...POVERTY Name: Professor: Course Title: Intro to Sociology Date: 19 Nov 2012 Introduction Social issues are problems in the society today that are described as wrong, widespread and changeable. A category of conditions that people believe need to be changed. Poverty is a serious social issue in the society today. According to Peilin (2012), poverty brings hardships to families and individuals as well as political thereby negatively affecting the social stability and social development and posing a severe threat to human security (p. 243). This paper focuses on poverty as a social issue in today’s society. First, it gives a succinct introduction of the social issue, and then describes how it fits into the field of sociology. It also evaluates the sociological theories and terminology that relate to the social issue. The section that follows evaluates what is known and unknown about the particular social issue. This is followed by a discussion regarding the value of sociological research into the issue determining the available or possible practical implications of the sociological inquiry. The information presented here is strongly supported by the concepts and theories derived from reliable sources. Poverty as a social Issue Poverty is generally defined as a state of deprivation in well-being. The conventional perspective connects well-being basically to control over commodities, so the poor are individuals who do not have sufficient...
Words: 1154 - Pages: 5
...Version 1.0 General Certificate of Education January 2012 Sociology SCLY1 1191 Culture and Identity; Families and Households; Wealth, Poverty and Welfare Unit 1 Mark Scheme Mark schemes are prepared by the Principal Examiner and considered, together with the relevant questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation meeting attended by all examiners and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation meeting ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every examiner understands and applies it in the same correct way. As preparation for the standardisation meeting each examiner analyses a number of students’ scripts: alternative answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed at the meeting and legislated for. If, after this meeting, examiners encounter unusual answers which have not been discussed at the meeting they are required to refer these to the Principal Examiner. It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination paper. Further copies of this Mark Scheme are available to download from the...
Words: 4692 - Pages: 19
...Assess the relationship between sociology and social policy In order to understand the role of sociology in relation to social policy, it is important to firstly distinguish between social problems and sociological problems. According to Peter Worsley, a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and private misery and calls for collective action to solve it. According to Worsley, a sociological problem is “any pattern of relationships that calls for explanation.” In other words, it is any piece of behaviour that we wish to make sense of. However even when sociologists conduct research into social problems, there’s no guarantee that policy makers will study their findings, or that any solutions they propose will find their way into social policies. Many factors may affect whether or not sociological research succeeds in influencing policy. Some of these include electoral popularity, interest groups, globalisation and cost. Different sociological perspectives hold different views of the nature of the state and their social policy it produces. As a result, each perspective tends to take a different view of the role of sociology in relation to social policy. Early positivists such as Comte and Durkheim took the view that sociology was a science and would discover both the cause of social problems and scientifically based solutions to them. As such, their approach was part of the Enlightenment project to use science ad reason to improve society...
Words: 1091 - Pages: 5
...Sociological Theoretical perspectives: Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionist perspective on Poverty. GEORGINA JACKSON ARIZONA UNIVERSITY Sociologists view society in different ways. Some see the world basically as a stable and on-going entity. They are impressed with the endurance of the family, organized religion and other social institutions. Sociologists look at the society in different theoretical perspectives such as functional, conflicts and interactional. The functionalist perspective emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. Talcott parsons, a Harvard university sociologist refined functionalism with the work of Emile Durkheim who established functionalism perspective theory. Coming to the Conflict perspective, it deals with how society, institution may help to maintain the privileges of some people. The interactionist perspective looks at the society in micro level to get insight of the larger macro observation. In this paper, we are going to use functionalist, conflict and interactionist perspectives to evaluate poverty. Functionalist perspective views the society as a system we used to have poverty to be able to have rich people. If there is no poverty, there cannot be rich people. Poverty is a state where by someone lacks materials or basic...
