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Contents vii
Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gender in the Global Economy 219
United States and Inequality 178 Fighting Structured Gender Inequality 220
Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Chapter Review 221 • Key Terms 222
United States 178
Racial-Ethnic Inequality
Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality
181
185
10 Disability and Ableism 223
Deficiency Theories 185 Definitions and Models of Disability 224
Bias Theories 186 Individual Model of Disability 224
Structural Discrimination Theories 187 Social Model of Disability 226
Contemporary Trends and Issues in Toward a More Complete Definition
U.S. Racial and Ethnic Relations 189 of Disability 226
Growing Racial Conflict 189 People with Disabilities as a Minority Group 227
Social and Economic Isolation in Defined as Different 227
U.S. Inner Cities 191 Derogatory Naming 227
Racial Policies in the New Century 194 Minority as a Master Status 228
Chapter Review 194 • Key Terms 195 Categorization, Stigma, and Stereotypes 228
Exclusion and Segregation 229
Matrix of Domination 230
9 Gender Inequality 197 Discrimination 231
The Difference Between Sex and Gender 198 Issues of Gender, Sexual Behavior,
Is Gender Biological or Social? 199 and Abuse 232
Intersections of Gender, Race, Class, and Gender Stereotyping 233
Sexuality 200 Sexual Relationships 234
Learning and “Doing Gender” 201 Physical and Sexual Abuse 235
Learning Gender at Home 201 Agency 235
Learning Gender Through Play 202 Disability Rights Movement 236
Learning Gender Through Language 204 Americans with Disabilities Act 237
Doing Gender: Interpersonal Behavior 204 Prenatal Testing and Disability Rights 239
Socialization versus Structure: Chapter Review 242 • Key Terms 243
Two Approaches to Gender Inequality 206
Reinforcing Gender Inequality Through Part 4 Social Structure
Institutions 207 and Individual Deviance
Formal Education 207
11 Crime and Justice 244
Mass Media 210
Religion 211 The Definition of Crime 245
The Law 212 What Is Crime? 245
Politics 213 Categories of Crime 246
Structured Gender Inequality in the Crime Rates in the United States 253
Workplace 214 Violent Crimes and Property Crimes 253
Occupational Distribution 214 Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter 254
The Earnings Gap 216 Demographic Characteristics of People
Intersection of Race and Gender in the Arrested for Crimes 254
Workplace 217 Unjust System of Justice 256
How Workplace Inequality Operates 218 Laws 257
viii Contents
Police 257 Unions and Their Decline 315

Judicial Process 259 Discrimination in the Workplace:
U.S. Correctional System 265 Perpetuation of Inequality 317
Stopping the Cradle to Prison Pipeline 267 Unemployment 317
Chapter Review 268 • Key Terms 269 Benefits Insecurity 318
Conclusion 319
12 Drugs 271 Chapter Review 319 • Key Terms 321
14
The Politics of Drugs 272
Historical Legality of Drugs 272
Families 322
Factors Influencing Drug Laws The Mythical Family in the United States 323
and Enforcement 274 Economic Trends and U.S. Families 325
Drug Use in the United States 277 Economic Insecurity and Family Life 326
Illegal Drugs 277 Today’s Diverse Family Forms 327
The Controversy over Marijuana 281 Institutional Support for Families 330
Legal Drugs 282 Balancing Work and Family with
Drug Use Patterns by Class, Few Social Supports 330
Race, and Gender 286 Single Parents and Their Children 331
Why Use Drugs? 287 Societal Response to Disadvantaged
U.S. Official Policy: A War on Drugs 290 Children 333
Consequences of Official Drug Policies 291 Divorce 335
Is the Drug War Racist? 292 Consequences of Divorce 336
Alternatives 293 Children of Divorce 337
Chapter Review 296 • Key Terms 298 Violence in U.S. Families 339
Violence and the Social Organization
Part 5 Institutional Problems of the Family 339
Intimate Partner Violence 339
13 The Economy Child Abuse and Neglect 341
and Work 299 Chapter Review 344 • Key Terms 345
The Corporation-Dominated U.S. Economy 300

Capitalism 300 15 Education 346
Socialism 302 Characteristics of Education in
The Corporation-Dominated U.S. Economy 304 the United States 347
Mega Economic Trends 305 Education as a Conserving Force 347
Globalization 305 Mass Education 348
The Transformation of the Economy: Preoccupation with Order and Control 348
From Manufacturing to Services 306 A Fragmented Education System 349
The Changing Nature of Jobs 307 Local Control of Education 350
The Great Recession 308 The Sifting and Sorting Function of Schools 352
Work and Social Problems 311 The Common Core Controversy 352
Control of Workers 311 No Child Left Behind 352
Alienation 312 Common Core 353
Dangerous Working Conditions 312 Education and Inequality 354
Sweatshops 314 Financing Public Education 359
Contents ix
Family and Community Resources 360 The Bismarck Model 394

