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Social Problems (SC210)
(Thematic Node: Is It Possible to Change the World?)
Minnesota State University at Moorhead
Thought Leader: Dr. Lee Garth Vigilant
Think on these things…
“One sociologist has argued that there exists a symbiotic (mutually interdependent) relationship between
deviance by élites and deviance by non-élites because elite deviance is aimed at maintaining or increasing
the proportion of wealth and power that rests in elite hands. Given the inequitable distribution of such
resources, the most powerless and economically deprived members of society suffer from social conditions that
tend to provoke powerless individuals into criminality.” David R. Simon & D. Stanley Eitzen, Elite Deviance, Allyn
and Bacon, Forth Edition.
“Within the interdependence of mutual (non-dominant) differences lies that security which enables us to
descend into the chaos of knowledge and return with true visions of our future, along with the concomitant
power to affect those changes which can bring the future into being.” Audre Lorde, ‘The Master’s Tools Will
Never Dismantle the Master’s House, in Sister Outside, NY: Crossing Press, 1984.
“There are no more deserts. There are no more islands. Yet there is a need for them. In order to understand the
world, one has to turn away from it on occasion; in order to serve men better, one has to hold them at a
distance for a time.” -Albert Camus, “The Minotaur, or The Stop in Oran” in The Myth of Sisyphus.
Texts
Joel M. Charon and Lee Garth Vigilant. 2009. Social Problems: Readings with Four Questions. CA: Wadsworth.
David Bornstein. 2004. How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. New York,
NY: Oxford University Press.
Introduction
This course on social problems will challenge you to think creatively about solutions to some of our more
intractable social quandaries (poverty, addiction, crime, healthcare inequalities, educational outcomes, and
global human insecurities. The thematic node for this course is a mere question that I hope you will seriously and
reflexively consider: “Is it possible to change the world?” I am excited about the prospect of spending the next
few months of the semester with you discussing what I believe is one of the most important questions of our
time.
Course Objectives (Dragon Core Foundation Competencies and DC 5: HISTORY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES)
This course will “critically analyze objective information and subjective interpretations” by evaluating how
different communities come to label a problem a “social” one. SOC210 extends critical and multicultural
thinking skills of the inner cluster. This course currently requires three (2) classroom presentations on social
problems. As a discussant leader for two (2) different social problems, students will provide a (1) summary of
the readings, (2) discuss their views on the social problem under study, and (3) raise critical questions for
classroom discussion. Finally, students enrolled for credit are required to complete a "General Treatment
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Strategy" term project on a select social problem. They will present findings to the class in a multimedia
presentation involving both speeches and accompanying Powerpoint graphics. These requirements extand the
oral communication competency. Finally Students enrolled for credit will complete (1) an analytic reaction
essay (4-10 pgs. in length) on a select social problem and (2) conduct a term research project (GTS). All exams
for SOC210 are essay-based, either in-class or take-home. These writing projects in SOC210 build on the written
communication competency of the inner foundation cluster.
This course introduces students to sociological approaches to the study of social problems with the goal of
understanding and framing human social behavior.
(A) Students learn how to identify social problems, and the unique features that make a problem a
“social” one.
(B) Students learn about competing theoretical perspectives in sociology on the origins and causes of
social problems.
(C) This course introduces students to the various research methodologies that sociologists employ to study
social problems, and as such, students learn to differentiate objective (scientific) information from
subjective (conjectural) ones in evaluating the causes and consequences of social problems.
(D) This course introduces students to the methods of sociological research such as historical records,
interviews and life histories, participant observation, and survey inquiries through the use of a reader (Social
Problems: A Reader with Four Questions, see attached syllabus) that contain original research articles from
the aforementioned methodologies.
