Chapter 1
A TROUBLED SOCIETY
GOALS OF THE CHAPTER
In this chapter, we look first at a few comments from Americans in all walks of life who are trying to
make sense out of their lives. After highlighting themes in their comments, we explore different
approaches to social problems. It is here that we contrast the traditional perspectives on society and social
problems with the critical power-conflict perspective. We conclude the chapter with a set of guiding
propositions about U.S. society that draw upon the critical power-conflict perspective.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading and studying this chapter on the social problems of our troubled society, students
should be able to address the following themes. Instructors may want to focus lectures and
discussions on these objectives.
Recognize that while we often portray U.S. society in terms of progress, prosperity, freedom,
free enterprise, equal opportunity, and rags-to-riches mobility, the often ignored underside
of U.S. society includes past and present, the lives of ordinary citizens burdened with
multiple troubles, many of them rooted in patterns of racial, gender, and class oppression.
Understand the societal significance of the Gross National Product and the Gross Domestic
Product from the statistical index called the Genuine Progress Indicator.
Acknowledge the contribution that unionization and collective protest has had for U.S.
workers in fighting oppression in the workplace.
Understand the substantive difference between the traditional perspectives on society and
social problems and the critical power-conflict perspective.
,CHAPTER SUMMARY
Most Americans know this is a society with major problems. Most know that basic needs
are not met for many Americans. Many are aware that their personal and family problems are
linked to structural factors and larger societal contexts, but these larger contexts are often seen
through a haze of vague explanations and confusing media interpretations. Rationales such as the
declining work ethic, lazy individuals, government “welfare,” unfair foreign competition, dangerous
immigration, “reverse” discrimination, and political corruption are offered to explain, often
erroneously, our current societal troubles.
Traditional social science approaches to major societal problems have tended to emphasize
order and stability in the society. The dominant viewpoint lying behind much social science reflects
more or less of a commitment to the existing social order of corporate capitalism. This social
science viewpoint has evolved from a laissez-faire order-marker perspective in the nineteenth
century to, for many people, some type of liberal order-market view today. Basic to mainstream
social science is some type of strain theory of social problems. The breakdown of traditional
authority and norms stemming from such realities as urban migration, lax parenting, or “broken
homes” is often seen as one major source of social problems. Many mainstream social scientists see
government as a more or less neutral judge of competing groups, as the instrument to restore, with
a variety of piecemeal reforms, stability within the framework of existing class, racist, and sexist
arrangements. Conventional approaches to social problems reject the idea that the problems are
rooted so deeply in the society that massive society-wide changes in class, racial, and gender
structures will be required to eradicate the problems.
Because mainstream social scientists accept the basic contours of the existing society, they
often argue for a value-free “experts” approach to the study of social problems. For this mainline
approach, the task of social-problems analysis is to build up a body of empirical facts that can be
used by “neutral” policymakers to devise remedies to “fix” existing social problems. Since at least
the 1960s, this approach to problems has been strong. Social scientists are often seen as experts
who can, apolitically and scientifically, collect data on social problems and provide date on which
policymakers can act wisely.
Those who adopt the mainline approach are generally unwilling to explore the implications
of a thoroughgoing power-conflict approach for understanding societal problems. This book adopts
a critical power-conflict perspective, which gives much greater attention than do mainstream social
scientists to the great inequalities of power and resources in society; to inequality along class,
racial, and gender (and other) lines; and to how that inequality creates a broad array of problems
for most Americans. Most power-conflict theory gives much attention to exploitation of the
powerless by the powerful and to deeply rooted conflict between powerless and powerful groups.
This approach emphasizes that existing arrangements in this society provide the greatest benefits
,for those on top. Such a perspective looks critically at the often-hidden roots of social problems in
exploitative, discriminatory, and alienating institutions.
Today, power-conflict social scientists are a diverse group, including not only neo-Marxists
(who emphasize class) but also feminist scholars (who emphasize gender oppression) and
antiracist analysts (who focus on racial and ethnic oppression). Although important differences
exist within this critical perspective, most power-conflict analysts analyze vigorously the dominant
institutions and ruling ideas of U.S. society and propose major changes for existing societal
problems.
This book sorts through a number of major social problems using a multifaceted power-
conflict perspective that takes into consideration not only capitalistic social patterns but also racial,
gender, and other important types of social stratification and exploitation.
