Essay about Social Issues Social Roles in Society Essay Social Construct Essay Poverty As A Social Issue Essay

1. Essay about Social Issues
Poverty, violence, crime and racism are major social problems. If we look at the definition of
what a social problem is, according to James M. Henslin,"A social problem isan aspect of society
that people are concerned about and would like changed. Social problems begin with an objective
condition, some aspect of society that can be measured or experienced...The second key element of
a social problem is subjective concern, the concern that a significant number of people (or a number
of significant people) have about the condition"(Social Problems,2003,p.3). Steinberg believes that
disengagement has what it takes to not only be a general social problem but says it is as major as
the issues I stated in the beginning. Steinberg (1996)...show more content...
The data states,"At the elementary and middle school levels,American student achievement is as
uniformly low and stagnant as it is at the high school level(p.34). The NAEP also presents the trend
of "achievement scores broken down by type of community"(p.34) and from what Steinberg says,
based on the data, there is no way we can fool ourselves into thinking that our "educational problems
are limited to poor, minority youngsters attending inner–city schools" (p.35).
According to Steinberg, todays students don't know as much, and can't do as much as could their
counterparts 25 years ago (p.183). This fact alone puts us in jeopardy, for as the success of
America's economy will more and more come to depend upon highly skilled employees, our
competitiveness will be linked more to our ability to bring forth a highly educated work force
(p.38). Because of this disengagement problem, America will fall behind on the international level
because our students are ill–equipped. "Analysts agree today that America will not be able to
compete successfully in the international marketplace without substantially increasing the skill level
and knowledge of its labor force"(p.38).
It's no question that the economic costs to our economy will be greatly due to this trend of declining
achievement. According to Steinberg there are already "immediate costs to American
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2. Social Roles in Society Essay
Social Roles in Society
Social psychology, as defined by the Microsoft Bookshelf, is the branch of human psychology that
deals with the behavior of groups and the influence of social factors on the individual. Social roles
are one of the many sub – categories of social psychology. I believe social roles to be the way we,
as individuals, act in certain situations; such as home life, educational and economic statue, peer
groups, etc. The Prison Simulation by Haney, Banks & Zimbardo is just one of the vast studies in
this area. In this study we will see how people take roles in life, and in simulated life situations.
Social roles are not fictitious, it is in fact a very real occurrence that many people deal with ever
day, whether it be...show more content...
I noticed that the inmates that were sentenced to life acted out much more than the inmates that were
only sentenced for a few years. At the time I took no great thought into this, but after reading this
study I have recalled the prison tour in my mind to critically analyze why this would be. I have come
to the conclusion that the life–sentenced prisoners have nothing to lose by acting irrational and
making spontaneous decisions. On the other hand, the inmates with the shorter sentences have
something to look forward to when getting out. They do not necessarily need to act out to obtain
attention, that is not what they are looking for.
While looking on the Internet for yet another social role study, I came upon an old friend that also
happened to be online. I decided to discuss his situation rather than one of which does not effect
me as personally as this. My friend was and I guess still is a victim of alcoholism. My friend Matt
is now out of the house and on his own and his parents are now divorced. Matt and I grew up
together, so many of his pains I felt as well. While he was growing up his father was quite a heavy
drinker and at many times became violent as well as abusive towards Matt, his two younger siblings
and his mother. I can remember at times Matt telling me how his father the night before would hit
him. Matt would tell me "better it be me then my mother or
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3. Social Construct Essay
I highly agree that us as human beings have the capability to wonder about our origins, as well as
the responsibility that comes with it. We are responsible for knowing our origins because it's
apart of our history and how we came into existence. If we never knew where we came from or
how we came into being then what is our purpose in life? Without knowing the past we can't ever
have a successful future; we learn from our past so that we don't continue to make the same
decisions in the future. For example religion wouldn't be practiced today had there not been
scriptures and text handed down from generation to generation. Religion is a huge part of our
history because regardless of the religion there's always a passage at the beginning which...show
more content...
Science is most definitely a social contsruct because it is very well accomplished at cancelling out
any type of religion because everything is meant to be factual. It mainly states that we came from
apes in the sense of evolution and that everything came to be from the Big Bang Theory; where
everything is existence just happened out of no where within space and time from an all powerful
source of energy. This mindset is nothing more than a social construct because scientist and science
books teach us this which in turn will construct our minds to believe that is what really took place in
our history. However, I don't believe that at all because if anything science proves that in my opinion
that God is the source of entertainment that science talks about. At the end of the day scientists
can't prove what the source of energy was or where it came from, but only that it can't be created
or destroyed and it created everything in existence including the planets, the sun, the galaxies etc.
God is neither a person or deity but a source of powerful energy who can't ever be created or
destroyed. Other that my obvious opinion I believe that science is a social construct because it tries
to shape our minds to think that things came or come about in a certain way, place, and
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4. Poverty As A Social Issue Essay
Imagine having to work seven days a week, putting in more than forty hours, only to come back to
an unstable living situation and still have barely enough to get by. For many people, they remain in
this cycle of poverty for the rest of their lives. There is no light at the end of their tunnel, but instead
more obstacles that they must overcome. Poverty, like other social divisions, is something that
continues to plague society, and while it is most likely impossible to completely eradicate it,
certain actions on the part of people who are not in poverty can be done in order to elevate those
who within that state of poverty, and therefore improve the overall happiness. Poverty, as a social
issue, needs to be embraced and accepted in order for its debilitating effects to be minimized,
therefore improving the quality of life for all people.
In Ascher's piece, the author doesn't necessarily highlight the experience of poverty, but more so
how people who are not in those kinds of conditions respond to it, as evidenced by the two
particular encounters that the author illustrates. There are two responses in dealing with those who
are impoverished. One revolves the idea of isolation, in that people do whatever it takes in order to
remove themselves from the presence of these individuals, and attempt to push these people out of
society. The other response revolves around acceptance, in which case these people who are not
well off are recognized, and treated well out of compassion
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