Sociological Approach
Conditions that cause physical, mental, or material suffering for some category of people
Social Problem
This era was marked by rapid economic growth, extreme wealth concentrated in the hands of a few “Robber Barons,” the rise of monopolies, widespread poverty, and growing economic inequality.
Gilded Age
This ideology views “free markets” as the main organizing principle of society and emphasizes less economic regulation, privatization and austerity, weaker unions, individual responsibility, and reducing labor costs.
Neoliberalism
This theory suggests that the presence of small problems in a community, like broken windows or graffiti on buildings, demonstrates the lack of social control within the community and acts as an invitation for criminal activity.
Broken Windows Theory
This 1996 welfare reform law introduced work requirements and a 60-month time limit on cash assistance, reducing welfare use while raising concerns about the effects on families facing significant barriers to work.
Welfare Reform Act (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996)
This perspective explains social problems as being caused by “bad” people, or social deviants, who do not follow society’s accepted norms, such as in cases of poverty or addiction.
Person-blame/pathology perspective
This system of capitalism involves the concentration and consolidation of economic power among a small number of large corporations, such as through mergers and acquisitions, which can reduce competition and increase corporate power.
Monopolistic Capitalism
This concept refers to the expectation that employers provide fair wages, benefits, and safe working conditions in exchange for workers’ labor, creating mutual obligations between workers and employers.
Social contract
These two labels distinguish between people living in poverty who are viewed as worthy of assistance because of their circumstances or efforts and those viewed as capable of working but unwilling because of poor choices or personal failings.
The deserving poor and the undeserving poor
These laws or ordinances prohibit certain public behaviors considered disruptive, annoying, or disorderly, such as sitting on sidewalks, sleeping in parks, placing possessions on private property, or walking through a parking lot.
Civility laws
This approach explains social problems by looking at how social structures, institutions, and broader conditions contribute to problems rather than blaming individuals.
What is the structural approach
This legal concept developed as corporations gained greater legal rights, including constitutional protections, through cases involving the 14th Amendment, changing corporations from closely regulated entities into more powerful legal actors.
Corporate personhood
This term refers to the strategy that corporations use to move capital or production to places with lower labor costs, weakening unions, driving down wages, creating competition between workers and communities, and contributing to a “race to the bottom.”
Capital flight/mobility
These stereotypes or representations intend to diminish, demean, or demonize groups by framing problems such as poverty, racism, or sexism as individual failures rather than as products of larger social structures.
controlling image
These designated areas restrict people suspected of drug-related activity from entering or remaining in certain geographic locations.
Drug Exclusion Zones
According to C. Wright Mills, this concept encourages us to look beyond our “private orbits” and connect our personal experiences to the larger social and historical context.
Sociological Imagination
This describes a government in which political institutions are disproportionately made up of wealthy people and white-collar professionals, while working-class people are greatly underrepresented
White-collar government
This term refers to a widespread, systematic disinvestment in a nation’s basic productive capacity, including the decline or closure of manufacturing industries.
Deindustrialization
This theory suggests that visible signs of disorder and neglect, such as broken windows, graffiti, and abandoned buildings, can encourage more serious crime and disorder in a community.
Broken Windows Theory
This type of architecture uses the design of public spaces to discourage or prevent certain behaviors, such as sleeping, sitting, or loitering.
Defensive architecture
This perspective examines how society determines what is considered a social problem based on who defines it, how it is defined, and the interests or values involved. E.g., politicians, corporations, public opinion, mass media play a big role in deciding which issues get called "problems" in society
Subjective nature of social problems
This 1971 business strategy encouraged many American businesses to become more politically organized and active in shaping public policy, contributing to increased corporate involvement in politics and lobbying. Through this, many people are able to move between government and private-sector positions, potentially using their connections and knowledge to benefit private interests.
Powell Memo and the revolving door of politics
This trend describes the shift away from secure, regular employment toward insecure and irregular jobs, which has been described as one of the most significant economic changes of the past four decades
Erosion of the Standard Contract of Employment
This concept refers to how governments and institutions use space, places, and the organization of communities to shape, control, and influence people’s behavior and access to resources without direct force.
Spatial Governmentality
This type of poverty occurs when people move in and out of poverty for short or intermittent periods due to events such as job loss or other financial disruptions
Episodic poverty