KEY CONCEPTS/IDEAS/TERMS/NAMES
Alienation Harry Braverman
Blaming the victim Internal colonialism
Bureaucracies Karl Marx
C. Wright Mills Liberal order-market (corporate-liberal) perspective
Capitalism Norms
Class stratification Patriarchy
Classes Prepolitical thought
Conservative order-market perspective Power-Conflict Persepctive
Deskilling Racial stratification
Émile Durkheim Racism
Exploitation Roles
Gender stratification Social probems
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Social strain theory
Gross National Product (GNP) Social-order perspective
Genuine Progress Indicator Talcott Parsons
CLASS PROJECT
Examine an article on a social problem topic of your choice in a popular magazine, newspaper, or
professional journal. Then, critique the article from the power-conflict perspective and the corporate-
liberal perspective.
TEST QUESTIONS
Essay Questions
, 1. Emile Durkheim has provided one of the most influential perspectives in sociology, yet he
neglected to analyze several important topics seriously. What are they? What is the significance
of these omissions for understanding social problems?
1. What is the critical power-conflict perspective? What are some of its main arguments?
1. A strong case can be made that corporate liberalism remains the dominant ideology in the U.S.
What is the corporate–liberal view, and how does it contrast with the earlier laissez-faire view?
2. From the power-conflict view of the world, how do neo-Marxists differ from feminists and
nationalists?
3. In the writings of Harry Braverman, a deskilling thesis about work has emerged to counter the
more pervasive job-upgrading thesis. Using examples, describe the major issues involved in this
debate.
4. In traditional social-problems texts of the early twentieth century, what was portrayed as the
cause of our major social problems?
1. What has been the impact of the Durkheimian tradition on the definition of major social
problems?
2. Using illustrations, summarize the idea that racial stratification and gender stratification provide
an important basis for understanding contemporary social problems.
3. Identify some of the recurring attitudes about work that are expressed in the section entitled
“Americans view their lives.”
Multliple Choice Questions
1. American society today [c]
a. offers equal opportunity for all.
b. has greater social problems than ever before in our history.
c. s haunted by deep-rooted social problems.
d. is an example of Marx's definition of socialism.
2. The authors of the text believe that [c]
A TROUBLED SOCIETY
GOALS OF THE CHAPTER
In this chapter, we look first at a few comments from Americans in all walks of life who are trying to
make sense out of their lives. After highlighting themes in their comments, we explore different
approaches to social problems. It is here that we contrast the traditional perspectives on society and social
problems with the critical power-conflict perspective. We conclude the chapter with a set of guiding
propositions about U.S. society that draw upon the critical power-conflict perspective.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading and studying this chapter on the social problems of our troubled society, students
should be able to address the following themes. Instructors may want to focus lectures and
discussions on these objectives.
Recognize that while we often portray U.S. society in terms of progress, prosperity, freedom,
free enterprise, equal opportunity, and rags-to-riches mobility, the often ignored underside
of U.S. society includes past and present, the lives of ordinary citizens burdened with
multiple troubles, many of them rooted in patterns of racial, gender, and class oppression.
Understand the societal significance of the Gross National Product and the Gross Domestic
Product from the statistical index called the Genuine Progress Indicator.
Acknowledge the contribution that unionization and collective protest has had for U.S.
workers in fighting oppression in the workplace.
Understand the substantive difference between the traditional perspectives on society and
social problems and the critical power-conflict perspective.
,CHAPTER SUMMARY
Most Americans know this is a society with major problems. Most know that basic needs
are not met for many Americans. Many are aware that their personal and family problems are
linked to structural factors and larger societal contexts, but these larger contexts are often seen
through a haze of vague explanations and confusing media interpretations. Rationales such as the
declining work ethic, lazy individuals, government “welfare,” unfair foreign competition, dangerous
immigration, “reverse” discrimination, and political corruption are offered to explain, often
erroneously, our current societal troubles.
Traditional social science approaches to major societal problems have tended to emphasize
order and stability in the society. The dominant viewpoint lying behind much social science reflects
more or less of a commitment to the existing social order of corporate capitalism. This social
science viewpoint has evolved from a laissez-faire order-marker perspective in the nineteenth
century to, for many people, some type of liberal order-market view today. Basic to mainstream
social science is some type of strain theory of social problems. The breakdown of traditional
authority and norms stemming from such realities as urban migration, lax parenting, or “broken
homes” is often seen as one major source of social problems. Many mainstream social scientists see
government as a more or less neutral judge of competing groups, as the instrument to restore, with
a variety of piecemeal reforms, stability within the framework of existing class, racist, and sexist
arrangements. Conventional approaches to social problems reject the idea that the problems are
rooted so deeply in the society that massive society-wide changes in class, racial, and gender
structures will be required to eradicate the problems.
