What are Social Problems?
- A social issue is any circumstance or conduct that is considered to have negative consequences for the majority of individuals and is generally accepted as a problem that requires attention.
- The phrase “social problem” is often used to mean a social issue that causes distress or harm to the community i.e crimes, racism.
- Social problems are an issue within the social structures that make it hard for individuals to reach their maximum potential. Examples of social issues include poverty, unemployment unequal opportunities, racism, and malnutrition, etc.
- social issues do not just impact a lot of people directly but also impact everyone indirectly. A drug-abusing driver is a possible traffic accident and does not pick its victims according to race or color however, it does so at random.
Definitions:-
- As per Reinhardt, “A situation confronting a group or a section of society which inflicts injurious consequences that can be handled only collectively”.
- As per Walsh as well as Furfey, “deviation from the social ideal remediable by group effort”.
- As per Fuller as well as Myers,” condition which is identified by a significant amount of people as a departure from accepted social norms that they believe in”.
- Merton as well as Nisbet identify the social issue in terms of “a way of behavior that is regarded by a substantial part of a social order as being in violation of one or more generally accepted or approved norms”.
- Raab, as well as Selznick, have described social issues as “a problem in human relationships which seriously threatens society or impedes the important aspirations of many people”.
- Based on Horton as well as Leslie, A social issue refers to “a condition affecting a significant number of people in ways considered undesirable, about which it is felt that something can be done through collective social action”.