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• Social Problems


  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
• Poverty


  The state of being extremely poor
• Prostitution


  The performance of sexual act with another person for fee
• AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)


  A severe disorder of immunoregulation whose underlying defect is impairment of cell-mediated immunity (abnormal regulation of the immune system) occurring in persons with no known cause of diminished resistance to diseases
• Drug Dependency


  Drug dependence can result from prescribed drugs, recreational drugs or medicines available over the counter. Drug dependence is a treatable medical condition
• Rapid Population Growth (RPG)


  A state of over population in terms of existing means and resources
• Theoretical Perspectives on Social Problems

  • Functionalist
  • Conflict
  • Interactionalist
• Functionalist Perspective

  
  

  sees society as a complex system whose parts works together to promote solidarity and stability
• Merton (1971): 'A social problem is substantial discrepancy between widely shared social standards and actual conditions of life'
• Coleman and Casey (1981): 'A social problem exists when there is a sizable difference between the ideals of a society and its actual achievements'
• Reab and Selznick (1961): 'Social Problems are simply widespread conditions that have harmful consequences for society or they are problems in human relationships which seriously threaten society or impede the important aspirations of many people'
• Conflict Perspective


  emphasizes the social, political or material inequality of a social group; critique the board socio-political system
• Proletariat


  The workers
• Bourgeoisie


  The owners of production (factories and textile mills)
• Dysfunctionalism


  e.g economy is handicapped by such an unavailability of quality manpower resource which may lead to low production even unemployment
• Social Organization


  Big organization or the whole society becomes disorganized
• Needs


  Condition requiring supply or relief
• Social Problem


  Emerges when a social change group successfully calls attention to a condition or behavior that it considers serious
• Development Concept


  is widely used to refer to specified state of advancement or growth
• Modernization Theory (Rostow)


  • Rostow's Five Stages of Economic Growth Model: Traditional society, Pre-conditions for take-off, Take-off, Drive to maturity, Age of mass consumption
• Social Development


  The economic study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and objectives
• Social Movement


  A loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. It is a type of group action and may involve individuals, organizations or both. Social movements have been described as "organizational structures and strategies that may empower oppressed populations to mount effective challenges and resist the more powerful and advantaged elites
• Interactionalist


  focuses on the everyday interaction between individuals as the basis for the development of society
• Social Development


  the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and objectives
• Social Movement


  a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social, or political one
• Modernization Theory by:

  Walt Rostow
• 5 stages of economic growth model

  1. Traditional Society
  2. Pre-conditions for take-off
  3. Take-off
  4. Drive to maturity
  5. Age of mass consumption
• Traditional Society

  This is an agricultural economy of mainly subsistence farming, little of which is traded. The size of the capital stock is limited and of low quality resulting in very low labor productivity and little surplus output left to sell

  in domestic and overseas markets.
• Pre-conditions for take-off


  Agriculture becomes more mechanized and more output is traded. Savings and investment grow although they are still a small percentage of national income (GDP). Some external funding is required - for example in the form of overseas aid or perhaps remittance incomes from migrant workers living overseas.
• Take-off


  Manufacturing industry assumes greater importance, although the

  number of industries remains small. Political and social institutions start to develop - external finance may still be required.

  Agriculture assumes lesser importance in relative terms although the majority of people may remain employed in the farming sector. There is often a dual economy apparent with rising productivity and wealth in manufacturing and other industries contrasted with stubbornly low productivity and real incomes in rural agriculture.
• Drive to Maturity


  Industry becomes more diverse. Growth should spread to different parts of the country as the state of technology improves - the economy moves from being dependent on factor inputs for growth towards making better use of innovation to bring about increases in real per capita incomes.
• Age of mass consumption


  Output levels grow, enabling increased consumer expenditure. There is a shift towards tertiary sector activity and the growth is sustained by the expansion of a middle class of consumers.
• Two important sociological terms

  1. Dysfuntionalism
  2. Social Organization
• Karl Marx


  He was acknowledged as the top proponent of the conflict theory because he laid its theoretical foundation by advancing the nation that society was composed of two major classes.
• can be because of sex, age and race

  Class Conflict
• The Conflict Perspective


  is inevitable in society since people have unequal access to scarce resources like money, power, prestige, cherished values, and certain privileges.
• The Functionalist Perspective


  Social problems as objective phenomena