1.3 Constructing a Social Problem
Kimberly Puttman
Sociologists argue that social problems are socially constructed. In order to explain why some issues become relevant to particular communities, sociologists propose a process, or sequence of steps, that an issue undergoes before it becomes a social problem. These steps may include requests for action and subsequent responses. Sociologist Joel Best proposes a useful six-step process.
The Social Problems Process
In order to explain why social problems arise, sociologists look for patterns across many social problems. As early as 1940, Richard Fuller and Richard Myers proposed a model for social problem creation, action, and resolution. They called the model a natural history of a social problem. It may seem odd at first to hear social problems described in terms of natural history.
More simply, Fuller and Myers are asking us to be excellent observers, looking at the social world the way a biologist would study nature. A biologist would observe, gather evidence, and explain patterns she sees. Sociologists who study social problems also observe and organize details into steps or models. They use those models to explain social phenomena or predict what might happen next. In this book, we describe this approach as the social problems process.
Recently, sociologist Joel Best proposed a more detailed framework for the social problems process (Figure 1.14). In it, he includes steps for identifying and examining what a social problem is. He considers modern technology by describing how social media can rally people to a cause or promote government programs. He also expands our understanding of how the government takes action with social problems and helps us think about what happens next. This model is helpful because it allows us to explore what is common in social problems, and perhaps more importantly, what is effective in trying to solve them. The following sections walk through the model step by step.
Step One: Claimsmaking
In this step, people and groups identify an issue and try to convince others to take it seriously. In this step, the problem is called a claim, or “an argument that a particular troubling condition needs to be addressed” (Best 2020:15). In this stage, people disagree about whether a problem exists. They disagree on who should take action. In Best’s classic example, civil rights activists claimed that racial segregation in public spaces, employment, housing, voting and other aspects of social life was unacceptable. Predominantly Black activists held sit-ins, boycotts, marches, and demonstrations to assert their claim. The people conducting these actions are claimsmakers, the “people who seek to convince others that there is a troubling condition about which something needs to be done” (Best 2020:15).
Step Two: Media Coverage
In the second step, claimsmakers work to find other people and groups who agree with them on the causes, impacts, and desired outcomes of the particular issue