CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1
The Social
Problems
Process

Joel Best
DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

What is a social problem?

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Objectivist definitions of social problems

 Conditions considered objectively harmful

include crime, racism, and sexism.
 Objectivist definitions attempt to measure the
characteristics of harmful conditions.

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Problems with objectivist definitions

1. Harmful conditions are not always identified
as social problems.
 Sexism was not considered a social problem until
recently.
2. Conditions that some identify as harmful may
not be considered harmful by others.

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Problems with objectivist definitions

3. Social problems are very diverse, so definitions

that try to include them all are often vague.
4. It can be difficult to specify what constitutes
harm.
 Not everyone will agree if or why a condition is
harmful.

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Constructionism (subjectivist approach)

 Conditions are not viewed as problems because of
objective standards.
 They are problems because people think they are.
 What matters is people’s responses to, and
perceptions of, harmful conditions.

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

 What makes a social problem?

 Subjective reactions, not an objective quality.
 Social problems vary by country because
experiences shape what we see as bad.
 Social problems are not a type of condition, but
rather a process of responding to conditions.
 That process involves social construction.

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Constructionism

 Social construction refers to the way people

assign meaning to the world.
 Language plays a key role in the construction
process.
 Individuals learn about and understand their world
by naming things and talking about them.

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

The social problems process

The only thing social problems have in common is

that some people have defined them as social
problems.
How and why do particular conditions come to be
constructed as social problems?

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DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

 Claim: a statement asserting that a condition

is troubling or harmful
 Claimsmaking: asserting that a condition
should be perceived as a social problem
• Claimsmakers: individuals or groups seeking
to convince others that a condition is
troubling and that something should be done
 Activists, experts, and officials

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NATURAL HISTORY OF A SOCIAL PROBLEM

The process of constructing a social condition

into a social problem has six stages.

 The sequence of these stages is the natural

history of the social problem.

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 SOCIAL PROBLEMS
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 NATURAL HISTORY OF A SOCIAL PROBLEM

Stage 1: Claimsmaking
 People make claims that there is a problem.
Stage 2: Media coverage
 Media report on claimsmakers.
Stage 3: Public reactions
 Public opinion focuses on the social problem.

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 NATURAL HISTORY OF A SOCIAL PROBLEM

Stage 4: Policymaking
 Lawmakers and others address the problem.
Stage 5: Social problems work
 Agencies implement the new policies.
Stage 6: Policy outcomes
 The various responses to new arrangements.

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ADDITIONAL THEMES

• Resources

• Rhetoric

• Feedback

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