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Migration is the movement by people from one place to another.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the types of migration in society and the various theories that explain migration
Key Points
• Migration is the physical movement by people from one place to another; it may be over long distances, such as from one country to another, and can occur as individuals, family units, or large groups.
• Lee’s laws divide factors causing migrations into two groups of factors: push and pull factors. Push factors are things that are unfavorable about the area that an immigrant is coming from; pull factors are things that attract the immigrant to the new location.
• Types of migration include seasonal migration, urbanization, suburbanization, and forced migration.
• International migration is known as immigration.
• Sociologists use multiple theories to explain migration based on economic and social factors.
Key Terms
• Seasonal migration: Movement from one place to another generally associated with agriculture and tourism; seasonal agricultural migrants follow crop cycles, moving from place to place to plant or harvest crops.
• emigration: The movement of a person or persons out of a country or national region, for the purpose of permanent relocation of residence.
• immigration: The passing or coming of a person into a country for the purpose of permanent residence.
Human Migration
Migration is the physical movement by people from one place to another; it may be over long distances, such as from one country to another, and can occur as individuals, family units, or large groups. When referring to international movement, migration is generally called immigration.
Lee’s laws divide factors causing migrations into two groups of factors: push and pull factors. Push factors are things that are unfavorable about the area that an immigrant is coming from; pull factors are things that attract the immigrant to the new location.Historically, migration has been nomadic, meaning people sustained movement from place to place over their lifetimes. Although only a few nomadic people have retained this lifestyle in modern times, migration continues as both involuntary migration (such as the slave trade, human trafficking, and ethnic cleansing) and voluntary migration within a region, country, or beyond. Specific types of migrants can include colonizers (who forcefully enter into a country or territory), refugees (who are forced to flee their country), and temporary migrants (who travel to a new place temporarily, such as business travelers, tourists, or seasonal farm workers).
Along with fertility and mortality, migration is one of three major variables studied by demographers to measure population change.
Types of Migration
Seasonal migration is generally associated with agriculture and tourism. Seasonal agricultural migrants follow crop cycles, moving from place to place to plant or harvest crops. Some countries, including the United States, allow special permits for seasonal agricultural workers to temporarily work in the country without granting full citizenship rights. Seasonal tourists seek out certain natural amenities, like snow-capped mountains for skiing and winter sports or desert sunshine for a break from oppressive winters.
Urbanization refers to migration from rural to urban areas. Since the 1970s, urbanization has become more common in developing countries, where industrialization has made agriculture more efficient and has increased the demand for urban labor. Previously, massive urbanization also took place in developed countries; beginning in Britain in the late eighteenth century, millions of agricultural workers left the countryside and moved to the cities.
Industrialization also sparked transnational labor migration that has further swelled urban populations. In the early twentieth century, transnational labor migration reached a peak of three million migrants per year. During this period, emigration rates were especially high in Italy, Norway, Ireland and the Guangdong region of China.
In the United States, industrialization also led to considerable internal migration (or human migration within a nation) of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. From 1910-1970, approximately seven million African Americans migrated north to escape both poor economic opportunities and considerable political and social prejudice in the South. They settled in the industrial cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and West, where relatively well-paid jobs were available. This phenomenon came to be known in the United States as the Great Migration.
In many developed countries, urbanization has slowed and the population has begun to move out of cities — in some cases back to rural areas, but most frequently, to newly-built suburbs. The movement from cities to surrounding suburbs is called suburbanization and represents yet another form of internal migration.
Yet another kind of migration, forced migration refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region. It has been a means of social control under authoritarian regimes, taking the form of ethnic cleansing, slave trades, human trafficking, and forced displacement.
Theories of Migration
According to neoclassical economic theory, labor migration is motivated primarily by wage differences between two geographic locations. These differences can usually be explained by differences in the supply of and demand for labor. Areas with a shortage of labor but an excess of capital will have a high relative wage, whereas areas with a high labor supply and a dearth of capital will have a low relative wage. Following neoclassical principles, migrants tend to move from low-wage areas to high-wage areas where their labor is in higher demand.
The new economics of labor migration theory criticizes neoclassical economic theory for its narrow focus on individual decisions. According to the new economics theory, migration flows and patterns cannot be explained solely at the level of individual workers and their economic incentives. Instead, wider social entities must be considered as well. One such social entity is the household. Migrants may choose to move in order to reduce the social and economic risk that a household experiences as a result of having insufficient income. The household, in this case, needs extra capital, which can be attained by family members who participate in migrant labor abroad and send money back home as remittances. These remittances can also have a broader effect on the economy of the receiving country as a whole as they bring in capital.
World systems theory looks at migration from a global perspective.It explains that interaction between different societies can be an important factor in social change within societies. Trade with one country, which causes economic decline in another, may create incentives to migrate to a country with a more vibrant economy. It can be argued that even after decolonization, the economic dependence of former colonies still remains.
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• Birth rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_rate. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Fertility rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_rate. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Fecundity. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecundity. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Fertility. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Introduction to Sociology/Demography. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Demography%23Fertility_and_Fecundity. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• contraception. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/contraception. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• fertility. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fertility. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• fecundity. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fecundity. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Fertility-development controversy. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility-development_controversy. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Total fertility rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Mortality rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Introduction to Sociology/Demography. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Demography%23Mortality. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Crude death rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Crude_death_rate. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Boundless. Provided by: Boundless Learning. Located at: www.boundless.com//biology/definition/life-table. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Boundless. Provided by: Boundless Learning. Located at: www.boundless.com//sociology/definition/causes-of-death. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Fertility-development controversy. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility-development_controversy. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Total fertility rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
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• Human migration. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migration. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• immigration. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immigration. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• emigration. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/emigration. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Boundless. Provided by: Boundless Learning. Located at: www.boundless.com//sociology/definition/seasonal-migration. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Fertility-development controversy. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility-development_controversy. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Total fertility rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Mortality rate. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Human migration. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migration. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.01%3A_Population_Dynamics/17.1C%3A_Migration.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the implications both overpopulation and underpopulation can have for society
Fertility rates refer to the rates of birth per 1,000 women of reproductive age in a given population. When the fertility rate is at the replacement level, a population will remain stable, neither growing nor shrinking. However, when the fertility rate deviates from the replacement level, the size of the population will change. Fertility rates above the replacement level will cause the population to grow; fertility rates below the replacement level will cause the population to shrink.
The population reached 6 billion people around 1999, and increased to around 7 billion by 2012. However, in some countries the birth rate is falling while the death rate is not, leading to a decline in the population growth rate. The population growth rate has been decreasing in higher income countries; however the number of people added to the global population each year continues to increase due to increasing growth rates in lower income countries.
Overpopulation
High fertility rates lead to population growth, which, under certain circumstances, can cause a condition known as “overpopulation. ” Overpopulation is not a function of the number or density of individuals, but rather the number of individuals compared to the resources they need to survive. In other words, it is a ratio: population to resources. Humans are not unique in their capacity for overpopulation; in general terms, overpopulation indicates a scenario in which the population of a living species exceeds the carrying capacity of its ecological niche.
When estimating whether an area is overpopulated, resources to be taken into account include clean water, food, shelter, arable land, and various social services (such as jobs, money, education, fuel, electricity, medicine, proper sewage and garbage management, and transportation).
Overpopulation can have deleterious effects. When population outstrips available resources, calamity can result, including famine, shortages of energy sources and other natural resources, rapid and uncontrolled spread of communicable diseases in dense populations, and war over scarce resources, such as land. Dense populations may also settle available land and crowd out other land uses, such as agriculture.
Different rates of growth
Presently, every year the world’s human population grows by approximately 80 million. However, that population growth is not distributed evenly across all countries. Most population growth comes from developing countries, where birthrates remain high. Meanwhile, about half the world lives in nations with sub-replacement fertility. In some of these countries, the population has actually begun to shrink (e.g., Russia). All of the nations of East Asia – with the exceptions of Mongolia, the Philippines, and Laos – have fertility rates below replacement level. Russia and Eastern Europe are dramatically below replacement fertility. Western Europe also is below replacement. In the Middle East Iran, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey, and Lebanon are below replacement. Some countries still have growing populations due to high rates of immigration, but have native fertility rates below replacement: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are similar to Western Europe, while the United States is just barely below replacement with about 2.0 births per woman.
A new fear for many governments, particularly those in countries with very low fertility rates, is that a declining population will lead to underpopulation and will reduce the gross domestic product (GDP) and economic growth of the country, as population growth is often a driving force of economic expansion. To combat extremely low fertility rates, some of these governments have introduced pro-family policies that include incentives, such as payments to parents for having children and extensive parental leave for parents.
Key Points
• When the fertility rate is at the replacement level, a population will remain stable, neither growing nor shrinking.
• Fertility rates above the replacement level will cause the population to grow; fertility rates below the replacement level will cause the population to shrink.
• Overpopulation is judged relative to carrying capacity and can have deleterious effects. When the population is too large for the available resources, famine, energy shortages, war, and disease can result.
• Recently, in some countries, sub-replacement fertility rates have led to underpopulation. This can lead to economic decline, the aging of the population, and poverty.
Key Terms
• fertility rate: The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she followed the current average pattern of fertility among a given group of women and survived through her reproductive years; used as an indicator of strength of population growth.
• Replacement level: Regarding fertility, refers to the number of children that a woman must have in order to replace the existing population.
• gross domestic product: (GDP) The market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a year; often used as an indicator of a country’s material standard of living.
• carrying capacity: The number of individuals of a particular species that an environment can support. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.02%3A_Population_Growth/17.2A%3A_Implications_of_Different_Rates_of_Growth.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain how population growth is calculated
Demography is the statistical study of human populations. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic living population, or one that changes over time or space. It encompasses the study of the size, structure, and distribution of these populations, and spatial and/or temporal changes in them in response to birth, migration, aging, and death.
Human population growth depends on the rate of natural increase, or the fertility rate minus the mortality rate, and net migration. The basics of demography can be reduced to this formula:
(Births – Deaths) +/- ((In-Migration) – (Out Migration)) = Population Change.
As this equation shows, population change depends on three variables: (1) the natural increase changes seen in birth rates, (2) the natural decrease changes seen in death rates, and (3) the changes seen in migration. Changes in population size can be predicted based on changes in fertility, mortality, and migration rates.
Natural increase refers to the increase in population not due to migration, and it can be calculated with the fertility rate and the mortality rate. Net migration is the mathematical difference between those migrating into a country and those migrating out of a country.
This basic equation can be applied to populations and subpopulations. For example, the population size of ethnic groups or nationalities within a given society or country is subject to the same sources of change as the national population. However, when dealing with ethnic groups, “net migration” might have to be subdivided into physical migration and ethnic re-identification (assimilation). Individuals who change their ethnic self-labels or whose ethnic classification in government statistics changes over time may be thought of as migrating or moving from one population subcategory to another. More generally, while the basic demographic equation holds true by definition, the recording and counting of events (births, deaths, immigration, emigration) and the enumeration of the total population size are subject to error. Allowance needs to be made for error in the underlying statistics when any accounting of population size or change is made.
Key Points
• Demography is the statistical study of human populations. It encompasses the study of the size, structure, and distribution of these populations, and spatial and/or temporal changes in them in response to birth, migration, aging, and death.
• Population change depends on the rate of natural increase and net migration.
• Natural increase is calculated by the fertility rate minus the mortality rate.
• Net migration depends on in-migration and out-migration.
Key Terms
• Natural increase: Population growth that depends on the fertility rate and the mortality rate.
• Net migration: The difference of immigrants and emigrants of an area in a period of time, divided (usually) per 1,000 inhabitants (considered on midterm population). A positive value represents more people entering the country than leaving it, while a negative value mean more people leaving than entering it.
• demography: The study of human populations and how they change.
• mortality rate: The number of deaths per given unit of population over a given period of time. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.02%3A_Population_Growth/17.2B%3A_Three_Demographic_Variables.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the various ways sociologist try to estimate the rate of population growth, such as through fertility, birth and death rates
Forecasts try to estimate the rate of population growth, but this is understandably difficult to predict. For example, the UN has issued multiple projections of future world population, based on different assumptions. From 2000 to 2005, the UN consistently revised these projections downward, until the 2006 revision, issued on March 14, 2007, revised the 2050 mid-range estimate upwards by 273 million. The UN now estimates that, by 2050, world population will reach 9 billion people. However, this forecast, like all population forecasts, is subject to change.
Population growth is difficult to predict because unforeseen events can alter birth rates, death rates, migration, or the resource limits on population growth. Birth rates may decline faster than predicted due to increased access to contraception, later ages of marriage, the growing desire of many women in such settings to seek careers outside of child rearing and domestic work, and the decreased economic “utility” of children in industrialized settings. Countries may also choose to undertake mitigation measures to reduce population growth. For example, in China, the government has put policies in place that regulate the number of children allowed to each couple. Other societies have already begun to implement social marketing strategies in order to educate the public on overpopulation effects. Certain government policies are making it easier and more socially acceptable to use contraception and abortion methods.
Such policies could have a significant effect on global fertility rates. Worldwide, nearly 40% of pregnancies are unintended (some 80 million unintended pregnancies each year). An estimated 350 million women in the poorest countries of the world either did not want their last child, do not want another child or want to space their pregnancies, but they lack access to information, affordable means and services to determine the size and spacing of their families. In the United States, in 2001, almost half of pregnancies were unintended. Fertility rates could be significantly reduced by providing education about overpopulation, family planning, and birth control methods, and by making birth-control devices like male/female condoms, pills, and intrauterine devices easily available. At the same time, other countries may roll back access to contraception, as has happened recently in Afghanistan. Or they may implement pro-natalist policies, like those seen in much of Europe where governments are concerned with sub-replacement fertility. Any of these changes could affect fertility rates and therefore alter forecasts of population growth.
At the same time, other factors could affect mortality rates, which would also alter population forecasts. Death rates could fall unexpectedly due to advances in medicine or innovations that stretch resources so population can continue to grow past what seemed like intractable resource limits. For example, in the mid-20th century, the Green Revolution in agriculture dramatically increased available food by spreading farming technology like fertilizer and increasing efficiency in agriculture. In the future, production might be increased by innovations such as genetically modified crops, more efficiently employing agricultural technology, and aquaculture.
At the same time, death rates can also increase unexpectedly due to disease, wars, and other mass catastrophes. According to some scenarios, disasters triggered by the growing population’s demand for scarce resources will eventually lead to a sudden population crash, or even a Malthusian catastrophe, where overpopulation would compromise global food security and lead to mass starvation.
Key Points
• Population forecasts try to estimate the rate of population growth. However, unpredictable factors can change fertility rates, mortality rates, or migration rates, which can cause difficulty in forecasting.
• Certain government policies are making it easier and more socially acceptable to use contraception and abortion methods. Likewise, some countries are instituting pro-natalist policies to encourage fertility.
• Malthusian catastrophe refers to a scenario where overpopulation would compromise global food security, leading to mass starvation.
• In the future, food production be increased by innovations such as genetically modified crops, more efficiently employing agricultural technology, and aquaculture. This would raise the limit on the number of people the world can support.
Key Terms
• Green Revolution: Green Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s
• Birth rates: The birth rate is typically the rate of births in a population over time. The rate of births in a population is calculated in several ways: live births from a universal registration system for births, deaths, and marriages; population counts from a census, and estimation through specialized demographic techniques.
• forecast: An estimation of a future condition. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.02%3A_Population_Growth/17.2C%3A_Problems_in_Forecasting_Population_Growth.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Discuss Malthus’s controversial theory on population growth, in terms of the concept of “moral restraint”
Early in the 19th century, the English scholar Reverend Thomas Malthus published “An Essay on the Principle of Population.” He wrote that overpopulation was the root of many problems industrial European society suffered from— poverty, malnutrition, and disease could all be attributed to overpopulation. According to Malthus, this was a mathematical inevitability. Malthus observed that, while resources tended to grow arithmetically, populations exhibit exponential growth. Thus, if left unrestricted, human populations would continue to grow until they would become too large to be supported by the food grown on available agricultural land. In other words, humans would outpace their local carrying capacity, the capacity of ecosystems or societies to support the local population.
As a solution, Malthus urged “moral restraint.” That is, he declared that people must practice abstinence before marriage, forced sterilization where necessary, and institute criminal punishments for so-called unprepared parents who had more children than they could support. Even in his time, this solution was controversial. According to Malthus, the only alternative to moral restraint was certain disaster: if allowed to grow unchecked, population would outstrip available resources, resulting in what came to be known as Malthusian catastrophes: naturally occurring checks on population growth such as famine, disease, or war.
Over the two hundred years following Malthus’s projections, famine has overtaken numerous individual regions. Proponents of this theory, Neo-Malthusians, state that these famines were examples of Malthusian catastrophes. On a global scale, however, food production has grown faster than population due to transformational advances in agricultural technology. It has often been argued that future pressures on food production, combined with threats to other aspects of the earth’s habitat such as global warming, make overpopulation a still more serious threat in the future.
Key Points
• Thomas Malthus warned that without any checks, population would theoretically grow at an exponential rate, rapidly exceeding its ability to produce resources to support itself.
• Malthus argued that an exponentially growing population will self-correct through war, famine, and disease.
• Malthus cautioned that in order to avoid catastrophe such as famine and war, people should enact deliberate population control, such as birth control and celibacy.
• Malthusian catastrophes refer to naturally occurring checks on population growth such as famine, disease, or war.
• These Malthusian catastrophes have not taken place on a global scale due to progress in agricultural technology. However, many argue that future pressures on food production, combined with threats such as global warming, make overpopulation a still more serious threat in the future.
Key Terms
• carrying capacity: The number of individuals of a particular species that an environment can support.
• exponential growth: The growth in the value of a quantity, in which the rate of growth is proportional to the instantaneous value of the quantity; for example, when the value has doubled, the rate of increase will also have doubled. The rate may be positive or negative.
• Malthusian catastrophes: Malthusian catastrophes are naturally occurring checks on population growth such as famine, disease, or war. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.02%3A_Population_Growth/17.2D%3A_Malthus_Theory_of_Population_Growth.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Break down the demographic transition model/theory into five recognizable stages based on how countries reach industrialization
Whether you believe that we are headed for environmental disaster and the end of human existence as we know it, or you think people will always adapt to changing circumstances, we can see clear patterns in population growth. Societies develop along a predictable continuum as they evolve from unindustrialized to postindustrial. Demographic transition theory (Caldwell and Caldwell 2006) suggests that future population growth will develop along a predictable four- or five-stage model.
Stage 1
In stage one, pre-industrial society, death rates and birth rates are high and roughly in balance. An example of this stage is the United States in the 1800s. All human populations are believed to have had this balance until the late 18th century, when this balance ended in Western Europe. In fact, growth rates were less than 0.05% at least since the Agricultural Revolution over 10,000 years ago.
Population growth is typically very slow in this stage, because the society is constrained by the available food supply; therefore, unless the society develops new technologies to increase food production (e.g. discovers new sources of food or achieves higher crop yields), any fluctuations in birth rates are soon matched by death rates.
Stage 2
In stage two, that of a developing country, the death rates drop rapidly due to improvements in food supply and sanitation, which increase life spans and reduce disease. Afghanistan is currently in this stage.
The improvements specific to food supply typically include selective breeding and crop rotation and farming techniques. Other improvements generally include access to technology, basic healthcare, and education. For example, numerous improvements in public health reduce mortality, especially childhood mortality. Prior to the mid-20th century, these improvements in public health were primarily in the areas of food handling, water supply, sewage, and personal hygiene. Another variable often cited is the increase in female literacy combined with public health education programs which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In Europe, the death rate decline started in the late 18th century in northwestern Europe and spread to the south and east over approximately the next 100 years. Without a corresponding fall in birth rates this produces an imbalance, and the countries in this stage experience a large increase in population.
Stage 3
In stage three, birth rates fall. Mexico’s population is at this stage. Birth rates decrease due to various fertility factors such as access to contraception, increases in wages, urbanization, a reduction in subsistence agriculture, an increase in the status and education of women, a reduction in the value of children’s work, an increase in parental investment in the education of children and other social changes. Population growth begins to level off. The birth rate decline in developed countries started in the late 19th century in northern Europe.
While improvements in contraception do play a role in birth rate decline, it should be noted that contraceptives were not generally available nor widely used in the 19th century and as a result likely did not play a significant role in the decline then.
It is important to note that birth rate decline is caused also by a transition in values; not just because of the availability of contraceptives.
Stage 4
During stage four there are both low birth rates and low death rates. Birth rates may drop to well below replacement level as has happened in countries like Germany, Italy, and Japan, leading to a shrinking population, a threat to many industries that rely on population growth. Sweden is considered to currently be in Stage 4. As the large group born during stage two ages, it creates an economic burden on the shrinking working population. Death rates may remain consistently low or increase slightly due to increases in lifestyle diseases due to low exercise levels and high obesity and an aging population in developed countries. By the late 20th century, birth rates and death rates in developed countries leveled off at lower rates.
Stage 5 (Debated)
Some scholars delineate a separate fifth stage of below-replacement fertility levels. Others hypothesize a different stage five involving an increase in fertility. The United Nations Population Fund (2008) categorizes nations as high-fertility, intermediate-fertility, or low-fertility. The United Nations (UN) anticipates the population growth will triple between 2011 and 2100 in high-fertility countries, which are currently concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. For countries with intermediate fertility rates (the United States, India, and Mexico all fall into this category), growth is expected to be about 26 percent. And low-fertility countries like China, Australia, and most of Europe will actually see population declines of approximately 20 percent.
Conclusions
As with all models, this is an idealized picture of population change in these countries. The model is a generalization that applies to these countries as a group and may not accurately describe all individual cases. The extent to which it applies to less-developed societies today remains to be seen. Many countries such as China, Brazil and Thailand have passed through the Demographic Transition Model (DTM) very quickly due to fast social and economic change. Some countries, particularly African countries, appear to be stalled in the second stage due to stagnant development and the effect of AIDS.
Key Points
• Demographic transition theory suggests that populations grow along a predictable five-stage model.
• In stage 1, pre-industrial society, death rates and birth rates are high and roughly in balance, and population growth is typically very slow and constrained by the available food supply.
• In stage 2, that of a developing country, the death rates drop rapidly due to improvements in food supply and sanitation, which increase life spans and reduce disease.
• In stage 3, birth rates fall due to access to contraception, increases in wages, urbanization, increase in the status and education of women, and increase in investment in education. Population growth begins to level off.
• In stage 4, birth rates and death rates are both low. The large group born during stage two ages and creates an economic burden on the shrinking working population.
• In stage 5 (only some theorists acknowledge this stage—others recognize only four), fertility rates transition to either below-replacement or above-replacement.
Key Terms
• demographic transition theory: Describes four stages of population growth, following patterns that connect birth and death rates with stages of industrial development.
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• Introduction to Sociology/Demography. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Demography%23Population_Growth_and_Overpopulation. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Boundless. Provided by: Boundless Learning. Located at: www.boundless.com//sociology/definition/replacement-level. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• carrying capacity. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carrying_capacity. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
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• Demographic-TransitionOWID.png. Provided by: Wikimedia. Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...sitionOWID.png. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.02%3A_Population_Growth/17.2E%3A_Demographic_Transition_Theory.txt |
Early cities arose in a number of regions, and are thought to have developed for reasons of agricultural productivity and economic scale.
Learning Objectives
• Summarize the various beginnings of cities, from centers of agriculture to areas of protection, and the factors they need to be successful
Key Points
• The very first cities were founded in Mesopotamia after the Neolithic Revolution, around 7500 BCE.
• Agriculture is believed to be a pre-requisite for cities, which help preserve surplus production and create economies of scale.
• Cities reduced transport costs for goods, people, and ideas by bringing them all together in one spot.
Key Terms
• Old World: The known world before the discovery of the Americas.
• Neolithic Revolution: The Neolithic Revolution or Neolithic Demographic Transition, sometimes called the Agricultural Revolution, was the world’s first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture.
• urbanism: the study of cities, their geographic, economic, political, social, and cultural environment
Early cities developed in a number of regions, from Mesopotamia to Asia to the Americas. The very first cities were founded in Mesopotamia after the Neolithic Revolution, around 7500 BCE. Mesopotamian cities included Eridu, Uruk, and Ur. Early cities also arose in the Indus Valley and ancient China. Among the early Old World cities, one of the largest was Mohenjo-daro, located in the Indus Valley (present-day Pakistan); it existed from about 2600 BCE, and had a population of 50,000 or more. In the ancient Americas, the earliest cities were built in the Andes and Mesoamerica, and flourished between the 30th century BCE and the 18th century BCE.
Ancient cities were notable for their geographical diversity, as well as their diversity in form and function. Theories that attempt to explain ancient urbanism by a single factor, such as economic benefit, fail to capture the range of variation documented by archaeologists. Excavations at early urban sites show that some cities were sparsely populated political capitals, others were trade centers, and still other cities had a primarily religious focus. Some cities had large dense populations, whereas others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Some ancient cities grew to be powerful capital cities and centers of commerce and industry, situated at the centers of growing ancient empires. Examples include Alexandria and Antioch of the Hellenistic civilization, Carthage, and ancient Rome and its eastern successor, Constantinople (later Istanbul).
The Formation of Cities
Why did cities form in the first place? There is insufficient evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, but some theorists have speculated on what they consider pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that could explain the rise of cities. Agriculture is believed to be a pre-requisite for cities, which help preserve surplus production and create economies of scale. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic Revolution, with the spread of agriculture. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and settle near others who lived by agricultural production. Agriculture yielded more food, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. Farming led to dense, settled populations, and food surpluses that required storage and could facilitate trade. These conditions seem to be important prerequisites for city life. Many theorists hypothesize that agriculture preceded the development of cities and led to their growth.
A good environment and strong social organization are two necessities for the formation of a successful city. A good environment includes clean water and a favorable climate for growing crops and agriculture. A strong sense of social organization helps a newly formed city work together in times of need, and it allows people to develop various functions to assist in the future development of the city (for example, farmer or merchant). Without these two common features, as well as advanced agricultural technology, a newly formed city is not likely to succeed.
Cities may have held other advantages, too. For example, cities reduced transport costs for goods, people, and ideas by bringing them all together in one spot. By reducing these transaction costs, cities contributed to worker productivity. Finally, cities likely performed the essential function of providing protection for people and the valuable things they were beginning to accumulate. Some theorists hypothesize that people may have come together to form cities as a form of protection against marauding barbarian armies. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.03%3A_Urbanization_and_the_Development_of_Cities/17.3A%3A_The_Earliest_Cities.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Examine the growth of preindustrial cities as political units, as well as how trade routes allowed certain cities to expand and grow
Cities as Political Centers
While ancient cities may have arisen organically as trading centers, preindustrial cities evolved to become well defined political units, like today’s states. During the European Middle Ages, a town was as much a political entity as a collection of houses. However, particular political forms varied. In continental Europe, some cities had their own legislatures. In the Holy Roman Empire, some cities had no other lord than the emperor. In Italy, medieval communes had a state-like power. In exceptional cases like Venice, Genoa, or Lübeck, cities themselves became powerful states, sometimes taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai, which enjoyed a considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan.
For people during the medieval era, cities offered a newfound freedom from rural obligations. City residence brought freedom from customary rural obligations to lord and community (hence the German saying, “Stadtluft macht frei,” which means “City air makes you free”). Often, cities were governed by their own laws, separate from the rule of lords of the surrounding area.
Trade Routes
Not all cities grew to become major urban centers. Those that did often benefited from trade routes—in the early modern era, larger capital cities benefited from new trade routes and grew even larger. While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea languished from the 16th century, Europe’s larger capitals benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade. By the early 19th century, London had become the largest city in the world with a population of over a million, while Paris rivaled the well-developed regional capital cities of Baghdad, Beijing, Istanbul, and Kyoto. But most towns remained far smaller places—in 1500 only about two dozen places in the world contained more than 100,000 inhabitants. As late as 1700 there were fewer than 40, a figure which would rise thereafter to 300 in 1900. A small city of the early modern period might have contained as few as 10,000 inhabitants.
Key Points
• Preindustrial cities were political units, like today’s states. They offered freedom from rural obligations to lord and community.
• In the early modern era, larger capital cities benefited from new trade routes and grew even larger.
• While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea languished from the 16th century, Europe’s larger capitals benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade.
Key Terms
• lord: A titled nobleman or aristocrat
• rural obligations: For people during the medieval era, cities offered a newfound freedom from rural obligations. City residence brought freedom from customary rural obligations to lord and community.
• Preindustrial cities: While ancient cities may have arisen organically as trading centers, preindustrial cities evolved to become well defined political units.
17.3C: Industrial Cities
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the problems urbanization created for newly formed cities
During the industrial era, cities grew rapidly and became centers of population and production. The growth of modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and the rise of new, great cities, first in Europe, and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. In 1800, only 3% of the world’s population lived in cities. Since the industrial era, that figure, as of the beginning of the 21st century, has risen to nearly 50%. The United States provides a good example of how this process unfolded; from 1860 to 1910, the invention of railroads reduced transportation costs and large manufacturing centers began to emerge in the United States, allowing migration from rural to urban areas.
Rapid growth brought urban problems, and industrial-era cities were rife with dangers to health and safety. Rapidly expanding industrial cities could be quite deadly, and were often full of contaminated water and air, and communicable diseases. Living conditions during the Industrial Revolution varied from the splendor of the homes of the wealthy to the squalor of the workers. Poor people lived in very small houses in cramped streets. These homes often shared toilet facilities, had open sewers, and were prone to epidemics exacerbated by persistent dampness. Disease often spread through contaminated water supplies.
In the 19th century, health conditions improved with better sanitation, but urban people, especially small children, continued to die from diseases spreading through the cramped living conditions. Tuberculosis (spread in congested dwellings), lung diseases from mines, cholera from polluted water, and typhoid were all common. The greatest killer in the cities was tuberculosis (TB). Archival health records show that as many as 40% of working class deaths in cities were caused by tuberculosis.
Key Points
• Rapid growth brought urban problems, and industrial-era cities were rife with dangers to health and safety.
• Poor sanitation and communicable diseases were among the greatest causes of death among urban working class populations.
• In the 19th century, better sanitation led to improved health conditions.
Key Terms
• industrial cities: Rapid growth brought urban problems, and industrial-era cities were rife with dangers to health and safety. Quickly expanding industrial cities could be quite deadly, full of contaminated water and air, and communicable diseases.
• industrial era: During the industrial era, cities grew rapidly and became centers of population and production. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.03%3A_Urbanization_and_the_Development_of_Cities/17.3B%3A_Preindustrial_Cities.txt |
Urban structure is the arrangement of land use, explained using different models.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze, using human ecology theory, the similarities and differences between the various urban structure models, such as grid model, sectoral model and concentric ring model, among others
Key Points
• In the grid model of cities, land is divided by streets that run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. This model promotes development.
• The concentric ring model describes the city as an ecosystem in which residents sort themselves into a series of rings based on class and occupation. This model’s general applicability has been challenged.
• Urban structure can also describe the location of the central business district, industrial parks, or urban open spaces.
• The sectoral model says the city develops in wedge-shaped sectors instead of rings: certain areas of a city are more attractive for various activities, which flourish and expand outward in a wedge.
• The multiple nuclei model assumes that car ownership granted people more mobility and led the the development of specialized regional centers within cities.
• The irregular pattern model was developed to better explain urban structure in the Third World. It attempts to model the lack of planning or construction found in many rapidly built Third World cities.
Key Terms
• central business district: The central area of a city in which a concentration of certain retail and business activities takes place, especially in older cities with rail transportation.
• urban open space: In land use planning, urban open space is open space areas for parks, green spaces, and other open areas.
• Human Ecology: Human ecology described the city as analogous to an ecosystem, with natural processes of adaptation and assimilation.
Grid
In grid models, land is divided by streets intersect at right angles, forming a grid. Grid plans are more common in North American cities than in Europe, where older cities tend to be build on streets that radiate out from a central square or structure of cultural significance. Grid plans facilitate development because developers can subdivide and auction off large parcels of land. The geometry yields regular lots that maximize use and minimize boundary disputes. However, grids can be dangerous because long, straight roads allow faster automobile traffic. In the 1960s, urban planners moved away from grids and began planning suburban developments with dead ends and cul-de-sacs.
Concentric Ring Model
The concentric ring model was postulated in 1924 by sociologist Ernest Burgess, based on his observations of Chicago. It draws on human ecology theories, which compared the city to an ecosystem, with processes of adaptation and assimilation. Urban residents naturally sort themselves into appropriate rings, or ecological niches, depending on class and cultural assimilation. The innermost ring represents the central business district (CBD), called Zone A.. It is surrounded by a zone of transition (B), which contains industry and poorer-quality housing. The third ring (C) contains housing for the working-class—the zone of independent workers’ homes. The fourth ring (D) has newer and larger houses occupied by the middle-class. The outermost ring (E), or commuter’s zone, is residential suburbs.
This model’s general applicability has been challenged. It describes an American geography in which the inner city is poor while suburbs are wealthy—elsewhere, the converse is the norm. In new, western U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, advances in transportation and communication have blurred these “zones. ” Further, the model fails to account for topographical and physical features of the landscape. Even in Chicago, the concentric rings were semi-circles, interrupted by Lake Michigan.
Sectoral
In 1939, the economist Homer Hoyt adapted the concentric ring model by proposing that cities develop in wedge-shaped sectors instead of rings. Certain areas of a city are more attractive for various activities, whether by chance or geographic/environmental reasons. As these activities flourish and expand outward, they form wedges, becoming city sectors. Like the concentric ring model, Hoyt’s sectoral model has been criticized for ignoring physical features and new transportation patterns that restrict or direct growth.
Multiple Nuclei
The multiple nuclei model was developed in 1945 to explain city formation after the spread of the automobile. People have greater movement due to increased car ownership, allowing for the specialization of regional centers. A city contains more than one center around which activities revolve. Some activities are attracted to particular nodes while others try to avoid them. For example, a university node may attract well-educated residents, pizzerias, and bookstores, whereas an airport may attract hotels and warehouses. Incompatible activities will avoid clustering in the same area.
Irregular Pattern
The irregular pattern model was developed to explain urban structure in the Third World. It attempts to model the lack of planning found in many rapidly built Third World cities. This model includes blocks with no fixed order; urban structure is not related to an urban center or CBD.
Alternate Uses of “Urban Structure”
Urban structure can also refer to urban spatial structure; the arrangement of public and private space in cities and the degree of connectivity and accessibility. In this context, urban structure is concerned with the arrangement of the CBD, industrial and residential areas, and open space.
A city’s central business district (CBD), or downtown, is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America, this is referred to as “downtown” or “city center. ” The downtown area is often home to the financial district, but usually also contains entertainment and retail. CBDs usually have very small resident populations, but populations are increasing as younger professional and business workers move into city center apartments.
An industrial park is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. They are intended to attract business by concentrating dedicated infrastructure to reduce the per-business expenses. They also set aside industrial uses from urban areas to reduce the environmental and social impact of industrial uses and to provide a distinct zone of environmental controls specific to industrial needs.
Urban open spaces provide citizens with recreational, ecological, aesthetic value. They can range from highly maintained environments to natural landscapes. Commonly open to public access, they may be privately owned. Urban open spaces offer a reprieve from the urban environment and can add ecological value, making citizens more aware of their natural surroundings and providing nature to promote biodiversity. Open spaces offer aesthetic value for citizens who enjoy nature, cultural value by providing space for concerts or art shows, and functional value—for example, by helping to control runoff and prevent flooding. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.03%3A_Urbanization_and_the_Development_of_Cities/17.3D%3A_The_Structure_of_Cities.txt |
Urbanization is the process of a population shift from rural areas to cities, often motivated by economic factors.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the proces of urbanization and its effects on economics and the environment in society
Key Points
• Urbanization may be driven by local and global economic and social changes, and is generally a product of modernization and industrialization.
• Urbanization has economic and environmental effects. Economically, urbanization drives up prices, especially real estate, which can force original residents to move to less-desirable neighborhoods.
• Environmentally, cities cause “heat islands”, where less vegetation and open soil raise city temperatures by 2 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Recently in developed countries, sociologists have observed suburbanization and counterurbanization, or movement away from cities, which may be driven by transportation infrastructure, or social factors like racism.
Key Terms
• suburbanization: A term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities; one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl.
• rural flight: A term used to describe the migratory patterns of peoples from rural areas into urban areas.
• urbanization: The physical growth of urban areas as a result of rural migration and even suburban concentration into cities.
• counterurbanization: A demographic and social process whereby people move from urban areas to rural areas.
• gentrification: A shift in an urban community toward wealthier residents and/or businesses and increasing property values; often resulting in poorer residents being displaced by wealthier newcomers.
Urbanization and rural flight
Urbanization is the process of a population shift from rural areas to cities. During the last century, global populations have urbanized rapidly:
• 13% of people lived in urban environments in the year 1900
• 29% of people lived in urban environments in the year 1950
One projection suggests that, by 2030, the proportion of people living in cities may reach 60%.
Urbanization tends to correlate positively with industrialization. With the promise of greater employment opportunities that come from industrialization, people from rural areas will go to cities in pursuit of greater economic rewards.
Another term for urbanization is “rural flight. ” In modern times, this flight often occurs in a region following the industrialization of agriculture—when fewer people are needed to bring the same amount of agricultural output to market—and related agricultural services and industries are consolidated. These factors negatively affect the economy of small- and middle-sized farms and strongly reduce the size of the rural labor market. Rural flight is exacerbated when the population decline leads to the loss of rural services (such as business enterprises and schools), which leads to greater loss of population as people leave to seek those features.
As more and more people leave villages and farms to live in cities, urban growth results. The rapid growth of cities like Chicago in the late nineteenth century and Mumbai a century later can be attributed largely to rural-urban migration. This kind of growth is especially commonplace in developing countries.
Urbanization occurs naturally from individual and corporate efforts to reduce time and expense in commuting, while improving opportunities for jobs, education, housing, entertainment, and transportation. Living in cities permits individuals and families to take advantage of the opportunities of proximity, diversity, and marketplace competition. Due to their high populations, urban areas can also have more diverse social communities than rural areas, allowing others to find people like them.
Megacities Reflect Growing Urbanization Trend – YouTube: In the developing world, huge cities with sprawling slums have developed as agriculture and rural occupations have been supplanted by mechanized industries.
Economic and Environmental Effects of Urbanization
Urbanization has significant economic and environmental effects on cities and surrounding areas. As city populations grow, they increase the demand for goods and services of all kinds, pushing up prices of these goods and services, as well as the price of land. As land prices rise, the local working class may be priced out of the real estate market and pushed into less desirable neighborhoods – a process known as gentrification.
Growing cities also alter the environment. For example, urbanization can create urban “heat islands,” which are formed when industrial and urban areas replace and reduce the amount of land covered by vegetation or open soil. In rural areas, the ground helps regulate temperatures by using a large part of the incoming solar energy to evaporate water in vegetation and soil. This evaporation, in turn, has a cooling effect. However in cities, where less vegetation and exposed soil exists, the majority of the sun’s energy is absorbed by urban structures and asphalt. During the day, cities experience higher surface temperatures because urban surfaces produce less evaporative cooling. Additional city heat is given off by vehicles and factories, as well as industrial and domestic heating and cooling units. Together, these effects can raise city temperatures by 2 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1 to 6 degrees Celsius).
Suburbanization and Counterurbanization
Recently in developed countries, sociologists have observed suburbanization and counterurbanization, or movement away from cities. These patterns may be driven by transportation infrastructure, or social factors like racism. In developed countries, people are able to move out of cities while still maintaining many of the advantages of city life (for instance, improved communications and means of transportation). In fact, counterurbanization appears most common among the middle and upper classes who can afford to buy their own homes.
Race also plays a role in American suburbanization. During World War I, the massive migration of African Americans from the South resulted in an even greater residential shift toward suburban areas. The cities became seen as dangerous, crime-infested areas, while the suburbs were seen as safe places to live and raise a family, leading to a social trend known in some parts of the world as “white flight. ” Some social scientists suggest that the historical processes of suburbanization and decentralization are instances of white privilege that have contributed to contemporary patterns of environmental racism.
In the United States, suburbanization began in earnest after World War II, when soldiers returned from war and received generous government support to finance new homes. Suburbs, which are residential areas on the outskirts of a city, were less crowded and had a lower cost of living than cities. Suburbs grew dramatically in the 1950s when the U.S. interstate highway system was built, and automobiles became affordable for middle class families. Around 1990, another trend emerged known as counterurbanization, or “exurbanization”. The wealthiest individuals began living in nice housing far in rural areas (as opposed to forms).
Suburbanization may be a new urban form.Rather than densely populated centers, cities may become more spread out, composed of many interconnected smaller towns. Interestingly, the modern U.S. experience has gone from a largely rural country, to a highly urban country, to a country with significant suburban populations. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.03%3A_Urbanization_and_the_Development_of_Cities/17.3E%3A_The_Process_of_Urbanization.txt |
The U.S. Census Bureau classifies areas as urban or rural based on population size and density.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the different ways governments and society define the term “urban”
Key Points
• Different agencies and individuals define urban in different ways, but the U.S. Census Bureau ‘s definitions are considered standard.
• The U.S. Census Bureau defines “urban areas” as areas with a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile and at least 2,500 total people.
• As of December, 2010, about 82% of the population of the United States lived within the boundaries of urbanized area.
Key Terms
• population density: The average number of people who live on each square mile (or kilometer) of land.
Different international, national, and local agencies may define “urban” in various ways. For example, city governments often use political boundaries to delineate what counts as a city. Other definitions may consider total population size or population density. Different definitions may also set various thresholds, so that in some cases, a town of just 2,500 may count as an urban city, whereas in other contexts, a city may be defined as having at least 50,000 people. Other agencies may define “urban” based on land use: places count as urban if they are built up with residential neighborhoods, industrial sites, railroad yards, cemeteries, airports, golf courses, and similar areas. Using this sort of definition, in 1997, the U.S. Department of Agriculture tallied over 98,000,000 acres of “urban” land.
In spite of these competing definitions, in the United States “urban” is officially defined following guidelines set by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau defines “urban areas” as areas with a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile and at least 2,500 total people. Urban areas are delineated without regard to political boundaries. Because this definition does not consider political boundaries, it is often used as a more accurate gauge of the size of a city than the number of people who live within the city limits. Often, these two numbers are not the same. For example, the city of Greenville, South Carolina has a city population under 60,000 and an urbanized area population of over 300,000, while Greensboro, North Carolina has a city population over 200,000 and an urbanized area population of around 270,000. That means that Greenville is actually “larger” for some intents and purposes, but not for others, such as taxation, local elections, etc.
As of December, 2010, about 82% of the population of the United States lived within the boundaries of urbanized area. Combined, these areas occupy about 2% of the land area of the United States. The majority of urbanized area residents are suburbanites; core central city residents make up about 30% of the urbanized area population (about 60 million out of 210 million). In the United States, the largest urban area is New York City, with over 8 million people within the city limits and over 19 million in the urban area. The next five largest urban areas in the United States are Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Boston.
American urban areas by size: This map shows major urban areas in America. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.03%3A_Urbanization_and_the_Development_of_Cities/17.3F%3A_U.S._Urban_Patterns.txt |
During the 1970s and again in the 1990s, the rural population rebounded in what appeared to be a reversal of urbanization.
Learning Objectives
• Explain the rural rebound and how it contributes to the suburbanization of society
Key Points
• Much of the “rural” rebound was driven by suburbanization, which is the movement of people from cities to surrounding suburbs, ex-urbs, or edge cities.
• Suburbanization may be driven by white flight.
• Counterurbanization refers, broadly, to movement away from the city, which may include urban-to-rural migration and suburbanization.
• Counterurbanization has created shrinking cities and attempts to better control urban growth.
Key Terms
• white flight: The large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries, from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban areas.
• ex-urbs: The expression exurb (for “extra-urban”) was coined by Auguste Comte Spectorsky in his 1955 book The Exurbanites to describe the ring of prosperous communities beyond the suburbs that are commuter towns for an urban area.
• counterurbanization: Counterurbanisation is a demographic and social process whereby people move from urban areas to rural areas.
The rural rebound refers to the movement away from cities to rural and suburban areas. Urbanization tends to occur along with modernization, yet in the most developed countries many cities are now beginning to lose population. In the United States in the 1970s, demographers observed that the rural population was actually growing faster than urban populations, a phenomenon they labeled the “rural rebound. ” This trend reversed in the 1980s, due in part to a recession that hit farmers particularly hard. But again in the 1990s, rural populations appeared to be gaining at the expense of cities. Indeed, in the last 50 years, about 370 cities worldwide with more than 100,000 residents have undergone population losses of more than 10%, and more than 25% of the depopulating cities are in the United States.
Rather than moving to rural areas, most participants in the so-called the rural rebound migrated into new, rapidly growing suburbs. The rural rebound, then, may be more evidence of the importance of suburbanization as a new urban form in the most developed countries.
Suburbanization
Suburbanization is a general term that refers to the movement of people from cities to surrounding areas. However, the suburbanization that took place after 1970 was different from the suburbanization that had occurred earlier, after World War II. In this more recent wave of suburbanization, people moved beyond the nearby suburbs to farther-away towns. Sociologists have invented several new categories to describe these new types of suburban towns; two of the most notable are ex-urbs and edge cities.
The expression exurb (for “extra-urban”) refers to a ring of prosperous communities beyond a city’s suburbs. Often, these communities are commuter towns or bedroom communities. Commuter towns are primarily residential; most of the residents commute to jobs in the city. They are sometimes called bedroom communities because residents spend their days away in the cities and only come home to sleep. In general, commuter towns have little commercial or industrial activity of their own, though they may contain some retail centers to serve the daily needs of residents. Although most exurbs are commuter towns, most commuter towns are not exurban.
Exurbs vary in wealth and education level. In the United States, exurban areas typically have much higher college education levels than closer-in suburbs, though this is not necessarily the case in other countries. They typically have average incomes much higher than nearby rural counties, reflecting the urban wages of their residents. Although some exurbs are quite wealthy even compared to nearer suburbs or the city itself, others have higher poverty levels than suburbs nearer the city. This may happen especially where commuter towns form because workers in a region cannot afford to live where they work and must seek residency in another town with a lower cost of living. For example, during the “dot com” bubble of the late twentieth century, housing prices in California cities skyrocketed, spawning exurban growth in adjacent counties.
White Flight
Sociologists have posited many explanations for counterurbanization, but one of the most debated is whether suburbanization is driven by white flight. The term white flight was coined in the mid-twentieth century to describe suburbanization and the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries, from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban regions. During the first half of the twentieth century, discriminatory housing policies often prevented blacks from moving to suburbs; banks and federal policy made it difficult for blacks to get the mortgages they needed to buy houses, and communities used restrictive housing covenants to exclude minorities.
White flight during this period contributed to urban decay, a process whereby a city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. Symptoms of urban decay include depopulation, abandoned buildings, high unemployment, crime, and a desolate, inhospitable landscape. White flight contributed to the draining of cities’ tax bases when middle-class people left, exacerbating urban decay caused in part by the loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs as they moved into rural areas or overseas where labor was cheaper.
More recently, the concept has been extended to newer forms of suburbanization, including migration from urban to rural areas and to exurbs. In a similar vein, some demographers have described the rural rebound, and the newest waves of suburbanization, as a form of ethnic balkanization, in which different ethnic groups (not only whites) sort themselves into racially homogeneous communities. These phenomena, however, are not so clearly driven by the restrictive policies, laws, and practices that drove the white flight of the first half of the century. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.03%3A_Urbanization_and_the_Development_of_Cities/17.3G%3A_The_Rural_Rebound.txt |
Models of urban growth try to balance the advantages and disadvantages of cities’ large sizes.
Learning Objectives
• Summarize the various theories of urban growth and the implications each theory has for today’s society
Key Points
• The growth machine theory of urban growth says urban growth is driven by a coalition of interest groups who all benefit from continuous growth and expansion. Thus, the growth of cities is a social phenomenon.
• Urban sprawl results when cities grow uncontrolled, expanding into rural land and making walking, public transit, or bicycling impractical.
• Critics of urban life often focus on urban decay, which may be self-perpetuating, according to the broken windows theory.
• Urban renewal attempts to counter urban decay and restore growth.
• The New Urbanism and smart growth movements both challenge the value of urban growth and expansion, and they try to improve urban life by keeping it on a human scale.
Key Terms
• smart growth: Smart growth programs draw urban growth boundaries to keep urban development dense and compact.
• urban renewal: Urban renewal refers to programs of land redevelopment in areas of moderate- to high-density urban land use.
• New Urbanism: New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types.
Cities are dynamic places—they grow, shrink, and change. Sociologists have developed different theories for thinking about how urban populations change.
Growth Machine Theory
The growth machine theory of urban growth says urban growth is driven by a coalition of interest groups who all benefit from continuous growth and expansion. First articulated by Molotch in 1976, growth machine theory took the dominant convention of studying urban land use and turned it on its head.
The field of urban sociology had been dominated by the idea that cities were basically containers for human action, in which actors competed among themselves for the most strategic parcels of land, and the real estate market reflected the state of that competition. Growth machine theory reversed the course of urban theory by pointing out that land parcels were not empty fields awaiting human action, but were associated with specific interests—commercial, sentimental, and psychological. In other words, city residents were not simply competing for parcels of land; they were also trying to fulfill their particular interests and achieve specific goals. In particular, cities are shaped by the real estate interests of people whose properties gain value when cities grow. These actors make up what Molotch termed “the local growth machine. ”
Urban Sprawl
Whether explained by older theories of natural processes or by growth machine theory, the fact of urban growth is undeniable: throughout the twentieth century, cities have grown rapidly. In some cases, that growth has been poorly controlled, resulting in a phenomenon known as urban sprawl. Urban sprawl entails the growth of a city into low-density and auto-dependent rural land, high segregation of land use (e.g., retail sections placed far from residential areas, often in large shopping malls or retail complexes), and design features that encourage car dependency.
Urban sprawl’s segregated land use means that the places where people live, work, shop, and relax are far from one another, which usually makes walking, public transit, or bicycling impractical. As a result, residents must use an automobile. Urban sprawl tends to include low population density: single family homes on large lots instead of apartment buildings, single story or low-rise buildings instead of high-rises, extensive lawns and surface parking lots, and so on.
Critics of urban sprawl argue that it creates an inhospitable urban environment and that it encroaches on rural land, potentially driving up land prices and displacing farmers or other rural residents. Urban sprawl is also associated with negative environmental and public health effects, many of which are related to automobile dependence: increases in personal transportation costs, air pollution and reliance on fossil fuel, increases in traffic accidents, delays in emergency medical services response times, and decreases in land and water quantity and quality.
Urban Decay
Some have suggested that urban sprawl is driven by consumer preference; people prefer to live in lower density, quieter, more private communities that they perceive as safer and more relaxed than urban neighborhoods. Such preferences echo a common strain of criticism of urban life, which tends to focus on urban decay. According to these critics, urban decay is caused by the excessive density and crowding of cities, and it drives out residents, creating the conditions for urban sprawl.
BROKEN WINDOWS
An alternative theory suggests that density does not cause crime, and crime does not cause people to leave the city; when people leave, city neighborhoods are abandoned and neglected, resulting in crime and decay. This theory, known as the “broken windows theory,” argues that small indicators of neglect, such as broken windows and unkempt lawns, promote a feeling that an area is in a state of decay. Anticipating decay, people likewise fail to maintain their own properties.
RESPONSES TO DECAY
Cities have responded to urban decay and urban sprawl by launching urban renewal programs. Two specific types of urban renewal programs—New Urbanism and smart growth—attempt to make cities more pleasant and livable.
Smart growth programs draw urban growth boundaries to keep urban development dense and compact. In addition to increasing the density of cities, urban growth boundaries can protect the surrounding farmland and wild areas. Smart growth programs often incorporate transit-oriented development goals to encourage effective public transit systems and make bicyclers and pedestrians more comfortable.
New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes walkable neighborhoods with a range of housing options and job types. As an approach to urban planning, it encompasses principles such as traditional neighborhood design and transit-oriented development. A neighborhood designed along New Urbanist principles would have a discernible center (such as a square or a green) with a transit stop nearby. Most homes would be within a five-minute walk of the center and would provide a variety of housing options, including houses, row houses, and apartments to encourage the mixing of younger and older people, singles and families, and poor and wealthy.
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Urban sociology is the study of social life and interactions in urban areas, using methods ranging from statistical analysis to ethnography.
Learning Objectives
• Explain urbanization in terms of functionalism and what the Chicago School understood to be some of the causes of urban social problems at that time
Key Points
• Georg Simmel is widely considered to be the father of urban sociology, as he pioneered studies of the interrelation of space and social interaction.
• Urban sociology attempts to account for the interrelation of subcultures in urban areas, as well as the internal structures of segments of society.
• Like biological systems, urban subgroups are dependent on one another for healthy functioning and are also dynamic—that is, they flourish and decline based on political, economic, and social tides.
Key Terms
• alienation: Emotional isolation or dissociation.
• subculture: A portion of a culture distinguished from the larger society around it by its customs or other features.
Urban sociology is the sociological study of life and human interaction in metropolitan areas. It is a well-established subfield of sociology that seeks to study the structures, processes, changes and problems of urban areas and to subsequently provide input for planning and policymaking. In other words, it is the sociological study of cities and their role in the development of society. Like most areas of sociology, urban sociologists use statistical analysis, observation or ethnography, social theory, interviews, and other methods to study a range of topics, including migration, economic and demographic trends, as well as things like poverty, race relations, crime, sexuality, and many other phenomena that surface in dynamic cities.
After the Industrial Revolution sociologists such as Max Weber and Georg Simmel began to focus on the accelerating process of urbanization and the effects it had on feelings of social alienation and anonymity. Notably, Georg Simmel is widely considered to be the father of urban sociology for his contributions to the field in in works such as The Metropolis and Mental Life, published in 1903.
The Chicago School
The Chicago School of Sociology is widely credited with institutionalizing urban sociology as a disciplinary sub-field through pioneering studies of urban spaces and social interactions. This group of sociologists studied the built urban environment in Chicago through the early twentieth century and they have left a lasting impact on the field, as subsequent researchers adopted qualitative methods such as ethnography and land-use mapping to theorize urban phenomena. The Chicago School combined sociological and anthropological theories to understand the interrelation of urban structures and micro-interactions in cities. The Chicago School sought to provide subjective meaning to how humans interact under structural, cultural and social conditions.
Scholars of the Chicago School originally focused around one integral question: How did an increase in urbanism during the time of the Industrial Revolution contribute to the magnification of then-contemporary social problems? Sociologists centered in Chicago due to its “tabula rasa” state (people’s minds before they receive impressions gained from experience), having expanded from a small town of 10,000 in 1860 to a urban metropolis of two million in the next half decade. Along with this expansion came many of the era’s emerging social problems, ranging from issues of homelessness and poor living conditions to the low-wage and long-hour work periods that many European immigrants faced upon arrival in the city. Furthermore, unlike many other metropolitan areas, Chicago did not expand outward at the edges as predicted by early expansionist theorists, but instead reformatted the space available in a concentric ring pattern. As with many modern cities the business district that occupied the city center was surrounded by slums and blighted neighborhoods, which were further surrounded by working class homes and the early forms of the modern suburbs. Urban theorists suggested that these spatially-defined regions helped to solidify and isolate class relations within the modern city, moving the middle class away from the urban core and into the privatized environment of the outer suburbs.
Due to the high concentration of first-generation immigrant families in the inner city of Chicago during the early twentieth century, many prominent early studies in urban sociology focused around the effects of carrying culture roles and norms into new and developing environments. Political participation and the rise in inter-community organizations were also highly followed in this period, with many metropolitan areas adopting census techniques that allowed for information to be stored and easily accessible by participating institutions such as the University of Chicago. Sociologists Park, Burgess and McKenzie, professors at the University of Chicago and three of the earliest proponents of urban sociology, developed subcultural theories, which helped to explain the role of local institutions in the formation of ties. Subcultural theories popularized the idea that segments of society, such as gangs and homeless populations, had internal systems of value and order. This theory was in contrast to the prevailing belief that urbanization produced only social disorganization and alienation.
Urban Ecology
Urban ecology refers to an idea that emerged out of the Chicago School that likens urban organization to biological organisms. Urban ecology has remained an influential theory in both urban sociology and urban anthropology over time. The theory is essentially an extended metaphor that helps to explain how conflicting subgroups exist in shared urban spaces and systems. Like biological systems, urban subgroups are dependent on one another for healthy functioning and are also dynamic—that is, they flourish and decline based on political, economic, and social tides. Relating this to functionalist theory, one can look at immigration and emigration trends. As people enter and leave a country, they are dependent upon one another, as well as the new culture, to assimilate and enter into a new society. Immigrants become emigrants and vice-versa; in this way, the chain of life continues in terms of societal relations. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.04%3A_Urban_Life/17.4A%3A_Sociological_Perspectives_on_Urban_Life.txt |
Social scientists have focused on social interactions in urban areas because cities bring together many cultural strands.
Learning Objectives
• Design a research question using one of the four central approaches to the anthropological study of cities
Key Points
• Urban areas impact individuals’ relationships with one another. Economic problems and power dynamics are intensified in small spatial areas in which resources are scarce due to dense populations.
• Social scientists seek to understand how metropolitan social dynamics are distinct from those in other contexts.
• German sociologist Georg Simmel was a founding father of this sociological subfield. He gave a speech that analyzed the effects of urbanity on the mind of the individual, arguing that urban life irreversibly transforms one’s mind.
• Social scientists ask two sets of questions about social life in urban areas. The first set asks how social interactions are shaped by urban environments, and the other asks more pointed questions about how the architecture and physical space of a city influence social interactions.
Key Terms
• sociology of space: The sociology of space is a sub-discipline of sociology that is concerned with the spatiality of society. It examines the constitution of spaces through action, as well as the dependence of action on spatial structures.
• sociology of architecture: Sociology of architecture is a term that describes the sociological study of either the built environment or the role and occupation of architects in modern societies.
• urban ecology model: In the urban ecology model, the social scientist considers how individuals interact with others in their urban community.
Around half of the world’s population currently lives in an urban area, and the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects Report suggests that 60% of the world’s population will live in an urban area by the year 2030. As such, social scientists have paid increasing attention to the particular types of social dynamics that develop in urban environments.
Social scientists have focused on social interactions in urban areas because cities have the unique capacity to bring together many cultural strands. Economic problems and power dynamics are intensified in small spatial areas in which resources are scarce due to dense populations. Further, cities operate as zones of confluence for economic relationships and other types of diversity as new ideas, people, and goods are constantly flowing through urban areas. As a result, the people there have to respond to new influences, often bringing dominant strains of culture to the fore. What does a particular group of people value? What can they tolerate? What do they revolt against? All of these questions play out in cities.
Urban anthropology is an anthropological subfield primarily concerned with urbanization, poverty, and the consequences of neoliberalism, or the contemporary political movement that advocates economic liberalization, free trade, free movement, and open markets. There are four central approaches to an anthropological study of cities. The first is an urban ecology model in which the social scientist considers how individuals interact with others in their urban community. Second, one could focus on power and knowledge, specifically how these elements are combined in the development of urban structures. Third, one can study how localities relate to communities beyond their bounds, such as an analysis of the relationship between the local and the global. Finally, one can consider how political economy, or the study of production, law, and distribution, is essential to a city’s infrastructure and the consequences of this interdependence. These questions have been closely examined in urban contexts in the past fifty years.
Despite the relatively recent ascent of urban sociology, sociologists have long studied the sociological implications of space. Georg Simmel, a German sociologist from the turn of the twentieth century, famously considered the social impact of urban environments in The Metropolis and Mental Life. Published in 1903, this work was originally given as one of a series of lectures on all aspects of city life by experts in various fields, ranging from science to religion to art. Simmel was originally asked to lecture on the role of intellectual life in Berlin, but he effectively reversed the topic in order to analyze the effects of urbanity on the mind of the individual. Simmel argues that urban life irreversibly transforms one’s mind. Simmel does not say that these changes are negative, but writes that structural forces on socialization are particularly strong in an urban milieu.
Social scientists thus ask two sets of questions about social life in urban areas. The first set asks how social interactions are shaped by urban environments and how social interactions in urban environments are distinct from social interactions in other contexts. These are the types of questions asked by Simmel and urban anthropologists. The other strand of analysis asks more pointed questions about how the architecture and physical space of a city influence social interactions. This second set of questions is taken up by urban planners, architects, and, in the social sciences, by individuals who study the sociology of architecture and the sociology of space. Clearly, questions about social interactions in urban areas cluster loosely and are quite broad. However, it is clear that social dynamics are influenced by urbanity and sociologists intentionally study this field in broad terms to understand the multifaceted ways in which urban life influences society. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.04%3A_Urban_Life/17.4B%3A_Social_Interaction_in_Urban_Areas.txt |
Neighborhoods are small units of social organization within a larger social area, such as a city or town.
Learning Objectives
• Name three classic qualities of a neighborhood
Key Points
• Neighborhoods have historically existed in every large urban area.
• Neighborhood action tends to quickly produce visible results, particularly when compared to larger social units. Because neighborhood action involves interaction with others, such actions create stronger social ties among those inhabiting the area.
• Neighbors socialize one another through significant numbers of face-to-face interactions.
