Solution Manual for Social Problems 9th Edition by John J. Macionis

Solution Manual for Social Problems, 2025 9th Edition by John J. Macionis

Solution Manual for Social Problems, 2025 9th Edition by John J. Macionis

Solution Manual for Social Problems, 2025 9th Edition by John J. Macionis

Instructor’s Resource Manual For

Social Problems Ninth Edition John J. Macionis, Kenyon College

Solution Manual for Social Problems, 2025 9th Edition by John J. Macionis

Solution Manual for Social Problems, 2025 9th Edition by John J. Macionis

Contents Introduction to the Instructor’s Resource Manual .................... iv Chapter 1 Sociology: Studying Social Problems ............... 1 Chapter 2 Economic Inequality ....................................... 21 Chapter 3 Racial and Ethnic Inequality ........................... 43 Chapter 4 Gender Inequality ........................................... 65 Chapter 5 Sexuality and Inequality .................................. 77 Chapter 6 Aging and Inequality ....................................... 96 Chapter 7 Crime, Violence, and Criminal Justice .......... 113 Chapter 8 Alcohol and Other Drugs .............................. 136 Chapter 9 Physical and Mental Health .......................... 153 Chapter 10 Social Media ................................................. 171 Chapter 11 Economy and Politics ................................... 186 Chapter 12 Work and the Workplace .............................. 203 Chapter 13 Family Life .................................................... 219 Chapter 14 Education ..................................................... 236 Chapter 15 Urban Life ..................................................... 250 Chapter 16 Population and Global Inequality .................. 265 Chapter 17 Technology and the Environment ................. 281 Chapter 18 War and Terrorism........................................ 297

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Solution Manual for Social Problems, 2025 9th Edition by John J. Macionis

CHAPTER 1 SOCIOLOGY: STUDYING SOCIAL PROBLEMS IRM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: The Social-Constructionist Approach John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE In this ninth edition of Social Problems, Chapter 1 is thoroughly updated with the most recent statistical information available on economic inequality, the public‘s assessment of the most serious social problems, and all other issues. Discussions explore and explain all of today‘s controversies including transgender athletics, access to abortion, global warming, sexual violence, gun violence, and immigration. There is new and expanded coverage of the increasing importance of social media in the process of defining social problems and solutions. As you expect, the revised chapter also contains the latest data on topics including global inequality and the distribution of public attitudes on the political spectrum. Every statistic in the chapter is the latest available. There are thirty-two new research citations in the revised chapter, and 80 percent of all references represent material published between 2020 and 2023.

This new edition is presented in the Revel digital-learning format. Digital content is familiar and expected by students and increases student reading and comprehension. Digital content allows for ever-increasing animation, greater interactivity, and journal writing opportunities, as well as carefully chosen video material. As always, John Macionis personally writes, develops, and updates all content. Revel raises the intellectual performance of your students and provides superior learning content at roughly half the price of bound books used in the past.

AUTHOR’S NOTE In some respects, this first chapter is the most important chapter of all. For one thing, this chapter introduces the sociological perspective, which guides sociological thinking about the society and world around us. Students who ―get it‖ early are those who have the best chance to do well throughout the course. How can we help them develop a sociological imagination? Giving clear definitions is important. It is also vital that we illustrate the sociological perspective with lots of examples. Here are two strong examples of sociological thinking found in this chapter: The chapter-opening story of Marcos Jorman illustrates how unemployment has more to do with the operation of society than the choices made by individual people.

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The Social Policy feature focusing on C. Wright Mills explains why what many people view as ―personal problems‖ are more correctly understood as ―social issues.‖ CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Seeing Patterns: The Sociological Imagination 1.1 Explain the benefits of learning about sociology and using the sociological imagination.

• Sociological Imagination o The sociological imagination is a point of view that highlights how society affects the experiences we have and the choices we make.

• Sociology o Sociology is the systematic study of human societies.

• Society o A society refers to people who live within some territory and share many patterns of behavior.

• Culture o A culture refers to a way of life including widespread values (what is good and bad), beliefs (what is true), and behavior (what people do every day).

▪ A traditional cultural value in the United States is individualism. In recent years, this value is being challenged by the importance of ―group identity‖ based on race, class, gender, and sexual identity.

• Many of the personal troubles people experience are social issues with their roots in the operation of the larger society.

• Social Policy: C. Wright Mills: Turning Personal Troubles into Social Issues!

• A sociological imagination gives us the power to bring about change, but it can also be a bit disturbing to those raised to think only of individual choice.

II. Social Problems: The Basics 1.2 Define the concept ―social problem‖ and explain how people come to define some issues—and not others—as social problems.

• Social Problem o 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. o A condition that ―undermines the well-being‖ hurts people, either by causing them immediate harm, draining their spirit, or limiting their choices. o Because any issue affects various segments of our population differently, a particular social problem is rarely harmful to everyone.

• Social Problems over Time o The problems U.S. adults consider to be most serious have changed over time. o Table 1–1 Serious Social Problems, 1935 and 2022.

▪ Only two issues are found on both lists: the economy and dissatisfaction with government. Hold a discussion of why this is the case.

• The Social-Constructionist Approach o Social problems arise as people define conditions as undesirable and in need of change. o Because social problems have a subjective as well as objective foundation, it is important to consider both objective facts and the subjective perceptions.

▪ Figure 1–1 The Objective and Subjective Assessment of Social Issues.

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o The distribution of power among categories of people in a society also plays a major part in how we understand social problems.

Claims Making o Claims making refers to efforts by officials, individuals, and organizations to convince others that a particular issue or situation should be defined as a social problem. o The process of claims making begins by rejecting some aspect of the status quo. o Social media has become a powerful tool in the process of claims making because it allows for the rapid spread of information throughout a population. o Most controversial issues involve claims making from at least two different positions; people on various sides of any issue use language to ―spin‖ claims (often described as ―controlling the narrative‖) in one way or another. o Successful claims making is often marked by the results of an election or the passing of a law.

Problems and Social Movements o Social Movement ▪ A social movement is an organized effort at claims making that tries to shape the way people think about an issue in order to encourage or discourage social change. o Stages in Social Movements (see Figure 1–2 Four Stages in the Life Course of a Social Movement) ▪ Emergence • The emergence of a movement occurs as people (initially just a few) share their concern about the status quo and begin to make claims about the need for change.

▪ Coalescence • A new organization begins by holding rallies and demonstrations and engaging in political lobbying.

▪ Formalization • The movement becomes established as it recognizes leaders, hires staff, and gains visibility and power on the political scene.

▪ Decline • A movement declines as the organization run out of money, advances claims that fail to catch on with the public, or faces strong opposition.

• In some cases, a social movement can decline simply because has successfully accomplished its goals.

Social Problems: Eight Assertions o Social problems result from the ways in which a society operates. o Social problems are not simply caused by ―bad people.‖ o Problems are socially constructed as people define a condition as harmful and in need of change. o Categories of people see problems differently. o Definitions of problems change over time. o Problems involve subjective values as well as objective facts. o Many—but not all—social problems can be solved.

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o Various social problems are related.

Social Problems: A Global Perspective o Global perspective shows us that some social problems cross national boundaries. o Many dimensions of life—and many of life‘s challenges—may be quite different in other nations, especially those with less economic development.

Social Problems in Global Perspective: The Global Village: Problems around the World o Window on the World Global Map 1–1 Women‘s Childbearing in Global Perspective.

III. Analyzing Social Problems: Sociological Theory 1.3 Apply sociological theory to the study of social problems.

• Theory o A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related.

• Theoretical Approach o A theoretical approach is a basic image of society that guides theory and research. o Using a particular sociological approach leads sociologists to ask certain questions (and not others).

• The Structural-Functional Approach o A structural-functional approach sees society as a system of many interrelated parts. o Social Institutions ▪ These are the major spheres of social life, or societal subsystems, which are organized to meet a basic human need. o Early Functional Theory: Problems as Social Pathology ▪ An early functional approach studied society as if it were a living organism.

▪ Social pathology theory • This is a theoretical model that treats social problems as a disruption in society‘s normal operation, like a disease within the body.

▪ Herbert Spencer • Spencer made the claim that poverty is a result of some people lacking the ability and personal discipline to work. o The Chicago School: Problems as Disorganization ▪ Social disorganization theory • This theory holds that problems arise when society experiences rapid social change, such as a very high level of immigration. o More Recent Functionalism: Problems as Dysfunctions ▪ Manifest functions are intended and widely recognized, whereas latent functions are unintended and less well known.

▪ Social problems can be thought of as the dysfunctions (or negative function) of various social patterns.

▪ These sociologists also pointed out that, just as ―good‖ things such as sports can have some bad consequences, ―bad‖ things such as sexual assault can sometimes have some good results for society as a whole.

• The Social-Conflict Approach

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• •

o The social-conflict approach is a theoretical framework that sees society as divided by inequality and conflict. o Marxist Theory: Problems and Class Conflict ▪ Class conflict theory is an explanation of social problems guided by Karl Marx‘s theory of class struggle.

▪ To Marx, social problems are the inevitable result of the normal operation of a capitalist economy.

▪ Marx was critical of modern capitalist society but was optimistic about the future. o Multiculturalism and Critical Race Theory: Problems of Racial and Ethnic Inequality ▪ Multicultural theory explains how social problems result from racial and ethnic inequality.

▪ Critical race theory claims the goal of individual color blindness serves to mask the fact that inequality is built into the operation of society‘s legal system, economy, and other institutions.

The Feminist Approach o Feminism is a political movement that seeks the social equality of women and men.

The Symbolic-Interaction Approach o The goal of describing society more in terms of how people experience the world underlies the symbolic-interaction approach, a theoretical framework that sees society as the product of individuals interacting with one another. o Learning Theory: Problems and the Social Environment ▪ Learning theory claims that people learn troublesome attitudes and behaviors from others around them. o Labeling Theory: Problems and Social Definitions ▪ Labeling theory states that the reality of any particular situation depends on how people define it.

IV. Finding the Facts: Sociological Research 1.4 Discuss the methods sociologists use to study social problems.

• Many sociologists devote their lives to investigating the nature and causes of social problems in the hope of making the world a better place.

• Research Methods o Survey Research: Asking Questions ▪ The most widely used research procedure is the survey, a research method in which subjects respond to items on a questionnaire or in an interview.

▪ A questionnaire is a series of items a researcher presents to subjects for their response.

▪ The interview is a more personal survey technique in which a researcher meets face-to-face with respondents to discuss some issue.

▪ Questionnaires offer the chance for greater breadth of opinion, and interviews can provide greater depth of understanding.

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Sometimes researchers pursue a case study, in which they focus on a single case. The advantage of this approach is that focusing on a single case allows greater detail and depth of understanding. o Field Research: Joining In ▪ Also called ―participant observation,‖ this research method is used to observe people while joining them in their everyday activities.

▪ Field researchers have to balance the demands of being participants, who are personally involved in the setting, with those of observers, who adopt a more detached role to assess a setting or situation more objectively. o Experimental Research: Looking for Causes ▪ An experiment is a research method for investigating cause-and-effect relationships under tightly controlled conditions.

▪ Most experiments are carried out in a specially designed laboratory where researchers change one variable while keeping the others the same. o Secondary Analysis: Using Available Data ▪ Secondary analysis is a research method that makes use of data originally collected by others.

▪ Reliable sources of data include the Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FBI, and the Pew Research Center.

▪ Research using data available data from an organizational source saves time and money but presents its own problems.

Truth, Science, and Politics o Science can help us learn, say, how many U.S. families are poor, and it may even yield some insights as to why they are poor. But science cannot tell us what we should do about poverty, because science does not address moral and political matters. o Sociologists disagree about the extent to which political values should guide research.

Truth and Statistics o Statistics are the numerical results that researchers often include when they report their findings. Statistics are easy ways to describe a large number of subjects. o Numbers are not the same as truth, for two reasons: numbers must be interpreted and statistics are often presented in a manner that supports some preferred conclusion. o Tips to be a more critical reader: ▪ Check how researchers define their terms.

▪ Remember that research is never perfect.

▪ Researchers may spin their statistics. o Figure 1–3 Do Statistics Lie? o Never assume that ―statistics‖ is the same as ―truth.‖

V. Responding to Social Problems: Social Policy 1.5 Identify factors that guide the formulation of policy in response to social problems.

• Social policy refers to the formal strategies that affect how society operates.

• Policy Evaluation

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o To evaluate any policy and whether it works we must answer three questions: ▪ How do we measure the ―success‖ of a policy or program?

▪ What are the costs of the policy or program?

▪ Who should get the help?

Policy and Culture o Social policy is shaped by cultural values; societies respond to a social problem in a particular way not necessarily because that approach is cheapest or works best but because a particular response seems, according to the society‘s culture, to be ―the right thing to do.‖ Policy and Politics o The kinds of policies people favor depend on their political point of view.

▪ Conservative people try to conserve traditions from the past. Because these traditions are viewed as good, problems arise mostly because of the actions and choices of bad individuals or progressive movement away from tradition.

This is why conservatives favor policies that treat problems as shortcomings of particular individuals, or the misguided efforts of activists, rather than as shortcomings of established society.

▪ People with more liberal views see problems in the organization of society itself and favor progressive societal change.

VI. Politics: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 1.6 Analyze how political attitudes shape the process of constructing social problems and defining solutions.

• The Political Spectrum o The political spectrum is a continuum representing a range of political attitudes from ―left‖ to ―right.‖ o Table 1–2 shows that 33.1% of people consider themselves liberal to some degree, 34.6% say they are moderates (―middle of the road‖), and 31.9% identify themselves as conservative to some degree. o There is always considerable variation in the nation‘s political thinking. o In recent years, political polarization has increased in the United States.

• Conservatives, Liberals, and Radicals o Conservatives look to the past for guidance on how to live. A good society, according to conservatives is respectful of traditions. o A good society, from a liberal point of view, is one in which people are able to make choices for themselves and it requires that all categories of people be more or less equal in terms of basic rights and opportunities. o Radicals point to some basic flaw in society (for Marx, it was the capitalist economy) that is responsible for any number of social problems involving social inequality.

• Social Issues o Social issues are political debates involving moral judgments about how people should live. o Leaning Left ▪ In general, social liberals think that people should be free to shape their lifestyles for themselves. (Progressives, who lean further leftward, place

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less emphasis on individual freedom and more on gaining greater equality—the commonly-used term is ―equity‖—for categories of people. o Leaning Right ▪ Social conservatives are respectful of traditional values and want to conserve them. (Libertarians seek very limited government, which puts them right of center, but also support individual choice, a view they share with social liberals).

Economic Issues o Economic issues are political debates about how a society should produce and distribute material resources. o Leaning Left ▪ In general, economic liberals (leaning to the left on economic issues) favor government regulation of the market economy in order to reduce inequality. (Progressives support considerable government control of the economy). o Leaning Right ▪ Economic conservatives (who lean to the right on economic issues) call for a smaller role for government in the economy and a greater role for the free market. (Libertarians are strongly free-market).

Who Thinks What? o Social standing is a fair predictor of political attitudes, but it turns out that most people are actually liberal on one type of issue and conservative on the other. o A Word about Gender ▪ Political analysts have documented a modest ―gender gap‖ in voting patterns that paints women as slightly more liberal than men. o A Word about Political Parties ▪ In general, people who lean left support the Democratic Party and people who lean right support the Republican Party.

▪ In the six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020, Republicans won six times and Democrats won six times.

Going On from Here o Problems are socially constructed. Political attitudes guide what we define as problems and what policies we are likely to support as solutions. o Because people have different views of problems and their solutions, there is a need to engage in conversation. o Political literacy is vital, especially in an era of social media and political polarization.

Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: A Call to Action: The Message of Martin Luther King Jr. Defining Solutions: Whose Problem Is It?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1.1 Explain the benefits of learning about sociology and using the sociological imagination.

1.2 Define the concept ―social problem‖ and explain how people in a society come to define some issues—and not others—as social problems.

1.3 Apply sociological theory to the study of social problems.

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1.4 Discuss the methods sociologists use to study social problems.

1.5 Identify factors that guide the formulation of policy in response to social problems.

1.6 Analyze how political attitudes shape the process of constructing social problems and defining solutions.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 1, students should be able to: Discuss the sociological imagination and explain how it helps us recognize that much of our personal experience is rooted in the operation of society.

Describe how many of the troubles individual people experience have their roots in the organization of the larger society.

Describe shifts in public attitudes about what constitutes serious social problems.

Discuss the social-constructionist approach and explain how subjective perceptions and objective facts both play a part in the construction of social problems.

Explain the process of claims making and how it relates to the construction of social problems.

Identify and describe the four stages in the life course of a social movement.

Identify the eight basic assertions that sociologists make in their approach to social problems.

Discuss the importance of the global perspective in studying social problems.

Discuss the structural-functional approach, various social-conflict approaches, and the symbolic-interaction approach the questions they ask in an analysis of social problems.

Compare and contrast the social pathology theory, social disorganization theory, and more recent forms of structural-functional theory.

Compare and contrast Marxist class conflict theory with multicultural theory, critical race theory, and feminism/gender-conflict theory.

Compare and contrast learning theory with labeling theory.

Identify both contributions and criticisms of the structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction approaches to understanding social problems.

Explain how surveys, field research, experimental research, and secondary analysis are used as sociological research methods and recognize their strengths and weaknesses.

Explain the limitations of science and the importance of political values in the creation of solutions for social problems.

Explain the role and limitations of statistics presented by researchers to the construction of social problems and their solutions.

Explain how cultural values may guide the process of defining solutions to social problems.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of social problems and defines solutions.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: THE SOCIAL-CONSTRUCTIONIST APPROACH What sets this learning product text apart from all the others is our foundation in the socialconstructionist approach. By learning that social problems are socially constructed, students gain several major insights: • Students understand how different problems emerge in a society at different times.

• Students understand why the most harmful social patterns may or may not be defined as social problems (see Fig. 1–1).

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• • •

Students understand how and why different categories of people define situations differently. In some cases, in fact, one person‘s ―problem‖ may be another‘s ―solution.‖ Students are ready to understand the process of claims making, by which problems come into being.

Perhaps most importantly, students will learn to engage in the social construction of problems guided by positions on the political spectrum. Only by embracing the social construction of problems can we engage in the ongoing debate among various categories of the population about what is or is not a social problem.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION What makes us embrace something as beautiful or turn a blind eye? The social construction of problems is one very important illustration of the broader process we call the social construction of reality. To show students how what we see—and what we fail to notice—is guided by our social surroundings, share this short video with the class. Go to a search engine such as Google and search for a video of Joshua Bell‘s subway experiment. In that video you will see Joshua Bell, who ranks among the top violinists in the world, playing in public. If what you see were to take place at the Kennedy Center or Carnegie Hall, people would be paying big bucks to enjoy this artist‘s talents. But Bell is playing in a subway station in Washington, D.C., as if he were a down-and-out guy (a busker) playing for coins. The man is the same, the music is the same, but the setting is different. How much of a difference does the social setting make? Watch how almost no one notices the extraordinary opportunity right in front of their eyes.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 1, look for two PowerPoint presentations. The first is ―Social Media and Social Movements: #BlackLivesMatter,‖ which explains how social media helped launch this widespread social movement. Second, to accompany discussion of social research, is a presentation titled ―Sociological Investigation: The General Social Survey,‖ which highlights our discipline‘s major survey program.

These PowerPoints can be downloaded from my personal website, www.The SociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture on Liberation Sociology. Provide Students with a Brief History of the ―Liberation‖ Tradition in Sociology.

Joe Feagin (University of Florida) points out that there is a long liberation sociology tradition

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in the discipline, which stretches back to Jane Addams and W. E. B. Du Bois in the late nineteenth century. Feagin characterizes liberation sociology as ―sociology from the bottom up.‖ From this left-leaning perspective, the point of sociology is to enhance the lives of ordinary people and to bring changes in social systems of discrimination and oppression.

A major twentieth-century figure to accent this progressive tradition was Robert S. Lynd (known for his ―Middletown‖ studies of Muncie, Indiana), who focused his work on class inequality. He hypothesized that ―private capitalism does not know how to operate and probably cannot be made to operate, to assure the amount of general welfare to which the present stage of our technological skills and intelligence entitle us; and other ways of managing our economy, therefore, need to be explored.‖ Thus, the question that social science appears to face is, ―What kind of culture would be that which would use its full array of knowledge and productive resources to maximize the quantity, quality, and useful variety of daily living for the masses of American people?‖ Another major figure of the progressive tradition in sociology is Oliver C. Cox, an African American sociologist who accented the importance of sociological research and passion in favor of change, particularly against racism [see Oliver C. Cox: Caste, Class & Race (1948)].

Perhaps the best-known figure in the twentieth-century progressive tradition is C. Wright Mills, who called on sociologists to listen to those who are insurgent [see C. Wright Mills: The Sociological Imagination (1959)]. Alfred M. Lee [Sociology for Whom? (1978)] continued the criticism of mainstream sociology for its failure to deal with class and other types of oppression.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a number of feminist sociologists spoke out against the maleness of traditional sociology and pointed to the need to incorporate a feminist perspective on gendered oppression within the discipline. Jesse Bernard stated, ―Without equivocation that sociology was a male science of society and practically all sociology to date has been a sociology of the male world‖ [Dale Spender: Man Made Language (1980)].

Source Feagin, Joe. 1997. In the Southwestern Sociological Association‘s Newsletter, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Spring): 4–5.

Discussion Questions a. Oliver C. Cox wrote that ―clearly, the social scientist should be accurate and objective but not neutral; he should be passionately partisan in favor of the welfare of the people and against the interests of the few when they seem to submerge that welfare.‖ What‘s your opinion of this position? b. Explain how liberation sociology is related to the social-conflict paradigm (cited in Chapter 1 of the text). c. What can you say about the politics of contemporary liberation (social-conflict) sociology and feminist sociology?

2. Supplemental Lecture on the Social Construction of Problems. Illustrate the Social Construction of Problems Using the Concept of ―Rape.‖ This illustration of what we call the social construction of problems is drawn from the accounts of Estelle Friedman (2012) of varying views of the concept of ―rape.‖ Gender—specifically patriarchy—is at work in this process. In the 1800s, a dominant legal principle called coverture meant that men had legal ownership of the property and body of their wives. For this reason, the

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law at that time defined the crime of rape as the carnal knowledge of a female by a male other than her husband. In short, women had no right to withhold sex from their husband. Race, too, figured into the definition of rape. Women of color who were enslaved could not deny sex to an enslaver; nor could they testify against him—for any reason—in a court of law. Therefore, just as rape did not exist in marriage, it also did not exist in relations between an enslaver and an enslaved person. More generally, within the racial caste system in the United States, Black men were easily charged with the crime of rape involving White women. However, the converse was almost never the case.

By the time of the Civil War, as part of the emergence of the feminist movement, these constructions came under increasing criticism. Worth discussion is the extent to which our understanding of the crime of rape is still guided by gender and race. As recently as 2012, for example, a man running for a Missouri Senate seat spoke against abortion, suggesting that there were cases of ―legitimate rape.‖ In 2013, the federal definition of rape changed to include both female and male perpetrators—likely an acknowledgment that women and men have more equal social standing.

3. Supplemental Lecture on the Political Spectrum. Provide Students with a More Nuanced Account of Various Political Categories of the Population.

The most common way the various media describe political positions is designating populations as ―red‖ or ―blue.‖ This binary system is crude at best and does little to convey the diversity of political attitudes in the United States. Analysts have identified a number of more specific categories of voters. The following categories are based on surveys taken by the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press and updated by the author.

Core Democratic Supporters Sixties Democrats: This well-educated, heavily female category has a strong belief in social justice. These left-leaning Democrats are highly tolerant of social diversity involving race, class, gender, and sexual expression. They favor larger government and support most forms of government social spending.

Occupy Wall Streeters/Bernie Sanders Supporters: These are younger people who share most of the political attitudes of the Sixties Democrats. They also have a strong interest in reducing economic inequality. Many of these young people supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary and his career in the senate since then. Many of today‘s ―progressives‖ are in this category.

New Dealers: Older, blue-collar, and religious, this aging category of traditional Democrats can trace their roots back to their support of the New Deal. Although supportive on many social spending issues, New Dealers (like older people in general) are far less tolerant on social diversity issues and somewhat hawkish on defense.

God and Country Democrats: This category is also older, poor, and disproportionately Black with high numbers concentrated in the South. The God and Country Democrats have a strong faith in the United States and are highly religious. They favor social spending and provide limited support for social diversity issues.

Partisan Poor: Very low income, typically with little schooling, and including a relatively high share of Black Americans, this traditionally loyal Democratic category has a strong faith in the party‘s ability to achieve social justice. The Partisan Poor firmly support all forms of social spending, although (reflecting their limited education) they are somewhat conservative

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on certain social issues.

Democratic-Leaning Categories Followers: Young with limited schooling and disproportionately Black or Hispanic, this category shows little interest in politics and is very persuadable and, therefore, unpredictable.

Although not outspokenly critical of government or big business, Followers are dismayed by their own perceived lack of opportunities.

Seculars: This category is defined by its lack of religious belief. In addition, Seculars are strongly committed to personal freedom (making them classical liberals and somewhat libertarian) and are dovish on defense issues. Their level of participation in politics, however, is not as high as one might expect given their education and political sophistication.

Core Republican Supporters Enterprisers: Affluent, well educated, and predominantly male, this classic Republican category is mainly characterized by its pro-business and antigovernment attitudes.

Enterprisers are moderate on questions of personal freedom but oppose increased spending on most social issues. Nikki Haley, a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, embodies an enterprising outlook.

Moralists: Middle-aged and middle-income voters, this core Republican category includes many Christian Fundamentalists and is militantly anti-Communist and conservative on personal freedom issues. Some of the Tea Party supporters are Moralists as is Ron De Santis, in the 2024 presidential campaign.

Libertarians: This category of voters is wary of government power, believing that our own government represents the greatest threat to personal liberty. The Freedom Caucus in Congress includes many libertarians.

Alt-Right Populists: These are the people who have been a central part of the political base for Donald Trump. They are heavily located in the old industrial regions of Ohio, Michigan, and rural Pennsylvania, are largely White, and have relatively little schooling. They feel left behind by government and the political policies of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and they claim that the United States has been in decline. They responded to Trump‘s promise to support people like themselves, to ―drain the swamp‖ in Washington, and to ―make America great again.‖ In the past, this category of voters was not very likely to turn out at the polls, but in 2016 they turned out in far higher numbers than most analysts expected. They supported Trump again in the 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns.

Republican-Leaning Categories Upbeats: Young and optimistic, the members of this category are firm believers in the United States and in the country‘s government. Upbeats are moderate in their political attitudes.

Disaffecteds: Alienated, pessimistic, and financially pressured, this category of voters leans toward the GOP camp, but it has historical ties to the Democratic Party. Disaffecteds are skeptical of both big government and big business, but many are pro-military. Many in this category have become Alt-Right Populists.

Low-Income Bystanders: The members of this category are young and predominantly White with little education. They neither participate in politics nor show any interest in current affairs. They lean toward Republicanism.

Discussion Questions

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a. Do any of these categories of voters have special appeal for you? Do any of these categories predominate in your local community? Explain. b. How well do you think this analysis applies to the 2020 presidential election?

4. Brett Johnson believes that there are four main classroom contributors to students‘ pessimistic appraisals of their ability to improve social problems: authoritarian teaching methods, a culture of ―doom and gloom,‖ little attention to solutions to social problems, and no linkage of individual action to the solution of social problems. In his article, ―Overcoming ‗Doom and Gloom‘: Empowering Students in Courses on Social Problems, Injustice, and Inequality‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 33, January 2005: 44–58), Johnson proposes a five-step process to effectively teach about social problems while empowering students to help solve these problems: a. Identify the process through which social problems are constructed. b. Identify the existence of the social problem. c. Identify core causes of the social problem. d. Identify structural solutions to the social problem. e. Identify individual actions that contribute to social solutions.

5. Scott A. Desmond has developed an exercise to address personal disagreements about how various social problems affect our world. Desmond believes that his approach helps students to reflect on their own attitudes and opinions in conversation with people who hold attitudes that differ from their own. His article, ―Prioritizing Social Problems: An Exercise for Exploring Students‘ Attitudes about Social Problems,‖ appears in the January 2005 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 33: 59–65). Instructors are sometimes reluctant to orchestrate discussions of contentious issues for fear that such activities will disrupt their classrooms and create difficulty.

Desmond‘s article offers numerous suggestions for avoiding these pitfalls, while still addressing students‘ personal disagreements directly and with positive results.

6. Susan M. Ross and Janet McNeil Hurlbert have devised a technique for incorporating problem-based learning with social problems courses. They describe a class exercise that involves the Vermont Supreme Court decision to legalize civil unions. Their article, ―ProblemBased Learning: An Exercise on Vermont‘s Legalization of Civil Unions,‖ appears in the January 2004 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 32: 79–93).

7. Many students who enroll in the social problems course will have difficulty seeing the interconnectedness of the problematic issues under study—they will tend to view each problem as a separate issue to be solved independently from the others. The discussion of political perspectives is important here. Help students to see that conservatives view the ―good society‖ as traditional, with the institutions that pass on symbolic culture (family and religion) having the greatest importance. Therefore, any trend that weakens traditional family structure or weakens traditional religious beliefs is likely to be viewed as a problem. Similarly, liberals take a different view of a ―good society‖ providing equal opportunity—and, for progressive people further to the left—equal outcomes. They focus all dimensions of social inequality as problems and see increasing economic inequality as a particularly important issue. In addition, any disparity involving inequality between one category and another is likely to be defined as a problem.

Radical-left analysis also highlights various problems involving social inequality, but the cause of inequality is rooted in the system (for Marxists, the capitalist economy).

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8. The text mentions C. Wright Mills‘s approach to the sociological perspective. Chad Hanson has formulated an interesting approach to illustrating Mills‘s sociological imagination through the use of Depression-era photographs (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 30, April 2002: 235–42). You may benefit from reading Hanson‘s article. Every instructor has encountered the phrase, ―Pictures are worth a thousand words.‖ Visual sociology is a subfield that has attracted a great deal of attention in recent decades and is becoming increasingly popular as a classroom technique. Hanson‘s approach is an illustration of the application of these techniques.

9. ―Active learning‖ techniques are becoming more and more popular in college classrooms today. Here are two articles that incorporate the active learning approach with the teaching of sociological theory: Allen Scarboro‘s ―Bringing Theory Closer to Home through Active Learning and Online Discussion‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 32, April 2004: 222–31) and Melissa Holtzman‘s ―Teaching Sociological Theory Through Active Learning: The Irrigation Exercise‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 33, April 2005: 206–12).

10. In many ways, the problems involved with teaching sociological theory are similar to those encountered by instructors who teach methodology. Students frequently comment that theory and methods are ―boring‖ and ―not very useful.‖ Susan Gotsch-Thompson has written an article titled ―The Integration of Gender into the Teaching of Classical Social Theory: Help from The Handmaid’s Tale‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 18, January 1990: 69–73), which may be helpful as you approach social theory in your social problems class.

11. In conjunction with the interactionist perspective, the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativity are essential for understanding social problems. Kim Schopmeyer and Bradley Fisher present some interesting instructional techniques for exploring ethnocentrism and cultural relativity in their article, ―Insiders and Outsiders: Exploring Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity in Sociology Courses‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 21, April 1993: 148–53).

12. In his article ―Unconventional First Days: Encouraging Students to Wonder about Social Life and Learning‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 27, July 1999: 258–63), Paul Higgens points out that the first day of a college course is very important and can set the tone for the balance of the semester. You may find Higgens‘s article helpful as you construct your personal approach to the social problems course.

13. Undergraduate students are frequently intimidated by discussions of theory. Kathleen S. Lowney offers an exercise that should help students in her article, ―Reducing Theory Anxiety through Puzzles‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 26, January 1998: 69–73).

14. Schedule a discussion of the types of research methods described in Chapter 1. Have students evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each of the methods discussed in the text: secondary analysis, survey research, field observation, and social experiments. Try to get students to understand the types of questions that lead researchers to choose each method. In addition, encourage students to consider the ethical issues that are involved with the use of human subjects in conducting social research. The text‘s discussion of these issues in Chapter 1 should be extremely helpful to your students in this process.

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15. Have each student bring to class a newspaper or magazine article that discusses a social problem and a solution for it. The students can then discuss how they would go about assessing the effectiveness of the solution, considering issues such as sampling and validity, among others.

Other methodological considerations can be introduced in lecture. The point of this exercise is to instill in the students the idea that there are logical and methodological criteria that need to be considered when evaluating solutions to problems.

16. Have students select a newspaper or magazine article that presents statistics on a social problem. Ask students to use their newly acquired expertise to evaluate how the statistics could be interpreted in more than one way and to discuss the spin used by the author. Discuss how statistics are tools that help to construct a social reality for the audience.

17. Ask students to use the political spectrum to assess where they stand politically. Divide students into groups of four to five with peers who are a political match. Each group should try to find common points of interest that have had an impact on their political values (including religious beliefs, social class, parental views, and race and ethnicity). Once each group has discussed social factors that have influenced their lives, ask each group to appoint a spokesperson to present their group‘s commonalities to the class. After the presentations, discuss how different experiences contribute to the social construction of political views.

18. Show news coverage of the same story from various competing sources to the class. Discuss the media‘s role in the social construction of social problems.

19. Is the United States the greatest country in the world? If you search on a video site such as YouTube for ―America: the greatest country in the world‖ you can find one or more interesting videos that raise this question in a critical and thoughtful way. Generally speaking, the political right sees the United States as virtuous and exceptional, and the political left sees the United States as flawed. This topic makes for powerful class discussion.

WEB LINKS Cambridge Online Journals: Search for Politics and Gender https://www.cambridge.org/core/ Profiles of Powerful Sociologists http://www.thesociologypage.com Mothers Against Drunk Driving http://www.madd.org Society for the Study of Social Problems http://www.sssp1.org Take Back the Night http://www.takebackthenight.org U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov

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ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the distinction made by C. Wright Mills between ―personal troubles‖ and ―social issues.‖ How does this distinction call out certain types of solutions?

2. Explain the social-constructionist approach to social problems.

3. Explain how claims making is related to the construction of social problems.

4. Describe the stages in the life cycle of a social movement.

5. Explain how improving one social problem sometimes makes another problem worse.

6. Distinguish the types of questions asked by researchers guided by structural-functional theory and social-conflict theory.

7. Identify and discuss the four major research methods that sociologists use when investigating social problems.

8. Distinguish social issues and economic issues. Explain how one‘s political values shape a person‘s attitudes on both types of issues.

9. Describe the conservative, liberal, and radical-left viewpoints.

10. To what extent do men and women have different perspectives on major political issues?

FILM LIST NEVER ENOUGH A Documentary by Kelly Anderson (2014, 35 m, Contact: kanderso@hunter.cuny.edu) This video explores the relationship between people and their possessions. Do ―things‖ serve us (and become part of the solution) or do they take over our lives (becoming part of the problem)?

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES (1995, 23 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This video explores the ―nature–nurture debate,‖ assessing how social behavior is a combination of genetics and social learning. The presentation may lean a bit more toward the ―nature‖ side of the debate than some sociologists will prefer, but this assessment can still be useful for your social problems class.

INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY (2004, 15 m, Insight Media) In this program, students and professors explain what sociology is and what sociologists do. The program discusses the sociological approach, looks at areas addressed through sociological study, and considers social constructions. It also shows how sociological thinking provides a unique perspective on such items as mobile phones and security cameras.

MASS APPEAL: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) Emphasizing that social movements are not a new phenomenon, this program looks at the idea of collective identity that is at the heart of social movements. It features sociologists who explain how such critical factors as politics, values, emotions, and tactics determine whether a movement succeeds or fails. Students will gain an understanding of the role of social movements in the construction of social problems.

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PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL (2009, 72 m, Fork Films) This documentary explores how thousands of ordinary women worked together to end a bloody civil war in Liberia. Armed with nothing but white T-shirts, they staged a silent protest outside the presidential palace. This film will help students understand (a) the objective and subjective foundations of the social problem, (b) the process of claims making, and (c) the four stages in a social movement.

RIGHT AMERICA: FEELING WRONGED—SOME VOICES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL (2008, 44 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This film reveals a country deeply polarized over its identity. Emotionally charged issues—such as gun control, abortion, gay rights, and a perceived media bias against the McCain-Palin ticket—propel this fascinating narrative, which documents the months leading up to President Obama‘s election. Students will gain an understanding of the political spectrum and how one‘s location on the spectrum has an impact on the social construction of social problems.

SOCIAL-CONSTRUCTIONIST IDEAS ABOUT RESEARCH (2000, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines the social construction of research. It considers the study of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to show how choices of interview and observation subjects affect the definition of the disorder.

SOCIETIES (1991, 30 m, Insight Media) This program demonstrates how societies from small to complex satisfy basic human needs.

Looking at different societies within the United States, the presentation illustrates how societies change over time with respect to size, technology, and social structure. The evolution of social relationships as societies become larger and more complex is examined. The video also provides a glimpse of how international social changes have affected both nations and societies.

SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY (2002, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines the processes by which sociologists study group behaviors and considers the ways in which sociological inquiry differs from everyday observations and conclusions.

Students will gain an understanding of the importance of empirical research, the processes involved in quantitative research, and the mixed-methodology approach to sociological inquiry.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES (2002, 30 m, Insight Media) Explaining the central ideas behind three major sociological perspectives (conflict theory, functionalism, and interactionism), this program shows how each helps sociologists interpret events and also considers the tools and methods of sociology. Students will gain an understanding of how the perspective that one uses in interpreting a social problem will impact the types of solutions offered.

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TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES: IS AMERICA GOING DOWNHILL? (2000, 2 parts, 30 m each, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This series poses the question of what has become of the classic American virtues of good manners and honesty and argues that changes in the American character have promoted a pervasive attitude of ―me first‖ and ―anything goes.‖ Some obvious links to social problems are highlighted.

VISIONS OF AMERICA (1998, 58 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In this film, seven well-known Americans (Hank Aaron, Dave Barry, Jimmy Carter, Barbara Mandrell, John McLaughlin, Gloria Steinem, and Amy Tan) have a lot to say about America.

What they say reveals an America fraught with both opportunities and serious problems, full of struggle and prejudice, and simultaneously characterized by patriotism and irreverence. Their ―visions‖ are original essays by these distinguished citizens, which have been translated into video portraits of American life and values.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Understanding Claims Making Pick an organization or social movement (such as the National Rifle Association or #BlackLivesMatter) and point out some of the claims that they make. Have these claims provoked counterclaims? Explain.

Sample answer: Responses should identify an organization or social movement and the claims made by these entities. For example, the National Rifle Association supports the ―right to bear arms‖ and claims that guns make the country safer. Their claims have faced strong opposition by those who argue that stricter gun control legislation is needed in order to reduce gun violence.

A more recent example involves the people who came together in 2022 to oppose the U.S. Supreme Court‘s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

They argued that abortion is a woman‘s right, a reproductive choice that should only be made by the woman herself. Those who support the ruling, on the other hand, argued that abortion is the wrongful killing of unborn babies.

2. Personalizing Politics Where do you place yourself on the political spectrum? Consider both social issues and economic issues. Are your positions different?

Sample answer: Responses should identify position on the political spectrum and involve both social issues (lifestyle matters such as transgender rights) and economic issues (such as the minimum wage or economic inequality).

3. Where Do You Stand?

What are your thoughts about how people should gain economic security? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then write several paragraphs that express your views about whether the government or individuals themselves should have primary responsibility for people‘s economic security.

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Sample answer: Responses should address the strengths (such as high productivity) and failings (such as unequal distribution) of a market economy and the strengths (reducing economic inequality) and limitations (lower productivity and loss of individual freedom) of greater government power.

4. Global Map 1–1 Women‘s Childbearing in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to compare the left map with the map on the right, showing the level of economic development for all countries. In the journal space, explain how women‘s typical number of children differs in high-income compared to low-income nations. Identify some ways in which women‘s lives differ in high-income compared to low-income nations.

Sample answer: Many women in the world have little choice about childbearing. In nations that provide women with little educational and economic opportunity, childbearing and doing housework may become the center of most women‘s lives. Roll your cursor over the nations of Mali, Niger, and Chad, for example, and you will see that, in many Central African nations, women have five, six, or seven children on average.

Roll your cursor over the nations of western Europe, and you will see the average number of births per woman is below two.

Comparing the two maps, you will see that high-fertility countries are almost all low-income nations. A reasonable conclusion is that, in low-income nations, women have more children, on average, than in high-income countries. The reason for this difference is that, generally, low-income societies provide the fewest life choices to women, and women have the least power relative to men.

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CHAPTER 2 ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IRM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: How Our Nation Defines Poverty John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE In this ninth edition of the title, Chapter 2 has new discussion of the policy of guaranteed income, which has been tried in some fifty cities. There is also expanded discussion of raceconflict theory. Included are the latest data on the state of economic inequality involving both income and wealth with special attention to economic inequality increasing over time. Another new discussion explores differences in perceptions of economic inequality on the part of people who support Democratic versus Republican political candidates. There is more about how differences in cultural capital often matter as much as differences in economic capital. Finally, there is new discussion of the increasing gap in life expectancy between people living in highand low-income households. Updates on poverty, CEO earnings, taxation, and income data are linked to gender, race, and ethnicity throughout. The revised chapter has fifty-nine new research references; 82 percent of all chapter references are dated 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

AUTHOR’S NOTE Is economic inequality a problem? Almost all sociologists think that it is. And there is little question about the fact that economic inequality is increasing.

Start a little closer to home by asking students if they think some students who enroll in your course will deserve a higher grade than others. Almost certainly, most will say the answer is ―yes.‖ Ask why. My students commonly claim that some students work harder than others. Some have more experience with the subject matter than others, and some may be better writers, better test takers, or simply smarter than others. Do similar arguments apply to economic inequality?

(We might also reflect on what our own grading practices says about our view of this matter).

In general, as this chapter explains, conservatives have a positive view of economic inequality, at least within some limit. Typically, conservatives favor a society with broad opportunity for people to apply and increase their skills over time. Conservatives tend to see the market system as a more or less fair arbiter of what people‘s work is worth, and the importance of talent, training, and effort. Liberals (and, more so, progressives) have doubts that the market judges people fairly. For one thing, market systems create economic inequality so that people are

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born with different levels of opportunity. Because people don‘t start out in the same place, government programs are needed to level the playing field a little or a lot, depending on how far you are to the political left. In addition, markets tend to be dominated by powerful economic interests (that is, the rich). Radicals on the left, therefore, claim government efforts to increase equality fall far short. What is needed, from this point of view, is a government-controlled economy.

In teaching this chapter, remember that there are many facts to convey. Even more important is the opportunity to think and talk together about how we define and assess economic inequality. The political analysis at the end of the chapter provides a comprehensive guide to conservative, liberal, and radical-left thinking about economic inequality as well as poverty. In general, the farther to the right one moves, the more a just society should be hierarchical; the farther to the left one falls, the more a just society provides the same economic outcome to everyone.

Finally, throughout our nation‘s history, the population at large has accepted economic inequality but with a catch—everyone should have some reasonable chance of improving economic standing. As the Tracking the Trends figure at the beginning of this chapter shows, there has been a very significant erosion of belief in the claim that the United States is a nation of economic opportunity. In addition, recent presidential campaigns have sparked heated debate about economic inequality, including charges that our economic system is ―rigged.‖ CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Economic Inequality in the United States 2.1 Describe the distribution of income and wealth in the United States.

• Social Stratification o Social stratification is society‘s system of ranking categories of people in a hierarchy. This process produces and perpetuates social classes.

• Social Classes o Social classes are categories of people who have similar access to resources and opportunities. o Being born into a particular social class affects people‘s life chances.

• Inequality of Income and Wealth o Income ▪ Income includes salary or wages from a job plus earnings from investments and other sources.

▪ Figure 2–1 Diversity Snapshot: Distribution of Income in the United States, Figure 2–2 Mean Annual Income for U.S. Families, 1980–2021.

Revel supports zooming in to see income data for local communities. o Wealth ▪ Wealth includes the value of all the economic assets owned by a person or family, minus any debts.

▪ Figure 2–3 Diversity Snapshot: Distribution of Wealth in the United Sates.

• Engaging the Issues: Increasing Economic Inequality: When Does It Become a Problem?

• The Trend toward Increasing Economic Inequality

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o Income inequality is now widely viewed as a social problem. More people wonder whether the highest-paid individuals are really worth what they are receiving. o Figure 2–4 Share of All U.S. Income Earned by the Richest 1 Percent, 1913-2020.

• Taxation o Taxes generate money that the government needs to operate. o The government uses taxes to discourage certain types of consumption. o Taxation can be a tool to redistribute income and to reduce economic inequality. o Progressive taxation is a policy that raises tax rates as income increases. o Progressive taxation reduces the level of income inequality by about 20 percent. o Table 2–1 Progressive Federal Tax on Income, 2020.

II. The Rich and the Poor: A Social Profile 2.2 Assess differences in the lives of the rich and the poor in the United States.

• The Rich o A more useful definition for this category of the population might be people with family income in the top 10 percent of the distribution. o Many in this category have the power to make a difference—they have access to political leaders, and they are decision makers in their own right as members of governing boards of businesses and community organizations. o An estimate for 2022 placed the wealth of the ten richest individuals in the United States at more than $1.1 trillion, which is as much as the wealth of 10 million average people (at $100,000 each), or the combined populations of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut. o In general, older people have the more wealth than younger people because earnings rise through middle age and savings and investments increase over time. o Men have more wealth than women because a larger share of men work full-time and because women working full-time earn 82 percent as much as men working full-time.. o White people in the United States fare better than people of color.

• The Poor o The Poverty Line ▪ The poverty line is an income level set by the U.S. government for the purpose of counting the poor.

▪ Table 2–2 U.S. Government Poverty Threshold, by Family Type, 2021.

▪ In 2021, 37.9 million people were counted among the poor, resulting in a poverty rate of 11.6 percent of the U.S. population.

▪ The economic shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic hit working families harder than more affluent people who could work at home and gain income from investments illustrating how poverty rates are affected by social policy.

▪ The U.S. government uses what might be called an absolute poverty line—one directly linked to the cost of a basic diet. European governments, by contrast, use a relative poverty line, one set at 60 percent of the median income level.

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▪

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Some analysts suggest that, to reach a minimum level of economic security, a U.S. family would need income at least 25 percent higher than the poverty line—something a step or two closer to the European standard. o The Poverty Gap ▪ The poverty gap is the difference between the actual income of the typical poor household and the official poverty line.

Personal Stories: The Reality of Poverty: Living on the Edge Who Are the Poor? A Closer Look o In 2021, the federal government counted 37.9 million men, women, and children—11.6 percent of the U.S. population—as living in poverty. o Figure 2–5 The Poverty Rate in the United States, 1960-2021. o Age ▪ The age category at greatest risk of poverty is children, who make up 29 percent of the people living in poverty. o Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: The United States: A Land of Poor Children o Race ▪ A greater number of White people than Black people are poor, and more non-Hispanic than Hispanic people live in poverty.

▪ The percentage of people of color who are poor is higher than that of White people.

▪ Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are at higher risk of being poor than White Americans. o Gender ▪ Women are at a greater risk of poverty.

▪ Feminization of poverty refers to the trend of women making up an increasing share of the poor. o Family Patterns ▪ Marriage typically combines two incomes and reduces living expenses to help people build income and wealth. Therefore, marriage greatly reduces the risk of being poor.

▪ Single women raising children alone are at a higher risk of poverty. o Region ▪ Most poor people—just like most affluent people—do live in urban areas.

But rural areas have a greater share of the population living below the poverty level than do urban areas.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 2–1 Poverty across the United States, 2021 with companion maps showing median income.

Working Families: Working Harder o Beginning about 1970, many U.S. families found themselves working harder than ever yet feeling that they were falling behind. o For a large share of workers, income has nearly stalled. The earnings of a typical fifty-year-old man working full time jumped 72 percent between 1958 and 1973.

Between 1973 and 2021, however, this same worker‘s income decreased by 4 percent.

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•

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The Working Poor o In 2021, according to the government, 15 percent of the heads of poor families worked full time, at least fifty weeks during the year, yet remained below the poverty line.

The Nonworking Poor o Government data show that in 2021, 53 percent of the heads of poor families did not work at all; another 32 percent remained poor while doing part-time work.

Persistent Poverty o ―Persistent poverty‖ counties are defined by the government as counties in the United States where the poverty rate has reached 20 percent and remained there for at least thirty years. o ―Persistent poverty‖ communities typically have lower property values, a fact that discourages investment.

III. Problems Linked to Poverty 2.3 Analyze how poverty is linked to other social problems.

• Poor Health o There is a strong link between income and health. In fact, there is a good deal of truth in the claim that ―wealth means health.‖ Poverty, disease, and illness often go together. o Among the poor, infant mortality, or the risk of death during the first year of life, is double the rate among affluent people. o Income continues to shape health throughout adulthood. o Increasing income inequality in the U.S. has become accompanied by increasing differences in longevity between the rich and the poor. o In global perspective, increasing economic inequality has held down this country‘s ranking in overall patterns of health.

• Substandard Housing o Better housing is available to those who can pay for it. For this reason, poor people take what is left, sometimes living in crowded homes containing dangerous lead-based paint, faulty plumbing, inadequate heating and cooling, and in some cases, even unsafe drinking water. o Recent years have seen a steady decline in the number of low-rent apartments in the United States, and when the economy falters even middle-income people struggle to hold on to their housing.

• Homelessness o Homelessness, the plight of poor people who lack shelter and live primarily on the streets, has received a lot of attention. Research estimates suggest that some 1.6 million people in the United States are homeless at some point during a year. o Conservatives blame homelessness on personal problems, which include mental disorders and abuse of alcohol or some other drug. o Liberals point to increasing economic inequality, an increase in low-wage jobs, and a lack of unfavorable housing as major causes of homelessness. o A large majority of homeless people report that they do not work; however, about 18 percent say that they do hold at least a part-time job.

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•

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Limited Schooling o Children living in poverty are less likely than children living in greater affluence to complete high school. Therefore, their odds of going to college are low, and the chances of completing an advanced degree are smaller still. o Many schools use some form of tracking, by which the schools divide children into college-bound (―academic‖) and job-oriented (―vocational‖) coursework tracks.

Crime and Punishment o Assault, robbery, burglary, auto theft—these so-called ―street crimes‖ are the offenses that get most of the public‘s attention and are featured most in the mass media. o Our society‘s greater focus on street crime means that the poor are most likely to be arrested, go to trial, and face a prison sentence. o In recent years, critics of the criminal justice system have attempted to reduce what they see as the overcriminalization of people with low incomes. Some cities and states have ended the practice of requiring cash bail for those arrested for minor crimes.

Political Alienation o Many people who are disadvantaged may organize politically, but the fact is that many do not even vote. o Many people with low incomes feel alienated from a system that they think does not serve their interests.

IV. Responding to Poverty: The Welfare System 2.4 Explain the changing ways our society has used the social welfare system to respond to poverty.

• Social welfare programs are organized efforts by government, private organizations, or individuals to assist people in poverty considered worthy of assistance. o Social welfare programs benefit people or activities defined as worthy. o Social welfare programs benefit most of the U.S. population. o Overall, social welfare programs reduce economic inequality but only a little. o People in this country like to think they are compassionate, but our cultural emphasis on personal responsibility makes many people uneasy with giving assistance to those who are experiencing poverty.

• Social Policy: An Undeserved Handout? The Truth about ―Welfare‖ • A Brief History of Welfare o The Colonial Era ▪ During this period, there was hardly any government at all, and ―welfare‖ was limited to acts of personal kindness between kin and neighbors. o The Early Industrial Era ▪ In the 1870s, the scientific charity movement (really an early form of sociology) began studying what categories of people were poor, why people were poor, and what could be done to help them.

▪ Scientific charity claimed that most poverty was not the fault of the poor themselves but the result of how society operates.

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The settlement house movement set up homes located in the lowestincome areas of a city, where a staff of social scientists and reform-minded activists helped new immigrants get settled in their new surroundings. o The Twentieth Century ▪ Throughout the 1930s, the federal government enacted many new programs to fight poverty, the most important of which was Social Security. Today, this program provides monthly income to 66 million people, most of whom are over the age of sixty-five. o Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: U.S. Society Discovers Poverty The 1996 Welfare Reform o In 1994, the Democratic president and a Republican Congress joined forces to produce the most sweeping welfare reform since the Roosevelt era. o Supporters of welfare reform (mostly political conservatives) call the policy a success because the nation‘s welfare rolls fell by half. Critics (political liberals) counter that most people who left welfare for work now have low-wage jobs that leave them struggling to make ends meet. o A recent study shows that welfare programs fail to provide any cash assistance to three out of four families in the United States who are in poverty.

The Policy of Guaranteed Income o The idea to give people in poverty cash to lift their incomes is not new. o In 2019, a pilot program of this type was launched in Stockton, California.

Researchers found that the residents who received the payments spent the money on necessities and the participants became more likely to engage in paid work. o Since 2020, about fifty cities have begun pilot programs to provide a guaranteed minimum income to selected low-income households.

V. Theories of Poverty 2.5 Apply sociological theory to the issue of poverty.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Some Poverty Is Inevitable o Social Pathology Theories: Personal Deficiency ▪ Some early sociologists argued in favor of a ―bad apple‖ theory that claimed that poverty was the result of personal flaws.

▪ Social Darwinism viewed society as a competitive arena where the most able became rich and the least able fell into poverty.

▪ Culture of poverty is found in cultural patterns that encourage poverty as a way of life.

▪ Meritocracy is a system of social inequality in which social standing corresponds to personal ability and effort. o Social Disorganization Theory: Too Much Change ▪ Social disorganization is a breakdown in social order caused by rapid social change.

▪ In recent years, the high rate of immigration across the southern border of the U.S. has contributed to higher rates of poverty in the West and in a number of cities across the United States. o Modern Functional Theory: Some Inequality Is Useful

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▪

•

•

•

Inequality—specifically, differences in the rewards given to people who perform various jobs—is useful for the operation of society.

▪ Davis and Moore explained that some jobs have relatively less importance and can be performed by just about anyone. But other positions require rare talents and extensive training. A system of unequal rewards is a strategy that draws talent to more important work and motivates everyone to work harder. Such unequal rewards make society more productive.

▪ Critics of Davis and Moore‘s theory, on the other hand, argued that inequality is useful primarily to affluent people.

Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Defining the Problem o This approach explores how members of a society view those in poverty and come to understand the causes of poverty. o Blaming the victim is the process of finding the cause of a social problem in the behavior of people who suffer from it.

▪ Pick an issue that you see as a social problem.

▪ Decide how people who suffer from the problem differ from everyone else.

▪ Define these differences as the cause of the problem.

▪ Respond to the problem by trying to change the victims, not the larger society.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Poverty Can Be Eliminated o It places the blame for poverty in the operation of society itself. o Marxist Theory: Poverty and Capitalism ▪ Marx pointed to what he called an internal contradiction in the capitalist economy: A system that produced so much ended up making the majority so poor. o More Than Money: Cultural Capital ▪ Cultural capital is the set of skills, values, attitudes, and schooling that increases a person‘s chances of success.

▪ As economic inequality has increased, evidence suggests differences in cultural capital gained by rich and poor children are also increasing. o Multicultural Theory and Race-Conflict Theory: Poverty, Ethnicity, and Race ▪ The social-conflict approach also includes multicultural theory, which links poverty to race and ethnicity.

Feminist Analysis: Poverty and Patriarchy o This theory begins with the fact of patriarchy, a social pattern in which males dominate females. In practice, patriarchy means that men typically enjoy more wealth, prestige, and power in our society than women do. o The Feminization of Poverty ▪ As feminists see it, the underlying factor that links gender and poverty is that, even as more and more women have entered the labor force, U.S. society still provides more income, wealth, power, and prestige to men than to women.

▪ Our culture defines many high-paying jobs as ―men‘s work,‖ while expecting that many lower-paying positions will be filled primarily by women.

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o Intersection Theory: Multiple Disadvantages ▪ Intersection theory involves the investigation of the interplay of race, class, and gender often resulting in multiple dimensions of disadvantage.

VI. Politics and Economic Inequality: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 2.6 Analyze economic inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: Personal Responsibility o Conservatives hold the traditional value of self-reliance and support the idea that people should take responsibility for their personal well-being. They claim that U.S. society still offers opportunity and rewards both individual talent and personal effort. o Conservatives claim that taking personal responsibility for your life is one key to individual success; therefore, they support a market system that links rewards to individual effort and the relative importance of the work.

• Liberals: Societal Responsibility o From a liberal point of view, the causes of poverty lie in society rather than in the traits of poor individuals. Most people become poor not because they are lazy or because they make bad choices but because of the way society operates. o Liberals take issue with the idea that even the poor in the U.S. are well off by global standards. o Liberals support government assistance programs that offer some measures to protect everyone by providing a social safety net. o Many liberals also support establishing a guaranteed minimum income level for everyone.

• The Radical Left: Change the System o Left-radicals point to the increasing economic inequality in the United States—a trend that continues despite the welfare programs supported by liberals—and conclude that government assistance amounts to little more than a bandage applied to the body of a person with a terminal disease. o The radical-left claims that the way to solve the problem of poverty is to replace capitalism with a more human economic system that will greatly reduce economic inequality.

• Going On from Here o Wealth and poverty in the United States have always been controversial, and the trend toward increasing economic inequality only makes the debate more important.

• Defining Solutions: Is Economic Inequality a Problem?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 2.1 Describe the distribution of income and wealth in the United States.

2.2 Assess differences in the lives of the rich and the poor in the United States.

2.3 Analyze how poverty is linked to other social problems.

2.4 Explain the changing ways our society has used the social welfare system to respond to poverty.

2.5 Apply sociological theory to the issue of poverty.

2.6 Analyze economic inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

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DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 2, students should be able to: Discuss social stratification and explain the concept of social class.

Discuss the concept of ―life chances‖ and explain how social class shapes people‘s life chances.

Distinguish between wealth and income. Describe the distribution of each in U.S. society.

Identify reasons for the trend toward increasing economic inequality.

Distinguish between progressive and regressive taxes.

Discuss the social characteristics of the rich and the poor in the United States.

Discuss the ―poverty line‖ and the ―poverty gap.‖ Explain the relationships between poverty and age, race, gender, family patterns, and region.

Explain why working families today are working harder while receiving little more.

Distinguish the working poor, the nonworking poor, and persistent poverty.

Explain how poverty in the United States is linked to poor health, substandard housing, homelessness, limited schooling, crime, and political alienation.

Contrast conservative and liberal views of homelessness.

Describe the role of the mass media in shaping how the public views crimes committed by the poor versus crimes committed by the wealthy.

Define social welfare programs and describe major social welfare programs in the United States.

Provide an overview of the history of social welfare in the United States.

Explain how the welfare system changed as a result of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Discuss what we gain by applying sociology‘s theoretical approaches to the issue of poverty.

Provide one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach.

Explain the ―feminization of poverty.‖ Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of poverty as a social problem as well as solutions to this problem.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: HOW OUR NATION DEFINES POVERTY The so-called ―poverty line‖ is a precise number that is set each year according to whether people are classified as ―farm‖ or ―nonfarm‖ and the number of people in the family or household. But few people have a very good idea of exactly what the poverty line really means.

Put another way, even most sociologists do not have a very good understanding of the validity of this concept. As the chapter explains, the poverty line is set at a level of income that is not simply relatively unequal but a level that is low enough to threaten human nutrition and health.

Officials at the Department of Agriculture set the poverty line at about three times what they estimate a family has to spend for a basic, nutritious diet. Under this system, in 2021, the United States had a poverty rate of 11.6 percent of its population.

The U.S. system of defining poverty says nothing about relative economic standing. That is, by linking poverty to nutrition, we pay little attention to the fact that some households have far more income than others. In the nations of Western Europe, a different and more left-leaning way of defining poverty is applied that focuses on the poverty of some relative to the national average. While the precise calculations vary from place to place, the general idea is that the poverty line is set at about 60 percent of the median income level. Under such a system, people

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will be considered to be experiencing poverty not because of their income level in absolute terms but because their income is too far below that of typical people.

To illustrate this difference, look at the data for the United States for 2021. The official poverty line for a nonfarm family of four was set at $27,740 (defining 11.6 percent of the population as poor). Under the European system, the poverty line would be set at 60 percent of the median family income of $88,590, yielding a poverty line of $53,154. Using this measure, the extent of our country‘s ―poverty problem‖ would involve 29 percent of the population.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION Go to a video website such as YouTube to find a very powerful video for this chapter by searching for ―wealth inequality in America.‖ This video, which is just more than six minutes long, provides a very critical account of wealth inequality in the United States. The focus is on not only the extent of economic inequality but also on how much the reality of this inequality differs from what people think is the case and what they think should be the case. Dynamic graphics make the points very effectively.

Another good, short video to begin a class discussion of the state of the U.S. middle class today was done by the Pew Research Center. Use a search engine and enter ―lost decade of the middle class.‖ This three-minute Pew report points out that the decade from 2000 to 2010 is the first in the lifetimes of most of us in which the incomes of ―average people‖ did not increase. On the contrary, the middle class suffered a roughly 5 percent decline in household income during this period. As a result, the middle class got smaller—with some people moving up and some moving down. In addition, a large majority of those who remained in the middle class reported that maintaining their lifestyle had become harder than it used to be.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short, PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 2, there are two PowerPoint presentations. The first explores the perception of wealth inequality in the United States. This presentation contrasts what people think is the extent of wealth inequality, what they say wealth inequality should be, and what wealth inequality actually is. The second is ―Social Stratification: The Geography of Car Deaths in the United States,‖ which explains how economic inequality shapes health and well-being in a way most people have never realized.

These PowerPoints can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

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SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture on Economic Inequality. Explain the Rise of Economic Inequality as a Social Problem.

Data confirm the trend by which economic inequality has increased during the last half century.

Even so, it has only been in the last decade that this increasing inequality has become a major public issue.

In 2011, the Occupy movement that took place across the United States, which was born out of the Wall Street bailouts, called attention to increasing economic inequality. The movement framed the debate by contrasting ―99ers,‖ people in the lower and middle levels of the income hierarchy, with the top 1 percent of the population (the so-called ―super-rich‖), whose income has been increasing dramatically during past decades.

Back in the middle of the last century, there was much less income inequality than there is today. Most middle-class and lower-income families enjoyed larger increases in income, in percentage terms, than the rich. Since then, the higher the level of income, the greater the absolute and percentage increases have been. The upper-middle class has done better than the middle class or the poor, but the largest economic gaps separate the super-rich from everyone else. The income disparity is so great that, typically, the super-rich are able to live off the interest on their wealth while the rest of us depend on the next paycheck.

Income inequality is far greater than most people think it is. It is also far greater than most people think it should be. We live in a society where the ―survival of the fittest‖ mentality tells us that the rich are smarter and work harder and, therefore, deserve what they have. But more and more people are not so sure. It is easy to point out that corporate bailouts, ―golden parachutes,‖ and outright greed have fueled economic inequality beyond what most people consider to be fair.

What are the causes of this increasing gap? The information age has advanced the economic interests of highly educated people while deindustrialization has hurt the interests of the working class. The globalization of the economy is also a factor because outsourcing of manufacturing jobs outside the United States has helped the rich (whose work now has a global market) while hurting people with average incomes, who now compete with cheaper labor abroad. Then, too, today‘s married couples typically contain two people of similar earning power. In 1960 (think of characters on the television show Mad Men), higher-income men might have married women who were secretaries. Today, highly paid professionals and corporate executives marry partners whose careers resemble their own. Lower-income couples show the same pattern of homogamy.

Finally, our nation‘s system of income taxation is less progressive than it was in the past.

The result of all these trends is increasing economic inequality. The rich continue to get richer as most of us enjoy much smaller increases and the poor struggle to get by.

Sources Leonhardt, David. 2017. ―Our Broken Economy, in One Simple Chart.‖ The New York Times (August 7).

Letters to the Editor. 2017. ―The Rise in Economic Inequality in the U.S.‖ The New York Times (August 20).

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Discussion Questions a. Do you consider increasing economic inequality to be a problem? Why or why not? b. What do you think are some of the consequences of increasing economic inequality?

2. Supplemental Lecture on Economic Inequality. The Decline of the American Dream.

David Brooks, a journalist who leans in a conservative direction on many issues, criticized the state of social inequality in the United States. The economy has turned cool for ordinary people, Brooks observes, while favoring those with the education and skills to prosper in the ―intellectual economy.‖ As this trend has unfolded, Brooks maintains, new members of the upper class have developed ever greater capacity to pass along their privilege to their children.

Of course, affluent people have the resources to spend more on their children. More stimulating toys, more access to early education, and better-quality classrooms are some of the advantages. In addition, affluent parents tend to put their children at the center of their lives, spending more time with them than less affluent parents. Add to this the zoning restrictions that keep lower-income housing out of most affluent communities, so that the advantages purchased with higher tax revenues are not shared with those who are trying to work their way up the class system.

College admission is also a rigged process, even scandalous at times as recent news reports about wealthy parents buying ―credentials‖ for their children indicate. Children from wealthy families have the experiences—from extensive global travel to unpaid internships—that build their résumés and make them most competitive in the admissions process. No wonder the top colleges and universities in the United States enroll primarily students from well-to-do families.

Finally, Brooks points out, well-off children learn a culture of affluence that informs them of sophisticated tastes and topics. Women and men from upper-level families know how to dress, how to read menus, and how to speak about ―highbrow‖ culture in ways that are largely out of reach for young people raised in low-income families. In fact, the confidence that marks well-off children often contrasts with a fear of humiliation and inadequacy among people from modest backgrounds.

Source Brooks, David. 2017. ―How We Are Ruining America.‖ The New York Times (July 11): A23.

Discussion Questions a. In what ways is social class a matter of both material culture and nonmaterial culture? b. Do you think college admission is simply a matter of selecting people with more talent?

Explain. c. How would you go about increasing opportunity for people raised in lower-income families?

3. What Price Speeding?

Here‘s an interesting question to kick around in class. In the United States, traffic tickets can be expensive, but they are the same for everyone. So, if a person is driving 50 miles per hour (mph) in a 25 mph zone, the driver might get nabbed and face a fine of several hundred dollars, depending on the state and on any prior convictions.

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If you are person with an average income, a fine of $235 is probably sufficient to get your attention. It may act as a deterrent. But what if you have an income well up in the top 1 percent, an income of, say, $900,000 a year? For you, a $235 speeding fine is a small distraction and imposes no real hardship.

This type of thinking has led a number of European nations to link speeding fines to income. Not long ago, a twenty-seven-year-old man was ticketed for driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone in Finland. The court asked for his income records, which showed that he had earned more than $10 million the year before. The court then imposed a fine of $200,000 for his offense, or roughly 2 percent of the driver‘s annual income. Lower-income people with the same ticket would pay a fine based on a smaller share of a smaller annual income.

Using the Finnish system of unequal fines, a driver with an annual income of $40,000 might receive a fine of about $235, the same as in our original example. But a driver with a million-dollar income would have to pay $20,000, or almost a hundred times as much. That way, the argument goes, everyone feels the same level of pain.

4. Kathleen A. Tiemann and her coauthors have devised a novel and creative technique for sensitizing students to social class inequality. Tiemann comments that the major difficulty involved is that most students believe success and failure are because of individual efforts. She proposes a ―car (automobile) exercise‖ as a vehicle for demonstrating how stereotypes are so important in reference to people‘s lives—in this case, how the kind of automobile a person owns can be misleading in reference to their overall socioeconomic status (―What Kind of Car Am I? An Exercise to Sensitize Students to Social Class Inequality,‖ Teaching Sociology, Vol. 34, October 2006: 398–403).

5. Students who have taken an introductory sociology course prior to enrolling in social problems may have the background necessary to appreciate the concept of social stratification and its implications for poverty. For those students who have not previously enrolled in introductory sociology, an analysis of social stratification and its inevitability in society can help set the stage for a better understanding of poverty. The major positions on this issue are, for the most part, referenced in the text‘s discussion, but you may wish to elaborate on them: Weber, Marx, Dahrendorf, Mills, Parsons, Davis and Moore, and Lenski. An excellent source in this regard is Melvin Tumin‘s classic work Social Stratification: The Forms and Functions of Inequality (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1985).

6. Over the past several years, the publication Teaching Sociology has included a number of articles concerning novel strategies for teaching about stratification, social classes, and social mobility. Several articles that may assist you in this regard are William Brislen and Clayton D. Peoples, ―Using a Hypothetical Distribution of Grades to Introduce Social Stratification‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 33, January 2005: 74–80); Wynne Wright and Elizabeth Ransom, ―Stratification on the Menu: Using Restaurant Menus to Examine Social Class‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 33, July 2005: 310–16); Laura Nichols, Joshua Berry, and Demetra Kalogrides, ―Hop on the Bus: Driving Stratification Concepts Home‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 32, April 2004: 213–21); Debra Wetcher-Hendricks and Wade Luquet, ―Teaching Stratification with Crayons‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 31, July 2003: 345–51); Angela J. Hattery, ―Sleeping in the Box, Thinking Outside the Box: Student Reflections on Innovative Pedagogical Tools for Teaching about and Promoting a Greater Understanding of Social Class Inequality among

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Undergraduates‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 31, October 2003: 412–27); Mark Abrahamson, ―Stratification, Mobility, and a Playing Cards Metaphor‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 22, April 1994: 183–88); and Gregg Lee Carter, ―Teaching the Idea of Contextual Effects‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 19, October 1991: 526–31).

7. The text discusses the social implications of structural inequality. Catherine L. Coghlan and Denise W. Huggins have devised an exercise using a modified version of the game Monopoly to stimulate student reflection and class discussion on social stratification in the United States.

Coghlan and Huggins point out that this exercise is effective in social problems courses (―‗That‘s Not Fair!‘ A Simulation Exercise in Social Stratification and Structural Inequality,‖ Teaching Sociology, Vol. 32, April 2004: 177–87).

8. Students sometimes have difficulty evaluating how their ―life chances‖ differ from the truly disadvantaged in our society. Margaret A. Miller has constructed a ―Life Chances Exercise‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 20, October 1992: 316–20) that will be extremely helpful in sensitizing students to this concept.

9. David Shiman (Economic & Social Justice: A Human Rights Perspective) has developed an innovative method for exploring stratification that will work in a small-class setting. To engage your students in the Scramble for Wealth and Power, have all students form an even circle around a table with 100 pennies on it. When the game starts, students are to gather as many pennies as they can without touching anyone else. (Students who touch others are disqualified.)

Once all pennies are allocated, inform students that pennies represent wealth and power in society. The amount they possess will affect their capacity to satisfy their needs (e.g., basic education, adequate food and nutrition, good health care, adequate housing) and wants (e.g., higher education, cars, computers, toys, television, and other luxury items). Divide students into three groups: great wealth and power, some wealth and power, and little or no wealth and power. Allow students to give to others as they choose, and if they donate, provide them with the honor of having their name listed on the board as a donor. Next, give each group the task of creating a plan for the fair distribution of the pennies (the world‘s wealth). Each group must (a) explain what needs to be done (if anything), (b) show why their plan is fair, and (c) describe what the group plans to do and why. Ask each group to appoint a spokesperson to explain their plan to the others. Afterward, announce that a vote will now be held on which plan to adopt.

When participants are ready to vote, announce that participants with six or more pennies have five votes, those with three to five pennies have two votes, and those with two or fewer pennies have one-half vote. This strategy reinforces the fact that the distribution of power often reflects that of wealth. Have participants vote and tabulate the results. Announce which plan is to be implemented. Carry out this plan, redistributing the wealth if necessary. Discuss the exercise with students. Explain the role of one‘s social position in the social construction of (a) the social problem, (b) the proposed solutions, and (c) ideas of ―fairness.‖ 10. Amy Glassmeier and Pennsylvania State University created a Living Wage Calculator that estimates the cost of living in each area in the United States. Have your students use the calculator to determine the typical expenses, the living wage, and typical wages for their hometown. Ask students to share their commentary on how realistic the minimum estimate of

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the cost of living for low-wage families is. Allow for an examination of the social forces that impact the social construction of ―realistic.‖ 11. Using the local minimum from the city in which your university or college is located, ask students to create a monthly family budget for a family of four. There are two working adults (both making minimum wage) and two children in the family. The budget should include housing (use the local want ads to determine housing costs), food, household supplies, electric, gas, water, telephone, child care, medical care, transportation, entertainment, and miscellaneous.

Students should share their experience on the exercise with the class, including what they were able to pay for, what they were forced to sacrifice, and their plans for adjusting to life without certain necessities or luxuries (e.g., what you will do when you are ill if you do not have health insurance or how you will get to work if you cannot make a car payment). Allow students to note how one‘s social position in real society shapes one‘s views within the simulated experience. Liberals support the increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour so that minimum wage workers can support a family. Conservatives claim that such an increase in the minimum wage would put many people out of work and that most minimum wage work involves ―transition jobs‖ that get people into the labor force, giving them skills and workplace experience that enable them to move on to higher-paying work. Ask students to assess their own attitudes about the minimum wage.

12. Arrange a student debate on the issue of taxation. Each student should be given a take-home assignment that involves preparing an argument on the benefits of a society that imposes one of the following: regressive and progressive taxation, neither regressive nor progressive taxation, progressive taxation only, or regressive taxation only. After students return to class with their written arguments, divide them into four teams based on their points of view. Allow the four teams to debate one another. After the debate, use the remaining class time to discuss how the various teams came to construct their ideas about taxation and the political viewpoints that feed their arguments (conservative, liberal, radical).

13. This exercise will help to explain the importance of social class in people‘s lives. First, ask your students to locate themselves within the class hierarchy (based on such indicators as parents‘ occupation, family income, education level, or lineage). Second, encourage them to think about how their position within the socioeconomic hierarchy has provided them with specific advantages or disadvantages. Furthermore, ask them to vocalize the contrasts that they can observe between the positions of most college students and that of the poor, particularly in reference to the ability of poor people to improve their life chances.

14. Many students believe that lots of people on welfare are exploiting the system by ―feeding from the public trough‖ with no intention of getting back on their feet again. One strategy that you can utilize to clarify this issue is to have your students confront the welfare bureaucracy head-on, so to speak. Have students find out whether they are eligible for public assistance and, if so, what kind, how much they would receive, and what they would have to go through to get it. What they will find out is that getting on the public dole is not that easy in the first place, and it does not provide enough assistance to make it very attractive. Have your students report their experiences to the class.

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15. To emphasize the way that inequality offers advantages and disadvantages, divide the class into four groups and then give each group a different amount of time to finish a quiz, the least amount of time being too brief to do a good job. In addition to the overall lesson on the consequences of structured inequality, you may find some variations in students‘ reactions depending on whether they ―benefit‖ from the inequality.

16. Ask your students to conduct an observational analysis of other people‘s behavior in a shopping mall. Instruct them to watch for nonverbal symbols that provide information about these individuals‘ social class positions. In addition to noting such characteristics as people‘s clothing, hairstyle, and jewelry, they can also note the type of store the people choose to shop in or the names of stores printed on the bags where they have made purchases. Students should be able to describe what they used as evidence of a person‘s social class and also explain why the characteristics they observed tell them something about the person‘s social class affiliation.

WEB LINKS Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/views-of-economic-inequality/ Canadian Council on Social Development https://www.ccsd.ca Center for International Development: Search for Geography of Poverty and Wealth http://www.cid.harvard.edu Ladies of Charity of the United States of America: Search for Feminization of Poverty http://aic.ladiesofcharity.us PBS: Search for People Like Us http://www.pbs.org PBS: Search for Waging a Living http://www.pbs.org University of Michigan: Search for Economic and Social Justice http://www1.umn.edu U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Search for Profile of the Working Poor http://www.bls.gov ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Profile the U.S. poor according to age, race, gender, family patterns, and residence.

2. Identify several social problems linked to poverty as identified in the text.

3. Discuss the controversial history of social welfare in the United States.

4. Apply both the structural-functional approach and the social-conflict approach to the topic of poverty.

5. Evaluate the benefits and consequences of progressive and regressive taxation. Explain who benefits and who suffers with each type of taxation.

6. Contrast how conservatives and liberals identify different causes of homelessness.

Explain how political values are involved in constructing the problem and defining the solution.

7. Provide data that support the claim that economic inequality in the United States has been increasing.

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8. Explain how conservatives and liberals evaluate the effectiveness of the 1996 welfare reform. Explain how political values have an impact on the measures of assessment.

9. How does the United States define poverty? How do European nations define poverty in a different way? Which approach do you support? Why? 10. What is the policy to provide guaranteed income to families? What evidence can you find to assess the results of such programs?

FILM LIST THE 51ST STATE: AMERICA’S WORKING POOR (2007, 57 m, Insight Media) This program explores the daily struggles facing the working poor in the United States. Students will gain an understanding of such issues as standard-of-living measurements, suburban poverty, welfare-to-work programs, and immigration issues.

THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS (2007, 89 m, Bullfrog Films) This is one of the most unusual films to be made in America in terms of both form and content.

The form is a ―dramatic-documentary-musical,‖ and the content is our country‘s most taboo topic: class, power, and privilege in our nominally democratic republic. The film explores the lives of two Yale students who seek their opportunities upon graduation. Barbara Ehrenreich, highlighted in this chapter, is featured in this film. Students will gain an understanding of how two privileged graduates come to decide whether they should seek to rule the world or to save it.

AMERICA’S WAR ON POVERTY (1995, five installments, 60 m each, PBS Video) This series provides a detailed history of the War on Poverty beginning in the 1960s; each presentation includes an effective assessment of the lessons of the past, which we haven‘t always learned from. After showing this video, discuss the effects that the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 has had on poverty in America today.

HOMELESS NOT HELPLESS: OPENING DOORS (1992, 44 m, University of California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning) Narrated by Julian Bond, this eye-opening documentary on homelessness is unique in that it focuses on solutions: the program shows what is working and what is merely perpetuating poverty. This presentation explores a wide spectrum of programs, and the story is told by the people involved—in the streets, the missions, and the shelters.

NEW HARVEST, OLD SHAME (1990, 60 m, PBS Video) Thirty years after Edward R. Murrow‘s shocking presentation, Harvest of Shame, this PBS Frontline looks at the continued plight of migrant farm workers and examines the forces that have kept their lives so desperate.

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NO PLACE LIKE HOME (1994, 25 m, Berkeley Media LLC) This video offers a detailed portrayal of what it is like for a family to live in poverty and how the cycle of poverty and violence is transmitted from generation to generation.

PEOPLE LIKE US: SOCIAL CLASS IN AMERICA (2002, 124 m, Insight Media) This program explores social and economic class issues in the United States. It discusses race and class, social mobility, class structure, the Black bourgeoisie, social stratification, and lifestyle choices. Students will have an opportunity to explore various perspectives on social class and see how one‘s position in the social strata shapes access to luxuries and necessities as well as life choices.

ROGER AND ME (1989, 89 m, rental video) This is Michael Moore‘s first well-known documentary film. It provides a graphic account of the deindustrialization of Flint, Michigan, and situates Flint within the global assembly line. Flint‘s major industry, General Motors, ceased production and moved to Mexico. The film captures the social problems generated by General Motor‘s departure.

SOCIAL CLASS (2009, 36 m, Insight Media) This program defines social class and considers its significance. It introduces basic concepts of social class, explains sociological perspectives, and examines such foundational perspectives on social class as functionalism and the ideas of Marx and Weber. The film also explores the effects of social class in the United States.

SOCIAL CLASS ISSUES IN THE USA (1992, 60 m, RMI Productions, Inc.) This film presents demographic data illustrating family income by ethnic group and illustrates how there is a steady increase of Americans below the poverty level. It focuses on the plight of the homeless.

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION (2009, 30 m, Insight Media) Looking at different types of social systems around the world and how they developed, this program relates social stratification to the means of existence, the culture, and micro-level interactions. This film illustrates how stratification has changed with industrialization and analyzes the conflict, functionalist, and interactionist views of stratification. The views of Karl Marx and Max Weber on class conflict are presented.

TEMPORARY DWELLINGS (1992, 28 m, Filmakers Library) This is a heartening look at a group of Seattle‘s homeless community who took matters into their own hands and erected a series of large, tattered gray tents. Tent City was run by the homeless with firm ground rules: no drugs or alcohol, no weapons, no violence. All major decisions were

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put to a vote in this bold experiment in self-government. Tent City lasted until it achieved its goal. The mayor provided a shelter to be run by the residents themselves. The film shows that when the homeless have a sense of community and dignity, they can help themselves.

WAGE SLAVES: NOT GETTING BY IN AMERICA (2002, 100 m, A&E Home Video) The program chronicles the struggle of America‘s ―working poor‖ to make ends meet in an increasingly (and often prohibitively) expensive society. In preparing her best-selling book, Nickel and Dimed in America, author Barbara Ehrenreich (highlighted in Chapter 2 of the text) embarked on a grim odyssey through three cities and half a dozen minimum wage jobs. What emerges is a rare look at how prosperity appears from the bottom looking up and a critical examination of the policies that shape the harsh realities of life among the working poor.

Emphasis is placed on five workers, most of them single parents, trying to survive on salaries ranging from $6 to $7 hourly. Students will gain insight on the ongoing debate about increasing the national minimum wage and improving the working conditions of those in the lowest financial brackets.

WAGING A LIVING (2006, 76 m, PBS Educational Media) Shot over a three-year period in the Northeast and California, this observational documentary captures the dreams, frustrations, and accomplishments of a diverse group of people who struggle to live from paycheck to paycheck. By presenting an unvarnished look at the barriers that these workers must overcome to escape poverty, students will get a glimpse of the social construction of the American Dream among four working-poor families.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Social Standing Regarding income, in which 20 percent of all families in the United States would you place your family? How has economic inequality in the United States affected your life? Explain.

Sample answer: Responses should identify where students place their family in terms of income. Students can discuss how economic inequality has affected their education, health, and residence, among other factors.

2. Assessing Political Positions Why have some cities in the United States enacted policies providing guaranteed income to families? What benefits does this program promise? Why are some people critical of such programs?

Sample answer: In recent years, about fifty politically progressive cities have initiated limited programs of this kind. Easing people‘s financial burdens is seen as a means to help them to invest in their future by gaining more schooling or being able to afford childcare. Criticism from the political right claims such programs will undermine selfreliance and increase people‘s dependency on government.

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3. Where Do You Stand?

How do you assess the state of economic inequality in the United States? Read through the Defining Solutions photo essay and then, in several paragraphs, explain the extent to which you support a liberal or conservative approach to economic inequality.

Sample answer: Answer should specify how much of a free market system versus government control of the economy is ideal. Support for a market system is typically linked to its productivity; criticism of a market system in favor of a greater government role in the economy is typically linked to a market system‘s unequal distribution of resources.

4. National Map 2–1 Poverty Rates across the United States, 2021 Your journal assignment begins by comparing this map and the map on the right, which shows average household income for counties across the country. Notice the patterns are much the same. Can you suggest some reasons for the high poverty and low income in these regions?

Sample answer: The patterns in the two maps are much the same because high poverty is an indication of conditions that limit the economic security of everyone. Therefore, we would expect to see that counties with high rates of poverty are those in which median household income is also relatively low.

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CHAPTER 3 RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY IRM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Race, Ethnicity, and Work John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The revised chapter discusses the social construction of race and ethnicity, including White privilege. This chapter has the latest data and analysis of public perceptions of immigration, including differences according to political party affiliation. You will also find the latest data on the foreign-born population, legal and illegal immigration, the increasing number of multiracial people, the size and social standing of all major racial and ethnic categories of the U.S. population, and the movement toward the ―minority majority.‖ There are fifty-seven new research citations in the revised chapter, and 71 percent of all citations are dated between 2020 and 2023.

AUTHOR’S NOTE One of the most important ideas presented in this chapter is that race and ethnicity are socially constructed dimensions of inequality. In common wisdom, and in ―older‖ sociology texts (some of which are still being sold today), race is viewed as a biological fact, a simple reflection of skin color or some other biological trait. Current thinking within our discipline is that, while people in a society may describe race in terms of biological traits, the reality of race rests on perception and definition as members of any society attach meaning to any evident or imagined physical variation in people. This process of social construction is validated by the following data: • The variety of physical traits overwhelms any simplistic racial typology.

• The reality of race (including racial typologies) differs from one society to another.

• The reality of race differs among various categories of people within any society.

• The reality of race differs within the same society over time.

• New racial and ethnic identities are evolving and emerging as a result of immigration, assimilation, and intermarriage.

• Categories of people (see discussion of Filipinos in the revised chapter) report switching their racial identity according to their location.

Typically, students are quick to understand that ethnicity is socially constructed because cultural patterns are inherently variable. But, of course, the same is true of the physical traits we associate with race. Back in 1910, many people in the United States living in large cities on the

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East Coast considered Italian or Jewish immigrants to be nonwhite. A century later, few would make this claim.

The ways in which members of a society perceive and define biological and cultural differences also lie at the heart of key processes, including the following: • Minority standing, by which categories of people are transformed into an ―other.‖ • Pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide, all of which arise as categories of people are transformed into an ―other.‖ • Unequal social standing of various categories of the U.S. population, which reflects the significance members of a society attach to racial and ethnic traits.

• Prejudice and discrimination, which arise as categories of people are marginalized or transformed into an ―other.‖ Ask the class to consider the consequences of defining and dividing a population in biological terms. Doing so advances the idea that all social differences are rooted in something fundamental and (over the short term) unchangeable.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Race and Ethnicity 3.1 Explain how race and ethnicity are socially constructed.

• Race o Race is a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society define as important. o When Was the Concept of Race Invented?

▪ Centuries ago, as global trade brought the world‘s people into greater contact, awareness of human diversity increased. By the late 1500s, Europeans began using the term ―race‖ to place people in various categories. o Are Races Real?

▪ At best, racial categories are misleading and, at worst, they are a harmful way to divide humanity. There are no biologically pure races. In fact, there is more genetic diversity within racial categories than between them. o Should Races Exist at All? ▪ Some sociologists argue that dividing humanity into racial categories is simply a strategy to allow some people to dominate others. o Multiracial People ▪ An important trend is the increasing number of people in this country—33 million in 2022—who identify themselves as ―multiracial.‖ ▪ Our society is experiencing a blurring of racial categories in much the same way that ethnic identity became blurred in the first half of the last century.

• Ethnicity o Ethnicity is a shared cultural heritage, which typically involves common ancestors, language, and religion. o Table 3–1 Racial and Ethnic Categories in the United States, 2021.

• Minorities: Disadvantaged Categories of People

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•

• •

o ―Minority‖ refers to any category of people, identified by physical or cultural traits, that a society subjects to disadvantages. o Visibility ▪ Minorities share a distinctive identity, which may be based on race (physical traits, which are difficult to change) or ethnicity (including dress or accent, which people can more easily change).

▪ The ability of people in some minority category to blend in with others depends on people‘s desire to hold on to their traditions and also the willingness of others to accept them. o Power ▪ A second characteristic of minorities is social disadvantage. Because minorities typically have less schooling and hold lower-paying jobs, they experience higher rates of poverty. o Numbers ▪ About 42 percent of the U.S. population falls into a racial or ethnic minority category, and this share is increasing.

▪ People in some minority category of the population also represent 64 percent of the combined populations of the fifty largest cities in the United States. A minority majority also exists in six states—Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Maryland, and Texas—as well as the District of Columbia White Privilege and Racism o White privilege refers to the fact that White people, relative to those in minority categories, experience social advantages. o Racism is defined as personal prejudice on the part of an individual who demeans others and supports racial inequality (micro-level) or a form of racial hierarchy that guides the actions of an organization or societal institution to the benefit of some and disadvantage of others (macro-level).

Engaging the Issues: Equality and the Founding of the United States Immigration o Everyone living in North America is descended from people who lived elsewhere. o The ―Great Immigration‖ ▪ In 1900, fully 80 percent of the people living in New York City either had been born abroad or had parents who were. Today, that share is slightly more than 50 percent. o Nativists and the Quota System ▪ Nativists opposed a high level of immigration, fearing that it would endanger this country‘s mostly English culture.

▪ During the 1920s, Congress enacted laws, including the Immigration Act of 1924, which cut immigration and created a quota system that limited the number of people entering the United States from various countries around the world. o The End of the Quota System ▪ In 1965, Congress ended the quota system, leading to another wave of mass immigration. Again, the arrival of immigrants—by then mostly from

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Mexico and other nations in Latin America, as well as the Philippines, South Korea, and other Asian countries—became controversial. o The Current Immigration Controversy ▪ The rapidly increasing number of people entering the country—the total was 2.5 million during 2023—has elevated immigration into a major issue across the United States.

▪ There is widespread agreement that this nation‘s immigration system is not working well.

▪ Immigration policy has political consequences and shaped the presidential campaign in 2024.

II. Patterns of Majority–Minority Interaction 3.2 Describe four major societal patterns of interaction between majority and minority populations.

• Genocide o Genocide is the systematic killing of one category of people by another.

• Segregation o Segregation is the physical and social separation of categories of people. o Hypersegregation is the intense segregation that has been found in some large U.S. cities.

• Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Saying No to Segregation • Assimilation o Assimilation is the process by which people in a minority category of the population gradually adopt the cultural patterns of people in the dominant majority population. o Seeing Ourselves National Map 3–1 Language Diversity across the United States with companion map showing size of Hispanic/Latino/a population. o The amount of assimilation on the part of people in racial or ethnic minority populations also depends on a number of factors including where they live.

• Pluralism o Pluralism is a state in which people of all racial and ethnic categories have about the same overall social standing. o The United States is not truly pluralistic because the social standing of many racial and ethnic populations is below that of the White, European-ancestry majority.

III. Social Standing: Race and Ethnicity 3.3 Analyze the social standing of major racial and ethnic categories of the U.S. population.

• Native Americans o Native Americans (some of whom prefer to be called ―American Indians‖) are descendants of the first people to come to North America across the Bering Strait from Asia. o By 1500, the arrival of European explorers and colonizers began centuries of conflict. What some Europeans called ―bringing civilization to the New World‖ was to Native Americans the destruction of their ancient and thriving civilizations.

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•

•

•

o In 1871, the United States declared Native Americans wards of the federal government. At this point, the official goal was assimilation. o While some prosper, about one fourth of Native Americans continue to live on reservations where most people remain severely disadvantaged and share a profound sense of historical injustice suffered at the hands of White people. o Table 3–2 The Social Standing of Native Americans, 2021.

Black Americans o People of African ancestry, many of whom were enslaved, arrived in the Americas along with the first European explorers. o Enslaved people had neither legal rights nor the opportunity to attend school.

Enslavers routinely separated families as they traded men, women, and children for profit. o Ending slavery did not mean ending racial discrimination. States soon enacted what came to be known as ―Jim Crow laws,‖ which barred Black people from voting and sitting on juries and called for segregated trains, restaurants, hotels, and other public places. o The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (prohibiting segregation in employment and public accommodations), the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (banning voting requirements that prevented Black Americans from having a political voice), and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (outlawing discrimination in housing) brought an end to most legal discrimination in public life. o Black Americans‘ struggle for full participation in U.S. society is far from over.

