Notes Isaacs Understanding and defining social problems PDF

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Notes | Understanding and defining social problems | Isaacs – KEY READING Social problem = affects millions of people - Individual difficulties (trauma, financial, relationships) are not in themselves social problems but can be if we look at them from a broader, more generalised look. Private sphere vs public sphere  Charles Wright Mills  Social research was to see how our personal troubles are often tied to wider social problems. The role of a social scientist was to uncover social factors that underlay individual problems.  “Personal troubles” vs “Public interest”  To be a social problem, an issue must move from being private to public

Public(stranger, education, policy, community)

Private(Family, friends, hobbies, relationships)

When a concern is discussed in the public sphere it becomes located in the broad territory where we find social problems – timely issues that capture public imaginations for a short period. “Moral Panics”

How do social problems emerge? Social problems are don’t become of public concern because of the scale of the problem. Social problems come and go. -

Government policy

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Newsworthy events

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Big social event

In social science, social structure = fundamental features of our society. Social institution -> social structures (family, education, cultural practises, legal system) consist of repeated patterns of organisation and behaviour that make society identifiable. Anti-social behaviour – associated with the state of the family and a symptom of family breakdown. Social problems emerge because they appear to carry a threat to the stability of our social institutions and structures. - Anti-social behaviour -> threat to the perceived notions of the model Social problems are not fixed, changing over time. It can be distinguished from individual, economic and political problems but not fully. Its underlying concern is usually the perception of a threat to our social structures. Threat and perception  Social problems are defined by our perception of them and the degree to which they are understood as a threat in different ways by different groups o Facts show the extent but not what’s most urgent

Statistics – show how many are affected e.g. unemployment in various years but not why – that requires interpretation and sociological explanations.  Max Weber’s ‘Ideal types’ o Notion of ideal types is important to grasp to understand what we’re doing when investigating a social problem o Social scientists collate similar information under one heading  Makes way for generalisations for statements e.g. capitalism, based on a market economy o Using social research, we create generalised categories of social attitudes -> attribute them to social groups. Methodology -

Helps us understand a topic- analyse circumstances from another POV helps us to make a coherent and reflective method of investigation

Theory -

We artificially construct social types (e.g. class system) for analysis -> talk about them meaningful

Paradox theory – the categories we work with are subjective but we use research to try to be objective Social research – example Ethnic choosing: Ball – interview with ethnic minority students in London to see why they chose that university to see if an ethnic mix played a part. Contingent choosers -> lack of awareness, therefore choosing because of ethnic mix Embedded choosers -> choice based on aspirations, had helps and not chosen because of ethnic mix One way of bringing individuals from diverse backgrounds together. Newsworthiness Most social problems will be reported in the media – government reports, police, campaign groups. Be wary of media determinism. They place an important factor in making an issue a social problem. Social problems are distinct and yet tied to other types of problems -> helps understand social issues that emerge in public life. Social problems are contemporary and culturally embedded – they come and go as public discussions -> but have a history to them, connect to key social structures and institutions. Threat and perception – the significance of a social problem becomes a matter of argument and debate. Social construction – social scientists abstract collective identities from practical experience. To make these identities, they ascribe social attitudes to make statements about the social world – but this is all done under clear methodology and theoretical framework The role of social science – identify the assumptions built into the discourse surrounding social problems -> to explain the way meanings are implied in the language used about certain groups are loaded with assumptions...