Social Problems
Below are 8 essay questions.You may choose and answer one
- This course is about social problems.What is a social problem?How might a social scientist look at social problems differently than most other people?(Hint: one might take a more individualistic perspective, one might look for structural or situational causes).Pick an example of a social problem.How might a sociologist examine this problem differently than most other people?
- Do you regard drug use as a social problem?(You might regard some drugs as problematic, but not others).If so, why?If not, why not?You can focus on just one drug or a small number of them if you wish?If drug use is a problem, what sort of problem is it?What solutions might you suggest for dealing with the problem?How would you evaluate current efforts to deal with the drug problem?
- What kinds of changes in health problems have there been in the U.S. and other industrialized countries in the past century or two and how does this affect the kind of health care needed?You might want to discuss the epidemiologic transition, what it is and how it has affected health.You might also want to discuss the effects of our modern lifestyle including levels of exercise andtypes and amounts of food eaten.
- Health care costs and delivery are considered by many to be a problem in this country.Where do we rank in terms of health care spending?Isn’t our health care system the best in the world?What solutions might you offer to get health care to more people in this country and to make it better and to have it cost less?
- One health problem specifically discussed was obesity.What has happened to the proportion overweight and obese in this country in the past few decades?Why should we be concerned about obesity or in other words, what kinds of problems are associated with obesity?Why has this trend occurred?What would you recommend to solve or ease this problem?
- Do social problems usually have simple solutions?Why or why not?Are there some social problems that we will likely not be able to fully solve?Give an example of a social problem and some of the difficulties in solving or easing that problem.
- Why is research and research methods important to the study of social problems?Give an example of a social problem and how research methods and results might help us analyze and offer solutions to that social problem.
- Pick some other topic that we have discussed so far in class or that has been discussed in your reading so far.Describe and analyze that problem.
