social problems and how to solve them

How to Solve Problems in Society

Exploring a Method for Solving Social Problems.

T here are soooo many problems in society that need to be fixed. It seems hopeless.

But surrendering, deciding it’s impossible, and standing by as the world continues to deteriorate is defeatist and counter-productive.

What choice do we have but to believe progress is possible?

Less Bad is dedicated to understanding the most important problems we’re facing as a society and finding ways to solve them .

Of course, “solving” or “fixing” the biggest problems we face is a long-term endeavor, without a clearly-defined endpoint. That’s why the site is called Less Bad. We’re dedicated to progress . Small improvements today that over time add up to real solutions. Baby steps to a better world.

Social problem-solving skill is like a muscle. The more you work it the stronger it gets. That applies to humans in general just like it does to society at large. We’ve got to work our “progress-making muscle” more while lowering the amount of counter-productive behavior that goes on. To put it simply, as a society we’ve got to do more good things and fewer bad things. It is that simple .

As things get better, as certain strategies are deployed and goals are met , momentum builds. Past successes build and reinforce themselves. Progress gets easier.

It sounds simple, and it is. But the question remains, how do we go about solving problems?

A Method for Solving Social Problems

The following explains a tried and true method of solving social problems using a structure, or framework. Having a framework in place makes understanding issues easier.

Let’s take a look at the six components:

Define the Problem

The first step is to clearly and specifically define what the problem is, and why it’s an issue that needs to be improved. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, “the problem should be defined as simply as possible, but not simpler.”

This link leads to a starting point for some of our most important problems:

Explore some of the top Problems We’re Facing >>

Identify the Causes

What is happening that is leading to the lousy outcome?

Incentives, cultural norms, inertia, social pressures, constraints, ignorance, distortions, distractions, misunderstanding, misinformation – all these and more result in the intractable, miserable societal problems causing so much suffering.

Identifying the underlying, fundamental causes is the first step to fixing a problem. In systems thinking this is called root cause analysis .

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” -Attributed to Albert Einstein

This link explores some of the causes of our current state:

Explore some of the Causes of Our Problems >>

Define the Goal

To solve a problem, you need to know what the ideal end-state looks like. A description of what the situation looks like once the problem is solved .

“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” -Yogi Berra

In some cases, metrics are appropriate. In the business world, “SMART” goals are those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

While it would be great if all our goals could be smart, the fact that the goal of “world peace” may not be achievable doesn’t mean it isn’t worth moving closer to.

For our purposes, a goal is an ideal state. If we could wave a magic wand, what would the “solution,” the end state, look like?

Here are some goals most people would like to see achieved:

Explore some Societal Goals >>

Identify Strategies

How can we make progress? What smaller steps move us closer to the goal?

Strategies are simpler, more manageable, and achievable aspects of the overall goal. Goals are usually big and complicated. Strategies give us a more useful starting point.

We will likely not know ahead of time what one strategy is the best way to achieve a goal, so it’s helpful to have at least three strategies that can “move the needle.”

In reality, when dealing with complex social problems these strategies are pretty difficult. In many cases, it might be necessary to create sub-strategies to carry out a larger strategy. 1 For example, one strategy to fix the problem of extreme division in America is to reform the election process, which in turn requires fixing problems like gerrymandering , the primary process, the influence of money , reforming the media , etc.

Explore Strategies for fixing our Problems >>

Only when we have a solid (not perfect) understanding of these four elements does it make sense to do what is most important:

Take Action

All the research, thinking, and strategizing in the world doesn’t mean anything if we don’t take action. Taking action comes in many forms, and what is right for you depends on myriad factors.

Understanding what already exists that can be built upon , finding partners, building communities , increasing awareness, getting involved in politics, volunteering, and donating money are all ways of taking action to solve problems in society.

Learn How to Take Action >>

Keep Improving

A bunch of people trying to find the missing puzzle piece

In terms of solutions for social problems, nothing is ever finished. There will always be aspects of society that could use improvement. But the hope is that we’re moving in the right direction. As we work through ways of solving social problems, it’s important to stop and make sure our actions are having a positive contribution.

Want to know how we’re making the world Less Bad?

Find Out How We Can Fix All the Problems – Learn More >>

Why Is it Important to Solve Problems?

In the face of such overwhelming odds, it’s understandable that some people are questioning if it’s even worth it. Apathy is rampant in the country. But if we want to avoid massive conflicts in the future, or if we just want to alleviate suffering in the world at large, it’s important that as a society we make progress.

We must start solving some of our most pressing problems so that everyone can have an equal opportunity to succeed in life.

When society has a lot of problems it can hold people back from achieving their full potential .
Not only are people suffering, but the possibility of destabilization exists if enough people get mad enough.

Finding Real Solutions is Difficult

Social problem-solving skills are complex and multi-layered. There are a variety of social innovation solutions that have been proposed to try and fix them. But if we look around it’s easy to feel like we’re going backward instead of making progress.

We Need to Get At the Root Cause

Too often today, “solving social problems” only addresses the symptoms and not the root cause of the problem.

Government, nonprofits, and businesses throw resources at the problem without a full appreciation of the problem and the fundamental root causes. These half-assed, ill-conceived measures often only make things worse.

While addressing the symptoms can help assuage individual suffering (which is important), in the long term, addressing the fundamental cause is the only way to make meaningful change.