People of African descent are still disadvantaged, a fact supported by the data. o Table 3–3 The Social Standing of Black Americans, 2021.

Asian Americans o The flow of immigrants from China and Japan to North America began in 1849 when the Gold Rush in California created a demand for laborers. o As the economy slowed, White people began to view Asian immigrants as an economic threat and soon labeled them the ―Yellow Peril.‖ o During World War II, fear of Japan‘s industrial and military might, coupled with racial hostility, pushed President Franklin Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 9066, forcibly relocating all people of Japanese ancestry to military camps in remote areas away from the coast. o All categories of Asian Americans now have above-average income and education. So there is some truth to the ―model minority‖ idea. But poverty rates also are close to or even above the national average for some categories of Asian Americans. In addition, the ―model minority‖ stereotype is misleading because many Asian families have multiple wage earners working long and hard in lowpaying jobs. o In general, Asian Americans have achieved more than people in most other minority categories, but many remain socially marginal, living in two worlds without fully belonging to either one. o Table 3–4 The Social Standing of Asian Americans, 2021.

Hispanic/Latina and Latino Americans

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•

o Hispanic Americans, also known as ―Latinas‖ and ―Latinos,‖ are people with cultural roots in the nations of Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, and Spain. As a result, there are many Hispanic cultures. o In 2021 the official Hispanic population of the United States stood at 62.8 million, making Hispanics the largest minority category with 18.9 percent of the population (exceeding non-Hispanic Black Americans at 45 million, or 13.6 percent). o Half of Hispanic American families earn at least $64,000 annually. But many challenges remain, including schools that are not well prepared to teach those students whose first language is Spanish. o Overall, Hispanics are an important segment of our society. They represent a large share of the U.S. economy, both as producers and consumers. o National Map 3–2 The Concentration of Hispanic Americans, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Arab Americans, by County. o Table 3–5 The Social Standing of Hispanic Americans, 2021.

Arab Americans o Officially, the government counts 2.2 million Arab Americans, but because many people may choose not to declare their ethnic background on a census form, the actual number is likely between 3 and 4 million. o Arab Americans are diverse in terms of social class. Some are highly educated professionals who work as physicians, engineers, and professors; others are working-class people who perform various skilled jobs in factories or on construction sites; still others do service work in restaurants, hospitals, or other settings, or work in small family businesses. o Table 3–6 The Social Standing of Arab Americans, 2021.

IV. Prejudice 3.4 Discuss the causes and consequences of prejudice.

• Prejudice is any rigid and unfounded generalization about an entire category of people. o The most serious example of prejudice is racism.

• Stereotypes o A stereotype is an exaggerated description applied to every person in some category. o Racial or ethnic stereotypes are a problem to the extent that they apply particular traits to that an entire category of people, as when a White person thinks all Black people are unwilling to work hard or a person of color thinks every White person is hostile toward Black people.

• Measuring Personal Prejudice: The Social Distance Scale o The social distance scale is used to measure prejudice among students at U.S. colleges and universities (see Fig 3–1: Diversity Snapshot: Bogardus Social Distance Scale). o Results of social distance study repeated in 2011: ▪ The long-term trend is that students are more accepting of people in all minority categories.

▪ Today‘s students see less difference between the various racial and ethnic categories of people.

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▪

•

•

In 2011, the climate of concern over terrorism in the United States probably increased prejudice against Arabs and Muslims.

Causes of Prejudice o Personality Factors ▪ Prejudice is strong in people with an authoritarian personality. Such people feel a lot of hostility, rigidly conform to conventional norms, and see the world in stark contrasts of ―right‖ versus ―wrong‖ and ―us‖ versus ―them.‖ o Societal Factors ▪ Scapegoat theory says that prejudice develops among people who are frustrated at their lack of control over their lives.

▪ Cultural theory claims that prejudice is built into our culture.

Multiculturalism o One strategy for change is multiculturalism, educational programs designed to recognize cultural diversity in the United States and to promote respect for all cultural traditions. o What we call assimilation, from this point of view, is really a process of Anglicization as immigrants try to become more like the privileged White AngloSaxon Protestants (WASPs). o Eurocentrism is the practice of using European (particularly English) cultural standards to judge everyone. To multiculturalists, U.S. culture is itself an expression of prejudice against people in this country who differ from the dominant model. o Although there is strong support for multiculturalism (especially among liberals) because it gives more visibility and power to minorities, others (especially conservatives) claim that this approach divides society by downplaying what we have in common.

V. Discrimination 3.5 Distinguish discrimination from prejudice and show how the two concepts operate together.

• Discrimination involves the unequal treatment of various categories of people. Prejudice is a matter of attitudes, but discrimination is a matter of actions.

• Prejudice and Discrimination: A Vicious Circle o Prejudice and discrimination reinforce each other, forming a structure of social inequality.

• Microaggression o Microaggression includes casual actions, gestures, or words that demean people in some minority category. o Microaggression is subtle and may appear to be minor, but its effects on others can be significant.

• Institutional Discrimination: Bias in Social Institutions o Institutional discrimination is discrimination that is built into the operation of social institutions, including the economy, schools, and the legal system.

• Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: Institutional Discrimination: The Death of Tyre Nichols

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•

Affirmative Action: Reverse Discrimination or Cure for Inequality? o Affirmative action includes policies intended to improve the social standing of categories of people who have been subject to past prejudice and discrimination. o History of Affirmative Action ▪ After World War II, the GI Bill sent many socially disadvantaged people to college.

▪ The Kennedy administration extended affirmative action to employment and then in 1970s to college admissions.

▪ In 1978 legal challenges began considering gender and race in admissions, opposition succeeding in 1996 in California.

▪ In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the system at the University of Michigan.

▪ In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case from Texas‘s Abigail Fisher, ruling for strict scrutiny of the use of race in university admissions.

▪ Today, the United States continues to wrestle with the issue of affirmative action. Equity policies enacted by the Biden administration have made hiring people om many socially marginalized categories a priority.

VI. Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality 3.6 Apply sociological theory to patterns of racial and ethnic inequality.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: The Importance of Culture o The Culture of Poverty ▪ Growing up in poverty and learning to accept that reality, many young people develop low self-esteem, limited aspirations, and a sense of powerlessness. Over time, they grow into adults who are not likely to take advantage of any opportunities that society might offer them.

▪ Culture shapes the lives of people, for better or worse, whatever their race.

• Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Personal Meaning of Race o Du Bois wrote that from the Black American perspective, race produces a ―double-consciousness, [a] sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others.‖ • Social-Conflict Analysis: The Structure of Inequality o The Importance of Class ▪ Marx traced the roots of social inequality to a society‘s economy.

▪ Marx and his colleague Friedrich Engels pointed to the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States as the main reason U.S. workers had not come together to form a socialist movement. o Critical Race Theory ▪ Critical race theory claims that racial bias has been a fundamental element of our way of life since the European discovery of the ―New World.‖ VII. Politics, Race, and Ethnicity: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 3.7 Analyze racial and ethnic inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

• The Far Right and Conservatives: Culture and Effort Matter o According to the conservative view, social standing should reflect people‘s level of ambition, as well as cultural patterns including the importance they place on

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•

•

•

•

schooling, and their commitment to hard work. In a society such as ours, people who are free and culturally diverse can be expected to have unequal social standing. Conservatives claim that any society in which government tries to engineer rigid social equality would almost certainly offer little personal liberty to anyone. You may want to discuss the views of the radical right or ―alt-right,‖ which supports white supremacy and explicitly defends Anglo culture against the increasing importance of Hispanic and Asian cultures.

Liberals: Society and Government Matter o Liberals acknowledge that there may be cultural differences between various categories of the population. But liberals see such differences as more the result than the cause of social inequality. That is, people who are shut out of opportunity—whether they are inner-city or rural residents—may develop a sense of hopelessness about their situation. But disadvantaged populations themselves are not the problem; the responsibility for this situation lies in the structure of power and privilege in the larger society.

The Radical Left: Fundamental Changes Are Needed o Radicals point out that as long as a capitalist society defines workers simply as a supply of labor, there is little reason to expect an end to exploitation and oppression, which are based on both class and race. Therefore, the radical left makes the argument that the only way to reduce racial and ethnic inequality is to attack the source of all inequality: capitalism itself. o A more recent addition to radical thinking about racial inequality is critical race theory. This view imagines a society based on equity, which means all categories of people being socially equal—having what they need to lead safe, healthy, and productive lives.

Going On from Here o Our understanding of prejudice and discrimination has shifted from individuals to societal institutions. We now recognize that the most harmful type of bias is systemic racism. o Most political conservatives and some liberals continue to embrace the goal of racial color blindness. Other liberals and more politically progressive people reject the ideal of racial color blindness in favor of changing social institutions to promote greater equity.

Defining Solutions: Is Increased Immigration to the United States a Problem?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 3.1 Explain how race and ethnicity are socially constructed.

3.2 Describe four major societal patterns of interaction between majority and minority populations.

3.3 Analyze the social standing of major racial and ethnic categories of the U.S. population.

3.4 Discuss the causes and consequences of prejudice.

3.5 Distinguish discrimination from prejudice and show how the two concepts operate together.

3.6 Apply sociological theory to patterns of racial and ethnic inequality.

3.7 Analyze racial and ethnic inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

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DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 3, students should be able to: Distinguish between race and ethnicity.

Explain how race and ethnicity are socially constructed.

Discuss the social consequences of classifying people into racial and ethnic categories.

Discuss the effects of immigration on the diversity of the U.S. population.

5. current immigration controversy.

Describe how race and ethnicity shape the type of work that people do as well as their odds of receiving advanced schooling and living in poverty.

Discuss the characteristics of disadvantaged categories of people: their visibility, power, and numbers.

Explain the patterns of majority–minority interaction: genocide, segregation, assimilation, and pluralism.

Explain the concepts of White privilege and racism.

Provide a brief history of the major racial and ethnic categories of the U.S. population: Native Americans, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic/Latino and Latina Americans, and Arab Americans.

Describe the current social standing of the major racial and ethnic categories in the United States: Native Americans, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic/Latino and Latina Americans, and Arab Americans.

Define prejudice and distinguish between positive prejudice and negative prejudice.

Discuss how prejudice, stereotypes, and racism help perpetuate disadvantage for less powerful groups.

Describe recent research measuring social distance among college students and compare contemporary findings with findings from past research.

Explain the causes of prejudice.

Compare and contrast multiculturalism and Eurocentrism.

Discuss the concept of microaggression.

Explain the process of discrimination, including institutional discrimination.

Present both sides of the debate about affirmative action as reverse discrimination and as a cure for inequality.

Explain the insights gained from applying the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict theoretical approaches to racial and ethnic inequality.

Recognize how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of racial and ethnic inequality as a social problem as well as solutions to problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: RACE, ETHNICITY, AND WORK Members of our society link race and ethnicity with the work people do. These attitudes are part of popular culture, in part reflecting the fact that social patterns linking these variables are readily evident in many parts of our everyday lives. For example, ask students to recall walking through any large hotel in the United States. Do hotel guests tend to be of one racial category?

What about the race and ethnicity of hotel staff working in the dining rooms, moving luggage, or cleaning the rooms?

The Tracking the Trends figure is worth a close look. It shows that a Hispanic person has more than double the odds of being a housekeeper or custodian compared to a White person. Or,

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looking at ―high-end‖ work, the figure shows that a White person has more than double the odds of being a civil engineer compared to a Black person.

Of course, these comparisons are presented without controlling for any other variables.

And all other things are far from equal. Members of minority communities typically grow up in lower-income households and have less access to schooling and greater risks of illness, arrest, and deadly violence.

All these factors combine in complex ways that result in people of various racial and ethnic categories living within different social worlds. Ask the class if our country is (as many suggest) a post-racial/ethnic society or whether it is a society increasing based on membership in various racial and ethnic categories.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION One of the most controversial issues today—and one that gained great importance during the Trump campaign and after his election—is the control of the southern border of the United States. In recent years, major changes have taken place in the size of the Border Patrol and in the technology used to track and control people attempting to cross the border illegally from Mexico.

To launch a class discussion, you will find a number of engaging videos by going to a video site such as YouTube and searching for ―securing the border‖ or ―securing the border with technology‖ or ―southern border crisis today.‖ There are many interesting videos available online focusing on this controversial topic.

Clearly, the leadership of the Border Patrol believes that huge strides have been made in controlling illegal immigration. But larger questions remain, such as the reasons for the high level of movement north from Mexico in the first place and how much control (if any) of this immigration is desirable.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 3, there are two PowerPoint presentations. The first, titled ―The U.S. Foreign-Born Population, 1860–2010,‖ traces the foreign-born population over time and reveals some surprising patterns. The second, titled ―Defining Multiracial: It‘s Complicated,‖ focuses on the multiracial population and explains the challenges of defining this category of the population.

These PowerPoints can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture on DACA. Give Students Deeper Understanding of This Controversial Issue.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a national policy created in 2012 by the

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Obama administration to allow young people who entered the United States illegally as minors, or remained in the country illegally, to seek a renewable two-year period of ―deferred action‖ to avoid deportation. To claim this protection, the individual must have no convictions for serious crimes.

In 2017, the Trump administration announced that it would no longer support this program and formally ended it. DACA affects roughly 800,000 young people. These young individuals are called ―Dreamers‖ by those who support the program. Supporters (typically liberals) point to evidence that DACA allows young people to ―come out of the shadows,‖ going to college or getting jobs. For this reason, they argue, DACA is good for those people and good for the U.S. economy. Supporters claim welcoming young people to this country is ―American‖ and consistent with our history and values.

Opponents (typically conservatives) see the program as opening the door to citizenship for people who have not complied with immigration laws. Some saw the founding of this program as an example of presidential overreach, claiming that the president does not have the authority to enact or violate existing immigration law. Many opponents, it seems clear, are also against increased immigration to the United States in general.

In 2023, a federal judge in the state of Texas ruled against the DACA program stating that the Biden administration‘s efforts to turn the program into a federal regulation were ―unlawful.‖ Despite the ruling, the DACA program continues to allow recipients to renew their status even though it is closed to new applicants.

Discussion Questions a. What is your view of DACA? Do you support or oppose this policy? Why? b. Do you think that immigration is good for this country? Why or why not? c. Do you think there is a political dimension to this debate in light of the fact that most immigrants to the United States who obtain citizenship vote Democratic?

2. Supplemental Lecture on Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria Brought Greater National Attention to This U.S. Territory.

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 4 storm, ripped across the island of Puerto Rico, causing unimaginable devastation. Residents lost their homes, crops were destroyed, and thousands lost their lives. Almost the entire island lost electric power, as its old and vulnerable electrical grid was taken out by the storm. The loss of power to hospitals and other care facilities resulted in a loss of life that, a year later, was estimated to be about 3,000 lives.

The island also suffered from widespread hunger and a lack of safe drinking water. People stood for hours in long lines to receive the most basic necessities. Because of suffering the effects of a ten-year recession, the island‘s economy was weak even before the storm; Hurricane Maria provided a knockout punch. To make matters worse, Puerto Rican politicians claimed that the federal government‘s response to the crisis was too little too late. It entailed far less assistance than was provided in the aftermath of the 2017 floods in Houston or in response to Hurricane Katrina‘s devastation of New Orleans in 2005.

Why the difference? Perhaps the Trump administration viewed Puerto Rican people as more of an ―other‖ than it did the people in Texas. In fact, such a perception exists far outside of Washington, D.C. In a poll conducted by The New York Times, about half of U.S. adults did not know that Puerto Rico is part of the United States—a U.S. territory whose 3.4 million people are

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U.S. citizens. Puerto Rico was facing serious problems before the hurricane hit, but we might well wonder if the weak response to the disaster is a reflection of our nation‘s perception of who is and who is not an ―American.‖ Source Dropp, Kyle, and Brendan Nyhan. 2017. ―Nearly Half of Americans Don‘t Know Puerto Ricans Are Fellow Citizens.‖ The New York Times (September 26).

Discussion Questions a. Why, in your opinion, did a poll find that half of U.S. adults were unaware that Puerto Rico is part of the United States? b. Do you know other U.S. territories? (These include not only Puerto Rico but also the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.) c. Do you feel that President Trump responded to the situation in a compassionate manner?

As the president of the United States, how do you think he should have responded to this country‘s citizens? d. What role, if any, do you think that race and culture played in the response or lack thereof to Hurricane Maria?

3. Supplemental Lecture on White Privilege.

Social stratification means that some people have more and others have less. Historically, the focus has been on those living in poverty with far less attention paid to those that are affluent. A generation ago, for example, textbooks had chapters titled ―Poverty‖ but few, if any, contained chapters titled ―Wealth.‖ In recent years, the focus has shifted upward, so that both wealth and poverty are examined in the effort to comprehend systemic economic inequality. One expression of this upward focus is the concept of ―economic privilege.‖ In short, this concept refers to systematic advantages enjoyed by a small category of the population. In terms of race, the concept of ―White privilege‖ has the same focus on advantages conferred on a larger category of people. Of course, given the relative economic advantages enjoyed by White people in relation to people of color, we might also speak of ―White economic privilege.‖ During recent presidential campaigns, there was a lot of talk about the relative disadvantages experienced by White people in the United States. Surveys documented that half of people who describe themselves as Republicans think that there is widespread racism against White people.

By contrast, just 20 percent of Democrats agree with this statement. But are White people really disadvantaged? The economic data do not support this claim: Black American households, on average, earn about two-thirds as much as White households, a share that has changed little in fifty years. From the other end, White households earn about half again more than Black American households. Today, on average, White households enjoy thirteen times as much wealth as Black households. This is the reality of White economic privilege.

Discussion Questions a. How does a focus on poverty rather than economic inequality suggest that it is those living in poverty who are responsible for their situation? b. Do you think that ―wealth‖ is a problem? Why or why not?

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c. In what other ways do affluent people enjoy advantages in relation to those who are not as well off?

4. Supplemental Lecture on Arab Americans.

Many negative stereotypes surround Arab Americans. The increasing prominence of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East and acts of terrorism by individual Arabs have fueled a sense among some share of this country‘s population that Arabs are intolerant of U.S. political and social systems.

As a result, many Arab Americans have suffered needlessly and regularly from discrimination and sometimes outright hostility. The most recent research using the Bogardus social distance scale found that ―Arab‖ elicited the most negative reaction from U.S. college students.

Keep in mind that ―Arab‖ is a rather loose term that covers individuals tracing their ancestry to northern Africa and/or western and southwestern Asia and that includes a variety of ethnic and cultural groups and many languages. Most of these peoples consider themselves to share a certain ―Arabic heritage‖ and at least some usage of the Arabic language. Stereotypically, Arabs are viewed as olive-skinned, but there are no definitive biological features or ―look‖; Arabs can have blue eyes and either white or black skin coloration.

The data included in the text indicate that Arab Americans have a median family income slightly below the national average. In terms of education, this category of people is well educated with a much higher share (about 53.9 percent) completing a four-year college degree. A number of large U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Dearborn, Michigan, have large and visible Arab American communities. Arab Americans have an entrepreneurial culture and an above-average rate of self-employment. Some consider themselves Christians or followers of other religions, but most of the rest are Muslims.

Many Arab Americans came to the United States to escape political unrest in their home country. Turmoil in the Middle East over the past fifty years has contributed to the immigrant pool. Large numbers had attended Western-style schools at home before immigrating and were fluent in English upon arrival.

Discussion Questions a. Looking at the text, explain the distinctions between the concepts ―Arab,‖ ―Middle Eastern,‖ and ―Islamic.‖ b. In what ways are the reasons that many Arab Americans have come to this country similar to the reasons that many earlier immigrants came here?

5. George Wooddell and Jacques Henry have devised an interesting model for the presentation and discussion of the complex issues of race, ethnicity, and minority status. They propose to integrate the concepts of advantage (the benefit, economic or not, actually or potentially derived from discrimination) with the traditional dyad of prejudice and discrimination. Wooddell and Henry‘s article, ―The Advantage of a Focus on Advantage: A Note on Teaching Minority Groups,‖ appears in the July 2005 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 33: 301–9).

6. Rebecca L. Bordt has devised an experiential learning exercise that is potentially useful in teaching racial discrimination. As Bordt explains, the exercise is designed to introduce students to the concept of nonconscious forms of racial bias. As she points out, racial bias is a form of

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race discrimination that is often difficult to grasp. Her article, ―Only Some Are Dead Men Walking: Teaching about Race Discrimination and the Death Penalty‖ appears in the October 2004 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 32: 358–73).

7. The idea that race is socially constructed is widely accepted within social science disciplines, but relating this concept to students can present a serious challenge because students tend to view their world as an objective reality rather than a subjective entity that involves interpretation and constructed meaning. Brian K. Obach has offered a number of interesting suggestions for demonstrating the social construction of race in his article of the same title: ―Demonstrating the Social Construction of Race‖ (Teaching Sociology, July 1999: 252–57).

8. Regardless of their backgrounds, virtually all students will have had exposure to racial prejudice and stereotypes in the form of jokes or humor. As an exercise, have your students make a written record of jokes they have heard that involve racial or ethnic elements. Students can read the jokes individually in class or you can collect them and read them aloud to the class. Then conduct a miniature content analysis, analyzing the jokes on the basis of consistent themes and recurring stereotypes. Hopefully, your collection of jokes will involve a wide range of racial and ethnic groups. Be sure to collect jokes from minority students about White ethnic people.

9. If possible, conduct a field trip to some type of historical museum or exhibit that focuses on multiculturalism, ethnic identity, or transnationalism. Edith W. King has outlined a strategy for using museums in teaching about race and ethnic relations: ―Using Museums for More Effective Teaching of Ethnic Relations‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 20, April 1992: 114–20).

10. Have your students select one of the minority groups described in the chapter and read a novel, autobiography, or biography that will allow them to gain an understanding of the group from the perspective of a member of that group. Students should then write a review of this book. In completing the review, students are asked to apply two of the theoretical perspectives as well as related concepts that best explain the experiences of the person about whom they are reading. They should also explain the historical context in which the person is writing to make linkages between the context and the experiences and perceptions of the individual. One reference that may assist you in coordinating this activity is Charlotte Fitzgerald‘s article, ―Exploring Race in the Classroom: Guidelines for Selecting the ‗Right‘ Novel‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 20, July 1992: 244–47).

11. Have your students observe various television programs to see how minorities are portrayed today. Students can work in pairs and either watch the same programs and then compare their findings or watch different shows to compare similarities and differences. For example, they can select a comedy or a soap opera. Finally, they can draw some conclusions about whether the characters are portrayed in a positive, negative, or neutral fashion, whether the roles they play are realistic when compared to American society, and the extent to which the programs enhance or impede greater understanding of the minority group.

12. One interesting vehicle for highlighting discrimination as a topic for class discussion is to encourage students to think critically about how discrimination takes place. Richard A. Zeller‘s classic article, ―On Teaching about Discrimination‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 16, January 1988:

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61–66), provides a number of excellent suggestions for motivating your students to think critically about discrimination. This device may also be used in your in-class discussions of sex inequality.

13. It is particularly difficult to teach many White students about the privileges and advantages of their membership in a dominant cultural group. Once White students recognize their advantages, they have to acknowledge that institutionalized inequality not only exists but also favors them. Dan J. Pence and J. Arthur Fields have presented what they regard as a successful approach for achieving this realization in the classroom: ―Teaching about Race and Ethnicity: Trying to Uncover White Privilege for a White Audience‖ (Teaching Sociology, April 1999: 150–58). Another interesting source is Diane Gillespie, ―The Pedagogical Value of Teaching White Privilege through a Case Study‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 31, October 2003: 469–77).

14. Most communities have chapters of organizations devoted to protecting the interests of particular ethnic or racial groups: the NAACP, the Jewish Defense League, the Mexican American Political Association, and pro–Native American groups. Locate representatives of one or more groups like these and invite them to your class to discuss the reasons behind their formation and how the groups function. This experience not only exposes your students to a broad range of views on the issues but also emphasizes how all such concerns are grounded in the political process and involve interest group or lobbyist activities.

15. Although it may be disturbing to some students, it will be an enlightening experience for them to confront some of their own prejudices. One way of accomplishing this is to have the students complete the Bogardus social distance scale or an equivalent device. Collect the responses and summarize them for the class. Then encourage the members of the class to express their feelings about marrying somebody from a racial, ethnic, or religious group other than their own or even having a minority group member as a neighbor or best friend. Marietta Morrissey‘s article, ―Exploring Social Distance in Race and Ethnic Relations Courses‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 20, April 1992: 121–24), may be helpful to you in reference to this activity.

16. Marisa Alicea and Barbara Kessel describe an interesting simulation exercise (―The Socially Awkward Question: A Simulation Exercise for Exploring Ethnic and Racial Labels,‖ Teaching Sociology, Vol. 25, January 1997: 65–71) in which students are asked to guess each other‘s cultural or ethnic/racial identity. The exercise is in fact quite complex, hence, the very brief description provided here. If this sounds like something you would like to take the time to orchestrate, Alicea and Kessel‘s article is worth reading.

17. The Peace Corps offers training sessions for its volunteers that demonstrate the need for Americans to be aware of how they are perceived by people in other countries. Recreate the following Q&A sheet for your students. After students have read the questions and answers, discuss how stereotypes of Americans are constructed by non-Americans and discuss how the answers are constructed to place the stereotypes in the context of American values. Then lead a discussion on the importance of multiculturalism. a. Why are you Americans always in such a hurry to get things done?

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Answer: We often seem this way because of our tendency to use achievements and accomplishments as a measure of a person‘s worth. We‘re in a hurry to get things done because it‘s only then that we feel we have proved our worth. b. Why do you Americans insist on treating everyone the same?

Answer: We do this because of a deep cultural instinct toward egalitarianism, which was a reaction to the class system and, before that, the feudal system that existed in Europe. In cultures where inequality is more accepted, our insistence on egalitarianism may be grating. c. Why do you Americans always have to say what you‘re thinking?

Answer: We believe that being direct is the most efficient way to communicate. And being more efficient means you get more done. d. Why do you Americans always want to change things?

Answer: We think things can always be better and that progress is inevitable. Older cultures are more skeptical because they have been around longer and have seen more. e. Why don‘t you Americans show more respect for your seniors and elders?

Answer: We respect results, not age or authority. Therefore, unless an elder or a senior also happens to be a superior achiever, there is not automatic respect. f. Why do you Americans always think things are going to get better?

Answer: We are optimists because we believe the locus of control is in ourselves.

Therefore, the only obstacle to things getting better is a personal lack of will or effort, which is eminently fixable. g. Why are you Americans so concerned about individual recognition?

Answer: Individualism is ingrained in us. Not being used to working together that much, we don‘t trust team or group recognition. h. Why are you Americans so impatient?

Answer: If things take a long time to do, we can do fewer of them. And when you‘re counting achievements, more is better.

18. In discussing the social construction of race, it may be beneficial for students to explore their own ideas about race. Create a handout that lists the following categories: (a) Chileans, (b) Irish, (c) English, (d) Iranians, (e) Cameroonians, (f) Israelis, (g) Italians, (h) Nigerians, (i) Chinese, (j) Mexicans, (k) Portuguese, (l) Russians, (m) Puerto Ricans, (n) Saudis, (o) Egyptians, (p) Germans, (q) Canadians, and (r) Americans. For each category, students should answer the question: Is this category of people White? After students have completed the sheet, you may discuss the process that went into defining each group as White or not and the social forces that shape such definitions. [Adapted from Doug Daniels, ―The White Race Is Shrinking: Perceptions of Race in Canada and Some Speculations on the Political Economy of Race Classification,‖ in R. Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds., Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror (pp. 51– 54), Philadelphia: Temple University Press.]

19. Ask students to choose the pattern of majority–minority interaction that they believe to be the best and to write a supporting argument for their choice. Students must consider how society benefits from their choice. Once all students have written their arguments, divide the class into teams of students who share the same opinion. Allow students to debate. Then discuss how one‘s position on the political spectrum plays a role in constructing race relations as a social problem and in defining solutions.

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20. Discuss the importance of race and ethnicity in the 2024 presidential campaign. Was the debate only about immigration across the southern border? What about equity policies advanced by the Biden administration which clash with the emphasis on individual merit embraced by Republicans?

WEB LINKS Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/08/12/deep-divisions-in-americansviews-of-nations-racial-history-and-how-to-address-it/ Arab American Institute http://www.aaiusa.org CensusScope: Click on Charts & Trends for U.S. Multiracial Profile http://www.censusscope.org HUD User: Search for Homeownership Gaps among Low-Income and Minority Borrowers and Neighborhood https://www.huduser.gov/portal/home.html Library of Congress: Search for Immigration http://www.loc.gov New York City: Search for Newest New Yorkers http://www.nyc.gov Northeastern University: Search for Racial Profiling Data Collection http://www.northeastern.edu Pluralism Project at Harvard University http://pluralism.org Swarthmore College: Search for Discrimination http://wikis.swarthmore.edu Teaching Tolerance http://www.tolerance.org ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Explain why race is such a controversial concept.

2. Describe what happened during the ―Great Immigration‖ that lasted from the end of the Civil War until the outbreak of World War I (1914). What immigration patterns took place after 1965?

3. Explain why analysts project that, within about two decades, the United States will have a minority majority.

4. What do you see as the problems that prejudice and discrimination pose for the United States today? How would you address these problems?

5. Discuss the social construction of race and explain who benefits and who suffers from the current construction.

6. Explain how conservatives, liberals, and radicals construct illegal immigration as a social issue? Do they all see it as a problem? Discuss how these varying perspectives shape immigration policy.

7. Define and illustrate patterns of majority–minority interaction: genocide, segregation, assimilation, and pluralism.

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8. Explain the role of history in shaping the current social standing of the largest minority categories in the United States.

9. What do we learn by applying the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and socialconflict approaches to racial and ethnic inequality? Provide one criticism of each.

FILM LIST STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTOM (2015; 146 m, NWA Movie/MTV) This film explores the origins of hip-hop on the West Coast and the effects it has on popular culture and the music industry in the United States.

ABANDONED: THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA’S IMMIGRANTS (2000, 55 m, Bullfrog Films) This film is an exposé of the results of the 1996 immigration law. Through a close look at the personal impact of new immigration laws, this film depicts the severity of current detention and deportation policies. Lives are changed forever as legal residents find themselves being torn away from their American families and sent to countries they barely know.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THE HISTORY OF AN IDEA (1996, 56 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program explores the historical roots of affirmative action and the debate over its usefulness. The program looks at several different affirmative action programs, from the University of California, Berkeley, where the university struggles with how to maintain diversity without minority preferences, to the city of Chicago, whose affirmative action programs for its police and fire departments have been challenged. Students will gain insight into conservative and liberal views on affirmative action.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION UNDER FIRE: WHEN IS IT REVERSE DISCRIMINATION? (1997, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In this ABC News presentation, correspondent Nina Totenberg reports on a reverse discrimination complaint lodged by White teacher Sharon Taxman. In 1989, a New Jersey high school faced a painful decision: one of two teachers with equal tenure and equivalent credentials (one Black American, the other White) had to be laid off. The case led to a surprising out-ofcourt settlement funded by civil rights groups. Anchor Cokie Roberts moderates a spirited debate on affirmative action in this program.

BICULTURALISM AND ACCULTURATION AMONG LATINOS (1991, 28 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Many Latinos in the United States struggle with pressures to reclaim and reaffirm their heritage while simultaneously facing pressures to assimilate into the dominant American culture. This program examines the question of which part of their culture Latinos feel they should keep and which part they should leave behind. The presentation explodes some commonly held beliefs and misperceptions about Latinos and probes the relationship between ethnic identity and entrepreneurial success in the changing U.S. marketplace.

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THE COLOR PURPLE (1985, 164 m, Rental Video) Based on the novel by Alice Walker, this film looks at the life of a Black woman whose inner strength and spirit help her overcome the oppression and obstacles that limit her life. The film can stimulate discussion on interfamily relationships in poor families, the relationship between Black and White people in the South over the decades, and the ways in which individuals cope with adversity and racial discrimination.

CRASH (2003, 112 m, Rental Video) This full-length feature film explores prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination. The movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a cultural mix of every nationality. The story begins when several people are involved in a multicar accident. From that point, we are taken back to the day before the crash, seeing the lives of several characters, and the problems each encounters during that day. Students will gain insight into the importance of race in shaping perceptions in contemporary society.

DISPLACED IN THE NEW SOUTH (1996, 57 m, Center for Media and Independent Learning; University of California Extension) This video focuses on Asian immigrants living near Atlanta, Georgia, and their relationships with other groups, including the Hispanic community that is nearby. Issues such as ethnic/racial conflict and assimilation are addressed in this presentation.

LIVES FOR SALE: HUMAN TRAFFICKING (2006, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Each year, more than one million people try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, contending with dangerous forces that prey on their hopes and exploit their gullibility. This program exposes the most painful, disturbing, and hidden dimension of illegal immigration: the growing black market trade in human beings. Shedding light on the poverty that causes so many to risk everything by leaving their home countries, the film reconstructs the frightening journeys of sex-slavery victims and highlights the work of CAST—the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.

Border patrol agents and other members of law enforcement share their knowledge and experience regarding this ongoing human rights crisis.

OAXACALIFORNIA (1995, 57 m, Center for Media and Independent Learning; University of California Extension) This presentation chronicles the life of a family whose members‘ loyalties are split between the United States and Mexico: The parents are citizens of Mexico, while the children are citizens of the United States. Issues such as ethnicity, nationalism, and immigration are highlighted.

PREJUDICE: THE EYE OF THE STORM (1970, 25 m, Insight Media) This historical documentary follows elementary teacher Jane Elliott‘s classroom experiment regarding the psychology of discrimination. Emphasizing the speed at which individuals can be

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infected with the virus of discrimination, it shows how the students were divided into groups by eye color, considers the behavior changes that occurred with one group‘s supposed supremacy, and documents the broken friendships and vicious behaviors that resulted. Students will get a bird‘s-eye view of the social construction of prejudice and discrimination.

QUESTION OF RACE (2001, 51 m, Insight) This film questions whether race is an accurate biological identifier or a purely social construction. It presents actual situations in which hidden cameras show adults and children encountering people of different races and features psychologists discussing the subtle aspects of racial prejudice.

RACE AND ETHNICITY (2002, 30 m, Insight Media) This program defines minority groups sociologically and explains the significance of race, racism, and ethnicity. Using historical and current examples, the presentation differentiates between prejudice, discrimination, and racism and explores their effects. Various theories of race and ethnic inequality are presented.

RACE: THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS MYTH (2001, 60 m, Insight) Differentiating between social and biological definitions of race, this program examines racial categorizations by Montagu and Oliver, classification systems from the eighteenth century, and geographic classification systems. It investigates genetic differences among races, including lactose deficiency, ABO blood type, and sickle cell anemia. Students will gain an understanding of how society and institutions perpetuate racial stereotypes.

RACISM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (1995, 60 m, Insight Media) This presentation chronicles the development of racism during the last two centuries in European and American history.

THEM AND US: CULTURAL AWARENESS (2007, 25 m, Insight Media) This program explores the mental processes that individuals use to evaluate other cultures.

Students will gain an understanding of how common thinking habits can lead to hidden assumptions, biases, and prejudices.

UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES (1996, 30 m, Insight Media) Designed to help viewers deepen their understanding of other cultures, this program uses interviews of students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds in exploring diverse traditions and views. The presentation stresses the importance of overcoming barriers and learning how to deal with a multicultural environment.

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WATTS, THEN AND NOW: 1965–1991 (1998, 47 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program examines the socioeconomic conditions in Watts that have made it an ongoing hotbed of violence over three decades: Why did riots occur there in 1965 and again in 1991 and what can be done so that riots do not happen again?

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Race and Ethnicity How old were you when you became aware of the importance of race and ethnicity? How did that awareness begin?

Sample answer: Generally, people become aware of race as young children. This awareness typically depends on having some type of contact with people who differ from themselves.

2. Personalizing Prejudice and Discrimination Describe a personal experience in which you were the target of prejudice or discrimination based on race and ethnicity. How common have such experiences been in your life?

Sample answer: In reviewing student responses, consider differences in the experiences of White people and people of color.

3. Where Do You Stand?

What is your assessment of immigration? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then write several paragraphs that express your views about immigration in the United States. To what degree should this nation open its borders to people who seek asylum after facing violence at home? What about people who would simply like to join U.S. society?

Sample answer: People holding liberal and progressive attitudes typically support high levels of immigration with a direct path to citizenship. Immigration is widely seen as a response to poverty and violence in a birth-country and a benefit to U.S. society. People holding conservative attitudes are likely to oppose high levels of immigration and, especially, mass immigration of undocumented people. From this point of view, high levels of immigration undermine traditional culture and also are not consistent with immigration law.

4. National Map 3–1 Language Diversity across the United States Your journal assignment is to explain, in a paragraph, why the level of people who do not speak English at home is so high in the Southwest and also in southern Florida. To help you see why, look at the map on the right, which shows the share of Latina/Latino populations for all U.S. counties.

Sample answer: Roll your cursor over many counties across the Midwest, the northern Plains, and the Mountain States, and you will see that only a small percentage of the population speaks a language other than English at home. These are rural counties with populations that have lived there a long time and with very few recent immigrants.

Looking to the south, counties close to our country‘s border with Mexico are a different story—here we find, in many cases, a majority of people speak a language other than English at home. The same is true for several counties in southern Florida—especially

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Miami-Dade County—where almost three-fourths of the population speaks a language other than English at home.

Which language? Looking at the map on the right, we can see that the language spoken in these counties is Spanish, reflecting the fact that these counties have many immigrants who have come to the United States from Spanish-language nations. In the United States, Hispanic people represent the largest racial or ethnic category in the population. This is, of course, the reason that the two maps show similar patterns.

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CHAPTER 4 GENDER INEQUALITY IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Patriarchy and Social Institutions John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE Chapter 4 of this revised edition has new trend data showing the increasing number of women in Congress between 1918 and 2023. There is also new discussion of how women are portrayed in recent films. The latest data show the record number of women in Congress in 2023 as well as the power of women relative to men in nations around the world. This revised chapter presents the share of women in the U.S. labor force, the share of professional degrees earned by U.S. women, and the most sex-segregated occupations. Discussion of sexual harassment has been updated to include the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. The revised chapter has thirty-seven new research citations.

AUTHOR’S NOTE Perhaps the major goal of this chapter is to convey to students that the socially constructed concept of gender is a major dimension of social stratification. Since the mid-1960s when sociologists expanded their attention to gender, they have replaced an earlier focus on behavior (―sex roles‖) with a focus on gender as a key dimension of inequality linked to other dimensions of difference, including class, race, and ethnicity.

In this chapter, find powerful presentations, including the following, of gender as a dimension of inequality: • Gender and political power • Gender and mass media • Gender and violence • Gender and education • Gender and the military • Gender and work • Gender and income • Gender and religion

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In each of the preceding cases, ask the class to specify how gender operates as a dimension of social stratification, placing one sex in a position of social dominance over the other.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. What Is Gender?

4.1 Define important concepts, including gender and gender stratification.

• Gender is the personal traits and life chances that a society links to being female or male.

• Sex is the biological distinction between females and males.

• Gender stratification is the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women.

• Patriarchy o Patriarchy (literally, ―rule by fathers‖) is a social pattern in which men dominate women. o Matriarchy, a social pattern in which women dominate men, is extremely rare. o Window on the World Global Map 4–1 Women‘s Social Standing in Global Perspective o Explanations of Patriarchy ▪ Most sociologists reject the idea that any behavior is ―hardwired‖ into human biology. On the contrary, we believe that patriarchy and all the behaviors linked to gender are mostly creations of society. o Prejudice and Discrimination ▪ What is quite clear is that our culture assigns more worth to what we call ―masculine‖ than what we call ―feminine.‖ • The Problem of Sexism o Sexism is the belief that one sex is innately superior to the other. o Sexism involves not just individual attitudes but also the operation of social institutions.

II. Gender and Social Institutions 4.2 Analyze the importance of gender in the operation of major social institutions.

• Gender and the Family o Traditionally, parents in the United States preferred boys to girls, although this bias has weakened in recent decades. But in poor countries around the world, a pro-male bias is still strong.

• Gender and Education o Childhood education contains many messages about gender from the presence of mostly women teachers in the lower grades. o Women have made gains in schooling, especially at the college level and in postgraduate education. o In 2021, for the first time, more women (52 percent) than men earned law degrees (LL.B and J.D.) and also dental degrees (51 percent). The same share of women (49.6 percent) as men (50.4 percent) earned medical (M.D.) degrees. o Gender and College Sports

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▪

•

•

•

•

•

In recent years, colleges and universities have also tried to provide an equal number of sports for both women and men. Even so, men benefit from higher-paid coaches and enjoy larger crowds of spectators. o Social Problems in Global Perspective: Sweden Tries to Take Gender Out of the Classroom Gender and the Mass Media o Only in recent decades have television shows featured women as central characters. But we still find fewer women than men cast as talented athletes, successful executives, brilliant detectives, and skilled surgeons. More often than not, women have supporting roles as wives, assistants, and secretaries. o The pattern of male television stars being paid more than female stars continues. o Gender differences have also long been evident in mass media advertising.

▪ Look closely at ads and you will see that they often present men as taller than women, and women (but never men) often lie on sofas and beds or sit on the floor like children.

Gender and Politics o Patriarchy is about power. Because of patriarchy, women have played only a marginal role in the political history of our country. o Table 4–1 Political ―Firsts‖ for U.S. Women o Seeing Ourselves National Map 4–1 Women in State Government across the United States o Despite some gains for women over the past century, they are still underrepresented among our judicial and political leaders.

Gender and Religion o The fact that most of us think of God as male is no surprise because societies give power and privilege to men. That‘s probably why all the Western religious traditions provide support for patriarchy. o Throughout the religious community, a lively debate surrounds the question of whether patriarchal traditions represent God‘s will or merely reflect patterns of the past.

Gender and the Military o The traditional explanation for limiting women‘s opportunities is the claim that women are not as physically strong as men, although this argument makes much less sense in a high-technology military that depends less and less on muscle power. The real reason people oppose women in the military has to do with gender itself. o In recent years, the nation has confronted a new problem involving women in the military—sexual assault. No one knows precisely the extent of this problem.

Gender and Work o Even though more women now work for pay, the range of jobs open to them is still somewhat limited, and our society still labels most jobs as either feminine or masculine. o Figure 4–1 Diversity Snapshot: Women and Men in the U.S. Labor Force o Table 4–2 Gender Segregation in the Workplace: Jobs Defined as ―Feminine‖ o Employers cannot discriminate between men and women in hiring or when setting pay. But gender inequality is deeply rooted in U.S. society; officials investigate

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thousands of discrimination complaints every year, and few doubt that the real number of cases of discrimination is far higher. o Engaging the Issues: Sex Discrimination in the Workplace: The Hooters Controversy III. Gender Stratification 4.3 Examine how gender stratification is found in everyday life.

• Income o The gender gap in earnings means that women are more likely to be overrepresented at the low end of the income scale. In 2021, 20 percent of fulltime women workers earned less than $30,000, compared to 14 percent of men.

The gender gap also provides advantages to men: A larger share of men than women (25 percent versus 15 percent) earned more than $100,000.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 4–2 The Earnings Gender Gap across the United States o Three Reasons for the Gender Gap in Pay ▪ The first and biggest reason, noted earlier, is that men and women typically have different types of jobs. In general, what our society considers to be ―men‘s work‖ commands higher pay (and more prestige) than ―women‘s work.‖ ▪ A second reason is that everyone has to balance work with other social roles and obligations. U.S. Society assigns women most of the responsibility for raising children. Even if women and men start out with the same schooling and hold exactly the same jobs, over time women typically fall behind their male colleagues.

▪ The third reason for gender inequality is that women suffer from gender discrimination. o The Glass Ceiling ▪ The glass ceiling refers to subtle discrimination that effectively blocks the movement of women into the highest positions in organizations.

• Personal Stories: After the Children: Getting Back in the Game • Housework o Just as patriarchy gives men control of the workplace, it also assigns women most of the housework. o Because women spend a lot more time doing housework than men, housework is sometimes called women‘s ―second shift.‖ o Figure 4–2 Diversity Snapshot: Gender, Housework, and Leisure Time o The COVID-19 pandemic provided more evidence of the unequal distribution of housework. Researchers suggest that women working at home ended up doing more housework than they did when they worked in the office.

• Violence against Women o Perhaps the most serious problem linked to patriarchy is men‘s physical violence against women. Assault, rape, and even murder are common enough that they must be included in society‘s pattern of gender stratification. o Women younger than thirty-five are at higher risk of sexual violence. Income matters too.

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o Violence is a crime, but what makes it a gender issue?

▪ Physical aggressiveness is part of our cultural definition of masculinity.

▪ Many people view whatever a patriarchal society labels as feminine as less worthy.

▪ Men often think they have permission to engage in sexual activity simply because they think a woman shows interest in them.

Social Problems in Global Perspective: Female Genital Mutilation: Using Violence to Control Women o Window on the World Global Map 4–2 Female Genital Mutilation in Global Perspective Sexual Harassment o Sexual harassment refers to unwanted comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature. o If society does not define sexual harassment as a problem, men in positions of power are free to coerce sex from women they supervise. o Sexual harassment can be blatant and direct.

Sexuality and Beauty o A patriarchal culture teaches men to assess women not according to their abilities but on the basis of their sexual attractiveness. o Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: Beauty: What‘s It Really About?

Reproduction and Abortion o Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms involving reproduction and reproductive health. They gained nationwide attention in 2022 with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. o Seeing Ourselves National Map 4–3 Access to Legal Abortion across the United States.

Women: A Majority Minority? o Numerically, women are a slight majority (about 51 percent) of the U.S. population. Even so, in a patriarchal society, women meet the test of being physically distinctive and socially disadvantaged.

IV. Theories of Gender Inequality 4.4 Apply sociological theory to the issue of gender inequality.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Gender and Complementarity o As a result of this role differentiation, people of each sex need people of the other sex. More broadly, this mutual interdependence helps unite individuals into families and links families into larger communities. o Talcott Parsons: A Theory of Complementary Gender Roles ▪ Gender differences have become smaller over the course of human history largely because the biological facts of sex, including physical size and strength, matter less and less. Yet, Parsons suggested, modern societies still encourage some gender differences because they serve to integrate people and help them work together. Specifically, society defines the two sexes in complementary ways, which ensures that men and women need

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each other and benefit from joining together in the form of couples and families.

Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Gender in Everyday Life o Gender and Personal Behavior ▪ The more power people have the more choices they have about how to behave. In general, our society gives men greater freedom in personal behavior. o Gender and the Use of Space ▪ Because men have greater social power, they typically use more space than women, whether the men are speaking in front of a group at work or relaxing on the sidelines at a sporting event.

▪ In the era of #MeToo, men have learned that they too can be criticized for violating women‘s personal space. o Gender and Language ▪ The English language tends to give what is masculine more value than what is feminine. Traditional titles associated with men—such as king and lord—have positive meanings, but comparable titles associated with women—such as queen, madam, and dame—are often negative.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Gender and Inequality o Rather than uniting society, social-conflict theory argues, gender divides humanity, generating conflict between privileged men and disadvantaged women. o Friedrich Engels: The Rise of Patriarchy ▪ Men enjoy more wealth and power than women. In addition, to ensure an ever expanding market for capitalist production, society teaches women that personal happiness lies in marriage and a domestic life as a consumer of products and services.

Intersection Theory: The Case of Minority Women o Intersection theory is analysis of how race, class, and gender interact, often creating multiple disadvantages for some categories of people.

V. Feminism 4.5 Identify the foundations of feminism and distinguish three types of feminism.

• Feminism is a political movement that seeks the social equality of women and men.

• Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Claiming Women‘s Right to Equality • Feminist Foundations o Importance of gender o Importance of equality o Importance of choice o Importance of sexual freedom o Activism against patriarchy o Activism against gender violence • Types of Feminism o Liberal Feminism

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Liberal feminism seeks a society in which all people are treated as individuals so that both women and men can freely develop their talents and pursue their interests.

▪ Liberal feminists do not expect that all women will have the same social standing. o Socialist Feminism ▪ Supporters of socialist feminism claim that Marxist class revolution is needed to secure equality not just for women but for all people.

▪ Socialist feminism sees class revolution as necessary for gender revolution. o Radical Feminism ▪ Radical feminism argues that gender stratification is the most basic dimension of inequality, involving people of all ages, classes, and racial and ethnic categories. o Cultural, Multicultural, and Global Feminism ▪ Cultural feminism is a social movement with the goal of building a women‘s culture.

▪ Multicultural feminism is informed by insights gained from intersection theory. Women share the common experience of oppression in relation to men, but women also have various racial and ethnic identities, just as they have differing class positions.

▪ Global feminism adds another dimension of difference: Women live throughout the world in nations that exist in a system of global stratification.

VI. Politics and Gender: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 4.6 Analyze gender inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: The Value of Families o Many conservatives see the historical trend toward gender equality as causing a problem to the extent that it weakens the family. o Although most conservatives support women in the workplace and also are willing to vote for women running for positions of national leadership, most conservatives would also like to see government policies that strengthen traditional families.

• Liberals: The Pursuit of Equality o Liberals view changes in families over recent decades not as families ―in decline‖ but as reflecting the reality that most families need two working adults to make ends meet. o Some liberals support a policy of comparable worth, by which women and men would receive the same pay not just for doing the same work but also for doing different work that has the same value.

• The Radical Left: Change the System o Most left-radicals target the current economic and political systems. The socialist feminist solution to gender inequality seeks to transform the capitalist economy into a socialist system. This transformation would end the trend toward economic inequality and even eradicate class distinction.

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Going On from Here o The gender gap in pay has remained much the same for decades partly because many people continue to assume that men and women should do different types of work. In addition, many people think that family responsibilities fall more to women than to men. Given that such beliefs remain with us, it seems likely that, for the foreseeable future, women will not do exactly the same work as men, earn just as much as men, or share domestic chores equally with men.

Defining Solutions: Is Gender Inequality in College Athletics a Problem? If So, What Is the Solution?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 4.1 Define important concepts, including gender and gender stratification.

4.2 Analyze the importance of gender in the operation of major social institutions.

4.3 Examine how gender stratification is found in everyday life.

4.4 Apply sociological theory to the issue of gender inequality.

4.5 Identify the foundations of feminism and distinguish three types of feminism.

4.6 Analyze gender inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 4, students should be able to: Explain the difference between sex and gender.

Distinguish between matriarchy and patriarchy, describe the prevalence of each on a global scale, and explain how culture is involved in shaping gender prejudice and discrimination.

Define sexism and describe how it is built into society.

Explain how gender influences family, education, the mass media, politics, religion, the military, and work.

Discuss gender inequality income in the United States.

Explain why men earn more than women in the United States.

Discuss the glass ceiling.

Explain how patriarchy is related to differences between men and women in responsibility for housework.

Discuss the relationship between patriarchy and men‘s physical violence against women.

Discuss sexual harassment and identify the forms that it can take.

Explain the role of patriarchy in the social construction of beauty.

Explain how women are both a majority and a minority and how intersection theory can be employed to understand women‘s minority status.

Apply structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict theory to gender inequality.

Discuss feminism—its history, the forms that it takes, and the points of commonality that feminists share.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of gender inequality as a social problem as well as shaping solutions to gender problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: PATRIARCHY AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS In general, of course, pervasive patriarchy has placed the operation of U.S. society under the control of men. But is this pattern the same in all institutional spheres? Ask your students to

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assess the extent of gender stratification in five major institutions. Ask them to make distinctions in the extent of inequality within the various spheres of life. Here are some ideas to consider.

In the case of the economy, the evidence for patriarchy is strong. Men are more likely to be working than women are, men hold more important jobs, and men make more money. While it is true that the differences have become smaller over time (in 1950, two-thirds of adult women were not even in the labor force), remaining differences are less defensible than ever.

Politics remains mostly a man‘s world. It was only in the mid-1980s that the share of women in Congress topped 4 percent. In 2023, a record number of women served in Congress (25 women in the Senate and 124 in the House). But it is still the case that no woman has ever been elected president of the United States.

Organized religion has long been linked to patriarchy. Change has been significant in recent decades with many denominations opening leadership positions to women.

Family life has long been patriarchal. Although families give women substantial control of the domestic sphere, power about most things that matter remains with men. Some of my students have pointed to what they consider to be the significant power of women to control families, including children, and local communities, especially among some racial and ethnic categories.

Education is the one institution that might be considered to have greater gender equality.

Women now earn 58 percent of all bachelor‘s degrees, 62 percent of all master‘s degrees, and 56 percent of all doctorates (including 63 percent of all doctorates in sociology).

In short, students may well conclude that economics and politics are the most patriarchal institutions and education is the least so.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION Here is a moderate-length Ted Talk video that can spark a great class discussion. Sheryl WuDunn, businesswoman, reporter, and the author of Half the Sky, makes the claim that the key challenge facing humanity in the nineteenth century was slavery; in the twentieth century, it was totalitarianism; in the twenty-first century, it is gender inequality. Around the world during the last fifty years, she explains, gender inequality was responsible for more deaths than all the wars fought during the twentieth century.

Search on a video site such as YouTube for ―Sheryl WuDunn Ted‖ and look for her video, lasting about eighteen minutes, about ―our century‘s greatest injustice.‖ RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 4, the PowerPoint presentation is ―The Tech ‗Gender Gap.‘‖ This presentation shows the extent to which women are underrepresented in technology jobs at major tech companies.

These PowerPoints can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online

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catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: Gender Inequality in Silicon Valley.

If there is anything in our way of life that seems thoroughly modern, it is computer technology.

The culture of Silicon Valley is also decidedly progressive, supporting movements for women‘s rights and same-sex marriage. Even so, the tech industry has some very traditional patterns when it comes to gender and the workplace.

There have been numerous complaints by women that tech companies have created or condoned a hostile workplace. In addition, the latest data suggest that women are still being excluded from tech (as opposed to clerical) jobs in major high-tech companies.

In 2022, men held 64.6 percent of tech jobs at Apple; women held 35.3 percent. A similar pattern is found at other major technology companies. This gender imbalance is greater than in professional work such as law and medicine. Globally, similar patterns are found in Europe and Asia.

Clearly, companies need to make greater efforts to move toward gender parity. But the gender imbalance has roots in our educational system, where women are far less likely to choose majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) than men are. This is true despite the fact that girls in secondary school do as well or better than boys on tests in these areas. Young women, it seems, believe that they must be brilliant to pursue a major in STEM, while young men are not deterred in this way.

Source ―Google‘s Gender Problem Is Actually a Tech Problem.‖ 2017. Bloomberg (August 8).

Discussion Questions a. Are you surprised by gender disparity in tech jobs? Why or why not? b. What policies might help reduce gender disparity? c. Do you think the gender disparity in tech jobs is a ―tech problem‖ or a ―gender problem‖?

Why? 2. Supplemental Lecture: How Comfortable Are You Being Alone with Someone of the Opposite Sex? Norms that guide our everyday behavior reflect gender. Demeanor, body language, and even nonverbal communication are shaped by gender identity. Take the case of personal space: How we position ourselves in relation to another person can illicit various reactions and interpretations. In most cultures, men have more freedom to move about as they please and may, without thinking, ―intrude‖ into a woman‘s personal space. However, if a woman were to ―intrude‖ into a man‘s personal space, the assumption may be that her intentions are sexual.

Because traditional gender roles are so embedded in our way of life, many men and women are not comfortable being alone with someone of the opposite sex. In the current climate of awareness of sexual harassment, this discomfort is especially likely in settings that may be deemed ―intimate,‖ as in an office or closed room used for work-related meetings. The press

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pointed out a 2002 comment by former Vice President Mike Pence in which he stated that he does not eat alone with any woman other than his wife. The same article published findings from a survey of how men and women feel about being alone with someone of the opposite sex in different settings. Many supported former Vice President Pence‘s assertion that they wouldn‘t feel comfortable alone with someone of the opposite sex unless that someone was their significant other. Apparently, many people believe that, in today‘s world, we need to think carefully about how we structure interaction with people in any situation that might be defined as sexually charged.

Source Cain Miller, Claire. 2017. ―It‘s Not Just Mike Pence. Americans Are Wary of Being Alone with the Opposite Sex.‖ The New York Times (July 2): A1.

Discussion Questions a. Assess Mike Pence‘s statement about being alone with a woman. Do women benefit from this behavior? In what ways? How might they be disadvantaged? b. What role do women need to take in the conversation about sexuality in everyday life? c. In what ways do you feel comfortable or uncomfortable being with someone of the opposite sex? What neutral setting would you consider to be inappropriate to be with someone of the opposite sex?

3. Supplemental Lecture: The Boy Scouts Make Room at the Campfire.

For as long as groups and organizations have existed, gender has played some role in membership. In the case of the Boy Scouts, as the name suggests, only one sex is eligible for membership. Sometimes ―parallel‖ organizations are created, as when the Boy Scouts (founded in 1910) exists alongside the Girl Scouts (1912).

Scouting has changed for a number of reasons. Recent years have seen decreasing membership in the Boy Scouts, and the organization has faced allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of some troop leaders. To strengthen the organization, the Boy Scouts of America made a historic change in October 2017, when it announced that it would accept girls into its programs. The Boy Scouts has also recently announced that it will allow gay scout leaders and accept transgender and openly gay people as scouts. This shift seems to reflect changing societal attitudes about sexual equality.

The Boy Scouts still places social boundaries on membership. For example, the organization professes a duty to serve God and, therefore, does not welcome people who claim to have no belief in God. Source Bosman, Julie, and Niraj Chokshi. 2017. ―Boy Scouts Will Accept Girls, in Bid to ‗Shape the Next Generation of Leaders.‘‖ The New York Times (October 11).

Discussion Questions a. Should organizations be able to set boundaries on membership? To what degree? b. Can you point to other organizations that restrict membership? Explain how and why they do that.

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c. What about sports teams? Should they be open to all people? Why or why not?

4. Supplemental Lecture: Rethinking Sex and Gender.

Sex is the biological distinction between males and females, conventionally expressed in binary terms. Sex has also been treated as rigid with a person‘s sex defined at conception, based on chromosomes. After birth, cultural norms shape gender, which refers to what roles and expectations are attached to a person‘s sex. Early on, parents play a role in this process by providing clothing, toys, and experiences geared to sex.

But, just as gender has undergone change, this rigid conception of sex has been breaking down. In 2008, Thomas Beatie, a transgender male, made headlines by becoming the first ―pregnant man.‖ Beatie was born a female, transitioned to a male, but maintained reproductive organs, allowing him to conceive. Since then, other transgender men have conceived and given birth to children. Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner further challenged people‘s conceptions of gender in 2015, when he transitioned and became Caitlin Jenner, becoming a strong voice and advocate for the transgender community.

Change is evident in U.S. institutions. In 2011, the U.S. military ended the ―Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell‖ policy for military service by gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. In what many called a historic change, the Supreme Court in 2015 found, in a five-to-four vote, that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)—the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in various states—was unconstitutional. Same-sex couples are now able to be legally married throughout the United States.

Some countries have attempted more basic change in culture. In 2011, Sweden introduced ―hen,‖ a gender-neutral pronoun used in preschools to identify a child without reference to sex.

Canada recently introduced ―X‖ as a third sex category that can be selected by passport holders.

Eight other countries offer a third option beyond ―female‖ and ―male‖ on passports or national identification cards. This third category gives people the choice to define themselves in terms of sex beyond rigid binary categories.

Bathrooms have also become part of the debate. The Trump and Biden administrations have differed in their levels of support toward the policies that instructed public schools to allow students to use the bathroom that corresponded with their gender identity, and not the sex that is documented on their birth certificate. Nonetheless, more colleges, businesses, and other organizations now define restrooms in more inclusive ways.

Source Chokshi, Niraj. 2017. ―Canada Introduces ‗X‘ as a Third Sex Category for Passport Holders.‖ The New York Times (August 25).

Discussion Questions a. Why does society make sex important? Do you think we could envision a society that paid little attention to people‘s sex? Why or why not? b. What is your college‘s policy on defining sex? c. What role do you think government should play in the debate over people defining their sex? Why? 5. Peggy Petrzelka has suggested a technique for examining gender inequalities through the investigation of faculty salaries. Petrzelka poses a number of interesting questions that will be

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stimulating for your students: Why do men generally make more money than women? Is it because women choose lower-earning careers, or are they discriminated against because they are women? Petrzelka‘s article, ―‗They Make How Much?‘ Investigating Faculty Salaries to Examine Gender Inequalities,‖ appears in the October 2004 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 33: 380–88).

6. Frank Taylor offers an interesting exercise for students in which they are asked to perform a content analysis of children‘s books to uncover gender stereotypes. Taylor‘s article, ―Content Analysis and Gender Stereotypes in Children‘s Books,‖ appears in the July 2003 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 31: 300–11). This exercise may be useful to you in the classroom as you sensitize your students to various gender-based stereotypes that lead to sexism and discrimination.

7. An important source of sexism is socialization. Have your students investigate the ways in which sex-role socialization works by engaging in one or more of the following activities: a. Visit a hospital nursery and observe the ways in which male and female infants are distinguished. How are they dressed? Are name labels color coded (pink/blue)? b. Go to a department store and visit the baby department to look at clothes, blankets, and other layette items to observe whether the styles and colors are clearly designed for boys or for girls. You could also examine babies‘ toys for these differences. c. Go to a greeting card store and look at congratulatory cards for new parents. Note the use of colors, content of pictures, and messages on the cards to see if there are differences between those for parents of boys and those of girls. d. If students know anyone who has a baby, they can observe how the baby is dressed and what toys the baby has, and then ask the parents to comment on the reasons for their choices. They can also ask the parents if they received gifts of clothing or toys for their babies that they exchanged because of not seeming suitable for their boy or girl. e. After these observations are made, students are encouraged to explain them from a symbolic-interactionist perspective. Catherine Boyle‘s article, ―Seeing Gender in Everyday Life: A Field Trip to the Mall‖ (Teaching Sociology, April 1995: 150–54), may be helpful to you in orchestrating this activity. Boyle describes a field exercise in which students visit a shopping mall and observe how gender infuses daily social interaction.

8. Theresa A. Martinez has written an interesting article, ―Popular Music in the Classroom: Teaching Race, Class, and Gender with Popular Culture,‖ which appears in the July 1994 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 22, No. 3). It may be helpful to you in approaching gender issues.

9. A useful exercise in elevating self-awareness about sexual identity and for generating class discussion about sex roles is to have the students respond anonymously in writing to the question: ―How would your life be different if you were a member of the opposite sex?‖ Instruct students to write ―Male‖ or ―Female‖ at the top of their sheet of paper. Allow about fifteen to twenty minutes for students to respond. If the class size permits, read each of the students‘ responses aloud; if the class is too large, read every other response (in either case, sort the responses into ―Male‖ and ―Female‖ groups; this intensifies the dramatic differences in responses between the sexes). Have the class react to these responses—prepare for some emotional reactions.

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10. Ask your students to think about ways in which males play instrumental roles and females play expressive roles. You may wish to clarify these concepts relative to the functionalist perspective. Have students explore how these role formations came into being with particular emphasis on how males have come to occupy the powerful, decision-making positions in American society. This technique should assist students in understanding the structuralfunctional approach to sexual inequality.

11. A controversial topic that will almost surely generate spirited debate among your students is ―comparable worth.‖ One subtopic worthy of discussion is the criteria that various judicial officials have adopted in assessing whether one job is, in fact, ―comparable‖ to another. As an exercise, have your students locate some occupations on campus or in the community that are occupied predominantly by either males or females. Place the ensuing discussion in context with the conflict perspective: Who benefits in the ―comparable worth‖ debate?

12. Invite men who work in female-dominated professions to your class, thus constituting a panel. Among the possibilities: an elementary school teacher, a nurse, a social (case) worker, and a secretary. Ask them to address questions similar to those asked of the women who comprised the previously mentioned panel. Sensitize your class to the fact that men in female-dominated occupations often experience the same problems as women and that the problems are endemic to the work because it is identified as ―women‘s work.‖ Students might ask the panelists whether they have experienced discrimination or sexual harassment, a ―good-old-girls‖ network, or if being a male has helped them in their careers.

13. Point out to the members of your class that men are underrepresented in four predominantly female professions: nursing, elementary school teaching, librarianship, and social work. Ask them if they perceive any advantages for men who work in these professions. Do they suspect that men in these career fields are discriminated against? In her article, ―The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the ‗Female‘ Professions‖ (Social Problems, Vol. 39, No. 3, August 1992: 253–67), Christine L. Williams reported that men didn‘t face discrimination in these occupations, though they did encounter prejudice from individuals outside their professions. In contrast to the experience of women who enter male-dominated professions, men generally encounter structural advantages in these occupations that tend to enhance their careers.

Williams emphasized that because men faced different barriers to integrating into nontraditional occupations than women did, the focus is on the need for different remedies to dismantle segregation in predominantly female jobs.

14. Begin a class discussion on the social construction of housework. What is housework and who defines it? Discuss the value placed on housework from the perspective of stay-at-home mothers, working women, working men, children, and the media. Then create a scenario in which there is a husband, his stay-at-home wife, and their two young children. As a class, work together to create an exhaustive list of the tasks that a housewife/stay-at-home mom typically completes and guesstimate how much time she spends each week involved in her housework.

Multiply the number of hours per week times an hourly wage of $7.25 (the 2018 federal minimum wage) and multiply that number by fifty-two weeks for an expected yearly salary for a professional housewife. Engage students in a discussion of what the salary means and whether it

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is a ―fair‖ trade for a woman to do all of the housework in exchange for being supported by a working husband.

15. Ask each student to engage in a content analysis of their favorite music videos. Discuss how men and women are presented in the videos. Ask students to explain how the music videos are related to gender roles, gender expectations, and gender stereotypes. Engage in a debate concerning the positive and negative gender messages implied in music videos.

16. Ask students to explore the claims-making process of websites that support the women‘s movement as well as the men‘s movement. Discuss how gender inequality is socially constructed by each group and how this defines the solutions.

17. Take a survey of the class and ask students to raise their hands if they consider themselves feminists. Discuss the meanings that are associated with the word ―feminist‖ and how those meanings have been constructed in our society. After a thorough lecture on feminism, reassess the class and see how many more people define themselves as feminists. Engage the class in a discussion of how meanings shape our impressions as well as our behavior.

WEB LINKS American Philosophical Association: Search for Guidelines for Non-Sexist Use of Language http://www.apaonline.org Amnesty International: Search for Violence against Women http://www.amnestyusa.org Center for American Women in Politics http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu Feminist Majority Foundation http://www.feminist.org Human Rights Watch: Search for Women‘s Rights http://www.hrw.org Lawrence University: Search for Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) http://www.lawrence.edu Legal Momentum: The Women‘s Legal Defense and Education Fund http://www.legalmomentum.org National Criminal Justice Reference Service: Search for Campus Sexual Assault Study 221153 http://www.ncjrs.gov UNICEF: Search for Study on Violence against Girls http://www.unicef-irc.org University of Michigan: Search for Sexism in Advertising Campaigns http://www.umich.edu U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Search for Sex-Based Discrimination http://www.eeoc.gov ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the relationship between patriarchy and gender stratification.

2. Define the concepts of sexism and racism and distinguish one from the other.

3. Discuss the relationship between gender and the major social institutions.

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4. Discuss the factors that have contributed to the increased number of women in the workforce today.

5. Explain why violence against women is a gender issue and identify the forms that it takes.

6. Contrast Talcott Parsons‘s theory of complementary roles to Friedrich Engels‘s theory on the rise of patriarchy with regard to an assessment of gender inequality.

7. Discuss liberal feminism, socialist feminism, and radical feminism.

8. Explain how sexism is built into different areas of society.

9. Explain how gender inequality is constructed as a social problem by conservatives, liberals, and radicals on the left. Discuss how these varying perspectives shape how solutions are defined.

10. Apply sociology‘s major theoretical approaches to gender and gender inequality. Provide one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach.

11. Consider your own gender socialization. Discuss the importance of your family life, your toys and games, your schools, the mass media, and your religion in shaping your own view of gender.

FILM LIST THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN (2006, 37 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This ABC News program explores sex differences and the brain circuitry behind them.

Presenting an interview with Dr. Louann Brizendine, author of the controversial book The Female Brain, the program covers such provocative topics as teen brain chemistry and development, the ways that sex is discussed in ―mixed company,‖ and the powerful hormones brought on by motherhood.

DIVIDE OF THE SEXES: GENDER ROLES IN CHILDHOOD (2008, 60 m, Insight Media) This program considers the influence of celebrity culture, consumerism, and media treatment of sexuality on the social construction of gender roles and expectations of children. It profiles such cases as a boy who grew up without gender stereotypes, a girl whose mother is the breadwinner in the family, a tomboy who has taken an interest in the opposite sex, and a young boy displaying male aggression.

FULL CIRCLE: THE IDEAL OF A SEXUALLY EGALITARIAN SOCIETY ON THE KIBBUTZ (1996, 58 m, Filmakers Library) Full Circle is a film made on a twentieth-century social experiment—the attempt to create sexual equality between women and men on the Israeli kibbutz. Through archival footage and interviews with several generations of kibbutz members, the film follows the evolution of family life and work roles from pioneering days to the present.

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GENDER (2002, 30 m, Insight Media) In this program, sociologists explain how social expectations influence the behaviors associated with gender. The program considers the difference between sex and gender, defines gender as a cultural phenomenon, and examines gender inequality and gender stratification.

GENDER SOCIALIZATION (1993, 60 m, Insight Media) This program discusses how gender socialization affects self-esteem, emotions, behavior, and worldview. It considers how social action has influenced gender socialization in the past, as well as what can be done to create future change.

GENERATION M: MISOGYNY IN MEDIA AND CULTURE (2008, 58 m, Insight Media) In this documentary, Thomas Keith looks at the social construction of misogyny and sexism in mainstream American media. The program traces the destructive dynamics of misogyny across a broad range of media phenomena, including the hypersexualization of commercial products aimed at girls, the explosion of violence in video games aimed at boys, sexism in hip hop culture, and patronizing caricatures of femininity and feminism that reverberate throughout mainstream U.S. popular culture.

HER BRILLIANT CAREER (2009, 52 m, Filmakers Library) This film examines discrimination in the workplace and politics and introduces the viewer to a controversial program for women executives. What exactly is the glass ceiling that for so long has challenged women and allowed so few to rise to power? Even though there are more opportunities for women now than a generation ago, there still is a state of mind among both men and women that can hold women back. Laura Liswood, who founded the Council of Women World Leaders, observes: ―There‘s no such thing as a ‗glass ceiling;‘ it‘s really just a thick layer of men!‖ Executive coach Jean Holland developed a unique workshop in California to help ambitious female executives get ahead. Known as the ―Bully Broad‖ program, its premise is that women must modify the appearance of aggressive behavior to make it in a man‘s world.

Although some women attack the program as antifeminist, Holland claims 85 percent of her graduates get promoted within a year.

IN MY COUNTRY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON GENDER (1993, 91 m, Insight Media) This excellent resource on cultural attitudes related to gender covers household labor, types of discipline for boys and girls, marriage decisions, society‘s view of rape, and the LGBTQ+ community.

KILLING US SOFTLY 4: ADVERTISING’S IMAGE OF WOMEN (2010, 45 m, Insight Media) Produced by Jean Kilbourne, this video reviews how—and if—images of women in advertising have changed over time. It also examines the use of images of male violence against women to sell products.

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MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RELATIONSHIPS (1997, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In this ABC News program, correspondent Barbara Walters interviews John Gray, author of the best-seller Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. In this presentation, Gray applies his theories and techniques to real-life situations in illustrating more successful, satisfying, and harmonious partnerships between men and women.

MISSING WOMEN: FEMALE-SELECTIVE ABORTION AND INFANTICIDE (2006, 54 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In India, Pakistan, and China, being born a girl can be an instant death sentence. This program— winner of the Albert Londres Prize, France‘s highest award for journalism—unflinchingly examines the cultural, economic, and political reasons for the systematic elimination of females in Asia and considers the implications of the dramatic demographic disruption that will likely occur as a result of this growing imbalance between the sexes. The use of amniocentesis and ultrasound scans to identify female fetuses for abortion is investigated, as are the practices of newborn abandonment and infanticide by a parent or a hired baby girl killer.

REEL TO REEL: BALANCING ACTS (2004, 23 m, Bullfrog Films) In 1994, 179 government leaders attending the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development signed a groundbreaking agreement aimed at improving the lives of women worldwide. Balancing Acts explores how women from very different cultures, often faced with extremes of inequality, are taking on the status quo. Individual stories look at how Afghani women refugees are returning to pick up the pieces of their lives in Kabul; the feisty female entrepreneurs of Nigeria known as ―Mama Benz‖ who, despite owning an estimated 50 percent of the country‘s small businesses, are denied recognition of their contribution to the economy; a teenager battling purdah to get an education in Pakistan; and the ―inherited widows‖ who are challenging convention in Kenya. Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN commissioner for human rights, provides an overview of the state of women‘s rights worldwide and why they are crucial to social and economic development.

THE ROLE OF GENDER (2007, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines the ways in which humans learn about gender from an early age. It shows how the construction of gender-based roles, expectations, and assumptions changes over time.

SEXISM IN LANGUAGE: THIEF OF HONOR, SHAPER OF LIES (1995, 26 m, Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California Extension) This presentation shows how gender bias infuses the English language, often with significant consequences, especially for women.

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SLUT (2005, 45 m, Insight Media) This film examines the ways in which being labeled a ―slut‖ can damage a woman‘s selfperception, tarnish her reputation, and alter her life course. It features experts and women who trace the evolution of the word and consider its power.

THE STRENGTH TO RESIST: MEDIA’S IMPACT ON WOMEN AND GIRLS (2005, 35 m, Cambridge Documentary Films, Inc.) This film documents the fight against the toxic and degrading messages to girls and women that dominate the media. It features the ideas of Gloria Steinem, Carol Gilligan, Gail Dines, Amy Richards, Valerie Batts, and Catherine Steiner-Adair.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS (2009, 26 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Despite the progress of the international women‘s movement in exposing and correcting human rights abuses against females, in many countries women are still fighting to attain the most basic civil liberties. This program contextualizes that struggle by comparing women‘s rights in the United States with the status of women in China, Afghanistan, and Kenya. Hopeful signs such as rising levels of education for girls, female representation in government, and business opportunities for women are contrasted with the continuing practice of age-old antithetical abuses that have yet to be eliminated—nonconsensual marriage and severe domestic violence, to name two—and the demoralizing effect of seeing hard-won rights overturned. Students will gain an understanding of how a society‘s cultural values, religious beliefs, and political views help to construct social problems and define solutions.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Gender Can you recall how old you were when you became aware of gender? Describe ways in which gender shaped your life as you were growing up. To what extent did you conform to conventional gender norms?

Sample answer: Responses should identify when the student became aware of gender and include a discussion of how the concept has shaped their childhood such as the types of games and toys they played with, the sports they participated in (if any), the chores they were responsible for, the clothing they wore, and their schooling.

2. Personalizing Feminism Do you or do you not consider yourself to be a feminist? Why? If you consider yourself a feminist, with which type of feminism described in this chapter do you identify?

Sample answer: Responses should identify whether the student considers themselves to be an individual who advocates for the social equality of women and men (e.g., do they oppose legal restrictions on abortion and oppose the status quo in which society gives men both power and privilege?) and if so, which type of feminism aligns the best with their beliefs (i.e., liberal feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism, cultural feminism, multicultural feminism, or global feminism).

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3. Where Do You Stand?

Do you think men‘s and women‘s athletics are given equal importance? Should they have equal importance, including equal finding? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay.

Then write several paragraphs in which you explain the degree to which you think that women‘s athletics and men‘s athletics are equal. Do you consider the pattern you see to be a problem?

Why or why not?

Sample answer: Responses should discuss how men have held a dominant position in athletics and professional sports, and that despite the efforts to eliminate gender inequality in college athletics, gender equality in this area still hasn‘t been achieved.

People on the left are more likely to support equal funding and making athletic opportunities equal for men and women, whereas people on the right are likely to support allowing the market to decide which sports receive the most attention.

4. Global Map 4–1 Women‘s Social Standing in Global Perspective To help answer this question, look at the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development for countries around the world. Compare the patterns on the two maps. Do women enjoy higher social standing and more equality in high-income or low-income countries?

Sample answer: Looking at the map on the left, you can see that the social standing of women relative to men is high or above average across most of the countries in the Northern Hemisphere. Canada and the nations of Western Europe are ranked as ―high‖ in terms of women‘s social standing; the United States, the nations of Eastern Europe, Russia, and China are all ―above average.‖ Looking at the map on the right, you see that these regions of the world fall into the category ―high-income.‖ By contrast, in most countries in Africa and in most nations in South Asia, women‘s social standing is ―below average‖ or ―low.‖ The answer to the journal question, then: Women enjoy more equality in high- income countries. Why? High-income nations generally have lower fertility rates, which frees women to pursue education and also to work for income.

At the same time, some high-income countries have greater gender equality than others. If you roll your cursor over Sweden and Denmark, you will see that they have the lowest Gender Inequality Index values (a lower number means less inequality). This pattern reflects deliberate policies enacted in these countries to promote gender equality.

The United States has more gender inequality than Sweden or Denmark, although the U.S. index value is still considerably below that found in most middle- and low-income nations. Finally, the two factors—economic development and gender equality—support each other. Greater affluence encourages gender equality; greater opportunity for women, in turn, further promotes material affluence.

5. Global Map 4–2 Female Genital Mutilation on Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to decide if the practice of female genital mutilation is linked to a country‘s level of economic development. Look at the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development for countries around the world. Compare the two maps. Does the practice of female genital mutilation appear to be rooted in low-income or high-income countries?

Sample answer: The practice of female genital mutilation is widespread in many nations across north central Africa, and it is also found in some Middle Eastern and South Asian countries. Looking at the map on the right, you can see that, by and large, these are low-

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or middle-income nations where women‘s social standing is relatively low. The practice of female genital mutilation is documented in some high-income nations too, including the United States, Canada, some countries in Western Europe, and Australia. However, the practice is limited to communities of people who have emigrated from places where it is more common.

6. National Map 4–1 Women in State Government across the United States Your journal assignment is to study this map and also the map on the right, which shows which political party carried each state in the last presidential election. Do women have greater political power in ―blue‖ states that voted Democratic or ―red‖ states that voted Republican?

Sample answer: The map on the left identifies twelve states with a ―high‖ share of women as state legislators. In the 2020 presidential election, all of these 12 states voted Democratic, making them ―blue‖ states. None of them voted Republican.

The map on the left also shows seven states with a ―low‖ share of women in the state legislature. All seven of these states voted Republican in the 2020 presidential election. We can conclude that women have a larger share of political power in ―blue‖ states compared to ―red‖ states. Historically, the Democratic Party has given greater support to the goal of gender equality than the Republican Party.

7. National Map 4–3 Access to Legal Abortion across the United States Your journal assignment is to write a paragraph that explains how these two variables are related.

What pattern linking abortion access and political party do you find?

Sample answer: Of the fourteen states with the most restrictive laws regarding access to abortion, twelve voted for the Republican candidate in the 2020 presidential election. Of the fifteen states that are protective of access to legal abortion, all fifteen supported the Democratic candidate (Maine split its support). In the case of abortion, politics clearly underlies policy. The twenty-one states in the middle category are, as you would expect, split between support for the Republican candidate (twelve) and the Democratic candidate (nine).

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CHAPTER 5 SEXUALITY AND INEQUALITY IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: The ―Defining Solutions‖ Photo Essay John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE In this new edition, the chapter-opening story highlights sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement. There are also new discussions on the LGBTQ+ community, transgender athletics, and abortion. This revision also includes pansexuality as the fifth sexual orientation. Updates include the latest data on the extent of homosexuality, violence directed against LGBTQ+ people, the extent of same-sex marriage, patterns of arrest for prostitution, the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and new national and global data on HIV and AIDS. There are fifty-eight new research references in the revised chapter.

AUTHOR’S NOTE You don‘t have to hire a sociologist to figure out that students are interested in the topic of sex.

But most students will begin this chapter thinking of sex in fairly fixed, biological terms. Of course, sexuality does involve biological processes but, as this chapter explains, sex is an important and dynamic element of culture and social organization. Here are a few parts of the chapter that highlight the socially constructed and changing character of human sexuality: • • • • • • •

Biological versus cultural analysis of sexuality is discussed.

Sexual attitudes and practices have changed over time.

Sexual attitudes and practices are evolving especially quickly among older people.

Attitudes about sexual orientation are changing rapidly.

Cross-national research shows substantial variability in some dimensions of sexuality identity and behavior.

A visible transgender movement has emerged in the United States.

Different ways in which Sweden and the United States deal with prostitution are discussed.

In sum, sexuality is a dimension of social life and problems related to sexuality can be addressed through changes in social policy.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

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I. What Is Sex? 5.1 Explain why sex is both a biological and a cultural issue.

• Sex: A Biological Issue o Sex is the biological distinction between females and males. o The term sex also refers to activity that leads to sexual gratification and, possibly, reproduction. o Sex is not always a simple matter of being female or male.

• Transgender o Gender identity is a person‘s deeply held sense of their gender. o Transgender refers to having a gender identity that differs from a person‘s biological sex at birth. It may involve a person‘s gender expression and is not the same as sexual orientation. o Cisgender refers to a gender identity that reflects the sex assignment a person had at birth. o Seeing Ourselves National Map 5–1 Transgender Acceptance across the United States o A dimension of the transgender movement involves language. The traditional plural ―they‖ is now widely used as a non-gender-specific, singular pronoun. o Figure 5–1 Being Trans: How Do You Think of Yourself?

• The LGBTQ+ Community o The umbrella concept LGBTQ+ community refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning population. The plus sign represents any other gender identities that people may have. o The size of the LGBTQ+ community is estimated between 4 and 8 percent of the U.S. population.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 5–2 Share of Population Self-Identifying as LGBT across the United States o Despite growing acceptance, gender-diverse people remain targets of prejudice and discrimination, including physical violence.

• Sex: A Cultural Issue o These norms involve age (some societies accept sexual activity on the part of children, although others define such behavior as a serious problem), marital status (some societies rigidly restrict sexual activity to married partners, but others are quite permissive), and sex of partner (societies differ dramatically in their attitudes toward sexuality involving people of the same sex).

II. Sexual Attitudes in the United States 5.2 Discuss changes in sexual attitudes and practices over the history of the United States.

• New England Puritans believed that without strict rules to control people‘s behavior the everpresent temptation of sex would lead to unwanted pregnancy, sex outside of marriage, and prostitution.

• Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Alfred Kinsey: Talking Openly about Sex • The Sexual Revolution o Technology played a part, as 1960, saw the introduction of the birth control pill. o Figure 5–2 Diversity Snapshot: The Sexual Revolution: Moving Away from the Double Standard

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•

•

o The Sexual Revolution and Feminism ▪ The gender gap in sexual activity became smaller among people who came of age during the sexual revolution. This trend suggests that greater sexual freedom also meant moving away from the traditional double standard by which men claimed some sexual freedom but women were expected to delay sex until they were married and, after that, forever to remain sexually faithful to their husbands.

▪ The sexual revolution advanced the claim that only one person has the right to control a woman‘s body—the woman herself.

The Sexual Counterrevolution o The conservative reaction to the sexual revolution did not turn back the clock; it only slowed the trend toward sexual freedom. In the decades since the 1960s, most adults continue to agree with the liberal idea that people should decide matters of sexual behavior for themselves.

The Continuing Sexual Revolution: Older People o With or without drugs, researchers confirm, most older people remain sexually active well into old age.

III. Sexual Orientation 5.3 Describe five sexual orientations.

• Sexual orientation refers to a person‘s romantic and emotional attraction to another person.

• Heterosexuality (hetero is Greek, meaning ―other‖) is sexual attraction to someone of the other sex.

• Homosexuality (homo is Greek for ―same‖) is sexual attraction to someone of the same sex.

• Bisexuality is sexual attraction to people of both sexes.

• Pansexuality refers to a fluid pattern of sexual attraction that may include females and males and also people of any sexual identity.

• Asexuality is the absence of sexual attraction to people regardless of sex or sexual identity.

• Homosexuality o Because heterosexuality is the cultural norm, homosexual people—gay men and lesbians—are often pushed to the margins of society. Some people may even view homosexuality as a social problem because it conflicts with their moral standards. o Today, all states and the federal government have enacted laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. But there are limits to acceptance. o How Common Are Various Sexual Orientations ▪ Laumann (1994) concluded that 2.8 percent of men and 1.4 percent of women (about 6 million people) defined themselves as homosexual or bisexual.

▪ Recent government data indicate that 1.9 percent of men and 2.7 percent of women defined themselves as homosexual.

• Figure 5–3 Diversity Snapshot: Measuring Sexual Orientation • What Determines Sexual Orientation? o Cultural Factors ▪ Michel Foucault (1990) notes that societies did not identify homosexuals as a specific category of the population until the late nineteenth century. This is not to say that people in earlier times did not have same-sex experiences; societies simply took little note of it.

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▪ ▪

•

•

•

Sexual behavior varies from culture to culture.

Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: A Third Gender-Identity: The Muxes of Mexico o Biological Factors ▪ On the individual level, most evidence points to the conclusion that sexual orientation is rooted in human biology.

▪ Neurobiologist Simon LeVay (1993) claims that the key to sexual orientation is found in the brain. Others have advanced an epigenetic theory of sexual orientation with the latest research having advanced our knowledge of the roots of sexual orientation by overcoming the limitations of earlier studies.

▪ Homosexuality and heterosexuality are natural patterns that can be predicted partly, but not solely, on the basis of genetic patterns. Biology and environmental patterns are all important and part of the causal process.

Sexuality, Inequality, and Public Policy o Public attitudes about sexual orientation have changed dramatically over the last half century. o In 1973, homosexuality was no longer considered to be either psychopathology or deviation, but simply a normal variation in sexual orientation.

The Gay Rights Movement o Within a few years of the Stonewall Riot, the gay rights movement began using the term homophobia to describe an aversion to or hostility toward people thought to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This concept reinforced the idea that the problem was not homosexuality but people who were intolerant of that sexual orientation. o The success of the gay rights movement is evident in the increasingly widespread condemnation of homophobia as a social problem today. o Figure 5–4 U.S. Attitudes toward Same-Sex Relations, 1973-2021.

Same-Sex Marriage o In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of Obergefell v.

Hodges that same-sex couples have the right to marry everywhere in the United States. o Around the world thirty-four countries legally recognize same-sex marriage. Another fourteen nations recognize same-sex partnerships or civil unions that extend to gays and lesbians many legal rights. Globally, same-sex couples have legal recognition in just 24 percent of the world‘s countries.

IV. Sexuality, Inequality, and Controversy 5.4 Discuss several current issues and controversies involving sexuality.

• Transgender Athletics o Critics claim that people who go through puberty as males gain advantages in terms of height, hand and foot size, strength, lung capacity, and muscle mass. o Sports organizations are trying to find a policy that is fair to everyone. o Some state legislatures have weighed in on the controversy, enacting laws that ban transgender young people from participating in sports.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 5–3 Legislating Regarding Transgender Women and Women‘s Sports across the United States.

• Pornography

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o Pornography refers to words or images intended to cause sexual arousal. o Laws regulate certain types of pornography, including the depiction of sexual violence and sexual acts with children. o What Are the Effects of Viewing Pornography?

▪ A large majority of men and slight majority of women in the U.S. are regular consumers of pornography.

▪ Heavy viewing of pornography can distort sexual development so that an individual may have difficulty responding to a real-life partner.

▪ Another concern is that viewing pornography carries some risk of addiction. o Pornography and Violence ▪ Reagan‘s commission (1986) concluded that exposure to pornography causes sexual arousal, increases people‘s sexual activity, and encourages men to be aggressive and more accepting of violent acts such as rape.

▪ Some liberal critics have challenged some of the conclusions, with some researchers countering that the evidence does not support a causal connection between pornography and rape. o Is Pornography a Social Problem?

▪ Almost everywhere, police enforce federal and state laws against creating, selling, or possessing child pornography. There is also widespread concern about the effects of pornography on adults. o Conservatives: The Moral Issue ▪ Conservatives view sex as a moral issue, emphasizing the importance of personal responsibility and public decency. o Liberals: Issues of Freedom and Power ▪ Liberals defend freedom of expression and support people‘s right to privacy.

▪ Feminist liberals object to pornography as demeaning to women. They see pornography as a power issue, noting that sexually explicit material typically depicts women as the playthings of men.

Sexual Harassment o Sexual harassment involves unwanted comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature. o Quid pro quo (Latin, meaning ―one thing for another‖) harassment occurs when a person directs sexual advances or requests for sexual favors to an employee or other subordinate as a condition of employment or advancement. o The second type of harassment is more subtle behavior—including telling sexual jokes, displaying nude photos, engaging in unnecessary touching, or offering compliments on someone‘s good looks—that the offender may not intend to be harassing. o Any behavior can be considered to be harassment, regardless of the actor‘s intent, if the behavior has the effect of creating a hostile environment. o Who Harasses Whom? A Court Case ▪ The Oncale case shows us that in some circumstances, men sexually harass other men who do not display what harassers think of as typical

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• •

• •

masculine behavior. In this situation, sexual harassment was a form of control used by men to force others to conform to gender stereotypes. o Must Harassment Harm Victims? Other Court Cases ▪ The Supreme Court ruled that employees can be victims of harassment even if they were not obviously harmed by, say, losing out on a promotion.

Social Problems in Global Perspective: Prostitutes and Johns in Sweden: Who Is Breaking the Law? Prostitution o Prostitution, the selling of sexual services, may be ―the world‘s oldest profession,‖ and it has always been controversial. o Prostitutes: A Profile ▪ Prostitutes are a diverse category, with better or worse working conditions, depending on their degree of physical attractiveness, age, and social class position.

▪ About 10 percent of sex workers in the United States are men, and most sell sex to other men. They, too, are a diverse category. o Arrests for Prostitution ▪ Although prostitution is against the law almost everywhere in the United States, law enforcement is selective. o Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking ▪ Around the world, hundreds of thousands of children (most of them boys) live on the streets, and many sell sex to survive. Some of these children work to provide income for their families; others were orphaned by disease, war, or other violence.

▪ Sex trafficking refers to commercial sex that is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not reached the age of eighteen years, which includes recruiting, harboring, or transporting people for the purpose of involuntary sex.

Social Problems in Global Perspective: Children and Sex Tourism Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood o The number of teenagers who become pregnant has been declining over the past decade. One major reason for the decline is that teenagers have been less sexually active. A second reason is increased used of contraceptives among sexually active teens. o Figure 5–5 Global Snapshot: Births to Teenage Women. o Seeing Ourselves National Map 5–4 Teenage Pregnancy Rates across the United States. o The Costs of Teenage Pregnancy ▪ For men and women who are young and poor, parenthood can bring a level of responsibility and economic pressure that they simply cannot handle. Many look to government for help, and the cost of income assistance, medical care, and other support for pregnant teenagers in the United States is about $11 billion each year. o Sex Education: A Solution?