Higher Education and Stratification 363 The Beveridge Model 395
Segregation 365 The National Health Insurance Model 395
Tracking and Teachers’ Expectations 366 Chapter Review 397 • Key Terms 398
Possibilities for Promoting Equality
of Opportunity 368 17 National Security in the Twenty-
Provide Universal Preschool Programs 369 First Century 399
Offer Free Education 369
Set National Education Standards 370 The U.S. Military Establishment 400
Reduce Funding Disparities across States and The Size of the U.S. Military 400
Districts 370 The Cost of Maintaining U.S. Military
Reduce Class and School Size 371 Superiority 401
Attract and Retain Excellent Teachers 371 The Threat of Terrorism 403
Extend the School Day and Year 371 Domestic Terrorism 404
Hold Educators Accountable 371 International Terrorism 407
Reform the Educational Philosophy U.S. National Security and the War on Terror 408
of Schools 372 The War on Terror 409
Restructure Society 373 The War in Iraq 411
Chapter Review 373 • Key Terms 374 The War in Afghanistan 412
The Costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars 412
The Legacy of the Wars 415
16 The Health Care System 375 Twenty-First Century Warfare 419
Minimizing Personnel 419
Crises in Health Care 376
Shielding the Public 420
Rising Health Care Costs 376
The Use of Drones 420
Does the High Cost of Health Care
Translate into Good Health Consequences? 378 The Threat of Nuclear Weapons 421
Chapter Review 422 • Key Terms 423
Unequal Access to Health Care 379
Social Class 379
Race/Ethnicity 380
Gender 383 Part 6 Solutions
The Health Care System in the United States
Prior to the 2010 Affordable Care Act 386 18 Progressive Plan to Solve
Different Plans for Different Categories Social Problems 424
of People 386
Sociology, Social Problems,
Private Insurance 387
and Social Change 425
For-Profit Hospitals 388
The Sociological Imagination and Social
Managed Care Networks 389
Problems 425
Reforming the Health Care System of the United Sociological Paradox: Structure and Agency 426
States 390
A Sociological Dilemma: Recognition and
The Politics of Health Reform 391 Rejection 426
Affordable Care Act/ObamaCare 392 Impediments to Social Change and Progressive
The Future of the Affordable Health Care Act 394 Principles to Guide Policy 427
Models for National Health Care: Lessons The Power of Money in Decision-
from Other Societies 394 Making 428
x Contents
Progressive Social Change and Higher Is There Any Hope of Instituting a Social
Taxes 428 Agenda Based on Progressive
Gridlock Among Decision-Makers 429 Principles? 434
Progressive Principles to Guide Chapter Review 436 • Key Terms 437
Public Policy 429
Bibliography 438
Progressive Social Policy 433
Should a Progressive Plan Be Adopted Credits 462
by U.S. Society? 433
Index 466
Financing the Progressive Agenda 434
Box Features
Social Problems in Global Perspective The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s
Social Welfare States: A Mixture of Capitalism War Against Malaria 57
and Socialism 8 Some Societal Benefits
from Undocumented Workers 75
China’s One-Child Policy 50
The Poorest Communities in the United States 114
Why Is Haiti So Poor? 53
Technology and Toxic Waste 129
The Developed World Turns Gray 86
Climategate 134
Mexico’s Drug War 291
The Housing and Transportation
The More Equal the Society, the Healthier Affordability Index 152
the Citizens 380 It’s a Disaster for the Poor 164
Speaking to Students 192
Social Policy “Bitches,” “Bunnies,” and “Biddies” 205
The Structure of the Senate as a Barrier to Jena Six 262
Democracy 28 Adam Smith 301
Are Microloans the Answer for the World’s Poor? 65 The Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster:
The Unintended Consequences of Rigid Preventable? 314
Policing of the Border 71 Leaving Boys Behind? 357
The Future: Return to Urban Density? 111
Reducing the Risk of Future Disasters Voices
for Urban African Americans 193 Your Fears, My Realities 231
A Progressive Strategy for Including More Does the Doctor’s Gender Matter? 385
People with Disabilities in the Workforce 240
A Letter from Timothy McVeigh 405
Halden, the World’s Most Humane Prison 267
Drug Decriminalization in Portugal 296 Looking toward the Future
The Swedish Welfare State 303 Righting the Urban–Suburban Imbalance 109
Same-Sex Marriage 325 Transit-Oriented Development 142
A Canadian Doctor Diagnoses The Childswap Society: A Fable 432
U.S. Health Care 396
Shifting Some Military Speaking to Students
Spending to Alternative Programs 414
Got Privilege? Studying What It Means
to Be White 175
a Closer Look Racist Acts on Campus 192
William Graham Sumner and Social Generational Forgetting 283
Darwinism 12 Moving Back Home 328
Karl Marx and Self-Destruct Capitalism 22 In-school Marketing 361
Undemocratic Elections in a Democracy? 30 Recruiting an All-Volunteer Military 401
xi
Preface
S
ocial Problems, Fourteenth Edition, examines of racism, crime, poverty, or other social prob-
inherently interesting subjects such as cor- lems by studying only bigots, criminals, and the
porate crime, racism, sexism, urban decay, poor. Therefore, we focus on the social structure
poverty, health care, the changing economy, the to determine the underlying features of the social
politics of drugs, antigovernment movements, world in an effort to understand social problems.
and terrorism. The typical book on social prob- Because the emphasis is on social structure,
lems describes these phenomena separately, using the reader is required to accept another fundamen-
a variety of explanations. Students exposed to tal assumption of the sociological perspective. We
such a mélange of approaches might retain their refer to the adoption of a critical stance toward all
interest in these problems, but they probably social forms. Sociologists must ask these questions:
would complete the book with little grasp of how How does the social system really work? Who has
social problems are interrelated and society’s role the power? Who benefits under the existing social
in their creation and perpetuation. This book is arrangements, and who does not? We should also
different. The approach is consistently sociologi- ask questions such as: Is the law neutral? Why
cal. There is a coherent framework from which to are some drugs illegal and others, known to be
analyze and understand society’s social problems. harmful, legal? Why are so few organizations in
The overarching goal in Social Problems, the United States—which is characterized as a
Fourteenth Edition, is to capture the imagina- democracy—democratic? Is U.S. society a meri-
tions of our readers. We want them not only to tocratic one in which talent and effort combine to
be interested in the topics but also to become stratify people fairly? Questions such as these call
enthusiastic about exploring the intricacies and into question existing myths, stereotypes, and of-
mysteries of social life. We want them, moreover, ficial dogma. The critical examination of society
to incorporate the sociological perspective into demystifies and demythologizes. It sensitizes the
their explanatory repertoire. The sociological per- individual to the inconsistencies present in soci-
spective requires, at a minimum, acceptance of ety. But, most important, a critical stance toward
two fundamental assumptions. The first is that social arrangements allows us to see their role in
individuals are products of their social environ- perpetuating social problems. In conclusion, the
ment. Who they are, what they believe, what they reader should be aware that we are not dispassion-
strive for, and how they feel about themselves are ate observers of social problems.
all dependent on other people and on the society Let us, then, briefly make our values more ex-
in which they live. The incorporation of the so- plicit. We oppose social arrangements that prevent
ciological perspective requires that we examine people from developing to their full potential.
the structure of society to understand such social That is, we reject political and social repression,
problems as racism, poverty, and crime. This educational elitism, institutional barriers to racial
method, however, runs counter to the typical and sexual equality, economic exploitation, and
explanations people offer for social ills that tend official indifference to human suffering. Stating
to focus on individual behavior and choices. An these feelings positively, we favor equality of op-
observer cannot gain an adequate understanding portunity, the right to dissent, social justice, an
xii
Preface xiii
economic system that minimizes inequality, and (introduced in Part One). The focus is on power
a political system that maximizes citizen input because the powerful, by making and enforcing
in decisions and provides for an adequate health the laws, create and define deviance. They de-
care system and acceptable living conditions for termine which behaviors will be rewarded and
all people. Obviously, we believe that U.S. society which ones punished. The powerful influence
as currently organized falls short of what we con- public opinion, and they can attempt to solve so-
sider to be an optimal society. The problem areas cial problems or ignore them.
of U.S. society are the subjects of this edition. So, Part Two focuses on problems of people,
too, are structural arrangements around the globe location, and the environment. Specifically, we
that harm people. cover social problems resulting from population
changes, both in the United States and globally.
We end the section with a closer look at environ-
Revel™ mental problems arising from both population
Educational technology designed for growth and cultural norms.
the way today’s students read, think, Part Three examines a crucial element of
and learn U.S. social structure: the various manifesta-
tions of social inequality. It describes inequality
When students are engaged deeply, they learn based on wealth, race/ethnicity, gender, and
more effectively and perform better in their disability.
courses. This simple fact inspired the creation of Part Four examines the impact of social struc-
Revel: an interactive learning environment de- ture on individuals. Deviant behavior is activity
signed for the way today’s students read, think, that violates the norms of an organization, commu-
and learn. Built in collaboration with educators nity, or society. Consequently, deviance is cultur-
and students nationwide, Revel replaces the text- ally defined and socially labeled. Certain behaviors
book and gives students everything they need for are also labeled as deviant because they conflict
the course. with the interests of the powerful in society. Public
Revel seamlessly blends authors’ narrative, policy, then, reflects the values and interests of
media, and assessment, enabling students to those in power and is codified into law. Members
read, practice, and study in one continuous ex- of society are also taught how to respond to devi-
perience. This immersive educational technology ants. The law and these structured responses to de-
is designed to measurably boost students’ under- viants are societal reactions that establish deviance
standing, retention, and preparedness across an in social roles; paradoxically, the degraded status
expanding range of discipline areas—for less than that results from societal reactions reinforces the
the cost of a traditional textbook. deviance that society seeks to control. Deviance,
Learn more about Revel at http://www. then, is fundamentally the result of social struc-
pearsonhighered.com/revel/ ture. We examine these processes in relation to two
types of deviance: crime and drug use.
Part Five describes problems found within
Organization of the Book five representative institutions: the economy, the
The organizing theme of this book is that many family, the education system, the health care sys-
aspects of social problems are conditions result- tem, and the government.
ing from cultural and social arrangements, in The book concludes with a chapter that an-
particular social problems resulting from wealth swers this question: What do we do about so-
and power and the bias of our current system cial problems? The solutions may come from the
xiv Preface
bottom up—that is, people organize through hu- individuals is swamping elections and mak-
man agency to change social structures, or from ing a mockery of democracy.
the top down—social policies determined by the • Although some large cities in the United
powerful. States are showing signs of vigor, many are
troubled with growing dependent popula-
tions, shrinking job markets, increasing racial
New to This Edition tensions, and declining economic resources
Since the last edition of Social Problems was pub- to meet their problems.
lished, certain events have shaken U.S. society,
• The economy continues its massive trans-
and important trends have become even more
formation from a manufacturing economy
significant, making a revision necessary. For
to one based on service/knowledge. This
example,
causes disruptions as some companies fail
• The U.S. has ended its involvement in the while others succeed. Globalization, with
Iraq war and is committed to do the same in jobs and tasks moving outside the country,
Afghanistan. The U.S. budget for the mili- adds to the unemployment woes accompany-
tary continues to rise. The threat of terrorism ing the economic transformation.
remains high globally, as evidenced by high-
• The Great Recession hit in 2007 and caused
profile attacks in France and Belgium.
havoc on Wall Street, Main Street, and in
• World population continues to increase by families. Unemployment rose precipitously.
about 80 million a year, almost all of the Wall Street tumbled. The value of housing
increase in poor countries. dropped, causing bankruptcies and foreclo-
• The U.S. population has moved past 320 mil- sures. The effects of the Recession continue to
lion and will add another 120 million by 2050. affect U.S. families.
At about 4 percent of the world’s popula- • Government bailouts of the banks and recov-
tion, the United States has an enormous envi- ery efforts such as an economic stimulus,
ronmental footprint—it is the second largest plus the cost of conducting two wars, raised
emitter of the world’s greenhouse gases and the national debt dramatically to $19 trillion
uses one-fourth of the world’s resources. by 2016. This huge debt provides a rationale
• Racial/ethnic minorities will be the numeri- to limit government by reducing or eliminat-
cal majority in the United States by 2042. ing social welfare programs.
Immigration increases racial/ethnic tensions • ObamaCare has been upheld by the Supreme
and conflicts in some parts of the nation. Court. The public is divided on this health
Growing conflicts between the police and care reform.
minority groups have sparked protests and
discussions about racial discrimination. This fourteenth edition of Social Problems consid-
ers each of these important trends and events
• Politics in the United States has become more
as well as others. Some of the topics new to this
and more polarized, resulting in factions
edition are:
unwilling to compromise.
• Expanded discussion of the concentration of
• The Supreme Court has ruled that money
corporate wealth
is a form of speech and therefore cannot
be curtailed in politics. As a consequence, • The Occupy Wall Street movement
money from large organizations and wealthy • Islamophobia
Preface xv
• Increasing tensions over immigration Note on Language Usage