Take drug addiction. In the short term, a clean needle exchange can help decrease the spread of disease in vulnerable communities. But long term, addressing how and why people take drugs in the first place, while much more difficult, will have a more meaningful impact.

To truly achieve social problem solving we need to get to the heart of each problem and address the underlying root cause. Positive problem orientation leads to rational problem-solving skills that get better with practice.

What Are Some of Our Most Pressing Social Problems?

We all have things we don’t like. Here’s a whole page devoted to the biggest problems facing America . But just to give you an idea of the kinds of problems we’re defining, in no particular order here are some of the biggest societal problems we face:

Innocent people are dying for no reason.
War is leading to mass starvation.
The threat of Nuclear Armageddon is back!

Health Care
Political Bribes
You name it

Our police and legal systems are overwhelmed.
Mass shootings are commonplace.
It seems like we’re moving backwards.

There are ONLY two sides.. And they HATE each other.
We’re heading toward another Civil War

Irresponsible corporations pouring poison in the air
No fish in the ocean
Droughts and wildfires all over.

Less and more for the bottom
More and more for the top
Might not be sustainable

And if that’s not enough, here are some more:

The high cost of healthcare
Poverty and homelessness
Rising economic inequality
Gender and racial inequality
Unequal access to upward mobility
The influence of money on the government
The extreme division in the political arena
A media with the wrong incentives
Drug addiction
Federal spending and the budget and deficit
People have lost hope

See All the Problems >>

What are Some Ways to Solve Social Problems?

What are the solutions?

There are a variety of different approaches that can be taken to solve social problems.

Some people believe that the government should take care of social problems.
Others believe that it is the responsibility of individuals and community groups .
Other types think that new technologies , businesses, and corporations need to play a bigger role in problem-solving.

Clearly – the government won’t help

As covered above, the government has proven that it cannot get anything done. We can wish it were different but we’ve got to face reality. Until something changes (or many things really) we can only hope for very little action from the government (unless change means someone is making money from it). The powerful politicians that determine government priorities and their partners in the media are focused on driving division and enriching themselves and their allies, not helping solve our societal issues. The powers that be like the status quo just fine.

Nonprofit groups are overmatched

Nonprofit groups are great in theory, but they don’t have the resources. There are a lot of great nonprofit organizations out there with hard-working volunteers, employees, and skills. But they only have so much money, which unfortunately is all that really matters.

Businesses Have the Resources to Help

Less Bad thinks that business has the resources, and are in the best position, to affect social change. But we can’t force them to. It can’t be up to one person. It goes back to incentives. The challenge is to begin to align the goals of business with those of society at large.

Impact Consumerism is the idea of using the power in your wallet to form a coalition to encourage corporations to play a more active role in helping society. Here’s a link to a brief introduction to Impact Consumerism.

Impact Consumerism >>

The point is to make progress. You can’t make progress if you don’t have an idea of where you want to get to.

There is a more comprehensive list of strategies to make the world better on the dedicated pages, but to give you an idea of some strategies to fix our social problems

Strategies for Solving Social Problems:

Leverage scientific know-how not to make rich people richer, but to help us all.
Invest in cutting-edge technology and transform our society for the better.

Into the money they pay to get the laws they want passed.
The wages they pay the people at the bottom compared to the top.
Transparency into the poisons they put in the air and water. And into our food.

Put workers first so that the middle class can thrive.
Reduce the extremes.
Educate and train employees so that they help themselves and the company at the same time.

Get hate mongers out of our lives
Reward honest, objective reporters out for the truth

And compromise.
Honest communication
And brotherly love.

A comprehensive overhaul of our most destructive business processes
Where we don’t just burry shit in the ground, or throw it in the ocean

One where our leaders are focused on improving our lives.
Not raising money for their next campaign.
A government that lives up to the ideals enshrined in The Constitution.

Where everyone can see a good doctor that knows who they are and what’s in their best interest.
With good food

Tone down the hate
Take the profit motive out of death and destruction
Redouble diplomatic efforts, and lead by example

There’s clearly no shortage of ideas for making progress, and many of these endeavors are being worked on very hard every day. It’s just a question of who has more resources. Those contributing to the common good, or those hurting it.

If the above isn’t enough, here are some more strategies to solve problems.

Strengthen Communities

Thriving communities are important for society. They help with everything. Stronger communities are critical to a happy and healthy life. Create opportunities for people to connect and engage with their neighbors. Whether it’s through block parties, education programs, or volunteering opportunities, when people come together, great things happen.

Increase Accountability

We need to increase accountability in both the government and in business. Too often people misbehave or act contrary to the common good. This type of behavior needs to be stopped, and the only way to do that is by increasing accountability. We need to ensure our politicians and corporations are working in our best interests.

Align Incentives

We need to align incentives so that businesses are rewarded for supporting societal goals. We want businesses to be profitable, but we also want them to help us reach our goals. Businesses should be motivated to do both.

Whistleblower Protection

Whistleblowers play an essential role in holding the powerful accountable. This not only helps to keep businesses and government agencies honest but also helps to create a more transparent marketplace. Whistleblower protection is not only good for society, but it’s also good for the economy.

Impact Consumerism

Impact Consumerism is a movement of individuals, businesses, and non-profits coming together to create social change through the power of the free market. Companies have the potential to be a force for good, and consumers have the power to drive this change. Impact Consumerism promotes a more sustainable and equitable future, one where businesses thrive by doing good.

