development of the program. The second model includes educational and informational
processes, such as instruction in classes, bulletin boards and displays, and resource centers. The
most effective informational strategies were those that avoided coercive approaches but instead
encouraged interactive communication between students and professionals on campus. The last
model includes efforts directed at the larger structural environment, changing the campus
regulatory environment and developing free alternative programming, such as providing
alcohol-free residence halls or mandatory alcohol and drug abuse classes as part of campus
intervention. In general, models that discouraged or deglamorized alcohol and drug use were
456
associated with better outcomes than were those that merely banned or restricted substance use
(Ziemelis et al. 2002).
After their review of campus-wide drug intervention programs, Dennhardt and Murphy (2013)
concluded that brief motivational interventions and skilled-based interventions were effective
in helping students reduce their drug use. One study they examined was led by Jim
McCambridge and John Strang (2004). McCambridge and Strang studied the effectiveness of
a motivational interviewing program based in 10 colleges in inner London, United Kingdom.
The objective of motivational interviewing is to “create an opportunity for the participant to
think and talk about risk in ways conducive to the identification of problems and concerns and
to reflection on options for change—to stimulate new thinking on options for change—to
stimulate new thinking on personal drug use, which may realize itself in behavioural changeâ€
(p. 42). Students were divided into an intervention group (receiving the motivational
interviewing) and a control group. At the end of the program, more intervention group
members than control group members stopped using tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol.
Intervention group members who did not quit altogether reported reducing the quantity and
frequency of continued use.
p.276
Paul Roman and Terry Blum (2002) reported that employee assistance programs (EAPs) are the
most common intervention used in the workplace to prevent and treat alcohol and other drug abuse
among employees. The primary goal for many of these programs is to ensure that employees
maintain their employment, productivity, and careers. These EAPs usually include health
promotion, education, and referral to abuse treatment as needed. Most of these programs do not
target the general workplace population; rather, services are directed to those already affected by a
problem or in the early stages of their abuse. There is some evidence of the effectiveness of these
programs, returning substantial proportions of employees with alcohol problems to their jobs
(Roman and Blum 2002). In their 2012 study, Jodi Jacobson and Paul Sacco noted how EAPs are in
a prime position to reach out to working adults and engage them in education and treatment for
alcohol and drug abuse problems earlier than traditional community-based substance abuse
programs. They also stated how EAPs could better target racial or ethnically diverse worker groups.
COMMUNITY APPROACHES In 1997, the Drug-Free Communities Act became law.
The act was intended to increase community participation in substance abuse reduction among
youth. The program is currently directed by the White House’s ONDCP. The program supports
more than 700 coalitions of youth; parents; law enforcement; schools; state, local, and tribal
agencies; health care professionals; faith-based organizations; and other community representatives.
The coalitions, such as Project Northland, rely on mentoring, parental involvement, community
education, and school-based programs for drug prevention and intervention.
457
Based in northern Minnesota, Project Northland was the largest community trial in the United
States to address the prevention of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among adolescents
(Williams and Perry 1998). Adopting a holistic approach, the project assumed that prevention
efforts should be directed at adolescents and their immediate social environment (family, peers,
friends) and should include larger peer groups (teachers, coaches, religious advisers) as well as the
broader community of businesses and political leaders. The project was recognized for its
programming by SAMHSA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S.
Department of Education.
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SHILO JAMA
Syringe or needle exchange programs emerged at the height of the AIDS epidemic to reduce
the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases. The programs also facilitate access
to drug treatment and health care services. The first needle exchange program was introduced
in Amsterdam, Holland, to reduce the risk of hepatitis B and HIV among injecting drug users.
These programs also serve a public health function, reducing accidental needle-stick incidents
among the general public.
In 1997, Shilo Jama (formerly Shilo Murphy) was a homeless addict when he found the
University District Needle Exchange in Seattle, Washington. He says he began volunteering
for the program to change the life conditions of his friends and family. Jama currently serves as
the program’s executive director.
The needle exchange was renamed the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance (PHRA) in 1999.
PHRA, according to Jama, is “a user-run organization, so active drug users make all of our
decisions. . . . We’re a living, breathing organization in that we constantly change our policies
by the needs of people we serve and our bosses are the people we serve†(quoted in Gunawan
2014). The alliance distributes approximately 3 million needles each year and is supported by
more than 100 volunteers in three western Washington counties.
Jama explains,
I think [needle exchanges are] important so that a new generation of drug users don’t have to go through the pain and
suffering when we had to bury so many people who overdosed, so many people who committed suicide because
society hated them so much. . . I wanted another generation to have the opportunity to have a better life. (Quoted in
Gunawan 2014)
Jama describes his clients as members of a community, members of his family, and individuals
who are precious and worthy of love. “[Exchange volunteers] will always follow our hearts and
458
we always take the knowledge and experience of the drug users we serve to give their lives just a
little better place†(Murphy 2014).
As of 2016, it was estimated that there were needle exchange sites in 34 U.S. states and the
District of Columbia.
p.277
Project Northland included youth participation and leadership, parental involvement and education,
community organizing and task forces, media campaigns, and school curricula as part of its
strategies for alcohol use prevention. The program included two phases. Phase 1 focused on
strategies to encourage adolescents not to use alcohol. Phase 2 emphasized changing community
norms about alcohol use, reducing the availability of alcohol among high school students, and
adopting a functionalist approach in reinforcing community norms and boundaries. Community
strategies included making compliance checks of age-of-sale laws (coordinated through local police
departments), holding training sessions for responsible beverage servers at retail outlets and bars,
and encouraging businesses to adopt “gold card†programs where discounts are provided to students
who pledge to remain free of alcohol. At the end of Phase 2, significant differences between the
intervention and comparison groups were observed. The rates of increase in underage drinking were
lower among the intervention students (Perry et al. 2002). In 2002, Project Northland was
implemented internationally. First-year program data from primary and secondary schools in
Croatia reveal that Project Northland was effective in increasing dialogue between Croatian
students, parents, and teachers about students’ actual use of alcohol (Abatemarco et al. 2004).
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
PUBLIC HEALTH
Erika Meyer—Class of 2011
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Global Studies
Public health is “the science of protecting and improving the health of families and
communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention
and detection and control of infectious diseases†(CDC Foundation 2014). Unlike doctors and
nurses who treat the sick or injured, public health professionals also address disease prevention
through educational programs, research, and public policy.
Educational requirements for employment in the public health sector vary. A bachelor’s degree
459
is the minimum requirement to become a health educator or community worker, but to work
as an epidemiologist (studying the patterns and causes of disease and injury in humans), you
will need at least a master’s degree (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014).
After earning her bachelor’s degree in Sociology and her master’s in Public Health, Erika
Meyer now works as a program associate at Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public
Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET). A partner with the Centers of Disease Control
and Prevention, TEPHINET manages and provides resources to 59 field epidemiology
training programs (FETPs) in over 80 countries. Erika’s primary work involves coordinating
the accreditation process for the FETPs. She also serves as a project manager for several other
projects, including working with CDC’s Infection Disease Surveillance and Response Team to
build an online disease detection and reporting course for community health workers in Africa.
Erika says that she engages her sociological imagination most when she’s designing training
and programs for field epidemiologists in countries and cultures very different from her own.
For example, in response to the Ebola epidemic, CDC and TEPHINET are putting together basic surveillance
trainings for frontline staff—nurses, community health care workers, labor and delivery staff—to teach them about
disease reporting. They not only need to know what kinds of symptoms to look for (including Ebola, but also
influenza, polio, cholera, etc.), but who to tell that information to and what the data feedback loop should look like.
We have to work with the Ministries of Health in the 10 countries to make sure this is a culturally relevant and
sensitive training and that there is the administrative capacity to handle what we are hoping will be an upswing in
reporting of outbreaks. We have to carefully navigate the political and social structures that hold decision-making
power and sway. The Ebola epidemic provides a salient case study of a “public issue,†and my project has to respect
the postcolonial scars affecting each country as they respond to a crisis of this magnitude.
If your school does not have any courses or programs in a field you’re interested in, Erika
suggests doing the research on your own, as she did.
I sought out summer and school-year internship opportunities that fit my academic and professional interests, and
also had the opportunity to spend a semester abroad studying global public health, which afforded me incredible
personal and academic growth. I found this to be a great way for me to “try on†the discipline academically, and it
really piqued my interest to continue this work in graduate school and as a career.
p.278
The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is a nonprofit organization that
provides technical assistance and training to community-based coalitions. The organization was
established in 1992 by Jim Burke and Alvah Chapman and currently serves more than 5,000
antidrug coalitions in 18 countries. The program provides community groups with lobbying
handbooks, alerts on drug-related legislation, funding information, and coalition training on various
drug abuse topics, including opioid addiction. One CADCA affiliate is California’s Ashland
Cherryland Together. Through community data collection, the coalition recognized how
prescription drugs were being improperly used or shared or resold on the illegal market. The
coalition identified the need for a permanent, policy change that would provide access to and
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awareness of convenient disposal of unused medication. The community partners supported the
adoption of the Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance in July 2012. The first law of its kind, it brings
together government, medical, environmental, and community organizations in a comprehensive
campaign around the effects of prescription drug misuse. There are more than 30 drug disposal
locations throughout the community (CADCA 2014).
CHAPTER REVIEW
12.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives account for alcohol and drug problems.
Functionalists argue that society provides us with norms or guidelines on alcohol and
drug use. A set of social norms identifies the appropriate use of drugs and alcohol.
Conflict theorists address how powerful political and business interest groups have
made intentional decisions about which drugs are illegal. Feminists argue that
theorists and practitioners in the field of alcohol and drug abuse have ignored
experiences unique to women and other marginalized groups. The interactionist
perspective examines how drug abuse is learned from others; it also addresses how
individuals or groups are labeled abusers and how society responds to them.
12.2 Define drug abuse and drug addiction.
Drug abuse is the use of any drug or medication for a reason other than the one it
was intended to serve or in a manner or in quantities other than directed, which can
lead to clinically significant impairment or distress. Drug addiction refers to physical
or psychological dependence on the drug or medication.
12.3 Describe the impact of drug use and discuss issues of treatment and punishment.
Drug use in the workplace is linked to quality and organization of work and the
safety of the workplace. Respondents reporting alcohol problems are more likely to
have jobs that involve repetitive tasks and dangerous working conditions. Binge
drinking is considered a major health concern among college students. Stricter
federal policies have increased the number of men and women serving jail or prison
time for drug-related offenses. Drug-related laws have been enforced unequally
across racial, ethnic, and class groups in the United States. Recently, many people,
including President Obama have called for increased drug prevention and treatment
programs as an alternative to incarceration.
12.4 Evaluate political and social efforts to mitigate the negative effects of drug use.
The NIAAA is charged with preventing and treating alcoholism, NIDA, established
four years later, works to research, treat, and prevent drug use. Lastly, the ONDCP
sets national priorities, designs comprehensive research-based strategies, and certify
federal drug control budges. Proponents of drug legalization say that current laws
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have failed to eradicate drug problems and have ballooned incarceration rates. The
medical community is generally opposed to legalization, citing the harmful health
effects of illegal drug use. Community programs, such as Project Northland have
been effective in curbing youth alcohol consumption.
p.279
KEY TERMS
alcoholism, 264
decriminalization, 272
differential association, 263
drug abuse, 264
drug addiction, 264
episodic high-risk drinking, 270
legalization, 272
role strain, 261
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How are sociological explanations of drug abuse different from biological or psychological
approaches?
2. From a functionalist perspective, explain how the social structure contributes to drug use.
3. Explain how stereotypes of drug use and abusers influence how specific individuals and
groups are labeled abusers and how society responds to them.
4. Define drug abuse and drug addiction.
5. Is drinking a problem among teens and young adults? Why or why not?
6. Define drug legalization. Would it be effective in reducing the amount of drug use? Why or
why not?
7. Compare and contrast drug treatment and prevention programs. Which type of programs
are most effective?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
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SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
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p.280
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13
CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Media Library
CHAPTER 13 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 13.1: Juvenile Locked Up For Life
AP News Clips 13.2: The Death Penalty at San Quentin
AP News Clips 13.3: US Gun Violence Debate
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
13.1 Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
13.2 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different crime statistic sources.
13.3 Summarize the different types of crime.
13.4 Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status.
13.5 Describe current responses to crime including policing, incarceration, and the death
penalty.
13.6 Evaluate political and social efforts to curb crime and address inequalities in policing.
Think of a crime, any crime. Picture the first “crime†that comes into your mind. What do you see? The odds
are you are not imagining a mining company executive sitting at his desk, calculating the costs of proper
safety precautions and deciding not to invest in them. Probably what you see with your mind’s eye is one
person physically attacking another or robbing something from another via the threat of a physical attack.
—Reiman (1998:57)
When we think of crime, we imagine violent or life-threatening acts, not white-collar crimes
committed by men and women using accounting ledgers and calculators as deadly weapons. Yet an
act does not have to be violent or bloody to be considered criminal. For our discussion, a crime is
any behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable by fine, jail, or other negative sanctions.
Crime is divided into two legal categories. Felonies are serious offenses, including murder, rape,
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robbery, and aggravated assault; these crimes are punishable by more than a year’s imprisonment or
death. Misdemeanors are minor offenses, such as traffic violations, that are punishable by a fine or
less than a year in jail. In this chapter, we examine crimes as a social problem. We consider a full
range of crimes, not just violent events that make the headlines on your evening news. Before we
review the specifics about crimes, let’s review sociological explanations of why people commit crime.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CRIME
Biological explanations of crime tend to address how criminals are “born that way.†Early
explanations were intended to classify criminal types by appearance and genetic factors, such as
Cesare Lombroso’s 19th-century theory of “born criminal†types. Lombroso argued that criminals
could be easily identified by distinct physical features: a huge forehead, a large jaw, and a longer arm
span. Contemporary biological explanations focus on biochemical (diet and hormones) and
neurophysical (brain lesions, brain dysfunctions) characteristics related to violence and criminality.
Like biological theories, psychological perspectives focus on inherent criminal characteristics.
Researchers link personality development, moral development, or mental disorders to criminal
behaviors. Both biological and psychological theories address how crime is determined by individual
characteristics or predispositions to crime, but they fail to explain why crime rates vary between
urban and rural areas, different neighborhoods, or social or economic groups (Adler, Mueller, and
Laufer 1991). Sociological theories attempt to address the reasons for these differences, highlighting
how larger social forces contribute to crime.
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists offer several explanations for criminal behavior. For the first explanation, we return to
one of the first sociologists, Émile Durkheim. Criminal behavior, according to Durkheim, is normal
and inevitable. Criminal behavior is functional because it separates acceptable from unacceptable
behavior in society. Although not a criminologist, Durkheim provided the field with one of its most
enduring concepts—anomie (Walsh and Ellis 2007). Recall from our discussion in Chapter 1 that
Durkheim argued that society and its rules are what make people human; without any social
regulation, people are able to pursue their own desires (even criminal ones). He defined anomie as a
state of normlessness, a structural condition where there is no or little regulation of behavior, which
leads to deviant or criminal behavior.
p.282
Robert K. Merton applied Durkheim’s theory of anomie to develop the strain theory of criminal
behavior. He argued that we are socialized to attain traditional material and social goals: a good job,
a nice home, or a great-looking car. We assume that society is set up in such a way that everyone has
the same opportunity or resources to attain these goals. Merton explained that society isn’t that fair;
some experience blocked opportunities or resources because of discrimination, social position, or
talent. People feel strained when they are exposed to these goals but do not have the access or
466
resources to achieve them. This disjunction between cultural goals and structural impediments is
anomic, and this is where crime is bred (Walsh and Ellis 2007).
This anomie creates an opportunity to establish new norms or break the old ones to attain these
goals. Merton’s strain theory explains how people adapt to life in this anomic situation. Merton
presents five ways in which people adapt to society’s goals and means (Table 13.1). Most individuals
fit under the first category, conformity. Conformers accept the traditional goals and have the
traditional means to achieve them. Attending college is part of the traditional means to attain a job,
an income, and a home. Criminal behavior comes under the innovation category. Innovators accept
society’s goals, but they don’t have the legitimate means to achieve them. They are under a great
strain or pressure to achieve these positively valued goals and thus innovate by stealing from their
boss, cheating on their taxes, or robbing a local store to achieve them.
TABLE 13.1 ■Robert Merton’s Strain Theory
Working from Merton’s assumptions, scholars argue that criminal activity would decline if
economic conditions improved. Solutions to crime would target strained groups, providing access to
traditional methods and resources to attain goals. Several studies have confirmed that when anomie
is reduced among the poor, lower crime rates may result. Factors usually associated with anomie—
the prevalence of female-headed families, the percentage of the population that is African
American, and family poverty rates—are more weakly related to crime in areas with higher levels of
welfare support (Hannon and Defronzo 1998). But in general, there has been a lack of empirical
support for Merton’s theory.
p.283
467
Robert Agnew (1992) expanded upon Merton’s strain theory to consider multiple individual and
structural sources of strain, asserting that negative experiences and relationships motivate and
promote criminal behavior (Kaufman et al. 2008). In his general strain theory, Agnew identified
three types of social-psychological sources of strain: the failure to achieve positively valued outcomes
(not only due to blocked opportunities as explained by Merton, but also because of individual
inadequacies due to a lack of ability or skill), the removal of positive or desired stimuli from the
individual (e.g., the loss of something or someone of great worth), and the confrontation with
negative action (or stimuli) by others (e.g., child abuse, adverse school experiences) (Akers and
Sellers 2009). Agnew’s theory is able to explain criminal offending differences by gender, class,
race/ethnicity, communities, and those that occur over the life course, as well as situational
variations in crime (Akers and Sellers 2009).
The second functionalist explanation links social control (or the lack of it) to criminal behavior.
Whereas Merton’s and Agnew’s theories ask why someone commits a crime, social control theorists
ask why someone doesn’t commit crime. Society functions best when everyone behaves. Durkheim
identified how well society provides us with a set of norms and laws to regulate our behavior.
According to sociologist Travis Hirschi (1969), society controls our behavior through four elements:
attachments (i.e., our personal relationships with others), commitment (our acceptance of
conventional goals and means), involvement (our participation in conventional activities), and
beliefs (our acceptance of conventional values and norms). Delbert Elliot, Suzanne Ageton, and
Rachelle Canter (1979) redefined Hirschi’s elements as integration (involvement with and
emotional ties to external bonds) and commitment (expectations linked with conventional activities
and beliefs). They believe that when all these elements are strong, criminal behavior is unlikely to
occur.
Conflict Perspective
Sociologist Austin Turk (1969) explained that criminality is not a biological, psychological, or
behavioral phenomenon; rather, it is a way to define a person’s social status according to how that
person is perceived and treated by law enforcement. An act is not inherently criminal; society
defines it that way. Theorists from this perspective argue that criminal laws do not exist for our own
good; rather, they exist to preserve the interests and power of specific groups.
In this view, criminal justice decisions are discriminatory and designed to sanction offenders based
on their minority or subordinate group membership (race, class, age, or gender) (Akers and Sellers
2009). Turk (1969, 1976) stated that criminal status is defined by members of the dominant class.
Criminal status is imposed on members of the subordinate class, regardless of whether a crime has
actually been committed. Francis Cullen and Robert Agnew (2011) explained,
In general, the injurious acts of the poor and powerless are defined as crime, but the injurious acts of the rich and powerful—
such as the corporations selling defective products or the affluent allowing disadvantaged children to go without health care
—are not brought into the reach of the criminal law. (p. 271)
468
Laws serve as a means for those in power to promote their ideas and interests against others. Law
enforcement agents protect the interests and power of the dominant class at the expense of subjects.
Police may use force, sometimes excessive; “when economic inequality is extreme, elites and polity as
a whole may see a need for show of violent force to discourage civil disturbances†(Liska 1992:13).
Excessive police force in Brazil is discussed in this chapter’s Taking a World View feature.
p.284
From a conflict perspective, problems emerge when particular groups are disadvantaged by the
criminal justice system. Although the powerful are able to resist criminal labels, the labels seem to
stick to minority power groups—the poor, youth, and ethnic minorities. Minority power groups’
interests are on the margins of mainstream society, so most of their activities can be criminalized by
dominant authorities (Walsh and Ellis 2007). Conflict theorists argue that the criminal justice
system is intentionally unequal and serves as the vehicle for conflicts between opposing groups. The
solution is the creation of a more equitable and just society (Cullen and Agnew 2011).
Feminist Perspective
For a long time, criminology ignored the experiences of women, choosing to apply theories and
models of male criminality to women. Feminist researchers have been credited with making female
offenders visible (Naffine 1996) and with documenting the experiences of women as the victims or
survivors of violent men and as victims of the criminal justice system (Chesney-Lind and Pasko
2004). Feminist scholarship has attempted to understand how women’s criminal experiences are
different from those of men and how experiences of women differ from each other based on race,
ethnicity, class, age, and sexual orientation (Flavin 2001; Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2004).
Freda Adler (1975) was one of the first scholars to explain that women were “liberated†to commit
crime when they were no longer restrained by traditional ideals of feminine behavior and could take
on more masculine traits, including criminal behavior. Called the liberation approach, the logic of
her argument is that as gender equality increases, women are more likely to commit crime.
Although the approach was met with wide public acceptance, it has been discredited because of lack
of empirical evidence (Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2004).
469
© James Aylott/Getty Images
Though chain gangs were abolished in the 1950s, they were reintroduced in 1995 in Maricopa County, Arizona, by former
sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio established the first female chain gang in 1996, arguing that women should receive the same
treatment as men.
p.285
Recently, gender inequality theories have been presented as explanations of female crime. According
to Darrell Steffensmeier and Emilie Allan (1996), patriarchal power relations shape gender
differences in crime, pushing women into criminal behavior through role entrapment, economic
marginalization, and victimization or as a survival response. The authors pointed out, “Nowhere is
the gender ratio more skewed than in the great disparity of males as offenders and females as victims
of sexual and domestic abuse†(p. 470). The logic of the inequality argument is that female crime
increases as gender inequality increases.
Women are more likely to kill intimate partners, family members, or acquaintances than men are,
“so the connection between women’s overall homicide offending rates and gender inequality lies
largely in the connection between gender stratification and women’s domestic lives,†explained Vicki
Jensen (2001:8). Jensen described gender inequality as being composed of economic, political-legal,
and social inequalities experienced by women. Lower gender equality can negatively affect women’s
freedom and opportunities; these situations can push women into situations in which lethal violence
seems to be the only way out. In the case of women killing abusive intimate partners, low levels of
economic security limit women’s opportunities to escape abusive situations. Low levels of gender
equality can increase the emphasis on traditional gender norms, placing the responsibility on women
to please men and requiring that women must be submissive and accept whatever their partner does
470
(including violence). Jensen explained that most women who kill an intimate partner do so in
response to abuse situations, in imminent self-defense, or when all other strategies have failed.
Research indicates that the surge in women’s incarceration has little to do with any major change in
women’s criminal behavior. In comparison to men’s, women’s crime participation rates have
remained stable over time (Becker and McCorkel 2011). Since 1995, the annual rate of growth in
the number of U.S. female prisoners averaged 5%, higher than the 3% for male prisoners (refer to
Table 13.2). The public’s “get tough with crime†approach, along with a legal system that
encourages treating women equally to men, has resulted in the greater use of imprisonment as
punishment for female criminal behavior (Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2004).
TABLE 13.2 â– Number of Prisoners Under the Jurisdiction of State or Federal Correctional
Authorities and Incarceration Rate by Gender, 2000, 2010, and 2015
Sources: Carson 2016; Carson 2014; Guerino, Harrison, and Sabol 2011; Sabol, West, and Cooper 2009.
*The number of persons with a sentence of more than one year per 100,000 U.S. residents.
Sarah Becker and Jill McCorkel (2011) examined how gender affects access to criminal
opportunities, specifically looking at the types of crime committed by men and women and
considering how the presence of a male co-offender alters women’s crime participation. They found
that most men and women co-offend with men; all-female offender groups are rare. Their analysis
471
of national crime data revealed that women are more likely to be involved in gender-atypical
offenses like drug trafficking, homicide, gambling, kidnapping, and weapons offenses when they
have at least one male co-offender compared to when they work alone or in a same-sex group. The
range of women’s crime participation increases with the presence of a male co-offender.
During 2015, 111,495 females were in state or federal prison, accounting for 7% of all U.S.
prisoners (Carson and Anderson 2016). The International Centre for Prison Studies analyzed data
on the number of incarcerated women worldwide at the end of September 2017. Based on data from
221 prison systems in countries and dependent territories, the Centre reported that more than
714,000 women and girls were currently being held in penal institutions as pretrial detainees or
having been convicted and sentenced. The highest numbers of female detainees or prisoners were in
the United States (211,870), China (107,131), the Russian Federation (48,478), Brazil (44,700) and
Thailand (41,119) (Walmsley 2017).
The increase in the number of women inmates has caused prison officials to reconsider custody
procedures for women, especially specific programs and services available to women. Also, there are
major differences between male and female prisoners, which have implications for women’s
confinement and release (Galbraith 2004). In particular, women are more likely (a) to be serving
their first sentence, (b) to be the primary caregiver of their children, (c) to be victims of sexual abuse
and trauma (Morash, Byrum, and Koons 1998), and (d) to suffer from depression. Parenting has
become a focus of many programs.
p.286
Interactionist Perspective
Interactionists examine the process that defines certain individuals and acts as criminal. The theory
is called labeling theory, highlighting that what’s important isn’t the criminals or their acts but
rather the audience that labels the persons or their acts as criminal. As Kai Erickson (1964)
explained, “deviance is not a property inherent in certain forms of behavior; it is a property conferred
upon these forms by audiences which directly or indirectly witness them†(p. 11). The theory also
considers how definitions of crime or deviance can change over time.
The basic elements of labeling theory were presented by sociologist Edwin Lemert (1967), who
believed that everyone is involved in behavior that could be labeled delinquent or criminal, yet only a
few are actually labeled. Lemert’s theory identifies the consequences of being labeled and treated as
a criminal. He explained that deviance is a process, beginning with primary deviation, which arises
from a variety of social, cultural, psychological, and physiological factors. Although most primary
acts of deviance go unnoticed, they may lead to a social response in the form of an arrest,
punishment, or stigmatization. Secondary deviation includes more serious deviant acts, which follow
the social response to the primary deviance. Once a criminal label is attached to a person, a criminal
career is set in motion.
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John Braithwaite (1989) observed that nations with low crime rates are those where shaming has
great social power. Braithwaite defined shaming as all processes of “expressing disapproval which
have the intention or effect of invoking remorse in the person being shamed and/or condemnation
by others who become aware of the shaming†(p. 9). Braithwaite agreed with Lemert that shaming
could be “stigmatizing†(increasing the distance between the offender and society) and lead to
additional criminal acts. However, he proposed that shaming should be “reintegrative†(restoring the
link between the offender and society) and lead to less crime.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What are your perceptions of a typical victim or perpetrator? What roles do the media—news,
television, and movies—play in creating these perceptions? From what other sources are these
perceptions learned?
Interactionists also attempt to explain how deviant or criminal behavior is learned through
association with others. Edwin Sutherland’s (1949) theory of differential association states that
individuals are likely to commit deviant acts if they associate with others who are deviants. This
criticism is often raised about our jail and prison systems; instead of rehabilitation, prisoners are able
to learn more criminal activity and behavior while serving their sentences. Psychologists Craig
Haney and Philip Zimbardo (1998) noted how “department of corrections data show that about a
fourth of those initially imprisoned for nonviolent crimes are sentenced a second time for
committing a violent offense. Whatever else it reflects, this pattern highlights the possibility that
prison serves to transmit violent habits and values rather than to reduce them†(p. 721). Sutherland’s
theory does not address how the first criminal learned criminal behavior, but he does highlight how
criminal behavior emerges from interaction, association, and socialization.
For a summary of sociological perspectives on crime and criminal justice, see Table 13.3.
p.287
TABLE 13.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Crime and Criminal Justice
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SOURCES OF CRIME STATISTICS
We rely on three sources of data to estimate the nature and extent of crime in the United States.
The primary source is annual data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Since
1930, the FBI has published the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), data supplied by 17,000 federal,
state, and local law enforcement agencies. The UCR reports two categories of crimes: index crimes
and nonindex crimes. Index crimes include murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, motor vehicle
theft, arson, and larceny (theft of property worth $50 or more). All other crimes except traffic
violations are categorized as nonindex crimes. The UCR provides law enforcement officers and
agencies with useful data about serious rates across states, counties, and cities, as well as trend and
longitudinal data since its inception. The second source of crime data emerged in 1982, when the
FBI began to use the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which adds detailed
offender and victim information to the UCR data. Currently, 32 states provide NIBRS information,
and three additional states and the District of Columbia have individual agencies submitting
NIBRS data.
However, the often-cited problem with the UCR and the NIBRS is that the data reflect only
reported crimes. The FBI cannot collect information on crimes that have not been reported, but it is
estimated that only 3% to 4% of crimes are actually discovered by police (Kappeler, Blumberg, and
Potter 2000). Also, being reported doesn’t mean that a crime has actually occurred. The FBI does
not require that a suspect has been arrested or that a crime is investigated and found to have actually
occurred; it only needs to be reported (Kappeler et al. 2000). Although it is uncommon, these data
have been manipulated by law enforcement agencies for political or other reasons.
In addition to the UCR, the FBI releases the Crime Clock, a graphic display of how often specific
offenses are committed. Although it may make for good newspaper copy or give law enforcement
474
and political officials clout (Chambliss 1988), the Crime Clock has been accused of exaggerating the
amount of crime, leaving the public with the impression that they are in imminent danger of being
victims of violence (Kappeler et al. 2000).
p.288
The third data source about crime is the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS or NCS),
which has been published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics since 1972. The survey is based on
victimization surveys first conducted in Denmark and Norway. Twice a year, the U.S. Census
Bureau interviews members of about 90,000 households regarding their experience with crime. The
NCVS identifies crime victims whether or not the crime was reported. Also included is information
on the experiences of victims with the criminal justice system, self-protective measures used by
victims, and possible substance abuse by offenders. NCVS crime victim data for 2015 are presented
in Table 13.4.
TABLE 13.4 â– Number of Crime Victims and Prevalence Rate for Selected Personal and
Property Crimes, 2015
475
Source: Truman and Morgan 2016.
The results of the NCVS are often compared with the UCR to indicate that the number of crimes
committed is actually higher than the number of crimes reported, suggesting that the UCR may not
be an adequate measure of violent crime. However, “a more thoughtful interpretation of the
inconsistency between these statistical reports concludes that while neither the UCR nor the NCVS
is by itself an adequate measure of violence, each is an estimate of the scope and nature of violent
crime†(Brownstein 2001:8–9).
TYPES OF CRIME
Violent Crime
Violent crime is defined as actions that involve force or the threat of force against others and
includes aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery. The 2015 serious crime victimization rate
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was 6.8 per 1,000 aged 12 or older, lower than the rate for 2014 of 7.7 per 1,000 (Truman and
Morgan 2016). In 2015, males and females had similar rates of violent victimization—15.9 per
1,000 males and 21.1 per 1,000 females (Truman and Morgan 2016).
Worldwide, male homicide victimization rates are higher than female rates (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] 2014). For 2013, the global male homicide rate was 9.7 per
100,000, four times the rate for females (2.7 per 100,000). The male homicide rate was highest in
the Americas (Caribbean, Central America, North America, and South America) at 29.3 per
100,000 males than other parts of the world. The UNODC attributes the disparity to the higher
levels of homicide rated to organized crime and gang activity in the Americas.
In the United States, males are more likely to be victimized by a stranger, whereas women are more
likely to be violently victimized by a friend, an acquaintance, or an intimate partner (U.S. Bureau of
Justice Statistics 2003). For 2005–2010, 34% of all rape or sexual assault victimizations were
committed by an intimate partner (former or current spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend), 6% by a
relative or family member, and 38% by a friend or acquaintance (Planty et al. 2013). In 2012, the
federal government expanded the definition of forcible rape to include male victims and the types of
sexual assault that would be counted by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. The revised definition
includes forcible oral or anal penetration, along with nonconsensual sex (Savage 2012).
p.289
Intimate violence (violence at the hands of someone known to the victim) is primarily committed
against women in both the developed and developing worlds. The World Health Organization
(WHO) (2013), in its study of women from 79 different countries, stated that “violence against
women is a significant public health problem, as well as a fundamental violation of human rightsâ€
(p. 2). WHO reported that the global prevalence of ever-partnered women who had experienced
physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner was 30% in all the studied countries.
Women in the Western Pacific were the least likely to experience either type of violence, and the
greatest amount of violence was reported by women living in Southeast Asia (see Figure 13.2). Refer
to Exploring Social Problems for more data. In 2010, U.S. women experienced 407,700 rape, sexual
assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault victimizations at the hands of an intimate
partner; among men, 101,530 were victims of violent crimes by an intimate partner (Truman 2011).
What Does It Mean to Me?
While a student at Stanford University, Brock Turner raped and assaulted an unconscious female in
2015. After he was found guilty of three counts of felony assault, Turner was sentenced to six
months in jail and three years probation. Turner could have served as much as 14 years in prison.
The judge in the case, Aaron Persky, ruled that Turner had less moral culpability for his actions
477
because he was intoxicated at the time. Turner served three months and had to register as a sex
offender in Ohio, his home state. Was Turner’s sentencing too lenient? Should he have served more
time?
Since 1973, Blacks have had the highest violent crime victimization rates. In 2015, 22.6 of 1,000
Black people experienced a violent crime versus 17.4 out of 1,000 Whites and 16.8 out of 1,000
Hispanics (Truman and Morgan 2016). Research by William Julius Wilson (1996) and Robert
Sampson and Wilson (1995) revealed that structural disadvantages, rather than race, contribute to
higher levels of crime and victimization in Black communities (Ackerman 1998). The structural
factors include neighborhood poverty, unemployment, social isolation, and economic disadvantage.
Data collected for 2009–2017 indicated that disabled persons are more likely to experience higher
rates of violence (29.5 crimes per 1,000 persons age 12 or older) than those without a disability (11.8
crimes per 1,000 persons). The violent crime rate was highest for those between 12 and 24 years of
age. Females with a disability had a higher victimization rate than males with a disability (Harrell
2017).
Property Crime
Property crime consists of taking money or property from another without force or the threat of
force against the victims. Burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson are examples of
property crimes. Property crimes make up about three fourths of all crime in the United States. In
2015, there were an estimated 14.1 million property crimes, including 2.9 million household
burglaries and 564,160 motor vehicle thefts (Truman and Morgan 2016).
Juvenile Delinquency
The term juvenile delinquent often refers to a youth who is in trouble with the law. Technically, a
juvenile status offender is a juvenile who has violated a law that applies only to minors 7 to 17
years old, such as cutting school or buying and consuming alcohol (Sanders 1981). In certain cases,
minors can be tried as adults. Crimes committed by juveniles are more likely to be cleared by law
enforcement than crimes committed by adults.
p.290
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
478
INTIMATE PARTNER AND NONPARTNER
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) (2013) report, 35% of women
worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence (data not reported
here), most likely at the hands of an intimate partner (see Figure 13.1). Intimate partner
violence is associated with low- and middle-income countries (see Figure 13.2); rates are
highest for women residing in Africa, Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia.
Women living in high-income countries, such as the United States, have the lowest rates
of intimate partner violence.
Women who have been physically or sexually abused by their partners report higher rates
of physical and mental health problems (16% more likely to have a low-birth-weight baby,
twice as likely to experience depression, and 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV) than
women who have not experienced partner violence. As many as 38% of all murders of
women are committed by intimate partners.
According to the WHO report (2013), there are still social barriers and prejudices that
prevent support or care for women victims. For example, in the case of partner violence,
women victims are blamed for taking another partner, refusing sexual intercourse, or for
not conforming to expectations regarding their role as wives/partners.
What do you think? What would it take to change this “blaming the victim†perspective?
FIGURE 13.1 â– Sexual Violence Prevalence Rate
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Source: Adapted from World Health Organization 2013.
FIGURE 13.2 â– Lifetime Prevalence of Physical and/or Sexual Intimate Partner
Violence Among Ever-Partnered Women by WHO Region
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Source: Adapted from World Health Organization 2013.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention monitors data on rates of juvenile
crime. For 2015, the number of juvenile arrests was 921,600. Females accounted for 29% of arrests.
Almost half of all juvenile arrests involved larceny-theft, simple assault, drug abuse violations,
disorderly conduct, or liquor law violations (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
2016). Nationwide, African American and Hispanic youth were more likely to be arrested and
committed to secure placements than were White juveniles (Rovner 2016). Unlike the United
States, many countries do not collect systematic data on delinquency, and among the countries that
do, their data are described as “incomplete because of faulty record keeping†(Stafford 2004:486).
p.291
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 13.1: Juvenile Locked Up For Life
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Delinquency is often explained by the absence of strong bonds to society or the lack of social
controls. In studies of serious adolescent crime, research indicates that the economic isolation of
inner-city neighborhoods, along with the concentration of poverty and unemployment, leads to an
erosion of the formal and informal controls that inhibit delinquent behavior (Laub 1983). Juveniles
without any or much social control are likely to engage in illegal behavior when they live in any
environment that offers opportunities for illegal activities. Youth who are strongly bonded to
conventional role models and institutions (parents, teachers, school, community leaders, and law-
abiding peers) are least likely to engage in delinquent behaviors.
White-Collar Crime
The term white-collar crime was first used by Sutherland in 1949. He used the term to refer to “a
crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupationâ€
(Sutherland 1949:9). Since then, the term has come to include three categories of offense: crimes
committed by an offender (someone of high social status and respectability as described by
Sutherland), crimes committed for financial or economic gain, and crimes taking place in a
particular organization or business (Barnett n.d.).
The FBI (1989) has defined white-collar crime by the type of crime:
[White-collar crime includes] illegal acts which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are
not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence. Individuals or organizations commit these acts to
obtain money, property or services; to avoid payment or loss of money or services; or to secure personal and business
advantage. (p. 3)
Such acts include credit card fraud, insurance fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, money laundering,
embezzlement, and theft of trade secrets. Corporate crime may also include illegal acts committed
by corporate employees on behalf of the corporation and with its support. Corporate fraud has been
identified as the highest priority of the FBI’s Financial Crimes Section. As of the end of fiscal year
2011, the FBI had pursued 726 cases, several which involved losses to public investors that
individually exceeded $1 billion (FBI 2011). White-collar crimes cost taxpayers more than all other
types of crime.
One of the most widespread forms of white-collar crime is Internet fraud and abuse, also known as
cybercrime. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a joint partnership between the FBI
and National White Collar Crime Center. IC3 handles complaints and crimes that include identity
theft, online credit card fraud schemes, theft of trade secrets, sales of counterfeit software, and
computer intrusions (a hacker breaking into a system). In 2016, the IC3 received more than 290,000
complains with losses in excess of $1.3 billion. The top three crime types reported by victims were
non-payment and non-delivery, personal data breach, and payment scams (FBI 2017a). Years ago,
when computer systems were relatively self-contained, there was no concern about cybercrime.
Committing cybercrime is easier with the growth of the Internet, increasing computer connectivity,
and the availability of break-in programs and information. As computer- controlled infrastructure
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and networks have expanded, many systems—power grids, airports, rail systems, hospitals—have
become vulnerable (Wolf 2000). In response to Internet crimes, the FBI and the Department of
Justice have established computer crime teams or offices. Some states, such as Massachusetts and
New York, have created high-technology crime units.
p.292
What Does It Mean to Me?
Crime rates have dropped significantly in most large cities since the 1990s. Consider the homicide
rate. The rate peaked in 1980 at 10.2 homicides per 100,000 people (Blumstein and Rosenfeld
1998). For 2016, the homicide rate was 5.3 homicides per 100,000 people (FBI 2017b). There is
less violent crime, but do we still live in fear? Which type of crime do you fear the most? Why?
THE INEQUALITIES OF CRIME—OFFENDERS AND
VICTIMS
Offenders
Reports consistently reveal that African American males are overrepresented in incarceration
statistics. Most jail or prison inmates are male and African American (refer to Table 13.5). That a
category of people is overrepresented among violent offenders does not necessarily mean that this
group is responsible for more violent acts (Brownstein 2001). Keep in mind that these statistics are
based only on those who were caught by the criminal justice system.
TABLE 13.5 â– Percentage of Prisoners Under State or Federal Jurisdiction by Gender and
Race, Based on Inmates With Sentences of More Than One Year, December 31, 2015
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Source: Adapted from Carson and Anderson 2016.
*Other includes American Indians, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.
The majority of research on unequal treatment in the criminal justice system addresses race and
ethnicity. A number of studies confirm that regardless of the seriousness of the crime, racial and
ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics, are more likely to be arrested or
incarcerated than are their White counterparts. This is also true for minority juvenile delinquents.
In its analysis of contacts between police and the public for 2008, the U.S. Bureau of Justice
Statistics reported that Black (12.3%) and Hispanic (5.8%) motorists were more likely to be
searched during a traffic stop than White drivers (3.9%) (Eith and Durose 2011). Blacks and
Hispanics were more likely than Whites to report being involved in an incident where police force
was used (Eith and Durose 2011). Minority youth are overrepresented at every stage in the juvenile
justice system; they are arrested more often, detained more often, overrepresented in referrals to
juvenile court, and institutionalized at a disproportionate rate compared with White youth (Joseph
2000).
An early criminological explanation was offered by Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti (1967),
who argued that Blacks have adopted violent subcultural values, creating a “subculture of violence.â€
Although this is an often-cited theory, there is insufficient empirical evidence to support the idea
that Blacks are more likely to embrace a violent value system. Actually, studies have indicated that
White males are more likely to express violent beliefs or attitudes than Black males (Cao, Adams,
and Jensen 2000).
Family structure, specifically the presence of female-headed households in African American
communities, has also been identified as a potential source for racial crime disparities. Yet,
criminological research has not articulated how family structure or family processes are related to
crime (Morenoff 2005). Does the structure of the family itself increase the likelihood of crime? Is
the incidence of crime related to the amount of parental supervision, the level of parental
effectiveness, or the nature of the parent–child relationship? These questions remain the focus of
researchers.
484
p.293
Criminologists and sociologists have examined patterns of racial bias or discrimination in the law
enforcement and criminal justice system. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity by law
enforcement, consciously or unconsciously, as a basis of judgment for criminal suspicion. Racial
profiling, according to Donald Tomaskovic-Devey and Patricia Warren (2009), is “particularly
problematic because it’s a form of discrimination enacted and organized by federal and local
governments†(p. 35). Racial attitudes among police officers also contribute to inequalities in
policing.
Racial profiling is supported by some in law enforcement as a rational and efficient strategy,
targeting those most likely to commit crime. Yet most agree that profiling is dysfunctional, creating
“racial inequities by denying people of color privacy, identity, place, security, and control over their
daily life†(Cross 2001:5). Black men are more than any other group to be profiled, targeted,
accused, investigated, harshly sentenced, and incarcerated for crimes (Carson 2014). In 2013,
President Barack Obama, responding to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death
of Trayvon Martin, said, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. … There are very few
African-American men in this country who have not had the experience of being followed when
they are shopping at a department store. That includes me†(White House 2013).
New racial profiling rules were released by the Obama administration after nationwide protests over
the decisions in New York and Ferguson, Missouri, not to prosecute White officers for the deaths
of unarmed Black men (Apuzzo and Schmidt 2014). Citing the need for “even-handed law
enforcement,†the categories of racial profiling were expanded to include religion, national origin,
gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Under the new rules, law enforcement officials
cannot consider any of those factors in making routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions.
Agencies whose officers make traffic stops may not use any of these categories as a reason to pull
someone over. The new guidelines apply to federal law enforcement officers and to local police
assigned to federal task forces but not to local police agencies (Apuzzo and Schmidt 2014; U.S.
Department of Justice 2014).
Victims
Early studies on crime victims tended to perpetuate the image that the victim was simply at the
“wrong place at the wrong time†(Davis, Taylor, and Titus 1997). Following that reasoning, not
being a victim of crime could be explained simply as good luck. However, research indicates that
some individuals, by virtue of their social group or social behavior, are more prone than others to
become victims (Davis et al. 1997). What people do, where they go, and with whom they associate
affect their likelihood of victimization (Laub 1997).
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© iStock.com/aijohn784
For most individuals, their interaction with police officers is limited to traffic violation stops. Police departments are
incorporating new methods of policing based on community and problem-solving approaches, hoping to increase the
interaction between officers and citizens.
No crime is distributed randomly throughout the population (Rennison and Dodge 2018).
Victimization is distributed across key demographic dimensions (Laub 1997). Victimization rates
are substantially higher for the poor, the young, males, Blacks, single people, renters, and central
city residents (Davis et al. 1997). The likelihood of being injured because of a violent crime is higher
among the young, the poor, urban dwellers, Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians (Simon,
Mercy, and Perkins 2001). Injury rates are lower for the elderly, for people with a higher income or
higher educational attainment, and for people who are married or widowed (Simon et al. 2001).
Black males have the highest rate of violent victimization, and White females have the lowest (Laub
1997). Blacks also have the highest rate of overall household victimization. Although rates of violent
crimes declined during the 1990s, mortality from homicide among minority groups is still high.
Homicide is the leading cause of death among Black males between the ages of 15 and 24, and it is
the second leading cause of death for Latino males in the same age group (Rich and Ro 2002).
People who have been victims once are at an elevated risk of becoming victims again. Repeat
victimization is likely to occur in poor, predominantly Black areas (Davis et al. 1997).
p.294
OUR CURRENT RESPONSE TO CRIME
The Police
For 2016, there were almost a million full-time law enforcement employees. About 70% were sworn
officers (FBI 2017b). We rely on the police force to serve as the first line of defense against crime,
and some officers lose their lives in the line of duty. In 2016, 66 law enforcement officers were
feloniously killed in the line of duty, and 52 were killed in accidents (FBI 2017).
American policing has gone through substantial changes during the past several decades
(MacDonald 2002). Traditional models of policing emphasized high visibility and the use of force
486
and arrests as deterrents to crime. Policing under these models relies on three tactics: police patrols,
rapid response to service calls, and retrospective investigations (Moore 1999). These models
reinforce an “us†versus “them†division, sometimes pitting the police against the public they were
sworn to protect.
Although the use of force is a part of a police officer’s duties (Mallicoat 2017), recent incidents of
police brutality and violence toward unarmed Black men and teens have increased the public’s
distrust of law enforcement. The cases of Eric Garner, choked to death by an NYPD officer in
2014; Michael Brown, shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014; Freddie
Gray, who died from spinal injuries after being chased and detained by police in Baltimore,
Maryland, in 2015; and Philando Castile, who was shot to death in his car by a police officer during
a traffic stop in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2016 raise significant concerns about the use of excessive
force and racial profiling.
In the Brown case, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster reported that Black drivers in Ferguson
were four times likely to be stopped by police in 2014 than were White drivers (Queally 2015). Yet
officers were more likely to find contraband (a weapon or drugs) in possession of White drivers
rather than Black drivers. This finding is consistent with other research that reveals that increasing
the number of minority stops and searches does not produce more drug seizures than routine traffic
stops and searches (Tomaskovic-Devey and Warren 2009). At the release of his report, Koster said,
“While disproportion does not prove that law enforcement officers are making vehicle stops based
on perceived race or ethnicity of the driver, this compilation and analysis of data provides law
enforcement, legislators and the public a starting point as they consider improvements to process
and changes to policy to address these issues†(quoted in Queally 2015).
Studies indicate that “net of all other factors, race and personal experience with racial profiling are
among the strongest and most consistent predictors of attitudes toward the police†(Weitzer and
Tuch 2002:445). Whites trust police more and have more positive interactions with them than do
Blacks; Hispanics fall between these two groups (Norris et al. 1992). Black youth tend to have the
most negative or hostile feelings toward police (Norris et al. 1992). Residents from poor or
disadvantaged areas have a much lower regard for the police than does the general public. However,
research has also indicated that when citizens believe they are treated fairly, they tend to grant police
more legitimacy and are more likely to comply with police (Stoutland 2001).
Police departments have incorporated new methods of policing based on the community and
problem-solving approaches (Goldstein 1990; MacDonald 2002). The community policing
approach refers to efforts to increase the interaction between officers and citizens, including the use
of foot patrols, community substations, and neighborhood watches (Beckett and Sasson 2000).
Technology has also become an important policing tool. Across the country, law enforcement
agencies have adopted the use of dashboard and body cameras to document police–community
interaction. Camera data may reduce officer misconduct, but the data also protect officers from
fabricated claims of discrimination (Mallicoat 2017).
487
p.295
We learn more about community policing in the section titled “Community, Policy, and Social
Action.â€
Prisons
Despite the decline in crime rates, prison populations are increasing (Anderson 2003), even though
the rate of new admissions has declined in recent years (Sabol, West, and Cooper 2009). At the end
of 2013, the federal and state inmate population was more than 1.6 million. Although the United
States represents 5% of the world’s population, the number of incarcerated in our country represents
nearly 25% of the world’s prison population (Rosen 2010). Data reveal that the United States has
the second highest prison population rate in the world (refer to Figure 13.3).
FIGURE 13.3 â– Highest Prison Population Rates in the World, 2017
Source: Adapted from World Prison Brief 2017.
Mandatory sentencing, especially for nonviolent drug offenders, is a key reason why inmate
populations have increased for the past 30 years. Drug offenders now make up more than half of all
federal prisoners (Anderson 2003). The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses
than any other country (Justice Policy Institute 2008). The majority of men and women sentenced
488
under these laws are nonviolent, low-level drug offenders—couriers, street dealers, bystanders, or
drug addicts—convicted for possession or sales of small amounts of drugs (Human Rights Watch
1999, 2000).
Additionally, probation and parole revocations are a growing source of prison admissions. Among
prisoners released in 2005 who returned to prison, 49.7% had a parole or probation violation or an
arrest for a new offense within three years that led to imprisonment, and 55.1% had a parole or
probation violation or an arrest that led to imprisonment within five years (Durose, Cooper, and
Snyder 2014).
p.296
Along with the increase in the number of prisoners comes an increase in prison budgets. In 2010,
the average state inmate cost about $31,286 per year (Henrichson and Delaney 2012). Average
operating costs per inmate varied by state, indicating differences in costs of living, wage rates, and
other related factors. The three states with the highest annual operating costs per inmate were New
York ($60,076), New Jersey ($54,865), and Connecticut ($50,262).
Human Rights Watch (2012) documented the aging of the U.S. prison population, reporting that
the number of prisoners aged 65 or older increased by 63% between 2007 and 2010. For 2012, there
were 26,200 prisoners in this age group. Providing medical care to older prison populations
suffering from chronic, disabling, and terminal illnesses will be expensive, no different from the level
of care and spending required for an older nonprison population. Although no systematic data are
available regarding the annual cost of care, Human Rights Watch (2012) reported a range of state
expenses from $4,000 to $8,500 per elderly prisoner per year.
What is the purpose of the prison system? Some argue that the system is intended to rehabilitate
offenders, to prevent them from committing crime again. However, beginning in the mid-1970s,
U.S. rehabilitation programs and community-based programs began to lose funding. Probation and
parole offices redefined their core missions from treatment to control and surveillance (Tonry 2004).
Other Western governments, such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries,
continue to make large investments in treatment and educational programs in comparison with the
United States (Albrecht 2001), with evidence revealing that some programs are able to reduce future
reoffending (Gaes et al. 1999). For example, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands,
and Sweden have established crime prevention agencies that develop programs for developmental,
community, and situational crime prevention (Tonry and Farrington 1995); there are no comparable
agencies in the United States (Tonry 2004).
Michelle Alexander (2010) characterized U.S. mass incarceration as a caste system, much like the
Jim Crow laws (1876–1965) that defined permanent second-class status for Black Americans.
Specifically, the War on Drugs served as a form of legalized discrimination, entrapping African
Americans in the criminal justice system. The harm to individuals and families only intensifies when
prisoners are released. She explained,
489
They enter a separate society, a world hidden from public view, governed by a set of oppressive and discriminatory rules and
laws that do not apply to everyone else. They become members of an undercaste—an enormous population of predominately
black and brown people who, because of the drug war, are denied basic rights and privileges of American citizenship and are
permanently relegated to an inferior status. (Alexander 2010:181–82)
The U.S. record of recidivism (or repeat offenses) indicates how badly our prison system is working.
Data analyzed by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2005 to 2010 revealed that 68% of
released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within three years and 77% were arrested within
five years of release (Durose et al. 2014). Prisoners who were released for a property offense were
more likely to be arrested for a new crime when compared to offenders first arrested for violent or
drug offenses. Inmates with 10 or more prior arrests, male, Blacks, and younger inmates (24 years or
younger) had higher rates of recidivism (Durose et al. 2014).
The Death Penalty
Five states executed 31 inmates in 2016. For 2017, there were 2,843 inmates serving death
sentences. The majority of death row inmates were White or Black (42%), followed by Hispanics
(13%) and other (3%). Since 1976, a total of 1,465 prisoners have been executed (Death Penalty
Information Center 2017).
p.297
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
POLICING IN BRAZIL
Policing in Brazil has a dark and ugly history. The death squads of Brazil began in 1958, when
Army General Amaury Kruel, chief of the police forces in Rio de Janeiro, handpicked a group
of special policemen to combat rising theft and robberies in the city. These “bandit huntersâ€
were given permission to hunt and kill these criminals. In other states and cities, teams of
police hunters were formed to pursue pistoleiros (armed criminals), undesirables, and gangsters.
Each new death squad, whether targeting economic or political criminals, became more distant
from the formal criminal justice system (Huggins 1997). Through several political regimes,
Brazilian police have never abandoned their practices of violent enforcement and vigilantism.
After 21 years of military dictatorship (1964–1985), the civilian government (inaugurated in
1985) set out to reform Brazil’s authoritarian practices. In 1988, armed with a new
constitution, the democratic leadership lifted the barriers to political participation and
attempted to restore the legal premises of universal citizenship rights (Mitchell and Wood
1999). In 1996, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso released the National Human Rights
Plan, a comprehensive set of measures to address human rights violations in Brazil, including
490
cases of police abuses (Human Rights Watch 1997).
Yet police violence and human rights violations all increased dramatically under democratic
rule (Caldeira and Holston 1999). Police are some of the primary agents of violence in Brazil.
According to organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, many
citizens continue to suffer systematic abuse and violations at the hands of their own police
force. Police officers and off-duty officers killed 3,345 people in 2015 (Human Rights Watch
2017).
Wesley Skogan (2013) offered this description of policing in Brazil:
At the state level, policing services are largely provided by two distinct bodies. The civil police conduct criminal
investigations and make decisions regarding prosecution, and often operate in plain clothes. Visible street policing,
traffic enforcement, responses to emergency calls, and riot control are provided by the uniformed military police. They
are heavily armed and organized in strict hierarchical fashion, with an elaborate military-style rank structure. They are
trained and operated using traditional military tactics, and in poor areas their operations often resemble those more
appropriate for a war zone. (p. 2)
According to Skogan, the Brazilian police culture is resistant to change and outside oversight.
The National Program for Public Security and Citizenship (PRONASCI) was established in
2007 by Brazil’s Ministry of Justice. In an attempt to improve the lives of police officers and
standards for police operations, PRONASCI has placed an emphasis on improving police
training programs and managerial practices. Additionally, PRONASCI is focused on prison
reform, neighborhood capacity building, and community involvement in violence prevention
(Skogan 2013).
The death penalty was instituted as a deterrent to serious crime. The penalty applies only to capital
murder cases, where aggravating circumstances are present. However, research indicates that capital
punishment has no deterrent effect on committing murder. In fact, states with the death penalty
have murder rates significantly higher than states without the death penalty. Kappeler and his
colleagues (2000) explained that only a small proportion of people charged with murder can be
sentenced to death. For example, between 1980 and 1989, 206,710 murders were reported to the
police, but during the same period, only 117 executions were carried out. This is about 1 execution
for every 1,767 murders committed during the same period (Kappeler et al. 2000).
Worldwide, 104 countries have abolished the use of the death penalty. In 2016, 1,032 were executed
around the world in at least 22 countries. Eighty-seven percent of these executions were in four
countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Pakistan. The number of executions in China, believed to
be in the thousands, cannot be confirmed (Amnesty International 2017).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 13.2: The Death Penalty at San Quentin
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Opponents of the death penalty point out the racial disparities in its application. The most
significant studies of racial disparities point to the race of the victims as the critical factor in
sentencing. Those convicted of committing a crime against a White person are more often
sentenced to death. Data reported by the Death Penalty Information Center (2017) reveal that the
majority of victims in death penalty cases were White (76%), followed by Blacks (15%). Nationally,
only 50% of murder victims are White. In their analysis of 1990–1999 California death penalty
cases, Michael Radalet and Glenn Pierce (2005) reported that those who killed a non-Hispanic
African American were 56% less likely to be sentenced to death than were those who killed non-
Hispanic Whites. The difference increases to 67% when comparing those sentenced to death for
killing Whites versus those sentenced for killing Hispanics.
p.298
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
U.S. Department of Justice
We may perceive our criminal justice system as a single system when, actually, we have 51 different
criminal justice systems: 1 federal and 50 state systems. The federal system is led by the U.S.
Department of Justice. Headed by the Attorney General of the United States, the Department of
Justice comprises many separate component organizations, including the FBI; the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which controls the border and provides services to
lawful immigrants; the Antitrust Division, which promotes and protects the competitive process in
business and industry; and the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees correctional operations and
programs (U.S. Department of Justice 2002).
Funding for the U.S. Department of Justice and its organizations comes from federal legislation.
The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was the largest crime bill in history,
providing funds for 100,000 new officers, $9.7 billion for prisons, and $6.1 billion for prevention
programs. Under the Violence Against Women Act, the Office on Violence Against Women,
administered by the Department of Justice, has awarded more than $6 billion in grant funds to U.S.
states and territories. These grants have helped state, tribal, and local governments and community-
based agencies to train personnel, establish domestic violence and sexual assault units, assist victims
of violence, and hold perpetrators accountable (Office on Violence Against Women 2010). The act
was reauthorized in 2013, expanding protections to gays, lesbians, transgender individuals, Native
Americans, and immigrants.
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs
The U.S. Department of Justice also supports the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
492
Prevention. As its mission, the office attempts to provide national leadership, coordination, and
resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization. The office is guided by
the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 reauthorized by Congress in 2002
(U.S. Congress 2002).
The office sponsors more than 15 programs targeting juveniles and their communities. The Tribal
Youth Program is part of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative to support tribal efforts to
prevent and control juvenile delinquency. The Child Protection Division administers programs
related to crimes against children, such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Recently the office has been promoting and
studying the positive influence of mentoring on at-risk and delinquent youth. It sponsors a 32-site
demonstration program to develop and test program models that incorporate advocacy and teaching
roles for mentors.
Community prevention programs can address many components of juvenile justice: diverting youth
outside of the juvenile justice system, supporting youth informal or formal probation, or facilitating
community reentry after a residential placement. In their review of community-based juvenile justice
programs, Peter Greenwood and Susan Turner (2009) concluded that programs that emphasize
family interactions are the most successful because these programs encourage adult family members
to develop skills to improve their supervision and interaction with the child. For example, the
Functional Family Therapy program provides in-home sessions focusing on family engagement and
problem solving. Programs that target the offending youth, such as intensive supervision, early
release, or deterrence programs (e.g., Scared Straight), were found to be less effective (Greenwood
and Turner 2009).
Community Responses to Disparities in Policing
Sociologists Rory Kramer, Brianna Register, and Camille Charles (2017) recommended that our
“conversations need to shift from whether there are racial disparities in policing to what can be done
to reduce or eliminate racial disparities in policing†(p. 24). In addition to policy changes, Kramer
and his colleagues identified how police training may be an important catalyst for structural change.
For example, law enforcement agencies like those in Sanford, Florida (where Travyon Martin was
killed), are incorporating implicit bias training for officers. Other agencies have shifted from an
emphasis on weapons training to de-escalation tactics.
p.299
The sociologists also identify the need for better data on all police contacts. The FBI announced
that information would be gathered on officer-involved deaths and instances involving “serious
bodily injury†(Kramer et al. 2017). According to Tomaskovic-Devey and Warren (2009), “local
police forces can use the data they collect on racial disparity in police stops to identify problematic
organizational behaviors such as intensively policing minority neighborhoods, targeting minorities
493
in white neighborhoods, and racial profiling in searches†(p. 38).
In addition to Black Lives Matter, other organizations have emerged to address structural or
institutional racism, sexism, and classism in policing. Since 2005, INCITE! (2017) has been leading
a national project on law enforcement violence against women of color and transgender people of
color. INCITE! uses the term law enforcement violence to refer to brutality committed by local and
state police officers, immigration authorities, federal law enforcement, private security, and military
forces. The organization advocates a community-based response to domestic and sexual violence so
that survivors do not have rely on the formal criminal justice system. INCITE! also recommends
making connections with all types of law enforcement to better understand their training, policies,
and procedures (INCITE 2017).
#SayHerName was created by the African American Policy Forum in 2015 to address the forms of
police brutality experienced disproportionately by women of color. The organization offers the Black
community “a resource to help ensure that Black women’s stories are integrated into demands for
justice, policy responses to police violence, and media representations of victims of police brutalityâ€
(African American Policy Forum 2017). #SayHerName documents stories of women killed or
victimized by police and also promotes “considering race and gender in policy initiatives to combat
state violence, and adopting policies to end sexual abuse and harassment by police officers†(African
American Policy Forum 2017).
Community Approaches to Law
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was created in response to the Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The goal of the program is to shift from traditional law
enforcement to community-oriented policing services, a change that includes putting law
enforcement officers within a community and emphasizing crime prevention rather than law
enforcement (COPS 2003). As stated on the COPS website, “Community policing is a law
enforcement philosophy that focuses on community partnerships, problem-solving and
organizational transformation†(COPS 2014). Researchers found that “police administrators have
hailed community oriented policing as the preferred strategy for the delivery of services†(Novak,
Alarid, and Lucas 2003:57). COPS programming has also been adopted in the United Kingdom
and Australia.
One of the central premises of community policing is the relationships among the police, citizens,
and other agencies. Since 1981, the National Night Out program has worked to strengthen police–
community partnerships in anticrime efforts. Usually scheduled in August, National Night Out
activities first involved just turning on the front porch lights of houses, but they now include block
parties, cookouts, parades, and neighborhood walks involving community members and police
officers (National Night Out 2003). The community plays an important role in ensuring its own
safety. In community policing, “problem solving requires that police and the community work
together in identifying neighborhood problems, and that the community assumes greater
494
‘guardianship’ of the neighborhood†(Greene and Pelfrey 1997:395).
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© AP Photo/Laura Greene
National Night Out is held on the first Tuesday in August. The national event is intended to enhance the relationship
between community members and law enforcement.
COPS sponsors grants and initiatives in selected communities, offering specialized training and
programs to police professionals, such as technological innovations (mobile computing, computer-
aided dispatch, automated fingerprint identification systems) or policing methods. In addition, the
program supports innovative strategies linking police with their communities. COPS highlighted
the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s El Protector Program as one of the best strategies
for working with communities whose members have limited English proficiencies. The program,
established in 2004, includes two full-time officers who speak fluent Spanish. Assigned to precinct
areas with the highest Latino populations, the officers work with community members and business
leaders to reduce DUIs, traffic fatalities, and domestic violence.
IN FOCUS
ASSAULT WEAPONS
Assault weapons are a class of military-style semiautomatic magazine-fed rifles and handguns
that fire high-powered ammunition. These weapons were first introduced to the public in the
1980s as the gun industry began marketing weapons based on high-powered military designs
like the AK-47 and M16 (Weinstein 2012; Giffords Law Center 2017). Most guns sold in the
United States are semiautomatic: They fire a single shot with every pull of the trigger but
automatically reload between shots. A fully automatic firearm will continuously fire with the
single pull of the trigger and will stop only when the trigger is released or the ammunition runs
out (or if the gun jams) (Weinstein 2012).
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The majority of mass shootings are carried out with guns, most of them obtained legally. On
the evening of October 1, 2017, a lone gunman opened fire at a Las Vegas music festival from
his hotel room window, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500 others. Police found
more than 20 firearms, several modified as fully automatic weapons. Semiautomatic guns were
used in the deadly shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
(2018), the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida (2016), and Sandy Hook Elementary School
in Newton, Connecticut (2012). People killed in mass shootings make up less than half of 1%
of the people shot to death each year (Berkowitz et al. 2017).
The Federal Assault Weapons Bill became law in 1994 but was not reauthorized in 2004. The
law banned specific types of assault weapons and also forbade the possession of rifles and
handguns that featured two or more military-style modifications. The Brady Handgun
Violence Prevention Act was also signed into law in 1994. Under this law, which still exists
today, individuals purchasing guns from licensed dealers are required to submit to an instant
FBI background check. Individual gun owners who don’t buy and sell weapons as their primary
means of income can make occasional sales without running a background check. It is
estimated that 40% of all gun sales do not include a background check (Weinstein 2012).
The Australian government banned automatic and semiautomatic firearms after the country’s
worst mass shooting, in 1996. In addition to the firearms ban, the government created a
national firearms registry and instituted a 28-day waiting period for gun purchases. As reported
by Uri Friedman (2015), the number of mass shootings in Australia (defined as the killing of
five or more people other than the gunman) dropped from 13 in the 18-year period before
1996 to zero after implementation of the new law. Between 1995 and 2006, gun-related
homicides dropped by 59%.
In 2017, Senator Dianne Feinsten (D-CA) introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017,
proposing to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault
weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. In 2018, after the death of 14 fellow
students and three staff members, students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High turned their
grief into activism, organizing town hall meetings, rallies, and marches to promote gun control
and school safety.
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Charlotte Gill and her colleagues (2014) documented that community-oriented policing programs
have positive effects on citizen satisfaction and perceptions of disorder and police legitimacy but
have little impact on actual crime or citizens’ fear of crime. COPS was intended to improve the
relationship between the police and the public and the quality of life at the community level, but it
was never promoted as a crime prevention program to directly impact crime. They concluded,
“Ultimately, the adoption of a community oriented philosophy by police departments, combined
496
with highly-focused, place- and problem-specific crime prevention strategies, could be the precursor
to creating long term improvements and healthy communities†(Gill et al. 2014:423).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 13.3: US Gun Violence Debate
What Does It Mean to Me?
Would a ban on assault weapons reduce gun violence in the United States? What other policies or
strategies do you think would reduce gun violence?
Prison Advocacy and Death Penalty Reform
Several national, state, and local organizations are committed to reforming our prison system and
advocating prisoners’ rights. Most of their work comes in the form of advocacy, educational
campaigns, and litigation.
In the early 2000s, a network of student and community activists mobilized to end the use of prisons
for profit. The group Not With Our Money successfully mobilized against Sodexho Marriott, a
food service provider that owned more than 10% of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA),
one of the largest owners and operators of U.S. private prisons. Efforts to pressure university
administrators to end their food service contracts with Sodexho Marriott were successful at several
colleges and universities. Since protests against Sodexho Marriott began, its parent company,
Sodexho Alliance, has divested all its interest in CCA (Bigda 2001).
497
JESSICA RINALDI/REUTERS/Newscom
Since it was established in 1992, the Innocence Project has rated more than 300 men and women through DNA testing.
Larry Fuller was released in 2006 after spending 25 years in prison.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
MAX KENNER
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Most state correctional systems offer some sort of educational programming. However, only a third offer college
498
courses or degrees.
The brainchild of Max Kenner, the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) was created in 1999 to address
the educational needs of prisoners and to provide them with the opportunity and the means to
attain higher education while remaining within the correctional system.
To understand the logic behind such a program as BPI, one must revisit the 1970s, a time
when the federal government looked favorably upon college in prison programs. Since then,
numerous studies have shown that college in prison programs reduce the rate of recidivism,
lower the number of violent incidents that occur within prisons, reestablish broken
relationships between incarcerated parents and their children, and create a general sense of
hope among inmates. Despite these beneficial consequences, in 1994, President Clinton signed
the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law, essentially abrogating federal
support and funding for existing programs. As a result, of the 350 programs that had arisen,
only 3 remained.
“The prison system is so large,†Kenner muses, “because it locks people up at a young age, and
when they return home, they are less equipped to work, to attend school, and to function as
social beings.†These deficiencies result in an increased chance that released prisoners will
commit another crime of a greater magnitude, thereby paving the road back to prison, but this
time for a much longer sentence.
As an undergraduate of Bard College, Kenner immersed himself in the prevailing culture of
social justice advocacy on campus. In 1999, he and a group of like-minded individuals made
the unsettling discovery that of the 72,000 men and women in the New York State prison
system, four out of every five inmates were from New York City. Armed with this finding, and
an increasing frustration with governmental divestment from education in social services, the
group set out to tackle the issue of educating prison inmates. “We felt that if we were really
going to commit ourselves to some kind of effort to improve social justice it should be broad-
based, and it should be based on public institutions,†explains Kenner.
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With that in mind, Kenner embarked on a mission to make Bard College an institutional
home that would allow either faculty or students to gain access to prisons by lending its
transcript services and by offering credit-bearing courses and degrees to prison inmates.
After the national collapse of the college in prison programs, however, there was an incredible
distrust among people in corrections who wanted to see the colleges come back and people in
higher education who wanted colleges in the prison. According to Kenner, colleges only
wanted to offer courses if they could make a profit or if they could do so under ideal
circumstances. Some colleges were simply not interested.
It took Kenner one and a half years to begin working with prisons. He was able to organize
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student volunteer programs that allowed students to conduct writing, GED, literacy, and
theology workshops within the prison. “By the spring of my senior year, we had some 40
students volunteering at the prison on a weekly basis. Many of them said that it was the single
most profound and influential thing that they had done at their time at Bard,†says Kenner.
Upon graduation, Kenner made a proposal to Bard College President Leon Botstein,
requesting that the college provide him with an office and grant him access to its transcripts so
that they could begin offering college credit to prison inmates. The only stipulation was that
Kenner would have to find a way to raise money to support the program.
Following graduation, Kenner was given a salaried position by Episcopal Social Services (EPS).
“The Bard Prison Initiative officially started as a partnership between EPS and Bard College,â€
says Kenner, “and five months later, in 2001, we began offering credit-bearing courses to 17
students.â€
Currently, BPI offers two educational programs to inmates. Anyone with a GED can apply for
the precollege program and those with a higher level of education can apply for the associate’s
degree program. [In fall 2005, BPI began] offering a bachelor’s program that is consistent with
the degree conferred to Bard College students. Those who have successfully completed the
associate’s degree program in two or three years can then reapply for admission into the
bachelor’s degree program.
Kenner hopes that the programs that have been implemented thus far will remain active and
prove to be self-sustaining. He remains a passionate advocate for the return of college in prison
programs and will continue to play an integral role in enhancing their opportunities.
BPI currently enrolls 300 incarcerated men and women in five prisons across New York State.
The curriculum offerings include more than 160 courses each year. By 2018, 450 degrees had
been awarded to BPI graduates. Through the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, Bard
College is providing support to college-in-prison programs in other states and schools (Bard
Prison Initiative 2018).
Source: Excerpt from Malik 2005. Reprinted with the permission of www.EducationUpdate.com
State and local grassroots organizations, such as Coloradans Against the Death Penalty,
Mississippians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty, support prisoners’ rights and legislation to abolish the death penalty in their states.
One organization that has accepted the mission of correcting wrongful convictions is the Innocence
Project. Established in 1992 by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, the Innocence Project is
a nonprofit legal clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New
York. The clinic is dedicated to “exonerating the innocent through postconviction DNA testingâ€
(Innocence Project 2007). As of December 2014, the project had exonerated 325 individuals. These
500
cases highlight the problems of misidentification, corrupt scientists and police, overzealous
prosecutors, inept defense attorneys, and the influence of poverty and race in the criminal justice
system. The Innocence Project is currently working to establish the Innocence Network, a group of
law and journalism schools and public defender offices that assist inmates trying to prove their
innocence, even if their cases do not involve biological or DNA evidence. Several states have
established their own innocence or justice projects.
The Innocence Project and similar organizations consistently draw the public’s attention when an
innocent inmate is released. In 1993, Darryl Howard was convicted of the 1991 murder of a mother
and her daughter in North Carolina. He was released in 2014 based on new DNA evidence and
charges of prosecutorial misconduct uncovered by the Innocence Project. DNA evidence excluded
Howard, but identified another suspect. Howard was released after serving nearly 20 years of his
sentence.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
PROBATION AND PAROLE OFFICERS
Timisha Gilbert—Class of 2006
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Probation and parole officers work with and monitor offenders to reduce the risk of
reoffending or committing another crime. Probation officers, also referred to as community
supervision officers in some states, supervise individuals who have been placed on community
probation instead of being sent to prison. On the other hand, parole officers monitor offenders
who have been released from jail or prison. Both probation and parole officers supervise
offenders through direct contact with the offenders and their families. They also oversee drug
testing and electronic monitoring of offenders (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014).
Timisha Gilbert works as a community corrections officer, a combined probation and parole
officer in the Pacific Northwest. During her senior undergraduate year, she completed an
internship with the organization and was hired into an entry-level community corrections
officer position upon graduation. She describes her current job as “managing a caseload of
high-risk offenders released from jails and prisons to complete a term of community
supervision. I am required to hold offenders accountable while on supervision to ensure they
abide by sentences imposed by the Court, while also promoting change through programming
and other interventions.â€
501
Probation and parole work requires a bachelor’s degree. Candidates should be at least 21 years
of age, have no felony convictions, and submit to drug testing. Most employers require
applicants to pass a series of oral, written, and psychological exams. Timisha says that she uses
her sociological imagination regularly. “Using different ideas and theoretical conclusions to
develop case plans has been helpful. Every offender has chosen to engage in criminal behavior
for various reasons, and by reflecting on different theoretical perspectives, I am able to develop
case plans for effective case supervision.â€
She offers the following advice to undergraduate Sociology majors:
Think outside the box. A degree in Sociology can be used in many different ways and for various organizations. Each
career field has many different aspects and levels where your degree will be useful. Finally, do what you enjoy and
continue to seek out opportunities for continued learning and advancement.
CHAPTER REVIEW
13.1 Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Functionalists argue that society sets goals and expectations, but people feel strain
when they do not have the access or resources to achieve these goals. Under this
strain, individuals are more likely to commit crime. Social control theorists ask why
someone doesn’t commit crime. Conflict theorists believe an act is not inherently
criminal; rather, society defines it that way. Theorists argue that criminal laws exist
to preserve the interests and power of specific groups. In feminist scholarship,
patriarchal power relations shape gender differences in crime, pushing women into
criminal behavior through role entrapment, economic marginalization, and
victimization or as a survival response. Interactionists examine the process that
defines certain individuals and acts as criminal.
13.2 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different crime statistic sources.
The FBI and BJS release data about crime committed in the United States. Data
from the FBI’s UCR and NIBRS are limited because they only include data about
reported crimes. The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization
Survey surveys people about their experiences with crime, whether or not it has been
reported to authorities.
13.3 Summarize the different types of crime.
Violent crimes are acts that involve force or threat of force against others. Property
crime (three fourths of all crime in the United States) consists of taking money or
property without force or threat of force. Juvenile crime refers to youth in trouble
with the law. White-collar crime includes crimes committed by someone of high
social status, for financial gain, or in a particular organization.
502
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13.4 Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status.
A number of studies confirm that regardless of the seriousness of the crime, racial
and ethnic minorities are more likely to be arrested or incarcerated than are their
White counterparts. Research indicates that some individuals are more prone than
others to become victims. Victimization rates are substantially higher for the poor,
the young, males, Blacks, single people, renters, and central city residents.
13.5 Describe current responses to crime including policing, incarceration, and the death penalty.
American policing has changed drastically in recent decades. Recent incidents with
use of force, particularly the killing of unarmed Black men and teens, have increased
the public’s distrust of law enforcement and raised questions about use of force and
racial profiling. Although 5% of the world’s population lives in the United States,
25% of people in prison live in the United States. Mandatory sentencing laws play a
key role in the increase of prison populations. Despite the death penalty’s
abolishment in 104 countries, capital punishment remains on the books in many U.S.
states. Racial disparities in its application remain a key concern of critics.
13.6 Evaluate political and social efforts to curb crime and address inequalities in policing.
Community Oriented Policing Services has the goal of shifting from traditional law
enforcement to community-oriented policing services. A central premise of
community policing is the relationships among police, citizens, and other agencies.
Social movements like Black Lives Matter seek to draw attention to injustice in the
criminal justice system and racism in policing.
KEY TERMS
cybercrime, 291
felonies, 281
index crimes, 287
juvenile crime, 290
juvenile delinquent, 289
juvenile status offender, 289
labeling theory, 286
misdemeanors, 281
property crime, 289
racial profiling, 293
strain theory, 282
503
violent crime, 288
white-collar crime, 291
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Define the different types of crime considered by criminologists and sociologists.
2. Compare and contrast the explanations of crime offered by strain and social control
theorists. According to these theories, is crime motivated by money or greed?
3. Examine how crime exists to preserve the interests and power of specific groups.
4. What is unique about the experiences of female offenders and prisoners? How has our
criminal justice system responded? What else needs to be done?
5. Explain how crime is a learned behavior. Are there any crimes that do not fit this
perspective?
6. Identify the three sources of crime data in the United States. How would you assess the
reliability of these sources?
7. Is the function of our prisons to punish or rehabilitate? Review the evidence for each.
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504
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©Reese Lassman/EyeEm via Getty Images
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14
URBANIZATION AND POPULATION
GROWTH
Media Library
CHAPTER 14 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 14.1: Suburbanization of Asian Americans, Decline of Historic
Chinatowns
AP News Clips 14.2: Rise of Homeslessness in Seattle
AP News Clips 14.3: Long Commute
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
14.1 Define demography.
14.2 Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization.
14.3 Explain how a population is affected by its age distribution or ethnic composition.
14.4 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and related social
problems.
14.5 Analyze consequences of gentrification.
14.6 Describe the sustainable community movement.
Cities have always maintained an allure of better living and opportunities. But an examination of
our cities and their surrounding areas reveals a “profound duality†(Stanback 1991). Although our
urban areas are shining examples of economic and social progress, they also harbor significant social
problems such as poverty, crime, crowding, pollution, and collapsing infrastructures. Moreover,
opportunities and resources are unevenly distributed in cities: Some neighborhoods have safer streets
and better services and may offer a better quality of life than others do (Massey 2001). “Cities in
different countries with different socioeconomic and political systems often face quite similar
problems, although their scales, trends, or causes differ from place to place†(Kim and Gottdiener
2004:172).
506
Although it is still referred to as America’s Motor City, Detroit has a new nickname, “most
miserable city†(Badenhausen 2013). Detroit was an industrial giant at the beginning of the 20th
century, headquarters for automobile giants General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The city’s
population peaked in the 1950s at 1.8 million. But as housing developments were established in
Detroit’s suburban areas, residents began to flee. Automobile manufacturing expanded into different
states, and as competition grew with Japanese automakers, the three automakers collectively lost
40% of the U.S. automobile market share. Rising and persistent unemployment was followed by
declining tax revenues, declining property values, and urban blight. The Great Recession of 2007–
2009 crushed the city’s hope for an economic recovery. In 2014, Detroit’s population was estimated
at 700,000. In 2013, the city filed for bankruptcy, seeking protection from an $18 billion debt, the
largest filing in U.S. history (Davey and Williams Walsh 2013). The colossal economic failure of
Detroit has brought renewed attention to the relationship between economic, social, and political
forces and the health and structure of urban spaces.
Before we begin our study of urbanization and population growth, we will first review two
sociological fields of study. Both remind us that cities don’t just happen overnight; rather, social and
demographic factors help shape our urban areas and their problems. Our urban areas are produced
by economic, political, and cultural forces operating at international, national, and local levels (Kim
and Gottdiener 2004).
URBAN SOCIOLOGY AND DEMOGRAPHY
In the 1920s, sociologists from the University of Chicago examined their city and the impact of city
life and its problems on its residents. Their research provided the basis for urban study and for
understanding the determinants of urbanization. Urban sociology examines the social, political,
and economic structures and their impact within an urban setting. Rural sociology is the study of
the same structures within a rural setting.
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The first studies on urbanization or urban sociology adopted a functionalist approach, comparing a
city to a biological organism. The growth of a city was likened to the development of a social
organism, with each part of the city serving a specific and necessary function. A city’s core, for
example, served as its business or industrial center; and areas outside a city were reserved for
residential or commuting activity. Out of the Chicago School of Sociology came two dominant
traditions in urban studies, one focusing on human ecology (the study of the relationship between
individuals and their physical environment) and population dynamics and the second focusing on
community studies and ethnographies (Feagin 1998a).
Although this chapter’s primary focus is on urban problems, an essential part of urbanization is the
number of residents in an area, its population. The second sociological field we will rely on is
demography: the study of the size, composition, and distribution of human populations (see also
507
Chapter 6). Demography isn’t just about counting people. Demographers analyze the changes and
trends in the population. Their work begins with two fundamental facts: We are born, and then we
die. Recall that in Chapter 10, “Health and Medicine,†we reviewed how two demographic
elements, fertility and mortality, are determined by biological and social factors.
An additional demographic element is migration, the movement of individuals from one area to
another. Migration is distinguished by the type of movement: Immigration is the movement of
people into a geographic area; emigration is the movement of people out of a geographic area.
Domestic migration (the movement of people within a country) plays a large role in the
population redistribution in the United States (Perry 2006). In the United States, about 34.9 million
people moved in 2016–2017 to a different residence, the majority to the same county in their state
(U.S. Census Bureau 2017). People migrate to pursue employment opportunities, to be closer to
family, to find a more temperate climate, and to seek the opportunity of a better life. Most movers
have housing-related reasons: They move to a new, better, or more affordable home or apartment
(Schachter 2004).
THE PROCESSES OF URBANIZATION AND
SUBURBANIZATION
Urbanization, the process by which a population shifts from rural to urban, took off in the latter
half of the 19th century (Williams 2000). Urbanization in the United States, as in other developed
countries, was closely linked with economic development and industrialization. The U.S. economy
in the mid-19th century was divided: The northern economy was characterized by a mixture of
family-based agriculture, commerce, finance, and an increasing industrial base, whereas the southern
economy remained dependent on agriculture (Gordon 2001). But as the industrial economy began
to grow in the North and extended into the Midwest, thousands of people were attracted to these
emerging urban centers, drawn by the promise of work in factories and mills (Williams 2000). Also
contributing to early urban growth was the immigration of Europeans and the migration of rural
Blacks and Whites from the South to northern and midwestern urban areas (Dreier 1996).
p.309
The process of global urbanization occurs in waves. The first wave occurred in North America and
Europe from 1750 to 1950 (United Nations Population Fund 2007), closely linked with
industrialization and economic development (Kim and Gottdiener 2004). This wave involved a few
hundred million people and produced urban industrial societies that now dominate the world
(United Nations Population Fund 2007).
The second wave of urbanization took place during the past half-century in developing countries.
Some have referred to the shift as overurbanization, the process where an excess population is
concentrated in an urban area that lacks the capacity to provide basic services and shelter.
Overurbanization is characterized by a lack of employment, housing, and education or health
508
infrastructures for an area’s residents (Kim and Gottdiener 2004). This second urbanization wave is
problematic because it involves large populations of poor people—instead of hundreds of millions as
in the first wave, the second wave involves billions residing mostly in Africa and Asia (United
Nations Population Fund 2007). Refer to Table 14.1 for a comparison of urban populations
between developed and less developed regions.
TABLE 14.1 â– Urban Population Distribution of the World by Development Groups, 2014,
2030, and 2050 (Population in Billions)
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. 2015. World Urbanization Prospects:
The 2014 Revision (ST/ESA/SER.A/366).
After World War II, the United States experienced another significant population shift:
suburbanization. Although suburbanization has come to represent the outward expansion of
central cities into suburban areas (N. Smith 1986), increasing population growth rates away from
city centers, it has also been linked with two additional population shifts: from the Snow Belt
(industrial regions of the North and Midwest) to the Sun Belt (South and Southwest) and from
rural to metropolitan areas (Dreier 1996). Although many factors contributed to suburbanization,
the key players were government leaders and their policies. The U.S. Congress passed the Housing
Act of 1949, which encouraged construction outside city boundaries and made home purchasing
easier through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Affairs home mortgage
loan programs. The 1956 Federal Aid Highway Act, which established the modern interstate
highway system, made rural areas more accessible. President Dwight Eisenhower, a chief proponent
of the act, believed in the importance of the interstate highway system. Eisenhower (1963) declared,
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More than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of America. . . . Its
impact on the American economy—the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would
open up—was beyond calculation. (pp. 548–49)
The U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban population as an area with 2,500 or more individuals.
An urbanized area is a densely populated area with 50,000 or more residents, and a metropolitan
statistical area is a densely populated area with 100,000 or more people. More than 80% of the U.S.
509
population resides in an urban area. In 2017, the three largest U.S. cities were New York, Los
Angeles, and Chicago. A complete list of the 10 largest U.S. cities is presented in Table 14.2. Refer
to Table 14.3 for a list of world megacities.
TABLE 14.2 â– The 10 Most Populous Cities, 2017
Source: World Population Review 2017.
510
TABLE 14.3 ■Largest Megacities in the World—1950, 2000, 2014, and 2030 (Population
in Millions)
Source: United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2014. World Urbanization Prospects: The
2014 Revision, Highlights. Retrieved December 20, 2014 (http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf).
Note: In 1950, there were only two megacities in the world. By 2014, their number had increased to 28 (although only the top 10
are listed here). By 2030, 39 megacities are predicted to exist.
POPULATION GROWTH AND COMPOSITION
Changes in the fertility, mortality, and migration rates of a population affect its composition and its
biological and social characteristics. For example, age distribution, the distribution of individuals
by age, is particularly important because it provides a community with some direction in its social
and economic planning, assessing its education, health, housing, and employment needs. For
example, the driving behavior of the members of the Millennial generation (those born between
1983 and 2000) may change the future of transportation (U.S. PIRG Education Fund 2013).
Millennials are the first generation to embrace mobile Internet technologies, which is changing the
way young Americans relate to each other, but also changing the way they choose to live. They drive
less than older generations and are more likely to adopt non-driving forms of transportation. In
comparison with Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers, Millennials are twice as likely to express a
desire to live in a walkable urban area (U.S. PIRG Education Fund 2013).
Racial and ethnic minorities have accounted for most of the population growth in recent decades.
The changing ethnic composition (the composition of ethnic groups within a population),
especially the growing Latino population, has affected housing, education, health, and public
transportation demands. Minority populations have grown more rapidly than the non-Hispanic
511
white population because of higher birthrates, but also because these groups are younger and include
a larger proportion of women in their childbearing years (Cohn 2016).
The increasing number of ethnic Americans and their age distribution has caught demographers’
attention. When data for the 2007 U.S. Census were announced, researchers noted that younger
Americans were more ethnically diverse than were older generations—the average age of non-
Hispanic Whites was 40.5, whereas among Hispanics, the average age was 27.4. This age gap may
lead to competing political and social agendas. Communities may be divided between older
Americans advocating social security, lower taxes, and better health care and younger ethnically
diverse Americans demanding better education, jobs, and social services (Roberts 2007).
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON URBANIZATION
AND POPULATION GROWTH
Functionalist Perspective
Early functionalists were critical about the transition from simple to complex social communities.
Émile Durkheim described this transition as a movement from mechanical solidarity to organic
solidarity. Under mechanical solidarity, individuals in small, simple societies are united through a
set of common values, beliefs, and customs and a simple division of labor. Most individuals are
engaged in the same type of economic activity or labor. In contrast, Durkheim argued, organic
solidarity is the result of increasing industrialization and the growth of large complex societies,
where individuals are linked through a complex division of labor. Under organic solidarity,
individuals begin to share the responsibility for the production of goods and services, each with a
specific role in production. New relationships are created according to what people can do or
provide for each other. For example, most of us do not raise the food for our meals. We depend on
others to grow, harvest, deliver, and sell our food and groceries, and others depend on us for our
specific labor activity. Durkheim believed that as a result of industrialization, the social bonds that
unite us will eventually weaken, leading to social problems.
Although industrialization and urbanization have been functional, creating a more efficient,
interdependent, and productive society, they have also been problematic. Because of the weakening
of social bonds and an absence of norms, society begins to lose its ability to function effectively. As
our social bonds with each other have loosened, our sense of obligation or duty to one another has
declined.
Urbanization can lead to social problems such as crime, poverty, violence, and deviant behavior.
Functional solutions to these problems may encourage reinforcing or re-creating social bonds
through such existing institutions as churches, families, and schools or instituting societal changes
through political or economic initiatives. For example, under mechanical solidarity, the strong social
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bonds linking an individual to society (through one’s family and friends) deter criminal behavior. A
person would not think of committing a criminal act because it would be inherently wrong or would
harm the individual’s relationship with other members of society. Under organic solidarity, criminal
laws, police, and prison systems serve as formal structures to deter criminal activity.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Since the late 1960s, a new perspective on urban study has emerged. Referred to as the critical
political-economy perspective or socio-spatial perspective, this approach uses a conflict
perspective to focus on how cities are formed on the basis of racial, gender, or class inequalities.
From this perspective, cities are shaped by powerful social and political actors from the private and
public sectors, working within the modern capitalistic structure (Feagin 1998b). Social problems are
natural to the system, rising from the unequal distribution of power between politicians and
taxpayers, the rich and the poor, the homeowner and the renter, or Whites and Blacks.
Sónia Alves (2016) examined the increasing separation of social classes, what she refers to as spatial
polarization, across city boundaries in Porto, Portugal. She presents evidence that socioeconomic
inequality is reinforced by increasing geographic physical separation: The growth of highly skilled
and well-paying jobs took place in the affluent western part of Porto, while unskilled and low-paid
jobs were located in the central and eastern parts of the city. Alves warns that “increases in socio-
spatial inequality can both reinforce processes of economic inequality and lead to a reduction in
social cohesion that can threaten society as a whole†(p. 427).
p.312
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
GLOBAL URBANIZATION AND POPULATION
GROWTH
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B MATHUR/REUTERS
In 2007, for the first time the world urban population outnumbered the world rural population. Urban population
growth is expected to occur in developing nations such as Africa and Asia, with slower expansion expected in Latin
America and in the Caribbean.
Between 1950 and 2014, the world urban population grew more than five times—from 0.7
billion to approximately 3.9 billion (United Nations 2015). Most of the growth has occurred in
less developed regions. In contrast, the growth of the rural population has been slowing. In
1950, 7 out of every 10 people on Earth (1.8 billion) lived in rural areas. In 2014, the rural
population had doubled to 3.4 billion. The United Nations (2015) predicted the urban
population growth will continue to increase, although the rate of growth will slow. If the
United Nations predictions are correct, all world population growth from 2014 to 2050 will be
in urban areas, driven by natural population growth, rural-to-urban migration, and the
transformation of rural villages into urban settlements.
There are many negative consequences of urban population growth for individuals, nations,
and the world: increased demand for social and human services; increased economic and
political burdens, particularly for poorer developing countries; and global environmental
degradation (Desai 2004). Some segments of the population are more vulnerable than others
are. By 2030, 60% of all urban dwellers will be younger than age 18. Cities need to ensure that
appropriate levels of basic services, education, housing, and medical care are available for these
youth; if not, life on these urban streets will threaten the quality of youths’ health, education,
safety, and future (United Nations Population Fund 2007). Environmental sustainability is also
at risk. Unmanaged or poorly managed urban growth leads to sprawl, pollution, and
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environmental degradation with long-term consequences. Today’s urban residents consume
more energy per capita than do rural residents (United Nations 2014).
Despite its dire message, the United Nations Population Fund (2007) concluded, “Urban and
national governments, together with civil society, and supported by international organizations,
can take steps now that will make a huge difference for the social, economic and environmental
living conditions of a majority of the world’s population†(p. 3). Suggesting the need for more
proactive and creative approaches, the organization recommends strategies for improving the
social conditions of the poor, promoting gender equality, and ensuring environmental
sustainability. A major component of the recommendations is to empower women and increase
the level of reproductive health services available to families, believing that these interventions
will influence individuals’ fertility preferences (the number of children and the timing of births)
and their ability to meet them. Such a strategy “empowers the exercise of human rights and
gives people greater control over their lives†(United Nations Population Fund 2007:70).
Residential segregation is defined as the neighborhood clustering or separation of groups by
racial, ethnic, or economic characteristics within a geographic area. Residential segregation is a form
of social organization that enables differential access to resources and opportunities, such as public
services, schools, and employment opportunities (Dickerson 2008), advantaging one group over
another. From this perspective, residential segregation is not accidental but rather the product of
institutional discrimination, city governments, zoning laws, mortgage redlining policies, tax bases,
and school systems that perpetuate racialized socioeconomic inequalities (Judd and Swanstrom
2004; Hanlon 2011).
p.313
Sociologists offer three primary explanations for the persistence of Black–White segregation:
housing market discrimination, differences in socioeconomic status, and preferences for specific
neighborhood racial composition (Massey and Denton 1993; Charles 2003). Martha Mahoney
(1997) explained:
For whites, residential segregation is one of the forces giving race a “natural†appearance: “good†neighborhoods are equated
with whiteness, and “black†neighborhoods are equated with joblessness. This equation allows whiteness to remain a
dominant background norm, associated with positive qualities for white people, at the same time that it allows
unemployment and underemployment to seem like natural features of black communities. (p. 330)
The residential segregation of Hispanics in metropolitan and suburban neighborhoods has also been
documented. Douglas Massey (2016) explained, “the perpetuation of poverty among blacks and
Latinos today prevails because segregation is not a thing of the past, but a condition that continues
to be generated and reinforced by ongoing social and economic processes that continue to operate
within distinct segments of American society†(p. 6).
Within this tradition, scholars also examine the role of capitalism and capitalists in shaping cities
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(Feagin 1998b). Land-use decisions are made by politicians and businesspeople (Gottdiener 1977),
real estate developers and financiers (Molotch 1976), or coalitions between public officials and
private citizens (Rast 2001). Joe Feagin (1998b) presented a theory of urban ecology that accented
the role of class structure and powerful land-oriented capitalist actors in shaping the location,
development, and decline of U.S. cities. Land speculators shape the internal structure of cities by
identifying and packaging particular parcels of land for business or residential use. As Feagin
(1998b) described it,
powerful land-interested capitalists have contributed substantially to the internal physical structure and patterning of cities
themselves. The central areas of cities such as San Francisco have been intentionally remade, in the name of private profit, by
combinations of speculators and other capitalists, such as developers. (p. 154)
Although women play a pivotal role in urban life, theories about urbanization have taken a gender-
blind approach (Women’s International Network News 1999). Urban studies have not
systematically considered cities as sites of institutionalized patriarchy (Garber and Turner 1995) and
have not legitimately considered the role of women in urban development. In the 1880s, women
activists advocated quality housing, public health and sanitation services, food safety, and health and
social services in emerging cities (Parker 2011). Feminist urbanists have argued for the development
of a comprehensive field of theory and research that acknowledges the role of women in urban
structures (Masson 1984).
By incorporating feminist theory in patriarchy and urban studies, we can understand an additional
dimension of urban life, namely, the complex ways in which cities reproduce and challenge
patriarchy (Appleton 1995) and the problems this creates. Cities are places where gender is
experienced and constituted. As Judith Garber and Robyne Turner (1995) explained,
urban environments are constructed around the delivery of public services and the development of policies. These shape
women’s ability to cope with complex urban locations, largely through the responsiveness of public and private organizations
to the needs of diverse groups of women and children. (p. xxiii)
Robyne Turner (1995) argued that the living conditions of lower-income, inner-city women have
been affected by the economic restructuring of cities and the patterns of downtown development.
Woman-headed households increasingly make up the majority of inner-city households. Turner
explains that although low-income women may find inner-city housing less costly and more
accessible than housing in the suburbs, urban living also presents a unique set of challenges in
transportation, housing, employment, services, and safety. Inner-city women have less control over
their living situations than suburban women do. City development decisions are made by those in
power, often men, whereas the decisions affect women, the young, and the elderly. Turner (1995)
concluded, “It is important to recognize the implications for women, as the heads of households, in
the debate on economic restructuring, land based economies, and the portrayal of political powerâ€
(pp. 287–88).
p.314
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Interactionist Perspective
Georg Simmel ([1903] 1997) was the first sociologist to explain how city life is also a state of mind.
In his 1903 essay, “The Metropolis and Mental Life,†Simmel described how life in a small town is
self-contained; interactions with others are routine and rather ordinary. But a city’s economic,
personal, and intellectual relationships cannot be defined or confined by its physical space; rather,
they are as extensive as the number of interactions between its residents. City dwellers must interact
with a variety of people for goods and services and for personal and professional relationships. City
living stimulates the intellect and individuality of its residents (Karp, Stone, and Yoels 1991). Elijah
Anderson (2004) described how urban public settings (like markets, restaurants, parks), which he
referred to as cosmopolitan canopies, encourage people to treat others with a certain level of civility
or at least simply to behave themselves. These canopies “allow people of different backgrounds the
chance to slow down and indulge themselves, observing, pondering . . . testing or substantiating
stereotypes and prejudices†(p. 21).
But how well are city dwellers connected with their neighbors? The answer is that they may not be
as connected as Simmel or Anderson predicted. The way a city is constructed might actually
interfere with social interaction. Our dependency on automobiles compartmentalizes neighborhood
relations (we only know neighbors on our block or street) and interferes with street life (no space for
ball games, block parties, bike riding, and joggers) (Gottdiener 1977). Home and residential designs
limit our face-to-face contact with our neighbors. Without porches, there is no place to sit out front
and visit with one’s neighbors; without sidewalks or local parks, families find it less appealing to take
walks around their neighborhood and less easy to meet with neighbors.
©iStock.com/xavierarnau
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According to Mathis Stock (2006), cities are defined by conflicting constituent groups, such as residents and tourists. Each
group has a vastly different experience and definition of the city they cohabit.
p.315
A fundamental principle of the interactionist perspective is that the symbolic meaning of any object
is subjective and may depend on one’s relationship to the object (McKee 2013). Tridib Banerjee and
William Baer (1984) discovered that how we define our cities is linked to what we value or use
within them. What goods and services do people use in their community? Is it the coffee shop, the
local dry cleaner, or the neighborhood grocery store? Or is it the local park, the bicycle lanes, or the
athletic center down the street? The researchers asked residents of several Southern California cities
to draw maps of their residential areas and discovered that illustrations by middle- and upper-
income individuals contained more details and area than illustrations by lower-income people did.
Upper-income groups included amenities such as tree-lined streets, wooded areas, and golf courses,
whereas middle- and low-income groups included commercial and retail locations, such as gas
stations, discount stores, or drug stores. Corporate symbols were commonly used to define
landmarks in middle- and low-income illustrations. Banerjee and Baer concluded that income was
the single most important variable in explaining the quality of residential experiences and residents’
judgments about what constitutes a “good place†to live.
Based on his examination of the transformation of European cities from industrial centers to
recreational destinations, Mathis Stock (2006) concluded that a city may be defined by conflicting
constituent groups (residents vs. tourists) and the vastly different experiences of the city they
cohabit. The transformation of cities such as Paris, Venice, and Florence into tourist destinations is
often intentional, with city leaders and businesses embracing the symbols of tourism—the language,
images, practices, and customs—in their cities. To entice visitors to their city, they promote their
city’s annual festivals and package them along with well-known cultural and historical sites as part of
a cultural heritage experience. This transformation has its detractors, who, though acknowledging
the revenue benefit of tourism, question whether this process has stripped these historical European
cities of their authentic identities and subordinated native residents as a result. For example, more
than 20 million tourists visit Venice each year. Venice’s local population has declined from 74,000 in
1993 to 50,000 in 2017. Rising rents and increasing numbers of tourists have pushed locals onto the
mainland (Donadio 2009; Horowitz 2017).
For a summary of the different sociological perspectives, see Table 14.4.
TABLE 14.4 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Urbanization and Population Growth
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p.316
What Does It Mean to Me?
Can’t a person find some personal space? Symbolic interactionists have noted that urban dwellers
are able to create a “public privacy†while living in a demanding urban world (Karp et al. 1991).
Using props such as ear buds or head phones, individuals send messages that they aren’t interested
in talking with others. You may bump into people while walking on a busy street but never stop to
say, “Excuse me.†The proportion of unlisted phone numbers is greater in the city than in small
towns or suburban areas (Karp et al. 1991). Your coffee barista may have memorized your morning
coffee order, but does your barista know your name or any other personal information? How do you
create and maintain your public privacy?
THE CONSEQUENCES OF URBANIZATION AND
POPULATION GROWTH
Along with suburbanization came the decentralization, some may even say the demise, of U.S.
cities. Inner cities became repositories for low-income individuals and families, as the suburbs
enjoyed higher tax bases and fewer social programs (Massey and Eggers 1993). Researchers have
suggested that the poor economic outcomes of racial minorities, particularly African Americans, are
partly the result of patterns of housing prejudice and discrimination that have prevented minority
groups from moving at the same pace as the suburbanization of employment (Massey 2001; Pastor
2001). According to Douglas Massey and Mitchell Eggers (1993),
the simultaneous proliferation of poverty and affluence created a situation in which social problems among those at the
bottom of the income hierarchy multiplied rapidly at a time when more and more people had the means to escape these
maladies. (p. 313)
PREMIUM VIDEO
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AP News Clips 14.1: Suburbanization of Asian Americans, Decline of Historic
Chinatowns
Many of the social problems we discuss in this text seem to be magnified in urban areas. In this
section, we will review specific social problems plaguing urban areas: poor quality housing,
crowding, homelessness, gentrification, and urban sprawl and transportation.
Urban Living Environment
Many aspects of urban life—quality of air and drinking water, sanitation and fire services, and the
availability and affordability of health care—have well-established connections to the health of
urban dwellers (Cohen and Northridge 2000). For example, India’s cities are characterized by
“teeming hovels of dirt and garbage, overcrowded and noisy lanes, and proliferation of slumsâ€
(Siddiqui and Pandey 2003:590). India’s urban centers are home to more than a quarter of India’s
total population. Deprived of the basic amenities of water, sewage, and waste disposal facilities,
India’s urban residents are subject to unsafe and unhealthy living conditions.
One area that is often overlooked is the quality of housing. Substandard housing (homes with severe
or moderate structural problems such as malfunctioning plumbing or heating) is a major U.S. public
health issue (Krieger and Higgins 2002), particularly among urban dwellers and people of color.
Housing quality has been associated with morbidity from infectious diseases, chronic illnesses,
injuries, poor nutrition, and mental disorders (Krieger and Higgins 2002). Disparities in quality
housing have remained unchanged since the 1970s. Approximately 7.5% of non-Hispanic Blacks
and 6.3% of Hispanics live in moderately substandard housing compared with 2.8% of Whites
(Jacobs 2011).
p.317
Interior residential density refers to the number of individuals per room in a dwelling. The
520
criterion for crowding is more than one person per room in the household. In the United States,
household crowding is more likely to be found among poor, immigrant, or urban families. Research
indicates that children who live in more crowded homes have greater behavioral problems in the
classroom. Crowding also leads to greater conflict between parents and children. In crowded homes,
parents have been found to be more critical of and less responsive to their children (Evans, Saegert,
and Harris 2001). Crowding is also related to infectious disease transmission such as tuberculosis
and other respiratory diseases.
William Clark, Marinus Deurloo, and Frans Dieleman (2000) argued that household crowding is
linked to inequalities in housing consumption. The researchers explained that the rising income of a
large segment of U.S. society has led to increases in the overall quality of housing in the United
States. But at the same time, growing income inequalities create affordability and crowding
problems for very-low-income households. Affluent households demand better-quality and larger
houses, increasing their consumption of livable space, pushing housing outside of inner-city
boundaries. Clark et al. explained that as middle-class families move to the suburbs, they leave
behind inner cities plagued with increased density and housing shortages.
Cities with large numbers of immigrants—such as those in California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida
—are especially subject to crowding. A study based in Southern California revealed that households
of Hispanics who immigrated in the 1970s are 212 times more likely to be overcrowded than are
those of earlier Hispanic immigrants or White immigrants (Myers and Lee 1996). Clark et al.
(2000) also reported that in metropolitan areas with high levels of recent immigration, overcrowding
is higher than in nonimmigrant areas. Immigrant households are more likely to experience
overcrowding and are less likely to live in quality housing (Friedman and Rosenbaum 2014). Studies
suggest that competition for housing in cities with many immigrants may increase the cost of
housing and can lead to a housing squeeze. Cultural norms may also play a role in encouraging
crowding among immigrant homes.
Crowding is also a global issue, in countries experiencing rapid population growth. For example, the
population of Lagos, Nigeria, has doubled over 15 years to 21 million (Rosenthal 2012). City
residents typically live in apartments, 7- by 11-foot rooms described as “Face Me, Face You.†Up to
50 people may share a kitchen, toilet, and sink (Rosenthal 2012).
Homelessness
By its very nature, homelessness is impossible to measure with 100% accuracy (National Coalition
for the Homeless 2002). Most estimates are based on head counts in shelters, on the streets, or at
soup kitchens. These estimates do not include those who live in temporary or unstable housing (e.g.,
those who move in with friends or relatives). Most public and private sources agree that the number
of homeless people is at least in the hundreds of thousands, not counting those who live with
relatives or friends (Choi and Snyder 1999). There are several national estimates of homelessness.
521
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2016) estimated that 549,928 people
are homeless on a given night. The majority (68%) are staying in residential (shelter) programs,
while the rest (32%) are in unsheltered locations. Over one fifth of all homeless are children under
the age of 18. About 32% of the homeless are families.
Globally, the highest concentrations of homeless people tend to be located in urban settings and
segregated in some of the traditionally poorest areas (Toro 2007). In contrast to the United States,
European countries experience lower rates of homelessness because their social welfare system
guarantees some level of income, health care, and housing for all citizens. Japan is facing a rapidly
growing problem of homelessness because its welfare system is even more underdeveloped than that
of the United States (Toro 2007).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 14.2: Rise of Homeslessness in Seattle
“Homelessness is a more complex social and public health phenomenon than the absence of a place
to live†(Mabhala, Yohannes, and Griffith 2017:151). Homelessness has been consistently correlated
with seven social factors: income, employment, health and disability, education, crime, barriers to
housing and social support, and living environment. Studies in different countries confirm that a
large proportion of homeless have experienced extreme social disadvantage and traumatic
experiences in their childhood (Mabhala et al. 2017). Women are more likely than men to identify
domestic violence and abuse as a cause of their homelessness (Richards et al. 2010). U.S.
Conference of Mayors (2013) identified several interrelated causes of homelessness for families and
single adults, including unemployment and lack of affordable housing. When asked what three
things cities should do to address homelessness, the mayors identified more mainstream assisted
housing, more or better-paying employment opportunities, and permanent supportive housing for
people with disabilities.
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p.318
Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Homelessness is impossible to measure with 100% accuracy (National Coalition for the Homeless 2002). This field
researcher is collecting information from a homeless man.
Gentrification
In their report “Dealing With Neighborhood Change,†Maureen Kennedy and Paul Leonard (2001)
revealed that gentrification, “the process of neighborhood change which results in the replacement
of lower-income residents with higher-income ones, has changed the character of hundreds of
urban neighborhoods in America over the last 50 years†(p. 1). Gentrification has occurred in waves:
the urban renewal efforts in the 1950s and 1960s and the “back-to-the-city†movement of the late
1970s and 1980s. Gentrification is a global experience, with renewal efforts documented in Tokyo,
London, Mexico City, Cape Town, Paris, Shanghai, and Sydney, as well as in many other countries
and cities (N. Smith 2002). Gentrification continues today.
The researchers describe gentrification as a “double edged sword.†Officials and developers point to
the increasing real estate values, tax revenues, and commercial activity that take place in revitalized
communities. But is there a price for these capital and economic improvements? The most
contentious by-product of gentrification is the involuntary displacement of a neighborhood’s low-
income residents. No consistent data exist on the number of individuals who have been displaced
through gentrification, yet the evidence suggests that where housing markets are tight (or limited),
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the amount of displacement is likely to be greater and the impacts on those displaced more serious
(Kennedy and Leonard 2001).
p.319
Gentrification is most often associated with the disproportionate pressure it puts on marginalized
poor, elderly, or minorities. The benefits of neighborhood revitalization are not equally distributed.
Research reveals that gentrification is more economically successful in higher-income
neighborhoods than in minority or low-income neighborhoods. Residents of higher-income
gentrified neighborhoods experience greater integration and economic benefit than residents of low-
income neighborhoods that gentrify (Hwang and Sampson 2014). For example, Richard Barrett and
his colleagues (2008) reported a negative association between gentrification and the health of low-
income residents. The researchers concluded that neighborhood economic vitalization encourages
more expensive service providers to move into the neighborhood, thus disrupting or eliminating
low-income residents’ access to low-cost health care. In a study of adults who lived in gentrifying
New York City neighborhoods, Sungwoo Lim and colleagues (2017) concluded that residents who
moved to non-gentrifying, poor neighborhoods had a greater number of emergency room visits,
hospitalizations, and mental health–related visits for about five years after displacement. The
researchers hypothesized that “it is likely that the inability to return to one’s community and loss of
social networks may have an . . . impact on mental health†(p. 8). They encourage public health
practitioners to assess how neighborhood level change affects the health of original residents,
especially those who are vulnerable to displacement.
Although overall U.S. home values dropped between 2008 and 2011, values of homes in close-in or
mixed-use neighborhoods held or increased their value. Demand for walkable urban places, with
amenities of mixed housing types, destinations within walking distance, and public transportation
options, increased above demand for homes in suburban areas with large home lots, ample parking,
and driving as the primary means of transportation (Leinberger and Alfonzo 2012). In their analysis
of sample neighborhoods in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, Christopher Leinberger and
Mariela Alfonzo (2012) documented how residents of more walkable places have lower
transportation costs and higher transit access but higher housing costs. Residents of walkable places
are more affluent than residents of places with poor walkability. Leinberger (2012) reported how
similar class and cost patterns are present in other urban areas, such as Seattle, Washington; Denver,
Colorado; Columbus, Ohio; and Atlanta, Georgia.
Urban Sprawl and Transportation
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©iStock.com/pidjoe/
Bicycles are ubiquitous in the Netherlands. There are an estimated 13 million bikes for the country’s 16 million residents.
The Dutch have established a vast network of efficient and safe bike paths.
As urban areas spread out, they create a phenomenon referred to as urban sprawl. Urban sprawl
began with land development after World War II. Sprawl is defined as the process in which the
spread of development across the landscape outpaces population growth (Ewing, Pendall, and Chen
2002). Sprawl creates four conditions for an urban area: a population that is widely dispersed in low-
density developments; rigidly separated homes, shops, and workplaces; a network of roads marked
by huge blocks and poor access; and a lack of well-defined activity centers, such as downtowns or
town centers (Ewing et al. 2002). Sprawl increases stress on urban livability as goods and services,
along with economic and educational opportunities, become less accessible to inner-city residents
(W. A. Johnson 2007; Powell 2007).
As sprawl increases, so do the number of miles traveled, the number of vehicles owned per
household, traffic fatality rates, air pollution (Corvin 2001; Ewing et al. 2002), and, eventually, our
risk of asthma, obesity, and poor health. On average, an American spends 443 hours per year behind
the wheel (Crenson 2003). Public transportation usage is higher in metro areas. In 2010, the New
York–northern New Jersey–Long Island metro area had the highest percentage of workers who
commuted to work via public transportation, 30.5% (McKenzie and Rapino 2011). New suburban
residential developments don’t include sidewalks, and automobiles are needed to get from place to
place.
p.320
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
COMMUTING
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The national average travel time to work (one way) was 25.5 minutes in 2011 (McKenzie
2013). Workers in the New York and Washington, DC, metro areas had the two longest
travel times, 34.9 minutes and 34.5 minutes, respectively. The majority of workers travel
30 or less minutes to work.
Those who commuted from suburbs to a city for work were more likely to have a 60+
minute commute compared to other home/workplace categories (refer to Figure 14.1).
The mode of commuter transportation varied by time travel (refer to Figure 14.2).
Workers commuting 60+ minutes or longer relied on carpools or public transportation
more than did workers with commute times under an hour. However, for both groups,
driving alone was the most popular transportation mode.
What do you think? How would you define a “long†commute? How important is it for
you to live in close proximity to where you work (or go to school)?
FIGURE 14.1 â– Residence-to-Work Pattern by Commute Time, 2011
Source: McKenzie 2013.
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FIGURE 14.2 â– Commute Mode by Commute Time, 2011
Source: McKenzie 2013.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that urban sprawl increases our time on the
road and decreases our time spent exercising, including walking, jogging, or riding a bike (Corvin
2001). Residents who live in spread-out areas spend fewer minutes each month walking and weigh
about 6 pounds more on average than do those who live in densely populated areas (Stein 2003).
Refer to Exploring Social Problems for more information about U.S. commuters.
p.321
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 14.3: Long Commute
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On average, an American worker’s daily commute is about 25 minutes (one-way commute time),
and 86% of workers drive alone to work (McKenzie 2015). Only 5% of commuters travel to work
using public transportation. Residents from larger cities tend to have longer commutes (U.S. Census
Bureau 2005). Long commutes are also a global experience, particularly for poor disadvantaged
workers. For example, commuting to Brazil’s largest industrial city, São Paulo, can take as much as
four hours each way. São Paulo commuters are mostly minimum-wage laborers, commuting daily
from their working-class poor suburbs to the city’s factories.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Examine the public transportation system for your college city. First, is one available? Second, assess
its effectiveness. Does the system serve all areas of your community? How much does it cost to use
the system? How does the system serve disadvantaged populations—elderly, poor, or disabled
residents? Does the system provide discounted fares for students?
IN FOCUS
LIVING CAR FREE
©Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz
In 2007, the city of Paris introduced Vélib’, a self-service bicycle transit system. From more than 1,200 locations
throughout the city, individuals can rent bikes by the hour. There are 230 miles of cycling lanes in Paris.
North Americans are known for their love affair with, maybe even addiction to, their
automobiles (Boddy 2000). Although the average number of persons per household has
declined, from 3.16 in 1969 to 2.66 in 2009, the number of vehicles has increased in the same
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time period from 1.16 to 1.92 (U.S. Department of Energy 2010). Despite rising fuel prices,
U.S. housing and work patterns make it hard for suburban commuters to change their driving
habits (Ohlemacher 2007). As of November 2017, the highest recorded average price for a
gallon of regular gas was $4.11, in 2008.
However, many European countries and cities have found innovative and community-friendly
ways to deal with gas prices consistently higher than $6.00 per gallon. For example, most of the
4,700 residents of Vauban, Germany, live car free. The rate of Vauban car ownership is 150 per
1,000 inhabitants compared with 640 per 1,000 residents in the United States. How does
Vauban do it? Extensive city planning and innovative public policy. The city was built with an
extensive system of bike paths and few parking spots. Parking spots for vehicles are available in
a garage at the edge of the community for €17,500 (more than $20,000 per year). Vauban city
planners have also encouraged residents to use public transportation such as tramways and
buses. Many of the city’s streets were designed to be too narrow for cars (de Pommereau 2006).
Car use is discouraged in many different ways throughout the world. In Germany, there is a
yearly car tax based on the automobile engine size—the bigger the engine, the higher the tax.
Several European cities maintain fleets of bikes for public use to encourage bike riding as a
transportation alternative. European Union countries, such as France, Italy, and Germany,
have closed off parts of their city centers to cars for a day or permanently. In 1983, Bogotá,
Colombia, initiated a program called ciclovÃa (bike path). Designated streets are closed to cars
every Sunday, encouraging residents to jog, walk, or ride their bikes on the streets and
revitalizing their neighborhoods as a result. One and a half million people are said to turn out
for the Sunday ciclovÃa (Wood 2007).
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
MAGIC JOHNSON
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© iStock.com/EdStock
Since retiring from professional basketball, Magic Johnson has become a commercial and real estate developer in
minority inner-city and suburban neighborhoods.
Since his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers, Earvin “Magic†Johnson has become a
commercial developer opening state-of-the-art multiplex theaters, including restaurants, retail,
personal service, and Starbucks locations. Johnson’s company, Magic Johnson Enterprises,
specifically targets business opportunities in minority inner-city and suburban neighborhoods.
At the opening of a 12-screen multiplex, the Magic Johnson Theatres, in South Central Los
Angeles, Johnson was confident that such a business would succeed in inner cities because
African Americans make up about 13% of the movie-going audience (Dretzka 1995). Johnson
said,
We’re the No. 1 movie goers of any (minority) group but you can’t find any theaters in your neighborhood. That’s
why our theaters are doing so much business. We have great numbers, and for everybody in the neighborhood, it
means more to them than just a theater. It’s a pride situation, bringing the community together. (Quoted in Dretzka
1995:1)
The Magic Johnson Theatres cost an estimated $11 million and feature an art deco lobby with
a large concession stand and a two-level parking garage. The Johnson Development
Corporation has also opened theaters in Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland, and Harlem. The five
theater complexes grossed $30 million in revenue in 2002 (R. Johnson 2003).
Johnson brought his understanding of the inner-city community to the business. In his movie
concessions, knowing that inner-city children grew up drinking Kool-Aid, Johnson sells
flavored sodas. “Used to be we couldn’t afford to go to dinner and the movie afterward. I told
Loew’s [his theater partner], ‘Black people are going to eat dinner at the movies,’†says Johnson
(quoted in Wilborn 2002). As a result, in addition to hot dogs and popcorn, the concessions
sell chicken wings and buffalo shrimp.
At his theaters, no gang colors or hanging out in large groups is allowed. Before each movie, a
clip of Johnson is played, reminding his audiences: “So we got a few policies that apply to
everyone. They are not meant to disrespect. They’re there so we can all have a good time. So if
you have a problem, leave it in the street†(Wilborn 2002).
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Johnson has joined Howard Schultz, chief executive officer of Starbucks, in a franchise deal.
Their partnership opened more than 100 stores. Their first location was in Ladera Center, a
few miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport. The location is one of the biggest
grossing in the Starbucks chain. Schultz explains that through the partnership, “we could create
unique opportunities for the community—employment opportunities, opportunities for
vendors—and also some hope and aspiration about a leading consumer brand doing business in
underserved communities, and perhaps other companies would follow us in†(R. Johnson
2003:77).
Johnson’s business philosophy is simple: “All of my businesses deal with people, customer
service, and entertainment because that’s what I’m good at. Everything flows together from
that, and all the companies help each other†(quoted in E. Smith 1999:80).
In 2001, through the Magic Johnson Foundation, Johnson established a technology initiative
program, currently operating in 12 states. Attempting to address the digital divide (refer to
Chapter 11, “The Mediaâ€) affecting poor and minority children, the program establishes
Community Empowerment Centers providing youth and community members access to
computer technology, training, and experience. The centers also support the Magic of Reading
Program, providing students access to books and literacy programs. Since 2001, the centers
have provided direct services to 255,000 students in 16 urban markets.
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Car-free zones have also been embraced in several U.S. cities. New York, San Francisco, Kansas
City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and El Paso have begun promoting car-
free days in public parks, designated neighborhoods, and green spaces. Since 2010, the city of Los
Angeles has sponsored CicLAvias, a car-free event spanning about 10 miles of city roads and
streets. Advocates argue that these car-free practices promote family activities, active lifestyles, and
closer communities (Wood 2007).
The overall reduction in driving, particularly by the Millennial generation, provides an opportunity
to transform U.S. transportation policies. U.S. PIRG (2013) recommended increasing programs
that encourage Americans to drive less (public transportation systems, bicycling and pedestrian
infrastructures) and creating a strategic plan for the repair and maintenance of existing
transportation infrastructure (highways and bridges).
What Does It Mean to Me?
Could you go car free? Why or why not? Explain your dependence (or lack of dependence) on an
automobile.
531
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The federal agency responsible for addressing the nation’s housing needs and improving and
developing the nation’s communities is HUD. Created in 1965 as part of President Lyndon
Johnson’s War on Poverty, HUD was given the authority to enforce fair housing laws and to
administer a variety of federal programs to provide a decent, safe, and sanitary living environment
for every American (Martinez 2000; HUD 2003b).
HUD’s history extends back to the National Housing Act of 1934 and to the 1937 amendment that
created the U.S. Housing Authority for low-rent housing. HUD’s efforts to encourage home
ownership are rooted in the Housing Act of 1949, a declaration that all Americans have the right to
become homeowners. Despite its expressed goal of creating “well planned and integrated residential
neighborhoods,†the Housing Act did not improve housing conditions for nonminority households
(Martinez 2000). The goals of the Housing Act of 1949 were reaffirmed in the Fair Housing Act of
1968, authorizing the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to make sure that home ownership
was affordable and accessible for every U.S. family, including minorities and the poor (Martinez
2000). HUD continues its housing mission, expanding services to elderly residents and overseeing
health care facilities and lead hazard control.
In addition, HUD has been a major player in influencing land-use decisions in urban areas
(Williams 2000), spurring economic growth and development in distressed communities (HUD
2003b). HUD’s major urban initiatives have included the Housing and Urban Development Act of
1970, which established a national growth policy that emphasized new community and inner-city
development; the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, which established
community development block grants; and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which
created the first enterprise zones to stimulate economic development in distressed areas. Enacted in
2000, the Community Renewal and New Markets Initiative reinforced HUD’s focus on fostering
economic opportunity, enhancing the quality of life, and building a stronger sense of community in
impoverished inner-city neighborhoods (Williams 2000).
With oversight provided by HUD, the renewal communities, empowerment zones, and enterprise
communities program took an innovative approach to revitalization that targets inner cities and
rural areas. The program brought communities together through public and private partnerships to
attract the social and economic investment necessary for sustainable economic and community
development (HUD 2003c). Each program integrated four principles: a strategic vision for change,
community-based partnerships, economic opportunity, and sustainable community development.
The program began with the assumption that local communities can best identify and develop local
solutions to the problems they face (HUD 2003c). The empowerment zones and renewal
communities program ended in December 2013.
532
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Urban Revitalization Programs
The HOPE VI program was established by Congress in 1992. Originally called the Urban
Revitalization Demonstration Program, from 1993 to 2006 HOPE VI spent nearly $6.2 billion to
tear down public housing facilities and revitalize others into larger modern townhomes and
detached homes with the goal of creating mixed-income communities in inner cities. Community
and service programs are also established as part of the funding. In 2008, six housing authorities in
four states (Illinois, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin) were awarded a total of $97 million (HUD
2009).
The HOPE VI program was created based on recommendations from the National Commission on
Severely Distressed Public Housing (HUD 2003a). The commission recommended revitalization in
three areas: physical improvements, management improvements, and social and community services
to address residents’ needs. Program grants pay for demolition of distressed public housing and
rehabilitation or new construction. The program has been criticized for worsening the local housing
situation because not all demolished units are replaced and program data reveal that not all residents
return to the redeveloped HOPE VI sites.
Although the program’s primary focus is on the quality of housing units, HUD officials reported
that the HOPE VI program has made an impact on its residents through community and
supportive programs for residents. When the program was honored in 2000 by the Institute for
Government Innovation, HOPE VI officials reported that nearly 3,500 public housing residents
had left welfare and more than 6,500 residents had found new jobs as a result of the program
(Institute for Government Innovation 2000).
The Obama administration established the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) in 2008, a
collaborative effort with the Departments of HUD, Education, Health and Human Services,
Justice, and the Treasury. The interagency strategy was promoted as an interdisciplinary, place-
based, locally led, and data-driven solution to the interconnected challenges of neighborhood
revitalization. The initiative includes two new programs—Choice Neighborhoods and Promise
Neighborhoods. The Choice Neighborhoods program supports the revitalization of distressed
public and/or HUD-assisted housing units. In 2018, $5 million in planning grants was awarded to
six neighborhoods in California, Illinois, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (HUD
2018). Promise Neighborhoods is a neighborhood revitalization program to improve the educational
and developmental outcomes of children and youth. The program utilizes place-based community
change efforts, identifying and mobilizing community residents, leaders, public and private
businesses and local organizations to lead and transform neighborhoods. At the end of 2012, the
program had been implemented in 21 states and the District of Columbia.
533
Creating Sustainable Communities
Tyler Norris (2001) chronicled the emergence and importance of the sustainable community
movement in the United States. Since the early 1960s, thousands of public–private partnerships
have been formed to work for economic development, educational improvement, environmental
protection, health care, social issues, and other issues critical to communities. An array of private
and public community groups form these partnerships. These alliances have been identified by
several names and terms: healthy communities, sustainable communities, livable communities, safe
communities, whole communities, and smart growth. Similar alliances have been established in Great
Britain and China. Much of the improvement in public health, community revitalization, and
quality of life can be attributed to these alliances. The best partnerships, according to Norris, bring
together traditional leaders and community members often not included in the decision-making
process. A summary of best practices from successful sustainable communities is presented in Table
14.5.
TABLE 14.5 â– Best Practices for Sustainable Communities
Source: Adapted from Norris, Tyler. 2001. “Civic Gemstones: The Emergent Communities Movement.†National Civic Review
90(4):307–18.
p.325
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2017) manages the Smart Growth Program, helping
communities improve their development practices to better “protect human health and the
environment, create economic opportunities, and provide attractive and affordable neighborhoods
for people of all income levels.†Examples of sustainable communities include the following:
534
• Highlander Research and Education Center, New Market, Tennessee. The center was
established in 1932, working primarily on social change and education in the areas of labor,
civil rights, and Appalachian issues. In the 2000s, the center defined its focus on four broad,
interconnected issues—economic justice, racial justice, environmental justice, and democratic
participation—that it believed were critical to making progress toward a more just and humane
society. Current programs include an internship program, a children’s justice camp, a capacity-
building/leadership program, and cultural programs. Each program serves as an invaluable
resource to community groups in Appalachia and in the South.
• Greensburg GreenTown, Greensburg, Kansas. After an EF5 tornado leveled the town of
Greensburg in 2007, residents, city officials, and businesses made a commitment to rebuild
their city sustainably. GreenTown documents and coordinates the community’s green building
projects. The program offers green tours, allowing visitors to see examples of public, single-
family residential, multifamily residential, and commercial construction. GreenTown also
provides technical assistance to individuals, community groups, businesses, and local
governments wishing to adopt similar green building strategies.
Housing and Homelessness Programs
The one community response to homelessness that most of us are familiar with is the homeless
shelter. These shelters have been referred to as “Band-Aid†solutions, helping but not really fixing
the problem. However, these emergency programs can provide immediate and necessary assistance
and, in particular, security for families with children. If these shelters are to be truly effective, more
humane and supportive shelter environments should be promoted to assist families and to better
prepare them for independent living (Choi and Snyder 1999). For example, existing social and
human services programs will be more effective if the homeless are able to obtain the benefits that
they are already eligible for (Rossi 1989), such as Social Security, disability payments, and food
stamps.
p.326
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
NONPROFIT WORK
Mairead Shutt—Class of 2001
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Business
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In describing what it means to live a life of moral and civic responsibility, Anne Colby and her
colleagues (2003) wrote, “If today’s college graduates are to be positive forces in this world,
they need not only to possess knowledge and intellectual capacities but also to see themselves as
members of a community, as individuals with a responsibility to contribute to their
communities†(p. 7).
Because of their personal interest or commitment to similar goals, college graduates are often
drawn to nonprofit organizations, organizations that are neither for-profit businesses nor
government agencies. Nonprofits include hospitals, private schools, churches, social welfare
organizations, and charitable organizations (Butler 2009; Taylor 2010). Many of the
community-based homeless programs are nonprofits. Operations are funded not only by grants
from the government but also from private donations.
A bachelor’s degree may be required for some entry positions; some management or
administrative positions require a master’s degree in Business, Public Policy, or a related field.
An often-cited downside to nonprofit work is the salary, which is typically lower than for
comparable positions in the for-profit world. The type of work you can do varies widely from
direct client service to recruiting volunteers to program operations or fundraising.
Mairead Shutt is a relationship manager for a medium-sized environmental education
nonprofit organization. She is responsible for donor development and stewardship. “My
primary goal, on a day-to-day basis, is to engage donors at a highly personal level; partner with
Board Members to engage donors, and stay engaged with our education programs and the
impact these programs are having on students, teachers, and the community.â€
After completing her BA in Sociology and working in several nonprofits, Mairead went back
to school to earn an MBA. She continues to use sociology in her work with donors. She says,
My foundation in sociology has helped me to see the people I interact with through my profession (including my
colleagues, the students and teachers my organization serves, and the donors I communicate with) as unique
individuals, as well as people that are impacted by a larger social system that helps inform their world views,
opportunities, and preferences. This has allowed me to excel at working with diverse groups of people, keeping an
open mind about people’s experience and personal history, and communicating effectively. My sociology training is
also valuable to me at work because it helps me to combine both qualitative and quantitative data, research, and
analysis to understand the big picture of a situation, problem, or opportunity. Today, I regularly combine hard data
and metrics with more qualitative assessments to measure fundraising progress and to evaluate goals.
Mairead offers three excellent suggestions to undergraduate Sociology majors.
(1) It is acceptable to need time and space to explore and learn about the world before knowing exactly what you
would like to do for the rest of your life. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t have the answer by your senior year. (2)
Take on as many learning opportunities as you can. Volunteer for causes you are passionate about and build your
network. (3) Do the math. Understand the salary ranges in different sectors. While I would never discourage anyone
from a career in the nonprofit world, I would encourage graduates to go in with a solid understanding of the financial
realities.
536
In 1987, Congress passed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, which established
assistance programs for homeless individuals and families. Under this act, 20 programs were
authorized to provide emergency food and shelter, transitional and permanent housing, education,
mental health care, primary health care, and veterans’ assistance services. In an effort to create more
affordable housing, under Title II of the 1998 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing
Act, the HOME program provides grants to state and local governments to build, buy, or
rehabilitate affordable housing for rent or home ownership. Working with community groups, the
HOME program continues to serve low-income families.
p.327
Community efforts are important for the homeless and low-income families. The best-known
community-based housing program is Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat serves primarily
low- and very-low-income families with support from local volunteers, churches, and businesses, as
well as from the sweat equity of future homeowners. Habitat families have incomes of about 30% to
50% of the area’s median income.
Project Homeless Connect began in San Francisco in 2004 when Mayor Gavin Newsom had the
idea of bringing city hall staff and programs to the homeless community. The project, replicated in
more than 200 U.S cities and in Canada and Australia, attempts to reach out to a city’s homeless
population by delivering an array of services—social, medical, mental health, housing—all under
one roof at a local venue. Quality-of-life services are also offered for the day, including haircuts,
wheelchair repair, eyeglasses, and dental services. The project connects homeless men and women
with program representatives and members of the community. It is staffed by more than 700
volunteers and is supported through donations from local businesses.
Although supportive services are necessary for the homeless, homelessness cannot be prevented or
eliminated without enough housing for the poor. Homelessness cannot be prevented or eliminated
without a livable wage, employment opportunities for inner-city residents, more efficient
management of public housing projects, emergency rent assistance programs, and the expansion of
low-income housing subsidies (Choi and Snyder 1999).
CHAPTER REVIEW
14.1 Define demography.
Demography, an essential part of urban studies, is the study of the size, composition,
and distribution of human populations, as well as changes and trends in those areas.
An additional demographic element is migration, the movement of individuals from
one area to another.
14.2 Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization.
Urbanization is the process by which a population shifts from rural to urban locales,
537
expanded in the latter half of the 19th century. Suburbanization is the outward
expansion of central cities into suburban areas, moving population centers away from
city centers.
14.3 Explain how a population is affected by its age distribution or ethnic composition.
Age distribution, or the distribution of individuals by age, is particularly important as
it provides a community with some direction in its social and economic planning.
Ethnic and age compositions will also affect community services and priorities.
14.4 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and population growth
and related social problems.
Functionalists are critical about the shift from simple to complex societies, arguing
that we lose our social bonds and connections to others in the process. The conflict
perspective examines how cities are formed on the basis of racial, gender, or class
inequalities stemming from capitalism. Social problems are natural to the system,
arising from the unequal distribution of power among various groups. Feminist
theorists have argued for the development of a comprehensive field of theory and
research that acknowledges the role and experiences of women in urban
environments. The structure of our urban public settings, along with how we use or
experience them, contributes to how we define our cities.
14.5 Analyze the consequences of gentrification.
Researchers describe gentrification as a double-edged sword. Gentrification often
increases real estate values, tax revenues, and commercial activities. It also displaces a
neighborhood’s low-income residents. It disproportionately pressures marginalized
poor, elderly, and minority populations out of their homes and neighborhoods. This
is most pronounced where housing is limited.
14.6 Describe the sustainable community movement.
Since the early 1960s, thousands of public–private partnerships have been formed to
work for economic development, educational improvement, environmental
protection, health care, social issues, and other issues critical to communities. An
array of private and public community groups form these partnerships.
p.328
KEY TERMS
age distribution, 310
critical political-economy perspective, 311
crowding, 317
538
domestic migration, 308
emigration, 308
ethnic composition, 310
gentrification, 318
human ecology, 308
immigration, 308
interior residential density, 317
mechanical solidarity, 311
migration, 308
organic solidarity, 311
overurbanization, 309
residential segregation, 312
socio-spatial perspective, 311
suburbanization, 309
urban population, 310
urban sociology, 307
urban sprawl, 319
urbanization, 308
urbanized area, 310
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Define urbanization and suburbanization. What are some ways that urbanization and
suburbanization contribute to social problems?
2. Explain the societal transition from mechanical to organic solidarity as identified by Émile
Durkheim.
3. From an interactionist’s perspective, how connected are you to your community? Do you
define your community by what you value in it or what you use within it?
4. Access to affordable and/or quality housing is a problem facing urban and suburban
dwellers. Identify the extent of each problem, and identify solutions for each.
5. It is difficult to accurately measure the extent of the homeless problem in the United States.
How does this disadvantage our understanding of homelessness? Of attempting to solve it?
6. How can sociology be used to encourage the expansion of car-free or pedestrian zones?
539
Which sociological perspective(s) would best apply?
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©Mario Tama/Getty Images
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15
THE ENVIRONMENT
Media Library
CHAPTER 15 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 15.1: Renewable Energy
AP News Clips 15.2: Annual Precipitation
AP News Clips 15.3: Global Warming in the Arctic
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
15.1 Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems.
15.2 Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems.
15.3 Discuss climate change and global warming.
15.4 Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
15.5 Compare the first wave and second wave of environmental interest groups.
15.6 Assess the impact of the environmental movement.
Mega. That’s the word used to describe recent environmental disasters that have seriously threatened
and damaged our physical and social worlds. A megadisaster is defined as a catastrophe that
threatens or overwhelms an area’s capacity to get people to safety, treat casualties, protect
infrastructure, and control panic (Choi 2011).
In 2011, northeastern Japan was struck by a 9.0 earthquake. This megadisaster has been
characterized as a natural catastrophe overlaid by a technical situation (Choi 2011): The earthquake
was followed by a tsunami and damage to three nuclear reactors in Fukushima. The tsunami leveled
130,000 houses and damaged 250,000 more. About 270 railway lines, 15 expressways, 69 national
highways, and 638 municipal roads were closed. Approximately 20,000 people died, most due to
drowning, and thousands of residents were displaced. John Schwartz (2011) wrote, “The sobering
fact is that megadisasters like the Japanese earthquake can overcome the best efforts of our species to
542
protect against them. No matter how high the levee or how flexible the foundation, disaster experts
say, nature bats last†(p. 5).
With powerful 75 mph winds, Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico in 2017.
Home to more than 3.4 million Americans, it took months for the island to recover. In addition to
the loss of lives (no officially confirmed number of deaths as of May 2018), Puerto Rico was
crippled by the loss of electricity, flooding and rains, and massive destruction to roads and
infrastructure. Many residents fled to the United States for safety. Although the U.S. Congress
approved $5 billion in aid, Governor Ricardo Rossello requested more than $90 billion in additional
support for housing restoration and infrastructure and to ensure the island’s long-term recovery.
Economist Tony Villamil predicts that it will “take a decade at minimum for the island to recover
and regain some sense of normalcy. . . . The ports, the power grid, the highways all need to be
rebuilt with significant improvements†(quoted in Galarza and Lee 2017).
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS ARE HUMAN PROBLEMS
The field of environmental sociology considers the interactions between our physical and natural
environment on the one hand, and our social organization and behavior on the other (Dunlap and
Catton 1994). Human beings are an integral part of the ecosystem (Irwin 2001). The state of the
environment is also influenced by our cultural values and attitudes toward the environment, our
social class, our technology, and our relationship with others (Cable and Cable 1995). When we use
a sociological perspective to understand environmental problems, we acknowledge that “human
activities are causing the deterioration in the quality of the environment and that environmental
deterioration in turn has negative impacts on people†(Dunlap 1997:27).
p.332
Humans create environmental problems through intentional efforts to exploit or manage nature.
Rivers that are dammed, straightened, or treated as sewers may create unintended downstream
environmental problems (Caldwell 1997). The removal of rain forests to harvest wood or to create
farmland decreases the number of plants and trees that absorb carbon dioxide, leading to higher
amounts of greenhouse gases in the air. But environmental problems don’t exist just because of our
actions.
Our pursuit of economic development, growth, and jobs has also led to the degradation of the
environment (Caldwell 1997). Russia, Indonesia, and Zambia are among the world’s most polluted
places. These countries and their residents are exposed to organic and industrial pollutants caused by
mining, manufacturing, and transportation. Although much of this pollution can be attributed to
the countries’ substandard infrastructures or the absence of regulatory controls, even if both were
brought up to industrial country standards, “the legacy of old contamination from the past would
continue to poison the local population†(Blacksmith Institute 2007:3).
Environmentalist Paul Hawken (1997) referred to the Biosphere 2 experiment to demonstrate just
543
how vital and fragile our ecosystem is. The Biosphere 2 was a 3-acre, glass-enclosed ecosystem
intended to sustain eight people for a two-year experiment, from September 1991 through
September 1993. The Biosphere 2’s $200 million budget was not enough to create a viable
ecosystem for eight people. By the time the experiment ended, the Biosphere’s air and drinking
water were polluted, crops and trees had been killed by other vegetation, and 19 of the 25 small
animal species the participants brought with them had died. The scientists who lived in the
biosphere showed signs of oxygen starvation from living at the equivalent of an altitude of 17,500
feet. Even with scientific knowledge and planning, there are no human-made substitutions for
essential natural resources. As Hawken (1997) explained,
We have not come up with an economical way to manufacture watershed, gene pools, topsoil, wetlands, river systems,
pollinators, or fisheries. Technological fixes can’t solve problems with soil fertility or guarantee clean air, biological diversity,
pure water, and climatic stability; nor can they increase the capacity of the environment to absorb 25 billion tons of waste
created annually by America alone. (p. 41)
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS
Functionalist Perspective
Whether they are looking at a social system or an ecosystem, functionalists examine the entire
system and its components. Where are environmental problems likely to arise? Functionalists would
answer that problems develop from the system itself. Agricultural and industrial modes of
production are destabilizing forces in our ecosystem. Agriculture replaces complex natural systems
with simpler artificial ones to sustain select highly productive crops. These crops require constant
attention in the form of cultivation, fertilizers, and pesticides, all foreign elements to the natural
environment (Ehrlich, Ehrlich, and Holdren 1973). When it first began, industrialization entered a
society that had fewer people, less material well-being, and abundant natural resources. But modern
industrialization uses “more resources to make few people more productive,†and as a result, “more
people are chasing fewer natural resources†(Hawken 1997:40). As much as agriculture,
industrialization, and related technologies have improved the quality of our lives, we must deal with
the negative consequences of waste, pollution, and the destruction of our natural resources. Human
activities have become a dominant influence on the Earth’s climate and ecosystems (Kanter 2007).
Biologists Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich (1990) contend that the impact of any human group on
the environment is the product of three different factors. First is the population, second is the
average person’s consumption of resources or level of affluence, and third is the amount of damage
caused by technology. They present a final formula: Environmental Damage = (People) × (Level of
Affluence) × (Technological Damage). A high rate of population growth or consumption can lead
to a “hasty application†of new technologies in an attempt to meet new and increasing demands.
“The larger the absolute size of the population and its level of consumption, the larger the scale of
the technology must be, and, hence, the more serious are the mistakes that are made†(Ehrlich,
544
Ehrlich, and Holdren 1973:15). “What matters to the environment,†writes Robert Engelman
(2009), “are sums of human pulls and pushes, the extractions of resources and the injections of
waste†(p. 24).
p.333
There is no simple way to stop the escalation of environmental problems. Halting population
growth would be a good start but, by itself, cannot solve the problem. On October 31, 2011, the
United Nations announced that the world’s population had reached 7 billion, with 10 billion
predicted for 2100 (UN News Centre 2011). Reducing technology’s impact on the environment
might be useful, but not if our population and affluence are allowed to grow. According to Ehrlich
et al. (1973), the only way to address environmental problems is to simultaneously attack all
components.
Conflict Perspective
Public discourse on environmental problems is often framed in terms of costs and interests. Do you
save the spotted owl habitat or hundreds of logging jobs? Should you close a factory to save the river
where its waste is being dumped? The $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to
the Gulf of Mexico has been the center of a national debate over energy independence, economic
growth, and climate change. Whereas supporters described the pipeline as a jobs creator and saw it
as a means to reduce our dependency on foreign oil, environmentalists warned that transporting raw
tar sands oil over 2,000 miles is unsafe and ultimately would prove harmful for people, wildlife,
water, and the climate (Natural Resources Defense Council 2014). From the conflict sociological
perspective, environmental problems are created by humans competing for power, income, and their
own interests.
Our capitalist economic system has been identified as a primary source of the conflict over polluting
(or conserving) our natural world. Competing political, economic, and environmental interests
ensure that this conflict will continue. A few days after he was sworn into office, President Donald
Trump approved the federal permit for the pipeline. In November 2017, the Nebraska Public
Service Commission approved the final stage of the pipeline’s route. Opponents promised to tie the
pipeline up in court.
J. Clarence Davies (1970) argued that the capitalist system encourages pollution, simply because air
and water are treated as infinite and free resources. Polluters don’t really consider who or what is
being affected by environmental problems. If a paper mill is polluting the river, it doesn’t affect the
paper mill itself but, rather, affects the users of the water or the residents downstream. If a power
plant is polluting the air, the plant doesn’t pay for the cost of using the air; it pays only the cost of
cleaning up a polluted area (Davies 1970).
Environmental problems occasionally make life unpleasant and inconvenient, but most Americans
will tolerate this in exchange for the benefits and comforts associated with a developed industrial
545
economy (Tobin 2000). Environmental damage, pollution, and degradation have become acceptable
consequences of doing business. A higher standard of living has been confused with consumption:
More is better. As Henri Lefebvre (1971/2000) argued, the objective of a consumer capitalist society
is to satisfy real or imagined material needs. Television and print media overwhelm us with products
and services and tell us that we cannot live without them. Politicians encourage lower taxes so that
we have more money to spend. But increased consumption requires increased production and
energy, which in turn leads to environmental damage. David Korten (1995) explained,
About 70 percent of this productivity growth has been in . . . economic activity accounted for by the petroleum,
petrochemical, and metal industries; chemical intensive agriculture; public utilities; road building; transportation; and
mining . . . the industries that are most rapidly drawing down natural capital, generating the bulk of our toxic waste, and
consuming a substantial portion of our renewable energy. (pp. 37–38)
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Hawken (1993) contended that we should be able to put an economic value on our renewable
(forests, fisheries) and nonrenewable (coal, oil) natural resources. He advocates natural capitalism,
the awareness of the value of nature as a system, no different from assessing the value of human or
financial capital. We are able to attach a dollar amount to a tree once it is cut down for its timber,
but what is its value as a living part of our ecosystem? What is the price tag on nature?
Polluters target those with the least amount of power. Race, said Robert Bullard (1999), is the most
important factor in determining whether an individual drinks dirty water or lives next to a toxic site.
He defined environmental racism as “any environmental policy, practice or directive that
differentially affects or disadvantages individuals, groups, or communities based on race or colorâ€
(Bullard 1994:98). Environmental racism is institutionalized through the government, the legal
system, and economic forces (Bullard 1999).
Research consistently indicates that low-income people, and people of color are exposed to greater
environmental risks than are those who live in White or affluent communities. Low-income people
and people of color suffer higher levels of environmentally generated diseases and death as a result of
their elevated risk (Ringquist 2000). Environmental racism has been expanded to include members
of other disadvantaged communities, examining heightened environmental risk based on race, class,
gender, education, and political power.
The most recent case of environmental racism was met with protest and violence. For months on a
stretch of land in North Dakota, thousands of protestors and activists mobilized to protest
construction of an oil pipeline under Lake Oahe, half a mile upstream from the Standing Rock
Sioux tribe’s reservation. The pipeline is part of a 1,172-mile pipeline carrying crude oil from North
546
Dakota to refineries in Illinois (Cuevas, Sidner, and Simon 2017). Tribal members, who called
themselves Water Protectors, claimed that the pipeline would negatively impact their land and their
way of life. Expressing solidarity with the tribe, the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues issued a statement, which said in part: “It is therefore imperative that the United
States respects and recognizes the intrinsic, inter-related rights of Sioux and their spiritual
traditions, history, philosophy, and especially their rights to their lands and territories. The world is
watching what is happening in North Dakota†(UN Division for Social Policy and Development
Indigenous Peoples 2016).
©ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
In 2016–2017, thousands of protesters and activists mobilized to protest the construction of an oil pipeline under Lake Oahe
in North Dakota.
Through social media and news reports, the world watched as law enforcement officials used water
cannons, rubber bullets, police dogs, teargas grenades, sound weapons, and other less than lethal
methods against the activists. A federal class action lawsuit was filed against the Morton County
sheriff’s office, seeking a restraining order to bar police from using such extreme tactics (Wong and
Levin 2016). Hundreds were injured and arrested during the protests. President Trump ordered the
final construction permits for the pipeline. In June 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia ruled that the Trump administration did not comply with environmental laws when it
reversed the Obama administration’s plans to reroute the pipeline, failing to examine the
environmental impact of building upstream from the Standing Rock reservation (Earthjustice 2017).
Although the federal court ruled that the pipeline could remain operational until a new
environmental review was completed, it ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Dakota
Access Pipeline to work with the tribes to complete an oil spill response plan and to report any
pipeline incidents and repairs to the tribe.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Major U.S. corporations have joined the environmental movement. Walmart, for example, has
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implemented a no-package waste program, sells seafood from certified sustainable fisheries, and is
transitioning its trucking fleet to vehicles that run on biofuels generated from the waste grease
collected from stores’ delis. According to Jared Diamond (2009), although Walmart and other
corporations are motivated by money and efficiency, they are also interested in creating an Earth-
friendly, public-pleasing image. Should we be skeptical about these corporations’ Earth-friendly
initiatives? Does this change the way you think about them?
Feminist Perspective
The feminist perspective argues that a masculine worldview is responsible for the domination of
nature, the domination of women, and the domination of minorities (Scarce 1990), acknowledging
that the connection between the environment and women is one of shared oppression (Chircop
2008) via the capitalist regime and patriarchal structures of domination (McKinney and Fulkerson
2015). Laura McKinney and Gregory Fulkerson (2015) explained, “These linkages make
environmental degradation especially consequential for women and are also believed to increase
women’s propensity to protect and preserve the environment, when they are afforded positions in
society. Thus, the status of women is uniquely affected by, and has potential to enhance,
environmental conditions†(p. 297).
Ecofeminism may be the dominant feminist perspective for explaining the relationship between
humans and the environment (Littig 2001). Ecofeminism was introduced in 1974 in an effort to
bring attention to the power of women to bring about an ecological revolution, using women’s
experiences as the starting point. Ecofeminists argue that “men driven by rationalism, domination,
competitiveness, individualism, and a need to control, are most often the culprits in the exploitation
of animals and the environment†(Scarce 1990:40). According to ecofeminists, “respect for nature
generally promotes human welfare, and genuine respect for all human beings tends to protect
nature†(Wenz 2001:190). Other feminist approaches include the feminist critique of natural
science, feminist analyses of specific environmental issues (work, garbage, consumption), and
feminist contributions to sustainable development (Littig 2001).
Cynthia Hamilton (1994) argued that environmental conflicts mirror social injustice struggles in
other areas—for women, for people of color, for the poor. In environmental movements, Hamilton
explained, what motivates activist women is the need to protect home and children. Because the
home is defined as the woman’s domain, her position places her closest to the dangers of hazardous
waste, providing her with an opportunity to monitor illnesses and possible environmental causes
within her family and among her neighbors. As Hamilton sees it, these women are responding not
to “‘nature’ in the abstract but to their homes and the health of their children†(p. 210).
The modern environmental justice movement emerged out of citizen protests at Love Canal, near
Niagara Falls, New York (Newman 2001). The movement is based on the principle that “all peoples
548
and communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and
regulations†(Bullard 1994). For many years, the movement has effectively brought racial and
economic discrimination in waste disposal, polluting industries, access to services, and the impacts
of transportation and city planning to the public’s attention (Morland and Wing 2007).
p.336
Environmental Protection Agency
The Love Canal disaster has been credited with changing public policy regarding toxic waste cleanup. New legislation
emerged holding polluters responsible for their actions. In addition, Love Canal marks the beginning of the environmental
justice movement in the United States, inspiring other citizen groups to become advocates for safe and healthy
neighborhoods.
At the center of Love Canal’s citizens’ protest movement was a group of local women who called
themselves “housewives turned activists.†Lois Gibbs and Debbie Cerillo formed the Love Canal
Homeowners Association in 1978. Concerned about the number of miscarriages, birth defects,
illnesses, and rare forms of cancer among their families and neighbors, the women worked with
Beverly Paigen, a research scientist, to document the health problems in their community (Breton
1998). The information they collected became known as “housewife data†(Newman 2001). The
women held demonstrations, wrote press releases, distributed petitions, and provided testimony
before state and federal officials (Newman 2001). In 1978, Love Canal was declared a disaster area,
some 800 residents were evacuated and relocated, and the site was cleaned up. Gibbs went on to
form the Center for Health, Environment and Justice and continues to work on behalf of
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communities fighting toxic waste problems. More information about Love Canal is presented in the
section titled “Hazardous Waste Sites and Brownfields.â€
Interactionist Perspective
Theorists working within the interactionist perspective address how environmental problems are
created and defined. Riley Dunlap and William Catton (1994) explained, “Environmental
sociologists have a long tradition of highlighting the development of societal recognition and
definition of environmental conditions as ‘problems’†(p. 20). Environmental problems do not
materialize by themselves (Irwin 2001). As John Hannigan (1995:55) described, the successful
construction of an environmental problem requires six factors: the scientific authority for and
validation of claims; the existence of “popularizers†(activists, scientists) who can frame and package
the “problem†to journalists, political leaders, and other opinion makers; media attention that frames
the problem as novel and important (such as the problems of rain forest destruction or ozone
depletion); the dramatization of the problem in symbolic or visual terms; visible economic incentives
for taking positive action; and the emergence of an institutional sponsor who can ensure legitimacy
and continuity of the problem.
Social constructionists do not deny that real environmental problems exist. Rather, their interest is
in “the process through which environmental claims-makers influence those who hold the reins of
power to recognize definitions of environmental problems, to implement them and to accept
responsibility for their solution†(Hannigan 1995:185). This perspective helps us understand how
environmental concerns vary over time and how some problems are given higher priority than
others.
According to Darryn Anne DiFrancesco and Nathan Young (2010), visual communication plays a
critical role in many environmental issues, helping to advance or promote a problem to the public.
But “global climate change, despite its status as one of the most talked-about and pivotal
environmental challenges of our time, appears to lack key visual symbols or metaphors†(p. 531).
The authors examined newspaper images of climate change published over a six-month period in
Canada’s two national newspapers, The Globe and The National Post, in 2008 and discovered that
Canada’s climate change story is told primarily using benign human imagery, focusing on politicians
(e.g., Canada’s environment minister, John Baird) rather than on scientists or ordinary citizens.
Emotive images, such as a polar bear mother with her cub, were rare in their sample. They
concluded that the national print media in Canada were not interested in playing up the emotional
aspects of the climate change debate. “In our view, the dearth of the clear imagery around global
climate change makes it more difficult for ordinary citizens to visualize potential impacts and
consequences, and to link (often) abstract language claims to real world and to everyday life†(p.
531).
p.337
550
For a summary of sociological perspectives on the environment, see Table 15.1.
TABLE 15.1 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: The Environment
SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Climate Change
Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate (temperature,
precipitation, or wind patterns) lasting for an extended period of time. Global warming, the
ongoing rise in the global average temperature near the Earth’s surface, contributes to climate
change. There are also natural causes of climate change, such as ocean changes, volcanic eruption,
and changes in the Earth’s orbit.
p.338
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©Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
According to scientists, Greenland, with its melting ice caps and disappearing glaciers, is an accurate indicator of global
warming.
To sustain life on Earth, a certain amount of surface heat is required. Heat becomes trapped
through the buildup of greenhouse gases—water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases—making
the Earth’s average temperature a comfortable and sustainable 60 degrees Fahrenheit
(Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] 2003b). Over the past century, the Earth’s surface
temperature has risen by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (EPA 2012). The problem is the
accumulation of specific greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—primarily
attributable to human activity during the past 150 years (EPA 2018).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that climate change should
increase by 2.2 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100 years (EPA 2012). According to the
World Meteorological Organization, 2016 was the hottest year on record worldwide. Petteri Taalas,
the organization’s secretary-general, warned: “This is a part of a long term warming trend. . . . Many
of these events—and detailed scientific studies will determine exactly how many—bear the tell-tale
sign of climate change caused by greenhouse gas concentrations from human activities†(World
Meteorological Organization 2017).
Since the Industrial Revolution, concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30%,
methane concentrations have increased by 145%, and nitrous oxide concentrations have increased
15% (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1996). Fossil fuels used to run cars and trucks, heat homes and
businesses, and power factories are responsible for about 98% of carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of
methane emissions, and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions. Agriculture, deforestation, landfills, and
mining also add to the amount of emissions. China and the United States have the highest fossil
fuel carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. A list of the top 10 carbon dioxide–emitting countries is
provided in Table 15.2.
TABLE 15.2 â– Total Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2016
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Source: Adapted from Global Carbon Atlas. 2016. “Emissions†(http://www.globalcarbonatlas.org/?q=en/emissions).
p.339
Although they are unable to predict specifically what will happen, where it will happen, and when it
will happen, scientists have identified how our health, agriculture, resources, forests, and wildlife are
vulnerable to the changes brought about by climate change. Soil moisture may decline in many
regions, rainstorms may become more frequent, and winters may be colder and longer. Changing
regional climates could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. Sea levels could rise 2 feet along
most of the U.S. coast. In its 2007 report, IPCC (Kanter and Revkin 2007) predicted that the most
severe effects would be felt in poor countries and areas facing existing dangers from climate and
coastal hazards. Poor households are especially vulnerable to climate change because they lack
resources or services to protect themselves and their communities against the threats from changing
conditions or crises. Human activity was also identified as the main cause of warming since 1950
(Kanter and Revkin 2007).
During his first term, George W. Bush downplayed the problem of climate change, referring to the
lack of scientific evidence confirming its causes and consequences. In March 2001, President Bush
announced that the United States would not support the Kyoto Protocol, which was drawn up in
1997 to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The treaty
limits the emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2% below 1990 levels. According to
Bush, the Kyoto regulations would have become too burdensome for U.S. industry at a time when
businesses were struggling with a slowing economy. In addition, the president noted that leading
world polluters, India and China, were exempted from the treaty.
However, in his second term, Bush began to reverse his position. In 2005, he agreed for the first
time that human action was responsible for climate change, and in 2007, the president called for a
long-term plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and throughout the world.
553
Acknowledging that science has “deepened our understanding of climate change,†the president
called for other countries to set national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 10 and 20
years (Stolberg 2007).
Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama observed that climate change, if left unchecked,
would result in an irreversible catastrophe. Although the United States has not yet ratified the
Kyoto treaty, during the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, it was
one of 195 nations that signed on to the Paris Climate Accord. Every country made a commitment
to lowering its greenhouse gas emissions.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 15.1: Renewable Energy
However, in 2017, President Trump announced his decision to withdraw the United States from
the Paris Climate Accord. Said Trump, “Our withdrawal from the agreement represents a
reassertion of American workers’ sovereignty†(quoted in Domonoske and Dwyer 2017). Since
taking office, Trump administration officials have been critical of the climate change science. EPA
Director Scott Pruitt asserts that carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to climate change.
Under Pruitt’s leadership, the EPA revised and reduced access to climate data and reports on its
website; this action caused alarm within the scientific community. Toly Ringberg and Andrew
Bergman (2017), members of the Environmental and Governance Initiative, warned, “By altering
and removing climate websites built over years and paid for by tax dollars, the Trump
administration is actively working to muddy the overwhelming scientific consensus that human
activity drives climate change. These actions only generate confusion about the issue and delay
progress toward reaching a policy solution supported by the public.â€
Air Quality
554
The quality of the air we breathe is subject to pollution from two sources: particulate matter and
smog. Research has linked air pollution to acute and chronic illnesses (e.g., burning eyes and nose,
asthma) as well as death. Air pollution also leads to environmental and property damage.
Particulate or particle pollution is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels—the burning of coal,
diesel, gasoline, and wood. Particulate matter includes road dust, diesel soot, ash, wood smoke, and
sulfate aerosols that are suspended in the air (Natural Resources Defense Council 1996). The EPA
is concerned about small particulate matter, 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller, because these
smaller particles are able to pass through the throat and nose and enter the lungs, causing respiratory
problems (EPA 2007a).
p.340
Particulate pollution caused by traffic and diesel engines is a growing problem in many European
Union cities. The World Health Organization set the acceptable air quality standard at 10
micrograms of particles per cubic meter. However, nowhere in Europe is this standard being met—
at the lower end of the spectrum are Paris and London (16 micrograms per cubic meter), and at the
highest are cities such as Warsaw (34), Turin (41), and Milan (38) (Rosenthal 2007). The standard
in the United States is 15 micrograms per cubic meter.
Smog or ground-level ozone has been referred to as a public health crisis, affecting people in
nearly every U.S. state (Clean Air Network 2003). Smog is formed when nitrogen oxides emitted
from electric power plants and automobiles react with organic compounds in the presence of
sunlight and heat. Our reliance on automobiles has been blamed for much of the increase in smog
levels.
The EPA monitors smog levels throughout the nation. The EPA sets federal eight-hour smog
standards and collects data on the number of days that exceed the standard. A day is considered
unhealthy if smog levels exceed the eight-hour standard. The EPA reported that 2002 was the worst
recorded smog season; the eight-hour health standard was exceeded 8,818 times nationwide. The
states with the highest number of unhealthy ozone days were California, Texas, and Tennessee
(Clean Air Network 2003). In 2008, the EPA revised national air quality standards, the first time
standards have been tightened since 1997 (EPA 2010, 2014.
Scientists report that one of every three people in the United States is at a higher risk of
experiencing ozone-related health effects. Those most vulnerable to the health effects of smoggy air
are children, people who work or exercise regularly outdoors, the elderly, and people with respiratory
diseases. Short-term effects of smog mostly attack the lungs and lung functioning, irritating the
lungs, reducing lung function, aggravating asthma, and inflaming and damaging the lining of the
lungs (EPA 1999).
The prevalence of asthma has increased globally, suggesting growing problems associated with
indoor and outdoor air quality. In the United States, asthma prevalence increased from 7.3% in
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2001 to 8.4% in 2010, with an estimated 25.7 million adults and children diagnosed with the
disease (Akinbami et al. 2012). Among children, who tend to be outdoors more than adults, asthma
is the most common chronic disorder worldwide (World Health Organization 2006), the leading
cause of missing school, and the leading cause of hospitalization (Eisele 2003).
Hazardous Waste Sites and Brownfields
The story of Love Canal awakened the world to chemical dumping hazards (Breton 1998). During
the 1940s and 1950s, the Hooker Electrochemical Company dumped 20,000 tons of chemicals into
the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York (Center for Health, Environment and Justice 2001). In
1953, after filling the canal and covering it with dirt, the company sold the land to the Board of
Education for a dollar. Homes and an elementary school were built next to the canal. By the late
1970s, dioxin and benzene chemicals began seeping through backyards and basements. Because of
the efforts of the Love Canal Homeowners Association, state and federal agencies responded by
cleaning the area and relocating many residents. In 1995, the Occidental Chemical Corporation
(which bought out the Hooker Electrochemical Company) agreed to pay the government $129
million to cover the costs of the incident.
p.341
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
HOME SWEET LANDFILL
iStock.com/ © FannyOldfield
Those who live on or scavenge from landfills are at high risk for death or disease. Landfills are unsafe environments,
producing methane gas, and leachate, a toxic fluid that is produced from compressed trash.
China and the United States produce more waste than any other country in the world.
Traditional waste disposal includes incineration and landfills. Most U.S. waste, about 254
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million tons per year, is sent to landfills. Each American creates 4.40 pounds of trash per day
(EPA 2016). Landfills have been identified as one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases,
primarily methane (an odorless, colorless gas caused by the decomposition of animal and plant
matter).
Yet in many countries, many individuals and families call landfills their homes. In Mexico,
landfill residents are called pepenadores. To make money, they scavenge through garbage piles,
finding items (appliances, metals, or clothing) that can be reused or sold. Meals are harvested
from discarded waste, and they build their homes using scrap material. Matthew Power (2006)
explained, “Household and industrial trash has become for the world’s poor a more viable
source of sustenance than agriculture and husbandry†(p. 62).
In his article “The Magic Mountain,†Power (2006) focused on life on Payatas, a 50-acre
landfill in Quezon City, the Philippines. Here the scavengers are called mangangalahigs, which,
translated into English, means “chicken scratchers,†describing the way they pick through piles
of trash. Payatas has been called the “second Smoky Mountain.†The first Smoky Mountain
was a landfill site in Manila that supported about 30,000 men, women, and children who lived
on the landfill. In 1995, the Philippine government closed the site, moving residents to
temporary housing. However, over time, some Smoky Mountain residents moved to Payatas
and resumed their lives as mangangalahigs.
Power (2006) claimed that so much garbage is piled at the Payatas dump that it would take
3,000 trucks a day for 11 years to move it all to another landfill. He wrote,
As trucks dump each new load with a shriek of gears and a sickening glorp of wet garbage, the scavengers surge
forward, tearing open plastic bags, spearing cans and plastic bottles with choreographed efficiency. . . . The ability to
discern value at a glimpse, to sift the useful out of the rejected with as little expenditure of energy as possible, is the
great talent of the scavenger. (p. 62)
Scavengers can make as much as 150 pesos a day, about $3 for their work on the dump.
Scientists have collected global evidence identifying the unhealthy consequences of landfills on
human health. An increased risk of adverse health effects (e.g., low birth weight, respiratory
illnesses, birth defects, and certain types of cancers) has been found near individual landfill sites
and in several multisite and multicountry studies (Vrijheid 2000).
A zero-waste movement is growing in the United States. Consumers and businesses are
encouraged not to use polystyrene foam containers or any packaging that is not biodegradable.
Several cities have initiated yard waste composting collection and expanded their collection of
recyclable household items beyond the traditional paper, glass, and aluminum to include tires,
batteries, and household appliances (Kaufman 2009).
As a result of the Love Canal incident, the EPA created the Superfund program to clean hazardous
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waste sites. Hazardous materials may come from chemical manufacturers, electroplating companies,
petroleum refineries, and common businesses such as dry cleaners, auto repair shops, hospitals, and
photo processing centers (EPA 2003a). Sites may be placed on the national priority list (NPL) by
their state if they meet specific hazard and cleanup criteria. As of September 2017, 1,342 NPL sites
had been identified.
In 2002, President Bush signed the Brownfields Revitalization Act, which authorized up to $250
million annually for the cleanup of brownfields. Brownfields are abandoned or underused
industrial or commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by the
presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. There are more
than 450,000 sites throughout the United States. Redevelopment efforts have included restoring
waterfront parks and converting landfills to golf courses, as well as commercial and business
expansion (EPA 2003a).
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Water Quality and Supply
A 2003 study conducted by the Pew Oceans Commission revealed a crisis in U.S. waters caused by
pollution and fishing practices (Weiss 2003). The commission expressed concern about runoff from
agricultural fields, lawns, and roads. Oil from gas stations and nutrients from agricultural fields
disrupt the balance of river and ocean ecosystems, leaving very little dissolved oxygen in the waters.
A dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River stretches more than
5,000 miles long. With not enough oxygen for survival, there is little marine life within the zone.
There are 200 dead zones in U.S. waters (the Gulf dead zone is the largest) and an estimated 400 to
1,000 dead zones worldwide (B. Palmer 2014).
Toxic substances are turning up with greater frequency in groundwater, the source of drinking water
for one of every two Americans (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1996). The EPA (2009a) reported, “While tap
water that meets federal and state standards generally is safe to drink, threats to water quality and
quantity are increasing.†Our drinking water is monitored in more than 55,000 community water
systems for more than 80 known contaminants, including arsenic, nitrates, human and animal fecal
waste, and Legionella bacteria (the cause of Legionnaires’ disease).
As the conflict perspective warns, economic activity also contributes to environmental damage.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers
underground. A combination of water, sand, and chemicals is injected into the shale rock to release
the gas. The process is controversial for its environmental impact on our water supply: first for the
use of water in the extraction process and second for the chemicals that may contaminate the
groundwater supply. The state of Vermont was the first U.S. state to ban fracking.
According to the World Health Organization (2017), 3 in 10 people worldwide (or 2.1 billion) do
not have access to safe drinking water. Additionally, 6 in 10 (or 4.5 billion) lack sanitation services.
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Only 1% of the world’s water can be used for drinking. Nearly 97% of the water is salty or
undrinkable; the other 2% is in ice caps and glaciers (EPA 2003b). Freshwater comes from surface
water sources (lakes, rivers, and streams) and groundwater sources (wells and underground aquifers).
About 66% of people get their drinking water from surface water sources. Large metropolitan areas
rely on surface water, whereas small communities and rural areas depend on groundwater sources. In
recent years, there has been growing concern about the availability of freshwater sources. Because of
pollution, increasing urbanization, and sprawling development, we may be running out of
freshwater.
Almost 30 million residents in seven western states (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico,
Nevada, Arizona, and California) rely on the Colorado River for their drinking water. The river
basin covers 240,000 square miles in the United States and a portion of northwestern Mexico. So
much of the river is diverted for drinking and agricultural use that by the time it reaches the Sea of
Cortez, it isn’t much more than a trickle. A 2007 report by the National Research Council on the
Colorado River concluded that the combination of limited water supplies, increasing population
demands, warmer temperatures, and the prospect of future droughts is likely to cause conflict among
existing and future water users. The report predicted that this would “inevitably lead to increasingly
costly, controversial, and unavoidable trade-offs among water managers, policy makers, and their
constituents†(National Academies 2007).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 15.2: Annual Precipitation
Since 2011, the state of California has been gripped by a severe drought, impacting the lives of
many Californians through lost agricultural jobs, shrinking lakes and rivers, dead or dying lawns,
and, in some cases, dry toilets and washing machines. State leaders have had to make tough choices
to meet the increasing demands on the state’s limited water supply. The scientific community was
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split on whether the atmospheric conditions were due to natural variability or related to human-
caused climate change. Some scientists attributed the drought to atmospheric conditions. Unusually
warm temperatures and persistent ridges of high-pressure air over the northeastern Pacific prevented
winter storms from reaching California during its typical 2013 and 2014 rainy seasons. The storms
also bypassed Oregon and Washington (Than 2014).
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
WASTE AND RECYCLING
In 2012, Americans generated 251 million tons of trash. Per person per day, this equates
to 4.38 pounds of trash or municipal solid waste (MSW). The types of MSW we
discarded are presented in Figure 15.1. Identify the top three MSW materials discarded in
2012.
Approximately 65% of the trash ends up in 1,500 landfills and incinerators; the rest of the
material is recovered or recycled (refer to Figure 15.2). In 2012, Americans recycled and
composted 87 million tons of MSW. Some waste products are recycled at a higher rate
(refer to Figure 15.3).
The EPA (2013, p. 10) explains the value of recycling:
Recycling has environmental benefits at every stage in the life cycle of a consumer product
—from the raw material with which it’s made to its final method of disposal. By utilizing
used, unwanted, or obsolete materials as industrial feedstocks or for new materials or
products, Americans can each do our part to make recycling, including composting, work.
Aside from reducing GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions, which contribute to global
warming, recycling, including composting, provides significant economic and job creation
impacts.
What do you think? How did you learn about recycling? What items do you regularly
recycle?
FIGURE 15.1 â– Total MSW Generation Before Recycling (by Material), 2012
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Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2013. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United
States: Facts and Figures for 2012. Washington, D.C.: EPA.
FIGURE 15.2 â– Total MSW Recovery (by Material), 2012
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Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2013. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United
States: Facts and Figures for 2012. Washington, D.C.: EPA.
FIGURE 15.3 â– Recycling Rates of Selected Products, 2012
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Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2013. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United
States: Facts and Figures for 2012. Washington, D.C.: EPA.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Where does your drinking water come from? Is there a concern about limits to the water supply?
Contact your local water company or public works department for information.
Land Conservation and Wilderness Protection
Efforts in land conservation and wilderness protection seem to be successful largely because of
federal protection policies. Since adopting the 1964 Wilderness Act, Congress has designated more
than 106 million acres as “wilderness areas†through the National Wilderness Preservation System
(2004). Under the act, timber cutting, mechanized vehicles, mining, and grazing activities are
restricted. Human activity is limited to primitive recreation activities. The wilderness lands are
protected for their ecological, historical, scientific, and experiential resources. The areas range in size
from the smallest, Pelican Island, Florida (5 acres), to the largest, Wrangell–St. Elias, Alaska
(almost 10 million acres of land).
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 attempts to preserve species of fish, wildlife, and plants that
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are of “aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nation
and its people.†The act has been controversial because it preserves the interests of the species above
economic and human interests. For example, if endangered species are present, the act will restrict
what landowners can do on their land (C. Palmer 1997). Currently, 2,340 U.S. and foreign animal
and plant species have been listed as endangered or threatened, with recovery plans approved or
implemented for 1,159 species (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2017). Although federal funding for
the Endangered Species Act expired in October 1992, Congress has appropriated funds in each
fiscal year to support the program.
The National Park System includes 417 national parks covering more than 84 million acres. Unlike
the National Wilderness Preservation System, the National Park System allows and supports
recreational activities. However, human activity in the form of motorized access, road and highway
developments, logging, and pollution threatens the health of several national parks. The Great
Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park, with about 10 million visitors
each year (National Parks Conservation Association 2003). The park features an ecosystem of rare
plants and wildlife along with historical structures representing southern Appalachian culture, all of
which are endangered, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. The park has
been listed as “endangered†for several years, primarily because of chronic air pollution problems.
The pollution has been attributed to coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources. Local
developers are allowed to build right up to the park’s boundaries.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 15.3: Global Warming in the Arctic
Unlike the national park system, national monuments are created by presidents through the
Antiquities Act of 1906. There are 129 protected areas, encompassing more than 800 million acres.
President Obama created or expanded 34 national monuments, the most for any president. In 2017,
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President Trump reduced the size of two Utah national monuments, Bears Ears National
Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante, by 2 million acres. Trump and other Republican leaders
have argued that previous presidents abused their authority under the Antiquities Act by placing
large areas off limits to industrial development, commercial use, and motorized vehicle use. At the
announcement of his decision, Trump predicted, “we will usher in a bright new future of wonder
and wealth†(quoted in Turkewitz 2017). Conservation groups and several Native American nations
filed lawsuits preventing the implementation of Trump’s proposal.
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COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Responses
The government’s first response to the environment was directed at cleaning the nation’s polluted
water, air, and land. In 1969, Congress adopted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a
comprehensive policy statement on our environment. For the first time in our nation’s history, the
government was committed to maintaining and preserving the environment (Caldwell 1970). The
EPA, established in 1970, is charged with providing leadership in the nation’s environmental
science, research, education, and assessment efforts (EPA 2004). As the chief environmental agency,
the EPA sets national standards and delegates to states and tribes the responsibility for issuing
permits and monitoring and enforcing compliance. Beginning in the 1980s, the agency shifted its
policies from cleanup to pollution management or prevention through market-based and
collaborative mechanisms with business and industry and environmental strategic planning
(Mazmanian and Kraft 1999). Additional environmental legislation, some of which we have already
reviewed, includes the following:
• The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act and the Wilderness Act of 1964. In our
discussion on land conservation, we already reviewed the Wilderness Act. The Land and
Water Conservation Fund Act provides the necessary funds and assistance to states in
planning, acquiring, and developing recreational lands and natural areas. The act also regulates
admission and special user fees at national recreational areas. These two acts have been referred
to as the “initial building blocks of environmental action†(Caulfield 1989:31).
• The Clean Air Act of 1970 regulates air emissions from area, stationary, and mobile
sources. The act helped establish maximum pollutant standards. In 1990, the Clean Air Act
was amended to address acid rain, ground-level ozone, ozone depletion, and air toxins. In
2003, seven state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the EPA, accusing the agency of
neglecting to update air pollution standards. The suit seeks regulations on carbon dioxide
emissions, which are not listed under the Clean Air Act (Lee 2003). In 2007, the U.S.
Supreme Court found in favor of the seven states, ruling that greenhouse gases are air
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pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act (EPA 2009b).
• The Clean Water Act followed in 1972. This act established standards and regulations
regarding the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States. The EPA was
authorized to implement pollution control programs, setting wastewater standards and water-
quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.
• The Endangered Species Act of 1973 created a program for the conservation of threatened
and endangered plants and animals and their habitats.
• Under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the EPA has the authority to track
75,000 industrial chemicals being produced or imported into the United States.
• The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 modified earlier statutes and created a single,
health-based standard for all pesticides in foods.
In its strategic plan for 2014–2018, the EPA identified five goals: addressing climate change and
improving air quality, protecting America’s water supply, cleaning up communities and supporting
sustainable development, ensuring the safety of chemicals and preventing pollution, and protecting
human health and the environment through law enforcement and compliance.
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State and Local Responses
The EPA highlights work done by states in “developing and implementing a range of programs and
strategies that are cost-effectively reducing greenhouse gases, improving air quality, enhancing
economic development and increasing the nation’s energy security†(EPA 2007b). Calling state
action “a key component of the U.S. response to climate change,†the agency notes that 35 states
and Puerto Rico have completed or implemented action plans for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions or enhancing greenhouse gas capture.
Recognizing that there are no real borders for carbon emissions and becoming increasingly
frustrated with the slow progress of federal legislation on the matter (Broder 2007), many state
leaders formed regional coalitions to combat climate change. For example, the Regional Greenhouse
Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cooperative effort by northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to determine a
regional strategy for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. In 2006, the Clean and Diversified
Energy Initiative was signed by governors of 19 western states, along with those from American
Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The goal of their initiative is to identify and
produce affordable, sustainable, and environmentally responsible energy for the western states and
islands.
Cities throughout the nation have embraced sustainability goals, along with environmentally
responsible planning and consumption. In 2005, the U.S. Conference of Mayors endorsed the U.S.
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Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Through the agreement, the mayors agreed to strive to
meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution. More than 1,000
mayors have signed the agreement.
Two major U.S. cities made news for their environmental vision and leadership. Declaring New
York City the “first environmentally sustainable twenty-first-century city,†then-mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg proposed a master plan to reduce energy consumption in six areas by 2030: land,
transportation, water, energy, air quality, and climate change. Much of the plan would require state
approval. One of the most contentious strategies involved the city’s transportation burdens. Calling
it “congestion pricing,†Bloomberg proposed charging a fee for vehicles entering the city from 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m. on weekdays—$8 for cars and $21 for trucks. The pricing plan would have reduced traffic
congestion and improved air quality, as it has in parts of London and Singapore (Lueck 2007).
Despite approval from the New York City Council, the state legislature failed to pass the pricing
plan.
On the West Coast, San Francisco was the first city in the nation to ban the use of petroleum-based
shopping bags. These plastic shopping bags take many years to degrade, meanwhile contaminating
our land and water and endangering animal and marine life. Nearly 90% of all U.S. shopping bags
are plastic. Beginning in 2007, plastic bags were to be replaced with biodegradable plastic bags or
recyclable bags in San Francisco grocery and drug stores. Several countries, including Bhutan,
Bangladesh, and China, have banned the use of nonbiodegradable plastic bags. Other countries,
such as Germany and Ireland, charge a nominal fee for plastic shopping bags.
Environmental Interest Groups
Organizations concerned with the protection of the environment have played an important role in
American politics since the foundation of the Sierra Club in 1892. The first wave of environmental
interest groups included the National Audubon Society (1905), the National Parks Conservation
Association (1919), and the National Wildlife Federation (1935). These groups were concerned
with land conservation and the protection of specific sites and wildlife species. These first-wave
groups depended on member support and involvement. These organizations remain among the
most influential groups in the environmental movement (Ingram and Mann 1989).
As public attention shifted to the problems of environmental pollution, a second wave of
environmental groups emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. These new organizations focused their
efforts on fighting pollution. In general, the second wave of environmental groups adopted an
ecological approach to our natural environment, recognizing the interrelationship between all living
things and using science as a tool for understanding and protecting the environment. The
Environmental Defense Fund (1967) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (1970) were
started with funding support from the Ford Foundation. Both organizations relied on litigation as
their instrument of reform. Other second-wave groups include Friends of the Earth, the
Environmental Policy Institute, and Environmental Action. After the 1970s, environmental groups
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began to direct their appeals to policy makers rather than to the general public (Ingram and Mann
1989).
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Although each group is committed to the environment, each has adopted its own cause, from broad
environmental themes to such specific problems as toxic pollution or land conservation. The groups
also have different strategies and tactics. Environmental groups may attempt to influence political
policy, litigate environmental disputes, form coalitions with other environmental or interest groups,
or endorse specific political candidates (Ingram and Mann 1989). Some, such as the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, which rams and sinks whaling vessels throughout the world’s oceans, adopt
“in-your-face†tactics.
Now more than 75 years old, the National Wildlife Federation has 11 field offices and 47 state
affiliates, including Washington, DC, and the Virgin Islands. The affiliates operate at the grassroots
level by working to educate, encourage, and facilitate conservation efforts at the state level. One
such organization is the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, established in 1936 by a group of sportsmen.
The federation’s goal has been to serve as a leader in educating people about conservation issues and
in encouraging responsible stewardship of the state’s natural resources. The federation, which
represents a variety of constituents—hunters, sportsmen, hikers, anglers, and campers (Arkansas
Wildlife Federation 2003a)—sponsors a variety of educational and community activities and
projects. Seminars are offered to the public covering issues such as forest management, wetlands and
water management, hunting, and fishing. The federation sponsors annual conservation achievement
awards to honor citizens and organizations dedicated to natural resource endeavors. The
organization also sponsors political candidate forums where citizens can ask candidates about their
positions on various conservation and environmental issues (Arkansas Wildlife Federation 2003b).
A new environmental interest group is the Earth Island Institute, founded in 1982 by David
Brower, who was the first executive director of the Sierra Club and cofounder of Friends of the
Earth. The institute supports more than 100 projects worldwide, pledging to support campaigns
“dedicated to conserving, preserving, and restoring the ecosystems on which our civilization
depends†(Earth Island Institute 2010). The organization also honors youth for their environmental
community work. Among those recognized in 2013 was Alex Freid, a University of New
Hampshire student. At the end of his freshman year, Freid was stunned by the amount of good and
usable items discarded when students moved out of their dorm rooms and apartments. He was
inspired to establish the Post-Landfill Action Network, or PLAN, a nonprofit cooperative network
that helps college students create zero-waste solutions on their campuses. Within three years,
PLAN diverted more than 100 tons of reusable waste from landfills and saved the University of
New Hampshire $10,000 in waste disposal costs (Brower Youth Awards 2013). In 2017, more than
50 U.S. colleges and universities were part of the PLAN network.
Environmental Justice Movement
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Sherry Cable and Charles Cable (1995) argued that the grassroots environmental movement has
improved the lives of many individuals and has spread environmental awareness among the public.
In contrast to national environmental organizations, grassroots organizations usually consist of
working-class participants, people of color, and women. Although experienced organizers or
community activists lead some groups, many grassroots groups are led by inexperienced but
passionate leaders. In the fight against environmental racism, these grassroots environmental groups
have given a voice to communities of color (Epstein 1995) and have redefined environmental
protection as a basic right (Bullard and Johnson 2000).
Grassroots organizations emphasize environmental justice, acting in the belief that some injustice
has been committed by a corporation, business, or industry and that appropriate action should be
taken to correct, improve, or remove the injustice(s). Environmental justice is defined as “the fair
treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or
income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations and policies†(Bullard and Johnson 2000:558). The movement embraces a holistic
approach in creating environmental health policies and regulations: ensuring community-based
collaborative partnerships, enhancing public participation in environmental decisions, promoting
community empowerment, and ensuring community-based sustainable economic development
(Bullard and Johnson 2000).
p.348
Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Students at George Washington University sort trash and recyclables. Colleges and universities have been leaders and
watchdogs for environmental sustainability.
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These organizations have tackled a variety of environmental problems and have sought justice for
housing, transportation, air quality, and economic development issues (Bullard 1994). In 2011,
responding to the nuclear fallout from the Fukushima nuclear plant, citizen monitoring groups were
formed across Japan. Men and women armed with dosimeters began taking radiation readings near
their homes. The organized effort grew out of a perceived lack of government response and citizens’
disbelief in the government’s insistence that the nuclear fallout would not pose a threat or
contaminate food sources (Tabuchi 2011).
Sociologists Riley Dunlap and Angela Mertig (1992) noted that the environmental movement is
among the few movements that have “significantly changed society†(p. xi). Nicolas Freudenberg
and Carol Steinsapir (1992:33–35) identified seven achievements of grassroots organizations:
1. A number of environmentally hazardous facilities have been controlled by cleaning up
contaminated sites, blocking the construction of new facilities, and upgrading corporate
pollution control equipment.
2. Grassroots organizations have forced businesses to consider the environmental
consequences of their actions.
3. These groups encourage preventative approaches to environmental problems, such as
reducing or limiting the use of environmental contamination.
4. The grassroots movement has expanded citizens’ right to participate in environmental
decision making.
5. Grassroots organizations have served as psychological and social support networks for
victims and their families.
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IN FOCUS
LOCAL AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD
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©iStock.com/Candice Cusack
Local farmers’ markets, like this one in Seattle, Washington, help support local farmers and encourage seasonal food
consumption.
After cars, our food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy, about
19% (Pollan 2008). According to the Worldwatch Institute, food in the average American
meal travels about 1,500 miles from farm to home. Food is brought into most communities via
trucks, trains, or airplanes in refrigerated or storage containers. The 1,500-mile meal is said to
consume as much as four times the energy and produce four times as much greenhouse gas
emissions as a locally grown meal (Ketcham 2007). In addition to energy expended for
transport, concern has been expressed over the amount of fossil fuel energy used in producing
the food products brought to our table. In 2009, the Swedish National Food Administration
began requiring the reporting of carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of
specific foods. For example, one serving per week of beef from dairy cows produces 120
kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per year. The information will appear on some grocery
items and restaurant menus throughout the country (Rosenthal 2009).
In response, environmentalists and foodies (people who have an avid interest in the latest food
fads) throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world have adopted what is referred to
as the 100-mile diet. For a week, a month, a year, or life, the rules of the diet are simple: You
may consume food grown and produced only within a 100-mile radius of your home. Called
locavores, these 100-mile eaters advocate the value in being able to know the source of your
food, supporting the local economy, and eating fresh and healthful food in season. They argue,
“The distance from which our food comes represents our separation from the knowledge of
how and by whom what we consume is produced, processed and transported†(Locavores
2007). This is not a diet for fast-food junkies.
Canadians Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon first coined the term 100-mile diet when they
began a yearlong local food experiment in Vancouver, British Columbia. The couple discovered
several food items that they had to live without for most or part of the year, such as chocolate,
coffee, and wheat. (Most locavores make exceptions for these items, including salt and spices.)
Unable to purchase local bread and wheat for baking, for one lunch meal, MacKinnon, the
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family chef, fashioned bread out of turnip slices. But the couple found success (eventually
finding a local supplier of wheat) and satisfaction in their diet. Their experience helped fuel
broader interest in the benefits of a 100-mile diet.
One way to support local agriculture is through community-supported agriculture (CSA), a
partnership between community members and an independent local farm. The CSA
movement began in Japan almost 30 years ago with a group of women who were concerned
about pesticides, the increase in processed foods, and their country’s shrinking rural population.
Community members purchase seasonal shares, for about $300 to $400, which entitles them to
weekly food allowances throughout the growing season. Independent local farms encourage
biodiversity by diversifying the local landscape and natural environment. The CSA
arrangement is beneficial to the farmer and to his or her customers. Customers receive fresh
produce and have the satisfaction of supporting a local business. Customers can help at the
farm and provide input and suggestions to their farmer. Instead of spending time marketing
produce, farmers can focus their efforts on growing quality produce and working with their
community members.
In the spring of 2009, alongside first graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington,
DC, Michelle Obama broke ground on an organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the
White House. This was the first garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s World
War II victory garden. The garden was planted with a variety of lettuces, greens, and herbs as
well as a patch of berries. At the planting, Mrs. Obama expressed her interest in promoting
healthy eating and local food, particularly from the more than 1 million community gardens
throughout the country. Melania Trump continued Obama’s tradition, planting and harvesting
vegetables in the White House Garden in fall 2017.
6. The movement has brought environmental concerns and action to working-class and
minority Americans.
7. The grassroots movement has influenced how the general public thinks about the
environment and public health.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
CHAD PREGRACKE
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KUNI TAKAHASHI/KRT/Newscom
Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands and Waters, sits atop one of his river cleanup barges.
Chad Pregracke started his career as an environmental activist in his own backyard. A native of
Hampton, Illinois, he spent most of his life on the shores of the Mississippi River as a resident,
shell diver, and commercial fisherman. Pregracke often saw garbage floating on the river or
caught within its banks.
I woke up like that many times—loving the natural world and hating the despicable mess. I saw the garbage on the
river, and it didn’t look right. It may have been commonplace, but I didn’t like it and I didn’t accept it. And the more
garbage sites I noticed, the more it made me want to do something about it. (Pregracke and Barrow 2007:12–13)
He admits that his attempts to organize and fund his first river cleanup were less than perfect.
He recalls that he did everything wrong. He didn’t have a clear message, didn’t have a plan,
and didn’t talk to the right people at local agencies. But he persevered and received funding
from his first corporate sponsor, the Alcoa Corporation. Pregracke started cleaning up the river
in 1997, collecting 45,000 pounds of debris from its shores. In 1998, Pregracke established his
nonprofit organization, Living Lands and Waters (LLW), dedicated to cleaning up the
Mississippi River.
