Problems, Problems

Teacher key. Do not link to this page from student materials, and do not upload it to a public folder.

Teacher key

Section numbers map to obscured file names, so students cannot step through the story by editing the address. Start page: index.html. Recap page: p-b7f93b77.html.

Page map

Route notes

• Ending 51, Someone Has to Be the Problem: reached from section 46.
• Ending 52, A Tragic Accident: reached from section 3.
• Ending 53, The Road Not Taken: reached from sections 1, 15.
• Ending 54, Arrest, Quietly: reached from section 49.
• Ending 55, Problems, Problems: reached from section 49.
• Ending 56, Reasonable Doubt: reached from section 50.
• Clue locations: A (5), The Audit Draft; B (6), The Rail Requests; C (7), The Lamp Log; D (10), The Problem Register; E (19), The Licence; F (35), Marian's Notebook; G (23), Albert's Account; H (26), The Festival Programme; I (29), The Key Log; J (15), The Retainer; K (18), The Prospectus; L (32), The Problem Streets; M (38), The Pass Log; N (39), The Summons; O (42), The Freewheel Lever.
• Flag ALBERT_HEARD: set in section 23; checked at section 49.
• Flag ALBERT_DISMISSED: set in section 24; recorded for the player's own notebook only (it does not change the route).
• Flag PEOPLE_FIRST: set in section 44; recorded for the player's own notebook only (it does not change the route).
• Flag PAPER_FIRST: set in section 45; recorded for the player's own notebook only (it does not change the route).
• Decision at section 8, The Case Board: If you hold clue D and either clue F or clue I: send Jonah into the council's records. (to 37)
• Decision at section 40, The Case Board, Again: If you hold seven or more clues: gather everyone for the cabinet meeting. (to 42); If you hold six or fewer: it's too soon. (to 41)
• Decision at section 47, The Case Against Keast: If you hold four or more of clues E, G, M, N, O: the case holds. (to 48); If you hold three or fewer: it wobbles. (to 50)
• Decision at section 49, The Choice to Publish: If you hold flag ALBERT_HEARD: turn to 55 for the fuller ending. (to 55); Otherwise, or if you'd rather keep it simple: let the arrest be the end of it. (to 54)
• Decision at section 50, The Wobble: If you hold clue O and at least two of clues E, M, N: press on with the lever. (to 48); Otherwise: you don't have enough. (to 56)

Comprehension questions with indicative content

Credit any valid sociological point, developed with evidence from the story.

A. Social problems and sociological problems

1. Briefly explain the difference between a social problem and a sociological problem, using the quay as your example. [4 marks]

   • A social problem (Stanley): behaviour that causes public friction or private misery and a call for action, defined by an influential or dominant group (Carter), so it is relative.
   • A sociological problem (Willis): a question that demands explanation. The sociological problem is why the unfenced quay was treated as the victim's trouble rather than the council's hazard.

2. Using the concept of disability, explain why Adomaitiene's example matters to the distinction between social and sociological problems. [6 marks]

   • Disabled people face social problems (discrimination, unsuitable environments) and are also labelled in the media as a social problem in themselves.
   • The sociological question is how disability is constructed as a problem and why discrimination occurs. Marian's audit asks it of the quay; the council's reply (clue B) treats it as an individual's needs.

3. Using Mills's distinction, explain the difference between a private trouble, a public problem and a public issue, using the case of Marian's death as your example. [6 marks]

   • Private trouble: a problem for an individual and their family (the "tragic accident" verdict).
   • Public problem: a problem for society as a whole (unsafe quays for disabled residents).
   • Public issue: a sociological problem seeking the causes (why the council removed a railing, switched off lamps and defined accessibility as an "individual support plan").

B. Sociology and social policy

4. Using Calvert and Calvert's and Morris's definitions, explain what is meant by social policy. [4 marks]

   • Social policy: the principles under which government directs economic resources to meet specific social needs (Calvert and Calvert).
   • Morris: governments identify and regulate social problems (crime), needs (the old and the poor) and conditions (planning regulations) - the quay's lighting and railing are "conditions".

5. Using Painter and Farrington's study, explain how sociological research can contribute to both a sociological and a social problem. [6 marks]

   • Their study asked how changes to the physical environment change behaviour (a sociological problem) and also suggested a solution to a social problem (better lighting, less crime).
   • Marian's use of it (clue C) shows research feeding straight into a policy choice - and the council's decision to ignore it.

6. Evaluate Mills's argument that an 'unimaginative' view of sociology reduces it to facilitating administrative decisions, using Keast as your evidence. [8 marks]

   • Mills: sociology as 'solving social problems' becomes the accumulation of facts for administrative decisions, risking co-option into social control.
   • Keast (clues D and E) measures friction for the council and licenses the result to a developer - sociology as an instrument of administration and profit.
   • Counter-view: Keast is not a cartoon villain; Strand needs a way to ration eleven million pounds. The case shows the risk without denying that policy-engaged research can be useful.

7. Evaluate the view that sociologists should take the side of the underdog, using Becker, Tombs and Whyte, and Marsland. [10 marks]

   • Becker (1967): value-neutrality over social issues is impossible; sociologists must choose whose interests their research serves.
   • Tombs and Whyte: take 'the standpoint of the underdog' and apply it to the overdogs. Marian's notebook (clue F) does exactly this.
   • Marsland: sociology should work on problems as defined by political consensus, or leave the field to economists and vested interests. Keast's career (clue E) shows what that can become.
   • The fullest ending suggests a middle position: declare your side openly, and be accountable for it.