• The drought in California
In writing this book, we have been especially sen-
• Corporate polluters and lobbying sitive to our use of language. Language is used to
• Increasing tension between the public and the reflect and maintain the secondary status of social
police after a series of deaths of Black men at groups by defining them, diminishing them, trivi-
the hands of police alizing them, or excluding them. For example,
• The Black Lives Matter movement traditional English uses masculine words (man,
mankind, he) to refer to people in general. Even
• Campus incidents of racism
in the ordering of masculine and feminine or of
• Transgender and intersex issues Whites and Blacks within the discussion, one cat-
• Marijuana legalization: lessons from egory consistently preceding its counterpart sub-
Colorado tly conveys the message that the one listed first is
• The growing gap between the rich and poor superior to the other. In short, our goal is to use
language so that it does not create the impression
• Same-sex marriage court ruling
that one social class, race, or gender is superior to
• The controversy over Common Core Standards any other.
• Affordable Care Act statistics The terms of reference for racial and eth-
• Terrorism in France nic categories are changing. In Social Problems,
Fourteenth Edition, we use the terms Blacks
Six types of feature boxes are included:
and African Americans interchangeably, and
• Voices boxes provide the personal views of
Hispanics and Latinos interchangeably.
those affected by a social problem.
Also, we try to avoid the use of America or
• A Closer Look elaborates on a topic in detail. American society when referring to the United
• Social Problems in Global Perspective boxes States. America should be used only in refer-
illustrate how other societies deal with a par- ence to the entire Western Hemisphere: North,
ticular social problem. This global emphasis Central, and South America (and then, in the plu-
is also evident in panels and tables that com- ral, Americas). Its use as a reference to only the
pare the United States with other nations on United States implies that the other nations of the
such topics as crime/incarceration, medical Western Hemisphere have no place in our frame
care, and education. of reference.
• Social Policy boxes look at policy issues and
highlight social policies that work to alleviate Supplements
particular social problems.
• Looking Toward the Future boxes examine instructor’s Manual and test Bank Each chap-
trends concerning the social problems under ter in the Instructor’s Manual includes the fol-
consideration at the beginning of a new lowing resources: Chapter Summary, Learning
millennium. Objectives, Critical Thinking Questions,
Activities for Classroom Participation, and
• Speaking to Students boxes address issues
Suggested Films. Designed to make your lec-
especially pertinent to college students.
tures more effective and to save preparation
Also included are: time, this extensive resource gathers together
• End-of-chapter Chapter Reviews and Key useful activities and strategies for teaching
Terms. your Social Problems course. Also included in
xvi Preface
this manual is a test bank of more than 1,500 Payton Andrews, Cape Fear Community
multiple-choice, true/false, and essay ques- College
tions. The Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank Ernestine Avila, California State University,
is available to adopters for download from the San Bernardino
Pearson Instructors Resource Center at www. Leonard Beeghley, University of Florida
pearsonhighered.com. Moshe ben Asher, California State University,
Northridge
Mytest This computerized software allows in-
Deva Chopyak, Cosmunes River College
structors to create their own personalized exams,
Moushumi Choudhury, Michigan State
to edit any or all of the existing test questions, and
University
to add new questions. Other special features of
Jesse Goldstein, Baruch College
this program include random generation of test
Jeanne Humble, Bluegrass Community
questions, creation of alternate versions of the
& Technical College
same test, scrambling question sequence, and test
Gary Hytrek, California State University,
preview before printing. For easy access, this soft-
Long Beach
ware is available for download from the Pearson
Marguerite Marin, Gonzaga University
Instructors Resource Center at www.pearsonhigh-
Dana Mayhew, Bristol Community College
ered.com.
Mark Miller, East Texas Baptist University
PowerPoint Presentations The PowerPoint Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, Western Michigan
presentations for Social Problems, Fourteenth University
Edition, are informed by instructional and de- J. Russel Willis, Grambling State University
sign theory. You have the option in every chapter Many people were involved in the development
of choosing from any of the following types of and production of this book from start to finish.
slides: Lecture, Line Art, and Image PowerPoints. From Ohlinger Publishing, we thank Erin Bosco,
The Lecture PowerPoint slides follow the chapter Marita Bley, Joseph Croscup, and most especially
outline and feature images from the textbook Maggie Barbieri for her careful reading of the
integrated with the text. Additionally, all of the book and helpful suggestions. From Integra, we
PowerPoints are uniquely designed to present thank Gina Linko, Project Manager. And a very
concepts in a clear and succinct way. They are special thanks to our friend and longtime user of
available to adopters for download from the Social Problems, Laurel Davis-Delano, Springfield
Pearson Instructors Resource Center at www. College, for her thoughtful and helpful critiques
pearsonhighered.com. of previous editions. We also especially want to
thank our families for their ongoing support.
Acknowledgments D. Stanley Eitzen
We thank the following reviewers of the previ- Maxine Baca Zinn
ous editions of Social Problems for their helpful Kelly Eitzen Smith
comments:
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who
have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
—Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Second Inaugural Address, 1937

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Part 1 The Political Economy of Social Problems
Chapter 1
The Sociological
Approach to Social
Problems
Learning Objectives
1.1 Understand the major social trends facing Americans and their potential
consequences.
1.2 Explain the complex nature of defining a social problem.
1.3 Explain and apply the sociological imagination to different social
problems.
1.4 Understand the four basic research designs and research methods that
sociologists use to study social problems.
1
2 Chapter 1
An Introduction to Social Issues

1.1 Understand the major social trends facing Americans and their
potential consequences.
The official population of the United States surpassed 321 million in 2015. With a net
gain of one person every twelve seconds, the United States’ population is projected to
reach more than 416 million by 2060. What will life in the United States be like with an
additional 100 million people? Will the problems of today be eliminated or reduced, or
will they have worsened? Consider the following social trends:
Immigration and the browning of America. Immigration from Latin America and
Asia is fueling population growth. By 2042, the race/ethnicity mix will be such
that racial minorities will surpass Whites as the numerical majority. The increasing
numbers of racial minorities will likely fuel racial/ethnic unrest among them as
they experience discrimination and low-paying, demeaning jobs and among the
native-born, who fear that the low wages of recent immigrants either take away
their jobs or keep their wages low. With the additional millions of immigrants add-
ed in the coming decades, previously White rural areas and small towns will begin
to deal with the challenges of new ethnic and racial residents.
The graying of America. After 2030, one in five U.S. residents will be at least 65
(similar to the proportion in Florida today). The increase in the number of elderly
will cause problems with funding Social Security and Medicare, placing a greater
burden on the young to support the elderly through these programs. This divide
between workers who support the old with payroll taxes will have both racial and
generational dimensions because the workers will be increasingly people of color
and the elderly overwhelmingly White (Harden, 2006).
The widening inequality gap and the plight of the poor. Today, the wealth and
income of the affluent grows rapidly while the income of workers languishes. The
inequality gap now is at record levels, resulting in a diminished middle class. As
the middle class is squeezed, the trend is for more downward mobility rather than
upward mobility.
At the bottom of the class system, nearly one in seven Americans is poor:
45.3 million Americans were “officially” poor in 2013. The government consid-
ers those with incomes at or below 50 percent of the poverty level to be “severely
poor.” In 2013, 19.9 million Americans were in this category. In the coming dec-
ades, how will poverty be addressed? The trend has been for the federal govern-
ment to reduce “safety net” programs that help the poor, such as welfare to single
mothers, nutrition programs, and Head Start, leading to speculation that the poor
will always be with us, and their numbers will increase.
The increasing power of money to influence elections and public policy. A 2010
Supreme Court decision allows corporations and other organizations to spend
unlimited amounts to elect or defeat political candidates. In a second ruling in
2014, the Supreme Court removed the aggregate limit on the amount individual
donors can give to candidates, political action committees, and political par-
ties. Individuals can thus spend millions to further their candidates and causes.
Add to this the influence of organizations through their lobbyists to influence
policies. The consequence of this inverse relationship between money and power
The Sociological Approach to Social Problems 3
is obvious. Where, we might ask, is the