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▪ •

•

Sex education programs teach young people how their bodies grow and change, present the biology of reproduction, and explain how to avoid pregnancy by using birth control or abstaining from sex.

Abortion o Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. o Abortion: A Look Back ▪ Abortion goes far back in history. Early-term abortion was carried out, legally, everywhere from the colonial era until the mid-nineteenth century.

In 1847, this changed when the American Medical Association (AMA) pressed to outlaw the procedure. By the 1960s, all across the U.S., a social movement was under way to reform or repeal laws banning abortion. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in Roe v.

Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which struck down all state abortion laws. o Decades of Decreasing Access ▪ In the years following the 1973 Supreme Court decision, various laws and court decisions gradually reduced women‘s access to abortion. By 2023, forty-three states had enacted laws that banned abortion after a specified point in a women‘s pregnancy. o The 2022 Supreme Court Decision ▪ In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that stated that the U.S. Constitution does not recognize a right to abortion. The ruling overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. o Public Opinion ▪ Attitudes about abortion depend on why the procedure takes place.

• Table 5–1 U.S. Attitudes toward Abortion Sexually Transmitted Infections o Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are infections spread by sexual contact. o Gonorrhea and Syphilis ▪ Untreated, gonorrhea can cause sterility; syphilis can result in blindness, mental disorders, and even death. o Genital Herpes ▪ Genital herpes (herpes simplex virus, type 2) is a virus that infects at least 25 million people, or about one in eight (12 percent) of people in the United States between the ages of fourteen and forty-nine. o AIDS ▪ AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which destroys the body‘s immune system. AIDS itself does not kill; it makes a person unable to fight off a wide range of other diseases that eventually cause death. o Extent of the AIDS Problem in the United States ▪ Government officials recorded 13,875 deaths due to HIV/AIDS in the United States in 2020.

▪ Both Black and Hispanic Americans are at relatively high risk of HIV infection. This is especially true for women. o Extent of the AIDS Problem in the World

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▪

Around the world, HIV infects some 38.4 million people, 2 million of whom are under the age of fifteen. The number of infections is no longer rapidly increasing.

▪ Countries with the highest rates of HIV infections are in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 60 percent of the world‘s cases.

▪ Window on the World Global Map 5–1 HIV Infections in Global Perspective o How HIV Progresses and Is Transmitted ▪ HIV is transmitted from person to person in only a few, specific ways: through blood, semen, or breast milk. It is not transmitted through casual contact such as shaking hands, hugging, sharing towels or dishes, swimming together, or even coughing or sneezing.

▪ Specific behaviors put people at high risk for HIV infection: anal sex, sharing needles, and using any drug.

▪ Figure 5–6 Types of Transmission for all Reported U.S. AIDS Cases, 2020 o Combating AIDS ▪ In recent years, new drug therapies have extended the lives of people with HIV. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) improves the health of people with HIV and can also prevent those people from further transmitting the virus.

V. Theories of Sexuality 5.5 Apply sociological theory to issues involving sexuality.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Controlling Sexuality o The most basic function of sexuality is human reproduction, a process vital to the survival of our species. o Incest and Legitimacy ▪ Incest taboo is the norm found in every society that forbids sex and reproduction between certain close family members.

▪ Traditional norm that defines as legitimate children born to married couples is a societal strategy to ensure that children are cared for within established families with legal ties, including rights of inheritance, to their biological parents. o The Functions of Prostitution ▪ Prostitution is one way to meet the sexual needs of those members of a society who do not have ready access to sex, including soldiers, travelers, and others who are for whatever reason unable to attract a partner.

• Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Defining Sexuality o Symbolic-interaction theory highlights the fact that members of a society socially construct sexuality just as they create all other aspects of reality. o The Meaning of Virginity ▪ A good example of the changing meanings attached to sexuality is the idea of virginity, that is, the state of never having had sexual intercourse.

Through most of this nation‘s history, strong cultural norms demanded that people—or more precisely, women—remain virgins until marriage. o Learning Sexual Roles: The Case of Topless Dancers

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In a study of forty topless dancers in a southwestern city, researchers found that women came to this kind of work gradually, step by step, just as people enter any other career.

▪ Almost all the women working as topless dancers learned to see their work as useful, pointing out that they provided entertainment that harmed no one and for which they were well compensated. o Redefining Sexuality: The Transgender Movement ▪ Mounting evidence shows that sexual identity is not a simple matter of the two rigid concepts of male and female. It is far more complex and also reflects the choice of the individual.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Feminist Theory and Queer Theory o Social-conflict theory highlights social inequality. Following this approach, feminist theory explains that sexuality involves inequality between women and men. Similarly, queer theory highlights inequality between homosexuals and heterosexuals. o Feminist Theory: Women as Sexual Objects ▪ Feminist theory points out that sexuality plays a part in men‘s domination of women. Pornography, prostitution, and even topless dancing degrade women, casting them in the role of sexual objects that exist primarily for men‘s pleasure. o Queer Theory ▪ Queer theory is a body of theory and research that challenges the heterosexual bias in U.S. society.

▪ Heterosexism is bias that treats heterosexuality as the norm while stigmatizing anyone who violates this norm as ―queer.‖

VI. Politics and Sexuality: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 5.6 Analyze issues involving sexuality from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives and the Far Right: The Value of Traditional Morality o The basic principle that defines the conservative view of sexuality is that people should be guided not by selfish desires but by established moral principles of right and wrong. o Overall, the conservative answer to social problems involving sexuality is to have strong social institutions, including churches, schools, and especially families.

• Liberals: Sex and Individual Choice o Liberals emphasize individual choice. As liberals see it, all people should be free to choose how they express their sexuality. This makes the liberal attitude toward sexuality one of tolerance. o Believing that individuals should be responsible for their own behavior, liberals support making abortion available to all and leaving the decision about abortion to the woman herself. Most liberals support government funding for abortions so that all pregnant women, regardless of their ability to pay, have choices.

• The Radical-Left: Go to the Root of the Problem o Radicals in the Marxist tradition claim that a remaking of basic social institutions following socialist principles is the path to ending hierarchy based on class.

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•

•

Replacing the current family structure with collective arrangements for living and raising children promises to eliminate hierarchy based on sex. o Some radical feminists seek the elimination of gender itself. o Queer theory claims that nothing less than challenging the roots of our way of life can produce an egalitarian society in which all people are equal participants in social life.

Going On from Here o The trend toward greater tolerance of all matters involving sexuality seems sure to continue. The legalization of same-sex marriage unfolded far more quickly than almost anyone imagined. Public acceptance of homosexuality is now greater than ever, and the transgender movement is building on that success. o Over time efforts to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic have expanded and had positive results, which is reflected in declining mortality due to AIDS. Defining Solutions: Is It OK for Young People to Be Sexually Active?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 5.1 Explain why sex is both a biological and a cultural issue.

5.2 Discuss changes in sexual attitudes and practices over the history of the United States.

5.3 Describe five sexual orientations.

5.4 Discuss several current issues and controversies involving sexuality.

5.5 Apply sociological theory to issues involving sexuality.

5.6 Analyze issues involving sexuality from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 5, students should be able to: Explain both the biological and cultural dimensions of sexuality.

Discuss the history of sexual attitudes in the United States.

Describe how culture, political values, and technology shaped the sexual revolution, the counterrevolution, and the more recent sexual revolution among the elderly.

Discuss the findings of the Kinsey research study on sexuality and explain how the findings influenced conversations about sexuality.

Discuss sexual orientation as an attraction and distinguish between heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, and asexuality.

Discuss the extent of homosexuality in the United States.

Explain the cultural and biological factors that shape sexual orientation.

Discuss the varying ways our society has understood homosexuality over time.

Discuss recent changes in laws allowing for same-sex marriage.

Explain the differing views of same-sex marriage linked to the political spectrum.

Discuss the definition of pornography and link understanding of this issue to the political spectrum.

Discuss the emergence of the social problem of sexual harassment.

Discuss social patterns involving prostitution, identifying types of prostitutes and patterns of arrests for prostitution. How does Sweden deal with prostitution differently from the United States?

Describe the social pattern of sexual tourism. What factors contribute to the prevalence of this activity?

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Discuss the changes in the rate of teenage pregnancy over time in the United States. What are some of the factors that place young women at risk of unwanted pregnancy?

How do liberals and conservatives hold different understandings of sex education for teens?

Discuss the history of abortion in the United States. Why is abortion such a controversial issue? Briefly explain the two sides of this debate.

Identify the most common sexually transmitted infections. What are the factors that place people at high risk for HIV/AIDS? Apply sociology‘s three major theoretical approaches to the issue of sexuality. What is the basic insight provided by each approach? What is one criticism of each approach?

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of social problems related to sexuality as well as solutions to the problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: THE ―DEFINING SOLUTIONS‖ PHOTO ESSAY If you have not done so already, now is a good time to focus class attention on the photo essay at the end of each chapter. This essay begins with a general statement pointing out that many social problems are linked to sexuality. Notice, however, that the way the problem is defined by liberals typically differs from the way it is defined by conservatives.

What is especially interesting is that one person‘s ―problem‖ may turn out to be another‘s ―solution.‖ In this case, for example, liberals support widely available contraception as a means to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Therefore, the condom giveaway program carried out by Condom Nation is a ―solution.‖ From a conservative point of view, many social problems related to sexuality are viewed as resulting from a highly permissive sexual environment, making the Condom Nation effort itself a problem.

On the other hand, we can understand how conservatives would see abstinence programs as a favored ―solution.‖ But, liberals ask, are such programs a realistic response to the high level of sexual activity among today‘s young people?

By looking closely at this photo essay, students gain a more complex sense of the range of solutions available to social problems, how political attitudes guide the selection of solutions, and why reasonable people so often disagree about how to define the problem as well as how to address it.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION In 2013, a Jamaican teen named Dwayne Jones attended a street party. Nothing so unusual in that. But Dwayne was a transgender teen and went to the party wearing women‘s clothing.

Before long, many people reacted to Jones‘s unconventional expression of gender identity.

Eventually, several threatened, chased down, beat, and stabbed Jones. Dwayne Jones died soon after.

This tragic ending to Jones‘s life was just the final act of intolerance to a young person who had been bullied out of school, forced from their home, and pushed out of their neighborhood. It is a disturbing but all too common case that shows the intensity of intolerance toward people who violate gender identity norms. In fact, one wonders if breaking norms involving gender identity and/or sexuality is widely defined as more serious than, say, violating conventional norms about the use of violence.

Use a search engine (looking for ―Jamaican transgender teen‖) to find short videos that tell the story of Dwayne Jones and the people who ended Jones‘s life.

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RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short, PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 5, there are two PowerPoint presentations. The first is called ―Restrooms: The Pursuit of Social Justice.‖ This presentation not only focuses on the current controversy over transgender access to restrooms of choice, but it also shows how restrooms have long been at the center of efforts to gain greater social justice. The second presentation is ―Dating in the Digital Age.‖ This presentation identifies some new patterns of dating in the age of social media and also the persistence of some old and disturbing patterns.

These PowerPoints can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: A Closer Look at Teenage Pregnancy.

Is teenage pregnancy a problem?

• The United States has a higher rate of teen pregnancy and births than other highincome nations.

• More than four out of ten young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of twenty and about 80 percent of these pregnancies are unintended and 80 percent are to unmarried teens.

• The rate of teenage pregnancy has actually declined since 1950. At the same time, a larger share of today‘s teens who become pregnant are unmarried, a change that reflects the both the rising age of marriage in the United States and the declining likelihood of parents pushing a pregnant teen into a ―shotgun‖ marriage, which was more common when abortion was not a legal option in most of the United States.

Who suffers the consequences?

• Having an unplanned child greatly reduces a young woman‘s opportunity to earn a high school diploma.

• Having an unplanned child greatly increases a young woman‘s odds of needing public assistance.

• The children of teen mothers are also at risk, with lower birth weights and higher odds of having problems at school as well as having higher risk of experiencing abuse or neglect at home.

• The sons of teen mothers have higher odds of eventually having trouble with the law and being sent to prison; daughters of teen mothers have higher risk of eventually becoming teen mothers themselves.

• Both single mothers and their children are at higher risk of living in poverty.

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What factors are related to lower risk of teen pregnancy?

• Being born to a father and mother who are married and live together.

• Having a positive and strong relationship to parents.

• Living in a family with a religious affiliation.

• Having information about the risks associated with sexuality that encourages making healthy choices.

Discussion Questions a. When asked for their assessment of why teenage girls become pregnant, most teens point to a lack of communication between a girl and her parents. Is it possible for public policy to improve adolescent-parent lines of communication? b. Today, there are no longer the clear moral guidelines for sexual activity among young people that were in place more than fifty years ago. Is this a change for the better or does it make life more challenging? What do you think?

2. Supplemental Lecture: Child Prostitution in Thailand.

In recent decades, Thailand has become a popular destination for sex tourists. Pedophilic businessmen from Europe, Australia, Japan, United States, and Taiwan know they can travel there to visit the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 boys and girls in the sex industry, who represent as many as one-half of the people working as prostitutes in the nation. The United Nations estimates that as many as one million children throughout Asia are sex workers, generally in ―conditions that are indistinguishable from slavery.‖ The market in children is certainly not limited to foreigners in Thailand, however. The nation has numerous brothels, even in small villages to the north that are far away from tourist centers.

The widespread use of prostitutes by Thai men has given the country one of the highest AIDS/HIV infection rates in the world, with at least 1 percent of the population now infected.

Although the government requires the use of condoms in brothels, the law is infrequently applied. In fact, children are often preferred as partners because many clients of the sex industry believe that children are less likely to have AIDS/HIV. Studies suggest that the highest infection rate in Thailand is among prostitutes under sixteen.

International organized crime syndicates sponsor much of the sex industry in Asia. Local government enforcement of the few regulations surrounding the massage parlors and brothels are often subverted or ignored. While many girls within Asia are knowingly sold by their parents or other family members to traveling agents, others are misled into believing that their children are going to another city to work in manufacturing or as a domestic.

Perhaps most disturbing is the abduction of children. Reliable studies suggest that some gangs kidnap girls (and boys, though less frequently) for use as sex slaves, chaining them in revolting conditions. Kidnappers work in countries such as the Philippines, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, China, and Vietnam, and the most powerful groups have been known to transport victims—including Americans—across the Pacific to Asia, Hawaii, and Canada.

Unfortunately, child prostitution is proving difficult to control, much less eradicate. Its international market and distribution channels require multinational responses, but many of the countries involved are embarrassed by the problem and minimize or ignore it. Corruption of government officials hampers enforcement and coordination as well, particularly at lower governmental levels.

Efforts, however, are being made. In Denmark, for example, every tourist traveling to a country with an active child-sex industry receives a folder, explaining the dangers of sex with

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children, including a high risk of contracting AIDS. Most Danish travel agencies no longer sell tours to places where child sex is widespread. In addition, several countries have cracked down on people who commit sex crimes with children in foreign countries. Sweden was the first country to jail a national convicted of such charges. Other European nations have enacted laws to allow the prosecution of nationals for offenses committed overseas.

The tragic effects of this industry are borne mostly by the children themselves. These children have suffered severe psychological and physical damage that will last well into adulthood. Many are infected with HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Clearly, the international response needs to encompass the medical community, psychologists, legal teams, and social services.

Discussion Questions a. Do you think there are links between sex tourism and global stratification? Explain. b. How would modernization theory approach a problem such as the sex tourism industry?

What about dependency theory?

3. Nancy J. Davis has contributed some very helpful suggestions to instructors who teach about sexuality. Davis‘s article ―Taking Sex Seriously: Challenges in Teaching about Sexuality‖ appears in the January 2005 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 33: 16–31). In her presentation, she focuses on seven distinct challenges: a. Choosing readings from a sexuality literature that is ever expanding. b. Negotiating student expectations that the course will focus on the sexual behavior of individuals, when much of it is on sexual ideologies and sexual regimes. c. Allowing multiple voices to be heard in class. d. Creating a safe classroom climate that allows personal disclosures about sexuality. e. Navigating the emotional intensity of discussing sexual violence and other controversial and sensitive issues. f. Balancing student interest in the local with attention to the historical, comparative, and global. g. Underscoring the potential for change in sexual scripts, sexual violence, and sexual regimes.

4. Campuses across the United States are wrestling with the problem of sexual assault. A wellresearched and informative review of this issue is found in an article by Eliza Gray, titled ―Rape: The Crisis in Higher Education.‖ Find this article in Time, Vol. 183, No. 20 (May 26, 2014): 20–27.

5. You can help your students appreciate the complex and frequently contradictory attitudes toward sexuality by calling their attention to the sheer number of ―jokes‖ involving sexual topics. Indeed, it is instructive to examine how humor is a reflection of those things that we find confusing, frightening, or offensive.

6. Invite a representative of an AIDS support group in your community to discuss AIDS, both in terms of the problem and fears it creates and in terms of any perceived backlash or hostility against the gay community because of it. Because few of your students are likely to have

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exposure to the organized gay community, they can benefit from hearing their viewpoint in an informal setting.

7. To encourage students to consider their own sexuality and to recognize the normative and cultural foundations of human sexuality, have them respond to the following realities: First, prostitution can be very lucrative for some, in many cases earning more than the average college graduate. Given this, why will very few if any female students in the class become prostitutes?

Second, most college students are unmarried and in their ―biological prime,‖ yet most do not engage in sex on a regular basis. Why? In responding to these questions, ask the students to assess their answers from the sociological perspective on deviant behavior.

8. There are different categories of participants in prostitution: the prostitute, the madam, the pimp, and the customer (or ―john‖). Occasionally, as in the well-publicized case of actor Hugh Grant, the customer is involved in an arrest situation, but most of the time, it is the prostitute who is the object of criminal prosecution. Streetwalker-type prostitutes are most likely to be arrested, while ―outcall‖ practitioners enjoy greater freedom from the legal system.

Occasionally, ―madams‖ like Heidi Fleiss are prosecuted. Through it all, the customer is the least likely to suffer repercussions. Your students will probably be aware that well-known actor and ―hunk‖ Charlie Sheen admitted to spending more than $50,000 on Heidi Fleiss prostitutes.

Ask them why this information does not appear to have harmed Mr. Sheen‘s career in any way (or Mr. Grant‘s for that matter, and he was involved with a street prostitute). Indeed, the design of this discussion is to reveal some of the hypocrisy that surrounds our attitudes toward prostitution. We simultaneously loathe the notion of sex for money, but there is a constant demand for the prostitute‘s services, both at the level of the streetwalker and the expensive outcall practitioner.

9. What would be the consequences for society if we could effectively halt the practice of prostitution? Should we do this if we could? Could prostitution ever be organized so that it did not result in the exploitation of women? How do the Swedes view prostitution differently from officials here in the United States?

10. Ask your students to discuss whether they think some types of prostitution are more acceptable than others and to explain their reasoning. For example, is the ―high-status‖ work of a call girl more acceptable than the low-status work of a streetwalker? Why? Is female prostitution more or less acceptable than its male counterpart? Do prostitutes have rights? Could a prostitutes‘ union ever be regarded as legitimate? Why or why not? In discussing these questions, students are asked to look at the social basis for the problem rather than with their personal perceptions.

11. Present magazine ads and televisions commercials that advertise drugs for erectile dysfunction to your class. Discuss the images of the older people that are presented and engage the students in a discussion of how such ads are involved in constructing the sexuality of older adults. Do students agree that the ongoing sexual revolution involves older people?

12. Engage your students in a discussion of the sexual culture on campus. Take a survey of general ideas about virginity, sexual orientation, premarital sex, pregnancy, abortion,

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pornography, prostitution, unprotected sex, and sexually transmitted infections. Discuss how social factors (music, movies, television, fraternities, sororities, parties, professors, peers, religion, and law) help to shape the sexual culture on campus.

WEB LINKS AIDS.org http://www.aids.org American Psychological Association: Search for Sexuality http://www.apa.org Avert.org: Search for Sex Education http://www.avert.org Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Search for Sexually Transmitted Diseases http://www.cdc.gov COYOTE: The Sex Workers Rights Organization http://www.bayswan.org/coyote.html Family Research Council http://www.frc.org Guttmacher Institute: Search for Teen Pregnancy Behavioral Risk http://www.guttmacher.org Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey NCJRS: Search for Child Pornography: Patterns from NIBRS http://www.ncjrs.gov NCJRS: Search for Sex Trafficking: Identifying Cases and Victims; Moossy http://www.ncjrs.gov Nolo: Search for Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace http://www.nolo.com NOW and Lesbian Rights http://www.now.org Oregon Department of Human Services: Search for Youth Sexual Health Plan http://www.oregon.gov PBS: Search for Frontline: The Last Abortion Clinic http://www.pbs.org Take Back the Night http://www.takebackthenight.org U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Search for Sexual Harassment Charges http://www.eeoc.gov ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Describe the movement called the sexual revolution that took place in the United States during the 1960s. How did the sexual counterrevolution of the 1970s and 1980s differ?

2. Discuss why sexual orientation is so difficult to define.

3. How does politics shape how people understand pornography as a social issue? Explain how people can agree about pornography being a social problem but for different reasons.

4. Do you support the Swedish approach to dealing with prostitution? Is this approach better than that found in the United States? Why or why not?

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5. Discuss the abortion controversy in the United States from 1973 to the present.

6. What insights are gained by applying structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict approaches to sexuality? What is one limitation of each approach?

7. Describe how culture, political values, and technology are shaping the sexual revolution among older adults.

8. How does one‘s position on the political spectrum shape the construction of sexual problems as well as the selection of solutions to the problems?

9. Are you surprised by the rapid change in laws regarding same-sex marriage? What do you expect to be the case a decade from now?

FILM LIST NOT MY LIFE (2014, 60 m, Worldwide Documentaries) This hour-long documentary deals with modern-day slavery, including forced labor and sex trafficking, around the world including in the United States and Africa. Narrated by Glenn Close.

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT: A PSYCHOSOCIAL STUDY OF AN AMERICAN OBSESSION (2007, 55 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Award-winning director Lance Tracy balances serious science with tongue-in-cheek humor to create a documentary scrutinizing the scope and effects of pornography that is informative, compelling, and unsettling. Constructing an experiment to identify attitudinal and behavioral changes that manifest as a result of viewing porn—a study in the manner of the Annenberg School of Communications and California State University studies—Tracy tracks two men, one single and one married, for sixty days. The effects of a thirty-day regimen of X-rated DVDs, internet porn, adult mags, sex shops, and strip clubs, followed by a thirty-day readjustment period, are both illuminating and dismaying. Porn addiction, the sex-industrial complex, and porn-related freedom of speech issues are also explored.

AT THE CORNER OF ME AND MYSELF: VOICES OF MULTIPLE SOCIAL IDENTITIES (2007, 45 m, Insight Media) This program explores the creative expressions of five performers/artists portraying the realities they find in multicultural identities, sexual orientations, and various intersections of social identity and oppression. The powerful vignettes reveal the impact of oppression on these individuals and show how social context can define an individual.

BECOMING AYDEN (2008, 47 m, Filmakers Library) In this film, we meet seventeen-year-old Adina Scheim, a transgender teen from Toronto who was assigned female at birth and is transitioning. Ayden (his chosen name) is willing to go to great lengths to alter his female body to correspond with his male self-image. He recently began taking testosterone. His voice has started to deepen—an irreversible physical effect of the male sex hormone. Ayden says he would have his breasts removed if he had the money to pay for it.

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He is sure he wants to transition, but convincing his parents is another matter. His father, a prominent conservative rabbi, thinks he is too young to be making such an important decision.

He has even tried to bribe Ayden by offering to pay for his breast surgery if he would put it off for five years. Now living on his own, he has found another family and way of life in Toronto‘s LGBTQ+ community.

THE COMING OUT PROCESS (2005, 40 m, Insight Media) This program features three diverse coming-out stories: a Black woman who was institutionalized after she told her parents, a Latino man who came out to his wife and children later in life, and an affirming mother who shares the process that her family went through when her teenage son came out.

THE GAY MARRIAGE THING (2005, 47 m, Insight Media) This documentary examines the political, religious, and personal issues surrounding the samesex marriage debate in the United States.

HIV & ME: FEAR, IGNORANCE, AND EDUCATION (2007, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Among new HIV cases, heterosexual patients are the majority and high-risk behavior appears to be on the rise in many young demographic groups. What does this tell us about evolving attitudes toward AIDS? How do factors such as immigration, cultural tradition, economic disparity, and government inaction come into play? Writer and actor Stephen Fry pushes for answers, infusing this program with equal parts curiosity and outrage. Fry surveys carefree London clubbers about condom use and, traversing the United Kingdom, examines the perception of HIV/AIDS among LGBTQ+ and straight people alike. After meeting a British woman infected by her Ghanaian partner, Fry journeys to South Africa to confront that nation‘s obfuscating AIDS policies.

IN BODY & SOUL: SEXUAL THERAPY FOR THE HANDICAPPED (2009, 40 m, Filmakers Library) One of the basic needs of human beings is sexual gratification. This is true for the handicapped as well. Yet able-bodied people find it difficult to accept that the disabled have sexual needs. In this groundbreaking film, we learn of an experimental program in Switzerland that has aroused considerable interest and much debate. ―Sex workers‖ of both sexes provide sex for a fee to people who are physically or mentally challenged. This documentary explores the motives of both the sex workers and the handicapped individuals who engage in sexual activities with them.

Is this prostitution or therapy? For the first time, sex workers have agreed to be filmed as they make love to these individuals. They express strong positive emotions about their work. The doctors who set up the program hope that improving sexual satisfaction will enable the handicapped to achieve other rehabilitation goals.

INSIDE THE LIVES OF CHILDREN HAVING CHILDREN (2009, 42 m, Insight Media)

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This ABC News program shows a teenage couple raising their six-month-old son together, follows a fourteen-year-old girl as she attends a school designed for pregnant teenagers, and looks at a case in which a young woman is ignored after the high school quarterback impregnates her. The DVD also studies abstinence-only and safer-sex education.

JUCHITAN QUEER PARADISE (2003, 64 m, Filmakers Library) This is a fascinating portrait of Juchitan, a small Mexican city near the Guatemalan border. Here homosexuality is fully accepted; gay people are simply a third gender. If a boy shows a predisposition to homosexuality, his family will rejoice and be thankful for receiving what is considered a blessing. In Juchitan, a man who wants to be a woman only has to dress like a woman to be considered and treated as a woman by the entire community. The film profiles three gay people: a teacher, a hairdresser, and a shop owner.

MIDDLE SEXES: REDEFINING HE AND SHE (2005, 76 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Nearly everyone who meets eight-year-old Noah agrees—he is a girl in a boy‘s body. What challenges, or even dangers, await Noah as he grows up in the American heartland? This program explores the lives of those who do not conform to rigid gender concepts and examines changes in brain science that are shedding light on the gray areas between male and female. In moving and courageous commentary, individuals in the United States, Suriname, India, and Thailand who have undergone gender transition, or who have chosen same-sex partners, share their experiences—revealing a wide array of cultural attitudes on this eye-opening journey through psychology, biology, and sociology.

ONE SUMMER IN NEW PALTZ: A CAUTIONARY TALE (2009, 54 m, Filmakers Library) In February 2004, President Bush called for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to enshrine a heterosexual definition of marriage. This ignited a wave of civil disobedience in the form of same-sex marriages across the United States. This film focuses on the small village of New Paltz, New York, where twenty-six-year-old Mayor Jason West stunned his neighbors and the nation by performing twenty-five same-sex marriages in defiance of state law. As a result, thousands of gay couples flooded New Paltz seeking to be married. When Mayor West, who is straight, was arrested, Rev. Dawn Sangrey and Kay Greenleaf took over, marrying 277 more couples. There was a wave of same-sex marriages, demonstrations, and lawsuits across New York State. The film probes the debate on same-sex marriage, examining the intersection of same-sex marriage with the Constitution, race, war, and the family. The film also documents the first day of legal same-sex marriages in Boston in May 2004, when the Massachusetts legislature voted affirmatively despite Governor Romney‘s opposition. This strong film is about grassroots organizing, straight/gay alliances, and confrontation with state laws.

QUEER THEORY IN ACTION (2012, 120 m, Insight Media) In this program, Julie Tilsen and David Nylund illustrate the clinical application of queer theory, which is a set of ideas that challenge notions of fixed identity categories. Nylund uses a queer

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theory–informed practice to help a transgender woman appreciate her journey of gender transition, the obstacles she has faced, and the skills and courage it has taken to express her nonnormative gender identity. The DVD also shows how Tilsen works with a transgender man to help him navigate his relationship with his mother in a way that does not compromise his gender identity.

QUEER THEORY 2 (2012, 60 m, Insight Media) Using a queer theory dialogical approach, this program follows Julie Tilsen as she meets with gay clients to discuss the developments in their lives and their relationships with family members. It highlights how homophobic bullying can affect identity development.

SEX AND SEXUALITY (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) This program explores attitudes about sex and sexuality in the United States and considers the impacts of these attitudes as reflected in such diverse outcomes as infidelity, discrimination based on sexual orientation, and sexually transmitted infections. It also examines the frequently uneasy tensions among schools, communities, and families over sex education.

SEXUAL STEREOTYPES IN THE MEDIA (2008, 38 m, Insight Media) This program investigates media influences on social and personal views of sexuality and examines the ways in which the media‘s sexual biases affect behavior. The program illustrates commercial, cultural, psychological, and sociological forces that have shaped sexual stereotypes in the media.

SILENT PIONEERS: GAY AND LESBIAN ELDERS (1985, 30 m or 42 m Versions, Filmakers Library) This film is about eight older gay men and women who lived most of their lives when it was not acceptable to be openly gay. It helps break down common stereotypes and emphasizes the multidimensionality of social problems (combining issues of aging, deviance, and sexual variance). It is a delightful and thought-provoking film.

TEEN SEX (2004, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program seeks to understand how and why teens are rewriting the book on sexual mores.

Adolescents from thirteen to nineteen years old share their intimate views and concerns as they talk about peer pressure, double standards, media influence, having intercourse, whether oral sex is sex, STDs, birth control, pregnancy, and whether they and their families are emotionally prepared to deal with all of this. Interviews with parents are included as well, and commentary is featured from Tamara Kreinin, president and CEO of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States; Sarah Brown, executive director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy; Michael Basso, author of The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality; Atoosa Rubenstein, Seventeen editor-in-chief; Leslee Unruh, president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse; and adolescent medicine specialist Gale Burstein, M.D., M.P.H. Onscreen statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation emphasize important trends.

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TRAFFICKED: CHILDREN AS SEXUAL SLAVES (2006, 52 m, Filmakers Library) The trafficking of women and children for prostitution is a global problem. The United Nations estimates that more than one million children are forced into sexual slavery each year. This powerful documentary follows Chris Payne, a former police officer turned private investigator, as he investigates this shocking crime. Haunted for a decade by the case of ―Nikkie,‖ a young Thai girl found working in a brothel in Sydney who was hastily deported, Payne wants to know what circumstances forced her into a brothel and what became of her after she was returned to her own country. His search leads him back to Asia, where he also meets the parents of another Thai ―sex slave‖ whose death in an immigration detention center made headlines. This powerful documentary provides disturbing insight into the international sex trade.

THE UNDERGROUND WORLD OF COMMERCIAL SEX (2008, 84 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This ABC News program featuring Diane Sawyer made contact with prostitutes—impoverished street hookers, high-end escorts, legal working women in the trade—and the johns who pay them to learn firsthand how this underground world, hidden in plain sight, functions. Topics include the expansion of escort services and massage parlors on the internet, legalized prostitution in Nevada at the deluxe Moonlight Bunny Ranch, and society‘s tendency to target prostitutes for arrest more frequently than their customers. The relationship between drug addiction and prostitution, codependency between prostitutes and pimps, and life-threatening dangers faced by prostitutes are also considered.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Assessing Your Level of Gender Conformity

In what ways do you conform and not conform to conventional norms regarding gender? Do you now, or have you ever, identified as transgender?

Sample answer: Responses should address whether students have or have not conformed to gender norms, such as appearing and behaving in conventional feminine or masculine ways. People who identify as transgender are those who have a gender identity that differs from their biological sex at birth.

2. Assessing Safe-Sex Practices How conscious are you of the dangers posed by sexually transmitted infections? If you are sexually active, how carefully do you follow safe-sex practices?

Sample answer: Gonorrhea and syphilis can result in serious illness, and in the case of syphilis, even death. Genital herpes poses less danger to an individual‘s health than gonorrhea and syphilis, but it is an infection that is incurable. AIDS, which is caused by the HIV virus, is the most serious of all STIs. It prevents individuals from fighting a wide range of diseases that eventually cause death.

3. Where Do You Stand?

How should our society educate young people about sex? Should we discourage them from being sexually active? Carefully read the Defining Moment photo essay. Then write several paragraphs in which you explain your level of support for liberal and conservative positions about young people‘s sexuality.

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Sample answer: More conservative students typically advance a moral argument guided by traditional cultural values and norms. Many such students claim marriage (or at least a committed relationship) is the prerequisite for becoming sexually active. More liberal students typically advance a more practical argument that most young people will become sexually active and, therefore, the sensible policy is to prepare them for safe sex through education and birth control technology. Students may tend to place key responsibility for educating young people on parents (conservatives) or schools (liberals).

4. National Map 5–3 Legislation Regarding Transgender Women and Women‘s Sports across the United States Your journal assignment is to write a paragraph linking the presence or absence of these laws to the political leanings of each state. To do this, look at the map on the right, which shows how that state voted in the 2020 presidential election. Comparing the two maps, what pattern do you see?

Sample answer: A clear political pattern is evident in a comparison of the two maps-banning transgender women from women‘s sports is a Republican position and allowing transgender women to participate in wo0men‘s sports is a Democratic position.

5. National Map 5–4 Teenage Pregnancy Rates across the United States Your journal assignment is to identify the regions of the country where the rate is above average and below average. In addition, try to explain this pattern. To do this, look at the map on the right, which shows the share of women under the age of eighteen living in poverty. Where in the country is the share especially high and especially low? Compare the two maps. Do you think that childhood poverty and teen pregnancy are related?

Sample answer: The map on the left shows a general pattern, which is high rates of teen pregnancy across the southern half of the United States. The map on the right shows essentially the same pattern: Just about all the states with high teen pregnancy are also states with high levels of teen poverty. This fact suggests that the two variables are related.

Of course, what social scientists call ―correlation‖ does not establish a simple ―cause and effect‖ relationship. However, we do know that poverty limits opportunities and choices for young women, including access to good schooling and health care, which suggests that poverty does raise the likelihood of early, unplanned pregnancy. At the same time, teen pregnancy further limits the opportunities and choices available to young women. Therefore, it is fair to say that the causal arrows point in both directions—each of these two variables enhances the other.

6. Global Map 5–1 HIV Infections in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to explain the link between rates of HIV infection and a nation‘s level of economic development. Look at the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development for all countries. Compare the two maps. Do high rates of HIV infection tend to be found in higher-income nations or lower-income nations? What factors other than income might encourage or discourage HIV infection?

Sample answer: A look at the map on the left clearly shows that the region of the world with the highest rate of HIV infection is sub-Saharan Africa, which is also the region of the world with many low-income nations. Lower-income countries typically provide less schooling and less healthcare, both of which place people at higher risk of infection. In 107

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addition, these are societies in which women have less power, which adds to the risk of HIV. By contrast, most of the high-income nations of the world, including the United States, Canada, European nations, Japan, and Australia, have populations with relatively low rates of HIV infection. Most middle-income nations, including countries in South America and Asia, also have relatively low rates of infection. Middle- and high-income countries provide more schooling and better health care, and women have higher social standing.

We can conclude that, in general, the higher the level of economic development, the lower the rate of HIV infection. Even so, various cultural factors also come into play affecting the typical number of sexual partners.

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CHAPTER 6 AGING AND INEQUALITY IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Where Communities Are ―Older‖ John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE Chapter 6 in this new edition contains an updated discussion of the increasing number of older people in the United States and around the world. There is revised and expanded discussion of euthanasia that reflects the latest laws. You will find the latest statistics, trends, and analysis concerning life expectancy, living arrangements for older people, the increasing age at retirement, the poverty rate for all age categories, and gender gaps in income for older people compared to younger people. The updated chapter details the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had on older people. There are thirty-five new research references in the revised chapter.

AUTHOR’S NOTE This chapter conveys to students several major lessons: • Old age, like other stages of the life course, is socially constructed. Industrialization raises the standard of living of older people (as it does for all age categories) but reduces the power and prestige of elders relative to younger people.

• The share of older people in the U.S. population continues to increase, a trend referred to as the ―graying of the United States.‖ • Older people face a number of challenges, many of which are related to age stratification.

These problems range from social isolation to ageism to outright abuse.

As the share of seniors in the U.S. population continues to increase over the next several decades, how will this trend change our way of life? In what ways does our society need to provide greater support to a swelling older population?

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CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Growing Old 6.1 Explain the effects of industrialization on the process of growing old.

• Life course is the socially constructed stages that people pass through as they live out their lives.

• Gerontology is the study of aging and the elderly.

• Industrialization and Aging o The life course is socially constructed because growing old is not just a matter of biological changes. How a culture defines this stage of life makes a big difference in how people experience old age. o Preindustrial Societies: Elders as Social Elite ▪ Gerontocracy is a social system that gives a society‘s oldest members the most wealth, power, and prestige. o Industrial Societies: Elderly as Social Problem ▪ The Industrial Revolution did much to raise everyone‘s living standards, but it also changed age stratification, reducing the social power and prestige of older people relative to those who are younger.

▪ Industrialization also brings change to family relationships, separating generations.

▪ In 1935, as part of President Franklin Roosevelt‘s ―New Deal,‖ Congress passed the Social Security Act which provides a monthly pension to everyone.

• Social Problems in Global Perspective: Will the Golden Years Lose Their Glow?

Growing Old in Japan • Life Expectancy o Life expectancy is the average life span of a country‘s population. o Today, life expectancy in the world‘s ten poorest nations, most of which are found in Africa, averages less than fifty-six years. o In high-income countries, which have better nutrition, sanitation, and medical care, life expectancy is considerably longer. o The increase in life expectancy over the last century also means that societies must meet the needs of an increasing number of older people.

II. The Graying of the United States 6.2 Discuss the graying of the United States and the social diversity of the older population.

• The elderly share doubled by 1950 and it doubled again in 2020, when the elderly population of the country reached 56 million. o Figure 6–1 The Graying of U.S. Society o Seeing Ourselves National Map 6–1 The Elderly Population across the United States • Older Adults: A Diverse Population o Three Levels of ―Old‖ ▪ Most people sixty-five to seventy-four years of age—the ―younger old‖—live independently and enjoy good health. People aged seventy-five to eightyfour—the ―older old‖—typically remain active but a larger share need support services. Elders aged eighty-five and older—the ―oldest old‖—are those most likely to require assistance.

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▪ The oldest old are increasing in number most rapidly. o Class, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender ▪ Just one in twenty older people ends up making a move to the Sunbelt. Why? Many (especially those with health problems) want to stay close to family members. For most, however, the reason comes down to money: They simply cannot afford it.

▪ Racially and ethnically diverse older people do not live as long as White people. For example, life expectancy among Black people is 5.6 years less than it is for White people.

▪ Women tend to live longer than men. Therefore, although women are a slight majority of the total population (51 percent), they represent 55 percent of all people over the age of sixty-five.

II. Problems of Aging 6.3 Assess various problems faced by today’s older population.

• Although the physical health of older adults is, on the whole, far better than stereotypes of ―frail old people‖ suggest, most older women and men spend a lot of time and money trying to improve or at least maintain their well-being.

• Social Isolation o The experience of social isolation is a key reason that, as researchers have long documented, the months following the death of a spouse place the surviving partner at high risk of death, sometimes by suicide. o The experience of social isolation is more common to older women who typically outlive older men. o Where do elders turn for support and companionship?

▪ Community services are provided by senior citizen centers.

▪ Families are the main support system. o Seniors faced a greater level of social isolation in 2020 after the onset of the COVID19 pandemic.

• Retirement o The age of retirement has changed over time. In 1950, people in the U.S. retired about the age of sixty-eight; by 2000, the median age for retirement dropped to just under sixty. Retirement age moved upward in the years that followed. o The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged many older workers to stay at home, which caused the typical age of retirement to decline, falling to sixty-one in 2022. o The recent trend toward later retirement will continue in all high-income nations. o Currently in the United States, people can begin drawing on Social Security at the age of sixty-two, although full benefits kick in at age sixty-six (and, by 2026, age sixtyseven). We can expect to see governments—both here and in other high-income nations—continue to push back the point of retirement.

• Ageism o Ageism is prejudice and discrimination directed toward older people. o Ageism defines physical traits as evidence of being less worthy as a person. o Age-Based Prejudice ▪ Ageism involves prejudice—negative prejudgments about older people. Such prejudice can be blatant, as when employers pass over a job application from

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an older person because they prefer hiring someone younger. Prejudice can also be subtle, but just as harmful, as when a doctor assumes that an ailment is caused simply by a patient‘s age.

▪ Personal Stories: Is Aging a Disease?

▪ Prejudice directed toward the elderly may take the form of many negative stereotypes depicting older people as ―sick, senile, useless, sexually impotent, ugly, isolated, poor, or miserable.‖ o Age-Based Discrimination ▪ Age discrimination is illegal. But this law is difficult to enforce because many people who are turned down for a job never know exactly why. In addition, companies can legally lay off higher-salaried workers in favor of those who are paid less, even though this policy usually hurts older people the most. o Ageism in the Media ▪ Compared to older women, older men are seen onscreen much more often— think of the many roles played by Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood—and they usually appear (both on screen and off screen) opposite women half their age.

▪ People in minority categories of the population become increasingly invisible once they pass the age of sixty-five.

Victimization of the Elderly o Elder abuse refers to a range of behavior that extends from passive neglect to active verbal and emotional mistreatment to life-threatening physical violence. It often goes unreported. o Causes of Elder Abuse ▪ Many abusers are themselves victims of abuse. This vicious circle of abuse can be explained in simple terms: People who have experienced abuse in their own lives (often as children) are likely to recreate this pattern harming an older person. Most abusers, however, do not fit this pattern.

▪ People who abuse family members often face other challenges (e.g., may be addicted to alcohol or drugs).

▪ Abuse also occurs in institutional settings such as nursing facilities. Staff employees who face patient demands they cannot meet may reach a point of desperation that triggers abuse.

▪ Social Policy: Nursing Home Abuse: What Should Be Done?

The COVID Pandemic and Older People o The pandemic‘s toll on elderly people was far greater than it was among younger people. The very highest risk of death, among elderly people, was among those who resided in care facilities. o The reasons for high loss of life include: ▪ The vulnerability of older people regardless of where they live.

▪ The ease of transmission among older people who share living space.

▪ The fact that staff members routinely move from resident to resident.

The Growing Need for Caregiving o Caregiving involves informal and unpaid care provided to a dependent person by family members, other relatives, or friends.

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o Surveys show that more than half of adults who have one or more aging parents provide regular assistance. About one-third report providing an elder parent with financial assistance. o Today, middle-aged adults are a ―sandwich generation‖ who may well spend as much time caring for their aging parents as they did raising their young children.

Poverty o In 2021, government data show 10.3 percent of people over age sixty-five—about 5.8 million women and men—were living below the government‘s poverty line. o What accounts for the long-term decline in elder poverty? The main reason is that seniors now receive better retirement benefits and Social Security payments with automatic cost-of-living adjustments. o Government poverty statistics do not count the relatively small share of elders who are institutionalized, most of whom are poor.

Age Stratification o Age stratification is social inequality among various age categories within a society. o In our society, as people get older, gaining education and experience, their income typically goes up. o Figure 6–2 Diversity Snapshot: U.S. Household Income and Poverty Rate, by Age, 2021.

Housing o According to social service providers, our nation will not have enough suitable housing for the projected numbers of elderly people. o Most older adults prefer to ―age in place,‖ staying in the same homes they occupied while working and raising their children. o Housing Programs for Older People ▪ Across the United States, there are thousands of retirement communities that offer comfortable, accessible apartments with on-site health care services and help with cleaning, meals, and transportation. But the costs of living in such communities are high, typically between $3,000 and $9,000 per month for an apartment and meals.

▪ The federal government provides rental subsidies based on the individual‘s need and the National Affordable Housing Act also made available so-called ―reverse mortgages,‖ which are financial arrangements that allow qualified elders to borrow against their home equity without making any monthly payments.

Medical Care o The cost of medical care increases dramatically as people age and health declines. o Since 1965, the federal government has provided elders with financial assistance through Medicare. In 2003, Congress added a program to help pay for prescription drugs to Medicare coverage. o The cost of medical care has been rising steadily. In 2021, Medicare spending for older people exceeded $900 billion. o The greatest financial challenges are faced by elders who move to a nursing facility.

Death and Dying

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o People in low-income nations die in the company of family and friends. As a result, people in low-income societies come to accept death as a common part of everyday life. o U.S. culture treats death as a topic to avoid. However, a new social movement, with elders leading the way, is trying to bring death and dying out in the open. o Euthanasia and the Right to Die ▪ In recent decades, a right-to-die movement has developed claiming that dying people—rather than doctors and hospital personnel—should decide when, where, and how people die.

▪ Euthanasia (from Greek words meaning ―a good death‖) is assisting in the death of a person suffering from an incurable disease. It raises ethical questions because it involves refusing medical treatment and actively taking steps to end a life. o Euthanasia in Europe ▪ Under Dutch law, patients can request euthanasia if they are dying with no prospect of improvement, are suffering, and understand the medical options that are available.

▪ In the world, just nine nations and parts of two others have passed laws legalizing euthanasia. These laws have been enacted with popular support, but they are controversial. o Euthanasia in the United States ▪ The right-to-die movement remains controversial. Supporters claim that most people favor having a choice about when and how to die, and many people will welcome help from a doctor to bring about a ―good death.‖ ▪ Critics of the right-to-die movement claim that the laws create a ―slippery slope‖ that will encourage more and more assisted suicide.

▪ More than one-fifth of the U.S. population now has access to physicianassisted suicide. o Hospice ▪ Hospice is homelike care that provides physical and emotional comfort to dying people and their families.

▪ Today, more than 6,100 hospice organizations care for more than 1.7 million people each year.

▪ The growth of hospice reflects the fact that many people want to avoid the impersonal and highly regimented environment of a hospital.

▪ Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: A Good Death: Cicely Saunders and the Birth of Hospice IV. Theories of Aging and Inequality 6.4 Apply sociological theory to issues of aging and age stratification.

• Structural-Functional Theory: The Need to Disengage o Structural-functional theory highlights ways in which social patterns help societies to operate smoothly. o Disengagement theory is the idea that modern societies operate in an orderly way by removing people from positions of responsibility as they reach old age.

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o Retirement is the main strategy for easing older people out of productive roles when they near the point when they will not be capable of performing them well.

Symbolic-Interaction Theory: Staying Active o Symbolic-interaction theory focuses on the meaning people construct in their everyday lives. o Activity theory is the idea that people enhance personal satisfaction in old age by keeping up a high level of social activity.

Social-Conflict Theory: Age and Economic Inequality o Social-conflict theory focuses on age stratification, pointing to ways in which U.S. society limits the opportunities and resources available to elders. o Some analysts conclude that capitalist societies treat older people as second-class citizens in pursuit of profit. In addition, in a society that typically values human beings according to their economic productivity, anyone who withdraws from paid work risks being defined as unworthy.

Feminist Theory: Aging and Gender o Feminist theory is a social-conflict approach focused on gender. o Women struggle against gender stratification throughout their lives, including when they grow old. o Among older workers between the ages of forty-five to sixty-four, the gender gap is greater, with women earning just 70 percent as much as men. o Older women are more likely than older men to work in low-skill service jobs that provide lower pay and less in the way of pensions and other benefits. o Gender stratification in our society defines family responsibilities as women‘s work, which makes it harder for women to join (and remain in) the paid labor force. o Today‘s older women grew up at a time when gender stratification was even greater than it is today—a time when social norms actually kept many women off the campus and out of many jobs entirely. With less education and fewer occupational opportunities, today‘s older women now have lower income than men of the same age.

Intersection Theory: Multiple Disadvantages o Intersection theory examines the interplay of various dimensions of inequality to show that some elderly women are further disadvantaged by race and ethnicity. o Dimensions of social stratification involving gender, race, and ethnicity combine to shape the lives of older people. o Figure 6–3 Diversity Snapshot: U.S. Poverty Rates by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender, Ages 65 and Older, 2021

V. Politics and Aging: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 6.5 Analyze aging and age stratification from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: More Family Responsibility o In an age that celebrates individualism and independence, conservatives say the ageold system by which family members take care of their own is breaking down. o Conservatives argue that people of all ages should plan ahead for their own old age through a program of saving and investment.

• Liberals: More Government Assistance

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o Liberals point out that many older people—especially those who have faced prejudice and discrimination their whole lives—simply have never had the opportunity to earn the money they need to carry them through old age. o To help seniors remain independent, liberals conclude the solution is not to limit social programs for the elderly but to expand them.

The Radical Left: Capitalism and the Elderly o Capitalist societies have an overriding focus on profits. For this reason, the culture of capitalism devalues any category of people that is economically less productive. To the extent that elderly people do not work—and to the extent that elders depend on pensions and other benefits—they are viewed as a costly burden to society. o The solution to ageism and other problems of inequality is to take the radical step of replacing the capitalist economy with one that values all people equally and provides for the needs of everyone.

Going On from Here o Perhaps the most important fact to keep in mind is the steadily increasing share of elders in the U.S. population. Older people are active politically and very likely to vote. As noted previously, people over age sixty-five are much more likely to vote (72 percent cast a ballot in 2020) than those aged eighteen to twenty-four (48 percent). It is no surprise, then, that most politicians pay attention to the concerns of older people. o Still, there are grounds for concern. A major test for our political system will be sustaining the Social Security program by which working people pay into a system that provides benefits to people who have retired. By 2050, projections indicate that there will be just two workers for every retiree, and most analysts believe that the current system will be able to pay only 80 percent of scheduled benefits a decade from now.

Defining Solutions: Whose Responsibility Is It to Support You in Your Old Age?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 6.1 Explain the effects of industrialization on the process of growing old.

6.2 Discuss the graying of the United States and the social diversity of the older population.

6.3 Assess various problems faced by today‘s older population.

6.4 Apply sociological theory to issues of aging and age stratification.

6.5 Analyze aging and age stratification from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 6, students should be able to: Identify the stages of the socially constructed life course.

Explain how societies define aging and the experience of old age.

Describe the differing social construction of aging in preindustrial and industrial societies.

Discuss life expectancy developing a contrast between low- and high-income countries.

Discuss diversity among older people in terms of age cohorts, class, race, ethnicity, and gender.

Explain the causes and consequences of social isolation among the aged.

Discuss several problems associated with retirement.

Explain the causes and consequences of ageism.

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Discuss the causes and consequences of elder abuse.

Discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the older people.

Describe common patterns of caregiving for the aged.

Explain how poverty affects the aging experience.

Describe several problems associated with housing for the aged.

Describe the challenges of medical care for older people.

Describe patterns of death and dying.

Briefly state the major contribution of structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, socialconflict, and feminist analyses of growing old. Provide one criticism of each theoretical orientation.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the way one constructs age inequality as a social problem.

Briefly state how conservatives, liberals, and radicals construct the issue of age inequality as a social problem.

Explain how policy evaluation, cultural values, and political outlook guide the process of defining solutions for problems of age inequality.

Briefly state how conservatives, liberals, and radicals define solutions for age-related problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: WHERE COMMUNITIES ARE ―OLDER‖ The PowerPoint presentation that I have prepared for this chapter includes a slide of National Map 6–1, showing the share of the population that is over the age of sixty-five for each county in the country. Common sense leads many people to expect that the counties with a high share of older people are in the Sunbelt, a belief that reflects the stereotype of seniors as fleeing to a warmer climate. This view holds for most of southern Florida. But a look at the entire map shows that the largest number of counties that are heavily ―senior‖ are found in fairly rural areas of the country from New England through the Midwest and especially the Plains States in the midsection of the country.

What‘s going on here? For one thing, these counties are likely to contain older people who have lived their entire lives in the same general location. In many farm counties of Nebraska, for example, older people may live in homes that have been occupied for decades, if not for generations.

Another factor that shapes the demographic character of a county is the availability of jobs. Most of these heavily ―senior‖ counties do not provide much economic opportunity for young people. As result, young people typically leave home as they enter adulthood, often settling in larger urban areas, especially along the coasts or (if they have the money to afford it) in scenic regions of the western states.

Helping your students to ―read‖ sociological maps will build their social literacy skills.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION I love TED talks. These are short presentations by some very smart and engaging people about issues that matter. Laura Carstensen has a wonderful presentation on aging that you can find by going to a video site such as YouTube and searching for ―Laura Carstensen older people are happier.‖ This video is very upbeat and provides a counterpoint for what so often seems to be the pessimistic tone of an analysis of aging. Our speaker points out that the good news begins with

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longer life expectancy—in the twentieth century, life expectancy doubled, increasing more than it did in all of human history before that. Today, most of the children born in the world will grow up to grow old. Just as important, living longer does not mean living with lower quality of life.

On the contrary, without denying the challenges people face in old age, researchers provide considerable support for the idea that today‘s older people are actually happier than ever before and, in some important ways, they are better off than younger people.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short, PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 6, the PowerPoint presentation is ―Physician-Assisted Suicide: Will It Become the Law of the Land?‖ This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.The SociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: Our Aging World.

The chapter describes the ―graying of U.S. society,‖ which refers to the increasing share of the population that has reached the age of sixty-five. The world as a whole also is aging, although the change is far greater in high-income nations (which have lower fertility and lower mortality rates) than in low-income nations (which have higher fertility and higher mortality rates).

For the world as a whole, the elderly share of the population in 1950 was just 8 percent. By 2010, the share had increased to about 13 percent. Projections for 2050 suggest that elderly people will represent 22 percent of the global population—that is, close to double the share in 2010.

In the United States, the reaction to the increasing share of the older population has been modest. Many analysts worry that the share of older people to younger working people will increase and place greater demands on our society for elder care. In Asia, however, where the share of the older population is already higher than in the United States, the prospect of still more increases is extremely troubling. In Japan and other Asian nations, substantial majorities of adults already see aging as a serious social problem.

Source Cohn, D‘Vera, and Andrea Caumont. 2016. ―Ten Demographic Trends That Are Reshaping the U.S. and the World.‖ Pew Research Center (March 21).

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Discussion Questions a. Older people have low crime rates and vote more often than others. Shouldn‘t we welcome the prospect of an aging society? Explain. b. Do you think our society has established plans and policies to meet the needs of a swelling population of elders? Why or why not? c. What, if anything, are you doing to prepare for your later years?

2. Supplemental Lecture: Going Gray behind the Wheel.

As the number of seniors in our country increases, so is the number of traffic accidents involving older drivers going up. By 2020, the number of seventy-plus drivers is expected to reach some 30 million men and women, and highway safety experts predict that the number of people killed in crashes involving elderly motorists will soon surpass the death toll from drunk driving.

Keep in mind, however, that this increase is due primarily to the rising number of older drivers. Despite what some people may think, drivers over the age of sixty have a lower accident rate than younger drivers. But while some seniors drive safely into their nineties, others do become impaired by such ailments as poor vision, slow reflexes, partial paralysis, and even dementia. Attempts to identify unfit drivers, moreover, remain haphazard. Some states require frequent vision tests for elderly drivers, and other states mandate nothing.

Many adult children face the uncomfortable task of trying to ―take the keys‖ from aging parents who no longer drive safely. Older people—like everyone else—see driving as a source of independence. Without a car and with limited transportation alternatives, seniors may become housebound and depressed. Some communities offer low-cost vans and private-care services, but for many city buses and taxis are frequently the only options.

Of course, some seniors do know when it is time to say ―when.‖ Increasingly, individual states (e.g., California and Florida) have increased regulatory legislation that includes requirements such as regular vision exams as well as a written and road test every five years after the age of eighty, every two years after the age of eighty-five, and annually after the age of ninety.

Discussion Questions a. To what extent do you think the government should monitor the fitness of older people who have an operator‘s license? What about young drivers? Or people of all ages? b. New cars have increasing amounts of technology (including backup camera and laneassist systems) that help people drive safely. Do you think this technology will keep people on the road longer?

3. Supplemental Lecture: Elder Scam.

Scamming the elderly is a familiar type of crime. Convictions for this particular crime are rare, however, and those who are convicted often receive sentences that are relatively mild. Yet some elderly people are vulnerable, perhaps more than younger people.

Scammers often use the phone, presenting a caring voice and exploiting the loneliness of widows or the financial insecurity of people on a retirement budget. According to the American Association of Retired People (AARP), older women are at the highest risk of being targeted by crooks. Older women are often widows, and many are lonely and only too eager to have someone to talk to. Once a person is on a ―sucker list,‖ she is likely to appear on other lists, as telemarketing firms or outright criminals buy and sell names with special interest in those who

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are believed to be particularly gullible. In other words, people who have been cheated are likely to be hit on again and again.

These criminals cheat elderly people out of billions of dollars each year. An initial phone call might promise some grand prize if the person buys essentially worthless junk. That cycle goes on endlessly without the grand prize ever appearing, of course. Fraud victims, afraid to tell others of their financial losses for fear of being declared incompetent and losing their independence, continue in hopes of recouping the money they have already lost. They never do.

Telemarketers usually call people in another state as a strategy to avoid easy prosecution by being in a different jurisdiction. There are even specialties within the system. So-called ―Fronters‖ make the initial contact, using either lists or scanning telephone books for oldfashioned first names. ―Closers‖ make the follow-up calls. ―Re-load men‖ call people who have fallen for other scams. ―No-sales men‖ try to persuade the suspicious. Scams range from phony prizes to fake charities to fraudulent investments.

Unfortunately, because often there are only two witnesses—the victim and the con artist—it is difficult to prosecute these criminals. Even if they are convicted, prison terms are short, typically one to three years.

Unfortunately, the elderly can be easier targets for the unscrupulous because they have been raised at a time when being polite was valued. In other words, they feel it is rude to simply hang up the telephone or slam a door. Perhaps aging baby boomers will be much tougher targets because they are typically more cynical and less trusting than their parents.

Discussion Questions a. Do you think people who defraud older people should face harsher penalties than those who cheat younger people? In other words, do elder crimes warrant more severe punishment? Explain. b. Using Neugarten‘s classification of the elderly according to their coping skills, which types would be most vulnerable to scams and why?

4. Go to a search engine such as Google.com and look for material focusing on the ―medicalization of old age.‖ You will find material useful in preparing a lecture/discussion on the subject of why older people are stereotyped and become the victims of prejudice and discrimination, particularly those who are among the lower socioeconomic strata in the United States.

5. In our culture, the word ―old‖ (when it refers to people) has many negative connotations. Ask students to make a list of adjectives that describe people who are ―old.‖ Keep in mind how industrial societies transform ―elders‖ into the ―elderly.‖ Discuss how the meanings we attach to this stage of life shapes how people experience old age and how younger people experience their elders. Further discussion can include students‘ perceptions of the age at which they consider someone ―old‖ and the activities they think old people are (and are not) capable of, involving work, leisure, and sex.

6. Christine Himes and Christine Caffrey have created a class project that links social gerontology with quantitative (U.S. Census) data. Their article, ―Linking Social Gerontology with Quantitative Skills: A Class Project Using U.S. Census Data,‖ appears in the January 2003 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 31: 85–94). This project may be useful to your students.

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7. Like race and sex, it is possible to uncover negative stereotypes of aging by evaluating how older people are characterized in jokes. Ask students to relate any humorous (or not so humorous, depending on one‘s perspective) anecdotes or jokes that they have heard about older people. Encourage members of the class to vocalize how these jokes contribute to the ideology of ageism. Are there any jokes that focus on positive aspects of aging? How do these characteristics relate to the text‘s discussion of stereotypes about older people?

8. Although mandatory retirement has been eliminated for most people, it is still a controversial topic. Encourage students to discuss who they think should be forced to retire, at what age, and why. How do the students feel about the implications of eliminating forced retirement: fewer jobs for younger workers, and so on? You may want to organize a debate on the issue. Have three teams: one arguing for no mandatory retirement at all, a second arguing for raising the mandatory retirement age, and a third arguing for lowering the mandatory retirement age. List all of the arguments made for and against each position on the blackboard. When the debate is over, have the class vote on the issue.

9. Have your students conduct an oral history with an older person. A grandparent would be the ideal choice because of the already established close relationship. (If a student does not have a grandparent to interview, then a person in a retirement home or perhaps a professor emeritus could be used.) This project can be conducted as an independent interview or the entire class can agree on an interview format for everyone to follow. In either case, it is important that students follow the same general format in their interviews. The following interview guide can be provided: a. The background of the interviewees, including their date and place of birth, parents‘ occupations, number of siblings, where they grew up, and their childhood memories. b. The interviewee‘s educational experiences, including schools they attended, favorite subjects, social activities, and memorable experiences and teachers. c. Descriptions of the person‘s teen years and early adulthood, including friendships and dating experiences. d. The interviewee‘s employment history and experiences. e. The influence of historical events on the person‘s life. Various strategies could be used for wrapping up the interview, such as asking the person to think of the most joyful and saddest times of their life. f. Students should write a summary of the interview, describe the insights gained into the older person‘s life, and outline what they learned about the person‘s experiences during significant historical events.

10. Encourage your students to think about the social-structural elements involved with the abuse or victimization of older people. Provide an example that illustrates how more and more older people in our society need to depend on their adult children for support. Particularly in cases where socioeconomic hardships are involved, these situations are a prime example for this kind of violent behavior. As in the case with child abuse and, perhaps to a lesser extent, spousal abuse, such behavior is difficult for people to understand: ―How could a child be physically abusive toward their own mother or father?‖ On the other hand, point out to your students that, like child and spousal abuse, such behaviors are understandable in reference to older people in

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light of the many frustrating circumstances (particularly economic hardship) that characterize abusive situations.

11. Pose the question, ―How do our attitudes about death relate to our views of older people?‖ Encourage students to think in terms of how much Americans fear death. Remind them that Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has referred to death as ―the final stage of growth.‖ Students tend to view death as a ―grim and final product‖ rather than part of life‘s process. It can pay off to be very blunt in this discussion; tell your students, ―Life holds many uncertainties: whether you will be happy, whether you will be successful, whether you will lead a full life, but the one thing upon which you can all depend is that you will die someday.‖ Hopefully, the class will begin to recognize that part of the explanation for our negative view of older people relates directly to our ―ostrich-style‖ approach to death: We don‘t want to think about aging because it reminds us of death.

12. Ask students to look through television commercials, magazine ads, and social media posts noting the various types of products that are designed to ―fight‖ the aging process. Discuss how the media constructs the aging process and how this impacts the experience of older people (work, retirement, health, medical treatment, romance, self-concept, social isolation, and ageism) in the United States.

13. Invite a panel of older persons who are willing to discuss their experiences with social isolation, retirement, medical care, poverty, housing, elder abuse, and ageism. Encourage students to ask questions that provide an understanding of how cultural values and expectations shape the aging experience in the United States.

14. Encourage students to consider age norms in America and how behavior appropriate for one age group may not be appropriate for another. Ask the class to give their first impressions of (a) a seventy-five-year-old woman wearing a thong at the beach, (b) an elderly couple making out in the backseat of their car, (c) an elderly gentlemen having a keg party and inviting pretty young ladies, (d) a grandmother using the internet to date, and (e) a grandfather setting up a page on MySpace or Facebook. Discuss the class reactions and how society has constructed the life course that constricts our choices.

15. For a global perspective on aging, assign each student a foreign country and give the student the task of reporting on how aging is socially constructed in the society and how it impacts the aging experience. Students should discuss the benefits and consequences of being older in the specified country.

WEB LINKS Administration for Community Living http://www.aoa.gov AgingStats.gov https://agingstats.gov AOPA: Search for Mandatory Pilot Retirement http://www.aopa.org Euthanasia World Directory

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http://finalexit.org Gerontologist Journal http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org Hospice Foundation of America http://hospicefoundation.org National Center on Elder Abuse https://ncea.acl.gov PBS Frontline: Search Living Old http://www.pbs.org ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the stages of the life course, focusing on the power of society to define human experience as stages of the life course.

2. Contrast the social characteristics of aging and old age in preindustrial and industrial societies.

3. Discuss the consequences of ―the graying of the United States,‖ focusing on the problems faced by older people in the United States today.

4. Provide a brief statement of the main ideas contained in structural-functional, symbolicinteraction, social-conflict, and feminist analyses of old age.

5. Explain how social problems involving old age are constructed when guided by conservative, liberal, and radical-left political thought. Discuss how these varying political positions differ in the programs and policies they support as ―solutions.‖ 6. Culture clearly guides how people view death and dying. Discuss the social construction of death in the United States. How do issues such as physician-assisted suicide and passage of ―right to die‖ legislation change our understanding of death?

7. Explain the societal consequences of increasing life expectancy in the United States.

What challenges does this trend present?

8. In your opinion, how much responsibility should families have for their older members?

Which specific responsibilities should be left to family members? Which responsibilities should be left to government? Explain how the answers to these questions reflect people‘s position on the political spectrum.

9. Explain how gender or race intersects with age in our society to create special disadvantages for some older women.

10. Explain disengagement theory and the differences found in activity theory.

11. Analyze the importance of feminist theory in understanding the problems associated with gender and aging in the United States.

FILM LIST AGE ISSUES: FROM YOUNG TO OLD (2001, 60 m, Insight Media) Examining personal and policy issues surrounding aging, this program considers the roles and significance of aging individuals in U.S. society. Students will gain an understanding of how age is socially constructed and how policies are defined.

AGE NO PROBLEM

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(2003, 50 m, Filmakers Library) Vita Needle, a company based in Needham, Massachusetts, has a remarkable and very successful employment policy: It hires only older staff members. The average age of its staff of thirty-five is seventy-three, and the company has no fixed retirement age. The unique people in the film talk about the joy of learning new things, solidarity, and their ability to give meaning to the last phase of life. President Fred Hartman says, ―They can continue to work here as long as they can walk the stairs. Older people are flexible; they like to work part-time and are very motivated.‖ Most work twenty to twenty-five hours per week and schedule their workweek themselves. No one has ever been fired, and all employees share in the profits. Students will understand the potential of older adults to continue to be productive and reconstruct what retirement means.

THE AGING GAME (2002, 5 parts, 9–16 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences, a UN production) While technology and economic factors have a great impact, social customs and values can be equally as important in caring for the elderly. This five-part series begins with an assessment of global demographics, focusing on the incredible rise of elderly populations worldwide, and then looks at the welfare of senior citizens in Tunisia, Japan, Nigeria, and India.

THE AGING OF AMERICA (2001, 60 m, Insight Media) Outlining types of dementia that present in older adult populations, this program distinguishes Alzheimer‘s disease from other forms of dementia. It discusses mental health changes associated with normal aging and considers the impacts of dementia and Alzheimer‘s disease on families and caregivers.

AGING POPULATIONS (2002, 30 m, Insight Media) This film examines issues surrounding an aging population in the United Kingdom. It explores the changing dependency ratio, looks at the ways in which governments, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals are meeting associated challenges and examines the increasing strain on health care, transportation, housing, and pension funds.

COCOON (1985, 117 m, Rental Video) While this film is classified as science fiction, it provides a humorous and refreshingly realistic view of elderly people who seek to extend their lives, even if it involves interplanetary travel.

Students can discuss how the portrayals of elderly people presented in the film compare to their own perceptions or observations.

A DESPERATE ACT: SUICIDE AND THE ELDERLY (2000, 24 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Families are often ashamed of it, institutions frequently downplay it, and society usually denies that it even exists: suicide among the elderly. This program comes to grips with the chronic depression that leads too many senior citizens to take their own lives. Promoting prevention, intervention, and follow-up, medical experts use three case studies as a basis for discussing the warning signs of depression and treatment through counseling, education, medication,

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electroconvulsive therapy, and occupational therapy. Ageism and the marginalization of seniors in a youth-dominated culture are also addressed.

ELDER ABUSE (2000, 16 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) It has been estimated that 1.5 million elder Americans suffer neglect, mistreatment, and even financial exploitation at the hands of their own families. In this program, ABC News correspondents Diane Sawyer and Marti Emerald probe what is quickly becoming the fastestgrowing family crime in the United States. Together, they investigate several cases of elder abuse and examine the efforts of crusaders such as the members of the groundbreaking Fiduciary Abuse Specialist Team, a volunteer network of social workers, bankers, lawyers, doctors, and police personnel who seek out evidence of financially abused senior citizens.

GRAY DAYS (2005, 14 m, Insight Media) Explaining that the United States has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of elderly men and women in state and federal prisons, this documentary profiles two elderly prison inmates.

GROWING OLD (2007, 76 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Most people are unwilling to confront aging—even many seniors live in denial of it. Some fear losing their independence and autonomy, while others simply can‘t accept the graying of their hair. This program explores the varied landscape of aging in America, presenting the realities— physical, medical, emotional, and economic—of growing old in a youth-obsessed society.

Whether they are well off in retirement, financially marginalized, in good health, or terminally ill, the film‘s participants provide moving and provocative commentary and raise several challenging questions. What exactly is the healthy way to grow old? Is age a disease to be battled or a beautiful stage of life to be embraced and celebrated? Perhaps most importantly, how can we reverse our society‘s neglect of the elderly?

A HOUSE DIVIDED: ELDERLY ABUSE (1990, 35 m, Filmakers Library) This film portrays four families in which abuse of the elderly has been a problem. It is a very sensitive film that recognizes the emotional complexity of relationships and the isolation and helplessness of victims of abuse.

LAST RIGHTS (2009, 56 m, Filmakers Library) Who decides how life ends: the patient, the family, the physician, the health care system? This is a compelling and deeply personal exploration of four families and their terminally ill loved ones as they face death. It brings up a multitude of issues implicit in the individual‘s option to hasten death when the dying process makes life unendurable while exploring medical, ethical, and political issues.

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LIVING LONGER . . . AGING WELL (2000, 29 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Although many cultures venerate their elders, looking to them as living repositories of wisdom and experience, America, with its ―forever young‖ self-image, does not. Lacking societal support, how are Americans supposed to age well—to grow older with grace and understanding—and make life‘s final decades a meaningful experience? This program features the stories of exemplary individuals who, despite the inhospitable social climate, are growing older with courage and dignity. Students will gain an understanding of how some senior citizens are reconstructing what it means to grow older in the United States.

LIVING WITH DYING (2000, 87 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Death, which sooner or later comes to all, is treated as a strangely taboo subject in America. In this program, veteran PBS journalist Bill Moyers describes the search for new ways of thinking—and talking—about dying. Forgoing the usual reluctance that most Americans show toward speaking about death, patients and medical professionals alike come forward to examine the end of life with honesty, courage, and even humor, demonstrating that dying can be an incredibly rich experience for both the terminally ill and their loved ones. Students will explore the social construction and reconstruction of dying.

THE OLDER ADULT WORLD (2004, 27 m, Insight Media) Allowing viewers to see and experience the world as an older adult, this program looks at the natural changes that affect the elderly adult‘s daily life.

RELATIVE VALUES (2001, 16 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In Tunisia, a home for the elderly is quite unusual because most older people are automatically cared for by their families. This program explores how Tunisia, both as a state and a culture, negotiates the task of providing for its growing senior population, a task many Tunisians see as illustrative of key differences between European and Arab values. Along with a tour of a home for the elderly in Tunis, the program canvasses the views of younger people who are now responsible for the well-being of parents or grandparents. The film allows for a discussion of how responsibility for elders is socially constructed across cultures.

SAY GOODBYE TO GRANDDAD’S RETIREMENT (2008, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program explains why it will be difficult, if not impossible, for young people to retire as their grandparents did. Students will gain an understanding of how why and how retirement began in America and how it has changed with time.

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REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Assessing Your Awareness of Growing Old To what extent have you thought about the prospect of growing old? Have you made any preparations for supporting yourself in old age? To what degree, in your opinion, does our culture encourage or discourage awareness of the process of growing old?

Sample answer: Responses should discuss how older people in modern, industrialized societies like ours are not regarded as they once were; the process of aging is often defined in negative terms. Many of today‘s older adults feel devalued by today‘s youth culture. The mass media and social media, for example, typically focus on the lives of young people, making older people feel old-fashioned and of little value. When addressing the question about making preparations to support themselves in old age, students could discuss whether they are saving money or contributing to a specific retirement program such as a 401(k).

2. Assessing Your Awareness of Mortality Have you thought about the fact that, at some point, you will die? To what degree does our society encourage us to accept the inevitability of death?

Sample answer: How people think about death and dying is shaped by culture. Lowincome nations, for example, accept death as a common part of everyday life, whereas in high-income nations like ours, death is no longer part of most people‘s everyday experiences. It is clear that in U.S. culture, death is treated as a topic to avoid. However, a new social movement led by older adults is trying to bring death and dying out in the open.

3. Where Do You Stand?

How should people find economic security in old age? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then write a paragraph or two that explains the extent to which you think government or people themselves should take responsibility for having the resources they need in old age.

Sample answer: Addressing the needs of the older adult population in U.S. society always reflects people‘s political attitudes. Liberals and a majority of U.S. adults support the idea that the government should ensure everyone‘s basic economic security, whereas conservatives are more likely to argue that meeting one‘s own needs in old age is the responsibility of the person (i.e., financial planning and disciplined savings).

4. National Map 6–1 The Elderly Population across the United States Your journal assignment is to identify where and suggest why. First, check out counties in Montana, Nebraska, and Kansas and other areas in the Midwest and the Great Plains. Now look at the map on the right, which shows the share of residents living in the same house since 1989.

Where do long-term residents—who are older people—live? Notice that most of the counties with a large share of these people are in the Midwest and Plains States, and also in rural areas of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. Compare the two maps. What can you conclude? In which regions do young people leave in search of jobs?

Sample answer: Looking at the map on the left, large numbers of counties with populations in which 20 percent or more of the people are over the age of sixty-five are

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found not only in Florida, but also in northern and central regions of the country. Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas all have many counties with a high concentration of seniors. In general, these are rural counties.

If we look at the map on the right, we see that these rural counties also have a high share of households where the families have lived in the same home for decades.

What‘s going on? Florida is a state where there is a high share of seniors because many older people move there. Much of the rest of rural America has a high share of seniors because younger people have left these counties in search of more opportunity, generally moving to large cities, often closer to the coasts. Those who remain tend to be older, which pushes up the share of seniors in the population.

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CHAPTER 7 CRIME, VIOLENCE, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Why Is Our Society So Violent?

John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE Chapter 7 of this revision discusses school shootings through early-2023, including global data showing that two-thirds of all mass shootings worldwide occur in the United States. The discussion of guns and deadly violence has current state-by-state data on gun ownership laws.

There is also expanded and updated discussion of hate crimes. This chapter also reflects changes in marijuana laws.

Important analysis is illustrated using current events including the mass shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; gang violence in Chicago and other cities; and the violence inherent in the opioid crisis. There is discussion of the ―normalization‖ of mass murder in the United States.

Fifty-seven new research citations support this chapter‘s discussions.

AUTHOR’S NOTE Here are this chapter‘s major lessons for your students: First, the chapter defines crime and presents a statistical picture of the frequency of major ―street‖ crimes (violent crime and property crime) as well as a social profile of those arrested for these crimes. The discussion is expanded with consideration of related concepts, including white-collar crime, corporate crime, and organized crime.

The second part of the chapter deals with violence, which may be criminal (homicide) and may be widely celebrated (football). How society constructs meaning around specific acts of violence (as either ―problem‖ or even ―solution‖) provides a good illustration of our broader theme of the ―social construction of problems.‖ There is little doubt that, in global comparisons to other high-income nations, the United States is a violent country. The chapter accounts for this pattern by linking violence to factors such as poverty, drug use, the mass media, youth gangs, and the wide availability of guns.

The criminal justice system is the next point of focus. Notice that police discretion, plea bargaining, and punishment are all illustrations of a ―social construction‖ process by which individuals make sense out of troubling behavior.

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Finally, a word about teaching theory. There are biological and psychological theories of crime and violence included in the chapter. Their limitation, from a sociological point of view, is that these theories view such behavior as a trait of certain individuals. Sociological theories advance the claim that crime and violence are part of the organization of society itself. I have always enjoyed teaching about crime and violence sociologically because all the major theoretical approaches convey powerful messages: • Structural-functional theory: Deviance is inherent in all social organization.

• Symbolic-interaction theory: It‘s not so much what someone does that matters as how others react.

• Social-conflict theory: Patterns of crime and violence are linked to social inequality.

• Feminist theory: Patterns of crime and violence are linked to gender stratification.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Understanding Crime 7.1 Identify serious crimes as well as trends and patterns in crime rates.

• Norms, Law, and Crime o Norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members. o A law is a norm formally created through a society‘s political system.

▪ Civil law defines the legal rights and relationships involving individuals and businesses.

▪ Criminal law defines everyone‘s responsibility to uphold public order. o Crime is the violation of a criminal law enacted by the federal, state, or local government.

▪ A misdemeanor is a less serious crime punishable by less than one year in prison.

▪ A felony is a more serious crime punishable by at least one year in prison. o Under our legal system, crime typically involves not only an action (or, sometimes, a failure to act) but also intention. o Recent surveys show that a large majority of U.S. adults think that preventing crime—especially violent crime—is a ―top priority‖ for our society. o Fear of crime itself is a social problem because it limits the things people do and the places people go.

• Crime Statistics o Police departments across the country make regular reports to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which compiles data on felonies or serious crimes of two types in the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR): ▪ Crime against property is crime that involves theft of property belonging to others.

▪ Crime against persons is crime that involves violence or threat of violence against others.

▪ Table 7–1 Serious Crime in the Uniform Crime Reports o The UCR data are useful, but there are two reasons to view the statistics with caution: ▪ The UCR includes only crimes that are known to the police.

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▪

•

•

UCR gathers statistics on street crimes but not elite crimes, which include business fraud, insider stock trading, corruption, price fixing, and illegal dumping of toxic wastes.

Violent Crime: Patterns and Trends o The crime rate for property offenses is almost six times higher than that for violent crimes against persons.

▪ Figure 7–1 Crime Rates in the United States, 1960-2020. o Murder ▪ By the end of 2020, the U.S. murder rate had increased by 30 percent, which is the largest increased on record in more than a century.

Preliminary data suggest that the murder rate continued to increase in 2021, but at a slower rate than in 2020, and the rate leveled off in 2022.

▪ FBI data show that for murder cases in which the relationship of the victim to the offender could be determined, 80 percent of victims knew the offender. In 36 percent of the cases, victim and offender had some family relationship.

▪ Stalking is defined as repeated efforts by someone to establish or reestablish a relationship against the will of the victim.

▪ Personal Stories: Stalking: The Construction of a Problem o Forcible Rape ▪ Efforts by colleges and universities to educate students about ―date rape‖—sexual assault in which the offender and victim know one another—have encouraged more victims to come forward.

▪ FBI statistics include attempted rape, but they do not include sex with a minor (typically a person under the age of eighteen) when no force is involved, which is a crime known as statutory rape. o Aggravated Assault ▪ Aggravated assault is the most common crime against a person, accounting for 72 percent of all reported violent crime. o Robbery ▪ Robbery is both a property crime and a violent crime as it involves stealing from and threatening another person. Since 1991, the general trend in the robbery rate has been downward.

Property Crime: Patterns and Trends o Typically, the victim of a property crime never sees the offender. This is one reason that police make an arrest in only 17 percent of reported property crimes compared to 46 percent of reported violent crimes. o Burglary ▪ Despite a decade-long decline in the burglary rate, there were still more than 586,000 burglaries in 2021. o Larceny-Theft ▪ Unlike burglary, such cases do not involve ―breaking and entering,‖ and offenders typically commit their crime in a public place and use no force or violence.

▪ Larceny-theft is the most common of all the serious crimes tracked by the FBI and accounts for 60 percent of the total.

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•

o Motor Vehicle Theft ▪ The recent trend for this crime has been downward, with an uptick in 2020. Yet the number of motor vehicle thefts—including stealing cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, and snowmobiles—still exceeded 555,500 in 2021. o Arson ▪ The FBI does not have data on arson for the entire country, but studies suggest that millions of cases of arson occur annually and that the rate has remained about the same in recent years. ―Street Crime‖: Who Are the Criminals? o Using FBI data, we can profile the typical street criminal in terms of age, gender, social class, race, and ethnicity. o Age ▪ For all offenses, those most likely to be arrested are the young. o Gender ▪ Men make up about half of the general population, but in 2021, they accounted for 70 percent of arrests for property crimes and 81 percent of all arrests for violent crimes. o Social Class ▪ Sociological research has long shown that people of lower social position are involved in most arrests for street crime. o Race and Ethnicity ▪ White people represent 64 percent of all arrests and Black people account for 30 percent. In the case of violent crime, White people represent 61 percent of arrests and Black people represent 33 percent. In terms of actual numbers, most street crime arrests involve White suspects. But in proportion to their share of the population (about 13.6 percent), Black people are more likely than White people to be arrested.

▪ Hispanic people were about three times as likely, and Black people about five times as likely, to be incarcerated compared to non-Hispanic White people.

▪ Incarceration rates have declined among all racial and ethnic categories, but a problem remains: Black people and more specifically, Black men, continue to experience the effects of what critics call ―mass incarceration.‖ Mass incarceration is both a cause and result of poverty.

▪ Black people have a high poverty rate. About 31 percent of all Black children grow up in poverty compared with 11 percent of White children.

▪ More police patrols are found in low-income neighborhoods, especially those with predominantly Black populations. Prejudice based on race and class can prompt people to suspect Black people of criminal behavior simply on the basis of skin color.

▪ Sixty-four percent of Black children are born to single mothers compared with 24 percent of White children. Single parents have less time to supervise children.

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▪

Street crimes are offenses for which police are likely to arrest low-income people. But white-collar crime, corporate crime, and organized crime typically involve a far larger share of White and wealthy offenders.

II. Additional Dimensions of the Crime Problem 7.2 Define a number of specific types of crime.

• Juvenile Delinquency o Juvenile delinquency is violation of the law by young people (the definition of a ―juvenile‖ varies from state to state, but it is generally someone under the age of eighteen). o Criminal cases involving juveniles are heard in juvenile courts, which focus on helping children straighten out rather than simply punishing them. o When punishment is applied to juveniles, incarceration typically extends only to the legal age of adulthood (typically between eighteen and twenty-one). In addition, the offender is incarcerated at a juvenile detention center rather than in an adult prison. o A young person charged with a serious offense may face ―adult charges‖ o In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that offenders who were under the age of eighteen when they committed their offenses cannot be sentenced to death, whatever their crime.

• Hate Crimes o Hate crime is a criminal offense against a person, property, or society motivated by the offender‘s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ethnicity or national origin. o Many, perhaps even most, hate crimes are not reported. Some police organizations do not record or submit hat crime data and many victims are reluctant to report their victimization. o The odds of becoming a victim of a hate crime are especially high for people with multiple disadvantages, such as gay men of color. Even so, hate crimes can victimize anyone. o Critics argue that because acts such as assault are already against the law, special hate crime laws are unnecessary. In addition, because such laws end up punishing people‘s attitudes toward others, critics view such laws as a step in the direction of government ―thought police.‖ o Figure 7–2 Bias-Motivated Offenses, 2021.

• White-Collar Crime o White-collar crime refers to illegal activities conducted by people of high social position during the course of their employment or regular business activities. o Such cases have often been resolved in a civil court rather than a criminal court.

This means that the person accused may have to pay damages but escapes being labeled a criminal and almost certainly will not go to prison. o The recent trend has been for a larger share of individuals to be sentenced to prison when convicted of engaging in fraud and other white-collar crimes. o Corporate Crime

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Corporate crime is an illegal act committed by a corporation or by persons acting on its behalf. One example of corporate crime is gross negligence: knowingly producing a faulty or dangerous product.

▪ Sometimes the line between white-collar crime (acts by individuals) and corporate crime (policies carried out by entire companies) is not clear.

This is especially likely when the white-collar crimes are committed by top leaders in a company.

Organized Crime o Organized crime is a business operation that supplies illegal goods and services.

Such businesses profit from selling any number of goods and services that people want—including gambling, sex, and drugs—in violation of the law. o Organized crime has become multinational in scale with the expansion of the global economy. o Social Problems in Global Perspective: Organized Crime: All Over the World Victimless Crime o Victimless crimes are offenses that directly harm only the person who commits them. Sometimes called public order crimes, victimless crime includes gambling, prostitution, public drunkenness, drug use, and vagrancy. o Laws regulating the activities that are commonly considered to be victimless crimes vary from place to place.

III. Violence 7.3 Discuss the causes and consequences of violence in our society.

• Violence is behavior that causes injury to people or damage to property.

• Violence also plays a part in everyday life, often without anyone breaking the law. Many of our favorite sports (such as football) are quite violent, as are some forms of live entertainment (such as World Wrestling Entertainment) as well as many television shows, films, and video games.

• Is Violence a Social Problem? o A simple answer is that violence becomes a social problem to the extent that people define it that way. People commonly consider four basic factors: ▪ What do the actors intend by their actions?

▪ Does the violence conform to or violate social norms and values?

▪ Does the violence support or threaten the social order?

▪ Is the violence committed by or against the government? o Institutional violence is violence carried out by government representatives under the law. o Anti-institutional violence is violence directed against the government in violation of the law. o As members of a society carry on a debate about the right and wrong use of violence, a society comes to define new social problems.

• Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: U.S. Society Discovers Child Abuse • Serious Violence: Mass Murder and Serial Killings o Mass Murder

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Mass murder is the intentional, unlawful killing of three or more people at one time and place.

▪ Between 1966 and 2020, there were 402 instances of mass murder in the U.S. The frequency of mass killings has dramatically increase with a number of mass murders having taken place in schools.

▪ Looking globally, mass murder is far more common in the U.S. than in other high-income nations.

▪ Almost all mass murderers are men and are people with access to guns. o Serial Murder ▪ Serial murder is the killing of several people by one offender over a period of time.

▪ Serial killers are probably the best known of all deadly offenders, and fictitious killers such as Hannibal ―the Cannibal‖ Lecter have chilled millions of moviegoers. Although such cases grab the headlines, serial killers represent only a tiny fraction of all murderers.

▪ Almost all serial killers are men. Most are mentally ill, suffering from psychotic disorders that distort their sense of reality and strip them of the ability to feel compassion for others.

Mass Media, Social Media, and Violence o The typical young person in the United States watches about eight or nine hours of media each day, and many television shows—even cartoons—contain plenty of violence. o The more media violence children watch, the more they engage in rough play and the more likely they are to resort to violence when they become adults. o Living in a media violence culture, we become so used to violence that the idea of people deliberately hurting each other no longer bothers us.

Poverty and Violence o Although most low-income people do not turn to crime or violence, poverty does raise the risk of both.

Youth Gangs and Violence o Youth gangs are groups of young people who identify with one another and with a particular territory. o A recent government study found 3,100 jurisdictions with ―gang problems‖ and identified nearly 33,000 street, motorcycle, and prison gangs with 1.4 million members. Gangs range from nonviolent social groups to groups that sometimes clash over turf to all-out criminal organizations that engage in drug dealing, robbery, extortion, and even murder. o The typical member comes from a single-parent family living in a low-income neighborhood with high rates of crime and drug abuse and few available jobs. o Police have responded to this violence by focusing patrols in high-violence areas and taking firearms off the streets.

Drugs and Violence o One government study found that 25 percent of the victims of violent crime thought their attackers were under the influence of alcohol or some other drug.

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o Drugs encourage violence by distorting judgment and reducing inhibitions. When a person already inclined to react to frustration and stress with violent behavior uses drugs, the odds of ―losing it‖ go up. o Drug use itself is a type of violence. Drug overdoses kill more than 90,000 people in the United States every year.

Guns and Violence o Because many household guns find their way into the hands of criminals or even curious children, many people—especially liberals—define gun ownership itself as a serious social problem. They point out that many guns used in violent crime were readily purchased at a gun store.

▪ Figure 7–3 Patterns of Household Gun Ownership ▪ Figure 7–4 Murder: Type of Weapon Used o Liberals argue that a solution to the problem of guns and violence is enacting laws that make guns harder to get. By restricting the availability of handguns, violence in the United States would become less deadly.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 7–1 Who‘s Packin‘? Concealed Weapon Laws across the United States o Conservatives point to the constitutional right to ―keep and bear arms‖ as one of this country‘s basic freedoms. o Reducing gun violence would provide enormous benefits for everyone, but especially for Black people as gun violence is the leading cause of death for Black males between the ages of fifteen and forty-four. o Gun ownership is an issue that divides the U.S. population and breaks along party lines.

IV. The Criminal Justice System 7.4 Analyze the operation of the U.S. criminal justice system.

• The criminal justice system is society‘s use of due process, involving police, courts, and punishment, to enforce the law.

• Due Process o Due process means that the criminal justice system must operate within the bounds of law.

• Police o Police Discretion ▪ Police use discretion deciding whether or not to intervene in any situation.

• How serious is the crime?

• What does the victim want?

• Is the suspect cooperative?

• Does the suspect have a record?

• Are bystanders watching?

• What is the suspect‘s race? o Changes in Police Policy ▪ The practice of community policing makes police more visible to the public by moving some police officers from cars to bicycle or foot patrol.

▪ Under a zero-tolerance policy, police respond to any offense, no matter how minor.

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Courts o U.S. court system is an adversarial process, meaning that the prosecutor presents the state‘s case against the defendant and the defendant‘s attorney presents a defense against the charges. The judge or jury reaches a verdict based on the strength of the cases presented by the two sides. o Plea bargaining is a negotiation in which the state reduces a defendant‘s charge in exchange for a guilty plea.

Punishment o In response to law breaking, the criminal justice system makes use of various forms of punishment, ranging from fines to jail time to death.

▪ Figure 7–5 Global Snapshot: Rates of Incarceration for Selected Countries o One reason for the increasing prison population is that many states have enacted tough sentencing laws. Another policy that has raised the prison population is a mandatory prison sentence for specific serious crimes. o A recent trend in the corrections field is moving past the old ―tough versus soft‖ debate to being smart about crime. Supporters of smart crime policy include both conservatives and liberals. o Retribution ▪ Retribution is moral vengeance by which society inflicts on the offender suffering comparable to that caused by the offense.

▪ It is based on the idea that the moral order of society is upset when someone commits a crime. o Deterrence ▪ Deterrence uses punishment to discourage further crime.

▪ Punishment provides specific deterrence to the individual offender, who will think twice before offending again. At the same time, punishment provides general deterrence by teaching everyone what happens to people who break the law. o Rehabilitation ▪ Rehabilitation seeks to reform an offender to prevent future offenses.

▪ Rehabilitation differs from retribution and deterrence because it is built on positive intention. Retribution and deterrence also demand that the punishment fit the crime, but rehabilitation means tailoring treatment to the personal needs of a specific offender. o Societal Protection ▪ Societal protection seeks to protect the public by using incarceration or execution to prevent an offender from committing further offenses. o Does Punishment Work?