Words: 621 - Pages: 3
...Social policies are the plans and actions of government agencies, which aim to address social issues, ranging from poverty to racism. Sociology has been linked to the beginning of social policies, especially in more recent years. For example, the concept of marketisation within the school system in the early 1990’s and the reduction in funding for Higher Education Tuition Fees was influenced by contemporary sociology. Donnison believes that there are four factors that he feels shape social policy. These are changing political agendas, changing circumstances, growing knowledge and new questions. There are different sociological opinions that view the relationship between sociology and social policy differently, which means there is no simple view. For example, social policies are introduced to the belief that they will improve society by tackling social problems: affecting the welfare of the population of the country where the policy is being introduced. However, Feminists and Marxists believe that social policy is not just about improving the welfare of citizens, as they believe it is about social control; deterring rather than helping individuals. Giddens’ supports Donnison by stating that there are four practical uses of studying sociology. These include: understanding social situations, being aware of cultural differences, assessing the effects of policies and increasing self-knowledge. By understanding social situations, we are able to understand the world around us...
Words: 1962 - Pages: 8
...Sociological Perspective and conflict approach Sociological perspective can be defined as seeing the general in the particular. It can be also described as a frame that shapes how people behave in society or interacting with diversity people, and how we are categorized in various ways, such as children and adults, women and men, the rich and poor. Each of people is supposed to do different affairs in their lives as it matches them. And one of the sociological theories is called conflict approach, meaning that explains about inequality between such as women and men and black and white, so on. For instance, in the past of South Korea or other many of countries as well, there was intense inequality of between women and men in getting a job. Women used to be only in charge of doing house work, and they were not able to do anything else without permit from a head of family, which is why many of people still regard women to do more house work than men do. This representative example can be conflict approach in social perspective of how we look at women in our society. And although it seems to be non-changeable the society perspective, there are a lot of factors that changes the sociological perspective of how people behave in our society. Particularly, when it comes to recession, it seem to be more remarkable changes in the behavior of people life, For example, if it happened to come recession into country, it can also change of the social perspective that people become more pessimistic...
Words: 1200 - Pages: 5
...CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS GCE Advanced Level MARK SCHEME for the May/June 2014 series 9699 SOCIOLOGY 9699/33 Paper 3 (Social Inequality and Opportunity), maximum raw mark 75 This mark scheme is published as an aid to teachers and candidates, to indicate the requirements of the examination. It shows the basis on which Examiners were instructed to award marks. It does not indicate the details of the discussions that took place at an Examiners’ meeting before marking began, which would have considered the acceptability of alternative answers. Mark schemes should be read in conjunction with the question paper and the Principal Examiner Report for Teachers. Cambridge will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes. Cambridge is publishing the mark schemes for the May/June 2014 series for most IGCSE, GCE Advanced Level and Advanced Subsidiary Level components and some Ordinary Level components. Page 2 1 Mark Scheme GCE A LEVEL – May/June 2014 Syllabus 9699 Paper 33 (a) Explain how the achievement of pupils may be influenced by pupil sub-cultures. [9] 0–4 A few general observations about pupils’ educational achievement, with no direct links to the question, would be worth 1 or 2 marks. A basic account of what is meant by pupil sub-culture, with no further development in relation to the question, would be placed in the higher part of the band. 5–9 Lower in the band, answers are likely to provide a basic...
Words: 3917 - Pages: 16
...goal.e.g preventing crime and reducing poverty. Policies are often based on laws that provide the framework within which these agencies operate. Sociologists findings may sometimes influence social policies but many other factors also play a part, such as political ideologies and the availability of resources. This essay will assess the relationship between sociology and social policy. Essentially, it can be argue that social policies are one of the most applicable ways in which sociology finds it simperative uses. This is because many sociologists argue that sociology should be used to solve sociological problems as defined by Peter Worsley “ a behaviour in which causes private misery or calls for collective action to solve it” This therefore means sociology can and should be used to investigate patterns of these behaviours and ways in which it can be resolved. Additionally, the relationship between sociology and social policy according to Functionalists and Positivists such as Comte and Durkheim is that a rigorous objective and scientific approach should be used in order to generate social facts which can be used by the government to develop generic nomothetic patterns of behaviour that can be used to implement policies that benefit society as a whole. As highlighted, Positivists and Functionalists adopt a positive relationship between sociology and social policy. Although, Marxists and Feminists adopt a negative, conflicting view between sociologists and social policy...
