Human beings create or construct social problems when they give a particular meaning to potentially troublesome conditions, a social problem is a condition which many people consider undesirable and want to correct. It is a condition that affects a significant number of people in ways considered undesirable, which is felt that something can be done through collective measures. This academic piece of writing seeks to discuss how and why a situation in a given article may reflect a structural problem with relevant examples. Furthermore, it will give an explanation of what can be considered as the best solution for the problem.
The concept of social problems was first developed by sociologists, Fuller and Myers in 1941. A social problem is defined as conditions or situations which members of a society regard as a threat to their values (Fuller and Myers, 1941). According to Jamrozik (1998), the term social problems always refer to social conditions, processes, social arrangement or attitude that are commonly perceived y society or section of society to be negative and undesirable. Further, Merton and Nisbet (1961) defined a social problem as a way if behaviour that is regarded by a substantial part of a social order as being in violation of one or more generally accepted or approved norms.
Malcolm and John (1987), argue that the identification of social problems is a process and they identified four of these processes, the transformation process being the first. This is the first stage where a social entity begins to call for attention to a condition or behaviour that is perceived to be undesirable and in need of a remedy. It is where a private issue transforms into a public one (Farley and Flota, 2018).
127 our experts are availableright now
The second process being the legitimisation process suggests that once a social group succeeds in getting attention, it usually tries to persuade the government to take some action to address the problem. The social group tries to convince the government that it claims about the problem are legitimate based on research. Following this pressure, the government’s response is more likely to be swift (Rubington and Weinberg, 2010).
The conflict process comes in third and suggests that even when there is action from the government, social groups often feel like it is not enough to successfully address the social problem (Macionis, 1997). They do this by criticizing the response from government and other established interests, such as big businesses, put in place in the second process.
The reformation process, being the fourth process, suggests that despite renewed actions, social change groups conclude that the government and other established interests are not responding adequately to their claims (Macionis, 1997). Although the social groups may continue to apply pressure, they later realise that their actions may not be enough to win a satisfactory response from government and other established interests. This realisation leads to them developing their own strategies for addressing the social problem.
Three theoretical perspectives guide sociological thinking and social problems which include; functionalism theory, conflict theory and symbolic internationalist theory. Functionalists believe that social problems weaken a society’s stability but do not reflect fundamental faults in how the society is structured. They also believe that despite the negative effects, social problems often serve important functions for society (Durkheim, 1952).
On one hand, the conflict theorists believe that social problems arise from fundamental faults in the structure of a society and both reflect and reinforce inequalities based on social class, race, gender and other dimensions (Manis, 1976).
Symbolic internationalists believe social problems arise from the interaction of individuals. People who engage in socially problematic behaviours often learn these behaviours from other people. Individuals also learn their perceptions of social problems from other people. (Blumer, 1969).
When looking at social problems, there are two realities that exist to it, which are the objective and subjective realities. The subjective reality suggests that there must be a perception that a particular condition or behaviour needs to be addressed for it to be a problem (Rubington and Weinberg, 2010). The objective reality on the other hand suggests that for any condition or behaviour to be considered a social problem, it must have negative consequences for large numbers of people (Calhoun, 2007).
To be regarded as social problem, certain characteristics must be identified, which are.
The condition must have an identifiable societal origin, which means that it must begin in that particular society for it to be considered as a social problem (Fuller and Myers, 1941). For example, riots that occur in a society like the University of Zambia.
The condition must constitute a threat or be perceived to constitute a threat to certain values or interests or standards of a large segment of society, this means that the social problem must be a threat to the people living in that society. For instance, the University of Zambia riots constitute a threat of attracting the presence of armed police officers hence, students getting arrested including the innocent ones.
Similarly, the condition must persist for an extended period of time, meaning a social problem must persist for a certain period of time. For example, the incident of gassing citizens in Zambia which happened for more than three months continuously.
Further, the condition must be amenable to removal or at least attenuation or solution. A social problem must at least have a solution. The University of Zambia riot problem has found a situation of dialogue with the government official or university management before resorting to riots (Herbert and Smith, 1976).
With reference to the above characteristics, the situation in the given article may be termed as a social problem to the society in such a way that; the gassing of citizens originated within the society, one of the other characteristics stated that a condition must pose a threat to society. In this case gassing constituted a threat to a large segment of this society as people’s lives were being lost in mob justice and killings by the gaggers hence, the rest of the society was living in fear. Gassing persisted for an extension of more than three months, lastly the gassing problem was contained and the suspects apprehended.
Riots, as a result of gassing. Citizens in different parts of the country started rioting in protest of the gaggers; this was a social problem that originated in these societies as the members of society took it upon themselves to react to the incident of gassing. On the other hand, these riots lead to mob justice as the citizens began to kill innocent people thus, everyone was living in fear. The riots went on for the same period as the gassing went on, the riot problem were contained by apprehending the people who participated in the mob justice.
The news media began reporting these two cases of gassing and rioting which brought national wide attention to these incidents. It transformed from a private problem to a national issue, after initially starting from Chingola.
The best solution to the above social problems from the given article is that, it should take the form of gradual social reform rather than sudden and far reaching change as the functionalists believe. Functionalism, also known as the functionalist theory or perspective, arose out of two great revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The first was the French Revolution of 1789, whose intense violence and bloody terror shook Europe to its core. The aristocracy throughout Europe feared that revolution would spread to their own lands, and intellectuals feared that social order was crumbling.
The solution to the gassing and the riot problems in Zambia was transforming the issue from a private problem into a public issue which was observed to have started in Chingola and later spread to the entire country. At this stage, the government had sent in police officers to apprehend the suspects who were later given a sentence to serve by the court of laws. This was a gradual social reform as it did not happen overnight but the government had put in measures as police officers and soldiers began to patrol in different communities and arrest people who were found taking part in mob justice in the various communities. This made citizens refrain from mob justice and took the suspected gassers to the police and not taking the law in their own hands hence, the riots and gassing came to an end.
Furthermore, formalising the manner in which the social problems or complaints generated by the problem are handled is another solution. For example, public policy was created to respond to the condition, that anyone found participating in mob justice weather young or old must be apprehended, all the suspected gassers must be taken to the police. The police department and the government at large legitimized the problem by creating and implementing a formal response.
Ultimately, gassing and riots are seen to be social problems from the discussion above. A solution has been shown in the sense that, the police and government formed a gradual formation that brought about the end of these social problems.
