2.7 What Is a Social Problem?
Elizabeth B. Pearce
A social problem is any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed systemically. It cannot be solved by an individual; institutional or societal responses are needed. This definition has both an objective component and a subjective component.
The objective component is this: for any condition or behavior to be considered a social problem, it must have negative consequences for large numbers of people. How do we know if a social problem has negative consequences? Reasonable people can disagree on whether such consequences exist and on the seriousness of consequences, but a body of data accumulates—from academic researchers, government agencies, and other sources—that strongly points to extensive consequences.
Consider, for example, the case of climate change, defined as changes in the earth’s climate due to the buildup of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Although the majority of climate scientists say that climate change is real and serious, the percentage of Americans who agree with scientists is lower. In a 2011 poll, 64% said they “think that global warming is happening” (Leiserowitz et al., 2011). While the majority of Americans believe in 2020 that climate change is a social problem (Tyson & Kennedy, 2020), there is still a discrepancy between the scientific community and the public’s view. Social identity and location influence viewpoints, according to Gallup polls that have found that people in the west and northeast (McCarthy, 2019), as well as younger adults (Reinhart, 2018), are more likely to believe that climate change is at least partially caused by human behavior and needs to be addressed.
This type of dispute points to the subjective component: there must be a perception that the condition or behavior needs to be addressed for it to be considered a social problem, and that viewpoint can change over time and location. This component lies at the heart of the social constructionist view of social problems (Rubington & Weinberg, 2010). In this view, many types of negative conditions and behaviors exist. Many of these are considered sufficiently negative to acquire the status of a social problem; some do not receive this consideration and thus do not become a social problem, and some become considered a social problem only if citizens, policymakers, or other parties call attention to the condition or behavior.
The history of attention given to rape and sexual assault in the United States before and after the 1970s provides an example of this latter situation, as shown in figure 2.17. Acts of sexual violence against women are not a new occurrence and certainly were common in the United States before the 1970s. Thus, although sexual violence existed, it was not considered a social problem. Thanks to this focus, rape and sexual assault eventually entered the publ