Words: 548 - Pages: 3
...“Examine the relationship between sociology and social policy” Social policies are the actions of governments, such as legal laws. They have a direct impact on citizens, for e.g. may provide them with services or income. Social policies are created after Sociological research identifies social problems of society, for e.g. policies put in place to help vulnerable children (adopted/abused), as they are highly likely to end up in gangs, as drug addicts or prostitutes. According to Worsley (1977) a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that calls for collective action to solve it. In turn, policies help tackle social problems e.g. increasing payment for foster/ adoptive careers to reduce vulnerable children getting involved with crime. The founding fathers of sociology believed that sociology had a central part to play in society – in reforming social institutions, solving social problems and improving human condition. Comte (1798-1857) saw sociology as a practical subject, not confined solely to universities, but being applied to wider society to gain social progress. Emile Durkheim believed sociology contributing to social policy can solve question of order in society. Sociologists such as Giddens place a great emphasis on the practicality of studying sociology. The most significant outcome of sociology is that it allows us to understand the world around us, providing us with knowledge and insights. This understanding can take the form of factual knowledge which...
Words: 2063 - Pages: 9
...meaning of sociological imagination, the difference between personal problems and the public issue that the youth of South Africa faces. I will also discuss about the measures that needs to be done in order reduce the challenges and problems that affect different individuals. 2. THE MEANING OF SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION. ‘‘Sociological Imagination is the capacity to see how sociological situations play out due to how people differ in terms of their places in given social and historical circumstances. It is a way of thinking about things in the society that have led to some sort of outcome, and understanding what causes to that outcome” (Mills, 1959:2). The things we do are shaped by the situation we are in, the values we have and the way we act around people. Sociological Imagination can be considered as a quality of mind around that understands the interplay of the individual and society. By developing a sociological imagination we are able to see that we are socialized, and we are able to view how social environment has an effect on decisions that we make. Social environment differ across many boundaries but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender and class. Social change happens all time it is debatable and considered but often unplanned and this matter changes more to others. The sociological imagination helps people to connect their problems with public problems and their history, in order for an individual to figure out the cause of their problems. The sociological imagination...
Words: 1340 - Pages: 6
...from item A and elsewhere, assess the view that overconsumption is now more of a threat than overpopulation to world development The sociological study of population is called ‘demography’, sociologists believe that it is important to study demographic trends such as those associated with birth and fertility etc. such trends can produce insights into why societies experience social change, for example, overconsumption and what demographic changes have brought about this change. Sociologist Paul Ehrlich studied the figures for birth rates and death rates of developing countries and compared them with food production and malnutrition rates, he concludes that the birth rate ‘must be brought into balance with the death rate or mankind will breed itself into oblivion’. As item A states ‘the developed world consumes 5/6 of the world’s resources and each person in the developed world consumes around 20 times as much as a person in the developing world’, to understand the causes of such figures claimed in item A and the predictions made by Ehrlich, we must look at the demographic causes linked to both population and overconsumption. This essay will assess whether or not overconsumption has in fact become more of a problem than overpopulation to the world’s development and what such sociological views and perspectives support this view, focusing particularly in dependency, modernization and Malthusian views. Firstly we look at the Malthusian view of population growth as an issue; we...