voice of the poor heard? What hap-
pened to our democratic ideals?
Increasing globalization and the transfor-
mation of the economy. The U.S. econ-
omy has undergone a dramatic shift
from one dominated by manufacturing
to one now characterized by service
occupations and the collection, storage,
and dissemination of information. As a
result of this transformation, relatively
well-paid employment in manufactur-
ing products such as automobiles has
dwindled and been replaced with jobs
in lower-paying service industries. Most The numbers
of the manufacturing is now done in foreign countries where U.S. corporations seeking refuge in
produce the same products but with cheaper labor, lower taxes, and fewer govern- homeless shelters
mental controls. Some services, such as research, accounting, and call centers, have have increased
also been transferred to overseas companies to increase profits. Currently, these dramatically in
trends have negatively affected U.S. workers by making their jobs more insecure recent years.
and reducing or eliminating their benefits.
In the coming decades, as 100 million people are added and new technologies
enhancing globalization are developed, will the working conditions and standard
of living of U.S. workers decline or be enhanced?
Increasing threats to the environment. Currently, the United States, at about
4.5 percent of the world’s population, consumes one-fourth of the world’s energy,
most particularly oil, and it is the world’s greatest producer of greenhouse
gases, which cause global warming. Population increases lead to more traffic
congestion, more suburban sprawl, and more landfills. Population growth also
means greater demand for food, water, fossil fuels, timber, and other resources.
At present, land is being converted for development (housing, schools, shop-
ping centers, and roads) at about twice the rate of population growth. Adding
another 100 million people with today’s habits (large houses, gas-guzzling trans-
portation, suburban sprawl, and the consumption of products designed to be
obsolete) will lead to an ecological wasteland. But perhaps recognition of the
negative environmental impacts of current usage patterns will lead to our reduc-
ing waste, finding alternative energy sources, making greater use of mass transit,
increasing housing density, and finding other ways to sustain and even enhance
the environment.
At the global level, the earth is warming because of human activities, most
prominently the use of oil and other carbons. Global warming will have dis-
astrous effects during this century—coastal flooding, shifting agricultural pat-
terns, violent weather, spread of tropical diseases, and loss of biodiversity, to
name a few.
Growing global inequality. While the United States’ population will increase
by nearly 100 million before midcentury, the world will grow by 50 percent,
adding 3 billion (for a total of 9 billion) people. Almost all of this growth will
4 Chapter 1
occur among the poorest nations.

Today, an estimated 1.1 billion peo-
ple are undernourished. Most do
not have clean water and adequate
sanitation. Half of the world’s people
live on less than $2 a day, one-sixth
on less than $1 a day. Diseases such
as malaria, chronic diarrhea, Ebola,
dengue, and parasites ravage hun-
dreds of millions across the globe.
At the other extreme, the richest
nations live lavish lifestyles, consum-
ing and wasting most of the world’s
resources. Multinational corpora-
More than one
billion people
tions profit from exploiting the resources and labor of the poorest countries. This
worldwide do not gap between the fortunate few and the impoverished, desperate masses contin-
have access to safe ues to widen.
drinking water.
The underdeveloped world, already in dire straits, will face enormous obstacles
in providing the minimum of food, water, housing, and medical attention for their
peoples as they add billions in population. The result will be ever-greater numbers
of desperate people on this planet, making the world less safe. Unless the affluent
nations and international organizations make structural changes to aid the underde-
veloped countries, conflicts over scarce resources will increase, as will sectarian and
tribal violence and acts of terrorism. Although the United States is considered one of
the wealthiest nations, see Table 1.1 for a summary of social problems experienced by
children.
An increasingly dangerous world. September 11, 2001, unleashed a chain of negative

events. Those terrorist acts on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon caused
death and destruction and redirected government policies. The United States
responded with a war on Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and a preemptive war on Iraq,
presumably to squelch terrorism and spread democracy throughout the Middle
East. To fight the war on terror, the United States suspended the civil rights of
prisoners, including their protection from the use of techniques that many would
define as torture, and spied on American citizens. Suicide bombers (the “guided
missiles” of the militarily weak) have destabilized the Middle East and threaten
terror worldwide. There is the growing threat of nuclear proliferation, most nota-
bly from North Korea and Iran. As the world’s population soars, with its conse-
quent poverty, hunger, water shortages, disease, and political chaos, the United
States will be increasingly unsafe. Will we face these incredible problems and find
solutions? That is the ultimate question.
These issues highlight the social problems addressed in this book. Although the
focus is on the problematic side of social life, our hope is that readers will find this
exploration intriguing, insightful, and useful.
The Sociological Approach to Social Problems 5
Table 1.1 How America Ranks Among Industrialized Countries in Investing in and Protecting Children
Are America’s Children Ready to Compete in the Global Arena?
1st in gross domestic product
1st in number of billionaires
Second to worst in child poverty rates (just ahead of Romania)
Largest gap between the rich and the poor
1st in military spending
1st in military weapons exports
1st in number of people incarcerated
Worst in protecting children against gun violence
30th in preschool enrollment rates
24th in reading scores for 15-year-olds
28th in science scores for 15-year-olds
36th in math scores for 15-year-olds
1st in health expenditures
25th in low birthweight rates
26th in immunization rates
31st in infant mortality rates
Second to worst in teenage births (just ahead of Bulgaria)
The U.S. is the only country in the world besides Somalia—which lacks a legally constituted government—that has failed to ratify the
U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
If we compare Black child well-being in America to child well-being in other nations, according to UNICEF:
• 72 nations have lower infant mortality rates including Sri Lanka, Cuba, and Romania.
• 132 nations have a lower incidence of low birthweight including the Congo, Cambodia, and Guatemala.
Source: Courtesy of The Children’s Defense Fund.
Defining Social Problems

1.2 Explain the complex nature of defining a social problem.
Typically, social problems have been thought of as social situations that a large
number of observers felt were inappropriate and needed remedying. Early U.S.
sociologists applied a medical model to the analysis of society to assess whether
some pathology was present. Using what were presumed to be universal criteria
of normality, sociologists commonly assumed social problems resulted from “bad”
people—maladjusted people who were abnormal because of mental deficiency, men-
tal disorder, lack of education, or incomplete socialization. These social pathologists,
because they assumed the basic norms of society are universally held, viewed social
problems as behaviors or social arrangements that disturb the moral order. For them,
the moral order of U.S. society defined such behaviors as alcoholism, suicide, theft,
and murder as social problems.
Sociologists in the 1920s and 1930s began to focus more broadly on the conditions
of society that fostered problems. Societies undergoing rapid change from the pro-
cesses of migration, urbanization, and industrialization were thought to have pockets
of social disorganization. Certain areas of the cities undergoing the most rapid change,
for example, were found to have disproportionately high rates of crime, family break-
downs, and mental disorders.
6 Chapter 1
In the past few decades, many sociologists have returned to a study of problem
individuals—deviants who violate the expectations of society. The modern study of
deviance developed in two directions. The first sought the sources of deviation within
the social structure. Sociologists saw deviance as the result of conflict between the
culturally prescribed goals of society (such as material success) and the obstacles to
obtaining them that some groups of people face. The other, of relatively recent origin,
has focused on the role of society in creating and sustaining deviance through labeling
those people viewed as abnormal. Societal reactions are viewed as the key in deter-
mining what a social problem is and who is deviant.
The Objective and Subjective Nature of Social Problems