• The tendency of members of a neighborhood to share voting patterns and other views is called the neighborhood effect.
• In Canada and the United States, neighborhoods are often given official or semi-official status through neighborhood associations, neighborhood watches, or block watches.
Key Terms
• neighborhood effect: Individuals in neighborhoods tend to vote similarly.
• Social ties: Because neighborhood action involves others, such actions create stronger social ties amongst those inhabiting the area.
• neighborhood: A division of a municipality or region, formally or informally divided
A neighborhood is a geographically localized community within a larger city, town, or suburb. Neighborhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interactions among members. While neighborhoods have expanded with industrialization and the development of even larger urban areas, neighborhoods have always existed. Archaeologists have demonstrated through excavations that pre-industrial urban areas contained neighborhoods. As is true in the present day, neighborhoods were historically generated by social interaction among people living near one another. They are extremely localized social units only a step above a household and not directly under government control. In this sense, neighborhoods are usually informal, rather than pre-planned by government agencies. In some pre-industrial urban traditions, basic municipal functions, such as protection, social regulation of births and marriages, cleaning, and upkeep were handled informally by neighborhoods rather than by urban governments. As is still commonly the case, neighborhoods in pre-industrial cities often had some degree of social specialization or differentiation. Ethnic neighborhoods were important in past cities and remain common in cities today.
Sociologists are interested in neighborhoods as small, localized social, economic, and political units. Neighborhoods are close to universal, as most people in urbanized areas would consider themselves to be living in one. Neighborhood action tends to quickly produce visible results, particularly when compared to larger social units. Because neighborhood action involves frequent interaction with others, such actions create stronger social ties among those inhabiting the area.
In Canada and the United States, neighborhoods are often given official or semi-official status through neighborhood associations, neighborhood watches, or block watches. These may regulate such domestic matters as lawn care and fence height and provide other social services such as block parties, neighborhood parks, and community security.
Though neighborhoods are less strictly regulated by government officials, this is not to say that neighborhoods lack political power. Indeed, sociologists and political scientists have found that individuals in neighborhoods tend to vote similarly in what is referred to as the neighborhood effect. The voting preference of a neighborhood tends to be formed by consensus, where people tend to vote with the general trend the neighborhood. Of course, this is not to imply pure causation, but rather than individuals with similar voting preferences choose to live in the same area. Socialization within neighborhoods is quite significant, particularly when this form of socialization involves significant face-to-face interactions with one’s neighbors. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.04%3A_Urban_Life/17.4C%3A_Urban_Neighborhoods.txt |
Urban decline is the process whereby a previously functioning city or neighborhood falls into disrepair.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the causes and solutions to urban decline experienced both during the Industrial Revolution and in America today
Key Points
• It is often caused by a decline in the economic opportunities available in a particular city.
• The issues associated with the modern iteration of urban decline began during the Industrial Revolution, when many people moved to cities looking for industrial work, and then fell into poverty with economic changes and deindustrialization.
• Deindustrialization is the process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity in a region that is known for its manufacturing industry.
• New Urbanism seeks to combat the economic and architectural problems associated with urban decline.
• In the United States, early government policies included “urban renewal” and the construction of large-scale housing projects for the poor.
Key Terms
• white flight: The large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries, from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban areas.
• deindustrialization: The loss or deprivation of industrial capacity or strength.
• blight: Anything that impedes growth or development, or spoils any other aspect of life.
Urban decline is the process whereby a previously functioning city or neighborhood falls into disrepair and decrepitude. Features of urban decline include deindustrialization, depopulation, economic restructuring, abandoned buildings, high unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement, crime, and a desolate landscape. Since the 1970s and 1980s, urban decline has been associated with Western cities having experienced institutional restructuring. In many countries outside of the West, urban decline manifests as peripheral slums at the outskirts of cities. In contrast, in North American and British cities, the impoverished areas begin to develop in the city center as individuals relocate their residences to suburban areas outside of the city. This process is frequently called white flight, in reference to the fact that the central urban areas usually remain inhabited by minority populations when white populations leave. Another characteristic of urban decay is blight, the visual, psychological, and physical effects of living daily life among empty lots, abandoned buildings, and condemned houses. Such desolate properties are socially dangerous to the community because they attract criminals and gangs, increasing the volume of crime.
Causes
But what causes urban decay? Though scholars can identify factors that contribute to urban decline, it is notoriously difficult to explain precisely why one urban area slips into decline and another with similar circumstances does not. That being said, urban decline results from some combination of socioeconomic decisions, such as the city’s urban planning decisions, the poverty of the local populace, the construction of urban infrastructure (such as freeways, roads, and other elements of transportation), and the depopulation of peripheral lands by suburbanization.
Historic Causes
In some ways, urban decline is an inevitable result of urbanity itself. Cities tend to grow because of momentary economic booms. These economic successes can either evolve and sustain themselves, or contract. Economic decline tends to lead to urban decline. Given that economic fluctuations have such profound effects on urban development, it makes sense that issues associated with the modern iteration of urban decline began during the Industrial Revolution, the time period in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century when rural people flocked to cities for employment in manufacturing. Overpopulation in very small spatial areas became a serious issue. While the individuals who worked in manufacturing positions frequently worked and lived in extremely poor conditions, the owners of the mills became rich quickly, bringing a striking influx of economic growth suddenly to cities. However, subsequent economic changes left many newly-grown cities economically vulnerable and marred with employment factors that contribute to urban decline.
Changes in means of transport, from public to private—or specifically from public trains to private motor cars—eliminated some advantages of living and working in the city and enabled suburbanization. Following World War II, political decisions in the U.S. further solidified the already growing trend of suburbanization. Many cities used city taxes to build new infrastructure in remote, racially-restricted suburban towns. Historically in the U.S., the white middle class gradually left the cities for suburban areas because of the perceived higher crime rates and dangers caused by African-American migration to northern cities after World War I; this demonstrates so-called white flight. This trend became more permanent with the construction of the Interstate Highway System under President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1960s.
Recent Causes
Deindustrialization, or the process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity in a region that is known for its manufacturing industry, is one of the main recent causes for urban decline in the United States. Deindustrialization is a main culprit in creating the economic conditions that contribute to urban decline by pushing jobs outside of the main urban area. An example of deindustrialization and urban decline in the United States is Detroit. After free-trade agreements were instituted with less developed nations in the 1980s and 1990s, Detroit-based auto manufacturers relocated their production facilities to other areas where wages and working standards (and therefore costs of operation) were lower. Detroit and other industrial towns, such as Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, were once centers of production and associated with high standards of living. Today, they are associated with a high concentration of poverty, unemployment, abandoned buildings and noticeable isolation.
Response
The current response to urban decay has been positive public policy and urban design using the principles of New Urbanism. New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and professional options. The movement came about in the U.S. in the 1980s and continues to have impact on urban planning. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.04%3A_Urban_Life/17.4D%3A_Urban_Decline.txt |
Homelessness is a social problem, caused by structural inequalities and lack of resources, where certain individuals are at higher risk.
Learning Objectives
• Explain the various social factors that contribute to homelessness, including categories of high risk people
Key Points
• Those at a higher risk of becoming homeless include veterans, people suffering from substance abuse or mental disorders, and the unemployed.
• Homelessness is a problem intimately associated with urban areas and the resource limitations that exist because of a populous urban environment.
• Social factors also contribute to homelessness, especially economic downturns, deinstitutionalization, and lack of family support.
• As with veterans, many individuals with substance abuse problems and mental disorders have difficulty finding work.
Key Terms
• homelessness: The condition of a person or persons living without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing.
• Medicaid: U.S. government system for providing medical assistance to persons unable to afford medical treatments.
• deinstitutionalization: The process of abolishing a practice that has been considered a norm.
Homeless people are those who lack a regular, adequate residence. Although homeless people stereotypically live on the streets, many may spend some nights in shelters, transitional housing, or cars and makeshift dwellings.
Homelessness is a social problem, due in large part to structural inequality and the maldistribution of resources. However, individual risk factors help explain why certain individuals become homeless instead of others. Those at a higher risk of becoming homeless include veterans, people suffering from substance abuse or mental disorders, and the unemployed.
Homelessness in America: This video reviews statistics regarding homelessness in America, and is also an example of a non-profit organization’s attempt to educate the public about the issue of hopes of reducing the problem.
Risk Factors
Many veterans return from war with insufficient training to successfully navigate the job market or with skills that are not in demand in the civilian world. They may also suffer from chronic physical or psychological conditions sustained in combat that make regular employment difficult. The federal government provides services to help veterans transition to civilian life, but some still struggle and, unable to find a job or to reintegrate, end up homeless.
Individuals with substance abuse problems and mental disorders represent a large number of the homeless. In the United States, 22 percent of the homeless have serious mental illnesses or are physically disabled, and 30 percent have substance abuse problems. Popular perception often blames the victim, suggesting these individuals are at fault for becoming homeless. However, this perspective denies structural elements that contribute to both homelessness and substance abuse.
Although most homeless people are single men, in tough economic times, families are at increased risk of homelessness due to unemployment. When unemployment rates increase, homelessness tends to increase, too. When markets crash, even families that appeared to be middle class may suddenly become homeless. In the United States, 23 percent of homeless people are families with children—the fastest growing segment of the homeless, due largely to the economic collapse in 2008.
Social Causes
Economic downturns are one of many social factors that cause homelessness. Urbanization itself may contribute to the problem. Cities must sustain a large population in a small area, which puts pressure on resources. In the United States, 71 percent of the homeless reside in urban areas.
Homeless people who suffer from substance abuse or mental illness often lack access to effective treatment options, a condition exacerbated by deinstitutionalization in the 1960s and 1970s. Prior to the 1960s, individuals with mental illness were frequently committed to long-term institutions, but deinstitutionalization closed these institutions in favor of community-based treatment. Unfortunately, many people released from these institutions had no place to go and wound up homeless.
Family support can provide a buffer against homelessness; those who lack support are at increased risk. Over half of children who “age out” of social systems such as foster care find themselves homeless. Social stigma also contributes to homelessness. Teenagers who become homeless have often run away from home or been thrown out by their parents, frequently because of their sexual orientation. A 2010 study by the Center for American Progress revealed that 20 to 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT.
Solutions
Given its diverse and deeply entrenched causes, homelessness is hard to address. In the past, some purported solutions have been more attentive to the desires of privileged members of society than to the homeless; they have reinforced stigma and criminalized vagrancy in an attempt to sweep the problem under the rug. Rather than stigmatizing or criminalizing homeless individuals, a long-term approach to combat homelessness must focus on meeting the needs of the homeless. The most promising solutions are holistic approaches that combine housing, health care, and education, but such programs are limited. Instead, a policy patchwork provides some housing, some healthcare, and some education, but not a comprehensive plan.
Nonprofit and government programs exist to provide affordable housing, but face funding problems and a history of failure. In the mid-twentieth century, the government attempted to solve the housing crisis by creating massive housing projects with low rents to support the needs of low-income families, but facilities were decrepit, had little security, and eventually became havens for crime—perpetuating, rather than solving, many of the problems faced by low-income individuals. Many of these projects have been destroyed and government housing authorities have focused more on creating mixed-income affordable housing.
Given the large percentage of homeless who suffer from illness, adequate health care is an essential component to ensuring that people stay off of the streets. But in the United States, most people get health insurance through employers, leaving the unemployed with inadequate access to healthcare. Medicaid was established to provide healthcare to the indigent, but Medicaid lacks funding to adequately meet homeless needs.
Education can provide homeless children a way out, but practical barriers, such as residency restrictions, medical record verification, and transportation issues, often keep homeless youth out of school. The McKinney-Vento Act attempts to overcome these barriers by mandating equal opportunity for a free public education for homeless students. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.04%3A_Urban_Life/17.4E%3A_Homelessness.txt |
Alienation refers to the distancing of people from each other, from what is important and meaningful to them, or from themselves.
Learning Objectives
• Compare the theories of economic and social alienation posited by Marx, Simmel, Tönnies, and Durkheim
Key Points
• Alienation has been primarily described in two ways: economic alienation, as articulated by Karl Max, or social alienation, as described by Émile Durkheim with his concept of anomie.
• Both economic and social alienation come to bear in urban environments as cities exacerbate the economic pressures associated with capitalism and create environments in which it is more difficult to attach oneself to a social structure.
• Social alienation was famously described by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in the late nineteenth century with his concept of anomie.
• Anomie describes a lack of social norms, or the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and his community ties, resulting in the fragmentation of social identity.
Key Terms
• alienation: Emotional isolation or dissociation.
• capitalism: A socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.
• anomie: Alienation or social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.
Alienation refers to the estrangement, division, or distancing of people from each other, from what is important and meaningful to them, or from their own sense of self. The term “alienation” has a long and storied history within sociology, most famously with Karl Marx’s use of the phrase in the mid-nineteenth century to describe the distancing of a worker from the product of his labors. This article seeks to trace “alienation” through sociological theory by discussing Marx’s use of the term, applying it to social contexts with Emile Durkheim ‘s notion of anomie, and finally discussing alienation in a modern context using technological examples.
Karl Marx
Marx most clearly articulates his meaning of alienation in Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844) and The German Ideology(1846). Here, Marx contends that alienation is endemic in any system based on capitalism. Marx argues that in emerging systems of capitalist industrial production, workers inevitably lose control of their lives and their selves by not having any control of their work. As a result, workers never become autonomous, self-realized human beings in any significant sense, except in the ways in which the bourgeoisie wants the worker to be realized. Marx refers to this as being alienated from one’s work, and as such one’s self.
Marx’s criticisms were directed at capitalist structures, not urban areas specifically. However, one cannot completely divorce urbanity and capitalism. Of course, urban areas do not come from capitalism; there have been urban areas throughout history, emerging from many different economic systems. However, capitalist economies do tend to encourage individuals to congregate in urban areas when seeking out industrialized work. Countries’ populations tend to trend more urban the more capitalist the country’s economy. Limitations on resources are exacerbated when there is a large population in a particular area. When there is more stress on limited available resources, one pays more attention to how those resources are distributed, such as by the free market means of capitalism. As such, the issues that arise with the unequal distribution of resources under capitalism’s tenets are exacerbated in urban areas. Further, scholars following Marx more directly applied his theories to urban spaces.
Georg Simmel and Ferdinand Tönnies
Late-eighteenth-century German sociologist Georg Simmel, considered to be one of the founders of urban sociology, wrote The Philosophy of Money , describing how relationships are increasingly mediated by money. Simmel’s colleague, Ferdinand Tönnies, authored Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (Community and Society ) about the loss of primary relationships, such as familial bonds, in favor of goal-oriented, secondary relationships in capitalist, urban environments.
Tönnies’s work shifted from conceiving of alienation in economic terms to thinking of alienation in social terms. Of course, this transition is not so simple; Marx’s work on economic alienation was fundamentally social in nature. However, many of Marx’s predecessors focused on the social consequences of alienation where Marx emphasized the economic causes for alienation. Thus, the reorientation to social alienation did not represent a break in thinking on alienation, just a shift to new directions.
Émile Durkheim
Social alienation was famously described by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in the late nineteenth century with his concept of anomie. Anomie describes a lack of social norms, or the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and his community ties, resulting in the fragmentation of social identity. According to Durkheim, when one is caught in a normless state in society, one has no parameters to hold on to and, accordingly, cannot situate oneself within that society, and so becomes socially adrift and isolated. Durkeim writes that anomie is common when the surrounding society has undergone significant changes in its economic fortunes, whether for better or for worse, and more generally, when there is a significant discrepancy between the ideological theories and values commonly professed, and what is actually practicable in everyday life. Durkheim was writing at a time of sudden industrialization and mass movement of families from rural areas into urban areas. The sociocultural changes associated with such a move contributed to individuals feeling uncomfortable with their new environments, and feeling as though they could not easily place themselves in a social order.
The general principles outlined by Durkheim in his descriptions of anomie can be seen in any social context, including our own. Current debates about social alienation and anomie pop up in many social critiques of an increasingly technological world. Many popular critics and scholars have wondered if the development of a more robustly technological sociality, through mechanisms such as Facebook and multiplayer online gaming sites, can approximate the same positive consequences of more traditional, face-to-face socialization. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.04%3A_Urban_Life/17.4F%3A_Alienation.txt |
The term community refers to a group of interacting people, living in some proximity, either in space, time, or relationship.
Learning Objectives
• Diagram examples of geimeinschaft, gesellschaft, mechanical solidarity, and organic solidarity within your own community or communities, keeping in mind that these concepts cannot always be neatly separated
Key Points
• Members of communities share either proximity or interests.
• In the late nineteenth century, sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies theorized types of social groups by dividing human associations into gemeinschaft (communities) and gesellschaft ( societies ).
• Geimeinschaft are characterized by community members having shared views of society and close social ties. Gesellschaft are characterized by members having personal interest in being a member of society.
• Sociologist Émile Durkheim theorized community by understanding social solidarity in terms of mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity.
• Mechanical solidarity is the sense of community that comes about when members are relatively homogeneous.
• Organic solidarity comes about when individuals are mutually dependent upon one another.
Key Terms
• organic solidarity: It is social cohesion based upon the dependence individuals have on each other in more advanced societies.
• mechanical solidarity: It normally operates in “traditional” and small scale societies. In simpler societies (e.g., tribal), solidarity is usually based on kinship ties of familial networks.
• Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft: Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft are sociological categories introduced by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies for two normal types of human association.
The term community refers to a group of interacting people, living in some proximity, either in space, time, or relationship. A community is typically a social unit that is larger than a single household, comprised of individuals that share values and thus create an environment of social cohesion. Members of a community have things in common, be it a shared geographic location or a shared interest. Increasingly, the notion of community is becoming unhinged from geographic location as individuals form more and more developed webs of society online around shared interests and pursuits.
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies distinguished between two types of human association: gemeinschaft, or community; and gesellschaft, or society. In his 1887 book, aptly titled Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft, Tönnies argued that gemeinschaft is perceived to be a tighter and more cohesive social entity, due to the presence of a “unity of will.” He added that family and kinship ties were the perfect expressions of gemeinschaft, but that other shared characteristics, such as living in the same place or believing the same things, could also result in the same sense of community that is the fundamental element of gemeinschaft. Gemeinschaften are broadly characterized by a moderate division of labor, strong personal relationships, strong families, and relatively simple social institutions. Governance does not need to be strong to enforce social norms due to a collective sense of loyalty that individuals feel for community, and an internal alignment and identification with the social norms.
Gesellschaft, on the other hand, is a group in which group members are motivated to take part in the group purely for reasons of self-interest. While individuals may come to identify with their societies, the larger association never takes precedence over the individual’s self interest and, as such, these associations lack the same level of shared norms as gemeinschaft. Unlike gemeinschaften, gesellshcaften emphasize secondary relationships rather than familial ties, resulting in an individual feeling less of a bond and less loyalty to society at large. Social cohesion in gesellschaften typically derives more from an elaborate division of labor. Ultimately, Tönnies viewed gemeinschaft and gesellschaft as pure, sociological categories that are not represented in real life. In reality, all associations are a mix of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft.
Mechanical and Organic Solidarity
In 1893, French sociologist Émile Durkheim incorporated the ideas of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft, particularly their influences on their respective divisions of labor, into his theory of social solidarity, published as The Division of Labor in Society. In this work, Durkheim establishes two types of social communities that correlate with types of society. Mechanical solidarity is a type of community in which social cohesion comes from the homogeneity of individuals. People feel connected, as though they are a part of a community, because they are similar. Mechanical solidarity speaks to the moderate division of labor and close resemblance in social norms exhibited by Tönnies’s gemeinschaft.
Durkheim distinguished mechanical solidarity from organic solidarity, or a sense of community developed by the sense of interdependence that arises from specialization of work and complementary skills and interests between people. This mirrors Tönnies’s gesellchaft. Industrialized societies build their senses of community by making people dependent upon one another due to highly specialized divisions of labor. For example, operating under a form of mechanical solidarity, Tina feels like she and Amy belong to the same community because they are both hunters. Under the parameters of organic solidarity, Tina and Amy feel like they belong to the same community because they perform different tasks and help one another. Tina hunts and Amy does not know how, but Amy knows how to build a house and Tina does not. Tina and Amy help each other, each providing a needed service for the other, and thus create a sense of social solidarity—a sense of community. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.04%3A_Urban_Life/17.4G%3A_Community.txt |
Diffusion of responsibility is a phenomenon in which a person is less likely to take responsibility for an action when others are present.
Learning Objectives
• Give examples of the bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility, and anomie in contemporary society
Key Points
• The bystander effect refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim in an emergency situation when they believe that others are present and will assist.
• Alternatively, diffusion of responsibility can also encompass a person’s refusal to take personal responsibility for their own actions, such as the “only following orders” defense used in the Nuremberg Trials.
• Refusal to assume personal responsibility for one’s actions or inaction can result in one feeling alienated from society and feeling useless. These are characteristics of Durkheimian anomie.
• Refusal to assume personal responsibility for one’s actions or inaction can result in one feeling alienated from society and feeling useless, characteristics of Durkheimian anomie.
Key Terms
• bystander effect: When someone is less likely to help another if other potential helpers are present.
• diffusion of responsibility: Diffusion of responsibility is a socio-psychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for an action (or for inaction) when others are present.
• anomie: Alienation or social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.
Diffusion of responsibility is a socio-psychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for an action (or for inaction) when others are present. In such situations, individuals assume that others have already taken responsibility and therefore they have no moral obligation to do so. Alternatively, individuals might feel as though no one can find them responsible because there is no way to single out their behaviors from the rest of the group. Because they will not be forced to take responsibility, they choose not to do so on their own accord. Diffusion of responsibility tends to occur in groups of people above a critical size and when responsibility is not explicitly assigned. It rarely occurs when the person is alone and diffusion increases in groups of three or more.
Bystander Effect
The bystander effect is another phenomenon that is closely related to diffusion of responsibility. It refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim in an emergency situation when they believe that others are present. The probability of helping victims is inversely related to the number of bystanders; the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. The mere presence of bystanders greatly decreases intervention because as the number of bystanders increases, any given bystander is less likely to interpret the incident as a problem and less likely to assume responsibility for taking action.
Nuremberg Defense
Diffusion of responsibility also includes positive behaviors, or the commission of actions, when an individual feels that he can pin the consequences of those behaviors on others rather than assume personal responsibility for them. This type of positive diffusion of responsibility constitutes the basis of the Nazi defense in the international Nuremberg Trials. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals held by the victorious Allied forces following World War II in which many Nazi leaders were prosecuted for war crimes. The main Nuremberg Trial charged 24 Nazi leaders with participation in a conspiracy for a crime against the peace, planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against the peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Significantly, while all of the 24 charged were all high up in Nazi leadership, they were not the main Nazi war architects, such as Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels, since all three of these men had committed suicide before the trials began. As such, the 24 men charged were all in serious leadership positions, but also received orders from higher-ups. This fact—that the defendants had received orders—became the heart of their defense, as they argued that they were not responsible for the charges because they were “only following orders. ”
Urban Contexts
Some have argued that the problems associated with the diffusion of responsibility, particularly the form that manifests as inaction, multiply in urban contexts. When there are more people around, the more likely you are to assume that someone else will do something about the problem rather than fix it yourself. This sense of a lack of individual impact in populous places contributes to the overrepresentation of anomie in urban areas. Anomie was a concept developed by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in his 1897 study Suicide, describing a lack of social norms, or the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and his community ties, resulting in the fragmentation of social identity. According to Durkheim, when one is caught in a normless state in society, one has no parameters to hold on to and, accordingly, cannot situate oneself within that society and becomes socially adrift and isolated. Durkheim writes that anomie is common when the surrounding society has undergone significant changes in its economic fortunes, whether for better or for worse, and more generally, when there is a significant discrepancy between the ideological theories and values commonly professed and what is actually practicable in everyday life. When one feels that he need not take personal responsibility for his actions (or inaction, as it may be) but can instead rely upon the actions of others, one may feel unconnected to society. In this sense, diffusion of responsibility may mean that one feels insignificant and unconnected.
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Suburbanization is a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the various push and pull factors that lead to suburbanization, including the concept of white flight, as well as the impact of suburbanization on urban areas
Key Points
• In the mid-twentieth century United States, suburbanization was caused by federal governmental incentives to encourage suburban growth and a phenomenon dubbed ” white flight ” where white residents sought to distance themselves from racial minorities in urban areas.
• Push factors are those that push people out of urban areas while pull factors are those that entice individuals to leave urban zones for the suburbs.
• Pull factors are those that attract people to suburbs in particular (like more land or bigger homes).
• White flight refers to the large-scale migration of whites from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogenous suburban areas.
Key Terms
• Interstate Highway System: The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, Interstate Freeway System or the Interstate) is a network of limited-access roads, including freeways, highways, and expressways, forming part of the National Highway System of the United States.
• white flight: The large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries, from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban areas.
• Redlining: Redlining is the practice of increasing the cost of services such as banking and insurance or denying access to jobs, health care, or even supermarkets to residents in particular areas.
Suburbanization is a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. Sudden and extreme relocation out of urban areas into the suburbs is one of the many causes of urban sprawl, as suburbs grow to accommodate the increasingly large population. Many residents of suburbs still work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in the suburbs and commute to work.
Suburbanization is caused by many factors that are typically classified into push and pull factors. Push factors are those that push people out of their original homes in urban areas into suburban areas. Pull factors are those that attract people to suburbs in particular. The main push factors in encouraging suburbanization have to do with individuals feeling tired of city life and the perception that urban areas are overpopulated, over-polluted, and dirty. Further, the mid-twentieth century movement of “white flight” significantly contributed to the rise of suburbs in the United States. The term refers to the large-scale migration of whites from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogenous suburban areas. White flight began in earnest in the United States following World War II and continues, though in less overt ways, today.
For many of the families that fled the city in favor of the suburbs, the catalyst was the perception of racially diverse urban areas as lower-class and crime-ridden. Real estate law at the time enabled this process, as many minorities were legally excluded from purchasing properties in suburban areas. These racist practices, called redlining, barred African-Americans from pursuing home ownership, even when they could afford it. Suburban expansion was reserved for middle-class white people, facilitated by increasing wages in the postwar economy and by federally guaranteed mortgages that were only available to whites because of redlining. African-Americans and other minorities were relegated to a state of permanent rentership.
The effects of white flight are still seen today. Take, for example, the case of St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a city surrounded by suburbs that are clumped together as the county of St. Louis. St. Louis County developed as whites fled the city for the suburbs. The racial makeup of the city St. Louis and St. Louis County still reflect the racial component of the county’s origins. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city of St. Louis is 49.2 percent African-American, 43.9 percent Caucasian, 3.5 percent Hispanic, 2.9 percent Asian, and 0.3 percent Native American. By comparison, St. Louis County is 70.3 percent Caucasian, 23.3 percent African American, 3.5 percent Asian, 2.5 percent Hispanic, and 0.03 percent Pacific Islander. At the turn of the century, the racial disparities were even more exaggerated.
Pull factors for suburbanization at the turn of the century included more open spaces, the perception of being closer to nature, and lower suburban house prices and property taxes in comparison to cities. Certain infrastructure changes encouraged families to leave urban areas for suburban ones, primarily the development of the Interstate Highway System and insurance policies favoring suburban areas. Following World War II, President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched an initiative to create federal highways to allow for expansion outside of urban areas. Thus, the interstate highway project of the 1950s was developed with suburbanization in mind. Additionally, the government agreed to underwrite mortgages for suburban one-family homes. In effect, the government was encouraging the transfer of the middle-class population out of the inner city and into the suburbs. This movement is thought to have exacerbated urban decline in cities. Insurance companies also fueled the push out of cities and the growth of suburbs, as it redlined many inner-city neighborhoods. This means that insurance companies would refuse to grant mortgage loans to families seeking housing in urban areas and would instead offer lower rates in suburban areas; combined with the federal loans for single-family suburban homes, one sees a joint enterprise between both public and private entities to encourage suburbanization.
The mass movement of families from urban to suburban areas has had a serious economic impact with changes in infrastructure, industry, real estate development costs, fiscal policies, and more. As a result of the mass residential migration out of urban centers, many industries have followed suit. Companies are increasingly looking to build industrial parks in less populated areas, largely to match the desires of employees to work in more spacious areas closer to their suburban homes. “Making it to the suburbs” has become a modern iteration of the American dream. As residential wealth and corporations continue to leave urban zones in favor of suburban areas, the risk of urban decline increases. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.05%3A_Urban_Problems_and_Policy/17.5A%3A_Suburbanization.txt |
Deindustrialization refers to the process of social and economic change ignited by the removal or reduction of industrial activity.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the four elements of deindustrialization and its impact on society, in terms of economic restructuring and societal crisis
Key Points
• Deindustrialization is primarily caused by offshoring and shifts toward service sector economies.
• Deindustrialization can have serious socioeconomic consequences in urban areas that used to be reliant on the manufacturing industry for jobs.
• The shift to a service sector economy is called economic restructuring.
• Real industrial production rose in the United States in every year from 1983 to 2007. However, the number of American workers in the manufacturing industry has declined steadily from its peak of 31.5 million in 2000.
Key Terms
• economic restructuring: Economic restructuring refers to the phenomenon of shifting between two types of economies, such as from a manufacturing to service economy or agricultural to manufacturing economy.
• balance of trade deficit: A situation in which a country imports more manufactured products than it exports.
• Foreign direct investment: Foreign direct investment is investment directly into production in a country by a company located in another country, either by buying a company in the target country or by expanding operations of an existing business in that country.
Deindustrialization refers to the process of social and economic change ignited by the removal or reduction of industrial activity/capacity in an area that was formerly supported by the manufacturing industry. Deindustrialization is limited to recent historical moments. It is the inverse process of industrialization —the process of social and economic change that began in the eighteenth century, transforming agrarian societies into industrial ones.
Characteristics of Deindustrialization
Deindustrialization is marked by some combination of four elements.
First, a straightforward decline in the output of manufactured goods or in employment in the manufacturing sector may indicate deindustrialization. However, not every simple decline in output or employment of the manufacturing sector necessarily indicates deindustrialization; short-run downturns may be part of the economic cycle and should not be mistaken for long-term deindustrialization.
Second, deindustrialization may be indicated by a shift from manufacturing to the service sector— economic sectors that focus on serving others rather than producing some physical object. Service sector jobs are seen in government, telecommunication, healthcare, banking, education, legal services, tourism, real estate, or consulting. This shift towards service sector employment would result a shrinking manufacturing sector.
Third, deindustrialization can be marked by a balance of trade deficit, or a situation in which a country imports more manufactured products than it exports.
Finally, deindustrialization can be observed when a nation’s balance of trade deficit is so sustained that the country is unable to pay for the necessary imports of materials needed to further produce goods, initiating a downward spiral of economic decline.
Economic Progress
How is it that economies find themselves in situations of deindustrialization? One explanation centers on economic progress. As economies that were once industrial improve their methods through technological innovation, businesses will find ways to increase productivity or product growth while decreasing the amount of resources they need to devote to production. One “resource” that is particularly expensive is labor. With better technology, employers are able to produce at least the same amount of their product with fewer employees. The decline in employment in manufacturing sectors that comes about from this progress can indicate deindustrialization.
Economic Resturcturing
Another explanation focuses on economic restructuring—institutional and governmental encouragement of the development of a more robust service sector, often at the expense of the manufacturing sector. As the service sector has developed, more and more manufacturing plants have shifted their operations overseas in a process called offshoring. American companies are still involved in the financial aspects of the company; the company remains an American property or American financiers invest through foreign direct investment in companies based abroad. In this model, daily operation occurs overseas, including the hiring of foreign workers in the country where the manufacturing operations are now based. Offshoring demonstrates the importance of scale when considering the process of deindustrialization. While moving a company from the United States to India might result in deindustrialization in America, it does nothing to diminish industry globally. Rather, it redistributes industrialization to India. As such, deindustrialization can be seen as a redistribution of industrial capacity and development rather than a simple decline.
Deindustrialization as a Crisis
When one limits one’s view to a national context, deindustrialization is seen as a crisis. The fact that global industrial capacity has merely been redistributed is little comfort when jobs are being lost at home. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), real industrial production rose in the United States in every year from 1983 to 2007. However, people commonly refer to the United States being in caught in a deindustrialization crisis; growth has slowed and more countries have moved their operations overseas. The number of American workers in the manufacturing industry has declined steadily from its peak of 31.5 million in 2000.
The city of Detroit represents the deindustrialization crisis in the American context. After free-trade agreements were instituted with less-developed nations in the 1980s and 1990s, Detroit-based auto manufacturers relocated their production facilities to other countries with lower wages and work standards. This process took a heavy toll on an auto industry, which was already losing jobs due to technological innovations that required less manual labor. Detroit was once a center of production associated with a high-quality, middle-class standard of living. Today, Detroit is associated with a high concentration of poverty, unemployment, noticeable racial isolation, and a deserted urban center. Deindustrialization can have strongly negative effects in urban areas that were formerly heavily reliant upon the manufacturing sector. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.05%3A_Urban_Problems_and_Policy/17.5B%3A_Disinvestment_and_Deindustrialization.txt |
Urban revitalization involves redeveloping blighted urban areas for new uses.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the postwar development of urban revitalization, specifically related to Title I of the Housing Act of 1949
Key Points
• Urban revitalization has been around since European city planners in the nineteenth century began to consider how to reorganize overpopulated urban areas.
• Title I of the Housing Act of 1949 kick-started the urban renewal program that would reshape American cities.
• Urban renewal can have many positive effects, including better quality housing, reduced sprawl, increased economic competitiveness, improved cultural and social amenities, and improved safety.
• The government has only had mixed success in actually restoring urban areas and has tried to rebrand urban renewal as community redevelopment.
Key Terms
• eminent domain: (US) The right of a government over the lands within its jurisdiction. Usually invoked to compel land owners to sell their property in preparation for a major construction project, such as a freeway.
• Housing Act of 1949: The American Housing Act of 1949 was a landmark, sweeping expansion of the federal role in mortgage insurance and issuance and the construction of public housing. It was part of Harry Truman’s program of domestic legislation, the Fair Deal.
Urban revitalization is hailed by many as a solution to the problems of urban decline by, as the term suggests, revitalizing decaying urban areas. Urban revitalization is closely related to processes of urban renewal, or programs of land redevelopment in areas of moderate- to high-density urban land use. Urban revitalization has been around since European city planners in the nineteenth century began to consider how to reorganize overpopulated urban areas. However, the modern instantiation of urban revitalization is very much a product of the post-World War II economic and social environment. With the influx of money following World War II, the federal government spotlighted American urban areas as the object of renovation.
Most of the postwar development was focused on suburbanization, but urban revitalization was a statutory corollary to suburban development. Title I of the Housing Act of 1949 kick-started the urban renewal program that would reshape American cities. The Act provided federal funding to cities to cover the cost of acquiring declining areas of cities perceived to be slums. According to the act, the federal government paid two-thirds of the cost of acquiring the site, called “the write down,” while the local governments paid for the remaining one-third. Most of the money went towards purchasing the property from the present owners. This process is called ” eminent domain,” or the process through which the government acquires private property for the larger public good. The process of eminent domain requires that the government provide due compensation but does not necessarily require the private property owner’s consent. In the post-war era, after acquiring the properties, the government gave much of the land to private developers to construct new urban housing. These federal incentives to revitalize declining urban areas were particularly attractive to cities that were in states of economic decline at the time.
Urban revitalization certainly provides potential for future urban growth, though the story of successes and failures remains mixed so far. Urban renewal can have many positive effects. Replenished housing stock might signify an improvement in quality; urban renewal may increase density and reduce sprawl, and it might have economic benefits that improve the economic competitiveness of the city’s center. It can also improve cultural and social amenities, through the construction of public spaces and community centers, and can improve safety. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.05%3A_Urban_Problems_and_Policy/17.5C%3A_The_Potential_of_Urban_Revitalization.txt |
Gentrification occurs when wealthier people buy or rent property in a low-income or working class neighborhood, displacing residents.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the process of gentrification based on three models – demographic, sociocultural and political/economy
Key Points
• While gentrification can bring about higher tax revenues from higher property values, gentrification also dislocates pre-gentrification residents by raising rents beyond their price ranges.
• Gentrification has encountered backlash from the original residents of a community, many of whom organize to fight against the white and wealthy incoming population.
• Several explanations for gentrification exist, including a demographic-ecological model, a sociocultural model, and a political economic model.
Key Terms
• baby boomer generation: The baby boomer generation, or those born during the spike in births in the twenty years following World War II, is starting to reach senior citizenship, and will soon pull from the public funds of Social Security and Medicare.
• urban pioneers: In the 1970s, the first few suburban transplants were called urban pioneers and demonstrated that cities were actually appropriate and viable places to live.
• gentrification: The process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces earlier usually poorer residents.
Gentrification has gained attention over the last 50 years, as sociologists attempt to explain the influx of middle-class people to cities and neighborhoods and the displacement of lower-class working residents. Gentrification occurs when wealthier people buy or rent property in low- income or working class neighborhoods, driving up property values and rent. While it brings money into blighted urban areas, it often comes at the expense of poorer, pre-gentrification residents who cannot afford increased rents and property taxes.
How to Gentrify Your Neighborhood – A Video Parody: This comedy video raises many critiques of gentrification by parodying the gentrification of Brooklyn, NY. Many critics of gentrification point to its effects on racial composition of the neighborhood as low-income residents are displaced.
The first urban pioneers in a gentrifying neighborhood may have lower incomes, but possess the cultural capital (e.g., education) characteristic of suburban residents. They are often socially and professionally dominant while economically marginalized. Partially due to their age and low-incomes, these individuals frequently reside in households with roommates and are more tolerant of the perceived evils of the city, such as crime, poor schools, and insufficient public services. Thus, they are willing to move into marginal neighborhoods. When the number of urban pioneers reaches such a critical mass, it attracts business investment and new amenities such as bars, restaurants, and art galleries. Once the urban pioneers and businesses have taken the financial risk out of the community, risk-averse investors and residents may enter the newly gentrified neighborhood. Renewed business attracts more investment capital and new residents, increasing local property values. Ironically, upon full gentrification, the urban pioneers are frequently evicted as rents and taxes rise, and the young, poor professionals can no longer afford to live in the area.
Gentrification is often resisted by those displaced by rising rents. However, while protests have an economic dimension, claims are usually articulated as a loss of culture or dismay over the homogenization and flattening of a formerly diverse neighborhood: gentrification generally increases the proportion of young, white, middle- to upper-income residents.
Demographic
The demographic explanation emphasizes the impact of the baby boomer generation, born after World War II. In the 1970s, this led to a spike in the young adult population, increasing demand for housing. To meet the demand, urban areas had to be “recycled,” or gentrified. The new baby boomer residents departed from the suburban family idea, marrying later and having fewer children; women in the baby boomer generation were the first to enter the workforce in serious numbers. New urban residents were composed of higher, dual-income couples without children, less concerned about space for large families—one of the main draws to the suburbs for their parents. Instead, they were interested in living in cities close to their careers and enjoying the amenities their higher incomes could afford.
Sociocultural
The sociocultural explanation is based on the assumption that values and beliefs influence behavior. It focuses on the changing lifestyles and values of the middle- and upper-classes in the 1970s. At this time, the suburban ideal was falling out of favor; fewer people were moving to suburbs and more were moving back to cities. These first few suburban transplants, or urban pioneers, demonstrated that cities were viable places to live and began developing a type of inner-city chic that was attractive to other baby boomers, which in turn brought an influx of young affluence to inner cities.
Political Economy
Political economic explanations argue new economic or policy incentives contribute to gentrification. In part, the changing political climate of the 1950s and 1960s produced new civil rights legislation, such as anti-discrimination laws in housing and employment and desegregation laws. These policies enabled black families to move out of urban centers and into the suburbs, thus decreasing the availability of suburban land, while integrationist policies encouraged white movement into traditionally black urban areas.
An alternative explanation suggests that developers and government encouraged gentrification with an eye toward profit. Gentrification may be driven by governments hoping to raise property values and increase revenue from taxes. It may be the result of fluctuating relationships between capital investments and the production of urban space. During the two decades following World War II, low rents in the city’s periphery encouraged suburban development; as capital investment moved to suburbs, inner-city property values fell. Developers were able to see that they could purchase the devalued urban land, redevelop the properties, and turn a profit. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/17%3A_Population_and_Urbanization/17.05%3A_Urban_Problems_and_Policy/17.5D%3A_Urban_Gentrification.txt |
Counterurbanization is movement away from cities, including suburbanization, exurbanization, or movement to rural areas.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the reasons for suburbanization and counterurbanization, specifically white flight
Key Points
• White flight is one explanation for widespread counterurbanization in the post-WWII era in the U.S. It refers to the movement of middle and upper- class whites to suburbs to avoid living in areas with high proportions of racial minorities.
• Counterurbanization can lead to shrinking cities. Cities with declining populations experience economic strains as infrastructure exceeds the needs of a shrinking population and costs more per capita than during the city’s peak.
• Several approaches have been employed in attempts to address the problems of shrinking cities. Often these approaches aim to increase urban density.
Key Terms
• exurbanization: Exurbanization refers to the process in the 1990s when upper class city dwellers moved out of the city, beyond the suburbs, to live in high-end housing in the countryside.
• urban decay: Urban decay is a process whereby a city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude.
• white flight: The large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries, from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban areas.
Suburbanization and Counterurbanization
Recently, in developed countries, sociologists have observed suburbanization and counterurbanization, or movement away from cities, which may be driven by transportation infrastructure or social factors like racism. In developing countries, urbanization is characterized by large-scale movements of people from the countryside into cities. In developed countries, people are able to move out of cities while maintaining many of the advantages of city life because improved communications and means of transportation. In fact, counterurbanization appears most common among the middle and upper classes who can afford to buy their own homes.
White Flight
Sociologists have posited many explanations for counterurbanization, but one of the most debated known as “white flight. ” The term “white flight” was coined in the mid-twentieth century to describe suburbanization and the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban regions. During the first half of the twentieth century, discriminatory housing policies often prevented blacks from moving to suburbs; banks and federal policy made it difficult for blacks to get the mortgages they needed to buy houses, and communities used restrictive housing covenants to exclude minorities.
White flight during the post-war period contributed to urban decay, a process whereby a city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. Symptoms of urban decay include depopulation, abandoned buildings, high unemployment, crime, and a desolate, inhospitable landscape. White flight contributed to the draining of cities’ tax bases when middle-class people left. Urban decay was caused in part by the loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs as they moved into rural areas or overseas, where labor was cheaper.
Suburbanization
In the United States, suburbanization began in earnest after World War Two, when soldiers returned from war and received generous government support to finance new homes. These young men were also interested in settling down, buying their own homes, and achieving independence and a less hectic daily life with a more affordable cost of living than they could find in cities. Thus, suburbs were built—smaller cities located on the edges of a larger city, which often include residential neighborhoods for those working in the area. Suburbs grew dramatically in the 1950s when the U.S. Interstate Highway System was built and automobiles became affordable for middle class families.
Exurbanization
Around 1990, another trend emerged, called exurbanization: upper class city dwellers moved out of the city, beyond the suburbs, to live in high-end housing in the countryside. This exurbanization may be a new urban form. Rather than densely populated centers, cities may become more spread out, composed of many interconnected smaller towns. The history of counterurbanization calls into question depictions of urbanization as a one-way process. The modern U.S. experience has followed a circular pattern over the last 150 years, from a largely rural country, to a highly urban country, to a country with significant suburban populations.
Shrinking Cities
Whatever its causes, counterurbanization has had serious effects on cities. As a result of counterurbanization, some cities are now losing population. These shrinking cities may face serious problems as they attempt to maintain infrastructure built for a much larger population. As cities shrink, residents must contribute more per capita to maintain fixed infrastructure costs (e.g., for roads, sewers, and public transportation). Dispersed neighborhoods that characterize shrinking cities are also a major source of fiscal distress. These cities must still provide services like fire protection and trash pickup to fewer and fewer citizens over a larger geographic distance, raising the per capita cost.
Several approaches have been employed in attempts to address these problems. Often these approaches aim to increase urban density. For example, planners may revitalize core areas, like downtown, to make them more attractive to businesses and residents. Other cities have tried setting an urban growth boundary to limit sprawl, which increases density within the boundary. The boundary generally encompasses the city and its surrounding suburbs, requiring the entire area to work together to prevent urban shrinkage. This method is being used successfully in many cities (such as Portland, Oregon) to maximize returns on infrastructure investments.
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Aging is the process of people growing older.
Key Points
• Population aging is a demographic phenomenon which involves the rise in the median age of a country or region.
• Traditionally, the extended family was primarly responsible for taking care of the elderly, a fact which is no longer the case in many societies.
• Today, the state and various charitable organizations are largely responsible for providing care for the elderly.
• In the U.S., two major problems associated with an aging population are the pension crisis and the strain on the healthcare system, particularly Medicare.
Key Terms
• Growing Old: In the 1961 book Growing Old, Cumming and Henry formulated the disengagement theory of aging. It was the first theory of aging that social scientists developed.
• disengagement theory: The disengagement theory of aging states that “aging is an inevitable, mutual withdrawal or disengagement, resulting in decreased interaction between the aging person and others in the social system he belongs to.”
Aging
As people grow older, they become less self-sufficient in terms of taking care of their own finances, health, and general day-to-day needs and obligations. For example, most societies have a generally accepted age of retirement (based on both societal norms as well as a country’s tax laws and pension rules) after which point an individual ceases to engage in employment. The rest of society typically assumes some level of responsibility in ensuring that the elderly are cared for. The elderly can receive care from a variety of different sources, including their families, the state, the private sector, and charitable institutions. Nevertheless, even in societies that have a strong system in place to provide for the aged, an aging population poses a significant financial and economic burden. In the U.S. specifically, the pension system and the healthcare sector are two important examples of this problem.
History of Elderly Care
Traditionally, the extended family would look after the older generation. While this role is still attributed to the family in many parts of the world, particularly in non-Western nations, the modern family has evolved in such a way that care for the aged is now provided for by the state and various charitable organizations. Some of the main reasons why elders are less likely to be taken care of exclusively by their families include the decreasing size of families, the increased longevity of the elderly, the geographic dispersion of families, and the fact that women have become more educated and commonly work outside the home. While this trend is widespread in Europe and North America, there is growing evidence of it in many parts of Asia, too. The various forms that elderly care services can take include assisted living, adult day care, long-term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and in-home care. The different institutions can further be classified as medical (skilled) care and non-medical (social) care.
Several countries today are facing an aging population, where the median age of the population has increased and a larger portion of the population is considered to be older. Two primary reasons for this are increased life expectancy and lower birth rates. Currently, the majority of the countries facing this demographic phenomenon consists of advanced economies, such as Japan and many parts of Europe. However, it is predicted that the greatest future impact will occur in Asia.
Advantages of an Older Population
There may be some economic advantages to having an older population. For example, since older people have higher accumulated savings per head than younger individuals do, a large aged population can result in lower interest rates as well as a lower rate of inflation. However, for the most part, a substantial aged population leads to a lot of financial pressure on both the public and private sectors.
Disadvantages of an Older Population
One of the problems that may arise from a large segment of society being aged is a pension crisis. In the U.S., it is probably going to become increasingly difficult to pay corporate, federal, and state pensions, because the number of workers relative to retirees is shrinking. In order to improve the sustainability of the pension system, a few measures can be undertaken. For example, the worker-retiree ratio can be rectified by increasing the retirement age or by changing employment and immigration policies. Alternatively, it may be possible to reduce the amount owed to retirees. Finally, it may become necessary to expand resources to fund pensions through increased contributions or higher taxes. Trying to implement any of these solutions will likely result in some level of controversy and public debate.
Another significant source of problems related to an older population resides in the healthcare sector. In 1965, Congress created Medicare under the Social Security Act in order to provide health insurance to U.S. citizens over the age of 65, regardless of their income and medical history. Aside from premiums paid by Medicare enrollees along with the fund source itself, Medicare is financed by revenue levied on employers and workers through the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and the Self-Employment Contributions Act. However, due to rising enrollment as the population ages and a decreasing ratio of workers to enrollers, Medicare is facing financial difficulties. While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is supposed to address many issues confronting the healthcare sector today, the rising cost of healthcare remains a national problem, as patients are paying more in order to receive the same care as before. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.01%3A_The_Aging_Population/18.1A%3A_Aging.txt |
The elderly proportion of the population is growing around the world, but it is greater in developed countries.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the sociological factors that allow people to live longer lives in industrialized versus non-industrialized nations, such as better access to health care
Key Points
• All over the world, people are living longer. Population experts estimate that more than 50 million Americans, or 17 percent of the population, will be 65 or older in 2020.
• Biological markers for old age (such as wrinkles, grey hair, memory loss, etc.) exist, but old age can also be defined by when an individual begins to fill certain social roles, such as becoming a grandparent or retiring.
• There is a disparity between industrialized and non-industrialized nations; people live longer in industrialized countries.
• The population of people aged 65 and older has been growing at a faster rate than the total population. While women still live longer than men, the gender gap among seniors is narrowing.
• There appear to be regional divides in the demographic breakdown of senior citizens.
Key Terms
• centenarian: Being at least 100 years old.
• United States Census: The United States Census provides more specific information about the make up of older Americans. According to the census, there has been rapid growth amongst the elderly segment of the population in recent years.
The number of individuals living into old age is growing worldwide. While the trend of an aging population is obvious, it can be difficult to assess because the definition of “old age” depends entirely on the cultural norms of a given society. Biological markers for old age (such as wrinkles, grey hair, memory loss, etc.) exist, but old age can also be defined by when an individual begins to fill certain social roles, such as becoming a grandparent or retiring. All of these factors vary by culture.
Statistics on Age
Nevertheless, the fact is that people are living longer and are therefore more prone to encounter issues associated with old age. In industrialized nations, life expectancy has increased consistently over the last decades. In the United States, the proportion of people aged 65 or older increased from 4 percent in 1900 to about 12 percent in 2000. In 1900, only about 3 million Americans were 65 or older, out of a total population of 76 million Americans. By 2000, the number of senior citizens had increased to 35 million out of 280 million Americans. Population experts estimate that more than 50 million Americans, or 17 percent of the population, will be 65 or older in 2020. The number of older Americans has spiked in recent years due to the age of baby boomers—the generation that was born in the twenty years following World War II. As soldiers returned from war, families began to grow. This generation is now beginning to enter their older years.
The United States Census provides more specific information about the make up of older Americans. According to the census, there has been rapid growth among the elderly segment of the population in recent years. The population of people aged 65 and older grew at a faster rate than the total population. While women still live longer than men, the gender gap among seniors is narrowing. Further, there appear to be regional divides in the demographic breakdown of senior citizens. The South had the largest number of people aged 65 and up, while the Northeast had the largest percentage of people aged 65 and up. In 2010, 53,364 centenarians, or people over the age of 100, lived in the United States, a 5.8 percent increase from the number of centenarians in 2000. This means that 1 out of every 5,786 Americans is over the age of 100.
While the trend of an older population appears worldwide, people in industrialized nations are older than people in non-industrialized nations. While people in almost all countries are living longer than prior generations, people in industrialized nations still live longer than people in non-industrialized nations. According to the Population Research Bureau, the average life expectancy in Africa is 53, in North America is 78, in Latin America is 73, in Asia is 68, in Europe is 75, and in Oceania is 75. Some of this difference can be attributed to disparities in health care—easier access to pervasive biotechnology in industrialized nations means that people live longer. Other factors include poverty and a generally more strenuous lifestyle, which can cause health problems and a lower life expectancy. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.01%3A_The_Aging_Population/18.1B%3A_Composition_of_the_Older_Population.txt |
Aging to sex ratios show women living longer than men, but this gap has been quickly narrowing since 1990.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the gender gap that exists leading to women generally living longer than men
Key Points
• Women tend to live longer than men, and the ratio of women to men is high among the elderly.
• The percentage of men aged 65 and up grew faster than the percentage of women aged 65 and up, according to the 2010 census.
• The longevity of women relative to men is likely due to their better cardiovascular health, the fact that they are less likely to engage in risky behavior, and the fact that traditionally, physical labor is more frequently performed by men.
Key Terms
• centenarian: Being at least 100 years old.
Women tend to live longer than men in almost every country. In Japan, men generally live to about 79, whereas women live to 83. However, in the United States, that gender gap is beginning to close. The percentage of men aged 65 and up grew faster than the percentage of women aged 65 and up, according to the 2010 census. For example, the number of men aged 85 to 94 grew 46.5% between 2000 and 2010, but the number of women in that age group grew only 22.9%.
However, for the very oldest members of the population, the gender gap still holds true. The United States Census reports that of the 53,364 centenarians, or people over the age of 100, 82.8% are women and only 17.2% are male. In other words, out of the entire American population, 1 out of every 3,551 females is a centenarian while only 1 out or 16,566 males is a centenarian. Thus, even though the gender gap is narrowing, women are still expected to live longer than men.
These figures could be due, in part, to the sex ratio. The sex ratio is the ratio of men to women in a given society or country. The current sex ratio for the world is 986 females to 1000 males. In the United States, the ratio is 105 males to every 100 females. However, men tend to live riskier lives, are more prone to heart disease and cancer, and women are therefore likely to live longer than men. In fact, cancer deaths among men are 200 per 100,000 cases, whereas women are only 150 per 100,000 (from the National Cancer Institute).
Why women live longer than men is not perfectly understood. Several factors contribute to the overall trend. For example, men statistically engage in more behaviors that put their lives at risk than women, which reduces their life expectancy. Men are also more “successful” when attempting suicide, which also brings down their life expectancy. Another factor that may contribute to the greater life expectancy of women is the different types of jobs men and women tend to have during their lifetimes, with men more frequently doing physical labor that could wear the body down or increase the odds of injury. Other biological factors likely play a role, including greater cardiovascular health among women.
18.1D: Aging and Race
Individuals with different racial backgrounds tend to have different experiences with old age.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the racial implications of aging, particularly for minority groups
Key Points
• Minority populations are more likely to experience elder abuse from relatives and caretakers.
• Minority populations are also more likely to experience health problems associated with old age.
• Many of the medical differences between different racial groups are better explained by differences in socioeconomic status rather than race.
Key Terms
• elder abuse: Elder abuse is a general term used to describe certain types of harm to older adults.
• social determinants of health: The economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status.
Individuals of different racial backgrounds experience aging —and the health issues associated with it—differently. Before turning to the medical concerns that accompany aging, one should note that elders of different racial backgrounds also experience different frequencies of elder abuse. Elder abuse is a general term to describe certain types of harm that are inflicted upon older adults. The most common form of elder abuse is neglect or improper care for vulnerable seniors. Unfortunately, this is usually inflicted by people whom the elder trusts and who are responsible for caring for the elder, such as family members or caretakers at elder homes. Research indicates that black senior citizens are more likely to be abused than white citizens.
Further, medical concerns present differently for white seniors and minority seniors. Black and Hispanic seniors are more likely to encounter cardiac problems earlier than white seniors. However, these outcome disparities are not usually the result of biological determinants of health, which means that minority populations are not biologically less healthy than white populations. Rather, the disparity in medical outcomes is more likely attributed to social determinants of health, which are socioeconomic conditions that bear on health.
For example, black and Hispanic populations are more likely to encounter financial hardship and therefore eat less healthy food, which potentially leads to health problems. In addition, individuals from a poorer socioeconomic background are less likely to have had access to healthcare throughout their whole lives. This lack of access ultimately leads to medical concerns in old age. Thus, while one can make generalizations about elder health by comparing racial categories, these differences are frequently caused by differences in socioeconomic status rather than race. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.01%3A_The_Aging_Population/18.1C%3A_Gender_Differences_in_Aging.txt |
In order to assist the elderly with their living and healthcare costs, the U.S. government established assistance programs like Medicare.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the programs made available to the elderly to assist with quality of life, such as Social Security and Medicare, and the looming crises with these particular programs
Key Points
• American seniors face serious financial troubles due to the fact that they are no longer earning an income, but face increased expenses as a result of diminishing health.
• Social Security and Medicare are federal programs designed to help seniors, though both programs face financial difficulties themselves.
• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, would help cut down seniors’ expenses by lowering healthcare costs and increasing public services.
Key Terms
• Obamacare: a colloquial term for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 which expands health care coverage for Americans
• baby boomer generation: The baby boomer generation, or those born during the spike in births in the twenty years following World War II, is starting to reach senior citizenship, and will soon pull from the public funds of Social Security and Medicare.
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: an American law passed in 2010 that expands health care coverage
Managing the Aging Population
The elderly have financial difficulties primarily because they are too old to hold a job, and thus have no regular income, yet they incur large medical expenses as a result of diminishing health. However, due to the improvement in medical technology, more seniors are living longer and more fulfilling lives, yet still struggle financially. Because of this trend of impoverishment, the United States has enacted social policies designed to help the elderly manage their financial woes. Major policy efforts include Social Security, a social welfare program that taxes the current working sector to give money to individuals in retirement, and Medicare, a federal program that subsidizes medical costs for seniors. Prior to the introduction of Social Security, the elderly were the poorest age group in the United States. With the introduction of Social Security, poverty rates of the elderly in the United States have dropped dramatically. Between 1960 and 1995, the official poverty rate of those aged 65 and above fell from 35 percent to 10 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. However, due to a lack of funds, that number is beginning to increase once again.
Social Security
Social Security is designed to redistribute wealth temporarily in order to help seniors finance their lives after retirement. In this program, the current workforce is taxed, the results of which flow into a special fund designated for Social Security. Payments are then made from this fund to retirees. This is not, however, simple redistribution. The workforce that is currently contributing to the fund will then retrieve payments once they retire. Thus, Social Security has features of both a redistribution system and a savings account.
Medicare
In addition to Social Security, the other primary social support for the American elderly is Medicare. Medicare is a social insurance program that provides health care for American citizens over the age of 65. Medicare subsidizes hospital visits, doctors’ appointments, and prescription drugs. Created in 1965, Medicare was intended to address the fact that seniors spend more on healthcare than any other segment of the population, despite having the least income. Recent studies have confirmed that Medicare enrollees typically have lower incomes and more healthcare expenses than the average American. In 2006, the average household income of Medicare enrollees was \$22,600, far less than the median American income of \$48, 201. In 2008, 16% of Medicare enrollees were living below the poverty line, compared to 13% of the general population. Further complicating things, the typical senior household has only \$66,900 in savings, yet the average American male needs \$124,000 to cover healthcare during retirement, and the average American female needs \$152,000.
Because Medicare enrollees are, by definition, senior citizens, their healthcare costs also far higher than average. About 87% of Medicare enrollees have at least one chronic condition and close to half have three or more. Thirty percent of enrollees visit the emergency room in any given year, and 21% have an inpatient stay. Roughly 66% of seniors require some form of long-term care over their lifetimes, and 18% live in a nursing home for at least one year. These disparities demonstrate the complicated problems most senior citizens encounter as they age.
Looming Crises with Medicare and Social Security
Social Security could soon be in crisis if current trends to not change. Right now, more money is being garnished through taxing the current workforce than is being paid out to retirees. However, this will soon change. If the laws governing Social Security are not changed by 2017, the program will begin paying out more funds than it receives. Medicare faces even more dire financial problems than Social Security. Like Social Security, Medicare gains revenue through taxation, but by 2009, Medicare was expending more than it was earning, and its Trust Fund had already been tapped to access emergency funds. The Trust Fund for Medicare will be exhausted by 2017, at which point, the federal government will only be able to cover about 80% of the costs of medical treatment for its senior citizens, which is around 48 million Americans.
Part of the reason both Social Security and Medicare face looming crises is the rising population of seniors. The baby boomer generation, those born in the 20 years following World War II, is starting to reach senior citizenship and pull from these public funds. At the same time, the working population in the United States has decreased. Thus, Social Security and Medicare are both being called upon to support greater numbers of senior citizens while having fewer workers to tax in order to gain revenue. The respective conditions of Social Security and Medicare contributed significantly to the discussion surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed by President Barack Obama in 2010. The act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, provides a public insurance option through the government to help drive down insurance costs. By lowering healthcare costs and requiring insurance, the government hopes to better address the needs of the nation’s elderly. However, the constitutionality of the Act is currently being debated by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Act could be overturned. Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, American seniors face serious financial troubles, compounded by their healthcare needs. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.01%3A_The_Aging_Population/18.1E%3A_Aging_and_Wealth.txt |
Global aging differs depending on the access to economic and social resources; thus, industrialized countries tend to have older populations.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the impact of an aging population on the economy, for example, in terms of health care costs
Key Points
• People are living longer than ever before across the world.
• However, on average, people in industrialized nations live longer than people in non-industrialized nations. This is largely due to poorer health in non- industrialized countries, and fatalities associated with HIV/AIDS.
• Difference in lifespan is also attributed to better access of healthcare in different industrialized and non-industrialized nations.
• The economic effects of an aging population are considerable.
Key Terms
• biotechnology: The use of living organisms (especially microorganisms) in industrial, agricultural, medical and other technological applications
• HIV/AIDS: An infectious disease, caused by HIV, that causes the gradual degeneration of the body’s immune system.
All over the world, people are living longer than ever before. However, while the trend of a growing older population appears world over, people in industrialized nations are older than people in non-industrialized nations. According to the Population Research Bureau, the average life expectancy in Africa is 53, in North America is 78, in Latin America is 73, in Asia is 68, in Europe is 75, and in Oceania is 75. Worldwide, about 8% of the total global population is over the age of 65, while about 12% of Americans are over the age of 65.