(E) This course examines the complexity of human social behavior and social problems from a variety of
theoretical perspectives and worldviews. It will approach the complexities of social problems from major
epistemological standpoints in sociology today: Structuration Theory, Conflict theory, Rational Choice
theory, Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, and Feminism. For instance, this course shows how different
perspectives interpret the cause and consequences of social problems (F) This course examines historical
and contemporary approaches to the study of social problems and the unique social and political milieux
that gave rise to these perspectives. From the first week of class, students will learn about the three (3)
approaches to the study of social problems: the (1) person-blame approach, (2) the system-blame
approach, and (3) approaches that attempt to conflate both (i.e., the Structuration Perspective). They
acquire this through lectures on -and readings by- some of the most important sociological analysts of
social problems today (see syllabus for a comprehensive reading list).
Grades & Course Requirements
Students enrolled for credit are required to complete one (1) analytic reaction paper (4-10 pages in length) on
selected articles from Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Readings with Four Questions (2009). This paper
might be interpreted as either (1) a critical response to the lecture topic, or (2) a reflexive meditation on your
(or family’s) experience(s) with the social problem under discussion. A.R.Ps (analytic reaction papers) for a
selected theme are due at the beginning of class on the first day of lecture (please see underlined dates) for
that particular topic. Analytic reaction papers should be typed and double-spaced. The analytic reaction
portion of the class will constitute 20% of your final grade. (I reserve the right NOT to grade a late ARP, or to
assess -15% off its final grade.) There are midterm & final exams each worth 20% of your final grade. Your
participation as a discussant leader (on two occasions) will constitute 10% of your final grade. Your two-page
meditation to, and reading on, to David Bornstein’s How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the
Power of New Ideas is 10% of your final grade. Finally, in groups of 4-5 members (no more than 5 members
please), you will compose an outline and make a power-point presentation to the class on a social problem
and its treatment tactic using the General Treatment Strategy (G.T.S) as your guide. The outline and
presentation will constitute 20% of your final grade.
Analytic Reaction Paper (ARP) (4 – 10 pages in length)
20%
Social Problem & Treatment Presentation: Group Project (4-5 per group)
20%
1st Exam
20%
2nd Exam
20%
Two-Page Reading on Bornstein’s How to Change the World
10%
Discussant Leader (2 times)
10%
If you need special accommodations for exams, please contact Greg Toutges in the Disability Services Office
CMU114 (Tele: 477-5859): I am pleased to make these arrangements on your behalf.
Readings & Assignments
1. (Aug. 27th – Sept. 5th)
“How does it feel to be a social problem?”
“A social problem is a socially patterned condition involving widespread physical, financial, and/or moral harm
that is caused by contradictions (permanent conflicts) stemming from the institutional arrangement of a given
society. Such harm exist whether or not they have gained the attention of the mass media and politicians.”
David R. Simon. 1997. Private Troubles and Public Issues: Social Problems in the Postmodern Era. Harcourt Brace
& Co.
“…We consider social problems to be (1) societal induced conditions that cause psychic and material suffering
for any segment of the population, and (2) acts and conditions that violate the norms and values of society.”
D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn. 1997. Social Problems. Ally and Bacon.
1. Joel Charon’s “An Introduction to the Study of Social Problems.” (pg. 3) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
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2. Joel Best’s “What’s wrong with Declaring War on Social Problems?” (pg. 13) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Bornstein’s How to Change the World: Restless People (pg. 1) & From Little Acorns Do Great Tress Grow (pg.
11) & The Role of the Social Entrepreneur (pg. 90) & Six Qualities of Successful Social Entrepreneurs (pg. 18).
2. (Sept. 3rd)
The General Treatment Strategy (G.T.S)
1. William Harris. 1995. “The General Treatment Strategy.” Social Science Abroad (China), Vol. 10: 25-28. (Visit
my Social Problems’ webpage and download the English translation of
this essay.)
3. (Sept. 8th – 12th)
“Us vs. Them:” The “American Dream” as the Social Problem
“I would like to love my country and justice too.” –Albert Camus
1. Jennifer L. Hochchild’s “What’s wrong with the American Dream?” (pg. 37) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Robert W. Fuller’s “Somebodies and Nobodies: Rankism and What It Means.” (pg. 28) In Charon & Vigilant’s
Social Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Thomas Shapiro’s “Inheritance and Privilege” (pg. 61). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. Bornstein’s How to Change the World, “The Light in My Head Went On” (pg. 20).
