Scenario.1. Suppose you are the Democratic Party Governor of a midsized state
and that you are up for reelection in two years. You were a political
science major in college but had a sociology minor with a focus in
criminal justice. The crime rate your state has risen slightly since you
took office, and there is growing sentiment in the state’s major
newspapers and from the Republican Party opposition in the state
legislature to lengthen prison terms for serious crime and to build two
more prisons for the greater number of prisoners that will be expected.
Because of your studies in college, you are skeptical that this approach
will reduce crime, and you recognize it will cost millions of dollars. But
you also realize that your opponents and some members of the news
media are beginning to say that you are soft on crime. What do you do?
Explain your answer.
Suggestions (only suggestions) to help deal with the problem of crime,
you may wish to do any of the following:
a. Volunteer at an agency that helps troubled teenagers.
b. Volunteer with an organization that helps ex-offenders.
c. Work for an organization that provides early childhood intervention
services for at-risk children.
2. The sexual revolution liberalized some views about sexual behavior
and increased participation in some forms of sexual behavior,
particularly premarital sex. Gender, age, and religiosity predict attitudes
about premarital sex. There is little or no gender differences today in
the prevalence of various heterosexual behaviors, but men are more
likely than women to have had at least two sex partners in the past
year.
a. Do you think the sexual revolution was a good thing or a bad
thing? Why, why not? Explain your answer.b. Did it surprise you to learn that women and men are equally sexually
active today? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
3. Teenage sex and pregnancy.
a. What are some of the problems (list at least five) that are associated
with teenage pregnancy and birth? Explain your answer.
b. What are some suggestions, recommendations, that can be
implemented to reduce teenage pregnancy and help teenage
mothers? Explain your answer.
4. Although the nuclear family has been very common, many children
throughout history have not lived in a nuclear family, in part because a
parent would die at an early age. Most Americans eventually marry.
This fact means that marriage remains an important ideal in American
life, even if not all marriages succeed. About 30 percent of children live
with only one parent, almost always their mother.
a. It is noted that most people eventually marry. In view of the fact that
so many marriages end in divorce, why do you think that so many
people continue to marry? Explain your answer.
b. Some of the children who live only with their mothers were born out
of wedlock. Do you think the parents should have married for the sake
of their child? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
5. The family ideally serves several functions for society. It socializes
children, provides practical and emotional support for its members,
regulates sexual reproduction, and provides its members with a social
identity. Reflecting conflict theory’s emphases, the family may also
produce several problems. In particular, it may contribute for several
reasons to social inequality, and it may subject its members to violence,arguments, and other forms of conflict. Social interactionist
understandings of the family emphasize how family members interact
on a daily basis. In this regard, several studies find that husbands and
wives communicate differently in certain ways that sometimes impede
effective communication.
a. As you think how best to understand the family, do you favor the
views and assumptions of functional theory, conflict theory, or social
interactionist theory? Explain your answer.
b. Do you think the family continues to serve the function of regulating
sexual behavior and sexual reproduction? Why or why not? Explain
your answer.
c. What are some of the effects of divorce for spouses and
children? Explain your answer.
d. How do think children fare when their mothers work outside the
home? Explain your answer.
e. Why do you think family violence occurs? Explain your answer.
f. Do you think it is ever acceptable for a spouse (male or female) to
slap or hit another spouse? Why, why not? Explain your answer.