Some of this difference can be attributed to disparities in health care. Easier access to pervasive biotechnology in industrialized nations means that people live longer. Unfortunately, in some countries HIV/AIDS has ravaged the population to the point where the average life expectancy drops. Most of these countries have lower levels of development and industrialization.
The economic effects of an aging population are considerable. Older people have higher accumulated savings per head than younger people, but spend less on consumer goods. Depending on the age ranges at which the changes occur, an aging population may thus result in lower interest rates and the economic benefits of lower inflation. Some economists see advantages in such changes, notably the opportunity to progress automation and technological development without causing unemployment. They emphasize a shift from GDP to personal well-being.
However population aging also increases some categories of expenditure, including some from public finances. The largest area of expenditure in many countries is now health care, the cost of which is likely to increase dramatically as populations age. This would present governments with hard choices between higher taxes, including a possible reweighing of tax from earnings to consumption, and a reduced government role in providing health care.
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The social construction of aging entails the creation of social norms and symbols that encapsulates the aging process.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the cultural treatment of aging in the U.S. versus Japan, employing Goffman’s argument in ”The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”
Key Points
• Age is socially constructed because notions of age vary around the world.
• Different cultures fix age with different meanings and different values.
• Eastern cultures tend to highly value age and wisdom, while Western cultures tend to highly value youth.
• In Western societies, people take pains to appear younger than their biological age. These measures follow Erving Goffman ‘s ideas of self-presentation in that people are trying to get others in society to perceive them as young.
Key Terms
• social construction: A concept or practice that is the construct (or artifact) of a particular group, meaning that the concept or practice is understood differently by various groups and institutions.
Aging as a Social Construction
While aging itself is a biological process, what it means to be “young” or “old” is socially constructed. This means that there is no inherent cultural meaning to the biological process of aging. Rather, cultures imbue youth and age with meanings. Aging is perceived differently around the world, demonstrating its social construction.
Frequently, the average life expectancy in a given region bears on what age counts as “old.” For example, in the United States, where the average life expectancy is over 78 years, people are not considered “old” until they are in their sixties or seventies. However, in Chad the average life expectancy is less than 49 years. People in their thirties or forties are therefore already middle-aged or “old.” These variations in people’s perceptions of who should or should not be considered elderly indicates indicates that notions of youth and age are culturally constructed. There is thus no such thing as a universal age for being considered old.
Cultural Treatment of Aging
Cultures treat their elderly differently and place different values on old age. Many Eastern societies associate old age with wisdom, so they value old age much more than their Western counterparts. In Japan, adult children are expected to care for their aging parents in ways different than in the United States. Sixty five percent of Japanese elders live with their children and very few live in nursing homes. Japanese cultural norms suggest that caring for one’s parents by putting them in an assisted living home is tantamount to neglect. When unable to care for themselves, parents should ideally move in with their children. The Japanese celebration of old age is further illustrated by the existence of Respect for the Aged Day, which is a national holiday to celebrate elderly citizens.
Japanese perceptions of elders diverge markedly from public perceptions of old age in the United States. Western societies tend to place an increased value on youth such that many people take extreme measures to appear young. The desire to look younger than one’s biological years is frequently the impetus for cosmetic surgeries that can hide the physical effects of aging. These surgical practices, combined with the huge expenditures on makeup and clothing in younger fashions, incorporate a Goffmanian understanding of social presentation.
Erving Goffman was a sociologist writing in the mid-twentieth century. His most famous work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) argued that whenever individuals come into contact with other people, they will attempt to control or guide the impression that others might have of them by intentionally comporting themselves in different ways. Individuals thus take sometimes drastic action to control the appearance of their age so that others can perceive them to be younger. Significantly, these social interactions occur in a social milieu that values youth. In this light, people try to appear younger to increase their sense of social value. Of course, interactions involving the perception of age must then vary by culture, as different cultures ascribe the notion of age with different values. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.02%3A_A_Global_Perspective_on_Aging/18.2A%3A_The_Social_Construction_of_Aging.txt |
Industrialization has contributed to the growth of the older age population due to the technological advances that have come with it.
Learning Objectives
• Produce a short debate which shows the pros and cons of industrialization
Key Points
• Industrialized nations are those that meet certain measures of economic growth and security, while non-industrialized nations are those that do not meet those measures.
• Industrialization increases life expectancy by creating better conditions, better government social supports, and better access to healthcare.
• There is currently a disparity in life expectancy between industrialized nations and non-industrialized nations.
Key Terms
• industrialized countries: Industrialized countries are defined by measures of economic growth and security. Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating the degree of development is to look at the gross domestic product (GDP), the per capita income, the level of industrialization, the amount of widespread infrastructure, and the general standard of living.
• Industrial Revolution: The major technological, socioeconomic, and cultural change in the late 18th and early 19th century, resulting from the replacement of an economy based on manual labor to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing.
• infant mortality rate: In the field of public health, the infant mortality rate is a commonly used statistical measure that is defined as the ratio of infant deaths to live births.
Across the globe, industrialization increases the average life span of people. Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a community from an agrarian society into an industrial one. It is a part of a wider modernization process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation. The United Kingdom began an Industrial Revolution in the mid-eighteenth century due to the availability of land, labor, and investment capital.
Most Western countries industrialized by the nineteenth century but the Industrial Revolution is still occurring around the world. One schematic by which one can divide the world is between industrialized and non- industrialized countries. Industrialized countries are defined by measures of economic growth and security. Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating the degree of development is to look at the gross domestic product (GDP), the per capita income, the level of industrialization, the amount of widespread infrastructure, and the general standard of living. Countries that score poorly on these scales are considered to be non-industrialized, though it should be noted that non-industrialized countries are undergoing the process of industrialization.
All over the world, people are living longer than ever before. However, while the trend of a growing older population appears the world over, people in industrialized nations are older than people in non-industrialized nations. Thus, while people in all countries are living longer than prior generations, people in industrialized nations live longer than people in non-industrialized nations. According to the Population Research Bureau, the average life expectancy in Africa is 53, in North America is 78, in Latin America is 73, in Asia is 68, in Europe is 75, and in Oceania is 75. Worldwide, about 8% of the total global population is over the age of 65, while about 12% of Americans are over the age of 65.
How can one explain this disparity? Industrialization brings money into an economy. With this influx of capital, countries are able to develop more robust social supports to assist a population. Further, development can create jobs, enabling people to better fend for themselves. Food and healthcare are more widely available. Better living conditions and healthcare both limit the infant mortality rate, which is the percentage of children who die before turning one year old, and extend the average life expectancy. Both of these trends encourage the growth of an older population. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.02%3A_A_Global_Perspective_on_Aging/18.2B%3A__Industrialization_and_the_Graying_of_the_Globe.txt |
The graying of America has contributed to the higher concentration of the elderly in certain areas of the United States.
Learning Objectives
• Summarize how the situation in Pittsburgh illustrates the economic tensions produced by an aging population
Key Points
• About 12% of Americans are over the age of 65. The elderly are concentrated in the Midwest and the South.
• The higher concentration of older people in certain places has economic ramifications. These areas are called upon to support a population that has a greater need for social services, such as healthcare.
• As the aging population rises in Pittsburgh, industries such as healthcare have replaced the steel industry due to the shift to a more elderly population in that area.
Key Terms
• pension: A gratuity paid regularly as a benefit due to a person in consideration of past services; notably to one retired from service, on account of retirement age, disability or similar cause; especially a regular stipend paid by a government to retired public officers, disabled soldiers; sometimes passed on to the heirs, or even specifically for them, as to the families of soldiers killed in service.
According to the United States Census, about 12% of the American population is over the age of 65. However, the elderly are not evenly distributed throughout the United States. There are higher concentrations of the elderly in the Midwest and in the South, particularly in Florida. The high concentration of elderly in Florida is partially attributable to the fact that many retirees move to Florida for the good weather. In contrast, few elderly people move to the Midwest. Instead, the high concentration of elderly people in the Midwest is due to the fact that the young are moving out of there.
The city of Pittsburgh offers an intriguing case study of the effects of an aging population on a city. Since 2008, more people die annually in Pittsburgh than are born. Further, many members of the younger generation are moving away from Pittsburgh in an effort to find work. As such, Pittsburgh is both experiencing population decline and the aging of its existing population. This poses an economic conundrum in that the population is increasingly reliant on public services for assistance, such as healthcare, but there is a smaller workforce that can be taxed to support the demand. Additionally, changing demographics have influenced the comparative prominence of different economic sectors in Pittsburgh. Healthcare has replaced steel as Pittsburgh’s largest industry. This case study demonstrates how shifting population demographics can seriously impact an urban area’s economy.
While the effects of an increasingly aging population on society are complex, there is a specific concern about the impact on healthcare demand. Older people generally incur more health-related costs than do younger people, and in the workplace can also cost more in worker’s compensation and pension liabilities.
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The disengagement theory of aging claims that it is natural and acceptable for older adults to withdraw from society and personal relationships as they age.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the nine postulates of growing old and the impact at each stage for the elderly in society
Key Points
• Disengagement theory claims that it is natural and acceptable for older adults to withdraw from society and personal relationships as they age.
• Disengagement theory was the first theory of aging developed by social scientists.
• The theory was developed by Elaine Cumming and Warren Earl Henry in their 1961 book “Growing Old.” Subsequently, the theory has been largely debunked.
Key Terms
• disengagement theory: The disengagement theory of aging claims that it is natural and acceptable for older adults to withdraw from society and personal relationships as they age.
• activity theory: Activity theory claims that staying mentally and physically active preserves older adults happier.
• Robert J. Havighurst: Robert James Havighurst (June 5, 1900 in De Pere, Wisconsin – January 31, 1991 in Richmond, Indiana) was a professor, physicist, educator, and aging expert.
The disengagement theory of aging claims that it is natural and acceptable for older adults to withdraw from society and personal relationships as they age. The theory further suggests that society responds to the elder’s disengagement with a sort of mutual recognition that the elder will soon pass and society must prepare to function in their absence. As such, the theory argues that it is natural and acceptable for older adults to withdraw from society.
The Postulates of Growing Old
Disengagement theory was the first theory of aging developed by social scientists. It was originally formulated by Elaine Cumming and Warren Earl Henry in their 1961 book Growing Old. In Growing Old, Cumming and Henry develop a logical argument for why older adults would naturally disengage from society. They formulate their argument along nine postulates to explain why it is rational for individuals who know that death is approaching and who have seen friends of their age pass to begin to anticipate their own deaths and disengage.
The postulates are as follows:
1. Postulate one: Everyone expects death, and one’s abilities will likely deteriorate over time. As a result, every person will lose ties to others in his or her society.
2. Postulate two: Because individual interactions between people strengthen norms, an individual who has fewer varieties of interactions has greater freedom from the norms imposed by interaction. Consequently, this form of disengagement becomes a circular or self-perpetuating process.
3. Postulate three: Because men have a centrally instrumental role in America, and women a socioemotional one, disengagement differs between men and women.
4. Postulate four: The individual’s life is punctuated by ego changes. For example, aging, a form of ego change, causes knowledge and skill to deteriorate. However, success in an industrialized society demands certain knowledge and skill. To satisfy these demands, age-grading ensures that the young possess sufficient knowledge and skill to assume authority and that the old retire before they lose their skills. This kind of disengagement is affected by the individual, prompted by either ego changes or the organization, which is bound to organizational imperatives, or both.
5. Sunday Morning Stroll in Piazza del Popolo: The process of aging is greatly facilitated when older people pursue hobbies and relationships, and generally lead a more active lifestyle.
Postulate five: When both the individual and society are ready for disengagement, complete disengagement results. When neither is ready, continuing engagement results. When the individual is ready and society is not, a disjunction between the expectations of the individual and of the members of this social systems results, but engagement usually continues. When society is ready and the individual is not, the result of the disjunction is usually disengagement.
6. Postulate six: Man’s central role is work, and woman’s is marriage and family. If individuals abandon their central roles, they drastically lose social life space, and so suffer crisis and demoralization unless they assume the different roles required by the disengaged state.
7. Postulate seven: Readiness for disengagement occurs if the individual is aware of the shortness of life and scarcity of time, the individual perceives his or her life space decreasing, and the individual loses ego energy. Each level of society grants individuals permission to disengage because of the following: requirements of the rational-legal occupational system in an affluent society; the nature of the nuclear family; and the differential death rate.
8. Postulate eight: Fewer interactions and disengagement from central roles lead to the relationships in the remaining roles changing. In turn, relational rewards become more diverse, and vertical solidarities are transformed to horizontal ones.
9. Postulate nine: Disengagement theory is independent of culture, but the form it takes is bound by culture.
Disengagement theory, suffering from a lack of empirical support, has largely been dismissed by social scientists and gerontologists. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.03%3A_The_Functionalist_Perspective_on_Aging/18.3A%3A_Disengagement_Theory.txt |
Activity theory proposes that successful aging occurs when older adults stay active and maintain social interactions.
Learning Objectives
• Compare the activity model and disengagement model of aging, in terms of activity level and level of life satisfaction
Key Points
• The activity theory of aging proposes that older adults are happiest when they stay active and maintain social interactions.
• The theory was developed by Robert J. Havighurst as a response to the disengagement theory of aging.
• The disengagement model suggests that it is natural for the elderly to disengage from society as they realize that they are ever nearer to death.
Key Terms
• activity theory: Activity theory proposes that successful aging occurs when older adults stay active and maintain social interactions.
• Robert J. Havighurst: Robert James Havighurst (June 5, 1900 in De Pere, Wisconsin – January 31, 1991 in Richmond, Indiana) was a professor, physicist, educator, and aging expert.
• disengagement theory: The disengagement theory of aging states that “aging is an inevitable, mutual withdrawal or disengagement, resulting in decreased interaction between the aging person and others in the social system he belongs to.”
The activity theory of aging proposes that older adults are happiest when they stay active and maintain social interactions. These activities, especially when meaningful, help the elderly to replace lost life roles after retirement and, therefore, resist the social pressures that limit an older person’s world. The theory assumes a positive relationship between activity and life satisfaction. Activity theory reflects the functionalist perspective that the equilibrium, that an individual develops in middle age, should be maintained in later years. The theory predicts that older adults that face role loss will substitute former roles with other alternatives.
The theory was developed by gerontologist, or, scholar of aging, Robert J. Havighurst in 1961, and was originally conceived as a response to the recently published disengagement theory of aging. The disengagement model suggests that it is natural for the elderly to disengage from society as they realize that they are ever nearer to death. However, withdrawing from their central societal roles—working, marriage, raising a family —means they drastically lose social life space and so suffer crisis and demoralization.
Havighurst’s activity theory is at deliberate odds with what some perceive as the pessimism of disengagement theory. However, critics of activity theory state that it overlooks inequalities in health and economics that hinders the ability for older people to engage in such activities. Also, some older adults do not desire to engage in new challenges.
Five decades of gerontological research, however, suggest that the activity model is more accurate than the disengagement model. Not only is activity beneficial for the community, but it engages older adults (both physically and mentally) and allows them to socialize with others. This increases feelings of self-worth and pleasure, which are important for happiness and longevity.
Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep: Participating in activities from which they used to derive pleasure in the past, such as singing, helps older people stay active and engaged.
18.3B: Intergenerational Conflict
Intergenerational conflict refers to the conflict between older and younger generations as they compete for jobs and resources.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the conflict perspective of aging in terms of the generational divide and competition for employment and resources (which equal power)
Key Points
• According to the conflict perspective of aging, generations are competing over jobs.
• The inequities in resource distribution reflect larger disparities in power between generations.
• Whichever generation happens to be middle-aged at any given point in time is the most powerful compared to the old and the young.
• Members of the powerful generation act as gatekeepers for the distribution of resources and powers to be in line with their own interests. Power is therefore maintained by the middle-class, perpetuating their monopoly on resources.
• This perspective of aging derives from larger sociological conflict theory.
Key Terms
• conflict perspective of aging: According to the conflict perspective of aging, generations are competing over jobs. The theory developed in 1980s as unemployment rose dramatically.
• conflict theory: A social science perspective that holds that stratification is dysfunctional and harmful in society, with inequality perpetuated because it benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor.
Intergenerational conflict plays a key role in the conflict perspective of aging. This social theory suggests that conflict between older and younger generations occurs as they compete for resources and jobs. The conflict perspective of aging is a strand of general sociological conflict theory, which is the theory that sees conflict as a normal aspect of social life rather than as an abnormal occurrence.
Conflict theory has three main premises: first, that society is comprised of different groups that compete for resources; second, that despite social attempts to portray a sense of cooperation, a continual power struggle exists between social groups as they pursue their own divergent and competing interests; third, social groups will use resources to their own advantage in pursuit of their own goals, even if it means taking advantage of another group of people.
The conflict perspective of aging thus emphasizes competition between generations. According to the conflict perspective of aging, generations are competing over jobs. The theory developed in 1980s as unemployment rose dramatically. As jobs became increasingly scarce, younger and older generations both felt pressure to compete over available resources, enabling competition between the generational divide. As such, the economic climate of the era in which the theory developed influenced the content of the theory itself.
The conflict perspective of aging is not solely about resource acquisition. Rather, resources stand for power. This perspective on aging maintains that whichever generation happens to be middle-aged at any given point in time is the most powerful compared to the old and the young. Members of the powerful generation act as gatekeepers and orchestrate the distribution of resources and powers to be in line with their own interests, often at the exclusion of the needs of other individuals and generations. Power is therefore maintained by the middle-class, perpetuating their monopoly on resources. This tension, and subsequent competition, is precisely what is addressed by the conflict perspective of aging.
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The continuity theory proposes that older adults maintain the same activities, behaviors, personalities, and relationships of the past.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the pros and cons of the continuity theory of aging, specifically in terms of how it neglects to consider social institutions or chronically ill adults
Key Points
• Internal structures of continuity remain constant over a lifetime and include elements, such as personality traits, ideas, and beliefs. It helps people make future decisions by providing them with a stable foundation in the past.
• External structures of continuity help maintain a stable self-concept and lifestyle and include relationships and social roles.
• George L. Maddox and Robert Atchley are most closely associated with the continuity theory.
• The theory is criticized for including a distinction between normal and pathological aging that does not take into account older adults with chronic diseases. The theory is also criticized for not considering the influence of social institutions on the aging of individuals.
Key Terms
• Internal Structures: (of an individual) remain relatively constant throughout a person’s lifetime and includes elements such as personality traits, ideas, and beliefs.
• External Structures: (of an individual) consist of relationships and social roles, and support the maintenance of a stable self-concept and lifestyle.
• Continuity Theory: The continuity theory of normal aging states that older adults will usually maintain the same activities, behaviors, personality traits, and relationships as they did in their earlier years of life.
The continuity theory of normal aging states that older adults will usually maintain the same activities, behaviors, personality traits, and relationships as they did in their earlier years of life. The theory considers the internal structures and external structures of continuity to describe how people adapt to their circumstances and set their goals.
The internal structure of an individual – for instance, an individual’s personality traits – remains relatively constant throughout a person’s lifetime. Other internal aspects such as beliefs can remain relatively constant as well, though are also subject to change. This internal structure facilitates future decision-making by providing the individual with a strong internal foundation of the past. The external structure of an individual consists of relationships and social roles, and it supports the maintenance of a stable self-concept and lifestyle.
George L. Maddox and Robert Atchley are most closely associated with the continuity theory. Maddox provided an empirical description of the continuity theory in 1968 in a chapter of the book Middle Age and Aging: A Reader in Social Psychology called “Persistence of Lifestyle among the Elderly: A Longitudinal Study of Patterns of Social Activity in Relation to Life Satisfaction. ” In 1971, Atchley formally proposed the theory in his article “Retirement and Leisure Participation: Continuity or Crisis? ” He continued to expound upon the theory over the years, explaining the development of internal and external structures in 1989 and publishing a book in 1999 called Continuity and Adaptation in Aging: Creating Positive Experiences.
The theory is criticized primarily for its definition of normal aging. The theory distinguishes between normal aging and pathological aging, so it neglects older adults who suffer from chronic illness. The theory also fails to explain how social institutions impact individuals and the way they age.
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Social security refers to legislation enacted by a government to promote the welfare of its population.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the development of Social Security to benefit elderly Americans, and the implications for the future of Social Security if it remains the same
Key Points
• The provision of social security by a government to its citizens is included in Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• What a particular government does to promote its citizens’ welfare varies widely by country. Many European nations, such as France, have broad social security programs designed to help families, the impoverished, and the elderly.
• In the United States, social security refers to the social insurance program funded through payroll taxes that helps Americans save for retirement.
• Social security is largely credited with significantly reducing poverty rates among the elderly. However, the structure of the social security system has put the entire program into serious financial distress.
Key Terms
• New Deal: The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They involved presidential executive orders or laws passed by Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• Social Security: A system whereby the state either through general or specific taxation provides various benefits to help ensure the well-being of its citizens.
• Social Security Act: The Social Security Act, now codified as 42 U.S.C. ch.7, was a legislative act which created the social security system in the United States.
Social security refers to legislation enacted by a government to promote the welfare of its population. Most countries establish some set of basic provisions considered necessary for survival, enabling programs such as funding for poverty-stricken elderly people who cannot afford their own healthcare or providing food for families that are too poor to purchase their own. Cultures have different standards for what governments should provide to citizens who cannot provide for themselves and different standards for what is considered necessary for survival.
Social Security in France
European nations generally have more robust programs to assist needy citizens than the United States. France’s social security programs provide a good point of comparison for the American context. France’s social security program is divided into four branches for four different types of support: support for the ill, support for people who have sustained accidents at work, support for families, and support for the elderly. These institutions are collectively referred to as Sécurité sociale, or la sécu. Some in America have derided France’s social security system as socialist. It is true that the government provides more for its citizens than the United States, but most French citizens simply expect these provisions as a part of a government’s obligations to its citizens.
Social Security in the United States
Social security in the United States refers to the federal Old- Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. OASDI was established under the original Social Security Act, passed in 1935. Since then, multiple amendments have been added to the legislation, but all of them address the government’s obligation to elderly individuals who have entered retirement. Social security is a social insurance program that is funded primarily through payroll taxes, or taxes taken out of an employee’s pay each pay period. Tax deposits are formally entrusted to funds that maintain the money and distribute allowances to qualifying elders. The population to whom social security programs are addressed demonstrates how anomalous the meaning of social security is in the United States. La sécu and other social security programs provide welfare benefits for all of a country’s residents while social security in the United States assists the nation’s elderly citizens.
Prior to 1935 and the passage of the Social Security Act, social security did not exist in the United States. Bear in mind that the passage of the Social Security Act occurred in the heart of the Great Depression, which was the most serious economic downturn ever experienced in the United States. The stock market crash of 1929 sparked the depression and destroyed the value of most Americans’ retirement savings.
The Social Security Act was drafted during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration as part of his response to the damage caused by the crash. The social welfare programs of the New Deal were the first time the federal government in the United States took action to provide assistance for the elderly. The Social Security Act itself was an attempt to limit what were seen as the dangers of modern American life in the Depression era, including old age, unemployment, and poverty, especially for widows and fatherless children.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Social Security: This is a brief excerpt of President Roosevelt’s speech during the signing of the Social Security Act of 1935
Social security grew rapidly and is one of the largest government spending initiatives in the United States today. In 1937, OASDI had 53,236 beneficiaries and cost the federal government \$1,278,000. In 2008, it had 50,898, 244 beneficiaries and cost the federal government \$615,344,000,000. It is largely credited with significantly reducing poverty rates among the elderly. But how does social security work? Social security was designed to redistribute wealth temporarily to help seniors finance their lives post-retirement. The current workforce is taxed, the results of which flow into a special fund designed for social security. Payments are then made to retirees. This is not, however, simple redistribution, as the current workforce contributing to the fund will then retrieve payments once they retire. Thus, it is a cross between a redistribution system and a savings account.
However, the structure of the social security system has put the entire program into serious financial distress. Currently, more money is being taken in by the fund through taxing the current workforce than is being paid out to retirees. However, this will soon change. If the laws governing social security are not changed by 2017, social security will pay out more funds than it takes in. According to analyses of the program, for about twenty years after 2017, the Social Security Trust Fund, or the amount of money that went into a special fund when there was a surplus in revenue, will make up the difference in payments. However, by 2037, the Social Security Trust Fund reserves will be exhausted and payments to beneficiaries will drop to about 75% of what they would have otherwise received. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.04%3A_The_Conflict_Perspective_on_Aging/18.4A%3A_Social_Security_Legislation.txt |
Intergenerational conflict refers to the conflict between older and younger generations as they compete for jobs and resources.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the conflict perspective of aging in terms of the generational divide and competition for employment and resources (which equal power)
Key Points
• According to the conflict perspective of aging, generations are competing over jobs.
• The inequities in resource distribution reflect larger disparities in power between generations.
• Whichever generation happens to be middle-aged at any given point in time is the most powerful compared to the old and the young.
• Members of the powerful generation act as gatekeepers for the distribution of resources and powers to be in line with their own interests. Power is therefore maintained by the middle-class, perpetuating their monopoly on resources.
• This perspective of aging derives from larger sociological conflict theory.
Key Terms
• conflict perspective of aging: According to the conflict perspective of aging, generations are competing over jobs. The theory developed in 1980s as unemployment rose dramatically.
• conflict theory: A social science perspective that holds that stratification is dysfunctional and harmful in society, with inequality perpetuated because it benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor.
Intergenerational conflict plays a key role in the conflict perspective of aging. This social theory suggests that conflict between older and younger generations occurs as they compete for resources and jobs. The conflict perspective of aging is a strand of general sociological conflict theory, which is the theory that sees conflict as a normal aspect of social life rather than as an abnormal occurrence.
Conflict theory has three main premises: first, that society is comprised of different groups that compete for resources; second, that despite social attempts to portray a sense of cooperation, a continual power struggle exists between social groups as they pursue their own divergent and competing interests; third, social groups will use resources to their own advantage in pursuit of their own goals, even if it means taking advantage of another group of people.
The conflict perspective of aging thus emphasizes competition between generations. According to the conflict perspective of aging, generations are competing over jobs. The theory developed in 1980s as unemployment rose dramatically. As jobs became increasingly scarce, younger and older generations both felt pressure to compete over available resources, enabling competition between the generational divide. As such, the economic climate of the era in which the theory developed influenced the content of the theory itself.
The conflict perspective of aging is not solely about resource acquisition. Rather, resources stand for power. This perspective on aging maintains that whichever generation happens to be middle-aged at any given point in time is the most powerful compared to the old and the young. Members of the powerful generation act as gatekeepers and orchestrate the distribution of resources and powers to be in line with their own interests, often at the exclusion of the needs of other individuals and generations. Power is therefore maintained by the middle-class, perpetuating their monopoly on resources. This tension, and subsequent competition, is precisely what is addressed by the conflict perspective of aging.
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The symbolic interactionist perspective posits that age is socially constructed and determined by symbols resembling social interactions.
Learning Objectives
• Argue that the perception of aging is better either in the United States or in Japan, using Goffman’s theory of social presentation
Key Points
• The notion of age is socially constructed, meaning that it has no universal value. Rather, various cultures ascribe aging with different meanings and values.
• In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Erving Goffman argued that people try to control or guide the impression they create on other people by comporting themselves in specific ways.
• The desire to look younger than one’s biological years is frequently the impetus for cosmetic surgeries that can hide the physical effects of aging. These surgical practices suggest a Goffmanian understanding of social presentation.
• Social value is highly dependent on context and culture. Many Eastern societies associate old age with wisdom and value old age much more than their Western counterparts.
Key Terms
• Erving Goffman: Erving Goffman (June 11, 1922 – November 19, 1982) was a Canadian-born sociologist and writer. The 73rd president of American Sociological Association, Goffman’s greatest contribution to social theory was his study of symbolic interaction in the form of dramaturgical analysis. This began with his 1959 book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
• socially constructed: The social construction of age means that there is no inherent cultural meaning to the biological process of aging.
The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective and Aging
According to the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective, old age, and aging, are socially constructed and determined by symbols that resemble aging in social interactions. While aging itself is a biological process, the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective posits that the meaning behind being “young” or “old” is socially constructed. This means that there is no inherent cultural meaning attached to the biological process of aging. Rather, cultures imbue youth and age with particular meanings. Given the socially constructed nature of age, there are certain behaviors that people typically associate with certain age groups as being “appropriate” or “acceptable”.
Aging is perceived differently around the world, demonstrating its social construction. Frequently, the average life expectancy in a given region impacts what age counts as “old.” For example, in the United States, where the average life expectancy is over 78 years, one isn’t considered “old” until he or she is in their sixties or seventies. However, in Chad, the average life expectancy is less than 49 years, and people in their thirties or forties are therefore already considered middle-aged or “old.” These variations in people’s perceptions indicate that notions of youth and age are culturally constructed, and that there is no such thing as a universal age at which point one becomes old.
Japanese Perceptions of Aging
In addition to defining terms differently, cultures treat their elderly differently and place different values on age. Many Eastern societies associate old age with wisdom and value old age much more than their Western counterparts. In Japan, adult children are expected to care for their aging parents in different ways than in the United States. 65% of Japanese elders live with their children, and very few live in nursing homes. In Japan, if a youth was to put an aging parent in an assisted living home, the behavior would be considered tantamount to neglect. Cultural norms suggest that parents should move in with their children when they are unable to care for themselves. The Japanese celebration of old age is further illustrated by the existence of Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday to celebrate elderly citizens.
Western Perceptions of Aging
Japanese perceptions of elders diverge markedly from public perceptions of old age in the United States. Western societies tend to place such an increased value on youth that many people take extreme measures to appear young. A desire to look younger is frequently the impetus for cosmetic surgeries that can hide the physical effects of aging. These surgical practices, combined with huge expenditures on makeup and clothing, suggest a Goffmanianunderstanding of social presentation. Erving Goffman was a sociologist writing in the mid-twentieth century. His most famous work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959), argued that whenever individuals come into contact with other people, they will attempt to control or guide the impression that others might have of them by intentionally comporting themselves in different ways. Thus, individuals take sometimes drastic action to control the appearance of their age so that others will perceive them as younger. Significantly, these social interactions occur in a social milieu that values youth. In this light, people try to appear younger to increase their sense of social value.
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Social isolation is common in elderly populations and refers to a complete or near-complete lack of contact with other people.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the implications of social isolation and how elderly adults are a susceptible population to the effects
Key Points
• As their health deteriorates and friends and spouses die, elders are at an increased risk for social isolation.
• Social isolation is distinct from loneliness, the latter often being considered to be the subjective counterpart of the former.
• Late life depression is the onset of depression for the first time in a person over sixty years of age.
• Consequences of social isolation can be dangerous, particularly for individuals already predisposed to health problems. Studies have demonstrated that seniors who are socially isolated seniors are less likely to take advantage of health and social services
Key Terms
• loneliness: The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
• late life depression: Late life depression is the onset of depression for the first time in a person over sixty years of age.
• social isolation: Social isolation refers to a complete or near-complete lack of contact with society. It is usually involuntary, making it distinct from isolating tendencies or actions taken by an individual who is seeking to distance himself from society.
Human beings, by nature, are social creatures. Throughout the socialization process, we become accustomed to living in groups and interacting with others. Individuals in every society, however, at times must cope with social isolation, which is defined as a complete or near-complete lack of contact with others in society. Social isolation is usually involuntary, making it distinct from the isolating tendencies some individuals may have that lead them to purposefully distance themselves from others.
Social isolation is also distinct from loneliness. Loneliness is a subjective experience associated with a temporary lack of contact with other humans. Social isolation, by contrast, can be objectively measured in terms of a person’s social contacts and relationships.
Any individual from any segment of society may be socially isolated, but senior citizens are especially susceptible to the risk factors that may trigger social isolation. These include living alone, family violence, loss of a spouse, aging-related cognitive impairments and disabilities, and transport issues. Consequences of social isolation can be dangerous, particularly for individuals already predisposed to health problems. Studies have demonstrated that seniors who are socially isolated seniors are less likely to take advantage of health and social services. This indicates a circularity of social isolation and health: individuals who are already marginalized are not pushed toward healthcare and individuals with quickly deteriorating health are more likely to be socially isolated. Extended social isolation can contribute tolate life depression, which is a major depressive episode occurring for the first time in an individual over sixty years of age.
Social isolation is a larger problem for elders now than in the past, due to the decreasing size of families in Western countries. In the past, elders were not at increased risk for social isolation because they would move in with their children. Now, many elders are moved into elder homes with less frequent contact with their children. However, many elder homes and retirement facilities are working to combat social isolation by increasing programming for their residents. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.06%3A_Challenges_of_Aging/18.6A%3A_Social_Isolation.txt |
Ageism is the discrimination of groups because of their age, and applies especially to the elderly.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the concept of ageism and the impact of stereotypes for elderly adults
Key Points
• Elders frequently encounter prejudice as others assume stereotypes about them to be true.
• The idea of ageism was developed by gerontologist Robert Neil Butler.
• Prejudices most frequently surface in the course of medical treatment and in the workplace.
Key Terms
• term limit: A legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office.
• ageism: The treating of a person or people differently from others based on assumptions or stereotypes relating to their age.
Ageism
Ageism is the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups because of their age. Ageism can be applied to discrimination against any age group, such as discrimination against teenagers, but this section will focus on ageist discrimination against seniors. The term was coined in reference to discriminatory practices against the elderly by gerontologist Robert Neil Butler. He coined the term by intentionally mirroring it after other forms of discrimination, such as sexism or racism.
Stereotypes of the Elderly
Many people are prejudiced against seniors, beginning with the common stereotypes of older adults. Old people are frequently assumed to be in poor physical or mental health and lack psychological agility. It is a common presumption that, as people age, they become more inflexible and conservative in their opinions. Older adults are frequently presumed to be poor drivers. In fact, studies have demonstrated that older drivers, up until the age of about 75, are actually safer drivers than young drivers. Unfortunately, elder patients are frequently discriminated against in the course of medical treatment due to stereotypes based on their age. Studies have demonstrated that elder patients are less likely to have their medical care explained to them, partially because physicians assume that they are unable to understand medical complexities.
Elderly Prejudice in the Workplace
Older adults commonly encounter prejudice in the workplace. It is frequently assumed that an elderly person is mentally inept and incompetent. Employment discrimination, or the presence of discrimination against a targeted group in the workplace, manifests in two different ways vis-à-vis elderly workers. Individuals who began working for a company in their younger years can be pushed out as they age. This process refers to company management redirecting clients away from the older employees and toward the younger employees.
Alternatively, companies may not hire older employees to begin with. Joanna Lahey, a professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, has found that firms are 40% more likely to give a hiring interview to a younger candidate than to an older candidate. This suggests that firms are more interested in hiring younger employees than older employees. The government has tried to combat age discrimination through laws such as the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 which forbids employers from discriminating against employees over the age of forty. This goes against the age stratification theory of society, which states the unequal distribution of wealth, power and privileges among people at different stages in the life course. According to age stratification theory, younger and older people should be a disadvantages due to their position in life, whereas middle-age people would be at at advantage.
Aging and its impact on the workforce is also an issue for certain sectors of government. The issue has been highlighted as it pertains to the United States Supreme Court. Justices at the Supreme Court are given lifetime appointments, meaning that they do not have to retire or step down from the bench until they choose to or until their deaths. However, as in any other workplace, the potential senility of aging Supreme Court justices has been hotly debated.
Former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, for example, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986 and served until his death in 2005. He was only weeks shy of his eighty-first birthday when he died and had been in declining health for the last few years of his life. Treatment for anaplastic throat cancer forced him to miss many arguments in the year before his death. Rehnquist’s death reignited a political debate about instating term limits for Supreme Court justices in place of lifetime appointments, such that a justice would be forced to retire after a certain number of years. There are many political and legal reasons supporting both sides of the debate, but assumptions about the declining health of older justices, many of whom serve on the court into their seventies, play a prominent role in the discussion. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.06%3A_Challenges_of_Aging/18.6B%3A_Prejudice.txt |
Elder abuse is the use of physical or mental harm against people of an older age.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the various types of elder abuse and the implications each has for an elderly person’s quality of life
Key Points
• Elder abuse is an umbrella term that refers to all types of abuses against older adults perpetrated by trusted individuals upon whom these elderly people typically depend.
• Domestic elder abuse is committed by an elder’s family or friends, while institutional elder abuse is committed by employees at facilities and institutions designated to take care of elders.
• Grooming occurs when friends or neighbors build relationships of trust with elders in order to gain control of their finances.
Key Terms
• institutional elder abuse: Institutional elder abuse is committed by workers at residential facilities for elders, such as nursing homes.
• domestic elder abuse: Domestic elder abuse is committed by an elder’s family or friends.
• grooming: Grooming occurs when friends or neighbors build relationships of trust with elders in order to gain control of their finances.
Elder abuse is an umbrella term that refers to harm done to older adults. Typically, the harm is committed through intentional or neglectful acts by a caregiver or “trusted” individual that cause physical or emotional harm. A significant factor that distinguishes elder abuse from other types of harmful behavior involves the commission of harms where there is an expectation of trust extending from the older person to his abuser.
Types of Elder Abuse
Elder abuse is illegal; special protections have been established to protect elders who are dependent upon others. However, because elder abuse is such a wide-reaching term, it can be difficult for different jurisdictions to define the term for legal usage. The main types of elder abuse include physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Physical abuse of elders includes the hitting, punching, slapping, burning, pushing, kicking, restraining, or false imprisonment of elders. Additionally, giving an elder excessive or improper medication qualifies as physical abuse.
Emotional abuse includes shouting, swearing, frightening, or humiliating an elder. Financial abuse is the illegal or unauthorized use of a person’s property, money, pension, or will. Sexual abuse for elders is when an elder is forced to take part in any sexual activity, including participating in conversations of an unwanted sexual nature. Elders with dementia may not be able to consent to any sexual activity whatsoever. Neglect includes depriving an elder of food, heat, clothing, or essential medication. Deprivation may be active or passive, occurring intentionally or from a lack of knowledge. Elder abuse is further subdivided into domestic elder abuse and institutional elder abuse. Domestic elder abuses are committed by family and friends of an older person; institutional elder abuse is committed by workers at residential facilities for elders, such as nursing homes.
Grooming
Regardless of whether the perpetrator is a family member, friend, or institutional caretaker for an older person, a central theme throughout all of these different types of abuses is the relationship of dependency of elders with those who care for them. Serious offenses can be committed by abusive groomers through grooming an older person by befriending him or her in order to build trusting relationships that can then be exploited. Older people living with no adult children nearby are particularly vulnerable to grooming by neighbors and friends who might seek to gain control of their estates. Unfortunately, the nature of dependency inherent to elder abuse can make cases of elder abuse especially difficult to prosecute. For example, an elder might not believe that someone close to him is taking his money or might be persuaded to report that he wanted it as such, when this wasn’t the case. Elders are a particularly vulnerable population because they are dependent upon others and may even be senile, which makes it easier for them to be manipulated.
Consequences of Elder Abuse
Elder abuse can have serious consequences. Elder abuse can destroy a victim’s quality of life by limiting his functional abilities, increasing dependency, increasing his sense of helplessness, increasing stress, worsening his psychological decline, inducing dementia, and risking malnutrition or overmedication. Elder abuse can even result in death.
Of course, the horrible consequences listed above can arise directly from the physical abuse of a victim. Additionally, while an elder may be too senile to comprehend the abusive relationship, stress can seep through his lack of comprehension and perpetuate and even exacerbate preexisting health problems. The risk of death for elder abuse victims is three times higher than for non-victims. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Aging/18.06%3A_Challenges_of_Aging/18.6C%3A_Elder_Abuse.txt |
Although health problems rise when one comes into older age, social effects also exacerbate of medical ailments by the elderly.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the health issues associated with aging, such as heart disease, cancer and neuropsychological disorders
Key Points
• As we age, we experience health problems with greater frequency.
• Cardiovascular problems, cancer, and dementia are common problems for the elderly.
• Geriatrics is a field of medicine that concentrates on treating the medical problems of older adults.
• An elderly person’s social environment has serious consequences on the type of care received and the effect it has on the individual’s health.
Key Terms
• dementia: A progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain—beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Areas particularly affected include memory, attention, judgement, language and problem solving.
• arteriosclerosis: Hardening, narrowing or loss of elasticity in arteries or blood vessels.
• geriatrics: The branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life. The term itself can be distinguished from gerontology, which is the study of the aging process itself.
As we age, we face more and more health problems. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading causes of death for Americans are heart disease and cancer. Statistically, heart disease and cancer account for the most American deaths by far. In 2009, heart disease claimed 599,413 lives and cancer was responsible for 567, 628 deaths. Of course, these numbers include all ill individuals, not just the elderly.
Heart Disease
Because of the prevalence of heart disease and cancer among the elderly, many American hospitals have developed programs to treat seniors with these particular afflictions. Geriatrics is the field of medicine that specializes in treating older adults. Cardiogeriatrics refers to the branch of healthcare that treats heart disease in older adults. Heart disease is common in seniors because as one ages, one’s heart muscle begins to weaken and change in adverse ways. As the heart ages, one can develop arteriosclerosis, or the stiffening of arteries due to the accumulation of fatty buildup, or plaque, along the walls of the arteriesm, restricting blood circulation. Arteriosclerosis is common to older adults that contributes to congestive heart failure. This is the condition defined by the inability of the heart to provide adequate blood flow to the body.
Congestive heart failure is common, costly, disabling, and potentially deadly. In developed countries, around 2% of adults suffer from heart failure. Risk rises with age. In developed countries, 6–10% of adults over the age of 65 suffer from congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure increases the risk that one will experience a myocardial infarction, or heart attack.
In a heart attack, blood supply to the heart is interrupted, causing damage to the heart muscle. When blood flow is stopped from going to the brain, usually due to a blood clot, one suffers from a stroke. Americans have more than 700,000 strokes every year, making it the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer. Nearly 75 percent of strokes occur in people over the age of 65, and the risk of having a stroke more than doubles during each decade between the ages of 55 and 85.
Cancer
Other than cardiovascular diseases, cancer is the most common, serious illness faced by the elderly. While anyone can develop cancer, the risk of getting certain cancers increases with age. Breast, colorectal, prostate, pancreatic, lung, bladder, and stomach cancers are especially linked to aging. Cancer can be even more difficult to treat in the elderly than in younger patients because treatment can be stressful on the body. Treating cancer involves some combination of radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery, all of which are more stressful on an aged body than a younger body. Recognition of the stress that treatment may have on an older body limits the options available for treatment.
Neuropsychological Disorders
Older adults are also more susceptible to certain neuropsychological disorders, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, that are virtually unseen in younger populations. Dementia is a serious loss of global cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person—beyond what might be expected from normal aging. It may be static—the result of a unique brain injury—or progressive—resulting in long-term decline due to damage or disease in the body. Dementia is not a single disease, but rather a syndrome that is associated with a variety of different diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s include confusion, irritability, aggression, mood swings, difficulty with language, and memory loss. Most often, Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in people over the age of 65. In 2006, there were 26.6 million sufferers worldwide. One in eight Americans over the age of 65 suffers from Alzheimer’s and that number is set to rise in future years as the average lifespan continues to rise.
Obviously, aging presents serious concerns about health. A person’s body is more likely to encounter disease as he or she ages. Frequently, preexisting medical ailments are exacerbated by social determinants of health. Social determinants of health are the extra-biological factors that influence how individuals experience their own health. For example, congestive heart failure does not necessarily kill someone. However, the patient with congestive heart failure is most likely going to be put on a complicated medication regime. Congestive heart failure combined with dementia—or even normal forgetfulness associated with aging—makes adhering to a strict regimen difficult for many older adults. The elderly are frequently dependent on younger adults for assistance. The types of care to which the elderly have access can have serious medical consequences.
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Illness, sometimes considered another word for disease, refers to a state of poor health.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the impact of illness in America and the prevalence of diagnosed illness among the population
Key Points
• Some scholars have maintained a distinction between illness and disease by describing illness as a patient’s subjective perception of an objectively defined disease.
• Epidemiology is the scientific study of factors affecting the health and illness of individuals and population.
• Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field of medicine concerned with the development and integration of psychosocial, behavioral, and biomedical knowledge relevant to health and illness.
• The rise of scientific medicine in the past two centuries has altered or replaced many historic health practices.
• Mental illness is a broad generic label for a category of illnesses that may include affective or emotional instability, behavioral dysregulation, and/or cognitive dysfunction or impairment.
Key Terms
• scientific medicine: The rise of scientific medicine in the past two centuries has altered or replaced many historic health practices.
• behavioral medicine: Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field of medicine concerned with the development and integration of psychosocial, behavioral and biomedical knowledge relevant to health and illness.
• epidemiology: The branch of a science dealing with the spread and control of diseases, computer viruses, concepts, etc. throughout populations or systems.
Introduction to Illness
Illness, sometimes considered another word for disease, is a state of poor health. Some scholars have maintained a distinction by describing illness as a patient’s subjective perception of an objectively defined disease. Conditions of the body or mind that cause pain, dysfunction, or distress can be deemed an illness. Sometimes the term is used broadly to include injuries, disabilities, syndromes, infections, symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure and function. In other contexts these may be considered distinguishable categories.
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the scientific study of factors affecting the health and illness of individuals and populations; it serves as the foundation and logic for interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field of medicine concerned with the development and integration of psychosocial, behavioral, and biomedical knowledge relevant to health and illness. According to evolutionary medicine, much illness is not directly caused by an infection or body dysfunction, but is instead a response created by the body. Fever, for example, is not caused directly by bacteria or viruses but by the body raising its normal temperature, which some people believe inhibits the growth of the infectious organism. Evolutionary medicine calls this set of responses “sickness behavior. ”
All human societies have beliefs that provide explanations for, and responses to, childbirth, death, and disease. Throughout the world, illness has often been attributed to witchcraft, demons, or the will of the gods—ideas that retain some power within certain cultures and communities. However, the rise of scientific medicine in the past two centuries has altered or replaced many historic health practices.
Mental illness is a broad category of illnesses that may include affective or emotional instability, behavioral dysregulation, and/or cognitive dysfunction or impairment. Specific illnesses known as mental illnesses include major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to name a few.
Statistics show that more and more people are being diagnosed with mental disorders. The National Institute for Mental Health reports that over 40 million adults are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in a given year, accounting for 18 percent of the population. Other disorders that are prevalent are ADHD (4 percent), mood disorders (9.5 percent) and and autism (1 percent, but quickly rising). | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.01%3A_The_Experience_of_Illness/19.1A%3A_The_Experience_of_Illness.txt |
Disparities in health services play out based on different systems of stratification, such as gender.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the role gender plays in health care services, particularly for women
Key Points
• The World Health Organization defines gender as the result of socially constructed ideas about the behavior, actions, and roles a particular sex performs.
• Gender, and particularly the role of women, is widely recognized as vitally important to international development issues.
• Women’s dual responsibilities as carers and income earners leaves them suffering from time poverty, and thus unable to access health and education services.
• The Gender-related Development Index (GDI), developed by the United Nations, aims to show the inequalities between men and women in the following areas: long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
• The Gender-related Development Index (GDI), developed by the United Nations, aims to show the inequalities between men and women in the following areas: long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
Key Terms
• gender stratification: There are a number of ways in which health disparities play out based on different systems of stratification. Researchers also find health disparities based on gender stratification.
• World Health Organization: The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health. It was established on April 7, 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
• international development: International development or global development is a concept that lacks a universally accepted definition, but it is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary context of human development—the development of greater quality of life for humans. It therefore encompasses foreign aid, governance, healthcare, education, poverty reduction, gender equality, disaster preparedness, infrastructure, economics, human rights, environment and issues associated with these.
The Role of Gender in Health
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary, from sex to social role to gender identity. The World Health Organization defines gender as the result of socially constructed ideas about the behavior, actions, and roles a particular sex performs. Assigning gender involves taking into account the physiological and biological attributes assigned by nature followed by socially constructed conduct. The social label of being classified into one or the other sex is obligatory to the medical stamp on the birth certificate.
There are a number of ways in which health disparities play out based on different systems of stratification. Researchers also find health disparities based on gender stratification. One study found that women are less likely than men to be recommended for knee replacement surgery, even when they have the same symptoms. While it was unclear what role the sex of the recommending physicians played, the authors of this study encouraged women to challenge their doctors in order to get care equivalent to men.
Gender, and particularly the role of women, is widely recognized as vitally important to international development issues. This often means a focus on gender-equality, ensuring participation, but includes an understanding of the different roles and expectations of the genders within the community. As recognized by the United Nations, women’s dual responsibilities as carers and income earners leaves them suffering from time poverty, and thus unable to access health and education services. The Gender-related Development Index (GDI), developed by the United Nations, aims to show the inequalities between men and women in the following areas: long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.01%3A_The_Experience_of_Illness/19.1B%3A_Gender_and_Health.txt |
Health disparities refer to gaps in the quality of health and healthcare across racial and ethnic groups.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the health disparities in the United States based on race and the implications for racial minorities
Key Points
• Race and health research, often done in the United States, has found both current and historical racial differences in the frequency, treatments, and availability of treatments for several diseases.
• In multiracial societies such as the United States, racial groups differ greatly in regard to social and cultural factors such as socioeconomic status, healthcare, diet, and education.
• There is a controversy regarding race as a method for classifying humans. The continued use of racial categories has been criticized.
• Apart from the general controversy regarding race, some argue that the continued use of racial categories in health care, and as risk factors, could result in increased stereotyping and discrimination in society and health services.
Key Terms
• life expectancy: The amount of time one is expected to live.
• multiracial societies: In multiracial societies such as the United States, racial groups differ greatly in regard to social and cultural factors, such as socioeconomic status, healthcare, diet, and education.
• Health disparities: Health equity refers to the study of differences in the quality of health and health care across different populations.
The Role of Race in Health
Health disparities refer to gaps in the quality of health and healthcare across racial and ethnic groups. Race and health research, often done in the United States, has found both current and historical racial differences in the frequency, treatments, and availability of treatments for several diseases. This can add up to significant group differences in variables such as life expectancy. Many explanations for such differences have been argued, including socioeconomic factors, lifestyle, social environment, and access to preventive health-care services, among other environmental differences.
In multiracial societies such as the United States, racial groups differ greatly in regard to social and cultural factors such as socioeconomic status, healthcare, diet, and education. There is also the presence of racism which some see as a very important explaining factor. Some argue that for many diseases racial differences would disappear if all environmental factors could be controlled for. Race-based medicine is the term for medicines that are targeted at specific ethnic clusters, which are shown to have a propensity for a certain disorder. Critics are concerned that the trend of research on race specific pharmaceutical treatments will result in inequitable access to pharmaceutical innovation, and smaller minority groups may be ignored.
Health disparities based on race also exist. Similar to the difference in life expectancy found between the rich and the poor, affluent white women live 14 years longer in the U.S. (81.1 years) than poor black men (66.9 years). There is also evidence that blacks receive less aggressive medical care than whites, similar to what happens with women compared to men. Black men describe their visits to doctors as stressful, and report that physicians do not provide them with adequate information to implement the recommendations they are given.
Another contributor to the overall worse health of blacks is the incident of HIV/AIDS; the rate of new AIDS cases is ten times higher among blacks than whites, and blacks are 20 times as likely to have HIV/AIDS as are whites. Health disparities are well documented in minority populations such as African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos. When compared to European Americans, these minority groups have higher incidence of chronic diseases, higher mortality, and poorer health outcomes. Minorities also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, and infant mortality than whites. American ethnic groups can exhibit substantial average differences in disease incidence, disease severity, disease progression, and response to treatment.
Infant mortality is another place where racial disparities are quite evident. In fact, infant mortality rates are 14 of every 1000 births for black, non-Hispanics compared to 6 of every 1000 births for whites. Another disparity is access to health care and insurance. In California, more than half (59 percent) of Hispanics go without health care. Also, almost 25 percent of Latinos do not have health insurance, as opposed to 10 percent of Whites.
There is a controversy regarding race as a method for classifying humans. The continued use of racial categories has been criticized. Apart from the general controversy regarding race, some argue that the continued use of racial categories in health care, and as risk factors, could result in increased stereotyping and discrimination in society and health services. There is general agreement that a goal of health-related genetics should be to move past the weak surrogate relationships of racial health disparity and get to the root causes of health and disease. This includes research which strives to analyze human genetic variation in smaller groups across the world. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.01%3A_The_Experience_of_Illness/19.1C%3A_Race_and_Health.txt |
Social class has a significant impact on one’s physical health, ability to receive adequate medical care and nutrition, and life expectancy.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the role social class plays in access to adequate health care and health inequality
Key Points
• While gender and race play significant factors in explaining healthcare inequality in the United States, socioeconomic status is the greatest determining factor in an individual’s level of access to healthcare.
• Social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions, and their distribution among the population, that influence individual and group differences in health status.
• They are risk factors found in one’s living and working conditions (such as the distribution of income, wealth, influence, and power), rather than individual factors (such as behavioral risk factors or genetics) that influence the risk for a disease, injury, or vulnerability to disease or injury.
• Social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions, and their distribution among the population, that influence individual and group differences in health status.
• Health inequality is the term used in a number of countries to refer to those instances whereby the health of two demographic groups (not necessarily ethnic or racial groups) differs despite comparative access to health care services.
Key Terms
• social determinants of health: The economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status.
• health inequality: The unequal distribution of environmental health hazards and access to health services between demographic groups, including social classes.
The Role of Social Class in Health
A person’s social class has a significant impact on their physical health, their ability to receive adequate medical care and nutrition, and their life expectancy. While gender and race play significant factors in explaining healthcare inequality in the United States, socioeconomic status is the greatest determining factor in an individual’s level of access to healthcare.
Individuals of lower socioeconomic status in the United States experience a wide array of health problems as a result of their economic status. They are unable to use health care as often, and when they do it is of lower quality, even though they generally tend to experience a much higher rate of health issues. Furthermore, individuals of lower socioeconomic status have less education and often perform jobs without significant health and benefits plans, whereas individuals of higher standing are more likely to have jobs that provide medical insurance. Consequently, they have higher rates of infant mortality, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and disabling physical injuries.
Social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions, and their distribution among the population, that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are risk factors found in one’s living and working conditions (such as the distribution of income, wealth, influence, and power), rather than individual factors (such as behavioral risk factors or genetics) that influence the risk for a disease, injury, or vulnerability to disease or injury. According to some viewpoints, these distributions of social determinants are shaped by public policies that reflect the influence of prevailing political ideologies of those governing a jurisdiction.
Health inequality is the term used in a number of countries to refer to those instances whereby the health of two demographic groups (not necessarily ethnic or racial groups) differs despite comparative access to health care services. Such examples include higher rates of morbidity and mortality for those in lower occupational classes than those in higher occupational classes, and the increased likelihood of those from ethnic minorities being diagnosed with a mental health disorder. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.01%3A_The_Experience_of_Illness/19.1D%3A_Social_Class_and_Health.txt |
Health literacy is an individual’s ability to read, understand and use healthcare information to make decisions about treatment.
Learning Objectives
• Demonstrate the impact of health literacy on access to and understanding of health care issues, especially for certain social groups
Key Points
• Health literacy is of continued and increasing concern for health professionals, as it is a primary factor behind health disparities.
• While problems with health literacy are not limited to minority groups, the problem can be more pronounced in these groups than in whites due to socioeconomic and educational factors.
• Reading level, numeracy level, language barriers, cultural appropriateness, format and style, sentence structure, use of illustrations, scope of intervention, and numerous other factors will affect how easily health information is understood and followed.
• The mismatch between a clinician’s level of communication and a patient’s ability to understand can lead to medication errors and adverse medical outcomes.
• Health care professionals (doctors, nurses, public health workers) can also have poor health literacy skills, such as a reduced ability to clearly explain health issues to patients and the public.
• The eHealth literacy model is also referred to as the Lily model. This model includes basic literacy, computer literacy, information literacy, media literacy, science literacy, and health literacy.
Key Terms
• the eHealth literacy model: The eHealth literacy model is also referred to as the Lily model, which incorporates the following literacies, each of which are instrumental to the overall understanding and measurement of eHealth literacy: basic literacy, computer literacy, information literacy, media literacy, science literacy, health literacy.
• language barrier: A figurative phrase for the difficulties faced when people who have no language in common attempt to communicate with each other.
• Health literacy: Health literacy is an individual’s ability to read, understand and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment.
Health literacy is an individual’s ability to read, understand, and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment. Health literacy is of continued and increasing concern for health professionals, as it is a primary factor behind health disparities. While problems with health literacy are not limited to minority groups, the problem can be more pronounced in these groups than in whites due to socioeconomic and educational factors.
There are many factors that determine the health literacy level of health education materials or other health interventions. Reading level, numeracy level, language barriers, cultural appropriateness, format and style, sentence structure, use of illustrations, scope of intervention, and numerous other factors will affect how easily health information is understood and followed. The mismatch between a clinician’s level of communication and a patient’s ability to understand can lead to medication errors and adverse medical outcomes. The lack of health literacy affects all segments of the population, although it is disproportionate in certain demographic groups, such as the elderly, ethnic minorities, recent immigrants and persons with low general literacy. Health literacy skills are not only a problem in the public. Health care professionals (doctors, nurses, public health workers) can also have poor health literacy skills, such as a reduced ability to clearly explain health issues to patients and the public.
Due to the increasing influence of the internet for information-seeking and health information distribution purposes, eHealth literacy has become an important topic of research in recent years. The eHealth literacy model is also referred to as the Lily model, which incorporates the following literacies, each of which are instrumental to the overall understanding and measurement of eHealth literacy: basic literacy, computer literacy, information literacy, media literacy, science literacy, health literacy. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.01%3A_The_Experience_of_Illness/19.1E%3A_Education_and_Health.txt |
Historically and in many parts of the world, women’s participation in the profession of medicine has been significantly restricted.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the role women play in the medical field and how gender parity affects women’s choices when it comes to medicine
Key Points
• Women’s informal practice of medicine in the role of caregivers and in the allied health professions has been widespread.
• The practice of medicine remains disproportionately male overall. In industrialized nations, the recent parity in gender of medical students has not yet trickled into parity in practice.
• Most countries now guarantee equal access by women to medical education. However, not all ensure equal employment opportunities, and gender parity has yet to be achieved within the medical specialties around the world.
Key Terms
• parity: Equality; comparability of strength or intensity.
The Role of Women in Medicine
Historically and in many parts of the world, women’s participation in medicine (as physicians, for instance) has been significantly restricted, although women’s informal practice of medicine in the role of caregivers and in the allied health professions has been widespread. Most countries of the world now guarantee equal access by women to medical education, although not all ensure equal employment opportunities. Gender parity has yet to be achieved within the medical specialties around the world.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century in industrialized nations, women have made significant gains, but have yet to achieve parity throughout the medical profession. Women’s participation in medical professions was limited by law and practice during the decades while medicine was professionalizing. However, women kept practicing medicine in the allied health fields (nursing, midwifery), making significant gains in medical education and medical work during the 19th and 20th centuries. Women continue to dominate nursing in the 20th century. In 2000, 94.6% of registered nurses in the United States were women.
The practice of medicine remains disproportionately male overall. In some industrialized nations, women have achieved parity in medical school. Since 2003, women have formed the majority of the U.S. medical student body. However, they have yet to achieve parity in practice. In many developing nations, neither medical school nor practice approach gender parity. Moreover, there are skews within the medical profession. For example, some medical specialties like surgery are significantly male-dominated, while other specialties are or becoming significantly female-dominated.
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In the functionalist model, Parsons argued that illness is a form of deviance that disturbs the social function of a society.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the functionalist perspective on illness in society, specifically the role the sick play in a specific society and how that role affects others
Key Points
• Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements (namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions ), much like the interacting organs within the human body.
• Prominent functionalist theorists include Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore, Robert Merton, and Gabriel Almond and Bingham Powell.
• Functionalism is a framework that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.
• Functionalists argue that a sick individual is not a productive member of society; therefore this deviance needs to be policed. This is the role of the medical profession.
• Structural functionalism reached the peak of its influence in the 1940s and 1950s, and by the 1960s was in rapid decline, replaced by conflict-oriented approaches in Europe and more recently by structuralism.
Key Terms
• deviance: Actions or behaviors that violate formal and informal cultural norms, such as laws or the norm that discourages public nose-picking.
• structuralism: A theory of sociology that views elements of society as part of a cohesive, self-supporting structure.
Structural functionalism, or simply functionalism, is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole. This approach looks at both social structure and social functions. Prominent functionalist theorists include Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore, Robert Merton, and Gabriel Almond and Bingham Powell.
Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as “organs” that work toward the proper functioning of the “body” as a whole. For Talcott Parsons (1902–1979), an American sociologist, “structural-functionalism” came to describe a particular stage in the methodological development of social science, rather than a specific school of thought.
The Sick Role
Sick role is a term used in medical sociology regarding sickness and the rights and obligations of the affected. It is a concept created by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons in 1951. Parsons was a functionalist sociologist who argued that being sick means that the sufferer enters a role of “sanctioned deviance”. This is because, from a functionalist perspective, a sick individual is not a productive member of society. Therefore this deviance needs to be policed, which is the role of the medical profession.
