SOCIAL PROBLEMS

CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO SP

"God is good" --> Good means that which is desirable, so obeying God is good for you "The wages of sin is death" --> disobeying God is bad for you; sin is destructive by nature. It is meant to wreck you, give you pain, anger, etc. - So, many of our problems (social and personal) are a result of sin

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN

"Sociologists have known for a long time that strong families are important for strong societies and well-adjusted and productive people." - Dr. Kurt Finsterbusch - Fact of the matter is that sometimes intellectuals sometimes shy away from talking about what they don't like to talk about. A lot of sociologists are on the left, and like the freedom to do what they want to do and they don't talk about things that would embarrass them

MARRIAGE

% of Americans who never marry in 1950-1960's= 5% % of Americans who never marry in 2014=15% (estimated) Marriage % now a. Boomers= 50% b. Generation X= 36% c. Millennials= 26%

*Married couples have more sex than singles

*Conservative protestants (men and women) report having sex more often than any other group - Lowest= liberal Protestants *Conservative Protestant women are more likely than others to report they were extremely physically and emotionally satisfied with their sex lives

So how do you know? (most of the time)

*We know most things by tradition and authority (NOT by experience) - "Knowledge" is agreement with others - Knowledge comes by trust/faith (in people, institutions, etc.) - Reason people know is b/c they were told by someone else. You don't know you were born from your mom unless you got a DNA test to prove it *Almost everything we know is from a process called learning and we draw conclusions from this; always has possibility for error

Why have attitudes changed? (Habits of the heart book)

- "Expressive individualism is liberation and fulfillment of the individual; it empowers the individual to think of commitments (from marriage and work to political and religious involvement) as enhancements of the sense of individual well-being rather than as moral imperatives." - Dr. Campbell agrees with this quote *Marriage will not make an unhappy person happy, --> if you're unhappy before marriage, you will generally still be unhappy during marriage

Marriage and violence

- "When men batter women" 1998, argues that marriage is still structured in a way to institutionalize male dominance, and such dominance makes high rates of battering inevitable - But, statistics prove this to be wrong Social scientists use "husband" to mean anyone who comes close to a women; marriage is actually the safest place for a women, whereas cohabitation isn't

Christians help the poor: front and center biblically What can you do?

- 1 Peter 4:9-10 - Commit yourself to living on 80% of your income, saving 10% and giving away 10% to the Lord's work and the poor - Use your professional skills or other abilities to serve the needy - Invest time in a service agency; it need not be with a Christian organization - Share your faith *Christian commitment and serving others go hand in hand! --> what will you do on a regular basis, to serve others in your community or worldwide, in the name of Christ

THE DIVORCE CULTURE U.S. divorce rate?

- 1960: 9 per 1,000 married females - 1980: 23 per 1,000 married females - 1996: 19 per 1,000 married females Divorce is up for seniors (age 50 and up) Italy has a .60/1,000 females divorce rate --> social norms, religion, law, etc. are all probably reasons

1994 facts about marital violence

- 8% of wives and 6% of husbands reported arguments that had become physical - Cuts, bruises, or serious injuries= 18% for wives and 7% for husbands Annual injuries due to marriage violence --> 1.4% of wives and 0.4% of men

What is the IGNORED fact about marriage?

- 86% of people who say they are in a bad marriages but stick it out for 5 years and work on their marriage turned it around and is now happier - 60% of people who stick it out are "very happy" or "quite happy" - The worst marriages showed the most dramatic turnarounds

Arranged marriages

- 90% of Indians have arranged marriages (this is changing slowly) - 75% of Indian college students say they'd marry someone they didn't love if but who had all the right other qualities - Indians who had arranged marriages were actually more happy than those who chose their own spouse (10 years in to marriage) --> being in love at the beginning means nothing, but going in to marriage knowing you will have to work on your marriage made me work harder to keep it

*Data is clear: religion is GOOD for you

- Active involvement in church serves as a kind of training center for important civic skills - People who attend church regularly: live longer, have less disability in older age, and have more stable marriages - Strong, positive relationship between religiosity and: happiness/satisfaction with life, self-esteem, lower depression, lower substance abuse, many positive outcomes for children

Coming Apart (Charles Murray): The State of white America (1960-2010)

- America used to be bound together across class lines by common beliefs but since 1980, America has been coming apart --> a new and distinctive ELITE culture; these Americans have different tastes, they live different, etc. and it's different from the rest of America

Why does arranged marriage work better?

