Tranquillisers as a Social Problem

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Gabe ◽  
Michael Bury
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Sociology Of Health

This paper attempts to highlight the value of the ‘social problem’ perspective for the sociology of health and illness by applying it to the issue of tranquilliser use and dependence. The approach involves focusing on the emergence of benzodiazepine tranquilliser dependence as a social problem and the extent to which it has been legitimated by the media and by the state. In the conclusion we draw out the implications of our case study for the development of a ‘natural history’ of social problems.

scholarly journals Loneliness among older people as a social problem: the perspectives of medicine, religion and economy

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1559-1579 ◽  
Author(s):  
WERNER SCHIRMER ◽  
DIMITRIS MICHAILAKIS
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Systems Medicine ◽  
Communicative Acts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
Constructionist Approach

ABSTRACTThis article offers a theoretical framework for studying loneliness among older people from a social problems perspective. The framework combines the constructionist approach to social problems (Spector and Kitsuse) and systems theory (Luhmann). Based on the first approach, we understand the social problem of loneliness among older people to be the result of claims-making activities by different key actors. These activities are guided by underlying moralities, causalities and solutions. With the second approach, we can explain how social problems are framed differently within different social systems. The proposed framework is primarily aimed at researchers studying social (in contrast to bio-medical or psychological) aspects of loneliness among older people. It helps not only to guide research designs in order to address conflicting perspectives, rationalities and interests but also to enable researchers to grasp fully how ‘loneliness among older people’ is attributed (potentially shifting) meanings through communicative acts by influential stakeholders in the ‘social problems industry‘. Combining constructionism and Luhmann's theory also helps to interpret and explain concrete claims-making concerning loneliness as a social problem. The argument in this article is illustrated via three different social systems: medicine, religion and economy. Loneliness among older people appears to be something different from each of these perspectives: as a matter of health and illness, of spirituality, and of incentives and commodities, respectively.

scholarly journals Tackling Social Problems in Branches Muhammadiyah Gedangan

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annis Wati ◽  
Vindy Aprilia ◽  
Lailatul Adkha ◽  
Dita Ariyanti
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this study was to determine social problems in the Muhammadiyah branch of Gedangan and its remedies, and to find out the history of the establishment of the Muhammadiyah branch in Gedangan. This research is a descriptive qualitative research through interviews and direct observations on the head of the Muhammadiyah branch of Gedangan. Based on the results of research on social problems in the Muhammadiyah Gedangan branch along with the history of the establishment of the Muhammadiyah Gedangan branch, it was founded in 1990 until now. The social problem in the Muhammadiyah Gedangan branch is that it only has one business charity in the field of education, on the side of life the education sector stands out among minority communities, as a result there are various kinds of social problems, namely experiencing a lack of students and the impact from the economic side, and from the side the life of the minority community is very influential, because many residents do not want to enroll their children in the school. As a result of the impact of social minority problems, many people think that the school is only for Muhammadiyah people and the cost is expensive.

Population, Territory, and State-istics: “Habitual Residence” in the Belgian Census, 1846–1947

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 503-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaat Louckx
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Habitual Residence ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Belgian Population ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract In the eighteenth century, statistics was designed and understood as state-istics, as a scientific representation of the state, its territory, and its population. Statistics helped modern nation-states to “embrace” the social lives of the people contained in them; it served these nation-states to monitor the condition, to promote the welfare, and to protect the rights of their people. The history of statistics can therefore be analyzed to shed light on the politics of membership in modern states. In this article, I present a case study that focuses on the various specifications of the notion of habitual residence in the Belgian population censuses, from the middle of the nineteenth century—the first Belgian censuses organized by the homo statisticus Adolphe Quetelet—up until the middle of the twentieth century, when the welfare state more actively took “responsibility for its population.” My analyses show how the classification schemes of the Belgian population censuses elucidate underlying politics of membership and belonging. The use and development of the notion of habitual residence displays the ways in which the state (re-)articulated its expectations regarding society membership. It is not only indicative of new ways of managing the population but also of the establishment of specific norms and evaluative standards about the individuals who are living within the boundaries of the nation-state.