In the functionalist model, Parsons argued that the best way to understand illness sociologically is to view it as a form of deviance that disturbs the social function of the society. The general idea is that the individual who has fallen ill is not only physically sick, but now adheres to the specifically patterned social role of being sick. “Being Sick” is not simply a “condition”; it contains within itself customary rights and obligations based on the social norms that surround it.
The theory outlined two rights of a sick person and two obligations. The sick person’s rights are twofold: the first one is being exempt from normal social roles; the second one is not being responsible for their condition. Conversely, the sick person’s obligations included trying to get well and cooperating with the medical professionals. Parsons concluded that there are three versions of the sick role: conditional, unconditional legitimate, and illegitimate (a condition stigmatized by others).
Critics of the Functionalist Perspective
Critics of Parsons and the functionalist perspective point to different flaws they see with his argument. The model assumes that the individual voluntarily accepts the sick role. It also assumes that the individual may not comply with expectations of the sick role, may not give up social obligations, may resist dependency, and may avoid the public sick role if their illness is stigmatized. The model also blames the sick, where “rights” do not always apply.
Structural functionalism reached the peak of its influence in the 1940s and 1950s, and by the 1960s was in rapid decline. By the 1980s, its place was taken in Europe by more conflict-oriented approaches, and more recently by “structuralism”. While some of the critical approaches also gained popularity in the United States, the mainstream of the discipline has instead shifted to a myriad of empirically-oriented middle-range theories with no overarching theoretical orientation. To most sociologists, functionalism is now obsolete. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.02%3A_Sociological_Perspectives_on_Health_and_Illness/19.2A%3A_The_Functionalist_Perspective.txt |
Conflict theory argues that the economic and political structures of a society create social divisions, inequalities, and conflicts.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the differing views on conflict theory from various sociologists, such as Karl Marx and C. Wright Mills
Key Points
• Conflict theories are perspectives in social science that emphasize the social, political, or material inequality of a social group.
• Of the classical founders of social science, conflict theory is most commonly associated with Karl Marx, who posited that capitalism would inevitably produce internal tensions leading to its own destruction.
• Marx advocated for the rejection of false consciousness (explanations of social problems as the shortcomings of individuals rather than the flaws of society ) and the claiming of class consciousness (workers’ recognition of themselves as a class unified in opposition to the capitalist system).
• The Polish-Austrian sociologist Ludwig Gumplowicz and the American sociologist Lester F. Ward approached conflict from a comprehensive anthropological and evolutionary point-of-view.
• C. Wright Mills has been called the founder of modern conflict theory. In Mills’s view, social structures are created through conflict between people with differing interests and resources.
• Conflict theory is most often associated with Marxism, but may also be associated with other perspectives such as critical theory, feminist theory, postmodern theory, queer theory, and race -conflict theory.
Key Terms
• functionalism: Structural functionalism, or simply functionalism, is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.
• military-industrial complex: The armed forces of a nation together with the industries that supply their weapons and materiel.
• capitalism: A socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.
Conflict theories are perspectives in social science that emphasize the social, political, or material inequality of a social group, that critique the broad socio-political system, or that otherwise detract from structural functionalism and ideological conservatism. Sociologists in the tradition of conflict theory argue that the economic and political structures of a society create social divisions, classes, hierarchies, antagonisms and conflicts that produce and reproduce inequalities. Certain conflict theories set out to highlight the ideological aspects inherent in traditional thought. While many of these perspectives hold parallels, conflict theory does not refer to a unified school of thought, and should not be confused with, for instance, peace and conflict studies.
Of the classical founders of social science, conflict theory is most commonly associated with Karl Marx (1818–1883). Based on a dialectical materialist account of history, Marxism posited that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, would inevitably produce internal tensions leading to its own destruction. Marx ushered in radical change, advocating proletarian revolution and freedom from the ruling classes. At the same time, Karl Marx was aware that most of the people living in capitalist societies did not see how the system shaped the entire operation of society. Just like how we see private property, or the right to pass that property onto our children as natural, many of members in capitalistic societies see the rich as having earned their wealth through hard work and education, while seeing the poor as lacking in skill and initiative. Marx rejected this type of thinking and termed it false consciousness, which involves explanations of social problems as the shortcomings of individuals rather than the flaws of society. Marx wanted to replace this kind of thinking with something Engels termed class consciousness, which is when workers recognize themselves as a class unified in opposition to capitalists and ultimately to the capitalist system itself. In general, Marx wanted the working class to rise up against the capitalists and overthrow the capitalist system.
Two early conflict theorists were the Polish-Austrian sociologist and political theorist Ludwig Gumplowicz (1838–1909) and the American sociologist and paleontologist Lester F. Ward (1841–1913). Although Ward and Gumplowicz developed their theories independently, they had much in common and approached conflict from a comprehensive anthropological and evolutionary point-of-view as opposed to Marx’s rather exclusive focus on economic factors.
C. Wright Mills has been called the founder of modern conflict theory. In Mills’s view, social structures are created through conflict between people with differing interests and resources. Individuals and resources, in turn, are influenced by these structures and by the “unequal distribution of power and resources in the society. ” Mills argued that the interests of the power elite of American society (for example, the military-industrial complex) were opposed to those of the people. He theorized that the policies of the power elite would result in the “increased escalation of conflict, production of weapons of mass destruction, and possibly the annihilation of the human race. ”
Conflict theory is most commonly associated with Marxism, but as a reaction to functionalism and the positivist method, it may also be associated with a number of other perspectives, including critical theory, feminist theory, postmodern theory, post-structural theory, postcolonial theory, queer theory, world systems theory, and race-conflict theory. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.02%3A_Sociological_Perspectives_on_Health_and_Illness/19.2B%3A_The_Conflict_Perspective.txt |
According to theorists working in the symbolic interactionist perspective, health and illness are socially constructed.
Learning Objectives
• Explain and give examples of social constructions of health according to the symbolic interactionist perspective
Key Points
• Symbolic interactionist researchers investigate how people create meaning during social interaction, how they present and construct the self, and how they define situations of co-presence with others.
• Constructivist grounded theory emphasizes the development of an interactive relationship and mutual construction of knowledge between researcher and participants.
• Medicalization of deviance refers to the process that changes “bad” behavior into “sick” behavior.
• Demedicalization refers to the process when “sick” behavior is normalized again.
Key Terms
• medicalization of deviance: The medicalization of deviance refers to the process that changes “bad” behavior into “sick” behavior.
• demedicalization: Demedicalization refers to the process when “sick” behavior is normalized again.
• symbolic interactionist: Symbolic interactionist researchers investigate how people create meaning during social interaction, how they present and construct the self, and how they define situations of co-presence with others.
According to theorists working in the symbolic interactionist perspective, health and illness are socially constructed. Symbolic interactionist researchers investigate how people create meaning during social interaction, how they present and construct the self (or “identity”), and how they define situations of co-presence with others. One of the perspective’s central ideas is that people act as they do because of how they define situations.
Constructivist grounded theory emphasizes the development of an interactive relationship and mutual construction of knowledge between researcher and participants. Symbolic interactionists believe that objects have meaning only through people’s interactions with them in the environment, that the meanings people have for things develops through social interaction and that those meanings are handled and modified by a constant and ongoing interpretive process by individuals.
An example of the social construction of health the the Rate of Perceived Exertion, or RPE. This scale measures the intensity of a person’s workout on a scale of 0 to 10. This scale was developed by Gunnar Borg, and it is used by medical professionals to assess a person’s health in a variety of ways.
In essence, interactionists focus on the specific meanings and causes people attribute to illness. The term “medicalization” of deviance” refers to the process that changes “bad” behavior into “sick” behavior. A related process is “demedicalization”, in which “sick” behavior is normalized again. Medicalization and demedicalization affect who responds to the patient, how people respond to the patient, and how people view the personal responsibility of the patient.
An example of medicalization is illustrated by the history of how our society views alcohol and alcoholism. During the 19th century, people who drank too much were considered “bad, lazy people. ” They were called drunks, and it was not uncommon for them to be arrested or run out of a town. Drunks were not treated in a sympathetic way because, at that time, it was thought that it was their own fault that they could not stop drinking. During the latter half of the 20th century, however, people who drank too much were increasingly defined as people with a disease or a genetic predisposition to addiction. With alcoholism defined as a disease and not a personal choice, alcoholics came to be viewed with more compassion and understanding. Thus, “badness” was transformed into “sickness”.
While interactionism does acknowledge the subjective nature of diagnosis, it is important to remember who benefits the most when a behavior becomes defined as illness. Pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars treating illnesses such as fatigue, insomnia, and hyperactivity that may not actually be illnesses in need of treatment, but opportunities for companies to make more money. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.02%3A_Sociological_Perspectives_on_Health_and_Illness/19.2C%3A_The_Interactionist_Perspective.txt |
The labeling approach to health and illness claims that mental illness is manifested solely as a result of societal influence.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the pros and cons of labeling theory, especially the implications it has for the “mentally ill” and HIV/AIDS patients
Key Points
• Developed by sociologists during the 1960s, labeling theory holds that deviance is not inherent to an act. The theory focuses on the tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from standard cultural norms.
• The social construction of deviant behavior plays an important role in the labeling process that occurs in society.
• Labeling theory was first applied to the term “mentally ill” in 1966 when Thomas J. Scheff published Being Mentally Ill. Scheff challenged common perceptions of mental illness by claiming that mental illness is manifested solely as a result of societal influence.
• Hard labeling refers to those who argue that mental illness does not exist. They note the slight deviance from the norms of society that cause people to believe in mental illness.
• Soft labeling refers to people who believe that mental illnesses do, in fact, exist. Unlike the supporters of hard labeling, soft labeling supporters believe that mental illnesses are not entirely socially constructed.
Key Terms
• self-fulfilling prophecy: a prediction that, by being voiced, causes itself to come true
• social construction: A concept or practice that is the construct (or artifact) of a particular group, meaning that the concept or practice is understood differently by various groups and institutions.
• deviance: Actions or behaviors that violate formal and informal cultural norms, such as laws or the norm that discourages public nose-picking.
Labeling Theory on Health and Illness
Labeling theory is closely related to social-construction and symbolic-interaction analysis. Developed by sociologists during the 1960s, labeling theory holds that deviance is not inherent to an act. The theory focuses on the tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from standard cultural norms. The theory is concerned with how the self-identity and behavior of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. It is associated with the concepts of self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotyping.
The social construction of deviant behavior plays an important role in the labeling process that occurs in society. This process involves not only the labeling of criminally deviant behavior—behavior that does not fit socially constructed norms—but also labeling that reflects stereotyped or stigmatized behavior of the “mentally ill.” Hard labeling refers to those who argue that mental illness does not exist; it is merely deviance from the norms of society that cause people to believe in mental illness. Mental illnesses are socially constructed illnesses and psychotic disorders do not exist. Soft labeling refers to people who believe that mental illnesses do, in fact, exist, and are not entirely socially constructed.
Labeling theory was first applied to the term “mentally ill” in 1966 when Thomas J. Scheff published Being Mentally Ill. Scheff challenged common perceptions of mental illness by claiming that mental illness is manifested solely as a result of societal influence. He argued that society views certain actions as deviant. In order to come to terms with and understand these actions, society often places the label of mental illness on those who exhibit them. Certain expectations are placed on these individuals and, over time, they unconsciously change their behavior to fulfill them. Criteria for different mental illnesses, he believed, are not consistently fulfilled by those who are diagnosed with them because all of these people suffer from the same disorder. Criteria are simply fulfilled because the “mentally ill” believe they are supposed to act a certain way—over time, they come to do so.
Another issue involving labeling was the rise of HIV/AIDS cases among gay men in the 1980s. HIV/AIDS was labeled a disease of the homosexual and further pushed people into believing homosexuality was deviant. Even today, some people believe contracting HIV/AIDS is punishment for deviant and inappropriate sexual behaviors.
Labels, while they can be stigmatizing, can also lead those who bear them down the road to proper treatment and recovery. The label of “mentally ill” may help a person seek help, such as psychotherapy or medication. If one believes that being “mentally ill” is more than just believing one should fulfill a set of diagnostic criteria, then one would probably also agree that there are some who are labeled “mentally ill” who need help. It has been claimed that this could not happen if society did not have a way to categorize them, although there are actually plenty of approaches to these phenomena that don’t use categorical classifications and diagnostic terms (for example, spectrum or continuum models). Here, people vary along different dimensions, and everyone falls at different points on each dimension.
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Social epidemiology studies the social distribution and social determinants of health.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss epidemiolgy and its impact on American health care, as well as its beginnings based on Durkheim’s work on suicide
Key Points
• Epidemiology is the study (or the science of the study) of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations.
• Social epidemiology is defined as “the branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health”; or in other words, “both specific features of, and pathways by which, societal conditions affect health”.
• Social epidemiologists generally use social concepts in order to explain patterns of health in the population.
• The roots of social epidemiology go back to the work of Emile Durkheim on suicide, where he explored the differing suicide rates between Protestants and Catholics.
• Use of multilevel models (also known as hierarchical and mixed effects models) involves focusing on both individual-level measures and emergent social properties that have no correlation at the individual level.
Key Terms
• Emile Durkheim: David Émile Durkheim (April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.
• Social epidemiology: Social epidemiology is defined as “the branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health,” that is, “both specific features of, and pathways by which, societal conditions affect health. “
• Multilevel Models: Multilevel models are statistical models of parameters that vary at more than one level. These models can be seen as generalizations of linear models (in particular, linear regression), although they can also extend to non-linear models.
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study (or the science of the study) of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and informs policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive medicine. Epidemiologists help with study design, collection and statistical analysis of data, and interpretation and dissemination of results (including peer review and occasional systematic review). Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in clinical research, public health studies and, to a lesser extent, basic research in the biological sciences.
Major areas of epidemiological study include disease etiology, outbreak investigation, disease surveillance and screening, biomonitoring, and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials. Epidemiologists rely on other scientific disciplines like biology to better understand disease processes, statistics to make efficient use of the data and draw appropriate conclusions, social sciences to better understand proximate and distal causes, and engineering for exposure assessment.
Social Epidemiology
Social epidemiology is defined as “the branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health”; or in other words, “both specific features of, and pathways by which, societal conditions affect health” (Krieger, 2001). The roots of social epidemiology go back Emile Durkheim’s work on suicide.
In Suicide (1897), Durkheim explores the differing suicide rates between Protestants and Catholics, arguing that stronger social control among Catholics results in lower suicide rates. According to Durkheim, Catholic society has normal levels of integration while Protestant society has low levels. Overall, Durkheim treated suicide as a social fact, explaining variations in its rate on a macro level, considering society-scale phenomena such as a lack of connections between people (group attachment) and a lack of regulations of behavior, rather than the feelings and motivations of individuals. Despite its limitations, Durkheim’s work on suicide has influenced proponents of control theory, and is often mentioned as a classic sociological study. The book pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy.
Social epidemiology may focus on individual-level measures, or on emergent social properties that have no correlation at the individual level. Simultaneous analysis at both levels may even be warranted. Use of such multilevel models is also known as hierarchical and mixed effects models. Social epidemiology overlaps with fields in the social sciences, such as medical anthropology, medical sociology, and medical geography. However, these fields often use health and disease in order to explain specifically social phenomenon (such as the growth of lay health advocacy movements), while social epidemiologists generally use social concepts in order to explain patterns of health in the population.
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Healthcare in the United States is provided by separate legal entities, often private facilities with governmental insurance for citizens.
Learning Objectives
• Outline the problems with American health care, primarily due to privatization
Key Points
• Healthcare facilities are largely owned and operated by the private sector.
• The United States is alone among developed nations with the notable absence of a universal healthcare system.
• Publicly-funded insurance is provided to the public through programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Veterans Health Administration.
• Active debate about healthcare reform in the United States concerns questions of a right to healthcare, access, fairness, efficiency, cost, choice, value, and quality.
• Many of the uninsured are the working poor or are unemployed. Although some are healthy and choose to go without it, others have been rejected by insurance companies and are considered “uninsurable”.
Key Terms
• the Children’s Health Insurance Program: The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with children. The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.
• private insurance: Private insurance refers to health insurance provided by a non-governmental organization, usually a privately owned or publicly traded corporation.
• TRICARE: is a health care program of the United States Department of Defense Military Health System. TRICARE provides civilian health benefits for military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents, including some members of the Reserve Component.
Healthcare in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities. Healthcare facilities are largely owned and operated by the private sector. Health insurance is now primarily provided by the government in the public sector, with 60-65% of healthcare provision and spending coming from programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Veterans Health Administration.
The United States is alone among developed nations with the notable absence of a universal healthcare system. Current estimates put U.S. healthcare spending at approximately 16% of GDP, second highest to East Timor (Timor-Leste) among all United Nations member nations. The U.S. system is primarily one of private insurance, with governmental insurance provided for citizens on the healthcare fringe. Insurance is provided by large-risk bearing corporate entities, which organize healthcare delivery by negotiating pricing and services with provider (physicians and hospitals) organizations. Most Americans under age 65 (59.3%) receive their health insurance coverage through an employer (which includes both private, as well as civilian public-sector employers) under group coverage, although this percentage is declining.
Debates about Healthcare in the United States
Active debate about healthcare reform in the United States concerns questions of a right to health care, access, fairness, efficiency, cost, choice, value, and quality. Some have argued that the system does not deliver equivalent value for the money spent. The United States pays twice as much, yet lags behind other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy. Currently, the United States has a higher infant mortality rate than most of the world’s industrialized nations. Around 84.7% of Americans have some form of health insurance; either through their employer or the employer of their spouse or parent (59.3%), purchased individually (8.9%), or provided by government programs (27.8%; there is some overlap in these figures).
Furthermore, the number of persons without health insurance coverage in the United States is one of the primary concerns raised by advocates of healthcare reform. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2009, there were 50.7 million people in the United States (16.7% of the population) who were without health insurance. Some Americans who do not qualify for government-provided health insurance are not provided health insurance by an employer, and are unable to afford, cannot qualify for, or choose not to purchase private health insurance. Many of the uninsured are the working poor or are unemployed. Although some are healthy and choose to go without it, others have been rejected by insurance companies and are considered “uninsurable.” | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.04%3A_Health_Care_in_the_U.S./19.4A%3A_Health_Care_in_the_U.S..txt |
The interactions between physicians, nurses, and patients are central to healthcare.
Learning Objectives
• Evaluate the importance of positive interactions between physicians, nurses and patients, in terms of satisfaction with health care services
Key Points
• Physicians in the United States include both physicians trained by medical education in the United States, and physicians that are international medical graduates who have progressed through the necessary steps to acquire a medical license to practice in a state.
• Patient’s satisfaction is favored by a good doctor-patient relationship.
• Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life.
Key Terms
• patient’s satisfaction: Patients’ satisfaction with an encounter with health care service is mainly dependent on the duration and efficiency of care, and how empathetic and communicable the health care providers are.
• doctor-patient relationship: The doctor-patient relationship is central to the practice of healthcare and is essential for the delivery of high-quality health care in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
• medical education: Medical education is education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, either the initial training to become a doctor (i.e., medical school and internship), additional training thereafter (e.g., residency and fellowship), or Physician Assistant education.
Physicians
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments. They may focus their practice on certain disease categories, types of patients, or methods of treatment; such physicians are known as specialist medical practitioners. They may also assume responsibility for the provision of continuing comprehensive medical care to individuals, families and communities; these physicians are known as general practitioners.
Medical practice properly requires both a detailed knowledge of the academic disciplines (such as anatomy and physiology) underlying diseases and their treatment, and also a decent competence in its applied practice. Physicians in the United States include both physicians trained by medical education in the United States, and physicians that are international medical graduates who have progressed through the necessary steps to acquire a medical license to practice in a state. The U.S. physicians are an important part of the health care in the United States. Currently, the American College of Physicians uses the term physician to describe all medical practitioners holding a professional medical degree.
Nurses
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. There are a number of educational paths to becoming a professional nurse, which vary greatly worldwide, but all involve extensive study of nursing theory and practice, and training in clinical skills. Nursing Science is a field of knowledge based on the contributions of nursing scientists through peer-reviewed scholarly journals and evidenced-based practice. Nurses care for individuals of all ages and cultural backgrounds, who are healthy and ill, in a holistic manner based on the individual’s physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual, social, and spiritual needs. The profession combines physical science, social science, nursing theory, and technology in caring for those individuals.
Patients
A patient is any recipient of health care services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or other health care provider. Patients’ satisfaction with an encounter with health care service is mainly dependent on the duration and efficiency of care, and how empathetic and communicable the health care providers are. It is favored by a good doctor-patient relationship. Also, patients that are well informed of the necessary procedures in a clinical encounter, and the time it is expected to take, are generally more satisfied even if there is a longer waiting time. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.04%3A_Health_Care_in_the_U.S./19.4B%3A_Physicians_Nurses_and_Patients.txt |
Alternative medicine is any practice claiming to heal “that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine.”
Learning Objectives
• Break down the various types of alternative medicine and how they fit into the health care system
Key Points
• Alternative medicine is frequently grouped with complementary medicine or integrative medicine, which, in general, refers to the same interventions when used in conjunction with mainstream techniques, under the umbrella term complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM.
• Whole medical systems cut across more than one of the other groups; examples include traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy, and Ayurveda.
• Mind-body medicine takes a holistic approach to health that explores the interconnection between the mind, body, and spirit.
• Biology-based practices use substances found in nature such as herbs, foods, vitamins, and other natural substances.
• Manipulative and body-based practices feature manipulation or movement of body parts, such as is done in chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation.
• Integrative medicine is the combination of the practices and methods of alternative/complementary medicine with conventional medicine.
Key Terms
• mind-body medicine: Mind-body medicine takes a holistic approach to health that explores the interconnection between the mind, body, and spirit.
• manipulative and body-based practices: Manipulative and body-based practices feature manipulation or movement of body parts, such as is done in chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation.
• integrative medicine: Integrative medicine is the combination of the practices and methods of alternative/complementary medicine with conventional medicine. It may include preventive medicine and patient-centered medicine.
Non-Conventional and Conventional Medicine
Alternative medicine methods are diverse in their foundations and methodologies, and they may be based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence. Methods may incorporate or base themselves on traditional medicine, folk knowledge, spiritual beliefs, or newly conceived approaches to healing. Alternative medicine is frequently grouped with complementary medicine or integrative medicine, which, in general, refers to the same interventions when used in conjunction with mainstream techniques, under the umbrella term complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM.
There is no clear and consistent definition for either alternative or complementary medicine. In Western culture, it is often defined as any healing practice “that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine,” or “that which has not been shown consistently to be effective. ” There is a debate among medical researchers over whether any therapy may be properly classified as “alternative medicine. ” Some claim that there is only medicine that has been adequately tested and that which has not. They feel that healthcare practices should be classified based solely on scientific evidence.
The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has developed one of the most widely used classification systems for the branches of complementary and alternative medicine. It classifies complementary and alternative therapies into five major groups, which have some overlap. Whole medical systems cut across more than one of the other groups; examples include traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy, and Ayurveda. Mind-body medicine takes a holistic approach to health that explores the interconnection between the mind, body, and spirit. Biology-based practices use substances found in nature, such as herbs, foods, vitamins, and other natural substances. Manipulative and body-based practices feature manipulation or movement of body parts, such as is done in chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation.
Integrative medicine is the combination of the practices and methods of alternative/complementary medicine with conventional medicine. It may include preventive medicine and patient-centered medicine. It may also include practices not normally referred to as medicine, such as using prayer, meditation, socializing, and recreation as therapies. Its academic proponents sometimes recommend misleading patients by using known placebo treatments in order to achieve a placebo effect. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.04%3A_Health_Care_in_the_U.S./19.4C%3A_Alternatives_to_Traditional_Health_Care.txt |
Publicly funded health care is a form of healthcare financing designed to meet the cost of healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the role of the government in the provision of health care
Key Points
• Most developed countries, with the exception of the United States, have partially or fully, publicly funded health systems.
• Publicly funded healthcare systems are usually financed in one of two ways: through taxation or via compulsory national health insurance.
• In compulsory insurance models, healthcare is financed from some combination of employees’ salary deductions, employers’ contributions, and possibly additional state funds. Insurance may cover other benefits, as well as health.
• When taxation is the primary means of financing healthcare, all eligible people receive the same level of cover regardless of their financial circumstances or risk factors.
• Most western industrial countries have a system of social insurance based on the principle of social solidarity covers eligible people from bearing the direct burden of most healthcare expenditure, funded by taxation during their working life.
• A range of measures, such as better payment methods, has improved the microeconomic incentives facing healthcare providers.
Key Terms
• social solidarity: Most western industrial countries have a system of social insurance based on the principle of social solidarity covers eligible people from bearing the direct burden of most healthcare expenditure, funded by taxation during their working life.
• compulsory insurance models: In compulsory insurance models, healthcare is financed from some combination of employees’ salary deductions, employers’ contributions, and possibly additional state funds. Insurance may cover other benefits as well as health.
• Publicly funded health care: Publicly funded healthcare is a form of healthcare financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund.
Government and Healthcare
Publicly funded health care is a form of healthcare financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. The fund may be a not-for-profit trust, which pays out for health care according to common rules established by the members or by some other democratic form. In some countries, the fund is controlled directly by the government or by an agency of the government for the benefit of the entire population. This distinguishes it from other forms of private medical insurance. In the private model, the rights of access are subject to contractual obligations between an insurer and an insurance company. The latter seeks to make a profit by managing the flow of funds between funders and providers of health care services.
Publicly funded healthcare systems are usually financed in one of two ways: through taxation or via compulsory national health insurance. In compulsory insurance models, healthcare is financed from some combination of employees’ salary deductions, employers’ contributions, and possibly additional state funds. Insurance may cover other benefits as well as health. When taxation is the primary means of financing healthcare, all eligible people receive the same level of cover regardless of their financial circumstances or risk factors.
Most developed countries, with the exception of the United States, have partially or fully publicly funded health systems. Most western industrial countries have a system of social insurance based on the principle of social solidarity covers eligible people from bearing the direct burden of most healthcare expenditure, funded by taxation during their working life. Many OECD countries have implemented reforms to achieve policy goals of ensuring access to healthcare, improving the quality of healthcare and health outcomes, allocating an appropriate level of public sector other resources to healthcare, while at the same time ensuring that services are provided in a cost-efficient and cost-effective manner (microeconomic efficiency). A range of measures, such as better payment methods, has improved the microeconomic incentives facing providers. However, introducing improved incentives through a more competitive environment among providers and insurers has proved difficult.
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• Healthcare in the United States. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_the_United_States. License: CC BY: Attribution | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.04%3A_Health_Care_in_the_U.S./19.4d%3A_The_Role_of_Government.txt |
European colonization contributed to the spread of disease worldwide.
Learning Objectives
• Summarize the impact of European colonialism on the spread of infectious disease and beginnings of disease control
Key Points
• Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.
• Encounters between explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced new diseases, which sometimes caused local epidemics of extraordinary virulence.
• Trade routes and new world conquests devastated indigenous populations, as they were exposed to new pathogens and newly domesticated animals.
• The leading cause of death in Europe and North America in the nineteenth century was tuberculosis.
• In the twentieth century, the world saw the biggest increase in its population in human history due to lessening of the mortality rate in many countries due to medical advances.
• In the 20th century, the world saw the biggest increase in its population in human history due to lessening of the mortality rate in many countries due to medical advances.
Key Terms
• mortality rate: The number of deaths per given unit of population over a given period of time.
• tuberculosis: An infectious disease of humans and animals caused by a species of mycobacterium mainly infecting the lungs where it causes tubercles characterized by the expectoration of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain, and transmitted through inhalation or ingestion of bacteria.
• pathogen: Any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease.
Colonialism and Health
Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. Historically, this has often involved killing or subjugating the indigenous population. Encounters between explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced new diseases, which sometimes caused local epidemics of extraordinary virulence.
European colonization contributed to the spread of disease worldwide. Trade routes and New World conquests devastated indigenous populations, as they were exposed to new pathogens and newly domesticated animals. Colonization in Africa and parts of Asia was not as simple for Europeans as it was in the Americas, because Europeans were subjected to diseases they had no prior exposure to. In response to becoming infected, European military and government officials living in African and Asian colonies were quarantined to safety in areas away from natives, who were believed to be disease carriers, and, thus, “biologically inferior. ” The leading cause of death in Europe and North America in the nineteenth century was tuberculosis.
The European contribution to global pathogen exposure created a “global homogenization of disease,” where no border was left uncrossed in the spread of infectious diseases. The ill health effects are long lasting, especially because the health of Europeans improved while the health of colonized nations worsened. Following the end of colonization, many countries continued to use and attempted to enhance their “inherited” healthcare systems, which consisted of “inadequate,” and “top-heavy” structures based on Western medical models. These same models continued to benefit elites and addressed the “rural poor” once the “needs of the urban elite were attended to. ” Hospitals in metropolitan areas were first priority, followed by small rural clinics that were underfunded, understaffed, and, thus, less effective.
From the beginning of the twentieth century onwards, the elimination or control of disease in tropical countries became a driving force for all colonial powers. The sleeping sickness epidemic in Africa was arrested due to mobile teams systematically screening millions of people at risk. In the twentieth century, the world saw the biggest increase in its population in human history due to lessening of the mortality rate in many countries due to medical advances. The world population has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 7 billion today. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.05%3A_Modern_Issues_in_Health_Care/19.5A%3A_Colonialism_and_the_Spread_of_Diseases.txt |
Infectious diseases result from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism.
Learning Objectives
• Assess the implications of infectious diseases in terms of health care and life expectancy of individuals
Key Points
• Many infectious diseases that killed by the millions were greatly reduced in the 20th century.
• While the number of deaths due to nearly every disease has decreased, deaths due to HIV/AIDS have increased fourfold.
• Infectious pathogens include some viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions.
• The top three single agent /disease killers are HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
• Normally not a problem to North Americans, malaria is the infectious disease most deadly to children worldwide. Malaria infects 500 million people per year, killing just fewer than 3 million.
• HIV/AIDS is the world’s leading cause of death; it was introduced as an infectious disease during the 20th century.
Key Terms
• pathogen: Any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease.
Infectious diseases, also known as transmissible diseases or communicable diseases, are clinically evident illnesses resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents. Infectious pathogens include some viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions. These pathogens are the cause of disease epidemics, in the sense that without the pathogen, no infectious epidemic occurs.
Many infectious diseases that previously killed by the millions were greatly reduced in the 20th century, with the most notable achievement being the eradication of smallpox. Other diseases, such as diphtheria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis and whooping cough were greatly reduced throughout the world due to childhood immunization programs, improved sanitation, and the use of antibiotics. However, some infectious diseases remain a problem today. The top three single agent/disease killers are HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Malaria
Normally not a problem to North Americans, malaria is the infectious disease most deadly to children worldwide. Said to be one of the world’s oldest diseases, malaria is caused by one of four protozoans within the genus Plasmodium. The blood pulled from the bite of an Anopheles mosquito carries this disease, which infects the human or animal host and resides in red blood cells in order to reproduce. Malaria infects 500 million people per year, killing just fewer than 3 million. It is the second leading cause of death in Africa, after HIV/AIDS, and is the fifth leading cause of death from infectious diseases worldwide.
HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS was introduced as an infectious disease during the 20th century and deaths due to HIV have increased fourfold since. The first cases were diagnosed in the United States in the early 1980s. This misunderstood illness was originally thought to only exist among four risk groups, better known as the 4Hs: Homosexuals, Haitians, Hemophiliacs and Heroin users. However, as HIV/AIDS has become a pandemic, it is better understood and is known to not just be isoloated to certain groups of people. There are various modes of HIV transmission which include: male to male sexual contact, injection drug use, and heterosexual contact. In some developing countries where antiretroviral drugs are not affordable or readily accessible, mother-to-child transmission still poses a possible risk of infection. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.05%3A_Modern_Issues_in_Health_Care/19.5B%3A_Infectious_Diseases_Today_and_in_the_Developing_World.txt |
HIV/AIDS is a major health problem in many parts of the world.
Learning Objectives
• Describe the problems associated with HIV/AIDS for many societies, particularly poor countries and ethnic minorities
Key Points
• Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus and disease are often referred to together as HIV/AIDS.
• The three main transmission routes of HIV are sexual contact, exposure to infected body fluids or tissues, and from mother to fetus during the perinatal period.
• The symptoms of AIDS are primarily the result of conditions that do not normally develop in individuals with healthy immune systems.
• There is currently no publicly available HIV vaccine or cure for HIV or AIDS. The only known methods are based on avoiding exposure to the virus.
Key Terms
• transmission: HIV is transmitted by three main routes: sexual contact, exposure to infected body fluids or tissues and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding.
• vaccine: A substance given to stimulate the body’s production of antibodies providing immunity against a disease, prepared from the agent that causes the disease, or a synthetic substitute.
• perinatal period: Of or pertaining to the time around birth.
HIV and AIDS in Health Care
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The illness interferes with the immune system, making people with it much more likely to get infections that do not affect people with working immune systems. This susceptibility gets worse as the disease continues. HIV is transmitted through sexual intercourse, contaminated blood transfusions and hypodermic needles. It can also be transmitted between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. It can be transmitted by any contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid that has the virus in it, including blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, or breast milk.
The virus and disease are often referred to together as HIV/AIDS. The disease is a major health problem in many parts of the world, and is considered a pandemic; a disease outbreak that is not only present over a large area but is actively spreading. In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that there are 33.4 million people worldwide with HIV/AIDS; 2.7 million new HIV infections are reported per year along with two million annual deaths due to AIDS. The three main transmission routes of HIV are sexual contact, exposure to infected body fluids or tissues, and from mother to fetus during the perinatal period. It is possible to find HIV in saliva, tears and urine of infected individuals, but there are no recorded cases of infection by these secretions. Anti-retroviral treatment of infected patients also significantly reduces their ability to transmit HIV to others. This treatment reduces the amount of virus in bodily fluids to undetectable levels
People with AIDS also have an increased risk of developing various cancers like Kaposi’s sarcoma, cervical cancer and cancers of the immune system known as lymphomas. In addition, people with AIDS often have systemic symptoms of infection like fevers, sweats (particularly at night), swollen glands, chills, weakness, and weight loss. The opportunistic infections AIDS patients develop depend in part on the prevalence of these infections in the patient’s geographic area. Symptoms of AIDS are primarily the result of conditions that do not normally develop in individuals with healthy immune systems. Most of these conditions are opportunistic infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites normally controlled by the elements of the immune system that HIV damages. These infections affect nearly every organ system.
Many people are unaware that they are infected with HIV. Less than 1% of the sexually active urban population in Africa has been tested; this proportion is even lower in rural populations. Furthermore, only 0.5% of pregnant women attending urban health facilities are counseled, tested or receive their test results. Again, this proportion is even lower in rural health facilities. Therefore, donor blood and blood products used in medicine and medical research are screened for HIV.
There is currently no publicly available HIV vaccine or cure for HIV or AIDS. The only known methods are based on avoiding exposure to the virus or, failing that, an antiretroviral treatment given directly after a highly significant exposure. This treatment is called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). PEP has a very demanding four-week schedule of dosage. It also has very unpleasant side effects, including diarrhea, malaise, nausea and fatigue. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.05%3A_Modern_Issues_in_Health_Care/19.5C%3A_HIV_and_AIDS.txt |
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring personal medical expenses.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the use of both private and public health insurance and the implications for society’s overall health
Key Points
• Two types of health insurance have developed in modern society: private health insurance and publicly funded health insurance.
• A premium is the amount a policy-holder or his sponsor must pay to a health plan in order to purchase health coverage.
• A deductible is the amount that the insured must pay out-of-pocket before the health insurer pays its share.
• Co-payment is the amount that an insured person must pay out of pocket before a health insurer pays for a particular visit or service.
• An explanation of benefits is a document that may be sent by an insurer to a patient. This document explains what was covered for a medical service, and how payment amounts and patient responsibility amounts were determined.
• The premium is the amount the policy-holder or his sponsor pays to the health plan to purchase health coverage.
• The deductible is the amount that the insured must pay out-of-pocket before the health insurer pays its share.
• Co-payment is the amount that the insured person must pay out of pocket before the health insurer pays for a particular visit or service.
• Explanation of benefits is a document that may be sent by an insurer to a patient explaining what was covered for a medical service, and how payment amount and patient responsibility amount were determined.
• The medical model of medicine science focuses on the eradication of illness through diagnosis and effective treatment.
• The social model of medicine science focuses on changes that can be made in society and in people’s own lifestyles to make the population healthier.
Key Terms
• deductible: A deductible is the amount that the insured must pay out-of-pocket before the health insurer pays its share.
• premium: The premium is the amount a policy-holder or his sponsor must pay to a health plan to purchase health coverage.
• co-payment: A co-payment is the amount that the insured person must pay out of pocket before the health insurer pays for a particular visit or service.
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring personal medical expenses. By estimating the overall risk of health care that a target group will require, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is available to pay for the health care benefits specified in an insurance agreement. These benefits are administered by a central organization, like a government agency, private business, or non-profit organization.
Types of Health Insurance: Public Vs. Private
Two types of health insurance exist in modern society, private health insurance and publicly funded health insurance. Private insurance, based on free market principles, refers to health insurance provided by a non-governmental organization, usually a privately owned or publicly traded corporation. Among developed nations, the United States is the only country in which private insurance is the primary source of healthcare.
In contrast to this private method, in public insurance, health care is paid wholly or mostly by public funds. This type of health care is the most common and popular in almost every developed and developing nation in the world, except the United States. The majority of developed nations have publicly funded health systems that cover a majority of the population.
Understanding Health Insurance Terms
Some of the essential terms associated with health insurance are premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and explanations of benefits. A premium is the amount a policy-holder or his sponsor (e.g. an employer) must pay to a health plan to purchase health coverage. A deductible is the amount that an insured individual must pay out-of-pocket before the health insurer pays its share. For example, policyholders might have to pay a \$500 deductible per year, before the health insurer covers any health care costs. A co-payment is the amount that an insured person must pay out of pocket before the health insurer pays for a particular visit or service. For example, an insured person might pay a \$45 co-payment for a doctor’s visit, or to obtain a prescription. A co-payment must be made each time a particular service is obtained. Lastly, an explanation of benefits is a document that may be sent by an insurer to a patient. This document explains what the insurer will cover, in terms of medical services. It also explains how payment amounts and patient responsibility amounts have been determined.
Healthcare and Modern Medicine
Healthcare improves as a result of advancements in medical science. Modern medicine approaches health care from two angles. The first, the medical model, focuses on the eradication of illness through diagnosis and effective treatment. The second, the social model, focuses on changes that can be made in society and in people’s lifestyles to make the population healthier. This second method typically focuses on preventative care. Modern, scientific medicine has proven uniquely effective at treating and preventing disease. It is increasingly widespread and more widely accepted than other forms of medicine. Modern medicine is notably secular, and indifferent to ideas of the supernatural or the spiritual. Instead, it concentrates on the body and society to determine the causes and cures of health issues. Modern, scientific medicine is the most effective contributor to the health of humans in the world today. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/19%3A_Health_and_Illness/19.05%3A_Modern_Issues_in_Health_Care/19.5D%3A_Health_Insurance.txt |
Preventive medicine, or preventive care, refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms.
Learning Objectives
• Explain the purpose of preventive medicine and how insurance companies can influence the types of preventive medicine chosen
Key Points
• Preventive care may include examinations and screening tests tailored to an individual’s age, health, and family history.
• Preventive medicine or preventive care refers to measures taken to prevent diseases rather than curing them or treating their symptoms.
• Professionals involved in the public health aspect of this practice may be involved in entomology, pest control, and public health inspections.
• Intrauterine devices (IUD) are highly effective and highly cost effective contraceptives, however where universal health care is not available the initial cost may be a barrier.
Key Terms
• intrauterine device: A contraceptive device consisting of a spiral or similar shape of plastic or metal inserted through the vagina into the uterus in order to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.
• public health: The science and practice of community hygiene; it includes preventive medicine, health education, sanitation and environmental safety.
• preventive medicine: Preventive medicine refers to measures taken to prevent diseases rather than curing them or treating their symptoms.
Preventive medicine, or preventive care, refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms. The term contrasts in method with curative and palliative medicine, and in scope with public health methods, which work at the level of population health rather than individual health. Simple examples of preventive medicine include hand washing, breastfeeding, and immunizations. Preventive care may include examinations and screening tests tailored to an individual’s age, health, and family history. For example, a person with a family history of certain cancers or other diseases would begin screening at an earlier age and/or more frequently than those with no such family history.
Professionals involved in the public health aspect of this practice may be involved in entomology, pest control, and public health inspections. Public health inspections can include recreational waters, swimming pools, beaches, food preparation and serving, and industrial hygiene inspections and surveys.
Since preventive medicine deals with healthy individuals or populations, the costs and potential harms from interventions need even more careful examination than in treatment. For an intervention to be applied widely it generally needs to be affordable and highly cost effective. For instance, intrauterine devices (IUD) are highly effective and highly cost effective contraceptives, however where universal health care is not available the initial cost may be a barrier. Preventive solutions may be less profitable and therefore less attractive to makers and marketers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Birth control pills, which are taken every day and may take in a thousand dollars over ten years, may generate more profits than an IUD, which despite a huge initial markup only generates a few hundred dollars over the same period.
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Learning Objectives
• Examine the various ways in which a person is sexually socialized, specifically through religion, law, and the media
One learns from society how to express one’s sexuality. As such, sexual expression is part of socialization, the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, and ideologies and providing an individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating within one’s own society. Socialization necessarily implies the inculcation of norms, or behaviors that society marks as valued as opposed to those marked as deviant.
In regards to sexuality, socialization in the U.S. and Western countries most notably adheres to heteronormativity, or the marking of heterosexual unions as normal and homosexual unions as socially abnormal and deviant. While homosexual unions are the types of unions most commonly marked in opposition to normative heterosexual unions, heteronormativity marks any type of non-heterosexual sexual activity as deviant, as heterosexual sexual acts are considered the norm.
There is extreme variation in sexual expression across historical periods and cultures. This indicates that there are no universal sexual norms. Rather, an individual is taught sexual norms of their particular cultural and historical moment through socialization. At the current moment in Western societies, sexuality is evaluated along a continuum of heterosexuality and homosexuality, with heterosexuality as the privileged mode of sexual expression. Obviously, this is a basic schematic; it does not capture all of the existing ways in which people behave sexually, but it is the basic rubric by which sexual behaviors are evaluated.
In contrast, the Ancient Greeks categorized sexuality not in terms of homosexuality and heterosexuality, but in terms of active and passive sexual subjects. What was salient for the Ancient Greeks was whether one took an active or passive sexual position, whether one was the penetrator or was penetrated. In this sense, biological gender was obviously relevant, but not in the same way as evaluating homo- or heterosexual orientation. Men could be either active or passive, but women could only be passive. It is misleading to say that homosexuality was tolerated in Ancient Greece; rather, the Ancient Greeks conceived of sexuality in completely different ways than the current Western norm.
So how is it that one becomes socialized into certain sexual behaviors and proclivities? The rest of this section seeks to explore how socializing agents impress sexual norms into their members by looking at three primary agents of socialization: religion, the law, and the media.
Given that most religions seek to instruct their followers on the proper and holy ways in which to live life, it follows that most religions seek to offer guidance on the proper ways to sexually comport oneself. For example, many evangelical Christians value abstinence and believe that men and women should wait until marriage to engage in sexual activity. The Catholic Church asserts that homosexuality is unholy. Leaders of the Jewish faith promote sexual activity between married couples to reinforce the marital bond and produce children. Like most of the other denominations of monotheistic religions, Islam encourages sexual activity so long as it is practiced by married partners. This is not to say, of course, that all adherents to a particular faith stringently follow the faith’s guidelines, but rather that individuals growing up within a particular religion are instructed on how to behave sexually.
The legal system is another mechanism through which individuals are instructed on proper sexual conduct. The laws within a particular jurisdiction simultaneously reflect and create social norms regarding sexuality. For example, based on American law, Americans are socialized to believe that prostitution and rape are improper forms of sexual behavior. The interactions of homosexual sexual acts and their (il)legality provides an opportunity to see how the law both mirrors and molds American understandings of sexual norms. Sodomy laws, or laws prohibiting particular sexual acts between two consenting partners such as anal sex between two men, were on the books in most American states for decades.
The media is one final example of a cultural program through which individuals encounter normative discourses of sexuality. Individuals are socialized to replicate the sexual behaviors that they see on television, in movies, and in books. These representations are typically heteronormative. Pornography presents another way in which individuals are socialized towards particular sexual practices through the media. Over 70% of men ages 18–34 who use the Internet view at least one pornographic website a month. Follow-up studies show that many of these individuals—in addition to female pornography viewers—attempt to incorporate the actions they witness in pornography into their own sex lives.
Key Points
• With regard to sexuality, socialization in the U.S. and Western countries most notably adheres to heteronormativity, or the marking of heterosexual unions as normal and homosexual unions as socially abnormal and deviant.
• Religion, the law, and the media are three primary agents of socialization that teach people how to behave sexually.
• There is extreme variation in sexual expression across historical periods and cultures. This indicates that there are no universal sexual norms.
• In the current Western moment, heteronormative norms are privileged, meaning that heterosexual expressions of sexuality are more accepted than homosexual expressions. However, sexuality is not thought of in the same way across space and time; rather different cultures and different historical moments think of sexuality in entirely different ways.
Key Terms
• pornography: The explicit depiction of sexual subject matter; a display of material of an erotic nature.
• heteronormativity: The view that all human beings are either male or female, both in sex and in gender, and that sexual and romantic thoughts and relations are normal only when between people of different sexes.
• sodomy laws: Sodomy laws in the United States, which outlawed a variety of sexual acts, were historically universal. While they often targeted sexual acts between persons of the same sex, many statutes employed definitions broad enough to outlaw certain sexual acts between persons of different sexes as well, sometimes even acts between married persons. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/20%3A_Sexuality/20.1A%3A_Socialization_and_Human_Sexuality.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the impact of Kinsey’s study of sexuality related to how it changed the public’s perception of sexuality and how people are sexually socialized
Background
Dr. Alfred Kinsey was an American biologist who is considered to be the founder of sexology, or the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function. Kinsey trained as a biologist and entomologist at Harvard and obtained a teaching post at Indiana University. There, he became interested in human sexuality. In 1935, Kinsey delivered a lecture to a faculty discussion group where he attacked the “widespread ignorance of sexual structure and physiology” and advanced the notion that delayed sexual experience, or waiting to engage in sexual activity until marriage, was psychologically harmful. This lecture sparked intensive research that resulted in the Kinsey Report. The report refers to two different book publications based on his research of human sexuality: Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). The books were widely read and Kinsey became a media star.
The Kinsey Report was the most extensive analysis of human sexuality conducted to its day. Data was gathered primarily by means of subjective interviews, conducted according to a structured questionnaire memorized by the experimenters. Significantly, the Kinsey research team went out and conducted the interviews themselves, rather than relying upon pre-collected data. What resulted was the largest collection of statistical information about adult sexuality in the United States.
The Kinsey Scale
A large section of the Kinsey Report was devoted to the idea of sexual orientation. The Kinsey Report is frequently invoked to support the common estimate of one in ten Americans being a homosexual. However, Kinsey disapproved of using terms like homosexual or heterosexual, as he firmly believed that sexuality is prone to change over time and that sexual behavior must be understood both as physical contact as well as purely psychological phenomena, such as desire, attraction, and fantasy. Instead of using the homosexual/heterosexual categorization, Kinsey developed the Kinsey Scale system. This system attempts to describe a person’s sexual history or episodes of sexual activity at a given point in time, rather than assigning an individual an overarching and permanent sexual orientation.
The scale ranked sexual behavior from zero to six, with zero being completely heterosexual and six being completely homosexual. As one can see, Kinsey rejected the idea of a permanent status of sexual orientation and instead chose to rely on a rating relating to a particular moment in one’s life, indicating that sexuality changes over time. Nevertheless, Kinsey’s Scale is effectively a segmented version of the hetero/homosexual binary, not allowing for other interpretations of sexuality. Kinsey’s associates actually added an additional category, X, to represent asexuals, or people who experience no sexual desire. In this way, Kinsey’s report is of its particular cultural and historical moment, in that it conceives of American sexuality as only occurring along this binary. According to Kinsey, 11.6% of white males aged 20 to 35 were given a rating of three for this period in their lives, meaning that they were equally heterosexual and homosexual. Kinsey further found that 7% of single females aged 20 to 35 and 4% of previously married females were given a rating of three for this period of their lives. The report also states that nearly 46% of the male interview subjects had “reacted” sexually to persons of both sexes in the course of their adult lives, and 37% had at least one homosexual experience.
Sexuality Within Marriage
The Kinsey study also gave statistics on sexuality within marriage that had never before been reported. According to Kinsey, the average frequency of marital sex reported by women in their late teens was 2.8 times per week, 2.2 times per week for women by the age of 30, and once per week by women by the age of 50. Kinsey estimated that approximately half of all married males had some extramarital experience at some point in their married lives. Among Kinsey’s sample, 26% of females had extramarital sex by their forties. Kinsey found that between 10 and 16% of married females aged 26 to 50 were engaged in extramarital sex.
Critical Response
Kinsey’s report was wildly successful. The two books together sold over 750,000 copies and were translated into thirteen languages. They may be considered some of the most successful and influential scientific literature of the twentieth century. The reports are associated with a significant change in public perceptions of sexuality. A mere decade after the reports were published, the first oral contraceptive was introduced and the sexual revolution began. The sexual revolution was a social movement from the 1960s to the 1980s that increased acceptance of sex outside of marriage.
Key Points
• Kinsey developed the Kinsey Scale, which was a numerical ranking of sexual behavior on a scale of complete heterosexuality to complete homosexuality.
• Kinsey’s open discussion of sexuality in the 1950s contributed to the sexual revolution of the following decade, in which social standards that limited sex to heterosexual marriage were loosened.
• The Kinsey Report is frequently invoked to support the common estimate of one in ten Americans being a homosexual.
Key Terms
• sexology: The study of sex and sexuality.
• sexual revolution: A period in which attitudes towards sexual behavior undergo a substantial change, usually in the direction of increased liberality. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/20%3A_Sexuality/20.1B%3A_Sexual_Behavior-_Kinseys_Study.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Summarize the impact of the Kinsey Report and the sexual revolution of the 1960s on American sexuality
The publication of the Kinsey Report, the findings of norms in American sexuality by Dr. Alfred Kinsey, in the early 1950s contributed to the sparking of the sexual revolution, or the loosening of sexual mores demanding sex between heterosexual married partners that occurred in the 1960s. While other sexualities were still stigmatized in most post-Kinsey environments, the sexual revolution was marked by popular acceptance of premarital sex. Studies have shown that between 1965 and 1975, the number of women who had had sexual intercourse prior to marriage showed a marked increase. The social and political climate of the 1960s was a unique one in which traditional values were often challenged loudly by a very vocal minority.
Kinsey’s 1950s study of sexuality contributed to the sexual revolution of the 1960s in two ways. First, prior to the Kinsey Report, no one had interviewed and published such an exhaustive and comprehensive analysis of Americans’ sexual desires and practices. Kinsey’s report reachd the conclusion that few Americans are completely heterosexual in desire or practice as indicated by the Kinsey Scale, or a numeric scaling of individuals along a continuum from complete heterosexuality to complete homosexuality. Though the Kinsey Report was published in the popular press, it was a scientific study conducted by a biologist at an academic institution. Popular readers of the Kinsey Report imbued the findings with a sense of scientific authority and professed faith in their accuracy. While other sexual orientations and acts were still marked as non-normative, society began to accept that other sexualities existed. The Kinsey Report was one step towards non-heterosexual orientations and behaviors becoming accepted by society as normal. Second, one cannot underestimate the significance of the mere publication of the Kinsey Report, independent of its findings. Prior to its publication, sexuality was considered uncouth to include in conversation. Kinsey’s publication initiated a national environment more tolerant to conversations about sexuality, which in and of itself loosened the grip of normalized, marital heterosexual relations.
Another scientific product had a profound impact on the development of the sexual revolution: the development of oral contraception. “The pill” provided many women a more affordable way to avoid pregnancy. Before the pill, there was a lack of affordable and safe options for contraception, rendering unwanted pregnancy a serious risk of premarital sexual activity. In 1960, the Food and Drug Administration licensed the drug, enabling its legal sale. However, many states still outlawed the use of contraceptives in order to reflect and enforce an ethic in which sexual activity was only acceptable for reproduction. The pill became an even more favored and socially acceptable means of birth control in 1965 when the Supreme Court decided the case of Griswold v. Connecticut. In its opinion, the Supreme Court held that the government could not dictate the use of contraception by married couples because such action would be a violation of the right to marital privacy implied in the Bill of Rights. The ruling furthered access to birth control and contributed to a post-Kinsey sexual environment in which society increasingly accepted premarital sex.
Key Points
• The Kinsey Report was the largest study of norms in American sexuality to its time, conducted by Kr. Alfred Kinsey.
• The development of oral contraception also contributed to the loosening of social regulations on sexuality.
• The sexual revolution was a social movement in which social rules of sexuality became more lax.
• The Kinsey scale is a numeric scaling of individuals along a continuum of complete heterosexuality to complete homosexuality.
Key Terms
• sexual revolution: A period in which attitudes towards sexual behavior undergo a substantial change, usually in the direction of increased liberality.
• oral contraception: Medications taken by mouth for the purpose of birth control.
• Kinsey Report: The Kinsey reports are two books on human sexual behavior, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), by Dr. Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and others, and published by Saunders. Kinsey was a zoologist at Indiana University and the founder of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction (more widely known as the Kinsey Institute). | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/20%3A_Sexuality/20.1C%3A_Sexual_Behavior_Since_Kinsey.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the development of sexual orientation (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or asexual) in terms of both static and fluid sexuality
Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation describes an enduring pattern of attraction—emotional, romantic, sexual, or some combination of these—to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither. The varying forms of these attractions are generally divided into the following categories:
• heterosexuality, or attraction to members of the opposite biological sex
• homosexuality, or attraction to members of the same biological sex
• bisexuality, or attraction to members of both biological sexes
• asexuality, or attraction to neither biological sex.
Some individuals have tried to trouble these categories of sexual orientation by not describing themselves as hetero-, homo-, bi-, or asexual and preferring the umbrella term “queer. ” Part of the opposition to the gender binary is that it creates heteronormative assumptions that mark heterosexuality as normal and homosexuality deviant merely because it is the opposite of heterosexuality.
Significantly, sexual orientation does not only refer to one’s sexual practices, but also includes a psychological component, like the direction of an individual’s erotic desire. Sexual identity and sexual behavior are closely related to sexual orientation, but they are distinguishable. Sexual identity refers to an individual’s conception of their own sexuality, while sexual behavior limits one’s understanding of sexuality to behaviors performed. People may or may not express their sexual orientation in their behaviors.
Development of Sexual Orientation
The primary tension in conversations about sexual orientation addresses whether sexual orientation is static or fluid, whether one is born with an immutable sexual orientation, or whether one develops sexual orientation. Each interpretation of sexuality manages our understanding of what sexual orientation means in different ways, particularly when combined with political debates about homosexuality. Organizations that subscribe to the static interpretation of sexual orientation fall on both sides of the political divide. Some organizations are socially and politically conservative, advancing the view that sexuality, left untreated, is static. These organizations tend to pathologize non-heterosexual orientations, or conceive of them as an illness that must be corrected through medical or therapeutic means. Some of these institutions offer sexual reorientation therapies in which individuals who are attracted to members of the opposite sex but do not want to have those attractions can try to become solely attracted to members of the opposite biological sex. Many of these programs are religiously motivated; 79% of men who said that they had changed their sexual orientation said that they had done so for religious reasons, while 93% indicated that religion was “extremely” or “very” important to them.
Sexual Reorientation
A significant amount of professional and academic doubt exists about the efficacy of these reorientation programs. No major mental health professional organization has sanctioned efforts to change sexual orientation and virtually all of them have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession. These include the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Association of Social Workers in the USA, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. According to the American Psychological Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Gay and Lesbian Mental Health Special Interest Group, there is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.
Though they obviously disagree with the conceit that homosexuality needs to be treated, many major gay rights advocacy groups mirror the underlying assumption that homosexuality is a static sexual orientation. The idea that sexual orientation is not a choice, but that rather one is born with an assigned orientation, is pervasive in popular conceptions of sexual orientation. This idea runs up against studies that demonstrate how widely sexual orientation varies in light of cultural and historical circumstances, indicating that one’s environment and cultural context play significant roles in determining one’s sexual orientation.
Key Points
• The varying forms of these attractions are generally divided into the following categories: heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality.
• In place of these categories, some prefer to think of “queer” sexual orientations; a broader term that refers to any non-heterosexual form of sexuality. The heterosexual/homosexual binary is a continuum of complete heterosexuality to complete homosexuality, with bisexuality in the middle.
• Heteronormativity is the assumption that heterosexual orientations are normal to the exclusion of other sexual orientations.
• Sexual identity is an individual’s conception of their own sexuality.
• The primary debate in conversations about sexual orientation is whether sexual orientation is static or fluid, whether one is born with an immutable sexual orientation, or whether one develops sexual orientation.
• Sexual reorientation therapies seek to “convert” homosexuals into heterosexuals.
• Sexual reorientation therapies seek to convert “homosexuals” into “heterosexuals. “
Key Terms
• heterosexual/homosexual binary: Classification of sexuality on a continuum from heterosexuality to homosexuality with bisexuality falling in the middle
• asexuality: Asexuality, in its broadest sense, is the lack of sexual attraction to others or the lack of interest in sex. It may also be considered a lack of a sexual orientation.
• heteronormativity: The view that all human beings are either male or female, both in sex and in gender, and that sexual and romantic thoughts and relations are normal only when between people of different sexes. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/20%3A_Sexuality/20.1D%3A_Sexual_Orientation.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Describe the phenomenon of homophobia (both institutional and informal) and the implications it has for LGBTQ individuals in modern-day America
Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuality or people perceived as homosexual. Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior like discrimination and violence. Much like racism or sexism, homophobia involves the targeting of a specific population of individuals with certain traits. Homophobia, or the fear of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, is often the impetus for discrimination, which can be expressed through either institutional or informal means. Institutional discrimination involves the state apparatus. If homophobic discrimination is institutional, it means either that non-heterosexual sex acts are criminalized or that LGBTQ individuals are denied the same legal rights as heterosexuals. Informal discrimination is not necessarily sanctioned by the state, but involves social pressures against LGBTQ individuals, behaviors, and identities.
In the United States, the social disapproval of homosexuality is not evenly distributed throughout society. That being said, it is more or less pronounced according to age, ethnicity, geographic location, race, sex, social class, education, political identification, and religious status. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to have negative attitudes about people who are LGBTQ. Likewise, people who consider themselves to be religious are more likely than secular individuals to hold negative views about LGBTQ people.
Historical Institutional Homophobia: Holocaust
On many occasions in Western nations in the twentieth century, LGBTQ individuals have been stigmatized because of homophobia. One notorious example of homophobia and extreme discrimination was the persecution of LGBTQ individuals by the Nazis during the Holocaust. After the rise of Adolf Hitler, homosexuals were one of the many groups targeted by the Nazi Party and became victims of the Holocaust. Beginning in 1933, gay organizations were banned, scholarly books about homosexuality were burned, and homosexuals within the Nazi Party itself were murdered. Between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 100,000 men were arrested as homosexuals, of whom some 50,000 were officially sentenced to imprisonment. Most of these German men served time in regular prisons, but an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 were forced to serve their time in concentration camps. Like Jews and the disabled, Hitler labeled homosexuals as defective and systematically persecuted them.
Current Institutional Persecution of Homosexuals
Today, homosexuality is still punishable by death in some countries around the world. Uganda, for example, criminalizes non-heterosexual sex acts and most Ugandans consider non-heterosexuality to be taboo. In October, 2009, a member of the Ugandan Parliament introduced the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill to broaden the criminalization of same-sex relationships and apply the death penalty to repeat offenders. Under the statues of the bill, individuals convicted of a single act of non-heterosexual sex would receive life imprisonment. Additionally, individuals or companies promoting LGBTQ rights would be nationally penalized. The bill also created a public policing policy under which Ugandan citizens would be required to report any homosexual activity within 24 hours or face a maximum penalty of three years in prison. Additionally, if Ugandan citizens were found to be engaging in same-sex sexual or romantic activities outside the country, Uganda would request extradition.
Homophobia and the United States
Although non-heterosexual sex acts are legal in the United States, LGTBQ people still face institutional discrimination because they are not afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples. Most evidently, same-sex couples are not allowed to wed in most states. Gay marriage has become a sensitive political issue over the past decade, partially due to the fact that the federal government and state governments have different laws about gay marriage. The federal government does not recognize gay marriage, but individual states can choose to recognize it. In 1996, the federal government passed the Defense of Marriage Act. According to this act, the federal government cannot recognize gay marriages, and a state that does not recognize gay marriage does not have to accept the marriage license given to a same-sex couple in a different state that does recognize same-sex marriages. As part of this debate about the legality and morality of gay marriage, 41 states have explicitly banned same-sex marriages, 12 by statute and 29 through amendments to the state constitutions.