Objective reality There is an objective reality of social problems. In other words, conditions in society
of social (such as poverty and institutional racism) induce material or psychic suffering for
problems
certain segments of the population; sociocultural phenomena prevent a significant
The notion that
societal conditions number of societal participants from developing and using their full potential; dis-
harm certain crepancies exist between what a country such as the United States is supposed to
segments of the stand for (equality of opportunity, justice, democracy) and the actual conditions in
population and
therefore are which many of its people live; and people are fouling their own nests through pollu-
social problems. tion and the indiscriminate use of natural resources. This objective approach assumes
that some kinds of actions are likely to be judged a problem in any context. Therefore,
one goal of this book is to identify, describe, and explain situations that are objective
social problems.
There are several dangers, however, in defining social problems objectively. The
most obvious is that subjectivity is always present. To identify a phenomenon as a
problem implies that it falls short of some standard. But what standards are to be
used? Will the standards of society suffice? In a pluralistic society such as the United
States, there is no uniform set of guidelines. People from different social strata and
other social locations (such as region, occupation, race, and age) differ in their per-
ceptions of what a social problem is and, once defined, how it should be solved. Is
marijuana use a social problem? Is pornography? Is the relatively high rate of military
spending a social problem? Is abortion a social problem? There is little consensus in
U.S. society on these and other issues. All social observers, then, must be aware of the
Subjective subjective nature of social problems.
nature of social In defining social problems, we must also guard against the tendency to accept
problems the definitions of social problems provided by those in power. Because the power-
The idea that
what is and what
ful—the agencies of government, business, and the media—provide the statistical
is not a social data (such as crime rates), they may define social reality in a way that manipulates
problem is a mat- public opinion, thereby controlling behaviors that threaten the status quo (and their
ter of definition.
Thus, social prob-
power). The congruence of official biases and public opinion can be seen in historical
lems vary by time examples. Slavery, for instance, was not considered a social problem by the power-
and place. ful in the South, but slave revolts were. In colonial New England, the persecution of
witches was not a social problem, but the witches were. From the standpoint of U.S.
government, dispossessing Native Americans of their lands was not a social problem,
but the Native Americans who resisted were.
Thus, to consider as social problems only those occurrences so defined by the
public is fraught with related dangers. First, to do so may mean overlooking condi-
tions that are detrimental to a relatively powerless segment of the society. In other
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In the four species of marine turtles, the feet are flat and fin-shaped.
In one the shell is rather leathery than horny. Some of these marine
turtles are carnivorous, living on fish, mollusks, and crustaceans;
others are strictly vegetarian, feeding only on roots and various sea-
weeds. The flesh of some of the sea turtles is rich and delicious, and
a favorite and costly article of food; but of some others the flesh is
coarse and strongly flavored, so as to be quite uneatable. The eggs
are always sweet, good, and wholesome food. The shell of the sea
turtle is a valuable article of commerce, boxes, cases, handles for
knives, jewelry and other delicate ornamental things being made
from it; it is susceptible of a high polish, which brings out clearly its
rich brown and golden shades and markings.
Next to the marine turtles, come the fresh-water or river turtles.
These eat both animal and vegetable food. They enjoy lying in a bed
of mud, their heads lifted above the surface of the stagnant water,
their long necks moving snake-like to and fro as they take mouthfuls
of air. The fresh-water turtles are generally gregarious in their habits,
large numbers of them being found together. They are fond of lying
in the sun on logs or banks, near the water, into which they promptly
slide at the first hint of danger. They are timid creatures, but if caught
will snap and bite furiously.
Salt and fresh water terrapins are a variety of turtle. Some scientists
distinguish the turtle from the tortoise thus: the turtle is a marine
animal, does not hibernate, cannot draw its head and feet inside its
shell. The tortoise never goes to sea; can draw itself entirely within
its shell, though only the box tortoise can close the shell fast when
so withdrawn, and finally, the tortoise hibernates. Some of the best
and latest writers on the subject call all these animals turtles, giving
the name tortoise to the box tortoise of the wood.
Clumsy as turtles appear in their box-like covering, they can walk
rapidly on land, are climbers of some distinction, and all of them can
swim. The head, neck, and legs of a turtle are of a uniform color,—
bronze, blackish green, or deep brown. The shells or boxes are
beautifully marked, glossy, ribbed, ridged, or carved, and made up of
closely united many-sided plates, fitted upon a thickened, lighter-
colored, uniform plate. This shell is not brittle and lime-like, as the
shells of mollusks, but is more like horn.
In general, the shell or flat covering of the under part of the body is of
a lighter color than the upper case, being light brown, yellow, or
cream color, with yellow lines dividing the plates, and bordering
bands of red, yellow, or purple. The upper shell is usually of a very
dark color, marked and lined with darker and lighter tints, and often
with a bevelled yellow edge.
The painted turtle receives its name from the beauty of its many-
colored shell. The spotted turtle, often called the wood turtle, is
distinguished by fine yellow spots sprinkled over its black back. The
turtle which I saw feasting on the fungus was the common box
tortoise. This box tortoise prefers dry woods, and dislikes the water.
It is a long-lived creature. Some specimens have been known to live
over a hundred years. A box tortoise that I had, ate meat, insects,
and bread and milk from my hand, but if I put berries in its mouth it
wiped them out with its front foot used hand-wise, in a very funny
way. When it wanted to get away from the balcony, it crawled along
the edge looking over, its neck outstretched; when it seemed to
decide to go over it suddenly drew itself close into its shell, and
making some quick jerk while quite shut up, over it went, came down
safe in the grass, and walked away. I watched it do that many times
and was never quite sure how it flung itself “overboard” after it was
safely shut up.
The snapping turtle is a common variety. It has a box or shell too
small to close over it and hide it completely. To make up for this lack,
it has a bold and hasty temper, and snaps vigorously when
disturbed.
The gopher is the turtle of the southern pine countries. It is a large,
strong animal, with a shell fifteen inches long. These gopher turtles
live in troops, a number of families digging their dens or burrows
near together. The entrance to the den is about four feet long and
expands into a spacious room. In each burrow lives a single pair of
gophers. Gophers’ eggs are as large as pigeons’ eggs, and the eggs
and flesh are prized by the negroes as food. By day gophers stay at
home, by night they wander out and devour yams, melons, corn, and
other garden produce. They dislike wet, and go indoors when it
rains.
A near relative of the gopher is found in Europe, and is often kept
about the house for a pet. If it can find its way into a garden in the
autumn it digs a hole and hibernates, coming forth in the spring. A
friend of mine in London had one of these animals which lived in the
kitchen. It was fond of creeping into the fire-place and getting under
the grate, where it would lie until the hot coals and ashes dropped
upon its back and burnt its shell. When winter came this little animal
wanted to take its long sleep, and dug so persistently into boxes,
baskets, drawers, and closets that finally a box of earth was given to
it, into which it worked its way until out of sight, and there stayed until
April. It ate potatoes, carrots, turnips, and bread and milk, which it
specially liked.
FOOTNOTES:
[75] The harpies, we are told, frightened Æneas by saying he
would be so hungry that he would eat his plate. But as the Trojans
at one of their meals used big cakes of bread for plates, the
prophecy was harmlessly fulfilled.
LESSON XLII.
A REAL LIVE MERMAID.
“The waters pushed, the waters swelled,

