social problems
Objective approach to studying social problems - podcast with Joel Best will help
Facts show that there is a problem
Social issue
Larger issues facing society.
Social problem
"A social problem is a condition that undermines the well-being of some or all members of a society and is usually a matter of public controversy" How we are defining a social issue Women treated differently than men. Sexism wasn't defined as a problem until later on. Transgendered people: didn't see it as an identity that was marginalized
About what percentage of American children live in poverty, per U.S. Census? (3/22)
18%
About what percentage of Americans live in poverty, per U.S. Census?
8% of the general populations
Since 9/11, how have the Bush Administration, the news media, and a variety of other claimsmakers collectively constructed public fears of repeated terrorist attacks?
A moral panic is an exaggeration or distortion of some perceived deviant behavior or criminal activity... this includes grossly exaggerating the seriousness of the events according to criteria such as the numbers of people taking part, the number involved in violence, and the amount and effects of violence and/or damage. The media is likely the single most influential actor in the orchestration and promulgation of a moral panic. Media coverage of certain kinds of deviant/criminal behavior, particularly those involving perpetrators of the aforementioned type is usually distorted. It serves to inflate the seriousness of the incidents, making them appear more heinous and frequent than they truly are. Public anxiety is whipped up through the use of journalistic and linguistic devices. The success of the media, politicians, rule enforcers and moral entrepreneurs in generating and sustaining a moral panic is ultimately contingent upon how successfully they enrage the public and marshal their support against the fold devils.
Focus groups (3/20 snow day)
A set of people that researchers select to discuss certain topics in order to learn what the public is thinking
How does terrorism tend to be defined in the United States? (4/24)
A socially constructed label that defines someone or something as a threat to our values or interests. The actual fear and impact that victims of random violence and terrorism experience must be acknowledged, and such victimisation should not be minimised.
Sample (3/20 snow day)
A subgroup used as a basis for statistical generalizations about a population
Opportunity structures (2/22)
Activists must worry about more than devising a persuasive frame and mobilizing necessary resources. Timing also matters. All too often, social movements face great obstacles. After all, movements seek to change existing social arrangements, and those arrange- ments work to the benefit of powerful people who can be expected to use their considerable resources to resist changes that might be to their disadvantage. On occasion, however, these obstacles to change are reduced, and activists must be alert for and ready to take advantage of such opportune moments. Various cultural and political circumstances can create opportunities to promote activists' claims.
Industrial shift from manufacturing to service economy (Perrucci and Wysong reading 1/30)
American multinational corporations sough to maintain their profit margins by increasing investments in affiliates abroad. Multinational corporations think that if they did not shift production abroad, they would probably lose the sale of that product. The homeless and stateless multinational firm is able to move its product as quickly as it can spot a competitive advantage associated with low wages, cheaper raw materials, advantageous monetary exchange rate, more sympathetic government, or proximity to markets.
What are two effective claims in the immigration debate? Why are they effective?
Analyze the framing used in the public debate Suggest some alternative framing to highlight important concerns left out of the current debate "Our point is to show that the relevant issues go far beyond what is being discussed, and that acceptance of the current framing impoverishes the discussion."
Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) changes that allowed for more white families to own homes (Adelman reading from 1/23 and "Race: The Power of an Illusion" documentary)
The government set up a national neighborhood appraisal system, explicitly tying mortgage eligibility to race.
Brookings Institution
As Lennar Corporation, one of the nation's largest home builders, pushed ahead with an $8 billion plan to revitalize a barren swath of San Francisco, it found a trusted voice to vouch for its work: the Brookings Institution, the most prestigious think tank in the world. "This can become a productive, mutually beneficial relationship," Bruce Katz, a Brookings vice president, wrote to Lennar in July 2010. The ultimate benefit for Brookings: $400,000 in donations from Lennar's different divisions. The think tank began to aggressively promote the project, San Francisco's biggest redevelopment effort since its recovery from the 1906 earthquake, and later offered to help Lennar, a publicly traded company, "engage with national media to develop stories that highlight Lennar's innovative approach."
