The US Public Health Service (USPHS) was responsible for initiating the syphilis study. The Tuskegee syphilis study aimed at determining the natural course of untreated and latent syphilis. The study targeted black males ( Brandt, 1978 ). In the experimental study, the test comprised four-hundred men suffering from syphilis and another two-hundred uninfected black men who served as controls for the experiment. The first study was prepared in 1936 with subsequent reports being issued after every four to six years. The men under research received preferential medical treatment including free medical exams as well as meals and also burial insurance ( CDC, 2017 ). The study was, however, faced with social challenges as well as ethical issues as shall be captured in the article. Social perspectives, as well as sociological research, shall be investigated with regards to the case study. Further, the culture of the people under research and their socialization shall also be looked into in this paper. The paper also ought to elaborate on deviance of the society and also look into issues of ethnicity.
In sociology, there are three research approaches including quantitative, qualitative, and scientific approach ( Ferris & Stein, 2008 ). A quantitative research approaches heavily depends on statistical analysis. On the other hand, qualitative research utilizes non-numerical data or rather interpretive analysis such as texts and written forms. The Tuskegee case study used a scientific approach but incorporated qualitative aspects in it. The study is better termed as ethnography ( Fetterman, 2010 ) for only considering black males in the determination of the natural course of untreated and latent syphilis. Furthermore, the sexual desire among the blacks propelled their prevalence to contracting syphilis. The study was, however, unethical ( CDC, 2017 ). It violated sociological settings. Moreover, the study took forty years and violated the initially projected period of six months. Also, the researchers failed to disclose the real purpose of the study hence the study can be said to have been done without the consent of the participants. Additionally, the men received inadequate treatment for their illness. The ethical injustices amounted to the stoppage of the study later in the year 1972.
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The Negro culture dominated the study . However, the white civilization superseded the black race. In the time of the research, scientists had speculations that black Americans were doomed to survive in the white civilization complex ( Gaines, 2012 ). The belief bound within the white civilization described the black Americans as primitive people. Further, they were believed to be prone to crime, education, and diseases. Moreover, social Darwinists predicted the virtual extinction of the Negro race through a degenerative evolutionary process which later proved not to be the case. Medical professions describe the Negro race as people of excessive sexual desire leading to immorality and for that matter undermine the foundations of white society. The sociological perspective of the people at the beginning and the end of the study depicts a cultural change. Initially, the whites did not recognize the blacks. Due to the interaction between the two cultures, cultural relativism was born and led to the acceptance of the Negro race paving the way for a formal culture .
Socialization is a process through which individuals can learn and also internalize some values as well as norms of a given group ( Grusec & Hastings, 2014 ). The individuals become functioning members of the society or culture. Through socialization, members acquire skills necessary for satisfying their basic human needs. Further, socialization helps the individuals learn beliefs, norms, and values that are associated with the culture. The learning process leads to adherence to the culture’s shared way of life and hence a cultural change. The process is propagated through agents of socialization including the family, society, and the media. The agents are responsible for articulating the Negro race into white civilization. Also, through socialization, the black Americans were understood and accepted culturally into the white civilization . They readily learned the found cultural norms and conformed to them.
Deviance is a trait or rather a behavior borne into a group of people that departs them from a norm and leads to the generation of a negative reaction in the given group ( Rubington & Weinberg, 2015 ). Deviant behavior ought to be serious enough to result in a negative sanction. For instance, the excessive sexual drive of the Negro race sparked a reaction from the white civilization. They viewed the blacks as immoral and that their norms were unacceptable to the white civilization .
Social change is an alteration that exists in the social order or the society ( Eisenstadt, 2013 ). The change depicts a sociocultural evolution or rather social progress. The change is driven by cultural, scientific, and technological forces among others. Developmental psychology has also been found to play an essential role in the social change. Regarding the Tuskegee Case Study, it is evident that both the black Americans and white civilization underwent a social change that incorporated the two cultures into one and led to the acceptance of the two cultures. Utilizing the conflict theory ( Gallo, 2013 ), a sociological perspective, it is evident that racial and ethnic differences between the blacks and the whites created an intergroup conflict. The majority groups – whites – in context to the study object to affirmative action assisting the minority – blacks – groups creating a racial conflict in the society.
In conclusion, the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male was aimed at justifying treatment programs for blacks. The study involved 600 black men – 400 with syphilis and 200 serving as a control . The study was, however, was faced with ethical issues. For instance, it was conducted for a longer time than the projected without the consent of the participants as the researchers failed to disclose the purpose of the study. Further, they received inadequate treatment. The conflict theory, a sociological perspective, was employed to analyze the events occurring in the case study.
References
Brandt, A. M. (1978). Racism and research: the case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Hastings Center Report , 8 (6), 21-29.
CDC. (2017, August 30). US Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee . Retrieved November 21, 2017, from The Tuskegee Timeline: https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
Eisenstadt, S. N. (Ed.). (2013). Readings in Social Evolution and Development: The Commonwealth and International Library: Readings in Sociology . Elsevier.
Ferris, K., & Stein, J. (2008). The real world: An introduction to sociology . WW Norton.
Fetterman, D. M. (Ed.). (2010). Ethnography: Step-by-step (Vol. 17). Sage.
Gaines, K. K. (2012). Uplifting the race: Black leadership, politics, and culture in the twentieth century . UNC Press Books.
Gallo, G. (2013). Conflict theory, complexity, and systems approach: Systems Research and Behavioral Science , 30 (2), 156-175.
Grusec, J. E., & Hastings, P. D. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of socialization: Theory and research : Guilford Publications.
Rubington, E., & Weinberg, M. (2015). Deviance: The interactionist perspective . Routledge.
