Social problems and solutions: American perspective

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Mankind has experienced problems of varying magnitudes over a long period of time now. These problems have been viewed to originate or to be caused by various factors. A number of sociological theorists have attempted to provide explanations concerning the occurrence of the realities faced by human beings.

Examples of sociological theories of knowledge focusing on the development of social phenomena include social constructivism and social constructionism (Loseke, 2003). Although the two theories consider how the social problems develop, they are unique in that social constructivism is considered individual or psychological while social constructionism centers on describing phenomena as social constructs.

The paper seeks to describe the term “social problems are constructs” in relation to the social constructionism theory. It will also use President Obama’s State of the Union speech to describe the ways he proposed concerning the solution of problems facing the people of the United States.

Social constructionism as a theory refers to the description of social phenomena in terms of the associated social context. The proponents argue that most common knowledge is developed through social interactions and hence the understanding of reality is perceived as being mutual within specific social contexts (Loseke, 2003).

The term “social problems are constructs,” therefore, implies that most social challenges have a direct relationship with the context in which they occur (Lefcourt, 1993). They are generated or shaped by the people within the given setting. Since the mid twentieth century, constructionism has spread across the states of America following the publication of several books and articles on this theory.

Apart from explaining the ordinary reality, the theory also seeks to explain extraordinary conditions that may occur. In the United States, for instance, such morally shocking events like the terrorist attacks, and the Columbine High School massacre have been explained from the constructionist perspective (Loseke, & Best, 2003). There are levels in which social problems can be categorized as constructs.

In describing social problems, constructionists attempt to respond to the audience’s concerns. These include the explanation of what the condition is and providing facts as well as giving meaning to the mentioned facts.

When it comes to the provision of facts, the constructionist has to state what the condition is, the consequences of the condition and the number of victims in the given phenomenon. Additionally, the meanings to the facts need to be provided by constructing a social frame with a number of components.

First, the diagnostic frame provides the meaning of the condition at hand which includes both the type and the cause of the problem. Secondly, the motivational frame supplies the reasons why the condition is of great concern to the people and hence requiring immediate response. The third, which is the prognostic frame, constructs the remedial steps of handling the condition by outlining the actual actions to be taken (Loseke, 2003).

When a number of speeches made by great and eloquent men and women are analyzed, especially in the United States, most if not all contain the components outlined under the constructionist theory. The American constitution for instance, dictates that the President should from time to time deliver a speech to the Congress in which the progress of the nation is described. The address, for several years now, has been popularly known as The President’s State of the Union Address. The paper will analyze the speech delivered by President Barack Obama on the 27^th day of January, 2010.

In his speech, the President identified several problems and conditions facing the American people. He successfully employed the three steps discussed under the constructionist theory. Besides pointing out the challenges, he proposed very clear actions that he deemed necessary in addressing the mentioned social problems.

President Obama identified the general conditions under which all the people of America have been subjected to in the past. He pointed out that the United States has been able to withstand the test of time despite the major differences that have existed among its people.

With an aim of describing the situation more vividly, the President focused on the conditions within his tenure in office, which is a period of one year. Just as proposed by constructionists, he started by stating the facts.

He said that when he took over power, there were two major concerns for America; an economic crisis resulting from the harsh recession period which almost led to the collapse of the national financial systems and then the highly indebted government. He notes that had it not been for the quick and insistent response his government gave to the situation, the entire nation would have been plunged into another historic depression.

Furthermore, he states that in spite of the great triumph witnessed in addressing the two problems, the number of Americans who still face various problems is still significant. The major difficulties mentioned included lack of employment, closure of several businesses, decline in home values, and continued severe poverty for those who were already in it.

Insufficient income for the families, as the President identified, has been additional consequences of recession. In trying to emphasize his understanding of the condition at hand, the President cites first hand experience as well as the fact that the situation was a major motivator for his vying for the highest office.

He outlined partisanship, politicking, and the seeming disregard of hard work by those in power as some of the main reasons why the nation is caught up in the condition it is in today. President Obama clarified the fact that it is the unity among the Democrats and Republicans that will play a central role in alleviating the problems facing American people.