Audience segmentation and the media
As television channels have increased in number, they have increasingly aimed at targeted audiences. Theorists once worried about the "mass media" that would turn society into an undifferentiated mass receiving the same media messages (Turow, 1997). In practice, the media find it more profitable to practice audience segmentation, to aim at particular demographic groups; because people fitting a particular demographic profile (defined by age, sex, income, and so on) are more likely to watch programs aimed directly at their interests, the audience for those programs will be relatively homogeneous, and advertisers who believe that their customers will be concentrated in that segment of the larger audience will prefer— and even pay a premium—to place their ads on those programs. Thus, there are cable channels aimed at women, Spanish speakers, people in particular age groups, and so on, just as websites are aimed at people with distinctive interests or concerns. (A similar process changed magazine publishing: general-interest magazines such as Life that once sought to appeal to huge mass audiences have folded; the titles that remain aim at people with particular interests.) Audience segmentation affects the media's role in the social problems process. Because different television channels or magazines seek to appeal to demographically distinct audiences, their coverage of claimsmaking will reflect their sense of which issues will strike their viewers or readers as interesting and relevant.
Social media and public opinion (3/20 snow day)
Beyond surveys and focus groups, there are other ways to examine claims made by ordinary people about troubling conditions. These may involve access to some media platform intended to let members of the public express their views. The classic example—more common in the past than now—is writing a letter to the editor for publication in a newspaper (see Box 6.3). This is hardly a random sample: people who wrote these letters had to care enough about an issue to put pen to paper; and they had to be literate enough and have enough time and money to spend on the project. Probably only a tiny fraction of the population ever expressed themselves in this way. It also is important to appreciate that the newspaper editors must have been selective in choosing which letters to publish; they might have had all sorts of reasons—everything from objecting to a letter writer's views, to not having enough space to print a letter—for deciding not to publish all the letters they received. Still, such letters can tell us something about how members of the larger population thought about the issues of the day. While people still write letters to the editor (probably most often via e-mail), the Internet now offers all sorts of new platforms that allow members of the public to express their views. Increasingly, physical newspapers are being replaced by news websites, and read- ers of a news story on a site may be invited to post their reactions. A story may elicit hundreds of these comments; it is not uncommon for the original story to fade into the background as people begin to add comments giving their reactions to some earlier comment. News organizations track these comments, and post lists of the stories eliciting the most reactions. Presumably this alerts readers stories other people have found interesting, and also provides valuable feedback that the site can use to decide what to cover and how to cover it in the future. Similarly, websites keep track of how often particular items are forwarded as another way of identifying what the public finds interesting.
What elements of a social problem tend to be left out or minimized by the news media? What elements tend to be emphasized? (Klinenberg's "Spotlighting Disaster" from 3/15)
Bill Recktenwald believed the the Tribune had failed to thell the human and social sides of the story in its reporting.The victims remain mysterious, the conditions of their deaths obscure. As one reporter who has worked on the breaking stories explained, "The coverage didn't show as much of the life of the life of these people, and these people has really ugly lives."
Medicalization of social problems (example is looking to the Center for Disease Control to solve the gun problem (see our reading for 2/27), medicalization of happiness (p.117 of Social Problems))
Center for Disease Control When epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came to this city, they were not here to track an outbreak of meningitis or study the effectiveness of a particular vaccine. They were here to examine gun violence. This city of about 70,000 had a 45 percent jump in shootings from 2011 to 2013, and the violence has remained stubbornly high; 25 shooting deaths have been reported this year, slightly more than last year, according to the mayor's office. A city councilor, Hanifa G. N. Shabazz, said the violence felt like an illness, so city and state leaders turned to the nation's best-known disease specialists for help investigating it. "Just like any other epidemic," Ms. Shabazz said, "we need to be quarantined, categorized by severity, infused with nutrients, healthy substance, programs, and healed."
Why does Joel Best argue that it is important to understand how public reaction shapes social problems? (3/20 and 3/22)
Claimsmakers use the feedback they receive from the public to modify their claims, in hopes of making them more persuasive; the media also attend to feedback from the public, in order to better devise news and entertainment that will capture the audience's attention; and policymakers may respond to public pressure to do something about a particular social problem. Thus, many people want to learn what the public is thinking, in spite of the difficulties in doing so. This chapter will focus on the methods that claimsmakers, the media, and others involved in the social problems process—as well as sociologists—use to assess public reactions. It will consider several of these, beginning with the most familiar method—public opinion polls or surveys.
Identify a social problem that is important to you but doesn't get enough attention on Loyola's campus, in your opinion. (It doesn't have to be something we covered in our course, but it can be.) What are something things that could be done to bring more attention to this issue? How could you be a part of this effort? Discuss what Joel Best might recommend.
