Question: Private Troubles vs. Public Issues - Georgia has worked her whole life but was never able to save up for retirement because she...

Below are four scenarios to read that illustrate the difference between private troubles and public issues:

• Georgia has worked her whole life but was never able to save up for retirement because she could barely pay bills as a single parent with no child support and a minimum-wage job. Now that she’s retired and has no retirement plan, the money that Georgia gets from the government (Medicare) is close to poverty wages and is barely enough to stay afloat. She’s constantly worried about money and feels like a failure for being unable to pay her bills.
• Natasha is a first-generation college student in her freshman year at UConn. She has worked really hard in school to get into college, but she has constant struggles fitting in. In class and in the dorms, other students talk about things she can’t relate to like the awesome overseas vacations they’ve been on and how they had to call their parents for help on their accounting exam. As a result, Natasha feels left out, alone, like she doesn’t belong on campus, and is considering leaving before she finishes her degree.
• Harry is in the emergency room complaining of chest pains. He’s only 43 but has high blood pressure and diabetes, two major risk factors for heart disease. The overworked and tired ER doctor is frustrated seeing patients so young with serious health issues and wonders why people just can’t take care of themselves. She treats Harry as a good doctor would but, after diagnosing his heart condition, she lectures him on needing to eat better and exercise daily and sends him on his way. However, the doctor doesn’t realize that Harry works at a labor-intensive factory where he complains of muscle aches and stiff bones, and she doesn’t know that he can barely afford to feed his three kids at home with the cheap frozen meals he usually buys. Harry feels badly that he does not take better care of himself.
• Rosa is an undocumented immigrant who fled gang violence in Mexico. She made the treacherous journey to the U.S. with her three-year-old daughter and husband. Unfortunately, they were spotted by agents once they crossed the border, so they were taken into custody. Now they are awaiting deportation in an overcrowded and unsanitary facility where they must sleep on the floor. Rosa feels horrible about the situation she and her family are in, but she doesn’t have the resources (or time) to enter the United States through legal channels. She’s heard many people on tv say that people like her should be locked up, and that she and her husband are taking jobs from “hardworking Americans,” which made her feel even worse about her situation. She starts to wonder whether she was wrong to try to leave home for the possibility of a better life. She feels guilty for placing her family in this dire situation.

To complete this activity, please answer the following questions (which will become the first part of your weekly activity paper):

• How is each “personal trouble” is actually a “public issue?”
• What is a sociological solution to help the person in each scenario?
• Why do we, as a society, often interpret public issues as personal problems? How can we shift this mindset?
• In general, what are some challenges to creating sociological solutions? How are sociological solutions advantageous over individual-level ones?