- First note: all Americans marry for love, but 50% end in divorce, so something is wrong with American beliefs of love and marriage - Arranged marriages you will learn to love each other, whereas Americans think love is all you need - Cultural scripts (more important) --> America= world's most individualistic culture; Indians= more collectivist culture - Each culture defines happiness and marital success differently

What the data shows

- Growing up in a divorced families leads to a variety of difficulties for adult offspring in their own partnerships. - Why is divorce passed on to the next generation? a. Lack of father figure does not explain the divorce cycle; step father should undo this to some degree, but stepfathers show no help according to the data - Frequent post-divorce contact with biological father does NOT help undo the divorce cycle b. Conflict in the pre-divorce home? --> NEITHER of these explains the data BEST answer: the lessons children learn about marital commitment --> kids with divorced parents just need to be more aware and work on building relationships better; they are not doomed

Married people live longer What is the selection effect?

- Holds across numerous societies - Unmarried people (including divorced, widowed, and single) are far more likely to die from all causes - 9 of 10 men of married men will be alive at age 65, whereas only 6 out of 10 unmarried men will be alive The selection effect: the people who self-select to marry are healthier people to begin with, and other people who aren't healthy don't get married to begin with But this stat of men living longer is b/c of marriage, not b/c of health before they marry

Is marriage a hitting license?

- Marriage DOES NOT put women at special risk for violence - Being forever single would eliminate any chance of domestic violence - Violence is far higher among cohabiters than among married couples (3X AS LIKELY AS MARRIED COUPLES!) *2/3 acts of intimate violence against women were not committed by husbands

Why the divorce revolution? (According to Campbell)

- One reason for increased divorce comes from structural changes --> it's easier for men to divorce women now a days then in the past; it used to cost a lot for men to get a divorce So men are now in a position where it's easier to get divorced then it used to be *Nearly 50% of those married in 2012 will get divorced

Further data: poverty can explain up to half of the effects of parental divorce on timely HS graduation Effects of religious faith on choice? (assuming more choice, this leads to greater sense of control and thus greater happiness)

- People growing up in religious homes grow up with many rules - People with more rules than other kids, actually had the highest scores about optimism of life than the other groups; Depression was also the LOWEST among them. So, having boundaries for children actually isn't harmful for them - People who have few rules for children, they had higher scores on depression

Church attendance and divorce: church attendance seems to improve marital status

- Religious couples are far more likely to marry and stay married than the irreligious - Those who never attend church are 2x as likely to have never married or be divorced or separated - Confirmed by European marriage rate, which is half of that of America

Applauding Divorce (Dr. Constance Ahrons: The Good Divorce)

- She argues argues that it is not divorce itself that makes divorce so traumatic, but "divorcism:" --> a set of harsh, judgmental, discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes - Dr. Campbell DOES NOT agree with this statement --> he says the more you applaud divorce, the more people will do it, so why would we do this? Campbell says shaming people is sometimes a good thing

Why married people are healthier?

- Single men live risky lives, so wives change this - Married men "settle down" - Nagging - An intimate partner to talk to improves health - For women, marriage means more money - Marriage gives people a sense of meaning - Marriage makes people feel responsible *Cohabitation DOES NOT imitate marriage on the last 2

**FINISH looking at powerpoint on this subject; look at fishtown stats

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*Absolute certainty is mostly UN-attainable for humans - Infallible knowledge is beyond humans

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*All scientific knowledge comes with a label that reads "Good until further notice" - We don't ever have absolute knowledge

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*We all defend things that we believe b/c we have to. Knowing is harder than you think. It always rains after a big battle isn't true, but you try to explain it rationally b/c you believe it. Experience teaches you better in some ways but it also can be very deceptive

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National Intimate partner and sexual violence survey (2010) - Those who experienced "severe" physical violence in their lifetime= 24% for women - Violence in the last 12 months= 5.9% for women **You are 3.4x more likely to be victimized by a stranger than by an intimate**

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Mavis Hetherington responds

1. 25% of children of divorce are wounded; 75% are OKAY 2. She argues that divorce is NOT "win or lose" --> it's a lot greater than that; you can't say that it's all win or all lose; some children do better than others after divorces. 3. The 25% ARE at serious risk 4. Other factors are important (e.g. maturity, religion) Hetherington's conclusion: divorce is here to stay, you need to get used to it; Campbell says formally its true, but he doesn't like her take on it. Just b/c it's here to stay doesn't mean we should ignore it or live with it. Campbell says to minimize it, don't just let it be there unaffected.

Solutions for divorce?

