Constructing Social Problems

Abstract

There is no adequate definition problems within sociology, and there is not and never has been a problems. That observation is the point departure this book. The authors aim to provide such a definition and to prepare the ground for the empirical study problems. They are aware that their objective will strike many fellow sociologists as ambitious, perhaps even arrogant. Their work challenges sociologists who have, over a period fifty years, written treatises on problems, produced textbooks cataloguing the nature, distribution, and causes these problems, and taught many courses. It is only natural that the authors' work will be viewed as controversial in light the large which has established a sociology of a wide range problems-the race relations, prostitution, poverty, crime, mental illness, and so forth. In the 1970s when the authors were preparing for a seminar on the problems, their review the literature revealed the absence any systematic, coherent statement theory or method in the study problems. For many years the subject was listed and offered by university departments as a service course to present undergraduates with what they should know about the various social pathologies that exist in their society. This conception problems for several decades has been reflected in the substance and quality the dominated by textbooks. In 'Constructing Social Problems', the authors propose that problems be conceived as the claims-making activities individuals or groups regarding conditions they consider unjust, immoral, or harmful and that should be addressed. This perspective, as the authors have formulated it, conceives problems as a process interaction that produces problems as facts in society. The authors further propose that this process and the facts it produces are the data to be researched for the problems. This volume will be interest to those concerned with the discipline sociology, especially its current theoretical development and growth.