Introduction

Figure 1: Social-issues
(source: Jimmy Buehler )

Hello, and welcome to my blog about Social Problems.  My name is Kim Lutz, I am 37 years old, a wife, mother, and a grandmother. Like many people, I wear many 'hats'.  Through the different roles that I live, I have experienced a great deal.  Throughout my life journey I have witnessed firsthand many of the major social problems that many people are faced with. Deciding to further my education was a bit scary at first, as it had been many years since I had stepped foot into a classroom.  My family has showered me with support, and I am certainly glad that I did.  I recently transferred to the University of Idaho, and am a Psychology major.  Even though Psychology is my main area of study, I do value much of what Sociology holds.  My Psychology and Sociology courses have helped a great deal in knowing more about why people do what they do.  Even though there is never a clear cut answer to any social problem, it is helpful to look deeper into the issues that many face.  I decided to take Sociology 230: Social problems so that I can learn more about some of the issues that I am aware of, and to become aware of issues that I may have overlooked or have just simply known about.  It is far easier to choose to overlook issues, yet I would not want to do so.  Every person is affected either directly, or indirectly, by one social problem or another.  As a country we all have to deal with the affects of crime, stereotypes, prejudice, drug and alcohol problems, health issues, and more.  The theory of 6 degrees of separation says that we are all connected through someone, and I believe that many of us have been faced with one or more of the social problems that will be covered in my blog.  I will be taking information from my textbook, and will expand on the topics through research. Through my blog my hope is that if you are reading this, that you might take time to reflect, or act.

  

Figure:2
(source: Zara Alexis)

Many of us have used the expression "it's a small world" when we have met someone who knows someone else.  These days we can feel how much the world seems to have shrunk through web interactions.  Social media is one of the biggest sources to connect to people, often through 'friends of friends'.  In the article The Small-World  Phenomenon: An  Algorithmic  Perspective, by Jon  Kleinberg, it is stated that "a social  network exhibits the small-world phenomenon if, roughly  speaking, any two individuals in the  network are likely to be connected through a short  sequence of intermediate acquaintances" and that "recent work has suggested that the phenomenon is pervasive in networks arising in nature and technology, and a fundamental ingredient in the structural evolution of the World Wide Web".