1. Be wary of inhibiting TV ideas 2. Push for a positive view or marriage 3. Encourage healthy marriages 4. Challenge excessive individualism

Christian social ethics

1. CT's bear witness to the truth about human need for Yahweh by 2. CT's work to fulfill the cultural mandate 3. CT's work for the common good --> they love all people, especially the poor 4. CT's hope is the kingdom of God Peter berger: humans problems are signals of transcendence; reminds us we are inadequate alone

Social science is a method for knowing which is more rigorous

1. Gives us more precision 2. Science never proves anything (according to Campbell) --> you could leave something out that you didn't account for and get different results; there's so many variables *In order to know anything completely, you must know EVERYTHING to take into account. Our knowledge is small compared to how much knowledge there actually is out there

Marriage objectively IS public

1. Marriage must be sanctioned by law 2. To dissolve a marriage requires legal action and a ruling by a court 3. Marriage is recognized Morowitz findings (1973): not getting married can be as hazardous to your health as smoking cigarettes

Categories of SP solutions (SE can do all of these)

1. Prevention 2. Intervention 3. Social reform 4. Redefinition 5. Alleviating consequences

Whitehead on Divorce --> Divorce for the sake of the children 2 waves of thinking developed after the sexual revolution of 1960

1. Wave 1 (1975-85): divorce began to rise; people had to think about something they never thought about before. Created a new set of beliefs. There was really no empirical data on this stuff. Attitudes formed in first wave tend to persist in American culture even though data in 2nd wave went against these ideas. - Divorce replaces death, divorce teaches children lessons about life, children are psychologically sturdy, poverty is the REAL cause of children's problems, children suffer due to parental conflict 2. Wave 2 (1985-95): well-designed longitudinal studies came about that showed causes of divorce; empirical research. - Divorce IS an important risk factor, divorce IS a cause of financial disadvantage, divorced mother do not remarry quickly, stepfamilies, divorce did not resolve problems, divorce DID improve atmosphere, the majority of children experience disruption of their relationship with their father - Most divorces DO NOT occur in high conflict environments --> if you grow up in a family with high conflict, these families are improved by divorce, but most families are not in high conflict Bottom line: growing up in an intact 2 parent home is actually most beneficial for children

Fewer people are marrying today

1972= 74% people married 2014= 53% people married

DEFINING AND SOLVING SOCIAL PROBLEMS What is a social problem?

A condition in society which threatens people's well-being or their values. Can be physical or non-physical a. Has to be threatening and people have to agree that it needs to be addressed - Can raise consciousness about something and call it a social problem when it wasn't before - Social problems can be actual or potential --> crime is actual, wheras global warming is potential

Social issues: abortion

Abortion would be considered a social ISSUE; there is NO agreement on WHAT the problem is. People on both sides; no agreement on what needs to be done

What is social control?

All societies have taboos; people do things b/c they think they're the right thing to do. - Law is your last resort in prohibiting things

Church attendance and mental health?

Church attendance and mental health --> people who attend weekly and sometimes, have lower brain issues/problems then people who never go - You can clearly still be an atheist and be a good, moral person --> an atheist might live by the same morals as a Christian but they may drift away b/c they don't have moral convictions like Christians

Should we solve SP?

In an ideal world, of course we should, but we don't live in an ideal world - Cost of solution may be too high - Solution may lead to other problems; some solutions aren't workable

Apart from Yahweh, all social institutions are unstable

Institutional entropy: you take a former government (say democracy) and add human sin, and there's a tendency to deteriorate over time. Governments tend to become more bureaucratic Entropy: natural cause of things to deteriorate; leave a bike outside and it will eventually rust

A sociological case for marriage What is marriage?

Marriage is a social institution set up to? 1. Guarantee perpetuation of the human species 2. While maximizing societal advantage (especially for women) Marriage is there to keep women from being poor when they have kids --> it's hard for women to work when pregnant

*Love really has nothing to do with marriage according to Dr. Campbell --> everyone is in love when they get married, but with the divorce rate at 50%, love can't be the real thing that makes a marriage lasting *Determinant of a lasting marriage is how you handle CONFLICT

More benefits of religion --> the higher a city's church membership, the lower its rape rate and lower its STD rate

Perspectives on social problems

People tend to think of individual causes and solutions for SP --> sociologists aren't interested in individuals, they look at the group and the conditions which affect them

Freud on religion?

