SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Social Problems are matters which directly or indirectly affect many

or all members of a society and are considered to be problems, controversies
related to moral values, or both. Social problems include smoking, aggression,
drug addiction, prejudice, poverty, unemployment, gun politics, violence,
pollution, injustice, suppression of human rights, prejudice, and crime, as well
as abortion, gay marriage, gun control, and the teaching of evolution, to name
a few. Social problems are related to the fabric of the community, including
conflicts among the interests of community members, and lie beyond the
control of any one individual.

Some of the social problems which we included in our project are given
below:

 SMOKING:-
Problem Identification:
Smoking now a day more popular and prominent in youngsters or
teenagers. Smoking can be influenced by variety of factors which can be:

• Health
• Income
• Personality
• Behavior

Smoking is injurious for health. It also effects in the person’s

personality as well as behavior. More over broad problem areas, which were
observers, are as follows:

• Why do people begin to smoke

• Is smoking common among young people?
• Forms of smoking Tobacco and its effect.
• Short and long term effects of smoking cigarettes, especially in
youngsters.
• What is being done to protect people from the hazards of smoking?

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 These are the basic factors through which people attract towards
smoking. Basically we will search on these factors that why people engage in
smoking in the young stage.

Purpose of Research:
The Pakistan medical research council notes that 54% of men and 20%
of women use some form of tobacco on regular basis in Pakistan. The
Pakistan pediatrics association in 1997 said that 1,000 to 12,000 school going
children between the ages of 6-16 years take up smoking everyday. To
collect valid and reliable information regarding this problem, for making
positive solution and the new techniques to be implemented to decrease the
level of smoking among people.

Objectives:
There are few specific objectives of the research which are given
below.
• Why do people begin to smoke?
• What are short and long term effects of smoking?
• Why smoking is common among young people.
• What is being done to protect people from hazards of smoking?

Objectives Explanation:
• Why do people begin to smoke?

Most people begin smoking as teens, generally because of peer

pressure and curiosity. Also, people with friends and/or parents who smoke
are more likely to take up smoking than those who don't. Another prevalent
influence in our society is the tobacco industry's ads and other promotional
activities for its products. The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars
each year to create and market ads that show smoking as an exciting,
glamorous, and healthy activity.

• Why smoking is common among young people?

 Taking tobacco, and dipping snuff, remains common among American youth,
according to the most recent government surveys.
 Despite declines in recent years, more than 1 in 4 high school students
(28%) used some type of tobacco in 2004, and more than 1 in 5 (22%) were

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 considered current cigarette smokers. Cigar smoking was also common
among high school students (about 13%).
 About 12% of middle school students used some form of tobacco, with
cigarettes (8%) being the most common.
 Tobacco use is higher among male students for all products except
cigarettes, where the numbers for boys and girls are now about the same.
 Students who smoke are also more likely to use other drugs, get in fights,
carry weapons, attempt suicide, and engage in high-risk sexual behaviors.
 The Pakistan medical research council notes that 54% of men and 20% of
women use some form of tobacco on regular basis in Pakistan.
 People with friends and/or parents who smoke are more likely to take up
smoking than those who don't.
 Another prevalent influence in our society is the tobacco industry's ads
and other promotional activities for its products. The tobacco industry
spends billions of dollars each year to create and market ads that show
smoking as an exciting, glamorous, and healthy activity.
• What are short and long term effects of smoking?

Smoking causes many types of cancer, which may not develop for
years. But cancers account for only about half of the deaths related to
smoking. Smoking is also a major cause of heart disease, aneurysms,
bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke, and it contributes to the severity of
pneumonia and asthma.
 The truth is that cigarette smokers die younger than nonsmokers. In fact,
according to a study from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) conducted in the late 1990s, smoking shortened male smokers' lives
by 13.2 years and female smokers' lives by 14.5 years. Both men and
women who smoke are much more likely to die during middle age (between
the ages of 35 and 69) than those who have never smoked.
 Smoking also causes many short-term effects, such as decreased lung
function. Because of this, smokers often suffer shortness of breath and
nagging coughs, and they often will tire easily during physical activity.
Some other common short-term effects: a diminished ability to smell and
taste, premature aging of the skin, and increased risk of sexual impotence
in men.
• What is being done to protect people from hazards of
smoking?

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 Both the public and private sectors should act to help decrease smoking
related deaths and illnesses in Pakistan.
 We can protect our people specially youngsters by guiding them the
harmful effects of smoking through,

1. Electronic Media
2. Print Media
3. Three Other Sources of Communication

Since 1966, the US Surgeon General's health warnings have been

required on all cigarette packages and, since 1987, on all smokeless tobacco
products. As of 2001, the 7 major cigar manufacturers in the United States
began providing 5 health warnings that rotate on cigar labels, similar to
those on cigarette packages.

Congress banned television and radio cigarette advertising on TV and

radio in 1971 and smokeless tobacco advertising in 1987. The American
Legacy Foundation and many states conduct creative antismoking public
service messages that are featured on television, radio, and billboards.

Taxes on cigarettes have risen in many states in recent years. They

have been shown to discourage young people from starting to smoke and to
encourage smokers to quit. State taxes on tobacco vary from less than 10
cents a pack in some states to more than 2 dollars a pack in others.

Laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia restrict or do not

allow smoking in certain public places. These laws range from simple
restrictions such as designated areas in government buildings, to laws that
ban smoking in virtually all public places and workplaces. Many federal
worksites, including the White House, are smoke-free. Smoking is also
banned on all domestic airplane flights.

• What about more "exotic" forms of smoking

tobacco, such as clove cigarettes, bids, and
hookahs?

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 Several forms of flavored tobacco have become popular in recent
years, especially among younger people. Clove cigarettes, bidis, and, more
recently, hookahs, often appeal to those who want something a little
different. But these products carry many of the same risks of cigarettes
and other tobacco products.

Clove cigarettes, also called kreteks, are imported mainly from

Indonesia and contain 60% to 70% tobacco and 30% to 40% ground cloves,
clove oil, and other additives. The chemicals in cloves have been implicated in
cases of asthma and other lung diseases. Users often have the mistaken
notion that smoking clove cigarettes is a safe alternative to smoking
tobacco. But they are a tobacco product with the same health risks as
cigarettes.

