SOC 1020: Social Problems 2025 Exam 1 study guide .

Objectivist definition of social problems

A social problem is a social condition or pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for individuals, our social world, or our physical world.

Subjectivist definition of social problems

Troubling conditions are viewed as social problems because people think they are social problems.

Social construction of reality

What we define as real is real in its consequences.

"Reality is not an objective fact, but a matter of agreement" (Slide 113)

Social constructionist perspective

Knowledge creation is a human activity, and humans observe the world through socially mediated categories and language.

Social problems process

The process of constructing a social condition into a social problem has six stages.

Claimsmaking

People make claims that there is a problem.

Media coverage

Media report on claimmakers.

Public reactions

Public opinion focuses on the social problem.

Policymaking

Lawmakers and others address the problem.

Social problems work

Agencies and social problems implement the new policies.

Policy outcomes

The various responses to new arrangements.

Drunk driving and the social problems process

The 'creation' of drunk driving as a major social problem did not follow from any known increase in drunk driving incidents or accidents... It followed the social problems process, where an existing condition came to be understood as a social problem.

MAD Mothers against drunk driving

Claimsmaking activities

The activities asserting that a condition should be perceived as a social problem.

Warrants

Explain why something ought to be done about a social problem.

Grounds

Are the portion of a claim that argues that a troubling condition exists.

Conclusions

Are statements that specify what should be done and what actions should be taken to address this social problem.

Valence issue

Are conditions that nearly everyone will agree are significant social problems.

Position issue

Are issues in which claimsmakers know they will face resistance or opposition from some audience members.

Typifying examples

A typifying example is a story that is designed to underscore the seriousness of the social problem.

Cultural values

Freedom and individual rights - Justice - Equality - Protecting the innocent

Warrants appeal to this

Cultural feeling rules

These are rules regarding what emotions are appropriate in what situations.

Warrants appeal to this

Rhetoric

The study of persuasion, and it involves appeals to both emotion and reason.

Social problems marketplace

"Claims compete within a social problems marketplace. There are countless numbers of potentially troubling conditions that people are concerned about and making claims about." (Slide 198)

Outsider claimsmakers

DO NOT HOLD POWERFUL POSITIONS OR HAVE STRONG TIES TO THOSE WHO DO.

Insider claimsmakers

ARE ALREADY CLOSE TO SOURCES OF POWER AND CAN CONDUCT CLAIMSMAKING WITHOUT RELYING ON MEDIA COVERAGE TO BE HEARD.

Frames

ACTIVISTS CONSTRUCT CLAIMS BY FRAMING THEM WITHIN A LARGER CULTURAL CONTEXT.

frame bridging

REACHES OUT TO PEOPLE WHO HOLD SIMILAR FRAMES AND SUPPORT SIMILAR CAUSES.

Framing which apples to people with similar characteristics

frame amplification

CALLS ON WIDELY HELD VALUES TO RALLY OTHERS TO THE CAUSE.

Draws one widely held values to draw people into a cause

frame extension

ENLARGES THE CAUSE'S FRAME TO ENCOMPASS WIDER CONCERNS.

Gun violence

frame transformation

CALLS ON PEOPLE TO ADOPT A NEW, DIFFERENT FRAME.

Framings of obesity

•Medical Frame: "Obesity is a chronic medical condition that has reached epidemic proportions" (Slide 265)

•Social Justice Frame: "There is widespread discrimination against fat people in society" (Slide 269)

•Market Choice Frame: "Everyone should have the right to make their own choices about what to eat and drink"" (Slide 273)

Conscience constituents

SUPPORT THE CAUSE, THOUGH THEY DO NOT EXPECT TO BE DIRECT BENEFICIARIES.

Diagnostic frame (Grounds)

IDENTIFY THE NATURE OF THE TROUBLING CONDITION.

Motivational frame (Warrants)

DISCUSS WHY INDIVIDUALS OUGHT TO CARE ABOUT THE CONDITION.

Prognostic frame (Conclusions)

EXPLAIN WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO SOLVE THE TROUBLING CONDITION.

Epistemology

the study/science of knowing.

Scientific epistemology

In the post-enlightenment modern era, scientific knowledge is the dominant epistemology.

Medicalization

Medicalizing produces a familiar frame—the medical model—for thinking about issues.

Reductionism

tendency to attribute actions and behaviors to smaller and smaller units of analysis.

Astroturfing

IS USED TO DESCRIBE WHEN CORPORATE INTEREST GROUPS CREATE "SMOS" WHICH ADVOCATE FOR SPECIFIC CORPORATE INTERESTS.

Experimental research

In an experiment, the treatment is assigned randomly.

Confirmation bias

connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a hypothesis.

Medical frame

Viewing the causes of social problems originating within the body

Pharmaceuticalization

Defining perception drugs as a solution social problem

Science

Epistemological system based on observation,testing, naturalistic reasoning, and replicability

Eugenics

The belief that the human population can be improved through selective reproduction

Center for Consumer Freedom (not on exam)

An industry group which frames the issue of obesity as one personal choice and freedom

Innumeracy

Inability to understand numbers and quantitative information