Informal Homophobia
Prejudices do not have to be institutionalized to be harmful. Many instances of homophobia and discrimination occur by informal means. Homophobia can occurs when heterosexual individuals feel anxiety about being perceived as gay by others. This phenomenon is most commonly experienced by adolescent boys. The taunting of boys seen as eccentric, many of whom are usually not gay, is said to be endemic in rural and suburban American schools. At times, this abuse can lead taunted individuals to take dangerous risks in efforts to prove a normative masculinity. Adolescents in the United States often use phrases like “that’s so gay” in a pejorative sense.
Key Points
• Homophobia is expressed through prejudice and discrimination, which can either be institutional or informal.
• The phrase LGBTQ refers to the community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals.
• Institutional discrimination involves the state and the law, while informal discrimination refers to social controls and prejudices.
• In the United States, social disapproval of homosexuality is not evenly distributed throughout society. That being said, it is more or less pronounced according to age, ethnicity, geographic location, race, sex, social class, education, political identification, and religious status.
• Civil unions are ceremonies that grant same-sex couples in some states legal equality, even if not by the name of ” marriage. “
Key Terms
• informal discrimination: discrimination that involves social pressures against LBGTQ behaviors and identities
• institutional discrimination: discrimination that involves the state by becoming embedded in state institutions and practices
• Holocaust: the mass murder of Jews and other persecuted groups by the Nazi regime during World War II | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/20%3A_Sexuality/20.1E%3A_Homophobia.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the efforts of the LGBT rights movement to achieve equal rights and opportunities for homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered individuals
The LGBT Rights Movement refers to the attempts of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocates to improve the legal and social status of LGBT people. Historically, LGBT people have faced prejudice and discrimination. Since the mid-1900s, individuals and organizations have worked to overcome prejudice against LGBT people.
The first organizations in the U.S. that worked to improve the standing of LGBT people were known as homophile organizations. Homophile organizations were clubs of gay men and lesbian women who sought equality for gays and lesbians. These clubs served as social spaces in which gay men and lesbian women could meet other homosexuals with whom they could form romantic and sexual relationships. Moreover, they were early sites of political action on behalf of gays and lesbians. Homophile organizations such as the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis lobbied politicians and business owners to create gay friendly establishments. The efforts of these types of clubs led to a growth in the number of gay-friendly bars and social clubs, making it easier for homosexual individuals to find other homosexuals to associate with. Homophile organizations, however, did not lead to any large-scale demonstrations or protests, and did not result in widespread legal or social changes for LGBT people.
Prior to the 1970s, most states in the United States had laws against sodomy, generally defined as any sexual contact other than heterosexual intercourse. Thus, homosexuality was essentially illegal. The surge in the number of gay-friendly bars in the 1950s led to police crackdowns against establishments that were frequented by gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s. One such crackdown was the raid on the Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village, New York City that was frequented by gay men, drag queens, and male transvestites. When police raided the bar in June 1969, the customers resisted arrest. Neighborhood residents joined in the resistance, resulting in several nights of rioting. The Stonewall Riots are often cited as the first major protest by LGBT people against the criminalization of homosexuality. The riots gained much media attention and served as visible evidence that there was a large population of homosexual people that could be organized into a politically active group.
After Stonewall, large organizations of LGBT advocates arose to challenge discrimination against LGBT people. For example, leaders organized the first Gay Pride march to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and to loudly declare their desire for equality. First and foremost on the gay rights platform was the need to overturn laws that made homosexuality illegal. Throughout the 1970s, activists in many states succeeded in having state legislatures overturn laws banning homosexuality. This coincided with a period in which sexual mores were generally liberalized in the U.S. Nonetheless, by the mid-1980s many states still outlawed homosexuality. It was not until 2003 that the Supreme Court decided that states could not criminalize homosexuality.
An issue that has been central to the LGBT rights movement since the late 1980s is same-sex marriage. At the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, recognition of lesbian and gay relationships was a primary demand made by demonstrators. Indeed, many protestors participated in a mass wedding in front of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to highlight the ways in which U.S. tax code benefits married heterosexual couples. Because they were denied the right to marry, gay and lesbian couples could not file taxes jointly, often could not share custody of children, and lacked hospital visitation rights and rights of inheritance, among other benefits of marriage.
In response to same sex couples’ attempts to gain state marriage licenses, the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996. DOMA defined marriage as between one man and one woman in federal law, meaning that the federal government would not confer benefits to same-sex couples granted marriage licenses by states. It additionally stated that states did not need to recognize same-sex marriages granted by other states. Nonetheless, by the early 2000s, many states began to consider legalizing same-sex marriage. The first to do so was Massachusetts in 2004. Since then, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont have followed suit. Other states have passed laws allowing for same-sex civil unions. Civil unions provide the legal benefits of marriage to same-sex couples, but not the title of marriage. At present, thirty-one states have passed constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, defining marriage within their state as between a man and a woman. Court cases challenging the legality of these bans are currently underway, as are legal challenges to the constitutionality of DOMA. Challenges to bans on same-sex marriage contend that laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are discriminatory.
Key Points
• Though some states have equal rights laws, many gay and lesbian couples are still denied the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples and cannot file joint taxes, cannot share custody of children, cannot have hospital visitation rights, and inheritance.
• The first organizations in the U.S. that worked to improve LGBT issues were known as homophile organizations, such as the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis.
• Sodomy laws are laws against any sexual contact other than heterosexual intercourse.
• The Stonewall Riots were riots in New York City in 1969 that is frequently thought of as the start of the movement by LGBT people to decriminalize homosexuality.
• In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court found that states could criminalize homosexuality in Bowers v. Hardwick.
• In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that anti-sodomy laws violated an individual’s right to privacy. Currently, many LGBT organizations are working to achieve the right for same- sex couples to marry.
• In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that anti-sodomy laws violated an individual’s right to privacy. Currently, many LGBT organizations are working to achieve the right of same-sex couples to marry.
Key Terms
• same-sex civil unions: also referred to as a civil partnership; a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in several, mostly developed, countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights, benefits, and responsibilities similar (in some countries, identical) to opposite-sex civil marriage.
• Defense of Marriage Act: (DOMA); a United States federal law that defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/20%3A_Sexuality/20.1F%3A_The_Movement_for_Gay_and_Lesbian_Civil_Rights.txt |
Social context influences sexual behavior; sexuality is expressed and understood through socialized processes.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the various ways people can express sexual desire, in both emotional and physical terms
Key Points
• Sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality.
• Individuals are taught to use social cues to interpret sexual intent. This is most obviously demonstrated in behaviors associated with flirtation.
• Human sexual activity has sociological elements. Social context is therefore essential when one considers potentially sexual behavior.
Key Terms
• socialization: Socialization is the process of transferring norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors to future group members.
• context: The surroundings, circumstances, environment, background, or settings that determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event or other occurrence.
• flirtation: Playing at courtship; coquetry.
Sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons. Sexual activity normally results in sexual arousal and physiological changes in the aroused person, some of which are pronounced while others are more subtle. Sexual activity also includes conduct and activities which are intended to arouse the sexual interest of another, such as strategies to find or attract partners (mating and display behavior), and personal interactions between individuals, such as flirting and foreplay.
Human sexual activity has sociological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral and biological elements, including physiological processes such as the reproductive mechanism, the sex drive and pathology; sexual intercourse and sexual behavior in all its forms; and personal bonding and shared emotions during sexual activity.
Socialization and Sexual Behavior
Since sexuality is expressed through means learned by socialization, social context is bound to influence sexual behavior. Socialization is the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, and ideologies and providing an individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating within one’s own society. Socialization necessarily implies the inculcation of norms, or behaviors that society marks as valued. Because socialization teaches members of a society how to behave, behaviors that are not specifically taught as normalized and socially acceptable are marked as deviant.
Understanding Sexual Behavior
Individuals are taught to use social cues to interpret sexual intent. This is most obviously demonstrated in behaviors associated with flirtation. Flirting is a playful activity involving verbal communication and body language by one person toward another, used to sometimes indicate an interest in a deeper relationship with the other. In some social contexts, a hug could demonstrate platonic friendship, as in the case of two coworkers hugging upon hearing the news that their project was successfully received. In other contexts, the hug could be interpreted as sexual interest. Thus, social context is essential when one considers potentially sexual behavior.
Socialization and Normalized Sexual Behavior
Because sexual behavior is influenced by socialization, what is deemed “normal” can vary widely across cultures. In some cultures, sexual activity is considered acceptable only within marriage, although premarital and extramarital sex are also common. Some sexual activities are illegal either universally or in some countries, and some are considered against the norms of a society. For example, sexual activity with a person below some age of consent and sexual assault in general are criminal offenses in most jurisdictions.
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Collective behavior can result in social change through the formation of cohesive social movements.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze a real-life example, such as the Voting Rights Act, in terms of social change
Key Points
• Collective behavior can be distinguished from group behavior, and it is also distinct from deviant and conforming actions.
• Collective behavior can be observed in four types of groupings of people: the crowd, the mass, the public, and social movements, although other phenomena, such as fads and rumors, are also considered to be forms of collective behavior.
• Studying collective behavior improves our understanding of how to organize social movements to initiate social change.
• There are two main reasons for studying collective behavior. First, to reduce the damage caused by events such as natural disasters and riots by understanding how people behave in these situations; second, studying collective behavior improves our understanding of how to organize social movements in order to initiate social change.
• A crowd is an assembly of people who come together with a shared purpose or intent, and have an influence over one another. The four type of crowds, as identified by Herbert Blumer, are casual, conventional, expressive and acting. Diffuse crowds are crowds that are scattered across large distances.
• Posited by Gustave Lebon in 1896, contagion theory asserts that crowds have a hypnotic influence over their members, which, combined with the anonymity that individuals in a crowd can enjoy, leads to irrational and emotional behavior.
• Convergence Theory proposes that crowd behavior is the product of like-minded individuals coming together and is not an inherent characteristic of the crowd itself.
• A combination of the theories of convergence and contagion, the emergent- norm theory states that crowd behavior is the product of the convergence of like-minded people, the sense of anonymity in a crowd and shared emotions. Underlying this theory is the symbolic-interactionist perspective.
• Understanding crowds as “gatherings,” which are temporary and are formed by an assembling process, allows us to create a distinction between what causes people to gather and what actions they take once they have gathered. Moreover, seeings crowds as gatherings also refutes the idea that crowds can impair judgment.
• A panic is a sudden terror which dominates thinking and can affect groups of people. A moral panic is a mass movement that arises when an invidual or group, frequently a minority or subculture, is perceived to be a threat to society.
• A riot is a form of civil disorder that is characterized by disorganized groups lashing out and disturbing the peace in a sudden and intense rash of violence, vandalism or other crime. Riots typically reflect grievance or a sense of dissatisfaction with existing conditions. Unlike a mob, a riot is violent crowd behavior without a specific objective.
• “Mass hysteria” is a phrase used to describe a large group of people who share a mental state of fear or anxiety.
• A fad is a fashion that gains salience quickly in a culture or subculture, and remains popular for a brief period of time before losing its appeal dramatically.
• A rumor is an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in public concern.
Key Terms
• riot: Wanton or unrestrained behavior; uproar; tumult.
• Collective behavior: The expression collective behavior was first used by Robert E. Park, and employed definitively by Herbert Blumer, to refer to social processes and events which do not reflect existing social structure (laws, conventions, and institutions), but which emerge in a “spontaneous” way.
Collective behavior refers to social processes and events that do not reflect existing social structure (laws, conventions, and institutions), as they emerge in a “spontaneous” way. Collective behavior might also be defined as action that is neither conforming (in which actors follow prevailing norms) nor deviant (in which actors violate those norms). Rather, collective behavior, a third form of action, takes place when norms are absent or unclear, or when they contradict each other. Scholars have devoted far less attention to collective behavior than they have to either conformity or deviance.
Examples of collective behavior include: religious revival meetings (like those depicted in the documentary Marjoe), a panic in a burning theater (e.g., the Kentucky Beverly Hills Supper Club fire), a sudden widespread interest in a website (e.g., MySpace) or clothing item (e.g., WristStrong bracelets), a collective social movement to improve the environment (e.g., Greenpeace), or the rapid spread of rumors (e.g., that Barack Obama is Muslim or not a US citizen). These diverse actions fall within the area sociologists call collective behavior.
Collective behavior differs from group behavior in three ways:
• Collective behavior involves limited and short-lived social interactions, while groups tend to remain together longer.
• Collective behavior has no clear social boundaries; anyone can be a member of the collective, while group membership is usually more discriminating.
• Collective behavior generates weak and unconventional norms, while groups tend to have stronger and more conventional norms.
Traditionally in sociology, collective behavior is displayed by four types of groupings of people: the crowd, the public, the mass, and the social movement. While there is debate over what should be included under the label of “collective behavior” among sociologists today, often included are additional behaviors like: rumors, riots, and fads.
Collective Behavior and Social Change
Collective behavior can actually change elements of society. This is the component of collective behavior known as “social movements. ”
On March 7, 1965, African American leaders led a march of 600 people in an attempt to walk the 54 miles (87 km) from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. Only six blocks into the march, however, state troopers and local law enforcement attacked the peaceful demonstrators with billy clubs, tear gas, rubber tubes wrapped in barbed wire, and bull whips. They drove the marchers back to Selma. The national broadcast showing footage of lawmen attacking unresisting marchers seeking the right to vote provoked a national response. Eight days after the first march, Lyndon Johnson delivered a televised address to garner support for the voting rights bill he had sent to Congress. In it he stated:
But even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.
Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on August 6. The 1965 Act suspended poll taxes, literacy tests, and other subjective voter tests. It authorized Federal supervision of voter registration in states and individual voting districts where such tests were being used. The act had an immediate and positive impact for African Americans. Within months of its passage, 250,000 new black voters had been registered. Within four years, voter registration in the South had more than doubled.
Understanding how to organize a social movement to pursue social change is one of the areas studied by sociologists. The insights gained from these studies can provide movement members the tools they need to succeed.
Riots
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence, vandalism, or other crime. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are typically chaotic and exhibit herd-like behavior. Riots often occur in reaction to a perceived grievance or out of dissent. Historically, riots have occurred due to poor working or living conditions, government oppression, taxation or conscription, conflicts between races or religions, the outcome of a sporting event, or frustration with legal channels through which to air grievances. Riots typically involve vandalism and the destruction of private and public property. Riots, while destructive, have often played a role in social change.
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Social movement theories seek to explain how social movements form and develop.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the similarities and differences in the various social movement theories – deprivation, mass-society, structural-strain, resource-mobilization, political process and culture
Key Points
• Famous social movement theories include deprivation theory, mass- society theory, structural-strain theory, resource -mobilization theory, political process theory and culture theory.
• Deprivation theory posits that social movements emerge among people who believe themselves to be deprived of certain goods or resources.
• Mass-society theory posits that social movements are comprised of people who feel marginalized from the rest of society.
• Structural-strain theory posits that social movements arise as a result of six factors: structural conduciveness, structural strain, growth and spread of a solution, precipating factors, lack of social control, and mobilization.
• Resource-mobilization theory places resources at the center of the emergence and success of social movements. In this case, resources include knowledge, money, media, labor, solidarity, legitimacy, and internal and external support from a powerful elite.
• Cultural theory underscores the importance of culture and addresses the free-rider problem. This theory also emphasizes the critical role of injustice in movement formation, stating that successful movements have to create injustice frames to mobilize people.
Key Terms
• cultural theory: Cultural theory underscores the importance of culture and addresses the free-rider problem. This theory also emphasizes the critical role of injustice in movement formation, stating that successful movements have to create injustice frames to mobilize people.
• injustice frame: An injustice frame is a collection of ideas and symbols that illustrate both how significant the problem the movement is concerned with is as well as what the movement can do to alleviate it.
• free rider: The free-rider problem refers to the idea that people will not be motivated to participate in a social movement that will use up their personal resources like time or money if they can still receive the benefits without participating.
A variety of theories have attempted to explain how social movements develop. Some of the better-known approaches include deprivation theory, mass-society theory, structural-strain theory, resource-mobilization theory, political process theory and culture theory. Deprivation theory and resource-mobilization have been discussed in detail in this chapter’s section entitled “Social Movements. ”
This particular section will thus pay attention to structural-strain theory and culture theory, while mass-society theory and political process theory will be discussed in greater detail later in “International Sources of Social Change” and “External Sources of Social Change,” respectively.
Structural-Strain Theory
Structural-strain theory proposes six factors that encourage social movement development:
1. Structural conduciveness: people come to believe their society has problems
2. Structural strain: people experience deprivation
3. Growth and spread of a solution: a solution to the problems people are experiencing is proposed and disseminates
4. Precipitating factors: discontent usually requires a catalyst (often a specific event) to turn it into a social movement
5. Lack of social control: the entity to be changed must be at least somewhat open to the change; if the social movement is quickly and powerfully repressed, it may never materialize
6. Mobilization: this is the actual organizing and active component of the movement; people do what needs to be done in order to further their cause.
Here is a case in point to illustrate the example of structural-strain theory. Structural conduciveness would occur when a group of people become disgruntled by a change in society. Structural strain is when these people feel a sense of displeasure due to the change, such as being upset or angry. These people propose a solution, such as a demonstration. Precipitating factors, such as being provoked by a non-protester, prompt a negative reaction (such as yelling or throwing something). If the movement is not strong enough, there will be no change; however, if there is enough influence, change is possible. Mobilization occurs when people work together in order to enact social change, such as meeting with government officials in order to change a law or policy.
This theory is subject to circular reasoning since it claims that social/structural strain is the underlying motivation of social movement activism, even though social movement activism is often the only indication that there was strain or deprivation. This kind of circular reasoning is also evident in deprivation theory (people form movements because they lack a certain good or resource), which structural-strain theory partially incorporates and relies upon.
Culture Theory
Culture theory builds upon both the theories of political process (the existence of political opportunities is crucial for movement development) and resource-mobilization (the mobilization of sufficient resources is central to movement formation and success), but it also extends them in two ways. First, it emphasizes the importance of movement culture. Second, it attempts to address the free-rider problem.
Injustice Frames
Both resource-mobilization theory and political process theory incorporate the concept of injustice into their approaches. Culture theory brings this notion of injustice to the forefront of movement creation, arguing that in order for social movements to successfully mobilize individuals, they must develop an injustice frame. An injustice frame is a collection of ideas and symbols that illustrates how significant the problem is and what the movement can do to alleviate it.
Injustice frames have the following characteristics:
• Facts take on their meaning by being embedded in frames, which can render them either relevant and significant or irrelevant and trivial.
• People carry around multiple frames in their heads.
• Successful reframing involves the ability to enter into the worldview of our adversaries.
• All frames contain implicit or explicit appeals to moral principles.
Free-Rider Problem
In emphasizing the injustice frame, culture theory also addresses the free-rider problem. The free-rider problem refers to the idea that people will not be motivated to participate in a social movement that will use up their personal resources (e.g., time, money, etc.) if they can still receive the benefits without participating. In other words, if person X knows that movement Y is working to improve environmental conditions in his neighborhood, he is presented with a choice: to join or not join the movement. If X believes the movement will succeed without her, she can avoid participation in the movement, save her resources, and still reap the benefits—this is free-riding. A significant problem for social movement theory has been to explain why people join movements if they believe the movement can/will succeed without their contribution. Culture theory argues that, in conjunction with social networks being an important contact tool, the injustice frame will provide the motivation for people to contribute to the movement.
Framing processes includes three separate components:
• Diagnostic frame: the movement organization frames the problem—what they are critiquing
• Prognostic frame: the movement organization frames the desirable solution to the problem
• Motivational frame: the movement organization frames a “call to arms” by suggesting and encouraging that people take action
Diagnostic framing of the problem involves an understanding what the problem actually is – what specifically needs to be solved. The prognostic frame is the desired solution – what people think will work to change the situation. Motivational framing is when others are inspired to take action without an actual law or policy in place – such as making a suggestion about how to improve and appealing to people’s morals and values. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.02%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change/21.2A%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change.txt |
Social change is influenced by random as well as systematic factors, such as government, available resources, and natural environment.
Learning Objectives
Discuss the factors that contribute to social change
Key Points
• Social change is said to come from two sources: random or unique factors (such as climate, weather, or the presence of specific groups of people) and systematic factors (such as government, available resources, and the social organization of society ).
• The political-process theory emphasizes the existence of political opportunities as essential to the formation of social movements.
• According to this theory, the three vital elements of movement formation are insurgent consciousness (collective sense of injustice), organizational strength (in leadership and resources), and political opportunities (the receptivity or vulnerability of the existing political system).
• While this theory has been criticized for not paying enough attention to movement culture, it is also beneficial as it addresses the issue of timing for the emergence of movements.
• Political opportunities refer to the receptivity or susceptibility of the existing political system to challenge and change.
• Since this theory argues that all three components – insurgent consciousness, organizational strength, and political opportunities – are important for movement formation, it is able to address the issue of timing in the emergence of movements (i.e. why do movements form when they do).
• An extension of this theory, known as the political mediation model, considers how the political context facing a movement intersects with the strategic choices that the movement makes.
Key Terms
• pluralism: A social system based on mutual respect for each other’s cultures among various groups that make up a society, wherein subordinate groups do not have to forsake their lifestyle and traditions but, rather, can express their culture and participate in the larger society free of prejudice.
• resource-mobilization theory: Resource-mobilization theory places resources at the center of the emergence and success of social movements. In this case, resources include knowledge, money, media, labor, solidarity, legitimacy, and internal and external support from a powerful elite.
Basically, social change comes from two sources. One source is random or unique factors such as climate, weather, or the presence of specific groups of people. Another source is systematic factors, such as government, available resources, and the social organization of society. On the whole, social change is usually a combination of systematic factors along with some random or unique factors.
There are many theories of social change. Generally, a theory of change should include elements such as structural aspects of change (like population shifts), processes and mechanisms of social change, and directions of change.
Political Process Theory
Political Process Theory, sometimes also known as the Political Opportunity Theory,is an approach to social movements heavily influenced by political sociology. It argues that the success or failure of social movements is primarily affected by political opportunities. Social theorists Peter Eisinger, Sidney Tarrow, David Meyer, and Doug McAdam are considered among the most prominent supporters of this theory. Political Process Theory is similar to resource mobilization theory (which considers the mobilization of resources to be the key ingredient of a successful movement) in many regards, and emphasizes political opportunities as the social structure that is important for social movement development. Political Process Theory argues that there are three vital components for movement formation: insurgent consciousness, organizational strength, and political opportunities.
“Insurgent consciousness” refers back to the notions of deprivation and grievances. In this case, the idea is that certain members of society feel like they are being mistreated or that somehow the system they are a part of is unjust. The insurgent consciousness is the collective sense of injustice that movement members (or potential movement members) feel and serves as the motivation for movement organization.
“Organizational strength” falls in line with resource-mobilization theory, arguing that in order for a social movement to organize it must have strong leadership and sufficient resources.
Finally, “political opportunity” refers to the receptivity or vulnerability of the existing political system to challenge. This vulnerability can be the result of any of the following (or a combination thereof):
• growth of political pluralism
• decline in effectiveness of repression
• elite disunity; the leading factions are internally fragmented
• a broadening of access to institutional participation in political processes
• support of organized opposition by elites
One of the advantages of the political process theory is that it addresses the issue of timing of the emergence of social movements. Some groups may have the insurgent consciousness and resources to mobilize, but because political opportunities are closed, they will not have any success. The theory, argues that all three of these components are important for the successful creation of a movement.
Critics of the political process theory and resource-mobilization theory point out that neither theory discusses the culture of movements to any great degree. This has presented culture theorists an opportunity to expound on the importance of culture. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.02%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change/21.2B%3A_External_Sources_of_Social_Change.txt |
The Four Social Revolutions refer to the identification of social change through modes of subsistence.
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the various social revolutions in terms of how each contributes to the development of the next stage, for example, moving from horticulturist to agrarian
Key Points
• The development of a society in terms of its primary means of subsistence can be divided into the following stages: hunter-gatherer, pastoral, horticultural, agrarian, industrial, and post-industrial.
• For hunter-gatherer societies, the primary means of subsistence are wild plants and animals. Hunter-gatherers are nomadic and non-hierarchical. Archeological data suggests that all humans were hunter gatherers prior to 13,000 BCE.
• For pastoral societies, the primary means of subsistence are domesticated livestock. Pastoralists are nomadic. They can develop surplus food, which leads to higher population densities than hunter-gatherers, along with social hierarchies and more complicated divisions of labor.
• In horticultural societies, the primary means of subsistence is the cultivation of crops using hand tools.
• In agrarian societies, the primary means of subsistence is the cultivation of crops through a combination of human and non-human means, such as animals and/or machinery.
• In industrial societies, the primary means of subsistence is industry, which is a system of production based on the mechanized manufacturing of goods. In post-industrial societies, the primary means of subsistence is service-oriented work, rather than agriculture or industry.
• For horticultural societies, the primary means of subsistence is the cultivation of crops using hand tools.
• For agrarian societies, the primary means of subsistence is the cultivation of crops through a combination of human and non-human means, such as animals and/or machinery.
• In industrial societies, the primary means of subsistence is industry, which is a system of production that is based on the manufacturing of goods.
• In post-industrial societies, the primary means of subsistence is based on service-oriented work, rather than agriculture or industry.
• Changes in the primary means of subsistence can have implications for other aspects of society, leading to developments, such as an increasing degree of specializiation, a greater use of technology and a higher prevalence of inequality.
Key Terms
• agriculture: the art or science of cultivating the ground, including the harvesting of crops, and the rearing and management of livestock; tillage; husbandry; farming
• Hunter-gatherer: a member of a group of people who live by hunting animals and gathering edible plants for their main food sources, and who do not domesticate animals or farm crops
• subsistence: that which furnishes support to animal life; means of support; provisions, or that which produces provisions; livelihood
The Four Social Revolutions
Most societies develop along a similar historical trajectory. Human groups begin as hunter-gatherers, after which they develop pastoralism and/or horticulturalism. After this, an agrarian society typically develops, followed finally by a period of industrialization (sometimes a service industry follows this final stage). Not all societies pass through every stage, and some societies remain at a particular stage for long periods of time, even while others become more complex. Still other societies may jump stages as a result of technological advancements from other societies.
Hunter-Gatherers
The hunter-gatherer way of life is based on the consumption of wild plants and wild animals. Consequently, hunter-gatherers are often mobile, and groups of hunter-gatherers tend to have fluid boundaries and compositions. Typically, in hunter-gatherer societies, men hunt wild animals while women gather fruits, nuts, roots, and other vegetation. Women also hunt smaller wild animals.
The majority of hunter-gatherer societies are nomadic. Because the wild resources of a particular region can be quickly depleted, it is difficult for hunter-gatherers to remain rooted in a place for long. Because of their subsistence system, these societies tend to have very low population densities.
Hunter-gatherer societies are characterized by non-hierarchical social structures, though this is not always the case. Given that hunter-gatherers tend to be nomadic, they generally cannot store surplus food. As a result, full-time leaders, bureaucrats, or artisans are almost never supported by hunter-gatherer societies. The egalitarianism in hunter-gatherer societies tends to extend to gender relations as well.
Pastoralism
In a pastoralist society, the primary means of subsistence are domesticated animals (livestock). Like hunter-gatherers, pastoralists are often nomadic, moving seasonally in search of fresh pastures and water for their animals. In a pastoralist society, there is an increased likelihood of surplus food, which, in turn, often results in greater population densities and the development of both social hierarchies and divisions of labor.
Pastoralist societies still exist. For example, in Australia, the vast, semi-arid interior of the country contains huge pastoral runs called sheep stations. These areas may be thousands of square kilometers in size. The number of livestock allowed in these areas is regulated in order to sustain the land and to ensure that livestock have enough access to food and water.
Horticulturalist Societies
In horticulturalist societies, the primary means of subsistence is the cultivation of crops using hand tools. Like pastoral societies, the cultivation of crops increases population densities and, as a result of food surpluses, allows for an even more complex division of labor. Horticulture differs from agriculture in that agriculture employs animals, machinery, or other non-human means to facilitate the cultivation of crops. Horticulture relies solely on human labor for crop cultivation. Horticultural societies were among the first to establish permanent places of residence. This was due to the fact they no longer had to search for food; rather, they cultivated their own.
Agrarian Societies
In agrarian societies, the primary means of subsistence is the cultivation of crops using a mixture of human and non-human means, like animals and machinery. In agriculture, through the cultivation of plants and the raising of domesticated animals, food, feed, fiber and other desired commodities are produced.
In comparison with the previously mentioned societal types, agriculture supports a much greater population density and allows for the accumulation of excess product. This excess product can either be sold for profit or used during winter months. Because in agricultural societies, farmers are able to feed large numbers of people whose daily activity has nothing to do with food production, a number of important developments occur. These include improved methods of food stores, labor specialization, advanced technology, hierarchical social structures, inequality, and standing armies.
Industrialization
In an industrial society, the primary means of subsistence is industry, which is a system of production based on the mechanized manufacture of goods. Like agrarian societies, industrial societies lead to even greater food surpluses, resulting in even more developed social hierarchies and an even more complex division of labor.
The industrial division of labor, one of the most notable characteristics of this societal type, in many cases leads to a restructuring of social relations. Whereas in pre-industrial societies, relationships would typically develop at one’s place of worship, or through kinship and housing, in industrial societies, relationships and friendships can occur at work.
Post-Industrial
In a post-industrial society, the primary means of subsistence is derived from service-oriented work, as opposed to agriculture or industry. Importantly, the term post-industrial is still debated, in part because it is the current state of society. Generally, in social science, it is difficult to accurately name a phenomenon while it is occurring.
Most highly developed countries are now post-industrial. This means the majority of their workforce works in service-oriented industries, like finance, healthcare, education, or sales, rather than in industry or agriculture. This is the case in the United States. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.02%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change/21.2C%3A_The_Four_Social_Revolutions.txt |
Gemeinschaft describes groups in which the community takes precedence over the individual; gesellschaft prioritizes the individual.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the similarities and differences between Ferdinand Tonnies’s concepts of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft in relation to human interactions in society
Key Points
• Gemeinschaft and gesellschaft, which can be generally translated as ” community ” and ” society ” respectively, are two sociological categories introduced by German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies.
• Gemeinschaft describes groups in which the members attach as much, if not more, importance to the groups itself as they do to their own needs. Gemeinschaft can be based on shared space and beliefs, as well as kinship. Gemeinschaftis characterized by ascribed status.
• Gesellschaft refers to groups in which associations never take precedence over the interests of the individual.
• Gesellschaft, unlike gemeinschaft, places more emphasis on secondary relationships rather than familial or community bonds, and it entails achieved, rather than ascribed, status.
• A normal type is a purely conceptual tool that makes use of logic and deduction, as opposed to Max Weber ‘s ideal type, which is a framework used to understand reality that draws on elements from history and society.
Key Terms
• ideal type: An ideal type is not a particular person or thing that exists in the world, but an extreme form of a concept used by sociologists in theories. For example, although there is not a perfectly “modern” society, the term “modern” is used as an ideal type in certain theories to make large-scale points.
• normal type: A normal type is a purely conceptual tool that makes use of logic and deduction, as opposed to Max Weber’s ideal type, which is a framework used to understand reality that draws on elements from history and society.
• community: A group sharing a common understanding and often the same language, manners, tradition and law. See civilization.
Gemeinschaft and gesellschaft are sociological categories for two normal types of human association introduced by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies. A normal type, as coined by Tönnies, is a purely conceptual tool to be built up logically, whereas an ideal type, as coined by Max Weber, is a concept formed by accentuating main elements of a historic/social process. Tönnies’ 1887 book Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft sparked a major revival of corporatist thinking, including an increase in the support for guild socialism, and caused major changes in the field of sociology.
Gemeinschaft
Gemeinschaft (often translated as community) is a group in which individuals take into account the needs and interests of the group as much as, if not more than, their own self interest. Furthermore, individuals in gemeinschaft are regulated by common mores, or beliefs, about the appropriate behavior and responsibilities of members with respect to each other and to the group at large.
Gemeinschaft is thus marked by “unity of will. ” Tönnies saw the family as the most perfect expression of gemeinschaft; however, he expected that gemeinschaft could be based on shared place and shared belief as well as kinship, and he included globally dispersed religious communities as possible examples of gemeinschaft. Gemeinschaft involves ascribed status, which refers to cases in which an individual is assigned a particular status at birth. For example, an individual born to a farmer will come to occupy the parent’s role for the rest of his or her life.
Gemeinschaften are broadly characterized by a moderate division of labour, strong personal relationships, strong families, and relatively simple social institutions. In such communities there is seldom a need to enforce social control externally, due to a collective sense of loyalty individuals feel for society.
Gesellschaft
In contrast, gesellschaft (often translated as society, civil society or association) describes associations in which, for the individual, the larger association never takes precedence over the individual’s self interest, and these associations lack the same level of shared mores. Gesellschaft is maintained through individuals acting in their own self interest. A modern business is a good example of gesellschaft: the workers, managers, and owners may have very little in terms of shared orientations or beliefs—they may not care deeply for the product they are making—but it is in all their self interest to come to work to make money, and thus the business continues. Gesellschaft society involves achieved status where people reach their status through their education and work.
Unlike gemeinschaften, gesellschaften emphasize secondary relationships rather than familial or community ties, and there is generally less individual loyalty to society. Social cohesion in gesellschaften typically derives from a more elaborate division of labor. An example of gemeinschaft in the world today would be an Amish community. The United States would be considered a gesellschaft society. Such societies are considered more susceptible to class conflict as well as racial and ethnic conflicts. The social upheavals during the Reconstruction era of the United States complicated the sociological category of gemeinschaft because former slaves, whose kinship ties were complicated under slavery, forged new communities that shared aspects of both gemeinschaft and gesellschaft.
Talcott Parsons considered gemeinschaft to represent a community of fate, whose members share both good and bad fortune, as opposed to the pursuit of rational self-interest that characterized gesellschaft.
Eric Hobsbawm has argued that as globalisation turns the entire planet into an increasingly remote kind of gesellschaft, similarly collective identity politics seek a factitious remaking of the qualities of gemeinschaft by reforging artificial group bonds and identities.
Fredric Jameson highlights the ambivalent envy felt by members of gesellschaft for remaining enclaves of gemeinschaft, even as the former inevitably corrode the existence of the latter. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.02%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change/21.2D%3A_Gemeinschaft_and_Gesellschaft.txt |
Sociologists Weber, Marx and Durkheim envisioned different impacts the Industrial Revolution would have on both the individual and society.
Learning Objectives
• Compare the similarities and differences between Weber’s Rationalization, Marx’s Alienation and Durkheim’s Solidarity In relation to the Industrial Revolution
Key Points
• Weber imagined that an increasing rationalization of society would lead to man being trapped in a iron cage of rationality and bureaucracy.
• Marx believed that capitalism resulted in the alienation of workers from their own labor and from one another, preventing them from achieving self-realization ( species being ).
• Finally, Durkheim believed that industrialization would lead to decreasing social solidarity.
• Bureaucracy is a type of organizational or institutional management that is based upon legal-rational authority. Weber believed that industrialization was leading to a growing influence of rational ideas and thought in culture, which, in turn, led to the bureaucratization of society.
• Karl Marx understood species being to be the original or intrinsic essence of the species. A simplified understanding of species being is that it is a form of self-realization or self-actualization resulting from fulfilling or meaningful work.
• Durkheim imagined that industrialization would lead to a decrease in social solidarity, which can be defined as a sense of community. He referred to this decrease in social solidarity as anomie, a French word for chaos.
• Durkheim imagined that industrialization would lead to a decrease in social solidarity, which can be defined as a sense of community.
• Durkheim referred to the decrease in social solidarity resulting from industrialization as anomie, a French word for chaos.
• Industrializing societies would be characterized by specialization in that individuals would occupy different roles and occupations in a given society. According to Durkheim, specialization would lead to interdependence between the various components of society. He referred to this interdependence as organic solidarity.
• Societies exhibit mechanical solidarity when the source of its cohesion is the homogeneity of its individuals in terms of their work, educational and religious training and lifestyles.
Key Terms
• species being: Karl Marx understood species being to be the original or intrinsic essence of the species, which is characterized by pluralism and dynamism: all beings possess the tendency and desire to engage in multiple activities to promote their mutual survival, comfort and sense of inter-action. A simplified understanding of species being is that it is a form of self-realization or self-actualization resulting from fulfilling or meaningful work.
• anomie: Alienation or social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.
• alienation: Emotional isolation or dissociation.
As Western societies transitioned from pre-industrial economies based primarily on agriculture to industrialized societies in the 19thcentury, some people worried about the impacts such changes would have on society and individuals. Three early sociologists, Max Weber, Karl Marx, and Emile Durkheim, envisioned different outcomes of the Industrial Revolution on both the individual and society and described these effects in their work.
Weber and Rationalization
Max Weber was particularly concerned about the rationalization of society due to the Industrial Revolution and how this change would affect humanity’s agency and happiness. Weber’s understanding of rationalization was three-fold: firstly, as individual cost-benefit calculations; secondly, as the transformation of society into a bureaucratic entity; lastly, and on a much wider scale, as the opposite of perceiving reality through the lens of mystery and magic (disenchantment). Since Weber viewed rationalization as the driving force of society and given that bureaucracy was the most rational form of institutional governance, Weber believed bureaucracy would spread until it ruled society.
As Weber did not see any alternative to bureaucracy, he believed it would ultimately lead to an iron cage: there would be no way to escape it. Weber viewed this as a bleak outcome that would affect individuals’ happiness as they would be forced to function in a society with rigid rules and norms without the possibility of change.
Related to rationalization is the process of disenchantment, in which the world is becoming more explained and less mystical, moving from polytheistic religions to monotheistic ones and finally to the Godless science of modernity. Those processes affect all of society, removing “sublime values… from public life” and making art less creative.
Marx and Alienation
Karl Marx took a different perspective on the Industrial Revolution. According to Marx, a capitalist system results in the alienation (or estrangement) of people from their “species being.” Species being is a concept that Marx deploys to refer to what he sees as the original or intrinsic essence of the species, which is characterized both by plurality and dynamism: all beings possess the tendency and desire to engage in multiple activities to promote their mutual survival, comfort and sense of inter-connection
In a capitalist society (which co-evolved with the Industrial Revolution), the proletariat, or working class, own only their labor power and not the fruits of their labor (i.e. the results of production). The capitalists, or bourgeoisie, employ the proletariat for a living wage, and, in turn, they keep the products of the labor. A major implication of this system is that workers lose the ability to determine their lives and destinies by being deprived of the right to conceive of themselves as the director of their actions, to determine the character of their actions, to define their relationship to other actors, and to use or own the value of what is produced by their actions. This is what Marx refers to as alienation.
Durkheim and Solidarity
Similar to Weber and Marx, Durkheim also believed that the societal changes brought upon by industrialzation could eventually lead to unhappiness. According to Durkheim, an important component of social life was social solidarity, which can be understood as a sense of community. For example, in his classic study, Suicide, Durkheim argued that one of the root causes of suicide was a decrease in social solidarity, a phenomenon which Durkheim referred to as anomie (French for chaos). Durkheim also argued that the increasing emphasis on individualism in Protestant religions – in contrast to Catholicism – contributed to a corresponding rise in anomie, which resulted in higher suicide rates among Protestants than among Catholics.
According to Durkheim, the types of social solidarity correlate with types of society. Durkheim introduced the terms “mechanical” and “organic solidarity” as part of his theory of the development of societies in The Division of Labour in Society (1893). In a society exhibiting mechanical solidarity, its cohesion and integration comes from the homogeneity of individuals—people feel connected through similar work, educational and religious training, and lifestyle. Mechanical solidarity normally operates in “traditional” and small scale societies. Organic solidarity comes from the interdependence that arises from specialization of work and the complementarities between people—a development which occurs in “modern” and “industrial” societies. Thus, organic solidarity is social cohesion based upon the dependence individuals have on each other in more advanced societies. Although individuals perform different tasks and often have different values and interest, the order and very solidarity of society depends on their reliance on each other to perform their specified tasks. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.02%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change/21.2E%3A_Capitalism_Modernization_and_Industrialization.txt |
Over time, the concept of culture has transformed into a more inclusive concept.
Learning Objectives
• Outline ways the concept of culture has changed over time, from evaluative to inclusive
Key Points
• Although biological evolution may have originally resulted in culture, research suggests that culture is not only a supplement to evolution, but can also influence it.
• Ultimately, the category of “culture” is, like all classifications, an artificial distinction.
• The fact that all human beings have cultures must, at some level, be a consequence of human evolution. However, evolution cannot be used as a way of distinguishing between different cultures, as this is a form of, or can legitimize forms of, racism.
• Since culture is dynamic and can be taught and learned, it can facilitate the adaptation of humans to different physical environments and changes in environmental conditions. In this way, culture acts as a supplement to evolution.
• Cultural relativism posits that cultures are to be considered as bounded wholes and have to be understood in their own terms. Cultures are not better or worse than each other, just different.
• Recent research suggests that culture can influence human evolution.
• When studying culture, it is important to bear in mind that the notion of culture can have multiple levels of meaning, or, in other words, levels of abstraction.
Key Terms
• symbol: Any object, typically material, which is meant to represent another (usually abstract), even if there is no meaningful relationship.
• cultural relativism: Cultural relativism is a principle that was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the twentieth century, and later popularized by his students. Boas first articulated the idea in 1887: “…civilization is not something absolute, but… is relative, and… our ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes. “
• evolution: gradual directional change, especially one leading to a more advanced or complex form; growth; development
During the Romantic Era, scholars in Germany, especially those concerned with nationalism, developed a more inclusive notion of culture as a worldview. That is, each ethnic group is characterized by a distinct and incommensurable worldview. Although more inclusive, this approach to culture still allowes for distinctions between civilized and primitive, or tribal, cultures.
By the late 19th century, anthropologists changed the concept of culture to include a wider variety of societies. This resulted in the concept of culture as objects and symbols; the meaning given to those objects and symbols; and the norms, values, and beliefs that pervade social life.
This new perspective removed the evaluative element of the concept of culture, and instead proposed distinctions rather than rankings between different cultures. For instance, the high culture of elites is now contrasted with popular or pop culture. In this sense, high culture no longer refers to the idea of being cultured, as all people are cultured. High culture simply refers to the objects, symbols, norms, values, and beliefs of a particular group of people; popular culture refers to the same.
Most social scientists today reject the cultured vs. uncultured concept of culture. Instead, social scientists accept and advocate the definition of culture outlined above as being the “nurture” component of human social life. Social scientists recognize that non-elites are as cultured as elites, and that non-Westerners are just as civilized; they simply have a different culture.
The understanding of culture as a symbolic system with adaptive functions that vary from place to place led anthropologists to define different cultures by distinct patterns or structures of enduring, conventional sets of meaning. These took concrete form in a variety of artifacts, both symbolic, such as myths and rituals, and material, including tools, the design of housing, and the planning of villages. Anthropologists distinguish between material culture and symbolic culture, not only because each reflects different kinds of human activity, but also because each constitutes different kinds of data that require different methodologies to study.
Cultural Relativism
This view of culture, which came to dominate anthropology between World War I and World War II, implies that each culture is bounded and has to be understood as a whole, on its own terms. The result is a belief in cultural relativism, which suggests that there are no “better” or “worse” cultures, just different cultures.
Culture as a Product of Biology
Biology and nature are deeply connected and share a complex relationship. Early studies of this relationship revealed that culture is actually a product of biology. More recent research, however, suggests that human culture has reversed this particular causal direction and, culture can actually influence human evolution. One well-known example of this is the rapid spread of a gene that produces a protein that allows humans to digest lactose. This adaptation spread quickly in Europe around 4,000 BCE with the domestication of mammals and the consumption of animal milk by humans. Prior to this adaptation, this gene was switched off after children were weaned. Thus, the change in culture (drinking milk from other mammals) eventually led to changes in human genetics. Genetics, therefore, resulted in culture, which is now affecting genetics.
Another important element in the understanding of culture is level of abstraction. Culture ranges from the concrete, cultural object (e.g., the understanding of a work of art) to micro-level interpersonal interactions (e.g., the socialization of a child by his/her parents) to a macro-level influence on entire societies (e.g., the Puritanical roots of the U.S. that can be used to justify the exportation of democracy, as was the case with the Iraq War). When trying to understand the concept of culture, it is important to remember that the concept can have multiple levels of meaning. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.02%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change/21.2F%3A_Cultural_Evolution.txt |
Social cycle theories argue that historical events and the different stages of society generally go through recurring cycles.
Learning Objectives
• Examine the change in social cycle theories throughout history, ranging from ideas of “life cycles” to political-demographic cycles
Key Points
• Precursors to social cycle theories can be found in the works of Polybius, Ibn Khaldun, and Giambattista Vico, who all argued that history can be defined as repeating cycles of events..
• Classical social cycle theories include the idea that civilizations have “life cycles,” as was proposed by Nikolai Danilewski and Oswald Spengler.
• The first true social cycle theory was introduced by Vilfredo Pareto, who divided the elite social class into cunning foxes and violent lions and claimed that power constantly passes from one group to the other.
• Classical social cycle theorist, Petrim A. Sorokin, viewed societies as moving between three cultural mentalities: ideational, sensate and idealistic.
• An important development in modern social cycle theories is the discovery that political-demographic cycles are a basic feature of the long-term dynamic social processes of complex agrarian systems. Theories of long-term political-demographic cycles take into account social progress.
• Thomas Malthus proposed that limited resources will act as a check on population growth among humans. A Malthusian catastrophe (also known by other names) refers to the forced return to subsistence-level conditions when population growth has outstripped agricultural production.
• An important development in modern social cycle theories is the discovery that political-demographic cycles are a basic feature of the long-term dynamic social processes of complex agrarian systems. Theories of long-term political-demographic cycles take into account social progress.
• Thomas Malthus proposed that limited resources will act as a check on population growth among humans. A Malthusian catastrophe (also known by other names) refers to the forced return to subsistence-level conditions when population growth has outstripped agricultural production.
• P.R. Sarkar also accounts for social progress in his Law of Social Cycle by considering human spiritual development. Social stasis and the subsequent collapse of regimes occurs when the ruling class treats other members of society poorly in order to advance its own selfish interests.
Key Terms
• Malthusian catastrophe: A Malthusian catastrophe (also known as Malthusian check) was originally foreseen to be a forced return to subsistence-level conditions once population growth had outpaced agricultural production.
• political-demographic cycles: One of the most important recent findings in the study of the long-term dynamic social processes was the discovery of the political-demographic cycles as a basic feature of the dynamics of complex agrarian systems.
• Polybius: Polybius was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece.
Social cycle theories are among the earliest social theories in sociology. Unlike the theory of social evolutionism, which views the evolution of society and human history as progressing in some new, unique direction(s), sociological cycle theory argues that events and stages of society and history generally repeat themselves in cycles. Such a theory does not necessarily imply that there cannot be any social progress. In fact, the early theory of Sima Qian, a Chinese historiographer of the Han Dynasty and typically considered to be the father of Chinese historiography, the more recent theories of long-term (“secular”) political-demographic cycles as well as the Varnic theory of P.R. Sarkar all make an explicit accounting of social progress.
Predecessors
The interpretation of history as repeating cycles of Dark and Golden Ages was a common belief among ancient cultures. The more limited cyclical view of history defined as repeating cycles of events was put forward in the academic world in the 19th century in historiography (the study of the history and methodology of the discipline of history) and is a concept that falls under the category of sociology. However, the precursors to this analysis include Polybius, a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period, Ibn Khaldun, a Muslim historiographer and historian, who saw the rise and fall of Asabiyyah (the sense of community among humans) as the reason behind the emergence and decline of civilizations, and, finally, Giambattista Vico, an Italian philosopher, who argued that civilizations occur in recurring cycles consisting of three ages: the divine, the heroic and the human. The Saeculum, which refers to the period of time during which the renewal of a human population would occur, was identified in Roman times. More recently, P. R. Sarkar in his Social Cycle Theory has used this idea to elaborate his interpretation of history.
Classical Theories
Among the prominent historiosophers, Russian philosopher Nikolai Danilewski (1822–1885) is notable. In Rossiia i Europa (1869), he differentiated between various smaller civilizations (Egyptian, Chinese, Persian, Greek, Roman, German, and Slav, among others) and asserted that each civilization has a life cycle. To illustrate this claim, he pointed out that by the end of the 19th century the Roman-German civilization was in decline, while the Slav civilization was approaching its Golden Age. A similar theory was put forward by Oswald Spengler (1880–1936) who in his Der Untergang des Abendlandes (1918) predicted that the Western civilization was about to collapse.
The first social cycle theory in sociology was created by Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923) in his Trattato di Sociologia Generale (1916). He centered his theory on the concept of an elite social class, which he divided into cunning “foxes” and violent “lions. ” In his view of society, the power constantly passes from the “foxes” to the “lions” and vice versa.
Sociological cycle theory was also developed by Pitirim A. Sorokin (1889–1968) in his Social and Cultural Dynamics (1937, 1943). He classified societies according to their “cultural mentality. ” which can be ideational (reality is spiritual), sensate (reality is material), or idealistic (a synthesis of the two). He interpreted the contemporary West as a sensate civilization dedicated to technological progress and prophesied its fall into decadence and the emergence of a new ideational or idealistic era.
Modern Theories
One of the most important recent findings in the study of the long-term dynamic social processes was the discovery of the political-demographic cycles as a basic feature of the dynamics of complex agrarian systems. The presence of political-demographic cycles in the pre-modern history of Europe and China, and in chiefdom level societies worldwide has been known for quite a long time, and already in the 1980s more or less developed mathematical models of demographic cycles started to be produced.
Recently the most important contributions to the development of the mathematical models of long-term (“secular”) sociodemographic cycles have been made by Sergey Nefedov, Peter Turchin, Andrey Korotayev, and Sergey Malkov. What is important is that on the basis of their models Nefedov, Turchin and Malkov have managed to demonstrate that sociodemographic cycles were a basic feature of complex agrarian systems (and not a specifically Chinese or European phenomenon).
It has become possible to model these dynamics mathematically in a rather effective way. Modern social scientists from different fields have introduced cycle theories to predict civilizational collapses in approaches that apply contemporary methods, which update the approach of Spengler, such as the work of Joseph Tainter suggesting a civilizational life-cycle. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.02%3A_Sources_of_Social_Change/21.2G%3A_Natural_Cycles.txt |
William F. Ogburn’s theory suggests that technology is the primary engine of progress.
Learning Objectives
• Summarize the main points of Ogburn’s theory of social change, in terms of its four main stages
Key Points
• Ogburn’s four stages of technical development are invention, accumulation, diffusion and adjustment.
• Although his theory is associated with technological determinism, the two are far from perfectly aligned.
• Technological determinism is a theory that argues technology is responsible for determining a society ‘s structure and values.
• Cultural lag is the period during which non-material culture strives to adjust to new technology and inventions.
• Cultural lag is the period during which non-material culture strives to adjust to new technology and inventions.
• Ogburn’s four stages of technical development are invention, accumulation, diffusion and adjustment.
• Invention is the process by which new kinds of technology are produced.
• Accumulation is the growth of technology as a result of new inventions outpacing the decline of old technology.
• Diffusion is the spread of new ideas from one culture to another, or from one field of activity to another, which leads to the convergence of different technologies that then combine to form new inventions.
• Adjustment is the process by which non-material aspects of society adjust to new technology.
Key Terms
• cultural lag: The term cultural lag refers to the notion that culture takes time to catch up with technological innovations, and that social problems and conflicts are caused by this lag.
• soft determinism: Soft determinism posits that, although technology drives progress, people still may have the chance to make decisions regarding social outcomes.
• hard determinism: Hard determinism is the idea that technology governs social structures and activities.
William Fielding Ogburn (June 29, 1886 – April 27, 1959) was an American sociologist, statistician, and educator. Perhaps Ogburn’s most enduring intellectual legacy is the theory of social change he offered in 1922. He suggested that technology is the primary engine of progress, but it is also tempered by social responses to it. Thus, his theory is often associated with technological determinism, a reductionist theory that presumes a society’s technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
Hard Determinism versus Soft Determinism
Hard determinists view technology as developing independent from social concerns. They believe that technology creates a set of powerful forces acting to regulate our social activity and its meaning.
Soft determinism, as the name suggests, is a more passive view of the way technology interacts with socio-political situations. Soft determinists still subscribe to the fact that technology is the guiding force in our evolution, but maintain that we have a chance to make decisions regarding the outcomes of a situation. Ogburn, in fact, proposed a slightly different variant of soft determinism, in which society must adjust to the consequences of major inventions, but often does so only after a period of cultural lag. Cultural lag, a term coined by Ogburn, refers to a period of maladjustment, which occurs when the non-material culture is struggling to adapt to new material conditions.
Stages of Technological Development
Ogburn posited four stages of technical development: invention, accumulation, diffusion, and adjustment.
Invention is the process by which new forms of technology are created. Inventions are collective contributions to an existing cultural base that cannot occur unless the society has already gained a certain level of knowledge and expertise in the particular area.
Accumulation is the growth of technology due to the fact that the invention of new things outpaces the process by which old inventions become obsolete or are forgotten—some inventions (such as writing) promote this accumulation process.
Diffusion is the spread of an idea from one cultural group to another, or from one field of activity to another. As diffusion brings inventions together, they combine to form new inventions.
Adjustment is the process by which the non-technical aspects of a culture respond to invention. Any retardation of this adjustment process causes cultural lag.
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Social movements are broad alliances of people connected through a shared interest in either stopping or instigating social change.
Learning Objectives
• Discover the difference between social movements and social movement organizations, as well as the four areas social movements operate within
Key Points
• There are both a number of different kinds of social movements, as well as various stages that a social movement can undergo in the course of its development.
• Several theories have been proposed to explain the creation of social movements. Each of these theories highlights a different aspect of society (e.g. deprivation, marginalization, culture, etc. ) as being key to the formation of these movements.
• Social movements are distinct from social movement organizations (SMOs). An SMO is a formally organized component of a social movement, and as such it may represent only one facet of an entire movement.
• According to Anthony Giddens, the four domains of modern society in which social movements are active include the political sphere, the workplace, the environment, and the issue of peace.
• Social movements often give rise to counter movements aimed at stopping whatever change the initial social movement is advocating.
Key Terms
• social movements: Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations that focus on specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist or undo a social change.
• social change: an alteration in the structures, institutions and/or practices of a society
• counter movements: Counter-hegemony refers to attempts to critique or dismantle hegemonic power. In other words, it is a confrontation and/or opposition to the existing status quo and the legitimacy of that status quo in politics. This can also be observed in various other spheres of life, such as history, media, music, etc.
• social movement organizations: A social movement organization is an organized component of a social movement. Social movement organizations usually have coordinating roles in social movements, but do not actually employ or direct most of the participants, who are part of a wider social movement community.
Social movements are broad alliances of people who are connected through their shared interest in social change. Social movements can advocate for a particular social change, but they can also organize to oppose a social change that is being advocated by another entity. These movements do not have to be formally organized to be considered social movements. Different alliances can work separately for common causes and still be considered a social movement.
Sociologists draw distinctions between social movements and social movement organizations (SMOs). A social movement organization is a formally organized component of a social movement. Therefore, it may represent only one part of a particular social movement. For instance, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) advocates for vegan lifestyles along with its other aims. However, PETA is not the only group that advocates for vegan diets and lifestyles; there are numerous other groups actively engaged toward this end. Thus, promoting veganism would be considered the social movement, while PETA would be considered a particular SMO (social movement organization) working within the broader social movement.
Modern social movements became possible through the wide dissemination of literature and the increased mobility of labor, both of which have been caused by the industrialization of societies. Anthony Giddens, a renowned sociologist, has identified four areas in which social movements operate in modern societies:
• democratic movements that work for political rights
• labor movements that work for control of the workplace
• ecological movements that are concerned with the environment
• peace movements that work toward peace
It is interesting to note that social movements can spawn counter movements. For instance, the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a number of counter movements that attempted to block the goals of the women’s movement. In large part, these oppositional groups formed because the women’s movement advocated for reform in conservative religions. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.03%3A_Social_Movements/21.3A%3A_Social_Movements.txt |
Social movements occur when large groups of individuals or organizations work for or against change in social and/or political matters.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the criteria that form the basis of classification of social movements
Key Points
• Cultural Anthropologist David F. Aberle identified four kinds of social movements (alternative, redemptive, reformative, and revolutionary) based on two questions: 1) Who is the movement attempting to change? and 2) How much change is being advocated?.
• Alternative social movements are at the individual level and advocate for minor change; redemptive social movements are at the individual level and advocate for radical changes.
• Reformative social movements occur at a broader group or societal level and advocate for minor changes; revolutionary social movements occur at a broader group or societal level and advocate for radical changes.
• Other ways to categorize social movements include the scope (reform or radical), type of change (innovative or conservative ), targets (group-focused or individual-focused), methods (violent or non-violent), and range (local or global).
• Revolutionary social movements occur at a broader group or societal level and advocate for radical changes.
• Other ways to categorize social movements include classifying by scope, type of change, targets, methods, and range.
Key Terms
• revolutionary social movements: Revolutionary movement is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out revolutionary reforms and gain some control of the state. If they do not aim for an exclusive control, they are not revolutionary.
• reformative social movements: A reformative social movement advocates for minor changes instead of radical changes. For example revolutionary movements can scale down their demands and agree to share powers with others, becoming a political party.
• redemptive social movements: A redemptive social movement is radical in scope but focused on the individual.
Social movements are a specific type of group action in which large informal groups of individuals or organizations work for or against change in specific political or social issues.
Cultural Anthropologist David F. Aberle described four types of social movements based upon two fundamental questions: (1) who is the movement attempting to change? (2) how much change is being advocated? Social movements can be aimed at change on an individual level, e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous, which is a support group for recovering alcoholics or change on a broader group or even societal level, e.g. anti-globalization). Social movements can also advocate for minor changes such as tougher restrictions on drunk driving (see MADD) or radical changes like prohibition. The diagram below illustrates how a social movement may either be alternative, redemptive, reformative or revolutionary based on who the movement strives to change and how much change the movement desires to bring about.
Other categories have been used to distinguish between types of social movements.
• Scope: A movement can be either reform or radical. A reform movement advocates changing some norms or laws while a radical movement is dedicated to changing value systems in some fundamental way. A reform movement might be a trade union seeking to increase workers’ rights while the American Civil Rights movement was a radical movement.
• Type of Change: A movement might seek change that is either innovative or conservative. An innovative movement wants to introduce or change norms and values while a conservative movement seeks to preserve existing norms and values.
• Targets: Group-focused movements focus on influencing groups or society in general; for example, attempting to change the political system from a monarchy to a democracy. An individual-focused movement seeks to affect individuals.
• Methods of Work: Peaceful movements utilize techniques such as nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience. Violent movements resort to violence when seeking social change.
• Range: Global movements, such as Communism in the early 20th century, have transnational objectives. Local movements are focused on local or regional objectives such as preserving an historic building or protecting a natural habitat. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.03%3A_Social_Movements/21.3B%3A_Types_of_Social_Movements.txt |
Mass media can be employed to manipulate populations to further the power elite’s agenda.
Learning Objectives
• Evaluate the impact of mass media as propaganda, particularly in terms of the “power elite”
Key Points
• The propaganda model explains how mass media can be employed to manipulate populations in the interest of ulterior motives.
• The propaganda model posits that the way in which news is structured (e.g. through advertising, concentration of media ownership, government sourcing) creates an inherent conflict of interest which acts as propaganda for undemocratic forces.
• The ” power elite ” include leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society; they are generally the ones who control and therefore benefit from mass media used as propaganda.
Key Terms
• propaganda: Propaganda is a form of biased communication, aimed at promoting or demoting certain views, perceptions or agendas.
The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky to explain how propaganda and systemic biases function in mass media. The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how consent for economic, social and political policies is “manufactured” in the public mind due to this propaganda.
The theory posits that the way in which news is structured (e.g. through advertising, concentration of media ownership, government sourcing) creates an inherent conflict of interest which acts as propaganda for undemocratic forces.
An example that Herman and Chomsky identified was “anti-communism” during the Cold War. Such anti- ideologies exploit public fear and hatred of groups that pose a potential threat, either real, exaggerated or imagined. Communism once posed the primary threat, and communism and socialism were portrayed by their detractors as endangering freedoms of speech, movement, the press and so forth. They argue that such a portrayal was often used as a means to silence voices critical of elite interests.
The Power Elite is a 1956 book by sociologist C. Wright Mills, in which Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society and suggests that the ordinary citizen is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those entities.
According to Mills, the eponymous “power elite” are those that occupy the dominant positions, in the dominant institutions (military, economic and political) of a dominant country, and their decisions (or lack of decisions) have enormous consequences, not only for the U.S. population but, “the underlying populations of the world.”
These two models—the propaganda and the “power elite” conceptualization—evidence how mass media can be used to reinforce the powerful’s positions of power and interests. For example:
• During the Gulf War (1990), the media’s failure to report on Saddam Hussein’s peace offers guided the public to look more favorably on the U.S. government’s actions.
