Social Problem – Favoritism: Impacts and Theoretical Perspective

Social Problem
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Introduction
Any behavior or condition that poses negative outcomes on a large number of people is referred to as a social problem. Social problems should be addressed as soon as possible to prevent grave consequences for innocent and undeserving people (Spector & Kitsuse, 2017). The most coherent social problem identified in the case is Favoritism. Favoritism is a negative behavior involving offering unfair treatment to a person or group at the expense of another person. For instance, in this case, Anderson demonstrated Favoritism by allowing Connie Maddox to occupy a new office with a window. According to the company's rules and regulations, such offices were only reserved for executives such as Patel. The essay will address Favoritism as a social problem, analyze the impact of the social phenomenon on a social problem, address the theoretical perspectives which best align with the problem, identify a social movement in response to the problem, and identify solutions.
Social Problem- Favoritism
Favoritism is one of the most destructive social problems in the world today. It greatly undermines society's integrity and creates a toxic environment in the affected areas, which could be the workplace and social institutions such as schools and health centers (Iacoviello & Spears, 2022). Favoritism can be either ingroup or out-group. Ingroup Favoritism entails offering preferential treatment to people with whom the person relates or identifies or with whom they come from a similar group (Iacoviello & Spears, 2022). For instance, Anderson and Connie Maddox have a lot of untold pasts with each other, about Connie said about having a lot of dirt against Anderson. Therefore, they identify with each other, making Anderson give her preferential treatment over Patel. Favoritism harms both personal and professional relationships. It kills trust and unity, destroying the social fabric that makes society whole. Consequently, Favoritism creates different and unequal outcomes for other groups that affect even the justice system. For instance, ingroup Favoritism in courts can massively affect straight decisions from judges.
Favoritism makes it impossible to steer high performance in any social institution based on integrity and strong character when the behavior, especially from leaders, demonstrates unfair and preferential treatment. According to Mutz and Kim (2017), One of the effects of Favoritism is a significant decline in performance, especially in workplaces. Organizations with a toxic culture due to Favoritism rarely attain their highest performance level. In such organizations, there exists distrust and spite among the members, which makes it impossible to recognize and acknowledge the high performers. Favoritism creates demotivated people. For instance, working so hard to receive a promotion at an organization and then getting hit by the fact that a colleague who seemed unbothered and lazy all the time got in the first person’s place just because they are friends with the management is likely to breed demotivation. Favoritism also creates conflict that never ends. The conflict stems from distrust and a lack of integrity and character. Conflicts that stem from Favoritism bring forth resentment and negative energy on issues that consume and waste time and energy. For instance, staff from company X, where high degree favoritism is practiced, will fight not on the most impeccable ways to satisfy customers or the best solutions to common problems but on showing who is most knowledgeable or has the highest expertise and performance or instead, who is liked most by the bosses and has authority to make decisions over the others. Such an environment is chaotic and highly toxic, all because of Favoritism.
Impact of Social Phenomenon
Social phenomena include actions or behaviors that occur due to social influence. Social phenomena may be behavioral, historical, and political (Spector & Kitsuse, 2017). Examples of social phenomena include social deviance and inequality. This part will analyze social deviance's impact on Favoritism from macro and micro perspectives. Social deviance entails behaviors that do not match the norms and expectations of society. When people fail to act justly and fairly in society, especially those in power, they deviate from the norms. Therefore, social problems such as Favoritism arise.
From a Macro perspective, deviance impacts Favoritism such that the society becomes unfair mainly and dangerous to operate in (Friedmann & Efrat-Treister, 2022). At this point, people are unable to undertake their normal businesses due to harassment from local authorities. The entire social fabric changes over time, making people vacate new geographical locations in search of peace and unity (Mutz & Kim, 2017). An example is given of two groups of people who had settled on government lands. One group of people was in the middle level economically, while the other was defined by extreme poverty. A set of local state lands and government assets officials who demonstrated deviance on the societal expectation of humanity favored the middle-level economic group by not demolishing their settlements and leaving them to continue settling in the public property. In contrast, they demolished the poor people's settlements and left them to die. Over time, the population in that city decreased significantly because the ‘poor’ people fled to other states as a result of fear of the local authorities.
From a micro perspective, deviance impacts Favoritism such that trust bonds and healthy conversations are forgotten in society. People start mistrusting systems such as service and product creation due to ingroup and out-group Favoritism (Asencio, 2019). Here, conflicts emerge, and teamwork in groups diminishes. An example is a beauty and cosmetics company manufacturing products for both black and white women in the country. At a time when the Black Lives Matter movement was all over, the company demonstrated social deviance on the societal expectation of racial equality and fair treatment, which led to Favoritism. They did this by switching to manufacturing products for only white women, claiming that black people are chaotic and vio...