1. What is a social problem? Discuss with examples.

To the uninitiated, this question would bring up examples of social problems like smoking, prostitution
and excessive gambling. These would then be justified to be a problems due to the harm that they
cause to society. The common understanding of a social problem is an issue that affects and worsens
the living conditions of a select group of people in society.

However, in actuality, although the conditions experienced serve as important descriptors of a social
problem, these conditions alone are not important in determining whether the layman would view it as
a social problem. No one statistic is powerful enough to frame a condition as a social problem. Think of
honor killings in Pakistan, BBC estimates that it leads to the deaths of 20,000 women each year. Many
human rights groups campaign vigorously for these horrific crimes to stop. On the other hand, 1.3
million people die in traffic fatalities every year, yet we have not seen as many efforts trying to ban the
usage of cars. Hence, the common way of understanding a social problem is limited.

Social problems have also been understood, by some sociologists, to be problems that not only affect
society, but are also shaped by larger social forces that are beyond the individuals control. From a
macro perspective, a social problem is when certain features of society constrain the opportunities of
and in doing so, worsen the lives of people. For example, the feminization of poverty in Japan was
caused by the breakdown of the company society, a system where women are dependent on their
husbands economic participation in large Japanese firms providing lifetime employment for welfare.
This could no longer be supported due to the stagnating Japanese economy and the increasingly
unstable economic outlook.

From a micro perspective, sociologists also understand social problems to be the result of individuals
negotiate their living environments that reproduces or exarcebates the problem. For example, a poor
person, out of desperation for money, may end up selling his organs illegally. However, the lack of
proper medical care afterwards may result in serious illness which impairs the ability to work,
perpuating his poverty.

However, the above approaches are constrained in that they assume social problems exist as
identifiable objective conditions in society. Often, an issue must be established as a problem before it
is studied. Furthermore, a sociologist may identify malignant conditions in a society, but the society may
ignore completely its presence. Consumerism is a prime example of this, in which case it does not exist
as a social problem. Hence, a more in-depth analysis of understanding what is a social problem would
involve subjective analysisstudying the process through which conditions and issues come to be
widely accepted as social problems. Hence, the question we want to ask ourselves is: what makes a
condition a social problem?

This is where constructionist approach comes in handy. According to Kitsuse and Spector, social
problems are the activities of groups making assertions of grievances and claims with respect to some
putative conditions. The problems exists due to the efforts of groups that mobilised to make certain
conditions to be seen as problems. For example, prior to the feminist movement many years ago,
women staying at home was considered to be part of the natural social order. It was unquestioned and
uncontested. Now, however, as a result of the hardwork of many generations of feminist movements,
women are even arguing for equal pay at the workplace, a place seen as mens territory many years
back.
According to the constructionist perspective, there are many objective conditions that can be
considered harmful or problematic to society. Yet, society can only handle a maximum of a few social
problems. As a result, claims on social problems compete with each other for subjective concern. This
competition is part of the claims-making process through which groups try to elevate the importance of
unjust, immoral or harmful behaviour. Hence, from a social constructionist perspective, social problems
are the process of interactionim between objective conditions and subjective concerns that have been
aroused in them.

The amount of subjective concern arising from objective conditions can vary. In the process through
which claims become recognised, the socio-political context can largely impact their success. Child
pornography, for example, has been considered harmful in many societies as using children as a means
of fulfilling sexual excitement is generally considered immoral. In America and many other countries,
the ownership and distribution of child pornographic material is a federal crime. Yet, in Japan it is still
legal to possess pornographic material of children, provided that they are depicted in manga, animated
films or video games that are labelled explicit. The comic and animated film industry is a highly
profitable multi-billion yen industry which has given it the bargaining power to stop legislation from
damaging their business interests.

Sometimes, social problems can be the result of having a large degree of subjective concern for an
objective condition that barely exists. An extreme example of this is the fear of witchcraft in the 1600s,
where people in Europe burned women who were believed to be witches, which we of course have
discovered today, does not exist. Currently, 70% of inmates doing time in Singapores prisons are there
for drug-related offences, though Singapore has one of the lowest drug abuse rates in the world. Also, it
is Theft- and other related crimes, that form the largest percentage of crimes commited in prisons and
Singapore.

Although social problems are the subjective responses to objective concerns, sometimes the
understanding of the problem is very different from its objective condition. Drug abuse is objectively a
problem that leads to serious health problems such as hallucinations and death from overdose. Its
addictive nature can also lead to serious withdrawal symptoms on people who are reliant on it.
However, in Singapore, it is framed to be both a health issue and a moral issue. Drug abusers are seen
as individuals who lack self-control and are unable to take case of themselves, causing grief and
becoming an economic burden to their loved ones. As a result, a personal problem usually results in a
family problem. One persons selfish wrongdoing implicates the rest of the family. Hence, the
understanding of social problems such as drug abuse in Singapore may not be fully reflective of the
objective conditions.

Hence, in understanding what is a social problem, there is more than meets the eye. Social problems
are not just the objective problems of illness, crime and inequality that result in harm to a specific group
of people. They are seen as a problem due to a process which places importance on these conditions.
Hence, what constitutes a social problem is based on a contingent relationship between subjective
concern and objective condition. The social political context is key in determining this relationship, as
seen from how subjective concerns arise out of conditions in some societies but not others, and the fact
that additional subjective concern can arise without much basis in objective condition.