5. Harrell R. Rodgers’ “Why Are People Poor in America?” (pg. 93). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. (Sept. 15th – 19th)
Eating the Environment/Consuming Nature
“Perhaps no single idea is more deeply embedded in modern political culture than the belief that economic
growth is the key to meeting most important human needs, including alleviating poverty and protecting the
environment. Anyone who dares speak of environmental limits to growth risks being dismissed out of hand as
an anti-poor doomsayer.” –David Korten
1. Michael Prenti’s “Ecology for Money” (pg. 570). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four
Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Bill McKibben’s “A Very Special Moment” (pg. 573) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four
Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Bornstein’s How to Change the World, “A Very Significant Force: Bill Drayton, United States: The Bubble”
(pg. 47).
Supplementary Reading
John Belemy Foster. [1998] ‘Let Them Eat Pollution: Capitalism and the World Environment’ in Reading
Between the Lines: Toward an Understanding of Current Social Problems. CA: Mayfield Publishing
Company.
5. (Sept. 22nd – 26th)
Neo-colonialism in the Sublime Beauty of Corporate Domination
“Extreme poverty and near starvation have produced a war or revolution in the Third World on a once-a-month
average since 1945. It is not unusual for three or four civil and/or international conflicts to be taking place in the
Third World at once. These conflicts, along with natural disasters, have produced a massive refugee problem,
consisting of people who have lost their homes and homelands, and become international wanderers. There
were 17 million refugees in 1990, compared to 8 million in 1980.” –David R. Simon & Joel H. Henderson. 1997. Pg.
222.
1. Charles A. Reich, “The Corporation as Invisible Government.” (pg. 201) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Barry Schwartz’s “The Demeaning of Work.” (pg. 111) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four
Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Perrucci and Wysong’s “The Global Economy, the Privilege Class, and the Working Class” (pg. 51). In Charon
& Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello’s “Globalization and the Race to the Bottom (pg. 127). In Charon and
Vigilant’s Social Problems: Readings w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth
6. Documentary: Life & Debt
6. (Sept. 29th – Oct. 3rd)
“Take Me To The City:” Ghetto/Barrio/Hood, and Other Lovely Places
“Middle-class whites move to the suburbs for a better place to raise their children, better schools, and less
crime. Race plays a part in these motives. ‘A better place to raise children’ often meant a neighborhood with
few or no African Americans or Latinos. ‘Better schools’ often meant virtually all-white schools not under court
order to desegregate. And ‘crime’ was synonymous with inner-city Blacks for many suburbanites.” Eitzen & Zinn,
1997: 148.
1. William Julius Wilson’s “From Institutional to Jobless Ghettos.” (pg. 185) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Elijah Anderson’s “Violence and Inner-City Code.” (pg. 307) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Sharon Hays’ “Flat Broke with Children” (pg. 262). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four
Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. Farley and Squires’ “Fences and Neighbors: Segregation in 21st Century America” (pg. 219). In Charon &
Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
5. Jeremy Rifkin’s “Technology and the African American Experience” (pg. 152). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
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7. (Oct. 6th – 10th)
Tele-genetically (Con)suming the “Racialized” Other
“Most of the violence in the black ghetto is either a historical consequence of slavery and poverty –infant
mortality, preventable disease- or the direct result of young black men killing other young black men in the
course of criminal activity. The desperate economic condition of the inner-cities, exacerbated by the drug
trade, bears the stamp of racial oppression, though if were not blacks bearing the burden of unemployment, it
would soon be some other Americans.” (Todd Gitlin. 1995. The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is
Wracked by Culture Wars.)
1. Lawrence D. Bobo and Ryan A. Smith’s “Laissez-Faire Racism.” (pg. 163) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Roberto Suro’s “Latino Lives in a Changing America.” (pg. 175) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Douglas Massey’s “International Migration and the Future of the United States” (pg. 197). In Charon &
Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. Michael K. Brown et al’s “Facing Up to Race” (pg. 205). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
8. (Oct. 15th – 17th)
(De)constructing Patriarchy & Compulsory Het(eros)exism
“Advanced capitalism is inadequate to convey the structure of this historical moment. In the ‘Western’ sense,
the end of man is at stake. It is no accident that woman disintegrates into women in our time.” Donna
Harraway. 1995. The Cyborg Manifesto and Fractured Indentities.