Bidis are flavored cigarettes imported mainly from India. They are
hand-rolled in an unprocessed tobacco leaf and tied with strings on the ends.
Their popularity has grown in recent years in part because they come in a
variety of candy-like flavors such as strawberry, vanilla, and grape, they are
usually less expensive than regular cigarettes, and they often give the
smoker an immediate buzz.

Even though bidis contain less tobacco than regular cigarettes, recent
studies have found that they have higher levels of nicotine (the addictive
chemical in tobacco) and other harmful substances such as tar and carbon
monoxide. And because they are thinner than regular cigarettes, they
require about 3 times as many puffs per cigarette. They are also unfiltered.
Bidis appear to have all of the same health risks of regular cigarettes, if not
more.

Hookah smoking, which started in the Middle East, involves burning

flavored tobacco in a water pipe and inhaling the smoke through a long hose.
It has recently become popular among young people, especially around college
campuses. It is marketed as being a safe alternative to cigarettes because
the percent of tobacco in the product smoked is low. This claim for safety is
not true. The water does not filter out many of the toxins, and hookah
smoke contains varying amounts of nicotine, carbon monoxide, and other

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 hazardous substances. Several types of cancer, as well as other health
effects, have been linked to hookah smoking.

All forms of tobacco are dangerous. Even if the health risks were
smaller for some tobacco products as opposed to others, all tobacco
products contain nicotine, which can lead to increased use and addiction.
Tobacco cannot be considered safe in any amount or form.

• MEDIA AND SMOKING

 Media plays an important role to promote smoking especially in youngsters

Media promote smoking through adds, movies etc.

 Smoking companies use different famous stars in the ads to enhance the
level of smoking especially in youngsters.

 The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars each year to create and
market ads that show smoking as an exciting, glamorous, and healthy
activity.

 AGGRESSION:-

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 In psychology and other social and behavioral sciences, aggression
refers to behavior that is intended to cause harm or pain. Aggression can be
either physical or verbal. Behavior that accidentally causes harm or pain is
not aggression. Property damage and other destructive behavior may also
fall under the definition of aggression. Aggression is not the same thing as
assertiveness.

Psychology traditionally has defined aggression as behavior against

another that intentionally inflicts harm (geer, 1990). This definition, though
sufficient for many applications of the word, is not specific enough for the
comprehensive understanding of aggressive behavior. A number of different
processes may underlie any particular aggressive act. Understanding why a
particular individual is behaving in a certain way is essential for an
appropriate intervention to be created.

Moyer (1976) identified eight distinct kinds of aggression that can be

found in virtually all species, including human behavior. The existence of
these types of aggression points towards an evolutionary perspective of
aggressive behavior. Moyer's typologies, and their particular applications
towards Forensic Psychology, are provided below:

1) Predatory Aggression: Our motivated attack behaviors. This aggression

is directed to natural prey and is deeply routed in our ancestors hunting
behavior. Today it can be seen in the behavior of normal individuals as
hunting. Forensic Implications: A variety of deviant and abnormal subjects
may see other humans as lesser beings. The deviant, which may include
narcissists, could see others as non-equals and may not have any moral issues
with stealing or hurting such individuals. The psychopath cannot see through
the eyes of others and may also not consider them as equals. Such an
individual may not have moral qualms with seriously injuring or even killing
others.

2) Inter-male Aggression: Physical violence or submissive behavior

displayed by males towards each other. Forensic implications: these inter-
male drives could be an explanatory framework for the high rates of inter-

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male violence. Possible causes for such violence could be perceived
competition for resources and ego threats that one male feels is being
created by a second male.

3) Fear-Induced Aggression: Responses believed to be biologically

programmed into us so that we act in an aggressive manner towards any form
of forced confinement. Forensic implications: such aggression could be a
major issue to prison environments. If already aggressive individuals are
placed into an environment that fosters aggression via confinement, violence
risk may be increased.

4) Territorial Aggression: Threat or attack behavior displayed towards an

invasion of one's territory or the submissive-retreat behavior displayed
when confronted while intruding. Forensic implications: invasion of one's
territory can include much more then property. A belief that someone is
encroaching on one's status could also be considered an invasion. The loss of
power in relationships that can lead to spouse abuse could possibly be
explained by this aggression model.

5) Maternal Aggression: Aggressive behavior put forward by females (and

most likely males as well) when an intruder is in the presence of one's
children. Forensic implications: none other then crimes explained by the
situation that the definition gives.

6) Irritable Aggression: Aggression and rage directed towards an object

when the aggressor is frustrated, hurt, deprived, or stressed. As a result
one may aggress towards objects as an acceptable outlet of the aggression.
Forensic implications: some individuals who do not use, or have available,
appropriate outlets could have a spill over of aggression onto others.

7) Sex-related aggression: Aggressive behavior that is elicited by the same

stimuli that elicits sexual behavior. Any person who can evoke sexual desire
can equally evoke aggression via jealousy, etc. Forensic implications: besides
the obvious jealousy-violence reactions, some individuals may for one reason

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or another come to associate sexual desire with violence and dominance. This
association could possibly explain a number of violent sexual acts that occur.

8) Instrumental Aggression: Aggressive behavior displayed because it

previously resulted in a reward. Much of human aggression seems to be
related to this. Forensic implications: a possible theory for a number of
crimes. If one has received a reward (money, sexual gratification) due to a
deviant aggressive act that they had performed, they will be conditioned
towards committing that act again when they are motivated to obtain that
previously possessed reward.
It is important to realize that even though these aggression types
may have evolutionary origins, we are not necessarily ruled by them.
Countless variables are involved in any violent act, and no single variable is
responsible for our actions. However, the cause of an aggressive act must be
considered in order to provide a successful corrective strategy.

 Causes of Aggression:

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 We live in a world which often seems more violent with every passing
day. Terrorist bombings, school-yard massacres, war, and atrocities fill news
headlines. At times it even seems that humanity has a collective death wish.