Reduce the Influence of Money in Washington

Lobbyists spend billions of dollars every year trying to influence politicians. Big businesses and special interests have an outsized impact on the legislative process. Meanwhile, the average American has very little say in what goes on in our nation’s capital.

This needs to change. We need to get money out of Washington and put the power back in the hands of the people. We need to close the loopholes that allow corporations and the wealthy to skirt the rules. We need to increase transparency and regulation to make sure that our elected officials are working for us, not for money.

Redistribute Wealth

The gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger and bigger, and it’s not sustainable. And the wealthy tend to do things to make sure they get even more money. Making rich people richer is not the best use of limited resources. We need to reverse this trend. We need to bring out a more balanced distribution of wealth and reduce the concentration at the top. Otherwise, we’re going to have a lot of problems.

What are the Fundamental Causes of Social Problems?

In systems theory, when attempting social problem-solving to make changes to the system you turn to root cause analysis as a way to fully understand the problem. As the problem is better understood, finding ways to improve the situation can be introduced.

The causes of the social issues are as numerous as the problems themselves. Dozens if not hundreds of forces are at play. But some causes have a much bigger impact on outcomes than others. In general, some of the more notable causes of the problems we collectively face include:

Leaders on both sides don’t care about us.
They don’t care about our problems.
They care about scoring points,
And tweets.
Just take a look around!

You can have your profits, but can the middle class get some too?
We’re the ones doing all the work.
Do you really need to take EVERYTHING?

Voting is not creating accountability.
The bulk of general elections are formalities.
The same people who got us in this position just stay in office forever.

There’s something wrong when like 7 people have more money than the rest of the world combined.
And this wealth / income gap keeps widening.

Nothing in government gets done without a big sack of cash.
Promoting the lobbying culture is the only agenda with bipartisan support.

We’re rewarding complexity and obfuscation, not healthy people.
The sicker we get, the more money they make.
We don’t even know what things cost!

The media - our top story tonight, the other side sucks

On both sides, they are not here to tell us the truth.
Their profit model depends on anger.
And Distractions.
And Division.

The waste and bureaucracy is STAGERING
The National Debt is THIRTY TRILLION DOLLARS
What does that even MEAN?

Financial types make the most money, but they cause the most harm.
Credit card companies with gross margins of 80 percent.
Single Money Manager / CEO-type who makes A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.

So What Are the Goals?

There are a large number of ways to think about societal goals, but let’s start with a big one, and from there we can develop sub-goals.

Universal Happiness

Universal happiness across countries should be the idealized goal. Too many people are angry and have lost hope because they do not have what they need to be happy. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs , people need to have food and shelter first, then safety and security, then love and belonging, then esteem, and finally self-actualization. If people do not have their basic needs met, they will never be able to be truly happy.

Where we can all get the care we need
Without going bankrupt if the worst happens
Cut down on the diabetus

Where we feel safe
Where we feel a part of the neighborhood
Where we get along with each other

Where hard-working employees share in the rewards
Competitive markets where anyone can succeed

Where drought and forest fires don’t cause untold deaths
Sustainable ecosystems
With fish in the oceans
And air we can breath

Leaders that unite us
Accountable leaders with our best interest at heart
Leaders able to make hard decisions that are for the best

Where they can reach their full potential
Where they can have all the things we don’t have today

Equal Access to Upward Mobility

The Constitution of the United States promises the pursuit of happiness for all Americans. But in today’s society where you were born and raised plays an outsized role in your education, the classes you attend, and what you can achieve in life. That’s not to say those born in less affluent circumstances can’t succeed, it’s just harder. This disparity is not only unfair, but it ultimately harms us all by preventing us from achieving our full potential as a nation.

Promoting access to upward mobility is a way to make many of the problems we face as a society better.

Feeling of Progress

We all want to feel like we are making a certain amount of progress toward our goals. When we see gridlock, it can seem like nothing is happening and that things are getting worse. However, it’s important to remember that progress is being made all around us. We may not always agree on the best process to achieve progress, but progress itself is something that we can all rally around.

Safety and security are important to everyone. We all want to feel safe in our homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Crime is bad for individuals, families, and businesses. That’s why it’s so important to take steps to reduce unemployment and crime and keep our streets safe.

World Peace / Peace on Earth

In a world that is increasingly interconnected, the need for world peace is more evident than ever. We won’t get there overnight but as we solve social problems we move just a bit closer. Although there will always be disagreements and conflicts between nations, the world has become more stable overall in recent years. This is due in part to the rise of international institutions and the increased cooperation between states. By continuing to work together on various subjects and supporting each other, we can create a model world that is more peaceful and prosperous for all.

A Healthy Planet

A healthy planet is necessary for a healthy environment, which is necessary for healthy human beings. We want to promote sustainability and a circular economy so that businesses are incentivized to protect the environment, not just pollute it. And we want to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere so that our planet can thrive for generations to come. Reach all our environmental goals .

Healthy People

We all know that health is important. It’s not just about looking good in that new swimsuit – although that is a nice perk. Being healthy means having more energy, being able to think more clearly, and reducing the costs of health care for everyone. A healthy society listens to medical professionals and embraces effective techniques and processes. We all benefit when most people can live long, happy, and healthy lives.

Thriving Communities

Thriving communities help solve problems. Stronger communities , where all children go to a good school, are critical to a happy and healthy life. Whether it’s through block parties, education programs, smaller classroom sizes, or volunteering opportunities, when people come together, great things happen.