Words: 1210 - Pages: 5
...research completed by sociologists, which is then proposed to the government. Social policy can be seen to change social problems such as the economy. Peter Worsley describes a social problem as “some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction”. For example poverty, educational under-achievement, and divorce can be seen as social problems that the government may be forced to tackle with social policies. Worsley thinks that a sociological problem is “ any pattern of relationships that calls for explanation”, meaning any piece of behaviour that we want to make sense of. For example why some families are richer than others? , Why people commit crime? Or why couples remain happily married? George Simmel was intrigued about the characteristics present in all social relationships and their different settings, be it in an office, in the family home or on a busy street. However many sociologists are interested in solving social problems through their research. They will conduct their research so it is aimed at the social problem they are most interested about. Government departments such as home office employ many sociologists. They will often have a direct input into making social policies. However sometimes sociological research does not effect social polices, and there are a number of reasons why. Electoral popularity, research findings and recommendations might point to a policy that would be unpopular with voters. Ideological and policy preferences of governments, if the researchers...
Words: 1449 - Pages: 6
...the three main perspectives in sociology and indicate their usefulness in contemporary society. The essay will first start with the definition of the term sociology and the term perspective. Later the essay will identify the three main sociological perspectives which are the key concepts of this essay. And a conclusion will be drawn at the end of this essay. The term sociology can be dated back in 1840. It was a word introduced by the French philosopher and the father of positivism (the use of scientific method in observing and studying social behavior). Auguste Comte (1789-1857) is considered to be the founder of the term sociology used to describe a new way of looking at the society. Therefore sociology can be defined as a scientific way of thinking about society and its influence on human groups (Taylor 2011). Perspectives in sociology provides us with different mindset in which we feel and see the world for example, a musician in America would rather sing about our great and wonderful the Lord is than sing about poverty and genocide, this is because the social world in America has never yet introduced extreme poverty and genocide. This might be slight different from a musician born and raised from a country engulfed with extreme poverty and genocide, for instance Rwanda to sing about God miraculous deeds....
Words: 1614 - Pages: 7
...Britain is often described as an unequal society in terms of wealth and income. Social inequality from a sociological point of view means a lack of fairness between different groups of people living in society. The essay aims to explore the reasons behind the unequal distribution of wealth and income from a functionalist, Marxist and Weber point of view. From a functionalist point of view, the unequal distribution of wealth and income in contemporary Britain is necessary for the survival of society. They would argue that all aspects of society, even poverty, contribute to Britain’s overall stability. Functionalists such as Davis and Moore argue that those who perform the difficult and important jobs are therefore entitled to more power, prestige and money. This motivates the most qualified people to exercise their talents in the most important social positions. However, this can be criticised because it is too difficult to determine the functional importance of any jobs. Nurses are an example of people who are not highly compensated and do not have notably high prestige, but who work long hours and are essential to maintaining society’s health. The high stress of their job and low incentives to do it contradict the theory of functionalism. Another explanation of the unequal distribution of wealth and income is that the means of production is controlled by a small and powerful ruling class. Marxist sociologists argue that in a capitalist society, the bourgeoisies exploit the...
Words: 733 - Pages: 3
...Social policy is an applied version of Sociology. It is primarily concerned with improving and reforming society. It focuses on studying and also influencing how governments respond to social policy. Researching social problems such as poverty for example has proven hugely popular amongst many sociologists. For there is a high chance their research will be funded by the government, aiding in this common practical problem some sociologist’s face. According to Anthony Giddens (2001), there are four practical benefits of studying sociology. One being that it helps our understanding of social situations. Factual information can be gained on society that can then be examined using theory. So the factual knowledge provides us with facts, and the theoretical understanding provides people with an explanation for these facts. For example, a series of reports by Townsend in 1979 and later Mack and Lansley showed the extent of poverty in Britain and showed groups most at risk of it. The facts they produced can be understood in relation to theory. Sociologists uncovered the extent of poverty by devising deprivation models of poverty, proving that it can be fully understood in terms of what people normally expect to have. Giddens also believes that another benefit is the awareness of cultural differences aspect. Leading to the raising of needs of minority groups in society. Over time, sociologists have built up a picture of the social and economic exclusion suffered by disabled people...
Words: 927 - Pages: 4