Since its establishment, LLW has removed 4 million pounds of trash from the Mississippi and
its tributary rivers, Missouri and Ohio. The cleanup efforts are staffed primarily by community
volunteers. Their annual haul of trash includes items such as refrigerators, tires, bowling balls,
baby dolls, and Styrofoam. In August 2005, Pregracke and his crew provided assistance with
cleanup and rebuilding efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck the area. In
2007, the MillionTrees Project was established to encourage the planting and growth of 1
million native hardwood nut-bearing trees throughout the Midwest.
Pregracke is modest in describing his life’s mission:
I’ve been on a mission to clean up the rivers. It was a simple concept then and it’s a simple concept now, but doing it
has been far from simple or easy. I realize that we’re not solving all the problems or necessarily saving America’s rivers
—we’re simply doing our part, just as I hope you’re doing yours. (Pregracke and Barrow 2007:282–83)
We all make a difference, even if we don’t intend to, and it’s either negative or positive. My question to you is, how
big a difference do you want to make? I can’t say how big a difference I’ve made or will continue to make, but I know
this—I will plant a lot of trees and leave a cleaner river. (Pregracke and Barrow 2007:288)
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For his work, Pregracke was named 2013 CNN Hero of the Year. For more information about
Living Lands and Waters, visit the organization’s website at
http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org.
Is Your School Green?
Several hundred green U.S. elementary and secondary schools have been established nationally,
supported by state grants, legislation, and partners such as the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife
Federation. Schools like the Environmental Charter High School in Los Angeles and the Growing
Up Green Charter School in Long Island City, Queens, New York, offer students more than an
environmental issues curriculum. These private, charter, and traditional public schools have adopted
a focus that goes beyond the environment, addressing politics, social justice, environmental careers,
social activism, and community involvement (Navarro and Bhanoo 2010). In 2012, New York City
instituted a school composting program for 230 school buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and
Staten Island. In addition to creating composting material for farmers and local landscapers, the
program creates cost savings (reducing the amount of food that goes to waste) and helps develop a
new generation of conservationists (Baker 2014).
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“Universities are huge institutions with huge carbon footprints, but they are also laboratories for
concepts of sustainability,†said Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University (Deutsch
2007:A21). Colleges and universities are taking the environmental lead by constructing green
buildings, purchasing alternative energy, incorporating local and sustainable food products, and
investing in efforts to make campuses carbon neutral. Their efforts include the following (Deutsch
2007; Lipka 2006):
• Bowdoin College and Evergreen State College purchase 100% of their energy from
renewable sources or pay for energy offsets from solar or wind power.
• Arizona State University distributes free bus passes to every student, employee, and faculty
member.
• Dickinson College students operate an organic garden, using some of the produce in their
campus dining hall.
• Students at Central Oregon Community College and the University of Kentucky voted to
pay additional fees to cover their institutions’ clean-energy purchases.
• University of California, Irvine; University of Massachusetts–Amherst; Montana State
University; and Eastern Tennessee State University are just some of the schools that have
established a local chapter of the Real Food Challenge, an organization that promotes just and
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sustainable food systems on college campuses and in their communities.
Crow was among the first university presidents who signed the American College and University
Presidents’ Climate Commitment. The presidents acknowledge their role in leading environmental
responsibility in their campuses and broader communities. The commitment, signed by more than
600 college and university presidents, includes a pledge to develop and implement a plan to achieve
carbon neutrality on their campuses. Ninety college dorms are certified in Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED), the national standard for green design (Wilson 2009).
Writer Sara Lipka (2006) portrayed college students as the “watchdogs for sustainability.†She
explained,
Armed with Internet research, they are investigating institutional operations like energy use, food purchasing, investments,
transportation, and waste disposal. They are pushing administrators to approve new projects and set higher goals for
sustainability. National networks are helping students share strategies with one another and organize sophisticated, often
successful proposals for campus innovations and reforms. (Lipka 2006:11)
Similar environmental programs have been established in elementary and secondary schools across
the country. To learn more about what you can do to protect the environment, refer to Table 15.3.
TABLE 15.3 â– Living Green: Tips for College and University Students
Source: Adapted from Rockler-Gladen 2007.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
How has your university made a commitment to environmental sustainability? What sustainable
practices are supported at your school?
p.352
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
RESEARCH
Tiffany Fackler—Class of 2009
Undergraduate Major: Sociology, Anthropology
Undergraduate Minor: Human Services
As discussed in Chapter 4’s Sociology at Work feature, your coursework in research methods
and statistics provides you with important data analytic skills. Such skills are requisite for
occupations such as market or survey research. Many organizations and businesses routinely
require data collection and analyses as part of their operations. Employees may be responsible
for all or part of the research process—data collection, analysis, and reporting.
As an undergraduate, Tiffany Fackler completed an internship related to law enforcement. Her
experience eventually led her to her current position as a criminal analyst for several state
agencies.
Daily I am working with law enforcement agents both tactically and strategically to ensure that they are being
provided accurate information regarding subjects and subject matter. I run information through, pull from and input
data into databases, create link analysis charts, write intelligence reports, and assist with making connections among
individuals conducting illegal activities.
Sociology is an important part of Tiffany’s work life.
Utilizing sociology at work occurs even when I am not realizing I am using it. The job requirements in their nature
require the use of sociology. Every day there is analysis of social behavior, where it comes from, the development of
social behavior, organizations, and institutions. Within the law enforcement and intelligence realm, there are always
changes occurring with social order. In order to appropriately report on social order and disorder, utilizing empirical
investigation and critical analysis is imperative.
She says, “I truly believe that regardless of what position you hold after graduation, sociology
can always be utilized.â€
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Tiffany’s primary source of career information was her adviser, though she also utilized her
university’s career services office and reviewed résumé writing for federal employment. She is
currently enrolled in a master’s program in leadership and business ethics.
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CHAPTER REVIEW
15.1 Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems.
Daily human activity, economic development, cultural values, social class, and
technology all affect the health of the environment. Environmental sociology
considers the interactions between our physical and natural environments and our
social organization and behavior.
15.2 Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems.
From a functionalist perspective, agriculture, industrialization, and related
technologies may have improved our quality of life, but they have also led to waste,
pollution, and the destruction of natural resources. Conflict theorists suggest that
environmental problems are created by humans competing for power, income, and
their own interests in a capitalist system. Feminists argue that a masculine worldview
is responsible for the domination of nature, women, and minorities. One strand of
thought, ecofeminism, believes that men are the primary culprits in the exploitation
of animals and the environment. Interaction theorists address how environmental
problems are created, defined, and often contested.
15.3 Discuss climate change and global warming.
The terms are often used interchangeably but are two different environmental events.
Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate
(temperature or precipitation) lasting for an extended period of time. Global
warming refers to the ongoing rise in the global average temperature near the Earth’s
surface.
15.4 Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
Efforts in land conservation and wilderness protection seem to be successful largely
because of federal protection policies and legislation. Examples, among many, are the
Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the formation of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
15.5 Compare the first wave and second wave of environmental interest groups.
Environmental organizations have played an important role in American politics
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since the foundation of the Sierra Club in 1892. First-wave groups (such as the
National Audubon Society) were concerned with land conservation and the
protection of specific sites and species, and they rely on member support and
involvement. A second wave of environmental groups, which emerged during the
1960s and 1970s, includes the Environmental Defense Fund and the Natural
Resources Defense Council. They focus on fighting pollution, and they adopt an
ecological approach, recognizing the interrelationship between all living things and
using science as a tool for understanding and protecting the environment.
15.6 Assess the impact of the environmental movement.
The environmental movement has had a significant impact in controlling hazardous
facilities, urging businesses to consider environmental impact, encouraging
preventative approaches to problems, expanding citizens’ rights to participate in
decision making, bringing concerns and action to working-class and minority
Americans, and influencing how the general public thinks about the environment.
KEY TERMS
brownfields, 341
climate change, 337
environmental justice, 335
environmental racism, 334
environmental sociology, 331
global warming, 337
megadisaster, 331
natural capitalism, 334
particulate or particle pollution, 339
smog or ground-level ozone, 340
p.354
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Explain the association of human action and environmental problems.
2. From a functionalist perspective, how has human behavior and our way of life contributed
to environmental problems?
3. Explain how women have contributed to the environmental justice movement.
4. Identify the six factors related to the construction of an environmental problem. From this
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perspective, how has climate change been defined as a social problem? Or hasn’t it?
5. How have interest groups and grassroots movements contributed to the success of the
environmental movement?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
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easy-to-use learning environment.
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16
WAR AND TERRORISM
Media Library
CHAPTER 16 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 16.1: US Women in Combat Roles
AP News Clips 16.2: PTSD and Suicide Among Veterans
AP News Clips 16.3: Antiwar Protests
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
16.1 Explain the difference between war and terrorism.
16.2 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to
war and terrorism.
16.3 Define the politics of fear.
16.4 Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
16.5 Assess the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
The secure life that many Americans took for granted changed on the morning of September 11,
2001 (Hoge and Rose 2001); we now live in a subtly different country (Danner 2011). It is a
country whose public and political discourse has been preoccupied with war, terrorism, suicide
bombs, torture, patriotism, and human loss. There is an awareness of war and terrorism in other
countries and, ultimately, concern over whether these conflicts will threaten U.S. national security.
Sociologists acknowledge that “war is never an isolated act†(Clausweitz 1984:78) and that the
consequences are felt and experienced beyond specific battlefields and borders.
A decade after 9/11, a wave of revolutionary demonstrations and protests swept across the Arab
world. It began in Tunisia on December 17, 2010, when a police officer took away Mohamed
Bouazizi’s vegetable cart because Bouazizi didn’t have a license to sell his goods. After his
confrontation with the police and after local officials refused to hear his complaint, Bouazizi set
himself on fire in front of the provincial headquarters. Bouazizi’s martyrdom spurred a “people’s
581
revolution†(Abouzeid 2011). Tunisians took to the streets in protest, ultimately leading to the end
of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s authoritarian rule. The Arab Spring extended to other
countries where citizens participated in public demonstrations, some relatively peaceful, to protest
the hardships and cruelties under ruling regimes. Ruling governments were overthrown in Egypt,
Libya, and Yemen.
Revolutionary demonstrations and protests continued into 2014. On September 26, hundreds of
students gathered in central Hong Kong, demanding an end to Chinese oppression and control.
These protests have been referred to as the Umbrella Revolution, after the umbrellas used by
protesters to shield themselves from tear gas and later as shelter from the pouring rain. Forced to
disband by the end of the year, the student protestors vowed to continue their antigovernment
campaign.
In contrast to these revolutionary demonstrations, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has
become known for its revolutionary violence, using terror to force obedience and frighten its
enemies (Arango 2015). Its goal is to establish a global Islamic state, and its targets include the
United States and European Union countries. As of October 2017, ISIS has been credited with 90
attacks in 21 countries, killing nearly 1,400 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for the terrorist
attacks in Paris (2015), Brussels (2016), Berlin (2016), and Barcelona (2017). There have been 12
violent ISIS-inspired attacks in the United States since 2014; the deadliest was the 2016 mass
shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida (Haltiwanger 2017).
DEFINING CONFLICT
War
War is a violent political instrument (Walter 1964). It is a violent activity between armed
combatants, one side hoping to impose its will on the other. Whether or not war has been declared
by its leadership, war involves armed conflict between two or more states or military forces. The
majority of today’s wars are civil wars (fought within, not between, countries), and most often, they
take place in the poorest countries.
p.358
The United Kingdom, France, and Russia have fought the most international armed conflicts since
the end of World War II (Human Security Report Project 2011). The most conflict-prone
countries (including civil wars) have been Myanmar (also known as Burma), India, and Ethiopia
(Gleditsch et al. 2002; refer to Table 16.1).
TABLE 16.1 ■Countries That Have Experienced 50 or More Armed Conflicts, 1948–2016
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Sources: Pettersson, Therése and Kristine Eck. 2018. “Organized Violence, 1989-2017.†Journal of Peace Research 55(4); Gleditsch,
Nils Petter, Peter Wallensteen, Mikael Eriksson, Margareta Sollenberg, and Håvard Strand. 2002. “Armed Conflict 1946-2001: A
New Dataset.†Journal of Peace Research 39(5).
Since 1945, there have been 140 civil wars throughout the world, killing approximately 20 million
people and displacing about 67 million. Civil wars typically occur in developing countries and are
fought by small, poorly trained, poorly armed forces that avoid major military engagements but
frequently target civilians (Human Security Report Project 2005). Genocide (the systematic
targeting of ethnic or religious groups) and politicide (targeting specific groups because of their
political beliefs) have been part of many civil wars. In the competition for political power and
economic resources, ethno-political conflict and violence were at the heart of the wars in Cambodia
(1977–1979), Rwanda (1994), Somalia (1991–2000), Western Sudan (2003–present) and Syria
(2011–present).
What Does It Mean to Me?
War and violence are not the only means of achieving one’s goals. Nelson Mandela, the late
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president of South Africa, was revered as a global symbol of peace and nonviolence. His personal
path to peace began with forgiving those who imprisoned him for 27 years. Is it easier to wage war
with others than to find a nonviolent way to address a conflict?
U.S. Conflicts
“The United States was born of violence and revolution,†wrote Ken Cunningham (2004), “violence
against the native population and among and against the various European imperial powers†(p.
556). Our nation’s birth was marked by a war—the American Revolution of 1775 to 1783. In 1776,
the Declaration of Independence was adopted, a public statement of a new nation’s independence
from Great Britain and its rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.†The British were
defeated in 1783. More than 4,000 lives were lost in the revolution against the British.
The American Revolution was followed by the War of 1812 (1812–1815) and the Mexican War
(1846–1848), both part of the economic and continental expansion of the United States. The effort
was justified under the principle of manifest destiny. U.S. leaders felt it was their mission to extend
freedom and democracy to others. At the end of the Mexican War, the United States acquired the
northern part of Mexico, later dividing the area into Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and
Utah. A revolution constitutes an overthrow of the existing government or political structure.
Revolutions do not always lead to violent conflict.
The Civil War (1861–1865) between northern and southern states has been referred to as the
bloodiest battle on U.S. soil. Although we tend to think that the war was waged solely over the issue
of slavery, it was also based on deep economic, political, and social differences between the two
groups of states. During his second inaugural address in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln said,
“One of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war
rather than let it perish, and the war came.†More than 600,000 died.
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© iStock.com/HultonArchive
More than 3 million Americans fought in the Civil War (1861–1865). The bloodiest battle on U.S. soil led to more than
600,000 casualties, about 2% of the northern and southern population at the time.
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Beginning with the Spanish–American War (1898), U.S. troops and soldiers began to wage war in
other countries, mostly responding to tyranny, oppression, and communism. The Spanish–
American War was fought to liberate Cuba from Spain and to protect U.S. interests in Cuban
sugar, tobacco, and iron industries. U.S. participation during World War I (1917–1918) and World
War II (1940–1945) helped establish its dominance as a worldwide military force. That
accomplishment, however, came at a great cost: The United States had heavy losses, 53,000 deaths
in World War I and 400,000 deaths in World War II. In the latter war, the United States and its
allies claimed victory against Germany, Japan, and Italy. After the North Korean People’s Army
invaded the Republic of Korea, the United States joined UN forces in the Korean War (1950–
1953). No winner of the war has ever been declared. An armistice was agreed upon in 1953, forever
separating North and South Korea. Fifty years after the invasion, Communist and UN soldiers still
guard their sides of the demilitarized zone in Panmunjom. The United States fought against North
Vietnamese Communists in the jungles of South Vietnam from 1964 to 1973. Although U.S. troops
had begun withdrawing from Vietnam in 1969, the formal cease-fire was declared in January 1973.
U.S. engagement in Middle East wars began with the Persian Gulf War of 1990 to 1991. The
United States was joined by UN forces to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi forces. Operations Desert
Shield and Desert Storm were the first display of high-tech warfare that used cruise missiles, stealth
fighters, and precision-guided munitions. Iraq accepted the terms for the cease-fire in April 1991.
After September 11, 2001, U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan in an effort to destroy al-Qaeda forces
and to locate their leader, Osama bin Laden. The first war of the 21st century was the U.S. war
against Iraq (2003–2011) and Afghanistan (2003–2014). Although the U.S. combat mission in
Afghanistan officially ended in 2014, a new phase of U.S. military operations was established in
2015. More than 9,000 U.S. troops support the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission to combat-
train, advise, and assist Afghan national security forces (White House 2014). As of November 2017,
the number of reported military casualties (killed in action or non-hostile deaths) was 4,527 for
Operation Iraqi Freedom and 2,405 for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. A listing of
U.S. wars and casualties is presented in Table 16.2. The list does not include the numerous
American Indian Wars, the conflicts between American settlers and the U.S. federal government
and the indigenous populations of North America.
TABLE 16.2 ■America’s Wars and Casualties (Dates Indicate U.S. Troop Involvement)
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Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 2007. “Factsheet: America’s Wars.†Retrieved March 25, 2008
(http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/amwars.asp).
Terrorism
Terrorism is a specific form of conflict. According to the U.S. federal code, terrorism is “the
unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government,
the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives†(28
C.F.R. Section 0.85). Todd Sandler (2011) offers the following definition of terrorism: “the
premeditated use or threat to use violence by individuals or subnational groups to obtain political or
social objectives through the intimidation of a large audience beyond that of the immediate victimsâ€
(p. 280).
Political terrorism expert Grant Wardlaw (1988) stated, “Terrorism is a phenomenon that is
increasingly coming to dominate our lives.†The effects of terrorism are widespread:
p.360
It influences the way governments conduct their foreign policy and corporations transact their business. It causes changes to
the structure and role of our security forces and necessitates huge expenditures on measures to protect public figures, vital
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installations, citizens and perhaps in the final analysis, our system of government. It affects the way we travel, the places we
visit and the manner in which we live our daily lives. (Wardlaw 1988:206)
Domestic terrorism is defined as terrorism supported or coordinated by groups or individuals
based in a country. The venue and targets are also in the same country. Domestic terrorist groups
are likely to be found in large countries and are found more often in democracies than in
authoritarian states (Human Security Report Project 2005). International terrorism is defined as
terrorism supported or coordinated by foreign groups threatening the security of another nation or
its citizens. For example, international terrorism can occur outside the United States but may be
directed at U.S. targets. Acts of terrorism have occurred on every continent, and perpetrators come
from diverse religious and ethnic groups; however, Islamic governments and networks have
committed the most extreme acts of terror (Booth and Dunne 2002). Although in terms of the
number killed, international terrorism poses a far lesser threat than do other forms of political
violence or violent crime, it is an important human security issue (Human Security Report Project
2005). Al-Qaeda and ISIS have come to symbolize terrorism in the 21st century.
p.361
Paul Pillar (2001) explained that there are five elements of terrorism: First, terrorism is a
premeditated act. It requires intent and prior decision to commit an act of terrorism. Terrorism
doesn’t happen by accident; rather, it is the result of an individual’s or a group’s policy or decision.
Second, terrorism is purposeful; it is political in its motive to change or challenge the status quo.
Religiously oriented or national terrorists are driven by social forces or shaped by circumstances
specific to their particular religious or nationalistic experiences (Reich 1998). According to Max
Abrahms (2012), terrorist groups have process and outcome goals. Process goals are aimed at
sustaining the group and its activities by securing financial support, gaining media attention, and
boosting group morale. Outcome goals are the group’s stated political ends, which require the
cooperation of the target authority or government. Third, terrorism is not like a war in which both
sides can shoot at one another. Terrorism targets noncombatants, such as civilians who cannot
defend themselves against the violence. The direct targets of terrorist activity are not the main
targets. Fourth, terrorism is usually carried out by subnational groups or clandestine agents. If
uniformed military soldiers attack a group, it is considered an act of war; an attack conducted by
nongovernmental perpetrators is considered terrorism. Individuals acting alone may also commit
terrorism. Finally, terrorism includes the threat of violence. It does not involve only terrorist acts
that may have occurred; it also involves the potential for future attacks.
Terrorist activity has changed little over the years. Six basic tactics account for 95% of all incidents:
bombings, assassinations, armed assaults, kidnappings, hijackings, and other kinds of hostage
seizures. As Brian Jenkins (1988) stated, “terrorists blow up things, kill people, or seize hostages.
Every terrorist attack is merely a variation on these three activities†(p. 257).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
In 2016, polls revealed that 42% of Americans believe the country is less safe now than before the
September 11, 2001 attacks (Smeltz and Friedhoff 2016). Are you concerned about a terrorist attack
on U.S. soil? Do you believe we are at risk of an attack from domestic or foreign terrorists? Explain
the reason for your answer.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON WAR AND
TERRORISM
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists examine how conflicts help maintain the social order, creating and reinforcing social,
religious, or national boundaries. War creates social stability by letting everyone know what side
they are on: the good guys versus the bad guys or us versus them. There are norms and boundaries
in war: Individuals will know what their roles are, what they should believe in, how they should
respond in case of an attack, and how they should interact with members of the other side. But
unlike in war, the social boundaries in terrorist activities are less certain. In some cases, the identity
of terrorists and their goals may never be known.
War provides a “safety valve†function, giving marginalized or oppressed groups a means to express
their discontent or anger. Acts of terrorism, according to Martha Crenshaw (1998), are selected as a
course of action from a range of alternatives. Groups may choose terrorism because the other
methods may be expected not to work or may be too time-consuming for the group. Radical groups
choose terrorism when they want immediate action and when they want their message to be heard.
As they act, they spread their group’s message, strengthening the social bonds between group
members while recruiting new members for their cause.
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The social structure contributes to conflict. For example, a country’s education and age structure are
demographic characteristics that help us understand the current situation in the Greater Middle
East (Spindel 2011). Educational attainment in these countries is rising, and as a result, so are
citizen demands and expectations for resolving the countries’ social problems. The age structure of
the population has been identified as a central component in the Arab Spring. Unlike in Western
countries, the majority of residents in the Middle East are under 25 years of age—52% in Egypt,
55.2% in Syria, and 54.4% in Jordan. In contrast, in Germany only 25% of the population is under
25 years of age.
Finally, warfare establishes power and domination. The victor is able to acquire the “spoils of
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warâ€â€”a country’s land, people, and resources. Beyond those tangible fruits of victory, the winning
side gets to make new rules or impose its rules about appropriate political, social, and economic
structures.
Conflict Perspective
From this perspective, war is not natural; it is a product of oppression and domination. Conflict may
be based on disputes over resources or land. Modern conflict theorists have focused on how war is
used to promote economic and political interests. In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
cautioned the nation about the military-industrial complex, the growing collaboration of the
government, the military, and the armament industry. Years earlier, Eisenhower (1953) warned,
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft of those who hunger
and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the
sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
He explained that the complex had a corrupting influence—economic, political, and spiritual—in
every city, state, and federal office of government. A decision to go to war could be motivated not by
ideals to preserve or promote freedom but to ensure the economic well-being of the defense
contractor. For example, during the Iraq war, the role of oil services firm Halliburton and its
subsidiary company, KBR, was closely scrutinized. Critics observe that Halliburton had an unfair
advantage with no-bid military contracting because of its relationship with Vice President Dick
Cheney. Cheney served as Halliburton’s CEO from 1996 to 1998 and briefly in 2000. In 2007,
federal investigators alleged that Halliburton was responsible for $2.7 billion in contractor waste and
overcharging in Iraq.
Social scientists have noted the far-reaching and devastating impact of U.S. militarism for
Americans and the rest of the world. Cunningham (2004) identified a “vast, entrenched,
bureaucratic national security apparatus†that reaches into all areas of American life and politics,
including businesses, universities, primary and secondary schools, the media, and popular culture.
U.S. militarism also reaches into foreign countries, through its direct military intervention and war
and covert operations (conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], the National Security
Agency [NSA], and other agencies).
Feminist Perspective
From this perspective, war is considered a primarily male activity that enhances the position of
males in society. “War is a patriarchal tool always used by men to create new structures of
dominance and to subjugate a large mass of people†(“The Events†2002:96). In our military system,
decision-making and economic power are held primarily by men; as a result, international relations
and politics are played out on women’s bodies (Cuomo 1996). According to Cynthia Enloe (1990),
local and global sexual politics shape and are shaped through the presence of national and
international U.S. military bases—through the symbolism of the U.S. soldier, the reproduction of
589
family structures on bases, and systems of prostitution that coexist alongside bases. As she explained,
“bases are artificial societies created out of unequal relations between men and women of different
races and classes†(Enloe 1990:2).
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Reuters/STR New
In 2013, the Pentagon removed its ban on women serving in combat. According to former Defense Secretary Ash Carter,
“Fully integrating women into all military positions will make the U.S. armed forces better and stronger†(quoted in Pellerin
2015).
Men reserve the right to make war themselves and claim that they fight wars to protect vulnerable
people, such as women and children, who are viewed as not being able to protect themselves
(Tickner 2002). During wars, women are charged with caring for their husbands, their sons, and the
victims of war. The ideal of the “caretaking woman†helps exclude women from public and political
institutions by reminding them that their first responsibility is to the family. According to Laura
Kaplan (1994), this ideal “helps co-opt women’s resistance to the war by convincing women that
their immediate responsibility to ameliorate the effects of war takes precedence over organized
public action against war†(p. 131).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 16.1: US Women in Combat Roles
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Communication scholar Mary Douglas Vavrus (2013) examined the gendered propaganda in
Lifetime’s drama Army Wives. The popular program aired from 2007 to 2013, depicting the stories
of four U.S. Army wives and one U.S. Army husband whose family members were deployed in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Through a feminist analysis of 81 episodes, Douglas Vavrus documented a
pervasive message of militarism and gendered labor; “first, that soldiers are fighting over there to
protect us, over here . . . second, that wives properly bear the responsibility for the home front while
their husbands are deployed to other lands†(p. 98). The women in the program have a feminine
approach to the war—building schools or leading medical missions—while their husbands are
risking their lives in military missions. The wives were portrayed as long-suffering, supportive, and
patriotic. “For the mothers and spouses on the program, standing in the way of either their children
or their deploying husbands and wives—either to complain or worry visibly—is to prevent children
and spouses from reaching their heroic self-actualization that awaits each soldier in theater†(p. 99).
p.364
Interactionist Perspective
Interactionists focus on the social messages and meaning of war and conflict. Terrorism is a word
with intrinsically negative connotations. According to political scientist Crenshaw (1995), the word
“projects images, communicates messages, and creates myths that transcend historical circumstances
and motivate future generations†(p. 12). In addition, the concept serves as “an organizing concept
that both describes the phenomenon as it exists and offers a moral judgment†(Crenshaw 1995:9).
As Jenkins (1980) explained,
what is called terrorism thus seems to be dependent on one’s point of view. Use of the term implies a moral judgment; and if
one party can successfully attach the label terrorist to its opponent, then it has indirectly persuaded others to adopt its moral
viewpoint. (p. 10)
Crenshaw (1995) cautions that once political concepts such as terrorism are constructed, “they take
on a certain autonomy, especially when they are adopted by news media, disseminated to the public,
and integrated into a general context of norms and values†(p. 9). Use of the word terrorism
promotes condemnation of the actors and may reflect an ideological or political bias (Gibbs 1989).
Terrorism is a social construct.
Terrorism is particularly useful for agenda setting (Crenshaw 1998) by the terrorist group and its
target. If the reasons behind the violence are articulated clearly, terrorists can put their issues on the
public agenda. Instantly, the public is aware of the group and its cause. The act may make some
sympathetic to the group or can elicit anger and calls for retaliation. But the target—such as the
U.S. government—can also use terrorism to set its own agenda. According to Crenshaw (1998),
“conceptions of terrorism affect the ways in which governments define their interests, and also
determine reliance on labels or their abandonment when politically convenient†(p. 10). When the
problem is labeled terrorism or a group is labeled terrorists, a set of predetermined preferred solutions
begins to emerge. When these terms depict the group as “fanatical and irrational,†making attempts
591
at diplomacy or compromise seem impossible, the inference is that the U.S. government has
nothing left to do but retaliate with force. But the labeling doesn’t stop: such defensive actions are
often “appropriate†and “legitimate†expressions of “self-defense,†but not “terrorism.â€
David Altheide (2006) explains how decision makers and politicians promote and use the public’s
beliefs and assumptions about terrorism to achieve certain goals. He refers to this as the politics of
fear. The politics of fear promotes attacking a target, limits civil liberties, and anticipates further
victimization. Altheide warns that fear promotes fear, changing our behavior and perspective. Sarah
Oates (2006), in her analysis of the role of terrorism coverage in the 2004 presidential/parliamentary
election campaigns in Russia, Great Britain, and the United States, concluded that terrorism played
an emotive role for American and Russian voters. American and Russian voters identified terrorism
as the most important issue in the election, leading them to vote for the candidate they perceived as
“stronger†against the threat of terrorism, regardless of the candidate’s specific policies or political
views. Oates reported that terrorism did not play a role in the Great Britain election, as it was
mentioned in only 10% of all British news segments in her sample, whereas it was mentioned in
25% of all U.S. election news segments. In Great Britain, the primary issues were the lack of public
support for the country’s involvement in the Iraq war and the state of Great Britain’s economy. This
chapter’s Exploring Social Problems examines public support for U.S. global engagement.
For a summary of sociological perspectives, see Table 16.3.
TABLE 16.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: War and Terrorism
592
THE PROBLEMS OF WAR AND TERRORISM
The Impact of War and Terrorism
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT According to Crenshaw (1983), small incremental societal
changes in trust, social cohesion, and integration occur as a result of terrorism. Terrorism has a
particular impact in small or homogeneous societies. Research on the long-term impact of terrorism
is limited, although some case studies have been conducted in Northern Ireland, where residents
have lived with domestic terrorism since the late 1960s. (See this chapter’s Taking a World View
discussion for more about Northern Ireland.)
p.365
War takes a psychological toll, particularly for soldiers involved in battle. Mental health experts have
identified posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a common aftereffect of battle. Those suffering
from PTSD feel depressed and detached and have nightmares and flashbacks of their war
experience. This anxiety disorder may occur with related issues, such as depression, substance abuse,
cognition problems, and other problems of physical or mental health (National Center for PTSD
2003). About 7% to 8% of the general U.S. population will experience PTSD symptoms in their
lifetimes.
It is estimated that between 11% and 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will have PTSD. These
service members are also at risk for depression, excessive drinking, and violence (U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs 2014a). A national survey of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans conducted by the
Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 52% believe their physical or mental
health is worse than before the wars, and 41% experience outbursts of anger. More than half of
those surveyed reported knowing a service member who has attempted or committed suicide
(Clement 2014).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 16.2: PTSD and Suicide Among Veterans
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The rate of suicide among these veterans has been described as an epidemic, prompting legislation
and funding for programs to address PTSD and other mental illnesses among the veterans. Much of
the response was due to the release of a 2012 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs study that
estimated that 22 veterans kill themselves every day (Kemp and Bossarte 2012). The 22-veterans
statistic has been challenged by scholars and journalists, who argue that the department included
suicide among veterans who did not serve in the recent conflicts, thus overestimating the number
and rate of suicides. However, veterans groups noted that the report was based on data from 20
states, leading to an underreporting of veteran suicides. The most recent data on veteran suicide was
released in 2016, documenting 20 suicides a day in 2014. The 2016 report was based on data from
all states (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2016).
p.366
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
U.S. GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT
Months before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Pew Research Center conducted a
survey asking the public about U.S. engagement in world affairs. Selected results are
presented in Figures 16.1, 16.2, and 16.3.
Note how public opinion on whether the government should increase spending on
national defense is related to political party affiliation (Figure 16.1). Using your
sociological imagination, why might some groups be more supportive of defense spending
than others? How might the politics of fear influence opinions about terrorism?
Despite the fact that ISIS was identified as the top global threat facing the United States
(data not reported here), the Pew Research poll revealed that Americans are wary of global
involvement, with only 37% saying that the U.S. should help other countries deal with
their problems (Figure 16.2) and 41% agreeing to the statement that the United States has
done too much in terms of solving the world problems (Figure 16.3). What do you think?
Why does this inconsistency exist?
FIGURE 16.1 â– Percentage Who Say Defense Spending Should Be Increased
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Source: Adapted from Pew Research Center, April 2016, “Public Uncertain, Divided Over America’s Place in the Worldâ€
(http://www.people-press.org/2016/05/05/public-uncertain-divided-over-americas-place-in-the-world/).
FIGURE 16.2 â– Percentage Saying, “The U.S. should . . .â€
595
Source: Adapted from Pew Research Center, April 2016, “Public Uncertain, Divided Over America’s Place in the Worldâ€
(http://www.people-press.org/2016/05/05/public-uncertain-divided-over-americas-place-in-the-world/).
FIGURE 16.3 ■Percentage Saying, “In terms of solving world problems, the U.S. does
. . .â€
596
Source: Adapted from Pew Research Center, April 2016, “Public Uncertain, Divided Over America’s Place in the Worldâ€
(http://www.people-press.org/2016/05/05/public-uncertain-divided-over-americas-place-in-the-world/).
p.367
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AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
Marine Cpl. Larry Bailey II (pictured here with his father Larry) is recovering from injuries he received after tripping a
rooftop bomb in Afghanistan. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are able to survive wounds that in past wars would have
been fatal.
For more information on the Iraq war’s impact on veterans, turn to this chapter’s In Focus feature.
ECONOMIC IMPACT The final cost of the Iraq war is estimated to be more than $2 trillion
(and unlike past U.S. wars, the Iraq war is being paid almost entirely with debt). The expenditures
have been justified as necessary to maintain a high state of military readiness and ground force
strength, enhance the combat capabilities of U.S. armed forces, continue the development of
capabilities to maintain U.S. superiority against potential threats, and continue the department’s
support of service members and their families. Whereas some believe that these additional defense
expenses are necessary to win the global war on terrorism, others have criticized the escalation in
military expenditures. In 2002, Lawrence Lindsey, President Bush’s economic adviser, estimated
upper bound costs of the war would be between $100 and $200 billion. Lindsey was quoted as
saying, “The successful prosecution of the war would be good for the economy†(quoted in Davis
2002).
In 2002, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) guaranteed two years of free care to
returning combat veterans for any combat-related medical condition. The cost of these benefits, as
well as that of providing long-term disability support for soldiers and veterans and their families,
may strain the department’s budget and government resources. Policy analysts blame the lack of
planning by the VA, noting that the administration did not expect the conflict to last as long as it
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has and did not predict the nature and extent of mental and physical injuries for its active-duty and
retired personnel (Donn and Hefling 2007). In 2014, an internal VA audit revealed that more than
100,000 veterans received inadequate medical care or no care at all in several veteran health facilities
across the country. Top VA administrators resigned, and President Obama signed a bill to reform
the VA system. Between 2001 and 2013, the United States spent $23.6 billion for medical care and
$28.9 billion for disability benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans (Bilmes 2013). A comparison
of U.S. war expenditures with other countries is presented in Table 16.4.
TABLE 16.4 â– Top 10 Military Spenders, 2016
Source: Adapted from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 2017. “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2016.â€
Do you recall President Eisenhower’s warning? Billions of dollars spent on the war means that other
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programs are not receiving any funding. The National Priorities Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization, analyzes the impact of federal spending policies on city and state funding and budgets.
Since the beginning of the Iraq war, the project has tracked the expanding war budget along with
increasing budget cuts in nonsecurity (nonwar) discretionary spending. For 2015, the National
Priorities Project reported that $598.5 billion was allocated to U.S. military spending, about 54% of
the discretionary budget. In contrast, the United States budget allocated $70 billion (6% of the
discretionary budget) to education, $39.1 billion (4%) to energy and environment, and $26.3 billion
(2%) to transportation (National Priorities Project 2016).
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The Budget Control Act of 2011 mandates reductions in federal spending for fiscal years 2012–
2021. The law was intended to control the growth of discretionary spending, resinstating budget
caps for the defense and nondefense parts of the budget. War-related funding, also known as
Overseas Contingency Operations funding, and military personnel funding are exempt from the
law.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT One of the most serious, yet overlooked, by-products of war
is the mass destruction of ecosystems, also referred to as ecocide (Adley and Grant 2003).
During the Vietnam War, the United States used chemical and biological agents, such as the
herbicide Agent Orange, to destroy food crops and defoliate forestlands. Herbicides were used from
1962 to 1969, covering 43% of South Vietnam’s arable land and 44% of its forestland at least once
and, in many cases, two or more times (Falk 1973). The application rate was 13 times the dose
recommended for domestic use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. More than 1.3 million
individuals were poisoned or contaminated. The military justified this environmental destruction in
order to deny the Vietnamese Army protective cover and to cut off the food supply to peasants and
soldiers. The contamination of soil and food crops due to Agent Orange continues to threaten the
health of the Vietnamese (Adley and Grant 2003). Another method of clearing vegetation and
forests in Vietnam was the use of the Rome plow. The plow is a heavily armored Caterpillar
bulldozer used to clear several hundred yards on each side of the main roads. It was estimated that
about 2,000 acres (3 square miles) were cleared per day until the end of the war. The croplands and
forests of Vietnam were damaged, along with rare tree and animal species (Falk 1973).
IN FOCUS
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF WAR
Of the 2.5 million U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, almost half have sought care
and assistance from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Government, health, and
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veterans service administrators have observed how different the needs of Iraq war veterans are
from those of veterans of past wars and conflicts.
Because of the nature of the conflict itself, forces deployed in Iraq have had more contact with
the enemy and more exposure to terrorist attacks than did troops in the earlier Iraq war
(O’Connor 2004). The frequency and intensity of operations for active and reserve members
increased during the height of the recent wars, with multiple deployments and overseas
assignments for soldiers. Estimates range from one in six to one in three soldiers and Marines
seeking help for mental health problems or PTSD as a result of their Iraq experiences. Between
80% and 85% of military personnel have witnessed or been part of traumatic events (Vedantam
2006).
About 280,000 female soldiers, Marines, and airmen have been deployed to Iraq or
Afghanistan (Chandrasekaran 2014), 11% of the overall force. The U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs (2014b) estimated that 20% of women Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have
been diagnosed with PTSD. Research on this population has indicated higher rates of PTSD
and depression for female compared with male veterans, higher incidences of sexual trauma,
and lower rates of accessing health care services (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2012).
At the release of its 2012 report on sexual assault in the military, the Department of Defense
was criticized for failing to protect its female soldiers. In 2012, there were 26,000 cases of
unwanted sexual contact. Sexual trauma can have adverse ramifications for a veteran’s quality of
life, negatively impacting physical health, psychological well-being, employment, and
interpersonal relationships. President Obama requested a comprehensive review of the
department’s prevention practices and response protocols to sexual assault. After implementing
support, education, and training programs and improving accountability measures, the number
of cases declined to 19,000 in 2014.
More wounded soldiers are returning home alive from Iraq. In the past, many would not have
survived traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) as a result of improvised explosive devices (IEDs),
bombs, or rocket attacks. This shockwave injury is caused when the brain is literally shaken in
the soldier’s skull, damaging brain tissue. Warfare and medical technology have increased
survival rates, however, by making it possible to treat and mobilize wounded soldiers more
quickly and closer to combat zones. TBI has been referred to as the signature injury of the Iraq
war, much as Agent Orange poisoning was for the Vietnam War. Doctors at the U.S. Army’s
Walter Reed Hospital screened all incoming patients between January 2003 and January 2005
and discovered that 60% of all wounded soldiers had some form of TBI (Zoroya 2005). TBI
symptoms include severe headaches, impaired memory, and sensitivity to light and sound.
These symptoms may be temporary or permanent.
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Other examples of environmental degradation and destruction resulting from war include the
burning of oil wells in Kuwait (1991), the health risks associated with the use of depleted uranium
weapons in Iraq (since the first Gulf War in 1991), and the destruction of the mountain gorilla
habitat in Rwanda (1994) (Adley and Grant 2003).
Waging a war is also a dirty business, as military activities produce harmful waste and debris. Fuel
deposits, ammunition dumps, paint, tires, grease, unexploded munitions, and gunpowder contribute
to the contamination of land and water (Jorgenson, Clark, and Givens 2012). Land mines, which
can lie unexploded for decades after placement, restrict land access and development for agriculture,
transportation, and natural resources. There are an estimated 110 million mines buried in 64
countries on all continents (Witmer and O’Loughlin 2009). Military campaigns also consume large
amounts of fossil (and nuclear) fuel in planes, ships, and tanks. It is estimated that the U.S. military
uses 1.3 billion gallons of oil annually in the Middle East alone (Klare 2007).
Efforts to prevent and redress wartime environmental degradation and destruction have not been
successful. The primary issue has been accountability—how should a nation be punished for
ecocide? The environmental destructiveness of war and conflict has been acknowledged by world
leaders, and in 1992 the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (signed by all member
states of the United Nations) required states to “respect international law providing protection for
the environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its further development, as necessaryâ€
(United Nations 1992).
POLITICAL IMPACT Terrorism can effect change in two political areas: the overall
distribution of political power and government policies (Crenshaw 1983). Terrorism may result in
radical changes in the power relationships within a state, involving shifts in who governs and under
what rules. As a target of terrorism, the U.S. government has also experienced a redistribution of
power as federal and state agencies have sought to improve intelligence gathering and security
procedures. Institutional changes have occurred, with each major intelligence agency improving its
antiterrorism activities, culminating in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. In
extreme cases, terrorism may lead to the replacement of one government by another.
Government policies usually have two goals: to destroy the terrorist group and to protect potential
targets from attack. Policies may include foreign policy efforts seeking the cooperation and support
of international allies. After September 11, 2001, the U.S. government attempted to destroy
terrorist groups and to ensure U.S. security through a series of executive orders, regulations, and
laws. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released a blistering report on the Central
Intelligence Agency’s post-9/11 interrogation program. The 2014 report revealed that in a system of
covert prisons, CIA officials authorized the use of coercive interrogation tactics—sleep deprivation,
humiliation, waterboarding, sensory deprivation, and extreme cold—to obtain information from
detainees who were suspected terrorists. The release of the report led to a mixture of condemnation
and support from world leaders.
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In 2001, Congress passed the PATRIOT Act, which established a separate counterterrorism fund,
expanded government authority to gather and share evidence with wire and electronic
communications, allowed agencies to detain suspected foreign terrorists, and provided for victims of
terrorism. Constitutional and civil rights attorneys have been critical of the PATRIOT Act, alarmed
that it would erode individual liberties and increase law enforcement abuses. Often cited is the act’s
disregard for the principles of political freedom, due process, and the protections of privacy—all
principles at the core of a democratic society (Cole and Dempsey 2002). More than 330 cities,
towns, and counties, as well as four states, have passed resolutions critical of the federal
antiterrorism law (Egan 2004). Two provisions of the act have caused particular concern among
citizens. One is the provision that empowers authorities to search people’s homes without
notification. A second clause allows government officials the right to review a person’s library,
business, and medical records.
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In 2017, President Trump issued a series of executive orders to ban foreign nationals from selected
countries from entering the United States. These countries included North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran,
Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The White House called the restrictions a “critical step toward
establishing an immigration system that protects Americans’ safety and security in an era of
dangerous terrorism and transnational crime†(quoted in Jarrett and Tatum 2017). Critics noted that
Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups originated, were omitted from
the list. The ban did not include Muslim countries where Trump has business investments (Shane
2017).
What Does It Mean to Me?
President Trump’s FY2018 budget included $603 billion for the U.S. Department of Defense.
What is your opinion of military spending? Are we spending too much or not enough? What do our
military expenditures say about the values of our country? Of our role as a global leader?
The Next Threat
DOMESTIC TERRORISM Michael Leiter, then-director of the National Counterterrorism
Center, told the 2011 U.S. House Intelligence Committee that his number-one priority was
identifying men and women intent on doing harm in the United States. This included concern with
al-Qaeda’s efforts to recruit Americans for their own efforts (Mulrine 2011).
On April 19, 1995, the worst domestic terrorism attack occurred around 9:00 a.m. in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. A rental truck loaded with a mixture of fertilizer and fuel oil exploded in front of
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the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast blew off the front side of the nine-story building,
killing 169 and injuring hundreds more. The attack was conducted by Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols, motivated by antigovernment sentiment over the failed 1993 federal raid on the Branch
Davidian compound in Texas. The bombing occurred on the second anniversary of the Branch
Davidian incident. McVeigh was executed for his crime in 2001; Nichols is serving a life sentence.
Louis J. Freeh (2001), former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), identified three
types of domestic groups operating in the United States: right-wing extremists, left-wing and
Puerto Rican extremists, and special interest extremists. Right-wing groups, such as the World
Church of the Creator, Aryan Nations, and the Southeastern States Alliance, advocate the
principles of racial supremacy and tend to embrace antigovernment or antiregulatory beliefs. They
have also been characterized as hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (2017) identified
917 active hate groups in the United States in 2017.
Left-wing groups want to bring about revolutionary change, adopting a socialist doctrine, and see
themselves as protectors of the people. Groups in this category include terrorist or separatist groups
seeking Puerto Rico’s independence from the United States and anarchists and extremist socialist
groups such as the Workers World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against Capitalism.
Many of these anarchist groups were blamed for the damage caused at the 1999 World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle, Washington.
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
NORTHERN IRELAND SELF-RULE
The trouble with the Irish is the English.
—A line from a popular Irish song (quoted in Whittaker 2002)
In August 2007, the British Army ended Operation Banner, a 38-year security operation in
Northern Ireland. Violence and bloodshed first began in 1969, the result of confrontations
between Nationalist and Unionist (or Loyalist) forces. The Nationalist or Catholic groups were
led by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its splinter groups. In 1970, the Provisional IRA
was created (provisional to honor the provisional government declared by the leaders of the
1916 Easter Rising in Dublin). The Provisional IRA formed to defend the Catholic
community and to throw out the British Army and police (Wilkinson 1993). The Unionist or
Protestant forces represented the Ulster Defence Association and its splinter groups: the Ulster
Volunteer Force, the Red Hand Commandos, and the Ulster Freedom Fighters. Ulster
Protestants saw themselves as Britons, loyal to the Protestant crown. These groups represent
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“orange extremism,†as described by Paul Wilkinson (1993). Orange extremism has also been
blamed for provoking the open conflict in the late 1960s and for creating the conditions in
which the Provisional IRA could grow. The division between the groups emphasized their
polarization in religion, politics, and economics (Whittaker 2002).
Between them, both sides amassed an impressive armory of rifles, homemade machine guns,
grenade throwers, antitank weapons, and explosives. Bombing seemed to be a favorite tactic of
both sides. In more than 30 years of conflict, 3,500 civilians were killed and some 30,000
injured, and there was loss of property amounting to millions of pounds (Whittaker 2002).
IRA paramilitary also took their own lives without attempting to harm others. There was a
chain suicide of 11 IRA members who starved themselves to death in a Belfast prison in 1981.
The IRA used the hunger strikes and deaths to its organizational advantage, “to reap emotive
propaganda, to restore the flow of cash and weapons from the previously dwindling U.S.
sources, and to regroup and rearm†(Wilkinson 1993). Many Irish Americans embraced
members of the IRA as freedom fighters and supported their cause politically and financially.
In 1998, both sides accepted the Good Friday Agreement, a 65-page document that sought to
define relationships within Northern Ireland, between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and
between Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales. The agreement acknowledges that the people
of Northern and Southern Ireland are the only ones with the power to bring about a united
Ireland. Through the agreement, new government institutions were set in place. A cabinet-
style Executive of Ministers, with members in proportion to party support, allows the
participation of all groups (Ahern 2003). The new government, composed of Unionists and
Nationalists, was established with the first elections for the new Northern Ireland Assembly in
June 1998.
A number of political obstacles slowed down the implementation of the agreement, including
difficulties over the total disarmament of the Provisional IRA and the dismantling of British
military installations in Nationalist areas (Ahern 2003). After experiencing sectarian
squabbling, the assembly failed to hold a session for five years (2001–2006); however, elections
were held in March 2007 to reestablish the Northern Ireland Assembly and determine how
many members from Unionist (Protestant) and Nationalist (Catholic) parties would be
represented (Lyall and Quinn 2007). Self-rule was restored in Belfast in May 2007.
After a decade of self-rule, Northern Ireland’s governing coalition collapsed in January 2017.
Its power-sharing government was suspended after the late Martin McGuinness resigned as
deputy first minister of Northern Ireland. Despite holding a national election in March 2017,
the main Nationalist and Unionist parties were unable to form a power-sharing government. In
November 2017, the British government imposed a budget on Northern Ireland. Many view
this as the beginning of reestablishing direct British rule.
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Special interest groups want to resolve specific issues, rather than effect political change. These
groups are at the fringes of animal rights, pro-life, environmental, antinuclear, and other political
and social movements. Animal rights and environmental groups, such as the Animal Liberation
Front and the Earth Liberation Front, have recently increased their activities. Activists from these
groups usually use arson and incendiary devices equipped with timers to target government and
company facilities. The FBI says that these groups are responsible for more than 1,800 criminal acts
and more than $110 million in damages (FBI 2009).
In 2017, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that the bureau was investigating
approximately 1,000 open domestic terrorism cases and about 1,000 cases of groups or individuals
related to or inspired by the Islamic State.
p.372
Hiromichi Matsuda
Days after the 1945 bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, the Japanese surrendered to the Allied forces, officially ending World War
II. The atom bomb killed more than 70,000 residents and destroyed 70% of the city’s industrial core.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS The nuclear weapons age began on July 16, 1945, when the United
States exploded the first nuclear bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Three weeks later, an atomic
bomb was used on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing 100,000 residents. Three days later, an
atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan, killing about 74,000 and injuring 75,000.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States was engaged in a “cold war†with Russia and other
nuclear countries, locked in a stalemate over who would be the first to launch a nuclear attack. In
1963, the countries agreed to sign a partial test ban treaty, banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere,
under water, and in space, and a nonproliferation treaty was signed in 1968, prohibiting nonnuclear
countries from possessing or developing nuclear weapons. In 1996, President Bill Clinton was the
first world leader to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits all nuclear
test explosions in all environments. However, the treaty has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. All
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, except for the United States, have ratified
the treaty.
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Nuclear weapons are still held by nine nations in the world. Suspected weapons have been identified
in Russia (7,000), United States (6,800), France (300), China (260), United Kingdom (215),
Pakistan (130), India (120), Israel (80), and North Korea (fewer than 15) (Ploughshares Fund
2016). In 2016 and 2017, North Korea conducted several nuclear tests, claiming that its missiles
could reach the U.S. mainland. President Trump warned that the United States would rain “fire and
fury†on North Korea if testing continued. Political leaders expressed concern that the president’s
statements would only escalate tensions between our countries and called for negotiations with
President Kim Jung Un.
In July 2017, United Nations delegates from 122 countries voted in favor of the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The treaty bans the development, testing, building, possession, or
threatened use of nuclear weapons. Negotiations were boycotted by nuclear-armed countries,
including the United States, Russia, and North Korea. Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the
Arms Control Association, explained, “While the treaty itself will not immediately eliminate any
nuclear weapons, the treaty can, over time, further delegitimize nuclear weapons and strengthen the
legal and political norm against their use†(quoted in Gladstone 2017). The treaty has legal force
only if ratified by 50 countries. As of December 2017, only three—Guyana, Thailand, and the
Vatican—have done so.
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9-11
Commission, was an independent bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation. The
9-11 Commission was charged with documenting and preparing a full account of the September 11
terrorist attacks. Throughout 2003 and 2004, hearings were held investigating Osama bin Laden’s
network, the performance of the intelligence community, emergency preparedness and response,
and national policy coordination. The commission concluded that U.S. intelligence gathering by the
FBI and CIA was inadequate, fragmented, and poorly coordinated.
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In 2002, President George W. Bush established the Department of Homeland Security. (Before
September 11, the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century [2001] had
recommended the creation of a National Homeland Security Agency, responsible for planning,
coordinating, and integrating all U.S. agencies responsible for security.) The primary mission of the
department is to prevent terrorist attacks and reduce the vulnerability of the United States to
terrorism through coordination with component agencies: U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard,
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the
Transportation Security Administration. The Department of Homeland Security is also responsible
for the Homeland Security Advisory System, which informs the public of the current level of
terrorist threat.
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As a nation, the United States has used several approaches to combat and to reduce the risk of war
and conflict: diplomacy, economic sanctions, and military force. Usually, war is justified as being the
last resort in circumstances where there are severe domestic rights violations or international
aggression by an offending state (Garfield 2002).
Political Diplomacy
According to Christopher Harmon (2000), “political will, more than new laws or new direction[s]
in international politics, is the most important component of an enhanced effort against foreign
supported terrorism†(p. 236). Political diplomacy includes articulating policy to foreign leaders,
persuading them, and reaching agreements with them (Pillar 2001).
Tobias Böhmelt (2010) described two models of political diplomacy. Official diplomatic efforts rely
on state power for leverage and coercion with high-ranking government officials, diplomats, or
heads of state as the main players. In contrast, unofficial diplomacy is led by representatives from
nongovernmental organizations, regional or local leaders, or grassroots organizations working
through back channels to negotiate an agreement. The foreign campaign against South African
apartheid is an example of unofficial diplomacy. Unofficial approaches don’t rely on state power or
coercion but rather attempt to find a common ground among disputing parties. A combination of
official and unofficial diplomatic efforts is also possible, as in the case of the 1995 Guinea Worm
Ceasefire mediated by former President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center in Sudan.
Political scientist Stephen Van Evera (2006) argued that the United States must develop and use its
power to make peace. Relationship building and persuasion are at the heart of U.S. diplomatic
efforts. As the lead foreign affairs agency, the U.S. Department of State attempts to formulate,
represent, and implement the president’s foreign policy (U.S. Department of State 2003). The
secretary of state is the president’s principal adviser on foreign policy and represents the United
States abroad in foreign affairs. Primarily, the department manages diplomatic relations with other
countries and international institutions (such as the United Nations, NATO, the World Bank, and
the International Monetary Fund). The Department of State conducts negotiations and concludes
agreements and treaties with other countries on issues ranging from trade to nuclear weapons. The
United States maintains diplomatic relations with more than 180 countries (U.S. Department of
State 2003). Diplomacy is conducted by the secretary of state and by foreign service officers,
immigration officers, FBI special agents, intelligence officers, transportation specialists, defense
attachés, and other officials (Pillar 2001).
In contrast with the hard-line diplomacy embraced by George W. Bush and Donald Trump, Barack
Obama’s diplomacy has been described as a soft-power approach, whereby a nation-state is
perceived as having values, motives, and actions that should be emulated (Nye 2008). A nation-state
with soft power leads with noncoercive persuasion through its attitudes toward international norms,
embracing the rules of law and demonstrating respect for diversity and cultural history (Hayden
2011). Political scientist Joseph Nye (2008) described soft power this way: “If I can get you to do
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what I want, then I do not have to force you to do what you do not want†(p. 95). The president
serves as the chief diplomat, setting the tone and agenda for political diplomacy. Obama’s 2009
speech at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, has been described as a significant diplomatic
address, as the president openly acknowledged the plight of the Palestinians and Israel’s relationship
with the United States. Public diplomacy scholar Craig Hayden (2011) wrote,
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The speech was a signal that the United States would take a more balanced approach to acknowledge the particular
perspectives of the Middle East crises. The speech was also important as a function of public diplomacy in the manner of its
delivery, its location and the way it signaled the course of U.S. foreign policy in the region. (p. 791)
Obama’s soft-power approach was praised for improving the status of the United States as the
world’s most admired country, yet it has been criticized for not being effective or strong enough.
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SETSUKO THURLOW
©Kyodo News via Getty Images
Setsuko Thurlow
Setsuko Thurlow is an antinuclear activist. She speaks from a survivor’s perspective, telling the
story of what she saw and experienced on August 6, 1945, in her hometown of Hiroshima,
Japan. “A bright summer morning turned into dark twilight, with smoke and dust rising in the
mushroom cloud, dead and injured covering the ground, begging desperately for water and
609
receiving no medical care at all. The spreading firestorm and the foul stench of burned flesh
filled the air.†Eight of her family members died that day, along with hundreds of school
classmates and teachers (ICAN 2017).
After the war, Thurlow attended Hiroshima Jogakuin University, before transferring to
Lynchburg College (Virginia) where she studied sociology. She married Canadian Jim
Thurlow and moved to Toronto, where Thurlow lives today.
Thurlow has supported the work of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
(ICAN) since the organization was established in 2007. ICAN (2017) is a coalition of
nongovernmental organizations “promoting adherence to and implementation of the United
Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty.†A key element of ICAN’s outreach program is testimony
from Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors like Thurlow.
In 2017, ICAN was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for “its work to draw attention to the
catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-
breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-prohibition of such weapons.†ICAN was instrumental in
the passage of UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Thurlow was selected to
receive the honor on ICAN’s behalf.
In her acceptance speech, 85-year-old Thurlow (2017) explained the roots of her activism, “We
were not content to be victims. We refused to wait for an immediate fiery end or the slow
poisoning of our world. We refused to sit idly in terror as the so-called great powers took us
past nuclear dusk and brought us recklessly close to nuclear midnight. We rose up. We shared
our stories of survival. We said: humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.â€
p.375
The Use of Economic Sanctions
For many years, the United States and the United Nations have used nonviolent approaches in the
form of economic sanctions to punish or pressure countries that have violated U.S. laws or values.
Sanctions are considered an alternative to diplomacy or military force. Economic sanctions, in the
form of trade embargoes and the termination of development assistance, are the most commonly
applied form of sanctions, and they have the most significant public health consequences. These
sanctions are intended to weaken a rival’s economy, to disrupt their economic and military
capabilities. Economic sanctions can also promote human rights, express disapproval, isolate a
government, or replace a government entirely (Rennack and Shuey 1998). Even if sanctions are
ineffectual, they can serve as a clear message that what the receiving nation (the target of the
sanctions) has done is disapproved of (Galtung 1967).
U.S. sanctions were used against Iraq in 1990 to force its withdrawal from Kuwait and against
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Yugoslavia (1991–1996) and Serbia and Montenegro (1992–1996) during the Serbian war (Marks
1999). Recent U.S. sanctions have been imposed against Iraq, Iran, and North Korea in an effort to
discourage terrorist activity or the accumulation of weapons of mass destruction. According to
Richard Haas (1997), “economic sanctions are popular because they offer what appears to be a
proportional response to challenges in which the interests at stake are less than vital†(p. 75).
Sanctions can also serve as a signal of official displeasure with a country’s behavior or action.
Many attempts have focused on cutting aid to countries sponsoring or supporting terrorism. The
problem is that most terrorist states do not receive significant aid from the United States, and based
on past experience, sanctions have only made target countries and nations more angry and
impassioned against the United States (Flores 1981). Shaheen Ayubi and colleagues (1982)
concluded that economic sanctions in U.S. foreign policy may not be effective in their objectives and
have often failed to achieve their political purposes. For example, sanctions applied against Cuba
since 1960 failed to destabilize the Castro regime.
Sanctions may not hurt dictators and terrorists, but they may increase suffering and death among
civilians (Garfield 2002), and research suggests that economic coercion may worsen public health,
economic conditions, educational attainment, and the development of a civil society in the
sanctioned country (Peksen 2009). According to Dursun Peksen and A. Cooper Dury (2009), “the
majority of economic sanctions, so far, have been a blunt economic instrument that hits the whole
target economy without any or very few discriminatory measures to lessen the negative impact on
civilians†(p. 408).
For example, a report issued in 1993 by the Harvard Center for Population and Development
Studies maintained that sanctions exacerbated malnutrition in Haiti and increased child deaths
caused by misgovernment (Neier 1993). Although only economic sanctions were directed against
Iraq in the early 1990s, the Harvard Study Team (1991) reported that essential goods—food,
medicine, and infrastructure support—were not reaching those in need. All health facilities surveyed
reported major drug shortages. Children were most vulnerable, dying of preventable diseases and
starvation (Ali and Shah 2000).
Military Response
Military action is based on the idea that the most effective way to defeat an enemy is by the
destruction of the enemy’s armies, equipment, transport systems, industrial centers, and cities.
Military intervention has also been defined as a form of humanitarian intervention. Canada’s
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2001) suggested that
humanitarian intervention should be defined as a responsibility to protect. According to the
commission, there are three aspects of this responsibility: how to prevent humanitarian crises in the
first place, under which conditions and in what way to intervene, and how to maintain peace after a
military conflict and rebuild the country. There have been approximately 20 instances of
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humanitarian intervention since the end of the Cold War. In 2011, evoking the responsibility to
protect, the United Nations approved NATO military intervention in Libya to protect civilians
from being killed by the armed military forces of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Gaddafi had threatened to purge Libya of its civilian protestors. The intervention lasted about six
months and led to the collapse of Gaddafi’s 42-year-old regime, the leader’s death, and the
installation of a transitional government. Humanitarian warfare continues to be deliberated from
ethical, political, and legal perspectives (Zajadlo 2005), as its implementation challenges a basic
principle of sovereign power. When does a country have the right to intervene in the business of
another country?
p.376
Retaliation has been the most important counterterrorist use of U.S. military force. The United
States first used it against Libya in 1986, responding to the April 4 bombing of a nightclub in Berlin
where 2 Americans were killed and 71 were wounded. One hundred military aircraft were used to
attack military targets in and around Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya (Pillar 2001). After September
11, 2001, U.S. troops were deployed to destroy Taliban operations based in Afghanistan.
According to Pillar (2001), evidence suggests that military retaliation does not serve as an effective
deterrent to terrorism. First, terrorists who threaten the United States present few suitable military
targets. It is tough to attack an enemy that can’t be located. Many terrorist groups lack any high-
value targets, whose destruction would be costly to their organization. Second, a military attack
against a terrorist group may serve political and organizational goals of the terrorist leaders. Such
attacks may increase recruiting, sympathy, and resources for terrorist groups. And finally, there is no
evidence that terrorists will respond peacefully after a retaliatory attack. Terrorists may also respond
by fighting back.
Antiwar and Peace Movements
Antiwar movements have been characterized as reactive, occurring only in response to specific wars
or the threat of war. Even though every 20th-century war conducted by the United States elicited
organized protest and opposition (Chatfield 1992), the public’s response to the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars was described as apathetic. The lack of public outrage or protest over the wars was
attributed to several factors: the social construction of a common enemy (terrorism), the pervasive
rhetoric of patriotism and nationalism, and an overall decline in civic and political engagement. The
Bush administration’s policy banning media coverage of fallen soldiers’ caskets was blamed for
shielding the public from the personal toll of these wars. (The ban was lifted in 2009.)
Peace movements represent organized coalitions that are “fundamentally concerned with the
problems of war, militarism, conscription, and mass violence, and the ideals of internationalism,
globalism and non-violent relations between people†(Young 1999:228). According to Nigel Young
(1999), there are different peace traditions: groups that provide ideas and initiatives for the entire
612
peace movement. For example, the tradition of liberalism and internationalism attempts to prevent
war through reformed behavior of states: peace plans, treaties, international law, and arbitration
between all groups. Another tradition, anticonscriptionism, links the peace movement with
individual civil rights.
Another peace tradition is feminist antimilitarism. Peace movements within this tradition are united
by the ideal of a distinctive role for women on the issue of peace and female unity across national
boundaries (Young 1999). Feminist antimilitary groups first began in the early 1900s. In 1914, Jane
Addams, founder of Hull House, led a women’s peace parade in New York to protest World War I.
Addams, along with Carrie Chapman Catt, the main strategist and leader for the women’s suffrage
movement, and other women activists, formed the Women’s Peace Party in 1915. Later that year,
the party was renamed the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The
organization exists today, with chapters in Africa, Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and
the Americas. Its current global mission includes building and strengthening relationships and
movements for justice, peace, and radical democracy.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 16.3: Antiwar Protests
Women have mobilized for peace in other parts of the world: Mothers and Grandmothers of the
Plaza de Mayo (Argentina) protested against the political killings and kidnapping of children during
the Argentine Dirty War; the Greenham Common Women (England) called for the
decommissioning of nuclear arms; and Women in Black (worldwide) are committed to peace with
justice, highlighting women’s different experience of war.
p.377
There is also a tradition of U.S. student involvement in peace movements. Paul Knott (1971)
explained that college students before World War II were mainly upper-middle-class students who
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treated their education as a privilege. Except for a few campuses, most undergraduates showed little
social consciousness and were unwilling to challenge or question the status quo. But increasing
diversity on college campuses—in students’ ages, gender, and ethnic backgrounds—helped increase
social awareness and infused students with a greater sense of empowerment. Student activism was at
its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, supporting the civil rights movement and, later, protesting the
Vietnam War. During the late 1970s, campuses institutionalized many of the gains made in the
previous decade, establishing women’s centers, Black student unions, and gay and lesbian
organizations and ensuring that student government had a greater role in university operations
(Vellela 1988).
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
WORKING AND VOLUNTEERING ABROAD
Courtesy of Michael Clark
Michael Clark
Michael Clark—Class of 2013
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Piano Performance
Pollster John Zogby describes Millennials as the “first global generation,†with 60% owning a
passport and many expecting to work abroad at some point in their careers (Steiner 2014).
There are a host of job and internship opportunities abroad for a recent graduate: teaching,
cultural and au pair positions, volunteer work, student internships, short-term contract work,
and government or corporate placements (Lacey 2006). An estimated 6.8 million Americans
live abroad (excluding those in military service), the highest numbers residing in North,
Central, and South America and in Europe (U.S. Department of State 2014).
614
During 2014–2015, Sociology alum Michael Clark traveled and worked through Europe as a
volunteer for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). Michael is quick to
say that his undergraduate study abroad experiences inspired his year abroad. According to the
Institute for International Education of Students, students were more likely to enter an
international career if they completed an internship abroad and studied in a non-English-
speaking country (Lacey 2006).
When asked how he applies sociology to his WWOOF work, Michael replied,
I am drawn particularly to those sociological projects which examine consumption, globalization, and stratification. As
a WWOOF volunteer, I apply such a framework to interpret the stories and experiences of these small, organic
farmers, such that I may contextualize them within the larger, globalized system of food production. Like George
Ritzer, I regard a variety of structural forces—westernization, neoliberalism, and, perhaps most broadly,
rationalization—as accounting for a global squandering of both intra- and inter-culture diversity. The farmers who
work with WWOOF, then, represent an encouraging source of opposition to these very forces. It is understandable,
then, that my sociological training compels me to learn more about the slow-food movement and other related
campaigns.
Michael describes several career strategies that helped him narrow his own future prospects:
I find it useful to learn as much as I can about those career trajectories which are interesting and available to me.
Consequently, I have spent a great deal of time reading journal articles, books, and essays, from across a diverse body
of disciplines. I have also spent a considerable amount of time reflecting on how my own skills and passions might
address global social problems, such as stratification, environmental degradation, and the
rationalization/westernization of indigenous cultures.
After his year as a WWOOFer, Michael will return to the states and hopes to enroll in a PhD
Sociology program.
p.378
What Does It Mean to Me?
How important is keeping up with politics to you? How well informed are you about local and
national political issues? Are you a registered voter? How have you been educated about your rights
as a voter? About local and national issues?
The new wave of peace activism builds on existing networks established by the student anticorporate
movement, which focused on economic justice related to sweatshop labor and unionization on
campuses (refer to Chapter 9, “Work and the Economyâ€). Student peace groups are linking their
opposition to war to the campaign for social justice, dealing with racism, economic inequality, and
sexism at home. Student protestors seem to have learned from the protests of the 1960s, wanting to
prevent the kind of alienation experienced by Vietnam War veterans.
615
CHAPTER REVIEW
16.1 Explain the difference between war and terrorism.
War is a violent but legitimate political instrument between armed combatants.
Terrorism is the unlawful use of force to intimidate or coerce compliance with a
particular set of beliefs and can be either domestic (based in the United States) or
foreign (supported by foreign groups threatening the security of U.S. nationals or
U.S. national security).
16.2 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to war
and terrorism.
Functionalists examine how war and terrorism help maintain the social order,
creating and reinforcing boundaries. Modern conflict theorists have focused on how
war is used to promote economic and political interests, such as replacing social
program funding with military expenditures. From the feminist perspective, war is
considered a primarily male activity that enhances the position of males in society.
Feminist theorists focus on the gender rhetoric used in war. Interactionists focus on
the social messages and meaning of war and conflict.
16.3 Define the politics of fear.
The politics of fear is how decision makers and politicians promote and use the
public’s beliefs and assumptions about terrorism to achieve certain goals. The politics
of fear changes our behavior and our perspective.
16.4 Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
A common aftereffect of war is the experience of posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). The needs of Iraq War veterans are different from those of veterans of
other wars. The United States is the world’s largest military spender. Ecocide is the
mass destruction of ecosystems due to war. Examples include the use of Agent
Orange to defoliate South Vietnam’s forests during the Vietnam War.
16.5 Assess the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
Economic sanctions such as trade embargoes, which are the most commonly applied
form, may affect the civilian population more than specific leaders or terrorists. Many
counterterrorism attempts have focused on cutting off aid to countries sponsoring or
supporting terrorism. However, most such states do not receive significant aid from
the United States, and sanctions may only worsen living conditions in the targeted
country.
KEY TERMS
616
domestic terrorism, 360
ecocide, 368
genocide, 358
humanitarian intervention, 375
international terrorism, 360
military-industrial complex, 362
outcome goals, 361
politicide, 358
politics of fear, 364
process goals, 361
revolution, 358
soft-power approach, 373
terrorism, 359
p.379
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. From a functionalist’s perspective, how do war and terrorism serve a “safety valve†function?
2. How does the military-industrial complex contribute to war and conflict?
3. From an interactionist perspective, how has the war on terrorism been socially constructed?
4. Identify the psychological, economic, and political impacts of war and conflict.
5. Explain warfare as a humanitarian intervention.
6. What role have college students and activists played in antiwar and peace movements?
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©iStock.com/alejandrophotography
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619
INDIVIDUAL ACTION
AND SOCIAL CHANGE
PART
IV
Since its inception, sociology has been considered a means of understanding and improving
what is wrong with the world. Early sociological thinking emerged from the late 18th and early
19th centuries during periods of dramatic social, economic, and political change, such as the
Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Enlightenment period. The first
sociological thinkers, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber, were preoccupied with
these social changes and the problems they created for society. These thinkers spent their lives
studying these problems and attempted to develop programs that would help solve them
(Ritzer 2000).
Sociology provides us with the means of examining the social structure or “machinery†that
runs our lives. In his book Invitation to Sociology, sociologist Peter Berger (1963) likens our
human experience to that of puppets on a stage:
We located ourselves in society and thus recognize our own position as we hang from subtle strings. For a moment we
see ourselves as puppets. . . . Unlike the puppets, we have the possibility of stopping in our movements, looking up
and perceiving the machinery by which we have been moved. In this act lies the first step towards freedom. (p. 176)
Freedom comes first in identifying the social “machinery†that controls us and second in
recognizing that the way society controls us is fundamentally different from the way strings
control puppets. We have the power to transform or alter that machinery; we have the power to
create social change and to address our social problems.
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p.382
©Sarah Morris/Getty Images
p.383
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17
SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL
ACTION
Media Library
CHAPTER 17 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 17.1: Occupy Wall Street
AP News Clips 17.2: Opening of the Civil Rights Museum
AP News Clips 17.3: Volunteer Bike Rides for the Elderly
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
17.1 Explain the relationship between sociology, social movements, and social change.
17.2 Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements.
17.3 Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness.
17.4 Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
In Chapter 1, I introduced you to three connections that would be made throughout this text. The
first was the connection between sociology and social problems. We began with two concepts
offered by C. Wright Mills: personal troubles and public issues. Mills explained that personal
troubles transform into public issues when we recognize that troubles exist not because of individual
characteristics or traits but because of social forces. This book has not focused on “nuts, sluts, and
perverts†(Liazos 1972) as the source of our social problems. Rather, using our sociological
imagination, we’ve examined how social forces shape social problems in U.S. society. We have relied
on four sociological perspectives—functionalist, conflict, feminist, and interactionist—to guide us
through each chapter and each set of problems. These four perspectives provide a unique look at
social problems and, as a consequence, offer insights about how we may solve them.
According to a functionalist, all society’s needs are met by its social institutions (family, education,
politics, religion, and economics). Working interdependently, these institutions ensure social order.
When society experiences significant social change (e.g., the Industrial Revolution, war), the social
order is particularly susceptible to social problems (e.g., crime, poverty, or violence). Social problems
622
do not emerge from individuals; rather, problems emerge when the order is disrupted or tested.
Functionalist solutions focus on restoring the social order, repairing the broken institutions, and
avoiding dramatic social change.
Like the functionalists, conflict and feminist theorists examine social problems at the macro or
societal level. For conflict theorists, social problems are the result of social, economic, or political
inequalities inherent in our society. Feminist perspectives consider how gender inequalities lead to
social problems. Whereas functionalists assume that order is normal for society, the conflict and
feminist theorists believe that conflict over resources and power is the status quo. From this
perspective, how does one eliminate social problems? The existing social order needs to be replaced
with a more equitable society. Mid-range solutions attempt to redefine opportunity and power
structures to include the participation of marginalized individuals or groups.
The interactionist perspective focuses on social problems at the micro or individual level. According
to this perspective, we create our reality through social interaction. Social problems are created by
the labels we attach to individuals and their situations (e.g., the “welfare mom†or a “crack addictâ€).
In addition, problematic behavior is learned from others; for example, interactionists believe that
criminal behavior is learned from other criminals. Social problems are not objective realities. Rather,
they are subjectively constructed by religious, political, and social leaders who influence our opinions
and conceptions of what a social problem is. This perspective leads us to many different solutions:
changing the labeling process (being careful of who is being labeled and what the label is),
resocializing individuals who exhibit deviant or inappropriate behavior (if the behavior was learned,
it can be unlearned), and recognizing the social construction of social problems (acknowledging that
it is a subjective process).
p.384
What Does It Mean to Me?
Throughout this text, you have been introduced to four sociological perspectives. Which
sociological perspective do you agree with most? Which perspective best explains the reasons and
solutions for social problems?
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
The past 16 chapters have revealed how we continue to experience many social problems—and bear
in mind that not every social problem could be addressed in the pages of this text. Yet considering
the past decade, strong evidence suggests that problems such as crime, drug abuse, and poverty have
been minimized because of effective social policies and solutions. We tend to think of the
623
government as the only effective agent of social change because politicians pass new laws and
policies. But the government is not the only agent of social change. In each chapter, I introduced
you to individuals, groups, and communities that have attempted to address a particular social
problem. In their own ways, all of them are making the second connection, the one between social
problems and their solutions.
Our nation’s history is filled with groups of people who attempted to promote change or prevent it
from taking place (Harper and Leicht 2002). Social movements are defined as conscious,
collective, organized attempts to bring about or resist large-scale change in the social order (J.
Wilson 1973). In today’s society, almost every critical public issue leads to a social movement
supporting change (and an opposing countermovement to discourage it) (Meyer and Staggenbord
1996). Social movements are the most potent forces of social change in our society (Sztompka
1994). Social movements lead the way for social reform and policies by first identifying and calling
attention to social problems.
Social movements are classified by two factors. First, how much change is intended by the social
movement: Is it limited or radical change? And second, what is the scope of the intended change: Is
it a group of people or an entire society? Sociologists Charles Harper and Kevin Leicht (2002)
distinguish between two dimensions of social movements in their book Exploring Social Change:
America and the World. The first dimension identifies how much change is intended by the
movement, distinguishing between reform and revolutionary movements. According to Harper and
Leicht, reform movements try to bring about limited social change by working within the existing
system, usually targeting social structures such as education or medicine and directly targeting policy
makers. Examples of reform movements are pro-choice or anti-abortion groups. On the other hand,
revolutionary social movements seek fundamental changes of the system itself. These types of
social movements, such as the U.S. civil rights movement or the antiapartheid movement in South
Africa, consider the political system the key to system change.
The second dimension of social movements identified by Harper and Leicht (2002) is instrumental
versus expressive, addressing the scope of intended change. Instrumental movements seek to
change the structure of society; examples are the civil rights movement and the environmental
movement. Expressive movements attempt to change individuals and individual behavior. Based
on these dimensions, John Wilson (1973) specified four types of social movements: reformative,
transformative, alternative, and redemptive (see Table 17.1).
TABLE 17.1 â– Types of Social Movements
624
New social movements theory emphasizes the distinctive features of recent social movements
that emerged in postindustrial or advanced capitalist societies. New social movements first appeared
in cultural and radical feminist movements in the late 1960s, in some radical sections of the
environmental movement in the 1970s, in parts of the peace movement of the late 1970s through
the mid-1980s, and in radical sections of the gay rights movement since the 1980s (Plotke 1995).
p.385
John Hannigan (1991) and David Plotke (1995) distinguish between new social movements and
early social movements. First, new movements have different ideologies than did earlier movements.
Instead of fighting for human rights, such as voting or freedom of speech, new movements are
framed around concerns about cultural and community rights, such as the right to be different, to
choose one’s lifestyle, and to be protected from particular risks such as nuclear or environmental
hazards (Hannigan 1991). These movements have been described as identity movements, focused
on cultural issues rather than economic or political power. New social movements promote a “more
diverse and citizen-oriented set of interests†(Dalton, Kuechler, and Bürklin 1990:3). Second, new
social movements distrust formal organizations. Consequently, they tend to be informal
participatory structures rather than complex centralized organizations (Buechler 2011). Finally,
whereas previous movements were identified with the economic oppression of workers or
minorities, new social movements are associated with a new middle class of “younger, social and
cultural specialists†(Plotke 1995). Instead of acting on behalf of their own interests, this new
middle class acts on behalf of groups who cannot act on their own.
What Does It Mean to Me?
How has your level of social activism changed since you’ve enrolled in college?
625
HOW DO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS BEGIN?
Social scientists offer several explanations of how social movements emerge. Individual explanations
focus on the psychological dispositions or motivations of those drawn to social movements. Women
and men are depicted as either frustrated or calculating actors in political or social movements.
Empirical studies have not consistently supported these explanations, demonstrating that individual
predispositions are insufficient to account for collective action in social movements. In addition,
such theories tend to deflect attention from the real causes of discontent and injustice in our social
and political structures (Wilson and Orum 1976).
Social movements do not generally arise from a stable social context; rather, they arise from a
changing social order (Lauer 1976). Social movements arise from the structure itself, primarily the
result of social and economic deprivation. People are not acting just because they are suffering. They
are likely to act when they experience relative deprivation, a perceived gap between what they
expect and what they actually get. James Davies (1974) argued that social movements are likely to
occur when a long period of economic and social improvement is followed by a period of decline.
Relative deprivation theory has been used to explain the development of urban protests among
African Americans during the 1960s, which were initiated by middle-class African Americans who
perceived social and economic gaps between Black and White Americans (Harper and Leicht 2002).
Similar arguments have been made about emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement. But
relative deprivation alone isn’t enough to create a social movement.
p.386
Neil Smelser (1963) explained that six structural conditions are necessary for the development of
collective behaviors and social movements. These conditions operate in an additive fashion. First,
particular structures in society are more likely to generate certain kinds of social movements than
others. For example, societies with racial divisions are more likely to develop racial movements.
Second, people will become dissatisfied with the current structure only if the structure is perceived
as oppressive or illegitimate. Third, there must be growth of a generalized belief system. People
need to share an ideology, a set of ideas, that defines the sources of the structural problems or strains
and the solutions necessary to alleviate them. The civil rights movement was based on the ideology
that racism was the source of restricted opportunities for minorities (Harper and Leicht 2002).
Fourth, dramatic events sharpen and concretize issues. These events may initiate or exaggerate
people’s dissatisfaction with the current structure or redefine their beliefs about the sources of the
structural problems. Examples of dramatic or precipitating events include the 1968 Watts riots in
relation to the Black Power phase of the civil rights movement and the 1979 Three Mile Island
nuclear disaster in relation to the anti–nuclear power movement (Harper and Leicht 2002). Fifth,
the movement gains momentum with the mobilization of leaders and members for the movement.
At this time, the social movement also begins to take the shape of a formal organization. Finally,
forces in society (the existing political structure or countermovements) respond to the social
movement either by accepting or by suppressing it. One of the important features of Smelser’s
626
theory is his emphasis on the relationship between the social movement and society itself, a
powerful force in shaping the development, the direction, and, ultimately, the success of the
movement (Harper and Leicht 2002).
U.S. Information Agency
More than 200,000 people participated in the March on Washington demonstrations in March 1963. This march, along
with other nonviolent protests and marches, brought to the nation’s attention the need for basic civil rights for all
Americans, regardless of race. The U.S. Congress passed landmark legislation in the 1960s: the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as the Fair Housing Act).
According to resource mobilization theory, no social movement can succeed without resources.
John McCarthy and Mayer Zald (1977) argued that human and organizational resources must be
mobilized to create a social movement. A social movement requires human skills in the form of
leadership, talent, and knowledge, as well as an organizational infrastructure to support its work.
On the other hand, the political process model emphasizes the relationship between a mobilized
social movement and a favorable structure of political opportunities. Social movements are seen as
rational attempts by excluded groups to mobilize their political leverage to advance their interests.
Social movements are political phenomena, attempting to change social policy and political
coalitions, in this view. Political structures enhance the likelihood of a successful social movement
by being receptive to change or by being more or less vulnerable at different points in time. For
example, Doug McAdam (1982) noted that the efforts of the civil rights movement were enhanced
by the expansion of the Black vote and the shift of Black voters to the Democratic Party. Without
favorable support from the political structure, the civil rights movement might not have succeeded.
p.387
Social movements gain strength when they develop symbols and a sense of community, which
generates strong feelings and helps direct this energy into organized action. People will form a social
movement when they develop “a shared understanding of the world and of themselves that
legitimate[s] and motivate[s] collective action†(McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald 1996:6). McAdam
(1982) explained that resource mobilization must include cognitive liberation. Much like Karl
Marx’s concept of class consciousness, cognitive liberation begins when members of an aggrieved
627
group begin to consider their situation as unjust. They must recognize their situation. The second
part of cognitive liberation is the group’s sense that its situation can be changed. Finally, those who
considered themselves powerless begin to believe that they can make a difference (Piven and
Cloward 1979). Individuals must move through all three stages to become cognitively liberated.
They must organize, act on political opportunities, and instigate change: “In the absence of these
necessary attributions, oppressive conditions are likely, even in the face of increased resources, to go
unchallenged†(McAdam 1982:34).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 17.1: Occupy Wall Street
The Wall Street movement (or Occupy for short) was described as the first worldwide postmodern
uprising (Brucato 2012). What began with hundreds of protestors in Zuccotti Park, New York,
spread to more than 900 cities globally (Adam 2011) and hundreds of college and university
encampments across the United States. Occupy became “a means of channeling legitimate anger
toward productive ends, the progressive transformation of society†(Langman 2013:520). The
movement had also been described as a new model for organizing and protesting: a gathering of
multiple groups with diverse issues and causes, developing politics through interaction and
participatory structures and lacking a clear beginning and ending (Brucato 2012). Other
movements, such as the Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter and Never Again, have also embraced
diffuse, decentralized, nonhierarchical structures and collective leadership. Sarah Augusto (2016)
observed, “In this postmodern age, collective movements will take new, more complex forms, just as
what counts as ‘the movement’ itself will reflect the diverse identities participants hold and the
diverse ways that activists mobilize for social change†(p. 4).
What Does It Mean to Me?
628
What do you think will be the next social movement?
HOW HAVE REFORM MOVEMENTS MADE A
DIFFERENCE?
“The interest of many scholars in social movements stems from their belief that movements
represent an important force for social change†(McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald 1988:727); yet, “the
study of the consequences of social movements is one of the most neglected topics in literatureâ€
(Giugni 1999:xiv–xv). Early in human history, most social change was the result of chance or trial
and error (Mannheim 1940), but in modern history, social movements have been the basic avenues
by which social change takes place (Harper and Leicht 2002).
According to Harper and Leicht (2002), the most dramatic social, cultural, economic, and political
transformations come from revolutions. Successful revolutions are rare and dramatic events, such as
the early revolutions in France (1789), Russia (1917), and China (1949), and they include the
political transformations in South America, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union during
the 1980s.
Most social movements that we’re familiar with are reform movements that focus on either broad or
narrow social reforms. They produce significant change, but in gradual or piecemeal ways (Harper
and Leicht 2002). The most important U.S. reform movements in the first half of the 20th century
focused on grievances related to social class, such as the labor movements of the early 1900s, which
helped ensure safer working conditions, eliminated child labor, and provided substantial increases in
wages and benefits. After World War II, a new type of reform movement, which included the civil
rights movement, the student movement, the feminist movement, the gay liberation movement, and
ethnic/racial movements, addressed inequalities based on social status rather than social class
(Harper and Leicht 2002). Successful reform movements generate change in three areas:
p.388
IN FOCUS
STUDENT ACTIVISM
629
©Emilee McGovern/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
On March 24, 2018, hundreds of thousands of Americans demonstrated against gun violence in schools.#neveragain
was also a global event, with rallies held in the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and other
countries.
College and university students have always played an important role in addressing social
problems, leading to significant social change. For example, voting drives led by 17- and 18-
year-olds produced the Twenty-Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, granting voting
rights to those 18 years of age and older (Nader 1972). The driving force behind the Twenty-
Sixth Amendment came from youth who raised questions about the legitimacy of a
representative government that asked 18- to 20-year-olds to fight in the Vietnam War but
denied them the right to vote on war-related issues (Close Up Foundation 2004).
According to longtime social activist Ralph Nader (1972), it is up to students “to prod and to
provoke, to research and to act†(p. 23). The time in college is a fertile opportunity for social
activism (Munson 2010). While at this particular life transition point, students experience
significant change in their daily routines and their social networks. Ziad Munson (2010)
explained, “To become active in a social movement, people must change their routines to
accommodate the demands of activism; they need to incorporate new habits and activities that
make them a part of a movement†(p. 774). When social networks are reconfigured, college
students are open to new ideas and new worldviews. When regular routines are disrupted, this
creates space for (new) social activism.
Hailey Chaloub, Domenique Ciavattone, and Christopher Wetzel (2016) reported that current
college activists are engaged in a range of campus campaigns and issues: affordable housing,
workers’ rights on campus, and diversity on campus. Student activists are not drawn to tactics
perceived as confrontational or divisive or tactics perceived as passé (e.g., rallies). Students
moved beyond “slacktivism†(simply “liking†something on Facebook or re-tweeting a post) to
connecting digital tools (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) for broader social engagement (e.g., making
connections and building relationships). “More than an end in itself or solely as a tool for
recruiting, they saw that social media could be a tool to excite and motivate conversations
around pressing social issues†(Chaloub et al. 2016:307). The researchers concluded, “In
committing sociology, contemporary students could structurally analyze the landscape of power
630
(in its current form and how it has changed over time) and then work intentionally from the
roots to transform systems of injustice†(p. 309).
1. Culture. Reform movements educate people and change beliefs and behaviors. Change can
occur in our culture, identity, and everyday life (Taylor and Whittier 1995). By changing the
ways individuals live, movements may effect long-term changes in society (Meyer 2000).
The women’s movement has established a clear record of cultural change. The
women’s movement changed the way women viewed themselves and altered our
language, our schools, the workplace, politics, the military, and the media.
2. New organizations or institutions. Movements lead to the creation of new organizations that
continue to generate change. Through these new organizations, social movements may
influence ongoing and future initiatives by altering the structure of political support, limiting
resources to challengers, and changing the values and symbols used by supporters and
challengers. David Meyer (2000) argued that by changing participants’ lives, “movements alter
the personnel available for subsequent challenges†(p. 51).
p.389
There are many examples from the women’s movement about the creation of
effective new organizations or institutions. The National Organization for Women
(NOW) was created in 1966, along with the Women’s Equity Action League (1968),
the National Women’s Political Caucus (1971), the National Women’s Law Center
(1972), and the Feminist Majority Foundation (1987). NOW is the largest
organization of feminist activists in the United States, with more than 500,000
members and 550 chapters in all 50 states. The organization continues its advocacy
and legislative efforts in guaranteeing equal rights for women, ensuring abortion
rights and reproductive freedom, opposing racism, and ending violence against
women. Political mobilization by feminists against rape led to the creation and
implementation of policy and established a new institution: rape crisis centers
(Matthews 1994).
3. Social policy and legislation. Successful social policies have been nurtured by partnerships
between the government and social movements (Skocpol 2000). Movements generally organize
and mobilize themselves around specific policy demands (Meyer 2000), attempting to
minimize or eliminate social problems. Public policy can do many things: New laws can be
enacted or old ones may be struck down, social service programs can be created or ended, and
taxes can be used to discourage bad behaviors (cigarette or alcohol taxes) or encourage other
behaviors (tax breaks to build enterprise zones) (Loseke 2003).
631
For reform movements, the relationship between desired and actual change varies (Lauer 1976). So
far, the women’s movement has not achieved the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA),
first proposed in 1923. As of 2018, 37 of the necessary 38 states had ratified the ERA. Although the
ERA effort failed, the movement changed the way most Americans understood the need for equal
rights and policies (Costain 1993). The women’s movement has made progress in revising laws
pertaining to violence against women, creating family-friendly business practices, and enhancing
women’s roles in the military, clergy, sports, and politics.
MAKING THE LAST CONNECTION
It was a Sunday evening, January 31, 1960, when four freshmen at North Carolina Agriculture and
Technical College stayed up late talking about ending segregation in the South. They were
extraordinarily poorly positioned to effect political or social change on campus, much less in the
United States: young, Black, by no means affluent, and generally disconnected from the major
centers of power in America. On Monday morning Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph
McNeill, and David Richmond dressed in their best clothes to visit the Woolworth’s in downtown
Greensboro. After buying some school supplies, they sat at the lunch counter and waited for service.
They spent the rest of their day there.
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AS A
SOURCE OF CHANGE
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been called a “positive force in domestic and
international affairs, working to alleviate poverty, protect human rights, preserve the
environment, and provide relief worldwide†(McGann and Johnstone 2006:65). The term
refers to private, voluntary, civil society, and nonprofit organizations advocating on behalf of a
range of issues: poverty, human rights, the environment, and social justice. NGOs also
represent industry associations, religious organizations, and obscure causes (Paul 2000).
Although they may receive government funding, NGOs are not government representatives
(Kuruvila 2015).
NGOs are known for their innovative campaigns and mobilization strategies, especially for
their ability to work outside traditional government structures and political networks. The
primary purpose of NGOs is to achieve social goals (Kuruvila 2015). Notable NGO activity
includes the collection of labor, antiglobalization, and environmental groups that converged on
the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting. NGOs exerted their global influence on the
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United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992) and Fourth World
Conference on Women (1995).
There is no definitive count of the number of domestic and international NGOs, although one
public estimate is 10 million NGOs worldwide (Nonprofit Action 2017). One prominent
NGO, Amnesty International, an activist group campaigning for human rights, has more than
7 million members in 150 countries.
p.390
The following day, 27 other Black students joined them and on Wednesday twice as many. By
Thursday, a few sympathetic White students from nearby schools had enlisted and, with the lunch
counter at Woolworth’s filled, a few started a sit-in at another lunch counter down the street. By the
end of the week, city officials offered to negotiate a settlement and, on Saturday night, 1,600
students rallied to celebrate this victory. News of the sit-in campaigns spread throughout the South
and then elsewhere across the United States, spurring other activists to emulate their efforts. Sit-ins
to desegregate lunch counters and restaurants, stores and libraries, and even buses swept the South.
A new organization, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was formed in
April 1960. SNCC would become a leading force in the civil rights movement, setting much of the
agenda for liberal politics in the United States during the early 1960s, precipitating the passage of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and politicizing student activists across the United States (Meyer
2000:33).
Yes, solutions to social problems are complex and, as Mills advised, ultimately require attention to
large social forces and structures, such as those targeted by social movements. But social movements
don’t appear overnight. Social movements begin with individual efforts such as those taken by
college students Blair, McCain, McNeill, and Richmond. Grassroots organizations with strong
community and local leadership, such as those on the front line of the modern environmental
movement, have also proven effective in addressing social problems.
Some may believe that individual efforts don’t amount to much, leading only to short-term solutions
or effectively helping one person or one family at a time. But according to David Rayside (1998),
the impact of any social movement should be measured over the long term. The isolated effort of
thousands of individuals and groups “creates changes in social and political climates, which then
enable particular groups to make more specific inroads into public policy and institutional practiceâ€
(p. 390).
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection, [LC-DIG-ppmsca-08096]
In the 1960s antisegregation protests expanded beyond the South. In this photo ministers picket in front of New York City’s
F. W. Woolworth store to protest lunch counter segregation practices in the company’s southern stores.
The last connection presented in this text is the connection between social problems and your
community. Throughout the country, college students have affirmed their commitment to social
action. According to UCLA’s 2016 survey of college freshmen, almost 30% of first-time, full-time
students rate the life goal of influencing the political structure as “very important†or “essentialâ€
(Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA 2017a). Based on its survey of 134,456 students,
51% spoke up publicly about a cause and 22% demonstrated for a cause. First-year students believe
in the importance of community involvement and civic values. Thirty-six percent feel it is important
to participate in a community action program, and 43% feel it is important to become a community
leader (Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA 2017b).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 17.2: Opening of the Civil Rights Museum
President Obama and Michelle Obama consistently highlighted the importance of volunteer service
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and its value for the nation. In 2009, President Obama launched the United We Serve initiative,
calling for a “sustained, collaborative and focused effort to promote service as a way of life for all
Americans†(Corporation for National and Community Service 2009). In the same year, Congress
designated September 11 as the National Day of Service and Remembrance, and Obama signed the
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which tripled the number of intensive service
opportunities in the AmeriCorps program from 75,000 positions annually to 250,000 by 2017.
Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for more information about how others are
politically engaged.
p.391
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
CAMILA VALLEJO
©iStock.com/erlucho
Camila Vallejo joined protestors in Santiago, Chile, demanding a new national system for secondary education. In
2013, Vallejo was elected as a representative of La Florida, Santiago, in the Chilean House of Deputies.
In May 2011, Chilean high school and college students began participating in coordinated
marches, sit-ins, and strikes. Their efforts have included thousands of individuals, in protests
635
described as the largest since the days of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. The
students were mobilized by the Student Confederation of Chile (CONFECH, a group of all
the student unions from public and some private universities), and the oldest union, the
Student Federation of the University of Chile (FECH) (Goldman 2012). Camila Vallejo, a 23-
year-old geography student from the University of Chile, emerged as the most prominent and
charismatic leader of the student movement. When the protests began, Vallejo was FECH’s
elected president.
The young protestors had one primary issue: education reform. Although Chile may have the
highest income per capita in the region, it ranks as one of the most unequal countries in the
world. According to Francisco Goldman (2012), a university education in Chile is
proportionally the most expensive—$3,400 a year for tuition—while the average annual salary
for a Chilean citizen is $8,500. Most college students take out bank loans and incur years of
debt to pay for their education. While President Sebastián Piñera characterized education as a
consumer good, Vallejo and her fellow protestors defined it as a fundamental right, advocating
that “the university should be the motor of change in society†(Goldman 2012:23).
The student protests have been credited with the resignation of two education ministers, both
ineffectual against the students (Goldman 2012). But what began as a student movement has
expanded to other Chilean citizen and worker groups. Vallejo explains, “Something very
powerful that has come out of the heart of this movement is that people are really questioning
the economic policies of the country. People are not tolerating the way a small number of
economic groups benefit from the system†(quoted in Moss Wilson 2012:5). The youth,
according to Vallejo, have “revived and dignified politics†(quoted in Franklin 2011a). “It is
always the youth that make the first move . . . we don’t have family commitments, this allows
us to be freer. We took the first step but we are no longer alone, the older generations are now
joining this fight†(Vallejo, quoted in Franklin 2011b).
Vallejo has been honored in other countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United
States) for her leadership and protest work. In 2013, Vallejo was elected a member of the
Chilean congress, winning 44% of the vote in the Santiago district of La Florida. She ran as a
member of the Communist Party.
If you think there is nothing that you can do to effect change, you’ve not been paying attention. The
first step is to recognize that you can make a difference. Thomas Ehrlich (2000) identified how
p.392
636
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
WHO IS POLITICALLY ENGAGED?
The Pew Research Center surveyed 10,013 adults in 2014, asking about their political
engagement. Political engagement may be operationalized in many different ways—
voting, contributing to a candidate, working for a campaign, or attending a political rally.
The Pew researchers concluded that engagement tends to be a U-shaped pattern, with
higher levels of engagement at the right and left of the ideological spectrum and lower
levels in the center. Notice this pattern in Figures 17.1 through 17.3.
The researchers acknowledge that other factors are correlated with political engagement,
such as age and education. Hypothesize the relationship between these other demographic
factors and political engagement. What do you think? As education increases, does the
likelihood of political engagement increase or decrease? Explain the reason for your
answers.
FIGURE 17.1 â– Percentage Who Worked or Volunteered for a Campaign or
Candidate, by Political Ideology, 2014
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Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 2014. “Political Polarization in the American Public.†Retrieved
November 2, 2014 (http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/).
FIGURE 17.2 â– Percentage Who Contacted an Elected Official, by Political Ideology,
2014
Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 2014. “Political Polarization in the American Public.†Retrieved
November 2, 2014 (http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/).
FIGURE 17.3 â– Percentage Who Attended a Campaign Event, by Political Ideology,
2014
638
Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 2014. “Political Polarization in the American Public.†Retrieved
November 2, 2014 (http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/).
p.393
a morally and civically responsible individual recognizes him or herself as a member of a larger social fabric and therefore
considers social problems to be at least partly his or her own; such an individual is willing to see the moral and social
dimensions of issues, to make and justify informed moral and civic judgments and to take action when appropriate. (p. xxvi)
You do not have to believe in quick fixes, universal solutions, or change to the entire world to solve
social problems. You do not have to join a national organization. To begin, you can join other
college and university students who have chosen to become personally involved in their community.
Most efforts are small and practical, but as one college student says, “I can’t do anything about the
theft of nuclear grade weapons materials in Azerbaijan, but I can clean up the local pond, help tutor
a troubled kid, or work at a homeless shelter†(Levine and Cureton 1998:36). What does it take to
start making that connection with your community?
The second step is to explore opportunities for service on your campus and in your community.
Take the chapters in this text or the material presented by your instructor to consider what social
problems you are passionate about. Determine what issues you’d like to address and determine what
individuals or groups you’d like to work with. Even though you may be in your college community
for only four or five years, act as if you’re there for life: Take an interest in what happens in your
community (Hollender and Catling 1996). Whatever your interests are, you can be sure that there
are people and programs in your community who share them. And if those programs don’t exist,
what would it take to create such a program?
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 17.3: Volunteer Bike Rides for the Elderly
639
The third step is to do what you enjoy doing. When you know what you like, when you know what
you can contribute, you will find the right connection. Whatever your talent, your community
program will appreciate your contribution. It could be that you are an excellent writer; if so, you
could help with a program’s monthly newsletter, develop an informational brochure, or design the
program’s website. Do you enjoy working with others? Volunteer to work with clients, to answer
phones, or to help at a rally. In addition to providing invaluable service to the program, recognize
the experience and skills that you will gain from your efforts.
And what is the final step? Go out and do it. It doesn’t have to last an entire semester or school
year; you could just volunteer for a weekend or a day. Change doesn’t happen automatically; it
begins with individual action. As Paul Rogat Loeb (1994) explained, the hard questions must come
from us:
We need to ask what we want in this nation and why; how should we run our economy, meet human needs, protect the
Earth, achieve greater justice? . . . The questions have to come from us, as we reach out to listen and learn, engage fellow
citizens who aren’t currently involved, and spur debate in environments that are habitually silent.
Sociologist Michael Burawoy (2004) advocates public sociology,
a sociology that seeks to bring sociology to the publics beyond the academy, promoting dialogue about issues that affect the
fate of society, placing the values to which we adhere under a microscope. . . . The variety of publics stretches from our
students to the readers of our books, from newspaper columns to interviews, from audiences in local civic groups such as
churches or neighborhoods, to social movements we facilitate. The possibilities are endless. (p. 104)
Charles Lemert (1997) reminds us of the most valuable sociological lesson:
Sociology . . . is different for all because each [must] find a way to live in a world that threatens even while it provides. Grace
is never cheap. In the end, what remains is that we all have a stake in the world. Like it or not, life is always life together.
Social living is the courage to accept what we cannot change in order to do what can be done about the rest. (p. 191)
640
Put your sociological imagination to work to see where change is possible. Do you have the courage?
p.394
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
GRADUATE STUDY
Courtesy of Barbara Prince
Barbara Prince—Class of 2012
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Anthropology
Undergraduate Minor: Art History
A master’s or doctorate degree in Sociology is essential for employment in higher education,
industry, government, or other nonprofit or research settings.
There are two types of master’s degree programs. The first type is a traditional program that
leads to a PhD in Sociology, with a primary career emphasis on academic employment. Most
PhD programs also offer a master’s degree track. The second type is a professional or applied
program that prepares graduates for research, policy, management, and service occupations.
These programs are also referred to as terminal degree programs, as there is no expectation to
progress to a PhD program (Spalter-Roth and Van Vooren 2011). Master’s programs usually
641
take two to three years and may include a culminating independent project or a thesis as part of
the degree requirement.
A doctorate in philosophy (PhD) is the highest degree awarded in Sociology. A PhD program
requires at least five to six years of study beyond the bachelor’s degree. According to the
American Sociological Association, more than 200 colleges and universities offer PhD
programs. A program application usually requires an undergraduate transcript, a personal
statement on why you are interested in pursuing doctoral work, faculty recommendations, and
scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
Once you decide to pursue graduate work in sociology, work with your adviser to identify
which path—master’s or PhD—is for you. Barbara Prince declared her Sociology major in her
sophomore year, yet knew nothing about careers in sociology. “I just knew that I loved the
topics and found the field very interesting. I did know about going to graduate school by the
end of my sophomore year, though, because it was something my mentor was always
mentioning and very supportive of me pursuing.†In her senior year, Barbara worked as an
intern for her mentor. The experience, says Barbara, “was designed to expose me to what I
would call the invisible work of being a professor. For example, my responsibilities included
helping organize a conference, preparing class and review materials, and assisting with grant
writing and execution.â€
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology, Barbara earned a
master’s degree in Sociology and is currently enrolled in a PhD program.
I am always using sociology at work in the literal sense since I am working as a graduate research assistant in
sociology. . . . I am engaging my sociological imagination to help form my research questions and what I am
interested in researching. My sociological imagination also helps me as a graduate research assistant and student to
explore alternative explanations for social problems.
For those who are planning to go to graduate school, Barbara offers straightforward advice:
“Start planning early, make as many connections as you can, and find a champion mentor.â€
And for those on the job market, she recommends, “Be unapologetic about your Sociology
major. The skills you learn in sociology, such as the sociological imagination and critical
thinking, are what all jobs are looking for in an employee. Even if someone doesn’t know what
sociology is, I guarantee they want what sociology teaches.â€
CHAPTER REVIEW
17.1 Explain the relationship between sociology, social movements, and social change.
Sociology provides us with the means to examine the social structure or “machineryâ€
that runs our lives. Social movements are conscious, collective, organized attempts to
bring about or resist large-scale change in the social order. They are the most potent
642
forces of social change in our society.
p.395
17.2 Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements.
Social movements are classified by two factors: the scope and the depth of change.
Instrumental movements seek to change the structure of society itself, whereas
expressive movements attempt to change individuals. Whereas reform movements try
to bring about limited social change by working within the existing system,
revolutionary social movements seek fundamental changes of the system itself.
17.3 Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness.
Similar to Marx’s theory of collective consciousness, cognitive liberation begins only
when members of an aggrieved group start to consider their situation unjust, to
believe the situation can be changed, and to believe they can make a difference. For
Marx, collective consciousness eventually leads to social revolution, a transformation
of the social structure.
17.4 Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
Reform movements educate people and change our culture, our beliefs, and our
behaviors. Movements lead to the creation of new organizations that continue to
generate change. Movements generally organize and mobilize themselves around
specific policy demands, attempting to minimize or eliminate social problems.
KEY TERMS
cognitive liberation, 387
expressive movements, 384
instrumental movements, 384
new social movements theory, 384
political process model, 386
public sociology, 393
reform movements, 384
relative deprivation, 385
resource mobilization theory, 386
revolutionary social movements, 384
social movements, 384
STUDY QUESTIONS
643
1. How does each sociological perspective identify the potential and sources for social change?
2. Identify and explain the four dimensions of social movements.
3. What is meant by the following statement: “Social movements arise from the structure
itself, primarily the result of social and economic deprivation�
4. Explain the relationship between cognitive liberation and social movements.
5. Successful reform movements generate change in three areas. Identify and explain these
three areas of change.
6. Would you characterize the Occupy movement as a social movement? Why or why not?
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644
p.396
GLOSSARY
Absolute poverty: Lack of basic necessities
Acute illnesses: Illnesses that strike suddenly and disappear quickly
Age distribution: The distribution of individuals by age
Ageism: Prejudice or discrimination based on someone’s age
Alcoholism: Alcohol dependence, characterized by the symptoms of craving, loss of control,
physical dependence, and tolerance
Alienation: Separation from one’s true self; alienation occurs on multiple levels—from one’s work,
the product of one’s work, other workers, and one’s human potential
Anomie: State of normlessness
Applied research: Pursuit of knowledge for program application or policy evaluation
Assimilation: A process in which minority group members become part of the dominant group,
losing their original group identity
Basic research: Exploration of the causes and consequences of a social problem
Bisexuality: Sexual orientation toward one’s own sex and other sexes
Boomerangers: Young adults who leave home for college but return after graduation because of
either economic constraints (they may be unemployed or underemployed) or personal choice
Bourgeoisie: Capitalist ruling class; owners of businesses
Brownfields: Abandoned or underused industrial or commercial properties where hazardous
substances, pollutants, or contaminants are present or potentially present
Cisgender: Individuals whose gender identity corresponds to their assigned sex at birth; cis is a
Latin term, meaning “on this side ofâ€
Class consciousness: Awareness of one’s social position
Climate change: The perceptible climate trends over time; also referred to as global warming
Cognitive liberation: The recognition of one’s situation as unjust
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Cohabiting: Sexual partners, not married to each other but residing in the same household
Conflict perspective: A theoretical perspective that considers how society is held together by power
and coercion for the benefit of those in power (based on social class, gender, race, or ethnicity)
Critical political-economy perspective: An approach using a conflict perspective to focus on city
formation based on racial, gender, or class inequalities (also referred to as socio-spatial perspective)
Crowding: Defined as more than one person per room in the household
Cultural capital: Cultural skills and knowledge passed on to youth by their parents and through
their social and economic position
Culture of poverty: A set of norms, values, and beliefs that encourage and perpetuate poverty
Cybercrime: A form of white-collar crime that involves Internet fraud and abuse
Decriminalization: Reduction of the kinds of behavior included under the law
De facto segregation: A subtle process of segregation that is the result of other processes, such as
housing segregation, rather than because of an official policy
Deindustrialization: Systematic disinvestment in manufacturing and production capacities
Demography: The study of the size, composition, and distribution of human populations
Dependent variable: The variable to be explained
Devaluation of women’s work: When the higher societal value placed on men than on women is
reproduced within the workplace
Differential association: The learning of behaviors and norms from the groups we have contact with
Digital divide: The gap separating individuals who have access to and understanding of new forms
of technology from those who do not
Digital literacy: An individual’s ability to appropriately use digital tools and skills to identify,
manage, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize digital sources; to construct new knowledge; and to
communicate with others
Disengagement theory: Theoretical perspective that defines aging as a natural process of
withdrawal from active participation in social life
Distributive power: Power over other individuals or groups
Domestic migration: The movement of people within a country
Domestic terrorism: Terrorism supported or coordinated by groups or individuals based in a
country
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Double standard of aging: Separate standards of aging for men and women; men are judged in our
culture according to what they can do (their competence, power, and control), but women are
judged according to their appearance and beauty
Drug abuse: The use of any drug or medication for unintended purposes, which can lead to
clinically significant impairment or distress
Drug addiction: Physical or psychological dependence on a drug or medication
Dysfunctions: Negative consequences of social structures
Ecocide: Mass destruction of ecosystems
Emigration: Movement of people out of a geographic area
Empiricism: Gathering data and evidence using our five senses
Environmental justice: Social justice movement based on the principle that all individuals and
communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and
regulations
Environmental racism: Environmental policy or practice that disadvantages people based on race or
color
Environmental sociology: Study of the interactions between our physical and natural environment
and our social organization and social behavior
Epidemiology: Study of patterns in the distribution and frequency of sickness, injury, and death
and the social factors that shape them
Episodic high-risk drinking: Infrequently drinking a large quantity of alcohol in a short period
Ethnic attrition: Individuals choosing not to self-identify as a member of a particular ethnic group
p.397
Ethnic composition: The composition of groups within a population
Ethnic groups: Groups of people who are set off to some degree from other groups by displaying a
unique set of cultural traits, such as their language, religion, or diet
Ethnocentrism: The belief that one’s own group values and behaviors are right
Exclusion: The practice of prohibiting or restricting the entry or participation of groups in society
Expressive movements: An attempt to change individuals and individual behavior
Expulsion: The removal of a group by direct force or intimidation
Extended families: Two or more adult generations, related by blood, who live together in a single
647
household
Family: Social unit based on kinship relations, a construct of meaning, and emotional and
economic relationships
Fecundity: The maximum number of children that could be born, based on the number of women
of childbearing age in a population
Felonies: Crimes that are serious offenses, punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment or
death
Femicide: The killing of women; the term is used in contrast to the literal meaning of homicide as
the killing of men
Feminist perspective: A theoretical perspective that defines gender (and sometimes race or social
class) as a source of social inequality, group conflict, and social problems
Fertility: The level of childbearing for an individual or a population
Food insecure: Lacking in access to sufficient food for all family members
Foreign born: Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth
Functionalist perspective: A theoretical perspective that examines the functions or consequences of
the structure of society; functionalists use a macro perspective, focusing on how society creates and
maintains social order
Gender: Social construction of masculine and feminine attitudes and behaviors
Gender binary: Refers to how gender is socially constructed on a spectrum, classifying masculinity
and femininity as two opposing, distinct characterizations
Gender mainstreaming: The integration of the gender perspective into every stage of the policy
process (design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation)
Gendered division of labor: Assignment of different tasks to men and women
Genocide: The systematic targeting of members of an ethnic or a religious group
Gentrification: The process of neighborhood change from lower- to higher-income residents
Gerontology: The study of aging and the elderly
Global warming: The ongoing rise in the global average temperature
Globalization: A process of increasing transborder connectedness; the basis may be economic,
political, environmental, or social
Heteronormativity: The promotion of heterosexual, married, monogamous, White, and upper-
648
middle-class norms
Heterosexism: The privileging of heterosexuality over homosexuality
Heterosexuality: Sexual orientation toward the opposite sex
Homophobia: An irrational fear or intolerance of homosexuals
Homosexuality: Sexual orientation toward the same sex
Horizontal segregation: The separation of men and women into different industries and
occupations
Household: An economic and residential unit
Human agency: The active role of individuals in creating their social environment
Human capital: Job-related skills acquired through education and work experience
Human capital theory: Theory that attributes gender income differences to differences in the kind
and amount of human capital men and women acquire
Human ecology: The study of the relationship between individuals and their physical environment
Humanitarian intervention: A responsibility to protect, including three aspects: how to prevent
humanitarian crises in the first place, under which conditions and in what way to intervene, and
how to maintain peace after a military conflict and rebuild the country
Hypothesis: Statement of a relationship between variables
Immigration: The movement of people leaving their country of origin to move to another
Impression management: Creating a favorable impression of oneself to others
Incidence rate: The number of new cases of disease within a population during a specific period
Income: Money earned for one’s work
Independent variable: The variable expected to account for the cause of the dependent variable
Index crimes: Crimes including murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson,
and larceny
Individual discrimination: Prejudiced actions against minority members by individuals; may include
avoiding contact or physical or verbal attacks
Industrial Revolution: Economic shift from family to market production
Infant mortality: Rate of infant deaths per 1,000 live births
Institutional discrimination: Discrimination practiced by political or social institutions
649
Institutionalized heterosexuality: The set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the
heterosexual family as the societal norm
Instrumental movements: An attempt to change the structure of society
Interactionist perspective: A micro-level perspective that highlights what we take for granted: the
expectations, rules, and norms that we learn and practice without even noticing; interactionists
maintain that through our interaction, social problems are created and defined
Interior residential density: The number of individuals per room in a dwelling
International terrorism: Terrorism supported or coordinated by foreign groups threatening the
security of U.S. nationals or the national security of the United States
Juvenile crime: Criminal acts performed by juveniles
Juvenile delinquent: A youth who engages in criminal behavior
Juvenile status offender: A juvenile who has violated a law applying only to minors
Labeling theory: Theory stating that individuals and acts are defined or labeled as criminal
Latent functions: Unintended and often hidden consequences
p.398
Legalization: Removal from control of the law
LGBTQ: Term used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals as a group
Life chances: Access provided by social position to goods and services
Life course perspective: A theoretical perspective that considers the entire course of human life
(from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood to old age) as social constructions that reflect the
broader structural conditions of society
Macro level of analysis: Societal level of analysis
Manifest functions: Intended and recognized consequences
Master status: An identity that determines how others view individuals and how individuals view
themselves
Mechanical solidarity: Union of individuals through a set of common values, beliefs, and customs
and a simple division of labor
Media: Technological processes that facilitate communication
Media literacy: The ability to assess and analyze media messages
650
Medicalization: Process through which a condition or behavior becomes defined as a medical
problem
Megadisaster: A catastrophe that threatens or overwhelms an area’s capacity to get people to safety,
treat casualties, protect infrastructure, and control panic
Micro level of analysis: Individual level of analysis
Migration: The movement of individuals from one area to another
Military-industrial complex: Collaboration of the government, the military, and the armament
industry
Misdemeanors: Crimes that are minor offenses, punishable by a fine or less than one year’s
imprisonment
Modernization theory of aging: Theoretical perspective that links the role and status of the elderly
with their labor contribution or their relationship to the means of production
Morbidity: Study of illnesses and disease
Mortality: Incidence of death in a population
Multiracial: Mixed or multiple race
Native: Anyone born in the United States or a U.S. island area or born abroad of a U.S. citizen
parent
Natural capitalism: The awareness of the economic value of nature
Neglect: Failure to provide for a child’s basic needs
New social movements theory: Theory emphasizing the distinctive features of recent social
movements that emerged in postindustrial or advanced capitalist societies
Nuclear family: Family consisting of parents and their children
Objective reality: Actual existence of a particular condition
Occupational sex segregation: The degree to which men and women are concentrated in
occupations that predominantly employ workers of one sex
1.5 generation: Individuals who immigrated to the United States as a child or an adolescent
Organic solidarity: Union of individuals through a complex division of labor
Organizational child: A child prepared by education for a bureaucratic adult world
Outcome goals: Related to terrorism, the group’s stated political ends, which require cooperation of
the target authority or government
651
Overurbanization: The process in which an excess population is concentrated in an urban area that
lacks the capacity to provide basic services and shelter
Particulate or particle pollution: Air pollution caused by the combustion of fossil fuels—the
burning of coal, diesel, gasoline, and wood; particulate matter includes road dust, diesel soot, ash,
wood smoke, and sulfate aerosols that are suspended in the air
Patriarchy: Society in which the powerful (often men) dominate the powerless (often women)
Physical abuse: Nonaccidental physical injury, from bruising to death
Pluralism: Each ethnic or racial group maintains its own culture (cultural pluralism or
multiculturalism) or a separate set of social structures and institutions (structural pluralism)
Political process model: Model of relationship between social movements and structures of political
opportunities
Politicide: The systematic targeting of specific groups because of their political beliefs
Politics of fear: How decision makers and politicians promote and use the public’s beliefs and
assumptions about terrorism to achieve certain goals
Population aging: The increase in the number or proportion of older individuals in the population
Poverty guidelines: Used to determine family or individual eligibility for relevant federal programs
Poverty threshold: The original federal poverty measure, based on the economy food plan
Power: The ability to achieve one’s goals despite resistance from others
Power elite: A select group possessing true power
Prestige: Social respect or standing
Prevalence rate: Total number of cases involving a specific health problem during a specific period
Process goals: Related to terrorism, goals aimed at sustaining the group and its activities by securing
financial support, gaining media attention, and boosting group morale
Proletariat: The working class in a capitalist economy
Property crime: Criminal acts that involve the taking of money or property from another without
force or the threat of force against the victims; burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, and
arson are examples of property crimes
Public sociology: Sociology that promotes a dialogue outside the academy with a variety of public
audiences
Qualitative methods: Research methods designed to capture social life as participants experience it
652
Quantitative methods: Research methods that rely on the collection of statistical data and require
the specification of variables and scales collected through surveys, interviews, or questionnaires
Queer: Referring to someone who falls outside of the norms surrounding gender and sexuality
Race: A subjective social, political, and cultural construct
Racial profiling: The use of race or ethnicity by law enforcement consciously or unconsciously as a
basis of judgment for criminal suspicion
Racism: The belief in the inferiority of certain racial or ethnic groups, often accompanied by
discrimination
Reform movements: An attempt to bring about limited social change by working within the
existing system
Refugees: Persons who are unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin due to
persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group, or political opinion
Relative deprivation: A perceived gap between what people expect and what they actually get
p.399
Relative poverty: Failure to achieve society’s average income or lifestyle
Residential segregation: The neighborhood clustering or separation of groups by racial, ethnic, or
economic characteristics within a geographic area
Resource mobilization theory: Theory about conditions for success of social movements
Revolution: An overthrow of the existing government or political structure
Revolutionary social movements: Attempts to create fundamental change in the system itself
Role strain: Strain experienced when the demands of one’s role exceed one’s ability and resources to
fulfill that role
Science: A logical and systematic process to investigate social phenomena and the knowledge
produced by these investigations
Scientific management: Analysis and implementation of the best way to complete a task
Second generation: Those born in the United States to one or more foreign-born parents
Segregation: Physical and social separation of ethnic or racial groups
Service revolution: Economic shift toward service and information occupations
Sex: Physiological distinctions between male and female
653
Sexism: Prejudice or discrimination based solely on someone’s sex
Sexual orientation: The classification of individuals according to their preference for emotional-
sexual relationships and lifestyle
Sick role: Set of behaviors regarding actions and treatment of ill persons
Smog or ground-level ozone: Air pollution formed when nitrogen oxides emitted from electric
power plants and automobiles react with organic compounds in the presence of sunlight and heat
Social capital: Investments in social relationships and networks distributed unequally by social class
Social construction of reality: The world regarded as a social creation
Social constructionism: Subjective definition or perception of conditions
Social inequality: Unequal distribution of resources, services, and positions
Social innovation: Policy, program, or advocacy that features an untested or a unique approach
Social institutions: A stable set of statuses, roles, groups, and organizations that provide a
foundation for addressing fundamental societal needs; an example of a social institution is the family
Social media: Media that are based on conversation and interaction with individuals online
Social movements: Conscious, collective, organized attempts to bring about or resist large-scale
change in the social order
Social policy: Enactment of a course of action through a formal law or program
Social problem: A social condition that has negative consequences for individuals, our social world,
or our physical world
Social stratification: The ranking of individuals into social strata or groups
Sociological imagination: The ability to link our personal lives and experiences with our social
world
Sociology: The systematic study of individuals and social structures
Socio-spatial perspective: An approach using a conflict perspective to focus on city formation based
on race, gender, or class inequalities (also referred to as the critical political-economy perspective)
Soft-power approach: Where a nation-state is perceived as having values, motives, and actions that
should be emulated
Species being: A human being’s true self
Stereotype threat: The risk of confirming in oneself a characteristic that is a negative stereotype
654
Stigma: A discrediting attribute
Strain theory: Robert K. Merton’s theory that predicts that criminal behavior is likely to occur
when individuals are unable to achieve social and material goals because of insufficient access or
resources
Subjective reality: Attachment of meanings to our reality
Suburbanization: The process by which a population shifts to suburban areas
Sweatshop: A workplace that violates more than one federal or state labor law; the term has come
to include exploitation of workers, for example, in workplaces with no livable wages or benefits,
poor and hazardous working conditions, and possible verbal or physical abuse
Symbolic interactionism: Theoretical perspective that examines how we use language, words, and
symbols to create and maintain our social reality
Terrorism: The unlawful use of force to intimidate or coerce compliance with a particular set of
beliefs; can be either domestic (based in the United States) or foreign (supported by foreign groups
threatening the security of U.S. nationals or U.S. national security)
Theory: A set of assumptions and propositions used for explanation, prediction, and understanding
Tracking: Designation of academic courses for students based on presumed aptitude
Transgender: Individuals whose gender identity is different from that assigned to them at birth
Transnational: Immigrants who maintain social, economic, and cultural ties across international
borders
Transphobia: Negative beliefs and attitudes about transgender people
Underemployment: Employment under less-than-optimal conditions regarding pay, skill, or
working hours
Urban population: An area with 2,500 or more individuals
Urban sociology: Examination of social, political, and economic structures and their impact within
an urban setting
Urban sprawl: The process in which the spread of development across the landscape outpaces
population growth
Urbanization: The process by which a population shifts from rural to urban
Urbanized area: A densely populated area with 50,000 or more residents
Variables: A property of people or objects that can take on two or more values
655
Vertical segregation: The separation of men and women in workplace hierarchies; lower-ranking
positions are dominated by women, while management ranks are dominated by men
Violent crime: Criminal acts that involve force or the threat of force against others and include
aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery
Wealth: The value of one’s personal assets
White-collar crime: Crimes committed by someone of high social status, for financial gain, or in a
particular organization
656
p.400
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p.429
INDEX
AARP, 158
AAUW. See American Association of University Women
Abendschein, Bryan, 245 (box)
Abrahms, Max, 361
Abramovitz, Mimi, 36
Abramsky, Sachse, 271
Abramson, Corey, 126
Abroad, working and volunteering, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Absolute poverty, 27
Abstinence-only programs, 155
ACA. See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Acker, Joan, 44
Active learning, 111 (box)
Acute illnesses, 216
Addams, Jane, 8, 8 (photo), 376
Adelson, Miriam, 37 (box)
Adelson, Sheldon, 37 (box)
Adler, Freda, 284
Adoption, 108
Advantaged target populations, 11
Advertising, 239
Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students, 109 (box)
AFDC. See Aid to Families with Dependent Children
Affirmative action, 69–71
Affordable Care Act. See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Affordable housing, 40–41, 41 (photo), 326–327
Afghanistan war, 151, 359, 365, 367 (photo), 368 (box), 376
Africa, 1, 1 (table), 213
African-American Policy Forum, 299
African Americans. See Blacks; Race and ethnicity
Age and aging:
ageism, 123, 127
778
alcohol and drug abuse, 266
conflict perspective, 119–120, 122 (table)
consequences of inequality, 123–127
crime and criminal justice, 296
divorce, 143
feminist perspective, 120–121, 122 (table)
functionalist perspective, 119, 122 (table)
gender and, 124, 127
health and medical care, 124, 126
interactionist perspective, 121–122, 122 (table)
Internet use, 247 (figure)
marijuana, support for legalization of, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
minimum wage workers, 201 (box), 201 (figure)
norms, 115–116
political influence, 128 (box)
population aging, 116–117, 117 (figure), 117 (table), 118 (box)
population growth and composition, 310
poverty, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure)
race/ethnicity and, 118 (box), 124
responding to inequalities, 127–131
social class and, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
sociological perspectives, 119–122, 122 (table)
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967), 127, 205
Age distribution, 310
Ageism, 122, 123, 127
Agency, human, 10
Age norms, 115–116
Agent Orange, 368
Age Smart Employer Awards, 127
Ageton, Suzanne, 283
Agnew, Robert, 283
Agriculture, 332, 349 (box)
AIDS. See HIV/AIDS
AIDS United, 6–7
Aid to Dependent Children, 42
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), 36, 42, 43
Air quality, 339–340
Alcohol and drug abuse:
about, 259, 260 (figure)
alcohol, 264–265, 268–270, 269 (figure), 270 (photo)
779
biological perspective, 259–260
college drug programs, 275 (box)
community, policy, and social action, 271–278
conflict perspective, 261–262, 263 (table)
drug legalization, 266, 267 (box), 272–273, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
federal programs, 271–272
feminist perspective, 262–263, 263 (table)
functionalist perspective, 260–261, 263 (table)
interactionist perspective, 263–264, 263 (table)
marijuana, 266, 267 (box), 274 (box), 274 (figure)
opioids, 267–268, 268 (photo), 272
problems, 268–271
psychological perspective, 259–260
punishment versus treatment, 270–271
sociological perspectives, 259–264, 263 (table)
tobacco and nicotine, 265–266
treatment/prevention programs, 273, 275–278
types, 264–268
workplace, drug use in, 268
Alcoholism, 264
Alexander, Keith, 244
Alexander, Michelle, 296
Alfonso, Mariela, 319
Alienation, 9
Allan, Emilie, 284–285
Alternative social movements, 385 (table)
Altheide, David, 242, 364
Alvarez, Lizette, 151
Alves, Sónia, 311
AMA. See American Medical Association
American Association of Colleges and Universities, 47 (box)
American Association of University Women (AAUW), 178, 181
American College and University
Presidents’ Climate Commitment, 351
American Council on Education, 174
American Medical Association (AMA), 82 (box), 218, 273
American Psychiatric Association, 98, 103
American Revolution, 358
American Sociological Association, 18 (box), 131 (box), 394 (box)
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), 205
780
American University, 80 (box)
Amnesty International, 297 (box)
Anderson, Elijah, 314
Anderson, Sara, 181
p.430
Anomie, 8, 261, 282–283
Ansalone, George, 171 (box)
Ansell, Nicola, 166
Antell, Judith, 264
Anti-Drug Abuse Act (1988), 272
Antiquities Act (1906), 344
Antiwar movements, 376
Antonisse, Larisa, 226–227
Applied research, 13
Arab Spring, 239 (photo), 357, 362
Archibald, Catherine Jean, 92
Arizona, 67–68, 271
Arizona State University, 351
Arkansas, 65
Arkansas Wildlife Federation, 347
Army Wives, 363
Aronson, Joshua, 177
Arpaio, Joe, 284 (photo)
Artiga, Samantha, 226–227
Ashkenas, Jeremy, 71
Ashland Cherryland Together, 278
Asian Americans, 64, 264–265
Assault weapons, 300 (box)
Assault Weapons Ban (2017), 300 (box)
Assimilation, 56
Association of American Colleges and Universities, 73
Asthma, 340
Astrue, Michael, 116
Asylum seekers, 63 (box)
Athletes, female, 241
Attorneys, 209 (box)
Auckland, New Zealand, 127
Auerbach, Judith, 18 (box)
Augusto, Sarah, 387
781
Australia, 107 (box), 300 (box)
Austria, 215–216
Ayubi, Shaheen, 375
Baby boomers, 116
Bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
Badgett, M. V., 104
Baer, William, 315
Bagdikian, Ben, 240
Bags, plastic, 346
Bailey, J. Michael, 98
Bailey, Larry, 367 (photo)
Bailey, Larry, II, 367 (photo)
Ballantine, Jeanne, 7 (box)
Banerjee, Tridib, 315
Banfield, Edward, 36–37
Bard Prison Initiative, 302–303 (box)
Barner, Mark, 240–241
Barrett, Richard E., 319
Barrington, Linda, 127
Basic research, 12–13
Basketball players, 34 (box)
Bastard, as term, 141
Bathroom use by transgender individuals, 92
Bauman, Zygmunt, 51
Beaumont, Elizabeth, 326 (box)
Beck, Ulrich, 150
Becker, Howard, 263
Becker, Sarah, 285
Beckett, Katherine, 262
“Becoming a Marijuana User†(Becker), 263
Behavioral genetics, 98
Behavioral treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, 273
Beilock, Sian, 168
Beliefs, 7 (box)
Belkin, Aaron, 106, 107 (box)
Bell, Alan, 98
Bell, T. H., 169–170
Beltran, Sergio, 186 (box), 186 (photo)
Ben Ali, Zine El Abidine, 357
782
Benavie, Arthur, 261–262
Ben & Jerry’s, 207 (box)
Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, 207 (box)
Bennett, Trevor, 301
Berger, Peter, 4, 93 (box), 381
Bergman, Andrew, 339
Berliner, David, 170
Bernanke, Ben, 189
Bernard, Jessie, 10
Beveridge model, 231 (box)
Bianchi, Susan, 150
Bicycling, 321 (box), 321 (photo)
Biddle, Bruce, 170
Biden, Joe, 241
Biggs, Simon, 146–147
bin Laden, Osama, 359
Binstock, Robert, 128 (box)
Biological perspective, 98, 259–260, 281
Biosphere 2, 332
Birth cohorts, 116
Birth control use among teens, 148, 149
Bisexuality, 97
Bismarck model, 231 (box)
Bissell, R. E., 375
Black feminist theory, 58
Black fever, 232 (box)
Black Lives Matter, 59 (box)
Blacks:
civil rights movement, 386, 389–390, 390 (photo)
crime and criminal justice, 289, 292, 292 (table), 293–294, 299
education, 65, 66, 66 (table), 176 (figure), 177
expulsion, 56
health, 67
income and wealth, 63, 64 (figure), 65
job discrimination, 197–198
life expectancy, 214 (table)
physicians, female, 82 (box)
poverty, 38
segregation, 55, 55 (photo), 313
urbanization, 322 (box)
783
See also Race and ethnicity
Blair, Ezell, Jr., 390
Blanchard, Kacie, 131 (box)
Blank, Rebecca, 46
Bloomberg, Michael R., 346
Blum, Terry, 276
Blumberg, Mark, 296–297
Blumer, Herbert, 11
Bobak, Martin, 223
Bogotá, Colombia, 321 (box)
Bohan, Janice, 109 (box)
Böhmelt, Tobias, 373
Bolzendahl, Catherine, 142
Bonior, David, 204
Boomerangers, 119 (box)
Boston, 205
Boswell, Wendy, 245 (box)
Botstein, Leon, 303 (box)
Bouazizi, Mohamed, 357
Bourdieu, Pierre, 166
Bourgeoisie, 9, 140
Bowdoin College, 351
Brady, David, 32
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1994), 300 (box)
Braithwaite, John, 286
Branton, Regina, 240
Braverman, Harry, 194
Bravo, Ellen, 150–151
Brazil, 59, 214, 297 (box), 321
Breast cancer, 222–223, 222 (photo)
Breast Cancer Action, 222–223, 222 (photo)
Brent-Goodley, Tricia, 140
Briefel, R., 40
Brill, Julie, 244
Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, 250
Broh, Beckett, 172
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, 148 (box)
Brower, Aaron, 261, 270
Brower, David, 347
Brown, Gordon, 90 (box)
784
Brown, Hana, 57–58
Brown, Jerry, 45 (box), 103, 271
Brown, Michael, 59 (box), 294
Brownfields, 341
Brownfields Revitalization Act (2002), 341
Brown v. Board of Education (1954), 55 (photo), 65, 66, 167
Buckman, Ronald, 275 (box)
Budget Control Act (2011), 368
Bullard, Robert, 334
Bumpass, Larry, 156
Burawoy, Michael, 393
Burgess, Ernest W., 8
Burke, Jim, 278
Bush, George H. W., 170
Bush, George W.:
Children’s Health Insurance Program, 229
educational reform, 170, 179
environment, 339, 341
immigration, 60–61
p.431
sexual orientation policies, 99, 103
war and terrorism, 373
welfare, 15
Bush-Baskette, Stephanie, 263
Butler, Judith, 59 (box)
Butler, Robert, 123
Byrd, James, Jr., 103
Byrd, W. Michael, 67
Byrne, Geraldine, 197
Bytheway, William, 123
Cable, Charles, 347
Cable, Sherry, 347
California:
affirmative action, 70, 71
alcohol and drug abuse, 271, 278
death penalty, 297
family rights law, 152
immigration, 72 (box)
785
sexual orientation, 103
urbanization, 315
water supply, 342
California Civil Rights Initiative (1996), 70, 71
California Fair Sentencing Act (2014), 271
California Family Rights Act (2004), 152
California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, 182
Cambridge Analytica, 244
Cameron, Sara, 230 (photo)
Campbell, Richard T., 319
Campos, Sofia, 72 (box)
Canada, 107 (box), 129, 131, 336–337
Cancer, 222–223, 222 (photo), 265
Cannabis. See Marijuana
Canter, Rachelle, 283
Capitalism:
conflict perspective, 9
environment, 333–334
health and medicine, 218
natural, 334 (box)
patriarchy, 79
poverty, 35
race and ethnicity, 57
work and the economy, 194, 194 (illustration)
See also Conflict perspective
Carbon dioxide emissions, 338, 338 (table), 345
Carby, Hazel, 58
Cardin, Benjamin, 248
Cardoso, Fernando Henrique, 297 (box)
Car-free zones, 321 (box), 323
Carnegie Foundation, 218
Carter, Ash, 363 (photo)
Casey-Kirschling, Kathleen, 116
Casilino Polyclinic, 155
Castile, Philando, 294
Categorical assistance, 42
Cathcart, Kevin, 102
Catt, Carrie Chapman, 376
Catton, William, 336
CDC. See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
786
Cell phone use while driving, 249
Census citizenship question, 54 (box)
Center for Health, Environment and Justice, 336
Center for Research on Education Outcomes, 185
Center for Women Policy Studies, 44
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 39
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
alcohol and drug abuse, 266, 267
HIV/AIDS, 4, 5
life expectancy, 116
older people, health care for, 124
school violence, 177
sexual orientation, 97
urban sprawl, 320
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 229
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 245, 369
Central Oregon Community College, 351
Cerillo, Debbie, 336
Chain gangs, 284 (photo)
Chaloub, Hailey, 388 (box)
Chandra, Amitabh, 220
Chang, Pui Ying, 319
Chapman, Alvah, 278
Charles, Camille, 298–299
Charles, Maria, 83, 84
Charter schools, 184–185
Chen, Alice, 215
Cheney, Dick, 362
Chicago School of Sociology, 8, 11, 307–308
Children:
abuse and neglect of, 137–138 (box), 145–146, 154 (box)
divorce, effect of, 143–144
health and social class, 42
poverty, demographics of, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124
See also Education
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), 229, 230 (photo)
Chile, 391 (box), 391 (photo)
China:
aging, 118 (box)
alcohol and drug abuse, 271
787
health and medicine, 118 (box), 214
income inequality, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), 55–56
CHIP. See Children’s Health Insurance Program
Chivers, Meredith, 98
Cho, Young Ik, 319
Chodorow, Nancy, 10
CHOICE. See Comprehensive Home Option for Integrated Care of the Elderly
Choice Neighborhoods, 324
Chomsky, Noam, 239
Chopra, Mickey, 17
Choueiti, Marc, 252 (box)
CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency
Ciavattone, Dominique, 388 (box)
Ciclovia, 321 (box)
Cilluffo, Anthony, 64
Cisgender, 78
Cities, most populous, 309 (table)
Citizenship question on census, 54 (box)
Civil Rights Act (1964), 69, 70, 178, 205
Civil rights movement, 386, 389–390, 390 (photo)
Civil War, 358, 359 (photo)
Civil wars, 358
Clark, Michael, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Clark, William, 317
Class consciousness, 9
Clayton, Linda, 67
Clean Air Act, 345
Clean and Diversified Energy Initiative, 346
Clean Water Act (1972), 345
Climate change, 6 (box), 6 (table), 336–339, 338 (photo), 338 (table)
Clinton, Bill:
community service programs, 16
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 372
crime and criminal justice, 302 (box)
educational reform, 170, 179
health care reform, 228
military, gays in, 105–106
welfare reform, 15
Clinton, Hillary, 128 (box), 250
788
Cloward, Richard A., 35
Clusen, Nancy, 40
Coal miners, 200, 202
Cogdell-Unrein, Cory, 241
Cognitive liberation, 387
Cohabitation, 156–157, 157 (figure)
Cohen, Ben, 207 (box)
Cohen, Rhoda, 40
Cohn, D’Vera, 61, 173 (box)
Colby, Anne, 326 (box)
Colby, Sandra, 118 (box)
Collective consciousness, 238–239
College Entrance Examination Board, 175
College in prison programs, 302–303 (box)
Colleges and universities:
alcohol and drug abuse, 261, 269–278, 269 (figure), 275 (box)
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
cost, 3, 173 (box)
diversity and inclusiveness, 73
environment, 348 (photo), 350–351, 352 (table)
p.432
graduate rates, 165 (box)
student activism, 377–378, 388 (box), 388 (photo), 391 (box), 391 (photo)
See also Education; specific institutions
Collins, Jason, 104, 105
Collins, Patricia Hill, 9, 10, 58
Colombia, 321 (box)
Colorado, 107, 267 (box)
Colorado River, 342
Columbia Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health, 127
Coming out, 101
Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, 69
Committee to Protect Journalists, 251
Common Core State Standards, 180
Communication, visual, 336–337
Communications Act (1934), 250, 251
Communications Decency Act, 251
Community, and social problems, 389–393
Community, policy, and social action:
789
alcohol and drug abuse, 271–278
crime and criminal justice, 298–303
education, 179–185
environment, 345–352
families, 151–158
health and medicine, 227–232
media, 250–253
urbanization and population growth, 323–327
war and terrorism, 372–378
work and the economy, 202–208
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 278
Community-based health centers, 231
Community Empowerment Centers, 322 (box)
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), 294, 299–301, 300 (photo)
Community Renewal and New Markets Initiative, 323
Community-sponsored agriculture, 349 (box)
Commuting, 319–320, 320 (box), 320 (figure), 321
Comparative research, 13
Composting, 350–351
Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act
(1970), 271
Comprehensive Home Option for Integrated Care of the Elderly (CHOICE), 131
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 372
Comprehensive sex education programs, 155
Conflict, defining, 357–361, 358 (table), 359 (illustration), 360 (table)
Conflict perspective:
about, 8–9, 12 (table)
age and aging, 119–120, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 261–262, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 283–284, 287 (table)
defined, 8
education, 166–167, 169 (table)
environment, 333–335, 334 (photo), 337 (table)
families, 139, 140, 142 (table)
gender, 79, 80, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 217–218, 221 (table)
media, 239–240, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 57–58, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 99–100, 102 (table)
social class, 34–36, 38 (table)
790
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 311–313, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 362, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 194, 194 (illustration), 197 (table)
See also Capitalism
Conflict resolution, 182, 184
Conformity, 282, 282 (table)
Congestion pricing, 346
Conley, Dalton, 63
Connor, Frank, 51
Conrad, Peter, 219
Consciousness, collective, 238–239
Consequences:
of age inequality, 123–127
of gender inequality, 82–87
of poverty, 39–42
of racial and ethnic inequalities, 60–67
of social problems, 4
of urbanization and population growth, 316–323
Constructing the Family Survey, 142
Contenders, 11
Contraceptive use among teens, 148, 149
Conversion therapy, 103
Cookies, 244
Copes, Heith, 261
COPS. See Community Oriented Policing Services
Coral Reef High School, 3
Corbett, Christianne, 174–175
Coronary heart disease, 89
Corrections Corporation of America, 301–302
Coser, Lewis, 9, 245 (box)
Cosmetic industry, 121, 122
Cost of health care, 223, 225–226, 225 (figure)
Cost-sharing reduction payments, 228, 229
Country differences. See Global differences; Taking a World View
Cowgill, Donald, 120
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (1998), 326–327
Cray, Andrew, 80 (box)
Crenshaw, Martha, 361, 364
Crime and criminal justice:
791
about, 281
biological perspective, 281
community, policy, and social action, 298–303
conflict perspective, 283–284, 287 (table)
crime statistics sources, 287–288
current response to crime, 294–297
death penalty, 296–297, 302
feminist perspective, 284–286, 284 (photo), 285 (table), 287 (table)
functionalist perspective, 281–283, 282 (table), 287 (table)
gender and, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
interactionist perspective, 286, 287 (table)
juvenile delinquency, 11, 289–291, 298
media coverage of, 242
offenders, 292–293, 292 (table)
police and policing, 294–295, 297 (box), 298–299, 299–301, 300 (photo)
prisons, 295–296, 295 (figure), 301–303, 301 (photo), 302–303 (box)
property crime, 289
sociological perspectives, 281–286, 287 (table)
types of crime, 288–292
victims, 293–294
violent crime, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 292 (box)
white-collar crime, 291
See also U.S. Department of Justice
CrimeClock, 267–288
Critical political-economy perspective, 311
Critical thinking, 47 (box)
Croatia, 278
Cross, Jennifer Moren, 32
Croteau, David, 237, 238
Crow, Michael, 351
Crowding, 317
Cullen, Frances, 283
Cullors, Patrice, 59 (box)
Culp, Gretchen, 319
p.433
Cultural capital, 166
Cultural pluralism, 56
Culture, 7 (box)
Culture of poverty, 36–37
792
Cunningham, Ken, 358, 362
Curl, Angela, 129
Curriculum, hidden, 174–175
Cybercrime, 291
DACA. See Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Dafoe Whitehead, Barbara, 156
Dahrendorf, Ralf, 9
Daimler, 245 (box)
Dakota Access Pipeline, 334–335
Data, 13, 14 (box), 93 (box)
Davies, James, 385–386
Davies, J. Clarence, 333
Davis, Adrienne, 80, 81
Davis, Geena, 252 (box), 252 (photo)
Davis, Karen, 225
Davy, Doreen, 127
Dawson, Brittany, 40
Day of Silence, 109 (box)
DEA. See Drug Enforcement Administration
“Dealing With Neighborhood Change†(Kennedy & Leonard), 318
Deane, Michele, 182
Death by overwork (karoshi), 194
Death penalty, 296–297, 302
Death Penalty Information Center, 297
Deaths, workplace, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
Decriminalization, 272
Deepwater Horizon explosion, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
De facto segregation, 65, 167
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 99, 103
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), 68–69
Deficit Reduction Act (2005), 43
“Definition of the situation,†167
Deindustrialization, 190–191
Democratic National Convention (2016), 80 (box), 80 (photo)
Demography, 116, 308
Dempsey, Molly, 245 (box)
Dennhardt, Ashley, 275 (box)
Dennis, Helen, 127
Dependent target populations, 11
793
Dependent variables, 13
Deportation, 61–62, 67, 68, 69
Deprivation, relative, 385–386
Desert Shield, Operation, 359
Desert Storm, Operation, 359
Deskilling, 194
Detroit, 307
Deurloo, Marinus, 317
Devaluation of women’s work, 86
Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, 72 (box)
Deviant target populations, 11
DeVos, Betsy, 92, 180
Dewes, Audrey, 245 (box)
Diabetes, 214, 216
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association), 98
Diamond, Jared, 335 (box)
Diana, Princess, 242
Dickinson College, 351
Dieleman, Frans, 317
Differential association, 263, 286
DiFrancesco, Darryn Anne, 336–337
Di Giacomo, Flavio, 63 (box)
Digital divide, 243–246, 247 (box), 247 (figure), 248
Digital literacy, 253
Digital natives, 237
Diplomacy, political, 373–374
Disability, 198, 205
Discrimination:
employment, 104, 110, 197–198, 205
gender nonconformity, 87–88
individual, 55
institutional, 55
sexual orientation, 106–107, 205
Disengagement theory, 119
Disney Channel, 82 (box)
Distracted driving, 248–249, 249 (photo)
Distributive power, 37
Diversity, 71–74
Diversity training, 73
Divorce, 137, 143–144
794
Dixon, Josie, 146–147
Dockterman, Daniel, 173 (box)
Doc McStuffins, 82 (box)
Doctors, 82 (box), 217, 219–221, 220 (photo), 233 (box)
Dodson, Lisa, 150–151
Dolecek, Thereese A., 319
DOMA. See Defense of Marriage Act
Domestic migration, 308
Domestic terrorism, 360, 370–371
Domestic violence, 99–100, 140, 152, 154, 154 (box)
Domestic workers, 130 (box)
Domhoff, G. William, 37 (box)
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†policy, 106, 107 (box)
Doty, Michelle M., 225
Double standard of aging, 121
Douglas Vavrus, Mary, 363
Downey, Douglas, 172
DREAM Act, 72 (box)
Dreby, Joanna, 67
Drexler, Melissa, 150
Driving behavior of Millennials, 310
Driving distracted, 248–249, 249 (photo)
Drug abuse, defined, 264
See also Alcohol and drug abuse
Drug addiction, 264
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 261, 273
Drug-Free Communities Act (1997), 276
Drug-Free Workplace Program, 273, 275
Drug legalization, 266, 267 (box), 272–273, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
Drug offenders, 295
Drug Policy Alliance, 267 (box)
Drug schedules, 261
Drug testing, 275
Drug treatment and prevention programs, 273, 275–278
Drug use in workplace, 268
Du Bois, W. E. B., 57
Duke Students Against Sweatshops, 208
Duke University, 208
Duluth Model, 152
Dunaway, Johanna, 240
795
Duncan, Arne, 92
Duncan, Brian, 59
Dunlap, Riley, 336, 348
Durand, Jorge, 61
Durkheim, Émile:
anomie, 261
collective consciousness, 238
crime, 281–282, 283
functionalist perspective, 7–8, 9
social institutions, 98, 135
suicide, 217
transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity, 311
Dysfunctions, 8
EAPs. See Employee assistance programs
Early Head Start, 180
Earned Income Tax Credit, 44–46
Earth Island Institute, 347
Eastern Connecticut State University, 68 (photo)
Eastern Tennessee State University, 351
East High School (Salt Lake City), 109 (box)
Ebola, 213, 277 (box)
E-cigarettes, 266
Ecocide, 368
Ecofeminism, 335
Economic impact of war and terrorism, 367–368, 367 (photo), 367 (table)
Economic sanctions, 375
Economic technology, 120
Economy. See Work and the economy
Education:
about, 163–164, 163 (figure)
affirmative action, 70–71
afterschool, 186 (box)
aging, modernization theory of, 120
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
community, policy, and social action, 179–185
p.434
conflict perspective, 166–167, 169 (table)
educational access and achievement, inequality in, 172–177
796
educational attainment, 164, 164 (table), 165 (box), 165 (data map), 247 (figure)
families and, 139
feminist perspective, 167–168, 169 (table)
functionalist perspective, 164, 166, 169 (table)
gender and, 90 (box), 174–175, 175 (figure)
harassment, 177–179
Head Start and prekindergarten, 180–181
health/medicine and, 223
interactionist perspective, 168–169, 169 (table)
literacy, 170–172, 170 (table)
networks, 181–182
problems and challenges in, 169–179
public school choice, 179–180, 184–185
race/ethnicity and, 65–66, 66 (table), 175–177, 176 (figure), 176 (photo), 185
reform of, 169–170, 179–180
social class and, 172–174
sociological perspectives, 164, 166–169, 169 (table)
standards in, 180
teen mothers, 148–149 (box)
violence, 177
See also Colleges and universities; specific institutions
Educators for Social Responsibility, 182
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (2009), 391
EEOC. See Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Eggers, Mitchell, 316
Ehrenreich, Barbara, 222
Ehrlich, Anne, 332, 333
Ehrlich, Paul, 332, 333
Ehrlich, Thomas, 326 (box), 391, 393
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 310, 362, 367
Elderly:
abuse and mistreatment of, 146–147, 154
employment, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
health and medical care, 126
income sources, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
as term, 116
in the workplace, 191–192,
192 (figure)
See also Age and aging
Elections, presidential, 128 (box), 251
797
Elementary school teachers, 34 (box)
Elfessi, Abdulaziz, 275 (box)
Elliot, Delbert, 283
Elliot, Jane, 84
Ellis, Havelock, 98
El Protector Program, 300
Emergency Food Assistance System, 40
Emergency kitchens, 40, 40 (photo)
Emigration, 308
Emory University, 16 (photo)
Empiricism, 12
Employee assistance programs (EAPs), 276
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 203, 227
Employment. See Work and the economy
Employment discrimination, 104, 110, 197–198, 205
Employment Non-Discrimination Act, 104, 110, 205
Encore.org, 130 (box)
Endangered Species Act (1973), 344, 345
Ender, Morten, 106
Enduring Freedom, Operation, 359
Engelman, Robert, 333
Engels, Friedrich, 140
Engler, John, 271
Enloe, Cynthia, 362–363
Environment:
about, 331
air quality, 339–340
climate change, 6 (box), 6 (table), 336–339, 338 (photo), 338 (table)
community, policy, and social action, 345–352
conflict perspective, 333–335, 334 (photo), 337 (table)
environmental interest groups, 346–347
environmental justice movement, 347–349
environmental sociology, 331–332
federal responses, 345
feminist perspective, 335–336, 336 (photo), 337 (table)
functionalist perspective, 332–333, 337 (table)
hazardous waste sites and brownfields, 340–341
interactionist perspective, 336–337, 337 (table)
land conservation and wilderness protection, 344
schools, 348 (photo), 350–351, 352 (table)
798
sociological perspectives, 332–337, 337 (table)
state and local responses, 346
war and terrorism, impact of, 368–369
waste and recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
water quality and supply, 342
Environmental Defense Fund, 346–347
Environmental interest groups, 346–347
Environmental justice, 335–336, 336 (photo), 347–349
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 325, 339, 340, 342, 343 (box), 345–346
Environmental racism, 334–335
Environmental sociology, 331–332
EPA. See Environmental Protection Agency
Epidemiology, 214–216
Episcopal Social Services, 303 (box)
Episodic high-risk drinking, 270
Epstein, Edward Jay, 240
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 69, 178, 205
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), 89, 389
Erickson, Kai, 286
Erie Family Health Center, 231
ERISA. See Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Erlanger, Stephen, 250
Esbenshade, Jill, 204 (box)
Estrogen replacement therapy, 219
Ethnic attrition, 59
Ethnic composition, 310
Ethnic groups, defined, 53
Ethnicity. See Race and ethnicity
Ethnocentrism, 55
Europe, 272, 315, 317
See also specific countries
European Commission, 63 (box), 253
European Convention on Human Rights, 107 (box)
European Court of Human Rights, 107 (box)
European Union:
ageism in the workplace, 127
child poverty, 124
divorce rate, 143
families, 150
immigration, 63 (box)
799
marital rate, 143
See also specific countries
Evergreen State College, 351
Exclusion, 55–56
Executive Order 10925, 69
Executive Order 11246, 69
Experiential learning, 111 (box)
Exploring Social Problems:
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
commuting, 320 (box), 320 (figure)
data, applied use of, 14 (box)
health care utilization, 224 (box), 224 (figure)
immigrants, 62 (box), 62 (figure)
p.435
income sources, elderly, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
Internet use, 247 (box), 247 (figure)
marijuana, support for legalization of, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
minimum wage workers, 201 (box), 201 (figure)
political engagement, 392 (box), 392 (figure)
poverty, demographics of, 30 (box), 30 (figure)
same-sex marriage, support for, 108 (box), 108 (table)
teen birthrates, 147 (box), 147 (table)
violence against women, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
wage gap, 87 (box)
war and terrorism, public opinion on, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
waste and recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
Expressive movements, 384, 385 (table)
Expulsion, 56
Extended families, 138
Facebook, 244, 251
Fackler, Tiffany, 352 (box)
Fair Housing Act (1968), 323
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 203, 204 (box)
Fair Sentencing Act (2010), 271
Families:
about, 137
child abuse and neglect, 137–138 (box), 145–146, 154 (box)
cohabitation, 156–157, 157 (figure)
800
community, policy, and social action, 151–158
conflict perspective, 139, 140, 142 (table)
defined, 137
definition, expanding, 156–158
divorce, 137, 143–144
domestic violence and neglect, 152, 154, 154 (box)
education and, 139
elder abuse and mistreatment, 146–147, 154
extended, 138
Family and Medical Leave Act, 151–152
feminist perspective, 139–140, 142 (table)
functionalist perspective, 139, 142 (table)
grandparents as parents, 157–158, 158 (photo)
interactionist perspective, 140–142, 142 (table)
intimate partner violence, 144–145, 145 (figure), 152, 154, 154 (box)
legislation, 108
military, 151, 151 (photo)
myths, 138, 139 (table)
nuclear, 138
parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
problems in, 143–151
sociological perspectives, 139–142, 142 (table)
teen pregnancy and newborn abandonment, 147–150, 147 (box), 147 (table), 148–149 (box),
155
time and money, problems of, 150–151
violence and neglect, 144–147, 152, 154
working-class, 150
Families on the Fault Line (Rubin), 150
Family and Medical Leave Act (1993), 151–152, 196, 203
Family Independence Initiative, 45 (box)
Farm Bill (2014), 40
Farmers markets, 349 (photo)
Fast-food workers, 189
Fathers, teen, 149
Faubus, Orval, 65
FBI. See Federal Bureau of Investigation
FCC. See Federal Communications Commission
FDA. See Food and Drug Administration
Feagin, Joe, 17, 17 (box), 55, 65, 313
Fear, politics of, 364
801
Fecundity, 215
Federal Aid Highway Act (1956), 310
Federal Assault Weapons Bill (1994), 300 (box)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 287–288, 291, 299, 371
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 250, 251
Federally Qualified Health Centers, 231
Federal policies:
alcohol and drug abuse, 271–272
environment, 345
health care reform, 228–229
media, 250–251
poverty measures, 28, 28 (table), 29 (table)
sexual orientation inequalities, 102–103
work and the economy, 202–205
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 244
Fee-for-service plans, 227 (box)
Feinstein, Dianne, 300 (box)
Felonies, 281
Felton, Rebecca Latimer, 77
Femicide, 88
Feminist antimilitarism, 376
Feminist movements, 89–90, 388, 389
Feminist perspective:
about, 9–10, 12 (table)
age and aging, 120–121, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 262–263, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 284–286, 284 (photo), 285 (table), 287 (table)
defined, 10
domestic violence, 140
education, 167–168, 169 (table)
environment, 335–336, 336 (photo), 337 (table)
families, 139–140, 142 (table)
gender, 79–80, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 219–220, 221 (table)
media, 240–241, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 58, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 99–100, 102 (table)
social class, 36, 38 (table)
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 313–314, 315 (table)
802
war and terrorism, 362–363, 363 (photo), 365 (table)
work and the economy, 195–196, 195 (figure), 196 (table), 197 (table)
See also Gender
Ferguson, Missouri, 294
Ferracuti, Franco, 292
Fertility, 215
Fine, Gary, 17
Finland, 215–216
First Amendment Defense Act, 107
527s (organizations), 37 (box)
Flexible work hours, 207
Flexner, Abraham, 218
Flexner Report, 218
Flores, Evelin, 68 (photo)
Florida, 35–36, 71, 108
FLSA. See Fair Labor Standards Act
Folkman, Alison, 270
Folkman, Kerry, 270
Food, local and sustainable, 349 (box), 349 (photo)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 17, 230, 266, 368
Food insecurity and hunger, 39–40, 40 (photo)
Food pantries, 40, 40 (photo)
Food Quality Protection Act (1996), 345
Ford, Betty, 222
Ford Foundation, 347
Foreign born, 53, 54 (figure), 192–193
Formal age norms, 116
Fortune magazine, 206
Foster care, 108
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, 14 (box)
Foundling wheels, 155
p.436
Fox, Mary Frank, 191 (box)
Fracking, 342
France, 63 (box), 84, 321 (photo)
Frank, Nathaniel, 106
Fraser, Nancy, 36
Freeh, Louis J., 370
Freeman, Lance, 41
803
Freid, Alex, 347
Freud, Sigmund, 98
Freudenberg, Nicholas, 348–349
Frey, William, 53
Fried, Linda, 127
Friedman, Uri, 300 (box)
Fry, Richard, 26–27, 65, 119 (box), 138, 173 (box)
FTC. See Federal Trade Commission
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, 115, 331, 348
Fulkerson, Gregory, 335
Fuller, Larry, 301 (photo)
Fuller, Linda, 16
Fuller, Millard, 16
Fullerton, Andrew, 32
Functionalist perspective:
about, 7–8, 12 (table)
age and aging, 119, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 260–261, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 281–283, 282 (table), 287 (table)
defined, 8
education, 164, 166, 169 (table)
environment, 332–333, 337 (table)
families, 139, 142 (table)
gender, 78–79, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 217, 221 (table)
media, 238–239, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 56, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 98–99, 102 (table)
social class, 32–34, 34 (box), 38 (table)
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 311, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 361–362, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 193,
197 (table)
Funiciello, Theresa, 34
Furia, Stacie, 106
Furstenberg, Frank F., 148 (box)
Fussell, Elizabeth, 203 (box)
Future orientation, 223
804
Gaddafi, Muammar, 376
Gaffney, Wil, 59 (box)
Gallup Organization, 97
Gans, Herbert, 34, 242
Garber, Judith, 313
Garcia, David, 185
Garfield, Rachel, 226–227
Garfin, Dana Rose, 239
Garment factories, 204 (box)
Garner, Eric, 59 (box), 294
Garner, Tyron, 102
Garza, Alicia, 59 (box)
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 109 (box), 177–178
Gay panic defense, 103
Gay-Straight Alliance, 109 (box)
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 252 (box), 252 (photo)
Geist, Claudia, 142
Gender:
about, 77–78
age and, 124, 127
conflict perspective, 79, 80, 81 (table)
consequences of inequality, 82–87
crime/criminal justice, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
defined, 77
divorce, 144
education, 90 (box), 174–175, 175 (figure)
feminist movements and social policies, 89–90
feminist perspective, 79–80, 81 (table)
functionalist perspective, 78–79, 81 (table)
gender identity terms, 82 (box)
gender nonconformity discrimination, 87–88
health and medicine, 222–223
income inequality, 84, 85 (data map), 85 (table), 86–87, 86 (photo), 87 (box), 87 (figure)
interactionist perspective, 80–81, 81 (table)
intimate partner violence and sexual assault, 88
life expectancy, 214 (table)
media portrayal of, 240–241, 241 (photo), 252 (box)
occupational sex segregation, 82–84, 83 (photo), 83 (table)
poverty, 30 (figure)
responding to inequalities, 89–92
805
sex versus, 77
social class and, 30 (figure), 124
sociological perspectives, 78–81, 81 (table)
Title IX, 90–92, 91 (photo)
trans and intersex rights, 92
wage gap, 85 (data map), 195, 195 (figure), 219–220, 220 (photo)
war and terrorism, 368 (box)
See also Feminist perspective; Women
Gender binary, 77–78
Gendered division of labor, 78–79
Gender expression, 82 (box)
Gender fluid, 82 (box)
Gender identity, 82 (box)
Gender mainstreaming, 89–90
Gender non-conforming, 82 (box), 87–88
Genderqueer, 82 (box)
Gender questioning, 82 (box)
General Accounting Office, 204 (box)
General relief programs, 42
Generations United, 158
Genetics, behavioral, 98
Genocide, 358
Gentrification, 318–319
George Washington University, 348 (photo)
Georgia, 57–58, 181
Germany, 123, 123 (box), 225, 321 (box)
Gerontology, 116
Gibbs, Lois, 336
Gilbert, Timisha, 304 (box)
Gilens, Martin, 38
Gill, Charlotte, 301
Gilman, Charlotte, 8
Gingrich, Newt, 37 (box)
Girls Can! Community Coalitions Project, 181
Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, 209 (box)
Girls Today, Women Tomorrow, 182
GLAAD, 82 (box), 101–102
Gland Pharma, 232 (box)
Global differences:
cannabis use, 260 (figure)
806
cohabitation, 157 (figure)
crime and criminal justice, 285, 289, 295 (figure), 296, 297
education, 163 (figure)
gender parity in wages, 195, 195 (figure)
health care spending, 225 (figure)
infant mortality, 215–216, 216 (figure)
Internet use, 246 (figure)
life expectancy, 213
literacy, 170, 170 (table), 172
national parliaments, women in, 78 (table)
parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
population aging, 117 (figure)
poverty, demographics of, 32
same-sex marriage, 104 (table)
war and terrorism, 358, 358 (table), 367 (table), 372
See also Taking a World View
Global engagement, public opinion on, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
Global immigration, 63 (box)
Globalization, 1–2, 199–200
Global threats, 6 (box), 6 (table)
Global warming, 337
Globe (Toronto), 337
Goals, 361
p.437
Goals 2000: Educate America Act (1994), 179
Goffman, Erving, 32–33, 121, 242
Goldman, Francisco, 391 (box)
Good Friday Agreement, 371 (box)
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, 86, 87
Google, 206
Gordon, Craig, 181
Gordon, Milton, 56
Gore, Vidal, 99
Gormley, William, 181
Gornick, Janet, 153 (box)
Gould, L. Hannah, 319
Graduate study, 394 (box)
Graham-Bermann, Sandra, 145
Granberg, Ellen, 123
807
Grandparents as parents, 157–158, 158 (photo)
Gray, Freddie, 294
Great Britain. See United Kingdom
Great Depression, 128–129
Great Recession:
health and medicine, 223, 225
income and wealth, 64
race and ethnicity, 64
retirement, difficulty of, 124
unemployment, 189, 198
welfare policy, 43
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 344
Great Society, 42–43
Greece, 63 (box)
Greenfield, Jerry, 207 (box), 207 (photo)
Greensburg GreenTown, 325
Greenwood, Peter, 298
Grieco, Elizabeth, 53
Grinblo, Jenny, 253 (box)
Grinde, D. A., 73
Griner, Brittney, 104
Grocery store cashiers, 33–34
Grollman, Eric, 87–88
Ground-level ozone, 340
Grusky, David, 83
Gubernskaya, Zoya, 138
Gulf of Mexico, 342
Gun violence in schools, 388 (photo)
Gurevitch, Michael, 241
Habitat for Humanity, 15 (photo), 16, 327
Hale, Victoria, 232 (box), 232 (photo)
Halliburton, 362
Hamilton, Cynthia, 335
Hands Are Not for Hurting, 154
Handy, Jocelyn, 127
Haney, Craig, 286
Hannigan, John, 336, 385
Harassment in schools, 177–179, 178 (photo)
Harmon, Christopher, 373
808
Harm reduction approach, 273
Harper, Charles, 384, 387
Harrington, Michael, 35
Harris, G. L. A., 70
Harris Poll, 101–102
Hartman, Heidi, 84
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, 375
Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, 269
Harvard Study Team, 375
Harvard University’s Law School, 92
Hass, Richard, 375
Hate-crime laws, 103
Hate groups, 370
Have Justice Will Travel, 154 (box)
Hawaii, 227–228
Hawken, Paul, 257, 332, 334 (box)
Hayden, Craig, 374
Hazardous waste sites and brownfields, 340–341
He, Wan, 118 (box)
Head Start, 163, 180–181
Healing of America, The (Reid), 231 (box)
Health, United States, 2016, 213
Health and Human Services Task Force on Drug Importation, 230
Health and medicine:
about, 213, 214 (table)
age and, 124, 126
as career field, 233 (box)
Children’s Health Insurance Program, 229, 230 (photo)
China, 118 (box)
community, policy, and social action, 227–232
community-based health centers, 231
conflict perspective, 217–218, 221 (table)
cost of health care, 223, 225–226, 225 (figure)
education and, 223
elderly, 126
epidemiology, 214–216
feminist perspective, 219–220, 221 (table)
functionalist perspective, 217, 221 (table)
gender and, 222–223
gender mainstreaming, 89
809
health care reform, 227–229
health care utilization, 226, 226 (figure)
inequalities and problems, 222–227
infant mortality, 124, 126
interactionist perspective, 220–221, 221 (table)
poverty and, 41–42
race/ethnicity and, 66–67
social class and, 41–42
sociological perspectives, 214–221, 221 (table)
state prescription drug plans, 230
uninsured population, 226–227
veterans, 367, 367 (photo)
Health care reform, 227–229
Health care utilization, 226, 226 (figure)
Health insurance, lack of, 226–227
Health insurance/health care delivery systems, 227 (box)
Health maintenance organizations (HMOs), 227 (box), 228
Health Resources and Services Administration, 231
Health Security Act, 228
Health technology, 120
Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, 267 (box)
Healy, Joseph, 61
“Heat and Eat†provision, 40
Heesacker, Martin, 220
Henderson, Debra, 36
Henry, Gary, 181
Hesse-Biber, Sharlene, 191 (box)
Heteronormativity, 141
Heterosexism, 99–100
Heterosexuality, 97, 99
Heyman, Robert, 197
Hidden curriculum, 174–175
Higher education. See Colleges and universities; specific institutions
Highlander Research and Education Center, 325
Hildebrandt, Eugenie, 44
Hill, Catherine, 174–175, 178 (photo)
Hiroshima, Japan, 372, 374 (box)
Hirschi, Travis, 283
Hispanics:
crime and criminal justice, 292, 292 (table)
810
education, 65–66, 66 (table)
income and wealth, 63, 64 (figure), 65
residential segregation, 313
See also Latinos; Race and ethnicity
Historical research, 13
History of social problems, 5–7
HIV/AIDS:
advocacy and activist groups, 10 (photo), 11
identification as social problem, 5–7
interactionist perspective, 11
prevalence, 1, 1 (table), 4
research, 18 (box)
sociology, science of, 13
HMOs. See Health maintenance organizations
Hoffman, Megan, 245 (box)
Hokenstad, M. C., 129
Holdren, John, 333
Holman, E. Alison, 239
Holmes, Malcolm, 264
p.438
Holmgren, Alyssa L., 225
Holschlag, Jamie, 151
Homelessness, 8, 317–318, 318 (photo), 325–326
Home nurse visit program, 215–216
Home ownership, 65
HOME program, 326–327
Homicide, 288, 292 (box), 294
Homophobia, 98
Homosexuality, 97
Hooker Electrochemical Company, 340
HOPE VI program, 324
Hopwood v. Texas (1996), 70–71
Horizontal segregation, 83, 84
Horwitz, Juliana, 128 (box)
Household Food Consumption Survey, 28
Households, 137, 138, 139 (table), 189
Housing:
affordable, 40–41, 41 (photo), 326–327
quality of, 316–317
811
Housing Act (1949), 310, 323
Housing and Community Development Act (1974), 323
Housing and Urban Development Act (1970), 323
Howard, Darrell, 303
Howard University, 69
Hoynes, William, 237, 238
Hoyt, Homer, 8
HUD. See U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Hukou system, 33 (box)
Human agency, 10
Human capital, 86
Human capital theory, 86
Human ecology, 308
Humane Society of the United States, 154
Humanitarian intervention, 375–376
Human Rights Campaign, 82 (box), 106, 108
Human Rights Watch, 61–62, 296, 297 (box)
Hunger and food insecurity, 39–40, 40 (photo)
Hurd Clark, Laura, 121
Hurricane Katrina, 350 (box)
Hurricane Maria, 331
Huynh, Mary, 319
Hydraulic fracturing, 342
Hypotheses, 13
IC3. See Internet Crime Complaint Center
Identification stages for social problems, 5–7
Illinois, 103
Illnesses, acute, 216
Immigrants:
health, 66
race and ethnicity, 51, 52 (photo), 52 (table), 57
as workers, 192–193
See also Immigration
Immigration:
defined, 308
global, 63 (box)
media coverage of, 240
preference system for, 60
quota system for, 60
812
racial/ethnic inequalities and, 60–63, 61 (photo), 62 (figure), 67–69, 68 (photo)
values vs. facts, 74 (box)
war/terrorism and, 370
See also Immigrants
Immigration and Nationality Act (1965), 60
Impression management, 242, 244
Incidence rate, 216
INCITE!, 299
Inclusivity, 71–74
Income:
defined, 35
household, 189
Internet use, 247 (figure)
race/ethnicity and, 63–65
retirement, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
Income inequality:
about, 25–26, 26 (table)
China, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
gender inequality and, 84, 85 (data map), 85 (table), 86–87, 86 (photo), 87 (box), 87 (figure)
Indemnity health plans, 227 (box)
Independent variables, 13
Index crimes, 287
India, 69, 214, 316
Individual discrimination, 55
Indonesia, 332
Industrialization, 332
Industrial Revolution, 190
Infant abandonment, 155
Infant mortality, 124, 126, 215–216, 216 (figure)
In Focus:
assault weapons, 300 (box)
Black Lives Matter, 59 (box)
campuses, gay-friendly, 109 (box)
college drug programs, 275 (box)
food, local and sustainable, 349 (box), 349 (photo)
gender identity terms, 82 (box)
health insurance and health care delivery systems, 227 (box)
higher education, cost of, 173 (box)
political influence of young and older voters, 128 (box)
power elite, 37 (box)
813
sociology, review of, 7 (box)
student activism, 388 (box), 388 (photo)
sweatshop labor, 204 (box), 204 (photo)
teen mothers and education, 148–149 (box)
war, hidden costs of, 368 (box)
workplace, boundary-less, 245 (box)
Informal age norms, 116
Ingram, Anne, 11
Injuries, workplace, 200
Innocence Project, 301 (photo), 302–303
Innovation, 16, 282, 282 (table)
Institute for International Education of Students, 377 (box)
Institute for OneWorld Health, 232 (box)
Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 84, 85 (table)
Institutional discrimination, 55
Institutionalized heterosexuality, 99
Instrumental movements, 384, 385 (table)
Integration, 55–56, 65
Interactionist perspective:
about, 10–11, 12 (table)
age and aging, 121–122, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 263–264, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 286, 287 (table)
defined, 10
education, 168–169, 169 (table)
environment, 336–337, 337 (table)
families, 140–142, 142 (table)
gender, 80–81, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 220–221, 221 (table)
media, 241–242, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 58–59, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 100–101, 102 (table)
social class, 36–38, 38 (table)
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 314–315, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 364, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 196–198, 197 (table)
Interest groups, 346–347, 371
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 338, 339
Interior residential density, 317
814
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 374 (box)
International Centre for Prison Studies, 285
International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (World Health Organization), 98
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, 375
p.439
International differences. See Global differences; Taking a World View
International Organization for Migration, 63 (box)
International terrorism, 360–361
International Women’s Media Foundation, 243 (box)
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 291
Internet fraud and abuse, 291
Internet use, 245–246, 246 (figure), 247 (box), 247 (figure)
Internships, 111 (box)
Intersex rights, 92
Interstate highway system, 310
Intimate partner violence, 88, 144–145, 145 (figure), 152, 154, 154 (box)
Intimate violence, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
Invitation to Sociology (Berger), 381
IPCC. See Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Ipsos, 173 (box)
IRA. See Irish Republican Army
Iraq, 375
Iraqi Freedom, Operation, 359
Iraq war:
about, 359
conflict perspective, 362
economic impact, 367
military families, 151
public response to, 376
veterans, impact on, 365, 368 (box)
Irish Republican Army (IRA), 371 (box)
Irwin, Jude, 100
Islam, 77
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), 6 (box), 6 (table), 357
Israel, 107 (box)
Italy, 63 (box), 84, 155
It Gets Better Project, 110 (box)
Jacobson, Jodi, 276
815
Jacobson, Jonathan, 40
Jager, Annet, 150
Jama, Shilo, 276 (box)
Japan:
educational tracking and testing, 171 (box)
environment, 331, 348
homelessness, 317
karoshi (death by overwork), 194
life expectancy, 213
menopause, 219
nuclear weapons used against, 372, 372 (photo), 374 (box)
Jaspin, Eliot, 56
Jasso-Aguilar, Rebecca, 218
Jena, Anupam, 220
Jenkins, Brian, 361, 364
Jensen, Vicki, 285
Jim Crow laws, 55 (photo)
Job discrimination, 104, 110, 197–198, 205
Job stress, 202
Johnson, Earvin “Magic,†322 (box), 322 (photo)
Johnson, Kenneth, 215
Johnson, Lyndon B., 15, 42–43, 69, 163, 323
Johnson Development Corporation, 322 (box)
Johnson-Reed Act (1924), 56
Jolls, Tessa, 253
Jordan, Daniel, 11
Journalism, 240, 243 (box)
See also Media
Justice:
environmental, 335–336, 336 (photo), 347–349
social, 17 (box)
See also Crime and criminal justice
Juvenile crime, 291
Juvenile delinquency, 11, 289–291, 298
Juvenile justice programs, 298
Juvenile status offenders, 289
Kaiser Family Foundation, 226, 246, 365
Kala-azar, 232 (box)
Kane, Mary Jo, 241
816
Kansas, 271, 325
Kansas Sentencing Commission, 271
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, 166
Kaplan, Howard, 261
Kaplan, Laura, 363
Kappeler, Victor, 296–297
Karoshi (death by overwork), 194
Kato, David, 97
Katrina, Hurricane, 350 (box)
Kattari, Shanna, 88
Katz, Jonathan, 101
Kearl, Holly, 178 (photo)
Keating, Paul, 107 (box)
Keeter, Scott, 128 (box)
Keisling, Mara, 106
Kelber, Sheryl, 44
Kellner, Douglas, 240
Kelly, Joe, 252 (box)
Kennedy, Anthony, 66, 102, 104
Kennedy, John, 69
Kennedy, Maureen, 318
Kennedy, Ted, 204
Kenner, Max, 302–303 (box)
Kerry, John, 37 (box)
Keystone XL pipeline, 333
Kimball, Daryl, 372
Kincannon, Charles, 118 (box)
Kindergarten teachers, 34 (box)
King, Mary, 104
Kippax, Susan, 148
Kirby, Douglas, 155
Kitchens, emergency, 40, 40 (photo)
Kituse, John, 5
Knott, Paul, 377
Kochhar, Rakesh, 26–27, 64
Kopp, Wendy, 183 (box), 183 (photo)
Kops, Yvonne, 150
Korean War, 359
Korgen, Kathleen, 93 (box)
Korsah, N., 375
817
Korten, David, 333
Koster, Chris, 294
Kozol, Jonathan, 167
Kramer, Rory, 298–299
Krieger, Nancy, 35, 41
Kriss, Jennifer L., 225
Krogstad, Jens Manuel, 61
Kruel, Amaury, 297 (box)
Krugman, Paul, 257
Krull, Christopher, 245 (box)
Kulongoski, Mary, 39–40
Kulongoski, Theodore R., 39–40
Kyoto Protocol, 339
Labeling theory, 286
Labor, gendered division of, 78–79
Labor unions, 208
Lagos, Nigeria, 317
Lambda Legal, 110 (box)
Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, 345
Land conservation, 344
Landfills, 341 (box), 341 (photo)
Landmines, 369
Langenderfer-Magruder, Lisa, 88
Language, 80–81
Lareau, Annette, 185
Latent functions, 166
Latin America, 218
Latinos, 176–177, 176 (figure), 182, 300
See also Hispanics; Race and ethnicity
Law enforcement. See Police and policing
Lawrence, John, 102
Lawyers, 209 (box)
Lazarus, Wendy, 246, 248
Leach, Elizabeth, 123 (box)
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, 54 (box)
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), 351
Learning by doing, 111 (box)
Ledbetter, Lilly, 86–87, 86 (photo)
LEED. See Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
818
Lefebvre, Henri, 333
Left-wing groups, 370
Legal assistants, 159 (box)
Legalization, drug, 266, 267 (box), 272–273, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
Leicht, Kevin, 384, 387
Leinberger, Christopher, 319
p.440
Leiter, Michael, 370
Lemert, Charles, 16, 393
Lemert, Edwin, 286
Lengermann, Patricia Madoo, 10
Leonard, Paul, 318
Lerner, L., 375
Levendosky, Alytia, 145
Levinson, A. J., 122
Levy, Mark, 241
Lew, Jacob, 15
Lewis, Oscar, 36–37
LGBTQ, defined, 97
Li, Shi, 33 (box)
Libya, 375–376
Life chances, 23, 26
Life course perspective, 116
Life expectancy, 213, 214 (table)
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009), 86 (photo), 87
Lim, Sungwoo, 319
Lim Miller, Mauricio, 45 (box)
Lincoln, Abraham, 358
Lind, Amy, 99
Lindsey, Lawrence, 367
Lipka, Sara, 351
Literacy, 170–172, 170 (table), 248, 252–253
Literacy Volunteers of America, 171
Little Rock Central High School, 65
Living Lands and Waters, 350 (box)
Living wage movement, 205–206
Locavores, 349 (box)
Loeb, Paul Rogat, 393
Lombroso, Cesare, 281
819
London, 275 (box)
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 88
Los Angeles, 323
Loseke, Donileen, 4–5
Louisville, Kentucky, 66
Love Canal disaster, 335–336, 336 (photo), 340
Love Canal Homeowners Association, 336, 340
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, 40
Lucas, Billy, 110 (box)
Lucas, George, 106
Luce, Stephanie, 205
Luckmann, Thomas, 4
Luo, Ye, 123
Luxembourg Income Study, 32
MacDonald, Scott, 268
MacKinnon, Catharine, 81
MacKinnon, J. B., 349 (box)
Macro level of analysis, 7
Magic Johnson Enterprises, 322 (box)
Magic Johnson Foundation, 322 (box)
Magic Johnson Theatres, 322 (box)
“Magic Mountain, The†(Power), 341 (box)
Magic of Reading Program, 322 (box)
Magnet, Myron, 37
Magnet schools, 184
Mahon, J., 73
Mahoney, Martha, 313
Mandatory sentencing, 295
Mandela, Nelson, 358 (box)
Mangangalahigs, 341 (box)
Manifest destiny, 358
Manifest functions, 164, 166
Manthorpe, Jill, 146–147
Manuel, Tiffany, 150–151
Maquiladoras, 203 (box)
Marable, Manning, 35
Marcum, Catherine, 261
Marger, Martin, 25, 53, 166
Maria, Hurricane, 331
820
Maricopa County, Arizona, 284 (photo)
Marijuana:
about, 266
legalization of, 266, 267 (box), 274 (box), 274 (figure)
Netherlands, 272
usage, global differences in, 260 (figure)
user introduction to, 263
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 300 (box)
Marmot, Michael, 223
Marriage equality. See Same-sex marriage
Martin, Steven, 261
Martin, Trayvon, 59 (box), 293, 299
Marullo, Sam, 111 (box)
Marx, Karl, 9, 9 (photo), 16, 35, 47 (box), 194
Marxist theorists, 57
Maryland, 205
Mason, Paul, 238–239
Massachusetts, 97, 228
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 197–198
Massey, Douglas, 61, 313, 316
Master status, 101
Math anxiety, 168
Matos, Marlise, 89
Maume, David J., 86
Mayer, Deborah, 222
McAdam, Doug, 386, 387
McBride, Sarah, 80 (box), 80 (photo)
McCain, Franklin, 390
McCambridge, Jim, 275 (box)
McCarthy, John, 386
McChesney, Robert, 248
McConatha, Jasim, 123 (box)
McCorkle, Jill, 285
McDonald’s, 189
McDowell, Johnnie, 41
McGary, Howard, 58
McGrath, Shelley, 261
McGuinness, Martin, 371 (box)
McKinney, Laura, 335
McNamee, Steve, 25
821
McNeill, Joseph, 390
McVeigh, Timothy, 370
Mead, George Herbert, 11
Meals on Wheels Association of America, 154
Mechanical solidarity, 311
Media:
about, 237–238
community, policy, and social action, 250–253
conflict perspective, 239–240, 243 (table)
crime, coverage of, 242
defined, 237
digital divide, 243–246, 247 (box), 247 (figure), 248
driving distracted, 248–249, 249 (photo)
federal policy and legislation, 250–251
feminist perspective, 240–241, 243 (table)
functionalist perspective, 238–239, 243 (table)
gender roles in, 240–241, 241 (photo), 252 (box)
immigration, coverage of, 240
interactionist perspective, 241–242, 243 (table)
media literacy and digital literacy, 252–253
media watchdogs, 251
newspapers, 248
ownership, consolidation of, 239–240, 240 (table)
privacy, loss of, 242, 243
public trust of news media, 249–250
sociological perspectives, 238–242, 243 (table)
women in, 243 (box)
Media conglomerates, 239–240, 240 (table)
Media literacy, 252–253
Media watchdogs, 251
Medicaid, 226–227, 227 (box), 229
Medicalization, 219
Medical schools, 218
Medical students, 78–79, 122
See also Physicians
Medicare, 127–128, 129–131, 227 (box), 231 (box)
Medication therapy for alcohol and drug abuse, 273
Medicine. See Health and medicine
Medicines360, 232 (box)
Mee-Kyong, Lee, 141
822
Megadisasters, 331
Mending the Sacred Hoop, 152
Menopause, 219
p.441
Mentoring for students, 182
Mertig, Angela, 348
Merton, Robert K., 8, 282–283, 282 (table)
Mesenbourg, Thomas L., 51
Methamphetamine, 263
“Metropolis and Mental Life, The†(Simmel), 314
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, 300
Mexicans, 59
Mexican War, 358
Mexico, 203 (box), 341 (box)
Meyer, David, 388
Meyer, Erika, 277 (box)
Michigan, 71, 271
Micro level of analysis, 7
Middle East, 362
Middleton, Kate, 238 (photo)
Migration, 308
Military:
families, 151, 151 (photo)
sexual assault in, 368 (box)
sexual orientation policies, 105–106, 107 (box), 107 (photo)
transgender individuals in, 92
as war and terrorism response, 375–376
See also Veterans
Military-industrial complex, 362
Milkie, Melissa, 150
Millennials, driving behavior of, 310, 323
Miller, Lisa, 87–88
Miller, Mark Crispin, 240
Miller, Robert, 25
Miller, Terry, 110 (box), 110 (photo)
Miller, Zell, 57–58
MillionTrees Project, 350 (box)
Mills, C. Wright:
photo, 3 (photo)
823
power elite, 9, 35
private troubles versus public issues, 2, 149 (box), 383
sociology, 3, 14, 16
Miners, 200, 202
Minimum wage, 41, 200, 201 (box), 201 (figure), 204–205
Minnesota, 152, 228, 276–278
Misdemeanors, 281
Mississippi River, 350 (box)
Modernization theory of aging, 119–120
Monitoring the Future Survey, 268
Montana State University, 351
Monuments, national, 344
Moody, Harry, 117, 130
Moore, Quinn, 44
Mora, Francisco, 246, 248
Morbidity, 216
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 216
Morgan, Sandra, 44
Morgan, S. Philip, 148 (box)
Mori, Rie, 171 (box)
Mormon fundamentalism, 77
Mortality, 124, 126, 215–216, 216 (figure)
Moss, Nancy, 35, 41
Mothers:
teen, 148–149 (box), 149
unwed, 141, 142 (box)
Mott, Lucretia, 89
Mubarak, Hosni, 239
Multiculturalism, 56
Multiracial, 59
Munson, Ziad, 388 (box)
Murphy, James, 275 (box)
Murphy, Michael, 223
Murray, Patty, 14 (box), 77
Muslims, 77
Mustanski, Brian, 98
Mychal Judge Act (2002), 103
Nader, Ralph, 388 (box)
NAFTA. See North American Free Trade Agreement
824
Nagasaki, Japan, 372, 372 (photo)
Nashville, 300
National Academy of Sciences, 46
National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 270
National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 171–172
National Association of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Directors, 154
National Audubon Society, 346
National Basketball Association (NBA), 34 (box)
National Center for Children in Poverty, 31
National Center for Education Statistics, 184
National Center for Health Statistics, 215, 216
National Center for Transgender Equality, 106
National Center on Elder Abuse, 154
National Charter School Study, 185
National Commission on Excellence in Education, 169–170
National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, 324
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 372–373
National Crime Victimization Survey, 288, 288 (table)
National Domestic Workers Alliance, 130 (box)
National Do Not Call Registry, 250
National Elder Mistreatment Study, 146
National Environmental Policy Act (1969), 345
National Girls Collaborative Project, 181
National governments, women in, 77, 78 (table)
National health insurance model, 231 (box)
National Health Interview Survey, 97
National Housing Act (1934), 323
National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), 287
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 202
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 271–272
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 272
National Institutes of Health, 272
National Low Income Housing Coalition, 41
National monuments, 344
National Night Out, 299, 300 (photo)
National Organization for Women (NOW), 389
National Parks Conservation Association, 344, 346
National Park System, 344
National Post (Toronto), 337
National Priorities Project, 367
825
National Program for Public Security and Citizenship (Brazil), 297 (box)
National Research Council, 342
National Safety Council, 249
National School Climate Survey, 178
National Security Agency (NSA), 244
National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 259, 268
National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 87–88
National Wilderness Preservation System, 344
National Wildlife Federation, 346, 347
Nation at Risk, A (National Commission on Excellence in Education), 169–170
Native, 53
Native Americans, 56, 264, 334–335
Natural capitalism, 334 (box)
Natural Resources Defense Council, 347
NBA. See National Basketball Association
Nebraska Public Service Commission, 333
Needle exchange programs, 276 (box)
Negative consequences of social problems, 4
Neglect, 145–146
Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, 324
Nelson, Todd, 123
Netherlands, 271, 272, 276 (box)
Net neutrality, 251
Networks, 181–182
p.442
Net worth, 64, 64 (figure)
Neufeld, Peter, 302
Neurohormonal theory, 98
Newborn abandonment, 150, 155
New Deal, 15, 42
New Jersey, 41, 44, 103, 155
New social movements theory, 384–385
Newsom, Gavin, 327
Newspaper Association of America, 248
Newspapers, 248
Newsworthiness, 241–242
New York City, 182, 184, 319, 346, 350–351
New York State, 155
New Zealand, 127
826
NGOs. See Nongovernmental organizations
NIAAA. See National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
NIBRS. See National Incident-Based Reporting System
Nichols, Austin, 43
Nichols, John, 248
Nichols, Terry, 370
Nicholson, Amanda, 223
Nickel and Dimed (Ehrenreich), 200
Nicotine, 265–266
NIDA. See National Institute on Drug Abuse
Niebrugge-Brantley, Jill, 10
Nigeria, 317
9/11 Commission, 372–373
NIOSH. See National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Nixon, Richard, 69, 259, 271
No Child Left Behind Act, 179–180
Non-binary, 82 (box)
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), 389 (box)
Nonprofit work, 326 (box)
Noris, Tyler, 324–325
Norms, 7 (box), 115–116
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 203 (box)
North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College, 389–390
North Dakota, 334–335
Northern Ireland, 69, 371 (box)
North Korea, 372
Norway, 58
Not With Our Money, 301
Novel places, 172–173
NOW. See National Organization for Women
NSA. See National Security Agency
Nuclear family, 138
Nuclear weapons, 372, 372 (photo), 374 (box)
Nurses, 196
Nye, Joseph, 374
Oates, Sarah, 364
Obama, Barack:
crime and criminal justice, 103, 271, 293
Dakota Access Pipeline, 334
827
education policy, 3, 173 (box), 180
environment, 339, 344
family, 138
gender inequalities, 86 (photo), 87, 92
health and medicine, 213, 228, 229, 231 (box)
immigration, 67, 68
social class inequalities, 15, 25, 44
texting while driving, 249
urban revitalization programs, 324
volunteer community service, 390–391
war and terrorism, 373–374
work and the economy, 205–206
youth vote, 128 (box)
See also Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)
Obama, Michelle, 349 (box), 390
Obamacare. See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Objective reality, 4
O’Brien, Eileen, 61
Occidental Chemical Corporation, 340
Occupational Safety and Health Act, 203
Occupations:
job growth, largest projected, 190, 190 (table)
minimum wage workers, 201 (box), 201 (figure)
sex segregation in, 82–84, 83 (photo), 83 (table)
Occupy movement, 387
O’Connor, Michaela, 245 (box)
O’Connor, Sandra Day, 71
OECD. See Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Offenders, criminal, 292–293, 292 (table)
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 152, 290, 298
Office of Management and Budget, 53
Office of National Drug Control Policy, 272
Office on Violence Against Women, 152, 298
Oklahoma, 181
Oklahoma City bombing, 370
Older Americans Act, 146
Oliver, Melvin, 26
Olson-Buchanan, Julie, 245 (box)
Omi, Michael, 52
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (1993), 323
828
One Day, All Children (Kopp), 183 (box)
1.5 generation, 68
100-mile diet, 349 (box)
OneWorld Health, 232 (box)
Operation Banner, 371 (box)
Operation Desert Shield, 359
Operation Desert Storm, 359
Operation Enduring Freedom, 359
Operation Iraqi Freedom, 359
Opioids, 267–268, 268 (photo), 272
Orange extremism, 371 (box)
Ore, Tracy, 54
Oregon, 39–40, 44, 267 (box)
Organic solidarity, 311
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 172, 213, 216 (figure)
Organizational child, 166
Orshansky, Mollie, 28
Ortman, Jennifer, 118 (box)
Oster, Emily, 215
Outcome goals, 361
Out-of-pocket model, 231 (box)
Overurbanization, 308
Owens, Ken, 157, 158
Owens, Pat, 157, 158
Ozone, ground-level, 340
PACENET, 230
Packard, Gary, Jr., 106
PACs. See Political action committees
Pai, Ajit, 251
Paigen, Beverly, 336
Palin, Sara, 241
Paralegals, 159 (box)
Parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
Paris, 321 (photo)
Paris Climate Accord, 339
Park, Hacyoung, 71
Park, Robert E., 8
Parker, Kim, 173 (box)
Paromomycin, 232 (box)
829
Parsons, Talcott, 217
Particulate or particle pollution, 339–340
Passel, Jeffrey, 61
Passive smoke, 265–266
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010):
citizenship status and, 66
community health centers, 232
Hawaii, waiver for, 228
health insurance coverage, expansion of, 226, 227 (box)
Medicaid expansion, 226–227
passage and challenges to, 228–229
politics and, 213
Patients, 220–221
Patriarchy, 9–10, 79, 284–285
See also Feminist perspective
PATRIOT Act (2001), 369–370
Payatas, 341 (box)
Peace movements, 376–378
Pearce, Adam, 71
p.443
Peking University’s Chinese Family Panel Studies, 33 (box)
Peksen, Dursun, 375
Pennsylvania, 230, 230 (photo)
Pension Protection Act (2006), 103
People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, 276 (box)
Persian Gulf War, 359
Persky, Aaron, 289 (box)
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996), 15, 36, 43, 44, 138, 155
Peters, Matthew, 233 (box), 233 (photo)
Peterson, Suni, 220
Petrucci, Barbara, 124
Pew Hispanic Center, 65–66
Pew Oceans Commission, 342
Pew Research Center:
drug offenses, 271
Internet use, 246, 247 (box)
media, 250
political engagement, 392 (box), 392 (figure)
Project for Excellence in Journalism, 248
830
race and ethnicity, 59, 62 (box), 62 (figure)
social class, 25
threats, global, 6 (box)
U.S. global engagement, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly, 230
Pharmaceutical companies, 218, 219 (box)
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, 230
Philadelphia Plan, 69
Philippines, 341 (box)
Phillips, Deborah, 181
Phillips, Jack, 107
Phillips, Meredith, 172–173
Physical abuse, 145
Physicians, 82 (box), 217, 219–221, 220 (photo), 233 (box)
See also Medical students
Pieper, Katherine, 252 (box)
Pierce, Glenn, 297
Pillar, Paul, 361, 376
Pillard, Richard, 98
Piñera, Sebastián, 391 (box)
Pink campaign for breast cancer awareness, 222–223, 222 (photo)
Pittsburgh Public School District, 154
Piven, Frances Fox, 35
Plotke, David, 385
Pluralism, 56
Police and policing:
Community Oriented Policing Services, 294, 299–301, 300 (photo)
community responses to disparities in, 298–299
conflict perspective on, 283–284
crime, response to, 294–295, 297 (box)
Spanish-speaking officers, 300
violence by, 299
Political action committees (PACs), 37 (box)
Political candidates, female, 241, 241 (photo)
Political diplomacy, 373–374
Political engagement, 392 (box), 392 (figure)
Political ideology, 274 (figure), 392 (box), 392 (figure)
Political impact of war and terrorism, 369–370
Political influence, 128 (box)
Political process model, 386
831
Political speech, 37 (box)
Politicide, 358
Politics of fear, 364
Pollina, Ronald, 192
Pollution, 333–334, 339–340
See also Environment
Popenoe, David, 156
Population aging, 116–117, 117 (figure), 117 (table), 118 (box)
Population growth, 310, 332–333
See also Urbanization and population growth
Porto, Portugal, 311
Portugal, 84, 311
Post-Landfill Action Network, 347
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 221, 365, 368 (box)
Potter, Gary, 296–297
Poverty:
absolute, 27
age and, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure)
child abuse and, 146
children in, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124
consequences of, 39–42
culture of, 36–37
defined, 27
demographics of, 29–32, 29 (data map), 30 (figure), 31 (figure)
divorce and, 144
federal measures of, 28, 28 (table), 29 (table)
food insecurity/hunger and, 39–40, 40 (photo)
gender and, 30 (figure)
global differences in, 32
globalization and, 199
health and, 41–42
housing and, 40–41, 41 (photo)
as presidential priority, 15
race/ethnicity and, 30 (figure), 31, 38
redefining, 46–47
relative, 27
state differences in, 29 (data map), 30, 32
war on, 15, 42–43, 323
welfare reform and, 43
working poor, 32
832
Poverty guidelines, 28, 29 (table)
Poverty threshold, 28, 28 (table)
Powell, Brian, 142
Power, 35, 37, 140, 373–374
Power, Matthew, 341 (box)
Power elite, 9, 35, 37 (box)
PPOs. See Preferred provider organizations
Preference system for immigration, 60
Preferred provider organizations (PPOs), 227 (box)
Pregnancy:
alcohol and drug use, 262
teen, 147–150, 147 (box), 147 (table), 148–149 (box), 155
women in the workplace, 196
Pregracke, Chad, 350 (box), 350 (photo)
Prekindergarten, 181
Pren, Karen, 61
Prescription drug plans, state, 230
Prescription drug spending, 226, 226 (photo)
Presidential elections, 128 (box), 251
Prestige, 35
Prevalence rate, 216
Price, Thomas, 268
PricewaterhouseCoopers, 193
Prince, Barbara, 394 (box), 394 (photo)
Princeton University, 183 (box)
Principles of Scientific Management, The (Taylor), 193
PRISM program, 244
Prisoners, women, 284 (photo), 285–286, 285 (table)
Prisons, 295–296, 295 (figure), 301–303, 301 (photo), 302–303 (box)
Privacy, loss of, 242, 243
Probation and parole officers, 304 (box)
Probation and parole revocations, 295
Process goals, 361
Programme for International Student Assessment, 172
Project for Excellence in Journalism, 248, 251
Project Harmony, 152
Project Homeless Connect, 327
Project Northland, 276–278
Proletariat, 9, 140
“Promise, The†(Mills), 2
833
Promise Neighborhoods, 324
Promise Zones Initiative, 15
“Prom Mom,†150
Property crime, 289
p.444
Provisional IRA, 371 (box)
Pruitt, Scott, 339
Psychological impact of war and terrorism, 364–365, 367, 368 (box)
Psychological perspective, 98, 259–260
PTSD. See Posttraumatic stress disorder
Public Agenda, 173–174
Public health, 277 (box)
Public school choice, 179–180, 184–185
Public sociology, 18 (box), 393
Public trust of news media, 249–250
Puerto Rico, 331
Qualitative methods, 13
Quantitative methods, 13
Queer, 82 (box), 97
Quezon City, Philippines, 341 (box)
Quota system for immigration, 60
Race and ethnicity:
about, 51, 52 (table)
affirmative action, 69–71
age and, 118 (box), 124
alcohol and drug abuse, 264–265, 271
conflict perspective, 57–58, 60 (table)
consequences of inequalities, 60–67
crime/criminal justice and, 289, 290–291, 292, 292 (table), 293–294, 297, 298–299
defining, 52–55
diversity and inclusivity, 71–74
education, 65–66, 66 (table), 175–177, 176 (figure), 176 (photo), 185
feminist perspective, 58, 60 (table)
functionalist perspective, 56, 60 (table)
grandparents as parents, 158
health, 66–67
home ownership, 65
immigration, 51, 52 (photo), 52 (table), 60–63, 61 (photo), 62 (figure), 67–69, 68 (photo)
834
income and wealth, 63–65
integration patterns, 55–56
interactionist perspective, 58–59, 60 (table)
job discrimination, 197–198
life expectancy, 214 (table)
medical students/physicians, 218
net worth, 64, 64 (figure)
population growth and composition, 310
poverty and, 30 (figure), 31, 38
race, defined, 52
race, welfare as code word for, 38
residential segregation, 313
responding to inequalities, 67–74
social class and, 30 (figure), 31, 53, 124
sociological perspectives, 56–59, 60 (table)
statistics, 53, 53 (table)
teen birthrates, 147 (box), 147 (table)
unemployment and underemployment, 198–199
wage gap, 87 (box), 87 (figure)
See also Segregation
Racial Formation in the United States (Omi & Winant), 52
Racialized conflicts, 57–58
Racial profiling, 293, 294
Racism, 55, 334–335
Radcliffe Public Policy Center, 150
Radler, Michael, 297
Rainie, Lee, 59 (box)
Rainwater, Lee, 32
Rangarajan, Anu, 44
Rape. See Sexual assault/violence
Ray, Rebecca, 153 (box)
Rayside, David, 390
Reagan, Ronald, 5, 169–170
Real Food Challenge, 351
Reauthorization Act (1998), 272
Rebellion, 282 (table)
Recidivism, 296
Recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
Redemptive social movements, 385 (table)
Redfield, Robert, 52
835
Reform:
educational, 169–170, 179–180
health care, 227–229
welfare, 15, 43, 57–58
Reformative social movements, 385 (table)
Reform movements, 384, 385 (table), 387–389
Refugees, 54, 63 (box)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), 70
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, 346
Register, Brianna, 298–299
Reid, T. R., 231 (box)
Reiman, Jeffrey, 281
Relative deprivation, 385–386
Relative poverty, 27
Religion, 77
Reparative therapy, 103
Repeat offenses, 296
Research:
applied, 13
basic, 12–13
as career field, 352 (box)
comparative, 13
historical, 13
methods, 93 (box)
survey, 13
Residential segregation, 312–313
Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, 182, 184
Resource mobilization theory, 386
Responding:
to age inequalities, 127–131
to crime, 294–297
to gender inequalities, 89–92
to racial and ethnic inequalities, 67–74
to sexual orientation inequalities, 106–110
to social class inequalities, 42–47
Restore Our Future, 37 (box)
Retaliation, 376
Retirement income, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
Retreatism, 282 (table)
Revolution, 358
836
Revolutionary social movements, 384, 385 (table)
Richmond, David, 390
Rickman, Dana, 181
Right-wing groups, 370
Riley, Lori, 123 (box)
Ringberg, Toly, 339
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 369
Ritualism, 282 (table)
Ritzer, George, 377 (box)
Rivadeneyra, RocÃo, 241
Robbins, Cynthia, 261
Roberts, Dorothy, 262–263
Roberts, John G., Jr., 66, 229
Roberts, Keith, 7 (box)
Robinson, John, 150
Robinson, Marian, 138
Rochester Institute of Technology, 15 (photo)
Rohlen, Thomas, 171 (box)
Role strain, 261
Roman, Paul, 276
Rome, 155
Rome plows, 368–369
Romero, Diana, 148
Romney, Mitt, 37, 37 (box)
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 349 (box)
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 15, 42, 128
Rose, Richard, 223
Rose, Stephen, 84
Rossello, Ricardo, 331
Roth, Louise Marie, 83–84
Rubin, Lillian, 150
Rudowitz, Robin, 226–227
Rural sociology, 307
Russell, Glenda M., 109 (box)
Russia, 223, 332
Ryan, Paul, 14 (box)
Ryan White CARE Act, 5
Ryu, Kirak, 319
Sacco, Paul, 276
837
Sacks, Peter, 174 (box)
Sadker, David, 168
Sadker, Myra, 168
Sado, Miwa, 194
p.445
Safe-haven laws, 155
Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance (California, 2012), 278
Safe Schools Improvement Act (2011), 184
Sald, Mayer, 386
Sallie Mae, 173 (box)
Salt Lake City School District Board of Education, 109 (box)
Sam, Michael, 104, 105 (photo)
Samers, Michael, 57
Same-sex couples, 103–104
Same-sex marriage:
countries allowed in, 104 (table)
Defense of Marriage Act, 99, 103
history, 97, 103–104, 105 (photo)
support for, 108 (box), 108 (table)
Sampson, Robert, 289
Samuels, Steven, 106
Sanchez, Ginette, 182
Sanctions, economic, 375
Sandler, Todd, 359
Sandoval, Carlos, 159 (box)
San Francisco, 327, 346
Sang-Hun, Choe, 141
São Paulo, Brazil, 321
Saporito, Salvatore, 185
Sasser, Jennifer, 130
Satake, Miki, 40
Sato, Hiroshi, 33 (box)
SAT scores, 175–176
Saudi Arabia, 79 (photo)
Savage, Dan, 110 (box), 110 (photo)
Savage Inequalities (Kozol), 167
#SayHerName, 299
Scheck, Barry, 302
Scherker, David, 3
838
Schmitt, John, 153 (box)
Schmoke, Kurt L., 272
Schneider, Helen, 11
Schnell, Frauke, 123 (box)
Schoen, Cathy, 225
Schoenbaum, Stephen C., 225
School choice, 179–180, 184–185
School integration, 65
School violence, 177, 182, 184, 388 (photo)
School vouchers, 185
Schorr, Daniel, 242
Schroedel, Jean, 11
Schultz, Howard, 322 (box)
Schultz, Tammy, 106
Schwartz, John, 331
Schwartz, Robert C., 220
Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 271
Science, defined, 12
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), 174–175, 175 (figure), 181–182
Science of sociology, 12–13, 74 (box)
Scientific management, 193
Seabury, Seth, 220
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 347
Seattle, 66, 276 (box)
Secondary data analysis, 13
Second generation, 68
Secondhand smoke, 265–266
See Jane program, 252 (box)
Segal, David, 106
Segregation:
de facto, 65, 167
defined, 55
in education, 65
horizontal, 83, 84
Jim Crow laws, 55 (photo)
occupational sex, 82–84, 83 (photo), 83 (table)
protests against, 386, 389–390, 390 (photo)
residential, 312–313
vertical, 83–84
Self, 11
839
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, 357, 372–373
Sernau, Scott, 26
Service learning, 111 (box)
Service revolution, 190
Sessions, Jeff, 68
Sex, defined, 77
Sex education, 148, 149, 155
Sexism, 77
Sexual assault/violence, 88, 92, 288, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 368 (box)
Sexual harassment in schools, 178–179, 178 (photo)
Sexual Minorities Uganda, 97
Sexual orientation:
about, 97
biological perspective, 98
conflict perspective, 99–100, 102 (table)
defined, 97
employment protections, 110
family legislation, 108
feminist perspective, 99–100, 102 (table)
functionalist perspective, 98–99, 102 (table)
harassment in schools, 177–178
interactionist perspective, 100–101, 102 (table)
nondiscrimination protections, 106–107
psychological perspective, 98
responding to inequalities, 106–110
sociological perspectives, 98–101, 102 (table)
work and, 104–105, 110, 205
Shalikashvili, John, 106
Shapiro, Thomas, 26
Shea, Katherine K., 225
Shelters, homeless, 325–326
Shelton, Audrey, 245 (box)
Shepard, Matthew, 103
Shutt, Mairead, 326 (box)
Sick role, 217
Sicular, Terry, 33 (box)
Sierra Club, 346
Sierra Leone, 213
Silk, Jessica, 148
Silver, Roxane Cohen, 239
840
Silvercup Studios, 127
Silverman, Linda K., 174
Simmel, Georg, 314
Simóes, Solange, 89
Sioux, 334–335
Skilled Veterans Corps, 115
Skogan, Wesley, 297 (box)
Smart Growth Program, 325
Smeeding, Timothy, 32
Smelser, Neil, 386
Smith, Alisa, 349 (box)
Smith, Dorothy, 10
Smith, Gary, 148
Smith, R. S., 167
Smith, Stacy, 252 (box)
Smith, Vivian, 263
SmithBattle, Lee, 148–149 (box)
Smog, 340
Smoking, 265–266
SNAP. See Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Snowden, Edward, 244
Social capital, 166
Social class:
about, 25–27
age and, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
children, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124
China, income inequality in, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
conflict perspective, 34–36, 38 (table)
divorce, 144
education and, 172–174
families, 150–151
feminist perspective, 36, 38 (table)
food insecurity and hunger, 39–40, 40 (photo)
functionalist perspective, 32–34, 34 (box), 38 (table)
gender and, 30 (figure), 124
gentrification, 318–319
global differences, 32
health and, 41–42
housing affordability, 40–41, 41 (photo)
income inequality, 25–26, 26 (table)
841
interactionist perspective, 36–38, 38 (table)
Internet use, 247 (figure)
life expectancy and, 213
p.446
poverty, consequences of, 39–42
poverty, defined, 27
poverty, demographics of, 29–32, 29 (data map), 30 (figure), 31 (figure)
poverty, federal measures of, 28, 28 (table), 29 (table)
poverty, redefining, 46–47
race/ethnicity and, 30 (figure), 31, 53, 124
responding to inequalities, 42–47
sociological perspectives, 32–38, 38 (table)
states, 29 (data map), 30, 32
urbanization, 315
wealth inequality, 26–27
welfare, life after, 43–44
welfare policy, 42–43
working poor, 32
Social constructionism, 4–5, 336
Social construction of reality, 4
Social control theory, 283
Social inequality, 36
Social innovation, 16
Social institutions, 7 (box), 135, 137
Social insurance, 42
Socialized medicine, 231 (box)
Social justice, 17 (box)
Social media, 238–239, 238 (box), 239 (photo)
Social movements:
about, 384–385, 385 (table)
defined, 384
emergence of, 385–387, 386 (photo)
Social policy, 15
Social problems:
community and, 389–393
defined, 4
history, 5–7
negative consequences of, 4
objective and subjective realities of, 4–5
842
solution, transformation to, 14–16
See also specific topics
Social Security, 116, 125 (box), 127–129
Social Security Act (1935), 42, 128
Social Security Administration, 28, 129
Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees, 129
Social stratification, 23, 32
Social Things (Lemert), 16
Social Transformation of American Medicine, The (Starr), 218
Social work, 131 (box)
Society, 7 (box)
Sociological connections, 16–17
Sociological imagination, 2–3, 16–17
Sociological perspectives:
about, 7–11, 12 (table)
age and aging, 119–122, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 259–264, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 281–286, 287 (table)
education, 164, 166–169, 169 (table)
environment, 332–337, 337 (table)
families, 139–142, 142 (table)
gender, 78–81, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 214–221, 221 (table)
media, 238–242, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 56–59, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 98–101, 102 (table)
social class, 32–38, 38 (table)
urbanization and population growth, 311–315, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 361–364, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 193–198, 197 (table)
See also Conflict perspective; Feminist perspective; Functionalist perspective; Interactionist
perspective
Sociology:
defined, 2
environmental, 331–332
public, 18 (box), 393
review of, 7 (box)
rural, 307
science of, 12–13, 74 (box)
urban, 307–308
843
Sociology at Work:
about, 18 (box)
afterschool education, 186 (box)
critical thinking, 47 (box)
graduate study, 394 (box)
internships and service learning, 111 (box)
law, 209 (box)
medicine, 233 (box)
nonprofit work, 326 (box)
paralegals and legal assistants, 159 (box)
probation and parole officers, 304 (box)
public health, 277 (box)
research, 93 (box), 352 (box)
science of sociology, 74 (box)
social work, 131 (box)
software development, 253 (box)
working and volunteering abroad, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Socio-spatial perspective, 311
Sodexho Marriott, 301
Sodomy laws, 102
Soft-power approach, 373–374
Software development, 253 (box)
Solution, transformation to, 14–16
Sontag, Susan, 121
Sotomayor, Sonia, 209 (box)
South Africa, 1, 1 (table), 97
South African Medical Research Council, 88
Southern Poverty Law Center, 370
South Korea, 141
Spanish-American War, 359
Spanish-language news media, 240
Spanish-speaking police officers, 300
Spatial polarization, 311
Special interest groups, 371
Species being, 9
Specter, Malcolm, 5
Speech, political, 37 (box)
Sports, 91, 91 (photo), 104–105, 105 (photo), 241
Stacey, Judith, 156
Standards in education, 180
844
Standing Rock Sioux, 334–335
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 89
Starbucks, 322 (box)
Starr, Paul, 218
States:
age, median, 117
alcohol and drug abuse, 271
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
environment, 346
gender wage gap, 85 (data map)
health care reform, 227–228
living wage movement, 205
poverty, demographics of, 29 (data map), 30, 32
prescription drug plans, 230
sexual orientation inequalities, 103
See also specific states
Steele, Bruce, 109 (box)
Steele, Claude, 177
Steelman, Lara Carr, 142
Steffensmeier, Darrell, 284–285
Steinsapir, Carol, 348–349
STEM. See Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Stephens, Jason, 326 (box)
Stepler, Renee, 143
Stereotype threat, 177
Stevens, Martin, 146–147
Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (1987), 326
Stigma, 121–122
Stock, Mathis, 314 (photo), 315
Stombler, Mindy, 168
Stone Semmler, Stacey, 209 (box), 209 (photo)
Strain theory, 282–283, 282 (table)
Strang, John, 275 (box)
Stress, job, 202
St. Rose, Andresse, 174–175
Structural pluralism, 56
p.447
Student activism, 377–378, 388 (box), 388 (photo), 391 (box), 391 (photo)
Student Confederation of Chile, 391 (box)
845
Student Federation of the University of Chile, 391 (box)
Student Labor Action Project, 208
Student Non-Discrimination Act (2011), 184
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, 390
Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act (1990), 165 (box)
Subjective reality, 4–5
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 273
Suburbanization, 308, 309–310
Suicide, 217, 365
Sullivan, Teresa, 245 (box)
Super Bowl, 250
Superfund program, 340–341
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 39–40, 46
Supplemental Poverty Measure, 46–47
Surgeons, 33–34
Survey research, 13
Susan G. Komen Foundation, 222
Sustainable communities, 324–325, 325 (table)
Sutherland, Edwin, 263, 286, 291
Swain Thomas, Dorothy, 167
Swanger, Joanna, 203 (box)
Sweatshops, 204, 204 (box), 204 (photo), 208
Sweatshop Watch, 204 (box)
Sweden, 129, 150, 349 (box)
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, 37 (box)
Swink, Dawn, 69
Switzerland, 56, 63 (box)
Symbolic interactionism, 11
Syringe exchange programs, 276 (box)
Taalas, Petteri, 338
Tadlock, Barry, 36
Taft, William Howard, 202
Taking a World View:
Brazil, policing in, 297 (box)
China, aging in, 118 (box)
China, income inequality in, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
education for girls and young women, 90 (box)
global immigration, 63 (box)
global threats, identifying, 6 (box), 6 (table)
846
global urbanization and population growth, 312 (box), 312 (photo)
health care models, 231 (box)
International Women’s Media Foundation, 243 (box)
Japan, educational tracking and testing in, 171 (box)
landfills, 341 (box), 341 (photo)
marijuana legalization movement, 267 (box)
Mexico, maquiladoras in, 203 (box)
military service, gay, 107 (box), 107 (photo)
nongovernmental organizations, 389 (box)
Northern Ireland self-rule, 371 (box)
parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
See also Global differences
TANF. See Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Target populations, 11
Task Force of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 270
Taylor, Frederick W., 193, 194
Taylor, Paul, 65, 173 (box)
Teachers, 34 (box)
Teach for America, 183 (box)
Teens:
alcohol use, 268–270, 269 (figure), 270 (photo)
contraceptive use, 148, 149
fathers, 149
mothers, 148–149 (box), 149
pregnancy, 147–150, 147 (box), 147 (table), 148–149 (box), 155
tobacco and nicotine use, 266
Telecommunications Act (1996), 251
Telep, Cody, 301
Television, 238 (photo), 239
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), 36, 43–44
Teresa, Mother, 242
Terrorism:
conflict, defining, 359–361
defined, 359
domestic, 360, 370–371
international, 360–361
as term/concept, 364
See also War and terrorism
Texas, 70–71, 102
Texting while driving, 248–249, 249 (photo)
847
THC, 266
Theory, defined, 7
See also specific theories
Think Before You Pink campaign, 223
Thinking, critical, 47 (box)
Thoman, Elizabeth, 253
Thomas, Kathryn, 127
Thomas, W. I., 167
Threats, global, 6 (box), 6 (table)
Thun, Cecil, 58
Thurlow, Setsuko, 374 (box), 374 (photo)
Tickamyer, Ann, 36
Tinker, Anthea, 146–147
Title IX, 90–92, 91 (photo), 148 (box)
Tobacco, 265–266
Tomaskovic-Devey, Donald, 293, 299
Tong, Rosemarie, 9
Tourism, 314 (photo), 315
Toxic Substances Control Act (1976), 345
Tracking, 168–169, 171 (box)
Trail of Tears, 56
Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network, 277 (box)
Transformative social movements, 385 (table)
Transgender individuals, 78, 92
Transition, 82 (box)
Transphobia, 98
Transportation and urban sprawl, 319–321, 323
Traumatic brain injury, 368 (box)
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 372, 374 (box)
Trejo, Stephen, 59
Truman, Harry, 138, 231 (box)
Trump, Donald:
alcohol and drug abuse policy, 267, 272
election of, 25, 128 (box)
environment, 333, 334–335, 339, 344
globalization, 199
health and medicine, 213, 229
immigration, 68–69, 370
media, 249
transgender individuals, 92
848
war and terrorism, 370 (box), 372
welfare, 44
Trump, Melania, 349 (box)
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 181
Turk, Austin, 283
Turner, Brock, 289 (box)
Turner, Robyne, 313–314
Turner, Susan, 298
Turpin, David, 137–138 (box)
Turpin, Louise, 137–138 (box)
Twenty-Sixth Amendment, 388 (box)
Tyson, Alec, 128 (box)
UCLA. See University of California, Los Angeles
UCR. See Uniform Crime Report
Uganda, 97
Ullman, Edward, 8
Umbrella Revolution, 357
UN. See United Nations
UNAIDS, 1, 1 (table)
Underemployment, 198–199
Unemployment, 2, 189, 198
See also Work and the economy
UNESCO. See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
p.448
UNICEF. See United Nations Children’s Fund
Uniform Crime Report (UCR), 259, 287, 288
Uninsured population, 226–227
Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees, 208
Unions, labor, 208
United Kingdom:
ageism in the workplace, 127
alcohol drinking by teens, 268–269
college drug programs, 275 (box)
elder abuse and mistreatment, 146–147
grandparents as parents, 158
health and medicine, 225
military service, gay, 107 (box)
nurses, 197
849
occupational sex segregation, 84
Operation Banner, 371 (box)
women in the workplace, 196
United Nations (UN):
immigration, 60
intimate partner violence and sexual assault, 88
nuclear weapons, 372, 374 (box)
population statistics, 312 (box), 333
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 31
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 170, 170 (table)
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 339
United Nations Girls Education Initiative, 90 (box)
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 267 (box), 288
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 334
United Nations Population Fund, 312 (box)
United Students Against Sweatshops, 208
United We Serve initiative, 390
UNITE HERE, 208
Universities. See Colleges and universities; specific institutions
University of California, Irvine, 351
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 72 (box), 390
University of Chicago, 8, 196, 197–198, 307–308
University of Chile, 391 (box)
University of Kentucky, 351
University of Massachusetts–Amherst, 351
University of Michigan, 71
University of New Hampshire, 347
University of Vermont, 73
University of Virginia, 51, 109 (box)
Unrein, Mitch, 241
Urban ecology, 313
Urban Institute, 43, 62
Urbanization and population growth:
about, 307
aging, modernization theory of, 120
China, 33 (box)
community, policy, and social action, 323–327
conflict perspective, 311–313, 315 (table)
consequences of, 316–323
environment and, 332–333
850
feminist perspective, 313–314, 315 (table)
functionalist perspective, 311, 315 (table)
gentrification, 318–319
global, 309 (table), 312 (box), 312 (photo)
homelessness, 8, 317–318, 318 (photo), 325–326
interactionist perspective, 314–315, 315 (table)
population growth, 310, 332–333
sociological perspectives, 311–315, 315 (table)
suburbanization, 309–310
sustainable communities, 324–325, 325 (table)
urbanization, defined, 308
urbanization, process of, 308–309, 308 (table), 309 (table)
urban living environment, 316–317
urban revitalization programs, 324
urban sociology and demography, 307–308
urban sprawl and transportation, 319–321, 323
Urbanized areas, 310
Urban living environment, 316–317
Urban population, 310
Urban revitalization programs, 324
Urban sociology, 307–308
Urban sprawl and transportation, 319–321, 323
Uruguay, 267 (box)
U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 292, 296
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 (box), 189, 198, 200, 253 (box)
U.S. Census Bureau:
age and aging, 117
crime, 288
education, 164
families, 137, 143, 144, 158
health insurance, lack of, 226
income, 25–26
International Programs Center, 118 (box)
media usage, 246
poverty, 28, 43, 46, 123–124
race and ethnicity, 51, 53, 59, 63–64
sexual orientation, 103
urban population, 310
U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, 14 (box)
U.S. Conference of Mayors, 40, 318, 346
851
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 28, 39–40
U.S. Department of Commerce, 54 (box)
U.S. Department of Defense, 107 (photo), 370 (box)
U.S. Department of Education, 71, 92, 172
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 28, 29 (table), 103, 155, 181, 228, 230
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 373
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 317, 323–324
U.S. Department of Justice, 54 (box), 69, 103, 152, 291, 298
U.S. Department of Labor, 153 (box), 202–203, 204 (box), 229, 275
U.S. Department of State, 373
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 231 (box), 365, 367, 368 (box)
U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, 346
U.S. PIRG, 323
U.S. Senate, 11, 77
U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, 369
U.S. Sentencing Commission, 271
U.S. Supreme Court:
affirmative action, 70, 71
Affordable Care Act, 229
ageism in the workplace, 127
environment, 345
immigration, 68
marriage equality, 97
political speech, 37 (box)
race and ethnicity, 55 (photo), 65, 66
school vouchers, 185
sexual orientation, 102, 103, 107
wage discrimination, 86
Uunk, Wilford, 144
VA. See U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Valentine, Edward K., 55
Vallejo, Camila, 391 (box), 391 (photo)
Values, 7 (box), 74 (box)
Van Ausdale, Debra, 55
van der Lippe, Tanja, 150
Van Evera, Stephen, 373
Vaping, 266
Variables, 13
Vauban, Germany, 321 (box)
852
Velasco, Gabriel, 173 (box)
Vélib’, 321 (photo)
p.449
Venice, 315
Vermont, 97
Vertical segregation, 83–84
Veterans, 365, 367, 367 (photo), 368 (box)
See also Military
Victims of crime, 293–294
Vietnam War, 359, 368–369
Villamil, Tony, 331
Violence:
domestic, 99–100, 140, 152, 154, 154 (box)
intimate, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
intimate partner, 88, 144–145, 145 (figure), 152, 154, 154 (box)
school, 177, 182, 184, 388 (photo)
sexual, 88, 92, 288, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 368 (box)
against women, 88, 152, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 298
Violence Against Women Act, 298
Violent crime, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 292 (box)
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994), 298, 299, 302 (box)
Visceral leishmaniasis, 232 (box)
Visual communication, 336–337
Vitter, Zoe, 301
Vocational Rehabilitation Act (1973), 205
Voices in the Community:
Auerbach, Judith, 18 (box)
Campos, Sofia, 72 (box)
Davis, Geena, 252 (box), 252 (photo)
Greenfield, Jerry, 207 (box), 207 (photo)
Hale, Victoria, 232 (box), 232 (photo)
Jama, Shilo, 276 (box)
Johnson, Earvin “Magic,†322 (box), 322 (photo)
Kenner, Max, 302–303 (box)
Kopp, Wendy, 183 (box), 183 (photo)
Lim Miller, Mauricio, 45 (box)
McBride, Sarah, 80 (box), 80 (photo)
Pregracke, Chad, 350 (box), 350 (photo)
Savage, Dan, 110 (box), 110 (photo)
853
Thurlow, Setsuko, 374 (box), 374 (photo)
Vallejo, Camila, 391 (box), 391 (photo)
Ward, Wynona, 154 (box)
Young, Barbara, 130 (box)
Volkwein, Karin, 123 (box)
Volunteer community service, 111 (box), 377 (box), 377 (photo), 390–391
von Hippel, Paul, 172
Voting rights, 89, 388 (box)
Vouchers, school, 185
Wage:
gender gap, 85 (data map), 195, 195 (figure), 219–220, 220 (photo)
minimum, 41, 200, 201 (box), 201 (figure), 204–205
Waitzkin, Howard, 218
Walls, N. Eugene, 88
Wall Street movement, 387
Wall Street professionals, 83–84
Walmart, 335 (box)
Walters, Sarah, 319
Wang, Gabe, 73
Wang, Wendy, 173 (box)
War and terrorism:
about, 357
antiwar and peace movements, 376–378
community, policy, and social action, 372–378
conflict, defining, 357–361
conflict perspective, 362, 365 (table)
costs, hidden, 368 (box)
domestic terrorism, 370–371
economic impact, 367–368, 367 (photo), 367 (table)
economic sanctions, 375
environmental impact, 368–369
feminist perspective, 362–363, 363 (photo), 365 (table)
functionalist perspective, 361–362, 365 (table)
impact, 364–365, 367–370
interactionist perspective, 364, 365 (table)
military response, 375–376
nuclear weapons, 372, 372 (photo), 374 (box)
political diplomacy, 373–374
political impact, 369–370
854
problems, 364–365, 367–372
psychological impact, 364–365, 367, 368 (box)
sociological perspectives, 361–364, 365 (table)
terrorism, 359–361
U.S. conflicts, 358–359, 359 (illustration), 360 (table)
U.S. global engagement, public opinion on, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
war, 357–358, 358 (table)
See also specific wars and terrorist acts
Ward, L. Monique, 241
Ward, Wynona, 154 (box)
Wardlaw, Grant, 359–360
Warnecke, Richard B., 319
War of 1812, 358
War on Drugs, 259, 261–262, 270–271, 272, 296
War on Poverty, 15, 42–43, 323
Warren, David, 173 (box)
Warren, Patricia, 293, 299
Wasburn, Mara, 241
Wasburn, Philo, 241
Washington, DC, 319
Washington Healthy Youth Survey, 267 (box)
Washington Post, 365
Washington State, 71, 251, 267 (box)
Waste and recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
Water Protectors, 334–335
Water quality and supply, 342
Wealth, 26–27, 35, 63–65, 64 (figure)
Weaver, Heather, 148
Weaver, Kathryn E., 319
Weber, Max, 23, 35, 193
Wechsler, Henry, 269, 270
Weigt, Jill, 44
Weisburd, David, 301
Weitz, Rose, 41, 218
Weitzman, Elissa, 270
Welfare:
conflict perspective, 35–36
feminist perspective, 36
functionalist perspective, 34
interactionist perspective, 37–38
855
life after, 43–44
policy history, 42–43
reform, 15, 43, 57–58
See also Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996)
Wells, Samantha, 268
Wentworth, William, 123
West, Loraine, 118 (box)
West Africa, 213
Westfield, New Jersey, 41
Wetzel, Christopher, 388 (box)
Where the Girls Aren’t, 252 (box)
White, Jonathan, 93 (box)
White, Ryan, 5
White, Shelley, 93 (box)
White-collar crime, 291
White House Council for Community Solutions, 45 (box)
White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, 92
Whites:
crime and criminal justice, 292, 292 (table)
education, 65–66, 66 (table)
income and wealth, 63, 64 (figure), 65
life expectancy, 214 (table)
poverty, 38
segregation, 55, 55 (photo), 313
See also Race and ethnicity
Whitfield, Darren L., 88
WHO. See World Health Organization
Wild, T. Cameron, 268
Wilderness Act (1964), 344, 345
Wilderness protection, 344
Wildman, Stephanie, 80, 81
Wilkinson, Paul, 371 (box)
William, Prince, 238 (photo)
Williams, David, 35, 41
Williams, Heidi, 215
Wilson, John, 384
p.450
Wilson, Sarah, 268 (photo)
Wilson, William Julius, 289
856
Winant, Howard, 52
Winning Our Future, 37 (box)
Wirth, Lewis, 8
Wisconsin, 44
Wolfgang, Marvin, 292
Wombacher, Kevin, 245 (box)
Women:
affirmative action, 70
alcohol and drug abuse, 265
globalization and, 199–200
households headed by, 138
in media, 243 (box)
in national parliaments/congress, 77, 78 (table)
prisoners/inmates, 284 (photo), 285–286, 285 (table)
violence against, 88, 152, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 298
in workplace, 191, 192 (table)
See also Gender
Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, 154
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 376
Women’s movement, 89–90, 388, 389
Women’s Peace Party, 376
Women’s Rights Convention, 89
Wood, Robert, 44
Woodhouse, Shawn, 70
Woolworth’s sit-in, 390, 390 (photo)
Work and the economy:
about, 189
affirmative action, 69–70
community, policy, and social action, 202–208
conflict perspective, 194, 194 (illustration), 197 (table)
elderly, employment of, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
federal policies, 202–205
feminist perspective, 195–196, 195 (figure), 196 (table), 197 (table)
functionalist perspective, 193, 197 (table)
globalization, 199–200
interactionist perspective, 196–198, 197 (table)
living wage movement, 205–206
minimum wage, 41, 200, 201 (box), 201 (figure), 204–205
problems, 198–202
sexual orientation inequalities, 104–105, 110, 205
857
sociological perspectives, 193–198, 197 (table)
unemployment and underemployment, 2, 189, 198–199
unions, labor, 208
work, changing nature of, 190–193, 190 (table), 192 (figure), 192 (table)
worker-friendly businesses, 206–207
workplace hazards and stress, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
See also Workplace
Worker-friendly businesses, 206–207
Working and volunteering abroad, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Working-class families, 150
Working poor, 32, 41
Workplace:
ageism in, 127
boundary-less, 245 (box)
deaths, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
drug treatment/prevention programs, 273, 275–276
drug use in, 268
hazards and stress, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
immigrants in, 192–193
injuries, 200
women in, 191, 192 (table)
See also Work and the economy
Work relief programs, 42
World Bank, 27, 199
World Health Organization (WHO):
environment, 340, 342
HIV/AIDS, 5
pharmaceutical companies and, 218
sexual orientation, 98
smoking, 265
violence against women, 88, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
World Meteorological Organization, 338
World War I, 359
World War II, 191, 195, 359, 372, 372 (photo)
Worldwatch Institute, 349 (box)
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, 377 (box)
Wray, Christopher, 371
Wright, Kevin, 245 (box)
Xu, Jun, 123
858
Yamada, Yasuteru, 115
Yamani, Hadeel al-, 243 (box)
Yancey Martin, Patricia, 168
Young, Barbara, 130 (box)
Young, Nathan, 336–337
Young, Nigel, 376
Yousafzai, Malala, 90 (box), 90 (photo)
Yousafzai, Ziauddin, 90 (box)
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), 177
Zambia, 332
Zavitsky, Teresa, 40
Zero-waste movement, 341 (box)
Zetterberg, Hans, 18 (box)
Zhou, Min, 56, 198–199
Ziegler, Cyd, 105
Ziemelis, Andris, 275 (box)
Zimbardo, Philip, 286
Zimmerman, George, 293
Zittleman, Karen, 168
ZMapp, 213
Zogby, John, 377 (box)
Zuckerberg, Mark, 244
p.451
p.452
859
Table of Contents
1. Visual Preface
2. Visual Preface
3. Front Matter
4. Brief Contents
5. Detailed Contents
6. Media Library
7. Preface
8. Acknowledgments
9. About the Author
10. 1 Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
11. Part I The Bases of Inequality
12. 2 Social Class
13. 3 Race and Ethnicity
14. 4 Gender
15. 5 Sexual Orientation
16. 6 Age and Aging
17. Part II Our Social Institutions
18. 7 Families
19. 8 Education
20. 9 Work and the Economy
21. 10 Health and Medicine
22. Study Questions
23. 11 The Media
24. 12 Alcohol and Drug Abuse
25. 13 Crime and Criminal Justice
26. 14 Urbanization and Population Growth
27. 15 The Environment
28. 16 War and Terrorism
29. Part IV Individual Action and Social Change
30. 17 Social Problems and Social Action
31. Glossary
32. References
33. Index
860
- 1. Visual Preface
- 2. Visual Preface
- 3. Front Matter
- 4. Brief Contents
- 5. Detailed Contents
- 6. Media Library
- 7. Preface
- 8. Acknowledgments
- 9. About the Author
- 10. 1 Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
- 11. Part I The Bases of Inequality
- 12. 2 Social Class
- 13. 3 Race and Ethnicity
- 14. 4 Gender
- 15. 5 Sexual Orientation
- 16. 6 Age and Aging
- 17. Part II Our Social Institutions
- 18. 7 Families
- 19. 8 Education
- 20. 9 Work and the Economy
- 21. 10 Health and Medicine
- 22. Study Questions
- 23. 11 The Media
- 24. 12 Alcohol and Drug Abuse
- 25. 13 Crime and Criminal Justice
- 26. 14 Urbanization and Population Growth
- 27. 15 The Environment
- 28. 16 War and Terrorism
- 29. Part IV Individual Action and Social Change
- 30. 17 Social Problems and Social Action
- 31. Glossary
- 32. References
- 33. Index
2
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Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action goes beyond the typical presentation
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Leon-Guerrero, Anna, author.