Climate change is an important issue that is important issue to me, but doesn't get enough attention on campus. I am aware that there is an Environmental Action club, but I'm not sure of what they do to protect the environment that relates to the school. This club should involve more of the students in a movement to prevent climate change. The dining hall also has recycle, compost and trash bins, but most people are not aware of what exactly goes into each bin. If people were more aware of what goes where, the students may be able to help the environment more if they were more educated. I am not part of the Environmental Action club, but I can join and make a difference on campus. Joel Best might suggest following the social problems process. The first step is making a claim, which is making a claim that there is a social problem. The claim can be that Loyola should take better action dealing with the issue of climate change because this is a real problem. The second step is media coverage, in which media reports on claims makers so that news of the claims reaches a broader audience. This media coverage can be promoted by the environmental action club through the use of social media and emails that is able to reach the entire school. Social media is a great way to reach every student on campus because essentially every student uses it. The third step of this process is public reaction, which is the public opinion that focuses on the social problem identified by the claimsmakers. Through media coverage, people will become more aware that climate change is an issue and they will want to take action to prevent it. The next step is social problems work, which includes agencies who implement the new policies, including calls for further changes. The school agrees to make changes to prevent climate change and will begin to implement policies on campus. The last step is policy outcomes, which are various responses to the new arrangements. People properly use the compost, recycle, and trash bins in Boulder and Loyola is taking one step closer to preventing climate change.
Under what conditions do policies come about that address social problems? (See figure 7.1 on page 208 of Social Problems.) (3/27)
Confluence is when streams emerge and opportunities are greatest to actually change social policies.
Which resources tend to advantage claimsmakers? Who tends to have the most power to define social problems in the U.S.? (2/6)
Connections with news outlets. The wealthy tend to have more say because they can invest more resources. Social media and access to news stations. Resources to define social problems: access to media, twitter followers, power, money, status
Policy proposal
Consists of more specialized constructions, those that offer specific proposals for new legislation. Such proposals may be fairly general, in that they sketch broad ideological approaches toward a new policy; for example, at any given time, there are probably advocates calling for the government to create new programs to help the poor, as well as other advocates arguing that existing antipoverty programs are misguided and ought to be cut back.
How are cultural resources different from (regular) resources when thinking about claimsmaking?
Cultural Resources Theoretically, claimsmakers are free to assemble claims in any form they choose. In practice, however, claims have to make sense— both to the claimsmakers who choose to make them, and to the audiences whom the claimsmakers hope to persuade. This means that claims must draw on the larger culture; they must be consistent with people's understandings of how the world works. In some societies, attributing misfortune to the acts of witches has been seen as a perfectly sensible explanation. In contemporary American society, however, claims about witchcraft are likely to be rejected out of hand by most people—although not by all. Most would-be claims- makers recognize that this is the prevailing view, so they tend to avoid blaming witches or, more generally, constructing problems along lines that they and their audiences will find unconvincing.
How does author Tressie McMillan Cottom explain the appeal of "for-profit" education to such a wide range of people (tech, cosmetology, etc.)? Explain this demand. Consider quality of K-12 education, labor market conditions (core and periphery jobs, changing occupations and industries and the demand for a college credential), cycles of recession and growth in the economy, the federal loan program, and cultural beliefs about education ("the educational gospel"). (4/17)
Graduating students who are unequally prepared for college or jobs related to race, class, and gender. People might go to lower quality k-12 schools, might not qualify for state universities. The aim to find large pots of capital in a system where competition for capital is becoming more difficult, health care, housing, and education. Housing: global recession
Cultural opportunities (2/22)
Cultural opportunities arise when people become more willing to listen to the movement's claims (McAdam, 1994). Perhaps the most obvious cultural opportunity is the occurrence of a newsworthy event that focuses attention on a troubling condition. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, for instance, suddenly moved terrorism from a peripheral concern to the central focus of national attention. Other, less dramatic events—a natural disaster, a brutal crime, and such— can have similar effects. They lead to a widespread sense that a particular troubling condition, previously neglected, must now be addressed. Activists who have been struggling to have their claims heard may suddenly find themselves in demand—reporters seek them out for interviews, legislators invite them to testify at hearings, and so on—because they are the ones who understand and have ideas for what to do about the troubling condition that is now the focus of concern (see Box 3.4). Another sort of cultural opportunity emerges when a master frame becomes familiar (Snow & Benford, 1992). A master frame articulates a broad orientation that can be easily adapted for application to many issues. For instance, after the civil rights movement first drew national attention to blacks' struggle for equal rights and then succeeded in dismantling the system of institutionalized segregation in the South, the idea that demanding equal rights might be an effective way of framing social issues spread to other social movements. Within about ten years, activists were campaigning for women's rights, gay rights, children's rights, and the rights of the disabled, prisoners, and the elderly. This master frame remains influential: the abortion issue has been framed in terms of fetuses' right to life and women's right to choose; divorced men campaign for fathers' rights; an active animal rights movement has emerged; and so on. Like dramatic events, the availability of master frames creates cultural opportunities that can make it easier for activists to promote their claims.