Social Problems

Sociology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Best
Keyword(s):  
Social Problem ◽  
General Public ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The Media ◽  
Constructionist Approach

The term “social problem” is usually taken to refer to social conditions that disrupt or damage society—crime, racism, and the like. “Social Problems” is the title of an undergraduate course taught at many colleges; a typical course discusses what is known about a series of conditions considered social problems. In contrast, the sociology of social problems defines social problem differently and adopts a different analytic approach. This approach—sometimes called constructionist—defines social problem in terms of a process, rather than a type of condition. It focuses on how and why people come to understand that some conditions ought to be viewed as a social problem, that is, how they socially construct social problems. Typically, the social problems process begins with claimsmakers who make claims that some condition ought to be considered a problem, that this problem should be understood in particular ways, and that it needs to be addressed. Other people respond to those claims and rework them, so that the social problem is constructed and reconstructed by the media, the general public, policymakers, the social-problems workers who implement policy, and critics that assess the policy’s effectiveness. The process is complex: some claims produce a speedy reaction, while others have difficulty finding an audience. The constructionist approach began to guide researchers in the 1970s and has generated a substantial literature that continues to develop in new directions.

scholarly journals Students’ Social Representations of Forced Migration as a Relevant Social Problem and Its Curricular Inclusion at the End of Primary School

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Roberto García-Morís ◽  
Nerea García García Bugallo ◽  
Ramón Martínez-Medina
Keyword(s):  
Primary Education ◽  
Private School ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
Education Groups

The purpose of this paper is to assess students’ social representations of forced migration as a relevant social problem in the last year of primary education and the opportunity for its curricular inclusion. The study was carried out by means of a questionnaire, filled in by 6th-year primary education groups (11–12 years old) (n = 70), in a state-supported private school in the city of A Coruña (Galicia, Spain). The questionnaire was supported by three pictures of forced migrations from the media. In this case, the children had to interpret the pictures through a series of questions that sought to investigate their representations, the causes they identify in this social problem, their opinions, and possible solutions. Finally, the opportunity for the inclusion of social problems as curriculum content was addressed. The study shows that the students are in favor of migrants, that they use concepts from the social sciences in their arguments—albeit simple ones, and that they are in favor of the curricular inclusion of social problems, in which they develop representations through different sources of information.

Female Christian prose today: A failed search for new women’s subjectivity?

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-149
Author(s):  
E. Chelpanova
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social System ◽  
Family Values ◽  
The State ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Conservative Approach ◽  
Female Subjectivity ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

In her analysis of books by Maya Kucherskaya, Olesya Nikolaeva, and Yulia Voznesenskaya, the author investigates the history of female Christian prose from the 1990s until the present day. According to the author, it was in the 1990s, the period of crisis and transformation of the social system, that female Christian writers were more vocal, than today, on the issues of the new post-Soviet female subjectivity, drawing on folklore imagery and contrasting the folk, pagan philosophy with the Christian one, defined by an established set of rules and limitations for the principal female roles. Thus, the folklore elements in Kucherskaya’s early works are considered as an attempt to represent female subjectivity. However, the author argues that, in their current work, Kucherskaya and other representatives of the so-called female Christian prose tend to choose different, objectivizing methods to represent female characters. This new and conservative approach may have come from a wider social context, including the state-imposed ‘family values’ program.

Political and Economic History of Land-Grabs in India

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peer Ghulam Nabi Suhail
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
The State ◽  
Developmental Approach ◽  
Land Grabs ◽  
Indian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media

This chapter begins with tracing the roots of colonialism in India, followed by understanding its various structures and processes of resource-grabbing. It argues, that India has largely followed the colonial approach towards land appropriation. After independence, although the Indian state followed a nationalistic path of development, the developmental approach of the state was far from being pro-peasant and/or pro-ecology. In a similar fashion, hydroelectricity projects in Kashmir, developed by NHPC from 1970s, have been displacing thousands of peasants from their lands and houses. Despite this, they are yet to become a major debate in the media, in the policy circles, or in academia in India.

Constructing Images of Deviance: A Look at State Intervention into the Problem of Wife-Battery

1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Social Problem ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Wife Battering ◽  
The Social ◽  
Class Context ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Cost

Patricia Morgan's paper describes what happens when the state intervenes in the social problem of wife-battering. Her analysis refers to the United States, but there are clear implications for other countries, including Britain. The author argues that the state, through its social problem apparatus, manages the image of the problem by a process of bureaucratization, professionalization and individualization. This serves to narrow the definition of the problem, and to depoliticize it by removing it from its class context and viewing it in terms of individual pathology rather than structure. Thus refuges were initially run by small feminist collectives which had a dual objective of providing a service and promoting among the women an understanding of their structural position in society. The need for funds forced the groups to turn to the state for financial aid. This was given, but at the cost to the refuges of losing their political aims. Many refuges became larger, much more service-orientated and more diversified in providing therapy for the batterers and dealing with other problems such as alcoholism and drug abuse. This transformed not only the refuges but also the image of the problem of wife-battering.

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