Social Problem of Sexism and Gender Inequality in Society

Three theories that are related to social problems are conflict theory, functionalism, and symbolic interactionism. Conflict Theory views society as being in a constant battle over scarce resources, This theory as well as functionalism are both using a macro system approach due to it interacting with multiple parties fighting to gain more power than the other. Conflict theorist apply all of their principles to age, gender, race, and religion. Functionalism is also a theoretical framework that focuses on society entirely and notjust on an individual.

If something happens to an area of the social structure another part will step in to restore balance to society Functionalist are assured that the best way to understand society as a whole is to fully understand how social institutions are interrelated. Different from a macro system approach is Symbolic lnteractionism which is using a micro approach. This particular theoretical framework focuses on how individual situations between people impact behavior as well as society.

A focus is put on how social interactions are related to sustaining relationships, Social problems are able to affect quality of life in many ways, whether it is affected directly or over a chain of events.

The economy can do badly so that a company goes bankrupt which causes layoffs in many departments. Thus causing the people that are laid off to suffer without income which then can affect the children in the family. Those children can suffer socially and academically due to the crumbling economy which in turn leads to social problems like poverty and academics.

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One social problem that affects women nationwide would be sexism and how gender can lead to becoming a social problem. Sexism as well as many other “ism’s” affect millions of people around the world as well as within the United States, Sexism is the belief that one gender is superior to the other.

Many women as well as feminine activist are challenging sexism in the workplace, social environment, and politics. For the first time in history a woman is now running for president and was nominated as the democratic party presidential candidate, This speaks volumes for those who can remember a time when women were not even allowed to cast a vote in any election held in the United States. Reports also claim that women make seventy cents to every dollar a man makes when doing equal work. (Lawless) This has changed over time since a hundred years ago, it was abnormal for a woman to have a job that didn’t involve taking care of the children or preparing dinner. Sexism like this becomes a social problem when women that do not make as much as men have to support their children by themselves These children are statistically less likely to go to college as well as excel academically.

These sexist examples are very common in the patriarchy that the united states has regarding government and big business at the moment. Across the globe women are affected by a patriarchal bias like in Afghanistan where a woman must seek her husband’s approval to leave the home or where she must obey his sexual demands every four days unless she severely ill. Conflict Theorist see sexism as a major role in society since it is made up of two genders with major differences. Theorist examine why women are more likely to succumb to poverty than males, when it could be due to income inequality They will theorize why these situations happen to women or why women started out “below” the standards that men have always been held to. Not to mention that the wage gap increases in difference as you start looking at different races of women, which could be due to a mixture of racism and sexism. (Phelps)

Conflict theory describes that although women are advancing rapidly in society, there is still social injustice everywhere to be seen. A woman may become president, yet will congress listen to her the same way they would listen to a male president. Companies may have a female CEO though it’s obvious if the board of directors are all male. In the article I chose, we see how men and women respond to political correctness and sexism in old-fashioned views as well as the modern view. Researchers can conclude that sexism has changed over time though it has only become more perilous. This may make it harder to challenge now rather than the blatant racism that was present seventy years ago (Barreto) Modern sexism suggest that sexism itself is not present in modern society or that it was never present in the first place.

Although these views of sexism are prejudice that affect society differently which could also lead to very different social problems in society now than in the early 1900‘s. Researchers developed results that were in favor with their predictions of males being the dominant group and women being the target of sexism in society One speculation that change is happening with sexism is that men now recognize that old-fashioned sexism was wrong since their responses were described as “anxious” and “hostile-like”, (Barreto) Conflict theorist may question though, would it take men, the dominant group, to end sexism for the women in society?