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SOCIAL PROBLEMS

The social construction of social problems

 Some current social problems in
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Malaysia
 Illegal immigrants
 Crime – especially theft & assault
 Debt
 Lack of services in rural areas
 Economic recession
 Drugs
 Vandalism
 Truancy
 Unemployment
 Anti-establishment bloggers
 What is “social” about a social problem?
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 Such problems have gained the attention of

a particular society at a particular time

Social problems capture public attention

 What is “social” about a social problem?
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 Such problems have gained the attention of a particular society

at a particular time

 Why “particular”?

 Because social problems change –

and

 What is perceived as a social problem may change

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When and why does a private


trouble become a social
problem?
 Personal/private troubles or public issues?
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 Private troubles: those to be handled within households,

families or sometimes communities

 Public issues: those to be handled through forms of social

intervention or regulation

 Scale or volume may help decide when a problem remains a

private matter or becomes a public issue
 What factors decide whether a private trouble
becomes a public issue?
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 Number of people affected

 Who is involved? Social and political standing of those involved

makes a difference to visibility.

 What sort of problem is it? [Does it have significant social and

economic consequences?]

 The scale of a ‘trouble’ is not in itself sufficient for

understanding why a private becomes a public issue
In simple terms, there are two routes to troubles becoming
public issues, distinguished by the question…
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Whose problem is this?

 Whose problem is this?
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 Some troubles become social or public problems as a result of the

experience of people who experience them (or those who speak on the
behalf of such people). From this viewpoint…
People have problems
 Some types of people are seen as a problem for others or for society at
large. From this viewpoint…
Some people are problems

How the problem is perceived makes a difference to the

kind of action a society or group decides should be
taken to deal with it.
 Squatter settlements…Whose problem is this?
The answer to this question affects social action and
social policies
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 People have problems (idea)

 The appeal is to a sense of justice

(motivation)

 Steps need to be taken to reverse or

compensate for the inequalities that
arise from particular social
arrangements (action)
 Squatter settlements: Whose problem is this?
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 People have problems (idea)  Some people are a problem (idea)

 (Lack of access to basic human need, i.e.  (Squatter settlements are a health risk, spoil
adequate accommodation) the look of our cities & are associated with
crime)

 The appeal is to a sense of justice  The appeal is to a sense of social

(motivation) order
 (motivation)

 Steps need to be taken to reverse or  Those who don’t conform to accepted norms of
compensate for the inequalities that arise from behaviour need to be taught or helped to do
particular social arrangements so (action)
(action)
 Social problems and social policy – what kind of
intervention is needed?
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 It often depends on whether a social problem is seen as an

issue of social justice or an issue of social order

 Those who seek to control or suppress social problems are

usually, but not always, associated with the view that social
problems are a challenge or a threat to social order

 Other interventions are intended to remedy or improve the

circumstances of social conditions that cause problems –
bringing about greater social justice, enhancing social welfare
or providing a degree of social protection
 Social problems and social policy
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 What is regarded as a social problem changes over time

 Even if an issue remains defined as a social problem, the nature

of the problem will not necessarily be understood in the same
way

 A move from the idea that people have problems to the idea
that people are problems has major implications for the
direction of public policy
 Example
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 Ifunemployment is understood as a problem created by a

wider economic failure, then an appropriate policy response
might be to attempt to revitalize the economy in order to
create jobs & to provide financial support in the meantime.

 Ifunemployment is seen as arising from either a failure of

the unemployed to seek employment or the lack of necessary
skills among employed people, then an appropriate policy
response might be to discourage people from relying on
state - provided income support and to encourage them to
participate in relevant skills training.
 Summary: In what way are social
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problems “social”?
 Social problems are ‘social’ in the sense that they capture
public attention

 They are more than private troubles – sometimes because of

the numbers of people involved, but mainly because they
connect with other public issues, values and concerns

 They are historically and culturally specific

 Their status as social problems depends on how they are

perceived
 In doing social science…
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 There is a need to stand back from what we

already know or believe, and be skeptical about
those things which ‘everybody knows’
 “What everybody knows”
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 There is little real poverty in Malaysia today.

 There are more people living in poverty now than in the 1970s.
 Nobody needs to be poor.
 Some people would be poor no matter how much you helped them.
 Poor parents produce poor children.
 There are too many people in jobs with low wages.
 People wouldn't be poor if they knew how to manage better.
 Poverty acts as an incentive to try hard.
 Government polices have made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
 People have become too dependent on state hand-outs.
 People are stuck in poverty traps.
 There will always be people who won't help themselves.
 What do we mean by poverty?
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 The definition of poverty is contested.

 Should it mean an absolute lack of resources?

 Or should it be a relative measurement? i.e. ‘compared to

the majority of the people in Malaysia, these people are living
in poverty’
 “What everybody knows”
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 There is little real poverty in Malaysia today.

