Wednesday, April 28, 1999
Announcements:

• Friday’s class will be a review session

1. Health Care

1. Weaknesses of US Health Care

1. High Cost of Health Care (see April 26^th notes)
2. Unequal Access; Class and Race – Only 2 countries among industrialized countries do not treat Health Care as a fundamental right. Health Care in the US is stratified – 1^st tier: Well of people in the upper and middle classes who can afford good insurance. 2^nd tier: Poor and elderly people who are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. 3^rd tier: 40-42 million people who do not have Health Care (most are full time workers). Good Health Care is determined by which class you belong to more than race. Medical Apartheid – exclusion of African Americans as a result of lack of insurance; they have a higher rate of diseases and infant mortality.

1. The Hawaii Plan – Hawaii is the only state that has universal Health Care (98% of the population). It is employee-employer funded

1. Social Change

1. Social Change is constant in society – everything changes – relationships, institutions, personality
2. Causes of Social Change

1. Natural Environment – Example: Middle Eastern countries are very rich because of their oil resources
2. Population – growth, decline, fertility, mortality, migration
3. Invention, Innovation, Diffusion of cultural ideas
4. Media – in western societies

1. Theories of Social Change

1. Karl Marx – Class Conflict – those who do not have protest against those that do and social change occurs. Dialectical process of Social Change – Everything is part of the status quo (thesis) – people protest against the status quo (anti-thesis) – A negotiation between thesis and anti-thesis is a synthesis. Example: The university makes the new drinking age in State College 25 (thesis) – then the students protest (anti-thesis) – the university negotiates with the students and what is produced is a synthesis. Example: In the 60’s African-Americans did not have access to things that white people had access to (thesis) – so they protested (anti-thesis) – and Civil Rights emerged (synthesis)
2. Max Weber: Rationalization and Ideas – Learn how to deal with social problems through logical thinking and change will occur
3. Evolutionary Theory

1. Herbert Spencer

1. Unilinear evolution – society moves in stages
2. Survival of the Fittest – people who survive the competition run society and make social changes.
3. New Adoptive Strategies – Adaptation to the environment is the major mechanism of social change – we intentionally adjust ourselves to the environment. Example: in winter, we turn the heat on. In summer, we turn the air conditioning on

1. Lenski

1. Multilinear evolution – multiple factors contribute to social change
2. Technology’s consequence is multilineal – it has far reaching consequences
3. Social evolution does not lead to greater happiness and satisfaction

1. The Cyclical Perspective – social changes go in cycles. People commit the same mistakes. Every society has a life cycle like humans

1. Oswald Spengler – wrote Decline of the West – all societies go through a course of growth followed by decay. As societies mature they become materialistic and begin to decay
2. Arnold Toynbee – wrote The Rise and Fall of Great Powers –

1. All civilizations’ success is based on response to physical and environmental challenges Pioneers conquered the land to build this society
2. If challenges are too severe the civilization will fail
3. There should always be an intellectual elite to rule society

1. Both Spengler and Toynbee say civilizations grow and decline in a uniform manner

1. The Functionalist Perspective

1. Equilibrium and New Level of Equilibrium – society has harmony and occasionally things disrupt it, but then society finds equilibrium again
2. Ogburn – cultural lag – When material culture (tangible) moves faster than non-material culture (values, beliefs) then there is a cultural lag and social change develops. Example: Columbine Massacre – Bomb making instructions off of the Internet – values have not changed to deal with the new technology

1. Global Inequality Theories

1. Modernization Theory – Social Change in LDC’s – Process by which society moves from traditional economy to industrial, technologically advanced economy. Signs of modernization are: technological advancement, literacy, Health Care, Status of Women, People thinking in rational scientific ways