A fisher sat near by,
And earnestly his line he held,
With tranquil heart and eye;
And while he sits and watches there
He sees the waves divide,
And lo! a maid with glistening hair
Springs from the troubled tide.”
—Goethe, Trans.
When I was a child I was greatly fascinated with tales of mermaids,
fabulous damsels who lived in the ocean. They had beautiful faces
and arms, and long, pale green hair, which they combed with golden
combs, and decked with sea-weeds and pearls. They swain like fish,
and sang most sweetly. When I learned that mermaids were only
creatures of fancy, and did not really exist, I felt as if I had been
robbed of friends. A few years later a bronzed, wrinkled old
fisherman restored to me my mermaids as real creatures, even more
interesting than the sea maids of myth. And so there is a real live
mermaid!
Where shall we find her? My old sailor said he first met her some
miles out at sea, in the latitude of Florida. She was swimming along
at ease, her head held above water, and she carried on her arm her
baby, whose head she stuck up above the waves.
Was she beautiful? Had she large, lovely eyes? No; her face was
something like that of a cow, but instead of the large black eyes of a
cow, she had tiny eyes, smaller than those of a pig. But were not her
arms beautiful? No; her arms were flat, short, somewhat of an oval
shape; in fact, they were flippers rather than arms, though she had
free use of the elbow, shoulder, and wrist joints. She had no hands,
no fingers, but at the end of each flipper were three small, flat nails.
Had she long, waving hair? No; she had a few coarse hairs about
her face, and a scanty covering of very fine, short hairs over her
body. Could she sing? Unfortunately all real mermaids are dumb.
Finally, was she of a sea-green color? Not at all; her skin was very
thick, and of a dark gray, finely wrinkled all over, very like the skin of
an elephant. Her upper lip was divided into two deep lobes, and she
had no lower limbs, but instead a tail, with a wide, strong fin.
Oh, an ugly, horrible creature! By no means; on the contrary, as
amiable, mild, gentle, playful, kindly a creature as ever drew breath.
A fish, of course! Indeed not: a mammal; a mammal of the sea.
The class mammalia has orders of animals that live in the sea; other
orders of creatures that live mostly in the air, and very many other
creatures that live on the land, and some that spend their lives under
ground. Any animal that suckles its young is a mammal, whether a
swimming, flying, walking, climbing, or burrowing creature. The sea
mammals are the whales, dolphins, porpoises, dugongs, and this
mermaid.
Our mermaid is called by sailors a “sea cow” from the shape of its
head and face; a “river calf” from its size and habit of living in rivers;
the most common and best name for it is that given it by the early
Spanish colonists, the manatee, or handed animal, because it can so
skilfully use its fore limbs or flippers.
Once there were manatees in many different parts of the world. They
were numerous in the Indian Ocean and in Behring Sea; but they
have been so recklessly slaughtered that now the creature is nearly
unknown, except a few in Africa near Cape Verde and the Cape of
Good Hope; some few along the coast of South America, and those
that inhabit the rivers of Florida. The manatee, like the buffalo of the
Western plains, is likely soon to be extinct.
The manatees of the Eastern hemisphere seem to have been much
larger than those of Florida.[76] Eight or ten feet is the usual length of
the American manatee. Efforts have been made to raise the animals
in captivity, but they do not thrive. One was kept sixteen months in
the aquarium at Brighton, England, and was fed on lettuce, cabbage,
turnips, thistles, and dandelions. Let us now look at the animal in its
favorite home, the Santa Lucia River in Florida.
Manatees live in droves or herds, and prefer shallow to deep water.
When they move up the river they keep well to the centre of the
stream, as they are very timid. They rest near to the banks where
they find plenty of grass and lily-pads to shelter them. Manatees
come from the West Indies and Central and South America to the
Santa Lucia River, to rear their young among the thick vegetation.
They arrive early in May and remain until late in the autumn.
Here is our manatee; let us take a good look at it. It has a gray
wrinkled skin; no fin on the back; a stiff, thick, shovel-shaped tail,
with a flat tail-fin; a moderate sized oval head with small eyes; a very
small under lip. The nostrils are two slits of a half-moon shape; the
ear is a little orifice, set not far behind the eye. The sight of the
manatee is good, but its hearing is something extraordinary.
Probably no other animal has ears so acute. If a blade of grass or a
leaf drops into the water the manatee hears it and darts away, for it
is as timid as it is harmless.
To the shoulders of the manatee are attached the flipper-like arms,
which it uses so readily. When in shallow water the creature supports
itself on the ends of the flippers and the tail, and thus raising its body
it moves slowly about the sandy river bottom. Its food is purely
vegetable, and it is interesting to watch it eat. If you notice a
caterpillar, or a silkworm feeding on a leaf, you get a notion of the
method of the manatee in eating, and its use of its odd double lip.
Hold out a cabbage leaf to a manatee which has been kept in a tank
as a pet—for though timid they are affectionate when kindly treated;
the gentle beast extends its head toward the leaf, and in so doing
parts the lobes of the upper lip, leaving a wide gap. As soon as the
leaf is within this space, the lip lobes come together and hold the leaf
firmly with their bristly surfaces. Then the lobes draw backwards, and
the leaf is thus pushed into the mouth where there are some twelve
teeth to chew it. The mermaid has in all twenty-two teeth, but some
fall out before others come, so it generally has twelve in its mouth at
one time.
While the manatee lives constantly in the water, it breathes air
through its nostrils into its lungs. To secure air it comes to the
surface of the water once in every three or four minutes. When it
thus rises it will blow like a whale and send a spout of spray and
water twelve or fifteen feet into the air. It seems to enjoy this blowing;
it also enjoys rolling itself on the sand and fine pebbles in the bottom
of the stream. It rolls and plunges to cleanse its skin; it is its way of
making its toilet. After a roll the manatee rises to the surface, parts
its lip lobes, gives a good blow, draws in all the air it can, and returns
below.
Lily pods and pads, bananas,[77] a coarse river grass called manatee
grass, are its favorite food. A large manatee will eat three bushels of
lily-pods in a day.
The manatee is a strong, swift swimmer, and dives with wonderful
agility. In its favorite haunt, the Santa Lucia River, the mermaid’s
babies are born among the lily-leaves, and in that green and
pleasant nursery, the clean white sand for their bed, the fragrant lilies
rocking on the water, the butterflies and dragon-flies darting out and
in among the shadows, and the birds singing and sporting above
them, they live for several weeks. When they are quite small their
mothers carry them around in their flippers if they seem tired or do
not go fast enough, but the manatee baby can swim as soon as it is
born.
Being now very scarce, the manatee is largely increased in value.
One fifteen feet long would cost two or even three thousand dollars.
A large skeleton is worth a thousand dollars. The hides and flesh
have been so much sought after that the creatures have been
hunted nearly out of existence. Formerly the Indians made light,
strong, and handsome canoes of manatee skins.
The manatee is very hard to kill; being timid, it darts away at the first
alarm, and its swimming speed is exceedingly rapid if it is frightened;
its thick skin, remarkably large, strong bones, and a thick layer of fat
under its skin protect it in a great measure from injury by a bullet.
The general method of securing the animal is to drive it into a very
large, strong net. One side of the net is sunk to the river bottom, the
other rises to the top of the water, and is then drawn about the
hiding-place of the manatee. After a little training it will come when it
is called, will eat from one’s hand, and likes to be petted and to have
its head rubbed.
FOOTNOTES:
[76] The rhytina and dugong are not, as some suppose,
manatees, but animals closely allied to true manatees.
[77] When in captivity.
LESSON XLIII.
GREAT WHALES ALSO.
“So far I live to Northward