• During the Iraq invasion (2003), the media’s failure to report on the legality of the war, despite overwhelming public opinion in favor of only invading Iraq with UN authorization, minimized public awareness and outcry over that illegality. According to the liberal watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, there was a disproportionate focus on pro-war sources while total anti-war sources only made up 10% of the media (with only 3% of US sources being anti-war).
• With regard to global warming, the media (in the interest of those who make a tremendous amount of money from fossil fuels) gives near equal balance to people who deny climate change, despite only “about one percent” of climate scientists taking this view. This allows the “debate” to continue, when in reality there is firm scientific consensus, in turn allowing those corporations to continue profiting off human behavior that in reality harms the environment. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.03%3A_Social_Movements/21.3C%3A_Propaganda_and_the_Mass_Media.txt |
Social movements typically follow a process by which they emerge, coalesce, and bureaucratize, leading to their success or failure.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the process and purpose of social movements, defined by Blumer, Mauss and Tilly
Key Points
• Social movements are a major vehicle for ordinary people’s participation in public politics.
• Social movements have a life cycle: they are created, they grow, they achieve successes or failures and eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist.
• Blumer, Mauss, and Tilly described how social movements follow a process by which they emerge, coalesce, and bureaucratize, leading to their success or failure.
• After bureaucratization occurs, a movement can either succeed, fail, have its leaders become co-opted, have its members be repressed by a larger group (e.g. government), or become accepted into the mainstream.
• While a social movement can take a number of different paths, whether or not a movement will ultimately decline varies from movement to movement. Moreover, movement success can often be difficult to define as the goals of a movement may change.
Key Terms
• cooptation: A co-opting, or a commandeering, appropriation.
• Sidney Tarrow: (1938-present) a professor of political science and sociology, known for his research in the areas of comparative politics, social movements, political parties, collective actions and political sociology.
• Charles Tilly: (1929 – 2008) An American sociologist, political scientist and historian who wrote about the relationship between politics and society.
Charles Tilly defines social movements as a series of contentious performances, displays and campaigns by which ordinary people make collective claims on others. For Tilly, social movements are a major vehicle for ordinary people’s participation in public politics. Sidney Tarrow defines a social movement as collective challenges [to elites , authorities , other groups or cultural codes] by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interactions with elites, opponents and authorities. He specifically distinguishes social movements from political parties and advocacy groups. The term “social movements” was introduced in 1848 by the German Sociologist Lorenz von Stein in his book Socialist and Communist Movements since the Third French Revolution (1848).
Social movements are not eternal. They have a life cycle: they are created, they grow, they achieve successes or failures and, eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist.
Blumer, Mauss, and Tilly have described the different stages that social movements often pass through (see ). Firstly, movements emerge for a variety of reasons (and there are a number of different sociological theories that address these reasons). They then coalesce and develop a sense of coherence in terms of membership, goals and ideals. In the next stage, movements generally become bureaucratized by establishing their own set of rules and procedures. At this point, social movements can then take any number of paths, ranging from success to failure, the cooptation of leaders, repression by larger groups (e.g., government), or even the establishment of a movement within the mainstream.
Frame analysis, and specifically frame transformation, helps explain why social movements occur in a certain way. The concept dates back to Erving Goffman, and it discuss how new values, new meanings and understandings are required in order to understand and support social movements or changes. In other words, people must transform the way they understand a particular social movement to make it fit with conventional lifestyles and rituals.
Whether or not these paths will result in movement decline varies from movement to movement. In fact, one of the difficulties in studying social movements is that movement success is often ill-defined because the goals of a movement can change. For instance, MoveOn.org, a website founded in the late 1990s, was originally developed to encourage national politicians to move past the Clinton impeachment proceedings. Since that time, the group has developed into a major player in national politics in the U.S. and transformed into a Political Action Committee (PAC). In this instance, the movement may or may not have attained its original goal—encouraging the censure of Clinton and moving on to more pressing issues—but the goals of the movement have changed. This makes the actual stages the movement has passed through difficult to discern. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.03%3A_Social_Movements/21.3D%3A_The_Stages_of_Social_Movements.txt |
Social scientists have cited ‘relative deprivation’ as a potential cause of social movements and deviance.
Learning Objectives
• Discuss the concepts of relative and absolute deprivation as they relate to social movements
Key Points
• Relative deprivation is the experience of being deprived of something to which one believes to be entitled. It refers to the discontent people feel when they compare their positions to others and realize that they have less of what they believe themselves to be entitled than those around them.
• Some scholars of social movements explain their rise by citing grievances of people who feel deprived of what they perceive as values to which they are entitled. Similarly, individuals engage in deviant behaviors when their means do not match their goals.
• Feelings of deprivation are relative, as they come from a comparison to social norms that are not absolute and usually differ from time and place.
• Critics of this theory have pointed out that this theory fails to explain why some people who feel discontent fail to take action and join social movements.
Key Terms
• deprivation: The act of depriving, dispossessing, or bereaving; the act of deposing or divesting of some dignity.
• relative: Connected to or depending on something else; not absolute; comparative.
Relative deprivation is the experience of being deprived of something to which one feels to be entitled. It refers to the discontent that people feel when they compare their positions to those around them and realize that they have less of that which they believe themselves to be entitled. Social scientists, particularly political scientists and sociologists, have cited ‘relative deprivation’ (especially temporal relative deprivation) as a potential cause of social movements and deviance. In extreme situations, it can lead to political violence such as rioting, terrorism, civil wars and other instances of social deviance such as crime.
Some scholars explain the rise of social movements by citing the grievances of people who feel that they have been deprived of values to which they are entitled. Similarly, individuals engage in deviant behaviors when their means do not match their goals.
Feelings of deprivation are relative, as they come from a comparison to social norms that are not absolute and usually differ from time and place. This differentiates relative deprivation from objective deprivation (also known as absolute deprivation or absolute poverty ), a condition that applies to all underprivileged people. This leads to an important conclusion: while the objective deprivation (poverty) in the world may change over time, relative deprivation will not, as long as social inequality persists and some humans are better off than others. Relative deprivation may be temporal; that is, it can be experienced by people that experience expansion of rights or wealth, followed by stagnation or reversal of those gains. Such phenomena are also known as unfulfilled rising expectations.
Some sociologists—for instance, Karl Polanyi—have argued that relative differences in economic wealth are more important than absolute deprivation, and that this is a more significant determinate of human quality of life. This debate has important consequences for social policy, particularly on whether poverty can be eliminated simply by raising total wealth or whether egalitarian measures are also needed. A specific form of relative deprivation is relative poverty. A measure of relative poverty defines poverty as being below some relative poverty line, such as households who earn less than 20% of the median income. Notice that if everyone’s real income in an economy increases, but the income distribution stays the same, the number of people living in relative poverty will not change.
Critics of this theory have pointed out that this theory fails to explain why some people who feel discontent fail to take action and join social movements. Counter-arguments include that some people are prone to conflict-avoidance, are short-term-oriented, or that imminent life difficulties may arise since there is no guarantee that life-improvement will result from social action. | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.03%3A_Social_Movements/21.3E%3A_Relative_Deprivation_Approach.txt |
The resource-mobilization approach is a theory that seeks to explain the emergence of social movements.
Learning Objectives
• Use the resource-mobilization theory to explain some of the successful social movements in history, such as the Civil Rights Movement
Key Points
• The resource -mobilization theory asserts that social movements form when people who share grievances are able to mobilize resources and take action.
• This theory places resources at the center of both the emergence and success of social movements.
• In this case, resources include knowledge, money, media, labor, solidarity, legitimacy, and internal and external support from a powerful elite.
• The centrality of resources to the success of social movements explains why some discontented people are able to form movements while others are not.
• This theory has a number of underlying assumptions regarding movement membership, movement organization and broader societal factors that influence movement formation and development.
• This theory has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on resources, particularly financial resources, as the success of some movements depends more on the time and labor of members rather than on money.
Key Terms
• opportunity structures: Exogenous factors which limit or empower collective actors (social movements).
• grievance: A complaint or annoyance; also a formal complaint.
• resource: Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
Resource-Mobilization Theory emphasizes the importance of resources in social movement development and success. Resources are understood here to include: knowledge, money, media, labor, solidarity, legitimacy, and internal and external support from a power elite. The theory argues that social movements develop when individuals with grievances are able to mobilize sufficient resources to take action. The emphasis on resources explains why some discontented/deprived individuals are able to organize while others are not. Resource mobilization theory also divides social movements according to their position among other social movements. This helps sociologists understand them in relation to other social movements; for example, how much influence does one theory or movement have on another?
Some of the assumptions of the theory include:
• there will always be grounds for protest in modern, politically pluralistic societies because there is constant discontent (i.e., grievances or deprivation); this de-emphasizes the importance of these factors as it makes them ubiquitous
• actors are rational and they are able to weigh the costs and benefits from movement participation
• members are recruited through networks; commitment is maintained by building a collective identity and continuing to nurture interpersonal relationships
• movement organization is contingent upon the aggregation of resources
• social movement organizations require resources and continuity of leadership
• social movement entrepreneurs and protest organizations are the catalysts which transform collective discontent into social movements; social movement organizations form the backbone of social movements
• the form of the resources shapes the activities of the movement (e.g., access to a TV station will result in the extensive use TV media)
• movements develop in contingent opportunity structures, which are external factors that may either limit or bolster the movement, that influence their efforts to mobilize. Examples of opportunity structures may include elements, such as the influence of the state, a movement’s access to political institutions, etc. As each movement’s response to the opportunity structures depends on the movement’s organization and resources, there is no clear pattern of movement development nor are specific movement techniques or methods universal.
Critics of this theory argue that there is too much of an emphasis on resources, especially financial resources. Some movements are effective without an influx of money and are more dependent upon the movement of members for time and labor (e.g., the civil rights movement in the US). | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.03%3A_Social_Movements/21.3F%3A_Resource_Mobilization_Approach.txt |
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns on issues pertaining to women, such as reproductive rights and women’s suffrage.
Learning Objectives
• Illustrate how the various waves of the feminist movement helped advance women in terms of social status and equality
Key Points
• The feminist movement is divided into three distinct waves, beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing through the late twentieth century.
• First-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the UK, USA, Canada, and the Netherlands that focused primarily on women’s suffrage.
• Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity from the early 1960s through the later 1980s during which time women tied cultural inequalities with political inequalities as a part of their cause.
• Beginning in the early 1990s, third-wave feminism was largely a response to the perceived failures of the second wave feminism.
• The formation of the United Nations and the work it has done regarding advancing women’s rights in a variety of contexts and places has added a global dimension to the feminist cause.
Key Terms
• third-wave feminism: Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study, whose exact boundaries in the historiography of feminism are a subject of debate, but are often marked as beginning in the 1980s and continuing to the present. The movement arose as a response to the perceived failures of and backlash against initiatives and movements created by Second-Wave feminism during the 1960s to 1980s, and the realization that women are of “many colors, ethnicities, nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds. “
• Second-Wave Feminism: Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity. In the United States it began during the early 1960s and lasted through the late 1990s. It was a worldwide movement that was strong in Europe and parts of Asia, such as Turkey and Israel, where it began in the 1980s, and it began at other times in other countries.
• First Wave Feminism: First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. It focused on de jure (officially mandated) inequalities, primarily on gaining women’s suffrage (the right to vote).
• feminism: a social theory or political movement arguing that legal and social restrictions on females must be removed in order to bring about equality of both sexes in all aspects of public and private life
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence. The movement’s priorities vary among nations and communities and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country or to the glass ceiling (the barrier that prevents minorities and women from advancing in corporate hierarchies ) in another.
First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. It focused on de jure (officially mandated) inequalities, primarily on gaining women’s suffrage (the right to vote).
Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity beginning in the early 1960s and through the late 1980s. Second Wave Feminism has existed continuously since then, and continues to coexist with what some people call Third Wave Feminism. Second wave feminism saw cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked. The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their personal lives as deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexist structure of power. If first-wavers focused on absolute rights such as suffrage, second-wavers were largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination.
Finally, the third-wave of feminism began in the early 1990s. The movement arose as responses to what young women thought of as perceived failures of the second-wave. It was also a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second-wave. Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems the second wave’s “essentialist ” definitions of femininity, which (according to them) over-emphasized the experiences of upper middle class white women. A post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality is central to much of the third wave’s ideology. Third wave feminists often focus on “micropolitics,” and challenged the second wave’s paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for females.
Global Feminism
Immediately after WWII, a new global dimension was added to the feminist cause through the formation of the United Nations (UN). In 1946 the UN established a Commission on the Status of Women. In 1948 the UN issued its Universal Declaration of Human Rights which protects “the equal rights of men and women”, and addressed both equality and equity issues. Since 1975 the UN has held a series of world conferences on women’s issues, starting with the World Conference of the International Women’s Year in Mexico City, heralding the United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985). These have brought women together from all over the world and provided considerable opportunities for advancing women’s rights, but also illustrated the deep divisions in attempting to apply principles universally, in successive conferences in Copenhagen (1980) and Nairobi (1985). However by 1985 some convergence was appearing. These divisions among feminists included: First World vs. Third World; the relationship between gender oppression and oppression based on class, race and nationality; defining core common elements of feminism vs. specific political elements; defining feminism, homosexuality, female circumcision, birth and population control; the gulf between researchers and the grass roots; and the extent to which political issues were women’s issues. Emerging from Nairobi was a realization that feminism is not monolithic but “constitutes the political expression of the concerns and interests of women from different regions, classes, nationalities, and ethnic backgrounds. There is and must be a diversity of feminisms, responsive to the different needs and concerns of women, and defined by them for themselves. This diversity builds on a common opposition to gender oppression and hierarchy which, however, is only the first step in articulating and acting upon a political agenda. ” The fourth conference was held in Beijing in 1995. At this conference a the Beijing Platform for Action was signed. This included a commitment to achieve ” gender equality and the empowerment of women”. The most important strategy to achieve this was considered to be “gender mainstreaming ” which incorporates both equity and equality, that is that both women and men should “experience equal conditions for realizing their full human rights, and have the opportunity to contribute and benefit from national, political, economic, social and cultural development. ” | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/21%3A_Social_Change/21.03%3A_Social_Movements/21.3G%3A_Gender_and_Social_Movements.txt |
New social movements focus on issues related to human rights, rather than on materialistic concerns, such as economic development.
Learning Objectives
• Evaluate the significance of new social movements (NSMs), which are more concerned with social and cultural issues, and the implications NSMs have on modern-day society
Key Points
• New social movements (NSMs) are described by a theory regarding social movements which posits that the advent of the post-industrial economy resulted in a new wave of social movements distinct from those social movements arising during the industrial economy.
• In these new social movements, more importance is attached to social and cultural concerns, rather than economic or political considerations.
• Actors in NSMs are from a new middle class, instead of from the lower classes, as was typical of social movements of the industrial economy.
• NSMs consist of informal, loosely organized social networks of supporters rather than members and tend to be locally-based.
• NSMs act as a platform for collective action in civil society or in the cultural domain, rather than as an instrumental tool for the state. As such, new movements are often considered to be anti-authoritarian.
• NSMs are normally centered on a single issue, or a limited range of issues which are related to a broader theme, such as the environment.
• Critiques of NSM theory include the fact that non- materialistic movements existed in the industrial-era and materialistic movements persist in the post-industrial economy; while there are few traits that are specific to new social movements, differences between old and new movements have already been explained by theories preceding NSM; and the NSM does not take into account right-wing movements.
Key Terms
• human rights: The basic rights and freedoms that all humans should be guaranteed, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.
• materialistic: Being overly concerned with material possessions and wealth.
• new middle class: The American middle class, at least those living the lifestyle, has become known around the world for conspicuous consumption. To this day, the professional middle class in the United States holds the world record for having the largest homes, most appliances, and most automobiles.
New Social Movements
The term new social movements (NSMs) is a theory of social movements that attempts to explain the plethora of new movements that have come up in various western societies roughly since the mid-1960s (i.e. in a post-industrial economy), which are claimed to depart significantly from the conventional social movement paradigm.
There are two central claims of the NSM theory. Firstly, the rise of the post-industrial economy is responsible for a new wave of social movement. Secondly, these movements are significantly different from previous social movements of the industrial economy. The primary difference is in their goals, as the new movements focus not on issues of materialistic qualities such as economic well-being, but on issues related to human rights (such as gay rights or pacifism).
Characteristics
The most noticeable feature of new social movements is that they are primarily social and cultural and only secondarily, if at all, political. Departing from the worker’s movement, which was central to the political aim of gaining access to citizenship and representation for the working class, new social movements concentrate on bringing about social mobilization through cultural innovations, the development of new lifestyles, and the transformation of identities. It is clearly elaborated by Habermas that new social movements are the “new politics ” which is about quality of life, individual self-realization, and human rights; whereas the “old politics” focused on economic, political, and military security. The concept of new politics can be exemplified in gay liberation, the focus of which transcends the political issue of gay rights to address the need for a social and cultural acceptance of homosexuality. Hence, new social movements are understood as “new,” because they are first and foremost social, unlike older movements which mostly have an economic basis.
New social movements also emphasize the role of post-material values in contemporary and post-industrial society, as opposed to conflicts over material resources. According to Melucci, one of the leading new social movement theorists, these movements arise not from relations of production and distribution of resources, but within the sphere of reproduction and the life world. Consequently, the concern has shifted from the production of economic resources as a means of survival or for reproduction to cultural production of social relations, symbols, and identities. In other words, the contemporary social movements reject the materialistic orientation of consumerism in capitalist societies by questioning the modern idea that links the pursuit of happiness and success closely to growth, progress, and increased productivity and by instead promoting alternative values and understandings in relation to the social world. As an example, the environmental movement that has appeared since the late 1960s throughout the world, with its strong points in the United States and Northern Europe, has significantly brought about a “dramatic reversal” in the ways we consider the relationship between economy, society, and nature.
Further, new social movements are located in civil society or the cultural sphere as a major arena for collective action rather than instrumental action in the state, which Claus Offe characterizes as “bypass[ing] the state. ” Moreover, since new social movements are not normally concerned with directly challenging the state, they are regarded as anti-authoritarian and as resisting incorporation at the institutional level. They tend to focus on a single issue, or a limited range of issues connected to a single broad theme, such as peace or the environment. New social movements concentrate on the grassroots level with the aim to represent the interests of marginal or excluded groups. Therefore, new collective actions are locally based, centered on small social groups and loosely held together by personal or informational networks such as radios, newspapers, and posters. This “local- and issue-centered” characteristic implies that new movements do not necessarily require a strong ideology or agreement to meet their objectives.
Additionally, if old social movements, namely the worker’s movement, presupposed a working class base and ideology, the new social movements are presumed to draw from a different social class base, i.e., “the new class. ” This is a complex contemporary class structure that Claus Offe identifies as “threefold” in its composition: the new middle class, elements of the old middle class, and peripheral groups outside the labor market. As stated by Offe, the new middle class has evolved in association with the old one in the new social movements because of its high levels of education and its access to information and resources. The groups of people that are marginal in the labor market, such as students, housewives, and the unemployed participate in the collective actions as a consequence of their higher levels of free time, their position of being at the receiving end of bureaucratic control, and their inability to be fully engaged in society specifically in terms of employment and consumption.
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As you read this chapter, consider the following questions:
1. What is a social construction? Can you think of another example that is not in the text?
2. How does the social construction of difference contrast with a social construction?
3. If you could add a third image in Figure 1.3, what television family is the most representative today?
4. How is equity different from equality and fairness?
5. What are the big demographic family trends in the United States?
6. What is a social identity? Can you describe your own social identity via your roles, characteristics and groups?
7. How does intersectionality relate to equity?
8. How does the government affect the structure of kinship and family?
1.02: The Family- A Socially Constructed Idea
To begin our study of contemporary families in the United States, we will first define an important concept that is used for a large portion of this book: social constructions. A social construction is a mutual understanding and accepted reality created by members of a society: something that is not determined by biology or the natural world. Is there anything that humans have created that holds no real value in the natural world, yet we have assigned a great deal of value to it? If you are thinking of cash, you’re right on the money. Humans have determined that certain pieces of paper and metal objects are worth an agreed-upon value. For example, in the United States, a one dollar bill is worth 100 times the value of a penny. One of the ways that we can tell money is a social construction is that it varies from culture to culture and over time. When you visit another country, the United States dollar bill has to be “exchanged” for money that has a different appearance and value. Compare money with another thing of value to human beings: air. Air is needed by all human beings to survive. The need for air and its value do not change over time or from culture to culture.
Social constructions also relate to behavior and activities. For example, what food would you expect to see on the menu when you go out for breakfast in the United States? What if the eating place were described as a “Mexican” restaurant? And what if you traveled to another country, say, Korea? What is eaten for breakfast varies from culture to culture and even person to person. And yet, in general, we have a socially constructed idea of what is typically breakfast food in the United States: eggs, bacon, cereal, toast, and fruit, but not vegetables, noodles, pinto beans, or hot dogs. One of the ways that you can recognize that something is a socially constructed idea is that it differs from place to place and changes over time. In addition, whatever is part of the socially constructed idea (in this case what typical breakfast foods are) becomes “the norm” or what is expected. While we might welcome trying some different foods for breakfast, they are not what is seen as the typical, or expected, American breakfast foods.
What does this have to do with families? While studying families, we must continually remind ourselves that the idea of the family, and in particular the internalized belief that there is a “normal family,” is a social construction. What is a normal family? I suspect that we can each paint a picture in our heads, based on the years each of us has been exposed to portrayals of families in institutions such as the media, schools, government, and health care. Generally, the traditional American family has been identified as the nuclear family, most often represented as a male and female heterosexual married couple who is middle class, White, and with several children. When society or the individuals within a society designate one kind of family to be traditional, this may imply a value, or a preference, for this kind of family structure with these particular social characteristics. This is sometimes called the “Leave it to Beaver” family after the popular sitcom television show that ran from 1957 until 1963, pictured below left. A current popular sitcom, Modern Family, which just concluded its 11th season in 2020, also features this traditional family, but includes two other families which feature people of other ethnic groups, and a same-sex couple. Together they form an extended family who all live in the same town. It is important to note, however, that the primacy of the upper middle-class, White family image continues to be emphasized.
As we study families we must keep in mind that this idea of the typical family is not representative of all families, yet it is continually reinforced by the social processes and institutions in our society. Media in particular continually reminds us of what families are “supposed to” look like. Whether you consume big-budget films, social media platforms, video games, and/or books and magazines, take a look. What kind of people and families do you see represented? While representation of women, people of color, and people of differing sexualities and gender expressions has increased in media, they still predominantly play less consequential characters within the plot lines. Although the majority of families in the United States no longer fit the traditional model,[1]social institutions perpetuate the idea of a certain family structure. Government, schools, medical institutions, businesses, and places of worship all reinforce a typical view of family through the forms, activities, requirements, and processes that are shared with the public. How many times have you tried to fill out a form with checkboxes only to find that you did not “fit” into one of the boxes? Typical examples include giving parental choices of “mother” and “father,” couple status choices such as “married” or “single,” and gender choices such as “male” or female,” all of which reinforce a binary view of individuals and families.
The preference for an idealized traditional family type contributes to less social support for families who don’t fit this type: for example, single-parent families, LGBTQ+ families, rural families, or families with a member who is disabled, unemployed, or who has a criminal record. Accepted structures and practices such as not being able to access a safe neighborhood or good school because of income, “Daddy-Daughter Dances,” churches that exclude or condemn LGBTQ+ ministers and/or members, and educational materials that cannot be read with low vision are all examples of ways that some individuals and families are less recognized and less privileged. You can probably think of other examples from your own family’s perspective. Families exist in multiple forms that are functional.
The social construction of difference describes value being assigned to a perceived difference[2] (in this case, the form and function of families). While Allan Johnson wrote about differences in privilege related to social characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, and ability, we will extend this concept to the social construction of differences amongst families. Via the socially constructed idea of family, American systems and structures regularly create and reinforce inequities amongst American families.
Equity, Equality, and Fairness
You will notice that this text often refers to equity rather than equality or fairness. It’s important that equity is defined, and this drawing by one of the text’s authors illustrates the difference (you may have seen different variations of this concept as memes on social media). If you’d like to read more about it, this blog has a good explanation.
This text asserts that all families need access to equitable resources, and analyzes the experiences and structures that get in the way. In the first panel of the drawing, although all of the participants have equal-sized boxes, they do not all get to have an equal experience. In the second drawing, the participants can have the viewing experience because the boxes have been equitably distributed. And in the third panel, the structure that limited equitable access has been removed so that all participants can view the game without additional resources.
In this text, we will study American families with an emphasis on the current inequities in the United States. To help us understand the socially constructed nature of our view of the family and the systems that affect families, we will take a comparative approach.[3] This means that, while our focus is current American families, we will also look at how families have evolved in America, what the practices are of immigrant cultures in America, and how other countries develop systems that affect families. We will also utilize empirical research, data that are collected in a variety of ways, analyzed, and presented to further our understanding.
21st Century American Families
While we are studying families, it is important to note the concept of kinship. While definitions vary, it is widely agreed that the term kinship is broader than the term family. Kinship refers to the social structure that ties people together (whether by blood, marriage, legal processes, or other agreements) and includes family relationships. Kinship acknowledges that individuals have a role in defining who is a member of their own family and how familial relationships extend across society.
What are families in the United States like today? Because we are constrained by both our personal experiences, as well as the societal representations of “typical families,” it is important to talk about what kinds of kinship structures and changes are actually occurring. At times, the study of families has been referred to as the study of “the family.” This text avoids that terminology because we are studying many types of families.
In order to describe current American families and kinship structures, it is probably easiest to compare them with families of the past and families in other countries. Here is a snapshot of some kinship patterns:
There is no longer one dominant family form in the United States; children are living in increasingly varied family arrangements.
In this chart, based on data from the Pew Research Center, increases are noted in children living with a single parent (yellow color) and cohabiting parents (gray color).
Americans are getting married later in life.
This graph shows the increase, for both men (blue) and women (red) in the median age of first marriage:
Both marriage and divorce rates are declining in the United States.
The marriage rate (blue) is declining a bit faster than the divorce rate (red), which is one of the factors that makes it appear as if divorce is increasing. It’s actually declining, just at a slower rate than marriage is declining:
Fertility rates are declining in the U.S.
Women are having fewer children, following the “Baby Boom” years between approximately 1946 and 1964.
Families are increasingly living in multigenerational households.
Multigenerational living includes families with two or more adult generations and families that have grandchildren under the age of twenty-five and grandparents living together. This style of living hit a low of 12% of all families in the U.S. in 1980. Since then, multigenerational living has increased in most racial and ethnic groups, age groups, and genders.[4]
Most expect to work until an older age now than did workers in the 20th century.
Beneficial trends such as longer life expectancy and being healthier longer affect people’s decisions to work longer. Less beneficial trends such as concern about having adequate health care coverage, fewer jobs that have pensions associated with them, and the increasing number of workers who have multiple part-time jobs also affect this trend.
This graph shows differentiation by gender and by education level, but there is also differentiation related to wealth, income, and kind of employment. Look at the difference between 1992 (light blue) and 2004 (red). Notice that for both genders, and with all education levels, people are expecting to work longer!
But expectations do not always match experience, and there is sufficient evidence that older workers are consistently forced out of stable, well-paying jobs at a significant percentage.
To delve into additional data and read more about how this affects families, read If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t be Yours, a data analysis by ProPublica and the Urban Institute.
Functions of the Family within Society
Families have both private and public functions. Notably, American society today is more concerned with the private function of families, which focuses on the intimate relationships that family members share with one another. Americans value the idea that a core part of the family function is the indefinite length of loving relationships.[5]
In the past, and today in other cultures and countries, families were more focused on the public function such as the production of what would be called public goods in an economic model. The most common public good in American families are children, but caring for elderly or differently-abled adults could also be considered as producing a public good. Volunteering and contributing to places of worship, charitable organizations, and other not-for-profit agencies is another way to perform the public function. As public institutions, families support, contribute to, and benefit from the overall social structure. Although our society currently focuses on the private function, families implicitly perform both; these functions are complementary to one another. In this text we will raise awareness of the public function.
The focus on the private function of families may relate to the United States’ identity as an individualistic society.[6] In America, there is a focus on what individuals can achieve, with value placed on accomplishments that are gained without the support of society. Many other countries have collectivist[7] cultures which emphasize social support for all, so that all members of the group are able to meet their goals and needs.
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
Figure 1.1. Photo by Krzysztof Kotkowicz. License: Unsplash License.
Figure 1.2. “Breakfast Burrito” by JBrazito. License: CC BY-NC 2.0.
Figure 1.3. Photo of the Cleaver family by ABC Television. Public domain.
Adaptations: juxtaposed with “Modern Family” photo.
Figure 1.6. “Median age at first marriage: 1890-present” by the US Census. Public domain.
Figure 1.10. “Expectation of working full time after age 65” is from the Health and Retirement Study by the National Institute on Aging. Public domain.
Figure 1.11. “A majority of older Americans with stable jobs are pushed out of work” by Peter Gosselin/ProPublica. License: CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Open Content, Original
Figure 1.4. “Equality, Equity, Equity for All” by Katie Niemeyer. License: CC BY 4.0. Based on ideas originally illustrated by Angus Maguire and Craig Froehle.
Figure 1.5. “For children, growing diversity in family living arrangements.” License: CC BY 4.0. Based on data from Pew Research Center.
Figure 1.7. “Marriage and divorce rates in the US, 1990-2007.” License: CC BY 4.0. Based on data from Statistical Abstracts/U.S. Census.
Figure 1.8. “Trends in the U.S. Fertility Rate.” License: CC BY 4.0. Based on data compiled by childtrends.org.
Figure 1.9. “One-in-five Americans live in a multigenerational household.” License: CC BY 4.0. Based on data from Pew Research Center.
All Rights Reserved Content
Figure 1.3. Modern Family photo (c) American Broadcasting Company. Image used under fair use.
Adaptations: juxtaposed with “Leave it to Beaver” photo.
1. Pew Research Center. (2015, December 17). The American family today. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015...-family-today/
2. Johnson, A.G. (2006). Privilege, power, and difference (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill. ↵
3. American Sociological Association. (2020). Comparative/historical approaches. https://www.asanet.org/topics/compar...cal-approaches
4. Pew Research. (2018, April 5). Record 64 million Americans live in multigenerational households. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...al-households/
5. Cherlin, A. (2016). Public and private families. McGraw-Hill. ↵
6. Morin, A. (2019, August 19). Individualistic cultures and behavior. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-ar...ltures-2795273
7. Collectivist and individualist cultures | Psychology Wiki | Fandom. Retrieved December 29, 2019, from https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Co...alist_cultures - [different source?] ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/01%3A_Social_Constructions/1.01%3A_Social_Constructions_Preview_Questions.txt |
Social Identities
Families are made up of individuals and each individual possesses a unique social identity. A social identity consists of the combination of social characteristics, roles, and group memberships with which a person identifies. Let’s break down each of those aspects of social identity.
1. Social characteristics can be biologically determined and/or socially constructed. Sex, gender, race, ethnicity, ability, age, sexuality, nationality, first language, and religion are all social characteristics.
2. Roles indicate the behaviors and patterns utilized, such as parent, partner, sibling, employee, employer, etc.
3. Group memberships are often related to the above characteristics (e.g. a place of worship) and roles (e.g. a moms’ group), but could be more specialized as well, such as being a twin, or a singer, or part of an emotional support group.
The above Social Identity Wheel includes some common categories for social characteristics in the middle oval. When it comes to social identity, each of us gets to determine our own. That means we determine which of our social characteristics, roles, and group memberships are most important to our own identities. While each of us gets to determine our own social identity, it is important to note that others may identify us differently than we identify ourselves. Our most notable physical aspects may signal something different than our personal lived experience.
For example, in this video about Cultural Humility (which will be defined and discussed in the next chapter), Dr. Melanie Tervalon describes her identity as an African American woman, the difference between how she sees herself and how others see her, and the right that each of us has to our own social identity.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=96
The founders of Mixed in America (MIA) whose mission is to empower the Mixed community and heal Mixed identity are two multiracial activists, Jazmine Jarvis and Meagan Kimberly Smith. This is what they had to say about social identity on Taylor Nolan’s podcast, Let’s Talk About It , “We wanna put the power back in the person’s hands, so that they can express in a way that makes them feel authentic.”
The Social Construction of Difference
Social identities can help us understand the social construction of difference. In the process of forming our own social identities, we connect most easily to people who share the same group membership(s) that we do. According to the Social Identity Theory formulated by Henri Tajfel, we see people who are members of different groups as “others.”[1] In general, we tend to be drawn to others who are more similar to ourselves, whether by appearance or related to other social characteristics, such as age, ability, or sex. This, in combination with the likelihood of overestimating the similarities within groups and the differences between groups, contributes to the social construction of difference.
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE
The social construction of race deserves a special mention, since there is a broadly held public assumption that there are significant biological and genetic differences between human beings based on “race” (meaning observable physical differences such as skin color). In actuality race is a social construct rather than a biological reality. Scientists state that while genetic diversity exists, it does not divide along the racial lines that many humans notice.[2] In fact, members of the human “race” (all humans) share 99.9 % of their genes.[3] Ancestry and geography likely influence which genes get “turned on” and expressed. What makes our understanding of race complicated is that we have behaved for centuries as if there is a biological difference. Because there has been a longstanding discriminatory practice against people of color, there are multiple impacts today.[4]
The reasons for doubting the biological basis for racial categories suggest that race is more of a social category than a biological one. Another way to say this is that race is a social construction, a concept that has no objective reality but rather is what people decide it is. In this view race has no real existence other than what and how people think of it.
This understanding of race is reflected in the problems of placing people with multiracial backgrounds into any one racial category. Would you consider former President Obama, White, Black, or multiracial? He had one Black parent and one White parent. As another example, the well-known golfer Tiger Woods was typically called an African American by the news media when he burst onto the golfing scene in the late 1990s, but in fact his ancestry is one-half Asian (divided evenly between Chinese and Thai), one-quarter White, one-eighth Native American, and only one-eighth African American.[5]
Historical examples of attempts to place people in racial categories further underscore the social constructionism of race. In the South during the time of slavery, the skin tone of the enslaved lightened over the years as babies were born from the union, often in the form of rape, of slave owners and other Whites with enslaved people. As it became difficult to tell who was “Black” and who was not, many court battles over people’s racial identity occurred. People who were accused of having Black ancestry would go to court to prove they were White in order to avoid enslavement or other problems. .[6] Litigation over race continued long past the days of slavery. In a relatively recent example, Susie Guillory Phipps sued the Louisiana Bureau of Vital Records in the early 1980s to change her official race to White. Phipps was descended from a slave owner and an enslaved person and thereafter had only White ancestors. Despite this fact, she was called “Black” on her birth certificate because of a state law, echoing the “one-drop rule,” that designated people as Black if their ancestry was at least 1/32 Black (meaning one of their great-great-great grandparents was Black). Phipps had always thought of herself as White and was surprised after seeing a copy of her birth certificate to discover she was officially Black because she had one Black ancestor about 150 years earlier. She lost her case, and the U.S. Supreme Court later refused to review it.[7]
Social Construction of Other Social Identities, including Gender
It is important to note that the social construction of gender is another widely accepted concept. In other words, the differences that we attribute to the biological designation of female, male, or intersex are actually predominantly constructed by our societal beliefs, and not by biology. The recent broadening of gender identity and expression clearly demonstrates this concept.
Other identities are also constructed via societal agreement. Sexuality, ability, religion, ethnicity, age, and other identities may contain some physical parameters, and certainly contain meaning to the individuals that possess them. Critical to our study of families, however, is the understanding that society creates and reinforces social construction of these characteristics and those constructions favor some groups, discriminate against others, and generally impact the lives of families.
Intersectionality
Articulated by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw (1991), the concept of intersectionality identifies a mode of analysis integral to women, gender, and sexuality studies. Within intersectional frameworks, race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and other aspects of identity are experienced simultaneously and the meanings of different aspects of identity are shaped by one another. In other words, notions of gender and the way a person’s gender is interpreted by others are always impacted by notions of race and the way that person’s race is interpreted. For example, a person is never received as just a woman, but how that person is racialized impacts how the person is received as a woman. So, notions of blackness, brownness, and whiteness always influence gendered experience, and there is no experience of gender that is outside of an experience of race. In addition to race, gendered experience is also shaped by age, sexuality, class, and ability; likewise, the experience of race is impacted by gender, age, class, sexuality, and ability.
Understanding intersectionality requires a particular way of thinking. It is different than the ways in which many people imagine identities operate. An intersectional analysis of identity is distinct from single-determinant identity models which presume that one aspect of identity (say, gender) dictates one’s access to or disenfranchisement from power. An example of this idea is the concept of “global sisterhood,” or the idea that all women across the globe share some basic common political interests, concerns, and needs.[8] If women in different locations did share common interests, it would make sense for them to unite on the basis of gender to fight for social changes on a global scale. Unfortunately, if the analysis of social problems stops at gender, what is missed is an attention to how various cultural contexts shaped by race, religion, and access to resources may actually place some women’s needs at cross-purposes to other women’s needs. Therefore, this approach obscures the fact that women in different social and geographic locations face different problems. Although many White, middle-class women activists of the mid-20th century US fought for freedom to work and legal parity with men, this was not the major problem for women of color or working-class White women who had already been actively participating in the US labor market as domestic workers, factory workers, and enslaved laborers since early US colonial settlement. Campaigns for women’s equal legal rights and access to the labor market at the international level are shaped by the experience and concerns of White American women, while women of the Global South, in particular, may have more pressing concerns: access to clean water, access to adequate health care, and safety from the physical and psychological harms of living in tyrannical, war-torn, or economically impoverished nations.
“Gender” is too often used simply and erroneously to mean “White women,” while “race” too often connotes “Black men.” An intersectional perspective examines how identities are related to each other in our own experiences and how the social structures of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, and ability intersect for everyone. As opposed to single-determinant and additive models of identity, an intersectional approach develops a more sophisticated understanding of the world and how individuals in differently situated social groups experience differential access to both material and symbolic resources such as privilege.
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“Social Construction of Race” is adapted from “The Meaning of Race and Ethnicity” in Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World by Anonymous. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Adaptation: rewritten for clarity.
Adaptation: switched images.
Figure 1.13. Photo by Jonathan Borba. License: Unsplash License.
Figure 1.14. Photo by Clay Banks. License: Unsplash License.
Figure 1.15. “Barack Obama on the Primary” by Steve Jurvetson. License: CC BY 2.0.
Figure 1.16. “Kimberlé Crenshaw” by Mohamed Badarne. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Figure 1.17. Photo by Liam Seskis. License: Unsplash License.
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Figure 1.12. “Social identity wheel” by Liz Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
All Rights Reserved Content
Cultural Humility Edited” (c) W.B. Jordan. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
1. McLeod, S. (2019). Social identity theory. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/soc...ty-theory.html
2. Gannon, M. (2016, February 5). Race is a social construct, scientists argue. Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...entists-argue/
3. National Human Genome Research Institute. (2011, July 15). Whole Genome Association Studies. https://www.genome.gov/17516714/2006...iation-studies
4. Berger, P. L. & Thomas Luckman. (1966). The social construction of reality. Penguin Books. ↵
5. Williams-León, T., & Nakashima, C. L. (Eds.). (2001). The sum of our parts: Mixed-heritage Asian Americans. Temple University Press. ↵
6. Staples, B. (1998, November 15). “Opinion: Editorial Observer: The shifting meanings of “black” and “white.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/o...and-white.html
7. Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2015). Racial formation in the United States (Third edition). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. ↵
8. Morgan, R. (2016). Sisterhood is global: The international women’s movement anthology. Open Road Media. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/01%3A_Social_Constructions/1.03%3A_The_Social_Construction_of_Difference.txt |
One of the most, if not the most, powerful social institutions in the U.S. is the government. It is important to note that in the United States the federal government has three branches: the Congress, the Executive (President), and the Judicial or Court System. In addition, the Constitution recognizes the rights and responsibilities of state governments; counties and cities have governing structures as well. If you’d like to read more about the development of the Constitution, click here. All of these structures legislate in ways that affect families, some directly and some indirectly. The United States is considered to be a Common Law country, meaning that laws are derived in three ways: legislation created by governing bodies; administrative rules and regulations; and decisions via judicial courts.
Family Composition
Most family law (including marriage, divorce, and adoption) is governed by the states. When there is a great deal of advocacy, unrest, inequity, and/or controversy, family-related matters rise to the federal level. Here are two relatively recent examples:
1. In 1958, Mildred Loving, a woman of color, and her White husband, Richard Loving, were sentenced to a year of prison for marrying each other, breaking Virginia’s “Racial Integrity Act of 1924.” The Lovings appealed their conviction in Virginia and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, who ruled in 1967 (Loving v. Virginia) that all laws banning interracial marriage were violations of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. That made it illegal for individual states to restrict interracial marriage. To read a summary of the Supreme Court case, click here.
2. More recently, the ruling on Loving v. Virginia has been utilized to argue that laws banning same-sex marriages were also unconstitutional. Between 2012 and 2014, plaintiffs from multiple states filed in state courts to overturn state laws that criminalized same-sex marriages. While several district courts found these laws to be unconstitutional, one district court ruled in favor of the constitutionality of these laws. With the split between courts, the case rose to the level of the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 2015 that all states must perform and recognize marriages between same-sex couples (Obergefell v. Hodges).
Of note is that while the 1967 decision to legalize interracial marriage was a unanimous decision, the 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage was closely contested among the Court members and passed by a narrow 5-4 margin. How would you interpret the differentiated results of these decisions? It appears that there is still disagreement amongst the most powerful in this country about whether the language in the Fourteenth Amendment applies to marriage, gay and lesbian people, or neither. The Amendment states in part: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
From Loving v. Virginia (1967) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), we can derive some understanding that governments influence whom we marry, how we divorce, and the legal relationships, rights, benefits, and taxes related to parenting, kinship structures, and children. Critically we must note that the government places value on socially constructed differences such as race, ethnicity, and sexuality in ways that impact individual and family choice.
Laws are only one of the ways that government impacts family composition. Consider the federal government’s role in taxing individuals and families and then providing redistribution of that money via benefits. Benefits such as food stamps, Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), K-12 school lunches, and financial aid for college are all distributed and regulated by the government. Tax credits, such as the Child and Dependent Care Credit, are driven by the government’s definition related to that specific tax. Specifically, the government’s definitions of eligibility and family structure impact who receives benefits and how much they receive. If the government defines “family” or “dependent” in a specific way, does that impact how families form? For example, college financial aid does not count the income of a roommate or domestic partner in an applicant’s income, but it does count the income of a spouse. Might this influence a college student’s decision to marry? While this union is not criminalized as the previous two examples were, it is still impacted by the government’s criteria related to distributing benefits. Some of us might decide to marry or not to marry based on the federal government’s criteria for benefits or taxes.
Family Residence, Kinship Structure, and Equity
While co-residence is considered by many family theorists to be a pillar of the definition of family, it is important to note that not all families live together. In fact, the U.S. government has played a role in separating family members from one another (immigrant and enslaved families in particular).
Sometimes the United States has been idealized as a “melting pot” or even a “salad bowl” of cultures and ethnicities. People often immigrate to this country to make a better life for themselves and their families. The borders of the United States were open up until the late 1800s, when the first restrictive immigration law was enacted: the Page Act of 1875, which excluded Chinese women. This act separated families and was intended to discourage Chinese laborers from staying in the United States.
By 1882, Chinese men were excluded as well. Since that time, there have been numerous restrictive versions of immigration laws in the United States, most of them targeting people from Asian and Latin American countries. Wikipedia provides a list of major immigration laws from 1790 through 2012 here. And in this article in The Atlantic magazine, more recent laws and practices are discussed. In combination with these laws, the United States has continued to rely on immigrant labor to perform less desirable and lower-paying jobs, specifically in agriculture, sanitation, service, and cleaning. There will be more discussion of the effects on these families in the food, employment, and housing chapters. Restrictive immigration laws and policies have contributed to the formation of involuntary transnational families, families whose members live on different continents and/or in different countries.
Another related idealization of the United States originates in the Declaration of Independence, which states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”[1] It is difficult to defend equality as a fundamental right, both when the document was written and today as well. The most obvious example is the enslavement of people from Africa, who were intentionally imprisoned and brought to this country for that purpose. The Declaration of Independence goes on to describe the institution of governments to secure these rights. But the government specifically secured the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for one group of people (Euro-Americans), enslaved another group (African Americans), and used legal means to oppress Native Americans and immigrants.
Slavery dramatically affected family formations and kinship structures. Because human beings were considered property, their family ties were not respected, which meant that children were habitually separated from parents, adults were not able to marry at will, and common-law spouses were removed from one another at the will of the “owner.” Violence against women in the form of rape resulted in parenting relationships that were structured and controlled by the owners. To understand in more about the treatment of people who were enslaved, read Boundless US History’s chapter about slave treatment, sexual abuses, and publications about maintaining White dominance.
During the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, both free and enslaved African Americans played active roles. About 20% of enslaved people escaped and sought sanctuary amongst Native Americans or the British during the war. Many fought in the war, including Private Lemuel Haynes, who believed that the revolution should also be a war against slavery. He rebutted The Declaration of Independence, saying the document’s principle of freedom should put an end to slavery. Thousands of Black fighters for freedom participated in the emancipation of the United States from Britain.[2]
As Dean Spade writes in the introduction to Normal Life:
Social movements engaged in resistance have given us a very different portrayal of the United States than what is taught in most elementary school classrooms and textbooks. The patriotic narrative delivered at school tells us a few key lies about US law and politics: that the United States is a democracy in which law and policy derive from what majority of people think is best, that the United States used to be racist and sexist but is now fair and neutral thanks to changes in the law, and that if particular groups experience harm, they can appeal to the law for protection. Social movements have challenged this narrative, identifying the United States as a settler colony and a racial project, founded and built through genocide and enslavement. They have shown that the United States has always had laws that arrange people through categories of indigeneity, race, gender, ability, and national origin to produce populations with different levels of vulnerability to economic exploitation, violence, and poverty.[3]
Conclusion
In this text we will discuss the ways in which social institutions and processes continue to reinforce the inequities created within the original formation of the United States. We will focus on the federal government and the tension that exists between federal powers and state’s rights, which often leads to inequities amongst American families. We will examine other social institutions such as school systems, health care/insurance structures, the economy, businesses, and places of worship. We will look at the bi-directional nature of people and institutions: the ways that individuals and families organize to create social movements that influence existing practices and structures, and the ways those practices and structures influence people.
By examining the existing structures that limit families, we strive to be a part of the change that will transform our institutions, societal views, and processes in a way that increases and supports equity for all families.
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Figure 1.19. “Dates of repeal of US anti-miscegenation laws by state” by Certes. License: CC BY 3.0. Modification: moved key closer to image.
Figure 1.20. Photo by Zackary Drucker as part of Broadly’s Gender Spectrum Collection. License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Figure 1.21. “Chinese miners Idaho Springs” by Dr. James Underhill. Public domain.
Figure 1.22. “LGBTQ employment rights” by Victoria Pickering. License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
1. Jefferson, T., et al. (1776, July 4). The declaration of independence [transcription]. National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/founding-do...ion-transcript
2. Ortiz, P. (2018). An African American and Latinx history of the United States. Beacon Press. ↵
3. Spade, D. (2015). Normal life: Administrative violence, critical trans politics, and the limits of law (Revised and expanded edition). Duke University Press. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/01%3A_Social_Constructions/1.04%3A_The_U.S._Government_and_Families.txt |
As you read this chapter, consider the following questions:
1. What can you expect to learn from studying families?
2. How will studying families impact your family and your work life in the future?
3. What are the main methods for researching families?
4. What are the nuances of objectivity?
5. How will cultural humility help you understand other people?
6. What are the major theoretical perspectives? Which ones make the most sense to you?
7. What is a social problem? What social problems do you have experience with?
8. How will having a sociological imagination and understanding equity equip you to learn about families in the United States?
2.02: How and Why we Study Families
Families and kinship are of great interest to all of us. We all have a family, whether or not that family meets the socially constructed definitions of family that are common in the United States. Paul Amato separates the definition of family into the “objective” and the “subjective”.[1] The objective definitions are often provided by governmental structures. Employers, schools and agencies also rely on these definitions.
Subjective definitions are both richer in context and more complicated to explain. We can define for ourselves whom we consider to be family members. When we are discussing equity and families we must attend to the subjective definitions. Because it is only by measuring the experiences of all families in the United States (whether or not they are sanctioned or favored by programs and societal preferences) that we can really perceive how privilege, power, and discrimination affect families
We study families in order to better understand ourselves. When we can see our own family within the greater context of the experiences of other families and societal influences and trends, we understand ourselves better. Being able to relate your own experiences to these greater forces and interactions with the world is called the sociological imagination. C Wright Mills created this term in 1959 in order to help explain the ways that the field of sociology contributes to both everyday life and academia.[2] Throughout this course and this text you will be given opportunities to develop your sociological imagination. Ask yourself how your own family’s experiences relate to the broad trends and events in this country. Where do you fit? Or find yourself as an outlier, differing from other members of your family, social group, or society?
We also study families in order to better understand other families and society. In this way we recognize both the uniqueness of each family and the ways in which groups share identities and experiences. Let’s say that you feel familiar with the experience of a rural student family, because you are a student and you live in a rural community. You may be able to speak very eloquently to the challenges students are facing today, and what living in a rural setting means about your access to education, medical care, healthy food, and transportation. At the same time, you cannot speak for all rural student families, because every family has a unique history and set of circumstances that also affects their lives. So part of your job in studying families is to listen and understand how those other rural student families experience life, what their strengths are, and what they need.
Simultaneously we study families in this class to understand the circumstances and experiences of families that we have never met. It’s even more important to “listen” to and understand families whom we might see as quite different from us. You might easily see the differences between a family that has emigrated to the United States in the past ten years as compared to a family made up of people who have lived in the United States for several generations. Could you imagine living in a country that uses a different language than you grew up speaking? Or visa versa? While we might quickly identify those kinds of differences, we need to study more deeply to understand at least two other themes: how our families share similar love, goals, and needs and how our families may be treated differently by the institutions and the society of the United States. The greater our ability to comprehend each other’s experiences, the more likelihood we will be able to better understand how families are similar in what they need and what they do, and what the differences are amongst what families experience in the United States.
We study families to make a difference in our everyday lives: to better understand our own families, our neighbors, and our friends. Studying families also helps us in our work lives. All of us will work with a diverse group of individuals, all of whom have families. Whether you are a teacher who influences the next generation, a business owner who coordinates benefits for your employees, a marketing director who designs advertising campaigns, a computer programmer who creates code, or a social worker who helps people solve life problems, you will both work alongside a group of diverse individuals who have families, and you will have clients, consumers, or customers who are members of this diverse country, the United States.
Research
Much of what we know about families and kinship comes from research conducted in the United States and in other countries. In order to be a critical consumer of research, it is helpful to understand what methodologies are used, and what their strengths and limitations are. In addition, it is useful to be aware that there are myths and beliefs that we hold because society has created and reinforced them. When learning new information we must be prepared to question our own long-held beliefs in order to incorporate greater understanding. Finally, there are both concepts and theories relevant to the study of families; these will greatly enhance your deeper comprehension of the material that we explore in this text.
Sound research is an essential tool for understanding the sources, dynamics, and consequences of social problems and possible solutions to them. Table 2.1 briefly describes the major ways in which sociologists gather information, the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Method Advantages Disadvantages
Survey Many people can be included. If given to a random sample of the population, a survey’s results can be generalized to the population. Large surveys are expensive and time consuming. Although much information is gathered, this information is relatively superficial.
Experiments If random assignment is used, experiments provide fairly convincing data on cause and effect. Because experiments do not involve random samples of the population and most often involve college students, their results cannot readily be generalized to the population.
Observation (field research) Observational studies may provide rich, detailed information about the people who are observed. Because observation studies do not involve random samples of the population, their results cannot readily be generalized to the population.
Existing Data Because existing data have already been gathered, the researcher does not have to spend the time and money to gather data. The data set that is being analyzed may not contain data on all the variables in which a sociologist is interested or may contain data on variables that are not measured in ways the sociologist prefers.
Table 2.1. Advantages and disadvantages of sociological data collection methods.
Surveys
The survey is the most common method by which sociologists gather their data. The Gallup poll is perhaps the most well-known example of a survey and, like all surveys, gathers its data with the help of a questionnaire that is given to a group of respondents. The Gallup poll is an example of a survey conducted by a private organization, but sociologists do their own surveys, as does the government and many organizations in addition to Gallup. Many surveys are administered to respondents who are randomly chosen and thus constitute a random sample. In a random sample, everyone in the population (whether it be the whole US population or just the population of a state or city, all the college students in a state or city or all the students at just one college, etc.) has the same chance of being included in the survey. The beauty of a random sample is that it allows us to generalize the results of the sample to the population from which the sample comes. This means that we can be fairly sure of the behavior and attitudes of the whole US population by knowing the behavior and attitudes of just four hundred people randomly chosen from that population.
Some surveys are face-to-face surveys, in which interviewers meet with respondents to ask them questions. This type of survey can yield much information, because interviewers typically will spend at least an hour asking their questions, and a high response rate (the percentage of all people in the sample who agree to be interviewed), which is important to be able to generalize the survey’s results to the entire population. On the downside, this type of survey can be very expensive and time consuming to conduct.
Because of these drawbacks, sociologists and other researchers have turned to telephone surveys. Most Gallup polls are conducted over the telephone. Computers do random-digit dialing, which results in a random sample of all telephone numbers being selected. Although the response rate and the number of questions asked are both lower than in face-to-face surveys (people can just hang up the phone at the outset or let their answering machine take the call), the ease and low expense of telephone surveys are making them increasingly popular. Surveys done over the Internet are also becoming more popular, as they can reach many people at very low expense. A major problem with web surveys is that their results cannot necessarily be generalized to the entire population because not everyone has access to the Internet.
Surveys are used in the study of social problems to gather information about the behavior and attitudes of people regarding one or more problems. For example, many surveys ask people about their use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs or about their experiences of being unemployed or in poor health. Many of the chapters in this book will present evidence gathered by surveys carried out by sociologists and other social scientists, various governmental agencies, and private research and public interest firms.
Experiments
Experiments are the primary form of research in the natural and physical sciences, but in the social sciences they are for the most part found only in psychology. Some sociologists still use experiments, however, and they remain a powerful tool of social research.
The major advantage of experiments, whether they are done in the natural and physical sciences or in the social sciences, is that the researcher can be fairly sure of a cause-and-effect relationship because of the way the experiment is set up. Although many different experimental designs exist, the typical experiment consists of an experimental group and a control group, with subjects randomly assigned to either group. The researcher does something to the experimental group that is not done to the control group. If the two groups differ later in some variable, then it is safe to say that the condition to which the experimental group was subjected was responsible for the difference that resulted.
Most experiments take place in the laboratory, which for psychologists may be a room with a one-way mirror, but some experiments occur in the field, or in a natural setting (field experiments). In Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the early 1980s, sociologists were involved in a much-discussed field experiment sponsored by the federal government. The researchers wanted to see whether arresting men for domestic violence made it less likely that they would commit such violence again. To test this hypothesis, the researchers had police do one of the following after arriving at the scene of a domestic dispute: They either arrested the suspect, separated him from his wife or partner for several hours, or warned him to stop but did not arrest or separate him. The researchers then determined the percentage of men in each group who committed repeated domestic violence during the next six months and found that those who were arrested had the lowest rate of recidivism, or repeat offending[3]. This finding led many jurisdictions across the United States to adopt a policy of mandatory arrest for domestic violence suspects. However, replications of the Minneapolis experiment in other cities found that arrest sometimes reduced recidivism for domestic violence but also sometimes increased it, depending on which city was being studied and on certain characteristics of the suspects, including whether they were employed at the time of their arrest.[4]
As the Minneapolis study suggests, perhaps the most important problem with experiments is that their results are not generalizable beyond the specific subjects studied. The subjects in most psychology experiments, for example, are college students, who obviously are not typical of average Americans: They are younger, more educated, and more likely to be middle class. Despite this problem, experiments in psychology and other social sciences have given us very valuable insights into the sources of attitudes and behavior. Scholars of social problems are increasingly using field experiments to study the effectiveness of various policies and programs aimed at addressing social problems. We will examine the results of several such experiments in the chapters ahead.
Observational Studies
Observational research, also called field research, is a staple of sociology. Sociologists have long gone into the field to observe people and social settings, and the result has been many rich descriptions and analyses of behavior in juvenile gangs, bars, urban street corners, and even whole communities.
Observational studies consist of both participant observation and nonparticipant observation. Their names describe how they differ. In participant observation, the researcher is part of the group that she or he is studying, spends time with the group, and might even live with people in the group. Several classical social problems studies of this type exist, many of them involving people in urban neighborhoods.[5][6][7] In nonparticipant observation, the researcher observes a group of people but does not otherwise interact with them. If you went to your local shopping mall to observe, say, whether people walking with children looked happier than people without children, you would be engaging in nonparticipant observation.
Similar to experiments, observational studies cannot automatically be generalized to other settings or members of the population. But in many ways they provide a richer account of people’s lives than surveys do, and they remain an important method of research on social problems.
Existing Data
Sometimes sociologists do not gather their own data but instead analyze existing data that someone else has gathered. The US Census Bureau, for example, gathers data on all kinds of areas relevant to the lives of Americans, and many sociologists analyze census data on such social problems as poverty, unemployment, and illness. Sociologists interested in crime and the criminal justice system may analyze data from court records, while medical sociologists often analyze data from patient records at hospitals. Analysis of existing data such as these is called secondary data analysis. Its advantage to sociologists is that someone else has already spent the time and money to gather the data. A disadvantage is that the data set being analyzed may not contain data on all the topics in which a sociologist may be interested or may contain data on topics that are not measured in ways the sociologist might prefer.
The Scientific Method and Objectivity
This section began by stressing the need for sound research in the study of social problems. But what are the elements of sound research? At a minimum, such research should follow the rules of the scientific method. As you probably learned in high school and/or college science classes, these rules—formulating hypotheses, gathering and testing data, drawing conclusions, and so forth—help guarantee that research yields the most accurate and reliable conclusions possible.
An overriding principle of the scientific method is that research should be conducted as objectively as possible. Researchers are often passionate about their work, but they must take care not to let the findings they expect and even hope to uncover affect how they do their research. This in turn means that they must not conduct their research in a manner that helps achieve the results they expect to find. Such bias can happen unconsciously, and the scientific method helps reduce the potential for this bias as much as possible.
This potential is arguably greater in the social sciences than in the natural and physical sciences. The political views of chemists and physicists typically do not affect how an experiment is performed and how the outcome of the experiment is interpreted. In contrast, researchers in the social sciences, and perhaps particularly in sociology, often have strong feelings about the topics they are studying. Their social and political beliefs may thus influence how they perform their research on these topics and how they interpret the results of this research. Following the scientific method helps reduce this possible influence.
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
“Research” is adapted from “Understanding Social Problems” in Social Problems: Continuity and Change by Anonymous. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Adaptation: edited for clarity and relevance.
1. Amato, P. R. (2019). What is a family? National Council on Family Relations. Retrieved December 31, 2019, from https://www.ncfr.org/ncfr-report/pas...14/what-family
2. Wright Mills, C. (1959). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press. Retrieved December 31, 2019, from https://sites.middlebury.edu/utopias...he-Promise.pdf
3. Sherman, L. W., & Berk, R. A. (1984). The specific deterrent effects of arrest for domestic assault. American Sociological Review, 49(2), 261. doi.org/10.2307/2095575 ↵
4. Sherman, L. W. (1992). Policing domestic violence: Experiments and dilemmas. Free Press ↵
5. Liebow, E. (1967). Tally’s corner. Little, Brown. ↵
6. Liebow, E. (1993). Tell them who I am: The lives of homeless women. Free Press ↵
7. Whyte, W. F. (1943). Street corner society: The social structure of an Italian slum. University of Chicago Press ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/02%3A_Studying_Families/2.01%3A_Studying_Families_Preview_Questions.txt |
One of the most important aspects of learning about families and equity is you, the learner. In order for your brain to change, to adapt, to assimilate new information you will need to work at it. Reading, writing, and discussing the material is not enough. It’s a start, but the disposition that you bring to this experience will make a large impact on what you learn. Are you willing to set aside existing assumptions and ideas when you read something that doesn’t make sense to you at first? Are you willing to question beliefs that may be ingrained in multiple generations of your own family or kinship group? Are you willing to be uncomfortable? Dispositions that are open to trying out new ideas and ways of thinking will help you and your brain grow. We will talk about three of those here: cognitive and emotional perspective taking, objectivity, and cultural humility.
Cognitive and Emotional perspective taking
To understand the diversity of family experience in the United States, students will need to practice “putting yourself in another person’s shoes”. Seeing that people have beliefs, values, emotions, and responses that can overlap with and differ from our own will expose the richness and depth of family life. It is important to note that we cannot always predict how we (or someone else!) will respond given a particular circumstance. Instead, it is our work as students to “listen”, understand, and learn more about what families experience and how they function in the United States. In particular it is critical to “listen” to those we perceive as belonging to different social groups than ourselves. By adopting an attitude of listening, rather than of judging, we will increase our own knowledge base.