Religion is a form of mental illness --> it is illusion, neurosis, infantilism, etc. *2012 2nd edition of latest research about (+) effects of religion on health; religion produces all types of healthy results

What science CAN'T do

Science cannot determine whether capitalism is better or worse than socialism except in terms of agreement on criterion *No human reason can establish truth by reason --> only something which TRANSCENDS human limitations can

Effects of divorce on children

Sleeper effects --> more depression, more teen pregnancy, more substance abuse, more suicide, etc. Sleeper effect: when children are small they think things are fine in their family, but when parents get divorced it comes out of nowhere; so as an adult you think that things will initially be fine and then spiral out of control like your parents, so people don't end up getting married in the first place

Common assumptions about social problems

Sociologists approach social problems from different perspectives, but all share certain assumptions - SP are unanticipated results - Deviance: no matter how good your social system is, people will sometimes not conform

The Blind men and the elephant

This is the way knowledge works; it comes in bits and pieces pretty much

Social problem

Values influence what is considered a social problem; values are generally of 3 sorts a. Religious b. Economic c. Political

Other facts

White, non-marital birth rate 1920 it was 5% and in 2010 it was around 35% --> single parenthood is not good for children Single parenthood and crime: children of single mothers are more likely to commit crimes than children who grew up with 2 parents 2/3 of rapists, 3/4 of adolescent murders, and 3/4 of long term prison inmates= are MALES who grew up WITHOUT a father If society takes initiative to end smoking...our commitment to personal freedom is the issue --> Campbell says we should be concerned more about other issues that affect more people rather than this

Decline of religiosity in America

Whites who answer "No religion" = 21% a. Regular church attendance in America between 1989-1999=32% *Average scientists have about same church attendance/views about religion as normal people --> its the scientists at the national academy of sciences who have much higher rate (around 60-65%) *Half of all service projects are done by people who are religious; they tend to be generous people

People argue that social scientific research only tells us what we already know. Why is this false?

You may have know something generally, so numerical precision/data can make us know something more clear/in-depth

Even our best is flawed

a. Even a fully Christian institution is flawed b. David considered one of greatest but he was also really flawed by sin

Functionalism: a consensus approach (if everything works well, peoples needs are met)

a. Focus on how society functions; how it operates b. Society=system of interrelated parts c. Social problems come from disruption of the system (CHANGE) - SP also come when system is impersonal

Thomas Kuhn: Structure of scientific revolutions

a. Human knowledge is always limited. What could be known is probably infinite, and what we actually know is finite b. If our knowledge is limited, we can't be absolutely sure then of anything

We are affected by institutions

a. Institutions affect us all, profoundly b. Good institutions= more benefits c. Poor institutions/cultural norms=corruption *Corruption: the U.S. and Canada and parts of South America are least corrupt, whereas most Eastern countries are the most corrupt - Low corruption=HIGH GDP

What social science CAN do?

a. It can test what we know b. Can demonstrate cause-effect relationships: AND demonstrate when they are spurious - The more rings you wear, the less likely you are the be arrested for a crime. Correlation WITHOUT causation. GENDER is the biggest reason why; in our culture, women tend to commit less crimes than men. Young, single men commit them too, so they wouldn't have a ring. IT DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH RINGS; it has to do with GENDER, and more women wear rings

Conflict theory: a non-consensus approach. Says the whole system needs to be undone

a. Karl Marx: sees SP resulting from social structure b. Capitalism> class conflict c. Inequality> conflict

CONCLUSIONS

a. Religiosity is declining in the U.S. b. The decline threatens social capital (i.e. social well-being) c. "Religion is bad for people" is WRONG d. Prayer and sharing your faith are acts of love: concern for others well-being

RELIGION AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS Secularization thesis?

a. Secularization thesis says religion is false and harmful - Psychological forces: to be religious is neurotic; religion generates psychological problems b. Religion will pass away

Values are a part of culture

a. Values are shared standards of desirability b. Values are difficult (probably impossible) to validate empirically c. Values are assumptions that cannot be "proven" d. Historically, a major source of values has been religion

Epistemology 101

a. We all know many things b. We know by many means; we know by tradition: grew up in a culture with specific ways c. We know by authority:credible leaders in field tell us and we believe them d. We know by personal experience

Sociological questions include?

a. Why are increasing/decreasing numbers of people affected? b. Is/why is the SP class related? c. Why does the SP persist?

What it can do continued...

c. Test hypothesis we can't examine individually - Ex: "Atheists are really numerous" --> this is false b/c about 1% of Americans are atheists. Atheists have always been rare and still are - Non-religious/atheists said that religion comforts them (10% and 17%) d. Establish causes of social conditions far better than individual judgment Ex: "Divorce comes from unhappy marriages" --> very few people hate their marriage e. Assess effectiveness of social policy f. Test stereotypes