What are some problems with "for-profit" education? (4/17)
Despite the claims that for-profit colleges serve an unmet need, are more nimble than stodgy traditional colleges, and increase access to poor and minority students, for-profit colleges—as I explain in my book, Lower Ed—target and thrive off of inequality.
Interpret and provide examples of the following from Adelman's reading from class on 1/23: "When slavery ended, its legacy lived on not only in the impoverished condition of Black people but in the wealth and prosperity that accrued to white slave owners and their descendants"
Economists who try to place a dollar value on how much white Americans have profited from 200 years of unpaid slave labor, including interest, begin their estimates at 1 trillion. Jim Crow laws, instituted in the late 19th and early 20th century and not overturned in many states until the 1960s, reserved the best jobs, neighborhoods, schools and hospitals for white people.
What does the author of "Spotlighting Disaster" help us to understanding about how news media shape social problems
Editors and producers are always looking for dramatic images for the front page or lead story, which is explicitly designed to hook audiences into the coverage. Dramatic images of dead bodies, refrigerated truck, and wilting emergency works dominated the heat wave coverage across the media, making for a memorable week of news. It is more likely that the sensational accounts and images of death and disaster produced by journalists detracted from the journalistic goals that, in theory, news organizations are designed to achieve.
Audience and how it influences how claims are made about social problems (2/8)
Every claim involves communication between at least two parties: those who makes the claim, and an audience whom the claim is meant to persuade. The audience for claims can include all of the other participants in the social problems proces: people who might be enlisted in the cause, other claimsmakers, members of the media who might publicize the claims, the general public, policymakers, and so on. Audiences differ in what they find persuasive, so effective claims need to be tailored to fit their audience's concerns. Claimsmakers present why they hope will be persuasive arguments, but they must then attend to the audience's responses, and those responses and their own sense of how they need to revise their rhetoric in turn may be affected by all the other claims and events that are competing for the audience's attention in the social problems marketplace.
Who can be an "expert" claimsmaker in the context of social problems? What tends to make an effective "expert"? (2/27)
Experts are presumed to possess especially authoritative knowledge, and other people including activists, the media, and policymakers— may defer to this expertise. Experts rank among the most influential claimsmakers because they are thought to have special knowledge that qualifies them to interpret social problems. Medical authority may be seen as a subcategory of a broader form of expertise: science. Experts: doctors, clinical psychologists
What is a new claim pertaining to the immigration debate that is not covered by Lakoff and Ferguson (2/20)
Immigration increases the supply of such workers and helps to drive down wages. Cheap labor increases "productivity" and profits for employers, and it permits a cheap lifestyle for consumers who get low prices because of cheap labor. But these are not seen as "problems." They are benefits. And people take these benefits for granted. They are not grateful to the immigrants who make them possible. Gratitude. The word is hardly ever spoken in the discourse over immigration.
Problem recognition
In the process of problem recognition, claimsmakers identify troubling conditions, name those conditions, devise compelling rhetoric to persuade others to become concerned about those conditions, and campaign to bring those conditions to the notice of the press, the public, and policymakers. These claimsmakers' efforts can receive a boost from current events—an attention-grabbing news story about a terrible crime or a natural disaster can catapult an issue into prominence.
How do traditional colleges benefit from for-profit institutions?
Inequalities in how people work, exacerbated by social policies and legitimized by individualist notions of education as a consumer good, conspired to create the demand for a credential that would insure workers against bad jobs. And everyone from politicians to employers to researchers and those in traditional higher education benefitted when for-profit colleges became the solution to that demand. For-profit credentials became a political solution for "re-training" America's workforce.
