A central characteristic of the modern world consists of the growing dominance of artificial over natural problems. Human accumulation of power means that we are now capable of creating and destroying many things, including ourselves. Unfortunately, our destructive capacity is out-pacing our creative one; so, the threats to humanity become more awesome than the promises. So, problems multiply faster than we can solve them and the lead-time for making decisions shrinks into nothingness. With that deteriorating situation in mind, this study initiates a systematic definition of complex problems as the first step in an emerging problemology. This short presentation, can only scratch the surface of that large area and leave for another time an in-depth research into the subject. The present beginning is a prerequisite to any scientific treatment of problems, because it lays down the foundations for further systematic and systemic work by outlining the concept, structure, and process of problems and by doing so answer the questions related to the nature, meaning, type, location, time, and solution of the world’s most critical issues. Accordingly, the paper consists of three parts of two chapters each, covering successively the systemic, static, and dynamic aspects of problems. The chapters deal with the form and function, content, and context, as well as period and method of this subject. Thus, although the study does not go into any depth; it does cover the field of problem analysis exhaustively and sets the basis for more detailed and specialized research later.

Proceedings 1995 Interdisciplinary Conference: Knowledge Tools for a Sustainable Civilization. Fourth Canadian Conference on Foundations and Applications of General Science Theory, 2000

It is by now rather banal to affirm that the 21st century world will be undergoing a critical period of transition in which a multitude of problems is accumulating. All around us, one can see that things are not evolving as they should. Of course, such perceptions and sentiments have been expressed many times throughout history. The world has always been changing and this change has not often been satisfactory to many people. Crises and problems, therefore, are nothing new in the lives of men and nations.

2018

This paper is a reflection on Spector and Kitsuse’s claims-making approach to social problems construction, and to the subsequent studies that the approach inspired. Spector and Kitsuse argued that social problems are constructed as putative conditions that justify societal responses designed to manage, if not eliminate, them. Early sections of the paper examine basic themes in the constructionist literature on social problems. Two major themes in this literature focus on how social problems claims-making activities orient to social policy development and institutional interventions. Later sections consider two ways in which the constructionist approach might be expanded to consider additional claims-making contexts and constructionist perspectives. Social problems claims-making in popular culture contexts and Burke’s dramatistic perspective are discussed as examples of how constructionist studies of social problems might be expanded upon.

The American Sociologist, 2009

As is well known, John Kitsuse played a prominent and indispensable role in both founding and advancing the social constructionist approach to social problems theorizing. He did so in explicit opposition to structural functionalist approaches to theorizing social problems . Whereas functionalist theorists have tended to regard social problems more or less as Durkheimian social facts that occur independently of the ways in which they are perceived by members of society, Kitsuse insisted that social problems cannot be separated from the perceptions and practical activities undertaken by members of the social worlds menaced by those problems. In observing that the very reality of social problems depends on the ways they are perceived and managed by members of historically and culturally specific constituencies, Kitsuse brought social problems research to an unprecedented level of epistemological depth and subtlety. Furthermore, through the use of constructionist insights he and his social constructionist students and colleagues have illuminated an extensive domain of hitherto unexplored directions for sociological research. For example, constructionist theory has enabled social problems researchers to more effectively examine the social processes through which phenomena are construed as problematic, through which they are constituted as public rather than private problems, and through which prospective remedies for them are socially produced, implemented, evaluated, revised, combined, replaced, forgotten, and so on.

Soziologie - Sociology in the German-Speaking World

Areview of the German-languageliterature on social problems is confronted with the major difficulty that social problems are analyzed by manyspecial sociologies (e.g., the sociologyofd eviant behavior and social control) without anyexplicit referencetothe category of "social problems." The present review will deal with this by concentrating on thosepublications thatuse the concept of "social problems" as developedinthe controversies between structural functionalists (e.g., Robert Merton) on the one hand and symbolic interactionists (e.g., Herbert Blumer,Malcom Spector, John L. Kitsuse)and radical constructionists on the other.InGerman-languagesociology, the latter approaches gained prevalence and have marginalized the "objectivist" position. Recent publications have been dedicated to analyses of "doing social problems." It is, however,n ot always obvious how these analyses differ from the traditionall abelinga pproach. Just as in the international literature, its German-languagecounterparts offer onlyfew examples of internationallycomparativestudies of social problems and their constitution, even though such analyses would allow us to identify which conditionsare relevant to the career of social problems.