Prosperous Middle Class

A thriving middle class is essential for the growth of any country. The middle class is the backbone of the economy, and its success directly impacts the process of problem-solving. A strong local community is an important process for the solution of any social problem. It’s created by following examples defined by ideas and processes.

When the middle class is doing well it benefits everyone in the country, as it increases purchasing power and lowers the cost of living. Similarly, when the middle class is thriving, businesses can grow and create new jobs. This leads to even more upward mobility and creates a vicious cycle of growth.

In today’s age of 24-hour news cycles and seemingly constant information overload, it can be difficult to know where to turn for real, honest news. With the proliferation of “fake news” and clickbait headlines, it’s more important than ever to be able to identify a source of news we can trust . We should expect journalism of the highest standards – accurate reporting, fair and balanced stories, and a commitment to transparency. It’s time to reform the media to make progress .

Journalists should be asking hard questions, not driving division.

Productive Government

A functioning government works for the people it represents. When the government functions properly, it leads to things like happiness, meaning, and better use of tax dollars. All people want the government to function to make progress. Gridlock and polarization are bad because they prevent the government from working. Politicians campaign on promises, but often do not follow through on them. This gridlock and polarization need to be fixed for the government to function properly again.

Helpful Private Sector

We need a business community that supports our societal goals. Unfortunately, we often see businesses whose only goal is to make a profit, without any regard for the broader implications of their actions. We need to align incentives so businesses are rewarded for supporting societal goals, rather than just maximizing profits. A labor market that offers family-supporting jobs to people of all backgrounds and aptitudes. We need a business community on the side of progress .

Competitive Marketplaces

A Competitive Marketplace is good for consumers because it drives down prices. When businesses compete against each other, it forces them to keep their prices low to attract and keep customers. In addition, a Competitive Marketplace provides consumers with more choices.

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” -William Jennings Bryan

We Can Make Things Less Bad

Some social problems can seem overwhelming. But remember that even the most complex problem can be solved if we work together, focus on what matters, and are willing to find innovative solutions.

Given the enormous challenges, it’s easy to despair. But non-stop complaining and giving up hope is certainly not going to help us solve problems.

If we are going to avoid a societal breakdown , we need to do a better job of addressing our most pressing issues.

So that’s what I’m doing on this site—exploring the problems and causes and proposing goals and strategies to reach them across the four core groupings ( Environment , Business , Government , and Society ). I believe that working through this problem-solving framework is the best way to fix so many of the aspects of society that are causing so much pain and frustration in the world.

Over the following weeks and months, the plan is to flesh these ideas out. The aim is to eventually have a browsable framework of the various issues affecting us, their causes, broad goals, and specific strategies.

And most importantly, organizing the various groups already working toward those goals.

It’s not gonna happen overnight, and a lot of help is needed. But I think it’s the best hope we have of improving society.

I hope you’ll join the ride.

News stream

Climate Change

There is no economy or individual that is unaffected by climate change. By 2050, this problem could force 216 million people to relocate within their own nations. The changes in weather may worsen water stress and reduce crop output, particularly in the most food-insecure areas of the world.

One of the major problems on our planet is linked to global temperatures that are continually rising. By 2100, studies show that there is a 50% likelihood of facing global warming that is higher than 3.5 degrees Celsius and a 10% probability of witnessing warming higher than 4.7 degrees Celsius relative to temperatures registered between 1850 and 1900. This would result in more severe shifts in weather patterns, food and resource shortages, and the more rapid spread of diseases.

At COP28 in Dubai, held at the end of 2023, the World Bank unveiled ambitious plans to boost climate funding, improve initiatives for carbon markets, and much more.

Possible solutions:

A reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and increased awareness of the necessity to turn green are among the solutions that can make a significant difference. In addition, strategies to cut carbon emissions and opting for replanting are among the effective ways to address climate change.

Wars and military conflicts

Maintaining peace and security is crucial to preventing poverty and high numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. With an increasing number of territories becoming conflict zones, the number of poor and displaced women and children is on rise, causing the spread of diseases and a halt to economic progress.

Preventative diplomacy and demilitarization are the two key tactics for avoiding conflicts. Preventive diplomacy is defined as those actions undertaken to avoid conflicts from forming or worsening. It can also help to limit the spread of existing hostilities. Mediation, conciliation, or negotiation are all options to tackle this world issue.

Today, among the greatest world issues, wars and conflicts are at the top of the list. 2022 and 2023 were marked by a number of conflicts that led to many casualties and displaced people. The conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine in particular have led to a massive number of people fleeing or attempting to flee their countries in search of shelter.

Individuals with disabilities and the elderly are the most vulnerable because they may not be able to escape high-risk regions.

As of May 2023, there were around 5.1 million internally displaced persons in Ukraine and the number of documented refugees from Ukraine was over 6.2 million worldwide. Around 90% of those escaping the crisis were women and children.

In Gaza, there are approximately 1.4 million internally displaced people with around 690,000 being housed in 150 shelters run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees.

Refugee statistics:

In mid-2023, according to the UN , there were 110 million forcibly displaced people in the world
43.3 million (around 40%) of these were children
1.9 million children were born as refugees
36.4 million (over 30%) of all displaced people were refugees
6.1 million were asylum-seekers
4.4 million stateless people reside in 97 countries although it has been estimated that the true figure is much higher
Over 50% of refugees come from just three countries: the Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.