Here, the president implied that social problems are constructs. The President emphasized that he is very much concerned with solving the problems especially for the sake of children and future generations.

The speech went ahead to elaborate the details of specific problems. Firstly, the President singled out the economy of the United States as being one of the major challenges to be addressed. He said that ensuring economic stability was the major task when he took office a year ago.

Banks were identified as being the cause of economic crisis that rocked the country yet they were the ones that had to be revived through bank bailout. If the crisis had been allowed to persist, according to the president, then unemployment would have been on the rise, more families destabilized, and a number of businesses terminated. This demonstrated how urgent the condition had to be dealt with.

Embracing the idea of rescue program, Obama’s administration made it more transparent and more accountable. The president reported that the progress has been promising since most markets have regained their status as well as the recovery of most of the funds used for the program.

Relying on this positive trend, the President proposed the imposition of a fee on the dominant banks in order to ensure the recovery of the remaining taxpayers’ money. This idea of mutual relationship between taxpayers and big banks was notably embraced by the members of the Congress.

The urge to stabilize America’s financial system was considered a key step towards ensuring the continuing growth of economy, and to create and save jobs. Furthermore, millions of unemployed Americans received increased benefits, significantly reduced health insurance cost for most families getting their coverage through COBRA, and the cutting down of taxes. This was clearly crafted in the Recovery Act, also referred to as the stimulus bill.

The President, however, noted that recovery success has not been universally felt, especially by the yet to be employed Americans. In response to this issue, he proposed the creation of more job opportunities in the following year, 2010. The introduction of a new jobs bill to address the problem was proposed by the president.

The bill would be instrumental in creating conducive conditions for increasing American businesses that in turn result in more job opportunities. However, the president identified another problem when it comes to the running of small businesses. Financing such businesses has not been easy since the bigger banks have developed a habit of lending only to big businesses.

To address this condition, President Obama proposed the use of $30 billion of the recovered money from Wall Street to assist community banks so that they can be able to lend to small businesses. Besides, new tax credit for small businesses and tax incentives for bigger companies were also proposed by the president. A number of other convincing measures were proposed to address both the short term and long term problems of the United States of America.

Secondly, difficulty in accessing health insurance especially by some families was identified by the president. He emphasized that he did not take on health care during his campaigns because of political reasons but because of the concern he had for the uncovered Americans.

The president said that many successive administrations have attempted with minimal success to secure the lives of Americans. According to the president, lack of proper insurance cover affects most families and small businesses.

President Obama has continually agitated for the enforcement of the health insurance reform which will ensure the protection of all Americans from the most awful practices of the coverage-issuing industries. The reform will give uninsured Americans and small businesses an opportunity to select an affordable health care plan that will include preventive care in the highly capitalistic society.

This move will result in the reduction of premiums and costs for several American families and small businesses. In fact, the reform approach, according to the speech, will ensure the reduction of future deficit.

With this motivation, the president urged the Congress to ratify the health insurance reform for the sake of the American people especially at the stage it has reached. President Obama went ahead to point out other problems facing the United Sates of America that need to be addressed accordingly if the nation is to retain its global first place.

The paper has explained the term “social problems are constructs” from a constructionist theory point of view. It has emphasized that most social problems are caused by men and the context at hand.

This work has also elaborated the key steps used in describing problems and ways of solving them. Furthermore, the paper has used President Obama’s State of the Union Address to bring out the problems identified by the president and the corresponding solutions as proposed by Mr. Obama.

According to the president’s arguments, the state of the nation can be determined by the people themselves rather than other natural and uncontrollable forces. We can therefore conclude that the president’s speech contained all the components of the social constructionist theory as discussed above.

References

Lefcourt, H. M. (1993). Research on Social Constructs: Development of social problems. Academic Press.

Loseke, D. R. (2003). Thinking about social problems: A constructionist perspective (2^nded.). Aldine Transaction, New York.

Loseke, D. R. & Best, J. (2003). Understanding social problems: Readings on constructionist. Aldine Transaction.

The White House, (2010). Obama’s State of the Union Address. The New York Times. Web.

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