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Contents vii

A Defining Moment: Rosa Parks: Housework 115


Saying No to Segregation 76 Violence against Women 115
Pluralism 76 Sexual Harassment 116
The Social Standing of U.S. Minorities 77 Sexuality, Beauty, and Reproduction 117
Native Americans 77 Women: A Majority Minority? 117
African Americans 78 Theories of Gender Inequality 118
Asian Americans 80 Structural-Functional Analysis: Gender
Hispanic Americans/Latinos 81 and Complementarity 118
Arab Americans 83 Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Gender
Prejudice 84 in Everyday Life 119
Stereotypes 84 Social-Conflict Analysis: Gender and Inequality 119
Racism 85 Intersection Theory: The Case of Minority Women 120
Measuring Prejudice: The Social Distance Scale 85 Feminism 121
Institutional Racism: The Case of Racial Profiling 86 Feminist Foundations 121
Causes of Prejudice 87 Types of Feminism 122
Multiculturalism 87 A Defining Moment: Elizabeth Cady Stanton:
Discrimination 87 Claiming Women’s Right to Equality 122
Institutional Discrimination 88 Politics and Gender: Constructing Problems
Prejudice and Discrimination: A Vicious Circle 88 and Defining Solutions 125
Microaggression 88 Conservatives: The Value of Families 125
Affirmative Action: Reverse Discrimination Liberals: The Pursuit of Equality 125
or Cure for Prejudice? 89 The Radical Left: Change the System 126
Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality 90 Going On from Here 127
Structural-Functional Analysis: Defining Solutions 128
The Importance of Culture 90 Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 129
Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Personal Making the Grade: Visual Summary 130
Meaning of Race 91
Social-Conflict Analysis: The Structure of Inequality 91 5 Aging and Inequality 132
Politics, Race, and Ethnicity: Constructing
Constructing the Problem 134
Problems and Defining Solutions 93
Growing Old 135
Conservatives: Culture and Effort Matter 93
Industrialization and Aging 135
Liberals: Society and Government Matter 94
Life Expectancy 137
The Radical Left: Fundamental Changes Are Needed 94
Going On from Here 94 The Graying of the United States 137
Elders: A Diverse Population 138
Defining Solutions 96
Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 97 Problems of Aging 139
Social Isolation 139
Making the Grade: Visual Summary 98
Retirement 139
4 Gender Inequality 100 Ageism 140
Victimization of the Elderly 142
Constructing the Problem 102
The Growing Need for Caregiving 143
What Is Gender? 103 Poverty 143
Patriarchy 103 Age Stratification 144
The Problem of Sexism 104 Housing 144
Gender and Social Institutions 105 Medical Care 146
Gender and the Family 105 Death and Dying 146
Gender and Education 105 A Defining Moment: A Good Death:
Gender and the Mass Media 106 Cicely Saunders and the Birth of Hospice 149
Gender and Politics 107 Theories of Aging and Inequality 149
Gender and Religion 108 Structural-Functional Theory: The Need to Disengage 149
Gender and the Military 109 Symbolic-Interaction Theory: Staying Active 150
Gender and Work 110 Social-Conflict Theory: Age and Economic Inequality 151
Gender Stratification 111 Feminist Theory: Aging and Gender 151
Income 112 Intersection Theory: Multiple Disadvantages 152
viii Contents

Politics and Aging: Constructing Problems Social-Conflict Analysis: Crime and Inequality 190
and Defining Solutions 152 Feminist Analysis: Crime and Gender 191
Conservatives: More Family Responsibility 152 Politics and Crime: Constructing Problems
Liberals: More Government Assistance 154 and Defining Solutions 191
The Radical Left: Capitalism and the Elderly 154 Conservatives: Crime, Violence, and Morality 192
Going On from Here 155 Liberals: Crime, Violence, and Jobs 192
Defining Solutions 156 The Radical Left: Crime and Inequality 192
Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 157 Going On from Here 193
Making the Grade: Visual Summary 158 Defining Solutions 194
Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 195
Making the Grade: Visual Summary 196
Part iii Problems of Deviance,
Conformity, and Well-Being 7 Sexuality 198
6 Crime, Violence, and Criminal Constructing the Problem 200

Justice 160 What Is Sex? 201


Sex: A Biological Issue 201
Constructing the Problem 162 Sex: A Cultural Issue 201
Understanding Crime 163 Sexual Attitudes in the United States 201
Norms, Law, and Crime 163 The Sexual Revolution 202
Crime Statistics 163 A Defining Moment: Alfred Kinsey:
Violent Crime: Patterns and Trends 164 Talking Openly about Sex 202
Property Crime: Patterns and Trends 166 The Sexual Counterrevolution 203
“Street Crime”: Who Are the Criminals? 168 The Continuing Sexual Revolution:
Other Dimensions of the Crime Problem 169 Older People 203
Juvenile Delinquency 169 Sexual Orientation 204
Hate Crimes 170 Homosexuality 204
White-Collar Crime 170 What Determines Sexual Orientation? 205
Corporate Crime 171 Homosexuality and Public Policy 207
Organized Crime 172 Same-Sex Marriage 208
Victimless Crime 172 The Gay Rights Movement 208
Violence 173 The Transgender Movement 208
Is Violence a Social Problem? 173 Sexual Issues and Controversies 209
A Defining Moment: U.S. Society Discovers Child Abuse 174 Pornography 209
Serious Violence: Mass Murder and Serial Killings 175 Sexual Harassment 211
The Mass Media and Violence 176 Prostitution 212
Poverty and Violence 176 Teenage Pregnancy 215
Youth Gangs and Violence 177 Abortion 217
Drugs and Violence 177 Sexually Transmitted Diseases 218
Guns and Violence 177 Theories of Sexuality 221
The Criminal Justice System 179 Structural-Functional Analysis: Controlling
Due Process 179 Sexuality 221
Police 180 Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Defining Sexuality 221
Courts 180 Social-Conflict Analysis: Feminist Theory
Punishment 181 and Queer Theory 222
Community–Based Corrections 183 Politics and Sexuality: Constructing Problems
and Defining Solutions 223
Explaining Crime: Biological and Psychological Theories 185
Conservatives: The Value of Traditional Morality 223
Biological Causes 185
Liberals: Sex and Individual Choice 224
Psychological Causes 186
The Radical Left: Go to the Root of the Problem 224
Explaining Crime: Sociological Theories 187
Going On from Here 225
Structural-Functional Analysis: Why Society
Creates Crime 187 Defining Solutions 226
Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Socially Constructing Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 227
Reality 189 Making the Grade: Visual Summary 228
Contents ix

8 Alcohol and Other Drugs 230 Health Policy: Paying for Care
Socialist Systems 268
267

Constructing the Problem 232 Capitalist Systems 269


What Is a Drug? 233 Health Care in the United States: A System in Crisis? 270
Drugs and Culture 233 The Cost Problem 271
Drugs, Race, and Ethnicity 234 Who Pays? 272
Changing Views of Alcohol 234 The Coverage Problem 273
The Extent of Drug Use 235 The 2010 Health Care Law 273
Why Do People Use Drugs? 235 Health: Class, Ethnicity, and Race 274
Use and Abuse 236 Health: Rural and Urban Places 275
Addiction and Dependency 236 Health: The Importance of Gender 275
Types of Drugs 236 People with Disabilities 276
Stimulants 236 The Nursing Shortage 277
Depressants 239 Mental Health and Illness 278
Hallucinogens 241 Types of Mental Disorders 278
Cannabis 241 Mental Illness: A Myth? 278
Steroids 242 Mental Illness: Class, Race, and Gender 279
Prescription Drugs 242 Treatment Strategies 280
Drugs and Other Social Problems 242 A Defining Moment: Dorothea Dix:
Problems of Family Life 243 Mentally Ill People Deserve Our Help 281
Homelessness 243 Mental Illness on Campus 282
Health Problems 243 Theories of Health and Illness 283
Crime 244 Structural-Functional Analysis: Health and Social Roles 283
Global Poverty 245 Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meaning of Health 283
Terrorism 245 Social-Conflict Analysis: Health and Inequality 284
Social Policy: Responding to the Drug Problem 245 Feminist Analysis: Health and Gender 284
Strategies to Control Drugs 245 Politics and Health: Constructing Problems
The War on Drugs 247 and Defining Solutions 285
A Defining Moment: Bill Wilson: Conservatives: Free Markets Provide the Best Care 285
Alcoholics Can Learn to Be Sober 247 Liberals: Government Must Ensure Universal Care 286
A New Initiative: Decriminalization 249 The Radical Left: Capitalism Is Unhealthy 286
Theories of Drug-Related Social Problems 253 Going On from Here 287
Structural-Functional Analysis: Regulating Drug Use 253 Defining Solutions 288
Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meaning Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 289
of Drug Use 253 Making the Grade: Visual Summary 290
Social-Conflict Analysis: Power and Drug Use 254
Politics and Drugs: Constructing Problems Part iv Problems of Social Institutions
and Defining Solutions 254
Conservatives: Just Say No 254
10 Economy and Politics 292
Liberals: Reform Society 255 Constructing the Problem 294
Radicals: Understanding Drugs from the Margins Economic Systems: Defining Justice, Defining Problems 295
of Society 255 The Capitalist Model 295
Going On from Here 256 The Socialist Model 296
Defining Solutions 258 Mixed Systems 296
Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 259 The Economy and Politics 298
Making the Grade: Visual Summary 260 A Defining Moment Store Wars:

9 Physical and Mental Health 262


Is Walmart the Problem or the Solution?
Democracy 300
299

Constructing the Problem 264 Authoritarianism and Monarchy 300


Health and Illness: A Global Perspective 265 Problems of the U.S. Political Economy 300
High-Income Nations 265 The Power of Corporations 300
Low-Income Nations 265 Monopoly and Oligopoly 301
Rich and Poor Compared: The AIDS Epidemic 266 Conglomerates and Other Linkages 302
x Contents

The Power of Money 303 Politics and the Workplace: Constructing Problems
Campaign Financing 303 and Defining Solutions 340
Voter Apathy 304 Conservatives: Look to the Market 340
Who Votes? Class, Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender 306 Liberals: Look to Government 341
The Gender Gap: Seeing Problems Differently 306 The Radical Left: Basic Change is Needed 342
Voting Laws for Persons Convicted of Serious Crimes 307 Going On from Here 342
Social Movements: How Much Change? 307 Defining Solutions 344
Theories of Economic and Political Problems 308 Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 345
Structural-Functional Analysis: Rule by the Many 308 Making the Grade: Visual Summary 346
Social-Conflict Analysis: Rule by the Few 309
Politics and the Economy: Constructing Problems 12 Family Life 348
and Defining Solutions 310 Constructing the Problem 350
Conservatives: The System Is Working 310 What Is a Family? 351
Liberals: The Need for Reform 311 Debate over Definitions 351
The Radical Left: A Call for Basic Change 311 A Sociological Approach to Family Problems 352
Going On from Here 312
Family Life: Changes and Controversies 352
Defining Solutions 314 Living Together: Do We Need to Marry? 352
Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 315 Postponing Marriage 353
Making the Grade: Visual Summary 316 Parenting: Is One Parent Enough? 353