Objectivity
Every human being has a unique set of characteristics, experiences, and beliefs. This is part of what makes us human: our abilities to think, reflect, and form conclusions based on our particular set of circumstances. This is true of social scientists as well, the human beings who study other humans, our social groups, and interactions. We rely on empirical research, data which is collected and analyzed by social scientists, to learn about individuals and families. These scientists emerge from a variety of disciplines including Anthropology, Education, Human Development and Family Sciences, Psychology and Sociology. They share the research principle that scientists must do their best to set aside their own beliefs and experiences in order to influence the study or analysis that they are conducting. Creating objectivity is considered crucial to the scientific method which includes formulating a hypothesis that is then tested via the collection and analysis of information. At the same time, we must acknowledge that this method and theory was created and validated almost exclusively by people of one gender and one race (male and European, or White) and there is room for refinement of this thinking.
The feminist perspective (described in the Theories Table below) introduces some complexity to the idea of objectivity by emphasizing that in order to truly understand our social structure, researchers must acknowledge that every human being (themselves included) brings their own viewpoint based on their unique set of social characteristics to their work. Scientists must understand their own perspective, or bias, in order to do their best to both recognize the impact of their own viewpoint and to attempt to set it aside while collecting and analyzing information.
Cultural Humility
Figure 2.1. Understanding different cultures is crucial in our interconnected world.
As our world becomes increasingly diverse and interconnected, understanding different cultures becomes crucial. Without a basic understanding of the beliefs and experiences of individuals, professionals can unintentionally contribute to prejudice and discrimination or negatively impact professional relationships and effectiveness of services. To understand cultural experiences, it is important to consider the context of social identity, history, and individual and community experiences with prejudice and discrimination. It is also important to acknowledge that our understanding of cultural differences evolves through an ongoing learning process.[1]
Cultural competence is generally defined as possessing the skills and knowledge of a culture in order to effectively work with individual members of the culture. This definition includes an appreciation of cultural differences and the ability to effectively work with individuals. The assumption that any individual can gain enough knowledge or competence to understand the experiences of members of any culture, however, is problematic. Gaining expertise in cultural competence as traditionally defined seems unattainable, as it involves the need for knowledge and mastery. Instead, true cultural competence requires engaging in an ongoing process of learning about the experiences of other cultures.[2] Further reading on cultural competence by Stanley Sue can be found here.
Cultural humility is the ability to remain open to learning about other cultures while acknowledging one’s own lack of competence and recognizing power dynamics that impact the relationship. Within cultural humility it is important to engage in continuous self-reflection, recognize the impact of power dynamics on individuals and communities, embrace “not knowing”, and commit to lifelong learning. This approach to diversity encourages a curious spirit and the ability to openly engage with others in the process of learning about a different culture. As a result, it is important to address power imbalances and develop meaningful relationships with community members in order to create positive change. A guide to cultural humility is offered by Culturally Connected.
Dimensions of Diversity
Although it is impossible to discuss all of the dimensions of human diversity in this section, we present some common dimensions that will be discussed in this text. We also acknowledge the importance of intersectionality, which was described in the Introductory chapter and the process of cultural humility in understanding diversity.
“Culture is something that unites people.” –Anastasiya O., Russia
Culture
Culture is an important dimension of diversity for community psychologists to examine. In general, culture has been challenging to define, with modern definitions viewing culture as a dynamic concept that changes both individuals and societies together over time. Further, culture in today’s society refers to more than just cultural and ethnic groups but also includes racial groups, religious groups, sexual minority groups, socioeconomic groups, nation-states, and corporations. While numerous definitions for culture are available, there are key defining components, such as shared meanings and shared experiences by individuals in a group that are passed down over time with each generation. That is, cultures have shared beliefs, values, practices, definitions, and other elements that are expressed through family socialization, formal schooling, shared language, social roles, and norms for feeling, thinking, and acting.[3]
Culture can be examined at multiple ecological levels to understand its impact. This means that culture can influence the norms and practices of individuals, families, organizations, local communities, and the broader society. For example, cultural influences can have an impact on how members function and interact with one another. Further, culture should be understood within a broader context of power relationships, and how power is used and distributed.[4]
Race
While physical differences often are used to define race, in general, there is no consensus for this term. Typically, race has been defined using observable physical or biological criteria, such as skin color, hair color or texture, facial features, etc. However, these biological assumptions of race have been determined to be inaccurate and harmful by biologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and other scientists. Research has proven no biological foundations to race and that human racial groups are more alike than different; in fact, most genetic variation exists within racial groups rather than between groups. Therefore, racial differences in areas such as academics or intelligence are not based on biological differences but are instead related to economic, historical, and social factors.[5]
Instead, race has been socially constructed and has different social and psychological meanings in many societies.[6] In the US, people of color experience more racial prejudice and discrimination than White people. The meanings and definitions of race have also changed over time and are often driven by policies and laws (e.g., one drop rule or laws).
Case Study 8.1
Is Race a Selected Identity?
Rachel Dolezal, also known as Nkechi Amare Diallo, was born to White parents with no known African ancestry. As a young adult, she became involved in civil rights, became a college instructor of Africana Studies, and began self-identifying as a
Figure 2.5. Definitions of race have also changed over time and are often driven by policies and laws.
Black woman. She even became president of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She
resigned from her position with the NAACP and was dismissed from her role as an instructor after information surfaced casting doubt upon her racial heritage. She later acknowledged that she was born to White parents but continued to insist that she strongly identifies as a Black woman. Read more here.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity refers to one’s social identity based on the culture of origin, ancestry, or affiliation with a cultural group.[7] Ethnicity is not the same as nationality, which is a person’s status of belonging to a specific nation by birth or citizenship (e.g., an individual can be of Japanese ethnicity but British nationality because they were born in the United Kingdom). Ethnicity is defined by aspects of subjective culture such as customs, language, and social ties.[8]
While ethnic groups are combined into broad categories for research or demographic purposes in the US, there are many ethnicities among the ones you may be familiar with. Latina/o/x or Hispanic may refer to persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Spanish, Dominican, or many other ancestries. Asian Americans have roots from over 20 countries in Asia and India, with the six largest Asian ethnic subgroups in the US being the Chinese, Asian Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Japanese (read more here).
Gender
Gender refers to the socially constructed perceptions of what it means to be male or female in our society and how those genders may be reflected and interpreted by society. Gender is different from sex, which is a biological descriptor involving chromosomes and internal/external reproductive organs. As a socially constructed concept, gender has magnified the perceived differences between females and males leading to limitations in attitudes, roles, and how social institutions are organized. For example, how do gender norms influence types of jobs viewed as appropriate or not appropriate for women or men? How are household or parenting responsibilities divided between men and women?
Figure 2.7. Gender identity is different from sex.
Gender is not just a demographic category but also influences gender norms, the distribution of power and resources, access to opportunities, and other important processes.[9] For those who live outside of these traditional expectations for gender, the experience can be challenging. In general, the binary categories for sex, gender, gender identity, and so forth have received the most attention from both society and the research community, with only more attention to other gender identities (e.g., gender-neutral, transgender, nonbinary, and GenderQueer) in recent years.[10]
But the attention to other gender identities is increasing, both academically and publicly. One example is the case of Nicole Maines challenging her elementary school’s restroom policy, which resulted in a victory when the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that she had been excluded from the restroom because of her transgender identity. While community psychologists are making efforts to conduct more research on the various gender identities on the gender spectrum, more research needs to continue in this area.
Age
Age describes the developmental changes and transitions that come with being a child, adolescent, or adult. Power dynamics, relationships, physical and psychological health concerns, community participation, life satisfaction, and so forth can all vary for these different age groups.[11] Although the field has started to include aging issues in research, Cheng and Heller searched for publications on older adults in major Community Psychology journals and found that this segment of the population has been neglected.[12] Although the skills, values, and training of community psychologists would likely make a difference in the lives of older adults, the attitudes within our profession and society are current barriers.
Social Class
Like the other components of diversity, social class is socially constructed and can affect our choices and opportunities. This dimension can include a person’s income or material wealth, educational status, and/or occupational status. It can include assumptions about where a person belongs in society and indicate differences in power, privilege, economic opportunities and resources, and social capital. Social class and culture can also shape a person’s worldview or understanding of the world; influencing how they feel, act, and fit in; and impacting the types of schools they attend, access to health care, or jobs they work at throughout life. The differences in norms, values, and practices between lower and upper social classes can also have impacts on well-being and health outcomes.[13] Social class and its intersection with other components of one’s identity are important for community psychologists to understand. Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? is a seven-part documentary that focuses on the connection between social class, racism, and health.
Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation refers to a person’s emotional, romantic, erotic, and spiritual attractions toward another in relation to their own sex or gender. The definition focuses on feelings rather than behaviors since individuals who identify with a minority sexual orientation experience significant stigma and oppression in our society.[14] Sexual orientation exists on a continuum or multiple continuums and crosses all dimensions of diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity, social class, ability, religion, etc.). Sexual orientation is different from gender identity or gender expression. Over time, gay, lesbian, asexual, and bisexual identities have extended to other sexual orientations such as pansexual, polysexual, and fluid, and increasingly more research is being conducted on these populations within the field of Community Psychology.[15] As a historically marginalized and oppressed group with inadequate representation in the literature, sexual minority groups face a variety of problems and issues that necessitate further research. The empowering and participatory approaches and methods used in Community Psychology can be beneficial for research with sexual minority groups.
Ability/Disability
Disabilities refer to visible or hidden and temporary or permanent conditions that provide barriers or challenges, and impact individuals of every age and social group. Traditional views of disability follow a medical model, primarily explaining diagnoses and treatment models from a pathological perspective.[16] In this traditional approach, individuals diagnosed with a disability are often discussed as objects of study instead of complex individuals impacted by their environment. A social model of ability, which is the perspective of these authors, views diagnoses from a social and environmental perspective and considers multiple ecological levels. The experiences of individuals are strongly valued, and community-based participatory research is a valuable way to explore experiences while empowering members of a community with varying levels of ability/disability. Learn more by watching the Employment Choice for People with Severe Physical Disabilities video.
Culture must be considered when viewing ability from a social perspective[17], and may impact whether or not certain behaviors are considered sufficient for inclusion in a diagnosis. For example, cultural differences in the assessment of “typical” development have impacted the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in different countries. Further, diagnoses or symptoms can be culturally-specific, and culture may influence how symptoms are communicated. The experience of culture can significantly impact lived experience for individuals diagnosed with a disability.
It is important to consider how intersectionality impacts the experience of disability. For example, students of color and other underserved groups have a higher rate of diagnosis of learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disabilities, and intellectual disabilities,[18] which may be due to economic, historical, and social factors. Diagnosis must be considered as disabled youth are at a disadvantage in a number of indicators of educational performance, leading to more substantial disparities later in life.
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
“Cultural Humility,” “Dimensions of Diversity,” “Race,” “Gender,” “Age,” “Sexual Orientation,” and “Ability/Disability,” are adapted from “Respect for Diversity” by Nghi D. Thai and Ashlee Lien in II ntroduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an Agent of Change, Rebus Community. License: CC BY 4.0. Adaptation: Edited for clarity and relevance.
Figure 2. 1. Photo by stokpic. License: Pixabay License.
Figure 2.2. Photo by geralt. License: Pixabay License.
Figure 2.3. “Harmony Day (5475651018)” by DIAC images . License: CC BY 2.0.
Figure 2.4. Photo by OpenClipart-Vectors. License: Pixabay License.
Figure 2.5. Photo by johnhain. License: Pixabay License.
Figure 2.6. “Elderly Japanese Women” by Teo Romera. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Figure 2.7. Photo by OpenClipart-Vectors. License: Pixabay License.
Figure 2.8. Photo by OpenClipart-Vectors. License: Pixabay License.
Figure 2.9. “Homeless“by born1945. License: CC BY 2.0.
Figure 2.10. “SCOTUS APRIL 2015 LGBTQ 54663” by Ted Eytan. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Figure 2.11. “20180611_Special Olympics_01687” by Special Olympics nationale Sommerspiele 2018. License: CC0 1.0.
1. Tervalon, M., & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9(2), 117-125. ↵
2. Tervalon, M., & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9(2), 117-125. ↵
3. Cohen, A. B. (2009). Many forms of culture. American Psychologist, 64(3), 194-204. ↵
4. Trickett, E. J. (2011). From “Water boiling in a Peruvian town” to “Letting them die”: Culture, community intervention, and the metabolic balance between patience and zeal. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 58-68. ↵
5. Betancourt, H., & Lopez, S. R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48(6), 629-637. ↵
6. Betancourt, H., & Lopez, S. R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48(6), 629-637. ↵
7. Pinderhughes, E. (1989). Understanding race, ethnicity and power: The key to efficacy in clinical practice. Basic Books. ↵
8. Resnicow, K., Braithwaite, R., Ahluwalia, J., & Baranowski, T. (1999). Cultural sensitivity in public health: Defined and demystified. Ethnicity & Disease, 9, 10-21. ↵
9. Bond, M. A. (1999). Gender, race, and class in organizational contexts. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(3), 327-355. ↵
10. Kosciw, J. G., Palmer, N. A., & Kull, R. M. (2015). Reflecting resiliency: Openness about sexual orientation and/or gender identity and its relationship to well-being and educational outcomes for LGBT students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 55, 167-178. ↵
11. Cheng, S. T., & Heller, K. (2009). Global aging: Challenges for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 44, 161-173. ↵
12. Cheng, S. T., & Heller, K. (2009). Global aging: Challenges for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 44, 161-173. ↵
13. Cohen, A. B. (2009). Many forms of culture. American Psychologist, 64(3), 194-204. ↵
14. Flanders, C. E., Robinson, M., Legge, M. M., & Tarasoff, L. A. (2016). Negative identity experiences of bisexual and other non-monosexual people: A qualitative report. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 20(2), 152-172. ↵
15. Kosciw, J. G., Palmer, N. A., & Kull, R. M. (2015). Reflecting resiliency: Openness about sexual orientation and/or gender identity and its relationship to well-being and educational outcomes for LGBT students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 55, 167-178. ↵
16. Goodley, D., & Lawthom, R. (2010). Epistemological journeys in participatory action research: Alliances between community psychology and disability studies. Disability & Society, 20(2), 135-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590500059077
17. Goodley, D., & Lawthom, R. (2010). Epistemological journeys in participatory action research: Alliances between community psychology and disability studies. Disability & Society, 20(2), 135-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590500059077
18. Artiles, A. J., Kozleski, E. B., Trent, S. C., Osher, D., & Ortiz, A. (2010). Justifying and explaining disproportionality, 1968-2008: A critique of underlying views of culture. Exceptional Children, 76(3), 279-299. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440291007600303 | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/02%3A_Studying_Families/2.03%3A_Learning_Dispositions.txt |
We will examine families from a variety of theoretical perspectives. A theoretical perspective, or more briefly, a “theory” is not just an idea that someone has. Rather it is a structural framework, explanation, or tool that has been tested and evaluated over time. Theories are developed and utilized via scholarship, research, discussion, and debate. Theories help us to understand the world in general, and in this instance the ways in which families form, function, interact with, and experience the world. In addition, we will define several key concepts important to your understanding of equity and families in this course.
Because the study of families overlaps several disciplines, we will utilize sociological, human development, psychological, and anthropological theories and concepts.
Play this video to learn about five of the foundational theories related to the study of families: Social Exchange, Symbolic Interaction, Feminist, Postmodern, and Life Course. (It is recommended that you play it at 1.25x speed and you can disregard the references to chapter numbers)
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=626
Here is a summary table of these five theories and a couple of others that are commonly used in this field and that will be discussed in this text.
Table 2.2. Foundational theories related to the study of families.
Important
Conflict Opposition, power, and conflict within the family and society are needed for society to develop and change Emphasizes the competing interests of familial roles including the male dominating the family and providing stability to society
Ecological Systems Individuals are part of a group of concentric systems that impact their development and growth. Children are influenced by the people and environments in which they spend the most time,, as well as the greater social events, trends and values. Micro, Meso, Exo, Macro, and Chronosystems. Urie Bronfenbrenner developed this theory in the second half of the 20th century; he influenced the creation of HeadStart in the United States.
Exchange (aka Social Exchange) Individuals have different strengths, resources and weaknesses and enter into relationships via the evaluation of benefits and costs. Emphasizes the motivation for familial relationships: that each person is giving and gaining within the family. The “breadwinner-homemaker family” is the classic example.
Feminism (aka Feminist) Society is structured in a way that privileges men over women; the theory works to understand and to transform inequalities. This theory emphasizes the way that gender roles are constructed within the family including the socialization of children. Gender differences are mostly socially constructed. This theory draws on the Conflict, Exchange, and Symbolic Interaction perspectives. Different from the Feminist Activist movement! Read and listen carefully, so that you can distinguish it.
Functionalism Social institutions function together in order to meet individual and group needs. The family can be seen as an institution (e.g. breadwinner-homemaker family) that contributes to a harmonious society Formulated originally in 19th century France, it was the dominant sociological theory in mid-20th century United States
Hierarchy of Needs Individuals meet one set of needs first in order to be motivated and able to achieve other needs. This theory influences family life in its arrangement of what needs are most important. There is evidence that indigenous cultures in North America developed a hierarchy of needs earlier than the more well-known model created by Abraham Maslow.
Life Course Significant social and historical events shape the trajectories of birth cohorts and the individuals in them. Family life is impacted by large national and international events: wars, natural disasters, pandemics, economic depressions. In particular, children and adolescents in a given cohort will be impacted by these events over time. Emerging Early Adulthood: the period of life when people shift into adulthood as they end their education, start a career and begin families. This period of life has become more varied and complex because of societal change. Do not confuse this with the Lifespan theory which has a different emphasis! Read and listen carefully, so that you can distinguish it.
Postmodern (aka Modernity) Choice and individuality are emphasized in the postmodern era. Humans are able to act in the way they choose with society and within institutions. Individuals have a much greater choice than they did in the past about how they form their families, the roles they play and who is in their family. History, family, and tradition have decreasing roles in family life. Reflexivity: the way in which people take in new information, reflect upon it, and adjust and act with new knowledge This theory is a very broad one and applies to many aspects of work, societal, and family life. Social Theorist Anthony Giddens has written about this theory.
Symbolic Interaction This theory focuses on the changing nature of symbols and the ways we interact with one another based on those symbols. Humans see themselves through the eyes of others and this affects the roles they play. Changing roles and symbols affect the ways family members interact with each other and with society. Societal expectations and social constructions of fathering and mothering roles have changed over time and this interacts with the way fathers and mothers actually behave. Interpretation of shared understandings influences how humans respond and interact. Has a basis in philosophy (George Herbert Mead) and in Sociology (Herbert Blumer.)
What is a Social Problem?
A social problem is any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed. This definition has both an objective component and a subjective component.
The objective component is this: For any condition or behavior to be considered a social problem, it must have negative consequences for large numbers of people, as each chapter of this book discusses. How do we know if a social problem has negative consequences? Reasonable people can and do disagree on whether such consequences exist and, if so, on their extent and seriousness, but ordinarily a body of data accumulates—from work by academic researchers, government agencies, and other sources—that strongly points to extensive and serious consequences. The reasons for these consequences are often hotly debated, and sometimes, as we shall see in certain chapters in this book, sometimes the very existence of these consequences is disputed. A current example is climate change: Although the overwhelming majority of climate scientists say that climate change (changes in the earth’s climate due to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) is real and serious, fewer than two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) in a 2011 poll said they “think that global warming is happening.”[1]
This type of dispute points to the subjective component of the definition of social problems: There must be a perception that a condition or behavior needs to be addressed for it to be considered a social problem. This component lies at the heart of the social constructionist view of social problems.[2] In this view, many types of negative conditions and behaviors exist. Many of these are considered sufficiently negative to acquire the status of a social problem; some do not receive this consideration and thus do not become a social problem; and some become considered a social problem only if citizens, policymakers, or other parties call attention to the condition or behavior.
The history of attention given to rape and sexual assault in the United States before and after the 1970s provides an example of this latter situation. These acts of sexual violence against women have probably occurred from the beginning of humanity and certainly were very common in the United States before the 1970s. Although men were sometimes arrested and prosecuted for rape and sexual assault, sexual violence was otherwise ignored by legal policymakers and received little attention in college textbooks and the news media, and many people thought that rape and sexual assault were just something that happened.[3] Thus although sexual violence existed, it was not considered a social problem. When the contemporary women’s movement began in the late 1970s, it soon focused on rape and sexual assault as serious crimes and as manifestations of women’s inequality. Thanks to this focus, rape and sexual assault eventually entered the public consciousness, views of these crimes began to change, and legal policymakers began to give them more attention. In short, sexual violence against women became a social problem.
The social constructionist view raises an interesting question: When is a social problem a social problem? According to some sociologists who adopt this view, negative conditions and behaviors are not a social problem unless they are recognized as such by policymakers, large numbers of lay citizens, or other segments of our society; these sociologists would thus say that rape and sexual assault before the 1970s were not a social problem because our society as a whole paid them little attention. Other sociologists say that negative conditions and behaviors should be considered a social problem even if they receive little or no attention; these sociologists would thus say that rape and sexual assault before the 1970s were a social problem.
This type of debate is probably akin to the age-old question: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, is a sound made? As such, it is not easy to answer, but it does reinforce one of the key beliefs of the social constructionist view: Perception matters at least as much as reality, and sometimes more so. In line with this belief, social constructionism emphasizes that citizens, interest groups, policymakers, and other parties often compete to influence popular perceptions of many types of conditions and behaviors. They try to influence news media coverage and popular views of the nature and extent of any negative consequences that may be occurring, the reasons underlying the condition or behavior in question, and possible solutions to the problem.
Social constructionism’s emphasis on perception has a provocative implication: Just as a condition or behavior may not be considered a social problem even if there is strong basis for this perception, so may a condition or behavior be considered a social problem even if there is little or no basis for this perception. The “issue” of women in college provides a historical example of this latter possibility. In the late 1800s, leading physicians and medical researchers in the United States wrote journal articles, textbooks, and newspaper columns in which they warned women not to go to college. The reason? They feared that the stress of college would disrupt women’s menstrual cycles, and they also feared that women would not do well in exams during “that time of the month.” [4] We now know better, of course, but the sexist beliefs of these writers turned the idea of women going to college into a social problem and helped to reinforce restrictions by colleges and universities on the admission of women.
In a related dynamic, various parties can distort certain aspects of a social problem that does exist: politicians can give speeches, the news media can use scary headlines and heavy coverage to capture readers’ or viewers’ interest, businesses can use advertising and influence news coverage. News media coverage of violent crime provides many examples of this dynamic.[5][6] The news media overdramatize violent crime, which is far less common than property crime like burglary and larceny, by featuring so many stories about it, and this coverage contributes to public fear of crime. Media stories about violent crime also tend to be more common when the accused offender is Black and the victim is White and when the offender is a juvenile. This type of coverage is thought to heighten the public’s prejudice toward African Americans and to contribute to negative views about teenagers.
The Sociological Imagination
Many individuals experience one or more social problems personally. For example, many people are poor and unemployed, many are in poor health, and many have family problems, drink too much alcohol, or commit crime. When we hear about these individuals, it is easy to think that their problems are theirs alone, and that they and other individuals with the same problems are entirely to blame for their difficulties.
Sociology takes a different approach, as it stresses that individual problems are often rooted in problems stemming from aspects of society itself. This key insight informed C. Wright Mills’s (1959) The sociological imagination. The classic distinction between personal troubles and public issues. Personal troubles refer to a problem affecting individuals that the affected individual, as well as other members of society, typically blame on the individual’s own personal and moral failings. Examples include such different problems as eating disorders, divorce, and unemployment. Public issues, whose source lies in the social structure and culture of a society, refer to social problems affecting many individuals. Problems in society thus help account for problems that individuals experience. Mills felt that many problems ordinarily considered private troubles are best understood as public issues, and he coined the term sociological imagination to refer to the ability to appreciate the structural basis for individual problems.
To illustrate Mills’s viewpoint, let’s use our sociological imaginations to understand some contemporary social problems. We will start with unemployment, which Mills himself discussed. If only a few people were unemployed, Mills wrote, we could reasonably explain their unemployment by saying they were lazy, lacked good work habits, and so forth. If so, their unemployment would be their own personal trouble. But when millions of people are out of work, unemployment is best understood as a public issue because, as Mills put it,[7] “the very structure of opportunities has collapsed. Both the correct statement of the problem and the range of possible solutions require us to consider the economic and political institutions of the society, and not merely the personal situation and character of a scatter of individuals” (p. 9).
The high US unemployment rate stemming from the severe economic downturn that began in 2008 provides a telling example of the point Mills was making. Millions of people lost their jobs through no fault of their own. While some individuals are undoubtedly unemployed because they are lazy or lack good work habits, a more structural explanation focusing on lack of opportunity is needed to explain why so many people were out of work. If so, unemployment is best understood as a public issue rather than a personal trouble.
Another social problem is eating disorders. We usually consider a person’s eating disorder to be a personal trouble that stems from a lack of control, low self-esteem, or another personal problem. This explanation may be OK as far as it goes, but it does not help us understand why so many people have the personal problems that lead to eating disorders. Perhaps more important, this belief also neglects the larger social and cultural forces that help explain such disorders. For example, most Americans with eating disorders are women, not men. This gender difference forces us to ask what it is about being a woman in American society that makes eating disorders so much more common. To begin to answer this question, we need to look to the standard of beauty for women that emphasizes a slender body.[8] If this cultural standard did not exist, far fewer American women would suffer from eating disorders than do now. Because it does exist, even if every girl and woman with an eating disorder were cured, others would take their places unless we could somehow change this standard. Viewed in this way, eating disorders are best understood as a public issue, not just as a personal trouble.
Picking up on Mills’s insights, William Ryan pointed out that Americans typically think that social problems such as poverty and unemployment stem from personal failings of the people experiencing these problems, not from structural problems in the larger society.[9] Using Mills’s terms, Americans tend to think of social problems as personal troubles rather than public issues. As Ryan put it, they tend to believe in blaming the victim rather than blaming the system.
To help us understand a blaming-the-victim ideology, let’s consider why poor children in urban areas often learn very little in their schools. According to Ryan, a blaming-the-victim approach would say the children’s parents do not care about their learning, fail to teach them good study habits, and do not encourage them to take school seriously. This type of explanation, he wrote, may apply to some parents, but it ignores a much more important reason: the sad shape of America’s urban schools, which, he said, are overcrowded, decrepit structures housing old textbooks and out-of-date equipment. To improve the schooling of children in urban areas, he wrote, we must improve the schools themselves and not just try to “improve” the parents.
As this example suggests, a blaming-the-victim approach points to solutions to social problems such as poverty and illiteracy that are very different from those suggested by a more structural approach that blames the system. If we blame the victim, we would spend our limited dollars to address the personal failings of individuals who suffer from poverty, illiteracy, poor health, eating disorders, and other difficulties. If instead we blame the system, we would focus our attention on the various social conditions (decrepit schools, cultural standards of female beauty, and the like) that account for these difficulties. A sociological understanding suggests that the latter approach is ultimately needed to help us deal successfully with the social problems facing us today.
An Equity Lens
This text is written to complement the Difference, Power, and Discrimination outcomes of Oregon State Univeristy and Linn-Benton Community College in Albany and Corvallis, Oregon. This statement appears on the Oregon State University webpage:
The Difference, Power, and Discrimination Program works with faculty across all fields and disciplines at Oregon State University to create inclusive curricula that address intersections of gender, race, class, sexual identity, age, ability, and other institutionalized systems of inequity and privilege in the United States.
Therefore, an equity lens is applied throughout the text as we aim to understand what families need, how and whether those needs are met, and the role that social institutions play in family outcomes.
To understand families from this perspective, we focus on how families experience personal troubles and social problems as well as the disproportionate ways that families experience them. In addition we talk about social justice, which has many definitions but commonly includes equal access or opportunity, equal treatment, and equal rights. In this text we will provide historical and cross-cultural context related to social justice, but focus on the current status of families in the United States. Here are two websites if you would like to know more about how social justice is defined and how to contribute to greater social justice in the United States:
You will also see thinking related to Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT). Both of these theories examine institutions and power structures. In this short video, Megan Paulson defines both theories in the first minute. She then goes on to talk about the positive effect on students of all races and ethnicities when they have usable terms and language to talk about what they experience in terms of difference in their daily lives.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=626
It is the intent of the authors of this text that students use what they learn in this class to understand their own experiences, and the experiences of others, better. Discussion in the face-to-face and online environments is encouraged. This text examines what families need, and how institutions and society can support those needs, or get in the way of meeting needs. This will lead to better understanding and analysis of how existing social processes and institutions contribute to family inequity.
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
“What is a Social Problem” and “The Sociological Imagination” are adapted from “What is a Social Problem” and “Sociological Perspectives on Social Problems” by Anonymous. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Adaptation: edited for clarity.
Figure 2.13. “Placards at the Rally To Take Rape Seriously” by Women’s ENews. License: CC BY 2.0.
Figure 2.14. “Financing Climate Change” by Visible Hand. License: CC BY 2.0.
All Rights Reserved Content
Theories and Concepts” (c) Liz Pearce. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
A Minute And Over: Critical Race Theory” (c) PhillipsAndover. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
1. Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., & Smith, N. (2011). Climate change in the American mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in May 2011. Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. ↵
2. Rubington, E., & Weinberg, M. S. (2010). The study of social problems: Seven perspectives (7th ed.). Oxford University Press. ↵
3. Allison, J. A., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1993). Rape: The misunderstood crime. Sage Publications. ↵
4. Ehrenreich, B., & English, D. (2005). For her own good: Two centuries of the experts’ advice to women (2nd ed.). Anchor Books. ↵
5. Robinson, M. B. (2011). Media coverage of crime and criminal justice. Carolina Academic Press. ↵
6. Surette, R. (2011). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images, realities, and policies (4th ed.). Wadsworth. ↵
7. Wright Mills, C. (1959). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press. ↵
8. Boyd, E. M., Reynolds, J. R., Tillman, K. H., & Martin, P. Y. (2011). Adolescent girls’ race/ethnic status, identities, and drive for thinness. Social Science Research, 40(2), 667–684. ↵
9. Ryan, W. (1976). Blaming the victim (Rev. ed.). Vintage Books ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/02%3A_Studying_Families/2.04%3A_Theoretical_Perspectives_and_Key_Concepts.txt |
As you read this chapter, consider the following questions:
1. How do socially constructed ideas affect health?
2. What is the advantage of understanding disparities related to social characteristics (race, gender, etc.)?
3. Why are people with mental illness or abuse substance disorders less likely to get medical care and support?
4. What are the challenges to all families being able to keep themselves healthy by meeting basic needs such as sleep, exercise and a good diet?
5. What is the difference between a health care system and health insurance?
6. How does family structure affect access to health insurance and health care?
7. How do geography and income level overlap when it comes to health care access?
8. What role does capitalism play in the opioid epidemic?
9. Is health a human right?
3.02: Health Wellness Sickness and Disease
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Mahatma Gandhi
Health is the “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” as defined by the World Health Organization in its Constitution.[1] The organization goes on to state that families and communities are able to thrive when individuals are able to maintain health. Our employment, finances, mental and emotional functioning, and spiritual lives all interact with our overall health.
While the status of health is very real, it is also important to examine the aspects of health and illness that are socially constructed. Society shares an assumption of reality that creates a definition of both health and illness. Illness has a biological component, yet it also embodies an independent element that is experienced by the person and observed by those outside of the illness. Societies construct the idea of “health” differently from place to place, and over time. For example, many societies consider health and health care to be a human right that all human beings are entitled to, but this is not universally true. What is your viewpoint?
The social construction of the idea of family, as discussed in the first chapter of this text, plays a special role in the health of families in the United States. In all other industrialized countries, health care is considered a human right, and all individuals access comparable care regardless of family status. But in the U.S. health care insurance is accessed through a variety of systems, all of which have age, income, employment status, and family relationships as criteria. How do definitions of “family” impact the access of any individual to health care?
Society informs the definitions for when an illness can be considered a disability, eligibility for insurance and medical coverage, what illnesses are
perceived as legitimate, when the reality of an illness is questioned, and what illnesses are stigmatized.[2] These social constructs can, in themselves, contribute to differentiation in individual health as well as stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Sociologist Erving Goffman said, “Stigma is a process by which the reaction of others spoils normal identity.” A disease or illness that is “stigmatized” is one in which there is some societal disapproval or questioning of the integrity of people who have the disease, which can also include medical professionals and the person with the disease stigmatizing themselves.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=408
The Khan Academy Medicine channel describes the interrelationship among stigma, self, and society in the seven minute video above.
There are many socially stigmatized diseases which can include mental disorders, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse disorders, skin conditions, and diseases that are less understood by the medical community such as auto-immune disorders and chronic fatigue syndrome. Individuals may be less likely to seek treatment when experiencing symptoms of a stigmatized condition. In the United States, where health insurance creates another layer of bureaucracy, less understood illnesses and treatments are less likely to be covered.Even if health care is accessed, there may be fewer social supports available, and greater chances of isolation and discrimination in the health care setting and beyond. Management of a disability because of the deterioration of health due to a stigmatized illness can prove to be a tremendous hardship.[3] It is important to consider how marginalized groups experience health inequities, including those experienced due to the stigma and prejudices linked with the societal perception of specific illnesses.
In this chapter we will examine the overall health of families in the United States, with attention to comparisons amongst families’ experiences with health, illness, injury and diseases as well as comparisons with other countries. We will describe the daily life factors and resources that affect health, including the effects of stigma, prejudice and discrimination. We will look closely at how families access health care services, including the health care insurance system. We will discuss the question of health care as a human right.
In Focus: Lung Cancer, Stigma, and Intersectionality
In a 2014 report, Addressing the Stigma of Lung Cancer, the American Lung Association (ALA) described how stigma can contribute to patients avoiding or delaying care when symptoms are experienced and how they may resist disclosing health information to providers. Patients could also experience fewer social supports, feel more distress related to the disease, experience additional conflicts in relationships, and receive lower quality of health care. The report then explained how stigma could be related to lung cancer being hard to detect early, and then being seen as a death sentence with little hope for survival. In addition to this, being labelled a smokers disease could contribute to society’s feeling that people with lung cancer are personally responsible for their disease, placing perceived shame and blame on those with the illness.
In the survey conducted by the ALA, public knowledge regarding the prevalence and mortality of the disease was lacking, as well as knowledge about the funding levels for research. Responders also did not have as much knowledge of factors other than smoking that play a part in the development of lung cancer, like genetics, occupational or environmental exposures. Lack of knowledge could play an important role in perpetuating some of the negative associations and assumptions related to lung cancer.
Lung cancer stigma has real consequences. People with lung cancer may hide their condition, and experience anxiety and depression, while also holding a perception that healthcare providers are judgmental and biased towards them and would treat them differently as a result. Research, advocacy, and public policy are also dimensions in which stigma can have negative consequences for advancing progress toward the treatment of this disease. For instance, lung cancer kills far more people than any other cancer type and contributes to over 25% of all cancer deaths per year.[4] Yet, a study of nonprofit research funding by cancer type determined that lung cancer ranked fourth in its level of funding and is underfunded in relation to its burden on society.[5] Not only are funding levels influenced by stigma, but celebrities, community leaders, and volunteers may be less likely to lend their name or volunteer their time due to negative associations with this disease.[6]
This example provides a way of analyzing how intersectionality, when multiple social identities can overlap to create unique forms of discrimination, can be illustrated through the lens of the social construction of illness. The LGBTQ+ community, for instance, already face challenges in finding health care providers who are culturally competent and have adequate knowledge in LGBTQ+ health.[7] If you couple this with the stigma related to a lung cancer diagnosis, then you are compounding the obstacles that stand in the way of receiving quality health care. One could also examine how socioeconomic status may further complicate this scenario by realizing that people living in poverty are more likely to have no health insurance, therefore restricting access even more.[8] Even geographical location, like living in a rural area, or in the Southern portion of the United States, will reduce accessibility to healthcare.[9] Every time an individual is grouped into a marginalized group, including illness status, it intensifies the effects of discrimination and resulting health disparities.
As you finish reading this section, notice if you blame or hold people more responsible knowing that they have lung cancer, than if they have another cancer such as breast or prostate cancer. What effect does the stigma itself have on people who are sick, and the healthcare that they receive?
1. World Health Organization. (2005, September 15). Constitution. Retrieved December 30, 2019, from https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/constitution
2. OpenStax. (2015, April 24). Introduction to Sociology 2e. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://openstax.org/books/introduct...tion-of-health
3. Sartorius, N. (2007). Stigmatized illnesses and health care. Croatian Medical Journal, 48(3), 396–397. ↵
4. American Cancer Society. (2020, January 8). Lung cancer statistics: How common is lung cancer. www.cancer.org/cancer/lung-c...statistics.htm ↵
5. Kamath, S. D., Kircher, S. M., & Benson, A. B. (2019). Comparison of cancer burden and nonprofit organization funding reveals disparities in funding across cancer types. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 17(7), 849–854. https://doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2018.7280
6. American Lung Association. (2014, April). Addressing the stigma of lung cancer. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from www.lung.org/our-initiatives...ng-cancer.html ↵
7. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. (n.d.) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health. Healthy People 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/t...nder-health#31
8. U.S. Census Bureau. (2019, May 23). Who are the uninsured? Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/library/stori...uninsured.html
9. Warshaw, R. (2017, October 31). Health Disparities Affect Millions in Rural U.S. Communities. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/h...us-communities | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/03%3A_Health_and_Health_Care/3.01%3A_Health_and_Health_Care_Preview_Questions.txt |
Health in the United States is a complex topic. One the one hand, as one of the wealthiest nations, the United States fares well in some health comparisons with the rest of the world. For example, most postoperative complications are less common in the U.S. than in comparable countries. And, as this chart shows, mortality rates for several cancers are lower.
The overall comparative picture is more grim. The United States spends a great deal more public, private, and out-of pocket funds per capita on health care[1] but also lags behind almost every industrialized country in terms of providing basic health and health care to all of its citizens.
But these charts do not tell the entire story. The overall averages of health only compare the rates in the U.S. to the rates in other countries. Within the United States, groups are affected disproportionately in terms of access to health and health outcomes. These disparities are described next.
Disparities
Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations.[2] Populations can be defined by factors such as race or ethnicity, gender, education or income, disability, geographic location (e.g., rural or urban), or sexual orientation. Health disparities are inequitable and are directly related to the historical and current unequal distribution of social, political, economic, and environmental resources.
Health disparities result from multiple factors, including
• Poverty
• Environmental threats
• Inadequate access to health care
• Individual and behavioral factors
• Educational inequalities
Health disparities are also related to inequities in education. Dropping out of school is associated with multiple social and health problems.[3][4] Overall, individuals with less education are more likely to experience a number of health risks, such as obesity, substance abuse, and intentional and unintentional injury, compared with individuals with more education.[5] Higher levels of education are associated with a longer life and an increased likelihood of obtaining or understanding basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.[6][7][8]
At the same time, good health is associated with academic success. Higher levels of protective health behaviors and lower levels of health risk behaviors been associated with higher academic grades among high school students.[9] Health risks such as teenage pregnancy, poor dietary choices, inadequate physical activity, physical and emotional abuse, substance abuse, and gang involvement have a significant impact on how well students perform in school.[10][11][12][13][14]
Health by Race and Ethnicity
When looking at the social epidemiology of the United States, it is hard to miss the disparities among races. The discrepancy between Black and White Americans shows the gap clearly; in 2008, the average life expectancy for White males was approximately five years longer than for Black males: 75.9 compared to 70.9. An even stronger disparity was found in 2007: the infant mortality, which is the number of deaths in a given time or place, rate for Blacks was nearly twice that of Whites at 13.2 compared to 5.6 per 1,000 live births[15]. According to a report from the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation,[16] African Americans also have higher incidence of several other diseases and causes of mortality, from cancer to heart disease to diabetes. In a similar vein, it is important to note that ethnic minorities, including Mexican Americans and Native Americans, also have higher rates of these diseases and causes of mortality than Whites.
Lisa Berkman[17] notes that this gap started to narrow during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, but it began widening again in the early 1980s. What accounts for these perpetual disparities in health among different ethnic groups? Much of the answer lies in the level of healthcare that these groups receive. Even after adjusting for insurance differences, racial and ethnic minority groups receive poorer quality of care and less access to care than dominant groups.[18] Racial inequalities in care include:
1. Black Americans, Native Americans, and Alaskan Natives received inferior care than White Americans for about 40 percent of measures.
2. Asian ethnicities received inferior care for about 20 percent of measures.
3. Among Whites, Hispanic Whites received 60 percent inferior care of measures compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
4. When considering access to care, the figures were comparable.
Health by Socioeconomic Status (SES)
Discussions of health by race and ethnicity often overlap with discussions of health by socioeconomic status, since the two concepts are intertwined in the United States. As the Agency for Health Research and Quality (2010) notes, “racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be poor or near poor,”[19][/footnote] so many of the data pertaining to subordinate groups is also likely to be pertinent to low socioeconomic groups. Marilyn Winkleby and her research associates[20] state that “one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of a person’s morbidity and mortality experience is that person’s socioeconomic status (SES). This finding persists across all diseases with few exceptions, continues throughout the entire lifespan, and extends across numerous risk factors for disease.” Morbidity is the incidence of disease.
It is important to remember that economics are only part of the SES picture; research suggests that education also plays an important role. Phelan and Link[21] note that many behavior-influenced diseases like lung cancer (from smoking), coronary artery disease (from poor eating and exercise habits), and AIDS initially were widespread across SES groups.
However, once information linking habits to disease was disseminated, these diseases decreased in high SES groups and increased in low SES groups. This illustrates the important role of education initiatives regarding a given disease, as well as possible inequalities in how those initiatives effectively reach different SES groups.
Health by Gender
Women are affected adversely both by unequal access to and institutionalized sexism in the healthcare industry. According to a recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, women experienced a decline in their ability to see needed specialists between 2001 and 2008. In 2008, one quarter of females questioned the quality of her healthcare[22]. In this report, we also see the explanatory value of intersection theory. Feminist sociologist Patricia Hill Collins developed this theory, which suggests we cannot separate the effects of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other attributes. Further examination of the lack of confidence in the healthcare system by women, as identified in the Kaiser study, found, for example, women categorized as low income were more likely (32 percent compared to 23 percent) to express concerns about healthcare quality, illustrating the multiple layers of disadvantage caused by race and sex.
We can see an example of institutionalized sexism in the way that women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with certain kinds of mental disorders. Psychologist Dana Becker[23] notes that 75 percent of all diagnoses of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are for women according to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This diagnosis is characterized by instability of identity, of mood, and of behavior, and Becker argues that it has been used as a catch-all diagnosis for too many women. She further decries the pejorative connotation of the diagnosis, saying that it predisposes many people, both within and outside of the profession of psychotherapy, against women who have been so diagnosed.
Many critics also point to the medicalization of women’s issues as an example of institutionalized sexism. Medicalization refers to the process by which previously normal aspects of life are redefined as deviant and needing medical attention to remedy. Historically and contemporaneously, many aspects of women’s lives have been medicalized, including menstruation, premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. The medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth has been particularly contentious in recent decades, with many women opting against the medical process and choosing a more natural childbirth. Fox and Worts[24] find that all women experience pain and anxiety during the birth process, but that social support relieves both as effectively as medical support. In other words, medical interventions are no more effective than social ones at helping with the difficulties of pain and childbirth. Fox and Worts further found that women with supportive partners ended up with less medical intervention and fewer cases of postpartum depression. Of course, access to quality birth care outside the standard medical models may not be readily available to women of all social classes.
The Lancet, an international peer-reviewed general medical journal is published weekly and available to read online without cost. In 2017 they published a comprehensive series about inequality and health care in the United States. The Table of Contents for the series is linked here; although it is free, you will need to log in to read the series of articles.
Interrelationship of Mental and Physical Health
Mental and physical health have been socially constructed in the Western world to be viewed as separate, with mental disorders being stigmatized. Often mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety have been seen as something that a person should and could “get over” as opposed to a physical ailment such as a sprained ankle or strep throat that merits medical attention and assistance. Even physical illnesses such as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, which are experienced by many more women than men, can be seen as “in the patient’s head” leading to the potential miss of physical illnesses that need medical intervention. This leaves the patient with not only the physical symptoms, but also a potential lack of understanding amongst peers, family members, medical professionals, and co-workers.
Eastern and Native cultures have long seen the connection between the mind and body and indeed, this connection is better understood in the United States and among other Western countries today. Cancer, heart and respiratory disease death rates are all higher in people with mental illness. In addition, it is better understood how physical lifestyle choices such as exercise, diet, and drug use affect mental health and visa versa.[25] To read more about the relationship between physical and mental health, PsychCentral has a brief article here.
Stigma
An example of the relationship between mental health and stigma includes a person struggling with depression which results in a physical symptom of weight gain or weight loss due to a lack of appetite or excessive hunger. Obesity and excessive thinness are both stigmatized in our culture, while the underlying mental or physical health condition may be ignored. Mental health disorders are treated and looked at differently than health struggles on a more physical level. Although we have seen a shift in media about mental illness from known celebrities coming forward such as Demi Lovato, Chrissy Teigan, Steve Young, and Dan Reynolds there is still a social stigma against mental health. Oftentimes when someone is diagnosed with a physical illness such as cancer or heart disease we see communities and families coming together. Unfortunately, we rarely see mental illness struggles come to the surface without holding a place of shame or guilt; individuals, families and communities are often more reluctant to talk about and come together in the same way.
When we speak about stigma we speak of there being two different types: the first stigma is the social stigma meaning the prejudiced attitudes others have around mental illness and the treatment of mental illness. The second one being self-perceived stigma which is an internalized stigma that the individual who suffers from the mental illness has. Not only does the stigma around mental illness create painful emotions and a sense of invalidation for the individual, it can result in a reluctance to seek treatment, social rejection, avoidance, isolation, and direct harm to psychological well-being. The socially and self-perceived stigma attached to mental illness can be reinforced by common cultural misconceptions, social stereotypes, popular media representations, political leaders, and even some medical professionals and health care institutions.
Health Insurance Coverage and Legislation
Like all other health care in the United States, access to mental health medical care is highly dependent on access to health care insurance. But because the need for mental health support is not recognized as fully as the need for physical health support, insurance companies and government programs have frequently excluded or limited mental health coverage in a way that physical health coverage has not been limited.
This practice has been changed through two major acts of legislation; the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) passed in 2008 and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and also known as Obamacare, passed by the 111th Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010.
In 2008 federal lawmakers passed MHPAEA which created an equity requirement for insurance providers who covered mental health services; those services must be equivalent to the physical health coverage provided. It did not, however, require providers to provide mental health care coverage. So benefits, expenses, and limits requirements were allowed to vary from state to state along with whatever insurance plan individuals could access. It was still the case that insurance holders did not have access to mental health treatment. In 2013 61% of insured people had access to mental health services and 54% of the insured had access to addiction treatment.[26]
The passage of the ACA reduced the inequities in access to mental health and addiction treatment in two fundamental ways. First, it eliminated health insurance companies’ ability to deny coverage based on “pre-existing conditions”. That gave consumers diagnosed with any mental or physical illness greater choice and more financial leverage when selecting an insurance company. In addition it required insurance providers to include ten essential benefits including “services for those suffering from mental health disorders and problems with substance abuse.” To read the list of all ten benefits, look here.
While these improvements in the equitability of mental health and addiction access are notable, they apply only to families who have access to certain kinds of health insurance, and not universally to all families in the United States.
In Focus: Sleep, Discrimination and Intersectionality
Let’s focus on how these various disparities overlap with everyday behavior. A biological need that is fundamental to human health is sleep, yet the medical community still has much to understand and learn about its exact mechanisms. Sleep is a vital part of our daily routine, and we spend about one-third of our time doing it. Quality sleep, and getting enough of it at the right times, is as essential to survival as food and water. In rats, death results from no sleep at 32 days.[27] Research has not observed human death as a result of prolonged sleep deprivation, but paranoia and hallucinations can begin happening in as little as 24 hours without sleep.[28]
Without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it’s harder to concentrate and respond quickly. Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells communicate with each other. In fact, our brains and bodies stay remarkably active while we sleep. Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in our brains that build we are awake.
Sleep affects almost every type of tissue and system in the body, from the brain, heart, and lungs to metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance. Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity. All of these conditions would likely have a noticeable effect on multiple dimensions of family life and how it impacts the well being of a family as a whole.
For some surprising and specific health effects of sleep view this TED Talk:
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=414
In 2010, a study was published that examined whether there were disparities in sleep quality based on poverty and race/ethnicity. They found that a “sleep disparity” did exist in the study population, and poor sleep quality was strongly associated with poverty and race. Factors such as employment, education, and health status, amongst others, significantly mediated this effect in participants experiencing poverty. The literature linking sleep and health continues to grow. This study illustrated how poor health is associated with an almost 4-fold increased likelihood of poor sleep. It is important to note that the relationship between health and sleep quality is likely bidirectional and/or parallel: sleep can influence health and vice-versa.
In 2010, a study was published that examined whether there were disparities in sleep quality based on poverty and race/ethnicity. They found that a “sleep disparity” did exist in the study population, and poor sleep quality was strongly associated with poverty and race. Factors such as employment, education, and health status, amongst others, significantly mediated this effect in participants experiencing poverty. The literature linking sleep and health continues to grow. This study illustrated how poor health is associated with an almost 4-fold increased likelihood of poor sleep. It is important to note that the relationship between health and sleep quality is likely bidirectional and/or parallel: sleep can influence health and vice-versa.[29]
Similarly discrimination, and intersectional discrimination in particular, appear to influence sleep, mental, and physical health. The relationship between discrimination amongst populations such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ groups with poorer mental and physical health has been established. For instance, discrimination can harm wellbeing, increase distress and mental illness symptoms, elevate risk for a wide variety of physical illnesses and conditions, and undermine general indicators of health.[30][31] Recently, the lack of sleep and less functionality during the daytime have been identified as integral aspects of the cycle of discrimination, stress, and overall mental and physical health.[32]
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
“Disparities” is adapted from “Health Disparities” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public domain. [Adaptation: ?]
“Health by Race and Ethnicity,” “Healthy by Socioeconomic Status,” and “Healthy by Gender” are adapted from “Health in the United States” in Introduction to Sociology 2e. License: CC BY 4.0. [Adaptation: ?]
“In Focus: Sleep, Discrimination and Intersectionality” is adapted from “Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep” by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke / National Institute of Health. Public domain. Adaptations: Changed just a few words and changed some hyphens to commas.
Figure 3.3. “Mortality rates for breast and colorectal cancer in the U.S. are lower than in comparable countries” by Peterson-KFF . License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 .
Figure 3.4. “Percent of adults who made a same-day or next day appointment when needed care, 2016” by Peterson-KFF. License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
Figure 3.5. “Age-sex standardized hospital admission rate per 100,000 population for asthma, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and diabetes, ages 15 and over, 2016 or nearest year” by Peterson-KFF. License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
Figure 3.6. “Potential Years of Life Lost have fallen steadily in the U.S. and in comparable OECD countries” by Peterson-KFF. License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
Figure 3.7. “Right on” by LizSpikol. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Figure 3.8. “Main health effects of sleep deprivation” by Mikael Häggström. CC0.
Figure 3.9. “Short sleep duration (<7 hours) race/ethnicity” by CDC. Public domain.
All Rights Reserved Content
Sleep is your superpower” (c) TED Talks. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
1. Tikkanen, R. & Abrams, M.K. (2020, January 30). U.S. health care from a global perspective, 2019: Higher spending, worse outcomes? The Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/pub...rspective-2019
2. CDC. (2008). Community Health and Program Services (CHAPS): Health disparities among racial/ethnic populations. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ↵
3. McCarty, C. A., Mason, W. A., Kosterman, R., Hawkins, J. D., Lengua, L. J., & McCauley, E. (2008). Adolescent school failure predicts later depression among girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43(2), 180–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.01.023
4. Ellickson, P., Saner, H., & McGuigan, K. A. (1997). Profiles of violent youth: Substance use and other concurrent problems. American Journal of Public Health, 87(6), 985–991. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.87.6.985
5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000). Healthy People 2010 objectives: Educational and community based programs. ↵
6. Liao, Y., McGee, D. L., Kaufman, J. S., Cao, G., & Cooper, R. S. (1999). Socioeconomic status and morbidity in the last years of life. American Journal of Public Health, 89(4), 569–572. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.89.4.569
7. Jemal, A., Thun, M. J., Ward, E. E., Henley, S. J., Cokkinides, V. E., & Murray, T. E. (2008). Mortality from leading causes by education and race in the united states, 2001. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 34(1), 1-8.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2007.09.017
8. Breese, P. E., Burman, W. J., Goldberg, S., & Weis, S. E. (2007). Education level, primary language, and comprehension of the informed consent process. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 2(4), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.1525/jer.2007.2.4.69
9. Rasberry, C. N., Tiu, G. F., Kann, L., McManus, T., Michael, S. L., Merlo, C. L., Lee, S. M., Bohm, M. K., Annor, F., & Ethier, K. A. (2017). Health-related behaviors and academic achievement among high school students—United states, 2015. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 66(35), 921–927. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6635a1
10. Choi, Y. (2007). Academic achievement and problem behaviors among Asian Pacific Islander American adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36(4), 403–415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9152-4
11. Shore, S. M., Sachs, M. L., Lidicker, J. R., Brett, S. N., Wright, A. R., & Libonati, J. R. (2008). Decreased scholastic achievement in overweight middle school students. Obesity, 16(7), 1535–1538. doi.org/10.1038/oby.2008.254 ↵
12. Valois, R. F., MacDonald, J. M., Bretous, L., Fischer, M. A., & Drane, J. W. (2002). Risk factors and behaviors associated with adolescent violence and aggression. American Journal of Health Behavior, 26(6), 454–464. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.26.6.6
13. Chomitz, V. R., Slining, M. M., McGowan, R. J., Mitchell, S. E., Dawson, G. F., & Hacker, K. A. (2009). Is there a relationship between physical fitness and academic achievement? Positive results from public school children in the northeastern united states. Journal of School Health, 79(1), 30–37. doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00371.x ↵
14. Field, T., Diego, M., & Sanders, C. E. (2001). Exercise is positively related to adolescent's relationships and academics. Adolescence, 36(141), 105. ↵
15. U.S. Census Bureau. (2011). Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. 131st ed. Washington, DC. www.census.gov/compendia/statab. ↵
16. James, C. et al. (2007). Key facts: Race, ethnicity & medical care. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/upload/6069-02.pdf. ↵
17. Berkman, L. F. (2009). Social epidemiology: Social determinants of health in the united states: are we losing ground? Annual Review of Public Health, 30(1), 27–41. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publ....031308.100310
18. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2010). The 2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report. https://archive.ahrq.gov/research/fi...r10/index.html
19. footnote]Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2010). The 2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report. https://archive.ahrq.gov/research/fi...r10/index.html
20. Winkleby, M. A., Jatulis, D. E., Frank, E., & Fortmann, S. P. (1992). Socioeconomic status and health: How education, income, and occupation contribute to risk factors for cardiovascular disease. American Journal of Public Health, 82(6), 816–820. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.82.6.816
21. Phelan, Jo C., & Link, B. G. (2003). When income affects outcome: Socioeconomic status and health. Research in Profile, 6. ↵
22. Ranji, U., & Salganico, A. (2011). “Women's health care chartbook: Key findings from the Kaiser Women's Health Survey.” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org/womens-health-po...findings-from/
23. Becker, Dana. n.d. Borderline Personality Disorder: The disparagement of women through diagnosis.” Retrieved December 13, 2011 from http://www.awpsych.org/index.php?opt...=74&Itemid=126. ↵
24. Fox, B., & Worts, D. (1999). Revisiting the critique of medicalized childbirth: A contribution to the sociology of birth. Gender & Society, 13(3), 326–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124399013003004
25. Mental Health Foundation. (2020). Physical health and mental health. Retrieved July 3, 2020, from https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to...-mental-health
26. Health Pocket. (2013, March 7). Few existing health plans meet new ACA essential health benefit standards. https://www.healthpocket.com/healthc...efit-standards
27. Palmer, B. (2009, May 11). Can you die from lack of sleep? Slate. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...-of-sleep.html
28. Waters, F., Chiu, V., Atkinson, A., & Blom, J. D. (2018). Severe sleep deprivation causes hallucinations and a gradual progression toward psychosis with increasing time awake. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 303. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.003 ↵
29. Patel, N. P., Grandner, M. A., Xie, D., Branas, C. C., & Gooneratne, N. (2010). “Sleep disparity” in the population: Poor sleep quality is strongly associated with poverty and ethnicity. BMC Public Health, 10(1), 475. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-475
30. Brown, T. T., Partanen, J., Chuong, L., Villaverde, V., Chantal Griffin, A., & Mendelson, A. (2018). Discrimination hurts: The effect of discrimination on the development of chronic pain. Social Science & Medicine, 204, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.03.015
31. Schmitt, M. T., Branscombe, N. R., Postmes, T., & Garcia, A. (2014). The consequences of perceived discrimination for psychological well-being: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 140(4), 921–948. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035754
32. Hisler, G. C., & Brenner, R. E. (2019). Does sleep partially mediate the effect of everyday discrimination on future mental and physical health? Social Science & Medicine, 221, 115–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.12.002 | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/03%3A_Health_and_Health_Care/3.03%3A_Health_Equity.txt |
Industrial nations throughout the world, with the notable exception of the United States, provide their citizens with some form of national health care and national health insurance.[1] Although their health-care systems differ in several respects, their governments pay all or most of the costs for health care, drugs, and other health needs. In Denmark, for example, the government provides free medical care and hospitalization for the entire population and pays for some medications and some dental care. In France, the government pays for some of the medical, hospitalization, and medication costs for most people and all these expenses for the poor, unemployed, and children under the age of ten. In Great Britain, the National Health Service pays most medical costs for the population, including medical care, hospitalization, prescriptions, dental care, and eyeglasses. In Canada, the National Health Insurance system also pays for most medical costs. Patients do not even receive bills from their physicians, who instead are paid by the government. These national health insurance programs are commonly credited with reducing infant mortality, extending life expectancy, and, more generally, for enabling their citizenries to have relatively good health. Their populations are generally healthier than Americans, even though health-care spending is much higher per capita in the United States than in these other nations. In all these respects, these national health insurance systems offer several advantages over the health-care model found in the United States.[2]
The Role of Health Insurance in the United States
Medicine in the United States is big business. Expenditures for health care, health research, and other health items and services have risen sharply in recent decades, having increased tenfold since 1980, and now costs the nation more than \$2.6 trillion annually. This translates to the largest figure per capita in the industrial world. Despite this expenditure, the United States lags behind many other industrial nations in several important health indicators.
US Health-Care Expenditure, 1980–2010 (in Billions of Dollars)
Access to Health Care Coverage and Insurance
There are many insurance options in America, and we will see that they disproportionately benefit some and disadvantage others based on factors like sex, income, geographical location, and ethnicity. In 2017, some of the most common ways people accessed insurance was through private plans; employer-based (56%), direct purchase (16%), or, through government plans; Medicaid (19.3%), Medicare (17.2%), and military healthcare (4.8%).[3]
To learn more about how people accessed health insurance coverage, and who remained uncovered watch this seven-minute video provided by the United States Census Bureau.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was created to make healthcare more affordable and to be less discriminatory in 2010. In 2016, section 1557 provided new regulations to the Affordable Care Act including a way to enforce civil rights protections in healthcare by making it unlawful for health care entities to discriminate against protected populations if they receive any type of federal financial assistance. This included health insurance companies participating in the Health Insurance Marketplaces, providers who accept Medicare, Medicaid, and Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) payments, and any state or local healthcare agencies, among others. This marked the first time that disciminatory practices on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex, disability status and in some cases sexuality and gender identity were broadly prohibited in the arena of public and private healthcare.[4]
Some of the common ways that lower income families and individuals access insurance in Oregon are through programs like Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP): which is referred to as Oregon Health plan (OHP) in Oregon.
Oregon Health Plan Income Limits for Application to Medicaid or OHP 2020.[5]
Family Size OHP for Adults OHP for Children
1 \$1,396/month \$3,086/month
2 \$1,893/month \$4,184/month
3 \$2,390/month \$5,282/month
4 \$2,887/month \$6,380/month
5 \$3,383/month \$7,478/month
6 \$3,880/month \$8,576/month
Medicaid is a federal and state funded program that is managed by individual states. It provides government insurance to those who need it. Each state has the power to decide who is eligible for it, and most states focus on low-income individuals, and those with disabilities. With the expansion of the ACA in 2014, states had the choice to expand their Medicaid to serve more citizens; Oregon is one of 37 states that elected to do so. For up to date information on each state, consult this Kaiser Family Foundation interactive map and narrative.
https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/
The U.S. government’s website about Medicaid (https://www.medicaid.gov) provides state by state report cards on a wide variety of health access and health quality measures. This variance in Medicaid eligibility creates great inequity for low-income families based on location. Those in states that have not expanded Medicaid face a much larger “coverage gap” meaning that many more families do not have access to health care insurance.[6]
Those that are aged sixty-five or older can access healthcare insurance through Medicare, which is federally funded. Medicare covers about half of health care expenses for those enrolled, and many retirees who can afford to do so purchase private insurance or purchase additional coverage from Medicare itself to cover the gap.[7]
Case Study: Getting Tested for Coronavirus
Carmen Quinero, a 35 year-old essential worker who works at a distribution center that ships N95 masks in California, developed a severe enough cough in late March 2020 that the human resources department at her workplace told her to go home and not to come back to work until she was tested for the virus. Quintero has health insurance coverage through her employer; she has a \$3,500 deductible.
