Contemporary Social Problems

Front 1

Describe the 4 components of recognized social problems:

Back 1

1) They cause physical or mental damage to individuals or society
2) They offend the values or standards of some pwerful segment of society.
3) They persist for an extended period of time.
4) The generate compteting proposed solutions because of varying evaluations from groups in different social positions within society, which then delays reaching consensus on how to attack a problem.

Front 2

What is an important tool in evaluating social damage?

Back 2

Sociological analysis

Front 3

Is a social condition the same as a social problem?

Back 3

No. Social conditions don't necessarily become social issues unless some members of some powerful group perceive it as a problem.

Front 4

What does the phrase "Persistance Because someone is Profitting" mean?

Back 4

Every society's power structure of vested interest groups justifies itself by an ideology that seems to explain why some mebers "deserve" more power or privilage.

Front 5

Give an example of persistence due to a Desire for Quick cures

Back 5

J.D. Rockefeller saod that he would put up money for a large scale health campaign if there was something (as disease) that could be instantly totally wiped out. A cure for pellegra had been recently created.

Front 6

Quasi-theory of inadequate communication

Back 6

We explain away real differences, and sometimes open conflicts. "If people would just sit down quietly and discuss their differences, they'd see that we're all basically the same"...

Basically it is a symtom of a failure to communicate. Sometimes true, but frequently, fundamentally contradictory interests or competition for power divid conflicting groups.

Love, birth and death are areas of life that we will never understand.