11 Work and the Workplace 318


Families, Race, and Poverty 353
Conflict between Work and Family Life 354
Constructing the Problem 320 Child Care 355
Structural Changes in the U.S. Economy 321 Divorce 356
The Industrial Revolution 321 Child Support 359
The Information Revolution 322 Remarriage: Problems of Blended Families 359
Deindustrialization 323 A Defining Moment: Same-Sex Marriage:
Globalization 323 The Massachusetts Decision 360
Other Problems of the U.S. Workplace 323 Gay and Lesbian Families 361
The Dual Labor Market 324 Brave New Families: High-Tech Reproduction 362
Danger to Workers 324 Theories of Families and Family Problems 363
Workplace Alienation 326 Structural-Functional Analysis: Family as Foundation 364
McDonaldization and “McJobs” 327 Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Family and Learning 364
The Temping of the Workplace 327 Social-Conflict Analysis: Family and Social Class 364
Unemployment 328 Feminist Analysis: Family and Gender 365
The Problem of “Missing Workers” 329 Politics and Family Life: Constructing Problems
The “Low-Wage Recovery” 330 and Defining Solutions 366
Race, Ethnicity, and Gender 330 Conservatives: Traditional “Family Values” 366
Workplace Segregation 331 Liberals: Many Types of Families 367
Labor Unions 331 The Radical Left: Replace the Family 367
A Defining Moment: Eugene Debs: Going On from Here 368
Standing Up for the Union 333 Defining Solutions 370
New Information Technology: Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 371
The Brave New Workplace 335 Making the Grade: Visual Summary 372
The Home as Workplace 335
Workplace Isolation 336 13 Education 374
Workplace Supervision 337
The “Deskilling” of Workers 337 Constructing the Problem 376
Theories of Work and Work-Related Problems 337 Problems of Education: A Global Perspective 377
Structural-Functional Analysis: Finding Low-Income Countries: Too Little Schooling 377
a New Equilibrium 337 High-Income Countries: Unequal Schooling 378
Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meaning of Work 338 Education in U.S. History 378
Social-Conflict Analysis: Work and Inequality 339 Problems with U.S. Education 380
Feminist Analysis: Work and Gender 339 The Academic Performance of U.S. Schools 380
Contents xi

Academic Performance: Race, Class, and Gender 380 Structural-Functional Analysis: A Theory of Urbanism 417
The Effects of Home and School 381 Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Experiencing the City 419
Dropping Out 381 Social-Conflict Analysis: Cities and Inequality 420
Functional Illiteracy 382 Politics and Urban Life: Constructing
School Segregation and Busing 382 Problems and Defining Solutions 421
A Defining Moment: Linda Brown: Conservatives: The Market and Morality 421
Fighting to Desegregate the Schools 383 Liberals: Government Reform 423
School Funding 384 The Radical Left: The Need for Basic Change 423
Tracking 386 Going On from Here 423
Gender Inequality 386 Defining Solutions 424
Immigration: Increasing Diversity 387 Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 425
Schooling People with Disabilities 388 Making the Grade: Visual Summary 426
Finding Enough Teachers 389
School Violence 389
Theories of Education and Education-Related Problems 390 Part v Global Problems
Structural-Functional Analysis: The Functions
of Schooling 390 15 Population and Global Inequality 428
Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Labels in the Schools 391 Constructing the Problem 430
Social-Conflict Analysis: Schooling and Inequality 392 Global Population Increase 431
Feminist Analysis: Schooling and Gender 392 Population by the Numbers 431
Politics And Education: Constructing Problems Causes of Population Increase 431
and Defining Solutions 393 Measuring Population Increase 433
Conservatives: Increase Competition 393 The Low-Growth North 435
Liberals: Increase the Investment 395 The High-Growth South 435
The Radical Left: Attack Structural Inequality 396 The Social Standing of Women 435
Going On from Here 397 Explaining the Population Problem:
Defining Solutions 398 Malthusian Theory 435
Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 399 A Defining Moment: Thomas Robert Malthus:
Making the Grade: Visual Summary 400 Claiming Population Is a Problem 436
A More Recent Approach: Demographic
14 Urban Life 402 Transition Theory 437
Global Inequality 437
Constructing the Problem 404 High-Income Nations 438
Cities: Then and Now 405 Middle-Income Nations 439
Colonial Villages: 1565–1800 405 Low-Income Nations 439
Westward Expansion: 1800–1860 406 The World’s Poverty Problem 439
The Industrial Metropolis: 1860–1950 406 Poverty and Children 441
Postindustrial Cities and Suburbs: 1950–Present 407 Poverty and Women 441
Problems of Today’s Cities 407 Slavery 441
Fiscal Problems of the 1970s 407 Theories of Global Inequality 442
The Postindustrial Revival 407 Structural-Functional Analysis:
The Recent Recession and New Fiscal Problems 408 The Process of Modernization 442
Urban Sprawl 408 Social-Conflict Analysis: The Global
Edge Cities 409 Economic System 444
Poverty 409 Politics and Global Inequality: Constructing
Housing Problems 411 Problems and Defining Solutions 447
A Defining Moment: Jacob Riis: Conservatives: The Power of the Market 447
Revealing the Misery of the Tenements 412 Liberals: Governments Must Act 448
Racial Segregation 413 The Radical Left: End Global Capitalism 448
Homelessness 414 Going On from Here 449
Snowbelt and Sunbelt Cities 415 Defining Solutions 452
Cities in Poor Countries 415 Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 453
Theories of Urbanization and Urban Problems 417 Making the Grade: Visual Summary 454
xii Contents

16 Technology and the Environment 456 The Increasing Destruction of War


The Causes of War 484
483

Constructing the Problem 458 The Economic Costs of Militarism 485


Ecology: Studying the Natural Environment 459 The Economic Costs of War 485
The Role of Sociology 459 The Human Costs of War 486
The Global Dimension 459 Social Class and the Military 487
Population Increase 459 Mass Media and War 488
Poverty and Affluence 460 War in the Nuclear Age 489
Technology 461 Strategies for Peace 491
Cultural Patterns: Growth and Limits 462 Terrorism 492
Environmental Problems 463 A Defining Moment: Mohandas Gandhi:
Solid Waste: The Disposable Society 463 Sending a Message of Peace 493
A Defining Moment: Rachel Carson: The Extent of Terrorism 493
Sounding an Environmental Wake-Up Call 464 The Costs of Terrorism 495
Preserving Clean Water 465 Terrorism as a Type of War 495
Air Pollution 466 Strategies for Dealing with Terrorism 495
Acid Rain 467 Theories of War and Terrorism 497
The Disappearing Rain Forests 468 Biological Theories of Conflict 497
Climate Change 468 Structural-Functional Analysis: The Functions
Declining Biodiversity 469 of Conflict 497
Theories of the Environment and Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meanings
Environmental Problems 469 of Conflict 498
Structural-Functional Analysis: Highlighting Social-Conflict Analysis: Inequality and Conflict 498
Connections 469 Politics and War: Constructing Problems
Social-Conflict Analysis: Highlighting Inequality 470 and Defining Solutions 499
Politics and the Environment: Constructing Problems Conservatives: Peace through Strength 499
and Defining Solutions 472 Liberals: The Dangers of Militarism 500
Conservatives: Grounds for Optimism 472 The Radical Left: Peace through Equality 501
Liberals: Grounds for Concern 473 Going On From Here 501
The Radical Left: Grounds for Fundamental Change 473 Defining Solutions 502
Going On from Here 474 Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 503
Defining Solutions 476 Making the Grade: Visual Summary 504
Getting Involved: Applications and Exercises 477
Making the Grade: Visual Summary 478 Glossary 506
References 511
17 War and Terrorism 480 Credits 547
Constructing the Problem 482 Name Index 549
War and Peace: Basic Definitions 483 Subject Index 555
What’s New in Social Problems,
Seventh Edition
Total updating of all data. There are more than one learning exercises that spark curiosity and encourage
thousand statistics in Social Problems. In the Seventh Edi- active engagement.
tion, each one is new and the latest available.
Accessibility. Bound books come in a single format.
Total updating of research. More than four hundred Revel allows readers to adjust font size according to their
new research citations support descriptions and analysis own preferences; alternative text for images and screen
in this revision. reader compatibility are available for students with visual
impairments; and full audio presentation is available to
The latest examples and illustrations. The issues dis-
those who prefer sound to visual access.
cussed in the revised edition are recent and engaging, from
the Flint, Michigan, water crisis to #BlackLivesMatter, from Available on all devices. Revel is available on your
the Zika virus to the 2016 presidential election, from the desktop or laptop, and can be used on your tablet or
expanding transgender movement to increasing economic smartphone—both iOS and Android devices—through
inequality. the free Revel app. The Revel app also allows for offline
access so you can read even if you don’t always have a data
Important new topics. New discussions in this re-
connection.
vised edition include microaggression, white privilege,
sexuality issues on campus, and the expanding heroin Greater currency. Because electronic delivery allows
epidemic. instant updating, the content of Revel is not static but will
be updated by the author over the course of an edition.

Additional content. Revel provides content not


Revel™ available in a bound book, including special graphics,
This title is available as part of the Revel program. Revel is
primary readings, engaging videos, thought-provoking
the new and powerful digital learning experience.
journaling exercises, engaging surveys, and interactive
Compared to a bound book, Revel offers a number of clear assessment with results reported directly to faculty.
advantages.
Lower cost. Revel is available to students at less than half
Interactivity. Bound books encourage passive read- the cost of a new bound book. Learn more about Revel at
ing. Revel transforms graphs and maps into interactive http://www.pearsonhigher-education/com/revel/.

xiii
Boxes
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN FOCUS
Increasing Economic Inequality: When Does It Become Should You Prepare a Premarital Agreement? 392
a Problem? 37 Increasing Population: A Success Story or the
Let Them Stay or Make Them Go? The Debate over Greatest Crisis? 450
Unauthorized Immigrants 73 Getting Right with the Environment: How about You? 475
Sex Discrimination in the Workplace: The Hooters Has Our All-Volunteer Army Turned into a
Controversy 112 Warrior Caste? 488
Corporate Welfare: Government Handouts
for Big Business 301

SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE


The Global Village: Problems around the World 13 Prostitutes and Johns in Sweden: Who Is Breaking
Sweden Tries to Take Gender Out of the Classroom 105 the Law? 213
Female Genital Mutilation: Using Violence to Children and Sex Tourism 214
Control Women 116 The Social Roots of AIDS: Poverty, Culture,
Will the Golden Years Lose Their Glow? Growing Old and Gender 268
in Japan 136 Sweatshop Safety: How Much Is a Life Worth? 445
Organized Crime: All Over the World 172 Turning the Tide: Reclaiming Solid Waste in Egypt 465

DIVERSITY: RACE, CLASS, & GENDER


The United States: A Land of Poor Children 44 The “Savage Inequalities” of Schooling in
Beauty: What’s It Really About? 116 the United States 385
Female, Male, or Something Else? Women, Power, and Contraception:
The Muxes of Mexico 206 The Key to Controlling Population 433
Reality Check: Five False Stereotypes Women in the Military: An Equal Right to Kill? 498
about African American Families 355

