Unit 7: Social Change and Social Issues
In our final unit, we explore social change in societies that are constantly making cultural adjustments due to social movements and responding to challenges they face in their environments. Large-scale social movements can have a great social impact, become institutionalized, and evolve into a fixed and formal part of the social structure. For example, the "second wave of feminism" originated as a grassroots movement during the 1960s to protest inequalities between the sexes. Most original participants did not belong to formal organizations but publicized their cause through conscious-raising groups.
Population trends like urbanization and environmental toxification have impacted social change. Where you live impacts your experiences and opportunities. We explore the differences between urbanization, suburbs, exurbs, and concentric zones from various sociological perspectives. Demographic measures such as fertility and mortality rates have created population shifts, and governments have adopted different approaches to climate change, pollution, garbage, e-waste, and toxic hazards. Notice the inequality in environmental hazards based on race and location, called environmental racism.
We explore pressing issues related to access to healthcare and media. Notice how health disparities exist based on gender, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. We also see different health and illness rates among high- and low-income nations. Consider our reaction to people with preventable diseases or ones aggravated by socially unacceptable activities. These diseases and complications, such as AIDS, sexually-transmitted diseases, certain cancers, and obesity, share varying degrees of social stigma.
Media technology allows us to remain in constant contact with people near and far. However, these connections are not distributed equally globally or within our communities. Notice the stratification in information access known as the knowledge gap. The "digital divide" refers to unequal access to technology based on categories of stratification such as income and race. How does this impact our relationships? Pay attention to the various privacy and security issues.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- explain different forms of collective behavior;
- discuss the characteristics and causes of social movements;
- explain how technology, social institutions, population, and the environment can promote social change;
- describe demographic theories, including cornucopian, demographic transition, Malthusian, and zero population growth;
- compare functional, conflict, and symbolic interaction perspectives on urbanization;
- discuss examples of environmental racism;
- explain the social construction of health and illness and local and global disparities;
- compare functional, conflict, and symbolic interaction perspectives on health and medicine;
- explain technological inequality and issues related to unequal access to technology;
- define different types of media and concerns with the globalization of media; and
- compare functional, conflict, and symbolic interaction perspectives on media and technology.
7.1: Social Movements and Social Change
Societies are continually adapting. This section examines change due to modernization, technology, social institutions, population, and the environment. We discuss different types of crowds and forms of collective behaviors. Pay attention to social movements from a state, national, and global level. Distinguish different theoretical perspectives on social movements, such as resource mobilization, framing, and new social movement theory.
Read this text on different types of collective or noninstitutional voluntary behavior. Table 21.1 describes types of crowds and their varying purposes. What types of crowds have you experienced? Read about the emergent norm theory and value-added theory.
Read this text on types of social movements, including reform, religious, revolutionary, alternative, and resistance. What kinds of social movements impact the local and global stages? Learn about the theoretical perspectives on social movements: resource mobilization, frame analysis, and new social movement theory. What social movements are you interested in?
Watch this video on social movements and the characteristics that make them successful. The most lasting movements are bold but also able to negotiate. What are the three P's for successful movements?
Read this text on social change and common causal factors such as technology, institutions, population, and the environment. Pay attention to the excerpt which uses the lens of these causal factors to examine the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans community. How has modernization benefitted and harmed our local and global communities?
Watch this video on creating social change from within an organization. How can individuals help promote an organization's best qualities? How did Kate use her position to advocate change? How can you do the same at your job, school, or religious institution?
7.2: Population, Urbanization, and the Environment
Where you live impacts your experiences and opportunities. In this section, we explore trends in population, urbanization, and environmental toxification. Notice the differences between urban centers, suburbs, exurbs, and concentric zones from various sociological perspectives. Demographic measures such as fertility and mortality rates profoundly affect the population.
Read this text on three demographic factors: fertility rate, mortality rate, and migration patterns. Figure 20.4 documents the mass migration crisis in the United States. Table 20.1 highlights fertility and mortality rates in different countries. Pay attention to the theories on population: Malthusian, cornucopian, zero population growth, and demographic transition theories. How have attitudes in the United States changed on immigration?