Grounds
Information and evidence about the troubling condition -- typifying examples, statistics Every social problems claim beings by identifying a troubling condition 1. Describing the condition and 2. Explaining why it should be considered troublesome Typifying example: a description of a particular instance of the condition; chosen to illustrate the seriousness of the problem, so they tend to be especially extreme, dramatic, disturbing, memorable cases; do not reflect typical cases Name: the problem is named and given an orientation Statistic: a number that suggest the scope of the problem; implies how severe the problem Claims that problem is getting progressively worse Construct profiles of both victims and villains Range claim: many different kinds of people are hurt by the troubling condition
"Integrated communities" as "financially risky" for home loans. (Adelman reading from 1/23 and "Race: The Power of an Illusion" documentary)
Integrated communities were ipso facto deemed a financial risk and made ineligible for home loans, a policy known as "redlining."
Subjective approach to studying social problems
Is it a real problem or not? Don't assume Open to interpretation; social construction
Warrants (2/8) (why: why we should be concerned about the social problem)
Justify doing something about the troubling condition; they explain why something out to be done; invoke values and emotions An explanation. Often utilizes social values that a majority of people share such as a standards of good and bad, right and wrong. May appeal to emotions. For example, "This is a human right", "This is not democratic", "Children are innocent". Covers all bases here: Since different people hold to different values, it is best to use multiple warrants in order to cover as many possible reasons why people should care as possible
Intergenerational transfer of wealth (Adelman reading from 1/23)
Many whites who grew up in the middle class in the suburbs like to think we got where we are today on merit - hard work, intelligence, pluck and maybe a little luck. We wonder why non-white parents didn't just work hard, buy a home and pass on the appreciated value like our parents did. We tend to be blind to how the playing field has been - and continues to be - tilted to our advantage.
How has social media changed how we define & make claims about social problems?
Misinformed social media posts by regular people People should look more into the facts before they go ahead and tweet something Should aim at more objective statements in the future
Resource mobilization
One way to think about activists is in terms of the resources required by a social movement's activities. Movements need money, members, skills, and so on. These may seem like mun- dane considerations, especially if we think of social movements in romantic terms, consisting of plucky little guys struggling against powerful interests. But without sufficient resources, movements will have difficulty getting started, let alone enduring. Successful move- ments must assemble the resources they need. Sociologists refer to this gathering of resources as resource mobilization (McCarthy & Zald, 1977).
How are public schools funded in the majority of states?
People on fixed income faced higher taxes to maintain public services and schools.
How do images and photos in news articles impact framing? Consider the Katrina photo in "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" (caption with "finding food" vs. "looting") (3/13)
Photos are crucial to the construction of social problems since they literally provide a picture of what a problem looks like and its magnitude, as well as a moral compass guiding how audiences ought to feel about the problem and the urgency of addressing it. Photos carry tremendour power in framing the importance of addressing specific problems in particular ways because they convey meanings that words alone rarely can articulate. Without such visibility, social problems do not get the kind of exposure needed to galvanize broad public awareness and policy reforms. Illustration 3 shows two scenes of desperation following Hurricane Katrina. The first photo, of a dark-skinnedman, was accompanied by the caption: "A young man walks through chest deep floodwater after looting a grocery store in New Orleans." The second photo, of two lighter-skinned people, was captioned: "Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans." Give how each of these photos was captioned, the two photos present contrasting images about personal responsibility in the wake of this disaster. The first photo suggests that this man was committing a crime by eating food that did not belong to him. He was irresponsible not just for "looting" but also, as other post-storm images suggested, for being a holdout who chose not to evacuate the city as the storm neared and was now taking advantage of the free supplies left behind in abandoned stores. This man is portrayed not as a victim of Hurricane Katrina but rather as caught in the act of victimizing those who have already been dealt a serious blow by this storm. The second photo, on the other hand, presents these two people as victims, as people left in ruins by the floodwaters who have luckily "found" some food to help them make do until help arrives. Unlikes the first man, these people deserve our sympathy.
Political opportunities (2/22)
Political opportunities to promote activists' claims arise when the distribution of power among different groups shifts so that changes that previously would have been successfully resisted can now be implemented. Political opportunities may derive from shift- ing priorities, when formerly irrelevant concerns are redefined as relevant. One reason the civil rights movement gained momentum in the early 1960s was that former colonies—particularly the African colonies of Britain and France—were gaining independence. The Cold War was at its height, and the United States wanted to minimize the Soviet Union's influence in these newly independent nations. The concern that African nations might be repelled by the treatment of African Americans in the United States created a new pressure to do something about the system of segregation found in the Southern states. In this case, shifting foreign policy concerns created new opportunities for civil rights activists trying to change domestic policies (Bloom, 2015).
