JOURNALS 1-5
Alexander Kehinde
SAIT
Journal (Ch.1)
Would you consider homelessness a social problem? Why or why not?
Based on Mills classic distinction between personal troubles and public issues,
homelessness poses itself as the latter, a social problem whose source lies in the social structure
and culture of a society. The three theoretical perspectives (functionalism, conflict theory,
symbolic interactionism) provide different insights into homelessness, identifying the role of
race and class, individual interactions and the question of whether there are fundamental faults
that lead to this social problem. Statistics read that an estimated 235,000 Canadians experience
homelessness each year, with 35,000 Canadians experiencing homelessness on any given night
(N/A, 2013). Also one of the fastest growing demographics of the homeless population is
children & families, with 10% of Canadian families living below low-income cut-off, and 14%
of Canadian children living in poverty. (N/A, 2013)
What is your current understanding of this problem and what is it based on? (Personal
observation or experience, media, etc.)
Being Nigerian, the common sentiment regarding the homeless would either be attributed
to mental health, or outright slothfulness-- no holding back. My father would either accept or
rebuff homeless beggars’ advances based on their “look.” He would say, “if their eyes are red,
they’re more likely to spend your givings on alcohol and cigarettes. It is not my place to be that
kind of enabler.” In my early years, that made me to view the issue without nuance, on a 2D
plane. I never considered systemic issues like the lack of support for immigrants and refugees, or
difficult transitions from child welfare. Research highlights that over 40 percent of youth
experiencing homelessness in Canada have been involved with child welfare services, which
included foster care and group homes.
I gained a new understanding from “The State of Homelessness in Canada” video via the
functionalist perspective. Functionalism states that social problems weaken a society’s stability
but do not reflect fundamental faults in how the society is structured. Despite the $7 billion that
homelessness costs the government, there still have been strategic and integrated responses used
as measures, ranging from (government) investments in affordable housing and an emphasis on
Housing First, an evidenced based approach provided from federally funded research projects
(Hub, 2014).
Journal (Ch.2)
Define independent versus dependent variable. What are the independent and dependent
variables of the STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT.
Typically relationships among variables are stated as hypotheses and theories. Cause and
effect is the relationship in which change in one variable causes change in another. The two
types of variables share that same relationship; independent variable being the one that causes
the change and dependent variables being the variable that changes.
In...