“Sexuality is the name that may be given to a set of interlocking historical mechanisms; not some reality below
surface on which the simulation of bodies, the intensification of pleasures, the incitement to discourse, the
formation of sciences, the strengthening of controls and resistances are linked together in accordance with a
few great strategies of knowledge and power.” Michel Foucault. 1979. The History of Sexuality. NY: Pantheon.
1. Michael Bronski’s “Homosexuality and American Citizenship” (pg. 291). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Barbara Risman’s “Socialization into Gender.” (pg. 231) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Susan Faludi’s “The Betrayal of the American Man.” (pg. 241). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. Steven Seidman’s “From Outsider to Citizen” (pg. 297). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
5. Louise Marie Roth’s “Selling Women Short” (pg. 276). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
9. (Oct. 20th)
Exam # 1
10. (Oct. 22nd – 27th)
The Protean Relationship [Or, ‘End’ of the Traditional (Patriarchal) Family]
“When sexual liberation was the order of the day, the watchword was ‘Maximize sexuality, minimize
reproduction’. The dream of our present clone-loving society is just the opposite: as much reproduction and as
little sex as possible. At one time the body was a metaphor for the soul, then it became a metaphor for sex.
Today it is no longer a metaphor for anything at all, merely the locus of metastasis, of the machine-like
connections between all its processes, of an endless programming devoid of any symbolic organization or
overarching purpose: the body is thus given over to the pure promiscuity of its relationship to itself –the same
promiscuity that characterizes networks and integrated circuits.” –Jean Baudrillard’s “After the Orgy” in The
Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena, pg. 7.
1. Zinn & Eitzen’s “The Incidence and Causes of Wife Abuse” (pg. 381). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Stephanie Coontz’s “Divorce in Perspective” (pg. 371). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Barbara Bergmann and Suzanne Helburn’s “What’s Wrong with Child Care in America” (pg. 396). In
Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. David Bornstein’s How to Change the World, “What Sought of Mother Are You?” (pg. 98)
11. (Oct. 29th - Nov. 3rd)
Command/Control/Communication: The Cybernetics of Class
(Re)production in Public Schools
“The schools are structured to aid in the perpetuation of social and economic differences in several ways: (a)
by being financed principally through property taxes, (b) by providing curricula that are irrelevant to the poor,
and (c) by tracking according to presumed level of ability.” Eitzen and Zinn, 1997: 421.
1. Jonathan Kozol’s “The Shame of the Nation” (Pg. 460). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. James Traub’s “What No School Can Do” (pg. 413). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four
Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Barry Schwartz’s “The Debasing of Education” (pg. 420). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. David Leonardt’s “The College Dropout Boom” (pg. 453). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
5. Ouchi’s “Making Schools Work.” (pg. 444) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four Questions.
2009. CA: Wadsworth.
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6. David Bornstein’s How to Change the World, “The Talent is Out There: J.B. Schramm, United States: College
Access” (pg. 98).
12. (Nov. 5th – 10th)
“$$$ = Health”: The Iatrogenic Politics of Wellness
“The uninsured, of course, cannot afford the costs for physicians, dentists (130 million Americans do not have
dental insurance), and hospitals, so they often do without. Poor pregnant women (26% of women of
childbearing age have no maternal coverage), as a result, often do not receive prenatal and postnatal health
care.” Eitzen and Zinn, 1997: 426.
1. Ronald W. Dworkin’s “The Cultural Revolution in Health Care.” (pg. 473) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Charles J. Dougherty’s “Protection of the Least Well-Off.” (pg. 481) In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. James W. Russell’s “Social Policy in Health Care: Europe and the United States” (pg. 490). ) In Charon &
Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. David Bornstein’s How to Change the World, “Something Needs to Be Done: Veronica Khosa, South Africa:
Care for AIDS Patients” (pg. 183).