Human aggression has been blamed on many things, including broken

homes, poverty, racism, and inequality, chemical imbalances in the brain, toy
guns, TV violence, sexual repression, sexual freedom, overpopulation,
alienation, bad genes, and original sin. However, virtually all of these
potential causes have one thing in common:

Unfulfilled Human Needs and Desires:

Human needs and desires are endless. Virtually all of us would like to
have fancy homes, social status in our community, the ability to eat all we
want without getting fat, sex whenever we want it, perpetual health,
unconditional love, and the ability to live until we're 200. Most of us will
enjoy few of these things.
Fortunately, most people are realistic and sane enough not to turn to
violence to deal with their frustrations. However, self-control sometimes
breaks down - resulting in aggressions ranging from petty theft - to the
Columbine massacre - to the mass killing fields of Cambodia.
What causes people and societies to turn to aggression? Throughout
history there have been five key factors: neurosis, desperation, envy, greed,
and collectivism.

Neurosis:

Neurosis consists of irrational thoughts and acts that cause

significant harm to one's self or others. But what causes neurosis?

The humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow gave a great answer. He

argued that the standard for proper human behavior should not be some
statistical average of how people actually behave, but rather how the best,
happiest, most productive, most creative, and most fulfilled human beings
act – people such as Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein. In other words,
Maslow argues that the standard for mental health should be human beings
at their best. Maslow called these exemplary people "self-actualizers" or
"the growing tip" of the human race.

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 Comparing self-actualizers to less-fulfilled, less-creative, and less-
happy people, Maslow found that most neurosis is caused by the frustration
of basic human needs.

A basic, as opposed to a derived need, is an innate and fundamental

biological or psychological requirement for human well-being. In "Toward a
Psychology of Being" (1962), Maslow listed five basic criteria which
established a hierarchy of needs:

1. Its absence breeds illness.

2. Its presence prevents illness.
3. Its restoration cures illness.
4. Under certain, free-choice situations, it is preferred by the deprived
person over other satisfactions.
5. It is found to be inactive, at low ebb, or functionally absent in the
"healthy person" because it is a fulfilled need and thus no longer a
strong motivating force.

Maslow held there were seven basic levels of human needs:

1. Physiological needs such as air, food, sleep, shelter, and sex;

2. Safety needs, including security, order and stability;
3. Belongingness and love;
4. Esteem needs, the need for a stable, firmly-based, high level of self-
respect;
5. Self-actualization, the desire to become everything that one is
capable of becoming;
6. The desire to know and understand;
7. Aesthetic needs the need for beauty in one's life.

Aggression, Maslow maintained, is principally a result of the

frustration of basic needs. In other words, aggression is not an essential
part of human nature, but rather a reaction to circumstances in which
essential requirements of our nature are unfulfilled.

Examples are legion. In Communist China - one of the most sexually-

repressed and controlling societies on earth - depression and suicide are
commonplace. In the Middle East, which has been at war for 5,000 years -
there is little safety, and massive anger, fear, distrust and hostility. In

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countries like North Korea, where there is massive starvation and even the
most basic physiological needs are not met for millions of people, depression
and suicide are rampant.

What is the solution? To create societies in which basic human needs

are easily fulfilled. That means removing institutional barriers to
productivity and wealth, so the necessities of life will be inexpensive and
easily acquired. That means getting rid of taxes and regulations and letting a
free market flourish.

It also means eliminating class systems which destroy opportunity and

self-esteem by branding certain people "untouchables" (India); peasants
(China and South America); or vermin (Nazi Germany). It means teaching
that sex is natural and healthy, rather than sinful and evil.

Desperation:
Imagine that you have lived in an inner-city slum your entire life. All
around you is massive poverty, crime, and violence. Your mother is on welfare
and you don't know who your father is. The only people in the neighborhood
who have money, power and respect are drug-dealers, pimps and gang
leaders. True, some die violent deaths. But so do many of your friends who
are living straight. Under such circumstances, it's quite rational to conclude
that to succeed; you need to become a drug dealer or gang-banger.

The only solution for this type of desperation is breaking the cycle of
poverty and violence. Government tried to end such desperation by spending
over $2 trillion on welfare programs. The result: destruction of the family
by subsidizing children born out of wedlock - destruction of inner-city jobs
and businesses by minimum-wage and licensing laws. (In New York, a license
to operate a taxi-cab costs over $150,000. In Washington, D.C. a push-cart
license costs $7,000!). The real solution:

1. Compassionate charity through churches and other voluntary

organizations.
2. Eliminating insane economic regulations that perpetuate desperation.

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Greed:
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be wealthy. We are material
beings and we need material possessions to survive, prosper and be happy.

Just a few hundred years ago, the average person lived less than 35
years and in desperate poverty. He froze in the winter, sweltered in the
summer, and was lucky merely to survive childhood diseases. Today, material
goods - such as central heat, air conditioning, the electric light, the stereo,
and the computer - have given even "poor" Americans lives of material
comfort that would be envied by the richest kings of old.

However, greed is another matter entirely. Greed is the obsessive

desire for material possessions, irrationally placing material gain before all
other values and being oblivious to the psychological consequences of such
single-minded pursuit of wealth on oneself and others.

The rulers of the Soviet Union - Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev - were
some of the wealthiest people in history. They literally owned the wealth of
their country and could seize any house, business, or bank account. They
were not shy about using violence, and killed millions of their own citizens to
maintain their power.

However, these all-powerful despots were also some of the most

miserable people who ever existed. They lived in continual fear of
assassination. They couldn't even speak freely within their inner circle for
fear of losing their power. And they had to live with the knowledge that the
system they preserved was making their fellow citizens ever poorer and
more miserable.

A life of wealth maintained through violence and deceit, which creates

only misery and poverty for others, is to be pitied, not envied.

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Collectivism:
Collectivism is the doctrine that the social collective - called society,
the people, the state, etc. - has rights, needs, or moral authority above and
apart from the individuals who comprise it. We hear this idea continually
championed in such familiar platitudes as "the needs of the people take
precedence over the rights of the individual," "production for people, not
profits," and "the common good."

Collectivism often sounds humane because it stresses the importance

of human needs. In reality, it is little more than a rationalization for
sacrificing you and me to the desires of others.

To achieve the communist utopia of economic equality and social

justice, hundreds of millions of people were robbed, tortured, and
slaughtered. Prof. R. J. Rummel, author of "Death by Government," estimates
that the Soviet Union killed some 69,911,000 human beings. In communist
Cambodia, nearly 1/3 of the entire population was murdered by the state. In
Nazi (national socialist) Germany, some 6 million Jews, Catholics and other
"enemies of the state" were slaughtered.

