1.5 Social Problems and Interdependent Solutions
As we conclude this chapter, you may be feeling curious and excited to know more. You may be feeling depressed, angry, or despairing because the weight of even the few social problems we have begun to explore is enormous. We’ve looked at how rape has become a social problem. We’ve started to examine the interlocking causes of systemic inequities and the politics of difference. And we’re just on Chapter 1.
Social problems sociologists don’t stop with the problem, though. They do their research in order to discover solutions and use them in the world. They are committed to addressing the suffering of people who experience the problems. They look for solutions at all levels using both individual social agency and collective action. You may be wondering which approach is more effective.
To confront the social problems of our world, we need a both/and approach to their resolution. We act with individual agency to create a life that is healthy and nurturing and we act collectively to address complex issues. Among many scholar/activists, two women embody the power of this approach.
The following biographies introduce two researcher/activists who embody both study and action. With scholar-activists leading the way, we will explore the causes and consequences of social problems locally, nationally, and internationally. Each of the chapters in this book will explore reasons for hope—those leaders, ordinary people, and community groups that are actively engaged in creating a more just, equitable, and resilient world.
1.5.1 Activist Scholars: Jane Addams and Angela Davis
-Jane Addams, community activist, scholar, and Nobel Prize winner
Figure 1.34 Image of Jane Addams, activist, scholar and Nobel Prize winner
Jane Addams (figure 1.34) was a wealthy White woman who combined community building, research, and activism. Addams created Hull House, a community center for immigrants in Chicago during the late 1900s. She lived at Hull House herself. Hull House was a center for kindergarten and daycare for children, Teachers taught adults and children to read and to speak English. Community members could get help in finding jobs and learning about union activities. In creating Hull House, Jane Addams used both individual agency and collective action.
In addition to being a community activist, Addams was a scholar and a researcher. She studied the causes of the social problems she saw. Even though she was not allowed to attend a regular university because she was a woman, she worked with the male sociologists at the University of Chicago School of Sociology to understand the deep roots of poverty, hunger, and violence in her Chicago neighborhood.
Not only did Addams work to improve the conditions of poor immigrants in Chicago, but she was also a thought leader in identifying the causes and consequences of their poverty and oppression. In addition, she created a network of peace activists and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her efforts in promoting international peace (Michals 2017). To learn more about Jane Addams and her work at Hull House, you can watch this video documentary about Jane Addams [YouTube Video], or read more about Hull House in this biographical statement for the Hull House Museum.
Figure 1.35 Angela Davis activist and scholar
Black activist and scholar Angela Davis (figure 1.35) is another woman who embodies the power of both/and thinking when combining individual agency and collective action. Earlier in this chapter, she offered the healing approach of radical self-care as a response to activists who are exhausted and overwhelmed with community activism. Davis started her career as a scholar, but soon became an activist protesting the unjust treatment of three Black prisoners in 1970. Her passionate commitment to radical social change, supported by careful critical analysis continues to the present day. She says, “The real criminals in this society are not all of the people who populate the prisons across the state, but those who have stolen the wealth of the world from the people” (Davis quoted by George 2020).
Davis was recognized as an embodiment of intersectionality even before the world knew the word. In one New York Times article, the author writes, “Before the world knew what intersectionality was, the scholar, writer, and activist was living it, arguing not just for Black liberation, but for the rights of women and queer and transgender people as well” (George 2020). Davis embodies both/and approaches to addressing social problems, taking individual action to care for herself and others, and connecting activists in social activism spanning decades. If you would like to learn more about Angela Davis, feel free to watch this video on Angela Davis’s early activism.
1.5.2 Licenses and Attributions for Social Problems and Interdependent Solutions
1.5.2.1 Open Content, Shared Previously
Figure 1.34. “Jane Addams” by Gerhard Sisters is in the Public domain.
Figure 1.35. “Angela Davis” by Bernard Gotfyrd, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, has no known copyright restrictions.
1.5.2.2 Open Content, Original
“Social Problem and Interdependent Solutions” by Kimberly Puttman is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Activist Scholars” by Kimberly Puttman is licensed under CC BY 4.0.