CHAPTER OUTLINE

Introduction

Most scholars, across academic disciplines, use the term globalization to capture the diverse, and sometimes conflicting, trends occurring throughout the world today. Joan Ferrante has defined globalization in terms of global interdependence. Globalization restructures our socially constructed worlds and, at a subjective level, it also changes our self-identity.

1. CHALLENGES OF A WORLD ECONOMY

   For the last three decades, global competition for new markets has intensified. The ongoing desire to be more competitive and profitable has led companies originally started in one country to open branches or production facilities in other countries. Multinational corporations are not under the control of any one nation.

2. INEQUITIES IN INCOME AND WEALTH

   Several recent studies have documented a widening income gap in both the United States and the world at large. Eighty percent of all families saw some erosion in their share of the nation's income over a 16-year period. Recent comparisons with other countries suggest that the wealth inequality in the United States is the widest in the industrialized nations. Several plausible explanations for why this is occurring have been proposed: falling wages, tax cuts favoring the rich, the decline in union membership, and global competition. More than a quarter of the developing world's population still live in abject poverty.

3. HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

   Improved nutrition, sanitation, medical care, and economic development have combined to dramatically increase life expectancy in the developed countries during this century. Without adequate controls, medical advances may have a deleterious effect. In some countries, the poor are selling body parts to keep themselves and their families alive.

   1. Death and Disease: There is a wide gulf between the crude death rates in the developing and developed countries. In 1997, 42 percent of all deaths in developing countries were from infectious and parasitic diseases compared with 1 percent in developed countries.

   2. Disabilities: In the United States, the disabled movement has been successful in making public facilities more accessible. According to Joseph Shapiro, a disability is a physical or health condition that stigmatizes or causes discrimination. It is estimated that nearly 49 million disabled people live in the United States. In the past, attitudes toward the disabled have been either negative or paternalistic. Persons who are disabled adapt to their disabilities in a manner similar to that suggested by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in adjusting to death and dying: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The rate of poverty among the disabled is much higher than it is among the able-bodied. According to some sources, 65 to 70 percent of the U.S. population will become disabled simply by living to their full life expectancy.

   3. Health Insurance: Although per capita health expenditures in the United States are the highest of any of the 18 member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, it is the last in terms of percentage of population covered by public health insurance. Over 16 percent of the population do not have health insurance. The most likely to be uninsured are women, young adults between 18 and 34 years of age, African Americans, and Latina/os.

   1. Trends in Drug Use and Associated Health Problems.

      Until recently, commonly used items such as coffee, tea, and cigarettes were not viewed as drugs. The most commonly used and abused drugs are narcotics, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, cannabis, and organic solvents. Researchers have consistently identified several themes surrounding drug usage: to relieve pain and illness; for fun or curiosity; for pleasure; to fit in; to escape problems; and to relieve boredom, stress, and anxiety. Drug abuse is defined as the deliberate use of a substance for other than its intended purpose, in a manner that can damage health or ability to function.

      1. Drug Use Among the World's Children: Although it is illegal for children in the United States to purchase alcohol or tobacco products, it is estimated that nearly 40 percent of children between the ages of 12 and 17 have used alcohol and 36 percent have used cigarettes. Almost 17 percent of U.S. children have used marijuana. One of the major factors in drug use among children is the absence of a supportive family.

      2. Drug Abuse: Economic and Social Consequences: Drug abuse is not a problem confined within the borders of the United States. Anthropologists report that the use of mood-altering agents appears to be a common characteristic among diverse human cultures.

   2. Alcohol.

      The earliest known legal code, the Hammurabi Code, contained laws regulating the operation and management of drinking establishments.

      1. Alcoholism: According to the World Health Organization, alcoholism is a chronic behavioral disorder manifested by repeated drinking of alcoholic beverages in excess of dietary and social uses of the community and to an extent that interferes with the drinkers's health or social and economic functioning. Alcohol abuse has both economic and social costs. Alcohol is often implicated in antisocial behavior.

   3. Addiction and the Family.

      The problem of parental chemical use and abuse is significant. It has been estimated that 12.8 million children (18 percent of all children) under 18 years of age live with a parent who has used illicit drugs.

      1. Alcoholism: A Family Problem: Initially, research on and treatment of alcoholism focused on the drinking alcoholic. In the 1950s and 1960s the focus shifted to the "family disease" concept. Children, as well as spouses, learn how to adapt to meet the demands of the addicted parent. Just as the onset of alcoholism leads to changes in the stability of the family system, recovery may also disrupt family functioning.

