Social Problems

Someone's religion, family, education, and more can influence how they view social problems. Those that grew up in low-income households may be more aware than those that didn't grow up in those conditions of the problems affecting that community. The same applies with education and other social problems. Those that went to an underfunded public school will be more in tune with the social problems (such as lack of teachers, overcrowded schools, insufficient lesson plans) than those that went to private schools or fully funded schools. Sometimes it seems as if people only care about the problems that affect them, but it is possible that because we are so close to the problem, we are more urgent about finding a solution.

Three components of social problems are reality and public concern, belief, and harmful behavior. Social problems must be a lived reality for someone. If a group of people are not affected by it, it cannot be defined as a social problem. The group (or the public) must also be concerned about the problem because if only one person is concerned, not much can be done about it and it takes the social out of social problems. For example, voting rights or the lack thereof is a social problem because it affects a vast amount of people and those people acknowledge that it is a problem, which means that it is a lived reality for some. People must also believe that the problem exists. If the problem is not believed to exist, then it cannot be considered a social problem, and nothing can be done to fix it because it is not believed to exist. A social problem must be harmful to someone. Whether that is physically, emotionally, psychologically, or in any other way. If someone is not harmed by the problem, then it cannot be considered a social problem. All of these components influence what can and cannot be called a social problem and thus influence what can be looked at to be changed.

Originally, I defined social problems as problems that affect the way in which we interact with people and those in society. While I don't think it was completely wrong, it is only one aspect of social problems. I have found that social problems can be defined as a lack of equity in all things. A lack of equitability in education, healthcare, voting rights, and so on. The America that we live in has created a system where people are born on an unlevel playing field and by giving everyone equal treatment rather than equitable and fair treatment.