Sosyoloji Konferansları, 2014

2015

Social Problems dergisi onemli sosyal problemleri tartismak ve bunlara iliskin sosyal politikalarin formulasyonuna katkida bulunmak hedefi ile 1951 yilinda kurulan Sosyal Problemleri Calisma Toplulugu (The Society for the Study of Social Problems) (SSSP)’nun resmi dergisidir. Henslin ve Roesti (1976) Social Problems’de 1952-1975 yillari arasinda yayimlanan tum makalelerde, hangi sosyal problemlerin konu basliklari olarak dahil edildiklerini, cesitli zaman periyodlarindaki karsilastirilmali sikliklarini ve yonelimlerini belirlemek icin bir icerik analizi yapmislardir. Ayrica Henslin ve Roesti (1976) 1952-1975 yillarinda dergide yayimlanan makaleleri, makalede onerilen politikalari, onerilen politikanin yoneltildigi kitleyi ve politika onerilerindeki yonelimleri acisindan da incelemislerdir. Bu calismada, Henslin ve Roesti (1976)’nin calismasindan esinlenerek, dunyanin hangi ulkesinden olursa olsun ozellikle sosyal problemler sosyolojisi ile ilgilenen arastirmacilar icin onemli bir ba...

2001

This third edition of the ASA Instructor's Resource Manual on Social Problems provides materials to help those teaching social problems for the first time as well as experienced instructors. The manual includes 13 syllabi, 35 exercises and assignments, and a guide to web resources. In this introduction we reflect on what we have learned in compiling and editing these materials and make several suggestions for fruitful directions for teaching social problems. First we want to explain how we compiled this manual. We solicited materials for this manual as widely as possible, placing requests for contributions on the Teachsoc electronic discussion list (twice), in the ASA newsletter Footnotes, and in the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) newsletter. We also tried to contact all contributors to the previous edition and all SSSP division chairs and newsletter editors. In response to our requests, we received about 20 syllabi, a wide variety of assignments, and other assorted materials. We do not claim that the materials in this manual are a representative sample of all approaches to teaching social problems, but we do think that they provide important information on how social problems courses are taught at the beginning of the 21 st century. Perhaps even more interesting, they indicate how social problems are not taught. Reflecting on teaching social problems leads to an obvious question, one that Brooks and Broad raised in the previous edition of this manual: "What does the social problems course add to a curriculum, both for majors and for minors" (Brooks and Broad 1997:1)? This question took on immediacy for one of us recently in the context of new program development. A joint Sociology and Anthropology department that had long offered a criminology concentration within the sociology major was developing a new major in Criminal Justice. Discussion of the new program was intense and often contentious. Much of the debate focused on whether students in the Criminal Justice major would be required to take Introduction to Sociology or whether they could take either Introduction to Sociology or Social Problems as a required introductory course. Keeping in mind that the new major was criminal justice rather than sociology, one can make good arguments for either position. However, that is not our point here. What was striking about much of this disagreement was the view of social problems courses on which it was based. That view seemed to reflect, at least in part, dated assumptions about the nature of such courses. Brooks and Broad had noted that many still questioned whether the social problems course was "just a grab-bag of 'problems du jour,' an a-theoretical collage of sociological voyeurism that only serves to remind students of a high school civics class" (1997:1)? The second edition of the manual offered evidence that the stereotype was not true in 1997; this edition makes it even clearer. The materials we received contradict the image of social problems courses as "grab-bags of 'problems du jour.'" Naturally, social problems classes by their nature do focus on social problems and issues that are in the news, but Introductory Essay _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Introductory Essay _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 7 In addition to using the web for teaching social problems, the web itself is a fascinating topic for exploration in social problems courses. Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, provides a sense of the design and vision that guided the creation and development of the World Wide Web in his Weaving the Web (1999). Berners-Lee notes that "the Web is more of a social creation than a technical one" (1999:123). His history of the web is fascinating, his vision for the web is powerful, and his assessment of its current uses is troubling. A MISSING TREND: INQUIRY-BASED INSTRUCTION We were puzzled by something we did not find in materials submitted to us. Almost none of the materials introduced inquiry-based instruction into courses. In recent years instructors in the social and natural sciences have increasingly emphasized inquiry-based or active learning in their courses. Incorporating social science inquiry into social problems classes seems like an especially valuable way to help students develop critical thinking skills. In the January 1997 issue of Footnotes, Carla Howery noted that "critical thinking seems to be particularly useful in social problems courses," and suggested that infusing social science inquiry into lower level sociology courses would help foster critical thinking. It would also enable students to "experience sociology as a process of discovery, hypothesis testing, reflection on theories to identify predicted relationships, and as a creative process" (Howery 1997:9). According to an old Chinese proverb: "I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand." We think that doing sociology by using sociological data to investigate social problems can enhance student understanding, and enable them to see sociology as a process of discovery and testing. Given the emphasis on inquiry-based learning in many disciplines and knowing that many sociologists have been involved in such approaches, we were surprised that only one syllabus in this manual (Carroll) emphasized elementary data analysis and social science inquiry. Some of the syllabi provided here and some of the assignments seem designed to emphasize inquiry, but almost none of the courses build it in systematically. For example, Crone emphasizes students developing their ability to interpret statistics. Habel provides two exercises in which students use statistical data, and so does Steele. Nonetheless, we had expected more emphasis on using sociological data to analyze social problems. This may just reflect the syllabi we received; yet it surprised us nonetheless. Certainly there are sufficient resources available for infusing inquiry-based learning into social problems classes.