▪ Although common sense suggests that punishment discourages crime, this country has a high rate of criminal recidivism, later offenses by people previously convicted of crimes.

▪ There is increasing criticism of mass incarceration, by which more than 1 million people are behind bars.

▪ The high recidivism rate suggests that successful rehabilitation is the exception rather than the rule.

▪ Finally, punishment probably does result in societal protection.

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o Restorative Justice ▪ Restorative justice is a response to crime seeking to restore the well-being of the victim, offender, and larger communities that has been lost due to crime.

▪ Courts that embrace restorative justice bring together offenders and victims to engage in dialogue about what happened, why it happened, and how the event affected each of them.

▪ Window on the World Global Map 7–1 Capital Punishment in Global Perspective.

Social Policy: The Death Penalty: Problem or Solution?

Community-Based Corrections o Community-based corrections are correctional programs that take place in local communities rather than behind prison walls. o Probation ▪ Probation is a policy of letting a convicted offender stay in the community with regular supervision and under conditions imposed by a court. o Shock Probation ▪ By using shock probation to show an offender the seriousness of the crime while avoiding a long prison term, a judge imposes a substantial prison sentence but then orders that only part of the sentence will be served in prison and the rest will be served on probation. o Parole ▪ Parole is a policy of releasing inmates from prison to serve a remaining sentence under supervision in the local community. o Do Probation and Parole Work?

▪ Probation and parole cost much less than keeping someone in prison, and these policies do reduce prison overcrowding. It also makes sense to use prisons for offenders who commit serious crimes while monitoring those who commit less serious crimes in the community. These two forms of community-based corrections seem to be effective for some people.

V. Explaining Crime: Biological and Psychological Theories 7.5 Apply biological and psychological theories to the issue of crime.

• Social Policy: The Death Penalty: Problem or Solution?

• Biological Causes o Researchers in neurocriminology, a field that focuses on the biological causes of crime, have documented differences in the ventral prefrontal cortex of the brain— the area that controls emotional impulses—that distinguish criminal and noncriminal individuals. But they add that the way a child‘s brain develops is not simply a biological process but also reflects the child‘s environment.

• Psychological Causes o Like biological research, psychological study of crime focuses on the individual traits of offenders—in this case, abnormal personalities.

VI. Explaining Crime: Sociological Theories 7.6 Apply sociological theory to the issue of crime.

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Structural-Functional Analysis: Why Society Creates Crime o Structural-functionalist theory investigates how any social pattern contributes to the operation of society as a system. o Emile Durkheim: The Functions of Crime ▪ Crime affirms a society‘s norms and values.

▪ Recognizing crime helps everyone clarify the boundary between right and wrong.

▪ Reacting to crime brings people together.

▪ Crime encourages social change.

▪ Durkheim‘s theory asks not why some individual would engage in crime but why society defines some behavior as criminal. o Robert Merton: Strain Theory ▪ Figure 7–6 Merton‘s Strain Theory of Deviance ▪ Conformity is likely among people who accept society‘s goals and also have access to the conventional means to get there.

▪ Innovation refers to adopting some unconventional means to achieve a conventional goal.

▪ Merton described ritualism as living almost obsessively by the rules.

▪ One response to a lack of opportunity is retreatism, turning away from both approved goals and legitimate means.

▪ Rebellion involves not just rejecting conventional goals and means but also advocating some entirely new system. Instead of dropping out of society the way retreatists do, rebels come up with a new vision of how to live, playing out their ideas as members of religious cults or revolutionary political groups.

▪ Patterns of rule breaking depend on, first, whether or not people accept society‘s goals and, second, whether or not society provides people with the opportunity to reach these goals. o Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin: Opportunity Structure ▪ Whether or not people turn to deviant behavior depends not only on access to legitimate opportunity (such as schooling or jobs) but also on access to illegitimate opportunity (such as the chance to learn how to carry out crime).

▪ Patterns of conformity and criminality are likely to reflect what Cloward and Ohlin call people‘s relative opportunity structure. o Travis Hirschi: Control Theory ▪ Control theory argues that strong social and emotional attachments to others—being well integrated into the community—discourage people from engaging in crime.

• Attachment to other people • Access to conventional opportunity • Involvement in conventional activities • Belief in the righteousness of cultural norms and values Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Socially Constructing Reality o Symbolic-interaction theory explores how people construct reality in everyday interaction.

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o Edwin Sutherland: Differential Association Theory ▪ Whether a person moves toward conformity or deviance depends on the relative degree of association with others who encourage or discourage conventional behavior. o Howard S. Becker: Labeling Theory ▪ Labeling theory is the idea that crime and all other forms of rule breaking result not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions. o Edwin Lemert: Primary versus Secondary Deviance ▪ The reaction of others to primary deviance can provoke secondary deviance, in which the person begins to change, now basing choices on this deviant identity. o Erving Goffman: The Power of Stigma ▪ Stigma is a powerful negative social label that radically changes a person‘s self-concept and social identity.

▪ Once stigmatized, a person my find that friends and legitimate opportunities begin to disappear.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Crime and Inequality o How laws are written, which neighborhoods police patrol, which categories of people end up being arrested—all these reflect who has power and who does not. o Karl Marx: Class and Crime ▪ In a capitalist society, Marx explained, the legal system protects the property of the capitalist class. Capitalists gain wealth legally simply by ―doing business‖; ordinary people who threaten capitalists‘ wealth risk arrest as ―common criminals‖ or ―political revolutionaries.‖ ▪ From a Marxist point of view, the solution to crime is to eliminate capitalism.

Feminist Analysis: Crime and Gender o In cases such as prostitution, it is the less powerful women who are arrested more often than the more powerful men.

VII. Politics and Crime: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 7.7 Analyze crime and violence from various positions on the political spectrum.

• The Far Right: Crime and National Decline o Those on the far right see rising crime and violence as the work of social ―outsiders‖ including immigrants and minorities.

• Conservatives: Crime, Violence, and Morality o Conservatives believe that effective social controls are needed to keep people from engaging in violence or criminal behavior. The most effective control, as they see it, is conscience.

• Liberals: Crime, Violence, and Jobs o As liberals see it, crime and violence are caused by a harmful social environment, especially when lives are twisted by poverty. o Liberals see the criminal justice system as a revolving door: People with few legitimate opportunities turn to crime, and many end up in prison.

• The Radical Left: Crime and Inequality

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o From a radical-left perspective, the real crime in this society is our nation‘s great economic inequality, a vast gap that has steadily increased in recent decades. o The conservative claim linking crime to single parenting is a case of blaming the victims, according to the radical-left perspective.

Going On from Here o Decline in drug use, adding more police, and building more prisons began to push down crime rates in the 1990s, but in the last few years there has been an increase in violent crime that is now a concern for most people in the United States. o The burden of crime control is likely to remain squarely on the shoulders of the criminal justice system. o Sociological research casts doubt on the idea that, operating on its own, the criminal justice system can solve the crime problem.

Defining Solutions: What Is the Best Way to Keep Crime in Check?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 7.1 Identify serious crimes as well as trends and patterns in crime rates.

7.2 Define a number of specific types of crime.

7.3 Discuss the causes and consequences of violence in our society.

7.4 Analyze the operation of the U.S. criminal justice system.

7.5 Apply biological and psychological theories to the issue of crime.

7.6 Apply sociological theory to the issue of crime.

7.7 Analyze crime and violence from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 7, students should be able to: Define norms, law, and crime.

Discuss the extent of the crime problem, including crimes against persons and crimes against property.

Critically discuss the crime rates included in the FBI‘s Uniform Crime Reports.

Discuss violent crime patterns and trends in the United States today.

Discuss patterns and trends of property crime in the United States today.

Illustrate the social construction of a problem using the case of stalking.

Create a profile of the typical ―street criminal‖ in terms of age, gender, social class, race, and ethnicity.

Distinguish juvenile delinquency from the broader concept of crime. Distinguish white-collar crime, corporate crime, organized crime, and victimless crime.

Explain the factors involved in the social construction of violent behavior as being or not being a social problem.

Distinguish between mass murder and serial murder. What do we know about the offenders involved in these types of criminal violence?

Illustrate the social construction of a social problem using the case of child abuse.

Explain how the mass media can influence the level of violence in society.

Discuss the relationship between violence and poverty.

Discuss the patterns of violence among youth gangs.

Discuss the relationship between violence and the availability of guns in the United States.

Describe the key elements of the U.S. criminal justice system.

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Describe community-based corrections, including probation, shock probation, and parole.

What are the limitations of biological and psychological approaches to explaining violence?

How do sociological theories surpass these limitations?

State the essential claim of structural-functional theory, symbolic-interaction theory, socialconflict theory, and feminist theory in the case of violence. What is one limitation of each approach?

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of crime as a social problem.

Illustrate how conservatives, liberals, and radicals on the left construct the issue of crime as a social problem.

Explain how political attitudes guide the process of defining solutions to the problem of crime and violence.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: WHY IS OUR SOCIETY SO VIOLENT? Some of the figures in this chapter seem to present good news. For example, Figure 7–1 shows that crime rates rose from 1960 to 1990 and then began coming down again, if not quite as quickly as they had gone up.

But the Tracking the Trends figure at the beginning of the chapter—which is included on one of the PowerPoint slides in the instructor‘s manual—is disturbing.

The figure shows that in 2019, the United States had a much higher rate of firearm death than other high-income countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

This chapter points to a number of factors that contribute to high levels of deadly violence. Keep in mind the pattern presented in this figure as you discuss these factors. Students will gradually gain confidence as they try to build an explanation for the high levels of deadly violence in the United States.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION We all hear that the United States is a nation of laws. And we are also a nation of flaws. One of the ways our country falls short is the existence of racial bias in the criminal justice system. The fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a young Black man, by Darren Wilson, a White police officer, sparked a national debate, often generating more heat than light, which has yet to bring about a solution.

There are too many similar cases of Black men and women being injured or killed by police. Some other recent victims of deadly violence by police include Terrence Crutcher and Alton Sterling (2017), Oscar Grant (2018), Stephon Clark and Willy McCoy (2019), George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (2020), and Dante Wright (2021). As you might imagine, there are dozens of short videos that provide news footage, context, and analysis involving any and all of these tragic events. Go to a search engine such as YouTube, search for victims by name, and sort through the many options available to find the video that will best fit your classroom discussion.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short, PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help

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instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 7, the PowerPoint presentation is called ―Is It Dangerous to Be Black and Drive?‖ This recent research points to racial bias in the operation of the U.S. criminal justice system.

This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: The Differences between ―Bad‖ and ―Sick.‖ Many students may assume that all people who are convicted of a crime are ―bad.‖ But definitions are rarely that simple.

Our criminal justice system focuses not just on an act (or omission) but also on a person‘s intent when acting. This distinction underlies levels of criminal culpability, as in the case of killing, which can be defined as ―accidental,‖ a matter of ―self-defense,‖ or criminal in various degrees.

Codes of law have always taken some account of a person‘s mental state because it speaks to intent. A person may be considered to have ―diminished mental capacity‖ and therefore not be capable of full intent. To the degree that this is true, we may characterize an offender as ―sick‖ rather than ―bad.‖ The chapter explains the ―difference labels make.‖ A society‘s response to an offense varies, to put it simply, with a ―therapeutic‖ response to sickness and a punitive response to badness.

Many students may consider a ruling of diminished capacity to be tantamount to ―getting off.‖ But the facts suggest otherwise. Once a person is defined as ―sick,‖ the individual is moved outside the due process of the criminal justice system and may be detained until such time that medical personnel declare the person to be fit to reenter society, which is to say ―no longer dangerous.‖ There is no time limit here. An offense that might produce a ten-year prison sentence can cause a person to spend the remainder of their life locked up. Whether the bars are on the windows of a prison or a hospital may make little difference in practical terms.

A case in point is John Hinkley Jr., who in 1981 shot President Reagan, apparently to win the attention of actress Jodie Foster. When he was found to be ―not guilty by reason of insanity‖ and sent to St. Elizabeth‘s Hospital, millions of people felt he had cheated the law. He stayed there until 2016, when he was released, subject to various provisions.

A finding of ―not guilty by reason of insanity‖ is very rare—involving less than one in ten thousand contested felony cases. But it is clear that, once defined as ―sick,‖ people may be subject to treatment that extends well beyond what the criminal justice system might demand.

Source McLelland, Mac. 2017. ―When ‗Not Guilty‘ Is a Life Sentence.‖ The New York Times Magazine (September 27).

Discussion Questions

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a. Do you think that our society should distinguish between offenders being ―bad‖ and ―sick‖? Why or why not? b. Do you think that anyone who commits a violent crime might be described as being ill in some way? Explain. c. Do you consider being ―crazy‖ to be more or less serious than being ―criminal‖? Why? 2. Supplemental Lecture: The Social Construction of Heroes.

Every society or organization creates heroes and villains. As Durkheim explained, heroes and villains are a resource that helps a community define itself (what we are and what we are not) and also helps encourage conformity and solidarity among members.

The creation of heroes is not simple or quick. The hero comes to represent a goal or principle.

This means that the person being constructed as a hero must be idealized. For this to happen, any elements inconsistent with the heroic status must be expunged, ignored, or forgotten. No doubt this is why the Catholic Church requires that anyone being considered for sainthood be dead for a long time.

An issue of Time magazine (September 2, 2013) had a cover story on the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. giving the ―Dream‖ speech in Washington, DC. From the point of view of understanding heroism, it is worth noting that the article is helping to establish King as not only the major leader of the Black community and the civil rights movement but also as a ―founding father‖ of the United States. In short, King now stands in the pantheon with other heroic figures including Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. In embracing Martin Luther King Jr. in this way, our nation is continuing on the journey—still unfinished—of creating a color-blind society in which people will be judged by ―the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.‖ Discussion Questions a. Are there heroes on your campus? Who? Why? b. What about villains?

3. Supplemental Lecture: Gun Control versus Crime Control.

Gun control easily ranks as one of the most persistent and divisive issues for our society over the past few decades, particularly in regard to handguns and assault weapons. Both proponents and opponents of gun control claim that their position on gun ownership will help to control crime.

The United States certainly has a lot of guns, especially handguns. There are more guns in this country on a per capita basis than in any other high-income nation. As the chapter explains, more than half of U.S. households have at least one gun. The nation‘s rate of violent killing, while trending downward in recent decades, is also high by international standards.

There are cultural reasons for this nation‘s high rates of gun ownership and gun violence.

Our frontier history and cultural emphasis on self-reliance certain play a part. The gun killings of children in dozens of U.S. schools have certainly kept the issue of gun control on center stage.

But while the continued killings have sparked heated rhetoric on both sides, they have resulted in little real change.

Other countries appear to have more faith in police protection, to place greater restrictions on firearm sales, and to have more stringent processes to certify and register legal handgun users

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than we do. More to the point, voters in these countries seem more prepared to connect the spread of firearms to increasing crime and violence, whereas a large share of people in the United States do not see a contradiction between owning a weapon and being at risk from its use.

In fact, one of the claims made by the National Rifle Association (NRA) in support of limiting gun laws is that widespread gun ownership will reduce crime.

Discussion Questions a. Why do you think gun ownership is so widespread in the United States? Does this pattern increase our security as a nation or does it put us at risk? Why? b. Do you or anyone in your household own a gun? If there is a gun, what is the reason for owning it?

4. Campuses across the United States are wrestling with the problem of sexual assault. A wellresearched and informative review of this issue is found in an article by Eliza Gray, ―Rape: The Crisis in Higher Education.‖ Find this article in Time, Vol. 183, No. 20 (May 26, 2014): 20–27.

5. Anne M. Nurse and Matthew Krain have devised a strategy for incorporating service learning into criminology and deviance courses. Portions of their technique could be useful in your social problems course as well. Taking a look at their article is worth the time and effort: ―Mask Making: Incorporating Service Learning into Criminology and Deviance Courses‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 34, July 2006: 278–85).

6. Elizabeth Callaghan has incorporated a court ethnography assignment in some of her courses as ―a wonderful way to teach observation skills in an unfamiliar legal setting‖ (p. 213).

Callaghan‘s article, ―What They Learn in Court: Student Observations of Legal Proceedings,‖ appears in the April 2005 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 33: 213–20).

7. Laura L. Finley makes a series of suggestions about using content analysis projects in the introduction to criminal justice classroom, but her method and technique could also be useful in your social problems courses. Take a look at her article, ―Using Content Analysis Projects in the Introduction to Criminal Justice Classroom‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 32, January 2004: 129– 37).

8. Unless they have been victimized by crime, students tend to think about this problem as ―something that‘s out there‖ but not very close to home. In fact, colleges and universities have crime problems of their own, and from the student‘s point of view, this fact has important implications. Invite representatives from your institution‘s public safety department to your class with the express intention of discussing crime on campus and what can be done about it.

Students are especially eager to discuss their own experiences on campus, and it is useful to link these personal vignettes to the sociological approaches to crime discussed in the text.

9. Cheating is not a criminal offense, as such, but it is a serious violation of academic procedure, and if found guilty of academic dishonesty a student may suffer serious consequences, including expulsion. Timothy Brezina has offered a technique for understanding the key differences between those who are labeled ―deviant‖ and those who are not (―Are Deviants Different from

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the Rest of Us? Using Student Accounts of Academic Cheating to Explore a Popular Myth,‖ Teaching Sociology, January 2000: 71–78).

10. Although it may be time consuming, one prospect for an interesting class exercise or discussion is to arrange for an ex-convict to appear in your class for the purpose of discussing the crime problem from the ―other side of the fence.‖ Local parole officers in your area may be able to provide the names of individuals who are willing to make these kinds of appearances. In the same forum, it would be especially useful to invite a law enforcement official to be present to provide perspective on these issues.

11. Most students are aware of the fact that television frequently presents distorted images of crime and criminals. At the same time, your students may not have paid much attention to the types of distortion involved. Have students choose their favorite TV shows and then take notes on the portrayal of crime and criminals as they watch the programming. They may be struck by the sheer number of crime-related images that appear on these shows. During class discussion, ask the students to comment on what kinds of crimes are most prominent. Who are the criminals? Who are the victims? What general impression do the shows provide about the crime problem in our society? Then compare the students‘ commentaries with the research findings available concerning the media‘s influence on the public‘s impressions of the crime problem (see any recent criminology text for data, if required).

12. Organize a discussion surrounding capital punishment and the death penalty in U.S. society.

Ask the students if they believe that capital punishment has any deterrent value above and beyond eliminating the possibility that one offender could commit a subsequent crime. Your coordination of this discussion may be enhanced by reading Herb Haines‘s article, ―Flawed Executions, the Anti-Death Penalty Movement, and the Politics of Capital Punishment‖ (Teaching Problems, Vol. 39, May 1992: 125–38).

13. Diane M. Purvin and Edward L. Kain have proposed a series of active learning exercises for teaching about violence and other topics. Their article, ―The Research Article as an Instrument of Active Learning for Teaching about Violence, Sexual Abuse, and Union Formation among LowIncome Families,‖ appears in the July 2005 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 33: 323–35).

14. The distinction between institutional and noninstitutional violence is an excellent beginning for a stimulating discussion of society‘s ambivalent or even contradictory attitudes toward violence in general. Encourage your students to think about the dramatic difference in public reactions to violence, depending on whether it is positively sanctioned in society. For example, the game of hockey is extremely violent, but the violence is institutionalized by the rules of the game. Violence is a taken-for-granted part of hockey. In the game of tennis, we do not expect the competitors to make body contact and shove each other around, and yet, if we changed the rules of tennis, such behavior could very well become expected. Through this discussion, students will be able to place violence in perspective.

15. Invite a campus representative who is involved in preventing sexual violence to come to your class to explain the extent of the problem on campus and to describe prevention programs. This poses an excellent opportunity to discuss date rape, sexual harassment, and related behaviors.

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WEB LINKS Bureau of Justice Statistics: Search for Hispanic Victims of Violent Crime http://bjs.gov Communities United against Police Brutality http://www.cuapb.org Constitution Society: Search for U.S. Bill of Rights http://www.constitution.org Corporate Crime Reporter http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com Death Penalty Focus: Alternatives to the Death Penalty http://www.deathpenalty.org Federal Trade Commission: Search for 2006 Identity Theft Survey Report http://www.ftc.gov Human Rights Campaign: Search for Resources: Hate Crimes http://www.hrc.org Institute for Intergovernmental Research: Search for National Youth Gang Center http://www.iir.com Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law: Search for Female Stalkers and Their Victims http://www.jaapl.org March for Our Lives https://marchforourlives.com Nader, Ralph http://www.nader.org World Health Organization: Search for Violence and Injury Prevention http://www.who.int ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Identify the felonies included in the FBI‘s annual Uniform Crime Reports. Also note the reasons why these reports need to be viewed with caution.

2. Discuss the social construction of crime.

3. Create a profile of the typical ―street criminal‖ in terms of age, gender, social class, and ethnicity.

4. Discuss the factors that determine whether a particular violent behavior is or is not a problem.

5. Discuss how the mass media—radio, television, movies, and the internet—and social media affect how people, and especially children, perceive the world around them.

6. Assess the contribution of biological and psychological theories of crime. What is the limitation of both approaches?

7. What insights do we gain by applying structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict approaches to crime? What is one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach?

8. Discuss the major elements of our current criminal justice system today—police, courts, and punishment. Note the views of supporters and critics of each.

9. Identify and discuss the various justifications for punishment. Which do you think is most compelling? Why? Which do you think is least compelling? Why?

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10. Discuss the crime problem from the conservative, liberal, and radical perspectives. How does politics shape the construction of the ―crime problem‖ as well as the selection of solutions?

FILM LIST THE ACCUSED (1988, 111 m, rental video) The true story of a woman who was gang raped but had to fight a difficult battle in the courts because she was blamed for the actions her attackers took. The film illustrates how ―blaming the victim‖ occurs for women who are raped and how they become the victims of ―double rape‖ as they confront the legal system and the courts.

ADAM ABDUL HAKEEM: ONE WHO SURVIVED (1993, 28 m, Filmakers Library) This program explores the prejudice, brutality, and injustice found in the American criminal justice system through the case of one man who was severely mistreated within that system.

AGAINST THE GRAIN: DEVIANCE (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) In this program, sociologists question whether deviant behavior can be absolutely defined. The program explores differing views on sexuality and violent crime and examines moral, religious, and psychological factors that influence deviance and contribute to the overall understanding of deviant behavior.

AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007, 157 m, video rental) This is a feature-length film about how Frank Lucas, a Harlem drug kingpin, builds his criminal empire through smuggling heroin into the United States by hiding it in the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed during battle in Vietnam. Lucas solidifies his status as Harlem‘s most innovative drug dealer by delivering a product that is purer and cheaper than that of competitors. All the while, a corrupt criminal justice system supports Lucas. This film will allow students to analyze the changing meanings associated with drugs, violence, money, power, success, authority, and corruption.

BLACK DEATH IN DIXIE: RACISM AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE UNITED STATES (2007, 26 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Challenging viewers to look beyond mainstream media treatment of the death penalty, this program portrays capital punishment as a blunt instrument that disproportionately targets racial minorities and the poor. The film highlights several difficult issues, concepts, and social conditions, including statistics on the racial makeup of America‘s death row population, questionable convictions resulting from mistaken identification, the emotional and psychological toll on those wrongfully convicted, and the lingering effects of the Jim Crow era—or what many have called America‘s twentieth-century apartheid system—in which lynching functioned as de facto capital punishment.

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BLIND JUSTICE: THE PRISON CRISIS IN AMERICA (2001, 20 m, Insight Media) Profiling five former prisoners, this program explores the U.S. prison system. It questions whether prisons are meant to punish or rehabilitate and considers the growth of the U.S. prison population.

CODE OF SILENCE: OFFICER-INVOLVED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (2008, 17 m, Insight Media) This program explores the trauma experienced by the female partners of police officers who commit acts of domestic violence. It emphasizes the need for agencies to adopt policies that address domestic violence committed by police personnel.

CRIME AND DEVIANCE (2003, 42 m, Insight Media) This film examines the ways in which ideas and theories about crime have changed throughout time and explains how thinking about crime and deviance is influenced by wider social changes.

It considers three sociological approaches to the study of crime and deviance: social causes of crime and deviance, the social construction of crime and deviance, and the social control of crime.

CRIPS AND BLOODS: MADE IN AMERICA (2009, 83 m, Bullfrog Films) From the genesis of LA‘s gang culture to the shocking, war-zone reality of daily life in South LA, the film chronicles the rise of the Crips and Bloods, tracing the origins of their bloody fourdecades-long feud. Contemporary and former gang members offer their street-level testimony that provides the film with a stark portrait of modern-day gang life: the turf wars and territorialism, the intergang hierarchy and family structure, the rules of behavior, and the culture of guns, death, and dishonor.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: PORTRAIT OF ABUSE (2008, 15 m, Insight Media) This program explores the incidence of domestic violence in the United States and around the world. It features interviews with women who discuss their experiences with physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual forms of abuse.

EXPLORING ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON AND PROBATION (1992, 22 m, Filmakers Library) This presentation explores the feasibility of various alternatives to conventional criminal processing and punishment, including house arrest, victim restitution, electronic surveillance, community service, and various alternatives to traditional sentencing practices.

FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ACTION: FROM CRIME SCENE TO COURTROOM (2007, 21 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) What happens when a deadly crime takes place and law enforcement puts all of its scientific resources into action? Can forensic science really solve a murder? This program follows scientists through a dramatized investigation, from the discovery of the crime scene through

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various stages of evidence analysis to the presentation of findings in court. Instead of Hollywood hype, viewers are given a realistic portrayal of the forensic science process, including field photography, evidence recording, victim identification, DNA profiling, and fingerprint readings.

Viewable/printable educational resources are available online.

KIDS AND CRIME: KEEPING KIDS OUT OF TROUBLE (1995, 27 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program explores a number of strategies for helping children and teenagers to steer clear of crime. The phenomenon of gang violence is also evaluated.

LIFE SENTENCE (2008, 31 m, Filmakers Library) Recent statistics indicate that one in a hundred Americans is incarcerated. This shocking figure impels us to look closely at our penal system. Tough sentencing rules and release policies have become the norm in the federal system, which is extremely punitive. Life Sentence lets us hear from six formerly incarcerated men and women, some of whom were sentenced as adolescents.

They spent from twelve to twenty-six years in prison. Now they must find their way, economically and emotionally, to rebuild their lives after being behind bars, some from the age of sixteen. The film begins as prisoners prepare for their first parole board hearing. Each is denied and must wait two years until the next hearing. They discuss what brought them to prison, the time spent there, and what it felt like being sentenced to decades of imprisonment. One of the most important opportunities while incarcerated was the ability to receive education. Just before Congress abolished federal financing for college programs in prisons in 1994, all six had completed associate, bachelor‘s, and master‘s degrees. Now released, we see how these longtermers contribute to society and their communities, all of them working with other formerly incarcerated people. The film shows the potential of people, including those who have committed criminal acts, if they are given access to education and prepared for careers. Scholars, policymakers, and advocates of reform discuss the great obstacles formerly incarcerated people face, including job and housing regulations and discrimination, sentencing policies, and lifetime parole.

LOCKING UP WOMEN (1992, 52 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program examines Holloway Prison in Great Britain, which is a female correctional institution. It discusses the new breed of female criminal and the increase in violent behavior among women and examines the psychological underpinnings of female criminality.

NOT TOO YOUNG TO DIE: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS (1996, 52 m, Filmakers Library) Before 2005, when the Supreme Court ruled that juvenile offenders cannot be sentenced to death, the United States was one of the few nations in the world that executed juvenile offenders. This presentation evaluates the usefulness of this policy along with portraits of several offenders that were subject to the death penalty.

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PAROLE: GETTING OUT AND STAYING OUT (2006, 16 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Prison life is hard—but for most ex-convicts, life on the outside is tough, too. This video follows paroled prisoners as they reenter civilian life and face challenges both large and small. Upon release from jail, the lives of these young men are suddenly filled with critical decisions. Some are dreaded, such as the split-second choice of whether or not to engage in violence—the wrong choice will put them back behind bars. Other dilemmas are unexpected, like having to decide what to wear every morning. The program provides an eye-opening look at the typical parolee‘s struggle to find work, stay away from drugs and former friends, and maintain a positive attitude about the future.

PLEA BARGAINS: DEALING FOR JUSTICE (1994, 28 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) The vast majority of criminal cases end in plea bargains. No one argues that this is the most just way—only the most efficient. This program examines what happens when the deal is struck: who gets out of jail, who doesn‘t, and who decides what kind of deal to make. Filmed behind the scenes, deep inside the nation‘s criminal justice system, it presents an ugly picture that has little to do with justice.

PRISON TOWN (2007, 52 m, Filmakers Library) This film tells the story of Susanville, California, one small town that tries to resuscitate its economy by building a prison—with unanticipated consequences. Nestled in the picturesque foothills of the California Sierras, Susanville once thrived on logging, ranching, and agriculture.

Today the Susanville area hosts three prison complexes housing more than 11,000 inmates, with plans for more to come. The inmate population is more than one-and-a-half times the number of local residents. The film follows the fortunes of people and families in Susanville over the course of two years. Among those portrayed are a laid-off mill worker turned guard, a tenacious dairy owner fighting to retain his contract with the prison, a man on parole who can‘t find a job to support his family, local businessmen who were given false hopes, and prison-boosting politicians.

RAGE TO REVENGE: THE SCIENCE OF VIOLENCE (2000, 52 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This Discovery Channel production uses case histories to demonstrate the self-damaging impact of hate and the positive power of forgiveness, supporting the contention of a group of experts that a quantifiable mind/body connection exists. In addition, evidence is provided indicating that venting—long believed to relieve anger—can actually reinforce aggressive behavior.

RAPE IS . . .

(2002, 34 m, Insight Media) This documentary explores the meaning, severity, and consequences of rape. It highlights the domestic cultural conditions that make rape the most underreported crime in the United States.

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ROCK ’N ROLL MURDER! WHEN LYRICS LEAD TO VIOLENCE (2001, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In 1996, diehard fans of the extreme metal band Slayer murdered a fifteen-year-old girl because she fit the description of a girl in the song ―Altar of Sacrifice.‖ Having seen the perpetrators imprisoned for fifteen-to-life, the victim‘s parents then lodged a civil suit against the musicians.

In this program, ABC News correspondent Judy Muller explores the limits of free speech with a U.S. Senator, a recording industry representative, and Bret Easton Ellis, author of the controversial American Psycho.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE (2003, 40 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Taking into account the dramatic shift in the focus of research in recent years from theories about criminal activity to applications of crime prevention, this multisection program compares and contrasts the concepts of social causation, social construction, and social control as they relate to the sociology of crime and deviance. Topics include the influence of wider social forces on theories about crime, the reevaluation of criminals as victims or rebels, and three examples of the movement toward a greater pragmatism concerning crime: socioenvironmental control, situational crime prevention, and Braithwaite‘s restorative justice. Viewable/printable educational resources are available online.

SOLDIERS RAPING SOLDIERS (2004, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Sexual assault in the U.S. armed forces is a persistent problem—one that the Pentagon acknowledged in a report that highlights serious deficiencies in the way the military has handled cases of rape within its ranks. In this ABC News program, two career servicewomen, each allegedly sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier, and the director of the panel that produced the Pentagon report open a much-needed dialogue on soldiers raping soldiers.

THE UNDERGROUND WORLD OF COMMERCIAL SEX (2008, 84 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This ABC News program featuring Diane Sawyer made contact with prostitutes—impoverished street hookers, high-end escorts, legal working women in the trade—and the johns who pay them to learn firsthand how this underground world, hidden in plain sight, functions. Topics include the expansion of escort services and massage parlors on the internet, legalized prostitution in Nevada at the deluxe Moonlight Bunny Ranch, and society‘s tendency to target prostitutes for arrest more frequently than their customers. The relationship between drug addiction and prostitution, codependency between prostitutes and pimps, and life-threatening dangers faced by prostitutes are also considered.

UNDERSTANDING HATE CRIMES: A SERVICE FOR JEREMY (2007, 47 m, Insight Media) This program chronicles the days following the abduction and murder of a fifteen-year-old gay youth by fellow high school students. It presents the confessions of the killers and examples of the media coverage and explores such issues as morality, prejudices, and the compassion of a group of average teenagers.

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WITNESS TO EXECUTION: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (1998, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In an era when no other industrialized Western nation enforces a death penalty, the United States has executed an average of thirty-nine convicts per year over the past decade. This program, hosted by ABC News anchor Ted Koppel, poses the questions of whether the death penalty is just and whether it is an effective deterrent to crime.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Victimization Have you ever been the victim of a violent crime? A property crime? How would you explain this experience to someone who has never been the victim of a serious crime?

Sample answer: Responses should indicate whether the student has been a victim of a property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) or violent crime (aggravated assault, forcible rape, or robbery).

2. Assessing Your Experience with Police How frequently have you had contact with police? Describe your most recent contact with a police officer. How much confidence do you have in the police to perform their jobs fairly and professionally?

Sample answer: Responses should identify and discuss any recent contact with law enforcement. This can include contact such as a traffic stop or even at community events like Coffee with Cops. Most people accept a considerable amount of violence carried out by ―the system,‖ but violence on the part of police is not always lawful (as is the case with police brutality). Recent cases of police brutality have resulted in ―defund the police‖ movements and distrust in law enforcement.

3. Where Do You Stand?

What is the best way to address the problem of crime? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then write a paragraph or two in which you explain your degree of support for the conservative and liberal approaches to crime control.

Sample answer: Notice how political attitudes guide an individual‘s assessment of the crime problem. Typically, conservatives focus on traits of the offender, the offender‘s family, or the offender‘s cultural community. By contrast, liberals typically focus on traits of the larger society, including racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination and structural inequality based on class, race, or other factors.

4. Global Map 7–1 Capital Punishment in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to suggest why some countries have a death penalty and others do not. To do this, compare the first map with the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development for all countries. In most cases, countries without a death penalty are at which levels of economic development? In what ways are the United States, China, and Japan exceptions to this pattern?

Sample answer: Looking first at the map on the left, countries with a death penalty are found in Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia. Most of the nations with the death

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penalty are low- or middle-income countries. On the other hand, most of the nations without a death penalty are middle- or high-income countries.

So you can see a general pattern by which economic development tends to discourage the use of the death penalty, and this pattern reflects culture shifts resulting from more extensive schooling and also a larger political voice for women.

Japan, China, and the United States are clear exceptions to this pattern. Japan has narrowed the use of the death penalty and carries out relatively few executions. Twentynine states within the U.S. have laws that can apply the death penalty, but the number of states and the number of executions have been declining over time. Saudi Arabia and Iran, by contrast, are also high-income nations that do make use of the death penalty.

China, which is now in the high-income category, carries out more executions than any other country on Earth.

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CHAPTER 8 ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: The Left-to-Right Table John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessment CHAPTER UPDATE The changes in Chapter 8 of this revision begin with expanded coverage of the opioid crisis in the United States. There is also new discussion of shifting federal drug policies under the Biden administration and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected drug use.

There are updates on the ongoing movement toward legalization of marijuana and the latest in state laws permitting marijuana use. There is expanded and updated discussion of binge drinking by college students, the share of U.S. adults reporting use of various categories of drugs, and the increasing share of U.S. adults defining illegal drug use as a social problem. This revised chapter is supported by fifty-five new research citations.

AUTHOR’S NOTE Initially, students may not appreciate how deeply alcohol and other drugs are linked to a number of other social problems in the United States. To make this clear to them at the outset, consider: • Attitudes about drugs have always been closely linked to attitudes about the race and ethnicity of perceived drug users.

• Making a drug illegal or legal has major consequences for patterns of criminal arrest.

• Drug use can take the form of abuse, addiction, and dependency.

• Mass incarceration has resulted from the criminalization of drugs, and this process weighs heavily on minority youths.

• Drug use has direct consequences for problems involving the family, homelessness, health, crime, and poverty.

In sum, 67 percent of U.S. adults consider drug use to be a problem in itself; in addition, it is linked to many other issues that are widely regarded as social problems.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

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I. What Is a Drug?

8.1 Explain what a drug is and how culture, race, and ethnicity affect people’s views of drug use.

• A drug is any chemical substance other than food or water that affects the mind or body.

• Most of the time, drugs have effects that people think of as good. But 67 percent of adults in the United States worry about drug use and consider this issue to be a serious social problem.

• Drugs and Culture o How people view any particular drug is a matter of culture, which is to say that it varies from one society to the next.

• Drugs, Race, and Ethnicity o Race and ethnicity also shape the public‘s opinion of other drugs. As increasing numbers of immigrants came to the United States, they brought with them their culture, their dreams, and also current preferences involving drugs. o In 1914, Congress passed the Harrison Act, a national law restricting the sale of cocaine and heroin.

• Changing Views of Alcohol o People who objected to the changes a million new arrivals a year were bringing to the country defined immigrants drinking alcohol as a serious social problem. o As Prohibition tried to solve the problem of alcohol, it created another by giving a huge boost to organized crime, which gained more wealth and power than ever before. As the years went by, the public gradually came to see that Prohibition was more of a problem than it was a solution.

II. The Extent of Drug Use 8.2 Distinguish drug use from drug abuse as well as addiction from dependency.

• For most people in the United States, a ―drug problem‖ means the use of illegal drugs.

Most people in the United States rely on drugs to help them to wake up, to stay alert, to relax, to ease aches and pains, and to go to sleep.

• In 2021, 39.9 million people, or about 14.3 percent of the population ages twelve and older, reported using some illegal drug at least once in the past thirty days. Alcohol is the most widely used of these drugs. o Figure 8–1 Diversity Snapshot: Use of Selected Drugs by the U.S. Population, 2000-2021.

• The Pandemic and Drug Use o Data showing how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced drug use are still being gathered, but there is clear evidence that the number of overdose deaths from opioid drugs and methamphetamine increased dramatically during the pandemic.

There is also evidence that greater use of drugs increased people‘s risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus.

• Why Do People Use Drugs? o Therapeutic uses o Recreational uses o Spiritual or psychological uses o Escape o Social conformity

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Use and Abuse o Many people use the term drug abuse to refer to the use of any illegal substance or to the use of a legal substance (such as a prescription drug) in a way that violates accepted medical practice. o A second way to distinguish use and abuse is to focus on the effect of a drug.

People who use a drug may function well in everyday life, but people who abuse a drug suffer physical, mental, or social harm. o Assessing whether a drug causes harm is not always easy and may be a matter of disagreement.

Addiction and Dependency o Addiction is a physical or psychological craving for a drug. o The precise point at which someone becomes addicted depends on a number of factors, including the dosage and the duration of the drug use. The onset of addiction is also likely to reflect a person‘s general physical and mental health, so that different people may react differently to the same amount of a drug. o Dependency is a state in which a person‘s body has adjusted to regular use of a drug.

III. Types of Drugs 8.3 Define various types of drugs.

• Stimulants o Stimulants are drugs that increase alertness, altering a person‘s mood by increasing energy. o Caffeine ▪ Probably the single most popular drug in the United States is caffeine, which is available in coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate, and ―stay alert‖ pills. o Nicotine ▪ Although legal in this country and almost everywhere else in the world, nicotine is both toxic and highly addictive.

▪ In the United States, cigarette smoking is the single greatest preventable cause of death.

• Figure 8–2 Global Snapshot: Cigarette Smoking in Selected Countries ▪ Another source of nicotine is vaping, which refers to inhaling a product that provides a hit of nicotine by heating a liquid that contains that chemical. Research points to the conclusion that vaping can cause significant lung damage, prompting court decisions and legislation in some places to ban the sale of flavored vaping products o Ritalin and Adderall ▪ Ritalin and Adderall are drugs prescribed by doctors to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or attention deficit disorder (ADD). These are disorders in which children are overactive, have trouble concentrating, or cannot focus attention on a teacher or another adult.

▪ Personal Stories: Dying for Attention: One Student‘s Story

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o Cocaine and Crack ▪ By heightening alertness as they raise blood pressure and pulse rate, these drugs keep people awake, reduce appetite, and cause some people to become agitated and perhaps even violent.

▪ Crack is a hardened form of cocaine that people usually smoke in a pipe.

Although many people think crack is stronger than cocaine and more likely to provoke violence, research indicates that the effects of the two drugs are pretty much the same. o Amphetamines ▪ These drugs increase alertness, cause an excited sense of well-being, and reduce the desire to sleep and to eat.

▪ Use of amphetamines encourages some people to engage in serious crime.

Depressants o Depressants are drugs that slow the operation of the central nervous system. o Analgesics ▪ Analgesics are drugs that dull pain and are sold as over-the-counter pain relievers such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen. o Opioids ▪ Opiates, such as opium and opium derivatives, include morphine, codeine, and heroin. These drugs are highly addictive and dangerous because of their capacity to disrupt the social world of abusers.

▪ Heroin is made from morphine. It can cause euphoria and drowsiness and is highly addictive.

▪ Legislators and local communities are enacting laws and policy solutions to the opioid crisis.

▪ Democrats and Republicans both agree that the opioid epidemic is a public health emergency, but they disagree in terms of the solution. Democrats favor the ―safe haven‖ approach coupled with treatment strategies, but Republicans favor tougher criminal penalties, reining in the pharmaceutical industry, and controlling the flow of opioid drugs. o Sedatives, Hypnotics, and Alcohol ▪ Other depressants that can have a powerful effect on the central nervous system are sedatives and hypnotics. These drugs help people relax and, at higher dosages, they cause drowsiness and sleep.

▪ Alcoholism, the addiction to alcohol, is a serious problem at U.S. colleges and universities.

▪ Each year several million people each year seek help for a problem related to alcohol. Many try to become sober, but many more continue to suffer from the problems related to alcoholism.

▪ A government study found that about 29 percent of college students said they had engaged in binge drinking, which is defined as having at least five drinks in a row for men or four drinks for women, at least once in the past month.

▪ The use of alcohol is related to other crimes as well: In 2021, police made about 173,000 arrests for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct

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involving alcohol and 94,000 arrests for violations of state or local liquor laws.

▪ Although an occasional alcoholic beverage may provide some health benefits, heavy drinking is harmful even to those who stay out of trouble. o Antipsychotics ▪ Antipsychotics, such as haloperidol (Haldol), are powerful drugs that doctors prescribe to people with serious personality disorders (psychosis) such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Hallucinogens o Hallucinogens are stimulants generally taken in pill or capsule form that cause hallucinations. o Hallucinogens are nonaddictive but powerful. They can sharply elevate pulse rates, boost blood pressure, and alter perceptions of time and space.

Cannabis o Marijuana and hashish are two types of cannabis that have been used for several thousand years. Survey data indicate that about 61.2 million people in the United States reported using some form of cannabis in the past year, and 39.9 million reported using cannabis in the past month. o The movement to legalize marijuana has made huge gains in recent years. In 2022, 59 percent of U.S. adults supported legalization of marijuana for recreational and medical purposes. Another 30 percent supported legalizing marijuana for medical purposes only.

Steroids o Some professional and amateur athletes use androgenic (promoting masculine characteristics) anabolic (building) steroids, although athletic programs ban their use. o The use of steroids can improve strength and athletic performance. But these drugs also pose significant dangers, ranging from acne and fluid retention to high blood pressure and liver tumors.

Prescription Drugs o Prescription drugs are powerful and, when not used as directed, can cause serious harm or death. In fact, the number of annual deaths in the U.S. caused by overdoses of prescription drugs (more than 33,000) is as high as the annual deaths from overdoses of cocaine and heroin combined (about 32,000).

IV. Drugs and Other Social Problems 8.4 Analyze the connections between drugs and various social problems.

• Problems of Family Life o Drugs play a part in many cases of child neglect and family violence, both as a cause and as a consequence. o Codependency ▪ Codependency is behavior on the part of others that helps a substance abuser continue the abuse.

• Homelessness o Between one-third and half of unsheltered men and women abuse alcohol or some other drug.

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o Homelessness in the U.S. typically results from underemployment and a lack of affordable housing. o There is also a historical link between drugs and homelessness.

Health Problems o As many people die from the use of drugs (including tobacco and alcohol) as from gun violence, automobile accidents, and AIDS combined. o Prenatal Exposure to Drugs ▪ Both physical and mental health problems can result from prenatal exposure to drugs, that is, the use of drugs by a pregnant woman.

▪ Drug exposure during pregnancy greatly increases the risk of premature delivery, low-birthweight babies, and children born with birth defects. o Sharing Needles and HIV Transmission ▪ Traces of blood retained in a needle can transmit the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. Crime o Clearly, there is big money to be made in drugs and the rewards may outweigh the risk of arrest and jail, especially for someone with few other opportunities. o Critics claim that enforcement of our nation‘s drug laws actually makes the crime problem worse. By limiting the supply of drugs, current laws drive up drug prices.

High prices in turn lead users to commit crimes such as prostitution or burglary to get money for drugs. Government research shows that almost one in five federal prison inmates reports committing a violent crime to obtain money to buy drugs.

Global Poverty o Drugs defined as illegal in the United States represent a significant share of the global economy. Millions of people in poor nations with few other economic opportunities grow the plants and manufacture drugs that end up in rich nations such as the United States. o Each year, people in the United States spend more than $100 billion on illegal drugs, including marijuana, hashish, cocaine, and heroin.

Terrorism o Evidence suggests that almost one-half of organizations dealing in illegal drugs have direct ties to terrorist activity. o Most of the illegal drug trade is not carried out by terrorists and most terrorist funding does not come from drug sales.

V. Social Policy: Responding to the Drug Problem 8.5 Summarize the effectiveness of various drug-control strategies.

• Strategies to Control Drugs o The United States has lots of political freedoms, which limits the power of government to intervene in people‘s lives. On the other hand, there is a high demand for illegal drugs, which draws a huge supply. o Interdiction ▪ Interdiction means preventing the movement of drugs across a country‘s borders.

▪ Government agents work long and hard, but they manage to seize only a tiny portion of the illegal drugs that enter the United States.

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o Prosecution ▪ Catching drug dealers is easier said than done. More important, giving police more power to stop and search people can threaten our basic freedoms.

▪ The policy of prosecuting dealers and users often unfairly punishes people living in disadvantaged communities. The war on crack during the 1980s provides an example of racial bias in prosecution of drug cases.

▪ Table 8–1 Federal Minimum Mandatory Sentencing Guidelines. o Treatment ▪ Rather than punishing offenders, drug treatment programs try to help drug users, especially people struggling with addiction.

▪ Treatment involves not just drug replacement but also counseling and group support.

▪ Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Bill Wilson: Alcoholics Can Learn to Be Sober o Education ▪ Unlike prosecution and treatment, which are both examples of a reactive policy that targets people after they use an illegal drug, education is a proactive policy aimed at discouraging people from using illegal drugs before they become involved.

The War on Drugs o The main focus has always been on prosecution: criminal penalties that target users and dealers. o The Nixon Years ▪ Emphasis on prosecution emerged in 1968 when President Nixon characterized illegal drugs as our nation‘s ―public enemy number one.‖ o The Ford, Carter, and Reagan Years ▪ During President Reagan‘s two terms in the White House, the federal budget for fighting illegal drugs increased tenfold.

▪ Figure 8–3 Total Federal Prison Population and Share of Drug Offenders, 1993-2021. o Social Policy: The Conflicting Consequences of Policy: The Drug Wars o The George H. W. Bush Years ▪ In 1989, President George H. W. Bush created the Office of National Drug Control Policy, headed by William Bennett, who became known as the ―drug czar.‖ o The Clinton Years ▪ President Clinton urged a step back from mandatory sentencing policies and pushed to make treatment the main strategy to deal with illegal drugs. o The George W. Bush Years ▪ President George W. Bush focused more on terrorism than illegal drugs.

But the Bush administration continued efforts to reduce the supply of drugs, especially the growing of coca (used to make cocaine) in Bolivia. o The Obama Years

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The more liberal Obama administration took a treatment-focused approach and worked to eliminate racial disparities in sentences imposed for drug convictions. o The Trump Years ▪ The conservative Trump administration tried to reverse the Obama administration‘s policies and focused on interdiction and sending people convicted of drug offenses to prison while opposing legalization of marijuana. o The Biden Years ▪ Treatment became the policy of choice during the Biden administration.

The administration also embraced racial equity as a goal of all their efforts.

A New Initiative: Decriminalization o Decriminalization refers to reducing or removing severe criminal penalties that punish drug offenses, especially personal use of drugs. o In the U.S., the focus of decriminalization has been marijuana, which is still listed as a Schedule 1 substance. As of 2023, thirty-seven states plus the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for medical use, and twenty-three states have also legalized marijuana for recreational use.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 8–1 Marijuana Laws across the United States. o Zurich: Decriminalization of Heroin That Failed and Then Succeeded ▪ Zurich became an experiment in the decriminalization of heroin. City police stopped making drug arrests, and city health stations provided heroin and methadone along with clean needles and condoms to addicts in the hope of limiting the spread of AIDS. o The Netherlands: Decriminalization of Cannabis That Mostly Works ▪ For several decades, Dutch decriminalization seems to have worked. The crime rate in the Netherlands remains well below that of the United States. o The United States: Decriminalization Under Way ▪ In Oregon, and a few cities, including Oakland, California, efforts at decriminalization have been expanded to psychedelic drugs and ―hard‖ drugs including cocaine and even heroin.

▪ Young people are considerably more likely to support the decriminalization of marijuana than older people are, a pattern that will certainly shape the future.

VI. Theories of Drug-Related Social Problems 8.6 Apply sociological theory to issues involving drugs.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Regulating Drug Use o Structural-functional theory highlights the functions of drugs for the operation of society. o Both legal and illegal drugs also are a major source of economic activity, providing jobs and income for hundreds of thousands of people. o When used to excess, almost any drug is likely to be not only personally harmful but also socially disruptive. For this reason, societies establish social controls to

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regulate drug use. As families and religion have lost some of their power over individuals, the task of regulating drug use has fallen more and more to politicians, health care professionals, and the criminal justice system.

Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meaning of Drug Use o Symbolic-interaction theory calls attention to the various meanings people attach to their surroundings. o People do not simply become drug users; they gain skills and attitudes gradually through a learning process.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Power and Drug Use o Drugs favored by people of color and immigrants with less social power are more likely to be defined as a problem and outlawed. People with low social standing often receive more severe penalties for drug use than people with high social standing. o Powerful corporate interests sell highly profitable drugs—including tobacco and alcohol—with full protection of the law, even though these two drugs are linked to more deaths annually than all the illegal drugs combined.

VII. Politics and Drugs: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 8.7 Analyze drug-related issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: Just Say No o From a conservative point of view, young people who are raised by committed and involved parents and are guided by religious beliefs and caring teachers are usually able to resist any temptation presented by drugs. o Conservatives see the rise of drug use in recent decades as one indication that, morally speaking, society has lost touch with its past and become too permissive.

The mass media, social media, and popular music are as likely to glamorize drug use as to criticize it.

• Liberals: Reform Society o Liberals claim that drug use is the product of too much economic inequality and too much hopelessness on the part of ordinary people. The liberal solution to the drug problem is reducing economic inequality and poverty, which would lead fewer people to turn to drugs in the first place. o Liberals take a tolerant view of ―soft‖ drugs, and most support tough law enforcement when it comes to ―hard‖ drugs, especially for big-time dealers.

• Radicals: Understanding Drugs from the Far Right and Far Left o The Radical Right: Libertarians ▪ Libertarians are people who favor the greatest possible individual freedom. Although some people who call themselves libertarians fall close to the political mainstream on many issues, most libertarians see government as the biggest threat to their core value of individual liberty. o The Radical Left: Socialists ▪ From the point of view of socialists, drug laws (like all laws) reflect the interests of the rich and powerful members of society and target everyone else.

• Going On from Here

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o The movement toward decriminalization of marijuana is increasing and having much success. o The Biden administration has shifted federal drug policy from a focus on interdiction and prosecution to a focus on treatment and education. o The greatest crisis involving drugs continues to be the opioid epidemic that is claiming several hundred lives every day.

Defining Solutions: Are You Concerned about Drugs?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 8.1 Explain what a drug is and how culture, race, and ethnicity affect people‘s views of drug use.

8.2 Distinguish drug use from drug abuse as well as addiction from dependency.

8.3 Define various types of drugs.

8.4 Analyze the connections between drugs and various social problems.

8.5 Summarize the effectiveness of various drug-control strategies.

8.6 Apply sociological theory to issues involving drugs.

8.7 Analyze drug-related issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 8, students should be able to: Describe the way in which people‘s views of different drugs have varied across societies and over time.

Explain how public opinion about a drug is related to attitudes toward racial and ethnic categories believed to use the drug.

Describe the history of alcohol policy in the United States and offer insights as to why policy changes took place.

Describe the extent of drug use from about 1980 to the present, including use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other illegal drugs.

Explain the most common reasons that people use drugs.

Discuss the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on drug use.

Discuss the difference between drug use and drug abuse. How is this distinction made?

Distinguish between addiction and dependency and discuss how the distinction between the two concepts is socially constructed.

Identify and provide examples of major types of drugs, including stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, cannabis, steroids, and prescription drugs.

Discuss the link between drugs and problems involving family life, homelessness, health, crime, global poverty, and terrorism.

Identify and define four strategies to control drugs.

Describe the federal war on drugs from the Nixon era through the present.

Explain the pros and cons of the decriminalization of drugs.

Briefly state the essential ideas about drugs and drug use gained by applying structuralfunctional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict theories to drug use. What is one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach?

Explain how conservatives, liberals, socialists, and libertarians construct the issue of drug use as a social problem.

Explain how political outlook guides the process of defining solutions to the drug problem.

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JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: THE LEFT-TO-RIGHT TABLE Each chapter has a ―Left to Right‖ table that provides an easy-to-review summary of how various political positions understand the problem at hand. Similarly, these tables highlight how each position on the political spectrum leads people to frame a solution in a certain way.

This table is especially interesting because four political positions are included. In the drug debate a radical-right position, typically called ―libertarian,‖ comes into play. As the chapter explains, libertarians focus on protecting personal liberty, which they believe to be threatened by the ever-expanding scope of government. In a sense, libertarians believe that government is a bigger threat to people than drugs are. This is one reason that libertarians support legalization of soft drugs, and many support elimination of all drug laws allowing people to decide for themselves what drugs to use. This position gives libertarians common ground on this issue with liberals, who tend to support a large role for government. This position also explains much of the appeal of libertarian politics to young people.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION One of the points made in this chapter is that the policies a society enacts with regard to any drug has a lot to do with the social perception of categories of people thought to use the drug. A short (just over five minutes) ―big think‖ video featuring Nathan Nadlemann makes this claim and will provoke class discussion. Use a search engine such as YouTube and search for ―the racist war on drugs.‖ RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue, several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations, notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data, and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 8, the PowerPoint presentation explores the recent increase in heroin use and the social costs of this epidemic. This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: A Brief History of the Opioid Crisis.

Opioids are drugs primarily used to treat pain. Opioids have been used for about 200 years, and opiates such as morphine have been widely used to treat pain both on the battlefield and in hospitals. This category of drug includes oxycodone (brand names OxyContin and Percocet) as well as the synthesized painkiller fentanyl. These drugs were introduced in the 1970s, although physicians were slow to embrace such therapies due to the known addictive character of opioids.

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In the mid-1990s, Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of OxyContin, began a marketing campaign intended to reduce concern among physicians that the drug carried a high risk of addiction. The campaign was successful, and the number of prescriptions for opioid painkillers steadily increased. As use of opioids went up, so did rates of addiction and also death rates due to overdosing.

The phrase ―opioid epidemic‖ became more widely used to refer to the increasing use of prescription and nonprescription opioid drugs. On October 16, 2017, the U.S. federal government declared that opioid use had reached the level of a national health emergency.

During 2017, opioids were directly involved in the deaths of 42,000 people across this country and represented two-thirds of all drug overdose deaths during that year. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for adults in the United States under the age of fifty.

One strategy to control opioid deaths is to monitor prescriptions. By tracking individual prescriptions, agencies have some ability to limit use of drugs. A limitation of this approach is that some individuals obtain multiple prescriptions from multiple physicians. Another strategy has been to pressure the companies making these painkiller drugs. Purdue Pharma was charged with downplaying the risk of addiction to OxyContin and paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. By 2018, numerous states had filed new suits against a number of drug manufacturing corporations charging that they engaged in marketing practices that did not accurately reflect the addiction risk of their drugs and thereby contributed to the national opioid crisis.

Sources Jones, Mark et al. 2018. ―A Brief History of the Opioid Epidemic and Strategies for Pain Medicine.‖ Pain Therapy. Vol. 7, No. 1 (June 7):13–21.

Keefe, Patrick Radden. 2017. ―The Family That Built an Empire of Pain.‖ The New Yorker (October 30). Available at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-thatbuilt-an-empire-of-pain 2. A well-researched and informative cover story on the recent spread of synthetic drugs (also called ―legal drugs‖ or ―designer drugs‖) is the basis for an interesting class presentation. The article is by Eliza Gray, ―The Drug Threat in Plain Sight,‖ Time, Vol. 183, No. 15 (April 24, 2014): 24–31. This article tracks the rise of synthetic pot-like drugs that can be manufactured and quickly modified to skirt existing drug laws. Although fairly inexpensive, synthetic pot is far from harmless, resulting in tens of thousands of emergency room visits with an increasing number of recorded deaths.

3. Your in-class discussions of alcohol and other drugs as a social problem present an outstanding opportunity to illustrate the social construction of problems. Point out that most societies regard the use of some psychoactive drugs as acceptable while strictly forbidding the use of other types of drugs. Such a sociohistorical perspective will help students grasp how the social definitions of drug use are inconsistent and change over time. Another dimension of difference involves who uses a drug. Ask students to think about why we regard some drugs (say, heroin) as harmful and outlaw them while we permit the legal use of other drugs (cigarettes) that we know to be dangerous.

4. If possible, have a representative from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) visit your class (or some other self-help group related to substance abuse) to discuss how the group functions and acquaint

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the students with the early signs of alcohol and drug dependency. In this regard, an interesting topic for discussion during the representative‘s visit is the controversy over whether an alcoholic can ever learn to be a social drinker. You may wish to discuss the prospect of raising this question with the representative before actually doing so in front of the class. You may want to encourage your students to take a look at the official website of AA: www.aa.org.

5. T. P. Schwartz has written an article entitled ―Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings for Teaching Sociology‖ (Teaching Sociology, October 1992: 333–36). Schwartz suggests that students can attend open meetings of AA to gain additional sensitivity to the problems of alcohol addiction.

Schwartz points out that it is particularly valuable for the instructor to attend as well, so that they can coordinate an in-class discussion of the proceedings of the meeting. It should be noted here that there are closed meetings of AA where observers and nonalcoholics are not expected to attend.

6. An extremely controversial topic but one that is sure to stimulate class discussion involves the latent functions of widespread drug use in our society. Ask your students to consider these questions: ―Does the widespread availability of drugs (both legal and illegal) serve to placate the socioeconomically disadvantaged people in our society (especially the unemployed and underemployed) such that they are less likely to threaten social stability?‖ and ―Is the current war on drugs little more than society‘s attempt to prevent the offspring of the socioeconomically advantaged from becoming addicted to drugs?‖ 7. A hypothesis that is very prominent in the substance abuse field is that alcoholism (and possibly other addictions) is a disease that victimizes people and that can be cured by the intervention of professionals, such as psychologists, social workers, and substance abuse counselors. The sociologist, of course, immediately recognizes the possibility that the disease model is an ideology that protects and justifies the dominant role of these professionals in dealing with the problem of alcoholism. This is a very controversial issue but one worth presenting to students.

8. Set up an in-class debate concerning the decriminalization and legalization of drugs. Invite a local official who is opposed to decriminalization or legalization to your class; in the same forum, invite a representative of an organization like the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Legislation (NORML) to appear. If this isn‘t possible, have people who support both sides of the argument come to your class for the purposes of debating the decriminalization/legalization issue. Meanwhile, you and your students may wish to examine the official website of NORML: http://www.norml.org.

9. Most students view the effects of drugs solely in terms of their physiological implications (such as addiction and dependency). They will be less likely to have thought about how learning and social interaction play important roles in how people respond to particular drugs. Howard Becker‘s classic research on learning to recognize the effects of marijuana (see Becker‘s Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, New York: Free Press, 1963) will serve as an excellent basis for this discussion, which will help students cultivate a more sophisticated understanding of drugs and drug abuse.

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10. The mass media and social media have an important influence on people‘s attitudes toward alcohol and other drugs. In this project, students can watch television programs and commercials to determine how drug and alcohol use is presented to viewers. For example, they might note the number of males and females in beer commercials, the ways in which sexual images are combined with drinking beer, or the extent to which celebrities or athletic figures promote drinking in beer and wine commercials. They might also observe soap operas, especially those aired during prime time, to note the extent to which drinking takes place as a ―normal‖ part of daily life (e.g., how often people are seen drinking, are offered a drink, have open bars in their homes, drink with a meal, or drink and drive). Nonprescription drugs like analgesics, diet pills, and sleeping aids are often presented in a fashion that encourages the viewer to solve personal problems through the use of a pill. After students have determined the extent to which the use of various drugs occurs in the programming they have selected, they can draw some conclusions about the ways in which the media supports social definitions of alcohol and drug use and abuse.

11. Over the years, songs have been used by many musicians to construct drugs as either a social problem or as a solution. Challenge your students to select a song that sends a message about drugs and to analyze the message that is being sent. Discuss the target audience and how the song was received. Were the lyrics censored?

WEBLINKS Alcoholics Anonymous http://www.aa.org D.A.R.E. https://dare.org Families against Mandatory Minimums http://www.famm.org Monitoring the Future http://www.monitoringthefuture.org National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) http://www.norml.org Office of National Drug Control Policy http://whitehousedrugpolicy.gov PBS: Search for Meth Epidemic http://www.pbs.org Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration http://www.samhsa.gov U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration https://www.dea.gov ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. State five reasons that people use drugs. Which of the five best applies to you? Which do you think applies most to people in general? Explain.

2. Define stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens. Give at least one example of each.

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3. Define codependency and discuss its potential effects on family life.

4. Discuss both strengths and limitations of interdiction, prosecution, education, and treatment as drug-control strategies.

5. Present a case for and against the national legalization of marijuana. What do you expect the nation‘s laws to look like a decade from now? Why? 6. Explain the libertarian position on the use and regulation of drugs by the government. To what extent do you agree with this position?

7. Distinguish drug use from drug abuse.

8. Define addiction and dependency.

9. Describe the history of alcohol in the United States and provide insight into why these changes took place.

10. State the essential insights about drugs and drug use provided by the structuralfunctional, the symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict theoretical approaches. What is one limitation of each theoretical approach?

11. Link the understanding of drugs and drug use to political attitudes across the political spectrum. How do these political attitudes also guide the selection of solutions to drug problems?

FILM LIST AFGHANISTAN’S OPIUM TRAIL (2008, 43 m, Filmakers Library) More than 90 percent of the world‘s opium now comes from Afghanistan. This documentary follows this illicit industry, from the cultivation of the opium plants, to the processing of heroin, to the cross-border smuggling that occurs between Afghanistan and Iran. The cameras actually catch the ambush of smugglers by Iranian guards in the Rocky Mountains of Afghanistan. We watch as opium is processed into heroin in the Afghan highlands. By using a car jack, the raw material is pressed, diluted, heated, pressed again, and ready for export. The film focuses on the Afghan tribal leader who brokers the deal for the 400 villagers supplying him with opium. They depend on his patronage for their livelihood. Opium is the cash crop; without it, their survival is at risk. For the Afghans, it is a no-win situation. For the much-needed cash, the Afghans are faced with a grave problem. Their own young are turning to drugs. Traditionally, drug addiction was one problem the Afghans never faced. Students will gain an understanding of how the meaning of the drug has changed over time.

ALCOHOL (2010, 20 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) ―Alcohol isn‘t a drug.‖ ―A cup of coffee will sober me up.‖ ―I‘m always a safe driver, even after a couple of beers.‖ These statements are only a few of the myths this video skewers as it explores the history of alcohol, a substance first used as a medicine; the effects of alcohol on the body and the short- and long-term health impacts; and teenage attitudes toward alcohol and trends such as binge drinking. The video also examines the prevalence of alcohol in American culture and discusses alcoholism—how to identify it and how to treat it.

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ALTERED STATES: A HISTORY OF DRUG USE IN AMERICA (1993, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This presentation supplies a comprehensive history of drug use in this country, beginning with the early European settlers; the cultural, social, and political movements that have influenced the use patterns of drugs are emphasized. Students will notice how the social construction of drugs and alcohol has changed over time.

COUNTDOWN TO DELIRIUM: THE DEBATE OVER DRUG CLASSIFICATIONS (2007, 51 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) New findings indicate that some of the most addictive and dangerous drugs are legal ones. This program looks at the pros and cons of the current drug classification system, shedding new light on the physiological and neurological effects of various substances. With the help of London‘s Institute of Psychiatry and other leading addiction research organizations, the program assesses the risks of alcohol, tobacco, and inhaled solvents, comparing them with class-A drugs like ecstasy, 4-MTA, and LSD—with results that may surprise many in the drug education community. Students will examine the socially constructed classification system.

CRACKING UP: ADDICTION TO CRACK COCAINE (1996, 59 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Part dramatization, part documentary, this engrossing study of crack cocaine makes a powerful statement on the drug‘s highly addictive nature. The docudrama profiles ―Daniel Preston,‖ an upwardly mobile user of recreational drugs who gets high on crack as part of an experiment and finds he cannot shake his craving for it. Interspersed throughout this program, a drug counselor, a psychiatrist, and crack addicts talk about how it feels to get high on crack, behaviors and health problems related to crack addiction, why crack addiction is so hard to break, and crack‘s role as a gateway drug. In addition, onscreen text gives information on the history of coca use, the extraction and processing of cocaine, cocaine smuggling and distribution, and the manufacture of crack.

DEALING WITH DRUGS (2003, 47 m, Filmakers Library) Is drug abuse a health problem or a criminal justice problem? This program shows how the drug problem is being addressed in four major cities: New York, Toronto, Amsterdam, and Liverpool.

In Amsterdam and Liverpool, drug users are treated as people who are sick, not evil. They are given needles, syringes, medical care, and in some cases the drug itself. Street crime has dropped. Addicts are able to lead a more normal life and not resort to crime and prostitution.

New York is a city in chaos, wracked by drugs and the effort to root them out. Stern drug laws have not provided an answer. Police and court resources have been diverted from crimes like murder and rape and incarcerating small-time drug users in overcrowded prisons does not cure their addiction. Canada‘s public policy is somewhere between Europe‘s liberal approach and America‘s hard line. Students may be led to question society‘s assumptions about illegal drug use.

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FETAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE: CHANGING THE FUTURE (2006, 31 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) How are fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) diagnosed? What are the primary and secondary disabilities associated with FASD? And—most important of all—what is the human cost? This program addresses these questions through firsthand experiences. The in-utero effects of alcohol are considered as well, as are the facial, bodily, neurological, cognitive, and behavioral characteristics of FASD. IF . . . DRUGS WERE LEGAL (2005, 61 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) The year is 2015. A coalition of European countries has decriminalized most stimulants, narcotics, and hallucinogens. But has legalization made drug use—or the streets of London—any safer? This program depicts a future in which police officers, Big Pharma executives, and recreational drug consumers would, depending on one‘s perspective, either reap the benefits or suffer the consequences of a reversal in drug policy. Interwoven with the fictional narrative are real-world interviews highlighting both sides of the debate. Former chief constable Francis Wilkinson and Transform Drug Policy Foundation director Danny Kushlick argue for legalization while toxicology expert John Henry and former customs investigator David Raynes warn against it.

INTRODUCING CANNABIS: RISKS, LAWS, AND HABITS (2007, 25 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Although marijuana is often considered a ―soft‖ drug, recent studies suggest that it is anything but safe—especially for young people. This program examines cannabis in the same context as harder drugs and reveals the devastating consequences of becoming addicted in childhood or adolescence. Stories from teenagers and young adults provide an unflinching look at how a user gets hooked and grows isolated from others. The video also delves into the chemical makeup of marijuana, presents statistics and expert commentary regarding its short- and long-term effects on the brain and body, reveals insights into high-risk behavior, and provides information on legal issues surrounding the drug.

INTRODUCING TOBACCO: RISKS, LAWS, AND HABITS (2007, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) It leads to bad breath, yellow teeth, and black lungs—so why is smoking such a popular pastime?

What enables the tobacco companies to snare young consumers so effectively? How do advertising, Hollywood imagery, and peer pressure fit into the equation? This program explores the cold, hard facts about cigarette smoking, including legal issues surrounding it and the impact it can have on both users and nonusers. Tobacco and addiction experts share their knowledge with viewers regarding short- and long-term health effects. Also included are revealing insights from Australia‘s battle against the tobacco scourge and a dramatized story of a young girl who loses her father to lung cancer because of smoking.

LEGAL DRUGS: STILL ADDICTIVE, STILL DEADLY (2005, 51 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) The program details the ways smoking and drinking chemically take hold of the brain.

Explaining the many reasons—besides nicotine—for tobacco‘s stealthy effects, the program

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describes the existence of thousands of other addictive chemicals in the tobacco plant. It also studies properties in alcohol, which some scientists have nicknamed the ―dirty drug,‖ that shortcircuit the brain and cause considerable damage.

THE METH EPIDEMIC (2006, 60 m, PBS) In ―The Meth Epidemic,‖ Frontline, in association with The Oregonian, investigates the meth rampage in America: the appalling impact on individuals, families, and communities, and the difficulty of controlling an essential ingredient in meth—ephedrine or pseudoephedrine—sold legally in over-the-counter cold remedies. Students will be in a position to explore the social problem from many different perspectives.

OPIATE ADDICTION: UNDERSTANDING REPLACEMENT THERAPY (2006, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Justin and Amanda, a young couple addicted to opiates for several years, have entered a treatment facility at Acadia Hospital in Bangor, Maine. This program follows their progress and presents expert commentary from Acadia administrator Scott Farnum, who sheds light on the different types of opioids and how they affect the brain. He also focuses on replacement therapy, an effective way to recover from opioid addiction. While making clear that replacement therapy medications such as methadone and buprenorphine are not magic bullets, the film does show that, six months later, Justin and Amanda have both remained sober.

SISTER HELEN (2002, 59 m, Filmakers Library) Sister Helen, a tough, sixty-nine-year-old Benedictine nun, runs the Travis Center, a clean and sober halfway house for recovering addicts and ex-convicts in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx, New York. Mott Haven is the poorest congressional district in the nation, where extreme poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, and crime have a distinct daily presence. The number of social service agencies set up to help those dependent on drugs and alcohol in this community continues to be far too few to meet the rising demand. This film provides a great opportunity to explore possible solutions to the problems presented from various perspectives along the political spectrum.

STAGES OF CHANGE AND ADDICTION (2004, 80 m, Insight Media) Featuring substance abuse expert Carlo DiClemente, this program presents a workshop on the stages of change, which is a seminal part of the transtheoretical model. It looks at the role of the theory in addiction prevention and treatment and discusses the stages of addiction and recovery.

The program includes illustrative vignettes.

STRAIGHT TALK: ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS (2005, 90 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Chemical dependency is a severe breakdown on the road to adulthood. This reality TV style docudrama is made up of the candid comments of nineteen teens and young adults who have taken a wrong turn into dependency and have survived to enter recovery. Speaking in the starkest

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of terms, these individuals open up about their innermost issues, such as out-of-control drug habits, abusive relationships, suicide attempts, and more.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE (2000, 15 m, Insight Media) This program considers the psychological reasons behind addiction. It explores the potential consequences of serious drug or alcohol abuse, including the possibility of turning to a life of petty crime or prostitution, alienating friends and family, and accumulating serious debts. The program follows the lives of two former drug addicts.

UNDERSTANDING ADDICTIONS (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines addiction and addresses its biological, psychological, and social aspects.

It considers factors that cause individuals to begin using drugs and alcohol, shows how drugs impact the brain, identifies major types of drugs, and explains why drug addictions are difficult to treat.

YOUNG ADDICTS: DRUGS, ALCOHOL, AND AMERICA’S FUTURE (2006, 3 parts, 11–21 m each, 90 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Drug and alcohol addiction is stronger than ever among America‘s teens and young adults.

This three-part series of an ABC News program investigates disturbing new trends: teenage methamphetamine abuse, binge drinking among college-age women, and the alarmingly open access that many underage Americans now have to prescription drugs.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing the Use of Drugs on Campus Of the various categories of drugs discussed in this section of the chapter, which are used on your campus, to the best of your knowledge? Which types of drugs are most and least popular?

What share of students regularly use alcohol and other drugs?

Sample answer: Alcohol abuse is a serious problem at colleges and universities across the United States. Studies have found that during a month‘s span, 29 percent of college students engaged in binge drinking at least once and 50 percent consumed alcohol. The most commonly used prescription drugs among college students are oxycodone and hydrocodone. Stimulants, such as Ritalin and Adderall, are also used by about 25 percent of college students.

2. Personalizing Drug Policy What are the laws regarding marijuana use in your state? To what extent do you support or oppose decriminalization of marijuana? Why? Sample answer: Thirty-seven states have legalized medical use of marijuana, while twenty-three of these states have also legalized recreational marijuana. Supporters of legalization (typically liberals) argue that it is not addictive and poses little danger to users, whereas opponents of legalization (typically conservatives) argue that it is far from harmless and that it raises many of the same health risks as tobacco and alcohol. The

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majority of U.S. residents support the legalization of marijuana, and the trends show that this support is likely to continue.

3. Where Do You Stand?

What do you think is the most serious problem involving drugs? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, in a paragraph or two, explain why you find the liberal or conservative view of the drug problem to be more convincing.

Sample answer: In general, conservatives attach great importance to personal responsibility. (Recall Nancy Reagan‘s anti-drug campaign titled ―Just Say No‖). From this point of view, illegal drugs are a serious problem because their use undermines the routine operation of society. Liberal arguments may acknowledge the harmful consequences of illegal drug use, but understand such drug use as a response to conditions of class or racial oppression. In addition, liberals see the criminal justice system, in most cases, making the problem worse by criminalizing categories of people who are already disadvantaged. Libertarians advance a third argument, supporting drug use as a legitimate personal choice that (like most other choices) should not be infringed on by the government, which itself poses greater dangers than illegal drugs.

4. National Map 8–1 Marijuana Laws across the United States Your journal assignment is to suggest how politics appears to guide state marijuana laws. To prepare your response, look at the map on the right, which shows which political party carried the state in the last presidential election. Compare the two maps. Are ―blue‖ states (Democratic) more or less likely than ―red‖ states (Republican) to allow for legal use of marijuana? How strong does this pattern appear to be?

Sample answer: Looking at the map on the left, you can see that the most restrictive laws involving marijuana (and other forms of THC, the compound in cannabis that causes a ―high‖) are found in the South and the Great Plains. The election map on the right shows that most of these states voted Republican in 2020. By contrast, the least restrictive laws are found on the West Coast and in the Northeast, where states voted Democratic in 2020. In short, ―blue‖ states have supported decriminalizing marijuana, a policy that, in general, ―red‖ states have opposed. Of the twenty states that have legalized medical and recreational use of marijuana, seventeen voted Democratic in the 2020 election. All four of the states that continue to outlaw marijuana use voted Republican.

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CHAPTER 9 PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Tracking the Trends John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes in Chapter 9 of this revision begin with a revised discussion of the latest policies and trends in the U.S. health care system including changes that took place under the Trump administration and the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also a major update to the discussion of HIV and AIDS in the United States and around the world.

There are updates on longevity in the United States, including analysis by race, class, and gender. New data on obesity are included as well as new data on the links between poverty and health. The latest data also support discussion of infant mortality in the United States and globally. In addition, new data on earnings of nurses and physicians in this country are presented; finally, there are updates to the discussion of mental health on the campus.

AUTHOR’S NOTE ―Health‖ is something all understand but it is a concept difficult to measure. The chapter defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This definition suggests that health has various dimensions involving not only our bodies but also our state of mind and even our feelings. In addition, as the chapter explains, health is understood in the context of a society‘s cultural standards, which change over time.

Among the best measures that we might use to assess health are the following: • Life expectancy: based on the simple argument that living longer means having better health. National Map 9–1 on shows life expectancy for counties across the United States.

• Infant mortality: based on the claim that where children die, people do not have much human security. Many health experts consider infant mortality the best single quantitative measure of a nation‘s health. Global data on infant mortality are found in Global Map 9–1.

This chapter provides a global survey of health that leads to these conclusions:

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Economic development matters: Low-income nations have shorter life expectancy and higher infant mortality.

• Poverty threatens human health: Poverty means lack of nutrition, unsafe water, a high level of infectious diseases, high risk of HIV/AIDS, and a dangerous environment.

• Nations have different systems to pay the costs of health care. How capitalist or socialist an economy is has a lot to do with how these costs are paid.

The chapter also provides a close-up look at the health care system in the United States.

Key discussion points include the following: • High costs of health care • Who pays the costs?

• Differences in health by class, ethnicity, race, and gender The remaining part of the chapter deals with mental health and mental illness. This discussion identifies types of mental disorders, critiques the concept of mental illness, and describes the extent of mental illness with regard to class, race, and gender. Various treatment strategies are discussed, and campus mental health is surveyed.

Finally, sociological theory is applied to health issues, and political analysis of problems and solution concludes the chapter.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Health and Illness: A Global Perspective 9.1 Contrast patterns of human health in high- and low-income countries.

• Health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.

• High-Income Nations o On average, people living in high-income nations in North America, Western Europe, or Japan are far healthier than those living in low-income countries. o Infant mortality rate is the number of babies, of every 1,000 born, who die before their first birthday.

▪ Window on the World Global Map 9–1 Infant Mortality in Global Perspective. o Life expectancy at birth is the number of years, on average, people in a society can expect to live. o Chronic disease is an illness that has a long-term development. It includes heart disease, cancer, and stroke. o In most respects, being affluent is a lot better for human health than being poor. But a higher standard of living does carry health dangers of its own.

• Low-Income Nations o Severe poverty typically means people lack adequate nutrition, which weakens the body, and they also lack regular access to clean water. In poor countries, poverty is linked to 70 percent of all illness compared to just 10 percent of all illness in rich nations. o Infant mortality rates in low-income countries are far higher than they are in high-income countries such as the United States. Life expectancy is also low

by U.S. standards.

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o An acute disease is an illness that strikes suddenly. They include various infectious and parasitic diseases such as Ebola, malaria, cholera, typhoid, measles, and diarrhea.

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Rich and Poor Compared: The AIDS Epidemic o Social epidemiology is the study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society‘s population. o An epidemic is the rapid spreading of a disease through a population. An epidemic is also called a pandemic because, in an age of global travel, a disease can spread rapidly throughout the world. o AIDS: The Global View ▪ The AIDS epidemic has already claimed the lives of more than 20 million people in central and southern Africa, dramatically dropping life expectancy to less than sixty years.

▪ Good news: New infections numbered 1.5 million in 2021, down from 3.4 million in 2000.

▪ Why are many of the world‘s poorest nations so hard-hit by AIDS? As already noted, poverty weakens health, leaving people with less resistance to infection. In addition, poor countries have few resources for education and prevention programs. o Social Problems in Global Perspective: The Social Roots of AIDS: Poverty, Culture, and Gender o AIDS in the United States ▪ The AIDS epidemic is far less serious in the United States than it is in nations of southern Africa. The United States accounts for just 3 percent of the world‘s cases. The government records almost 20,000 deaths annually, from various causes, of people who have been diagnosed with HIV. The total number of people in the U.S. who have contracted AIDS now exceeds 1,200,000, and of these more than 700,000 have died.

▪ Although researchers have yet to produce a cure for this deadly disease, they have developed drug treatments that delay the onset of full-blown AIDS among many people infected with HIV. ▪ In the United States, as around the world, AIDS is primarily a disease of people with low incomes. Black and Hispanic people, who together represent 31 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for 69 percent of all new cases of HIV in 2020.

▪ Figure 9–1 Diversity Snapshot: New HIV Diagnoses in the United States.

II. Health Policy: Paying for Care 9.2 Describe how nations around the world pay the costs of health care.

• Socialist Systems o In societies with socialist economies, the government controls most economic activity with government agencies providing medical services and operating

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hospitals and clinics; doctors and other medical professionals are state employees who receive salaries for their services. o The People‘s Republic of China ▪ In China, the government administers health care, operating hospitals and clinics in large population centers. In addition, China‘s famed ―barefoot doctors‖ visit rural villages, providing basic health care to tens of millions of Chinese peasants.

▪ China‘s large population is currently overwhelming the country‘s health care system, a fact that became all too clear during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

▪ The Chinese approach to health blends modern scientific medicine with traditional healing arts, including acupuncture and medicinal herbs. o The Russian Federation ▪ Health care is still mostly under government control so, as is the case in China, people go to government-run clinics for treatment. One consequence of state control is that physicians are paid much less for their work than their counterparts in the United States.

▪ Economic decline during the 1990s meant a sharp drop in the health of the Russian population, but there has been a rebound in the past few years.

Capitalist Systems o Societies with mostly capitalist economies distribute health care—like other goods and services—through a market system. o Sweden ▪ For more than a century, Sweden has taken a socialist approach by making health care a basic right for all citizens.

▪ Socialized medicine is a medical care system in which the government owns and operates most medical facilities and employs most physicians.

▪ Figure 9–2 Global Snapshot: Extent of Socialized Medicine in Selected Countries.

▪ The level of health in Sweden is high, and all Swedes receive the same quality of care.

• Figure 9–3 Global Snapshot: Human Development Index for Selected Countries. o Great Britain ▪ Since 1948, Great Britain, too, has had a system of socialized medicine.

However, the British did not do away with private care; rather, they created a dual system with government and market-based systems operating side by side.

▪ The British system does a fairly good job of providing basic care to everyone. o Canada ▪ In Canada, the government operates rather like a large insurance company.

In this ―single-payer‖ system, the government sets fees and pays physicians and hospitals, with the funding coming from taxes.

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▪

Canada may not match the United States in providing the most cuttingedge medical procedures to some of its people, but it outperforms the United States in providing basic care to most of them.

o Japan ▪ Physicians and hospitals in Japan operate privately in a market system. At the same time, a combination of government programs and private health insurance pays most medical costs.

▪ The Japanese people have the highest quality of life in the world, a strong indicator of that population‘s excellent health.

III. Health Care in the United States: A System in Crisis?

9.3 Evaluate the performance of the health care system in the United States.

• Regarding life expectancy, the United States ranks below not only Canada and almost every country in Western Europe but also behind a number of less well-off nations, from Costa Rica in Latin America to Singapore in Asia. In addition, despite our country‘s unmatched wealth, the United States barely breaks into the top fifty (with a ranking of fifty-third) in terms of low levels of infant mortality.

• The U.S. health care system offers the best treatment in the world for people who can afford it.

• A direct-fee system is a medical care system in which patients or their insurers pay directly for the services of physicians and hospitals.

• The Cost Problem o The cost of medical care in this country has soared in recent decades, from about $12 billion in 1950 to more than $4.3 trillion in 2021. o Reasons include the following: ▪ The spread of private insurance: More insurance meant that people received more medical care, but it also gave most people little reason to shop around and question the cost of prescription drugs, office visits, and hospital stays.

▪ More doctors who specialize: Specialists command higher fees, typically twice what a general practitioner earns.

▪ More high technology and the profit motive: The medical establishment credits advanced technologies for most of the rise in health care spending since 1950. Our medical system is designed to create profit for medical companies and their investors.

▪ A lack of preventative care: Many people, especially those with limited income, see doctors only when they face a medical crisis.

▪ An aging population: As the baby boomers—more than 75 million people born between 1945 and 1964—enter old age, they spend more on health.

▪ More lawsuits: When treatment fails, patients or their families are likely to feel victimized and file a lawsuit, a trend that has driven up the cost of malpractice insurance, which doctors and hospitals pass along to patients. o Controlling Costs ▪ With preadmission testing, doctors order blood work, X-rays, and other tests before deciding whether a patient needs to be admitted to a hospital.

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▪ ▪

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A second policy is performing outpatient treatment, meaning that the patient enters and leaves the hospital or clinic on the same day the procedure is performed.

A third practice is regulating the length of hospitalization. In this case, insurance companies limit the hospital stay for a particular condition.

Who Pays? o Private Insurance Programs ▪ Most employers require that people pay a share of the insurance premium.

In addition, when people file claims, insurance companies rarely cover the entire bill. In recent years, the typical deductible has been increasing so that private insurance reduces but does not eliminate the financial burden caused by a serious accident or illness. o Health Maintenance Organizations ▪ Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are private insurance organizations that provide medical care to subscribers for a fixed fee.

▪ As a type of managed care, HMOs require patients to choose medical care providers from a list of participating professionals, which often forces people to use doctors they do not know.

▪ Nonemergency care must be preapproved by a primary care physician, who diagnoses the patient, provides some treatment, and makes referrals to specialists.

▪ HMOs try to keep costs down through managed care—that is, by controlling the treatment process. In some cases, HMOs will not pay for a treatment at all. o Government Insurance Programs ▪ Medicare is part of the Social Security system and serves people age sixtyfive or older as well as people of all ages who are totally and permanently disabled.

▪ Medicaid serves poor people with special needs, including people who are blind, permanently disabled, pregnant, or aged or who live in families with dependent children.

The Coverage Problem o Twenty-eight million people—about 8.6 percent of the U.S. population—have no medical coverage at all. o One reason for the large population without insurance is that companies have been cutting back on benefits provided to workers. o The larger question is whether the United States should remain the only highincome country in the world without a universal health care program.

The 2010 Health Care Law o The law extends medical insurance to more people. o Here is a summary of the major features of the law: ▪ All families are subject to an insurance tax.

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Insurance companies cannot legally drop existing customers because they became ill.

▪ Insurance companies cannot limit the amount of money they will pay to any individual for medical expenses over a lifetime.

▪ Parents can use their health plans for children up to the age of twenty-six.

▪ Insurance companies cannot refuse coverage to anyone of any age due to preexisting health conditions.

▪ All families are required to purchase insurance coverage.

▪ People who do not buy insurance were subject to penalties. However, federal penalties were dropped in 2019 by the Trump administration. o The Affordable Care Act has reduced the number of people in the United States without health insurance from 49 million to about 28 million.

Health: Class, Ethnicity, and Race o The health of affluent people in the United States is among the best in the world.

But many poor people in this country are no better off than people who live in the world‘s low-income nations. o Seeing Ourselves National Map 9–1 Life Expectancy across the United States. o Black people in the United States, who are more than twice as likely to be poor as White people, have lives that are, on average, 5.6 years shorter. o The harmful effects of poverty begin early in life, often before birth. One result is that Black women are more than twice as likely as White women to go without prenatal care, which is health care for women during pregnancy, and twice as likely to have low-birthweight infants, who are at high risk of dying soon after birth.

Health: Rural and Urban Places o A general pattern in the United States is that people living in rural areas have more health problems than people living in urban areas. o Reasons for this pattern include fewer job opportunities resulting in lower average incomes with higher rates of living in poverty for people in rural areas as well as having to travel long distances to obtain care at medical treatment facilities.

Health: The Importance of Gender o Black women—despite a much higher level of poverty—have a higher life expectancy than White men. Such facts highlight the importance of gender to human health. o Figure 9–4 Diversity Snapshot: Life Expectancy for U.S. Children Born in 2021. o Gender stereotypes may distort medical treatment. Some critics claim that doctors turn normal life events, such as menopause, into medical ―problems‖ that require long-term medication. In addition, they argue, women‘s health problems are sometimes not treated as aggressively as men‘s problems. o An Illustration: Eating Disorders ▪ In the United States, as many as 30 million people suffer from eating disorders, and about 90 percent of them are female.

▪ The social roots of this disease lie in a culture that defines women‘s value in terms of physical attractiveness.

People with Disabilities

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o Another category of the population that struggles with the health care system is people with any disability, a physical or mental condition that limits everyday activities. o Sociologists note that physical disability often operates as a master status, meaning that other people may attach such importance to the disability that they overlook everything else that a person does and is. o More accepting attitudes are reflected in widespread use of barrier-free architecture—including wheelchair ramps, elevators, and bathrooms—that give everyone greater access to facilities, including schools and workplaces. o Disability Legislation ▪ Passed in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment and public accommodations, including hotels, theaters, restaurants, and stores.

▪ In 1997, the federal government expanded the definition of ―disability‖ beyond physical problems to include a host of conditions from mental illness to learning disabilities to fear of open places.

The Nursing Shortage o In 2022, there were 3.3 million registered nurses (RNs) in the United States; about 100,000 positions remain unfilled. The number of nurses needed in this country is projected to increase by 200,000 in 2031. The nursing shortage is greatest in the U.S. South and West. o What explains the increasing demand for nursing?

▪ Technological advances in medicine mean that more illnesses can be treated, requiring more medical professionals to do the work.

▪ There has been a rapid expansion in hospital outpatient services, such as same-day surgery, rehabilitation, and chemotherapy.

▪ An increasing focus on preventative care, rather than simply treating disease or accidents, means that more people than ever are receiving care.

▪ The passage of the Affordable Care Act increased access to medical services for millions of additional people in the United States.

▪ The COVID-19 pandemic greatly intensified the demand for nursing; at the same time, the pandemic discouraged many people from entering the nursing profession due to health risks.

▪ The population of the United States is aging, which means that people are consuming more and more medical services.

The COVID-19 Pandemic o In general, the number of infections is larger in high-income countries than in low-income countries because travel to and from rich nations is far greater. o It is useful to contrast COVID-19 to HIV/AIDS. The number of COVID-19 infections (764 million) is almost twenty times the number of infections involving HIV/AIDS. The global death toll from COVD-19 (about 7 million) is still far below the 20 million lives lost to AIDS. o There are three additional differences between the two diseases: ▪ COVID-19 is easily transmitted from person to person, HIV is not.

▪ COVID-19 infection is far less likely to cause death than HIV infection.

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Cases of COVID-19 and HIV are concentrated in different regions of the world. o The rate of infection in the U.S. has been higher for Black and Hispanic/Latino people than for White people and Asian people.

IV. Mental Health and Illness 9.4 Summarize types of mental disorders as well as treatment strategies.

• A mental disorder is a condition involving thinking, mood, or behavior that causes distress and reduces a person‘s ability to function in everyday life.

• For society as a whole, losses due to serious mental illness exceed $190 billion annually, mostly in terms of lost earnings and reduced workplace productivity.

• The experience of mental illness varies but may include extreme anxiety and fear, wild elation, mood swings, panic attacks, debilitating depression, or even hallucinations. Such symptoms are clearly troubling in themselves, but they also lead to other problems, including problems at work, strain in relationships, and even child neglect and outright violence.

• Types of Mental Disorders o The most widely used classification of mental disorders prepared by the American Psychiatric Association (2022) is the revised fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). o Table 9–1 Categories of Mental Disorders Listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

• Mental Illness: The Power of a Label o Because mental disorders and their many causes are not well understood, critics point out that people, including health professionals, have enormous power to define what is normal. The psychiatrist Thomas Szasz claims that people apply the label of ―insanity‖ to behavior they find disturbing when in reality these patterns are only ―different.‖ o Szasz‘s claim is controversial, and most of his colleagues in the field of psychiatry reject the statement that mental illness is little more than difference that disturbs others.