Title: Social problems : community, policy and social action / Anna Leon-Guerrero, Pacific Lutheran University.
Description: Sixth Edition. | Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications, [2018] |
Revised edition of the author’s Social problems, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018017892 | ISBN 9781506362724 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Social problems—United States. | Social problems. | Critical thinking.
Classification: LCC HN59.2 .L46 2018 | DDC 306.0973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018017892
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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p.ix
BRIEF CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1 • Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
PART I • THE BASES OF INEQUALITY
Chapter 2 • Social Class
Chapter 3 • Race and Ethnicity
Chapter 4 • Gender
Chapter 5 • Sexual Orientation
Chapter 6 • Age and Aging
PART II • OUR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Chapter 7 • Families
Chapter 8 • Education
Chapter 9 • Work and the Economy
Chapter 10 • Health and Medicine
Chapter 11 • The Media
PART III • OUR SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL WORLDS
Chapter 12 • Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Chapter 13 • Crime and Criminal Justice
Chapter 14 • Urbanization and Population Growth
Chapter 15 • The Environment
Chapter 16 • War and Terrorism
14
PART IV • INDIVIDUAL ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Chapter 17 • Social Problems and Social Action
Glossary
References
Index
15
p.x
DETAILED CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
Using Our Sociological Imagination
What Is a Social Problem?
The Negative Consequences of Social Problems
Objective and Subjective Realities of Social Problems
The History of Social Problems
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Identifying Global Threats
• IN FOCUS: A Review of Sociology
Understanding the Sociological Perspective
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
The Science of Sociology
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Data Matters
The Transformation From Problem to Solution
Making Sociological Connections
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Judith Auerbach
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Doing Sociology
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part I • The Bases of Inequality
2. Social Class
16
What Does It Mean to Be Poor?
The Federal Definitions of Poverty
Who Are the Poor?
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Demographics of Poverty
Sociological Perspectives on Social Class and Poverty
Functionalist Perspective
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Income Inequality in China
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
p.xi
Interactionist Perspective
• IN FOCUS: The Power of Political Action Committees
The Consequences of Poverty
Food Insecurity and Hunger
Affordable Housing
Health
Responding to Class Inequalities
U.S. Welfare Policy
Life After Welfare
Earned Income Tax Credit
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Mauricio Lim Miller
Changing the Definition—Redefining Poverty
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Critical Thinking
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
3. Race and Ethnicity
Defining Race and Ethnicity
Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Integration
Sociological Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
17
Interactionist Perspective
• IN FOCUS: Black Lives Matter
The Consequences of Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
U.S. Immigration
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Recently Arrived Immigrant Population
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Global Immigration
Income and Wealth
Education
Health
Responding to Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
Immigration Policy Since 2009
Affirmative Action
Employment
Education
Encouraging Diversity and Inclusivity
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Sofia Campos
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: The Science of Sociology: Values vs. Facts
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
4. Gender
Sociological Perspectives on Gender Inequality
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
p.xii
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Sarah McBride
Interactionist Perspective
• IN FOCUS: Gender Identity Terms
The Consequences of Gender Inequality
Occupational Sex Segregation
Income Inequality
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: The Wage Gap
Gender Nonconformity Discrimination
18
Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault
Responding to Gender Inequalities
Feminist Movements and Social Policies
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Leaving No Girl Behind
Title IX
Expanding Trans and Intersex Rights
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Sociology as a Science: Theory and Data
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
5. Sexual Orientation
Sociological Perspectives on Sexual Orientation and Inequality
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Interactionist Perspective
Sexual Orientation and Inequality
State and Federal Legislation
The Rights and Recognition of Same-Sex Couples
Employment
Military Service
Responding to Sexual Orientation Inequalities
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Gay Military Service Policies
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Support for Same-Sex Marriage
• IN FOCUS: Gay-Friendly Campuses
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Dan Savage
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Internships and Service Learning
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
6. Age and Aging
Our Aging World
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Aging in China
Sociological Perspectives on Age, Aging, and Inequality
19
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
p.xiii
The Consequences of Age Inequality
Ageism
Age and Social Class
Health and Medical Care
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Elderly Income Sources
Ageism in the Workplace
Responding to Age Inequalities
• IN FOCUS: The Political Influence of Young and Older Voters
Social Security
Medicare
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Barbara Young
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Social Work
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part II • Our Social Institutions
7. Families
Myths of the Family
Sociological Perspectives on the Family
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Interactionist Perspective
Problems in the Family
Divorce
Violence and Neglect
Teen Pregnancy and Newborn Abandonment
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Teen Birthrates
• IN FOCUS: Teen Parenting and Education
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The Problems of Time and Money
Community, Policy, and Social Action
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Community Responses to Domestic Violence and Neglect
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Parental Leave Policies
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Wynona Ward
Teen Pregnancy and Infant Abandonment
Expanding the Definition of Family
Cohabitation
Grandparents as Parents
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Paralegals and Legal Assistants
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
8. Education
The New Educational Standard
Sociological Perspectives on Education
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Earning a bachelor’s degree
p.xiv
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Problems and Challenges in Education
The Problem of Basic Literacy
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Educational Tracking and Testing in Japan
Inequality in Educational Access and Achievement
• IN FOCUS: Controlling the Cost of Higher Education
Violence and Harassment in Schools
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Policy Responses—The Basis for Educational Reform
Promoting Educational Opportunities— Head Start and Prekindergarten
Mentoring, Supporting, and Valuing Networks
21
Antiviolence and Antibullying Programs in Schools
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Wendy Kopp
Does Having a Choice Improve Education?
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Afterschool Education
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
9. Work and the Economy
The Changing Nature of Work
Sociological Perspectives on Work
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Problems in Work and the Economy
Unemployment and Underemployment
Globalization
Minimum Wage
A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Characteristics of Minimum-Wage
Workers
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Policies
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Mexico’s Maquiladoras
• IN FOCUS: Sweatshop Labor
The Living Wage Movement
Worker-Friendly Businesses— Conducting Business a Different Way
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Jerry Greenfield
Organized and Fighting Back
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Law
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
22
p.xv
10. Health and Medicine
Sociological Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Medicine
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Health Inequalities and Problems
Gender
Education
The Cost of Health Care
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Health Care Utilization
The Uninsured Population
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Health Care Reform
State Reform
• IN FOCUS: U.S. Health Insurance and Health Care Delivery Systems
Federal Reform
Children’s Health Insurance Program
State Prescription Drug Plans
Community-Based Health Centers
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Not-So-Foreign Models of Health Care
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Victoria Hale
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Medicine
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
11. The Media
Sociological Perspectives on the Media
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: International Women’s Media Foundation
23
The Media and Social Problems
Loss of Privacy
The Digital Haves and Have-Nots
• IN FOCUS: The Boundary-less Workplace
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Internet Use
The Death of the Newspaper?
Driving Distracted
Do You Trust the News Media?
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Communications Commission and the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Who Is Watching the Media?
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Geena Davis
Media Literacy and Digital Literacy
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Software Development
p.xvi
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part III • Our Social and Physical Worlds
12. Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Sociological Perspectives on Drug Abuse
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
What Is Drug Abuse?
Alcohol
Tobacco and Nicotine
Marijuana
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: The Marijuana Legalization Movement
Opioids
The Problems of Drug Abuse
Drug Use in the Workplace
24
Problem Drinking Among Teens and Young Adults
Punishment or Treatment?
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Programs
Drug Legalization
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Support for the Legalization of
Marijuana
Drug Treatment and Prevention Programs
• IN FOCUS: College Drug Programs
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Shilo Jama
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Public Health
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
13. Crime and Criminal Justice
Sociological Perspectives on Crime
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Sources of Crime Statistics
Types of Crime
Violent Crime
Property Crime
Juvenile Delinquency
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Intimate Partner and Nonpartner
Violence Against Women
White-Collar Crime
p.xvii
The Inequalities of Crime—Offenders and Victims
Offenders
Victims
Our Current Response to Crime
25
The Police
Prisons
The Death Penalty
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Policing in Brazil
Community, Policy, and Social Action
U.S. Department of Justice
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs
Community Responses to Disparities in Policing
Community Approaches to Law
• IN FOCUS: Assault Weapons
Prison Advocacy and Death Penalty Reform
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Max Kenner
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Probation and Parole Officers
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
14. Urbanization and Population Growth
Urban Sociology and Demography
The Processes of Urbanization and Suburbanization
Population Growth and Composition
Sociological Perspectives on Urbanization and Population Growth
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Global Urbanization and Population Growth
Interactionist Perspective
The Consequences of Urbanization and Population Growth
Urban Living Environment
Homelessness
Gentrification
Urban Sprawl and Transportation
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Commuting
• IN FOCUS: Living Car Free
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Magic Johnson
26
Community, Policy, and Social Action
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Urban Revitalization Programs
Creating Sustainable Communities
Housing and Homelessness Programs
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Nonprofit Work
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
p.xviii
15. The Environment
Environmental Problems Are Human Problems
Sociological Perspectives on Environmental Problems
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
Social Problems and the Environment
Climate Change
Air Quality
Hazardous Waste Sites and Brownfields
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Home Sweet Landfill
Water Quality and Supply
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Waste and Recycling
Land Conservation and Wilderness Protection
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Federal Responses
State and Local Responses
Environmental Interest Groups
Environmental Justice Movement
• IN FOCUS: Local and Sustainable Food
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Chad Pregracke
Is Your School Green?
27
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Research
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
16. War and Terrorism
Defining Conflict
War
U.S. Conflicts
Terrorism
Sociological Perspectives on War and Terrorism
Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Feminist Perspective
Interactionist Perspective
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: U.S. Global Engagement
The Problems of War and Terrorism
The Impact of War and Terrorism
• IN FOCUS: The Hidden Costs of War
The Next Threat
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Northern Ireland Self-Rule
Community, Policy, and Social Action
Political Diplomacy
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Setsuko Thurlow
The Use of Economic Sanctions
p.xix
Military Response
Antiwar and Peace Movements
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Working and Volunteering Abroad
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Part IV • Individual Action and Social Change
28
17. Social Problems and Social Action
Understanding Social Movements
How Do Social Movements Begin?
How Have Reform Movements Made a Difference?
• IN FOCUS: Student Activism
• TAKING A WORLD VIEW: Nongovernmental Organizations as a Source of
Change
Making the Last Connection
• VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Camila Vallejo
• EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Who Is Politically Engaged?
• SOCIOLOGY AT WORK: Graduate Study
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Study Questions
Glossary
References
Index
29
p.medialibrary
Media Library
SAGE Core Concepts AP News Clips
Chapter 1 Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 1.1: The Sociological Imagination
SAGE Core Concepts 1.2: The Social Construction of Reality
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 1.3: Me Too at the Golden Globes (Tarana Burke)
Chapter 2 Social Class
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 2.1: What is Social Class
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 2.2: The Feminization of Poverty
AP News Clips 2.3: Homeless in Hawaii
Chapter 3 Race and Ethnicity
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 3.1: Race and Ethnicity
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 3.2: Ferguson Demonstrations
AP News Clips 3.3: US Immigration Protest
30
Chapter 4 Gender
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 4.2: Gender and Gender Socialization
SAGE Core Concepts 4.3: Addressing Sexual Assault on Campus
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 4.1: Gender Stereotypes
Chapter 5 Sexual Orientation
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 5.1: Sexuality, Race, and HIV
AP News Clips 5.2: LGBTQ Service Members
AP News Clips 5.3: LGBTQ Adoption
Chapter 6 Age and Aging
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 6.1: Students Reside in Retirement Homes
AP News Clips 6.2: President Obama Highlights Issues Facing Aging Americans
AP News Clips 6.3: Aging Suit
Chapter 7 Families
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 7.1: Defining the Family
SAGE Core Concepts 7.3: Multigenerational Families
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 7.2: Elder Abuse
Chapter 8 Education
31
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 8.1: Education and Inequality
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 8.2: Declining School Conditions in Venezuela
AP News Clips 8.3: School Funding Gaps
Chapter 9 Work and the Economy
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 9.1: President Obama Speaking about Fair Pay
AP News Clips 9.2: Supreme Court Case About Woman Wearing Hijab
AP News Clips 9.3: Possible Solutions to Underemployment
Chapter 10 Health and Medicine
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 10.1: PTSD Therapy through Dance
AP News Clips 10.2: Waiting for Organ Donors
AP News Clips 10.3: US Healthcare Analysis
Chapter 11 The Media
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 11.1: Media, Technology, and Social Movements
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 11.2: The Role of Facebook in Society
AP News Clips 11.3: Women in Egypt’s Media
Chapter 12 Alcohol and Drug Abuse
PREMIUM VIDEO
32
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 12.1: Drinking Culture in the Workplace
AP News Clips 12.2: Federal Marijuana Reaction
AP News Clips 12.3: US Opioid Epidemic
Chapter 13 Crime and Criminal Justice
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 13.1: Juvenile Locked Up For Life
AP News Clips 13.2: The Death Penalty at San Quentin
AP News Clips 13.3: US Gun Violence Debate
Chapter 14 Urbanization and Population Growth
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 14.1: Suburbanization of Asian Americans, Decline of Historic
Chinatowns
AP News Clips 14.2: Rise of Homeslessness in Seattle
AP News Clips 14.3: Long Commute
Chapter 15 The Environment
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 15.1: Renewable Energy
AP News Clips 15.2: Annual Precipitation
AP News Clips 15.3: Global Warming in the Arctic
Chapter 16 War and Terrorism
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 16.1: US Women in Combat Roles
AP News Clips 16.2: PTSD and Suicide Among Veterans
33
AP News Clips 16.3: Antiwar Protests
Chapter 17 Social Problems and Social Action
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 17.1: Occupy Wall Street
AP News Clips 17.2: Opening of the Civil Rights Museum
AP News Clips 17.3: Volunteer Bike Rides for the Elderly
34
p.xx
PREFACE
I wrote this text with two goals in mind: to offer a better understanding of the social problems we
experience in our world and to begin working toward real solutions. In the pages that follow, I
present three connections to achieve these goals. The first connection is between sociology and the
study of social problems. Using your sociological imagination (which you’ll learn more about in
Chapter 1), you will be able to identify the social and structural forces that determine our social
problems. I think you’ll discover that this course is interesting, challenging, and sometimes
frustrating (sort of like real-life discussions about social problems). After you review these different
social problems, you may ask, “What can be done about all this?†The second connection is between
social problems and their solutions. In each chapter, we review selected social policies along with
innovative programs that attempt to address or correct these problems. The final connection is one
that I ask you to make yourself: recognizing the social problems in your community and identifying
how you can be part of the solution.
LEARNING FEATURES OF THIS TEXT
The three connections are made evident in each chapter and throughout the text through a variety
of specific learning features:
• A focus on the basis of social inequalities. Using a sociological perspective, we examine how
race and ethnicity, gender, social class, sexual orientation, and age determine our life chances.
Chapters 2 through 6 focus specifically on these bases of social inequality and how each
contributes to our experience of social problems.
• A focus on the global experience of social problems. Throughout the text, the consequences
of social problems throughout the world are highlighted, drawing upon data and research from
international scholars and sociologists. In a boxed chapter feature, Taking a World View,
specific social problems or responses are examined from a global perspective. We look at
China’s aging population (Chapter 6), Japan’s educational tracking system (Chapter 8),
Mexico’s maquiladoras (Chapter 9), the International Women’s Media Foundation (Chapter
11), and marijuana legalization in other countries (Chapter 12).
• A focus on social policy and social action. Each chapter includes a discussion on relevant
social policies or programs. In addition, each chapter highlights how individuals or groups have
made a difference in their community. The chapters include personal stories, some from
35
professionals in their field, others from ordinary individuals who accomplish extraordinary
things. Several feature those who began their activism as young adults or college students. For
example, in Chapter 8, you’ll meet Wendy Kopp, the woman behind the Teach for America
program; in Chapter 13, you’ll meet Max Kenner, founder of the Bard Prison Initiative, an
educational program for prisoners; and in Chapter 17, you’ll read the story of Camila Vallejo,
who began her activism while she was a student at the University of Chile. The text concludes
with a chapter titled “Social Problems and Social Action†that identifies ways you can become
more involved.
• “What Does It Mean to Me?†exercises. Each chapter includes questions or activities that
can be completed by small student groups or on your own. Although some questions require
you to collect data and information on what is going on in your own state, city, or campus,
most of the exercises ask you to reflect on the material and consider how the social problem
affects you. These exercises take you out of the classroom, away from the textbook, and into
your community!
p.xxi
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SIXTH EDITION
I have made a number of revisions in response to comments and feedback from the many instructors
who adopted the earlier editions and from other interested instructors and their students.
• Expanding the sociological perspectives. Four theoretical perspectives (functionalist,
conflict, feminist, and interactionist) are presented in each chapter, identifying how each
perspective defines the causes and consequences of specific problems. Additional material has
been incorporated in Chapter 3 (impact of immigrants on the economy), Chapter 4 (gender
binary and transgender identity), Chapter 9 (the living wage movement), Chapter 11 (media
portrayal of women athletes), and Chapter 13 (disparities in policing), In Chapter 1, I’ve
included a general overview of basic sociological terms and concepts.
• Keeping it current. The focus of this text is unlike most other social problems texts,
featuring a strong emphasis on social policy and action. It is necessary with each edition to
provide an update on significant social policy decisions and debates. In this edition, the
following social policy discussions have been updated: immigration (Chapter 3), LGBTQ
rights (Chapter 5), the Affordable Care Act (Chapter 10), Internet neutrality (Chapter 11),
opioid use (Chapter 12), and assault weapons (Chapter 13).
• Data matters. Data are important for understanding the extent of our social problems and
recognizing populations vulnerable to them. In each revision I update data sources and
incorporate new research findings. In this edition, each chapter includes a new feature,
Exploring Social Problems, offering a closer empirical examination of social problems such as
36
elderly income sources, minimum-wage employment, health care access, violence against
women, and Internet access.
• Life after college. What can you do with a sociology undergraduate degree? Almost
anything. And to prove it to you, each chapter includes a Sociology at Work feature, reviewing
the invaluable workplace skills that you’ll develop as a Sociology major and presenting stories of
sociology graduates who continue to rely on their sociological imaginations in their field of
work.
I wanted to write a book that captured the experiences that I’ve shared with students in my own
social problems course. I sensed the frustration and futility that many felt by the end of the semester
—imagine all those weeks of discussing nothing else but “problemsâ€! I decided that my message
about the importance of understanding social problems should be complemented with a message on
the importance of taking social action.
Social action doesn’t happen just in Washington, DC, or in your state’s capital, and political leaders
aren’t the only ones engaged in such efforts. Social action takes place on your campus, in your
neighborhood, in your town, in whatever you define as your community.
There were stories to be told by ordinary people—community, church, business, or student leaders
—who recognized that they had the power to make a difference in the community. No act is too
small to make a difference. Despite the persistence and severity of many social problems, members
of our community have not given up.
I hope that by the time you reach the end of this text, with your newfound sociological imagination,
you will find your own path to social action. Wherever it leads you, I wish you all the best.
p.xxii
ANCILLARIES
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• Learning objectives reinforce the most important material.
• Sample course syllabus provides suggested models for structuring your courses.
37
• Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete flexibility for creating a
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• EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE journal articles and readings that have been
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38
p.xxiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action represents a deeply personal and professional
journey. My heartfelt thanks to Jerry Westby for being the first to recognize and support my vision.
Along with Denise Simon, Jerry guided me through the first three editions of this text, sharing my
commitment to my message of social action. For this edition, I was fortunate to work with Jeff
Lasser and Sarah Dillard. They challenged and encouraged me to reimagine the content and
instructional features of this text. My thanks to both of them for their unwavering support.
I am indebted to Tracy Buyan for her fine production support, to Colleen Brennan for her thorough
and thoughtful copyediting, and to Susan Wortmann for her work on the ancillary materials and
features.
The following sociologists served as the first audience and reviewers for this text. Thank you all for
your encouragement and for your insightful comments and suggestions, many of which have been
incorporated in this sixth edition.
For the sixth edition:
Katherine Abbott, University of New Hampshire
Karl Botchway, New York City College of Technology
Maisha N. Jones, Los Angeles Southwest College
Megan McDrew, Hartnell College
Stephanie Medley-Rath, Indiana University Kokomo
Julia Spence, Johnson County Community College
For the fifth edition:
Karen Allen, Arkansas State University
Todd Michael Callais, University of Cincinnati–Blue Ash
Robert M. Clark, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College
Kate D’Arcy, University of Bedfordshire, Applied Social Studies
Sue Dowden, El Camino College
John J. Errigo, III, Chestnut Hill College
Aimee E. Huard, Nashua Community College
39
Linda L. Jasper, Indiana University Southeast
Rosalind Kopfstein, Western Connecticut State University
For the fourth edition:
Kathleen Baldwin, Olympic College
Angela Jones, Elon University
Thomas R. Lake, SUNY Dutchess Community College
p.xxiv
Minu Mathur, College of San Mateo
Johnny Underwood, Carteret Community College
For the third edition:
Doug Degher, Northern Arizona University
Mark J. Guillette, Valencia Community College–Osceola Campus
Eric Jorrey, Bowling Green State University
Amanda Jungels, Georgia State University
Mary Kniskern, University of Maryland, Virginia–Maryland Regional College of Veterinary
Medicine
Sandy Martinez, Central Washington University
Sophie Nathenson, The University of Utah
Bob Parker, University of Nevada School of Medicine
Matthew Sargent, Madison Area Technical College–Downtown
Athena Smith, Hillsborough Community College–Dale Mabry Campus
Annie Tuttle, The Florida State University College of Law
Mike Victor, The University of Texas Science Health Center at Tyler
For the second edition:
Donna Abrams, Georgia Highlands College
Brian C. Aldrich, Winona State University
Carl Backman, Auburn University
Janet Cosbey, Eastern Illinois University
Janine Dewitt-Heffner, Marymount University
Ronald Ferguson, Ridgewater College
Mark J. Guillette, Valencia Community College
40
Gaetano Guzzo, Wright State University
Jason Hendrickson, State University of New York at Albany
Judith Hennessy, Central Washington University
Ronald Huskin, Del Mar College
Richard Jenks, Indiana University Southeast
Rohald Meneses, University of Florida
Paul Mills, University of Alabama
Adam Moskowitz, Columbus State Community College
Wendy Ng, San Jose State University
Robert Parker, University of Nevada Las Vegas
James Roberts, University of Scranton
Katherine R. Rowell, Sinclair Community College
Rita Sakitt, Suffolk County Community College
Frank Salamone, Iona College
Jim Sikora, Illinois Wesleyan College
p.xxv
For the first edition:
Arfa Aflatooni, Linn-Benton Community College
Joanne Ardovini, Sam Houston State University
Bernadette Barton, Morehead State University
Allison Camelot, California State University, Fullerton
Janine Dewitt-Heffner, Marymount University
Dan Dexheimer, University of Florida
Woody Doane, University of Hartford
Joe Dupris, California State University, Humboldt
Rachel Einwohner, Purdue University
Heather Smith Feldhaus, Bloomsburg University
Jim Fenelon, California State University, San Bernardino
Bobbie Fields, Central Piedmont Community College
Debbie Franzman, Allan Hancock College
Marcie Goodman, University of Utah
41
George Gross, Northern Michigan University
Mark J. Guillette, Valencia Community College
Julia Hall, Drexel University
Dan W. Hayden, University of Southern Indiana
Chuck Hohm, San Diego State University
Leslie Houts, University of Florida
James R. Hunter, Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis
K. Land, Duke University
Nick Larsen, Chapman University
Kari Lerum, Seattle University
Stephen Light, SUNY Plattsburgh
Dennis Loo, Cal Poly Pomona
Scott Lukas, Lake Tahoe Community College
Christina Myers, Oklahoma State University
Paul Roof, San Juan College
Kim Saliba, Portland Community College
Norma K. Simmons, Washington State University
Deborah Sullivan, Arizona State University
Mary Texeira, California State University, San Bernardino
Linda A. Treiber, North Carolina State University
Gailynn White, Citrus College
Anthony W. Zumpetta, West Chester University
My thanks to my AKD colleagues Michele Kozimor-King, Erik Larsen, and Amy Orr for
connecting me with their star alums. And to each sociology alum, thank you for sharing your
amazing stories of success, vocation, and sociology with me and my readers.
p.xxvi
I am grateful for the extraordinary assistance of Michael Clark during this revision. His research and
editing support, along with his keen sense of making the material accessible to students, were
invaluable.
I dedicate this book to the two people who have been with me from the beginning of this journey:
to my mentor, Byron D. Steiger, and to my husband, Brian W. Sullivan. From Byron, I learned the
importance of loving one’s work. Thank you for showing me what an excellent teacher can and
42
should be. From Brian, I learned the value of caring for one’s community and the environment.
Thank you for all that you do—this book would not have been possible without you.
43
p.xxvii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Clark
Anna Leon-Guerrero is a professor of sociology at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma,
Washington. A recipient of the university’s Faculty Excellence Award and the K. T. Tang Award
for Excellence in Research, she teaches courses on statistics, sociological theory, and social
problems. As a social service program evaluator and consultant, she has focused her research on
welfare reform, employment strategies for the working poor, and program assessment. She is the
coauthor of Social Statistics for a Diverse Society and Essentials of Social Statistics for a Diverse Society
(with Chava Frankfort-Nachmias).
44
p.xxviii
©TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
p.1
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1
SOCIOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF SOCIAL
PROBLEMS
Media Library
CHAPTER 1 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 1.1: The Sociological Imagination
SAGE Core Concepts 1.2: The Social Construction of Reality
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 1.3: Me Too at the Golden Globes (Tarana Burke)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.1 Define the sociological imagination.
1.2 Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
1.3 Compare the four sociological perspectives.
1.4 Explain how sociology is a science.
1.5 Identify the role of social policy, advocacy, and innovation in addressing social problems.
If I asked everyone in your class what they believe is the most important social problem facing the
United States, there would be many different answers: income inequality, racism, terrorism, or
health care. Most would agree that some or all of these are social problems. But which is the most
important, and how would we solve it?
Suppose I asked the same question in a South African college classroom. AIDS is likely to be one of
the responses from South African college students. According to UNAIDS (2017), 36.7 million
adults and children worldwide were living with HIV and 1.8 million people became newly infected
with HIV in 2016. Africa remains the epicenter of the pandemic, with more than 19.4 million
HIV-infected adults and children (refer to Table 1.1). However, effective risk-reduction strategies,
along with new treatments for HIV/AIDS, have saved countless lives in the United States. During
the early 1980s, nearly 150,000 Americans were infected with the disease each year, but by the early
46
1990s, the number of new cases of infection had dropped to 50,000 per year. In 2014, there were an
estimated 37,600 new HIV infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2007, 2013,
2017).
TABLE 1.1 â– Number of Individuals Living With HIV, Regional Data for 2016
Source: UNAIDS 2017.
Note: The total number of HIV infections is 36.7 million. HIV infection data for the Caribbean (310,000) and Middle East and
North Africa (230,000) are not reported in the table.
Globalization, defined as the process of increasing transborder connectedness (Hytrek and
Zentgraf 2007)—whether economically, politically, environmentally, or socially—poses new
challenges and opportunities for understanding and solving social problems. We cannot understand
the nature of social problems by simply taking a national or local perspective. Taking a global
perspective allows us to look at the interrelations between countries and their social problems
(Heiner 2002). We are not the only country to experience social problems. Knowledge based on
research to understand and policies to address social problems in the United States could be applied
in other countries, and what other countries have learned based on their social problems could be
applied in the United States. Finally, we all need a little help from our neighbors—we can increase
our connectedness and goodwill with other countries through implementing solutions
collaboratively rather than alone. So what do you think? Is HIV/AIDS in South Africa a problem
only for South Africans, or is it also a problem for those living in the United States?
p.2
What Does It Mean to Me?
What do you consider to be the most important social problem? Explain the reasons for your
answer.
47
This is how we spend much of our public conversation—on the Senate floor, on afternoon talk
shows, at work, or in the classroom—arguing, analyzing, and trying to figure out which problem is
most serious and what needs to be done about it. In casual or sometimes heated conversations, we
offer opinions about the economy, terrorism, climate change, or appropriate policies for the African
AIDS pandemic. Often, these explanations are not based on firsthand data collection or on an
exhaustive review of the literature. For the most part, they are based on our opinions and life
experiences, or they are just good guesses.
What this text and your course offer is a sociological perspective on social problems. Unlike any
other discipline, sociology provides us with a form of self-consciousness, an awareness that our
personal experiences are often caused by structural or social forces. Sociology is the systematic
study of individuals, groups, and social structures. A sociologist examines the relationship between
individuals and society, which includes such social institutions as the family, the military, the
economy, and education. As a social science, sociology offers an objective and systematic approach
to understanding the causes of social problems. From a sociological perspective, problems and their
solutions don’t just involve individuals; they also have a great deal to do with the social structures in
our society. C. Wright Mills (1959/2000) first promoted this perspective in his 1959 essay, “The
Promise.â€
USING OUR SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
According to Mills, the sociological imagination can help us distinguish between personal troubles
and public issues. The sociological imagination is the ability to link our personal lives and
experiences with our social world. Mills (1959/2000) described how personal troubles occur within
the “character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relationships with others†(p.
8), whereas public issues are a “public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be
threatened†(p. 8). As a result, the individual, or those in contact with that individual, can resolve a
trouble, but the resolution of an issue requires public debate about what values are being threatened
and the source of such a threat.
Let’s consider unemployment. One man unemployed is his own personal trouble. Resolving his
unemployment involves reviewing his current situation, reassessing his skills, considering his job
opportunities, and submitting his résumés or job applications to employers. Once he has a new job,
his personal trouble is over. However, what happens when your city or state experiences high levels
of unemployment? What happens when there is a nationwide problem of unemployment? This
affects not just one person but, rather, thousands or millions. A personal trouble has been
transformed into a public issue. This is the case not just because of how many people it affects;
something becomes an issue because of the public values it threatens. Unemployment threatens our
sense of economic security. It challenges our belief that everyone can work hard to succeed.
Unemployment raises questions about society’s obligations to help those without a job.
p.3
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Archive Photos/stringer
A key distinction between a personal trouble and a public issue is how each one can be remedied. According to C. Wright
Mills, an individual may be able to solve a trouble, but a public issue can be resolved only by society and its social structures.
We can make the personal trouble–public issue connection with regard to another issue, one that
you might already be aware of, that is, the cost of higher education. In 2014, during a rally at
Florida’s Coral Reef High School, President Barack Obama announced an initiative to help
students complete the federal student aid application form, part of an effort to broaden access to
higher education. Coral Reef senior David Scherker, an aspiring filmmaker, was in the audience. At
the time, David was waiting to hear about the status of his admission to several colleges and
universities, including Florida State University and University of Southern California. He worried
about his financial aid offers and whether he would be able to attend the school of his choice (NPR
2014). Is this a personal trouble facing only David? Or is this a public issue?
College cost has become a serious social problem because the “barriers that make higher education
unaffordable serve to erode our economic well being, our civic values, and our democratic idealsâ€
(Callan and Finney 2002:10). Although most Americans still believe that a college education is
essential for one’s success, increasingly they also believe that qualified and motivated students do not
have the opportunity to attend college (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education
and Public Agenda 2010). The data support this. Nearly one half of all college-qualified, low- and
moderate-income high school graduates are unable to afford college and have lower rates of
bachelor’s degree attainment than their middle- and high-income peers (Advisory Committee on
Student Financial Assistance 2006). Although only about a third of students pay the published
tuition or sticker price, the cost of tuition has risen at a faster rate than family income or student
financial aid. For the academic year 2016–2017, at a four-year college in-state total fees (tuition,
room, and board) were $20,090 (a 2.7% increase from 2015–2016); at four-year private institutions,
49
the average cost was $45,370 (a 3.4% increase from 2015–2016) (College Board 2017).
The majority of students receive some form of assistance through scholarships, federal grants, or
state aid. The financial burden of a college education is unevenly distributed, with low- and
moderate-income students and families experiencing most of the burden. In 2007, even after grant
aid, low-income families paid or borrowed an amount equivalent to 72% of their family income to
cover one year of tuition. In contrast, families with incomes between $54,001 and $80,400 had to
finance the equivalent of 27% of their family income for tuition. The percentage was lowest for
families with incomes over $115,400 at 14% (Education Trust 2011). The average indebtedness for
a graduating college senior in 2016 is in the range of $20,000 to $36,350 (Institute for College
Access & Success 2017).
As Mills explained, “to be aware of the ideal of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be
capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieus. To be able to do that is to possess
the sociological imagination†(Mills 1959/2000:10–11). The sociological imagination challenges the
claim that the problem is “natural†or based on individual failures, instead reminding us that the
problem is rooted in society, in our social structures themselves (Irwin 2001). For example, can we
solve unemployment by telling every unemployed person to work harder? Could David solve his
tuition problem by taking out student loans? Or would this create additional personal troubles? The
sociological imagination emphasizes the structural bases of social problems, making us aware of the
economic, political, and social structures that govern employment and unemployment trends and
the cost of higher education. Individuals may have agency (the ability to make their own choices),
but their actions and even their choices may be constrained by the realities of the social structure.
Throughout this text, we apply our sociological imagination to the study of social problems. Before
we proceed, we need to understand what a social problem is.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 1.1: The Sociological Imagination
50
p.4
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is the annual cost of attending your college or university? What did you and/or your family
consider before making your final school decision? How much were finances included in your
considerations?
WHAT IS A SOCIAL PROBLEM?
The Negative Consequences of Social Problems
A social problem is a social condition or pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for
individuals, our social world, or our physical world. A social problem such as unemployment,
alcoholism, drug abuse, or HIV/AIDS may negatively affect a person’s life and health, along with
the well-being of that person’s family and friends. Problems can threaten our social institutions, for
example, the family (spousal abuse), education (the rising cost of college tuition), or the economy
(unemployment). Our physical and social worlds can be threatened by problems related to
urbanization (lack of affordable housing) and the environment (climate change). You will note from
the examples in this paragraph that social problems are inherently social in their causes,
consequences, and solutions.
Objective and Subjective Realities of Social Problems
A social problem has objective and subjective realities. A social condition does not have to be
personally experienced by every individual to be considered a social problem. The objective reality
of a social problem comes from acknowledging that a particular social condition exists. Objective
realities of a social problem can be confirmed by collection of data. For example, we know from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) that more than 1.1 million Americans were
living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2014. You or I do not have to have been infected with HIV to
know that the disease is real, with real human and social consequences. We can confirm the realities
of HIV/AIDS by observing infected individuals and their families in our own community, at AIDS
programs, or in hospitals.
The subjective reality of a social problem addresses how a problem becomes defined as a problem.
This idea is based on the concept of the social construction of reality. Coined by Peter Berger
and Thomas Luckmann (1966), the term refers to how our world is a social creation, originating
and evolving through our everyday thoughts and actions. Most of the time, we assume and act as
51
though the world is a given, objectively predetermined outside our existence. However, according to
Berger and Luckmann, we also apply subjective meanings to our existence and experience. In other
words, our experiences don’t just happen to us. Good, bad, positive, or negative, we attach meanings
to our reality.
From this perspective, social problems are not objectively predetermined. They become real only
when they are subjectively defined or perceived as problematic. This perspective is known as social
constructionism. Recognizing the subjective aspects of social problems allows us to understand
how a social condition may be defined as a problem by one segment of society but be completely
ignored by another. For example, do you believe AIDS is a social problem? Some may argue that it
is a problem only if you are the one infected with the disease or if you are morally corrupt or sexually
promiscuous. Actually, some would not consider AIDS a problem at all, considering the medical
and public health advances that have successfully reduced the spread of the disease in the United
States. Yet others would argue that AIDS still qualifies as a social problem.
Sociologist Donileen Loseke (2003) explained, “Conditions might exist, people might be hurt by
them, but conditions are not social problems until humans categorize them as troublesome and in
need of repair†(p. 14). To frame their work, social constructionists ask the following set of
questions:
p.5
What do people say or do to convince others that a troublesome condition exists that must be changed? What are the
consequences of the typical ways that social problems attract concern? How do our subjective understandings of social
problems change the objective characteristics of our world? How do these understandings change how we think about our
own lives and the lives of those around us? (Loseke and Best 2003:3–4)
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 1.2: The Social Construction of Reality
52
The social constructionist perspective focuses on how a problem is socially defined, in a dialectic
process between individuals interacting with each other and with their social world. In the next
section, we’ll learn how the problem of HIV/AIDS was socially constructed.
THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Problems don’t appear overnight; rather, as Malcolm Spector and John Kituse (1987) argued, the
identification of a social problem is part of a subjective process. Spector and Kituse identified four
stages to the process. Stage 1 is defined as a transformation process: taking a private trouble and
transforming it into a public issue. In this stage, an influential group, activists, or advocates call
attention to and define an issue as a social problem. The first HIV infection cases were documented
in the United States in 1979. The disease was originally referred to as the “gay plague†because the
first group to be identified with the disease was gay men from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New
York. The association of HIV/AIDS with this specific population led to its first being defined as a
sexual epidemic rather than a public health threat. Gay activists and public health officials mobilized
to increase awareness and began to change the public’s perception of the disease in the early 1980s.
Stage 2 is the legitimization process: formalizing the manner in which the social problem or
complaints generated by the problem are handled. For example, an organization or public policy
could be created to respond to the condition. An existing organization, such as a federal or state
agency, could also be charged with taking care of the situation. In either instance, these
organizations begin to legitimize the problem by creating and implementing a formal response. In
the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS task forces were created in the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the World Health Organization. Similar groups were convened in the United
Kingdom, France, and other countries. Although no single organization or country was in charge,
all were intent on identifying the disease and finding a cure. Activists looked for public
legitimization of the disease from then President Ronald Reagan. But Reagan did not acknowledge
AIDS until 1985, when he was asked directly about the disease during a press conference. His first
public statement about the disease came in 1987 at the Third International Conference on AIDS.
By then, nearly 36,000 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS and more than 20,000 had died.
AIDS advocates blamed Reagan’s slow and ineffective response for these deaths and the increasing
spread of the disease.
Stage 3 is a conflict stage, when Stage 2 routines are unable to address the problem. During Stage 3,
activists, advocates, and victims of the problem experience feelings of distrust and cynicism toward
the formal response organizations. Stage 3 activities include readjusting the formal response system:
renegotiating procedures, reforming practices, and engaging in administrative or organizational
restructuring. Many early public health protocols were revised in response to increased
understanding about how HIV/AIDS is spread and treated. For example, patient isolation was
common during the first stages of the disease. Teenager Ryan White had to petition for the right to
attend public school with his classmates. Ryan and his mother’s experiences also shed light on the
53
difficulties faced by low-income, uninsured, or underinsured individuals and families living with
HIV/AIDS. After his death in 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act to
provide for the unmet health needs of individuals with HIV/AIDS. The act continues to provide
support for nearly 500,000 individuals annually, making it the largest federal government program
for those living with the disease.
p.6
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
IDENTIFYING THE GLOBAL THREATS
In 2017, the Pew Research Center asked residents in 38 countries what they perceived as the
greatest threat to their country. According to the center, “people around the globe identify ISIS
and climate change as the leading threats to national security†(Poushter and Manevich 2017).
Table 1.2 shows survey results grouped in six regions and the United States.
TABLE 1.2 â– 2017 Global Threats by World Region (Median Percentage Saying Each
Is a Major Threat to Our Country)
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
*ISIS item was only asked across four countries in the Middle East and North Africa. No median was calculated.
54
+Question not asked in country.
ISIS is the primary concern for respondents in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the United States,
with more than 60% identifying it as the major threat. Except for the Middle East, the
majority of survey respondents (more than 50%) also selected global climate change as a major
threat. The highest percentage was in Latin America (74%). For the remaining threat items,
notice how the median percentages vary in intensity across the reported world regions.
Which of these do you think is the greatest threat to the United States? The greatest threat to
the world?
p.7
IN FOCUS
A REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY
According to Jeanne Ballantine and Keith Roberts (2012), sociologists examine the software
and hardware of society. A society consists of individuals who live together in a specific
geographic area, who interact with each other, and who cooperate for the attainment of
common goals.
The software is our culture. Each society has a culture that serves as a system of guidelines for
living. A culture includes norms (rules of behavior shared by members of society and rooted in a
value system), values (shared judgments about what is desirable or undesirable, right or wrong,
good or bad), and beliefs (ideas about life, the way society works, and where one fits in).
The hardware comprises the enduring social structures that bring order to our lives. This
includes the positions or statuses that we occupy in society (student, athlete, employee,
roommate) and the social groups to which we belong and identify with (our family, our local
place of worship, our workplace). Social institutions are the most complex hardware. Social
institutions, such as the family, religion, or education, are relatively permanent social units of
roles, rules, relationships, and organized activities devoted to meeting human needs and to
directing and controlling human behavior (Ballantine and Roberts 2012).
Finally, Stage 4 begins when groups believe that they can no longer work within the established
system. Advocates or activists are faced with two options: to radically change the existing system or
to work outside the system. As an alternative to the government and public health agencies’
55
response to HIV/AIDS, numerous independent advocacy and research groups were formed. One
such group is AIDS United (first called AIDS Action), formed in 1984 by a coalition of AIDS
service organizations. In an effort to end AIDS in our country, AIDS United embraced a multi-
strategy of research, granting funding, policy making, and advocacy. Through its Access to Care
program, AIDS United supports innovative, evidence-based, collaborative programs serving low-
income and marginalized individuals living with HIV. Access to Care not only supports the health
and care of HIV patients but also provides job training, housing stabilization, and peer support
(AIDS United 2014). In 2017, AIDS United joined other organizations to express concern over the
lack of focus on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Strategic Plan for FY2018–2022. The organizations lobbied the
Trump administration to implement an inclusive strategic plan to eradicate HIV and to address
worsening trends in STDs (AIDS United 2017).
UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
The way sociologists conduct sociology and study social problems begins first with their view on
how the world works. Based on a theory—a set of assumptions and propositions used for
explanation, prediction, and understanding—sociologists begin to define the relationship between
society and individuals and to describe the causes and consequences of social problems.
Theories vary in their level of analysis, focusing on a macro (societal) or a micro (individual) level
of analysis. Theories help inform the direction of sociological research and data analysis. In the
following section, we review four theoretical perspectives—functionalist, conflict, feminist, and
interactionist—and how each perspective explains and examines social problems. Research methods
used by sociologists are summarized in the next section.
Functionalist Perspective
Among the theorists most associated with the functionalist perspective is French sociologist Émile
Durkheim. Borrowing from biology, Durkheim likened society to a human body. As the body has
essential organs, each with a specific function, he theorized that society has its own organs:
institutions such as the family, religion, education, economics, and politics. These organs or social
structures have essential and specialized functions. For example, the institution of the family
maintains the health and socialization of our young and creates a basic economic unit. The
institution of education provides knowledge and skills for women and men to work and live in
society. No other institution can do what the family or education does.
p.8
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division [LC-USZ62- 37768]
Jane Addams’s (center) sociological perspective informed her connection to her Chicago community and led her to a life of
social action. She developed programs to assist the poor and advocated legislative and political reforms.
Durkheim proposed that the function of society is to civilize or control individual actions. He wrote,
“It is civilization that has made man what he is; it is what distinguishes him from the animal: man is
man only because he is civilized†(Durkheim 1914/1973:149). The social order can be threatened
during periods of rapid social change, such as industrialization or political upheaval, when social
norms and values are likely to be in transition. During this state of normlessness or anomie,
Durkheim believed, society is particularly prone to social problems. As a result, social problems
cannot be solved by changing the individual; rather, the problem has to be solved at the societal
level. The entire social structure or the affected part of the social structure needs to be repaired.
The functionalist perspective, as its name suggests, examines the functions or consequences of the
structure of society. Functionalists use a macro perspective, focusing on how society creates and
maintains social order. Social problems are not analyzed in terms of how “bad†they are for society.
Rather, a functionalist asks, how does the social problem emerge from society? Does the social
problem serve a function?
The systematic study of social problems began with the sociologists at the University of Chicago.
Part of what has been called the Chicago School of Sociology, scholars such as Ernest W. Burgess,
Homer Hoyt, Robert E. Park, Edward Ullman, and Louis Wirth used their city as an urban
laboratory, pursuing field studies of poverty, crime, and drug abuse during the 1920s and 1930s.
Through their research, they captured the real experiences of individuals experiencing social
problems, noting the positive and negative consequences of urbanization and industrialization
(Ritzer 2000). Taking it one step further, sociologists Jane Addams and Charlotte Gilman studied
urban life in Chicago and developed programs to assist the poor and lobbied for legislative and
57
political reform (Adams and Sydie 2001).
According to Robert Merton (1957), social structures can have positive benefits as well as negative
consequences, which he called dysfunctions. A social problem such as homelessness has a clear set of
dysfunctions but can also have positive consequences or functions. One could argue that
homelessness is clearly dysfunctional and unpleasant for the women, men, and children who
experience it, and for a city or community, homelessness can serve as a public embarrassment. Yet a
functionalist would say that homelessness is beneficial for at least one part of society, or else it would
cease to exist. The population of the homeless supports an industry of social service agencies,
religious organizations, community groups, and service workers. In addition, the homeless also
highlight problems in other parts of our social structure, namely, the problems of the lack of a
livable wage or affordable housing.
Conflict Perspective
Like functionalism, conflict theories examine the macro level of our society, its structures and
institutions. Whereas functionalists argue that society is held together by norms, values, and a
common morality, those holding a conflict perspective consider how society is held together by
power and coercion (Ritzer 2000) for the benefit of those in power. In this view, social problems
emerge from the continuing conflict between groups in our society—based on social class, gender,
race, or ethnicity—and in the conflict, the dominant groups usually win. There are multiple levels of
domination; as Patricia Hill Collins (1990) described, domination “operates not only by structuring
power from the top down but by simultaneously annexing the power as energy of those on the
bottom for its own ends†(pp. 227–28).
p.9
As a result, this perspective offers no easy solutions to social problems. The system could be
completely overhauled, but that is unlikely to happen. We could reform parts of the structure, but
those in power would retain their control. The biggest social problem from this perspective is the
system itself and the inequality it perpetuates.
The first to make this argument was German philosopher and activist Karl Marx. Conflict,
according to Marx, emerged from the economic substructure of capitalism, which defined all other
social structures and social relations. He focused on the conflict based on social class, created by the
tension between the proletariat (workers) and the bourgeoisie (owners). Capitalism did more than
separate the haves from the have-nots. Unlike Durkheim, who believed that society created a
civilized man, Marx argued that a capitalist society created a man alienated from his species being,
from his true self. Alienation occurred on multiple levels: Man would become increasingly
alienated from his work, the product of his work, other workers, and, finally, his own human
potential. For example, a salesperson might be so involved in the process of her work that she
doesn’t spend quality time with her coworkers, talk with her customers, or stop and appreciate the
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merchandise. Each sale transaction is the same; all customers and workers are treated alike. The
salesperson cannot achieve her human potential through this type of mindless unfulfilling labor.
According to Marx, workers needed to achieve a class consciousness, an awareness of their social
position and oppression, so they could unite and overthrow capitalism, replacing it with a more
egalitarian socialist and eventually communist structure.
From a conflict perspective, all social problems can be traced back to the economic substructure of capitalism. According to
Karl Marx, the organization of capitalist labor erodes one’s human potential or what Marx referred to as species being.
Widening Marx’s emphasis on the capitalist class structure, contemporary conflict theorists have
argued that conflict emerges from other social bases, such as values, resources, and interests. Mills
(1959/2000) argued the existence of a “power elite,†a small group of political, business, and military
leaders who control our society. Ralf Dahrendorf (1959) explained that conflict of interest is
inherent in any relationship because those in powerful positions will always seek to maintain their
dominance. Lewis Coser (1956) focused on the functional aspects of conflict, arguing that conflict
creates and maintains group solidarity by clarifying the positions and boundaries between groups.
Conflict theorists may also take a social constructionist approach, examining how powerful political,
economic, and social interest groups subjectively define social problems.
Feminist Perspective
Rosemarie Tong (1989) explained that “feminist theory is not one, but many, theories or
perspectives and that each feminist theory or perspective attempts to describe women’s oppression,
to explain its causes and consequences, and to prescribe strategies for women’s liberation†(p. 1). By
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analyzing the situations and lives of women in society, the feminist perspective defines gender and
other areas of oppression (i.e., race and ethnicity, age, social class, sexual orientation, and disability)
as the source of social inequality, group conflict, and social problems. For feminists, the patriarchal
society is the basis of social problems. Patriarchy refers to a society in which men dominate women
and justify their domination through devaluation; however, the definition of patriarchy has been
broadened to include societies in which powerful groups dominate and devalue the powerless
(Kaplan 1994).
p.10
SHANNON STAPLETON/Reuters
Individuals come together in public rallies to voice their concerns about HIV/AIDS policies and funding. These
demonstrations galvanize the efforts of advocacy and activist groups, as well as educate the public about HIV/AIDS.
Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Jill Niebrugge-Brantley (2004) explained that feminist theory was
established as a new sociological perspective in the 1970s, largely because of the growing presence of
women in the discipline and the strength of the women’s movement. Feminist theory treats the
experiences of women as the starting point in all sociological investigations, seeing the world from
the vantage point of women in the social world and seeking to promote a better world for women
and for humankind.
Although the study of social problems is not the center of feminist theory, throughout its history,
feminist theory has been critical of existing social arrangements and has focused on such concepts as
social change, power, and social inequality (Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley 2004). Major
research in the field has included Jessie Bernard’s (1972/1982) study of gender inequality in
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marriage, Collins’s (1990) development of Black feminist thought, Dorothy Smith’s (1987)
sociology from the standpoint of women, and Nancy Chodorow’s (1978) psychoanalytic feminism
and reproduction of mothering. Although sociologists in this perspective may adopt a conflict,
functionalist, or interactionist perspective, their focus remains on how men and women are situated
in society, not just differently but also unequally (Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley 2004).
Interactionist Perspective
An interactionist perspective focuses on how we use language, words, and symbols to create and
maintain our social reality. This micro-level perspective highlights what we take for granted: the
expectations, rules, and norms that we learn and practice without even noticing. In our interaction
with others, we become the products and creators of our social reality. Through our interaction,
social problems are created and defined. More than any other perspective, interactionists stress
human agency—the active role of individuals in creating their social environment (Ballantine and
Roberts 2012).
p.11
George Herbert Mead provided the foundation of this perspective. Also a member of the Chicago
School of Sociology, Mead (1934/1962) argued that society consists of the organized and patterned
interactions among individuals. As Mead defined it, the self is a mental and social process, the
reflective ability to see others in relation to ourselves and to see ourselves in relation to others. Our
interactions are based on language, based on words. The words we use to communicate with are
symbols, representations of something else. The symbols have no inherent meaning and require
human interpretation. The term symbolic interactionism was coined by Herbert Blumer in 1937.
Building on Mead’s work, Blumer emphasized how the existence of mind, self, and society emerge
from interaction and the use and understanding of symbols (Turner 1998).
How does the self emerge from interaction? Consider the roles that you and I play. As a university
professor, I am aware of what is expected of me; as university students, you are aware of what it
means to be a student. There are no posted guides in the classroom that instruct us where to stand,
how to dress, or what to bring to class. Even before we enter the classroom, we know how we are
supposed to behave and even our places in the classroom. We act based on our past experiences and
based on what we have come to accept as definitions of each role. But we need each other to create
this reality; our interaction in the classroom reaffirms each of our roles and the larger educational
institution. Imagine what it takes to maintain this reality: consensus not just between a single
professor and his or her students but between every professor and every student on campus, on every
university campus, ultimately reaffirming the structure of a university classroom and higher
education.
So, how do social problems emerge from interaction? First, for social problems such as juvenile
delinquency, an interactionist would argue that the problem behavior is learned from others.
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According to this perspective, no one is born a juvenile delinquent. As with any other role we play,
people learn how to become juvenile delinquents. Although the perspective does not answer the
question of where or from whom the first delinquent child learned this behavior, it attempts to
explain how deviant behavior is learned through interaction with others.
Second, social problems emerge from the definitions themselves. Objective social problems do not
exist; they become real only in how they are defined or labeled. A sociologist using this perspective
would examine who or what group is defining the problem and who or what is being defined as
deviant or a social problem. As we have already seen with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United
States, the problem became real only when activists and public health workers called attention to the
disease.
Third, the solutions to social problems also emerge from our definitions. Helen Schneider and
Anne Ingram (1993) argued that the social construction of target populations influences the
distribution of policy benefits or policy burdens. Target populations are groups of individuals
experiencing a specific social problem; these groups gain policy attention through their socially
constructed identity and political power. The authors identified four categories: Advantaged target
populations are positively constructed and politically powerful (likely to receive policy benefits),
contenders are politically powerful yet negatively constructed (likely to receive policy benefits when
public interest is high), dependent target populations have positive social construction but low
political power (few policy resources would be allocated to this group), and deviant target
populations are both politically weak and negatively constructed (least likely to receive any benefits).
Jean Schroedel and Daniel Jordan (1998) applied the target population model to U.S. Senate voting
patterns between 1982 and 1992, examining the allocation of federal funds to four distinct
HIV/AIDS groups. As Schneider and Ingram’s (1993) theory would predict, the groups receiving
the most funding were those in the advantaged category (war veterans and health care workers),
followed by contenders (gay and bisexual men and the general population with AIDS), dependents
(spouses and the public), and, finally, deviants (intravenous drug users, criminals, and prisoners).
p.12
What Does It Mean to Me?
A summary of these sociological perspectives is presented in Table 1.3. These sociological
perspectives are reintroduced in each chapter as we examine a new social problem or set of
problems. As you review each perspective, do not attempt to classify one as the definitive
explanation. Consider how each perspective focuses on different aspects of society and its social
problems. Which perspective(s) best fits with your understanding of society or your understanding
of social problems?
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TABLE 1.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: A General Approach to Examining
Social Problems
THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is a science of our social world, based on information derived from research (Ritzer 2013).
Science relies on logical and systematic methods to investigate social phenomena (Chambliss and
Schutt 2016) and encompasses the knowledge produced by these investigations (Schutt 2012). All
research begins with a theory or theories to help identify the phenomenon we’re trying to explain
and provide explanations for the social patterns or causal relationships between variables (Frankfort-
Nachmias and Leon-Guerrero 2017). We practice empiricism, using our five senses to gather data
(Ritzer 2013; Ballantine, Roberts, and Korgen 2018) and allowing the evidence to inform our
theories about how the world works.
Sociological research is divided into two areas: basic and applied. The knowledge we gain through
basic research expands our understanding of the causes and consequences of a social problem, for
example, identifying the predictors of HIV/AIDS or examining the rate of homelessness among
AIDS patients. Conversely, applied research involves the pursuit of knowledge for program
application or policy evaluation (Katzer, Cook, and Crouch 1998); effective program practices
documented through applied research can be incorporated into social and medical programs serving
HIV/AIDS patients.
p.13
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Variables are a property of people or objects that can take on two or more values. For example, as
we try to explain HIV/AIDS, we may have a specific explanation about the relationship between
two variables: social class and HIV infection. Social class could be measured according to household
or individual income, whereas HIV infection could be measured as a positive test for the HIV
antibodies. The relationship between these variables can be stated in a hypothesis, a tentative
statement about how the variables are related to each other. We could predict that HIV infection
would be higher among lower-income men and women. In this hypothesis statement, we’ve
identified a dependent variable (the variable to be explained, HIV infection) along with an
independent variable (the variable expected to account for the cause of the dependent variable,
social class). Data, the information we collect, may confirm or refute this hypothesis.
Research methods (i.e., how sociologists collect data) can include quantitative or qualitative
approaches or a combination. Quantitative methods rely on the collection of statistical data. They
require the specification of variables and scales collected through surveys, interviews, or
questionnaires. Qualitative methods are designed to capture social life as participants experience
it. These methods involve field observation, depth interviews, or focus groups. Following are
definitions of each specific method.
Survey research: This is data collection based on responses to a series of questions. Surveys can be
offered in several formats: a self-administered mailed survey, group surveys, in-person interviews, or
telephone surveys. For example, information from HIV/AIDS patients may be collected by a survey
sent directly in the mail or by a telephone or in-person interview (e.g., Simoni et al. 2006; Sambisa,
Curtis, and Mishra 2010).
Qualitative methods: This category includes data collection conducted in the field, emphasizing the
observations about natural behavior as experienced or witnessed by the researcher. Methods include
participant observation (a method for gathering data that involves developing a sustained
relationship with people while they go about their normal activities), focus groups (unstructured
group interviews in which a focus group leader actively encourages discussion among participants on
the topics of interest), or intensive (depth) interviewing (open-ended, relatively unstructured
questioning in which the interviewer seeks in-depth information on the interviewee’s feelings,
experiences, and perceptions). Sociologists have used various qualitative methods in HIV/AIDS
research—collecting data through participant observation at clinics or support groups and focus
groups or depth interviews with patients, health care providers, or key informants (e.g., Chakrapani
et al. 2007; Akintola 2010).
Historical and comparative methods: This is research that focuses on one historical period (historical
events research) or traces a sequence of events over time (historical process research). Comparative
research involves multiple cases or data from more than one time period. For example, researchers
have examined the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS treatments over time (e.g., Fumaz et al. 2007) and
compared infection rates between men and women (e.g., Ballesteros et al. 2006).
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Secondary data analysis: Secondary data analysis usually involves the analysis of previously collected
data that are used in a new analysis. Large public survey data sets, such as the U.S. Census, the
General Social Survey, the National Election Survey, or the International Social Survey Programme,
can be used, as can data collected in experimental studies or with qualitative data sets. For
HIV/AIDS research, a secondary data analysis could be based on existing medical records (e.g.,
Tabi and Vogel 2006) or a routine health survey (e.g., Sambisa et al. 2010). The key to secondary
data analysis is that the data were not originally collected by the researcher but were collected by
another researcher and for a different purpose.
p.14
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
DATA MATTERS
In addition to reviewing sociological perspectives about the causes and consequences of
social problems, a hallmark of this text is the incorporation of current data about the
experience of a specific social problem.
In each chapter, the Exploring Social Problems feature will highlight data collected by
government sources, such as the U.S. Census Bureau or the U.S. Department of Justice,
or public opinion polls, such as those conducted by the Pew Research Center. For
example, in Chapter 2, we’ll review the characteristics of those in poverty. In Chapter 8,
we will examine the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree. And in Chapter 11,
we’ll review Internet use by key demographic variables.
As we just reviewed in the “Science of Sociology,†empirical evidence is part of the
scientific process. Some social scientists disagree about the applied use of data, arguing
that the role of science is to simply describe the world as it is. Others (like me)
acknowledge how research and data not only inform our understanding of a social
problem but also identify a solution or a path to some desired change. Lawmakers, public
leaders, professionals, and advocates utilize research and data to inform policy,
programming, and education. Simply stated, social problems research and data are
important not only for expanding what we know about the causes and consequences of
problems but also for identifying what can be done to address them.
The U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making was established in 2016 by
legislation cosponsored by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murray.
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Releasing a set of recommendations to improve access and use of government data, the
commission (Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making 2017) stated, “The
American People want a government that functions efficiently and responsibly addresses
the problems that face this country. Policy makers must have good information on which
to base their decision about improving the viability and effectiveness of government
programs and policies.†In October 2017, Ryan and Murray introduced the Foundations
for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act. The act is intended to improve the ability of
researchers and statisticians both inside and outside the government to use government
data to better inform important policy decisions, implementing many of the commission’s
recommendations. As of March 2018, the legislation was passed in the House and is
awaiting a Senate decision.
THE TRANSFORMATION FROM PROBLEM TO
SOLUTION
Although Mills identified the relationship between a personal trouble and a public issue, less has
been said about the transformation of issue to solution. Mills leads us in the right direction by
identifying the relationship between public issues and social institutions. By continuing to use our
sociological imagination and recognizing the role of larger social, cultural, and structural forces, we
can identify appropriate measures to address these social problems. Mills (1959/2000) suggested
how “the educational and political role of social science in a democracy is to help cultivate and
sustain publics and individuals that are able to develop, to live with, and to act upon adequate
definitions of personal and social realities†(p. 192).
p.15
66
AP Photo/Wichita Falls Times Record News, Torin Halsey
With more than 70 national organizations around the world, Habitat for Humanity is supported primarily by local
volunteers. In this photo, volunteers from the Rochester Institute of Technology are building a home during their spring
break in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Modern history reveals that Americans do not like to stand by and do nothing about social
problems. Most Americans support efforts to reduce homelessness, improve the quality of
education, or find a cure for HIV/AIDS. In some cases, there are no limits to our efforts. Helping
our nation’s poor has been an administrative priority of many U.S. presidents. President Franklin
Roosevelt proposed sweeping social reforms during his New Deal in 1935, and President Lyndon
Johnson declared the War on Poverty in 1964. President Bill Clinton offered to “change welfare as
we know it†with broad reforms outlined in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996. In 2003, President George W. Bush supported the reauthorization of
the 1996 welfare reform bill. During his term in office, President Obama addressed poverty through
community development programs like the Promise Zones Initiative. No president or Congress has
ever promised to eliminate poverty; instead, each promised only to improve the system serving the
poor or to reduce the number of poor in our society.
Solutions require social action—in the form of social policy, advocacy, and innovation—to address
problems at their structural or individual levels. Social policy is the enactment of a course of action
through a formal law or program. Policy making usually begins with identification of a problem that
should be addressed; then, specific guidelines are developed regarding what should be done to
address the problem. Policy directly changes the social structure, particularly how our government,
an organization, or our community responds to a social problem. Think about it this way: Policies
reflect and shape the way we view social problems and the people affected by these problems
(Schneider and Ingram 1997). According to Jacob Lew, President Barack Obama’s budget director,
“the [federal] budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and
aspirations†(quoted in Herbert 2011:11). In addition, policy governs the behavior and interaction of
individuals, controlling who has access to benefits and aid (Ellis 2003). Social policies are always
being enacted.
Social advocates use their resources to support, educate, and empower individuals and their
communities. Advocates work to improve social services, change social policies, and mobilize
individuals. During his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama recalled his work as a community
organizer for the Developing Communities Project in Chicago’s far South Side. The church-based
organization served White, Black, and Latino blue-collar neighborhoods by addressing education,
public safety, and housing issues.
p.16
PREMIUM VIDEO
67
AP News Clips 1.3: Me Too at the Golden Globes (Tarana Burke)
Karen Kasmauski/Getty Images
Service and volunteer opportunities are available to college and university students in the United States and abroad. This
student is doing her service work in Kingston, Jamaica, through Emory University’s nursing program.
Social innovation may take the form of a policy, a program, or advocacy that features an untested
or unique approach. Innovation usually starts at the community level, but it can grow into national
and international programming. Millard and Linda Fuller developed the concept of “partnership
housing†in 1965, partnering those in need of adequate shelter with community volunteers to build
simple interest-free houses. In 1976, the Fullers’ concept became Habitat for Humanity
International, a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing program responsible for building more
than 1 million houses worldwide. When Millard Fuller was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, President Clinton described Habitat for Humanity as
“the most successful continuous community service project in the history of the United Statesâ€
(Habitat for Humanity 2004).
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MAKING SOCIOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS
In his book Social Things: An Introduction to the Sociological Life, Charles Lemert (1997) wrote that
sociology is often presented as a thing to be studied. Instead, he argued that sociology is something
to be “lived,†becoming a way of life. Lemert (1997) wrote,
To use one’s sociological imagination, whether to practical or professional end, is to look at the events in one’s life, to see
them for what they truly are, then to figure out how the structures of the wider world make social things the way they are.
No one is a sociologist until she does this the best she can. (p. 105)
We can use our sociological imagination, as Lemert (1997) recommended, but we can also take it a
step further. As Marx (1972) maintained, “the philosophers have only interpreted the world, in
various ways; the point, however is to change it†(p. 107).
Throughout this text, we explore three connections. The first connection is the one between
personal troubles and public issues. Each sociological perspective—functionalist, conflict, feminist,
and interactionist—highlights how social problems emerge from our social structure or social
interaction. While maintaining its primary focus on problems within the United States, this text
also addresses the experience of social problems in other countries and nations. The comparative
perspective will enhance your understanding of the social problems we experience here.
The sociological imagination will also help us make a second connection: the one between social
problems and social solutions. Mills believed that the most important value of sociology is in its
potential to enrich and encourage the lives of all individuals (Lemert 1997). In each chapter, we
review selected social policies, advocacy programs, and innovative approaches that attempt to
address or solve these problems.
Textbooks on this subject present neat individual chapters on a social problem, reviewing the
sociological issues and sometimes providing some suggestions about how it can and should be
addressed. This book follows the same outline but takes a closer look at community-based
approaches, ultimately identifying how you can be part of the solution in your community.
p.17
I should warn you that this text will not identify a perfect set of solutions to our social problems.
Individual action may be powerless against the social structure. Some individuals or groups will have
more power or advantage over others. Solutions, like the problems they address, are embedded
within complex interconnected social systems (Fine 2006). Sometimes solutions create other
problems. For example, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief of Health Mickey
Chopra reports that as countries, such as the United States, have focused their attention and
funding on the AIDS epidemic worldwide, deaths due to preventable or treatable diseases (e.g.,
diarrhea and pneumonia) have increased. Diarrhea kills 1.5 million children a year in developing
countries, more than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined (Dugger 2009). A program may have
worked, but it might no longer exist because of lack of funding or political and public support.
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Programs and policies are never permanent; they can be modified. Consistent with standards
established in many European countries, in 2014 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted the
prohibition on blood donation from gay and bisexual men, but kept the prohibition in place for men
who have had sex with a man in the last year.
In communities such as yours and mine, individuals and community groups are taking action against
social problems. They are women, men, and children, common citizens and professionals, from
different backgrounds and experiences. Whether they are working within the system or working to
change the system, these individuals are part of their community’s solution to a problem. The goal
might be to solve one social problem or several or to create what Joel Feagin (2002) described as a
“new global system that reduces injustice, is democratically accountable to all people, offers a decent
standard of living for all, and operates in a sustainable relation to earth’s other living systems†(p.
17). As Gary Fine (2006) observed, “those who care about social problems are obligated to use their
best knowledge to increase the store of freedom, justice and equality†(p. 14). In the end, I hope you
agree that it is important that we continue to do something about the social problems we
experience.
In addition, I ask you to make the final connection to social problems and solutions in your
community. For this quarter or semester, instead of focusing only on problems reported in your local
newspaper or the morning news program, start paying attention to the solutions offered by
professionals, leaders, and advocates. Through the Internet or through local programs and agencies,
take this opportunity to investigate what social action is taking place in your community. Regardless
of whether you define your “community†as your campus, your residential neighborhood, or the city
where your college is located, consider what avenues of change can be taken and whether you can be
part of that effort.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What Feagin (2002) described has also been referred to as social justice. Although the term is widely
used, there is no single definition. Social justice has different meanings and will vary depending on
one’s ideology, discipline, and experience. One way to think of social justice is to consider what
constitutes a “perfect†society and what it takes to make that happen. How would you define social
justice? What is your “perfect†society?
I often tell my students that the problem with being a sociologist is that my sociological imagination
has no “off†switch. In almost everything I read, see, or do, there is some sociological application, a
link between my personal experiences and the broader social experience that I share with everyone
else, including you. As you progress through this text and your course, I hope that you will begin to
70
use your own sociological imagination and see connections between problems and their solutions
that you never saw before.
p.18
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
JUDITH AUERBACH
Since earning her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, Judith
Auerbach has been working outside academia on HIV/AIDS medical research and health
policy issues related to women. Throughout her career, Auerbach has had many distinguished
appointments—assistant director for social and behavioral sciences in the White House Office
of Science and Technology Policy, senior program officer at the Institute of Medicine of the
National Academy of Sciences, director of the Behavioral and Social Science Program and
HIV prevention science coordinator in the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes
of Health, and vice president for public policy and program development at amfAR. Currently
Auerbach is an adjunct professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San
Francisco.
In 2011, Auerbach described her role as a public sociologist:
I have a PhD in sociology, but I have chosen to work outside of academia almost all of my career—in government,
research, policy, advocacy, and community-based organizations. In all these domains, I have attempted to bring the
insights of sociology to bear on medical research and health policy deliberations focused on HIV/AIDS, women’s
health, and gender equity. (Quoted in International AIDS Society 2011)
This has sometimes been a challenging role, as I am usually the lone social scientist in the biomedical conversation,
particularly around so-called “biomedical technologies†for HIV prevention. Having to constantly educate and
convince others about the existence and contributions of social science is exhausting and frustrating. It boggles me
that I still have to make the case for understanding the relational and contextual nature of HIV transmission and the
need to recognize that people and technologies are interactive and interdependent. But, I have seen progress in recent
years, so I’m happy to keep playing the social science missionary through my publications, presentations, and inputs at
meetings and conferences. (Quoted in Mapping Pathways 2011)
Auerbach and her research colleagues are collecting qualitative data on women’s attitudes and
knowledge about taking a daily oral pill as part of an HIV prevention protocol. They advocate
shifting the HIV/AIDS public health response “from an ‘emergency’ approach to a longer-term
response†(quoted in Mapping Pathways 2011) addressing the maintenance of the disease and
its transmission.
What other social problems could a public sociologist study?
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
DOING SOCIOLOGY
At the end of each chapter, the Sociology at Work feature will examine how your sociological
imagination and skills can be used in the workplace.
You may be most familiar with how your sociology professors use their sociological
imagination as teachers and researchers. Yet sociology is practiced in a variety of ways and
settings beyond academia. Hans Zetterberg, in his 1964 article “The Practical Use of
Sociological Knowledge,†identified five roles for sociologists: decision maker, educator,
commentator/critic, researcher, and consultant. Notice that none of these roles includes
sociologist in the title. People are doing sociology, using sociological methods and skills or
applying their sociological imagination in their work, even though sociology or sociologist is
not part of their job description.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017), many Sociology bachelor’s degree
holders find positions in related fields, such as social services, education, or public policy. Based
on their survey of recent bachelor’s degree graduates, the American Sociological Association
(Spalter-Roth and Van Vooren 2008) reported that about one quarter of full-time working
graduates were employed in social service and counseling occupations. Almost 70% of
graduates who reported that their jobs were closely related to their Sociology major were very
satisfied with their jobs.
In Chapters 2 through 5, we will review how your sociology learning experiences and skill
development will be important for your postcollege work life. Specific occupations will be
examined in Chapters 6 through 15, including social work, criminal justice, public health,
education, and medicine. Told through stories of Sociology alumni, these features highlight
how sociology can be used in the workplace. In Chapter 16, we’ll discuss opportunities in the
global job market, and we’ll conclude with a discussion on postgraduate study in Chapter 17.
p.19
CHAPTER REVIEW
1.1 Define the sociological imagination.
The sociological imagination is the ability to recognize the links between our personal
lives and experiences and our social world.
1.2 Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
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A social problem is a social condition that has negative consequences for individuals, our
social world, or the physical world. A social problem has objective and subjective realities.
The identification of a social problem is a process that happens over time.
1.3 Compare the four sociological perspectives.
A functionalist considers how the social problem emerges from society itself. From a
conflict perspective, social problems arise from conflict based upon social class or
competing interest groups. By analyzing the situations and lives of women in society,
feminist theory defines gender (and sometimes race or social class) as a source of social
inequality, group conflict, and social problems. An interactionist focuses on how we use
language, words, and symbols to construct and define social problems.
1.4 Explain how sociology is a science.
Sociology is a science of our social world. Sociology relies on logical and systematic
methods to investigate social phenomena. The knowledge we gain through basic research
expands our understanding of the causes and consequences of a social problem, whereas
applied research involves the pursuit of knowledge for program application or policy
evaluation.
1.5 Explain the roles of social policy, advocacy, and innovation in addressing social problems.
Solutions require social action—in the form of social policy, advocacy, and innovation—to
address problems at their structural or individual levels. Social policy is the enactment of a
course of action through a formal law or program. Social advocates use their resources to
support, educate, and empower individuals and their communities. Social innovation may
take the form of a policy, a program, or advocacy that features an untested or unique
approach. Innovation usually starts at the community level but can be applied to national
and international programming.
KEY TERMS
alienation, 9
anomie, 8
applied research, 12
basic research, 12
bourgeoisie, 9
class consciousness, 9
conflict perspective, 8
dependent variable, 13
dysfunctions, 8
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empiricism, 12
feminist perspective, 9
functionalist perspective, 8
globalization, 1
human agency, 10
hypothesis, 13
independent variable, 13
interactionist perspective, 10
macro level of analysis, 7
micro level of analysis, 7
objective reality, 4
patriarchy, 9
proletariat, 9
qualitative methods, 13
quantitative methods, 13
science, 12
social construction of reality, 4
social constructionism, 4
social innovation, 16
social policy, 15
social problem, 4
sociological imagination, 2
sociology, 2
species being, 9
subjective reality, 4
symbolic interactionism, 11
theory, 7
variables, 13
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How does the sociological imagination help us understand social problems?
2. Select two of the sociological perspectives introduced in this chapter. Compare and contrast
how each defines a social problem. What solutions does each perspective offer?
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3. Apply your sociological imagination to the problem of the increasing cost of college. Is this
a personal problem only for students who can’t afford tuition? Or is the increasing cost of
tuition a public issue?
4. Using the social constructionist perspective, analyze how the primary messages in the 2016
presidential campaign were defined by the candidates, political leaders, the media, and public
interest groups. In your opinion, what was defined as a social problem?
p.20
5. Explain how science and the scientific method help us understand social problems. How is
this different from a commonsense understanding of social problems?
6. Select two research methods and explain how each could be used to examine the impact of
the rising cost of college on students, their families, and the institution of higher education.
7. What is the relationship among social advocacy, innovation, and policy?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
p.21
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p.22
©AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
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THE BASES OF
INEQUALITY
PART
I
Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to the ranking of individuals into social
strata or groups. We are divided into groups such as women versus men or African Americans
versus Asian Americans. Our lives are also transformed because of our group membership. In
U.S. society, being different has come to mean that we are unequal.
The differences between social strata become more apparent when we recognize how some
individuals are more likely to experience social problems than others are. Attached to each
social position are life chances, a term Max Weber used to describe the consequences of social
stratification, how each social position provides particular access to goods and services such as
wealth, food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care. Sociologists refer to the unequal
distribution of resources, services, and positions as social inequality.
In the next five chapters, we will explore two basic sociological questions: Why does social
inequality exist, and how are we different from one another? We will review sociological
theories that attempt to explain and examine the consequences of social inequality. Although
the five bases of inequality are discussed in separate chapters, real life happens at the
intersection of our social class, racial and ethnic identity, gender, sexual orientation, and age.
These bases of inequality simultaneously define and affect us. We need to recognize how each
social characteristic (class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or age) shapes the history,
experiences, and opportunities of men, women, and children in the United States (Shapiro
2004) and throughout the world. Your life experience may have less to do with your ability or
your hard work and more to do with how (well) you are positioned in society. Ultimately, this
includes your experience of social problems.
If this is your first sociology course, these chapters will provide you with an overview of several
core sociological concepts. If you have already had a sociology course, welcome back; these
chapters should provide a good review.
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2
SOCIAL CLASS
Media Library
CHAPTER 2 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 2.1: What is Social Class
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 2.2: The Feminization of Poverty
AP News Clips 2.3: Homeless in Hawaii
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
2.1 Explain the different definitions of poverty.
2.2 Compare the four sociological perspectives on social class and poverty.
2.3 Identify two consequences of poverty.
2.4 Explain the evolution of U.S. welfare policy.
2.5 Assess whether life after welfare has improved after the passage of PRWORA.
The United States is perceived as one of the world’s richest countries. Nonetheless, economic
inequality is one of the most important and visible of America’s social problems (McCall 2002).
President Barack Obama identified “the combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing
mobility†as “the defining challenge of our time†(White House 2013). Sociologists Steve McNamee
and Robert Miller (2014) observed:
Opinion polls consistently show that Americans continue to embrace the American Dream. But as they strive to achieve it,
they have found that it has become more difficult simply to keep up and make ends meet. Instead of “getting ahead,â€
Americans often find themselves working harder just to stay in place, and despite their best efforts, many find themselves
“falling behindâ€â€”worse off than they were earlier in their lives or compared to their parents at similar points in their lives.
(p. 217)
Many Americans believe that their economic status is declining or not improving at all and that
there is increasing tension between the rich and the poor (Pew Research Center 2008; Drake 2013).
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About two thirds of the 2012 Pew Research Center sample agree that the rich are getting richer and
the poor are getting poorer, and more than half believe it is a bad thing for our society (Drake
2013). Economic anxiety, a concern about future finances (e.g., job security, saving for retirement or
college), was identified as a contributing factor in the 2016 election of President Donald Trump.
Data reveal that the American middle class is no longer the economic majority. In 2015, there were
120.8 million adults in middle-income households compared with 121.3 million in lower- and
upper-income households combined. Growth is largest among upper-income households (Pew
Research Center 2015).
In this chapter, we will examine how the overall distribution of wages and earnings has become
more unequal and how the distance between the wealthy and the poor has widened considerably in
recent decades and worsened during the Great Recession of 2007–2009. The Occupy Wall Street
movement highlighted wealth and income inequality through its central protest question: Are you a
member of the wealthy 1% or part of the remaining 99%? Martin Marger (2002) wrote, “Measured
in various ways, the gap between rich and poor in the United States is wider than [in] any other
society with comparable economic institutions and standards of living†(p. 48).
According to the U.S. Census, for 2016 the median income was $59,039 (Semega, Fontenot, and
Kollar 2017). The U.S. Census examines income distribution by dividing the U.S. household
population into fifths or quintiles. If all U.S. income were equally divided, each quintile would
receive one fifth of the total income. However, based on U.S. Census data for 2016, 51.5% of the
total U.S. income was earned by households in the highest quintile or among households making
$121,019 or more. The lowest 20% of households (earning $24,002 or less per year) had 3.1% of the
total income (Semega et al. 2017). Between 2009 and 2013, the top 1% accounted for 85.1% of the
total income growth in the United States (Sommeiller, Price, and Wazeter 2016). (Refer to Table
2.1 for the share of aggregate income for 2016.)
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TABLE 2.1 â– Share of Aggregate Income Received by Each Fifth, 2016
Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
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Wealth, rather than income, may be more important in determining one’s economic inequality.
Wealth is usually defined as the value of assets (checking and savings accounts, property, vehicles,
and stocks) owned by a household (Keister and Moller 2000) at a point in time. Wealth is measured
in two ways: gross assets (the total value of the assets someone owns) and net worth (the value of
assets owned minus the amount of debt owed) (Gilbert 2003). Wealth is more stable within families
and across generations than is income, occupation, or education (Conley 1999) and can be used to
secure or produce wealth, enhancing one’s life chances.
As Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro (1995) explained,
Wealth is a particularly important indicator of individual and family access to life chances. Wealth is a special form of money
not used to purchase milk and shoes and other life necessities. More often it is used to create opportunities, secure a desired
stature and standard of living, or pass class status along to one’s children. . . . The command over resources that wealth
entails is more encompassing than income or education, and closer in meaning and theoretical significance to our traditional
notions of economic well-being and access to life chances. (p. 2)
Wealth preserves the division between the wealthy and the nonwealthy, providing an important
mechanism for the intergenerational transmission of inequality (Gilbert 2003). Scott Sernau (2001)
wrote,
Wealth begets wealth. . . . It ensures that those near the bottom will be called on to spend almost all of their incomes and
that what wealth they might acquire, such as an aging automobile or an aging house in a vulnerable neighborhood, will more
likely depreciate than increase in value, and the poor will get nowhere. (p. 69)
Data reveal that wealth is more unequally distributed and more concentrated than income. Since the
early 1920s, the top 1% of wealth holders have owned an average of 30% of household wealth.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, the top 1% of wealth owners owned more than 45% of all net
worth and nearly 50% of all financial assets (Keister and Moller 2000; Wolff 2006). From 2007 to
2010, the proportion of families that reported they had saved money in the previous year fell from
56.4% to 52%. During the same period, median net worth decreased for all income groups except
the top 10% (Bricker et al. 2012).
Richard Fry and Rakesh Kochhar (2014) reported that the wealth gap between upper-income and
middle-income Americans reached its highest level on record in 2013. The median wealth of upper-
income families ($639,400) was 6.6 times greater than the median wealth of middle-income families
($96,500). The wealth ratio is 70 times larger between upper-income and lower-income Americans
($9,300). Fry and Kochhar attribute the decline in middle-class and lower-class family wealth to the
Great Recession of 2007–2009, describing these families as “financially stuck†and stating that “the
economy recovery has yet to be felt for them.â€
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PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 2.1: What is Social Class
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Consider your own income and wealth status. How would you define your social class based on your
own income and wealth? Your family’s income and wealth? Which reveals more about your life
chances?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POOR?
The often-cited definition of poverty offered by the World Bank is an income of $1.90 per day.
This represents “extreme poverty,†the minimal amount necessary for a person to fulfill his or her
basic needs. According to the organization (World Bank 2009),
Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not being
able to go to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.
Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and
freedom.
Due to significant improvements in education, gender equality, health care, environmental
degradation, and hunger, there has been a decline in both the overall poverty rate and the number of
poor, according to the World Bank. In 2013, a total of 767 million people (10.7% of the world’s
population) in the developing world had consumption levels below $1.90, lower than the 1.85
billion (35% of the population) in 1990 (World Bank 2016).
©iStock.com/Peeter Viisimaa
Not everyone in our society can achieve the dream of owning a home. For almost 600,000 Americans, home is life on the
streets, in shelters, and in transitional housing.
Sociologists offer two definitions of poverty: absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute
poverty refers to a lack of basic necessities, such as food, shelter, and income. Relative poverty
refers to a situation in which some people fail to achieve the average income or lifestyle enjoyed by
the rest of society. Our mainstream standard of living defines the “average†American lifestyle.
Individuals living in relative poverty may be able to afford basic necessities, but they cannot
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maintain a standard of living comparable to that of other members of society. Relative poverty
emphasizes the inequality of income and the growing gap between the richest and poorest
Americans. A definition reflecting the relative nature of income inequality was adopted by the
European Council of Ministers: “The poor shall be taken to mean persons, families and groups of
persons whose resources (material, cultural and societal) are so limited as to exclude them from the
minimum acceptable way of life in the member state in which they live†(European Commission
1985).
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The Federal Definitions of Poverty
There are two federal policy measures of poverty: the poverty threshold and the poverty guidelines.
These measures are important for statistical purposes and for determining eligibility for social
service programs.
The poverty threshold is the original federal poverty measure developed by the Social Security
Administration and updated each year by the U.S. Census Bureau. The threshold is used to
estimate the number of people in poverty. Originally developed by Mollie Orshansky for the Social
Security Administration in 1964, the original poverty threshold was based on the economy food
plan, the least costly of four nutritionally adequate food plans designed by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA). Based on the 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey, the USDA
determined that families of three or more people spent about one third of their after-tax income on
food. The poverty threshold was set at three times the cost of the economy food plan. The
definition of the poverty threshold was revised in 1969 and 1981. Since 1969, annual adjustments in
the levels have been based on the consumer price index instead of changes in the cost of foods in the
economy food plan.
The poverty threshold considers money or cash income before taxes and excludes capital gains and
noncash benefits (public housing, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
The poverty threshold does not apply to people residing in military barracks or institutional group
quarters or to unrelated individuals younger than age 15 (foster children). In addition, the definition
of the poverty threshold does not vary geographically.
The poverty guidelines, issued each year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
are used to determine family or individual eligibility for federal programs such as Head Start, the
National School Lunch Program, or the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The
poverty guidelines are designated by the year in which they are issued. For example, the guidelines
issued in January 2017 are designated as the 2017 poverty guidelines, but the guidelines reflect price
changes through the calendar year 2016. There are separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and
Hawaii. The current poverty threshold and guidelines are presented in Tables 2.2 and 2.3.
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TABLE 2.2 â– Poverty Threshold in 2017 by Size of Family and Number of Related
Children Under 18 Years (in Dollars)
Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
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TABLE 2.3 â– 2017 Federal Poverty Guidelines (in Dollars)
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2017.
Who Are the Poor?
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In 2016, the poverty rate was 12.7% or 40.6 million, compared with the most recent low poverty
rate of 11.3%, or 31.6 million, in 2000 (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 2007; Semega et al.
2017). (Refer to U.S. Data Map 2.1 and this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for a
summary of 2016 poverty statistics.)
U.S. DATA MAP 2.1 â– Percentage of People in Poverty by State, 2016
Source: Bishaw and Benson 2017.
p.30
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
DEMOGRAPHICS OF POVERTY
85
As presented in U.S. State Map 2.1, in 2016, the South had the highest poverty rate
(14.1%) followed by the West (12.8%), the Midwest (11.7%), and the Northeast (10.8%)
(Semega et al. 2017). The states with the highest three-year average (2014–2016) poverty
rates were Louisiana, New Mexico, and Mississippi. The variation in regional rates of
poverty may be due to people-specific characteristics (percentage of racial/ethnic
minorities, female heads of households) or characteristics based on place (labor market,
cost of living).
Your social position determines your life chances of being poor. Groups most likely to
experience poverty in the United States are women (especially female householders with
no husband present), children, or ethnic/racial minorities (refer to Figures 2.1 through
2.3).
What do you think? Why are these groups more susceptible to poverty than other groups?
FIGURE 2.1 â– Percentage Below Poverty Level by Gender, 2016
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Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
FIGURE 2.2 â– Percentage Below Poverty by Age, 2016
Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
FIGURE 2.3 â– Percentage Below Poverty by Race and Ethnicity, 2016
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Source: Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017.
p.31
Based on 2016 U.S. poverty figures and redefined racial and ethnic categories, Whites (who
reported being White and no other race category, along with Whites who reported being White
plus another race category) compose the largest group of poor individuals in the United States.
Although 41.5% of the U.S. poor are non-Hispanic Whites, the poverty rate for non-Hispanic
Whites is the lowest, at 8.8%. Blacks continue to have the highest poverty rate, 22.0%, followed by
Hispanics with a rate of 19.4% (Semega et al. 2017). Racial segregation and discrimination have
contributed to the high rate of minority poverty in the United States. Minority groups are
disadvantaged by their lower levels of education, lower levels of work experience, lower wages, and
chronic health problems—all characteristics associated with higher poverty rates (Iceland 2003).
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty (2001), children are more likely to live in
poverty than Americans in any other age group. Family economic conditions affect the material and
social resources available to children. The quality of their education, the neighborhood environment,
and exposure to environmental contaminants may reinforce and widen the gaps between poorer and
more affluent children and adults (Holzer et al. 2008).
The 2016 poverty rate among children is higher in the United States than in most other major
Western industrialized nations, ranking 9th, at 20%. (Refer to Figure 2.4.) The United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released its 2016 report on child well-being in rich countries,
identifying the percentage of children living in relative poverty (in households with income below
50% of the national median income). Israel ranks highest at 27.5%, while the lowest relative child
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poverty rate is in Finland (3.7%) (UNICEF Office of Research 2016).
FIGURE 2.4 â– The Percentage of Children (Age up to 17) Living in Households With
Income Below 50% of the National Median Income, 2016
Source: Adapted from UNICEF Office of Research 2016.
The poverty rate for U.S. children peaked in 1993 at 22.5%. In 2016, the poverty rate among U.S.
children was 18% (DeNavas-Walt et al. 2007; Semega et al. 2017). The risk of being poor remains
high among specific groups. In 2012, there were more poor Hispanic children (5.8 million) than
poor Black (4.1 million) or poor White non-Hispanic children (5.2 million). More than two thirds
of poor children lived in families with at least one working family member. There remains a wide
variation in children’s poverty rates among states; in 2012, rates ranged from 13.2% in North
Dakota to 34.7% in Mississippi among children under age 18 (Children’s Defense Fund 2014).
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In 2016, families with a female householder and no spouse present were more likely to be poor than
were families with a male householder and no spouse present, 26.6% versus 31.1%. In contrast, the
poverty rate for married-couple families was 5.1% (Semega et al. 2017). Single-parent families are
more vulnerable to poverty because there is only one adult income earner, and female heads of
household are disadvantaged even further because women in general make less money than men do.
In their analysis of data from the Luxembourg Income Study, Lee Rainwater and Timothy
Smeeding (2003) concluded that American single mothers’ children fare worse than the majority of
their global counterparts. The poverty rate among U.S. children living in single-mother families is
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close to 50%; the rate is slightly lower in Germany (48%) and Australia (46%). Countries with
poverty rates below 20% include Sweden (7%), Finland (8%), Denmark (11%), Belgium (13%), and
Norway (14%). Generous social wage (e.g., unemployment) and social welfare programs reduce the
poverty rate in these Nordic countries. Rainwater and Smeeding noted that, all combined, U.S.
wage and welfare programs are much smaller than similar programs in other countries.
Poverty rates vary across geographic areas because of differences in person-specific and place-
specific characteristics (Levernier, Partridge, and Rickman 2000). A region may have a higher rate
of poverty because it contains disproportionately higher shares of demographic groups associated
with greater poverty, such as racial/ethnic minority groups, female heads of household, and low-
skilled workers. Area poverty is also related to place-specific factors, such as the region’s economic
performance, employment growth, industry structure, and cost of living.
There is an additional category of poverty—the working poor. These are men and women who have
spent at least 27 weeks working or looking for work but whose incomes have fallen below the
official poverty level. In 2015, there were 8.6 million working poor (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2017). Black and Hispanic workers were more than twice as likely as White or Asian workers to be
working poor. Individuals with less than a high school diploma were more likely to be classified as
working poor than college graduates were. Service occupations accounted for more than one third
(38%) of all those classified as working poor (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017).
David Brady, Andrew Fullerton, and Jennifer Moren Cross (2010) compared the status of the
working poor in the United States to that of 17 other affluent Western democracies. The rate of
working poverty was highest in the United States (14.5% of the population). Belgium had the
lowest rate of working poor at 2.23%. The sociologists documented how several demographic
characteristics were related to the likelihood of being working poor—individuals from households
with one income earner, with more children, or with a young household head with low educational
attainment.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CLASS AND
POVERTY
Why do some prosper while others remain poor? Why does poverty persist in some families, but
other families are able to improve their economic situation? In this section, we will review the four
sociological perspectives to understand the bases of class inequality.
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists assume that not everyone in society can and should be equal. From this perspective,
inequality is necessary for the social order, and it is equally important how each of us recognizes and
accepts our status in the social structure. Erving Goffman (1951), an interactionist, offered a
functional explanation of social stratification, defining it as a universal characteristic of social life.
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Goffman argued that as we interact with one another, accepting our status in society and
acknowledging the status of others, we provide “harmony†to the social order. But “this kind of
harmony requires that the occupant of each status act towards others in a manner which conveys the
impression that his conception of himself and of them is the same as their conception of themselves
and him†(Goffman 1951:294).
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
INCOME INEQUALITY IN CHINA
China’s income inequality provides an interesting contrast with U.S. inequality. A 2012 survey
conducted by Peking University’s Chinese Family Panel Studies revealed that households in
the top 5% of the income bracket earned 23% of China’s total household income, while
households in the lowest 5% earned 0.1% of the total income. Average annual income for a
family was about $2,100 (converted into U.S. dollars). Average family income was higher for
urban families ($2,600) compared to rural families ($1,600) (Wong 2013).
Shi Li, Hiroshi Sato, and Terry Sicular (2013) identify the role of strong structural forces that
continue to shape China’s income inequality. They describe two sources of inequality rooted in
government practices and regulations.
One source is the persistent divide between urban and rural populations, regulated by China’s
household registration system, also known as the hukou system, established during the Maoist
era in the late 1950s. The hukou system serves as an internal passport mechanism to control
domestic population movements, limiting migration from rural to urban areas. Since the mid-
1990s, as China has moved toward more democratic reforms, Communist Party leaders have
revised hukou to make it easier for rural migrants to move into urban areas and obtain higher-
paying jobs. Yet there are still structural barriers—expensive housing, lack of public services,
and lack of health care access—limiting the permanent relocation of rural workers. As a result,
rural-to-urban migration is often temporary (Sicular 2013).
Another source of income inequality has been the creation of private property acquisition (Li et
al. 2013). During the Maoist era, private property ownership was prohibited. Laws in the
1990s allowed private property ownership, most of it in urban real estate markets.
Complementary legislation also allowed private business ownership. While these policies have
lifted many Chinese out of poverty, the privatization of property and business ownership fueled
wealth accumulation among urban dwellers and an already privileged upper class (Sicular
2013). According to the Chinese Family Panel Studies, more than 87% of families owned or
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partially owned property in 2012 (Wong 2013). Recently, the Chinese government tightened
banking and real estate policies in an effort to control a booming real estate market. In 2013,
single-person households were banned from buying more than one residence in Beijing, the
country’s capital.
Summarize how structural forces continue to shape China’s income inequality.
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KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS
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KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS
Although most of China’s citizens have increased their household income and standard of living, poverty still exists in
the country. According to the United Nations, about 12% of the country lives on less than $1.25 per day.
Functionalists contend that some individuals are more important to society because of their function
to society. For example, society values the lifesaving work of a medical surgeon more than the retail
function of a grocery store cashier. Based on the value of one’s work or talent, society rewards
individuals at the top of the social structure (surgeons) with more wealth, income, or power than
those lower down in the social structure (grocery cashiers). According to this perspective, individuals
are sorted according to their abilities or characteristics—their age, strength, intelligence, physical
ability, or even sex—to play their particular role for society. Certain individuals are better suited for
their positions in society than others. Our social institutions, especially education, sort everyone into
their proper places and reward them accordingly. Because not all of us can (or should) become
surgeons, the system ensures that only the most talented and qualified become surgeons. In many
ways, the functionalist argument reinforces the belief that we are naturally different.
p.34
What Does It Mean to Me?
The functionalist perspective is often criticized for its value argument. Does society accurately assess
and reward a position for its value, for its function? For example, the projected median salary of a
kindergarten and elementary school teacher in 2016 is $55,490 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2015), whereas the predicted median salary of a National Basketball Association (NBA) player in
2016–2017 is $3.75 million (Gaines 2016). How does society determine the value of a professional
basketball player? Of a public school teacher?
Functionalists observe that poverty is a product of our social structure. Specifically, rapid economic
and technological changes have eliminated the need for low-skilled labor, creating a population of
workers who are unskilled and untrained for this new economy. In many ways, theorists from this
perspective expect this disparity among workers, arguing that only the most qualified should fill the
important jobs in society and be rewarded for their talent.
Herbert Gans (1971) argued that poverty exists because it is functional for society. Gans explained
that the poor uphold the legitimacy of dominant norms. The poor help reinforce cultural ideals of
hard work and the notion that anyone can succeed if only he or she tries (so if you fail, it is your
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fault). Poverty helps preserve social boundaries. It separates the haves from the have-nots by their
economics and according to their educational attainment, marriage, and residence. The poor also
provide a low-wage labor pool to do the “dirty work†that no one else wants to do. Gans (1995)
maintained that the positive functions of poverty should be considered in any antipoverty policy.
Our social welfare system, designed to address the problem of poverty, has been accused of being
dysfunctional itself; critics suggest that the welfare bureaucracy is primarily concerned with its own
survival. Poverty helps create jobs for the nonpoor, particularly the social welfare system designed to
assist the poor. As a result, the social welfare bureaucracy will develop programs and structures that
will only ensure its survival and legitimacy. Based on personal experience working with and for the
system, Theresa Funiciello (1993) observed, “Countless middle class people were making money,
building careers, becoming powerful and otherwise benefiting from poverty. . . . The poverty
industry once again substituted its own interests for that of poor people†(p. xix). We will discuss
this further in the next perspective.
Conflict Perspective
Like the functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective argues that inequality is inevitable, but for
different reasons. For a functionalist, inequality is necessary because of the different positions and
roles needed in society. From a conflict perspective, inequality is systematically created and
maintained by those trying to preserve their advantage over the system.
p.35
For Karl Marx, one’s social class is solely determined by one’s position in the economic system: You
are either a worker or an owner of the means of production. Nancy Krieger, David Williams, and
Nancy Moss (1997) offered this explanation of class:
Class, as such, is not an a priori property of individual human beings, but is a social relationship created by societies. One
additional and central component of class relations involves an asymmetry of economic exploitation, whereby owners of
resources (e.g. capital) gain economically from the labor effort of non-owners who work for them. (p. 346)
But social class, according to Max Weber, is multidimensional. Economic factors include income,
the money earned for one’s work, and wealth, the value of one’s personal assets such as savings and
property. A person’s social class is also influenced by prestige, the amount of social respect or
standing given to an individual based on occupation. We assign higher prestige to occupations that
require specialized education or training, that provide some social good to society, or that make
more money. A final component of class is power. Weber defined power as the ability to achieve
one’s goals despite the opposition of others. Power is the ability to do whatever you want because no
one can stop you.
Power is not limited to individuals. People with similar interests (or with similar income, wealth,
and prestige backgrounds) often collaborate to increase their advantage in society. C. Wright Mills
(1959/2000) argued that the United States is ruled by what he called a power elite. According to
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Mills, this elite group is composed of business, political, and military leaders. This elite group has
absolute power because of its ability to withhold resources and prevent others from realizing their
interests. Mills identified how the power elite effectively make decisions regarding economic policy
and national security—controlling the difference between a boom economy and a bust economy or
peace and war abroad (Gilbert 2003). Refer to this chapter’s In Focus feature for an in-depth look at
the modern power elite.
Michael Harrington (1963) argued, “The real explanation of why the poor are where they are is that
they made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents, in the wrong section of the country, in
the wrong industry, or in the wrong racial or ethnic group†(p. 21). Inequalities built into our social
structure create and perpetuate poverty. As Manning Marable (2000) stated, capitalism is fraud.
Although it promotes the idea that everyone has a fair and equal chance to succeed, advantages are
given to members of particular groups based on their gender, race, or social class.
Conflict theorists assert that poverty exists because those in power want to maintain and expand
their base of power and interests, with little left to share with others. Welfare bureaucracies—local,
state, and national—represent important interest groups that influence the creation and
implementation of welfare policies. A welfare policy reflects the political economy of the community
in which it is implemented (Handler and Hasenfeld 1991).
Francis Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward (1993) concluded that the principal function of welfare
is to allow the capitalist class to maintain control over labor. Welfare policy has been used by the
state to stifle protest and to enforce submissive work norms. During periods of economic crisis, the
state expands welfare rolls to pacify the poor and reduce the likelihood of serious uprising. However,
during economic growth or stability, the state attempts to reduce the number of people on welfare,
forcing the poor or dislocated workers back into the expanding labor force. Those who remain on
welfare are condemned and stigmatized for their dependence on the system. For example, in 2017,
at least 15 states passed legislation to require drug testing or screening for public assistance
applicants or recipients, and at least 20 more states proposed similar legislation during the year
(National Conference of State Legislatures 2017).
Opponents of this policy argue that punitive testing policies perpetuate the stereotype that people
on public assistance are morally corrupt and more likely to use drugs. It also distracts from the need
for and access to drug treatment and prevention. A 2012 assessment of the Florida welfare drug test
law revealed that there were no direct savings for the state; contrary to the law’s intent, it did not
identify many drug users and had no effect on reducing the number of individuals applying for
welfare assistance (Alvarez 2012). The Florida law was struck down by a federal appeals court in
2014; the court ruled that the state failed to demonstrate that drug abuse was more prevalent or
unique among Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) clients than the general
population.
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Feminist Perspective
Feminist scholars define the welfare state as an arena of political struggle. The drive to maintain
male dominance and the patriarchal family is assumed to be the principal force shaping the
formation, implementation, and outcomes of U.S. welfare policy (Neubeck and Cazenave 2001).
Social welfare scholar Mimi Abramovitz (1996) noted that welfare has historically distinguished
between the deserving poor (widows with children) and the undeserving poor (single and divorced
mothers). In the 1970s and 1980s, media and politicians created the image of the “Cadillac driving,
champagne sipping, penthouse living welfare queens†(Zucchino 1999:13), suggesting that women
—specifically, single mothers—were abusing welfare assistance. Women were accused of having
more children to avoid work and to increase their welfare benefits. Marriage, hard work, honesty,
and abstinence were offered as solutions to their poverty. The negative stereotypes of poor women
stigmatized these women and fueled support for punitive social policies (Abramovitz 1996), and
they continue to be a part of welfare policies today.
The bias against women is reproduced systematically in our social institutions. Fraser (1989) argued
that there are two types of welfare programs: masculine programs related to the labor market (social
security, unemployment compensation) and feminine programs related to the family or household
(Aid to Families with Dependent Children [AFDC], food stamps, and Medicaid). The welfare
system is separate and unequal. Fraser believes that masculine programs are rational, generous, and
nonintrusive, whereas feminine programs are inadequate, intrusive, and humiliating. The
quintessential program for women, AFDC, institutionalized the feminization of poverty by failing
to provide adequate support, training, and income to ensure self-sufficiency for women (Gordon
1994). The program operated from 1935 to 1996.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 2.2: The Feminization of Poverty
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Our current welfare system, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
(PRWORA) and its TANF program, have been criticized for its treatment of women and their
families. PRWORA created a pool of disciplined low-wage laborers: women who must take any job
that is available or find themselves and their families penalized by the government (Piven 2002).
With its emphasis on work as the path to self-sufficiency, TANF forces women back to the same
low-pay, low-skill jobs that may have led them to their poverty in the first place (Lafer 2002;
Gilman 2012). The new program requirements, as Debra Henderson, Ann Tickamyer, and Barry
Tadlock (2005) argued, also deny women the choice to be full-time mothers. Eligibility guidelines
force poor women to work, making them choose between the competing roles of good mother and
good welfare recipient. The new policies fail to address the real barriers facing women: low job skills
and educational attainment, racism and discrimination in the labor market, and the competing
demands of work and caring for their children.
Interactionist Perspective
An interactionist would draw attention to how class differences are communicated through symbols,
how the meaning of these symbols is constructed or constrained by social forces, and how these
symbols reproduce social inequality. Our language reflects the quality of life that is associated with
different amounts of economic resources. We distinguish the “very rich†from the “stinking richâ€
and someone who is “poor†from someone who is “dirt poor†(Rainwater and Smeeding 2003).
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IN FOCUS
THE POWER OF POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES
G. William Domhoff (2002) argued that real power is distributive power, the power
individuals or groups have over other individuals or groups. Power matters when a group has
the ability to control strategic resources and opportunities to obtain such resources. Money,
land, information, and skills are strategic resources when they are needed by individuals to do
what they want to do (Hachen 2001). Domhoff argued that distributive power is limited to an
elite group of individuals whose economic, political, and social relationships are closely
interrelated. Control over four major social networks—economic, political, military, and
religious—can be turned into a strong organizational base for wielding power (Mann 1986).
Political action committees (PACs) have been characterized as extensions of the influence of
the power elite. Whereas contributions to a candidate’s campaign are limited to $2,500 per
election from each individual donor, PACs, or super PACs as they are more often referred to,
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can collect unlimited amounts from individuals and corporations. In 1947, corporations were
banned from using their profits to endorse or oppose political candidates; however, in 2010,
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the restriction unconstitutional and allowed corporations the
same rights as individuals when it comes to political speech (the donation of money).
Campaign-finance reform activists predicted that the ruling would increase the influence of
special interest groups, allowing what has been characterized as a corruption of our democracy
or corporate electioneering. Although PACs cannot formally coordinate their activities or
communicate exclusively with candidates, PACs are closely aligned with candidates and
important sources for campaign money. For example, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated
$10 million to Winning Our Future, the PAC that supported Newt Gingrich’s 2012
presidential campaign. The Adelsons are longtime friends and supporters of Gingrich. Their
contribution was described as leveling the political playing field between Gingrich and
Governor Mitt Romney in critical primaries in Florida and South Carolina (Confessore 2012).
The Adelsons also supported Restore Our Future, Romney’s PAC.
Another influential political coalition is the group of organizations known as the 527s,
independent political groups named for a section of the Internal Revenue Service tax code that
regulates the financial activities of all political groups. As with PACs, there are no restrictions
on contributions to 527s. During the 2004 presidential election, Senator John Kerry was
targeted by the 527 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who falsely attacked his Vietnam service
record. The campaign was so memorable that the term swift boating has come to refer to an
untrue or unfair political attack.
Some sociologists have suggested that poverty is based on a culture of poverty, a set of norms,
values, and beliefs that encourage and perpetuate poverty. In this view, moral deficiencies of
individuals or their families lead to a life of poverty. Oscar Lewis (1969), Edward Banfield (1974),
and Myron Magnet (1993/2000) argued that the poor are socialized differently (e.g., living from
moment to moment) and are likely to pass these values on to their children. Patterns of generational
poverty—poor parents have poor children, who in turn become poor adults, and so on—seem to
support this theory.
Yet the culture of poverty explanation has been widely criticized. Opponents argue that there is no
evidence that the poor have a different set of values and beliefs. This perspective defines poverty as a
persistent state; that is, once you are poor, your values prohibit you from ever getting out of poverty.
In fact, poverty data reveal that for most individuals and families, continuous spells of poverty are
likely to last less than two years (Harris 1993).
Interactionists also focus on the public’s perception of welfare and of welfare recipients. Most
Americans do not know any welfare recipients personally or have any direct contact with the welfare
system. Their views on welfare are likely to be shaped by what they see on television and by what
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they read in newspapers and magazines (Weaver 2000). As a society, we have developed a sense of
the “undeserving poorâ€; dependent mothers and fathers and nonworking recipients have become
powerful negative symbols in society (Norris and Thompson 1995). Critics of social programs for
the poor fear that the United States is becoming an entitlement society, creating a large segment of
the population who would rather depend on government benefits than work (Sherman, Greenstein,
and Ruffing 2012). During the 2012 presidential campaign, Governor Mitt Romney was secretly
taped promoting this negative rhetoric of public assistance. In his comments, Romney referred to
the 47% of Americans who were dependent on the government and who believed they were victims.
Romney said his job was “not to worry about those people.†His statements are at odds with welfare
program facts: More than 90% of those on entitlement and mandatory programs are the elderly
(people aged 65 and older), disabled, and members of working households (Sherman et al. 2012).
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Martin Gilens (1999) explained that welfare has become a code word for race. Race and racism are
important in understanding public and political support for antipoverty programs (Lieberman 1998;
Neubeck and Cazenave 2001; Quadagno 1994). Gilens stated that Americans perceive welfare as a
Black phenomenon, believing that Blacks make up 50% of the poor population (compared with an
actual 25%). This belief is exacerbated by the notion that Blacks are on welfare not because of
blocked opportunities but largely because of their lack of effort.
Gilens (1999) asserted that the news media are primarily responsible for building this image of
Black poverty, that is, for the “racialization of poverty.†During the War on Poverty in the early
1960s, the media focused on White rural America, but as the civil rights movement began to build
in the mid-1960s, the media turned their attention to urban poverty, and the racial character of
poverty coverage changed. Between 1965 and 1967, sensationalized portrayals of Black poverty were
used to depict the waste, inefficiency, or abuse of the welfare system, whereas positive coverage of
poverty was more likely to include pictures and portrayals of Whites. After 1967 and for most of the
following three decades, larger proportions of Blacks appeared in news coverage of most poverty
topics. “Black faces are unlikely to be found in media stories on the most sympathetic subgroups of
the poor, just as they are comparatively absent from media coverage of poverty during times of
heightened sympathy for the poor†(Gilens 1999:132). According to Gilens, this exaggerated link
between Blacks and poverty is a serious obstacle to public support for antipoverty programs.
A review of all sociological perspectives is presented in Table 2.4.
TABLE 2.4 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Social Class
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Who or what has shaped your beliefs about the causes of poverty and about those who are poor?
THE CONSEQUENCES OF POVERTY
This section is not an exhaustive list of the consequences of poverty. Remaining chapters will also
highlight the relationship between social class and the experience of a specific social problem (such
as educational attainment or access to health care). Given the intersectionality of all the bases of
inequality covered in this section of the book, there is a persistent overlap in the experience of social
problems as a result of one’s class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and age.
Food Insecurity and Hunger
About 12.3% of households, or 15.6 million American families, were food insecure for at least some
time throughout 2016 (Coleman-Jensen et al. 2017). Analysts attribute the increase to rising
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unemployment rates and food prices. Food insecure means that these families did not always have
access to enough food for all members of the household to enjoy active and healthy lives. Fifty-nine
percent of the food-insecure households said they had participated during the previous month in
one or more federal food and nutrition assistance programs—the National School Lunch Program,
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (described later), or the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. The prevalence of food insecurity is higher
for certain groups: single-female-headed households with children (21.1%), Black households
(12.8%), Hispanic households (12.7%), and households with income below the poverty line (21.0%)
(Coleman-Jensen et al. 2017). Food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas than
in suburban areas and exurban areas around larger cities.
The USDA provided food assistance through one of 17 public food assistance programs. The U.S.
food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is the
nation’s largest nutrition program for low-income individuals and families. During 2015, the
program served an average of 45.4 million low-income Americans each month. The average
monthly benefit was $126 per person, $256 per household. Food stamps cannot be used to buy
nonfood items (personal hygiene supplies, paper products), alcoholic beverages, vitamins and
medicines, hot food products, or any food that will be eaten in the store. The Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities (2013a) described SNAP as a powerful tool in fighting poverty. Serving as a bridge
program, SNAP provides temporary assistance to individuals and families during periods of
unemployment or a crisis (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2013a). Although SNAP and
other USDA programs have been shown to be effective in improving the purchasing power and
nutritional status of specific populations, a large segment of low-income Americans are not being
adequately served or served at all by these programs. In 2012, only 67% of individuals who qualified
for SNAP benefits participated in the program (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2013a).
For one week in 2007, Governor Theodore R. Kulongoski (D-OR) challenged fellow Oregonians
to join him and his wife Mary in living on an average Oregon food stamp budget of $21 per week
per person, or $3 a day. His efforts drew state, national, and global attention to food insecurity in
his home state of Oregon, as well as the need for the federal government to preserve the current
level of food stamp benefits. Before his challenge week, the governor and his wife had each spent an
average of $51 per week on food, not including his meals while at work or during official functions;
during his challenge week, their final food bill was $20.97 per person. Governor Kulongoski
reported several challenges he and his wife experienced throughout the week—the demoralizing
experience of not having enough to pay for all the food in their cart, having to make tough decisions
on the quality and amount of food they could purchase, and experiencing hunger throughout the
week as their food supply ran out (Kulongoski 2007). Since Kulongoski’s challenge, there have been
annual food stamp budget challenges sponsored by faith leaders, politicians, and news reporters,
highlighting the difficulties of eating a healthy and sustainable diet on the standard food stamp
allotments.
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Republican congressional leaders supported deep cuts in the SNAP program in 2013, arguing that
the program had grown too big and expensive and was another source of government dependency.
Republicans advocated closing program loopholes and adding work requirements for recipients.
When the 2014 Farm Bill was signed into law, it included $8.7 billion in cuts in the SNAP budget
over 10 years, with some pilot work programs (Grovum 2014). Policy analysts predicted that the
reduction would affect 850,000 recipients in 14 states and the District of Columbia, reducing their
monthly benefit by an average of $90. However, most have been able to preserve their SNAP
benefits by relying on a SNAP loophole, the “Heat and Eat†provision. Under the provision, a
household is entitled to more food aid if it is enrolled in the federally funded Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Previously, households would be eligible for LIHEAP if
they received a minimum of $1.00 per year. Congress changed the law, increasing the minimum to
$20 per year. In response, states increased their LIHEAP funding to support the new federal
minimum, thus ensuring SNAP eligibility to more individuals and families (Grovum 2014).
As reported by Briefel et al. (2003), food pantries and emergency kitchens play an important role in
the nutritional safety net for America’s low-income and needy populations. These organizations are
part of the Emergency Food Assistance System, a network of private organizations operating with
some federal support. Almost one third of pantry client households and two fifths of kitchen client
households are at or below 50% of the poverty line. The mean monthly income is $781 for pantry
client households and $708 for kitchen client households. Food pantries considered by Briefel et al.
were likely to serve families with children (45% of households included children), whereas
emergency kitchens were likely to serve men living alone (38%) or single adults living with other
adults (18%).
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (2016) reported that emergency food assistance had increased by an
average of 2% in 25 surveyed cities. Low wages were identified as the leading cause of hunger,
followed by high housing costs and poverty. Sixty-three percent of individuals requesting emergency
food assistance were from families. In 2016, an average of 13.8% of the people needing emergency
food assistance did not receive it.
©Steve Debenport/Getty Images
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Food pantries and emergency kitchens play an important role in the nutritional safety net for America’s low income and
needy populations (Briefel et al. 2003).
Affordable Housing
Although most Americans still aspire to own a home, for many poor and working Americans, home
ownership is just a dream (Freeman 2002). Despite the decline in home sales and values, housing
affordability has declined (Savage 1999). The generally accepted definition of affordability is for a
family to pay no more than 28% of its annual income on housing (30% for a rental unit). Nearly one
in four working households (households where individuals work more than 20 hours per week and
have a household income of no more than 120% of the median income in the area) spends more
than half its income on housing costs (Williams 2012). Renters are more than twice as likely as
homeowners to pay more than half their income for housing (Fischer and Sard 2013).
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Lance Freeman (2002) explained that because housing is the single largest expenditure for most
households, “housing affordability has the potential to affect all domains of life that are subject to
cost constraints, including health†(p. 710). Most families pay their rent first, buying basic needs
such as food, clothing, and health care with what they have left. The lack of public assistance,
increasing prices, slow wage growth, and a limited inventory of affordable apartments and houses
make it nearly impossible for some to find adequate housing (Pugh 2007).
The combination of low earnings and scarce housing assistance results in serious housing problems
for the working poor. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (Aurand et al.
2017), there is no state where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest one- or two-
bedroom unit. In 2017, it took, on average, 2.9 minimum-wage jobs to afford a modest two-
bedroom unit. About 50% of all renters were using over 30% of their income for housing (Aurand et
al. 2017).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 2.3: Homeless in Hawaii
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Johnnie McDowell and his wife have a household income of almost $100,000 a year, but with car
payments (both commute to work), student loans, a weak credit report and little savings, the family
cannot afford to buy a home (Searcey 2015). A starter home in their Westfield, New Jersey,
neighborhood costs $200,000. They currently live in a duplex, paying a monthly rent of $1,400.
They could move to a more affordable neighborhood but have decided to stay in Westfield for their
good schools. Their monthly expenses include $800 for their daughter’s preschool.
Increasing the minimum wage would not solve the affordable housing problem. Low-income
households would remain at higher risk for experiencing housing instability, eviction, poor housing
conditions, and homelessness.
Health
Regardless of the country where a person lives, social class is a major determinant of one’s health
and life expectancy (Braveman and Tarimo 2002); those lower on the socioeconomic ladder have
worse health than those above them (Marmot 2004). The link between class and health has been
confirmed in studies conducted in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and Western
Europe (Cockerman 2004). Although no factor has been singled out as the primary link between
socioeconomic position and health, scholars have offered many factors—standard of living, work
conditions, housing conditions, access to better-quality food, leisure activities, and the social and
psychological connections with others at work, at home, or in the community—to explain the
relationship (Krieger et al. 1997). According to Nancy Krieger and her colleagues (1997) “poor
living and working conditions impair health and shorten lives†(p. 343).
©iStock.com/Ingrid_Hendriksen
Housing is the single largest expenditure for most households. Low earnings and scarce housing assistance results in serious
housing problems for the working poor.
Rose Weitz (2001) offered several explanations for the unhealthy relationship between poverty and
illness. The type of work available to poorly educated people can cause illness or death by exposing
them to hazardous conditions. Poor and middle-class individuals who live in poor neighborhoods
are exposed to air, noise, water, and chemical pollution that can increase rates of morbidity and
mortality. Inadequate and unsafe housing contributes to infectious and chronic diseases, injuries,
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and illnesses, including lead poisoning when children eat peeling paint. The diet of the poor
increases the risk of illness. The poor have little time or opportunity to practice healthy activities
such as exercise, and because of life stresses, they may also be encouraged to adopt behaviors that
might further endanger their health. Finally, poverty limits individual access to preventative and
therapeutic health care.
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The relationship between health and social class afflicts those most vulnerable, the young. Children
in poor or near-poor families are two to three times more likely not to have a usual source of health
care than are children in nonpoor families (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics 2007). Access to a regular doctor or care facility for physical examinations, preventative
care, screening, and immunizations can facilitate the timely and appropriate use of pediatric services
for youth. Even children on public insurance (which includes Medicaid and the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program) are more likely not to have a usual source of care than are children with
private insurance. Children in families below the poverty level have lower rates of immunization and
yearly dental checkups (both basic preventative care practices) than do children at or above the
poverty level (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics 2007). Refer to Chapter
10, “Health and Medicine,†for more on the impact of social class on health care access and quality.
RESPONDING TO CLASS INEQUALITIES
U.S. Welfare Policy
Throughout the 20th century, U.S. welfare policy has been caught between two values: the desire to
help those who cannot help themselves and the concern that assistance could create dependency
(Weil and Feingold 2002). The centerpiece of the social welfare system was established by the
passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. The act endorsed a system of assistance programs that
would provide for Americans who could not care for themselves: widows, the elderly, the
unemployed, and the poor.
Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, assistance was provided in four categories:
general relief, work relief, social insurance, and categorical assistance. General relief was given to
those who were not able to work; most of the people receiving general relief were single men. Work
relief programs gave government jobs to those who were unemployed through programs such as the
Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. Social insurance programs
included social security and unemployment compensation. Categorical assistance was given to poor
families with dependent children, to the blind, and to the elderly. To serve this group, the original
welfare assistance program, Aid to Dependent Children (later renamed AFDC), was created
(Cammisa 1998).
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©iStock.com/HultonArchive
Soup kitchens emerged in the United States during the Great Depression, operated primarily by churches and local charities.
Soup and bread meals were easy to prepare and serve to the poor and unemployed.
Categorical programs became the most controversial, and the social insurance programs were the
most popular. It was widely believed that social insurance paid people for working, whereas
categorical programs paid people for not working. Shortly after these programs were implemented,
officials became concerned that individuals might become dependent on government relief
(Cammisa 1998). Even President Roosevelt (quoted in Patterson 1981) expressed his doubts about
the system he helped create: “Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral
disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to
administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit†(p. 60).
The next great expansion of the welfare system occurred in the mid-1960s, when President Lyndon
Johnson (1965) declared a War on Poverty and implemented his plan to create a Great Society.
Rehabilitation of the poor was the cornerstone of Johnson’s policies, and what followed was an
explosion of social programs: Head Start, Upward Bound, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Job Corps,
public housing, and affirmative action. Although poverty was not completely eliminated, defenders
of the Great Society say that these programs alleviated poverty, reduced racial discrimination,
reduced the stigma attached to being poor, and helped standardize government assistance to the
poor. Conversely, opponents claim that these programs coddled the poor and created a generation
that expected entitlements from the government (Cammisa 1998).
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During the more than 50 years when the AFDC program operated, welfare rolls were increasing,
and, even worse, recipients were staying on government assistance for longer periods. In a strange
irony, welfare, the solution for the problem of poverty, became a problem itself (Norris and
Thompson 1995). Between 1986 and 1996, many states began to experiment with welfare reforms.
Wisconsin was the first state to implement such a reform with a program that included work
requirements, benefit limits, and employment goals.
In 1996, PRWORA was passed with a new focus on helping clients achieve self-sufficiency through
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employment. PRWORA was a bipartisan welfare reform plan to reduce recipients’ dependence on
government assistance through strict work requirements and welfare time limits. Replacing AFDC,
the new welfare program is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Instead of
treating assistance as an entitlement, as it was under AFDC, TANF declares that government help
is temporary and has to be earned. Under TANF, there is a federal lifetime limit of 60 months (five
years) of assistance, although states may put shorter limits on benefits. PRWORA also gave states
primary responsibility for designing their assistance programs and for determining eligibility and
benefits.
The act had an immediate effect on the number of poor. When PRWORA became law, the poverty
rate was 13.7%; 36.5 million individuals were poor, by the government’s definition. A year later, the
rate had declined to 13.3%, and 35.6 million were poor. Rates declined to their lowest point in
2000, 11.3% or 31.6 million. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2000 poverty rate was the
lowest since 1979 (DeNavas-Walt et al. 2007).
PRWORA was reauthorized under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The reauthorization
requires states to engage more TANF clients in productive work activities leading to self-sufficiency.
The five-year cumulative lifetime limit for TANF recipients remains unchanged. Funding was also
provided for healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood initiatives (U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services 2006).
During the 2007–2009 recession, there was increased concern that poverty was on the rise, straining
the safety net of TANF and other government support programs. A depressed economy challenges
everyone, but especially those already poor. According to Austin Nichols (2011), history shows that
unemployment and poverty rates continue to rise after a recession ends. The effects of poverty
deepen over time as individuals exhaust private resources and temporary benefits. The rate of deep
poverty (incomes less than half the poverty level) increased from 6.3% in 2009 to 6.7% in 2010.
Nichols (2011) advised, “Federal government initiatives are laudable, but cash-strapped families
scarred by the labor market and housing market collapses will need more direct help, temporary or
not†(p. 2).
Life After Welfare
A strong economy and increased aid to low-income working families contributed to the immediate
decline in welfare caseloads after PRWORA (Besharov 2002). Welfare officials often point to how
the first to leave welfare were those with the most employable skills. However, research indicates
that the early employment success of welfare reform diminished as the economy faltered. According
to the Urban Institute, 32% of welfare recipients were in paid jobs in 1999, but the number had
fallen to 28% by 2002. Employment also declined for those who left welfare, from 50% in 1999 to
42% in 2002 (Zedlewski and Loprest 2003).
Under federal law, states are required to engage at least 50% of TANF families in work activities
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(e.g., employment or job search). The law limits the degree to which education and training count
toward the work participation rate. According to the Center for Women Policy Studies (2002), after
PRWORA, college enrollment among low-income women declined. Yet studies indicate that
former TANF recipients with a college education are more likely to stay employed and less likely to
return to welfare. For example, a study among former welfare recipients in Oregon found that only
52% of those with less than a high school diploma were employed after two years. In contrast, 90%
of former TANF recipients with a bachelor’s degree were still employed. Since 1996, 49 states—
Oklahoma and the District of Columbia are exceptions—passed legislation to allow secondary
education to count as activity under PRWORA.
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Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, and Jill Weigt (2010) examined the consequences of welfare reform
among poor individuals and their families in Oregon from 1998 to 2002. Although more than half
to three quarters of the TANF clients they followed were employed when they left the welfare rolls,
they were working in low-wage occupations and earning wages so low that almost half had incomes
below the official poverty line. Once off welfare, the majority of families continued to struggle to
make ends meet and were forced to make tough decisions—for example, putting off medical care,
skipping meals to stretch their food budget, or dealing with their utilities being turned off. Many
continued to rely on benefits from Oregon’s Adult and Family Services. The sociologists concluded
that self-sufficiency was still elusive for many families. “Having to depend on low-wage work leaves
millions of families facing a combination of job insecurity, inadequate household income, long hours
of work, unsatisfactory child care arrangements, and lack of health insurance, sick leave or
retirement benefits†(Morgen et al. 2010:148).
Although TANF evaluation studies reveal overall increases in employment, income, and earnings of
families formerly on welfare, many families remained poor or near poor and struggled to maintain
employment (Hennessy 2005) even before the 2007 recession. In their five-year study of TANF
recipients in New Jersey, Robert Wood, Quinn Moore, and Anu Rangarajan (2008) found that
recipients experienced economic progress and setbacks in the years after entering the program. On
average, recipients’ employment and income levels increased and poverty levels declined for
recipients during the five-year period. However, their average income levels were low, about
$20,000 per year, and almost half had incomes below the poverty line. Many recipients exited the
labor market or returned to poverty sometime during the five years they were tracked. Most at risk
were those without a high school diploma, with limited work histories, and with work-limiting
health conditions.
Eugenie Hildebrandt and Sheryl Kelber (2012) examined the experiences of women who were in
different stages of TANF participation in a large Wisconsin urban county. Wisconsin was one of
the first states to experiment with work-based welfare and program limits. Their study included
women who had exhausted their time limit. Hildebrandt and Kelber discovered that the women
were unable to meet the needs of their families during or after being in the TANF program. They
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concluded, “TANF does not have the depth, breadth, or flexibility to adequately address multiple,
complex barriers to work†(p. 138). “Barriers of limited education and work skills for well-paying
jobs, chronic mental and physical health problems, and personal and family challenges left them few
options for escaping poverty†(p. 139). Among the women in the terminated group, the majority
had chronic health problems (93%) and depressive symptoms (78%).
In 2012, the Obama administration gave states more control over how they administer their TANF
program, instituting an experimental program for states to “test alternative and innovative strategies,
policies and procedures that are designed to improve employment outcomes for needy familiesâ€
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2012). In 2017, the Trump Administration
announced plans to rescind Obama’s experimental program and reinstate the work-related activities
requirement for all adults receiving TANF support.
Earned Income Tax Credit
Enacted in 1975, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program provides federal tax relief for
low-income working families, especially those with children. The credit reduces the amount of
federal tax owed and usually results in a tax refund for those who qualify. Similar programs are
offered in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and New Zealand. To qualify for the U.S.
program, adults must be employed. A single parent with one child who had family income of less
than $39,617 (or $45,207 for a married couple with one child) in 2017 could get a credit of as much
as $3,400. The EITC can be claimed for children under age 19, or under age 24 if they are still in
college.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
MAURICIO LIM MILLER
Mauricio Lim Miller is the founder and CEO of the Family Independence Initiative (FII), a
nontraditional antipoverty program. FII was launched as a research project by Lim Miller and
then Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown in 2001. The program allows low-income families to find
their own way to self-sufficiency, establishing their own initiatives and finding success. Instead
of telling poor families what to do, FII provides a context in which families “can discover for
themselves what’s important to them and how they can best achieve those goals†(Burak
2001:27). According to Lim Miller (quoted in Bornstein 2011),
when you come into a community that is vulnerable with professionals with power and preset ideas, it is overpowering
to families and it can hold them back. Nobody wants to hear that because we are all good guys. But the focus on need
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undermines our ability to see their strengths—and their ability to see their own strengths.
The program promotes the importance of connections through social networks, greater
choices, and the ability to create economic capital.
FII began with 25 families in three cohorts—8 African American families, 6 Salvadoran
refugee families, and 11 Iu Mien families (Bornstein 2011). Family groups are asked to write
down their goals (e.g., improving child’s grades, starting business, buying a home), with FII
promising to pay each family $30 for every success, a maximum of $200 per month. Families
need to work on their plans together and report their progress to each other and to FII staff.
The program structure builds a social network and social capital among the participating
families (Burak 2011). The program is unstructured, but “the families have done well because
we give them room to do whatever they feel they need to do to get ahead,†says Lim (quoted in
Fessler 2012).
Assessment data revealed that among the first group of 25 families, household incomes
increased 25% after two years. Even after FII’s payments stopped, incomes continued to
increase, up to 40% higher than the baseline. Lim Miller also established his program in
Hawaii and San Francisco. Client success was documented at these sites, with family incomes
increasing by 23% and savings by 240% (Bornstein 2011).
In 2010, Lim Miller was invited to join President Obama’s White House Council for
Community Solutions, a group of individuals who have “dedicated their lives and careers to
civic engagement and social innovation†(White House 2010).
As of 2017, the program had established eight program sites.
Expansions of the program in the late 1980s and early 1990s made the credit more generous for
families with two or more children. In 1994, a small credit was made available to low-income
families without children (Freidman 2000). Receipt of the EITC does not affect receipt of other
programs such as food stamp benefits, Medicaid, or housing subsidies. In 2009, the EITC was
expanded to low-earning single and married workers without children, noncustodial parents, and
parents with adult independent children.
Supporters of the EITC argue that the program strengthens family self-sufficiency, provides
families with more disposable income, and encourages work among welfare recipients. The program
acts as a short-term safety net during periods of shock to income (e.g., loss of job) or family
structure (e.g., divorce) or as a long-term income support for multiple spells of income loss or
poverty (Dowd and Horowitz 2011). Families use their credits to cover basic necessities, home
repair, vehicle maintenance, or education expenses (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2012).
Almost half of EITC recipients planned to save all or part of their refund (Smeeding, Ross, and
O’Conner 1999). The program is credited with lifting more children out of poverty than any other
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government program (Llobrera and Zahradnik 2004).
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In 2017, 26 states and the District of Columbia offered a state-level earned income credit for
residents, usually a percentage of the federal credit.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Will economic inequality ever be eliminated?
Changing the Definition—Redefining Poverty
The calculation of the U.S. poverty measure has been described as outdated due to how
consumption patterns and the types of family needs have changed. For example, the cost of housing
now constitutes a larger proportion of household expenses than it did in the 1960s (Ruggles 1990).
Due to the rising costs of goods and services other than food (the primary basis for the current
poverty calculation), the poverty measure underestimates the income needed for all household
necessities (Christopher 2005).
In 1995, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) called for a new poverty measure to
include the three basic categories of food, clothing, and shelter (and utilities) and a small amount to
cover other needs such as household supplies, child care, personal care, and non-work-related
transportation. Because the census measure does not show how taxes, noncash benefits, and work-
related child care and medical expenses affect people’s well-being, the NAS panel cautioned that the
current poverty measure cannot reflect how policy changes in these areas affect the poor. In
addition, the measure does not consider how the cost of basic goods (food and shelter) has changed
since the 1960s. As we have already discussed, the federal poverty measurement assumes that costs
are the same across most of the states, except Hawaii and Alaska. It does not make sense that a
family of four in Manhattan, New York, is expected to spend the same amount of money for food,
clothing, and shelter as a family of four in Manhattan, Kansas (Bhargava and Kuriansky 2002).
The U.S. Census Bureau has been calculating experimental measures of poverty since 1999. For
2001, in measuring the overall poverty rate, the experimental measures reported higher levels of
poverty, especially when accounting for geographic differences in housing costs and for medical out-
of-pocket expenses. Although the official rate was 11.7%, experimental measures varied between
12.3% and 12.9%. When looking at the poverty rate for specific groups, the experimental measures
tend to present a poverty population that looks more like the total population in terms of its mix of
people: the elderly, White non-Hispanic individuals, and Hispanics (Short 2001).
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In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau released the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). Rebecca
Blank (2011) explained that the SPM provides an alternative way to look at economic need among
the lowest-income families. While adjusting for geographic differences, the measure considers the
dollar amount spent on food, clothing, utilities and housing, medical needs, and work-related
transportation. The measure also considers household income resources, including noncash
government benefits such as SNAP and the EITC. The official poverty statistics, according to
Blank, are incomplete when it comes to reporting the effect of the government policy on the poor.
For example, when SNAP benefits are counted as income, they lift almost 4 million people above
the poverty line and reduce poverty for millions more (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
2013b).
Although the SPM will not replace the official measure, it has led to a reexamination of the extent
of poverty in the United States. Results showed higher SPM poverty rates than the official measure
for most groups. For 2010, according to the official poverty measure, there were 46.6 million people
(or 15.2% of the population) living in poverty. With the SPM calculation, the poverty estimate
increased to 49.1 million (16%). The distribution of poverty also changes, with higher proportions
of poor among adults aged 18 to 64 years and adults 65 and older, married-couple families and
families with male householders, Whites, Asians, the foreign born, homeowners with mortgages,
and those with private health insurance (Short 2011).
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
CRITICAL THINKING
Your college education involves more than just learning new things; it also includes developing
the skills to apply your new knowledge. This skill is referred to as critical thinking. The
American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U 2013) defines critical thinking as
“a habit of the mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts
and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.†A good critical thinker is
able to apply these habits in “various and changing situations encountered in all walks of lifeâ€
(AAC&U 2013). What does critical thinking look like? Critical thinking does not consist of
one specific activity or outcome; rather it involves the use of reason, logic, and evidence to solve
a problem, to evaluate a claim or situation, or to investigate a new aspect of our social world.
Take, for example, the subject of this chapter: social class. Most sociological discussions about
social class begin with a discussion on Karl Marx. A critical thinker would not simply accept
Marx’s theory as the only explanation about social class but would also consider alternative
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perspectives and explanations, some that might even disagree with Marx. A critical thinker
would look for evidence, considering whether historical data support or refute Marx’s theory on
the rise of the proletariat class. Critical thinking can also involve applying Marx’s theory to the
way that we live and work now. What would Marx think about our solutions for poverty?
Critical thinking is valued in the new workplace. According to a 2013 survey of business and
nonprofit leaders, 75% of respondents said they wanted more educational emphasis on critical
thinking, along with complex problem solving, written and oral communication, and applied
knowledge in real-world settings (Hart Research Associates 2013).
How have you applied critical thinking in your sociology courses?
How could you use this skill in the workplace?
CHAPTER REVIEW
2.1 Explain the different definitions of poverty.
Absolute poverty refers to a lack of basic necessities, such as food, shelter, and income.
Relative poverty refers to a situation where people fail to achieve the average income or
lifestyle enjoyed by the rest of society. Relative poverty emphasizes the inequality of
income and the growing gap between the richest and poorest Americans. The poverty
threshold is the original federal poverty measure developed by the Social Security
Administration and is used for estimating the number of people in poverty annually by the
Census Bureau. Poverty guidelines (issued each year by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services) are used for determining family or individual eligibility for federal
programs.
2.2 Compare the four sociological perspectives on social class and poverty.
Functionalists observe that class inequality is a product of our social structure. Lower
wages and poverty are natural consequences of this system of stratification. Conflict
theorists assert that poverty exists because those in power want to maintain and expand
their base of power and interests, with little left to share with others. Welfare
bureaucracies—local, state, and national—represent important interest groups that
influence the creation and implementation of welfare policies. Feminist scholars argue
that the welfare state is an arena of political struggle. The drive to maintain male
dominance and the patriarchal family is assumed to be the principal force shaping the
formation, implementation, and outcomes of U.S. welfare policy. Interactionists explain
how poverty is a learned phenomenon. This perspective also focuses on the public’s
perceptions about poverty.
2.3 Identify two consequences of poverty.
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Food insecurity is defined as food insufficient for all family members to enjoy active and
healthy lives for at least some time during the year. For a variety of reasons, poor families
encounter higher food prices and a smaller selection of food than other families. Housing
is another problem; the combination of low earnings and scarce housing assistance results
in serious housing problems for the working poor.
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2.4 Explain the evolution of U.S. welfare policy.
The centerpiece of the social welfare system was established by the passage of the Social
Security Act of 1935. The act endorsed a system of assistance programs that would
provide for Americans who could not care for themselves: widows, the elderly, the
unemployed, and the poor. Welfare policies and programs were expanded under Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society reforms, yet policy makers
grew concerned about increasing dependence on social welfare programming. A new era
of social welfare began with the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act. PRWORA was a bipartisan welfare reform plan to reduce recipients’
dependence on government assistance through strict work requirements and welfare time
limits.
2.5 Assess whether life after welfare has improved since the passage of PRWORA.
PRWORA had an immediate effect in reducing the number of people on welfare.
However, although employment has increased among welfare recipients, many recipients
have little education or work experience, have limited employment benefits, and continue
to struggle to achieve self-sufficiency.
KEY TERMS
absolute poverty, 27
culture of poverty, 37
distributive power, 37
food insecure, 39
income, 35
life chances, 26
poverty guidelines, 28
poverty threshold, 28
power, 35
power elite, 35
prestige, 35
relative poverty, 27
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social inequality, 36
social stratification, 32
wealth, 35
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Examine the difference between income and wealth. Which do you think is the better
measure of social class?
2. How would you describe a middle-class lifestyle? What are its characteristics—housing,
vacations, cars, and lifestyle? Estimate what it takes to lead this middle-class life.
3. Review the different definitions of poverty (from sociologists and according to federal
policy). What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
4. Functionalists assume that not everyone in society can and should be equal. Do you agree
with this statement? Why or why not?
5. How would Marx and Weber define your social status, that of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and
that of your sociology professor?
6. How has the welfare system (past and present) discriminated against women?
7. The chapter reviews three consequences of poverty—health care, food insecurity, and
housing. Which do you think is most serious and why? What other consequences of poverty
can you identify?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
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©Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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3
RACE AND ETHNICITY
Media Library
CHAPTER 3 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 3.1: Race and Ethnicity
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 3.2: Ferguson Demonstrations
AP News Clips 3.3: US Immigration Protest
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
3.1 Describe the difference between race and ethnic groups.
3.2 Identify the different types of institutional discrimination.
3.3 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and
ethnicity.
3.4 Describe the impact of immigrant workers on the U.S. labor force.
3.5 Explain how the college experience increases racial/ethnic diversity awareness.
Days after White nationalists and counter protestors clashed on their campus, University of Virginia
(UVA) students gathered to express their solidarity against hate and racism. Three people died, and
more than 30 individuals were injured in a series of violent clashes over the August 2017 weekend.
UVA students assembled under a banner that read, “Our mission therefore is to confront ignorance
with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity.
Racism can, will and must be defeated†(Kelly 2017). The university’s rector Frank Conner (2017)
acknowledged, “We all need to transform our anger at the actions of this past weekend so as to
rededicate our energy, our talents, and our hearts to our institutional purpose of developing citizen
leaders in all fields of endeavor to evolve into a more perfect union. If we are to succeed in that
purpose, we must be honest about the issues facing our society.â€
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The United States is a diverse racial and ethnic society. The U.S. Census Bureau (2012b) predicts
that by 2043, non-Hispanic Whites will no longer make up the majority of the U.S. population.
Acting Census Bureau director Thomas L. Mesenbourg (U.S. Census Bureau 2012b) described the
United States as a “plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest
single group, but no group is in the majority.†The minority population (Hispanic, Black, Asian,
American Indians, and Alaska Natives) is projected to account for 57% of the population by 2060
(U.S. Census Bureau 2012b).
Adding to the diversity of our population are increasing numbers of immigrants, their migration to
the United States and throughout the world spurred by the global economy. In 2013, 69% of
international migrants lived in high-income countries (nations with an average per capita income of
$12,616 or more, such as the United States and Germany) compared with 57% in 1990 (Connor,
Cohn, and Gonzalez-Barrera 2013). Population mobility since the middle of the 20th century has
been characterized by unprecedented volume, speed, and geographical range (Collin and Lee 2003).
At the end of 2015, 243 million people, lived in a country other than their birth country (United
Nations 2016). As Zygmunt Bauman (2000) said, “the world is on the move†(p. 77). Regionally,
Europe has the largest number of international migrants (about 76 million), followed by Asia (75
million) and North America (54 million) (United Nations 2016) (refer to Table 3.1).
Racial divisions remain a defining feature of our social lives (Brown 2013). Complete racial equality
and harmony remain elusive in the United States. In this chapter, we explore how one’s racial and
ethnic status serves as a basis of inequality. Like social class, race or ethnicity alters one’s life
chances, and members of particular groups experience an increased likelihood of experiencing
particular social problems. We begin first with understanding how race and ethnicity are defined.
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TABLE 3.1 â– Regional Distribution of International Migrants, 1960 and 2015
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Source: United Nations 2009, 2016.
*Oceania includes Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand.
DEFINING RACE AND ETHNICITY
The term race has been applied broadly to groups with similar physical features (the White race),
religion (the Jewish race), or the entire human species (the human race) (Marger 2002). However,
generations of migration, intermarriage, and adaptations to different physical environments have
produced a mixture of races. There is no such thing as a “pure†race.
© David McNew/Getty Images
In fiscal year 2016, more than 750,000 people were naturalized. To be eligible for citizenship, immigrants must meet
requirements set by immigration laws. Eligibility includes age (at least 18 years of age or older) and residency (at least 3 or 5
years as a permanent resident), along with other requirements.
Social scientists reject the biological notions of race, instead favoring an approach that treats race as
a social construct. In Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s, Michael
Omi and Howard Winant (1994) explained how race is a “concept which signifies and symbolizes
social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies†(p. 54). Instead of
thinking of race as something “objective,†the authors argued that we can imagine race as an
“illusion,†a subjective social, political, and cultural construct. In the United States, race tends to be a
bipolar construct—White versus non-White. According to the authors, “the meaning of race is
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defined and contested throughout society, in both collective action and personal practice. In the
process, racial categories themselves are formed, transformed, destroyed, and reformed†(Omi and
Winant 1994:21). Robert Redfield (1958) said it simply: “Race is, so to speak, a human inventionâ€
(p. 67).
Race may be a social construction, but that does not make race any less powerful and controlling
(Myers 2005). Omi and Winant (1994) argued that although particular stereotypes and meanings
can change, “the presence of a system of racial meaning and stereotypes, of racial ideology, seems to
be a permanent feature of U.S. culture†(p. 63).
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Ethnic groups are set off to some degree from other groups by displaying a unique set of cultural
traits, such as their language, religion, or diet. Members of an ethnic group perceive themselves as
members of an ethnic community, sharing common historical roots and experiences. All of us, to
one extent or another, have an ethnic identity. Increasingly, the terms race and ethnicity are
presented as a single construct pointing to how both terms are being conflated (Budrys 2003).
Martin Marger (2002) explained how ethnicity serves as a basis of social ranking, ranking a person
according to the status of his or her ethnic group. Although class and ethnicity are separate
dimensions of stratification, they are closely related: “In virtually all multiethnic societies, people’s
ethnic classification becomes an important factor in the distribution of societal rewards and hence,
their economic and political class positions. The ethnic and class hierarchies are largely parallel and
interwoven†(Marger 2002:286).
The federal definition of ethnicity is based on the Office of Management and Budget’s 1977
guideline (U.S. Census Bureau 2005), which defines ethnicity in terms of Hispanic/non-Hispanic
status, contrary to the conventional social scientific definition as presented in the previous
paragraphs. The U.S. Census treats Hispanic origin and race as separate and distinct concepts; as a
result, Hispanics may be of any race.
Since 2002, Hispanic Americans have been the nation’s largest ethnic minority group. The U.S.
Census Bureau includes in this category women and men who are Mexican, Central and South
American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Hispanic. The 2016 ethnic and racial composition
estimates of the United States are presented in Table 3.2. In 2012, the U.S. Census reported for the
first time that minority (non-White) births were the majority—50.4% of children younger than age
1 year were Hispanic, Black, Asian, or of mixed race. Non-Hispanic Whites accounted for 49.6% of
all births in a 12-month period (U.S. Census Bureau 2012a). Commenting on the report,
demographer William Frey (quoted in Tavernise 2012:A1) said, “This is an important tipping
point . . . [a] transformation from a mostly white baby boomer culture to a more globalized
multiethnic country that we’re becoming.†By 2020, more than half of the nation’s children will be
part of a minority race or ethnic group (Colby and Ortman 2015).
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TABLE 3.2 â– Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Race, 2016
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2016a.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 3.1: Race and Ethnicity
The U.S. Census distinguishes between native and foreign-born residents. Native refers to anyone
born in the United States or a U.S. island area such as Puerto Rico or the Northern Mariana Islands
or born abroad of a U.S. citizen parent; foreign born refers to anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at
birth. Elizabeth Grieco (2010) wrote, “The foreign born, through their own diverse origins, will
contribute to the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States. How they translate their own
backgrounds and report their adopted identities have important implications for the nation’s racial
and ethnic composition.†In 2015, among the 43.2 million foreign born in the United States, most
were from South and East Asia and from Mexico (both 27%, as displayed in Figure 3.1).
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FIGURE 3.1 â– Region of Birth for Immigrants in the U.S. (Percentage by World Region),
2017
Source: Lopez and Bialik 2017.
What Does It Mean to Me?
In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice requested the addition of a new citizenship question on the
2020 Census. The Department of Justice maintained that the question was necessary to better
enforce the Voting Rights Act. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 170
civil and human rights groups (2018) wrote against the request, saying, “Adding this question would
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jeopardize the accuracy of the 2020 Census in every state and every community by deterring many
people from responding.†Despite these expressed concerns, in March 2018, the U.S. Department
of Commerce announced the question would be included in the census. Explain how the citizenship
question would risk the accuracy of the 2020 Census.
Refugees are defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1980 as “aliens outside the United
States who are unable or unwilling to return to his/her country of origin for persecution or fear of
persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political opinion.†Data on the number of admitted refugees are collected annually by the U.S.
Department of State. In 2017, 53,716 persons were admitted as refugees, the majority from Near
East/South Asia (U.S. Department of State 2017).
