According to Jeannette and Lauer (2004), the social issues that lead to violence include; gender, poverty, and teen issues like abortion and drug and alcohol abuse. It must however be noted that all these seem to start from within an individual before they erupt to cause violence among them. It points to the need for people to learn to accept things the way they are, take responsibility, know how to detect misunderstanding and solve their problems through dialogue. In this write up, I will agree with the various points raised by Jeannette and Lauer in their book Social Problems and the Quality of Life and proceed to propose solutions to such issues.
Economic issues are seemingly the first major cause of violence in any society. For example, Jeannette and Lauer (2004) rightfully associate the high rate violence in most societies with the high level of poverty experienced by the majority of the people in these societies. Poverty has remained one of the most rampant causes of social problems especially in the third worlds where the majority of the population live below the poverty line. They note that it is usually the unemployed who involve themselves in illegal activities like robbery with violence in an attempt to afford the required basic needs for their families. This has drastically impacted on the peaceful coexistence of the society. The affected governments must thus come up with the strategies which can allow equitable distribution of resources among its citizens.
Another social issue which has been responsible for violence among many societies are the various issues related to teens and the youth. Jeannette and Lauer (2004) point to alcohol and drug abuse as the greatest amongst these issues. Such issues have led to carelessness and hopelessness among the teens who then involve themselves in many unreasonable acts with their fellow teens and against their family members and neighbours within the society.
As for this, the solution lies with the teachers in schools and parents at home. For instance, parents should give one on one talk to their sons and daughters on how to behave in a responsible manner. Teachers should also take the responsibility of preventing activities that can lead to violence in schools. This can be achieved by realising the warning signs before actual school violence occurs. For example, teachers must identify and help the students who lack anger management skills as those who are obsessed with violent plays or games. These will help reduce violence among the teens.
Finally, Jeannette and Lauer (2004) also identify gender issues as the other great cause of violence in our today’s society. They observe that women suffer many societal ills based on their gender. Such women have thus, in many cases, agitated for equality of rights in terms of pay-packages, rights, and privileges. It is such agitations that have been responsible for violence in certain situations. For example, even the USA which is considered gender sensitive has only, through its labour department, speculated that the country will wait until 2018 to have 46% of its labour force jobs occupied by women. Equally, in homes where the man still feels more powerful and has the urge to exercise this power and authority over the wife, domestic violence still remains a great issue.
I believe that the issues arising from gender can only be solved by lobbying for women’s rights through engaging all the stakeholders. This way, the men who continue to take advantage of their gender to involve themselves in such vices as gender abuse and discrimination can be made to be charged in the court of law.
In conclusion, it is clear that though there are a number of international issues causing conflicts, the major social issues that cause violence in the society include; gender issues, teen issues, and economic issues. It is also clear that if any effective change is to be made towards reducing violence, it needs to be made starting from an individual before it goes to the national and international levels. This means that people must be ready to admit changes, face problems with solutions, and involve themselves in dialogue problem solving methods and not violence.