Clothes to Kill For: An Analysis of Primary and Secondary Claims-Making in Print Media

This paper explores print media's representations of the phenomenon of violence or killing for clothing and other fashion apparel items. Using the social constructionist definition of social problems, condition-categories used by both primary and secondary claims-makers are examined through rhetorical idioms and forms of talk representing motives, settings, and solutions. Typifications of the problem by primary claims-makers were related to the vested interest of those making the claims. Media claims were framed differently in different types of news stories. While some overlap was found in the rhetorics of primary and secondary claims-makers, their differences were sufficient to establish support for the need to examine social problems from the perspectives of various claims-makers.     

Appearance Cues and the Shootings at Columbine High: Construction of a Social Problem in the Print Media

In this study, we used an interpretive approach to examine print media (newspaper) representations of the relationship between appearance and the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. Our work was guided by the social constructionist definition of a social problem. Grounded theory analyses revealed that both primary and secondary claims-makers staged claims and/or counterclaims contributing to the construction of Columbine as an appearance-linked social problem. The content and form of these claims varied according to the stage in the construction of the problem. Further, although both primary and secondary claims were made with respect to the conceptualization of the problem, an explanation for it, and solutions to it, the roles of primary and secondary claims-makers in constructing the problem varied. Implications of claims made within the media and related to the role of appearance in the shootings are considered, and a call is made for future work in this area.     

Labelling out: the personal account of an ex-alcoholic lesbian feminist

In this paper, I look at my past alcohol dependency from a political as well as personal perspective. I consider the problems caused in my life and that of other lesbians by alcohol abuse, outdated treatment methods and self-help organizations such as AA, which misrepresent social factors leading to alcohol abuse. I focus on a series of themes: the personal and political; lesbian bar styles; alternative realities; lesbian problem drinking; problems facing lesbians in treatment and engaging with Alcoholics Anonymous; treatment as it often is and treatment as it should be.     

Should Elder Abuse Be Decriminalized?

The movement to provide protective services for the elderly has brought about elder abuse legislation that provides criminal sanctions for elder abuse and failure to report suspected cases. This paper addresses the current and potential problems of criminalization of a social service and regulatory issue. It includes a discussion of definition and criminal intent issues as they relate to the problem of elder abuse. The position taken by the author is that the criminalization of the elder abuse problem may hamper efforts of the adult protective services worker.     

The musical composition of social reality? Music,action and reflexivity1

Developments in the sociology of music during the 1980s have brought the sub-field more firmly in to the center of sociological concerns, The ‘worlds’ concept, and the concern with music and social status have helped to ground and specify links between music and society. Meanwhile however, questions concerning music's social content have been sidelined. This paper explores music as an active ingredient in the constitution of lived experience. As with other cultural/technical forms, music provides a resource for the articulation of thought and activity. Bodily conduct and movement, the experience of time, and social character within opera are used to illustrate this point. Recent developments in feminist music analysis have been suggestive for the ways in which music metaphorizes social processes and categories of being. These developments can enrich the sociology of music. However, as with all attempts to ‘read’ music's social content, they should be conceived as claims made by analysts who are themselves engaged in social projects. Analytical readings of music have no a priori claim of privilege. A constructivist sociology of music should therefore be devoted to the question of how specific music users forge links between musical significance and social life. A sociology of the construction and deployment of musical realities is capable of avoiding the naive positivism otherwise implicit in attempts to ‘read’ music's social content.     

