Question

What are the core causes of Social Problem? Explain why they vary across

societies, in historical time and space

Answer 1

A social issue is any illness or activity that has negative effects on a large number of people, and is generally recognized as a disorder or behavior that needs to be addressed. The description has an objective component as well as a subjective component. The indication of this above circumstance is the lack of attention given to rape and sexual assault in the US before and after the 1970's. Such acts of sexual violence against women probably took place from the beginning of mankind and were definitely very prevalent in the United States prior to the 1970s.

When the modern women's movement began in the late 1970s, it quickly centered as serious crimes and as signs of women's oppression on rape and sexual assault. As a result of this focus, rape and sexual harassment gradually reached public awareness, perceptions of these crimes started to shift and legal authorities began to pay more attention to them. In short, sexual violence towards women has become a social issue.

The focus of social constructionism on interpretation has a controversial implication: just as a condition or behavior may not be considered a social problem even if there is a strong basis for that perception, so a condition or behavior may be treated as a social problem even if there is little or no basis for that perception. A historical example of this latter possibility is given by the "question" of college women. In the late 1800s, leading doctors and medical scholars in the United States wrote newspaper articles, textbooks and columns in which women were warned not to go to college

Once a social group succeeds in transforming a situation or activity into a social problem, it typically tries to persuade the government (local, state, and/or federal) to take some action to address the problem— spending and policy making. As part of this initiative, it tries to persuade the government that its statements to the issue are legitimate— that they are valid and backed by empirical (research-based) facts. To the degree that the party succeeds in convincing the government of its arguments validity, government action is far more likely to occur.