No man lives North of me;
To the East are wild mountain chains,
And beyond them meres and plains;
To the Westward, all is sea.”
—Longfellow.
Many people think that a whale is a huge fish, the largest of the fish
class. This idea is entirely wrong; a whale is not a fish, but a
mammal. It belongs to the same class as the cow, sheep, horse, lion,
monkey, and man, because all these widely differing creatures are
born alive, and not in an egg, and when young are nourished by their
mothers’ milk. The mammalian class, distinguished in this way by
suckling the young, is divided into many orders, and to one of these,
the cetacean, or whale order, the whales give their name.
The whale is the largest of all living mammals; it is a mammal of the
sea, and has a fish-like body because its home is constantly in the
waters. A whale is entirely helpless when cast upon the land; it is
unable to move itself, or to find anything to eat. Out of water it will
soon die, but not because it is unable to breathe air, as is the case
with the fishes.[78]
The whale breathes air through its nostrils into lungs; it does not
have gills, and therefore while in the water it must constantly come to
the surface for air. Thus the principal motion of the whale in the
water is up and down, coming to the surface, and then seeking the
depths. To aid it in this motion the whale’s tail expands sidewise or
horizontally, and not up and down or vertically, as do the tails of most
fishes which chiefly swim straight forward, or in large curves.
Let us look at a whale. Its body is cone-shaped; the head is very
large, sometimes one-third of the animal’s entire length; there is no
notch of the body to mark the neck;[79] the body tapers to the tail,
which is widely expanded on each side into what are called flukes,
and thus becomes a very strong propeller. Just behind the head we
find a pair of fore limbs, called paddles or flippers. These are flat and
oval, and have externally no marks of joints, fingers, or nails. But if
you examine the skeleton of a whale, you will find that this limb is
divided into arm and hand bones, very much like those of your own
arms and fingers. There are no external signs of hind limbs, but in
some kinds of whales we find in the skeletons some small, soft
bones like a hint of legs.
The skin of the whale is smooth, of a dark gray or black color, and
without hair except a few bristles around the mouth. Under the skin
is spread a layer of several inches of fat, called blubber. This layer of
blubber serves to keep the whale warm, and also to render its huge
body light, so that it will float easily; it also keeps it from being readily
injured. Most whales have a low, narrow fin down the centre of the
back, to aid them in keeping a proper position in the water.
Let us now examine more particularly the whale’s big head; it has
small eyes, and a pair of tiny holes for ears. These ears are close
behind the eyes, but the nostrils are usually placed on top of the
head. In nearly all varieties of whales we find teeth inside the large
mouth. In one very important species there are no teeth, but instead,
we find a large number of horny plates. The whale’s mouth opens
very wide, and the lips are stiff and immovable, not soft and flexible
like our own.
Most people have read of the blowing or spouting of the whale, when
it sends a double stream of water from its nostrils up into the air. The
general idea is that the whale takes this water in at the mouth, and
then spurts it up into the air through the nostrils, as a matter of
amusement. This is not true. When a whale comes to the surface he
takes in a large amount of air, and returns below; most of this air
becomes changed to steam or vapor, as the animal remains below
for some time. Then the whale comes up for more air, and the first
thing is to free his lungs of the heated, vaporized air that is already in
them. The animal drives this air violently from its lungs through the
nostrils, and rising into the cold atmosphere it is at once changed to
spray by condensation. The whale frequently begins to blow before it
reaches the top of the water, and so drives surface-water up with the
vapor which it expels from its lungs.
Fishes, we know, have very little red blood; reptiles are cold-blooded
animals; but whales have plenty of warm, red blood. They are very
strong and active creatures in spite of their unwieldy size. The
lightness afforded by their blubber, or sheath of fat, and the large
amount of air they can contain in their great lungs, and the strength
of the tail with its wide flukes,[80] enable them to dash through the
water with amazing swiftness.
Most of the “true whales” are flesh-eaters, with very fierce appetites.
They devour fishes, mollusks, crustaceans, and even seals or other
whales. They need enormous quantities of food to support such
large bodies, for a Greenland sperm whale is sometimes seventy
feet long, and from twenty to thirty feet thick through the shoulders.
To secure the needed amount of food, the vast mouth opens wide. In
some whales a man can stand upright between the extended jaws.
In the “right whale,” which has no teeth, the mouth is lined along the
upper jaw with long, narrow plates or flakes called baleen, of which
whalebone is made. Every piece of whalebone is a strip of this
baleen, from within the mouth of a right whale, and every such piece
has a wonderful history behind it, for it has been floating, perhaps for
many years, through the cold Arctic seas. It could tell us rare tales if
it could speak.
These plates of baleen are sometimes seven yards long, and the
mouth of one whale has about seven hundred plates. The chief food
of this right, or whalebone whale, consists of very small brown
crustaceans, one of the numerous crab family. These creatures are
so abundant in the northern seas that they lie in banks many leagues
long and several feet thick. The whale feeds on these beds of living
animals, as a cow browses on grass or hay.
Whales are mild and inoffensive in disposition, unless greatly
irritated by wounds and attack. They seldom quarrel among
themselves, but are playful and affectionate, while the mother shows
intense fondness for her young. Whales are social animals, and go
in herds, or groups; one is seldom found alone.
In the spring the whales pair, and move off together to find some
place where they may rear their young. As they travel together they
seem very lively and happy; they stop to feed, and indulge in frolics,
leaping out of the water, tumbling over and over each other, turning
somersaults, and striving to show what they can do. As they come to
inlets or deep, quiet bays, which may afford them a safe home, the
male whale goes to explore their fitness, or to see if the spot is
already taken by some other couple. This is the spring house-
hunting of this famous family, and while Mr. Whale enters to make
inquiries, Mrs. Whale waits outside. Finally, an abode is selected,
and here the mother remains, until in autumn, one, or at most two,
little baby whales are born. Compared with their big mother they are
small, but compared with human children they are giants.
To her little ones the mother whale gives devoted attention. She
suckles them for about two months, at the end of which time they are
able to feed on crustaceans and small fish. Then the mother sets off
with her family to complete their education by taking them abroad in
the water-world. The baby whales can swim as soon as they are
born, but not so fast as their big mother, and she carefully
accommodates her pace to theirs. If danger threatens, she places
herself between it and her child, and hastens the little one’s flight by
pressing against it, and so shoving it through the water.
If there is need to go still faster, she sometimes grasps the young
one between her flippers and her neck, and so swims with all her
might, carrying the little one off. If attacked, she will sacrifice her life
rather than abandon her baby. When the baby whale is attacked, the
usually mild mother shows great fury.
A male whale also will defend his mate if she is attacked, swimming
round and round her, blowing, lashing the waves with his powerful
tail, and trying to overturn boats with his mighty head; he will die
rather than desert her. Such noble, loyal qualities shown by these
animals deepen our regret that through promiscuous slaughter, they
are rapidly diminishing in numbers, and are likely to disappear from
the Northern hemisphere. Sharks, narwhals, and white bears are
enemies of the whale, but none of these brute hunters are as
reckless and destructive in their warfare as men.
The sperm whale is more nearly allied to the porpoise than to the
right whale. From the sperm whale, oil, ivory, ambergris, and
spermaceti are obtained, but no whalebone. The spermaceti, from
which this whale derives its name, is found in a cistern-like reservoir
over two yards deep, placed near the brain cavity at the back of the
whale’s head. This reservoir contains many gallons of spermaceti.
Dolphins, narwhals, and rorquals, all belong to the whale family. The
rorquals have larger fins than the other whales. The blue whale is
the largest of all the family.[81] The humpbacked whale is shorter and
thicker than the other varieties, has a queerly shaped back fin, and
large flippers.
FOOTNOTES:
[78] See Nature Reader, No. 3, pp. 243-4.
[79] Neck or nick, or notch. Notice etymology.
[80] A fluke is either half of the tail of a cetacean, so called from
the resemblance of the tail to an anchor, as the teeth of an anchor
are called flukes.
[81] This Balænoptera sibbaldii gets its common name from its
bluish gray color; it is supposed to be the largest of living animals.
LESSON XLIV.
THE STORY OF A SEAL-SKIN COAT.
“And there we hunted the walrus,