Water contamination

There is no life without water – apparently a simple truth but one that people seem to overlook. Poor management and irrational use forces communities to migrate in search of drinking water. Industries are polluting underground water and this issue is growing massively.

Due to pollution, poverty, and inadequate resource management, around 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water
Agriculture is responsible for 70% of global water loss
Annually, 297,000 children under the age of five die from diarrheal infections caused by poor sanitation, hygiene, or contaminated drinking water
80% of wastewater is discharged into the environment without being processed or reused

Possible solutions to the water pollution issue:

The most efficient technique to reduce water pollution is to treat water (filtration, disinfection, etc.) before it reaches the waterway system. Clearing wastewater of pollutants can be performed via biological, physical, and chemical operations.

Human rights violation

Human rights are universal, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or any other status but what if this only happens on paper?

Indeed, the problems in today’s society are linked with the constant violation of human rights – gender inequality, human trafficking, the lack of freedom of speech – all of these can be witnessed in the 21st century in every country, even in developed nations.

Gender Equality

50% of the world’s population are women and girls. Gender equality is not only a crucial human right , it is also necessary for a peaceful society, the full development of human potential, and long-term evolution.

Possible solutions to gender inequality:

Speak up for what you believe in
Pay attention to what others have to say
Defend yourself from discrimination
Raise public awareness of a problem
Get the media to talk about it
Demonstrate to those in positions of power that they are being watched

Global health issues

There is no comprehensive list of the top global health challenges because this field is dynamic and ever-evolving. In addition, new threats and hazards related to global health are constantly emerging as seen by the monkeypox outbreak that occurred in 2023. On the other hand, certain global health problems are long-term and may be on the list forever including cancer, air pollution, and tuberculosis.

Major health problems in the world include:

Communicable diseases

Influenza outbreaks and COVID-19 are examples of pandemics that highlight our susceptibility to widespread infections, many of which begin in animals. Anxiety and fear are common reactions to pandemics. Other worrisome infectious diseases worth attention are HIV/AIDS, malaria, and Ebola which have remained deadly for decades.

Environmental factors

Air pollution and climate change have a serious impact on our health. Hurricanes, floods and droughts make disease transmission easier among large populations of people.

Inequalities and poor healthcare access

Poor access to healthcare, increased infant mortality rates, mainly in low-income nations, and income inequality around the world make it virtually impossible for many families to afford healthcare.

Political aspects

People become increasingly exposed to diseases as wars within or between countries damage essential infrastructure. As a result, they look for ways to escape the harmful situations that jeopardize their safety but diseases can spread swiftly when people migrate.

Mental health

A major contributor to disability is depression, and among those aged 15 to 29, suicide caused by depression is the main cause of mortality. Individuals suffering from serious mental health issues frequently encounter stigma, discrimination, and infringements of their human rights which can lead to earlier death. In less severe cases, mental health conditions can impact participation in social activities, close interpersonal connections, and academic or professional performance.

Noncommunicable diseases (NDCs)

Cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are just a few examples of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The risk factors for NCDs include the use of tobacco products and alcohol, obesity, a poor or unbalanced diet, and lack of exercise. Although these global health concerns are present everywhere and are responsible for almost 3 out of every 4 deaths worldwide, low- and middle-income nations make up 77% of NCD deaths .

Possible solutions to global health issues:

Empower marginalized populations
Encourage physicians to work in rural regions
Implement policies that eliminate obstacles and improve access to healthcare
Promote health breakthroughs (improve research, increase funding)
Education can help people recognize and improve lifestyle variables such as poor diets, obesity, cigarette use, and alcohol intake which can lead to NCDs.
Veterinary medicine can enhance global health since diseases originating from livestock play an important role in the spreading of diseases.

Global poverty

Although there has been a decline in extreme poverty in middle-income nations, poverty in the world’s poorest nations and those impacted by instability, wars, or violence remains higher than it was before COVID-19.

Currently, about 700 million people worldwide face extreme poverty, meaning that their daily income is less than the $2.15 poverty-line established by the World Bank . The majority of these individuals reside in sub-Saharan Africa. All in all, the places where it is most difficult to tackle extreme poverty are rural areas and regions impacted by conflicts. It’s worth mentioning that 50% of the people who live in extreme poverty are children.

Possible solutions to poverty:

End marginalization by ensuring equality and representation for all
Provide preventative education and treatment assistance during an epidemic
Offer recovery interventions during climate disasters
Help refugees and internally displaced people in terms of health, nutrition, and shelter
Improve education
Increase the level of food security and clean water access
Put an end to conflicts

See also: Absolute poverty vs relative poverty, what is the difference?

Children’s poor access to healthcare, education and safety

Every child must benefit from the right to proper healthcare, access to education, and grow in safety, and every society benefits from increasing children’s life prospects. Despite this, millions of children worldwide face serious challenges linked with their birthplace, gender, or circumstances.

Over 72 million children around the world who are old enough to attend elementary school are not enrolled. Marginalization and poverty are two major social issues.

Possible solutions to protect children’s rights:

Encourage education for both children and adults in less developed countries
Provide clean water
Ensure basic healthcare
Tackle gender inequality
Improve childhood nutrition

Access to food and hunger

By 2030, it is less likely that the world will achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger, according to international agencies and media. The situation in countries that have faced food insecurity and where populations suffer from hunger has worsened further as a result of the health and socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our planet houses over 8 billion people, and there is enough food to feed them all. Sadly, 828 million face hunger on a daily basis despite the quantity of available food.