      2. Children of Alcoholics: It is estimated that approximately seven million children under the age of 18 have an alcoholic parent. Children of alcoholics may learn alcoholic behavior by modeling their behavior after an alcoholic parent.

4. MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN: FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION

   A half-million children are currently without permanent homes. Many of these children were removed from their homes as a result of being neglected or abused.

   1. Problems Within the Child Welfare System.

      The problems within the child welfare system are many and varied, and their solution will require a national commitment to children not currently demonstrated. The problems of the U.S. adoption system are related to who is eligible for adoption and who is allowed to adopt.

   2. Characteristics of Adoptive Parents.
      1. Class: Couples who adopt are most commonly white and affluent. Private adoptions may be closed or open. In closed adoptions, the adoptive parents and the birth parents do not meet. In open adoptions, the parties meet and work out a process of adoption.

      2. Marital Status: In the past, adoption agencies only considered couples. Today, 25 percent of the adoptions of children with special needs are by single women and men.

      3. Sexual Orientation: Although single heterosexuals have been accepted as adoptive parents for the past two decades, it is only recently that lesbians and gays have been allowed that same right.

   3. International Adoptions.

      Because of a shortage of healthy babies, many couples have turned to international adoptions. The majority of international adoptions involve infants of color from economically disadvantaged countries.

   4. Transracial (Interracial) Adoptions.

      Forty percent of the children eligible for adoption are African-American, but many will remain in foster care because prospective African-American parents can't meet agency income and housing requirements and because of the curtailment of interracial adoptions. The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 prohibits any agency that receives federal funds from denying a foster care or adoption placement solely on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

5. THE CHALLENGE OF RACISM AND ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION IN FAMILY LIFE

   In the past two decades, there has be a resurgence of racist hate groups in the United States. Racism, prejudice, discrimination, violence, and inequality among racial and ethnic groups is deeply interwoven into the fabric of American society. In 1996, Proposition 209 was passed in the state of California, eliminating state and local government affirmative action programs in public employment, public education, and public contracting.

   1. Racism in the United States.

      Racism is an ideology of domination-a set of social, economic, and political practices by which one or more groups define themselves as superior and other groups as inferior; the dominant group systematically denies the subordinate group full access and participation in mainstream society. Although discrimination is no longer legal, informal practices persist. The racial attitudes of many whites are consistent with what some researchers have labeled symbolic racism, the denial of the presence of racial inequality in society and the opposition to any social policy aimed at undoing the effects of racism and discrimination.

   2. Racism in Global Context.

      The glut of global racial and ethnic hatred and violence is blatantly exemplified in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where groups of people have embarked on a systematic campaign of so-called ethnic cleansing.

6. SAFETY AND SECURITY: GANGS AND STREET VIOLENCE AND VIOLENCE IN AMERICA'S SCHOOLS

   Major cities across the country have long been the home of gangs, and some of these groups have been around consistently for 50 or more years. Gangs are usually composed of people of the same race or ethnicity.

   1. Gangs.

      Gangs and gang violence have become serious problems especially in large cities. However, gangs are not limited to cities and can be found in rural areas across the United States. The economic, physical, and psychological costs of gangs and their activities to individuals and families are extremely high. Many of the more powerful gangs in the United States have expanded their areas of operation far beyond the local community.

      1. Street Violence: Although street violence and crimes in the United States fell to a record low in 1996, there is still considerable violence in American society, and experts warn that the declines may not be permanent. Violent crime in the United States is primarily intraracial. The greatest concentration of offenses occur in poverty-stricken, inner city communities of color. Crime and urban violence are on the rise everywhere.

      2. Youth Violence: The amount of violence among young people in the United States today is startling. The Children's Defense Fund reports that every 2 hours a child is killed by a gun. Youthful violence is not confined to the United States. A large number of families have handguns in the home for self-protection or for sporting purposes, such as hunting. Access to these firearms has been linked to the proliferation of violence and death in the nation's schools.

      3. Violence in Schools: Since the mid 1990s, there has been an incredible rise in the use of handguns to commit acts of violence, most often murder, in the nation's schools. Although handgun violence is most often linked in the public mind to the poor and/or African American and Latina/o inner-city communities and schools, the fact is that students in rural areas are twice as likely as their urban counterparts to bring guns to schools. The 106th Congress of the United States has proposed a series of bills aimed at violence prevention. It has long been argued that America is characterized by a subculture of violence, perpetrated and expressed throughout the mass media, where children and adults alike entertain themselves on a steady diet of violence and murder.