Tracy Ore (2003) acknowledged that externally created labels for some groups are not always
accepted by those viewed as belonging to a particular group. For example, those of Latin American
descent may not consider themselves to be “Hispanic.†In this text, I’ve adopted Ore’s practice
regarding which racial and ethnic terms are used. In my own material, I use Latino to refer to those
of Latin American descent, and Black and African American interchangeably. However, original
terms used by authors or researchers (e.g., Hispanic as used by the U.S. Census Bureau) are not
altered.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
You may not be able to tell from my last name (Leon-Guerrero), but I consider my ethnic identity
to be Japanese. I am Japanese not only because of my Japanese mother but also because of the
Japanese traditions I practice, the Japanese words I use, and even the Japanese foods I like to eat. Do
you have an ethnic identity? If you do, how do you maintain it?
PATTERNS OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC INTEGRATION
Sociologists explain that ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group values and behaviors are
right and even better than all others. Feeling positive about one’s group is important for group
solidarity and loyalty. However, it can lead groups and individuals to believe that certain racial or
ethnic groups are inferior and that discriminatory practices against them are justified. This is called
racism.
Although not all inequality can be attributed to racism, our nation’s history reveals that particular
126
groups have been singled out and subject to unfair treatment. Certain groups have been subject to
individual discrimination and institutional discrimination. Individual discrimination includes
actions against minority members by individuals. Actions may range from avoiding contact with
minority group members to physical or verbal attacks against minority group members. Institutional
discrimination is practiced by the government, social institutions, and organizations. Institutional
discrimination may include segregation, exclusion, or expulsion.
Segregation refers to the physical and social separation of ethnic or racial groups. Although we
consider explicit segregation to be illegal and a thing of the past, ethnic and racial segregation still
occurs in neighborhoods, schools, and personal relationships. According to Debra Van Ausdale and
Joe Feagin (2001),
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection [LC-DIG-fsa-8a26761]
Jim Crow laws mandated the segregation of Whites and Blacks in public facilities, schools, and transportation in U.S.
southern states. The laws were enforced until 1954 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that
the racial segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 further prohibited racial discrimination, ending Jim Crow laws once and for all.
racial discrimination and segregation are still central organizing factors in contemporary U.S. society. For the most part,
Whites and Blacks do not live in the same neighborhoods, attend the same schools at all educational levels, enter into close
friendships or other intimate relationships with one another, or share comparable opinions on a wide variety of political
matters. The same is true, though sometimes to a lesser extent, for Whites and other Americans of color, such as most
Latino, Native and Asian American groups. Despite progress since the 1960s, U.S. society remains intensely segregated
across color lines. Generally speaking, Whites and people of color do not occupy the same social space or social status. (p.
29)
Exclusion refers to the practice of prohibiting or restricting the entry or participation of groups in
society. In March 1882, U.S. Congressman Edward K. Valentine declared, “The [immigration] gate
must be closed†(Gyory 1998:238). That year, Valentine, along with other congressional leaders,
approved the Chinese Exclusion Act. From 1882 to 1943, the United States prohibited Chinese
immigration because of concerns that Chinese laborers would compete with American workers. The
Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 established national-origin quotas, giving priority to European
immigrants. Through the 1940s, immigration was defined as a hindrance rather than a benefit to
the United States.
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Finally, expulsion is the removal of a group by direct force or intimidation. Native Americans in
the United States were forcibly removed from their homelands by early settlers and the federal
government before and after the American Revolutionary War. During the 1830s, members of the
Cherokee and other nations were forcibly relocated to government-designated Indian territory
(present-day Oklahoma). Their journey is known as the Trail of Tears, where thousands died along
the way. In 2006, journalist Eliot Jaspin documented the extent of racial expulsion that occurred in
towns from central Texas through Georgia. After the Civil War through the 1920s, White residents
expelled nearly all Black persons from their communities, usually using direct physical force.
Thirteen countywide expulsions were documented in eight states between 1864 and 1923 in which
4,000 Blacks were driven out of their communities.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RACIAL AND
ETHNIC INEQUALITIES
Functionalist Perspective
Theorists from the functionalist perspective believe that the differences between racial and ethnic
groups are largely cultural. The solution is assimilation, a process whereby minority group
members become part of the dominant group, losing their original distinct group identity. This
process is consistent with America’s image as the “melting pot.†Milton Gordon (1964) presented a
seven-stage assimilation model that begins first with cultural assimilation (change of cultural
patterns, e.g., learning the English language), followed by structural assimilation (interaction with
members of the dominant group), marital assimilation (intermarriage), identification assimilation
(developing a sense of national identity, e.g., identifying as an American, rather than as an Asian
American), attitude receptional assimilation (absence of prejudiced thoughts among dominant and
minority group members), behavioral receptional assimilation (absence of discrimination; e.g., lower
wages for minorities would not exist), and finally civic assimilation (absence of value and power
conflicts).
Assimilation is said to allow a society to maintain its equilibrium (a goal of the functionalist
perspective) if all members of society, regardless of their racial or ethnic identity, adopt one
dominant culture. This is often characterized as a voluntary process. Critics argue that this
perspective assumes that social integration is a shared goal and that members of the minority group
are willing to assume the dominant group’s identity and culture, assuming that the dominant culture
is the one and only preferred culture (Myers 2005). The perspective also assumes that assimilation is
the same experience for all ethnic groups, ignoring the historical legacy of slavery and racial
discrimination in our society.
Assimilation is not the only means to achieve racial/ethnic stability. Other countries maintain
pluralism, where each ethnic or racial group maintains its own culture (cultural pluralism) or a
separate set of social structures and institutions (structural pluralism). Cultural pluralism is also
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referred to as multiculturalism. Switzerland, which has a number of different nationalities and
religions, is an example of a pluralistic society. The country, also referred to as the Swiss
Confederation, has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Relationships
between each ethnic group are described for the most part as harmonious because each of the
ethnically diverse parts joined the confederation voluntarily seeking protection (Farley 2005). In his
examination of pluralism in the United States, Min Zhou (2004) noted, “As America becomes
increasingly multiethnic, and as ethnic Americans become integral in our society, it becomes more
and more evident that there is no contradiction between an ethnic identity and an American
identity†(p. 153).
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Conflict Perspective
According to sociologist and activist W. E. B. Du Bois (1996), perhaps it is wrong “to speak of race
at all as a concept, rather than as a group of contradictory forces, facts and tendencies†(p. 532). The
problem of the 20th century, wrote Du Bois, is “the color line.â€
Conflict theorists focus on how the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations divide groups while
maintaining a dominant group. The dominant group may be defined according to racial or ethnic
categories, but it can also be defined according to social class. Instead of relationships being based
on consensus (or assimilation), relationships are based on power, force, and coercion. Ethnocentrism
and racism maintain the status quo by dividing individuals along racial and ethnic lines (Myers
2005).
Drawing upon Marx’s class analysis, Du Bois was one of the first theorists to observe the connection
between racism and capitalist-class oppression in the United States and throughout the world. He
noted the link between racist ideas and actions to maintain a Eurocentric system of domination
(Feagin and Batur 2004). Du Bois (1996) wrote,
Throughout the world today organized groups of men by monopoly of economic and physical power, legal enactment and
intellectual training are limiting with great determination and unflagging zeal the development of other groups; and that the
concentration particularly on economic power today puts the majority of mankind into a slavery to the rest. (p. 532)
Marxist theorists argue that immigrants constitute a reserve army of workers, members of the
working class performing jobs that native workers no longer perform. Michael Samers (2003)
suggested that immigrants are a “quantitatively and qualitatively flexible labour force for capitalists
which divides and weakens working class organization and drives down the value of labour powerâ€
(p. 557). Capitalist businesses profit from migrant workers because they are cheap and flexible—
easily hired during times of economic growth and easily fired during economic recessions. In 2013,
approximately 60,000 immigrants worked in the federal detention centers, working for 13 cents an
hour. Immigrants held in local county jails also worked for free or in exchange for sodas or candy.
Their work usually involves meal preparation or janitorial work. This labor practice, though
voluntary and cost-saving (about $40 million per year for federal detention centers), has come under
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attack by detainees and immigrant advocates (Urbina 2014). Several lawsuits have been filed against
private-prison Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractors for exploiting and coercing
immigrant labor.
Hana Brown (2013) posited a racialized conflict theory regarding the development of welfare
policies. Her use of the term racialized (versus racial) emphasizes the constructed nature of race.
Racialized conflicts are “a series of events that draw boundaries based on racial difference, polarize
political groups along racial lines and involve explicitly race-based claims†(p. 401). Brown predicted
several effects of racialized conflict on the formation of welfare policy. First, Whites may feel
threatened by a larger or growing minority population and may perceive that minorities are too
reliant on public assistance. These beliefs become institutionalized in the political discourse,
transforming welfare into a racialized issue. Finally, racialized conflict divides political groups along
racial lines and encourages political leaders to exploit the existing racialized tensions in their favor.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 3.2: Ferguson Demonstrations
Brown offered empirical support of her hypotheses based on Georgia’s 1993–1994 welfare reform.
Georgia’s welfare legislation was preceded by a controversial proposal by Governor Zell Miller to
remove the Confederate emblem from the state flag. Response to his proposal was racially divided,
with the majority of Whites opposing and the majority of Blacks supporting the governor. The flag
proposal never materialized, but it ignited racial tension and racialized the state’s political discourse.
Whites felt threatened by and resentful of Blacks, and this affected the welfare debate. According to
Brown (2013), Miller’s decision to shift his attention from the state flag to welfare reform “proved a
politically convenient way to appeal to white resentment and threat, exploit the prevailing racial
discourses, and resurrect his political career†(p. 421). Georgia passed one of the strictest and most
punitive welfare programs emphasizing work and education.
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Feminist Perspective
Feminist theory has attempted to account for and focus on the experiences of women and other
marginalized groups in society. Feminist theory intersects with multiculturalism through the
analysis of multiple systems of oppression, not just gender, but including categories of race, class,
sexual orientation, nation of origin, language, culture, and ethnicity. Most notably, Patricia Hill
Collins’s (2000) Black feminist theory emerges from this perspective. Black feminists identify the
value of a theoretical perspective that addresses the simultaneity of race, class, and gender
oppression. The Black Lives Matter movement has embraced this intersectionality (refer to this
chapter’s In Focus feature for more information).
Black feminist scholars note the misguided application of traditional feminist perspectives of “the
family,†“patriarchy,†and “reproduction†to understand the experience of Black women’s lives. Black
women do not lead parallel lives, but rather lead different lives. British scholar Hazel Carby (1985)
argued that because Black women are subject to simultaneous oppression based on class, race, and
patriarchy, the application of traditional (White) feminist perspectives is not appropriate and is
actually misleading in attempts to comprehend the true experience of Black women. As an example,
Carby (1985) analyzed an article on women in third-world manufacturing. Carby highlighted how
the photographs accompanying the article are of “anonymous Black women.†She observed, “This
anonymity and the tendency to generalize into meaninglessness, the oppression of an amorphous
category called ‘Third World Women,’ are symptomatic of the ways in which the specificity of our
experiences and oppression are subsumed under inapplicable concepts and theories†(Carby
1985:394).
Applying theoretical perspectives from Black and postcolonial feminist theory, Cecile Thun (2012)
explained how immigrant women are minoritized and excluded from the majority feminist agenda
in Norway. Based on her interviews with members of feminist organizations, Thun concluded that
White Norwegian women are defined as the norm for being a woman or a feminist, while other
women are considered deviant and are subsequently excluded from the majority feminist agenda. In
other words, ethnic minority and immigrant women are not considered Norwegian women. She
argued this is a “hegemonic representation of feminism, immigrants/ethnic minorities and
Norwegians are constituted as mutually exclusive categories. . . . Immigrants are thereby excluded
from the imagined Norwegian nation. The terms have elements of hierarchy and work as boundary
markers†(p. 46). She suggested opening up a more intersectional perspective to include racism and
ethnic discrimination in the Norwegian feminist agenda.
Interactionist Perspective
Sociologists believe that race is a social construct. We learn about racial and ethnic categories of
White, Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, and immigrant through our social interaction. The
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meaning and values of these and other categories are provided by our social institutions, families,
and friends (Ore 2003). As much as I and other social scientists inform our students about the
unsubstantiated use of the term race, for most students, race is real. The term is loaded with social,
cultural, and political baggage, making deconstructing it difficult to accomplish.
p.59
IN FOCUS
BLACK LIVES MATTER
“Black lives matter is a simple affirmative sentence,†wrote theological scholar Wil Gafney
(2017:204). “The need to affirm, explain, or qualify the affirmation stems from the fact that
this statement is not universally accepted as truthful or legitimate claim. Concomitantly, the
inverse proposition is always present: Black lives do not matter. That proposition requires no
amplification for explanation. It is the ground on which all other claims about black life seem
to rest in this society.†According to Judith Butler, “The statement is so important because it
states the obvious, but the obvious has not yet been historically realized†(quoted in Yancy and
Butler 2015).
The phrase Black Lives Matter (BLM) was first used by activist Alicia Garza on a Facebook
post in July 2012. Garza and others were responding to the shooting death of 17-year-old
Trayvon Martin. The use of #BlackLivesMatter swelled on Twitter and Facebook in summer
2014 after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The movement has been described
as a “powerful new form of civil rights activism†combining street protest with social media
(Joseph 2016).
According to Lee Rainie, Pew Center’s Director of Internet, Science and Technology
Research, BLM “is a very powerful example of how a hashtag now is attached to a movement,
and a movement, in some ways has grown around a hashtag—a series of really painful and
really powerful conversations are taking place in a brand-new space†(quoted in Choski 2016).
BLM is best known for its protests of fatal police shootings of unarmed African American
men.
Support of the movement has not been universal. Critics claim that the group has been
ineffectual, without a clear direction or strategy. Others have described the group as a threat.
BLM cofounder Patrisse Cullors offered this response, “Black Lives Matter is very relevant
today, especially given the rise of white supremacists and white nationalists across, not just this
country, but across the globe. And so our work over the last four years has been putting anti-
black racism on the map, talking about the impact of anti-black racism has on this country, has
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on local government, has on policy and how it actually impacts the everyday life of black
people†(quoted in Simmons and Kaleem 2017).
Black Lives Matter has transformed into an intersectional movement, calling out the
oppression and marginalization of women, LGBTQ individuals, the disabled, undocumented
and other groups, and has expanded its focus to social policy and legislative reforms. As of
August 2017, BLM has 40 independent chapters, including chapters in Canada and Britain.
In November 2017, the group was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, Australia’s leading award
for global peacemakers.
Social scientists have noted how people are raced, how race itself is not a category but a practice.
Howard McGary (1999) defined the practice as “a commonly accepted course of action that may be
over time habitual in nature; a course of action that specifies certain forms of behavior as permissible
and others impermissible, with rewards and penalties assigned accordingly†(p. 83). In this way,
racial categories and identities serve as intersections of social beliefs, perceptions, and activities that
are reinforced by enduring systems of rewards and penalties (Shuford 2001). Racial practices are not
uniform. For example, whereas in the United States we are accustomed to racial categorizations
(e.g., the Census Bureau’s race measurement), France’s census does not include measures for race,
ethnicity, or religion.
Individuals are attempting to redefine racial boundaries by proposing the creation and
acknowledgment of a new racial category: multiracial, or mixed race. This is different from other
ethnic movements that work within the existing racial frameworks. For example, Latinos may
challenge the meaning and use of the Census category Hispanic, but they are not trying to create a
new racial identity (DaCosta 2007). Members of the multicultural movement advocate the formal
acceptance of the multiracial category on U.S. Census and other governmental forms and have also
worked on broader issues of racial and social justice (Bernstein and De la Cruz 2009). Based on a
2015 Pew Research Center survey, 7% of U.S. adults identified having a mix or multiple race
background (Pew Research Center 2015a).
Scholars have also observed the phenomenon of ethnic attrition, individuals choosing not to self-
identify as a member of a particular ethnic group. Brian Duncan and Stephen Trejo (2011) found
that about 30% of third-generation Mexican youth in their study failed to identify as Mexican,
choosing instead to identify as White. These youth were more likely to have parents with higher
levels of educational attainment and have more years of schooling themselves than youth who
identified as Mexican. Scholars of race in Latin America have also confirmed patterns of
intergenerational Whitening. Highly educated non-White Brazilians were found to be more likely
to label their children White than less-educated non-White Brazilians (Schwartzman 2007).
A summary of all theoretical perspectives is provided in Table 3.3.
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TABLE 3.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Race and
Ethnicity
THE CONSEQUENCES OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC
INEQUALITIES
U.S. Immigration
Most U.S. families have an immigration history, whether it is based upon stories of relatives as long
as four generations ago or as recent as the current generation. Immigration involves leaving one’s
country of origin to move to another. The United Nations uses the analogy of multiple doors of a
house to describe the different ways migrants enter a country. Migrants can enter a house through
the front door (as permanent settlers), the side door (temporary visitors and workers), or the back
door (undocumented migrants). Back-door migrants have been the recent focus of much political
and economic debate.
The regulation of immigration became a federal responsibility in 1875, and the Immigration Service
was established in 1891. Before this, all immigrants were allowed to enter and become permanent
134
residents. The Great Wave of immigration occurred from 1900 to 1920, when nearly 24 million
immigrants, mostly European, arrived in the United States. Congress passed a national immigrant
quota system in 1921, limiting the number of immigrants by national groups based on their
representation in U.S. Census figures. The quota system, along with the Depression and World
War II, slowed the flow of immigrants for several decades.
In 1965, Congress replaced the national quota system with a preference system designed to reunite
immigrant families and attract skilled immigrants. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act is
credited with transforming the U.S. demographic profile. The percentage of immigrants in the U.S.
population grew from 5% of the population in 1965 to 14% in 2015 (Pew Research Center 2015b).
During President George W. Bush’s term in office (2001–2009), undocumented immigration
became a primary concern for Americans, responding to the threat of terrorism and increasing
competition in a struggling economy. The number of unauthorized immigrants peaked at 12 million
in 2007 (Krogstad and Passel 2014). While acknowledging the country’s immigration heritage, the
administration proposed strengthening security at our southern border with Mexico and establishing
a temporary worker program without the benefit of amnesty. The plan was criticized for creating a
class of workers who would never become fully integrated in U.S. society and for focusing
specifically on Mexican workers, ignoring all other immigrant groups.
p.61
Many of those against immigration claim that immigrants compete with U.S.-born workers for jobs.
This argument persists in spite of consistent economic and labor force analyses that confirm how
immigrants are a positive addition to the economy (Borjas 1994) and have little effect on wages and
employment of native workers (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine 2017).
Prior immigrants (those who are most often the substitutes for newer arriving immigrants) are most
likely to experience a decline in wages, followed by native-born high school dropouts (National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine 2017).
As of 2016, the number of unauthorized immigrants was estimated at 11.3 million (Krogstad,
Passel, and Cohn 2017). According to Jens Manuel Krogstad, Jeffrey Passel, and D’Vera Cohn
(2017), there were 5.6 million Mexican unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in 2015
and 2016, compared with a peak of 7 million in 2007. The number of unauthorized immigrants
from nations other than Mexico were estimated to be slightly higher at 5.7 million. The emigration
decline of those from Mexico has been attributed to the Great Recession, declining job
opportunities in the housing and construction industry, increasing border enforcement, a rise in
deportations, and increasing dangers associated with border crossings (Krogstad and Passel 2014).
However, as Joseph Healey and Eileen O’Brien (2017) observed, “like past waves of immigrants,
even the least skilled and educated are determined to find a better way of life for themselves and
their children, even if the cost of doing so is living on the margins of the larger society†(p. 303).
Although there are no industries in which immigrants outnumber the U.S.-born employees, lawful
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and unauthorized immigrants are concentrated in specific industries. For 2014, the top industry for
lawful immigrants was retail (10% of lawful immigrants), educational services (8%), and non-
hospital health care services. For unauthorized immigrant workers, the leading industries were
construction (16%), restaurants (14%), and administrative and support services (9%) (Desilver
2017). Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for a closer look at the
characteristics of the recently arrived immigrant population.
©David McNew/Getty Images
On February 16, 2017, businesses shut down and immigrants refused work or to spend money in protest of the Trump
administration’s immigration policies. The Day Without Immigrants was staged to show the country what an economy
without immigrant labor would mean for our way of life.
Immigration enforcement practices were intensified under President Bush’s administration. One
strategy included increasing U.S.–Mexico border patrol and enforcement. However, Douglas
Massey, Jorge Durand, and Karen Pren (2016) argued that the escalation of border enforcement was
a failure. Although most believed that increased border enforcement would slow undocumented
immigration, the researchers found that enforcement had several unexpected consequences. As the
cost of undocumented border crossing increased, undocumented migrants had to stay in the United
States longer to make the crossing profitable. As the risk of death and injury increased with each
border crossing, migrants made the decision to minimize their number of crossings, not by
remaining in Mexico but by staying in the United States.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 3.3: US Immigration Protest
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The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have
been criticized for targeting immigrants with minor offenses, sometimes breaking up families in the
process. Human Rights Watch (2009) reported that since stricter deportation laws were passed in
1996, most immigrants have been deported for minor offenses (such as marijuana possession or
traffic offenses). Among legal immigrants who were deported, over 70% had been convicted for
nonviolent crimes. Many had lived in the United States for years and were separated from family
members. Researchers from the Urban Institute documented short- and long-term effects on
children with deported or detained parents. These children experienced financial, food, and housing
hardships in addition to behavioral changes such as changes in eating and sleeping habits and higher
degrees of fear and anxiety (Chaudry et al. 2010).
p.62
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
RECENTLY ARRIVED IMMIGRANT POPULATION
According to the Pew Research Center (2015c), recently arrived immigrants are different
from their counterparts of 50 years ago.
Figure 3.2 displays the educational attainment of immigrants between 1970 and 2013
(Pew Research Center 2015c). Those coming to the United States are better educated
than earlier cohorts. For example, half of newly arrived immigrants in 1970 had at least a
high school degree, but in 2013, 77% did. Improved educational levels are the result of
rising educational attainment in countries of origin. In the highest educational categories
(data not shown), immigrants are more likely than their U.S.-born peers to have earned a
bachelor’s degree (41% of immigrants vs. 30% of native born) or an advanced degree (18%
of immigrants vs. 11% of native born).
Data presented in Figure 3.3 summarizes the occupation distribution of recently arrived
immigrants. Based on 2013 data, which occupations are recently arrived immigrants most
likely to be employed in? How has this changed from 1970? What do you think? Does
this confirm or contradict your perception of immigrant employment?
FIGURE 3.2 â– Educational Attainment of Immigrants Aged 25 and Older
137
(Percentages), 1970 and 2013
Source: Pew Research Center 2015c.
* No available data for 1970.
FIGURE 3.3 â– Occupation Distribution of Recently Arrived Immigrants (1970 and
2013)
138
Source: Pew Research Center 2015c.
p.63
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
GLOBAL IMMIGRATION
Migration has been elevated to a top international policy concern (Düvell 2005), largely
because of the threat of terrorism and the challenge of global politics. Migrants now depart
from and arrive in almost every country in the world. Politically and morally, migration pits
two basic principles against each other: On one hand is the right of individuals to move freely
across borders for economic or personal reasons, and on the other is the country’s right to self-
govern, to regulate its borders, and to determine the difference between a citizen and an alien
(Benhabib 2012). France, Germany, Greece and other countries have seen an increase in pro-
and anti-immigration protests, as well as increased hate crime acts against immigrants. In
2018, far-right and populist candidates swept Italy’s national election, running on platforms
that embraced anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim messaging.
Riots by immigrants took place in France in 2005 and in Italy during 2008–2010. In Italy,
there are 4 million legal immigrants and estimates of more unauthorized immigrants residing
in the country. Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the International Organization for
139
Migration, described how immigrant workers live in semislavery. The riots, according to Di
Giacomo, revealed how “many Italian economic realities are based on the exploitation of low-
cost foreign labor, living in subhuman conditions, without human rights†(Donadio 2010a:A7).
The African laborers were paid under the table, about $30 a day, for picking fruit (Donadio
2010b). Asian and African immigrants in Greece have been the targets of violence and physical
attacks since 2010. The violence has been fueled by public discontent over the economy and
concern over job losses as well as demonization of immigrants in the press and in the political
arena. From a social constructionist’s perspective, immigrants were portrayed as the source of
Greece’s economic woes, defining them as a social problem and threat.
Migration flows are regarded as a threat to national and global stability, with some calling for
an international migration policy (Düvell 2005). Globalization has intensified the need to
coordinate and harmonize government policies. The United States, Canada, Great Britain,
France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Japan have increased policy coordination
regarding immigration, refugee admissions, and programs to integrate foreigners and their
family members already present in each country (Lee 2006). Several countries have instituted
immigration quotas and restrictions. In 2014, Swiss voters narrowly approved immigration
quotas for European Union citizens. (Switzerland is not a member of the European Union.)
Analysts describe the vote as a response to a growing concern that immigrants are eroding the
Swiss lifestyle and culture. According to the European Commission, the vote went against the
principle of the free movement of people (Baghdjian and Schmieder 2014).
From 2015 to 2017, the European Union struggled to relocate the thousands of asylum seekers
from the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa. In 2017, the Court Justice of the European
Union ruled that all EU countries were obligated to accept migrants under an established quota
system. Hungary and Slovakia refused to accept any refugees (Kanter 2017).
Would you support the closing of our borders to all new immigrants? Why or why not?
What Does It Mean to Me?
Immigration is part of a complex interdependent system, where native-born Americans depend on
immigrants for their labor and immigrants depend on the economic opportunities that are available
in U.S. society. Is immigration defined as a problem in your state? Who is affected and how?
Income and Wealth
“Race is so associated with class in the United States that it might not be direct discrimination, but
140
it still matters indirectly,†says sociologist Dalton Conley (Ohlemacher 2006:A6). Data reported by
the U.S. Census reveal that Black households had the lowest median income in 2015 ($39,490), or
61% of the median income for non-Hispanic White households ($65,041). The median income for
Hispanic households was $47,675, 73% of the median for non-Hispanic White households. Asian
households had the highest median income ($81,431), 125% of the median for non-Hispanic White
households (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017). Approximately 17% of all foreign born were
living in poverty in 2015 (Lopez and Radford 2017).
p.64
Because of years of discrimination, low educational attainment, high unemployment, or
underemployment, Blacks and Hispanics have not been able to achieve the same earnings or level of
wealth as White Americans have. Rakesh Kochhar and Anthony Cilluffo (2017) documented how
the Great Recession of 2007–2009 set in motion a prolonged decline in wealth of American
families, widening the wealth gap between White, Black, and Hispanic households. Net worth is
defined as the difference between a family’s gross assets and their liabilities. Comparing 2007 and
2016 median net worth for lower-income households, White families experienced greater losses in
wealth during the recession than Hispanic and Black families. In 2016, among lower- and middle-
income households, White families had four times as much wealth as Black families and three times
as much as Hispanic families (refer to Figure 3.4).
FIGURE 3.4 â– Median Net Worth of Lower- and Middle-Income Households by Race (in
2016 Dollars), 2016
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Source: Kochhar and Cilluffo 2017.
p.65
One measure of wealth is home ownership. Home ownership is one of the primary means of
accumulating wealth (Williams, Nesiba, and Diaz McConnell 2005). It enables families to finance
college and invest in their future. Historically, home ownership grew among White middle-class
families after World War II, when veterans had access to government and credit programs that
made home ownership more affordable. However, Blacks and other minority groups have been
denied similar access because of structural barriers such as discrimination, low income, and lack of
credit access. Feagin (1999) identified how inequality in home ownership has contributed to
inequality in other aspects of American life. Specifically, Blacks have been disadvantaged because of
their lack of home ownership, particularly in their inability to provide their children with “the kind
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of education or other cultural advantages necessary for their children to compete equally or fairly
with Whites†(Feagin 1999:86).
In 2004, U.S. home ownership reached a record high of 69.2%, with nearly 73.4 million Americans
owning their own homes. However, racial gaps in home ownership persist. In the third quarter of
2017, 72.5% of White households owned their own homes, compared with 42% of Black and 46%
of Hispanic households (U.S. Census Bureau 2017).
Education
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education ruled that racial
segregation in public schools was illegal. Reaction to the ruling was mixed, with a strong response
from the South. A major confrontation occurred in Arkansas, when Governor Orval Faubus used
the state’s National Guard to block the admission of nine Black students into Little Rock Central
High School. The students persisted and successfully gained entry to the school the next day with
1,000 U.S. Army paratroopers at their side. The Little Rock incident has been identified as a
catalyst for school integration throughout the South. Despite resistance to the Court’s ruling, legally
segregated education had disappeared by the mid-1970s.
However, a different type of segregation persists, called de facto segregation. De facto segregation
refers to a subtler process of segregation that is the result of other processes, such as housing
segregation, rather than an official policy (Farley 2005). Here, we clearly see the intersection of race
and class. Schools have become economically segregated, with children of middle- and upper-class
families attending predominantly White suburban schools and the children of poorer parents
attending racially mixed urban schools (Gagné and Tewksbury 2003). Researchers, teachers, and
policy makers have all observed a great disparity in the quality of education students receive in the
United States (for more on social problems related to education, turn to Chapter 8). Educational
systems reinforce patterns of social class inequality and, along with it, racial inequality (Farley 2005).
Although Latinos have the lowest educational achievement rates compared with all other major
racial and ethnic groups in the United States (refer to Table 3.4), there has been a recent increase in
rates of high school completion and college enrollment. Richard Fry and Paul Taylor (2013)
reported that for the class of 2012, 69% of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college,
compared with 67% of their White student peers. This percentage is an increase from what was
reported for the class of 2000, when only 49% of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college.
Fry and Taylor attributed the increase in Hispanic college enrollment to two structural factors: a
tough and competitive job market and the importance Latino families place on a college education.
In 2016, 47% of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college, the same figure as their White
peers (Pew Research Center 2017).
TABLE 3.4 â– Educational Attainment of Population Age 25 and Older by Race and
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Ethnicity (Percentages Reported), 2015
Source: Data from U.S.Census Bureau, 2015 Current Population Survey.
Much of the research on the achievement gap between Latinos and White students has focused on
the characteristics of the students (family income, parents’ level of education). However, according
to the Pew Hispanic Center (Fry 2005), we need to also consider the social context of Hispanic
students’ learning, noting how educators and policy makers have more influence over the
characteristics of their schools than over the characteristics of students. Based on their state and
national assessment of the basic characteristics of public high schools for Hispanic and other
students, the Pew Hispanic Center found that Latinos were more likely than Whites or Blacks to
attend the largest public high schools (enrollment of at least 1,838 students). More than 56% of
Hispanics attend large schools, compared with 32% of Blacks and 26% of Whites. Schools with
larger enrollments are associated with lower student achievement and higher dropout rates. In
addition, the center reported that Hispanics are more likely to be in high schools with lower
instructional resources, including higher student-to-teacher ratios, which has been associated with
lower academic performance. Nearly 37% of Hispanics are educated in public high schools with a
student-to-teacher ratio greater than 22 to 1, compared with 14% of Blacks and 13% of White
students (Fry 2005).
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In June 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court, voting 5 to 4, invalidated the use of race to assign students
to public schools, even if the goal was to achieve racial integration of a district’s schools. The ruling
addressed public school practices in Seattle, Washington (where 41% of all public school students
are White), and Louisville, Kentucky (where two thirds of all public school students are White).
Legal experts and educators were divided about whether the ruling affirmed or betrayed Brown v.
Board of Education. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts asserted, “Simply because
the school districts may seek a worthy goal [racial integration] does not mean they are free to
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discriminate on the basis of race to achieve it.†Despite voting with the majority, Justice Anthony
M. Kennedy said in a separate statement that achieving racial diversity and addressing the problem
of de facto segregation were issues that school districts could constitutionally pursue as long as the
programs were “sufficiently ‘narrowly tailored’†(Greenhouse 2007:A1).
Health
“Although race may be a social construct, it produces profound biological manifestations through
stress, decreased services, decreased medications, and decreased hospital procedures†(Gabard and
Cooper 1998:346). Despite the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), racial
disparities in access to health care and outcomes are pervasive. Data reveal that in a voluntary,
employment-based health care system, racial and ethnic minority group members are more likely to
be uninsured or publicly insured. In 2016, White non-Hispanics had the lowest uninsured rate
(6.3%), compared with Blacks (15.9%), Asians (7.6%), and Hispanics (16%) (Barnett and Berchick
2017). Naturalized citizens have the same ACA access and requirements as U.S.-born citizens,
while lawfully present immigrants have limited coverage. Undocumented immigrants have no
federal coverage, but they are eligible for emergency care under federal law and nonemergency
health services at community health centers. Children of undocumented parents are eligible for
Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
p.67
W. Michael Byrd and Linda Clayton (2002) asserted that the health crisis among African
Americans and poor populations is fueled by a medical-social culture laden with ideological,
intellectual and scientific, and discriminatory race and class problems. They believe that America’s
health system is predicated on the belief that the poor and “unworthy†of our society do not deserve
decent health. Consequently, health professionals, as well as research and educational systems,
engage in what they describe as “self serving and elite behavior†that marginalizes and ignores the
problems of health care for minority and disadvantaged groups. They caution that our failure to
address, and eventually resolve, these race- and class-based health policy, structural, medical-social,
and cultural problems plaguing the American health care system could potentially undermine any
possibility of a level playing field in health and health care for African American and other poor
populations—eroding at the front end the very foundations of American democracy (Byrd and
Clayton 2002:572–73).
One solution to addressing racial disparities in health is to increase awareness of the problem. A
national survey concluded that only 46% of American adults were aware of health disparities
between Whites and Blacks. The study also revealed that most Americans attributed poor health
outcomes to poor choices and health behaviors rather than the social conditions that initiate and
sustain them (Booske, Robert, and Rohan 2011). However, increasing public awareness does not
guarantee that people will want to act upon these inequalities. The next step would be to connect
the problem of poor health outcomes with racial inequality and racism. It isn’t just about saying
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racial and ethnic health disparities exist but also identifying the source of the disparities, possibly
building a political climate to facilitate social change (Williams and Purdie-Vaughns 2016).
In the next section, other responses to racial and ethnic inequalities are identified.
RESPONDING TO RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITIES
Immigration Policy Since 2009
According to sociologist Joanna Dreby (2015), “No immigration policy, except for an entirely open
system of immigration, can completely remove unauthorized individuals. From this perspective, the
question is not how to eliminate the number of unauthorized but what approach to use in dealing
with this population†(p. 191). Since the George W. Bush administration was in office, there have
been several federal and state approaches to addressing immigration.
In 2009, as the Bush plan had, Obama officials promoted the need for tougher enforcement laws
against undocumented immigrants and employers who hire them, a streamlined system for legal
immigration, and a system for undocumented immigrants to earn legal status (Preston 2009). At the
same time, the Obama administration promised a more compassionate approach to enforcement
that would focus on felony criminal offenders. In 2011, 396,906 immigrants were deported—the
largest number in the history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Fifty-five percent were
convicted of felonies or misdemeanors (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 2011). The
Obama administration’s continued focus on punitive enforcement strategies was criticized for failing
to encourage and promote assimilation among immigrants and their children. Nationwide polls
showed broad support for tougher border and workplace enforcement, while also establishing an
opportunity for citizenship.
After the U.S. Congress was unable to pass a bipartisan immigration bill, the states took matters
into their own hands, debating similar immigration issues in their own state legislatures (Preston
2007). Between 2005 and 2011, more than 8,000 bills related to immigration were introduced
throughout the country, and approximately 1,700 were signed into law (National Conference of
State Legislatures 2011). These laws addressed a range of immigration issues, including the use of
unauthorized illegal workers, the use of false identification (e.g., Social Security), and the extension
of education and health care benefits to legal immigrants.
Arizona legislators passed senate bill (SB) 1070, the toughest immigration bill, in 2010, requiring
local law enforcement agencies and officers to demand proof of citizenship from suspected illegal
immigrants. Failure to carry proper documentation, even if one is a legal immigrant, is defined as a
misdemeanor. In 2011, 31 states introduced legislation replicating all or part of SB 1070. Voters in
five states—Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Utah—successfully passed
immigration laws modeled after SB 1070. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld part of
Arizona’s law, permitting the “show me your papers†provision, while ruling that the state could not
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pursue policies that undermined or conflicted with federal law, for example, by making it a crime
under state law for immigrants to fail to register under a federal law, making it a state crime for
illegal immigrants to work, and allowing police to arrest individuals without warrants (Liptak 2012).
In 2016, as part of a settlement with a coalition of immigrant rights groups, Arizona’s state attorney
general announced that police officers would no longer demand proof of residency from people
suspected of being in the country illegally, eliminating the “show me your papers†provision.
p.68
©Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images
DACA student Evelin Flores attends Eastern Conneticut State University. Her family brought her from Mexico when she
was a baby. Flores recieves scholarship support from The Dream US scholarship program.
The impact of immigration, especially on youth and young adults, has been the focus of federal and
state government debate. Second generation applies to those born in the United States to one or
more foreign-born parents. Based on key measures of socioeconomic attainment (income, college
graduation, home ownership, and poverty rates), most second-generation Americans are better off
than first-generation Americans. Their characteristics resemble the full U.S. adult population (Pew
Research 2013). In contrast, the 1.5 generation refers to individuals who immigrated to the United
States as a child or an adolescent. The parents of the 1.5 generation are foreign born. Members of
the 1.5 generation are described as living between two worlds; even though they spend most of their
life in the United States, they still are not legal citizens.
Through executive action, in 2012 the Obama administration blocked the deportation of more than
800,000 migrants who came to the United States before age 16 (Preston and Cushman 2012; White
House 2012). The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) allows those who have lived in
the United States for at least five years and are currently enrolled in school, high school graduates,
or military veterans in good standing to work legally and to obtain driver’s licenses. Immigrants
convicted of a felony, a serious misdemeanor, or three less serious misdemeanors are not eligible for
the program. As of March 2018, there were approximately 700,000 active DACA recipients (U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services 2018).
As congressional gridlock on immigration continued in 2014, President Obama announced a series
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of executive actions that would grant up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants protection from
deportation. His order created a deferred action program for parents of U.S. citizens.
Undocumented immigrant parents would have to pass background checks, pay fees, and show that
their child was born before the president’s announcement. The president also announced the
extension of DACA eligibility to men and women who entered the United States as children before
January 2010, regardless of how old they are today (White House 2014).
In September 2017, President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to phase
out DACA, giving Congress six months to devise a legislative solution that would provide some of
the DACA protections. President Obama (2017) responded to the announcement, saying in part,
“That action today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question. Whatever
concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten
the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no
threat, who are not taking anything away from the rest of us.†A series of federal court rulings placed
a temporary stay on President Trump’s plan to end DACA and removed the congressional deadline.
As of June 2018, no new DACA legislation has been introduced in Congress. U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services will continue accepting DACA renewal applications.
p.69
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice has executed 49,983 orders of
removal for unauthorized immigrants, up 27.8% over the same time period in 2016 (U.S.
Department of Justice 2017). Agents are now permitted to arrest and deport anyone who is here
illegally. In December 2017, in an effort to discourage future border crossings, the Trump
administration announced plans to separate parents from their children if they are caught illegally
entering the country. Migrant advocates argued that the policy would jeopardize the safety of the
families fleeing Central America and would inflict devastating trauma on the children (Miroff
2017).
Affirmative Action
Since its inception 50 years ago, affirmative action has been a “contentious issue on national, state,
and local levels†(Yee 2001:135). Affirmative action is a policy that has attempted to improve
minority access to occupational and educational opportunities (Woodhouse 2002). No federal
initiatives enforced affirmative action until 1961, when President John Kennedy signed Executive
Order 10925. The order created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and forbade
employers with federal contracts from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, or
religion in their hiring practices. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil
Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin by
private employers, agencies, and educational institutions receiving federal funds (Swink 2003).
In June 1965, during a graduation speech at Howard University, President Johnson spoke for the
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first time about the importance of providing opportunities to minority groups, an important
objective of affirmative action. According to Johnson (1965),
you do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race
and then say, “You are free to compete with all others†and still justly believe you have been completely fair. Thus it is not
enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. This is the
next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. (p. 636)
EMPLOYMENT In September 1965, President Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, which
required government contractors to “take affirmative action†toward prospective minority employees
in all aspects of hiring and employment. Contractors are required to take specific proactive measures
to ensure equality in hiring without regard to race, religion, and national origin. The order also
established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), charged with enforcing and
monitoring compliance among federal contractors. In 1967, President Johnson amended the order
to include discrimination based on gender (Swink 2003). In 1969, President Richard Nixon
initiated the Philadelphia Plan, which required federal contractors to develop affirmative action
plans by setting minimum levels of minority participation for federal construction projects in
Philadelphia and three other cities (Idelson 1995). This was the first order that endorsed the use of
specific goals for desegregating the workplace (Kotlowski 1998), but it did not include fixed quotas
(Woodhouse 2002). India’s affirmative action program relies on quotas in the public (government)
sector. In Northern Ireland, affirmative action is practiced in public and private sectors, including
government contractors, and does not rely on quotas (Muttarak et al. 2013).
According to Dawn Swink (2003), “While the initial efforts of affirmative action were directed
primarily at federal government employment and private industry, affirmative action gradually
extended into other areas, including admissions programs in higher education†(pp. 214–15). State
and local governments followed the lead of the federal government and took formal steps to
encourage employers to diversify their workforces.
p.70
Opponents of affirmative action believe that such policies encourage preferential treatment for
minorities (Woodhouse 2002), giving women and ethnic minorities an unfair advantage over White
males (Yee 2001). Affirmative action, say its critics, promotes “reverse discrimination,†the hiring of
unqualified minorities and women at the expense of qualified White males (Pincus 2003). Some
believe affirmative action has not worked and ultimately results in the stigmatization of those who
benefit from the policies (Herring and Collins 1995; Heilman, Block, and Stahatos 1997).
Proponents argue that only through affirmative action policies can we address the historical societal
discrimination that minorities experienced in the past (Kaplan and Lee 1995). Although these
policies have not created true equality, there have been important accomplishments (Tsang and
Dietz 2001). As a result of affirmative action, women and people of color have gained increased
access to forms of public employment and education that were once closed to them (Yee 2001). Yet
research indicates that ethnic minorities and women do not have an unfair advantage over White
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men. Women and ethnic minorities are not receiving equal compensation compared to White males
with similar education and background (Tsang and Dietz 2001). Wage disparities and job
segregation continue to exist in the workplace (Harris 2009).
G. L. A. Harris (2009) explained that although the record on affirmation action is mixed, there is
evidence that without the policy and the use of gender, race, and/or other ethnicity as part of the
employment hiring process, the employment status of women and underrepresented minorities
would be worse. Affirmative action has been the “only comprehensive set of policies that has given
women and people of color opportunities for better paying jobs and access to higher education that
did not exist before†(Yee 2001:137). There is also evidence that White employees benefit from the
inclusion of these groups in the workplace; for example, companies with more than 100 employees
with affirmation action programs have higher earnings for Whites, women, and minority employee
groups (Pincus 2003).
Shawn Woodhouse (1999, 2002) argued that the differences in individual perceptions of affirmative
action policy may be related to the differences of racial group histories and socialization experiences.
She wrote,
Based upon these rationalizations, it is implicit that individuals interpret affirmative action through an ethnic specific lens.
In other words, most individuals will assess their group condition when considering contentious legislation such as
affirmative action because after all, a group’s history impacts its view of American society. (Woodhouse 2002:158)
EDUCATION Based on Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, affirmative action policies have
been applied to student recruitment, admissions, and financial aid programs. Title VI permits the
consideration of race, national origin, sex, or disability to provide opportunities to a class of
disqualified people, such as minorities and women, who have been denied educational opportunities.
Affirmative action policies have been supported as remedies for past discrimination as means of
encouraging diversity in higher education and as a tool for social justice. Such policies also have
economic motivations, helping disadvantaged populations achieve economic self-sufficiency.
Affirmative action practices were affirmed in the 1978 Supreme Court decision in the Regents of the
University of California v. Bakke, suggesting that race-sensitive policies were necessary to create
diverse campus environments (American Council on Education and American Association of
University Professors 2000; Springer 2005).
Although affirmative action has been practiced since the Bakke decision, it has been under attack,
particularly via challenges of the diversity argument in the Supreme Court’s decision. The first
challenge occurred in one of our most diverse states, California. In 1995, the California Board of
Regents banned the use of affirmative action guidelines in admissions. In 1996, California voters
followed and passed Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative, which effectively
dismantled the state’s affirmative action programs in education and employment. Also in 1996, a
federal appeals court ruling struck down affirmative action in Texas. In the Hopwood v. Texas
decision, the ruling referred to affirmative action policies as a form of discrimination against White
students. State of Washington voters passed an initiative in 1998 that banned the use of race-
150
conscious affirmative action in schools. In 1999, Florida governor Jeb Bush banned the use of
affirmative action in admission to his state’s schools.
p.71
The Hopwood ruling led to a decline in the number of minority students enrolling in Texas A&M
and the University of Texas (Yardley 2002). California’s state universities experienced a similar drop
in minority student applications and enrollment after the Bakke decision and the California Civil
Rights Initiative. In response, states have instituted other practices with the goal of increasing
minority student recruitment. For example, California and Texas have initiated percentage
solutions. In Texas, the top 10% of all graduating seniors are automatically admitted into the
University of Texas system. (In 2009, the Texas Legislature voted to put limits on the program,
setting enrollment caps on the number of students let in under the rule at 75% of the entering class.)
California initiated a similar plan, covering only the top 4% of students, and Florida implemented
the One Florida Initiative, allowing the top 20% of graduating high school seniors into the state’s
public colleges and universities (Schemo 2001). As of 2014, all three plans remain in effect.
For more than a decade, the University of Michigan’s affirmation action program has been disputed.
In 2000, a federal judge upheld the University of Michigan’s program, ruling that “a racially and
ethnically diverse student body produces significant educational benefits such that diversity, in the
context of higher education, constitutes a compelling governmental interest†(Wilgoren 2000:A32).
In 2003, the case was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, and in a 5 to 4 vote, the Court upheld
the University of Michigan’s consideration of race for admission into its law school. Writing for the
majority, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor stated, “In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy
in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and
qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity†(Greenhouse 2003:A1). In a separate decision, the
U.S. Supreme Court voted 6 to 1, invalidating the university’s affirmative action program for
admission into its undergraduate program (Greenhouse 2003). In November 2006, Michigan voters
approved Proposal 2, a state constitutional amendment banning consideration of race or gender in
public university admissions or government hiring or contracting. Following the state’s challenge to
the amendment, in 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Proposal 2, ending race-based admissions
at any Michigan state schools or at any other public university in states that have ended the practice.
As of 2014, 10 states have outlawed the use of affirmative action in public schools. In most of these
states, there has been a decrease in the enrollment of Black and Hispanic students in their most
selective colleges and universities (Liptak 2014). To achieve diversity among their student body,
colleges and universities will have to focus on student socioeconomic status rather than race.
In their analysis of 1980–2015 U.S. Department of Education data, Jeremy Ashkenas, Haeyoung
Park, and Adam Pearce (2017) concluded that “even after decades of affirmative action, black and
Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges and universities that they
were 35 years ago.†In 2015, Black students comprised 6% of college freshmen but represented 15%
of college-age Americans. Hispanic students represented 22% of college-age Americans, but
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comprised 13% of college freshmen.
Encouraging Diversity and Inclusivity
Accelerated global migration and a resurgence of racial/ethnic conflicts characterized the close of
the 20th century (Wittig and Grant-Thompson 1998) and the first two decades of the 21st century.
In an effort to reduce racial/ethnic conflict and to encourage multiculturalism, researchers,
educators, political and community leaders, and community members have implemented programs
targeting racism and prejudice. Acknowledging that both are complex phenomena with individual,
cultural, and structural components, these strategies attempt to address some or most of the
components.
p.72
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
How ethnically and racially diverse is your community? What are the largest ethnic and racial groups?
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SOFIA CAMPOS
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Sofia was 6 years old when she moved with her family from Peru to the United States. Sofia
and her siblings quickly adjusted to their new lives in Los Angeles. It was not until she was
accepted into UCLA that Sofia discovered that her family had immigrated illegally. Her
mother revealed the secret when Sofia needed a Social Security number to apply for federal
scholarships. Sofia explained, “I was angry at first that she hadn’t told me. But I understand
why they did that. It was to protect us for as long as they could, like any parent would do with
their child†(quoted in Del Barco 2012).
Although she was able to pay in-state tuition (California is one of 13 states that allow
undocumented students to pay in-state tuition), she could not receive any scholarships. Sophia
worked her way through college and, in five years, graduated with a double major in
International Developmental Studies and Political Science.
Sofia began her activism while she was at UCLA. Inspired by her own experiences, her focus
was on undocumented student rights. “That hateful language, you know, like ‘illegal, alien,
wetback leach.’ People were talking about my brother, my sister, my mom, my dad. How can
these people, who don’t know me at all, who don’t know the love that exists within my family,
how can you be just so hateful?†(quoted in Del Barco 2012). She was a central figure in several
UCLA student organizations, promoting the federal and California versions of the DREAM
Act, also known as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act. Sofia
currently serves as the board chair of United We Dream, the largest network of undocumented
immigrant youth. In 2014, she was enrolled in a master’s program at MIT (United We Stand
2014).
The DREAM Act was first introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2001. The DREAM Act
would enact two major changes in the current law: (1) Certain immigrant students who have
grown up in the United States would be permitted to apply for temporary legal status and to
eventually obtain permanent legal status and qualify for U.S. citizenship if they went to college
or served in the U.S. military, and (2) the federal provision that penalizes states that provide in-
state tuition without regard to immigration status would be eliminated. Although the federal
DREAM Act has not been passed, 18 states, including California, have passed their own
versions of the act, extending in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented college
students.
Opponents of the DREAM Act argue that it is unfair to American-born and legal immigrant
college students and their families. What do you think about the DREAM Act proposals? Has
your state adopted a DREAM Act?
p.73
Kathleen Korgen, J. Mahon, and Gabe Wang (2003) believe that colleges and universities have the
potential to counter the effects of segregated neighborhoods and socialization in primary and
153
secondary schools. Interaction among races thrust together on a college campus provides a unique
opportunity for individuals to experience and discuss the aspects of racial/ethnic diversity in their
lives, some for the first time (Odell, Korgen, and Wang 2005). Increased interaction with members
of different groups should allow individuals an opportunity to learn from others, reducing hostility
and prejudice (Shook and Fazio 2008). Interpersonal interactions with racially diverse peers also
promote civic engagement, especially if the engagement is diversity related (Bowman 2011).
Students report less discrimination and bias at colleges and universities where they perceive a
stronger institutional commitment to diversity (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning,
Evaluation and Policy Development 2016). Schools achieve this through many approaches:
instituting programs to increase the cultural competency of administration, faculty, staff, and
students; including cultural competency training in new student orientation; and personal mentoring
and counselling for students who are part of the underrepresented school population. A diverse
faculty also plays a role in achieving an inclusive institution; it is important that students see
themselves reflected in the faculty and curriculum (U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development 2016).
Increasing numbers of colleges and universities are instituting course requirements that encourage
students to examine diversity in the United States and globally. The Association of American
Colleges and Universities (2000) reported that 62% of schools have a diversity course requirement or
were in the process of developing one. This is quite an increase from 1990, when only 15% of
colleges and universities had such a requirement. Cocurricular programming may also include
cultural awareness workshops, identity-based student organizations, and multicultural events
(Bowman 2011). Research is emerging on the effectiveness of diversity programming on college and
university campuses. In one such study, D. A. Grinde (2001) found that more than 85% of
University of Vermont students believed that diversity courses strengthened their understanding and
appreciation of cultural diversity. In general, there appears to be an overall positive effect of
curricular and cocurricular diversity activities in reducing the racial bias in college students. White
students benefit more from these diversity activities than students of color (Denson 2009).
©Dan MacMedan/Getty Images
#OscarsSoWhite began as a movement in 2015, in response to a slate of all white acting nominees. In response, the
154
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences diversified its voting membership by race, gender and age. (Pictured here is
Viola Davis with her 2017 Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.)
Educational programs are used most often to promote diversity in public and private workplaces.
These programs attempt to eliminate incorrect stereotypes and unfounded prejudices by providing
new information to participants (Farley 2005). Diversity training is thought to make managers
aware of how their biases affect their actions in the workplace (Kalev, Dobbin, and Kelly 2006).
Research indicates that such programs are effective when people are not made to feel defensive over
past behavior but are participating in a learning process of new (vs. old) ideas. This has also been
found to be effective in diversity simulation and experiential exercises (i.e., role-playing) (Farley
2005). These programs are designed to familiarize employees with antidiscrimination laws, to
suggest behavioral changes that could address bias, and to increase cultural awareness and cross-
cultural communication among employees (Bendick, Egan, and Lofhjelm 1998).
Business leaders are motivated to address diversity on principle and because they recognize that their
company’s productivity and success depend on it (Galagan 1993). General diversity and
management programs have been established in companies such as Aetna, Ernst & Young, General
Mills, and Hewlett-Packard. All programs note the importance of creating an “inclusive†workforce
and work environment. In addition to diversity training or sensitivity programs, businesses have
successfully implemented diversity management programs, targeting the development and
advancement of women and people of color in their organizations.
p.74
What Does It Mean to Me?
What diversity courses or programs are offered at your university? How have these experiences
changed your perspective on racial and ethnic diversity?
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY: VALUES VS. FACTS
Almost everyone has an opinion about our country’s immigration policy. Supporting amnesty
for all undocumented immigrants is a value statement, as is expressing support for deporting
every undocumented man, woman, and child. These opinions reflect our values, the way we
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think things should be (Day 2009). We demonstrate our values even in our language; for when
we choose to use to refer to someone as “illegal†versus “undocumented,†we are expressing a
value statement.
But, as a student of sociology, you have learned that sociology and other social sciences require
a separation of our values from the pursuit of knowledge. Whereas values are subjective and
feeling based, knowledge is objective and can be tested or validated empirically, based upon
evidence (Levy 1973). The goal of science is to collect facts, to identify the way things are (Day
2009).
In Chapter 1, we considered how values influence what we choose to care about or research. A
sociologist may study immigration policies because he was an immigrant himself or because he
values a pluralistic society, yet the sociologist must collect and analyze his data objectively, not
allowing his values or experiences to obscure the objective research process.
Throughout your college experience, you will encounter many contentious and divisive issues in
the classroom, perhaps several in this social problems course. Your ability to distinguish values
from facts and to separate objective from subjective realities is important in your development
as a social scientist, which we’ll continue to examine in Chapter 4’s Sociology at Work feature.
Identify the objective versus subjective realities of immigration in the United States. Is it
difficult to distinguish between values and facts? Why or why not?
CHAPTER REVIEW
3.1 Describe the difference between race and ethnic groups.
From a biological perspective, a race can be defined as a group or population that shares a
set of genetic characteristics and physical features. Social scientists reject the biological
notion of race, instead treating race as a social construct. Ethnic groups are set off to some
degree from other groups by displaying a unique set of cultural traits, such as their
language, religion, or diet.
3.2 Identify the different types of institutional discrimination.
Institutional discrimination may include segregation, exclusion, or expulsion. Segregation
refers to the physical and social separation of ethnic or racial groups. Exclusion refers to
the practice of prohibiting or restricting the entry or participation of groups in society.
Expulsion is the removal of a group by using direct force or intimidation.
3.3 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain problems related to race and ethnicity.
Functionalists believe that the differences between racial and ethnic groups are largely
cultural. The solution is assimilation, a process whereby minority group members become
156
part of the dominant group, losing their original distinct group identity. Conflict theorists
focus on how the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations divide groups while maintaining
a dominant group. Ethnocentrism and racism maintain the status quo by dividing
individuals along racial and ethnic lines. Feminist theory intersects with multiculturalism
through the analysis of multiple systems of oppression, including categories of race, class,
sexual orientation, nation of origin, language, culture, and ethnicity. From an
interactionist perspective, race is a social construct. Social scientists have noted how
people are raced, how race itself is not a category but a practice.
p.75
3.4 Describe the impact of immigrants on the U.S. labor force.
No single occupation or industry is composed entirely of immigrant labor. Economic and
labor force analyses indicate that immigrants are a positive addition to the economy and
have little effect on wages and employment of native workers.
3.5 Explain how the college experience increases racial/ethnic diversity awareness.
Interaction among races thrust together on a college campus provides a unique
opportunity for individuals to experience and discuss the aspects of racial/ethnic diversity
in their lives, and to learn from others, reducing hostility and prejudice.
KEY TERMS
1.5 generation, 68
assimilation, 56
de facto segregation, 65
ethnic attrition, 59
ethnic groups, 53
ethnocentrism, 55
exclusion, 55
expulsion, 56
foreign-born, 53
individual discrimination, 55
institutional discrimination, 55
multiracial, 59
native, 53
pluralism, 56
race, 52
racism, 55
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refugees, 54
second generation, 68
segregation, 55
transnational, 75
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Describe the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States.
2. How are race and ethnicity socially constructed? Why do you think racial distinctions
persist?
3. Distinguish between assimilation and pluralism (or multiculturalism). What are the
advantages and disadvantages of each? Which model best describes racial and ethnic relations
in the United States?
4. The term transnational has been used to describe the immigrants who “maintain familial,
economic, cultural, and political ties across international borders, in effect making the home
and host society a single arena for social action†(Foner 2000:170). In effect, transnationals
have two homes. Is this functional for society? Is it functional for the life of an immigrant?
5. The interactionist perspective argues that certain races or ethnicities are bestowed power
and privilege not given to other groups. Do you agree with this statement? What examples of
privilege can you think of, and what are their consequences?
6. What is affirmative action, and what are some ways it has been used to address institutional
discrimination?
7. Explain how having contact and interaction with other racial or ethnic groups (at school or
at work) reduces interracial prejudice.
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4
GENDER
Media Library
CHAPTER 4 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 4.2: Gender and Gender Socialization
SAGE Core Concepts 4.3: Addressing Sexual Assault on Campus
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 4.1: Gender Stereotypes
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
4.1 Describe how the different sociological perspectives explain sex and gender-based
inequalities.
4.2 Identify the consequences of gender inequality
4.3 Describe the impact of discrimination on gender nonconformists.
4.4 Discuss the effects and prevalence of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
4.5 Describe the four waves of feminism and explore recent social and legal developments in
movements for gender equality.
There is no society where men and women perform identical functions, nor are they ranked or
treated equally. Regardless of their level of technological development or the complexity of their
social structure, all societies have some form of gender inequality (Marger 2008). Some may argue
that there are fundamental differences between males and females based on fixed physiological
differences or our sex. Yes, there are biological differences—our sexual organs, our hormones, and
other physiological aspects—that are relatively fixed at birth (Marger 2008), but more than that
makes us unequal.
Sociologists focus on the differences determined by our society and our culture, our gender.
Although we are born male and female, we must understand and learn what it means to be
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masculine or feminine, the expectations associated with our sex. Gender legitimates certain
behaviors and ways of thinking over others; it grants privilege to one group over another (Tickner
2002). Sexism refers to prejudice or discrimination based solely on someone’s sex or gender.
Although sexism has come to refer to negative beliefs and actions directed toward women, men can
also be subject to sexism.
Social scientists believe that gender differences are not caused by biological differences; rather, they
are a product of socialization, prejudice, discrimination, and other forms of social control (Bem
1993). For example, religious ideologies can define and regulate gender differences. According to
Islamic tradition, women are relegated to home and family life, while men dominate everything
outside the home. A strong patriarchal system is enforced among Mormon fundamentalists in the
United States.
Consider the history of women in the U.S. Senate. There is nothing automatic at birth that makes
men more suited to become senators than women. The first woman senator was Rebecca Latimer
Felton, sworn into office on November 21, 1922. The Georgia senator was appointed to fill a
vacancy and served for only one day. In the early 1990s, there were only two women senators. In
1992, Patty Murray, from my home state of Washington, was the first elected woman senator to
have young children at home during her term in office (Stolberg 2003). A record number of 21
women were elected to serve in the 2017 U.S. Senate. Despite the record number of women serving
in Congress, the United States is behind other countries in female representation in national
parliament or congress. Refer to Table 4.1 for more information.
TABLE 4.1 â– Ten Countries With the Highest Percentage of Seats in National Parliaments
Held by Women, October 2017
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Source: Adapted from Inter-Parliamentary Union 2017.
Note: In the list compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2017), the United States ranks 101st; 19.4% of seats are held by
women.
From a sociological perspective, gender is not just an identity, it is also a social structure. The
gender binary describes how gender is socially constructed on a spectrum, classifying masculinity
and femininity as two opposing, distinct categorizations (Fitzgerald and Grossman 2018).
Masculinity and femininity have no meaning separate from the other; they are defined in relation to
each other. For example, men are socially expected to be aggressive, strong, and independent,
whereas women are expected to be vulnerable, weak, and dependent (Fitzgerald and Grossman
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2018). The gender binary also assumes a hierarchy, reducing what is feminine subordinate to the
dominant masculine category. As a result, the gender public binary impacts our language,
personality traits, career choices, and even which bathroom we use. Most individuals are cisgender;
that is, their gender identity corresponds to their assigned sex at birth.
p.78
Transgender individuals (those whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned
to at birth) make up an estimated 0.3% to 5% of the adult population in the United States (Gates
2017). There is great variability among individuals who identify as transgender. In 2016, Sarah
McBride took the stage at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the first transgender
person to address a major political party convention. The day before her DNC speech, McBride
told reporters, “As we have this discussion around trans equality and trans issues nationally, . . . we
can never forget that behind those debates and those dialogues are real people that hurt when they
are made fun of, that hurt when they are targeted for discrimination and that have the same dreams
and aspirations as everyone else†(Steinmetz 2016).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 4.1: Gender Stereotypes
What Does It Mean to Me?
In 2011, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy named Rear Admiral Sandra Stosz its first female
superintendent. She is the first woman to lead a U.S. service academy. Examine the academic
leadership in your university. How many top positions are held by men? By women? Is leadership
gendered at your university?
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER
INEQUALITY
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists argue that gender inequality is inevitable because of the gendered division of labor
in the household. According to Émile Durkheim, social evolution led to the exaggeration of sex
differences in personalities and abilities. In the most basic of social institutions, the family, it
became necessary for men and women to establish role differentiation as well as functional
interdependence. In other words, men and women would have complementary but different roles in
the household.
Durkheim (2007) wrote of the biological differences between men and women, claiming that
women had smaller brain capacity than males: “Woman retired from warfare and public affairs and
consecrated her entire life to her family†(p. 43). As a result, women led completely different lives
than men. This division of labor applied both in and out of the home. Women were charged with
familial roles, taking care of their children and their home, whereas men were charged with public
work roles, assuming their primary role as family breadwinner. This division of labor may have been
practical in preindustrial society, and yet these roles remain gender specific in modern society
(Marger 2008). Although women have transitioned from a housekeeper role to a dual role of earner
and caregiver, men’s involvement in domestic work remains low.
The principle that women and men are suited to different roles extends to the workplace. Women
dominate service and caring professions (e.g., teaching, health care, sales, and administrative
support), while men are overrepresented in instrumental work (e.g., construction, heavy labor, and
mechanics). Even in the same professions, men and women are on different professional tracks.
Among medical students, women choose primary care specialties, whereas a higher percentage of
men choose surgical specialties. Women place a greater emphasis on the physician–patient
relationship than do men (McFarland and Rhoades 1998). For more on occupational segregation,
refer to the section of this chapter titled “The Consequences of Gender Inequality.â€
p.79
This gendered division of labor and gender roles is held as the standard for society. Gender
inequality is defined not as a product of differential power but rather as a functional necessity
(Marger 2008). Yet women who assert their rights for social and economic equality are seen as
attacking the structure of society (Bonvillian 2006). Theorists from this perspective note that as
increasing numbers of women have entered the workforce, the number of divorces and the
frequency of nonmarital childbearing have also increased. They suggest that children are more likely
to suffer from divorce, more likely to become delinquent without adequate parental supervision, and
more likely to be disadvantaged economically and socially if born to a single mother (Bonvillian
2006; Farley 2005). According to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, most Americans believe that
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the increase in the number of working women has made it harder for parents to raise children and
harder for marriages to succeed (Wang, Parker, and Taylor 2013). From this perspective, a change
in gender roles (among women in particular) undermines the stability of the family (Farley 2005)
and, ultimately, society.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Gender inequality exists because it benefits a group in power (i.e., men) and with power to shape
society. Theorists from conflict and feminist perspectives argue that women will remain in their
subordinate position as long as men maintain their social, economic, and cultural advantage in
society. A system where men are dominant over women is referred to as a patriarchy, as defined
earlier in Chapter 1.
Women’s subordinate position in society is linked to their relationship to the means of production.
As the next section of this chapter describes, compared with women, men are rewarded in our
capitalist economy with higher wages, more prestige, and greater authority in the workplace
(Bonvillian 2006). At home, men are treated with deference by their wives and children.
Nancy Bonvillian (2006) explained the interrelationship between patriarchal social relations and
capitalist economies. As capitalistic economies developed, they incorporated preexisting patriarchal
relations. Capitalism benefits from women’s subordinate position at home. Women are willing to
work in different types of jobs and for different wages than men because they define themselves
according to their familial relationships as supporters rather than as breadwinners.
©AMER HILABI/AFP/Getty Images
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In 2017, by royal decree, women in Saudi Arabia were granted the right to drive. Saudi leaders expressed hope with these
new driving rights, Saudi women would increase their labor force participation.
Capitalism also takes advantage of men’s adherence to patriarchal values, subordinating men to their
employers just as patriarchal relations subordinate women to men. Men are duty bound to their jobs
because of a sense of self-worth and obligation tied to their ability to provide for their families
(Bonvillian 2006). As men are limited to their prescribed positions in the economy and production,
their inner emotional states are devalued in society. According to L. Böhnisch (2003), this limits the
development of their full human potential (much as Marx cautioned), also contributing to a range of
male problems (e.g., health and chronic illnesses, risk-taking, and violence).
Early feminist scholars treated gender as an individual attribute, as a property of individuals or as
part of the role that was acquired through socialization. However, contemporary feminist theorists
define gender as a system of social practices that creates and maintains gender distinctions and
inequalities (Ridgeway and Smith-Lovin 1999). Challenges against the gender binary and the
expansion of gender identities (refer to this chapter’s In Focus feature) confirm how gender identity
is no longer given. Gender is referred to as a process, where gender is continually produced and
reproduced, and sometimes contested. Not only is gender an individual characteristic, but also it
exists within patterns of social interaction and social institutions (Wharton 2004).
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SARAH MCBRIDE
© AP Photo/Paul Sancya
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Sarah McBride was the first transgender person to address a major poltiical party convention.
Sarah McBride publicly revealed her transgender identity as she ended her term as student
body president at American University in 2012. In a letter published in the university paper,
McBride confessed that she had wrestled with her gender identity all of her life.
McBride described how she was greeted with support and unconditional love when she shared
her identity with family and close friends. “This was the first time that my parents have had to
worry about my safety, my job prospects, and my acceptance . . . I grew up in an upper-income
household, in an accepting environment and with incredible educational opportunities. I never
worried about my family’s reaction†(McBride 2012). She acknowledged that for many trans
individuals, “the reality is far bleaker; coming out oftentimes means getting kicked out of your
home.â€
After graduating from American University, McBride worked as an intern for the White
House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, focusing on LGBT issues.
Her political activism led her home to Delaware, where she was appointed to the board of
directors of Equality Delaware, the state’s primary LGBTQ advocacy organization. She is
credited with successfully leading lobbying efforts in support of hate crime legislation and legal
protections for transgender individuals.
During her speech before the 2016 Democratic National Convention, McBride recognized her
late husband, Andrew Cray, a fellow advocate for LGBT rights. She noted that even though
much progress has been made in the protections for transgender people, there is still work to
do. McBride asked, “Will we be a nation where there’s only one way to love, one way to look,
one way to live? Or, will we be a nation where everyone has the freedom to live openly and
equally?â€
McBride currently serves as the National Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.
Gender inequality is a product of a complex set of social forces: “These may include the actions of
individuals, but they are also found in expectations that guide social interaction, the composition of
social groups, and the structures and practices of the institutions†(Wharton 2004:157). Sexism may
be an individual act, but it can also become institutionalized in our organizations or through laws
and common practices. From this perspective, tackling gender inequality means questioning
gendered structures at various levels (labor, child care, socialization, family) and addressing the
experience of cisgender and transgender people equally.
Interactionist Perspective
As interactionists explain, many social values and meanings are expressed in our language.
Language, wrote Stephanie Wildman and Adrienne Davis (2000), “contributes to the invisibility
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and regeneration of privilege†(p. 50). These scholars argued that we need to sort individuals into
categories such as race and gender. Upon hearing that someone has a new baby, why is it important
to ask if it’s a girl or a boy? This type of social categorization is important because it sets into motion
the production of gender difference and inequality. Norms, values, and beliefs about the differences
between boys and girls and men and women are reinforced through the gender socialization process.
We won’t know how to relate to this child without knowing its gender, and children won’t
understand what it means to be male or female in our society unless they are socialized accordingly.
People respond to others based on what they believe is expected of them and assume that others will
do the same (Wharton 2004).
p.81
Wildman and Davis noted that characteristics of those who are privileged become societal norms—
the standard of what is good, correct, and normal versus bad, incorrect, and aberrant. In terms of
gender, men are privileged and serve as the standard by which all are measured. Wildman and Davis
(2000) refer to Catharine MacKinnon’s observation that, among many things, “men’s physiology
defines most sports, their health needs largely define insurance coverage . . . their perspectives and
concerns define quality in scholarship, their experiences and obsessions define merit, . . . their image
defines god, and their genitals define sex†(p. 54).
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 4.2: Gender and Gender Socialization
Male privilege defines many aspects of American culture from a distinctly male point of view. For
example, the use of he is accepted as an all-inclusive pronoun, but a generic she is not permitted;
some actually get upset if you try to use it (if you have any doubt, try referring to God as she). The
response, according to Wildman and Davis, is not about incorrect grammar; rather, it is about
challenging the system of male privilege. Indeed, the language of gender identity has expanded as
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increasing numbers of individuals adopt gender-nonconforming identities (refer to this chapter’s In
Focus feature). Our language is evolving to recognize these new gender categories.
A summary of the sociological perspectives is presented in Table 4.2.
TABLE 4.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Gender
p.82
IN FOCUS
GENDER IDENTITY TERMS
Presented here is a list of selected gender identity terms distributed by GLAAD (2017) and the
Human Rights Campaign (2017).
Gender expression. The external appearance of one’s gender identity.
Gender fluid. A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender.
Gender identity. A person’s internal, deeply held sense of their gender.
Gender non-conforming. Term used to describe people whose gender expression is different
from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity.
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Gender questioning. A person who may be processing, questioning, or exploring how they
want to express their gender identity.
Genderqueer or Queer. People who reject the static categories of gender and embrace a fluidity
of gender identity. The term is not a synonym for transgender or transsexual. People who
identify as genderqueer may see themselves as both male and female, neither male nor female,
or completely outside these categories. The term non-binary may also be used.
Transition. The complex process of altering one’s birth sex. The process may include medical,
personal, and legal steps.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The Disney Channel’s Doc McStuffins features an African American girl in pigtails who runs a home
clinic for her stuffed animals and dolls. Her mom is a doctor, and her dad stays at home. Doc
McStuffins has been praised for being a positive and inspirational role model for African American
girls. According to the American Medical Association, in 2012, there were 18,533 Black female
physicians, 2% of all U.S. doctors (Elber 2012). What role do the media play in shaping gender
identity? In shaping occupational choices for boys and girls?
THE CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER INEQUALITY
Gender inequality is a persistent feature of all modern societies. In this section, we will review the
consequences of inequality in women’s employment and income. Additional discussions on gender
inequality are presented in Chapter 8, “Education,†and Chapter 9, “Work and the Economy.†The
section ends with an examination of violence against women.
Occupational Sex Segregation
Sex segregation in the workplace remains a historical and contemporary fact. Despite educational
and occupational gains made by women, women continue to dominate traditionally female
occupations, a phenomenon referred to as occupational sex segregation. These occupations
include preschool and kindergarten teachers (96.8%), secretaries and administrative assistants
(94.5%), and teacher assistants (91.4%) (U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau 2015). For
the top five occupations of employed U.S. women, refer to Table 4.3. Researchers confirm that
working in an occupation with a large proportion of female workers leads to lower wages, lower
prestige, worse working conditions, and slower career mobility for both men and women (Perales
2013).
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TABLE 4.3 â– Five Leading Occupations for Employed Women, 2015 (Annual Averages)
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau 2015.
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The U.S. labor force continues to be segregated along gender lines. Although a small percentage of women (25% or less) are
employed in traditionally male blue-collar occupations (such as construction, truck driving, and carpentry), women continue
to dominate administrative (clerical) and service occupations, constituting more than 80% of employees in these occupations
(U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau 2015).
Social scientists examine two types of sex segregation in the workplace: horizontal and vertical.
Horizontal segregation represents the separation of women into nonmanual labor and men into
manual labor sectors. Vertical segregation identifies the elevation of men into the best-paid and
most desirable occupations in nonmanual and manual labor sectors, whereas women remain in
lower-paid positions with no job mobility.
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Maria Charles and David Grusky (2004) identified several social factors that promote and reproduce
horizontal segregation. Employer and institutional discrimination help maintain the separation of
women and men in the workplace, for example, by excluding women intentionally or
unintentionally from physically strenuous jobs. The process of child socialization encourages girls
and boys to internalize sex-typed expectations of others, which in turn shapes their occupational
aspirations and preferences. Sociologists have examined how girls and boys are subject to differential
gender socialization from birth. Traditional gender role stereotypes are reinforced through the
family, school, peers, and the media with images of what is appropriate behavior for girls and boys.
This includes defining appropriate occupations for women versus men.
Internalization of sex-typed expectations also leads workers to believe that if they transgress norms
about gender-appropriate labor, they will be subject to sanctions (from disapproval from their
parents to harassment from fellow workers). Years of horizontal segregation have given the
advantage to men who have a disproportionate number of peers and network ties in the manual
sector.
Vertical segregation is based on deeply rooted and widely shared cultural beliefs that men are more
competent than women and are better suited than women for positions of power. According to
Charles and Grusky (2004), vertical segregation is reproduced because it is consistent with the value
of “male primacy.†In her analysis of vertical segregation among men and women on Wall Street,
Louise Marie Roth (2006) discovered how the gendered division of labor in the family spilled over
into the workplace. Wall Street’s workaholic culture assumes that the ideal employee has no external
(family) obligations, setting work as the primary priority. Because child care is defined as women’s
responsibility, Wall Street women were routinely penalized for having families. Women were
expected to quit once they had children and were often treated differently after the birth of children.
On the other hand, male Wall Street professionals were perceived as more committed and stable
when they were married and had children. Roth concluded that males with traditional stay-at-home
wives were able to maintain their ideal employee role.
p.84
What Does It Mean to Me?
What are your beliefs about who should be responsible for child care? When you become a parent,
how will you manage your parental and workplace roles?
Occupational sex segregation is a worldwide phenomenon. Many studies have examined segregation
cross-nationally and have found that although it is a feature of all industrial societies, the degree to
which it exists varies. In her analysis of vertical and horizontal segregation in 10 countries, including
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the United States, Charles (2003) found that women were underrepresented in the manual sector
and that within the manual and nonmanual sectors, women’s occupations were of lower average
status. She reported the highest levels of horizontal segregation in Sweden and France, where
women are about 30 times more likely to work in white-collar than in blue-collar sectors. The
likelihood is lower in the United States—women are 14 times more likely to work in white-collar
sectors. The highest levels of vertical segregation were found in France and in the United Kingdom.
Vertical segregation for the United States was third lowest among the 10 countries Charles
examined. The countries with the lowest levels of horizontal and vertical segregation were Portugal
and Italy, which Charles attributed to the countries’ development of two main occupational groups
—professionals and craft-operations workers.
Jane Elliot’s (2005) research revealed that there was greater occupational segregation between men
and women and between full-time and part-time working women in the United Kingdom than in
the United States. She characterized employed women in the United Kingdom as having a
“returner†pattern of labor participation (periodic employment vs. continual employment as in the
United States) and noted that UK women are primarily concentrated in occupational groups that
rely on part-time labor. UK labor laws encourage the hiring of part-time employees versus full-time
employees, which encourages women’s employment patterns. Elliot suggested that UK women may
be less attached to their employment than U.S. women are because national health services are
available in the United Kingdom regardless of employment. In the United States, one’s employer
usually provides health insurance.
Income Inequality
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (Hegewisch and Williams-Baron 2017), in
2016, for every dollar earned by a man, a woman made 80.5 cents (refer to Table 4.4 for wage gap
data from 1960 to 2016). U.S. Data Map 4.1 reports the wage gap between women and men by
state. Another way to measure the earning difference is to examine wage ratios, comparing the
annual earnings of women and women who work full-time all year—what is the difference in men’s
and women’s lifetime earnings? Stephen Rose and Heidi Hartmann (2004) examined data for 1983
to 1998 and concluded that women workers in their prime earning years make 38% of what men
make. During the 15-year period, an average prime-age working woman earned only $273,592
compared with $722,693 earned by the average working man (in 1999 dollars).
p.85
TABLE 4.4 ■Gender Wage Gap, 1960–2016
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Sources: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2015; Hegewisch and Williams-Baron 2017.
U.S. DATA MAP 4.1 â– Gender Wage Gap by State as Ratio of Median Earnings for
Women and Men Working Full-Time, Year-Round, 2016
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Source: National Women’s Law Center 2017.
p.86
Why do men earn more? Social scientists have attempted to answer the question, offering different
explanations for the earning gap. Some have emphasized the role of human capital, the knowledge
and skills workers acquire through education, training, and work experience. Human capital
theory suggests that women earn less than men do because of differences in the kind and amount of
human capital they acquire (Wharton 2004). Because their labor force participation is assumed to be
interrupted by marriage and childrearing responsibilities, most women will invest less in their job-
related human capital or will choose occupations that provide flexible hours or lesser penalties after
reentry (e.g., teaching). In the United States, women have less continuous work experience than
men do; their labor is interrupted by childbirth and child-rearing. Yet, research indicates that even
among women with continuous work experience, their earnings are less than men’s (England 2001).
Another explanation offered by social scientists focuses on the devaluation of women’s work. A
higher societal value is placed on men than on women, and this is reproduced within the workplace.
Caring or emotional labor is undervalued and defined as women’s work, whereas professional or
corporate skills are valued and defined as men’s work. The relative worth of men’s and women’s
economic activities is assessed within this value system, with men and masculine activities being
valued more highly than women and feminine activities (Wharton 2004). According to Maume
(1999), a higher value is granted to male occupations or job skills, permitting discrimination against
the type of jobs women do, but not against women themselves.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court limited workers’ ability to challenge wage discrimination in court.
The Supreme Court ruled that employees could not challenge ongoing compensation discrimination
if the employer’s original discriminatory act or decision occurred more than 180 days earlier. Prior to
this decision, each discriminatory paycheck was treated as a separate discriminatory act and reset the
180-day clock allowed for filing a claim. In the original case, Lilly Ledbetter, an area manager at
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, charged that she was paid less than her 15 male counterparts.
Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month, and the lowest-paid male manager received $4,286 per
month. Although a jury awarded Ledbetter $3.3 million in damages, the court of appeals reversed
the verdict, stating that her case was filed too late.
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Whitehouse.gov
At the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, President Obama stated that the issue of fair pay isn’t just a
women’s issue. According to Obama, the bill ensures that all Americans are able to make a living and provide for their
families. The law’s namesake was at the president’s side at the signing of the act. (She is shown standing behind him, just to
his right, in this photo.)
p.87
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
THE WAGE GAP
Based on U.S. State Map 4.1, The wage gap is largest in Louisiana (.70), Utah (.70), and
West Virginia (.72). The states with the smallest wage gaps are New York (.89),
California (.88), and Florida (.87). Where does your state rank?
Overall, the 2016 wage gap is 80 cents. However, the wage gap is larger for African
American and Hispanic women (refer to Figure 4.1). As presented in Table 4.4 progress
on the wage gap has been slow. The lowest ratio was recorded in the 1970s. A woman
working full-time, year-round made 59 cents for every dollar paid to her male counterpart.
What do you think? Which sociological theories offer the best explanation for why the
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gender wage gap still exists? For the variation between state wage gaps?
FIGURE 4.1 â– Ratio of Median Earnings for Minority Women Working Full-Time,
Year-Round, 2015
Source: National Women’s Law Center 2017.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in January 2009.
The act reinstated the prior law that allowed pay discrimination claims on the basis of sex, race,
national origin, age, religion, and disability to accrue whenever an employee received a
discriminatory paycheck. At the signing of the bill, Ledbetter acknowledged that she would not
receive any money as a result of the law named after her. “Goodyear will never have to pay me what
it cheated me out of. . . . But with the president’s signature today I have an even richer rewardâ€
(quoted in Stolberg 2009).
GENDER NONCONFORMITY DISCRIMINATION
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No social space exists in Western societies for individuals who deviate from binary gender systems
(Lorber 1994; Gagné and Tewksbury 1998). Transgender people are systematically oppressed and
experience high rates of violence (Factor and Rothblum 2008), discrimination, physical threats, and
harassment (Nadal, Skolnik, and Wong 2012). Trans people experience worse health outcomes than
their cisgender peers (Institute of Medicine 2011), including attempted suicide, depression, and
substance abuse. Gender nonconformity seems to also result in rejection and victimization, leading
to loss of social support from parents and peers (Sandfort, Melendez, and Diaz 2007).
In their analysis of data from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, Lisa Miller and Eric
Grollman (2015) concluded that transgender people who experience daily discrimination are more
likely to engage in health-harming behaviors, such as attempted suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, and
smoking. Trans people who are viewed as gender nonconforming face more major and day-to-day
discrimination and are more likely to engage in health-harming behaviors compared with more
gender conforming trans people. Additionally, the researchers identified differential experiences by
gender, race, and income. Trans men reported fewer events of workplace discrimination than trans
women. Multiracial and lower-income trans people faced more transphobic discrimination and were
more likely to engage in health-harming behaviors.
p.88
Shanna Kattari and her colleagues (2017) also examined data from the 2010 National Transgender
Discrimination Survey. They concluded that transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals
who identified as bi-/multiracial or Latino had higher rates of discrimination than White
transgender and gender-nonconforming people in attempting to access support in several social
service contexts: mental health centers, drug treatment programs, domestic violence shelters, and
rape crisis centers.
INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
A global review of scientific data on the prevalence and effects of intimate partner violence and
sexual violence by someone other than a partner was cosponsored by the World Health
Organization, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the South African
Medical Research Council. Results of the collaborative review were released in 2013, documenting
the continuing violence against women and recommending how health agencies and programs
should respond (World Health Organization 2013).
Based upon selected published literature since 2008 and multi-country surveys, the researchers
estimated that 35% of women worldwide suffer physical or sexual violence, with the most common
form of abuse being physical violence inflicted by an intimate partner. Globally, only 7% of women
have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner. The systematic killing of women,
femicide, is different from the murder of men and often involves sexual violence. As many as 38%
of all murders of women are committed by a husband or boyfriend.
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In 2006, the United Nations attributed violence against women to historically unequal power
relations between men and women and pervasive discrimination against women. Violence, said the
United Nations, “is one of the key means through which male control over women’s agency and
sexuality are maintained†(United Nations 2006:1). Violence against women is not confined to one
nation, culture, or region; however, a woman’s personal experience of violence is likely to be shaped
by her ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, and/or religion.
The 2013 World Health joint report identifies intimate partner violence as a major contributor to
women’s problems related to mental health, sexual and productive health, maternal health, and
neonatal health. For example, women who experience partner violence are more than twice as likely
to experience depression and in some areas are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV than women
who do not suffer partner violence. The authors concluded,
The findings underpin the need for the health sector to take intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women
more seriously. All health-care providers should be trained to understand the relationship between violence and women’s ill
health and to be able to respond appropriately. . . . This evidence highlights the need to address the economic and
sociocultural factors that foster a culture of violence against women. (World Health Organization 2013:35–36)
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 4.3: Addressing Sexual Assault on Campus
p.89
RESPONDING TO GENDER INEQUALITIES
Feminist Movements and Social Policies
Historians mark the beginning of the feminist movement in the United States and throughout the
world in the 19th century. The U.S. feminist movement began in 1848 with the first Women’s
Rights Convention. A group of women, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, adopted
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a declaration of sentiments demanding, among other things, women’s right to vote. During the
same time, the women’s suffrage movement began in Great Britain, with increasing demands for
women’s political and economic equality. The Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 affirmed for U.S.
women the right to vote. In Great Britain, women were given the right to vote in 1918.
The feminist movement has been defined in “waves,†the first beginning in the 19th century,
followed by the second during the 20th century. Politically, the second wave focused on expanding
legal rights for women, linking individual, social, and political inequalities. The “personal is
political†was one of the most popular feminist slogans of this wave (Phillips and Cree 2014).
During this period, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, prohibiting sexual
harassment in the workplace and providing equal workplace opportunities for women and minorities
(refer to Chapter 3, “Race and Ethnicity,†for a discussion on affirmative action in employment and
education), and Title IX of the Education Amendments was passed in 1972 (refer to the next
section).
The movement was unsuccessful in passing the Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which proposed, “Equality of rights under law
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of sex.†Although
passed by the U.S. Congress in 1972, the ERA was not ratified by the required 38 states to become
a constitutional amendment. In 1977, Indiana became the 35th state to ratify the amendment. ERA
ratification bills have been introduced in the remaining states without any success.
The third wave of feminism began in the 1990s. Although second-wave feminists are credited with
achieving greater gender equality, they are criticized for assuming the universalization of the White
woman’s experience and for focusing exclusively on oppression based solely on sex. The third wave
of feminism attempts to address multiple sources of oppression—acknowledging oppression based
on race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation in addition to sex. Instead of focusing on
gender equality within one country or nation, the focus has expanded to a goal of global equality.
Some third-wave activists even distance themselves from the use of the term feminist, believing the
term is too confining or negative.
A fourth wave of feminism has been noted in scholarly and popular literature. The wave is defined
in various ways. Brazilian sociologists Solange Simões and Marlise Matos (2009) defined the term
as a process of gendered democratic institutionalization and policy making, which includes a
“revitalization of a classic feminist rights agenda under the influence of transnational feminism and
the globalization of local women’s agendas†(p. 95). The fourth wave synthesizes the second wave’s
emphasis on equality and the third wave’s focus on global inequality. Fourth-wave feminism has also
been described as a movement without one cohesive cause, leader, or platform. Younger women, to
whom equality and rights have always been granted, seek new ways to remain politically and socially
engaged, particularly through social media.
The European Union, since the late 1990s, has embraced gender mainstreaming as its main
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strategy for addressing gender inequality in policy making. It is defined as the integration of the
gender perspective into every stage of the policy process (design, implementation, monitoring, and
evaluation). Gender mainstreaming is based on the understanding that all policies have the potential
to impact social and demographic groups differently, thus creating and sustaining unequal power
relations (Paterson and Scala 2017). For example, gender mainstreaming may explicitly consider the
experiences of men, such as parental leave as a jurisdictional claim for men or labor policies for men
in female-dominated occupations (e.g., nursing) (Scambor and Scambor 2008). Gender
mainstreaming can also apply to health care, equally promoting women’s and men’s health care
needs (Kuhlmann and Annandale 2012). In many countries, coronary heart disease is defined
through a masculine lens, influencing all areas of medical care from prevention to rehabilitation.
Not only does this lead to overlooking women’s cardiac needs, but it also may negatively impact
men who do not seem to fit the model of hegemonic masculinity (Riska 2010).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Do you identify as a feminist? Why or why not? What does being a feminist mean to you?
Title IX
Among the achievements of the second wave of feminism was the passage of Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX of the Education Amendments prohibits the exclusion of
any person from participation in an educational program or the denial of benefits based on one’s sex
(Woodhouse 2002). The preamble to Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to
discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.â€
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
LEAVING NO GIRL BEHIND
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Southbank Centre
Malala Yousafzai was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. At 17 years of age, Yousafzai is the youngest
Nobel recipient.
Malala Yousafzai was shot in the face at point-blank range by a masked Taliban gunman on
her way to school. This 15-year-old girl was targeted for advocating girls’ education in
Pakistan. As an 11-year-old, she had faced the media and criticized the Taliban for taking
away her basic right to education. She said into the camera, “You may stop me from going to
school, but you will not stop me from learning.†The assassination attempt transformed Malala
into a global ambassador and advocate.
Despite overall progress in girls’ educational access and achievement, a generation of young
women has been left behind. This is the conclusion that has been made by the United Nations
Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) (2013b). In 2011, there were 31 million girls out of
school; 55% are expected never to enroll. The UNGEI estimates that women account for
almost two thirds of the world’s illiterate population.
UNGEI attributes the lack of girls’ educational participation to structural factors, namely,
values and norms that discriminate against girls, preventing them from attending and
remaining in schools. Even in areas where they enroll in equal numbers in primary education,
girls are likely to drop out before reaching secondary education as a result of child marriage,
early pregnancy, gender-based violence in schools and at home, and the burden of domestic
labor (UNGEI 2013a).
Research has demonstrated that education improves women’s economic security in the world’s
poorest countries “and makes it more likely [for women] not just to be employed, but also to
hold jobs that are more secure and provide good working conditions and decent pay†(UNGEI
2013b:20). Public health workers have also observed that education improves the health of
children. Educated women ensure that their children are vaccinated and are likely to practice
preventative health measures, thus reducing infant and child mortality due to pneumonia or
diarrhea.
After surviving her injuries, Malala and her family relocated permanently to the United
Kingdom. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was named an adviser on global education by Prime
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Minister Gordon Brown. Malala established her own organization, Malala Fund, and
continues to serve as an advocate for girls’ education. Malala was honored with the 2014 Nobel
Peace Prize. In 2017, Malala announced that she was accepted to Oxford University.
How else does education improve the quality of life for girls and young women?
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© Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
In 2014–2015, 3,287,735 girls participated in high school sports programs (National Federation of State High School
Associations 2016). The top three sports were track and field, basketball, and volleyball. Title IX is credited with increasing
girls’ participation in high school sports.
In particular, the law requires that members of both sexes have equal opportunities to participate in
sports and enjoy the benefits of competitive athletics (National Women’s Law Center 2002b).
According to Title IX, schools receiving federal aid are required to offer women and men equal
opportunities to participate in athletics. This can be done in one of three ways: (1) Schools
demonstrate that the percentage of men and women athletes is about the same as the percentage of
men and women students enrolled (also referred to as the “proportionality ruleâ€), (2) the school has
a history and a continuing practice of expanding opportunities for women students, or (3) the school
is fully and effectively meeting its women students’ interests and abilities to participate in sports. In
addition, schools must equitably allocate athletic scholarships. The overall share of financial aid
going to women athletes should be the same as the percentage of women athletes participating in
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the athletic program. Finally, schools must treat men and women equally in all aspects of sports
programming. This requirement applies to supplies and equipment, the scheduling of games and
practices, financial support for travel, and the assignment and compensation of coaches (National
Women’s Law Center 2002a).
The law has been widely credited with increasing women’s participation in high school and
collegiate sports and for women’s achievement in education. For instance, in the 1971–1972 season,
294,015 girls participated in high school athletics (comprising 7% of all high school athletes); by
2010–2011, the number had grown to nearly 3 million (41% of all high school athletes). In 1971–
1972, 29,977 females participated in collegiate athletics (15% of all college athletes); by 2010–2011,
the number exceeded 190,000 (44% of all college athletes) (National Coalition for Women and
Girls in Education 2012). The representation of women in athletic leadership has also increased. In
2008, almost 15,000 women were employed in intercollegiate athletics, as athletic directors, coaches,
or trainers. One out of five athletic directors is a woman, the highest representation since the mid-
1970s (Acosta and Carpenter 2009). Regarding college enrollment, in 1973, 41% of women high
school graduates were enrolled in college; in 2016 the percentage increased to 71.9% (U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics 2017).
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On the 38th anniversary of Title IX in 2010, in addition to noting the progress made in women’s
athletics, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan identified the need to ensure safe learning
environments free from sexual violence and assault. Colleges and universities receiving federal
funding were required under Title IX to respond promptly and effectively to sexual violence against
students. This included schools’ efforts to prevent sexual violence, the creation of enforcement
strategies, and the implementation of investigation procedures. In 2014, President Barack Obama
created the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, maintaining the
administration’s commitment to ending sexual violence on college campuses. Later that year, the
U.S. Department of Education released a list of 55 colleges and universities under investigation for
possible violations over the handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints (U.S.
Department of Education 2014).
In 2014, professors from Harvard University’s Law School signed an open letter saying the
university’s new procedures to handle sexual misconduct, complying with the Department of
Education guidelines, “lack the most basic elements of fairness and due process†and were
“overwhelmingly stacked against the accused†(quoted in Bagenstos 2015). Other universities and
colleges struggled to find the balance between responding to sexual violence and ensuring a fair
process. The guidelines required all schools to lower their standard of proof when investigating
sexual assault or harassment claims. The 2011 policy did not guarantee the accused access to a
hearing, did not require an appeals process, and did not require appeals to be considered by an
independent entity. In 2017, Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded the 2011
sexual violence and assault guidelines, allowing the application of a higher standard of proof to bring
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cases against accused students. DeVos left it up to schools to decide which standard of proof they
prefer.
Expanding Trans and Intersex Rights
Protecting the legal rights of transgender people has emerged as the new battleground for the
LGBTQ community. In 2016, the federal government issued an interpretation of Title IX,
permitting people to use the bathroom facility consistent with their gender identity. Law scholar
Catherine Jean Archibald (2016), wrote, “This interpretation is consistent with the current medical
and psychiatric recommendations for the treatment of transgender individuals and accommodates
those individuals who clearly and consistently identify with being either male or female†(p. 2).
Colorado was the first state to rule that a six-year-old transgender girl, born a boy, must be allowed
to use the girls’ bathroom at her school. Despite legal progress for the transgender community, local
ordinances and state laws continue to discriminate against this emerging population.
In 2017, the Trump administration reversed two transgender protections established by the Obama
administration. Transgender individuals were first allowed to openly serve in the military in 2016.
Citing the need to keep the U.S. military focused on “decisive and overwhelming victory,†President
Trump announced that transgender individuals would not be accepted or allowed to serve in the
military. Trump claimed that the military could not be burdened with increasing medical costs for
transgender service members. Several federal judges blocked Trump’s ban, ruling that it would
violate constitutional rights to due process and equal protection. All military branches did not heed
the ban and continued to enlist transgender individuals. However, in March 2018, Trump signed a
new policy memo, explicitly disqualifying transgender persons who require or have undergone
gender transition from military service. Transgender troops currently serving may remain in the
military, but would be required to serve according to their gender at birth. It is estimated that
between 3,000 and 15,000 transgender troops would be affected by the new policy (Seck 2018).
The Trump administration rescinded protections for transgender students to use bathrooms that
corresponded to their gender identity in 2017. The administration also maintained that schools
must protect transgender students from bullying. Individual schools would be able to determine
whether transgender students can use the bathrooms that they wish (Peters, Becker, and Hirschfeld
Davis 2017).
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
SOCIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE: THEORY AND DATA
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Your Sociology major requirements will likely include coursework in research methods and
statistics. In your methods course, you’ll learn different ways to collect qualitative and
quantitative data. You will use a data software program such as SPSS, SAS, or R to analyze
your data. But the important skill that you’ll acquire is the ability to make sense of data, to
analyze it, and to apply it.
One of my favorite sociology quotes comes from Peter Berger’s (1963) classic Invitation to
Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective: “Statistical data by themselves do not make sociology. They
become sociology when they are sociologically interpreted, put within a theoretical frame of
reference that is sociological†(p. 11). Although data are important in answering sociological
questions, the data themselves do not constitute sociology (Berger 1963); it is you (the
sociologist) who makes the data sociological.
For example, in this chapter we’ve reviewed the gender wage gap. In Table 4.4, wage gap data
for 1960 to 2014 are presented. The data in the table are just numbers. Human capital theory,
the devaluation of women’s work, or theories on vertical or horizontal segregation help us
better understand the persistent wage gap between women and men. These theories identify
how cultural beliefs, such as the belief that women will invest less in their employment as a
result of marriage and childbearing responsibilities, are replicated in the workplace and
reinforce gender income inequality.
Sociologists Kathleen Korgen, Jonathan White, and Shelley White (2011) explained the power
of sociological research methods and their connection to sociological theory:
In order to make society better, we must first have a firm understanding of how and why it functions in the ways it
does. Following the basic steps of scientific research helps us to see and measure patterns in society, so that we can
better understand how it operates. Once we have done so, we can then begin to understand why it operates that way
(through critical, sociological analysis and theories). (p. 39)
How is analyzing and understanding data an important workplace skill?
CHAPTER REVIEW
4.1 Describe how the different sociological perspectives explain sex and gender-based inequalities.
According to functionalists, gender inequality is defined not as a product of differential
power but rather as a functional necessity. Theorists from both conflict and feminist
perspectives argue that women will remain in their subordinate position as long as men
maintain their social, economic, and cultural advantage in society. From a conflict
perspective, women’s subordinate position in society is linked to their relationship to the
means of production. Contemporary feminist theorists refer to gender as a process, a
system of social practices that creates and maintains gender distinctions and inequalities.
From an interactionist’s perspective, language defines and maintains privilege in society;
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regarding gender, men are privileged and set many standards.
4.2 Identify the consequences of gender inequality
Gender inequality is persistent and affects everyone. Sex segregation in the workplace
continues to be an issue in the United States. Researchers confirm that working in an
occupation with a large proportion of female workers leads to lower wages, lower prestige,
worse working conditions, and slower career mobility. On average, women continue to
earn 80.5 cents for every dollar that a man earns in the United States, potentially because
of social responsibilities women are expected to perform outside of work or the
devaluation of women’s work.
4.3 Describe the impact of discrimination on gender nonconformists.
Transgender and gender nonconforming people are systemically oppressed and experience
high rates of violence, discrimination, physical threats, and harassment. Trans people
experience worse health outcomes than their cisgender peers, including attempted suicide,
depression, and substance abuse.
4.4 Discuss the effects and prevalence of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
Researchers estimate that 35% of women worldwide suffer physical or sexual violence,
often perpetrated by an intimate partner. The United Nations has attributed violence
against women to historically unequal power relations between men and women and
pervasive discrimination against women. Intimate partner violence has been identified as a
major contributor to poor mental, sexual, maternal, and neonatal health.
p.94
4.5 Describe the four waves of feminism and explore recent social and legal developments in
movements for gender equality.
The first wave began in the 19th century, with women’s suffrage as its primary goal. The
second wave began in the 20th century, with increased political focus on ensuring legal
rights for women. The third wave of feminism began in the 1990s, attempting to address
multiple sources of oppression and acknowledging oppression based on race and ethnicity,
social class, sexual orientation, and sex. The emerging fourth wave synthesizes the second
wave’s emphasis on equality and the third wave’s focus on global inequality. Fourth-wave
feminism has also been described as a movement without one cohesive cause, leader, or
platform. Title IX was a product of second wave feminism and prohibits the exclusion of
anyone from participating in an educational program based on one’s sex. Expanding
protections for trans and intersex people is a growing concern for LGBTQ people.
KEY TERMS
cisgender, 77
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devaluation of women’s work, 86
femicide, 88
gender, 77
gender binary, 77
gender mainstreaming, 89
gendered division of labor, 78
horizontal segregation, 83
human capital, 86
human capital theory, 86
occupational sex segregation, 82
sex, 77
sexism, 77
transgender, 78
vertical segregation, 83
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What is the difference between sex and gender? How is gender socially constructed?
2. Define sexism. Identify one example of institutional sexism.
3. Examine occupational segregation from the functionalist and conflict perspectives.
4. From an interactionist perspective, Wildman and Davis (2000) offered several examples of
how our language privileges men over women. Can you identify cases of women’s privilege over
men?
5. The gender role socialization process reinforces our beliefs about the differences between
men and women. Is it possible to raise boys and girls the same way, to be gender neutral in the
socialization process? Why or why not?
6. How do sociologists explain the wage gap between men and women? Do you think it is
possible to reduce or eliminate the gap?
7. Explain the importance of the four waves of feminism.
8. We take special note of female firsts—the first woman secretary of state (Madeleine
Albright), the first woman Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi), the first woman president of
Harvard University (Drew Gilpin Faust), and the first woman to lead General Motors (Mary
Barra). All these events occurred during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, two centuries
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after the beginning of the feminist movement. In your opinion, has the feminist movement
been successful? What remains to be achieved? Would you describe yourself as a feminist?
Why or why not?
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5
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Media Library
CHAPTER 5 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 5.1: Sexuality, Race, and HIV
AP News Clips 5.2: LGBTQ Service Members
AP News Clips 5.3: LGBTQ Adoption
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
5.1 Define sexual orientation.
5.2 Explain how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality.
5.3 Identify ongoing discrimination and inequality against the LGBTQ community.
In a 2009 announcement that led to worldwide condemnation, lawmakers in Uganda considered
adopting an antihomosexuality law, proposing the death penalty for certain homosexual acts (e.g.,
with a minor, if the perpetrator was HIV positive, or for serial offenders) (Gettleman 2010). David
Kato was one of the leading voices against the legislation. Despite threats of violence and harm,
Kato, an openly gay man, maintained, “If we keep on hiding, they will say we are not here.†Kato
cofounded the advocacy group Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). In 2011, Kato was murdered
several weeks after winning a court decision over a Ugandan tabloid that called for the killing of
homosexuals. Uganda’s antihomosexuality bill was passed in 2013, substituting the death penalty
clause with life imprisonment. SMUG reported an increase in the cases of intimidation and violence
against Uganda’s homosexual population after the passage of the bill. In 2014, Uganda’s
constitutional court overturned the law. The gay and lesbian community celebrated the ruling with
its first gay pride rally.
One’s sexual orientation serves as a basis of inequality. Sexual orientation is defined as the
classification of individuals according to their preference for emotional-sexual relationships and
lifestyle with persons of the same sex (homosexuality) or persons of the opposite sex
(heterosexuality). Bisexuality refers to emotional and sexual attractions to members of one’s own
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sex and members of other sexes. As we learned in Chapter 4, the term transgender does not refer to a
specific sexual orientation; rather, it refers to individuals whose gender identity is different from the
one assigned to them at birth. Transgender individuals may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, or
bisexual (Nagoshi, Hohn, and Nagoshi 2017). Queer refers to someone who falls outside of the
norms surrounding gender and sexuality (Fitzgerald and Grossman 2018). The term LGBTQ is
often used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals as a group.
There is no definitive study on the number of individuals who identify as homosexual or bisexual.
The Gallup Organization, which has polled over 1,600,000 American adults on sexual orientation
from 2012 to 2016, found that 4.1% of respondents in 2016 identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender (Gates 2017), a 0.6% increase over the 2012 figure. In 2014, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that less than 3% of the U.S. population identify as gay.
Based on the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, 1.6% of adults self-identify as gay or lesbian
and 0.7% as bisexual (Ward et al. 2014).
Gay rights have progressed in the United States and globally. In 1996, South Africa became the first
country to establish a constitutional ban against discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 2000,
Vermont was the first U.S. state to recognize civil unions between same-sex partners; in 2004,
Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme
Court rendered its decision in favor of marriage equality. Although national polls indicate increased
support of LGBTQ individuals, as a group they are still not immune to the experience of social
problems. LGBTQ activists have shifted their attention to other areas of inequality and
discrimination in housing and employment and discrimination against the transgender population.
The struggle for equal protection and equal rights continues.
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL
ORIENTATION AND INEQUALITY
Our understanding of sexuality or sexual orientation is based upon research from biology,
psychology, and sociology. Each discipline examines the causes and consequences of sexuality from
its unique and sometimes controversial point of view.
Researchers exploring the biological basis of sexuality have considered two theoretical approaches.
The first is neurohormonal theory, arguing that homosexuality is caused by atypical sex hormone
levels in utero. Human studies have suggested that specific centers in the brain are related to sexual
orientation and sexual behavior. The second approach is based upon behavioral genetics, identifying
the source and magnitude of genetic influences on sexual orientation. This line of research was first
motivated by the idea that gay men are genetically female, a hypothesis that was eventually
discredited.
Confirmation of the genetic link to sexuality has been found through comparative studies of
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identical twins (twins who have nearly identical genetic makeup) and fraternal twins (twins who
share some similar genetic makeup). Bailey and Pillard (1991) and Bailey and Bell (1993) found it
more likely that identical twins will both be gay (if one is gay) than is the case for fraternal twins. In
their assessment of biological research on sexual orientation, Brian Mustanski, Meredith Chivers,
and J. Michael Bailey (2002) concluded that sexual orientation is influenced by biological factors to
some degree. They say that the questions that remain to be answered are how and when these
biological factors act and to what degree these factors influence sexual orientation in women and
men.
Early psychological studies treated homosexuality as a pathology, as a mental illness. This
perspective was not universal among psychologists. Havelock Ellis argued that homosexuality was
inborn and therefore could not be considered a disease (Robinson 1976). Sigmund Freud believed
that all humans were innately bisexual and that homosexuality and heterosexuality were the result of
social and personal experiences. Both agreed that homosexuality was not an illness.
However, homosexuality was explicitly defined as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric
Association in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1973; a diagnosis for
ego-dystonic homosexuality was introduced in 1980 but removed entirely in 1986. The World
Health Organization removed a similar classification from its International Classification of Diseases
and Related Health Problems in 1992. The declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness was in
response to empirical research but also to more favorable cultural and social norms pertaining to
homosexuality.
Shifting away from homosexuality as an illness, scientists currently examine the impact of a
homosexual or a transgender identity. Rates of mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety,
substance abuse, and suicidality) are higher among homosexual men and women and transgender
individuals in part because of the social discrimination and cultural stigmatization they experience.
Researchers in this field also examine the causes of negative attitudes toward homosexuals and
transgender persons. A socially determined prejudice, homophobia is an irrational fear or
intolerance of homosexuals (Lehne 1995). Homophobia is particularly directed at gay men.
Transphobia is the negative beliefs and attitudes about transgender people (Hill and Willoughby
2005). It is different from homophobia, in that the prejudice is directed toward those who do not
conform to an expected gender role or identity rather than toward one’s sexual orientation (Nagoshi
et al. 2008).
In contrast to these biological and psychological perspectives, the sociological perspective examines
the social and structural factors that affect sex orientation.
Functionalist Perspective
Theorists from this perspective examine how society maintains our social order. Émile Durkheim
argued that our social order depends on how well society can control individual behavior. Our
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sexuality—our most basic human behavior—is controlled by society’s norms and values.
Functionalists identify how society upholds heterosexuality and a marital union between a man and
a woman as ideal normative behavior. This is also referred to as institutionalized heterosexuality,
the set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the heterosexual family as the societal
norm (Lind 2004).
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Our legal, political, and social structures work in harmony to support these ideals (the conflict
perspective of this is presented in the next section). Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) denied federal recognition of same-sex unions, defining marriage as a legal union only
between a man and a woman. This legislation served as a declaration about how the heterosexual
family is valued and how all other family forms are not. Society grants legitimate kinship and
familial obligations only through the heterosexual family. Consequently, society defines all other
forms of sexuality and families that do not fit this ideal image as problematic. These forms are
considered deviant or unnatural because they do not fit society’s ideal.
Nonetheless, during the past decades, the LGBTQ community and its allies have effectively
influenced family rights, employment, and discrimination policies throughout the world. The
movement has been successful largely because of its ability to affect institutional (macro) level
changes—the focus of the functionalist perspective.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Gore Vidal (1988) observed the following:
In order for a ruling class to rule, there must be arbitrary prohibitions. Of all prohibitions, sexual taboo is the most useful
because sex involves everyone. . . . we have allowed our governors to divide the population into two teams. One team is
good, godly, straight; the other is evil, sick, and vicious.
Vidal’s statement addresses the focus of both of these perspectives, that conflict in our society is
based on sexual orientation, with heterosexuals having been given the advantage. This reaffirmation
of heterosexuality as the moral standard is the basis of the culture wars, the struggle over creating
and regulating codes of personal, social, and sexual behavior for every American. Contemporary
culture wars have also concerned issues of race, ethnicity, and immigration, but the majority of
culture wars revolve around issues of sexuality and gender (Bronski 1998).
Sociologists recognize that heterosexuals are granted a privileged place in our society.
Heterosexism assumes that heterosexuality is the norm, encouraging discrimination in favor of
heterosexuals and against homosexuals. Heterosexual privilege is defined as the set of privileges or
advantages granted to some people because of their heterosexuality.
From a conflict perspective, Amy Lind (2004) identified how DOMA helped institutionalize
heterosexism because it blocked future proactive and protective legislation for gays and lesbians. She
focused specifically on heterosexual bias in social welfare policy, identifying its impact in three ways:
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through policies that explicitly target LGBT individuals as abnormal or deviant, through federal
definitions that assume that all families are heterosexual, and through policies that overlook LGBT
poverty and social needs because of stereotypes about affluence among LGBT families.
Evidence of the first type of heterosexual bias can be found in federal legislation such as DOMA
and policy initiatives such as the healthy marriage promotion and fatherhood programs promoted by
President George W. Bush. Current legislation funds marriage education programs that promote
“abstinence only†curricula in schools. Lind (2004) explained that gay, lesbian, and bisexual
adolescents have no access to sexual education that pertains to their sexual experience. In an effort to
preserve the traditional heterosexual family, these programs deny LGBT people their rights and
needs.
A similar heterosexual bias exists in the study of domestic violence. Because the traditional feminist
analysis of violence focused on the subjugation of women by men, our understanding of the
experience of victims and the solutions to address domestic violence is through a rigid heterosexual
lens (Guadalupe-Diaz and Yglesias 2013), thus leaving gaps in our understanding of violence in
lesbian or gay relationships.
p.100
“Theorizing about domestic violence in lesbian relationships is highly contested,†wrote Jude Irwin
(2008:201). He argued that there are many shortcomings to relying on a “one size fits all†model to
explain domestic violence in lesbian relationships. “Dominant heteronormative discourses lead to an
absence of talk about violence in lesbian relationships, excluding lesbians who experience violence.
This exclusion works both to create and maintain the invisibility of violence in lesbian relationships
and simultaneously constitute domestic violence as only a heterosexual issue†(p. 206). The impact is
significant as victims are unable to acknowledge the reality of the violence. Based on interviews with
Australian lesbians who identified as survivors of domestic violence, Irwin discovered that many
women remained silent because they saw domestic violence as a heterosexual issue that did not
affect them. Only in the past decade has gender-neutral language been incorporated into domestic
violence policy and advocacy efforts (National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 2010).
What Does It Mean to Me?
What other examples of heterosexual bias can you identify? Is heterosexuality still valued as the
norm?
Interactionist Perspective
In our society, no one gets “outed†for being straight. There is little controversy in identifying
196
someone as heterosexual. Socially, culturally, and legally, the heterosexual lifestyle is promoted and
praised. Although homosexuality has existed in most societies, it has usually been attached to a
negative label— abnormal, sinful, or inappropriate. A homosexual identity also becomes a master
status, an identity that determines how others view individuals and how individuals view
themselves. Even if a gay man is a doctor or a father, the only status that matters is that he is gay.
©iStock.com/Portra
According to the conflict perspective, heterosexism encourages discrimination against homosexual and transgender
individuals. What is the impact of such discrimination on individuals and families? What is the best way to respond to
heterosexism?
p.101
Interactionists examine how sexual orientation is constructed within a social context. We tend to
think of heterosexuality as unchanging and universal; however, as Jonathan Katz (2003) explained,
the term is a social invention that “designates a word and concept, a norm and role, an individual
and group identity, a behavior and a feeling, and a peculiar sexual-political institution particular to
the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries†(p. 145). Although heterosexuality existed before then,
it was actually named in the early 19th century. “The titling and envisioning of heterosexuality did
play an important role in consolidating the construction of the heterosexual’s social existence†(Katz
2003:145). He argued that acknowledging heterosexuality as a social invention—time bound and
culturally specific—challenges the power of the heterosexual ideal.
Interactionists also examine the process of how individuals identify themselves as homosexual, what
scholars describe as part of the development of a gay identity. Coming out (being gay and disclosing
197
it to others) has come to symbolize the pursuit of individual rights and self-identification (Chou
2001). Coming out implies not just the disclosure of a gay identity but also the individual’s positive
attitude toward and commitment to that identity (Dubé 2000). The disclosure of a gay identity
merges a private sexual identity with a public social identity (Cass 1979). To come out successfully,
a gay individual needs social and institutional support, in the form of support from family and
friends, legal protection from discrimination and violence, cultural acceptance, financial equality,
and access to health services (D’Augelli 1998).
The process of coming out to family members is particularly stressful for lesbian, gay, and bisexual
(LGB) youth. Fear of parental reactions has been identified as a major reason that LGB youth do
not come out to their families (D’Augelli, Hershberger, and Pilkington 1998). Following disclosure,
youth report verbal abuse and even physical attacks by family members. Youth who lived with their
families and disclosed their sexual orientation were victimized by their families more often than
were youth who had not disclosed their orientation (D’Augelli et al. 1998).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 5.1: Sexuality, Race, and HIV
To avoid negative response from others, young lesbians and gay men hide their sexual orientation
from family and friends (Rivers and Carragher 2003). Gay and lesbian youth may use one or more
of the following concealment strategies: inhibiting behaviors and interests associated with
homosexuality, limiting exposure to the opposite sex, avoiding exposure to information about
homosexuality, assuming antigay positions, establishing heterosexual relationships, and avoiding
homoerotic feelings through substance abuse (Radkowsky and Siegel 1997). Research is
inconclusive about how effective such concealment strategies are in reducing anxiety among lesbian
and gay youth.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Is your sexual orientation a master status? Why or why not?
A summary of sociological theories regarding sexual orientation and inequality is presented in Table
5.1.
TABLE 5.1 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Sexual
Orientation
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND INEQUALITY
LGBTQ individuals and their families are subject to social inequalities through practices of
discrimination and prejudice, many of them surprisingly institutionalized in formal law. Fifty-five
percent of those surveyed in a 2017 GLAAD and Harris Poll reported discrimination based on their
sexual orientation or gender identity (GLAAD and Harris Poll 2018). LGBTQ individuals are at a
“significantly increased risk for disparate health outcomes†if they reside in a state that fails to
extend equal protections or rights to them (Pomeranz 2018:67). Research confirms the increased
rate of generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, chronic depression, and substance
abuse disorders among LGB respondents living in states with constitutional amendments banning
same-sex marriage or without policies extending protections against hate crimes and employment
discrimination (Hatzenbuehler, Keyes, and Hasin 2009; Hatzenbuehler et al. 2010).
p.102
199
In this section, we’ll review historical and continuing inequalities based on sexual orientation.
State and Federal Legislation
In 1998, John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were fined $200 and spent a night in jail for violating a
Texas statute that prohibited “deviate sexual intercourse†between two people of the same sex.
Sodomy laws criminalize oral and anal sex between two adults. Although the laws may apply to
homosexuals and heterosexuals, sodomy laws are more vigorously applied against same-sex partners.
Twelve U.S. states still had state sodomy laws in 2014 (in 1960, sodomy was outlawed in every
state). The Texas statute did not apply to heterosexual couples.
Their case was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2003. Attorneys for Lawrence and
Garner argued that the Texas law was an invasion of their privacy and violated the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it unfairly targeted same-sex couples. Attorneys for
the state argued that Texas had the right to set moral standards for its residents. In June 2003, the
Court voted 6 to 3 to overrule the Texas law and all other remaining sodomy laws. Writing for the
decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, “The state cannot demean their [homosexuals’] existence or
control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime†(Greenhouse 2003:A17).
According to Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal (2003), “this ruling starts an
entirely new chapter in our fight for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.â€
p.103
In 2009, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to grant gay individuals protection under hate-crime
laws. The legislation was in response to the brutal deaths of James Byrd Jr., an African American
who was dragged to death in Texas, and Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten
and left to die in Wyoming. The federal hate-crime law, enacted in 1968, had been limited to
crimes based on race, color, religion, and national origin. Whereas the law was supported by civil
rights and law enforcement groups, some conservative and religious groups opposed the legislation,
saying that the bill would create special classes of federally protected crime victims. The 2009
legislation also extended protections for disabled individuals. At the signing of the bill, President
Barack Obama promised that people would be protected from violence based on “what they look
like, who they love, how they pray or who they are†(Feller 2009).
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the first-of-its-kind California law that bans psychological
counseling aimed at changing the sexual orientations of gay and lesbian minors. Conversion or
reparative therapy refers to counseling and psychotherapy to eliminate sexual desires for members of
one’s own sex (American Psychological Association 2008). Under the 2012 California law,
reparative therapy is prohibited for patients under the age of 18. Governor Jerry Brown and gay
rights advocates supported the law, arguing that these therapies have no medical or scientific basis.
The American Psychiatric Association determined that reparative therapy poses a risk of depression,
anxiety, self-hatred, and self-destructive behavior for patients (Levs 2012). New Jersey was the
200
second state to ban sexual orientation conversion therapy. As of April 2018, nine other states had
banned conversion therapy for minors.
California was the first state to ban the gay panic defense in cases where a murder defendant justifies
his violence to learning that the victim was gay. The defense was presented for one of the men who
murdered Matthew Shepard in 1998. California banned this defense tactic in 2014, and Illinois and
Rhode Island followed in 2018. Gay or trans panic defenses have been used in courts in half of the
states, even though no state penal code recognizes it as a freestanding defense (Gonzales 2017).
The Rights and Recognition of Same-Sex Couples
Before 2013, DOMA permitted states to ban all recognition of same-sex marriages. According to
the law, the federal government would not accept marriage licenses granted to same-sex couples,
regardless of whether a state provided equal license privileges to all types of partnerships. DOMA
denied these couples the same federal benefits that are available to or required for married opposite-
sex couples. Gay and lesbian families were denied common legal protections that nongay families
take for granted, such as adoption, custody, guardianship, social security, and inheritance.
The legal recognition of same-sex couples began incrementally at the federal level. In June 2002,
President George W. Bush signed into law the Mychal Judge Act, which allows federal death
benefits to be paid to the same-sex partners of firefighters and police officers who die in the line of
duty (Bumiller 2002). In 2006, the federal Pension Protection Act became law, containing two key
provisions that extend financial protections to same-sex couples and Americans who leave their
retirement savings to non-spouse beneficiaries. Under the law, an individual’s retirement plan
benefit can be transferred to a domestic partner or other non-spouse beneficiary. The second
provision allows gay couples and others with non-spouse beneficiaries to draw on their retirement
funds in the case of a medical or financial emergency. And in 2010, President Barack Obama
instructed the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to draft rules requiring
hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments (which includes most of the nation’s
medical facilities) to grant all patients the right to say who has visitation rights and who can help
make medical decisions. These rules would allow full recognition of advanced health directives
among gay and lesbian couples.
Same-sex marriages, unions, and partnerships were counted for the first time in the 2010 Census.
The 2010 U.S. Census estimated that there were 131,729 same-sex married-couple households and
514,735 same-sex unmarried-partner households (O’Connell and Feliz 2011).
In 2011, President Obama directed the U.S. Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in court
after concluding that the law was unconstitutional (C. Savage and Stolberg 2011). In 2013, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional.
p.104
201
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not keep same-sex couples from marrying
and must recognize their unions. Justice Anthony Kennedy highlighted the importance of the ruling
for couples with children. “Without the recognition, stability and predictability marriage offers,
their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. . . The marriage laws
at issue here thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples†(quoted in Liptak 2015).
Refer to Table 5.2 for a list of other countries where same-sex marriage is legal.
TABLE 5.2 â– Countries Where Same-Sex Marriage Is Legal Nationwide, as of December
2017
202
Note: Italy offers most or all spousal rights to same-sex couples but stops short of marriage. Countries that offer some spousal
rights to same-sex couples include Croatia, Hungary, Israel, and Switzerland.
203
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is your opinion on the rights of same-sex couples? Who or what has influenced your beliefs?
Employment
The need to “manage a disreputable sexual identity at the workplace†has been called the most
persistent problem facing lesbians and gay men (Schneider 1986:464). One in four LGBT
employees experienced employment discrimination in the last five years (Out & Equal 2017). Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sex. Sex has been interpreted to mean
gender, which means that protection on the basis of sexual orientation is not covered.
M. V. Lee Badgett and Mary King (1997) noted that, unlike discrimination based on easily
observable characteristics such as skin color or gender, discrimination against gays and lesbians must
be based on knowledge or suspicion of someone’s sexual orientation. Lesbians and gay men who
reveal their sexual orientation risk loss of income and lower chances at career advancement. A review
of existing studies on workplace discrimination reveals that somewhere between one quarter and two
thirds of LGB people report losing their jobs or missing promotions because of their sexual
orientation.
Currently there is no federal law that protects LGBT individuals from employment discrimination,
although 22 states and the District of Columbia prohibit employment discrimination based on
sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was
first introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2009. If passed, the act would provide basic protections
against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Professional competitive sports have been referred to as the “last closet.†“Sports associate boys and
men with masculine dominance by constructing their identities and sculpting their bodies to align
with hegemonic perspectives of masculinist embodiment and expression†(Anderson 2011:250.
Since 2012, several professional and collegiate players have revealed their sexual orientation: Jason
Collins (NBA), Brittney Griner (WNBA), and Michael Sam (NFL). Nearly all professional sport
leagues ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, religion, and ethnicity. Yet Cyd
Zeigler, editor of Outsports, an online publication covering LGBT men and women in sports, said,
p.105
204
©iStock.com/Rawpixel
Due to the way marriage equality laws evolved, many same-sex couples have multiple relationship statuses. Though the 2015
Supreme Court ruling opened the door to marriage equality for same-sex couples, the dissolution of same-sex civil unions or
marriages is still legally complicated. There are no national data on the rate of same-sex divorce.
I think homophobia for decades has been more entrenched in sports than it has in most other areas in our culture. . . . It
starts when these kids are young. And they’re five years old and 10 years old and playing sports and the coach calls them a
faggot and tells them not to be a sissy and this idea that being a faggot is less than being a man. (Quoted in Chibbaro 2013)
Upon his retirement from the NBA, Collins (2014) said,
©Ida Mae Astute/ABC via Getty Images
In 2014, Michael Sam was the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL.
When we get to the point where a gay pro athlete is no longer forced to live in fear that he’ll be shunned by teammates or
outed by tabloids, when we get to the point where he plays while his significant other waits in the family room, when we get
to the point where he’s not compelled to hide his true self and is able to live an authentic life, then coming out won’t be such
a big deal. But we’re not there yet.
205
Military Service
During his first presidential campaign, Bill Clinton promised to extend full civil rights to gays and
lesbians, including those in military service (Belkin 2003). The military policy at that time banned
gay and lesbian individuals from the armed forces, stating that homosexuality was incompatible with
military service. (For information on gay military service in other countries, refer to this chapter’s
Taking a World View feature.) In 1993, President Clinton suspended the policy, and the National
Defense Authorization Act became law.
p.106
Part of the law is the infamous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†(DADT) policy, a political compromise
criticized since its inception. According to the policy, known homosexuals were not allowed to serve
in the U.S. military, but the military was banned from asking enlistees questions about their sexual
orientation. In addition, significant restrictions were placed on commanders wanting to investigate
whether a soldier was gay (the complete policy was “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t
Harassâ€). Service members who disclosed that they were homosexual were still subject to military
discharge. Between the inception of DADT and the end of 2009, more than 13,000 service
members were discharged (Servicemembers Legal Defense Network 2007); from World War II to
the repeal of DADT in 2011, an estimated 114,000 military personnel were discharged because of
their sexual orientation (Burke 2013). It is not known how many gay and lesbian service members
did not reenlist because of the policy without revealing their homosexuality.
In 2007, John Shalikashvili, retired army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
declared his support for the repeal of the DADT policy. Shalikashvili (2007) described how his
conversations with gay soldiers and marines, some with Iraq combat experience, “showed me how
much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers†(p. A19).
He also cited evidence from a poll of 500 service members returning from service in Afghanistan
and Iraq, indicating that 75% of those surveyed were comfortable interacting with gay people. In the
same year, the Pentagon revealed that 58 Arabic-language experts had been discharged from
military service since the inception of the policy because they were gay. U.S. House representatives
were critical of the Pentagon, believing that the policy and its actions were homophobic rather than
focused on the country’s national security needs.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 5.2: LGBTQ Service Members
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A congressional bill to repeal DADT was enacted in December 2010. In 2011, a ruling from a
federal appeals court barred further enforcement of DADT. DADT ended on September 20, 2011.
In their assessment of the repeal of DADT, Aaron Belkin and his colleagues (2012) concluded that
the repeal “has had no overall negative impact on military readiness or its component dimensions,
including cohesion, recruitment, retention, assaults, harassment, or morale. . . . [G]reater openness
and honesty resulting from the repeal seem to have promoted increased understanding, respect and
acceptance†(p. 4). It is estimated that gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members make up at least
2% of the U.S. military’s active duty and reserve forces (Bumiller 2012).
RESPONDING TO SEXUAL ORIENTATION
INEQUALITIES
According to the Human Rights Campaign (2014a), “the patchwork nature of current LGBT civil
rights protections protects millions of people, but leaves millions more subject to uncertainty and
potential discrimination that impacts their safety, their family and their very way of life.â€
Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, reported
that “one of the main things we are doing is fighting against the post-marriage backlash.†In 2016,
there were more than 200 anti-LGBT bills introduced (Stack 2016). State legislators have
sponsored bills that preempt local protections and target transgender people to allow discrimination
(ACLU 2018). Many have used the religious freedom argument to support denying services to
LGBT people.
Nondiscrimination Protections. There are no explicit protections prohibiting the denial of credit
(including housing loans) based on sexual orientation or gender identity, no consistent federal
protections for students based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and no federal protections
that prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in public spaces, such as hotels or restaurants
(Human Rights Campaign 2014b).
p.107
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
GAY MILITARY SERVICE POLICIES
207
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Defense allowed gay soldiers to march in their uniforms in a gay pride parade for the
first time in U.S. history.
In addition to the United States, more than 140 countries allow open homosexual military
service. Aaron Belkin (2003) examined the early experiences of four countries that lifted their
bans on homosexual military personnel. In each country—Australia, Canada, Israel, and Great
Britain—the bans were lifted with opposition from the military services.
Belkin explained that each of these four countries lifted its ban for different reasons. In
Canada, the ban was lifted in 1992, after federal courts ruled that the military policy violated
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ban was also lifted in 1992 in Australia,
when Prime Minister Paul Keating argued that the ban was not consistent with his country’s
integration of several international human rights conventions into its domestic laws and codes.
Israel’s military ban was lifted in 1993 after public response to Knesset hearings on the matter.
In 1999, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Great Britain’s gay ban violated the
right to privacy guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights.
None of the military personnel, academics, veterans, politicians, and nongovernmental
observers interviewed for Belkin’s research believed that lifting the gay bans undermined
“military performance, readiness, or cohesion, lead [sic] to increased difficulties in recruiting or
retention or increased the rate of HIV infection among the troops†(Belkin 2003:110). Grim
predictions and anxiety about how military personnel would refuse to work with or share
showers, undress, or sleep in the same room with gay soldiers were not substantiated in these
countries. Many who were interviewed described the policy change as a “non-event†or “not
that big a deal for us†and said that the change was “accepted in ‘true military tradition’â€
(Belkin 2003:110–11).
Interviewed military leaders stressed that all soldiers were held to the same standard of
professional conduct regardless of sexual orientation or personal beliefs about homosexuality.
Belkin (2003) stated that none of the four militaries attempted to force military personnel to
accept homosexuality. Data from the four countries confirm that soldiers refrained from the
abuse and harassment of homosexual military personnel, although gay bashing and sexual
208
harassment cases were documented in two of the countries (Australia and Israel).
During the war with Iraq, before the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,†U.S. forces served side
by side with allied forces from nine countries that allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly. In
some cases, these forces worked together in integrated units (Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network 2007).
From a social constructionist perspective, how was the repeal of gay military service bans (not
just in the United States) framed by supporters and opponents? What was the social problem
both sides were trying to address?
In 2015, 21 Senate Republicans sponsored the First Amendment Defense Act, which would permit
discrimination by individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations against same-sex couples,
single parents, and unmarried couples based on religious belief and moral conviction. There was no
vote on the bill, and the bill has not been reintroduced in Congress.
In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in case involving the refusal of a Colorado baker
to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Baker Jack Phillips maintained that he would not provide
any services to support a same-sex marriage because it would be against his own religious beliefs.
The couple filed a complaint with Colorado’s civil rights commission. Phillips lost the case before
the Colorado Supreme Court and was granted a U.S. Supreme Court hearing. In June 2018, the
Supreme Court ruled in Phillips’s favor, but in its ruling the Court did not resolve the primary
dispute between gay rights and religious objections.
p.108
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
SUPPORT FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
The majority of Americans, 62%, say that they support same-sex marriage, according to a
2017 Pew Research Center poll. Yet support for same-sex marriage varies by demographic
characteristics, such as race, education, and political ideology (refer to Table 5.3). Based
on the data, what patterns in support can you identify?
Social scientists hypothesize that support for same-sex marriage increases as more
individuals have contact or relationships with LGBTQ individuals. What do you think?
Why would contact with LGBTQ individuals increase support for same-sex marriage?
209
TABLE 5.3 â– Support for Same-Sex Marriage by Selected Demographic
Characteristics
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
Family Legislation. Until 2010, Florida was the only state that explicitly forbade adoption by
unmarried gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals. First enacted in 1977, the Florida law was ruled
unconstitutional by a state court of appeals. Currently, all states permit adoption by single LGBT
parents and same-sex couples. There are no explicit prohibitions for a same-sex partner to adopt his
or her partner’s child (also called second-parent adoption) in most states, although some state laws
(e.g., California and New York) explicitly permit these adoptions.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 5.3: LGBTQ Adoption
210
The Human Rights Campaign (2015a) has noted that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented among
the foster care population because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. These youth have a
higher average number of foster care placements and a higher likelihood of living in a group setting
than do non-LGBTQ youth. Only 24 states have laws or agency policies that prohibit
discrimination against foster youth based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Human
Rights Campaign calls for legislation to protect LGBTQ youth and for LGBT cultural competency
training for foster care agencies and parents. As of 2017, only nine states require LGBT-inclusive
cultural competency training (Movement Advancement Project 2017a).
p.109
IN FOCUS
GAY-FRIENDLY CAMPUSES
The best estimate of the number of LGBT students in grades 9 through 12 is about 8% (or 1.3
million students) of the total student population (Kahn et al. 2016). LGBT youth have been a
driving force behind creating change in their schools and communities. Support groups and
organized student activities have emerged in states such as California, Illinois, and
Washington, providing valuable support to LGBT teens and their friends and families (Bohan
and Russell 1999; Human Rights Watch 2001).
One such student group is the Gay–Straight Alliance (GSA) in East High School in Salt Lake
City, Utah. As Janis Bohan and Glenda M. Russell (1999) chronicled, a group of students
proposed creating a student alliance to provide a support network for LGBT students and their
heterosexual friends in October 1995. In response to the students’ proposal, the school board
and the state legislature banned all noncurricular clubs rather than allow the GSA. The club
continued to meet, paying rental and insurance fees for the use of school facilities. According
to Bohan and Russell, students indicated that the club had a positive impact on their lives. The
alliance served as a safe refuge, decreasing their feelings of isolation and vulnerability, students
said, and they reported decreases in substance abuse, depression, suicidal impulses, truancy, and
conflict with parents. The straight student members also reported positive effects. In
September 2000, Utah’s Salt Lake City School District Board of Education voted to permit
noncurricular student groups to meet on school grounds, reversing its 1995 decision against the
GSA (Human Rights Watch 2001). According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network, there are more than 4,000 registered clubs for LGBT students and their friends
throughout the United States.
Schools are allowing students to participate in the national Day of Silence in April; a vow of
211
silence for the day symbolizes the silencing effect of antigay harassment and bullying. The
event was founded in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia. In 2012, the day was
observed in 9,000 schools in more than 70 countries, and the movement continues to grow.
Although some religious and parent groups object to what they consider “promotion†of
homosexuality, most agree that it is important to create and promote a safe school environment
for LGBT youth.
“What campuses do you consider to be LGBT-friendly?†This question was posed by the
editors of the Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students. In 2006, the editors collected
nominations from current LGBT college students as well as additional information from
interviews with students and faculty or staff members from the nominated schools.
The editors based their final selections on 10 criteria, as reported in the guide. According to
editor Bruce Steele, the editors intended to assess “the effort that’s being put forth by the
colleges themselves to make their LGBT students comfortable†(Rosenbloom 2006:S2). The
10 criteria are as follows:
1. Active LGBT student organization(s) on campus. Prospective LGBT students are
looking for a sense of community with their peers and organizations that can offer social,
educational, and leadership opportunities on campus.
2. Out LGBT students. Prospective students look for other LGBT students to be visible and
active in academic and campus life settings.
3. Out LGBT faculty and staff. LGBT faculty and staff can serve as advisers and visible role
models for LGBT students.
4. LGBT-inclusive policies. Supportive campuses should have policies that include “sexual
orientation†in their discrimination policy or have policies supporting same-sex domestic
partner benefits.
5. Visible signs of pride. The prominent presence of rainbow flags and pink triangles can
create a sense of openness, safety, and inclusion.
6. Out LGBT allies from the top down. Support from college administrators and alumni is
essential to LGBT students.
7. LGBT-inclusive housing and gender-neutral bathrooms. Campuses may have options for
LGBT-themed housing to foster a living and learning atmosphere for students.
8. Established LGBT campus center. What committed campus resources are available for
LGBT students and organizations?
9. LGBT/Queer Studies academic major or minor. Students are looking for classes where
212
they can learn about LGBT identity, politics, and history.
10. Liberal attitude and vibrant LGBT social scene. LGBT students want to be accepted
fully. Students may want to live on a campus or in a city that offers queer entertainment.
Based on these criteria, would your school qualify as a LGBT-friendly campus? How does your
campus support LGBT students?
p.110
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
DAN SAVAGE
© AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Dan Savage (left) is pictured here with his husband Terry Miller (right). The couple married in 2012 after
Washington voters passed a ballot initiative extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.
After hearing the news of the suicide of Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old gay teen who reportedly
endured bullying at school, Dan Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, posted a video about
their lives—their family, their friends, and experiences they say they would have missed if they
had killed themselves when they were bullied as teens.
Explaining that gay teenagers do not have access to positive gay role models, information, or
resources, Savage wrote, “I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could
have told Billy that it gets better. I wish I could have told him that, however bad things were,
however isolated and alone he was, it gets better†(D. Savage 2010). Savage invited others to
tell gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender teens that “it gets better†and submit their video to his
YouTube channel. Savage (quoted in Chen 2012) explained,
The goal is to build and maintain these videos and all the support in them for LGBT kids who are growing up right
213
now: 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds; people who are nine years old right now but who will see these videos in five to six
years. We want to make sure that videos are still being made and that LGBT kids know how to find these videos,
how to find us.
As described on its website, the It Gets Better Project has become a worldwide movement,
with more than 65,000 personal videos reminding LGBTQ teens that they are not alone and
that it will get better. Celebrities, politicians, professional athletes, and activists have posted
their submissions.
Visit the website at www.itgetsbetter.org.
Employment Protections. As of March 2018, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act had yet to
be passed in the U.S. Congress. Protections against public and private workplace discrimination
because of one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity exist in 21 states, the District of
Columbia, and several hundred U.S. cities and counties (Movement Advancement Project 2017b).
Eighty-nine percent of all Fortune 500 companies have antidiscrimination policies that include
sexual orientation, and 66% have policies that include gender identity (Human Rights Campaign
2015b).
What Does It Mean to Me?
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights
of lesbians, gay men, transgender individuals, and people with HIV/AIDS. The organization
identifies each state that prohibits sexual orientation discrimination in employment. Investigate your
state’s discrimination laws by logging on to Lambda Legal’s website. If your state has such laws, a
brief summary of the legislation is included.
p.111
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
INTERNSHIPS AND SERVICE LEARNING
Experiential learning allows students to learn from direct experience. It is the process of
learning by doing, also referred to as active learning. There are two types of experiential
learning opportunities that can help you learn more about yourself and help refine your
214
professional goals.
An internship is described as a pre-professional experience. A student is employed in an
organization to learn job or career skills specific to an organization (social service office) or
occupation (social worker). Internships may be paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time,
completed with or without academic credit. Through your internship, you gain on-the-job
experience to include on your résumé.
Service learning is defined as “an educational experience involving an organized service activity
with structured reflection to guide students’ learning†(Bringle and Hatcher 1999). Usually
partnering with a community organization or program, students provide a range of services
such as painting, cleaning, food service, or working with individuals or families. According to
Sam Marullo (1996), service learning “bridges theory and practice, offering a crucible for
learning that enables students to test theories with life experiences, and forces upon them an
evaluation of their knowledge and understanding grounded in their service experience†(p.
118).
Internships or service learning should not be confused with volunteer community service. If
you are a weekend volunteer at your local soup kitchen, no one will expect you to write a paper
about your experiences. Experiential learning includes an academic component or expectation.
As part of your experience, you may be assigned readings and required to write a final project,
paper, or reflection journal.
Investigate your department or school’s experiential learning options. Some departments
manage their own list of internship placements or may coordinate with an internship or service
learning office. Consider the experience you will gain and the work skills you can develop.
Marullo (1996) asserted that through these experiential learning experiences,
critical thinking skills are enhanced because students are forced to confront simplistic and individualistic explanations
of social problems with the complex realities they see in their volunteer work. Real world problems and constraints
help students to develop their problem solving skills. Students’ conflict resolution skills are developed because the
situations in which they serve are rife with conflict. (p. 123)
What type of internship or service learning experience would you like to explore?
CHAPTER REVIEW
5.1 Define sexual orientation.
Sexual orientation is defined as the classification of individuals according to their
preference for emotional-sexual relationships and lifestyle with persons of the same sex
(homosexuality) or persons of the opposite sex (heterosexuality). Bisexuality refers to
emotional and sexual attractions to persons of either sex.
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5.2 Describe how each sociological perspective addresses sexual orientation and inequality.
Functionalists identify how society upholds heterosexuality and a marital union between a
man and a woman as ideal normative behavior. This is also referred to as institutionalized
heterosexuality, the set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the heterosexual
family as the societal norm. From the conflict and feminist perspectives, heterosexuals are
granted a privileged place in our society. Heterosexual privilege is defined as the set of
privileges or advantages granted to some people because of their heterosexuality.
Interactionists examine how sexual orientation is constructed within a social context. The
development of a gay identity has familial, social, legal, financial, religious, and health
implications.
5.3 Identify ongoing discrimination and inequality against the LGBTQ community.
One in four LGBTQ employees has experienced employment discrimination in the past
five years. Much of the discrimination is institutional: There are no explicit protections
prohibiting the denial of credit (including housing loans) based on sexual orientation or
gender identity, no consistent federal protections for students based on sexual orientation
or gender identity, and no federal protections that prohibit discrimination against
LGBTQ people in public spaces, such as hotels or restaurants.
p.112
KEY TERMS
bisexuality, 97
heterosexism, 99
heterosexuality, 97
homophobia, 98
homosexuality, 97
institutionalized heterosexuality, 98
LGBTQ, 97
master status, 100
queer, 97
sexual orientation, 97
transphobia, 98
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast the biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives on sexual
orientation.
216
2. Examine how heterosexuality is privileged in society.
3. How, from a sociological perspective, is our sexual orientation defined/controlled by our
norms, values, and language?
4. Explain the role of power and privilege in understanding sexual orientation.
5. How has repeal of the military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†affected military service by
gays and lesbians?
6. Explain how gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals are discriminated against in the
workplace.
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p.114
©iStock.com/michaeljung
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6
AGE AND AGING
Media Library
CHAPTER 6 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 6.1: Students Reside in Retirement Homes
AP News Clips 6.2: President Obama Highlights Issues Facing Aging Americans
AP News Clips 6.3: Aging Suit
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
6.1 Explain how age is both a biological and a social classification.
6.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging, and inequality.
6.3 Explain how age serves as a basis for prejudice or discrimination.
6.4 Evaluate past and present efforts to ameliorate age-based concerns.
More than 500 retired scientists and researchers volunteered as first responders to the nuclear plant
accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in 2011. The Skilled Veterans Corps volunteers
ranged in age from 60 to 78. According to Yasuteru Yamada, a retired physicist, “young workers
who may reproduce a younger generation and are themselves more susceptible to the effects of
radiation should not be engaged in such work. This job is a call for senior citizens like me†(quoted
in Glionna 2011a). The story of Yamada and his colleagues was characterized as “a lesson about
growing old gracefully, about demonstrating the sheer willfulness in an aging body†(Glionna
2011b). Yamada maintains that he is nobody’s hero. Despite their expertise and their willingness to
help, the volunteers were not permitted to assist with the cleanup.
Age is both a biological and a social classification (McConatha et al. 2003). There are social dictates
regarding age—socially and culturally defined expectations about the meaning of age, our
understanding of it, and our responses to it (Calasanti and Slevin 2001). We make a fuss over the
77-year-old Ironman triathlete and the 13-year-old college student because they are unexpected or
deemed unusual for people of their age. Age distinguishes acceptable behavior for different social
219
groups. Voting, the legal consumption of alcohol, military enlistment, and the ability to hold certain
elected offices (you can’t be president of the United States until you are at least 35 years old) are
examples of formal age norms. Informal age norms also demonstrate how a society defines what is
considered appropriate by age (Calasanti and Slevin 2001).
Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/Getty Images
Age is both a biological and a social classification. Active seniors expand our beliefs and expectations of elderly behavior and
roles.
p.116
Sociologists examine age and the process of aging through a life course perspective. This
perspective examines the entire course of human life from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood to
old age. The life course perspective tends to view “stages of life†as social constructions that reflect
the broader structural conditions of society (Moody and Sasser 2018). Aging occurs within a social
context: One’s social class, education, occupation, gender, and race will determine how one
experiences adolescence or old age. However, there is also room for individuals to make their own
choices in interpreting or embracing age-related roles (Moody and Sasser 2018). Gerontology is
the specific study of aging and the elderly, the primary focus of this chapter.
OUR AGING WORLD
Much has been written about the graying or aging of America, a change in our demographic
structure referred to as population aging (Clark et al. 2004). One way to confirm population aging
220
is to look at the median age of the U.S. population. (The median age is the age where half the
population is older and the other half is younger.) The median age was 17 years in 1820 and 23
years in 1900, and by 2000 it had increased to 35 years. By 2030, the median age is predicted to
increase to 42 years.
Demography is the study of the size, composition, and distribution of populations, and
demographers have identified several reasons for population aging. First, population aging is caused
by a decline in birthrates (Moody 2018). With a smaller number of children, the average age of the
population increases. In 1900, America was a relatively young population, with children and
teenagers making up 40% of the population. By 1990, however, the proportion of youth had
dropped to 24%, where it remains today (Howden and Meyer 2011).
Population aging can also occur because of improvements in life expectancy as a result of medical
and technological advances (Moody 2018), improved access to health care, healthier lifestyles, and
better health before 65 years of age (National Center for Health Statistics 2009). As people live
longer, the average age of the population increases. In 1900, life expectancy at birth was 47 years;
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the life expectancy for a child born in
2015 is 78.8 years (Hoyert and Xu 2012; National Center for Health Statistics 2017).
Longer life expectancy has also made it necessary to redefine what it means to be old or elderly.
Gerontology scholars and researchers now make the distinction between the young-old (aged 65–
75), the old-old (aged 75–84), and the oldest-old (aged 85 or older) (Moody and Sasser 2018).
Unless noted otherwise, the use of the term elderly in this chapter will refer to those aged 65 or
older.
Finally, the process of population aging can be influenced because of birth cohorts (Moody and
Sasser 2018). A cohort is a group of people born during a particular period who experience common
life events during the same historical period. For example, the Depression of the 1930s produced a
small birth cohort that had a minimal impact on the average age of the population. However, the
baby boom cohort after World War II is a very large cohort, and its middle-age baby boomers will
contribute to the aging of the U.S. population. When Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, our nation’s first
baby boomer, born January 1, 1946, applied for her Social Security benefits in 2007, Social Security
commissioner Michael Astrue said it signaled “America’s silver tsunami†(Ohlemacher 2007:A1).
An estimated 10,000 people a day will become eligible for Social Security benefits during the next
two decades (Ohlemacher 2007). The aging of the United States is reported in Table 6.1. Data
from the U.S. Census Bureau dramatically show the effect of the baby boom generation on the
overall age structure.
p.117
TABLE 6.1 ■Percentage Aged 65 and Older of the Total U.S. Population: 2000–2050,
Projected
221
Source: West et al. 2014; Mather, Jacobsen, and Pollard 2016.
Note: The reference population for these data is the resident population.
Demographers predict that the number of Americans aged 65 or older will increase over several
decades. To provide a context for aging in the United States, it is helpful to examine trends in the
rest of the world (He et al. 2005). Populations are aging in all countries, though the level and pace
vary by geographic region. Fertility decline, improved health and longevity, and increasing
urbanization have contributed to the unprecedented growth of older populations throughout the
world. In 2015, 617 million people (8.5%) in the world were 65 years old or older; by 2050, the
number is projected to increase to 1.6 billion (16.7%) (He, Goodkind, and Kowal 2016).
Figure 6.1 shows the percentage of elderly in the population from 2015 and projected through 2030
and 2050. Europe and Northern America will continue to have the highest percentage of elderly in
the world, while the percentage of elderly in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean are
predicted to more than double as a result of high fertility and low mortality rates (West et al. 2014).
In comparison, Africa is the youngest region, still in the early stages of a demographic transition,
with high fertility rates and a young population (He et al. 2016).
FIGURE 6.1 â– Percentage Aged 65 and Older of the Total Population for Each World
Region: 2015, 2030, and 2050
222
Source: He et al. 2016.
Gerontologist Harry Moody (2006) warned, “Population aging is a long-range trend that will
characterize our society as we continue into the 21st century. It is a force we all will cope with for
the rest of our lives†(p. xxiii). Population aging means an increase in the number or proportion of
elderly and signals the need for changes in health care, employment status, living arrangements, and
social welfare for the elderly and the rest of society.
The aging of U.S. society is likely to transform state, regional, city, and suburban populations,
creating competition over resource allocation such as funding for schools versus senior services. As
reported by the U.S. Census Bureau (2017), in 2016 the median age had increased in most areas of
the country. The state with the highest median age was Maine at 44.6 years, followed by New
Hampshire (43.0 years) and Vermont (42.7 years). The county of Sumter, Florida, has the highest
median age of 67.1 years, an increase from 49.2 years in 2000. The states with the lowest median
age were Utah (30.8 years), Alaska (33.9 years) and the District of Columbia (33.9 years).
p.118
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
AGING IN CHINA
The growth of the older population in China is expected to accelerate in the next 50 years,
surpassing the aging population in many Western European countries and the United States.
Charles Kincannon, Wan He, and Loraine West (2005) reported that more than a half century
223
ago, 1 in 25 Chinese people was aged 65 years or older, but by the beginning of the 21st
century, 1 in every 14 Chinese was an older person.
©iStock.com/yanjf
Multigenerational households provide a safety net of support and care for elderly Chinese.
According to population projections by the U.S. Census Bureau’s International Programs
center, China’s older population will quadruple. Given China’s total population of over 1.2
billion in 2000, this accelerated aging process will involve huge numbers of people. By 2050, it
is projected, there will be 349.0 million people 65 years old or older in China, almost one
fourth more than the total population of the United States in 2000 (Kincannon et al.
2005:245). (In contrast, the 2050 projection for the number of elderly in the United States is
33.7 million.) The progressive aging of its older population has serious consequences on health
costs and access in China.
Elderly Chinese rely on a variety of sources for financial support. In 2000, just over half the
Chinese men aged 65 or over who were no longer working relied primarily on their family for
financial support, while 4 in 10 received primary support from a retirement pension. Older
women were far more likely to be dependent on their families for support (82%) and much less
likely to rely on a retirement pension (13%) (Kincannon et al. 2005:250).
The health care needs of the Chinese elderly will sharply increase in the coming years; the
country must consider medical reform and health care access for this growing population
segment (Hu and Huang 2016). Reliance on family support is greatest among the oldest-old
Chinese population, largely because they are not eligible to receive benefits under China’s
224
pension system (first established in the 1950s and limited to those with at least 20 years of
employment) or, if they do qualify, because pension benefits are insufficient to use as the
primary source of financial support.
Currently there are four types of public health insurance systems: medical insurance for urban
workers, medical insurance for urban residents, a new rural cooperative medical insurance, and
public health insurance (Hu and Huang 2016). There is no specific insurance program for the
elderly (Hu and Huang 2016); however, since the 1990s, China’s government policies have
expanded community social services for the elderly. Community-based in-home care has
gained popularity in urban areas. In this model of care, the elderly receive supplemental or
respite care at home if their children work and are unable to care for them or if their children
do not live with them (Xu and Chow 2011). Researchers predict that as China expands its
system of social insurance programs, reliance on family support is likely to decline.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The younger population in the United States has become more ethnically diverse. According to
Sandra Colby and Jennifer Ortman (2015), minorities now constitute 50.3% of the population 5
years of age or younger (versus the proportion of non-Hispanic Whites, 49.7%). On the other hand,
minorities make up only 18% of those aged 85 years or older (81.5% are non-Hispanic Whites).
What is the impact of this race-generational divide for communities? What are some of the policy
and budgetary implications of this divide? How is the demographic profile changing in your
community?
p.119
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AGE, AGING, AND
INEQUALITY
Functionalist Perspective
Age helps maintain the stability of society by providing a set of roles and expectations for each
particular age group or for a particular life stage. These roles are reinforced by our major social
institutions—education, the economy, and family. We assume that children, 18 years old or
younger, should be in school. After high school graduation, young adults have the choice of entering
the workforce or continuing their education (where their student role continues), whereas adulthood
is a time set aside to build one’s career and to begin a family. Retirement is another important age-
225
related stage, with societal roles and expectations for a retired person.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The term boomerangers refers to young adults who leave home for college but return after
graduation because of economic constraints or personal choice. Surveys of recent college graduates
conducted in the early 2000s noted that nearly half of those surveyed expected to live with their
families for some period. According to Richard Fry (2016), 32.1% of adults 18 to 34 years old were
living with their parents in 2014. Young men were more likely to live with a parent than young
women. Is boomeranging a viable transitional stage for recent college graduates? For you?
Consider how each age group has its own function or role—the young attend school preparing for
their adult lives, adults are employed and building their lives, and the elderly retire.
Disengagement theory defines aging as a natural process of withdrawal from active participation
in social life. Older people disengage from society (from their work and certain parts of their lives),
and in turn, society disengages from them (Turner 1996). The theory contends that people enter
and exit a set of roles throughout their lives. These transitions are natural and functional for society
(Mabry and Bengston 2005; Moody 2006).
This process is portrayed as orderly, timely, and necessary for the well-being of the entire society.
For example, in the workplace, older workers must relinquish their jobs to make room for younger
workers in the labor market. This process is socially supported through retirement plans, pensions,
and Medicare (Mabry and Bengston 2005). Disengagement is portrayed as positive for the elderly
because it enables them to participate in activities and a lifestyle that earlier would not have been
possible (they may become more fully engaged in community, family, or leisure activities). The final
form of disengagement is death.
This perspective assumes that all elderly will eventually disengage from their social and productive
lives, when we know that continued activity and engagement remains an option for many seniors.
This theory also fails to acknowledge how vulnerable and powerless adults are in their older years. Is
disengagement natural or forced by society? The next perspective answers this question.
Conflict Perspective
The modernization theory of aging suggests that the role and status of the elderly declines with
industrialization. Specifically, their power, wealth, and prestige are linked with their labor
contribution or relationship to the means of production. In hunting and gathering societies, the
elderly had a low status because they were unable to contribute to the primary means of production.
However, their status increased during the time of stable agricultural societies, when older people
226
controlled land ownership. In modern industrial society, life experience is surpassed by technological
expertise; thus, the status of the elderly declines.
p.120
J.D. Pooley/Getty Images
The modernization theory of aging suggests that the declining status of the elderly is associated with their decreasing
economic and labor contribution. What status do we attribute to the position of store greeter? High or low?
From a conflict perspective, the two groups at odds with one another are the young and the old. As
Donald Cowgill (1974) explained, society systematically advantages the young, supported by what
he calls the “cult of youthâ€â€”a value system that glorifies youth “as a symbol of beauty, vigor and
progress and discriminates in favor of youth in employment and in the allocation of community
resources†(pp. 15–16).
Cowgill (1974) identified how four aspects of modernization lower the status of older people. The
first is health technology. Modern health advances improve the population’s overall health and
longevity. This creates an older and healthier workforce, willing and able to stay in the labor force a
bit longer: “As the lives of workers are prolonged, death no longer creates openings in the labor
force as it once did†(Cowgill 1974:12). Society then creates a new opening through retirement,
forcing people out of their most valued and senior roles in the labor force. Elderly workers are
reduced to retirement status with less income and influence.
The next two aspects, education and economic technology, are related to one another. In a modern
society, the young have more opportunities to acquire education and training. The status of younger
members of society is elevated because they become more literate than their parents. Society relies
on their increased literacy in the workplace, creating new information- and technology-based
occupations. The people most qualified for these positions are the younger, more literate workers.
Older workers perform more traditional jobs, some that are less valued or that eventually become
obsolete.
The final aspect is urbanization. A modern society is more urban, characterized by increased social
mobility and migration. Cowgill (1974) argued that the young migrate more than the old do. The
migration produces a physical and emotional separation between a child and the family of origin,
227
tearing down the bonds of the extended family. Yet it also promotes the cultural image of the young
moving to something better, while the old are left behind.
Researchers have challenged the assumption that modernization and economic conditions
automatically lead to the status decline of the elderly. Sociologists and anthropologists have
documented that the status of older persons varies by race and ethnicity, gender, culture, and social
class. Among Hispanics and Asians, where multigenerational households are common, the elderly
are respected and honored.
Feminist Perspective
Women constitute the majority in the U.S. older population. In 2010, there were 23 million women
aged 65 years or older, compared with 17 million men (U.S. Census Bureau 2012). Women
outnumber men in the older population at every single year of age from 65 to 100 years and older
(Werner 2011). The standards of our culture create more problems for women than for men as they
transition into their middle and later years. Women seem more vulnerable to societal pressure to
retain their youth and, consequently, face more questions about their self-worth, which may lead to
serious problems ranging from low self-esteem to depression (Saucier 2004). Questions about self-
worth and value are also raised in the workplace, where researchers have documented that women
experience greater age discrimination at all ages than do men (Duncan and Loretto 2004). In many
ways, aging is socially constructed through a gendered lens.
p.121
©Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images
According to the feminist perspective, beauty ideals shape the self-image of young girls, adult women, and older women.
Susan Sontag (1979) noted that society is much more permissive about aging in men. She wrote
about the double standard of aging: Men are judged in our culture according to what they can do
(their competence, power, and control), but women are judged according to their appearance and
beauty. Women’s identity is more closely associated with their physical appearance than is the
identity of men. As a result, society considers men distinguished in their old age, but women must
disguise the fact that they are aging. Sontag argued that because women are unable to maintain their
228
youthful looks as they age, they are pressured to defend themselves against aging at all costs.
Feminist scholars argue that the cosmetics industry focuses on a male and youth standard. Although
cosmetic products are advertised for women’s use (ever notice that there are no male cosmetics
counters at your department store?), feminists assert that the industry is responding to the male-
defined standard of female beauty. In addition, the industry is responding to the image of
unattainable youthful beauty upheld by society (Calasanti, Slevin, and King 2006). When Laura
Hurd Clarke (2000) interviewed women aged 61 to 92, she discovered that although older women
say that their overall health is more important to them than physical attractiveness, they still exhibit
an internalization of ageist beauty norms. As Sontag (quoted in Freedman 1986:200) said, “women
are trained to want to continue looking like girls forever.â€
This perspective also examines how ageism and sexism are reflected in the media. Older adults are
underrepresented in U.S. film, television programs, and advertisements in comparison with younger
adults, and older women are less likely to be featured than older men (Peterson and Ross 1997;
Sanders 2002). When older women are portrayed, their characters represent negative stereotypes
and are often shown as less successful compared with older men. Similar patterns also have been
documented in German media (Kessler, Rakoczy, and Staudinger 2004).
Interactionist Perspective
Interactionists reveal how our age-related roles are socially defined and expected. Age is tied to a
system of matching people and roles (Hagestad and Uhlenberg 2005). What does it mean to be
middle aged? Middle age is not just measured according to years but is also associated with a set of
role expectations. We share a definition of what it means to be middle aged, and there is an
expectation that we need to assume a particular role once we are middle aged.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Who or what defines aging in our society? How are these definitions perpetuated, and how can they
be altered?
p.122
These role expectations stigmatize particular age groups. Stigma, coined by Erving Goffman
(1963/1986), is defined as a discrediting attribute. Older adults are discredited in society,
stereotyped as less capable, fragile, weak, and frail. Ageism or the stereotyping of (or discrimination
against) older adults can damage the self-concepts of the elderly (Miller, Leyell, and Mazachek
2004) and represents a self-perpetuating cycle of fears that old and younger adults have toward
aging in general, disability, death, competition for resources, and the perceived inferiority of
229
particular individuals (Yang and Levkoff 2005). These images may increase social isolation,
dependency, and elder abuse and may become a self-fulfilling prophecy for others (Thornton 2002).
However, researchers have found that older adults from cultures with more positive attitudes toward
aging than mainstream society may be able to avoid exposure to or internalization of the negative
stereotypes of old age (Levy and Langer 1994).
Interactionists examine how the problems associated with aging have been defined and by whom.
Society relies on trained experts such as gerontologists, physicians, nurses, and social workers to
identify and respond to the problems of aging. Yet research indicates that this group of professionals
is just as likely to be prejudiced against older people as other groups are. A. J. Levenson (1981)
argued, “Medical students’ attitudes have reflected a prejudice against older persons surpassed only
by their racial prejudice†(p. 61). He points to medical schools as part of the problem, putting little
value on geriatrics as a specialty. Doctors often think that because aging cannot be stopped, illnesses
associated with old age are not that important.
The medical industry has not ignored aging completely. Although controversial, the medical and
cosmetics industries actively promote antiaging vitamins, hormones, surgeries, and pharmaceutical
drugs, encouraging wellness to patients and clients while sending a message that they can “beat back
old age†(Wilson 2007:BU1). Americans spend nearly $50 billion per year on antiaging vitamins,
treatments, hormones, and pharmaceutical drugs (Wilson 2007). Are we responding to a genuine
problem or one carefully manufactured by the medical and cosmetics industries?
A summary of all sociological perspectives is presented in Table 6.2.
TABLE 6.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Inequalities Based on Age and Aging
230
p.123
THE CONSEQUENCES OF AGE INEQUALITY
Ageism
Ageism is defined by Robert Butler (1969) as the “systematic stereotyping of and discrimination
against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish this with skin color and
gender†(p. 243). Todd Nelson (2005) described ageism as “prejudice against our feared self.†He
suggests that age prejudice is one of the most socially condoned and institutionalized forms of
prejudice. For example, a standard message in birthday greeting cards is how unfortunate one is to
be a year older. In 2012, researcher Ye Luo and his colleagues reported that 63% of older adults
reported at least one type of everyday discrimination (e.g., being treated with less courtesy, receiving
poorer service, being threatened or harassed). Among older adults, Blacks; separated, widowed, or
divorced individuals; and those with lower household assets have higher levels of discrimination
than Whites, married individuals, and those with more assets (Luo et al. 2012).
Ageism marks a sharp distinction between “us†and “them.†William Bytheway (1995) explained it
this way: “The issues of these pronouns creates a conceptual map on which groups of people are
variously included and excluded. In particular, the old who are discriminated against occupy a
different territory on these us/them maps from ‘us’†(p. 117).
Older adults tend to be marginalized, institutionalized, and stripped of their responsibility, dignity,
and power (Nelson 2002). Dependency is one of the most negative attributes of being identified as
“old†in our society (Calasanti and Slevin 2001). Stereotypes about the capacities, activities, and
interests of older people reinforce the view that they are incapable of caring for themselves (Pampel
1998). Older adults are not generally disliked, but they are likely to be victims of paternalistic
prejudice, which stereotypes them as likable but incompetent (Packer and Chasteen 2006). There is
widespread acceptance of negative stereotypes about the elderly regarding their intellectual decline,
conservatism, sexual decline, and lack of productivity (Levin and Levin 1980).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 6.1: Students Reside in Retirement Homes
231
In a comparative study of young adults in the United States and Germany, German young adults
tended to view aging more negatively than did Americans in the sample (McConatha et al. 2003).
Germans were more likely to be pessimistic about the likelihood of finding contentment in old age
and did not expect to feel good about life when they were older. The study attributed the differences
in aging attitudes to Germany’s more prevalent negative stereotypes of older people, a response to
the increasing costs of providing extended pension and health benefits to the elderly in Germany.
On the other hand, in the United States, effective political advocacy groups, increasingly healthy
and influential older adults, and educational aging programs may account for a reduction of ageism.
The study also revealed that American and German women were more concerned about age-related
physical changes than were men.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Jasim McConatha and her colleagues (2003) asked young adult Germans and Americans what age
they considered “old.†The average age that Germans reported was 64 years for men and 60 for
women; the U.S. sample reported younger ages—53 years for men and 48 for women. What age do
you consider old? What expectations do you have about growing older?
Age and Social Class
The most economically vulnerable in our society are very young or old. As discussed in Chapter 2,
the rate of child poverty in the United States is one of the highest among Western industrialized
countries. According to the U.S. Census, the poverty rate for children was 18%, or 13.2 million, in
2016 (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017). For a more extensive discussion on children and
poverty, refer to Chapter 2, “Social Class.â€
p.124
Whereas most of us envision a retirement filled with leisure activities, travel, and good living, there
is another possibility—that one’s retirement will be a time of serious economic hardship. In 2016,
4.7 million elderly (or 9.3%) were living in poverty in the United States (Semega et al. 2017).
Retirement represents a precipitous income drop for most elderly (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and
Smith 2012). The median income by age of householder was highest, at $77,213, for those aged 45
to 54 years in 2016 (Semega et al. 2017). Median income begins to decline with the next age group,
those aged 55 to 64, to $65,239. Finally, for those aged 65 or older, the reported median income
was $39,823 (Semega et al. 2017). For 2012, poor older adults relied on Social Security benefits
more than higher-income older adults (refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for
more information).
232
The economic recession of 2007–2009 depleted the incomes and savings of many older workers,
leading some to admit that they are unable or afraid to retire. For example, 58-year-old Barbara
Petrucci, a hospital employee from Atlanta, Georgia, set aside her dreams for an early retirement.
After family savings were depleted by the declining stock market, Petrucci admitted that retirement
is “an elusive dream†(Rampell and Saltmarsh 2009).
As we discussed in earlier chapters, the inequalities based on race/ethnicity and gender will also
determine one’s economic status. Poverty rates among the elderly vary by gender and race/ethnicity.
Older women have higher rates of poverty than older men do, 10.6% versus 7.6% (Semega et al.
2017). Women are especially susceptible to economic insecurity because of a number of factors.
Women have longer life expectancies and are more likely to be widowed and live alone in old age.
Because of gender differences in employment and salaries, women are likely to have less retirement
income than men do. During 1999, women aged 65 or older received, on average, $8,000 annually
as pension income, whereas men received $14,000 annually (He et al. 2005). Non-Hispanic White
elderly have lower poverty rates than other reported racial groups. Blacks have the highest rate
(19.3%), followed by Latinos (19.0%) and Whites (7.4%) (Rhee 2012).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Robinson 2007), older women face
distinctly different challenges to maintaining their health compared with older men. The financing
and availability of health care is particularly important for older women. Because women make up a
higher proportion of the older and frailer population, are less likely to have a spouse to assist them,
and need more help with personal care and routine needs, older women use more health care and
long-term care services than men do. Most older adults are covered by Medicare, but because older
women rely on long-term care (not covered under Medicare), they make higher out-of-pocket
payments or rely on Medicaid more often than older men do. Women rely on informal (unpaid)
caregivers (adult children, family members, or friends), community-based services (senior centers
and convenient transportation), and formal (paid) care services (home health care and nursing home
care).
In 2015, children were at greater risk of poverty in 20 of the 28 European Union (EU28) member
states than the elderly. The percentage of children living in a household at risk for poverty ranged
from a low of 14.0% in Sweden to a high of 40% in Romania and Bulgaria. Childhood poverty was
attributed to several factors: parents’ labor market situation, household composition, and the
effectiveness of government intervention and income support (Eurostat 2016).
Health and Medical Care
Much as they are more economically vulnerable, the young and the old experience the highest
health risks among all age groups. We think of death as something that happens in one’s old age,
yet the age group with the highest risk of mortality comprises newborns and infants within their
first year of life. For 2017, the infant mortality rate was 5.80 deaths per 1,000 births (Central
Intelligence Agency 2017). The three leading causes of death among infants are congenital birth
233
defects, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. Among the elderly, the majority of
deaths are caused by heart disease, cancer, and stroke. The elderly also experience chronic conditions
such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart disease, which may contribute to fatal
disorders. The elderly are more likely to experience chronic illnesses than younger age groups do,
46% versus 12% (Moody 2006).
p.125
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
ELDERLY INCOME SOURCES
Retirement income has been described as a three-legged stool, comprised of Social
Security, private pensions, and individual savings and other income that yields income.
Social Security is funded through the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance
program. The earliest age that workers can receive benefits is 62, although benefits at that
age are about 25% lower than they would be at full retirement age. Full retirement is often
associated with 65 years of age, but your actual retirement age will depend on your birth
year. For those born in 1937 or earlier, retirement is 65 years. With each year from 1939,
the retirement age is extended by monthly increments. For example, for someone born in
1941, his or her retirement age is 65 and 8 months. Currently the highest retirement age
is 67 for those born in 1960 or later.
Retirement income is not equally distributed across the population of the elderly (Figure
6.2). Describe the difference in the income sources between the three income household
groups presented in Figure 6.2. Which group is more dependent on social security? Do
you think this is an advantage or a disadvantage?
Employment after age 65 is an option, but not for every elderly man and woman (Mather
et al. 2015). Figure 6.3 displays the labor force participation rate for older adults by
education and sex. What is the pattern of employment by educational attainment and
gender? What do you think? Which group is more advantaged?
FIGURE 6.2 â– Income Sources for the Population Aged 65 and Older, Lower-,
Middle- and High-Income Households, Percentages Reported, 2014
234
Source: Adapted from Mather et al. 2015. U.S. Census Bureau.
FIGURE 6.3 ■Labor Force Participation Rates of Older Adults Aged 65–74, by
Education and Sex, 2014
Source: Adapted from Mather et al. 2015. U.S. Census Bureau.
235
p.126
Geriatrics is a medical specialty that focuses on diseases of the elderly; some are chronic, not all are
life threatening, and others will eventually lead to death. The most prevalent chronic disease of the
elderly is arthritis, inflammation of the joints and a leading cause of disability in the United States.
Other geriatric diseases include osteoporosis (deterioration of bone tissue, prevalent among women),
Parkinson’s disease (a degenerative neurological disorder), and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
(progressive loss of mental abilities and functions). For the last set of diseases, it should be noted
that most older adults experience no mental impairment at all (Moody 2006). (A discussion of
caregiving and elder abuse is presented in Chapter 7, “Families.â€)
American elderly, who constitute 13% of our population, consume more than 35% of total health
expenditures—more than four times what is spent on younger people (Moody 2006). The United
States spends about 17.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care—the largest
expenditure in this category among industrialized countries. During 2015, total health care spending
reached $3.2 trillion, with an average of $9,990 spent per person (Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services 2016).
Sociologist Corey Abramson (2015) explained “when the challenges of ‘old age’ present themselves
to us, what they mean and how we can respond are contingent on inequalities both past and
present†(p. 2). Although life expectancy continues to rise, according to Abramson, “race, class, and
gender divisions continue to profoundly shape the length and trajectory of our lives†(p. 7). For
example, disparities in material resources and wealth shape seniors’ options, opportunities, and
outcomes. According to Abramson, seniors from affluent neighborhoods have a greater variety and
higher quality of local services provided by government and volunteer organizations. These same
seniors can also draw upon personal or familiar wealth (i.e., homeownership, pensions, or
supplemental health insurance) to support their aging needs. In comparison, poor or working-class
seniors have fewer wealth resources and are more likely to rely on public or social services than are
affluent seniors.
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©iStock.com/CasarsaGuru
It is estimated that a million Americans live in some type of senior living community. There are a range of community
options, from independent living to skilled nursing homes.
p.127
Ageism in the Workplace
In some businesses, age discrimination has an acronym, TFO, “too f___ing old†(Fisher 2004:46).
Although much attention has been given to the marginalization of Black, Latino, or female workers,
members of another labor force group—older workers—have experienced their own set of unique
problems.
In 2016, 34.4 million Americans aged 55 to 64 were employed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2017). Helen Dennis and Kathryn Thomas (2007) and Linda Barrington (2015) documented that
ageism continues to affect the hiring and promotion of older workers and workplace attitudes
toward them. For example, in a field study, employers were over 40% more likely to call a female job
candidate for an interview if the high school graduation date on the résumé indicated that the
applicant was younger rather than older. Ageism restricts job opportunities for mature workers, as
they are not offered the same promotion opportunities, training, or compensation as younger
workers. Managers have mixed perceptions about older workers. Although older workers are valued
for their work habits, skills, and performance, negative perceptions also exist. Older workers are
perceived as inflexible, unwilling to adapt to technology, less productive, and more expensive (due to
health insurance costs) when compared with younger workers.
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In the United States, older workers are protected under the Age Discrimination in Employment
Act of 1967. The act prohibits employers from discriminating based on age against people 40 to 64
years old. However, in 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court created a tougher burden of proof for
plaintiffs in age bias cases. An employee would have to prove that age was the decisive factor (as
opposed to a motivating factor) in an adverse employment decision. All EU countries have
legislation banning age discrimination in employment, although in the United Kingdom 65 years
old is considered the default mandatory retirement age.
In their study of older women’s employment agency placements in Auckland, New Zealand, Jocelyn
Handy and Doreen Davy (2007) identified gendered ageism as a key barrier to permanent full-time
employment for older women. Tracking women applicants in their mid-40s to early 60s, Handy and
Davy documented that these women, despite their skills and qualifications, faced negative
stereotypes concerning their appearance (looking their age) and a lack of “team fit.†One job seeker
explained how a placement consultant told her that she was not suited for a position because she
would remind the manager of his mother. Consultants valued physical presentation (beauty and
youth) and also acknowledged that younger managers would perceive older workers as a threat. The
older job seekers were often placed in low-paid, low-skill temporary positions. The researchers
concluded, “The gendered ageism affecting mature female clerical workers will not be solved simply
by countering common stereotypes concerning older workers’ skills and necessitates greater
attention to combating prejudices surrounding inter-age dynamics within the workplace†(pp. 95–
96).
The Columbia Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health sponsors the Age Smart
Employer Awards, honoring companies that retain and support an older workforce (Columbia
University 2018). Silvercup Studios, New York City’s full-service television and film production
facility, was a 2018 award finalist. More than half of Silvercup’s employees are over 50 years of age.
Silvercup Studios and the other award winners were recognized for policies and practices that
included tuition reimbursement, intergenerational mentoring and training programs, part-time
work schedules, flexible work schedules, and phased retirement plans. According to Linda Fried,
Mailman School dean, “No society can afford to lose the value that experienced older workers bring.
Engagement in meaningful employment is a core pillar of societies that will benefit from our longer
lives.â€
RESPONDING TO AGE INEQUALITIES
Social Security and Medicare are social insurance programs designed to protect citizens against a
specific set of risks. In the case of Social Security, the risk is that one might have insufficient
resources at retirement and that one’s resources might not last one’s lifetime. How much health care
will we need, and for how long are the risks addressed by Medicare? Both are proven, effective
antipoverty programs, supporting elderly financial independence and enabling the elderly to live
better and healthier lives (Feder and Friedland 2005). Since their inception, however, both
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programs have been the subjects of much debate.
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IN FOCUS
THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF YOUNG AND OLDER
VOTERS
Fitzgerald/CandidatePhotos/Newscom
Older Americans have higher rates of voter registration than younger Americans. In addition, older men and women
are more likely to contribute to a political campaign and contact their elected representatives regarding issues that
matter to them.
The enactment of Social Security, Medicare, and other old age–related policies has created a
political constituency of older beneficiaries (Campbell 2003) and, along with it, the perception
of political might. A form of ageism, the stereotype of “greedy†older voters willing to put their
needs (Social Security and Medicare) ahead of the needs of other age groups, is accepted in
many social, political, and media circles (Street and Crossman 2006).
Robert Binstock (2005, 2006) revealed some truths and myths about this perception of senior
power. He explained that the senior political power model builds on the fact that older people
represent a significant proportion of the electorate. Age is associated with voter registration and
actual voting, which is also related to the length of residence in one’s home, along with one’s
level of knowledge about political and social issues. Older persons are likely to have resided in
their homes longer than have younger persons, and older people tend to be more
knowledgeable about politics and news issues than younger people are. Studies indicate that
older persons’ high level of interest in politics does not decline even as they reach advanced old
age.
In addition to their higher rates of voting participation, the elderly have higher rates of
participation in other political areas. The elderly make campaign contributions at higher rates
than do younger people—about 28% of all contributions to the 2000 presidential campaign
239
came from older persons. Older voters are twice as likely to contact their state and federal
representatives about issues that matter to them as younger voters are.
So, what impact does the voting participation by elderly Americans have on elections? One
noticeable impact is on how it shapes candidate behavior—candidates actively court the senior
vote. Recent presidential candidates have made key appearances at senior centers or promoted
their proposals on Social Security and Medicare to selected senior audiences. But Binstock
(2006) argued that the senior vote does not have a “distinctive impact on the outcome of
elections†(p. 26). He explained that older Americans do not vote cohesively or as a bloc. Their
votes are as diverse as those of any other age group, divided along partisan, class, gender, and
racial lines. Age is just one characteristic among many that influence voting patterns.
However, according to Scott Keeter, Juliana Horowitz, and Alec Tyson (2008), young voters
have emerged as a key voting bloc for the Democratic Party. Since 2004, the majority of those
under the age of 30 years have voted for a Democratic candidate in the general election. In
2008, 66% of voters 18 to 29 years of age voted for Barack Obama compared with 53% of all
voters. This is the largest measured difference since exit polling began in 1972. Young voters
are more ethnically and racially diverse and are less likely to be affiliated with a religious
tradition than voters age 30 years or older. Additionally, voters 18 to 29 years of age expressed
liberal views on the role of government (in solving problems) and were more likely to
disapprove of the Iraq war than older voters. Although younger voters were less likely to
contribute money to a campaign, the 18- to 29-year-old voter group had a rate of campaign
event participation in battleground states higher than that of any other age group (Keeter et al.
2008). In 2012, President Obama received 60% of the youth vote in his campaign for
reelection (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement 2012). In
the 2016 presidential election, Secretary Hillary Clinton received 55% of the 18- to 29-year-
old vote, while President Trump received 37% of the vote (Tyson and Maniam 2016).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 6.2: President Obama Highlights Issues Facing Aging Americans
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Social Security
Social Security was first enacted with the Social Security Act of 1935. A year before, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt convened an executive committee to examine economic insecurity,
responding to the nation’s Great Depression. The committee’s recommendation was to create a
program to address the long-range problem of economic security for the aged and poor, focusing
not on providing social assistance (such as welfare assistance) but rather on a social insurance plan
against an uncertain future (Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees 2007). We tend to
think of Social Security only as the monthly payments one receives after retiring, but the program
also supports unemployment insurance, aid to dependent children, and state grants to provide
medical care.
p.129
Demographic shifts have led to new ways to think about aging and economic security throughout
the world. The current public pension system in the United States and in most of Europe is a pay-
as-you-go system—current workers support current beneficiaries of the program (Curl and
Hokenstad 2006), or today’s workers pay for today’s retirees (Moody 2006). Angela Curl and M. C.
Hokenstad (2006) compared the U.S. Social Security system with public pension systems in Sweden
and Canada. In Sweden, pensions are based on average life expectancy at the time of retirement.
Workers can retire any time after 61 years of age, but the later they retire, the higher their payments
will be. Because of the availability of part-time jobs and the flexible work environment, the program
allows Swedes to draw a partial pension for partial retirement. The elderly can mix their
employment income with their pension funds. The system is funded by an 18.5% payroll tax (the
United States collects 12.4%). Unlike the U.S. system, Sweden’s system is partially privatized.
Individuals can invest the money from their pension account, or the government invests on their
behalf.
The Canadian public pension system is described as combining “income protection for older adults
with policies that promote flexibility†(Curl and Hokenstad 2006:95). The Canadian system has
three parts: the Old Age Security program, the Canada Pension Plan, and private pensions and
savings. The minimum age of eligibility for early retirement benefits is 60 years. Canada collects a
9.9% payroll tax to support the program. Like the United States, both Canada and Sweden have
residency requirements (persons must have lived for a certain number of years in the country) and a
universal guaranteed monthly minimum benefit. The researchers praised both countries for
promoting flexibility in retirement through gradual or partial retirement programs.
In the United States, policy analysts have long warned about the danger of having few workers
paying for the benefits for a growing number of retirees. At the time the Social Security system was
established, the elderly constituted 5% of the population (Moody 2006), and the average life
expectancy was about 50 years of age (Curl and Hokenstad 2006). The proportion of the elderly in
2000 grew to 12% and is projected to increase to 21% by 2050 (He et al. 2005). In 2017, the U.S.
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Social Security Administration paid benefits of $955 billion to nearly 62 million beneficiaries. On
average, Social Security benefits represent about 33% of elderly income (Social Security
Administration 2017).
The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees (2007), a nonpartisan panel responsible for
reporting on the financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds, projected that tax revenues will
fall below actual program costs in 2017. That is the year when the program will spend more than it
receives through payroll deductions. The trustees predict that the trust funds will be exhausted in
2041 (OASDI Trustees 2007). Any worker born after 1975 will reach full retirement age after the
trust fund is depleted. At the release of their 2007 report, the Social Security and Medicare Boards
of Trustees warned, “The longer we wait to address these challenges, the more limited will be the
options available, the greater will be the required adjustments, and the more severe the potential
detrimental economic impact on our nation.â€
Medicare
The nation’s largest health insurance program, Medicare, covers about 56 million elderly or disabled
Americans. Medicare has two parts: Part A (hospital insurance) helps pay for care received as an
inpatient in critical access hospitals or skilled nursing facilities, as well as some home health care;
Part B (physician and outpatient coverage) pays for medically necessary services and supplies that are
not covered under Part A. Each part is financed under a different structure. Part A is offered as an
automatic premium because most recipients (or their spouses) paid Medicare taxes while they were
working. Part A is financed through a payroll tax paid equally by employers and workers. Three
fourths of the financing for Medicare Part B is received from general tax revenues, and the
remaining quarter is financed directly through paid premiums, $134.00 (for those with individual
incomes of $85,000 or less) or $187.50 or higher (for those with individual incomes higher than
$85,000) in 2017.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
BARBARA YOUNG
Encore.org is a nonprofit organization supporting older individuals as they pursue jobs in the
nonprofit or public sector during the second half of their lives. The organization honors
outstanding older employees with the annual Purpose Prize (Encore.org 2014). Barbara Young
was a 2013 prize honoree (Encore.org 2013).
At the age of 63, Young joined the staff of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)
242
as a national organizer. Since arriving to the United States from Barbados in 1993 with her five
children, Young had worked as a bus conductor and then as a full-time nanny.
In 2001, Young enrolled in a nanny course for CPS and first-aid training, but the course also
exposed Young to the history and labor abuses of domestic work. Young described this as a
pivotal moment, helping her decide to change the way nannies and other domestic workers
define themselves and their work. “If the work you are doing is lifting up and enhancing the
life of another person, then that work has value. This is the work that domestic workers do, day
in and day out†(quoted in Encore.org 2013). Young worked first with the local Domestic
Workers United before joining the national staff of NDWA.
In describing her work as a union organizer, Young said, “The goal was to let people know they
matter, they are important, the job they were doing was important. And if I could get them to
come and be a part of this organization [Domestic Workers United]—for me, it was building
power, lifting up voices and building power†(quoted in Raab 2013). “And I want every
domestic worker to see themselves as professionals, and to really know within themselves that
they are a great big help and support in this economy†(quoted in Raab 2013).
Young was instrumental in the 2010 passage of New York State’s Domestic Workers’ Bill of
Rights, which requires payment at minimum wage, higher overtime pay, and paid time off.
Medicare does not cover all senior medical needs. For example, while coronary bypass surgery is
fully covered by Medicare, an annual physical exam that might identify hypertension or recommend
a preventative diet is not. As Harry Moody and Jennifer Sasser (2018) described,
No consensus has been mobilized to make Medicare a universal public program for long-term care, mental health treatment,
or early detection of illness, which might be beneficial in the long run. Medicare will not pay for regular physical
examinations or for dental care. … Medicare reflects the same priorities favored by the health care system for the nonaging
population. (p. 149)
Since the program’s inception, some have been concerned that Medicare spending, especially for
Part A, will outpace its revenue sources (Moon 1999). Medicare has been referred to as a pay-as-
you-go system; every payroll tax dollar that is contributed into the fund is immediately spent by
those currently enrolled (Goodman 1998). Since 2008, the trust has been spending more on benefits
than it has been receiving through payroll taxes. In a 2014 report, the trustees warned that the
Medicare fund would be depleted by 2030 (Social Security Administration 2014).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 6.3: Aging Suit
243
Political rhetoric continues to swirl around how to preserve the system while trying to expand its
services to an ever-increasing population of elderly. In 2003, the U.S. Congress passed the Medicare
reform law, which included a prescription drug benefit for the first time in the program’s history.
The bill provides for a prescription drug benefit for older and disabled Americans, offered and
managed by private insurers and health plans under contract with the federal government. Critics
attacked the plan for its coverage gap, arguing that the bill failed to provide seniors with substantial
relief for the cost of prescription drugs. Seniors with low incomes will qualify for extra assistance
under the bill. The cost of the bill is estimated at more than $900 billion over 10 years. Analysts
predict that the reform bill will have little effect on slowing down the increasing costs of
prescription drugs and medical services for the elderly.
p.131
The traditional nursing home care model is no longer considered financially viable or medically
justified. There has been an increase in the utilization of older adult managed care at home, at day
care centers, and in visits to specialists (Berger 2012). Similar programs have been adopted in
Canada, such as the Comprehensive Home Option for Integrated Care of the Elderly (CHOICE).
CHOICE has been credited with keeping elderly men and women healthier longer and out of long-
term care homes because medical workers are able to more closely monitor their patients’ health
(Howell 2011). Medicare and other medical service organizations have encouraged the use of older
volunteers as health coaches, advocates, and aides to help individuals and families navigate through
the health care system. For example, the Rose Community Foundation in Denver trains older adults
as community health workers (Pope 2012).
For more on increasing medical costs and alternative models of care, refer to Chapter 10, “Health
and Medicine.â€
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
SOCIAL WORK
Kacie Blanchard – Class of 2006
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Communications
In a survey of BA Sociology graduates, the American Sociological Association (Spalter-Roth
and Van Vooren 2008) reported that that largest category of alums working full-time (27%)
were employed in social service and counseling occupations. Social work is the primary
occupational field in the social services. Preparing for a career as a social worker can be
244
ambiguous, as positions vary widely, from caseworker to mental health assistant to clinical
social worker. To enter the field of social work, a bachelor’s degree is the most common
requirement; however, a clinical position may require a master’s degree and up to two years of
experience.
After completing her Sociology BA, Kacie Blanchard earned a Master of Social Work degree
in a two-year accredited program. She credits her internship experience with helping her
identify her career path. “I was unsure what direction my degree would take me until I had the
experience of working with child protective services. Once I had this opportunity, I knew I
wanted to attend graduate school and become a social worker. I then saw social work as putting
sociology into action.â€
In her current position as a medical social worker, Kacie works with clients to assess their need
for placement and home safety following changes in their health and medical needs. She also
conducts mental health assessments, identifying psychosocial needs to assist patients upon their
return from the hospital to maintain their health and safety. Kacie also works as a crisis
intervention therapist on a mobile outreach crisis team. In Kacie’s occupation, interpersonal
skills are important because of the specific nature of the work—helping clients from diverse
populations during some of the most difficult times in their lives.
When asked how she applies sociology in her social work practice, Kacie replied,
Knowledge of social systems and the entire picture of each individual with the understanding of psycho-social history
assists me each day to direct my interventions and predict outcomes. Sociology is the foundation of my social work
practice. Sociology ignited my passion and is the root of my daily interactions as a social worker. I continue to engage
my sociological imagination by remembering this foundation and applying it to my career as a social worker.
For current Sociology majors, Kacie recommends
focusing on an aspect of sociology that is most interesting to them, whether that be criminal studies, child welfare,
family systems, and use that as a starting point for a career. For me, my introduction into child welfare started my
career path that continues to grow. Keep your connections with sociology classmates and professors for networking
and support.
p.132
CHAPTER REVIEW
6.1 Explain how age is both a biological and a social classification.
Our age is measured biologically, by how old we are, and we have socially and culturally
defined expectations about the meaning of age, our understanding of it, and our responses
to it. Age distinguishes acceptable behavior for different social groups.
6.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives address age, aging, and inequality.
Functionalists rely on disengagement theory to explain aging as a natural process of
245
withdrawal from active participation in social life; people enter and exit a set of roles
throughout their lives. Conflict theorists offer the modernization theory of aging to
explain how the role and status of the elderly decline with industrialization. The power,
wealth, and prestige of the elderly are linked with their labor contribution or their
relationship to the means of production. According to the feminist perspective, the
standards of our culture create more problems for women than for men as they transition
into their middle and later years. Interactionists reveal how our age-related roles are
socially defined and expected.
6.3 Explain how age serves as a basis for prejudice or discrimination.
Ageism is the systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people, primarily the
elderly. Age distinguishes acceptable behavior for different social groups.
6.4 Evaluate past and present efforts to ameliorate age-based concerns.
Social Security and Medicare are designed to protect citizens against economic insecurity
and lack of access to health care. In the United States, Social Security is a pay-as-you-go
system. Current workers support current beneficiaries of the program. Policy analysts have
expressed concern about the danger of having few workers paying for the benefits for a
growing number of retirees. Medicare is the country’s largest health insurance program. It
does not cover all senior medical needs and analysts have been concerned that Medicare
spending will outpace its revenue sources.
KEY TERMS
ageism, 122
boomerangers, 119
demography, 116
disengagement theory, 119
double standard of aging, 121
gerontology, 116
life course perspective, 116
modernization theory of aging, 119
population aging, 116
stigma, 122
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How do social norms—formal or informal—shape our definition of age?