SOCIAL POLICY
C. Wright Mills: Turning Personal Troubles Who Favors “Big Government”? Everybody! 312
into Social Issues 5 Low-Wage Jobs: On (Not) Getting By in America 325
An Undeserved Handout? The Truth about “Welfare” 50 More Than Just Talk: The Politics of Bilingual
Nursing Home Abuse: What Should Be Done? 142 Education 388
The Death Penalty: Problem or Solution? 185 When Work Disappears: Can We Rescue the
The Drug Wars: Safer Streets or Police State? 249 Inner City? 410

PERSONAL STORIES
The Reality of Poverty: Living on the Edge 42 Dying for Attention: One Student’s Story 238
After the Children: Getting Back in the Game 114 Deinstitutionalization: When Good Intentions
Is Aging a Disease? 141 Have Bad Results 282
Stalking: The Construction of a Problem 166 School Choice: One Family’s View 395

xiv
Maps
Cindy Rucker, 29 years old, recently Although she is only 28 years old,
took time off from her job in the Baktnizar Kahn has four children,
New Orleans public school system a common pattern in Afghanistan.
Greenland
to have her first child. (Den.) Area of inset

U.S.
RUSSIA
CANADA

GEORGIA KAZAKHSTAN
MONGOLIA
UNITED UZBEKISTAN
NORTH
ARMENIA KYRGYZSTAN
STATES AZERBAIJAN TURKMENISTAN TAJIKISTAN
KOREA

TUNISIA LEBANON SYRIA CHINA SOUTH


IRAN AFGHANISTAN KOREA JAPAN
ISRAEL IRAQ
MOROCCO West Bank KUWAIT PAKISTAN BHUTAN
30° JORDAN NEPAL 30°
ALGERIA LIBYA BAHRAIN Hong
BAHAMAS QATAR
DOM. REP.
Western Sahara EGYPT SAUDI U.A.E. Kong
U.S. BELIZE Puerto Rico (U.S.) (Mor.) ARABIA INDIA MYANMAR Taiwan
MEXICO CUBA ST. KITTS & NEVIS OMAN
(BURMA) Macao
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA MAURITANIA MALI LAOS
BANGLADESH
JAMAICA HAITI DOMINICA CAPE NIGER ERITREA YEMEN
Martinique (Fr.) VERDE
SENEGAL THAILAND PHILIPPINES
ST. LUCIA
GUATEMALA GRENADA BARBADOS BURKINA CHAD SUDAN VIETNAM
ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES GAMBIA FASO NIGERIA DJIBOUTI
EL SALVADOR TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
MARSHALL
GUINEA-BISSAU CAMBODIA ISLANDS
HONDURAS VENEZUELA GUYANA GUINEA
GHANA CENT. S. ETHIOPIA PALAU
NICARAGUA French Guiana SIERRA LEONE BENIN
AFR. REP. SUDAN SRI BRUNEI FEDERATED STATES
COSTA RICA CAM. OF MICRONESIA
COLOMBIA (Fr.) LIBERIA TOGO
UGANDA
SOMALIA MALDIVES LANKA MALAYSIA
PANAMA CÔTE D’IVOIRE EQ. GUINEA RWANDA Singapore
0° KENYA 0°
ECUADOR SURINAME SAO TOME & PRINCIPE GABON
NAURU KIRIBATI
DEM. REP.
OF THE BURUNDI
REP. OF THE CONGO
CONGO TANZANIA I N D O N E S I A PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
SOLOMON
COMOROS
PERU
BRAZIL TIMOR-LESTE
ISLANDS TUVALU

ANGOLA SEYCHELLES
SAMOA MALAWI
ZAMBIA VANUATU FIJI
BOLIVIA MADAGASCAR
ZIMBABWE
NAMIBIA MAURITIUS
TONGA BOTSWANA New
PARAGUAY Caledonia
150° 120° CHILE MOZAMBIQUE AUSTRALIA (Fr.)
SWAZILAND
30° SOUTH 30°
LESOTHO
AFRICA
URUGUAY
20° 0° 20° 40° ARGENTINA NEW
0 500 Km ZEALAND

EUROPE
ICELAND
SWEDEN
FINLAND
NORWAY
90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° Average Number of
60° ESTONIA
RUSSIA Births per Woman
LATVIA
DENMARK
UNITED LITHUANIA
KINGDOM BELARUS
6.0 and higher
IRELAND NETH. POLAND ANTARCTICA
BEL. GERMANY
CZECH
5.0 to 5.9
UKRAINE
LUX. REP. SLVK.
AUS.
HUNG. MOLDOVA 4.0 to 4.9
SWITZ.
ROMANIA
FRANCE SLO.
SERBIA 3.0 to 3.9
CROATIA
BOS. & HERZ.
MONT. BULGARIA
ITALY
KOS. MAC. 2.0 to 2.9
ALB.
40° SPAIN
PORTUGAL
GREECE TURKEY 1.0 to 1.9
MALTA CYPRUS

GLOBAL MAPS: Window on the World


1–1 Women’s Childbearing in Global Perspective 14 13–1 Illiteracy in Global Perspective 378
4–1 Women’s Power in Global Perspective 104 14–1 Urbanization in Global Perspective 418
6–1 Capital Punishment in Global Perspective 184 15–1 Population Growth in Global Perspective 434
7–1 HIV Infections in Global Perspective 219 15–2 Economic Development in Global Perspective 440
9–1 Infant Mortality in Global Perspective 266 16–1 Energy Consumption in Global Perspective 461
10–1 Economic Freedom in Global Perspective 297 17–1 Peace in Global Perspective, 2015 484
11–1 Internet Users in Global Perspective 336 17–2 Nuclear Weapons in Global Perspective 490
12–1 Legal Same-Sex Marriage and Registered
Partnerships in Global Perspective 361

xv
xvi Maps

WASHINGTON

MONTANA VERMONT MAINE


NORTH MINNESOTA
DAKOTA
OREGON MICHIGAN
NEW HAMPSHIRE
IDAHO SOUTH MASSACHUSETTS
DAKOTA WISCONSIN NEW
YORK
WYOMING RHODE ISLAND
CONNECTICUT
IOWA PENNSYLVANIA
NEBRASKA NEW JERSEY
NEVADA OHIO
INDIANA DELAWARE
ILLINOIS D.C.
UTAH WEST
COLORADO VIRGINIA MARYLAND
CALIFORNIA KANSAS VIRGINIA
MISSOURI KENTUCKY
NORTH
CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
ARIZONA
OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS Number of People
NEW
MEXICO
SOUTH per Million Who
CAROLINA
GEORGIA
Develop Cancer
ALABAMA
from Air Pollution
TEXAS
ALASKA MISSISSIPPI 60 and over

LOUISIANA
50 to 59
FLORIDA
35 to 49
HAWAII 20 to 34
1 to 19

U.S. average: 40.0

NATIONAL MAP S : Seeing Ourselves


2–1 Poverty across the United States, 2014 45 7–1 Teenage Pregnancy Rates across the
3–1 Language Diversity across the United States 77 United States 216
3–2 The Concentration of Hispanics/Latinos, 8–1 Marijuana Laws across the United States 250
African Americans, Asian Americans, 9–1 Life Expectancy across the United States 274
and Arab Americans, by County 82 10–1 Voter Turnout across the United States 305
4–1 Women’s Political Power across the 11–1 “Right to Work” Laws across the
United States 109 United States 335
4–2 The Earnings Gender Gap across the 12–1 Divorce across the United States 357
United States 113 13–1 Public School Teachers’ Pay across
5–1 The Elderly Population across the the United States 390
United States 138 14–1 Foreclosures across the United States 405
6–1 The Risk of Violent Crime across the 14–2 Population Change across the United
United States 167 States, 2000–2010 416
6–2 Who’s Packin’? Concealed Weapon 16–1 Risk of Cancer from Air Pollution across the
Laws across the United States 179 United States 467
6–3 Inmates on Death Row across the
United States 186
Preface

O
ur nation’s Pledge of Allegiance ends with the understand today’s debates and gain the ability to analyze
words “…with liberty and justice for all.” This new issues on their own.
statement reflects our collective hope, but does it A guiding principle of this text is that politics involves
describe our reality? Certainly, some categories of the pop- various points of view. Social Problems presents diverse po-
ulation (the rich, men, white people, heterosexual people) litical viewpoints for four reasons. First, all of them are
have greater freedom than others (the poor, women, peo- part of the political debate that goes on across the United
ple of color, homosexual and transsexual people). Then, States. Second, no one can develop personal political be-
too, a large share of this country’s people has serious liefs with any conviction without understanding the argu-
questions about the extent of social justice. This is an era ments of those who disagree. In other words, to be, say, a
of political division and widespread frustration. Two- good liberal, one needs to understand not just progressive
thirds of U.S. adults say that the country is “on the wrong politics but also conservative and radical-left positions as
track.” Globally, armed conflict and terrorism threaten the well. Third, while anyone is likely to favor one political
planet’s peace, and there is increasing concern about the position over others, all positions offer some element of
state of the natural environment and the consequences of truth. In politics, reasonable people can and do disagree.
global warming. Clearly, this is a time when we need to Understanding all positions is a major step toward pro-
understand more about social problems. moting civil and respectful discourse. Fourth, and finally,
by being inclusive, Social Problems invites all students
to share their ideas, which encourages more lively class
Facts, Theory, and Politics discussion.

Sociology offers a path to understanding the problems


that we face in today’s world. Our discipline also ex- The Social-Constructionist
tends an invitation to action—to become involved in
the political debates and movements that are reshaping
Approach
society. As the leading text for this course, Social Problems, The most important reason to “put the politics in” when
Seventh Edition, offers a broad investigation of social teaching a social problems course is to understand how
problems, both domestic and global. This title provides politics guides the process of defining and responding to
all the facts, highlighting historical trends and pointing social problems. This title differs from all others in that is
out what is going on today. In addition, this text uses so- does not adopt one (implicit or explicit) political point of
ciological theory to tie facts together to create meaning and view by presenting a series of “problems” and identifying
understanding. a sequence of “solutions” as if everyone agreed about what
Just as important, this title stands alone by provid- these are. Rather, all chapters highlight the importance of
ing political analysis. As a source of both understanding political attitudes in the selection of some issues and not
and action, politics matters. In the 2016 presidential elec- others issues as “problems,” as well as in the favoring of
tion, the candidates represented a wide range of political certain polices as “solutions.” With this fact in mind, we
positions, including far left (Sanders), liberal (Clinton), can understand why people disagree about what the prob-
conservative (Cruz), and libertarian (Paul), and whatever lems and their solutions are. Indeed, one person’s “prob-
label you want to place on Mr. Trump. Each of these posi- lem” may well be another’s “solution.” From this insight,
tions seeks a distinctive type of society. As citizens, it is our true conversation begins.
responsibility to learn enough about politics and the issues Another benefit of using a social-constructionist ap-
to decide which visions are worth supporting and then to proach is recognizing how our society came to define
become involved in the political process. problems at certain points in time, often as a result
Social Problems, Seventh Edition, not only urges people of claims made by social movements. For example, the
to become involved, it explains what politics is all about. behaviors we now call “child abuse,” “sexual harass-
From the first chapter to the last, this title explains the ment,” and “environmental racism” may always have
attitudes and values that define various positions on the been with us, but our society did not always define these
political spectrum. Social Problems then applies these po- as problems. On the contrary, laws were enacted against
litical points of view to dozens of issues—from increas- them only after courageous individuals sparked success-
ing economic inequality to terrorism—so that students ful social movements for change.