7. TERRORISM AND WAR

   Terrorism can be defined as the employment or threat of violence, fear, or intimidation by individuals or groups as a political or revolutionary strategy to achieve political goals.

   1. Terrorism in the United States.

      In the past, American citizens were most vulnerable to terrorism and violence when traveling in foreign lands, particularly those openly hostile toward the American government. In recent years, Americans have become vulnerable to terrorist actions at home.

   2. War.

      A major characteristic of contemporary war is that civilians are the primary victims. Historically, the sexual assault of women has been an integral part of war and conquest.

   3. A World of Refugees.

      One of the most significant global demographic trends of the twentieth century has been the massive immigration of people from one country to another all over the world. According to some sources, one in every 115 people on earth has been forced into flight. Refugees are people who leave their country because of a "well-founded fear" of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion. Women and children make up more than 80 percent of the world's refugees. Refugees have to adapt to the cultural and legal norms of a host society, and the host society must confront large-scale economic and political issues as well as the social issues of tolerance and cultural relativism.

8. FAMILIES COPING WITH LOSS: DYING AND DEATH
   1. The Process of Dying.

      Robert Atchley's definition of a dying person is one identified as having a condition from which no recovery can be expected. On the basis of two hundred interviews with dying patients, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identified five stages through which she believed the dying patient moves: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

   2. The Needs and Tasks of the Dying.

      Tasks that the dying person must attend to are getting insurance and financial paperwork in order, making decisions about medical treatment, arranging for distribution of personal property, making a will, letting people know his or her wishes regarding funeral arrangements, and saying good-bye. By the twentieth century, death had become culturally invisible. In the process, dying has become more depersonalized and the rituals surround death have been shortened.

      1. Death of a Child: Since a child represents the past as well as the future, the death of a child is particularly devastating. The two main causes of death of children are accidents and malignant disease.

      2. Death of a Sibling: The well siblings of terminally ill children face many problems. Children take their cues from parents for coping with a sibling's death.

      3. Death of a Parent: Reactions to the death of a parent vary depending on the age of the child.

      4. Death of a Spouse or Partner: The death of a spouse or partner has been identified as the most stressful event that can occur in a person's life.

      5. Suicide: In 1995, over 31 thousand people took their own lives. The groups most at risk for suicide in the United States include unmarried males, whites, adolescents, the elderly, and Native-Americans.

      6. AIDS: The AIDS-related death of a loved one can be especially difficult and survivors may not receive the support from others that is natural in times of bereavement due to the issue of social disapproval, the relatively young age of people who die from AIDS, and family members feeling burdened by guilt feelings stemming from estrangement.

      7. Disenfranchised Grief: Gerontologists such as Kenneth Doka have called attention to disenfranchised grief-circumstances in which a person experiences a sense of loss but does not have a socially recognized right, role, or capacity to grieve.

   3. The Right-to-Die Movement.

      With the advent of modern medical technologies, it is possible to sustain life under conditions that would have led to death in the past. Many people are beginning to question the wisdom of such action when any meaningful gain in the quality of life is unlikely. For centuries people have debated the ethical issues surrounding euthanasia, or as it popularly called, "mercy killing." Euthanasia can take two forms: passive and active.

9. STRENGTHENING MARRIAGES AND FAMILIES: THE ONGOING CHALLENGES OF LIVING IN A GLOBAL WORLD

   According to The Human Development Report 1995, developing countries have moved at a remarkable pace, attaining improvements in human development three times faster than industrial countries a century ago. There are many reasons to assume that some of the marriage and family trends and challenges that we have observed since the 1950s will continue into the new century. Families will continue to play a central, if somewhat altered, role in people's lives.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading Chapter Fifteen, students should be able to:

1. understand the challenges of a world economy.

2. discuss inequities in income and wealth.

3. discuss the various aspects of health and health care, including drug and alcohol use.

4. understand the child welfare system and adoption.

5. discuss the challenge of racism and ethnic discrimination.

6. give an overview of gangs, street violence, terrorism and war.

7. discuss how families cope with death.

8. understand the challenges associated with living in a global world.