THE MASS MEDIA AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSING CHILDREN PROBLEM

This article traces the role of the mass media in the social construction of the "missing children issue' as a social problem. The social construction explanation of social problems offered by Blumer (1971) and Spector and Kitsuse (1977) has been criticized (cf. Best and Horiuchi 1985) for lacking a conception of extra-media influences that can affect audiences beyond the initial viewing situation. Recent work in mass communication indicates that a media logic is adapted by other institutions to amplify television imagery and themes about crime, danger, and child abuse. A case study of the origins and claims and counterclaims about the nature and extent of missing children is combined with an empirical analysis of the impact of various sources of information about the missing children issue in order to demonstrate the process by which a social problem is constructed. The impact of additional information is analyzed by administering a self-report questionnaire to 96 respondents before and after viewing a two-part documentary on the complexities of the issue. The data suggest that mass-mediated imagery and formats forge an interactive informational context for social problems by sustaining what is viewed in one's living room with imagery in bulk mail, milk cartons, and posters. It is further suggested that mass media depictions of problems such as "missing children' carry over into consonant images such as child abuse. This conceptualization is capable of encompassing other accounts of social problems (e.g., "urban legends") within claims-making activity.     

Myths about the Country Walk case

The Country Walk case in Dade County, Florida was long considered a model for how to prosecute a multi-victim child sexual abuse case involving young children. In the past 10 years, however, a contrary view has emerged that the case was tainted by improper interviewing and was likely a false conviction. This is the first scholarly effort to assess the competing views of this case. Critics of this case advance three primary claims: (1) the positive STD test result from Frank Fuster's son was unreliable; (2) highly suggestive interviewing produced the children's claims; and (3) Frank Fuster's wife, Ileana, was coerced into testifying against her husband. On close examination, all three claims prove to be false. This article documents the reasons why these claims constitute myths and why those findings are significant in the larger debate on children as witnesses.     

Cycles of Social Problem Development: The Case of Drug Abuse*

The genesis and course of a social problem results from the interplay of political and historical forces. This paper formulates a cyclical model of social problem development in which the history of drug abuse as a social problem is a function of the political processes which shape its course. The developmental cycle comprises five stages, with the fifth stage initiating a new cycle through the stages. Political struggles at each stage over the choice of definition and remedy are analyzed to explicate how the outcomes of earlier struggles become historical contingencies for subsequent stages. Institutionalized remedial approaches become entrenched and may not be superseded by subsequent approaches, leading to an accretion of institutional forms. Current drug abuse policy and programs, a patchwork accumulation of conflicting approaches instituted during different historical eras, exemplify this phenomenon.     

The Act of Abuse:

Abuse is a problem that is of a social and moral as well as medical and psychological nature. A semiological approach is introduced as a way of encompassing those aspects in one definition. Abuse is seen as a social act, involving a witness: the necessary third actor who is evaluating the legitimacy of the act. Only those actions that are found to be illegitimate can be labeled abuse. Any definition of abuse must somehow consider morality.     

Child Sexual Abuse and the Black Disabled Child

This paper seeks to document a previously neglected area of study, namely the effects of sexual abuse on black disabled children. With a particular focus on black children with learning disabilities, it examines how the interlocking dimensions of race, gender and disability compound the problems that they are faced with in the aftermath of sexual abuse. This paper presents case studies drawn from data generated from a broader research project of sexual abuse and black families to illustrate the specific ways the negatively valued position of black disabled children shape responses to them. It is argued that the way in which black disabled children and their families interpret their experiences is likely to differ from other groups of disabled children, as multiple marginalised identities shape their lived realities. The paper concludes with some reflections on the implications for making risk assessment for black disabled children.     

Korean American Elderly's Knowledge and Perceptions of Elder Abuse

ABSTRACT

“This study examines Korean American elders” perceptions of elder abuse and its perpetrators and explores cultural, as well as non-cultural influences on such perceptions. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 100 elderly Korean Americans, 60 years of age or older, residing in Los Angeles County. Respondents reported 46 abuse cases, categorized into the following six types: financial abuse (36%), psychological abuse (24%), culturally specific abuse (17%), neglect (15%), physical abuse (4%), and other (4%). Most respondents identified elder abuse in terms of abrogation of filial piety, suggesting the centrality of “children” in Korean American elders⁵ lives and well-being. Findings demonstrate that employing a uniform definition of elder abuse across all cultures and ethnic groups without attending to the cultural and subjective aspects of a given situation may result in missing problems and needs identified as important by the elderly themselves. Implications for social work practice and program development are discussed.     

