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Social Realities, Social Problems, and Sociological Perspectives

• Social reality is a common understanding of physical reality within a society, which simplifies communication.
• Social problems are conditions or behaviors that have negative consequences for large numbers of people and are recognized as needing to be addressed.
• Social problems have both objective and subjective components, involving empirical evidence and perception, respectively.
• The perception of a condition or behavior as a social problem is influenced by politicians, news media, business advertising, and other factors.
• Most social problems go through a natural history consisting of stages of emergence and claims making, legitimacy, renewed claims making, and alternative strategies.
• In the emergence and claims making stage, a social entity calls attention to a problem and tries to influence public perception of it.
• In the legitimacy stage, a social entity tries to convince the government of the legitimacy of its claims and empirical evidence.
• In the renewed claims making stage, a social entity reasserts its claims and criticizes the government's response if it is inadequate.
• In the alternative strategies stage, a social entity develops its own strategies for addressing the social problem.
• The functionalist perspective emphasizes the importance of social institutions for social stability and views social problems as arising from society's natural evolution.
• The conflict theory perspective emphasizes social inequality and views social problems as arising from society's inherent inequality.
• The symbolic interactionism perspective emphasizes the social meanings and understandings learned from social interaction and views social problems as arising from interactions of individuals.
• Common social problems include poverty, unemployment, homelessness, violence against women and children, malnutrition, climate change, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and child labor.

Social Realities, Social Problems, and Sociological Perspectives

• Social reality is a common understanding of physical reality within a society, which simplifies communication.
• Social problems are conditions or behaviors that have negative consequences for large numbers of people and are recognized as needing to be addressed.
• Social problems have both objective and subjective components, involving empirical evidence and perception, respectively.
• The perception of a condition or behavior as a social problem is influenced by politicians, news media, business advertising, and other factors.
• Most social problems go through a natural history consisting of stages of emergence and claims making, legitimacy, renewed claims making, and alternative strategies.
• In the emergence and claims making stage, a social entity calls attention to a problem and tries to influence public perception of it.
• In the legitimacy stage, a social entity tries to convince the government of the legitimacy of its claims and empirical evidence.
• In the renewed claims making stage, a social entity reasserts its claims and criticizes the government's response if it is inadequate.
• In the alternative strategies stage, a social entity develops its own strategies for addressing the social problem.
• The functionalist perspective emphasizes the importance of social institutions for social stability and views social problems as arising from society's natural evolution.
• The conflict theory perspective emphasizes social inequality and views social problems as arising from society's inherent inequality.
• The symbolic interactionism perspective emphasizes the social meanings and understandings learned from social interaction and views social problems as arising from interactions of individuals.
• Common social problems include poverty, unemployment, homelessness, violence against women and children, malnutrition, climate change, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and child labor.

Social Realities, Social Problems, and Sociological Perspectives

• Social reality is a common understanding of physical reality within a society, which simplifies communication.
• Social problems are conditions or behaviors that have negative consequences for large numbers of people and are recognized as needing to be addressed.
• Social problems have both objective and subjective components, involving empirical evidence and perception, respectively.
• The perception of a condition or behavior as a social problem is influenced by politicians, news media, business advertising, and other factors.
• Most social problems go through a natural history consisting of stages of emergence and claims making, legitimacy, renewed claims making, and alternative strategies.
• In the emergence and claims making stage, a social entity calls attention to a problem and tries to influence public perception of it.
• In the legitimacy stage, a social entity tries to convince the government of the legitimacy of its claims and empirical evidence.
• In the renewed claims making stage, a social entity reasserts its claims and criticizes the government's response if it is inadequate.
• In the alternative strategies stage, a social entity develops its own strategies for addressing the social problem.
• The functionalist perspective emphasizes the importance of social institutions for social stability and views social problems as arising from society's natural evolution.
• The conflict theory perspective emphasizes social inequality and views social problems as arising from society's inherent inequality.
• The symbolic interactionism perspective emphasizes the social meanings and understandings learned from social interaction and views social problems as arising from interactions of individuals.
• Common social problems include poverty, unemployment, homelessness, violence against women and children, malnutrition, climate change, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and child labor.

Social Realities, Social Problems, and Sociological Perspectives

• Social reality is a common understanding of physical reality within a society, which simplifies communication.
• Social problems are conditions or behaviors that have negative consequences for large numbers of people and are recognized as needing to be addressed.
• Social problems have both objective and subjective components, involving empirical evidence and perception, respectively.
• The perception of a condition or behavior as a social problem is influenced by politicians, news media, business advertising, and other factors.
• Most social problems go through a natural history consisting of stages of emergence and claims making, legitimacy, renewed claims making, and alternative strategies.
• In the emergence and claims making stage, a social entity calls attention to a problem and tries to influence public perception of it.
• In the legitimacy stage, a social entity tries to convince the government of the legitimacy of its claims and empirical evidence.
• In the renewed claims making stage, a social entity reasserts its claims and criticizes the government's response if it is inadequate.
• In the alternative strategies stage, a social entity develops its own strategies for addressing the social problem.
• The functionalist perspective emphasizes the importance of social institutions for social stability and views social problems as arising from society's natural evolution.
• The conflict theory perspective emphasizes social inequality and views social problems as arising from society's inherent inequality.
• The symbolic interactionism perspective emphasizes the social meanings and understandings learned from social interaction and views social problems as arising from interactions of individuals.
• Common social problems include poverty, unemployment, homelessness, violence against women and children, malnutrition, climate change, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and child labor.