C. Cultural diversity: universals and cross-cultural variation

8. Explain Murdock's argument that some behaviours are cultural universals, and give two examples of how they vary between societies. [4 marks]

   • Murdock: all societies share age grading, family groups, language, status differences, greetings, gestures, joking, superstitions.
   • Variation: handshakes in Europe against bowing in Japan; the upturned beckoning finger acceptable in America but an insult in India; British personal space of around 60cm against 40cm in Hungary.

9. Using the Mauritian example in the chapter, explain what is meant by 'cross-cultural' diversity. [4 marks]

   • Cross-cultural diversity refers to differences between societies.
   • Britain and Mauritius differ in language, political organisation (an unelected monarch against an elected president) and history; Mauritius itself contains four major ethnic groups.

D. Intra-cultural diversity: class, age, gender, ethnicity and religion

10. Using Gans, Giddens and Brooks, explain how the festival programme (clue H) reflects the cultural stratification of high and popular culture. [6 marks]

    • Gans: high culture is the art preferred by the well-educated elite; Giddens: popular culture is entertainment for large audiences.
    • The programme places opera and Shakespeare in the Fine Arts Quarter and community stalls in an "informal" lane (clue H).
    • Brooks: middle-class taste is confirmed by expressions of disgust at perceived violations of taste, such as the 'chav' label Bernie describes.

11. Explain how age is socially constructed, using Albert Quayle's treatment by the council (clue G). [6 marks]

    • Age involves biological categories plus cultural expectations about behaviour; old age is often stigmatised as decline.
    • Gianoulis: the medicalisation of old age turns disorientation into "senility"; Albert's remark about the humming lamps is recorded as a hallucination.
    • Counter-evidence: Kagan (Colombia) and the Sherbro of Sierra Leone value age; cultural variation shows decline is not inevitable.

12. Using Dahrendorf's concept of life chances and Scott's concept of asynchronies, explain how gender affects participation in the council's consultation. [6 marks]

    • Life chances: relative chances of gaining what a society values and avoiding what it doesn't; men and women of the same class do not necessarily share them (Stanworth).
    • Scott: asynchronies - family responsibilities restrict opportunities to synchronise with the requirements of work and wider society. A six o'clock consultation excludes carers, as Bernie says.
    • The chapter's employment figures (83% of personal services roles held by women, 6% of engineering) illustrate horizontal segregation, as in Joss Merrin's care work.

13. Using the chapter's data on ethnic minorities, explain the significance of Darek Kowal's situation. [6 marks]

    • "Other White" is the largest minority group in the chapter's table (2.5%), yet attracts little attention; the white majority is itself not homogeneous (Self and Zealey).
    • Horizontal segregation: minority groups concentrated in particular occupations (taxi driving, hotels and restaurants); Darek, an engineer, works as a night guard.
    • Labelling: the "foreign lad with the keys" is treated as a suspect because of who he is, not what he did.

14. Using McGuire and the UK Census data, explain why religion cannot be treated as a single, uniform category. [6 marks]

    • Religion varies between religions, within religions and in beliefs, practices and organisation; McGuire: all religions have a dual character, individual and communal.
    • Census 2001: South Asians ranked religion as the second most important aspect of their identity, white Britons tenth - so religion interacts with ethnicity.
    • The council invited one faith "representative" to speak for eleven congregations in four languages - treating a diverse category as uniform.

E. Global culture

15. Using Dell's prospectus (clue K), explain the difference between cultural hybridisation and Disneyization. [6 marks]

    • Hybridisation: pick-and-mix mixing of cultural elements to make something new (Bhangra; chicken tikka masala).
    • Disneyization (Bryman): standardised, sanitised versions of diversity and choice - the Global Quarter's consistent, franchise-ready "authentic" zones.

16. Explain Sklair's three processes of global cultural development, giving one example for each from the case or the chapter. [6 marks]

    • Localised globalism: global forms adapted locally (Regev's 'local varieties of rock').
    • Globalised localism: local features becoming global (a distinctive local culture marketed worldwide).
    • Global cultural convergence: disneyization and McDonaldization, as the Global Quarter packages Dockside diversity into a standard format.

17. Evaluate the claim that cultural globalisation creates convergence rather than diversity, using the Global Quarter as evidence. [8 marks]

    • Convergence (Ritzer's McDonaldization, Berger's McWorld): standardised products and consumer culture promoted by global companies.
    • The prospectus offers 'every flavour' at 'a consistent standard' (clue K), diversity delivered as a uniform product.
    • Diversity: Bernie's lane, the dholl puri stall and the brass band show local culture persisting and resisting; Sklair suggests globalisation can also create new local and hybrid forms.

F. Synthesis

18. "The council did not decide to let Marian die. It decided what counted as a problem, and the rest followed." Discuss, using at least three pieces of evidence. [10 marks]

    • Social problems are defined by dominant groups: the register ranks people by complaint volume (clue D) and omits hazards in the built environment.
    • Conditions without complainants score zero (clue L): the quay, where nobody lives, is not a "problem" on any map.
    • Counter-evidence: the deliberate act (clues M, N, O) shows that structures do not act alone; an individual chose to use the lever.
    • Synthesis: structure framed the "accident"; an individual exploited the frame.

19. "Catching the person responsible does not change how problems are defined." Discuss with reference to two endings. [10 marks]

    • "Arrest, Quietly": the culprit is caught and the lamps relit, but the register survives and the Global Quarter proceeds.
    • "Problems, Problems" (fullest ending): the register is withdrawn, the strategy redrafted conditions-first, and the panel's voices are heard from the inside.
    • Link to Mills: the first treats a public issue as a private crime; the second treats it as a public issue.