Three social issues that interest me is the issues with abortion, bullying, and racism/discrimination. Racism and discrimination is the social issue that is most important to me because as an African American male, I face the possibility of being discriminated every time I leave the house. The history of racism and discrimination in the African American community dates back before the 1800s and it continues to happen to this day. According to the article, The Black Lives Matter Movement, Crime and Police Brutality: Comparative study of New York Post and New York Daily New states, “Even though the era of Jim Crow is gone, once an African American is branded a felon, it becomes difficult to get a job because of having a criminal record. The sheer numbers of African Americans now languishing in prison across the country are a clear sign that not much has changed.” Racism and discrimination is not just an African American issue as it spans across the world. Every ethnic group faces a form of discriminations. The Hispanic group face citizenship discrimination, the Muslim group faces terroristic discrimination, and those are just a few examples to name. Citizenship education and the challenge of racism, discrimination and disadvantage is an article that states, “The idea behind citizenship education is that it will help both to integrate the demands of justice, equality and community and to prevent the increasing apathy towards politics and government, which may damage the health and stability of a modern liberal democracy.” Which is a valid point because instead of being united the way the United States is preached to be, we focus on our own individual ethnic group while we treat others as being beneath us.

Abortion makes the top two of social issues that are important to me because the way the situation is being handled.  Being pro-life or pro-choice should not be a one or the other issue. Women should have the right to choose what they want to do. What I feel like makes this an issue is the reason  women have when they go to get an abortion. Some women seek out abortions because of a one night stand or because they accidently got pregnant because they were not safe and protected when they have sex. Other women seek abortions because they were raped and do not feel comfortable raising after an incident like that. This may seem like a breach of women rights because it is their body that is at risk. WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND SOCIAL EQUALITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, is an article that talks about how women reproductive rights are being analyzed. The article states, “Current literature offers two types of models in terms of the impact of human development and social equality on women’s reproductive rights. The first model proposes that social and political equality guaranteed to women regardless of the levels of development is positively related to the levels of reproductive fights (Dixon-Mueller, 1993; Correa, 1994). The second model suggests that reproductive fights are likely to emerge at high levels of socioeconomic development (Li, 1993).” Solutions to abortions seem no where in sight which makes it an important topic to me because the issue has a versatile approach.

Last but not least, bullying is the third on my list of top social issues. Bullying is third on my list because bullying prevention has gotten nowhere in our society. Bullying has led to so many issues in our world today and the biggest one is suicides. Lots of teens has chosen suicide as a solution to being bullied because they feel like they have no one to turn to when being bullied. They feel alone and isolated when facing bullying and bullying comes in many forms, cyber-bullying, verbal bullying, and physical bullying. Bullying and Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis, is an article that identifies how bullying has transcended over the years and provides an analysis of bullying to suicide rates. The article states, “We searched multiple online databases and reviewed reference sections of articles derived from searches to identify cross-sectional studies published through July 2013. Using search terms associated with bullying, suicide, and youth, 47 studies (38.3% from the United States, 61.7% in non-US samples) met inclusion criteria. Seven observers independently coded studies and met in pairs to reach consensus.” That article does not include reasons for people being bullied. People are constantly bullied because they are different from what society deems to be normal and this causes rejection among the population, which is why bullying makes my top three list of social issues.

Chama, Brian. 2019. “The Black Lives Matter Movement, Crime and Police Brutality:

Comparative Study of New York Post and New York Daily News.” European Journal of 

    American Culture 38 (3): 201–16. doi:10.1386/ejac_00002_1.

Holt, Melissa K., Alana M. Vivolo-Kantor, Joshua R. Polanin, Kristin M. Holland, Sarah DeGue, Jennifer L. Matjasko, Misty Wolfe, and Gerald Reid. 2015. “Bullying and Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis.” Pediatrics 135 (2): e496–509. doi:10.1542/peds.2014-1864.

Singh, Basil R. 2001. “Citizenship Education and the Challenge of Racism, Discrimination and Disadvantage.” Contemporary Politics 7 (4): 299–318. doi:10.1080/13569770120106444.

Pillai, Vijayan K., and Guang-zhen Wang. 1999. “Women’s Reproductive Rights and Social Equality in Developing Countries.” Social Science Journal 36 (3): 459. doi:10.1016/S0362-3319(99)00017-8.