Collectivists justify their atrocities by such assertions as "the end

justifies the means." However, their philosophical justifications are
nonsense.

Collections of people do not have unique consciousness or identities.

"Society" and "the people" do not feel, need, think, or have rights. Only
individuals exist.

The myth of the collective, in one form or another is accepted by the

vast majority of people alive today, and it is responsible for a great deal of
the violence in our world today.

Effects of Aggression:

Aggression has many psychological effects and social costs on both

the perpetrator and victim. For instance the aggressor may be:

• Isolated due to peer rejection,

• lack of trust

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 • Lack of feeling safe
• Have no long – term friend(s), and
• Be expelled from school.

The victim looses freedom, forfeits self – assertion, becomes

submissive and lives under fear. Aggression can disrupt the school’s
educational processes and disturb group and intergroup relationships in the
school community.

Because of its many adverse impacts, aggression should be prevented

or minimized in all social contexts (home, school, and work). Unfortunately
most parents and teachers in developing countries are still not very literate
that they will observe those measures that will help in reducing aggression
but it goes opposite. Although aggression can not be reduced to zero, there
are many procedures that can decrease it significantly. These include
schedules of reinforcement and behavior shaping under operant conditioning,
the aggression replacement training. Anti-violence intervention programs in
schools have been shown to be effective as early as kindergarten

 Ending Aggression:
Three steps would end most of the aggression in the world today:

1. Create free societies where prosperity is the norm, not the exception.
2. Provide rational moral education for young people, explaining that
aggression is almost never in their long-term interest and that greed
and envy are irrational.
3. Reject the "myth of the collective" – the idea that the nation, state
or race has an identity above and apart from the individuals
comprising it.

Human beings are not inherently violent, rapacious animals bent on

brutality and self-destruction. Aggression is rather a result of repressive
cultural and political environments that conspire to frustrate and degrade
our humanity.

Aggression may never be eliminated entirely, but it can be reduced to

very low levels by creating societies of freedom, self-awareness and
compassion.

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  PREJUDICE:-
Most broadly, prejudice is the recognition of qualities and differences
among certain things or persons and making choices based on those qualities.
This article focuses on prejudice amongst people- that is, prejudice based on
personal qualities. Discriminating between people on the grounds of merit is
generally lawful in Western democracies. Prejudice on other grounds, such as
skin color or religion, generally is not. When unlawful prejudice takes place,
it is often described as prejudice against a person or group of people.

Social theories such as egalitarianism claim that social equality should

prevail. In some societies, including those of many developed countries, each
individual's civil rights include the right to be free from government
sponsored social prejudice.

Unlawful prejudice can be characterized disparate treatment or, by

contrast as disparate impact (also known as adverse impact) prejudice.
Disparate treatment prejudice involves intentionally treating someone less
favorably than another person because of an attribute (such as race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability status, or
military status), compared with someone without that attribute in the same
circumstances. An example of disparate treatment prejudice would be not
giving a woman a job because she is more likely to take maternity leave than
another applicant. Disparate impact (adverse impact) prejudice involves
setting a condition or requirement (without necessarily having intent to
discriminate) with which a smaller proportion of those with the attribute are
able to comply, without reasonable justification. The case of Griggs v. Duke
Power Company provides an example of disparate impact prejudice, where an
aptitude test used in job applications was found "to disqualify Negroes at a
substantially higher rate than white applicants".

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Prejudice and Discrimination:

As most people today use the word(s), "prejudice" refers to a negative

or hostile attitude toward another social group, usually racially defined.
"Discrimination", on the other hand, refers to an unfavorable action,
behavior, outcome, or treatment. The distinction is simple:

 Prejudice is a thought or attitude;

 Discrimination is the expression of that thought or attitude.

However, prejudice does NOT automatically lead to discrimination.

There is no one-to-one relationship. Prejudice can exist without
discrimination, and discrimination can occur without prejudice. The two are
related, but not in a strong fundamental relationship.

Prejudice and discrimination can take place on the basis of race

(physical characteristics like skin color) or ethnicity (traditions, cultural
practices, outlooks). Racism is prejudice and/or discrimination based on
socially significant physical distinctions. . What is made socially significant in
racial prejudice is the opinion or attitude that automatically assumes
superiority and inferiority based on racial differences.

Age Discrimination:
Age discrimination is discrimination against a person or a group on the
grounds of age. Although theoretically the word can refer to the
discrimination against any age group, age discrimination usually comes in one
of three forms: discrimination against youth, which is also called 'adults';
discrimination against those 40 years old or older [3], and; discrimination
against elderly people. In the United States, the Age discrimination in
Employment Act prohibits employment prejudice nationwide based on age
with respect to employees 40 years of age or older. The age discrimination
in Employment Act also addresses the difficulty older workers face in
obtaining new employment after being displaced from their jobs, arbitrary
age limits.

In many countries, companies more or less openly refuse to hire

people above a certain age despite the increasing lifespan and average age of
the population. The reasons for this range from vague feelings that younger
people are more "dynamic" and create a positive image for the company, to

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more concrete concerns about regulations granting older employees higher
salaries or other benefits without these expenses being fully justified by an
older employee's greater experience.

Some people consider that teenagers and youth (around 15-25 years
old) are victims of adults, age prejudice framed as a paternalistic form of
protection. In seeking social justice, they feel that it is necessary to remove
the use of a false moral agenda in order to achieve agency and
empowerment. This perspective is based on the grounds that youth should be
treated with more respect by adults and not as second-class citizens. Some
suggest that social stratification in age groups causes outsiders to
incorrectly stereotype and generalize the group. For instance, that all
adolescents are equally immature, violent or rebellious, listen to rock music
and do drugs. Some have organized groups against age prejudice.

Gender Discrimination:
Gender Discrimination is discrimination against a person or group on
the grounds of sex or gender identity.

Socially, sexual differences have been used to justify societies in

which one sex or the other has been restricted to significantly inferior and
secondary roles. While there are non-physical differences between men and
women, there is little agreement as to what those differences are. Unfair
discrimination usually follows the gender stereotyping held by a society.

The United Nations had concluded that women often experience a

"glass ceiling" and that there are no societies in which women enjoy the same
opportunities as men. The term "glass ceiling" describes the process by
which women are barred from promotion by means of an invisible barrier. In
the United States, the Glass Ceiling Commission has stated that between 95
and 97 percent of senior managers in the country's biggest corporations are
men.