xvii
xviii Preface

A Fully Involved Author Chapter 4: Gender inequality New discussions focus on


gender in the media messages of political campaigns and
John Macionis is personally involved in every element of also the proposed policy of a universal minimum wage
Social Problems. In addition to keeping the manuscript up to to recognize the economic value of housework. Updates
date, he selects all the photos and other images, writes all include the increasing number of women political leaders
the captions, develops all the testing material, prepares the holding state and national office, the small share of films
instructor’s manual, and creates all the interactive content that pass the Bechdel test for gender bias, the narrowing
in the Revel electronic version. John corresponds regularly gender gap in pay, the trend toward equal pay for women
with colleagues and students, which makes Social Problems and men in television, and the extent of sexual violence.
an always-evolving project. For the latest in the Macionis The revised chapter is informed by twenty-nine new re-
texts, visit his personal website: www.TheSociologyPage. search citations.
com or www.macionis.com. Among other things, you will
find there a series of new PowerPoint presentations, based Chapter 5: aging and inequality The discussion of elder
on current research and free for downloading. A full suite care has been rewritten to reflect the latest research and
of instructor resources is available from Pearson at www. statistics; the discussion of euthanasia includes recent legal
pearsonhighereducation.com. changes. Updates include the latest in life expectancy, the
changing living arrangements for the elderly, changes in
poverty rates over the life course, and how the gender gap
What’s New in the Seventh Edition in pay varies at different stages of life. There are nineteen
Here is a brief listing of what’s new in this revision: new research citations in this revised chapter.
Social Problems, Seventh Edition, is a thorough revision
Chapter 6: Crime, violence, and Criminal Justice New
that provides the latest available data and includes the
discussions in this chapter focus on the problem of “miss-
most recent events and trends. Here are some examples of
ing black men,” mass incarceration, and also trend toward
new material for each chapter:
the decriminalization of marijuana. Updates reflect the
Chapter 1: Studying Social Problems New discussions non-gendered definition of rape and the expanded defi-
include the controversy surrounding concussions and nition of statutory rape now used by the Department of
football and the national debate over high levels of im- Justice, the narrowing gender gap in arrests, the low level
migration. The chapter contains expanded coverage of gun of prosecution for white-collar crime, the increasing num-
violence. The latest survey data identify the public’s view ber of hate crimes, the high human toll linked to gang-re-
of the most serious social problems. Find expanded dis- lated violence, and the declining use of capital punishment
cussion of Black Lives Matter, recent terror attacks in the across the country. Forty new research citations inform the
United States and abroad, the spread of the Zika virus, the revised chapter.
Flint, Michigan, water crisis, and increasing national atten-
Chapter 7: Sexuality There are new and expanded dis-
tion to economic inequality.
cussions of sexuality issues on campus, the transgender
Chapter 2: economic inequality For this key chapter, all movement, and the effects of pornography on the indi-
income and wealth data are new. There is new discussion vidual. Updates include new data on how people identify
of how much (or how little) our system of taxation reduces themselves in terms of sexual orientation, recent changes to
economic inequality; new data point to a longevity gap marriage laws, changing age at first intercourse, increasing
between rich and poor; the chapter explores earnings of public acceptance of homosexuality, the high level of anti-
the highest-paid people in business, athletics, and enter- gay violence, the scope of national and global AIDS, and
tainment; and the chapter now includes discussion of the recent efforts to restrict access to legal abortion. Thirty-two
significance of Bernie Sanders’s political campaign as well new research citations support this revised chapter.
as the importance of the economic inequality issue in the
Chapter 8: alcohol and other drugs The revised chap-
2016 presidential election. This chapter is supported by
ter has new and expanded discussions of the movement
fifty new research citations.
to decriminalize marijuana and of our nation’s expanding
Chapter 3: racial and ethnic inequality New to the sev- heroin epidemic. Updates highlight the use of various cat-
enth edition are discussions of white privilege and micro- egories of legal and illegal drugs, patterns of alcohol use
aggression. There is new coverage of Filipino Americans, on campus, the extent of cigarette smoking in the United
illustrating the variable ways in which people establish a States and in nations around the world, and the increasing
racial and ethnic identity. Eighteen new research citations medication of U.S. children. Forty-two new research cita-
inform the revised chapter. tions inform this revised chapter.
Preface xix

Chapter 9: Physical and Mental health New and ex- homelessness across the country. There are eleven new
panded discussions focus on the latest assessments of the research citations in this chapter.
Affordable Care Act and also the contrasts between rural
Chapter 15: Population and Global inequality There
and urban patterns of health. Updates include the status of
is new and expanded discussion of economic inequality
AIDS, our nation’s ranking in global comparisons of health,
around the world, including the changing numbers of low-,
and rates of mental illness by gender, race, and ethnicity.
middle-, and high-income nations. The chapter includes
Thirty-one new research citations inform the revised chapter.
extensive updating of global patterns of fertility, mortal-
Chapter 10: economy and Politics New discussions ity, migration, and longevity, and presents the latest data
involve the 2016 presidential campaign, including the on the extent of slavery, women’s access to contraception,
increasing importance of “outsider” candidates, the latest the declining level of severe poverty in the world, and in-
patterns involving campaign financing, and the personal creasing debt carried by low-income nations. Twenty new
wealth of all the candidates. Updates include the latest on research citations ensure the revised chapter’s currency.
public trust of government, some causes of Congressional
Chapter 16: technology and environment The revised
“gridlock,” changing patterns of party affiliation, and ris-
chapter has expanded coverage of climate change and
ing wages at Walmart. Twenty-six new research citations
includes new discussion of the water quality crisis in Flint,
support the revised chapter.
Michigan, that illustrates how race and class shape envi-
Chapter 11: Work and the Workplace New and ex- ronmental risks. Updates highlight growing levels of car-
panded discussions highlight the widespread presence of bon emissions, increasing global population, rising energy
toxic substances in the workplace, work-related policies consumption, and disappearing rain forests. Fourteen new
advanced during the 2016 presidential campaign, and research citations support the revised chapter.
changing patterns of unemployment. Updates focus on the Chapter 17: War and terrorism The revised chapter has
extent of workplace injuries, the problem of workplace vi- expanded discussion of ISIS and highlights other recent
olence, the increasing reliance on part-time and temporary cases of global conflict. New discussion highlights the “new
teaching staff in colleges and universities, and the state of arms race” involving hypersonic missile warheads and also
labor unions in the United States. Eighteen new research the disturbing levels of poverty and homelessness among
citations support the revised chapter. U.S. veterans. Updates provides the latest data on the
Chapter 12: Family Life The 2015 Supreme Court rul- number of armed conflicts in the world, levels of military
ing legalizing same-sex marriage is integrated throughout spending, the pace of arms control, the number of children
the chapter. The latest statistical data support updated engaged in militarism, and the increasing role of women
discussion of the extent of marriage, the increasing rate of in today’s military. Recent cases of terrorism around the
cohabitation, rising incidence of single-parenting, and the world are documented, including their toll in human terms.
changing rate of divorce. Twenty new research citations Eighteen new research citations inform the revised chapter.
inform this revised chapter.

Chapter 13: education There is expanded discussion Supplements


of educational achievement according to race, class, and
instructor’s Manual and test Bank Each chapter in
gender, as well as greater coverage of the challenges fac-
the Instructor’s Manual includes the following resources:
ing U.S. public education. New discussion highlights the
Chapter Update; Author’s Note; Chapter Outline; Learning
underrepresentation of minority students in the nation’s
Objectives; Detailed Teaching Objectives;, John’s Chapter
“gifted and talented” programs. Updates highlight the
Close-Up; John’s Personal Video Selection; Research for a
extent of schooling both in the United States and the
Cutting-Edge Classroom; Teaching Suggestions, Exercises,
world as a whole, the problem of school violence, and how
and Projects; Web Links; Essay Questions; and Film List.
gender shapes the teaching profession. Twenty-two new
Designed to make your lectures more effective and to save
research citations inform the revised chapter.
preparation time, this extensive resource gathers together
Chapter 14: Urban Life There is new and expanded useful activities and strategies for teaching your Social
discussion of the fiscal crisis in Detroit and other U.S. cit- Problems course. Also included in this manual is a test
ies. Updates track urbanization in the United States and bank of more than 900 multiple-choice and essay ques-
the world as a whole, rates of unemployment and poverty tions. The Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank is available
for various parts of urban and rural America, the increas- to adopters for download from the Pearson Instructors
ing minority population of U.S. cities, and the extent of Resource Center at www.pearsonhighered.com.
xx Preface

Mytest This computerized software allows instructors in a clear and succinct way. They are available to adopt-
to create their own personalized exams, to edit any or all ers for download from the Pearson Instructors Resource
of the existing test questions, and to add new questions. Center at www.pearsonhighered.com.
Other special features of this program include random
generation of test questions, creation of alternate versions I dedicate this edition of Social Problems to Dr. Donald
of the same test, scrambling question sequence, and test Ferrell and Dr. Charlotte Brauchle, two very good friends
preview before printing. For easy access, this software in the process of making change.
is available for download from the Pearson Instructors
As always, please feel free to contact me by email:
Resource Center at www.pearsonhighered.com.
Macionis@kenyon.edu
PowerPoint Presentations the Lecture PowerPoint With my best wishes to my colleagues,
slides follow the chapter outline and feature images from
the textbook integrated with the text. Additionally, all of
the PowerPoints are uniquely designed to present concepts John J. Macionis
About the Author
John J. MACIonIS [pronounced ma-SHOW-nis] has
been in the classroom teaching sociology for more than
forty years. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
John earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University
and a doctorate in sociology from the University of
Pennsylvania.
His publications are wide-ranging, focusing on com-
munity life in the United States, interpersonal intimacy in
families, effective teaching, humor, new information tech-
nology, and the importance of global education.
In addition to authoring this best-seller, Macionis has
also written Society: The Basics, the most popular paper-
back text in the field, now in its fourteenth edition. The
full-length Macionis introductory text is Sociology, which
is now in its sixteenth edition. He collaborates on inter-
national editions of the texts: Society: The Basics: Canadian
Edition, Sociology: Canadian Edition, and Sociology: A Global
Introduction. All the Macionis texts are available for high
school students and in various foreign-language editions. service by awarding him an honorary doctorate of humane
All the texts are also offered in low-cost electronic edi- letters in 2013.
tions in the Revel program. These exciting learning materi- In 2002, the American Sociological Association pre-
als provide an interactive learning experience. Unlike other sented Macionis with the Award for Distinguished Con-
authors, John takes personal responsibility for writing all tributions to Teaching, citing his innovative use of global
electronic content, just as he authors all the assessment and material as well as the introduction of new teaching tech-
supplemental materials. John proudly resists the trend to- nology in his textbooks.
ward “outsourcing” such material to non-sociologists. Professor Macionis has been active in academic pro-
In addition, Macionis edited the best-selling anthology grams in other countries, having traveled to some fifty
Seeing Ourselves: Classic, Contemporary, and Cross-Cultural nations. He writes, “I am an ambitious traveler, eager to
Readings in Sociology, also available in a Canadian edition. learn and, through the texts, to share much of what I dis-
Macionis and Vincent Parrillo have written the leading urban cover with students, many of whom know little about the
studies text, Cities and Urban Life, currently in a sixth edition. rest of the world. For me, traveling and writing are all
Follow John on his Facebook author page: John J. dimensions of teaching. First, and foremost, I am a
Macionis and find the latest information on all the books. teacher–a passion for teaching animates everything I
You can also access downloadable teaching material at his do.”
website: www.macionis.com or www.TheSociologyPage. At Kenyon, Macionis taught a number of courses, but
com. A full suite of instructor resources is found at the his favorite classes were always Introduction to Sociology
Pearson site: www.pearsonhighered.com and Social Problems. He continues to enjoy contact with
John Macionis recently retired from full-time teaching students across the United States and around the world.
at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he was Pro- John now lives near New York City. In his free time,
fessor and Distinguished Scholar of Sociology. During his he enjoys tennis, swimming, hiking, and playing oldies
long career as Kenyon, he chaired the Sociology Depart- rock-and-roll. Macionis is an environmental activist in the
ment, directed the college’s multidisciplinary program in Lake George region of New York’s Adirondack Mountains,
humane studies, presided over the campus senate, was working with a number of organizations, including the
president of the college’s faculty, and taught sociology to Lake George Land Conservancy, where he serves as presi-
thousands of students. Kenyon recognized his decades of dent of the board of trustees.