As I mentioned in my first blog post, I am adopted, so the social issue of abortion is particularly meaningful to me because if my biological mother had not chosen life, I would not be here today. I do not know the reasons as to why she could not raise me, but I am beyond blessed to have been given the chance to live. I am pro-life, but if I decide to base my project on this social issue, I am interested in analyzing both sides of the issue: those who are pro-choice and those who are pro-life. According to Wikipedia, “pro-choice” means believing that it is a woman’s civil right to decide whether to have an abortion or not since it is her body. Wikipedia also defines “pro-life” as placing emphasis that the growing embryo or fetus has the right to be born and that abortion is the act of killing a life.[1] I would like to research about adoption and the other alternatives to abortion and why people who decide to have an abortion do not choose to give birth to the child and put him or her in an orphanage or in the foster care system, for instance. I do not have much knowledge regarding the topic so I would be extremely interested in collecting and analyzing the results conducted in my project. There are certainly statistics I can use that will strengthen my project if I choose to do it on this topic, and I would construct a survey to gain a better sense of why it is such a prominent social issue. Some statistics include those gathered from New York Times: “‘about 8 in 10 Americans believe abortion is taking a life,” said Ed Goeas, president of the Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm. ‘What you then have is a discussion about when it is acceptable.’” Additionally, the New York Times quotes Gallup which shows that “about 60 percent of Americans favor access to abortion in the first trimester (or first 12 weeks) of pregnancy, but close to 70 percent think it should be illegal in the second trimester.”[2] I would additionally examine the pros and cons of abortion being illegal and legal. Although abortion is a heated topic, like all social issues, it is important to look at both sides of the problem to gain a better understanding of it.

The social issue of immigration is a leading social issue today, especially in the United States. My parents own a preschool in North Bergen, New Jersey, a town filled with Hispanic immigrants. They help the parents pay for the education of their children with Urban League. Many of the immigrant parents are single and have had their children at a very young age. Most of my family members are immigrants, so I know many stories of the struggles immigrants face in assimilating and trying to adapt to a new way of life. I, too, am an immigrant, so this topic is especially important to me. Immigration is a significant social issue because of the concern of closing boarders and illegal immigrants trying to cross them. Immigration is another intense topic since, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, most Republicans view immigrants and refugees as a threat to the United States, whereas Democrats believe in continuing to embrace immigration as part of the nation’s history by being less controlling regarding border security. There are many statistics that would benefit my project if I were to base it on this social issue, especially since I am looking to analyze the claims made by Republicans and Democrats, including a statistic made by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs: 45% of Americans claim that limiting the amount of immigrants coming to the United States makes the country “safer.”[3] The belief that immigrants are “dangerous” and are “criminals” are occupying many people’s minds, and it is important to look past single stories that we may have heard of immigration and to educate ourselves on the bigger picture as well as on details and specifics.

A third social issue I would like to explore is mental illness. Recently, my church called The Most Blessed Sacrament in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey was burned down by a mentally unstable young man. This arsonist committed a horrible crime, but I sympathize with him. This event impacted me immensely since I have grown up in this church, and to see it in rubble has me destroyed. It also touched me in a way that my eyes have been opened to a world where people are fighting battles on their own that no one else is aware of. Mental illness is a major social issue and if I were to base my project on it, I would focus on how family structure impacts the mental health of a person. A preliminary study conducted by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health shows that there is a connection between family structure and the levels of behavioral issues in children. They studied how single parents affected the upbringing of a child, and they also collected data on the rates of trauma and hospitalization. One statistic they established is that 71% of children “reported either a parent or a sibling with a psychiatric disorder.” [4] This is an alarming number which makes mental illness an even more urgent cause to worry about. If a child does not have a solid support system in his or her home, the child tends to keep to him/herself and may become anxious, depressed, or develop more advanced conditions of mental illness.

[1] “Abortion Debate.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, February 10, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_debate.

[2] Leonhardt, David. “Why Abortion Is Not Like Other Issues.” The New York Times, July 13, 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/sunday-review/why-abortion-is-not-like-other-issues.html.

[3] Kafura, Craig. “Republicans and Democrats in Different Worlds on Immigration.” Chicago Council on Global Affairs, February 3, 2020. https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/publication/lcc/republicans-and-democrats-different-worlds-immigration.

[4] Behere, Aniruddh Prakash, Pravesh Basnet, and Pamela Campbell. “Effects of Family Structure on Mental Health of Children: A Preliminary Study.” Indian journal of psychological medicine. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559994/.

