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Chapter 1 Study Guide
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.
Objective vs. subjective definitions
Objective: objective social problems must have negative consequences for large numbers of people. (example: climate change)
Subjective: subjective social problems must have a perception that a behavior needs to be addressed/changed. (example: gun control)
Social constructionist view
A concept based on the collective views developed within a society or social group through the meaning
of social interaction.
The Natural History of social problems
4 steps – what they are and what happens in each
1. Emergence and Claims-making- stating the problem (ex. masses, policymakers, politicians, etc.)
2. Legitimacy- empirical data (ex. purpose: persuade people to act)
3. Renewed Claims- reassert claim, criticize opposition
4. Development of Alternative Strategies- new plan
Claims-making process
Process of convincing the public and officials that an issue should be defined as a problem.

Sociological Imagination
The ability to see connections between put personal lives and the social world we live in
Personal troubles
C Wright Mill’s terms for the personal problems that many individual’s experience.
Public issues
C. Wright Mill’s term for problems in society that underlie personal troubles.
Blaming the victim vs blaming the system
Blaming the victim: passing judgements and deciding that victims are guilty of being less and maladaptive.
Blaming there system: the belief that personal difficulties stem from problems in society.

Theory
Functionalism
Society is an orderly system of interconnected parts that perform functions and work together
to maintain stability
Conflict theory
Society is made up of different groups that compete for unequal distributions of power and resources.
Focuses on inequality and blames the power elite for problems.
Class consciousness
The beliefs a person holds regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their
class, and their class interests.
Feminist theory
The view that society is filled with gender inequality categorized by women being the subordinate sex in
every aspect of society.
Symbolic Interactionism
A micro perspective that focuses on the meanings people gain from social interaction. Symbols allow the
communication of meaning among a group of people.
Research Methods
Covers quantitative, qualitative, primary and secondary data. Utilizes social surveys, experiments, interviews, participant observation, ethnography, and longitudinal studies.
Scientific method
A systematic approach to researching questions and problems through objective and accurate
observation, collection of data, experimentation, and repeating procedures.
Objectivity
Judgements based on facts and undistorted by emotions, bias, or prejudice.
Surveys
Studies the sampling of individual units from a population and the associated data collection techniques, such as questionnaires.
Respondents
Individuals who answer questions during an interview or reply to surveys.
Random sample
A sampling method in which all members of a group have an equal and independent chance of being selected.

Response rate
The number if people who answered a survey divided by the number of people
in the sample.
Experiments
Research projects conducted with human subjects in the real world.
Experimental group
The group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested
Control Group
The group in an experiment that does not receive the variable being tested
Observational Studies
Draws inferences from a simple to a population where the independent variable is not under the control
of the researcher because of ethical concerns.
Participant Observation
When the sociologist becomes a part of the group they are studying in order to collect data and
understand a social problem.
Non-participant Observation
When the researcher watches the subjects of his/her study with their
knowledge, but without taking and active part in the situation.
Existing data

involves obtaining datasets from studies that have already been completed and using the data to
answer new questions
Secondary Data Analysis
The use of existing data, collected for the purpose of a prior study in order to pursue a research
interest.

Chapter 2 Study Guide
2.1 Measurement and Extent of Poverty
1. How is poverty in the USA measured? Be sure to have notes on: the origins of the poverty
line, updates made to the measurement, and critiques of the measurement
Poverty is measured in the U.S using the poverty threshold, poverty limit, or poverty line, which
is the minimum level of income deemed adequate.The original poverty measurement was developed by
Mollie Orshansky, whereas now it is established by the Office of Management and Budget. One major

criticism of the original poverty threshold was the fact that it was too low. Now, one of the major criticisms is that families need twice the federal poverty level to afford basic expenses.
2. What is the extent of ‘official’ poverty? Be sure to have notes on: Current rates/trends, Episodic poverty, Twice poverty data and what it tells us
To understand the extent of poverty, one has to consider episodic poverty, or the state of being
poor for more than two consecutive months in some time period. People go into snd out of poverty, but
even those people who go out of it do not usually move far from it. Additioanlly, twice poverty data
gives the percentage and number of people living in families with incomes below twice the official poverty level.