xxi
Chapter 1
Sociology: Studying Social
Problems
Learning Objectives
1.1 Explain the benefits of learning about 1.4 Discuss the methods sociologists use to
sociology and using the sociological study social problems.
imagination.
1.5 Identify factors that shape how societies
1.2 Define the concept “social problem” and devise policy to respond to social problems.
explain how societies come to define some
1.6 Analyze how political attitudes shape
issues—and not others—as social problems.
how people define social problems and
1.3 Apply sociological theory to the study of solutions.
social problems.

2
Chapter 1 Sociology: Studying Social Problems 3

Tracking the Trends

Survey Question: “Do you feel things in this country are


generally going in the right direction or do you feel things
have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?”
90%

80%

70%
Percentage Responding

60%

50%

40%

30%

20% “Wrong track”

10% “Right track”

0%
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
Year

SourCe: CBS News/New York Times (2016).

Researchers try to gauge the public’s confidence in the country by asking gen-
eral questions such as this one:

“Do you think the country is on the right track or the wrong track?”

In early 2016, 65 percent of U.S. adults said they thought that the country
was “on the wrong track,” more than twice the share who thought the country
was “going in the right direction.” Back in 2002, just 35 percent of U.S. adults
said the country was on the wrong track. In recent years, dissatisfaction with
government emerged as the most commonly cited social problem in the
United States. Do you think the country can continue without the confidence
of a majority of the people?
4 Chapter 1 Sociology: Studying Social Problems

Constructing the Problem

What turns an issue into a social Aren’t we always dealing with the same Isn’t a social problem any condition
problem? problems? that is harmful?
Social problems come into being as Most of today’s problems differ from those Many conditions harmful to thousands
people define an issue as harmful and in that concerned the public several generations of people are never defined as social
need of change. ago. problems.

Chapter Overview
This chapter introduces the study of social problems by defining the sociological
imagination, explaining sociology’s theoretical approaches, and describing sociolog-
ical methods of research. You will learn how people’s political attitudes define the
issues they are likely to view as social problems and what policies they are likely to
favor as solutions. You will gain the ability to describe the political spectrum and to
apply various positions on the political spectrum to social issues.

Marcos Jorman was already late as he rushed out the apartment building. He looked north up Chestnut Street.
door of his apartment. He ran down the stairs, briefcase What luck! The bus was right there, just half a block away!
in hand, and crashed through the old wooden door of the Catching his breath, Marcos climbed aboard as the bus
pulled out into the heavy traffic. He saw Jan, a co-worker,
standing in the rear of the bus.
“I just got a text from Sandra,” Jan blurted out,
looking a little desperate. “She says everyone is getting
laid off. We’re all out. The company is shutting down the
whole division and moving operations out of the coun-
try.” Her head dropped along with her spirit. “What am I
going to do? How am I going to manage with my kids?”
Marcos checked his own phone. He, too, had messages—
several from co-workers who had already arrived at work
and confirmed the bad news. “Oh, man, it’s true,” he said
softly. The two stood without speaking for the rest of the ride.
The day turned out to be one of the toughest in
Marcos’s entire life. He knew the start-up company was
struggling with rising costs and heavy competition. Only
two months earlier, new management had come in to “re-
organize” and to cut costs. The decision to close operations
was the result.
As he entered his workstation, he was handed a short
letter spelling out the dismissal. He joined dozens of oth-
ers at a short meeting with a human relations officer and
then went back to pack up his things. He was home again
by early afternoon.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
towards captive Jacobites, the Earl of Perth, on a showing of the
injury his health was suffering from long imprisonment in Stirling
Castle, was liberated on a caution for five thousand pounds sterling,
being a sum equal to the annual income of the highest nobles of the
land.
William Livingstone, brother to the Viscount Kilsyth, and husband
of Dundee’s widow, had been a prisoner in the Edinburgh Tolbooth
from June 1689 till November 1690—seventeen months—thereafter,
had lived in a chamber in Edinburgh under a sentry for a year—
afterwards was allowed to live in a better lodging, and to go forth for
a walk each day, but still under a guard. In this condition he now
continued. The consequence of his being thus treated, and of his
rents being all the time sequestrated, was a great confusion of his
affairs, threatening the entire ruin of his 1692.
fortune. On his petition, the Council now
allowed him ‘to go abroad under a sentinel each day from morning to
evening furth of the house of Andrew Smith, periwig-maker, at the
head of Niddry’s Wynd, in Edinburgh, to which he is confined,’ he
finding caution under fifteen hundred pounds sterling to continue a
true prisoner as heretofore; at the same time, the sequestration of his
rents was departed from.
On the 19th April, Mr Livingstone was allowed to visit Kilsyth
under a guard of dragoons, in order to arrange some affairs. But this
leniency was of short duration. We soon after find him again in strict
confinement in Edinburgh Castle; nor was it till September 1693,
that, on an earnest petition setting forth his declining health, he was
allowed to be confined to ‘a chamber in the house of Mistress Lyell,
in the Parliament Close,’ he giving large bail for his peaceable
behaviour. This, again, came to a speedy end, for, being soon after
ordered to re-enter his strait confinement in the Castle, he petitioned
to be allowed the Canongate Jail instead, and was permitted, as
something a shade less wretched than the Castle, to become a
prisoner in the Edinburgh Tolbooth. On the 4th of January 1693, he
was again allowed the room in the Parliament Close, but on the 8th
of February this was exchanged for Stirling Castle. In the course of
the first five years of British liberty, Mr Livingstone must have
acquired a tolerably extensive acquaintance with the various forms
and modes of imprisonment, so far as these existed in the northern
section of the island.
Captain John Crighton, once a dragoon in the service of King
James, and whose memoirs were afterwards written from his own
information by Swift, was kept in jail for twenty-one months after
June 1689; then for ten months in a house under a sentinel; since
that time in a house, with permission to get a daily walk; ‘which long
imprisonment and restraint has been very grievous and expensive to
the petitioner (Crighton),’ and ‘has redacted him and his small family
to a great deal of misery and want, being a stranger in this kingdom.’
His restraint was likewise relaxed on his giving caution to the extent
of a hundred pounds to remain a true prisoner.
Soon after arose the alarm of invasion from France, and all the
severities against the suspected Jacobites were renewed. William
Livingstone was, in June, confined once more to his chamber at the
periwig-maker’s, and Captain John Crighton had to return to a
similar restraint. The Earl of Perth, so recently liberated from
Stirling Castle, was again placed there. At 1691.
that time, there were confined in Edinburgh
Castle the Earls of Seaforth and Home, the Lord Bellenden, and
Paterson, Ex-archbishop of Glasgow. In Stirling Castle, besides Lord
Perth, lay his relation, Sir John Drummond of Machany,[83] and the
Viscount Frendraught, the latter having only six hundred merks per
annum (about £34), so that it became of importance that his wife
should be allowed to come in and live with him, instead of requiring
a separate maintenance; to so low a point had civil broils and private
animosities brought this once flourishing family. Neville Payne lay a
wretched prisoner in Edinburgh Castle. Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg
was contracting sore ailments under protracted confinement in the
Canongate Jail. A great number of other men were undergoing their
second, and even their third year of confinement, in mean and filthy
tolbooths, where their health was unavoidably impaired.
On the 2d of June, Crighton gave in a petition reciting that he had
been again put under restraint, and for no just cause, as he had
always since the Revolution been favourable to the new government,
and on the proclamation of the Convention, had deserted his old
service in the Castle, bringing with him thirty-nine soldiers. He was
relieved from close confinement, and ordered to be subjected to trial.
On the 10th of June, he was ordered to be set at liberty, on caution.
Less than two months after, failing to appear on summons, his bond
for £100 was forfeited, and the money, when obtained from his
security, to be given to Adair the geographer.
On the 14th of June 1692, Captain Wallace represented that he had
now been three years a captive, ‘whereby his health is impaired, his
body weakened, and his small fortune entirely ruined.’ ‘Yet hitherto,
there has been no process against him.’ He entreated that he might
be liberated on signing ‘a volunteer banishment,’ and he would
‘never cease to pray that God may bless the nation with ane lasting
peace, of [which] he would never be a disturber.’ An order for a
process against him was issued.
It was difficult, however, even for the Scottish Privy Council to
make a charge of treason against an officer whose only fault was that,
being appointed by a lawful authority to defend a post, he had
performed the duty assigned to him, albeit at the expense of a few
lives to the rabble which he was 1692.
commanded to resist. Still, when the
solicitor-general, Lockhart, told them he could not process Captain
Wallace for treason ‘without a special warrant to that effect,’ they
divided on the subject, and the negative was only carried by a
majority.[84]

Happened an affair of private war and Apr. 25.