According to the World Food Program , more than 40% of these people face severe hunger. At the same time, around 2.3 billion people lack proper access to food. Statistics also show that around 9 million people die each year from hunger-related factors – most of them being children aged 5 or younger.

In regions impacted by conflict, humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding initiatives should be rolled out quickly
The resilience of those who are more prone to economic hardship should be increased
To reduce the cost of nutritious foods, governments should intervene at various points in the food supply chain
Deal with poverty by focusing on interventions that help those suffering
Food environments should be reinforced. In addition, it is important to influence consumer behavior to encourage eating habits that are good for both people and the environment.
Experts believe that the immediate solution to the food crisis linked to the conflict in Ukraine could be monetary, mainly because of the rising food prices. If governments and donors are able to help people to pay for food, fewer will go hungry.

Massive migration movements impact all UN Member States , necessitating greater collaboration and responsibility-sharing.

The United Nations Member States endorsed the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (A/RES/71/1) wherein they acknowledged that there is a need for a comprehensive strategy for migration. The New York Declaration recognizes the beneficial contributions of migrants to inclusive and sustainable development and pledges to defend their dignity, human rights, and basic freedoms, irrespective of their migration status.

Weapons accessibility

Multilateral disarmament and armaments restriction are the aims that have been important to the United Nations’ attempts to keep international peace since its inception.

The United Nations has placed a high priority on decreasing and ultimately eliminating nuclear weapons, abolishing chemical weapons, and reinforcing the ban on biological weapons, all of which pose the greatest dangers to humanity.

A number of multilateral treaties and procedures have been developed as a result of worldwide efforts to regulate, limit, or eliminate specific weapons, including:
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons – one of its goals is to stop nuclear weapons and weapons technology from spreading
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty – its goal is to prohibit nuclear weapons trial explosions, as well as any other nuclear explosions
Biological and Chemical Weapons Convention – forbids biological and toxin weapon manufacturing, procurement, transmission, storage, and use
Arms Trade Treaty – controls the international conventional armaments trade.

Although the top 10 global issues certainly help to establish what governments and ordinary people around the world should focus on, there are many other problems that everyone should be aware of, including the aging of the population, AIDS, and law and justice. Tackling at least some of these is possible but requires a lot of effort, patience and understanding.

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Ten ways to reduce poverty in the world 29 March 2024
The status of women and girls in South Africa: Credible evidence to inform donor interventions | An observer’s perspective 28 March 2024
In Kenya, high energy costs stimulate clean energy innovation 28 March 2024

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INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
Problem Solving and Decision Making
Social Problem Solving

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Social problem-solving might also be called ‘ problem-solving in real life ’. In other words, it is a rather academic way of describing the systems and processes that we use to solve the problems that we encounter in our everyday lives.

The word ‘ social ’ does not mean that it only applies to problems that we solve with other people, or, indeed, those that we feel are caused by others. The word is simply used to indicate the ‘ real life ’ nature of the problems, and the way that we approach them.

Social problem-solving is generally considered to apply to four different types of problems:

Impersonal problems, for example, shortage of money;
Personal problems, for example, emotional or health problems;
Interpersonal problems, such as disagreements with other people; and
Community and wider societal problems, such as litter or crime rate.

A Model of Social Problem-Solving

One of the main models used in academic studies of social problem-solving was put forward by a group led by Thomas D’Zurilla.

This model includes three basic concepts or elements:

Problem-solving

This is defined as the process used by an individual, pair or group to find an effective solution for a particular problem. It is a self-directed process, meaning simply that the individual or group does not have anyone telling them what to do. Parts of this process include generating lots of possible solutions and selecting the best from among them.

A problem is defined as any situation or task that needs some kind of a response if it is to be managed effectively, but to which no obvious response is available. The demands may be external, from the environment, or internal.

A solution is a response or coping mechanism which is specific to the problem or situation. It is the outcome of the problem-solving process.

Once a solution has been identified, it must then be implemented. D’Zurilla’s model distinguishes between problem-solving (the process that identifies a solution) and solution implementation (the process of putting that solution into practice), and notes that the skills required for the two are not necessarily the same. It also distinguishes between two parts of the problem-solving process: problem orientation and actual problem-solving.

Problem Orientation

Problem orientation is the way that people approach problems, and how they set them into the context of their existing knowledge and ways of looking at the world.

Each of us will see problems in a different way, depending on our experience and skills, and this orientation is key to working out which skills we will need to use to solve the problem.

An Example of Orientation

Most people, on seeing a spout of water coming from a loose joint between a tap and a pipe, will probably reach first for a cloth to put round the joint to catch the water, and then a phone, employing their research skills to find a plumber.

A plumber, however, or someone with some experience of plumbing, is more likely to reach for tools to mend the joint and fix the leak. It’s all a question of orientation.

Problem-Solving

Problem-solving includes four key skills:

Defining the problem,
Coming up with alternative solutions,
Making a decision about which solution to use, and
Implementing that solution.

Based on this split between orientation and problem-solving, D’Zurilla and colleagues defined two scales to measure both abilities.

They defined two orientation dimensions, positive and negative, and three problem-solving styles, rational, impulsive/careless and avoidance.

They noted that people who were good at orientation were not necessarily good at problem-solving and vice versa, although the two might also go together.