Wives and Mothers-in-law:

Elder abuse exists in Japan. Not only is recognition of the problem inadequate, but there are few systematic efforts to deal with it. This paper describes a small-scale survey that explored the conflictual relationship between wives and mothers-in-law. Since the end of World War II, the positions of the wife and that of the mother-in-law have been reversed, resulting in a weaker position for the latter. This change from the traditional relationship may be a source of elder abuse.     

THE RISE AND (RELATIVE) DECLINE OF GLOBAL WARMING AS A SOCIAL PROBLEM

This article extends recent work on the public arenas approach to social problems (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988) by examining changes in audience receptiveness to claims-making activities. Scientists' claims about global warming failed to attract much public attention until the extraordinary heat and drought of the "summer of '88" created a social scare . That is, environmental claims are most likely to be honored—and accelerate demands in the political arena—when they piggyback on dramatic real-world events. The dynamics of this social problem over time reveal that both demand attenuation and issue redirection processes have diminished global warming's standing as a "celebrity" social problem. Social scares hold potential importance for prospective social problems that revolve around new technologies.     

Media meta-capital: Extending the range of Bourdieu’s field theory

This article addresses a general problem in media sociology – how to understand the media both as an internal production process and as a general frame for categorizing the social world, with specific reference to a version of this problem in recent work on media within Bourdieu’s field-based tradition of research (work previously reviewed by Rodney Benson in Theory and Society28). It argues that certain problems arise in reconciling this work’s detailed explanations of the media field’s internal workings (and the interrelations of that field’s workings to the workings of other fields) and general claims made about the “symbolic power” of media in a broader sense. These problems can be solved, the author argues, by adopting the concept of meta-capital developed by Bourdieu himself in his late work on the state, and returning to the wider framework of symbolic system and symbolic power that was important in Bourdieu’s social theory before it became dominated by field theory. Media, it is proposed, have meta-capital over the rules of play, and the definition of capital (especially symbolic capital), that operate within a wide range of contemporary fields of production. This level of explanation needs to be added to specific accounts of the detailed workings of the media field. The conclusion points to questions for further work, including on the state’s relative strength and the media’s meta-capital that must be carried out through detailed empirical work on a global comparative basis.     

Programmed case material as an aid in teaching ego psychology: A methodology for clinical social work education

Four specific problems inherent in the relationship between the theory and practice of contemporary ego psychology limit the effective transmission of ego psychological concepts and principles in clinical social work education. These problems are further conceived as impeding the student's ability to integrate theory and clinical reality, and ultimately reduce the quality of the student's facility with practical technique. As one approach to these problems, this article presents the rationale and design for a teaching aid utilizing programmed case material and self-assessment modules as a methodology for enhancing the integration of theory and the clinical realities explicated by theory. The programmedCasebook and its implementation are illustrated. The values of theCasebook for classroom learning are discussed, relating the anticipated educational experience to the four specific problem areas outlined.     

Are those streetpeople part of the new poor,too? Toward an applied sociology of social problems

This paper proposes an applied sociology of social problems that encompasses concern with the definition of problems and the conditions defined as problematic. The literature on applied sociology focuses on social problems, but exhibits no concern with the social definition of problems, an issue that should be of primary concern according to the constructionist perspective on social problems. I propose an applied research orientation that is capable of assessing the definition of a problem as well as describing the condition defined as problematic. I illustrate the proposed orientation by discussing an applied study of the people who inhabit the streets in Santa Cruz, California. The study succeeded in redefining those people as streetpeople instead of as transients, but not as part of the new poor. The paper considers the implications of assessing the definition of a problem for policy development, the factors that constrain the redefinition of a problem, and other issues of general relevance. The paper concludes by underscoring the importance of definitional processes and politics, and indicating the prospects of an applied sociology of social problems.     

A SYSTEMIC TREATMENT APPROACH TO WIFE BATTERING

This article places the problem of wife battering or domestic abuse in a systemic framework. Literature that bears most directly on a systemic understanding and treatment of wife battering is reviewed. A comprehensive approach to treatment as it might be utilized by marriage and family therapists is outlined and a case example is presented.     

