1. Brittany Northcutt
29 April 2012
SOC 151-604
The Effects Economy has on Society
Economy plays a great deal in the way our society is today. With the economy
being so low and with the stock market crashing in the past, the workforce is slim to
none. People are finding it harder and harder to find jobs or even keeping their own job.
They could have been with a company for many years but they simply just get rid of their
position. Specifically because it isn’t in their budget to be able to pay them anymore or
because they could have someone else do the work without paying more people.
Approximately two out of three people have lost their job. Not only is it
unexpected but heartbreaking as well. Families never see this coming especially the ones
with children. They lose their paychecks each week to pay for their children’s extra-
curricular activities and groceries. They also lose their insurance as well. They are no
longer able to take their children to the doctor if they are sick and need medical attention.
If they do, they will be paying outrageous amounts of money to pay for the medical bills.
“Unemployment is that state of an individual looking for a paying job but not
having one. Unemployment does not include full-time students, the retired, children, or
those not actively looking for a paying job” (www.about.com). Everyone is affected by
this problem and there isn’t always a solution to it. Some people could be teachers or
police officers and others could be business owners or accountants. It doesn’t matter what
type of business you are in. If they aren’t able to pay you anymore then they have to let
you go.

2. “According to the College Board, bachelor’s degree tuition at private universities
averaged $26,273 in 2009-2010” (Tellefsen 1). This is an outrageous amount of money.
Not only just to pay for it, but also to go to school and study, find a new job and provide
for your family. Tuition is very expensive but also is books. Depending on what classes
someone takes, it may or may not require much studying. Others may not be so lucky and
will have to do a lot of studying and will not have much free time on their hands.
Financial aid is available for everyone as long as they apply for it. There are many
factors that go into it though and you may not always get approved or not get as much as
you may need. There are many scholarships available that one may have to write a paper
for but if you receive the scholarship, it is worth it in the end. Even if it isn’t a big amount
of money, a little bit goes a long way. Even if it just pays for books.
Even though you may receive some sort of help for paying for school, you will
still have to pay them back in the end. You are able to use the money and keep reapplying
for it each year until you are done with school. After you are done with school, you have
a certain amount of time before you have to pay it back. The problem is, if you have no
job then where are you supposed to get this money?
After you receive your degree you will hopefully be able to find a job. It is a
tough market nowadays. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter how much education you
have. It all comes down to whether they need you or not. If they can have someone else
double up and do more work, they will do that so they don’t have to hire another person.
It’s not that the companies don’t need the help but that simply they don’t have the money
in their budget.

3. Each company has a budget as to what they can pay their employees. If they are
in a sales job and they just aren’t meeting their quotas month to month then they have to
start letting people go. This not only leaves people jobless but the people that have jobs,
they have more work to do day in and day out. These people then become more stressed
because they have to do more work then they are used to. They are always used to having
someone else do it and it is always nice to have a helping hand.
There are many people that aren’t able to afford to go back to school to receive a
better degree. If they don’t have a job either, they just end up homeless. There are more
and more people on the streets than ever before. There are also many people helping
others as well such as making various donations at local churches and schools or even
helping out with the food pantry. Like most people say, a little bit goes a long way and
this is true especially to those that are less fortunate and anything will help.
“Compared with the homeless population on January 27th, 2005, the total
completed survey was 23.3 percent of the homeless population in Miami-Dade County”
(Rukmana 3). That is a large amount of the population. That is almost a quarter of it.
Florida is a pretty large state as it is so the smaller states must be unbearable. More and
more people are on the streets everyday and no one is able to help them. They can’t even
help themselves. Especially if they have families, there is no way of helping them and
allowing them to grow up and have the life they deserve when you don’t have the money
or resources to do so.
I chose this social problem because it is one that affects many people on a daily
basis. Not only has it been happening for years but it is still happening. People hope and
pray that it gets better but no one knows if or when it will. The only thing that happens of

4. it is tax prices and higher gas prices. People go back to school to get better degrees and
are wasting their time and money. I am sure that someone can find a job that suits him or
her and somebody will realize their strengths.
The economy and the way society is would be classified as a conflict theory
perspective. “Conflict theory is a paradigm that sees social conflict as the basis of society
and social change and emphasizes a materialist view of society, a critical view of the
status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change” (Ferris and Stein 46). It is always a
competition for resources. The upper class people always think that they can over rule the
lower and middle class people. They are still people and are a part of society and have
their own feelings and dreams as well.
Karl Marx created the conflict theory in the mid nineteenth-century. “Conflict
theory proposes that conflict and tension are basic facts of social life and suggests that
people have disagreements over goals and values and are involved in struggles over both
resources and power” (Ferris and Stein 46). Economy is an example of power. Once the
economy goes down, there are many people that lose jobs and other things. Everyone is
dependent on the economy. It is our source of power and once it goes down, people know
that it isn’t good. Once the economy goes up, then jobs goes up as well as the stock
market. Likely than not, it is down most of the time.
I believe as a result of the economy, it is known as resource mobilization.
“Resource mobilization theory is a theory of social movements that focuses on the
practical constraints that help or hinder social movements’ action” (Ferris and Stein 479).
In this case, it would hinder the social movements. A social movement can either start off
as a failure and decline or it can eventually succeed.

5. I am not sure if there is a way to solve this problem. We have no control on how
the economy will act or what will happen with the stock market. Everything happens
when you least expect it. I suggest that once people graduate high school, they
immediately go to college and finish with a bachelor’s degree. Even if they want to go all
the way and get their master’s degree. It is more time and money but other companies
rather than just having your bachelor’s degree will look you over better. That way they
will find a job and hopefully be able to keep their job. If something ever happens again,
they won’t have to go back to school for two years to get another degree and find another
job. They will just have to find another job because they will already have the right
amount of education.
Although the economy has been down and the damage has been done, it is
currently working its way up. It is repairing itself and things are slowly getting back to
the way it used to be. According to 2012 Employment Statistics, “227,000 jobs were
created in February all due to business growth” (Amadeo 1). The economy is improving
itself and more jobs are becoming available to people. They have to do their best with
these jobs because I am sure there is a bunch of other people that I am sure would
appreciate the job and would do better if someone wasn’t doing what they are supposed
to.
It will be a slow process to rebuild the economy back up again. It will take a lot of
time and patience to get it to where it should be. Many people are waiting for this to
happen and when it does, there is no saying that it won’t happen again. Nobody knows
when the stock market will crash or not. It always fluctuates up and down constantly.

6. There is no need to getting our hopes up because everything can change in a heartbeat.
All we can do is sit back and hope for the best to come.
Works Cited
Amadeo, Kimberly. "Current Employment Statistics." About.com US Economy. 09
Mar. 2012. Web. 02 May 2012.
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. New York:
W.W. Norton &, 2010. Print.
Rukmana, D. (2011). Comparing the residential origins of homeless families and
homeless individuals in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Area, 43(1)
Tellefsen, Robyn. "How Much Does a Bachelor's Degree Cost?" - CollegeSurfing.com.
Web. 02 May 2012.
"Unemployment." About.com Economics. Web. 02 May 2012.