KEY TERMS

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS/CLASS EXERCISES

1. Invite someone from a substance abuse self-help group to your class in order to describe the functions of their group and how it helps people. Although Alcoholics Anonymous is an organization with no specifically identified representatives, it may be possible for you to find someone who is familiar with AA who is willing to be a guest in your class. Ask this person to address some of the early signs of alcohol abuse as a way for your students to address the behavior of family members and their personal circumstances for that matter.

2. Susan H. Gray has created a Computer Assisted Learning Package for exploring poverty and public policy: The Poverty Game involves students taking the role of President of the United States, wherein the players are charged with taking actions designed to reduce national poverty, but with the important proviso that it is important for them to be reelected. The students are told that before the next election, they must make ten social policy decisions that are related to potential public and political reactions. Through this exercise, students will gain a better appreciation for the implications of social policy for the problem of poverty. Gray's article, "The Poverty Game: A Computer-Cased Learning Package for Exploring Poverty and Public Policy," Teaching Sociology, 17 (October), 1989: 489-492).

3. In her article, "So Inequality is Fair? Demonstrating Structured Inequality in the Classroom," (Teaching Sociology, 15, (January), 1987, Laura Workman Eells suggests an interesting class exercise to communicate the impact of structured social inequality. On an arbitrary basis, assign students to four groups; then, give each group different amounts of time to finish a task; the least amount of time being too brief to do a really good job.

4. Racial prejudice and stereotypes are often cast in the form of jokes or humor. Encourage your students to write down jokes that they have heard which contain racial or ethnic stereotypes. The students can read the jokes to the class or you can collect and screen them, and then read selected items. Have the class analyze the jokes for their consistent themes and their stereotyping elements. Be sure to collect jokes from minority students about white ethnic groups. In addition, Chandler Davidson presents an interesting idea for using ethnic jokes as a teaching device in his article, "Ethnic Jokes: An Introduction to Race and Nationality," Teaching Sociology (July, 1987: 196-202).

5. One interesting vehicle for highlighting discrimination as a topic for class discussion is to encourage students to think critically about how discrimination takes place. Richard A. Zeller's article, "On Teaching About Discrimination," in Teaching Sociology (January, 1988: 61-66) provides a number of excellent suggestions for motivating your students to analyze the dimensions of discrimination.

6. Sociologist William Julius Wilson has made national news over the past few years with his controversial assertion that the plight of African Americans in the United States has less to do with race and more to do with class. Wilson argues that a "black underclass" has been created as a consequence of the changes involved in America's shift from an industrial to a service/information-based economy. In other words, African Americans who managed to make a living during the industrial era became unemployed as the economy changed. Furthermore, the welfare system failed to offer them a sense of work- oriented identity and a sense of belongingness in American society. Have your students evaluate Wilson's thesis, particularly in terms of how having a satisfying job contributes to the quality of a person's life.

7. Terrorism is always a difficult topic to address since people react so strongly toward this form of behavior. One way of generating discussion about terrorism within the context of war is to point out that there were American terrorists during our own Revolutionary War: Indeed, the Colonists were, in the eyes of the British government, terrorists who must be caught and punished. There are a variety of social conditions that lead to terrorism. An excellent resource for material on modern terrorism is Richard Rubenstein's Alchemists of Revolution: Terrorism in the Modern World (New York: Basic Books, 1987).

8. Joseph F. Sheley and James D. Wright have assembled an interesting book on gangs and street violence: In the Line of Fire: Youth, Guns, and Violence in Urban America (Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 1995). Among the many topics covered are reasons why young people become involved with gangs, the influences that these groups have on their lives, and how drugs play a part in all such youthful groups. This source can serve as a basis for class discussion of gangs and youthful violence. Perhaps some members of your class will have had first-hand experience along these lines.

9. M.C. Kearl has written a book entitled Endings: A Sociology of Death and Dying (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). It is likely that the members of your class will be reluctant, like most Americans, to think critically about the many life issues surrounding death, but it is an inevitable consequence of family relationships. Kearl's book can serve as an interesting source for your own presentations on death and dying, should you choose to pursue this topic in class.

10. In their article, "Global Inequalities: Gender, Class, and Race/Ethnicity" (Teaching Sociology, 24, 1996, (April: 207-211), Janet Hinson Shope and Eric Singer point out that over the next few years, colleges and universities across the country will establish curricular initiatives aimed at internationalizing both the content and structure of courses. Shope and Singer indicate that sociology should play a leading role in this process. As you approach this final chapter with your class, you may benefit from the teaching objectives that are suggested in this article.