2. Identify the societal consequences of population aging.
246
3. Disengagement theory defines aging as a natural process of withdrawal from active social
participation. Do you think this disengagement is a natural process or brought on by social
factors? Explain.
4. From an interactionist’s perspective, how can we improve the status of the elderly?
5. In what ways are elderly women disadvantaged in society in comparison with elderly men?
6. Compare and contrast the U.S. Social Security system with the pension systems in Sweden
and Canada.
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
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OUR SOCIAL
INSTITUTIONS
PART
II
Émile Durkheim first described the importance of our social institutions. He likened them to
organs in a human body. Each organ does one specific thing—a heart is responsible for the
circulatory system, a brain is the key to the nervous system, and a pair of lungs regulates the
respiratory system. If something happens to the heart, its functions cannot be assumed by other
organs, and as a result, the body as a whole becomes compromised.
Social institutions are defined as a stable set of statuses, roles, groups, and organizations that
provide a foundation for addressing fundamental societal needs (Newman 2006), each with a
specific role in society. As discussed in Chapter 1, Durkheim believed that an essential set of
institutions is necessary for society to function. For our discussion, we focus on five institutions
—family, education, work and the economy, health and medicine, and the media.
If you’ve taken an Introduction to Sociology course, these institutions may have been presented
as the basis for socialization—what do we need to learn to make us human, and how do we
learn through each of these institutions? However, in the chapters that follow, our focus is on
the social problems affecting each institution. You will learn how the bases of inequality we
reviewed in Part I are intricately related to the social problems based in each institution. Each
chapter concludes with a discussion about the policies and community efforts that are being
made to address these social problems.
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7
FAMILIES
Media Library
CHAPTER 7 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 7.1: Defining the Family
SAGE Core Concepts 7.3: Multigenerational Families
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 7.2: Elder Abuse
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
7.1 Identify myths and misconceptions about families and family life.
7.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family.
7.3 Identify common family problems and discuss the ways they affect society.
7.4 Discuss social and political efforts to protect families and children.
Do you recall the first “crew†you ever hung out with? You know the one—all its members know
each other, speak the same language, laugh at the same jokes, dress alike, and maybe even look alike.
Sound familiar? These are the people with whom you slept, ate, and lived in your own home: your
family.
You may not always think of it this way, but your family is part of the larger social institution of
“the family.†Consider for a moment that your family was among the 82 million family groups
counted by the U.S. Census in 2016 (U.S. Census Bureau 2017). What does your family have in
common with the other family groups? Your first response might be that your family has nothing in
common with the others. No other family has the unique arrangement or history of individuals
related through blood or by choice. From this position, any problem experienced by your family,
such as a divorce, would be defined as a personal trouble. A divorce is a private family matter kept
among immediate family members. It would be none of anyone else’s business.
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If we use our sociological imagination, however, we can uncover the links between our personal
family experiences and our social world. Divorce is not just a family matter but also a public issue.
Looking at the recent divorce rate of 3.2 divorces per 1,000 people (Centers of Disease Control and
Prevention 2017a), divorce occurs not in just one household but in millions of U.S. households. It
affects the economic and social well-being of millions of women, men, and children. Divorce
challenges the fundamental values of home and love and the value of the family itself. Divorce could
be everyone’s business.
In this chapter, our goal is to explore this private, yet public, world of the family. For our discussion,
we define the family as a construct of meaning and relationships both emotional and economic. The
family is a social unit based on kinship relations—relations based on blood, and those created by
choice, marriage, partnership, or adoption. A household is defined as an economic and residential
unit. These definitions allow for the diversity of families that we discuss in this chapter, while not
presenting one configuration as the standard. As you’ll see, the family as we think we know it may
not exist at all.
What Does It Mean to Me?
In January 2018, a 17-year-old girl led authorities to her home in Riverside County, California,
revealing years of horror and abuse at the hands of her parents. David and Louise Turpin were
charged with torture, false imprisonment, child abuse, and abuse of a dependent adult. Authorities
described how the 13 siblings were beaten and starved, chained to their beds for weeks at a time,
and allowed to shower only once a year (Sanchez and Vercammen 2018). Neighbors reported that
they respected the family’s privacy and had no reason to interfere. This incident highlights how
family life is considered private by society and how, in this case, child abuse was unsuspected for
many years. What would you have done if you were a neighbor? Should problems in the family be
considered private troubles or public issues?
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MYTHS OF THE FAMILY
The nuclear family—two parents and their biological children living together—is exalted as the
ideal family. Yet families are much more diverse than this. First, the percentage of families
composed of married couples with children declined from 40.3% in 1970 to 19.6% in 2010 (Vespa,
Lewis, and Kreider 2013). Take note—the traditional family form, married with children, is less
than a quarter of all U.S. households. The largest family form is married couples without children
(29.1%).
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Public attitudes are shifting away from traditional ideals of marriage and childbearing in Western
industrialized societies such as the United States, Austria (West) Germany, Great Britain, Ireland,
and the Netherlands. Zoya Gubernskaya (2010) found that female, never-married, better-educated,
employed, and secularized individuals had less traditional views about marriage and children.
Support for the statement that “people who want children ought to get married†declined in these
countries from 1988 to 2002. Gubernskaya attributed the increasing nontraditionalism to a rise in
secularization, a shift toward individualism, and an increasing focus on education and employment
achievement that are at odds with traditional family formation.
Second, the only increase in family groups during this period came in the category of “other family
households.†Other family households include families with other relatives residing, what we also
refer to as extended families. When President Obama moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
much attention was paid to the fact that his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, would also be a
resident. The last time a mother-in-law had been a full-time White House resident was during
Harry Truman’s presidency. Other family households made up 17.8% of all U.S. households in
2012, increasing from 10.6% in 1970. Included in this category are 8.2 million single-parent
families, 6 million headed by mothers and 2.2 million headed by fathers. Finally, there has been an
increase in the percentage of nonfamily households (refer to Table 7.1).
TABLE 7.1 â– Households by Type: 1970 and 2012 (Percentage)
Sources: Kreider and Elliot 2009, Figure 1; Vespa, Lewis, and Kreider 2013.
Note: Columns may not add to 100% due to rounding.
The share of adults living without a spouse or a partner increased from 39% in 2007 to 42% in 2017
(Fry 2017). According to demographer Richard Fry (2017), given the stability or decline of divorce
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rates since the 1980s, divorce has not contributed to this increase. Men are less likely than women to
be unpartnered. Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree are less likely to be living with a spouse or
partner. White and Asian adults are also less likely to be unpartnered than Hispanic or black adults
(Fry 2017).
In addition to the false image of the nuclear family, we embrace other myths about the family. We
tend to believe that the families of the past were better and happier than modern families are. We
believe that families should be safe havens, protecting their members from harm and danger. And a
final myth relates to the topic of this book: We also assume that the family and its failings lead to
many of our social problems.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 7.1: Defining the Family
There is a persistent belief that nontraditional families, such as divorced, fatherless, or working-
mother families, threaten and erode the integrity of the family as an institution. These
“pathological†family forms are blamed for drug abuse, delinquency, illiteracy, and crime. As a
group, female-headed households were condemned in the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, also known as the Welfare Reform Act, for their
dependency on the public welfare system.
p.139
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE FAMILY
Functionalist Perspective
From a functionalist perspective, the family serves many important functions in society. Some
functionalists claim that the family is the most vital social institution. The family serves as a child’s
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primary group, the first group membership we claim. We inherit not only the color of our hair or
eyes but also our family’s social position. The family confers social status and class. The family helps
define who we are and how we find our place in society. And, without the family, who would
provide for the essential needs of the child: affection, socialization, economic support, and
protection?
Social problems emerge as the family struggles to adapt to a modern society. Functionalists have
noted how many of the family’s original functions have been taken over by organized religion,
education, work, and the government in modern society (Lenski and Lenski 1987), but still, the
family is expected to provide its remaining functions of raising children and providing affection and
companionship for its members (Popenoe 1993). From a functionalist perspective, the family is
inextricably linked to the rest of society. The family does not work alone; rather, it functions in
concert with the other institutions. Changes in other institutions, such as the economy, politics, or
law, contribute to changes and problems in the family.
Consider the education of children. Before the establishment of mandatory public school systems,
the family educated its own children. As a formal system, education has become its own institution,
taking primary responsibility for educating and socializing everyone’s children. Functionalists
examine how the institutions of the family and education effectively work together. To what extent
should parents participate in their children’s education, and to what extent is the educational system
responsible for raising our children?
Because of this perspective’s emphasis on the family and its social and emotional functions, when
the family fails—as in the case of divorce or domestic violence—functionalists take these problems
seriously. These problems afflict the family and, according to functionalists, can lead to additional
problems in society, such as crime, poverty, or delinquency.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
For the conflict theorist, the family is a system of inequality where conflict is normal. Conflict can
derive from economic or power inequalities between spouses or family members. From a feminist
perspective, inequality emerges from the patriarchal family system, where men control decision
making in the family. Persistent social ideals that view the woman as homemaker and the man as
breadwinner are problematic from both perspectives. Men’s social and economic status increases as
their work outside the home is more visible and rewarded, whereas women’s work inside the home
remains invisible and uncompensated.
p.140
The family structure, as our society has come to define it, upholds a system of male social and
economic domination. Theorist Friedrich Engels argued that the family was the chief source of
female enslavement. Within the family, Engels believed, the husband represented the bourgeois,
whereas his wife represented the proletariat (Engels 1902). Among the middle class, where property
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is the primary consideration, marriage was a respectable form of prostitution. Just as members of the
proletariat were oppressed in the economy, women were oppressed at home. Freedom for women,
wrote Engels, would come with their economic independence and participation in the workplace
(activities based outside the home).
Feminist theory also examines power within the family. According to this perspective, men can
maintain their position of power in the family through violence or the threat of violence against
women. Feminists argue that domestic violence cannot be solely explained by men’s individual
attitudes and behavior. Rather, violence against women is linked to larger social structures of male
dominance, such as political, economic, and other social institutions like the family. Theorists have
encouraged the integration of feminist analyses of gender and power to better comprehend the
mechanisms leading to violence, arguing that to stop such violence, structures of gender inequality
must change (Brownmiller 1975).
Feminist theorists acknowledge the diversity of the domestic violence experience (Abraham and
Tastsoglou 2016). According to Tricia Bent-Goodley (2005), “research has largely focused on
White and poor women, despite the fact that domestic violence crosses race, ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, religion and sexual orientation†(p. 197). She noted that this narrow research
focus has encouraged the perception that women of color, middle- and upper-class women, and
women in same-sex relationships do not experience domestic violence, despite evidence to the
contrary. And although data indicate that disabled women experience a greater risk of abuse and
violence in comparison with the general population, studies on the nature of the oppression and
consequences of domestic abuse against women with disabilities still remain largely ignored (Mays
2006).
Families are also subject to powerful economic and political interest groups that control family social
programs and policies. Conflict arises when the needs of particular family forms are promoted while
others are ignored. To resolve social problems in the family, both perspectives suggest the need for
structural change.
Interactionist Perspective
Through social interaction, we create and maintain our definition of a family. As we do this, it
affects our larger social definition of what everyone’s family should be like and how we envision the
family that we create for ourselves.
Within our own families, our interaction through words, symbols, and meanings defines our
expectation of what the family should be like. How many children are in the family? Who does the
housecleaning? Who gets to carve the holiday turkey? What does it mean to be a wife, a husband, a
partner? As a family, we collectively create and maintain a family definition on which members
agree. Problems arise when there is conflict about how the family is defined. A couple starting their
own family must negotiate their own way of doing things. Two partners may carry definitions and
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expectations from their families of origin, but together, they create a new family reality.
Problems may also occur when partners’ expectations of family or marriage do not match their real
lives. In our culture, romantic love is idealized, misleading individuals to believe that they are
destined for a fulfilling emotional partnership with one perfect mate. After the realities of life set in,
including the first fight, the notion of romantic love is shattered. Couples recognize that it may take
more than romantic love to make a relationship work.
p.141
John Ewing/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
Does the family pictured here align with your image of what a family is? From an interactionist perspective, how do we learn
about different family forms?
Conflict also arises when a family arrangement is different from societal norms and expectations.
Blended families, gay or lesbian families, or single-parent families become social problems based
only on how they deviate from the definition of a “normal†family. Society assigns meaning to
particular family groups or relations. More than half a century ago, when a child was born to
unmarried parents, it was assumed that the child was unwanted and that the child’s future would be
less than promising. There was a major social stigma with being referred to as a bastard child. But
because currently one in three births involves parents who are not legally married, and most births
are wanted or planned, the use of the term bastard has disappeared, as has the stigma attached to
such a birth (Rutter and Tienda 2005).
257
But definitions vary by culture. In South Korea, there is still a strong negative stigma regarding
unwed motherhood. In 2007, 2% of all births in South Korea were to unmarried women, compared
with 40% of all U.S. births. The Korean discussion on unmarried motherhood has focused on how
to eradicate the “evil†of unmarried motherhood as it threatens the patriarchal social structure (Kim
and Davis 2003). Journalist Choe Sang-Hun (2009) reported that “social pressure drives thousands
of unmarried women to choose between abortion, which is illegal but rampant, and adoption, which
is considered socially shameful but is encouraged by the government†(p. A6). Unmarried women
who decide to raise a child risk a life of poverty and disgrace, even being ostracized by family
members. Lee Mee-Kyong, whose family disowned her after the birth of her son, said, “Once you
become an unwed mom, you’re branded as immoral and a failure. You fall to the bottom rung of
society†(quoted in Sang-Hun 2009:A6).
Putting all our separate definitions of the family together, we create a portrait of what the family
should be like. But as some political and religious forces uphold and encourage a heteronormative
conception of the nuclear family as the norm, by default, other family forms are considered deviant
against some set of moral codes, or not families at all (Smith 1993). Heteronormativity refers to
the promotion of heterosexual, married, monogamous, White, and upper-middle-class norms
(Branzel 2005).
p.142
However, in 2010, sociologists Brian Powell, Catherine Bolzendahl, Claudia Geist, and Lara Carr
Steelman reported that our definition of the family was expanding. In the 2003 Constructing the
Family Survey, respondents were asked about which living arrangements constituted a family. Each
survey respondent indicated that an arrangement with a husband, a wife, and children constituted a
family. However, the majority also defined the following as a family: single mothers (94%) or single
fathers (94.2%) with children and married couples with no children (93.1%). According to the
researchers, “the most-agreed-upon family forms tend to rely on at least one of two prerequisites:
the presence in the home of a child, and a legal heterosexual relationship—or, more precisely, a
relationship that is not a same-sex relationship or a cohabitating heterosexual one†(Powell et al.
2010:20). There was less agreement that an unmarried cohabitating couple with children could be
defined as a family (78.7%). For arrangements with same-sex couples, couples with children were
more likely to be defined as a family than couples without children (e.g., 55% of the sample defined
two women with children as a family compared with 26.8% who defined two women with no
children as a family) (Powell et al. 2010).
Refer to Table 7.2 for a summary of all sociological perspectives on the family.
TABLE 7.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: The Family
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What Does It Mean to Me?
From 2008 through 2013, 41% of all U.S. births were to unmarried women, compared with 28% of
all births in 1990 and 11% in 1970 (Solomon-Fears 2014). The fastest growth in nonmarital births
is among White women in their 20s with some college education (DeParle and Tavernise 2012). A
significant number of unwed mothers are in cohabiting relationships; women who have a nonmarital
birth are less likely than other women to eventually marry (Solomon-Fears 2014). Which
sociological perspective best explains the increase in the percentage of nonmarital births? Are
nonmarital births a social problem?
p.143
PROBLEMS IN THE FAMILY
Divorce
If you do an Internet search on divorce, you might be surprised at your search results. In addition to
divorce facts and access to support groups, you’ll find handy guides to completing your own divorce
paperwork. Looking to save time, money, and pain? Please try our services. Looking for a divorce
lawyer? Why not search for one online? And if you’d like to send a divorce greeting card that says,
“Happy to be without you,†you can find one of those online, too.
Divorce was a rare occurrence until the 1970s. In the 1950s and 1960s, the divorce rate was about
2.2 to 2.6 per 1,000 individuals (U.S. Census Bureau 1999). With the introduction of no-fault
divorce laws in the 1970s, the divorce rate began to climb, reaching a high of 5.3 in two separate
years, 1979 and 1981 (U.S. Census Bureau 1999). The increase in divorce rates has been attributed
259
to other factors: the increasing economic independence of women, the transition from extended to
nuclear family forms, and the increasing geographic and occupational mobility of families.
Furthermore, as our societal and cultural norms about divorce have changed, the stigma attached to
divorce has decreased.
In recent years, the divorce rate has remained stable, around 3.5 divorces per 1,000 individuals in the
total U.S. population. The rate was 4.0 in 2000, declining to 3.2 in 2016 (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention 2017a). The U.S. marital rate declined during the same period: from 8.2 for
2000 to 6.9 for 2016 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2017a). When compared with
European Union (EU) countries, the United States has the higher divorce rate. For 2013 the
estimated divorce rate for the EU was 1.9 per 1,000 (Eurostat 2018). EU marital rates were also
lower for 2013, 4.1 per 1,000 (Eurostat 2018).
Recent U.S. Census data on divorce indicate that certain groups are more susceptible to divorce
than others. The divorce rate for adults aged 25 to 39 years has declined from 30 per 1,000 in 1990
to 24 per 1,000 in 2015 (Stepler 2017a). The decline in divorce is correlated with the delay of
marriage. Those who do marry are likely to be college-educated, and as a group, college-educated
adults have lower rates of divorce. In contrast, the divorce rate for adults 50 years of age or older has
increased from 5 per 1,000 in 1990 to 10 per 1,000 in 2015. The increasing divorce rate for older
adults has been attributed to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation. As described by Renee
Stepler (2017b), “Their marital instability earlier in life is contributing to the rising divorce rate . . .
since remarriages tend to be less stable than first marriages. The divorce rate for adults ages 50 and
older in remarriages is double that rate of those who have only been married once.†Stepler also
noted the negative effects of gray divorce: These divorcees are less financially secure than married
and widowed adults, especially among women.
Sociologists have paid particular attention to immediate and long-term effects of divorce on
children. In general, the research indicates that children with divorced parents have moderately
poorer life and educational outcomes (emotional well-being, academic achievement, labor force
participation, divorce, and teenage childbearing) than do children living with both parents (Amato
2000; Hetherington and Kelly 2002). For example, boys living with a divorced mother are four
times more likely to display severe delinquency or to engage in early sexual intercourse than are
those living in two-parent households (Simons 1996). Some of these effects carry into adolescence
and young adulthood (Amato and Keith 1991; Cherlin, Kiernan, and Chase-Lansdale 1995), with
more negative outcomes for adult females than for adult males, such as a greater incidence of
relationship conflict or difficulty with intimate relationships. Children of divorce have less
commitment to the idea of lifelong marriage than children from intact families (Amato and DeBoer
2001) and have a higher likelihood of instability in their own marriages (Wolfinger 2005).
Conversely, research also suggests that marital separation is beneficial to the well-being of children
(Videon 2002). Favorable outcomes have included increased maturity, enhanced self-esteem, and
increased empathy among children from divorced families (Brooks Conway, Christensen, and
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Herlihy 2003). Parent–child relations are important influences on children’s well-being, even
mediating the effects of marital dissolution (Videon 2002). Divorce is less disruptive if both parents
maintain a positive relationship with the child, if parental conflict decreases after separation or
divorce, and if the level of socioeconomic resources for the child is not reduced (Amato and Keith
1991). Coparenting is related to fewer behavior problems compared to parallel parenting and single
parenting (Amato, Kane, and James 2011).
p.144
Research consistently indicates that although men experience minimal economic declines after
divorce, most women experience a substantial decline in household income and increased
dependence on social welfare (Smock 1994). Data from the 2001 U.S. Census show that although
only 15% of recently divorced men lived in households where they (or someone they lived with)
received noncash public assistance, more than twice as many recently divorced women (or someone
they lived with) received noncash public assistance (34%) (Kreider 2005). As first reported in
Chapter 2, the poverty rate among female-headed households (no male present) is 26.6%, compared
with 13.1% among male-headed households (no female present) (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar
2017).
In his analysis of 14 countries in the European Union, Wilfred Uunk (2004) documented a 24%
decline in women’s median household income after divorce—comparable, he says, to the income
change experienced by U.S. women after divorce. Uunk’s research revealed that median income
declines were lower among divorced women from southern European countries (Greece, Italy,
Spain, and Portugal) and Scandinavian countries (Demark and Finland), but higher among women
from Austria, France, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom.
Declines in economic well-being also occur among women from previously cohabiting couples
(Avellar and Smock 2005). Cohabiting couples have more precarious financial circumstances,
experiencing lower personal and household incomes than married couples. After the dissolution of a
relationship, the level of household income for cohabiting men declines 10%, but it declines 33% for
cohabiting women. After the dissolution of a cohabiting relationship, women have a higher level of
poverty than men, 30% versus 20%. Hispanic and African American women are more vulnerable
than White women to experiencing economic decline. Cohabiting relationships may also include
children affected by the same economic decline. These children are even more vulnerable, because
cohabiting mothers have less access to their former partner’s income than divorced mothers do.
Violence and Neglect
INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE One of the myths mentioned at the beginning of this
chapter is that the family provides a safe place for its members. This myth ignores the incidence of
violence and abuse in families. Family violence is unique because the aggressor and the victim(s) are
part of the same relational unit, with emotional bonds, attachments, and particular power dynamics
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(Breines and Gordon 1983). Figure 7.1 shows percentages of various victim–offender relationships
in domestic violence victimizations.
FIGURE 7.1 ■Victim–Offender Relationships in Domestic Violence Victimizations, by Sex
of Victim (Percentages), 2003–2012
Source: Truman and Morgan 2014.
aIncludes intimate partners, immediate family members, and other relatives.
bIncludes current or former spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends.
cIncludes parents, children and siblings.
In the United States, more than 1 in 3 women (or 35.6%) and more than 1 in 4 men (28.5%)
reported that they had been raped or physically assaulted by a current or former intimate partner in
their lifetime (Black et al. 2011). Data confirm that violence by an intimate partner is a common
experience worldwide. A review of more than 50 population-based studies in 35 countries revealed
that between 10% and 52% of women reported that they had been physically abused by an intimate
partner at some point in their lives (Garcia-Moreno et al. 2006).
p.145
Research has consistently linked specific social factors to family violence: low socioeconomic status,
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social and structural stress, and social isolation (Gelles and Maynard 1987). Feminist researchers
argue that domestic violence is rooted in gender and represents men’s attempts to maintain
dominance and control over women (Anderson 1997). Comparative data reveal how the severity and
pattern of violence against women is higher in countries with high societal violence and low
empowerment of women (Garcia-Moreno et al. 2006).
Studies have also documented how domestic violence is a significant predictor in maternal parenting
behavior. Intimate partner violence involving a female victim often occurs in a household where a
child is present. According to Alytia Levendosky and Sandra Graham-Bermann (2000),
psychological abuse, rather than physical abuse, is more likely to negatively affect a mother’s
parenting, which in turn is related to children’s behaviors. The researchers reported that a mother’s
experience with psychological abuse is significantly related to a child’s antisocial behavior. Children
in middle childhood begin to identify with the aggressor and act in emotionally aggressive ways
toward their mothers. Yet female victims identify positive and negative impacts on their parenting
from domestic violence (Levendosky, Lynch, and Graham-Bermann 2000). Battered women report
that their emotional feelings or concerns make parenting difficult, noting the reduced amount of
quality time or emotional energy they can devote to their children. But these women also report
increased empathy and caring toward their children. Researchers suggest that battered women
actively work to protect their children from the effects of violence in their household.
CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT Some children are subject to abuse and neglect in their
families. Whereas physical, sexual, and emotional abuses are often identified, cases of neglect often
go unnoticed. Physical abuse is defined as nonaccidental physical injury, from bruising to death;
on the other hand, neglect is characterized by a failure to provide for a child’s basic needs (e.g.,
healthy regular meals), and it can be physical, educational (failure to enroll a school-age child in
school, allowing chronic truancy), or emotional (spousal abuse in the child’s presence, permitting
drug or alcohol use by the child, inattention to a child’s needs for affection) in nature (Child
Welfare Information Gateway 2007).
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The immediate emotional and behavioral effects of abuse and neglect—isolation, fear, low academic
achievement, delinquency—may lead to lifelong consequences, including low self-esteem,
depression, criminal behavior, and adult abusive behavior (Child Welfare Information Gateway
2006). In 2015, 683,000 children were victims of maltreatment. Most child victims, about 63.4%,
suffered from neglect. Tragically, about 1,670 children died as a result of abuse or neglect in 2015.
Almost 75% of all child fatalities were younger than three years of age (U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services 2017).
Multiple factors related to the child, the parent or caregiver, the family structure, and the
environment have been identified as contributing to child maltreatment. Despite that children are
not responsible for being victims of maltreatment, certain factors make some children more
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vulnerable than others. For example, children with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities are
at higher risk for maltreatment than other children. Infants and young children are vulnerable to
particular forms of maltreatment, such as shaken baby syndrome. Teenagers are at greater risk for
sexual abuse. Evidence indicates that many abusing parents were victims of abuse and neglect
themselves as children. Marital conflict, domestic violence, single parenthood, unemployment, and
financial stress can increase the likelihood of maltreatment (Goldman et al. 2003). Poverty is
consistently identified as a risk factor for child abuse. It is not clear whether the relationship exists
because of the stresses associated with poverty or if reporting is higher because of the constant
scrutiny of poor families by social agencies. Poor health care, lack of social and familial support, and
fragmented social services have been linked with both poverty and child abuse (Bethea 1999).
ELDER ABUSE AND MISTREATMENT The elderly are also victims of abuse, usually
when in the care of their older children and their families. Elder abuse can also occur within a
nursing home or hospital setting. Federal definitions of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation first
appeared in the 1987 Amendments to the Older Americans Act (National Center on Elder Abuse
2002a). Elder abuse can consist of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse, neglect or abandonment,
or financial exploitation. Domestic elder abuse refers to any form of maltreatment of an older person
by someone who has a special relationship with the elder (a spouse, child, friend, or caregiver);
institutional elder abuse refers to forms of abuse that occur in residential facilities for older people.
The number of U.S. adults aged 60 years or older is projected to increase from 35 million in 2000 to
more than 72 million by 2030 (He et al. 2005). As the population ages, there will be an increased
need for long-term care of the elderly, with spouses and adult children assuming the role of
caretaker. An estimated 15 million individuals provide informal care to relatives and friends
(Navaie-Waliser et al. 2002). Although caregiving can positively affect the physical and
psychological well-being of care recipients, the added burden of elder care may strain the family’s
and the caregiver’s emotional and financial resources.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 7.2: Elder Abuse
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The National Elder Mistreatment Study estimates that about 11% of community-residing men and
women reported experiencing at least one form of mistreatment (emotional, physical, sexual, or
potential neglect) in the past year (National Institute of Justice 2015). Financial exploitation by a
family member was reported by 5.2% of elders. Elder mistreatment, particularly with family
perpetrators, has been attributed to a range of explanations: family dynamics, low household income
or unemployment, poor health, the experience of a prior traumatic event, and low levels of social
support (U.S. Department of Justice 2015). A major risk factor is dependency: Abusers tend to be
more dependent on the elderly person for housing, money, and transportation than are relatives who
do not abuse (Lang 1993; U.S. Department of Justice 2015).
An additional risk of maltreatment was identified by Martin Stevens and his colleagues (2013).
Applying the interactionist perspective, Stevens et al. (2013) examined the relationship between the
loss of dignity among elders in long-term institutional care in the United Kingdom and
maltreatment. The researchers argued that patterns of micro-interaction—that is, positioning older
people with care as less able, less worthy of interaction, and not complete people—could lead to a
loss of dignity and increased risk of maltreatment. These interactions create and reproduce an
organizational culture that may facilitate or inhibit mistreatment.
p.147
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
TEEN BIRTHRATES
Based on data presented in Table 7.3, U.S. adolescent birthrates have declined since 2007,
likely influenced by increasing educational opportunities for young women, modern
contraception, rising age in marriage, and legalization of abortion (Lindberg, Santelli, and
Desai 2016).
However, historically, birthrates are higher among Hispanic and Black adolescent females
than among White adolescent females. Birthrates for Black (31.8) and Hispanic (34.9)
teens remain higher than for any other ethnic/racial group. The lowest rate was reported
for Asian or Pacific Islander teens at 6.9 live births per 1,000 women (Centers for Disease
Control 2017b). Although Hispanics and Blacks have the highest teen birthrates, those
rates have had the most dramatic decline in recent years. Since 2007, Hispanics had the
highest reduction of 40%, followed by Blacks with a 30% decline. The birthrate for White
teens declined by 11%.
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What do you think? What social factors may have contributed to the decline in teen
birthrates for each of these groups?
TABLE 7.3 ■Births per 1,000 Females Aged 15–19 by Race/Ethnicity, 2007–2015
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control 2017b.
Teen Pregnancy and Newborn Abandonment
The U.S. birthrate for teenagers (aged 15–19 years) is the highest in the developed world. For 2015,
the teen birthrate was 22.3 live births per 1,000 (Centers for Disease Control 2017b). The U.S. teen
birthrate has been attributed to a range of factors, from inadequate sexuality education to declining
morals (Somers and Fahlman 2001). Heather Weaver, Gary Smith, and Susan Kippax (2005) noted
that the number of births per 1,000 U.S. adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 years was 8.5
times greater than in the Netherlands, 5.5 times greater than in France, and 3 times greater than in
Australia. Research suggests that earlier or more frequent sexual activity among U.S. teens is not the
cause of the higher birthrates; rather, sexually active American teens are less likely to use
contraceptives than are their European peers (Card 1999; Kirby 2007). Jessica Silk and Diana
Romero (2013) argued that cultural norms in the United States are “less open and supportive about
sexual behavior among adolescents†(p. 1356). Although comprehensive sex education has been
shown to be effective in reducing sexual risk-taking and negative social and health outcomes, it is
denied to American youth for cultural reasons (Kirby 2007). The popular discourse on family values
and framing sex education as a family matter has prevented health and human service providers and
sexuality educators from delivering sex and health education to youth (Silk and Romero 2013). This
chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature provides more information on teen birthrates.
p.148
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IN FOCUS
TEEN PARENTING AND EDUCATION
© Sandra Teddy/Getty Images
Researchers have found that teen mothers with the best life outcomes are those who had higher educational
aspirations and better-educated and financially stable families.
Pregnant teens and teen parents were routinely expelled from school until Title IX prohibited
public schools from discriminating against them. High school graduation rates and college
enrollment are lower for teen mothers than for those bearing children later in life, although
some longitudinal research reveals that most teen mothers improve their education, income,
and employment over time (Furstenberg 2007). Frank F. Furstenberg, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn,
and S. Philip Morgan (1987) found that teen mothers with the best life outcomes are those
who have higher educational aspirations and better-educated and financially stable families.
In her longitudinal study, Lee SmithBattle (2007) examined the impact of parenting on 19
teen mothers’ educational goals and school progress. Contrary to popular belief, she observed
the teens’ renewed commitment to their education. However, based on the accounts of the teen
mothers, she discovered that “schools exacerbated their difficulties by failing to provide
educational options or by enforcing policies that disregard their complex realities†(SmithBattle
2007:366). She wrote,
In addition to work demands, family responsibilities, and transportation difficulties, school policies and practices
created additional barriers that undermined teens’ aspirations and hindered their school progress . . . continuing or
remaining in school was complicated by cumbersome enrollment processes, stringent attendance policies, lack of
educational options, and bureaucratic mismanagement.
Kate’s schooling was interrupted for a full year as a result of enrollment difficulties and limited-schooling options.
When morning sickness led to many school absences early in her pregnancy, she was referred to the pregnancy school
in her urban district. Because home tutoring was not offered as an option, she was forced to withdraw when enrolling
in the pregnancy school proved insurmountable. . . .
Kate’s mother added that “we just gave up†when Kate’s home school failed to transfer her transcript to the pregnancy
school in a timely manner. Jenna was also referred to the pregnancy program but refused to be transferred because of
its poor academic reputation. She dropped out near the end of her pregnancy for a full year because homeschooling
267
was not offered. As she said, “When I was 7 or 8 months pregnant, I stopped going to school. When the new
semester started, I withdrew, because after the baby, I would have had to wait a certain amount of weeks to go back
and then I’d end up failing. So it was no use.†. . .
p.149
[A] cascade of negative events, including inflexible school policies and disciplinary practices, landed Dawn, a suburban
student, in educational limbo. After being homeschooled for several months, she returned to her senior year expecting
to graduate with her class. She was eventually notified that she would not graduate because she had not completed
assignments for one course, presumably because the teacher of that course had not relayed them to her homeschooling
teacher. Deeply disappointed, Dawn resolved to return to school the following fall and take the few credits she needed
to graduate. At the beginning of the fall semester, Dawn was driving her son to day care, going on to school, and
leaving midmorning for work. Her plan to graduate at the end of the fall semester crumbled when the school principal
revoked her parking privileges for a declining grade point average after a car accident led to the lack of transportation
and several absences. Without a parking pass, Dawn could not drive her son to day care or go to work after school.
She was thoroughly discouraged and lacked the skills and family support to appeal to the school board. Her student
status was further complicated when she was kicked out of her home and moved in with her grandmother, who
resided in a different school district.
“I’m tryin’ to get into a school here in the city. But they’re tellin’ me that I have to go two semesters in order to
graduate from this new school, when I only would have had to go one semester to graduate from my school. It’s just a
mess . . . I actually want to go to school and they won’t let me because of something stupid.â€
At her last interview, she was considering reenrolling in her suburban school so that she could complete the few
credits she needed to graduate. Her plans seemed unrealistic because of the lengthy driving time involved (at least 30
to 40 minutes one way) and the complex scheduling that would be required with day care and an employer.
(SmithBattle 2007:360–63)
SmithBattle (2007) concluded,
The gap between teen mothers’ aspirations and the support to achieve them suggests that educators and other
professionals are missing a critical opportunity to promote teen mothers’ school-progress and their long-term
educational attainment and success. Schools that cultivate teen mothers’ educational ambitions may ultimately
contribute to positive chain reactions and the reduction of teen mothers’ prior adversity. (p. 369)
In Chapter 1, we learned how C. Wright Mills distinguished between a private trouble and a
public issue. Explain how Mills would define Kate’s experiences. Is she experiencing a private
trouble or a public issue?
Source: Reprinted with permission from SmithBattle 2007.
The provision of free or subsidized contraceptives is associated with relatively low birthrates (Sedgh
et al. 2014). The rate of contraceptive use at first intercourse was highest among Dutch (85%) and
Australian (90% for males and 95% for females) teens, followed by French (74% and 77%) and U.S.
(a minimum of 65%) youth. School-based sex education programs are mandatory in the
Netherlands, France, and Australia (Weaver et al. 2005). There are no federal laws in the United
States that require sexual health education in schools.
Teen mothers, in comparison with their childless peers, are more likely to be poorer and less
educated, less likely to be married, and more likely to come from families with lower incomes
268
(Hoffman 1998). Their children often lag behind in standards of early development (Hoffman
1998); are less likely to receive proper nutrition, health care, and cognitive stimulation (Annie E.
Casey Foundation 1998); and are at greater risk of social behavioral problems and lower intellectual
and academic achievement (Hoffman 2006). Early childbearing also affects teen fathers. Teen
fathers are more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors such as alcohol abuse or drug dealing. In
addition, they complete fewer years of school and earn less per year (Annie E. Casey Foundation
1998).
p.150
Significant public costs are also associated with adolescent childbearing. For 2004, the estimated
annual cost to taxpayers of births to young mothers was $9 billion, taking into consideration lost tax
revenue, public assistance, health care for children, child welfare, and the criminal justice system
(Hoffman 2006). Costs related to births to women 17 years old or younger were higher per birth
than for those 18 to 19 years of age.
Although teenage childbirth has always been considered a social problem, reports of abandoned
babies found in trash bins, restrooms, parks, and public buildings capture the public’s attention. The
first case that caught national attention was “Prom Mom†Melissa Drexler. While attending her
senior prom in 1997, Drexler gave birth to a full-term baby boy in a bathroom stall. She wrapped
her baby in several plastic bags, left him in a garbage can, and returned to her prom. She pleaded
guilty to manslaughter. There is no comprehensive national reporting system for abandoned babies.
The Problems of Time and Money
According to Beck (1992), “families . . . become the scene of continuous juggling of diverging
multiple ambitions among occupational necessities, educational constraints, parental duties and the
monotony of housework†(p. 89). In a survey conducted by the Radcliffe Public Policy Center
(2000), nearly all respondents reported feeling pressed for time in their lives, wanting to spend more
time with their families, have more flexible work options, and even just have more time to sleep. In
an analysis of couples in eight EU countries, Tanja van der Lippe, Annet Jager, and Yvonne Kops
(2006) concluded that work–home pressure was highest among couples from Sweden, the United
Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Even in Sweden with its family-friendly policies, couples felt the
pressure to successfully combine paid work and family life, especially when negotiating long working
hours and overtime.
Families with children must determine how best to provide financial support, while making sure
their children have parental time. Suzanne Bianchi, John Robinson, and Melissa Milkie (2006)
reported that in about 30% of families with children, both parents work full-time. Compared with
their counterparts in other countries, a higher percentage of American dual-worker couples work
long weeks (80 or more hours combined), leaving less family time during the week. Mothers still
spend more time with children, an average of 13 hours per week compared with 7 hours per week
269
for fathers. Mothers do most of the routine care (custodial daily care) of children, whereas fathers
spend their time with children doing interactive activities (enrichment activities such as talking or
reading to them) (Bianchi et al. 2006). To spend time with their children, working mothers will
reduce their time for housework, personal and leisure time, and find ways to multitask (Craig and
Powell 2013).
According to Lillian Rubin (1995), economic realities make it especially difficult for working-class
parents to maintain their juggling act. In her book Families on the Fault Line, Rubin documented
how structural changes in the economy undermine the quality of life among working-class families.
This is a functional argument: Because the family is part of our larger social system, what happens at
an economic level will inevitably affect the family. The reality of long workdays and workweeks
takes its toll on families: The loss of intimacy between couples, the lack of time for couples and their
children, tense renegotiations over household work, and juggling child care arrangements are just
some of the issues that working families face.
p.151
© REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
In 2015, military family members outnumbered military personnel by 1.3 to 1. There were 1,728,710 dependent family
members, including spouses, children, and adult dependents (U.S. Department of Defense 2016).
Rubin’s study shed some light on the condition of working-class families, but often overlooked is
the plight of lower-income families—too rich to be classified as living in poverty but still too poor to
be working class. In a two-year study, Lisa Dodson, Tiffany Manuel, and Ellen Bravo (2002)
270
studied lower-income families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Denver, Colorado; and Boston,
Massachusetts. The researchers concluded that lower-income families deal with basic problems on a
daily basis: managing the safety, health, and education of their children while staying employed.
Lower-income parents are not “bad†parents; it’s just that their parenting may require more time
and resources than they have. Among low-income families, there is a higher prevalence of children
with chronic health issues or special learning needs; at least two thirds of the families in the Dodson
et al. study reported having a child with special needs. These children require much more time and
patience from their parents, sometimes jeopardizing parents’ ability to maintain employment and
earnings. To support lower-income parents, the authors recommended comprehensive and flexible
child care, along with workplace flexibility (taking time off work, adjusting their work schedule)
(Dodson et al. 2002).
The recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars heightened our awareness of the difficulties associated with
families separated by war. Research on the adjustment of children and adolescents of deployed
military personnel indicates that the separation experience is stressful. Parental deployment has been
linked with several negative youth outcomes, including depression (Jensen, Martin, and Watanabe
1996), behavioral problems (Levai et al. 1994), and poor academic performance (Hiew 1992). Boys
suffer more effects of disruption than girls (Johnson et al. 2007). Because they are more aware of the
risks involved in deployment, school-aged children, compared with younger children, experience
more anxiety and concern about the safety of the absent parent (Andres and Moelker 2011). More
than 100,000 female soldiers who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been mothers.
As reported by Lizette Alvarez (2009), the majority of deployed women are primary caregivers, and
a third are single mothers like Army Specialist Jaymie Holschlag. While she was deployed in Iraq,
Holschlag’s 10-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter lived with their grandparents. Concerned
about the effects of her deployment on her children and herself, Holschlag requested a transfer
when she returned home.
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 was envisioned as a way to help employees
balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of their families. The act provides employees
with as many as 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also provides for group health
benefits during the employee’s leave. The FMLA applies to all public agencies and all private
employers with 50 or more workers. To be eligible, employees must work at least 1,250 hours per
year. In 2008, the FMLA was expanded to include families of wounded military personnel.
p.152
As of 2014, 11 states and the District of Columbia have enacted their own family and medical leave
laws, extending the coverage provided by the FMLA or extending coverage to those not eligible
271
under FMLA guidelines. In 2004, California became the first state to enact a law that provides paid
family care leave. The California Family Rights Act allows employees to take paid leave to care for a
child, spouse, parent, or domestic partner who has a serious health condition or to bond with a new
child. Paid leave was extended to workers to care for a parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, or
sibling in 2013. Employees who take such leave can receive 55% of their pay up to $1,067 per week
for a maximum of six weeks. The California law applies to all employers, not just those with 50 or
more employees (State of California, Economic Development Department 2014).
Although there is strong support for the FMLA and its stated goals, the act has also been criticized
since its enactment. Almost 50% of workers are not covered by the FMLA because they work for
private employers not covered under the law or small businesses employing fewer than 50 people.
Although it has been used an estimated 100 million times, nearly two thirds of eligible workers have
not taken advantage of the FMLA because they can’t afford the lost wages (National Partnership for
Women and Families 2009).
Community Responses to Domestic Violence and Neglect
Responses to domestic violence can be characterized as having a distinct community approach. In
the area of child abuse, the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention established
community-based children’s advocacy centers to provide coordinated support for victims in the
investigation, treatment, prosecution, and prevention of child abuse in all 50 states. Programs at
each center are uniquely designed by community professionals and volunteers to best meet their
community’s needs. One such center is Project Harmony, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Project
Harmony provides medical exams, assessment, and referrals. Project Harmony serves children who
are victims of abuse and their nonabusing family members. By placing project staff and
representatives from child protective services and law enforcement in the same facility, Project
Harmony attempts to improve communication and coordination among all professionals involved in
a child’s case. Refer to this chapter’s Voices in the Community feature to learn more about a rural
support program based in Vermont.
Since its inception in 1995, the Office on Violence Against Women has handled the U.S.
Department of Justice’s legal and policy issues regarding violence against women. The office offers a
series of program and policy technical papers for individuals, leaders, and communities to support
their efforts to end violence against women. These papers highlight some of the best program
models and practices and were produced by the Promising Practices Initiative of the STOP
Violence Against Women Grants Technical Assistance Project (Little, Malefyt, and Walker 1998).
Two featured programs, still operating in 2017, are the following:
• The Minnesota Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) was developed in 1980 and
serves as a national and international program model. It was the first program of its kind to
coordinate the intervention activities of each criminal justice agency in one city. Also known as
272
the Duluth Model, the goals of DAIP include victim safety, offender accountability, and
changes in the climate of tolerance toward violence in the Duluth community. The program
offers a men’s nonviolence education program, a national training and technical assistance
program, and a victim advocacy program for Native Americans through the Mending the
Sacred Hoop project.
p.153
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
PARENTAL LEAVE POLICIES
Rebecca Ray, Janet Gornick, and John Schmitt (2010) examined the generosity and the
gendered structure of parental leave policies in 21 high-income countries. The researchers
argued that the duration and benefit levels of parental leave policies are important because the
policies
can shape the time that employed parents have to care for family members at home. In addition, leave policies can
strengthen or weaken women’s labour market attachment, depending, to a large degree, on their design. Likewise,
leave policies can influence men’s share in family caregiving, as policy rules affect the availability of leave for men and
shape their incentives for take-up. (Ray et al. 2010:199)
Ray and colleagues’ analysis reveals a range of leave policies for two-parent families, from 14
weeks in Switzerland to over 300 weeks in Spain and France (refer to Figure 7.2). The United
States ranks 20th with 24 weeks. Switzerland ranks last but provides 80% of a mother’s usual
earnings during the parental leave period.
FIGURE 7.2 â– Total and Full-Time-Equivalent (FTE) Paid Parental Leave for Two-
Parent Families, in Weeks
273
Source: Ray, Rebecca, Janet Gornick, and John Schmitt. 2010. “Who Cares? Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality in
Parental Leave Policy Designs in 21 Countries.†Journal of European Social Policy 20: 203.
A second key dimension of parental leave is whether it is paid and, if so, how generously. For many low- and middle-
income families, unpaid leave is not particularly helpful because families cannot afford the time away from work. The
United States provides a striking example. According to a 2000 U.S. Department of Labor survey, for example, over a
22-month period in 1999 and 2000, 3.5 million people in the United States needed leave for family or medical
reasons but did not take it; almost 80% of those who did not take the leave said they could not afford to do so.
Most countries provide between three months and one year of FTE (full time equivalent) paid leave. Denmark falls
right at the middle of the paid-leave scale, guaranteeing about 20 weeks of FTE paid leave. No country provides more
than one year of FTE paid leave, but Sweden and Germany each offer 47 weeks. Five other countries offer at least six
months of FTE paid leave: Norway (44 weeks), Greece (34 weeks), Finland (32 weeks), Canada (29 weeks) and Japan
(26 weeks). (Ray et al. 2010:203)
The researchers also note that Australia and the United States offer no paid leave to two-
parent families.
What does the extent of parental leave coverage reveal about the social and familial values of
each country?
p.154
• The Women’s Center and Shelter (WC&S) of Greater Pittsburgh was founded in 1974.
WC&S coordinates its program efforts with the medical community, criminal justice agencies,
and other organizations. The program focuses on the ability of women to take control of their
own lives. WC&S provides comprehensive victim services, which include parenting education
and legal and medical advocacy. WC&S has also created a school-based curriculum, called
Hands Are Not for Hurting, aimed at middle and high school students in the Pittsburgh
274
Public School District. The curriculum uses age-appropriate lessons that encourage nonviolent
conflict resolution and teach youth that they are responsible for the choices they make.
The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) believes that community education and outreach are
important in combating the problem of elder abuse and neglect. The NCEA supports community
“sentinel†programs, which train and educate professionals and volunteers to identify and refer
potential victims of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. In 1999, the NCEA established partnerships
with the Humane Society of the United States, the Meals on Wheels Association of America, and
the National Association of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Directors. These organizations
were selected because of their unique access to isolated elders in their homes. The NCEA funded six
coalition projects in Arizona, California, New York, North Carolina, and Utah. The program
trained more than 1,000 professionals and volunteers to serve as sentinels; as a result, there was an
increase in the number of abuse referrals in communities where sentinels were used. Administrators
also noticed an increase in the level of satisfaction among volunteers, who, as a result of the project,
were able to assist individuals they believed might be victims or potential victims (National Center
on Elder Abuse 2002b).
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
WYNONA WARD
Wynona Ward thought she had left her violent childhood behind her. But in 1991, when her
sisters called to inform her that their brother Richard had raped a child in the family, she was
not surprised. The child had also been raped by her grandfather—Ward’s father—years earlier.
Ward describes Richard as “living up to his father’s expectations. He was expected to grow up
to be a child abuser†(quoted in Jetter 2000). Ward, her mother, and her siblings were
subjected to years of sexual and physical abuse by her father. She and other family members
supported the victim during her brother’s trial and subsequent incarceration. The experience
motivated Ward to enroll in law school. After graduating from Vermont Law School, Ward
established Have Justice Will Travel, a mobile law office serving battered women in Vermont.
Driving more than 30,000 miles a year, Ward is able to reach victims who otherwise would not
have access to legal or social services. With her mobile office (her truck is equipped with a
radio, scanner, computer, and printer), Ward brings support and hope to women who have
none. The group also provides transportation to and from court hearings and free legal
representation. Ward says, “[We] work with these women so they can become strong and
independent and self-reliant and be able to support themselves and their children†(as quoted
in Brown 2010).
275
Since 1998, Have Justice Will Travel has assisted 10,000 victims with legal and social services.
From its humble start at Ward’s kitchen table, the program has expanded to three locations
with the assistance of staff and student volunteers from Ward’s alma mater, Dartmouth
College, and other local colleges. Ward divides her time on the road between working with
clients and writing grant proposals to support the program. Growing her program to serve
more women and their families continues to be her goal.
Everyday [sic] in this country, we have more and more women that are working in social services, more women that
are entering the legal field, more people that can have empathy for victims. . . . Different donors have asked me,
“Well, how are you going to expand Have Justice?†There’s only one Wynona. But I say to them, “No, you’re wrong.
There are many Wynonas out there.†(Ward 2002)
How effective is Have Justice Will Travel? Does the program address the problem at an
individual or structural level?
p.155
Teen Pregnancy and Infant Abandonment
From an interactionist perspective, sex education has been framed as a private, family issue. There
are no U.S. federal laws that require sexual health education in schools. According to health
professionals and educators, this framework has denied young men and women access to basic sex
education information and services (Silk and Romero 2013). As a result, sexual health education has
been defined as the responsibility of social and health service programmers. In the 1980s, these
programmers defined prevention as an effective way to address the problems of teen pregnancy and
parenthood (Card 1999). In the 1990s, several new prevention approaches emerged, particularly
after the passage of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. Under Section 905 of the act, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services was mandated to ensure that at least 25% of all U.S.
communities had teen pregnancy prevention programs in place. Most states identified target goals
related to teen birthrates.
Curriculum-based sexual health education programs are categorized into two groups (Kirby 2007).
The most prominent form, abstinence-only programs, promotes abstinence from sex and not
condom or other contraceptive use. Comprehensive programs promote abstinence along with
condom and other contraceptive use. Programming in both groups may vary. For example, some
abstinence programs emphasize abstinence until marriage, whereas others do not. Some
comprehensive programs feature only an educational component; others include contraceptive
services.
In his review of abstinence-only program evaluations, Douglas Kirby (2007) noted that only a small
number of abstinence programs have been evaluated. He concluded, based on the limited research,
that there was little evidence to suggest that any particular abstinence program delays the initiation
of sex. Kirby found that comprehensive programs were more likely to have a positive impact on teen
276
sexual behavior—at least 40% of the programs resulted in increased condom and contraceptive use.
Researchers also documented increased abstinence, reduced numbers of sexual partners, and delayed
initiation of sex among students participating in comprehensive programs.
In response to newborn and infant abandonment, since 1999 all states have passed laws that offer
safe and confidential means to relinquish unwanted newborns without the threat of prosecution for
child abandonment. State laws vary according to the child’s age (72 hours to 1 year old) and the
personnel or places authorized to accept the infant (hospital personnel, emergency rooms, church,
and police).
It is unclear how effective these safe-surrender or safe-haven laws have been in reducing infant
abandonment or death. New Jersey, home of the first infant abandonment case that gained national
attention, passed a safe-haven law in August 2000. It is estimated that more than 100 New Jersey
babies have been surrendered and were adopted, placed in foster care, or returned to their mothers
since the law was enacted. In 2006, however, six dead newborns were found abandoned in New
York, despite the state’s safe-haven laws. Critics argue that the state’s safe-haven laws were poorly
advertised, with most residents not knowing about the laws’ provisions. In Illinois, a discussion of
the safe-haven law is included in the high school health curriculum, possibly ensuring more
awareness among high-risk youth (Buckley 2007).
In 2007, a mother abandoned her 3-month-old baby boy at a neonatal clinic in Rome, Italy. She
was the first to use Casilino Polyclinic’s modern foundling wheel. The original foundling wheel,
used in the Middle Ages, was a revolving wooden barrel built into the church’s exterior wall; the
mother could deposit her baby and turn the wheel, and the baby would be safely protected inside the
church. The Rome clinic uses a small modern structure equipped with a heated cradle and a
respirator. Also available at other Italian hospitals and churches, these structures are equipped with
an alarm to alert medical or church staff when a child is deposited. Foundling wheels or designated
drop-off locations for unwanted newborns are used in other countries such as Germany,
Switzerland, and the Czech Republic (Povoledo 2007).
p.156
What Does It Mean to Me?
Investigate your state’s safe-haven law. What are the features of the law? What protections does it
offer the mother? How many children have been protected under the law? How well do you think
the law has been promoted?
Expanding the Definition of Family
277
The family traditionally defined as a nuclear form of mom, dad, and children is in decline.
Sociologist Judith Stacey (1996) described how the nuclear family system has been replaced by what
she calls a postmodern family condition, one characterized by diverse family patterns and forms,
where no single family form is dominant. Broader definitions of the family cover a range of
relationships, living arrangements, and emotional and financial support arrangements (Harris 2008).
Indeed, “a single, all-encompassing definition of ‘family’ may be impossible to achieve†(Erera 2002,
p. 3).
The proportion of nuclear families is decreasing and being replaced with family structures that
include single-parent, blended, adoptive, foster, grandparent, and same-sex-partner households
(Copeland and White 1991). The increasing diversity of American families requires that we
broaden our research and policy agendas beyond traditional family forms (Demo 1992). Perhaps one
solution to the “problem†of families is to appreciate and embrace other family forms. Let’s examine
two family forms: cohabitation and grandparents as primary caregivers to grandchildren.
COHABITATION Larry Bumpass (1998) argued that the increase in cohabitation reflects and
reinforces the declining significance of marriage as a life course marker in our society. He reported
that almost half of the young adults in the United States have lived in a cohabiting union at some
point in their lives, a trend reflected in most Western societies. Cohabiting is defined as sexual
partners not married to each other but residing in the same household.
In total, 7% of U.S. adults (or 18 million) were cohabiting in 2016 (Stepler 2017b). Almost half of
the adult cohabitors are between 18 and 24 years of age. Data on the proportion of households
cohabiting for selected countries are presented in Figure 7.3. In 11 European countries, cohabiting
partners have the possibility of entering a civil union (via registration) other than marriage. In other
countries, cohabiting couples who have not registered their union, but have lived together for a
specific period of time, are considered to have the same legal rights and obligations as married
couples or partners who have formalized their relationships. For example, in Australia and New
Zealand, couples living together for a specific period of time are legally considered to be in a
partnership with status equal to marriage (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development 2010). Many countries have responded to the increasing number of cohabitating
couples by expanding their rights and legal recognition.
FIGURE 7.3 â– Percentage of Cohabiting Households for Selected Countries, 2011
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Source: Adapted from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2016.
Researchers acknowledge that not all cohabitations will eventually lead to marriage and may instead
serve as alternative forms of marriage (Manning and Smock 2002), even though marriage still
represents the cultural ideal, signaling a higher level of commitment. For many, cohabitation is
considered a pathway to marriage. The percentage of marriages that began as cohabitating
relationships rose from 41% in the early 1980s to 65% of marriages between 1995 and 2002
(Manning and Jones 2006).
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Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and David Popenoe (2005) cited a study that concluded that premarital
cohabitation, when limited to a woman’s future husband, was not associated with an elevated risk of
divorce. Conversely, they observed, “No evidence has yet been found that those who cohabit before
marriage have stronger marriages than those who do not.†For data collected in 2002, the
probability of a woman’s marriage lasting 10 years if she had cohabited before marriage was lower
than the probability of a woman’s marriage lasting the same amount of time if she did not cohabit
before marriage (61% vs. 66%) (Goodwin, Mosher, and Chandra 2010). However, the difference
between the two groups is not significant. If a couple were engaged when they began cohabiting, the
probability that the woman’s marriage would survive 10 years was similar (65%) to the probability
for couples who did not cohabit at all (66%) (Goodwin et al. 2010).
The increase of cohabitation has coincided with the increase in unmarried childbearing—more than
40% of cohabiting couple households contain children (National Marriage Project 2013). Although
data indicate that about two fifths of all children will live with their mother and a cohabiting partner
and that about a third of the time children spend with unmarried mothers is spent in a cohabiting
relationship, family scholars acknowledge that more needs to be known about the impact of
cohabitation on the family experiences and life outcomes of these children (Bumpass and Lu 2000).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Does cohabitation threaten the institution of marriage? How does it redefine or challenge our
definition of the “family�
GRANDPARENTS AS PARENTS Fifty-nine-year-old Pat and Ken Owens of Lewistown,
Maryland, are the primary caretakers of their grandchildren, Michael and Brandi (Armas 2002). In
2014, an estimated 1.5 million children lived their grandparents, without a parent present, an
increase from 950,000 children living with their grandparents in 1970 (U.S. Census Bureau 2015).
In comparison with households with one or two parents, children living with grandparents are more
likely to live in poverty and have limited access to health care and other resources (Ellis and
Simmons 2014). The role of grandparents as primary guardians to grandchildren has not been
addressed in many other countries. In the United Kingdom, a study of 870 grandparents revealed
that only 0.5% had custodial care of their grandchildren, while 61% were their grandchild’s regular
day care provider (Clarke and Roberts 2004).
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Grandparents may assume caretaking responsibilities when parents are unable to live with or care
for their children because of death, illness, divorce, incarceration, substance abuse, or child abuse or
neglect. According to U.S. Census data, in 2012, White children were more likely than children of
other ethnic/racial groups to live in a grandparent’s household with or without a parent present
(Ellis and Simmons 2014). The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been identified as a significant
contributor to African American grandparents assuming primary parenting roles (Crewe 2012).
Pat and Ken Owens had not heard from Michael and Brandi’s mother for two years and had only
recently begun receiving financial support from Michael’s father. The alternative for their
grandchildren would have been foster care, something that Pat Owens did not want to happen: “I
don’t want to make it sound like it’s easy because there are some tough, tense times. But I’m very
proud of the fact that all the grandchildren still play together and go to school together†(Armas
2002:A6).
Research identifies how grandparents who care for their grandchildren are at high risk for emotional
and physical distress. This distress is related to a deficit of social resources, such as marital status,
social support, economic resources, and the demands of the caregiving role itself. Grandparent
caregivers are more likely to experience depression and suffer from fair to poor physical health and
activity limitations than are grandparents in more traditional roles (Chase Goodman and Silverstein
2006). Counseling and the use of school programs (tutoring and special education) provide
grandparents and grandchildren some emotional and academic support (Trail Ross and Aday 2006;
Kelch-Oliver 2011). Despite the negative consequences, grandparents also report satisfaction and
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rewards related to caring for their grandchildren.
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Grandparents may assume caretaking responsibilities when parents are unable to live with or care for their children.
According to the U.S. Census, White children are more likely than children of other racial or ethnic groups to live in a
grandparent’s household with or without a parent present.
The sudden responsibility for children leaves many grandparents on fixed incomes with unexpected
financial burdens. In one study, children living in a grandparent’s household without a parent
present were twice as likely to be living below the poverty level as were children living with both
grandparents and a parent. Children who lived with just their grandparents were also at risk of not
being covered by health insurance (Fields 2003). If eligible, grandparents can get assistance through
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Some states, such as Illinois, Pennsylvania,
and Wisconsin, offer guardianship or kinship care subsidy programs for grandparents.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 7.3: Multigenerational Families
Emotional and social support is available for grandparent-headed households. Local grandparent
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support groups are listed by organizations such as AARP and Generations United. These
organizations also provide fact sheets, community links, and suggestions for clothing and school
supplies, recipes, and travel and activity guides for grandparents and their grandchildren. AARP
(2002) has recognized several model support programs such as the Kinship Support Network in San
Francisco, California; Project Healthy Grandparents in Atlanta, Georgia; and Grandma’s Kids
Kinship Support Program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
PARALEGALS AND LEGAL ASSISTANTS
Carlos Sandoval—Class of 2013
Undergraduate Major: Sociology Undergraduate Minor(s): Philosophy, Religion
Paralegals and legal assistants do a variety of tasks to support lawyers in law firms, corporate
legal departments, and government agencies. Many law firms utilize paralegals and legal
assistants in an attempt to lower their expenses and billing costs to clients and to increase the
efficiency of their legal services (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014). Carlos Sandoval
initially wanted to work for a police department or correctional facility, but after graduating he
was hired as a legal assistant for a county prosecutor’s office. He is currently assigned to the
Family Support Division doing mostly clerical work, interacting with clients, organizing files
and documents, scheduling hearings, and mailing out notices for court dates.
There are many ways to become a paralegal or legal assistant. Some community colleges offer
an associate’s degree in paralegal studies, and some law firms hire college graduates with a
bachelor’s degree (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014). Previous work experience is preferred
but not necessary. During Carlos’s job interview, sociology helped him address his lack of job
experience:
Having minimal work experience, it is hard to talk about what skills you have or how you can apply your previous
experience to this new job. That being said, as soon as I walked into the interview, I tried to apply sociology to every
question I was asked. This allowed me to continue talking about any particular subject with confidence. For example,
one of the questions asked was “How do you feel about working with minority groups and groups from lower-income
families?†I began by explaining what I know about groups in poverty and minority groups and how they may be less
fortunate than others and not have all the resources they may need. I don’t remember much from the interview, but I
do remember having used sociology in each of my answers.
Carlos credits his internship experiences at a juvenile detention center and at a child protective
services office with helping him develop work experiences with clients and confidential cases.
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He says,
Although they may have not been related to my job now, my previous employers gave excellent references for my
work ethic and skills. At the end of the day, all an employer wants is a good worker and someone they can see
themselves working with. I believe it was my interview and references that gave me this job.
Carlos offers the following career and job search advice for undergraduates:
The first advice I would give is to do as many internships and volunteer positions as you can for the field you are
trying to work in. Even if the job is not directly relatable, the reference you will receive from doing good work is truly
invaluable. This also allows you to experience different fields and find out which is right for you. Next I would say
apply for as many jobs as possible. Many employers take a long time to hire someone. Even though it feels like
everyone is rejecting you, employers will begin to call back all at the same time. Also, visit any and all preparedness
workshops, if they are available. Especially for government jobs with standardized tests, there are workshops and
practice tests that are available; people often fail for simply not studying.
CHAPTER REVIEW
7.1 Identify myths and misconceptions about families and family life.
Although the nuclear family is exalted as the ideal family in the United States, in reality,
families are much more diverse. Many women in Western countries have less traditional
views about marriage and baring children. Similarly, fewer people believe that people who
want children should be married. Extended families, single parent families, and
cohabitation are also common.
7.2 Describe how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to the family.
From a functionalist perspective, social problems emerge as the family struggles to adapt
to a modern society. According to conflict theory, the family is a system of inequality
where conflict is normal. Conflict can derive from economic or power inequalities
between spouses or family members. From a feminist perspective, inequality emerges from
the patriarchal family system, where men control decision-making in the family.
According to interactionists, we create and maintain our definition of a family through
social interaction. This process affects our larger social definition what everyone’s family
should be like and the kind of family that we create for ourselves.
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7.3 Identify common family problems and discuss the ways they affect society.
Every year, there are about 3.5 divorces per 1,000 individuals in the United States.
Marriage rates have declined at the same time. While children of divorce may have less
commitment to the idea of lifelong marriage, there is also research to suggest that marital
separation is beneficial to children. Women often experience a substantial decline in
household income after divorce, while men do not. Intimate partner violence, child abuse
and neglect, and elder abuse and mistreatment can substantially affect families as a whole.
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The birth rate among teens in the United States is the highest in the world. Teen mothers
are more likely to be poor and are less likely to be educated or married and are more likely
to come from low income families. Their children are more likely to experience
developmental delays.
7.4 Discuss social and political efforts to protect families and children.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was envisioned as a way to help families
balance needs at home and work. It allows for 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave per
year. However, this act only applies to companies employing more than 50 people. Many
domestic violence prevention and protection programs have a community-based approach,
including Project Harmony. In efforts to combat teen pregnancy and infant abandonment,
many have advocated for comprehensive, rather than abstinence-only sexual health
education programs. Researchers have found these programs to be more effective.
KEY TERMS
cohabiting, 156
extended families, 138
family, 137
heteronormativity, 141
household, 137
neglect, 145
nuclear family, 138
physical abuse, 145
social institutions, 137
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast the myths and realities of the American family.
2. Even though the nuclear family is not the statistical majority in our society, its image as the
“perfect†family persists. Why do you think this is the case? How could the “perfect†family be
redefined?
3. How does capitalism influence family structure and relationships? Do you agree with this
perspective? Why or why not?
4. How does society’s definition of the “family†lead to social problems, prejudice, and
discrimination?
5. Identify the effects of divorce on children and adults.
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6. What is the relationship between teen parenthood and educational attainment? What can
be done to support the academic success of teen parents?
7. Explain the difference between abstinence-only and comprehensive sexual health education
programs.
8. Compare the United States with other countries on the following family demographics (as
reported in this chapter): marriage, divorce, teen pregnancy, and cohabitation.
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
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8
EDUCATION
Media Library
CHAPTER 8 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 8.1: Education and Inequality
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 8.2: Declining School Conditions in Venezuela
AP News Clips 8.3: School Funding Gaps
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
8.1 Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to
education.
8.2 Explain the process of educational tracking.
8.3 Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender, and race and ethnicity.
8.4 Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
8.5 Assess whether school choice has improved educational outcomes.
Education is assumed to be the great equalizer in our society. There are inspirational stories of
women and men who, after a tough childhood or adulthood, complete their education, become
successful members of society, and are held as role models. Education is presented as an essential
part of their success, serving as a cure for personal or situational shortcomings. If you are poor,
education can make you rich. If your childhood was less than perfect, a college degree can make up
for it. On the occasion of launching the Head Start program in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson is
quoted as saying, “If it weren’t for education, I’d still be looking at the southern end of a
northbound mule†(Zigler and Muenchow 1992).
Yet along with these images of success, we are bombarded with images of failure. Media coverage
and political rhetoric highlight problems with our educational system, particularly with our public
287
schools. In recent state and national political campaigns, the quality of teaching and the preparation
of teachers were scrutinized, and school districts with low scores on standardized exams were
criticized. U.S. students are said to be falling behind the accelerated pace of higher education
internationally. Although 43% of 25- to 64-year-old Americans have earned an associate’s degree or
higher, there are several industrial countries with higher rates of college attainment (refer to Figure
8.1). Additionally, the increase in the proportion of the population with a college degree is lower in
the United States (a 7% increase between 2000 and 2012) in comparison with other industrialized
countries (an average of 11% over the same time period) (Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development 2014). In 2006, a panel of education, labor, and public policy experts, including
two former education secretaries, warned that if the United States does not keep pace with the
educational gains made in other countries, our standard of living will be seriously compromised.
FIGURE 8.1 ■Percentage of Adults 25–64 Years of Age With an Associate’s Degree or
Higher, 2015 (Only Countries 40% or Higher Reported)
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2018.
p.164
So which is it: Is education a key to individual success or an institutional failure? In this chapter,
we’ll first examine this question by reviewing our educational system from different sociological
perspectives. Then we’ll explore current social problems in education, along with policy and
program responses.
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THE NEW EDUCATIONAL STANDARD
We tend to define a high school diploma as the educational standard of the past, now replaced with
a bachelor’s degree. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau confirm that the US. population is
increasingly more educated (see Table 8.1 and Exploring Social Problems).
TABLE 8.1 â– Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years and Older, 2016
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2017.
For 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau (2017) reported that 88.4% of adults (25 years and older) had
completed at least a high school diploma, and more than 33% of all adults had attained at least a
bachelor’s degree. Educational attainment levels of adults will continue to rise as younger, more
educated age groups replace older, less educated ones.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Compare the educational attainment of three generations of your family: yourself, your parents, and
your grandparents. Are younger generations more educated than older generations in your family?
Why or why not?
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION
Functionalist Perspective
The institution of education has a set of manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions are
intended goals or consequences of the activities within an institution. Education’s primary manifest
function should come as no surprise: It is to educate! The other manifest functions include
socialization, personal development, and employment. Our educational system ensures that each of
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us will be appropriately socialized and adequately educated to become a contributing member of
society (and the labor force). As Nicola Ansell (2008) wrote, “Educational systems view children as
‘human becomings’ that they are explicitly preparing for work†(p. 808). We learn skills and
knowledge, as well as about society’s norms, values, and beliefs, which are necessary for our survival
and, ultimately, the society’s survival.
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
EARNING A BACHELOR’S DEGREE
The 1990 Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act requires all schools to
publish their graduate rates, that is, the percentage of students who complete their
program within 150% of the normal time for completion, which is six years for students
enrolled in four-year bachelor’s degree program. Students who transfer and complete their
degree in another school are not counted as completers in these data.
Contact your institutional research office about your school’s graduation rates since 2000.
How does your school compare with other schools in your state?
Populations in the Northeast had the highest proportions with a bachelor’s degree or
higher. The state with the highest proportion was Massachusetts (41.2%). West Virginia
had the lowest proportion (19.6%). What do you think? Using your sociological
imagination, why does the proportion completing a bachelor’s degree or higher vary by
state?
U.S. DATA MAP 8.1 â– Percentage of Adult Population 25 Years or Older With
Bachelor’s Degree or Higher by State, 2016
290
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2017.
p.166
Education’s latent functions may be less obvious. One unintended function that education serves
is as a public babysitter. No other institution can claim such a monopoly over the total number of
hours, months, and years of a child’s life. From kindergarten through high school, parents can rely
on teachers, administrators, and counselors for their child’s education and for supervision,
socialization, and discipline. In addition, education controls the entry of young women and men
into the labor force and the timing of that entry. Consider the surge in employment rates after high
school and college graduation. There is always a rush to get a job each summer; employers rely on
the temporary labor of high school and college students during busy summer months. Finally,
education establishes and protects social networks by ensuring that individuals with similar
backgrounds, education, and interests are able to form friendships, partnerships, or romantic bonds.
Functionalists argue that education has been assigned so many additional tasks that it struggles in its
primary task to educate the young. In addition to its own main functions, our educational system
has taken over functions of other institutions. For example, the educational system provides services
to students with family problems, emotional needs, or physical challenges. Schools also provide
services for parents in the form of adult education or parenting classes.
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Conflict Perspective
Conflict theorists do not see education as an equalizer; rather, they consider education a “dividerâ€â€”
dividing the haves from the have-nots in our society. Conflict theorists focus on the social and
economic inequalities inherent in our educational system and on how the system perpetuates these
inequalities.
Conflict theorists highlight the socialization function of education as part of the indoctrination of
Western bureaucratic ideology. The popular posters and books on “what I learned in kindergartenâ€
could serve as the official list of adult life rules: Share everything, play fair, and put things back
where you found them. Never mind kindergarten—the indoctrination can begin as early as nursery
school. Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1972) described a child’s experience in nursery school as an
“organizational experience†creating an organizational child. Carefully instructed and supervised
by their teachers, students are guided through their day in ordered agendas; they are rewarded for
conformity, and any signs of individuality are discouraged. The organizational child is sufficiently
prepared for the demands and constraints of a bureaucratic adult world.
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 8.1: Education and Inequality
Although we consider education the primary method of achieving equality and mobility in our
society, conflict theorists argue that it actually sustains the structure of inequality. As Martin Marger
(2008) explained, the relationship between education and socioeconomic status operates in a cycle
perpetuated from one generation to the next. It begins with high-income and high-status parents
who can ensure a greater amount and greater quality of education for their children. Pierre Bourdieu
(1977) argued that children from upper- and middle-class families are advantaged in our educational
system due to their possession of cultural capital, linguistic and cultural competence, and
familiarity with culture that is passed on by their parents and their social position. Children whose
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parents introduce them to a culture consistent with the class-based assumptions of education are
more likely to succeed than those whose parents do not (Lareau 2003).
But there is another form of capital to consider. Social capital refers to investments in social
relationships and networks (Lin 2011) and is also distributed unequally by social class. Young
children who are more engaged in extracurricular activities and have increased opportunities to build
personal relationships with adults outside their immediate family demonstrate greater academic
progress than children who lack access to these activities or opportunities (Freeman and Condron
2011).
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© LWA/Dann Tardif
From a conflict perspective, we do not invest the same amount of public spending, political interest, or public attention in
the educational achievement of students from lower social classes compared to students from middle or upper classes.
Jonathan Kozol, in his classic studies Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools (1991) and The
Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America (2005), presented a
discouraging portrait of student learning in inner-city schools that are understaffed, undersupplied,
and in disrepair. This educational inequality is created by public school systems that rely on property
taxes to finance school staffing and operations. As a result, a caste system has emerged in our
educational system. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, de
facto school segregation still exists. Income and residential segregation have led to greater
differentiation in school quality and opportunities between rich and poor neighborhoods (Reardon
2011).
The gap between the haves and the have-nots is so wide it seems impossible to attain educational
equity. As Kozol (1991) observed,
children in one set of schools are educated to be governors; children in another set of schools are trained to be governed. The
former are given the imaginative range to mobilize ideas for economic growth; the latter are provided with the discipline to
do the narrow tasks the first group will prescribe. (p. 176)
Kozol introduces us to 8-year-old Alliyah. At the time, the New York City Board of Education
spent $8,000 for her education in a public school in the Bronx. She would have received a public
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education worth $12,000 had she been educated in a typical White suburb of New York and worth
$18,000 if she had resided in a wealthy White suburb. According to Kozol (2005), what society
chooses to spend on lower-class neighborhoods and schools “surely tells us something about what
we think these kids are worth to us in human terms and in the contributions they may someday
make to our society†(p. 44).
Feminist Perspective
Inequalities are based not just on social class but also on gender. Research reveals the persistent
replication of gender relations in schools, evidenced by the privileging of males, their voices, and
their activities in the classroom, on the playground, and in hallways (D. E. Smith 2000).
One of my favorite illustrations of the privilege given to a male voice comes from my own discipline.
In sociology, there is a concept called the “definition of the situation,†which refers to the phrase “If
men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences†(Thomas and Thomas 1928:572).
The concept is an important one to the symbolic interactionist perspective and is often attributed
solely to sociologist W. I. Thomas. However, the correct attribution is to Thomas and his wife,
Dorothy Swaine Thomas. R. S. Smith (1995) investigated the citation in more than 244
introductory sociology textbooks and found that most attributed the concept solely to W. I.
Thomas. One reason for the omission of Swaine Thomas is that she may not have contributed to
the phrase (although there is no documented evidence to support this), but R. S. Smith (1995)
suggested that the omission is because of a professional and structural ideology that historically
represented sociology as a “male†domain. Smith noted that the citations began to include Swaine
Thomas after the mid-1970s, a time when sociology and introductory texts began to respond to and
to reflect the changes brought about by a growing women’s movement and increasing numbers of
female sociologists.
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Gender bias and gender stereotypes work to exclude and alienate girls early in their educational
experience (American Association of University Women 1992; Sadker and Sadker 1994; Sadker and
Zittleman 2009). Males have favored status in education, particularly in their interactions with their
teachers. In the classroom, girls are invisible, often treated as second-class educational citizens. This
is how Myra and David Sadker (1994) explained the subtle yet consequential gender bias in the
classrooms they visited. After observing teachers and their interactions with girls and boys in more
than 100 elementary classrooms, the Sadkers found that teachers were more responsive to boys and
were more likely to teach them actively. Overall, girls received less attention, whereas boys got a
double dose, both negative and positive. Boys received more praise, corrections, and feedback,
whereas girls received a cursory “OK†response from their teachers. Sadker and Sadker concluded
that over time, the unequal distribution of teacher time and attention may take its toll on girls’ self-
esteem, achievement rates, test scores, and, ultimately, careers. In a 2009 follow-up study, David
Sadker and Karen Zittleman confirmed a reduction of classroom gender bias but recommended that
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much more work needed to be done to eliminate gender bias.
For example, Sian Beilock and her colleagues examined the effects of teacher math anxiety on
student math anxiety in an elementary school setting (cited in Schmid 2010). They found that
students tend to model themselves after adults of the same sex. A female teacher who is anxious
about math may pass on the same concerns to her female students, reinforcing the belief that boys
are better at math than girls. Although student math anxiety was not related to teacher math anxiety
at the beginning of the school year, by the end of the year, the more anxious teachers were about
their math skills, the more likely it was that their female students agreed that boys are good at math
and girls are good at reading. Girls who agreed with this statement scored lower on math tests than
boys and girls who had not developed this belief (Schmid 2010).
Structural factors along with interpersonal dynamics also contribute to the creation and maintenance
of gender inequality on college and university campuses (Stombler and Yancey Martin 1994). Men
and women experience college differently and have markedly different outcomes (Jacobs 1996).
College women are subjected to male domination through their peer relations (Stombler and
Yancey Martin 1994) in the classroom, in romantic involvements (Holland and Eisenhart 1990),
and in organized activities. Even activities such as fraternity “little sister†programs, which Mindy
Stombler and Patricia Yancey Martin (1994) studied, provide the structural and interpersonal
dynamics necessary to create an atmosphere conducive to women’s subordination.
Interactionist Perspective
Sadker and Sadker’s 1994 study identified the differential effects of teacher communication on
female and male students. The interaction between teachers and students daily reinforces the
structure and inequalities of the classroom and the educational system. From this micro perspective,
sociologists focus on how classroom dynamics and practices educate the perfect students and at the
same time create the not-so-perfect ones. In what ways does classroom interaction educate and
create?
Assessment and testing are standard practices in education. Students are routinely graded and
evaluated based on their work and ability. Interactionists would argue that along with assessment
comes unintended consequences. Based on test results, students may be placed in different ability or
occupational tracks. In the practice called tracking, advanced learners are separated from regular
learners; students are identified as college bound versus work bound.
Advocates of tracking argue that the practice increases educational effectiveness by allowing teachers
to target students at their ability level (Hallinan 1994). Yet placing students in tracks has been
controversial because of the presumed negative effects on some students. Opponents argue that
labels such as an upper versus lower track or “special†or slow learners are used systematically to deny
a group of students access to education (Ansalone 2004). In addition to creating unequal learning
opportunities (Hallinan 2003), tracking may encourage teachers, parents, and others to view
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students differently according to their track, and as a result, their true potential may be hindered
(Adams and Evans 1996). African Americans, Latinos, and students from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds are less likely to enroll in advanced placement or honors courses (Mickelson and
Everett 2008). Countries that practice ability tracking have greater educational inequity than
countries that do not track their students (Schofield 2010). Although tracking is intended to aid
students, it may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy: Students will fail because they are expected to do
so.
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Despite the documented negative consequences of tracking, the practice continues in approximately
60% of all elementary schools and 80% of all secondary schools (Ansalone 2001). Although
interactionists do not assess the appropriateness of the label, they would address how the label
affects students’ identity and educational outcomes. Issues of inequality must also be addressed if the
data suggest that students of particular gender or ethnic/racial categories are targeted for tracking.
A summary of all sociological perspectives on education is presented in Table 8.2.
TABLE 8.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Education
PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES IN EDUCATION
The idea that there is a public education crisis is not a new one. A 1918 government report referred
to the “erosion of family life, disappearing fathers, working mothers, the decline of religious
institutions, changes in the workplace, and the millions of newly arrived immigrants†as potential
sources of the public education crisis (Meier 1995:9). At the time, the government’s response was
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the creation of the modern school system with two tracks, one for terminal high school degrees and
the other for college-bound students (Meier 1995).
The current call for educational reform was initiated during President Ronald Reagan’s
administration. In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education released its report, A
Nation at Risk: The Imperatives for Educational Reform, a scathing indictment of the education
system. The commission was created by Secretary of Education T. H. Bell to respond to what he
called the “widespread public perception that something is seriously remiss in our educational
system†(National Commission on Excellence in Education 1983:7). Claiming that we are raising a
scientifically and technologically illiterate generation, the commission noted the relatively poor
performance of American students in comparison with their international peers, declining
standardized test scores, the weaknesses of our school programs and educators, and the lack of a
skilled American workforce (National Commission on Excellence in Education 1983).
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The educational reform movement marches on, gaining momentum with each elected president. At
one time or another, each president after Reagan has referred to himself as the “Education
President,†declaring an educational crisis and calling for change. Educators and reformers agree
that this is an exciting time for American education (Ravitch and Viteritti 1997). Under George H.
W. Bush’s administration, Congress passed America 2000, which was followed by the Goals 2000:
Educate America Act in 1994 during Bill Clinton’s administration. Congress passed the No Child
Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 under George W. Bush’s administration. All congressional acts
call for coordinated improvements and sweeping reform of our educational system.
David Berliner and Bruce Biddle (1995) contend that the crisis in public education is a
manufactured one, constructed by well-meaning or not-so-well-meaning politicians, educational
experts, and business leaders. Berliner and Biddle don’t believe that public schools are problem free;
rather, by focusing on the manufactured crisis, they believe we’re not addressing the real problems
facing our schools, those based in social and economic inequalities. What is the evidence regarding
these problems and challenges to our educational system? Let’s first examine the basis of education:
literacy.
The Problem of Basic Literacy
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2013) estimates
that there are more than 781 million illiterate adults and 126 million illiterate youth in the world.
Most live in South and West Asia, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Multiple barriers restrict the
achievement of widespread literacy; these barriers include insufficient access to quality education,
weak support for youth exiting the educational system, poorly funded and fragmented educational
programs, and limited opportunities for adult learning. Literacy disparities are associated with
gender, poverty, place of residence, ethnicity, language, and disabilities. Gender disparities are
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particularly pronounced in developing countries. Women account for 64% (UNESCO 2013) of
adults worldwide who cannot read and write (refer to Table 8.3).
TABLE 8.3 â– Estimated Number of Illiterate Adults (Aged 15+) and Percentage Who are
Female, 2011
Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 2013.
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According to the Literacy Volunteers of America (2002), very few U.S. adults are truly illiterate, yet
the United States is not a literacy superpower (ProLiteracy Worldwide 2006). What continues to be
of concern is the number of adults with low literacy skills who are unable to find and retain
employment, support their children’s education, and participate in their communities. Basic literacy
skills, such as understanding and using information in texts (newspapers, books, a warranty form) or
instructional documents (maps, job applications) or completing mathematical operations (filling out
an order form, balancing a checkbook), are related to social, educational, and economic outcomes
(Sum, Kirsch, and Taggart 2002).
Data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (ProLiteracy Worldwide 2006) reveal
that 30 million U.S. adults demonstrated skills at the “below basic†level (from being nonliterate in
English to being able to follow written directions to fill out a form). About 63 million adults
demonstrated skills at the basic level (having basic literacy skills to read and understand information
in short, simple documents). A total of 43% of all Americans are estimated to be at these two levels.
In contrast, 57% of Americans were categorized at the higher levels—intermediate (able to complete
moderately challenging literacy tasks, e.g., refer to a reference document for information) and
proficient (able to read and integrate various materials) (ProLiteracy Worldwide 2006).
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
EDUCATIONAL TRACKING AND TESTING IN JAPAN
After World War II, Japan adopted a 6-3-3-4 model of education that includes six years of
elementary school (shogakko), three years of junior high school (chugakko), three years of high
school (kotogakko), and four years of university study. Tracking does not occur in Japanese
elementary and junior high schools; instead, Japan’s educational system emphasizes effort and
hard work, discounting differences in ability. No effort is made to identify below- or above-
average children in the classroom. All elementary and junior high schools offer the same
curriculum, regulated by the national Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (MEXT) (Ansalone 2004).
However, a highly competitive form of tracking (ruikei) begins at the high school level,
separating students into two distinct tracks: general high schools leading to college and
vocational high schools leading to jobs. Educational leaders argue that this system is able to
accommodate students’ different interests and talents and improves students’ overall
performance on national entrance exams (Ansalone 2004). Entrance examinations, also known
as jyuken higoku (examination hell), serve as the major sorting mechanism for Japan’s high
schools and colleges (Bjork and Tsuneyoshi 2005).
Unintentionally, this tracking system has created a two-tier system of schools. Vocational high
schools are students’ second choice (Ono 2001). In his analysis of vocational high schools in
the city of Kobe, Thomas Rohlen (1983) reported that one vocational high school draws
students from the lower third of graduating ninth graders in the city. When asked if they had
had a choice, 80% of the students said they would rather have attended a general high school.
Vocational high schools have developed a negative reputation for school violence, smoking, and
drug abuse, and their students are considered second-class citizens (Rohlen 1983). In his
comparative analysis of educational systems in Japan and the United States, George Ansalone
(2004) concluded that tracking “promotes differentiation of the curricula, teacher expectations,
school misconduct, race, class, gender bias, and the development of separate friendship
patterns. When tracking is employed, upper-track students receive a higher quantity and
quality of instruction from more qualified instructors who utilize a greater variety of
instructional techniques†(p. 150).
During the last two decades of the 20th century, several significant changes occurred in the
Japanese educational system. First, government leaders and educational scholars asserted that
the emphasis on entrance examinations combined with the demands on students to learn large
volumes of content had actually dulled students’ interest in learning (Bjork and Tsuneyoshi
2005). Educational reforms began in the 1970s, reducing the amount of material covered by
teachers, incorporating more student-centered and integrated learning in the classroom, and
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reducing the intensity of student learning and testing. MEXT referred to these reform policies
as yutori kyoiku or reduced-intensity reforms. Response to the reforms has been mixed, with
some applauding the new student-centered emphasis of the curriculum but others worrying
about the impact of a “watered down†curriculum (Bjork and Tsuneyoshi 2005).
Second, admissions into Japan’s universities became less competitive. Japan’s population of 18-
year-olds has decreased by more than half a million since 1992, and Japanese universities have
had trouble recruiting students. According to Rie Mori (2002), entrance examinations were
expected to identify the best students for university education, but this is no longer necessary
because there are more universities to accept students who do not score well on the exams. The
universalization of higher education in Japan has led to a greater number of students entering
universities who are not as high achieving as students of the past. Japanese higher education
must figure out how to educate students with a broader range of learning styles and abilities
(Mori 2002).
How has tracking been part of your educational experience? Does tracking take place in your
college?
p.172
The U.S. Department of Education reports that individuals at higher levels of literacy are more
likely to be employed, to work more weeks per year, and to earn higher wages than are individuals
with lower levels of literacy (Kirsch et al. 2002). Education increases an individual’s literacy skills,
which determine educational success. Basic academic skills influence such educational outcomes as
high school completion, college enrollment, persistence in college, field of study, and type of degree
obtained (Sum et al. 2002).
Although the United States spends more per capita on education than other high-income countries,
U.S. literacy scores are only average (or below average) in a global context. In 2015, the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) administered its Programme
for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 15-year-olds from 72 countries across the globe.
The assessment compared math, reading, and science literacy scores among students from these
nations. The U.S. students ranked 41st out of 72 countries in literacy proficiency (decoding written
words, interpreting and evaluating complex texts), 34th in numeracy proficiency (solving math
problems), and 50th in scientific literacy. The nations that scored higher include Japan, Korea,
Singapore, Canada, Ireland, and most of Scandinavia. The report revealed that socioeconomic
background had a stronger effect on proficiency levels in the United States than in other OECD
countries (OECD 2016).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 8.2: Declining School Conditions in Venezuela
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Inequality in Educational Access and Achievement
SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATION Socioeconomic status is one of the most powerful
predictors of student achievement (College Entrance Examination Board 1999). The likelihood of
dropping out of high school is five times higher among students from lower-income families than
among their peers in high-income families (Laird et al. 2006). Dropping out of high school is
related to negative economic outcomes. For example, in the second quarter of 2017, weekly median
income of persons who had not completed a high school degree was $515. In contrast, the median
income of persons who had completed at least a high school credential (e.g., general equivalency
diploma) was $718 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017).
Students from lower-income homes or who have parents with little formal education score lower on
average than students from families earning more than $100,000 per year or who have parents with
a bachelor’s degree or higher. In 2013, the average critical reading SAT score was 434 for a student
with a family income below $20,000 versus 522 for a student with a family income of $100,000 to
$120,000. The highest average score was 565 for students with a family income greater than
$200,000. For students with parental education less than a high school diploma, the average critical
reading score was 423. In contrast, students with parental education of at least a bachelor’s degree
had an average score of 523. For students with parental education of a graduate degree, the average
critical reading score was 560 (College Board 2013).
High-income families can invest more time and resources into their children’s cognitive
development than lower-income families; high-income families have greater socioeconomic and
social resources that benefit their children than lower-income families (Reardon 2011); and,
according to Douglas Downey, Paul von Hippel, and Beckett Broh (2004), the primary source of
inequality between children of high and low socioeconomic status lies in the children’s disparate
nonschool (home and neighborhood) environments.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 8.3: School Funding Gaps
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Research suggests that spending time in novel environments (not at home or at school and not
being cared for by a parent or day care provider) and in particular activities (interactive play) has
educational benefits. When Meredith Phillips (2011) examined the socioeconomic differences in
how parents spend their time with children, she found that high-income children spend about 1,300
more hours in novel places between birth and six years of age than low-income children. For
example, high-income infants and toddlers spend an additional four and a half hours per week in
indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, at church, or at businesses when compared with infants and
toddlers from low-income families. After children begin school, the time in novel contexts
continues as high-income children and children with college-educated mothers spend three more
hours per week in novel places than low-income children or children in less-educated families.
Phillips hypothesizes that exposure to novel contexts is directly related to income, as families with
higher incomes have more money to spend on novel-context activities and settings.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
What other reasons might explain someone dropping out of school? Is dropping out of school a
personal trouble or a public issue?
In research conducted by the Public Agenda organization (J. Johnson et al. 2009), the number-one
reason students gave for leaving college is that they had to simultaneously balance work and school.
College dropouts were less likely to report being bored or not enjoying their classes as the reason
why they quit. More than half of those who left school identified the “need to work and make
money†and the stress related to juggling both. Most students did not receive financial assistance
from their families or from their schools. Public Agenda researchers suggest that today’s college
students are not leading the stereotypical college life of balancing classes and weekend parties;
instead, they are balancing classes with working to pay rent.
IN FOCUS
CONTROLLING THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION
A college education is still part of the American Dream. Sallie Mae, a financial service
company specializing in education, annually releases a national report on how college tuition is
managed by parents and their students. In the 2012 report, Sallie Mae and Ipsos (an
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independent marketing research company) found that 83% of college students and parents
strongly agreed that higher education is an investment in the future, college is needed now
more than ever (70%), and college is the path to earning more money (69%).
But the truth is that most young adults do not attend a four-year college. According to Paul
Taylor and his colleagues (2011), the main barrier to higher education is financial. Among
individuals 18 to 34 years old who are not in school and do not have a bachelor’s degree, about
two thirds report that they are not continuing their education in order to support a family;
more than half say they prefer to work and make money (Taylor et al. 2011).
In his 2012 State of the Union speech, Barack Obama called on the federal government, states,
colleges, and universities to promote access and affordability in higher education. Obama
proposed educational and legislative reforms tying federal campus aid to responsible tuition
policies. Aiming primarily at state colleges and universities, Obama outlined financial
incentives for schools to contain their tuition, enhance teaching and learning, and increase
affordability and graduation rates (White House 2012).
The president’s announcement received a mixture of praise and caution from educational
leaders and college groups (Field 2012). David Warren (2012), director of the National
Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said,
The collective challenge facing the nation is to make college more affordable, without losing our position of having
the best higher education system in the world. . . . The answer is not going to come from more federal controls on
colleges or states, by telling families to judge the value of an education by the amount young graduates earn in the first
few years after they graduate.
Warren, along with other academic leaders, warned about the unintended consequences of
Obama’s proposals—reducing educational quality, cutting back essential student services, and
disproportionately harming schools that serve larger numbers of at-risk students (Field 2012).
Sallie Mae and Ipsos (2012) reported that, in 2012, families adjusted how they paid for college
in three ways. First, parents cut their contributions from income and savings. For 2012, parents
spent an average of $5,955 from their income and savings, down from $6,664 in 2011. Second,
fewer families utilized scholarships—35% in 2012 compared with 45% in 2011. Some of this
decline is attributed to colleges reducing the number of scholarships that they are able to offer.
Finally, students paid more out of pocket through their savings and income and borrowing
more in 2012 than in previous years. In 2012, students contributed 18% of the total cost of
college through borrowing compared with 15% the previous year and 14% in 2008–2010.
Are finances the only barrier to higher education? What other barriers can you identify?
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Peter Sacks (2009) observed that our educational system, despite the promise of equal opportunity,
is profoundly stratified. There is a growing concentration of lower- and working-class students in
community colleges, while middle- and upper-class students are more likely to attend four-year
colleges and universities. How would you describe the class composition of your school? Does it
recruit or cater to a particular social class? How does this compare with other colleges or universities
in your area?
GENDER AND EDUCATION In the fall of 2017, 11.5 million women and 8.9 million men
enrolled in undergraduate programs. In postbaccalaureate programs, there were about 1.7 million
females and 1.2 million males (National Center for Education Statistics 2017a). Women represent a
56% majority in higher education (college or university) enrollment. In all measures—percentage of
high school graduates completing college preparatory curriculum, percentage of high school
graduates immediately enrolling in college, and total higher education enrollment—women rank
higher than men. The American Council on Education (ACE) (King 2006) attributes the
increasing enrollment and degree attainment figures for women to the rising share of young women
taking college preparatory courses during the 1990s and 2000s. Yet ACE concludes that there is “no
consensus on the causes of the gender gap and little comprehensive empirical research upon which
to base firm conclusions†(King 2006). That other industrialized countries are experiencing similar
educational gains for women suggests that this phenomenon is not just an American one.
However, there is still some traditional gender segregation by major (refer to Figure 8.2). Men
receive most bachelor’s degrees in math, computer science, and engineering (78.6%), while the
percentage of women graduates is highest in the health professions (85.1%) and education (79.5%).
FIGURE 8.2 ■Bachelor’s Degrees Conferred by Field of Study and Gender, 2014–2015
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Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics 2017b.
The continued domination of men in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) fields remains a concern. Even though gender differences in advanced-level math and
science course enrollment have disappeared (Riegle-Crumb, Farkas, and Muller 2006) and girls are
earning slightly higher grades in math and science classes than boys (U.S. Department of Education
2007), fewer women than men pursue these majors in college (Hill, Corbett, and St. Rose 2010).
A study by Linda K. Silverman (1986) suggested that females will eventually achieve less than males
because they are gradually conditioned by “powerful environmental influences†such as the
educational system, peers, and parents to believe that they are less capable than males. A hidden
curriculum perpetuates gender inequalities in math and science courses. This curriculum takes the
form of differential treatment in the classroom, where boys tend to dominate class discussion and
monopolize their instructors’ time and attention, whereas girls are silenced and their insecurities
reinforced (Linn and Kessel 1996). Research suggests that girls, especially gifted ones, fail to achieve
their potential because of lower expectations of success, the attribution of any success to chance, and
the belief that success will lead to negative social consequences (Silverman 1986).
Catherine Hill, Christianne Corbett, and Andresse St. Rose (2010) confirmed the effects of the
social structure and the social environment on girls’ achievements and interests in science and math.
The researchers identified how girls and women face persistent messages that STEM studies and
successes are incompatible with traditional gender roles and expectations. Two negative stereotypes
—girls are not as good as boys in math, and scientific work is better suited to boys and men—affect
women’s and girls’ performance and aspirations in math and science. Hill and her colleagues
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recommended exposing girls to successful female role models to help counter these negative
stereotypes.
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ETHNICITY/RACE AND EDUCATION
About 3.4 million students entered kindergarten in U.S. public schools last fall and already . . . researchers foresee widely
different futures for them. Whether they are White, Black, Hispanic, Native American or Asian American will, to a large
extent, predict their success in school. (R. C. Johnson and Viadero 2000:1)
In the mid-1990s, underrepresented minorities received less than 13% of all the bachelor’s degrees
awarded (College Entrance Examination Board 1999). The College Entrance Examination Board
noted that in the latter half of the 1990s, only small percentages of Black, Hispanic, and Native
American high school seniors in the National Assessment of Educational Progress test samples had
scores “typical†of students who are well prepared for college. Few students in these groups had
scores indicating academic skills required for the most selective colleges or universities.
Persistent academic achievement gaps remain between Black, Hispanic, and Native American
students and their White and Asian peers (refer to Figure 8.3 for differences in educational
attainment). For example, among the 2013 college-bound students, White and Asian students had
the highest average SAT ERW (evidence-based reading and writing) score: 565 for Whites and 569
for Asians (College Board 2017). Lower ERW scores were reported for Black students (479),
Hispanic/Latino students (500), and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students (498). The
same pattern exists for SAT mathematics. The challenges to our educational system will only
increase if demographic predictions hold true. Current educational gaps among racial and ethnic
categories have the potential to grow into larger sources of inequality and social conflict.
FIGURE 8.3 â– Differences in Educational Attainment (in Percentages) by Race and
Hispanic Origin for Adults Aged 25 and Older, 2015
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Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics 2017d.
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Mario Tama/Getty Images
The 2014 graduation rate for first-time full-time undergraduate students who were first enrolled in fall 2008 was 59.6%
(National Center for Education Statistics 2017c). Graduation rates were highest for Asian (70.6%) students, followed by
White (63.2%), Hispanic (53.5%), and Black (40.9%) students.
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Ethnicity/race, along with poverty, defines major sources of disadvantage in educational outcomes
(Maruyama 2003). For example, among Latino families, poverty produces significant educational
disadvantages: Parents may work multiple jobs, may not have the time to spend reading or going
over homework with their children, and may not have the skills to read to their children. Economics
also plays a role in dropout decisions. To support their families, Latino/a teens may leave school for
a paying job. The power of parental and peer influence on Latino/a educational attainment has also
been recognized. Parents may have expectations for their children that conflict with school
expectations or requirements (American Association of University Women 2001).
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According to Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson (1995), the pressure to conform to an image or a
stereotype is so strong that it can actually impair intellectual performance. Steele and his colleagues
tested the effects of a stereotype threat among African American (Steele and Aronson 1995; Steele
1997) and female college students (Spencer, Steele, and Quinn 1999). The stereotype threat is the
risk of confirming in oneself a characteristic that is part of a negative stereotype about one’s group.
The threat is situational, present only when a person can be judged, be treated in terms of the
group, or self-fulfill negative stereotypes about the group (and the self) (Spencer et al. 1999). In
their studies, Steele and his colleagues investigated the effect of the stereotype that African
Americans and women have lower academic abilities than do White or male students.
It doesn’t matter if the individual actually believes the stereotype; if the stereotype demeans
something of importance, such as one’s intellectual ability, the threat can be disrupting enough to
impair intellectual performance (Steele and Aronson 1995). Subjects were compared in test-taking
situations using Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), or
American College Test (ACT) sample questions. In all study conditions where the tests were
represented as affected by gender or race, African American and female students underperformed
their comparison group. In situations where the stereotype threat was moderated (where subjects
were not told that the tests produced gender differences or where subjects were not asked to report
their race on the examination form), African American and female students performed as well as
White or male students.
Violence and Harassment in Schools
School violence can be characterized on a continuum that includes aggressive behavior, harassment,
property crimes, threats, and physical assault (Flannery 1997). Despite the public concern over
school homicides, the percentage of youth homicides occurring at school is less than 2% of the total
number of youth homicides. Victims of school violence may include students, teachers, and staff
members. For the 2010–2011 school year, there were 1,336 homicides of youth aged 5 to 18. Eleven
of those homicides occurred at school; the remaining 1,325 deaths occurred away from school.
There were a total of 31 student, staff, and non-student school-associated violent deaths for the
same year (Robers et al. 2014).
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The deadliest U.S. incident took place in April 2007 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, where 33 students and faculty were killed by a student. The deadliest international
incident occurred in 1996 when a gunman killed 16 primary school students and one teacher, as well
as himself, in Scotland. Although schools have been characterized as “battlegrounds†where both
teachers and students fear for their safety (Kingery et al. 1993), they remain a safe place for students,
the risk of a violent death being less than 1 in 2 million (Dinkes et al. 2009).
The 2015 national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) survey
conducted annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that
nationwide about 5.6% of students had missed more than one day of school because they felt unsafe
at school or on their way to or from school (CDC 2016). Among all students, 16.2% said they
carried a weapon (a gun, knife, or club) on the school campus. About 6.0% of all students reported
being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, and about 22.6% of students had
been in a physical fight on school property (CDC 2016).
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are subject to verbal and physical harassment
in high schools and middle schools. As reported by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network’s 2015 National School Climate Survey, 57.6% of LGBT youth reported feeling unsafe in
school because of their sexual orientation (Kosciw et al. 2016). About 27% had experienced some
form of physical harassment because of their sexual orientation; 13.0% had been physically assaulted
for the same reason. Almost 86% of the surveyed students reported being verbally harassed in school
the past year. The majority of students who had been harassed or assaulted did not report the
incident to school staff or administrators. LGBT students’ experience with harassment negatively
affected their school attendance, their academic performance, and, ultimately, their college
aspirations. Students who experienced more frequent harassment, either verbal or physical, were
more likely to indicate that they were not planning to go on to college than were students who did
not experience the same type of harassment (Kosciw et al. 2016).
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© John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
According to Hill and Kearl (2011), 48% of all students experience some sort of sexual harassment during their school lives.
The extent of sexual harassment in schools has been documented by the Educational Foundation of
the American Association of University Women (AAUW) (Hill and Kearl 2011). According to its
2010–2011 report, 48% of students experience some form of sexual harassment during their school
lives. Girls are more likely than boys to experience sexual harassment. How is sexual harassment
defined in schools? The definition offered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(2001) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 reads,
Unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes
sexual harassment when submission or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment,
unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work
environment.
In schools, sexual harassment can include sexual messages written on walls or in locker rooms,
sexual rumors, being flashed or mooned, being brushed up against in a sexual way, being shown
sexual pictures or material of sexual content (Fineran 2002), and being harassed online (e.g.,
receiving unwelcome comments or photos through texts, being the subject of sexual rumors or
information) (Hill and Kearl 2011). Sexual harassment of students has serious consequences,
including mental health symptoms (such as loss of appetite, disturbances in sleep, feelings of
isolation, and sadness) and school performance difficulties (Fineran 2002).
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COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
As a nation, we support the principle of educational excellence and, along with it, the assumption of
educational opportunity for all, but in reality, we have an educational system that embraces these
ideas yet fails to achieve them (Ravitch 1997). The educational experiences of poor and minority
students fundamentally conflict with the principles of public education, namely, that public schools
should provide these children with opportunities so that all children can succeed as a result of hard
work and talent (Maruyama 2003). Reformers argue that school choice, standardized testing, and
school vouchers are improving our educational system. Critics argue that these strategies threaten to
erode an already-weak public school structure. There is a deepening chasm between what the
American public deems important in education (safety, skills, discipline) and the goals of the reform
movement (access, standardization, multiculturalism) (Finn 1997). Although we have not
completely abandoned our public educational system, we still have not found a way to agree on what
is appropriate or essential to save it.
Policy Responses—The Basis for Educational Reform
Providing fuel to the reform movement have been congressional acts passed in 1994 and 2001.
Although they were adopted under presidents from different political parties, both congressional
acts provide strong support for school reform and, along with it, changes to our educational system.
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act introduced the notion of “standards-based reform†at the
state and community levels. This 1994 act, signed into law by President Clinton, provided the
grounds for sweeping reform at all levels and from all angles: curriculum and instruction,
professional development, assessment and accountability, school and leadership organization, and
parental and community involvement. However, school reform hinged on the use of student
performance standards and the creation of the National Education Standards and Improvement
Council. A summary of the act reported, “Performance standards clearly define what student work
should look like [at] different stages of academic progress and for diverse learners†(“Goals 2000â€
1998:14). The act established performance and content standards in math, English, science, and
social studies, and it encouraged participation from the entire community—local officials, educators,
parents, and community leaders—in raising academic standards and achievement.
When George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, he approved a plan that
increased federal pressure on states to pursue a standards-based reform agenda. Under NCLB, states
are required to institute a system of standardized testing for all public school students in Grades 3 to
8 and high school, about 45 million tests annually. Each state must have a plan for adequate yearly
progress (AYP) toward the goal of academic proficiency for all students, a 100% rate regardless of
economic status, ethnicity/race, gender, or disability, by 2014.
The more controversial elements of the act signed by George W. Bush included the provision for
public school choice and charter schools. The act provided support for permitting children in
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chronically failing public schools to transfer to other schools with better academic records. The bill
also provided for annual testing of students in reading and math in the third to eighth grades, which
would establish academic records for comparison. If there were no improvements in test results in
two years, parents would have the option to move their children to another school. In such an event,
the school district would be required to pay for the child’s transportation to a better school, and the
failing school would lose the per-pupil payment. Critics argued that such school choice provisions
would work only if there were schools to choose from within a district and if there was room in
these schools. The law does not provide school leaders with the means to create new slots for
students (Schemo 2002).
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Although expressing commitment to the basic intent of NCLB, many state leaders and educators
expressed frustration in implementing the act’s requirements and achieving its goals. In particular,
school administrators and educators were critical of a key feature of NCLB: the one-size-fits-all
accountability standard that assumes that all schools, districts, and groups of students will
demonstrate progress according to the standardized measures. The standards, said critics, seriously
compromise the abilities of schools to address the unique educational needs of special education
students, low-income and minority students, and students with limited English proficiency.
In their 2010 proposal to reauthorize NCLB, the Obama administration set a new educational goal:
“Every student should graduate from high school ready for college or a career regardless of their
income, race, ethnic or language background, or disability status†by 2020 (U.S. Department of
Education 2010:3). The proposal identified four policy and programming areas: improving teaching
and principal effectiveness, providing information to families to evaluate and improve their
children’s schools and to educators to help improve student learning, implementing college- and
career-ready standards and assessments, and improving student learning and achievement in the
lowest-performing schools by providing support and effective interventions. In 2012, the Obama
administration granted NCLB waivers to 24 states, in exchange for adopting the administration’s
educational standards and a new focus on accountability and teacher effectiveness. These states will
need to set new performance targets for students and schools but will not be sanctioned as they were
under the old law for schools failing or for not making adequate progress. More states will seek a
waiver under the new plan (Hu 2012). Many characterized this as the beginning of the end of the
NCLB era.
As of 2017, 41 states have voluntarily adopted a set of college and career-ready standards for
English language arts/literacy and math for all kindergarten through 12th-grade students. The
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) propose clear and consistent standards for what a child
should know and be able to do at each grade level, allowing school districts to design their own
curricula and teachers to implement their own teaching methods. CCSS encourages students to
demonstrate and learn critical thinking skills, moving away from memorization to a deeper
understanding of material. However, critics argue that the standards do not consider the diversity of
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the U.S. student population and fail to consider the differences in student learning. Several states
that originally adopted CCSS have since opted out. National polls suggest that parents, teachers,
and students have grown tired and suspicious of high-stakes standardized testing (Kirp 2014).
Although Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos claimed in 2018 that the Common Core was “dead,â€
most states are still using some form of the CCSS.
Promoting Educational Opportunities—Head Start and
Prekindergarten
Called the most popular and most romantic of the War on Poverty efforts (Traub 2000), Head Start
remains the largest early childhood program. More than 30 million poor and at-risk preschoolers
have been served under Head Start since 1965. Head Start began with a simple model of service:
organized preschool centers. At these centers, programs focused on the “whole child,†examining
and encouraging physical and mental health. Integrating strong parental involvement, Head Start
provided a unique program targeting child development and school preparedness. Over the years,
the Head Start program expanded to serve school-age children, high school students, pregnant
women, and Head Start parents. In 1994, amendments to the Head Start Act established Early
Head Start (EHS) services targeting economically disadvantaged families with children 3 years old
or younger. EHS serves both children and their families through a comprehensive service plan that
promotes child development and family self-sufficiency (Wall et al. 2000).
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The effectiveness of Head Start programming, particularly the educational component, has been the
focus of public and government debate (Washington and Oyemade Bailey 1995). Early program
research and evaluation efforts were spotty, with the major findings pointing to short-term or “fade
out†gains in student learning and testing (Washington and Oyemade Bailey 1995). In its 2005
impact study report, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services compared the
performance of Head Start children with non–Head Start children from fall 2002 through summer
2005. For Head Start children in both age groups, small to moderate positive effects were found in
prereading, prewriting, and vocabulary skills. Both groups also had significantly better access to
health care; in addition, the 3-year-olds reported significantly better overall health than did the
non–Head Start group. Positive parenting practices (e.g., reading to one’s child) were also
documented for children in both Head Start age groups (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services 2005). Head Start was reauthorized in 2007 with increased funding for Migrant and
Seasonal Head Start and the Indian Head Start programs. The reauthorization also increased
educational requirements for Head Start teachers.
As of 2013, there were 53 state-funded preschool programs in 40 states and in the District of
Columbia (Barnett et al. 2013). These programs are funded, controlled, and administered by the
state, serving children ages 3 and 4. About 1.3 million children attended state-funded
prekindergarten (pre–K) in 2013. Pre–K programs have gained popularity as an alternative to Head
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Start, promising a preschool experience for all children, regardless of economic need.
The first universal pre–K program was established in Georgia in 1996. The program is open to all
4-year-olds regardless of household income. In their comparison between Head Start and Georgia
pre–K students, Gary Henry, Craig Gordon, and Dana Rickman (2006) concluded that
economically disadvantaged pre–K students were better prepared for kindergarten than children
who attended Head Start. Pre–K students performed significantly higher in picture–word
vocabulary, recognition of letters and words, and oral and written skills at the beginning of
kindergarten than their Head Start peers.
Research indicates that effective, high-quality pre–K programming can improve the academic and
social-emotional outcomes for students, with some effects lasting into middle and high school. For
example, in their analysis of pre–K education in Tulsa, Oklahoma, William Gormley, Deborah
Phillips, and Sara Anderson (2018) found that pre–K alumni perform better than other students in
middle school: higher math achievement scores, enrollment in honors courses, and grade retention.
Mentoring, Supporting, and Valuing Networks
In its 1992 report, the AAUW called on local communities and schools to promote programs that
encourage and support girls studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Studies indicate that most girls and women learn best in cooperative, rather than competitive,
learning activities. With seed money from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the AAUW Educational
Foundation initiated the Girls Can! Community Coalitions Project in 1996. The project funded 10
community-based projects that encouraged schools and community groups to improve girls’
educational opportunities.
AAUW continues its support of STEM projects through the National Girls Collaborative Project
established in 2005. The National Girls Collaborative Project goals include maximizing access to
shared resources within projects and with public and private organizations interested in expanding
girls’ STEM participation, strengthening the capacity of existing and evolving projects by sharing
promising research and program models, and using the collaboration of individual girl-serving
STEM programs to create the tipping point for gender equity in STEM (National Girls
Collaborative Project 2014).
Fourteen regional collaborative sites operate in California, Florida, Massachusetts, the mid-
Atlantic, and the Northwest. Small mini-grants help fund tutoring, career days, field trips, and
special events to expose girls and boys to STEM education and careers. One such grant helped fund
California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS), a month-long
residential academic experience for top California high school students in science and mathematics.
Students reside at one of four University of California campuses—Davis, Irvine, San Diego, or
Santa Cruz—while taking COSMOS classes in their areas of interest.
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Mentoring can also begin in one’s own community and among friends. In 1996, Michele Deane
noticed that a number of girls in her Boyle Heights (Los Angeles, California) neighborhood did not
have anything to do after school. She created a youth organization for local Mexican American and
Latin American girls and women, beginning with a group of her friends, that now serves more than
200 girls and women each year. According to Deane, her organization, Girls Today, Women
Tomorrow, created a state of consciousness for thinking “biggerâ€:
What do I want to do? Who can I become with the support of everyone around me? It’s a state of consciousness coming
from the world around you instead of seeing only the obstacles. Once they saw other people doing it, they started doing it
for their friends, for the younger kids growing up. (Quoted in Wiland and Bell 2006:187)
The volunteer program includes fitness activities, a computer lab, video shooting and editing classes,
and a community garden. The garden serves as a connection to the environment and the girls’ Latin
culture and raises their awareness about the kind and quality of food they consume. Program
graduates return to the program and serve as mentors and volunteers. Ginette Sanchez credits the
program with her academic and life successes: “I always thought that I wouldn’t have a future. Now
that I have positive role models, I’m going to college and I’m being positive by thinking that I’m
going to be someone in life as well†(quoted in Wiland and Bell 2006:189).
What Does It Mean to Me?
What type of learning experiences or opportunities supported your learning in middle school or
high school? How did these experiences lead you to college?
Antiviolence and Antibullying Programs in Schools
As awareness of school violence has increased, so have the calls for effective means of prevention
(Aber, Brown, and Henrich 1999). The current focus is less on reacting to school violence and more
on promoting school safety through prevention, planning, and preparation (Shaw 2001).
The largest and longest-running school program focusing on conflict resolution and intergroup
relations is the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP). Initiated in 1985 in New York City
by the local chapter of Educators for Social Responsibility, the program is a research-based K–12
school program in social and emotional learning. RCCP is in 400 schools nationwide, serving 6,000
teachers and more than 175,000 students. RCCP begins with the assumption that aggression and
violent behavior are learned and therefore can be reduced through education. The program teaches
children conflict resolution skills, promotes intercultural understanding, and provides models and
opportunities for positive ways of dealing with conflict and differences. For kindergarten students,
puppets and other objects are used to illustrate how conflict can be resolved by talking rather than
hitting. RCCP includes training for teachers, parents, administrators, and school staff.
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An evaluation of the New York City programs indicated that students who received RCCP
instruction developed more positively than did students without any RCCP exposure. RCCP
students were more prosocial, perceived their world in a less hostile way, saw violence as
unacceptable, and chose nonviolent ways to resolve conflict. Reading and math scores were higher
for RCCP students, especially those who had 25 RCCP lessons over the school year. Evaluators
concluded that the RCCP-intensive children were more able to focus on academics when there was
less conflict with peers (Shaw 2001).
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
WENDY KOPP
BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS/Newscom
Wendy Kopp was the first to receive the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, an honor presented to Americans
under the age of 40 for their commitment to public service.
Wendy Kopp’s vision for Teach for America began as her senior undergraduate thesis. This
Princeton graduate is the youngest and only female to receive the university’s Woodrow
Wilson Award, the highest honor bestowed to alumni. In the following excerpt from her book
One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America and What I Learned Along the
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Way, Kopp (2001) explains how Teach for America began with an idea:
Princeton University was not the most likely place to become concerned about what’s wrong in education, but it made
me aware of students’ unequal access to the kind of educational excellence I had previously taken for granted. I got to
know students who had attended public schools in urban areas—thoughtful, smart people—as well as students who
attended the East Coast prep schools. I saw the first group struggle to meet the academic demands of Princeton and
the second group refer to it as a “cake walk.†Clearly at Princeton I could not glimpse the depths of educational
inequity in our country, but the disparities I did see got me thinking. It’s really not fair, I thought, that where you’re
born in our country plays a role in determining your educational prospects.
In an effort to figure out what could be done about this problem, I organized a conference about the issue. At this
time I led an organization called the Foundation for Student Communication. . . . So in November of my senior year,
my colleagues and I gathered together fifty students and business leaders from across the country to propose action
plans for improving our educational system. . . .
At one point during a discussion group, after hearing yet another student express interest in teaching, I had a sudden
idea: Why didn’t this country have a national teacher corps of top recent college graduates who would commit to
teach in urban and rural public schools? A teacher corps would provide another option to the two-year corporate
training programs and grad schools. It would speak to all college seniors who were searching for something
meaningful to do with our lives. . . .
The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that this simple idea was potentially very powerful. If top
recent college graduates devoted two years to teaching in public schools, they could have a real impact on the lives of
disadvantaged kids. Because of their energy and commitment, they would be relentless in their efforts to ensure their
students achieved. They would throw themselves into their jobs, working investment-banking hours in classrooms
instead of skyscrapers on Wall Street. They would question the way things are and fight to do what was right for
children.
Beyond influencing children’s lives directly, a national teacher corps could produce a change in the very consciousness
of our country. . . .
In the end, I produced “A Plan and Argument for the Creation of a National Teacher Corps,†which looked at the
educational needs in urban and rural areas, the growing idealism and spirit of service among college students, and the
interest of the philanthropic sector in improving education. The thesis presented an ambitious plan: In our first year,
the corps would inspire thoughts of graduating college students to apply. We would then select, train, and place five
hundred of them as teachers in five or six urban and rural areas across the country. (Kopp 2001:5–6, 10)
In its first year, Teach for America received 2,500 applications, of which, as Kopp planned, 500
were selected and trained for two years of teaching. Since then, more than 56,000 teachers and
leaders have been placed or are currently placed in more than 50 urban and rural sites
throughout the United States. Corps members’ salaries and health benefits are paid directly by
the school districts they are placed in.
Kopp adapted the Teach for America model to a global model, cofounding Teach for All in
2007.
What social problem does Teach for America address? What evidence is necessary to
determine if it is an effective strategy?
Source: Kopp 2001:5–6, 10. Published by PublicAffairs, a member of Perseus Books Group.
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The Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act were introduced in
Congress in 2011 in an effort to support safe schools and enrich the learning environment. Both
bills would require schools that accept federal funding to track, create policy regarding, and
demonstrate reduction in bullying and harassment incidents. Bullying and harassment data would be
reported biennially. Ensuring the safety and well-being of all students, the bills were especially
applauded for their focus on students with disabilities and LGBT students.
With the increase in school violence, more attention has been given to school safety through
security screening or police–school liaison projects. Schools are more aware of the links between
safety and violence and other student behaviors such as dropout rates, academic failures, bullying,
and suicide (Shaw 2001). Violence prevention programs have become common throughout the
country, with the primary focus on early education. In addition to the RCCP, national initiatives
include the Office of Safe and Healthy Students and the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative.
Regional initiatives include the PeaceBuilders elementary program and Students Against Violence
Everywhere. U.S. and international approaches focus more on school safety and less on school
violence, use programs to serve students and the entire school population, develop school–
community partnerships, and use evaluated program models (Shaw 2001). The most effective
school-based violence prevention programs are those that include parental involvement and support,
with parents backing school limits and consequences at home (Flannery 1997). Antiviolence
programs have also been established on college and university campuses. As noted in Chapter 4,
“Gender,†schools receiving federal funding under Title IX are required to respond promptly and
effectively to sexual violence against students.
Does Having a Choice Improve Education?
There is a new term now, public school choice. Data issued by the National Center for Education
Statistics reveal that more parents are turning away from local public schools to private schools or
charter schools (Zernike 2010). As of fall 2014, 42 states and the District of Columbia have passed
charter school legislation. There were 6,750 charter schools in operation as of fall 2014, with 2.7
million students enrolled (National Center for Education Statistics 2016). Additionally, charter
school enrollment has increased across all categories nationwide, with only Alabama, Kentucky,
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia failing to pass
charter school legislation.
Parents and children have two additional options within the public education system: magnet
schools and charter schools. Magnet schools offer specialized educational programs from elementary
school through high school. These schools are organized around a theme such as performing arts,
science, technology, or business or around different instructional designs such as free (where
students can direct their own education) or open schools (with informal classroom designs). Often,
magnet schools are placed in racially isolated schools or neighborhoods to encourage students of
other races to enroll. Magnet schools have been criticized for creating a two-tier system of education
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(Kahlenberg 2002).
Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate free from most state laws and
local school board policies that apply to traditional public schools. Charter schools are funded with
public funds, like public schools. A charter contract establishes the school’s operation, usually
limited to three to five years, detailing the school’s mission and instructional goals, student
population, educational outcomes, and assessment methods, along with a management and financial
plan. These schools have grown in popularity since 1991, when Minnesota became the first state to
pass an outcome-based school law. Charter schools are characterized by innovative teaching
practices and accountability to students and families. If a school fails to meet its goals, it cannot be
renewed under its charter.
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School choice has become an even hotter topic with the idea of school vouchers. Simply stated,
school vouchers allow the transfer of public school funds to support a student’s transfer to a private
school, which may include religious institutions. Supporters of school vouchers argue that the
system would give parents more choice and freedom in school selection and would create incentives
for school improvement (Good and Braden 2000; Kennedy 2001).
Opponents argue that vouchers would siphon money away from public schools, removing any ability
to resolve the schools’ problems, thus only increasing problems. Others argue that schooling is a
public good and must be provided by the government to all children (Good and Braden 2000)
equally and fairly. In June 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school voucher programs did
not violate any church-versus-state separation and upheld the constitutionality of using public funds
to support private school systems (Bumiller 2002). Charter schools have been criticized for
increasing income and racial school segregation. David Garcia (2008) documented how charter
elementary school choosers enter charter schools that are more racially segregated than the schools
they exited. High school choosers enter charter schools that are as racially segregated as or more
integrated than the school districts they exited.
A number of education and social science researchers have noted the paradox of charter school
reform: Although these schools provide parents and educators with an opportunity to more actively
participate in the content, organization, and governance of public schools, charter schools often
benefit people who are able to gather private resources (Stambach and Crow Becker 2006).
According to researchers Salvatore Saporito and Annette Lareau (1999), if there is one consistent
finding on school choice, it is that students from poorer families or with less educated parents are
less likely to apply to or participate in public choice programs than are those from middle-class
families. In addition, the researchers raise questions about the school selection process for White
and African American families. Although school choice advocates suggest that promoting racial
equality is one of the by-products of school choice, Saporito and Lareau found that White families
as a group are more likely to avoid schools with higher percentages of Black students, whereas
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African American families show no such sensitivity to race. African American families in their study
were likely to select schools with lower poverty rates. The researchers concluded that race was a
persistent factor in the choice process. Their findings have been confirmed by other researchers,
suggesting the need to examine the social and political processes by which race and class
stratification are perpetuated (Stambach and Crow Becker 2006).
On the effectiveness of voucher programs and charter or magnet schools, the research remains
mixed. The same issues concerning charter schools and voucher systems continue to be the subject
of inquiry and debate: defining clear systems of accountability, establishing comparable performance
standards, and ensuring the racial and economic integration of students.
Research conducted by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (2013) at Stanford
University concluded that charter school students in 26 states had greater learning gains in reading
than their student peers in traditional public schools. In the National Charter School Study 2013,
center researchers also reported that there was no difference in learning gains in mathematics
between charter school and traditional public school students. Charter school enrollment increased
among poor, Black, and Hispanic students. The study concluded with the recommendation for
policy makers to raise performance and accountability standards for charter schools and to hold
these schools to higher standards.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
AFTERSCHOOL EDUCATION
320
Sergio Beltran
Sergio Beltran—Class of 2010
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Anthropology
Afterschool programs (ASPs) provide safe structured learning environments for students
outside their regular school day. Typically, these programs operate for two to three hours
following the end of the school day. ASPs may address one or many areas of student
development: academic (tutoring, homework), enrichment (sports, art), service (volunteering),
or vocational or college preparation. Approximately 20% to 30% of U.S. youth spend three to
five afternoons a week in organized afterschool programs (Halpern 2003). ASPs are run by
teachers or paraeducators (teaching assistants). Each state has its own educational and
qualifying requirements to become a teacher or paraeducator.
Sergio is an afterschool tutoring and resource center coordinator in a local nonprofit
organization. His work has many elements: coordinating homework tutoring, running
structured programs for student groups, and forming and maintaining community partnerships
with principals and counselors. The latest program he’s implemented involves the exploration
of social justice through heroes and “sheroes†(their word for woman heroes) from cultures that
represent the center’s community (e.g., Somalia, Ethiopia, Southeast Asia, Latin America).
Sociology gave Sergio a new perspective, especially as a man of color:
I try to help my students think about how they fit into the world. Sociology is embodied in the work I do; for
example, last year my staff and I focused on the content that we provide to our youth. Many of our families are
immigrant and refugee families who live in a public/subsidized housing community. Our focus lately has been
encouraging our youth to learn more about their racial identity and the empowerment of their culture. Last year we
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did a project on immigration and life experiences via story telling. The goal was to give our youth a safe and
welcoming environment to share their life struggles, success, and concerns about coming to the United States.
Sergio offers several recommendations to current students:
[A mentor] helped me remain organized (in my final years) and understand careers I could pursue post graduation. I
also think networking with colleagues on a regular basis would be an excellent idea. I wish I would have done this
while still in school, rather than after. You can get a better understanding of where your colleagues are interning or
maybe even working. You will have the opportunity to meet other people in the field as well and explore different
options. Lastly, remain active in your community. I believe that being a big part of your communities opens doors for
you later in life.
CHAPTER REVIEW
8.1 Compare how the sociological perspectives examine the social problems related to education.
Education’s primary manifest function is to educate. The other manifest functions include
personal development, proper socialization, and employment. Conflict theorists focus on
the social and economic inequalities inherent in our educational system and how the
system perpetuates these inequalities. Inequalities are based not just on social class but also
on gender. Research reveals the persistent replication of gender relations in schools. From
an interactionist perspective, the interaction between teachers and students reinforces the
structure and inequalities of the classroom and the educational system.
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8.2 Explain the process of educational tracking.
Based on test results, students may be placed in different ability or occupational tracks. In
the practice called tracking, advanced learners are separated from regular learners; students
are identified as college bound versus work bound. Advocates of tracking argue that the
practice increases educational effectiveness by allowing teachers to target students at their
ability level, yet placing students in tracks has been controversial because of the presumed
negative effects on some students.
8.3 Describe the educational inequalities related to social class, gender, and race and ethnicity.
Socioeconomic status is one of the most powerful predictors of student achievement. The
likelihood of dropping out of high school is higher among students from lower-income
families. Census data indicate slight differences in educational attainment for men and
women. A hidden curriculum perpetuates gender inequalities in math and science courses.
Persistent academic achievement gaps remain between Black, Hispanic, and Native
American students and their White and Asian peers. Latino/a students are at greater risk
of not finishing school than any other ethnic/racial group.
8.4 Summarize the history of U.S. educational reform.
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The focus on standards-based reform characterizes the modern educational reform
movement. During their terms in office, Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama advocated
educational policies that linked educational success with student test results. President
Obama implemented performance standards related to career and college readiness.
8.5 Assess whether school choice has improved educational outcomes.
The research is mixed on the effectiveness of school choice, as educators, scholars, and
policy analysts debate the importance of defining clear systems of accountability,
establishing comparable performance standards, and ensuring the racial and economic
integration of students in any comparative analysis. Researchers have consistently
identified how families with social and economic capital are able to take advantage of
school options for their children.
KEY TERMS
cultural capital, 166
latent functions, 166
manifest functions, 164
organizational child, 166
social capital, 166
stereotype threat, 177
tracking, 168
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Explain the shift in the educational standards from high school degree to college degree.
2. How does the educational system socialize children for adulthood and employment? Which
theoretical perspectives support this argument?
3. Do you think tracking is a necessary educational practice? In your answer, consider
evidence from Japan’s tracking system.
4. Explain how social class, gender, and race/ethnicity contribute to educational inequality in
the United States.
5. How effective are U.S. policies, including NCLB, in improving educational achievement?
6. Is public school choice a viable educational alternative? Why or why not?
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©FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
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9
WORK AND THE ECONOMY
Media Library
CHAPTER 9 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 9.1: President Obama Speaking about Fair Pay
AP News Clips 9.2: Supreme Court Case About Woman Wearing Hijab
AP News Clips 9.3: Possible Solutions to Underemployment
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
9.1 Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.
9.2 Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
9.3 Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment.
9.4 Identify which forms of discrimination workers are protected against.
9.5 Identify how labor unions have changed their membership strategy.
News headlines in our country often refer to unemployment as a social problem. Between 2008 and
2009, the United States lost 8.4 million jobs, or about 6.1% of all payroll employment, the largest
job loss since the Great Depression (Economic Policy Institute 2012). The Great Recession of
2007–2009 was referred to as “one of the most difficult financial and economic episodes in modern
history†by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke (2009).
Unemployment was no longer limited to people of color, immigrants, or the undereducated. Unique
to the recent recession was its impact on the educated and the (formerly) middle class. Many more
people, across different demographic groups, experienced the hardships of unemployment. For
January 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018a) reported that 4.1% of men and women in
the United States were unemployed. This is the lowest unemployment rate since 2008 (U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics 2018a). In the European Union, the unemployment rate was 7.4% in October
2017, with rates being highest in Greece and Spain (Eurostat 2017).
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The 2016 U.S. median household income was estimated at $59,039 (Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar,
2017). The 2016 real household income was 8.0% higher than in 2007 ($54,489), the year before
the recession.
Although political and economic attention has shifted to job creation, economic stimulus packages,
and unemployment, these aren’t the only problems facing workers. For some, work remains a
dangerous place, leading to injury or death. Others are victims of discrimination or harassment in
the workplace. And for many men and women, even though they are employed, their paychecks do
not provide a livable wage.
In 2012, hundreds of fast-food workers staged sit-ins or one-day work strikes around the country.
Workers and protestors even appeared at McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Illinois just in time
for the 2014 annual shareholder meeting. Holding signs that read, “Low pay is not okay†and “We
are worth more,†workers and protest organizers were demanding a $15-per-hour wage and the
right to unionize. In 2016, an average McDonald’s employee made $10.00 per hour before taxes.
Work isn’t just what we do; work is a basic and important social institution. It fuels our economy
and provides economic support for individuals and families. Work is also important for our social
and psychological well-being. Individuals find a sense of fulfillment and happiness, and for most,
work provides a self-identity. Much of our social status is conferred through our occupation or the
type of work we do. Because of the importance of work, problems related to work become
categorized as social problems, as everyone’s problem. In this chapter, we examine the work that we
do, the social organization of work itself, and the social problems associated with our work and
economy. We begin first with a review of the changing nature of work.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
What is the highest hourly wage you’ve earned? Would you describe it as a livable wage?
THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORK
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the means of production shifted from agricultural to
industrial. In agrarian societies, economic production was very simple, based primarily on family
agriculture and hunting or gathering activities. Each family provided its own food, shelter, and
clothing. This changed during the Industrial Revolution, an economic shift in how people
worked and how they earned a living. Family production was replaced with market production, in
which capitalist owners paid workers wages to produce goods (Reskin and Padavic 1994).
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As a whole, we don’t produce goods anymore; we provide services. Since the late 1960s, the U.S.
economy has shifted from a manufacturing to a service-based economy (Brady and Wallace 2001).
In 1950, manufacturing accounted for 33.7% of all nonfarm jobs; by 2000, manufacturing’s share
had dropped to 14% (Pollina 2003). The service revolution is an economy dominated by service
and information occupations. Table 9.1 lists the 10 fastest-growing projected occupations between
2012 and 2022. Only one category involves manufacturing (brick and stonemasons), whereas the
rest involve jobs in health care and service.
TABLE 9.1 â– Ten Occupations With the Largest Projected Job Growth (in Thousands),
2012–2022
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2013.
This shift has been referred to as deindustrialization, a widespread, systematic disinvestment in
our nation’s manufacturing and production capacities (Bluestone and Harrison 1982). Less
manufacturing takes place in the United States because most jobs and plants have been transferred
to other countries. The expansion of industrialization in other regions such as Asia, the Caribbean,
Eastern Europe, and Africa has encouraged managers to reduce their manufacturing costs by
exporting manufacturing jobs there (T. Sullivan 2004). In addition, U.S. factories have closed as a
result of mergers or acquisitions as well as poor business. And thanks to technological advances, it
takes fewer people to produce the same amount of goods.
p.191
328
U.S. manufacturing lost 5.7 million or about 33% of manufacturing jobs in the 2000s. Affected
areas have experienced devastating social and economic losses, turning some into ghost towns
(Brady and Wallace 2001) or leading cities into deep debt or bankruptcy—the plight of Cleveland,
Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan. The phenomenon was also observed in Great Britain in the 1970s
and 1980s in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester (Carley 2000). Lost manufacturing jobs are
often replaced with unstable, low-paying service jobs or no jobs at all. As a result, cities may
experience a significant loss of revenue to support basic public services such as police, fire protection,
and schools (Bluestone and Harrison 1982).
In addition to the transformation in the type of work we do, there has been a transformation in who
is doing the work. The first significant workforce change began in World War II with the entry of
record numbers of women into the workplace. In 1940, the majority of 11.5 million employed
women were working as blue-collar, domestic, or service workers out of economic necessity (Gluck
1987). White and Black women’s entry into defense jobs signaled a major breakthrough. One fourth
of all White women and nearly 40% of Black women were wage earners who had previously worked
in lower-paid clerical, service, or manufacturing jobs.
By 1944, 16% of working women held jobs in war industries. At the height of wartime production,
the number of married women in the workplace outnumbered single working women for the first
time in U.S. labor history. Almost one in three women defense workers were former full-time
homemakers. In Los Angeles, women made up 40% of the aircraft production workforce.
These heavy industry jobs may have paid better, but the jobs held an important symbolic value:
These jobs were men’s jobs. After the war, although the proportion of women workers in durable
manufacturing increased in many cities, many women were forced back into low-paying, female-
dominated occupations (Gluck 1987) or back to their homes.
Labor force participation rates have increased steadily for White, Black, and Hispanic women since
World War II (see Table 9.2). In 2016, 57% of women aged 16 years or older were labor force
participants (working or looking for work) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017a). In 2016, women
dominated financial (52%), education and health services (75%), and leisure and hospitality (51%)
occupations (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017a). In 2010, for the first time in U.S. history,
women outnumbered men in the workplace (nonfarm jobs)—50.3% versus 49.7%. Legislation
ensuring gender equality, along with increasing higher education enrollment among women, has
improved women’s value and participation in the labor market (Economist 2009).
TABLE 9.2 â– Civilian Labor Force Participation Rates (%) for White, Black, and Hispanic
Women, 1930–2026
329
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017b; U.S. Census Bureau 1951, 1960, 1966.
Note: n.a. = not available.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Just for one week, count the number of times you hand cash, a credit card, or a check to someone
for payment. How many times do you hand it to a woman? Mary Frank Fox and Sharlene Hesse-
Biber (1984) offered the following description of the typical working woman—a working mother
who attended high school and has little or no college experience, working in a retail, clerical, or
service occupation. View the current list of the leading occupations for employed women at the U.S.
Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau website. Has “women’s work†changed? Why or why not?
The second workforce change has been the record numbers of elderly Americans returning to work.
Since the mid-1980s, the labor force participation rates of older Americans have consistently
increased (Toossi 2005). In 2014, 40% of Americans aged 55 or older were employed in the labor
force (Toossi and Torpey 2017). The percentage of Americans aged 55 or older staying employed or
going back to work after retirement is projected to increase by 2020, more than for any other age
group (refer to Figure 9.1) (Toossi 2012).
FIGURE 9.1 â– Projected Percentage Change in Number of Labor Force Participants by Age
330
Group, 2010–2020
Source: Toosi, Mitra. 2012. “Employment Outlook: 2010–2020: Labor Force Projections to 2020: A More Slowly Growing
Workforce.†Retrieved October 9, 2014 (http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/art3full.pdf).
p.192
Although Americans are working longer, partly because they are living longer, additional factors
contribute to the increase in age 55-plus employment. Government policies have eliminated
mandatory retirements and outlawed age discrimination in the workplace. In 2000, older Americans
were also encouraged to go back to work with the removal of age restrictions and taxes on their
earned wages (Toossi 2005). Stung by the economic recession, some older Americans delayed their
retirement.
Immigration is the source of the last workforce shift, affecting the numbers and diversity of labor
331
force participants. The number of foreign-born workers rose from a low of 4.3 million in 1970, to
11.6 million in 1990, to 17.3 million in 2000. In 2016, there were 27.0 million foreign workers in
the United States, about 16.9% of the labor force (Newburger and Gryn 2009; U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics 2017c). Foreign-born workers are more likely to be male, less educated, and
younger (in their late 20s and early 30s) than native-born workers. Ronald Pollina (2003) predicted
that, as our native population continues to age, the U.S. workforce will become increasingly
dependent on foreign-born workers.
p.193
In 2016, foreign-born workers were more likely than native-born workers to be employed in service
occupations and less likely to be employed in management, professional, and sales and office
occupations. Among foreign workers, 43.6% lived in the West and the Northeast (U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics 2017d). Immigrants settle in regions with perceived economic opportunities,
seeking established ethnic enclaves that provide interpersonal and job support (Mosisa 2002). In
2016, the median weekly earnings of full-time foreign-born workers was $715, about 80% of the
earnings of full-time native-born workers ($860) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017e).
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON WORK
Functionalist Perspective
According to the functionalist perspective, work serves specific functions in society. Our work
provides us with some predictability about our life experiences. We can expect to begin paid
employment around the age of 18 or after high school graduation (or we could delay it for four or
five more years by attending college and graduate school). Your work may determine when you get
married, when you have your first child, and when you purchase your home. Work serves as an
important social structure as we become stratified according to our occupations and our income.
Finally, even for the most independent among us, the way we live depends on the work of thousands
—for our food, clothing, safety, education, and health. Our lives are bound to the products and
activities of the labor force (Hall 1994).
Recall that from this perspective, work can also produce a set of dysfunctions that can lead to social
problems (or that may be problems themselves). Employers encourage workers to become involved
with their work, hoping to increase their productivity as well as their quality of work (a function).
However, getting too involved in one’s work may lead to job stress, overwork, and job dissatisfaction
for workers (all are dysfunctional). Although technology improves the speed and quality of work for
some (a function), as machines replace human laborers, technology can also lead to job and wage
losses (dysfunctions). According to a 2017 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, nearly 40% of U.S.
jobs could be replaced by robots within 15 years (Glaser 2017). Estimated job loss is lower in other
countries: 30% in the United Kingdom, 35% in Germany, and 21% in Japan. U.S. workers are more
susceptible to job loss because they engage in routine labor, such as paper filing.
332
As some researchers have focused on the functions and dysfunctions of work, others have tried to
understand the nature of work itself. Frederick W. Taylor, a mechanical engineer, offered an
analysis that revolutionized 19th- and 20th-century industrial work. Using what he called scientific
management, Taylor broke down the functional elements of work, identifying the most efficient,
fastest, best way to complete a task. In one of his first research projects, Taylor determined the best
shovel design for shoveling coal. He believed that with the right tools and the perfect system, any
worker could improve his or her work productivity, all for the benefit of the company. In his book
The Principles of Scientific Management, Taylor (1911) wrote, “In the past the man has been first; in
the future the system must be first†(p. 5).
Although scientific management in its pure form has rarely been implemented, Taylor’s principles
continue to serve as the foundation for modern management ideology and technologies of work
organization (Bahnisch 2000). Beyond simply changing how work was organized, Taylor offered his
ideas about the organization of work: the need for defining a clear authority structure, separating
planning from operational groups, providing bonuses for workers, and insisting on task
specialization. In contrast, Max Weber (1925/1978) warned that in exchange for the efficiency and
predictability of bureaucracy, workers would lose their individual freedom, ultimately dehumanizing
their labor. Indeed, Taylor’s model shifted power to management, forcing skilled workers to give up
control of their own work (Hirschhorn 1984), which was a cause for concern expressed by theorists
from the next theoretical perspective.
p.194
Published by International Pub. Co., Cleveland, Ohio.
From a conflict perspective, capitalism produces an unequal social structure. Owners of the means of production occupy the
highest position, while laborers occupy the lowest.
333
Conflict Perspective
Power, explained Karl Marx, is determined according to one’s relationship to the means of
production. Owners of the means of production possess all the power in the system, he believed,
with little (probably nothing) left for workers. As workers labor only to make products and profits
for owners, workers’ energies are consumed in the production of things over which they have no real
power, control, or ownership (Zeitlin 1997). According to Marx, man’s labor becomes a means to
an end; we work only to earn money. Marx predicted that eventually we would become alienated or
separated from our labor, from what we produce, from our fellow workers, and from our human
potential. Instead of work providing a transformation and fulfillment of our human potential, work
would become the place where we felt least human (Ritzer 2000).
Modern systems of work continue to erode workers’ power over their labor. For example, the 2013
death of 31-year-old Miwa Sado, a journalist for NHK, Japan’s state-run broadcasting company,
was attributed to karoshi or death by overwork (Inoue and Specia 2017). Prior to her death she had
worked more than 150 hours of overtime. She died of congestive heart failure, working until
midnight every day, without weekends off. In 2016, in nearly a quarter of Japanese companies, some
employees routinely worked more than 80 hours of overtime per month. Karoshi is blamed on a
work culture that considers exhaustion a sign of diligence to one’s work and employer. Japan’s Labor
Bureau released a study documenting that karoshi was a problem, especially among younger workers.
The government has admitted that death by overwork is a serious problem.
Deskilling refers to the systematic reconstruction of jobs so that they require fewer skills and,
ultimately, management can have more control over workers (Hall 1994). Although Taylor (1911)
proposed scientific management as a means of improving production, sociologist Harry Braverman
(1974) argued that by altering production systems, capitalists and management increase their control
over workers. Once dependent on the workers’ abilities, the nature of work shifts to managerial and
organizational priorities. Management, according to Braverman (1974), “controls each step of the
labor process and its mode of execution†(p. 119). This heightened level of control and routinization
increases worker alienation and hinders creativity and flexibility among workers. Deskilling may also
limit job prospects for the employee, as job tasks and specialization become company specific, not
transferrable to another (Jagoda 2013).
Although Marx predicted that capitalism would disappear, capitalism has grown stronger, and at the
same time, the social and economic inequalities in U.S. society have increased. Capitalism has
become more than just an economic system; it is an entire political, cultural, and social order
(Parenti 1988). Modern capitalism includes the rise and domination of corporations and large
business enterprises with U.S. and global interests. Conflict theorists argue that capitalist and
corporate leaders maintain their power and economic advantage at the expense of their workers and
the general public.
p.195
334
Feminist Perspective
From a feminist perspective, work is a gendered institution. Through the actions, beliefs, and
interactions of workers and their employers, as well as the policies and practices of the workplace
(Reskin and Padavic 1994), men’s and women’s identities as workers are created, reproduced, and
then solidified in the everyday routines of informal work groups and formal workers’ organizations
(Brenner 1998). We already discussed the importance of World War II for women’s employment,
but recall that after the war, there was pressure on women to resume their roles as housewives or to
assume more appropriate occupations. As a gendered institution, work defined the roles appropriate
for World War II women and defines them for women today. The workplace does not treat women
and men equally. Women are concentrated in different—and lower-ranking—occupations than
men, and women are paid less than men (Reskin and Padavic 1994).
A fundamental feature of work is the gendered division of labor, the assignment of different tasks
and work to men and women. This division of labor leads to a devaluing of female workers and their
work, providing some justification for the differential compensation between men and women
(Reskin and Padavic 1994). In the United States, as in most other countries, women earn less than
men (England and Browne 1992). There is no country in the world where women make the same as
or more than men (refer to Figure 9.2). In the early 1960s, U.S. women earned about 59 cents for
every dollar earned by men (Armas 2004). In 2016, for every dollar a man earned, a woman made
80.5 cents (National Committee on Pay Equity 2017). (Refer to Table 9.3 for a comparison of
women’s median weekly earnings by race, for 2016.)
FIGURE 9.2 â– Distance From Gender Parity by Region, 2016
335
Source: World Economic Forum 2016.
TABLE 9.3 â– Median Weekly Earnings for All Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers in the
United States, 2016
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017e.
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PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 9.1: President Obama Speaking about Fair Pay
In pay, compared with men, women are disadvantaged because they are in lower-paying feminized
jobs or because they are paid less for the same work (Budig 2002). Sociologists and feminist scholars
insist that no natural differences between men and women would lead to this. Instead, these
researchers offer several structural explanations for the differences: differential socialization (women
are socialized to pursue careers that traditionally pay less or are lower in status), differential training
(men are better educated, so should be rewarded with higher pay), and workplace discrimination
(Reskin and Padavic 1994). For additional discussion of these perspectives, refer to Chapter 4,
“Gender.â€
p.196
A problem feminist advocates and scholars have addressed is workplace discrimination based on
pregnancy or motherhood. In a 2006 study of women in the United Kingdom, one in six women
identified revealing their pregnancy to their employer as one of the most challenging experiences of
their work career (Phillips 2006). The U.S. federal government has enacted several laws protecting
mothers against discrimination. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) allows both
men and women to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Feminist
scholars argue that FMLA assumes that women can afford to take leave, perpetuating stereotypes
that women are dependent on men as providers and that women, not men, are the primary
caregivers and less dedicated employees (Reuter 2005).
What Does It Mean to Me?
337
In 1996, there was only one female chief executive officer (CEO) of a Fortune 500 company. In
2017, there were 32 female CEOs, 6.4% of all Fortune 500 CEOs. From a sociological perspective,
why aren’t there more women CEOs? Are women less qualified to lead a major corporation? What
would it take to increase the number of female CEOs?
Interactionist Perspective
The sociologies of work and symbolic interaction were developed side by side in the 1920s and
1930s at the University of Chicago. There are strong similarities between the two sociological
perspectives: In the same way that symbolic interactionists are interested in how individuals
negotiate their social order, the sociologists of work are interested in the negotiated order of work
(Ritzer 1989). Interactionists address norms in the workplace, how workers interact with their peers,
how workers deal with stress, and how workers find meaning in the work they do. This perspective
allows us to understand the process by which individuals understand, interpret, and create their
work.
p.197
For example, Geraldine Byrne and Robert Heyman (1997) interviewed nurses in the United
Kingdom, investigating the relationship between their perceptions of work and patients and how it
influenced their communication with patients. The researchers noted how nurses distinguished their
work with “major trauma†and “minor†patients. They defined their work as more valuable and
satisfying in trauma cases, giving them an opportunity to feel technically expert and rewardingly
useful. Their time with minor patients was described as boring or repetitive and a small part of their
daily work. Although nurses felt that all patients experience some anxiety in the hospital, they felt
that those with more serious illnesses or injuries would be more anxious than others. As a result,
they spent more time with the seriously ill or injured patients, but they made sure to “pop in†with
all patients as a way of demonstrating that they had not forgotten about them and providing some
nursing contact.
According to symbolic interactionists, we attach labels and meanings to an individual’s work (and
major). If you meet a fellow student for the first time, one of the first questions you may ask is
“What’s your major?†Why ask about a major? Think of it as a shortcut for who you are. Based
simply on whether you are a Sociology major or a Physics major, people make assumptions about
how much you study or your academic quality. This is no different from asking someone what he or
she does for a living. These social constructs create an order to our work and our lives, but they can
also create social problems.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 9.2: Supreme Court Case About Woman Wearing Hijab
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Problems arise when these social constructs serve as the basis of job discrimination. A study by
researchers from the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed
discrimination in the recruiting process based only on what was perceived about someone’s first
name (Bertrand and Mullainathan 2003). Researchers sent 5,000 résumés in response to job
advertisements in the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. First names were selected based on a review
of local birth certificates. Fictional applicants with “White†first names—Neil, Brett, Emily, and Jill
—received one callback for every 10 résumés mailed out. In contrast, equivalent “Black†applicants
—with names such as Aisha, Rasheed, Kareem, and Tamika—received one response for every 15
résumés sent. Other aspects of discrimination were revealed in the study. If the résumé indicated
that the applicant lived in a wealthier, more educated, or more White neighborhood, the rate of
callbacks increased. This effect did not vary by race.
p.198
Although employers report positive attitudes toward people with disabilities, actual hiring rates
reveal an opposite trend. Since 1986, the jobless rate of people with disabilities has been around
66%. Researchers have attributed the persistence of stigma regarding the disabled and the negative
impact on hiring them to a variety of reasons. For many, disability is associated with low or no
ability, poor performance, or unsafe work behavior (Rubin and Roessler 2008). Employers are also
concerned about the perceived costs of accommodations and the possibility of other workers
demanding special consideration themselves (Schur, Kruse, and Blanck 2005). The stigma attached
to disability is compounded by other personal characteristics such as age, race or ethnicity, or
gender; these individuals are doubly disadvantaged in the workplace (McMahon et al. 2008).
See Table 9.4 for a summary of all perspectives.
TABLE 9.4 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Work and the Economy
339
PROBLEMS IN WORK AND THE ECONOMY
Unemployment and Underemployment
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018a), about 147.8 million Americans were
employed and 6.1 million were unemployed in January 2018. Compared with the (seasonally
adjusted) 3.5% unemployment rate for Whites, the rate was 7.7% for African Americans and 5.0%
for Hispanics. Approximately 1.4 million individuals were long-term unemployed or unemployed
for 27 weeks or more (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018a).
The recent recession has been characterized as a man’s recession or a “mancession.†In 2008–2009,
the U.S. unemployment rate for men increased more steeply than the rate for women, largely as a
result of layoffs in manufacturing and construction, where men made up roughly 70% and 85% of
the workforce, respectively (Cook 2009). On the other hand, women are concentrated in
occupations that are more resistant to the economic decline, such as health, education, and public
service. Health care employment has been among the strongest during this recession (Rampell
2010). As of January 2018, 3.9% of men aged 16 or older were unemployed, compared with 3.6% of
women in the same age group (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018a).
The unemployment rate for young adults has been a concern in the United States and globally. In
the United States, the unemployment for all four-year college graduates is 4.5%; however, the
unemployment rate for recent four-year graduates is higher (6.8%), and for recent high school
graduates it is nearly 24% (Carnevale, Jayasundera, and Cheah 2012). A college degree has been
described as “the best umbrella in this historic economic storm and the best preparation for the
economy that is emerging in recovery†(Carnevale et al. 2012:1). For Europeans 15 to 24 years of
age (level of education not identified), the rate of unemployment was 21.6% in 2011 (Eurostat
2012).
In addition to unemployment, we should be aware of another rate, underemployment.
Underemployment is defined as the number of employed individuals who are working in a job
that underpays them, is not equal to their skill level, or involves fewer working hours than they
would prefer (taking a part-time job when a full-time job is not available). In January 2018, the
number of people working part-time because of cutbacks or because they were unable to find a full-
time job was 5.0 million (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018a).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 9.3: Possible Solutions to Underemployment
340
There is significant variation in unemployment and underemployment rates. People who are young,
non-college-educated, and members of ethnic/racial minorities have higher underemployment rates
(Bernstein 1997). Minority group underemployment is significantly higher than underemployment
among non-Hispanic Whites. Min Zhou (1993) reported that at least 40% of the members of each
minority group he analyzed (Puerto Ricans, Blacks, Mexicans, Cubans, Chinese, and Japanese) were
underemployed. In particular, Blacks and Puerto Ricans have the highest rates of labor force
nonparticipation (i.e., were not in the labor force and had not worked in the last two years) and
joblessness. Joblessness includes subemployment (individuals who were not in the labor force but
worked within the last two years) and underemployment rates (based on either low wage or
occupational mismatch). Recent immigrants, a large portion of the Asian and Hispanic minority
groups, may have difficulty in securing employment because of lack of job skills or language
proficiency and, as a result, are more likely underemployed than are native-born and non-Hispanic
White workers (DeJong and Madamba 2001).
p.199
Scholars have documented the destructive effects of joblessness on overall health (Rodriguez 2001)
and emotional well-being (Darity 2003). Unemployment has been consistently linked with higher
levels of alienation, anxiety, and depression (Rodriguez 2001) and a lower sense of overall health
(Lopez del Amo Gonzalez, Benitez and Martin-Martin 2018). Cross-national data reveal that long
periods of unemployment are related to increased rates of suicide and spousal abuse (Darity 2003).
Among Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites, long-term exposure to unemployment produces a
“scarred worker effect.†The experience of unemployment undermines the worker’s will to perform,
leading that person to become less productive and less employable in the future (Rodriguez 2001).
Globalization
Globalization, introduced in Chapter 1, is a process whereby goods, information, people,
communication, and forms of culture move across national boundaries. Although we tend to think
of globalization as an economic phenomenon, we should not lose sight of its political, social, and
cultural implications (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006).
Globalization has transformed the nature of economic activity (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006). It has
been credited with bringing the world together—creating a world market where all businesses,
employers, and employees must compete. This competition keeps corporations focused on
innovation, quality, and production. Increasing productivity and output create more jobs and
stimulate economic growth (Weidenbaum 2006), creating a new middle class and reducing poverty
in many countries (Yergin 2006). The United States has benefited from globalization, having
experienced a doubling in foreign trade during the 1990s, which led to the creation of more than 17
million new jobs (Yergin 2006).
Yet globalization has its dark side (Weidenbaum 2006). Foremost, worker security has declined
341
everywhere, including in the United States. Skilled workers are threatened by the unfair competition
of low-cost sweatshops, of cheaper labor to be found in other nations. Corporations are moving to
lower-wage economies, shifting their production from the United States to Mexico to China (where
the average manufacturing wage is 61 cents per hour) (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006). President
Donald Trump’s most consistent policy position has been his resistance to globalization. His plan
for his first 100 days in office—renegotiate or withdraw from NAFTA, establish tariffs, and
abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership—highlights his vision for a more insular and protectionist
U.S. economy.
There are conflicting assessments on the relationship between globalization and poverty. Some
highlight that progress in poverty reduction has been limited and geographically isolated (Weller
and Hersh 2006). Others conclude that globalization has reduced global poverty (pointing to the
overall reduction of the number of poor according to the World Bank standard, discussed in
Chapter 2), while also warning about the threat from the persistent inequality between rich and
poor countries. The benefits of globalization are not equally distributed. Developed (rich) countries
are able to reap more economic benefits from less developed (poor) countries through the system of
globalization (Shin 2009).
Women are particularly vulnerable in the new global economy. The global assembly line is filled
with girls and women engaged in work that is low-wage, temporary, part-time, or home-based and
usually performed under unsafe working conditions. More than half the world’s legal and illegal
immigrants are women—third-world women moving to postindustrial societies for jobs as nannies,
maids, and sex workers (Eitzen and Baca Zinn 2006).
p.200
Minimum Wage
One way the United States addresses economic inequality is through the federal minimum wage. A
three-step wage increase was passed by Congress in 2007, when the minimum hourly wage was
$5.15. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25. However, when adjusted for inflation, the
current federal minimum is still less than the minimum wage from 1961 to 1981 (Filion 2009).
Most states have a minimum wage above the federal minimum.
While the minimum wage raises the wages of low-income workers in general, many low-income
families continue to move in and out of poverty. Data indicate that low-wage or poverty-level
workers are likely to be minority, female, non-college-educated, and nonunion, working in low-end
sales and service occupations (Bernstein 1997; Bernstein, Hartmann, and Schmitt 1999; U.S.
Department of Labor 2002; Mishel, Bernstein, and Shierholz 2009). Refer to Exploring Social
Problems for more information about minimum wage workers.
In her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich explored
life and work on minimum wage in three states: Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. Working as a hotel
342
maid, a nursing home aide, a sales clerk, a waitress, and a cleaning woman, Ehrenreich rated her
work performance as a B or maybe even a B+. In each new job, Ehrenreich had to master new
terms, new skills, and new tools (and not as quickly as she thought she would be able to master
them). How did Ehrenreich survive on minimum wage? She discovered that she needed to work
two jobs or seven days a week to achieve a “decent fit†between her income and her expenses. She
describes getting her meals down to a “scienceâ€: chopped meat, beans, cheese, and noodles when she
had a kitchen in which to cook; if not, fast food at about $9 per day. For housing, she shuffled
between motel rooms and apartments, moving to a trailer park at one point. Ehrenreich (2001)
concluded,
Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can
barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don’t need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and
rents too high. (p. 199)
A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017h), there were 5,190 fatal work injuries in
2016. The majority of fatalities occurred in men, mostly caused by the type of work they do. The
private construction industry had the highest number of fatal occupational injuries, about 20% in
2016. Highway or transportation incidents are the most common cause of fatal work injuries (about
40%). Workplace homicides accounted for 9% of all work-related fatal occupational injuries in
2016.
In 2016, a total of 2.9 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses were reported in private industry
workplaces, a rate of about 2.9 cases per 100 full-time workers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2017i). Approximately 95% of these cases were injuries, most occurring in the health care and social
assistance sector. The goods-producing industries had the largest share of occupational illnesses,
about 39.2% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017i). The U.S. Department of Labor monitors
illnesses such as skin diseases, respiratory conditions, and poisonings. New reported workplace
illnesses were related directly to work activity, such as contact dermatitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Some conditions, such as long-term illnesses related to exposure to carcinogens, are usually
underreported and not adequately recognized (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2009).
The 2010 explosions at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and the Deepwater Horizon
oil platform in the Mississippi River Delta heightened concerns about the safety of industrial
workers. In West Virginia, 29 were killed in an explosion in the country’s worst mine disaster in 40
years. These incidents led to an ongoing reevaluation of mine regulation, employee training, and
safety and the development of emergency response teams, along with improvements in underground
communications technology. Coal mining is an inherently dangerous occupation, with deaths and
injuries having been documented worldwide. China and Russia have the largest number of coal
mine fatalities annually. The Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in the deaths of 11 operators
and is the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history.
343
p.201
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
CHARACTERISTICS OF MINIMUM WAGE
WORKERS
The probability of earning minimum wage or lower varies by your social characteristics.
Figures 9.3 and 9.4 display data on the percentage of minimum wage workers by gender,
occupation, and educational attainment.
Review the data presented in Figure 9.3. Overall, a higher percentage of women work at
or below the minimum wage than men. Those 25 years or older are more likely to work at
or below the minimum wage level than those 16 to 24 years of age.
Based on the data presented in Figure 9.4, which occupation has the highest rate of
workers earning at or below minimum wage? Which jobs within this occupation would
earn below minimum wage?
What do you think? How does the gendered division of labor contribute to the minimum
wage patterns presented in Figures 9.3 and 9.4?
FIGURE 9.3 â– Percentage of Workers Earning Minimum Wage or Below, by Gender
and Age, 2016
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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017g.
Note: Due to rounding, these percentages do not add up to 100%.
FIGURE 9.4 â– Percentage of Workers Earning Minimum Wage or Below, by
Occupation, 2016
345
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017g.
p.202
U.S. Coast Guard
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in the deaths of 11 workers and led to the largest marine oil spill in U.S.
history.
346
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (2003) defines job stress as
the harmful emotional or physical response that occurs when a job’s characteristics do not match the
capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Certain job conditions are likely to lead to job stress:
a heavy workload, little sense of worker control, a poor social environment, uncertain job
expectations, or job insecurity. Eventually, job stress can lead to illness, injury, or job failure. Studies
have analyzed the impact of stress on our physical health, noting the relationship of stress to sleep
disturbances, ulcers, headaches, or strained relationships with family or friends. Recent evidence
suggests that stress also plays a role in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease,
musculoskeletal disorders, and psychological disorders (NIOSH 2003).
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Policies
When President William Howard Taft signed Public Law 426-62 in March 1913, he created the
U.S. Department of Labor. From the beginning, the department was intended to foster and
promote the welfare of U.S. wage earners, to improve working conditions, and to advance
opportunities for profitable employment. In its current mission statement, the department includes
improving working conditions, advancing opportunities for profitable employment, protecting
retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, and strengthening collective
bargaining as part of its charge. The department administers and enforces more than 180 federal
laws that regulate workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.
p.203
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
MEXICO’S MAQUILADORAS
Maquiladoras are textile, electronics, furniture, chemical, processed food, or machinery
assembly factories where workers assemble imported materials for export (Abell 1999;
Lindquist 2001). The maquiladora program allows imported U.S. materials to enter Mexico
without tariffs; when the finished goods are sent back to the United States, the shipper pays
duties only on the value added by the manufacturer in Mexico (Abell 1999; Gruben 2001). The
program began in 1965 as an employment alternative for Mexican agricultural workers. Drawn
to Mexico because of its proximity to U.S. borders and by low labor costs, nearly every large
U.S. manufacturer has a maquiladora location. Several Asian and European companies,
including Sony, Sanyo, Samsung, Hitachi, and Philips, also have maquiladora locations
347
(Lindquist 2001). An estimated 5,000 export manufacturers are located along Mexico’s border
with the United States, employing over 1.3 million workers (Bacon 2011). The maquiladora
program has been described as the engine of growth in Mexico (Mollick and Ibarra-Salazar
2013).
The maquiladora program became controversial as soon as it appeared (Gruben 2001).
Supporters of the maquiladora program argue that if these plants had not relocated in Mexico,
they would have gone to other low-wage countries. Opponents argue that the program helped
U.S. firms and others take advantage of the low-wage Mexican labor force. The maquiladoras
have been criticized for their treatment of female workers, dangerous work conditions, and
impact on the physical and social environment of border towns.
Most maquiladora workers are women. Yolanda is a worker from Piedras Negras.
As the sun rises, Yolanda is already awake and working—carrying water from a nearby well,
cooking breakfast over an open fire, and cleaning the one-room home that she and her
husband built out of cardboard, wood, and tin. She puts on her blue company jacket and
boards the school bus that will take her and her neighbors across Piedras Negras to a large
assembly plant. Yolanda and 800 coworkers each earn US$25 to US$35 a week for 48 hours’
work, sewing clothing for a New York–based corporation that subcontracts for Eddie Bauer,
Joe Boxer, and other U.S. brands. These wages will buy less than half of their families’ basic
needs (Abell 1999:595).
Yolanda’s job provides a wage, but it is not adequate to support her or her family. The daily
salary for maquiladora women is about $4.67, described not as a standard of living but, rather,
as a standard for survival (Moffatt 2005). According to Elizabeth Fussell (2000), early
maquiladora factories attracted the “elite†of the Mexican female labor force: young, childless,
educated women. Current maquiladora laborers are likely to be the least-skilled Mexican
women: slightly older, poorly educated women with young children (Fussell 2000).
Yolanda’s town of Piedras Negras is no different from other maquiladora towns such as
Tijuana and Matamoros. Once-quaint border towns have been transformed by maquiladora
activity. Despite their profits, companies do not invest in the physical and social infrastructure
of these border towns. As a result, most factory neighborhoods lack basic health and public
services such as clean drinking water or sewage systems, electricity, schools, health facilities,
and adequate housing (Abell 1999).
Sexual harassment is often used as a method of intimidation in the maquiladora. Supervisors
taunt female workers and proposition them by offering lighter workloads in exchange for dates
and sexual favors. Supervisors have also sexually assaulted female workers. Women, on and off
their jobs, are subject to intimidation and violence (Moffatt 2005). As noted by Joanna
Swanger (2007), female factory workers are subject to a deep and violent sexism, a culture that
regards them as little more than prostitutes.
348
Under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), tariff breaks formerly
limited to all imported parts, supplies, and equipment used by Mexican maquiladoras now also
apply to manufacturers in Canada and the United States (Lindquist 2001). During the recent
national debate about immigration, NAFTA and the maquiladora program were blamed for
failing to improve Mexico’s economic and business infrastructure and thus failing to reduce
illegal immigration in the United States.
In addition to the FLSA, the Department of Labor enforces several statutes applicable to most
workplaces. It regulates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (pension and welfare benefit
plans), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (ensuring work and a workplace free from serious
hazards), the Family and Medical Leave Act (granting eligible employees as many as 12 weeks of
unpaid leave for family care or medical leave), and several acts that cover workers’ compensation for
illness, disability, or death resulting from work performance.
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IN FOCUS
SWEATSHOP LABOR
©iStock.com/EdStock
Although there is no legal definition of a sweatshop, the term has come to refer to the exploitation of workers with no
livable wages or benefits, working in poor or hazardous working conditions.
According to Sweatshop Watch (2003), there is no legal definition of a “sweatshop.†The
General Accounting Office (1994) defines a sweatshop as a workplace that violates more than
one federal or state labor law. The term has come to include exploitation of workers, for
example, with no livable wages or benefits, poor and hazardous working conditions, and
possible verbal or physical abuse (Sweatshop Watch 2003); employers who fail to treat workers
with dignity and violate basic human rights (Co-op America 2003); and businesses that violate
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wage or child labor laws and safety or health regulations (Foo 1994). The term sweatshop was
first used in the 19th century to describe a subcontracting system in which the contractors
earned profits from the margin between the amount they received for a contract and the
amount paid to their workers. The margin was “sweated†from the workers because they
received minimal wages for long hours in unsafe working conditions (Sweatshop Watch 2003).
Jill Esbenshade (2008) described the networks of production that promote sweatshops and
labor exploitation. She identified how a single company, like Gap or Levi Strauss, relies on
manufacturing in dozens of countries on four or five continents supported by an extensive
competitive network of agents, factories, and small subcontractors. This type of production
arrangement severs the legal liability of the brand-name companies from the workers who
make their products. For example, in 2012, Apple was scrutinized for poor working conditions
among iPad production workers in China. Esbenshade (2008) explained, “For garment workers
this means they have little leverage in the production system, and in general have not been able
to successfully organize to change their conditions. Garment factories, with little capital
investment, close down and move on when confronted with an organized and demanding labor
force†(p. 457). Clothing and other lightly manufactured products sold in the United States are
made in more than 100 countries (International Labor Rights Forum 2011).
All U.S. manufacturers must follow the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which establishes
federal minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and industrial homework standards. The
Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division makes routine enforcement sweeps in major
garment centers, fining businesses that are in violation of the FLSA. Globally, antisweatshop
activists have increased regulatory and monitoring systems in producing countries and have
pressured contractors to improve working conditions and to recognize unions (Esbenshade
2008).
There have been two legislative responses to the labor market and income consequences of the
recent recession. In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into
law. ARRA was a stimulus package that allowed for benefit increases and tax cuts for households,
along with federal investments in infrastructure and technology. A second stimulus package, the Tax
Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act, was signed into law in
2010. This package extended temporary income and payroll tax cuts and provided additional
funding for emergency unemployment compensation.
Two labor issues continue to be debated in Congress. The first is raising the minimum wage. In
2001, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representative David Bonior of Michigan, both
Democrats, introduced legislation that proposed a $1.50 raise in the minimum wage over three
years. Efforts to increase the minimum wage are supported by unions and poverty organizations,
which argue that doing so will help the nation’s working poor and low-income families. Opponents,
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who include members of the business community and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue that
increasing the minimum wage would put an unnecessary stress on medium-size and small businesses
but would not decrease poverty. Some predict that businesses would be forced to eliminate jobs,
reduce work hours, or close altogether. Results from policy analyses and academic research have not
provided conclusive evidence for either argument (Information for Decision Making 2000). In
2007, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that would increase the minimum wage to $7.25 over
two years. Congress has not passed a minimum wage law since 2007.
p.205
The second issue involves protection against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established in 1964 by Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act. The EEOC monitors and enforces several federal statutes regarding
employment discrimination based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, gender,
national origin, or religion), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967), the Vocational
Rehabilitation Act (1973), and the Americans With Disabilities Act (1990). The U.S. EEOC
(2018) has received between 84,000 and 93,000 charges of employment discrimination annually
since 2012.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on
sexual orientation, has been introduced in every Congress (except the 109th) since 1994. The bill
has yet to pass. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have passed laws prohibiting
employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and 32 states and Washington, DC, also
prohibit discrimination based on gender identity (Human Rights Campaign 2015). In 2015,
President Obama’s executive order prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity by all federal contractors went into effect.
The Living Wage Movement
The term living wage was first used in the 1800s, as labor activists argued that employers should pay
employees wages high enough to support themselves and a family. More recently, living wages have
been promoted as a policy tool to address economic and social inequality (Luce 2012). Maryland
became the first state to require a living wage, effective October 2007. In 2011, Maryland employers
with state contracts were required to pay workers a minimum of $12.49 an hour in the Baltimore
and Washington, DC, areas and $9.39 an hour in rural counties (Maryland Department of Labor,
Licensing and Regulation 2011). States, unwilling to wait for congressional action on a federal
minimum wage increase, have passed higher minimum wage laws during the past decade (Uchitelle
2006). Between 2004 and 2009, 29 states increased their minimum wage. City and county
governments have done the same. Seattle residents voted to increase the city’s minimum wage to
$15 per hour by 2018. Mayors in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco were also promoting
higher minimum wages for their residents. Currently there are living wage ordinances in 38 cities
and counties (UC Berkeley Labor Center 2017).
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Although opponents claim that higher living wages will hurt the local economy, research has not
confirmed these negative consequences. Based on scholarly research and city program evaluation,
there is no evidence of increased costs for city contracts (and higher taxes for city residents) or a
decrease in the number of firms bidding on contracts as a result of living wage ordinances.
Additionally, none of the existing studies documented employment loss (Luce 2012).
What has been consistently noted is how the living wage increases workers’ wages. Based on a study
of Boston workers, the living wage ordinance raised earnings by $6,950 per year, from $21,770 to
$28,720, for workers who stayed with the same employer before and after the ordinance. Stephanie
Luce (2012) argued,
The ordinances are not always enough to raise workers out of poverty, and still do not reach enough workers. They are
difficult to enforce and, in fact, have been repealed or blocked in some cities. Where implementation is more successful, it
requires constant effort by workers or worker organizations to monitor employers and the city. (p. 19)
In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama endorsed a $10.10 national minimum
wage. He later signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage for individuals working on new
federal service contracts to $10.10 per hour. There are living wage campaigns in the United
Kingdom, Canada, and Japan.
p.206
©Scott Heins/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In 2018, teachers in Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia coordinated statewide strikes to protest the lack of
funding for public schools. Education scholars and policy makers argue that the strikes call attention to low teacher salaries,
but also to the overall decline in respect for the teaching profession.
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Worker-Friendly Businesses—Conducting Business a Different Way
Each year Fortune magazine releases a list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.†In 2007, the
magazine wrote,
Ten years ago, when we began compiling this list, the idea that your employer would deliver your groceries (a new perk at
Microsoft) or allow you to do your laundry at work (Google) might have seemed crazy. . . . Indeed, much has changed in the
American workplace over the past decade. (Levering and Moskowitz 2007:94)
The number one company on Fortune’s 2016 list was Google. This employer features 30 free
gourmet cafeterias in its Mountain View, California, headquarters. But Google was named number
one for more than its food. This business rewards its 73,000 employees with benefits that include
competitive salaries and stock options, on-site laundry and dry cleaning, outdoor and indoor
recreational facilities, a community-supported fishery program, and a generous parental leave
program (22 weeks for new mothers and 12 weeks for new fathers).
There is no big secret to creating worker-friendly organizations, although some organizations are
slow to learn their values. Beyond the standard employee benefit package of vacations, health care,
retirement plans, and life insurance, innovative employers have used dependent care, flexible work
options, expanded leave time, and enhanced traditional benefits to attract and retain employees.
More than half of U.S. employees are actively looking for a new job (Harter and Adkins 2017).
Employers who demonstrate their commitment to their workforce have reduced employee turnover,
increased employee satisfaction, and improved worker productivity (Schmidt and Duenas 2002).
p.207
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
JERRY GREENFIELD
©Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s Foundation
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Businesses have also found a way to give back to their communities, to combine their work
with their social activism. Often identified as a socially responsible corporate leader is Ben &
Jerry’s. In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened their first ice cream shop in
Burlington, Vermont. Almost 40 years later, there are more than 500 Ben & Jerry’s Scoop
Shops worldwide. When Cohen and Greenfield sold their company to Unilever in 2001, the
deal included an independent board of directors to safeguard Ben & Jerry’s now infamous
corporate mission: to make the best products, to be financially successful, and to stand up for
social causes (Schug 2017).
According to Greenfield (quoted in J. Fox 2008), “Most people . . . view corporations as selfish
entities, and we didn’t want to have that kind of business, so we said we’re going to see if we
can be different. . . The traditional thinking is that environmental and social responsibility
takes away from profitability, but our experience is the exact opposite.†Greenfield offers a
different model of business: “The normal definition of business is that a business is an entity
that produces a product or provides a service. Well, at Ben & Jerry’s, we started to define it
differently; we said that a business is a combination of organized human energy plus money
which equals power†(quoted in O’Reilly 2017).
He explains, “We (Ben & Jerry’s) takes a different approach. We try to do good deeds and act
in the consumer’s interest. I don’t think the whole world is going to start acting that way
overnight, but there are tangible benefits of doing it. For example, people that work for the
company feel better about what they are doing, employees feel more motivated†(quoted in J.
Fox 2008).
Greenfield serves as president of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, established in 1985. The
foundation is funded by a percentage of Ben & Jerry’s annual pretax profits and a matching gift
program for all employees (Ben & Jerry’s Foundation 2018). The foundation identifies itself as
a social justice organization, believing that people most affected by a problem are in the best
position to determine the solutions to that problem and true change is possible only when
underlying, systemic forces are understood and addressed. The foundation awards more than
$1.8 million each year to support community action, social change, sustainability, and other
initiatives.
Flexible work hours help facilitate an employee’s work–life balance, especially for women (C.
Sullivan and Lewis 2001). Female employees can change their schedules to take children to school,
be home when children return from school, or attend special school events (McDonald et al. 2005).
Flexible work hours also permit employees to manage other personal matters. Employees who
choose to work nonstandard hours or to work remotely may increase their production as a result of
fewer distractions or creating an environment that optimizes their creativity and work flow
(Shockley and Allen 2012).
354
What Does It Mean to Me?
What work benefits inspires you to be more productive or to enjoy your work more? How can work
be structured to make you a happier worker?
p.208
Organized and Fighting Back
Historically, labor unions have served as bargaining agents for workers, fighting for fair wages, safe
work environments, and benefits from employers. Many of the worker benefits advocated by early
labor unions are now mandated through federal, state, or local labor laws. In our changing and
global economy, unions cannot sustain themselves by simply negotiating pay, benefits, and working
rights. To remain vital and relevant, unions need to develop multilevel strategies and use new skills
(Lazes and Savage 2000). In 1983, the first year when union membership data were available, the
rate of membership was 20.1%, accounting for 17.7 million union members. For 2016, the rate of
membership was 10.7% with a total of 14.8 million members (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2018b).
Following years of declining membership, U.S. unions shifted their membership strategy (Fantasia
and Voss 2004). Changing their focus from the declining U.S. manufacturing sector, union
organizers began to successfully rebuild their membership in the service and public sectors
dominated by female, immigrant, and minority workers. During 2017, membership in the
manufacturing industries was 9.1%, and employees in the protective service industries had the
highest rate of membership, 34.7% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018b). Unions are presented as
organizational vehicles of social solidarity, “emphasizing direct [worker] action as an important
source of collective power†(Fantasia and Voss 2004:128). In addition, these unions have a strong
orientation toward social justice that appeals to their new members, connecting the labor movement
with the movement for social citizenship and universal civil rights (Fantasia and Voss 2004) and
encouraging broad-based movement building and worker self-organization (Avendaño and Hiatt
2012).
In recent years, innovative collaborations have been forged. Unions have collaborated with other
types of social movements to better support workers and their families. Nonunion social movements
include worker advocacy groups representing women, immigrants, racial and ethnic groups, and
working families. Living-wage campaigns and worker centers have also been part of the effort to
increase worker power (Kalleberg 2011).
One example of union innovation is the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees
(UNITE). In 1996, it launched a “Stop Sweatshops†campaign linking union, consumer, student,
355
civil rights, and women’s groups in the fight against sweatshops. UNITE helped form United
Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) in 1997, bringing together a coalition of student groups to
raise awareness about the problem of sweatshop labor in the manufacturing of collegiate clothing
(caps, shirts, and sweatshirts sold in campus stores). In March 1998, Duke University adopted the
nation’s first code of conduct for university trademark licensees. Under the code, any clothing with
the Duke logo would be subject to labor and human rights standards. The student group Duke
Students Against Sweatshops played a key role in shaping the antisweatshop code (Sweatshop
Watch 2000). In 2004, UNITE announced that it was merging with the Hotel Employees and
Restaurant Employees International Union. The new union, called UNITE HERE (2012),
represents workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry,
and airport industries in Canada and the United States.
Also working with USAS is the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP). This campus-based
coalition supports the growing economic justice movement among college students by “making links
between campus and community organizing, providing skills training to build lasting student
organizations, and developing campaigns that win concrete victories for working families†(Student
Labor Action Project 2007). The organization sponsors a national student labor week of action each
year, highlighting issues such as the DREAM Act, fair contracts for campus employees,
environmental and workforce sustainability, and living wages. In recent years, SLAP has also
organized against educational cuts in state budgets and increasing tuition.
p.209
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
LAW
356
Courtesy of Stacey Stone Semmler
Stacey Stone Semmler
Stacey Stone Semmler—Class of 2006
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Political Science
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says that being a lawyer is one of the best jobs in
the world, because “every lawyer, no matter whom they represent, is trying to help someone. . .
. To me, lawyering is the height of service†(quoted in Campos 2013).
Earning a juris doctor (JD) degree usually takes seven years of full-time study—completing an
undergraduate degree followed by three years of law school. Most states require practicing
lawyers to earn their degree at an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited program. There
are more than 200 accredited law schools in the United States; the majority of schools require
applicants to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). In the second and third year of
law school, students can customize their coursework for a particular area of law practice. There
are many major areas of law practice, including bankruptcy, business, civil rights, criminal,
environment, family, labor, and tax law. In order to practice, one must successfully complete
licensure, also referred to as a state bar exam.
Stacey Stone Semmler practices civil litigation in a variety of fields, including insurance
defense, commercial debt collection, election and campaign finance law, and construction and
workers’ compensation defense. Her undergraduate internship at Girl Scouts Beyond Bars
inspired her career and served as an important experience.
357
That opportunity demonstrated to me that the law has power. It truly motivated me to attend law school. I gained so
much experience in interacting with a variety of people and personalities from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and
social classes. My current job is not necessarily directly related to my work with Girl Scouts; however, each time I
interviewed for a job, that experience was discussed.
Sociology is still part of her work, especially during a trial.
In my field we often have to consider the perception, especially when representing a corporation. If we have multiple
lawyers, will it look bad? If we have too much technology, does it look like the poor opposing party is just being
outspent? There are numerous things to consider. It also is beneficial when picking a jury. You have to consider your
client and how he/she will be judged by the person who sits before you on a panel based on things such as their race,
social class, job position, relationships, and community involvement.
CHAPTER REVIEW
9.1 Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.
During the late 18th century and early 19th century, the means of production shifted from
agricultural to industrial. In agrarian societies, economic production was very simple,
based primarily on family agriculture and hunting or gathering activities. During the
Industrial Revolution, an economic shift occurred in how people worked and how they
earned a living. Family production was replaced with market production, in which
capitalist owners paid workers wages to produce goods.
p.210
9.2 Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.
According to the functionalist perspective, work serves specific functions in society. Our
work provides us with some predictability about our life experiences. Conflict theorists
argue that capitalist and corporate leaders maintain their power and economic advantage
at the expense of their workers and the general public. From a feminist perspective, work
is a gendered institution. Men’s and women’s identities as workers are created,
reproduced, and then solidified in the everyday routines of informal work groups and
formal workers’ organizations. According to symbolic interactionists, we attach labels and
meanings to an individual’s work. These social constructs create an order to our work and
our lives but can also create social problems.
9.3 Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment.
Whereas unemployment is defined as the number of individuals who are looking for a job,
underemployment is the number of employed individuals who are working in a job that
underpays them, is not equal to their skill level, or involves fewer working hours than they
would prefer. Both are measured by the U.S. Department of Labor.
9.4 Identify which forms of discrimination workers are protected against.
358
U.S. workers are protected against discrimination based on race, color, gender, national
origin, religion, age, and disabilities. Although states have passed laws prohibiting
employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, there is no federal law in place.
9.5 Identify how labor unions have changed their membership strategy.
Union organizers have rebuilt their membership in the service and public sectors
dominated by female, immigrant, and minority workers. These unions have a strong
orientation toward social justice that appeals to new members, connecting the labor
movement with the movement for social citizenship and universal civil rights and
encouraging broad-based movement building and worker self-organization. Student
groups have provided strong support for unions and living wage organizations on college
campses.
KEY TERMS
deindustrialization, 190
Industrial Revolution, 190
scientific management, 193
service revolution, 190
sweatshop, 204
underemployment, 198
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Which population of workers has changed the U.S. workplace the most—women or
foreign-born workers? Explain the reason for your answer.
2. Using a coffee barista as an example, identify and explain Karl Marx’s theory of worker
alienation.
3. Why and how are women disadvantaged in the workforce—in both the types of jobs they
occupy and their salary level?
4. Identify the positive and negative consequences of globalization.
5. From a functionalist and conflict perspective, examine the role of a contingent workforce in
the U.S. economy.
6. Why have labor unions declined in membership? How can labor unions expand their
appeal and membership to workers, and how can they do this during the economic recession?
7. Human trafficking includes the involuntary movement of individuals within one country or
359
from one country to another for exploitation. Exploitation may include physical labor or sexual
exploitation (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Anti–Human Trafficking Unit
2006). In 2012, the United Nations reported that 2.4 million people are victims of human
trafficking at any one time, with the majority being exploited as sexual slaves (Lederer 2012).
The United States is reported to be a frequent destination country where victims are brought to
be exploited, yet not much is discussed about our country’s role in human trafficking. Is
trafficking a U.S. social problem? Why or why not?
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360
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©Hero Images via Getty Images
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10
HEALTH AND MEDICINE
Media Library
CHAPTER 10 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 10.1: PTSD Therapy through Dance
AP News Clips 10.2: Waiting for Organ Donors
AP News Clips 10.3: US Healthcare Analysis
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
10.1 Describe the social determinants of health.
10.2 Explain the three measures of epidemiology.
10.3 Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health
and medicine.
10.4 Identify the relationship between education and health.
10.5 Summarize the different models of health care in the United States.
If you are thinking that this is going to be a discussion about human physiology and theories about
germs and viruses, full of medical terms, you’re wrong. Although medicine can identify the
biological pathways to disease (Wilkinson 1996), we will need a sociological perspective to address
the social determinants of health. “Health is a result of an individual’s genetic makeup, income and
educational status, health behaviors, communities in which the individual lives, and the
environments to which he or she is exposed†(Lurie and Dubowitz 2007:1119). To better
understand the connection between our social structure and health, we must investigate how our
political economy, our corporate structure, and the distribution of resources and power influence
health and illness (Conrad 2001a).
Consider the gross inequalities in health between and within countries. Life expectancy at birth is
highest for a child born in Japan (81.9 years) and lowest for one born in Sierra Leone (34 years).
Within the United States, there is a 20-year gap in life expectancy between the most and least
362
advantaged populations (Marmot 2005). There is no biological reason why life expectancy should be
48 years longer in Japan than in Sierra Leone or why there is a gap in life expectancy between the
rich and the poor in the United States. In Health, United States, 2016 (National Center for Health
Statistics 2017), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that life
expectancy had reached 78.8 years (see Table 10.1). Although Americans are living longer, life
expectancy gains have lagged behind other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) countries (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation 2013).
TABLE 10.1 â– Life Expectancy at Birth in Years According to Race and Sex in the United
States, Selected Years
Sources: National Center for Health Statistics 2014; National Center for Health Statistics 2017.
When two U.S. aid workers contracted the Ebola virus while working in West Africa in 2014, they
were flown back to the states and treated with an experimental drug. There is no vaccine for this
hemorrhagic virus. News of the experimental and special treatment of the doctor and nurse raised
criticism, most notably why ZMapp was not available in West Africa but was made available in the
United States to two White aid workers. As of the end of 2014, Ebola had infected 15,145 people
and killed 5,420 in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria. Between 60% and 90% of those
infected had died from the disease. The aid workers were declared fully recovered, although it is
unclear whether the drug, ZMapp, contributed to their recovery.
Finally, consider how politics and the law serve as agents of health system change. Before the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (also referred to as the Affordable Care Act,
ACA, or Obamacare), 44 million Americans did not have health insurance. President Barack
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Obama said he was signing the bill on behalf of his mother, along with others who struggled to find
affordable and comprehensive health coverage. The signing of the bill enshrined “the core principle
that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care†(Obama 2010).
Yet in 2017, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order to eliminate ACA subsidies
to health insurance companies, he maintained, “Congress needs to repeal and replace the disastrous
Obamacare law and provide real relief to the American people†(quoted in Pear, Haberman, and
Abelson 2017).
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTH, ILLNESS,
AND MEDICINE
The sociology of health and illness includes the field of epidemiology. Epidemiology is the study
of the patterns in the distribution and frequency of sickness, injury, and death and the social factors
that shape them. Epidemiologists are like detectives, investigating how and why groups of
individuals become sick or injured (Cockerman and Glasser 2001). They don’t focus on individuals;
rather, epidemiologists focus on communities and populations, addressing how health and illness
experiences are based on social factors such as gender, age, race, social class, or behavior
(Cockerman and Glasser 2001). Epidemiology has successfully increased public awareness about the
risk factors associated with disease and illness, leading many to quit smoking, to participate in more
physical exercise, and to eat healthier diets (Link and Phelan 2001).
For example, type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, occurs when the body does not
produce enough insulin or when the cells ignore the insulin. An estimated 30.3 million Americans
have type 2 diabetes (diagnosed or undiagnosed). However, the disease can be effectively managed
with healthy behaviors such as meal planning, exercise, and weight management (American
Diabetes Association 2018). Modernization, fast foods, and physical inactivity have led to
significant increases in the number of type 2 diabetes cases in countries such as Brazil and India.
Indian public health officials estimate that by 2040 there will be 123 million diabetic patients ages
20 to 79 (International Diabetes Federation 2017). A disease that usually affects the old is affecting
the younger Indian population, primarily because they have adopted a modern lifestyle and diet
(Kleinfield 2006). Similar dire predictions are made for China: It is expected that by 2040 there will
be 150 million Chinese with diabetes (International Diabetes Federation 2017).
What Does It Mean to Me?
All of us practice healthy behaviors we believe or were told can prevent or cure illness or disease.
Brushing our teeth is one practice that we routinely do without really remembering why we do it.
What other healthy behaviors do you practice? Why do you do them? Where did you learn them?
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Epidemiologists use three primary measures of health status: fertility, mortality, and morbidity.
These data are routinely collected by the National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. Fertility is
the level of childbearing for an individual or a population. The basic measure of fertility is the crude
birthrate, the number of live births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in a population. The U.S. crude
birthrate for 2017 was 12.5 births per 1,000 women (CIA Factbook 2017). Related to this is the
measure of fecundity, the maximum number of children that could be born (based on the number
of women of childbearing age in the population).
In the early 1900s, a woman could expect to give birth to about four children, whereas a woman
during the Great Depression of the 1930s could expect to have only two (U.S. Census Bureau
2002). The lowest number of births per woman was 1.8 children in the mid-1970s. Since then, the
rate has averaged around two births per woman. Fertility is determined by a set of biological factors,
such as the health and nutrition of childbearing women. But innovations in medicine, in the form of
infertility treatments, have made childbirth possible for women who once considered it impossible.
Social factors, such as our social values and definitions of the role of women, the ideal family size,
and the timing of childbirth, can influence fertility. Fertility rates have also been determined by the
ethnic and foreign-born composition of the population. Demographer Kenneth Johnson explains,
“You could shut off immigration tomorrow and the impact of the foreign born on U.S. demographic
trends would still be a powerful force†(quoted in Roberts 2010:A13).
Mortality is the incidence of death in a population. The basic measure of mortality is the crude
death rate, the number of deaths per 100,000 people in a population in a given year. For 2015, the
U.S. death rate was 844 deaths per 100,000 people (Murphy et al. 2017). In the United States, it is
unlikely that we’ll die from acute infectious diseases, such as an intestinal infection or measles.
