J. Best Social Problems “Ch.1 The Social Problems Process” Notes PDF

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Instructor: Brian W. Halpin
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J. Best: Social Problems “Ch.1 The Social Problems Process” ○

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Objectivist Perspective see social problems as harmful conditions ■ “Some conditions have the characteristic of “undermining well-being” that makes them social problems” (Best, 4) ■ If we see a harmful condition, we can identify them as a social problem(s) ■ Difficulties ● “Conditions that might be deemed harmful aren’t always identified as social problems” (Best, 4) ○ Ex. Sexism, Racism, “Heightism” ○ Although these three issues have effects on society, they are not as often focused on or talked about ● “The same condition may be identified as a social problem for very different reasons; that is, people may disagree about why a certain condition is harmful” (Best, 6) ○ Ex. obesity ● “Out lists of social problems include widely diverse phenomena. They usually range from problems affecting particular individuals...to global trends…” (Best, 7) ○ Objectivists don’t specify what constitutes hard → “a big conceptual umbrella” (Best, 8) ■ “In practice...objective definitions of social problems turn out to be so vague as to be almost meaningless” (Best, 8) Subjectivist (Constructivist) Perspective see social problems as topics of concern ■ “Defines social problems in terms of people’s subjective sense that something is or isn’t a problem” (Best, 9) ■ “Whether a condition is a social problem depends on different people’s points of view–and they won’t always agree” (Best, 9) ■ Issues will cycle through as people’s opinions change ■ It is the subjective reactions to that condition that make something a social problem (Best, 9) ● “A process of responding to social conditions” (Best, 10) ■ “Efforts to arouse concern that conditions within society” (Best, 10) ■ “The study of social problems should focus not on conditions, but on claims about conditions” (Best, 10) ■ Social construction: “the way people assign meaning to the world” (Best, 11) ● Ex. Language ○ “Flexible: as people learn new things about the world, they devise words with new meaning. In this way, people continually create–or construct–fresh understandings about the world around them” (Best, 11) ● People “must assign some meanings to at least some of their surrounding” (Best 11-12) ● “All meanings...are socially constructed” (Best 12) ● Ex. Poverty ● Social problem process: “the study of social problems should focus on how and why particular conditions come to be constructed as social problems” (Best, 14) ■ 2 sorts of confusion ● “People sometimes wrongly imagine that social construction refers only to imaginary, nonexistent phenomena” (Best, 16) ● “We must acknowledge that sociologists are themselves engaged in social construction” (Best, 16) Best advocates for the constructivist perspective (Best, 14). Why? ■ Commonalities between Social Problems according to Best ■ “It is claimsmaking–and only claimsmaking–that all social problems have in common” (Best, 15) Best’s “Basic Framework” (Best, 14)

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Claim: “arguments, efforts to persuade others that something is wrong, that there is a problem that needs to be solved” (Best, 18) ● “May be supported by very different sorts of evidence” (Best, 15) ■ Claimsmaking: someone must bring the topic to the attention of others by taking a claim that there is a condition that should be recognized as troubling (Best, 14-15) ■ Claimsmakers: “people who make claims” (Best, 15) ● “The one who seek to convince others that something is wrong, and that something should be done about it” (Best, 15) ● Ex. “social movement activists and demonstrators who protested against the system of racial segregation” (Best, 18) ○ Activists: “members of social movement organizations” (Best, 18) ○ Experts: “claim to speak with special authority because they have special knowledge” (Best, 20) ■ Troubling Conditions: “the conditions that become subjects of claims” (Best, 15) ● Claims do not have to be accepted by everyone Structure of Social Problems Claims = Natural history: “social problems process” (Best, 18) ■ 6 stages: claimsmaking, media coverage, public reaction, policymaking, social problems work, and policy outcomes Rhetoric of Claims ■ Rhetoric: “the study of persuasion” ■ “Every problem is constructed and reconstructed” (Best, 25) ■ Involves appeals to emotions and reason (Best, 26) ■ Social problems claims shift and morph at each stage in the larger social problems process as the rhetoric changes (Best, 26) Social Problems Marketplace...