It will probably be obvious from these descriptions that the researchers viewed positive orientation and rational problem-solving as functional behaviours, and defined all the others as dysfunctional, leading to psychological distress.

The skills required for positive problem orientation are:

Being able to see problems as ‘challenges’, or opportunities to gain something, rather than insurmountable difficulties at which it is only possible to fail.

For more about this, see our page on The Importance of Mindset ;

Believing that problems are solvable. While this, too, may be considered an aspect of mindset, it is also important to use techniques of Positive Thinking ;

Believing that you personally are able to solve problems successfully, which is at least in part an aspect of self-confidence.

See our page on Building Confidence for more;

Understanding that solving problems successfully will take time and effort, which may require a certain amount of resilience ; and

Motivating yourself to solve problems immediately, rather than putting them off.

See our pages on Self-Motivation and Time Management for more.

Those who find it harder to develop positive problem orientation tend to view problems as insurmountable obstacles, or a threat to their well-being, doubt their own abilities to solve problems, and become frustrated or upset when they encounter problems.

The skills required for rational problem-solving include:

The ability to gather information and facts, through research. There is more about this on our page on defining and identifying problems ;

The ability to set suitable problem-solving goals. You may find our page on personal goal-setting helpful;

The application of rational thinking to generate possible solutions. You may find some of the ideas on our Creative Thinking page helpful, as well as those on investigating ideas and solutions ;

Good decision-making skills to decide which solution is best. See our page on Decision-Making for more; and

Implementation skills, which include the ability to plan, organise and do. You may find our pages on Action Planning , Project Management and Solution Implementation helpful.

There is more about the rational problem-solving process on our page on Problem-Solving .

Potential Difficulties

Those who struggle to manage rational problem-solving tend to either:

Rush things without thinking them through properly (the impulsive/careless approach), or
Avoid them through procrastination, ignoring the problem, or trying to persuade someone else to solve the problem (the avoidance mode).

This ‘ avoidance ’ is not the same as actively and appropriately delegating to someone with the necessary skills (see our page on Delegation Skills for more).

Instead, it is simple ‘buck-passing’, usually characterised by a lack of selection of anyone with the appropriate skills, and/or an attempt to avoid responsibility for the problem.

An Academic Term for a Human Process?

You may be thinking that social problem-solving, and the model described here, sounds like an academic attempt to define very normal human processes. This is probably not an unreasonable summary.

However, breaking a complex process down in this way not only helps academics to study it, but also helps us to develop our skills in a more targeted way. By considering each element of the process separately, we can focus on those that we find most difficult: maximum ‘bang for your buck’, as it were.

Continue to: Decision Making Creative Problem-Solving

See also: What is Empathy? Social Skills

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1.1 What Is a Social Problem?

Learning objectives.

Define “social problem.”
Explain the objective and subjective components of the definition of a social problem.
Understand the social constructionist view of social problems.
List the stages of the natural history of social problems.

A social problem is any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed. This definition has both an objective component and a subjective component.

The objective component is this: For any condition or behavior to be considered a social problem, it must have negative consequences for large numbers of people, as each chapter of this book discusses. How do we know if a social problem has negative consequences? Reasonable people can and do disagree on whether such consequences exist and, if so, on their extent and seriousness, but ordinarily a body of data accumulates—from work by academic researchers, government agencies, and other sources—that strongly points to extensive and serious consequences. The reasons for these consequences are often hotly debated, and sometimes, as we shall see in certain chapters in this book, sometimes the very existence of these consequences is disputed. A current example is climate change : Although the overwhelming majority of climate scientists say that climate change (changes in the earth’s climate due to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) is real and serious, fewer than two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) in a 2011 poll said they “think that global warming is happening”(Leiserowitz, et. al., 2011).

This type of dispute points to the subjective component of the definition of social problems: There must be a perception that a condition or behavior needs to be addressed for it to be considered a social problem. This component lies at the heart of the social constructionist view of social problems (Rubington & Weinberg, 2010). In this view, many types of negative conditions and behaviors exist. Many of these are considered sufficiently negative to acquire the status of a social problem; some do not receive this consideration and thus do not become a social problem; and some become considered a social problem only if citizens, policymakers, or other parties call attention to the condition or behavior.

Smoke stacks spewing pollution into the sky

Sometimes disputes occur over whether a particular condition or behavior has negative consequences and is thus a social problem. A current example is climate change: although almost all climate scientists think climate change is real and serious, more than one-third of the American public thinks that climate change is not happening.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

The history of attention given to rape and sexual assault in the United States before and after the 1970s provides an example of this latter situation. These acts of sexual violence against women have probably occurred from the beginning of humanity and certainly were very common in the United States before the 1970s. Although men were sometimes arrested and prosecuted for rape and sexual assault, sexual violence was otherwise ignored by legal policymakers and received little attention in college textbooks and the news media, and many people thought that rape and sexual assault were just something that happened (Allison & Wrightsman, 1993). Thus although sexual violence existed, it was not considered a social problem. When the contemporary women’s movement began in the late 1970s, it soon focused on rape and sexual assault as serious crimes and as manifestations of women’s inequality. Thanks to this focus, rape and sexual assault eventually entered the public consciousness, views of these crimes began to change, and legal policymakers began to give them more attention. In short, sexual violence against women became a social problem.

Before the 1970s, rape and sexual assault certainly existed and were very common, but they were generally ignored and not considered a social problem. When the contemporary women’s movement arose during the 1970s, it focused on sexual violence against women and turned this behavior into a social problem.