• Mental Illness: Class, Race, and Gender o Mental Health and Class ▪ Poverty and mental illness are linked. But does poverty cause mental illness or is it the other way around? There is evidence that the causal link works in both directions. o Mental Health, Race, and Ethnicity ▪ Sociologists have documented the corrosive effect of a lack of jobs to many low-income communities in the United States. People who struggle economically and are often socially isolated by both low income and racial prejudice—contend with high levels of stress and anxiety.

▪ It is important to point out that race and ethnicity by themselves do not appear to play a major part in patterns of mental health.

▪ Figure 9–5 Diversity Snapshot: Incidence of Mental Health for Selected Racial and Ethnic Categories.

• Treatment Strategies

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o By about 1600, a new strategy arose for dealing with mentally ill people: locking them away in prisons along with criminals and people who had fallen into debt. o The Spread of the Asylum ▪ Reform came in the 1800s in large part because of the efforts of one woman, Dorothea Dix of the United States.

▪ Dix was successful in building support for asylums in the United States, but only a small share of people with mental illness received the humane care that Dix advocated.

▪ Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Dorothea Dix: People with Mental Illness Deserve Our Help o Psychotherapy ▪ Psychotherapy is an approach to mental health in which patients talk with trained professionals to gain insight into the cause of their problems, resulting in change to troubling emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. o Medical Approaches ▪ In the 1950s, as psychoactive drugs came on the market, it was no longer necessary to confine people in institutions in order to control them. o Deinstitutionalization ▪ Deinstitutionalization is the process of releasing people from mental hospitals into local communities.

▪ Personal Stories: Deinstitutionalization: When Good Intentions Have Bad Results Mental Illness on Campus o According to the American College Health Association (2019), 87 percent of U.S. college students admit to feeling overwhelmed at times, and 45 percent report at some time having been so depressed that they could not do their work. o Beginning in 2020, the pandemic increased the incidence of anxiety and stress among students, as it did throughout the general population. o Mental health problems were on the rise prior to the pandemic. What accounts for the increase?

▪ We are likely seeing the effects of colleges opening to a wider range of people, greater pressure on today‘s young people, and lower levels of parental involvement in children‘s lives.

V. Theories of Health and Illness 9.5 Apply sociological theory to issues involving physical and mental health.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Health and Social Roles o Sick role is a pattern of behavior expected of people defined as ill. o In practice, the sick role releases people from most everyday duties and obligations. o Embracing the sick role involves a release from responsibility.

• Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meaning of Health o In low-income nations of the world, for example, poor people may consider inadequate nutrition and hunger to be a normal part of life. Although people living in high-income nations are generally healthier, they have become much more accepting of obesity.

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o The variable reality of health and illness is also evident in the changing definitions used by medical professionals. o The meanings people attach to any social pattern matter. How people define their health may affect how they actually feel physically.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Health and Inequality o A basic pattern everywhere in the world is that having more wealth allows people to have better health. Social-conflict analysis points to ways in which social inequality shapes health and health care in the United States.

Feminist Analysis: Health and Gender o Because women are disproportionately represented among those with low incomes, women are at a higher risk of illness. In addition, women represent only 44 percent of physicians and medical research tends to focus on men more than women. As a result, medical professionals do not provide an equal level of care to women. o In terms of mental health, research shows that, over the course of their lifetimes, women and men have about the same rates of mental illness.

VI. Politics and Health: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 9.6 Analyze physical and mental health issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives and Libertarians: Free Markets Provide the Best Care o Given conservatives‘ support for free-market health care and their belief in taking personal responsibility for health, conservatives want only a limited role for government in this area. o For the most economically disadvantaged people—especially older adults or people with disabilities—and for veterans who have served their country, the government should and does provide health care programs at little or no direct cost to patients.

• Liberals: Government Must Ensure Universal Care o Liberals believe that a fair and just society should provide everyone with access to health care in a more or less equal way. As they see it, a market system serves the rich very well but does much less for average people and very little for those living in poverty.

• The Radical Left: Capitalism Is Unhealthy o The solution to the problem of unequal health care in the U.S. and in the world is to abandon capitalism. Both the costs and benefits of the health care system should be spread throughout the population, or socialized.

• Going On from Here o The United States falls behind dozens of other nations— including those with much lower average incomes—on important health indicators and also on the high cost of care. Where we stand in terms of health care a century from now will probably depend less on what happens in a high-tech laboratory than on the future extent of social inequality.

• Defining Solutions: We All Want a Society in Which People Have Good Health, But What Is the Best Way to Reach That Goal?

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES 9.1 Contrast patterns of human health in high- and low-income countries.

9.2 Describe how nations around the world pay the costs of health care.

9.3 Evaluate the performance of the health care system in the United States.

9.4 Summarize types of mental disorders as well as treatment strategies.

9.5 Apply sociological theory to issues involving physical and mental health.

9.6 Analyze physical and mental health issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 9, students should be able to: Explain the relationship between health and wealth and contrast patterns of health between people living in high-income nations and those living in low-income nations.

Discuss the AIDS epidemic in the United States within larger global patterns.

Explain why the poorest nations are the hardest hit by AIDS. Discuss and distinguish health care policies in socialist systems and in capitalist systems.

Explain why medical care in the United States has become so expensive.

Discuss the policies that have been adopted in the United States to control health care costs.

Identify various forms of health insurance.

Discuss the effects of class, ethnicity, and race on health and health care in the United States.

Explain how, from a feminist perspective, gender shapes health.

Discuss how the idea of ―disability‖ is socially constructed.

Explain how the disability rights movement worked to advance disability legislation.

Discuss reasons for the nursing shortage in the United States.

Describe the categories of mental disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and evaluate some specialists‘ assertion that mental illness is a myth.

Discuss the relationship between patterns of mental health (and mental illness) and class, race, and gender.

Give a historical overview of treatment strategies for dealing with the mentally ill.

Describe patterns of mental health on campuses.

Briefly state the essential insight gained from the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, social-conflict, and feminist theoretical approaches when applied to health and illness.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of health as a social problem.

Explain how political outlook guides the process of defining solutions to the health problem.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: TRACKING THE TRENDS I consider the Tracking the Trends figure to be among the most important illustrations in this chapter. For one thing, the change over a generation or two is dramatic. From a rate of less than 15 percent in the 1960s, the obesity rate has tripled to nearly 42.5 percent in 2018. Second, obesity is not about poor choices made by a small number of people. Rather it is a societal trend that affects most people, especially if we consider the larger category of being ―overweight.‖ Third, obesity is a clear and present danger to health. It is alarming to think that the trend established over the past century in which the next generation has greater life expectancy than the one before could be reversed if obesity rates continue to climb; that is, children will not live

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as long as their parents lived. Finally, ask students why, in light of the extent and seriousness of this issue, obesity has not been widely defined as a serious social problem.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION A visit to a search engine such as YouTube will reveal a number of videos on the obesity crisis in the United States. You will find videos dealing with, to name only some topics, childhood obesity, the link between poverty and obesity, and the link between fast food and obesity.

General questions you may wish to ask students: Should our society push back against obesity in the interest of health? Or are we a society obsessed with being thin that must learn to accept people of greater size? If this debate intrigues you, search for a National Geographic video called ―Taboo: Fat Acceptance.‖ Forty-four minutes long, this video is likely to be disturbing to some people.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the Importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 9, the first PowerPoint presentation is titled ―The Cuban Health Paradox.‖ The presentation explains that basic health patterns in Cuba (a nation with economic output well below that of the United States) are actually better than in this country. This contrast highlights the importance of how society defines our rights and our national priorities will make a world of difference in how people live. The second presentation is titled ―Increasing Mortality: What Does It Say about U.S. Society?‖ This presentation highlights a dramatic increase in mortality among the White, working-class population of the United States.

These PowerPoint presentations can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: Health Care Changes under the Trump Administration.

Health care policy changed under the Trump administration. In brief, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans did not succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), largely because a number of its provisions (such as coverage for preexisting conditions) are widely supported. However, the president and Congress weakened Obamacare in numerous ways. Check current news and online sources to read about the changes that took place during the Trump administration and for the latest developments on how the Biden administration is approaching health care policy.

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2. It is likely that few of your students have firsthand experience with the complexities inherent in today‘s health care industry. Fewer still are familiar with the special problems experienced by the ―working poor,‖ who are ineligible for medical benefits provided by the government. Have your students go onto a government exchange and try to learn as much as they can about the process of securing health insurance.

3. Invite a representative of an AIDS support group in your community to appear before your class and discuss the problem. It would be especially useful to have a speaker who can comment knowledgeably on the implications for AIDS of hostility against the LGBTQ+ community.

Because some of your students may not have had extensive exposure to the organized LGBTQ+ community, they will benefit from hearing this viewpoint in the classroom setting.

4. To help students appreciate the complex changes that have occurred in U.S. health care policy with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), organize a discussion of this policy, including how it was presented, what was promised, what appears to have happened, and how the program has affected various categories of the population. To what extent does this policy appear to be a success? In what ways has it fallen short? What changes to the ACA took place during the Trump administration? How about the Biden administration?

5. Conduct a field trip to a health maintenance organization (HMO); if this is impossible, try to arrange for a tour of the largest hospital in your community. Although students are unlikely to be directly exposed to problems on the tour, the experience will almost surely generate some interesting, relevant class discussion concerning health care issues.

6. Have students consider the implications of effective prevention in ―wellness‖ programs that exist in the United States today. The growth of physical fitness centers is not only a profitable industry in itself, but also it has expanded to organizations that want to increase the health status of their employees to decrease medical insurance costs. Do employers have a right to demand that employees increase their exercise? Lose weight? Stop smoking? Should all these matters be personal choices or does an employer or insurance company have a right to weigh in and demand what is claimed to be ―healthier behavior‖?

7. Michael Lewis has engineered a sociological perspective on mental illness through the reading of narratives. His is an active learning technique that he calls a ―book club strategy.‖ His article, ―Developing a Sociological Perspective on Mental Illness through Reading Narratives and Active Learning: A ‗Book Club‘ Strategy,‖ appears in the October 2004 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 32: 391–400). Lewis recommends placing student experiences with mental illness at the center of the classroom dynamic by dividing the class into three seminar-sized ―book clubs‖ that feature student-led discussions about readings that speak directly to their life experiences.

8. Kathy Livingston has suggested that popular films about mental illness (e.g., One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Beautiful Mind, As Good as It Gets, and When a Man Loves a Woman) can be utilized in the classroom to project mental illness through a sociological lens. She elaborates on this technique in her article, ―Viewing Popular Films about Mental Illness through a

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Sociological Lens,‖ which appears in the January 2004 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 32: 119–28).

9. Most students are relatively insensitive to the critical difference between mental disorder and mental illness. To help your students appreciate this distinction, encourage them to think about how Americans typically react when they find out that someone close to them is suffering from a severe physical ailment—possibly one that is life-threatening. Have students vocalize the differences between our typical reactions to severe medical illnesses and common, everyday problems. Furthermore, it is useful to evaluate how it is one thing to have a problem; it is quite another to be seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist about that problem.

10. Draw a horizontal line on the board. Ask students to describe the most serious mental illness listed in Table 9–1 in this chapter and place a label for it on one end of the line; then ask them to think of the mildest mental illness and put it on the opposite end of the line. Depending on what they describe, you may need to offer more serious or less serious examples to see where they would place them. Although the purpose of this activity is not to determine what is labeled a psychosis or a neurosis, it should help your students to understand the subjective nature of labels and that what is considered peculiar behavior by one person is seen as normal by another—until serious crimes are committed, of course. Once labels have been placed across the line, have the students think about how the problems should be dealt with—through counseling, medication, a brief hospitalization, or institutionalization.

11. A good strategy for dramatizing Thomas Szasz‘s concept of mental illness as problems of living involves the research that has been conducted on the relationship between social class and mental illness. Have students think about the kinds of problems that lower socioeconomic status individuals are more likely to encounter in American society—how might these problems promote severe mental disturbances (psychoses, including schizophrenic reactions involving paranoia)? On the other hand, what kinds of problems are higher socioeconomic status persons likely to encounter—how might these problems promote less serious mental disturbances (neurotic disorders of one kind or another)?

12. Engage the students in a discussion of the nursing shortage. Have students brainstorm about the societal implications of a nursing shortage and make a list of the negative consequences.

Then move to a discussion of what should be done to offset the shortage.

13. Arrange for several students to borrow a wheelchair from the Disability Resource Center on your campus. The borrowers should separately go to places where they are not known (mall, library, bar). The borrowers should present to the class how they felt about the experience, what being in a wheelchair meant to them, and what it meant to the people they encountered. The entire class should discuss the social construction of disability and the implications for everyday life.

14. Organize an in-class debate in which one group argues for universal health care and the other side argues against universal health care. Both sides must be prepared to offer points and counterpoints. After the debate, discuss how each side constructed the issue and how the points that were made related to various positions on the political spectrum.

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WEB LINKS Affordable Care Act https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-aca/index.html Americans with Disabilities Act http://www.ada.gov Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services http://www.cms.hhs.gov National Alliance on Mental Illness http://www.nami.org UNAIDS, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS http://www.unaids.org/en World Health Organization http://www.who.org ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. The text points out that globally ―wealthier means healthier.‖ Explain this statement in terms of health in high-income nations compared to low-income nations.

2. Discuss patterns of HIV/AIDS in the United States in the context of the larger global AIDS epidemic.

3. Explain why the poorest nations are hit hardest by AIDS. 4. Contrast COVID-19 with HIV/AIDS. 5. Contrast health policies in socialist systems to those in capitalist systems. Discuss the benefits and consequences of each system of care.

6. Explain the reasons why medical care has become so expensive in the United States.

What do you think should be done to bring costs down?

7. Identify several policies that have been adopted to control health care costs. Which policies do you support or oppose? Why? 8. Discuss how class, ethnicity, and race influence the health of people in the United States today.

9. Discuss ways in which gender shapes health. Do you think that men or women in the United States have the greater health advantage? Explain your answer.

10. Identify the different categories of mental illness and give one example of each category.

11. Discuss the benefits and consequences of the deinstitutionalization movement.

12. Discuss how Dorothea Dix (1802–1887) changed the way people in the United States look at those who suffer from a mental illness.

13. Apply sociology‘s major theoretical paradigms to issues of health problems. Provide one criticism of each theoretical approach.

14. How do conservatives, liberals, and radicals on the left construct issues of health and health care differently? How do they tend to define different policies as favored solutions?

FILM LIST ABANDONED TO THEIR FATE: A HISTORY OF SOCIAL POLICY TOWARD PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

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(2005, 30 m, Insight Media) Examining scholarly records, institutional archives, and examples from popular media, this program traces the origins of social stereotypes and exclusionary practices toward individuals with disabilities from the Middle Ages through modern times.

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL: CRITICAL CONDITION (2009, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In the United States, prior to the Affordable Care Act, 47 million people were without the vital safety net of health insurance. In this edition of the ―Journal,‖ Bill Moyers presents a special onehour version of ―Critical Condition,‖ in which filmmaker Roger Weisberg puts a human face on the nation‘s growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, even their lives. ―Critical Condition‖ offers a moving and invaluable exposé at a time when the nation is debating how to extend health insurance to all Americans.

BUSTING OUT (2005, 57 m, Bullfrog Films) This is an exploration of the history and politics of breast obsession in America and its connection with breast cancer, breastfeeding, and body image. ―Busting Out‖ is a disarmingly honest and intimate exploration of our society‘s fascination with women‘s breasts. Directors Strickwerda and Spellman Smith unflinchingly examine the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of this American icon, delving into the history and politics of breast obsession in the United States.

From breast-crazy men shouting ―Flash those racks!‖ to the fears of breast cancer and the disparate attitudes of cultures worldwide, the directors leave no stone unturned in their quest to demystify the American breast.

CANADA’S SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH SYSTEM: A MODEL FOR REFORM (1994, 16 m, Off Center Video) This presentation describes the Canadian health care system and highlights its advantages.

COMMITTED IN ERROR: THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM GONE MAD (1991, 52 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This is the story of a man who spent sixty-six years incarcerated and forgotten in mental health institutions, although there was never anything really wrong with him. This particular story took place in Great Britain, but it could happen anywhere. This film depicts where the system went tragically wrong.

CRITICAL CONDITION (2008, 82 m, Filmakers Library) What happens when you‘re sick and uninsured? The unforgettable people in this film discover that it can cost you your job, health, home, savings, and even your life. ―Critical Condition‖ puts an intimate human face on America‘s growing health care crisis by chronicling the struggles of a diverse group of uninsured Americans as they battle critical illness over a two-year period. No matter how staggering it is to learn that 18,000 Americans die every year simply because they lack health insurance, that number is just an abstract statistic. Access to health care is a moral

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issue, bridging the conventional partisan political divide. These stories graphically illustrate the enormous cost in dollars and human suffering that we pay when the public foots the bill for catastrophic illnesses that could be inexpensively prevented with access to routine primary care.

This film shows real people and the tragic circumstances they face without health insurance.

ETHICS AND HEALTH CARE: A CONVERSATION ABOUT COSTS AND COVERAGE (2008, 43 m, Insight Media) In this program, Tommy Thompson, David Durenberger, and Daniel Callahan address ethical issues in health care. The program examines such issues as escalating health care costs, the growing gap between those who can afford health care and those who cannot, and the actual and potential roles of government, the insurance industry, and the pharmaceutical industry.

FRONTLINE: THE NEW ASYLUMS (2005, 60 m, PBS) There are nearly half a million mentally ill people serving time in U.S. prisons and jails. As sheriffs and prison wardens become the unexpected and ill-equipped gatekeepers of this burgeoning population, they raise a troubling new concern: Are jails and prisons America‘s new asylums? Frontline goes inside Ohio‘s prison system to present a searing exploration of the complex and growing topic of mental health behind bars.

THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE (2010, 47 m, Insight Media) Featuring a panel discussion among such experts as Senator Bill Frist; John Lechleiter, president and CEO of Eli Lily; Angela Braly of Wellpoint, Inc.; Steven Nissen, chief of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic; and Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, this program explores the future of the U.S. health care system. It considers such issues as whether universal access will lead to lower quality of care and the effects of the health care transformation on U.S. businesses.

HEALING THE WOUNDS: NURSING’S ROAD TO RECOVERY (2001, 29 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) With the majority of nurses getting uncomfortably close to retirement, it is urgent that a new generation enter the ranks of the profession. This program looks at how nurses and other members of the health care industry are trying to attract more young women and men to the field, as well as at initiatives to restore respect for nursing as a career choice. Turning the nursing profession around will take educational and financial incentives, a willingness to incorporate new ideas, and time—but time is the one thing that is in very short supply.

HIV & ME: A GLOBAL EXPLORATION WITH STEPHEN FRY (2007, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Media attention to HIV/AIDS has dwindled in recent years. What lies behind the perceived irrelevance of the disease? Are young Westerners misguided when they view it as manageable, in the same league as herpes or diabetes? And what about Africa—is AIDS awareness there better or worse? Celebrated author and actor Stephen Fry addresses such questions in this twopart series, which takes viewers inside the twenty-first-century battle against HIV. Combining

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personal and scientific history while navigating today‘s global landscape in search of answers, Fry uncovers a wide spectrum of conditions—from triumph to defeat to just plain survival in the face of a relentless microscopic enemy. This contains mature themes and occasional explicit language and imagery.

THE HUMAN CONDITION: IN HUMAN TERMS (2000, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines the balance between health and illness throughout the world community and discusses the social and economic consequences of diseases. Focusing on at-risk segments of the population, it differentiates between chronic illnesses and communicable diseases and analyzes mortality and morbidity trends over the last few decades.

MADNESS: A HISTORY (2001, 50 m, Insight Media) This program traces the history of scientific understanding of mental illness. Featuring testimonials, manuscripts, photographs, footage from medical archives, and expert opinions, the program documents the history of asylums and the development of psychoanalysis, discusses electroconvulsive therapy, traces the rise of psychopharmacology, and looks at such treatments as lobotomy.

MINDS ON THE EDGE: FACING MENTAL ILLNESS—A FRED FRIENDLY SEMINAR (2009, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) America‘s frenzied debate over government health insurance has eclipsed another, no less important, national health care crisis—the plight of people with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This Fred Friendly Seminar sheds light on barriers to treatment, ethical and legal dilemmas, and fragmented social policies that are creating a nightmare for families, filling America‘s jails, and wasting scarce resources. Led by veteran broadcast journalist Frank Sesno, the program features hypothetical scenarios that challenge prominent mental health professionals, policymakers, and legal luminaries to confront the situations and stigma facing Americans with mental illness. Panelists include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Nobel-winning neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel, Pennsylvania Secretary of Public Welfare Estelle B. Richman, and many others. A viewable/printable discussion guide is available online.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975, 129 m, Rental Video) This classic film provides an excellent view of life inside a mental institution, the effects on patients of institutionalization, and the dynamics of power and powerlessness played out by patients and their caretakers.

THE SCANDAL OF PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS: WHEN THE GOAL IS INSURANCE REIMBURSEMENT (1991, 52 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) At the same time that mentally unhealthy patients are being discharged into the streets because their insurance benefits have expired, perfectly healthy Americans are being locked up in mental

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hospitals while these institutions draw their insurance. This revealing documentary deals with some of these abuses.

REDEFINING HEALTH CARE (2010, 47 m, Insight Media) Considering the obstacles to providing comprehensive public access to affordable and quality health care, this CNBC program explores technological solutions that could potentially reduce medical costs, minimize inefficiencies, and create individualized treatments for specific patients.

It highlights issues in personalized medicine and discusses improvements in diagnosis, treatment, health care delivery systems, and the insurance industry.

SICKO (2007, 123 m, rental video) This is a documentary look at health care in the United States as provided by profit-oriented health maintenance organizations (HMOs) compared to free, universal care in Canada, the United Kingdom, and France. Moore contrasts U.S. media reports on Canadian care with the experiences of Canadians in hospitals and clinics there. He interviews patients and doctors in the United Kingdom about cost, quality, and salaries. He examines why Nixon promoted HMOs in 1971 and why the Clintons‘ reform effort failed in the 1990s. He talks to U.S. ex-pats in Paris about French services, and he takes three 9/11 cleanup volunteers, who developed respiratory problems, to Cuba for care. He asks of Americans, ―Who are we?‖ TOUCHED BY GENIUS: A NEUROLOGICAL LOOK AT CREATIVITY (2007, 50 m, Insight Media) This program explores the link between creativity and brain disorders and considers the view of many born with Tourette‘s that the disorder is both a curse and a gift. The program offers an informative exploration of the diagnosis, treatment, and daily realities of such disorders as Tourette‘s, Parkinson‘s, autism, and schizophrenia.

UNCOVERED (2010, 18 m, Filmakers Library) ―Uncovered‖ puts a human face on America‘s health care crisis by chronicling the harrowing struggles of the Nazaretyan family to care for their disabled children without insurance. George and Narine Nazaretyan‘s twin babies were born three months prematurely and remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for fifteen weeks. When the Nazaretyans‘ health insurance company received expensive medical claims, they rescinded the family‘s insurance policy, leaving the family with medical bills of a million dollars, a house they can no longer afford, and severely disabled children who need specialized medical attention for the rest of their lives. The film reveals the medical, financial, and emotional struggles of one family trying to cope with a medical crisis without health insurance.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Health Care Do you have health care coverage? Why or why not? Describe your personal experience with your own health care arrangements.

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Sample answer: Responses should indicate whether the student has health care coverage that is provided through their employer, the government, the marketplace, or none at all.

They should discuss their experiences in terms of the quality of care they have received, the availability of services, the cost of their health plans, etc.

2. Personalizing Mental Health on Campus In your opinion, how serious is the problem of poor mental health on your campus? Why do you think mental health is becoming a larger problem on campuses across the country?

Sample answer: The pandemic increased stress among students, as it did throughout the population. One-third of students changed their living arrangements, and two-thirds reported increased financial hardship. A larger share of college students now come from families with low incomes, and student debt is a source of stress for more students.

3. Where Do You Stand?

What is the role of government and people themselves in providing medical care? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, in a paragraph or two, explain the extent to which you think that government or individuals themselves should take responsibility for securing health care.

Sample answer: The solution to people‘s need for health care reflects their political attitudes and social standing. Liberals argue that the core of the health care problem is the distribution of care. Their solution is for the government to ensure that everyone has access to quality care (i.e., universal health care coverage). Conservatives, on the other hand, focus on individual responsibility. They argue that people need to make good choices including eating well, exercising regularly, etc.

4. Global Map 9–1 Infant Mortality in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to link the rate of infant mortality to a country‘s level of economic development. Before you begin writing, look at the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development for all countries. Compare the two maps. How does infant mortality differ in high-income countries and low-income countries?

Sample answer: First, examine the first map to identify regions of the world with high infant mortality and low infant mortality. Then, examine the second map to identify areas of the world with high income and areas with low income. You should be able to see for yourself that high infant mortality is found in low-income areas of the world. You should also be able to see that low infant mortality is found in high-income areas of the world.

As a general rule, richer nations provide better nutrition, better health care, and safer living conditions, all of which reduce the risk of dying in the first year of life.

5. National Map 9–1 Life Expectancy across the United States Your journal assignment is to explain this pattern. To develop your response, look at the map on the right, which shows median household income for all the counties.

Compare the two maps. Notice, for example, that the South has relatively lower life expectancy, and this region also has relatively lower average income. How does income affect nutrition, quality of medical care, and other factors that shape health?

Sample answer: Looking at the map on the left, you will see that average life expectancy is greatest in the Northeast, in the upper Midwest, and on the West Coast. Looking at the

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map on the right, you will discover that these regions also contain counties that have relatively high median household income.

By contrast, you can see that counties with the lowest life expectancy are found in Appalachia (a rural region with high unemployment and poverty and a predominantly White population) and across the rural South (also a region with high unemployment and poverty and a predominanty Black population).

Now roll your cursor over a cluster of counties in south-central South Dakota (Oglala Lakota County, Bennett County, Jackson County, Mellette County, and Todd County). You can see that these counties also have very low median income, about half the national average. As you may have guessed, this cluster of counties contains many Native American communities. Overall, it is reasonable to conclude that average life expectancy in counties across the country is closely linked to average household income.

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CHAPTER 10 SOCIAL MEDIA IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Internet Use in Global Perspective John‘s Personal Video Selection Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE Chapter 10 in Social Problems, ninth edition, brings to the social problems course a comprehensive focus on social media, which is probably the most significant technological development in the last generation. Social media represents a new and powerful form of communication that has changed our lives, our relationships, and our society.

This chapter explains the importance of the media and provides a brief history of mass media and the explosive growth of social media in the twenty-first century. Discussion includes ways in which social media differs from earlier mass media. The chapter provides discussion of social networking sites and other ―apps.‖ The various media are linked to social problems in a couple of ways. First, the content of all media advances claims about the world that help transform issues into social problems. In other words, by controlling communication, the media has the power to define issues as social problems. Second, there is an expanding literature in which researchers and critics identify ways that use of social media causes various social problems, including addiction. This chapter helps students critically assess the content of media stories and media sources with the result that students achieve greater media literacy.

At a micro or individual level, analysis of social media begins with understanding its importance in the construction of individual identity and personal self-esteem. Research also establishes how use of social media can reduce the individual‘s capacity for empathy, encourage conformity, and reduce attention span. Research also links use of social media to the experience of cyberbullying and an increased risk of clinical depression. There is mounting evidence that use of social media carries the risk of addiction.

Critical assessment continues at a middle level with analysis of how social media shapes our relationships with special attention to dating and parenting. Social media use is also linked to the problem of social predators who engage victims online.

At a macro or societal level, social media shapes our popular culture. Research suggests that use of social media encourages young people to develop an oversexualized social identity.

Social media also brings many changes—both positive and negative—to the workplace, politics, and other institutions.

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Social media is linked to problems on many levels. But social media also has the power to bring about change. The chapter details how social media supports social movements including the #MeToo response to sexual harassment.

The content of this chapter is supported by sixty-six recent research citations.

AUTHOR’S NOTE This chapter was the first of its kind in a social problems text in the previous edition. I added the chapter only after considerable reflection. In fact, this was the first chapter-long addition to this title since the first edition was published almost two decades ago.

Mass media, of course, has been part of our world for centuries and this topic has been and continues to be discussed in a number of chapters of Social Problems. Social media, however, has emerged in just the last few decades and this technology has brought profound changes to social life.

To see just how important smartphone technology has become, you have only to ask students to take out their phones and pass them to the person sitting to their left or right. The reaction—which will range from mild horror to outright panic—will be sufficient to bring home the point.

As a less dramatic alternative, take a more scientific or technical approach and ask students ―Who can imagine living without a smartphone?‖ In developing an answer to this question, consider the astounding range of tasks that a smartphone can perform. I remember fullpage ads placed by electronic stores in the Sunday New York Times selling countless electronic gadgets. Almost every one of these devices is included in the apps found on a typical smartphone: wireless phone, computer, camera, radio, television, GPS, health monitor, compass, flashlight, weather forecaster, calculator, music system, appointment calendar, drone dashboard, and control system for home devices. And, of course, smartphones also bring us our news, our college course material, and almost limitless additional content.

The first major section of the chapter defines ―media,‖ ―mass media,‖ and ―social media‖ and explains their historical development. Students should understand that mass media gradually became possible after the invention of the printing press and came of age about 1800 with the spread of newspapers in major cities in Europe. Then, a century later, print gave way to transmitted signals—first radio waves and soon after transmission of both audio and video with television. By 1950, the invention of the computer established the foundation for the eventual explosion of social media in the current century.

The chapter continues by exploring how social media shapes our lives on three levels.

At a micro or individual level, the chapter explores the role of social media in the construction of individual identity and the development of personal self-esteem. This section of the chapter presents research linking the use of social media to reducing the individual‘s capacity for empathy, encouraging conformity, and reducing attention span. Research also links use of social media to an increased risk of clinical depression. Finally, discussion presents mounting evidence that use of social media carries the risk of addiction.

Critical assessment continues at a middle level with analysis of how social media shapes our relationships with special attention to dating and parenting. The discussion also links social media to the problem of social predators who engage victims online and cyberbullying.

The chapter continues at a macro or societal level, explaining that social media has a profound effect on popular culture. Research points to the conclusion that use of social media makes popular culture more shallow, encouraging young people to develop an oversexualized

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social identity. Social media also shapes all societal institutions, including the workplace, politics, and education.

The next part of the chapter applies sociology‘s major theoretical approaches to social media. Analysis includes structural-functional theory, symbolic-interaction theory, socialconflict theory focusing on class and capitalism, and feminist theory that links social media to inequality based on gender.

The final part of the chapter offers political analysis of social media from various positions on the political spectrum. These positions are conservative, liberal, and the radical left.

Political perspective shapes how we define ―problems‖ as well as ―solutions.‖ CHAPTER OUTLINE I. What Are the Media?

10.1 Clearly define three key concepts—media, mass media, and social media—and understand their historical development.

• Media refers to channels of communication.

• Mass Media o Mass media refers to the means for transmitting information from a single source to a huge number of people. o Newspapers ▪ The invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century created the possibility for newspapers to become a mass medium. By about 1800, newspapers in some European cities reached a circulation of 1 million. o Radio ▪ Radio was invented in the late 1880s, and ―wireless‖ transmission of Morse code messages was soon common on land and sea. The first commercial radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, began broadcasting in 1920.

▪ Figure 10–1 Share of Listening Time for Various Audio Media. o Television ▪ Commercial television broadcasting began in 1928. By the 1950s, half of all U.S. homes had at least one television with programming transmitted by three major networks—the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

• Social Media o Social media refers to media that allows people to share information, engage in social networking, and form communities based on common interests. It is supported by computer technology. o How do computer-based social media differ from older mass media?

▪ Newspapers, radio, and television are unidirectional. The internet is multidirectional.

▪ Social media is not centralized the way newspapers and television are.

Devices anywhere can send as well as receive information.

• Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: The Birth of the Internet • Apps

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o Today‘s social media operates using platforms and apps. o The first social networking site appeared in 1997; by 2023, Facebook had some 3 billion users worldwide. o Table 10–1 The Ten Most Popular Social-Networking Sites Worldwide, 2020. o The popularity of social media sites continues to increase. The use of social media is greatest among young adults, and the oldest people in our society are least likely to use it.

▪ Figure 10–2 Use of Social Media by Age of User.

II. Issues and Controversies Involving Media 10.2 Investigate issues and controversies involving the media that point to the need for media literacy.

• Media and the Message o The technology we employ as members of a society shapes the way we understand our world. A key insight by Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan is that media not only transmits information but also shapes the message. o The development of mass media changed the character of human relationships. The clearest way to see this truth is that we all interact with thousands of people we never see. o Social media and computer technology have also changed the character of the workplace making our jobs less personal, just as various media have changed the quality of our leisure pursuits.

• Media Shaping Reality o As media transmits information, it shapes the reality we experience. The fact that people who tuned in to the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon presidential debate on radio had a different assessment of the winner (Nixon) than those who tuned in using television (Kennedy) further illustrates the power of media to shape the message. o In 2021, the power of social media to shape reality led a number of apps to cancel the account of then-president Donald Trump after the January 6 insurrection. o Space limitations is another way in which the media shape a message (e.g., Twitter‘s 28-character limit).

• Media Bias o Republican leaders charge that most mainstream media has a liberal political agenda. Democratic leaders, especially progressives, claim that because most of the U.S. media are made up of hugely profitable corporations, there is bias in favor of existing social arrangements. o Specific media outlets are often characterized as putting their brand of ―spin‖ on the news, including political bias. But, at the same time, people have considerable choice. o Figure 10–3 Political Leanings of Selected Media Outlets. o In addition, some critics claim that the media distort reality to attract larger audiences.

• Trust in the Media

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Distrust of the media is widespread. A recent Gallup poll found that just 7 percent of U.S. adults report having ―a great deal of trust‖ in the mass media.

Trust in social media is even lower. o The trust in the media reflects the high level of political polarization in the U.S. Media Literacy o Media literacy refers to the capacity to be a critical consumer of mass media.

It involves some critical thinking, including asking what message is being communicated, identifying the source of the information, and assessing the possible bias in the content.

The Digital Divide o The digital divide refers to disparities in access to the internet for various categories of a people around the world or within a nation. o Just two-thirds of the world‘s people are actually using the internet and onethird are not. The extent of internet access is closely linked to a nation‘s level of economic development.

▪ Window on the World Global Map 10–1 Internet Use in Global Perspective. o Gender also figures in patterns of internet access. Globally, a slightly larger share of men (62 percent) than women (57 percent) use the internet. o What does matter is education: 97 percent of college graduates are online, compared to just 65 percent of people without a high school diploma. Income is also important. People with lower income are less likely to use the internet.

Age matters too. Whereas 100 percent of young adults use the internet, just 75 percent of people over the age of sixty-five do so. o The problem of limited internet access is also greatest for households in rural, remote areas of the United States.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 10–1 Internet Access across the United States.

III. Social Media: Problems for Individuals 10.3 Explore problems that social media can create for individuals.

• Social Media and Self-Image o Social media plays an important part in the process Erving Goffman described. Goffman‘s analysis focused on face-to-face interaction. But we can apply his analysis to the online interaction that is common in today‘s world. o Social media involves each of us presenting ourselves to an audience whose access to any other source of information about us is limited. o How does social media shape self-image? We build a self-image by imagining how others see us. Parents and peer groups influence self-image. o Social media provides steady feedback about personal qualities measured in terms of ―likes‖ or other expressions of approval. o People use social media to present idealized versions of themselves. o To those who make use of social media, negative feedback (for example, receiving few ―likes‖) carries the risk of feeling rejection and even experiencing clinical depression.

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Social Media, Anxiety, Loneliness, and Depression o Over the last decade, a trend has become evident: Rates of anxiety, loneliness, depression, and self-harm, including suicide, have increased significantly among young adults. There is a clearly a correlation between the use of social media and these disorders. But this correlation does not demonstrate cause and effect. o The dangers posed by excessive use of social media affect young people partly because they make the greatest use of this technology.

Social Media and Empathy o Research shows that, to the extent that use of social media replaces face-toface interaction, individuals experience a reduced capacity for empathy, or the ability to imagine ourselves in ―another person‘s shoes.‖ Sherry Turkle documented a decline in empathy among today‘s young people compared to those of an earlier generation.

Social Media and Conformity o Researchers have long documented our tendency to conform to attitudes and behavior of those around us. A UCLA study found that subjects assessed photos presented with more ―likes‖ in a more positive way than those with fewer ―likes.‖ Social Media, Multitasking, and Attention Span o Social media enhances our ability to engage in multitasking, which is engaging in more than one physical or mental activity at a given time.

Researchers conclude that use of social media has the effect of reducing our attention span.

Cyberbullying o Cyberbullying refers to the use of the internet to embarrass, abuse, or manipulate another person. It can result in depression and even thoughts of suicide. o Figure 10–4 Cyberbullying among Teens Ages 13-17.

Social Media and Addiction o So far research indicates that, for the large majority of people, using social media does not become addictive. However, a large majority of young people do say they spend too much time on their phones. In such cases, people become overly focused on social media to the point that they experience a physical or psychological craving to remain or go back online. Engineers who created social media apps agree that there is a risk of addiction. In part, this risk follows from any activity that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain.

IV. Social Media: Problems for Relationships 10.4 Assess problems that social media creates for relationships.

• Social Media and the Changing Importance of Physical Location o Social media allows us to stay connected with more people than anyone living even a generation ago could have imagined. Those who use social media today have far more social ties than those who don‘t. o Figure 10–5 Social Media and Connection to Others.

• Social Media and Parenting

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o Use of social media allows parents to have far greater knowledge about a child‘s location and activities than was typical earlier in history. Parents can also monitor children‘s online activity.

Social Media and Predators o A serious danger to young people is predators using social media.

Relationships typically begin online and eventually lead to an in-person meeting that may involve sexual victimization.

Social Media and Dating o In 2022, about 30 percent of U.S. adults reported having used a dating site.

▪ Figure 10–6 Share of U.S. Adults, by Age, Reporting Use of Dating Apps. o The use of dating sites is highest among younger people, who are more likely to be both dating and using social media, and lowest among older people, who are less likely to do both of these things. Sexual orientation is also linked to use of a dating site. o Online relationships lead to marriage more quickly than those formed in other ways; couples who meet online and marry are also three times more likely to divorce than couples who meet in more conventional ways. o In addition, use of social media by couples is linked to greater self-reported relational conflict.

V. Social Media: Problems for Society 10.5 Identify problems involving social media for society as a whole.

• Social Media and Culture o The images and messages that people encounter online have a significant influence on their values and what they see as right or wrong. o Several problems involving the effects of this socialization have been documented: ▪ The high level of violence online increased the risk of those who see it engaging in violent behavior.

▪ Social media often glorifies risk, as a glance at individual video posts easily confirms.

▪ Social media transmits stereotypical messages about race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, and sexual identity that perpetuate patterns of social inequality. o The ―Shallow Culture‖ Hypothesis ▪ Critics claim that social media encourages a superficial and morally shallow way of living. Research links heavy use of social media to young people valuing good looks, affluence, and popularity. o Social Media Influencers ▪ Social media influencer refers to a person or organization, widely thought to have expert knowledge in some area, using social media to shape public opinion. They have earned public respect with regard to some product, issue, or activity.

• Social Media and Work

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o Social media is now a major tool for finding employment. Computer technology also allows employers to closely monitor the behavior of workers.

Social Media and Politics o Social media serves the interests of candidates and elected leaders by transmitting their messages to millions of people without the high costs of newspapers, radio, and television. Although, it can also work against candidates. o Social media appears to be good for democracy, but it does intensify problems of hate speech, extremism, and political polarization in the United States.

Engaging the Issues: Gather Around the Radio: How Roosevelt‘s Fireside Chats Saved the Nation

VI. Theories of Social Media 10.6 Apply sociology’s major theories to social media.

• Structural-Functional Theory: The Functions of Social Media o Structural-functional theory identifies six functions of mass media and social media for the operation of society: ▪ Agent of socialization.

▪ Advancement of a uniform culture.

▪ Increased social integration.

▪ Agent of social control.

▪ Source of entertainment and stability.

▪ Source of change.

• Symbolic-Interaction Theory: Social Media and Reality Construction o Micro-level analysis focuses on how individuals socially construct reality, whether they are interacting in person or using social media apps. More broadly, much of the reality we experience involving our country and world comes to us through a mass media lens.

• Social-Conflict Theory: Social Media and Inequality o From a Marxist perspective, media organizations are large profit-seeking corporations. Over time, the share of all media outlets owned and controlled by a small number of individuals and corporations has increased, a pattern called media consolidation. o The increasing number of media outlets creates an illusion of almost unlimited choice in a vast marketplace. In reality, however, the media marketplace is largely controlled by individuals who own and operate six megacorporations.

• Feminist Theory: Social Media and Gender ▪ Feminist theory claims that the mass media supports the domination of society by males and the subordination of females. That is, the mass media both reflects male domination and also helps to perpetuate this pattern. Gender bias is evident in Hollywood and in advertising.

VII. Politics and Social Media: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 10.7 Analyze problems involving the media from various points on the political spectrum.

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Mass media and social media transmit information throughout society, informing the entire population. For this reason alone, the media play a crucial part in how we come to recognize and understand social problems.

Conservatives: Honoring Tradition o From a conservative point of view, mass media and social media are essential to organized social life involving more than 330 million people. At the same time, media can draw attention away from traditional culture; most young people, for example, spend more time using smartphones than they do interacting with their own families or attending school. Conservatives also claim most types of mainstream media have a liberal bias. o What is the conservative solution for these problems? Spending time using social media and for media outlets to provide more politically balanced content.

Liberals: Supporting a Progressive Agenda o From a liberal point of view, social media enhances both equality and political democracy. On a grass roots level, it allows individuals to share their own experiences with others across the country and around the world. This ability to connect encourages the formation of social movements like the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements.

The Radical Left: Media as Big Business o From a far-left point of view, major media outlets are large, privately owned corporations. Some of these corporations may support progressive causes, but the radical left claims that they are unlikely to challenge the capitalist system itself. Sinclair Broadcast Group, one corporation with conservative political leanings, owns and controls some 200 television stations in the United States with programming available to half of all U.S. households.

Going On from Here o The expansion of mass media and the emergence of social media have greatly increased access to information, including words, images, and music. o People now have greater connectivity than ever before. Whether this networking power will enhance democracy or provide greater power to elites remains to be seen. o Social media allows people with common interests to organize communities based on a common interest. o Social media companies have won over the market of iGeneration people— those born after 1994. To expand their markets, it is likely that social media companies will intensify their efforts to engage younger children.

Defining Solutions: Is Social Media More of a Problem or a Solution?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 10.1 Clearly define three key concepts—media, mass media, and social media—and understand their historical development.

10.2 Investigate issues and controversies involving the media that point to the need for media literacy.

10.3 Explore problems that social media can create for individuals.

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10.4 Assess problems that social media creates for relationships.

10.5 Identify problems involving social media for society as a whole.

10.6 Apply sociology‘s major theories to social media.

10.7 Analyze problems involving the media from various points on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 10, students should be able to: Define the concepts media, mass media, and social media.

Identify major moments in the historical development of mass media and social media.

Describe the extent of social media use in terms of age, race, gender, and education.

Explain McLuhan‘s claim that technology shapes the content of what is transmitted: The medium is the message.

Explain several latent functions of social media. For example, use of social media has changed family dynamics, just as all media forms have changed our population‘s level of physical activity.

Discuss the political leanings of major media outlets in the United States.

Discuss the assertion of media bias and describe the meaning of media literacy.

Explain the concept of digital divide.

Explain how social media can shape self-image.

What have researchers learned about use of social media and the capacity for empathy?

How has the development of social media changed the importance of physical location?

What risks are presented when people engage in online dating?

What is the ―shallow culture‖ hypothesis involving social media? Assess the validity of this theory.

Why should we be cautious about accepting at face value personal information that is available online?

Provide an insight into social media using each of sociology‘s major theoretical approaches.

Explain how peoples‘ positions on the political spectrum guide the way they see social media.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: INTERNET USE IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Global Map 10–1 is worth a close look. First, notice the regions of the world in which less than half of national populations are using the internet. Second, use the map to assess the level of economic development of regions where internet use is high and low. What do you conclude?

This map raises an important question related to technological change: Is the development of new technology likely to increase or decrease economic inequality? Generally, in the short run, new technology increases inequality. As the technology spreads throughout the population (generally linked to declining cost), it may decease inequality. This chapter makes a strong case for the power of social media to support social movements in pursuit of change. Ask students if they think the long-term consequences of social media will or will not promote greater equality.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION The number of videos exploring the importance of social media and the consequences for society is increasing every day. If you search for ―the importance of social media‖ on YouTube or other

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platform you will find many selections dealing with social media‘s effects on various societal institutions.

A general question to guide discussion of any video is whether, on balance, social media is more of a problem or more of a solution.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 10, the PowerPoint presentation explores the link between using social media and a declining capacity for empathy. This presentation, based on the book by Sherry Turkle, claims that our use of social media has led to a decline in face-to-face interaction with resulting loss of some human capacity for intimacy.

These PowerPoint presentations can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account .

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: The iPhone, Now a Teenager!

The iPhone was introduced in 2007. I doubt that even the people at Apple could have imagined the incredible impact it would have on our lives. Before the iPhone, handheld devices were used for talking and texting. As Steve Jobs proudly announced at the unveiling of the iPhone in 2007, the new product was an internet computer, an iPod music storage system, and a phone—all in one device.

Remember the electronic store ads that filled entire pages in the newspaper a couple of decades ago. It is probably fair to say that almost every one of the items sold in those ads now is part of the iPhone: camera, photo album, compass, weather station, flashlight, watch, alarm clock, radio, video screen, computer—just look at all your apps (downloadable using the phone from the Apple App Store) to extend this list.

In fact, the iPhone‘s innovation—especially replacing keys with a touch screen—is what gives this revolutionary computer its power. Where would Uber be without the smartphone?

Source Eadicicco, Lisa. 2017. ―This Is Why the iPhone Upended the Tech Industry.‖ Time (June 29).

Available at http://time.com/4837176/iphone-10th-anniversary

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Discussion Questions a. What does sociology show us about the ways mass media and social media shape our lives? b. How can sociology help us assess the effects of social media? c. In what ways do you think social media will change the teaching and learning of sociology?

2. Supplemental Lecture: Women, Social Diversity, and the Media.

Considerable change involving gender is evident in the mass media. Traditionally, the role of women in media has been to provide a love interest for the hero, typically a White male. Women haven‘t contributed much to the story line beyond being sexualized characters. Significant roles for women and people of color were rare in early television programs and movies.

In 1970, The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuted, and it starred a confident, successful, single, and attractive woman who was employed as an associate producer of an evening news program.

Moore‘s role was a stark break from those of previous women, who were often the love interest or wife of the male lead. Not only was the show named after Moore, but she was also the lead.

Oprah Winfrey, host of the successful Oprah Winfrey Show, which has aired nationally for twenty-five seasons, credits The Mary Tyler Moore Show for inspiring her to begin a career in television. In 1984, The Cosby Show, featuring Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable and his attorney wife, Clair Huxtable, debuted. The Cosby Show featured an all-Black cast, with both parents as professionals living in an affluent community with their five children. Whatever we may think of Bill Cosby‘s more recent troubles, this was a program that helped advance tolerance and acceptance for Black Americans.

We are getting closer to a point where the diversity of the television audience will be reflected in media content. This goal is important in light of the fact that the average U.S. adult spends about four hours a day watching television.

Media expansion has helped bring about change. In 1972, the first cable network, Home Box Office (HBO), introduced new programming with a wider range of characters. Before long, satellite transmission supported more cable companies, and slowly programs and casts became more diverse. Netflix, Hulu, Sling, and other new media sources have introduced programs in a variety of genres that reflect and represent an increasingly diverse mass audience. Currently, the internet and the rise of social media—as with YouTube, for example—continue to advance this process of change.

Source Chira, Susan. 2017. ―A New Rating for TV and Movies Tries to Combat Gender Stereotypes.‖ The New York Times (June 20).

Discussion Questions a. Do you feel that women and people of color are well represented in our mass media?

Why or why not? b. What social media do you use? Assess the diversity social media reflects. c. In what ways might we ensure that mass media and social media reflect the diversity of our country, not just in terms of race and gender but also in other ways, including religion, family form, and sexual orientation?

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3. Supplemental Lecture: Computers and the Threat to Privacy.

It‘s hardly news any longer that we live in a so-called Information Age. Information, virtually all of it stored in computer databases, is the lifeblood of the public and private bureaucracies that dominate postindustrial society. The quest for ever-greater levels of efficiency has led to a scramble to obtain more and more information about individual citizens and consumers.

Yet, while many people express concerns about the loss of their privacy, most of us are willing accomplices. Do you use a bank card at ATM machines? Do you shop by mail order or visit commercial websites? Do you browse websites on the internet? If so, you are being tracked, and most of us realize it. Yet we are unwilling to change our habits. Perhaps when it comes right down to it, we value convenience over privacy.

Here are just a few examples of how doing very simple, everyday things inadvertently leaves electronic footprints and how those might be used by others: • At work, you send an email saying unflattering things about your boss. Your company (as do many corporations) routinely reviews emails, so your boss reads yours. You are dismissed.

You file a wrongful termination suit but lose. The prospective employer at the next job you apply for uses an internet investigation service to check records and your lawsuit is discovered. What do you think your chances are of being employed by that firm?

• Because you have allergies, you call an 800 number to check pollen count in your area. Your number is recorded by caller ID, and you are put on a list of allergy sufferers. The list is sold to a drug company. Next thing you know, you are sent a coupon for that company‘s allergy medication.

• When eating out, you order a burger with fries. At the restaurant, your order is entered into a computer. You pay by credit card. The restaurant then checks your credit rating and sends you a discount offer for your next visit. Unfortunately, the restaurant goes bankrupt, and its list of burger and fries lovers goes on the information market.

While some of these examples sound innocuous, others are not. What about direct abuses? Here are a few examples: • Some years ago, a convicted child rapist who worked at a Boston hospital went through a thousand computerized records seeking potential victims. He was caught when the father of a nine-year-old girl traced his call back to the hospital using caller ID. • A banker who was also working for Maryland‘s state health commission accessed a list of known cancer patients and identified the names of his bank‘s customers who were ill. The bank revoked the loans of those people.

• A large company that sells baked goods planned to work with a health care company to analyze employee health records and work performance reports to identify workers who might benefit from antidepressants sold by the health care company.

This is not unusual. In fact, many companies check health information before hiring someone. What about the government gathering information about you? The FBI has a database on the millions of people who have ever been arrested, even if they were not convicted.

Government abuses are currently regulated by the Privacy Act of 1974, but many feel that this law needs to be updated to keep pace with technological innovation. Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe supports an amendment to the Constitution ensuring that the Bill of Rights will not be endangered by developing communication and computer technologies.

Critics who wonder whether such safeguards are really necessary need only look to the

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Orwellian steps now being taken by the Thai government. By 2006, information on 65 million Thais was stored in a single integrated computer network and each citizen over the age of fifteen is required to carry a photo ID with an identification number. This card allows the government to obtain the citizen‘s fingerprints, height, home address, parents‘ and children‘s names, marital status, education, occupation, income, nationality, religion, and, potentially, criminal records.

In spite of resistance to these pools of private information, the means of accessing some basic data about individuals seems to be growing easier. Through electronic search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, anyone with internet access can enter an individual‘s name to look for their phone number, residential address, email address, and in some cases, a map showing where in a city that person lives. Once that far, anyone can find out what that person does for a living, the names and ages of a spouse and children, the kind of car that person drives, the value of the person‘s house, and the taxes paid on it.

Kevin Kelly, executive editor of Wired magazine, points out that privacy also did not exist in the traditional village or small town. The difference back then was that people knew about each other, creating a kind of symmetry of knowledge. That‘s what has changed. Today‘s technology allows more organizations to gather more information about us without our knowledge—and without our knowing how, why, or by whom this information may be used.

Discussion Questions a. What sorts of personal information should be kept private? Is it even possible today to keep information private? b. Is the loss of privacy a result of technology that cannot be regulated? Or do you think that new laws and regulations can protect the interests of citizens and customers?

4. Using the ASA Journal Teaching Sociology in Your Classroom.

The Sage journal Teaching Sociology contains ideas and strategies to improve your classes. The home page for Teaching Sociology is http://journals.sagepub.com/home/tso. At this home page, you will be able to access the journal‘s most current articles as well as explore past issues.

WEB LINKS Galaxy Weblinks https://www.galaxyweblinks.com John Macionis website http://www.TheSociologyPage.com The Muse https://www.themuse.com Other Sociologist https://othersociologist.com ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Explain the differences between these related concepts: media, mass media, and social media.

2. In several paragraphs, trace the historical emergence of the mass media, giving attention to newspapers, radio, and television.

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3. What is meant by the concept of media bias? What evidence exists to support the claim that the media are biased? Do you consider media bias to be a problem? How is media literacy a response to media bias?

4. Explain how media not only transmits information but also shapes the message.

5. What is the digital divide? Answer this question globally in terms of the world and nationally in terms of the United States. Why is the digital divide an important issue?

6. Do you think that mass media and social media make our cultural life richer or shallower? Why? Provide specific examples of media effects on our way of life.

7. Do you think that mass media and social media encourage accommodation to life as it is or do they encourage social change? Provide examples in support of your position.

8. How have mass media and social media supported gender inequality? How have they challenged traditional gender-based inequality?

9. In your opinion, how is social media changing politics in the United States? Is the change good or bad? Why? 10. On balance, do you think the explosion of social media has made our society better? If yes, in what ways? In what ways has social media made social life worse?

FILM LIST CATFISH (2012–present; television show) In web-talk, a ―catfish‖ is a person who presents false personal information online. This television show explores the dangers of online dating.

THE PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY

(1999, 97 m, feature film) This made-for-television film highlights the lives of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as it explores the development of computer technology.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010, 121 m, feature film) This popular film depicts the founding of Facebook and explores the explosion of social media in this century.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY APPLY (2013, 79 m, documentary) This critical assessment of the state of online privacy highlights questionable practices on the part of major websites.

WHY OUR SCREENS MAKE US LESS HAPPY (2017, 9 m, TED Talks) A psychologist claims that social media actually may take far more from us than it delivers.

WHY YOU SHOULD QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA (2016, 14 m, TED Talks) Dr. Cal Newport considers social media more of a problem than a solution.

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REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Social Movements Has what you have learned from social media ever led you to become involved in a social movement? If so, what was the social movement? Describe how social media supported the purpose of the movement.

Sample answer: Responses should discuss how social media can bring people who have similar opinions about certain issues together to form a social movement. Organizers and people who are a part of a social movement can then use social media to share their experiences, bring more attention to the issue(s) at hand, or pursue their political goals.

The #MeToo movement and the Black Lives Matter movement are both good examples of how social media‘s power has been used to create change.

2. Personalizing Use of Social Media Do you have a presence on Facebook or on other social-media sites? If so, review what you wrote and examine the pictures you posted. Analyze the ―ideal self‖ that you are presenting to others. To what extent is the presentation misleading?

Sample answer: The ―ideal self‖ that one presents on social media sites is one that has been fashioned by the individual with the hopes that it will earn the approval of others.

This can include posting carefully selected selfies or other photos and carefully edited words, among other things. These images and words can convey some truth but not necessarily the whole truth, therefore distorting reality and misleading those who are viewing the idealized version of a person.

3. Where Do You Stand?

Is social media more of a problem or more of a solution? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, in a paragraph or two, explain the extent to which you agree with the conservative and the liberal assessments of social media.

Sample answer: Liberals tend to be more positive about social media because it does so much to advance social movements that seek change, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the #MeToo movement. Conservatives, on the other hand, are more reserved in their assessment of social media as they believe that it detracts from traditional social patterns such as strong families. Despite this, they too use social media to advance their political goals.

4. Global Map 10–1 Internet Use in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to link the share of a country‘s population using the internet to countries‘ level of economic development. To prepare your response, look at the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development. Compare the two maps. What would you say is the overall relationship between a country‘s level of internet use and its level of economic development?

Sample answer: Look at the map on the left to see that, in some countries in Western Asia (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan), roughly 20 percent of the population makes use of the internet. The online share is also low in Middle Eastern nations, including Iraq and Yemen. Roll your cursor across the countries of sub-Saharan Africa to see that the share of people online is even lower. High-income nations in North America and Western

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Europe are a very different picture. In these countries, large majorities of the population are using the internet.

Now look at all these same regions using the map on the right. Almost all of the countries with low internet use are low-income nations. By contrast, the countries in Western Europe and North America, where a large majority of people are using the internet, are all high-income nations.

We can conclude that high income and internet use go together. Rich countries have the resources to develop and consume computer technology. Internet technology, in turn, helps to further develop a nation‘s economy, making it even more productive.

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CHAPTER 11 ECONOMY AND POLITICS IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Voting by Income Level John‘s Personal Video Selection: Campaign Financing Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes in Chapter 11 of this revision begin with discussion of the increasing influence of the far right in U.S. politics. There is also updated and expanded attention to political polarization in this country as well as numerous changes brought on by the Trump and Biden administrations. There is expanded coverage of campaign financing and the importance of money in elections. There is a new discussion of the role of women in the 2020 election.

Analysis of voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election includes consideration of race, ethnicity, age, and gender. The revised chapter is informed by forty-one new research citations.

AUTHOR’S NOTE Chapter 11 presents a broad survey of the economy and politics. These two institutions are presented first because of all institutions the economy (first) and politics (second) have the greatest effect on all the others. It is worth noting that back in the 1970s, when functional theory dominated our discipline, the family was the institution typically discussed first in any textbook.

A number of current textbooks have never changed and still do this. My claim is that the economy and politics have a far greater effect on the family than the family has on, say, the economy. Therefore, dealing with economics and politics (or ―political economy‖) should come first, followed by the other institutions.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Economic Systems: Defining Justice, Defining Problems 11.1 Distinguish between two economic models: capitalism and socialism.

• Politics is the social institution that guides a society‘s decision making about how to live.

• The economy is the social institution that organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

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• The Capitalist Model o Capitalism is an economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are privately owned. o In theory, capitalism operates as a system of market competition in which people assess their own wants and needs and then buy and sell goods and services as they engage with each other. o In a market transaction, each party tries to make the most favorable deal possible in a complex negotiation driven by forces called ―supply and demand.‖ o A market system is most productive when it operates with little or no interference of government, a formal organization that directs the political life of a society. o Nations that have largely capitalist economies, including the United States, have been highly productive and have generated a high overall standard of living. At the same time, capitalism does create problems, most notably a high level of economic inequality.

• The Socialist Model o In contrast to capitalism, socialism is an economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned. o In contrast to capitalism‘s individualistic orientation, socialism encourages a collective orientation, teaching people to be motivated not by self-interest but by a desire to serve the common good. o In practice, socialist nations such as China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam have far less economic inequality than a capitalist society such as the United States.

At the same time, socialist systems create problems of their own, including a relatively low standard of living and limited political rights and freedoms.

• Mixed Systems o A majority of the world‘s 195 nations—including the United States and Canada— have economies that are considerably closer to the capitalist model than to the socialist model. o Window on the World Global Map 11–1 Economic Freedom in Global Perspective. o In Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, as well as in Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, a mixed system known as state capitalism involves government working closely with large, privately owned companies. o In welfare capitalist societies, government provides extensive welfare programs, funded by high taxes. In these nations, the government provides child care, housing, and medical care for the entire population. o Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can alter the degree to which government regulates the economy. o The United States is among the most capitalist of all nations. The U.S. government carries out only about 17 percent of the country‘s production, with 83 percent of production in the privately owned sector of the economy. o Figure 11–1 Percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Private Sector and the Public Sector. o People on the political left are likely to see the free market as creating problems such as economic inequality, joblessness, and poverty.

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o The more to the right you are, the more you are likely to see capitalism‘s market system as a solution because of how productive it is and how much personal freedom it provides to individuals. o Figure 11–2 Who Should Control Production, the Market or the Government? o Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Store Wars: Is Walmart the Problem or the Solution?

II. The Economy and Politics 11.2 Explain the links between the economy and politics.

• The political economy is the closely linked economic and political life of a nation or world region.

• Democracy o Democracy is a political system in which power is exercised by the people as a whole. o The conventional wisdom in the United States is that this country and other capitalist nations are democratic because they allow people to vote.

• Authoritarianism and Monarchy o Authoritarianism is a political system that denies popular participation in government.

▪ These governments have various types of economies and power structures.

▪ Iran, Malaysia, and Singapore are examples. o Monarchy is a political system in which a single family rules from generation to generation.

▪ Saudi Arabia is an example.

III. Problems of the U.S. Political Economy 11.3 Describe the operation of the U.S. political economy.

• The Power of Corporations o In the United States, most goods and services are produced by corporations, businesses with a legal existence, including rights and liabilities, separate from that of their members. o In a mostly capitalist society, the economic activity of corporations is far greater than that of government. o Government also works with business, providing aid in the form of subsidies, price controls, loan guarantees, and outright cash grants, especially if officials see a national interest in their success. o Federal, state, and local governments are some of U.S. corporations‘ biggest customers. o Engaging the Issues: Corporate Welfare: Government Handouts for Big Business • Monopoly and Oligopoly o Monopoly is the domination of an entire market by a single company. o During the final decades of the nineteenth century, a small number of individuals, sometimes called ―robber barons‖ because they engaged in ruthless business tactics and lived like royalty, built enormous corporations that ended up controlling entire industries.

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o In 1890, the federal government challenged the power of the giant monopolies when Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, which was used to break up Rockefeller‘s Standard Oil, AT&T, and Microsoft. o But the law does not prevent oligopoly, the domination of a market by a few companies. Today, for example, the manufacture of breakfast cereal is dominated by Kellogg‘s and General Mills, which together control about 60 percent of all sales.

• Conglomerates and Other Linkages o A conglomerate is a giant corporation composed of many smaller corporations.

Examples of conglomerates include PepsiCo, the maker of Pepsi soft drinks, which also owns Quaker Oats, Aquafina, Tropicana, Lipton, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, SodaStream, and various snack brands. o Interlocking directorates are social networks made up of people who serve as directors of several corporations at the same time. A member of the Goldman Sachs board of directors, for example, might also serve on the board of directors of another financial corporation, such as Lehman Brothers. o Conglomerates and interlocking directorates are legal, but they may encourage oligopoly and illegal activities such as price fixing.

• The Power of Money o A notable feature of the U.S. political system is the high number of special-interest groups, political alliances of people interested in some economic or social issue. o For any organization, money buys political power through lobbying, the efforts of special-interest groups and their representatives to influence government officials. o Lobbying is legal, but lobbyists offer more than information to our elected leaders.

• Political Polarization o The concept of polarization refers to a process by which a population becomes increasingly divided into two categories or camps, so that members of each camp look at themselves in positive terms and look at members of the other camp in negative, opposing terms. o In the media, one sign of increasing polarization is that analysts on each side of the political divide describe leaders and policies on the opposing side as being outside of what they see as ―mainstream.‖ o One indication of increasing political polarization in Congress is the tendency for all Democrats to vote together as a bloc and Republicans to do the same. o Approval ratings for presidents also display a pattern that confirms increasing political polarization. o How did we get to this level of distrust?

▪ The election of Donald Trump moved the Republican agenda to the right politically.

▪ As the 2020 election approached, the Democratic Party moved to the left.

▪ At the state level, parties in power redrew congressional voting districts to concentrate their opposition in a few districts, a process called gerrymandering.

▪ People who support the Democratic Party and those who support the Republican Party are increasingly different in many ways other than politics. o People may be increasingly different politically, but most people share dissatisfaction with this polarization.

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• Campaign Financing o Corporations provide the largest share of campaign contributions, with substantial donations made by other organizations, including labor unions, civil rights groups, and women‘s organizations. Political parties also raise money for candidates. In addition, candidates are free to spend as much of their own money as they wish. o Candidates at all levels of government receive money not only from individuals and organizations but also from political action committees (PACs), organizations formed by special-interest groups to raise and spend money in support of political goals. o PACs provide a way around limits on campaign contributions. Various tactics generate almost unlimited amount of campaign contributions called soft money. o The 2002 Reforms ▪ In 2002, Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, popularly known as the McCain-Feingold bill. This act ended the flow of soft money to candidates or political parties. Individuals are limited to gifts of $2,000 each to political candidates in any primary or general election. In addition, limits were placed on donations by an individual, and donations by a political action committee. o 2010: The Citizens United Ruling and the Rise of Super PACs ▪ The effect of the 2002 reforms was greatly reduced in 2010, when the U.S. Supreme Court (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission) ruled that the government cannot impose limits on financial contributions made by labor unions, corporations, other organizations, or individuals.

▪ This decision, seen by supporters as defending the constitutional right for people to engage in free speech and political activity, allowed the formation of Super PACs, or organizations that raise money on behalf of candidates. o 2014: The McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission Ruling ▪ In 2014, the Supreme Court took another step toward eliminating limits on campaign contributions. This time, the Court abolished limitations on aggregate federal campaign contributions, meaning contributions by organizations such as political parties.

• Voter Apathy o In 2000, just 54 percent of eligible people voted. In 2020, the turnout was somewhat higher—67 percent.

▪ Seeing Ourselves National Map 11–1 Voter Turnout across the United States. o Conservatives suggest that the failure to vote is a sign of indifference on the part of people who are pretty much satisfied with the way things are. Liberals and radicals on the left take a different view, arguing that low voter turnout is a sign of widespread alienation from politics. o Figure 11–3 Public Confidence in Selected Institutions, 2022.

• Who Votes? Class, Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender o Income and Age ▪ In simple terms, most people with high incomes vote, but most people with low incomes do not.

• Figure 11–4 Voting by Income Level.

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▪ ▪ o Race ▪

High-income people also have more schooling; college graduates are twice as likely to vote as high school dropouts. People with more schooling, higher income, and wealth have a greater stake in the system.

Older people are considerably more likely to vote than younger people.

Until 1865, the law did not allow any person of color to vote, not only in the South but anywhere in the United States. In 2012, when Barack Obama ran for reelection, a slightly larger share of Black people (66 percent) than White people (65 percent) voted.

▪ In 2020, Black people were somewhat less likely to vote (59 percent) than non-Hispanic White people (70 percent). In 2012, Black people were more likely to vote (66 percent of eligible people voted) than White people (65 percent).

▪ Black people provide strong support for Democratic candidates, and 92 percent voted for Joe Biden in 2020. o Ethnicity ▪ People of Hispanic descent are less likely to vote (in 2020, just 39 percent of eligible voters did so). In part, this is because Hispanic/Latino people have a high rate of poverty. In addition, a sense of cultural marginality and a lack of fluency in English may discourage some people from voting. o Gender ▪ In 2020, women were slightly more likely to vote (63 percent) than men (60 percent voted). In addition, women are more likely to support Democratic candidates. In 2020, women favored Biden over Trump by 55 percent to 44 percent.

• The Gender Gap: Seeing Problems Differently o In political terms, the gender gap is the tendency for women and men to hold different opinions about certain issues and to support different candidates. o In general, women are more likely than men to support so-called compassion issues that seek to protect or assist disadvantaged or vulnerable members of society.

Differences such as these make women somewhat more likely to support Democrats and men to vote for Republicans.

• Voting Laws for Persons Convicted of Serious Crimes o Today, there is only one category of adult citizens in the United States without the right to vote—people who have been convicted of felonies, or serious crimes. o Forty-eight of fifty states (all but Vermont and Maine) have laws that bar people in prison from voting. o Should the loss of political voice be used as punishment?

▪ The legislatures of forty-eight states have said yes.

▪ But critics (typically progressives) see this practice as politically motivated because convicted felons include a high proportion of people with low incomes and people of color.

• Social Movements: How Much Change? o Over the course of the twentieth century, social movements involving women, people of color, gay men, lesbians, transgender people, people with low incomes, and workers led to important changes in social policy.

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But it is also true that none of the movements mentioned has altered the U.S. political economy in any fundamental way. In fact, in recent decades, the extent of economic inequality in the United States has increased.

IV. Theories of Economic and Political Problems 11.4 Apply sociological theory to the country’s political and economic system.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Rule by the Many o Structural-functional theory views the economic system as a complex institution that operates to produce and distribute goods and services to the entire population. This approach has some similarity to the laissez-faire model that underlies capitalism because both share the idea that the economy serves the needs of individuals who make decisions about what to produce and what to consume. o Robert Dahl: Pluralist Model ▪ The pluralist model is an analysis of the political system that sees power widely distributed among various groups and organizations in a society.

▪ Dahl‘s pluralist theory states that many diverse organizations operate as veto groups and compete for support so that just about everyone has some political voice.

• Social-Conflict Analysis: Rule by the Few o Social-conflict theory sees a small elite in control of the economic and political systems. From this perspective, the political economy of the United States operates not to serve the will of the people but in a manner that benefits just some of the people. o C. Wright Mills: The Power-Elite Model ▪ One important social-conflict theory developed by C. Wright Mills is the power-elite model, an analysis of the political system that sees power as concentrated among members of a small elite. In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the country of the growing power of the militaryindustrial complex, the close association of the federal government, the military, and the defense industries, to control the political life of the nation. o Karl Marx: Capitalist Political Economy ▪ A more radical social-conflict theory is the Marxist political-economy model based on the ideas of Karl Marx, which sees the concentration of wealth and power in society as resulting from capitalism.

V. Politics and the Economy: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 11.5 Analyze the U.S. economic and political systems from various positions on the political spectrum.

• The Far Right: Make America Great Again o The far right, sometimes referred to as the Trump Republican position, claims that the U.S. has been a nation in decline. The source of this alleged decline is partly economic and also cultural.

• Conservatives: The System Is Working o Conservatives support the free market and want to limit government involvement in the economy. Likewise, they hold that competition between political candidates

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seeking voter support as well as competition between special-interest groups is a good definition of democracy.

• Liberals: The Need for Reform o Liberals also see benefits in the operation of a market economy, but they wish to ensure that the market is regulated by the government. o Liberals support a welfare state, a range of government policies and programs that transfer wealth from the rich to the poor and provide benefits to needy members of society.

• Social Policy: Who Favors ―Big Government‖? Almost Everybody!

• The Radical Left: Call for Basic Change o Radicals on the left (following Karl Marx) once sought to abolish the capitalist market system; they saw capitalism as a problem because it concentrates wealth in the hands of the few. o Radicals believe that as long as a capitalist political economy exists in the United States, no small change—such as voters electing more liberal candidates or Congress passing campaign finance reform—will make much difference. o For radicals, the only solution to capitalism‘s concentration of wealth and power is an end to capitalism itself, which means placing the entire economy under government control.

• Going On from Here o There can be little doubt that the operation of the U.S. economic and political systems will be debated for years to come. People on the right see a government that has grown too big, that intrudes into people‘s lives in too many ways, and spends so much money that it will eventually bankrupt the country. People on the left see a free market in which greed is the order of the day and in which the ―1 percent‖ is running away with the country, while the ―99 percent‖ are struggling to hold on to the little they have.

• Defining Solutions: What Is the Purpose of the Economy?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 11.1 Distinguish between two economic models: capitalism and socialism.

11.2 Explain the links between the economy and politics.

11.3 Describe the operation of the U.S. political economy.

11.4 Apply sociological theory to the country‘s political and economic system.

11.5 Analyze the U.S. economic and political systems from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 11, students should be able to: Distinguish capitalist, socialist, and mixed economic systems.

Explain how capitalism is constructed by both conservatives and liberals.

Link the operation of capitalism to personal freedoms.

Define and discuss democratic, authoritarian, and monarchical political systems.

Discuss the role of corporations and government in the U.S. economy.

Define and discuss monopoly and oligarchy.

Describe the pros and cons of what is commonly called ―corporate welfare.‖

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Describe problems associated with conglomerates and interlocking directorates.

Discuss the power of money in influencing the political process, as well as the issues of campaign financing and reforms.

Describe voter apathy and assess the extent to which it is a problem in the United States from liberal and conservative viewpoints.

Discuss voting patterns as related to class, age, race, ethnicity, and gender.

Explain the gender gap in the construction of social problems and the development of solutions.

Discuss laws that limit voting rights for convicted felons and provide criticism of such policies.

Discuss the importance of social movements on the political system.

Explain the essential argument of p4luralist theory, power-elite theory, and Marxist politicaleconomy theory. Provide one criticism of each theory.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of economic and political problems as well as solutions to problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: VOTING BY INCOME LEVEL Among the most important visual presentations in this chapter is Figure 11–4, which is included in the PowerPoints available to you. The figure shows the powerful effect of income on the share of people who go to the polls. While 79 percent of people with family income above $100,000 went to the polls in the presidential election in 2020, 39 percent of people with family income below $10,000 did so.

Many factors are at work here. Higher-income people, on average, have more schooling, have more access to transportation, and are more likely to be literate in English. But the clear pattern is that well-to-do people are far more likely to vote than socially disadvantaged people.

What do students make of this pattern? Is voter apathy a reflection of being satisfied with the system? Being indifferent to politics? Or, perhaps, feeling that casting a vote is unlikely to change matters very much?

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: CAMPAIGN FINANCING One of the most important criticisms of the current political system in the United States is the central role of money in the political process. Specifically, money plays a huge part in determining who runs for office, in deciding who wins elections, and in shaping which laws are passed.

A short video, just under six minutes, can be found at YouTube or similar search engines by searching for ―The New System: Money and Influence in American Politics.‖ It is a simple animation video, which conveys some important lessons.

Ask students the extent to which allowing money to ―talk‖ is a basic freedom for people or the extent to which campaign contributions and lobbying should be more tightly regulated or, perhaps, not allowed at all.

Another suggestion is to find a short video on a search engine highlighting ―America is not the greatest country in the world anymore‖ and to discuss this in class in terms of our political and economic systems.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed

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by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 11, the PowerPoint presentation is titled ―Millennials: Social Media and Political Polarization.‖ This presentation asks whether the increasing use of social media broadens or narrows the political perspectives of young people.

This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: Maybe the Monarchy Is Okay after All. There can be little doubt that the first year of the Trump administration broke many longstanding political rules. Critics—and, according to polls, that includes most U.S. adults—point to a level of divisiveness that is greater than at any time they can remember.

Maybe this is an opportunity to recall some of the virtues of the British monarchy. What does the monarchy do so well? Many people might sarcastically snicker that the monarchy doesn‘t do anything at all. In reality, of course, members of the royal family have full schedules supporting various charities and representing the British people.

That is really the point. The monarchy is a symbol of Britain precisely because it does not become directly engaged in the politics of the day. Instead, it represents the traditions of the country, which is why we so often hear that, while British people disagree over various political issues, ―everyone loves the King.‖ Note, too, that just as the monarchy represents Britain‘s past, it tries to stay in touch with the times. Princess Diana was so popular because she connected with common people.

Source Sullivan, Andrew. 2017. ―Long Live Britain‘s Monarchy.‖ New York Magazine. As reported in The Week (December 15).

Discussion Questions a. Do you agree or disagree with the claim that the monarchy is a stabilizing force in Great Britain? Why? b. Do you think the populist character of Trump‘s Republican Party divided the United States? Why or why not? c. ―Democracy encourages change; monarchy encourages stability.‖ To what degree do you think this statement is true? Explain.

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2. Supplemental Lecture: Global Poverty.

For decades, North Korea, the last Stalinist country in the world, has faced dire economic problems. Its downward spiral started with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 when large subsidies for Pyongyang ended. While little hard data are available, this event seems to have sent North Korea into a decline that has meant poverty and near starvation for many, if not most, of its people.

Ecological issues are involved, including overuse of petroleum-based fertilizers that has destroyed much of the arable land. But flooding and record high summer temperatures are only part of the problem. In reality, the food crisis is just part of an overall breakdown of the country‘s state-controlled and centrally planned system. The problems of the country have continued for years, indicating that the North Korean government has no strategy for how to stop the free fall.

Some analysts explain that North Korea is a country that has reverted from a doctrinaire socialist state to more of a theocracy, with the country‘s founder and revered ―Great Leader,‖ Kim II Sung, as its high priest. He is still revered publicly as the nation‘s ―eternal leader.‖ On October 8, 1997, three years after the death of Kim II Sung, his son, Kim Jong II, officially took over leadership of the ruling Korean Workers Party. This event led to speculation that the younger Kim might be willing to break from some of the country‘s socialist practices and adopt the reforms necessary for the country to survive. That never happened. In 2011, Kim Jung Il died, and Kim Jung Un, his youngest son, rose to power. At this point, Kim has consolidated his power as the dictator of a nuclear-armed nation, and there is little evidence of change in what is probably the world‘s most rigidly controlled society.

Despite its nuclear weapons, the country‘s simpler technology, including access to the internet and even a telephone line, remains tightly regulated and limited to a small number of government officials.

Discussion Questions a. Does the world have a responsibility to assist millions of people in a country that does not provide for their needs? b. What do you make of a program to build nuclear weapons in a nation in which food supplies are so limited? c. What insights about the state of North Korea might be drawn from dependency theory and modernization theory?

3. Supplemental Lecture: Comparable Worth.

Back in 1999, President Bill Clinton announced the commitment of $14 million to establish an ―Equal Pay Initiative.‖ Clinton explained his intention to take a proactive step to close the pay gap between men and women. At that time, women earned about seventy-five cents for every dollar earned by men.

Comparable worth as a concept has always been controversial because it seeks to replace the economic marketplace with government regulations. Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Christine Stolba question the need for a comparable worth law. They point out that it is already illegal to pay unequal wages to equally qualified men and women who do the same job. When this disparity does occur, women sue and almost invariably they win. Further, these analysts claim, when researchers control for age, experience, education, occupation, and position, the earnings of women and men are already about the same.

Critics of comparable worth also claim that the ratio of women earning eighty-two cents for

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every dollar earned by men found today is based on a fairly crude comparison among full-time workers: all women‘s salaries versus all men‘s salaries. The reality is, they claim, that the average woman‘s salary is 83.7 percent of the average man‘s salary because the average woman has less work experience and is more likely to choose a job that gives her the flexibility to combine work and family and to take time out of the workforce to bear and raise children. Rather than discrimination, these critics conclude, the disparity reflects somewhat the choices made by women and men.

In the last twenty-five years, the gender pay gap has changed only slightly. As critics see it, the only way to eliminate the average pay gap would be to enact laws requiring equal pay for jobs that are similar but different. This is, of course, the policy of comparable worth. But the policy of comparable worth, while enacted in some countries, has not won support from courts all across the United States.

Advocates of comparable worth claim that what is needed is to correct market flaws that reflect discrimination against women. In many cases, supporters point out, a job is devalued simply because it is performed mostly by women.

Source Furchtgott-Roth, Diane, and Christine Stolba. 1999. ―‗Comparable Worth‘ Makes a Comeback.‖ The New York Times (February 4).

Discussion Questions a. If a law were passed requiring the market economy to provide gender equality, do you think similar claims would be made by other categories of people who earn relatively less money?

Why or why not? b. Do you think the idea of comparable worth amounts to saying that women can‘t make it on their own? Why or why not?

4. Supplemental Lecture: Automation: Who Is at Risk?

Draw a two-axis graph with the two lines intersecting in the middle. At the top of the vertical line, write ―Clerical and Service Work.‖ At the bottom of the vertical line, write ―Technical Operation of Machinery and Processing.‖ For the horizontal line, at the left write ―Communication and Critical Thinking Skills.‖ At the right, label the line ―Physical Labor.‖ The two intersecting lines create four sectors. Ask students to place the following occupations in the location indicated.

Lawyer (top, left) Dentist (bottom, left) Clergy (top, left) Police officer (bottom, left) Nurse (left, on the line) Waiting tables (top, right) Roofing (bottom, right) Modeling (top, right) Woodworking (bottom, right)

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Driving taxis, Ubers, and limos (right, on the line) Now ask students which of the occupations they find to be most threatened by automation. In general, it is the jobs in the second cluster—that is, those on the right side of the vertical line.

Source Miller, Claire Cain, and Quoctrung Bui. 2017. ―Switching Careers Doesn‘t Have to Be Hard: Charting Jobs That Are Similar to Yours.‖ The New York Times (July 27).

Discussion Questions a. Explain why the jobs in the second category are more threatened by automation than those in the first category. b. What makes jobs that rely on communication and critical thinking less easy to automate than jobs that involve physical effort? c. Given what you have learned here, what type of education is most likely to provide protection against losing a job to automation?

5. Shelly Tenenbaum and Robert J. S. Ross have suggested two exercises that will help students to appreciate the question ―Who rules America?‖ Their article by the same name appears in the October 2006 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 34: 389–97). One assignment asks students to address the question ―To what extent do members of the upper and corporate classes govern American universities?‖ To help the students explore this question, the instructor provides students the names, places of employment, and job titles of the college/university board of trustees (all of the information distributed in the class is in the public domain). A second assignment asks students to select one of three corporations (examples are Walmart, General Electric, and Halliburton) and research the background of each board member of that corporation. More details can be found in Tenenbaum and Ross‘s article.

6. Nancy J. Davis and Robert V. Robertson have proposed a strategy for using an article from the well-known sociological journal American Sociological Review to facilitate moral reflection and global awareness. They introduce this strategy in their article ―Using a Research Article to Foster Moral Reflection and Global Awareness in Teaching about Religion and Politics, Theory Testing, and Democracy in the Muslim World,‖ which appears in the July 2006 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 34: 296–312). Davis and Robinson offer active learning exercises designed to promote ethical examination and global understandings in your social problems course.

7. Invite a local politician or congressional representative to your class to talk about what big government looks like from their point of view. Ask this individual to address the key issues, as they see them, relating to government and corporate organization in U.S. society. Before the representative‘s visit, encourage students to think about questions that they might pose to your guest speaker, particularly with reference to whether politicians see corporate growth as a social problem.

8. Have a proponent of capitalism and a defender of socialism come to your class to debate the advantages and disadvantages of each economic philosophy. It is preferable if both guests are

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knowledgeable economists, so that both positions will have credibility from the students‘ point of view. Then you can mold and shape the discussion toward specific social problems by demonstrating that there are assumptions in every economic system that necessarily shape how members of the system are likely to approach social problems.

9. Divide the class into small discussion groups. First, have the class discuss actual cases they are familiar with involving people whose unemployment lasted for four weeks or more. Students can also discuss simulated unemployment situations, speculating on what might occur in their own families if their parents were out of work for six months. A common example of such effects is that many students anticipate that they would have to drop out of school. Research evidence suggests that the longer the period of involuntary unemployment, the greater the psychological and interpersonal problems. These problems include depression, anxiety, a retreat from social interaction, and a tendency toward political extremism. Have a leader from each group compare the group‘s findings to this research evidence.

10. Ask students to support or oppose the law banning convicted felons from voting. Students must consider how society benefits from their choice. Once all students have written their arguments, divide the class into teams that share the same opinion. Allow students to debate.

Afterward, discuss how one‘s position on the political spectrum plays a role in shaping views on voting rights.

11. Create a mock town hall meeting in the classroom. The local county commissioners are considering building a Super Walmart within five miles of your campus. Students should discuss the pros and cons of such an endeavor. Consider which members of the community will benefit and which members of the community will suffer. Discuss how political perspective shapes ideas about benefits and consequences.

12. Have students engage in a class debate addressing the question, ―How democratic is the United States?‖ Be sure they carefully consider the meaning of ―democratic.‖ The term can be used to refer to voting rights (―one person, one vote‖), rule of law, or (from a more left point of view) economic equality.

WEB LINKS AARP http://www.aarp.org ACLU http://www.aclu.org Campaign Finance Institute http://www.cfinst.org CATO Institute: Search CATO Handbook for Congress: Corporate Welfare http://www.cato.org Center for American Women and Politics http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu Global Research: Search for Capitalism versus Socialism: The Great Debate Revisited http://www.globalresearch.ca NRA

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http://home.nra.org ProCon.org: Felon Voting http://felonvoting.procon.org ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Define capitalist, socialist, and mixed economies. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type of system? Give an example of each.

2. In what sense is capitalism a problem? In what sense is it a solution? Explain your position and how any answer reflects a position on the political spectrum.

3. Distinguish democratic, authoritarian, and monarchical political systems and give an example of each system.

4. Define monopoly and oligarchy. Why have these economic forms been viewed as a problem?

5. Explain voter apathy from a more conservative and also from a more liberal point of view.

6. Discuss how the wealthy influence politics in the United States today.

7. Discuss the voting laws for convicted felons and criticisms of such policies. Do you support or oppose such policies? Why? 8. Based on your reading in this chapter, discuss who you think controls the political economy of the United States. Make use of the theoretical analysis presented in the chapter.

9. Discuss the recent costs of elections and the recent decisions by the Supreme Court (including Citizens United) that affect campaign financing. Do you see a trend toward greater democracy, or is our nation becoming less democratic? Why? 10. Explain how people on the far right, conservatives, liberals, and radicals on the left construct economic and political problems and how they identify solutions to the problems.

FILM LIST ADDICTED TO CHEAP SHOPPING? WHY THE REAL COST OF GOODS KEEPS GOING DOWN (2007, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In this program, host Libby Potter travels around the world as she takes a meaningful look at the economics behind the inexpensive goods for sale in big-box stores and malls. Cost-cutting measures through supply chain management and waste reduction, economies of scale achieved by shipping offshore-manufactured goods to market via super-container ships, the Walmart effect, and the no-frills philosophy of IKEA are addressed. The triumphs and woes of China, in its role as manufacturer for the world, are given special attention, and the clothing industry is presented as a case study of the cheap goods cycle. But the program also considers the hidden societal costs of cheap goods, such as sweatshop labor and the environmental impact of cavalier overconsumption, and questions how much longer prices will continue to drop as China‘s standard of living rises.

THE AGE OF WALMART: INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST POWERFUL COMPANY (2004, 82 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In this Peabody Award–winning program, CNBC‘s David Faber scrutinizes Walmart as he seeks to understand how the company has ascended to the heights of power it has come to occupy— and whether this juggernaut can continue to succeed in the face of increased opposition. Given

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unprecedented access, Faber takes viewers from an annual managers‘ meeting that resembles an evangelical revival to the opening of a new store in China, where Walmart is one of the country‘s leading importers. Faber also sits down for a one-on-one with CEO Lee Scott, who addresses criticisms over outsourcing, community friction, lawsuits, and other issues.

BALANCE OF POWER: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) This program looks at social stratification and considers its impact on politics. Explaining that some individuals in democracies do not have an equal voice because of their lack of money or level of education, the program highlights the resulting inequalities in housing, jobs, education, and health care.

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL: MEDIA CONSOLIDATION AND THE EROSION OF DEMOCRACY (2007, 58 m, Insight Media) Emphasizing the value of local news to democracy, this program investigates its disappearance from communities around the nation. The program discusses regulatory rules that would redefine ownership and the influence exercised by media conglomerates.

CAPITALISM AND DEMOCRACY (2008, 33 m, Insight Media) This program offers a comprehensive exploration of the relationship between capitalism and democracy. It traces the historical development of both the economic theory of capitalism and the governmental concept of democracy from the earliest civilizations to modern society and explains the connection between capitalism and democracy today.

DEMOCRACY ISN’T FOR EVERYONE: A DEBATE (2007, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Is it reasonable to expect the entire world to adopt democratic ways, or is it wrong to press other countries to embrace a system that—however beneficial it may, in theory, be—is completely at odds with their cultures and traditions? The motion under consideration in this Oxford Unionstyle debate is ―Democracy isn‘t for everyone.‖ Panelists in favor stress that true democracy is more than merely the holding of elections and therefore must evolve organically out of a society‘s circumstances, while those against argue that to say democracy isn‘t for everyone is tantamount to saying that democracy, for some, can never be—a proposition rejected because whatever some people can achieve, all are humanly capable of achieving. Questions from the floor follow. The final vote? Marginally against.

THE ERA OF AMERICAN DOMINANCE IS OVER: A DEBATE (2009, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) The global financial crisis has called into question the viability of the American model of capitalism. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown the limits of American might. And the spending of the U.S. government has grown hazardously dependent on offshore investors. Is the era of American dominance over? That is the question in this Oxford Union-style debate as panelists make their case. Speakers for the motion cite changes brought on by the financial crisis, the end of post–World War II illusions, and the lessons of history, while those against point to

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American intellectual leadership, the ongoing economic influence of the United States, and the lack of ideological challengers. Questions from the floor follow. The final vote?

Overwhelmingly against.

THE ETHICS OF CONSUMPTION (1999, 60 m, Insight Media) This video asks whether every member of the rapidly expanding world population should aspire to North American wealth. It questions the social obligations of wealth in a global environment that includes enormous poverty and addresses the moral effects of living amid unprecedented wealth.

JESUS POLITICS (2008, 90 m, Insight Media) This program follows an Israeli expatriate living in the United States as he investigates the role of religion in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The program highlights the efforts of religious activists supporting the Democratic and Republican candidates.

MATTERS OF RACE (2003, 240 m, Insight Media) This PBS set examines the concept of race, considers the role of race in U.S. democracy, and discusses the effects of a rapidly changing multicultural society. It describes changes in racial identity in small-town America and considers the future of race and culture in the United States.

RELIGION, POLITICS, AND LAW (2008, 35 m, Insight Media) This program examines the interactions among religion, politics, and law. It considers the ways in which politics and religion influence lawmaking, shows how laws support political agendas and affect religious practices, and explores the moral and social implications of religion affecting political outcomes. The program covers such topics as the separation of church and state; the influence of such figures as John Locke and Thomas Jefferson; the influence of the ACLU and atheistic groups; fundamentalist, Catholic, and evangelical block voting; and the effects of electronic media.

RICH MEDIA, POOR DEMOCRACY (2003, 35 m, Insight Media) This program examines media‘s impact on participatory democracy. It links an increasingly depoliticized U.S. public to the profit motives of large corporations. The program also traces the history of media ownership and offers solutions for reorganizing the current media system.

RIGHT AMERICA: FEELING WRONGED—SOME VOICES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL (2009, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) ―He doesn‘t know us,‖ complains one blue-collar conservative, referring to presidential candidate Barack Obama. Another voter decries the ―liberal media‖ for ―selling the American people short.‖ Like-minded sentiments run throughout this HBO documentary, filmed across twenty-eight states during the months leading up to Senator Obama‘s election. From the defiant

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voices of Pulpit Freedom Day to the explosive phenomenon of NASCAR, the film reveals a country deeply polarized over its identity. Emotionally charged issues—such as gun control, abortion, gay rights, and a perceived media bias against the McCain-Palin ticket—propel this fascinating narrative.

SOCIAL ACTION (2002, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines the ways in which conflicting interests, change, and power affect social action and social movements. It examines such forms of social action as spontaneous demonstrations, riots, and organized social movements.

TOCQUEVILLE’S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA (1997, 60 m, Insight Media) In this video, David Kennedy of Stanford University examines Tocqueville‘s famed political and cultural analysis of American democracy. He discusses the continuing relevance and influence of Tocqueville‘s analytical model and explains how international events continually test and question the viability of democracy.