Rather, the leading causes of death are chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease, cancer,
stroke, and chronic lower respiratory disease, all of which have been linked to heredity, diet, stress,
and exercise. The leading causes of death vary considerably by age. The leading cause of death of
college-age Americans is unintentional injuries, followed by homicide and suicide. Among the
elderly, mortality caused by chronic diseases (heart disease, cancer, chronic bronchitis, diabetes) is
more prevalent.
Infant mortality is the rate of infant death per 1,000 live births. For 2015, the infant mortality rate
was 5.90 deaths per 1,000 live births (Murphy et al. 2017). The three leading causes of death among
U.S. infants were congenital birth defects, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS). Infant mortality is considered a basic indicator of the well-being of a population, reflecting
the social, economic, health, and environmental conditions in which children and their mothers live.
Although infant mortality rates in the United States have declined, rates are disproportionately
higher for minority children. In 2015, the highest rate, 11.73 deaths per 1,000 live births, for infants
of non-Hispanic Black mothers, was more than double the death rate of infants born to White
mothers (4.82) (Murphy et al 2017).
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The infant mortality rate is historically higher in the United States than in other developed
countries. (Refer to Figure 10.1 for a comparison of 2010 infant mortality rates.) Alice Chen, Emily
Oster, and Heidi Williams (2016) concluded that in the United States, lower socioeconomic groups
had much higher postneonatal (from the end of the first month to a year after birth) mortality rates
when compared with higher socioeconomic groups. In Finland and Austria (countries where
mothers’ socioeconomic data were available), postneonatal mortality rates were similar across all
socioeconomic groups. This difference may be due to the fact that maternal health care is more
widely and uniformly available in countries with national health care programs (UNICEF 2012)
such as Finland and Austria. Chen et al. (2016) suggest the implementation of a home nurse visit
program in the United States. The program, practiced in Finland, Austria and most EU countries,
schedules in-home visits with nurse, parents and infants, providing well-baby checkups along with
advice and support for parents. Evaluations of such programs have demonstrated mortality
reductions, especially for infant deaths related to SIDS or accidents.
FIGURE 10.1 â– Infant Mortality Rates: Selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development Countries, 2010
Source: MacDorman et al. 2014.
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Morbidity is the study of illnesses and disease. Illness refers to the social experience and
consequences of having a disease, whereas disease refers to a biological or physiological problem that
affects the human body (Weitz 2001). Epidemiologists track the incidence rate, the number of
new cases within a population during a specific period, along with the prevalence rate, the total
number of cases involving a specific health problem during a specific period (Weitz 2001). For
example, the 2015 incidence rate for diabetes was 1.5 million people age 20 years or older; the
prevalence rate was 30.3 million or 9.4% of the population (American Diabetes Association 2016).
Incidence rates help measure the spread of acute illnesses, which strike suddenly and disappear
quickly, such as chicken pox or the flu. The prevalence rate measures the frequency of long-term or
chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, asthma, or HIV (Weitz 2001). The National Center for Health
Statistics publishes the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a weekly summary of surveillance
information on reported diseases and deaths.
In addition to epidemiological analyses, sociologists have applied theoretical perspectives to better
explain the social problems of health and illness.
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Functionalist Perspective
Émile Durkheim conducted the first empirical analysis of suicide in the late 1800s. Before
Durkheim’s work, scientists attributed suicide primarily to psychological or individual factors.
However, Durkheim treated suicide as a social fact and identified the relationship between suicide
and the level of social attachment or regulation between an individual and society. His research is
the first true epidemiological analysis, and, most important, it revealed the relationship between
illness and the larger social structure. The stability of society is paramount from a functionalist’s
perspective. Consider for a moment what happens when you become sick. When are you sick
enough not to attend class? How do others begin to treat you? According to the functionalist
perspective, illness has a legitimate place in society. The first sociological theory of illness was
offered by Talcott Parsons (1951); the theory addresses how individuals are expected to act and to
be treated while sick (Weitz 2001), a set of rights and responsibilities condoned by society (Barclay
2012). This set of behaviors is part of Parsons’s theory of the sick role.
The sick role has four parts. In the first, sick people are excused from fulfilling their normal social
role. Illness allows them to be excused from work, from chores around the house, or even from
attending class! Second, sick people are not held responsible for the illness. The flu that’s going
around is no one’s fault, so you aren’t personally blamed if you catch it (although your roommates
may blame you if they catch what you have). Third, sick people must try to get well. Illness is
considered a temporary condition, and sick people are expected to take care of themselves with
appropriate measures. In relation to this, Parsons offers the last part, that sick people are expected to
visit medical authorities and to follow their advice.
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Although Parsons legitimized the social role of illness, he also identified a critical source of the
problem in health care today. In the fourth element, Parsons identified the authority and control of
the physician. Even though you’re the one who is sick, the doctor has the ultimate power to
diagnose your condition and to tell you that you’re “really†sick.
Doctors play a prominent role in managing our illnesses, but they don’t do it alone. Doctors, along
with nurses, pharmaceutical corporations, hospitals, and health insurers, form a powerful medical
industry. The medical industry has served us well with its technological and scientific advances,
offering a wider array of medical services and treatment options. However, this industry has also
created a set of problems, or dysfunctions, as functionalists like to refer to them. Medicine has
shifted from a general practitioner model (a family doctor who took care of all your needs) to a
specialist model (where one doctor treats you for a specific ailment). You are receiving quality care,
but at a price (and you are paying to be treated by many different doctors, instead of just one). As a
result, health care costs have become less affordable, leaving many without adequate coverage and
care. The system intended to heal us does not treat everyone fairly. We will explore this further in
the next perspective.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The last time you were sick, did you comply with the sick role? Did you see your physician or visit
your school’s health clinic? How did you play your sick role?
Conflict Perspective
According to conflict theorists, patterns of health and illness are not accidental or solely the result of
an individual’s actions. Conflict theorists identify how these patterns are related to systematic
inequalities based on ethnicity/race or gender and on differences in power, values, and interests.
p.218
Conflict theorists may take a traditional Marxist position and argue that our medical industry is
based on a capitalist system, founded not on the value of human life but on a pure profit motive. A
conflict theorist argues that instead of defining health care as a right, our capitalistic system treats
health care as a valuable commodity dispensed to the highest bidder. Studies consistently find that
those in upper social classes have better health, health insurance, and medical access than men and
women of lower socioeconomic status. The alternative would be a dramatic change in the medical
system, ensuring that health care is provided to all regardless of their race, class, or gender.
According to this perspective, what we have in place is a medical system driven by economics. In
their investigation of pharmaceutical companies in the United States and Latin America, Rebeca
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Jasso-Aguilar and Howard Waitzkin (2011) documented how the government, transnational
corporations, and international governance bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO)
are favorable partners with pharmaceutical companies. WHO, although it has promoted various
initiatives and funding for mental health in low- and middle-income countries (Saraceno and
Saxena 2004), also “contributed to the expansion of the market for pharmaceutical products and
health insurance companies, while generally disregarding culturally-based ways of healing and
patient–healer interaction†(Jasso-Aguilar and Waitzkin 2001, p. 249). The researchers warn about
the increasing reliance of poor countries on a Western model of disease and treatment.
The medical system itself ensures that those already in charge maintain power. In health care, no
other group has greater power than medical physicians and their professional organization, the
American Medical Association (AMA), established in 1847. In his book The Social Transformation
of American Medicine, Paul Starr (1982) explained how the AMA’s authority over the medical
profession and education was secured in the early 1900s, with a series of events that culminated with
the Flexner Report. The 1910 report was written by Abraham Flexner and was commissioned by
the Carnegie Foundation and supported by the AMA. Through the report, Flexner and the AMA
were able to pass judgment on the quality of each medical school, based on an assessment of its
curriculum, facilities, faculty, admission requirements, and state licensing record. This report
eventually led to strict licensing criteria for all medical schools, which led to the closure of schools
that could not meet the new standards. Starr reveals that although the increased standards and
school closures may have improved the quality of medical training and care, they also increased the
homogeneity and cohesiveness of the profession. From 162 schools in 1906, the number of medical
schools dropped to 81 by 1922. Some of the closed schools were exclusively for African Americans
and women. According to Rose Weitz (2001), with the increasing cost of education and higher
educational prerequisites, fewer minorities, women, immigrants, and poor students could meet the
requirements. As a result,
fewer doctors were available who would practice in minority communities and who understood the special concerns of
minority or female patients. At the same time, simply because doctors were now more homogenously White, male, and
upper class, their status grew, encouraging more hierarchical relationships between doctors and patients. (Weitz 2001:327)
The legacy of the Flexner Report—higher medical standards and more limited access to medical
education and care—continues to this day. Examinations of the social and economic backgrounds of
medical students in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain confirm that medical students
tend to be recruited from families with higher socioeconomic standing and with medical
professionals among their members (Magnus and Mick 2000; Mathers and Parry 2009). Only 8.9%
of practicing doctors identify as African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans (Association
of American Medical Colleges 2017).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
369
The consumer movement has shifted some of the power in the doctor–patient relationship to the
patient. Drug ads, previously reserved for professional medical journals, are now commonly featured
in popular magazines and in television advertisements. Pharmaceutical companies routinely take two
or three full-page ads, featuring drug warnings, side effects, and precautions, along with a
description of their drug and its benefits. It sometimes is difficult to figure out what the drug is for.
How has this popular diffusion of pharmaceutical information redefined the relationship between
doctor and patient? Between your doctor and you?
Feminist Perspective
According to Peter Conrad (2001b), illness and how we treat it can reflect cultural assumptions and
biases about a particular group. Take, for example, the case of women and their medical care.
Conrad explains that throughout history, there are examples of medical and scientific explanations
for women’s health and illnesses that reflect dominant and often negative conceptions of women.
Since the 1930s, women’s natural physical conditions and experiences, such as childbirth,
menopause, premenstrual syndrome, and menstruation, have been medicalized. Medicalization
refers to the process through which a condition or behavior becomes defined as a medical problem
(Weitz 2001). Although the medicalization of these conditions may have been effective in treating
women, various feminist theorists see it as an extension of medicine’s control of women (Conrad
2001b), specifically normal female experiences linked with the female reproductive system (Markens
1996), inappropriately emphasizing the psychological, biomedical, or sociocultural origins
(Hamilton 1994). Once a condition is defined as a medical problem, medicine, rather than the
woman herself, gains control of its diagnosis and treatment.
Menopause, a natural physiological event for women, was defined in the medical community as a
“deficiency disease†in the 1960s when commercial production of estrogen replacement therapy
became available (Lock 1993; Conrad 2001b). Although a few medical writers refer to menopause
as a natural process, many continue to describe it as a “hormonal imbalance†that leads to a
“menopausal syndrome†(Lock 1993). Although estrogen replacement treatment has been presented
as a means for women to retain their femininity and to maintain good health, feminists argue that
menopause is not an illness; actually, estrogen therapy may not be necessary and may be dangerous
(Conrad 2001b) and may do little to improve the quality of older women’s lives (Haney 2003).
Studies have suggested that the meanings and experiences of menopause may also be bound by
cultural definitions. In North America, where women are defined by their youth and beauty, aging
women are set up as a target for medicalization. In Japan, however, public attention focuses on a
woman’s life course experience. For a middle-aged Japanese woman, what matters is how well she
fulfills her social and familial duties, especially the care of elderly family members, rather than her
physical or medical experiences. The Japanese medical community has a different perspective on
menopause than its American colleagues do: Most doctors in Japan define menopause as natural and
370
an inevitable part of the aging process (Lock 1993). Asian American midlife women also report
lower rates of physical and psychological symptoms related to menopause compared with midlife
women from other ethnic groups (Sievert et al. 2007).
The gender pay gap we discussed in Chapters 4 and 9 also exists among physicians. Historically,
female physicians earn less than male physicians, the difference previously attributed to specialty
choice (women selecting general practice, while men choose specialty fields) and hours worked
(women working fewer hours than men). However, research has confirmed that salary differences
continue to exist, even after controlling for specialty, practice type, and hours worked. Seth Seabury,
Amitabh Chandra, and Anupam Jena (2013) reported that the 1987–1990 earnings of male
physicians were higher than those of female physicians by $33,480. Although they also controlled
for differences in hours worked and years of experience, the gender gap in physician earnings
continued to increase over time: $34,620 in 1996–2000 and $56,019 in 2006–2010.
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Interactionist Perspective
From the interactionist perspective, health, illness, and medical responses are socially constructed
and maintained. In the previous sections, we discussed how health issues are defined by powerful
interest or political groups. We just reviewed how the medicalization of women’s conditions reflects
our cultural assumptions or biases about women. Each example demonstrates how social, political,
and cultural meanings affect our definition and response to health and illness.
A patient’s experience with the medical system can be disempowering (Goffman 1961), but the
experience can be mediated by social meaning and interpretations (Lambert et al. 1997). According
to Suni Peterson, Martin Heesacker, and Robert C. Schwartz (2001), when people contract a
disease, they define their illness according to a socially constructed definition of the disease, which
includes a set of images, beliefs, and perceptions. Patients use these definitions to create a personal
meaning for their diagnosis and to determine their subsequent behavior. The authors argue that
these social constructs have a greater influence on the patient’s actions and decisions about his or her
health than recommendations from health professionals do.
Sociologists also examine how the relationship between doctors and their patients is created and
maintained through interaction. In particular, sociologists focus on how medical professionals use
their expertise and knowledge to maintain control over patients. Research indicates that doctors’
power depends on their cultural authority, their economic independence, cultural differences
between patients and doctors, and doctors’ presumed superiority to patients (Weitz 2001). Studies
consistently demonstrate the systematic differences in the level of information provided by
physicians to their patients. Although differences might be attributed to the doctor responding to a
patient’s particular communication style, researchers argue that information varies according to the
doctor’s impressions of a patient (e.g., intelligence), subjective judgments about what information
371
the patient needs (Street 1991), and status differentials between doctor and patient (male vs. female
or White vs. non-White) (Peck and Conner 2011). Educated and younger patients tend to receive
more diagnostic information, as do patients who ask more questions and express more concerns;
doctors are likely to communicate as equals with their educated, older male patients (Street 1991).
African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics are more likely than Whites to experience
difficulties in communicating with their doctors. The difficulties include not understanding their
doctors, not feeling that their doctors are listening to them, and having questions for their doctors
that they did not ask (Collins et al. 2002).
© George Steinmetz/Corbis
Gender salary inequality exists in the medical profession. Overall, female physicians earn less than male physicians, even
after controlling for specialty, practice type, and hours worked (Seabury et al. 2013).
p.221
Interactionists and social constructionists also investigate how a disease is socially constructed. This
doesn’t mean that disease and illness do not exist. Rather, the focus is on how illness is created and
sustained according to a set of shared social beliefs or definitions. For example, posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) didn’t exist prior to 1980. PTSD is constructed and maintained through a set of
medical, legal, and social definitions. The condition was first identified by Vietnam veterans who
wanted to change the military culture around war trauma. The term has also been associated with
the symptoms women experience after sexual assault (Smith and Whooley 2015). The social
construction of disease has been applied to infertility (Greil, McQuillan, and Slauson-Blevins 2011),
attention-deficit disorder (Mather 2012), and HIV/AIDS.
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PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 10.1: PTSD Therapy through Dance
For a summary of sociological perspectives on health and medicine, see Table 10.2.
TABLE 10.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Health and Medicine
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What Does It Mean to Me?
What shared social beliefs and definitions do we share about breast cancer for women? Breast cancer
for men?
HEALTH INEQUALITIES AND PROBLEMS
Gender
As noted in Table 10.1, women live about five years longer than men. The three leading causes of
death for males and females are identical: heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Although women live
longer than men, women experience higher rates of nonfatal chronic conditions (Waldron 2001;
Weitz 2001). Men experience higher rates of fatal illness, dying more quickly than women when
illness occurs (Waldron 2001; Weitz 2001).
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These differences in mortality have been attributed to three factors: genetics, risk-taking, and health
care (Waldron 2001). Biological differences seem to favor women; more females than males survive
at every age (Weitz 2001). Because of differences in gender roles, men are more likely to engage in
risk-taking behaviors or potentially dangerous activities such as driving too fast or incautiously,
using legal or illegal drugs, or participating in dangerous sports (Waldron 2001). The workplace
offers more dangers for men. More men than women are employed, and men’s jobs tend to be more
hazardous (Waldron 2001); men are more likely to be victims of fatal workplace incidents than
women (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017). Finally, because women obtain more routine health
examinations than men do, their health problems are identified early enough for effective
intervention (Weitz 2001). Typically, women eat healthier diets and smoke and drink less alcohol
than men do (Calnan 1987).
Most women are aware of their risk of breast cancer, the most common cancer for women. Consider
how the month of October has become synonymous with breast cancer (and anything pink). This is
quite a cultural shift from 1974, when Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald Ford, shared news about
her breast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy. Her openness about the disease was described as
revolutionary and led to increased interest in breast cancer research and funding. According to
Barbara Ehrenreich (2010), today
©iStock.com/kali9
The Breast Cancer Action organization has been critical of the pink campaign for breast cancer. The organization believes
that the campaign ignores the social and economic disparities related to breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survival.
it’s the biggest disease on the cultural map, bigger than AIDS, cystic fibrosis or spinal injury, bigger even than those more
prolific killers of women— heart disease, lung cancer and stroke. There are hundreds of websites devoted to it, not to
mention newsletters, support groups and a whole genre of first-person breast cancer books.
Deborah Mayer (2012) cautioned that there are “many shades of pink†and identifies the
“resentment from those with less visible cancers or other disease groups who have not benefited as
much from all this public awareness and support†(p. 441). Breast Cancer Action (2017) has been
critical of the pink campaign, led mainly by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, for simplifying the
disease and ignoring significant social and economic disparities related to diagnosis, treatment, and
survival. Its Think Before You Pink campaign was launched in 2002, calling for more transparency
and accountability by companies that participate in breast cancer fundraising.
375
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Education
A similar relationship has been documented between education and health: the higher your
education is, the better your health will be (no matter how it is measured—mortality, morbidity, or
other general health measures). Education might be a more important correlate to good health than
is one’s occupation or income (Grossman and Kaestner 1997), as it serves as a pathway to health
because it is a resource itself (Mirowsky and Ross 2005).
Recent studies on the effects of compulsory education in Sweden, Denmark, England, and Wales
consistently identify that a longer educational experience leads to better health (Kolata 2007).
Michael Murphy and his colleagues (2006) identified mortality trends by educational level for
Russian men and women between 1980 and 2001. Murphy et al. concluded that better-educated
men and women had a significant mortality advantage over less-educated men and women. In 1980,
life expectancy at age 20 for university-educated men was three years greater than for men with only
an elementary education. By 2001, however, the gap between university- and elementary-educated
men had increased to 11 years. Similar differentials were also noted among Russian women.
Researchers suggest that education helps individuals choose and practice a healthier lifestyle
regarding diet, exercise, and other health choices. Highly educated men and women are likely to
visit their primary physicians more often and regularly and may be more willing to use new medical
technologies or medicines. Knowledge about the health consequences of smoking and drinking has
been shown to decrease smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. Educated parents will also
transmit their healthier lifestyle to their children (Grossman and Kaestner 1997). Education
represents both the long-term influence of early life circumstances and the influence of adult
circumstances on adult health (Beckles and Truman 2011).
Researchers have demonstrated the link between education and future orientation. Future-oriented
individuals attend school for longer periods. Educated individuals are able to link their current
actions to their future, not only for their education but also for preventative health care practices.
For example, a future-oriented person will say, “I’m going to college now so that I can have a good
job when I graduate.†Applied to health behaviors, the same person will say, “I won’t start smoking
because I know there are long-term health consequences of smoking.†Studies have shown that men
and women who discount the future are more likely to become addicted to alcohol or other drugs
(Becker and Mulligan 1994).
For more information about what other demographic characteristics are related to health care
utilization, refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature.
What Does It Mean to Me?
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How has your education influenced your health and lifestyle choices?
The Cost of Health Care
The United States spends almost 18% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care—the
largest expenditure in this category among industrialized countries. (A per capita spending
comparison with other countries is presented in Figure 10.5.) In 2012, total health care spending
reached $3.3 trillion, with an average of $10,348 spent per person in health expenses (Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services 2017). U.S. national health care spending had grown more slowly
after 2010, attributed to the Great Recession and to a sluggish economy. More Americans delayed
visits to their doctors or hospitals, reduced their prescription drug purchases (Pear 2012), or lost
their insurance coverage along with their jobs (Lowrey 2012). Changes in Medicare’s payment
policies, growth in patient cost-sharing, and state efforts to contain Medicaid costs have also been
identified as contributing to the decline in health spending (Holahan and McMorrow 2013).
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION
Multiple social factors determine how much health care people use, the types of health
care they access, and the timing of that care. Gender, race/ethnicity, and age are just some
of the demographic characteristics tracked by medical and public health researchers.
Health care utilization for 1997 through 2012 is presented in Figures 10.2 through 10.4.
Health care utilization is defined as accessing a doctor, visiting an emergency department,
or having a home visit four to nine times in the past year and is reported by percentages
for each group. Review each figure and identify the group or groups with the lower
percentages of utilization.
What do you think? What types of educational or outreach programs would increase the
number of health care visits?
377
FIGURE 10.2 â– Percentage of Americans Who Had Doctor, Emergency Department,
or Home Visits Four to Nine Times in the Past 12 Months, by Gender
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2014.
FIGURE 10.3 â– Percentage of Americans Who Had Doctor, Emergency Department,
or Home Visits Four to Nine Times in the Past 12 Months, by Ethnicity
378
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2014.
FIGURE 10.4 â– Percentage of Americans Who Had Doctor, Emergency Department,
or Home Visits Four to Nine Times in the Past 12 Months, by Age
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2014.
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FIGURE 10.5 â– Total Health Expenditures per Capita, Top Ten Countries, 2016 (or
Nearest Year)
379
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2017.
Even though the U.S. health system is the most expensive in the world, “comparative analyses
consistently show the United States underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions
of [health] performance†(Davis et al. 2007:viii). In their pre–Affordable Care Act analyses of health
care systems and outcomes in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom,
and the United States, Karen Davis and her colleagues (2007) concluded that the United States
failed to achieve better health outcomes and scored last on the dimensions of access, quality,
efficiency, and equity despite spending the most per capita on health care.
Given our lack of universal health care coverage, when compared with these other nations, more
Americans are uninsured or underinsured and are more unlikely to seek necessary care because of
costs. Davis and her colleagues (2007) identified how
other nations ensure the accessibility of care through universal health insurance systems and through better ties between
patients and the physician practices that serve as their long term “medical home.†. . . It is also apparent that the U.S. is
lagging in adoption of information technology and national policies that promote quality improvement. (p. viii)
Information systems in countries such as Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom
enhance the ability of physicians to monitor patients’ chronic conditions and medication use. These
countries also routinely use nonphysician clinicians to assist with patients with chronic diseases.
Germany ranked first on access to health care (the ability of patients to obtain affordable care in a
timely manner), and the United Kingdom ranked first for health care quality (safe, coordinated, and
patient-centered health care), efficiency (maximizing the quality of care and outcomes given the
system’s resources), and equity (providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal
characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status). The United States ranked last
on both measures.
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Jose Luis Pelaez Inc./Getty Images
The fastest-growing sector of medical care is prescription drug spending. In 2016, $328.6 billion was spent on prescription
drugs. The cost of drugs remains a significant burden for elderly Americans.
The cost of medical care, particularly out-of-pocket expenses, is a financial burden even to those
with health insurance. Harvard researchers concluded that illness or medical bills contributed to
62% of all bankruptcies in 2007 (Sack 2010). More than three fourths of those with medical debt
had medical insurance (Sack 2010). Although spending on prescription drugs in the United States is
the highest in the world, economic hard times caused some patients to alter their spending or their
dosage of prescription drugs (Saul 2008). Through the first eight months of 2008, the number of all
dispensed prescriptions was lower than in the same period of time in 2007 (Saul 2008). The
decrease was attributed to individual cost-cutting measures, causing concern among physicians
about the health and well-being of their patients. Patients reduced their medications (cutting their
pills in half or taking medications every other day) or, among those who could no longer afford their
medications, stopped taking their medicine altogether without consulting their physician (Saul
2008).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 10.2: Waiting for Organ Donors
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Policy makers and consumers have been keeping an eye on the cost of prescription drugs, one of the
fastest-growing sectors of medical care. Increases in drug costs are expected to outstrip the overall
growth in health care spending for the next 10 years. Spending for prescription drugs in 2016
totaled $328.6 billion (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 2017).
The Uninsured Population
A year before the full implementation of the ACA insurance mandate, surveyed Americans reported
the primary reason for not being insured was the affordability of coverage, followed by loss of
employment (Kaiser Family Foundation 2014). (Refer to the In Focus discussion for a summary of
health insurance plans.) Data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that 42.0 million Americans or
13.4% of the U.S. population had no health insurance at any time during 2013 (Smith and Medalia
2014). As reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation (2014), almost a third of uninsured adults went
without medical care because of its high cost. Most uninsured were in low-income working families;
nearly 8 in 10 were in a family with a worker. Adults were more likely to be uninsured than
children. People of color were at a higher risk of being uninsured than non-Hispanic Whites.
It is estimated that roughly 20 million Americans have been covered under ACA provisions,
including Medicaid expansion since 2010. There is no doubt that the number of uninsured has
declined, but there are still uninsured Americans. In 2016, 8.8% of the population or 28.1 million
did not have health insurance (Barnett and Berchick 2017). The social and demographic patterns
among the uninsured persist: Those in poverty, ethnic minorities, and foreign-born individuals are
most likely to not have health insurance.
Larisa Antonisse and her colleagues (2017) reviewed 153 studies on the impact of state Medicaid
expansions under ACA. Medicaid expansion was controversial, not only for the increased cost to
states but also because of claims that the program is ineffectual and may also be associated with
worse health (Belluck 2012). More than a dozen Republican governors announced that their states
would not comply with the ACA Medicaid expansion. According to the researchers, Medicaid
expansion (1) positively impacts access to care and utilization of health care services among the low-
income population, (2) improves the affordability of care and financial security among the low-
income population, and (3) is associated with improvements in measures of self-reported health.
Despite the concerns about the cost of Medicaid expansion, there was no significant increase in
spending from state funds and no significant reductions in state spending on education,
transportation, or other state programs. The researchers conclude with a warning: “With ACA
repeal and replacement remaining a priority for the Trump Administration and Congress, these
findings suggest that gains in coverage and access as well as economic benefits to states and
providers are at stake if the Medicaid expansion is repealed.†We’ll discuss more about ACA’s future
in the section “Health Care Reform—Federal Reform.â€
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COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Health Care Reform
STATE REFORM Before the enactment of ACA, several states aggressively moved forward on
health reform, and several—Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington
—expressed commitment to providing health coverage for all their citizens.
Hawaii was one of the first states to act on health care reform. In 1974, the state passed the Hawaii
Prepaid Health Care Act, requiring employers to provide health insurance for all employees
working more than 20 hours per week and to pay at least 50% of the cost. Hawaii is the only state
that requires employer payments to medical insurance under a congressional exemption of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). ERISA bars states from requiring all
employers to offer health insurance, from regulating or taxing self-insured plans, and from
mandating the specific benefits to be covered by employer health plans (Beatrice 1996). Hawaii’s
plan also limits employees’ share of the insurance premium expenses to no more than 1.5% of their
income. The requirements under this law are stricter than those imposed under the ACA. The
Department of Health and Human Services granted Hawaii a State Innovation Waiver under the
ACA. Recently there has been a call to repeal or at least revise the Prepaid Health Care Act because
of increasing health care costs. The percentage of uninsured Hawaiians is 3.3% (Barnett and
Berchick 2017).
IN FOCUS
U.S. HEALTH INSURANCE AND HEALTH CARE
DELIVERY SYSTEMS
The U.S. health care system is often referred to as a private health care system, but in reality, it
is a mixed system of public and private insurance (Oberlander 2002). (Refer to the Taking a
World View section of this chapter for more information.) Most Americans receive health
insurance from their employers. This type of insurance is referred to as group insurance or as
employment-based private insurance. Employers buy into a health insurance program, paying
for part or all of the cost of the insurance premiums. A premium is a monthly fee to maintain
your health coverage.
Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance coverage was expanded through three
avenues: subsidizing insurance premiums for lower-income individuals and families, expanding
the coverage of Medicare and Medicaid, and legally requiring everyone to sign up for a policy.
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That handy insurance card in your wallet identifies your insurance provider, the amount of your
deductible (payment due at the time of service), and the amount of coverage for prescription
drugs or emergency services. There are many different types of group insurance programs:
Fee-for-service plan. Under this plan, also known as an indemnity health plan, insurance
companies pay fees for services provided to the people covered by the policy. This type of
program emphasizes patient choice and immediate patient care.
Health maintenance organization (HMO). These organizations operate as prepaid health plans.
For your premium, the HMO provides you and your family comprehensive care. This plan is
also known as managed health care, a plan that controls costs by controlling access to care.
You’ll be assigned to a primary care provider, who will provide most of your medical care, but if
necessary, that doctor will refer you to specialists within the HMO practice or to providers
contracted by the HMO. Under the plan, there is limited coverage for any treatment outside
the HMO network.
Preferred provider organization (PPO). A PPO is a combination of the fee-for-service and
HMO plan. With a PPO, you can manage your own health care needs by selecting your own
doctors. These specialists will be on a preferred provider list supported by the PPO plan. If you
use a provider outside your plan, you may have to pay a larger percentage of your health care
expenses.
Federal health plans. Medicare is available to Americans 65 years or older or those with
disabilities, whereas Medicaid pays for medical and long-term care for the poor; low-income
children, pregnant women, and elderly; the medically needy; and people requiring institutional
care.
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Massachusetts became the first state to provide universal health care coverage to all of its residents
in 2006. The plan allowed the state to provide sliding-scale coverage, low-cost coverage, and free
insurance coverage to uninsured residents depending on their income, age, or employment status.
Individuals who can afford health insurance would be penalized on their state income taxes if they
do not purchase it (a feature similar to that of the ACA). There were modest provisions included in
the plan to control costs, but not enough. Massachusetts spends 23% more per person on health care
($9,000) than the national average ($8,000). While spending continues to be a concern, analysts
have noted how health care reform has led to gains in access to and use of health care in the state
(Long, Stockley, and Dahlen 2012). Massachusetts government and health industry officials agreed
that universal coverage would not be sustainable if they did not address the growth of health care
spending (Sack 2009). In 2012, the state legislature passed a bill that would not allow health care
spending to grow any faster than the state’s economy through 2017 (Goodnough 2012). At 2.5%,
Massachusetts has the lowest rate of uninsured (Barnett and Berchick 2017).
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MinnesotaCare became law in Minnesota in 1992. Also known as the HealthRight Act, the
legislation included a variety of laws aimed at reducing costs and expanding access to health care for
the uninsured (Beatrice 1996). MinnesotaCare is funded through a tax on health care providers and
through enrollee premiums (based on family size, number of people covered, and income) (Sacks,
Kutyla, and Silow-Carroll 2002). The act set price controls for health care spending (repealed in
1997), set statewide managed care guidelines, initially mandated that all non-HMO physicians
follow a state fee structure (repealed in 1995), placed all HMOs under the regulation of the
Commission of Health, and mandated that HMOs be nonprofit (Citizens Council on Health Care
2003). The act also subsidized health insurance for low- and middle-income uninsured families and
individuals. Minnesota placed all MinnesotaCare recipients into HMOs (Beatrice 1996; Citizens
Council on Health Care 2003). Four percent of Minnesotans are uninsured (Bennett and Berchick
2017).
Funding for these state programs rely on cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments, which lower co-
pays and deductibles for about 7 million Americans with incomes 100% to 250% of the poverty
level. In 2017, there were nearly 5.9 million exchange enrollees receiving CSRs. In October 2017,
the Trump administration announced its decision to eliminate these federal payments to insurers. A
federal judge denied a request from 19 state attorneys general (including attorneys general from
Massachusetts and Minnesota) to prevent the termination of CSR payments. Insurance companies
had already anticipated the elimination of CSR funding and increased their 2018 rates to cover the
CSR costs.
FEDERAL REFORM During his first administration, President Bill Clinton said problems
connected with the U.S. health care system were the most pressing in the United States. In 1993,
Clinton pushed for passage of the Health Security Act, an attempt at comprehensive health care
reform. The act would have required all employers to provide health insurance to their employees
and would have given small businesses and unemployed Americans subsidies to purchase insurance.
After Congress rejected Clinton’s health care plan, Americans looked to the private market to
restrain health care costs and to enhance patient care and choice. U.S. medicine moved aggressively
toward managed care arrangements, HMOs, and for-profit health plans (Oberlander 2002).
Sixteen years later, with Democratic majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the
Senate, President Barack Obama declared “a season for action. . . . Now is the time to deliver on
health care†(Obama 2009). After months of contentious and politically charged debate, Congress
passed a compromise health reform bill in March 2010. Obama signed the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, into
law. Several ACA elements went into immediate effect: Young adults up to age 26 remain covered
by their parents’ health insurance, plans were available for those with preexisting conditions, and
lifetime limits on coverage were eliminated.
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The full implementation of the law was challenged in the country’s highest court. In 2012, the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ACA, examining specifically the individual
health insurance mandate and the portion of the law that will require states to expand their
Medicaid rolls by 2014. The majority of justices likened the penalty for not obtaining health
insurance to a tax. “Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to
pass upon its wisdom or fairness,†wrote Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. (quoted in Liptak
2012:A1). The Medicaid expansion was upheld by the Court, but states would be permitted to keep
their current federal money for Medicaid while refusing to expand the program. The Court ruled
that states could decide whether to go along with the expansion without penalties to their existing
Medicaid payments (Liptak 2012).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 10.3: US Healthcare Analysis
Despite public approval of ACA, since coming into office, President Trump repeatedly
characterized ACA as an expensive disaster, promising to repeal and replace it. When the
Republican-led Congress failed to pass an ACA repeal bill in October 2017, Trump issued two
executive orders. First, he asked the U.S. Department of Labor to study how to make it easier for
small businesses and individuals to buy health insurance through nationwide association health
across state lines. The order also allowed consumers to buy short-term policies that don’t comply
with ACA’s protections for those with preexisting conditions. Second, he ended CSR payments to
health insurers (discussed earlier in “Health Care Reform—State Reformâ€). The GOP’s 2018 tax
bill included a provision to repeal the individual mandate that requires most Americans to carry a
minimum level of health coverage. The mandate was intended to share the risk of health coverage
among healthy and unhealthy Americans. Without the mandate, young, healthy Americans are
unlikely to purchase health insurance, increasing the average cost for those who do (Silvers 2017).
No comprehensive replacement for the program has been offered by the president or congressional
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leaders.
Children’s Health Insurance Program
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was adopted in 1997 as an amendment to the
Social Security Act, Title XXI. The program is administered under the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services. CHIP enables states to implement their own children’s health insurance
programs for uninsured low-income children 18 years old or younger and targets the children of
working parents or grandparents. The insurance plan pays for regular checkups, immunizations,
prescription medicines, and hospitalizations. CHIP uses comprehensive outreach materials and
educational programs to recruit eligible children and their families, especially through elementary
and secondary schools. In many states, as CHIP enrollments began, so did Medicaid enrollments.
Based on his concern that CHIP expansion would be too costly and would be a step toward
universal health coverage, in fall 2007, George W. Bush vetoed a House bill that proposed coverage
for more than 10 million children as well as expansion of coverage to include dental services, mental
illness, and pregnant women with low incomes. The expansion bill was supported by many state
governors whose states were running out of federal funds to support the program (Pear 2007).
CHIP advocates accused the president and his congressional supporters of placing their concerns for
socialized medicine over the necessary expansion of health coverage for children. With the House
unable to override the president’s veto, the administration promised to work with Congress on a bill
compromise.
In 2009, Obama signed the CHIP expansion bill. The measure provided coverage to an additional 4
million uninsured children over the next five years, raising the total number of uninsured children
covered by the program to 11 million. Obama praised the program for providing access to quality
affordable health care and emphasized the program’s importance during a time when families had
lost their jobs and health insurance. The bill was passed with partisan support from House and
Senate Democrats. The expansion was financed with a 62-cent-per-pack increase in the federal tax
on cigarettes.
Federal funds for the program ran out in September 2017, but the program was extended for six
years as part of a broader federal budget agreement in January 2018.
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State Prescription Drug Plans
U.S. laws prohibit the importation of drugs from other countries into the United States, unless their
safety is certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health and Human
Services Task Force on Drug Importation concluded that savings on foreign drugs were not as much
as consumers would expect and warned about significant risks to consumers purchasing imported
drugs. The report questioned the safety and effectiveness of foreign-made drugs.
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At the release of the report, consumer and health advocates weighed in, criticizing the task force for
failing to address the fundamental problem of providing affordable prescription drugs to those who
cannot afford them. Unlike other countries, in the United States drug prices are set according to
market demands. Critics often remark how U.S. patients subsidize the rest of the world’s drug
supply. The U.S. constitutes less than 5% of the world’s population but buys more than 50% of its
prescription drugs (Werth 2013).
Despite the federal restrictions, several states and cities permit their residents to buy prescription
drugs from other countries. Maine is the first state to allow residents to buy mail-order drugs from
accredited pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America objected to the legislation, arguing that access to the foreign drugs would jeopardize
patient safety. Supporters of the law argued that Maine residents would have access to affordable
medication.
In an effort to control drug costs for their residents, several states have offered innovative cost-
control models. More than 300,000 people in Pennsylvania are enrolled in the Pharmaceutical
Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) or in PACENET. For PACE, men and women 65
years or older can enroll in the program if they have annual incomes less than $23,500 for an
individual or $31,500 per couple. The program is financed largely from state lottery proceeds. The
program requires the use of low-cost generic drugs, which account for about 45% of all filled
prescriptions. PACE was established in 1984 with strong bipartisan support, but with the rising cost
of drugs and the increasing number of patients, lawmakers are looking for more cost-cutting
strategies (Pear 2002). Pennsylvania also supports PACENET, an assistance program available for
elderly individuals with household incomes between $14,500 and $23,500, or between $17,700 and
$31,500 per couple. PACE and PACENET members pay a $6 or $8 co-pay for generic
prescription drugs.
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© AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
On the 25th Anniversary of Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Sarah Cameron and others called
for the continued coverage of uninsured children and teens under the program. Cameron holds a photo of her two sons,
both covered under CHIP.
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Community-Based Health Centers
Community health centers (CHCs) were based on neighborhood health clinics first established
during the War on Poverty in the 1960s. CHCs are operated by a variety of nonprofit organizations,
health departments, religious and faith-based organizations, medical organizations, and schools.
Costs are covered through a variety of sources, ranging from private insurance to government
contracts or grants. These centers have been called the most effective tool to reduce health
disparities and can increase access to health care to the poor, racial and ethnic minorities, and other
underserved populations (Hargreaves, Arnold, and Blot 2006).
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) administers the network of nearly
1,400 nonprofit centers, sometimes also referred to as Federally Qualified Health Centers. These
centers provide comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care to medically
underserved communities and vulnerable populations. Health centers are located in every state, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. In 2016, more
than 23 million people were served at these centers. It is estimated that 1 of out every 13 people
relies on an HRSA-funded clinic for primary care (HRSA 2017).
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The Erie Family Health Center, based in Chicago, Illinois, serves more than 70,000 medical
patients each year (Erie Family Health Center 2017). The clinic was established in 1957 by
volunteer physicians with a mission of health care as a right, not a privilege. The clinic serves
patients at 13 sites across the city, including several large primary care facilities and school-based
health centers and a freestanding teen health provider. Almost 80% of its patients are Hispanics,
54% are served in Spanish, and 68% are female. Eighty-three percent come from households with
incomes below the federal poverty line.
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
NOT-SO-FOREIGN MODELS OF HEALTH CARE
Opponents of health care reform equated Obama’s plan to “socialized medicine,†believing that
increasing government control of health care is intrusive and restrictive. Journalist T. R. Reid
(2009) describes the term socialized medicine as a powerful political weapon, first used in 1947
to disparage President Truman’s national health care proposal. But, as Reid explains, the
argument against socialized medicine is flawed. First, most national health care systems are not
socialized. Many countries provide universal health care using private doctors, hospitals, and
insurance plans. In fact, there is no single health care system in the world that is exclusively
government owned and operated. Second, the United States already has socialized medicine,
government-run medicine, in the form of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Medicare system.
As Reid (2009) explains, “We’re like no other country, because the United States maintains so
many separate systems for separate classes of people†(p. 21). In his 2009 book The Healing of
America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, Reid identifies the four
separate systems of health care in the United States:
1. Bismarck model. For most working Americans under 65 years of age, health care
coverage is similar to the health systems in Germany, France, and Japan. Under this
model, the worker and the employer share the cost of health insurance premiums.
2. Beveridge model. Native Americans, military personnel, and veterans are covered under
health care systems much like Great Britain and Cuba. Care is provided by doctors who
are government employees working in government-owned clinics and hospitals. Patients
who use this system never receive a medical bill.
3. National health insurance model. Americans over the age of 65 are covered under
Medicare, a system similar to the Canadian health system. Most health care providers are
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private, but the payer is a single government-run insurance program that every citizen pays
into.
4. Out-of-pocket model. Americans without a health insurance policy are no different from
citizens in poor countries such as Cambodia or parts of rural China or India. If medical
care is available, individuals have to pay the bill out of their own pocket. Care is often
available from emergency rooms or community-based free clinics.
In his analysis of these different models of care, Reid (2009) concludes that no system is
perfect. Health care reform debates are taking place in other countries.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
VICTORIA HALE
John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation—See more at
http://www.macfound.org/fellows/781/#sthash.Vh2F6fC8.dpuf
Victoria Hale combined her pharmaceutical background with a mission to reduce health inequities. She currently
leads Medicines360.
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In 2005, Victoria Hale was named by Esquire magazine as its businesswoman of the year. She
is the director and founder of the Institute for OneWorld Health, the first nonprofit
pharmaceutical company in the United States.
Hale was working as an analyst for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research and then at Genentech (a biotechnology firm) when she first
envisioned her company. Her position in the pharmaceutical industry allowed her to see how
drugs were being set aside simply because they were not making enough money. The industry
dedicates less than 10% of its total research and development budget to eradicating diseases of
the developing world, which account for 90% of the world’s total infections (Heffernan 2005).
Of the more than 1,500 drugs marketed worldwide between 1974 and 2004, only 21, or 1.3%,
were used to treat diseases of the developing world (Buse 2006).
She established OneWorld Health to accomplish what she believed the industry should be
doing—investing in the development and distribution of drugs that could be used to eradicate
diseases in the developing world. Says Hale, “We deliberately chose neglected diseases that
others were not working on. . . . There has been little research done on these diseases, and
limited money for research or development. We don’t choose projects because money is
available, we choose projects and then we go find funding†(quoted in Roth 2006:2).
Hale’s strategy was simple. She searched for drugs whose patents had expired or were not being
used because of low profit margins. The first drug OneWorld Health invested in was
paromomycin, an antibiotic that cures a parasitic disease called visceral leishmaniasis, also
known as black fever or kala-azar. The disease afflicts half a million people annually worldwide,
particularly in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, and Sudan. Hale discovered that the
development of paromomycin had been shelved before its clinical trials were completed. After
continuing and completing clinical trials with the drug, Hale found a company, Gland Pharma,
based in Hyderabad, India, that agreed to produce paromomycin and sell it for $10 per full
course of treatment, affordable for the poor people of India.
The use of paromomycin was approved in India in late 2006. The government publicly
announced its goal of eradicating the disease by 2010. Eradication dates were also set in
Bangladesh and Nepal for 2015. After dealing with the initial skepticism of the pharmaceutical
industry and its executives, Hale’s OneWorld Health has been heralded as an innovative,
socially minded organization. Hale’s work will continue: “You can’t take care of all two billion
of the world’s poorest poor at one time. But you can go disease by disease and determine which
one you can succeed with†(quoted in Roth 2006:2). OneWorld Health is working on three
additional drugs—for malaria (the most severe parasitic disease), diarrhea (the number-two
killer of children in the developing world), and soil-transmitted hookworm infection (nearly 2
billion people have active infections).
In 2009, Hale founded Medicines360. The organization’s mission is to “address unmet needs
392
of women by developing innovative, affordable, and sustainable medical solutions,†beginning
with access to birth control (Medicines360 2014). In 2011, OneWorld Health became an
affiliate organization with PATH, an international nonprofit organization committed to health
equity and health solutions.
Under the ACA, a five-year $11 billion fund was established for the operation, expansion, and
construction of 300 new health centers and the renovation of 600 clinics. The program ran out of
funds in September 2017.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
MEDICINE
Courtesy of Matthew Peters
Matthew Peters
Matthew Peters—Class of 2013
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minors: Biology, Chemistry
All U.S. physicians complete four years of undergraduate school, four years of medical school,
393
and three to eight years in an internship or residency program depending on their specialty.
Although no specific undergraduate major is required, all students must complete prerequisite
coursework in biology, chemistry, physics, English, mathematics, and the social sciences
(sociology) and humanities. Applicants must also submit letters of recommendation, Medical
College Admission Test scores, and evidence of volunteer or service experience in a health care
setting (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014.
When he started his undergraduate program, Matthew Peters knew that he wanted to be a
doctor but didn’t know anything about sociology. But after taking two sociology courses,
Matthew decided to become a Sociology major while remaining on his prerequisite track for
medical school. According to Matthew,
Sociology in many ways is what brought me to medicine. To my knowledge, there are not many physician-
sociologists, but I believe that is beginning to change, primarily because our country is currently engaged in big
conversations about the future of healthcare in our country, from the social determinants of health to health equity.
On the patient-care side of things, I believe that my sociological imagination makes me a more aware, sensitive, and
thoughtful physician. Although it is easy to become caught up in the science of medicine, my “soci-brain†(as my wife
puts it) has a tendency to make me pull back, think about a patient’s social context, then use that perspective to shape
the encounter and care of the patient.
Through his Sociology program, Matthew completed a summer internship at a federally
funded community health center. The experience was invaluable:
Although my tasks as an intern were not always traditional sociological work, the position really opened my eyes to
the experiences of various disadvantaged populations as I began to see the disparities they face to receive fair and equal
care. Working with large homeless, immigrant, and recently released convict populations challenged me to rethink my
idealistic views of medicine in our country, while also realizing that my draw to medicine isn’t simply a fascination or
interest; it’s a vocation and a mission.
“Do what excites you—even if you do not immediately see how it connects to sociology. Sure,
there are ‘traditional’ sociology careers that are great for some, but do not let yourself feel
locked into something that you are not enthusiastic about,†says Matthew. “That is one of the
best things about sociology—it helps us to be aware of the boxes that contain us in everyday life
and step outside of them. Sociology is more than a skill set; it is a way of thinking that I believe
can make you more successful in any field.â€
CHAPTER REVIEW
10.1 Describe the social determinants of health.
A sociological perspective addresses the social determinants of health. Research
continues to demonstrate the relationship between the individual and society and the
structural effects on health: how our health is affected by our social position, work,
families, education, and wealth and poverty.
10.2 Explain the three measures of epidemiology.
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Epidemiology is the study of the patterns in the distribution and frequency of
sickness, injury, and death and the social factors that shape them. Epidemiologists
focus on communities and populations, addressing how health and illness experiences
are based on social factors such as gender, age, race, social class, and behavior.
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10.3 Describe how the different sociological perspectives address problems related to health and
medicine.
According to the functionalist perspective, illness has a legitimate place in society.
Conflict theorists believe that patterns of health and illness reflect systematic
inequalities based on ethnicity/race or gender and differences in power, values, and
interests. Although the medicalization of such conditions as premenstrual syndrome
and menopause may have been effective in treating women, various feminist theorists
see this trend as an extension of medicine’s control of women. From an
interactionist’s perspective, health, illness, and medical responses are socially
constructed and maintained.
10.4 Identify the relationship between education and health.
Researchers suggest that education helps individuals choose and practice a healthier
lifestyle regarding diet, exercise, and other health choices. Highly educated men and
women are likely to visit their primary physicians more often and regularly and may
be more willing to use new medical technologies or medicines. Educated parents will
transmit their healthier lifestyle to their children.
10.5 Summarize the different models of health care in the United States.
There are four models of health care: (1) the Bismarck model, in which the worker
and the employer share the cost of health insurance premiums; (2) the Beveridge
model, in which care is provided by doctors who are government employees in
government-owned clinics and hospitals; (3) the national health insurance model, in
which every citizen pays into a single government-run insurance program; and (4)
the out-of-pocket model, in which patients pay for their care out of their own
pocket.
KEY TERMS
acute illnesses, 216
epidemiology, 214
fecundity, 215
fertility, 215
incidence rate, 216
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infant mortality, 215
medicalization, 219
morbidity, 216
mortality, 215
prevalence rate, 216
sick role, 217
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How is health examined from a sociological perspective?
2. How is illness functional in society? What behavior is expected from someone who is sick?
3. Explain from a conflict perspective how health inequalities are shaped by conflict and
competing interests between groups.
4. Using eating disorders as the basis for your answer, examine how illness and disease are
socially constructed.
5. Review the inequalities of health and health care access by gender, race/ethnicity, and social
class.
6. Why is the United States the last industrial country to adopt a national health care
program? Which sociological perspective(s) best explains why public and political support for
health care reform has been difficult to achieve?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
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OUR SOCIAL AND
PHYSICAL WORLDS
PART
III
Drug abuse and criminal behavior are usually perceived as personal troubles. Both are
considered deviant behavior, deviating from the normal expectation of not abusing drugs or
engaging in criminal activity. We tend to believe that someone turns to drug use or criminal
activity because of some personal defect, individual failure, or weakness. Yet both can be
defined as public issues, emerging from the social structure and threatening the quality of
human life.
Drug abuse and crime are the subject and focus of extensive scholarly research attempting to
understand the extent and origins of both. Both problems also receive global attention,
including from governments and public agencies monitoring and combating drug abuse and
crime in their part of the world. These problems will be discussed in Chapters 12 and 13.
In the last three chapters of Part III, we will review social problems that affect our physical and
natural worlds—problems related to urbanization (Chapter 14), the environment (Chapter 15),
and war and terrorism (Chapter 16).
Although these issues involve our physical and natural worlds, both have definite human
connections—humans cause these problems or experience consequences as a result of them.
Environmentalist Paul Hawken (1993) explained, “Human activity is part of the natural world,
in the largest sense, but human activity ignores the means-and-ends, give-and-take factors that
are inherent in any maturing ecosystem†(p. 26). “Starting a war is a very bad idea,†wrote New
York Times columnist Paul Krugman (2014), “but it keeps happening anyway.â€
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11
THE MEDIA
Media Library
CHAPTER 11 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE CORE CONCEPTS
SAGE Core Concepts 11.1: Media, Technology, and Social Movements
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 11.2: The Role of Facebook in Society
AP News Clips 11.3: Women in Egypt’s Media
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
11.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to
the media.
11.2 Discuss social problems related to the media including loss of privacy, the digital divide,
and media trustworthiness.
11.3 Identify policies and movements that relate to media consumption and consumer
protection.
Imagine that you wake up tomorrow in a sort of “Twilight Zone†parallel society where everything is the
same except that media do not exist: no television, no movies, no radio, no recorded music, no computers, no
Internet, no books or magazines or newspapers.
—Croteau and Hoynes (2000:5)
What would your life be like without the media? Without communication, and the media to
communicate with, there would be no society. The term media is the plural of medium, derived from
the Latin word medias, which means middle. A medium is a method of communication—television,
telephone, cable, Internet, radio, or print—between (or in the middle of) a sender and a receiver.
But taken all together, the media, as defined by David Croteau and William Hoynes (2000), are
the “different technological processes that facilitate communication between the sender of the
message and the receiver of that message†(p. 7).
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Communication is a basic social activity (Seymour-Ure 1974). It is impossible not to communicate
and not to come in contact with the media. Today’s college students are described as “digital
natives†who are technology dependent and capable of accessing information instantly and using
many technological devices for everyday living and communication (Black 2010). Take a moment
and inventory the number of devices you own—cell phone, laptop, desktop, e-reader, iPod, digital
camera? It is estimated that by the age of 21, Millennials have averaged 10,000 hours playing video
games, 2,000 hours watching television, 10,000 hours on the cell phone, and have sent or read
200,000 e-mails (Barnes, Marateo, and Ferris 2007).
What Does It Mean to Me?
For at least a week, monitor your own media usage. How many hours of television do you watch?
How many hours are you on the Internet and on your phone? Would it be possible for you to live a
day without media?
The media reflect “the evolution of a nation that has increasingly seized on the need and desire for
more leisure time†(Alexander and Hanson 1995:i). Technological developments have increased our
range of media choices, from the growing number of broadcast and cable channels to the ever-
increasing number of Internet websites. New technologies have also increased our viewing control of
and access to the media. For example, technology allows us to choose where and when we want to
see a recent film. Are you taking a long road trip? You can download your favorite movie to your
notebook or your phone and watch it on the road. Need to access your e-mail? You can check e-
mail with a wireless connection in your classroom or with your phone from nearly any location. In
fact, u cn comnC8 w/yr F W txt msg A3 (translation: You can communicate with your friends with
text messaging anytime, anywhere, anyplace). As Croteau and Hoynes (2001) observed, “We
navigate through a vast mass media environment unprecedented in human history†(p. 3).
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PREMIUM VIDEO
SAGE Core Concepts 11.1: Media, Technology, and Social Movements
401
Yet the media have been blamed for creating and promoting social problems and accused of being a
problem themselves. Media critics have expressed concern about the highly controlled process by
which the images that we see are conceived, produced, and disseminated by media conglomerates.
Social researchers and policy makers have identified the unequal advantage some social groups have
over others in our increasingly high-tech media environment. Are we losing our individual rights
and privacy for the sake of increasing connectivity? Before we review the media and their related
social problems, we first examine the media from a sociological perspective.
What Does It Mean to Me?
The digital equivalent of hanging out can be found on social networking sites such as Facebook and
Snapchat. These social media sites provide opportunities for personal expression and connection.
How do these sites provide a way to connect with others? Do they improve your relationships with
others? Why or why not?
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE MEDIA
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists examine the structural relationship between the media and other social institutions.
Even before the content is created, political, economic, and social realities set the stage for media
content. The media are shaped by the social and economic conditions of American life and by
society’s beliefs about the nature of men and women and the nature of society (Peterson 1981). The
first American printing press arrived in Boston along with a group of Puritans fleeing England in
1638. The press became an instrument of religion and government, used to print a freeman’s oath
that presented the conditions of citizenship in this new country, as well as an almanac and a book of
hymns (Peterson 1981).
Samir Hussein / Getty Images
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An estimated 18.6 million U.S. households watched television coverage of the 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and
Kate Middleton. In addition to network and cable television programming, the ceremony was streamed live online via
Facebook, Yahoo, and Hulu. iPad and iPhone apps also allowed fans to follow the royal nuptials.
Through electronic and print messages, the media continue to frame our understandings about our
lives, our nation, and our world. The media serve as a link between individuals, communities, and
nations. They help create a collective consciousness, a term used by Émile Durkheim to describe the
set of shared norms and beliefs in a society. The mass media provide people with a sense of
connection that few other institutions can offer.
The Internet has emerged as an important political tool for communication and organization.
Millennial activists, like leaders and members of Black Lives Matter, rely on social media for
recruitment and mobilization (Taylor 2016). Paul Mason (2013) observed that social media has
enabled these activists “to outwit the police, to beam their message into the newsrooms of global
media, and above all to assert a cool, cutting-edge identity†(pp. 76–77).
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John Moore/Getty Images
Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter were credited with helping organize Egyptian protestors during the
2011 Arab Spring.
Live media events, such as the Olympics, the Super Bowl, or the Oscars, are community-building
events. People gather in groups to watch, talk about what they see, and share the sense that they are
watching something special (Schudson 1986). News events captured by the media, such as the 2015
U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and the 2017
Las Vegas shooting connect a nation and even the world.
In particular, television has contributed to a corresponding nationalization of politics and issues,
taking local or regional events and turning them into national debates. Socially and politically, the
media make our world smaller. Thanks to various forms of social media, the world watched as
millions of Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square in 2011 demanding the overthrow of the regime
of President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak resigned after 18 days of demonstrations. Facebook and
Twitter are credited with unifying protestors and ultimately shaping the political debate.
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The media have been accused of creating serious dysfunctions and social problems in society. For
example, research has documented the link between viewing of media violence and the development
of aggression, particularly among children who watch dramatic violence on television and film.
Television has been called the “other parent†or the “black box,†accused of draining the life and
intelligence out of its young viewers. Popular media culture has been accused of undermining our
educational system and subverting traditional literacy (Postman 1989). E. Alison Holman and her
colleagues (2014) presented evidence on how “widespread media coverage extends the boundaries of
local disasters, transmitting their impact beyond the directly exposed populations and turning them
into collective traumas†(p. 93). They discovered that repeated exposure to media coverage of the
2013 Boston Marathon bombing was related to higher levels of acute stress among non-Boston
residents. Similar patterns of collective trauma were observed after the Oklahoma City bombing and
the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
Conflict Perspective
The media, according to Noam Chomsky (1989), are like any other business. The fundamental
principle in American media is to attract an audience to sell to advertisers. Yes, you read that
correctly. Commercial television and radio programming depend on advertising revenue, and in
turn, the networks promise that you, the consumer audience, will buy the advertisers’ products. “The
market model of the media is based on the ability of a network to deliver audiences to these
advertisers†(Croteau and Hoynes 2001:6).
In the United States, media organizations are likely to be part of larger conglomerates where profit
making is the most important goal (Ball-Rokeach and Cantor 1986). Since the very beginning of
mass communications, ideas, information, and profit have mixed. The first books printed in the
colonies may have been devoted to religion, but the printers made money (Porter 1981). The media,
according to conflict theorists, can be fully understood only when we learn who controls them.
One of the clearest, and some say most problematic, trends in the media is the increasing
consolidation of ownership. The corporate media play a major role in managing consumer demand,
producing messages that support corporate capitalism, and promoting political events and social
issues (Kellner 1995). In 1984, more than 50 corporations controlled most of our newspapers,
magazines, broadcasting, books, and movies. By 2004, Ben Bagdikian was arguing that there were
five media giants. The top five entertainment multinational conglomerates controlling the media for
2011 are listed in Table 11.1. These companies are truly multimedia corporations, producing
movies, books, magazines, newspapers, television programming, music, videos, toys, and theme
parks in the global marketplace. Under this increasing media consolidation, women- and minority-
owned broadcasting has declined. People of color own only 3% of commercial television stations
(Wade 2008).
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TABLE 11.1 â– Five Largest Entertainment Companies
Source: Adapted from CNN Money 2011.
Miller (2002) warned that the most corrosive influence of media conglomerates was their impact on
journalism. Journalism has traditionally been referred to as the fourth estate, an independent
institutional source of political and social power that monitors the actions of other powerful
institutions such as politics, economics, and religion. However, conflict theorists remind us that
someone is in charge of the fourth estate. Those who control the media are able to manipulate what
we see, read, and hear. The media, serving the interest of interlocking state and corporate powers,
frame messages in a way that supports the ruling elite and limits the variety of messages that we
read, see, and hear (Chomsky 1989).
Edward Jay Epstein (1981) revealed that what we consider news is not the product of chance events;
rather, “it is the result of decisions made within a news organization†(p. 119). He explained that the
crucial decisions on what constitutes news—what will and won’t be covered—are made not by the
journalists but by executives of the news organization. Although the public expects news reporters to
act like independent fair-minded professionals, reporters are employees of corporations that control
their hiring, firing, and daily management (Bagdikian 1997). News executives are in control of the
selection and deployment of specific reporters, the expenditure of time and resources for gathering
the news, and the allocation of space for the presentation of news (Epstein 1981). And because they
are economically motivated, news organizations are mindful of their audiences’ preferences and try
405
to cater to those preferences as much as possible (Baron 2006). The corporate takeover of news
media has shifted its business model from news to entertainment.
Regina Branton and Johanna Dunaway (2008) concluded that audience preferences and newspaper
profit motives result in differences between English and Spanish news coverage of immigration in
the United States. Results of Branton and Dunaway’s 2008 study show that Spanish-language news
outlets generated a larger volume of immigration coverage than English-language outlets. On the
other hand, English-language news media were more likely to focus on negative aspects of
immigration than were Spanish-language media outlets. Both patterns, according to the researchers,
are motivated by profit and the desire to satisfy their different target audiences. Branton and
Dunaway (2008) suggested that conflicting media coverage may even contribute to the differences
in immigration attitudes between Anglos and Latinos.
Feminist Perspective
Douglas Kellner (1995) wrote that the media represent “a contested terrain, reproducing on the
cultural level the fundamental conflicts within society†(p. 101). Feminist theorists attempt to
understand how the media represent and devalue women and minorities. This perspective examines
how the media either use stereotypes disparaging women and minorities or completely exclude them
from media images (Eschholz, Bufkin, and Long 2002).
One of the most important lessons young children learn is expected gender roles, learning masculine
versus feminine behaviors. Although these lessons are taught by parents and teachers, a significant
source of cultural gendered messages is television programs (Powell and Abels 2002). Regular
exposure to television’s stereotypical gender roles has been associated with young children having
more stereotypical beliefs about masculine and feminine characteristics and activities (Signorielli and
Lears 1992). In his analysis of children’s programming, Mark Barner (1999) found that women are
typically portrayed in passive roles as housewives, waitresses, and secretaries, whereas men are seen
in active roles as construction workers or doctors. Rivadeneyra and Ward (2005) argued, “If women
are seldom portrayed as problem solvers, heroines, and working mothers, and if men are rarely
depicted as nurturant and sensitive, viewers’ own self-conceptions, aspirations and gender ideologies
may become equally constrained†(p. 454).
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Feminist scholarship demonstrates that the media undermine women, especially those who
challenge traditional gender roles (Gibson 2009). In her analysis of the coverage of female athletes,
Mary Jo Kane (2011) wrote, “Study after study has revealed that newspaper and TV coverage
around the globe routinely and systematically focuses on the athletic exploits for male athletes while
offering hypersexualized images of their female counterparts.†Women are more likely to be
portrayed in ways that emphasize their femininity rather than their athletic prowess. When Corey
Cogdell-Unrein won a gold medal for women’s trap shooting in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games,
406
some media outlets simply identified her as the wife of Chicago Bears lineman Mitch Unrein,
ignoring details of her trap-shooting career and her Olympic Games achievement. Kane (2011)
concluded that “media images that emphasize femininity/sexuality actually suppress interest in, not
to mention respect for, women’s sports.â€
Researchers have identified how female political candidates receive different attention from their
male counterparts. News reports focus on political women’s physical appearance, lifestyle, and
family life rather than on campaign issues and how women are the targets of negative coverage
regarding their lack of experience and knowledge (Wasburn and Wasburn 2011). Coverage about a
female candidate’s political positions will feature women’s topics such as abortion, child care, or
education as opposed to men’s issues such as the economy or national security. Philo Wasburn and
Mara Wasburn (2011), in their analysis of media coverage of Governor Sarah Palin’s vice
presidential campaign, concluded that “with respect to the coverage of political women, the political
culture of America’s commercial media remained largely unchanged through decades of election
cycles†(p. 1039). Although there was more coverage of Palin than Joe Biden, the Democratic vice
presidential candidate, Palin was objectified by the media and treated as a sex object through
references to her beauty queen background, her appearance, and her wardrobe. There was frequent
mention of her lack of national and global political experience, and policy coverage was focused on
her take on women’s issues.
Interactionist Perspective
In what they tell us and what they choose not to tell us, the media define our social world (McNair
1998). The interactionist perspective focuses on the symbols and messages of the media and how
the media come to define our “reality.†It might be best to view the media, as Michael Gurevitch
and Mark Levy (1985) suggested, as “a site on which various social groups, institutions, and
ideologies struggle over the definition and construction of social reality†(p. 9).
©iStock.com/BasSlabbers
Female political candidates receive different media attention from their male counterparts. News reports focus on political
women’s physical appearance, fashion, and family life rather than on campaign issues.
The mass media become the authority at any given moment for “what is true and what is false, what
407
is reality and what is fantasy, what is important and what is trivial†(Bagdikian 1997:xliv). The mass
media define what events are newsworthy. The first criterion is proximity; events happening close
are more newsworthy than those happening at a greater distance. Second, deviation is an important
criterion. Events that can be reported as disruptions (natural disasters, unexpected deaths, murders),
deviations from cultural or social norms of behavior (especially sexual, e.g., philandering clergy or
politicians), and lifestyle deviance (alternative lifestyle reports) make the news (Galtung and Ruge
1973).
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Sociologist Herbert Gans (1979) explained that the news isn’t about just anyone; it is usually about
“knowns.†Women and men identified by their position in government or their fame and fortune are
automatically newsworthy. Knowns are elites in all walks of life, but especially from politics, the
entertainment industry, and sports. Incumbent presidents appear in the news most often. The
president is the only individual whose routine activities are noteworthy. (When was the last time
that a news crew followed your every move?) In recent years, “celebutantes†(daughters from wealthy
or famous families), such as the Kardashian sisters, have been deemed newsworthy by the media,
with their every move and fumble chronicled.
One of the biggest news stories of the late 20th century was the death of Princess Diana. The facts
and circumstances of her 1997 death and the fairy-tale life that preceded it conformed to all the
criteria of newsworthiness. Although it occurred in France, her death involved cultural proximity:
Princess Diana was a worldwide celebrity. The nonstop coverage of her life and death began as a
story of celebrity fascination but ended as an international tragedy (McNair 1998). Shortly after
Princess Diana’s death, Mother Teresa, a renowned humanitarian, died. Although Mother Teresa’s
death was a news story, it never got the same attention and coverage as the death of Princess Diana
did. As journalist Daniel Schorr (1998) said, the difference between the two women’s lives was “the
difference between a noble life well lived and a media image well cultivated. . . . Mother Teresa was
celebrated, but was not a celebrity†(p. 15).
The mass media play a large role in shaping public agendas by influencing what people think about
(Shaw and McCombs 1997) and, ultimately, what people consider a social problem (Altheide
1997). David Altheide (1997) described the news media as part of the “problem-generating
machine†produced by an entertainment-oriented media industry. The news informs the public, but
its message is also intended to serve as entertainment, an opportunity for voyeurism, and a “quick
fix†rather than providing an understanding of the underlying social causes of the problem.
Altheide (1997) argued that the fear pervasive in American society is mostly produced through
messages presented by the news media. The disproportionate coverage of crime and violence in the
news media affects readers and viewers (Glassner 1997). Especially in the case of violent crime
coverage, the public is misled to overestimate the prevalence of crime and their chances of
victimization (Roberts et al. 2002). Despite evidence that Americans have a comparative advantage
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in regard to diseases, accidents, nutrition, medical care, and life expectancy, American women and
men perceive themselves to be at greater risk than do their counterparts elsewhere and express fears
about this (Altheide 1997). In a national poll, respondents were asked why they believe the country
has a serious crime problem. About 76% said they had seen serious crime in the media, whereas only
22% said they had had a personal experience with crime (Glassner 1997).
For a summary of sociological perspectives on the media, see Table 11.2.
TABLE 11.2 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: The Media
What Does It Mean to Me?
From an interactionist’s perspective, how does the media define what is newsworthy? Is there a way
to alter the media’s influence?
THE MEDIA AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Loss of Privacy
Erving Goffman (1959) theorized that individuals practice impression management, creating a
409
favorable impression of themselves to others. He argued that we maintain a distinction between a
public self (performing on a front stage for the benefit of others) and a more private self (more
natural and comfortable on the backstage). However, the advent of social media has increasingly
blurred the lines between public and private. “Before our children can walk or talk, we teach them to
share. So it is no wonder that we have flocked to social media, a platform based on sharing, to share
everything from our birth dates to films of our child’s birth,†said Julie Brill, commissioner of the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (quoted in Naoum 2012).
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S MEDIA FOUNDATION
The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) is an international network of
women journalists promoting the status of women in news media. The IWMF (2018) believes
that “news media worldwide are not truly free and representative without the equal voice of
women.†The foundation supports women through global education programs and grants and
conducts research on the status of women journalists, documenting the dangers faced by
women working in news media. As stated in its 2011–2012 report, “Through pioneering
programs and opportunities for women journalists, the IWMF effects change in newsrooms.
We empower women journalists with the training, support and network they need to become
leaders in the news industry, and we promote freedom of the press by recognizing brave
reporters who speak out on global issues†(IWMF 2013:1).
Each year, the IWMF honors several women journalists with the Courage in Journalism
Award. In 2017, Hadeel al-Yamani was recognized as the first female Al Jazeera Arabic
correspondent in Yemen. She was appointed to the position when she was 21 years old. al-
Yamani is quoted as saying how the bloodshed she’s witnessed during the civil war in her
country motivates her to cover the human side of the conflict. “Sometimes it is easier for me to
delve into certain areas inaccessible by men. I’m able to cover stories that male journalists
cannot.†Women, according to al-Yamani, “can covey the humanitarian reality to the entire
world†(IWMF 2017).
In 2011, IWMF released an international study of women in the news media, based on survey
data collected from 522 news companies in 59 nations. IWMF researchers concluded that
women are marginalized within the profession, with significant gender stratification in news
organizations and newsrooms in several countries and world regions. Although the writers of
the report offered no recommendations about how to resolve the underrepresentation of
410
women in news media, the report does provide “comprehensive data on which to make a clear
determination about where women currently fit into the news-making operation or in the
decision-making or ownership structure of their companies†(IWMF 2011:7).
For example, 73% of the top management jobs were occupied by men compared to 27%
occupied by women. Top management jobs included publishers, chief executive officers, and
chief financial officers of news organizations. A higher representation of women in top
management was found in Eastern Europe and Nordic Europe. In the United States, women
occupied less than a fourth of top management positions. Among senior professionals, women
represented 41% of the news gathering, editing, and writing positions. Senior professionals
include senior writers, anchors, and producers. Among the ranks of news reporters, women
held 36% of the jobs compared with 64% by men (IWMF 2011).
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And in some cases you do not have a choice in what information you share. Documents leaked by
former National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor Edward Snowden in 2013 confirmed that
for years the agency was intercepting phone calls and online communications of American citizens.
Under its PRISM program, the agency was gathering data on non-U.S. citizens through its access
of Apple, Facebook, Google, Skype, and Yahoo servers. Although the agency was accused of
violating the U.S. Constitution and several federal privacy laws, General Keith Alexander (then
chief of the NSA) defended the program, citing the PATRIOT Act. According to Alexander, the
agency’s phone and Internet surveillance programs were essential to preventing terrorist acts around
the world (Bash and Cohen 2013). In 2014, a British court ruled that electronic mass surveillance
under programs like PRISM were legal and had enough safeguards to protect individuals’ online
privacy (Scott 2014).
Websites routinely track your personal information and online activities (Nguyen 2011). Websites
and online applications use cookies to track information about users. Cookies allow website
operators to see your browsing history, store your log-in information, and help personalize sites by
remembering your preferences and searches from previous visits. Although many Internet users have
learned how to disable cookies through control panels, most Internet users do not do so. Facebook
and other social media networks also maintain and track personal data about their users, including
where the users live and users’ personal interests and activities. Many Facebook applications
(including Zynga, the creator of the online game FarmVille) were transmitting Facebook user IDs
to advertisers and Internet tracking firms. Facebook and Zynga both pledge not to share personally
identifiable information with third parties (Nguyen 2011).
Facebook’s privacy policies have been scrutinized by media watch groups, politicians, and
consumers. In 2011, Facebook settled Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it deceived
users by telling them that it would keep their Facebook information private, although it was sharing
411
users’ personal data with others. According to its settlement, Facebook must not make any deceptive
privacy claims, is required to get consumers’ approval before making changes in data sharing, and is
required to obtain assessments of its privacy practices by independent, third-party auditors through
2031 (FTC 2011). In 2018, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a political firm hired by
President Trump’s election campaign, collected information on about 87 million Facebook users in
the United States and the United Kingdom without their permission and may have used the
information to influence voters in their countries (Held 2018). Cambridge Analytica claims that it
deleted all the retrieved data and never used any of the data on behalf of the Trump campaign.
Facebook instituted immediate restrictions on data access by third-party developers and apps. Mark
Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, confirmed that the company was trying to protect user
information, but “we didn’t focus enough on preventing abuse and thinking through how people
could use these tools to do harm†(quoted in Held 2018).
The Digital Haves and Have-Nots
The term digital divide was first used in the mid-1990s by policy leaders and social scientists
concerned about the emerging split between those with and those without access to computers and
the Internet. It is more than just a first-world problem of access. The term refers to the gap
separating individuals who have access to new forms of technology from those who do not. In
addition, others have identified a gap between those who can effectively use new information and
communication tools and those who cannot (Gunkel 2003). Despite the increasing diffusion of
computers and an overall increase in Internet use, a deep divide remains “between those who possess
the resources, education and skills to reap the benefits from the technology and those who do notâ€
(Servon 2002:4).
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IN FOCUS
THE BOUNDARY-LESS WORKPLACE
Wendy Boswell and Julie Olson-Buchanan (2007) described how communication technology
(CT) has changed the media we use to communicate with each other in the workplace, but also
how it has significantly changed our connection to work. CT allows for greater flexibility in
managing one’s work, but it may give employees little opportunity to disengage from work. We
don’t think much about responding to a voice message after dinner or checking e-mail
messages while on vacation. Although employees may not be officially on the job, CT has
“enabled an anytime-anywhere connectedness of employees to their work†(Fenner and Renn
2004:184).
412
Teresa Sullivan (2014) cautioned against the merging of work versus non-work time. Referring
to Lewis Coser’s (1974) concept of greedy institutions, she highlighted how different
institutions compete for the limited energies and time commitments of individuals. The
workplace has become our primary greedy institution via CT. “Continuous connectivity allows
employers to reach into the after hours of their employees’ lives, extending the workday beyond
its traditional limits. And globalization, which extends a firm’s reach across many time zones,
requires more workers to be alert and responsive for more hours of the day†(Sullivan 2014:4).
CT use during non-work time has been positively correlated to an employee’s workload and
career ambitions. Remaining connected is viewed as a convenient means to keep up with one’s
work and as a way to get ahead in one’s organization or occupation (Boswell and Olson-
Buchanan 2007). This high level of connectivity could be described as an expectation of our
work. At the same time, CT use during non-working hours has been linked to higher
employee stress levels, job burnout, and lower job satisfaction (Fonner and Roloff 2010;
Leonardi, Treem, and Jackson 2010). In their 2014 study, Kevin Wright and his colleagues
discovered that as the number of outside-of-work hours increased via CT, perceptions of work
versus life conflict increased. Individuals noted how their personal life suffered or their personal
needs were neglected because of checking in on their work online.
Daimler, the German automobile corporation, announced that its employees could take
advantage of a Mail on Holiday program. The program automatically deletes all incoming e-
mail while an employee is on vacation. The sender is notified that the e-mail has not been
received and then is asked to contact a substitute. How does this program alter expectations of
the employee?
The divide is also a global phenomenon. As of 2016, 47% of the world’s population is on the
Internet (Taylor 2016). According to data collected by the Central Intelligence Agency (2015),
China and the European Union have the most Internet users—more than 300 million users each
(refer to Figure 11.1). Developing non-Western countries such as those in Africa, South America,
and South Asia have fewer than a million Internet users.
FIGURE 11.1 â– Top 10 Internet Users in 2014, by Country
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Source: Central Intelligence Agency 2017.
The Internet has been described as both empowering and discriminating, enabling residents in some
countries to pursue a better life while others are left behind (Guillén and Suárez 2005). Cross-
national research has linked the diffusion of Internet technology with developed service sector
economies, an educated population, economic development, and significant research and
development investment. Users in less developed countries have basic access problems: economic
(cost of basic necessities vs. cost of Internet access), technological (varying ability of local networks),
and geographical (limited access outside urban areas) aspects (Vartanova 2002). Mainly because of
income differentials, the Internet is beyond the reach of global citizens. For example, in countries
with low human development, the average annual income is about $1,200 (in U.S. dollars); the cost
of owning a cheap personal computer would take more than half of that income, about $700
(United Nations Development Programme 2001; Drori 2004). On the other hand, pay-as-you-go
plans have made cellular phones more affordable. Nearly 40% of all adults living in poverty are
cellular-only users compared with 21% of adults with higher incomes (Blumberg et al. 2011). Some
states also provide cellular phone subsidies for low-income residents.
The digital divide implies a chain of causality. Access and ability to use computers and Internet
technology help improve one’s social and economic well-being; lack of access to computers and the
Internet harms one’s life chances. But it is also true that those who are already marginalized in
society have fewer opportunities to access and use computers and the Internet (Warschauer 2003).
Among persons with incomes of $30,000 or less, only 79% have broadband access compared with
98% of individuals with incomes more than $75,000. The U.S. Census Bureau (2010) projected that
the average consumer would spend almost $1,000 for media usage (e.g., television, Internet, cell
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phone, and radio) in 2010. In contrast, in 2004, the average consumer spent $770. Data also
indicate that rates of broadband usage are higher among individuals with a bachelor’s degree or
more (97%) than among those less than a high school degree (65%) (Pew Research Center 2018).
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The digital divide is a symptom of a larger social problem in the United States: social inequality
based on income, educational attainment, and ethnicity/race. Data from the Pew Research Center
(2017) reveal how Internet use is divided along demographic and socioeconomic lines. Internet use
is higher among Whites and Blacks than among Hispanics. Higher Internet use is positively
associated with higher incomes and educational attainment. (Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social
Problems feature for more information about the digital divide.) However, as digital access has
improved, researchers have noted an overall increase in the use of media for time wasting among
youth and continuing disparities. As reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Rideout, Foehr,
and Roberts 2010), youth whose parents attained a high school degree or less spend more time per
day exposed to media (television, music, video games, and movies) than youth whose parents have a
college degree.
Internet access is not the only issue facing underserved communities. Wendy Lazarus and Francisco
Mora (2000) identified four online content barriers. The greatest barrier is the lack of locally
relevant information. They discovered that low-income users seek practical and relevant information
that affects their daily lives, on topics such as education (adult high school degree programs), family
(low-cost child care), finances (news on public benefits, consumer information), health (local clinics,
low-cost insurance resources), and personal enrichment (foreign-language newspapers). In some
instances, information may be available in printed documents, but these may be difficult to locate or
obtain. General information may exist online, but it might not be suitable for low-income
audiences. For example, online housing services might list high-end rental units rather than lower-
rent housing.
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
INTERNET USE
In 1995, only 14% of U.S. adults had Internet access, mostly through dial-up modem
connections, according to the Pew Research Center. Forty-two percent had never heard of
the Internet. Two decades later, 87% of U.S. adults were using the Internet for either
work or personal use (Fox and Rainie 2014).
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Figures 11.2 through 11.4 present 2000 and 2016 U.S. data on Internet use based on
three demographic variables—age, education, and income.
How would you describe the change in Internet use between the two reported years?
Which demographic characteristic has had the most increase in level of use?
Fifty-three percent of Internet users say it would be very hard to give up the Internet (Fox
and Rainie 2014). What do you think? Could you give up Internet access in some or all
parts of your life?
FIGURE 11.2 â– Internet Use by Educational Attainment, 2000 and 2016 (Percentage
of Adults Age 18+ Reported)
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
FIGURE 11.3 â– Internet Use by Income Level, 2000 and 2016 (Percentage of Adults
Age 18+ Reported)
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Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
FIGURE 11.4 â– Internet Use by Age, 2000 and 2016 (Percentage of Adults Age 18+
Reported)
Source: Pew Research Center 2017.
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The second barrier identified by Lazarus and Mora (2000) is the lack of information at a basic
literacy level. According to the authors, a number of online tutorials that review computer program
and Internet skills are written at a higher level of literacy. The third barrier is the need for content
for non-English speakers. There is little government material (e.g., on voting, Medicare, or taxes)
translated into Spanish. The fourth barrier is a need for more websites that reflect diverse cultural
heritages and practices.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Is there a digital divide among students at your school? What advantages are there for students who
own and use laptops and/or smartphones? What do you think is the minimum equipment
requirement for staying digitally connected or for being technologically literate?
The Death of the Newspaper?
As the fourth estate, journalism serves as a watchdog for government activities. Independent
reporters, especially through print media, keep the public informed about political issues and
activities. According to Robert McChesney and John Nichols (2010), citizens should have “media
that regard the state secret as an assault to popular governance, that watch the politically and
economically powerful with a suspicious eye, [and] that recognize as their duty the informing and
enlightening of citizens†(p. 2).
In our increasingly digital age, newspaper readership has declined while the use of online news
sources has increased. When asked what was the most helpful media source to learn about the 2016
presidential election, surveyed Americans identified cable news (24%), social media (14%) and local
television (14%). Local newspapers (print) were only identified by 3% of the sample; national papers
(print) were identified by 2% (Gottfried et al. 2016).
This transition has caused concern among those in the newspaper industry: owners and employees.
According to the Newspaper Association of America (2012), in 2000, there were 1,468 daily papers.
By 2014, the number of daily papers had declined to 1,331 (Pew Research Center 2016). Nearly
every large paper has fewer pages and fewer articles; some have eliminated entire sections (Pérez-
Peña 2009). Although some argue that news is more accessible via the Internet, the quality and
content of the news is changing. According to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in
Journalism (Mitchell and Rosenstiel 2012), the decline in print newspapers will mean “less coverage
of government in suburbs or remote cities, pulling back on state government coverage, the
decimation of specialty beats like science or religion, fewer feature stories and elimination of many
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weekday feature sections.â€
So what will take the place of your local newspaper? Several online companies have created
hyperlocal news sites that allow readers to create their own neighborhood-focused news site—with
stories, information, and advertising catering to their specific interests and needs. But some think
that online news services are not the same. In a 2009 Senate hearing on journalism, Senator
Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) testified, “As local newspapers disappear, we lose an important check on
local governments, state governments, the federal government, elected officials, corporations, school
districts, businesses, individuals and more. Newspapers and the investigative journalism they provide
are essential in a free, democratic society and must be preserved†(quoted in Tucker 2009:8).
Driving Distracted
In 2007, a 53-year-old male driver was checking his e-mail while driving and caused a five-car
pileup on Interstate 5 outside of Seattle, Washington. Driving while texting (DWT) is part of the
growing phenomenon of distracted driving. Texting, along with the use of cell phones while driving,
has been attributed to at least 1.3 million traffic accidents. Cell phone use causes more crashes than
texting—1.3 million versus 200,000. According to the National Safety Council (2010), 28% of all
traffic accidents involve talking and texting on cell phones. Drivers who use a cell phone—handheld
or hands-free—are four times more likely to be involved in an accident.
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The Seattle incident led to the passage of two laws, the first of their kind in the nation. One law
prohibits driving while texting, and the second prohibits the use of a handheld phone while driving.
Both laws are secondary enforcement laws, which means a driver will be ticketed for the offense
only if pulled over for another driving violation. Public support for laws banning cell phone use
while driving is gaining momentum (National Safety Council 2010). Since 2009, 47 states have
enacted bans on texting while driving, and 38 states have enacted total cell phone bans for young
drivers. Fourteen states ban the use of handheld devices while driving (Governors Highway Safety
Association 2017).
In an executive order signed by President Obama, federal employees are not allowed to text while
driving. The federal government also plans to ban texting by interstate bus drivers and truckers. The
use of cell phones may be limited to emergency situations.
Do You Trust the News Media?
Whether we are reading an online news story, watching local news, or checking a Twitter feed, we
rely on news reporters for most if not all our information about our community and the world.
There was a level of implicit trust in the relationship between news media and media consumer, but
now there is increasing doubt about the accuracy and reliability of what we read and hear. In 1985,
55% of those surveyed felt that the news media usually get their facts straight, while 34% believed
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that news organizations usually provide inaccurate reports. In 2011, the percentages had switched:
25% of those surveyed felt that the news media get the facts straight, and 66% believed their stories
are often inaccurate (Pew Research Center 2011).
Media observers maintain that each time President Trump embraces the term “fake news†to
respond to critical news stories about his presidency, he undermines our trust in the free press.
Other world leaders have adopted Trump’s strategy, invoking fake news as a response to negative
press (Erlanger 2017). Steven Erlanger (2017) reminds us, “The problem, of course, is that fake
news is a real problem.â€
©iStock.com/sshepard
Texting, along with the general use of cell phones while driving, contributes to at least 1.3 million traffic accidents per year.
p.250
The rise of social media has allowed anyone to create and disseminate misinformation, with a larger
audience as a target. Although Americans rely heavily on social media for their news, in 2017, just
5% of web-using adults reported having a lot of trust in the information they receive (Barthel and
Mitchell 2017). Local news organizations received the highest level of trust. Although fake news or
information has been associated with the Internet for a while, “it is only in the last two years that
organised, systematic misinformation campaigns, often linked to governments, have emerged, and
their effect on democracy and society scrutinized†(Titcomb and Carson 2017). During the 2016
presidential election, Russia released false information about Hillary Clinton and her campaign in
an effort to sway the presidential election. According to Erlanger (2017), “The presence of fake
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news in the globalized stream of media content helps blur the line with traditional, fact-based
news.â€
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 11.2: The Role of Facebook in Society
The public debate about whether U.S. media are liberal or conservative has also sensitized the public
to how the media could be manipulative or subjective in content. In addition, people are increasingly
distrustful of the large multinational corporations that own and control most of the news media
(Project for Excellence in Journalism 2004). Approximately 70% of Americans believe news
organizations tend to favor one side rather than treat all sides fairly (Barthel and Mitchell 2017).
Yet, according to a 2016 Pew survey, the majority of Americans believe that it is the news media’s
responsibility to fact check political candidates and campaigns (Barthel, Gottfried, and Lu 2016).
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Communications Commission and the Telecommunications
Act of 1996
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established by the Communications Act of
1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio,
television, wire, satellite, and cable. As an independent agency, the FCC oversees violations of
federal law and policies and reports directly to the U.S. Congress (FCC 2018. Under current FCC
rules, radio stations and broadcast television channels cannot air indecent language or material that
shows or describes sexual or excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children may be
watching. In response to a violation, the FCC may issue a warning, revoke a station’s license, or
impose a monetary fine. In the entire history of the FCC, the commission has fined only two
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television stations for indecency (K. Kelly, Clark, and Kulman 2004).
Introduced a week before the Super Bowl in 2004, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act was
designed to amend the Communications Act of 1934. The bipartisan bill increased penalties to
$500,000 for violating FCC regulations. Broadcasters could also lose their license if they violated
indecency standards three times. The act would not apply to cable television programming. In the
case of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, each CBS station that aired the program could have
been fined as much as $27,500. After the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show (and Janet Jackson’s
wardrobe malfunction), television broadcasters began to police their programming more closely.
Through the FCC, the public can file complaints on a range of issues: billing disputes, wireless
questions, telephone company advertising practices, telephone slamming (switching a consumer’s
telephone service without permission), unsolicited telephone marketing calls, and indecency and
obscenity complaints. Along with the FTC, the FCC is enforcing the National Do Not Call
Registry, which went into effect in October 2002. At the end of FY2016, the registry contained
more than 226 million actively registered phone numbers.
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The first major overhaul of the original 1934 act, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, was seen as
a way to encourage competition in the communications industry. The law specified how local
telephone carriers may compete, how and under what circumstances local exchange carriers can
provide long-distance services, and ways to deregulate cable television rates. Also included in the act
are provisions to make telecommunications more accessible to disabled Americans. The
Communications Decency Act makes it a crime to knowingly convey pornography over the Internet
on a website accessible to children.
Although the act was presented as an opportunity to encourage competition and break down media
monopolies, industry watchers noted that the 1996 law swept away the minimal consumer and
diversity protections of the original 1934 act. The 1996 act reduced competition and allowed more
cooperation between media giants. Data reviewed in an earlier section of this chapter seem to
support this. The new law permitted some of the largest industries—those not active in creating
media content, such as telephone companies—to enter the television, radio, and cable industry. New
industries joined older media companies to form interlocking partnerships, rather than become
independent competitors as the act’s supporters had predicted.
In 2015, the FCC adopted strong net neutrality rules based on Title II of the Communications Act.
Net neutrality means that the Internet enables and protects free speech, preserving an open Internet.
Under these rules, broadband service was defined as a utility, no different from water or electrical
service. As a utility, broadband service would be accessible to everyone. The rules prohibited
Internet providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, from blocking websites or any content that they
may disagree with or bundling services or “fast lane†access for premium customers. In 2017, the
FCC voted to repeal the net neutrality rules. The repeal was led by FCC director Ajit Pai, a former
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associate general counsel for Verizon Communications, Inc. A coalition of state attorneys general
announced that they would sue the FCC to prohibit the repeal. In March 2018, Washington
became the first state to pass a law protecting net neutrality for its residents. Several other states are
considering net neutrality bills.
Who Is Watching the Media?
Facebook and Twitter executives revealed that hundreds of Russian-linked accounts were discovered
in 2017, where fictional people posing as U.S. activists attempted to influence the outcome of the
2016 presidential election. RT and Sputnik, Russia’s state-funded foreign media networks were
described as “the most effective propaganda operation of the 21st century so far†(Jankowicz 2017).
While Facebook announced that it was hiring new staff members to clean up bots (computer
programs that act like humans) and monitor illegal activity on its site, lawmakers are encouraging
strict government oversight of social media sites.
Several organizations attempt to improve and protect the integrity of journalists in print, electronic,
and Internet media. The Project for Excellence in Journalism (2004) began as an initiative by
journalists to clarify and raise the standards of American journalism. The project serves as a research
organization, conducting an annual review of local television news, producing a series of content
studies on press performance, and offering educational programs for journalists. The project also
provides information to the public about what to expect from the press, how to write a letter to the
editor, and how to talk to the news media. In 2014, the project was renamed the Pew Research
Center’s Journalism Project.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 11.3: Women in Egypt’s Media
Another organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists, is an independent, nonprofit
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organization promoting press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the
news without fear of reprisal. The organization documents attacks on the press worldwide,
including the number of journalists killed, missing, or imprisoned. For 2017, the committee
reported that 34 journalists were killed; international journalists covering conflict and dangerous
situations in Iraq, Syria, and Mexico were at higher risk (Committee to Protect Journalists 2017).
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
GEENA DAVIS
Splash News/Newscom
Geena Davis visits a class of second graders to promote lessons on gender stereotypes in the media. Davis leads the
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, operating as advocate for more girls and women in television and films,
in front of and behind the camera.
Responding to the lack of female characters in television and motion picture programming,
Geena Davis founded the See Jane program to promote and advance gender balance in media
for children 11 years of age or younger. Davis (2006) explained that after she gave birth to her
daughter and began to watch preschool programs, she did a study of her own, examining the
characters in her daughter’s videos, and she realized that the programs were dominated by male
characters. The See Jane program was renamed the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in
Media.
Where the Girls Aren’t was the first research project sponsored by the program, using content
analysis to examine 101 top-grossing G-rated animated and live action films from 1990 to
2004 (J. Kelly and Smith 2006). Researchers Joe Kelly and Stacy Smith found that in these
films, there were three male characters for every one female character. Twenty-three percent of
speaking characters were female, whereas more than 80% of film narrators were male. This
gender imbalance can affect children’s gender development, reinforcing children’s stereotypical
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attitudes and beliefs about gender. According to Davis, “By making it common for our
youngest children to see everywhere a balance of active and complex male and female
characters, girls and boys will grow up to empathize with and care more about each other’s
stories†(quoted in J. Kelly and Smith 2006:9–10).
In the institute’s 2014 study, Stacy Smith, Marc Choueiti, and Katherine Pieper examined
female characters in the most popular films released between January 2010 and May 2013 in 11
countries. Their study confirms the continuing absence of women and girls on screen. Based on
a total of 5,799 speaking or named characters on screen, only 31% were female, a gender ratio
of 2.24 males to every 1 female. Only 23.3% of the films had a girl or woman as the lead or co-
lead in the story. When females were shown, they were more than two times likely to be shown
in sexually revealing clothing (24.8% vs. 9.4%), thin (38.5% vs. 15.7%), or partially or fully
naked (24.2% vs. 11.5%) than males (Smith, Choueiti, and Pieper 2014). Smith and her
colleagues highlighted the important relationship between filmmaker gender and character
gender—films with at least one female director or writer have a higher percentage of
girls/women on the screen than those without—and concluded that the industry needs more
female directors and writers to improve the number of female lead characters.
Certainly Davis’s experience on the film Thelma and Louise helped her recognize the impact of
a strong female character on women and men. She acknowledges the effect of media images on
adults, but her concern is on the impact on children. “We know that kids learn their value by
seeing themselves reflected in the culture. They say, ‘I see myself! I must matter. I must
count.’†Her goal is for media portrayals to be “normal and natural for children to see worlds
and characters—be they Martians or dinosaurs or talking toaster ovens—that are roughly half
female and male. Just like the real world that our kids live in†(Davis 2006).
In addition to ongoing research, the institute continues to educate parents and child
professionals about the importance of gender equity in the media. The program’s goal is to see
females constituting half of all characters in media made for young children.
Media Literacy and Digital Literacy
Scholars, policy makers, and educators continue to make efforts to promote media literacy, the
ability to understand, analyze, and critique media content. It is about shifting from the role of a
passive receiver of media to an active critical receiver and includes asking several questions: For
whom is this media message intended? Who wants to reach this audience, and why? From whose
perspective is this story being told? Whose voices are being heard, and whose are absent? (Media
Awareness Network 2004). This type of literacy develops one’s abilities to examine the social and
commercial context of media messages as well as the consequences of those messages (Considine,
Horton, and Moorman 2009). Media literacy is important for the development of democracy and
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active citizenship, lifelong learning, and economic and labor competitiveness (Livingstone, Van
Couvering, and Thumin 2004).
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The definition of literacy has expanded to include digital media. Digital literacy refers to an
individual’s ability to appropriately use digital tools and skills to identify, manage, evaluate, analyze,
and synthesize digital sources; to construct new knowledge; and to communicate with others
(Martin 2006). Elizabeth Thoman and Tessa Jolls (2004) observed how “teens today have no
memory of life without television; kindergarteners know only a world with cell phones, laptops,
instant messaging, and movies on DVD. To ignore the media-rich environment they bring with
them to school is to shortchange them for life.â€
Since 2007, the European Commission has promoted a set of guiding principles and initiatives
promoting media literacy, with a focus on digital media and technology, claiming,
The rapid rise of digital technology and its increasing use in business, education and cultural activities has offered new
challenges as well as new opportunities. With the nature of media changing and the volume of information increasing, it is
important to ensure that individuals have the necessary skills to be able to use and make informed decisions about media and
digital technologies. (European Commission 2014)
There is no U.S. federal initiative regarding media literacy.
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Jenny Grinblo—Class of 2011
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Global Citizenship
Software developers write the hidden codes for your word processing program or for your
favorite app on your phone. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014) describes software
developers as the “creative minds†behind computer programming. To enter this occupational
field, you will need a bachelor’s degree, usually in a related area like Computer Science. You
should also have strong computer programming skills. There are two types of software
developers: applications software developers, who design computer applications such as games,
and systems software developers, who create operating systems for computers (U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics 2014).
Since graduating in 2011, Sociology alum Jenny Grinblo has worked in a mobile app agency in
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London, where she leads the User Experience and Design Team. She describes her job as an
intersection of her internship (as a graphic designer in a local theatre) and her Sociology
degree. Jenny helps “build digital products which balance client business needs and end-user
needs well, and are useful, easy to use, and provide a positive experience.†She adds,
A large part of my work is being able to ignite empathy among our team and clients, so that they can “walk in the
shoes†of our apps’ end users. I frequently employ ethnographic interviewing, surveys, and do the equivalent of
literature reviews of relevant resources. I’ve also given talks and run workshops to teach people how to employ
qualitative research methods in order to uncover people’s needs and find patterns in individual stories.
Jenny received the majority of her career advice from networking (in person and via Twitter)
and online resources (job postings, LinkedIn, and blogs). To current majors considering their
future employment, Jenny says,
I would advise Sociology majors to look beyond their immediate academic activities and make a list of the skills and
interests they possess, for example: writing, understanding people, gathering a lot of information and making sense of
it, etc., and look for intersections between those interests and skills, rather than trying to apply a portion of them due
to a perceived lack of options. I was lucky to meet a mentor who suggested that the combination of my skills could be
applied in the User Experience field, but there might be other fields out there that can allow Sociology majors to build
on their core skills and interests in a similar way.
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CHAPTER REVIEW
11.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to the
media.
Functionalists examine the structural relationship between the media and other social
institutions that affect content, including the social and economic conditions of
American life and society’s beliefs about the nature of men, women, and society.
Conflict theorists believe that the media can be fully understood only when we learn
who controls them. The media frame messages in a way that supports the ruling elite
and limits the variety of messages that we read, see, and hear. Feminist theorists
attempt to understand how the media represent and devalue women and minorities.
They examine how the media either use stereotypes disparaging women and
minorities or completely exclude them. The interactionist perspective focuses on the
symbols and messages of the media and how the media come to define our social
reality.
11.2 Discuss social problems related to the media including loss of privacy, the digital divide, and
media trustworthiness.
In the digital age, there is growing concern over privacy rights, especially on the
Internet. Many websites track personal information. Others, including Facebook,
have been accused of sharing user information without user consent. The digital
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divide refers to the growing social, economic, and political split between those with
and without access to computers and the Internet. When people do not have the
ability to access content online, they are excluded from a growing part of public life.
Although media bias has been a concern for many years, doubts about accuracy and
reliability continue to grow. False accusations of “fake news†undermine American
trust in the free press.
11.3 Identify policies and movements that relate to media consumption and consumer protection.
The Federal Communications Commission is charged with regulating interstate and
international communications radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It monitors
federal laws pertaining to indecent language, depictions of sexuality, and the Do Not
Call Registry. Media literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, and critique media
content. As media consumption continues to grow, scholars, policy makers, and
educators are focusing on media literacy as an essential skill for the 21st century.
KEY TERMS
digital divide, 244
digital literacy, 253
impression management, 242
media, 237
media literacy, 252
social media, 238
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Explain how the media serve to unite and divide members of society.
2. How is control over the content of the media (according to conflict and feminist
perspectives) problematic? What groups are in conflict?
3. From an interactionist perspective, examine how Carrie Fisher’s death met the three
criteria for newsworthiness.
4. How is one’s access to media and technology related to one’s life chances?
5. Which sociological perspective could best explain how trust is earned by new agencies and
outlets? Do you trust the news media? Why or why not?
6. Define what is meant by media literacy. How does media literacy mitigate the harmful
effects of the media?
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12
ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
Media Library
CHAPTER 12 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 12.1: Drinking Culture in the Workplace
AP News Clips 12.2: Federal Marijuana Reaction
AP News Clips 12.3: US Opioid Epidemic
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
12.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives account for alcohol and drug
problems.
12.2 Define drug abuse and drug addiction.
12.3 Describe the impact of drug use and discuss issues of treatment and punishment.
12.4 Evaluate political and social efforts to mitigate the negative effects of drug use.
President Richard Nixon first declared the War on Drugs in 1971. Some refer to it as a war with
“no rules, no boundaries, no end†(PBS 2000). Since the mid-1980s, the United States has adopted
a series of aggressive law enforcement strategies and criminal justice policies aimed at reducing and
punishing drug abuse (Fellner 2000). Changes in federal law require all sentenced federal offenders
to serve at least 87% of their court-imposed sentences. Many drug offenders are subject to
mandatory minimum sentences based on the type and quantity of drugs involved in their arrest
(Scalia 2001). According to the most recent Uniform Crime Report (Federal Bureau of
Investigation 2017), 1,572,579 drug arrests were made in 2016. Although some consider the large
number of drug arrests a good sign, critics charge that mandatory sentencing denies drug users what
they really need: access to treatment. Tougher sentencing has failed to decrease the availability of
drugs and has failed to reduce illicit drug use. And some say that the drug war’s greatest legacy is the
increase in the prison population; since 1980, the number of drug offenders in federal prison has
increased by 21 times (Washington Post 2014).
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There seems to be no argument about the seriousness of the drug problem in the United States and
worldwide. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 27.1 million
Americans (or 9.4%) aged 12 or older reportedly were current users of illicit drugs other than
marijuana (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA] 2016). The
most widely produced and consumed illicit drug is cannabis, or marijuana. (Refer to Figure 12.1 for
illicit drug use among persons aged 12 years or older and Figure 12.2 for cannabis use by country.)
Over 15 million American adults abuse alcohol or are alcoholics (National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA] 2016). Globally, about 3.3 million deaths were attributed to
alcohol consumption (World Health Organization 2015).
FIGURE 12.1 â– Past-Month Illicit Drug Use (Top Five) Among Persons Aged 12 or
Older, by Drug, 2015
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 2016.
FIGURE 12.2 â– Annual Prevalence of Cannabis Use as a Percentage of the Population
Aged 15–64, Selected Countries, Estimates From 2016
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Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2017.
Although we might focus first on one drug user and his or her personal trouble with drugs, it
doesn’t take long to recognize how drug use affects the user’s family and friends, workplace or
school, and neighbors and community. Throughout this chapter, we will examine the social problem
of drug abuse, reviewing its extent, its social consequences, and our solutions. We begin first with a
look at how the sociological perspectives address the problem of drug abuse.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DRUG ABUSE
Biological and psychological theories attempt to explain how drug abuse is based on the individual.
Both perspectives assume that there is little a person can do to escape from his or her abuse: A
person’s abuse is genetic or inherited. Abuse may emerge from a biological or chemical
predisposition or from a personality or behavioral disorder. Such explanations also have
consequences for treatment. Programs focus on the individual, arguing that the abuser needs to be
“fixed.†Although both perspectives have been important in shaping our understanding of drug
abuse, these perspectives cannot explain the social or structural determinants of drug abuse. In this
next section, we will examine how sociological perspectives address the problems of drug abuse.
p.260
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists argue that society provides us with norms or guidelines on drug use. Cross-cultural
studies reveal that there is variation in the way people expect to behave when they drink. For
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example, violent behavior is associated with alcohol consumption in the United States, Great
Britain, and Australia; yet drinking behavior is described as “peaceful and harmonious†in
Mediterranean and South African countries (Social Issues Research Centre 1998).
p.261
A set of social norms identifies the appropriate use of drugs and alcohol. The use of prescription
drugs, as directed by a physician, is considered acceptable behavior. Prescription drugs alleviate pain,
reduce fevers, and curb infections. Alcohol in moderation may be routinely consumed with meals,
for celebration, or for health benefits. One glass of red wine a day has been shown to reduce one’s
risk of heart disease.
Yet society also provides norms regarding the excessive use of drugs. For example, college students
share the perception that excessive college drinking is a cultural norm (Butler 1993); this perception
is reinforced by the media and advertisers (Lederman et al. 2003). Aaron Brower (2002) argued that
binge drinking is determined by and is a product of the college environment. For example, because
of particular organization norms that support binge drinking, members of Greek social
organizations have higher rates of binge drinking when compared with other college students
(Chauvin 2012). Event-specific drinking (e.g., 21st birthday, spring break, and sports tailgating) is
promoted via shared norms and practices (Geisner et al. 2014). According to Brower (2002), unlike
alcoholics, college students are able to turn their willingness to binge drink on and off depending on
their circumstances (e.g., whether they have to study for an exam).
To explain drug abuse, functionalists identify a culture or the social structure as the cause. In
examining substance abuse among adolescents, researchers contend that peers may be the most
influential (Allen et al. 2003). Howard Kaplan, Steven Martin, and Cynthia Robbins (1984) wrote,
“The use of illicit drugs persists as part of ongoing peer subculture(s) which may endorse, if not
require, use of illicit drugs†(p. 271). Peer influence may be direct or indirect: Peers provide social
opportunities to engage in substance abuse, and peers shape attitudes toward substance abuse
(Leventhal and Cleary 1980; Prinstein and Wang 2005).
Émile Durkheim believed that under conditions of rapid cultural change, there would be an absence
of common social norms and controls, a state he called anomie. If people lack norms to control their
behavior, they are likely to pursue self- destructive behaviors such as alcohol abuse (Caetano, Clark,
and Tam 1998). During periods when individuals are socially isolated (such as moving to a new
neighborhood, experiencing a divorce, or starting a new school year), they may experience high
levels of stress or anxiety, which may lead to deviant behaviors, including drug abuse. Society can
also be the source of role strain—when an individual has insufficient resources to deal with
demanding social situations or circumstances. The strain occurs when the demands of one’s role
exceed one’s ability and resources to fulfill that role (Wheaton 1990). Illicit drug use or self-
medication can be perceived as an adaptive coping response to stress—people turn to drug use to
reduce their level of stress (Crutchfield and Gove 1984). For example, Shelly McGrath, Catherine
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Marcum, and Heith Copes (2012) documented that drug use was used as a coping strategy among
adult prisoners experiencing a sense of danger or stress during their incarceration.
Conflict Perspective
Although many drugs can be abused, conflict theorists argue that intentional decisions have been
made over which drugs are illegal and which ones are not. Powerful political and business interest
groups are able to manipulate our images of drugs and their users.
Economist Arthur Benavie (2009) explained how the War on Drugs in this country is defined by
subjective social, religious, and political positions. For example, drugs are classified by five
schedules, categories that define their susceptibility to abuse and medical application. Criminal
penalties are applied to the drugs in Schedules I and II, dangerous drugs with a high potential for
abuse. Benavie highlighted how the classification of these drugs is determined by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) rather than the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Surgeon General.
p.262
Encyclopædia Dramatica
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, cocaine was promoted as a medicinal ingredient to treat pain or coughing. Heroin
and opium were also used in over-the-counter treatments.
Our history of drug laws, concluded Benavie (2009), has little to do with objective information
about the effects or dangers of illicit drugs. Drug policy has been fueled by racial, ethnic, and
economic antagonisms. For example, heroin, opium, and marijuana were considered legal substances
in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but public opinion and law changed when their use was
linked to ethnic minorities and crime. Opium smoking, most associated with Chinese immigrants
brought here to work on the railroads, became the subject of intense antidrug efforts after
completion of the railroad system. At the same time, the oral consumption of opium, more
widespread among Whites, was never considered problematic (Reinarman and Levine 1997).
According to Benavie (2009), the War on Drugs is a crusade, fueled by a fear of social disorder and
disease, a perceived threat to our capitalistic economic structure, and a religious crusade against sin
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and vice.
Feminist Perspective
Theorists and practitioners in the field of alcohol and drug abuse have ignored the experiences
unique to women, ethnic groups, gay and lesbian populations, and other marginalized groups.
Women face unique social stigmatization as a result of their drug use and may also experience
discrimination as they attempt to receive treatment (Drug Policy Alliance 2003).
The scientific literature did not address women’s addiction until the 1970s. Specifically, there has
been a lack of sensitivity to the range of drug abuse experiences beyond the male or White
perspective. Early prevention and treatment models treated female abusers no differently than men
were treated, failing to provide comprehensive services for women such as prenatal and gynecologic
care, contraceptive counseling, job training, and abuse counseling (Roberts 1991). However, there is
increasing recognition of the importance of gender-specific and gender-sensitive treatment models,
including the development of separate women’s treatment programs. Female users have a variety of
different treatment and psychosocial needs, influenced by their backgrounds, experiences, and drug
problems. Most outpatient clinics do not provide child care, and many residential programs do not
admit children (Roberts 1991). Single, career-oriented women without children will have different
treatment needs and priorities than will single mothers or married mothers (National Clearinghouse
for Alcohol and Drug Information 2003a).
Data suggest that the dramatic increase in women’s imprisonment (refer to Chapter 13) is due
primarily to the prosecution of drug offenses, leading some researchers to characterize the War on
Drugs as the war on women (Bush-Baskette 1998). Katherine Beckett (1995) and Dorothy Roberts
(1991) described how women of color were unfairly targeted in the War on Drugs in the 1980s. As
crack cocaine use spread throughout the inner cities, prosecutors shifted their attention to drug use
among pregnant women, making drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy a crime. The approach
treated pregnant drug users as criminals and was “aimed at punishing rather than empowering
women who use drugs during their pregnancy†(Beckett 1995:589). As Beckett (1995) explained,
“Prosecutions of women for prenatal conduct thus create a gender specific system of punishment
and obscure the fact that male behavior, socio-economic conditions, and environmental pollutants
may also affect fetal health†(p. 588). Roberts (1991) argued that poor Black women are the primary
targets for prosecutors. Research indicates that African American women are about 10 times more
likely than are other women to be reported to civil authorities for drug use.
p.263
In the 1990s, federal drug legislation shifted to methamphetamine offenses, making some of the
penalties similar to crack cocaine offenses. Although methamphetamine convictions were last
among the five types of drugs women were convicted for in 1996 (10.3%), Stephanie Bush-Baskette
and Vivian Smith (2012) reported that by 2006, the number of methamphetamine convictions had
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doubled (23%). There was a 300% increase in the number of women convicted and sentenced for
methamphetamine offenses between 1996 and 2006. White women represented the largest
percentages of women incarcerated for methamphetamine. The majority of those women had little
or no prior criminal record.
Interactionist Perspective
Sociologists Edwin Sutherland and Howard Becker argued that deviant behavior, such as drug
abuse, is learned through others. Sutherland (1939) proposed the theory of differential association
to explain how we learn specific behaviors and norms from the groups we have contact with.
Deviance, explained Sutherland, is learned from people who engage in deviant behavior.
Researchers have confirmed the role of differential association with alcohol consumption and
prescription drug misuse (Watkins 2016). In his classic study “Becoming a Marijuana User,†Becker
(1963) demonstrated how a novice user is introduced to smoking marijuana by more experienced
users. Learning is the key in his study:
No one becomes a user without (1) learning to smoke the drug in a way which will produce real effects; (2) learning to
recognize the effects and connect them with drug use . . . ; and (3) learning to enjoy the sensations he perceives. (Becker
1963:58)
p.264
This perspective also addresses how individuals or groups are labeled abusers and how society
responds to them. For example, consider alcohol abuse among the Native American population.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are leading causes of mortality among Native Americans, and there
are disproportionately higher rates of alcohol-related crimes among Native Americans. Yet Malcolm
Holmes and Judith Antell (2001) argued that alcohol abuse and its related problems are not entirely
objective phenomena; they also involve interpretation and stigmatization of deviant behavior. One
persistent societal myth maintains that as a group, Native Americans have problems handling
alcohol. However, research indicates that factors such as demography (a young population) and
geography (rural Western environment) may explain high rates of alcohol-related problems in
Native American populations.
The authors highlighted the considerable variation in drinking patterns within and between tribal
communities; there is a large segment of the Native population that do not drink or are non–
problem drinkers (Hawkins and La Marr 2012). The social construction of the “drunken Indianâ€
stereotype links alcohol abuse to the perceived “weaker†cultural and individual characteristics of
Native Americans. Holmes and Antell (2001) explained, “The persistence of such myths in the
symbolic-moral universe of the dominant White culture, despite evidence to the contrary, suggests
that alcohol use by Native Americans still documents allegations of weak will and moral degeneracyâ€
(p. 154).
For a summary of these four sociological perspectives on drug abuse, see Table 12.1.
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TABLE 12.1 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Alcohol and Drug Abuse
WHAT IS DRUG ABUSE?
Drug abuse is the use of any drug or medication for a reason other than the one it was intended to
serve or in a manner or in quantities other than directed, which can lead to clinically significant
impairment or distress. Drug addiction refers to physical or psychological dependence on the drug
or medication. Although many drugs can be abused, three drugs will be reviewed in the following
section—alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana—along with rave or club drugs. Marijuana and club drugs
are considered illicit (illegal) drugs. Most of the information presented in this section is based on
data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP).
Alcohol
Alcohol is the most abused drug in the United States. Although the consumption of alcohol by itself
is not a social problem, the continuous and excessive use of alcohol can become problematic. Four
symptoms are associated with alcohol dependence or alcoholism: craving (a strong need to drink),
loss of control (not being able to stop drinking once drinking begins), physical dependence
(experiencing withdrawal symptoms), and tolerance (the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to
get “highâ€) (NIAAA 2003b). Alcohol use is related to a wide range of adverse health and social
438
consequences, both acute (traffic deaths or other injuries) and chronic (stroke, alcohol dependence,
liver damage) (NIAAA 2005).
National surveys reveal the differences in alcohol consumption by individual attributes, cultural
factors, and structural factors. For example, in 2013, current drinking (12 or more drinks in the past
year) among adults was highest for Whites and persons reporting two or more races. Heavy alcohol
use (five drinks on a single day at least once a month for adults) was highest among Native
Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders and Whites. Overall, alcohol consumption was lowest among
Asian, Hispanic, and Black adults and Asian and Black college students (SAMHSA 2014).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 12.1: Drinking Culture in the Workplace
Studies suggest that ethnic/racial groups have different sets of norms and values regulating drinking.
Whereas some groups exhibit low rates of problem drinking because their culture associates the use
of alcohol primarily with eating, social occasions, or rituals (Herd and Grube 1996), other
ethnic/racial groups may consider drinking as an activity separate from eating or ritual celebrations,
leading to higher rates of problem drinking. In an examination between first- and second-
generation Asian American adults, second-generation adults are at higher risk for alcohol use or
abuse. Some researchers attribute this higher risk to the process of acculturation—when individuals
from different cultures come together, practices and behaviors that are different from one’s own
group may be adopted or learned. Due to acculturation, second-generation Asian Americans begin
to develop drinking behaviors similar to their non-Asian peers (Iwamoto, Takamatsu, and
Castellanos 2012).
p.265
Although social class, occupational and social roles, and family history of alcohol use all play a role
in determining the drinking patterns of people in general, specific factors put women particularly at
439
risk (Collins and McNair 2003). Research indicates that a woman’s risk for drinking increases with
the experience of negative affective states, such as depression (Hesselbrock and Hesselbrock 1997)
or loneliness, and negative life events, such as physical or sexual abuse during childhood or
adulthood (Wilsnack et al. 1997). Other factors decrease women’s chances of developing alcohol
problems. Traditionally, women are socialized to abstain from alcohol use or to drink less than men
(Filmore et al. 1997). Women who do not participate in the labor force may have less access to
alcohol than men do (Wilsnack and Wilsnack 1992), and women’s roles as wife and mother may
also discourage alcohol intake (Leonard and Rothbard 1999).
What Does It Mean to Me?
How would you describe the drinking culture on your campus? Is alcohol consumption an
acceptable and normal part of college life? Why or why not?
Tobacco and Nicotine
Tobacco is the world’s number-one problem drug, killing more people than all other drugs
combined (Goode 2004). According to the World Health Organization (2014), if current smoking
patterns continued, by 2030, 8 million people per year worldwide would die of diseases caused by
cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoking is the most prevalent form of nicotine addiction, and tobacco
is the most frequently used addictive drug in the United States (National Clearinghouse for Alcohol
and Drug Information 2003b). Nicotine is both a stimulant and a sedative to the central nervous
system. An average cigarette contains about 10 milligrams of nicotine. Through inhaling the
cigarette smoke, the smoker takes in 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette. In 2015, 52 million
Americans (or 19.4%) reported current use of a tobacco product (SAMHSA 2016).
In the United States, the prevalence of smoking is highest among Native Americans and Alaska
Natives (40.1%), followed by persons who reported two or more races (31.2%), Whites (29.5%),
Blacks (27.3%), and Hispanics (21.9%) (SAMHSA 2014). Thirty-seven percent of young adults
aged 18 to 25 years were current smokers (SAMHSA 2014).
Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of cancer in the United States. It has
been linked to most cases of lung cancer in Europe and in the United States (Crispo et al. 2004).
Smoking has also been linked to other lung diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema,
and to cancers of the mouth, stomach, kidney, bladder, cervix, pancreas, and larynx. The overall
death rates from cancer are twice as high among smokers as nonsmokers (NIDA 1998). It is
estimated that more than 400,000 annual deaths are attributable to cigarette smoking in the United
States (American Lung Association 2006).
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Passive or secondhand smoke is a major source of indoor air contaminants. Nonsmokers exposed to
secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25% to 30%
and lung cancer by 20% to 30% (NIDA 2006). Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause about 3,000
lung cancer deaths per year and may contribute to as many as 34,000 deaths related to cardiovascular
disease in the United States (NIDA 1998; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]
2014a). More than 20% of the European Union population aged 15 years or older was exposed to
tobacco smoke indoors on a daily basis (Eurostat 2016).
p.266
Despite the persistent public health message that smoking is bad for your health, smoking among
teenagers has been on the rise since 1991 (Lewinsohn et al. 2000). In a study comparing adolescent
smokers with nonsmokers, adolescent smokers were found to have more stressful environments,
more academic problems, and poorer coping skills than nonsmokers have. Adolescent smoking has
also been associated with a number of environmental factors, such as disruptive home environment,
parental and peer smoking, low social support from family and friends, conflict with parents, and
stressful life events (Lewinsohn et al. 2000). About three out of four teen smokers will become adult
smokers (CDC 2014b).
E-cigarettes arrived on the U.S. market in 2007. The cigarettes are battery operated, turning
nicotine and other chemicals into a vapor. Smoking e-cigarettes is also referred to as vaping. As of
March 2018, the FDA had not reviewed clinical studies about the safety of e-cigarettes. The FDA
had not approved any e-cigarette product for therapeutic use or as a cessation aid. Concerns have
been raised about the appeal of the e-cigarettes to the teen market and how e-cigarette use could
lead to the use of combustible tobacco cigarettes among youth. In 2016, e-cigarettes were the most
commonly used tobacco product among high school (11.3%) and middle school (4.3%) students
(Jamal et al. 2017).
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, widely used by adolescents and young adults
(NIDA 2002). An estimated 182.5 million (3.8%) of the world’s population used cannabis at least
once during the past year (UNODC 2016). It is a favorite drug among youth and adolescents, with
use (at least once in a lifetime) estimated as high as 37% in some countries (UNODC 2006). The
major active chemical in marijuana is THC or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which causes the
mind-altering effects of the drug. THC is also the main active ingredient in oral medications used
to treat nausea in chemotherapy patients and to stimulate appetite in AIDS patients (ONDCP
2006).
According to the CDC, 38.4% of surveyed high school students and 49% of college students
reported lifetime use of marijuana. Longitudinal data show increases in marijuana use during the
1960s and 1970s, declines in the 1980s, and increasing use since the 1990s (NIDA 2002). In 2015,
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there were a reported 22.2 million current (past-month) users of the drug, or 8.3% of the population
(SAMHSA 2016).
Acute marijuana use can impair short-term memory, judgment, and other cognitive functions, as
well as a person’s coordination and balance, and it can increase heart rate. Chronic abuse of the drug
can lead to addiction, as well as increased risk of chronic cough, bronchitis, or emphysema.
Addictive use of the drug may interfere with family, school, or work activities. Smoking marijuana
increases the risk of lung cancer and cancer in other parts of the respiratory tract more than smoking
tobacco does (NIDA 2002). Marijuana smoke contains 50% to 70% more carcinogenic
hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke does (ONDCP 2006). Because marijuana users inhale more
deeply and hold their breath longer than cigarette smokers do, they are exposed to more
carcinogenic smoke than cigarette smokers are.
What Does It Mean to Me?
As of 2017, 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws legalizing marijuana in some form.
Opponents of these laws argue that marijuana is not a safe or benign substance, characterizing it as a
gateway drug to other more serious drug abuse. What do you think? Is marijuana a safe drug or not?
p.267
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
THE MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION MOVEMENT
Marijuana is grown in almost every country in the world, ranging from personal home
cultivation to large-scale farm and warehouse operations. In 2012, more than 5 tons of
cannabis were seized. The largest quantity was seized in the United States, which accounts for
over 60% of the seizures worldwide. The area with the second highest number of seizures was
Central and South America and the Caribbean (UNODC 2014).
The small South American country of Uruguay was the first in the world to legally regulate the
production, sale, and consumption of marijuana for adults. (Portugal was the first country to
decriminalize the use of all drugs. Norway decriminalized drugs at the end of 2017.) Beginning
in 2014, Uruguayans over the age of 18 have had legal access to marijuana through home
cultivation of up to 6 plants per household, membership clubs where 15 to 45 members can
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collectively grow up to 99 plants, or sales of up to 10 grams per week through licensed
pharmacies. The system is regulated through the Institute for Regulation and Control of
Cannabis (IRCCA) and includes educational and health programming for residents (Hetzer
2014). The 2012 legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington has been credited with
encouraging legalization efforts in other states and other countries.
In its 2014 report, the UNODC expressed concern regarding cannabis legalization in
Washington and Colorado. The organization warned, “While it is not yet clear how the market
will change, the commercialization of cannabis may also significantly affect drug-use behaviors.
Commercialization implies motivated selling, which can lead to directed advertisements that
promote and encourage consumption†(p. 43).
Since 2012, there has been no systematic data collection or assessment of the impact of
marijuana legalization. According to the Drug Policy Alliance (2016), “It is too early to draw
any line-in-the-sand conclusion about the effects of marijuana legislation. However,
preliminary reports suggest that the effects of legalization have either been positive or
negligible†(p. 3). Results from the Washington Healthy Youth Survey and the Healthy Kids
Colorado Survey, collected post-legalization, revealed no increase in the overall rate of
marijuana use among youth. Similar results were reported for Alaska and Oregon youth.
Marijuana tax revenues in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have all exceeded initial
revenue estimates.
Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, and other countries have expressed interest in changing their
marijuana laws, moving to some form of legalization. Economics is often cited as the
motivation for legalization.
Do you agree with the UNODC’s concern about the commercialization of marijuana? Why or
why not?
Opioids
In October 2017, President Donald Trump declared a public health emergency to deal with opioid
use. Opioids are a class of drugs used to reduce pain and include prescription drugs (e.g., oxycodone,
Vicodin, morphine, and methadone), fentanyl (a synthetic opioid pain reliever) and heroin (an
illegal opioid) (CDC 2017). Regular use, even prescribed by a physician, can lead to dependence,
and when misused, opioids can lead to overdose incidents and deaths (NIDA 2017). Trump
promised, “We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.â€
The CDC (2017) reported that from 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people died from drug
overdoses. Ninety-one Americans die each day from an opioid overdose. Almost 2 million
Americans abused or were dependent on prescription opioids in 2014. The amount of opioids sold
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to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. During the same time
period, deaths from prescription opioids more than quadrupled. The CDC estimated the economic
burden of prescription opioid misuse is $78.5 billion a year, which includes health care costs, lost
productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice (NIDA 2017).
The interactionist perspective asserts that certain individuals and groups are labeled as abusers and
this shapes how society, especially lawmakers, police, and medical providers, responds to them.
When opioid epidemics were presented as a problem among poor inner-city African Americans, the
public response was zero tolerance and severe punishment (imprisonment). In contrast, as the
current epidemic is perceived as a problem affecting White, middle-class individuals addicted to
prescription drugs, more humane responses (e.g., treatment and supervised injection facilities) have
been suggested (Drug Policy Alliance 2017). Department of Health and Human Services Secretary
Thomas Price (2017) announced five strategies to deal with this public health emergency:
improving access to treatment and recovery services, promoting use of overdose-reversing drugs,
strengthening our understanding of the epidemic through better public health surveillance,
providing support for cutting-edge research on pain and addiction, and advancing better practices
for pain management.
p.268
THE PROBLEMS OF DRUG ABUSE
Drug Use in the Workplace
Employers have always been concerned about the impact of substance abuse on their workers and
their businesses because drug use may undermine employee productivity, safety, and health (Frone
2004). It is estimated that 14 million U.S. workers meet the diagnostic criteria for substance
dependence (Jacobson and Sacco 2012). Drug abuse cost American businesses $120 billion in lost
productivity, due mainly to labor participation costs, participation in drug abuse treatment,
incarceration, and premature death (ONDCP 2014).
In their examination of occupational risk factors for drug abuse, Scott MacDonald, Samantha
Wells, and T. Cameron Wild (1999) found that problem drinking or drug use was linked to the
quality and organization of work, drinking subcultures at work, and the safety of the workplace.
Respondents reporting alcohol problems were more likely to have jobs involving repetitive tasks and
dangerous working conditions. Respondents with alcohol problems were also more likely to drink
with coworkers and experience some social pressure to drink. The same pattern was true for workers
with drug problems: They considered their jobs “boring†or repetitive, they identified their job as
dangerous, they experienced stress at work, or they were likely to be part of a drinking subculture at
work. Among all factors they identified, the presence of a drinking subculture at work was the
strongest risk factor for alcohol and drug abuse.
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By occupation, the highest rates of illicit drug use and heavy drinking were reported by construction
workers (15.6%), sales personnel (11.4%), and food preparation, wait staff, and bartenders (11.2%)
(U.S. Department of Labor 2014). Among employed adults, White, non-Hispanic males between
the ages of 18 and 25 who have less than a high school education are likely to report the highest
rates of heavy drinking and illicit drug use (U.S. Department of Labor 2003).
©Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Sarah Wilson (center) joins other activists and recovering drug uers at a New York City rally calling for bolder political
action to combat the opioid crisis.
Problem Drinking Among Teens and Young Adults
For 2016, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reported that the highest
prevalence of binge drinking (drinking five or more drinks within a few hours or within one sitting)
was for young adults aged 18 to 25 (38.4%). In contrast, the percentage of youth between the ages
of 12 and 17 years binge drinking was 4.9% (SAMSHA 2017). By the time they reach the eighth
grade, nearly 50% of U.S. adolescents report having had at least one drink, and more than 20%
report having been drunk (NIAAA 2003b). In 2015, the Monitoring the Future Survey (conducted
annually by the NIAAA) reported that 10% of 8th graders and 35% of 12th graders drank alcohol in
the past 30 days, and 5% of 8th graders and 17% of 12th graders binge drank during the past two
weeks (CDC 2016).
An international comparative study on drinking trends among 15- and 16-year-olds revealed that
teens in the United Kingdom were among those most likely to drink heavily and to experience
intoxication. In 2003, 52% of boys and 56% of girls reported binge drinking in the past 30 days
(Plant, Miller, and Plant 2005). From 1995 to 2003, although there was no significant increase in
the proportion of boys engaging in binge drinking, researchers observed a sharp increase in the
proportion of girls binge drinking since 1999. The rise in binge drinking among girls is consistent
with recent reports documenting the increase in heavy episodic or binge drinking among young
women in Britain. The majority of surveyed teens, 75%, reported that they had at some time “been
drunk†in 2003. Researchers concluded that U.K. teenagers drink in ways that are potentially
harmful and that binge drinking among U.K. teens is a matter of real concern (Plant et al. 2005).
p.269
445
Binge drinking among college students has been called a major U.S. public health concern (Clapp,
Shillington, and Segars 2000). (Refer to Figure 12.3 for a comparison of heavy drinking among
those enrolled full-time in college and those who are not. Drinking rates are consistently higher for
those enrolled full-time.) Henry Wechsler (1996) reported results from the 1996 Harvard School of
Public Health College Alcohol Study, highlighting how binge drinking had become widespread
among college students. In the Wechsler study, binge drinking was defined as five or more drinks in
a row one or more times during a two-week period for men and four or more drinks in a row one or
more times during a two-week period for women. The author explained that men, students younger
than 24, fraternity and sorority residents, Whites, students in athletics, and students who socialize
more are most likely to binge drink. On average, students who engaged in high-risk behaviors such
as illicit drug use, unsafe sexual activity, and cigarette smoking were more likely to be binge
drinkers. In contrast, students who were involved in community service, the arts, or studying were
less likely to be binge drinkers (Wechsler 1996).
FIGURE 12.3 ■Heavy Alcohol Use Among Adults Aged 18–22, by College Enrollment,
2002–2013
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 2014.
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REUTERS/Gerardo Garcia
Binge drinking among college students has been called a major U.S. public health concern. According to the 2016 National
Institute for Drug Use and Health, 38.4% of 18- to 25-year olds reported binge drinking during the year (SAMHSA 2017).
Although the demographic and social correlates of college drinking have been consistently identified
in many studies, attempts to explain the behavior through various sociological perspectives have
been limited. Most prevalent in the literature are theories that identify drinking as part of the social
learning process—theories that address the role of peer groups, students’ attitudes, and perceptions
as well as the social construction of drinking norms related to alcohol consumption. Similar social
learning theories have also been linked to substance abuse (Durkin, Wolfe, and Clark 2005).
Access to alcohol is also related to problem drinking. Weitzman et al. (2003) reported a positive
relationship between alcohol outlet density (number of bars and liquor stores near campus) and
frequent drinking (drinking on 10 or more occasions in the past 30 days), heavy drinking (five or
more drinks at an off-campus party), and drinking problems (self-reported).
The Task Force of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (2010)
concluded that 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-
related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes. About half a million students
between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured while under the influence of alcohol, and
more than 600,000 students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking. In addition,
the task force reports that 25% of college students report academic consequences (poor grades, poor
performance, missing classes) as a result of their drinking, and more than 150,000 develop an
alcohol-related health problem. Based on self-reports about their drinking, 31% of college students
meet the criteria for alcohol abuse, and 6% meet the criteria for alcohol dependence (Task Force of
the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2010).
Brower (2002) explained that there is no evidence that drinking in college leads to later-life
alcoholism or long-term alcohol abuse. He wrote, “Real life is a strong disincentive for the kind of
binge drinking that college students do†(Brower 2002:255). He suggested using the term episodic
high-risk drinking to describe more accurately how college students drink, that is, infrequently
drinking a large quantity of alcohol in a short period. Brower and other researchers have described a
“maturing out†of college drinking, shifting to moderate alcohol consumption with no associated
447
alcohol use problems. The maturing-out process usually coincides with life changes such as
employment, marriage, or a general shift to a conventional lifestyle.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is the drinking policy on your campus? Does your campus culture promote safe drinking?
What educational or service programs are provided for students who abuse alcohol?
Punishment or Treatment?
Stricter federal policies have increased the number of men and women serving jail or prison time for
drug-related offenses. As conflict and symbolic interaction theories suggest, drug laws are not
enforced equally, with certain groups being singled out. In 2012, about 75% of drug offenders in
federal prison were either African American (39%) or Hispanic (37%) (Taxy, Samuels, and Adams
2015). The majority of crack cocaine offenders were Black (88%). More than half of the cocaine
(54.2%) and marijuana (59%) offenders were Hispanic or Latino. Drug enforcement usually targets
urban and poor neighborhoods while ignoring drug use among middle- or upper-class people.
Whereas our society treats middle- or upper-class drug use as a personal crisis, lower-class drug use
is defined as criminal.
p.271
Sasha Abramsky (2003) explained that with tougher drug laws, the U.S. drug war was taken away
from public health and medical officials and placed into the hands of law enforcement and the
courts. The notion that drug abuse is a disease was replaced with the idea that drug abuse is a crime.
A punishment model has also been adopted in China, where its rehabilitation centers serve as forced
labor camps punishing, not treating, addicts (Jacobs 2010). In contrast, the Netherlands defines
drug abuse as a public health issue and has implemented harm reduction strategies, placing the
priority on drug education and treatment rather than on punishment.
However, as overall crime rates began to decline, public support for the get-tough-on-drugs policy
in the United States began to wane. Research conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed how
63% of Americans favored rolling back mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug
offenders and 67% believed drug use should be treated as a disease rather than as a crime (DeSilver
2014).
Abramsky (2003) identified key legislative changes in several states. Arizona and California passed
legislation that diverted thousands of drug offenders into treatment programs instead of prisons. In
1998, Michigan repealed its mandatory life sentence law for those caught in the possession of more
than 650 grams of certain narcotics. In 2002, Michigan governor John Engler signed legislation that
448
rolled back the state’s tough mandatory minimum drug sentences. The Kansas Sentencing
Commission proposed reforms of the state’s mandatory sentencing codes, along with expansion of
treatment programs. The reforms were accepted in March 2003. Although California’s 2010 ballot
initiative to legalize marijuana did not pass, that same year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed into law a bill that reduced the penalty for marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to a
nonarrestable infraction (e.g., a traffic ticket).
At the federal level, the Obama administration, through the ONDCP, focused on addiction as a
disease and called for increases in drug prevention and treatment programs for all who need them,
including drug-involved offenders. In 2010, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act into
law, reducing the disparity in the amounts of powder cocaine and crack cocaine required for the
imposition of mandatory minimum sentences. In 2011, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to
retroactively apply the new guidelines to individuals sentenced before the federal law was enacted. In
2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Fair Sentencing Act, reducing the same
sentencing disparity in crack versus powder cocaine offenses.
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Programs
Throughout the first part of this chapter, I have already referred to three U.S. offices: NIDA, the
ONDCP, and the NIAAA. All three programs are federally funded.
The NIAAA was established after the passage of the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1970. Signed into law by President
Richard Nixon, the legislation acknowledged alcohol abuse and alcoholism as major public health
concerns. The law instructed the NIAAA to “develop and conduct comprehensive health,
education, research, and planning programs for the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse and
alcoholism and for the rehabilitation of alcohol abusers and alcoholics†(NIAAA 2003a). Since then,
the NIAAA’s mission has been revised to include support and implementation of biomedical and
behavioral research, policy studies, and research in a range of scientific areas to address the causes,
consequences, treatment, and prevention of alcoholism and alcohol-related problems (NIAAA
2003b).
p.272
NIDA was established in 1974 as the federal office for research, treatment, prevention, training
services, and data collection on the nature and extent of drug abuse. Like the NIAAA, NIDA is
part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal biomedical and behavioral research agency.
NIDA’s stated mission is to bring “the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addictionâ€
(NIDA 2007). NIDA supports more than 85% of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug
abuse and addiction.
449
The ONDCP is the newest federal drug program, operated through the White House. Established
in 1988 through the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, the ONDCP’s mission was to set national priorities,
design comprehensive research-based strategies, and certify federal drug control budgets. According
to the act, the purpose of the office was to prevent young people from using illegal drugs, reduce the
number of drug users, and decrease the availability of drugs (ONDCP 2003). Ten years later, the
ONDCP’s mission was expanded under the Reauthorization Act of 1998. Some of the legislative
requirements included a commitment to a five-year national drug control program budget, the
establishment of a parents’ advisory council on drug abuse, development of a long-term national
drug strategy, and increased reporting to Congress on drug control activities (ONDCP 2003). The
act also provided support for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program,
coordinating local, state, and federal law enforcement drug control efforts.
Illegal drug use continues despite the efforts of these three lead agencies. The War on Drugs comes
with huge economic costs, with the Trump administration requesting $26 billion for prevention and
treatment programs, law enforcement, and incarceration for 2018. After the release of the proposed
budget, the president was criticized for not fully funding the war on the opioid epidemic, requesting
$6 billion less than the previous year.
Drug Legalization
The contemporary debate about the legalization of drugs emerged in 1988 during a meeting of the
U.S. Conference of Mayors. Baltimore’s Kurt L. Schmoke called for a national debate on drug
control policies and the potential benefits of legalizing marijuana and other illicit substances
(Inciardi 1999). Proponents present several arguments for the legalization of drugs: Current drug
laws and law enforcement initiatives have failed to eradicate the drug problem, arresting and
incarcerating individuals for drug offenses does nothing to alleviate the drug problem, drug crimes
are actually victimless crimes, legalization will lead to a reduction in drug-related crimes and
violence and improve the quality of life in inner cities, and legalization will also eliminate serious
health risks by providing clean and high-quality substances (Cussen and Block 2000; Silbering
2001). Many supporters of legalization argue that drugs should be legalized based on the libertarian
legal code (Trevino and Richard 2002), namely, that the legalization of drugs would give a basic
civil liberty back to citizens by granting them control over their own bodies (Cussen and Block
2000).
The term legalization is often used interchangeably with another term, decriminalization. The terms
vary in the extent to which the law can regulate the distribution and consumption of drugs. In
general, decriminalization means keeping criminal penalties but reducing their severity or
removing some kinds of behavior from inclusion under the law (e.g., eliminating bans on the use of
drug paraphernalia). Some would support regulating drugs in the same way alcohol and tobacco are
regulated, whereas others would argue for no restrictions at all. Legalization suggests removing
drugs from the control of the law entirely (Weisheit and Johnson 1992).
450
Several European countries, including Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, have moved
toward drug legalization or decriminalization in some form. The country most identified with
liberal drug policies is the Netherlands. Since the mid-1970s, Netherlands coffee shops have been
allowed to sell marijuana products. Although possession and sale of marijuana are not legal, in
practice sales through these shops are not prosecuted, and buyers (18 years of age or older) are not
prosecuted for possession of small (personal use) amounts.
p.273
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 12.2: Federal Marijuana Reaction
In the United States, drug legalization is generally opposed by the medical and public health
community (Trevino and Richard 2002). The American Medical Association has consistently
opposed the legalization of all illegal drugs, arguing that most research shows drugs, particularly
cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines, are harmful to an individual’s health. Opponents charge
that drug use is a significant factor in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, and
drug users are more likely to engage in risky behaviors and in criminal activity (Trevino and Richard
2002). The DEA has also been clear about its opposition to drug legalization, citing concerns about
potential increases in drug use and addiction, drug-related crimes, and costs related to drug
treatment and criminal justice.
In the 1990s, the drug debate began to change, with legalization proponents advocating a “harm
reduction†approach. Many opposed to legalization began to accept aspects of the harm reduction
approach. Harm reduction is a principle suggesting that “managing drug misuse is more appropriate
than attempting to stop it altogether†(Inciardi 1999:3). Proponents acknowledge that current drug
policies are not working, but they are still not in favor of full decriminalization (McBride, Terry,
and Inciardi 1999). The harm reduction approach emphasizes treatment, rehabilitation, and
451
education (McBride et al. 1999), including advocacy for changes in drug policies (such as
legalization), HIV/AIDS-related interventions, broader drug treatment options, counseling and
clinical case management for those who want to continue using drugs, and ancillary interventions
(housing, healing centers, advocacy groups) (Inciardi 1999). Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social
Problems feature for a discussion on the legalization of marijuana.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What is your position on the legalization of drugs? What are the intended and unintended
consequences of drug legalization?
Drug Treatment and Prevention Programs
INDIVIDUAL APPROACHES Drug addiction is a “treatable disorder†(NIDA 2003.
According to SAMHSA, 23.5 million persons 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit (or illegal)
drug or alcohol abuse problem in 2009 (NIDA 2011). Only 2.6 million received treatment in a
special facility. Most treatment admissions involved alcohol abuse.
Traditional treatment programs focus on treating the individual and his or her addiction. The
ultimate goal of treatment is to enable users to achieve lasting abstinence from the drug, but the
immediate treatment goals are to reduce drug use, improve users’ ability to function, and minimize
their medical and social complications from drug use.
Treatment may come in two forms: Behavioral treatment includes counseling, support groups,
family therapy, or psychotherapy; medication therapy, such as maintenance treatment for heroin
addicts, may be used to suppress drug withdrawal symptoms and craving. Short-term treatment
programs can include residential treatment, medication therapy, or drug-free outpatient therapy.
Long-term programs (longer than six months) may include highly structured residential therapeutic
community treatment or, in the case of heroin users, methadone maintenance outpatient treatment.
Research conducted during the past 25 years indicates that treatment does work to reduce drug
intake and drug-related crimes. Patients who stay in treatment longer than three months have better
outcomes than do people who undergo shorter treatments (NIDA 2003.
WORKPLACE STRATEGIES Certain employers, such as employers in the transportation
industry and organizations with federal contracts in excess of $100,000, are required by law to have
drug-free workplace programs. The federal government, through the Drug-Free Workplace
Program, also encourages private employers to implement such programs in an effort to reduce and
eliminate the negative effects of alcohol and drug use in the workplace (SAMHSA 2003b). It is
estimated that more than 80% of employers implement drug testing at the workplace. After
452
implementing a drug-free workplace program, employers, unions, and employees are likely to see a
decrease in administrative work losses (sick leave abuse, health insurance claims, disability payments,
and accident costs), hidden losses (poor performance, material waste, turnover, and premature
death), legal losses (grievances, threat to public safety, work site security), and costs of health and
mental health care services (SAMHSA 2003a).
p.274
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
SUPPORT OF THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA
Although general support for the legalization of marijuana has shifted in recent years
(refer to Figure 12.4), there is still some variation by social group (refer to Figures 12.5
and 12.6).
How would you describe the difference in legalization support by generational group
(Millennials born 1981–1997, Gen X born 1965–1980, Boomers born 1946–1964, and
Silent born 1928–1945) as reported in Figure 12.6? How does age affect level of support?
What do you think? From a sociological perspective, how are attitudes about marijuana
legalization dependent upon social or structural factors?
FIGURE 12.4 â– Percentage Who Support Legalization of Marijuana, 1990, 2000,
2017
453
Source: Adapted from Geiger 2018.
FIGURE 12.5 â– Percentage Who Support Legalization of Marijuana, by Political
View, 2017
Source: Adapted from Geiger 2018.
454
FIGURE 12.6 â– Percentage Who Support Legalization of Marijuana by Age Cohort,
2017
Source: Adapted from Geiger 2018.
p.275
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 12.3: US Opioid Epidemic
455
Drug-testing programs have been subject to lawsuits during the past decade for challenging the
employees’ right to privacy and their constitutional freedom from unreasonable searches by the
government (SAMHSA 2003b). There have also been challenges to the accuracy of drug tests.
Critics have asserted a positive test does not always correlate with poor job performance, a criterion
for assessing the adverse effects of drugs (Klingner, Roberts, and Patterson 1998). Consistent with
conflict theories on drug use, some have argued that drug testing promotes various political agendas
and reflects the manipulation of interest groups that market and sell drug testing and security
services (Klingner et al. 1998). Yet many U.S. companies consider drug-testing programs part of an
effective policy against substance abuse among workers (Hoffman and Larison 1999). Drug testing
is also part of a preventative strategy; for example, the U.S. Department of Labor (2007) reported
that between 10% and 20% of workers who die on the job test positive for alcohol or other drugs.
IN FOCUS
COLLEGE DRUG PROGRAMS
“Drug use puts college students at risk for experiencing a range of adverse health, behavioural,
and social consequences†(Dennhardt and Murphy 2013:2609). Based on national surveys of
college students, it is estimated that one in five college students use drugs (including
marijuana) each month and approximately 5% report daily use.
Colleges and universities play critical roles in the prevention and early intervention of drug use,
as they are able to implement large-scale prevention and educational programming to reach
young adult students. In their review of 94 college drug prevention programs, Andris Ziemelis,
Ronald Buckman, and Abdulaziz Elfessi (2002) identified three prevention models that
produced the most favorable outcomes of drug use prevention efforts. The first model includes
student participation and involvement, such as volunteer services, advisory boards, or task
forces, to discourage alcohol or other drug use or abuse. The researchers documented how
these activities reinforce students’ beliefs that they are in control of the outcomes in their lives
and that their efforts and contributions are valued. This model encourages student ownership
and development of the program. The second model includes educational and informational
processes, such as instruction in classes, bulletin boards and displays, and resource centers. The
most effective informational strategies were those that avoided coercive approaches but instead
encouraged interactive communication between students and professionals on campus. The last
model includes efforts directed at the larger structural environment, changing the campus
regulatory environment and developing free alternative programming, such as providing
alcohol-free residence halls or mandatory alcohol and drug abuse classes as part of campus
intervention. In general, models that discouraged or deglamorized alcohol and drug use were
456
associated with better outcomes than were those that merely banned or restricted substance use
(Ziemelis et al. 2002).
After their review of campus-wide drug intervention programs, Dennhardt and Murphy (2013)
concluded that brief motivational interventions and skilled-based interventions were effective
in helping students reduce their drug use. One study they examined was led by Jim
McCambridge and John Strang (2004). McCambridge and Strang studied the effectiveness of
a motivational interviewing program based in 10 colleges in inner London, United Kingdom.
The objective of motivational interviewing is to “create an opportunity for the participant to
think and talk about risk in ways conducive to the identification of problems and concerns and
to reflection on options for change—to stimulate new thinking on options for change—to
stimulate new thinking on personal drug use, which may realize itself in behavioural changeâ€
(p. 42). Students were divided into an intervention group (receiving the motivational
interviewing) and a control group. At the end of the program, more intervention group
members than control group members stopped using tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol.
Intervention group members who did not quit altogether reported reducing the quantity and
frequency of continued use.
p.276
Paul Roman and Terry Blum (2002) reported that employee assistance programs (EAPs) are the
most common intervention used in the workplace to prevent and treat alcohol and other drug abuse
among employees. The primary goal for many of these programs is to ensure that employees
maintain their employment, productivity, and careers. These EAPs usually include health
promotion, education, and referral to abuse treatment as needed. Most of these programs do not
target the general workplace population; rather, services are directed to those already affected by a
problem or in the early stages of their abuse. There is some evidence of the effectiveness of these
programs, returning substantial proportions of employees with alcohol problems to their jobs
(Roman and Blum 2002). In their 2012 study, Jodi Jacobson and Paul Sacco noted how EAPs are in
a prime position to reach out to working adults and engage them in education and treatment for
alcohol and drug abuse problems earlier than traditional community-based substance abuse
programs. They also stated how EAPs could better target racial or ethnically diverse worker groups.
COMMUNITY APPROACHES In 1997, the Drug-Free Communities Act became law.
The act was intended to increase community participation in substance abuse reduction among
youth. The program is currently directed by the White House’s ONDCP. The program supports
more than 700 coalitions of youth; parents; law enforcement; schools; state, local, and tribal
agencies; health care professionals; faith-based organizations; and other community representatives.
The coalitions, such as Project Northland, rely on mentoring, parental involvement, community
education, and school-based programs for drug prevention and intervention.
457
Based in northern Minnesota, Project Northland was the largest community trial in the United
States to address the prevention of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among adolescents
(Williams and Perry 1998). Adopting a holistic approach, the project assumed that prevention
efforts should be directed at adolescents and their immediate social environment (family, peers,
friends) and should include larger peer groups (teachers, coaches, religious advisers) as well as the
broader community of businesses and political leaders. The project was recognized for its
programming by SAMHSA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S.
Department of Education.
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SHILO JAMA
Syringe or needle exchange programs emerged at the height of the AIDS epidemic to reduce
the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases. The programs also facilitate access
to drug treatment and health care services. The first needle exchange program was introduced
in Amsterdam, Holland, to reduce the risk of hepatitis B and HIV among injecting drug users.
These programs also serve a public health function, reducing accidental needle-stick incidents
among the general public.
In 1997, Shilo Jama (formerly Shilo Murphy) was a homeless addict when he found the
University District Needle Exchange in Seattle, Washington. He says he began volunteering
for the program to change the life conditions of his friends and family. Jama currently serves as
the program’s executive director.
The needle exchange was renamed the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance (PHRA) in 1999.
PHRA, according to Jama, is “a user-run organization, so active drug users make all of our
decisions. . . . We’re a living, breathing organization in that we constantly change our policies
by the needs of people we serve and our bosses are the people we serve†(quoted in Gunawan
2014). The alliance distributes approximately 3 million needles each year and is supported by
more than 100 volunteers in three western Washington counties.
Jama explains,
I think [needle exchanges are] important so that a new generation of drug users don’t have to go through the pain and
suffering when we had to bury so many people who overdosed, so many people who committed suicide because
society hated them so much. . . I wanted another generation to have the opportunity to have a better life. (Quoted in
Gunawan 2014)
Jama describes his clients as members of a community, members of his family, and individuals
who are precious and worthy of love. “[Exchange volunteers] will always follow our hearts and
458
we always take the knowledge and experience of the drug users we serve to give their lives just a
little better place†(Murphy 2014).
As of 2016, it was estimated that there were needle exchange sites in 34 U.S. states and the
District of Columbia.
p.277
Project Northland included youth participation and leadership, parental involvement and education,
community organizing and task forces, media campaigns, and school curricula as part of its
strategies for alcohol use prevention. The program included two phases. Phase 1 focused on
strategies to encourage adolescents not to use alcohol. Phase 2 emphasized changing community
norms about alcohol use, reducing the availability of alcohol among high school students, and
adopting a functionalist approach in reinforcing community norms and boundaries. Community
strategies included making compliance checks of age-of-sale laws (coordinated through local police
departments), holding training sessions for responsible beverage servers at retail outlets and bars,
and encouraging businesses to adopt “gold card†programs where discounts are provided to students
who pledge to remain free of alcohol. At the end of Phase 2, significant differences between the
intervention and comparison groups were observed. The rates of increase in underage drinking were
lower among the intervention students (Perry et al. 2002). In 2002, Project Northland was
implemented internationally. First-year program data from primary and secondary schools in
Croatia reveal that Project Northland was effective in increasing dialogue between Croatian
students, parents, and teachers about students’ actual use of alcohol (Abatemarco et al. 2004).
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
PUBLIC HEALTH
Erika Meyer—Class of 2011
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Global Studies
Public health is “the science of protecting and improving the health of families and
communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention
and detection and control of infectious diseases†(CDC Foundation 2014). Unlike doctors and
nurses who treat the sick or injured, public health professionals also address disease prevention
through educational programs, research, and public policy.
Educational requirements for employment in the public health sector vary. A bachelor’s degree
459
is the minimum requirement to become a health educator or community worker, but to work
as an epidemiologist (studying the patterns and causes of disease and injury in humans), you
will need at least a master’s degree (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014).
After earning her bachelor’s degree in Sociology and her master’s in Public Health, Erika
Meyer now works as a program associate at Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public
Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET). A partner with the Centers of Disease Control
and Prevention, TEPHINET manages and provides resources to 59 field epidemiology
training programs (FETPs) in over 80 countries. Erika’s primary work involves coordinating
the accreditation process for the FETPs. She also serves as a project manager for several other
projects, including working with CDC’s Infection Disease Surveillance and Response Team to
build an online disease detection and reporting course for community health workers in Africa.
Erika says that she engages her sociological imagination most when she’s designing training
and programs for field epidemiologists in countries and cultures very different from her own.
For example, in response to the Ebola epidemic, CDC and TEPHINET are putting together basic surveillance
trainings for frontline staff—nurses, community health care workers, labor and delivery staff—to teach them about
disease reporting. They not only need to know what kinds of symptoms to look for (including Ebola, but also
influenza, polio, cholera, etc.), but who to tell that information to and what the data feedback loop should look like.
We have to work with the Ministries of Health in the 10 countries to make sure this is a culturally relevant and
sensitive training and that there is the administrative capacity to handle what we are hoping will be an upswing in
reporting of outbreaks. We have to carefully navigate the political and social structures that hold decision-making
power and sway. The Ebola epidemic provides a salient case study of a “public issue,†and my project has to respect
the postcolonial scars affecting each country as they respond to a crisis of this magnitude.
If your school does not have any courses or programs in a field you’re interested in, Erika
suggests doing the research on your own, as she did.
I sought out summer and school-year internship opportunities that fit my academic and professional interests, and
also had the opportunity to spend a semester abroad studying global public health, which afforded me incredible
personal and academic growth. I found this to be a great way for me to “try on†the discipline academically, and it
really piqued my interest to continue this work in graduate school and as a career.
p.278
The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is a nonprofit organization that
provides technical assistance and training to community-based coalitions. The organization was
established in 1992 by Jim Burke and Alvah Chapman and currently serves more than 5,000
antidrug coalitions in 18 countries. The program provides community groups with lobbying
handbooks, alerts on drug-related legislation, funding information, and coalition training on various
drug abuse topics, including opioid addiction. One CADCA affiliate is California’s Ashland
Cherryland Together. Through community data collection, the coalition recognized how
prescription drugs were being improperly used or shared or resold on the illegal market. The
coalition identified the need for a permanent, policy change that would provide access to and
460
awareness of convenient disposal of unused medication. The community partners supported the
adoption of the Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance in July 2012. The first law of its kind, it brings
together government, medical, environmental, and community organizations in a comprehensive
campaign around the effects of prescription drug misuse. There are more than 30 drug disposal
locations throughout the community (CADCA 2014).
CHAPTER REVIEW
12.1 Explain how the different sociological perspectives account for alcohol and drug problems.
Functionalists argue that society provides us with norms or guidelines on alcohol and
drug use. A set of social norms identifies the appropriate use of drugs and alcohol.
Conflict theorists address how powerful political and business interest groups have
made intentional decisions about which drugs are illegal. Feminists argue that
theorists and practitioners in the field of alcohol and drug abuse have ignored
experiences unique to women and other marginalized groups. The interactionist
perspective examines how drug abuse is learned from others; it also addresses how
individuals or groups are labeled abusers and how society responds to them.
12.2 Define drug abuse and drug addiction.
Drug abuse is the use of any drug or medication for a reason other than the one it
was intended to serve or in a manner or in quantities other than directed, which can
lead to clinically significant impairment or distress. Drug addiction refers to physical
or psychological dependence on the drug or medication.
12.3 Describe the impact of drug use and discuss issues of treatment and punishment.
Drug use in the workplace is linked to quality and organization of work and the
safety of the workplace. Respondents reporting alcohol problems are more likely to
have jobs that involve repetitive tasks and dangerous working conditions. Binge
drinking is considered a major health concern among college students. Stricter
federal policies have increased the number of men and women serving jail or prison
time for drug-related offenses. Drug-related laws have been enforced unequally
across racial, ethnic, and class groups in the United States. Recently, many people,
including President Obama have called for increased drug prevention and treatment
programs as an alternative to incarceration.
12.4 Evaluate political and social efforts to mitigate the negative effects of drug use.
The NIAAA is charged with preventing and treating alcoholism, NIDA, established
four years later, works to research, treat, and prevent drug use. Lastly, the ONDCP
sets national priorities, designs comprehensive research-based strategies, and certify
federal drug control budges. Proponents of drug legalization say that current laws
461
have failed to eradicate drug problems and have ballooned incarceration rates. The
medical community is generally opposed to legalization, citing the harmful health
effects of illegal drug use. Community programs, such as Project Northland have
been effective in curbing youth alcohol consumption.
p.279
KEY TERMS
alcoholism, 264
decriminalization, 272
differential association, 263
drug abuse, 264
drug addiction, 264
episodic high-risk drinking, 270
legalization, 272
role strain, 261
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How are sociological explanations of drug abuse different from biological or psychological
approaches?
2. From a functionalist perspective, explain how the social structure contributes to drug use.
3. Explain how stereotypes of drug use and abusers influence how specific individuals and
groups are labeled abusers and how society responds to them.
4. Define drug abuse and drug addiction.
5. Is drinking a problem among teens and young adults? Why or why not?
6. Define drug legalization. Would it be effective in reducing the amount of drug use? Why or
why not?
7. Compare and contrast drug treatment and prevention programs. Which type of programs
are most effective?
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
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SAGE edge provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an
easy-to-use learning environment.
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13
CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Media Library
CHAPTER 13 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 13.1: Juvenile Locked Up For Life
AP News Clips 13.2: The Death Penalty at San Quentin
AP News Clips 13.3: US Gun Violence Debate
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
13.1 Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
13.2 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different crime statistic sources.
13.3 Summarize the different types of crime.
13.4 Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status.
13.5 Describe current responses to crime including policing, incarceration, and the death
penalty.
13.6 Evaluate political and social efforts to curb crime and address inequalities in policing.
Think of a crime, any crime. Picture the first “crime†that comes into your mind. What do you see? The odds
are you are not imagining a mining company executive sitting at his desk, calculating the costs of proper
safety precautions and deciding not to invest in them. Probably what you see with your mind’s eye is one
person physically attacking another or robbing something from another via the threat of a physical attack.
—Reiman (1998:57)
When we think of crime, we imagine violent or life-threatening acts, not white-collar crimes
committed by men and women using accounting ledgers and calculators as deadly weapons. Yet an
act does not have to be violent or bloody to be considered criminal. For our discussion, a crime is
any behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable by fine, jail, or other negative sanctions.
Crime is divided into two legal categories. Felonies are serious offenses, including murder, rape,
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robbery, and aggravated assault; these crimes are punishable by more than a year’s imprisonment or
death. Misdemeanors are minor offenses, such as traffic violations, that are punishable by a fine or
less than a year in jail. In this chapter, we examine crimes as a social problem. We consider a full
range of crimes, not just violent events that make the headlines on your evening news. Before we
review the specifics about crimes, let’s review sociological explanations of why people commit crime.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CRIME
Biological explanations of crime tend to address how criminals are “born that way.†Early
explanations were intended to classify criminal types by appearance and genetic factors, such as
Cesare Lombroso’s 19th-century theory of “born criminal†types. Lombroso argued that criminals
could be easily identified by distinct physical features: a huge forehead, a large jaw, and a longer arm
span. Contemporary biological explanations focus on biochemical (diet and hormones) and
neurophysical (brain lesions, brain dysfunctions) characteristics related to violence and criminality.
Like biological theories, psychological perspectives focus on inherent criminal characteristics.
Researchers link personality development, moral development, or mental disorders to criminal
behaviors. Both biological and psychological theories address how crime is determined by individual
characteristics or predispositions to crime, but they fail to explain why crime rates vary between
urban and rural areas, different neighborhoods, or social or economic groups (Adler, Mueller, and
Laufer 1991). Sociological theories attempt to address the reasons for these differences, highlighting
how larger social forces contribute to crime.
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists offer several explanations for criminal behavior. For the first explanation, we return to
one of the first sociologists, Émile Durkheim. Criminal behavior, according to Durkheim, is normal
and inevitable. Criminal behavior is functional because it separates acceptable from unacceptable
behavior in society. Although not a criminologist, Durkheim provided the field with one of its most
enduring concepts—anomie (Walsh and Ellis 2007). Recall from our discussion in Chapter 1 that
Durkheim argued that society and its rules are what make people human; without any social
regulation, people are able to pursue their own desires (even criminal ones). He defined anomie as a
state of normlessness, a structural condition where there is no or little regulation of behavior, which
leads to deviant or criminal behavior.
p.282
Robert K. Merton applied Durkheim’s theory of anomie to develop the strain theory of criminal
behavior. He argued that we are socialized to attain traditional material and social goals: a good job,
a nice home, or a great-looking car. We assume that society is set up in such a way that everyone has
the same opportunity or resources to attain these goals. Merton explained that society isn’t that fair;
some experience blocked opportunities or resources because of discrimination, social position, or
talent. People feel strained when they are exposed to these goals but do not have the access or
466
resources to achieve them. This disjunction between cultural goals and structural impediments is
anomic, and this is where crime is bred (Walsh and Ellis 2007).
This anomie creates an opportunity to establish new norms or break the old ones to attain these
goals. Merton’s strain theory explains how people adapt to life in this anomic situation. Merton
presents five ways in which people adapt to society’s goals and means (Table 13.1). Most individuals
fit under the first category, conformity. Conformers accept the traditional goals and have the
traditional means to achieve them. Attending college is part of the traditional means to attain a job,
an income, and a home. Criminal behavior comes under the innovation category. Innovators accept
society’s goals, but they don’t have the legitimate means to achieve them. They are under a great
strain or pressure to achieve these positively valued goals and thus innovate by stealing from their
boss, cheating on their taxes, or robbing a local store to achieve them.
TABLE 13.1 ■Robert Merton’s Strain Theory
Working from Merton’s assumptions, scholars argue that criminal activity would decline if
economic conditions improved. Solutions to crime would target strained groups, providing access to
traditional methods and resources to attain goals. Several studies have confirmed that when anomie
is reduced among the poor, lower crime rates may result. Factors usually associated with anomie—
the prevalence of female-headed families, the percentage of the population that is African
American, and family poverty rates—are more weakly related to crime in areas with higher levels of
welfare support (Hannon and Defronzo 1998). But in general, there has been a lack of empirical
support for Merton’s theory.
p.283
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Robert Agnew (1992) expanded upon Merton’s strain theory to consider multiple individual and
structural sources of strain, asserting that negative experiences and relationships motivate and
promote criminal behavior (Kaufman et al. 2008). In his general strain theory, Agnew identified
three types of social-psychological sources of strain: the failure to achieve positively valued outcomes
(not only due to blocked opportunities as explained by Merton, but also because of individual
inadequacies due to a lack of ability or skill), the removal of positive or desired stimuli from the
individual (e.g., the loss of something or someone of great worth), and the confrontation with
negative action (or stimuli) by others (e.g., child abuse, adverse school experiences) (Akers and
Sellers 2009). Agnew’s theory is able to explain criminal offending differences by gender, class,
race/ethnicity, communities, and those that occur over the life course, as well as situational
variations in crime (Akers and Sellers 2009).
The second functionalist explanation links social control (or the lack of it) to criminal behavior.
Whereas Merton’s and Agnew’s theories ask why someone commits a crime, social control theorists
ask why someone doesn’t commit crime. Society functions best when everyone behaves. Durkheim
identified how well society provides us with a set of norms and laws to regulate our behavior.
According to sociologist Travis Hirschi (1969), society controls our behavior through four elements:
attachments (i.e., our personal relationships with others), commitment (our acceptance of
conventional goals and means), involvement (our participation in conventional activities), and
beliefs (our acceptance of conventional values and norms). Delbert Elliot, Suzanne Ageton, and
Rachelle Canter (1979) redefined Hirschi’s elements as integration (involvement with and
emotional ties to external bonds) and commitment (expectations linked with conventional activities
and beliefs). They believe that when all these elements are strong, criminal behavior is unlikely to
occur.
Conflict Perspective
Sociologist Austin Turk (1969) explained that criminality is not a biological, psychological, or
behavioral phenomenon; rather, it is a way to define a person’s social status according to how that
person is perceived and treated by law enforcement. An act is not inherently criminal; society
defines it that way. Theorists from this perspective argue that criminal laws do not exist for our own
good; rather, they exist to preserve the interests and power of specific groups.
In this view, criminal justice decisions are discriminatory and designed to sanction offenders based
on their minority or subordinate group membership (race, class, age, or gender) (Akers and Sellers
2009). Turk (1969, 1976) stated that criminal status is defined by members of the dominant class.
Criminal status is imposed on members of the subordinate class, regardless of whether a crime has
actually been committed. Francis Cullen and Robert Agnew (2011) explained,
In general, the injurious acts of the poor and powerless are defined as crime, but the injurious acts of the rich and powerful—
such as the corporations selling defective products or the affluent allowing disadvantaged children to go without health care
—are not brought into the reach of the criminal law. (p. 271)
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Laws serve as a means for those in power to promote their ideas and interests against others. Law
enforcement agents protect the interests and power of the dominant class at the expense of subjects.
Police may use force, sometimes excessive; “when economic inequality is extreme, elites and polity as
a whole may see a need for show of violent force to discourage civil disturbances†(Liska 1992:13).
Excessive police force in Brazil is discussed in this chapter’s Taking a World View feature.
p.284
From a conflict perspective, problems emerge when particular groups are disadvantaged by the
criminal justice system. Although the powerful are able to resist criminal labels, the labels seem to
stick to minority power groups—the poor, youth, and ethnic minorities. Minority power groups’
interests are on the margins of mainstream society, so most of their activities can be criminalized by
dominant authorities (Walsh and Ellis 2007). Conflict theorists argue that the criminal justice
system is intentionally unequal and serves as the vehicle for conflicts between opposing groups. The
solution is the creation of a more equitable and just society (Cullen and Agnew 2011).
Feminist Perspective
For a long time, criminology ignored the experiences of women, choosing to apply theories and
models of male criminality to women. Feminist researchers have been credited with making female
offenders visible (Naffine 1996) and with documenting the experiences of women as the victims or
survivors of violent men and as victims of the criminal justice system (Chesney-Lind and Pasko
2004). Feminist scholarship has attempted to understand how women’s criminal experiences are
different from those of men and how experiences of women differ from each other based on race,
ethnicity, class, age, and sexual orientation (Flavin 2001; Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2004).
Freda Adler (1975) was one of the first scholars to explain that women were “liberated†to commit
crime when they were no longer restrained by traditional ideals of feminine behavior and could take
on more masculine traits, including criminal behavior. Called the liberation approach, the logic of
her argument is that as gender equality increases, women are more likely to commit crime.
Although the approach was met with wide public acceptance, it has been discredited because of lack
of empirical evidence (Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2004).
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© James Aylott/Getty Images
Though chain gangs were abolished in the 1950s, they were reintroduced in 1995 in Maricopa County, Arizona, by former
sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio established the first female chain gang in 1996, arguing that women should receive the same
treatment as men.
p.285
Recently, gender inequality theories have been presented as explanations of female crime. According
to Darrell Steffensmeier and Emilie Allan (1996), patriarchal power relations shape gender
differences in crime, pushing women into criminal behavior through role entrapment, economic
marginalization, and victimization or as a survival response. The authors pointed out, “Nowhere is
the gender ratio more skewed than in the great disparity of males as offenders and females as victims
of sexual and domestic abuse†(p. 470). The logic of the inequality argument is that female crime
increases as gender inequality increases.
Women are more likely to kill intimate partners, family members, or acquaintances than men are,
“so the connection between women’s overall homicide offending rates and gender inequality lies
largely in the connection between gender stratification and women’s domestic lives,†explained Vicki
Jensen (2001:8). Jensen described gender inequality as being composed of economic, political-legal,
and social inequalities experienced by women. Lower gender equality can negatively affect women’s
freedom and opportunities; these situations can push women into situations in which lethal violence
seems to be the only way out. In the case of women killing abusive intimate partners, low levels of
economic security limit women’s opportunities to escape abusive situations. Low levels of gender
equality can increase the emphasis on traditional gender norms, placing the responsibility on women
to please men and requiring that women must be submissive and accept whatever their partner does
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(including violence). Jensen explained that most women who kill an intimate partner do so in
response to abuse situations, in imminent self-defense, or when all other strategies have failed.
Research indicates that the surge in women’s incarceration has little to do with any major change in
women’s criminal behavior. In comparison to men’s, women’s crime participation rates have
remained stable over time (Becker and McCorkel 2011). Since 1995, the annual rate of growth in
the number of U.S. female prisoners averaged 5%, higher than the 3% for male prisoners (refer to
Table 13.2). The public’s “get tough with crime†approach, along with a legal system that
encourages treating women equally to men, has resulted in the greater use of imprisonment as
punishment for female criminal behavior (Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2004).
TABLE 13.2 â– Number of Prisoners Under the Jurisdiction of State or Federal Correctional
Authorities and Incarceration Rate by Gender, 2000, 2010, and 2015
Sources: Carson 2016; Carson 2014; Guerino, Harrison, and Sabol 2011; Sabol, West, and Cooper 2009.
*The number of persons with a sentence of more than one year per 100,000 U.S. residents.
Sarah Becker and Jill McCorkel (2011) examined how gender affects access to criminal
opportunities, specifically looking at the types of crime committed by men and women and
considering how the presence of a male co-offender alters women’s crime participation. They found
that most men and women co-offend with men; all-female offender groups are rare. Their analysis
471
of national crime data revealed that women are more likely to be involved in gender-atypical
offenses like drug trafficking, homicide, gambling, kidnapping, and weapons offenses when they
have at least one male co-offender compared to when they work alone or in a same-sex group. The
range of women’s crime participation increases with the presence of a male co-offender.
During 2015, 111,495 females were in state or federal prison, accounting for 7% of all U.S.
prisoners (Carson and Anderson 2016). The International Centre for Prison Studies analyzed data
on the number of incarcerated women worldwide at the end of September 2017. Based on data from
221 prison systems in countries and dependent territories, the Centre reported that more than
714,000 women and girls were currently being held in penal institutions as pretrial detainees or
having been convicted and sentenced. The highest numbers of female detainees or prisoners were in
the United States (211,870), China (107,131), the Russian Federation (48,478), Brazil (44,700) and
Thailand (41,119) (Walmsley 2017).
The increase in the number of women inmates has caused prison officials to reconsider custody
procedures for women, especially specific programs and services available to women. Also, there are
major differences between male and female prisoners, which have implications for women’s
confinement and release (Galbraith 2004). In particular, women are more likely (a) to be serving
their first sentence, (b) to be the primary caregiver of their children, (c) to be victims of sexual abuse
and trauma (Morash, Byrum, and Koons 1998), and (d) to suffer from depression. Parenting has
become a focus of many programs.
p.286
Interactionist Perspective
Interactionists examine the process that defines certain individuals and acts as criminal. The theory
is called labeling theory, highlighting that what’s important isn’t the criminals or their acts but
rather the audience that labels the persons or their acts as criminal. As Kai Erickson (1964)
explained, “deviance is not a property inherent in certain forms of behavior; it is a property conferred
upon these forms by audiences which directly or indirectly witness them†(p. 11). The theory also
considers how definitions of crime or deviance can change over time.
The basic elements of labeling theory were presented by sociologist Edwin Lemert (1967), who
believed that everyone is involved in behavior that could be labeled delinquent or criminal, yet only a
few are actually labeled. Lemert’s theory identifies the consequences of being labeled and treated as
a criminal. He explained that deviance is a process, beginning with primary deviation, which arises
from a variety of social, cultural, psychological, and physiological factors. Although most primary
acts of deviance go unnoticed, they may lead to a social response in the form of an arrest,
punishment, or stigmatization. Secondary deviation includes more serious deviant acts, which follow
the social response to the primary deviance. Once a criminal label is attached to a person, a criminal
career is set in motion.
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John Braithwaite (1989) observed that nations with low crime rates are those where shaming has
great social power. Braithwaite defined shaming as all processes of “expressing disapproval which
have the intention or effect of invoking remorse in the person being shamed and/or condemnation
by others who become aware of the shaming†(p. 9). Braithwaite agreed with Lemert that shaming
could be “stigmatizing†(increasing the distance between the offender and society) and lead to
additional criminal acts. However, he proposed that shaming should be “reintegrative†(restoring the
link between the offender and society) and lead to less crime.
What Does It Mean to Me?
What are your perceptions of a typical victim or perpetrator? What roles do the media—news,
television, and movies—play in creating these perceptions? From what other sources are these
perceptions learned?
Interactionists also attempt to explain how deviant or criminal behavior is learned through
association with others. Edwin Sutherland’s (1949) theory of differential association states that
individuals are likely to commit deviant acts if they associate with others who are deviants. This
criticism is often raised about our jail and prison systems; instead of rehabilitation, prisoners are able
to learn more criminal activity and behavior while serving their sentences. Psychologists Craig
Haney and Philip Zimbardo (1998) noted how “department of corrections data show that about a
fourth of those initially imprisoned for nonviolent crimes are sentenced a second time for
committing a violent offense. Whatever else it reflects, this pattern highlights the possibility that
prison serves to transmit violent habits and values rather than to reduce them†(p. 721). Sutherland’s
theory does not address how the first criminal learned criminal behavior, but he does highlight how
criminal behavior emerges from interaction, association, and socialization.
For a summary of sociological perspectives on crime and criminal justice, see Table 13.3.
p.287
TABLE 13.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Crime and Criminal Justice
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SOURCES OF CRIME STATISTICS
We rely on three sources of data to estimate the nature and extent of crime in the United States.
The primary source is annual data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Since
1930, the FBI has published the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), data supplied by 17,000 federal,
state, and local law enforcement agencies. The UCR reports two categories of crimes: index crimes
and nonindex crimes. Index crimes include murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, motor vehicle
theft, arson, and larceny (theft of property worth $50 or more). All other crimes except traffic
violations are categorized as nonindex crimes. The UCR provides law enforcement officers and
agencies with useful data about serious rates across states, counties, and cities, as well as trend and
longitudinal data since its inception. The second source of crime data emerged in 1982, when the
FBI began to use the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which adds detailed
offender and victim information to the UCR data. Currently, 32 states provide NIBRS information,
and three additional states and the District of Columbia have individual agencies submitting
NIBRS data.
However, the often-cited problem with the UCR and the NIBRS is that the data reflect only
reported crimes. The FBI cannot collect information on crimes that have not been reported, but it is
estimated that only 3% to 4% of crimes are actually discovered by police (Kappeler, Blumberg, and
Potter 2000). Also, being reported doesn’t mean that a crime has actually occurred. The FBI does
not require that a suspect has been arrested or that a crime is investigated and found to have actually
occurred; it only needs to be reported (Kappeler et al. 2000). Although it is uncommon, these data
have been manipulated by law enforcement agencies for political or other reasons.
In addition to the UCR, the FBI releases the Crime Clock, a graphic display of how often specific
offenses are committed. Although it may make for good newspaper copy or give law enforcement
474
and political officials clout (Chambliss 1988), the Crime Clock has been accused of exaggerating the
amount of crime, leaving the public with the impression that they are in imminent danger of being
victims of violence (Kappeler et al. 2000).
p.288
The third data source about crime is the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS or NCS),
which has been published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics since 1972. The survey is based on
victimization surveys first conducted in Denmark and Norway. Twice a year, the U.S. Census
Bureau interviews members of about 90,000 households regarding their experience with crime. The
NCVS identifies crime victims whether or not the crime was reported. Also included is information
on the experiences of victims with the criminal justice system, self-protective measures used by
victims, and possible substance abuse by offenders. NCVS crime victim data for 2015 are presented
in Table 13.4.
TABLE 13.4 â– Number of Crime Victims and Prevalence Rate for Selected Personal and
Property Crimes, 2015
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Source: Truman and Morgan 2016.
The results of the NCVS are often compared with the UCR to indicate that the number of crimes
committed is actually higher than the number of crimes reported, suggesting that the UCR may not
be an adequate measure of violent crime. However, “a more thoughtful interpretation of the
inconsistency between these statistical reports concludes that while neither the UCR nor the NCVS
is by itself an adequate measure of violence, each is an estimate of the scope and nature of violent
crime†(Brownstein 2001:8–9).
TYPES OF CRIME
Violent Crime
Violent crime is defined as actions that involve force or the threat of force against others and
includes aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery. The 2015 serious crime victimization rate
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was 6.8 per 1,000 aged 12 or older, lower than the rate for 2014 of 7.7 per 1,000 (Truman and
Morgan 2016). In 2015, males and females had similar rates of violent victimization—15.9 per
1,000 males and 21.1 per 1,000 females (Truman and Morgan 2016).
Worldwide, male homicide victimization rates are higher than female rates (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] 2014). For 2013, the global male homicide rate was 9.7 per
100,000, four times the rate for females (2.7 per 100,000). The male homicide rate was highest in
the Americas (Caribbean, Central America, North America, and South America) at 29.3 per
100,000 males than other parts of the world. The UNODC attributes the disparity to the higher
levels of homicide rated to organized crime and gang activity in the Americas.
In the United States, males are more likely to be victimized by a stranger, whereas women are more
likely to be violently victimized by a friend, an acquaintance, or an intimate partner (U.S. Bureau of
Justice Statistics 2003). For 2005–2010, 34% of all rape or sexual assault victimizations were
committed by an intimate partner (former or current spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend), 6% by a
relative or family member, and 38% by a friend or acquaintance (Planty et al. 2013). In 2012, the
federal government expanded the definition of forcible rape to include male victims and the types of
sexual assault that would be counted by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. The revised definition
includes forcible oral or anal penetration, along with nonconsensual sex (Savage 2012).
p.289
Intimate violence (violence at the hands of someone known to the victim) is primarily committed
against women in both the developed and developing worlds. The World Health Organization
(WHO) (2013), in its study of women from 79 different countries, stated that “violence against
women is a significant public health problem, as well as a fundamental violation of human rightsâ€
(p. 2). WHO reported that the global prevalence of ever-partnered women who had experienced
physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner was 30% in all the studied countries.
Women in the Western Pacific were the least likely to experience either type of violence, and the
greatest amount of violence was reported by women living in Southeast Asia (see Figure 13.2). Refer
to Exploring Social Problems for more data. In 2010, U.S. women experienced 407,700 rape, sexual
assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault victimizations at the hands of an intimate
partner; among men, 101,530 were victims of violent crimes by an intimate partner (Truman 2011).
What Does It Mean to Me?
While a student at Stanford University, Brock Turner raped and assaulted an unconscious female in
2015. After he was found guilty of three counts of felony assault, Turner was sentenced to six
months in jail and three years probation. Turner could have served as much as 14 years in prison.
The judge in the case, Aaron Persky, ruled that Turner had less moral culpability for his actions
477
because he was intoxicated at the time. Turner served three months and had to register as a sex
offender in Ohio, his home state. Was Turner’s sentencing too lenient? Should he have served more
time?
Since 1973, Blacks have had the highest violent crime victimization rates. In 2015, 22.6 of 1,000
Black people experienced a violent crime versus 17.4 out of 1,000 Whites and 16.8 out of 1,000
Hispanics (Truman and Morgan 2016). Research by William Julius Wilson (1996) and Robert
Sampson and Wilson (1995) revealed that structural disadvantages, rather than race, contribute to
higher levels of crime and victimization in Black communities (Ackerman 1998). The structural
factors include neighborhood poverty, unemployment, social isolation, and economic disadvantage.
Data collected for 2009–2017 indicated that disabled persons are more likely to experience higher
rates of violence (29.5 crimes per 1,000 persons age 12 or older) than those without a disability (11.8
crimes per 1,000 persons). The violent crime rate was highest for those between 12 and 24 years of
age. Females with a disability had a higher victimization rate than males with a disability (Harrell
2017).
Property Crime
Property crime consists of taking money or property from another without force or the threat of
force against the victims. Burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson are examples of
property crimes. Property crimes make up about three fourths of all crime in the United States. In
2015, there were an estimated 14.1 million property crimes, including 2.9 million household
burglaries and 564,160 motor vehicle thefts (Truman and Morgan 2016).
Juvenile Delinquency
The term juvenile delinquent often refers to a youth who is in trouble with the law. Technically, a
juvenile status offender is a juvenile who has violated a law that applies only to minors 7 to 17
years old, such as cutting school or buying and consuming alcohol (Sanders 1981). In certain cases,
minors can be tried as adults. Crimes committed by juveniles are more likely to be cleared by law
enforcement than crimes committed by adults.
p.290
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
478
INTIMATE PARTNER AND NONPARTNER
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) (2013) report, 35% of women
worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence (data not reported
here), most likely at the hands of an intimate partner (see Figure 13.1). Intimate partner
violence is associated with low- and middle-income countries (see Figure 13.2); rates are
highest for women residing in Africa, Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia.
Women living in high-income countries, such as the United States, have the lowest rates
of intimate partner violence.
Women who have been physically or sexually abused by their partners report higher rates
of physical and mental health problems (16% more likely to have a low-birth-weight baby,
twice as likely to experience depression, and 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV) than
women who have not experienced partner violence. As many as 38% of all murders of
women are committed by intimate partners.
According to the WHO report (2013), there are still social barriers and prejudices that
prevent support or care for women victims. For example, in the case of partner violence,
women victims are blamed for taking another partner, refusing sexual intercourse, or for
not conforming to expectations regarding their role as wives/partners.
What do you think? What would it take to change this “blaming the victim†perspective?
FIGURE 13.1 â– Sexual Violence Prevalence Rate
479
Source: Adapted from World Health Organization 2013.
FIGURE 13.2 â– Lifetime Prevalence of Physical and/or Sexual Intimate Partner
Violence Among Ever-Partnered Women by WHO Region
480
Source: Adapted from World Health Organization 2013.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention monitors data on rates of juvenile
crime. For 2015, the number of juvenile arrests was 921,600. Females accounted for 29% of arrests.
Almost half of all juvenile arrests involved larceny-theft, simple assault, drug abuse violations,
disorderly conduct, or liquor law violations (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
2016). Nationwide, African American and Hispanic youth were more likely to be arrested and
committed to secure placements than were White juveniles (Rovner 2016). Unlike the United
States, many countries do not collect systematic data on delinquency, and among the countries that
do, their data are described as “incomplete because of faulty record keeping†(Stafford 2004:486).
p.291
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 13.1: Juvenile Locked Up For Life
481
Delinquency is often explained by the absence of strong bonds to society or the lack of social
controls. In studies of serious adolescent crime, research indicates that the economic isolation of
inner-city neighborhoods, along with the concentration of poverty and unemployment, leads to an
erosion of the formal and informal controls that inhibit delinquent behavior (Laub 1983). Juveniles
without any or much social control are likely to engage in illegal behavior when they live in any
environment that offers opportunities for illegal activities. Youth who are strongly bonded to
conventional role models and institutions (parents, teachers, school, community leaders, and law-
abiding peers) are least likely to engage in delinquent behaviors.
White-Collar Crime
The term white-collar crime was first used by Sutherland in 1949. He used the term to refer to “a
crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupationâ€
(Sutherland 1949:9). Since then, the term has come to include three categories of offense: crimes
committed by an offender (someone of high social status and respectability as described by
Sutherland), crimes committed for financial or economic gain, and crimes taking place in a
particular organization or business (Barnett n.d.).
The FBI (1989) has defined white-collar crime by the type of crime:
[White-collar crime includes] illegal acts which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are
not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence. Individuals or organizations commit these acts to
obtain money, property or services; to avoid payment or loss of money or services; or to secure personal and business
advantage. (p. 3)
Such acts include credit card fraud, insurance fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, money laundering,
embezzlement, and theft of trade secrets. Corporate crime may also include illegal acts committed
by corporate employees on behalf of the corporation and with its support. Corporate fraud has been
identified as the highest priority of the FBI’s Financial Crimes Section. As of the end of fiscal year
2011, the FBI had pursued 726 cases, several which involved losses to public investors that
individually exceeded $1 billion (FBI 2011). White-collar crimes cost taxpayers more than all other
types of crime.
One of the most widespread forms of white-collar crime is Internet fraud and abuse, also known as
cybercrime. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a joint partnership between the FBI
and National White Collar Crime Center. IC3 handles complaints and crimes that include identity
theft, online credit card fraud schemes, theft of trade secrets, sales of counterfeit software, and
computer intrusions (a hacker breaking into a system). In 2016, the IC3 received more than 290,000
complains with losses in excess of $1.3 billion. The top three crime types reported by victims were
non-payment and non-delivery, personal data breach, and payment scams (FBI 2017a). Years ago,
when computer systems were relatively self-contained, there was no concern about cybercrime.
Committing cybercrime is easier with the growth of the Internet, increasing computer connectivity,
and the availability of break-in programs and information. As computer- controlled infrastructure
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and networks have expanded, many systems—power grids, airports, rail systems, hospitals—have
become vulnerable (Wolf 2000). In response to Internet crimes, the FBI and the Department of
Justice have established computer crime teams or offices. Some states, such as Massachusetts and
New York, have created high-technology crime units.
p.292
What Does It Mean to Me?
Crime rates have dropped significantly in most large cities since the 1990s. Consider the homicide
rate. The rate peaked in 1980 at 10.2 homicides per 100,000 people (Blumstein and Rosenfeld
1998). For 2016, the homicide rate was 5.3 homicides per 100,000 people (FBI 2017b). There is
less violent crime, but do we still live in fear? Which type of crime do you fear the most? Why?
THE INEQUALITIES OF CRIME—OFFENDERS AND
VICTIMS
Offenders
Reports consistently reveal that African American males are overrepresented in incarceration
statistics. Most jail or prison inmates are male and African American (refer to Table 13.5). That a
category of people is overrepresented among violent offenders does not necessarily mean that this
group is responsible for more violent acts (Brownstein 2001). Keep in mind that these statistics are
based only on those who were caught by the criminal justice system.
TABLE 13.5 â– Percentage of Prisoners Under State or Federal Jurisdiction by Gender and
Race, Based on Inmates With Sentences of More Than One Year, December 31, 2015
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Source: Adapted from Carson and Anderson 2016.
*Other includes American Indians, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.
The majority of research on unequal treatment in the criminal justice system addresses race and
ethnicity. A number of studies confirm that regardless of the seriousness of the crime, racial and
ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics, are more likely to be arrested or
incarcerated than are their White counterparts. This is also true for minority juvenile delinquents.
In its analysis of contacts between police and the public for 2008, the U.S. Bureau of Justice
Statistics reported that Black (12.3%) and Hispanic (5.8%) motorists were more likely to be
searched during a traffic stop than White drivers (3.9%) (Eith and Durose 2011). Blacks and
Hispanics were more likely than Whites to report being involved in an incident where police force
was used (Eith and Durose 2011). Minority youth are overrepresented at every stage in the juvenile
justice system; they are arrested more often, detained more often, overrepresented in referrals to
juvenile court, and institutionalized at a disproportionate rate compared with White youth (Joseph
2000).
An early criminological explanation was offered by Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti (1967),
who argued that Blacks have adopted violent subcultural values, creating a “subculture of violence.â€
Although this is an often-cited theory, there is insufficient empirical evidence to support the idea
that Blacks are more likely to embrace a violent value system. Actually, studies have indicated that
White males are more likely to express violent beliefs or attitudes than Black males (Cao, Adams,
and Jensen 2000).
Family structure, specifically the presence of female-headed households in African American
communities, has also been identified as a potential source for racial crime disparities. Yet,
criminological research has not articulated how family structure or family processes are related to
crime (Morenoff 2005). Does the structure of the family itself increase the likelihood of crime? Is
the incidence of crime related to the amount of parental supervision, the level of parental
effectiveness, or the nature of the parent–child relationship? These questions remain the focus of
researchers.
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Criminologists and sociologists have examined patterns of racial bias or discrimination in the law
enforcement and criminal justice system. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity by law
enforcement, consciously or unconsciously, as a basis of judgment for criminal suspicion. Racial
profiling, according to Donald Tomaskovic-Devey and Patricia Warren (2009), is “particularly
problematic because it’s a form of discrimination enacted and organized by federal and local
governments†(p. 35). Racial attitudes among police officers also contribute to inequalities in
policing.
Racial profiling is supported by some in law enforcement as a rational and efficient strategy,
targeting those most likely to commit crime. Yet most agree that profiling is dysfunctional, creating
“racial inequities by denying people of color privacy, identity, place, security, and control over their
daily life†(Cross 2001:5). Black men are more than any other group to be profiled, targeted,
accused, investigated, harshly sentenced, and incarcerated for crimes (Carson 2014). In 2013,
President Barack Obama, responding to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death
of Trayvon Martin, said, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. … There are very few
African-American men in this country who have not had the experience of being followed when
they are shopping at a department store. That includes me†(White House 2013).
New racial profiling rules were released by the Obama administration after nationwide protests over
the decisions in New York and Ferguson, Missouri, not to prosecute White officers for the deaths
of unarmed Black men (Apuzzo and Schmidt 2014). Citing the need for “even-handed law
enforcement,†the categories of racial profiling were expanded to include religion, national origin,
gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Under the new rules, law enforcement officials
cannot consider any of those factors in making routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions.
Agencies whose officers make traffic stops may not use any of these categories as a reason to pull
someone over. The new guidelines apply to federal law enforcement officers and to local police
assigned to federal task forces but not to local police agencies (Apuzzo and Schmidt 2014; U.S.
Department of Justice 2014).
Victims
Early studies on crime victims tended to perpetuate the image that the victim was simply at the
“wrong place at the wrong time†(Davis, Taylor, and Titus 1997). Following that reasoning, not
being a victim of crime could be explained simply as good luck. However, research indicates that
some individuals, by virtue of their social group or social behavior, are more prone than others to
become victims (Davis et al. 1997). What people do, where they go, and with whom they associate
affect their likelihood of victimization (Laub 1997).