FILMS AND VIDEOS

Making Welfare Work, 1995, 58 min. (Filmakers Library). This video explores the current wave of welfare reform in the United States and attempts to define contemporary myths by looking at the personal lives of people who are on welfare.

 

Welfare Reform: Social Impact, 1998, 29 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This video traces the history of welfare from the Depression to the present and examines the complex issues that are involved in the welfare system's reform. Various reform strategies are discussed.

 

Welfare Reform: Social Responsibility, 1998, 29 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This program weighs the financial savings of a reformed welfare system against our responsibility to those who need help. Both critics and supporters of current welfare reform efforts discuss their views.

 

Race and Ethnicity, 1991, 30 min. (Insight Media). Explaining the sociological definition of "minority," this program explores race, racism, and ethnicity. Using both historical and current examples, the program differentiates among prejudice, discrimination, and racism, and explores their effects through the eyes of Asian, Latino, and African American families. The dynamics of prejudice and discrimination are examined and theories of race and ethnic inequality are presented.

 

Understanding Race, 1998, 52 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). No one has yet substantiated race and no scientist has quantified the concept, even though it continues to polarize the world's populations like no other concept. This program examines the history and power of the artificial distinction called "race."

 

Understanding Prejudice, 1992, 90 min. (Insight Media). This program explains how prejudice and stereotyping are natural human functions developed for coping with a threatening environment. The program is hosted by an African American psychiatrist who has grown up in America: He encourages all oppressed peoples to move from blaming others to trying to master their own situations.

 

Racial and Sexual Stereotyping, 1994, 28 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This specially adapted Phil Donahue program focuses on the question of why racial and cultural stereotypes persist, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

 

Affirmative Action Under Fire: When Is It Reverse Discrimination? 1998, 22 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). In this program, ABC News correspondent Nina Totenberg reports on the 1995 reverse discrimination case lodged by Caucasian teacher Sharon Taxman. The program includes a spirited debate moderated by anchor Cokie Roberts between the President of the NAACP and the Director of Litigation from the Institute of Justice.

 

Hate and the Internet: Web Sites and the Issue of Free Speech, 1998, 22 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). In this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel investigates the proliferation of "online hate." Along with representatives from various organizations, the medium and message of the Internet is examined, along with the controversial issue of content filtering.

 

Heart Broken In Half: Chicago's Street Gangs, 1992, 57 min. (Filmakers Library). This presentation goes beyond the stereotypes of urban gangs and examines the people involved; actual interviews with gang members are featured.

 

Streets on Fire: Gangs, 1994, 30 min. (Insight Media). In this presentation, Latino/a youth talk candidly about their experiences with gangs, both in terms of their membership and their positions from outside these organizations.

 

The Human Animal: War and Violence, 1986, 52 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This presentation examines the causes and consequences of human violence, focusing especially on war; should be effective in provoking class discussion of war and terrorism.

 

The Substance in Question, 1995, 36 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This video is a catalogue of the major drugs of abuse in contemporary society, giving information on the effects of each as well as their attractions and dangers.

 

This Time, Next Time, 1992, 54 min. (Filmakers Library). This presentation illustrates the effects that continued alcohol abuse can have on the brain, even on those who consider themselves "social drinkers."

 

Drug Mules: Women Who Take the "Rap," 1995, 30 min. (Filmakers Library). This video will be of particular interest in terms of the text's discussion of the world economy: In this presentation, the world-wide political economy of drugs is highlighted, focusing on women who become international drug carriers, wittingly or naive.

 

Toward a Better Death, 1998, 27 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This informative program explores the choices available to terminally ill patients and their families. The moral and legal controversies surrounding these issues are discussed and important information about living wills and health care proxies is discussed.

 

The Right To Die, 1985, 20 min. (Baxley, Carle). Examines the legal, ethical, and emotional issues surrounding a patient's request to have his ventilator turned off and be allowed to die. The issue is presented to a hospital ethics committee from three unique personal views: the patient's physician, his spouse, and his primary nurse. Designed to stimulate discussion of the right to die dilemma without arguing for or against the decision.

 

Saying Good-Bye, 1991, 26 min. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). This program is directed toward how people deal with grief over the death of a loved one. In the course of this presentation, a support group for widows is visited, and people who have lost their spouses are interviewed.