Trans gender individuals, both male to female and female to male,

often experience problems which often lead to dismissals, under
achievement, difficulty in finding a job, social isolation, and, occasionally,
violent attacks against them.

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Language Discrimination:
People are sometimes subjected to different treatment because their
preferred language is associated with a particular group, class or category.
Commonly, the preferred language is just another attribute of separate
ethnic groups.

In the United States, for example, language causes a huge problem

wherever you go. People fight each other because some claim that only
English should be spoken in the U.S. Others fight over what they believe is
their right to speak in whatever language one would like. Currently, there is
no law that says that English is the official language in the United States.
The House of Representatives and the Senate are still debating this issue,
but nothing is official yet.

Forms of Prejudice:
Prejudice is categories into three categories which are given below:

Cognitive Prejudice:
Cognitive Prejudice refers to what people believe is true. An example
of cognitive prejudice might be found, for example, adherence to a
particular metaphysical or methodological philosophy to the exclusion of
other philosophies that may offer a more complete theoretical explanation.

Affective Prejudice:
Affective Prejudice refers to what people like and dislike. An example
of affective prejudice might be found, for example, in attitudes toward
members of particular classes such as race, ethnicity, national origin, or
creed. Co native Prejudice refers to how people are inclined to behave.

Co-native Prejudice:
Co-native prejudice is regarded as an attitude because people don't
act on their feelings. An example of co native prejudice might be found in
expressions of what should be done if the opportunity presented itself.
These three types of prejudice are correlated, but all need not be present
in a particular individual. Someone might believe a particular group possesses
low levels of intelligence, but harbor no ill feelings toward that group. A
group might be disliked because of intense competition for jobs, but still

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recognize no differences between groups. Prejudice was displayed towards
Jews during the Holocaust.
Discrimination is a behavior (an action), with reference to unequal
treatment of people because they are members of a particular group. Farley
also classified discrimination into three categories.

Personal Prejudice:
Personal / Individual Discrimination is directed toward a specific
individual and refers to any act that leads to unequal treatment because of
the individual's real or perceived group membership.

Legal Prejudice:
Legal Discrimination refers to "unequal treatment, on the grounds of
group membership, that is upheld by law. Apartheid is an example of legal
discrimination, as are also various post-Civil war laws in the southern United
States that legally disadvantaged negros with respect to property rights,
employment rights and the exercise of constitutional rights.

Institutional Prejudice:
Institutional Discrimination refers to unequal treatment that is
entrenched in basic social institutions resulting in advantaging one group
over another. The Indian caste system is an historical example of
institutional discrimination. As with prejudice generally, these three types
of discrimination are correlated and may be found to varying degrees in
individuals and society at large. Many forms of discrimination based upon
prejudice are outwardly unacceptable in most societies.

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Education and Prejudice:
Most research indicates that people with higher levels of education
score lower on most measures of prejudice.

One argument suggests that people with lower socio-economic

backgrounds are more rigid thinkers. Farley (2000) argues that there is a
relationship between prejudice and intolerance for ambiguity and
uncertainty. People of higher SES are often better educated and education
is often seen as a way to breaking down oversimplified, stereotypical
thinking. As we become better educated, we become better able to
understand complex ideas and situations.

The apparent relationship between education and prejudice may also

be due to other effects. Perhaps people with higher levels of education
people simply know how to respond with politically correct answers regarding
racial and ethnic issues, thus masking their true feelings.

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Causes of Prejudice:
Prejudice can develop in several ways:

All port had a model of an integrated theory

of prejudice, which collected all the causes of
prejudice. It is NOT a model of any
psychological stages a person goes through,
but the size of each area in the model
estimates how important and prevalent those
causes are in society:

 At the historical level, all port said that

there were certain groups in society that
have been traditionally exploited by all
societies across time. This is also known
as SCAPEGOAT THEORY.

 The socio-cultural level includes both

institutions of society and the man-made
culture of the time. Urbanization, with its
impersonality and anonymity, are regarded
as the causes here.

 The situational level refers to the atmosphere or context of the

environment; the presence of poverty, with its accompanying disease,
dilapidation, and despair. Social disorganization is another term with
same meaning as atmosphere or context.

 The personality level points to the production of individuals who for

organic reasons mainly have character disorder problems.
 By the phenomenological level, all port means linguistics, semiotics, signs,
and symbols. Certain words have stereotypical action.
 The stimulus-object level refers to real contacts between people. It is
the least common cause of prejudice.

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• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: The frustration-aggression
hypothesis indicates that frustration is displaced from its original source
to a scapegoat. A scapegoat is a nearby target that is easily identifiable
and relatively powerless. The frustration-aggression approach is that
some kind of blockage or thwarting of goal-directed behavior leads to
some kind of negative reaction, like a prejudicial attitude.
• Authoritarian Personality: Extremely prejudiced people seem to share a
cluster of personality traits which is authoritarian personality.
Authoritarian people think of the world in rigid "either-or" categories.
They are rigidly conventional and are hostile toward people who violate
conventional values. They are preoccupied with power and toughness.
They are submissive to authority and, in turn, are likely to bully those
with less power than themselves. Destructive and cynical, these
individuals fear, suspect and reject all out-group members, even from
fictitious groups. If you aren’t one of "us," you must be one of "them" –
the enemy.
• Conformity: If we associate with prejudiced people, we are more likely
to conform to their prejudices rather than resisting them. Children
conform to the attitudes of their parents and their peers.
• Social Learning and Conformity: Social scientists who study social
learning and conformity as causes of prejudice focus on the social
environment within which people live. The social environment is
important. One should note adoption of prejudiced attitudes can occur
throughout the life-cycle. People learn to be prejudice through
socialization processes like internalization, modeling, and reward and
punishment.

Whether or not there is a biological root to prejudice, as evolutionary

psychologists would expect, is unknown; it is clear that prejudice occurs
between biologically similar people who hold different beliefs.

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Preventions of Prejudice:

We tend to like others who are perceived to be similar. In general,

those with similar attitudes were liked more than those of the same race.

If this related to contacts with real people, then merely educating

people about the similarities between themselves and other groups should
reduce inter-group tensions. This seemed to work to some extent with less
intimate relationships, working or studying together. However, racial
similarity is more important in intimate relationships e.g. marriage.