Although society is a place for individuals to come together, it often poses as a foundation for many social issues to progress.  Despite having come a long way in certain regards, many still suffer negative experiences on a daily basis. There are complex issues that affect individuals; however, three of the most overarching social issues experienced today are economic inequality, gender inequality, and racial inequality.  Without solving these three issues, society may never be able to rise above its own constraints.

Economic inequality is indicative of a failing financial and economic system.  Beginning at a young age, most individuals dream of acquiring wealth and a secure financial status.  Despite the high frequency of the dream, it is accomplished by very few. The economic disparity between individuals is seen on a routinely basis, and it is especially magnified in today’s climate.  I want to choose this issue because it affects every part of the community, and it is so easily seen within the community. I also want to choose this because it is a crucial matter that prevents individuals from moving upward in society.  In fact, “People in the lower rungs of the economic ladder may experience diminished economic opportunity and mobility in the face of rising inequality.”^1   There are billionaires such as Jeff Bezos while there are children in impoverished cities who are unable to attend school or know where their next meals are coming from.  With the increasing use of social media, one is able to see the widening gap between social classes: influencers typically impact younger generations and allow for the gap to deepen.  For example, using companies such as Amazon only adds to the inequality experienced by millions. In order to conduct deeper research, the two aspects I would like to focus on is education to see how financially disadvantaged individuals are even more disadvantaged because of society’s opportunities being set against them.  I would also like to focus on the rapid wealth that the rich are emassing, “The wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016.”^2   I can include some historical context to compare whether the gap has widened or narrowed over time as well as analyzing the factors in that contributed to the issue.  Statistics are readily available that can help me research this issue.

While progress has been made towards gender equality, society is a long way from attaining equality.  Women are inherently disadvantaged compared to men in society. Still, however, genders apart from women experience discrimination in more oppressive forms.  This issue widely affects the community because as more people gain the confidence to live life as authentic as possible, more oppressions seep into their lives, especially for those who do not identify as being male or female, i.e. those a part of the LGBTQ+ community.  There has been increasing violence in the transgender community. I want to choose this topic because of the different sectors that succumb to this issue. Gender inequality can be seen in workplaces, cultures, and daily norms. Because of its presence in different sectors, a specific aspect, such as I the gender inequality faced on a daily basis, would have to be focused on so that the research conducted can be deeper.  For example, “Women are 47% more likely to suffer severe injuries in car crashes because safety features are designed for men.”^3   Statistics such as these can help with researching the topic because it is interesting to see the different parts of society that favor and cater to men compared to the other genders.  Because gender inequality has been an issue throughout history, a historical element could be incorporated where the project could explore the areas in which equality has increased as well as areas that still lack equality.  For example, women gained voting rights in 1920; however, it is 2020 and transgender individuals cannot serve in the military. Inequality should decrease, not remain stagnant or regress.

Perhaps one of the most complex, overarching social issues is the racial inequality of minority groups within the nation.  Personally, I grew up in a diverse neighborhood with classmates who came from backgrounds from all over the world. Although I am part of the majority race in this country, I want to choose this social issue because of its presence in so many other societal issues and parts of society, such as school/education, law enforcement, and job opportunities.  To avoid superficial research, I want to focus on racial inequality in the law and the legal system, police brutality being the focal point. In 2015, “Racial minorities made up about 37.4 percent of the general population in the US and 46.6 percent of armed and unarmed victims, but they made up 62.7 percent of unarmed people killed by police.”^4   Police brutality largely affects racial minorities, Black individuals in particular.  In addition, Black people are more likely to be arrested for drugs despite them not being more likely to sell or actually use them.^5   These prejudices are not newly-established as they have been existing for centuries.  The same practices have been done and will continue to be done unless there is change.  The historical background in which I would like to include in the framework for my research, in particular, is the Civil Rights Movement in the 1940s-1960s and compare those events with the events happening today.  Despite times changing, many of the same mentalities and injustices are exhibited present-day. In this case, statistics will show an overwhelming similarity in racial inequality.

Though these three social issues are significant in today’s society, there are many others that possess equal importance and just as much urgency to rectify.

Bibliography

(Image 1)   George-Parkin, Hilary. “Why Companies Need to Get Comfortable With Taking a Stand on Social Issues.” Footwear News. Footwear News, February 6, 2019.

(Image 3)   Glynn, Sarah Jane. “Explaining the Gender Wage Gap.” Center for American Progress, May 19, 2014.