 There are more people living in poverty now than in the 1970s.
 Nobody needs to be poor.
 Some people would be poor no matter how much you helped them.
 Poor parents produce poor children.
 There are too many people in jobs with low wages.
 People wouldn't be poor if they knew how to manage better.
 Poverty acts as an incentive to try hard.
 Government polices have made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
 People have become too dependent on state hand-outs.
 People are stuck in poverty traps.
 There will always be people who won't help themselves.
 Poverty: debated issues
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 Is it a social problem or not?

 everyday statements about poverty contain

assumptions about poor people and about the
causes of poverty
 Some people look to the ‘external’ causes of poverty – the
social, economic and political conditions that make people
poor
 Other people look to the ‘internal’ causes of poverty – the
attitudes, behaviours or morals that lead some people to
make themselves poor
 “Nobody needs to be poor” tells us that:
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 We live in a society of opportunities for everyone

 There are no external conditions that force people to

be poor

 If people are poor, then it’s something to do with the

choices they make

 Poverty is the result of poor people making bad choices

(in how they live, work, spend money etc.)
 ‘The rising numbers of single mothers
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indicate a moral crisis”
 What assumptions are being made here?

 We might also need to consider:

 The irresponsibility of men
 The changing pressures on family life

 The causes of changes in divorce rates

 Whether our explanations can be applied to widowed,

separated, never-married women in the same way
 Whether the same explanations apply to single fathers
 “What everybody knows”
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 There is little real poverty in Malaysia today.

 There are more people living in poverty now than in the 1970s.
 Nobody needs to be poor.
 Some people would be poor no matter how much you helped them.
 Poor parents produce poor children.
 There are too many people in jobs with low wages.
 People wouldn't be poor if they knew how to manage better.
 Poverty acts as an incentive to try hard.
 Government polices have made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
 People have become too dependent on state hand-outs.
 People are stuck in poverty traps.
 There will always be people who won't help themselves.
 Poverty – what sort of a social problem is it?
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 The list of ‘everybody knows’ comments suggest at least 3

different viewpoints about the causes of poverty

A. Poverty is natural or inevitable

B. Poverty is the result of poor people

C. Poverty is the result of economic and/or political causes

 There are other viewpoints that could be used

 A. Poverty as natural or inevitable
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 Ideas/assumptions:
 Poverty is natural and socially necessary
 Inequalities are the natural result of unequal performance in
a competitive world (some winners, some losers)
 Poverty is necessary to keep people trying to succeed

 So…
 We should allow poverty to achieve its natural level.
 If we give welfare benefits people may become dependent
on them and stop trying to succeed or provide for
themselves and their families
 B. Poverty as the result of poor people
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 Ideas/assumptions
 The character & behaviour of some types of people
causes them to be poor (such people are flawed)
 E.g. they are lazy; they cannot budget properly; they
haven’t learnt the value of hard work

 They are separated from ‘normal people’ by these flaws

or failings (they are abnormal or deviant)
 So…

 To stop being poor they need to become more like the

rest of us
 C. Poverty as the effect of economic
and/or political causes
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 Ideas/assumptions
 Poverty is an effect of causes beyond individuals
or families
 These causes are located in social structures that
are outside the individual’s control
 e.g. an increase in the number of people
working in low paid jobs produces lower
incomes and more people living in relative
poverty
 Competing constructions: natural/social
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 “It’s only natural that… men go out to work”

 Social constructions that centre on ‘nature’ tend to be

resistant to change

 Social constructions that centre on ‘social’ conditions

and causes of social issues tend to imply that change,
reform, or improvement is possible
  Boys will be boys

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Boys will be boys!

If society provided
better role models this
kind of behaviour
wouldn’t happen
 Levels of explanation
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 Different perspectives are likely to

emphasize different levels of explanation
 Unemployment
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Explanation Factors

Individual

Family

Locality

Cultural

Structural
 Unemployment
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Explanation Factors

Individual Are they actively looking for work or avoiding work? Have
they got the kind of skills that employers are looking for?

Family Has their upbringing prepared them for work? Do their

family networks help them or hinder them?

Locality
Are there problems in the local pattern of employment?

Cultural
Do values in society stress the merits of employment?

Structural
Whose interests are served by employment? Why does the
level of employment change in different periods?
 The naming or labeling of things
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 How we name things affects how we behave towards

them
 e.g. the word motherhood carries certain social expectations
 If a mother fails to behave in this way we are likely to
identify her as ‘unnatural’

 Many names in our society are so well established or

taken for granted that we view them as natural
 e.g. our expectations about how people of different ages
should behave; or regarding sexuality
 Social interests, power & ideologies
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 Societies are characterized by patterns of inequality

between social groups
 Groups in dominant positions will try to use sets of ideas
that legitimate existing arrangements
 Sets of ideas that legitimate existing positions are called
ideologies

 E.g.men are stronger, better at thinking abstractly;

women are better at caring or need to conserve their
resources for the demands of childbirth/childcare
 Taking ideology into consideration
allows us to ask the questions…
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 Who says this a social problem?

 Whose interests are being served by this definition?

 Understanding common sense ideas is an essential
part of studying social problems
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 Common sense ideas make a claim to be the truth

 Social scientists need to ask which ideas are dominant and how
this can be explained

 Common sense views are also connected to social and political

action

 e.g. The predominant definition of poverty, explanation of its

causes, or view of who is ‘deserving’, has consequences – they
shape how the society and its political institutions respond to
poverty
 Social science perspectives
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 As with common sense, social science is characterized

by competing and contested perspectives

 Some of these perspectives emphasize individual

characteristics or choices, some stress familial
patterns, while others draw attention to structural
conditions or processes

 A central issue for social science is to deconstruct

these ideas and examine their assumptions about
society, people and problems