violence, supposed to be the last that took
place in the county of Renfrew. John Maxwell of Dargavel had ever
since the Reformation possessed a seat and desk in the kirk of
Erskine, along with a right to bury in the subjacent ground. William
Hamilton of Orbieston, proprietor of the estate of Erskine, disputed
the title of Dargavel to these properties or privileges, and it came to a
high quarrel between the two gentlemen. Finding at length that
Dargavel would not peaceably give up what he and his ancestors had
so long possessed, Orbieston—who, by the way, was a partisan of the
old dynasty, and perhaps generally old-fashioned in his ideas—
resolved to drive his neighbour out of it by force. A complaint,
afterwards drawn up by Dargavel for the Privy Council, states that
William Hamilton of Orbieston, George Maxwell, bailie of Kilpatrick,
Robert Laing, miller in Duntocher, John Shaw of Bargarran, Gavin
Walkingshaw, sometime of that ilk, came, with about a hundred
other persons, ‘all armed with guns, pistols, swords, bayonets, and
other weapons invasive,’ and, having appointed George Maxwell,
‘Orbieston’s own bailie-depute,’ to march at their head, they
advanced in military order, and with drums beating and trumpets
sounding, to the parish kirk of Erskine, where, ‘in a most insolent
and violent manner, they did, at their own hand, and without any
order of law, remove and take away the complainer’s seat and dask,
and sacrilegiously bring away the stones that were lying upon the
graves of the complainer’s predecessors, and beat and strike several
of the complainer’s tenants and others, who came in peaceable
manner to persuade them to desist from such unwarrantable
violence.’
Dargavel instantly proceeded with measures for obtaining redress
from the Privy Council, when his chief, Sir John Maxwell of Pollock,
a member of that all-powerful body, interfered to bring about an
agreement between the disputants. With the consent of the Earl of
Glencairn, principal heritor of the parish, Dargavel ‘yielded for
peace-sake to remove his seat from that 1692.
place of the kirk, where it had stood for
many generations;’ while Orbieston on his part agreed that Dargavel
‘should retain his room of burial-place in the east end of the kirk,
with allowance to rail it in, and strike out a door upon the gable of it,
as he should see convenient.’ This did not, however, end the
controversy.
The first glimpse of further procedure which we obtain is from a
letter of John Shaw of Bargarran, professing to be a friend of both
parties, though he had appeared amongst the armed party led by
Orbieston’s bailie-depute. He writes, 23d August, as follows to
William Cunningham of Craigends, a decided friend of Dargavel: ‘Sir
—The Laird of Orbieston heard when he was last here that Dargavel
was intendit to put through a door to his burial-place, which will be
(as he says) very inconvenient for Orbieston’s laft [gallery]; so he
desired me to acquaint you therewith, that ye wold deall with
Dargavel to forbear; otherways he wold take it very ill, and has given
orders to some people here to stop his design, if he do it not
willingly; wherefor, to prevent further trouble and emulation betwixt
the two gentlemen, ye wold do well to advyse him to the contrair
either by a lyn or advyse, as ye think most proper. I desyre not to be
seen in this, because they are both my friends, and I a weel-wisher to
them both. I thought to have waited on you myself; bot, being
uncertain of your being at home, gives you the trouble of this lyne,
which is all from, sir, your most humble servant, J. Shaw. Ye wold do
this so soon as possible.’
There are letters from Craigends to Dargavel, strongly indicating
the likelihood that violent measures would again be resorted to by
Orbieston, and advising how these might best be met and resisted.
But the remainder of the affair seems to have been peaceable.
Orbieston applied to the Privy Council for an order to stop Dargavel,
apparently proceeding upon the rule long established, but little
obeyed, against burying in churches; and the Council did send an
order, dated the 29th August, ‘requiring you to desist from striking
any door or breaking any part of the church-wall of Erskine, until
your right and Orbieston’s right be discusst by the judges competent
for preventing further abuse.’ Dargavel immediately sent a petition,
shewing how he was only acting upon an agreement with Orbieston,
and hereupon the former order was recalled, and Dargavel permitted
to have the access he required, however incommodious it might be to
Orbieston’s ‘laft.’[85]
The prisoners in the Canongate Tolbooth 1692. May 10.
forced the key from the jailer, and took
possession of their prison, which they held out against the
magistrates for a brief space. A committee of Privy Council was
ordered to go and inquire who had been guilty of this act of rebellion.
[86]
Viewing the manner in which jails were provided, there can be no
doubt that it was a rebellion of the stomach.

Under our present multiplication of May 17.


newspapers, a piece of false intelligence is
so quickly detected, that there is no temptation for the most perverse
politician to put such a thing in circulation. In King William’s days,
when the printed newspaper barely existed, and the few who were
curious about state-affairs had to content themselves with what was
called a news-letter—a written circular emanating from a centre in
London—a falsehood would now and then prove serviceable to a
party, particularly a depressed one.
We get an idea of a piece of the social economy of the time under
notice, from a small matter which came under the attention of the
Privy Council. William Murray kept a tavern in the Canongate. Each
post brought him a news-letter for the gratification of his customers,
and which doubtless served to maintain their allegiance to his butt of
claret. Just at this time, when there were alarms of an invasion from
France, a lie about preparations on the French shore was worth its
ink. The lord high chancellor now informed the Council that
Murray’s letter was generally full of false news; that he caused
destroy the one brought by last post, merely to keep Murray out of
trouble; and he had kept up the one just come, ‘in respect there is a
paper therein full of cyphers which cannot be read.’ Matters having
now become so serious, he had caused Murray to be brought before
the Council.
Murray declared before a committee ‘he knows not what person
writes the news-letter to him ... he never writes any news from this to
London ... he knows not what the cyphers in the paper sent in his
letter with this post does signify.’ They sent him under care of a
macer to the Tolbooth, to be kept there in close prison, and his
papers at home to be searched for matter against their majesties or
the government.
On the 2d of June, William Murray represented that he had now
been a fortnight in jail, and his poor family 1692.
would be ruined if he did not immediately
regain his liberty. The Council caused him to be examined about the
cypher-letter, and asked who was his correspondent. We do not learn
what satisfaction he gave on these points; but a week later, he was
liberated.
On the 15th November, the Privy Council ordered the magistrates
of Edinburgh to shut up the Exchange Coffee-house, and bring the
keys to them, ‘in respect of the seditious news vented in and
dispersed from the said coffee-house.’ A month after, the owners,
Gilbert Fyfe and James Marjoribanks, merchants, shewed that, some
of their news-letters having once before been kept up from them on
account of the offensive contents, they had changed their
correspondent, in order that the government might have no such
fault to find with them. Moved, however, by malice against them,
their old correspondent had addressed to them a letter sure by its
contents to bring them into trouble with the officers of state, and it
had been the cause of their house being shut up accordingly. Seeing
how innocently on their part this had come about, and how
prejudicial it was to their interest, the men petitioned for re-
possession of their house, which was granted, under caution that
they were to vent no news until it was approved of by their majesties’
solicitor, or whoever the Privy Council might appoint, ‘the reviser
always setting his name thereto, or at least ane other mark, as having
revised the same.’
Not long after, we find the Council in such trouble on account of
false news as to be under the necessity of considering some general
measure on the subject.
In December, one William Davidson, described as a ‘writer,’ was
taken up and put into the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, ‘for writing and
spreading of lies and false news;’ and the Privy Council issued an
order ‘for delivering of the said William to ane of the officers come
from Flanders, to have been carried there as a soldier.’ On its
appearing, however, that William ‘is but a silly cripple boy, having
had his leg and thigh-bones broke,’ they ordered the magistrates of
Edinburgh to banish him from their city, ‘in case they shall find him
guilty of the said crime.’
On the 12th of July 1694, we hear something more of this William
Davidson. For inadvertently adding to a news-letter a postscript
‘bearing some foolish thing offensive to the government, without
affirming whether it was true or false, but only that it was reported,’
he had been condemned to banishment from the city, and also
disinherited by a Whiggish father, now 1692.
deceased. He had since lived upon the
charity of his relations and acquaintances; but these were now weary
of maintaining him, and he was consequently ‘redacted to extream
misery.’ Having broken his thigh-bone six several times, he was
incapable of any employment but that of writing in a chamber, from
which, however, he was debarred by his banishment from
Edinburgh. He therefore craved a relaxation of his sentence, offering
‘to take the oath of allegiance and subscribe the assurance, to
evidence his sincerity towards the government.’ The poor lad’s
petition was complied with.[87]
Sir James Carmichael of Bonnyton, a July.
minor, was proprietor of the lands of
Thankerton, lying on the north side of the river Clyde, in the upper
ward of Lanarkshire. The Clyde had been the march between his
estate and those of the adjacent proprietors—Chancellor of
Shieldhill, and George Kellie in Quothquan; but ‘rivers are bad
neighbours and unfaithful boundaries, as Lucan says of the Po,’[88]
and there had happened a mutatio alvei about fifty years before, in
consequence of a violent flood, and now a part of Bonnyton lands
was thrown on the opposite side. Under the name of the Park-holm,
it had lain neglected for many years; but at length, in 1688, the
present laird’s father sowed and reaped it; whereupon the opposite
neighbours, considering it as theirs, resolved to assert their right to
it. At the date noted, they came eighty strong, ‘resolved to take
advantage of Sir James his infancy, and by open bangstry and
violence to turn him and his tenants out of his possession.’ Their
arms were ‘pitchforks, great staves, scythes, pistols, swords, and
mastive dogs.’ In a rude and violent manner, they cut down ‘the
whole growth of fourteen bolls sowing of corn or thereby,’ drove it
home to their own houses, and there made use of it in bedding their
cattle, or threw it upon the dunghills. Thus, ‘corns which would have
yielded at least nine hundred bolls oats at eight pounds Scots the
boll, were rendered altogether useless for man or beast.’ During the
progress of this plunder, the tenants were confined to their houses
under a guard. So it was altogether a riot and oppression, inferring
severe punishment, which was accordingly called for by the curators
of the young landlord.
The Council, having heard both parties, found the riot proven, and
ordained Chancellor of Shieldhill to pay three hundred merks to the
pursuer.[89] Afterwards (December 26, 1692.
1695), the Lords of Session confirmed the
claim of Bonnyton to the Park-holm.[90]

In this year died the Viscountess Stair—born Margaret Ross of


Balniel, in Wigtonshire—the wife of the ablest man of his age and
country, and mother of a race which has included an extraordinary
number of men of talent and official distinction. The pair had been
married very nearly fifty years, and they were tenderly attached to
the last. The glories of the family history had not been quite free of
shade; witness the tragical death of the eldest daughter Janet, the
original of Lucy Ashton in The Bride of Lammermoor.[91] Lady Stair
is admitted to have been a woman of a soaring mind, of great
shrewdness and energy of character, and skilled in the ways of the
world; and to these qualities on her part it was perhaps, in part,
owing that her family, on the whole, prospered so remarkably. The
public, however, had such a sense of her singular power over fortune,
as to believe that she possessed necromantic gifts, and trafficked
with the Evil One. An order which she left at her death regarding the
disposal of her body, helped to confirm this popular notion. ‘She
desired that she might not be put under ground, but that her coffin
should stand upright on one end of it, promising that, while she
remained in that situation, the Dalrymples should continue to
flourish. What was the old lady’s motive for the request, or whether
she really made such a promise, I shall not take upon me to
determine; but it’s certain her coffin stands upright in the aile of the
church of Kirkliston, the burial-place of the family.’[92]
A local historian attributes to her ladyship ‘one of the best puns
extant. Graham of Claverhouse (commonly pronounced Clavers) was
appointed sheriff of Wigtonshire in 1682. On one occasion, when this
violent persecutor had been inveighing, in her presence, against our
illustrious reformer, she said: “Why are you so severe on the
character of John Knox? You are both reformers: he gained his point
by clavers [talk]; you attempt to gain yours by knocks.”’[93]

The boy carrying the post-bag on its last Aug. 13.


