Claims in Social Problems

Claims are analyzed as arguments or statements.
The persuasiveness of the reasoning is more important than the absolute truth or falsehood of the claims.
People can be convinced of claims even if evidence suggests otherwise.
- Example 1: The belief that children raised by same-sex couples are more likely to be homosexual, despite evidence to the contrary.
- Example 2: The belief that poverty is solely due to a lack of effort, despite evidence indicating systemic issues.

Claims are designed to answer three key questions:
- What is wrong? (Grounds)
- Why should we care? (Warrants)
- What should be done about it? (Conclusions)

GROUNDS: The portion of a claim that argues that a troubling condition exists.
Grounds often use a rhetorical recipe containing three components:
- TYPIFYING EXAMPLE: A particular instance chosen to illustrate a troubling condition—often a dramatic, disturbing, or memorable case
  - Examples: 9/11, Columbine, Enron.
- NAMES: Terms or labels given to the troubling condition.
  - Examples: sexting, underemployment, glass ceiling.
- STATISTICS: Data used to quantify the problem.
  - Examples: drug use, infidelity, eating disorders.
Additional grounds beyond typifying examples, names, and statistics:
- Worsening situation: The condition is getting worse (e.g., increasing national debt).
- Familiar type of problem: Framing the condition as a known issue (e.g., crime).
- Kind of people affected: Highlighting vulnerable groups (e.g., children).
- Challenge to older interpretations: Presenting a new perspective on an existing issue (e.g., family violence).

WARRANT: The portion of a claim that justifies doing something about a troubling condition.
Warrants suggest the troubling conditions conflict with societal values:
- Discrimination conflicts with equality.
- Violence conflicts with personal safety.
- Corruption conflicts with justice.
The success of specific warrants changes as society changes.
Claims often feature multiple warrants because values are abstract and subject to conflicting interpretations.
Example: The U.S. should economically assist disadvantaged countries because:
- It is the right thing to do (morality/humanity).
- Poverty contributes to political instability (security/safety).
- It offers opportunities for economic growth (progress).
Warrants focus on values.

CONCLUSION: The part of a claim that specifies what should be done, what action should be taken to address a troubling condition.
Conclusions should reflect the grounds and warrants.
Goals can be short-term and long-term:
- Recruiting activists and gaining media exposure for an issue are short-term goals before reaching the long-term goal of policy change.

AUDIENCE: The people whom claimsmakers seek to influence with their claims.
Audiences can include other people in the social problems process:
- Advocates
- Members of the media
- The public
- Policymakers
Claims need to be tailored to specific audiences’ concerns.
Some claims face more resistance than others:
- VALENCE ISSUES: A troubling condition about which there is general agreement (e.g., child abuse and corruption).
- POSITION ISSUES: A troubling condition about which people disagree (e.g., abortion, gun control, immigration).
Certain issues are unlikely to be resolved.

Audiences are subdivided based on demographic characteristics:
- Examples: race, age, class, gender, geographic location, political ideology.
Subgroups care about certain issues more than others; they may have different interests and ideologies.
Examples:
- Racial minorities tend to see racism as more of a problem than whites.
- Pet owners may be more concerned about leash laws than the general public.

PREACH TO THE CHOIR
- Examples:
  - Former President Clinton speaking at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
  - A representative from the National Rifle Association (NRA) speaking to a group that supports the right to own firearms.
SEEK OUT THE WIDEST POSSIBLE AUDIENCE (use multiple grounds and warrants)
- Examples:
  - Discuss access to preventative healthcare as a moral issue for liberals but as a long-term cost-saving measure to conservatives.
  - Focus on the social benefits of attending a 4-year university when addressing students, but as an investment in long-term employment prospects when addressing parents.

Claimsmakers have a dialogue with their audience; feedback leads to revising claims.
Example: If a campaign to curb drunk driving is ineffective when it focuses on the danger to other drivers, new efforts could focus on legal problems.
It often takes time to develop effective claims.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS MARKETPLACE: The public forum where claims are presented and discussed.
At any moment, there are countless claims competing for attention.
Typifying examples, catchy names, and surprising statistics help capture the audience’s attention.
A major news story can easily push other stories to the wayside
- Examples: natural disasters, political scandals, terrorist attacks.

Audiences are frustrated by issues that are not easily solved. Claimsmakers use the following tactics to sustain, or create, new interest in their issues:
- DOMAIN EXPANSION: Redefining a troubling condition to encompass a broader array of cases.
  - Examples:
    - Rape was redefined to include the rape of a spouse.
    - Infidelity was redefined with the rise of the internet and cell phone technology.

PIGGYBACK: To link a new troubling condition to an already established social problem.
- Example: While discrimination has often been used to discuss issues of race and gender, the term is now applied to a number of issues (e.g., age, disabilities, pregnancy).

COUNTERCLAIM: An argument that directly opposes a particular claim.
Disputes over grounds and warrants start a cycle of claims and counterclaims for people on both sides of an issue.
This often results in “stat wars” where each group argues that they have more accurate statistics.
- Examples:
  - Impact of smoke-free laws on businesses (health advocates vs. tobacco companies).
  - Sex-based wage gap (anti-discrimination advocates vs. groups arguing the gap does not exist).

IDEOLOGY: A system of beliefs regarding how society does and should operate (e.g., liberalism, conservatism, feminism, religious beliefs).
Claims and counterclaims are often rooted in ideology.
- Poverty Examples:
  - There should be strong safety nets to help the less fortunate (liberalism: helping those in need).
  - Government safety nets should be reduced to create motivation for self-sufficiency (conservatism: personal responsibility).

CULTURAL RESOURCES: Cultural knowledge that can be incorporated in claims.
Claims draw upon the words, ideas, and images that people consider reasonable:
- Examples:
  - Mental illness is explained through biological causes, cultural causes, and traumatic experiences, rather than being possessed by demons.
  - Watergate led to the attachment of the word “gate” to scandals (e.g., Spygate 2007, Bountygate 2012, Deflategate 2015).
Cultural resources change as culture changes.