Read this text on the study of relations in cities. What is a city, and why do they grow? What has led to the increasing urbanization of the United States? Notice that rural to urban exists on a spectrum. What factors led to the increasing suburbanization? Do you live in an urban, rural, or suburban area?
Read this section on environmental sociology and issues related to humans and the environment, such as climate change and pollution. Pay attention to Figure 20.15 on E-Waste. How should we address these issues, such as environmental racism and the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on vulnerable populations?
Watch this video on environmental racism and the higher exposures poor and minority neighborhoods have to toxic environmental hazards. Local and global corporations dump their toxic waste and other pollutants in poorer areas because they face less political opposition. Research shows that people who live in these communities experience higher levels of cancer and respiratory diseases.
Watch this video, which explains the concept of the tragedy of the commons, when people tend to act according to their self-interest at the expense of the community, environment, and social good. What three solutions does the video offer? How can we work together to protect the commons?
7.3: The Social Construction of Health
Although health and wellness are biological issues, health disparities exist based on gender, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. We see different rates of illness rates among high- and low-income nations. Think about our reaction to people who have diseases our culture stigmatizes. For example, during the 1980s, LGBTQ protesters resorted to civil disobedience to force local and national politicians to admit there was an AIDS crisis. Today, opioid addiction is considered a serious mental health crisis. However, during the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. government imprisoned crack addicts, devastating many Black neighborhoods, while those arrested for cocaine use in White communities received more lenient sentencing.
The social construction of medical knowledge is also based on social class, race, sexuality, and other dimensions of inequality. Women complain that men receive preferential treatment during trials for new medicines. Research has shown stark disparities in maternal and infant health for Black and Native American women, who experience much higher mortality rates than White women.
This text describes various social epidemiology theories regarding global health issues. Make sure you can define healthcare issues from the perspective of conflict, interactionist, and functionalist theories. What do we mean by stigma and medicalization?
Read this section on social epidemiology and variations in rates of health and illness among high- and low-income nations. How is illness connected to larger social challenges? What are the major health concerns where you live?
Read this section on health disparities in the United States based on social class, race, sex, mental health, and disability status. Why do medical professionals treat individuals from other social groups differently?
Read this article from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What contributions have sociologists made to the study of health inequalities?
Watch this video on healthcare disparities connected to socioeconomic status, race, gender, and sexual orientation. What are food deserts? How do they impact certain jobs and health? How are African Americans and women disadvantaged in their access to healthcare?
Read this text on the difference between public and private healthcare. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? What are the biggest problems in the privatized system in the United States?
Read this text on functionalist, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction perspectives on health and medicine. Which recent drug has been medicalized in many states in the United States?
7.4: Media and Technology
Technology allows us to remain in constant social contact with people near and far. However, these connections are not distributed equally globally or within our communities. Notice the stratification in information access known as the knowledge gap. The "digital divide" represents unequal access to technology based on categories of stratification such as income and race.
Read this text on how we use science and technology to address the complications of human life. Notice all the social issues connected to unequal access to media and technology. Consider your daily interaction with technology and social media for work and your private life. How has technology impacted your life for better or worse?
Read this section about different ways to categorize technology and innovation. Notice the different media types, such as newspapers, television, film, and social media. We are bombarded with advertising which shapes our values and consumption practices. Figure 8.5 points to the ever-present issue of violence in the media and gaming. Distinguish between homogenization and fragmentation of media. Do you see more similar or different perspectives in the news reports?
Watch this video on the media's role in society based on a series of metaphors. Pay attention to the mirror, window, gatekeeper, filter, and magic bullet metaphors that explain how we access information in modern society. How does the media shape our beliefs through each of these metaphors?
Read this text, which explains that technology access is not distributed equally in different parts of the world and within our communities. Media globalization refers to how only a handful of multinational corporations distribute information worldwide. What perspective would these large for-profit companies like to distribute?
Read this text on how functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interactionism view the media and technology. Functionalists focus on the structure and positive functions of both mass media and technology. Conflict theorists study how media and technology create conflict and advantages for some populations. Symbolic interactionists focus on how the media constructs reality or perception.
Watch this video on how groups consume different media types. How does each sociological perspective view the role of media in society? How does the media socialize values? Consider how the media represents ideal beauty and how these images impact us individually.
Unit 7 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.