stage from England was robbed by ‘a person
mounted on horseback with a sword about 1692.
him, and another person on foot with a
pistol in his hand, upon the highway from Haddington to Edinburgh,
near that place thereof called Jock’s Lodge [a mile from town], about
ten hours of the night.’ The robbers took ‘the packet or common mail
with the horse whereon the boy rode.’ The Privy Council issued a
proclamation, offering a reward of a hundred pounds for the
apprehension of the offenders, with a free pardon to any one of them
who should inform upon the rest.
The troubles arising from corporation Oct. 1.
privileges were in these old times incessant.
Any attempt by an unfreeman to execute work within the charmed
circle was met with the sternest measures of repression and
punishment, often involving great suffering to poor industrious men.
Indeed, there is perhaps no class of facts more calculated than this to
disenchant modern people out of the idea that the days of old were
days of mutual kindliness and brothership.
At the date noted, one William Somerville, a wright-burgess of
Edinburgh, was engaged in some repairs upon the mansion of the
Earl of Roxburgh, in the Canongate, when Thomas Kinloch, deacon
of the wrights of that jurisdiction, came with assistants, and in a
violent manner took away the whole of the tools which the workmen
were using. This was done as a check to Edinburgh wrights coming
and doing work in a district of which they were not free. Somerville,
two days after, made a formal demand for the restoration of his
‘looms;’ but they were positively refused. The Earl of Roxburgh was a
minor; but his curators felt aggrieved by Kinloch’s procedure, and
accordingly concurred with Somerville in charging the Canongate
deacon, before the Privy Council, with the commission of riot and
oppression in the earl’s house. Apparently, if the Roxburgh mansion
had been subject to the jurisdiction of the Canongate, the Council
could not have given any redress; but it so happened, that when the
earl’s ancestor, in 1636, gave up the superiority of the Canongate, he
reserved his house as to be holden of the crown; therefore, the
Canongate corporations had no title to interfere with the good
pleasure of his lordship in the selection of workmen to do work in his
house. The Council remitted this point of law to the Court of Session;
but meanwhile ordered the restoration of Somerville’s tools.[94]
As an example of the troubles connected 1692.
with mercantile privilege, it may be well to
introduce one simple case of the treatment of an interloper by the
Merchant Company of Edinburgh, the members of which were the
sole legalised dealers in cloth of all kinds in the city. In June 1699, it
was reported to the Company that one Mary Flaikfield, who had
formerly been found selling goods ‘off the mercat-day,’ and enacted
herself to desist from the practice, had been found sinning again in
the same manner. She was detected in selling some plaids and eight
pieces of muslin to a stranger, and the goods were seized and
deposited in the Merchants’ Hall.
The poor woman at first alleged that she had only been conversing
with this stranger, while the goods chanced to be lying beside her,
and the Company was wrought upon to give back her goods, all
except two pieces of the muslin, which they said they would detain
till Mary could prove what she alleged.
Presently, however, there was a change in their mood, for John
Corsbie came forward with information that Mary Flaikfield was
really a notable interloper. The very person she was lately detected in
dealing with, she had wiled away from Corsbie’s own shop, where he
was about to buy the same goods. She was accustomed to sell a good
deal to the family of Lord Halcraig. Then she had not appeared to
prove her innocence. ‘The vote was put: “Roup the two pieces of
muslin or not?” and it carried “Roup.” Accordingly, the muslin being
measured, and found to be twenty-two ells, and ane hour-glass being
set up, several persons bid for the same. The greatest offer made was
fourteen shillings per ell, which offer was made by Francis Brodie,
treasurer—the time being run—the said offer was three several times
cried out, and the said two pieces of muslin were declared to belong
to him for £15, 8s. [Scots]; but if she compear and relieve the same
before the next meeting, allows her to have her goods in payment of
the above sum.’
At the meeting of the ensuing week, Mary Flaikfield not having
come forward to redeem her muslin, the treasurer was instructed to
dispose of it as he should think fit, and be comptable to the Company
for £15, 8s. Two days later, however, there was another meeting
solely on account of Mary, when the Master, Bailie Warrender, and
his assistants, felt that Christian charity would not allow them to
proceed further. ‘Considering that Mary Flaikfield is a poor woman,
big with child, and has been detained here about a fortnight, they, in
point of pity and compassion for her, order 1692.
that her two pieces of muslin be given her
back upon payment of fourteen shillings to the officer.’ She was not
dismissed without a caution as to her future behaviour.[95]

Nov.
The stranding of whales in the Firth of Forth was of such natural
and frequent occurrence in early times, that a tithe of all cast ashore
between Cockburnspath and the mouth of the Avon, was one of the
gifts conferred by the pious David upon the Canons Augustine of
Holyrood. In modern times, it may be considered as an uncommon
event. At this time, however, one had embayed itself in the harbour
of Limekilns, a little port near Queensferry. A litigation took place
regarding the property of it, between the chancellor, the Earl of
Tweeddale, as lord of the regality of Dunfermline, and Mr William
Erskine, depute to the admiral, and the Lords finally adjudged it to
the chancellor, with seven hundred merks as the price at which it had
been sold.[96]

The Earl of Moray, being pursued at law Dec. 1.


for a tradesman’s account, which was
referred to his oath, craved the Court of Session to appoint a
commission to take his oath at Dunnibrissle, on the ground that, if
he were obliged to come to Edinburgh for the purpose, he should
incur as much expense as the whole amount of the alleged debt. As
Dunnibrissle is visible from Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth, this
must be looked upon as an eccentrically economical movement on
his lordship’s part. The court granted the commission, but ordained
his lordship to pay any expense which might be incurred by the
debtor, or his representative, in travelling to Dunnibrissle to be
present at the oath-taking.[97]
The court had occasionally not less whimsical cases before it. In
February 1698, there was one regarding a copper caldron, which had
been poinded, but not first taken to the Cross to be ‘appreciate.’ The
defenders represented that they had done something equivalent in
carrying thither a part of it—the ledges—as a symbol; following here
a rule applicable with heavy movables, as where a salt-pan was
represented by two nails; nay, a symbol not homogeneous, as a wisp
of straw for a flock of sheep, fulfilled the law. The defence was
sustained, and the poinding affirmed.[98]
The Privy Council had under its hands 1692. Dec.
three Protestant clergymen—namely, Mr
John Hay, late minister at Falkland; Mr Alexander Leslie, late
minister at Crail; and Mr Patrick Middleton, late minister at Leslie—
in short, three of the ‘outed’ Episcopal clergy—for not praying for
William and Mary. They acknowledged that they prayed ‘only in
general terms’ for the king and queen, and were therefore discharged
from thereafter exercising any clerical functions, under severe
penalties. Soon after, the Council judged, in the case of Mr Alexander
Lundie, late minister of Cupar, who stated that, ‘having a mixed
auditory, he prayed so as might please both parties.’ This style of
praying, or else the manner of alluding to it, did not please the Privy
Council, and Mr Lundie was ordered ‘to be carried from the bar, by
the macers, to the Tolbooth, there to remain during the Council’s
pleasure.’ Having lain there four days, far from all means of
subsistence, while his wife was ill of a dangerous disease at home,
and his family of small children required his care, Mr Lundie was
fain to beg the Council’s pardon for what he had said, and so
obtained his liberation also, but only with a discharge from all
clerical functions till he should properly qualify himself according to
act of parliament.
On the 22d of May 1693, Mr David Angus, minister of Fortrose,
was before the Council on a charge that, although deprived for not
praying for their majesties in terms of the act of parliament, ‘he has
publicly preached and exercised the ministerial function within his
own house, and parish where the same lies, and elsewhere, without
qualifying himself by signing the oath of allegiance.’ So far from
evidencing the sense he ought to have had of the grievous
circumstances from which the nation had been relieved, by reading
the proclamation of estates, he had neglected it, and prayed for King
James, thus stirring up the disaffected in opposition to their
majesties’ government, and discouraging their loyal subjects. These
were ‘crimes which ought to be severely punished for the terror of
others.’ The Lords, therefore, finding him unable to deny the alleged
facts, and indisposed to engage for a different behaviour in future,
confirmed his deprivation, and discharged him from preaching or
exercising any ministerial function within the kingdom.
As a specimen of the equivocating prayers—Mr Charles Key, one of
the ministers of South Leith, was charged, in September 1694, with
using these expressions, ‘“That God would bless our king and queen,
and William and Mary,” or “our king and 1692.
queen, William and Mary, and the rest of the royal family.”’[99]

A great number of recruits were now Dec. 31.


drawn together to be sent to Flanders, but
the vessels for their transportation were not ready. The Privy Council
therefore ordered their distribution throughout the jails of Lothian
and Fife, sixty, eighty, a hundred, and even more, to each tolbooth,
according to its capacity—for example, two hundred and forty-four to
the jails of Musselburgh, Haddington, and Leith—there to be
furnished with blankets to lie on by the various magistrates. When it
is known that two Jacobite gentlemen had lately petitioned for
liberation from Musselburgh jail, on the ground that it did not
contain a fireroom, and their health was consequently becoming
ruined, it will not seem surprising that a competent troop of horse
and foot had to be ordered ‘to keep guard upon the said recruits, and
take care that none of them escape.’
That a good many, induced either by the hardships of their
situation, or the enticements of disaffected persons, did desert the
service, is certain: a strict proclamation on this subject came out in
April 1694. At the same time, John M‘Lachlan, schoolmaster in
Glasgow, was before the Privy Council on a charge of having induced
a number of soldiers in the regiments lying at that city to desert.
‘Being disaffected,’ it was said, ‘to their majesties’ government, he
has, so far as possible for thir three or four years past, made it his
business to weaken the government, and to instigate and persuade
several soldiers to run away.’ He did ‘forge passes for them.’ In
particular, in January last, he did ‘persuade John Fergusson and
John M‘Leod, soldiers in Captain Anderson’s company in Lord
Strathnaver’s regiment, then lying at Glasgow, to run away and
desert ... telling them that they were but beasts and fools for serving
King William, for that he was sure that the late King James would be
soon here again.... He had given passes to several of the regiment
formerly in garrison at Glasgow, and offered to go with them to a
gentlewoman’s house without the Steeple-green port, who was a
cousin of his, who would secure them and receive their clothes, and
furnish them with others to make their escape; and told them they
were going to Flanders, and would be felled there, and so it was best
for them to desert, and that he would hide their firelocks
underground, and give them other coats 1692.
and money, and a pass to carry them safe
away.’
The Council, having called evidence, and found the charge proven,
sentenced M‘Lachlan to be whipped through the city of Edinburgh,
and banished to the American plantations. They afterwards altered
the sentence, and adjudged the Jacobite schoolmaster, instead of
being whipped, to stand an hour on the pillory at Edinburgh, and an
hour on the pillory at Glasgow, under the care of the hangman, with
a paper on his brow, with these words written or printed thereon
—‘John M‘Lachlan, schoolmaster at Glasgow, appointed to be set on
the pillory at Edinburgh and Glasgow, and sent to the plantations,
for seducing and debauching soldiers to run away from their colours,
and desert their majesties’ service.’
Two days later, the Privy Council recommended their majesties’
advocate to prosecute M‘Lachlan before the committee anent pressed
men, ‘for the disloyal and impertinent speeches uttered by him
yesterday while he stood upon the pillory of Edinburgh.’ What came
of this, we do not learn; but on the 3d of July there is a petition from
M‘Lachlan, setting forth that, after a nineteen weeks’ imprisonment,
he is sinking under sickness and infirmity, while his family are
starving at home, and craving his liberty, on giving assurance that he
shall not offend again against the government. His liberation was
ordered.
James Hamilton, keeper of the Canongate Tolbooth (July 16,
1696), represented to the Privy Council that it had been customary
for him and his predecessors to receive two shillings Scots per night
for each recruit kept in the house, with a penny sterling to the
servants (being 3d. sterling in all), and their lordships, in
consideration of his ‘great trouble in keeping such unruly prisoners
in order’—he ‘being liable to the payment of ten dollars for every man
that shall make his escape’—had authorised him to take
‘obleisements’ from the officers for the payment of these dues, till
lately when the authority was withdrawn. This had led to loss on the
part of the petitioner, who had now spent all his own means, and
further run into debt, so that, ‘through continual hazard of captions,’
he was threatened with becoming a prisoner in his own jail. He
entreated payment of some arrears for General Mackay’s recruits, as
well as these recent arrears, and likewise for the proper allowance for
‘the coiners and clippers,’ latterly an abundant class of prisoners, on
account of the tempting condition of the coin of the realm for
simulation. The Lords recommended 1693.
Hamilton to the treasury for payment of the
monies due to him.[100]