Tests were not widely available at this time, so she was directed by her doctor to go to an emergency room. She went to the closest one, a for-profit hospital owned by Universal Health Services, one of the largest healthcare management companies in the United States. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (aka CARES Act) had passed the week before, and it had been widely publicized that coronavirus testing and treatment would be free to individuals and covered by the federal government.
Unfortunately the legislation is full of loopholes, including for people like Quintero who need a test but were unable to get one due to the low supplies. Although she was given a chest x-ray and prescribed an inhaler, she was not tested. That means that not only was she responsible for the \$1,840 in hospital and doctor fees, but she had to miss a week of work (mostly unpaid) putting a considerable financial strain on Quintero and her family.
Quintero’s case is not isolated and is not specific to the coronavirus. Access to, and coverage for, the test for the novel coronavirus (aka COVID-19) within the pandemic illustrates how the patchwork of insurance, government programs and laws, and private payments inequitably affects lower income people, whether or not they have health insurance coverage.
To hear more about Carmen’s story, listen to this four minute recording from the NPR-KFF series Bill of the Month.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/30/885053457/essential-worker-shoulders-1-840-debt-for-trying-to-get-tested-for-covid-19
Who is Left Out?
“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.” Arabian Proverb
Most of the uninsured (84.6 %) in the United States are working age adults aged 19 to 64 years old. Men are overrepresented in these numbers; over half of all people without health insurance coverage were male (54.6 percent), even though the U.S. population has more women than men. The uninsured are disproportionately concentrated in the South.[8] The number of people without health insurance has been increasing steadily since 2016; 8.5% of all Americans (27.5 million people) did not have health insurance at any point in the year of 2018 according to the American Community Survey.[9]
Socioeconomic Status plays a large part in access to healthcare. Occupation, education level, and chronic poverty all play contributing roles. Children, older adults, and people of color are disproportionately affected.[10]For greater detail on adults aged 18-64 who are uninsured, review this 2019 report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
A separate study showed that before the expansion of the ACA in 2014, about 41% of Hispanics, 26% of Blacks, and 15% of Whites were uninsured, while after expansion the rate of uninsured individuals decreased by 7% for Hispanics, 5% for Blacks, and 3% for Whites.[11] Although the difference in rates for those un-insuranced have closed,[12] there is still a sizable gap that needs to be addressed in order to effectively address equity in access to health care. Even with these improvements, vast inequities exist state to state, because a family who is poor enough in one state to receive Medicaid may not be eligible in another state. Geography matters in a way that is difficult to comprehend in a country that professes a rhetoric of equality. Eligibility ranges from having an income that is 40% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) to having an income that is 138% of the FPL: quite a difference!
Lack of health insurance has significant consequences because people are less likely to receive preventive health care and care for various conditions and illnesses. For example, because uninsured Americans are less likely than those with private insurance to receive cancer screenings, they are more likely to be diagnosed with more advanced cancer rather than an earlier stage of cancer.[13] In an analysis published in 2009, researchers found that there was a 25% higher risk of death for adults (aged 17 to 64) who were uninsured than those who had private insurance.[14]
Research and Drug Access
Pharmaceutical research and sales are a gargantuan business in the United States. The cost of developing any single new drug is estimated to be about one billion dollars. Financing comes from the federal government and philanthropic organizations at the discovery research level; large sums of money are pumped into the initial stage of medication research.[15]
Later stage development is typically funded by pharmaceutical companies, which can be for profit companies or non profit companies. For profit companies may be funded by venture capitalists or as a part of larger corporations. Funding for non profit companies is a bit trickier; gaining access to federal and foundation funding takes staff time and expertise. The unequal and inequitable funding opportunities puts not for profits at a disadvantage, because they have to invest more time in writing requests for grants and funding from government corporations.
The cost of drugs in the United States increased dramatically starting in the 1990s. It is important to note that American families are not accessing more medications than people in comparative countries. In fact, Americans use fewer prescription drugs and are more likely to use less expensive generic prescriptions. It really comes down to price per pill; they simply cost more in the United States than in other countries.[16]
For profit pharmacological companies have the upper hand in terms of distribution and overall influence on the decisions for research and funding for new medications and research in the United States. A company that has a mission of profit for its employees and public shareholders could be seen as having an ethical dilemma when selling its product might benefit those groups, but may not be the best course of option for the people who need those medicines to maintain their basic health. It is for this reason that most countries (excluding the United States) do not allow drug research companies to profit and create state contracts with those companies in order to keep costs low.[17]
In Focus: The Opioid Epidemic
An example of the power of for profit drug companies can be found in the opioid epidemic. The United States is dealing with an opioid epidemic that has its beginnings 80 years ago. While medications like heroin and morphine have been used for pain management for thousands of years, they became more popular during World War Two, when heroin and morphine were used to treat war veterans and people who have experienced trauma and wounds from battle.
Families in the United States who have members who have difficulty navigating proper pain management have found opioids to be one solution. Prescriptions for these medications were given out and dispensed very generously, even for temporary pain, starting in the mid-20th century. As usage increased dramatically in the 1990s pharmaceutical companies assured the medical community and patients that these drugs were not addictive.[18] It is now known that addiction to these opioids and other substances often start with prescription medications and progress to a more dangerous level of use if left unchecked.
Private lawsuits and governmental action against pharmaceutical companies began to emerge in the early 2000’s in the United States. It has been found that companies failed to follow government regulations related to drug production and regulation such as tracking and investigating suspicious orders of these medications. Both name brand (e.g. Oxycodone) and generic drug manufacturers were guilty of these actions, although generic manufacturers remained unchecked for longer. Companies made billions of dollars of profits during this same period of time, the beginning of the 21st century.[19]
Lawsuits against drug companies and distributors by the federal government, multiple states, Native American tribes, and local municipalities show promise. These actions relate less to individual negative consequences and more toward how the overall public including system breakdown have been affected by the epidemic. Examples include allegations of the deceptive business practices, fraud, lax monitoring, and oversaturation of the market.[20]
The ripple effects on families and communities are difficult to quantify. While overdoses and deaths can be counted, loss and grief is immeasurable. Diminished parenting, loss of employment, loss of housing, and broken relationships affect families, friends and work places. The effects of drug addiction and trauma are generational; we will not know how many families have been affected by this epidemic that has crossed centuries until well into the future.
Keeping our Families Healthy
If you were to spend a few minutes brainstorming a list, what would you include as the most important requirements to keeping your family healthy? While this chapter has focused on health care and health insurance as important aspects of health management, these authors would like to emphasize that health care starts with access and decision-making related to exercise, diet, relationships, work, sleep, intellectual stimulation, addictive substances, education, and social life. This is our list; perhaps you have other aspects to add!
Importantly, those individual and family decisions are directly impacted by the social institutions and processes at the core of the United States. Past and present laws, policies, practices, and biases that create and reinforce inequities mean that families live with vastly different access to resources including food, safe and stimulating outdoor environments, time, work environments, social life, and health care.
For example, many families live without easy access to recreational trails and playgrounds. The Housing Now chapter of this text details the ways in which laws, regulations, and lending corporations have actively participated in pushing minoritized racial-ethnic groups into these areas. We must pay attention to these past practices and the ways that they impact present families’ health. During the current (2020) COVID-19 Pandemic it is becoming clear that the virus is transmitted more easily in crowded spaces indoors than in the outdoors. There is a disproportionate number of coronavirus cases and deaths amongst minoritized populations in the United States[21] and it is possible that lack of access to outdoor spaces plays a role. So at the same time that this lack of resources makes it more difficult to maintain everyday physical and mental health, it may also contribute to illness, hospitalization, loss of employment, and even death during the pandemic.
This video from the American Medical Association features an interview with Doctor Aletha Maybank and explains how funding, data collection and the overlap with structural discrimination affect the rates of the virus.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=416
Institutionalized inequities have been amplified during the current pandemic. Crowded work environments such as meat-packing facilities; food deserts; less health insurance, less access to health care and virus testing as measured by geography and transportation options; and greater likelihood to experience discrimination, stress, and lack of sleep, are some of the factors that contribute to greater numbers of Black, Native, and Latinx families being affected by the COVID-10 virus.[22] These overlapping factors are discussed throughout this text.
It is important to recognize the role of activism in alleviating all social problems, including the problem experienced by so many families in the United States: poor health that could be improved by adequate health care. There is hope; there are many countries that have differing successful models of health care that give all citizens access. In this country there are multiple groups, many led by physicians or other medical professionals, that are working to create and/or modify systems so that all individuals and families can access the basic health care that they need. Two organizations that are prominent are Health Care for ALL Oregon and Physicians for a National Health Program.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 25 identifies health as a human right.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.[23]
Some non-industrialized nations and all industrialized nations, with the United States as the notable exception, have adopted some form of universal health-care system since the 1948 adoption of this Declaration. The irony is that the framework for the human rights declaration came from the United States and the work of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife and Statesperson Eleanor Roosevelt.[24] The United States does not have an actual health care system, but rather multiple systems of health insurance accessed: via employment, via family configuration as defined by government structures, state-funded block programs, and federal programs for specific groups such as people who are indigent, disabled, or older. In other words, not all families.
While families in the United States strive to make the best choices for themselves, they are limited by the existing access to resources needed to be as healthy as possible. Some of these inequities were created by past laws and practices. But those, and others, can be adjusted and changed. The societal and governmental commitment to the standards of health and well-being as identified in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights is a way to begin.
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
“Health Care and Health Insurance: A Comparison” is adapted from “Global Aspects of Health and Health Care” in Social Problems by Anonymous. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Adaptation: edited for clarity and accuracy.
Figure 3.10. “US Health-Care Expenditure, 1980–2010 (in Billions of Dollars)” in Social Problems by Anonymous. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Based on data from Statistical Abstracts/U.S. Census.
Figure 3.11. “Distribution of Adults in the Coverage Gap, by State and Region, 2018” by Peterson-KFF. License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
Figure 3.12. “Chicago, 2012” by gregorywass. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Figure 3.14. “Money Behind Health Care” by Truthout. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Figure 3.15. “Retail RX spending per capita each year” by The Conversation. License: CC BY-ND 4.0. Based on data from The Commonwealth Fund.
Figure 3.16. “The Opioid Epidemic by the Numbers” by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Public domain.
Figure 3.18. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” by the United Nations. License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance – Health Insurance Presentation ” by US Census Bureau. Public domain.
Open Content, Original
Figure 3.13. Image by Katie Niemeyer. License: CC BY 4.0.
All Rights Reserved Content
Figure 3.17. “COVID-19: Physical Distancing in Public Parks and Trails” (c)National Recreation and Park Association. Image used under fair use.
COVID-19 Update for April 21, 2020” (c) American Medical Association. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
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2. Reid, T. R. (2010). The healing of America: A global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care. Penguin Books. ↵
3. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Coverage numbers and rates by type of health insurance: 2013, 2016, and 2017 [table]. Retrieved June 8, 2020, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-sur...264/table1.pdf
4. Rosenbaum, S. (2016, September). The Affordable care act and civil rights: The challenge of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Milbank Quarterly, 94. https://www.milbank.org/quarterly/ar...able-care-act/
5. Health Plans in Oregon. (2020). Oregon health plans made easy. https://www.healthplansinoregon.com/...lan-made-easy/
6. Garfield, R., Orgera, K., & Damico, A. (2020, January 14). The Coverage gap: Uninsured poor adults in states that do not expand Medicaid. Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-b...pand-medicaid/
7. MedPac. (2020, March). Report to the Congress: Medicare payment policy. http://medpac.gov/docs/default-sourc...c.pdf?sfvrsn=0
8. U.S. Census Bureau. (2018, September 12). Who are the uninsured? . Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/library/stori...uninsured.html
9. Berchick, E. R., Barnett, J. C., & Upton, R. D. (November, 2020). Health insurance coverage in the United States: 2018. https://www.census.gov/library/publi...o/p60-267.html
10. Keenan, P. S., & Vistnes, J. P. (2019, June). Research findings: Non-elderly adults ever uninsured during the calendar year, 2013–2016. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. https://meps.ahrq.gov/data_files/pub...f42/rf42.shtml
11. Buchmueller, T. C., Levinson, Z. M., Levy, H. G., & Wolfe, B. L. (2016). Effect of the affordable care act on racial and ethnic disparities in health insurance coverage. American Journal of Public Health, 106(8), 1416–1421. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303155
12. Inserro, A. (2018, September 11). ACA pushed uninsured rate down to 10% in 2016. American Journal of Managed Care. https://www.ajmc.com/newsroom/aca-pu...pansion-states
13. Halpern, M. T., Ward, E. M., Pavluck, A. L., Schrag, N. M., Bian, J., & Chen, A. Y. (2008). Association of insurance status and ethnicity with cancer stage at diagnosis for 12 cancer sites: A retrospective analysis. The Lancet Oncology, 9(3), 222–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70032-9
14. Wilper, A. P., Woolhandler, S., Lasser, K. E., McCormick, D., Bor, D. H., & Himmelstein, D. U. (2009). Health insurance and mortality in us adults. American Journal of Public Health, 99(12), 2289–2295. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.157685
15. Institute of Medicine (US) Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation. (2009). Current model for financing drug development: From concept through approval. National Academies Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50972/
16. Haeder, S. F. (2019, February 7). Why the US has higher drug prices than other countries. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-the-...untries-111256
17. Gross, D. J., Ratner, J., Perez, J., & Glavin, S. L. (1994). International pharmaceutical spending controls: France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Health Care Financing Review, 15(3), 127–140. ↵
18. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (September, 2019). About the epidemic. Retrieved July 2, 2020, from https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-th...mic/index.html
19. Yerby, N. (2020, June 18). DEA database shows generic drug manufacturers contributed most to the opioid epidemic. AddictionCenter.com https://www.addictioncenter.com/news...ioid-epidemic/
20. Haffajee, R. L., & Mello, M. M. (2017). Drug companies’ liability for the opioid epidemic. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(24), 2301–2305. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1710756
21. Godoy, M. and Wood, D. (2020, May 30). Growing data show Black And Latino Americans bear the brunt. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...state-by-state
22. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, June 25). COVID-19 in racial and ethnic minority groups. Retrieved July 4, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...inorities.html from the Internet Archive as of Nov 2021, downloaded Aug 2022↵
23. United Nations. (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved July 4, 2020, from https://www.un.org/en/universal-decl...-human-rights/
24. Gerisch, M. (n.d.). Health care as a human right. Human Rights Magazine, 43(3). Retrieved July 4, 2020, from www.americanbar.org/groups/c...a-human-right/ ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/03%3A_Health_and_Health_Care/3.04%3A_Health_and_Health_Insurance.txt |
As you read this chapter, consider the following questions:
1. What are homelessness and housing insecurity?
2. Where do most families in the U.S. live?
3. What are some institutional barriers to home ownership and who are those barriers most likely to affect?
4. What are redlining and bluelining?
5. What is the purpose of the Fair Housing Act and how successful has it been?
6. How do economics and power relate to home ownership?
7. How does where you live relate to other aspects of family life, such as health?
8. What are some solutions to the housing challenges that families in the U.S. face?
4.02: Housing Now
“I just feel like I influence people because I’m like – I was practically homeless.” — Cardi B
Housing is another word for the place that families go each night to find shelter not only from the physical elements, but also to find enough emotional safety that they can become centered, rejuvenated, and sleep securely. In the best scenarios it provides not only security, but a place for families to love and nurture self and one another.
This famous rapper describes being able to move out of her abusive boyfriend’s home with money earned from her work stripping in a club, “There were two pit bulls in that house, and I had asthma. There were bed bugs,too,” she told Vibe.” On top of that, I felt like my ex-boyfriend was cheating on me, but it was like even if he was cheating on me, I still can’t leave because—where was I gonna go?”[1]
While in Cardi B’s (born as Belcalis Almanzar) case, she had safety from the outside physical world. But she was not safe inside her home. This is just one example of the complexities of housing, and specifically the ways that inequities play out in the United States.
Income is the primary determining factor in housing access. Price, availability, location, and macroeconomics all play a role, but a family’s annual income is the main determinant in housing affordability.[2] Therefore, inequities in income distribution directly affect housing access, and the capability of families to be safe, secure, and able to function to their maximum potential.
Cardi B grew up living between two different Bronx neighborhoods in New York City. When she describes her parents, she says, “I have real good parents, they poor. They have regular, poor jobs and what not,” she said in an interview with Global Grind. “They real good people and what not, I was just raised in a bad society”[3]. It is common in the U.S. for families to have multiple wage-earners, with multiple jobs, and still unable to afford adequate housing.
Part-time and temporary jobs frequently come with lower pay and fewer benefits such as health care, sick leave, and other paid and unpaid leaves. This makes it harder to budget for regular expenses such as food and housing. These jobs are unequally distributed by sex, immigration status, and ethnic groups. Affordable housing is defined as housing that can be accessed and maintained while paying for and meeting other basic needs such as food, transportation, access to work and school, clothing, and health care. Diverse income levels, reinforced by governmental and lending practices that discriminate based on racial-ethnic groups, immigration status, and socioeconomic status, widen the gap between those who are housing secure, housing insecure, and homeless.
Homelessness
In 2019, over a half million Americans were considered homeless. Many of these are children and youth. In early 2018, just over 180,000 people in 56,000 families with children experienced homelessness. More than 36,000 young people (under the age of 25) were unaccompanied youth who were homeless on their own; most of those (89%) were between the ages of 18 and 24 years.[4]
These recent statistics were collected for Oregon (2019):
• Total Homeless Population: 15,876
• Total Family Households Experiencing Homelessness: 1,147
• Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: 1,438
• Persons Experiencing Chronic Homelessness: 4,902
• Unaccompanied Young Adults (Aged 18-24) Experiencing Homelessness: 1,590
• Total Number of Homeless Students: 23,141
• Total Number of Unaccompanied Homeless Students: 3,575
• Nighttime Residence, Unsheltered: 2,511
• Nighttime Residence: Shelters: 1,855[5]
A recent national survey that included Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) in Albany, Oregon found that students at the two-year institution had higher levels of homelessness than do their counterparts nationally. With a response rate of 9.7%, 558 of 5,700 surveyed LBCC students participated in the 2019 #RealCollege Survey Report instituted by Temple University in 2019. Nineteen percent of LBCC students reported experiencing homelessness in the past year, compared with 17% nationally. In addition, 53% of LBCC students reported experiencing housing insecurity (described below) in the past year, compared with 50% nationally.
This report indicates that more than half of community college students are struggling with some kind of stress related to having a safe stable place to care for themselves and their families. Demographic factors that indicate a higher rate of homelessness and housing insecurity include being female, transgender, Native American, Black, Latinx, and 21 or older. Although men, Whites, young students (18-20) and athletes were less likely to experience homelessness or housing insecurity, they still did so in double-digit percentages.[6]
Living in tents, couch surfing and car sleeping all are forms of homelessness. In an effort to provide stability and safety to the homeless population, formal encampments called Tent Cities have popped up across America in response to the cost of living and other societal problems. Dignity Village in Portland Oregon provides a community that is self-organized and offers a bit of security. Because the majority of Tent Cities are not officially legal, people living in them lack stability and live under the threat of being swept or evicted. In 2017, there were 255 tent cities reported across the US, ranging in size from 10 to over 100 people living in them. “Of those [tent cities] where legality was reported, 75 percent were illegal, 20 percent silently sanctioned, and 4 percent legal.” Tent cities are a response to the fact that most city-run shelter beds are maxed out and affordable housing has not become available in response to the growing need.[7]
Homeless Shelters provide needed temporary immediate service to over 1.5 million Americans each year.[8] Primarily federally funded, many non-profit organizations also provide support and temporary shelter for families and individuals. Some are so full that they sleep people in shifts, especially in the cold of winter. Many homeless people have nowhere to go in the day, however day shelters such as Rosehaven in Portland Oregon offer dignity and services to those in need. “Rose Haven is a day shelter and community center serving women, children and gender non-conforming folks experiencing trauma, poverty, and physical and mental health challenges. Restoring stability and dignity for 3,500 guests annually.”
Tensions exist amongst tent dwellers, staff and users of shelters, and the business and home-owning communities. This is exemplified in Corvallis, Oregon, where the community has struggled for years to find a permanent location for the men’s overnight cold-weather shelter. Advocates for people who are homeless argue for a location close to needed city services; accessibility is important when walking, bicycling, and public transportation are the primary modes of getting around. These needs bump up against business owner’s desires for welcoming environments. Most recently, churches outside of the downtown area have allowed people to erect tents on the church property.[9] With the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic, more people who are homeless are moving into tents, and the city has intentionally stopped removing illegal campsites. In addition, Corvallis is providing hygiene centers that include showers, hand-washing, laundry and food services.[10]
The socially constructed ideas of “normal” or “acceptable” identities are barriers to many people in accessing shelter, housing and other services. In homeless shelters transgender women may be refused admittance by the women’s shelter and at risk of violence at the men’s shelter. More progress must be made to provide security for all, regardless of identity.[11]
Another barrier some women with children face in seeking shelter from domestic violence is the shelter rules themselves. Early curfews and overly strict rules can compromise the empowerment of residents. Many women fleeing domestic violence find themselves facing punitive and inflexible environments that mimic the patterns of control they are trying to escape. The Washington State coalition against domestic violence called Building Dignity “explores design strategies for domestic violence emergency housing. Thoughtful design dignifies survivors by meeting their needs for self-determination, security and connection. The idea here is to reflect a commitment to creating welcoming accessible environments that help to empower survivors and their children.”[12]
Housing Insecurity
Housing insecurity is less transparent than homelessness. People who are homeless are somewhat visible, but we may be less likely to know whether or not someone is housing insecure. That’s because it is an umbrella term that encompasses many characteristics and conditions. Signs of housing insecurity include missing a rent or utility payment, having a place to live but not having certainty about meeting basic needs, experiencing formal or informal evictions, foreclosures, couch surfing, and frequent moves.[13] It can also include being exposed to health and safety risks such as mold, vermin, and lead, overcrowding, and personal safety fears such as abuse.[14] Cardi B’s living situation, which she describes as “practically homeless” illustrates housing insecurity.
Housing insecurity can be defined as a social problem; the current estimates are that 10-15% of all Americans are housing insecure. The increase in the number of cost-burdened households, households that pay 30% or more of monthly income toward housing, is dramatic amongst families who rent homes. Since 2008, these households increased by 3.6 billion to include 21.3 billion by 2014. And households with the most severe cost burden (paying 50% or more for housing) increased to a record 11.4 million.[15] By definition, a cost-burdened household is one that also faces housing instability and insecurity.
Somewhere In-Between
A well established housing system that is often left out of the ‘standard’ talks regarding housing is immigrant housing. There are many immigrants who come to the United States as part of a guestworker program, which dates back to 1942 with the Bracero Program and continues through the hiring today of H2-A workers. Although these folks are called “guest workers”, they are not treated in the way that we imagine treating honored guests when it comes to living spaces.
The Bracero was an agreement between the United States and Mexico which was signed into law by Congress in 1942. This program was initially designed to bring in a few hundred Mexican laborers to harvest sugar beets in California. What was thought to be a small program eventually drew at its peak more than 400,000 workers a year. When it was abolished in 1964, a total of about 4.5 million jobs had been filled by Mexican citizens. After the bracero program, foreign workers could still be imported for agricultural work under the H-2 program, which was created in 1943 when the Florida sugar cane industry obtained permission to hire Caribbean workers to cut sugar cane on temporary visas. The H-2 program was revised in 1986 and was divided into the H-2A agricultural program and the H-2B non-agricultural program which are still up and running today. These programs provide temporary jobs and income for workers but do not offer any advantage in terms of establishing residency or citizenship in the United States.
The protections provided to these guest workers vary depending on the program they are under, so the quality of living varies widely but is often low-quality. The housing vicinities lack basic necessities and are often in areas considered to be dangerous. Many guest workers find themselves living in one room containers that later may be split up between many workers. Other guest workers find themselves living in what are called ‘Tent Cities,’ placed right next to the field at where they are picking crops.One tent is provided to fit multiple guestworkers or an entire family.
These living spaces are often in very rural locations which isolate these workers and make them totally reliant on their employers. Many employers forbid them from bringing visitors, which reinforces the guest workers dependence on the employer and limits the likelihood of reports about the poor living conditions or other violations.[16]
The Influence of Institutions: Governments and Lending Institutions
Federal, state, and local governments all influence housing access via laws, zoning rules, permitting processes, and regulations. In addition, the government has the power to regulate the way that most Americans access home ownership, which is a loan agreement between an individual or couple and a lending institution such as a bank or credit union. In fact, it is the lending institution who owns any home, until the individual or couple completely pays the mortgage, which is a combination of the home’s original price and the interest that is charged, typically over a 15, 20 or 30 year loan.
Together, government and lending institutions control who can borrow money, where they can access housing, the down payment required, and the interest rate that each family pays. These regulations do not treat all families equally: socioeconomic status, racial-ethnic identity, marriage and sexuality, and immigrant and documentation status have all played a role in lending policies over time in the United States. Immigrants and individuals with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status have difficulty securing loans due to ambiguous federal legislation affecting their status. People who do not have a social security number are eligible for loans, but these typically require a higher down payment and higher interest rates.
Home foreclosures added to the economic disparity following the housing market crash of 2008. Over half of US States were affected by prior predatory lending practices and lack of oversight of the banking system. Uninsured, private market subprime loans were made available with looser requirements, quickly driving up the price of homes so that some people owed more on their house than it was worth. Many were considered “underwater in their loans” or “upside-down” in their home value and defaulted on payments. Banks took back homes and many families were forced into shelters, into living in their cars, or into the homes of family members increasing the numbers of cost-burdened, housing insecure, and homeless families.
Where Families Live
Considering the location of families in the United States, we will briefly look at three factors: geography; household size; and types of locations, which commonly include urban, suburban, and rural communities. Exurbs, a relatively new term, describes areas just outside of suburban communities which typically feature low density housing and large homes. These may overlap into farm or forested areas, but are not considered rural.
Geography
Population distribution is divided into four main regions by the U.S. Census Bureau in order to register the population: the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West; see the map below for divisions within regions.
Population is spread unevenly across the United States with density focused in the Northeast and Southern regions, and two smaller divisions: the East North Central in the Midwest, and the Pacific division of the West, which includes Oregon.
Although the population of the United States is growing, the rate of growth is slowing as exemplified by the most populous states listed in descending order: California, Texas, Florida, and New York and for the states that are increasing in population. The four states that have the largest numeric growth in the past ten years are Texas, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. The states with the most growth, percentage wise, are Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, experiencing between 1.7 and 2.1% growth in the past year (2018-2019).[17] For comparison, Oregon grew 1.3 % in the same time period.[18]
Communities
Where families live can also be examined related to living in urban, suburban, rural, and exurban areas. Over the second half of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st century, families generally moved away from urban centers and into the suburbs. But the recession of 2008-2015 reversed that trend and urban areas made some growth, while suburbs, and exurbs declined. Since 2016, the overall trend has again shifted, increasing family growth in suburbs, and metropolitan areas (as opposed to urban cores) with Midwestern metro areas seeing the most growth.[19] To understand the demographics of who lives in which kind of community, read this article from the Pew Research Center: What Unites and Divides Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities. Values, racial-ethnic groups, and education are all factors in family location.
Environments and locations have differing health advantages and risks. Air quality, access to green spaces, clean water, and places to recreate are often described as “quality of life” factors. But a greater emphasis is critical as these are considered to be as important to overall health as are genetics and lifestyle.[20] Air and water will be discussed more in depth in the Food, Water, and Air chapter of this text. With the advent of shelter-at-home restrictions related to the pandemic of COVID-19, home environments have become even greater a factor in our overall health. For more on how to assess your environment and its importance to health, watch this TEDMED TALK with Bill Davenhall.
Household Size
The increasing size of households in the United States is a significant trend that reverses a decline that has been in place since at least 1790, when the average household size was 5.79 people. It had declined to 2.58 people in 2010, but shows an increase to 2.63 people per household in 2018. This increase is likely due to several factors. The recession affected families across the United States and many families “doubled up” in their housing. In addition, the trend of young adults living with their parents for longer periods of time decreases the number of independent households.[21] And there is an increase in multigenerational households. This reflects the growing racial-ethnic diversity in the United States; Asian, Hispanic, and Black families are more likely to live in multigenerational households than are non-Hispanic Whites.[22] The trend of increasing household size is important to note because it will likely impact the economy in the United States if it continues, as it will influence that amount of new housing construction.
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
Figure 9.1. “Cardi B live auf dem Openair Frauenfeld 2019″ by Frank Schwichtenberg. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Figure 9.2. “home sweet home” by Libor Gabrhel. License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Figure 9.4. “Whoville Homeless Camp (Eugene, Oregon)” by Visitor7. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Figure 9.5. Photo by Pxfuel. License: Pxfuel terms of use.
Figure 9.6. “Census Regions and Division of the United States” by US Census Bureau. Public domain.
Figure 9.7. “2010 Population Distribution in the United States and Puerto Rico” by US Census Bureau. Public domain.
All Rights Reserved Content
Figure 9.3. “Comparison of Basic Needs Insecurity Rates” (c) The Hope Center. Chart used under fair use.
1. Akhtar, A. (2017, September 27). How Cardi B escaped poverty to become the first female rapper in 19 years to top the charts. http://money.com/how-cardi-b-escaped...op-the-charts/
2. Tilly, C. (2006). The economic environment of housing: Income inequality and insecurity. In R. G. Bratt, M. E. Stone, and C. Hartman, A right to housing: Foundation for a new social agenda (pp. 20-35). Temple University Press. ↵
3. Shamsian, J. & Singh, O. (2019, October 10). How Cardi B went from a stripper to a chart-topping rapper. Business Insider. https://www.insider.com/who-is-cardi...-yellow-2017-9
4. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2018, December). The 2018 annual homeless assessment report to Congress. files.hudexchange.info/resou...HAR-Part-1.pdf ↵
5. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. (2019, January). Oregon homelessness statistics. https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/or/
6. Goldrick-Rab, S., Baker-Smith, C., Coca, V., Looker, E. & Williams, T. (2019, April). College and university basic needs Insecurity: A national #RealCollege survey report. The Hope Center. https://hope4college.com/wp-content/...rt_digital.pdf
7. Invisible People. (n.d.). How many people live in tent encampments? https://invisiblepeople.tv/tent-cities-in-america/
8. Popov, I. (2017, February). Shelter funding for homeless individuals and families brings tradeoff. Center for Poverty Research, University of California , Davis. https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/policy-b...ings-tradeoffs
9. Hall, B. (2019, April 10). Corvallis, Benton County homeless council reboot moves ahead. Albany Democrat Herald. democratherald.com/news/loca...c499a1dfc.html ↵
10. Day, J. (2020, May 4). Corvallis to aid shelter hygiene center. Albany Democrat Herald. democratherald.com/news/loca...9a6d6b89c.html ↵
11. National Center for Transgender Equality. (2019, June 9). The Equality Act: What transgender people need to know. https://transequality.org/blog/the-e...e-need-to-know
12. Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (n.d.). Building dignity: Design strategies for domestic violence shelter. https://buildingdignity.wscadv.org/
13. Office of Policy Development and Research. US Department of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). Measuring housing insecurity in the American housing survey. PD&R Edge Magazine. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdred...ec-111918.html
14. Health People 2020. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Housing instability. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/t...ng-instability
15. Joint Center for Housing Studies. Harvard University. (2016, June 22). The state of the nation's housing 2016. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/researc...s-housing-2016
16. Southern Poverty Law Center. (n.d.). Guest worker rights. Retrieved February 20, 2020, from https://www.splcenter.org/issues/imm.../guest-workers
17. United States Census Bureau. (2019, December 30). 2019 US population estimates continue to show the nation's growth is slowing. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/pres...st-nation.html
18. Portland State University. (2019, November 15). PSU's Population Research Center releases preliminary Oregon population estimates. www.pdx.edu/news/psu%E2%80%9...tion-estimates ↵
19. Frey, W. H. (2018, March 26). US population disperses to suburbs, exurbs, rural areas, and “middle of the country” metroes. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-a...ountry-metros/
20. Office of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2019, May 14). Healthy homes reports and publications. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/r...mes/index.html
21. ry, R. (2019, October 1). The number of people in the average U.S. household is going up for the first time in over 160 years. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...ver-160-years/
22. Menasce Horowitz, J., Brown, A., & Cox, K. (2019, April 9). Views on race in America 2019. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/04/09/race-in-america-2019/ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/04%3A_Housing/4.01%3A_Housing_Preview_Questions.txt |
Finding a place to call “home” is important. Living in a place that supports access to outdoor spaces, a feeling of security, effective schools, transportation, food and other resources and the potential for community are quality factors that affect a family’s abilities to function effectively and efficiently. We might call these “livable environments”.
Home ownership has been and is still the most basic and viable way to accrue wealth in the United States. Access to home ownership is important to families for both livability and financial investment purposes. Uncovering the inequities in access to home ownership is critical to understanding the well-being of families in the United States.
Power and the American Dream: Home Ownership
The government and financial organizations both hold substantial power in the United States. Together, they affect who and how homes are purchased. Although we know that race is a social construction, it is still used as an identifying feature for families, and has been used by these systems to control home purchases and to segregate living areas. We will discuss housing from the perspective of racial-ethnic groups affected by these regulations and practices.
As noted above, households that rent homes rather than buy are on the increase; more people are renting now than at any time in the last fifty years. This is not due to lack of desire to own a home; in a 2016 Pew Research Center Survey, 72% of renters said that they desire to own a home.[1] Denial rates for mortgages continue to be higher for Black and Hispanic applicants. When they are approved, they tend to have higher monthly payments, which increases the cost burden on families. This is typically due to having fewer financial resources with which to make a down payment.[2]
While it may be obvious that home ownership increases stability and enables individuals and families to accrue wealth, it is also true that home ownership has a significant effect on the life satisfaction of low-income people. Home buyers have been found to have higher levels of life satisfaction and may also have increased self-esteem and a sense of control compared to renters.[3] It is impossible to talk about lower rates of home ownership amongst minoritized groups without discussing the practices of intentional segregation and gouging enacted by the federal government, lending institutions, local governments and housing covenants enacted following the legal end of slavery in the United States.
Redlining
Redlining is the discriminatory practice of refusing loans to creditworthy applicants in neighborhoods that banks deem undesirable or racially occupied. Although home ownership became an emblem of the American citizenship and the American dream during the 20th century, Blacks and other nationalities were specifically limited in their abilities to purchase homes. Both the federal government, which created the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in 1933 and the Federal Housing Association (FHA) in 1934, along with the real-estate industry, worked to segregate Whites from other groups in order to preserve property values.
Lending institutions and the federal government did this by creating maps in which the places where people of color and/or foreign-born lived were colored red. Then those areas were designated to be “dangerous” or “risky” in terms of loaning practices. Because families in these same groups were often denied access to the neighborhoods designated to be “good” or “the best” they were forced to take loans that required higher down payments and/or higher interest rates.
The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, which regulated home loans, created residential security maps divided into four different categories:
• Green: “the best” for businessmen
• Blue: “Good” for white-collar families
• Yellow: “Declining” for working-class families
• Red: “Detrimental” or “Dangerous” for foreign-born people, low-class Whites, and “negroes”
These ratings indicated to lending institutions how “risky” it was to provide loans by area. It was then less likely that loans could be secured in the red and yellow neighborhoods; interest and payments would be higher. Unscrupulous private lenders used this opportunity to create unfair practices such as unreasonably high payments with devastating consequences if one payment or partial payment was missed, such as the Black homeowner losing their home and all equity that had been earned.[4]
In 1968 these practices were outlawed by the Fair Housing Act which was part of the Civil Rights Act. The Fair Housing Act is an attempt at providing equitable housing to all. It makes discriminating against someone based on skin color, sex, religion, and disability illegal. Also banned is the practice of real estate lowballing, where banks underestimate the value of a home, in effect forcing a borrower to come up with a larger down payment to compensate for the lower loan value. The offering of higher interest rates, insurance, terms and conditions to minority loan applicants is illegal. Denying loans and services on the basis of an applicant’s protected class is also illegal.
Still, much damage was done prior to its passage. For decades the federal government poured tax monies into home loans that almost exclusively favored White families. Home ownership is the most accessible way to build equity and wealth and it was denied to many minority families for decades. Once the Fair Housing Act passed, local governments, residential covenants, and deed modifications continued to discriminate well into the 2000s, and families in minoritized groups still had less success in achieving home loans.
The result of these institutionalized efforts resulted in residential segregation, the physical separation of two or more groups into different neighborhoods. Many times this is associated with race but can also be associated with income. Segregated neighborhoods did not come about organically, but through deliberate planning of policies and practices that have systematically denied equal opportunity to minority populations. Segregation has been present in the United States for many years and while now it is illegal to do so it has been institutionalized in neighborhood patterns. From information collected in the 2010 census we see that a typical White person lives in a neighborhood that is 75 percent White and 8 percent African American, while a typical African American person lives in a neighborhood that is 35 percent White and 45 percent African American.[5]
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=123
Play this six-minute video for a summary of housing segregation in the U.S.
As a recipient of federal funding the city of Portland is required to abide by the rules of the Fair Housing Act, but like many cities in the United States, Portland has a history of redlining and other discriminatory practices. In order to better understand Portland’s practices, learning about Oregon’s history is useful. The Oregon Encyclopedia contains a summary of Black exclusion laws in Oregon; these laws were put in place when the state was founded in order to discourage people of color from settling in Oregon.
Between 1900 and 1930 Portland began zoning practices, the act of separating land based on what it will be used for, such as residential, industrial and commercial. In 1924, Portland approved its first zoning code, Zone 1–SingleFamily, Zone 2–Multi-Family, Zone 3–Business-Manufacturing, and Zone 4–Unrestricted. Most residential areas were designated Zone 2, except for 15 neighborhoods considered the “highest quality” that were designated Zone One.[6]
Table 9.1. Some of the 15 neighborhoods that were designated Zone One
Data from Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America[7]
Neighborhood Environment Occupants Building Zone
Alameda Convenience to schools, churches, shopping centers and transportation. Fully improved streets and sufficiency of utilities and conveniences. Foreign born: Few to none
Black: Few to none
5-7 rooms
mansions
Arlington-Heights Schools, churches, transportation, recreational and trading areas reasonably available. Foreign born: Few to none
Black: Few to none
7-10 rooms
mansions
Eastmoreland Convenience to grade schools, churches, transportation, recreational and trading centers. Presence of all utilities and conveniences. Foreign born: Few to none
Black: Few to none
5-7 rooms
houses
Abernathy A sheltered and secluded neighborhood of great natural appeal. Schools, churches and trading centers reasonably available. Foreign born: Few to none
Black: Few to none
Mansions and Farm houses
Between the 1930s and ’40s, Portland City Council rezoned large areas of multi-family zoning to single-family zoning. This was done to protect real estate values of single-family homes and make it easier for homeowners to obtain Federal Housing Administration loans in those areas. During this time roughly 14.25 square miles was rezoned from multi-family to single-family housing. This was used as a tool to further reinforce racial segregation by restricting federal and private lending. It made it really difficult, sometimes even impossible, for residents living in “redlined” neighborhoods to receive residential and commercial loans.
Neighborhood planning from 1960 to 1970 included the ideas of residents instead of only the real estate industry. In 1973 a Senate bill was passed which eventually led to the creation of the state’s land use planning program. This program required cities to have a 20 year plan to accommodate growth. There was a strong interest from Portland residents in housing policies which would distribute low-income housing throughout the entire Portland area. Although many strong neighborhood associations formed, power continued to reside with the more affluent, mostly White neighborhoods and the 1980 Comprehensive Plan favored expanding and protecting single-family zones.
In 1994 the Community and Neighborhood Planning Program was adopted to address issues that sprouted after the Comprehensive plan. With this they did the opposite of what had been done for many years in the past, they expanded the multi-family zones. Central City, Albina, Outer Southeast, Southwest, Inner Southeast, Peninsula area, Northwest Portland, and Northeast Portland were identified as focus neighborhoods. The program involved staggering the plans and completing them periodically and systematically. The program sought to expand and intermix multi-family housing, but was met with resistance and controversy that led to uneven results.
VisionPDX came forward in 2005 as an effort to engage community members, especially those from underrepresented communities, in developing a shared vision of Portland. They wanted to focus on providing a space for other folks who previously had no say in the future of Portland to now have the opportunity to do so. The new way of thinking about equity in planning led to the development of new goals and policies in the most updated version of the Comprehensive Plan in 2016.
Today, single-family zoning accounts for approximately 74% of the total land area for housing in Portland. Since the 1920s, very little change has occurred with the original 15 single-family-zones. These neighborhoods have remained stable and demographically homogeneous with low levels of vulnerability to displacement and tend to be the zones for White households. Similarly, the zones originally designated as less desirable are homes for many families from marginalized groups, and contain fewer resources and amenities desired by families.
So what can we learn from this? Portland’s land use planning history, intentional or not, has resulted in discrimination and segregation. These planning practices and the decisions made have predominantly benefited and privileged White homeowners while communities of color have been burdened, excluded, and displaced. Decision-making for collective improvement is often complicated when it affects individual outcomes. The same people who may believe in equity may also resist change when they perceive that it affects them individually. This is called the “Not in my Backyard” (NIMBY) phenomenon and likely affected Portland’s failure to move toward creating more mixed neighborhoods. Portland and all cities can do better. Fair housing regulations can be achieved by understanding the history and then creating policy change which will lead to more equitable outcomes.
Bluelining
Blue Lining is a current banking and lending issue as a result of climate change. Real estate that is considered high risk due to low elevation may not qualify for loans. With the current rate of ocean warming, sea levels are expected to rise and warm water generate storms that displace millions of people in the US and worldwide. Flooding could displace 126 million people, or 40% of the US population, by 2021. Climigration is the act of people relocating to areas less devastated by flooding, storms, drought, lack of clean water or economic disaster due to the forces of climate change.
Many American families relocate as jobs disappear or land becomes flooded or arid. In response to immediate disaster, many families move to live with relatives or friends. Some families have nowhere to turn. “In January 2018, 3,900 people were staying in sheltered locations specifically for people displaced by presidentially declared national disasters. People in these locations were displaced from areas struck by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate; western wildfires; and other storms and events.”[8]
Climate change has also changed the economic desirability of entire regions, creating a new divide between the poor and the privileged. In the Southern California region of Los Angeles, shade has become an increasingly precious commodity, giving respite from the searing heat that bakes the community during longer, hotter warm seasons.
In the 1950’s, the lure of the California sunshine attracted settlers from across the US to propel LA into a major metropolis. Now, shade provided by large tree-lined neighborhoods and areas of upscale urban design are enjoyed by the affluent but absent for those who need it the most. There is a public health benefit of trees, with studies showing benefits like lower asthma and improved mental health of those exposed to greenspaces.
People who live in less desirable neighborhoods and use public transportation, wait at the more than 750 bus stops where police ordered the removal or minimization of trees in an earlier era.
They spend more time outdoors traveling to jobs and needed resources and suffer the highest heat index.[9]
The accessibility of greenspaces is proving to have a direct impact on health. This will be discussed more thoroughly in the Food, Water, and Air chapter.
Reservation Land and Home Ownership
There is another group of families unable to build capital via home ownership: Native American Indians who reside on reservations. When the United States government sequestered Native Americans to reservation lands, it also retained ownership of that land, creating a “ward: guardian relationship” between the government and the Indian Nations, as characterized by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall in 1831.[10] The government holds reservation lands “in trust” for the tribe nations.
While there is much public debate about other aspects of tribal rights such as casinos, and the effects of using Native or Indian images and names for sport teams, there is little discussion about the ways the U.S. government has limited the abilities of Native Americans to own property within the communities where they live.[11] This most basic way of building equity in a country that values individualism and capitalism has been restricted for the people who have inhabited it the longest. Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of any racial-ethnic group (28% in 2015) and it is likely that the control the government has exerted over their living conditions contributes to this circumstance.[12]
Fair Housing Act
What legally constitutes as a family has influenced a multitude of the availability of resources and within that bubble of needs, housing is one of them. Housing distribution appears to have always been a necessity that was, historically discriminatory towards minority groups regarding social identities such as; people of color, sexual orientation, gender and sex, country of origin and disability. The Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 and originally banned the sale and rental of housing (and other housing practices) indicating preference or discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin. In 1974 it was amended to include sex, and in 1988 people with disabilities and people with children. To date, it does not include gender identity or sexual orientation. Only a handful of states have it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity and that creates a challenge for LGBTQ couples.
Socially constructed ideas of “normal” or “acceptable” identities are barriers to many people in accessing shelter, housing and many other services. Specifically in the case of homeless shelters, transgender women may be refused admittance by the women’s shelter and at risk of violence at the men’s shelter.[13] More progress must be made to provide security for all, regardless of identity.
Another barrier some women with children face in seeking shelter from domestic violence is the shelter rules themselves. Early curfews and overly strict rules can compromise the empowerment of residents. Many women fleeing domestic violence find themselves facing punitive and inflexible environments that mimic the patterns of control they are trying to escape. The Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence created a resource called Building Dignity, which “explores design strategies for domestic violence emergency housing. Thoughtful design dignifies survivors by meeting their needs for self-determination, security and connection. The idea here is to reflect a commitment to creating welcoming and accessible environments that help to empower survivors and their children.”[14]
Stigma
It is important to note the critical nature of stigma. When a characteristic or behavior is devalued in society, whether it be by legal status or by social construction of difference, individuals and families have a more difficult time accessing needs of survival, including housing. When negative labels are placed on people the consequences that the labels create can have lasting effects. Being called “homeless,” “drug-addict,” “unemployable,” can in fact cause the persons being called these things to self fulfill the negative labels that society has placed on them. Because people of color, the LGBTQ+ kinship groups, immigrant families and others have been stigmatized they are more likely to then be given other negative behavior-based labels. When someone feels as though they are seen as nothing, they can in turn feel as though they have nothing to offer. The Labeling Theory is a good example of how society can perpetuate things such as homelessness and criminality even though they might not necessarily realize that they are doing so. The Labeling Theory is a “sociological hypothesis that claims that by describing an individual in terms of particular behavioral characteristics may have a significant effect on his or her behavior, as a form of self-fulfilling prophecy.”[15]
Families who Rent
Inherent with the owner role comes power. Decision-making about rental rates, whom to rent to, and upkeep of the home resides with the owner. People who rent, while receiving variable rights and responsibilities dependent on the municipality in which they reside, have less control over their living space than do owners. While many owner-renter relationships are mutually beneficial, renters who live at or below the poverty line have fewer choices and are more likely to encounter landlords who are inattentive or worse.
Slumlords
According to Wikipedia, a slumlord is: “a slang term for a landlord, generally an absentee landlord with more than one property, who attempts to maximize profit by minimizing spending on property maintenance, often in deteriorating neighborhoods.”[16]
Typically these homes are found in low-income areas. People and families who cannot rent anywhere else utilize this type of housing. Usually because the rent is cheap and there are no background checks. Families who have had previous rental issues (evictions, late rent, etc.) frequently get sucked into this housing option. Also persons who have criminal records and have no other options rent from these types of owners.
Section 8 Housing
The housing choice voucher program, more commonly known as Section 8 housing is the federal government’s program for assisting low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford housing. An important thing to notice is how since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants themselves are able to find their own housing.
Housing choice vouchers are administered locally by public housing agencies (PHAs). The PHAs receive federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer the voucher program. A housing subsidy is paid to the landlord directly by the PHA on behalf of the participating family. The family then pays the difference between the actual rent charged by the landlord and the amount subsidized by the program. Sometimes, a family could even use its voucher to purchase a home with a PHA’s authorization.[17]
Qualifying for Section 8 housing is not a guarantee of moving into affordable housing. In 2020 the median wait time for people who have applied for a housing voucher in the United States is 1.5 years, with some waits as long as seven years. Currently in Oregon there are thirteen open waiting lists and at least seven counties where families cannot even get on a waiting list.[18]
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
Figure 9.8. “Sign: ‘We Want White Tenants in our White Community‘” by Arthur Siegel / Office of War Information. Public domain.
Figure 9.9. “Home Owners’ Loan Corporation Philadelphia redlining map.” Public domain.
Figure 9.10. “Food carts – Portland, Oregon, USA” by Daderot. CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Figure 9.11. “Portland, Oregon skyline from the Ross Island Bridge” by Visitor7. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Figure 9.13. “LA Metro 200 bus stop on Alvarado Street” by Downtowngal. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Figure 9.14. “Green spaces (4)” by Anthony O’Neil. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Figure 9.15. “Slum Lord” by Bart Everson. License: CC BY 2.0.
Open Content, Original
Figure 9.12 “Economic & Environmental Irony” by Kate Hemlock. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
All Rights Reserved Content
Why Cities Are Still So Segregated” (c) NPR. License terms: Standard Youtube License.
1. Cilluffo, A., Geiger, A.W., & Fry, R. (2017, July 19). More US households are renting than at any point in 50 years. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...t-in-50-years/
2. Desilver, D., & Bialik, K. (2017, January 10). Blacks, Hispanics face mortgage challenges. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...ng-home-loans/
3. Rohe, W. M., & Stegman, M. A. (1994). The effects of homeownership: On the self-esteem, perceived control and life satisfaction of low-income people. Journal of the American Planning Association, 60(2), 173–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944369408975571
4. Coates, Ta-Nehisi. (2014, June). The case for reparations. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ations/361631/
5. Frey, W. H. (2020, March 30). Even as metropolitan areas diversify, White Americans still live in mostly White neighborhoods. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/research/e...neighborhoods/
6. Hughes, J. et al. (2019, September). Historical context of racist planning: A history of how planning segregated Portland. Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. City of Portland, Oregon. https://beta.portland.gov/sites/defa...toryreport.pdf
7. Nelson, R. K. et al. (n.d.). Mapping inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. University of Richmond. Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/[1]
8. Henry, M., Mahathey, A., Morrill, T., Robinson, A., Shivji, A., & Watt, D. (2018, December). The 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. files.hudexchange.info/resou...HAR-Part-1.pdf ↵
9. Arango, T. (2019, December 1). Why shade Is a mark of privilege in Los Angeles. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/u...te-change.html
10. Cherokee Nations v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831) ↵
11. Schaefer Riley, N. (2016, July 30). One way to help Native Americans: property rights. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...rights/492941/
12. U.S. Census Bureau. (2015, November 2). Facts for Features: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2015. https://www.sprc.org/resources-progr...an-and-alaskan
13. National Center for Transgender Equality. (2019, June 9). The Equality Act: What transgender people need to know. https://transequality.org/blog/the-e...e-need-to-know
14. Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (n.d.). Building dignity: Design strategies for domestic violence shelter. Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://buildingdignity.wscadv.org/
15. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Labeling theory. In The APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://dictionary.apa.org/labeling-theory
16. Wikipedia. (n.d.). Slumlord. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumlord
17. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8). Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://www.hud.gov/topics/housing_c...gram_section_8
18. Affordable Housing Online. (n.d.). Search low income apartments and wait lists. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://affordablehousingonline.com/ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/04%3A_Housing/4.03%3A_Finding_a_Home-_Inequities.txt |
Understanding and acknowledging past injustices is the first step toward making homes equitably available to all families. Efforts to make changes come from multiple directions. There are legislative changes (some which have passed and some that are proposed), and non-profit agencies and advocacy groups that work both legislative and with direct action. In addition, there are grassroots efforts to change neighborhood dynamics and to add resources.
Updating the Fair Housing Act
Housing distribution was historically discriminatory towards minority groups regarding social identities such as people of color, sexual orientation, gender and sex, country of origin and disability. The Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 and banned sale, rental and other housing practices that indicated preference or discrimination based on race, color, relgion or national origin. In 1974 it was amended to include sex, and in 1988 to include people with disabilities and people with children. While in 2016, a rule by the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) insured equal access to Community Planning and Development programs regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or marriage status, non-conforming gender individuals may find it difficult to access services as this rule applies to one specific program (and not to other public or private programs).[1] To date, the Fair Housing Act does not include gender identity or sexual orientation. Only a handful of states have it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity and that creates a challenge for LGBTQ+ families and couples.[2]
The 2019 Equality Act is an attempt to make all Americans equal. The Equality Act is a 2019 bill passed by the US House of Representatives that would amend the Civil Rights Act to “prohibit discrimination on the basis of the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition of an individual, as well as because of sex-based stereotypes.” This Act was sent to the Senate in May 2019, but has not been taken up for consideration at this time (August 2020). [3]
Addressing Homelessness: Housing First
People who are homeless (aka “housing bereaved”) can experience an overlap of social problems, such as poverty, untreated mental illness, unemployment, and/or addictions. Traditionally programs attempt to help people become “ready for housing” via support and criteria that may require multiple moves. For example the person must become sober or employed first. A relatively new and innovative approach, “Housing First” sprung from grassroots efforts as early as 1988 in California and 1992 in New York. Simply put, the idea is that if people have stable housing, solving other problems becomes more likely. Having a secure home, consistent access to schooling, transportation and support services means that people can be more successful in addressing overlapping issues such as mental health, addiction, and seeking employment.
Housing First: National Alliance to End Homelessness is a non-profit organization that exemplifies the approach to end homelessness. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has endorsed the Housing First approach. HUD estimates that homelessness costs the government between \$30,000 and \$60,000 per person annually, due to emergency room visits and jail time. A less expensive solution is to actually provide people with housing.
Various communities have adopted the Housing First approach and it looks different depending on the resources and principles of each location. Utah’s Housing First approach is a model for how these services can be made available. Through the collaboration of many local organizations and donations from local churches, real permanent semi-communal housing is provided along with services such as counseling. A true success story, “Grace Mary Manor in Salt Lake City is a permanent affordable housing facility for 84 chronically homeless individuals with a disabling condition.” (Clifford, NPR, 12/2015) Through programs like this, Utah was able to decrease their homeless population by 91%. [4]
At the time of this writing (July 2020) the state of Oregon hosts a web page dedicated to Permanent Supportive/Supported Housing Resources which contains some of the federal government’s resources about Housing First. It is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the future of this program. In addition, JOIN was founded in Portland in 1992 and reports that they supported 1,377 people leaving the street for permanent and stable housing in 2018. One year later, 83% of those families remain stable.[5]
Creating Standards
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has determined criteria and benchmarks for communities to achieve the goal of ending chronic homelessness. Standards are important because they help us identify what we are working toward. These criteria are summarized as follows:
1. The community has identified and provided outreach to all individuals experiencing or at risk for chronic homelessness and prevents chronic homelessness whenever possible.
2. The community provides access to shelter or other temporary accommodations immediately to any person experiencing unsheltered chronic homelessness who wants it.
3. The community has implemented a community-wide Housing First orientation and response that also considers the preferences of the individuals being served.
4. The community assists individuals experiencing chronic homelessness to move swiftly into permanent housing with the appropriate level of supportive services and effectively prioritizes people for permanent supportive housing.
5. The community has resources, plans, and system capacity in place to prevent chronic homelessness from occurring and to ensure that individuals who experienced chronic homelessness do not fall into homelessness again or, if they do, are quickly reconnected to permanent housing.
These goals are considered met when the benchmark of maintaining these criteria has met for 90 days. Though likely not achievable, the goal of zero homeless individuals in a community is aspirational.[6]
Changing Opportunities
We’ve discussed at length redlining, and the continuing effects on people of color. How can the effects of so many years of institutionalized discrimination be undone? Analysis and action can contribute to change. Communities across the United States have been analyzed by The Opportunity Atlas, which identifies neighborhoods from which children are most likely to rise out of poverty. (Click on the link to assess your own community from a variety of social characteristics, including race, sex, and income).[7]
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management partnered with the Seattle Public Housing Authority and King County (WA) Public Housing Authority and used The Opportunity Atlas to create a pilot program that offered families using housing vouchers to move into “high opportunity neighborhoods” as defined by the Atlas. Research shows that each year spent in a high opportunity neighborhood increases the likelihood of children going to college and and total lifetime earnings by at least \$200,000.[8]
In this study, the Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) project, families received additional basic services such as education on the location of opportunity neighborhoods, personalized rental application coaching, housing search assistance, and financial assistance. Fifty-four percent of the families receiving this assistance chose to move to opportunity neighborhoods compared to approximately 14 percent of families who received standard services. This demonstrates that families using housing vouchers are not choosing lower opportunity neighborhoods because of preference; when given education, means, and the choice to move to higher opportunity neighborhoods they are more likely to do so. This still in progress project offers hope that there are ways that federal housing voucher programs can change the course of intergenerational poverty via investments in families who use vouchers.[9] In 2019 the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) funded a larger version of this project.[10]
Community Efforts
Individuals and communities are taking initiative to improve their neighborhoods aesthetically and with increasing resources that benefit families, such as informal libraries, greenspaces, and art houses.
For example Theaster Gates, a University of Chicago professor who is also a potter and social activist, started by drawing attention to one run-down home that he refurbished, and gradually organized multiple grassroots efforts that have used culture to transform the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood in Chicago.[11]
Gates founded the Rebuild Foundation in 2010, which is a non-profit organization that encompasses multiple neighborhood improvement projects. To read more about his community work, visit the “Projects” section of his website.
A TED element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=125
Another example combines an international organization, Firmeza Foundation based in the Netherlands works with local neighborhoods to create community artwork. Artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn (aka Haas and and Hahn) work on the designs with community members, then hire and train local residents to complete the painting. Dre Urhahn describes the impact of the attention and love that community members pour into their neighborhoods as well as the resulting beauty as transformational aspects of the projects.[12] Two well known projects are the favela paintings in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Northern Philadelphia in the United States. To learn more about how their work is funded and organized, listen to their TED TALK here.
A TED element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/families/?p=125
Conclusion: An Existence of Human Dignity
In prior chapters we have discussed models related to what human beings need. We shared this graphic that shows two versions of how needs are met.
The models differ in perspective but they both emphasize the importance of basic needs, of which shelter is one. Maslow’s model on the left places shelter as the foundation of the hierarchy of needs, meaning that it must be met first in order for other needs to be achieved. In the First Nations’ Perspective on the right, the well-being of the community is prioritized; well-being includes basic needs for all being met.
The United Nations, a 193 nation member group founded in 1945, summarizes its mission as: Peace, Dignity and Equality on a Healthy Planet created a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which includes
“Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.”
–Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations. 1948. Article 23[13]
There is broad agreement that secure housing is a critical need for families to survive and thrive. While institutional biases that contribute to inequity and lack of secure housing for many families in the U.S. have decreased, they have not been completely eradicated. Nor have the effects of the prior centuries of discrimination been undone. We must continue to work to understand the past and the present in order to impact the future.
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, Shared Previously
Figure 9.16. “Fair housing protest, Seattle, Washington, 1964” by Seattle Municipal Archives. License terms: CC BY 2.0.
Figure 9.17. “Theaster Gates” by Locust Projects. Public domain.
“How to revive a neighborhood: with imagination, beauty, and art” by Theaster Gates/TED Talks. License terms: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
“How painting can transform communities” by Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn/TED Talks. License terms: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Open Content, Original
Figure 9.18. “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs compared to the First Nations’ perspective”. License: CC BY 4.0. Based on research from Rethinking Learning by Barbara Bray.
1. 24 CFR § 5.106 ↵
2. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). Housing discrimination and persons identifying as LGBTQ. Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/...ntifying_lgbtq
3. Equality Act, H.R. 5, 116th Cong. Session §1 (2019). ↵
4. Mcevers, K. (2015, December 10). Utah reduced chronic homelessness By 91 Percent. Here’s how. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/45910...cent-heres-how
5. Join. (n.d.). About. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from https://joinpdx.org/about/
6. U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. (2016, June 1). Criteria and benchmark for achieving the goal of ending chronic homelessness. https://www.usich.gov/resources/uplo...mark_Aug18.pdf
7. U.S. Census and Opportunity Insights. (n.d.). The opportunity atlas [interactive map]. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from https://www.opportunityatlas.org/
8. Chetty, R., Hendren, N., & Katz, L. F. (2016). The effects of exposure to better neighborhoods on children: New evidence from the moving to opportunity experiment. American Economic Review, 106(4), 855–902. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20150572
9. Delvin-Foltz, S. (2019, February 20). The new mobility demonstration puts opportunity within reach for children across the country. Opportunity Insights. https://opportunityinsights.org/upda...s-the-country/
10. Bell, A. (2019, February 15). HUD funding bill will launch housing voucher mobility demonstration. CBPP. https://www.cbpp.org/blog/hud-fundin...-demonstration
11. TED Talks. (2015, March 18). Theaster Gates. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/speakers/theaster_gates
12. Urhahn, D. (2017, November 10). How can public art projects transform rough neighborhoods (G. Raz, Interviewer)? NPR. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/transcripts/562877158
13. Rosenbaum, R. (n.d.). Sustainable living wages and income. CREA. Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://crea.org/sustainable-living-...-introduction/ | textbooks/socialsci/Sociology/Marriage_and_Family/Contemporary_Families_-_An_Equity_Lens_(Pearce_et_al.)/04%3A_Housing/4.04%3A_Movement_toward_Equity.txt |
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