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© iStock.com/aijohn784
For most individuals, their interaction with police officers is limited to traffic violation stops. Police departments are
incorporating new methods of policing based on community and problem-solving approaches, hoping to increase the
interaction between officers and citizens.
No crime is distributed randomly throughout the population (Rennison and Dodge 2018).
Victimization is distributed across key demographic dimensions (Laub 1997). Victimization rates
are substantially higher for the poor, the young, males, Blacks, single people, renters, and central
city residents (Davis et al. 1997). The likelihood of being injured because of a violent crime is higher
among the young, the poor, urban dwellers, Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians (Simon,
Mercy, and Perkins 2001). Injury rates are lower for the elderly, for people with a higher income or
higher educational attainment, and for people who are married or widowed (Simon et al. 2001).
Black males have the highest rate of violent victimization, and White females have the lowest (Laub
1997). Blacks also have the highest rate of overall household victimization. Although rates of violent
crimes declined during the 1990s, mortality from homicide among minority groups is still high.
Homicide is the leading cause of death among Black males between the ages of 15 and 24, and it is
the second leading cause of death for Latino males in the same age group (Rich and Ro 2002).
People who have been victims once are at an elevated risk of becoming victims again. Repeat
victimization is likely to occur in poor, predominantly Black areas (Davis et al. 1997).
p.294
OUR CURRENT RESPONSE TO CRIME
The Police
For 2016, there were almost a million full-time law enforcement employees. About 70% were sworn
officers (FBI 2017b). We rely on the police force to serve as the first line of defense against crime,
and some officers lose their lives in the line of duty. In 2016, 66 law enforcement officers were
feloniously killed in the line of duty, and 52 were killed in accidents (FBI 2017).
American policing has gone through substantial changes during the past several decades
(MacDonald 2002). Traditional models of policing emphasized high visibility and the use of force
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and arrests as deterrents to crime. Policing under these models relies on three tactics: police patrols,
rapid response to service calls, and retrospective investigations (Moore 1999). These models
reinforce an “us†versus “them†division, sometimes pitting the police against the public they were
sworn to protect.
Although the use of force is a part of a police officer’s duties (Mallicoat 2017), recent incidents of
police brutality and violence toward unarmed Black men and teens have increased the public’s
distrust of law enforcement. The cases of Eric Garner, choked to death by an NYPD officer in
2014; Michael Brown, shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014; Freddie
Gray, who died from spinal injuries after being chased and detained by police in Baltimore,
Maryland, in 2015; and Philando Castile, who was shot to death in his car by a police officer during
a traffic stop in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2016 raise significant concerns about the use of excessive
force and racial profiling.
In the Brown case, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster reported that Black drivers in Ferguson
were four times likely to be stopped by police in 2014 than were White drivers (Queally 2015). Yet
officers were more likely to find contraband (a weapon or drugs) in possession of White drivers
rather than Black drivers. This finding is consistent with other research that reveals that increasing
the number of minority stops and searches does not produce more drug seizures than routine traffic
stops and searches (Tomaskovic-Devey and Warren 2009). At the release of his report, Koster said,
“While disproportion does not prove that law enforcement officers are making vehicle stops based
on perceived race or ethnicity of the driver, this compilation and analysis of data provides law
enforcement, legislators and the public a starting point as they consider improvements to process
and changes to policy to address these issues†(quoted in Queally 2015).
Studies indicate that “net of all other factors, race and personal experience with racial profiling are
among the strongest and most consistent predictors of attitudes toward the police†(Weitzer and
Tuch 2002:445). Whites trust police more and have more positive interactions with them than do
Blacks; Hispanics fall between these two groups (Norris et al. 1992). Black youth tend to have the
most negative or hostile feelings toward police (Norris et al. 1992). Residents from poor or
disadvantaged areas have a much lower regard for the police than does the general public. However,
research has also indicated that when citizens believe they are treated fairly, they tend to grant police
more legitimacy and are more likely to comply with police (Stoutland 2001).
Police departments have incorporated new methods of policing based on the community and
problem-solving approaches (Goldstein 1990; MacDonald 2002). The community policing
approach refers to efforts to increase the interaction between officers and citizens, including the use
of foot patrols, community substations, and neighborhood watches (Beckett and Sasson 2000).
Technology has also become an important policing tool. Across the country, law enforcement
agencies have adopted the use of dashboard and body cameras to document police–community
interaction. Camera data may reduce officer misconduct, but the data also protect officers from
fabricated claims of discrimination (Mallicoat 2017).
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p.295
We learn more about community policing in the section titled “Community, Policy, and Social
Action.â€
Prisons
Despite the decline in crime rates, prison populations are increasing (Anderson 2003), even though
the rate of new admissions has declined in recent years (Sabol, West, and Cooper 2009). At the end
of 2013, the federal and state inmate population was more than 1.6 million. Although the United
States represents 5% of the world’s population, the number of incarcerated in our country represents
nearly 25% of the world’s prison population (Rosen 2010). Data reveal that the United States has
the second highest prison population rate in the world (refer to Figure 13.3).
FIGURE 13.3 â– Highest Prison Population Rates in the World, 2017
Source: Adapted from World Prison Brief 2017.
Mandatory sentencing, especially for nonviolent drug offenders, is a key reason why inmate
populations have increased for the past 30 years. Drug offenders now make up more than half of all
federal prisoners (Anderson 2003). The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses
than any other country (Justice Policy Institute 2008). The majority of men and women sentenced
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under these laws are nonviolent, low-level drug offenders—couriers, street dealers, bystanders, or
drug addicts—convicted for possession or sales of small amounts of drugs (Human Rights Watch
1999, 2000).
Additionally, probation and parole revocations are a growing source of prison admissions. Among
prisoners released in 2005 who returned to prison, 49.7% had a parole or probation violation or an
arrest for a new offense within three years that led to imprisonment, and 55.1% had a parole or
probation violation or an arrest that led to imprisonment within five years (Durose, Cooper, and
Snyder 2014).
p.296
Along with the increase in the number of prisoners comes an increase in prison budgets. In 2010,
the average state inmate cost about $31,286 per year (Henrichson and Delaney 2012). Average
operating costs per inmate varied by state, indicating differences in costs of living, wage rates, and
other related factors. The three states with the highest annual operating costs per inmate were New
York ($60,076), New Jersey ($54,865), and Connecticut ($50,262).
Human Rights Watch (2012) documented the aging of the U.S. prison population, reporting that
the number of prisoners aged 65 or older increased by 63% between 2007 and 2010. For 2012, there
were 26,200 prisoners in this age group. Providing medical care to older prison populations
suffering from chronic, disabling, and terminal illnesses will be expensive, no different from the level
of care and spending required for an older nonprison population. Although no systematic data are
available regarding the annual cost of care, Human Rights Watch (2012) reported a range of state
expenses from $4,000 to $8,500 per elderly prisoner per year.
What is the purpose of the prison system? Some argue that the system is intended to rehabilitate
offenders, to prevent them from committing crime again. However, beginning in the mid-1970s,
U.S. rehabilitation programs and community-based programs began to lose funding. Probation and
parole offices redefined their core missions from treatment to control and surveillance (Tonry 2004).
Other Western governments, such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries,
continue to make large investments in treatment and educational programs in comparison with the
United States (Albrecht 2001), with evidence revealing that some programs are able to reduce future
reoffending (Gaes et al. 1999). For example, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands,
and Sweden have established crime prevention agencies that develop programs for developmental,
community, and situational crime prevention (Tonry and Farrington 1995); there are no comparable
agencies in the United States (Tonry 2004).
Michelle Alexander (2010) characterized U.S. mass incarceration as a caste system, much like the
Jim Crow laws (1876–1965) that defined permanent second-class status for Black Americans.
Specifically, the War on Drugs served as a form of legalized discrimination, entrapping African
Americans in the criminal justice system. The harm to individuals and families only intensifies when
prisoners are released. She explained,
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They enter a separate society, a world hidden from public view, governed by a set of oppressive and discriminatory rules and
laws that do not apply to everyone else. They become members of an undercaste—an enormous population of predominately
black and brown people who, because of the drug war, are denied basic rights and privileges of American citizenship and are
permanently relegated to an inferior status. (Alexander 2010:181–82)
The U.S. record of recidivism (or repeat offenses) indicates how badly our prison system is working.
Data analyzed by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2005 to 2010 revealed that 68% of
released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within three years and 77% were arrested within
five years of release (Durose et al. 2014). Prisoners who were released for a property offense were
more likely to be arrested for a new crime when compared to offenders first arrested for violent or
drug offenses. Inmates with 10 or more prior arrests, male, Blacks, and younger inmates (24 years or
younger) had higher rates of recidivism (Durose et al. 2014).
The Death Penalty
Five states executed 31 inmates in 2016. For 2017, there were 2,843 inmates serving death
sentences. The majority of death row inmates were White or Black (42%), followed by Hispanics
(13%) and other (3%). Since 1976, a total of 1,465 prisoners have been executed (Death Penalty
Information Center 2017).
p.297
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
POLICING IN BRAZIL
Policing in Brazil has a dark and ugly history. The death squads of Brazil began in 1958, when
Army General Amaury Kruel, chief of the police forces in Rio de Janeiro, handpicked a group
of special policemen to combat rising theft and robberies in the city. These “bandit huntersâ€
were given permission to hunt and kill these criminals. In other states and cities, teams of
police hunters were formed to pursue pistoleiros (armed criminals), undesirables, and gangsters.
Each new death squad, whether targeting economic or political criminals, became more distant
from the formal criminal justice system (Huggins 1997). Through several political regimes,
Brazilian police have never abandoned their practices of violent enforcement and vigilantism.
After 21 years of military dictatorship (1964–1985), the civilian government (inaugurated in
1985) set out to reform Brazil’s authoritarian practices. In 1988, armed with a new
constitution, the democratic leadership lifted the barriers to political participation and
attempted to restore the legal premises of universal citizenship rights (Mitchell and Wood
1999). In 1996, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso released the National Human Rights
Plan, a comprehensive set of measures to address human rights violations in Brazil, including
490
cases of police abuses (Human Rights Watch 1997).
Yet police violence and human rights violations all increased dramatically under democratic
rule (Caldeira and Holston 1999). Police are some of the primary agents of violence in Brazil.
According to organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, many
citizens continue to suffer systematic abuse and violations at the hands of their own police
force. Police officers and off-duty officers killed 3,345 people in 2015 (Human Rights Watch
2017).
Wesley Skogan (2013) offered this description of policing in Brazil:
At the state level, policing services are largely provided by two distinct bodies. The civil police conduct criminal
investigations and make decisions regarding prosecution, and often operate in plain clothes. Visible street policing,
traffic enforcement, responses to emergency calls, and riot control are provided by the uniformed military police. They
are heavily armed and organized in strict hierarchical fashion, with an elaborate military-style rank structure. They are
trained and operated using traditional military tactics, and in poor areas their operations often resemble those more
appropriate for a war zone. (p. 2)
According to Skogan, the Brazilian police culture is resistant to change and outside oversight.
The National Program for Public Security and Citizenship (PRONASCI) was established in
2007 by Brazil’s Ministry of Justice. In an attempt to improve the lives of police officers and
standards for police operations, PRONASCI has placed an emphasis on improving police
training programs and managerial practices. Additionally, PRONASCI is focused on prison
reform, neighborhood capacity building, and community involvement in violence prevention
(Skogan 2013).
The death penalty was instituted as a deterrent to serious crime. The penalty applies only to capital
murder cases, where aggravating circumstances are present. However, research indicates that capital
punishment has no deterrent effect on committing murder. In fact, states with the death penalty
have murder rates significantly higher than states without the death penalty. Kappeler and his
colleagues (2000) explained that only a small proportion of people charged with murder can be
sentenced to death. For example, between 1980 and 1989, 206,710 murders were reported to the
police, but during the same period, only 117 executions were carried out. This is about 1 execution
for every 1,767 murders committed during the same period (Kappeler et al. 2000).
Worldwide, 104 countries have abolished the use of the death penalty. In 2016, 1,032 were executed
around the world in at least 22 countries. Eighty-seven percent of these executions were in four
countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Pakistan. The number of executions in China, believed to
be in the thousands, cannot be confirmed (Amnesty International 2017).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 13.2: The Death Penalty at San Quentin
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Opponents of the death penalty point out the racial disparities in its application. The most
significant studies of racial disparities point to the race of the victims as the critical factor in
sentencing. Those convicted of committing a crime against a White person are more often
sentenced to death. Data reported by the Death Penalty Information Center (2017) reveal that the
majority of victims in death penalty cases were White (76%), followed by Blacks (15%). Nationally,
only 50% of murder victims are White. In their analysis of 1990–1999 California death penalty
cases, Michael Radalet and Glenn Pierce (2005) reported that those who killed a non-Hispanic
African American were 56% less likely to be sentenced to death than were those who killed non-
Hispanic Whites. The difference increases to 67% when comparing those sentenced to death for
killing Whites versus those sentenced for killing Hispanics.
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COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
U.S. Department of Justice
We may perceive our criminal justice system as a single system when, actually, we have 51 different
criminal justice systems: 1 federal and 50 state systems. The federal system is led by the U.S.
Department of Justice. Headed by the Attorney General of the United States, the Department of
Justice comprises many separate component organizations, including the FBI; the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which controls the border and provides services to
lawful immigrants; the Antitrust Division, which promotes and protects the competitive process in
business and industry; and the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees correctional operations and
programs (U.S. Department of Justice 2002).
Funding for the U.S. Department of Justice and its organizations comes from federal legislation.
The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was the largest crime bill in history,
providing funds for 100,000 new officers, $9.7 billion for prisons, and $6.1 billion for prevention
programs. Under the Violence Against Women Act, the Office on Violence Against Women,
administered by the Department of Justice, has awarded more than $6 billion in grant funds to U.S.
states and territories. These grants have helped state, tribal, and local governments and community-
based agencies to train personnel, establish domestic violence and sexual assault units, assist victims
of violence, and hold perpetrators accountable (Office on Violence Against Women 2010). The act
was reauthorized in 2013, expanding protections to gays, lesbians, transgender individuals, Native
Americans, and immigrants.
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs
The U.S. Department of Justice also supports the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
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Prevention. As its mission, the office attempts to provide national leadership, coordination, and
resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization. The office is guided by
the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 reauthorized by Congress in 2002
(U.S. Congress 2002).
The office sponsors more than 15 programs targeting juveniles and their communities. The Tribal
Youth Program is part of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative to support tribal efforts to
prevent and control juvenile delinquency. The Child Protection Division administers programs
related to crimes against children, such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Recently the office has been promoting and
studying the positive influence of mentoring on at-risk and delinquent youth. It sponsors a 32-site
demonstration program to develop and test program models that incorporate advocacy and teaching
roles for mentors.
Community prevention programs can address many components of juvenile justice: diverting youth
outside of the juvenile justice system, supporting youth informal or formal probation, or facilitating
community reentry after a residential placement. In their review of community-based juvenile justice
programs, Peter Greenwood and Susan Turner (2009) concluded that programs that emphasize
family interactions are the most successful because these programs encourage adult family members
to develop skills to improve their supervision and interaction with the child. For example, the
Functional Family Therapy program provides in-home sessions focusing on family engagement and
problem solving. Programs that target the offending youth, such as intensive supervision, early
release, or deterrence programs (e.g., Scared Straight), were found to be less effective (Greenwood
and Turner 2009).
Community Responses to Disparities in Policing
Sociologists Rory Kramer, Brianna Register, and Camille Charles (2017) recommended that our
“conversations need to shift from whether there are racial disparities in policing to what can be done
to reduce or eliminate racial disparities in policing†(p. 24). In addition to policy changes, Kramer
and his colleagues identified how police training may be an important catalyst for structural change.
For example, law enforcement agencies like those in Sanford, Florida (where Travyon Martin was
killed), are incorporating implicit bias training for officers. Other agencies have shifted from an
emphasis on weapons training to de-escalation tactics.
p.299
The sociologists also identify the need for better data on all police contacts. The FBI announced
that information would be gathered on officer-involved deaths and instances involving “serious
bodily injury†(Kramer et al. 2017). According to Tomaskovic-Devey and Warren (2009), “local
police forces can use the data they collect on racial disparity in police stops to identify problematic
organizational behaviors such as intensively policing minority neighborhoods, targeting minorities
493
in white neighborhoods, and racial profiling in searches†(p. 38).
In addition to Black Lives Matter, other organizations have emerged to address structural or
institutional racism, sexism, and classism in policing. Since 2005, INCITE! (2017) has been leading
a national project on law enforcement violence against women of color and transgender people of
color. INCITE! uses the term law enforcement violence to refer to brutality committed by local and
state police officers, immigration authorities, federal law enforcement, private security, and military
forces. The organization advocates a community-based response to domestic and sexual violence so
that survivors do not have rely on the formal criminal justice system. INCITE! also recommends
making connections with all types of law enforcement to better understand their training, policies,
and procedures (INCITE 2017).
#SayHerName was created by the African American Policy Forum in 2015 to address the forms of
police brutality experienced disproportionately by women of color. The organization offers the Black
community “a resource to help ensure that Black women’s stories are integrated into demands for
justice, policy responses to police violence, and media representations of victims of police brutalityâ€
(African American Policy Forum 2017). #SayHerName documents stories of women killed or
victimized by police and also promotes “considering race and gender in policy initiatives to combat
state violence, and adopting policies to end sexual abuse and harassment by police officers†(African
American Policy Forum 2017).
Community Approaches to Law
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was created in response to the Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The goal of the program is to shift from traditional law
enforcement to community-oriented policing services, a change that includes putting law
enforcement officers within a community and emphasizing crime prevention rather than law
enforcement (COPS 2003). As stated on the COPS website, “Community policing is a law
enforcement philosophy that focuses on community partnerships, problem-solving and
organizational transformation†(COPS 2014). Researchers found that “police administrators have
hailed community oriented policing as the preferred strategy for the delivery of services†(Novak,
Alarid, and Lucas 2003:57). COPS programming has also been adopted in the United Kingdom
and Australia.
One of the central premises of community policing is the relationships among the police, citizens,
and other agencies. Since 1981, the National Night Out program has worked to strengthen police–
community partnerships in anticrime efforts. Usually scheduled in August, National Night Out
activities first involved just turning on the front porch lights of houses, but they now include block
parties, cookouts, parades, and neighborhood walks involving community members and police
officers (National Night Out 2003). The community plays an important role in ensuring its own
safety. In community policing, “problem solving requires that police and the community work
together in identifying neighborhood problems, and that the community assumes greater
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‘guardianship’ of the neighborhood†(Greene and Pelfrey 1997:395).
p.300
© AP Photo/Laura Greene
National Night Out is held on the first Tuesday in August. The national event is intended to enhance the relationship
between community members and law enforcement.
COPS sponsors grants and initiatives in selected communities, offering specialized training and
programs to police professionals, such as technological innovations (mobile computing, computer-
aided dispatch, automated fingerprint identification systems) or policing methods. In addition, the
program supports innovative strategies linking police with their communities. COPS highlighted
the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s El Protector Program as one of the best strategies
for working with communities whose members have limited English proficiencies. The program,
established in 2004, includes two full-time officers who speak fluent Spanish. Assigned to precinct
areas with the highest Latino populations, the officers work with community members and business
leaders to reduce DUIs, traffic fatalities, and domestic violence.
IN FOCUS
ASSAULT WEAPONS
Assault weapons are a class of military-style semiautomatic magazine-fed rifles and handguns
that fire high-powered ammunition. These weapons were first introduced to the public in the
1980s as the gun industry began marketing weapons based on high-powered military designs
like the AK-47 and M16 (Weinstein 2012; Giffords Law Center 2017). Most guns sold in the
United States are semiautomatic: They fire a single shot with every pull of the trigger but
automatically reload between shots. A fully automatic firearm will continuously fire with the
single pull of the trigger and will stop only when the trigger is released or the ammunition runs
out (or if the gun jams) (Weinstein 2012).
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The majority of mass shootings are carried out with guns, most of them obtained legally. On
the evening of October 1, 2017, a lone gunman opened fire at a Las Vegas music festival from
his hotel room window, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500 others. Police found
more than 20 firearms, several modified as fully automatic weapons. Semiautomatic guns were
used in the deadly shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
(2018), the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida (2016), and Sandy Hook Elementary School
in Newton, Connecticut (2012). People killed in mass shootings make up less than half of 1%
of the people shot to death each year (Berkowitz et al. 2017).
The Federal Assault Weapons Bill became law in 1994 but was not reauthorized in 2004. The
law banned specific types of assault weapons and also forbade the possession of rifles and
handguns that featured two or more military-style modifications. The Brady Handgun
Violence Prevention Act was also signed into law in 1994. Under this law, which still exists
today, individuals purchasing guns from licensed dealers are required to submit to an instant
FBI background check. Individual gun owners who don’t buy and sell weapons as their primary
means of income can make occasional sales without running a background check. It is
estimated that 40% of all gun sales do not include a background check (Weinstein 2012).
The Australian government banned automatic and semiautomatic firearms after the country’s
worst mass shooting, in 1996. In addition to the firearms ban, the government created a
national firearms registry and instituted a 28-day waiting period for gun purchases. As reported
by Uri Friedman (2015), the number of mass shootings in Australia (defined as the killing of
five or more people other than the gunman) dropped from 13 in the 18-year period before
1996 to zero after implementation of the new law. Between 1995 and 2006, gun-related
homicides dropped by 59%.
In 2017, Senator Dianne Feinsten (D-CA) introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017,
proposing to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault
weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. In 2018, after the death of 14 fellow
students and three staff members, students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High turned their
grief into activism, organizing town hall meetings, rallies, and marches to promote gun control
and school safety.
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Charlotte Gill and her colleagues (2014) documented that community-oriented policing programs
have positive effects on citizen satisfaction and perceptions of disorder and police legitimacy but
have little impact on actual crime or citizens’ fear of crime. COPS was intended to improve the
relationship between the police and the public and the quality of life at the community level, but it
was never promoted as a crime prevention program to directly impact crime. They concluded,
“Ultimately, the adoption of a community oriented philosophy by police departments, combined
496
with highly-focused, place- and problem-specific crime prevention strategies, could be the precursor
to creating long term improvements and healthy communities†(Gill et al. 2014:423).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 13.3: US Gun Violence Debate
What Does It Mean to Me?
Would a ban on assault weapons reduce gun violence in the United States? What other policies or
strategies do you think would reduce gun violence?
Prison Advocacy and Death Penalty Reform
Several national, state, and local organizations are committed to reforming our prison system and
advocating prisoners’ rights. Most of their work comes in the form of advocacy, educational
campaigns, and litigation.
In the early 2000s, a network of student and community activists mobilized to end the use of prisons
for profit. The group Not With Our Money successfully mobilized against Sodexho Marriott, a
food service provider that owned more than 10% of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA),
one of the largest owners and operators of U.S. private prisons. Efforts to pressure university
administrators to end their food service contracts with Sodexho Marriott were successful at several
colleges and universities. Since protests against Sodexho Marriott began, its parent company,
Sodexho Alliance, has divested all its interest in CCA (Bigda 2001).
497
JESSICA RINALDI/REUTERS/Newscom
Since it was established in 1992, the Innocence Project has rated more than 300 men and women through DNA testing.
Larry Fuller was released in 2006 after spending 25 years in prison.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
MAX KENNER
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Most state correctional systems offer some sort of educational programming. However, only a third offer college
498
courses or degrees.
The brainchild of Max Kenner, the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) was created in 1999 to address
the educational needs of prisoners and to provide them with the opportunity and the means to
attain higher education while remaining within the correctional system.
To understand the logic behind such a program as BPI, one must revisit the 1970s, a time
when the federal government looked favorably upon college in prison programs. Since then,
numerous studies have shown that college in prison programs reduce the rate of recidivism,
lower the number of violent incidents that occur within prisons, reestablish broken
relationships between incarcerated parents and their children, and create a general sense of
hope among inmates. Despite these beneficial consequences, in 1994, President Clinton signed
the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law, essentially abrogating federal
support and funding for existing programs. As a result, of the 350 programs that had arisen,
only 3 remained.
“The prison system is so large,†Kenner muses, “because it locks people up at a young age, and
when they return home, they are less equipped to work, to attend school, and to function as
social beings.†These deficiencies result in an increased chance that released prisoners will
commit another crime of a greater magnitude, thereby paving the road back to prison, but this
time for a much longer sentence.
As an undergraduate of Bard College, Kenner immersed himself in the prevailing culture of
social justice advocacy on campus. In 1999, he and a group of like-minded individuals made
the unsettling discovery that of the 72,000 men and women in the New York State prison
system, four out of every five inmates were from New York City. Armed with this finding, and
an increasing frustration with governmental divestment from education in social services, the
group set out to tackle the issue of educating prison inmates. “We felt that if we were really
going to commit ourselves to some kind of effort to improve social justice it should be broad-
based, and it should be based on public institutions,†explains Kenner.
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With that in mind, Kenner embarked on a mission to make Bard College an institutional
home that would allow either faculty or students to gain access to prisons by lending its
transcript services and by offering credit-bearing courses and degrees to prison inmates.
After the national collapse of the college in prison programs, however, there was an incredible
distrust among people in corrections who wanted to see the colleges come back and people in
higher education who wanted colleges in the prison. According to Kenner, colleges only
wanted to offer courses if they could make a profit or if they could do so under ideal
circumstances. Some colleges were simply not interested.
It took Kenner one and a half years to begin working with prisons. He was able to organize
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student volunteer programs that allowed students to conduct writing, GED, literacy, and
theology workshops within the prison. “By the spring of my senior year, we had some 40
students volunteering at the prison on a weekly basis. Many of them said that it was the single
most profound and influential thing that they had done at their time at Bard,†says Kenner.
Upon graduation, Kenner made a proposal to Bard College President Leon Botstein,
requesting that the college provide him with an office and grant him access to its transcripts so
that they could begin offering college credit to prison inmates. The only stipulation was that
Kenner would have to find a way to raise money to support the program.
Following graduation, Kenner was given a salaried position by Episcopal Social Services (EPS).
“The Bard Prison Initiative officially started as a partnership between EPS and Bard College,â€
says Kenner, “and five months later, in 2001, we began offering credit-bearing courses to 17
students.â€
Currently, BPI offers two educational programs to inmates. Anyone with a GED can apply for
the precollege program and those with a higher level of education can apply for the associate’s
degree program. [In fall 2005, BPI began] offering a bachelor’s program that is consistent with
the degree conferred to Bard College students. Those who have successfully completed the
associate’s degree program in two or three years can then reapply for admission into the
bachelor’s degree program.
Kenner hopes that the programs that have been implemented thus far will remain active and
prove to be self-sustaining. He remains a passionate advocate for the return of college in prison
programs and will continue to play an integral role in enhancing their opportunities.
BPI currently enrolls 300 incarcerated men and women in five prisons across New York State.
The curriculum offerings include more than 160 courses each year. By 2018, 450 degrees had
been awarded to BPI graduates. Through the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, Bard
College is providing support to college-in-prison programs in other states and schools (Bard
Prison Initiative 2018).
Source: Excerpt from Malik 2005. Reprinted with the permission of www.EducationUpdate.com
State and local grassroots organizations, such as Coloradans Against the Death Penalty,
Mississippians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty, support prisoners’ rights and legislation to abolish the death penalty in their states.
One organization that has accepted the mission of correcting wrongful convictions is the Innocence
Project. Established in 1992 by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, the Innocence Project is
a nonprofit legal clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New
York. The clinic is dedicated to “exonerating the innocent through postconviction DNA testingâ€
(Innocence Project 2007). As of December 2014, the project had exonerated 325 individuals. These
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cases highlight the problems of misidentification, corrupt scientists and police, overzealous
prosecutors, inept defense attorneys, and the influence of poverty and race in the criminal justice
system. The Innocence Project is currently working to establish the Innocence Network, a group of
law and journalism schools and public defender offices that assist inmates trying to prove their
innocence, even if their cases do not involve biological or DNA evidence. Several states have
established their own innocence or justice projects.
The Innocence Project and similar organizations consistently draw the public’s attention when an
innocent inmate is released. In 1993, Darryl Howard was convicted of the 1991 murder of a mother
and her daughter in North Carolina. He was released in 2014 based on new DNA evidence and
charges of prosecutorial misconduct uncovered by the Innocence Project. DNA evidence excluded
Howard, but identified another suspect. Howard was released after serving nearly 20 years of his
sentence.
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
PROBATION AND PAROLE OFFICERS
Timisha Gilbert—Class of 2006
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Probation and parole officers work with and monitor offenders to reduce the risk of
reoffending or committing another crime. Probation officers, also referred to as community
supervision officers in some states, supervise individuals who have been placed on community
probation instead of being sent to prison. On the other hand, parole officers monitor offenders
who have been released from jail or prison. Both probation and parole officers supervise
offenders through direct contact with the offenders and their families. They also oversee drug
testing and electronic monitoring of offenders (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014).
Timisha Gilbert works as a community corrections officer, a combined probation and parole
officer in the Pacific Northwest. During her senior undergraduate year, she completed an
internship with the organization and was hired into an entry-level community corrections
officer position upon graduation. She describes her current job as “managing a caseload of
high-risk offenders released from jails and prisons to complete a term of community
supervision. I am required to hold offenders accountable while on supervision to ensure they
abide by sentences imposed by the Court, while also promoting change through programming
and other interventions.â€
501
Probation and parole work requires a bachelor’s degree. Candidates should be at least 21 years
of age, have no felony convictions, and submit to drug testing. Most employers require
applicants to pass a series of oral, written, and psychological exams. Timisha says that she uses
her sociological imagination regularly. “Using different ideas and theoretical conclusions to
develop case plans has been helpful. Every offender has chosen to engage in criminal behavior
for various reasons, and by reflecting on different theoretical perspectives, I am able to develop
case plans for effective case supervision.â€
She offers the following advice to undergraduate Sociology majors:
Think outside the box. A degree in Sociology can be used in many different ways and for various organizations. Each
career field has many different aspects and levels where your degree will be useful. Finally, do what you enjoy and
continue to seek out opportunities for continued learning and advancement.
CHAPTER REVIEW
13.1 Identify how the different sociological perspectives examine crime.
Functionalists argue that society sets goals and expectations, but people feel strain
when they do not have the access or resources to achieve these goals. Under this
strain, individuals are more likely to commit crime. Social control theorists ask why
someone doesn’t commit crime. Conflict theorists believe an act is not inherently
criminal; rather, society defines it that way. Theorists argue that criminal laws exist
to preserve the interests and power of specific groups. In feminist scholarship,
patriarchal power relations shape gender differences in crime, pushing women into
criminal behavior through role entrapment, economic marginalization, and
victimization or as a survival response. Interactionists examine the process that
defines certain individuals and acts as criminal.
13.2 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different crime statistic sources.
The FBI and BJS release data about crime committed in the United States. Data
from the FBI’s UCR and NIBRS are limited because they only include data about
reported crimes. The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization
Survey surveys people about their experiences with crime, whether or not it has been
reported to authorities.
13.3 Summarize the different types of crime.
Violent crimes are acts that involve force or threat of force against others. Property
crime (three fourths of all crime in the United States) consists of taking money or
property without force or threat of force. Juvenile crime refers to youth in trouble
with the law. White-collar crime includes crimes committed by someone of high
social status, for financial gain, or in a particular organization.
502
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13.4 Explain how race/ethnicity is an important predictor of offender or victim status.
A number of studies confirm that regardless of the seriousness of the crime, racial
and ethnic minorities are more likely to be arrested or incarcerated than are their
White counterparts. Research indicates that some individuals are more prone than
others to become victims. Victimization rates are substantially higher for the poor,
the young, males, Blacks, single people, renters, and central city residents.
13.5 Describe current responses to crime including policing, incarceration, and the death penalty.
American policing has changed drastically in recent decades. Recent incidents with
use of force, particularly the killing of unarmed Black men and teens, have increased
the public’s distrust of law enforcement and raised questions about use of force and
racial profiling. Although 5% of the world’s population lives in the United States,
25% of people in prison live in the United States. Mandatory sentencing laws play a
key role in the increase of prison populations. Despite the death penalty’s
abolishment in 104 countries, capital punishment remains on the books in many U.S.
states. Racial disparities in its application remain a key concern of critics.
13.6 Evaluate political and social efforts to curb crime and address inequalities in policing.
Community Oriented Policing Services has the goal of shifting from traditional law
enforcement to community-oriented policing services. A central premise of
community policing is the relationships among police, citizens, and other agencies.
Social movements like Black Lives Matter seek to draw attention to injustice in the
criminal justice system and racism in policing.
KEY TERMS
cybercrime, 291
felonies, 281
index crimes, 287
juvenile crime, 290
juvenile delinquent, 289
juvenile status offender, 289
labeling theory, 286
misdemeanors, 281
property crime, 289
racial profiling, 293
strain theory, 282
503
violent crime, 288
white-collar crime, 291
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Define the different types of crime considered by criminologists and sociologists.
2. Compare and contrast the explanations of crime offered by strain and social control
theorists. According to these theories, is crime motivated by money or greed?
3. Examine how crime exists to preserve the interests and power of specific groups.
4. What is unique about the experiences of female offenders and prisoners? How has our
criminal justice system responded? What else needs to be done?
5. Explain how crime is a learned behavior. Are there any crimes that do not fit this
perspective?
6. Identify the three sources of crime data in the United States. How would you assess the
reliability of these sources?
7. Is the function of our prisons to punish or rehabilitate? Review the evidence for each.
Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at https://edge.sagepub.com/leonguerrero6e
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504
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©Reese Lassman/EyeEm via Getty Images
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14
URBANIZATION AND POPULATION
GROWTH
Media Library
CHAPTER 14 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 14.1: Suburbanization of Asian Americans, Decline of Historic
Chinatowns
AP News Clips 14.2: Rise of Homeslessness in Seattle
AP News Clips 14.3: Long Commute
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
14.1 Define demography.
14.2 Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization.
14.3 Explain how a population is affected by its age distribution or ethnic composition.
14.4 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and related social
problems.
14.5 Analyze consequences of gentrification.
14.6 Describe the sustainable community movement.
Cities have always maintained an allure of better living and opportunities. But an examination of
our cities and their surrounding areas reveals a “profound duality†(Stanback 1991). Although our
urban areas are shining examples of economic and social progress, they also harbor significant social
problems such as poverty, crime, crowding, pollution, and collapsing infrastructures. Moreover,
opportunities and resources are unevenly distributed in cities: Some neighborhoods have safer streets
and better services and may offer a better quality of life than others do (Massey 2001). “Cities in
different countries with different socioeconomic and political systems often face quite similar
problems, although their scales, trends, or causes differ from place to place†(Kim and Gottdiener
2004:172).
506
Although it is still referred to as America’s Motor City, Detroit has a new nickname, “most
miserable city†(Badenhausen 2013). Detroit was an industrial giant at the beginning of the 20th
century, headquarters for automobile giants General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The city’s
population peaked in the 1950s at 1.8 million. But as housing developments were established in
Detroit’s suburban areas, residents began to flee. Automobile manufacturing expanded into different
states, and as competition grew with Japanese automakers, the three automakers collectively lost
40% of the U.S. automobile market share. Rising and persistent unemployment was followed by
declining tax revenues, declining property values, and urban blight. The Great Recession of 2007–
2009 crushed the city’s hope for an economic recovery. In 2014, Detroit’s population was estimated
at 700,000. In 2013, the city filed for bankruptcy, seeking protection from an $18 billion debt, the
largest filing in U.S. history (Davey and Williams Walsh 2013). The colossal economic failure of
Detroit has brought renewed attention to the relationship between economic, social, and political
forces and the health and structure of urban spaces.
Before we begin our study of urbanization and population growth, we will first review two
sociological fields of study. Both remind us that cities don’t just happen overnight; rather, social and
demographic factors help shape our urban areas and their problems. Our urban areas are produced
by economic, political, and cultural forces operating at international, national, and local levels (Kim
and Gottdiener 2004).
URBAN SOCIOLOGY AND DEMOGRAPHY
In the 1920s, sociologists from the University of Chicago examined their city and the impact of city
life and its problems on its residents. Their research provided the basis for urban study and for
understanding the determinants of urbanization. Urban sociology examines the social, political,
and economic structures and their impact within an urban setting. Rural sociology is the study of
the same structures within a rural setting.
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The first studies on urbanization or urban sociology adopted a functionalist approach, comparing a
city to a biological organism. The growth of a city was likened to the development of a social
organism, with each part of the city serving a specific and necessary function. A city’s core, for
example, served as its business or industrial center; and areas outside a city were reserved for
residential or commuting activity. Out of the Chicago School of Sociology came two dominant
traditions in urban studies, one focusing on human ecology (the study of the relationship between
individuals and their physical environment) and population dynamics and the second focusing on
community studies and ethnographies (Feagin 1998a).
Although this chapter’s primary focus is on urban problems, an essential part of urbanization is the
number of residents in an area, its population. The second sociological field we will rely on is
demography: the study of the size, composition, and distribution of human populations (see also
507
Chapter 6). Demography isn’t just about counting people. Demographers analyze the changes and
trends in the population. Their work begins with two fundamental facts: We are born, and then we
die. Recall that in Chapter 10, “Health and Medicine,†we reviewed how two demographic
elements, fertility and mortality, are determined by biological and social factors.
An additional demographic element is migration, the movement of individuals from one area to
another. Migration is distinguished by the type of movement: Immigration is the movement of
people into a geographic area; emigration is the movement of people out of a geographic area.
Domestic migration (the movement of people within a country) plays a large role in the
population redistribution in the United States (Perry 2006). In the United States, about 34.9 million
people moved in 2016–2017 to a different residence, the majority to the same county in their state
(U.S. Census Bureau 2017). People migrate to pursue employment opportunities, to be closer to
family, to find a more temperate climate, and to seek the opportunity of a better life. Most movers
have housing-related reasons: They move to a new, better, or more affordable home or apartment
(Schachter 2004).
THE PROCESSES OF URBANIZATION AND
SUBURBANIZATION
Urbanization, the process by which a population shifts from rural to urban, took off in the latter
half of the 19th century (Williams 2000). Urbanization in the United States, as in other developed
countries, was closely linked with economic development and industrialization. The U.S. economy
in the mid-19th century was divided: The northern economy was characterized by a mixture of
family-based agriculture, commerce, finance, and an increasing industrial base, whereas the southern
economy remained dependent on agriculture (Gordon 2001). But as the industrial economy began
to grow in the North and extended into the Midwest, thousands of people were attracted to these
emerging urban centers, drawn by the promise of work in factories and mills (Williams 2000). Also
contributing to early urban growth was the immigration of Europeans and the migration of rural
Blacks and Whites from the South to northern and midwestern urban areas (Dreier 1996).
p.309
The process of global urbanization occurs in waves. The first wave occurred in North America and
Europe from 1750 to 1950 (United Nations Population Fund 2007), closely linked with
industrialization and economic development (Kim and Gottdiener 2004). This wave involved a few
hundred million people and produced urban industrial societies that now dominate the world
(United Nations Population Fund 2007).
The second wave of urbanization took place during the past half-century in developing countries.
Some have referred to the shift as overurbanization, the process where an excess population is
concentrated in an urban area that lacks the capacity to provide basic services and shelter.
Overurbanization is characterized by a lack of employment, housing, and education or health
508
infrastructures for an area’s residents (Kim and Gottdiener 2004). This second urbanization wave is
problematic because it involves large populations of poor people—instead of hundreds of millions as
in the first wave, the second wave involves billions residing mostly in Africa and Asia (United
Nations Population Fund 2007). Refer to Table 14.1 for a comparison of urban populations
between developed and less developed regions.
TABLE 14.1 â– Urban Population Distribution of the World by Development Groups, 2014,
2030, and 2050 (Population in Billions)
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. 2015. World Urbanization Prospects:
The 2014 Revision (ST/ESA/SER.A/366).
After World War II, the United States experienced another significant population shift:
suburbanization. Although suburbanization has come to represent the outward expansion of
central cities into suburban areas (N. Smith 1986), increasing population growth rates away from
city centers, it has also been linked with two additional population shifts: from the Snow Belt
(industrial regions of the North and Midwest) to the Sun Belt (South and Southwest) and from
rural to metropolitan areas (Dreier 1996). Although many factors contributed to suburbanization,
the key players were government leaders and their policies. The U.S. Congress passed the Housing
Act of 1949, which encouraged construction outside city boundaries and made home purchasing
easier through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Affairs home mortgage
loan programs. The 1956 Federal Aid Highway Act, which established the modern interstate
highway system, made rural areas more accessible. President Dwight Eisenhower, a chief proponent
of the act, believed in the importance of the interstate highway system. Eisenhower (1963) declared,
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More than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of America. . . . Its
impact on the American economy—the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would
open up—was beyond calculation. (pp. 548–49)
The U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban population as an area with 2,500 or more individuals.
An urbanized area is a densely populated area with 50,000 or more residents, and a metropolitan
statistical area is a densely populated area with 100,000 or more people. More than 80% of the U.S.
509
population resides in an urban area. In 2017, the three largest U.S. cities were New York, Los
Angeles, and Chicago. A complete list of the 10 largest U.S. cities is presented in Table 14.2. Refer
to Table 14.3 for a list of world megacities.
TABLE 14.2 â– The 10 Most Populous Cities, 2017
Source: World Population Review 2017.
510
TABLE 14.3 ■Largest Megacities in the World—1950, 2000, 2014, and 2030 (Population
in Millions)
Source: United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2014. World Urbanization Prospects: The
2014 Revision, Highlights. Retrieved December 20, 2014 (http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf).
Note: In 1950, there were only two megacities in the world. By 2014, their number had increased to 28 (although only the top 10
are listed here). By 2030, 39 megacities are predicted to exist.
POPULATION GROWTH AND COMPOSITION
Changes in the fertility, mortality, and migration rates of a population affect its composition and its
biological and social characteristics. For example, age distribution, the distribution of individuals
by age, is particularly important because it provides a community with some direction in its social
and economic planning, assessing its education, health, housing, and employment needs. For
example, the driving behavior of the members of the Millennial generation (those born between
1983 and 2000) may change the future of transportation (U.S. PIRG Education Fund 2013).
Millennials are the first generation to embrace mobile Internet technologies, which is changing the
way young Americans relate to each other, but also changing the way they choose to live. They drive
less than older generations and are more likely to adopt non-driving forms of transportation. In
comparison with Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers, Millennials are twice as likely to express a
desire to live in a walkable urban area (U.S. PIRG Education Fund 2013).
Racial and ethnic minorities have accounted for most of the population growth in recent decades.
The changing ethnic composition (the composition of ethnic groups within a population),
especially the growing Latino population, has affected housing, education, health, and public
transportation demands. Minority populations have grown more rapidly than the non-Hispanic
511
white population because of higher birthrates, but also because these groups are younger and include
a larger proportion of women in their childbearing years (Cohn 2016).
The increasing number of ethnic Americans and their age distribution has caught demographers’
attention. When data for the 2007 U.S. Census were announced, researchers noted that younger
Americans were more ethnically diverse than were older generations—the average age of non-
Hispanic Whites was 40.5, whereas among Hispanics, the average age was 27.4. This age gap may
lead to competing political and social agendas. Communities may be divided between older
Americans advocating social security, lower taxes, and better health care and younger ethnically
diverse Americans demanding better education, jobs, and social services (Roberts 2007).
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON URBANIZATION
AND POPULATION GROWTH
Functionalist Perspective
Early functionalists were critical about the transition from simple to complex social communities.
Émile Durkheim described this transition as a movement from mechanical solidarity to organic
solidarity. Under mechanical solidarity, individuals in small, simple societies are united through a
set of common values, beliefs, and customs and a simple division of labor. Most individuals are
engaged in the same type of economic activity or labor. In contrast, Durkheim argued, organic
solidarity is the result of increasing industrialization and the growth of large complex societies,
where individuals are linked through a complex division of labor. Under organic solidarity,
individuals begin to share the responsibility for the production of goods and services, each with a
specific role in production. New relationships are created according to what people can do or
provide for each other. For example, most of us do not raise the food for our meals. We depend on
others to grow, harvest, deliver, and sell our food and groceries, and others depend on us for our
specific labor activity. Durkheim believed that as a result of industrialization, the social bonds that
unite us will eventually weaken, leading to social problems.
Although industrialization and urbanization have been functional, creating a more efficient,
interdependent, and productive society, they have also been problematic. Because of the weakening
of social bonds and an absence of norms, society begins to lose its ability to function effectively. As
our social bonds with each other have loosened, our sense of obligation or duty to one another has
declined.
Urbanization can lead to social problems such as crime, poverty, violence, and deviant behavior.
Functional solutions to these problems may encourage reinforcing or re-creating social bonds
through such existing institutions as churches, families, and schools or instituting societal changes
through political or economic initiatives. For example, under mechanical solidarity, the strong social
512
bonds linking an individual to society (through one’s family and friends) deter criminal behavior. A
person would not think of committing a criminal act because it would be inherently wrong or would
harm the individual’s relationship with other members of society. Under organic solidarity, criminal
laws, police, and prison systems serve as formal structures to deter criminal activity.
Conflict and Feminist Perspectives
Since the late 1960s, a new perspective on urban study has emerged. Referred to as the critical
political-economy perspective or socio-spatial perspective, this approach uses a conflict
perspective to focus on how cities are formed on the basis of racial, gender, or class inequalities.
From this perspective, cities are shaped by powerful social and political actors from the private and
public sectors, working within the modern capitalistic structure (Feagin 1998b). Social problems are
natural to the system, rising from the unequal distribution of power between politicians and
taxpayers, the rich and the poor, the homeowner and the renter, or Whites and Blacks.
Sónia Alves (2016) examined the increasing separation of social classes, what she refers to as spatial
polarization, across city boundaries in Porto, Portugal. She presents evidence that socioeconomic
inequality is reinforced by increasing geographic physical separation: The growth of highly skilled
and well-paying jobs took place in the affluent western part of Porto, while unskilled and low-paid
jobs were located in the central and eastern parts of the city. Alves warns that “increases in socio-
spatial inequality can both reinforce processes of economic inequality and lead to a reduction in
social cohesion that can threaten society as a whole†(p. 427).
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
GLOBAL URBANIZATION AND POPULATION
GROWTH
513
B MATHUR/REUTERS
In 2007, for the first time the world urban population outnumbered the world rural population. Urban population
growth is expected to occur in developing nations such as Africa and Asia, with slower expansion expected in Latin
America and in the Caribbean.
Between 1950 and 2014, the world urban population grew more than five times—from 0.7
billion to approximately 3.9 billion (United Nations 2015). Most of the growth has occurred in
less developed regions. In contrast, the growth of the rural population has been slowing. In
1950, 7 out of every 10 people on Earth (1.8 billion) lived in rural areas. In 2014, the rural
population had doubled to 3.4 billion. The United Nations (2015) predicted the urban
population growth will continue to increase, although the rate of growth will slow. If the
United Nations predictions are correct, all world population growth from 2014 to 2050 will be
in urban areas, driven by natural population growth, rural-to-urban migration, and the
transformation of rural villages into urban settlements.
There are many negative consequences of urban population growth for individuals, nations,
and the world: increased demand for social and human services; increased economic and
political burdens, particularly for poorer developing countries; and global environmental
degradation (Desai 2004). Some segments of the population are more vulnerable than others
are. By 2030, 60% of all urban dwellers will be younger than age 18. Cities need to ensure that
appropriate levels of basic services, education, housing, and medical care are available for these
youth; if not, life on these urban streets will threaten the quality of youths’ health, education,
safety, and future (United Nations Population Fund 2007). Environmental sustainability is also
at risk. Unmanaged or poorly managed urban growth leads to sprawl, pollution, and
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environmental degradation with long-term consequences. Today’s urban residents consume
more energy per capita than do rural residents (United Nations 2014).
Despite its dire message, the United Nations Population Fund (2007) concluded, “Urban and
national governments, together with civil society, and supported by international organizations,
can take steps now that will make a huge difference for the social, economic and environmental
living conditions of a majority of the world’s population†(p. 3). Suggesting the need for more
proactive and creative approaches, the organization recommends strategies for improving the
social conditions of the poor, promoting gender equality, and ensuring environmental
sustainability. A major component of the recommendations is to empower women and increase
the level of reproductive health services available to families, believing that these interventions
will influence individuals’ fertility preferences (the number of children and the timing of births)
and their ability to meet them. Such a strategy “empowers the exercise of human rights and
gives people greater control over their lives†(United Nations Population Fund 2007:70).
Residential segregation is defined as the neighborhood clustering or separation of groups by
racial, ethnic, or economic characteristics within a geographic area. Residential segregation is a form
of social organization that enables differential access to resources and opportunities, such as public
services, schools, and employment opportunities (Dickerson 2008), advantaging one group over
another. From this perspective, residential segregation is not accidental but rather the product of
institutional discrimination, city governments, zoning laws, mortgage redlining policies, tax bases,
and school systems that perpetuate racialized socioeconomic inequalities (Judd and Swanstrom
2004; Hanlon 2011).
p.313
Sociologists offer three primary explanations for the persistence of Black–White segregation:
housing market discrimination, differences in socioeconomic status, and preferences for specific
neighborhood racial composition (Massey and Denton 1993; Charles 2003). Martha Mahoney
(1997) explained:
For whites, residential segregation is one of the forces giving race a “natural†appearance: “good†neighborhoods are equated
with whiteness, and “black†neighborhoods are equated with joblessness. This equation allows whiteness to remain a
dominant background norm, associated with positive qualities for white people, at the same time that it allows
unemployment and underemployment to seem like natural features of black communities. (p. 330)
The residential segregation of Hispanics in metropolitan and suburban neighborhoods has also been
documented. Douglas Massey (2016) explained, “the perpetuation of poverty among blacks and
Latinos today prevails because segregation is not a thing of the past, but a condition that continues
to be generated and reinforced by ongoing social and economic processes that continue to operate
within distinct segments of American society†(p. 6).
Within this tradition, scholars also examine the role of capitalism and capitalists in shaping cities
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(Feagin 1998b). Land-use decisions are made by politicians and businesspeople (Gottdiener 1977),
real estate developers and financiers (Molotch 1976), or coalitions between public officials and
private citizens (Rast 2001). Joe Feagin (1998b) presented a theory of urban ecology that accented
the role of class structure and powerful land-oriented capitalist actors in shaping the location,
development, and decline of U.S. cities. Land speculators shape the internal structure of cities by
identifying and packaging particular parcels of land for business or residential use. As Feagin
(1998b) described it,
powerful land-interested capitalists have contributed substantially to the internal physical structure and patterning of cities
themselves. The central areas of cities such as San Francisco have been intentionally remade, in the name of private profit, by
combinations of speculators and other capitalists, such as developers. (p. 154)
Although women play a pivotal role in urban life, theories about urbanization have taken a gender-
blind approach (Women’s International Network News 1999). Urban studies have not
systematically considered cities as sites of institutionalized patriarchy (Garber and Turner 1995) and
have not legitimately considered the role of women in urban development. In the 1880s, women
activists advocated quality housing, public health and sanitation services, food safety, and health and
social services in emerging cities (Parker 2011). Feminist urbanists have argued for the development
of a comprehensive field of theory and research that acknowledges the role of women in urban
structures (Masson 1984).
By incorporating feminist theory in patriarchy and urban studies, we can understand an additional
dimension of urban life, namely, the complex ways in which cities reproduce and challenge
patriarchy (Appleton 1995) and the problems this creates. Cities are places where gender is
experienced and constituted. As Judith Garber and Robyne Turner (1995) explained,
urban environments are constructed around the delivery of public services and the development of policies. These shape
women’s ability to cope with complex urban locations, largely through the responsiveness of public and private organizations
to the needs of diverse groups of women and children. (p. xxiii)
Robyne Turner (1995) argued that the living conditions of lower-income, inner-city women have
been affected by the economic restructuring of cities and the patterns of downtown development.
Woman-headed households increasingly make up the majority of inner-city households. Turner
explains that although low-income women may find inner-city housing less costly and more
accessible than housing in the suburbs, urban living also presents a unique set of challenges in
transportation, housing, employment, services, and safety. Inner-city women have less control over
their living situations than suburban women do. City development decisions are made by those in
power, often men, whereas the decisions affect women, the young, and the elderly. Turner (1995)
concluded, “It is important to recognize the implications for women, as the heads of households, in
the debate on economic restructuring, land based economies, and the portrayal of political powerâ€
(pp. 287–88).
p.314
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Interactionist Perspective
Georg Simmel ([1903] 1997) was the first sociologist to explain how city life is also a state of mind.
In his 1903 essay, “The Metropolis and Mental Life,†Simmel described how life in a small town is
self-contained; interactions with others are routine and rather ordinary. But a city’s economic,
personal, and intellectual relationships cannot be defined or confined by its physical space; rather,
they are as extensive as the number of interactions between its residents. City dwellers must interact
with a variety of people for goods and services and for personal and professional relationships. City
living stimulates the intellect and individuality of its residents (Karp, Stone, and Yoels 1991). Elijah
Anderson (2004) described how urban public settings (like markets, restaurants, parks), which he
referred to as cosmopolitan canopies, encourage people to treat others with a certain level of civility
or at least simply to behave themselves. These canopies “allow people of different backgrounds the
chance to slow down and indulge themselves, observing, pondering . . . testing or substantiating
stereotypes and prejudices†(p. 21).
But how well are city dwellers connected with their neighbors? The answer is that they may not be
as connected as Simmel or Anderson predicted. The way a city is constructed might actually
interfere with social interaction. Our dependency on automobiles compartmentalizes neighborhood
relations (we only know neighbors on our block or street) and interferes with street life (no space for
ball games, block parties, bike riding, and joggers) (Gottdiener 1977). Home and residential designs
limit our face-to-face contact with our neighbors. Without porches, there is no place to sit out front
and visit with one’s neighbors; without sidewalks or local parks, families find it less appealing to take
walks around their neighborhood and less easy to meet with neighbors.
©iStock.com/xavierarnau
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According to Mathis Stock (2006), cities are defined by conflicting constituent groups, such as residents and tourists. Each
group has a vastly different experience and definition of the city they cohabit.
p.315
A fundamental principle of the interactionist perspective is that the symbolic meaning of any object
is subjective and may depend on one’s relationship to the object (McKee 2013). Tridib Banerjee and
William Baer (1984) discovered that how we define our cities is linked to what we value or use
within them. What goods and services do people use in their community? Is it the coffee shop, the
local dry cleaner, or the neighborhood grocery store? Or is it the local park, the bicycle lanes, or the
athletic center down the street? The researchers asked residents of several Southern California cities
to draw maps of their residential areas and discovered that illustrations by middle- and upper-
income individuals contained more details and area than illustrations by lower-income people did.
Upper-income groups included amenities such as tree-lined streets, wooded areas, and golf courses,
whereas middle- and low-income groups included commercial and retail locations, such as gas
stations, discount stores, or drug stores. Corporate symbols were commonly used to define
landmarks in middle- and low-income illustrations. Banerjee and Baer concluded that income was
the single most important variable in explaining the quality of residential experiences and residents’
judgments about what constitutes a “good place†to live.
Based on his examination of the transformation of European cities from industrial centers to
recreational destinations, Mathis Stock (2006) concluded that a city may be defined by conflicting
constituent groups (residents vs. tourists) and the vastly different experiences of the city they
cohabit. The transformation of cities such as Paris, Venice, and Florence into tourist destinations is
often intentional, with city leaders and businesses embracing the symbols of tourism—the language,
images, practices, and customs—in their cities. To entice visitors to their city, they promote their
city’s annual festivals and package them along with well-known cultural and historical sites as part of
a cultural heritage experience. This transformation has its detractors, who, though acknowledging
the revenue benefit of tourism, question whether this process has stripped these historical European
cities of their authentic identities and subordinated native residents as a result. For example, more
than 20 million tourists visit Venice each year. Venice’s local population has declined from 74,000 in
1993 to 50,000 in 2017. Rising rents and increasing numbers of tourists have pushed locals onto the
mainland (Donadio 2009; Horowitz 2017).
For a summary of the different sociological perspectives, see Table 14.4.
TABLE 14.4 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: Urbanization and Population Growth
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p.316
What Does It Mean to Me?
Can’t a person find some personal space? Symbolic interactionists have noted that urban dwellers
are able to create a “public privacy†while living in a demanding urban world (Karp et al. 1991).
Using props such as ear buds or head phones, individuals send messages that they aren’t interested
in talking with others. You may bump into people while walking on a busy street but never stop to
say, “Excuse me.†The proportion of unlisted phone numbers is greater in the city than in small
towns or suburban areas (Karp et al. 1991). Your coffee barista may have memorized your morning
coffee order, but does your barista know your name or any other personal information? How do you
create and maintain your public privacy?
THE CONSEQUENCES OF URBANIZATION AND
POPULATION GROWTH
Along with suburbanization came the decentralization, some may even say the demise, of U.S.
cities. Inner cities became repositories for low-income individuals and families, as the suburbs
enjoyed higher tax bases and fewer social programs (Massey and Eggers 1993). Researchers have
suggested that the poor economic outcomes of racial minorities, particularly African Americans, are
partly the result of patterns of housing prejudice and discrimination that have prevented minority
groups from moving at the same pace as the suburbanization of employment (Massey 2001; Pastor
2001). According to Douglas Massey and Mitchell Eggers (1993),
the simultaneous proliferation of poverty and affluence created a situation in which social problems among those at the
bottom of the income hierarchy multiplied rapidly at a time when more and more people had the means to escape these
maladies. (p. 313)
PREMIUM VIDEO
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AP News Clips 14.1: Suburbanization of Asian Americans, Decline of Historic
Chinatowns
Many of the social problems we discuss in this text seem to be magnified in urban areas. In this
section, we will review specific social problems plaguing urban areas: poor quality housing,
crowding, homelessness, gentrification, and urban sprawl and transportation.
Urban Living Environment
Many aspects of urban life—quality of air and drinking water, sanitation and fire services, and the
availability and affordability of health care—have well-established connections to the health of
urban dwellers (Cohen and Northridge 2000). For example, India’s cities are characterized by
“teeming hovels of dirt and garbage, overcrowded and noisy lanes, and proliferation of slumsâ€
(Siddiqui and Pandey 2003:590). India’s urban centers are home to more than a quarter of India’s
total population. Deprived of the basic amenities of water, sewage, and waste disposal facilities,
India’s urban residents are subject to unsafe and unhealthy living conditions.
One area that is often overlooked is the quality of housing. Substandard housing (homes with severe
or moderate structural problems such as malfunctioning plumbing or heating) is a major U.S. public
health issue (Krieger and Higgins 2002), particularly among urban dwellers and people of color.
Housing quality has been associated with morbidity from infectious diseases, chronic illnesses,
injuries, poor nutrition, and mental disorders (Krieger and Higgins 2002). Disparities in quality
housing have remained unchanged since the 1970s. Approximately 7.5% of non-Hispanic Blacks
and 6.3% of Hispanics live in moderately substandard housing compared with 2.8% of Whites
(Jacobs 2011).
p.317
Interior residential density refers to the number of individuals per room in a dwelling. The
520
criterion for crowding is more than one person per room in the household. In the United States,
household crowding is more likely to be found among poor, immigrant, or urban families. Research
indicates that children who live in more crowded homes have greater behavioral problems in the
classroom. Crowding also leads to greater conflict between parents and children. In crowded homes,
parents have been found to be more critical of and less responsive to their children (Evans, Saegert,
and Harris 2001). Crowding is also related to infectious disease transmission such as tuberculosis
and other respiratory diseases.
William Clark, Marinus Deurloo, and Frans Dieleman (2000) argued that household crowding is
linked to inequalities in housing consumption. The researchers explained that the rising income of a
large segment of U.S. society has led to increases in the overall quality of housing in the United
States. But at the same time, growing income inequalities create affordability and crowding
problems for very-low-income households. Affluent households demand better-quality and larger
houses, increasing their consumption of livable space, pushing housing outside of inner-city
boundaries. Clark et al. explained that as middle-class families move to the suburbs, they leave
behind inner cities plagued with increased density and housing shortages.
Cities with large numbers of immigrants—such as those in California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida
—are especially subject to crowding. A study based in Southern California revealed that households
of Hispanics who immigrated in the 1970s are 212 times more likely to be overcrowded than are
those of earlier Hispanic immigrants or White immigrants (Myers and Lee 1996). Clark et al.
(2000) also reported that in metropolitan areas with high levels of recent immigration, overcrowding
is higher than in nonimmigrant areas. Immigrant households are more likely to experience
overcrowding and are less likely to live in quality housing (Friedman and Rosenbaum 2014). Studies
suggest that competition for housing in cities with many immigrants may increase the cost of
housing and can lead to a housing squeeze. Cultural norms may also play a role in encouraging
crowding among immigrant homes.
Crowding is also a global issue, in countries experiencing rapid population growth. For example, the
population of Lagos, Nigeria, has doubled over 15 years to 21 million (Rosenthal 2012). City
residents typically live in apartments, 7- by 11-foot rooms described as “Face Me, Face You.†Up to
50 people may share a kitchen, toilet, and sink (Rosenthal 2012).
Homelessness
By its very nature, homelessness is impossible to measure with 100% accuracy (National Coalition
for the Homeless 2002). Most estimates are based on head counts in shelters, on the streets, or at
soup kitchens. These estimates do not include those who live in temporary or unstable housing (e.g.,
those who move in with friends or relatives). Most public and private sources agree that the number
of homeless people is at least in the hundreds of thousands, not counting those who live with
relatives or friends (Choi and Snyder 1999). There are several national estimates of homelessness.
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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2016) estimated that 549,928 people
are homeless on a given night. The majority (68%) are staying in residential (shelter) programs,
while the rest (32%) are in unsheltered locations. Over one fifth of all homeless are children under
the age of 18. About 32% of the homeless are families.
Globally, the highest concentrations of homeless people tend to be located in urban settings and
segregated in some of the traditionally poorest areas (Toro 2007). In contrast to the United States,
European countries experience lower rates of homelessness because their social welfare system
guarantees some level of income, health care, and housing for all citizens. Japan is facing a rapidly
growing problem of homelessness because its welfare system is even more underdeveloped than that
of the United States (Toro 2007).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 14.2: Rise of Homeslessness in Seattle
“Homelessness is a more complex social and public health phenomenon than the absence of a place
to live†(Mabhala, Yohannes, and Griffith 2017:151). Homelessness has been consistently correlated
with seven social factors: income, employment, health and disability, education, crime, barriers to
housing and social support, and living environment. Studies in different countries confirm that a
large proportion of homeless have experienced extreme social disadvantage and traumatic
experiences in their childhood (Mabhala et al. 2017). Women are more likely than men to identify
domestic violence and abuse as a cause of their homelessness (Richards et al. 2010). U.S.
Conference of Mayors (2013) identified several interrelated causes of homelessness for families and
single adults, including unemployment and lack of affordable housing. When asked what three
things cities should do to address homelessness, the mayors identified more mainstream assisted
housing, more or better-paying employment opportunities, and permanent supportive housing for
people with disabilities.
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p.318
Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Homelessness is impossible to measure with 100% accuracy (National Coalition for the Homeless 2002). This field
researcher is collecting information from a homeless man.
Gentrification
In their report “Dealing With Neighborhood Change,†Maureen Kennedy and Paul Leonard (2001)
revealed that gentrification, “the process of neighborhood change which results in the replacement
of lower-income residents with higher-income ones, has changed the character of hundreds of
urban neighborhoods in America over the last 50 years†(p. 1). Gentrification has occurred in waves:
the urban renewal efforts in the 1950s and 1960s and the “back-to-the-city†movement of the late
1970s and 1980s. Gentrification is a global experience, with renewal efforts documented in Tokyo,
London, Mexico City, Cape Town, Paris, Shanghai, and Sydney, as well as in many other countries
and cities (N. Smith 2002). Gentrification continues today.
The researchers describe gentrification as a “double edged sword.†Officials and developers point to
the increasing real estate values, tax revenues, and commercial activity that take place in revitalized
communities. But is there a price for these capital and economic improvements? The most
contentious by-product of gentrification is the involuntary displacement of a neighborhood’s low-
income residents. No consistent data exist on the number of individuals who have been displaced
through gentrification, yet the evidence suggests that where housing markets are tight (or limited),
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the amount of displacement is likely to be greater and the impacts on those displaced more serious
(Kennedy and Leonard 2001).
p.319
Gentrification is most often associated with the disproportionate pressure it puts on marginalized
poor, elderly, or minorities. The benefits of neighborhood revitalization are not equally distributed.
Research reveals that gentrification is more economically successful in higher-income
neighborhoods than in minority or low-income neighborhoods. Residents of higher-income
gentrified neighborhoods experience greater integration and economic benefit than residents of low-
income neighborhoods that gentrify (Hwang and Sampson 2014). For example, Richard Barrett and
his colleagues (2008) reported a negative association between gentrification and the health of low-
income residents. The researchers concluded that neighborhood economic vitalization encourages
more expensive service providers to move into the neighborhood, thus disrupting or eliminating
low-income residents’ access to low-cost health care. In a study of adults who lived in gentrifying
New York City neighborhoods, Sungwoo Lim and colleagues (2017) concluded that residents who
moved to non-gentrifying, poor neighborhoods had a greater number of emergency room visits,
hospitalizations, and mental health–related visits for about five years after displacement. The
researchers hypothesized that “it is likely that the inability to return to one’s community and loss of
social networks may have an . . . impact on mental health†(p. 8). They encourage public health
practitioners to assess how neighborhood level change affects the health of original residents,
especially those who are vulnerable to displacement.
Although overall U.S. home values dropped between 2008 and 2011, values of homes in close-in or
mixed-use neighborhoods held or increased their value. Demand for walkable urban places, with
amenities of mixed housing types, destinations within walking distance, and public transportation
options, increased above demand for homes in suburban areas with large home lots, ample parking,
and driving as the primary means of transportation (Leinberger and Alfonzo 2012). In their analysis
of sample neighborhoods in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, Christopher Leinberger and
Mariela Alfonzo (2012) documented how residents of more walkable places have lower
transportation costs and higher transit access but higher housing costs. Residents of walkable places
are more affluent than residents of places with poor walkability. Leinberger (2012) reported how
similar class and cost patterns are present in other urban areas, such as Seattle, Washington; Denver,
Colorado; Columbus, Ohio; and Atlanta, Georgia.
Urban Sprawl and Transportation
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©iStock.com/pidjoe/
Bicycles are ubiquitous in the Netherlands. There are an estimated 13 million bikes for the country’s 16 million residents.
The Dutch have established a vast network of efficient and safe bike paths.
As urban areas spread out, they create a phenomenon referred to as urban sprawl. Urban sprawl
began with land development after World War II. Sprawl is defined as the process in which the
spread of development across the landscape outpaces population growth (Ewing, Pendall, and Chen
2002). Sprawl creates four conditions for an urban area: a population that is widely dispersed in low-
density developments; rigidly separated homes, shops, and workplaces; a network of roads marked
by huge blocks and poor access; and a lack of well-defined activity centers, such as downtowns or
town centers (Ewing et al. 2002). Sprawl increases stress on urban livability as goods and services,
along with economic and educational opportunities, become less accessible to inner-city residents
(W. A. Johnson 2007; Powell 2007).
As sprawl increases, so do the number of miles traveled, the number of vehicles owned per
household, traffic fatality rates, air pollution (Corvin 2001; Ewing et al. 2002), and, eventually, our
risk of asthma, obesity, and poor health. On average, an American spends 443 hours per year behind
the wheel (Crenson 2003). Public transportation usage is higher in metro areas. In 2010, the New
York–northern New Jersey–Long Island metro area had the highest percentage of workers who
commuted to work via public transportation, 30.5% (McKenzie and Rapino 2011). New suburban
residential developments don’t include sidewalks, and automobiles are needed to get from place to
place.
p.320
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
COMMUTING
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The national average travel time to work (one way) was 25.5 minutes in 2011 (McKenzie
2013). Workers in the New York and Washington, DC, metro areas had the two longest
travel times, 34.9 minutes and 34.5 minutes, respectively. The majority of workers travel
30 or less minutes to work.
Those who commuted from suburbs to a city for work were more likely to have a 60+
minute commute compared to other home/workplace categories (refer to Figure 14.1).
The mode of commuter transportation varied by time travel (refer to Figure 14.2).
Workers commuting 60+ minutes or longer relied on carpools or public transportation
more than did workers with commute times under an hour. However, for both groups,
driving alone was the most popular transportation mode.
What do you think? How would you define a “long†commute? How important is it for
you to live in close proximity to where you work (or go to school)?
FIGURE 14.1 â– Residence-to-Work Pattern by Commute Time, 2011
Source: McKenzie 2013.
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FIGURE 14.2 â– Commute Mode by Commute Time, 2011
Source: McKenzie 2013.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that urban sprawl increases our time on the
road and decreases our time spent exercising, including walking, jogging, or riding a bike (Corvin
2001). Residents who live in spread-out areas spend fewer minutes each month walking and weigh
about 6 pounds more on average than do those who live in densely populated areas (Stein 2003).
Refer to Exploring Social Problems for more information about U.S. commuters.
p.321
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 14.3: Long Commute
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On average, an American worker’s daily commute is about 25 minutes (one-way commute time),
and 86% of workers drive alone to work (McKenzie 2015). Only 5% of commuters travel to work
using public transportation. Residents from larger cities tend to have longer commutes (U.S. Census
Bureau 2005). Long commutes are also a global experience, particularly for poor disadvantaged
workers. For example, commuting to Brazil’s largest industrial city, São Paulo, can take as much as
four hours each way. São Paulo commuters are mostly minimum-wage laborers, commuting daily
from their working-class poor suburbs to the city’s factories.
What Does It Mean to Me?
Examine the public transportation system for your college city. First, is one available? Second, assess
its effectiveness. Does the system serve all areas of your community? How much does it cost to use
the system? How does the system serve disadvantaged populations—elderly, poor, or disabled
residents? Does the system provide discounted fares for students?
IN FOCUS
LIVING CAR FREE
©Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz
In 2007, the city of Paris introduced Vélib’, a self-service bicycle transit system. From more than 1,200 locations
throughout the city, individuals can rent bikes by the hour. There are 230 miles of cycling lanes in Paris.
North Americans are known for their love affair with, maybe even addiction to, their
automobiles (Boddy 2000). Although the average number of persons per household has
declined, from 3.16 in 1969 to 2.66 in 2009, the number of vehicles has increased in the same
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time period from 1.16 to 1.92 (U.S. Department of Energy 2010). Despite rising fuel prices,
U.S. housing and work patterns make it hard for suburban commuters to change their driving
habits (Ohlemacher 2007). As of November 2017, the highest recorded average price for a
gallon of regular gas was $4.11, in 2008.
However, many European countries and cities have found innovative and community-friendly
ways to deal with gas prices consistently higher than $6.00 per gallon. For example, most of the
4,700 residents of Vauban, Germany, live car free. The rate of Vauban car ownership is 150 per
1,000 inhabitants compared with 640 per 1,000 residents in the United States. How does
Vauban do it? Extensive city planning and innovative public policy. The city was built with an
extensive system of bike paths and few parking spots. Parking spots for vehicles are available in
a garage at the edge of the community for €17,500 (more than $20,000 per year). Vauban city
planners have also encouraged residents to use public transportation such as tramways and
buses. Many of the city’s streets were designed to be too narrow for cars (de Pommereau 2006).
Car use is discouraged in many different ways throughout the world. In Germany, there is a
yearly car tax based on the automobile engine size—the bigger the engine, the higher the tax.
Several European cities maintain fleets of bikes for public use to encourage bike riding as a
transportation alternative. European Union countries, such as France, Italy, and Germany,
have closed off parts of their city centers to cars for a day or permanently. In 1983, Bogotá,
Colombia, initiated a program called ciclovÃa (bike path). Designated streets are closed to cars
every Sunday, encouraging residents to jog, walk, or ride their bikes on the streets and
revitalizing their neighborhoods as a result. One and a half million people are said to turn out
for the Sunday ciclovÃa (Wood 2007).
p.322
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
MAGIC JOHNSON
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© iStock.com/EdStock
Since retiring from professional basketball, Magic Johnson has become a commercial and real estate developer in
minority inner-city and suburban neighborhoods.
Since his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers, Earvin “Magic†Johnson has become a
commercial developer opening state-of-the-art multiplex theaters, including restaurants, retail,
personal service, and Starbucks locations. Johnson’s company, Magic Johnson Enterprises,
specifically targets business opportunities in minority inner-city and suburban neighborhoods.
At the opening of a 12-screen multiplex, the Magic Johnson Theatres, in South Central Los
Angeles, Johnson was confident that such a business would succeed in inner cities because
African Americans make up about 13% of the movie-going audience (Dretzka 1995). Johnson
said,
We’re the No. 1 movie goers of any (minority) group but you can’t find any theaters in your neighborhood. That’s
why our theaters are doing so much business. We have great numbers, and for everybody in the neighborhood, it
means more to them than just a theater. It’s a pride situation, bringing the community together. (Quoted in Dretzka
1995:1)
The Magic Johnson Theatres cost an estimated $11 million and feature an art deco lobby with
a large concession stand and a two-level parking garage. The Johnson Development
Corporation has also opened theaters in Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland, and Harlem. The five
theater complexes grossed $30 million in revenue in 2002 (R. Johnson 2003).
Johnson brought his understanding of the inner-city community to the business. In his movie
concessions, knowing that inner-city children grew up drinking Kool-Aid, Johnson sells
flavored sodas. “Used to be we couldn’t afford to go to dinner and the movie afterward. I told
Loew’s [his theater partner], ‘Black people are going to eat dinner at the movies,’†says Johnson
(quoted in Wilborn 2002). As a result, in addition to hot dogs and popcorn, the concessions
sell chicken wings and buffalo shrimp.
At his theaters, no gang colors or hanging out in large groups is allowed. Before each movie, a
clip of Johnson is played, reminding his audiences: “So we got a few policies that apply to
everyone. They are not meant to disrespect. They’re there so we can all have a good time. So if
you have a problem, leave it in the street†(Wilborn 2002).
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Johnson has joined Howard Schultz, chief executive officer of Starbucks, in a franchise deal.
Their partnership opened more than 100 stores. Their first location was in Ladera Center, a
few miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport. The location is one of the biggest
grossing in the Starbucks chain. Schultz explains that through the partnership, “we could create
unique opportunities for the community—employment opportunities, opportunities for
vendors—and also some hope and aspiration about a leading consumer brand doing business in
underserved communities, and perhaps other companies would follow us in†(R. Johnson
2003:77).
Johnson’s business philosophy is simple: “All of my businesses deal with people, customer
service, and entertainment because that’s what I’m good at. Everything flows together from
that, and all the companies help each other†(quoted in E. Smith 1999:80).
In 2001, through the Magic Johnson Foundation, Johnson established a technology initiative
program, currently operating in 12 states. Attempting to address the digital divide (refer to
Chapter 11, “The Mediaâ€) affecting poor and minority children, the program establishes
Community Empowerment Centers providing youth and community members access to
computer technology, training, and experience. The centers also support the Magic of Reading
Program, providing students access to books and literacy programs. Since 2001, the centers
have provided direct services to 255,000 students in 16 urban markets.
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Car-free zones have also been embraced in several U.S. cities. New York, San Francisco, Kansas
City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and El Paso have begun promoting car-
free days in public parks, designated neighborhoods, and green spaces. Since 2010, the city of Los
Angeles has sponsored CicLAvias, a car-free event spanning about 10 miles of city roads and
streets. Advocates argue that these car-free practices promote family activities, active lifestyles, and
closer communities (Wood 2007).
The overall reduction in driving, particularly by the Millennial generation, provides an opportunity
to transform U.S. transportation policies. U.S. PIRG (2013) recommended increasing programs
that encourage Americans to drive less (public transportation systems, bicycling and pedestrian
infrastructures) and creating a strategic plan for the repair and maintenance of existing
transportation infrastructure (highways and bridges).
What Does It Mean to Me?
Could you go car free? Why or why not? Explain your dependence (or lack of dependence) on an
automobile.
531
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The federal agency responsible for addressing the nation’s housing needs and improving and
developing the nation’s communities is HUD. Created in 1965 as part of President Lyndon
Johnson’s War on Poverty, HUD was given the authority to enforce fair housing laws and to
administer a variety of federal programs to provide a decent, safe, and sanitary living environment
for every American (Martinez 2000; HUD 2003b).
HUD’s history extends back to the National Housing Act of 1934 and to the 1937 amendment that
created the U.S. Housing Authority for low-rent housing. HUD’s efforts to encourage home
ownership are rooted in the Housing Act of 1949, a declaration that all Americans have the right to
become homeowners. Despite its expressed goal of creating “well planned and integrated residential
neighborhoods,†the Housing Act did not improve housing conditions for nonminority households
(Martinez 2000). The goals of the Housing Act of 1949 were reaffirmed in the Fair Housing Act of
1968, authorizing the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to make sure that home ownership
was affordable and accessible for every U.S. family, including minorities and the poor (Martinez
2000). HUD continues its housing mission, expanding services to elderly residents and overseeing
health care facilities and lead hazard control.
In addition, HUD has been a major player in influencing land-use decisions in urban areas
(Williams 2000), spurring economic growth and development in distressed communities (HUD
2003b). HUD’s major urban initiatives have included the Housing and Urban Development Act of
1970, which established a national growth policy that emphasized new community and inner-city
development; the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, which established
community development block grants; and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which
created the first enterprise zones to stimulate economic development in distressed areas. Enacted in
2000, the Community Renewal and New Markets Initiative reinforced HUD’s focus on fostering
economic opportunity, enhancing the quality of life, and building a stronger sense of community in
impoverished inner-city neighborhoods (Williams 2000).
With oversight provided by HUD, the renewal communities, empowerment zones, and enterprise
communities program took an innovative approach to revitalization that targets inner cities and
rural areas. The program brought communities together through public and private partnerships to
attract the social and economic investment necessary for sustainable economic and community
development (HUD 2003c). Each program integrated four principles: a strategic vision for change,
community-based partnerships, economic opportunity, and sustainable community development.
The program began with the assumption that local communities can best identify and develop local
solutions to the problems they face (HUD 2003c). The empowerment zones and renewal
communities program ended in December 2013.
532
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Urban Revitalization Programs
The HOPE VI program was established by Congress in 1992. Originally called the Urban
Revitalization Demonstration Program, from 1993 to 2006 HOPE VI spent nearly $6.2 billion to
tear down public housing facilities and revitalize others into larger modern townhomes and
detached homes with the goal of creating mixed-income communities in inner cities. Community
and service programs are also established as part of the funding. In 2008, six housing authorities in
four states (Illinois, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin) were awarded a total of $97 million (HUD
2009).
The HOPE VI program was created based on recommendations from the National Commission on
Severely Distressed Public Housing (HUD 2003a). The commission recommended revitalization in
three areas: physical improvements, management improvements, and social and community services
to address residents’ needs. Program grants pay for demolition of distressed public housing and
rehabilitation or new construction. The program has been criticized for worsening the local housing
situation because not all demolished units are replaced and program data reveal that not all residents
return to the redeveloped HOPE VI sites.
Although the program’s primary focus is on the quality of housing units, HUD officials reported
that the HOPE VI program has made an impact on its residents through community and
supportive programs for residents. When the program was honored in 2000 by the Institute for
Government Innovation, HOPE VI officials reported that nearly 3,500 public housing residents
had left welfare and more than 6,500 residents had found new jobs as a result of the program
(Institute for Government Innovation 2000).
The Obama administration established the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) in 2008, a
collaborative effort with the Departments of HUD, Education, Health and Human Services,
Justice, and the Treasury. The interagency strategy was promoted as an interdisciplinary, place-
based, locally led, and data-driven solution to the interconnected challenges of neighborhood
revitalization. The initiative includes two new programs—Choice Neighborhoods and Promise
Neighborhoods. The Choice Neighborhoods program supports the revitalization of distressed
public and/or HUD-assisted housing units. In 2018, $5 million in planning grants was awarded to
six neighborhoods in California, Illinois, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (HUD
2018). Promise Neighborhoods is a neighborhood revitalization program to improve the educational
and developmental outcomes of children and youth. The program utilizes place-based community
change efforts, identifying and mobilizing community residents, leaders, public and private
businesses and local organizations to lead and transform neighborhoods. At the end of 2012, the
program had been implemented in 21 states and the District of Columbia.
533
Creating Sustainable Communities
Tyler Norris (2001) chronicled the emergence and importance of the sustainable community
movement in the United States. Since the early 1960s, thousands of public–private partnerships
have been formed to work for economic development, educational improvement, environmental
protection, health care, social issues, and other issues critical to communities. An array of private
and public community groups form these partnerships. These alliances have been identified by
several names and terms: healthy communities, sustainable communities, livable communities, safe
communities, whole communities, and smart growth. Similar alliances have been established in Great
Britain and China. Much of the improvement in public health, community revitalization, and
quality of life can be attributed to these alliances. The best partnerships, according to Norris, bring
together traditional leaders and community members often not included in the decision-making
process. A summary of best practices from successful sustainable communities is presented in Table
14.5.
TABLE 14.5 â– Best Practices for Sustainable Communities
Source: Adapted from Norris, Tyler. 2001. “Civic Gemstones: The Emergent Communities Movement.†National Civic Review
90(4):307–18.
p.325
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2017) manages the Smart Growth Program, helping
communities improve their development practices to better “protect human health and the
environment, create economic opportunities, and provide attractive and affordable neighborhoods
for people of all income levels.†Examples of sustainable communities include the following:
534
• Highlander Research and Education Center, New Market, Tennessee. The center was
established in 1932, working primarily on social change and education in the areas of labor,
civil rights, and Appalachian issues. In the 2000s, the center defined its focus on four broad,
interconnected issues—economic justice, racial justice, environmental justice, and democratic
participation—that it believed were critical to making progress toward a more just and humane
society. Current programs include an internship program, a children’s justice camp, a capacity-
building/leadership program, and cultural programs. Each program serves as an invaluable
resource to community groups in Appalachia and in the South.
• Greensburg GreenTown, Greensburg, Kansas. After an EF5 tornado leveled the town of
Greensburg in 2007, residents, city officials, and businesses made a commitment to rebuild
their city sustainably. GreenTown documents and coordinates the community’s green building
projects. The program offers green tours, allowing visitors to see examples of public, single-
family residential, multifamily residential, and commercial construction. GreenTown also
provides technical assistance to individuals, community groups, businesses, and local
governments wishing to adopt similar green building strategies.
Housing and Homelessness Programs
The one community response to homelessness that most of us are familiar with is the homeless
shelter. These shelters have been referred to as “Band-Aid†solutions, helping but not really fixing
the problem. However, these emergency programs can provide immediate and necessary assistance
and, in particular, security for families with children. If these shelters are to be truly effective, more
humane and supportive shelter environments should be promoted to assist families and to better
prepare them for independent living (Choi and Snyder 1999). For example, existing social and
human services programs will be more effective if the homeless are able to obtain the benefits that
they are already eligible for (Rossi 1989), such as Social Security, disability payments, and food
stamps.
p.326
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
NONPROFIT WORK
Mairead Shutt—Class of 2001
Undergraduate Major: Sociology
Undergraduate Minor: Business
535
In describing what it means to live a life of moral and civic responsibility, Anne Colby and her
colleagues (2003) wrote, “If today’s college graduates are to be positive forces in this world,
they need not only to possess knowledge and intellectual capacities but also to see themselves as
members of a community, as individuals with a responsibility to contribute to their
communities†(p. 7).
Because of their personal interest or commitment to similar goals, college graduates are often
drawn to nonprofit organizations, organizations that are neither for-profit businesses nor
government agencies. Nonprofits include hospitals, private schools, churches, social welfare
organizations, and charitable organizations (Butler 2009; Taylor 2010). Many of the
community-based homeless programs are nonprofits. Operations are funded not only by grants
from the government but also from private donations.
A bachelor’s degree may be required for some entry positions; some management or
administrative positions require a master’s degree in Business, Public Policy, or a related field.
An often-cited downside to nonprofit work is the salary, which is typically lower than for
comparable positions in the for-profit world. The type of work you can do varies widely from
direct client service to recruiting volunteers to program operations or fundraising.
Mairead Shutt is a relationship manager for a medium-sized environmental education
nonprofit organization. She is responsible for donor development and stewardship. “My
primary goal, on a day-to-day basis, is to engage donors at a highly personal level; partner with
Board Members to engage donors, and stay engaged with our education programs and the
impact these programs are having on students, teachers, and the community.â€
After completing her BA in Sociology and working in several nonprofits, Mairead went back
to school to earn an MBA. She continues to use sociology in her work with donors. She says,
My foundation in sociology has helped me to see the people I interact with through my profession (including my
colleagues, the students and teachers my organization serves, and the donors I communicate with) as unique
individuals, as well as people that are impacted by a larger social system that helps inform their world views,
opportunities, and preferences. This has allowed me to excel at working with diverse groups of people, keeping an
open mind about people’s experience and personal history, and communicating effectively. My sociology training is
also valuable to me at work because it helps me to combine both qualitative and quantitative data, research, and
analysis to understand the big picture of a situation, problem, or opportunity. Today, I regularly combine hard data
and metrics with more qualitative assessments to measure fundraising progress and to evaluate goals.
Mairead offers three excellent suggestions to undergraduate Sociology majors.
(1) It is acceptable to need time and space to explore and learn about the world before knowing exactly what you
would like to do for the rest of your life. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t have the answer by your senior year. (2)
Take on as many learning opportunities as you can. Volunteer for causes you are passionate about and build your
network. (3) Do the math. Understand the salary ranges in different sectors. While I would never discourage anyone
from a career in the nonprofit world, I would encourage graduates to go in with a solid understanding of the financial
realities.
536
In 1987, Congress passed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, which established
assistance programs for homeless individuals and families. Under this act, 20 programs were
authorized to provide emergency food and shelter, transitional and permanent housing, education,
mental health care, primary health care, and veterans’ assistance services. In an effort to create more
affordable housing, under Title II of the 1998 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing
Act, the HOME program provides grants to state and local governments to build, buy, or
rehabilitate affordable housing for rent or home ownership. Working with community groups, the
HOME program continues to serve low-income families.
p.327
Community efforts are important for the homeless and low-income families. The best-known
community-based housing program is Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat serves primarily
low- and very-low-income families with support from local volunteers, churches, and businesses, as
well as from the sweat equity of future homeowners. Habitat families have incomes of about 30% to
50% of the area’s median income.
Project Homeless Connect began in San Francisco in 2004 when Mayor Gavin Newsom had the
idea of bringing city hall staff and programs to the homeless community. The project, replicated in
more than 200 U.S cities and in Canada and Australia, attempts to reach out to a city’s homeless
population by delivering an array of services—social, medical, mental health, housing—all under
one roof at a local venue. Quality-of-life services are also offered for the day, including haircuts,
wheelchair repair, eyeglasses, and dental services. The project connects homeless men and women
with program representatives and members of the community. It is staffed by more than 700
volunteers and is supported through donations from local businesses.
Although supportive services are necessary for the homeless, homelessness cannot be prevented or
eliminated without enough housing for the poor. Homelessness cannot be prevented or eliminated
without a livable wage, employment opportunities for inner-city residents, more efficient
management of public housing projects, emergency rent assistance programs, and the expansion of
low-income housing subsidies (Choi and Snyder 1999).
CHAPTER REVIEW
14.1 Define demography.
Demography, an essential part of urban studies, is the study of the size, composition,
and distribution of human populations, as well as changes and trends in those areas.
An additional demographic element is migration, the movement of individuals from
one area to another.
14.2 Compare the processes of urbanization and suburbanization.
Urbanization is the process by which a population shifts from rural to urban locales,
537
expanded in the latter half of the 19th century. Suburbanization is the outward
expansion of central cities into suburban areas, moving population centers away from
city centers.
14.3 Explain how a population is affected by its age distribution or ethnic composition.
Age distribution, or the distribution of individuals by age, is particularly important as
it provides a community with some direction in its social and economic planning.
Ethnic and age compositions will also affect community services and priorities.
14.4 Summarize how the sociological perspectives explain urbanization and population growth
and related social problems.
Functionalists are critical about the shift from simple to complex societies, arguing
that we lose our social bonds and connections to others in the process. The conflict
perspective examines how cities are formed on the basis of racial, gender, or class
inequalities stemming from capitalism. Social problems are natural to the system,
arising from the unequal distribution of power among various groups. Feminist
theorists have argued for the development of a comprehensive field of theory and
research that acknowledges the role and experiences of women in urban
environments. The structure of our urban public settings, along with how we use or
experience them, contributes to how we define our cities.
14.5 Analyze the consequences of gentrification.
Researchers describe gentrification as a double-edged sword. Gentrification often
increases real estate values, tax revenues, and commercial activities. It also displaces a
neighborhood’s low-income residents. It disproportionately pressures marginalized
poor, elderly, and minority populations out of their homes and neighborhoods. This
is most pronounced where housing is limited.
14.6 Describe the sustainable community movement.
Since the early 1960s, thousands of public–private partnerships have been formed to
work for economic development, educational improvement, environmental
protection, health care, social issues, and other issues critical to communities. An
array of private and public community groups form these partnerships.
p.328
KEY TERMS
age distribution, 310
critical political-economy perspective, 311
crowding, 317
538
domestic migration, 308
emigration, 308
ethnic composition, 310
gentrification, 318
human ecology, 308
immigration, 308
interior residential density, 317
mechanical solidarity, 311
migration, 308
organic solidarity, 311
overurbanization, 309
residential segregation, 312
socio-spatial perspective, 311
suburbanization, 309
urban population, 310
urban sociology, 307
urban sprawl, 319
urbanization, 308
urbanized area, 310
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Define urbanization and suburbanization. What are some ways that urbanization and
suburbanization contribute to social problems?
2. Explain the societal transition from mechanical to organic solidarity as identified by Émile
Durkheim.
3. From an interactionist’s perspective, how connected are you to your community? Do you
define your community by what you value in it or what you use within it?
4. Access to affordable and/or quality housing is a problem facing urban and suburban
dwellers. Identify the extent of each problem, and identify solutions for each.
5. It is difficult to accurately measure the extent of the homeless problem in the United States.
How does this disadvantage our understanding of homelessness? Of attempting to solve it?
6. How can sociology be used to encourage the expansion of car-free or pedestrian zones?
539
Which sociological perspective(s) would best apply?
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©Mario Tama/Getty Images
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15
THE ENVIRONMENT
Media Library
CHAPTER 15 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 15.1: Renewable Energy
AP News Clips 15.2: Annual Precipitation
AP News Clips 15.3: Global Warming in the Arctic
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
15.1 Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems.
15.2 Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems.
15.3 Discuss climate change and global warming.
15.4 Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
15.5 Compare the first wave and second wave of environmental interest groups.
15.6 Assess the impact of the environmental movement.
Mega. That’s the word used to describe recent environmental disasters that have seriously threatened
and damaged our physical and social worlds. A megadisaster is defined as a catastrophe that
threatens or overwhelms an area’s capacity to get people to safety, treat casualties, protect
infrastructure, and control panic (Choi 2011).
In 2011, northeastern Japan was struck by a 9.0 earthquake. This megadisaster has been
characterized as a natural catastrophe overlaid by a technical situation (Choi 2011): The earthquake
was followed by a tsunami and damage to three nuclear reactors in Fukushima. The tsunami leveled
130,000 houses and damaged 250,000 more. About 270 railway lines, 15 expressways, 69 national
highways, and 638 municipal roads were closed. Approximately 20,000 people died, most due to
drowning, and thousands of residents were displaced. John Schwartz (2011) wrote, “The sobering
fact is that megadisasters like the Japanese earthquake can overcome the best efforts of our species to
542
protect against them. No matter how high the levee or how flexible the foundation, disaster experts
say, nature bats last†(p. 5).
With powerful 75 mph winds, Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico in 2017.
Home to more than 3.4 million Americans, it took months for the island to recover. In addition to
the loss of lives (no officially confirmed number of deaths as of May 2018), Puerto Rico was
crippled by the loss of electricity, flooding and rains, and massive destruction to roads and
infrastructure. Many residents fled to the United States for safety. Although the U.S. Congress
approved $5 billion in aid, Governor Ricardo Rossello requested more than $90 billion in additional
support for housing restoration and infrastructure and to ensure the island’s long-term recovery.
Economist Tony Villamil predicts that it will “take a decade at minimum for the island to recover
and regain some sense of normalcy. . . . The ports, the power grid, the highways all need to be
rebuilt with significant improvements†(quoted in Galarza and Lee 2017).
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS ARE HUMAN PROBLEMS
The field of environmental sociology considers the interactions between our physical and natural
environment on the one hand, and our social organization and behavior on the other (Dunlap and
Catton 1994). Human beings are an integral part of the ecosystem (Irwin 2001). The state of the
environment is also influenced by our cultural values and attitudes toward the environment, our
social class, our technology, and our relationship with others (Cable and Cable 1995). When we use
a sociological perspective to understand environmental problems, we acknowledge that “human
activities are causing the deterioration in the quality of the environment and that environmental
deterioration in turn has negative impacts on people†(Dunlap 1997:27).
p.332
Humans create environmental problems through intentional efforts to exploit or manage nature.
Rivers that are dammed, straightened, or treated as sewers may create unintended downstream
environmental problems (Caldwell 1997). The removal of rain forests to harvest wood or to create
farmland decreases the number of plants and trees that absorb carbon dioxide, leading to higher
amounts of greenhouse gases in the air. But environmental problems don’t exist just because of our
actions.
Our pursuit of economic development, growth, and jobs has also led to the degradation of the
environment (Caldwell 1997). Russia, Indonesia, and Zambia are among the world’s most polluted
places. These countries and their residents are exposed to organic and industrial pollutants caused by
mining, manufacturing, and transportation. Although much of this pollution can be attributed to
the countries’ substandard infrastructures or the absence of regulatory controls, even if both were
brought up to industrial country standards, “the legacy of old contamination from the past would
continue to poison the local population†(Blacksmith Institute 2007:3).
Environmentalist Paul Hawken (1997) referred to the Biosphere 2 experiment to demonstrate just
543
how vital and fragile our ecosystem is. The Biosphere 2 was a 3-acre, glass-enclosed ecosystem
intended to sustain eight people for a two-year experiment, from September 1991 through
September 1993. The Biosphere 2’s $200 million budget was not enough to create a viable
ecosystem for eight people. By the time the experiment ended, the Biosphere’s air and drinking
water were polluted, crops and trees had been killed by other vegetation, and 19 of the 25 small
animal species the participants brought with them had died. The scientists who lived in the
biosphere showed signs of oxygen starvation from living at the equivalent of an altitude of 17,500
feet. Even with scientific knowledge and planning, there are no human-made substitutions for
essential natural resources. As Hawken (1997) explained,
We have not come up with an economical way to manufacture watershed, gene pools, topsoil, wetlands, river systems,
pollinators, or fisheries. Technological fixes can’t solve problems with soil fertility or guarantee clean air, biological diversity,
pure water, and climatic stability; nor can they increase the capacity of the environment to absorb 25 billion tons of waste
created annually by America alone. (p. 41)
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS
Functionalist Perspective
Whether they are looking at a social system or an ecosystem, functionalists examine the entire
system and its components. Where are environmental problems likely to arise? Functionalists would
answer that problems develop from the system itself. Agricultural and industrial modes of
production are destabilizing forces in our ecosystem. Agriculture replaces complex natural systems
with simpler artificial ones to sustain select highly productive crops. These crops require constant
attention in the form of cultivation, fertilizers, and pesticides, all foreign elements to the natural
environment (Ehrlich, Ehrlich, and Holdren 1973). When it first began, industrialization entered a
society that had fewer people, less material well-being, and abundant natural resources. But modern
industrialization uses “more resources to make few people more productive,†and as a result, “more
people are chasing fewer natural resources†(Hawken 1997:40). As much as agriculture,
industrialization, and related technologies have improved the quality of our lives, we must deal with
the negative consequences of waste, pollution, and the destruction of our natural resources. Human
activities have become a dominant influence on the Earth’s climate and ecosystems (Kanter 2007).
Biologists Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich (1990) contend that the impact of any human group on
the environment is the product of three different factors. First is the population, second is the
average person’s consumption of resources or level of affluence, and third is the amount of damage
caused by technology. They present a final formula: Environmental Damage = (People) × (Level of
Affluence) × (Technological Damage). A high rate of population growth or consumption can lead
to a “hasty application†of new technologies in an attempt to meet new and increasing demands.
“The larger the absolute size of the population and its level of consumption, the larger the scale of
the technology must be, and, hence, the more serious are the mistakes that are made†(Ehrlich,
544
Ehrlich, and Holdren 1973:15). “What matters to the environment,†writes Robert Engelman
(2009), “are sums of human pulls and pushes, the extractions of resources and the injections of
waste†(p. 24).
p.333
There is no simple way to stop the escalation of environmental problems. Halting population
growth would be a good start but, by itself, cannot solve the problem. On October 31, 2011, the
United Nations announced that the world’s population had reached 7 billion, with 10 billion
predicted for 2100 (UN News Centre 2011). Reducing technology’s impact on the environment
might be useful, but not if our population and affluence are allowed to grow. According to Ehrlich
et al. (1973), the only way to address environmental problems is to simultaneously attack all
components.
Conflict Perspective
Public discourse on environmental problems is often framed in terms of costs and interests. Do you
save the spotted owl habitat or hundreds of logging jobs? Should you close a factory to save the river
where its waste is being dumped? The $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to
the Gulf of Mexico has been the center of a national debate over energy independence, economic
growth, and climate change. Whereas supporters described the pipeline as a jobs creator and saw it
as a means to reduce our dependency on foreign oil, environmentalists warned that transporting raw
tar sands oil over 2,000 miles is unsafe and ultimately would prove harmful for people, wildlife,
water, and the climate (Natural Resources Defense Council 2014). From the conflict sociological
perspective, environmental problems are created by humans competing for power, income, and their
own interests.
Our capitalist economic system has been identified as a primary source of the conflict over polluting
(or conserving) our natural world. Competing political, economic, and environmental interests
ensure that this conflict will continue. A few days after he was sworn into office, President Donald
Trump approved the federal permit for the pipeline. In November 2017, the Nebraska Public
Service Commission approved the final stage of the pipeline’s route. Opponents promised to tie the
pipeline up in court.
J. Clarence Davies (1970) argued that the capitalist system encourages pollution, simply because air
and water are treated as infinite and free resources. Polluters don’t really consider who or what is
being affected by environmental problems. If a paper mill is polluting the river, it doesn’t affect the
paper mill itself but, rather, affects the users of the water or the residents downstream. If a power
plant is polluting the air, the plant doesn’t pay for the cost of using the air; it pays only the cost of
cleaning up a polluted area (Davies 1970).
Environmental problems occasionally make life unpleasant and inconvenient, but most Americans
will tolerate this in exchange for the benefits and comforts associated with a developed industrial
545
economy (Tobin 2000). Environmental damage, pollution, and degradation have become acceptable
consequences of doing business. A higher standard of living has been confused with consumption:
More is better. As Henri Lefebvre (1971/2000) argued, the objective of a consumer capitalist society
is to satisfy real or imagined material needs. Television and print media overwhelm us with products
and services and tell us that we cannot live without them. Politicians encourage lower taxes so that
we have more money to spend. But increased consumption requires increased production and
energy, which in turn leads to environmental damage. David Korten (1995) explained,
About 70 percent of this productivity growth has been in . . . economic activity accounted for by the petroleum,
petrochemical, and metal industries; chemical intensive agriculture; public utilities; road building; transportation; and
mining . . . the industries that are most rapidly drawing down natural capital, generating the bulk of our toxic waste, and
consuming a substantial portion of our renewable energy. (pp. 37–38)
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Hawken (1993) contended that we should be able to put an economic value on our renewable
(forests, fisheries) and nonrenewable (coal, oil) natural resources. He advocates natural capitalism,
the awareness of the value of nature as a system, no different from assessing the value of human or
financial capital. We are able to attach a dollar amount to a tree once it is cut down for its timber,
but what is its value as a living part of our ecosystem? What is the price tag on nature?
Polluters target those with the least amount of power. Race, said Robert Bullard (1999), is the most
important factor in determining whether an individual drinks dirty water or lives next to a toxic site.
He defined environmental racism as “any environmental policy, practice or directive that
differentially affects or disadvantages individuals, groups, or communities based on race or colorâ€
(Bullard 1994:98). Environmental racism is institutionalized through the government, the legal
system, and economic forces (Bullard 1999).
Research consistently indicates that low-income people, and people of color are exposed to greater
environmental risks than are those who live in White or affluent communities. Low-income people
and people of color suffer higher levels of environmentally generated diseases and death as a result of
their elevated risk (Ringquist 2000). Environmental racism has been expanded to include members
of other disadvantaged communities, examining heightened environmental risk based on race, class,
gender, education, and political power.
The most recent case of environmental racism was met with protest and violence. For months on a
stretch of land in North Dakota, thousands of protestors and activists mobilized to protest
construction of an oil pipeline under Lake Oahe, half a mile upstream from the Standing Rock
Sioux tribe’s reservation. The pipeline is part of a 1,172-mile pipeline carrying crude oil from North
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Dakota to refineries in Illinois (Cuevas, Sidner, and Simon 2017). Tribal members, who called
themselves Water Protectors, claimed that the pipeline would negatively impact their land and their
way of life. Expressing solidarity with the tribe, the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues issued a statement, which said in part: “It is therefore imperative that the United
States respects and recognizes the intrinsic, inter-related rights of Sioux and their spiritual
traditions, history, philosophy, and especially their rights to their lands and territories. The world is
watching what is happening in North Dakota†(UN Division for Social Policy and Development
Indigenous Peoples 2016).
©ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
In 2016–2017, thousands of protesters and activists mobilized to protest the construction of an oil pipeline under Lake Oahe
in North Dakota.
Through social media and news reports, the world watched as law enforcement officials used water
cannons, rubber bullets, police dogs, teargas grenades, sound weapons, and other less than lethal
methods against the activists. A federal class action lawsuit was filed against the Morton County
sheriff’s office, seeking a restraining order to bar police from using such extreme tactics (Wong and
Levin 2016). Hundreds were injured and arrested during the protests. President Trump ordered the
final construction permits for the pipeline. In June 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia ruled that the Trump administration did not comply with environmental laws when it
reversed the Obama administration’s plans to reroute the pipeline, failing to examine the
environmental impact of building upstream from the Standing Rock reservation (Earthjustice 2017).
Although the federal court ruled that the pipeline could remain operational until a new
environmental review was completed, it ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Dakota
Access Pipeline to work with the tribes to complete an oil spill response plan and to report any
pipeline incidents and repairs to the tribe.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
Major U.S. corporations have joined the environmental movement. Walmart, for example, has
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implemented a no-package waste program, sells seafood from certified sustainable fisheries, and is
transitioning its trucking fleet to vehicles that run on biofuels generated from the waste grease
collected from stores’ delis. According to Jared Diamond (2009), although Walmart and other
corporations are motivated by money and efficiency, they are also interested in creating an Earth-
friendly, public-pleasing image. Should we be skeptical about these corporations’ Earth-friendly
initiatives? Does this change the way you think about them?
Feminist Perspective
The feminist perspective argues that a masculine worldview is responsible for the domination of
nature, the domination of women, and the domination of minorities (Scarce 1990), acknowledging
that the connection between the environment and women is one of shared oppression (Chircop
2008) via the capitalist regime and patriarchal structures of domination (McKinney and Fulkerson
2015). Laura McKinney and Gregory Fulkerson (2015) explained, “These linkages make
environmental degradation especially consequential for women and are also believed to increase
women’s propensity to protect and preserve the environment, when they are afforded positions in
society. Thus, the status of women is uniquely affected by, and has potential to enhance,
environmental conditions†(p. 297).
Ecofeminism may be the dominant feminist perspective for explaining the relationship between
humans and the environment (Littig 2001). Ecofeminism was introduced in 1974 in an effort to
bring attention to the power of women to bring about an ecological revolution, using women’s
experiences as the starting point. Ecofeminists argue that “men driven by rationalism, domination,
competitiveness, individualism, and a need to control, are most often the culprits in the exploitation
of animals and the environment†(Scarce 1990:40). According to ecofeminists, “respect for nature
generally promotes human welfare, and genuine respect for all human beings tends to protect
nature†(Wenz 2001:190). Other feminist approaches include the feminist critique of natural
science, feminist analyses of specific environmental issues (work, garbage, consumption), and
feminist contributions to sustainable development (Littig 2001).
Cynthia Hamilton (1994) argued that environmental conflicts mirror social injustice struggles in
other areas—for women, for people of color, for the poor. In environmental movements, Hamilton
explained, what motivates activist women is the need to protect home and children. Because the
home is defined as the woman’s domain, her position places her closest to the dangers of hazardous
waste, providing her with an opportunity to monitor illnesses and possible environmental causes
within her family and among her neighbors. As Hamilton sees it, these women are responding not
to “‘nature’ in the abstract but to their homes and the health of their children†(p. 210).
The modern environmental justice movement emerged out of citizen protests at Love Canal, near
Niagara Falls, New York (Newman 2001). The movement is based on the principle that “all peoples
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and communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and
regulations†(Bullard 1994). For many years, the movement has effectively brought racial and
economic discrimination in waste disposal, polluting industries, access to services, and the impacts
of transportation and city planning to the public’s attention (Morland and Wing 2007).
p.336
Environmental Protection Agency
The Love Canal disaster has been credited with changing public policy regarding toxic waste cleanup. New legislation
emerged holding polluters responsible for their actions. In addition, Love Canal marks the beginning of the environmental
justice movement in the United States, inspiring other citizen groups to become advocates for safe and healthy
neighborhoods.
At the center of Love Canal’s citizens’ protest movement was a group of local women who called
themselves “housewives turned activists.†Lois Gibbs and Debbie Cerillo formed the Love Canal
Homeowners Association in 1978. Concerned about the number of miscarriages, birth defects,
illnesses, and rare forms of cancer among their families and neighbors, the women worked with
Beverly Paigen, a research scientist, to document the health problems in their community (Breton
1998). The information they collected became known as “housewife data†(Newman 2001). The
women held demonstrations, wrote press releases, distributed petitions, and provided testimony
before state and federal officials (Newman 2001). In 1978, Love Canal was declared a disaster area,
some 800 residents were evacuated and relocated, and the site was cleaned up. Gibbs went on to
form the Center for Health, Environment and Justice and continues to work on behalf of
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communities fighting toxic waste problems. More information about Love Canal is presented in the
section titled “Hazardous Waste Sites and Brownfields.â€
Interactionist Perspective
Theorists working within the interactionist perspective address how environmental problems are
created and defined. Riley Dunlap and William Catton (1994) explained, “Environmental
sociologists have a long tradition of highlighting the development of societal recognition and
definition of environmental conditions as ‘problems’†(p. 20). Environmental problems do not
materialize by themselves (Irwin 2001). As John Hannigan (1995:55) described, the successful
construction of an environmental problem requires six factors: the scientific authority for and
validation of claims; the existence of “popularizers†(activists, scientists) who can frame and package
the “problem†to journalists, political leaders, and other opinion makers; media attention that frames
the problem as novel and important (such as the problems of rain forest destruction or ozone
depletion); the dramatization of the problem in symbolic or visual terms; visible economic incentives
for taking positive action; and the emergence of an institutional sponsor who can ensure legitimacy
and continuity of the problem.
Social constructionists do not deny that real environmental problems exist. Rather, their interest is
in “the process through which environmental claims-makers influence those who hold the reins of
power to recognize definitions of environmental problems, to implement them and to accept
responsibility for their solution†(Hannigan 1995:185). This perspective helps us understand how
environmental concerns vary over time and how some problems are given higher priority than
others.
According to Darryn Anne DiFrancesco and Nathan Young (2010), visual communication plays a
critical role in many environmental issues, helping to advance or promote a problem to the public.
But “global climate change, despite its status as one of the most talked-about and pivotal
environmental challenges of our time, appears to lack key visual symbols or metaphors†(p. 531).
The authors examined newspaper images of climate change published over a six-month period in
Canada’s two national newspapers, The Globe and The National Post, in 2008 and discovered that
Canada’s climate change story is told primarily using benign human imagery, focusing on politicians
(e.g., Canada’s environment minister, John Baird) rather than on scientists or ordinary citizens.
Emotive images, such as a polar bear mother with her cub, were rare in their sample. They
concluded that the national print media in Canada were not interested in playing up the emotional
aspects of the climate change debate. “In our view, the dearth of the clear imagery around global
climate change makes it more difficult for ordinary citizens to visualize potential impacts and
consequences, and to link (often) abstract language claims to real world and to everyday life†(p.
531).
p.337
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For a summary of sociological perspectives on the environment, see Table 15.1.
TABLE 15.1 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: The Environment
SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Climate Change
Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate (temperature,
precipitation, or wind patterns) lasting for an extended period of time. Global warming, the
ongoing rise in the global average temperature near the Earth’s surface, contributes to climate
change. There are also natural causes of climate change, such as ocean changes, volcanic eruption,
and changes in the Earth’s orbit.
p.338
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©Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
According to scientists, Greenland, with its melting ice caps and disappearing glaciers, is an accurate indicator of global
warming.
To sustain life on Earth, a certain amount of surface heat is required. Heat becomes trapped
through the buildup of greenhouse gases—water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases—making
the Earth’s average temperature a comfortable and sustainable 60 degrees Fahrenheit
(Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] 2003b). Over the past century, the Earth’s surface
temperature has risen by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (EPA 2012). The problem is the
accumulation of specific greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—primarily
attributable to human activity during the past 150 years (EPA 2018).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that climate change should
increase by 2.2 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100 years (EPA 2012). According to the
World Meteorological Organization, 2016 was the hottest year on record worldwide. Petteri Taalas,
the organization’s secretary-general, warned: “This is a part of a long term warming trend. . . . Many
of these events—and detailed scientific studies will determine exactly how many—bear the tell-tale
sign of climate change caused by greenhouse gas concentrations from human activities†(World
Meteorological Organization 2017).
Since the Industrial Revolution, concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30%,
methane concentrations have increased by 145%, and nitrous oxide concentrations have increased
15% (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1996). Fossil fuels used to run cars and trucks, heat homes and
businesses, and power factories are responsible for about 98% of carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of
methane emissions, and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions. Agriculture, deforestation, landfills, and
mining also add to the amount of emissions. China and the United States have the highest fossil
fuel carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. A list of the top 10 carbon dioxide–emitting countries is
provided in Table 15.2.
TABLE 15.2 â– Total Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2016
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Source: Adapted from Global Carbon Atlas. 2016. “Emissions†(http://www.globalcarbonatlas.org/?q=en/emissions).
p.339
Although they are unable to predict specifically what will happen, where it will happen, and when it
will happen, scientists have identified how our health, agriculture, resources, forests, and wildlife are
vulnerable to the changes brought about by climate change. Soil moisture may decline in many
regions, rainstorms may become more frequent, and winters may be colder and longer. Changing
regional climates could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. Sea levels could rise 2 feet along
most of the U.S. coast. In its 2007 report, IPCC (Kanter and Revkin 2007) predicted that the most
severe effects would be felt in poor countries and areas facing existing dangers from climate and
coastal hazards. Poor households are especially vulnerable to climate change because they lack
resources or services to protect themselves and their communities against the threats from changing
conditions or crises. Human activity was also identified as the main cause of warming since 1950
(Kanter and Revkin 2007).
During his first term, George W. Bush downplayed the problem of climate change, referring to the
lack of scientific evidence confirming its causes and consequences. In March 2001, President Bush
announced that the United States would not support the Kyoto Protocol, which was drawn up in
1997 to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The treaty
limits the emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2% below 1990 levels. According to
Bush, the Kyoto regulations would have become too burdensome for U.S. industry at a time when
businesses were struggling with a slowing economy. In addition, the president noted that leading
world polluters, India and China, were exempted from the treaty.
However, in his second term, Bush began to reverse his position. In 2005, he agreed for the first
time that human action was responsible for climate change, and in 2007, the president called for a
long-term plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and throughout the world.
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Acknowledging that science has “deepened our understanding of climate change,†the president
called for other countries to set national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 10 and 20
years (Stolberg 2007).
Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama observed that climate change, if left unchecked,
would result in an irreversible catastrophe. Although the United States has not yet ratified the
Kyoto treaty, during the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, it was
one of 195 nations that signed on to the Paris Climate Accord. Every country made a commitment
to lowering its greenhouse gas emissions.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 15.1: Renewable Energy
However, in 2017, President Trump announced his decision to withdraw the United States from
the Paris Climate Accord. Said Trump, “Our withdrawal from the agreement represents a
reassertion of American workers’ sovereignty†(quoted in Domonoske and Dwyer 2017). Since
taking office, Trump administration officials have been critical of the climate change science. EPA
Director Scott Pruitt asserts that carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to climate change.
Under Pruitt’s leadership, the EPA revised and reduced access to climate data and reports on its
website; this action caused alarm within the scientific community. Toly Ringberg and Andrew
Bergman (2017), members of the Environmental and Governance Initiative, warned, “By altering
and removing climate websites built over years and paid for by tax dollars, the Trump
administration is actively working to muddy the overwhelming scientific consensus that human
activity drives climate change. These actions only generate confusion about the issue and delay
progress toward reaching a policy solution supported by the public.â€
Air Quality
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The quality of the air we breathe is subject to pollution from two sources: particulate matter and
smog. Research has linked air pollution to acute and chronic illnesses (e.g., burning eyes and nose,
asthma) as well as death. Air pollution also leads to environmental and property damage.
Particulate or particle pollution is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels—the burning of coal,
diesel, gasoline, and wood. Particulate matter includes road dust, diesel soot, ash, wood smoke, and
sulfate aerosols that are suspended in the air (Natural Resources Defense Council 1996). The EPA
is concerned about small particulate matter, 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller, because these
smaller particles are able to pass through the throat and nose and enter the lungs, causing respiratory
problems (EPA 2007a).
p.340
Particulate pollution caused by traffic and diesel engines is a growing problem in many European
Union cities. The World Health Organization set the acceptable air quality standard at 10
micrograms of particles per cubic meter. However, nowhere in Europe is this standard being met—
at the lower end of the spectrum are Paris and London (16 micrograms per cubic meter), and at the
highest are cities such as Warsaw (34), Turin (41), and Milan (38) (Rosenthal 2007). The standard
in the United States is 15 micrograms per cubic meter.
Smog or ground-level ozone has been referred to as a public health crisis, affecting people in
nearly every U.S. state (Clean Air Network 2003). Smog is formed when nitrogen oxides emitted
from electric power plants and automobiles react with organic compounds in the presence of
sunlight and heat. Our reliance on automobiles has been blamed for much of the increase in smog
levels.
The EPA monitors smog levels throughout the nation. The EPA sets federal eight-hour smog
standards and collects data on the number of days that exceed the standard. A day is considered
unhealthy if smog levels exceed the eight-hour standard. The EPA reported that 2002 was the worst
recorded smog season; the eight-hour health standard was exceeded 8,818 times nationwide. The
states with the highest number of unhealthy ozone days were California, Texas, and Tennessee
(Clean Air Network 2003). In 2008, the EPA revised national air quality standards, the first time
standards have been tightened since 1997 (EPA 2010, 2014.
Scientists report that one of every three people in the United States is at a higher risk of
experiencing ozone-related health effects. Those most vulnerable to the health effects of smoggy air
are children, people who work or exercise regularly outdoors, the elderly, and people with respiratory
diseases. Short-term effects of smog mostly attack the lungs and lung functioning, irritating the
lungs, reducing lung function, aggravating asthma, and inflaming and damaging the lining of the
lungs (EPA 1999).
The prevalence of asthma has increased globally, suggesting growing problems associated with
indoor and outdoor air quality. In the United States, asthma prevalence increased from 7.3% in
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2001 to 8.4% in 2010, with an estimated 25.7 million adults and children diagnosed with the
disease (Akinbami et al. 2012). Among children, who tend to be outdoors more than adults, asthma
is the most common chronic disorder worldwide (World Health Organization 2006), the leading
cause of missing school, and the leading cause of hospitalization (Eisele 2003).
Hazardous Waste Sites and Brownfields
The story of Love Canal awakened the world to chemical dumping hazards (Breton 1998). During
the 1940s and 1950s, the Hooker Electrochemical Company dumped 20,000 tons of chemicals into
the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York (Center for Health, Environment and Justice 2001). In
1953, after filling the canal and covering it with dirt, the company sold the land to the Board of
Education for a dollar. Homes and an elementary school were built next to the canal. By the late
1970s, dioxin and benzene chemicals began seeping through backyards and basements. Because of
the efforts of the Love Canal Homeowners Association, state and federal agencies responded by
cleaning the area and relocating many residents. In 1995, the Occidental Chemical Corporation
(which bought out the Hooker Electrochemical Company) agreed to pay the government $129
million to cover the costs of the incident.
p.341
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
HOME SWEET LANDFILL
iStock.com/ © FannyOldfield
Those who live on or scavenge from landfills are at high risk for death or disease. Landfills are unsafe environments,
producing methane gas, and leachate, a toxic fluid that is produced from compressed trash.
China and the United States produce more waste than any other country in the world.
Traditional waste disposal includes incineration and landfills. Most U.S. waste, about 254
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million tons per year, is sent to landfills. Each American creates 4.40 pounds of trash per day
(EPA 2016). Landfills have been identified as one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases,
primarily methane (an odorless, colorless gas caused by the decomposition of animal and plant
matter).
Yet in many countries, many individuals and families call landfills their homes. In Mexico,
landfill residents are called pepenadores. To make money, they scavenge through garbage piles,
finding items (appliances, metals, or clothing) that can be reused or sold. Meals are harvested
from discarded waste, and they build their homes using scrap material. Matthew Power (2006)
explained, “Household and industrial trash has become for the world’s poor a more viable
source of sustenance than agriculture and husbandry†(p. 62).
In his article “The Magic Mountain,†Power (2006) focused on life on Payatas, a 50-acre
landfill in Quezon City, the Philippines. Here the scavengers are called mangangalahigs, which,
translated into English, means “chicken scratchers,†describing the way they pick through piles
of trash. Payatas has been called the “second Smoky Mountain.†The first Smoky Mountain
was a landfill site in Manila that supported about 30,000 men, women, and children who lived
on the landfill. In 1995, the Philippine government closed the site, moving residents to
temporary housing. However, over time, some Smoky Mountain residents moved to Payatas
and resumed their lives as mangangalahigs.
Power (2006) claimed that so much garbage is piled at the Payatas dump that it would take
3,000 trucks a day for 11 years to move it all to another landfill. He wrote,
As trucks dump each new load with a shriek of gears and a sickening glorp of wet garbage, the scavengers surge
forward, tearing open plastic bags, spearing cans and plastic bottles with choreographed efficiency. . . . The ability to
discern value at a glimpse, to sift the useful out of the rejected with as little expenditure of energy as possible, is the
great talent of the scavenger. (p. 62)
Scavengers can make as much as 150 pesos a day, about $3 for their work on the dump.
Scientists have collected global evidence identifying the unhealthy consequences of landfills on
human health. An increased risk of adverse health effects (e.g., low birth weight, respiratory
illnesses, birth defects, and certain types of cancers) has been found near individual landfill sites
and in several multisite and multicountry studies (Vrijheid 2000).
A zero-waste movement is growing in the United States. Consumers and businesses are
encouraged not to use polystyrene foam containers or any packaging that is not biodegradable.
Several cities have initiated yard waste composting collection and expanded their collection of
recyclable household items beyond the traditional paper, glass, and aluminum to include tires,
batteries, and household appliances (Kaufman 2009).
As a result of the Love Canal incident, the EPA created the Superfund program to clean hazardous
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waste sites. Hazardous materials may come from chemical manufacturers, electroplating companies,
petroleum refineries, and common businesses such as dry cleaners, auto repair shops, hospitals, and
photo processing centers (EPA 2003a). Sites may be placed on the national priority list (NPL) by
their state if they meet specific hazard and cleanup criteria. As of September 2017, 1,342 NPL sites
had been identified.
In 2002, President Bush signed the Brownfields Revitalization Act, which authorized up to $250
million annually for the cleanup of brownfields. Brownfields are abandoned or underused
industrial or commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by the
presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. There are more
than 450,000 sites throughout the United States. Redevelopment efforts have included restoring
waterfront parks and converting landfills to golf courses, as well as commercial and business
expansion (EPA 2003a).
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Water Quality and Supply
A 2003 study conducted by the Pew Oceans Commission revealed a crisis in U.S. waters caused by
pollution and fishing practices (Weiss 2003). The commission expressed concern about runoff from
agricultural fields, lawns, and roads. Oil from gas stations and nutrients from agricultural fields
disrupt the balance of river and ocean ecosystems, leaving very little dissolved oxygen in the waters.
A dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River stretches more than
5,000 miles long. With not enough oxygen for survival, there is little marine life within the zone.
There are 200 dead zones in U.S. waters (the Gulf dead zone is the largest) and an estimated 400 to
1,000 dead zones worldwide (B. Palmer 2014).
Toxic substances are turning up with greater frequency in groundwater, the source of drinking water
for one of every two Americans (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1996). The EPA (2009a) reported, “While tap
water that meets federal and state standards generally is safe to drink, threats to water quality and
quantity are increasing.†Our drinking water is monitored in more than 55,000 community water
systems for more than 80 known contaminants, including arsenic, nitrates, human and animal fecal
waste, and Legionella bacteria (the cause of Legionnaires’ disease).
As the conflict perspective warns, economic activity also contributes to environmental damage.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers
underground. A combination of water, sand, and chemicals is injected into the shale rock to release
the gas. The process is controversial for its environmental impact on our water supply: first for the
use of water in the extraction process and second for the chemicals that may contaminate the
groundwater supply. The state of Vermont was the first U.S. state to ban fracking.
According to the World Health Organization (2017), 3 in 10 people worldwide (or 2.1 billion) do
not have access to safe drinking water. Additionally, 6 in 10 (or 4.5 billion) lack sanitation services.
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Only 1% of the world’s water can be used for drinking. Nearly 97% of the water is salty or
undrinkable; the other 2% is in ice caps and glaciers (EPA 2003b). Freshwater comes from surface
water sources (lakes, rivers, and streams) and groundwater sources (wells and underground aquifers).
About 66% of people get their drinking water from surface water sources. Large metropolitan areas
rely on surface water, whereas small communities and rural areas depend on groundwater sources. In
recent years, there has been growing concern about the availability of freshwater sources. Because of
pollution, increasing urbanization, and sprawling development, we may be running out of
freshwater.
Almost 30 million residents in seven western states (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico,
Nevada, Arizona, and California) rely on the Colorado River for their drinking water. The river
basin covers 240,000 square miles in the United States and a portion of northwestern Mexico. So
much of the river is diverted for drinking and agricultural use that by the time it reaches the Sea of
Cortez, it isn’t much more than a trickle. A 2007 report by the National Research Council on the
Colorado River concluded that the combination of limited water supplies, increasing population
demands, warmer temperatures, and the prospect of future droughts is likely to cause conflict among
existing and future water users. The report predicted that this would “inevitably lead to increasingly
costly, controversial, and unavoidable trade-offs among water managers, policy makers, and their
constituents†(National Academies 2007).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 15.2: Annual Precipitation
Since 2011, the state of California has been gripped by a severe drought, impacting the lives of
many Californians through lost agricultural jobs, shrinking lakes and rivers, dead or dying lawns,
and, in some cases, dry toilets and washing machines. State leaders have had to make tough choices
to meet the increasing demands on the state’s limited water supply. The scientific community was
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split on whether the atmospheric conditions were due to natural variability or related to human-
caused climate change. Some scientists attributed the drought to atmospheric conditions. Unusually
warm temperatures and persistent ridges of high-pressure air over the northeastern Pacific prevented
winter storms from reaching California during its typical 2013 and 2014 rainy seasons. The storms
also bypassed Oregon and Washington (Than 2014).
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EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
WASTE AND RECYCLING
In 2012, Americans generated 251 million tons of trash. Per person per day, this equates
to 4.38 pounds of trash or municipal solid waste (MSW). The types of MSW we
discarded are presented in Figure 15.1. Identify the top three MSW materials discarded in
2012.
Approximately 65% of the trash ends up in 1,500 landfills and incinerators; the rest of the
material is recovered or recycled (refer to Figure 15.2). In 2012, Americans recycled and
composted 87 million tons of MSW. Some waste products are recycled at a higher rate
(refer to Figure 15.3).
The EPA (2013, p. 10) explains the value of recycling:
Recycling has environmental benefits at every stage in the life cycle of a consumer product
—from the raw material with which it’s made to its final method of disposal. By utilizing
used, unwanted, or obsolete materials as industrial feedstocks or for new materials or
products, Americans can each do our part to make recycling, including composting, work.
Aside from reducing GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions, which contribute to global
warming, recycling, including composting, provides significant economic and job creation
impacts.
What do you think? How did you learn about recycling? What items do you regularly
recycle?
FIGURE 15.1 â– Total MSW Generation Before Recycling (by Material), 2012
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Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2013. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United
States: Facts and Figures for 2012. Washington, D.C.: EPA.
FIGURE 15.2 â– Total MSW Recovery (by Material), 2012
561
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2013. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United
States: Facts and Figures for 2012. Washington, D.C.: EPA.
FIGURE 15.3 â– Recycling Rates of Selected Products, 2012
562
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2013. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United
States: Facts and Figures for 2012. Washington, D.C.: EPA.
p.344
What Does It Mean to Me?
Where does your drinking water come from? Is there a concern about limits to the water supply?
Contact your local water company or public works department for information.
Land Conservation and Wilderness Protection
Efforts in land conservation and wilderness protection seem to be successful largely because of
federal protection policies. Since adopting the 1964 Wilderness Act, Congress has designated more
than 106 million acres as “wilderness areas†through the National Wilderness Preservation System
(2004). Under the act, timber cutting, mechanized vehicles, mining, and grazing activities are
restricted. Human activity is limited to primitive recreation activities. The wilderness lands are
protected for their ecological, historical, scientific, and experiential resources. The areas range in size
from the smallest, Pelican Island, Florida (5 acres), to the largest, Wrangell–St. Elias, Alaska
(almost 10 million acres of land).
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 attempts to preserve species of fish, wildlife, and plants that
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are of “aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nation
and its people.†The act has been controversial because it preserves the interests of the species above
economic and human interests. For example, if endangered species are present, the act will restrict
what landowners can do on their land (C. Palmer 1997). Currently, 2,340 U.S. and foreign animal
and plant species have been listed as endangered or threatened, with recovery plans approved or
implemented for 1,159 species (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2017). Although federal funding for
the Endangered Species Act expired in October 1992, Congress has appropriated funds in each
fiscal year to support the program.
The National Park System includes 417 national parks covering more than 84 million acres. Unlike
the National Wilderness Preservation System, the National Park System allows and supports
recreational activities. However, human activity in the form of motorized access, road and highway
developments, logging, and pollution threatens the health of several national parks. The Great
Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park, with about 10 million visitors
each year (National Parks Conservation Association 2003). The park features an ecosystem of rare
plants and wildlife along with historical structures representing southern Appalachian culture, all of
which are endangered, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. The park has
been listed as “endangered†for several years, primarily because of chronic air pollution problems.
The pollution has been attributed to coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources. Local
developers are allowed to build right up to the park’s boundaries.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 15.3: Global Warming in the Arctic
Unlike the national park system, national monuments are created by presidents through the
Antiquities Act of 1906. There are 129 protected areas, encompassing more than 800 million acres.
President Obama created or expanded 34 national monuments, the most for any president. In 2017,
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President Trump reduced the size of two Utah national monuments, Bears Ears National
Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante, by 2 million acres. Trump and other Republican leaders
have argued that previous presidents abused their authority under the Antiquities Act by placing
large areas off limits to industrial development, commercial use, and motorized vehicle use. At the
announcement of his decision, Trump predicted, “we will usher in a bright new future of wonder
and wealth†(quoted in Turkewitz 2017). Conservation groups and several Native American nations
filed lawsuits preventing the implementation of Trump’s proposal.
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COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
Federal Responses
The government’s first response to the environment was directed at cleaning the nation’s polluted
water, air, and land. In 1969, Congress adopted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a
comprehensive policy statement on our environment. For the first time in our nation’s history, the
government was committed to maintaining and preserving the environment (Caldwell 1970). The
EPA, established in 1970, is charged with providing leadership in the nation’s environmental
science, research, education, and assessment efforts (EPA 2004). As the chief environmental agency,
the EPA sets national standards and delegates to states and tribes the responsibility for issuing
permits and monitoring and enforcing compliance. Beginning in the 1980s, the agency shifted its
policies from cleanup to pollution management or prevention through market-based and
collaborative mechanisms with business and industry and environmental strategic planning
(Mazmanian and Kraft 1999). Additional environmental legislation, some of which we have already
reviewed, includes the following:
• The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act and the Wilderness Act of 1964. In our
discussion on land conservation, we already reviewed the Wilderness Act. The Land and
Water Conservation Fund Act provides the necessary funds and assistance to states in
planning, acquiring, and developing recreational lands and natural areas. The act also regulates
admission and special user fees at national recreational areas. These two acts have been referred
to as the “initial building blocks of environmental action†(Caulfield 1989:31).
• The Clean Air Act of 1970 regulates air emissions from area, stationary, and mobile
sources. The act helped establish maximum pollutant standards. In 1990, the Clean Air Act
was amended to address acid rain, ground-level ozone, ozone depletion, and air toxins. In
2003, seven state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the EPA, accusing the agency of
neglecting to update air pollution standards. The suit seeks regulations on carbon dioxide
emissions, which are not listed under the Clean Air Act (Lee 2003). In 2007, the U.S.
Supreme Court found in favor of the seven states, ruling that greenhouse gases are air
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pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act (EPA 2009b).
• The Clean Water Act followed in 1972. This act established standards and regulations
regarding the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States. The EPA was
authorized to implement pollution control programs, setting wastewater standards and water-
quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.
• The Endangered Species Act of 1973 created a program for the conservation of threatened
and endangered plants and animals and their habitats.
• Under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the EPA has the authority to track
75,000 industrial chemicals being produced or imported into the United States.
• The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 modified earlier statutes and created a single,
health-based standard for all pesticides in foods.
In its strategic plan for 2014–2018, the EPA identified five goals: addressing climate change and
improving air quality, protecting America’s water supply, cleaning up communities and supporting
sustainable development, ensuring the safety of chemicals and preventing pollution, and protecting
human health and the environment through law enforcement and compliance.
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State and Local Responses
The EPA highlights work done by states in “developing and implementing a range of programs and
strategies that are cost-effectively reducing greenhouse gases, improving air quality, enhancing
economic development and increasing the nation’s energy security†(EPA 2007b). Calling state
action “a key component of the U.S. response to climate change,†the agency notes that 35 states
and Puerto Rico have completed or implemented action plans for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions or enhancing greenhouse gas capture.
Recognizing that there are no real borders for carbon emissions and becoming increasingly
frustrated with the slow progress of federal legislation on the matter (Broder 2007), many state
leaders formed regional coalitions to combat climate change. For example, the Regional Greenhouse
Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cooperative effort by northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to determine a
regional strategy for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. In 2006, the Clean and Diversified
Energy Initiative was signed by governors of 19 western states, along with those from American
Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The goal of their initiative is to identify and
produce affordable, sustainable, and environmentally responsible energy for the western states and
islands.
Cities throughout the nation have embraced sustainability goals, along with environmentally
responsible planning and consumption. In 2005, the U.S. Conference of Mayors endorsed the U.S.
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Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Through the agreement, the mayors agreed to strive to
meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution. More than 1,000
mayors have signed the agreement.
Two major U.S. cities made news for their environmental vision and leadership. Declaring New
York City the “first environmentally sustainable twenty-first-century city,†then-mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg proposed a master plan to reduce energy consumption in six areas by 2030: land,
transportation, water, energy, air quality, and climate change. Much of the plan would require state
approval. One of the most contentious strategies involved the city’s transportation burdens. Calling
it “congestion pricing,†Bloomberg proposed charging a fee for vehicles entering the city from 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m. on weekdays—$8 for cars and $21 for trucks. The pricing plan would have reduced traffic
congestion and improved air quality, as it has in parts of London and Singapore (Lueck 2007).
Despite approval from the New York City Council, the state legislature failed to pass the pricing
plan.
On the West Coast, San Francisco was the first city in the nation to ban the use of petroleum-based
shopping bags. These plastic shopping bags take many years to degrade, meanwhile contaminating
our land and water and endangering animal and marine life. Nearly 90% of all U.S. shopping bags
are plastic. Beginning in 2007, plastic bags were to be replaced with biodegradable plastic bags or
recyclable bags in San Francisco grocery and drug stores. Several countries, including Bhutan,
Bangladesh, and China, have banned the use of nonbiodegradable plastic bags. Other countries,
such as Germany and Ireland, charge a nominal fee for plastic shopping bags.
Environmental Interest Groups
Organizations concerned with the protection of the environment have played an important role in
American politics since the foundation of the Sierra Club in 1892. The first wave of environmental
interest groups included the National Audubon Society (1905), the National Parks Conservation
Association (1919), and the National Wildlife Federation (1935). These groups were concerned
with land conservation and the protection of specific sites and wildlife species. These first-wave
groups depended on member support and involvement. These organizations remain among the
most influential groups in the environmental movement (Ingram and Mann 1989).
As public attention shifted to the problems of environmental pollution, a second wave of
environmental groups emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. These new organizations focused their
efforts on fighting pollution. In general, the second wave of environmental groups adopted an
ecological approach to our natural environment, recognizing the interrelationship between all living
things and using science as a tool for understanding and protecting the environment. The
Environmental Defense Fund (1967) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (1970) were
started with funding support from the Ford Foundation. Both organizations relied on litigation as
their instrument of reform. Other second-wave groups include Friends of the Earth, the
Environmental Policy Institute, and Environmental Action. After the 1970s, environmental groups
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began to direct their appeals to policy makers rather than to the general public (Ingram and Mann
1989).
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Although each group is committed to the environment, each has adopted its own cause, from broad
environmental themes to such specific problems as toxic pollution or land conservation. The groups
also have different strategies and tactics. Environmental groups may attempt to influence political
policy, litigate environmental disputes, form coalitions with other environmental or interest groups,
or endorse specific political candidates (Ingram and Mann 1989). Some, such as the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, which rams and sinks whaling vessels throughout the world’s oceans, adopt
“in-your-face†tactics.
Now more than 75 years old, the National Wildlife Federation has 11 field offices and 47 state
affiliates, including Washington, DC, and the Virgin Islands. The affiliates operate at the grassroots
level by working to educate, encourage, and facilitate conservation efforts at the state level. One
such organization is the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, established in 1936 by a group of sportsmen.
The federation’s goal has been to serve as a leader in educating people about conservation issues and
in encouraging responsible stewardship of the state’s natural resources. The federation, which
represents a variety of constituents—hunters, sportsmen, hikers, anglers, and campers (Arkansas
Wildlife Federation 2003a)—sponsors a variety of educational and community activities and
projects. Seminars are offered to the public covering issues such as forest management, wetlands and
water management, hunting, and fishing. The federation sponsors annual conservation achievement
awards to honor citizens and organizations dedicated to natural resource endeavors. The
organization also sponsors political candidate forums where citizens can ask candidates about their
positions on various conservation and environmental issues (Arkansas Wildlife Federation 2003b).
A new environmental interest group is the Earth Island Institute, founded in 1982 by David
Brower, who was the first executive director of the Sierra Club and cofounder of Friends of the
Earth. The institute supports more than 100 projects worldwide, pledging to support campaigns
“dedicated to conserving, preserving, and restoring the ecosystems on which our civilization
depends†(Earth Island Institute 2010). The organization also honors youth for their environmental
community work. Among those recognized in 2013 was Alex Freid, a University of New
Hampshire student. At the end of his freshman year, Freid was stunned by the amount of good and
usable items discarded when students moved out of their dorm rooms and apartments. He was
inspired to establish the Post-Landfill Action Network, or PLAN, a nonprofit cooperative network
that helps college students create zero-waste solutions on their campuses. Within three years,
PLAN diverted more than 100 tons of reusable waste from landfills and saved the University of
New Hampshire $10,000 in waste disposal costs (Brower Youth Awards 2013). In 2017, more than
50 U.S. colleges and universities were part of the PLAN network.
Environmental Justice Movement
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Sherry Cable and Charles Cable (1995) argued that the grassroots environmental movement has
improved the lives of many individuals and has spread environmental awareness among the public.
In contrast to national environmental organizations, grassroots organizations usually consist of
working-class participants, people of color, and women. Although experienced organizers or
community activists lead some groups, many grassroots groups are led by inexperienced but
passionate leaders. In the fight against environmental racism, these grassroots environmental groups
have given a voice to communities of color (Epstein 1995) and have redefined environmental
protection as a basic right (Bullard and Johnson 2000).
Grassroots organizations emphasize environmental justice, acting in the belief that some injustice
has been committed by a corporation, business, or industry and that appropriate action should be
taken to correct, improve, or remove the injustice(s). Environmental justice is defined as “the fair
treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or
income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations and policies†(Bullard and Johnson 2000:558). The movement embraces a holistic
approach in creating environmental health policies and regulations: ensuring community-based
collaborative partnerships, enhancing public participation in environmental decisions, promoting
community empowerment, and ensuring community-based sustainable economic development
(Bullard and Johnson 2000).
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Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Students at George Washington University sort trash and recyclables. Colleges and universities have been leaders and
watchdogs for environmental sustainability.
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These organizations have tackled a variety of environmental problems and have sought justice for
housing, transportation, air quality, and economic development issues (Bullard 1994). In 2011,
responding to the nuclear fallout from the Fukushima nuclear plant, citizen monitoring groups were
formed across Japan. Men and women armed with dosimeters began taking radiation readings near
their homes. The organized effort grew out of a perceived lack of government response and citizens’
disbelief in the government’s insistence that the nuclear fallout would not pose a threat or
contaminate food sources (Tabuchi 2011).
Sociologists Riley Dunlap and Angela Mertig (1992) noted that the environmental movement is
among the few movements that have “significantly changed society†(p. xi). Nicolas Freudenberg
and Carol Steinsapir (1992:33–35) identified seven achievements of grassroots organizations:
1. A number of environmentally hazardous facilities have been controlled by cleaning up
contaminated sites, blocking the construction of new facilities, and upgrading corporate
pollution control equipment.
2. Grassroots organizations have forced businesses to consider the environmental
consequences of their actions.
3. These groups encourage preventative approaches to environmental problems, such as
reducing or limiting the use of environmental contamination.
4. The grassroots movement has expanded citizens’ right to participate in environmental
decision making.
5. Grassroots organizations have served as psychological and social support networks for
victims and their families.
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IN FOCUS
LOCAL AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD
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©iStock.com/Candice Cusack
Local farmers’ markets, like this one in Seattle, Washington, help support local farmers and encourage seasonal food
consumption.
After cars, our food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy, about
19% (Pollan 2008). According to the Worldwatch Institute, food in the average American
meal travels about 1,500 miles from farm to home. Food is brought into most communities via
trucks, trains, or airplanes in refrigerated or storage containers. The 1,500-mile meal is said to
consume as much as four times the energy and produce four times as much greenhouse gas
emissions as a locally grown meal (Ketcham 2007). In addition to energy expended for
transport, concern has been expressed over the amount of fossil fuel energy used in producing
the food products brought to our table. In 2009, the Swedish National Food Administration
began requiring the reporting of carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of
specific foods. For example, one serving per week of beef from dairy cows produces 120
kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per year. The information will appear on some grocery
items and restaurant menus throughout the country (Rosenthal 2009).
In response, environmentalists and foodies (people who have an avid interest in the latest food
fads) throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world have adopted what is referred to
as the 100-mile diet. For a week, a month, a year, or life, the rules of the diet are simple: You
may consume food grown and produced only within a 100-mile radius of your home. Called
locavores, these 100-mile eaters advocate the value in being able to know the source of your
food, supporting the local economy, and eating fresh and healthful food in season. They argue,
“The distance from which our food comes represents our separation from the knowledge of
how and by whom what we consume is produced, processed and transported†(Locavores
2007). This is not a diet for fast-food junkies.
Canadians Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon first coined the term 100-mile diet when they
began a yearlong local food experiment in Vancouver, British Columbia. The couple discovered
several food items that they had to live without for most or part of the year, such as chocolate,
coffee, and wheat. (Most locavores make exceptions for these items, including salt and spices.)
Unable to purchase local bread and wheat for baking, for one lunch meal, MacKinnon, the
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family chef, fashioned bread out of turnip slices. But the couple found success (eventually
finding a local supplier of wheat) and satisfaction in their diet. Their experience helped fuel
broader interest in the benefits of a 100-mile diet.
One way to support local agriculture is through community-supported agriculture (CSA), a
partnership between community members and an independent local farm. The CSA
movement began in Japan almost 30 years ago with a group of women who were concerned
about pesticides, the increase in processed foods, and their country’s shrinking rural population.
Community members purchase seasonal shares, for about $300 to $400, which entitles them to
weekly food allowances throughout the growing season. Independent local farms encourage
biodiversity by diversifying the local landscape and natural environment. The CSA
arrangement is beneficial to the farmer and to his or her customers. Customers receive fresh
produce and have the satisfaction of supporting a local business. Customers can help at the
farm and provide input and suggestions to their farmer. Instead of spending time marketing
produce, farmers can focus their efforts on growing quality produce and working with their
community members.
In the spring of 2009, alongside first graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington,
DC, Michelle Obama broke ground on an organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the
White House. This was the first garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s World
War II victory garden. The garden was planted with a variety of lettuces, greens, and herbs as
well as a patch of berries. At the planting, Mrs. Obama expressed her interest in promoting
healthy eating and local food, particularly from the more than 1 million community gardens
throughout the country. Melania Trump continued Obama’s tradition, planting and harvesting
vegetables in the White House Garden in fall 2017.
6. The movement has brought environmental concerns and action to working-class and
minority Americans.
7. The grassroots movement has influenced how the general public thinks about the
environment and public health.
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VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
CHAD PREGRACKE
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KUNI TAKAHASHI/KRT/Newscom
Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands and Waters, sits atop one of his river cleanup barges.
Chad Pregracke started his career as an environmental activist in his own backyard. A native of
Hampton, Illinois, he spent most of his life on the shores of the Mississippi River as a resident,
shell diver, and commercial fisherman. Pregracke often saw garbage floating on the river or
caught within its banks.
I woke up like that many times—loving the natural world and hating the despicable mess. I saw the garbage on the
river, and it didn’t look right. It may have been commonplace, but I didn’t like it and I didn’t accept it. And the more
garbage sites I noticed, the more it made me want to do something about it. (Pregracke and Barrow 2007:12–13)
He admits that his attempts to organize and fund his first river cleanup were less than perfect.
He recalls that he did everything wrong. He didn’t have a clear message, didn’t have a plan,
and didn’t talk to the right people at local agencies. But he persevered and received funding
from his first corporate sponsor, the Alcoa Corporation. Pregracke started cleaning up the river
in 1997, collecting 45,000 pounds of debris from its shores. In 1998, Pregracke established his
nonprofit organization, Living Lands and Waters (LLW), dedicated to cleaning up the
Mississippi River.
Since its establishment, LLW has removed 4 million pounds of trash from the Mississippi and
its tributary rivers, Missouri and Ohio. The cleanup efforts are staffed primarily by community
volunteers. Their annual haul of trash includes items such as refrigerators, tires, bowling balls,
baby dolls, and Styrofoam. In August 2005, Pregracke and his crew provided assistance with
cleanup and rebuilding efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck the area. In
2007, the MillionTrees Project was established to encourage the planting and growth of 1
million native hardwood nut-bearing trees throughout the Midwest.
Pregracke is modest in describing his life’s mission:
I’ve been on a mission to clean up the rivers. It was a simple concept then and it’s a simple concept now, but doing it
has been far from simple or easy. I realize that we’re not solving all the problems or necessarily saving America’s rivers
—we’re simply doing our part, just as I hope you’re doing yours. (Pregracke and Barrow 2007:282–83)
We all make a difference, even if we don’t intend to, and it’s either negative or positive. My question to you is, how
big a difference do you want to make? I can’t say how big a difference I’ve made or will continue to make, but I know
this—I will plant a lot of trees and leave a cleaner river. (Pregracke and Barrow 2007:288)
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For his work, Pregracke was named 2013 CNN Hero of the Year. For more information about
Living Lands and Waters, visit the organization’s website at
http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org.
Is Your School Green?
Several hundred green U.S. elementary and secondary schools have been established nationally,
supported by state grants, legislation, and partners such as the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife
Federation. Schools like the Environmental Charter High School in Los Angeles and the Growing
Up Green Charter School in Long Island City, Queens, New York, offer students more than an
environmental issues curriculum. These private, charter, and traditional public schools have adopted
a focus that goes beyond the environment, addressing politics, social justice, environmental careers,
social activism, and community involvement (Navarro and Bhanoo 2010). In 2012, New York City
instituted a school composting program for 230 school buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and
Staten Island. In addition to creating composting material for farmers and local landscapers, the
program creates cost savings (reducing the amount of food that goes to waste) and helps develop a
new generation of conservationists (Baker 2014).
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“Universities are huge institutions with huge carbon footprints, but they are also laboratories for
concepts of sustainability,†said Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University (Deutsch
2007:A21). Colleges and universities are taking the environmental lead by constructing green
buildings, purchasing alternative energy, incorporating local and sustainable food products, and
investing in efforts to make campuses carbon neutral. Their efforts include the following (Deutsch
2007; Lipka 2006):
• Bowdoin College and Evergreen State College purchase 100% of their energy from
renewable sources or pay for energy offsets from solar or wind power.
• Arizona State University distributes free bus passes to every student, employee, and faculty
member.
• Dickinson College students operate an organic garden, using some of the produce in their
campus dining hall.
• Students at Central Oregon Community College and the University of Kentucky voted to
pay additional fees to cover their institutions’ clean-energy purchases.
• University of California, Irvine; University of Massachusetts–Amherst; Montana State
University; and Eastern Tennessee State University are just some of the schools that have
established a local chapter of the Real Food Challenge, an organization that promotes just and
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sustainable food systems on college campuses and in their communities.
Crow was among the first university presidents who signed the American College and University
Presidents’ Climate Commitment. The presidents acknowledge their role in leading environmental
responsibility in their campuses and broader communities. The commitment, signed by more than
600 college and university presidents, includes a pledge to develop and implement a plan to achieve
carbon neutrality on their campuses. Ninety college dorms are certified in Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED), the national standard for green design (Wilson 2009).
Writer Sara Lipka (2006) portrayed college students as the “watchdogs for sustainability.†She
explained,
Armed with Internet research, they are investigating institutional operations like energy use, food purchasing, investments,
transportation, and waste disposal. They are pushing administrators to approve new projects and set higher goals for
sustainability. National networks are helping students share strategies with one another and organize sophisticated, often
successful proposals for campus innovations and reforms. (Lipka 2006:11)
Similar environmental programs have been established in elementary and secondary schools across
the country. To learn more about what you can do to protect the environment, refer to Table 15.3.
TABLE 15.3 â– Living Green: Tips for College and University Students
Source: Adapted from Rockler-Gladen 2007.
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What Does It Mean to Me?
How has your university made a commitment to environmental sustainability? What sustainable
practices are supported at your school?
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SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
RESEARCH
Tiffany Fackler—Class of 2009
Undergraduate Major: Sociology, Anthropology
Undergraduate Minor: Human Services
As discussed in Chapter 4’s Sociology at Work feature, your coursework in research methods
and statistics provides you with important data analytic skills. Such skills are requisite for
occupations such as market or survey research. Many organizations and businesses routinely
require data collection and analyses as part of their operations. Employees may be responsible
for all or part of the research process—data collection, analysis, and reporting.
As an undergraduate, Tiffany Fackler completed an internship related to law enforcement. Her
experience eventually led her to her current position as a criminal analyst for several state
agencies.
Daily I am working with law enforcement agents both tactically and strategically to ensure that they are being
provided accurate information regarding subjects and subject matter. I run information through, pull from and input
data into databases, create link analysis charts, write intelligence reports, and assist with making connections among
individuals conducting illegal activities.
Sociology is an important part of Tiffany’s work life.
Utilizing sociology at work occurs even when I am not realizing I am using it. The job requirements in their nature
require the use of sociology. Every day there is analysis of social behavior, where it comes from, the development of
social behavior, organizations, and institutions. Within the law enforcement and intelligence realm, there are always
changes occurring with social order. In order to appropriately report on social order and disorder, utilizing empirical
investigation and critical analysis is imperative.
She says, “I truly believe that regardless of what position you hold after graduation, sociology
can always be utilized.â€
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Tiffany’s primary source of career information was her adviser, though she also utilized her
university’s career services office and reviewed résumé writing for federal employment. She is
currently enrolled in a master’s program in leadership and business ethics.
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CHAPTER REVIEW
15.1 Explain the relationship between human activity and environmental problems.
Daily human activity, economic development, cultural values, social class, and
technology all affect the health of the environment. Environmental sociology
considers the interactions between our physical and natural environments and our
social organization and behavior.
15.2 Review the different sociological perspectives on environmental problems.
From a functionalist perspective, agriculture, industrialization, and related
technologies may have improved our quality of life, but they have also led to waste,
pollution, and the destruction of natural resources. Conflict theorists suggest that
environmental problems are created by humans competing for power, income, and
their own interests in a capitalist system. Feminists argue that a masculine worldview
is responsible for the domination of nature, women, and minorities. One strand of
thought, ecofeminism, believes that men are the primary culprits in the exploitation
of animals and the environment. Interaction theorists address how environmental
problems are created, defined, and often contested.
15.3 Discuss climate change and global warming.
The terms are often used interchangeably but are two different environmental events.
Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate
(temperature or precipitation) lasting for an extended period of time. Global
warming refers to the ongoing rise in the global average temperature near the Earth’s
surface.
15.4 Summarize federal and state responses to environmental problems.
Efforts in land conservation and wilderness protection seem to be successful largely
because of federal protection policies and legislation. Examples, among many, are the
Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the formation of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
15.5 Compare the first wave and second wave of environmental interest groups.
Environmental organizations have played an important role in American politics
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since the foundation of the Sierra Club in 1892. First-wave groups (such as the
National Audubon Society) were concerned with land conservation and the
protection of specific sites and species, and they rely on member support and
involvement. A second wave of environmental groups, which emerged during the
1960s and 1970s, includes the Environmental Defense Fund and the Natural
Resources Defense Council. They focus on fighting pollution, and they adopt an
ecological approach, recognizing the interrelationship between all living things and
using science as a tool for understanding and protecting the environment.
15.6 Assess the impact of the environmental movement.
The environmental movement has had a significant impact in controlling hazardous
facilities, urging businesses to consider environmental impact, encouraging
preventative approaches to problems, expanding citizens’ rights to participate in
decision making, bringing concerns and action to working-class and minority
Americans, and influencing how the general public thinks about the environment.
KEY TERMS
brownfields, 341
climate change, 337
environmental justice, 335
environmental racism, 334
environmental sociology, 331
global warming, 337
megadisaster, 331
natural capitalism, 334
particulate or particle pollution, 339
smog or ground-level ozone, 340
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STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Explain the association of human action and environmental problems.
2. From a functionalist perspective, how has human behavior and our way of life contributed
to environmental problems?
3. Explain how women have contributed to the environmental justice movement.
4. Identify the six factors related to the construction of an environmental problem. From this
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perspective, how has climate change been defined as a social problem? Or hasn’t it?
5. How have interest groups and grassroots movements contributed to the success of the
environmental movement?
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16
WAR AND TERRORISM
Media Library
CHAPTER 16 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 16.1: US Women in Combat Roles
AP News Clips 16.2: PTSD and Suicide Among Veterans
AP News Clips 16.3: Antiwar Protests
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
16.1 Explain the difference between war and terrorism.
16.2 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to
war and terrorism.
16.3 Define the politics of fear.
16.4 Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
16.5 Assess the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
The secure life that many Americans took for granted changed on the morning of September 11,
2001 (Hoge and Rose 2001); we now live in a subtly different country (Danner 2011). It is a
country whose public and political discourse has been preoccupied with war, terrorism, suicide
bombs, torture, patriotism, and human loss. There is an awareness of war and terrorism in other
countries and, ultimately, concern over whether these conflicts will threaten U.S. national security.
Sociologists acknowledge that “war is never an isolated act†(Clausweitz 1984:78) and that the
consequences are felt and experienced beyond specific battlefields and borders.
A decade after 9/11, a wave of revolutionary demonstrations and protests swept across the Arab
world. It began in Tunisia on December 17, 2010, when a police officer took away Mohamed
Bouazizi’s vegetable cart because Bouazizi didn’t have a license to sell his goods. After his
confrontation with the police and after local officials refused to hear his complaint, Bouazizi set
himself on fire in front of the provincial headquarters. Bouazizi’s martyrdom spurred a “people’s
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revolution†(Abouzeid 2011). Tunisians took to the streets in protest, ultimately leading to the end
of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s authoritarian rule. The Arab Spring extended to other
countries where citizens participated in public demonstrations, some relatively peaceful, to protest
the hardships and cruelties under ruling regimes. Ruling governments were overthrown in Egypt,
Libya, and Yemen.
Revolutionary demonstrations and protests continued into 2014. On September 26, hundreds of
students gathered in central Hong Kong, demanding an end to Chinese oppression and control.
These protests have been referred to as the Umbrella Revolution, after the umbrellas used by
protesters to shield themselves from tear gas and later as shelter from the pouring rain. Forced to
disband by the end of the year, the student protestors vowed to continue their antigovernment
campaign.
In contrast to these revolutionary demonstrations, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has
become known for its revolutionary violence, using terror to force obedience and frighten its
enemies (Arango 2015). Its goal is to establish a global Islamic state, and its targets include the
United States and European Union countries. As of October 2017, ISIS has been credited with 90
attacks in 21 countries, killing nearly 1,400 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for the terrorist
attacks in Paris (2015), Brussels (2016), Berlin (2016), and Barcelona (2017). There have been 12
violent ISIS-inspired attacks in the United States since 2014; the deadliest was the 2016 mass
shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida (Haltiwanger 2017).
DEFINING CONFLICT
War
War is a violent political instrument (Walter 1964). It is a violent activity between armed
combatants, one side hoping to impose its will on the other. Whether or not war has been declared
by its leadership, war involves armed conflict between two or more states or military forces. The
majority of today’s wars are civil wars (fought within, not between, countries), and most often, they
take place in the poorest countries.
p.358
The United Kingdom, France, and Russia have fought the most international armed conflicts since
the end of World War II (Human Security Report Project 2011). The most conflict-prone
countries (including civil wars) have been Myanmar (also known as Burma), India, and Ethiopia
(Gleditsch et al. 2002; refer to Table 16.1).
TABLE 16.1 ■Countries That Have Experienced 50 or More Armed Conflicts, 1948–2016
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Sources: Pettersson, Therése and Kristine Eck. 2018. “Organized Violence, 1989-2017.†Journal of Peace Research 55(4); Gleditsch,
Nils Petter, Peter Wallensteen, Mikael Eriksson, Margareta Sollenberg, and Håvard Strand. 2002. “Armed Conflict 1946-2001: A
New Dataset.†Journal of Peace Research 39(5).
Since 1945, there have been 140 civil wars throughout the world, killing approximately 20 million
people and displacing about 67 million. Civil wars typically occur in developing countries and are
fought by small, poorly trained, poorly armed forces that avoid major military engagements but
frequently target civilians (Human Security Report Project 2005). Genocide (the systematic
targeting of ethnic or religious groups) and politicide (targeting specific groups because of their
political beliefs) have been part of many civil wars. In the competition for political power and
economic resources, ethno-political conflict and violence were at the heart of the wars in Cambodia
(1977–1979), Rwanda (1994), Somalia (1991–2000), Western Sudan (2003–present) and Syria
(2011–present).
What Does It Mean to Me?
War and violence are not the only means of achieving one’s goals. Nelson Mandela, the late
583
president of South Africa, was revered as a global symbol of peace and nonviolence. His personal
path to peace began with forgiving those who imprisoned him for 27 years. Is it easier to wage war
with others than to find a nonviolent way to address a conflict?
U.S. Conflicts
“The United States was born of violence and revolution,†wrote Ken Cunningham (2004), “violence
against the native population and among and against the various European imperial powers†(p.
556). Our nation’s birth was marked by a war—the American Revolution of 1775 to 1783. In 1776,
the Declaration of Independence was adopted, a public statement of a new nation’s independence
from Great Britain and its rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.†The British were
defeated in 1783. More than 4,000 lives were lost in the revolution against the British.
The American Revolution was followed by the War of 1812 (1812–1815) and the Mexican War
(1846–1848), both part of the economic and continental expansion of the United States. The effort
was justified under the principle of manifest destiny. U.S. leaders felt it was their mission to extend
freedom and democracy to others. At the end of the Mexican War, the United States acquired the
northern part of Mexico, later dividing the area into Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and
Utah. A revolution constitutes an overthrow of the existing government or political structure.
Revolutions do not always lead to violent conflict.
The Civil War (1861–1865) between northern and southern states has been referred to as the
bloodiest battle on U.S. soil. Although we tend to think that the war was waged solely over the issue
of slavery, it was also based on deep economic, political, and social differences between the two
groups of states. During his second inaugural address in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln said,
“One of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war
rather than let it perish, and the war came.†More than 600,000 died.
p.359
© iStock.com/HultonArchive
More than 3 million Americans fought in the Civil War (1861–1865). The bloodiest battle on U.S. soil led to more than
600,000 casualties, about 2% of the northern and southern population at the time.
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Beginning with the Spanish–American War (1898), U.S. troops and soldiers began to wage war in
other countries, mostly responding to tyranny, oppression, and communism. The Spanish–
American War was fought to liberate Cuba from Spain and to protect U.S. interests in Cuban
sugar, tobacco, and iron industries. U.S. participation during World War I (1917–1918) and World
War II (1940–1945) helped establish its dominance as a worldwide military force. That
accomplishment, however, came at a great cost: The United States had heavy losses, 53,000 deaths
in World War I and 400,000 deaths in World War II. In the latter war, the United States and its
allies claimed victory against Germany, Japan, and Italy. After the North Korean People’s Army
invaded the Republic of Korea, the United States joined UN forces in the Korean War (1950–
1953). No winner of the war has ever been declared. An armistice was agreed upon in 1953, forever
separating North and South Korea. Fifty years after the invasion, Communist and UN soldiers still
guard their sides of the demilitarized zone in Panmunjom. The United States fought against North
Vietnamese Communists in the jungles of South Vietnam from 1964 to 1973. Although U.S. troops
had begun withdrawing from Vietnam in 1969, the formal cease-fire was declared in January 1973.
U.S. engagement in Middle East wars began with the Persian Gulf War of 1990 to 1991. The
United States was joined by UN forces to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi forces. Operations Desert
Shield and Desert Storm were the first display of high-tech warfare that used cruise missiles, stealth
fighters, and precision-guided munitions. Iraq accepted the terms for the cease-fire in April 1991.
After September 11, 2001, U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan in an effort to destroy al-Qaeda forces
and to locate their leader, Osama bin Laden. The first war of the 21st century was the U.S. war
against Iraq (2003–2011) and Afghanistan (2003–2014). Although the U.S. combat mission in
Afghanistan officially ended in 2014, a new phase of U.S. military operations was established in
2015. More than 9,000 U.S. troops support the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission to combat-
train, advise, and assist Afghan national security forces (White House 2014). As of November 2017,
the number of reported military casualties (killed in action or non-hostile deaths) was 4,527 for
Operation Iraqi Freedom and 2,405 for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. A listing of
U.S. wars and casualties is presented in Table 16.2. The list does not include the numerous
American Indian Wars, the conflicts between American settlers and the U.S. federal government
and the indigenous populations of North America.
TABLE 16.2 ■America’s Wars and Casualties (Dates Indicate U.S. Troop Involvement)
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Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 2007. “Factsheet: America’s Wars.†Retrieved March 25, 2008
(http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/amwars.asp).
Terrorism
Terrorism is a specific form of conflict. According to the U.S. federal code, terrorism is “the
unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government,
the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives†(28
C.F.R. Section 0.85). Todd Sandler (2011) offers the following definition of terrorism: “the
premeditated use or threat to use violence by individuals or subnational groups to obtain political or
social objectives through the intimidation of a large audience beyond that of the immediate victimsâ€
(p. 280).
Political terrorism expert Grant Wardlaw (1988) stated, “Terrorism is a phenomenon that is
increasingly coming to dominate our lives.†The effects of terrorism are widespread:
p.360
It influences the way governments conduct their foreign policy and corporations transact their business. It causes changes to
the structure and role of our security forces and necessitates huge expenditures on measures to protect public figures, vital
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installations, citizens and perhaps in the final analysis, our system of government. It affects the way we travel, the places we
visit and the manner in which we live our daily lives. (Wardlaw 1988:206)
Domestic terrorism is defined as terrorism supported or coordinated by groups or individuals
based in a country. The venue and targets are also in the same country. Domestic terrorist groups
are likely to be found in large countries and are found more often in democracies than in
authoritarian states (Human Security Report Project 2005). International terrorism is defined as
terrorism supported or coordinated by foreign groups threatening the security of another nation or
its citizens. For example, international terrorism can occur outside the United States but may be
directed at U.S. targets. Acts of terrorism have occurred on every continent, and perpetrators come
from diverse religious and ethnic groups; however, Islamic governments and networks have
committed the most extreme acts of terror (Booth and Dunne 2002). Although in terms of the
number killed, international terrorism poses a far lesser threat than do other forms of political
violence or violent crime, it is an important human security issue (Human Security Report Project
2005). Al-Qaeda and ISIS have come to symbolize terrorism in the 21st century.
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Paul Pillar (2001) explained that there are five elements of terrorism: First, terrorism is a
premeditated act. It requires intent and prior decision to commit an act of terrorism. Terrorism
doesn’t happen by accident; rather, it is the result of an individual’s or a group’s policy or decision.
Second, terrorism is purposeful; it is political in its motive to change or challenge the status quo.
Religiously oriented or national terrorists are driven by social forces or shaped by circumstances
specific to their particular religious or nationalistic experiences (Reich 1998). According to Max
Abrahms (2012), terrorist groups have process and outcome goals. Process goals are aimed at
sustaining the group and its activities by securing financial support, gaining media attention, and
boosting group morale. Outcome goals are the group’s stated political ends, which require the
cooperation of the target authority or government. Third, terrorism is not like a war in which both
sides can shoot at one another. Terrorism targets noncombatants, such as civilians who cannot
defend themselves against the violence. The direct targets of terrorist activity are not the main
targets. Fourth, terrorism is usually carried out by subnational groups or clandestine agents. If
uniformed military soldiers attack a group, it is considered an act of war; an attack conducted by
nongovernmental perpetrators is considered terrorism. Individuals acting alone may also commit
terrorism. Finally, terrorism includes the threat of violence. It does not involve only terrorist acts
that may have occurred; it also involves the potential for future attacks.
Terrorist activity has changed little over the years. Six basic tactics account for 95% of all incidents:
bombings, assassinations, armed assaults, kidnappings, hijackings, and other kinds of hostage
seizures. As Brian Jenkins (1988) stated, “terrorists blow up things, kill people, or seize hostages.
Every terrorist attack is merely a variation on these three activities†(p. 257).
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What Does It Mean to Me?
In 2016, polls revealed that 42% of Americans believe the country is less safe now than before the
September 11, 2001 attacks (Smeltz and Friedhoff 2016). Are you concerned about a terrorist attack
on U.S. soil? Do you believe we are at risk of an attack from domestic or foreign terrorists? Explain
the reason for your answer.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON WAR AND
TERRORISM
Functionalist Perspective
Functionalists examine how conflicts help maintain the social order, creating and reinforcing social,
religious, or national boundaries. War creates social stability by letting everyone know what side
they are on: the good guys versus the bad guys or us versus them. There are norms and boundaries
in war: Individuals will know what their roles are, what they should believe in, how they should
respond in case of an attack, and how they should interact with members of the other side. But
unlike in war, the social boundaries in terrorist activities are less certain. In some cases, the identity
of terrorists and their goals may never be known.
War provides a “safety valve†function, giving marginalized or oppressed groups a means to express
their discontent or anger. Acts of terrorism, according to Martha Crenshaw (1998), are selected as a
course of action from a range of alternatives. Groups may choose terrorism because the other
methods may be expected not to work or may be too time-consuming for the group. Radical groups
choose terrorism when they want immediate action and when they want their message to be heard.
As they act, they spread their group’s message, strengthening the social bonds between group
members while recruiting new members for their cause.
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The social structure contributes to conflict. For example, a country’s education and age structure are
demographic characteristics that help us understand the current situation in the Greater Middle
East (Spindel 2011). Educational attainment in these countries is rising, and as a result, so are
citizen demands and expectations for resolving the countries’ social problems. The age structure of
the population has been identified as a central component in the Arab Spring. Unlike in Western
countries, the majority of residents in the Middle East are under 25 years of age—52% in Egypt,
55.2% in Syria, and 54.4% in Jordan. In contrast, in Germany only 25% of the population is under
25 years of age.
Finally, warfare establishes power and domination. The victor is able to acquire the “spoils of
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warâ€â€”a country’s land, people, and resources. Beyond those tangible fruits of victory, the winning
side gets to make new rules or impose its rules about appropriate political, social, and economic
structures.
Conflict Perspective
From this perspective, war is not natural; it is a product of oppression and domination. Conflict may
be based on disputes over resources or land. Modern conflict theorists have focused on how war is
used to promote economic and political interests. In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
cautioned the nation about the military-industrial complex, the growing collaboration of the
government, the military, and the armament industry. Years earlier, Eisenhower (1953) warned,
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft of those who hunger
and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the
sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
He explained that the complex had a corrupting influence—economic, political, and spiritual—in
every city, state, and federal office of government. A decision to go to war could be motivated not by
ideals to preserve or promote freedom but to ensure the economic well-being of the defense
contractor. For example, during the Iraq war, the role of oil services firm Halliburton and its
subsidiary company, KBR, was closely scrutinized. Critics observe that Halliburton had an unfair
advantage with no-bid military contracting because of its relationship with Vice President Dick
Cheney. Cheney served as Halliburton’s CEO from 1996 to 1998 and briefly in 2000. In 2007,
federal investigators alleged that Halliburton was responsible for $2.7 billion in contractor waste and
overcharging in Iraq.
Social scientists have noted the far-reaching and devastating impact of U.S. militarism for
Americans and the rest of the world. Cunningham (2004) identified a “vast, entrenched,
bureaucratic national security apparatus†that reaches into all areas of American life and politics,
including businesses, universities, primary and secondary schools, the media, and popular culture.
U.S. militarism also reaches into foreign countries, through its direct military intervention and war
and covert operations (conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], the National Security
Agency [NSA], and other agencies).
Feminist Perspective
From this perspective, war is considered a primarily male activity that enhances the position of
males in society. “War is a patriarchal tool always used by men to create new structures of
dominance and to subjugate a large mass of people†(“The Events†2002:96). In our military system,
decision-making and economic power are held primarily by men; as a result, international relations
and politics are played out on women’s bodies (Cuomo 1996). According to Cynthia Enloe (1990),
local and global sexual politics shape and are shaped through the presence of national and
international U.S. military bases—through the symbolism of the U.S. soldier, the reproduction of
589
family structures on bases, and systems of prostitution that coexist alongside bases. As she explained,
“bases are artificial societies created out of unequal relations between men and women of different
races and classes†(Enloe 1990:2).
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Reuters/STR New
In 2013, the Pentagon removed its ban on women serving in combat. According to former Defense Secretary Ash Carter,
“Fully integrating women into all military positions will make the U.S. armed forces better and stronger†(quoted in Pellerin
2015).
Men reserve the right to make war themselves and claim that they fight wars to protect vulnerable
people, such as women and children, who are viewed as not being able to protect themselves
(Tickner 2002). During wars, women are charged with caring for their husbands, their sons, and the
victims of war. The ideal of the “caretaking woman†helps exclude women from public and political
institutions by reminding them that their first responsibility is to the family. According to Laura
Kaplan (1994), this ideal “helps co-opt women’s resistance to the war by convincing women that
their immediate responsibility to ameliorate the effects of war takes precedence over organized
public action against war†(p. 131).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 16.1: US Women in Combat Roles
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Communication scholar Mary Douglas Vavrus (2013) examined the gendered propaganda in
Lifetime’s drama Army Wives. The popular program aired from 2007 to 2013, depicting the stories
of four U.S. Army wives and one U.S. Army husband whose family members were deployed in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Through a feminist analysis of 81 episodes, Douglas Vavrus documented a
pervasive message of militarism and gendered labor; “first, that soldiers are fighting over there to
protect us, over here . . . second, that wives properly bear the responsibility for the home front while
their husbands are deployed to other lands†(p. 98). The women in the program have a feminine
approach to the war—building schools or leading medical missions—while their husbands are
risking their lives in military missions. The wives were portrayed as long-suffering, supportive, and
patriotic. “For the mothers and spouses on the program, standing in the way of either their children
or their deploying husbands and wives—either to complain or worry visibly—is to prevent children
and spouses from reaching their heroic self-actualization that awaits each soldier in theater†(p. 99).
p.364
Interactionist Perspective
Interactionists focus on the social messages and meaning of war and conflict. Terrorism is a word
with intrinsically negative connotations. According to political scientist Crenshaw (1995), the word
“projects images, communicates messages, and creates myths that transcend historical circumstances
and motivate future generations†(p. 12). In addition, the concept serves as “an organizing concept
that both describes the phenomenon as it exists and offers a moral judgment†(Crenshaw 1995:9).
As Jenkins (1980) explained,
what is called terrorism thus seems to be dependent on one’s point of view. Use of the term implies a moral judgment; and if
one party can successfully attach the label terrorist to its opponent, then it has indirectly persuaded others to adopt its moral
viewpoint. (p. 10)
Crenshaw (1995) cautions that once political concepts such as terrorism are constructed, “they take
on a certain autonomy, especially when they are adopted by news media, disseminated to the public,
and integrated into a general context of norms and values†(p. 9). Use of the word terrorism
promotes condemnation of the actors and may reflect an ideological or political bias (Gibbs 1989).
Terrorism is a social construct.
Terrorism is particularly useful for agenda setting (Crenshaw 1998) by the terrorist group and its
target. If the reasons behind the violence are articulated clearly, terrorists can put their issues on the
public agenda. Instantly, the public is aware of the group and its cause. The act may make some
sympathetic to the group or can elicit anger and calls for retaliation. But the target—such as the
U.S. government—can also use terrorism to set its own agenda. According to Crenshaw (1998),
“conceptions of terrorism affect the ways in which governments define their interests, and also
determine reliance on labels or their abandonment when politically convenient†(p. 10). When the
problem is labeled terrorism or a group is labeled terrorists, a set of predetermined preferred solutions
begins to emerge. When these terms depict the group as “fanatical and irrational,†making attempts
591
at diplomacy or compromise seem impossible, the inference is that the U.S. government has
nothing left to do but retaliate with force. But the labeling doesn’t stop: such defensive actions are
often “appropriate†and “legitimate†expressions of “self-defense,†but not “terrorism.â€
David Altheide (2006) explains how decision makers and politicians promote and use the public’s
beliefs and assumptions about terrorism to achieve certain goals. He refers to this as the politics of
fear. The politics of fear promotes attacking a target, limits civil liberties, and anticipates further
victimization. Altheide warns that fear promotes fear, changing our behavior and perspective. Sarah
Oates (2006), in her analysis of the role of terrorism coverage in the 2004 presidential/parliamentary
election campaigns in Russia, Great Britain, and the United States, concluded that terrorism played
an emotive role for American and Russian voters. American and Russian voters identified terrorism
as the most important issue in the election, leading them to vote for the candidate they perceived as
“stronger†against the threat of terrorism, regardless of the candidate’s specific policies or political
views. Oates reported that terrorism did not play a role in the Great Britain election, as it was
mentioned in only 10% of all British news segments in her sample, whereas it was mentioned in
25% of all U.S. election news segments. In Great Britain, the primary issues were the lack of public
support for the country’s involvement in the Iraq war and the state of Great Britain’s economy. This
chapter’s Exploring Social Problems examines public support for U.S. global engagement.
For a summary of sociological perspectives, see Table 16.3.
TABLE 16.3 â– Summary of Sociological Perspectives: War and Terrorism
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THE PROBLEMS OF WAR AND TERRORISM
The Impact of War and Terrorism
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT According to Crenshaw (1983), small incremental societal
changes in trust, social cohesion, and integration occur as a result of terrorism. Terrorism has a
particular impact in small or homogeneous societies. Research on the long-term impact of terrorism
is limited, although some case studies have been conducted in Northern Ireland, where residents
have lived with domestic terrorism since the late 1960s. (See this chapter’s Taking a World View
discussion for more about Northern Ireland.)
p.365
War takes a psychological toll, particularly for soldiers involved in battle. Mental health experts have
identified posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a common aftereffect of battle. Those suffering
from PTSD feel depressed and detached and have nightmares and flashbacks of their war
experience. This anxiety disorder may occur with related issues, such as depression, substance abuse,
cognition problems, and other problems of physical or mental health (National Center for PTSD
2003). About 7% to 8% of the general U.S. population will experience PTSD symptoms in their
lifetimes.
It is estimated that between 11% and 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will have PTSD. These
service members are also at risk for depression, excessive drinking, and violence (U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs 2014a). A national survey of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans conducted by the
Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 52% believe their physical or mental
health is worse than before the wars, and 41% experience outbursts of anger. More than half of
those surveyed reported knowing a service member who has attempted or committed suicide
(Clement 2014).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 16.2: PTSD and Suicide Among Veterans
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The rate of suicide among these veterans has been described as an epidemic, prompting legislation
and funding for programs to address PTSD and other mental illnesses among the veterans. Much of
the response was due to the release of a 2012 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs study that
estimated that 22 veterans kill themselves every day (Kemp and Bossarte 2012). The 22-veterans
statistic has been challenged by scholars and journalists, who argue that the department included
suicide among veterans who did not serve in the recent conflicts, thus overestimating the number
and rate of suicides. However, veterans groups noted that the report was based on data from 20
states, leading to an underreporting of veteran suicides. The most recent data on veteran suicide was
released in 2016, documenting 20 suicides a day in 2014. The 2016 report was based on data from
all states (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2016).
p.366
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
U.S. GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT
Months before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Pew Research Center conducted a
survey asking the public about U.S. engagement in world affairs. Selected results are
presented in Figures 16.1, 16.2, and 16.3.
Note how public opinion on whether the government should increase spending on
national defense is related to political party affiliation (Figure 16.1). Using your
sociological imagination, why might some groups be more supportive of defense spending
than others? How might the politics of fear influence opinions about terrorism?
Despite the fact that ISIS was identified as the top global threat facing the United States
(data not reported here), the Pew Research poll revealed that Americans are wary of global
involvement, with only 37% saying that the U.S. should help other countries deal with
their problems (Figure 16.2) and 41% agreeing to the statement that the United States has
done too much in terms of solving the world problems (Figure 16.3). What do you think?
Why does this inconsistency exist?
FIGURE 16.1 â– Percentage Who Say Defense Spending Should Be Increased
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Source: Adapted from Pew Research Center, April 2016, “Public Uncertain, Divided Over America’s Place in the Worldâ€
(http://www.people-press.org/2016/05/05/public-uncertain-divided-over-americas-place-in-the-world/).
FIGURE 16.2 â– Percentage Saying, “The U.S. should . . .â€
595
Source: Adapted from Pew Research Center, April 2016, “Public Uncertain, Divided Over America’s Place in the Worldâ€
(http://www.people-press.org/2016/05/05/public-uncertain-divided-over-americas-place-in-the-world/).
FIGURE 16.3 ■Percentage Saying, “In terms of solving world problems, the U.S. does
. . .â€
596
Source: Adapted from Pew Research Center, April 2016, “Public Uncertain, Divided Over America’s Place in the Worldâ€
(http://www.people-press.org/2016/05/05/public-uncertain-divided-over-americas-place-in-the-world/).
p.367
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AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
Marine Cpl. Larry Bailey II (pictured here with his father Larry) is recovering from injuries he received after tripping a
rooftop bomb in Afghanistan. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are able to survive wounds that in past wars would have
been fatal.
For more information on the Iraq war’s impact on veterans, turn to this chapter’s In Focus feature.
ECONOMIC IMPACT The final cost of the Iraq war is estimated to be more than $2 trillion
(and unlike past U.S. wars, the Iraq war is being paid almost entirely with debt). The expenditures
have been justified as necessary to maintain a high state of military readiness and ground force
strength, enhance the combat capabilities of U.S. armed forces, continue the development of
capabilities to maintain U.S. superiority against potential threats, and continue the department’s
support of service members and their families. Whereas some believe that these additional defense
expenses are necessary to win the global war on terrorism, others have criticized the escalation in
military expenditures. In 2002, Lawrence Lindsey, President Bush’s economic adviser, estimated
upper bound costs of the war would be between $100 and $200 billion. Lindsey was quoted as
saying, “The successful prosecution of the war would be good for the economy†(quoted in Davis
2002).
In 2002, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) guaranteed two years of free care to
returning combat veterans for any combat-related medical condition. The cost of these benefits, as
well as that of providing long-term disability support for soldiers and veterans and their families,
may strain the department’s budget and government resources. Policy analysts blame the lack of
planning by the VA, noting that the administration did not expect the conflict to last as long as it
598
has and did not predict the nature and extent of mental and physical injuries for its active-duty and
retired personnel (Donn and Hefling 2007). In 2014, an internal VA audit revealed that more than
100,000 veterans received inadequate medical care or no care at all in several veteran health facilities
across the country. Top VA administrators resigned, and President Obama signed a bill to reform
the VA system. Between 2001 and 2013, the United States spent $23.6 billion for medical care and
$28.9 billion for disability benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans (Bilmes 2013). A comparison
of U.S. war expenditures with other countries is presented in Table 16.4.
TABLE 16.4 â– Top 10 Military Spenders, 2016
Source: Adapted from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 2017. “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2016.â€
Do you recall President Eisenhower’s warning? Billions of dollars spent on the war means that other
599
programs are not receiving any funding. The National Priorities Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization, analyzes the impact of federal spending policies on city and state funding and budgets.
Since the beginning of the Iraq war, the project has tracked the expanding war budget along with
increasing budget cuts in nonsecurity (nonwar) discretionary spending. For 2015, the National
Priorities Project reported that $598.5 billion was allocated to U.S. military spending, about 54% of
the discretionary budget. In contrast, the United States budget allocated $70 billion (6% of the
discretionary budget) to education, $39.1 billion (4%) to energy and environment, and $26.3 billion
(2%) to transportation (National Priorities Project 2016).
p.368
The Budget Control Act of 2011 mandates reductions in federal spending for fiscal years 2012–
2021. The law was intended to control the growth of discretionary spending, resinstating budget
caps for the defense and nondefense parts of the budget. War-related funding, also known as
Overseas Contingency Operations funding, and military personnel funding are exempt from the
law.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT One of the most serious, yet overlooked, by-products of war
is the mass destruction of ecosystems, also referred to as ecocide (Adley and Grant 2003).
During the Vietnam War, the United States used chemical and biological agents, such as the
herbicide Agent Orange, to destroy food crops and defoliate forestlands. Herbicides were used from
1962 to 1969, covering 43% of South Vietnam’s arable land and 44% of its forestland at least once
and, in many cases, two or more times (Falk 1973). The application rate was 13 times the dose
recommended for domestic use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. More than 1.3 million
individuals were poisoned or contaminated. The military justified this environmental destruction in
order to deny the Vietnamese Army protective cover and to cut off the food supply to peasants and
soldiers. The contamination of soil and food crops due to Agent Orange continues to threaten the
health of the Vietnamese (Adley and Grant 2003). Another method of clearing vegetation and
forests in Vietnam was the use of the Rome plow. The plow is a heavily armored Caterpillar
bulldozer used to clear several hundred yards on each side of the main roads. It was estimated that
about 2,000 acres (3 square miles) were cleared per day until the end of the war. The croplands and
forests of Vietnam were damaged, along with rare tree and animal species (Falk 1973).
IN FOCUS
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF WAR
Of the 2.5 million U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, almost half have sought care
and assistance from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Government, health, and
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veterans service administrators have observed how different the needs of Iraq war veterans are
from those of veterans of past wars and conflicts.
Because of the nature of the conflict itself, forces deployed in Iraq have had more contact with
the enemy and more exposure to terrorist attacks than did troops in the earlier Iraq war
(O’Connor 2004). The frequency and intensity of operations for active and reserve members
increased during the height of the recent wars, with multiple deployments and overseas
assignments for soldiers. Estimates range from one in six to one in three soldiers and Marines
seeking help for mental health problems or PTSD as a result of their Iraq experiences. Between
80% and 85% of military personnel have witnessed or been part of traumatic events (Vedantam
2006).
About 280,000 female soldiers, Marines, and airmen have been deployed to Iraq or
Afghanistan (Chandrasekaran 2014), 11% of the overall force. The U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs (2014b) estimated that 20% of women Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have
been diagnosed with PTSD. Research on this population has indicated higher rates of PTSD
and depression for female compared with male veterans, higher incidences of sexual trauma,
and lower rates of accessing health care services (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2012).
At the release of its 2012 report on sexual assault in the military, the Department of Defense
was criticized for failing to protect its female soldiers. In 2012, there were 26,000 cases of
unwanted sexual contact. Sexual trauma can have adverse ramifications for a veteran’s quality of
life, negatively impacting physical health, psychological well-being, employment, and
interpersonal relationships. President Obama requested a comprehensive review of the
department’s prevention practices and response protocols to sexual assault. After implementing
support, education, and training programs and improving accountability measures, the number
of cases declined to 19,000 in 2014.
More wounded soldiers are returning home alive from Iraq. In the past, many would not have
survived traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) as a result of improvised explosive devices (IEDs),
bombs, or rocket attacks. This shockwave injury is caused when the brain is literally shaken in
the soldier’s skull, damaging brain tissue. Warfare and medical technology have increased
survival rates, however, by making it possible to treat and mobilize wounded soldiers more
quickly and closer to combat zones. TBI has been referred to as the signature injury of the Iraq
war, much as Agent Orange poisoning was for the Vietnam War. Doctors at the U.S. Army’s
Walter Reed Hospital screened all incoming patients between January 2003 and January 2005
and discovered that 60% of all wounded soldiers had some form of TBI (Zoroya 2005). TBI
symptoms include severe headaches, impaired memory, and sensitivity to light and sound.
These symptoms may be temporary or permanent.
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Other examples of environmental degradation and destruction resulting from war include the
burning of oil wells in Kuwait (1991), the health risks associated with the use of depleted uranium
weapons in Iraq (since the first Gulf War in 1991), and the destruction of the mountain gorilla
habitat in Rwanda (1994) (Adley and Grant 2003).
Waging a war is also a dirty business, as military activities produce harmful waste and debris. Fuel
deposits, ammunition dumps, paint, tires, grease, unexploded munitions, and gunpowder contribute
to the contamination of land and water (Jorgenson, Clark, and Givens 2012). Land mines, which
can lie unexploded for decades after placement, restrict land access and development for agriculture,
transportation, and natural resources. There are an estimated 110 million mines buried in 64
countries on all continents (Witmer and O’Loughlin 2009). Military campaigns also consume large
amounts of fossil (and nuclear) fuel in planes, ships, and tanks. It is estimated that the U.S. military
uses 1.3 billion gallons of oil annually in the Middle East alone (Klare 2007).
Efforts to prevent and redress wartime environmental degradation and destruction have not been
successful. The primary issue has been accountability—how should a nation be punished for
ecocide? The environmental destructiveness of war and conflict has been acknowledged by world
leaders, and in 1992 the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (signed by all member
states of the United Nations) required states to “respect international law providing protection for
the environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its further development, as necessaryâ€
(United Nations 1992).
POLITICAL IMPACT Terrorism can effect change in two political areas: the overall
distribution of political power and government policies (Crenshaw 1983). Terrorism may result in
radical changes in the power relationships within a state, involving shifts in who governs and under
what rules. As a target of terrorism, the U.S. government has also experienced a redistribution of
power as federal and state agencies have sought to improve intelligence gathering and security
procedures. Institutional changes have occurred, with each major intelligence agency improving its
antiterrorism activities, culminating in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. In
extreme cases, terrorism may lead to the replacement of one government by another.
Government policies usually have two goals: to destroy the terrorist group and to protect potential
targets from attack. Policies may include foreign policy efforts seeking the cooperation and support
of international allies. After September 11, 2001, the U.S. government attempted to destroy
terrorist groups and to ensure U.S. security through a series of executive orders, regulations, and
laws. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released a blistering report on the Central
Intelligence Agency’s post-9/11 interrogation program. The 2014 report revealed that in a system of
covert prisons, CIA officials authorized the use of coercive interrogation tactics—sleep deprivation,
humiliation, waterboarding, sensory deprivation, and extreme cold—to obtain information from
detainees who were suspected terrorists. The release of the report led to a mixture of condemnation
and support from world leaders.
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In 2001, Congress passed the PATRIOT Act, which established a separate counterterrorism fund,
expanded government authority to gather and share evidence with wire and electronic
communications, allowed agencies to detain suspected foreign terrorists, and provided for victims of
terrorism. Constitutional and civil rights attorneys have been critical of the PATRIOT Act, alarmed
that it would erode individual liberties and increase law enforcement abuses. Often cited is the act’s
disregard for the principles of political freedom, due process, and the protections of privacy—all
principles at the core of a democratic society (Cole and Dempsey 2002). More than 330 cities,
towns, and counties, as well as four states, have passed resolutions critical of the federal
antiterrorism law (Egan 2004). Two provisions of the act have caused particular concern among
citizens. One is the provision that empowers authorities to search people’s homes without
notification. A second clause allows government officials the right to review a person’s library,
business, and medical records.
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In 2017, President Trump issued a series of executive orders to ban foreign nationals from selected
countries from entering the United States. These countries included North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran,
Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The White House called the restrictions a “critical step toward
establishing an immigration system that protects Americans’ safety and security in an era of
dangerous terrorism and transnational crime†(quoted in Jarrett and Tatum 2017). Critics noted that
Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups originated, were omitted from
the list. The ban did not include Muslim countries where Trump has business investments (Shane
2017).
What Does It Mean to Me?
President Trump’s FY2018 budget included $603 billion for the U.S. Department of Defense.
What is your opinion of military spending? Are we spending too much or not enough? What do our
military expenditures say about the values of our country? Of our role as a global leader?