2.2 Who the Poor Are: Social Patterns of Poverty
1. Describe racial and ethnic differences in the poverty rate. Be sure to have notes on: Which
group most likely to live in poverty?, Rates among different groups (as a % of those who are poor vs.
as a % of that racial group)
The highest rate of poverty in terms of race are non-latino whites (42.4%). Then follows Latinos
(28.7%), then blacks (23.1), then lastly Asians (3.7%) In terms of poverty of racial groups; 9.9% of nonlatino whites are poor, 27.4% of blacks, 12.1% of Asians, and 26.6% of Latinos.
2. Discuss how family structure is related to poverty. Be sure to have notes on: Rates of men vs
women in poverty, Feminization of poverty, Rate of children living in poverty, Low income children, Low
income families, Rates of poverty for different family types, Interaction effects of race
The poverty rates for men is about 13%, whereas the poverty rates for women is 16%. The gap
between women and men caught the eye in the cycle of poverty that is continuing to widen, explaining
feminization of power. Additionally, children represent only 24% of the population, yet they comprise
34% of poverty. One of the largest poverty rates come from single-parent households (60%) compared
to two parents (11%).
3. Explain what poverty and labor force participation data imply about belief that many poor

lack the motivation to work. Be sure to have notes on: Employment statuses of those who live in
poverty, Why inaccurate to describe poor as lazy?
Many Americans think the poor are lazy and lack the motivation to work. Government data on
the poor show that most poor people are, in fact, either working unemployed but looking for
work, or unable to work because of their age or health

2.3 Explaining Poverty
1. Describe the assumptions of the functionalist and conflict views of stratification and poverty.
Be sure to include notes on Davis and Moore’s assumptions.
Several logical assumptions imply stratification is necessary and inevitable. The functionalist
view= (1) implies that if people are the skills and knowledge necessary for the important high
paying jobs(2) implies that the most important jobs have highest incomes and the least important
jobs the lowest incomes. The conflict view= attributes stratification and thus poverty to lack opportunity from discrimination and prejudice against the poor, women, and people of color.

TheDavid and Moor theory is the assertion that social stratification exists in every society because it has beneficial consequences for the operation of society.
2. Explain the focus of symbolic interactionist work on poverty.

symbolic interactionism tries to understand stratification and thus poverty by looking at people’s
interaction and understandings in their daily lives. Unlike the functionalist and conflict views, it
does not try to explain why we have stratification in the first place. Rather, it examines the differences that stratification makes for people’s lifestyles and their interaction with other people.
3. Explain the difference between individualist and structural explanations of poverty. Be sure
to include notes on the culture of poverty.

According to symbolic interactionism, social class affects how people interact in
everyday life and how they view certain aspects of the social world whereas the individualist
view attributes poverty to individual feelings of poor people themselves.
2.4 The Consequences of Poverty
1. Describe the family and housing problems associated with poverty. Be sure to include information from the Duncan and Magnuson study referenced.

The poor are at greater risk for family problems, including divorce and domestic violence. Even
in families that are not poor, running a household can cause stress, children can cause stress, and
paying the bills can cause stress. Families that are poor have more stress because of their poverty, and the ordinary stresses of family life become even more intense in poor families. Many
poor families spend more than half their income on rent, and they tend to live in poor neighborhoods that lack job opportunities, good schools, and other features of modern life that wealthier
people take for granted. A recent study used government data to follow children born between
1968 and 1975 until they were ages 30 to 37 (Duncan & Magnuson, 2011).
2. Explain how poverty affects health and educational attainment. Be sure to include notes on
crime as well.
The poor are also more likely to have many kinds of health problems, including infant
mortality, earlier adulthood mortality, and mental illness, and they are also more likely to receive inadequate medical care. Poor children are more likely to have inadequate nutrition and, partly for this reason, to suffer health, behavioral, and cognitive problems. Poor children typically go to rundown schools
with inadequate facilities where they receive inadequate schooling. They are much less likely than
wealthier children to graduate from high school or to go to college. Because poor and near-poor people
are more likely to commit street crime, they also comprise most of the people arrested for street crimes,
convicted of street crime, and imprisoned for street crime.

2.5 Global Poverty
1. Describe where poor nations tend to be located. Be sure to include information on how this

is measured in a global context and how income is distributed globally.
The richest fifth of the world’s population has three-fourths of the world’s entire income, while
the poorest fifth of the world’s population has only 1.5 percent of the world’s income, and the
poorest two-fifths has only 5.0 percent of the world’s income.
2. Explain the difference between the modernization and dependency theories of poverty.

According to the modernization theory, rich nations became wealthy because early on they
were able to develop the “correct” beliefs, values, and practices—in short, the correct culture—for
trade, industrialization, and rapid economic growth to occur. Whereas modernization theory attributes
global stratification to the “wrong” cultural values and practices in poor nations, dependency theory
blames global stratification on the exploitation of these nations by wealthy nations.
3. List some of the consequences of global poverty. Be sure to include notes on life expectancy,
child mortality, sanitation and clean water, malnutrition and adult literacy.

2.6 Reducing Poverty
1. Explain why the United States neglects its poor. Be sure to include notes on the impact of the
war on poverty, as well as the research of Soss and Rank.
2. List the potentially promising strategies to reduce US poverty as outlined in your text.

Many of these nations rely heavily on one or two crops, and if weather conditions render a crop
unproductive in a particular season, the nations’ hungry become even hungrier. Additionally, the
rate of child mortality in poor nations is 135 per 1,000 children, meaning that 13.5 percent of all
children in these nations die before age 5.
3. Describe how to reduce global poverty from a sociological perspective.

