Question

choose a social problem and discuss it in the context of stephen pfohl's 5 components of critical theorizing

Answer 1

Introduction- Social problems are one of the most common troubles faced by college students. It is often said that man is a social animal. This is most commonly felt at this phase of one’s life, while one is pursuing their degrees, especially for the students away from home. Unless they end up building a home away from home, adjustment and overall well-being of the individual becomes a challenge in itself.

Defining the problem- Establishing connections and spending time with classmates and roommates is important for building community. However, spending too much time together can be challenging, and conflicts can arise. Social relations can become a distraction.
Stressing its importance- In fact many research evidences suggest that one of the biggest challenges faced on campuses today includes stress due to discrimination or bullying. Therefore, this makes it a huge challenge and needs to be addressed at colleges in order to bring down the level of stress in students.
Effects of the problem: These include ill effects on individual and group level well-being on various levels. The maintenance of balance on different levels of well-being

Plan for solving the problem: One form of intervention for this could be having a team of counsellors on board within the campuses at all times. This includes a dedicated team that collaboratively works at three levels-primary, secondary and tertiary which caters to ensuring emotional well-being through awareness campaigns, workshops, sensitization programs, identification of concerns (if any) and finally engaging in intervention once the concerned individuals are identified.

All theoretical perspectives represent historically specific standpoints. They embody the perspectives of particular authors within contradictory and often politically charged social contexts. In this respect, two issues become particularly relevant: (1) the disciplinary character of various perspectives; and (2) the relationship between each perspective and social power. Along with interdisciplinary concerns, much of what we will be discussing will be guided by the power-reflexive perspective. This is a critical approach to deviance, rooted in the recognition that every act of naming, theorizing, or translating peoples’ experience into writing is, by its very nature, also an act of exclusion, displacement or sacrifice (i.e. “what you see necessarily limits what you don’t see”). In other words, when one relates a theoretical story about an experience, certain aspects of that experience are singled out while others are marginalized, silenced, or made unthinkable. This is especially true in this case where issues like discrimination on the basis of SES and marginalization are issues that are easily normalized heavily in the society.