Considering women's experience

Conclusion All views of power, as Lukes points out, are both contested and ideological. The view I present here was developed through efforts to construct a theory of power grounded in the central themes of feminist research, especially its focus on the social construction of reality. The most salient realities addressed in this context are the ethics and social structure of obligation, relationship, and care, especially as these affect differential identities, social rankings, and asymmetries in power. These inequalities are socially constructed. They stabilize power contests of the past in prescribed relationships of the present.Though power differentials between women and men have a long history, the particular configuration we find in the contemporary United States was shaped in large part through the social and ideological transformations of the nineteenth century, when market relationships, economic and social, were ascendant. Exaggerations of that transformation, which presume older social orders were overtaken by a new order modelled on the market, are not only analyses but ideologies as well. They serve the market and those men whose success is focused there; but they render invisible much of women's experience. The theory presented here proposes a tripartite approach as a corrective to single-order market-based theories. I argue that power has different characteristics in the three orders.Briefly, power in the exchange order is individualistic and competitive. Power in the placing order is derived by incumbents from the social places they fill. Here is where the definition of social types critically structures power differentials and where care, service, and deference are made obligatory. Power in the pooling order is collective, the capacity of a multitude to act as one.This examination of power in its three guises suggests some avenues that syntheses of theories of power might take. For example, conceptions of power that stress its competitive and oppositional aspects focus on the exchange order, while conceptions that stress the communal aspects of power focus on the pooling order and its capacity to generate power through consensus. In addition, the several discussions of resources for power tend to combine resources generated and used in all three orders. Much analytical clarity might be gained by separating out the different ways in which resources are generated, used, and transferred from one social order to another. Finally, several implications that can only be suggested here follow from this view of power. Because it focuses attention on the placing order, a sector generally neglected in sociology, it can make us attentive to the powers of the weak and the claims of future generations on current ones. Because those claims are made most heavily against women, they account in large part for women's higher rates of poverty and their disadvantages against men in the world of exchange. But, more important, because this social order is neglected in practice as well as in theory, its powers, especially its powers of social control, are eroding, leaving the claims of those who need care to go unheeded. The growing isolation of the elderly is one case in point. Poverty rates among children, which are fast approaching the one-quarter mark in the United States, present another.These can be interpreted at least partly as the society's increasing incapacity to enforce obligations of protection and care. More than the other two social orders, the placing order answers a society's need for a succession of generations by empowering the young, the infirm, and the aged with claims. In the nineteenth century, societies solved the problems of disintegration in the placing sector associated with an ascendant market by assigning claims for care almost exclusively to women, backing up those claims with powerful normative sanctions, and leaving men free to compete in the market. Now that the sanctions have lost their sting and the market is attracting women, too, a reallocation of claims amounting to a restructuring of the placing sector - especially its service ranks - is necessary.If the market with its freedoms was the major social accomplishment of the nineteenth century, an egalitarian redistribution of obligations and responsibilities might be the twentieth century's answer to contemporary difficulties in caring. There are other possibilities. One is a further weakening of the claims that succor the weak, with disastrous results for future generations. Another is the imposition of claims upon some new group - biologically adult but socially stunted by definition, as women have been. Currently the women's movement and its counter movement are struggling to determine the future construction of reality.     

“Road Warriors” on “Hair-Tragger Highways”: Cultural Resources and the Media's Construction of the 1987 Freeway Shootings Problem*

Media constructions of social problems usually rework the claims of activists and other primary claimsmakers. However, the news media acted as primary claims-makers in discovering and reporting the 1987 Los Angeles freeway violence problem. The press drew upon cultural resources in constructing this problem, applying a conventional template for social problems stories and using familiar imagery to depict freeway shootings. The social organization of claimsmaking, as well as contingencies in the histories of individual campaigns, affect the choice of cultural resources used to construct social problems.