People tend to ignore information that contradicts their deep-seated

beliefs. We know that when people from different groups share the same
goals and cooperate to reach them, prejudice weakens. Where desegregation
is limited only to mere contact, prejudices are not lessened. The contact
must be interdependent and cooperative. Students need to have common
goals.

Unfortunately, these types of situations are relatively rare in our

society. Even so, psychological studies among resident of housing projects,
department store workers, and police officers have supported the same
effect. When groups work together or live together in cooperative and no
threatening situations, hated-ness lessens.

In 1978, psychologist Elliot Aronson and his associates have found an

educational method for reducing inter-group prejudices, the “Jigsaw
Method”. This works with cooperative classroom projects. Each student is
given part of a project to learn and report to the rest of the group.
Students were told they would be tested on all the material. Left on their
own, they learned from one another, coaxed those who needed it, and
assembled the information into a "whole picture." The results were striking.
Even though some students took longer to realize the value of cooperation,
most of them adapted well. Students from a variety of backgrounds found
themselves cooperating and learning from one another.

However, this method works better with young children, who have not
developed deep-seated negative beliefs. It is also difficult to use this
method with large groups. Even so, it offers hope that education can help to
reduce prejudices in our society.

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  Drug Addiction:
Drug Addiction is not a new problem, but it is a stubborn one for
contemporary society. Drug Addiction, also known as Drug Abuse or
substance abuse, involves the repeated and excessive use of a drug to
produce pleasure or escape reality despite its destructive effects.

Drug addiction can be found in many forms. A person can be addicted

to alcohol, prescription drugs, inhalants, or other street drugs (cocaine,
heroin, methamphetamines, etc.). Understanding the reasons people are
initially attracted to drug use can help stop future users from becoming
addicts. Once a person becomes a drug abuser, they very easily can become
addicted. The positive reinforcements of using drugs are often getting
“high,” escaping pain, and feeling good. But, once a person becomes a habitual
abuser, the negative aspects come out when a person is not using. Physical
withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, pain, and shaking may occur.
Psychological symptoms such as depression and the inability to experience
pleasure can also develop. Therefore, people become addicted not to
continue the positive reinforcements, but because they cannot overcome the
negative ones.

Drugs causing addiction include both illegal drugs as well as

prescription or over the counter.

The substances (sometimes called "downers") typically facilitate

relaxation and pain-relief. Addictive drugs also include a large number of
substrates that are currently considered to have no medical value and are
not available over the counter or by prescription. Drugs such as codeine or
alcohol, for instance, typically require many more exposures to addict their
users than drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Likewise, a person who is
psychologically or genetically predisposed to addiction is much more likely to
suffer from it.

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 The range of drugs to which you can become addicted is wide. The
drugs include:

 Cannabis Compounds: These compounds are found in marijuana and

hashish.
 Central nervous system depressants. Barbiturates and benzodiazepines
are examples of central nervous system depressants. Phenobarbital,
amobarbital (Amytal) and secobarbital (Seconal) are examples of
barbiturates. Benzodiazepines include tranquilizers such as diazepam
(Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), oxazepam (Serax), lorazepam (Ativan),
clonazepam (Klonopin) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium).
 Central nervous system stimulants. This class of drugs includes
amphetamines, methamphetamine, cocaine and methylphenidate (Ritalin).
 Designer drugs. Synthetic compounds, such as Ecstasy, which has both
amphetamine-like and hallucinogenic effects, are included in this category.
 Hallucinogens. LSD, phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine (special K) are
examples of hallucinogens.
 Inhalants. Glue, paint, solvents and nitrous oxide can all be used as
inhalant drugs.
 Opioids: Opioids are narcotic, painkilling drugs produced naturally from
opium or made synthetically. This class of drugs includes heroin, morphine,
codeine, methadone and oxycodone (Oxycontin).
Substance abusers are often the last ones to recognize their own
symptoms of abuse, dependence and addiction.

26
Causes of Drug Addiction:

Drug use or abuse crosses the line into drug addiction when you feel
you have to have the drug, and you increase the amount of the drug you take.
Various factors, such as your personality, your genetic makeup and peer
pressure, affect your likelihood of becoming addicted to a drug. In addition,
some drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, more quickly produce a physical
addiction than other drugs do for many people.

 Experimentation and curiosity are the first factors that draw many to
even try drugs. They want to feel that “high,” the sense of euphoria that
comes with drug use. While this may lead to recreational use of drugs
(using only in certain situations), it rarely leads to actual addiction unless
other factors are present. However, some drugs (like heroin) have are
more likely to cause addiction than others, resulting in an addiction from
simple experimentation alone.
 Prescription drugs can turn people into addicts because they have
conditions in which they need to take drugs in order to get relief. A
person becomes hooked on prescription drugs when they take more than
the recommended dosage, take it more frequently than recommended, and
continue using the drug after their initial medical condition clears up.
 Elite athletes are susceptible to using drugs. They use them for
performance enhancing abilities. Steroids can make muscles bigger, while
amphetamines help reduce or numb pain, allowing persons to play injured.
Recently, major league baseball has come under fire for drug abuse.
Though not as prominent, high school and college athletes have also been
known to use drugs to enhance their performance.
 Some people turn to drug use to cope with problems in their real lives.
Whether it is past abuse, school problems, work problems, or relationship
issues, drug use can help a person temporarily escape the realities of
his/her life.
 Being around drugs and being exposed to addicts can also lead to drug
addiction. If a family member or close friend uses or is addicted to drugs,
it becomes acceptable for other members to engage in similar behavior. It
becomes a tolerated activity.
 Peer pressure is also a factor in turning people into drug addicts. Contrary
to popular belief, peer pressure can happen at any age. Adults fall prey to

27
 peer pressure to fit into new social classes, new workplaces, and new
neighborhoods. Teenagers fight peer pressure on everything from looks to
alcohol to drugs. In fact, crystal myth is becoming a way for many teenage
girls to fight the pressure that comes with needing to be thin and
attractive. Teenagers can also fall prey to the rebellious attitude that
they need to do anything their parents or those in authority say is bad.
 Easy accessibility to drugs and new, lower prices are other causes of drug
addiction. Drugs can be found anywhere if a person simply asks. Street
corners and alleyways are no longer the only place to find drugs. Schools,
workplaces, and even the family next door might be new places to find
drugs. With more drugs being produced, the price has also been driven
down.
 People use drugs to mask other mental problems. For example, depressed
people frequently use drugs to escape their sad feelings. Schizophrenics
find that some street drugs can control their hallucinations. Denial and
hiding the problem just lead to more problems in the long run.
 For young people, peer pressure is a strong factor in starting to use and
abuse drugs. A lack of attachment with your parents may increase the risk
of addiction, as can a lack of parental supervision. Anxiety, depression and
loneliness. Using drugs can become a way of coping with these painful
psychological feelings.
 Drug addiction is more common in some families and likely involves the
effects of many genes. If you have family members with alcohol or drug
problems, you're at greater risk of developing a drug addiction.