Private trouble
Primarily a reflection of people's individual problems of character or ability
Public opinion, the stories we tell each other, and the feedback loop (3/20 snow day)
Public opinion polls have become a taken-for-granted part of our political landscape that we take for granted. We are used to hear- ing news reports that polls show one candidate favored to win the upcoming election, that the president's approval rating has risen higher or fallen lower, that the public is more or less concerned about particular issues, and so on. Before considering how public opinion figures into the social problems process, we need to consider how the very methods of polling can affect a survey's results. The social problems process is more complicated, involving a great deal of feedback. That is, claims making does affect media coverage, but claims makers are also affected by that coverage (for example, if the press ignored a civil rights demonstration in the 1950s and '60s, activists knew that they needed to adjust what they were doing, in order to attract better coverage for future demonstrations). Similar feedback processes can occur at every stage in the social problems process because the actors at the various stages—the claimsmakers, people who work in the media, and so on—don't just act, but also pay attention to how others react to what they have done, and then respond to those reactions by adjusting what they're doing.
Political stream
Refers to what we might think of as the current political situation. Who has been elected, what ideologies do they hold, and what interests do they tend to represent? A new president or a new Congress may favor particular approaches to government (such as being relatively sympathetic or unsympathetic toward government regulation).
How does wealth inequality impact stress and satisfaction in neighborhoods? Why?
Researchers have begun to find evidence that growing up in distressing and traumatic environments can physiologically change the brain. Living in a highly distressed neighborhoods — which are poor, unemployed, and undereducated — often meant you were quite unhappy.
Rhetoric and its power (2/8)
Rhetoric is the way an audience is persuaded. Good rhetoric is necessary to empower a claim and grow its appeal. Convincing claims contain many persuasive elements. Compel people to pay attention
Medicalization and personal responsibility
Sociologists who have noted the increased use of medical language to characterize social problems speak of medicalization (Conrad, 2007), the process of defining troubling conditions as medical problems. A century ago, it was generally recognized that some people drank too much; that is, their drinking was blamed for causing problems at work, in their homes, and so on. The common label for these people was drunkards (Gusfield, 1967). Being a drunkard was seen as, if not a sin, at least a moral failing; drunk- ards were doing something they shouldn't do, and they needed to reform (the solution to being a drunkard often involved making a pledge to practice temperance; that is, the drunkard would promise to stop drinking).
Claims (2/8)
Someone must bring the topic to the attention of others by making a claim that there is a condition that should be recognized as troubling, that needs to be addressed.
Urban myths
Sometimes called urban legends, contemporary legends are stories that people tell one another (Ellis, 2001; Fine, 1992). In general, contemporary legends lack supernatural elements; they are far more likely to feature criminals than, say, ghosts. Typically the teller claims—and the listener believes—that the story is true, that the events in the story really happened. Often the teller offers evidence of the story's truth, such as identifying the place where it happened (perhaps a nearby shopping mall), or explaining the teller's connec- tion to a person who witnessed or experienced the events: "This really happened to my roommate's cousin's neighbor."
The first three stages of the social problems process (2/6)
Stage One: Claimsmaking: make claims; that is, they argue that a particular troubling condition ought to be recognized as a social problem, and that someone ought to do something about that problem. Stage Two: Media Coverage: Claims Makers often seek such coverage to bring their claims to the attention of a wider audience. The nature of the media may change—from stories and photographs printed in newspapers and magazines, or reports broadcast on radio and television news programs, to social media and the endless array of sites on the Internet—but they all offer forums that can make both the public and policymakers more aware of claims. Stage Three: Public Relation: The general public, then, learns about claims either directly from claimsmakers or indirectly through media reports. The public's response to these claims forms the third stage.
Conclusions (2/8) (therefore: what should be done - the solution to this social problem)
Statement that specify what should be done, what action should be taken to address this social problem Recommended changes, new policies, etc. to address the problem Conclusions might offer both short-term (go to this meeting to get more information, volunteer for this event, etc.) and long-term goals (policy change, new leadership) Proposed solution must be in line with the grounds and warrants put forth by the claimsmaker.