Because mainstream social scientists accept the basic contours of the existing society, they
often argue for a value-free “experts” approach to the study of social problems. For this mainline
approach, the task of social-problems analysis is to build up a body of empirical facts that can be
used by “neutral” policymakers to devise remedies to “fix” existing social problems. Since at least
the 1960s, this approach to problems has been strong. Social scientists are often seen as experts
who can, apolitically and scientifically, collect data on social problems and provide date on which
policymakers can act wisely.
Those who adopt the mainline approach are generally unwilling to explore the implications
of a thoroughgoing power-conflict approach for understanding societal problems. This book adopts
a critical power-conflict perspective, which gives much greater attention than do mainstream social
scientists to the great inequalities of power and resources in society; to inequality along class,
racial, and gender (and other) lines; and to how that inequality creates a broad array of problems
for most Americans. Most power-conflict theory gives much attention to exploitation of the
powerless by the powerful and to deeply rooted conflict between powerless and powerful groups.
This approach emphasizes that existing arrangements in this society provide the greatest benefits
,for those on top. Such a perspective looks critically at the often-hidden roots of social problems in
exploitative, discriminatory, and alienating institutions.
Today, power-conflict social scientists are a diverse group, including not only neo-Marxists
(who emphasize class) but also feminist scholars (who emphasize gender oppression) and
antiracist analysts (who focus on racial and ethnic oppression). Although important differences
exist within this critical perspective, most power-conflict analysts analyze vigorously the dominant
institutions and ruling ideas of U.S. society and propose major changes for existing societal
problems.
This book sorts through a number of major social problems using a multifaceted power-
conflict perspective that takes into consideration not only capitalistic social patterns but also racial,
gender, and other important types of social stratification and exploitation.
KEY CONCEPTS/IDEAS/TERMS/NAMES
Alienation Harry Braverman
Blaming the victim Internal colonialism
Bureaucracies Karl Marx
C. Wright Mills Liberal order-market (corporate-liberal) perspective
Capitalism Norms
Class stratification Patriarchy
Classes Prepolitical thought
Conservative order-market perspective Power-Conflict Persepctive
Deskilling Racial stratification
Émile Durkheim Racism
Exploitation Roles
Gender stratification Social probems
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Social strain theory
Gross National Product (GNP) Social-order perspective
Genuine Progress Indicator Talcott Parsons
CLASS PROJECT
Examine an article on a social problem topic of your choice in a popular magazine, newspaper, or
professional journal. Then, critique the article from the power-conflict perspective and the corporate-
liberal perspective.
TEST QUESTIONS
Essay Questions
, 1. Emile Durkheim has provided one of the most influential perspectives in sociology, yet he
neglected to analyze several important topics seriously. What are they? What is the significance
of these omissions for understanding social problems?
1. What is the critical power-conflict perspective? What are some of its main arguments?
1. A strong case can be made that corporate liberalism remains the dominant ideology in the U.S.
What is the corporate–liberal view, and how does it contrast with the earlier laissez-faire view?
2. From the power-conflict view of the world, how do neo-Marxists differ from feminists and
nationalists?
3. In the writings of Harry Braverman, a deskilling thesis about work has emerged to counter the
more pervasive job-upgrading thesis. Using examples, describe the major issues involved in this
debate.
4. In traditional social-problems texts of the early twentieth century, what was portrayed as the
cause of our major social problems?
1. What has been the impact of the Durkheimian tradition on the definition of major social
problems?
2. Using illustrations, summarize the idea that racial stratification and gender stratification provide
an important basis for understanding contemporary social problems.
3. Identify some of the recurring attitudes about work that are expressed in the section entitled
“Americans view their lives.”
Multliple Choice Questions
1. American society today [c]
a. offers equal opportunity for all.
b. has greater social problems than ever before in our history.
c. s haunted by deep-rooted social problems.
d. is an example of Marx's definition of socialism.
2. The authors of the text believe that [c]