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Effects of Drug Addiction:
The short-term effects of the drug — whether they involve euphoria,
extra energy, sensory enhancement, or heightened performance — tend to
become so appealing that the drug takes over the user’s life, disrupting his
or her relationships, work, and peace of mind.

Drugs can damage major organs, increase your risk of cancers, and
even cause death.

Addiction to any drug may include these general characteristics:

 Feeling that you need the drug regularly and, in some cases, many times a
day
 Making certain that you maintain a supply of the drug
 Failing repeatedly in your attempts to stop using the drug
 Doing things to obtain the drug that you normally wouldn't do, such as
stealing
 Feeling that you need the drug to deal with your problems
 Driving or doing other activities that place you and others at risk of
physical harm when you're under the influence of the drug
 The particular signs and symptoms of drug use and dependence vary
depending on the type of drug.
 A sense of relaxation and happiness
 A heightened sense of visual, auditory and taste perception
 Poor memory
 Increased blood pressure overheating and heart rate
 Red eyes
 Decreased coordination
 Difficulty concentrating
 Drowsiness
 Lack of coordination
 Kidney and Liver Toxicity
 Memory impairment
 Confusion
 Slowed breathing and decreased blood pressure
 Depression
 Decreased appetite
 Rapid speech
 Irritability

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 Restlessness
 Impaired Reaction Time
 Anxiety and Aggression
 Weight loss, etc.

The mind-altering effects of most drugs add a degree of risk, in some

cases a very high degree, to even ordinary activities. These effects include;
poor balance and coordination, confusion and impaired reaction time, from
psychedelics and inhalants, delusions or paranoia, sleepiness, lowered
inhibitions and poor judgment, from stimulants, anxiety or aggression.

Just as important, the temporary escape, relaxation, and pleasure

that illicit and improperly used drugs give their users are outweighed by the
destructive effects of long-term use, effects that damage users physically,
mentally, and socially.

Common neurological effects of drug abuse are; impaired memory and

learning ability, Poor concentration, confusion, Panic attacks, Flashbacks,
Impaired motor function, Seizures, Depression. Common physical effects of
drug abuse are; slowed from depressants, elevated from other drugs,
Nausea and vomiting, Loss of appetite, abnormal weight loss, Increased body
temperature, Danger to heart, liver, kidneys, Chest pain, stomach cramps,
Hormonal changes.

And these effects don’t cover the dangers from accidental overdose
or contamination, which can occur even when drugs are taken in small
amounts: catastrophic brain damage, coma, death. (This is a particular
danger with inhalants and injected drugs, or when drugs are mixed with
alcohol.) Also, users who inject drugs intravenously are at a higher risk of
contracting viruses such as HIV and hepatitis, and often suffer from
abscesses, collapsed veins, and bacterial infections. Drug abuse also
destroys relationships and careers, as users’ concerns shrink to obtaining
and using their drugs of choice. A drug habit is usually expensive, and drug
abusers may turn to criminal means of income if their salaries don’t cover
expenses. When poor performance at work or discovery of the drug habit
leads to termination, the temptation to steal is heightened. Child neglect and
abuse are endemic among drug abusers. Friends, relatives, and partners get
fed up with being borrowed from, stolen from, lied to, and, often, subjected
to violence or danger, and they leave.

30
Preventions of Drug Addiction:

What are the genuine solutions to the addiction problem? They are to
bring people into contact with themselves, with other people, with their
environment, and with their work so as to eliminate the need for artificial
involvements in which people immerse themselves because they see no
alternative. Such a program calls for nothing less than large-scale changes in
our society, in the ways we think, relate, and produce goods. As with any
such change, the larger the scale, the greater the degree of improbability
that it will take place. Recognizing this, we can still outline the dimensions
along which movement will be beneficial.

Whenever a work or professional organization is able to give

employees a better feel for the product of their labors, the result will be
greater identification with the workers' tasks and better feelings about
work and self. Arranging work groups so that they are responsible for an
entire sub-assembly of a larger product (as Volvo has done in a new plant in
Sweden), giving members of an organization the opportunity to influence
decisions about the way work gets done, and allowing individuals the
maximum latitude in making their own work schedules are all moves of this
sort. Of course, if an individual is in a position to control his labors entirely,
say through starting a business or a farm or whatever, the relevance of a
person's labor to his or her life will be even that much more direct. While
the prognosis for small businesses has been bad and getting worse in recent
years, there seems to be a growing minority willing to try this route, and to
make the sacrifices it entails.

For any individual, it goes without saying that doing the most appealing
work that is realistically possible will leave the least room for perpetual
yearnings. In a down economy, however, people's natural conservatism in
making basic economic decisions is exacerbated. On the other hand, when
obvious options are not readily available, people are sometimes made to think
more deeply and range more widely in determining what they will do for a
living. Education, too, hopefully can serve to give a person a chance not only
to rehearse the skills required in making a living, but also to gain a feeling
for the performance of various jobs. The acquisition of both job skills and a
perspective of what different work is like are fostered by an education
which is reality oriented and which offers the chance for real-world
involvements. Ivan Illich's detailed framework in Deschooling Society for

31
how such an education may take place is an extremely valuable aid to our
notions about combating addiction.

The other essential category into which we divide our lives is social.
Here the movement in society which would most relieve the pressures that
individuals and couples now bear is in the direction of greater feelings of
community. Construction of housing units with this in mind—including
allowance for the presence of people of different ages—and the planning of
districts and cities to facilitate regular group experiences are crucial steps.
As far as individuals and families go, becoming part of a neighborhood or,
where that is not possible, groups which meet regularly around some activity,
offer the chance to escape the peculiar kind of alienation that most of us
live with in our modern era.