What does it mean to say that public policy has symbolic purposes? (3/27)
That is, policies embody values, serving to promote particular constructions of the world. Consider drug laws. The historical record is filled with examples of efforts to ban the distribution and use of illegal drugs, and most of those efforts have failed. The classic example is the United States' experiment with Prohibition, the period when alcohol was treated as an illegal drug. During Prohibition, an illegal trade in alcohol flourished; it created new opportunities for organized crime and led to considerable corruption. After about a dozen years, policymakers reversed course, legalized alcohol, and sought to regulate drinking through various liquor control laws limiting the conditions under which alcohol could be sold and consumed. That is, policies embody values, serving to promote particular constructions of the world. Consider drug laws. The historical record is filled with examples of efforts to ban the distribution and use of illegal drugs, and most of those efforts have failed. The classic example is the United States' experiment with Prohibition, the period when alcohol was treated as an illegal drug. During Prohibition, an illegal trade in alcohol flourished; it created new opportunities for organized crime and led to considerable cor- ruption. After about a dozen years, policymakers reversed course, legalized alcohol, and sought to regulate drinking through various liquor control laws limiting the conditions under which alcohol could be sold and consumed.
What are some solutions to the current issues around Lower Ed? (4/17 and 4/19)
That's the challenge for all of higher education, but only in lower ed is the challenge singular, especially expensive, and perversely profitable. It's the story of lower ed— subsidized by taxpayers—retraining workers at the individual's expense. It's the story of people living longer and wages stagnating, of spending more time in the workforce as childcare and healthcare costs continue to rise, and the social safety net frays. The troubling rise of for-profit colleges, despite their boom-and-bust investment cycles, is a symptom of larger issues wrought by changes in how people work and the unwillingness to legislate in order to protect the social contract.
Snopes.com and its significance in the context of public reaction to social problems
The Snopes.com web site was founded by David Mikkelson, a project begun in 1994 as an expression of his interest in researching urban legends that has since grown into the oldest and largest fact-checking site on the Internet — one widely regarded by journalists, folklorists, and laypersons alike as one of the world's essential resources.
Patriot Act (4/24)
The USA Patriot Act has many potential long-term negative social impacts. The implications for the 20 million immigrants, non-citizens, and short term visa holders include potential subjection to military tribunals, expedited deportation, and detention (for an undetermined time) if they are suspected of having something to do with terrorism. It is not only the non-US citizen that is at risk, but US citizens now face the potential to be classified as enemy combatants and or stripped of citizenship. The power given to the State to "snoop"on citizens overturns some previous restrictions places on the State from previous restrictions placed on the State from previous abuses of such powers. As Nancy Chang, attorney for the Center of Constitutional Rights, has stated, "the Bush Administration's actions since September 11th portend a wholesale suspension of civil liberties that will reach far beyond those who are involved in terrorist activities". Legitimate political dissent may qualify for criminal proceedings.
periphery jobs
The employment of temporary workers is linked to the economic ups clnd downs that a firm faces. There is no tacit commitment to these employ nees about job security and no sense that they "belong to the family." Thus, when there is a need to cut production because of weak sales or excessive inventory, the layoffs come from the pool of temporary workers rather than from the core workers. Sometimes these temporary workers are not even directly employed by the firm but are hired through an employment firm like Manpower. These temporary workers are actually contingent workers.
What trends do we see when we examine public reactions to social problems? Note othering, fear of strangers, and scapegoating; emphasis on personal responsibility concern that dependency on government will harm work ethic; emphasis on freedom, concern that government will infringe on private life; fear of government dysfunction and incompetence, etc.
The general public, then, learns about claims either directly from claimsmakers or indirectly through media reports. The public's response to these claims forms the third stage in Figure 1.1. Usu- ally efforts to understand the public's reactions involve public opin- ion polls that seek to measure people's attitudes. In some cases, claimsmaking can have dramatic effects on public opinion; during the civil rights movement, for instance, polls indicated an increase in the proportion of Americans who considered civil rights a major problem, and who disapproved of the South's segregation policies. Such shifts are considered important in a democracy because voters may elect officials who reflect their changed views.
What evidence does Gilens present illustrating that the news media frame the poor as largely undeserving of government support?
The news media frame the poor as largely undeserving of government support because they are less sympathetic to working aged adults.
Claimsmakers (2/6 and 2/8)
The people who make the claims.They are the ones who seek to convince others that something is wrong, and that something should be done about it.