TRUMP’S ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE (2017, 52 m, PBS, Frontline) This PBS show explores the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.

TWO SQUARE MILES (2007, 52 m, Filmakers Library) When a proposed multinational coal-fired cement plant threatens to change the character of and possibly generate environmental waste in the small city of Hudson, New York, its citizens are galvanized into action. Hudson is like many small cities and towns across America; its industries have declined, it needs to adapt, but it wants to maintain its character. In addition to these concerns, the film also asks how the global economy is affecting our communities. Can a traditional small town main street with mom-and-pop stores be viable in the twenty-first century, when big-box stores on the outskirts of town compete with local business? How can the community mediate the different interest groups? Can idealistic goals drive real political change?

Two Square Miles is a window onto the rapidly changing fabric of American communities nationwide. It provides a unique opportunity to see up close the workings of local democracy.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Assessing Your Vision of an Ideal Economy Looking at the continuum in Figure 11–2, where would you place yourself? That is, how much should government control economic production and how much should a free market control production? Why? Sample answer: As the figure suggests, arguments that favor government control of the economy typically focus on the promise of greater economic equality. Arguments that favor a market system typically focus on greater productivity (rather than more unequal distribution). To provide a thoughtful response to this assignment, you might consider

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whether greater equality is desirable even if that resulted in a lower overall level of economic productivity.

2. Tracking Voter Apathy on Campus Did you vote in the 2020 presidential election? In your opinion, why did a bare majority (51 percent) of college students vote in this election?

Sample answer: In the 2020 election, 67 percent of the eligible population voted, which was the largest share since 1992. Many analysts attributed the higher turnout to political polarization, which encouraged both Democrats and Republicans to believe that the outcome of the election would represent either the end or the salvation of the nation. The policy of making greater use of mail-in ballots also boosted participation. Both parties benefited from higher turnout. It is likely, however, that these factors helped Democrats more than Republicans because, as noted in National Map 11-1, four of the five states with the highest share of the population voting went Democratic. By age, 51 percent of young adults voted, well below the 71 percent of older adults (65 and older) who voted.

3. Where Do You Stand?

Should government or a market system operate the economy? Carefully review the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, in a paragraph or two, explain how much control of the economy you would give to government and how much to a free market. Explain your position.

Sample answer: As noted above, arguments that favor government control of the economy typically focus on the promise of greater economic equality. Arguments that favor a market system typically focus on greater productivity (rather than more unequal distribution). A thoughtful response to this assignment might consider whether greater equality is desirable even if this resulted in a lower overall level of economic productivity.

4. Global Map 11–1 Economic Freedom in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to assess the difference in level of economic freedom between highincome nations and low-income nations. To do that, look first at the map showing the degree of economic freedom. Then examine the other map, which shows nations‘ level of economic development. Compare the two maps. How do high-income regions (such as North America) compare in terms of economic freedom with lower-income regions (such as Africa)?

Sample answer: Looking over the first map, you can see that the ―free‖ nations of the world include the United States and Canada, the nations of Western Europe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, India, South Korea, Japan, and Australia. These are highincome nations (India is middle-income).

On the other hand, if you compare the two maps, you can see that many of the ―not free‖ nations in Africa are low- or middle-income.

It seems reasonable to think that ―freedom‖ and high economic development do go together. But the pattern is not that simple. For one thing, most of the ―not free‖ nations in Africa and the Middle East are high-income nations. In addition, Russia and China are both ―not free‖ even though they are both high-income countries. Notice, however, that there are no low-income countries that are ranked as ―free.‖

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So a more precise conclusion supported by this evidence is that high economic development appears to be necessary—but not, by itself, sufficient—for a nation to become ―free.‖ 5. National Map 11–1 Voter Turnout across the United States Your journal assignment is to write a paragraph explaining the apparent link between a state‘s level of voter turnout and how the state voted in 2020. You can identify one likely explanation for this pattern by comparing the map on the left showing voter turnout with the map on the right, which shows how each state voted in that election. Do you see visual evidence that the two variables are linked? (Hint: All five of the states with the highest turnout voted Democratic; four of the five states with the lowest turnout voted Republican. The South generally voted Republican; the Northeast, the upper Midwest, and the Northwest generally voted Democratic.)

Both Democrats and Republicans had a stronger turnout in 2020 compared to 2016. But the Democrats gained more new voters than Republicans did. The biggest surge in voting came from young people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four, a category of the population that heavily supported the Democratic candidate.

Sample answer: We know that voter turnout was up among both Democrats and Republicans in the 2020 presidential election. Yet, this pattern is suggestive: All five of the states with the highest voter turnout were won by the Democratic candidate. Four of the five states with the lowest voter turnout (all except Hawaii) were won by the Republican candidate. This pattern is only conclusive, but it does support the conclusion that increasing voter turnout does benefit the Democratic party.

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CHAPTER 12 WORK AND THE WORKPLACE IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: The Changing Nature of Work John‘s Personal Video Selection: Who Creates Jobs?

Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes in Chapter 12 of this new edition include an updated chapter-opening story about gender imbalance in the workplace at high-tech corporations in the United States, an updated discussion of the ―gig‖ economy, and a new discussion on telework.

There are updates on the unemployment rate, including data by age, gender, and race; the latest data on median earnings by race, ethnicity, and gender; and the distributions of workers across three sectors of the U.S. economy. There is updated analysis of the intersection of gender and race with regard to the types of jobs people hold as well as new data on workplace accidents and workplace violence. Finally, the chapter includes the most recent information on the state of labor unions in the United States.

AUTHOR’S NOTE The major point to make when teaching this chapter is that the experience of work is shaped by the economy. At the broadest level, this means understanding structural changes in the U.S. economy, including the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution. Just as important is the globalization of the economy, which is linked to deindustrialization in the United States.

This chapter also considers a number of critical questions and trends, which you may wish to emphasize in your class presentations: • Why is so much work unsatisfying?

• Why is unemployment so common?

• Why has the economic recovery not benefited workers more?

• Why do some categories of people face special workplace challenges?

• Why are labor unions losing ground over time?

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CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Structural Changes in the U.S. Economy 12.1 Explain how the Industrial Revolution, the Information Revolution, and globalization have changed the character of work.

• The Industrial Revolution o Throughout the nineteenth century, most people in the United States lived in rural areas and small towns where they worked in the primary sector of the economy, producing raw materials by farming, fishing, ranching, mining, or clearing forests. o The Industrial Revolution pushed workers into the secondary sector of the economy, in which workers transformed raw materials into finished products. o Figure 12–1 The Changing Nature of Work in the United States, 1850–2022. o The Industrial Revolution brought further change to the workplace as new factories and rapidly growing cities attracted tens of millions of people from Europe and other parts of the world. o Overall, the Industrial Revolution moved work from farm to factory. The nature of work changed, as people who once worked in families now took their place on vast and impersonal assembly lines. But living standards gradually went up.

• The Information Revolution o Window on the World Global Map 12–1 Service-Sector Employment in Global Perspective. o Underlying this expansion of service work is the Information Revolution: the invention of the computer and the spread of computer technology into almost every aspect of life. The Information Revolution pulled workers from older, bluecollar industrial jobs toward newer, white-collar service work.

• Deindustrialization o Deindustrialization is the decline of industrial production that occurred in the United States after about 1950. Millions of assembly-line workers and machine operators were put out of work as their plants closed.

• Globalization o With regard to the economy, globalization is the expansion of economic activity around the world with little regard for national borders. o Figure 12–2 Global Snapshot: Average Hourly Compensation for Workers in Manufacturing, 2022. o Global expansion of the economy has been good for most corporations, expanding their markets and raising profits for stockholders. At the same time, the loss of industrial and service jobs here in the United States has been bad for many U.S. working families.

II. Other Problems of the U.S. Workplace 12.2 Discuss widespread problems of the U.S. workplace.

• The Dual Labor Market o The primary labor market refers to jobs that provide workers with good pay and extensive benefits. Jobs in the primary labor market are challenging and rewarding; they offer economic security and provide pensions and health insurance.

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o Other work in the U.S. economy is in the secondary labor market, jobs that provide workers with low pay and few benefits.

Social Policy: Low-Wage Jobs: On (Not) Getting By in America Danger to Workers o A century ago, about 100 people died every day while working in coal mines, in industrial factories, on commercial fishing boats, and in workplace fires. In decades since, workplace accidents have become less common. o In 1907, the federal government established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to regulate workplace health and safety, and in 1976, Congress added another layer of worker protection, passing the Toxic Substances Control Act. o Figure 12–3 Risk of Death, by Type of Job, 2021. o Mining ▪ Mining has long been ranked as one of the most dangerous types of work a person can do (e.g., cave-ins, explosions, fire, and poisonous fumes). o Farming ▪ Farm equipment is now far safer than it once was, but working with heavy machinery remains dangerous to life and limb. o Toxic Substances and Radiation ▪ Nearly every factory or production facility in operation today contains at least some chemicals known to be hazardous to human health.

▪ Radiation is another occupational hazard that places workers at risk of leukemia and other forms of cancer. o Workplace Violence ▪ In 2021, across the United States, workplace murder claimed the lives of 481 people, with many of these killings carried out by fellow workers.

Another 236 employees died from self-inflicted violence.

Workplace Alienation o Alienation: Marx‘s View ▪ Alienation is the feeling of powerlessness in the workplace resulting in the experience of isolation and misery.

▪ Marx concluded capitalism alienates workers in four ways: Capitalism alienates them from their jobs, it alienates them from the products they make, it alienates them from each other, and it alienates them from their human potential. o Alienation: Weber‘s View ▪ Alienation is depersonalization not just in the workplace but throughout society as well caused by a rational focus on efficiency.

▪ The rationalization of society is the historical change from tradition to rationality and efficiency as the typical way people think about the world.

▪ The goal of efficiency directs the operation of the workplace with little concern for the human costs of any policy or practice.

McDonaldization and ―McJobs‖ o McDonaldization refers to defining work in terms of the principles of efficiency, predictability, uniformity, and automation: ▪ Efficiency: McDonald‘s tries to serve food quickly and easily.

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Predictability: McDonald‘s uses rigid formulas to prepare all food in exactly the same way each time.

▪ Uniformity: McDonald‘s serves meals that look and taste exactly the same in all of its restaurants.

▪ Automation: By automating all tasks, McDonald‘s is able to precisely control the production process, minimizing human decision making. o The principles of McDonaldization guide people‘s work throughout the low-skill service sector of the U.S. economy.

The Temping of the Workplace o The deindustrialization of the United States—the closing of factories and the loss of white-collar jobs to the ―emerging economies‖ in Asia and elsewhere—means that more and more work in the U.S. economy is temporary. o Temporary jobs typically pay low wages, give workers little say about their work, and provide no guarantees that employment will continue next year or even next month. o All categories of the population are included in the ranks of temporary workers.

However, women and other disadvantaged categories of the population are most likely to have such work, and they are overrepresented in the least desirable jobs.

The Gig Economy o A new pattern in the United States is the gig economy, arrangements by which companies and other organizations contract with independent workers for specific work over a short period of time. This new pattern offers greater freedom to schedule work when and where workers wish.

Unemployment o To be counted among the ranks of the unemployed, a person must register with an unemployment office and actively seek work. Yet many people who are looking for jobs never register. Others become discouraged workers who start out looking for work but, finding no success, eventually give up so that they are dropped from the official unemployment statistics. o Reasons for Unemployment ▪ Unemployment occurs because some people are laid off, others new to the labor force are looking for work, and still others are between jobs.

▪ When the economy has a downturn, as it did with the onset of the 2020 pandemic, the unemployment rate goes up. Most of the people out of work turn to unemployment benefits or welfare to get by. On the other hand, when times get better and demand for workers is high, as was the case in the mid-1990s, the government is likely to cut welfare programs to force more people into the labor force. o Who Is at Risk for Unemployment?

▪ In 2022, the unemployment rates were about the same for White men and White women, slightly higher for Black men than for Black women, and slightly lower for Hispanic men than for Hispanic women.

▪ Figure 12–4 Diversity Snapshot: Unemployment Rates for Various Categories of the U.S. Population, 2022.

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Factors Affecting Employment Rates o The main factor that drives changes in employment rates is the nature of the U.S. economy itself. o A second factor that affects unemployment is that many corporations and smaller businesses have learned how to operate with fewer workers. o A third factor that affects employment rates in the United States is that more companies have opened factories and office hubs abroad—typically in China, India, Brazil, or Mexico, where wages and benefits cost far less. o Fourth, researchers have documented the difficulties faced by workers who lose a job as they attempt to find other work. o Fifth, and finally, some analysts conclude that, faced with so many challenges, more workers opt out of the conventional economy, perhaps working within the gig economy, or they simply become discouraged and do not work at all.

Race, Ethnicity, and Gender o Women and people of color are still not equally represented in many of the better jobs. Often women and people of color are ―the last ones hired and the first ones fired.‖ o Institutional Discrimination ▪ Institutional discrimination, bias that is built into the operation of the economy, education, and other social institutions, does not always involve people intentionally treating others unfairly. Institutional discrimination often results from unfair treatment in the past. o The Glass Ceiling ▪ Many workplaces have a glass ceiling, a barrier that prevents women and people of color from moving upward in the workplace.

▪ In recent years, companies have faced increasing pressure to become more inclusive, which means expanding opportunities to historically underrepresented categories of the population. The latest data show that the corporate world has become more open to women and people of color.

But this is true primarily at the entry level.

Workplace Segregation o It is easy to link race, ethnicity, and gender to various occupations because the U.S. workplace is actually highly segregated. Minority populations are concentrated in the least desirable jobs, and White men predominate in the most desirable jobs. o Figure 12–5 Diversity Snapshot: Percentage of Various U.S. Occupations Held by Black people and by Hispanic People, 2022. o Women are still trailing men when it comes to leadership positions. At the same time, women are overrepresented in low-status positions in the business world, working as secretaries and other office employees, and in caring for the very young and very old.

Labor Unions o Labor unions are worker organizations that seek to improve wages and working conditions through various strategies, including negotiations and strikes. o A Brief History of Unions

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The first large-scale worker organizations were established during the 1880s at the height of the Industrial Revolution.

▪ In the Great Depression in the 1930s, worker organizations made important gains. The collapse of the economy put one-fourth of the U.S. labor force out of work, and government took notice of the plight of working people.

▪ By 1950, unions claimed one-third of the entire U.S. nonfarm labor force.

In terms of absolute numbers, union membership peaked in the 1970s at about 25 million people. o Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Eugene Debs: Standing Up for the Union o Unions Today ▪ The number of factory jobs—work that is heavily unionized—declined after 1950. Since then, most new jobs have been in the service sector of the economy, and this work is not likely to be unionized.

▪ In 2022, just 10.1 percent of nonfarm workers were members of a labor union; 33 percent of workers in the public sector of the economy were unionized.

▪ Figure 12–6 Number of Labor Strikes in the United States, 1948–2022.

▪ Union membership appears to be closely linked to higher levels of political participation.

▪ Efforts to increase unionization have focused on a strategy called ―majority sign-up.‖ ▪ In twenty-six states, ―right to work‖ laws limit the power of unions to require membership and dues from workers as a condition of hiring, or allowing workers to vote using a secret ballot.

• Seeing Ourselves National Map 12–1 ―Right to Work‖ Laws across the United States.

III. New Information Technology: The Brave New Workplace 12.3 Describe the effects of computer technology on the workplace.

• In the industrial age, people had to develop mechanical skills in order to make things; today, people in the postindustrial economy must develop literacy skills to create and manipulate symbols, including words, ideas, music, and computer code.

• Telework o Telework refers to people working from home, or some other remote location, using computer technology to remain connected to their employers. o In 2020, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 3 percent of the U.S. labor force was fully remote, working from home. The pandemic sparked significant change in the location of work, increasing the share of people who worked entirely remotely ten-fold, to about 30 percent of all workers. By 2023, as the pandemic subsided, the fully remote share of workers had dropped back to 12 percent, which is far below the peak but four times higher than before the pandemic began. o Telework is now common in the U.S., as it is in other high-income nations.

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o Telework clearly provides some benefits to both companies and workers.

Businesses can realize considerable savings by having employees work remotely.

However, it can also create problems. Telework may result in reduced productivity, it can separate people, decreasing the opportunities for employees to benefit from creative interaction with others, it can blur the line between home and the workplace, and it can result in isolation.

Workplace Isolation o Many of today‘s office employees perform most of their work in small cubicles facing computer screens, having little contact with anyone else.

Workplace Supervision o In the workplace. organizations can use computer technology to monitor worker output, observe employee behavior, and thereby control the working lives of employees more than ever before.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence o Automation refers to the use of automatic machinery or other equipment to perform work. Automated machinery requires far less rest than a human worker and, of course, requires none of the benefits expected by a human worker. o A recent, and more advanced form of automation is artificial intelligence (AI), which is the development of computer technology to perform complex tasks that require human intelligence. o The development of artificial intelligence threatens the jobs of workers at lower levels of the labor force that have long been threatened by automation, and AI may pose an additional, and far greater, threat. The most serious problem arising from the emergence of artificial intelligence might be the human ability to control what we have created.

IV. Theories of Work and Work-Related Problems 12.4 Apply sociological theory to issues involving work and the workplace.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Finding a New Equilibrium o Structural-functional theory explains how technological change reshapes the economy. The Industrial Revolution was the driving force behind the economy of the twentieth century. In much the same way, the Information Revolution has set the stage for the economy of the twenty-first century. Now, as in the past, technology is a key factor shaping work and the workplace. o Various social institutions are interrelated, so that change in one leads to adjustments in all the others. The disruption of past economic patterns eventually brings a new social order.

• Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meaning of Work o Symbolic-interaction theory focuses on the meanings we attach to the world around us and how we experience everyday life. o People with jobs in the primary labor market define their work in positive terms and think that the work reflects well on them. People in the secondary labor market find little positive meaning in their work, seeing the job mostly as a source of income.

• Social-Conflict Analysis: Work and Inequality o Social-conflict theory links the workplace to social inequality.

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o Marx explained that the most advantaged share of the labor force does not actually work but rather owns everything. Members of the capitalist elite enjoy most of the benefits of economic production for the simple reason that they have total control over it. By contrast, most workers receive low wages and have little power in the production process. For most people, therefore, work is far from satisfying and produces only alienation. o Max Weber took a different tack, arguing that capitalism was only one dimension of the larger pattern of increasing rationality, the trend that defines modern society. o Both Weber and Marx agreed that, for most people, work is alienating rather than satisfying. For Marx, the root of the problem is the capitalist system and its effects on the working majority. For Weber, it is the historical trend toward greater rationality, which affects everybody.

Feminist Analysis: Work and Gender o Gender segregates many workplaces according to sex. Jobs that provide support and assistance to other workers who are deemed more important—such as dental assistants to dentists or receptionists to lawyers—are overwhelmingly performed by women. By contrast, work that is associated with physical danger—such as mining or police work—is mostly performed by men.

V. Politics and the Workplace: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 12.5 Analyze workplace issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: Look to the Market o The conservative claim is that free-market economics—with minimal regulation from government—generates the greatest good for the greatest number of people. o Conservatives see the operation of a free market as a solution to many of our needs; to them, extensive government regulation of the economy is the main problem.

• Liberals: Look to Government o Liberals see a need for government regulation to protect the interests of everyone, especially people with low incomes, immigrants, and others who are vulnerable. o Liberals also seek government action to protect people from workplace hazards and to protect workers‘ right to join unions.

• The Radical Left: Basic Change Is Needed o On the far left, people take a radical position that seeks to eliminate the private market system completely, placing the entire economic system under the control of government.

• Going On from Here o It seems likely that the nation will continue to rely on a market economy because it has generated so much wealth. The challenge will be whether the U.S. political and economic systems can be made to operate so that not just some people but everyone can find economic security.

• Defining Solutions: Are Unions Necessary for Workers to Have Good Jobs?

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES 12.1 Explain how the Industrial Revolution, the Information Revolution, and globalization have changed the character of work.

12.2 Discuss widespread problems of the U.S. workplace.

12.3 Describe the effects of computer technology on the workplace.

12.4 Apply sociological theory to issues involving work and the workplace.

12.5 Analyze workplace issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 12, students should be able to: Identify a number of ways in which work is important to an individual.

Define the Industrial Revolution and explain how it changed the workplace.

Define the Information Revolution and explain how it transformed the workplace.

Discuss deindustrialization and identify several effects on the types of jobs available today in the United States.

Discuss globalization and identify several consequences for work in the United States.

Describe the dual labor market.

Discuss telework.

Identify several workplace hazards in the United States and discuss government interventions to reduce these hazards.

Define the concept of ―alienation‖ as used by Marx and Weber.

Discuss McDonaldization and the resulting ―McJobs.‖ Define the ―temping‖ of the workplace and explain the problems that it has created for U.S. workers.

Discuss the reasons for unemployment and identify factors that place workers at risk for joblessness.

Discuss institutional discrimination and the glass ceiling.

Describe the link between race and ethnicity and the type of work that people do.

Provide an overview of the emergence of labor unions in the United States and explain changes to the strength of unions from 1900 to the present time.

Discuss the benefits and consequences of working from home.

Describe workplace isolation and identify its causes.

Describe how computer technology and social media have changed the workplace, including how they have transformed the character of worker supervision.

Discuss how computer technology and robots are involved in automation and the deskilling of workers.

State the basic insight gained from applying sociology‘s major theoretical approaches to work and the workplace. Identify one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of work-related problems as well as favored solutions.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORK Certainly, the ―biggest picture‖ figure in the chapter is Figure 12–1, showing the shifting balance of sectors within the U.S. economy over almost two centuries. In 1850, as the figure shows, the United States was still an overwhelmingly rural nation with most workers engaged in farming and other primary-sector work. As the Industrial Revolution unfolded, factories replaced farms,

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the country became mostly urban by 1920, and many rural areas (especially in the Plains States) began to slide into decline, a process that is still evident today.

By 1950, change was underway once again, this time with the unfolding of the Information Revolution. This time, urban areas began to lose jobs, and industrial production gradually moved overseas. High-paying factory jobs, which enabled even a high school graduate to live in the middle class, were steadily replaced by work in the service sector. While some service sector jobs pay far better than factory work, most do not.

Referring to this figure, ask students to consider the job prospects of someone entering the labor force today, compared to, say, someone doing so in 1950 or 1900.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: WHO CREATES JOBS? This is an unapologetically controversial TED Talk that apparently even this organization has not wanted to post online. The speaker is Nick Hanauer and you can go to a video site such as YouTube and search his name along with ―rich people don‘t create jobs.‖ The six-minute video makes the left-leaning argument that our society wrongly credits entrepreneurs and wealthy investors with job creation. More accurately, Hanauer claims, a stronger middle-class would create jobs not through investment but through increasing demand and more consumption.

This argument brings us back to the increasing economic inequality documented in Chapter 2 (―Economic Inequality‖). If the middle class still had the same share of all income that they did back in 1970, Hanauer claims, the typical middle-class family would have some $45,000 per year in additional income, which would drive huge demand leading to a surge in new jobs.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 12, there are two PowerPoint presentations. The first is ―Fixing a Toxic Work World: Stand Up for Care!‖ This presentation explores how the workplace is unfriendly to family life for most workers. The second presentation is ―Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?‖ and this short presentation explores this current controversy.

These PowerPoints can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

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SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplementary Video Material: Work and the Workplace.

TED Talks offer worthwhile ideas about important issues. Using a video search engine, you may search for TED Talks on automation, the future of work, artificial intelligence, or other workrelated topics.

2. Jeremiah B. Wills, Zachary W. Brewster, and Gregory M. Fulkerson have presented an active learning exercise designed to allow college students the opportunity to experience the consequences of stratification by social class. This activity challenges the belief that success is primarily an outcome of hard work (i.e., the belief in a meritocracy). Their article, ―The Stratification Puzzle: An Active-Learning Exercise in Hard Work and Success,‖ appears in the October 2005 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 33: 389–95). The exercise that Wills and his colleagues propose takes about twenty minutes to complete, and at least fifteen minutes should be devoted to discussion and processing after completing the exercise.

3. Students are often interested in exploring issues surrounding work, careers, and work-based alienation. An excellent reference that may assist you in preparing lecture topics on these subjects is Randy Hodson and Teresa Sullivan‘s The Social Organization of Work (Cengage, 2011). Hodson and Sullivan address such issues as alienation and stress, the union movement, and attitudes toward work.

4. Students like to talk about their career aspirations, which are likely to be oriented toward material goals. Encourage members of the class to present their career goals. Some students will undoubtedly express their intentions to chart career paths in major U.S. corporations—perhaps even multinational corporations. Other students may have less materialistic goals (e.g., teaching or social work), and their views of what work should accomplish may be quite different.

5. This is an activity designed to consider the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting from the employee/employer perspective. Divide the class into four groups. Ask Group 1 to discuss and create a list of the advantages of telecommuting from the employee‘s viewpoint. Ask Group 2 to discuss and create a list of the disadvantages of telecommuting from the employee‘s viewpoint. Ask Group 3 to discuss and create a list of the advantages of telecommuting from the employer/organizational perspective. Ask Group 4 to discuss and create a list of the disadvantages of telemarketing from the employer/organizational perspective. Structure a debate between Group 1 and Group 2. Structure a debate between Group 3 and Group 4. Ask the students to identify areas where the employees‘ and employers‘ views are similar and where they are in opposition. Have a class discussion about how the issues were constructed by the various parties (adapted from Ellen E. Kossek, Michigan State University, retrieved from Sloan Work and Family Research Network).

6. Some state legislatures have debated whether or not laws should limit the amount of mandatory overtime allowed in their states. Pose the following questions to the class for an open classroom discussion: Why might a worker want mandatory overtime to be limited? What health and safety considerations might they cite to support that position? What might be the position of

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the executive of an organization that sometimes has sudden needs for a lot more skilled help than normal? What if an organization does work that is important to the well-being of the public, for example, operating hospitals or supplying gas and electricity? Should such an organization be exempted from legislation limiting mandatory overtime?

WEB LINKS AFL-CIO: America‘s Unions http://www.aflcio.org Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor http://www.bls.gov Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety: Search for Workplace Isolation and Stress http://www.ccohs.ca Capitalism Magazine: Search for McJobs: Dead End Jobs? http://capitalismmagazine.com CIA: Search Publications, The World Factbook https://www.cia.gov Eugene V. Debs Foundation http://debsfoundation.org International Monetary Fund http://www.imf.org Mine Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor http://www.msha.gov University of Florida: Search for Telecommuting as a True Workplace Alternative http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the structural changes in the U.S. economy that transformed not only work but also people‘s entire way of life.

2. Discuss the relationship between economic globalization and deindustrialization of the United States.

3. From the various problems of the U.S. workplace cited in the text, identify two that you consider the most serious and explain why you think that they are more important than the others.

4. Describe government interventions to reduce workplace hazards. How is the ideal role of government in the operation of the economy related to one‘s position on the political spectrum?

5. Distinguish Marx‘s and Weber‘s views of alienation. Which do you find more convincing?

Why? 6. Identify the characteristics of ―McJobs‖ cited by George Ritzer.

7. Discuss how a place of employment you know about has adopted the principles of McDonaldization.

8. Define the ―temping‖ of the workplace and explain the problems that it has created for U.S. workers.

9. Discuss the contributions of Eugene Debs to changing national public opinion toward supporting fair and safe working conditions for all.

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10. Discuss the characteristics of the ―brave new workplace‖ created by new information technology.

11. Express the essential insight about work gained from structural-functional analysis of the workplace and also from social-conflict analysis.

12. How do conservatives, liberals, and radicals on the left view the importance of union issues differently? Include the most recent debates over public employees in your analysis.

FILM LIST VARIOUS TED TALKS ABOUT WORK AND THE WORKPLACE Recent years have seen greater focus on ―healthy‖ and ―unhealthy‖ workplace environments.

Sexual harassment is just one issue that is included in this discussion. Go to a search engine and locate TED Talks about the workplace. There are many available that focus on various dimensions of this broad issue.

9 TO 5 NO LONGER (2008, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) A demographic change is affecting all Americans wherever they work and live: the rise of the flexible workforce. The global economy, increasing numbers of two-income families, and the need for businesses to retain talent both in the executive suite and among low-paid workers are all having an impact on the way people work. This documentary, hosted by Bonnie Erbe, explores innovations in workplace flexibility.

AMERICA TODAY: LOOKING FOR THE UNION LABEL (2001, 29 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Union membership continues to lag, and even the term ―collective bargaining‖ carries a decidedly un-American connotation. Why have labor unions lost much of the influence they once exerted on the U.S. economy? In this program, various labor leaders and social and political activists examine the dynamic shift in labor-management relations over the past four decades that has changed the face of the American workplace. Among those interviewed are Ralph Nader, George Washington University professor of law Charles Craver, Detroit AFL-CIO president Donald Boggs, and Teamsters leaders and organizers.

BIG MAC: INSIDE THE MCDONALD’S EMPIRE (2007, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Despite the low-wage, low-prestige reputation of the typical ―McJob,‖ a McDonald‘s franchise owner often manages budgets and income in the millions of dollars. This CNBC program looks at the history and working philosophy behind the world‘s largest food-service corporation, featuring a number of interviews and concise case studies. An operations manager runs six Connecticut restaurants and hopes to become an owner. A once-struggling store in the same state has built newfound profitability on frequent tour bus crowds. And a former Four Seasons chef talks about his midcareer move to the McDonald‘s test kitchen, while the company‘s future in China—and nutrition-conscious America—is also explored.

THE CHANGING WORKPLACE: TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBALIZATION (2004, 27 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences)

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This video focuses on how technology has changed work and outlines basic concepts of how and where work can happen. Students are introduced to the principles of global business and the skills essential to stay employable in a global economy.

THE CHICKEN STAMPEDE (2007, 52 m, Filmakers Library) Chicken farming has become a global agribusiness, and the chicken in our supermarkets may have come from far-away Thailand. The Chicken Stampede outlines the global forces that compete for a market in which 160,000 tons of chicken are consumed each day worldwide. The United States and Europe used to be the leading suppliers, but this film shows that Thailand and Brazil are waging a fight to take over. Not surprisingly, politics plays a big role in the market.

The World Trade Organization used its loans to persuade the Cameroon government to open its borders to imports. The result was that local farmers were put out of business. When avian flu struck, the largest chicken company in Thailand, CPF, did not have to kill any of its birds, whereas thousands of family farms were wiped out by order of the government. Through portrayals of traditional farmers up against poultry businessmen, the film makes us question whether the globalization of food production is good for society.

COMPUTERS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (2009, 17 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Over the course of just a couple of decades, technology has totally transformed the workplace and the world. This program talks tech with a webmaster, a multimedia specialist, a computeraided drafter/designer, a network/systems administrator, a cybersecurity expert, and a computer repair technician, a few of the people working with today‘s high-end hardware and software to shape the present and create the future.

FIGHTING THE TIDE: DEVELOPING NATIONS AND GLOBALIZATION (2004, 131 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Many Westerners embrace globalization—but do they grasp how profoundly their consumption and spending habits affect people thousands of miles away? Filmed entirely on location in Malawi, Ecuador, Nicaragua, India, and Guatemala, this five-part series illuminates what globalization means for citizens of those nations. Emotional and informative interviews with farmers, schoolteachers, community activists, and others reveal the human side of situations too often assessed only in terms of business and profit.

GLOBALIZATION AT A CROSSROADS (2009, 26 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) To some, the term ―globalization‖ means ruthless exploitation by corporations; to others, it means bringing economic development to all the peoples of the world. This program explains key principles at the core of global economics and takes a historical look at their effects, focusing on market liberalization and the failed ―East Asian miracle,‖ privatization of basic resources in Bolivia and the severe backlash against it, Russia‘s rapid transition to capitalism and the oligarchism and kleptocracy that came to characterize it, and China‘s incremental implementation of capitalism under communism. The video also takes stock of the seismic shift in the U.S. economy and its probable effect on the rest of the world.

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HER BRILLIANT CAREER (2009, 52 m, Filmakers Library) This film examines discrimination in the workplace and politics and introduces the viewer to a controversial program for women executives. What exactly is the glass ceiling that for so long challenged women and allowed so few to rise to power? Even though there are more opportunities for women now than a generation ago, there still is a state of mind among both men and women that can hold women back. Laura Liswood, founder of the Council of Women World Leaders, observes, ―There‘s no such thing as a ‗glass ceiling,‘ it‘s really just a thick layer of men!‖ Executive coach Jean Holland developed a unique workshop in California to help ambitious female executives get ahead. Known as the ―Bully Broad‖ program, its premise is that women must modify the appearance of aggressive behavior to make it in a man‘s world.

Although some women attack the program as antifeminist, Holland claims 85 percent of her graduates get promoted within a year.

THE KING OF CALLS (2009, 29 m, Filmakers Library) At a call center in the Indian city of Hyderabad, work starts at 8 p.m. India time. At that time it‘s morning in the United States when America is beginning to work. The business directory American Yellow Pages, similar to the original Yellow Pages, has outsourced its telemarketing to India. Kabith is the Indian executive-in-charge, trying to build his career as a call center tycoon. He has hired seventy-five new sales agents to sell listings for several hundred dollars.

The problem is that listings in the competitive directory are free. Equipped with new American names and rudimentary English, agents begin to pursue customers. Confusion reigns supreme; no sales are made. As the agents frantically dial, fearing the loss of their precious jobs, Kabith grows increasingly desperate. New agents are hired, scolded, and fired. One young woman is promoted to deputy manager thanks to her relentless efforts to train the newcomers to speak with an American accent, to get their initial pitch on target, and to avoid hang-ups. She likes working in the call center ―because moneywise it‘s a very good industry,‖ and she wants to be independent from her parents. Two million young Indians work in the call center industry. How can American workers compete with them when they cost five times more than Indian workers?

This is the frontier of globalization.

THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN AMERICA (2000, 17 m, Insight Media) This program traces the history of the worker, exploring how the Industrial Revolution transformed workers from proud craftspeople to lowly cogs. It discusses the birth of unions, the Haymarket Riots, the Great Depression, and the production boom of the World War II era.

MADE IN ASIA: FAST, CHEAP, AND FAIR? (2007, 45 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Most industries exploit the advantages of globalization—specifically, low labor costs. Recently, however, major textile manufacturers have come under increasing pressure from fair trade activists and nongovernmental organizations. This program studies the complex mix of economic forces, corporate policies, and social conditions that goes into the production of everyday consumer goods, especially apparel items. Shedding light on the policies of Adidas, H&M, and other key players in the global textiles market, the program examines the circumstances under

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which sports shoes and T-shirts are produced in countries like Indonesia, India, and Turkey.

Viewers will gain insight into labor practices that have improved but remain troublesome for many workers.

MODERN ECONOMIC ISSUES (2008, 30 m, Insight Media) In this lecture series, Robert Whaples explores current economic issues. He covers the U.S. economy; discusses inflation, unemployment, economic inequality, outsourcing, deficits, taxes, and social security; considers the aging population, health care, energy, environment, poverty, and immigration; and looks at unions, education, corporations, consumption, terrorism, and urban sprawl.

OUTSOURCING: WHITE COLLAR EXODUS (2005, 51 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Blue-collar jobs have been leaving America for decades. Now thousands of higher-paying positions are also moving abroad. This program examines the pros and cons of white-collar outsourcing, highlighting emotional and ideological divisions on the topic. It also studies real-life examples of outsourcing in action. An in-depth look at India‘s booming call center industry— which provides systematic training for Mumbai workers in American standards of speech and culture—illustrates the extent to which American business relies on overseas labor, while commentary from economists and policymakers explores the effect of outsourcing on America‘s middle class.

STEEL WARS (2008, 58 m, Filmakers Library) Not many political issues have generated so much dissent throughout the world as the globalization of trade. Millions of people benefit from the cheap prices of products manufactured in low-wage countries. The system seems to work in a satisfactory way for some, but are poorly paid workers subsidizing the situation? Steel Wars uses the recent conflict over the worldwide steel market, dominated by the United States, Brazil, and the European Union, to explore this kind of economic war. This cogent film shows how globalization functions in reality with countries fighting for jobs, market share, and political power. Experts in economics discuss the history and function of the World Trade Organization in relation to the steel war. High-ranking officials from many other countries are also interviewed.

THOSE WHO DON’T TELL: THE ONGOING BATTLE FOR WORKERS’ HEALTH (1991, 29 m, Filmakers Library) This lively documentary traces the history of the struggle to rid the workplace of occupational hazards. Using archival footage, union songs, and interviews, it tells its story both from the point of view of the labor activists and those within the medical profession who became their advocates. The fight for occupational health began almost a hundred years ago with Dr. Alice Hamilton‘s discovery of lead-caused industrial disease. Others followed her such as Dr. Harriet Hardy of MIT who discovered the dangers of beryllium. More recently, Dr. Irving Selikoff uncovered the danger of asbestos to workers and publicized his findings despite pressure from the asbestos industry to silence him. Through tragedies such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, unions and workers began effectively organizing for occupational safety. This powerful

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discussion starter should be shown in courses dealing with labor, American history, community medicine, and public health.

WHY CAN’T A WOMAN SUCCEED LIKE A MAN? (2009, 60 m, Insight Media) This program questions whether women can—or should desire to—―have it all‖ by pursuing a career and raising a family. It examines gender inequality and looks at such issues as discrimination in the workplace, maternity leave, innate competitiveness, the nuclear family, and the assumption that women should be more responsible for child-rearing than men.

THE WORKDAY (2000, 60 m, Insight Media) A century ago, workers won the right to an eight-hour workday, ushering in a new era of workers‘ rights. However, the rapidly changing economy of the late twentieth century has left the 9–5 workday a quaint idea for many Americans. Hosted by Will Durst, this program explores changing notions of the workday and offers practical solutions for managing the time crunch.

WORKING: THE AMERICAN WORKER (1994, 29 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) How do employment and all of the factors associated with working contribute to a person‘s dignity? This and other questions are tackled in this presentation, which examines the changing work environment in our society and how American workers are having a more difficult time maintaining their dignity, self-worth, and a steady income.

WORK & TIME (2000, 50 m, Bullfrog Films) What is work? Why is it important? What‘s changed about work in our globalized, corporatized world? Why are we overworked, underworked, or out of work? Why don‘t we have enough time for the things we say are most important in our lives? What are we ―saving time‖ for, anyway?

This program examines work and time as intertwined problems in our fast-forward lives and why it‘s become increasingly harder to find balance.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Work How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your job? What about others in your family? Explain.

Sample answer: As you explain your personal experiences, keep in mind that people with work in the secondary labor market experienced a relatively high rate of job loss. Many people with office jobs were able to work from home with less disruption to their lives.

At this point, telework has settled back to about 12 percent of the labor force, which is four times what it was before the onset of the pandemic.

2. Personalizing the Workplace In your workplace, to what extent do you experience segregation based on race, class, or gender?

Explain.

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Sample answer: The U.S. workplace is highly segregated. Minority populations are concentrated in the least desirable jobs and White men predominate in the most desirable jobs. The differences in work are a major reason for the income disparities between different racial and ethnic categories of the U.S. population. In terms of gender, women make out somewhat better than people in racial and ethnic minority categories, with greater representation in many more desirable jobs. This is because women are found at all social class levels, while people in minority categories are overrepresented among those with low incomes.

3. Where Do You Stand?

Do today‘s workers need labor unions? Carefully review the Defining Solutions photo essay.

Then, in a paragraph or two, explain the degree to which you think workers benefit from membership in a labor union.

Sample answer: In developing your response, keep in mind that many large corporations, including Walmart and Amazon, remain strongly opposed to union membership. Wage levels have been rising in response to the labor shortage, but many workers still struggle economically and endure regimented conditions in the workplace.

4. Global Map 12–1 Service-Sector Employment in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is, first, to look at the first map to identify regions of the world with the highest share of the labor force in service work. Then identify regions where the share is lowest.

Now look again at the second map, showing the level of economic development. Compare the two maps. Is the share of people working in the service sector high or low in high-income countries? What about low-income countries? In several paragraphs, describe the connection between the level of economic development and the size of the service sector of the economy in nations around the world.

Sample answer: The map on the left shows that, throughout the Americas, most of the labor force performs service work. This is also the case in Western Europe and in Russia, South Korea, Japan, and Australia. A look at the map on the right identifies all these countries as high-income. So you can reasonably conclude that, in high-income nations, a large majority of people in the labor force hold service jobs.

Going back to the map on the left, you can see that across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, the share of workers in the service sector is lower—anywhere from about onefourth in Ethiopia (low-income), to roughly half in India and Egypt (middle-income).

Comparing the two maps reveals a general pattern: The higher a nation‘s level of economic development, the larger the share of its workers who hold service jobs.

5. National Map 12–1 ―Right to Work‖ Laws across the United States This journal assignment asks you to look closely at the map identifying states that have enacted ―right to work‖ laws and identify the regions of the country in which most states have enacted such laws. Identify the regions in which states have not enacted such laws. Next, look at the map on the right, which shows which major political party carried each state in the last presidential election. Compare the two maps. What are you able to conclude about the politics providing support for, or opposition to, ―right to work‖ laws?

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Sample answer: Looking at the map on the left, you can see that states that have enacted ―right to work‖ laws are found across the South, and in much of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain region (with the exception of Colorado, New Mexico, and Montana).

A look at the map on the right shows us that most of these states voted Republican in the last election. States along the West Coast and in the Northeast have not enacted such laws and, as indicated by the map on the right, these states voted Democratic in 2020.

So one can reasonably conclude that Republicans support ―right to work‖ and Democrats (who generally are more favorable toward unions) do not. From this pattern, we see how politics underlies policy. of how the U.S. government adopted torture as official policy in the aftermath of 9/11. With exclusive interviews, explosive documents, and rare archival footage, the documentary has been called the definitive broadcast account of a deeply troubling chapter in recent American history.

Produced by Sherry Jones, broadcast journalist and winner of Emmy and DuPont awards, the film relies on the record to connect the dots in an investigation of interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody that became ―at a minimum, cruel and inhuman treatment and, at worst, torture,‖ in the words of the former general counsel of the United States Navy, Alberto Mora. Producer Jones carefully presents the evidence that leads straight to the top of the chain of command and so puts to rest the ―rotten apple‖ defense for abusive interrogations at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere.

WAR SPIN: THE MEDIA AND THE IRAQ WAR (2003, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Some stories are simply too good to be true. In this program, John Kampfner, political editor for the New Statesman (London), skewers heroic reports of the ambush, capture, and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, calling them misrepresentations designed to bolster wavering support for the Iraq War. Kampfner also scrutinizes the controversial practice of embedding members of the news media in military units and questions the sincerity and overall informational value of the daily CentCom briefings in Doha. This film provides an ideal springboard for discussions about propaganda, media ethics, and journalism in the modern combat zone.

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CHAPTER 13 FAMILY LIFE IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: The Social Landslide toward Same-Sex Marriage John‘s Personal Video Selection: Homeless Families Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes in Chapter 13 of this revision reflect the steadily changing conceptions of family and family life. The revised chapter traces changes in same-sex marriage in the United States and around the world and highlights changes in cohabitation, age at first marriage, single parenting, and divorce. Updated analysis links income and poverty to family type.

AUTHOR’S NOTE In the United States, family form has been changing fast enough that most of us can describe changes that have taken place over the course of a single lifetime or even the recent decade.

Whether these changes are defined as a problem or solution is, of course, related to one‘s position on the political spectrum. These changes include the following: • Declining share of U.S. adults who are married • Increasing share of U.S. adults who have been divorced or have never been married • Increasing rate of cohabitation • Increasing age at first marriage • Increasing rate of single parenting • Divorce rate down since 1980 but up long term • Increasing public and legal support for same-sex marriage Whether someone defines changes in family form as good or bad, beneficial to individuals or harmful to our society, reflects that person‘s political values. In general, social conservatives see changes to the family as a social problem and they speak of the ―decline‖ of the traditional family. Just as important, social conservatives link family decline to a host of other social problems, ranging from high levels of crime and violence to high risk of living in poverty.

Social liberals typically see change to families in a more neutral or in a positive way. As they see it, people should decide living arrangements for themselves. Therefore, social liberals are tolerant of a wide range of family forms. Some social liberals, including many feminists, claim that greater freedom of choice about relationships is benefitting women. Against the historical backdrop of traditional values that placed women inside the home, making them

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economically dependent on men, today‘s greater choice means that a larger share of women are in the labor force and living economically independent lives.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. What Is a Family?

13.1 Explain sociological concepts used to describe family life.

• The family is a social institution that unites individuals into cooperative groups that care for one another, including any children.

• The related concept, kinship, refers to a social bond, based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption, that unites individuals into families.

• Nuclear family refers to one or two parents and their children.

• In lower-income nations around the world, people typically attach more importance to the extended family, which are parents and children and also grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who often live close to one another and operate as a family unit.

• Marriage is a lawful relationship usually involving economic cooperation, sexual activity, and childbearing.

• Debate over Definitions o Families of affinity are people with or without legal or blood ties or children who feel they belong together and define themselves as a family. o It matters how we define families because the answer to the question makes a statement about which types of relationships are socially supported.

• A Sociological Approach to Family Problems o The sociological perspective looks at not just the behavior of individuals in families but also takes a broader view of how family life is shaped by a society‘s standard of living and level of technology. o Sociology also explores how patterns of family life are linked to income, education, gender, and race.

II. Family Life: Changes and Controversies 13.2 Examine key changes and challenges to family life in the United States.

• Living Together: Do We Need to Marry? o Cohabitation is the sharing of a household by an unmarried couple. o The number of cohabitating couples in the U.S. increased from about 500,000 in 1970 to about 10.4 million in 2021. Cohabitating people represent about 8 percent of all households. o Critics of cohabitation, typically political conservatives, claim that ―living together‖ provides a less stable setting in which to raise children than marriage does. o Supporters of cohabitation, typically liberals, argue that choices about sexual relationships are private matters that should be left to individuals.

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Delaying Marriage o In 1950, the median age at first marriage in the United States was 20.3 years for women and 22.8 years for men. By 2022, these figures had jumped about eight years to 28.2 years for women and 30.1 years for men.

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o The trend toward delayed marriage has been accompanied by a drop in overall childbearing: A U.S. woman‘s average number of children dropped from 3.0 in 1976 to 1.84 in 2023. o With less parental input into the choice of partner, people are freer to form relationships that might have been discouraged in the past, such as same-sex or interracial unions.

Parenting: Is One Parent Enough? o In 2022, 30 percent of families with children under eighteen years of age had just one parent in the household, a share that has more than doubled since 1970. o The biggest problem confronting one-parent families—especially in the 82 percent of all cases where the single parent is a woman—is the risk of living in poverty.

Families, Race, and Poverty o The Moynihan Report ▪ In 1965 Senator Moynihan issued a warning that the Black family was in crisis because of the increasing number of fathers who left children and mothers behind. Then 20 percent of Black children were born to single mothers; since then, the figure has climbed to 70 percent.

▪ Today, a majority of U.S. adults say that single parenting is ―a bad thing for society.‖ ▪ Not everyone shares Moynihan‘s concern. Liberal critics argue that singleparent families and poverty in the Black community are not so much family problems as they are economic and racial prejudice problems. o Black American Families: A Closer Look ▪ Despite stereotypes, most people in the United States who receive public assistance are White.

▪ Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: Reality Check: Five False Stereotypes about Black Families. o Strengths of Black Families ▪ These families confront their challenges with a number of strategies, building strong kinship bonds, drawing strength from traditional religious beliefs, and using the resources of grandparents (especially grandmothers) to form three-generation households. o Racism and Black Families ▪ In the mid-twentieth century, interracial marriage was against the law and deemed a felony in most states.

▪ National Map 13–1 States Banning Interracial Marriage, 1947 and 1966.

▪ In 1967, all such laws were overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia. The Court declared that a ban on interracial marriage violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Families and Class o Class position is a powerful force that defines family life. For everyone, class matters. Where a family lives, where children go to school, the resources available to parents and children—all these factors differ dramatically according

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to class position. The increasingly different patterns of family life in the United States are one direct result of our society‘s increasing level of economic inequality. o Some analysts also claim that marriage itself is becoming a mark of privilege. A successful marriage depends on men and women having access to work that will provide steady income at a level adequate to support a family.

Conflict between Work and Family Life o Today, half (51 percent) of all U.S. families and 62 percent of all families with young children have both parents working for income. Typically, today‘s women not only work for pay but also come home to perform close to another full-time job doing unpaid housework.

Child Care o Today with 56 percent of U.S. women in the labor force working for income, most mothers are working mothers—66 percent of married women with infants, 67 percent of married women with preschoolers, and 72 percent of married women with school-age children work for pay outside the home. The figures are a little higher for single women with children and higher still for widowed, divorced, or separated women with children. o Parents with higher incomes can afford to send their children to care programs that emphasize learning and early childhood development.

▪ Figure 13–1 Child Care Arrangements of Working Parents. o Those with lower incomes turn to relatives or friends, piece together a patchwork of babysitters, or send their children to less costly care centers where the staff does not have much training and gives less attention to each child. o After school, about 4.5 million youngsters (11 percent of five- to fourteen-yearolds) fend for themselves until a parent returns from work. o Those who favor expanding government child care programs point out that many low-income families really need greater assistance to care for their children. o A final child care issue involves children whose parents cannot or will not care for them. Our society tries to assist these children through a system of foster care.

The rate of neglect and abuse among foster children is far higher than among children living with biological parents.

Divorce o In the United States, about 25 percent of marriages end by separation, dissolution, or divorce within five years. These rates are slightly higher for Black Americans than for White Americans. o Figure 13–2 The U.S. Divorce Rate, 1890-2020. o Today, the share of women working for income is way up, and the average number of children per woman is way down. These trends make divorce a more realistic option, and public attitude have become more accepting of divorce. o No-Fault Divorce ▪ No-fault divorce laws did away with the process of assigning blame for a marriage ending, making it easier to get a divorce. Before this policy was in force, a couple could divorce only if one or both partners claimed in court that the other was at fault for ruining the marriage—typically, by one

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partner abandoning the other, committing adultery, or causing physical or emotional injury.

▪ Many people support no-fault divorce as a solution to the problem of unhappy marriages. Supporters claim that this policy treats men and women as equals, reflecting the reality that most people of both sexes now work for income. But some people see no-fault divorce as a problem, claiming that it is harmful to women. Critics say that we should bring back the system of alimony so that the person with the greater earning power (usually the man) helps support the ex-partner (typically, the woman) who maintained the home. o Engaging the Issues: Should You Prepare a Premarital Agreement? o Too Much Divorce?

▪ Figure 13–3 Divorce in Selected Countries.

▪ In the United States, liberals generally do not view divorce as a problem.

They tend to favor easy divorce as a means by which women can free themselves from unhappy or abusive relationships.

▪ Conservatives are more critical of a high divorce rate, claiming that families have become weaker due to a ―me first‖ attitude that places individual needs and desires over obligations to others.

▪ So, is the present divorce rate a problem or not?

• The public is divided on the issue. When asked • When asked in a national survey whether divorce is too easy to get these days, 19 percent of U.S. adults say they are satisfied with the system as it is, 42 percent think divorce is still too hard to get, and 32 percent say that divorce is too easy to get, with the remaining 7 percent expressing no opinion.

Child Support o When parents divorce, courts usually award custody of children to mothers. For this reason, most parents who fail to support their children are men, a fact that explains the national attention given to the problem of ―deadbeat dads.‖ Remarriage: Problems of Blended Families o Blended families are families in which children have some combination of biological parents and stepparents. o Children who become part of a blended family must learn new household rules and routines and build relationships with new siblings. o Stepparents must make adjustments, establishing relationships with a new spouse and unfamiliar children.

Gay and Lesbian Families o The legal right to marry is an important measure of society‘s acceptance of a same-sex orientation, which is now expressed by a majority of U.S. adults. Samesex marriage also extends legal rights to spouses that range from hospital visitation rights to health insurance, to child custody. o Globally, the first nation to give same-sex partners all the legal benefits of marriage was Denmark, back in 1989. Since then, forty-seven nations have followed suit.

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o Global Map 13–1 Legal Same-Sex Marriage and Registered Partnerships in Global Perspective. o Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Same-Sex Marriage: The Massachusetts Decision. o Same-Sex Parenting ▪ Roughly 182,000 same-sex couples in the U.S. are currently raising young children.

▪ Public opinion has been relatively supportive of same-sex couples raising children.

Brave New Families: High-Tech Reproduction o In Vitro Fertilization ▪ In vitro fertilization involves uniting egg and sperm in a laboratory (in vitro is Latin for ―in glass‖).

▪ In vitro fertilization provides couples who are unable to conceive children the normal way with the opportunity to become parents, but critics point out that the cost places this technology out of reach for most people. o Surrogate Motherhood ▪ Surrogate motherhood is an arrangement by which one woman carries and bears a child for another woman.

▪ Some cases have shown that although new reproductive technology has obvious benefits for some couples, our society faces the challenge of working out clear rules to guide its use. The disconnect between technology and morality illustrates a pattern sociologists call cultural lag, when scientific discoveries advance more quickly than our ideas about the acceptable ways to use them. The result is procedures that are scientifically possible but may or may not be considered morally right.

DNA Testing o In recent years, the use of DNA testing to explore our ancestry has become increasingly popular. DNA testing can provide a detailed picture of family ties.

But, as the companies involved caution us, the information we receive may contain some surprises in terms of ―family.‖

III. Theories of Families and Family Problems 13.3 Apply sociological theory to issues of family life.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Family as Foundation o Structural-functional theory views the family as the foundation of society because it has several important functions: ▪ Regulating reproduction ▪ Creating a stable and caring environment for the long task of raising children ▪ Requiring that spouses and other kin engage in economic cooperation.

▪ Providing each other with emotional support in a world that often seems uncaring and even dangerous o Because of the importance of families to the operation of society, anything that threatens the strength or stability of families—the rise in divorce or the increase in single parenting—is likely to be defined as a social problem.

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Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Family and Learning o Symbolic-interaction theory focuses on the patterns of interaction by which people construct family life. Families have much to do with the type of self-image that every child develops. Gender can ―script‖ behavior in married life with the effect of reducing a couple‘s spontaneity and intimacy. o This approach highlights how individuals experience family life. People experience the family subjectively, subjectively defining their situation— whatever the objective facts—as a problem or not. Therefore, we cannot make broad generalizations about family problems.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Family and Social Class o Social-conflict theory focuses on links between family and social inequality.

Friedrich Engels explained that the family is a system that transmits wealth (or poverty) from one generation to another thereby reproducing the class structure in each generation. o From this point of view, the main problem is social inequality, and families contribute to this problem. The family is a system that helps to perpetuate a society‘s class structure from one generation to the next.

Feminist Analysis: Family and Gender o Feminist theory links family to gender stratification. Feminism explains how the historical development of families gave men control over women and especially over women‘s sexuality. o Feminist theory claims the main problem with families is that this social institution is a foundation of gender stratification. Families benefit men as they limit the wealth and power of women, including the power of women to control their own sexuality.

IV. Politics and Family Life: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 13.4 Analyze family life issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: Traditional ―Family Values‖ o Conventional families are breaking down: Divorce, single parenting, and living together without marriage are symptoms of a ―me first‖ culture that weakens society and places children at risk. o Conservatives support ―family values‖ by emphasizing the importance of raising children well, which in turn, depends on people marrying, remaining committed to their spouses and children, and avoiding divorce.

• Liberals: Many Types of Families o Liberals believe there is not enough tolerance for the broad range of family life in today‘s society; efforts to impose any model of an ―ideal family‖ limit people‘s choices; poverty among women and children is a serious problem. o Liberals encourage tolerance for all types of families, including same-sex marriage. Liberals support increasing women‘s economic opportunities, enforcing all antidiscrimination laws, and expanding affordable child care programs.

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The Radical Left: Replace the Family o Family life is bound up with inequality: Families support inequality based on class, gender, and sexual orientation. All these types of inequality are unjust.

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o Increasing social equality is possible only by radically restructuring the family as it exists today; society should enact collective arrangements for performing housework and child care.

Going On from Here o Families will continue to change. The share of women in the workforce will likely continue to rise and the birth rate to edge downward. These trends will continue to make the lives of men and women more alike, which is a key reason that conventional ideas about marriage and family life are giving way to recognizing greater diversity in relationships. o One issue likely to remain controversial is the large share of U.S. children living in poverty. o In addition, the possibilities raised by new reproductive technologies are also sure to expand and the line between family and work is becoming less clear.

Defining Solutions: Does the Mass Media Present Families from a Conservative or Liberal Point of View?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. 13.1 Explain sociological concepts used to describe family life.

2. 13.2 Examine key changes and challenges to family life in the United States.

3. 13.3 Apply sociological theory to issues of family life.

4. 13.4 Analyze family life issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 13, students should be able to: Discuss the debate over the definition of ―family.‖ Explain the sociological approach to family problems.

Provide arguments both in favor of and opposed to cohabitation.

Explain the reasons for the increasing age at first marriage.

Discuss factors contributing to an increase in the share of single-parent families as well as identify challenges of single parenting.

In what ways do Black families differ from White families? What are several stereotypes about Black families noted in the chapter? Why are these stereotypes false?

Describe the relationships between family structure, race, and poverty.

Discuss the conflict between work and family life.

Explain why child care is such a concern among men and women who work outside the home.

Explain how child care corresponds to families‘ income and children‘s age.

Discuss the problems associated with foster care in the United States.

Describe the factors that have contributed to the high divorce rate in the United States.

Discuss the benefits and challenges of divorce, including the effect of divorce on children and the issue of child support.

Explain how conservatives and liberals typically have a different assessment of the effects of divorce for society as a whole.

Describe the problems associated with parents failing to make court-ordered child support payments and discuss legislation that addresses nonpayment.

Describe several problems typically faced by blended families.

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Discuss recent changes in state laws related to same-sex marriage.

Describe advances in reproductive technology, pointing to both the benefits of this technology and the controversies it generates.

What is the essential insight about families and family life gained from the structuralfunctional, symbolic-interaction, social-conflict, and feminist theoretical approaches? What is one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach?

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of problems related to family and also favored solutions to these problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: THE SOCIAL LANDSLIDE TOWARD SAME-SEX MARRIAGE I am amazed at the rate of change in favor of same-sex marriage in the United States. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to recognize legal same-sex marriage. Back then, I recall asking my social problems students what they thought would be the state of these laws ten years hence. Most people thought one or more liberal states would join Massachusetts. By the end of 2014, twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C., had enacted such laws. Then, in mid-2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all states must recognize same-sex marriage.

Social patterns that have deep roots in U.S. society rarely change this fast. Just consider how long people have been talking about gender equality and how far our society is from that goal.

Ask students to assess the rate of change with regard to same-sex families. Why, in their view, did this change move so quickly? (In fairness, of course, there are those who think that this change has taken far too long.) One factor that comes to mind is that a large majority of people support the idea of marriage, whatever the sexual orientation of the couple. Put otherwise, some conservatives along with most liberals expressed support for same-sex marriage, if in somewhat different terms. Another is that the mass media has typically expressed strong support for this position. Finally, our society builds in so many rights and privileges to marriage; denying couples the right to marry denies them many benefits (from tax benefits to visitation rights) people take for granted. What do your students think?

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: HOMELESS FAMILIES People often feel the state of the U.S. economy in their family lives. After the 2007 recession, poverty rates began to increase along with the rate of homeless families. Across the country, the recession meant that many families lost jobs and many also lost their homes to foreclosures.

The crew of 60 Minutes did a fourteen-minute segment on homeless families in Seminole County, Florida, an area hard hit when the construction industry came crashing down. Estimates suggest that as many as a thousand families containing school-age children in this county became homeless as the recession hit.

Go to a video search engine such as YouTube and search for ―60 Minutes Families Living in Cars‖ to locate this video.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial

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issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 13, the PowerPoint presentation is titled ―Why Have Marriage Rates Fallen in the Last Fifty Years?‖ The presentation explains that a number of factors, both economic and cultural, are involved.

This PowerPoint can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: Is Marriage a Privilege?

Marriage used to be something that people just, well, did. Matrimony marked a rite of passage, a claim to adulthood, a step on the path of life.

Today, however, marriage is becoming less common in our society, and the rate of marriage is falling off among those with less education and lower incomes. In 2017, 56 percent of middleand upper-class people were married, compared to 39 percent of working-class people and just 26 percent of people in the lower class. Most adults are married, but marriage is becoming a mark of privilege.

One reason is economic: The share of adult men without jobs is rising, and unemployment is highest among people of lower social position. An unemployed man does not make an attractive marriage partner, nor is he able to provide well for a partner and a family.

A second reason is cultural and involves the separation of having children and being married.

Fifty years ago, strong cultural norms demanded that people be married before having a child.

Today, these norms are far weaker and many people reject them altogether. Again, the pattern of single people having children is most common among those of lower social position. Among children born to middle- or upper-class mothers, close to 80 percent live with both parents.

Among those born to working-class or poor mothers, just half live with both parents.

In short, marriage is alive and well among the privileged people in our society. It is becoming less common among everyone else.

Source Miller, Claire Cain. 2017. ―How Did Marriage Become a Mark of Privilege?‖ The New York Times (September 28): A15.

Discussion Questions a. How do you feel about marriage? Is being married one of your life goals? Explain. b. Does the higher share of children being born to single mothers represent a problem for U.S. society or not? Why? c. Do you think that there is some way to effectively encourage more people to marry? Is that even desirable? Explain.

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2. Supplemental Lecture: Socializing Young Minds.

The first and most important agent of socialization is the family. We learn language, patterns of behavior, and self-concept from our parents and other family members, who serve as our major role models. As we go through the different stages and phases in life, we look to our families for knowledge, guidance, and support. Our social and cultural values, beliefs, and norms are all passed on to us by our families.

We know that the forms of family life are changing. There are now more single-parent families, blended families, families of same-sex partners, and families of transgender partners.

How do these trends affect the socialization process? For example, many of today‘s families consist of single parents. More often, the single parent is the mother. Although the role of the father is as important as that of the mother, many fathers are part-time parents, seeing their children only on the weekends or on holidays. Unfortunately, in many cases, these men are completely absent from their children‘s lives. An astounding number of children have a parent, typically a father, who is incarcerated. For children who may or may not know their fathers, or have a relationship with them, this situation can create a void, disrupting their development in unimaginable ways.

The role of a caring adult or mentor is critical in the early stages of socialization, whether or not that person is a biological parent. In a changing society, how can we ensure that families provide for the developmental needs of children?

Source Palmer, Emily. 2016. ―Serving as a Role Model during a Father‘s Absence.‖ The New York Times (December 21): A25.

Discussion Questions a. How did your parents help in shaping your life? b. Who was the most influential caring adult in your life? c. Do you think changes in family form are putting children at risk? If so, how?

3. Charlotte Chorn Dunham, Julie Harms Cannon, and Bernadette Dietz have explored the concept of otherness as it applies to the content of sociology of the family textbooks. In their investigations, the authors discovered that White people are more likely to be presented as a comparison group to families of color rather than as groups with histories and experiences of their own. Their article, ―Representing the Other in Sociology of the Family Texts,‖ appears in the October 2004 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 32: 374–84). From a social problems perspective, the discussion illustrates White privilege as well as minority disadvantage and focuses on the positive experiences of families of color. Depending on your own preferences for approaching the family as a social problem, the content of their article may be useful.

4. In 2013, King Mswati III, ruler of Swaziland, announced that he had chosen his fourteenth wife. Yes, fourteenth. Polygamy is legal in much of the world, although it is largely practiced by men who are well-to-do. The king has wealth estimated at some $200 million. At forty-five years old, he is engaged to an eighteen-year-old woman known for her participation in local beauty pageants. There are reports that three of the king‘s present wives have tried to flee their home in recent years. In each case, the woman cited domestic abuse.

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5. Engage your students in a discussion concerning the various myths that surround marriage and family. Have them analyze what is presented on television. First, ask the students to list their two favorite television shows (not counting sports or shows that would not include a portrayal of marriage or families). Next, tell them to have a pad and pencil with them the next time they watch these shows and make notes on how marriages and families are portrayed. This can be a continuing source of insight, because each day you can call on students whose favorite show aired the evening before and have them recount to the class what they observed.

6. It is always a good idea to familiarize students with the divorce laws and procedures in your state. If you are not familiar with them, you might invite a lawyer or judge who works on divorce and dissolution cases to discuss the ins and outs of ending a marriage—not only the legal issues but the personal issues as well.

7. Regarding forms of the family that diverge from the traditional (i.e., husband worker, wife homemaker, two children), poll your students on their plans: Do they intend to marry? Cohabit?

Do they expect that their spouse or significant other will work? Will they have children? How many? Presenting the results of this class ―poll‖ affords students the opportunity to vocalize what they plan to do.

8. Not that long ago, if married couples took separate vacations, it was presumed that they were on the verge of divorce; to some extent, these attitudes are still present today and are commonplace among some groups of people. Commuter marriages sometimes conjure up the same imagery: They can‘t last because married people should be together most of the time.

Encourage students to think about how marriage means different things to different people, in much the same fashion that some adults elect a single lifestyle.

9. Have your students consider what life would be like and what changes would occur if divorce were made illegal or if it were severely restricted by law. How would such controls affect people? Would this affect people‘s decision to marry? Would there be an increase in the rate of desertion overall or among particular socioeconomic categories of the population?

10. Government policies, especially those that intervene into family life, are always controversial. Ask students to vocalize how they feel about political legislation that affects the family. Many students will be familiar with the one-child family policy in China; ask them to speculate about the success or failure of such a policy in the United States if such a measure were clearly necessary to limit U.S. population growth. Expect some emotional responses!

11. To understand the way in which sociohistorical forces shape the family, students need to recognize that the political process and legislation resulting from it shape what the family is like.

Legislation like the Welfare Reform Act and the Family Leave Act are good examples. Have the members of your class discuss the consequences of these policies to date.

12. For a micro-level discussion on the conflict between work and family, E. Brooke Kelly of the University of North Carolina, Pembroke, suggests that you break students up into groups of four or five who will serve as family policy experts. Provide students with the following scenario:

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You specialize as work/family balance counselors. Your task is to help families deal with work and family conflicts at the micro-level of individual families. You are gathered here today as a team of counselors, with the task of brainstorming and sharing possible strategies with your colleagues. a. Based on class lecture and readings, what are some of the work and family conflicts that families may face? Create at least two scenarios of work/family balance issues that you are likely to face as professionals. b. What are some strategies that you would recommend to individual families and family members for dealing with work/family balance issues? Be specific. c. Think about your recommendations. Would your proposed solutions be effective for all families? Is there anything that would make your strategies difficult for some families?

Why? How? d. Provide further recommendations for dealing with this issue. Are there additional solutions/strategies that you would recommend to account for diverse family forms and circumstances? e. Finally, are there any limitations to your approach to solving work and family strategies at the level of individual families? Can this approach solve most work and family conflicts? What policy changes need to be implemented? What other strategies or solutions are needed?

13. Invite a panel of community members to visit your class and discuss the challenges of foster care. Guests may include an adult who lived in foster care, a teen who is currently in foster care, a foster parent, and a caseworker. Ask students to prepare questions in advance for the guests.

WEB LINKS Americans for Divorce Reform http://www.divorcereform.org APA: Search for Lesbian and Gay Parenting http://www.apa.org Christian Coalition of America http://www.cc.org Family Research Council http://www.frc.org For Your Marriage www.foryourmarriage.org IHEP: Search Publications; Higher Education Opportunities for Foster Youth http://www.ihep.org Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Search for Feminist Perspectives on Reproduction and the Family http://plato.stanford.edu U.S. Census Bureau: Search for Child Care Costs and Arrangements http://www.census.gov

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ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Present arguments for and against cohabitation. Which side of the debate do you find more convincing? Why? 2. Identify several factors that are contributing to the increasing age at first marriage.

3. Discuss the five stereotypes about Black families. To what extent do these claims square with the facts?

4. How would you expect liberals and conservatives to envision the role of the U.S. government in ensuring that child care needs are met? Explain the differences you point out.

5. Discuss the problem of foster care in the United States.

6. Explain why the divorce rate is higher today than a century ago. Why has the rate declined in recent decades?

7. Explain why a woman‘s standard of living typically decreases after divorce while a man‘s standard of living typically rises.

8. Briefly provide conservative and liberal views of divorce.

9. List and discuss the issues that a couple may wish to consider when drawing up a prenuptial agreement.

10. Discuss the challenges of blended families and offer solutions to address the problems.

11. Discuss recent changes in same-sex marriage laws in states across the country. What do you expect to be the pattern of laws a decade from now?

12. What insights are gained by applying the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, socialconflict, and feminist theoretical approaches to the topic of family? What is one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach?

13. Explain how the position a person takes on the political spectrum shapes the view of family ―problems‖ and also guides the selection of ―solutions.‖ FILM LIST TED Talks are a wonderful source of short, high-quality videos on almost any topic. Go to a search engine such as YouTube and search for TED Talks about family life, including blended families, divorce, the future of families, and how to make marriage and family relationships more positive. You will find dozens of videos that are useful for class discussion.

THE BEGINNINGS: FERTILITY (2003, 28 m, Insight Media) This program shows how three families cope with infertility. It explores in vitro fertilization, adoption, and surrogate motherhood.

BEYOND THE NUCLEAR FAMILY (2008, 25 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) What is a family? The answer might have been easy a generation ago, but today a much wider range of possibilities exists. This program offers a thought-provoking look at the changing roles, structures, and functions of the family unit. Societal expectations, technological advancements, and changes in cultural and sexual diversity are explored. A range of emotional, environmental, economic, and health-related considerations are presented as further reasons for evolving family characteristics. The video presents four Australian case studies of family forms, including interviews with family members, as well as discussions of the future of the family.

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COHABITATION: THE PLAIN FACTS (2006, 57 m, Insight Media) Examining research findings, this program exposes myths associated with cohabitation, identifies the benefits and drawbacks of nonmarital cohabitation, and considers the danger of sliding into this form of commitment rather than making a firm decision. It discusses the statistical realities of cohabitation, the conflicting expectations of men and women, and the correlations among cohabitation, divorce, and general relationship dissatisfaction.

DADS WANTED (2002, 43 m, Filmakers Library) Parenthood is a big step for anyone irrespective of their sexual orientation. But because gay and lesbian parents have broken the traditional family mold, they have even more choices to make.

How will they get a child? Who will be the designated parents? How will they define each parent‘s role? Will their children have a difficult time socially? We meet Leigh, a lesbian single mother, who advertises in a gay newspaper for a man to be an active coparent. The film tracks her search and discovers what is involved when embarking on such a mission. Glen has two young boys whom he fathered for a lesbian couple. Glen and his partner share custody of the boys with the women and have developed a unique system of sharing child care. A lesbian couple, Erin and Theresa, have newly born twins after Theresa impregnated herself at home with sperm from an anonymous donor. We follow Erin‘s legal battle to be a guardian of the children.

DIVORCE MADE SIMPLE (2001, 30 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Marriages, they say, are supposed to last forever. Why then have courts and legislatures made it so much easier to get a divorce? How did they imagine it would help society? And have women and children really reaped the intended financial and social benefits? This program examines the state of divorce in America as it argues that the time has come for the pendulum of legislation to swing the other way, once again making divorces harder to obtain.

DIVORCING (2007, 30 m, Insight Media) This program explores the reasons for the drastic increase in divorce rates over the past century and looks at the implications of divorce for adults and children.

FAMILIES AND HOUSEHOLDS (2005, 39 m, Insight Media) This film traces the history of family life and looks at the classical theories of functionalism, Marxism, and feminism. It explores changes in family life over the last thirty years, the fragmentation of the nuclear family, and the effects of change and diversity.

FOSTER CARE: A SYSTEM IN CRISIS (2006, 54 m, Insight Media) This compilation of ABC News segments explores the complex challenges facing families and organizations that shelter endangered children. The program shows how photography exhibits have connected foster children with adoptive parents and follows a social worker as she visits homes.

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GAY MARRIAGE AND THE CONSTITUTION (2004, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This ABC News program looks at the constitutional controversy over gay marriage as it exploded in both Massachusetts and California in February 2004. Is it a matter of civil rights or human rights? Should it be addressed at a state level or a federal level? Ted Koppel moderates a debate about gay marriage and its legal ramifications with Representative Barney Frank, conservative political activist Gary Bauer, and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, who arranged for the issuance of marriage licenses to eligible same-sex couples because the California Family Code is allegedly in violation of the state‘s constitution in the matter of gay marriage.

JUST MARRIED: THE EPIC BATTLE OVER GAY MARRIAGE (2006, 58 m, Filmakers Library) This even-handed film follows events in Massachusetts after the state supreme court ruled four to three in favor of allowing same-sex marriage. It is at the same time a lesson in the turbulent political process as a compelling portrait of several responsible, loving, stable couples that yearn for recognition by the state and their community to validate their families. Central to the story are Ellen Wade and Maureen Brodoff, both attorneys, who met and fell in love twenty years ago in law school. They have a fifteen-year-old daughter, Kate, who appears to thrive. Although they have a comfortable suburban life, they feel deeply that they have been deprived of marital status and are second-class citizens because they are not married. The film follows Ellen and Maureen through the filing of the original lawsuit to their historic wedding, supported along the way by gay and lesbian organizations. It also treats with respect the opposition having deeply held convictions that mobilize them to political action. By examining the political, religious, and psychological arguments involved in the heated gay marriage debate, the film demonstrates just how central our concept of marriage is to us as individuals and as members of society.

JUST MOM AND ME: SINGLE MOTHERHOOD (2000, 60 m, Filmakers Library) Single motherhood in the United States is not just the experience of poor, uneducated women or minority teenagers, as is often depicted by the media and in the press. The reality is that there are 25 million single mothers heading households in America, and they come from all walks of life.

Just Mom and Me interweaves the stories of five mothers, whose circumstances are vastly different, raising children on their own. Adi, who lost her beloved husband to cancer, was left to raise their seven-year-old biracial daughter on her own. Isayana learned the hard way about sex and love. She became pregnant and dropped out of high school. Diana, a lawyer, made the difficult decision to have her baby even though she broke up with her boyfriend. Tracy, who had three young children when she divorced her husband at twenty years old, had the courage to go to college. Beth, single and worried about her biological clock, opted for a baby through artificial insemination. Filmed over three years, this is a realistic portrayal of the financial and emotional challenges of single parenting. It gives voice to the children also, who reflect on the realities of not having a father in the home.

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MANDY’S CHOICE: A BIOETHICAL CONTROVERSY (2007, 50 m, Filmakers Library) Mandy and Josh were a happily married young couple when their idyll was abruptly shattered.

Josh was in a motorcycle accident that left him in a seven-day coma with death imminent.

Mandy, desperate to preserve her tie to her beloved husband, asked that his sperm be harvested so that she could have his child. As there was no written consent from Josh, the hospital refused.

The family of Mandy and Josh, as well as their friends, rallied to the cause, and with pressure on their behalf from the media, they were able to get this controversial issue resolved. Dr. Cappy Rothman, the first doctor to have harvested postmortem sperm in 1978, subsequently founded the Cryobank in California to store sperm. With his help, Mandy‘s mission was accomplished.

The film follows Mandy‘s in vitro fertilization, her very emotional pregnancy, and the birth of her son. Her resolve to bring up Josh‘s child never wavers even when a new man enters her life.

Josh‘s parents are devastated at the loss of their son and the fear that Mandy‘s new relationship may make it harder for them to be connected to their grandson. For Mandy, the birth fifteen months after the fatal accident makes her feel that part of Josh has survived.

THE MOTHERHOOD MANIFESTO (2007, 58 m, Bullfrog Films) Only four countries in the world—Lesotho, Swaziland, Papua New Guinea, and the United States—fail to provide paid maternity leave to all workers. Canada now guarantees a full year of paid parental leave and California recently became the first state in the United States to provide such paid leave. Businesses that create flexible work environments find that productivity goes up, they attract more talent, turnover is reduced, and their bottom line is improved. Moving personal stories combined with humorous animation, expert commentary, and hilarious old film clips tell the tale of what happens to working mothers and their families in America. See how enlightened employers and public policy can make paid family leave, flexible working hours, part-time parity, universal health care, excellent child care, after-school programs, and realistic living wages a reality for American families.

THE POLITICS OF GAY MARRIAGE AND ABORTION RIGHTS (2004, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In recent years, the evangelical community has often favored the Republican Party, with broad agreement on social issues. Broadcast during the run-up to the 2004 election, this ABC News program travels first to Massachusetts to consider legal ramifications of same-sex marriage and then to Colorado, where a bishop has declared that anyone who votes for a supporter of abortion rights—or gay marriage, for that matter—should not take Communion.

ROCKING THE CRADLE: GAY PARENTING (2007, 38 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Prior to the 1960s, the idea of same-sex parenting had yet to reach the consciousness of most Americans. The majority of gays and lesbians did not even consider parenting, fearing the stigma their children might face. By 2000, however, the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that a full onethird of lesbian couples and roughly a quarter of gay male couples had opted to become parents.

This program captures six gay/lesbian families in their day-to-day lives. Two of these families are families by adoption, two are coparenting families, and two are lesbian families by

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insemination. Man-on-the-street interviews as well as emotional testimonials from the fifteen adults and eleven children featured in this film provide a range of perspectives on gay parenting.

VALUES AND THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY (1994, 15 m, Insight Media) Historian Stephanie Coontz is interviewed about her contention that the idealized ―traditional‖ family never existed, arguing that families have always been diverse and fragile.

WE ARE FAMILY: PARENTING AND FOSTER PARENTING IN GAY FAMILIES (1988, 57 m, Filmakers Library) We Are Family takes a look at what life is really like in homosexual families with the focus on parenting and the well-being of the children. In one family, two gay fathers tell of their efforts to create a secure environment for their sixteen-year-old foster son who was on the road to delinquency. In another household, two lesbian mothers have helped their adopted eleven-yearold boy overcome the emotional trauma of disability and early neglect. In the third family, we hear how two adolescent daughters have accepted their father‘s homosexuality. By seeing how much these parents have to offer their children, we realize that good parenting is independent of sexual orientation.

WHY DO WE MARRY? (2008, 45 m, Filmakers Library) This film explores why people of a variety of ages, cultures, and gender orientation still want to marry in an era when it is socially acceptable for couples to live together, forgoing wedding vows. Tracing mores from the 1950s, when traditional lifestyles were very much the norm, through the sexual revolution of the 1960s, to our own time when fewer people are getting legally married, Robert Glossop of the Vanier Institute of the Family observes that there are still reasons for people to get married.

WHY CAN’T A WOMAN SUCCEED LIKE A MAN? (2009, 60 m, Insight Media) This program questions whether women can or should desire to ―have it all‖ by pursuing a career and raising a family. It examines gender inequality and looks at such issues as discrimination in the workplace, maternity leave, innate competitiveness, the nuclear family, and the assumption that women should be more responsible for child-rearing than men.

WHY THEE WED? GAY PERSPECTIVES ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE (2005, 51 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) As controversy swirls around the issue of same-sex marriage, gay and lesbian couples in North America and abroad are speaking out for the right to marry. Filmed in British Columbia after the legalization of same-sex unions, this program introduces the victorious litigants, who share their views on marriage, religious and political opposition, child adoption, and, most of all, love.

Rounding out the program are interviews with their families, the lawyer who represented them, and gay rights activist Jane Rule, who takes issue with the institution of marriage.

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REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Family Life Thinking back in time, describe various family forms in which you have lived. How does each type of family ―feel‖ a little different?

Sample answer: In preparing your response, you might consider the extent to which any patterns in your own experience might be linked to class, race, ethnicity, and gender.

2. Personalizing Divorce Have you ever experienced divorce, either your own or parental divorce? Describe the consequences of this experience.

Sample answer: In preparing your response, you might consider whether any patterns in your own experience might involve class, gender, and age. How did you understand the causes of parental divorce? How did your parents understand the causes?

3. Where Do You Stand?

How should the mass media portray families? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then write a paragraph or two in which you explain what you think the mass media should emphasize about families in the United States. Is it the strength of family ties, is it the diversity of family types, or should the media not celebrate families at all?

Sample answer: In preparing your response, The mass media has presented a mix of family types, from the middle-class Nelsons (from Ozzie and Harrie to Blue Bloods), to single parents (My Three Sons or Sanford and Son). Consider the extent to which media families are portrayed as functional (Blue Bloods) or dysfunctional (Shameless). To what extent should media companies present families with the goal of attracting the largest audiences? What about encouraging social change?

4. National Map 13–1 States Banning Interracial Marriage, 1947 and 1966 Your journal assignment is to identify regional patterns: What can you say about the states that never enacted a law banning interracial marriage? What about the states that retained such a law until 1967.

Sample answer: Race has been a key dimension of social inequality throughout this nation‘s history. In terms of laws involving interracial marriage, at some time, a majority of states enacted laws banning interracial marriage. In a few states, such laws were not abolished until the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967.

The states that continued to ban interracial marriage until 1967 were all in the South.

(Keep in mind that the Southern states were heavily Democratic as late as the early 1960s; the South did not become largely Republican until 1964 when Lyndon Johnson, from Texas, soundly defeated Barry Goldwater, from Arizona.

5. Global Map 13–1 Legal Same-Sex Marriage and Registered Partnerships in Global Perspective This journal assignment asks you to explore a possible link between laws recognizing same-sex marriage and nations‘ level of economic development. To begin, look at the map that shows the level of economic development for all countries. Then examine the map showing level of

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economic development. Compare the two maps. In general, is it high-income or low-income nations that have recognized same-sex marriage? Can you suggest why this global divide exists?

Sample answer: On the first map, you can see that same-sex marriage or civil unions are lawful in the United States, Canada, several countries in South America, the countries of Western Europe, South Africa, and Australia. Checking the map on the right, you can see that almost all of these countries are high-income countries.

Comparing the two maps, you can also see that there is no low-income nation that has declared same-sex marriage to be lawful. That said, no country in the Middle East or Asia—whether rich or poor—has recognized legal same-sex marriage. This holds true for Russia, China, and Japan, which are all high-income countries.

It seems reasonable to conclude that high economic development is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition, for enacting lawful same-sex marriage. In other words, economic development increases education and weakens traditional values, encouraging greater tolerance. Yet, some high-income nations retain cultural patterns that continue to discourage support for same-sex marriage.

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CHAPTER 14 EDUCATION IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Gender and the College Campus John‘s Personal Video Selection: ―Dropping Out‖ as Process Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes to Chapter 14 of this revision begin with new discussion of the home schooling movement and COVID-19 pandemic‘s impact on schools, students, and teachers. The coverage of school violence has been updated and expanded. There is new coverage of student loans and the efforts of the Biden administration to forgive some of the debt. This revised chapter has updates on educational attainment in the United States with analysis according to gender and race. There are new data on literacy around the world and this country‘s ranking in terms of educational performance. Analysis of dropping out of school has been updated with new data dealing with race, class, and gender. There are forty new research citations in the revised chapter.

AUTHOR’S NOTE The major teaching points for this chapter can be summarized as follows: • Schooling is linked to economic development. High-income countries typically offer people much more schooling than low-income nations. The consequences of this difference involve the type of work people do as well as literacy rates.

• The history of schooling in the United States shows these same trends with schooling expanding along with industrialization and urbanization.

• Today‘s schooling in the United States involves many issues and problems, including unequal funding, violence, and unequal opportunities for the poor and people whose first language is not English.

• Each of sociology‘s theoretical approaches (structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, social-conflict, and feminist) offers insights about schooling.

• Position on the political spectrum guides how people define schooling issues as problems and also guides the selection of policies as solutions.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

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I. Problems of Education: A Global Perspective 14.1 Explain how schooling differs in low-income nations and high-income nations.

• Education is the social institution by which a society transmits knowledge—including basic facts and job skills as well as cultural norms and values—to its members.

• Schooling is formal instruction carried out by specially trained teachers.

• Low-Income Countries: Too Little Schooling o Literacy is the ability to read and write. o A majority of the world‘s children do receive at least primary schooling—the first five or six grade levels. However, in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, more than half of all children receive no secondary education. o Global Map 14–1 Illiteracy in Global Perspective. o In the poorest countries, females are far less likely than males to be literate. o High illiteracy rates mean limited opportunity and a low quality of life for hundreds of millions of the world‘s women. But a lack of schooling also contributes to other problems. Without the ability to read, mothers have difficulty providing nutrition and health care to their young children and in most cases, work in low-income jobs.

• High-Income Countries: Unequal Schooling o Most young people living in rich nations complete both primary and secondary school. In the United States, 91 percent of adults over the age of twenty-five have completed high school. o At the same time, our nation‘s level of illiteracy is higher than that found in most other high-income nations.

• Education in U.S. History o Illiteracy was so common that it was not widely defined as a social problem until the late 1800s, as the Industrial Revolution increased demand for literate workers. o By 1918, every state had enacted a mandatory education law requiring children to attend school until age sixteen or the completion of the eighth grade. o Today, we expect young people to attend school. But although formal education is part of everyday life, today‘s schools face a number of serious problems. In fact, many people think that public education in the United States is in a state of crisis. o Figure 14–1 Schooling in the United States, 1910-2022.

II. Problems with U.S. Education 14.2 Discuss the causes and consequences of a number of problems with U.S. education.

• The Academic Performance of U.S. Schools o Many high-income nations seem to be schooling their children better than we do in the United States. o The United States continues to make progress in terms of college completion, but other nations are improving faster than we are.

• Academic Performance: Race, Class, and Gender o The academic performance of socially disadvantaged students is relatively low and represents a serious problem. There is evidence that our schools have failed whole segments of the U.S. population. o Kids who do poorly in school are more likely to live in a lower-income household with a single parent and to have less access to books, museums, travel, and other

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sources of learning. In addition, young people of color have to deal with racial stereotypes that call into question their academic ability, sometimes to the point that they begin to doubt themselves. o For all categories of people, the higher the share of children living in poverty, the lower the educational achievement. The poverty rates for Black children (32 percent), Native American children (31 percent), and Hispanic children (25 percent) are far greater than for Asian American children (11 percent) and nonHispanic White children (11 percent).

The Effects of Home and School o Children from low-income families face a double burden of fewer educational advantages at home and fewer opportunities at school. o During the school year, children from high-income homes learn somewhat faster than children from low-income homes. But the gap grows wider during the summer months, when children spend the most time in their home environment.

This pattern points to the conclusion that schools matter, but the home environment matters more. Although schools reduce the learning gap that is created by differences in home communities, schools do not ―level the playing field‖ between rich and poor children the way we sometimes think they do. o As schools across the United States closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the burden was greater for students from families with low incomes who lived in homes that provided less support for learning. Many students who stayed home also lost access to a subsidized meal and the social services provided in the school.

The COVID-19 Pandemic o School closings, enacted to limit spread of the coronavirus, resulted in significant costs to students: being cut off from teachers and friends resulted in an increase in a host of mental health issues, the closure of schools effectively suspended benefits such as nutritious meals and counseling, remote learning created more class-based inequality, and students fell behind academically due to school closures.

Dropping Out o Dropping out—quitting school before earning a high school diploma—is a serious problem in this country. o Statistics show 5.2 percent of the U.S. population from sixteen to twenty-four years old (about 2 million people) have left school without graduating. o The risk of leaving school remains especially high among certain segments of the population, particularly people of color. o Figure 14–2 Percentage of Dropouts among Categories of the U.S. Population, Ages 16 to 24. o Speaking a language other than English at home is a cultural factor that raises the risk of dropping out of school as is the decision to leave school due to an unexpected pregnancy, a family‘s financial problems, or boredom. o Conservatives typically point to educational bureaucrats and teachers‘ unions that defend the status quo at the expense of students. Liberals typically point to poverty as well as prejudice and discrimination as factors that limit the schooling of disadvantaged categories of the population.

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o Dropping out of school can become one part of a multigenerational cycle in which children raised in a disadvantaged setting go on to become disadvantaged adults.

Functional Illiteracy o Functional illiteracy refers to the inability to read and write or do basic arithmetic well enough to carry out daily responsibilities. It is also a source of personal embarrassment and shame.

School Segregation and Busing o After the Supreme Court ruled that separate schooling for Black and White people was unconstitutional, some local governments did try to overcome racial segregation of schools. o During the 1990s, the courts called an end to school busing. Because a majority of neighborhoods are still home to mostly people of the same race, schools today are just about as racially segregated as they were in the 1960s. o Most White students attend schools enrolling mostly White students. Threefourths of Black students and 80 percent of Hispanic students attend schools with non-White majorities. Furthermore, 43 percent of Hispanic students and 38 percent of Black students attend extremely segregated schools with a White population below 10 percent. o A recent study suggests how complex the problem of racial segregation in schools actually is. Researchers found that, over time, the student population has become more diverse, with larger shares of Black and Hispanic students. In addition, many school districts have succeeded in reducing racial and ethnic segregation among various schools. At the same time, the researchers found that less segregation in the school is commonly accompanied by greater segregation in the classroom. o Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Linda Brown: Fighting to Desegregate the Schools o Figure 14–3 Racial/Ethnic Makeup of the Average Student‘s School.

School Funding o Some communities contain people with far greater incomes than others, and differences in tax revenues produce strikingly unequal school budgets. On a national scale today, per-student funding ranges from about $9,000 in a poor community such as Nampa, Idaho, to almost $30,000 in a high-income community near New York City. o Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: The ―Savage Inequalities‖ of Schooling in the United States. o Cultural Capital ▪ High-income parents are more likely to have a home that is spacious, quiet, and equipped with multiple personal computer and high-bandwidth internet access. Having more education themselves, well-off parents are more likely to teach young children language skills by, say, reading with them regularly.

▪ Low-income parents are more likely to have a smaller, more crowded home and are less likely to own a computer, books, and other learning materials.

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Tracking o Tracking is the policy of assigning students to different educational programs. o Typically, students in higher tracks attend classes that move them along quickly with teaching that emphasizes critical thinking and creativity. Those in lower tracks are likely to progress more slowly with a focus on basic skills and the importance of following directions. o The self-fulfilling prophecy is a situation in which people who are defined in a certain way eventually think and act as if the definition were true. In this case, how the school defines children affects how the children think about themselves.

Gender Inequality o For generations, the two sexes followed different programs of study. Schools steered boys into courses such as woodworking and mechanical shop that would prepare them for industrial jobs in factories. Girls were tracked into courses such as home economics, typing, and shorthand that prepared them to be homemakers or to perform clerical work in offices. o Title IX of the Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act bans sex discrimination in education and requires schools receiving federal funding to provide all students with equal educational programs. Today, as a result of such efforts, girls are as likely as boys to be placed in classes for gifted students, and more young women than young men qualify for high school advanced placement courses, which provide better preparation for college.

Immigration: Increasing Diversity o English Immersion versus Bilingualism ▪ English immersion is the policy of teaching non–English speakers in English.

▪ Bilingual education is the policy of offering most classes in students‘ native language while also teaching them English.

▪ The debate over English immersion versus Bilingual education is partly about how well the students learn. Supporters of English immersion concede that students do learn more quickly in the short term when taught in their native language, but they also claim that focusing on English helps students‘ long-term learning, while supporters of bilingualism point to evidence that becoming bilingual at a young age helps overall cognitive development.