Whenever an individual can find nurturance in a range of human

contacts, the insecurity and volatility which lead to an unhealthy dependency
of any sort (or often, a series of such dependencies) is lessened. Learning to
allot time and attention to other than primary love relationships means going
against trends inculcated and reinforced throughout our culture, but, with
events like the women's movement, there have been encouraging recent
developments in this area. There has also been a great deal of activity,
however, unorganized, in the realm of alternatives to conventional marriage.
That a need is felt for some modification of the historically recent,
emotionally exclusive nuclear family cannot be denied. As yet, much of the
reaction has been in the form of more of the same, say through divorce and
remarriage or through casual sexual experimentation. But where there is
activity of this kind, there is also bound to be some genuine effort to create
broader-based intimate relationships which are at the same time substantial
and lasting.

Beyond working and loving, or underlying them, are feelings of

contentment with oneself. Being able to withstand addiction means
principally having the ability to enjoy being alone at times, and to make
constructive use of such time. This may require cultivating skills once
possessed but now forgotten, such as reading or participating in a sport.
Such activities have the additional benefit, besides filling time, of giving one
a sense of improved physical or mental functioning. There is now a number of
spiritual/physical practices in which many people regularly engage for this
purpose. Running is among the most popular—and is probably the best—of

32
these. Also widespread is the use of meditation and related techniques. In
principle, as long as the focus of such an exercise is to gather one's internal
resources together while relaxing, it serves an admirable function. There are
other ways to do this besides through strict meditation: for example
through gardening or any physically and emotionally regenerative activity. It
is when the practitioner of some type of spiritual endeavor makes it the
centerpiece of his or her existence, and sees it as a salvation, that it may
come to act more as an addiction than as an antidote to addiction.

Another benefit that often comes from an activity which involves

getting in touch with one's body is that it may change a person's notion of
physical health, and how to maintain it. Instead of being a passive consumer
of medical services, the individual actively keeps up his or her body. For full
impact on a person's notion of keeping healthy, such an exercise or athletic
program should be combined with an active orientation towards medical care
itself. For example, the person should regard himself as an active
collaborator with his doctor in his or her own health care. In doing so, we
add the other main ingredient to internal peace in the array of weapons
against addiction. As long as most of us continue to live our lives within a
complex institutional environment, we must cultivate an active voice in all
those matters which affect our destinies. To do otherwise, to allow
management of our lives to fall passively to those institutions and to the
popular opinion which all around tell us how to live, means giving up a sense of
our desires and needs, which so often leads to the substitute need
fulfillment of addiction.

33
 The best way to prevent an addiction to an illegal drug is not to take the
drug at all. Your doctor may prescribe narcotics to relieve pain,
benzodiazepines to relieve anxiety or insomnia, or barbiturates to relieve
nervousness or irritation. Doctors prescribe these medications at safe
doses and monitor their use so that you're not given too great a dose or
for too long a time. If you feel you need to take more than the prescribed
dose of a medication, talk to your doctor.
 Media should help in war against Drugs. It should be forbid on media.
 People should talk to their children and should ask them about their
gathering. Parents should have an eye on their children.
 Parents or any other family member should not use any kind of drug in
front of their children.

34
  Poverty:-
The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of
means of subsistence; indigence; need. Any deficiency of elements or
resources that are needed or desired constitute poverty.

 It includes persistent low levels of income for members of a community.

 It includes a lack of access to services like education, markets, health
care, lack of decision making ability, and lack of communal facilities like
water, sanitation, roads, transportation, and communications.

Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a

person or community is deprived of the basic needs for a minimum standard
of well-being and life, particularly as a result of a persistent lack of wealth
and income, or wealth and income disparities.

Causes of Poverty:
The factors of poverty are:

 Ignorance: Ignorance means having a lack of information, or lack of

knowledge.
 Disease: When a community has a high disease rate, absenteeism is high,
productivity is low, and less wealth is created.
 Apathy: Apathy is when people do not care, or when they feel so
powerless that they do not try to change things, to right a wrong, to fix a
mistake, or to improve conditions. Sometimes apathy is justified by
religious principles, "Accept what exists because God has decided your
fate." That fatalism may be misused as an excuse. It is OK to believe God
decides our fate, if we accept that God may decide that we should be
motivated to improve ourselves. "Pray to God, but also row to shore," a
Russian proverb, demonstrates that we are in God's hands, but we also
have a responsibility to help ourselves.
 Dishonesty: When resources that are intended to be used for community
services or facilities, are diverted into the private pockets of someone in
a position of power, there is more than morality at stake here. The
amount stolen from the public, that is received and enjoyed by the
individual, is far less than the decrease in wealth that was intended for
the public.

35
 Dependency: Dependency results from being on the receiving end of
charity. In the short run, as after a disaster, that charity may be
essential for survival. In the long run, that charity can contribute to the
possible demise of the recipient, and certainly too ongoing poverty.

The big five, in turn, contribute to secondary factors such as lack of

markets, poor transportation, poor leadership, bad governance, under-
employment, lack of skills. Each of these is social problems, and is caused by
one or more of the big five, and their eradication is necessary for the
removal of poverty.

Effects of Poverty:

The effects of poverty are normally its causes, thus creating a

poverty cycle. The rich gets richer and the poor poorer. The problem is that
hungry people lack the money to buy enough food to nourish them. Being
constantly malnourished, they become weaker and often sick. This makes
them increasingly less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and
hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and
their families. The main effects caused due to this are:

 Social instability
 Poverty increases the risk of homelessness.
 Increased risk of drug abuse may also be associated with poverty.
 Those living in poverty may suffer social isolation and rates of suicide may
increase in conditions of poverty.

Preventions of Poverty:

The solution to the social problem of poverty is the social solution of

removing the factors of poverty.

Poverty analysis is one of the principle steps in formulating a poverty

reduction strategy. The government can directly help those in need through
cash transfers, food, funds, charities, and zakat can decrease poverty to a
great extent. Subsidized housing development, education, health care,
providing employment can help reduce poverty. The organizations like UN,
IMF and WHO can help eradicate the causes of poverty.

36