Social problems marketplace (2/8)
The public forum where claims are presented and discussed and compete within. Most claimsmakers have to try again and again to achieve widespread attention for their claimsl they must try out claims, assess the audience's response, revise the claims and so on, until they develop a persuasive argument.
. How is the "performance gap" related to the wealth gap? (Adelman reading from 1/23)
The typical white family has ten times the networth of the typical black family. Even when they may the same income, white families have over twice the wealth. Much of that gap is due to home equity and family inheritance.
How is the "performance gap" related to the wealth gap?
The typical white family has ten times the networth of the typical black family. Even when they may the same income, white families have over twice the wealth. Much of that gap is due to home equity and family inheritance.
What evidence does Gilens (3/22) present to show that the news media frame on poverty is primarily a Black problem? Is this accurate?
There are alot of negative stereotypes against Blacks that show that show the news media frame on poverty is primarily a Black problem. Yes this is accurate because Blacks are a distorted portion of the American poor population.
Core jobs
These employees possess the skills, knowledge, or experience that are essential to the operation of the firm. Their income levels place them in the "comfort class." ...They are essential for the firm, regardless of how well it might be doing from the point of view of profits and growth; they are simply needed for the firm's continuity. Being in the core is not the same as being in a particular occupational group. A firm may employ many engineers and scientists, only some of whom might be considered to be in the core. Skilled blue-collar workers may also be in the core. Core employees have the greatest job security with 1:heir employing organizations and also have skills and experiences that can be "traded" in the external labor market if their firm should experience an unforeseen financial crisis. Finally, core employees enjoy their protected positions precisely because there are other employees just like them who are considered temporary.
Think tanks (from Lipton and Williams (2016) for class on 3/1)
Think tanks, which position themselves as "universities without students," have power in government policy debates because they are seen as researchers independent of moneyed interests. But in the chase for funds, think tanks are pushing agendas important to corporate donors, at times blurring the line between researchers and lobbyists. And they are doing so while reaping the benefits of their tax-exempt status, sometimes without disclosing their connections to corporate interests. Definition: a body of experts providing advice and idea on specific political or economic problems
The rhetorical structure of social problems claims (2/8)
Three fundamental components Grounds, warrants, and conclusions. Grounds are information and evidence about the troubling condition typifying examples, statistics, etc. (Diagnostic frame) Warrants are justifications, appeals to values -- reasons why something must be done about the troubling condition. (Motivational frame) Conclusions are recommended changes, new policies, etc. to address the problem. (Prognostic Frame)
How does your neighborhood impact the kind of wealth you may come to accumulate? Why does it do this?
Today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the typical white family has ten times the net worth of the typical black family. Even when they make the same income, white families have over twice the wealth. Much of that gap is due to home equity and family inheritance.
"For-profit" colleges ("Lower ed") vs. traditional non-profits (11/21)
Traditional non profit SAT Placement tests Orientation For-Profit Open access Not meant to have alot of admissions criteria Negative k-12 experience deserve a shot at higher education Willingness to enroll and ability to roll Capture a person when they are feeling the most insecure about their financial situation and the most ambitious to get them in to visit as quickly as possible. A negative affect, meaning you are more likely to be unemployed, and unemployed for longer, and earn less
Describe how we typically think about poverty in the United States in comparison to what we have learned about poverty in our course. Why does typical understanding of poverty persist despite what we learned about the research available on this topic?
Typically, people may think that those who live in poverty are thought to be lazy and careless, although this is not the true case. In class we learned that just because of someone's race, that someone can be poor because they might not be able to achieve the same opportunities that more superior races can. We learned a lot about redlining and how African Americans were forced to live in certain areas just because of their race, away from Whites. African Americans are discriminated against even at the school level, in which public school areas are manipulated so that white neighborhoods all go to one school and receive a better education, whereas African Americans all go to a different school and receive a lower quality education. This understanding of poverty continues to persist, despite what we learned about the research available on this topic because discrimination still exists. Sadly, but true areas all over America still have areas that are not racially equal. People just assume that all African Americans are poor, but in reality society discriminates against them and prevents them from achieving the same opportunities as Whites.
How does wealth inequality impact neighborhoods?
Wealth inequality decreases the values of the homes in the neighborhood. This will cause people to not want to move into the neighborhood. Less money for the neighborhood would cause an increase in taxes which will further the homeless epidemic.