▪ The two policies have different political and cultural objectives. English immersion seeks to ―Americanize‖ students by making English the central language and teaching them the dominant culture.

▪ Social Policy: More Than Just Talk: The Politics of Bilingual Education.

Schooling People with Disabilities o Mainstreaming is integrating students with physical or intellectual disabilities into the overall educational program. o Supporters of mainstreaming argue that taking part in regular classes gives students with disabilities a better education, while critics claim that there is little solid research showing that this policy improves anyone‘s academic performance. o Special education is schooling children with physical or mental disabilities in separate classes with specially trained teachers.

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Finding Enough Teachers o Across the country, there are some 345,000 teaching vacancies each year, including about 250,000 in public schools and 90,000 in private schools. o Why are there so many teaching vacancies?

▪ The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted educational routines, causing stress for teachers and prompting many to retire.

▪ Even before the pandemic, however, job satisfaction among teachers was at a historic low, with only 12 percent of active teachers saying that they felt ―extremely satisfied‖ with their jobs. Frustration over extensive bureaucracy, large class sizes, and being held accountable for student performance on achievement tests has taken a toll on teachers‘ morale.

▪ There is also the issue of low and stagnant salaries: Many districts simply pay too little to attract well-qualified teachers, especially in science and mathematics.

▪ National Map 14–1 Public School Teachers‘ Pay across the United States. o How can the goal of staffing classrooms with good teachers be reached?

▪ One strategy is to force less-qualified teachers to get the training they need in order to keep their jobs. A second part of the solution is to attract new and highly qualified people into this profession. Some are using incentives such as higher salaries and signing bonuses to attract people who have already established successful careers in other fields.

Home Schooling o Since the onset of the pandemic, the number of home-schooled students doubled to about 5 million, which represents 9 percent of all students. o In the past, most of the parents who took on the responsibility of schooling children at home did so with the intention of providing a religious education.

Currently, an additional motive involves the ―parents‘ rights‖ movement, which seeks to remove children from public school classrooms that, as parents see it, provide ―liberal indoctrination.‖ o There is no conclusive measure of the degree to which home schooling is successful. However, some analysts report that home-schooled students do as well or better than their peers who learn in a school classroom.

School Violence o In 2022, a total of 303 shootings took place on school property in the United States, the largest number since tracking this type of violence began in 1970.

These criminal acts during 2022 left 332 people killed or injured. o Almost half of school shootings are carried out by students, which means young people between the ages of ten and eighteen—almost entirely males—who bring weapons to school. o Serious violence is not limited to homicide but also includes violent offenses such as aggravated assault and forcible rape, both of which are more common than homicide. According to the federal government, 70 percent of public schools reported at least one violent crime at school during the last school year. o The risk of serious violence is greater in large urban or suburban schools than it is in small, rural schools. The risk of violence is also higher in low-income

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communities, especially in schools enrolling students from families with low incomes. o What can schools do to control violence? One recent approach is a zero-tolerance policy under which school officials severely punish or expel any student who brings a weapon, alcohol, or some other drug to school. Another policy is enacting a dress code to prevent students from wearing gang colors and insignia, which are symbols that can spark violence. A final strategy widely used in schools is a classroom program in conflict resolution.

Student Loans o About two-thirds of people who pursue higher education take out a loan to pay costs. o There are roughly 45 million people (current and past students) in the United States with educational loans that total roughly $1.75 trillion, or an average loan balance of $35,000. o Young adults carrying debt may have difficulty obtaining other loans such as a home mortgage. Debt can also discourage other expensive choices such as planning a wedding or having children. The problem of student debt becomes more serious as interest rates increase, which has been the case in recent years.

III. Theories of Education and Education-Related Problems 14.3 Apply sociological theory to issues of education.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: The Functions of Schooling o Structural-functional theory explains that schooling performs numerous functions, including transmitting knowledge and skills young people need for work, social placement based on individual talents and abilities, and uniting the population by teaching common values and cultural beliefs. Schooling also performs many latent functions. For example, schools are a source of child care for working parents. o Because of the importance of schooling to the operation of society, anything that threatens the effectiveness of our schools—including poor teaching, classroom violence, and students dropping out of school—is likely to be defined as a social problem.

• Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Labels in the Schools o Symbolic-interaction theory focuses on the meanings and understandings that people construct in everyday social interactions. Using this approach, the experience of schooling is likely to be different in some ways for every individual. How a school labels a particular child—as, say, ―gifted‖ or ―deficient‖—plays a major part in defining the academic ability of each student. o How we label children can create problems. Because labels can become real to us and have real consequences, a school‘s decision to label a child in a certain way can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Children may come to think of themselves in terms of the labels used by school officials and perform accordingly.

• Social-Conflict Analysis: Schooling and Inequality o Social-conflict theory links schooling to social inequality. Schooling in the United States involves considerable inequality, providing privileges to some categories of students and disadvantages to others.

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o Educational problems include the inequality in funding that sets some schools well above others and also the system of tracking that places young people from well-to-do families in the best classes and programs and those from disadvantaged families in the worst classes and programs. o Schools operate as a system of social control that socializes all students to be obedient citizens who are respectful of authority. We might describe these messages as schooling‘s hidden curriculum, explicit and subtle presentations of political or cultural ideas in the classroom that support the status quo.

Feminist Analysis: Schooling and Gender o Feminist theory is one type of social-conflict theory that highlights patterns of inequality involving gender. In almost every aspect of our society, males have greater pay, power, and prestige than females. o The higher you look in the educational hierarchy, the smaller the share of teachers who are women and the larger the share who are men. o Just as gender is linked to power and other rewards within the profession of teaching, so gender shapes the opportunity for people to learn. Over time, the share of women in the classroom has steading increased, o Schooling both reflects and perpetuates social inequality based on class and feminist theory broadens our understanding by showing how schooling does exactly the same things in terms of gender inequality.

IV. Politics and Education: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 14.4 Analyze educational issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: Increase Competition o Charter schools are public schools that are given the freedom to try out new policies and programs. o Magnet schools are public schools that offer special facilities and programs in pursuit of educational excellence. o A school voucher program is a program that provides parents with funds they can use at a public school or private school of their choice o Conservatives see schools as a government monopoly that is neither efficient nor accountable. o Conservatives support various strategies to make schools more competitive, including schooling for profit and using school vouchers, and feel all schools must be made accountable for their performance. o Personal Stories: School Choice: One Family‘s View • Liberals: Increase the Investment o Liberals concede that that some schools are not doing their job very well, and they view struggling schools as a symptom of broader social problems, including economic inequality and racial discrimination. o Liberals support increasing government funding for schools and expanding Head Start and bilingual programs to improve schooling for children who need it most.

• The Radical Left: Attack Structural Inequality o From a radical-left point of view, schools are part of the problem, but they are not the cause of the problem—which is the capitalist economy.

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o The radical left supports equalizing funding for all schools and believes that the solution lies in making radical changes in the economic and political systems to create a more egalitarian society.

Going On from Here o People across the political spectrum agree that changes must be made.

▪ Conservatives focus on the school system itself. They argue that government does not manage schooling very well, primarily because government has a near-monopoly over the process and parents have little choice.

▪ Liberals focus on government action to increase school funding. Liberals offer strong support for the idea that government should run high-quality schools and the public as a whole should bear the cost.

▪ Radicals on the left are also likely to shape the future of schooling. o When it comes to schools in the United States, almost everyone is in favor of change. But precisely what changes are to come is a political decision that will be made as today‘s students take their places as adults.

Defining Solutions: What Can We Do to Improve the State of Public Schools in Our Large Cities?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 5. 14.1 Explain how schooling differs in low-income nations and high-income nations.

6. 14.2 Discuss the causes and consequences of a number of problems with U.S. education.

7. 14.3 Apply sociological theory to issues of education.

8. 14.4 Analyze educational issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 14, students should be able to: Answer how schooling differs in low-income countries and high-income countries, including the United States.

Summarize the expansion of education over the course of U.S. history.

Compare academic performance in the United States today to what it was in past decades.

Discuss the effects of race, ethnicity, and class on U.S. academic performance.

Discuss the importance of the home environment in academic performance.

Identify the risk factors for dropping out and the consequences for individuals who do so.

Describe the challenges of functional illiteracy.

Briefly describe the history of school segregation and busing.

Explain why busing failed to solve the problem of racially segregated schools.

Explain how school systems are funded, the problems presented by unequal funding in education, and why it is so difficult to ―level the educational playing field.‖ Discuss cultural capital and explain the sources of disparities in cultural capital.

Provide arguments for and against the educational policy of tracking.

Discuss the forms and consequences of gender inequality in education over the course of the twentieth century.

Discuss the challenges that immigration presents to U.S. education today and identify several policies that have been adopted to address the challenges.

Discuss the issues involving mainstreaming students with disabilities.

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Discuss the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had in schools, students, and teachers.

Discuss the U.S. teacher shortage, including reasons why good teachers are in short supply and how some school systems are dealing with the problem.

Describe the problem of school violence, identifying the types of schools that experience the most violence.

What insights are gained by applying to schooling the structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction theoretical approaches? Provide one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of problems in education as well as the solutions to these problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: GENDER AND THE COLLEGE CAMPUS There was a moment in time—it occurred in 1979—when the college campus in the United States was home to equal numbers of women and men. The chapter‘s Tracking the Trends figure provides a historical look at gender and the college campus. This figure is also available in the PowerPoint presentation for this chapter.

Before then, of course, college was a man‘s world. In 1950, about two-thirds of college and university students were men (and the share had been far greater before that). Many people probably looked at the converging lines and imagined that college would be equally available to the two sexes.

It did not work out quite that way. In 2022, 59 percent of students enrolled in higher education were women, and 41 percent were men. The trend seems to have stabilized for now.

What do students think are some of the reasons for the trend shown in this figure—both before and after the ―equity‖ point in 1979? Do students think the gender difference before 1979 was a problem? What about the gender difference after 1979? What, if anything, would students do to address this pattern?

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: ―DROPPING OUT‖ AS PROCESS Is dropping out of school simply a choice? This 2015 video explores the issue of dropping out from college. A large majority of college dropouts are young people from low-income families, and many drop out even though they have financial aid. This PBS video can be found by going to a video search engine and searching for ―why poor students drop out.‖ RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 14, the PowerPoint presentation focuses on an issue of special importance to college faculty—the use of cell phones in the classroom. Is using this technology in class a problem? What strategies do our colleagues suggest?

This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online

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catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Build a class discussion or support a lecture with short TED Talks videos. Using a video search engine, look for ―TED Talks public education‖ and choose from a number of videos on the strengths and weakness of public schools, strategies to improve public schooling, and strategies or great teaching.

2. Homeschooling is an extremely controversial issue. All one needs to do to become better acquainted with this controversy is enter ―the pros and cons of homeschooling‖ into any search engine on the internet. There may be members of your social problems class who have been homeschooled. See if they will vocalize how they feel about this type of education. If none of your students is homeschooled, or if they are simply unwilling to share their thoughts, you can assemble a list of these pros and cons and present them in class. This should stimulate ample discussion.

3. Many community colleges have faculty whose main job is teaching students. In this regard, community colleges stand apart from larger research universities where faculty members mainly engage in research and much teaching is carried out by graduate students. Launch a class discussion to assess the quality of learning and the value for the tuition dollar of community colleges.

4. Many students are enrolled in a liberal arts curriculum, but they may not know much about what this concept actually means. A good source for a class presentation or discussion on this topic with special attention to sociology is the article written by Sharon K. Collins, Nancy A. Fischer, and Bruce K. MacMurray, ―The Contributions of Sociology to the Liberally Educated Person‖ (Teaching Sociology, Vol. 18, October 1990: 494–98).

5. Is unionization needed within the field of higher education? Do larger universities exploit undergraduates by using low-salary teaching assistants to cover many if not most classes? What about community college faculty? Ask students to consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of having their campus faculty unionized. In preparing for this discussion, of course, be sure to understand the history (if any) of unions on your campus.

6. Ask your students to express their opinions on the Common Core debate movement in education. Are such standards needed? What arguments are made for this policy? What arguments are made against it?

7. An ongoing source of irritation among most educators is teachers‘ salaries. Many students are not aware of the pay schedule for college and university professors, and quite a few are surprised to learn how little the average professor earns. Pose the question ―If education is so important in our society, why should a teacher be paid a salary that is commensurate with an executive secretary, rather than with a physician or lawyer?‖ Encourage students to think about why

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teachers‘ salaries are low. From what tradition has this trend emerged? What do they think of the statement ―Teachers don‘t care about money; they only care about their students and the learning process, so why should we pay them more?‖ Also keep in mind that a majority of college classes are not taught by people who have a secure position.

8. Discuss this definition of functional illiteracy with the class: ―the inability to read and write or do basic arithmetic well enough to carry out daily responsibilities.‖ Ask students to consider all that they have done over the past few days that required literacy. Then ask students to name activities that they would not be able to do without the ability to read, and write the list that the class develops on the board. Once you have an exhaustive list, discuss how the inability to fulfill such tasks puts the individual as well as others at risk. Discuss the societal costs of functional illiteracy and ask students to offer suggestions. Ask students to analyze how the solutions offered are shaped by policy evaluation, cultural values, and political outlook.

9. As a class, explore the various sources for public school funding. Discuss the federal government, the state government (sales and income taxes), the state lottery system, the local government (property taxes), school-business partnerships (vendors like Pepsi versus Coke for exclusive contracts on school premises), private grants, PTAs, Booster Clubs, private donations, and tobacco settlement money. Discuss the pros and cons of each source of funding. Break students into groups and allow them time to develop a workable education funding policy.

Encourage students to use sources already discussed and to come up with their own innovative ideas. Have each group share its findings with the class. Afterward, discuss the role that policy evaluation, cultural values, and political outlook played in the process of defining solutions.

WEB LINKS CAPE: Search for Addressing the Teacher Shortage http://www.capenet.org Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Search for About School Violence http://www.cdc.gov National Association of Bilingual Education https://nabe.org National Center for Education Statistics: Search Dropouts, Completers, and Graduation Rate Reports http://nces.ed.gov National Dropout Prevention Center/Network http://www.dropoutprevention.org National Educational Association http://www.nea.org ProLiteracy http://www.proliteracy.org ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Identify differences in schooling when comparing low-income and high-income countries.

Why is schooling limited in poor regions of the world?

2. Discuss the development of education—both public and private—in the United States, from the days of Thomas Jefferson to the present.

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3. Identify and offer an explanation of differences in academic performance by race, ethnicity, and social class.

4. Describe how Thurgood Marshall helped to change the nation‘s view of racial segregation.

5. Explain why schools are just as racially segregated today as they were in the 1960s.

6. Discuss Vermont‘s Act 60 policy and share your views on it. Who benefits and who suffers from such a policy? Explain your answer.

7. Discuss the pros and cons of the policy of tracking for students.

8. Define mainstreaming and discuss the pros and the cons of this policy.

9. Distinguish English immersion policies with bilingual education policies. Which do you prefer? Why? 10. Explain why there is a shortage of good teachers in the United States.

11. How do you explain the high level of violence in U.S. schools compared to other highincome societies?

12. What insights do we gain from applying sociology‘s theoretical approaches to the topic of schooling? What is one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach?

13. Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the definition of education issues as ―problems‖ as well as the selection of specific policies as ―solutions.‖ FILM LIST TED Talks are high-quality, short videos that are well suited to classroom use. Go to a video search engine and look for TED Talks dealing with education. You will find thoughtful presentations dealing with great teaching, what‘s right and wrong with public education, standardized tests, and many other topics.

BACK TO SCHOOL—THE ONGOING STRUGGLE TO EDUCATE THE WORLD’S CHILDREN (2006, 87 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In 2003, the Wide Angle program Time for School profiled children in seven countries— Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Romania—as they started their first year of school, often in the face of great adversity. Three years later, this Wide Angle episode returns to visit each child, updating the progress of their educational and personal development. The similarities and contrasts that emerge among the lives of these young people provide rich insight into the disparities of opportunity around the globe—underscoring the hard fact that more than 100 million children worldwide are growing up without schooling. This richly detailed documentary puts a human face on the global crisis in access to education.

BLACK/WHITE & BROWN: BROWN V. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA (2004, 56 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Myths, misconceptions, and the march of time have obscured the true origins and legal details of Brown v. Board of Education. This fascinating program connects viewers with the people, places, events, and ideas that shaped the landmark civil rights case. Interviewees include Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of lead plaintiff Oliver Brown; Zelma Henderson, who, until her death in 2008, was the only surviving Brown plaintiff; and the children of other plaintiffs, attorneys, and activists. Civil rights leader Roger Wilkins and other scholars provide additional expertise on the roles played by the NAACP and the U.S. Department of Justice.

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CLASS PHOTO: PORTRAIT OF A LOST GENERATION? (1995, 42 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This NBC News program celebrates the success of several young people who have beaten the odds against growing up successfully in inner-city America. The presentation tracks what happened to the 1981 class of fourth-graders who graduated from PS 309, amid the violence, poverty, and broken families of the tough Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York.

This video provides a glimpse into how race and socioeconomic status impact people in terms of their educational opportunities.

THE COLLEGE TRACK: AMERICA’S SORTING MACHINE (2004, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Learn more about the unintended consequences of educational tracking in public schools. See innovative model solutions for bringing these students back onto the college track with this timely three-part series. Hosted by Emmy Award–winner Andre Braugher, The College Track takes a penetrating look at the barriers to college faced by many students and showcases public schools and communities that are succeeding in dismantling those barriers.

COMMUNITY AND LITERACY (2003, 30 m, Insight Media) This program features participants from several successful city- and community-wide literacy programs discussing how they start programs, involve other citizens and families, and raise funds. It highlights the impact these programs have on their communities and the innovative ways the communities express their support.

EXPECT THE BEST (2004, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) To have a shot at college, students must first believe they can get into college. This program shows the positive things that can happen when the dream of a college education is nurtured in classrooms and communities where expectations previously had been low. By spotlighting innovative approaches for motivating and teaching children—from the Upward Bound initiative in Cleveland that can serve only a few students, to GEAR UP‘s creation of a college-going culture in a Latino community in Texas, to the efforts of Project GRAD in Atlanta to get all eighth-graders ready to succeed in high school and then in college—the film documents both the rewards of expecting the best and the challenges communities face to ensure that their schools serve all students.

FAILING GRADE (2005, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Use this ABC News program to explore links between a wide range of educational issues: school safety, overcrowding, privatization, and poor academic performance. The video takes viewers inside Chester High, a Pennsylvania school wracked with security, staffing, and financial problems; in fact, Chester‘s difficulties are so great that the company hired to run the school has pulled out. With commentary from many sectors of the community—including students, parents, school board members, and a young principal who tried to make a difference at Chester—Failing Grade sums up the frustrations of everyday people struggling to provide children with a decent education.

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GET IN, STAY IN (2004, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Issues of race and class have turned the college experience into an obstacle course that is deterring many of America‘s brightest students from graduating with a four-year degree. This video counters cultures of low expectation and social isolation with three stand-out initiatives that are helping students get into college—and stay in. Featured in this video are the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, a national model for talented minority students studying science, engineering, math, and computer science; the Puente Project; the East Los Angeles College program that bridges the transition gap between two- and four-year institutions; and the Twenty-First Century Scholars Program, which is raising educational aspirations among Indiana‘s low- and moderateincome families.

A GLOBAL ROLL CALL: THE NEED FOR EDUCATION WORLDWIDE (2003, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Without schooling, a child has no future. Without an educated population, a nation has no future.

This two-part Wide Angle series examines gaps and voids in educational opportunities that, tragically, keep many developing countries from advancing. Following a group of children from around the world as they progress through life—and, on an uneven basis, through school—the series gets to the heart of this colossal yet not intractable socioeconomic problem.

LEARNING CURVES: EDUCATION (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) In this program, sociologists explain that the quality of education a child receives may have less to do with the teacher than with their socioeconomic status, race, and cultural background.

LEARNING IN TWO LANGUAGES (1999, 15 m, Insight Media) This program highlights the education opportunities offered by two-way bilingual immersion programs in San Francisco public schools. Featuring students, teachers, and parents in Cantonese, Korean, and Spanish immersion programs, the program shows how students succeed in English as a second language in this innovative academic program.

LOST FOR WORDS: LITERACY IN AMERICA (2006, 20 m, Insight Media) Explaining that 10 million students in the United States are classified as poor readers and emphasizing that many will never meet their age-specific reading level, this program examines the ways in which a child‘s struggle with literacy affects their life. It looks at innovative methods that parents and schools are using to help children improve their reading skills and considers how these skills can change a child‘s life.

MAKING SCHOOLS WORK: A ROADMAP FOR RECOVERY (2005, 7-part series, 45–120 m each, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This extraordinary seven-part series—a practical roadmap for schools and school districts across the country—is essential viewing for educators, administrators, advocates, and anyone else with a heartfelt concern over the future of America‘s children. The first program, a detailed overview

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of some of the nation‘s most successful educational initiatives, is followed by in-depth interviews with eight visionaries from the world of educational reform.

OCCUPY ACADEMIA: PROTESTS AT PRINCETON (2016, 12 m, Vice News) This short video presents the struggles of Black students on the campus of a prestigious Ivy League campus.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAILING TO MAKE THE GRADE (2003, 23 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Public education is one of the great promises of the United States. But is the United States keeping that promise? This ABC News program offers a report card on the nation‘s public education system under the No Child Left Behind initiative. Visits to a school in Arlington, Massachusetts, and University of Texas at Austin amply illustrate the hard realities of faculties being slashed and class sizes swelling and the promise of public education steadily fading.

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT: TEACHING CHILDREN IN AMERICA AND JAPAN (1994, 55 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This fascinating comparison between Japanese and American educational systems examines both the differences in goals between the two and the different ways in which they seek to achieve the same goal. The documentary explores efforts in both countries to balance creativity and discipline in education.

STUDENTS TEAR DOWN CONFEDERATE STATUE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA (2018, 8 m, YouTube) This recent video raises questions about how people define activism to remove Confederate statues on campus—it this virtue or vandalism? What role should colleges have in regulating the behavior of student activists?

THE TEACHER SHORTAGE PROBLEM: MAKING THE GRADE AT P.S. 25 (2001, 58 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Facing a severe teacher shortfall for the 2000–2001 academic year, New York City scrambled to provide staff to its worst-performing school district by crash-training hundreds of eager teaching fellows. In this program, NewsHour correspondent John Merrow presents five reports that track several of these brand-new teachers from opening day to summer recess as they learn the ropes at P.S. 25 in Brooklyn. Balancing their idealistic views of teaching are hard-won insights that demonstrate a powerful determination to overcome discouragement brought on by long hours, inadequate resources, and classroom discipline problems. High-stakes citywide testing is also addressed.

TIME FOR SCHOOL—THE GLOBAL EDUCATION CRISIS (2003, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) More than 100 million children worldwide have never spent a day in school. One in four does not complete even five years of basic education. A total of 182 nations promised to provide access to free and compulsory education for every child in the world by 2015. To test the reality

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of that sweeping commitment, this Wide Angle installment profiles children in Japan, Kenya, Benin, Brazil, Romania, Afghanistan, and India who managed to enroll in the first year of primary school—in most cases despite great odds. Exploring cultural comparisons from viewpoints that are too often overlooked, this program offers an in-depth study of the lives of young people in widely differing circumstances, as each one takes a hopeful first step into an uncertain future.

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT (2004, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Contrary to popular belief, adequate preparation for college-level study is not an option for the majority of America‘s public school students. This program exposes the educational ―sorting machine,‖ the factors that mold a child‘s academic future, through the case of a set of twins from Nevada: one, an academically oriented high achiever who is encouraged to take honors classes, and the other, a musically inclined student who, turned off by the demands of school, is allowed to simply slide by with low-level coursework. It also illustrates how smaller, more intimate learning environments are increasing opportunities for high school students in New York City and greater Cincinnati who were falling through the cracks.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Education Assess and compare the level of schooling for the last three generations of your family. Do your observations confirm the trend for U.S. society overall of increased schooling over time?

Explain.

Sample answer: The national trend has been for a larger share of the U.S. population to complete high school and college. Does your family fit this pattern or not? What can you offer to help explain your family‘s educational history?

2. Assessing Your Attitudes about Public Schooling Do you think that greater competition is the key to improving public schooling, as conservatives claim? Or is greater government investment needed, as liberals claim? Or do you think more basic societal change is needed to improve schools, as radicals on the left claim? Explain.

Sample answer: Before you begin writing your response, consider how people‘s answer to this question will likely be guided by their political values. Does that apply to you?

Also, look for patterns in your own life experience linked to race, class, gender, and other variables.

3. Where Do You Stand?

What grade do you give our big-city public schools? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, in a paragraph or two, explain the extent to which you think the poor performance of some urban school systems reflects a lack of competition as conservatives claim or a lack of adequate funding as liberals claim.

Sample answer: Before writing your response, review material in this chapter describing how political attitudes guide people‘s views of education. Do your own political attitudes shape your view of schooling?

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4. Global Map 14–1 Illiteracy in Global Perspective This journal assignment asks you to explain the global pattern of illiteracy. To do this, look at the first map showing the global pattern. Then, examine the second map showing the level of economic development for the world‘s countries. Compare the two maps. How does the level of illiteracy differ when we compare high-income nations (say, in North America or Western Europe) with low-income nations (in Central Africa)?

Sample answer: You can see from the first map that most of the countries in the Northern Hemisphere have very low official rates of illiteracy. Moving the slider to see the map on the right, you can see that just about all of these countries are also high-income nations.

In the same way, comparing the maps, you can see that just about all the countries with high levels of illiteracy are low-income nations.

So, you have pretty good evidence to support the conclusion that economic development encourages a decline in illiteracy. The reason, of course, is that economic development moves people out of primary sector work (including farming) into industrial and service sector jobs that require working with words and numbers. An increasing importance attached to literacy is the reason that industrialization generally brings about a policy of mandatory schooling (which was enacted by every state of the U.S. by 1920).

5. National Map 14–1 Public School Teachers‘ Pay across the United States The journal assignment is to suggest why some states (including New York and California) pay teachers far more than other states (such as Mississippi and South Dakota). To do this, look first at the map showing average teacher pay for all fifty states. Then, look at the map on the right, which identifies the political party that won each state in the last presidential election. Compare the two maps. In general, what can we say about the politics of states that offer greater pay for teachers?

Sample answer: Looking at the map on the left, you can see that California, Alaska, Illinois, Michigan, and a cluster of states in the Northeast have the highest average pay for public school teachers, averaging above $65,000 a year. A close look at the map on the right shows you that ten of these eleven states (all but Alaska) voted Democratic in the 2020 presidential election. If we now look at the eleven states with average teacher pay in the bottom two categories (below $50,000 a year), nine of them voted Republican in the 2020 presidential election. Teachers‘ unions offer strong support for Democratic candidates, and this comparison helps to explain why.

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CHAPTER 15 URBAN LIFE IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Urban Renewal John‘s Personal Video Selection: Urban Renewal in Philadelphia Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes to Chapter 15 of this revision include up-to-date analysis of racial segregation in U.S. cities. Other updated discussions deal with the rate of urban sprawl, poverty rates for urban and rural places, the extent of homelessness in the United States, and the population shift from the Snowbelt to the Sunbelt. Globally, the revised chapter offers new data on the increasing size of cities in developing nations.

AUTHOR’S NOTE The major teaching points for this chapter can be summarized as follows: • Urbanization has taken place along with economic development. It was in 1920, when the Industrial Revolution was unfolding, that the nation first had a majority of people living in urban places. After about 1950, the Information Revolution decentralized the urban population, creating problems for central cities.

• Especially older inner cities suffer from problems of racial segregation, poverty, housing decline, and homelessness linked to a massive loss of good-paying jobs. Urban renewal did little to assist those who needed help the most.

• Each of sociology‘s theoretical approaches (structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict) offers insights about urban life.

• Position on the political spectrum guides how people define urban issues as problems and also guides the selection of policies as solutions.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Cities: Then and Now 15.1 Explain the historical development of cities in the United States.

• Colonial Villages: 1565–1800 o By the time the United States declared independence in 1776, barely 5 percent of the population lived in cities. The largest city in the new nation was Philadelphia,

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with 42,000 people—a far cry from the roughly 6 million in the Philadelphia metropolitan area today.

• Westward Expansion: 1800–1860 o Urbanization is the movement of people from the countryside to cities. o By the time of the Civil War in 1860, some 20 percent of the nation‘s people were urbanites.

• The Industrial Metropolis: 1860–1950 o A mix of factories and surging population created the industrial metropolis (from Greek words meaning ―mother city‖). By 1900, Chicago boasted 2 million residents, and New York City had 4 million people, more than the entire nation‘s population in 1790. o Social Problems in Industrial Cities ▪ By 1900, many people were coming to think of cities as being the cause of social problems.

▪ A high concentration of cultural diversity fueled both ethnic prejudice and anti-urban bias. Especially among people whose families had lived for generations in rural communities, ―city folk‖ were considered something less than ―real Americans.‖ ▪ To make matters worse, in industrial cities, the air was fouled by factory smoke, and sewage flowed freely from buildings into the streets, eventually reaching the same rivers and lakes used for drinking water.

Children ran around unsafe and unsupervised, and epidemics raged, and violent crime was rampant. Things got even worse with the onset of the Great Depression.

• Postindustrial Cities and Suburbs: 1950–Present o The search for new housing in the era of the ―car culture‖ drew people away from the central cities into suburbs, the urban areas beyond the political boundaries of cities. o The postindustrial economy decentralized the population. By 1970, most of the ―urban‖ population of the United States lived not in central cities but in suburbs; by 2020, more than half of the entire country‘s population had become suburbanites.

II. Problems of Today’s Cities 15.2 Discuss the causes and consequences of a number of urban problems.

• Fiscal Problems of the 1970s o Between 1970 and 1980, the population within the city limits of New York declined by about 860,000 people. The city lost not only residents, but also half a million jobs due to the movement of industry to suburban industrial parks. These trends lead central cities into a fiscal crisis. o By the mid-1970s, the increasing costs of social service programs and the rising payroll for city employees were simply too much for New York to handle, and the city stood on the brink of bankruptcy.

• The Postindustrial Revival o Eventually, the old industrial cities were able to adapt to the new postindustrial economy. Many jobs were lost when older, industrial factories closed their doors.

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But millions of new jobs were created in the service sector of the economy, including entertainment, sales, financial services, law, consulting, publishing, and high-tech. o A second factor that helped cities recover was the population gain due to immigration.

• The 2008 Recession and the COVID-19 Pandemic o The financial problems of cities returned with the Great Recession that began in 2008, causing cities to lose jobs, suffer devalued properties, and collect lower tax revenues. o By 2012, the economy was showing signs of a slow recovery. Stock markets continued to recover their losses, but for the average person, there was little feeling of a recovery because the economy had been adding jobs too slowly to provide work for everyone looking for a job. o By early 2020, the official unemployment rate for the United States dropped to a historic low of 3.5 percent of the labor force. But then the COVID-19 pandemic began. Stay-at-home orders and the policy of ―social distancing‖ forced businesses across the United States to close down. A month into the pandemic, jobless claims soared by the millions; estimates indicate that the total number of people out of work exceeded 25 million, making the economic hit as great as during the Great Depression of the 1930s. o By 2023, the pandemic was receding. At the same time, half the states had yet to regain the number of jobs they lost during the pandemic. One reason is telework, which has increased and reduced the number of workers commuting to downtown business areas.

• Urban Sprawl and the Loss of Farmland o Megalopolis refers to a vast urban region containing a number of cities and their surrounding suburbs. It is the result of people moving from central cities to suburbs with many of them following the increasing share of jobs found in outlying office parks. o Urban sprawl is unplanned, low-density development at the edge of expanding urban areas. Urban sprawl is a mixed pattern of new construction, including roads, homes, schools, and shopping areas. o A more serious problem is that sprawling urban developments have low densities (relatively few residents per acre) so that they consume land at a dizzying rate. o Another problem with urban sprawl is that the only way to get around these vast urban regions is by automobile, and commuting is both slow and expensive. o Urban sprawl is steadily reducing the amount of farmland in the United States.

• Edge Cities o The movement of businesses away from the central city has created edge cities, business centers that are miles from the old downtowns. o Edge cities are mostly commercial developments, including corporate office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, and entertainment complexes. o Many edge cities do not have clear boundaries, and in some cases they even lack names and are known by the major highways that flow through them.

• Poverty

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o People who move away from central cities are typically more affluent than those left behind. The high cost of suburban, automobile-based living has served as a barrier keeping most people in poverty in central cities and out of suburbia. o In 2021, the poverty rate for urban areas as a whole was 11 percent. The poverty rate for central cities was higher at 14.3 percent; by contrast, the poverty rate in the suburbs was lower at 9.2 percent.

• Social Policy: When Work Disappears: Can We Rescue the Inner City?

• Housing Problems o Tenement Housing ▪ In the final decades of the nineteenth century, developers built tenements to house the greatest number of families in the smallest amount of space.

Not only were tenement apartments very small, but most had few windows and little ventilation as well. As many as six families shared a single bathroom. Insulation was poor, and rooms could be stifling in the summer and cold in the winter.

▪ As part of President Franklin Roosevelt‘s New Deal, the federal government raised taxes to fund the construction of new housing and began to provide loans to help people buy homes. In addition, cities across the United States enacted housing codes with the goal of eliminating the worst conditions of the tenements.

▪ Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Jacob Riis: Revealing the Misery of the Tenements o Urban Renewal ▪ Urban renewal gave local city governments the right to seize a decaying neighborhood, forcing out the families who lived there paying only nominal compensation for their homes. The city then sold the properties to a developer, who tore down existing housing and rebuilt the area. Because developers were interested in profits, they built not low-income housing but commercial properties, including town houses and apartments for people with more money. Rarely was the housing produced by urban renewal within reach of the residents who had lived there before. o Public Housing ▪ With urban renewal clearing away block after block, city officials gradually owned up to the fact that many of the poor people displaced from their homes had nowhere to go. The need to house these people led to the creation of public housing, high-density apartment buildings constructed to house people with low incomes.

▪ Public housing was met with criticism from just about everybody. Liberals viewed it as a Band-Aid approach, while conservatives objected to government getting into the housing business. But perhaps the most vocal critics were poor people themselves. o The Social Importance of Architecture ▪ High-rise buildings have higher crime rates because they breed anonymity.

Placed far above the ground, residents are likely to feel detached from their surroundings. Lower buildings, by contrast, encourage a greater sense of community and allow people to know their neighbors and, most

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important, to keep an eye on public spaces, informally defending their community.

▪ In many cities, housing projects still exist. But more recently social policy has shifted from building large-scale housing developments to providing financial assistance to families to rent apartments in the private housing market. The Section 8 program directs federal government subsidies to developers who rehabilitate existing rental housing or build new apartments. In exchange for accepting, developers agree to allocate a share of the housing to families with low incomes. This program did increase the availability of low-income housing, but funding has not been sufficient to meet the demand.

• Racial Segregation o In a classic study, Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton examined large cities across the United States and documented the existence of what they called hypersegregation: Entire districts of cities (commonly called ―ghettos‖) contained only poor Black Americans, and these people are cut off from the larger society in several ways. o Hypersegregation means that Black urbanites with low incomes are isolated not only spatially (highly concentrated in certain neighborhoods typically in the inner city) but also socially because they live almost entirely in these neighborhoods, rarely venturing out into the larger urban area. In the same way, richer people in other parts of the urban area rarely enter low-income neighborhoods. o The racial segregation of Black Americans has declined in recent decades, but racial separation remains intense in many cities. Suburbs are becoming more socially diverse, as well.

• Homelessness o Although the number of homeless people is now lower than it was a century ago, we expect everyone to have a safe and secure place to live. o The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that as many as 1.5 million people may be homeless for some period of time over the course of a year; activist organizations suggest that the number may be higher.

Researchers document that 50 percent of homeless people are White and 37 percent are Black with the remainder divided among other racial categories. o A 2015 HUD study documented that homeless people are the poorest of the poor.

In the survey, 30 percent of homeless people reported having no source of income and an additional 40 percent reported income of less than $1,000 per month.

Another 25 percent reported monthly income between $1,000 and $2,000. Just 5 percent reported monthly income greater than $2,000. With so little income, it is easy to understand why people cannot afford housing. o In some cases, the key to a more secure life is supportive housing, a program that combines low-income housing with on-site social services. With the help of such programs, most people with substance abuse problems, mental disabilities, or simply those bearing the scars of living poor and alone on the streets find they can hold a job and live independently.

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• Snowbelt and Sunbelt Cities o Across the United States, the population has been moving from central cities to the larger urban regions. But the consequences of this migration to the central cities have been different in two regions of the country. o Table 15–1 The Ten Largest Cities in the United States, 1950 and 2020. o Snowbelt cities have lost population in the postindustrial era as people and businesses have decentralized across the city limits to suburbs. Not so in the Sunbelt, where cities are rapidly gaining population. In part, this is because our national population is shifting south and west. o Seeing Ourselves National Map 15–1 Population Changes across the United States, 2010–2020. o Why hasn‘t decentralization hurt sunbelt cities? The answer lies in their different political geography.

• Cities in Low Income Nations o About 81 percent of the populations of high-income nations live in and around cities. In the countries with the lowest average income, by contrast, roughly onethird of people are urbanites. But everywhere in the world, the number of city dwellers is increasing. By 2011, for the first time in history, a majority of the world‘s people—3.6 billion out of a total of 7 billion—were living in urban places. By 2022, the percentage of the world‘s people living in urban areas was 57 percent. Researchers project the urban share of the world‘s population will increase to 66 percent by 2050.

▪ Window on the World Global Map 15–1 Urbanization in Global Perspective. o The urban population of the world is increasing even faster than the overall population.

▪ Table 15–2 The Ten Largest Urban Areas in the World, 2020 and 2030.

III. Theories of Urbanization and Urban Problems 9. 15.3 Apply sociological theory to urbanization and urban problems.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: A Theory of Urbanism o The main contribution of structural-functional theory to our understanding of cities is the theory of urbanism. o Ferdinand Tönnies: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft ▪ Gemeinschaft is a German word (roughly translated as ―community‖) that refers to a type of social organization in which people are closely bound by kinship and tradition.

▪ Gesellschaft (roughly translated as ―association‖) is a type of social organization in which people interact on the basis of self-interest. o Emile Durkheim: Mechanical and Organic Solidarity ▪ Durkheim characterized rural social ties as mechanical solidarity, or social bonds based on common sentiments and shared moral values.

▪ Organic solidarity consists of social bonds based on specialization and mutual interdependence.

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▪ Durkheim concluded that urban people benefit from more individual choice, greater moral tolerance, and increasing personal privacy than people who live in rural areas. o Louis Wirth: Urbanism as a Way of Life ▪ When urbanites think of others, it is usually not in terms of who they are in any personal sense but simply in terms of what they do.

• Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Experiencing the City o Georg Simmel: Urban Stimulation and Selectivity ▪ Simmel believed that urbanites develop a blasé attitude and ―tune out‖ much of what is going on around them. By responding selectively to only certain people and situations, urbanites focus their time and energy on what really matters. o Leo Srole: Mental Health in the Metropolis ▪ Although city living may involve more stimulation than rural living, it does not contribute to problems of mental illness. On the contrary, many people thrive in an environment where they have access to many other people and activities and lots of choice about how to live.

• Social-Conflict Analysis: Cities and Inequality o Urban Political Economy ▪ Following the lead of Karl Marx, this approach asserts that social class plays an important part in defining urbanism. Consider, in any city, how much the lives of the rich differ from those of working-class people and even more from those in poverty and experiencing homelessness. On another level, this approach seeks to explain how the physical development of the city reflects the private property and profit seeking central to a capitalist economy. o David Harvey: A Study of Baltimore ▪ In Baltimore and elsewhere, urban renewal turned out to be a slum clearance program that forced out the poor, who often ended up in projects that were worse than the housing they had once lived in. The city turned over old neighborhoods to profit-seeking developers who built housing and shopping centers that would attract people with more money.

IV. Politics and Urban Life: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 10. 15.4 Analyze urban issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: The Market and Morality o Urban life is far better than it was a century ago because living standards have risen. Inner cities declined as economic forces relocated and replaced industry after 1950, but the postindustrial economy is reviving them. o The improvements in urban life result from this nation‘s productive market economy. Where needed, government can stimulate economic development with enterprise zones, which are areas in the inner city that attract new businesses with the promise of tax relief. o As conservatives see it, the expansion of the welfare state caused the long-term rise in public assistance and, indirectly, the gradual increase in crime and violence.

They link problems such as street violence and poverty to family breakdown.

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o The conservative approach claims that the strength of a city lies partly in its economic prosperity but mostly in the moral character of its people. From a conservative point of view, most economic indicators have gone up, but many moral indicators are way down.

• Liberals: Government Reform o Cities suffer from the effects of social inequality; people with low incomes and minorities fare the worst with regard to housing, schools, and other resources. o Government must attack racial segregation by enforcing antidiscrimination laws, reducing income inequality, and bringing more economic opportunity to the inner cities where poverty is greatest. o Liberals reject the conservative idea that our cities should rise and fall as the result of changing economic forces. As a counterpoint to the conservative view that government is part of the problem, liberals see government as the solution to the problems affecting our cities.

• The Radical Left: The Need for Basic Change o Cities are in crisis: Under capitalism, cities operate to support and benefit the few who own productive property, ignoring the needs of the majority; urban poverty, crime, and sprawl are all out of control. o Neither the economy operating on its own nor government programs can bring about needed changes; capitalism itself must be transformed into a system that meets the needs of the many rather than the few.

• Going On from Here o For almost a century, the United States has been an urban nation, and no one doubts that cities will stand at the center of our way of life far into the future. o From a conservative point of view, the major force shaping future cities should be a market economy. A liberal perspective suggests that the market-based economy alone will not solve many of the problems—including economic inequality and racial and ethnic conflict—that continue to plague us; government, too, must play an important part. o The main question for the future, then, is this: How great a role should government take in shaping cities and urban life?

• Defining Solutions: Urban Renewal: Who Benefited?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 11. 15.1 Explain the historical development of cities in the United States.

12. 15.2 Discuss the causes and consequences of a number of urban problems.

13. 15.3 Apply sociological theory to urbanization and urban problems.

14. 15.4 Analyze urban issues from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 15, students should be able to: Describe the process of urbanization in the United States over the course of the nation‘s history. How do the problems faced by cities differ at different points in time?

Discuss the reasons for the fiscal crisis among U.S. cities such as Detroit, New York, and Cleveland. What policies can help cities recover?

Explain the causes and consequences of urban sprawl.

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Contrast and explain patterns of poverty in urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Recount William Julius Wilson‘s ideas about the creation of jobs in inner cities.

Describe the evolution of housing in U.S. cities, including tenement housing, urban renewal, and public housing.

Discuss the prevalence of hypersegregation in U.S. cities and explain its implications.

Discuss the extent of homelessness in U.S. cities.

Describe population shifts in Snowbelt and Sunbelt cities.

Describe the problems facing cities in low income nations.

Identify the insights gained by applying sociology‘s major theoretical approaches to the topics of urbanization and city life. What is one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach?

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of urban problems as well as the selection of policies as solutions to these problems.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: URBAN RENEWAL When considering the claim that any policy or program will provide benefits, sociologists always must ask the question: ―For whom?‖ Urban renewal provides a powerful illustration of the importance of determining who benefits. The problem was sometimes called ―blight,‖ which was a code word for a community containing people with low incomes who were often also people of color. Urban renewal promised to make ―the problem‖ go away. Notice that, in effect, it was actually people with low incomes who were seen as the problem, not the poverty that threatened part of the urban population.

Urban renewal led city officials, working with developers, to condemn districts of the city, pay people who owned property a modest sum for their homes, and then dissipate the population as the properties were torn down. In many cases, concentrations of poverty in what came to be known as ―projects‖ were built, not unlike moving native people off the land and concentrating them on reservations where no one else wished to live.

The result of urban renewal was redevelopment of ―blighted‖ areas into a highly profitable mix of business and upscale housing. But the benefits of the policy were mostly for developers, the wealthier people who shopped there and perhaps lived there, and the city officials who enjoyed greater tax revenues.

People with low incomes ended up no better off than they were before. In some ways, having lost social roots of established communities, they ended up worse off.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: URBAN RENEWAL IN PHILADELPHIA My own family was shaped by the urban renewal process in the city of Philadelphia. Perhaps that is one reason I like this six-minute video about urban renewal as it unfolded in that city beginning in 1950s. This video clearly presents the best face of urban renewal, although it also suggests how the reality differed from the public relations version of the story.

Go to a search engine such as YouTube and look for a video detailing ―urban renewal: the remaking of Society Hill.‖ RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short, PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically

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controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 15, the PowerPoint presentation explains how economic inequality is greater in cities than it is for the country as a whole. This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Build a classroom discussion or support a lecture with a TED Talk video. Using any search engine, look for ―TED Talks on cities‖ or ―TED Talks about urban life.‖ Choose from a large number of short videos on topics including how technology is changing cities, what makes a city great, and walkable cities as well as many other topics.

2. David Cunningham and Cheryl Kingma-Kiekhofer devised an approach to service learning that is based on students‘ collective engagement with a range of community organizations. Their article, ―Comparative Collective Community-Based Learning: The Possibilities for Change in American Communities‘ Program,‖ can be found in the July 2004 issue of Teaching Sociology (Vol. 32: 276–90). The Possibilities for Change in American Communities program exposes students to a diverse set of community contexts by integrating a thirty-two-day sleeper-bus trip around the eastern half of the United States into a yearlong curriculum. Of course, this is quite zealous, but Cunningham and Kingma-Kiekhofer also explore a number of alternative approaches for your classroom.

3. Your students will find it interesting to see their town compared to other communities in terms of population size, age distribution, crime rates, racial composition, and so on. Much of this information may be accessed at the Census Bureau website: https://www.census.gov. Also, most states have a comparable website that provides information for all local communities.

4. Do you want to know more about the urban ecology approach? Students can gain a sense of the organized and structured ways in which cities grow through a lecture on urban processes of segregation, invasion, and succession along the resulting structures (concentric zone theory, sectors theory, and multiple nuclei theory). Classic discussions can be found in Park, Burgess, and McKenzie‘s The City (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1925) and Harris and Ullman‘s ―The Nature of Cities,‖ Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 242 (1945).

5. Given the discussion of Louis Wirth‘s theory of urban development, ask your students what they believe are the benefits and disadvantages of living in cities. A spirited discussion can ensue by asking whether they would prefer to live in a small town or a rural area as opposed to a large metropolis.

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6. One type of institutional discrimination that has harmed many central cities is the practice of ―redlining,‖ which refers to the practice of designating certain areas of a city as poor risks so that banks refuse to provide mortgages or home improvement loans to residents. As a consequence of this practice, such areas typically deteriorate even further. Lecturing on this topic can provide an excellent opportunity to weave conflict theory into your discussions of urban problems.

7. Regardless of how small your college or university community may be, some form of public transportation system likely exists. Analyze the extent of public transportation in your community. How comprehensive is the system? If there is a lack of public transportation, what problems are created for particular groups in the community? How extensively is the automobile utilized as a mode of transportation? If this use is extensive, does it create problems like traffic congestion and environmental pollution? Does public transportation appear to be inadequate in your community? If so, why?

8. Even small communities typically contain at least a small population of people who are homeless. Encourage students to think about the causes of this social problem. The fact is that if the nation were to place this problem high enough on a priority list, it could be remedied; at least, these people could be provided with adequate shelter. Ask students to address this issue head-on: Why doesn‘t the United States take radical steps, if necessary, to solve the problem of homelessness? Cite the political and economic implications here. Encourage students to utilize the functionalist and conflict perspectives in evaluating this issue.

9. To explore the financial crisis that has plagued a number of large U.S. cities, set up a scenario in which students are divided into groups of seven with each group representing the city commissioners of a given U.S. city. Explain that because the economic recession has cut jobs, devalued property, brought down tax revenues, and moved factory and office jobs overseas, each city is facing bankruptcy. Have each group develop a plan to avoid financial crisis. Each group should present its suggestions to the class with an analysis of the costs and benefits of taking the specified actions.

10. Engage students in a discussion about segregation in the city in which your school is located.

Ask students to share their observations and experiences. Are people with low incomes and people of color near the city‘s center? Do White people commonly venture into such neighborhoods? Why or why not? Discuss spatial and social isolation as well as the implications of these phenomena.

WEB LINKS Global Development Research Center: Defining Squatter Settlements http://www.gdrc.org Housing Authority of New Orleans http://www.hano.org National Alliance to End Homelessness http://www.endhomelessness.org NumbersUSA: Search Immigration Problems; Sprawl, Congestion, and Farmland https://www.numbersusa.com

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Sierra Club: Search Stopping Sprawl http://www.sierraclub.org Thirteen: Search for Tenement Eagle http://www.thirteen.org World Atlas: Search Megalopolis https://worldatlas.com ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Write a historical overview of the evolution of U.S. cities from colonial times to the present.

2. Discuss some of the problems experienced by people living in cities early in the nation‘s history. In what ways did cities become better over time? In what ways did they become worse? Explain.

3. Explain the roots of fiscal problems among U.S. cities beginning about 1970 and discuss how cities have responded to the crisis. What else can be done?

4. Identify several problems created by urban sprawl.

5. Discuss William Julius Wilson‘s views of the causes of problems in the inner city as well as his recommendations for solving those problems. Characterize his analysis in terms of a position on the political spectrum.

6. Explain the relationship between the architecture of high-rise buildings and the high crime rate.

7. Why were tenement buildings initially seen as a solution to the urban problem of too little housing? How did tenements come to be seen as a problem themselves?

8. Identify differences in urban patterns in the Snowbelt and in the Sunbelt. How do cities in these regions differ in physical size, population size, and fiscal health? What other differences do you see?

9. Provide the basic insights about urban life found in the work of Ferdinand Tönnies, Emile Durkheim, and Louis Wirth. How does a Marxist social-conflict analysis differ?

10. How do conservatives, liberals, and those on the radical left see urban problems differently?

How do their solutions to urban problems differ?

FILM LIST TED Talks offer high-quality videos suitable for use in class. Use a video search engine and search for TED Talks on cities and urban issues. You will find speakers dealing with smart cities, urban planning, specific cities such as Singapore, and urban problems such as poverty and homelessness.

THE AGE OF THE CITY (2004, 30 m, Insight Media) This film traces the history of U.S. cities. It covers topics such as industrialization, immigration, city planning, housing, the growth of political machines, and the effects of consumerism and leisure pastimes.

ANNIE—STREET ORPHAN IN NEW YORK (2003, 45 m, Filmakers Library) Let Annie be your guide to the underbelly of New York City. Street-tough, she has honed her survival skills well. An eighteen-year-old Black street kid, sexually abused from the time she

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was four, Annie has no family except the family she has made of other street kids. They survive through robbery, prostitution, drug peddling, and other unsavory activities. They have their own code of behavior in which the aim is to get as much money, by any means, as needed to survive.

Their language can be as shocking as their attitude. The filmmaker has gotten remarkable access to this smart, damaged, and vulnerable young girl and her circle. ―Annie‖ is an unforgettable ―inyour-face‖ portrait of a deprived, wayward population in our cities. It is also a cry to make things better—or we will all be the victims.

THE BIG SHORT (2015, 130 m, Paramount) The financial crisis that began in 2008 is explained with a focus on bad behavior on the part of Wall Street banks that set the stage for the collapse of banks and a national housing crisis.

CHANGING NATURE: POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT AT A CROSSROADS (2001, 58 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program examines how urbanization, industrialization, and overreaching agriculture are depleting the Earth of its natural resources. Citing environmental changes in Morocco, Ghana, Ukraine, Mexico, and Vietnam, the program studies the impact of population growth and profiles organizations that respond to ecological crises stemming from such growth. With a focus on educational outreach efforts, particularly those for women and children, and the promotion of sustainable development in environmentally compromised regions, Changing Nature concludes that all ecological problems are essentially global and require global solutions.

CITIES (2000, 50 m, Bullfrog Films) As the world‘s cities grow and resources shrink, will we be able to live sustainably with the Earth and with each other? Can we take care of people and the environment? A community watershed project in São Paulo, Brazil, shows us how. Can urban planning be a win-win for everyone? This program looks at what sustainability means in locations as diverse as East LA, Brazil, Vancouver, and Portland.

CITY LIVING (2003, 30 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) With the rise of industry came the rise of the cities. In this program, host Dan Cruickshank scours London to examine how the mechanisms of industrialization generated urban life as people know it today. Mass production enabled a growing swath of society to enjoy high-quality products and created a new and instantly recognizable world: the modern home. Chemistry also stoked the fires of consumer demand, producing vibrant colors that dictated the clothing and decorating fashions of the day. And the invention of streetlights made possible one of the city dweller‘s favorite pastimes: shopping.

COMMUNITY BY DESIGN (2002, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines the social and political consequences of neighborhood and city design.

Featuring examples of actual neighborhoods, it explores the design process. The program combines theories, empirical findings, and critical assessments of modern community planning

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and proposes that certain neighborhood features strengthen civic engagement and increase involvement in politics.

CREATING COMMUNITIES: LAFAYETTE PARK (2007, 62 m, Insight Media) This film tours Lafayette Park, a community in downtown Detroit that is architect Mies van der Rohe‘s solution to the problem of urban sprawl. The park has been awarded a place in the National Register of Historic Places.

DECAYING CITIES: RECLAIMING THE RUST BELT (2004, 31 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program features data-mapping techniques that shed light on inner-city conditions in America and England. With an overview of manufacturing declines that took place during the twentieth century and their effect on densely populated urban centers, the video compares and contrasts situations in Philadelphia and Birmingham, England. Studying these cities from a human angle, the program delves into Philadelphia‘s struggling urban core and showcases Birmingham‘s grassroots and municipal efforts to assist older adults, the unemployed, and the victims of crime. The result is an informative catalyst for class discussions on severe economic shifts and how cities cope with them.

GREAT CITIES: RISE OF THE MEGALOPOLIS (2007, 51 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In 1950, only two of the world‘s urban centers boasted populations of 8 million or more. Today, dozens of cities contain at least that many people, with dozens more pushing to join the list. This program surveys the emergence and development of the megacity—both as an intellectual concept and as a physical phenomenon that is altering the face of the planet. The film examines present-day issues associated with the mammoth metropolis, including poverty, unemployment, rampant crime, poor or nonexistent health care, and air and water pollution. While many problems are studied in the context of the developing world, the program clearly ties them to Western cities as well.

HEALTHY CITIES (2006, 30 m, Insight Media) Explaining that growing cities face such issues as pollution, overcrowding, unemployment, and noise, this program shows how cities are tackling these problems while focusing on the environment, economy, and equity.

THE HIDDEN FACE OF HOMELESSNESS (2009, 60 m, Insight Media) This program explores the growing issue of homelessness. It discusses the ways in which individuals manage homelessness outside of the shelter system.

HOMELESSNESS: THE ―HOUSING FIRST‖ APPROACH (2008, 23 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Taking a ―housing first‖ stance, the city of Portland, Oregon, has reversed the cause-and-effect approach to urban renewal by first securing homes for its homeless residents and then helping

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them solve the problems that made them homeless to begin with. In this program, Victoria, British Columbia, applies Portland‘s public policy to its own homeless population. Can the comprehensive and collaborative Portland model be transplanted to this once quaint seaside city and restore the dignity and stability of its dispossessed?

HOUSING AMERICA: DEMOGRAPHICS AND DEVELOPMENT (2002, 64 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) As the twenty-first century unfolds, how are Americans adapting to urgent issues involving sustainable growth, quality of life, and community planning? Segment one of this NewsHour program examines the effect of urban sprawl on Atlanta‘s population, job and housing markets, environment, and commuters. Segment two addresses the need for affordable housing in Burlington, Vermont, where the disparity between wages and real estate prices is on the rise.

Segment three assesses urban renewal efforts in the old neighborhoods of Philadelphia. And segment four studies an experimental community system in Virginia known as cohousing.

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN: A PRIMER ON AMERICA’S SUBPRIME CRISIS (2007, 34 m, Insight Media) This program explains how the U.S. subprime market grew from the post–September 11 rise of easy credit. It features commentary from experts.

NOWHERE FAST! (2003, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Welcome to life in the slow lane. This program examines how cities and suburbs are dealing with ever-increasing traffic congestion as transportation consultant Alan Pisarski and experts from the Reason Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, the Progressive Policy Institute, Houston TranStar, and Caltrans debate the best ways to move forward. Suburb-to-suburb commuting, infrastructure expansion, and induced demand are addressed, and initiatives such as HOT lanes, congestion pricing, wireless motorist messaging systems, Flexcars, and Boston‘s monumental reengineering effort, the Big Dig, are presented.

REQUIEM FOR DETROIT? (2010, 60 m, Insight Media) Using Detroit as an example, this program explores the sociocultural aspects of American urban life and looks at such issues as industrialization, the birth of suburbia, consumerism, Black migration, White flight, race relations, and community renewal. The program juxtaposes cheerful, archival footage with scenes of poverty and urban collapse and follows community activists as they convert vacant lots into gardens.

SAVE OUR LAND, SAVE OUR TOWNS (2001, 57 m, Bullfrog Films) Save Our Land, Save Our Towns taps into a growing concern about sprawl among ordinary Americans. A poll by the Pew Center for Civic Journalism recently found that sprawl ranks with crime, taxes, and education as the top domestic concern of citizens across the country.

Americans are frustrated with traffic congestion, angry about the loss of open space, and perplexed by the decline of America‘s cities. Many think sprawl is inevitable. But it‘s not. This

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is a story of hope that provides logical reasons why America‘s towns can be rebuilt and its countryside preserved from strip malls and subdivisions.

SLUMS AND MONEY: A SOCIOECONOMIC ANALYSIS (2009, 45 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Patterns of urbanization and poverty are playing an increasingly heavy role in the debate over globalization and market regulation. In a hard-hitting analysis of the issues, this program assembles a wide-ranging set of opinions from scholars and experts—as well as from ordinary individuals around the world who face urban hardships and obstacles to their livelihoods every day.

SLUM CITIES (2006, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Each week, in countries around the globe, nearly a million people say goodbye to their homes in impoverished rural regions—and move to even worse conditions in cities. This program explores the tragic results: illegal slums filled with some of the poorest people in the world, lacking water, sanitation, and other resources needed to support exploding populations. Viewers are shown the lives and homes of those who struggle in the slums of Mumbai, India, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and who face the threat of eviction, the spread of disease, and rampant drug dealing and gang violence on a daily basis. Slum residents and those who have broken out of the cycle of poverty share their personal insights and frustrations regarding this urgent international issue.

SPRAWL: INNER CITIES AND OUTER SUBURBS—A FRED FRIENDLY SEMINAR (2001, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) To at least one resident of the fictional city of Metropolis, a new outer suburb being planned for some pristine farmland sounds like the American Dream come true. His brother, also a Metropolite but an advocate of smart growth, sees it as a nightmare. Moderated by Harvard Law School‘s Arthur Miller, this Fred Friendly Seminar seeks to understand the housing situation facing the United States—a burgeoning nation that creates more than 1.5 million new households per year. The twelve-member panel includes Bruce Katz of the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institution, Stuart Meck of the American Planning Association, and Harry Alford of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

WATER FOR THE CITIES (2003, 27 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program takes a hard look at the mounting challenge of providing millions of people in urban areas with potable water and adequate disposal of wastewater. To highlight the difficulties, segments focus on the water problems of the megalopolis, cities with populations of more than 10 million people, such as Lagos, Jakarta, and Mexico City. The massive logistics that enable Las Vegas to prosper in the middle of a desert are also explored.

WHERE STRANGERS BECOME NEIGHBORS (2007, 50 m, Insight Media) This program features a case study of a predominantly White urban neighborhood, Collingwood, Ontario, which has been transformed by the arrival of people from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Exploring the reasons that some communities resist diversity while others embrace it,

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the program investigates Collingwood‘s transformation from a place where immigrants were feared to a neighborhood that welcomes all ethnicities.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Racial Segregation Thinking back over your life, identify the rural or urban places where you have lived. To what extent were these places racially segregated?

Sample answer: First, identify all the places in the United States where you have lived.

Consider how you know they are urban or rural. Do you have personal experience with both types of places (most people do not).

2. Personalizing Urbanism Whether you have lived in an urban or rural place, consider the extent to which city and country seem to support different types of living. Has this been your experience or not?

Sample answer: Before you prepare a response, review the thinking of both Tönnies and Durkheim. What experience do you have that confirms or contradicts their analysis?

3. Where Do You Stand?

Did the policy of urban renewal work? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then write a paragraph or two explaining the extent to which you agree with the liberal view that urban renewal did not address the poverty found in many large cities and the extent of your support for the conservative claim that urban renewal replaced many ―slum areas‖ with new and more vibrant communities.

Sample answer: Urban renewal is a market-based policy that typically does work in the sense that it moves land into a new use consistent with its increasing market value. Some, typically well off, people benefit this change. From the point of view of the people with low incomes who are displaced (by being forced to sell and find new homes), the policy is highly disruptive. In the history of urban renewal in the United States, many longestablished communities were dismantled. The land was then developed into higher-cost housing and upscale commercial activity. In short, the liberal claim and the conservative claim are both essentially correct, but one‘s assessment of the program reflects political values concerning how and for whom government should operate.

4. National Map 15–1 Population Change across the United States, 2010-2020 Your journal assignment is to describe the general pattern to this change in population across the country. Which regions of the country have lost population? Which regions have gained population? What problems does rapid population loss bring to a county? What about rapid population gain?

Sample answer: It is easy to see that population loss occurred in a large number of counties from the tip of Maine, through much of New York, Pennsylvania, the states of the Midwest, and right into the Great Plains. Counties losing population were typically rural. Gains occurred in the more urbanized region of the East Coast extending all the way down to Florida. In the Western third of the country, particularly scenic counties gained, as did most urban places, with losses in more remote counties, especially just east of the Rocky Mountains. In general, counties reporting losses were deserted by younger

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people, raising the average age of the residents who remained. Gainer counties became, on average, younger.

5. Global Map 15–1 Urbanization in Global Perspective This journal assignment asks you to suggest why some countries are more urban than others.

First look at the map showing the level of urbanization for countries around the world. To complete this assignment, look next at the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development for all nations. Compare the two maps. Do the more urbanized countries have higher or lower levels of economic development? Does industrialization, which triggers a nation‘s economic development, appear to draw people to rural areas or to cities?

Sample answer: Looking at the map on the left, you can see that the share of the population living in cities is high in countries throughout the Americas, in Western Europe, in the Middle East, and also in Russia, Japan, and Australia. Notice that the urban share is far lower in the nations of Central Africa.

Looking at the map on the right, you can see that most of the high-urbanization countries are also high-income nations. Similarly, the nations with low levels of urbanization also have a lower level of economic development.

The historical trend is that industrialization, which fuels economic development, draws people from the countryside to expanding cities. People come to cities in search of better jobs, more schooling, and a greater range of choices about how to live. Of course, as the share of the population living in cities increases, the economy expands even further.

Therefore, a reasonable conclusion is that economic development fuels urbanization and urbanization also encourages economic development.

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CHAPTER 16 POPULATION AND GLOBAL INEQUALITY IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: Global Stratification in Terms of Life and Death John‘s Personal Video Selection: 200 Countries, 200 Years Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes to Chapter 16 of this revision include the latest demographic statistics involving population, fertility, mortality, migration, and longevity. There is also expanded coverage of economic inequality around the world and the latest statistics and trends involving low-, middle-, and high-income nations. Find the latest trends in global income and poverty as well as women‘s access to contraception and the extent of global slavery. There is expanded discussion of the ways in which women‘s social standing is linked to population increase.

AUTHOR’S NOTE This chapter deals with two major factors—global population and global inequality—and considers their relationship. The key link between the two topics: Low-income countries have the fastest-increasing populations and face the greatest demographic challenges. Similarly, rapid population increase, for the short term, holds down economic development.

The first major section of this chapter deals with global demographic patterns. Key concepts for this discussion include the following points: • Fertility, typically measured as the crude birth rate, falls as nations develop economically.

• Mortality, measured as a crude death rate or as infant mortality, falls as nations develop economically; as countries develop, a decline in mortality is the biggest driver of population increase.

• Population increase is a function of both fertility and mortality (and, for the United States, it is also a function of immigration).

• Analysis of population patterns is informed by Malthusian theory and the more recent demographic transition theory.

The second major part of the chapter deals with economic inequality in a global context.

Key factors to focus on include the following: • Global inequality of income and wealth (see Figure 16–5).

• Division of the world‘s 195 nations into high-, middle-, and low-income categories.

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Analysis of global inequality is guided by both modernization theory and also world system theory.

Political analysis of global inequality is closely linked to the two theories with a more conservative, market-based approach (modernization theory), a liberal, more government-centered approach, and a radical left approach discarding capitalism.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Global Population Increase 16.1 Explain the causes of global population increase.

• Population by the Numbers o Some 64 million people are added to the world every year and most live in poor countries where the problem of poverty is already serious. Looking ahead, the United Nations projects that global population will surpass 8.5 billion in 2030 and 10 billion by 2060. o Figure 16–1 World Population, 1700–2060.

• Causes of Population Increase o Demography is the study of human population. o High Fertility ▪ Fertility is the incidence of childbearing in a country‘s population.

▪ Demographers measure a society‘s fertility using the crude birth rate, the number of live births in a given year for every 1,000 people in a population.

▪ Figure 16–2 Global Snapshot: Three Population Statistics for World Regions.

▪ The higher the nation‘s fertility, the faster its population increases.

▪ Birth rates are higher in low-income countries.

▪ Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: Women, Power, and Contraception: The Key to Controlling Population o Low Mortality ▪ Mortality is the incidence of death in a country‘s population.

▪ Demographers track mortality using the crude death rate, the number of deaths in a given year for every 1,000 people in a population.

▪ The infant mortality rate is the number of babies, of every 1,000 born, who die before their first birthday.

▪ The U.S. mortality rate is higher than that of most other countries due to high economic inequality, but in low-income countries, infant mortality is dramatically higher.

• Measuring Population Increase o Demographers can calculate a society‘s natural growth rate (or rate of natural increase) by combining fertility and mortality rates. o The annual growth rate can be used to calculate the doubling time for a nation‘s population. o Window on the World Global Map 16–1 Population Growth in Global Perspective.

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The Low-Growth North o Zero population growth is the level of reproduction that maintains population at a steady state. More than 80 nations (out of 195), almost all high-income countries, have dropped below the point of zero population growth. o In high-income nations such as the United States, population increase is not a serious problem. Sixty-one nations are projected to lose population by the year 2050. Some analysts suggest that these nations may face a problem of underpopulation in the future because the increasing share of elderly people in these societies can look to fewer and fewer young people to care for them and support them financially.

The High-Growth South o In the twentieth century, advances in medical technology and rising living standards combined to sharply reduce death rates. An important fact to remember is that most of the population increase in recent decades has resulted not from high fertility but from falling mortality. o Worldwide, almost all of the increase in global population is taking place in the lower-income nations of the Southern Hemisphere.

The Social Standing of Women o Most population experts agree that a key element in controlling world population growth is raising the standing of women. Making birth control technology more widely available is important, but global population will continue to increase as long as a culture defines women‘s primary responsibility as bearing and raising children.

Explaining the Population Problem: Malthusian Theory o Because population increases in a geometric progression while food production only increases in an arithmetic progression, Malthus concluded that people would soon reproduce beyond what the planet could feed, leading to starvation and social chaos. o Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Thomas Robert Malthus: Claiming Population Is a Problem A More Recent Approach: Demographic Transition Theory o Demographic transition theory is a thesis linking demographic changes to a society‘s level of technological development.

▪ Figure 16–3 The Stages of Demographic Transition. o Preindustrial, agrarian societies—that is, almost the entire world before 1750— fall into Stage 1. These societies have high birth rates because families depend on the labor of children and because there is little effective birth control. o Stage 2, the onset of industrialization, begins the demographic transition. Death rates fall because of higher living standards. Because birth rates remain high, population begins increasing rapidly. o In Stage 3, a mature industrial economy, the birth rate falls into line with the death rate, and the rate of population increase slows. o Stage 4 corresponds to a postindustrial economy, which promotes stable population size once again. Both the birth rate and the death rate are low, so there is little or no natural increase in population size. o Figure 16–4 Population Pyramids: Kenya, United States, and Italy, 2023.

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II. Global Inequality 16.2 Describe high-, middle-, and low-income nations and the extent of global poverty.

• With the world‘s income and wealth so unevenly distributed, even people who are counted within the population in poverty in the United States live much better than most of the people of the world. At the same time, affluent people in high-income countries live so well that many have trouble understanding just how serious the plight of others in the world really is. o Figure 16–5 Distribution of World Income and Wealth.

• High-Income Nations o The global system of inequality contains high-income, middle-income, and lowincome nations. o Window on the World Global Map 16–2 Economic Development in Global Perspective. o The world‘s rich nations benefit from high productivity resulting from advanced technology. o In 2021, high-income nations were home to about 3.6 billion people, or 46 percent of Earth‘s population. The people in the ninety-three high-income countries earn 79 percent of the income earned by all of humanity.

• Middle-Income Nations o People living in middle-income countries have per capita incomes ranging from about $4,000 (in, say, Sudan in Africa and Cambodia in Asia) to almost $14,000 (in Paraguay in Latin America, Ukraine in Europe, and Sri Lanka in Asia). o In recent years, India (with a population of 1.4 billion) has entered the ranks of middle-income nations, so the middle category now includes some 3.4 billion people, or about 43 percent of the global population. Overall, these societies earn about 18 percent of the entire world‘s income.

• Low-Income Nations o The world‘s thirty-seven low-income nations have populations that are, on average, agrarian and very poor. In low-income nations, average income is less than $4,000 annually. Most of these nations are found in Central Africa or Asia. o In 2021, about 11 percent of the planet‘s population, roughly 880,000 million people, lived in low-income nations earning only 2 percent of the world‘s income.

• The World‘s Poverty Problem o Poverty is far more widespread in the world as a whole than it is in the United States. Around the world, about 685 million people (about 8 percent) live on less than $2.15 a day and do not have enough to eat. o Each year hunger around the world kills more people than the coronavirus pandemic (between 2020 and 2023). o Relative versus Absolute Poverty ▪ Most of the poverty that we have in the United States is relative poverty, which means a lack of the resources that most people take for granted. In global perspective, however, we face the problem of absolute poverty, a lack of resources that is life-threatening. Living anywhere close to absolute poverty, human beings lack the nutrition necessary for health and

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long-term survival. Among people living near absolute poverty, death comes early.

Poverty and Children o In the low-income nations of the world, about one-fifth of all children lack the nutrition needed for good health, a tragic fact that causes the death of millions of children every year. o Latin America faces the greatest problem of children living and working on the streets. Brazil, for example, reports that millions of children are living on their own, underfed and unschooled.

Poverty and Women o In low-income countries, men and women are even more unequal. Because most traditional societies often are strongly patriarchal, women have fewer choices, receive limited schooling, and find little economic opportunity.

Slavery o The case of Fatma Mint Mamadou represents chattel slavery, in which one person owns another. No one knows exactly how many chattel slaves exist because the practice of buying and selling human beings is against the law around the globe. o A second type of bondage is slavery imposed by the state. In this type of slavery, the government forces people to perform labor as punishment for criminal violations or simply because the state needs workers. o A third type of servitude is child slavery, in which children born to desperately poor parents hustle on the streets to bring in income. o A fourth type of bondage is debt bondage, in which employers enslave workers of all ages by paying them too little to cover the costs of their debts. o A fifth type of slavery is a servile form of marriage where families marry off women against their will.

III. Theories of Global Inequality 16.3 Apply sociological theory to the issue of global inequality.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: The Process of Modernization o Modernization theory is a model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of technological and cultural differences between societies. o Modernization theory begins by pointing out that two centuries ago every nation in the world was very poor. Industrial technology was so productive that gradually the living standards of even the poorest people began to rise. o Every society has industrialized to some degree, but some societies are not eager to sacrifice tradition in favor of change toward higher living standards. Why? Traditional ways of life are supported by strong religious beliefs, creating a barrier to economic development. o W. W. Rostow: The Stages of Modernization ▪ Traditional stage. People living in traditional, agrarian societies raise their children to look to the past, respecting old ways.

▪ Take-off stage. As societies begin to break free of cultural tradition, they allow people to develop their talents and imagination and to pursue new types of work.

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Drive to technological maturity. As this stage begins, people begin to define poverty as a problem, and they see technological progress and economic growth as solutions.

▪ High mass consumption. At this point, industrial technology is widespread, and the economy is growing rapidly with steadily rising living standards.

Social-Conflict Analysis: The Global Economic System o World system theory is a model of economic development that explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor societies by rich ones. o Colonialism is the process by which some nations enrich themselves through political and economic control of other nations. o Neocolonialism is a new form of economic exploitation that involves the operation of multinational corporations rather than direct political control by foreign governments. o Today, rich nations continue to exploit poor nations through the worldwide operation of multinational corporations. o Immanuel Wallerstein: The Capitalist World Economy ▪ High-income nations are the core of the global economy. These nations became rich as they established colonies and systematically collected raw materials from all over the world.

▪ Low-income countries form the periphery of the world economy. Drawn into the world economy by colonial exploitation, poor nations continue to support rich ones in two ways: • Provide inexpensive labor.

• Provide a vast market for industrial products sold by corporations that are based in rich countries.

▪ Dependency occurs in three ways: • Poor countries have only narrow, export-oriented economies.

• Poor countries lack industrial production.

• Poor countries are deeply in debt.

▪ From this point of view, the problem of global population increase is likely to continue. As long as many of the world‘s nations remain poor, their fertility rates will remain high. o Social Problems in Global Perspective: Sweatshop Safety: How Much Is a Life Worth?

IV. Politics and Global Inequality: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 16.4 Analyze global inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: The Power of the Market o Conservatives believe that poverty is a serious problem throughout the world, but they remind us that the problem is smaller today than in centuries past. On average, a large majority of the world‘s people enjoy long, healthy, and comfortable lives well beyond the imagination of their ancestors. o Conservatives support allowing the productive power of industrial capitalism— the force that lifted living standards of the majority—to continue to work its magic.

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Liberals: Governments Must Act o Liberals argue that government help is needed because industrial and computer technologies have yet to reach many people, especially those living in rural regions of low-income nations. o Liberals claim that governments of rich nations have a moral obligation to provide economic and technological assistance to the world‘s poor to help improve nutrition, health care, and education.

The Radical Left: End Global Capitalism o Global poverty results from the operation of the worldwide capitalist economy. It is inevitable. o The radical left supports replacing the capitalist world economy with a socially conscious system that values people above profits, eliminating multinational corporations, using land to grow food for local consumption, and canceling foreign debt.

Going On from Here o The planet‘s increasing population remains one of the most serious problems we face. o Looking ahead, although the rate of population increase is slowing, projections state that billions more will be added to the planet during this century. The main reason that global population will continue to increase in coming decades is that half of the people in high-growth nations have yet to reach childbearing age. o What are the current global economic trends?

▪ Most people in the world are better off than ever before in absolute terms.

▪ The relative gap between rich and poor nations is almost bigger than it was back in 1900.

• Figure 16–6 The World‘s Increasing Economic Inequality. o The greatest reduction in poverty has taken place in Asia, where a middle class is emerging. In Latin America, the story is mixed. Poverty rates in Africa remain high, but the rates have decreased since 1990.

Engaging the Issues: Increasing Population: A Success Story or the Greatest Crisis?

Defining Solutions: What Should We Do about the Rapidly Increasing Population of Our Planet?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 15. 16.1 Explain the causes of global population increase.

16. 16.2 Describe high-, middle-, and low-income nations and the extent of global poverty.

17. 16.3 Apply sociological theory to the issue of global inequality.

18. 16.4 Analyze global inequality from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 16, students should be able to: Describe the history of world population increase.

Discuss the effects of fertility and mortality on global population change.

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Discuss the importance of women‘s reproductive freedom to fertility rates.

Explain the factors contributing to population decline in high-income nations.

Explain the factors contributing to population increase in low-income nations.

Critically evaluate both the Malthusian perspective on the population problem and demographic transition theory.

Discuss the global distribution of income and wealth.

Characterize high-, middle-, and low-income nations.

Distinguish between relative and absolute poverty and discuss the distribution of each throughout the world.

Describe poverty among women and children.

Explain how poverty contributes to slavery and explain the different types of slavery.

Critically discuss modernization theory and world system theory to gain insight in understanding global stratification.

Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of global poverty as well as the solution to this problem.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: GLOBAL STRATIFICATION IN TERMS OF LIFE AND DEATH We can present global stratification in terms of numbers and using many concepts. The bottom line, however, is that global inequality is about life and death, because societies of the world provide very different odds of staying alive.

This is the point of the Tracking the Trends figure, which is also available in the PowerPoint presentation. The y-axis displays the percentage of children in a country‘s population dying before they reach the age of five, which is the age at which most children in our country begin school. The x-axis provides comparative data for nine nations.

More than 99 percent of children born in the United States reach the age of five. Of course, this was not always the case. More than a century ago, infant mortality rates were far higher, in some cases discouraging parents from even naming a child until they could be more certain of the child‘s long-term survival.

In recent decades, infant mortality rates have declined dramatically all around the world.

Yet, in the low-income African nation of Sierra Leone, one in ten children will die before reaching the age of five. Notice, too, that nations with a more comprehensive social welfare system, such as Sweden, do better than the United States.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: 200 COUNTRIES, 200 YEARS One of my all-time favorite videos is this selection from Swedish social researcher Hans Rosling.

A specialist in global development and health, Rosling presents 200 years of change for 200 countries in less than five minutes. You can find this link by searching on a video search engine such as YouTube for ―Hans Rosling 200 countries, 200 years.‖ Look for the version of the video shot in a warehouse with Rosling standing behind the large virtual graphics.

This video is full of important information. When showing this video, you can ask students to assess the degree to which the historical data presented by Rosling support modernization theory and dependency theory.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed

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by very recent research. These presentations present highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 16, there are two PowerPoint presentations. The first is ―The Change in Global Poverty from 1800 to 2015.‖ The second is titled ―Will Saving Poor Children Lead to Overpopulation?‖ These PowerPoint presentations can be downloaded from my own website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. Supplemental Lecture: Capitalism or Culture?

For decades, analysts have explained global inequality in different ways, depending on their political leanings. In simple terms, those who lean right point to cultural traits of low-income countries as the main causes of their economic standing. Traditional culture, which emphasizes reverence for the past, is highlighted as a brake on economic development. Or we may recall President Trump using coarser language to describe low-income nations in Africa as ―shithole countries.‖ In terms of theoretical analysis, we see this cultural focus in modernization theory as developed by Walt Whitman Rostow.

Left-leaning analysts focus on the global economic system—or capitalism—as the main cause of global inequality. From this point of view, poor countries are not responsible for their plight; rather, they were underdeveloped by the same global economic system that made other countries rich. Dependency theory and Immanuel Wallerstein‘s capitalist world economy theory represent this approach.

A useful lesson is explaining to students that this culture-capitalism pattern is much the same when it comes to explaining inequality among categories of the U.S. population. Right-leaning analysis focuses on traits of people and traits of ethnic categories to explain people‘s poverty or their success. By contrast, left-leaning analysis explains stratification pointing to the economic system itself, or capitalism. From a political right, a focus on capitalism means that people living in poverty are victims with no responsibility for their situation. From the political left, conservative theories are criticized as ―blaming the victim.‖ Discussion Questions a. Explain the assertion that conservative theories focus on the traits of people living in poverty as the main cause of poverty. b. How do left-leaning theories focus on the economic system itself as the main cause of poverty? c. Which approach do you find more compelling? Why? 2. Supplemental Lecture: The Shape of the World.

Before you read on, take a blank sheet of paper and, to the best of your ability, draw a map of the

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world. Once you have done this, keep the image by your side and see whether some of the conclusions that follow are also true of your drawing. This exercise is a useful teaching tool for a class.

As a whole, members of our society trust in fact and figures. Even more, we trust in maps.

Who would not? We use maps to drive and to orient ourselves in unfamiliar places. We come to believe that maps are correct. Well, not necessarily.

Until recently, cartographers used the so-called Mercator projections, a badly skewed method of translating a spherical globe onto a piece of paper. As a result, because the closer a land mass is to the pole, the larger it appears, Greenland looks huge, Europe is very large, and Africa smaller than it should be.

There is also cultural bias here. Because most U.S. students know relatively more about Europe, they tend to make this continent larger than it really is. Africa, a place about which most students know little, is typically drawn smaller than it really is. In truth, Africa is larger than the United States, Europe, India, and China combined. Did your map reveal this fact? How many students use accurate proportions in their maps? Once again, as the textbook illustrates in other areas, our values and beliefs color how we see the world, in this case in a very concrete way.

3. Many students do not readily grasp the concept of demographic transition. An essay entitled ―The State of Demographic Transition in Africa‖ may be of use in helping them to appreciate the impact of this phenomenon on world nations and societies. Using a search engine, search for the article by title.

4. There is little doubt that China‘s one-child family policy limited that nation‘s population increase. Yet the policy attracted criticism as a heavy-handed state intervention into family life.

In addition, the policy encouraged female infanticide. However one assesses this policy, it serves as an excellent illustration for students of how strongly members of our society feel about having children without interference from the government. In hypothetical fashion, have your students evaluate the consequences of a similar policy in the United States. Some students will likely comment that if the United States doesn‘t have a population problem, why worry about it?

Others may say the population control issue we face is at the borders. Even so, encourage the class to speculate about how people in different positions on the political spectrum would envision population-control policies.

5. The concept of zero population growth is frequently difficult for students to grasp. They tend to wonder, ―Haven‘t we already reached zero population growth if the birth rate is now below replacement level?‖ Help your students to understand zero population growth by pointing out that there are still many women of childbearing age who are reproducing and that the country will have to maintain a birth rate below replacement to reach zero population growth. Another interesting ingredient that can be incorporated into this discussion is whether the United States will ever be concerned about population decline: Might the United States (like Japan and many European nations) eventually need more young people to support the older population? Will we ever need incentives to have children?

6. A topic that is sure to generate spirited discussion is that of immigration to the United States.

Students will probably recall from their recent U.S. history classes that during the late 1800s and early 1900s, the United States opened its door to the ―huddled masses.‖ In recent years,

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immigration (legal and illegal) has increased. Ask the class to evaluate the question, ―Why shouldn‘t the United States simply close its doors to all migrants?‖ Ask them to think about the economic and cultural consequences of doing so; consider, too, even the possibility of doing so.

7. Migration can be evaluated in terms of its impact on the region where the phenomenon takes place. An excellent illustration is the mass migration of Black people from the South to the North since World War II. A comprehensive source on this subject is Nicholas Lemann‘s The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991).

8. The faculty members at the UC Atlas of Global Poverty suggest that students work together to create an Inequality Mural. Ask students to bring in images clipped from magazines or captured from websites representing various high-income and low-income nations around the world.

These images can be used to assemble a wall chart or mural creating a visual representation of the global distribution of income and wealth.

9. Encourage students to work in groups of four to five to compare the quality of life in lowincome nations with the quality of life in the United States. Assign a low-income nation to each student and require students to compare that country to the United States on the following measures: population, population density, urban population (%), main industries, main crops, main minerals, other resources, arable land (%), main trading partners, total GNP/GDP, per capita GNP/GDP, labor force (%), foreign (external) debt, life expectancy, adult literacy rate, infant mortality rate, fertility rate, access to clean water, access to sanitation, televisions per 1,000 people, telephones per 1,000 people, personal computers per 1,000 people, radios per 1,000 people, population growth rate, and internet hosts per 10,000 people. Students should be directed to use the following sources: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, The Statesman’s Yearbook, Economic Report of the President, The Statistical Abstract of the United States, World Development Report (World Bank), Human Development Report (UNDP), World Economic Outlook (IMF), and Information Please Almanac. Group members should share their findings with the class (adapted from Center for International Business Education & Research [CIBER] at the University of Connecticut).

WEB LINKS Ed Stephan: Click on Thomas Malthus http://www.edstephan.org GeoHive: Population Statistics https://www.geohive.ie Global Issues: Search World Hunger and Poverty http://www.globalissues.org Hunger Notes: Why Are People Hungry http://worldhunger.org Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center: Search Global Poverty Mapping Project http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu United Nations: Search Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un.org

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U.S. Census Bureau: Search U.S. and World Population Clocks http://www.census.gov

ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Compare population patterns in high-income countries and low-income countries. Consider fertility, mortality, and migration. Identify factors that create these patterns and point to differences between nations at various levels of economic development.

2. Define demography and discuss reasons for the current global population increase.

3. Explain why contraception is not often used in low-income nations.

4. Explain the Malthusian theory of population growth and note the criticisms of his theory today. How does demographic transition theory differ? What is one criticism of this theory?

5. Describe the global distribution of income and wealth.

6. Distinguish between relative poverty and absolute poverty.

7. Identify and define the forms of slavery that exist in the world today.

8. Identify and discuss the four stages that comprise W. W. Rostow‘s theory of modernization.

9. Contrast world system theory to modernization theory with regard to identifying causes of global inequality and solutions to the problem of global poverty.

10. How do conservatives, liberals, and those on the radical left have characteristic ways of defining problems related to global inequality? How and why do they favor different solutions?

FILM LIST BACK TO THE VILLAGE (2006, 26 m, Insight Media) This program examines the effects of globalization in South India and considers such issues as loss of livelihoods, reduced resources, population growth, and villagers forced into cities to find work. It explores the causes and results of rural-urban migration, looks at the rise in numbers of South Indian slums, and highlights the commonality of the problem throughout the developing world.

CHANGING NATURE: POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT AT A CROSSROADS (2001, 58 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This program examines how urbanization, industrialization, and overreaching agriculture are depleting the Earth of its natural resources. Citing environmental changes in Morocco, Ghana, Ukraine, Mexico, and Vietnam, the program studies the impact of population growth and profiles organizations that respond to ecological crises stemming from such growth. With a focus on educational outreach efforts, particularly those for women and children, and the promotion of sustainable development in environmentally compromised regions, Changing Nature concludes that all ecological problems are essentially global and require global solutions.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: A GLOBAL CHALLENGE (2007, 36 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) How is the economic progress of a country or a region measured? What causes underdevelopment and poverty? Will the struggling nations of the world ever ―catch up‖ with the

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wealthy ones? This program studies various methods for calculating economic potential, growth, and stagnation in the context of today‘s global environment. Introducing the three main determinants of income and expansion—physical capital, human capital, and technology—the video examines geographic, historical, and political reasons behind underdevelopment, especially the vestigial effects of colonialism and the population disparities that exist between rich and poor nations. Production structure, credit markets, income inequality within a country, and the concept of the dual economy are all explored in detail. The success of micro credit systems highlights the possibility of development in even the most disadvantaged societies.

INDIA IN TRANSITION (2004, 52 m, Insight Media) This program examines the progress and the problems accompanying India‘s rapid economic growth. It considers strides made in education, health care, information technology, and urbanization and assesses problems of illiteracy, caste, poverty, and urban sprawl.

NAILED TO THE BOTTOM: SUBSIDIES AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (2006, 58 m, Filmakers Library) ―This is a cow—a European cow. It‘s a happy cow—because every day we Europeans pay $2 in subsidies for it. Half of the world‘s population lives on that amount. So we‘ve created the most expensive farming subsidies in the world . . . which lead to misery—hunger and anger.‖ Thus begins this award-winning film about the trade and agricultural policies that protect European farmers against competition in the underdeveloped world. These policies unintentionally doom the world‘s poorest people to endless poverty. How do tactics like dumping and tariff walls work, and why were they developed? On the outskirts of a village in the Dominican Republic are the ruins of Emanuel‘s dairy farm. Because tons of heavily subsidized powdered milk is flooding the market from Europe, local farmers like Emanuel cannot compete. If they cannot get a fair price, they have to slaughter their cows and are then left with nothing. Prof. Per Pindstrup says that the EU Commissioner for Development has sent 20 million euros to the Dominican Republic to teach the dairy farmers to make more and better milk but he questions this policy if the farmers cannot compete with the EU‘s subsidized milk in the end. What‘s the point of giving development assistance to build something up, which is then torn down a few years later?

NO VACANCY: GLOBAL RESPONSES TO THE HUMAN POPULATION EXPLOSION (2005, 91 m, Insight Media) There is evidence to suggest that the momentum behind overpopulation is beginning to reverse course. In this program, Population Communication‘s Robert Gillespie visits such countries as India, China, Mexico, Indonesia, Iran, Ghana, Nigeria, France, and the United States to examine the current fertility transition, which may prove to be one of the most important elements in humanity‘s survival.

ORGANS FOR SALE (2004, 58 m, Filmakers Library) The marketing of human organs is condemned in most places, but it continues to grow as rich Western patients cannot obtain the needed organs through donation in their own countries.

People in third-world countries are prepared to sell an organ to obtain cash that is equivalent to

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several years‘ wages. Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where the organ trade is not illegal, although it is a controversial subject, not willingly talked about. This film follows a patient in desperate need of a kidney. Jim is a young father who has been waiting for a kidney for six years, during which time his health has deteriorated. He believes he can wait no longer and finds a donor through the internet. Paying several thousand dollars, he risks the hazards of such an operation in a foreign land from doctors he has never met. Using hidden cameras, the film follows the three-week journey of Jim and his wife up to the time of the surgery and afterward.

The filmmakers also meet with other Pakistani donors. Many regret their decisions because they do not receive postoperative care and often have health problems afterward. Jim‘s transplant is a success, and he can look forward to a normal, healthy life. His donor now has the money to buy a plot of land and build a house. The film is sympathetic to both parties, presenting the viewer with a challenging bioethical problem.

POPULATION AND WORLD RESOURCES: HOW THE EARTH SUPPORTS ITS PEOPLE (2003, 31 m, Insight Media) Outlining the factors that determine the ecological footprint of humans, this program examines the ways in which populations at different levels of economic and technological development consume world resources.

POPULATION CONTROL (2006, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines ethical and philosophical considerations related to population. It explores such issues as birth control efforts being used to slow population growth, discusses China‘s controversial one-child policy that ended in 2016, and highlights the role of disease in population control throughout history.

POPULATIONS ON EARTH (2006, 26 m, Insight Media) This program offers an optimistic overview of population issues that face the world community in the twenty-first century and presents numerous perspectives on such controversial issues as population growth and control. It addresses the current population growth rate, questions whether the world is overpopulated, and speculates as to whether the population will continue to explode in the coming century.

RISE AND FALL: POPULATION, URBANIZATION, AND THE ENVIRONMENT (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) This program reviews population, urbanization, and environmental issues from a sociological point of view. It covers such topics as fertility, mortality, migration, population, natural resources, and climate.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008, 120 m, rental) This feature film tells the story of Jamal Malik, an eighteen-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India‘s Who Wants

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to Be a Millionaire? But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs. The film provides a visual awareness of global poverty.