13. (Nov. 12th- 17th)
Smooth Criminals: In Lear Jets, Armani Suits, & Mercedes
“ Loses resulting from individual white-collar crime amount to ten times the monetary loss from street crimes. Yet
official agencies do not devote as much attention to white-collar crimes, and few criminals that are
apprehended receive relatively light sentences.” Eitzen and Zinn, 1997: 514.
“Criminal laws create crime and criminals. If there were no law regulating a behavior, then there would be no
criminals. So it is drug laws. Prior to 1914, heroin users were not criminals, nor were marijuana users before 1937.
The drug laws, then, have created large numbers of criminals.” Eitzen and Zinn, 1997: 543.
1. Eva Bertram et al’s “Three Fatal Flaws in the War on Drugs” (pg. 332). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Stephen M. Rosoff el al’s “White Collar Crime” (pg. 320). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Travis & Waul’s “From Prison to Home” (pg. 346). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four
Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
4. Michael Tonry’s “Thinking About Crime” (pg. 358). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Reading w/Four
Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
14. (Nov. 19th)
Blood For Blood: Symbolic Violence, Terrorism, and the New (Wo)man
“Some oppressed groups view inflicting death and extreme forms of violence on their perceived enemies as a
route to retribution and a sense of power. These groups see the threat of death by terrorism as a leveling
mechanism: It gives the privileged a taste of what life is like for the oppressed masses. What their victims see as
vindictive and senseless deaths, such terrorists view as a calculated strategy for liberation.” -Lee Garth Vigilant
and John B. Williamson. 2003. “On the Role and Meaning of Death in Terrorism.” Handbook of Death and Dying.
CA: Sage.
1. Ervin Staub’s “The Origins of Group Violence” (pg. 511). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems: Readings
w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
2. Mark Juergensmeyer’s “The Global Rise of Religious Violence” (pg. 518). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social
Problems: Readings w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
3. Lee Garth Vigilant and John B. Williamson. 2003. “On the Role and Meaning of Death in Terrorism.”
Handbook of Death and Dying. CA: Sage.
4. Abby L. Ferber and Michael S. Kimmel’s “White Male Militia” (pg. 526). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
5. David Altheide’s “Terrorism and the Politics of Fear” (pg. 538). In Charon & Vigilant’s Social Problems:
Reading w/Four Questions. 2009. CA: Wadsworth.
15. (Nov. 21 & 24th) Two-Page Reading Meditations on How to Change the World (Question: Is It Possible to
Change the World?)
16. (Dec. 1st – 3rd – 5th - 8th)
G.T.S. Presentations: Social Problems & their Treatments
Final Exam Tuesday, December 16th at 9:00a.m.
Thought Leader:
Electronic Mail:
Web Site:
Telephones:
Office Hours:
Dr. Lee Garth Vigilant (A.M. & Ph.D., Boston College)
vigilant@mnstate.edu
web.mnstate.edu/vigilant
218/477-2034 (Office)
Sociology & Criminal Justice Department, LO 102-E: M & W 11:30a.m. – 4:30p.m.
(Other times by special arrangement)
Cover: From the New College of Sociological Pataphysics: Framing What She Saw at the Protest (Collage ’08)
[Framing What She Saw at the Protest is a photographic collage of a recent –and very rare event- that took
place on the campus of Minnesota State University Moorhead in Spring Semester 2008: A demonstration. The
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pictures and signs in this collage represent two sides of the contentious debate surrounding abortion. The
“Genocide Awareness Project” [anti-abortion] protesters were met by a group of spirited counter-protesters.
Interestingly, I had student-protestors on both sides of the issue, and some of them appear in this collage. Of
course, this artwork is neither meant to support or denigrate either side of the debate. Rather, it is an exemplar
of Erving Goffman’s Frame Analysis: how different groups construct an ideological argument (usually around a
controversial issue) to persuade or sway ‘the public’ to their understanding of the matter. Framing is crucial to
the signs, symbols, and signifiers that appear on this collage and that were present at this protest.]