Though Scotland had long enjoyed the Feb. 2.


services of four universities, the teaching of
any of the natural sciences was not merely unknown in the country,
but probably undreamed of, till the reign of Charles II. The first faint
gleam of scientific teaching presents itself about 1676, when, under
the fostering care of Dr (afterwards Sir) Robert Sibbald, a botanic
garden was established near the Trinity College Church, as a means
of helping the medical men of Edinburgh to a better knowledge of
the pharmacopœia. It was put under the care of James Sutherland,
who had been a common gardener, but whose natural talents had
raised him to a fitness for this remarkable position. In his little
garden in the valley on the north side of the city, he taught the
science of herbs to students of medicine for small fees, receiving no
other encouragement besides a salary from the city of twenty
pounds, which did not suffice to pay rent and servants’ wages, not to
speak of the cost of new plants. At the time of the siege of Edinburgh
Castle in the spring of 1689, it had been thought necessary, for
strategic reasons, to drain the North Loch, and, as the water ran
through the Botanic Garden, it came to pass that the place was for
some days under an inundation, and when left dry, proved to be
covered with mud and rubbish, so that the delicate and costly plants
which Sutherland had collected were nearly all destroyed. It had cost
him and his assistants the work of a whole season to get the ground
cleared, and he had incurred large charges in replacing the plants.
At this date, the Privy Council, on Sutherland’s petition, took into
consideration his losses, his inadequate salary, and the good service
he was rendering, ‘whereby not only the young physicians,
apothecaries, and chirurgeons, but also the nobility and gentry, are
taught the knowledge of the herbs, and also a multitude of plants,
shrubs, and trees are cultivated which were never known in this
nation before, and more numerous than in any other garden in
Britain, as weel for the honour of the place as for the advantage of
the people.’ They therefore declared that they will in future allow Mr
Sutherland fifty pounds a year out of fines falling to them, one half
for expenses of the garden, and the other half by way of addition to
his salary.[101]
Mr Stephen Maxwell, ‘alleged to be a 1693. Apr. 13.
Romish priest,’ prisoner in Blackness
Castle, Mr George Gordon, Mr Robert Davidson, and Mr Alexander
Crichton, ‘also alleged to be popish priests,’ and prisoners in the
Edinburgh Tolbooth, were ordered to be set at liberty, provided they
would agree to deport themselves from the kingdom ‘in the fleet now
lying under convoy of the man-of-war lying in the Road of Leith,’ and
give caution to the extent of a hundred pounds that they would never
return. On the 17th, Mr James Hepburn, ‘alleged to be a popish
priest,’ was ordered to be liberated from the Canongate Tolbooth on
the same terms. All of these gentlemen had been for many months
deprived of their liberty.
There still lay in Blackness Castle one John Seaton, who had been
apprehended in December 1688, on suspicion of being a priest, and
confined ever since, being four and a half years. He had been offered
the same grace with the rest; but he was prevented by his personal
condition from accepting it. According to his own account, he was
seventy years of age. He ‘has not only spent any little thing he had,
but his health is likewise entirely ruined, beyond any probability of
recovery.’ He was most willing to have gone abroad, ‘where he might
have expected better usage for ane in his condition than he can
reasonably propose to himself anywhere in this kingdom;’ but ‘when
the rest went away above a month ago, finding his health so totally
broken by sickness, old age, and imprisonment, and his infirmity still
growing worse,’ he was ‘necessitat to continue prisoner, rather than
hazard a long sea-voyage, whereby he could expect no less than an
unavoidable painful death, the petitioner, when formerly in health
and strength at sea, being still in hazard of his life.’ John Seaton
further represented that he had never, during his long
imprisonment, received any support from the government, but been
maintained by the charity of his friends. He now prayed the Council
that they would take pity on him, and ‘not permit him, ane old sickly
dying man, to languish in prison for the few days he can, by the
course of nature and his disease, continue in this life,’ but let him
retire to ‘some friend’s house, where he may have the use of some
help for his distressed condition, and may in some measure mitigate
the affliction he at present lies under by old age, sickness, poverty,
and imprisonment.’
The Council ordered Seaton to be liberated.[102]
For some time past there had been an 1693. Apr.
unusual and alarming number of highway
robberies. One case, of a picturesque character, may be
particularised. William M‘Fadyen, who made a business of droving
cattle out of Galloway and Carrick to sell them in the English
markets, had received a hundred and fifty pounds sterling at
Dumfries, and was on his way home (December 10, 1692), about four
miles from that town, when at sunrise he was joined by two men,
‘one in a gentleman’s habit, mounted on a dark-gray horse, with a
scarlet coat and gold-thread buttons. He was of extraordinary
stature, with his own hair, sad-coloured, ane high Roman nose,
slender-faced, thick-lipped, with a wrat [wart] above one of his eyes
as big as ane nut, and the little-finger of his left hand bowed towards
his loof’—a peculiarity, by the way, which the Duke of Lauderdale
believed to denote a man who would come to some sad and untimely
end. ‘The other appeared to be his servant, and was also mounted
upon ane dark-gray horse, and carried a long gun.’ ‘After they had
travelled about half a mile on the way, the servant said he was going
through the muir, and desired [M‘Fadyen] to go along with him,
which he refused; whereupon he beat [M‘Fadyen] with the but-end of
his gun, and said he would make him go. Immediately thereafter, the
other came up, and presented a pistol to his breast; and so, after he
had made what defence he was able, and had received several
wounds, they carried him about a quarter of a mile off the way, and
cut the cloak-bag from behind his saddle, and carried away his
money.’
Among other steps taken by the Privy Council in consequence of
this daring robbery, was to ‘recommend Sir James Leslie,
commander-in-chief for the time of their majesties’ forces within this
kingdom, to cause make trial if there be any such person, either
officer or soldier, amongst their majesties’ forces, as the persons
described.’ They sent the same recommendation to the Earl of Leven
with regard to ‘the officers which are come over from Flanders to levy
recruits.’
This seems to have put the military authorities upon their mettle,
and they engaged a certain Sergeant Fae, of Sir James Leslie’s
regiment, as a detector of the robbers, ‘upon his own expenses,
except five pounds allowed him by the [Privy Council].’ The sergeant,
an enterprising fellow, with ‘a perfect abhorrence of such villainies,’
went into the duty assigned him with such zeal and courage, that he
soon, at the hazard of his life, made seizure of several robbers, of
whom two were convicted. Three months of 1693. Apr. 5.
this work having, however, exhausted his
means, he was obliged to petition for further encouragement, and the
Privy Council ordered him ten pounds for the past service, and five
pounds for every robber whom he might apprehend, and who should
be convicted in future.[103]

A great number of the smaller lairds of Apr. 11.


Fife were Jacobite; among the rest, David
Boswell of Balmouto. On the other hand, the Earl of Leven, one of
the nobility of the county, stood high in office under the Revolution
government. Besides a general quarrel with the earl on this ground,
Balmouto had probably some private cause of offence to exasperate
him; but on this point we only have conjecture.
At the date noted, there was a horse-race at the county town,
Cupar; and both gentlemen attended. It is alleged that Balmouto first
waited near a house in the town where the earl was, in expectation of
his coming forth, but afterwards went away to the raceground. There,
as the earl was quietly riding about, Balmouto came up to him
behind his back, and struck him twice or thrice over the head and
shoulders with a baton. On his lordship turning to defend himself,
the assailant struck the horse on the face, and caused it to rear
dangerously. Balmouto then fired a pistol at the earl without effect,
and was immediately seized by the bystanders, and prevented from
doing further mischief.
In a debate before the Privy Council on this case, after hearing
representations from both parties, it was held that the earl’s
complaint was proved, while an attempt of Balmouto to make out a
counter-charge of assault against Lord Leven was declared to have
failed. Balmouto was obliged to beg the earl’s pardon on his knees,
and, on pain of imprisonment, give caution for future good-
behaviour.
On the ensuing 13th of March 1694, Balmouto is found
representing to the Council that ‘his misfortune has been so great,
that his friends are unwilling to interest themselves in his liberation,
whereby his family is in hazard to be ruined, and himself to die in
prison;’ and he craved that they would accept his personal obligation,
and allow him his liberty. The Earl of Leven having concurred in
desiring this, the petition was complied with.[104]
A broadside published this month at 1693. JUNE.
Glasgow, under the title of the Scottish
Mercury, ‘by Mr John Stobo, student in astrologophysick,’ being
dated, however, ‘from Kirkintilloch, where I dwell,’ makes us aware
that the almanac-making charlatanry was not unknown in Scotland.
We learn from it that the French nation are near a sad calamity; that
there were fears of conspiracies about Rome and Milan; and
Constantinople not likely to be free from tumultuous uproars of the
soldiery. ‘The conjunction of Venus with Jupiter relates to some
great lady’s marriage.’ The author professes to ground upon natural
causes, but not to conclude positively about anything—‘that belongs
to God’s providence.’ Finally, there is an advertisement informing
the world that John Stobo, as is known in many parts of this
kingdom, cures infallibly all diseases, couches cataracts, amputates,
&c., working for the poor gratis, and imposing upon the rich ‘as little
cost as may be.’

To promote the making of linen in June 14.


Scotland, an act was passed in 1686,
ordaining that ‘no corps of any persons whatsoever be buried in any
shirt, sheet, or anything else, except in plain linen,’ the relatives of
deceased persons being obliged, under heavy penalties, to come to
their parish minister within eight days of the burial, and declare on
oath that the rule had been complied with.[105] Another act was now
passed, ordaining that, for the same end, no lint should be exported
from the kingdom; that lint imported should be duty free; and
making sundry arrangements for a uniformity in the breadth of the

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