SUDAN: SLIPPING BACK IN TIME (2001, 41 m, Filmakers Library) In addition to the other cruelties of the civil war in Sudan, slavery has become big business.

Dinka women and children are abducted by militiamen in the south and sold as slaves to their Arab enemies. Southern Sudan is Black African, while the north is Islamic. It takes $50 to buy a slave‘s freedom. A Christian aid organization has been buying the slaves from their Arab captors. Many of the freed slaves tell of the abuse they suffered and of their longing to be reunited with their loved ones. There are those in the West who disapprove of buying the slaves their freedom because the slave traders profit. The film very graphically shows how the country has suffered from the civil war. Millions have died or been displaced, the farmers can‘t raise their crops, and food is in short supply. Paradoxically, the war costs the country $1 million a day, which is what the United Nations sends in food aid.

A TALE OF MODERN SLAVERY (2005, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Use this ABC News program to increase viewer awareness of a heartbreaking but undeniable truth—that slavery is alive and well in the twenty-first century. The video shows how caste systems and other archaic traditions have perpetuated slavery in some low-income countries and points to the complacency of wealthier nations regarding this ongoing tragedy. Highlighting the work of Nigerian antislavery activists, including the imprisoned Ilguilas Weila of the human rights group Timidria, the video also features commentary from Amnesty International USA Executive Director William Schultz, who emphasizes the need for more action from the Western world.

TESTING HOPE (2008, 40 m, Filmakers Library) In the impoverished Black townships outside Cape Town, South Africa, everyone knows that the only way to improve one‘s life is to go to university and get a good job. And the only way to do that is to pass the challenging series of examinations known as Matric. Students prepare all year; their hopes and dreams as well as those of their families all depend on passing. This engaging film follows four students in Nyanga township in their last year of high school. Theirs is the first graduating class who entered school in 1994, the year apartheid ended. While this is the new South Africa, many vestiges of apartheid persist. Many families live in shacks, several homes lack running water and electricity, and the average household income is $3,000 per year.

Babalwa, who wants to become a doctor, says she is ―used to‖ not having breakfast and does not know if her family will be eating dinner that night. Some of her classmates are responsible for taking care of younger siblings as many parents are absent. Gang violence is rife. The film explores what lies ahead for students who pass Matric and what awaits those who do not. How will Nyanga‘s children achieve their dreams in a country where so many obstacles remain?

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THROUGH A CHILD’S EYES: VIEWS OF GLOBAL POVERTY (2006, 55 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Most elementary-age children exude innocence and optimism. What about kids who face extreme poverty? This documentary focuses on the plight of underprivileged nine-year-olds across the world—revealing their hardships and challenges as well as the lighthearted spirit they often exhibit in spite of their surroundings. Traveling to Egypt, Rwanda, India, Cambodia, Romania, Brazil, and New York City, the film presents a case study of a child in each location through compelling interviews, tours of struggling schools, and visits to barely livable homes. In every segment, the most illuminating moment follows the question, ―What would you do if you had a lot of money?‖ TRAFFICKED: CHILDREN AS SEXUAL SLAVES (2006, 52 m, Filmakers Library) The trafficking of women and children for prostitution is a global problem. The United Nations estimates that more than one million children are forced into sexual slavery each year. This powerful documentary follows Chris Payne, a former police officer turned private investigator, as he investigates this shocking crime. Haunted for a decade by the case of ―Nikkie,‖ a young Thai girl found working in a brothel in Sydney who was hastily deported, Payne wants to know what circumstances forced her into a brothel and what became of her after she was returned to her own country. His search leads him back to Asia where he also meets the parents of another Thai ―sex slave‖ whose death in an immigration detention center made headlines. This powerful documentary provides disturbing insight into the international sex trade.

T-SHIRT TRAVELS (2001, 57 m, Filmakers Library) What happens to all those old clothes you bring to the Salvation Army or Goodwill Industries?

This comprehensive program is about Third World debt and secondhand clothes. The filmmaker traveled to Zambia and was amazed to find almost everyone wearing Calvin Klein, MTV, and James Dean T-shirts! Huge bales of American secondhand clothing are sold to African importers, putting the African manufacturers out of business. We see a secondhand clothing dealer in Zambia carefully select a bale among dozens, bundled and shipped from abroad. He pays for the used clothing and then transports it by bus ten hours to a market. His meager profits support his entire extended family that resides in shantytowns miles from the market. Their lives exemplify the poverty plaguing Africa today. They have virtually no possibility of advancing themselves and their children. Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard University Center for International Studies, and other experts discuss the history of colonialism, slavery, and the depletion of Africa‘s natural resources. They draw the connection between this shameful legacy and the current huge debt. As the African governments service their debts according to an IMF/World Bank policy known as ―structural adjustment lending,‖ people‘s benefits are slashed drastically, resulting in terrible suffering from malnutrition, poor health care, inadequate schools, and a crumbling infrastructure. Old T-shirts come with a high price tag.

UNDER THE RIVER: EXPLOITED CHILDREN OF GHANA (2009, 50 m, Filmakers Library) In Ghana, children as young as three and as old as sixteen are often sent away from home to work in bondage for small payments, desperately needed by impoverished families. Some are

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given away by aunts, uncles, grandparents, or by their own overburdened mothers who will have one fewer mouth to feed and the equivalent of $40 each year. Others send their children away to learn a skill or as a means of discipline. The parents are often ignorant of the circumstances their children will face: brutal back-breaking and dangerous labor, utter deprivation even to the point of starvation, and exposure to parasites. Under the River follows one nongovernmental organization‘s (NGO) efforts to investigate and rescue trafficked children from bonded labor and return them to their parents. Many parents barely recognize their children and wonder how they can possibly afford to care for additional children. As for the children, it is apparent at these awkward reunions that they have little recollection of their families and friends. It is also apparent that they are in danger of again being trafficked. Child trafficking leaves behind in its wake fractured families and is a tragedy of immense proportions. As for the NGO and the American family that sponsored the program, the rescuing of these children isn‘t quite the resolution they had hoped for.

VICTIMS OF CHEAP COFFEE (2004, 50 m, Filmakers Library) Collapsing prices on the world coffee market have thrown millions of growers around the world into poverty. The price farmers receive for coffee is at its lowest in more than thirty years.

Coffee plantation owners are bankrupt, and the workers are starving. Filmed in Nicaragua and Vietnam, the film describes the human consequences that the collapse of coffee prices has caused in producer countries. Among the poorest countries in Latin America, Nicaragua is more dependent on coffee production than other South American countries. Rosa Maria Mendez buried her six-year-old son, who died of starvation. ―We have nothing left but to wait for death,‖ she says as she looks after her five surviving children. Vietnam, one of the few remaining socialist countries, began to take steps toward a market economy in the 1990s. Advised by the IMF and the World Bank to focus on crops for export, they switched from rice to coffee. In ten years, Vietnam became the second-largest coffee producer, after Brazil, leading to an international oversupply. The price dropped, and 700,000 coffee farmers of Vietnam were impoverished. Multinational companies have profited because coffee is so cheap. The crisis is worldwide: The International Coffee Organization says that the price crash has pushed more than 25 million people into poverty as farmers who used to grow food now sell coffee.

WAS MALTHUS RIGHT? POPULATION AND RESOURCES IN THE 21st CENTURY (1998, 27 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) The dire prediction by controversial economist Thomas Malthus that the world‘s expanding population would swiftly outrun its food supply has not come to fruition—yet. In this program, demographer Paul Demeny of the Population Council, Walter Reid of the World Resources Institute, and Max Singer, cofounder of the Hudson Institute, join Ben Wattenberg of the American Enterprise Institute in debating issues such as the powerful influence of technology in refuting Malthus‘s theory, population projections for the twenty-first century, and the very real economic and physical aspects of resource depletion.

A WORLD APART: GLOBAL INEQUALITY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES (2007, 53 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) A growing number of environmentalists, ethicists, and economists believe that the needs of the ―have-nots‖ will one day become too powerful to ignore. This program highlights that viewpoint,

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illustrating vast disparities between the living standards of developed and underdeveloped nations and questioning the wisdom of looking the other way. Deconstructing conventional economic notions of production and consumption, the film examines the role of Western corporations in environmental problems—such as deforestation, destructive mining, and land mine infestation in Africa, Asia, and South America. These problems are linked to global economic issues, such as lack of access to capital markets and dependence on foreign aid.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Population Increase How concerned are you about global population increase? Does the sharp population increase in recent centuries alarm you? Why or why not?

Sample answer: If you need to review population patterns over time, refer to Figure 16–1 to see the historical trend. To some extent, your response will reflect your political attitudes and values. People who support a market system typically note that increasing affluence means the world can support a larger population and more affluence also tends to reduce the rate of population increase over time. Those who support activist government intervention typically note that any rate of population increase is not sustainable over the long term.

2. Personalizing Global Inequality In what ways, if any, do you feel involved in global inequality? Do you think that you have a responsibility for the fact that hundreds of millions of people in the world endure desperate poverty? Explain.

Sample answer: First, think about ways you have experienced global stratification, either abroad or here in the United States. Also think about how political values guide the way people respond to these questions. Supporters of market forces (modernization theory) see high-income nations as a source of technology and investment that benefits lowincome countries. Those who do not support market forces (world systems theory) see high-income nations as a source of exploitation. Thus, one person‘s ―solution‖ is the other‘s ―problem.‖ 3. Where Do You Stand?

Should national or global governments enforce curbs on population increase? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, write a paragraph or two in which you state your position in this left-and-right debate.

Sample answer: You might consider these facts: From the left, China‘s one-child policy (enacted from 1979 until 2015) shows the effectiveness of government in constraining population increase (in China‘s case, by some 250 million during that period of time).

Seen from the right, however, China‘s policy illustrates how government can take control of personal decisions about fertility and family, greatly reducing personal liberty. From this perspective, market-based economic development represents a better solution by raising living standards and allowing people to reduce fertility without a government mandate.

4. Global Map 16–1 Population Growth in Global Perspective

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This journal assignment asks you to compare relative population increase in high- income and low-income nations. To do this, look first at the map on the left, which shows the rate of population increase for the world‘s countries. Then look at the map on the right, which shows the level of economic development for all nations. Compare the two maps. How do high-income and low-income nations differ in terms of their rates of population increase? The richest countries of the world—including the United States, Canada, and the nations of Europe—have growth rates below 1 percent. The nations of Latin America and Asia typically have growth rates that are a bit higher but still under 1.0 percent. Africa has an overall growth rate of 2.4 percent, which cuts the doubling time to twenty-seven years. In a global perspective, is a society‘s standard of living related to its rate of population increase?

Sample answer: Look, first, at the map on the left. Rolling your cursor over the United States (0.1 percent) and Canada (0.2 percent), you can see that the growth rates are relatively low by global standards. The countries in Central Africa, by contrast, have growth rates some ten times larger. Roll your cursor over Somalia (3.2 percent) and Uganda (3.1 percent).

Looking at the map on the right reveals a striking pattern—low-growth nations are also high-income; high-growth nations are middle- or low-income. Therefore, evidence supports the conclusion that nations with the greatest population increase are those least able to provide economic security for their people. This fact helps explain why most global migration involves people leaving lower-income countries in search of greater opportunity in higher-income nations.

5. Global Map 16–2 Economic Development in Global Perspective For this journal assignment, examine the two maps and suggest how a country‘s level of economic development is linked to the odds of living to the age of sixty-five. Look first at the map on the left, showing the level of economic development for the world‘s countries. Then look at the map on the right, which shows the share of people in a country who live to the age of sixty-five. Compare the patterns in two maps. How does the chance of living a long life differ in high- and low-income nations?

Sample answer: If you roll your cursor over the high-income nations, beginning with the United States, Canada, the countries of Western Europe, and Japan, you will see that more than 80 percent of the population can expect to live to at least the age of sixty-five.

If you do the same for low-income countries, the percentage is much lower—in many cases, in the 40s or 50s. This difference confirms what researchers have long noted—life expectancy in the richest countries exceeds eighty years; yet, in the poorest nations (look at Chad, Nigeria, and Cameroon in Central Africa), it is less than fifty years.

Greater economic development means that people live a richer material life, benefiting from better housing, safer transportation, more nutritious food, and more extensive medical care. There may be a health downside to affluence—obesity, for example—but, generally, living in a richer country means a better and longer life.

Finally, political policies and priorities also affect life expectancy. The United States has higher per capita income than Canada, yet life expectancy in Canada is five years longer than in the United States.

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CHAPTER 17 TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: The Wisdom of Grandma Macionis John‘s Personal Video Selection: The Magic Washing Machine Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplemental Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE The changes to Chapter 17 of this revision begin with an expanded focus on climate change. The revised chapter has updated discussion of global carbon emissions, the environmental consequences of increasing global affluence, and the increasing shortage of fresh water.

AUTHOR’S NOTE The operation of the environment sounds to many students like science. It is, of course. But a sociological account carried a key insight: The state of the natural environment has much to do with the operation of society. The shorthand formula I = PAT sums up this idea. Impact (I) on the environment is a function of • P or population size; the global population is increasing (albeit at a moderating rate); • A or affluence; this reflects economic living standards around the world, which are steadily rising; and • T or technology; industrialization has been greatly increasing humankind‘s capacity to alter the environment.

Various specific issues, including loss of rain forests, declining biodiversity, and global warming, can be understood as important consequences of the increasing impact our human society places on the planet‘s ecosystem.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Ecology: Studying the Natural Environment 17.1 Identify several key factors that affect the natural environment.

• Ecology is the study of how living organisms interact with the natural environment.

• The natural environment refers to Earth‘s surface and atmosphere, including air, water, soil, and other resources necessary to sustain living organisms.

• We rely on technology, tools, materials, and knowledge that people apply to the task of living in a physical environment.

• The Role of Sociology

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•

•

•

•

•

o The most important contribution sociologists make is in demonstrating how our society‘s technology, cultural patterns, and specific political and economic arrangements affect the natural environment.

The Global Dimension o An ecosystem is the interaction of all living organisms and their natural environment. Changes to any part of the natural environment ripple throughout the entire global ecosystem.

Population Increase o In the nineteenth century, as a number of nations developed industrial technology and the medical science that goes along with it, living standards rose and death rates fell sharply. The predictable result was a sharp upward spike in world population. By 1800, global population had soared to 1 billion. o In the decades that followed, population increased even more quickly. By the beginning of 2023, about 8 billion people were living on the planet. o Most experts predict that the world population will increase to about 10 billion people by 2060.

Poverty and Affluence o Poverty also makes environmental problems worse. Preoccupied with survival, people with low incomes have little choice but to consume the resources they have, without thinking about long-term environmental consequences. o The long-term trend for the world is toward greater affluence, but if people around the world were to live at the level of material abundance that most people in the United States take for granted, the natural environment would almost certainly collapse.

Technology o High-income, high-technology countries consume a great deal of the world‘s energy.

▪ Window on the World Global Map 17–1 Energy Consumption in Global Perspective. o The Environmental Deficit ▪ The environmental deficit is the serious, long-term harm to the environment caused by humanity‘s pursuit of short-term material affluence.

• Environmental quality is a social issue, reflecting choices people make about what technology to use, how many children to have, and how much to consume.

• Environmental damage may be unintended.

• In some respects the environmental deficit is reversible. If members of modern societies make different choices, they can undo many (but not all) environmental problems.

Cultural Patterns: Growth and Limits o The Logic of Growth ▪ Most people believe that money and the things it buys enrich our lives.

Most of us also believe in progress, thinking that the future will be better than the present, and we also embrace science, as we look to experts and

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new technology to improve our lives. These cultural values form an outlook that environmentalists call the logic of growth. o The Limits to Growth ▪ Environmentalists claim that, because we humans cannot invent our way out of the problems created by the logic of growth, we need another way of thinking about the world. Growth cannot continue indefinitely and must have limits. Simply stated, the limits-to-growth thesis is that humanity must limit environmental stress by controlling population size and the use of finite resources to avoid eventual environmental collapse.

▪ Figure 17–1 The Limits to Growth: Projections.

II. Environmental Problems 17.2 Discuss the causes and consequences of increasing pollution, global warming, and other environmental problems.

• Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Rachel Carson: Sounding an Environmental Wake-Up Call • Solid Waste: The Disposable Society o The problem of solid waste stems from a simple fact about our culture: We live in a disposable society. U.S. culture values material comfort and also efficiency. As a result, we consume more products than any nation on Earth, and many of these products come with extra packaging that allows for ease of sale. o Environmentalists argue that we should address the problem of solid waste by doing what Grandma Macionis and many of our ancestors did—turn ―waste‖ into a resource. o Figure 17–2 Composition of Household Trash. o Social Problems in Global Perspective: Turning the Tide: Reclaiming Solid Waste in Egypt • Preserving Clean Water o The hydrologic cycle not only renews the supply of water but also cleans it.

Because water evaporates at lower temperatures than most pollutants, the water vapor that rises from the seas is pure, leaving contaminants behind. The hydrologic cycle generates clean water in the form of rain, leaving pollutants to steadily build up in the oceans. o Inadequate Water Supply ▪ Increasing populations demand more and more water. Complex technology, especially in manufacturing and power-generating facilities, are using up available water. The global use of water (estimated at 1,000 trillion gallons per year) is increasing even faster than the world‘s population. Underground water tables are rapidly dropping in countries all over the world.

▪ More efficient irrigation technology and various conservation strategies for industry and homes may reduce water demand in the future. o Water Pollution ▪ In large cities from Mexico City to Cape Town to Cairo and Shanghai, people with no sure supply of fresh, safe water drink contaminated water every day. As a result, waterborne microorganisms cause infectious

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diseases, including diarrhea, intestinal worms, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery, which spread rapidly through these populations like a pandemic.

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Air Pollution o The world‘s high-income countries have entered a postindustrial era in which industrial technology is giving way to computer technology. Because this new type of production is far cleaner, air quality in these countries has been improving. But, with more factory production overseas, the problem of air pollution in low-income societies is getting worse. o Seeing Ourselves National Map 17–1 Risk of Cancer from Air Pollution across the United States.

Acid Rain o Acid rain is precipitation, made acidic by air pollution, that destroys plant and animal life. o Figure 17–3 The Formation of Acid Rain.

The Disappearing Rain Forests o Rain forests are regions of dense forestation, most of which circle the globe close to the equator. o Rain forests are falling victim to the needs and appetites of the increasing human populations. Now half their original size, they continue to shrink by about 3,000 square miles per year.

Climate Change o Scientists have documented the fact that average temperature of the planet is increasing, a trend called global warming. o The scientific community has reached a consensus that, first, the world is getting warmer; second, that temperature increase is due to human activity; and third, that global warming is a serious threat to the planet. o At the end of 2015, 195 countries signed an agreement to limit carbon emissions.

President Trump, who pledged to support coal and oil production, withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement in 2017. President Biden reaffirmed this nation‘s commitment to that agreement.

Declining Biodiversity o Earth‘s biodiversity plays a major role in feeding the world‘s people. o Earth‘s biodiversity is a vital genetic resource. o With the loss of any species of life—from a tiny black ant to the magnificent California condor to the adorable Chinese panda—we lose part of the beauty and complexity of our natural environment. o Finally, the extinction of species is irreversible and final.

III. Theories of the Environment and Environmental Problems 17.3 Apply sociological theory to issues involving the natural environment.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: Highlighting Connections o Structural-functional theory links environmental issues to the overall operation of society. This approach offers three important lessons: ▪ Technology has a powerful effect on the environment.

▪ Culture affects the state of the environment.

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Structural-functional theory points up the interconnectedness of all social patterns. o The solutions to environmental problems are complex, but structural-functional analysis provides grounds for optimism because of its view that systems adapt to changing conditions.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Highlighting Inequality o Social-conflict theory highlights exactly the issues that structural-functionalism tends to overlook—power and inequality. o Marxist Class-Conflict Theory ▪ Strategies to maximize profits may include designing products with a limited useful life, a concept called planned obsolescence. Such policies may increase profits in the short term, but over the long haul they use up natural resources and produce mountains of solid waste.

▪ A second issue raised by Marxist class-conflict theory involves global inequality. People in high-income countries maintain their affluent way of life by exploiting people in low-income countries, but they also poison the world‘s air and water in the process.

▪ A Marxist approach condemns rich nations as overdeveloped and consuming too much.

▪ What is needed is a more equitable distribution of the world‘s existing wealth among all people, which would achieve greater social justice and better preserve the natural environment. o Environmental Racism Theory ▪ Environmental racism is a pattern of discrimination in which environmental hazards are greatest for people with low incomes, especially minorities.

▪ The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is a recent example of environmental racism.

IV. Politics and the Environment: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 17.4 Analyze environmental problems and solutions from various positions on the political spectrum.

• Conservatives: Grounds for Optimism o Conservatives take an optimistic view that businesses, various organizations, and the scientific community are able to recognize environmental problems and take appropriate action to solve them. They also point to a trend toward increasing environmental awareness in all postindustrial societies. o The development of postindustrial technology and new forms of energy is less threatening to the environment, so there is good reason to be optimistic that technology will continue to reduce pollution from cars and smokestacks. o An optimistic position is often described as anti-Malthusian. A viewpoint that is conservative because it expresses support for the existing system in the belief that problems people create are problems people can solve.

• Liberals: Grounds for Concern o Most environmentalists are deeply concerned about problems such as population increase, resource consumption, and various types of pollution. These people

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agree with the warnings sounded by Malthus, and they support the limits-togrowth position. o Liberals call for a number of reforms, including conservation efforts, limiting carbon output into the atmosphere, and limiting the consumption of natural resources. o In practice, liberals are asking high-income nations to make sacrifices in their living standards in the interest of protecting the natural environment.

The Radical Left: Grounds for Fundamental Change o Radicals on the left see technology as a useful tool, but only if it is directed by economic and political systems that represent the interests of the people as a whole. o The key to solving environmental problems is replacing the capitalist economy.

Going On from Here o We need to develop an ecologically sustainable culture, a way of life that meets the needs of the present generation without threatening the environment for future generations. o To develop a sustainable way of life for the long term, we must adopt three basic strategies: conserve finite resources, reduce waste, and bring world population increase under control.

Engaging the Issues: Getting Right with the Environment: How about You? Defining Solutions: What‘s the Best Way to Address Problems of the Natural Environment?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 17.1 Identify several key factors that affect the natural environment.

17.2 Discuss the causes and consequences of increasing pollution, global warming, and other environmental problems.

17.3 Apply sociological theory to issues involving the natural environment.

17.4 Analyze environmental problems and solutions from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 17, students should be able to: 1. Discuss the historical development of technology and the effect of a society‘s technology on the natural environment.

2. Explain the role of sociology in studying environmental problems.

3. Recognize the global dimension of today‘s environmental problems.

4. Explain the formula I = PAT, addressing the importance of each of its components.

5. Discuss the significance of the environmental deficit.

6. Critically evaluate the logic of growth in comparison to the limits to growth.

7. Describe how Rachel Carson helped turn public attention to the state of the natural environment.

8. Discuss the problem of solid waste in a disposable society.

9. Discuss the prospects of a global water shortage.

10. Discuss air pollution and its relationship to technology.

11. Explain the causes and effects of acid rain.

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12. Discuss the destruction of rain forests around the globe.

13. Explain why declining biodiversity is a problem.

14. Describe the threats to the environment and humanity posed by global warming.

15. What insights do you gain from applying sociology‘s theoretical paradigms to environmental issues? What is one criticism or limitation of each theoretical approach?

16. Discuss the concept of environmental racism.

17. Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of environmental problems as well as the choice of solutions.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: THE WISDOM OF GRANDMA MACIONIS This chapter‘s opening story introduces my paternal grandmother, Lillian Macionis, whose simple and frugal ways always amused and frustrated younger members of her family. The reason the story appears in this chapter is simply that my grandmother produced almost no trash, so thorough was she at ―repurposing‖ all the material things in her world. With these attitudes and skills, Lillian Macionis was a most amazing and effective environmentalist.

Even so, of course, my grandmother never thought of herself as an environmentalist, and I doubt she probably was even familiar with the word. Sociologically speaking, what is interesting about her is that she represented, first, a time in history. The early industrial era was a time during which living standards (by today‘s measure) were low. People lived with less—they had smaller homes, used less energy, and depended more on walking and muscle power than we do today. Grandma Macionis also represented the working class of her day. Even by the standards of her era in the United States, she consumed little in the way of resources and produced almost nothing in terms of trash.

So, Grandma M. prompts us to ask ourselves a question: How much of what we take for granted do we really need? In other words, are we prepared to give up the 4,000-pound vehicles, the parade of appliances, the large green lawns, or the welcome heat in our winter homes and offices? Are we even willing to ask these questions?

The idea that consumption defines our quality of life runs pretty deep in today‘s society.

So does the logic of growth: We also expect to enjoy more over time.

And what about the class factor? Are people able to consume more just because they can afford to do that? Do members of our affluent society have the right to pressure people in lowerincome nations to sign on to global treaties on carbon emissions or other types of pollution when they have yet to reach a level of economic development we passed through when Grandma Macionis was a young girl?

It would be presumptuous of me to even suggest answers to these issues. But it does seem likely that at some point we may well be forced to ask the questions.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: THE MAGIC WASHING MACHINE Discussion of technology and environment needs to be global in scope. The discussion also must take account of global stratification. I love TED Talks: Go to a search engine and see what you can find by searching for the ―magic washing machine.‖ My favorite is a short video by development analyst, Hans Rosling. In this TED presentation, Rosling begins with the story of his Swedish mother getting her first home appliance, an electric washing machine, and explains the almost magical effect it had on everyone. From there, he unfolds a powerful story of how the desire for new technology is pushing up energy use around the world and what needs to be done in terms of consumption and green energy innovation to build a sustainable future.

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RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 17, the PowerPoint presentation focuses on environmental racism as illustrated by the recent environmental crisis in Flint, Michigan. This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. TED Talks provide wonderful support for lectures and class discussions. Using any search engine, you can locate TED Talks that deal with climate change, reducing solid waste, living in support of environmental sustainability, and many other topics.

2. The United States had the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979; the Soviet Union had its Chernobyl accident in 1986; Japan had its Fukushima Daiichi disaster in 2011. Three Mile Island did not turn out to be serious, although Chernobyl and Fukushima were disastrous. Chernobyl killed thirty-one people in the short term. Fukushima involved major nuclear contamination, which continues to this day. A continuing environmental issue is the possibility of a serious accident at a nuclear plant in the United States or elsewhere. Some insight into this issue can be gained by looking at Three Mile Island and the response to it. A very useful source for this is Edward J. Walsh‘s Democracy in the Shadows: Citizen Mobilization in the Wake of the Accident at Three Mile Island (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988). Walsh describes the incident itself but focuses more on the community mobilization that occurred in response to the accident. This is especially useful in illustrating for students how average citizens can, through collective action, play a significant part in defining social problems and shaping their solution.

3. It is always helpful to bring environmental problems down to the personal level and show how they affect people‘s daily lives and how people respond to the problems. If there has been a contamination problem in your community, invite those who have been affected (and their lawyers, if there is litigation involved) to come to class to discuss the problems. If the city or county is involved in the problem, bring the appropriate officials in to present their side of the story.

4. Environmental racism is an important inequality-based social policy related to technology and the environment. Ask your students to role-play as follows: Suppose they are members of a particular minority category who live in a geographic area where a variety of toxic-dumping activities are taking place. Of course, most people in this predicament are not aware of the dangerous practices that surround them. Encourage your students to imagine how they would

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feel if they knew about the dumping and, further, that they are aware the dumping continues because they are minorities with relatively low incomes.

5. Discuss the patterns of consumption common to college students in the United States by asking the class to share experiences from a typical day. Do students have a sense of the amount of water they use? Energy? Food? What about the amount of solid waste they produce? Discuss how U.S. values that embrace convenience, progress, science, comfort, and individualism help or hinder attempts to live a ―greener‖ life.

6. Explore how students define environmental problems by working in groups. Divide the class into groups of five and ask each group to list the top three global environmental problems and, if possible, the top local environmental problem. After the students discuss these topics in small groups for about five minutes, make a list on the board of volunteered student responses. Discuss how the issues are constructed and assess the political viewpoints that shape the construction.

7. Develop a role-playing activity that involves a town hall meeting. The community is considering allowing fracking for natural gas in the surrounding rural area. Divide students into different groups: (a) natural gas executives who argue for the economic benefits of fracking for the community and increasing the supply of energy in the United States, (b) citizens who are for fracking because of the jobs that it will create, (c) citizens against fracking because of the potential impact on the water supply and other aspects of the environment, and (d) state political officials who will listen to the reports that they hear and make a decision. Allow students a week to collect research on their respective areas of responsibility and stage the role-play with each group presenting their findings and a vote by the city commissioners. Political officials must explain how and why they voted the way that they did.

8. Ask students to share their views on what it means to be ―green‖ in today‘s society and how sustainable activities are constructed on campus. Divide the class into groups and assign each group a specific area of sustainability to research about your campus. Topics assigned to groups should include environmental education/awareness, solid waste reduction, recycling, water and wastewater management, disposal of hazardous materials, green space conservation, energy conservation, environmentally friendly purchasing, environmentally friendly foods, encouraging sustainable transportation, sustainability planning, and sustainable buildings and construction.

Groups should be given two weeks to conduct their research and report findings to the class.

Reports should include the efforts that the college/university has taken or failed to take, the benefits and consequences of the actions/inactions, and suggestions for the institution. After the reports are completed, students should discuss the school‘s overall level of sustainability and the social factors in the local and global communities that have created the on-campus culture.

WEB LINKS Adirondack Lakes Survey: Search Acid Rain and the Adirondacks http://www.adirondacklakessurvey.org AIRNow https://www.airnow.gov Environmental Protection Agency: Search U.S. Municipal Solid Waste http://www.epa.gov

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National Recycling Coalition http://www.nrcrecycles.org Population Connection http://www.populationconnection.org Rainforest Action Network http://www.ran.org Technology Student: Click on Technology and the Environment http://www.technologystudent.com ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Why are environmental problems necessarily global in scope? As part of your answer, give an example of the interrelatedness, whereby changes to any part of the natural environment ripple throughout the global system.

2. Explain how technological advance has contributed to greater stress on the natural environment. Is the Information Revolution ―greener‖ than the Industrial Revolution?

3. What do you think is the most serious environmental problem for people in the United States?

What about for the world as a whole? Explain your responses.

4. Explain the importance of recognizing the ―environmental deficit.‖ 5. What threats do landfills pose to the natural environment? How much solid waste is now being recycled in the United States?

6. How does the extinction of species differ from pollution and other environmental problems?

Identify two or more examples of species that are presently endangered.

7. Explain why many people see declining biodiversity as a problem.

8. Provide insights gained from applying sociology‘s theoretical approaches to environmental issues. What is one limitation of each approach?

9. How far would you go (i.e., what sacrifices are you willing to make) to protect our natural environment?

10. Explain how conservative, liberal, and radical-left positions on the political spectrum guide people to see different environmental problems as well as solutions.

FILM LIST ADDICTED TO PLASTIC (2008, 85 m, Bullfrog Films) This film reveals the history and worldwide scope of plastics pollution, investigates its toxicity, and explores solutions. From Styrofoam cups to artificial organs, plastics are perhaps the most ubiquitous and versatile material ever invented. No invention in the past 100 years has had more influence and presence than synthetics. But such progress has had a cost. For better and for worse, no ecosystem or segment of human activity has escaped the shrink-wrapped grasp of plastic. Addicted to Plastic is a global journey to investigate what we really know about the material of a thousand uses and why there‘s so darn much of it. On the way we discover a toxic legacy and the men and women dedicated to cleaning it up. Addicted to Plastic is a point-of-view style documentary that encompasses three years of filming in twelve countries on five continents, including two trips to the middle of the Pacific Ocean where plastic debris accumulates. The film details plastic‘s path over the last 100 years and provides a wealth of expert interviews on practical and cutting-edge solutions to recycling, toxicity, and biodegradability. These

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solutions—including plastic made from plants—provide viewers with a new perspective about our future with plastic.

BE PREPARED FOR GLOBAL WARMING (2003, 51 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) According to many scientists, global warming is irreversible—but its progress can be slowed, its impact managed. This program examines strategies, many of them in operation, designed to protect land and populations made vulnerable by rapidly rising worldwide temperatures. From lifesaving weather forecast methods in Mozambique to fishery replenishment systems in Vietnam, a range of innovations are studied but the focus is not only on the developing world.

Detailing struggles against drought and violent climate in the United States, Australia, and the Netherlands, Be Prepared clearly shows that global warming recognizes no national boundaries.

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL: OBAMA AND THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS (2009, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In this edition of the Journal, Bill Moyers speaks with Mary Sweeters, of Greenpeace USA, and Erich Pica, of Friends of the Earth, about why they believe President Obama is not doing enough to save the environment and what they think needs to be included in climate change legislation.

An essay on insurers‘ efforts to steer health care reform legislation with big money—to the detriment of patients and medical practitioners—concludes the program.

BUILD GREEN (2008, 44 m, Bullfrog Films) David Suzuki reports on a wide range of green buildings, from large community developments to mini-homes. Build Green shows how by taking advantage of the sun, the wind, and the rain, as well as dirt, straw, and waste, homeowners and developers can reduce their personal contribution to climate change by building structures that are healthier for the occupants, economical to run, and even fun to live in. In Build Green, Canada‘s best architects show us around their latest green projects. From retrofitting an aging Montreal housing complex with state-of-the-art sustainable energy systems, to laying up hay for straw bale houses, to building transportable ―mini-homes‖ with their own small power plant, Build Green takes a close look at the materials and technologies we would be foolish not to adopt as standard practice in construction.

BATTLE OF THE BAG: DECONSTRUCTING A CONSUMER CULTURE ICON (2008, 44 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) They take hundreds of years to biodegrade and have sparked heated debate around the world.

This documentary examines the controversy over plastic bags, from their often devastating environmental impact to their remarkable ubiquity in consumer culture. Outlining the bag‘s connection to Big Oil, the film presents environmental case studies in Mumbai, where clogged flood drains have sparked plastic bag bans, and Hawaii, where plastic beach litter has killed wildlife on a staggering scale. Also profiled is a retired German schoolteacher who has amassed the world‘s largest plastic bag collection—and, for mysterious reasons, keeps it locked in a bomb shelter.

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CALIFORNIA DRY: WATER CRISIS IN THE GOLDEN STATE (2008, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) As freshwater sources dwindle in the arid American Southwest, California faces growing difficulty in managing and sustaining its irrigation infrastructure. This program analyzes the multifaceted problem, sifting through environmental and political factors and assessing a number of potential solutions. Beginning its fact-finding tour at the Water Education Foundation in Sacramento, the film highlights challenges related to levees, marine tidewaters, and endangered species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Controversial desalinization projects near Long Beach and San Diego are also studied, along with ―toilet to tap‖ sewage water conversion in Orange County.

THE CHEMICAL KIDS (2001, 60 m, Filmakers Library) Most people want the conveniences of modern life—cell phones, computers, and perfect-looking food. But it seems we are paying a high price: being poisoned by chemicals. This film contains many alarming facts and stories about the manufactured chemicals we ingest in our food and water. Children are the most affected—damaged physically and mentally by the fish their mothers ate during pregnancy, by eating too much fish or meat themselves, or by drinking water drawn too close to waste dumps. Chemical Kids takes us around the world, following the trail of the chemistry we have unleashed. It tracks down the researchers who are studying the effects of the millions of tons of chemicals we use. Industry is allowed to use 100,000 synthetic chemicals, but we know little about 86,000 of them. In Winona, Texas, a chemical plant grew into a hazardous waste powerhouse handling extremely hazardous substances. Despite promises by the plant owners, wastes leaked into the water supply. Experts could not outlaw the chemicals because it would have taken too long to study the ill effects. Many Winona children developed cancer, elephantiasis, mysterious skin diseases, or albinism. Some people are fighting back with demonstrations and lawsuits, and some do get compensated for the harm they have suffered.

Others try to have some effect on the way industrial plants are designed to lower the risk of chemical leakage. The media has tried to tell the story; one courageous reporter began a lawsuit on behalf of her polluted hometown.

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT (2007, 29 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Although genetic modification of plants and animals has been going on since the dawn of agriculture, technological changes of unprecedented scope have taken place in the food industry within the past few decades. This program explores the impact of technology on food production and the development of new and emerging foods. Viewers are introduced to recently devised methods of genetic modification and selective breeding, which have expanded both crop and livestock yields. Other topics include the growth of the novelty food industry and new approaches to food packaging design, reflecting concern over ecological issues.

DIRTY WATER (2003, 27 m, Insight Media) This program looks at the characteristics of natural and human-generated water pollutants, examines habitat destruction, and discusses pollution on global and local levels. Explaining that

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sometimes cleanup can be more damaging than the polluting event, the program presents potential solutions to these problems.

THE ENVIRONMENT: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (1999, 52 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) From the first agricultural settlements, to the Industrial Revolution, to agribusiness and widespread urbanization, humans have been transforming the environment for thousands of years. But now, with rain forests disappearing at an appalling rate, pollution on the rise, and the world‘s population reaching truly astronomical proportions, how will Earth survive? In this program, President of Worldwatch Institute Lester Brown, academic experts, and others study the environmental impact humans have had on the planet and present their perspectives on ecological stewardship for the twenty-first century.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND HUMAN IMPACT (2006, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This film looks at urgent environmental concerns facing planet Earth and what people can do to repair the degradation humans have caused. Air and water pollution, the effects of pollution on health and the environment, deforestation and loss of wetlands, ozone depletion and global warming, and the negative impacts of agriculture, construction, and recreation/tourism are discussed. The program ends with antipollution initiatives like recycling and greater energy efficiency. The key message? Individuals can make a difference! A viewable/printable instructor‘s guide is available online.

ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000, 130 m, rental) Erin Brockovich is an unemployed single mother who convinces her lawyer to give her a job.

She investigates a suspicious real estate case involving the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

She discovers that the company is trying quietly to buy land that was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a deadly toxic waste that the company is improperly and illegally dumping and, in turn, poisoning the residents in the area. As she digs deeper, Erin finds herself leading a series of events that would involve her law firm in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history against a multibillion dollar corporation.

FENCELINE: A COMPANY TOWN DIVIDED (2003, 52 m, Filmakers Library) Polluting industries have a history of locating in low-income, minority communities, impacting health and leaving residents to fight for environmental justice. Fenceline follows the struggle of a Black neighborhood known as the Diamond Community to be relocated because of the pollution from the Royal Dutch/Shell Oil Company. When Shell bought out Diamond in the 1940s to build a petrochemical industry, the company said nothing about potential health hazards, instead promising high-paying jobs with generous benefits. Sixty years later, Norco, a company town that includes Diamond, is divided. Residents of the Diamond Community say they receive no economic benefits, yet they inherit health problems ranging from asthma to cancer. The majority of White residents who work for Shell view the company as a benevolent employer. They reject the health problems of their neighbors as the result of poor lifestyle choices. Meanwhile, Shell depicts itself as a ―good neighbor,‖ carefully monitoring chemical

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emissions and offering employment to the community. This film helped resolve the conflict in Norco; in June 2002, the publicity caused by the impending national broadcast of Fenceline on PBS prompted Shell to offer to buy out all four streets of the Diamond Community.

GLOBAL DUMP: TOXIC WASTE AND THE PLANETARY ECOSYSTEM (2007, 52 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) While international corporations boast of newfound environmental stewardship, toxic materials are still produced on a worldwide scale with underdeveloped nations serving as the planet‘s dump site. This program explores the issue, traveling to Asia, Africa, and Latin America to illustrate the effects of industrial waste on the environment, social systems, and human life.

Viewers will gain an understanding of several topics: the impact of pesticides and other chemical products, the role of large-scale food waste, the dangers low-wage workers face as they pick through urban trash heaps, and more. Images of discarded ships rusting in shallow harbors epitomize Western wastefulness and compose one of many powerful sequences in the film.

GLOBAL WARMING AND OZONE DEPLETION (2006, 30 m, Insight Media) This program examines global warming and ozone depletion. It discusses greenhouse gases, cooling effects, ozone, ozone-depleting gases, the effects of ozone depletion, and water and air pollution.

GOING GREEN: REAL-WORLD SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT (2007, 45 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) It‘s easy to talk about environmental stewardship but quite another matter to practice it. This compilation of twelve ABC News stories shows how governments, businesses, and individuals around the world are taking concrete, eco-friendly action. Each engaging example of ―going green‖ offers an opportunity for class discussion, further study, and perhaps even genuine change. The episodes are ―Businesses Going Green,‖ ―Interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger on Global Warming,‖ ―Electric Cars Encouraged in a Small California Town,‖ ―Solar Power Usage,‖ ―With the Olympics Looming, China Goes Green,‖ ―Buying the Right to Pollute,‖ ―Japan Goes Green,‖ ―Biofuel Usage for Airplanes,‖ ―San Francisco Goes Green,‖ ―Going Carbon Negative,‖ and ―A Family Goes Completely Green.‖ GREEN ARCHITECTURE: ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY HOUSING (2008, 30 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Combining aesthetics, sustainability, and function is the challenge of green architecture—and twenty teams of college students from North America and Europe brilliantly rise to that challenge as they compete to design, build, and demonstrate the operation of the most attractive and energy-efficient house at the 2007 Solar Decathlon held in Washington, D.C. This program tracks the teams from the University of Maryland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, and Lawrence Technological University as they seek out corporate sponsors, research available materials, and hone their construction skills to create appealing living spaces that require zero energy.

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THE GREEN FUEL GAMBLE: BETTER OR WORSE THAN OIL? (2008, 29 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Will biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions or actually increase them? Does the biofuel industry threaten the world‘s rain forests? Is corn, palm, rapeseed, or sugarcane the best plant source? What about recycled cooking oil? This program explores the ongoing controversy over biofuel technology, raising disturbing questions about sustainability and environmental impact while evaluating possible solutions. Expert commentary comes from key stakeholders in the debate, including officials at Greenpeace, Shell Oil Company, and biofuel manufacturer Greenergy.

THE HYDROGEN REVOLUTION: BEYOND OIL (2004, 50 m, Filmakers Library) This important film illuminates the issues surrounding the use of hydrogen instead of oil for energy. For more than a century, the world has lived on cheap oil. In 2003, Saudi Arabia announced that its oil production would be decreasing in the future due to depleted supplies.

Prof. Kenneth Deffeyes, author of Hubbard’s Peak, believes that the world‘s oil reserves will be depleted within forty years. Extreme price fluctuations tend to destabilize the world politically. A geologist working for the Iranian State Oil Company says that as a result of oil shortages ―we are about to face wars and terrorism.‖ Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Hydrogen Economy, insists that the world must shift to a sustainable hydrogen economy: ―When you produce hydrogen with renewable energy sources you will have a totally sustainable energy system; it will free us from oil dependency and pollution.‖ In accord with Rifkin‘s advice, Shell Oil and Daimler Chrysler are participating in Icelandic New Energy, which will lead Iceland into the new era. Hydrogen made from clean geothermal energy sources will make Iceland the world‘s first real hydrogen economy. As Rifkin says, ―The hydrogen revolution is not Utopian; it is about survival.‖ AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006, 100 m, rental) This documentary, orchestrated by former Vice President Al Gore, is a riveting and inescapable treatment of global warming. Even for those who oppose the environmental movement, the statistics presented in this film cannot be ignored.

MELTDOWN: A GLOBAL WARMING JOURNEY (2006, 60 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Despite widespread scientific acceptance of the global warming theory, it remains a highly contentious subject. This program studies divergent points of view contributing to the global warming debate, untangling a morass of political and scientific concerns and providing a wealth of historical background on the issue. Is the greenhouse effect as dangerous as theorized, or is that simply bad science? What effect on human life and the world economy can be expected in the coming years? Will the global community ever agree on a concerted plan of action? These and other questions shed light on the dominant environmental issue of our time.

POLLUTION IN CHINA THE PEOPLE PROTEST (2008, 30 m, Filmakers Library) Since the economic reforms of the 1980s, runaway economic growth has turned China into a major creator of pollution. While the Chinese government ineffectually tries to grapple with its

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growing environmental problems, rising discontent among the masses augurs political changes.

The film shows the city of Chongqing on the Yangzte River to be one of the most industrialized and polluted areas in China. Drinking water for the local population is precarious at best. Some 360 million Chinese find themselves in similar circumstances. One entrepreneur lost 450 tons of fish—and his business—as the result of illegal dumping. Six years of legal action against the polluting industry have come to nothing. He complains that during the case the corrupt authorities made his life hell. Hu Jia, a dissident currently under house arrest, says, ―Environmental officials are either bribed or have shares in the factories.‖ In Linfen, one of the most polluted cities, we see how China‘s growing dependence on coal to fuel its industries takes its toll. Cities like Linfen are becoming the biggest source of greenhouse gases. Residents in the area are disgusted and demand solutions, but the local authorities do nothing. The Ministry of the Environment has neither the will nor the resources to tackle the polluters. Grassroots campaigners are demanding a real voice in how decisions are taken. For those seeking political changes in the world‘s biggest dictatorship, these protests represent a small ray of light and hope.

SLOW FOOD REVOLUTION (2006, 52 m, Filmakers Library) Traditional foods are at risk of disappearing forever, as a speed-obsessed world turns increasingly to fast foods. To counter this trend, there is an international gastro-economic movement known as Slow Food. Its aim is to protect traditional culture, the environment, and biodiversity by encouraging regional food production. The movement is now active in forty-five countries. This film travels around the globe to record this phenomenon.

WASTE GENERATION, CHARACTERIZATION, COLLECTION, TRANSFER, AND DISPOSAL (1999, 45 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) The United States produces 200 million tons of municipal solid waste per year—and the landfill area used by the nation‘s ten largest cities alone is larger than the entire state of Indiana. Divided into two episodes, this program draws on the knowledge of William Mollere of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Marty Tittelbaum of the University of New Orleans, and other experts first to define the constituent parts of the municipal solid waste stream and then to discuss methods of collecting, transferring, and disposing of them. The impact of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is assessed.

WASTE NOT WASTE: ECOSANITATION (2008, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Flush toilets are one way to deal with human waste but they themselves are wasteful, as clean water and nutrient-rich biological matter are allowed to simply go down the drain. This earthy but informative program addresses the benefits of the dry toilet and waterless urinal, ecosanitation devices that collect human waste for use as compost and fertilizer. Ideal for regions where conventional sewage systems are unavailable, impractical, or outright impossible, dry toilets and waterless urinals have the potential to bring sustainable sanitation to billions in both developing and developed nations and improve the environment in the process. The use of gray water in conventional flush toilets is also presented. Some content may be objectionable to certain viewers.

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WIND POWER: A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE (2010, 15 m, Insight Media) This program examines modern wind power technologies, highlighting the three-blade, computer-controlled wind turbine. It also explores the economics of producing wind power, shows how wind power works, and looks at related environmental research.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Sustainable Living Did you notice improvement in the air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic as the economy closed down and driving greatly diminished? Does this short-term change suggest that, as a society, we have the power to protect the environment? What can individuals do in support of a sustainable environment?

Sample answer: The quality of the air did improve during the pandemic, but the results were short-lived. This fact suggests that lasting change will require more stringent policy and regulations. Clearly, individuals can make a difference by consuming less, recycling what they consume, and making other planet-friendly choices. The question is what it takes to ensure that these changes are made and remain in effect as the global population continues to increase in number and affluence.

2. Personalizing Global Warming Have you ever asked yourself what changes in your own life might contribute to a reduction in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a decrease in global warming? What do you think an individual can do to make a difference in our planet‘s future?

Sample answer: The chapter suggests consuming less is one key, recycling what we do consume is another, and making less use of carbon-based fuels is a third important requirement. People might also reconsider not only how much and what we consume, but also why we consume—which alerts us to the social significance we attach to consumption. Might we try to encourage ―conspicuous non-consumption‖ to motivate people to consume less?

3. Where Do You Stand?

Do you think our society is able to address climate change and other environmental problems with ―business as usual?‖ Or, do you think national and international policies must be enacted and enforced? Carefully read through the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, write a paragraph or two in which you state your degree of personal support for the liberal and conservative positions presented in the photo essay.

Sample answer: Conservatives claim that societies—especially those with advanced technology—can ―invent‖ solutions to most social problems, including environmental challenges. Conservatives are uneasy with political solutions to environmental issues, which they see as likely to increase government power, with a predictable reduction in personal liberty. Liberals tend to see technology not as a solution but as part of the problem because it allows humanity to have greater power to disturb the natural environment. Increasing population coupled to increasing affluence and more powerful technology combine to produce an ever-larger environmental impact. From this point of

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view, we need to turn to the government to ―invest‖ our way out of the current situation.

4. Global Map 17–1 Energy Consumption in Global Perspective In this journal assignment, explore the link between a country‘s energy consumption and its level of economic development. First, look at the map on the left, showing energy consumption for all countries. Then, look at the map on the right, that shows the level of economic development for all nations. Compare the two maps. What can you say about how high- and low-income nations compare in terms of energy use?

Sample answer: The map on the left identifies countries whose populations consume the greatest amounts of energy. In the ―Very high‖ and ―High‖ categories we find the United States, Canada, almost all nations in Western Europe, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Australia.

The map on the right confirms that these nations are all high-income nations.

Similarly, comparing the two maps will show that the countries that consume the least amount of energy are almost all low-income nations. These observations support the idea that greater affluence means greater consumption, and this includes consuming energy. In fact, everything we consume involves using energy—to make it, to transport it, and to sell it—from our homes and the light and heat we use, to plastics and computers, to clothing and even medicines.

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CHAPTER 18 WAR AND TERRORISM IM CHAPTER CONTENTS Chapter Update Author‘s Note Chapter Outline Learning Objectives Detailed Teaching Objectives John‘s Chapter Close-Up: The Doomsday Clock John‘s Personal Video Selection: Atomic Explosions Research for a Cutting-Edge Classroom Supplementary Lectures, Teaching Suggestions, Student Exercises, and Projects Web Links Essay Questions Film List Revel Journal Assessments CHAPTER UPDATE Chapter 18 of this revision updates the ―doomsday clock‖ measuring the risk of nuclear annihilation, the number of military conflicts active in the world, the loss of life in all U.S. wars, the increasing U.S. military budget, and the number of acts of terrorism. Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine is discussed throughout various sections of the chapter. There are twenty-eight new research citations in the revised chapter.

AUTHOR’S NOTE It is easy to conclude that war is the ultimate social problem. War carries enormously high costs in both financial and human terms. In a nuclear age, war threatens the survival of the planet and everything on it.

This chapter explores both the social causes and the consequences of war. The development of military technology is an important chapter theme, leading to the development of ―total war.‖ A host of other issues considered in the chapter include the following: • The link between social class and military service in the United States • War and children • The spread of nuclear weapons The remainder of the chapter deals with terrorism, linking this idea to war by pointing out similarities and differences between the two types of deadly violence.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. War and Peace: Basic Definitions 18.1 Explain the causes and consequences of both war and peace.

• War is violent conflict between nations or organized groups. Peace is the absence of violent conflict. o Figure 18–1 Deaths of Americans in Eleven U.S. Wars. o Window on the World Global Map 18–1 Peace in Global Perspective, 2022.

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The Increasing Destruction of War o War has existed across human history, but it has not remained the same. The trend toward more deadly weapons accelerated even faster during the twentieth century. o The past century saw the invention of weapons of mass destruction, weapons with the capacity to kill many thousands of people at one time. They have greater destructive power and target civilian populations.

The Causes of War o Perceived threats o Cultural and religious differences o Political objectives o Moral objectives o Wealth, power, and global standing o Social problems o Absence of alternatives The Economic Costs of Militarism o Some analysts claim that the United States—or more specifically, a powerful elite within this country—benefits from the traditionally high levels of military spending. They see the United States as dominated by a military-industrial complex, the close association of the federal government, the military, and the defense industries. In the United States, militarism is not only a matter of defense and national security but also a matter of profit and influence for the country‘s power elite.

The Economic Costs of War o War also destroys the infrastructure of a society: its homes and workplaces, water systems, electrical and communication networks, roads, bridges, railways, harbors, and airports. o The cost of maintaining the military establishment takes away economic resources from programs that improve people‘s health care, nutrition, and education.

The Human Costs of War o Historically, armed conflicts have become ever more deadly. o The Strategy of Total War ▪ Total war is deadly conflict directed at not only military targets but also population centers. This strategy blurs the lines between soldiers and civilians and puts all people at risk. o Concentration Camps ▪ Concentration camps are centers where prisoners are confined for purposes of state security, exploitation, punishment, or execution. o War Crimes ▪ A war crime is an offense against the law of war as established by international agreements and international law. o War-Related Disabilities ▪ The problems of illness and disability among veterans spill over into the world of work. Many veterans have difficulty finding and keeping jobs.

This is one reason that 1.2 million veterans earn incomes below the poverty line. o War and Children

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Finally, the human toll of war falls heavily on children. Children in lowincome countries are actually taking part in combat.

Social Class and the Military o The military has few young people raised in affluent families and also few who were raised in families experiencing poverty. Rather, the military has become a job mostly for working-class men and women who hope to earn some money to go to college or who look for a way to get out of the small town where they grew up.

Engaging the Issues: Has Our All-Volunteer Army Turned into a Warrior Caste?

Mass Media and War o Mass media outlets not only report the events but also frame them, guiding how viewers understand and interpret what happens.

War in the Nuclear Age o Nuclear weapons are bombs that use atomic reactions to generate enormous destructive force. o The Increase and Spread of Nuclear Weapons ▪ Recent decades have witnessed a pattern of nuclear proliferation, the acquisition of nuclear weapon technology by more and more nations.

▪ Nuclear proliferation increases the likelihood that regional conflict could trigger the use of nuclear weapons.

▪ Window on the World Global Map 18–2 Nuclear Weapons in Global Perspective. o The New Arms Race ▪ A new arms race is underway involving the United States, Russia, and China to develop hypersonic delivery systems that have the capacity to make nuclear weapons more efficient and even more deadly. o The Effects of Nuclear War ▪ Even a relatively small nuclear weapon of a single megaton, if detonated, will produce temperatures that exceed the heat on the surface of the sun.

▪ A nuclear winter, the cooling of Earth‘s atmosphere by as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit, would be triggered by the explosion of a few nuclear bombs at one time.

The Stability–Instability Paradox o The stability–instability paradox is the assertion that the fear of nuclear weapons being used in war may make conventional warfare more likely.

Strategies for Peace o Deterrence ▪ Deterrence is a strategy to keep peace based on the threat of retaliation.

The logic of deterrence, also known as mutual assured destruction (MAD), has helped prevent all-out war for more than seventy years. o High-Technology Defense ▪ A second strategy to keep the peace is the use of new technology, including satellites, to defend against a nuclear attack. o Arms Control ▪ A third strategy to keep the peace is arms control, international agreements on the development, testing, production, and deployment of weapons.

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o Diplomatic Resolution of Underlying Conflict ▪ The most effective path to peace is to resolve conflicts, the strategy of diplomacy. Peace depends on the efforts of national leaders and ambassadors posted in various countries as well as the work of international agencies such as the United Nations. o Constructing Social Problems: A Defining Moment: Mohandas Gandhi: Sending a Message of Peace II. Terrorism 18.2 Identify types of terrorism in the world as well as strategies to address terrorism.

• Terrorism involves unlawful, typically random acts of violence or the threat of violence by an individual, group, or government to achieve a political, economic, or social goal.

• State-sponsored terrorism is the practice by one government of providing money, weapons, and training to terrorists who engage in violence in another nation.

• Repressive state terrorism is government use of violence within its own national borders to suppress political opposition.

• The Extent of Terrorism o Terrorism: A Global Perspective ▪ In the last decade, terrorism has included an increasing number of actions involving kidnapping and the taking of hostages.

▪ A considerable amount of terrorism in the world has been carried out by radical jihadist Muslims who have directed their violence against the United States. The targeting of the United States reflects this nation‘s substantial military, economic, and political presence around the world. o Terrorism in U.S. History ▪ Although many people here in the United States think of terrorists as people from other countries, the United States has a long history of homegrown terrorism.

▪ The recent trend has been a decline in the number of terrorist incidents.

• The Costs of Terrorism o The economic costs of terrorist attacks are impossible to measure, but they reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

• Terrorism as a Type of War o The parties in conflict are not clearly known. o The objectives of the terrorist groups are not clearly stated. o Terrorism is asymmetrical. o Terrorism has no clear beginning or ending.

• Strategies for Dealing with Terrorism o Engage with Other Nations ▪ Diplomatic engagement with other nations can help to counter extremism, detect terrorist threats, degrade the ability of organizations to engage in violence, and strengthen security at borders and on airlines. o Make No Concessions ▪ Many national leaders say that they will never give into demands by terrorist groups. This policy is based on the logic that giving terrorists

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o o o o

o

what they want by, say, paying ransom, surrendering land, or freeing prisoners only encourages further violence.

Prosecute or Kill Terrorists ▪ Capturing and criminal prosecution is another strategy. In some cases, the U.S. military tries to kill terrorist leaders.

Apply Economic Sanctions ▪ The United States has applied economic sanctions or trade restrictions against a number of nations believed to be supporting terrorism.

Use Military Force ▪ Any use of military force is risky because it may provoke further terrorist attacks. In addition, going to war is almost always controversial.

Defend against Terrorism at Home ▪ Another strategy is to make terrorism harder to carry out. For decades, the U.S. government has used various security measures to protect travel facilities across the country. In addition, the government gathers intelligence data in an effort to identify domestic terrorist groups, monitor their activities, and prevent their attacks.

▪ Social media can help to resolve conflict by publicizing people‘s grievances and points of view, but at the same time it can also serve as a tool to spread hate and inspire violence.

Address the Root Causes of Terrorism ▪ This approach does not assume that the claims made by terrorists are valid, nor does it condone terrorists‘ use of violence against innocent people. But it does help us see that terrorism is a symptom of the passionate belief on the part of less powerful people that they are being treated unfairly.

III. Theories of War and Terrorism 18.3 Apply sociological theory to issues involving war and terrorism.

• Biological Theories of Conflict o Edward Wilson (1975) claims that certain types of human behavior, including war and aggression, result from competition among males in the process of reproduction.

• Structural-Functional Analysis: The Functions of Conflict o Structural-functional theory highlights the functions that war and other conflict have for society. Although war has obvious costs in terms of loss of life and property, it may accomplish important goals. o Today‘s sociologists point out that war has important political consequences.

▪ Most of the world‘s territorial boundaries have been established by wars.

▪ War and even terrorism have played a major role in creating new nations.

▪ War and terrorism have been strategies used by ethnic and religious populations seeking their own nation-states. o Another important function of both war and terrorism is encouraging the population of a nation to unite in support of a patriotic cause.

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• •

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o Finally, war has played a part in improving the social standing of women and other disadvantaged categories of people.

Diversity: Race, Class, & Gender: Women in the Military: An Equal Right to Kill?

Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meanings of Conflict o Symbolic-interaction theory focuses on the meanings that people attach to war and other types of violent conflict. National leaders use symbols and meanings as tools to spin the reality of war in a particular way. Leaders also use symbols to demonize an enemy.

Social-Conflict Analysis: Inequality and Conflict o Social-conflict theory links war to social inequality. Karl Marx considered political leaders to be little more than the servants of the capitalist class, the people who own the means of production. In Marx‘s day, capitalists colonized the world. Formal colonialism is now mostly in the past, but the pattern of foreign control remains. Groups opposing colonial rule often act outside the established political system. Terrorism can be an effective way for lesspowerful people to focus the world‘s attention on what they view as international injustice.

IV. Politics and War: Constructing Problems and Defining Solutions 18.4 Analyze war, terrorism, and the pursuit of peace from various positions on the political spectrum.

• The Far Right and Conservatives: Peace through Strength o From the right side of the political spectrum, people believe that the United States is a force for good in the world; at the same time, they recognize that some other nations or their leaders threaten this good. o Conservatives believe that a strong military protects the nation‘s interests against hostile forces beyond its border. For this reason, most support U.S. military actions abroad, when our national interests are at stake. o Conservatives also take a hard line against terrorism. People think the U.S. should do whatever is necessary to identify those responsible for terrorism and bring them to justice.

• Liberals: The Dangers of Militarism o Liberals agree with conservatives that the United States needs to be able to defend itself from attacks. However, they favor a lower level of military spending than conservatives support. o Liberals see militarism as draining resources that could be used to provide universal health insurance, eliminate student debt, reduce poverty, and improve run-down schools. o In terms of international tensions as well as terrorism, they believe that our country‘s first response should be diplomacy and negotiation.

• The Radical Left: Peace through Equality o The root cause of war, terrorism, and militarism is inequality. o From the radical left point of view, terrorism is a political response to powerlessness. As long as the United States and other powerful nations rule the world, we should expect oppressed groups to strike back.

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o War and terrorism will continue until the world moves toward greater social equality.

Going On from Here o Winning peace may well depend on implementing four strategies: ▪ The nations of the world must make significant efforts at arms control, with the goal of reducing the number of weapons of mass destruction, ▪ Controlling the proliferation of nuclear technology is equally important.

▪ We have much to learn about cyber-warfare and other new forms of conflict.

▪ Nations must learn to address the underlying issues of war and terrorism. o The planet‘s prospects for peace may hinge on real change that reduces the expanding economic gap between affluent people and those left behind.

Defining Solutions: What Is Your View of the U.S. Military? What about the Extent of Militarism in the World?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 18.1 Explain the causes and consequences of both war and peace.

18.2 Identify types of terrorism in the world as well as strategies to address terrorism.

18.3 Apply sociological theory to issues involving war and terrorism.

18.4 Analyze war, terrorism, and the pursuit of peace from various positions on the political spectrum.

DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 18, students should be able to: 1. Define the concepts of war and peace.

2. Describe how the destructive power of war has increased throughout history.

3. Identify and discuss the causes of war.

4. Discuss national and global spending for military purposes.

5. Explain the concept of total war.

6. Explain the human costs of war, including a discussion of the strategy of total war, concentration camps, war crimes, war-related disabilities, and war-involved children.

7. Discuss the relationship between social class, demographics, and participation in the U.S. military.

8. Discuss how the mass media frames war events.

9. Explain how the development of nuclear weapons changed the nature of war.

10. Identify and discuss various strategies for keeping the peace.

11. Explain the contributions of Mohandas Gandhi in teaching us how to defeat violence without being violent.

12. Describe various forms of terrorism.

13. Describe the extent and prevalence of terrorism in the world.

14. Explain how terrorism differs from conventional war.

15. Identify, describe, and evaluate strategies for dealing with terrorism.

18. 16. Explain Edward Wilson‘s biological theory of the causes of war.

17. What insights do we gain by applying structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict theory to war? Explain one limitation or criticism of each theoretical approach.

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18. Discuss the prevalence of women in the military and the controversy surrounding women as military personnel, including the issue of sexual assault.

19. Explain how one‘s position on the political spectrum guides the construction of war and terrorism and also shapes solutions to the problem of deadly conflict.

JOHN’S CHAPTER CLOSE-UP: THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK The development of nuclear weapons created the prospect that we humans could destroy ourselves. After the first use of nuclear bombs at the end of World War II, activists created the doomsday clock as a device used to measure how close humanity is to self-destruction. The first measurement, for 1947, placed the world seven minutes from disaster. The danger of humanity destroying itself increased with the unfolding of the Cold War, and tensions eased a bit with the signing of the first test ban treaty. By 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the termination of the Cold War, the likelihood of war had declined putting the world eighteen minutes from destruction. In 2018, partly due to intensifying conflict between North Korea and the United States, dangers had increased once again, placing the world stood at two minutes from doom. In 2023, the doomsday clock shows 90 seconds before midnight, which indicates the greatest danger of destruction since World War II. See Global Map 18–2 for a look at nuclear weapons in global perspective. This figure is available in the PowerPoint for this chapter.

JOHN’S PERSONAL VIDEO SELECTION: ATOMIC EXPLOSIONS This fifteen-minute video is beautiful, haunting, and chilling. Created by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto, this artistic portrayal shows when and where on the planet atomic bombs were exploded and by which nations. This video traces all the detonations beginning at the end of World War II in 1945 and shows the escalation of atomic testing during the height of the Cold War as well as nuclear proliferation as more nations gain this deadly technology. Go to an internet resource such as YouTube and search for a time lapse map of every nuclear explosion since 1945.

RESEARCH FOR A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM For each chapter of the text, I am happy to share a short PowerPoint-based presentation informed by very recent research. These presentations deal with highly current and typically controversial issues that are in the news and are part of the country‘s political dialogue. Each presentation provides a clear statement of the issue; several slides that present recent research findings from organizations including Pew, Gallup, or other organizations; notes that help instructors develop the importance of the data; and questions for class discussion.

For Chapter 18, the PowerPoint presentation identifies patterns of membership in the U.S. military. This PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from my personal website, www.TheSociologyPage.com. Look at the bottom left of the main page for the doorway to ―PowerPoint Presentations.‖ You can also visit this text‘s Resources site at Pearson‘s online catalog, or find the PowerPoints at the Instructor‘s Resources folder in your Pearson Revel account.

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SUPPLEMENTARY LECTURES, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, STUDENT EXERCISES, AND PROJECTS 1. TED Talks provide short, high-quality videos that support lectures and class discussion. Using a video search engine, you can find videos dealing with the causes of terrorism, the war on terrorism, the lessons of terrorism, and how to prevent war and terrorism.

2. Depending on what is going on with world conflict at the present moment, address the issue of war and terrorism and encourage students to express their points of view about the United States‘ involvement in the various international struggles that currently exist. Try to link levels of support of U.S. involvement abroad to political attitudes.

3. From the combined memories of all class members, construct a list of children‘s toys and games that create or convey images of war. Certainly such games as Risk, Stratego, and Battleship will come to mind, along with a host of weapons. Discuss these games in conjunction with the Star Wars phenomenon that has taken the industry (movies, TV, toys, magazines, puzzles, Halloween masks) by storm and how, amazingly, the rerelease of this trilogy made millions more in the late 1990s. In 2015, another round of Star Wars movies began. Also consider taking a survey of current toys and games on the shelves of local toy stores.

4. Ask students to consider the hypocrisy surrounding the ―rules of war.‖ If people are going to fight other people and try to kill them through a variety of technological means, why should any rules exist? Rules of waging war are frequently violated, but these rules seem to be constantly reinterpreted as the technology changes. One might consider that the use of defoliants in Vietnam was harmful to animals and plant life, but the use of these substances was ruled justifiable in that war due to the prevailing ―triple canopy‖ jungles in Southeast Asia, which permitted the enemy to conceal themselves. Concerns have also been voiced about burying Iraqi tank crews alive during battles that occurred during the Gulf War. Ask students to pose and discuss the question ―Do rules of war make sense or not?‖ 5. Students can interview veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts. They can ask them about their motivations for entering the military, about the attitudes and responses of their family and friends to their enlistment (or mandatory service), about their training, their experiences in combat, their relationships with others in the military, and their current feelings about the extent to which they feel their participation was worthwhile (did it save America from invasion, stop the spread of communism, or was it a futile experience?). It would also be interesting to ask them how they feel about people in countries who were identified as the enemy but with whom we now have friendly relations. In writing an overview of their findings, students can comment on what they learned about individuals‘ interpretations of war as compared to war as a social problem.

6. The military draft ended more than forty years ago. Some students today tend to think that the draft could never happen again. A spirited discussion can be motivated by asking students to assess the working-class military we have now. In addition, ask students to what extent they think conscription would spread the responsibility for defending the country more fairly.

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7. Terrorism is always a difficult topic to address, and young people tend to react strongly to it.

People understandably view it very negatively, and they are very surprised to learn that there were U.S. terrorists during our own Revolutionary War. This usually stimulates considerable discussion. For material on terrorism during the American Revolution, see Graham and Gurr‘s The History of Violence in America (New York: Bantam Books, 1969). Two excellent resources for material on more modern terrorism are Richard Rubenstein‘s Alchemists of Revolution: Terrorism in the Modern World (New York: Basic Books, 1987) and Jack P. Gibbs‘s ―Conceptualization of Terrorism‖ (American Sociological Review, 54, June 1989: 329–40).

8. Discuss the role that social media and mass media play in promoting and criticizing patriotism. Few are truly neutral in the position they take (although All Quiet on the Western Front effectively presented the horror of World War I). More recently, Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Born on the Fourth of July, and Full Metal Jacket helped us as a nation put the Vietnam War in new perspective. Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, and HBO‘s mini-series ―Band of Brothers‖ about the First Airborne‘s Easy Company have pointed out the sacrifices of American soldiers during World War II. Enemy at the Gates about the duel between a young Russian sniper and a veteran German sniper brought home the realities of war to the current generation of moviegoers. (All of the abovementioned movies are available to rent, should any students be interested in viewing them.) The federal government in the past has asked Hollywood producers to consider new films that might promote patriotism among Americans.

Ask your students their feelings about movies as a propaganda device—what are the pros and what are the cons?

9. Encourage students to consider the socioeconomic status of most soldiers who enlist for military service. As a class, outline how those soldiers are similar to and different from the students in your class. Discuss the different social forces that led your students to choose college over the armed services. Ask students to share their view of what it means to join the military and the conditions under which they would join the service. Finally, ask students who have served, are currently serving, or will serve in the future to share their perspectives.

10. In 2009, President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee pointed to President Barack Obama‘s extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee attached special importance to Obama‘s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. President Trump took a rather different tone when engaging both this country‘s allies and enemies. Ask the class to assess President Obama and President Trump in terms of their contributions to both the security of the United States and peace in the world as a whole, and to discuss and assess the contributions of the current, Biden administration.

WEB LINKS Arms Control Association http://www.armscontrol.org History Central: Click on Wars http://www.historycentral.com National Center for PTSD Home: U.S. Department of Veteran‘s Affairs http://www.ptsd.va.gov

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New York Times: Search Women at Arms: Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In http://www.nytimes.com U.S. Department of State: Search Agreement between the United States and the USSR on the Prevention of Nuclear War http://www.state.gov World Centric: Click on Conscious Living; Militarism & Conflicts http://www.worldcentric.org ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the ways that the development of nuclear weapons changed the destructive power of war.

2. As the deadly potential of weapons grows, the problem of war becomes an even greater concern. While conservatives claim that a strong military protects our national interests, liberals don‘t support military spending to the degree that conservatives do. How do you respond to someone arguing that the best defense is a good offense? Explain your position on this issue.

3. Identify and discuss the causes of war. In your view, which are justifiable and which are not?

Explain your answer.

4. Discuss the Geneva Convention and explain the three types of war crimes.

5. What criteria would you use to determine whether or not an act constitutes a war crime?

Would ―bombing Afghanistan back into the Stone Age‖ constitute a war crime? Was Saddam Hussein a war criminal? Why or why not?

6. Consider the number of veterans who are in poverty, unemployed, or disabled. Consider the scandal that began in 2014 as tens of thousands of veterans waited for medical care from the Veterans Administration. What, if anything, should be done to assist such veterans? Explain your answer and discuss how your ideas are connected to a specific political viewpoint.

7. Do you think the United States should continue on the path of reducing the arsenal of nuclear and chemical weapons? Why or why not?

8. List and define the ―strategies for peace‖ cited in the text. Which would you be most likely to use if you were the president? Explain your answer.

9. List the ―strategies for dealing with terrorism‖ cited in the text. Which strategy/strategies would you use in dealing with terrorist activities? Explain your answer.

10. Explain how terrorism differs from conventional war.

11. Discuss the USA PATRIOT Act and its criticisms. Do you support or oppose the act?

Explain your answer.

12. Discuss Edward Wilson‘s biological theory of the causes of war.

13. Explain and evaluate the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict analyses of war.

14. Discuss the controversy raised by the participation of women in the military. Would there be more controversy if no women served in the military?

15. Explain the relationship between class, demographics, and military enlistment.

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FILM LIST AMERICAN SNIPER (2014, 134 m, Warner Brothers) This film describes the military life of Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper on record. The film is a graphic portrayal of the horrors of war and also presents the heavy personal toll of war on veterans and their families.

ABU GHRAIB: A TORTURER’S TALE (2005, 25 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Javal Davis was imprisoned for assaulting inmates at Abu Ghraib but insists he is not a torturer.

His fellow MP Ken Davis was never implicated, having reported the abuse to superiors. This program presents in-depth interviews with both men, detailing their side of the story and conveying their disillusionment with Pentagon officials who wanted interrogations pushed ―up a notch.‖ Featuring nightmarish descriptions and images from inside the prison—highlighting deplorable conditions endured by inmates and guards alike—the program also includes insight into the mentality of reservist Charles Graner, currently serving a ten-year sentence for Abu Ghraib torture.

AFTER SILENCE (2003, 30 m, Bullfrog Films) This film poses the question, ―What does it mean to be an American in a time of uncertainty and fear?‖ The subject area is the fragile nature of civil rights, and it explores the Japanese American internment through the lens of 9/11. As a child, Dr. Frank Kitamoto and his family lived on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where the U.S. government first ordered Japanese Americans to register and leave their homes and then interned them in detention camps, a panic-stricken reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For decades, the Japanese American community rarely spoke of the disturbing experience of their exclusion and incarceration.

AL QAEDA AFTER 9/11 (2005, 25 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) After September 11, Al Qaeda was forced to move its base of operations from Afghanistan to such countries as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan and to cyberspace. This program examines Al Qaeda‘s methods of training and recruitment of new members and features U.S. government officials, experts on terrorism, and footage from training videos seized in raids.

BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE (2004, 23 m, Bullfrog Films) The United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia encourages combatants to turn in their weapons and wage peace. Liberia, Africa‘s oldest republic, was relatively calm until 1980, when William Tolbert was overthrown by Sergeant Samuel Doe after food price riots. By the late 1980s, arbitrary rule and economic collapse culminated in civil war when dissidents of Charles Taylor‘s National Patriotic Front overran much of the countryside and executed Doe. More than half of the population fled their homes in terror during its long and bloody civil war. After fourteen years of anarchy, the international community arrived in force in an attempt to stabilize the country. When this film was made in 2004, many saw this as Liberia‘s last chance. With

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more than 59,000 fighters (some of them children) demobilized in three months and another 15,000 to follow, this Life program reports on Liberia‘s attempts to find a way of engaging the former fighters in rebuilding their country to sustain the peace.

BLOOD AND OIL (2003, 52 m, Bullfrog Films) As the war against Iraq was approaching, many international organizations were working to identify and anticipate the effects of this conflict on the civilian population and economy of Iraq.

Interviews with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War present us with possible scenarios for the conduct and repercussions of the war. What is the price, and who will pay it? This film looks at the damage done to the United Nations and the refusal of the United States to join the International Criminal Court, to be bound by any international standards. It looks at the justification for war, namely, weapons of mass destruction. Former weapons inspector Scott Ritter demolishes that argument.

So what are we fighting for? Howard Zinn points out that the central feature of U.S. policy in the Middle East was our need for a dependable supply of oil. It alone can explain our actions, from the overthrow of the Mossadegh regime in Iran in 1956 to the first Gulf War in 1991, even to our attempt to oust Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

BREAKING THE SILENCE: TRUTH AND LIES IN THE WAR ON TERROR (2003, 52 m, Bullfrog Films) Award-winning journalist John Pilger investigates the discrepancies between American and British claims for the ―war on terror‖ and the facts on the ground as he finds them in Afghanistan and Washington, D.C. In 2001, as the bombs began to drop, George W. Bush promised Afghanistan ―the generosity of America and its allies.‖ Now, the familiar old warlords are regaining power, religious fundamentalism is renewing its grip and military skirmishes continue routinely. In ―liberated‖ Afghanistan, America has its military base and pipeline access, while the people have the warlords who are, says one woman, ―in many ways worse than the Taliban.‖ CHILDREN OF WAR (2003, 28 m, Filmakers Library) Thousands of children have been kidnapped and used as soldiers by the Ugandan rebel army, the Lord‘s Resistance Army. The children, many who are tortured, live a life of terror: girls as young as twelve are used as sex slaves, while the boys are forced to sometimes even kill family members. Once they have completed this terrible task, they are considered tough enough to be used in raids by the rebel army. This film follows two such children who escaped from their captors: Judith who for six years lived as a sex slave for a rebel commander, and Dennis who was caught when he tried to escape the first time and consequently forced to kill his friend. John Rheinstein, a therapist from Save the Children Denmark, attempts to create a new life for those children who have run away from the rebel army. The rehabilitation program includes having the children draw and reenact their traumatic experiences. Judith‘s parents are found, and she is reunited with her family, who thought that she had been killed. Three months after his return to the rehabilitation camp, Dennis is still battling with his traumas; his family has failed to retrieve him. Despite all attempts by groups like Save the Children to stop the violence, it is a sad fact that very few children come out of the bush alive in this ―forgotten war.‖

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DOMESTIC TERRORISM: PART 1 (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) This program questions why educated men and women take up arms in opposition to their democratic governments. It considers the role of ideology and examines the factors that determine whether they obtain their goals.

DOMESTIC TERRORISM: PART 2 (2005, 30 m, Insight Media) This program shows why highly motivated and intelligent terrorists are difficult for law enforcement to catch. It considers the temptations for governments to bend or break the law in the pursuit of terrorists.

ETHNIC CLEANSING: THE MEDIA AND WORLD OPINION (2001, 56 m, Filmakers Library) This riveting documentary follows step by step the persuasive media offensive waged by a powerful public relations firm for its client in the Balkan War in 1992. It shows how the key phrase ―ethnic cleansing‖ was used in a media campaign by the firm Ruder Finn. There, James W. Harff orchestrated the campaign that implied ―ethnic cleansing‖ was a human rights violation harking back to the Nazi era. This key phrase was planted in the media around the world with the certainty that this euphemism for genocide would jolt the West‘s collective memory of past atrocities to lead world opinion against Serbia. It worked. Harff describes his strategy: how he pursued print and TV journalists and finally the White House. He used the photogenic Bosnian Foreign Minister Dr. Haris Silajdzic to make Bosnia‘s case more compelling. Serbian leaders, including the former prime minister Milan Panic, admit making serious errors in putting forth their side of the story. So successful was Harff‘s campaign to vilify Serbia that it became the first nation ever to be expelled by the United Nations. Following that, the UN set up a tribunal in The Hague to examine war crimes.

FACES OF THE ENEMY (1986, 58 m, Catticus Corp.)

This is a very interesting movie about how people around the world characterize their ―enemies.‖ It emphasizes the similarities in the ways that people stereotype those toward whom they feel hostilities. The film presumes that knowledge of how we think about enemies can translate into changes in our ways of thinking that will reduce the likelihood of violent outcomes.

FEDERAL RESOURCES IN THE FIGHT ON TERRORISM (2002, 25 m, Insight Media) This program examines federal government resources available to municipal, county, and state law enforcement agencies for combating terrorism. It focuses on grassroots-level counterterrorism efforts.

GLOBAL JIHAD (2004, 22 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) To better understand the forces behind Islamic terrorism, students need to look beyond the Middle East. This ABC News program examines the rise of Al Qaeda–style fundamentalism in Southeast Asia, the institutions that support it, and the threats to America that it represents.

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Investigating the organization known as Jemaah Islamiyah—and an Indonesian boarding school that is, essentially, the group‘s West Point—the video sorts through one of the most troubling paradoxes of the war on terror: how militant Islam appears to be supported by a unified global network, while regional and national groups carry out their own independent brands of jihad.

THE GOOD WAR AND THOSE WHO REFUSED TO FIGHT IT (2002, 57 m, Bullfrog Films) Millions of Americans fought for the liberation of Europe from Hitler‘s grip during World War II. Yet 40,000 Americans refused to shoulder weapons in ―the good war‖ because their conscience would not allow them to kill another human being. In the face of criticism and scorn, the men challenged the limits of democracy in wartime. Many participated in the social movements that transformed America in the generations that followed. This is their story.

GROUNDS FOR RESISTANCE: STORIES OF WAR, SACRIFICE, AND GOOD COFFEE (2011, 50 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Joint Base Lewis-McChord is a major U.S. military facility located nine miles south of Tacoma, Washington. Within walking distance of the base sits Coffee Strong, a nonprofit cafe established in 2008 by young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. At Coffee Strong, soldiers, veterans, and members of military families have a venue in which to openly discuss politics, combat experiences, and the impact of war. The cafe also provides counseling services and other resources for those struggling with combat stress, military sexual trauma, difficulties with veteran benefits, or legal challenges. This documentary profiles the veterans who run Coffee Strong, exploring their decisions to join the military, their memories of deployment, their relationships with one another, and how their efforts to make a more peaceful and just world overlap with their own experiences of war.

HOTEL RWANDA (2004, 121 m, rental) The Hutu extremists of Rwanda initiated a terrifying campaign of genocide, massacring hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsis, while the rest of the world looked on and did nothing.

Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, uses his influence to help local Tutsis, who were being harassed and beaten with increasing frequency. When violence escalates and the Hutus begin their genocide of the Tutsis, European guests and staff at the hotel are flown out of the country, and Paul is left in charge. He finds that his conscience won‘t allow him to watch as the innocent are slaughtered, and before long, the hotel has become a well-appointed refugee camp. Paul is seen as a traitor by some, putting his life in danger, and the predicament of his ―guests‖ grows more precarious every day. Despite good intentions on the part of a journalist and a UN peacekeeping colonel, however, the rest of the world is not eager to intervene and stop the massacre. This film can lead to a hearty discussion of the human costs of war, as well as the media‘s role in framing war events.

INDEPENDENT INTERVENTION (2006, 75 m, Bullfrog Films) Independent Intervention is an award-winning documentary about U.S. media coverage of the conflict in Iraq. Focusing on the human costs of war, it contrasts corporate-controlled media

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coverage of the invasion of Iraq with independent media reports of the brutal realities on the ground. Through discussions with media experts, including Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Dahr Jamail, Danny Schechter, David Barsamian, Kalle Lasn, Norman Solomon, and James Zogby, the film investigates important issues and systems that govern today‘s information flow and shows how these systems of control reveal themselves during times of political turmoil and war.

IN THE WAKE OF WAR (2004, 24 m, Bullfrog Films) A burgeoning grassroots peace movement in Burundi is aimed at ending civil war between Tutsis and Hutus. Philippe Mvuyekure spent five years living in a refugee camp in Tanzania. Now on his way home, he‘s among thousands of refugees convinced that the bitter, ten-year civil war that decimated his homeland of Burundi is coming to an end. The civil war between Hutu rebels and the Tutsi-dominated army uprooted more than a million people and killed more than 300,000 people. Using traditional mediation systems and peacemakers, Burundi introduced innovative peace and reconciliation projects with the aim of starting a grassroots movement to bring a lasting peace to Burundi and its long-suffering citizens. This program examines the future for Burundi, for power sharing, and for a rapprochement between warring factions.

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM SINCE 1945: AL QAEDA (2008, 25 m, Insight Media) This BBC production traces the history of Al Qaeda prior to September 11 and considers the terrorist group‘s aims. It also discusses Al Qaeda‘s operations since September 11, including bombings in Bali, Madrid, and London.

THE INVISIBLE ENEMY: WEAPONIZED SMALLPOX (2008, 52 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Smallpox has officially been eradicated worldwide but the destruction of lab cultures in government-sponsored biowar facilities was never monitored. A blend of dramatization and documentary, this program considers how any lethal virus such as smallpox can be weaponized and deployed from preexisting stockpiles and by laboratory manufacture from mail-order genetic material and online genome maps. The culturing of as-yet-unnamed animal viruses that are potentially capable of jumping the animal/human genetic boundary is also addressed. The film provides a harrowing what-if scenario of bioterror combined with cutting-edge virology.

JIHAD TV: TERRORISM AND MASS MEDIA (2006, 57 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) In Al Qaeda‘s global jihad against the West, videos of smiling suicide bombers and insurgent ambushes have become as important as the attacks they glorify. This program illustrates in chilling detail how Islamic extremists use the power of the internet and the network sound byte.

From the markets of Baghdad, where brightly packaged jihadist DVDs are snapped up by young consumers, to the broadcast studios of Al Arabiya, where editors debate the merits and consequences of airing graphic violence, the program explores the inextricable links between media technology and terrorist agendas.

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ORIGINS OF MODERN TERRORISM (2007, 20 m, Insight Media) This program identifies the two main categories of terrorist groups and explains how the nature and tactics of terrorism have evolved throughout history. It also explores efforts by counterterrorism security forces.

SIR! NO SIR! (2005, 84 m, Bullfrog Films) In the 1960s, an antiwar movement emerged that altered the course of history. It flourished in army stockades, navy brigs, and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point. And it spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam.

Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. And by 1971 it had, in the words of one colonel, infested the entire armed services. Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam. By the Pentagon‘s own figures, 503,926 ―incidents of desertion‖ occurred between 1966 and 1971; officers were being ―fragged‖ (killed with fragmentation grenades by their own troops) at an alarming rate; and by 1971 entire units were refusing to go into battle in unprecedented numbers. In the course of a few short years, more than 200 underground newspapers were published by soldiers around the world; local and national antiwar GI organizations were joined by thousands; thousands more demonstrated against the war at every major base in the world in 1970 and 1971, including in Vietnam itself; stockades and federal prisons were filling up with soldiers jailed for their opposition to the war and the military.

The film does four things: (1) brings to life the history of the GI movement through the stories of those who were part of it; (2) reveals the explosion of defiance that the movement gave birth to with never-before-seen archival material; (3) explores the profound impact that movement had on the military and the war itself; and (4) tells the story of how and why the GI movement has been replaced with the myth of the spat-upon veteran.

SOLDIERS OF CONSCIENCE (2007, 54 m, Bullfrog Films) From West Point grads to drill sergeants, from Abu Ghraib interrogators to low-ranking reservist-mechanics, soldiers in the U.S. Army today reveal their deepest moral concerns about killing in war. Their message: All soldiers wrestle with their conscience over killing. Although most decide to kill, some refuse. Soldiers of Conscience reveals that far more soldiers decide not to kill than we might expect. Made with official permission from the U.S. Army and filmed in high-definition video, Soldiers of Conscience is a realistic yet optimistic look at war, peace, and the power of the human conscience.

TARGETING TERROR (2009, 29 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) The war on terror requires greater cooperation among countries and a deeper understanding of terrorism‘s causes and manifestations. This program spotlights five nations caught in the crosshairs to examine regional history, terror-related issues, and counterterrorism actions: the United States, post-9/11, where captured international terrorists have been handled by military rather than civilian courts; the United Kingdom, where fighting the IRA has ultimately conferred little advantage to the country in its battle against the Islamic extremists in its midst; Germany and Japan, whose counterterrorism efforts are constitutionally constrained by their history as

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aggressors in World War II; and Colombia, a land of narcoterrorism where extradition to America has been the government‘s key antiterrorism weapon.

TORTURING DEMOCRACY (2008, 90 m, Bullfrog Films) In a riveting and dramatic narrative, Torturing Democracy tells the inside story of how the U.S. government adopted torture as official policy in the aftermath of 9/11. With exclusive interviews, explosive documents, and rare archival footage, the documentary has been called the definitive broadcast account of a deeply troubling chapter in recent American history. Produced by Sherry Jones, broadcast journalist and winner of Emmy and DuPont awards, the film relies on the record to connect the dots in an investigation of interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody that became ―at a minimum, cruel and inhuman treatment and, at worst, torture,‖ in the words of the former general counsel of the United States Navy, Alberto Mora. Producer Jones carefully presents the evidence that leads straight to the top of the chain of command and so puts to rest the ―rotten apple‖ defense for abusive interrogations at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere.

WAR SPIN: THE MEDIA AND THE IRAQ WAR (2003, 46 m, Films for the Humanities and Sciences) Some stories are simply too good to be true. In this program, John Kampfner, political editor for the New Statesman (London), skewers heroic reports of the ambush, capture, and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, calling them misrepresentations designed to bolster wavering support for the Iraq War. Kampfner also scrutinizes the controversial practice of embedding members of the news media in military units and questions the sincerity and overall informational value of the daily CentCom briefings in Doha. This film provides an ideal springboard for discussions about propaganda, media ethics, and journalism in the modern combat zone.

REVEL JOURNAL ASSESSMENTS 1. Personalizing Military Service Have you served in the U.S. military? Has any member of your family? What factors help explain why or why not?

Sample answer: As you prepare a response to these personal questions, think sociologically. To what extent are your responses linked to gender, class, race, region of the country? Keep in mind that 99 percent of U.S. adults have had no direct involvement in the U.S. military.

2. Personalizing Terrorism To what extent have you been personally affected by terrorism? Consider both direct experiences with attacks and also fear caused by terrorism.

Sample answer: As you prepare a response to this question, remember that who is considered to be engaged in ―terrorism‖ reflects one‘s political point of view and allegiances. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict that began in 2023 causes students on many campuses across the country to experience fear. Have you had any such experience?

3. Where Do You Stand?

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Is the U.S. military a force for good in the world? Carefully read the Defining Solutions photo essay. Then, in a paragraph or two, state the extent to which you support the liberal or conservative view of the U.S. military as presented in the photo essay.

Sample answer: In preparing your response to this assignment, keep politics in mind.

From the left side of the political spectrum, critics see militarism as supporting and extending capitalism. Therefore, they are at least cautious and, sometimes, outright opposed to the use of U.S. military power and its ability to shape the politics and economy of the world. From the right side of the political spectrum, the political and economic systems of the United States are viewed as positive and, therefore, the assessment of U.S. military power is quite different—as a force for good in the world.

4. Global Map 18–1 Peace in Global Perspective, 2022 This journal assignment asks you to explore the relationship between peacefulness and nations‘ level of economic development. To do this, look first at the map on the left, which provides a measure of peacefulness for nations of the world. Then look at the map on the right. Compare the two maps. In general, do high-income nations appear to be more peaceful than low-income nations? Are all ―most peaceful‖ nations high-income nations? Are all high-income nations peaceful?

Sample answer: Using the ―Peace Index,‖ an assessment of peacefulness created and compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Canada, Japan, Australia, and most nations in Western Europe are ranked in the highest two categories as peaceful. If you look at the map on the right, you will see that these nations are all high-income countries.

Similarly, a cluster of ―least peaceful‖ countries in Central Africa are all ―low income‖ countries. This provides limited evidence linking higher economic development to higher peacefulness.

Even so, there are clear exceptions. The United States, a high-income nation, was recently reclassified as about average in terms of peacefulness. Several nations in South America, southern Africa, and South Asia are low-income countries that are also peaceful.

In short, we have some evidence that higher-income nations are more peaceful than lower-income countries. Also, the most peaceful nations do appear to be high income. But not all high-income countries are peaceful. And not all low-income countries are low on the peace index.

5. Global Map 18–2 Nuclear Weapons in Global Perspective Your journal assignment is to assess how having nuclear weapons is linked to a nations‘ level of economic development. To do that, look at the map on the right and compare the two maps.

What pattern do you see?

Sample answer: Nine nations in the world are known to possess nuclear weapons. Almost all of these are high-income countries. At the same time, no low-income nation is known to have nuclear weapons. So a general pattern holds linking nuclear weapons to higher economic development. Even so, most nations with high economic development do not have nuclear weapons. North Korea, one of the least economically developed countries on Earth, does have such weapons. Therefore, developing or not developing a nuclear arsenal is not an economic decision as much as it is a political decision.

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