The narwhal and the seal.
Ha! ’twas a noble game!
And like the lightning’s flame,
Flew our harpoons of steel.”
—H. W. Longfellow, in The Discoverer of the North Cape.
GARMENTS OF PRICE.
The Arabian legends tell us of a magical carpet, upon which one can
seat himself, and then, wishing to be in a certain place, the carpet
rises into the air, and safely and swiftly carries him where he would
be. When Catherine showed to me a costly seal-skin coat, her
Christmas gift, I proposed to her that we should use it as a magic
carpet, and flying to the home of the fur seal, should trace the coat
through all the changes of its history.
“Let us go at once!” cried Catherine.
“If we go now,” I said, “not a seal shall we behold, for they are now
far off at sea. It will be useless to make our trip before the fifteenth of
May.”
On the fifteenth of May, accordingly, Catherine and I spread out the
seal-skin coat and began our journey. We went northwest, crossed
the high Rockies, left behind us the new State of Washington, moved
still west by north, and finally arrived at three small islands in Bering
Sea, called the Pribylov Islands, from a Russian who discovered
them in 1786. “Our fortune is good,” said I to Catherine; “this is just
such weather as seals like. They delight in cool, moist, foggy days,
so that the sun is obscured, and casts no shadows. This is the usual
weather on the Pribylov Islands, where the sun shines clearly but
few days in the year. Seals spend about eight months in the water,
and four months chiefly on the land. When they land they choose a
dry locality of hard sand and pebbles, shelving toward the sea, so
that no water or slime shall be left on the ground, for if their fur
becomes matted with mud it falls out at once.”
“Here we are at St. Paul’s Island; date, May eighteenth; day, mild
and hazy. We stand on a ledge of rock, and to the left of us we see
five or six giant seals walking. They come up on the rocky beach and
calmly take their places on large rocks and sit looking seawards;
they are watching for their mates, friends, and neighbors to arrive.
We need not fear to approach them; unless attacked, even the
largest seal is entirely gentle. His eyesight is good, but only for
moderate distances, but his sense of smell is as keen as the hearing
of a manatee. If we keep on the side to which the wind is blowing, so
that he cannot detect us by his sense of smell, we may approach
close to him.
“Look at him now. He is seven feet long, and weighs four hundred
pounds. He has a small, round head, the skull bones are thin and
light, and the brain fills almost the entire skull cavity, for the seal is a
highly organized and very intelligent animal. The eyes are large, of a
bluish hazel, and very beautiful; the nose is like that of a
Newfoundland dog, but the mouth has not loose skin like the dog’s
mouth, but firm, well-outlined, human-like lips.
“Open the mouth and there are large, sharp, dog-like teeth. A gray
moustache ornaments the upper lip, outdoing Victor Emmanuel’s in
length, and sweeping down upon the breast. At the back of the round
head are two small, pointed, drooping ears. The neck and shoulders
are very large and heavy; the tail is merely an apology for a tail,
being but four inches long. The seal has four limbs or flippers. The
front flippers are hairless, blue black, ten inches broad at the body,
eighteen inches long, and taper to a point. There are no fingers, and
the arm and the forearm are embraced in the body, and hidden
under the skin and blubber. In fact, the flippers are only hands, the
arm part remaining enclosed in the covering of the chest. These fore
flippers are used as feet, the seal stepping on them with alternate up
and down movements, and carrying his head three feet from the
ground, in an erect and graceful attitude.
“The hind flippers are very odd. They are much longer than the front
ones, light, slender, and ribbon-like; they look like a pair of empty,
wrinkled, black kid gloves. They are twenty-two inches long, and at a
little distance from the ends have each three strong nails. The heels
are horny and projecting, and on them the seal rests the hinder part
of the body, for the upper part of these hind flippers, bones, and
joints are embraced in the body, as are the fore limbs. At every other
step the seal pauses and gives his hind flippers a sidewise fling, as if
to keep them out of harm’s way.
“Having slowly walked up the beach, this seal, who is an adult male,
seats himself and surveys the ocean, his front flippers hang idly
down, but he fans himself in the most comical style with his long,
ribbon-like, hind flippers. He is exceedingly fat; under his skin lie
several inches of blubber, and well it is for him that he is so provided,
for now that he has come out of the water, he will not return there nor
taste food or drink for the next three or four months.[82] All the time
that he is on land he maintains an absolute fast. In the water his food
is fishes, crustaceans, and squids,[83] of which he eats enormous
quantities.”
“But the fur!” cries Catherine, “the fur! I see nothing on this beast like
my lovely, soft, dark cloak. This creature is covered with coarse gray
hair.”
“Step a little closer, my Catherine, and let us examine into this
important matter. The seal wears two coats: the outer one is this
coarse, grizzly hair, the inner one is a short, close, soft, elastic, silky
fur. This fur is darkest on the back and shoulders, lightest on the
flanks and breast. This adult male seal does not have that glossy
nut-brown, or that delicate light gray or cream-colored fur which
belongs to young seals, and to the females, and which presently we
shall see prepared for your use.
“These big seals have come out of the water to make ready for
spring housekeeping. Each one selects a dry, sloping place which
will suit the mothers and their little ones, and this home he is
prepared to defend against all intruders. About the fifteenth of June
the mother seals begin to come out of the water. They are obliged to
come out and nurse their little ones on land, as even a human baby
will not be more helpless in water, or drown more quickly than a baby
seal.
“As we watch the mother seals swimming toward land and walking
up the beach, we shall see that they are only about one-sixth of the
size of the big seals we have been examining. They are of a much
more slender and graceful make, have remarkably handsome heads
and necks, and are not encumbered with the mass of blubber under
the skin. They do not need the blubber, for they go regularly into the
water to feed, and even remain away two or three days, leaving the
male seals to keep house and defend the children. Meantime these
big seals fast and use up their store of blubber to maintain their
vitality.
“The big seals meet the mothers coming up the beach, and escort
them to their homes and to comfortable seats among the rocks. The
mother seals sit down and fan themselves with their flippers, and
croon or sing. They turn their pretty heads artlessly from side to side,
and croon to each other. No mother seal will stay alone for a minute;
from six to fifty mothers always keep together in one home.
“The big male seal has four distinct calls or notes. He has a
chuckling whistle whereby he converses with the mother seals; a
loud, angry roar for any other big seal who meddles with his family; a
low growl, with which he talks to himself; and a sound like a cat
spitting, when he is alarmed. Mother seals have the crooning song
for their mates, and a bleat like a sheep for their little ones. Baby
seals cry just like little lambs.
“A mother seal seldom has more than one baby or “puppy” at a time.
These mothers are exceedingly gentle, patient creatures, and very
quiet. On shore they fan themselves, croon, and curl up for cosy
naps, but the big seals are nervous and restless, and never sleep
when ashore more than a few minutes at a time.
“Baby seals cannot swim. They make their ba-a-a-ing cry all the time
that they are awake. Their eyes are wide open at once; they are not
blind at first, like kittens and puppies, but they do not know their
mothers from any other seals. The mother seals know their own
children by their cries, though to human ears their looks and cries
are all exactly alike. No matter how far off the puppy may roll, no
matter how many scores of puppies are heaped into a warm, furry
ba-a-a-ing heap, the good little mothers can find each her own.
Perhaps the sense of smell aids them as well as the bleating cry.
“The mother seal is not a very anxious nurse. She pays no heed if
any one picks up her baby, carries it off, or treads on it. She leaves it
for two or three days at a time, while she is off in the water enjoying
herself; meantime the little one sleeps and ba-a-a-s, and does not
seem to suffer from hunger. When the mother returns from her
excursions she curls down by her baby and gives it plenty of rich
milk. These baby seals have dark blue eyes, but the eyes become
browner after a while. All seals have long, thick eyelashes.
“As the baby seals grow older they begin to roll about the shore,
which from much trampling has been worn into hollows filled with
tide-water. These hollows are muddy and the seal mothers do not
wish their babies to get into them. The naughty little seals, like
frolicsome children, trot to the puddles and go into them a dozen
times a day, and their mothers pull them out.
“As the little ones reach the age of three months they go nearer the
water’s edge in their rambles and venture in. At first they cannot
swim, and clamber out, sputtering and spitting and crying ba-a-a at
the top of their lungs. Still, after a little nap, they go back and try it
again and again, and in a few days they know how to swim; but they
are a full year old before they know how to dive, swim, fish, roll, and
sleep in the water, as well as the adults.
“In swimming the seal carries his long hind flippers stretched
backwards to serve as a rudder, and uses the fore flippers for
propulsion. When the little ones can swim they are weaned, and they
betake themselves to the water to stay, and are able to catch squids
and crustaceans for themselves. They are three or four months old
when they thus go to the water to find a home, and they do not come
back for two years. A seal can sleep as comfortably on the water as
on shore. To sleep it turns on its back, holds its nose and feet above
the surface, and takes a profound nap, gently rocked by the waves.
“While the young seals are on shore the big seals defend them and
take care of them so long as they keep at home. If they wander
away, even though they do not go out of sight, they pay no attention
to them.
“By the middle of September the homes are broken up and the seals
return to the water to remain until May or June. Now, my Catherine,
that we have thus observed the seals in general, let us look after the
making of your coat. The fur came neither from a big male seal, a
baby seal, nor a mother seal. Then from what seal did it come?
“Let us, on a July day, turn our eyes from the crowded rookeries, or
seal homes on the rocks, and at some distance off on the shore we
shall see thousands of other seals which the Indians call ‘bachelors.’
These are seals from two to six years old, young males fresh from
the water, but not allowed by the big adult seals to approach the
homes on the rocks. They do not seem troubled by the decree of
exile; they are in good temper and high spirits, and they have very
jolly times at play. They roll and tumble and gambol as do kittens and
puppies. They lie on the grass, shut their eyes, and roll to and fro;
they sit and fan themselves; they stretch out and gently comb
themselves with the nails on their hind flippers; they take naps; they
run races; they play leap-frog over each others’ backs, and snort and
roar with great hilarity.
“These young seals have the long, coarse over-hair, less gray than
the big seals, and the soft, rich under-coat is silken and of a delicate
brown color. The down and feathers on a duck’s breast are arranged
much as the hair and fur on a seal. In August seals begin to shed
and renew their coats: in June and July they are at their best. These,
then, are the seals from which the skins for commerce are to be
taken, and in June and July it must be done. They are so docile and
gentle that it is very easy to kill them.
“The seal-killers are Indian natives of the islands who understand
their work. A number of these natives go to a herd of bachelors, and
passing around them just at daybreak ‘cut out’ from one to two
thousand, just as a shepherd ‘cuts out’ a drove of sheep from a great
flock. Surrounding and gently driving them, they turn them to the
slaughter-houses. Seals walk easily and quickly, and they go as they
are driven with the docility of sheep. Arrived at the houses, they are
allowed to lie down and rest and cool for half an hour.
“Then an expert man goes out with several others armed with clubs.
The expert points to different seals and says: ‘Don’t kill him, he is too
young.’ ‘Don’t kill that one, he is shedding his coat.’ ‘Don’t kill that
one, he is too old.’ ‘Let that one go, he is sick.’ And so on. When he
has thus pointed out the exceptions, the men with the clubs lift the
clubs high and bring down a crashing blow on the skull of each seal,
killing it instantly. As the seal is killed it is dragged from the group,

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Police 257 Unions and Their Decline 315

The Corporation-Dominated U.S. Economy 300

Family and Community Resources 360 The Bismarck Model 394

• Increasing tensions over immigration Note on Language Usage

—Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Second Inaugural Address, 1937

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is obvious. Where, we might ask, is the

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“The waters pushed, the waters swelled,

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“And there we hunted the walrus,

—H. W. Longfellow, in The Discoverer of the North Cape.

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