The lessons from the 1960s’ war on poverty and the experience of other democracies are clear: It
is very possible to reduce poverty if, and only if, a nation is willing to fund and implement appropriate programs and policies that address the causes of poverty and that help the poor deal
with the immediate and ongoing difficulties they experience.

Chapter 3 Study Guide
3.1 Racial and Ethnic Inequality: A Historical Prelude
1. Describe the targets of nineteenth-century mob violence in US cities.
The mob violence stemmed from a “deep-seated racial prejudice…in which whites saw blacks as
‘something less than human’ and continued well into the 20th century, when whites attacked African Americans in several cities, with at least seven antiblack riots occurring in 1919 alone that
left dozens dead.
2. Discuss why the familiar saying “The more things change, the more they stay the
same” applies to the history of race and ethnicity in the United States.
It would be accurate to say, to paraphrase Du Bois, that “the problem of the 21st century is the
problem of the color line.” Despite many efforts to change racism and discrimination, nothing
seems to “cure” it.

3.2 The Meaning of Race and Ethnicity
1. Critique the biological concept of race. Include notes on the textbook’s definition of
race.
For one thing, we often see more physical differences within a race than between races. For
example, some people we call “white” (or European), such as those with Scandinavian backgrounds, have very light skins, while others, such as those from some Eastern European

backgrounds, have much darker skins. In fact, some “whites” have darker skin than some
“blacks,” or African Americans. Another reason to question the biological concept of race is
that an individual or a group of individuals is often assigned to a race on arbitrary or even illogical grounds.
2. Discuss why race is a social construction. Make sure to have a good definition/understanding of the term social construction.
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.
3. Explain why ethnic heritages have both good and bad consequences. Include notes on
the textbook’s definition of ethnicity and ethnic group.
one of the most important functions of groups is the identity they give us, ethnic identities
can give individuals a sense of belonging and a recognition of the importance of their cultural backgrounds. However, a downside of ethnicity and ethnic group membership is the
conflict they create among people of different ethnic groups. History and current practice indicate that it is easy to become prejudiced against people with different ethnicities from our
own.

3.3 Prejudice
1. Define prejudice, racism, and stereotypes.
Prejudice is the attitude, while discrimination is the behavior. More specifically, racial and
ethnic prejudice refers to a set of negative attitudes, beliefs, and judgments about whole categories of people, and about individual members of those categories, because of their perceived race and/or ethnicity. A closely related concept is racism, or the belief that certain racial or ethnic groups are inferior to one’s own. Prejudice and racism are often based on racial
and ethnic stereotypes, or simplified, mistaken generalizations about people because of their
race and/or ethnicity.
2. Discuss the major social-psychological and sociological theories of prejudice. Include
notes on authoritarian personalities, frustration theory (or scapegoat theory), conformity, socialization and social learning theory. Note which are social-psych concepts and
which are sociological concepts.
Authoritarian personalities develop in childhood in response to parents who practice harsh
discipline. Individuals with authoritarian personalities emphasize such things as obedience to
authority, a rigid adherence to rules, and low acceptance of people (out-groups) not like oneself. In the frustration theory, In this view individuals with various problems become frustrated and tend to blame their troubles on groups that are often disliked in the real world. In
the conformity and socialization view, also known as the social learning theory, people who
are prejudiced are merely conforming to the culture in which they grow up, and prejudice is
the result of socialization from parents, peers, the news media, and other various aspects of
their culture.
3. What social factors are linked to racial prejudice among whites? Include notes on age,
education and geographic location.

Although women are usually thought to be more empathetic than men and thus to be less
likely to be racially prejudiced, recent research indicates that the racial views of (white)
women and men are in fact very similar and that the two genders are about equally prejudiced. Less educated people are usually more racially prejudiced than better educated people,
and Southerners are usually more prejudiced than non-Southerners
4. Describe how the nature of prejudice has changed. Include notes on laissez-faire/symbolic/modern racism.
The Nazi experience and then the civil rights movement led whites to reassess their views,
and Jim Crow racism gradually waned. Few whites believe today that African Americans are
biologically inferior, and few favor segregation. Despite these changes, several scholars say
that Jim Crow racism has been replaced by a more subtle form of racial prejudice, termed
laissez-faire, symbolic, or modern racism, that amounts to a “kinder, gentler, antiblack ideology” that avoids notions of biological inferiority

3.4 Discrimination
1. Distinguish between individual discrimination and institutional discrimination.
Individual discrimination is discrimination that individuals practice in their daily lives, usually because they are prejudiced but sometimes even if they are not prejudiced whereas institutional discrimination is discrimination that pervades the practices of whole institutions,
such as housing, medical care, law enforcement, employment, and education.
2. Summarize t...