(Image 2) ^1 and ^2   Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, Ruth Igielnik, and Rakesh Kochhar. “Trends in U.S. Income and Wealth Inequality.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, January 19, 2020.

(Image 4) ^4 and ^5   Lopez. “There Are Huge Racial Disparities in How US Police Use Force.” Vox. Vox, November 14, 2018.

^3   Whiting, Kate. “7 Surprising and Outrageous Stats about Gender Inequality.” World Economic Forum, March 8, 2019.

The risk of emotional, mental, or physical harm to a child by a parent or caregiver, known as child abuse, is a global, social issue and is an unfortunately relevant problem in the United States. Child abuse has immediate effects on the individual, as well as long-term effects. The most common effects of child abuse occur within the individual’s mental and emotional health. The effects that an individual who has experienced child abuse can vary based on variables such as the age that the trauma occurred, the extensiveness of the trauma, and the way the individual copes with stress. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, and difficulty concentrating and connecting with others are all possible and frequent effects of child abuse. While occasionally perpetrators are careful not to leave physical marks on a case of child abuse, often victims of child abuse have bruises, swelling, sprains, burns, pain, difficulty walking or sitting, and some experience sexually transmitted infections or diseases. The immediate and long-term effects of child abuse have serious impact on the victim. While child abuse does have a direct effect on the individual, the results of child abuse can also affect the community. The family or friends of the victim often experience a loss of connection and feel pushed away from the victim.

Victims of child abuse are amongst various ages but research from the American Society for the Positive Care of Children shows that there is a higher concentration of child abuse in children under the age of one and then decreases slightly from the age of one to the age of seventeen. Child abuse has been recorded for most, if not all of history. Dating back to the 16^th and 17^th centuries, children were viewed as property of their fathers, which can be argued as classifying as child abuse. Many organizations, such as the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children works to help children and families affected by this social issue. Child abuse has been a big issue, and remains a big issue that needs to have more attention brought to it.

Gun control, police actions and brutality, and aggression are common topics linked to crime and violence, especially in the United States. Research from “Violent Crime: The US and Abroad” shows that the US has more guns per capita than anywhere else in the world. While gun ownerships is not the lone contributor to crime and violence, citizens of the United States feel as though gun possession needs to be more controlled. While some research has shown that US violence and crime rates are decreasing, violence is still a concern as the National Violent Death Reporting System has done research that states that more than seven people die a violent death per hour. Violence can change a community’s way of living and value but it is interesting that under President Donald Trump’s rule, it has been reported that crime rates have decreased. Larceny and theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault, and robbery are the top five type of crime in the United States. Larceny and theft are the most common and more than 7 million cases of it are reported each year, making up sixty percent of all reported crimes. When comparing crime rate in the US to crime rates in other countries, articles have shown disputing results as some say the US is the most violent, and other say we are average. The US Department of Justice’s article displays crime rates across the years and answers many questions about crime and violence in the US. Crime and violence will always be seen as an issue and what will stop it?

Poverty, financial deficit of developing countries, and the lack of materials and necessities are all common reasons that education has become a global issue. According to the article, “Right to Education: Situation around the world”, more than 72 million children are unschooled around the world. It is also shown that more girls and women are unschooled than boys and men. Cultural and traditional custom hinder women from obtaining equal or any education. The lack of funding, specifically in undeveloped countries, is a main reason that the world struggles in the topic of education. Without proper funding, schools cannot access materials such as desks or textbooks, they cannot afford teachers who are properly schooled or trained, and they become stuck in an environment unsuitable to educate in. Countries may also experience foreign conflicts or war that hinders the ability to make it to a school safely. Distance itself is an issue in education as some countries have a rare amount of schools that may just be too far away for some potential students or they are in an unsafe neighborhood or environment. In many of these underdeveloped or smaller nations and countries, hunger and poor nutrition also contribute to the lack of education. Without the proper diet, an individual’s brain does not fully develop which can lead to poor grades, and the lack of ability to achieve the full learning potential. Education all around is expensive and various countries cannot provide a good quality of education because of it.

In other areas of the world, different circumstances can explain the topic of education. While in the US almost all students receive an education, the continuing of schooling into college has become an almost necessary element to a good future and job. College is too expensive for most and this either ends with students not attending college at all, attending a two-year facility, or tons of money in loans and debt. Education is very different in all parts of the world but each country shares a common social issue and that is the topic of education.