The Next Threat
DOMESTIC TERRORISM Michael Leiter, then-director of the National Counterterrorism
Center, told the 2011 U.S. House Intelligence Committee that his number-one priority was
identifying men and women intent on doing harm in the United States. This included concern with
al-Qaeda’s efforts to recruit Americans for their own efforts (Mulrine 2011).
On April 19, 1995, the worst domestic terrorism attack occurred around 9:00 a.m. in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. A rental truck loaded with a mixture of fertilizer and fuel oil exploded in front of
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the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast blew off the front side of the nine-story building,
killing 169 and injuring hundreds more. The attack was conducted by Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols, motivated by antigovernment sentiment over the failed 1993 federal raid on the Branch
Davidian compound in Texas. The bombing occurred on the second anniversary of the Branch
Davidian incident. McVeigh was executed for his crime in 2001; Nichols is serving a life sentence.
Louis J. Freeh (2001), former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), identified three
types of domestic groups operating in the United States: right-wing extremists, left-wing and
Puerto Rican extremists, and special interest extremists. Right-wing groups, such as the World
Church of the Creator, Aryan Nations, and the Southeastern States Alliance, advocate the
principles of racial supremacy and tend to embrace antigovernment or antiregulatory beliefs. They
have also been characterized as hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (2017) identified
917 active hate groups in the United States in 2017.
Left-wing groups want to bring about revolutionary change, adopting a socialist doctrine, and see
themselves as protectors of the people. Groups in this category include terrorist or separatist groups
seeking Puerto Rico’s independence from the United States and anarchists and extremist socialist
groups such as the Workers World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against Capitalism.
Many of these anarchist groups were blamed for the damage caused at the 1999 World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle, Washington.
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TAKING A WORLD VIEW
NORTHERN IRELAND SELF-RULE
The trouble with the Irish is the English.
—A line from a popular Irish song (quoted in Whittaker 2002)
In August 2007, the British Army ended Operation Banner, a 38-year security operation in
Northern Ireland. Violence and bloodshed first began in 1969, the result of confrontations
between Nationalist and Unionist (or Loyalist) forces. The Nationalist or Catholic groups were
led by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its splinter groups. In 1970, the Provisional IRA
was created (provisional to honor the provisional government declared by the leaders of the
1916 Easter Rising in Dublin). The Provisional IRA formed to defend the Catholic
community and to throw out the British Army and police (Wilkinson 1993). The Unionist or
Protestant forces represented the Ulster Defence Association and its splinter groups: the Ulster
Volunteer Force, the Red Hand Commandos, and the Ulster Freedom Fighters. Ulster
Protestants saw themselves as Britons, loyal to the Protestant crown. These groups represent
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“orange extremism,†as described by Paul Wilkinson (1993). Orange extremism has also been
blamed for provoking the open conflict in the late 1960s and for creating the conditions in
which the Provisional IRA could grow. The division between the groups emphasized their
polarization in religion, politics, and economics (Whittaker 2002).
Between them, both sides amassed an impressive armory of rifles, homemade machine guns,
grenade throwers, antitank weapons, and explosives. Bombing seemed to be a favorite tactic of
both sides. In more than 30 years of conflict, 3,500 civilians were killed and some 30,000
injured, and there was loss of property amounting to millions of pounds (Whittaker 2002).
IRA paramilitary also took their own lives without attempting to harm others. There was a
chain suicide of 11 IRA members who starved themselves to death in a Belfast prison in 1981.
The IRA used the hunger strikes and deaths to its organizational advantage, “to reap emotive
propaganda, to restore the flow of cash and weapons from the previously dwindling U.S.
sources, and to regroup and rearm†(Wilkinson 1993). Many Irish Americans embraced
members of the IRA as freedom fighters and supported their cause politically and financially.
In 1998, both sides accepted the Good Friday Agreement, a 65-page document that sought to
define relationships within Northern Ireland, between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and
between Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales. The agreement acknowledges that the people
of Northern and Southern Ireland are the only ones with the power to bring about a united
Ireland. Through the agreement, new government institutions were set in place. A cabinet-
style Executive of Ministers, with members in proportion to party support, allows the
participation of all groups (Ahern 2003). The new government, composed of Unionists and
Nationalists, was established with the first elections for the new Northern Ireland Assembly in
June 1998.
A number of political obstacles slowed down the implementation of the agreement, including
difficulties over the total disarmament of the Provisional IRA and the dismantling of British
military installations in Nationalist areas (Ahern 2003). After experiencing sectarian
squabbling, the assembly failed to hold a session for five years (2001–2006); however, elections
were held in March 2007 to reestablish the Northern Ireland Assembly and determine how
many members from Unionist (Protestant) and Nationalist (Catholic) parties would be
represented (Lyall and Quinn 2007). Self-rule was restored in Belfast in May 2007.
After a decade of self-rule, Northern Ireland’s governing coalition collapsed in January 2017.
Its power-sharing government was suspended after the late Martin McGuinness resigned as
deputy first minister of Northern Ireland. Despite holding a national election in March 2017,
the main Nationalist and Unionist parties were unable to form a power-sharing government. In
November 2017, the British government imposed a budget on Northern Ireland. Many view
this as the beginning of reestablishing direct British rule.
605
Special interest groups want to resolve specific issues, rather than effect political change. These
groups are at the fringes of animal rights, pro-life, environmental, antinuclear, and other political
and social movements. Animal rights and environmental groups, such as the Animal Liberation
Front and the Earth Liberation Front, have recently increased their activities. Activists from these
groups usually use arson and incendiary devices equipped with timers to target government and
company facilities. The FBI says that these groups are responsible for more than 1,800 criminal acts
and more than $110 million in damages (FBI 2009).
In 2017, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that the bureau was investigating
approximately 1,000 open domestic terrorism cases and about 1,000 cases of groups or individuals
related to or inspired by the Islamic State.
p.372
Hiromichi Matsuda
Days after the 1945 bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, the Japanese surrendered to the Allied forces, officially ending World War
II. The atom bomb killed more than 70,000 residents and destroyed 70% of the city’s industrial core.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS The nuclear weapons age began on July 16, 1945, when the United
States exploded the first nuclear bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Three weeks later, an atomic
bomb was used on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing 100,000 residents. Three days later, an
atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan, killing about 74,000 and injuring 75,000.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States was engaged in a “cold war†with Russia and other
nuclear countries, locked in a stalemate over who would be the first to launch a nuclear attack. In
1963, the countries agreed to sign a partial test ban treaty, banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere,
under water, and in space, and a nonproliferation treaty was signed in 1968, prohibiting nonnuclear
countries from possessing or developing nuclear weapons. In 1996, President Bill Clinton was the
first world leader to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits all nuclear
test explosions in all environments. However, the treaty has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. All
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, except for the United States, have ratified
the treaty.
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Nuclear weapons are still held by nine nations in the world. Suspected weapons have been identified
in Russia (7,000), United States (6,800), France (300), China (260), United Kingdom (215),
Pakistan (130), India (120), Israel (80), and North Korea (fewer than 15) (Ploughshares Fund
2016). In 2016 and 2017, North Korea conducted several nuclear tests, claiming that its missiles
could reach the U.S. mainland. President Trump warned that the United States would rain “fire and
fury†on North Korea if testing continued. Political leaders expressed concern that the president’s
statements would only escalate tensions between our countries and called for negotiations with
President Kim Jung Un.
In July 2017, United Nations delegates from 122 countries voted in favor of the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The treaty bans the development, testing, building, possession, or
threatened use of nuclear weapons. Negotiations were boycotted by nuclear-armed countries,
including the United States, Russia, and North Korea. Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the
Arms Control Association, explained, “While the treaty itself will not immediately eliminate any
nuclear weapons, the treaty can, over time, further delegitimize nuclear weapons and strengthen the
legal and political norm against their use†(quoted in Gladstone 2017). The treaty has legal force
only if ratified by 50 countries. As of December 2017, only three—Guyana, Thailand, and the
Vatican—have done so.
COMMUNITY, POLICY, AND SOCIAL ACTION
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9-11
Commission, was an independent bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation. The
9-11 Commission was charged with documenting and preparing a full account of the September 11
terrorist attacks. Throughout 2003 and 2004, hearings were held investigating Osama bin Laden’s
network, the performance of the intelligence community, emergency preparedness and response,
and national policy coordination. The commission concluded that U.S. intelligence gathering by the
FBI and CIA was inadequate, fragmented, and poorly coordinated.
p.373
In 2002, President George W. Bush established the Department of Homeland Security. (Before
September 11, the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century [2001] had
recommended the creation of a National Homeland Security Agency, responsible for planning,
coordinating, and integrating all U.S. agencies responsible for security.) The primary mission of the
department is to prevent terrorist attacks and reduce the vulnerability of the United States to
terrorism through coordination with component agencies: U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard,
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the
Transportation Security Administration. The Department of Homeland Security is also responsible
for the Homeland Security Advisory System, which informs the public of the current level of
terrorist threat.
607
As a nation, the United States has used several approaches to combat and to reduce the risk of war
and conflict: diplomacy, economic sanctions, and military force. Usually, war is justified as being the
last resort in circumstances where there are severe domestic rights violations or international
aggression by an offending state (Garfield 2002).
Political Diplomacy
According to Christopher Harmon (2000), “political will, more than new laws or new direction[s]
in international politics, is the most important component of an enhanced effort against foreign
supported terrorism†(p. 236). Political diplomacy includes articulating policy to foreign leaders,
persuading them, and reaching agreements with them (Pillar 2001).
Tobias Böhmelt (2010) described two models of political diplomacy. Official diplomatic efforts rely
on state power for leverage and coercion with high-ranking government officials, diplomats, or
heads of state as the main players. In contrast, unofficial diplomacy is led by representatives from
nongovernmental organizations, regional or local leaders, or grassroots organizations working
through back channels to negotiate an agreement. The foreign campaign against South African
apartheid is an example of unofficial diplomacy. Unofficial approaches don’t rely on state power or
coercion but rather attempt to find a common ground among disputing parties. A combination of
official and unofficial diplomatic efforts is also possible, as in the case of the 1995 Guinea Worm
Ceasefire mediated by former President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center in Sudan.
Political scientist Stephen Van Evera (2006) argued that the United States must develop and use its
power to make peace. Relationship building and persuasion are at the heart of U.S. diplomatic
efforts. As the lead foreign affairs agency, the U.S. Department of State attempts to formulate,
represent, and implement the president’s foreign policy (U.S. Department of State 2003). The
secretary of state is the president’s principal adviser on foreign policy and represents the United
States abroad in foreign affairs. Primarily, the department manages diplomatic relations with other
countries and international institutions (such as the United Nations, NATO, the World Bank, and
the International Monetary Fund). The Department of State conducts negotiations and concludes
agreements and treaties with other countries on issues ranging from trade to nuclear weapons. The
United States maintains diplomatic relations with more than 180 countries (U.S. Department of
State 2003). Diplomacy is conducted by the secretary of state and by foreign service officers,
immigration officers, FBI special agents, intelligence officers, transportation specialists, defense
attachés, and other officials (Pillar 2001).
In contrast with the hard-line diplomacy embraced by George W. Bush and Donald Trump, Barack
Obama’s diplomacy has been described as a soft-power approach, whereby a nation-state is
perceived as having values, motives, and actions that should be emulated (Nye 2008). A nation-state
with soft power leads with noncoercive persuasion through its attitudes toward international norms,
embracing the rules of law and demonstrating respect for diversity and cultural history (Hayden
2011). Political scientist Joseph Nye (2008) described soft power this way: “If I can get you to do
608
what I want, then I do not have to force you to do what you do not want†(p. 95). The president
serves as the chief diplomat, setting the tone and agenda for political diplomacy. Obama’s 2009
speech at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, has been described as a significant diplomatic
address, as the president openly acknowledged the plight of the Palestinians and Israel’s relationship
with the United States. Public diplomacy scholar Craig Hayden (2011) wrote,
p.374
The speech was a signal that the United States would take a more balanced approach to acknowledge the particular
perspectives of the Middle East crises. The speech was also important as a function of public diplomacy in the manner of its
delivery, its location and the way it signaled the course of U.S. foreign policy in the region. (p. 791)
Obama’s soft-power approach was praised for improving the status of the United States as the
world’s most admired country, yet it has been criticized for not being effective or strong enough.
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
SETSUKO THURLOW
©Kyodo News via Getty Images
Setsuko Thurlow
Setsuko Thurlow is an antinuclear activist. She speaks from a survivor’s perspective, telling the
story of what she saw and experienced on August 6, 1945, in her hometown of Hiroshima,
Japan. “A bright summer morning turned into dark twilight, with smoke and dust rising in the
mushroom cloud, dead and injured covering the ground, begging desperately for water and
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receiving no medical care at all. The spreading firestorm and the foul stench of burned flesh
filled the air.†Eight of her family members died that day, along with hundreds of school
classmates and teachers (ICAN 2017).
After the war, Thurlow attended Hiroshima Jogakuin University, before transferring to
Lynchburg College (Virginia) where she studied sociology. She married Canadian Jim
Thurlow and moved to Toronto, where Thurlow lives today.
Thurlow has supported the work of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
(ICAN) since the organization was established in 2007. ICAN (2017) is a coalition of
nongovernmental organizations “promoting adherence to and implementation of the United
Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty.†A key element of ICAN’s outreach program is testimony
from Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors like Thurlow.
In 2017, ICAN was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for “its work to draw attention to the
catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-
breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-prohibition of such weapons.†ICAN was instrumental in
the passage of UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Thurlow was selected to
receive the honor on ICAN’s behalf.
In her acceptance speech, 85-year-old Thurlow (2017) explained the roots of her activism, “We
were not content to be victims. We refused to wait for an immediate fiery end or the slow
poisoning of our world. We refused to sit idly in terror as the so-called great powers took us
past nuclear dusk and brought us recklessly close to nuclear midnight. We rose up. We shared
our stories of survival. We said: humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.â€
p.375
The Use of Economic Sanctions
For many years, the United States and the United Nations have used nonviolent approaches in the
form of economic sanctions to punish or pressure countries that have violated U.S. laws or values.
Sanctions are considered an alternative to diplomacy or military force. Economic sanctions, in the
form of trade embargoes and the termination of development assistance, are the most commonly
applied form of sanctions, and they have the most significant public health consequences. These
sanctions are intended to weaken a rival’s economy, to disrupt their economic and military
capabilities. Economic sanctions can also promote human rights, express disapproval, isolate a
government, or replace a government entirely (Rennack and Shuey 1998). Even if sanctions are
ineffectual, they can serve as a clear message that what the receiving nation (the target of the
sanctions) has done is disapproved of (Galtung 1967).
U.S. sanctions were used against Iraq in 1990 to force its withdrawal from Kuwait and against
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Yugoslavia (1991–1996) and Serbia and Montenegro (1992–1996) during the Serbian war (Marks
1999). Recent U.S. sanctions have been imposed against Iraq, Iran, and North Korea in an effort to
discourage terrorist activity or the accumulation of weapons of mass destruction. According to
Richard Haas (1997), “economic sanctions are popular because they offer what appears to be a
proportional response to challenges in which the interests at stake are less than vital†(p. 75).
Sanctions can also serve as a signal of official displeasure with a country’s behavior or action.
Many attempts have focused on cutting aid to countries sponsoring or supporting terrorism. The
problem is that most terrorist states do not receive significant aid from the United States, and based
on past experience, sanctions have only made target countries and nations more angry and
impassioned against the United States (Flores 1981). Shaheen Ayubi and colleagues (1982)
concluded that economic sanctions in U.S. foreign policy may not be effective in their objectives and
have often failed to achieve their political purposes. For example, sanctions applied against Cuba
since 1960 failed to destabilize the Castro regime.
Sanctions may not hurt dictators and terrorists, but they may increase suffering and death among
civilians (Garfield 2002), and research suggests that economic coercion may worsen public health,
economic conditions, educational attainment, and the development of a civil society in the
sanctioned country (Peksen 2009). According to Dursun Peksen and A. Cooper Dury (2009), “the
majority of economic sanctions, so far, have been a blunt economic instrument that hits the whole
target economy without any or very few discriminatory measures to lessen the negative impact on
civilians†(p. 408).
For example, a report issued in 1993 by the Harvard Center for Population and Development
Studies maintained that sanctions exacerbated malnutrition in Haiti and increased child deaths
caused by misgovernment (Neier 1993). Although only economic sanctions were directed against
Iraq in the early 1990s, the Harvard Study Team (1991) reported that essential goods—food,
medicine, and infrastructure support—were not reaching those in need. All health facilities surveyed
reported major drug shortages. Children were most vulnerable, dying of preventable diseases and
starvation (Ali and Shah 2000).
Military Response
Military action is based on the idea that the most effective way to defeat an enemy is by the
destruction of the enemy’s armies, equipment, transport systems, industrial centers, and cities.
Military intervention has also been defined as a form of humanitarian intervention. Canada’s
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2001) suggested that
humanitarian intervention should be defined as a responsibility to protect. According to the
commission, there are three aspects of this responsibility: how to prevent humanitarian crises in the
first place, under which conditions and in what way to intervene, and how to maintain peace after a
military conflict and rebuild the country. There have been approximately 20 instances of
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humanitarian intervention since the end of the Cold War. In 2011, evoking the responsibility to
protect, the United Nations approved NATO military intervention in Libya to protect civilians
from being killed by the armed military forces of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Gaddafi had threatened to purge Libya of its civilian protestors. The intervention lasted about six
months and led to the collapse of Gaddafi’s 42-year-old regime, the leader’s death, and the
installation of a transitional government. Humanitarian warfare continues to be deliberated from
ethical, political, and legal perspectives (Zajadlo 2005), as its implementation challenges a basic
principle of sovereign power. When does a country have the right to intervene in the business of
another country?
p.376
Retaliation has been the most important counterterrorist use of U.S. military force. The United
States first used it against Libya in 1986, responding to the April 4 bombing of a nightclub in Berlin
where 2 Americans were killed and 71 were wounded. One hundred military aircraft were used to
attack military targets in and around Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya (Pillar 2001). After September
11, 2001, U.S. troops were deployed to destroy Taliban operations based in Afghanistan.
According to Pillar (2001), evidence suggests that military retaliation does not serve as an effective
deterrent to terrorism. First, terrorists who threaten the United States present few suitable military
targets. It is tough to attack an enemy that can’t be located. Many terrorist groups lack any high-
value targets, whose destruction would be costly to their organization. Second, a military attack
against a terrorist group may serve political and organizational goals of the terrorist leaders. Such
attacks may increase recruiting, sympathy, and resources for terrorist groups. And finally, there is no
evidence that terrorists will respond peacefully after a retaliatory attack. Terrorists may also respond
by fighting back.
Antiwar and Peace Movements
Antiwar movements have been characterized as reactive, occurring only in response to specific wars
or the threat of war. Even though every 20th-century war conducted by the United States elicited
organized protest and opposition (Chatfield 1992), the public’s response to the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars was described as apathetic. The lack of public outrage or protest over the wars was
attributed to several factors: the social construction of a common enemy (terrorism), the pervasive
rhetoric of patriotism and nationalism, and an overall decline in civic and political engagement. The
Bush administration’s policy banning media coverage of fallen soldiers’ caskets was blamed for
shielding the public from the personal toll of these wars. (The ban was lifted in 2009.)
Peace movements represent organized coalitions that are “fundamentally concerned with the
problems of war, militarism, conscription, and mass violence, and the ideals of internationalism,
globalism and non-violent relations between people†(Young 1999:228). According to Nigel Young
(1999), there are different peace traditions: groups that provide ideas and initiatives for the entire
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peace movement. For example, the tradition of liberalism and internationalism attempts to prevent
war through reformed behavior of states: peace plans, treaties, international law, and arbitration
between all groups. Another tradition, anticonscriptionism, links the peace movement with
individual civil rights.
Another peace tradition is feminist antimilitarism. Peace movements within this tradition are united
by the ideal of a distinctive role for women on the issue of peace and female unity across national
boundaries (Young 1999). Feminist antimilitary groups first began in the early 1900s. In 1914, Jane
Addams, founder of Hull House, led a women’s peace parade in New York to protest World War I.
Addams, along with Carrie Chapman Catt, the main strategist and leader for the women’s suffrage
movement, and other women activists, formed the Women’s Peace Party in 1915. Later that year,
the party was renamed the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The
organization exists today, with chapters in Africa, Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and
the Americas. Its current global mission includes building and strengthening relationships and
movements for justice, peace, and radical democracy.
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 16.3: Antiwar Protests
Women have mobilized for peace in other parts of the world: Mothers and Grandmothers of the
Plaza de Mayo (Argentina) protested against the political killings and kidnapping of children during
the Argentine Dirty War; the Greenham Common Women (England) called for the
decommissioning of nuclear arms; and Women in Black (worldwide) are committed to peace with
justice, highlighting women’s different experience of war.
p.377
There is also a tradition of U.S. student involvement in peace movements. Paul Knott (1971)
explained that college students before World War II were mainly upper-middle-class students who
613
treated their education as a privilege. Except for a few campuses, most undergraduates showed little
social consciousness and were unwilling to challenge or question the status quo. But increasing
diversity on college campuses—in students’ ages, gender, and ethnic backgrounds—helped increase
social awareness and infused students with a greater sense of empowerment. Student activism was at
its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, supporting the civil rights movement and, later, protesting the
Vietnam War. During the late 1970s, campuses institutionalized many of the gains made in the
previous decade, establishing women’s centers, Black student unions, and gay and lesbian
organizations and ensuring that student government had a greater role in university operations
(Vellela 1988).
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
WORKING AND VOLUNTEERING ABROAD
Courtesy of Michael Clark
Michael Clark
Michael Clark—Class of 2013
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Piano Performance
Pollster John Zogby describes Millennials as the “first global generation,†with 60% owning a
passport and many expecting to work abroad at some point in their careers (Steiner 2014).
There are a host of job and internship opportunities abroad for a recent graduate: teaching,
cultural and au pair positions, volunteer work, student internships, short-term contract work,
and government or corporate placements (Lacey 2006). An estimated 6.8 million Americans
live abroad (excluding those in military service), the highest numbers residing in North,
Central, and South America and in Europe (U.S. Department of State 2014).
614
During 2014–2015, Sociology alum Michael Clark traveled and worked through Europe as a
volunteer for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). Michael is quick to
say that his undergraduate study abroad experiences inspired his year abroad. According to the
Institute for International Education of Students, students were more likely to enter an
international career if they completed an internship abroad and studied in a non-English-
speaking country (Lacey 2006).
When asked how he applies sociology to his WWOOF work, Michael replied,
I am drawn particularly to those sociological projects which examine consumption, globalization, and stratification. As
a WWOOF volunteer, I apply such a framework to interpret the stories and experiences of these small, organic
farmers, such that I may contextualize them within the larger, globalized system of food production. Like George
Ritzer, I regard a variety of structural forces—westernization, neoliberalism, and, perhaps most broadly,
rationalization—as accounting for a global squandering of both intra- and inter-culture diversity. The farmers who
work with WWOOF, then, represent an encouraging source of opposition to these very forces. It is understandable,
then, that my sociological training compels me to learn more about the slow-food movement and other related
campaigns.
Michael describes several career strategies that helped him narrow his own future prospects:
I find it useful to learn as much as I can about those career trajectories which are interesting and available to me.
Consequently, I have spent a great deal of time reading journal articles, books, and essays, from across a diverse body
of disciplines. I have also spent a considerable amount of time reflecting on how my own skills and passions might
address global social problems, such as stratification, environmental degradation, and the
rationalization/westernization of indigenous cultures.
After his year as a WWOOFer, Michael will return to the states and hopes to enroll in a PhD
Sociology program.
p.378
What Does It Mean to Me?
How important is keeping up with politics to you? How well informed are you about local and
national political issues? Are you a registered voter? How have you been educated about your rights
as a voter? About local and national issues?
The new wave of peace activism builds on existing networks established by the student anticorporate
movement, which focused on economic justice related to sweatshop labor and unionization on
campuses (refer to Chapter 9, “Work and the Economyâ€). Student peace groups are linking their
opposition to war to the campaign for social justice, dealing with racism, economic inequality, and
sexism at home. Student protestors seem to have learned from the protests of the 1960s, wanting to
prevent the kind of alienation experienced by Vietnam War veterans.
615
CHAPTER REVIEW
16.1 Explain the difference between war and terrorism.
War is a violent but legitimate political instrument between armed combatants.
Terrorism is the unlawful use of force to intimidate or coerce compliance with a
particular set of beliefs and can be either domestic (based in the United States) or
foreign (supported by foreign groups threatening the security of U.S. nationals or
U.S. national security).
16.2 Explain how the different sociological perspectives examine social problems related to war
and terrorism.
Functionalists examine how war and terrorism help maintain the social order,
creating and reinforcing boundaries. Modern conflict theorists have focused on how
war is used to promote economic and political interests, such as replacing social
program funding with military expenditures. From the feminist perspective, war is
considered a primarily male activity that enhances the position of males in society.
Feminist theorists focus on the gender rhetoric used in war. Interactionists focus on
the social messages and meaning of war and conflict.
16.3 Define the politics of fear.
The politics of fear is how decision makers and politicians promote and use the
public’s beliefs and assumptions about terrorism to achieve certain goals. The politics
of fear changes our behavior and our perspective.
16.4 Identify the effects of war and terrorism.
A common aftereffect of war is the experience of posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). The needs of Iraq War veterans are different from those of veterans of
other wars. The United States is the world’s largest military spender. Ecocide is the
mass destruction of ecosystems due to war. Examples include the use of Agent
Orange to defoliate South Vietnam’s forests during the Vietnam War.
16.5 Assess the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
Economic sanctions such as trade embargoes, which are the most commonly applied
form, may affect the civilian population more than specific leaders or terrorists. Many
counterterrorism attempts have focused on cutting off aid to countries sponsoring or
supporting terrorism. However, most such states do not receive significant aid from
the United States, and sanctions may only worsen living conditions in the targeted
country.
KEY TERMS
616
domestic terrorism, 360
ecocide, 368
genocide, 358
humanitarian intervention, 375
international terrorism, 360
military-industrial complex, 362
outcome goals, 361
politicide, 358
politics of fear, 364
process goals, 361
revolution, 358
soft-power approach, 373
terrorism, 359
p.379
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. From a functionalist’s perspective, how do war and terrorism serve a “safety valve†function?
2. How does the military-industrial complex contribute to war and conflict?
3. From an interactionist perspective, how has the war on terrorism been socially constructed?
4. Identify the psychological, economic, and political impacts of war and conflict.
5. Explain warfare as a humanitarian intervention.
6. What role have college students and activists played in antiwar and peace movements?
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©iStock.com/alejandrophotography
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INDIVIDUAL ACTION
AND SOCIAL CHANGE
PART
IV
Since its inception, sociology has been considered a means of understanding and improving
what is wrong with the world. Early sociological thinking emerged from the late 18th and early
19th centuries during periods of dramatic social, economic, and political change, such as the
Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Enlightenment period. The first
sociological thinkers, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber, were preoccupied with
these social changes and the problems they created for society. These thinkers spent their lives
studying these problems and attempted to develop programs that would help solve them
(Ritzer 2000).
Sociology provides us with the means of examining the social structure or “machinery†that
runs our lives. In his book Invitation to Sociology, sociologist Peter Berger (1963) likens our
human experience to that of puppets on a stage:
We located ourselves in society and thus recognize our own position as we hang from subtle strings. For a moment we
see ourselves as puppets. . . . Unlike the puppets, we have the possibility of stopping in our movements, looking up
and perceiving the machinery by which we have been moved. In this act lies the first step towards freedom. (p. 176)
Freedom comes first in identifying the social “machinery†that controls us and second in
recognizing that the way society controls us is fundamentally different from the way strings
control puppets. We have the power to transform or alter that machinery; we have the power to
create social change and to address our social problems.
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p.382
©Sarah Morris/Getty Images
p.383
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17
SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL
ACTION
Media Library
CHAPTER 17 Media Library
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP NEWS CLIPS
AP News Clips 17.1: Occupy Wall Street
AP News Clips 17.2: Opening of the Civil Rights Museum
AP News Clips 17.3: Volunteer Bike Rides for the Elderly
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
17.1 Explain the relationship between sociology, social movements, and social change.
17.2 Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements.
17.3 Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness.
17.4 Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
In Chapter 1, I introduced you to three connections that would be made throughout this text. The
first was the connection between sociology and social problems. We began with two concepts
offered by C. Wright Mills: personal troubles and public issues. Mills explained that personal
troubles transform into public issues when we recognize that troubles exist not because of individual
characteristics or traits but because of social forces. This book has not focused on “nuts, sluts, and
perverts†(Liazos 1972) as the source of our social problems. Rather, using our sociological
imagination, we’ve examined how social forces shape social problems in U.S. society. We have relied
on four sociological perspectives—functionalist, conflict, feminist, and interactionist—to guide us
through each chapter and each set of problems. These four perspectives provide a unique look at
social problems and, as a consequence, offer insights about how we may solve them.
According to a functionalist, all society’s needs are met by its social institutions (family, education,
politics, religion, and economics). Working interdependently, these institutions ensure social order.
When society experiences significant social change (e.g., the Industrial Revolution, war), the social
order is particularly susceptible to social problems (e.g., crime, poverty, or violence). Social problems
622
do not emerge from individuals; rather, problems emerge when the order is disrupted or tested.
Functionalist solutions focus on restoring the social order, repairing the broken institutions, and
avoiding dramatic social change.
Like the functionalists, conflict and feminist theorists examine social problems at the macro or
societal level. For conflict theorists, social problems are the result of social, economic, or political
inequalities inherent in our society. Feminist perspectives consider how gender inequalities lead to
social problems. Whereas functionalists assume that order is normal for society, the conflict and
feminist theorists believe that conflict over resources and power is the status quo. From this
perspective, how does one eliminate social problems? The existing social order needs to be replaced
with a more equitable society. Mid-range solutions attempt to redefine opportunity and power
structures to include the participation of marginalized individuals or groups.
The interactionist perspective focuses on social problems at the micro or individual level. According
to this perspective, we create our reality through social interaction. Social problems are created by
the labels we attach to individuals and their situations (e.g., the “welfare mom†or a “crack addictâ€).
In addition, problematic behavior is learned from others; for example, interactionists believe that
criminal behavior is learned from other criminals. Social problems are not objective realities. Rather,
they are subjectively constructed by religious, political, and social leaders who influence our opinions
and conceptions of what a social problem is. This perspective leads us to many different solutions:
changing the labeling process (being careful of who is being labeled and what the label is),
resocializing individuals who exhibit deviant or inappropriate behavior (if the behavior was learned,
it can be unlearned), and recognizing the social construction of social problems (acknowledging that
it is a subjective process).
p.384
What Does It Mean to Me?
Throughout this text, you have been introduced to four sociological perspectives. Which
sociological perspective do you agree with most? Which perspective best explains the reasons and
solutions for social problems?
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
The past 16 chapters have revealed how we continue to experience many social problems—and bear
in mind that not every social problem could be addressed in the pages of this text. Yet considering
the past decade, strong evidence suggests that problems such as crime, drug abuse, and poverty have
been minimized because of effective social policies and solutions. We tend to think of the
623
government as the only effective agent of social change because politicians pass new laws and
policies. But the government is not the only agent of social change. In each chapter, I introduced
you to individuals, groups, and communities that have attempted to address a particular social
problem. In their own ways, all of them are making the second connection, the one between social
problems and their solutions.
Our nation’s history is filled with groups of people who attempted to promote change or prevent it
from taking place (Harper and Leicht 2002). Social movements are defined as conscious,
collective, organized attempts to bring about or resist large-scale change in the social order (J.
Wilson 1973). In today’s society, almost every critical public issue leads to a social movement
supporting change (and an opposing countermovement to discourage it) (Meyer and Staggenbord
1996). Social movements are the most potent forces of social change in our society (Sztompka
1994). Social movements lead the way for social reform and policies by first identifying and calling
attention to social problems.
Social movements are classified by two factors. First, how much change is intended by the social
movement: Is it limited or radical change? And second, what is the scope of the intended change: Is
it a group of people or an entire society? Sociologists Charles Harper and Kevin Leicht (2002)
distinguish between two dimensions of social movements in their book Exploring Social Change:
America and the World. The first dimension identifies how much change is intended by the
movement, distinguishing between reform and revolutionary movements. According to Harper and
Leicht, reform movements try to bring about limited social change by working within the existing
system, usually targeting social structures such as education or medicine and directly targeting policy
makers. Examples of reform movements are pro-choice or anti-abortion groups. On the other hand,
revolutionary social movements seek fundamental changes of the system itself. These types of
social movements, such as the U.S. civil rights movement or the antiapartheid movement in South
Africa, consider the political system the key to system change.
The second dimension of social movements identified by Harper and Leicht (2002) is instrumental
versus expressive, addressing the scope of intended change. Instrumental movements seek to
change the structure of society; examples are the civil rights movement and the environmental
movement. Expressive movements attempt to change individuals and individual behavior. Based
on these dimensions, John Wilson (1973) specified four types of social movements: reformative,
transformative, alternative, and redemptive (see Table 17.1).
TABLE 17.1 â– Types of Social Movements
624
New social movements theory emphasizes the distinctive features of recent social movements
that emerged in postindustrial or advanced capitalist societies. New social movements first appeared
in cultural and radical feminist movements in the late 1960s, in some radical sections of the
environmental movement in the 1970s, in parts of the peace movement of the late 1970s through
the mid-1980s, and in radical sections of the gay rights movement since the 1980s (Plotke 1995).
p.385
John Hannigan (1991) and David Plotke (1995) distinguish between new social movements and
early social movements. First, new movements have different ideologies than did earlier movements.
Instead of fighting for human rights, such as voting or freedom of speech, new movements are
framed around concerns about cultural and community rights, such as the right to be different, to
choose one’s lifestyle, and to be protected from particular risks such as nuclear or environmental
hazards (Hannigan 1991). These movements have been described as identity movements, focused
on cultural issues rather than economic or political power. New social movements promote a “more
diverse and citizen-oriented set of interests†(Dalton, Kuechler, and Bürklin 1990:3). Second, new
social movements distrust formal organizations. Consequently, they tend to be informal
participatory structures rather than complex centralized organizations (Buechler 2011). Finally,
whereas previous movements were identified with the economic oppression of workers or
minorities, new social movements are associated with a new middle class of “younger, social and
cultural specialists†(Plotke 1995). Instead of acting on behalf of their own interests, this new
middle class acts on behalf of groups who cannot act on their own.
What Does It Mean to Me?
How has your level of social activism changed since you’ve enrolled in college?
625
HOW DO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS BEGIN?
Social scientists offer several explanations of how social movements emerge. Individual explanations
focus on the psychological dispositions or motivations of those drawn to social movements. Women
and men are depicted as either frustrated or calculating actors in political or social movements.
Empirical studies have not consistently supported these explanations, demonstrating that individual
predispositions are insufficient to account for collective action in social movements. In addition,
such theories tend to deflect attention from the real causes of discontent and injustice in our social
and political structures (Wilson and Orum 1976).
Social movements do not generally arise from a stable social context; rather, they arise from a
changing social order (Lauer 1976). Social movements arise from the structure itself, primarily the
result of social and economic deprivation. People are not acting just because they are suffering. They
are likely to act when they experience relative deprivation, a perceived gap between what they
expect and what they actually get. James Davies (1974) argued that social movements are likely to
occur when a long period of economic and social improvement is followed by a period of decline.
Relative deprivation theory has been used to explain the development of urban protests among
African Americans during the 1960s, which were initiated by middle-class African Americans who
perceived social and economic gaps between Black and White Americans (Harper and Leicht 2002).
Similar arguments have been made about emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement. But
relative deprivation alone isn’t enough to create a social movement.
p.386
Neil Smelser (1963) explained that six structural conditions are necessary for the development of
collective behaviors and social movements. These conditions operate in an additive fashion. First,
particular structures in society are more likely to generate certain kinds of social movements than
others. For example, societies with racial divisions are more likely to develop racial movements.
Second, people will become dissatisfied with the current structure only if the structure is perceived
as oppressive or illegitimate. Third, there must be growth of a generalized belief system. People
need to share an ideology, a set of ideas, that defines the sources of the structural problems or strains
and the solutions necessary to alleviate them. The civil rights movement was based on the ideology
that racism was the source of restricted opportunities for minorities (Harper and Leicht 2002).
Fourth, dramatic events sharpen and concretize issues. These events may initiate or exaggerate
people’s dissatisfaction with the current structure or redefine their beliefs about the sources of the
structural problems. Examples of dramatic or precipitating events include the 1968 Watts riots in
relation to the Black Power phase of the civil rights movement and the 1979 Three Mile Island
nuclear disaster in relation to the anti–nuclear power movement (Harper and Leicht 2002). Fifth,
the movement gains momentum with the mobilization of leaders and members for the movement.
At this time, the social movement also begins to take the shape of a formal organization. Finally,
forces in society (the existing political structure or countermovements) respond to the social
movement either by accepting or by suppressing it. One of the important features of Smelser’s
626
theory is his emphasis on the relationship between the social movement and society itself, a
powerful force in shaping the development, the direction, and, ultimately, the success of the
movement (Harper and Leicht 2002).
U.S. Information Agency
More than 200,000 people participated in the March on Washington demonstrations in March 1963. This march, along
with other nonviolent protests and marches, brought to the nation’s attention the need for basic civil rights for all
Americans, regardless of race. The U.S. Congress passed landmark legislation in the 1960s: the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as the Fair Housing Act).
According to resource mobilization theory, no social movement can succeed without resources.
John McCarthy and Mayer Zald (1977) argued that human and organizational resources must be
mobilized to create a social movement. A social movement requires human skills in the form of
leadership, talent, and knowledge, as well as an organizational infrastructure to support its work.
On the other hand, the political process model emphasizes the relationship between a mobilized
social movement and a favorable structure of political opportunities. Social movements are seen as
rational attempts by excluded groups to mobilize their political leverage to advance their interests.
Social movements are political phenomena, attempting to change social policy and political
coalitions, in this view. Political structures enhance the likelihood of a successful social movement
by being receptive to change or by being more or less vulnerable at different points in time. For
example, Doug McAdam (1982) noted that the efforts of the civil rights movement were enhanced
by the expansion of the Black vote and the shift of Black voters to the Democratic Party. Without
favorable support from the political structure, the civil rights movement might not have succeeded.
p.387
Social movements gain strength when they develop symbols and a sense of community, which
generates strong feelings and helps direct this energy into organized action. People will form a social
movement when they develop “a shared understanding of the world and of themselves that
legitimate[s] and motivate[s] collective action†(McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald 1996:6). McAdam
(1982) explained that resource mobilization must include cognitive liberation. Much like Karl
Marx’s concept of class consciousness, cognitive liberation begins when members of an aggrieved
627
group begin to consider their situation as unjust. They must recognize their situation. The second
part of cognitive liberation is the group’s sense that its situation can be changed. Finally, those who
considered themselves powerless begin to believe that they can make a difference (Piven and
Cloward 1979). Individuals must move through all three stages to become cognitively liberated.
They must organize, act on political opportunities, and instigate change: “In the absence of these
necessary attributions, oppressive conditions are likely, even in the face of increased resources, to go
unchallenged†(McAdam 1982:34).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 17.1: Occupy Wall Street
The Wall Street movement (or Occupy for short) was described as the first worldwide postmodern
uprising (Brucato 2012). What began with hundreds of protestors in Zuccotti Park, New York,
spread to more than 900 cities globally (Adam 2011) and hundreds of college and university
encampments across the United States. Occupy became “a means of channeling legitimate anger
toward productive ends, the progressive transformation of society†(Langman 2013:520). The
movement had also been described as a new model for organizing and protesting: a gathering of
multiple groups with diverse issues and causes, developing politics through interaction and
participatory structures and lacking a clear beginning and ending (Brucato 2012). Other
movements, such as the Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter and Never Again, have also embraced
diffuse, decentralized, nonhierarchical structures and collective leadership. Sarah Augusto (2016)
observed, “In this postmodern age, collective movements will take new, more complex forms, just as
what counts as ‘the movement’ itself will reflect the diverse identities participants hold and the
diverse ways that activists mobilize for social change†(p. 4).
What Does It Mean to Me?
628
What do you think will be the next social movement?
HOW HAVE REFORM MOVEMENTS MADE A
DIFFERENCE?
“The interest of many scholars in social movements stems from their belief that movements
represent an important force for social change†(McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald 1988:727); yet, “the
study of the consequences of social movements is one of the most neglected topics in literatureâ€
(Giugni 1999:xiv–xv). Early in human history, most social change was the result of chance or trial
and error (Mannheim 1940), but in modern history, social movements have been the basic avenues
by which social change takes place (Harper and Leicht 2002).
According to Harper and Leicht (2002), the most dramatic social, cultural, economic, and political
transformations come from revolutions. Successful revolutions are rare and dramatic events, such as
the early revolutions in France (1789), Russia (1917), and China (1949), and they include the
political transformations in South America, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union during
the 1980s.
Most social movements that we’re familiar with are reform movements that focus on either broad or
narrow social reforms. They produce significant change, but in gradual or piecemeal ways (Harper
and Leicht 2002). The most important U.S. reform movements in the first half of the 20th century
focused on grievances related to social class, such as the labor movements of the early 1900s, which
helped ensure safer working conditions, eliminated child labor, and provided substantial increases in
wages and benefits. After World War II, a new type of reform movement, which included the civil
rights movement, the student movement, the feminist movement, the gay liberation movement, and
ethnic/racial movements, addressed inequalities based on social status rather than social class
(Harper and Leicht 2002). Successful reform movements generate change in three areas:
p.388
IN FOCUS
STUDENT ACTIVISM
629
©Emilee McGovern/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
On March 24, 2018, hundreds of thousands of Americans demonstrated against gun violence in schools.#neveragain
was also a global event, with rallies held in the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and other
countries.
College and university students have always played an important role in addressing social
problems, leading to significant social change. For example, voting drives led by 17- and 18-
year-olds produced the Twenty-Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, granting voting
rights to those 18 years of age and older (Nader 1972). The driving force behind the Twenty-
Sixth Amendment came from youth who raised questions about the legitimacy of a
representative government that asked 18- to 20-year-olds to fight in the Vietnam War but
denied them the right to vote on war-related issues (Close Up Foundation 2004).
According to longtime social activist Ralph Nader (1972), it is up to students “to prod and to
provoke, to research and to act†(p. 23). The time in college is a fertile opportunity for social
activism (Munson 2010). While at this particular life transition point, students experience
significant change in their daily routines and their social networks. Ziad Munson (2010)
explained, “To become active in a social movement, people must change their routines to
accommodate the demands of activism; they need to incorporate new habits and activities that
make them a part of a movement†(p. 774). When social networks are reconfigured, college
students are open to new ideas and new worldviews. When regular routines are disrupted, this
creates space for (new) social activism.
Hailey Chaloub, Domenique Ciavattone, and Christopher Wetzel (2016) reported that current
college activists are engaged in a range of campus campaigns and issues: affordable housing,
workers’ rights on campus, and diversity on campus. Student activists are not drawn to tactics
perceived as confrontational or divisive or tactics perceived as passé (e.g., rallies). Students
moved beyond “slacktivism†(simply “liking†something on Facebook or re-tweeting a post) to
connecting digital tools (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) for broader social engagement (e.g., making
connections and building relationships). “More than an end in itself or solely as a tool for
recruiting, they saw that social media could be a tool to excite and motivate conversations
around pressing social issues†(Chaloub et al. 2016:307). The researchers concluded, “In
committing sociology, contemporary students could structurally analyze the landscape of power
630
(in its current form and how it has changed over time) and then work intentionally from the
roots to transform systems of injustice†(p. 309).
1. Culture. Reform movements educate people and change beliefs and behaviors. Change can
occur in our culture, identity, and everyday life (Taylor and Whittier 1995). By changing the
ways individuals live, movements may effect long-term changes in society (Meyer 2000).
The women’s movement has established a clear record of cultural change. The
women’s movement changed the way women viewed themselves and altered our
language, our schools, the workplace, politics, the military, and the media.
2. New organizations or institutions. Movements lead to the creation of new organizations that
continue to generate change. Through these new organizations, social movements may
influence ongoing and future initiatives by altering the structure of political support, limiting
resources to challengers, and changing the values and symbols used by supporters and
challengers. David Meyer (2000) argued that by changing participants’ lives, “movements alter
the personnel available for subsequent challenges†(p. 51).
p.389
There are many examples from the women’s movement about the creation of
effective new organizations or institutions. The National Organization for Women
(NOW) was created in 1966, along with the Women’s Equity Action League (1968),
the National Women’s Political Caucus (1971), the National Women’s Law Center
(1972), and the Feminist Majority Foundation (1987). NOW is the largest
organization of feminist activists in the United States, with more than 500,000
members and 550 chapters in all 50 states. The organization continues its advocacy
and legislative efforts in guaranteeing equal rights for women, ensuring abortion
rights and reproductive freedom, opposing racism, and ending violence against
women. Political mobilization by feminists against rape led to the creation and
implementation of policy and established a new institution: rape crisis centers
(Matthews 1994).
3. Social policy and legislation. Successful social policies have been nurtured by partnerships
between the government and social movements (Skocpol 2000). Movements generally organize
and mobilize themselves around specific policy demands (Meyer 2000), attempting to
minimize or eliminate social problems. Public policy can do many things: New laws can be
enacted or old ones may be struck down, social service programs can be created or ended, and
taxes can be used to discourage bad behaviors (cigarette or alcohol taxes) or encourage other
behaviors (tax breaks to build enterprise zones) (Loseke 2003).
631
For reform movements, the relationship between desired and actual change varies (Lauer 1976). So
far, the women’s movement has not achieved the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA),
first proposed in 1923. As of 2018, 37 of the necessary 38 states had ratified the ERA. Although the
ERA effort failed, the movement changed the way most Americans understood the need for equal
rights and policies (Costain 1993). The women’s movement has made progress in revising laws
pertaining to violence against women, creating family-friendly business practices, and enhancing
women’s roles in the military, clergy, sports, and politics.
MAKING THE LAST CONNECTION
It was a Sunday evening, January 31, 1960, when four freshmen at North Carolina Agriculture and
Technical College stayed up late talking about ending segregation in the South. They were
extraordinarily poorly positioned to effect political or social change on campus, much less in the
United States: young, Black, by no means affluent, and generally disconnected from the major
centers of power in America. On Monday morning Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph
McNeill, and David Richmond dressed in their best clothes to visit the Woolworth’s in downtown
Greensboro. After buying some school supplies, they sat at the lunch counter and waited for service.
They spent the rest of their day there.
TAKING A WORLD VIEW
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AS A
SOURCE OF CHANGE
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been called a “positive force in domestic and
international affairs, working to alleviate poverty, protect human rights, preserve the
environment, and provide relief worldwide†(McGann and Johnstone 2006:65). The term
refers to private, voluntary, civil society, and nonprofit organizations advocating on behalf of a
range of issues: poverty, human rights, the environment, and social justice. NGOs also
represent industry associations, religious organizations, and obscure causes (Paul 2000).
Although they may receive government funding, NGOs are not government representatives
(Kuruvila 2015).
NGOs are known for their innovative campaigns and mobilization strategies, especially for
their ability to work outside traditional government structures and political networks. The
primary purpose of NGOs is to achieve social goals (Kuruvila 2015). Notable NGO activity
includes the collection of labor, antiglobalization, and environmental groups that converged on
the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting. NGOs exerted their global influence on the
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United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992) and Fourth World
Conference on Women (1995).
There is no definitive count of the number of domestic and international NGOs, although one
public estimate is 10 million NGOs worldwide (Nonprofit Action 2017). One prominent
NGO, Amnesty International, an activist group campaigning for human rights, has more than
7 million members in 150 countries.
p.390
The following day, 27 other Black students joined them and on Wednesday twice as many. By
Thursday, a few sympathetic White students from nearby schools had enlisted and, with the lunch
counter at Woolworth’s filled, a few started a sit-in at another lunch counter down the street. By the
end of the week, city officials offered to negotiate a settlement and, on Saturday night, 1,600
students rallied to celebrate this victory. News of the sit-in campaigns spread throughout the South
and then elsewhere across the United States, spurring other activists to emulate their efforts. Sit-ins
to desegregate lunch counters and restaurants, stores and libraries, and even buses swept the South.
A new organization, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was formed in
April 1960. SNCC would become a leading force in the civil rights movement, setting much of the
agenda for liberal politics in the United States during the early 1960s, precipitating the passage of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and politicizing student activists across the United States (Meyer
2000:33).
Yes, solutions to social problems are complex and, as Mills advised, ultimately require attention to
large social forces and structures, such as those targeted by social movements. But social movements
don’t appear overnight. Social movements begin with individual efforts such as those taken by
college students Blair, McCain, McNeill, and Richmond. Grassroots organizations with strong
community and local leadership, such as those on the front line of the modern environmental
movement, have also proven effective in addressing social problems.
Some may believe that individual efforts don’t amount to much, leading only to short-term solutions
or effectively helping one person or one family at a time. But according to David Rayside (1998),
the impact of any social movement should be measured over the long term. The isolated effort of
thousands of individuals and groups “creates changes in social and political climates, which then
enable particular groups to make more specific inroads into public policy and institutional practiceâ€
(p. 390).
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection, [LC-DIG-ppmsca-08096]
In the 1960s antisegregation protests expanded beyond the South. In this photo ministers picket in front of New York City’s
F. W. Woolworth store to protest lunch counter segregation practices in the company’s southern stores.
The last connection presented in this text is the connection between social problems and your
community. Throughout the country, college students have affirmed their commitment to social
action. According to UCLA’s 2016 survey of college freshmen, almost 30% of first-time, full-time
students rate the life goal of influencing the political structure as “very important†or “essentialâ€
(Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA 2017a). Based on its survey of 134,456 students,
51% spoke up publicly about a cause and 22% demonstrated for a cause. First-year students believe
in the importance of community involvement and civic values. Thirty-six percent feel it is important
to participate in a community action program, and 43% feel it is important to become a community
leader (Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA 2017b).
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 17.2: Opening of the Civil Rights Museum
President Obama and Michelle Obama consistently highlighted the importance of volunteer service
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and its value for the nation. In 2009, President Obama launched the United We Serve initiative,
calling for a “sustained, collaborative and focused effort to promote service as a way of life for all
Americans†(Corporation for National and Community Service 2009). In the same year, Congress
designated September 11 as the National Day of Service and Remembrance, and Obama signed the
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which tripled the number of intensive service
opportunities in the AmeriCorps program from 75,000 positions annually to 250,000 by 2017.
Refer to this chapter’s Exploring Social Problems feature for more information about how others are
politically engaged.
p.391
VOICES IN THE COMMUNITY
CAMILA VALLEJO
©iStock.com/erlucho
Camila Vallejo joined protestors in Santiago, Chile, demanding a new national system for secondary education. In
2013, Vallejo was elected as a representative of La Florida, Santiago, in the Chilean House of Deputies.
In May 2011, Chilean high school and college students began participating in coordinated
marches, sit-ins, and strikes. Their efforts have included thousands of individuals, in protests
635
described as the largest since the days of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. The
students were mobilized by the Student Confederation of Chile (CONFECH, a group of all
the student unions from public and some private universities), and the oldest union, the
Student Federation of the University of Chile (FECH) (Goldman 2012). Camila Vallejo, a 23-
year-old geography student from the University of Chile, emerged as the most prominent and
charismatic leader of the student movement. When the protests began, Vallejo was FECH’s
elected president.
The young protestors had one primary issue: education reform. Although Chile may have the
highest income per capita in the region, it ranks as one of the most unequal countries in the
world. According to Francisco Goldman (2012), a university education in Chile is
proportionally the most expensive—$3,400 a year for tuition—while the average annual salary
for a Chilean citizen is $8,500. Most college students take out bank loans and incur years of
debt to pay for their education. While President Sebastián Piñera characterized education as a
consumer good, Vallejo and her fellow protestors defined it as a fundamental right, advocating
that “the university should be the motor of change in society†(Goldman 2012:23).
The student protests have been credited with the resignation of two education ministers, both
ineffectual against the students (Goldman 2012). But what began as a student movement has
expanded to other Chilean citizen and worker groups. Vallejo explains, “Something very
powerful that has come out of the heart of this movement is that people are really questioning
the economic policies of the country. People are not tolerating the way a small number of
economic groups benefit from the system†(quoted in Moss Wilson 2012:5). The youth,
according to Vallejo, have “revived and dignified politics†(quoted in Franklin 2011a). “It is
always the youth that make the first move . . . we don’t have family commitments, this allows
us to be freer. We took the first step but we are no longer alone, the older generations are now
joining this fight†(Vallejo, quoted in Franklin 2011b).
Vallejo has been honored in other countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United
States) for her leadership and protest work. In 2013, Vallejo was elected a member of the
Chilean congress, winning 44% of the vote in the Santiago district of La Florida. She ran as a
member of the Communist Party.
If you think there is nothing that you can do to effect change, you’ve not been paying attention. The
first step is to recognize that you can make a difference. Thomas Ehrlich (2000) identified how
p.392
636
EXPLORING
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
WHO IS POLITICALLY ENGAGED?
The Pew Research Center surveyed 10,013 adults in 2014, asking about their political
engagement. Political engagement may be operationalized in many different ways—
voting, contributing to a candidate, working for a campaign, or attending a political rally.
The Pew researchers concluded that engagement tends to be a U-shaped pattern, with
higher levels of engagement at the right and left of the ideological spectrum and lower
levels in the center. Notice this pattern in Figures 17.1 through 17.3.
The researchers acknowledge that other factors are correlated with political engagement,
such as age and education. Hypothesize the relationship between these other demographic
factors and political engagement. What do you think? As education increases, does the
likelihood of political engagement increase or decrease? Explain the reason for your
answers.
FIGURE 17.1 â– Percentage Who Worked or Volunteered for a Campaign or
Candidate, by Political Ideology, 2014
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Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 2014. “Political Polarization in the American Public.†Retrieved
November 2, 2014 (http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/).
FIGURE 17.2 â– Percentage Who Contacted an Elected Official, by Political Ideology,
2014
Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 2014. “Political Polarization in the American Public.†Retrieved
November 2, 2014 (http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/).
FIGURE 17.3 â– Percentage Who Attended a Campaign Event, by Political Ideology,
2014
638
Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. 2014. “Political Polarization in the American Public.†Retrieved
November 2, 2014 (http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/).
p.393
a morally and civically responsible individual recognizes him or herself as a member of a larger social fabric and therefore
considers social problems to be at least partly his or her own; such an individual is willing to see the moral and social
dimensions of issues, to make and justify informed moral and civic judgments and to take action when appropriate. (p. xxvi)
You do not have to believe in quick fixes, universal solutions, or change to the entire world to solve
social problems. You do not have to join a national organization. To begin, you can join other
college and university students who have chosen to become personally involved in their community.
Most efforts are small and practical, but as one college student says, “I can’t do anything about the
theft of nuclear grade weapons materials in Azerbaijan, but I can clean up the local pond, help tutor
a troubled kid, or work at a homeless shelter†(Levine and Cureton 1998:36). What does it take to
start making that connection with your community?
The second step is to explore opportunities for service on your campus and in your community.
Take the chapters in this text or the material presented by your instructor to consider what social
problems you are passionate about. Determine what issues you’d like to address and determine what
individuals or groups you’d like to work with. Even though you may be in your college community
for only four or five years, act as if you’re there for life: Take an interest in what happens in your
community (Hollender and Catling 1996). Whatever your interests are, you can be sure that there
are people and programs in your community who share them. And if those programs don’t exist,
what would it take to create such a program?
PREMIUM VIDEO
AP News Clips 17.3: Volunteer Bike Rides for the Elderly
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The third step is to do what you enjoy doing. When you know what you like, when you know what
you can contribute, you will find the right connection. Whatever your talent, your community
program will appreciate your contribution. It could be that you are an excellent writer; if so, you
could help with a program’s monthly newsletter, develop an informational brochure, or design the
program’s website. Do you enjoy working with others? Volunteer to work with clients, to answer
phones, or to help at a rally. In addition to providing invaluable service to the program, recognize
the experience and skills that you will gain from your efforts.
And what is the final step? Go out and do it. It doesn’t have to last an entire semester or school
year; you could just volunteer for a weekend or a day. Change doesn’t happen automatically; it
begins with individual action. As Paul Rogat Loeb (1994) explained, the hard questions must come
from us:
We need to ask what we want in this nation and why; how should we run our economy, meet human needs, protect the
Earth, achieve greater justice? . . . The questions have to come from us, as we reach out to listen and learn, engage fellow
citizens who aren’t currently involved, and spur debate in environments that are habitually silent.
Sociologist Michael Burawoy (2004) advocates public sociology,
a sociology that seeks to bring sociology to the publics beyond the academy, promoting dialogue about issues that affect the
fate of society, placing the values to which we adhere under a microscope. . . . The variety of publics stretches from our
students to the readers of our books, from newspaper columns to interviews, from audiences in local civic groups such as
churches or neighborhoods, to social movements we facilitate. The possibilities are endless. (p. 104)
Charles Lemert (1997) reminds us of the most valuable sociological lesson:
Sociology . . . is different for all because each [must] find a way to live in a world that threatens even while it provides. Grace
is never cheap. In the end, what remains is that we all have a stake in the world. Like it or not, life is always life together.
Social living is the courage to accept what we cannot change in order to do what can be done about the rest. (p. 191)
640
Put your sociological imagination to work to see where change is possible. Do you have the courage?
p.394
SOCIOLOGY AT WORK
GRADUATE STUDY
Courtesy of Barbara Prince
Barbara Prince—Class of 2012
Undergraduate Majors: Sociology, Anthropology
Undergraduate Minor: Art History
A master’s or doctorate degree in Sociology is essential for employment in higher education,
industry, government, or other nonprofit or research settings.
There are two types of master’s degree programs. The first type is a traditional program that
leads to a PhD in Sociology, with a primary career emphasis on academic employment. Most
PhD programs also offer a master’s degree track. The second type is a professional or applied
program that prepares graduates for research, policy, management, and service occupations.
These programs are also referred to as terminal degree programs, as there is no expectation to
progress to a PhD program (Spalter-Roth and Van Vooren 2011). Master’s programs usually
641
take two to three years and may include a culminating independent project or a thesis as part of
the degree requirement.
A doctorate in philosophy (PhD) is the highest degree awarded in Sociology. A PhD program
requires at least five to six years of study beyond the bachelor’s degree. According to the
American Sociological Association, more than 200 colleges and universities offer PhD
programs. A program application usually requires an undergraduate transcript, a personal
statement on why you are interested in pursuing doctoral work, faculty recommendations, and
scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
Once you decide to pursue graduate work in sociology, work with your adviser to identify
which path—master’s or PhD—is for you. Barbara Prince declared her Sociology major in her
sophomore year, yet knew nothing about careers in sociology. “I just knew that I loved the
topics and found the field very interesting. I did know about going to graduate school by the
end of my sophomore year, though, because it was something my mentor was always
mentioning and very supportive of me pursuing.†In her senior year, Barbara worked as an
intern for her mentor. The experience, says Barbara, “was designed to expose me to what I
would call the invisible work of being a professor. For example, my responsibilities included
helping organize a conference, preparing class and review materials, and assisting with grant
writing and execution.â€
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology, Barbara earned a
master’s degree in Sociology and is currently enrolled in a PhD program.
I am always using sociology at work in the literal sense since I am working as a graduate research assistant in
sociology. . . . I am engaging my sociological imagination to help form my research questions and what I am
interested in researching. My sociological imagination also helps me as a graduate research assistant and student to
explore alternative explanations for social problems.
For those who are planning to go to graduate school, Barbara offers straightforward advice:
“Start planning early, make as many connections as you can, and find a champion mentor.â€
And for those on the job market, she recommends, “Be unapologetic about your Sociology
major. The skills you learn in sociology, such as the sociological imagination and critical
thinking, are what all jobs are looking for in an employee. Even if someone doesn’t know what
sociology is, I guarantee they want what sociology teaches.â€
CHAPTER REVIEW
17.1 Explain the relationship between sociology, social movements, and social change.
Sociology provides us with the means to examine the social structure or “machineryâ€
that runs our lives. Social movements are conscious, collective, organized attempts to
bring about or resist large-scale change in the social order. They are the most potent
642
forces of social change in our society.
p.395
17.2 Distinguish between reform and revolutionary movements.
Social movements are classified by two factors: the scope and the depth of change.
Instrumental movements seek to change the structure of society itself, whereas
expressive movements attempt to change individuals. Whereas reform movements try
to bring about limited social change by working within the existing system,
revolutionary social movements seek fundamental changes of the system itself.
17.3 Compare cognitive liberation and collective consciousness.
Similar to Marx’s theory of collective consciousness, cognitive liberation begins only
when members of an aggrieved group start to consider their situation unjust, to
believe the situation can be changed, and to believe they can make a difference. For
Marx, collective consciousness eventually leads to social revolution, a transformation
of the social structure.
17.4 Identify the three areas of change for successful reform movements.
Reform movements educate people and change our culture, our beliefs, and our
behaviors. Movements lead to the creation of new organizations that continue to
generate change. Movements generally organize and mobilize themselves around
specific policy demands, attempting to minimize or eliminate social problems.
KEY TERMS
cognitive liberation, 387
expressive movements, 384
instrumental movements, 384
new social movements theory, 384
political process model, 386
public sociology, 393
reform movements, 384
relative deprivation, 385
resource mobilization theory, 386
revolutionary social movements, 384
social movements, 384
STUDY QUESTIONS
643
1. How does each sociological perspective identify the potential and sources for social change?
2. Identify and explain the four dimensions of social movements.
3. What is meant by the following statement: “Social movements arise from the structure
itself, primarily the result of social and economic deprivation�
4. Explain the relationship between cognitive liberation and social movements.
5. Successful reform movements generate change in three areas. Identify and explain these
three areas of change.
6. Would you characterize the Occupy movement as a social movement? Why or why not?
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644
p.396
GLOSSARY
Absolute poverty: Lack of basic necessities
Acute illnesses: Illnesses that strike suddenly and disappear quickly
Age distribution: The distribution of individuals by age
Ageism: Prejudice or discrimination based on someone’s age
Alcoholism: Alcohol dependence, characterized by the symptoms of craving, loss of control,
physical dependence, and tolerance
Alienation: Separation from one’s true self; alienation occurs on multiple levels—from one’s work,
the product of one’s work, other workers, and one’s human potential
Anomie: State of normlessness
Applied research: Pursuit of knowledge for program application or policy evaluation
Assimilation: A process in which minority group members become part of the dominant group,
losing their original group identity
Basic research: Exploration of the causes and consequences of a social problem
Bisexuality: Sexual orientation toward one’s own sex and other sexes
Boomerangers: Young adults who leave home for college but return after graduation because of
either economic constraints (they may be unemployed or underemployed) or personal choice
Bourgeoisie: Capitalist ruling class; owners of businesses
Brownfields: Abandoned or underused industrial or commercial properties where hazardous
substances, pollutants, or contaminants are present or potentially present
Cisgender: Individuals whose gender identity corresponds to their assigned sex at birth; cis is a
Latin term, meaning “on this side ofâ€
Class consciousness: Awareness of one’s social position
Climate change: The perceptible climate trends over time; also referred to as global warming
Cognitive liberation: The recognition of one’s situation as unjust
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Cohabiting: Sexual partners, not married to each other but residing in the same household
Conflict perspective: A theoretical perspective that considers how society is held together by power
and coercion for the benefit of those in power (based on social class, gender, race, or ethnicity)
Critical political-economy perspective: An approach using a conflict perspective to focus on city
formation based on racial, gender, or class inequalities (also referred to as socio-spatial perspective)
Crowding: Defined as more than one person per room in the household
Cultural capital: Cultural skills and knowledge passed on to youth by their parents and through
their social and economic position
Culture of poverty: A set of norms, values, and beliefs that encourage and perpetuate poverty
Cybercrime: A form of white-collar crime that involves Internet fraud and abuse
Decriminalization: Reduction of the kinds of behavior included under the law
De facto segregation: A subtle process of segregation that is the result of other processes, such as
housing segregation, rather than because of an official policy
Deindustrialization: Systematic disinvestment in manufacturing and production capacities
Demography: The study of the size, composition, and distribution of human populations
Dependent variable: The variable to be explained
Devaluation of women’s work: When the higher societal value placed on men than on women is
reproduced within the workplace
Differential association: The learning of behaviors and norms from the groups we have contact with
Digital divide: The gap separating individuals who have access to and understanding of new forms
of technology from those who do not
Digital literacy: An individual’s ability to appropriately use digital tools and skills to identify,
manage, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize digital sources; to construct new knowledge; and to
communicate with others
Disengagement theory: Theoretical perspective that defines aging as a natural process of
withdrawal from active participation in social life
Distributive power: Power over other individuals or groups
Domestic migration: The movement of people within a country
Domestic terrorism: Terrorism supported or coordinated by groups or individuals based in a
country
646
Double standard of aging: Separate standards of aging for men and women; men are judged in our
culture according to what they can do (their competence, power, and control), but women are
judged according to their appearance and beauty
Drug abuse: The use of any drug or medication for unintended purposes, which can lead to
clinically significant impairment or distress
Drug addiction: Physical or psychological dependence on a drug or medication
Dysfunctions: Negative consequences of social structures
Ecocide: Mass destruction of ecosystems
Emigration: Movement of people out of a geographic area
Empiricism: Gathering data and evidence using our five senses
Environmental justice: Social justice movement based on the principle that all individuals and
communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and
regulations
Environmental racism: Environmental policy or practice that disadvantages people based on race or
color
Environmental sociology: Study of the interactions between our physical and natural environment
and our social organization and social behavior
Epidemiology: Study of patterns in the distribution and frequency of sickness, injury, and death
and the social factors that shape them
Episodic high-risk drinking: Infrequently drinking a large quantity of alcohol in a short period
Ethnic attrition: Individuals choosing not to self-identify as a member of a particular ethnic group
p.397
Ethnic composition: The composition of groups within a population
Ethnic groups: Groups of people who are set off to some degree from other groups by displaying a
unique set of cultural traits, such as their language, religion, or diet
Ethnocentrism: The belief that one’s own group values and behaviors are right
Exclusion: The practice of prohibiting or restricting the entry or participation of groups in society
Expressive movements: An attempt to change individuals and individual behavior
Expulsion: The removal of a group by direct force or intimidation
Extended families: Two or more adult generations, related by blood, who live together in a single
647
household
Family: Social unit based on kinship relations, a construct of meaning, and emotional and
economic relationships
Fecundity: The maximum number of children that could be born, based on the number of women
of childbearing age in a population
Felonies: Crimes that are serious offenses, punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment or
death
Femicide: The killing of women; the term is used in contrast to the literal meaning of homicide as
the killing of men
Feminist perspective: A theoretical perspective that defines gender (and sometimes race or social
class) as a source of social inequality, group conflict, and social problems
Fertility: The level of childbearing for an individual or a population
Food insecure: Lacking in access to sufficient food for all family members
Foreign born: Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth
Functionalist perspective: A theoretical perspective that examines the functions or consequences of
the structure of society; functionalists use a macro perspective, focusing on how society creates and
maintains social order
Gender: Social construction of masculine and feminine attitudes and behaviors
Gender binary: Refers to how gender is socially constructed on a spectrum, classifying masculinity
and femininity as two opposing, distinct characterizations
Gender mainstreaming: The integration of the gender perspective into every stage of the policy
process (design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation)
Gendered division of labor: Assignment of different tasks to men and women
Genocide: The systematic targeting of members of an ethnic or a religious group
Gentrification: The process of neighborhood change from lower- to higher-income residents
Gerontology: The study of aging and the elderly
Global warming: The ongoing rise in the global average temperature
Globalization: A process of increasing transborder connectedness; the basis may be economic,
political, environmental, or social
Heteronormativity: The promotion of heterosexual, married, monogamous, White, and upper-
648
middle-class norms
Heterosexism: The privileging of heterosexuality over homosexuality
Heterosexuality: Sexual orientation toward the opposite sex
Homophobia: An irrational fear or intolerance of homosexuals
Homosexuality: Sexual orientation toward the same sex
Horizontal segregation: The separation of men and women into different industries and
occupations
Household: An economic and residential unit
Human agency: The active role of individuals in creating their social environment
Human capital: Job-related skills acquired through education and work experience
Human capital theory: Theory that attributes gender income differences to differences in the kind
and amount of human capital men and women acquire
Human ecology: The study of the relationship between individuals and their physical environment
Humanitarian intervention: A responsibility to protect, including three aspects: how to prevent
humanitarian crises in the first place, under which conditions and in what way to intervene, and
how to maintain peace after a military conflict and rebuild the country
Hypothesis: Statement of a relationship between variables
Immigration: The movement of people leaving their country of origin to move to another
Impression management: Creating a favorable impression of oneself to others
Incidence rate: The number of new cases of disease within a population during a specific period
Income: Money earned for one’s work
Independent variable: The variable expected to account for the cause of the dependent variable
Index crimes: Crimes including murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson,
and larceny
Individual discrimination: Prejudiced actions against minority members by individuals; may include
avoiding contact or physical or verbal attacks
Industrial Revolution: Economic shift from family to market production
Infant mortality: Rate of infant deaths per 1,000 live births
Institutional discrimination: Discrimination practiced by political or social institutions
649
Institutionalized heterosexuality: The set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the
heterosexual family as the societal norm
Instrumental movements: An attempt to change the structure of society
Interactionist perspective: A micro-level perspective that highlights what we take for granted: the
expectations, rules, and norms that we learn and practice without even noticing; interactionists
maintain that through our interaction, social problems are created and defined
Interior residential density: The number of individuals per room in a dwelling
International terrorism: Terrorism supported or coordinated by foreign groups threatening the
security of U.S. nationals or the national security of the United States
Juvenile crime: Criminal acts performed by juveniles
Juvenile delinquent: A youth who engages in criminal behavior
Juvenile status offender: A juvenile who has violated a law applying only to minors
Labeling theory: Theory stating that individuals and acts are defined or labeled as criminal
Latent functions: Unintended and often hidden consequences
p.398
Legalization: Removal from control of the law
LGBTQ: Term used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals as a group
Life chances: Access provided by social position to goods and services
Life course perspective: A theoretical perspective that considers the entire course of human life
(from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood to old age) as social constructions that reflect the
broader structural conditions of society
Macro level of analysis: Societal level of analysis
Manifest functions: Intended and recognized consequences
Master status: An identity that determines how others view individuals and how individuals view
themselves
Mechanical solidarity: Union of individuals through a set of common values, beliefs, and customs
and a simple division of labor
Media: Technological processes that facilitate communication
Media literacy: The ability to assess and analyze media messages
650
Medicalization: Process through which a condition or behavior becomes defined as a medical
problem
Megadisaster: A catastrophe that threatens or overwhelms an area’s capacity to get people to safety,
treat casualties, protect infrastructure, and control panic
Micro level of analysis: Individual level of analysis
Migration: The movement of individuals from one area to another
Military-industrial complex: Collaboration of the government, the military, and the armament
industry
Misdemeanors: Crimes that are minor offenses, punishable by a fine or less than one year’s
imprisonment
Modernization theory of aging: Theoretical perspective that links the role and status of the elderly
with their labor contribution or their relationship to the means of production
Morbidity: Study of illnesses and disease
Mortality: Incidence of death in a population
Multiracial: Mixed or multiple race
Native: Anyone born in the United States or a U.S. island area or born abroad of a U.S. citizen
parent
Natural capitalism: The awareness of the economic value of nature
Neglect: Failure to provide for a child’s basic needs
New social movements theory: Theory emphasizing the distinctive features of recent social
movements that emerged in postindustrial or advanced capitalist societies
Nuclear family: Family consisting of parents and their children
Objective reality: Actual existence of a particular condition
Occupational sex segregation: The degree to which men and women are concentrated in
occupations that predominantly employ workers of one sex
1.5 generation: Individuals who immigrated to the United States as a child or an adolescent
Organic solidarity: Union of individuals through a complex division of labor
Organizational child: A child prepared by education for a bureaucratic adult world
Outcome goals: Related to terrorism, the group’s stated political ends, which require cooperation of
the target authority or government
651
Overurbanization: The process in which an excess population is concentrated in an urban area that
lacks the capacity to provide basic services and shelter
Particulate or particle pollution: Air pollution caused by the combustion of fossil fuels—the
burning of coal, diesel, gasoline, and wood; particulate matter includes road dust, diesel soot, ash,
wood smoke, and sulfate aerosols that are suspended in the air
Patriarchy: Society in which the powerful (often men) dominate the powerless (often women)
Physical abuse: Nonaccidental physical injury, from bruising to death
Pluralism: Each ethnic or racial group maintains its own culture (cultural pluralism or
multiculturalism) or a separate set of social structures and institutions (structural pluralism)
Political process model: Model of relationship between social movements and structures of political
opportunities
Politicide: The systematic targeting of specific groups because of their political beliefs
Politics of fear: How decision makers and politicians promote and use the public’s beliefs and
assumptions about terrorism to achieve certain goals
Population aging: The increase in the number or proportion of older individuals in the population
Poverty guidelines: Used to determine family or individual eligibility for relevant federal programs
Poverty threshold: The original federal poverty measure, based on the economy food plan
Power: The ability to achieve one’s goals despite resistance from others
Power elite: A select group possessing true power
Prestige: Social respect or standing
Prevalence rate: Total number of cases involving a specific health problem during a specific period
Process goals: Related to terrorism, goals aimed at sustaining the group and its activities by securing
financial support, gaining media attention, and boosting group morale
Proletariat: The working class in a capitalist economy
Property crime: Criminal acts that involve the taking of money or property from another without
force or the threat of force against the victims; burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, and
arson are examples of property crimes
Public sociology: Sociology that promotes a dialogue outside the academy with a variety of public
audiences
Qualitative methods: Research methods designed to capture social life as participants experience it
652
Quantitative methods: Research methods that rely on the collection of statistical data and require
the specification of variables and scales collected through surveys, interviews, or questionnaires
Queer: Referring to someone who falls outside of the norms surrounding gender and sexuality
Race: A subjective social, political, and cultural construct
Racial profiling: The use of race or ethnicity by law enforcement consciously or unconsciously as a
basis of judgment for criminal suspicion
Racism: The belief in the inferiority of certain racial or ethnic groups, often accompanied by
discrimination
Reform movements: An attempt to bring about limited social change by working within the
existing system
Refugees: Persons who are unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin due to
persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group, or political opinion
Relative deprivation: A perceived gap between what people expect and what they actually get
p.399
Relative poverty: Failure to achieve society’s average income or lifestyle
Residential segregation: The neighborhood clustering or separation of groups by racial, ethnic, or
economic characteristics within a geographic area
Resource mobilization theory: Theory about conditions for success of social movements
Revolution: An overthrow of the existing government or political structure
Revolutionary social movements: Attempts to create fundamental change in the system itself
Role strain: Strain experienced when the demands of one’s role exceed one’s ability and resources to
fulfill that role
Science: A logical and systematic process to investigate social phenomena and the knowledge
produced by these investigations
Scientific management: Analysis and implementation of the best way to complete a task
Second generation: Those born in the United States to one or more foreign-born parents
Segregation: Physical and social separation of ethnic or racial groups
Service revolution: Economic shift toward service and information occupations
Sex: Physiological distinctions between male and female
653
Sexism: Prejudice or discrimination based solely on someone’s sex
Sexual orientation: The classification of individuals according to their preference for emotional-
sexual relationships and lifestyle
Sick role: Set of behaviors regarding actions and treatment of ill persons
Smog or ground-level ozone: Air pollution formed when nitrogen oxides emitted from electric
power plants and automobiles react with organic compounds in the presence of sunlight and heat
Social capital: Investments in social relationships and networks distributed unequally by social class
Social construction of reality: The world regarded as a social creation
Social constructionism: Subjective definition or perception of conditions
Social inequality: Unequal distribution of resources, services, and positions
Social innovation: Policy, program, or advocacy that features an untested or a unique approach
Social institutions: A stable set of statuses, roles, groups, and organizations that provide a
foundation for addressing fundamental societal needs; an example of a social institution is the family
Social media: Media that are based on conversation and interaction with individuals online
Social movements: Conscious, collective, organized attempts to bring about or resist large-scale
change in the social order
Social policy: Enactment of a course of action through a formal law or program
Social problem: A social condition that has negative consequences for individuals, our social world,
or our physical world
Social stratification: The ranking of individuals into social strata or groups
Sociological imagination: The ability to link our personal lives and experiences with our social
world
Sociology: The systematic study of individuals and social structures
Socio-spatial perspective: An approach using a conflict perspective to focus on city formation based
on race, gender, or class inequalities (also referred to as the critical political-economy perspective)
Soft-power approach: Where a nation-state is perceived as having values, motives, and actions that
should be emulated
Species being: A human being’s true self
Stereotype threat: The risk of confirming in oneself a characteristic that is a negative stereotype
654
Stigma: A discrediting attribute
Strain theory: Robert K. Merton’s theory that predicts that criminal behavior is likely to occur
when individuals are unable to achieve social and material goals because of insufficient access or
resources
Subjective reality: Attachment of meanings to our reality
Suburbanization: The process by which a population shifts to suburban areas
Sweatshop: A workplace that violates more than one federal or state labor law; the term has come
to include exploitation of workers, for example, in workplaces with no livable wages or benefits,
poor and hazardous working conditions, and possible verbal or physical abuse
Symbolic interactionism: Theoretical perspective that examines how we use language, words, and
symbols to create and maintain our social reality
Terrorism: The unlawful use of force to intimidate or coerce compliance with a particular set of
beliefs; can be either domestic (based in the United States) or foreign (supported by foreign groups
threatening the security of U.S. nationals or U.S. national security)
Theory: A set of assumptions and propositions used for explanation, prediction, and understanding
Tracking: Designation of academic courses for students based on presumed aptitude
Transgender: Individuals whose gender identity is different from that assigned to them at birth
Transnational: Immigrants who maintain social, economic, and cultural ties across international
borders
Transphobia: Negative beliefs and attitudes about transgender people
Underemployment: Employment under less-than-optimal conditions regarding pay, skill, or
working hours
Urban population: An area with 2,500 or more individuals
Urban sociology: Examination of social, political, and economic structures and their impact within
an urban setting
Urban sprawl: The process in which the spread of development across the landscape outpaces
population growth
Urbanization: The process by which a population shifts from rural to urban
Urbanized area: A densely populated area with 50,000 or more residents
Variables: A property of people or objects that can take on two or more values
655
Vertical segregation: The separation of men and women in workplace hierarchies; lower-ranking
positions are dominated by women, while management ranks are dominated by men
Violent crime: Criminal acts that involve force or the threat of force against others and include
aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery
Wealth: The value of one’s personal assets
White-collar crime: Crimes committed by someone of high social status, for financial gain, or in a
particular organization
656
p.400
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p.429
INDEX
AARP, 158
AAUW. See American Association of University Women
Abendschein, Bryan, 245 (box)
Abrahms, Max, 361
Abramovitz, Mimi, 36
Abramsky, Sachse, 271
Abramson, Corey, 126
Abroad, working and volunteering, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Absolute poverty, 27
Abstinence-only programs, 155
ACA. See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Acker, Joan, 44
Active learning, 111 (box)
Acute illnesses, 216
Addams, Jane, 8, 8 (photo), 376
Adelson, Miriam, 37 (box)
Adelson, Sheldon, 37 (box)
Adler, Freda, 284
Adoption, 108
Advantaged target populations, 11
Advertising, 239
Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students, 109 (box)
AFDC. See Aid to Families with Dependent Children
Affirmative action, 69–71
Affordable Care Act. See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Affordable housing, 40–41, 41 (photo), 326–327
Afghanistan war, 151, 359, 365, 367 (photo), 368 (box), 376
Africa, 1, 1 (table), 213
African-American Policy Forum, 299
African Americans. See Blacks; Race and ethnicity
Age and aging:
ageism, 123, 127
778
alcohol and drug abuse, 266
conflict perspective, 119–120, 122 (table)
consequences of inequality, 123–127
crime and criminal justice, 296
divorce, 143
feminist perspective, 120–121, 122 (table)
functionalist perspective, 119, 122 (table)
gender and, 124, 127
health and medical care, 124, 126
interactionist perspective, 121–122, 122 (table)
Internet use, 247 (figure)
marijuana, support for legalization of, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
minimum wage workers, 201 (box), 201 (figure)
norms, 115–116
political influence, 128 (box)
population aging, 116–117, 117 (figure), 117 (table), 118 (box)
population growth and composition, 310
poverty, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure)
race/ethnicity and, 118 (box), 124
responding to inequalities, 127–131
social class and, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
sociological perspectives, 119–122, 122 (table)
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967), 127, 205
Age distribution, 310
Ageism, 122, 123, 127
Agency, human, 10
Age norms, 115–116
Agent Orange, 368
Age Smart Employer Awards, 127
Ageton, Suzanne, 283
Agnew, Robert, 283
Agriculture, 332, 349 (box)
AIDS. See HIV/AIDS
AIDS United, 6–7
Aid to Dependent Children, 42
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), 36, 42, 43
Air quality, 339–340
Alcohol and drug abuse:
about, 259, 260 (figure)
alcohol, 264–265, 268–270, 269 (figure), 270 (photo)
779
biological perspective, 259–260
college drug programs, 275 (box)
community, policy, and social action, 271–278
conflict perspective, 261–262, 263 (table)
drug legalization, 266, 267 (box), 272–273, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
federal programs, 271–272
feminist perspective, 262–263, 263 (table)
functionalist perspective, 260–261, 263 (table)
interactionist perspective, 263–264, 263 (table)
marijuana, 266, 267 (box), 274 (box), 274 (figure)
opioids, 267–268, 268 (photo), 272
problems, 268–271
psychological perspective, 259–260
punishment versus treatment, 270–271
sociological perspectives, 259–264, 263 (table)
tobacco and nicotine, 265–266
treatment/prevention programs, 273, 275–278
types, 264–268
workplace, drug use in, 268
Alcoholism, 264
Alexander, Keith, 244
Alexander, Michelle, 296
Alfonso, Mariela, 319
Alienation, 9
Allan, Emilie, 284–285
Alternative social movements, 385 (table)
Altheide, David, 242, 364
Alvarez, Lizette, 151
Alves, Sónia, 311
AMA. See American Medical Association
American Association of Colleges and Universities, 47 (box)
American Association of University Women (AAUW), 178, 181
American College and University
Presidents’ Climate Commitment, 351
American Council on Education, 174
American Medical Association (AMA), 82 (box), 218, 273
American Psychiatric Association, 98, 103
American Revolution, 358
American Sociological Association, 18 (box), 131 (box), 394 (box)
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), 205
780
American University, 80 (box)
Amnesty International, 297 (box)
Anderson, Elijah, 314
Anderson, Sara, 181
p.430
Anomie, 8, 261, 282–283
Ansalone, George, 171 (box)
Ansell, Nicola, 166
Antell, Judith, 264
Anti-Drug Abuse Act (1988), 272
Antiquities Act (1906), 344
Antiwar movements, 376
Antonisse, Larisa, 226–227
Applied research, 13
Arab Spring, 239 (photo), 357, 362
Archibald, Catherine Jean, 92
Arizona, 67–68, 271
Arizona State University, 351
Arkansas, 65
Arkansas Wildlife Federation, 347
Army Wives, 363
Aronson, Joshua, 177
Arpaio, Joe, 284 (photo)
Artiga, Samantha, 226–227
Ashkenas, Jeremy, 71
Ashland Cherryland Together, 278
Asian Americans, 64, 264–265
Assault weapons, 300 (box)
Assault Weapons Ban (2017), 300 (box)
Assimilation, 56
Association of American Colleges and Universities, 73
Asthma, 340
Astrue, Michael, 116
Asylum seekers, 63 (box)
Athletes, female, 241
Attorneys, 209 (box)
Auckland, New Zealand, 127
Auerbach, Judith, 18 (box)
Augusto, Sarah, 387
781
Australia, 107 (box), 300 (box)
Austria, 215–216
Ayubi, Shaheen, 375
Baby boomers, 116
Bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
Badgett, M. V., 104
Baer, William, 315
Bagdikian, Ben, 240
Bags, plastic, 346
Bailey, J. Michael, 98
Bailey, Larry, 367 (photo)
Bailey, Larry, II, 367 (photo)
Ballantine, Jeanne, 7 (box)
Banerjee, Tridib, 315
Banfield, Edward, 36–37
Bard Prison Initiative, 302–303 (box)
Barner, Mark, 240–241
Barrett, Richard E., 319
Barrington, Linda, 127
Basic research, 12–13
Basketball players, 34 (box)
Bastard, as term, 141
Bathroom use by transgender individuals, 92
Bauman, Zygmunt, 51
Beaumont, Elizabeth, 326 (box)
Beck, Ulrich, 150
Becker, Howard, 263
Becker, Sarah, 285
Beckett, Katherine, 262
“Becoming a Marijuana User†(Becker), 263
Behavioral genetics, 98
Behavioral treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, 273
Beilock, Sian, 168
Beliefs, 7 (box)
Belkin, Aaron, 106, 107 (box)
Bell, Alan, 98
Bell, T. H., 169–170
Beltran, Sergio, 186 (box), 186 (photo)
Ben Ali, Zine El Abidine, 357
782
Benavie, Arthur, 261–262
Ben & Jerry’s, 207 (box)
Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, 207 (box)
Bennett, Trevor, 301
Berger, Peter, 4, 93 (box), 381
Bergman, Andrew, 339
Berliner, David, 170
Bernanke, Ben, 189
Bernard, Jessie, 10
Beveridge model, 231 (box)
Bianchi, Susan, 150
Bicycling, 321 (box), 321 (photo)
Biddle, Bruce, 170
Biden, Joe, 241
Biggs, Simon, 146–147
bin Laden, Osama, 359
Binstock, Robert, 128 (box)
Biological perspective, 98, 259–260, 281
Biosphere 2, 332
Birth cohorts, 116
Birth control use among teens, 148, 149
Bisexuality, 97
Bismarck model, 231 (box)
Bissell, R. E., 375
Black feminist theory, 58
Black fever, 232 (box)
Black Lives Matter, 59 (box)
Blacks:
civil rights movement, 386, 389–390, 390 (photo)
crime and criminal justice, 289, 292, 292 (table), 293–294, 299
education, 65, 66, 66 (table), 176 (figure), 177
expulsion, 56
health, 67
income and wealth, 63, 64 (figure), 65
job discrimination, 197–198
life expectancy, 214 (table)
physicians, female, 82 (box)
poverty, 38
segregation, 55, 55 (photo), 313
urbanization, 322 (box)
783
See also Race and ethnicity
Blair, Ezell, Jr., 390
Blanchard, Kacie, 131 (box)
Blank, Rebecca, 46
Bloomberg, Michael R., 346
Blum, Terry, 276
Blumberg, Mark, 296–297
Blumer, Herbert, 11
Bobak, Martin, 223
Bogotá, Colombia, 321 (box)
Bohan, Janice, 109 (box)
Böhmelt, Tobias, 373
Bolzendahl, Catherine, 142
Bonior, David, 204
Boomerangers, 119 (box)
Boston, 205
Boswell, Wendy, 245 (box)
Botstein, Leon, 303 (box)
Bouazizi, Mohamed, 357
Bourdieu, Pierre, 166
Bourgeoisie, 9, 140
Bowdoin College, 351
Brady, David, 32
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1994), 300 (box)
Braithwaite, John, 286
Branton, Regina, 240
Braverman, Harry, 194
Bravo, Ellen, 150–151
Brazil, 59, 214, 297 (box), 321
Breast cancer, 222–223, 222 (photo)
Breast Cancer Action, 222–223, 222 (photo)
Brent-Goodley, Tricia, 140
Briefel, R., 40
Brill, Julie, 244
Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, 250
Broh, Beckett, 172
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, 148 (box)
Brower, Aaron, 261, 270
Brower, David, 347
Brown, Gordon, 90 (box)
784
Brown, Hana, 57–58
Brown, Jerry, 45 (box), 103, 271
Brown, Michael, 59 (box), 294
Brownfields, 341
Brownfields Revitalization Act (2002), 341
Brown v. Board of Education (1954), 55 (photo), 65, 66, 167
Buckman, Ronald, 275 (box)
Budget Control Act (2011), 368
Bullard, Robert, 334
Bumpass, Larry, 156
Burawoy, Michael, 393
Burgess, Ernest W., 8
Burke, Jim, 278
Bush, George H. W., 170
Bush, George W.:
Children’s Health Insurance Program, 229
educational reform, 170, 179
environment, 339, 341
immigration, 60–61
p.431
sexual orientation policies, 99, 103
war and terrorism, 373
welfare, 15
Bush-Baskette, Stephanie, 263
Butler, Judith, 59 (box)
Butler, Robert, 123
Byrd, James, Jr., 103
Byrd, W. Michael, 67
Byrne, Geraldine, 197
Bytheway, William, 123
Cable, Charles, 347
Cable, Sherry, 347
California:
affirmative action, 70, 71
alcohol and drug abuse, 271, 278
death penalty, 297
family rights law, 152
immigration, 72 (box)
785
sexual orientation, 103
urbanization, 315
water supply, 342
California Civil Rights Initiative (1996), 70, 71
California Fair Sentencing Act (2014), 271
California Family Rights Act (2004), 152
California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, 182
Cambridge Analytica, 244
Cameron, Sara, 230 (photo)
Campbell, Richard T., 319
Campos, Sofia, 72 (box)
Canada, 107 (box), 129, 131, 336–337
Cancer, 222–223, 222 (photo), 265
Cannabis. See Marijuana
Canter, Rachelle, 283
Capitalism:
conflict perspective, 9
environment, 333–334
health and medicine, 218
natural, 334 (box)
patriarchy, 79
poverty, 35
race and ethnicity, 57
work and the economy, 194, 194 (illustration)
See also Conflict perspective
Carbon dioxide emissions, 338, 338 (table), 345
Carby, Hazel, 58
Cardin, Benjamin, 248
Cardoso, Fernando Henrique, 297 (box)
Car-free zones, 321 (box), 323
Carnegie Foundation, 218
Carter, Ash, 363 (photo)
Casey-Kirschling, Kathleen, 116
Casilino Polyclinic, 155
Castile, Philando, 294
Categorical assistance, 42
Cathcart, Kevin, 102
Catt, Carrie Chapman, 376
Catton, William, 336
CDC. See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
786
Cell phone use while driving, 249
Census citizenship question, 54 (box)
Center for Health, Environment and Justice, 336
Center for Research on Education Outcomes, 185
Center for Women Policy Studies, 44
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 39
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
alcohol and drug abuse, 266, 267
HIV/AIDS, 4, 5
life expectancy, 116
older people, health care for, 124
school violence, 177
sexual orientation, 97
urban sprawl, 320
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 229
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 245, 369
Central Oregon Community College, 351
Cerillo, Debbie, 336
Chain gangs, 284 (photo)
Chaloub, Hailey, 388 (box)
Chandra, Amitabh, 220
Chang, Pui Ying, 319
Chapman, Alvah, 278
Charles, Camille, 298–299
Charles, Maria, 83, 84
Charter schools, 184–185
Chen, Alice, 215
Cheney, Dick, 362
Chicago School of Sociology, 8, 11, 307–308
Children:
abuse and neglect of, 137–138 (box), 145–146, 154 (box)
divorce, effect of, 143–144
health and social class, 42
poverty, demographics of, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124
See also Education
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), 229, 230 (photo)
Chile, 391 (box), 391 (photo)
China:
aging, 118 (box)
alcohol and drug abuse, 271
787
health and medicine, 118 (box), 214
income inequality, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), 55–56
CHIP. See Children’s Health Insurance Program
Chivers, Meredith, 98
Cho, Young Ik, 319
Chodorow, Nancy, 10
CHOICE. See Comprehensive Home Option for Integrated Care of the Elderly
Choice Neighborhoods, 324
Chomsky, Noam, 239
Chopra, Mickey, 17
Choueiti, Marc, 252 (box)
CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency
Ciavattone, Dominique, 388 (box)
Ciclovia, 321 (box)
Cilluffo, Anthony, 64
Cisgender, 78
Cities, most populous, 309 (table)
Citizenship question on census, 54 (box)
Civil Rights Act (1964), 69, 70, 178, 205
Civil rights movement, 386, 389–390, 390 (photo)
Civil War, 358, 359 (photo)
Civil wars, 358
Clark, Michael, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Clark, William, 317
Class consciousness, 9
Clayton, Linda, 67
Clean Air Act, 345
Clean and Diversified Energy Initiative, 346
Clean Water Act (1972), 345
Climate change, 6 (box), 6 (table), 336–339, 338 (photo), 338 (table)
Clinton, Bill:
community service programs, 16
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 372
crime and criminal justice, 302 (box)
educational reform, 170, 179
health care reform, 228
military, gays in, 105–106
welfare reform, 15
Clinton, Hillary, 128 (box), 250
788
Cloward, Richard A., 35
Clusen, Nancy, 40
Coal miners, 200, 202
Cogdell-Unrein, Cory, 241
Cognitive liberation, 387
Cohabitation, 156–157, 157 (figure)
Cohen, Ben, 207 (box)
Cohen, Rhoda, 40
Cohn, D’Vera, 61, 173 (box)
Colby, Anne, 326 (box)
Colby, Sandra, 118 (box)
Collective consciousness, 238–239
College Entrance Examination Board, 175
College in prison programs, 302–303 (box)
Colleges and universities:
alcohol and drug abuse, 261, 269–278, 269 (figure), 275 (box)
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
cost, 3, 173 (box)
diversity and inclusiveness, 73
environment, 348 (photo), 350–351, 352 (table)
p.432
graduate rates, 165 (box)
student activism, 377–378, 388 (box), 388 (photo), 391 (box), 391 (photo)
See also Education; specific institutions
Collins, Jason, 104, 105
Collins, Patricia Hill, 9, 10, 58
Colombia, 321 (box)
Colorado, 107, 267 (box)
Colorado River, 342
Columbia Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health, 127
Coming out, 101
Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, 69
Committee to Protect Journalists, 251
Common Core State Standards, 180
Communication, visual, 336–337
Communications Act (1934), 250, 251
Communications Decency Act, 251
Community, and social problems, 389–393
Community, policy, and social action:
789
alcohol and drug abuse, 271–278
crime and criminal justice, 298–303
education, 179–185
environment, 345–352
families, 151–158
health and medicine, 227–232
media, 250–253
urbanization and population growth, 323–327
war and terrorism, 372–378
work and the economy, 202–208
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 278
Community-based health centers, 231
Community Empowerment Centers, 322 (box)
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), 294, 299–301, 300 (photo)
Community Renewal and New Markets Initiative, 323
Community-sponsored agriculture, 349 (box)
Commuting, 319–320, 320 (box), 320 (figure), 321
Comparative research, 13
Composting, 350–351
Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act
(1970), 271
Comprehensive Home Option for Integrated Care of the Elderly (CHOICE), 131
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 372
Comprehensive sex education programs, 155
Conflict, defining, 357–361, 358 (table), 359 (illustration), 360 (table)
Conflict perspective:
about, 8–9, 12 (table)
age and aging, 119–120, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 261–262, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 283–284, 287 (table)
defined, 8
education, 166–167, 169 (table)
environment, 333–335, 334 (photo), 337 (table)
families, 139, 140, 142 (table)
gender, 79, 80, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 217–218, 221 (table)
media, 239–240, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 57–58, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 99–100, 102 (table)
social class, 34–36, 38 (table)
790
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 311–313, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 362, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 194, 194 (illustration), 197 (table)
See also Capitalism
Conflict resolution, 182, 184
Conformity, 282, 282 (table)
Congestion pricing, 346
Conley, Dalton, 63
Connor, Frank, 51
Conrad, Peter, 219
Consciousness, collective, 238–239
Consequences:
of age inequality, 123–127
of gender inequality, 82–87
of poverty, 39–42
of racial and ethnic inequalities, 60–67
of social problems, 4
of urbanization and population growth, 316–323
Constructing the Family Survey, 142
Contenders, 11
Contraceptive use among teens, 148, 149
Conversion therapy, 103
Cookies, 244
Copes, Heith, 261
COPS. See Community Oriented Policing Services
Coral Reef High School, 3
Corbett, Christianne, 174–175
Coronary heart disease, 89
Corrections Corporation of America, 301–302
Coser, Lewis, 9, 245 (box)
Cosmetic industry, 121, 122
Cost of health care, 223, 225–226, 225 (figure)
Cost-sharing reduction payments, 228, 229
Country differences. See Global differences; Taking a World View
Cowgill, Donald, 120
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (1998), 326–327
Cray, Andrew, 80 (box)
Crenshaw, Martha, 361, 364
Crime and criminal justice:
791
about, 281
biological perspective, 281
community, policy, and social action, 298–303
conflict perspective, 283–284, 287 (table)
crime statistics sources, 287–288
current response to crime, 294–297
death penalty, 296–297, 302
feminist perspective, 284–286, 284 (photo), 285 (table), 287 (table)
functionalist perspective, 281–283, 282 (table), 287 (table)
gender and, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
interactionist perspective, 286, 287 (table)
juvenile delinquency, 11, 289–291, 298
media coverage of, 242
offenders, 292–293, 292 (table)
police and policing, 294–295, 297 (box), 298–299, 299–301, 300 (photo)
prisons, 295–296, 295 (figure), 301–303, 301 (photo), 302–303 (box)
property crime, 289
sociological perspectives, 281–286, 287 (table)
types of crime, 288–292
victims, 293–294
violent crime, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 292 (box)
white-collar crime, 291
See also U.S. Department of Justice
CrimeClock, 267–288
Critical political-economy perspective, 311
Critical thinking, 47 (box)
Croatia, 278
Cross, Jennifer Moren, 32
Croteau, David, 237, 238
Crow, Michael, 351
Crowding, 317
Cullen, Frances, 283
Cullors, Patrice, 59 (box)
Culp, Gretchen, 319
p.433
Cultural capital, 166
Cultural pluralism, 56
Culture, 7 (box)
Culture of poverty, 36–37
792
Cunningham, Ken, 358, 362
Curl, Angela, 129
Curriculum, hidden, 174–175
Cybercrime, 291
DACA. See Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Dafoe Whitehead, Barbara, 156
Dahrendorf, Ralf, 9
Daimler, 245 (box)
Dakota Access Pipeline, 334–335
Data, 13, 14 (box), 93 (box)
Davies, James, 385–386
Davies, J. Clarence, 333
Davis, Adrienne, 80, 81
Davis, Geena, 252 (box), 252 (photo)
Davis, Karen, 225
Davy, Doreen, 127
Dawson, Brittany, 40
Day of Silence, 109 (box)
DEA. See Drug Enforcement Administration
“Dealing With Neighborhood Change†(Kennedy & Leonard), 318
Deane, Michele, 182
Death by overwork (karoshi), 194
Death penalty, 296–297, 302
Death Penalty Information Center, 297
Deaths, workplace, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
Decriminalization, 272
Deepwater Horizon explosion, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
De facto segregation, 65, 167
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 99, 103
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), 68–69
Deficit Reduction Act (2005), 43
“Definition of the situation,†167
Deindustrialization, 190–191
Democratic National Convention (2016), 80 (box), 80 (photo)
Demography, 116, 308
Dempsey, Molly, 245 (box)
Dennhardt, Ashley, 275 (box)
Dennis, Helen, 127
Dependent target populations, 11
793
Dependent variables, 13
Deportation, 61–62, 67, 68, 69
Deprivation, relative, 385–386
Desert Shield, Operation, 359
Desert Storm, Operation, 359
Deskilling, 194
Detroit, 307
Deurloo, Marinus, 317
Devaluation of women’s work, 86
Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, 72 (box)
Deviant target populations, 11
DeVos, Betsy, 92, 180
Dewes, Audrey, 245 (box)
Diabetes, 214, 216
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association), 98
Diamond, Jared, 335 (box)
Diana, Princess, 242
Dickinson College, 351
Dieleman, Frans, 317
Differential association, 263, 286
DiFrancesco, Darryn Anne, 336–337
Di Giacomo, Flavio, 63 (box)
Digital divide, 243–246, 247 (box), 247 (figure), 248
Digital literacy, 253
Digital natives, 237
Diplomacy, political, 373–374
Disability, 198, 205
Discrimination:
employment, 104, 110, 197–198, 205
gender nonconformity, 87–88
individual, 55
institutional, 55
sexual orientation, 106–107, 205
Disengagement theory, 119
Disney Channel, 82 (box)
Distracted driving, 248–249, 249 (photo)
Distributive power, 37
Diversity, 71–74
Diversity training, 73
Divorce, 137, 143–144
794
Dixon, Josie, 146–147
Dockterman, Daniel, 173 (box)
Doc McStuffins, 82 (box)
Doctors, 82 (box), 217, 219–221, 220 (photo), 233 (box)
Dodson, Lisa, 150–151
Dolecek, Thereese A., 319
DOMA. See Defense of Marriage Act
Domestic migration, 308
Domestic terrorism, 360, 370–371
Domestic violence, 99–100, 140, 152, 154, 154 (box)
Domestic workers, 130 (box)
Domhoff, G. William, 37 (box)
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†policy, 106, 107 (box)
Doty, Michelle M., 225
Double standard of aging, 121
Douglas Vavrus, Mary, 363
Downey, Douglas, 172
DREAM Act, 72 (box)
Dreby, Joanna, 67
Drexler, Melissa, 150
Driving behavior of Millennials, 310
Driving distracted, 248–249, 249 (photo)
Drug abuse, defined, 264
See also Alcohol and drug abuse
Drug addiction, 264
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 261, 273
Drug-Free Communities Act (1997), 276
Drug-Free Workplace Program, 273, 275
Drug legalization, 266, 267 (box), 272–273, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
Drug offenders, 295
Drug Policy Alliance, 267 (box)
Drug schedules, 261
Drug testing, 275
Drug treatment and prevention programs, 273, 275–278
Drug use in workplace, 268
Du Bois, W. E. B., 57
Duke Students Against Sweatshops, 208
Duke University, 208
Duluth Model, 152
Dunaway, Johanna, 240
795
Duncan, Arne, 92
Duncan, Brian, 59
Dunlap, Riley, 336, 348
Durand, Jorge, 61
Durkheim, Émile:
anomie, 261
collective consciousness, 238
crime, 281–282, 283
functionalist perspective, 7–8, 9
social institutions, 98, 135
suicide, 217
transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity, 311
Dysfunctions, 8
EAPs. See Employee assistance programs
Early Head Start, 180
Earned Income Tax Credit, 44–46
Earth Island Institute, 347
Eastern Connecticut State University, 68 (photo)
Eastern Tennessee State University, 351
East High School (Salt Lake City), 109 (box)
Ebola, 213, 277 (box)
E-cigarettes, 266
Ecocide, 368
Ecofeminism, 335
Economic impact of war and terrorism, 367–368, 367 (photo), 367 (table)
Economic sanctions, 375
Economic technology, 120
Economy. See Work and the economy
Education:
about, 163–164, 163 (figure)
affirmative action, 70–71
afterschool, 186 (box)
aging, modernization theory of, 120
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
community, policy, and social action, 179–185
p.434
conflict perspective, 166–167, 169 (table)
educational access and achievement, inequality in, 172–177
796
educational attainment, 164, 164 (table), 165 (box), 165 (data map), 247 (figure)
families and, 139
feminist perspective, 167–168, 169 (table)
functionalist perspective, 164, 166, 169 (table)
gender and, 90 (box), 174–175, 175 (figure)
harassment, 177–179
Head Start and prekindergarten, 180–181
health/medicine and, 223
interactionist perspective, 168–169, 169 (table)
literacy, 170–172, 170 (table)
networks, 181–182
problems and challenges in, 169–179
public school choice, 179–180, 184–185
race/ethnicity and, 65–66, 66 (table), 175–177, 176 (figure), 176 (photo), 185
reform of, 169–170, 179–180
social class and, 172–174
sociological perspectives, 164, 166–169, 169 (table)
standards in, 180
teen mothers, 148–149 (box)
violence, 177
See also Colleges and universities; specific institutions
Educators for Social Responsibility, 182
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (2009), 391
EEOC. See Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Eggers, Mitchell, 316
Ehrenreich, Barbara, 222
Ehrlich, Anne, 332, 333
Ehrlich, Paul, 332, 333
Ehrlich, Thomas, 326 (box), 391, 393
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 310, 362, 367
Elderly:
abuse and mistreatment of, 146–147, 154
employment, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
health and medical care, 126
income sources, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
as term, 116
in the workplace, 191–192,
192 (figure)
See also Age and aging
Elections, presidential, 128 (box), 251
797
Elementary school teachers, 34 (box)
Elfessi, Abdulaziz, 275 (box)
Elliot, Delbert, 283
Elliot, Jane, 84
Ellis, Havelock, 98
El Protector Program, 300
Emergency Food Assistance System, 40
Emergency kitchens, 40, 40 (photo)
Emigration, 308
Emory University, 16 (photo)
Empiricism, 12
Employee assistance programs (EAPs), 276
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 203, 227
Employment. See Work and the economy
Employment discrimination, 104, 110, 197–198, 205
Employment Non-Discrimination Act, 104, 110, 205
Encore.org, 130 (box)
Endangered Species Act (1973), 344, 345
Ender, Morten, 106
Enduring Freedom, Operation, 359
Engelman, Robert, 333
Engels, Friedrich, 140
Engler, John, 271
Enloe, Cynthia, 362–363
Environment:
about, 331
air quality, 339–340
climate change, 6 (box), 6 (table), 336–339, 338 (photo), 338 (table)
community, policy, and social action, 345–352
conflict perspective, 333–335, 334 (photo), 337 (table)
environmental interest groups, 346–347
environmental justice movement, 347–349
environmental sociology, 331–332
federal responses, 345
feminist perspective, 335–336, 336 (photo), 337 (table)
functionalist perspective, 332–333, 337 (table)
hazardous waste sites and brownfields, 340–341
interactionist perspective, 336–337, 337 (table)
land conservation and wilderness protection, 344
schools, 348 (photo), 350–351, 352 (table)
798
sociological perspectives, 332–337, 337 (table)
state and local responses, 346
war and terrorism, impact of, 368–369
waste and recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
water quality and supply, 342
Environmental Defense Fund, 346–347
Environmental interest groups, 346–347
Environmental justice, 335–336, 336 (photo), 347–349
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 325, 339, 340, 342, 343 (box), 345–346
Environmental racism, 334–335
Environmental sociology, 331–332
EPA. See Environmental Protection Agency
Epidemiology, 214–216
Episcopal Social Services, 303 (box)
Episodic high-risk drinking, 270
Epstein, Edward Jay, 240
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 69, 178, 205
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), 89, 389
Erickson, Kai, 286
Erie Family Health Center, 231
ERISA. See Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Erlanger, Stephen, 250
Esbenshade, Jill, 204 (box)
Estrogen replacement therapy, 219
Ethnic attrition, 59
Ethnic composition, 310
Ethnic groups, defined, 53
Ethnicity. See Race and ethnicity
Ethnocentrism, 55
Europe, 272, 315, 317
See also specific countries
European Commission, 63 (box), 253
European Convention on Human Rights, 107 (box)
European Court of Human Rights, 107 (box)
European Union:
ageism in the workplace, 127
child poverty, 124
divorce rate, 143
families, 150
immigration, 63 (box)
799
marital rate, 143
See also specific countries
Evergreen State College, 351
Exclusion, 55–56
Executive Order 10925, 69
Executive Order 11246, 69
Experiential learning, 111 (box)
Exploring Social Problems:
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
commuting, 320 (box), 320 (figure)
data, applied use of, 14 (box)
health care utilization, 224 (box), 224 (figure)
immigrants, 62 (box), 62 (figure)
p.435
income sources, elderly, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
Internet use, 247 (box), 247 (figure)
marijuana, support for legalization of, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
minimum wage workers, 201 (box), 201 (figure)
political engagement, 392 (box), 392 (figure)
poverty, demographics of, 30 (box), 30 (figure)
same-sex marriage, support for, 108 (box), 108 (table)
teen birthrates, 147 (box), 147 (table)
violence against women, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
wage gap, 87 (box)
war and terrorism, public opinion on, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
waste and recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
Expressive movements, 384, 385 (table)
Expulsion, 56
Extended families, 138
Facebook, 244, 251
Fackler, Tiffany, 352 (box)
Fair Housing Act (1968), 323
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 203, 204 (box)
Fair Sentencing Act (2010), 271
Families:
about, 137
child abuse and neglect, 137–138 (box), 145–146, 154 (box)
cohabitation, 156–157, 157 (figure)
800
community, policy, and social action, 151–158
conflict perspective, 139, 140, 142 (table)
defined, 137
definition, expanding, 156–158
divorce, 137, 143–144
domestic violence and neglect, 152, 154, 154 (box)
education and, 139
elder abuse and mistreatment, 146–147, 154
extended, 138
Family and Medical Leave Act, 151–152
feminist perspective, 139–140, 142 (table)
functionalist perspective, 139, 142 (table)
grandparents as parents, 157–158, 158 (photo)
interactionist perspective, 140–142, 142 (table)
intimate partner violence, 144–145, 145 (figure), 152, 154, 154 (box)
legislation, 108
military, 151, 151 (photo)
myths, 138, 139 (table)
nuclear, 138
parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
problems in, 143–151
sociological perspectives, 139–142, 142 (table)
teen pregnancy and newborn abandonment, 147–150, 147 (box), 147 (table), 148–149 (box),
155
time and money, problems of, 150–151
violence and neglect, 144–147, 152, 154
working-class, 150
Families on the Fault Line (Rubin), 150
Family and Medical Leave Act (1993), 151–152, 196, 203
Family Independence Initiative, 45 (box)
Farm Bill (2014), 40
Farmers markets, 349 (photo)
Fast-food workers, 189
Fathers, teen, 149
Faubus, Orval, 65
FBI. See Federal Bureau of Investigation
FCC. See Federal Communications Commission
FDA. See Food and Drug Administration
Feagin, Joe, 17, 17 (box), 55, 65, 313
Fear, politics of, 364
801
Fecundity, 215
Federal Aid Highway Act (1956), 310
Federal Assault Weapons Bill (1994), 300 (box)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 287–288, 291, 299, 371
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 250, 251
Federally Qualified Health Centers, 231
Federal policies:
alcohol and drug abuse, 271–272
environment, 345
health care reform, 228–229
media, 250–251
poverty measures, 28, 28 (table), 29 (table)
sexual orientation inequalities, 102–103
work and the economy, 202–205
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 244
Fee-for-service plans, 227 (box)
Feinstein, Dianne, 300 (box)
Felonies, 281
Felton, Rebecca Latimer, 77
Femicide, 88
Feminist antimilitarism, 376
Feminist movements, 89–90, 388, 389
Feminist perspective:
about, 9–10, 12 (table)
age and aging, 120–121, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 262–263, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 284–286, 284 (photo), 285 (table), 287 (table)
defined, 10
domestic violence, 140
education, 167–168, 169 (table)
environment, 335–336, 336 (photo), 337 (table)
families, 139–140, 142 (table)
gender, 79–80, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 219–220, 221 (table)
media, 240–241, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 58, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 99–100, 102 (table)
social class, 36, 38 (table)
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 313–314, 315 (table)
802
war and terrorism, 362–363, 363 (photo), 365 (table)
work and the economy, 195–196, 195 (figure), 196 (table), 197 (table)
See also Gender
Ferguson, Missouri, 294
Ferracuti, Franco, 292
Fertility, 215
Fine, Gary, 17
Finland, 215–216
First Amendment Defense Act, 107
527s (organizations), 37 (box)
Flexible work hours, 207
Flexner, Abraham, 218
Flexner Report, 218
Flores, Evelin, 68 (photo)
Florida, 35–36, 71, 108
FLSA. See Fair Labor Standards Act
Folkman, Alison, 270
Folkman, Kerry, 270
Food, local and sustainable, 349 (box), 349 (photo)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 17, 230, 266, 368
Food insecurity and hunger, 39–40, 40 (photo)
Food pantries, 40, 40 (photo)
Food Quality Protection Act (1996), 345
Ford, Betty, 222
Ford Foundation, 347
Foreign born, 53, 54 (figure), 192–193
Formal age norms, 116
Fortune magazine, 206
Foster care, 108
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, 14 (box)
Foundling wheels, 155
p.436
Fox, Mary Frank, 191 (box)
Fracking, 342
France, 63 (box), 84, 321 (photo)
Frank, Nathaniel, 106
Fraser, Nancy, 36
Freeh, Louis J., 370
Freeman, Lance, 41
803
Freid, Alex, 347
Freud, Sigmund, 98
Freudenberg, Nicholas, 348–349
Frey, William, 53
Fried, Linda, 127
Friedman, Uri, 300 (box)
Fry, Richard, 26–27, 65, 119 (box), 138, 173 (box)
FTC. See Federal Trade Commission
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, 115, 331, 348
Fulkerson, Gregory, 335
Fuller, Larry, 301 (photo)
Fuller, Linda, 16
Fuller, Millard, 16
Fullerton, Andrew, 32
Functionalist perspective:
about, 7–8, 12 (table)
age and aging, 119, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 260–261, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 281–283, 282 (table), 287 (table)
defined, 8
education, 164, 166, 169 (table)
environment, 332–333, 337 (table)
families, 139, 142 (table)
gender, 78–79, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 217, 221 (table)
media, 238–239, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 56, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 98–99, 102 (table)
social class, 32–34, 34 (box), 38 (table)
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 311, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 361–362, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 193,
197 (table)
Funiciello, Theresa, 34
Furia, Stacie, 106
Furstenberg, Frank F., 148 (box)
Fussell, Elizabeth, 203 (box)
Future orientation, 223
804
Gaddafi, Muammar, 376
Gaffney, Wil, 59 (box)
Gallup Organization, 97
Gans, Herbert, 34, 242
Garber, Judith, 313
Garcia, David, 185
Garfield, Rachel, 226–227
Garfin, Dana Rose, 239
Garment factories, 204 (box)
Garner, Eric, 59 (box), 294
Garner, Tyron, 102
Garza, Alicia, 59 (box)
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 109 (box), 177–178
Gay panic defense, 103
Gay-Straight Alliance, 109 (box)
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 252 (box), 252 (photo)
Geist, Claudia, 142
Gender:
about, 77–78
age and, 124, 127
conflict perspective, 79, 80, 81 (table)
consequences of inequality, 82–87
crime/criminal justice, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
defined, 77
divorce, 144
education, 90 (box), 174–175, 175 (figure)
feminist movements and social policies, 89–90
feminist perspective, 79–80, 81 (table)
functionalist perspective, 78–79, 81 (table)
gender identity terms, 82 (box)
gender nonconformity discrimination, 87–88
health and medicine, 222–223
income inequality, 84, 85 (data map), 85 (table), 86–87, 86 (photo), 87 (box), 87 (figure)
interactionist perspective, 80–81, 81 (table)
intimate partner violence and sexual assault, 88
life expectancy, 214 (table)
media portrayal of, 240–241, 241 (photo), 252 (box)
occupational sex segregation, 82–84, 83 (photo), 83 (table)
poverty, 30 (figure)
responding to inequalities, 89–92
805
sex versus, 77
social class and, 30 (figure), 124
sociological perspectives, 78–81, 81 (table)
Title IX, 90–92, 91 (photo)
trans and intersex rights, 92
wage gap, 85 (data map), 195, 195 (figure), 219–220, 220 (photo)
war and terrorism, 368 (box)
See also Feminist perspective; Women
Gender binary, 77–78
Gendered division of labor, 78–79
Gender expression, 82 (box)
Gender fluid, 82 (box)
Gender identity, 82 (box)
Gender mainstreaming, 89–90
Gender non-conforming, 82 (box), 87–88
Genderqueer, 82 (box)
Gender questioning, 82 (box)
General Accounting Office, 204 (box)
General relief programs, 42
Generations United, 158
Genetics, behavioral, 98
Genocide, 358
Gentrification, 318–319
George Washington University, 348 (photo)
Georgia, 57–58, 181
Germany, 123, 123 (box), 225, 321 (box)
Gerontology, 116
Gibbs, Lois, 336
Gilbert, Timisha, 304 (box)
Gilens, Martin, 38
Gill, Charlotte, 301
Gilman, Charlotte, 8
Gingrich, Newt, 37 (box)
Girls Can! Community Coalitions Project, 181
Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, 209 (box)
Girls Today, Women Tomorrow, 182
GLAAD, 82 (box), 101–102
Gland Pharma, 232 (box)
Global differences:
cannabis use, 260 (figure)
806
cohabitation, 157 (figure)
crime and criminal justice, 285, 289, 295 (figure), 296, 297
education, 163 (figure)
gender parity in wages, 195, 195 (figure)
health care spending, 225 (figure)
infant mortality, 215–216, 216 (figure)
Internet use, 246 (figure)
life expectancy, 213
literacy, 170, 170 (table), 172
national parliaments, women in, 78 (table)
parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
population aging, 117 (figure)
poverty, demographics of, 32
same-sex marriage, 104 (table)
war and terrorism, 358, 358 (table), 367 (table), 372
See also Taking a World View
Global engagement, public opinion on, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
Global immigration, 63 (box)
Globalization, 1–2, 199–200
Global threats, 6 (box), 6 (table)
Global warming, 337
Globe (Toronto), 337
Goals, 361
p.437
Goals 2000: Educate America Act (1994), 179
Goffman, Erving, 32–33, 121, 242
Goldman, Francisco, 391 (box)
Good Friday Agreement, 371 (box)
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, 86, 87
Google, 206
Gordon, Craig, 181
Gordon, Milton, 56
Gore, Vidal, 99
Gormley, William, 181
Gornick, Janet, 153 (box)
Gould, L. Hannah, 319
Graduate study, 394 (box)
Graham-Bermann, Sandra, 145
Granberg, Ellen, 123
807
Grandparents as parents, 157–158, 158 (photo)
Gray, Freddie, 294
Great Britain. See United Kingdom
Great Depression, 128–129
Great Recession:
health and medicine, 223, 225
income and wealth, 64
race and ethnicity, 64
retirement, difficulty of, 124
unemployment, 189, 198
welfare policy, 43
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 344
Great Society, 42–43
Greece, 63 (box)
Greenfield, Jerry, 207 (box), 207 (photo)
Greensburg GreenTown, 325
Greenwood, Peter, 298
Grieco, Elizabeth, 53
Grinblo, Jenny, 253 (box)
Grinde, D. A., 73
Griner, Brittney, 104
Grocery store cashiers, 33–34
Grollman, Eric, 87–88
Ground-level ozone, 340
Grusky, David, 83
Gubernskaya, Zoya, 138
Gulf of Mexico, 342
Gun violence in schools, 388 (photo)
Gurevitch, Michael, 241
Habitat for Humanity, 15 (photo), 16, 327
Hale, Victoria, 232 (box), 232 (photo)
Halliburton, 362
Hamilton, Cynthia, 335
Hands Are Not for Hurting, 154
Handy, Jocelyn, 127
Haney, Craig, 286
Hannigan, John, 336, 385
Harassment in schools, 177–179, 178 (photo)
Harmon, Christopher, 373
808
Harm reduction approach, 273
Harper, Charles, 384, 387
Harrington, Michael, 35
Harris, G. L. A., 70
Harris Poll, 101–102
Hartman, Heidi, 84
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, 375
Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, 269
Harvard Study Team, 375
Harvard University’s Law School, 92
Hass, Richard, 375
Hate-crime laws, 103
Hate groups, 370
Have Justice Will Travel, 154 (box)
Hawaii, 227–228
Hawken, Paul, 257, 332, 334 (box)
Hayden, Craig, 374
Hazardous waste sites and brownfields, 340–341
He, Wan, 118 (box)
Head Start, 163, 180–181
Healing of America, The (Reid), 231 (box)
Health, United States, 2016, 213
Health and Human Services Task Force on Drug Importation, 230
Health and medicine:
about, 213, 214 (table)
age and, 124, 126
as career field, 233 (box)
Children’s Health Insurance Program, 229, 230 (photo)
China, 118 (box)
community, policy, and social action, 227–232
community-based health centers, 231
conflict perspective, 217–218, 221 (table)
cost of health care, 223, 225–226, 225 (figure)
education and, 223
elderly, 126
epidemiology, 214–216
feminist perspective, 219–220, 221 (table)
functionalist perspective, 217, 221 (table)
gender and, 222–223
gender mainstreaming, 89
809
health care reform, 227–229
health care utilization, 226, 226 (figure)
inequalities and problems, 222–227
infant mortality, 124, 126
interactionist perspective, 220–221, 221 (table)
poverty and, 41–42
race/ethnicity and, 66–67
social class and, 41–42
sociological perspectives, 214–221, 221 (table)
state prescription drug plans, 230
uninsured population, 226–227
veterans, 367, 367 (photo)
Health care reform, 227–229
Health care utilization, 226, 226 (figure)
Health insurance, lack of, 226–227
Health insurance/health care delivery systems, 227 (box)
Health maintenance organizations (HMOs), 227 (box), 228
Health Resources and Services Administration, 231
Health Security Act, 228
Health technology, 120
Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, 267 (box)
Healy, Joseph, 61
“Heat and Eat†provision, 40
Heesacker, Martin, 220
Henderson, Debra, 36
Henry, Gary, 181
Hesse-Biber, Sharlene, 191 (box)
Heteronormativity, 141
Heterosexism, 99–100
Heterosexuality, 97, 99
Heyman, Robert, 197
Hidden curriculum, 174–175
Higher education. See Colleges and universities; specific institutions
Highlander Research and Education Center, 325
Hildebrandt, Eugenie, 44
Hill, Catherine, 174–175, 178 (photo)
Hiroshima, Japan, 372, 374 (box)
Hirschi, Travis, 283
Hispanics:
crime and criminal justice, 292, 292 (table)
810
education, 65–66, 66 (table)
income and wealth, 63, 64 (figure), 65
residential segregation, 313
See also Latinos; Race and ethnicity
Historical research, 13
History of social problems, 5–7
HIV/AIDS:
advocacy and activist groups, 10 (photo), 11
identification as social problem, 5–7
interactionist perspective, 11
prevalence, 1, 1 (table), 4
research, 18 (box)
sociology, science of, 13
HMOs. See Health maintenance organizations
Hoffman, Megan, 245 (box)
Hokenstad, M. C., 129
Holdren, John, 333
Holman, E. Alison, 239
Holmes, Malcolm, 264
p.438
Holmgren, Alyssa L., 225
Holschlag, Jamie, 151
Homelessness, 8, 317–318, 318 (photo), 325–326
Home nurse visit program, 215–216
Home ownership, 65
HOME program, 326–327
Homicide, 288, 292 (box), 294
Homophobia, 98
Homosexuality, 97
Hooker Electrochemical Company, 340
HOPE VI program, 324
Hopwood v. Texas (1996), 70–71
Horizontal segregation, 83, 84
Horwitz, Juliana, 128 (box)
Household Food Consumption Survey, 28
Households, 137, 138, 139 (table), 189
Housing:
affordable, 40–41, 41 (photo), 326–327
quality of, 316–317
811
Housing Act (1949), 310, 323
Housing and Community Development Act (1974), 323
Housing and Urban Development Act (1970), 323
Howard, Darrell, 303
Howard University, 69
Hoynes, William, 237, 238
Hoyt, Homer, 8
HUD. See U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Hukou system, 33 (box)
Human agency, 10
Human capital, 86
Human capital theory, 86
Human ecology, 308
Humane Society of the United States, 154
Humanitarian intervention, 375–376
Human Rights Campaign, 82 (box), 106, 108
Human Rights Watch, 61–62, 296, 297 (box)
Hunger and food insecurity, 39–40, 40 (photo)
Hurd Clark, Laura, 121
Hurricane Katrina, 350 (box)
Hurricane Maria, 331
Huynh, Mary, 319
Hydraulic fracturing, 342
Hypotheses, 13
IC3. See Internet Crime Complaint Center
Identification stages for social problems, 5–7
Illinois, 103
Illnesses, acute, 216
Immigrants:
health, 66
race and ethnicity, 51, 52 (photo), 52 (table), 57
as workers, 192–193
See also Immigration
Immigration:
defined, 308
global, 63 (box)
media coverage of, 240
preference system for, 60
quota system for, 60
812
racial/ethnic inequalities and, 60–63, 61 (photo), 62 (figure), 67–69, 68 (photo)
values vs. facts, 74 (box)
war/terrorism and, 370
See also Immigrants
Immigration and Nationality Act (1965), 60
Impression management, 242, 244
Incidence rate, 216
INCITE!, 299
Inclusivity, 71–74
Income:
defined, 35
household, 189
Internet use, 247 (figure)
race/ethnicity and, 63–65
retirement, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
Income inequality:
about, 25–26, 26 (table)
China, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
gender inequality and, 84, 85 (data map), 85 (table), 86–87, 86 (photo), 87 (box), 87 (figure)
Indemnity health plans, 227 (box)
Independent variables, 13
Index crimes, 287
India, 69, 214, 316
Individual discrimination, 55
Indonesia, 332
Industrialization, 332
Industrial Revolution, 190
Infant abandonment, 155
Infant mortality, 124, 126, 215–216, 216 (figure)
In Focus:
assault weapons, 300 (box)
Black Lives Matter, 59 (box)
campuses, gay-friendly, 109 (box)
college drug programs, 275 (box)
food, local and sustainable, 349 (box), 349 (photo)
gender identity terms, 82 (box)
health insurance and health care delivery systems, 227 (box)
higher education, cost of, 173 (box)
political influence of young and older voters, 128 (box)
power elite, 37 (box)
813
sociology, review of, 7 (box)
student activism, 388 (box), 388 (photo)
sweatshop labor, 204 (box), 204 (photo)
teen mothers and education, 148–149 (box)
war, hidden costs of, 368 (box)
workplace, boundary-less, 245 (box)
Informal age norms, 116
Ingram, Anne, 11
Injuries, workplace, 200
Innocence Project, 301 (photo), 302–303
Innovation, 16, 282, 282 (table)
Institute for International Education of Students, 377 (box)
Institute for OneWorld Health, 232 (box)
Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 84, 85 (table)
Institutional discrimination, 55
Institutionalized heterosexuality, 99
Instrumental movements, 384, 385 (table)
Integration, 55–56, 65
Interactionist perspective:
about, 10–11, 12 (table)
age and aging, 121–122, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 263–264, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 286, 287 (table)
defined, 10
education, 168–169, 169 (table)
environment, 336–337, 337 (table)
families, 140–142, 142 (table)
gender, 80–81, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 220–221, 221 (table)
media, 241–242, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 58–59, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 100–101, 102 (table)
social class, 36–38, 38 (table)
social problems, 383
urbanization and population growth, 314–315, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 364, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 196–198, 197 (table)
Interest groups, 346–347, 371
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 338, 339
Interior residential density, 317
814
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 374 (box)
International Centre for Prison Studies, 285
International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (World Health Organization), 98
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, 375
p.439
International differences. See Global differences; Taking a World View
International Organization for Migration, 63 (box)
International terrorism, 360–361
International Women’s Media Foundation, 243 (box)
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 291
Internet fraud and abuse, 291
Internet use, 245–246, 246 (figure), 247 (box), 247 (figure)
Internships, 111 (box)
Intersex rights, 92
Interstate highway system, 310
Intimate partner violence, 88, 144–145, 145 (figure), 152, 154, 154 (box)
Intimate violence, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
Invitation to Sociology (Berger), 381
IPCC. See Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Ipsos, 173 (box)
IRA. See Irish Republican Army
Iraq, 375
Iraqi Freedom, Operation, 359
Iraq war:
about, 359
conflict perspective, 362
economic impact, 367
military families, 151
public response to, 376
veterans, impact on, 365, 368 (box)
Irish Republican Army (IRA), 371 (box)
Irwin, Jude, 100
Islam, 77
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), 6 (box), 6 (table), 357
Israel, 107 (box)
Italy, 63 (box), 84, 155
It Gets Better Project, 110 (box)
Jacobson, Jodi, 276
815
Jacobson, Jonathan, 40
Jager, Annet, 150
Jama, Shilo, 276 (box)
Japan:
educational tracking and testing, 171 (box)
environment, 331, 348
homelessness, 317
karoshi (death by overwork), 194
life expectancy, 213
menopause, 219
nuclear weapons used against, 372, 372 (photo), 374 (box)
Jaspin, Eliot, 56
Jasso-Aguilar, Rebecca, 218
Jena, Anupam, 220
Jenkins, Brian, 361, 364
Jensen, Vicki, 285
Jim Crow laws, 55 (photo)
Job discrimination, 104, 110, 197–198, 205
Job stress, 202
Johnson, Earvin “Magic,†322 (box), 322 (photo)
Johnson, Kenneth, 215
Johnson, Lyndon B., 15, 42–43, 69, 163, 323
Johnson Development Corporation, 322 (box)
Johnson-Reed Act (1924), 56
Jolls, Tessa, 253
Jordan, Daniel, 11
Journalism, 240, 243 (box)
See also Media
Justice:
environmental, 335–336, 336 (photo), 347–349
social, 17 (box)
See also Crime and criminal justice
Juvenile crime, 291
Juvenile delinquency, 11, 289–291, 298
Juvenile justice programs, 298
Juvenile status offenders, 289
Kaiser Family Foundation, 226, 246, 365
Kala-azar, 232 (box)
Kane, Mary Jo, 241
816
Kansas, 271, 325
Kansas Sentencing Commission, 271
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, 166
Kaplan, Howard, 261
Kaplan, Laura, 363
Kappeler, Victor, 296–297
Karoshi (death by overwork), 194
Kato, David, 97
Katrina, Hurricane, 350 (box)
Kattari, Shanna, 88
Katz, Jonathan, 101
Kearl, Holly, 178 (photo)
Keating, Paul, 107 (box)
Keeter, Scott, 128 (box)
Keisling, Mara, 106
Kelber, Sheryl, 44
Kellner, Douglas, 240
Kelly, Joe, 252 (box)
Kennedy, Anthony, 66, 102, 104
Kennedy, John, 69
Kennedy, Maureen, 318
Kennedy, Ted, 204
Kenner, Max, 302–303 (box)
Kerry, John, 37 (box)
Keystone XL pipeline, 333
Kimball, Daryl, 372
Kincannon, Charles, 118 (box)
Kindergarten teachers, 34 (box)
King, Mary, 104
Kippax, Susan, 148
Kirby, Douglas, 155
Kitchens, emergency, 40, 40 (photo)
Kituse, John, 5
Knott, Paul, 377
Kochhar, Rakesh, 26–27, 64
Kopp, Wendy, 183 (box), 183 (photo)
Kops, Yvonne, 150
Korean War, 359
Korgen, Kathleen, 93 (box)
Korsah, N., 375
817
Korten, David, 333
Koster, Chris, 294
Kozol, Jonathan, 167
Kramer, Rory, 298–299
Krieger, Nancy, 35, 41
Kriss, Jennifer L., 225
Krogstad, Jens Manuel, 61
Kruel, Amaury, 297 (box)
Krugman, Paul, 257
Krull, Christopher, 245 (box)
Kulongoski, Mary, 39–40
Kulongoski, Theodore R., 39–40
Kyoto Protocol, 339
Labeling theory, 286
Labor, gendered division of, 78–79
Labor unions, 208
Lagos, Nigeria, 317
Lambda Legal, 110 (box)
Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, 345
Land conservation, 344
Landfills, 341 (box), 341 (photo)
Landmines, 369
Langenderfer-Magruder, Lisa, 88
Language, 80–81
Lareau, Annette, 185
Latent functions, 166
Latin America, 218
Latinos, 176–177, 176 (figure), 182, 300
See also Hispanics; Race and ethnicity
Law enforcement. See Police and policing
Lawrence, John, 102
Lawyers, 209 (box)
Lazarus, Wendy, 246, 248
Leach, Elizabeth, 123 (box)
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, 54 (box)
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), 351
Learning by doing, 111 (box)
Ledbetter, Lilly, 86–87, 86 (photo)
LEED. See Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
818
Lefebvre, Henri, 333
Left-wing groups, 370
Legal assistants, 159 (box)
Legalization, drug, 266, 267 (box), 272–273, 274 (box), 274 (figure)
Leicht, Kevin, 384, 387
Leinberger, Christopher, 319
p.440
Leiter, Michael, 370
Lemert, Charles, 16, 393
Lemert, Edwin, 286
Lengermann, Patricia Madoo, 10
Leonard, Paul, 318
Lerner, L., 375
Levendosky, Alytia, 145
Levinson, A. J., 122
Levy, Mark, 241
Lew, Jacob, 15
Lewis, Oscar, 36–37
LGBTQ, defined, 97
Li, Shi, 33 (box)
Libya, 375–376
Life chances, 23, 26
Life course perspective, 116
Life expectancy, 213, 214 (table)
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009), 86 (photo), 87
Lim, Sungwoo, 319
Lim Miller, Mauricio, 45 (box)
Lincoln, Abraham, 358
Lind, Amy, 99
Lindsey, Lawrence, 367
Lipka, Sara, 351
Literacy, 170–172, 170 (table), 248, 252–253
Literacy Volunteers of America, 171
Little Rock Central High School, 65
Living Lands and Waters, 350 (box)
Living wage movement, 205–206
Locavores, 349 (box)
Loeb, Paul Rogat, 393
Lombroso, Cesare, 281
819
London, 275 (box)
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 88
Los Angeles, 323
Loseke, Donileen, 4–5
Louisville, Kentucky, 66
Love Canal disaster, 335–336, 336 (photo), 340
Love Canal Homeowners Association, 336, 340
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, 40
Lucas, Billy, 110 (box)
Lucas, George, 106
Luce, Stephanie, 205
Luckmann, Thomas, 4
Luo, Ye, 123
Luxembourg Income Study, 32
MacDonald, Scott, 268
MacKinnon, Catharine, 81
MacKinnon, J. B., 349 (box)
Macro level of analysis, 7
Magic Johnson Enterprises, 322 (box)
Magic Johnson Foundation, 322 (box)
Magic Johnson Theatres, 322 (box)
“Magic Mountain, The†(Power), 341 (box)
Magic of Reading Program, 322 (box)
Magnet, Myron, 37
Magnet schools, 184
Mahon, J., 73
Mahoney, Martha, 313
Mandatory sentencing, 295
Mandela, Nelson, 358 (box)
Mangangalahigs, 341 (box)
Manifest destiny, 358
Manifest functions, 164, 166
Manthorpe, Jill, 146–147
Manuel, Tiffany, 150–151
Maquiladoras, 203 (box)
Marable, Manning, 35
Marcum, Catherine, 261
Marger, Martin, 25, 53, 166
Maria, Hurricane, 331
820
Maricopa County, Arizona, 284 (photo)
Marijuana:
about, 266
legalization of, 266, 267 (box), 274 (box), 274 (figure)
Netherlands, 272
usage, global differences in, 260 (figure)
user introduction to, 263
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 300 (box)
Marmot, Michael, 223
Marriage equality. See Same-sex marriage
Martin, Steven, 261
Martin, Trayvon, 59 (box), 293, 299
Marullo, Sam, 111 (box)
Marx, Karl, 9, 9 (photo), 16, 35, 47 (box), 194
Marxist theorists, 57
Maryland, 205
Mason, Paul, 238–239
Massachusetts, 97, 228
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 197–198
Massey, Douglas, 61, 313, 316
Master status, 101
Math anxiety, 168
Matos, Marlise, 89
Maume, David J., 86
Mayer, Deborah, 222
McAdam, Doug, 386, 387
McBride, Sarah, 80 (box), 80 (photo)
McCain, Franklin, 390
McCambridge, Jim, 275 (box)
McCarthy, John, 386
McChesney, Robert, 248
McConatha, Jasim, 123 (box)
McCorkle, Jill, 285
McDonald’s, 189
McDowell, Johnnie, 41
McGary, Howard, 58
McGrath, Shelley, 261
McGuinness, Martin, 371 (box)
McKinney, Laura, 335
McNamee, Steve, 25
821
McNeill, Joseph, 390
McVeigh, Timothy, 370
Mead, George Herbert, 11
Meals on Wheels Association of America, 154
Mechanical solidarity, 311
Media:
about, 237–238
community, policy, and social action, 250–253
conflict perspective, 239–240, 243 (table)
crime, coverage of, 242
defined, 237
digital divide, 243–246, 247 (box), 247 (figure), 248
driving distracted, 248–249, 249 (photo)
federal policy and legislation, 250–251
feminist perspective, 240–241, 243 (table)
functionalist perspective, 238–239, 243 (table)
gender roles in, 240–241, 241 (photo), 252 (box)
immigration, coverage of, 240
interactionist perspective, 241–242, 243 (table)
media literacy and digital literacy, 252–253
media watchdogs, 251
newspapers, 248
ownership, consolidation of, 239–240, 240 (table)
privacy, loss of, 242, 243
public trust of news media, 249–250
sociological perspectives, 238–242, 243 (table)
women in, 243 (box)
Media conglomerates, 239–240, 240 (table)
Media literacy, 252–253
Media watchdogs, 251
Medicaid, 226–227, 227 (box), 229
Medicalization, 219
Medical schools, 218
Medical students, 78–79, 122
See also Physicians
Medicare, 127–128, 129–131, 227 (box), 231 (box)
Medication therapy for alcohol and drug abuse, 273
Medicine. See Health and medicine
Medicines360, 232 (box)
Mee-Kyong, Lee, 141
822
Megadisasters, 331
Mending the Sacred Hoop, 152
Menopause, 219
p.441
Mentoring for students, 182
Mertig, Angela, 348
Merton, Robert K., 8, 282–283, 282 (table)
Mesenbourg, Thomas L., 51
Methamphetamine, 263
“Metropolis and Mental Life, The†(Simmel), 314
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, 300
Mexicans, 59
Mexican War, 358
Mexico, 203 (box), 341 (box)
Meyer, David, 388
Meyer, Erika, 277 (box)
Michigan, 71, 271
Micro level of analysis, 7
Middle East, 362
Middleton, Kate, 238 (photo)
Migration, 308
Military:
families, 151, 151 (photo)
sexual assault in, 368 (box)
sexual orientation policies, 105–106, 107 (box), 107 (photo)
transgender individuals in, 92
as war and terrorism response, 375–376
See also Veterans
Military-industrial complex, 362
Milkie, Melissa, 150
Millennials, driving behavior of, 310, 323
Miller, Lisa, 87–88
Miller, Mark Crispin, 240
Miller, Robert, 25
Miller, Terry, 110 (box), 110 (photo)
Miller, Zell, 57–58
MillionTrees Project, 350 (box)
Mills, C. Wright:
photo, 3 (photo)
823
power elite, 9, 35
private troubles versus public issues, 2, 149 (box), 383
sociology, 3, 14, 16
Miners, 200, 202
Minimum wage, 41, 200, 201 (box), 201 (figure), 204–205
Minnesota, 152, 228, 276–278
Misdemeanors, 281
Mississippi River, 350 (box)
Modernization theory of aging, 119–120
Monitoring the Future Survey, 268
Montana State University, 351
Monuments, national, 344
Moody, Harry, 117, 130
Moore, Quinn, 44
Mora, Francisco, 246, 248
Morbidity, 216
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 216
Morgan, Sandra, 44
Morgan, S. Philip, 148 (box)
Mori, Rie, 171 (box)
Mormon fundamentalism, 77
Mortality, 124, 126, 215–216, 216 (figure)
Moss, Nancy, 35, 41
Mothers:
teen, 148–149 (box), 149
unwed, 141, 142 (box)
Mott, Lucretia, 89
Mubarak, Hosni, 239
Multiculturalism, 56
Multiracial, 59
Munson, Ziad, 388 (box)
Murphy, James, 275 (box)
Murphy, Michael, 223
Murray, Patty, 14 (box), 77
Muslims, 77
Mustanski, Brian, 98
Mychal Judge Act (2002), 103
Nader, Ralph, 388 (box)
NAFTA. See North American Free Trade Agreement
824
Nagasaki, Japan, 372, 372 (photo)
Nashville, 300
National Academy of Sciences, 46
National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 270
National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 171–172
National Association of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Directors, 154
National Audubon Society, 346
National Basketball Association (NBA), 34 (box)
National Center for Children in Poverty, 31
National Center for Education Statistics, 184
National Center for Health Statistics, 215, 216
National Center for Transgender Equality, 106
National Center on Elder Abuse, 154
National Charter School Study, 185
National Commission on Excellence in Education, 169–170
National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, 324
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 372–373
National Crime Victimization Survey, 288, 288 (table)
National Domestic Workers Alliance, 130 (box)
National Do Not Call Registry, 250
National Elder Mistreatment Study, 146
National Environmental Policy Act (1969), 345
National Girls Collaborative Project, 181
National governments, women in, 77, 78 (table)
National health insurance model, 231 (box)
National Health Interview Survey, 97
National Housing Act (1934), 323
National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), 287
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 202
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 271–272
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 272
National Institutes of Health, 272
National Low Income Housing Coalition, 41
National monuments, 344
National Night Out, 299, 300 (photo)
National Organization for Women (NOW), 389
National Parks Conservation Association, 344, 346
National Park System, 344
National Post (Toronto), 337
National Priorities Project, 367
825
National Program for Public Security and Citizenship (Brazil), 297 (box)
National Research Council, 342
National Safety Council, 249
National School Climate Survey, 178
National Security Agency (NSA), 244
National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 259, 268
National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 87–88
National Wilderness Preservation System, 344
National Wildlife Federation, 346, 347
Nation at Risk, A (National Commission on Excellence in Education), 169–170
Native, 53
Native Americans, 56, 264, 334–335
Natural capitalism, 334 (box)
Natural Resources Defense Council, 347
NBA. See National Basketball Association
Nebraska Public Service Commission, 333
Needle exchange programs, 276 (box)
Negative consequences of social problems, 4
Neglect, 145–146
Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, 324
Nelson, Todd, 123
Netherlands, 271, 272, 276 (box)
Net neutrality, 251
Networks, 181–182
p.442
Net worth, 64, 64 (figure)
Neufeld, Peter, 302
Neurohormonal theory, 98
Newborn abandonment, 150, 155
New Deal, 15, 42
New Jersey, 41, 44, 103, 155
New social movements theory, 384–385
Newsom, Gavin, 327
Newspaper Association of America, 248
Newspapers, 248
Newsworthiness, 241–242
New York City, 182, 184, 319, 346, 350–351
New York State, 155
New Zealand, 127
826
NGOs. See Nongovernmental organizations
NIAAA. See National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
NIBRS. See National Incident-Based Reporting System
Nichols, Austin, 43
Nichols, John, 248
Nichols, Terry, 370
Nicholson, Amanda, 223
Nickel and Dimed (Ehrenreich), 200
Nicotine, 265–266
NIDA. See National Institute on Drug Abuse
Niebrugge-Brantley, Jill, 10
Nigeria, 317
9/11 Commission, 372–373
NIOSH. See National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Nixon, Richard, 69, 259, 271
No Child Left Behind Act, 179–180
Non-binary, 82 (box)
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), 389 (box)
Nonprofit work, 326 (box)
Noris, Tyler, 324–325
Norms, 7 (box), 115–116
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 203 (box)
North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College, 389–390
North Dakota, 334–335
Northern Ireland, 69, 371 (box)
North Korea, 372
Norway, 58
Not With Our Money, 301
Novel places, 172–173
NOW. See National Organization for Women
NSA. See National Security Agency
Nuclear family, 138
Nuclear weapons, 372, 372 (photo), 374 (box)
Nurses, 196
Nye, Joseph, 374
Oates, Sarah, 364
Obama, Barack:
crime and criminal justice, 103, 271, 293
Dakota Access Pipeline, 334
827
education policy, 3, 173 (box), 180
environment, 339, 344
family, 138
gender inequalities, 86 (photo), 87, 92
health and medicine, 213, 228, 229, 231 (box)
immigration, 67, 68
social class inequalities, 15, 25, 44
texting while driving, 249
urban revitalization programs, 324
volunteer community service, 390–391
war and terrorism, 373–374
work and the economy, 205–206
youth vote, 128 (box)
See also Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)
Obama, Michelle, 349 (box), 390
Obamacare. See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Objective reality, 4
O’Brien, Eileen, 61
Occidental Chemical Corporation, 340
Occupational Safety and Health Act, 203
Occupations:
job growth, largest projected, 190, 190 (table)
minimum wage workers, 201 (box), 201 (figure)
sex segregation in, 82–84, 83 (photo), 83 (table)
Occupy movement, 387
O’Connor, Michaela, 245 (box)
O’Connor, Sandra Day, 71
OECD. See Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Offenders, criminal, 292–293, 292 (table)
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 152, 290, 298
Office of Management and Budget, 53
Office of National Drug Control Policy, 272
Office on Violence Against Women, 152, 298
Oklahoma, 181
Oklahoma City bombing, 370
Older Americans Act, 146
Oliver, Melvin, 26
Olson-Buchanan, Julie, 245 (box)
Omi, Michael, 52
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (1993), 323
828
One Day, All Children (Kopp), 183 (box)
1.5 generation, 68
100-mile diet, 349 (box)
OneWorld Health, 232 (box)
Operation Banner, 371 (box)
Operation Desert Shield, 359
Operation Desert Storm, 359
Operation Enduring Freedom, 359
Operation Iraqi Freedom, 359
Opioids, 267–268, 268 (photo), 272
Orange extremism, 371 (box)
Ore, Tracy, 54
Oregon, 39–40, 44, 267 (box)
Organic solidarity, 311
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 172, 213, 216 (figure)
Organizational child, 166
Orshansky, Mollie, 28
Ortman, Jennifer, 118 (box)
Oster, Emily, 215
Outcome goals, 361
Out-of-pocket model, 231 (box)
Overurbanization, 308
Owens, Ken, 157, 158
Owens, Pat, 157, 158
Ozone, ground-level, 340
PACENET, 230
Packard, Gary, Jr., 106
PACs. See Political action committees
Pai, Ajit, 251
Paigen, Beverly, 336
Palin, Sara, 241
Paralegals, 159 (box)
Parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
Paris, 321 (photo)
Paris Climate Accord, 339
Park, Hacyoung, 71
Park, Robert E., 8
Parker, Kim, 173 (box)
Paromomycin, 232 (box)
829
Parsons, Talcott, 217
Particulate or particle pollution, 339–340
Passel, Jeffrey, 61
Passive smoke, 265–266
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010):
citizenship status and, 66
community health centers, 232
Hawaii, waiver for, 228
health insurance coverage, expansion of, 226, 227 (box)
Medicaid expansion, 226–227
passage and challenges to, 228–229
politics and, 213
Patients, 220–221
Patriarchy, 9–10, 79, 284–285
See also Feminist perspective
PATRIOT Act (2001), 369–370
Payatas, 341 (box)
Peace movements, 376–378
Pearce, Adam, 71
p.443
Peking University’s Chinese Family Panel Studies, 33 (box)
Peksen, Dursun, 375
Pennsylvania, 230, 230 (photo)
Pension Protection Act (2006), 103
People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, 276 (box)
Persian Gulf War, 359
Persky, Aaron, 289 (box)
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996), 15, 36, 43, 44, 138, 155
Peters, Matthew, 233 (box), 233 (photo)
Peterson, Suni, 220
Petrucci, Barbara, 124
Pew Hispanic Center, 65–66
Pew Oceans Commission, 342
Pew Research Center:
drug offenses, 271
Internet use, 246, 247 (box)
media, 250
political engagement, 392 (box), 392 (figure)
Project for Excellence in Journalism, 248
830
race and ethnicity, 59, 62 (box), 62 (figure)
social class, 25
threats, global, 6 (box)
U.S. global engagement, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly, 230
Pharmaceutical companies, 218, 219 (box)
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, 230
Philadelphia Plan, 69
Philippines, 341 (box)
Phillips, Deborah, 181
Phillips, Jack, 107
Phillips, Meredith, 172–173
Physical abuse, 145
Physicians, 82 (box), 217, 219–221, 220 (photo), 233 (box)
See also Medical students
Pieper, Katherine, 252 (box)
Pierce, Glenn, 297
Pillar, Paul, 361, 376
Pillard, Richard, 98
Piñera, Sebastián, 391 (box)
Pink campaign for breast cancer awareness, 222–223, 222 (photo)
Pittsburgh Public School District, 154
Piven, Frances Fox, 35
Plotke, David, 385
Pluralism, 56
Police and policing:
Community Oriented Policing Services, 294, 299–301, 300 (photo)
community responses to disparities in, 298–299
conflict perspective on, 283–284
crime, response to, 294–295, 297 (box)
Spanish-speaking officers, 300
violence by, 299
Political action committees (PACs), 37 (box)
Political candidates, female, 241, 241 (photo)
Political diplomacy, 373–374
Political engagement, 392 (box), 392 (figure)
Political ideology, 274 (figure), 392 (box), 392 (figure)
Political impact of war and terrorism, 369–370
Political influence, 128 (box)
Political process model, 386
831
Political speech, 37 (box)
Politicide, 358
Politics of fear, 364
Pollina, Ronald, 192
Pollution, 333–334, 339–340
See also Environment
Popenoe, David, 156
Population aging, 116–117, 117 (figure), 117 (table), 118 (box)
Population growth, 310, 332–333
See also Urbanization and population growth
Porto, Portugal, 311
Portugal, 84, 311
Post-Landfill Action Network, 347
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 221, 365, 368 (box)
Potter, Gary, 296–297
Poverty:
absolute, 27
age and, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure)
child abuse and, 146
children in, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124
consequences of, 39–42
culture of, 36–37
defined, 27
demographics of, 29–32, 29 (data map), 30 (figure), 31 (figure)
divorce and, 144
federal measures of, 28, 28 (table), 29 (table)
food insecurity/hunger and, 39–40, 40 (photo)
gender and, 30 (figure)
global differences in, 32
globalization and, 199
health and, 41–42
housing and, 40–41, 41 (photo)
as presidential priority, 15
race/ethnicity and, 30 (figure), 31, 38
redefining, 46–47
relative, 27
state differences in, 29 (data map), 30, 32
war on, 15, 42–43, 323
welfare reform and, 43
working poor, 32
832
Poverty guidelines, 28, 29 (table)
Poverty threshold, 28, 28 (table)
Powell, Brian, 142
Power, 35, 37, 140, 373–374
Power, Matthew, 341 (box)
Power elite, 9, 35, 37 (box)
PPOs. See Preferred provider organizations
Preference system for immigration, 60
Preferred provider organizations (PPOs), 227 (box)
Pregnancy:
alcohol and drug use, 262
teen, 147–150, 147 (box), 147 (table), 148–149 (box), 155
women in the workplace, 196
Pregracke, Chad, 350 (box), 350 (photo)
Prekindergarten, 181
Pren, Karen, 61
Prescription drug plans, state, 230
Prescription drug spending, 226, 226 (photo)
Presidential elections, 128 (box), 251
Prestige, 35
Prevalence rate, 216
Price, Thomas, 268
PricewaterhouseCoopers, 193
Prince, Barbara, 394 (box), 394 (photo)
Princeton University, 183 (box)
Principles of Scientific Management, The (Taylor), 193
PRISM program, 244
Prisoners, women, 284 (photo), 285–286, 285 (table)
Prisons, 295–296, 295 (figure), 301–303, 301 (photo), 302–303 (box)
Privacy, loss of, 242, 243
Probation and parole officers, 304 (box)
Probation and parole revocations, 295
Process goals, 361
Programme for International Student Assessment, 172
Project for Excellence in Journalism, 248, 251
Project Harmony, 152
Project Homeless Connect, 327
Project Northland, 276–278
Proletariat, 9, 140
“Promise, The†(Mills), 2
833
Promise Neighborhoods, 324
Promise Zones Initiative, 15
“Prom Mom,†150
Property crime, 289
p.444
Provisional IRA, 371 (box)
Pruitt, Scott, 339
Psychological impact of war and terrorism, 364–365, 367, 368 (box)
Psychological perspective, 98, 259–260
PTSD. See Posttraumatic stress disorder
Public Agenda, 173–174
Public health, 277 (box)
Public school choice, 179–180, 184–185
Public sociology, 18 (box), 393
Public trust of news media, 249–250
Puerto Rico, 331
Qualitative methods, 13
Quantitative methods, 13
Queer, 82 (box), 97
Quezon City, Philippines, 341 (box)
Quota system for immigration, 60
Race and ethnicity:
about, 51, 52 (table)
affirmative action, 69–71
age and, 118 (box), 124
alcohol and drug abuse, 264–265, 271
conflict perspective, 57–58, 60 (table)
consequences of inequalities, 60–67
crime/criminal justice and, 289, 290–291, 292, 292 (table), 293–294, 297, 298–299
defining, 52–55
diversity and inclusivity, 71–74
education, 65–66, 66 (table), 175–177, 176 (figure), 176 (photo), 185
feminist perspective, 58, 60 (table)
functionalist perspective, 56, 60 (table)
grandparents as parents, 158
health, 66–67
home ownership, 65
immigration, 51, 52 (photo), 52 (table), 60–63, 61 (photo), 62 (figure), 67–69, 68 (photo)
834
income and wealth, 63–65
integration patterns, 55–56
interactionist perspective, 58–59, 60 (table)
job discrimination, 197–198
life expectancy, 214 (table)
medical students/physicians, 218
net worth, 64, 64 (figure)
population growth and composition, 310
poverty and, 30 (figure), 31, 38
race, defined, 52
race, welfare as code word for, 38
residential segregation, 313
responding to inequalities, 67–74
social class and, 30 (figure), 31, 53, 124
sociological perspectives, 56–59, 60 (table)
statistics, 53, 53 (table)
teen birthrates, 147 (box), 147 (table)
unemployment and underemployment, 198–199
wage gap, 87 (box), 87 (figure)
See also Segregation
Racial Formation in the United States (Omi & Winant), 52
Racialized conflicts, 57–58
Racial profiling, 293, 294
Racism, 55, 334–335
Radcliffe Public Policy Center, 150
Radler, Michael, 297
Rainie, Lee, 59 (box)
Rainwater, Lee, 32
Rangarajan, Anu, 44
Rape. See Sexual assault/violence
Ray, Rebecca, 153 (box)
Rayside, David, 390
Reagan, Ronald, 5, 169–170
Real Food Challenge, 351
Reauthorization Act (1998), 272
Rebellion, 282 (table)
Recidivism, 296
Recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
Redemptive social movements, 385 (table)
Redfield, Robert, 52
835
Reform:
educational, 169–170, 179–180
health care, 227–229
welfare, 15, 43, 57–58
Reformative social movements, 385 (table)
Reform movements, 384, 385 (table), 387–389
Refugees, 54, 63 (box)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), 70
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, 346
Register, Brianna, 298–299
Reid, T. R., 231 (box)
Reiman, Jeffrey, 281
Relative deprivation, 385–386
Relative poverty, 27
Religion, 77
Reparative therapy, 103
Repeat offenses, 296
Research:
applied, 13
basic, 12–13
as career field, 352 (box)
comparative, 13
historical, 13
methods, 93 (box)
survey, 13
Residential segregation, 312–313
Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, 182, 184
Resource mobilization theory, 386
Responding:
to age inequalities, 127–131
to crime, 294–297
to gender inequalities, 89–92
to racial and ethnic inequalities, 67–74
to sexual orientation inequalities, 106–110
to social class inequalities, 42–47
Restore Our Future, 37 (box)
Retaliation, 376
Retirement income, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
Retreatism, 282 (table)
Revolution, 358
836
Revolutionary social movements, 384, 385 (table)
Richmond, David, 390
Rickman, Dana, 181
Right-wing groups, 370
Riley, Lori, 123 (box)
Ringberg, Toly, 339
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 369
Ritualism, 282 (table)
Ritzer, George, 377 (box)
Rivadeneyra, RocÃo, 241
Robbins, Cynthia, 261
Roberts, Dorothy, 262–263
Roberts, John G., Jr., 66, 229
Roberts, Keith, 7 (box)
Robinson, John, 150
Robinson, Marian, 138
Rochester Institute of Technology, 15 (photo)
Rohlen, Thomas, 171 (box)
Role strain, 261
Roman, Paul, 276
Rome, 155
Rome plows, 368–369
Romero, Diana, 148
Romney, Mitt, 37, 37 (box)
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 349 (box)
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 15, 42, 128
Rose, Richard, 223
Rose, Stephen, 84
Rossello, Ricardo, 331
Roth, Louise Marie, 83–84
Rubin, Lillian, 150
Rudowitz, Robin, 226–227
Rural sociology, 307
Russell, Glenda M., 109 (box)
Russia, 223, 332
Ryan, Paul, 14 (box)
Ryan White CARE Act, 5
Ryu, Kirak, 319
Sacco, Paul, 276
837
Sacks, Peter, 174 (box)
Sadker, David, 168
Sadker, Myra, 168
Sado, Miwa, 194
p.445
Safe-haven laws, 155
Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance (California, 2012), 278
Safe Schools Improvement Act (2011), 184
Sald, Mayer, 386
Sallie Mae, 173 (box)
Salt Lake City School District Board of Education, 109 (box)
Sam, Michael, 104, 105 (photo)
Samers, Michael, 57
Same-sex couples, 103–104
Same-sex marriage:
countries allowed in, 104 (table)
Defense of Marriage Act, 99, 103
history, 97, 103–104, 105 (photo)
support for, 108 (box), 108 (table)
Sampson, Robert, 289
Samuels, Steven, 106
Sanchez, Ginette, 182
Sanctions, economic, 375
Sandler, Todd, 359
Sandoval, Carlos, 159 (box)
San Francisco, 327, 346
Sang-Hun, Choe, 141
São Paulo, Brazil, 321
Saporito, Salvatore, 185
Sasser, Jennifer, 130
Satake, Miki, 40
Sato, Hiroshi, 33 (box)
SAT scores, 175–176
Saudi Arabia, 79 (photo)
Savage, Dan, 110 (box), 110 (photo)
Savage Inequalities (Kozol), 167
#SayHerName, 299
Scheck, Barry, 302
Scherker, David, 3
838
Schmitt, John, 153 (box)
Schmoke, Kurt L., 272
Schneider, Helen, 11
Schnell, Frauke, 123 (box)
Schoen, Cathy, 225
Schoenbaum, Stephen C., 225
School choice, 179–180, 184–185
School integration, 65
School violence, 177, 182, 184, 388 (photo)
School vouchers, 185
Schorr, Daniel, 242
Schroedel, Jean, 11
Schultz, Howard, 322 (box)
Schultz, Tammy, 106
Schwartz, John, 331
Schwartz, Robert C., 220
Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 271
Science, defined, 12
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), 174–175, 175 (figure), 181–182
Science of sociology, 12–13, 74 (box)
Scientific management, 193
Seabury, Seth, 220
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 347
Seattle, 66, 276 (box)
Secondary data analysis, 13
Second generation, 68
Secondhand smoke, 265–266
See Jane program, 252 (box)
Segal, David, 106
Segregation:
de facto, 65, 167
defined, 55
in education, 65
horizontal, 83, 84
Jim Crow laws, 55 (photo)
occupational sex, 82–84, 83 (photo), 83 (table)
protests against, 386, 389–390, 390 (photo)
residential, 312–313
vertical, 83–84
Self, 11
839
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, 357, 372–373
Sernau, Scott, 26
Service learning, 111 (box)
Service revolution, 190
Sessions, Jeff, 68
Sex, defined, 77
Sex education, 148, 149, 155
Sexism, 77
Sexual assault/violence, 88, 92, 288, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 368 (box)
Sexual harassment in schools, 178–179, 178 (photo)
Sexual Minorities Uganda, 97
Sexual orientation:
about, 97
biological perspective, 98
conflict perspective, 99–100, 102 (table)
defined, 97
employment protections, 110
family legislation, 108
feminist perspective, 99–100, 102 (table)
functionalist perspective, 98–99, 102 (table)
harassment in schools, 177–178
interactionist perspective, 100–101, 102 (table)
nondiscrimination protections, 106–107
psychological perspective, 98
responding to inequalities, 106–110
sociological perspectives, 98–101, 102 (table)
work and, 104–105, 110, 205
Shalikashvili, John, 106
Shapiro, Thomas, 26
Shea, Katherine K., 225
Shelters, homeless, 325–326
Shelton, Audrey, 245 (box)
Shepard, Matthew, 103
Shutt, Mairead, 326 (box)
Sick role, 217
Sicular, Terry, 33 (box)
Sierra Club, 346
Sierra Leone, 213
Silk, Jessica, 148
Silver, Roxane Cohen, 239
840
Silvercup Studios, 127
Silverman, Linda K., 174
Simmel, Georg, 314
Simóes, Solange, 89
Sioux, 334–335
Skilled Veterans Corps, 115
Skogan, Wesley, 297 (box)
Smart Growth Program, 325
Smeeding, Timothy, 32
Smelser, Neil, 386
Smith, Alisa, 349 (box)
Smith, Dorothy, 10
Smith, Gary, 148
Smith, R. S., 167
Smith, Stacy, 252 (box)
Smith, Vivian, 263
SmithBattle, Lee, 148–149 (box)
Smog, 340
Smoking, 265–266
SNAP. See Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Snowden, Edward, 244
Social capital, 166
Social class:
about, 25–27
age and, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
children, 30 (figure), 31–32, 31 (figure), 123–124
China, income inequality in, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
conflict perspective, 34–36, 38 (table)
divorce, 144
education and, 172–174
families, 150–151
feminist perspective, 36, 38 (table)
food insecurity and hunger, 39–40, 40 (photo)
functionalist perspective, 32–34, 34 (box), 38 (table)
gender and, 30 (figure), 124
gentrification, 318–319
global differences, 32
health and, 41–42
housing affordability, 40–41, 41 (photo)
income inequality, 25–26, 26 (table)
841
interactionist perspective, 36–38, 38 (table)
Internet use, 247 (figure)
life expectancy and, 213
p.446
poverty, consequences of, 39–42
poverty, defined, 27
poverty, demographics of, 29–32, 29 (data map), 30 (figure), 31 (figure)
poverty, federal measures of, 28, 28 (table), 29 (table)
poverty, redefining, 46–47
race/ethnicity and, 30 (figure), 31, 53, 124
responding to inequalities, 42–47
sociological perspectives, 32–38, 38 (table)
states, 29 (data map), 30, 32
urbanization, 315
wealth inequality, 26–27
welfare, life after, 43–44
welfare policy, 42–43
working poor, 32
Social constructionism, 4–5, 336
Social construction of reality, 4
Social control theory, 283
Social inequality, 36
Social innovation, 16
Social institutions, 7 (box), 135, 137
Social insurance, 42
Socialized medicine, 231 (box)
Social justice, 17 (box)
Social media, 238–239, 238 (box), 239 (photo)
Social movements:
about, 384–385, 385 (table)
defined, 384
emergence of, 385–387, 386 (photo)
Social policy, 15
Social problems:
community and, 389–393
defined, 4
history, 5–7
negative consequences of, 4
objective and subjective realities of, 4–5
842
solution, transformation to, 14–16
See also specific topics
Social Security, 116, 125 (box), 127–129
Social Security Act (1935), 42, 128
Social Security Administration, 28, 129
Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees, 129
Social stratification, 23, 32
Social Things (Lemert), 16
Social Transformation of American Medicine, The (Starr), 218
Social work, 131 (box)
Society, 7 (box)
Sociological connections, 16–17
Sociological imagination, 2–3, 16–17
Sociological perspectives:
about, 7–11, 12 (table)
age and aging, 119–122, 122 (table)
alcohol and drug abuse, 259–264, 263 (table)
crime and criminal justice, 281–286, 287 (table)
education, 164, 166–169, 169 (table)
environment, 332–337, 337 (table)
families, 139–142, 142 (table)
gender, 78–81, 81 (table)
health and medicine, 214–221, 221 (table)
media, 238–242, 243 (table)
race and ethnicity, 56–59, 60 (table)
sexual orientation, 98–101, 102 (table)
social class, 32–38, 38 (table)
urbanization and population growth, 311–315, 315 (table)
war and terrorism, 361–364, 365 (table)
work and the economy, 193–198, 197 (table)
See also Conflict perspective; Feminist perspective; Functionalist perspective; Interactionist
perspective
Sociology:
defined, 2
environmental, 331–332
public, 18 (box), 393
review of, 7 (box)
rural, 307
science of, 12–13, 74 (box)
urban, 307–308
843
Sociology at Work:
about, 18 (box)
afterschool education, 186 (box)
critical thinking, 47 (box)
graduate study, 394 (box)
internships and service learning, 111 (box)
law, 209 (box)
medicine, 233 (box)
nonprofit work, 326 (box)
paralegals and legal assistants, 159 (box)
probation and parole officers, 304 (box)
public health, 277 (box)
research, 93 (box), 352 (box)
science of sociology, 74 (box)
social work, 131 (box)
software development, 253 (box)
working and volunteering abroad, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Socio-spatial perspective, 311
Sodexho Marriott, 301
Sodomy laws, 102
Soft-power approach, 373–374
Software development, 253 (box)
Solution, transformation to, 14–16
Sontag, Susan, 121
Sotomayor, Sonia, 209 (box)
South Africa, 1, 1 (table), 97
South African Medical Research Council, 88
Southern Poverty Law Center, 370
South Korea, 141
Spanish-American War, 359
Spanish-language news media, 240
Spanish-speaking police officers, 300
Spatial polarization, 311
Special interest groups, 371
Species being, 9
Specter, Malcolm, 5
Speech, political, 37 (box)
Sports, 91, 91 (photo), 104–105, 105 (photo), 241
Stacey, Judith, 156
Standards in education, 180
844
Standing Rock Sioux, 334–335
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 89
Starbucks, 322 (box)
Starr, Paul, 218
States:
age, median, 117
alcohol and drug abuse, 271
bachelor’s degrees, 165 (box), 165 (data map)
environment, 346
gender wage gap, 85 (data map)
health care reform, 227–228
living wage movement, 205
poverty, demographics of, 29 (data map), 30, 32
prescription drug plans, 230
sexual orientation inequalities, 103
See also specific states
Steele, Bruce, 109 (box)
Steele, Claude, 177
Steelman, Lara Carr, 142
Steffensmeier, Darrell, 284–285
Steinsapir, Carol, 348–349
STEM. See Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Stephens, Jason, 326 (box)
Stepler, Renee, 143
Stereotype threat, 177
Stevens, Martin, 146–147
Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (1987), 326
Stigma, 121–122
Stock, Mathis, 314 (photo), 315
Stombler, Mindy, 168
Stone Semmler, Stacey, 209 (box), 209 (photo)
Strain theory, 282–283, 282 (table)
Strang, John, 275 (box)
Stress, job, 202
St. Rose, Andresse, 174–175
Structural pluralism, 56
p.447
Student activism, 377–378, 388 (box), 388 (photo), 391 (box), 391 (photo)
Student Confederation of Chile, 391 (box)
845
Student Federation of the University of Chile, 391 (box)
Student Labor Action Project, 208
Student Non-Discrimination Act (2011), 184
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, 390
Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act (1990), 165 (box)
Subjective reality, 4–5
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 273
Suburbanization, 308, 309–310
Suicide, 217, 365
Sullivan, Teresa, 245 (box)
Super Bowl, 250
Superfund program, 340–341
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 39–40, 46
Supplemental Poverty Measure, 46–47
Surgeons, 33–34
Survey research, 13
Susan G. Komen Foundation, 222
Sustainable communities, 324–325, 325 (table)
Sutherland, Edwin, 263, 286, 291
Swain Thomas, Dorothy, 167
Swanger, Joanna, 203 (box)
Sweatshops, 204, 204 (box), 204 (photo), 208
Sweatshop Watch, 204 (box)
Sweden, 129, 150, 349 (box)
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, 37 (box)
Swink, Dawn, 69
Switzerland, 56, 63 (box)
Symbolic interactionism, 11
Syringe exchange programs, 276 (box)
Taalas, Petteri, 338
Tadlock, Barry, 36
Taft, William Howard, 202
Taking a World View:
Brazil, policing in, 297 (box)
China, aging in, 118 (box)
China, income inequality in, 33 (box), 33 (photo)
education for girls and young women, 90 (box)
global immigration, 63 (box)
global threats, identifying, 6 (box), 6 (table)
846
global urbanization and population growth, 312 (box), 312 (photo)
health care models, 231 (box)
International Women’s Media Foundation, 243 (box)
Japan, educational tracking and testing in, 171 (box)
landfills, 341 (box), 341 (photo)
marijuana legalization movement, 267 (box)
Mexico, maquiladoras in, 203 (box)
military service, gay, 107 (box), 107 (photo)
nongovernmental organizations, 389 (box)
Northern Ireland self-rule, 371 (box)
parental leave policies, 153 (box), 153 (figure)
See also Global differences
TANF. See Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Target populations, 11
Task Force of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 270
Taylor, Frederick W., 193, 194
Taylor, Paul, 65, 173 (box)
Teachers, 34 (box)
Teach for America, 183 (box)
Teens:
alcohol use, 268–270, 269 (figure), 270 (photo)
contraceptive use, 148, 149
fathers, 149
mothers, 148–149 (box), 149
pregnancy, 147–150, 147 (box), 147 (table), 148–149 (box), 155
tobacco and nicotine use, 266
Telecommunications Act (1996), 251
Telep, Cody, 301
Television, 238 (photo), 239
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), 36, 43–44
Teresa, Mother, 242
Terrorism:
conflict, defining, 359–361
defined, 359
domestic, 360, 370–371
international, 360–361
as term/concept, 364
See also War and terrorism
Texas, 70–71, 102
Texting while driving, 248–249, 249 (photo)
847
THC, 266
Theory, defined, 7
See also specific theories
Think Before You Pink campaign, 223
Thinking, critical, 47 (box)
Thoman, Elizabeth, 253
Thomas, Kathryn, 127
Thomas, W. I., 167
Threats, global, 6 (box), 6 (table)
Thun, Cecil, 58
Thurlow, Setsuko, 374 (box), 374 (photo)
Tickamyer, Ann, 36
Tinker, Anthea, 146–147
Title IX, 90–92, 91 (photo), 148 (box)
Tobacco, 265–266
Tomaskovic-Devey, Donald, 293, 299
Tong, Rosemarie, 9
Tourism, 314 (photo), 315
Toxic Substances Control Act (1976), 345
Tracking, 168–169, 171 (box)
Trail of Tears, 56
Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network, 277 (box)
Transformative social movements, 385 (table)
Transgender individuals, 78, 92
Transition, 82 (box)
Transphobia, 98
Transportation and urban sprawl, 319–321, 323
Traumatic brain injury, 368 (box)
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 372, 374 (box)
Trejo, Stephen, 59
Truman, Harry, 138, 231 (box)
Trump, Donald:
alcohol and drug abuse policy, 267, 272
election of, 25, 128 (box)
environment, 333, 334–335, 339, 344
globalization, 199
health and medicine, 213, 229
immigration, 68–69, 370
media, 249
transgender individuals, 92
848
war and terrorism, 370 (box), 372
welfare, 44
Trump, Melania, 349 (box)
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 181
Turk, Austin, 283
Turner, Brock, 289 (box)
Turner, Robyne, 313–314
Turner, Susan, 298
Turpin, David, 137–138 (box)
Turpin, Louise, 137–138 (box)
Twenty-Sixth Amendment, 388 (box)
Tyson, Alec, 128 (box)
UCLA. See University of California, Los Angeles
UCR. See Uniform Crime Report
Uganda, 97
Ullman, Edward, 8
Umbrella Revolution, 357
UN. See United Nations
UNAIDS, 1, 1 (table)
Underemployment, 198–199
Unemployment, 2, 189, 198
See also Work and the economy
UNESCO. See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
p.448
UNICEF. See United Nations Children’s Fund
Uniform Crime Report (UCR), 259, 287, 288
Uninsured population, 226–227
Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees, 208
Unions, labor, 208
United Kingdom:
ageism in the workplace, 127
alcohol drinking by teens, 268–269
college drug programs, 275 (box)
elder abuse and mistreatment, 146–147
grandparents as parents, 158
health and medicine, 225
military service, gay, 107 (box)
nurses, 197
849
occupational sex segregation, 84
Operation Banner, 371 (box)
women in the workplace, 196
United Nations (UN):
immigration, 60
intimate partner violence and sexual assault, 88
nuclear weapons, 372, 374 (box)
population statistics, 312 (box), 333
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 31
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 170, 170 (table)
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 339
United Nations Girls Education Initiative, 90 (box)
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 267 (box), 288
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 334
United Nations Population Fund, 312 (box)
United Students Against Sweatshops, 208
United We Serve initiative, 390
UNITE HERE, 208
Universities. See Colleges and universities; specific institutions
University of California, Irvine, 351
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 72 (box), 390
University of Chicago, 8, 196, 197–198, 307–308
University of Chile, 391 (box)
University of Kentucky, 351
University of Massachusetts–Amherst, 351
University of Michigan, 71
University of New Hampshire, 347
University of Vermont, 73
University of Virginia, 51, 109 (box)
Unrein, Mitch, 241
Urban ecology, 313
Urban Institute, 43, 62
Urbanization and population growth:
about, 307
aging, modernization theory of, 120
China, 33 (box)
community, policy, and social action, 323–327
conflict perspective, 311–313, 315 (table)
consequences of, 316–323
environment and, 332–333
850
feminist perspective, 313–314, 315 (table)
functionalist perspective, 311, 315 (table)
gentrification, 318–319
global, 309 (table), 312 (box), 312 (photo)
homelessness, 8, 317–318, 318 (photo), 325–326
interactionist perspective, 314–315, 315 (table)
population growth, 310, 332–333
sociological perspectives, 311–315, 315 (table)
suburbanization, 309–310
sustainable communities, 324–325, 325 (table)
urbanization, defined, 308
urbanization, process of, 308–309, 308 (table), 309 (table)
urban living environment, 316–317
urban revitalization programs, 324
urban sociology and demography, 307–308
urban sprawl and transportation, 319–321, 323
Urbanized areas, 310
Urban living environment, 316–317
Urban population, 310
Urban revitalization programs, 324
Urban sociology, 307–308
Urban sprawl and transportation, 319–321, 323
Uruguay, 267 (box)
U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 292, 296
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 (box), 189, 198, 200, 253 (box)
U.S. Census Bureau:
age and aging, 117
crime, 288
education, 164
families, 137, 143, 144, 158
health insurance, lack of, 226
income, 25–26
International Programs Center, 118 (box)
media usage, 246
poverty, 28, 43, 46, 123–124
race and ethnicity, 51, 53, 59, 63–64
sexual orientation, 103
urban population, 310
U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, 14 (box)
U.S. Conference of Mayors, 40, 318, 346
851
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 28, 39–40
U.S. Department of Commerce, 54 (box)
U.S. Department of Defense, 107 (photo), 370 (box)
U.S. Department of Education, 71, 92, 172
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 28, 29 (table), 103, 155, 181, 228, 230
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 373
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 317, 323–324
U.S. Department of Justice, 54 (box), 69, 103, 152, 291, 298
U.S. Department of Labor, 153 (box), 202–203, 204 (box), 229, 275
U.S. Department of State, 373
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 231 (box), 365, 367, 368 (box)
U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, 346
U.S. PIRG, 323
U.S. Senate, 11, 77
U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, 369
U.S. Sentencing Commission, 271
U.S. Supreme Court:
affirmative action, 70, 71
Affordable Care Act, 229
ageism in the workplace, 127
environment, 345
immigration, 68
marriage equality, 97
political speech, 37 (box)
race and ethnicity, 55 (photo), 65, 66
school vouchers, 185
sexual orientation, 102, 103, 107
wage discrimination, 86
Uunk, Wilford, 144
VA. See U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Valentine, Edward K., 55
Vallejo, Camila, 391 (box), 391 (photo)
Values, 7 (box), 74 (box)
Van Ausdale, Debra, 55
van der Lippe, Tanja, 150
Van Evera, Stephen, 373
Vaping, 266
Variables, 13
Vauban, Germany, 321 (box)
852
Velasco, Gabriel, 173 (box)
Vélib’, 321 (photo)
p.449
Venice, 315
Vermont, 97
Vertical segregation, 83–84
Veterans, 365, 367, 367 (photo), 368 (box)
See also Military
Victims of crime, 293–294
Vietnam War, 359, 368–369
Villamil, Tony, 331
Violence:
domestic, 99–100, 140, 152, 154, 154 (box)
intimate, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
intimate partner, 88, 144–145, 145 (figure), 152, 154, 154 (box)
school, 177, 182, 184, 388 (photo)
sexual, 88, 92, 288, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 368 (box)
against women, 88, 152, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 298
Violence Against Women Act, 298
Violent crime, 288–289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 292 (box)
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994), 298, 299, 302 (box)
Visceral leishmaniasis, 232 (box)
Visual communication, 336–337
Vitter, Zoe, 301
Vocational Rehabilitation Act (1973), 205
Voices in the Community:
Auerbach, Judith, 18 (box)
Campos, Sofia, 72 (box)
Davis, Geena, 252 (box), 252 (photo)
Greenfield, Jerry, 207 (box), 207 (photo)
Hale, Victoria, 232 (box), 232 (photo)
Jama, Shilo, 276 (box)
Johnson, Earvin “Magic,†322 (box), 322 (photo)
Kenner, Max, 302–303 (box)
Kopp, Wendy, 183 (box), 183 (photo)
Lim Miller, Mauricio, 45 (box)
McBride, Sarah, 80 (box), 80 (photo)
Pregracke, Chad, 350 (box), 350 (photo)
Savage, Dan, 110 (box), 110 (photo)
853
Thurlow, Setsuko, 374 (box), 374 (photo)
Vallejo, Camila, 391 (box), 391 (photo)
Ward, Wynona, 154 (box)
Young, Barbara, 130 (box)
Volkwein, Karin, 123 (box)
Volunteer community service, 111 (box), 377 (box), 377 (photo), 390–391
von Hippel, Paul, 172
Voting rights, 89, 388 (box)
Vouchers, school, 185
Wage:
gender gap, 85 (data map), 195, 195 (figure), 219–220, 220 (photo)
minimum, 41, 200, 201 (box), 201 (figure), 204–205
Waitzkin, Howard, 218
Walls, N. Eugene, 88
Wall Street movement, 387
Wall Street professionals, 83–84
Walmart, 335 (box)
Walters, Sarah, 319
Wang, Gabe, 73
Wang, Wendy, 173 (box)
War and terrorism:
about, 357
antiwar and peace movements, 376–378
community, policy, and social action, 372–378
conflict, defining, 357–361
conflict perspective, 362, 365 (table)
costs, hidden, 368 (box)
domestic terrorism, 370–371
economic impact, 367–368, 367 (photo), 367 (table)
economic sanctions, 375
environmental impact, 368–369
feminist perspective, 362–363, 363 (photo), 365 (table)
functionalist perspective, 361–362, 365 (table)
impact, 364–365, 367–370
interactionist perspective, 364, 365 (table)
military response, 375–376
nuclear weapons, 372, 372 (photo), 374 (box)
political diplomacy, 373–374
political impact, 369–370
854
problems, 364–365, 367–372
psychological impact, 364–365, 367, 368 (box)
sociological perspectives, 361–364, 365 (table)
terrorism, 359–361
U.S. conflicts, 358–359, 359 (illustration), 360 (table)
U.S. global engagement, public opinion on, 366 (box), 366 (figure)
war, 357–358, 358 (table)
See also specific wars and terrorist acts
Ward, L. Monique, 241
Ward, Wynona, 154 (box)
Wardlaw, Grant, 359–360
Warnecke, Richard B., 319
War of 1812, 358
War on Drugs, 259, 261–262, 270–271, 272, 296
War on Poverty, 15, 42–43, 323
Warren, David, 173 (box)
Warren, Patricia, 293, 299
Wasburn, Mara, 241
Wasburn, Philo, 241
Washington, DC, 319
Washington Healthy Youth Survey, 267 (box)
Washington Post, 365
Washington State, 71, 251, 267 (box)
Waste and recycling, 343 (box), 343 (figure)
Water Protectors, 334–335
Water quality and supply, 342
Wealth, 26–27, 35, 63–65, 64 (figure)
Weaver, Heather, 148
Weaver, Kathryn E., 319
Weber, Max, 23, 35, 193
Wechsler, Henry, 269, 270
Weigt, Jill, 44
Weisburd, David, 301
Weitz, Rose, 41, 218
Weitzman, Elissa, 270
Welfare:
conflict perspective, 35–36
feminist perspective, 36
functionalist perspective, 34
interactionist perspective, 37–38
855
life after, 43–44
policy history, 42–43
reform, 15, 43, 57–58
See also Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996)
Wells, Samantha, 268
Wentworth, William, 123
West, Loraine, 118 (box)
West Africa, 213
Westfield, New Jersey, 41
Wetzel, Christopher, 388 (box)
Where the Girls Aren’t, 252 (box)
White, Jonathan, 93 (box)
White, Ryan, 5
White, Shelley, 93 (box)
White-collar crime, 291
White House Council for Community Solutions, 45 (box)
White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, 92
Whites:
crime and criminal justice, 292, 292 (table)
education, 65–66, 66 (table)
income and wealth, 63, 64 (figure), 65
life expectancy, 214 (table)
poverty, 38
segregation, 55, 55 (photo), 313
See also Race and ethnicity
Whitfield, Darren L., 88
WHO. See World Health Organization
Wild, T. Cameron, 268
Wilderness Act (1964), 344, 345
Wilderness protection, 344
Wildman, Stephanie, 80, 81
Wilkinson, Paul, 371 (box)
William, Prince, 238 (photo)
Williams, David, 35, 41
Williams, Heidi, 215
Wilson, John, 384
p.450
Wilson, Sarah, 268 (photo)
Wilson, William Julius, 289
856
Winant, Howard, 52
Winning Our Future, 37 (box)
Wirth, Lewis, 8
Wisconsin, 44
Wolfgang, Marvin, 292
Wombacher, Kevin, 245 (box)
Women:
affirmative action, 70
alcohol and drug abuse, 265
globalization and, 199–200
households headed by, 138
in media, 243 (box)
in national parliaments/congress, 77, 78 (table)
prisoners/inmates, 284 (photo), 285–286, 285 (table)
violence against, 88, 152, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure), 298
in workplace, 191, 192 (table)
See also Gender
Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, 154
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 376
Women’s movement, 89–90, 388, 389
Women’s Peace Party, 376
Women’s Rights Convention, 89
Wood, Robert, 44
Woodhouse, Shawn, 70
Woolworth’s sit-in, 390, 390 (photo)
Work and the economy:
about, 189
affirmative action, 69–70
community, policy, and social action, 202–208
conflict perspective, 194, 194 (illustration), 197 (table)
elderly, employment of, 125 (box), 125 (figure)
federal policies, 202–205
feminist perspective, 195–196, 195 (figure), 196 (table), 197 (table)
functionalist perspective, 193, 197 (table)
globalization, 199–200
interactionist perspective, 196–198, 197 (table)
living wage movement, 205–206
minimum wage, 41, 200, 201 (box), 201 (figure), 204–205
problems, 198–202
sexual orientation inequalities, 104–105, 110, 205
857
sociological perspectives, 193–198, 197 (table)
unemployment and underemployment, 2, 189, 198–199
unions, labor, 208
work, changing nature of, 190–193, 190 (table), 192 (figure), 192 (table)
worker-friendly businesses, 206–207
workplace hazards and stress, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
See also Workplace
Worker-friendly businesses, 206–207
Working and volunteering abroad, 377 (box), 377 (photo)
Working-class families, 150
Working poor, 32, 41
Workplace:
ageism in, 127
boundary-less, 245 (box)
deaths, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
drug treatment/prevention programs, 273, 275–276
drug use in, 268
hazards and stress, 200, 202, 202 (photo)
immigrants in, 192–193
injuries, 200
women in, 191, 192 (table)
See also Work and the economy
Work relief programs, 42
World Bank, 27, 199
World Health Organization (WHO):
environment, 340, 342
HIV/AIDS, 5
pharmaceutical companies and, 218
sexual orientation, 98
smoking, 265
violence against women, 88, 289, 290 (box), 290 (figure)
World Meteorological Organization, 338
World War I, 359
World War II, 191, 195, 359, 372, 372 (photo)
Worldwatch Institute, 349 (box)
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, 377 (box)
Wray, Christopher, 371
Wright, Kevin, 245 (box)
Xu, Jun, 123
858
Yamada, Yasuteru, 115
Yamani, Hadeel al-, 243 (box)
Yancey Martin, Patricia, 168
Young, Barbara, 130 (box)
Young, Nathan, 336–337
Young, Nigel, 376
Yousafzai, Malala, 90 (box), 90 (photo)
Yousafzai, Ziauddin, 90 (box)
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), 177
Zambia, 332
Zavitsky, Teresa, 40
Zero-waste movement, 341 (box)
Zetterberg, Hans, 18 (box)
Zhou, Min, 56, 198–199
Ziegler, Cyd, 105
Ziemelis, Andris, 275 (box)
Zimbardo, Philip, 286
Zimmerman, George, 293
Zittleman, Karen, 168
ZMapp, 213
Zogby, John, 377 (box)
Zuckerberg, Mark, 244
p.451
p.452
859
Table of Contents
1. Visual Preface
2. Visual Preface
3. Front Matter
4. Brief Contents
5. Detailed Contents
6. Media Library
7. Preface
8. Acknowledgments
9. About the Author
10. 1 Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
11. Part I The Bases of Inequality
12. 2 Social Class
13. 3 Race and Ethnicity
14. 4 Gender
15. 5 Sexual Orientation
16. 6 Age and Aging
17. Part II Our Social Institutions
18. 7 Families
19. 8 Education
20. 9 Work and the Economy
21. 10 Health and Medicine
22. Study Questions
23. 11 The Media
24. 12 Alcohol and Drug Abuse
25. 13 Crime and Criminal Justice
26. 14 Urbanization and Population Growth
27. 15 The Environment
28. 16 War and Terrorism
29. Part IV Individual Action and Social Change
30. 17 Social Problems and Social Action
31. Glossary
32. References
33. Index
860
- 1. Visual Preface
- 2. Visual Preface
- 3. Front Matter
- 4. Brief Contents
- 5. Detailed Contents
- 6. Media Library
- 7. Preface
- 8. Acknowledgments
- 9. About the Author
- 10. 1 Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
- 11. Part I The Bases of Inequality
- 12. 2 Social Class
- 13. 3 Race and Ethnicity
- 14. 4 Gender
- 15. 5 Sexual Orientation
- 16. 6 Age and Aging
- 17. Part II Our Social Institutions
- 18. 7 Families
- 19. 8 Education
- 20. 9 Work and the Economy
- 21. 10 Health and Medicine
- 22. Study Questions
- 23. 11 The Media
- 24. 12 Alcohol and Drug Abuse
- 25. 13 Crime and Criminal Justice
- 26. 14 Urbanization and Population Growth
- 27. 15 The Environment
- 28. 16 War and Terrorism
- 29. Part IV Individual Action and Social Change
- 30. 17 Social Problems and Social Action
- 31. Glossary
- 32. References
- 33. Index