Women’s e News – Placards at the Rally To Take Rape Seriously – CC BY 2.0.

The social constructionist view raises an interesting question: When is a social problem a social problem? According to some sociologists who adopt this view, negative conditions and behaviors are not a social problem unless they are recognized as such by policymakers, large numbers of lay citizens, or other segments of our society; these sociologists would thus say that rape and sexual assault before the 1970s were not a social problem because our society as a whole paid them little attention. Other sociologists say that negative conditions and behaviors should be considered a social problem even if they receive little or no attention; these sociologists would thus say that rape and sexual assault before the 1970s were a social problem.

This type of debate is probably akin to the age-old question: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, is a sound made? As such, it is not easy to answer, but it does reinforce one of the key beliefs of the social constructionist view: Perception matters at least as much as reality, and sometimes more so. In line with this belief, social constructionism emphasizes that citizens, interest groups, policymakers, and other parties often compete to influence popular perceptions of many types of conditions and behaviors. They try to influence news media coverage and popular views of the nature and extent of any negative consequences that may be occurring, the reasons underlying the condition or behavior in question, and possible solutions to the problem.

Two college students smiling at a camera while holding their books

Sometimes a condition or behavior becomes a social problem even if there is little or no basis for this perception. A historical example involves women in college. During the late 1800s, medical authorities and other experts warned women not to go to college for two reasons: they feared that the stress of college would disrupt women’s menstrual cycles, and they thought that women would not do well on exams while they were menstruating.

CollegeDegrees360 – College Girls – CC BY-SA 2.0.

Social constructionism’s emphasis on perception has a provocative implication: Just as a condition or behavior may not be considered a social problem even if there is strong basis for this perception, so may a condition or behavior be considered a social problem even if there is little or no basis for this perception. The “issue” of women in college provides a historical example of this latter possibility. In the late 1800s, leading physicians and medical researchers in the United States wrote journal articles, textbooks, and newspaper columns in which they warned women not to go to college. The reason? They feared that the stress of college would disrupt women’s menstrual cycles, and they also feared that women would not do well in exams during “that time of the month” (Ehrenreich & English, 2005)! We now know better, of course, but the sexist beliefs of these writers turned the idea of women going to college into a social problem and helped to reinforce restrictions by colleges and universities on the admission of women.

In a related dynamic, various parties can distort certain aspects of a social problem that does exist: politicians can give speeches, the news media can use scary headlines and heavy coverage to capture readers’ or viewers’ interest, businesses can use advertising and influence news coverage. News media coverage of violent crime provides many examples of this dynamic (Robinson, 2011; Surette, 2011). The news media overdramatize violent crime, which is far less common than property crime like burglary and larceny, by featuring so many stories about it, and this coverage contributes to public fear of crime. Media stories about violent crime also tend to be more common when the accused offender is black and the victim is white and when the offender is a juvenile. This type of coverage is thought to heighten the public’s prejudice toward African Americans and to contribute to negative views about teenagers.

The Natural History of a Social Problem

We have just discussed some of the difficulties in defining a social problem and the fact that various parties often try to influence public perceptions of social problems. These issues aside, most social problems go through a natural history consisting of several stages of their development (Spector & Kitsuse, 2001).

Stage 1: Emergence and Claims Making

A social problem emerges when a social entity (such as a social change group, the news media, or influential politicians) begins to call attention to a condition or behavior that it perceives to be undesirable and in need of remedy. As part of this process, it tries to influence public perceptions of the problem, the reasons for it, and possible solutions to it. Because the social entity is making claims about all these matters, this aspect of Stage 1 is termed the claims-making process . Not all efforts to turn a condition or behavior into a social problem succeed, and if they do not succeed, a social problem does not emerge. Because of the resources they have or do not have, some social entities are more likely than others to succeed at this stage. A few ordinary individuals have little influence in the public sphere, but masses of individuals who engage in protest or other political activity have greater ability to help a social problem emerge. Because politicians have the ear of the news media and other types of influence, their views about social problems are often very influential. Most studies of this stage of a social problem focus on the efforts of social change groups and the larger social movement to which they may belong, as most social problems begin with bottom-up efforts from such groups.

Protesters ralling against climate change in front of CIBC Banking Centre

A social problem emerges when a social change group successfully calls attention to a condition or behavior that it considers serious. Protests like the one depicted here have raised the environmental consciousness of Americans and helped put pressure on businesses to be environmentally responsible.

ItzaFineDay – Financing Climate Change – CC BY 2.0.

Stage 2: Legitimacy

Once a social group succeeds in turning a condition or behavior into a social problem, it usually tries to persuade the government (local, state, and/or federal) to take some action—spending and policymaking—to address the problem. As part of this effort, it tries to convince the government that its claims about the problem are legitimate—that they make sense and are supported by empirical (research-based) evidence. To the extent that the group succeeds in convincing the government of the legitimacy of its claims, government action is that much more likely to occur.

Stage 3: Renewed Claims Making

Even if government action does occur, social change groups often conclude that the action is too limited in goals or scope to be able to successfully address the social problem. If they reach this conclusion, they often decide to press their demands anew. They do so by reasserting their claims and by criticizing the official response they have received from the government or other established interests, such as big businesses. This stage may involve a fair amount of tension between the social change groups and these targets of their claims.

Stage 4: Development of Alternative Strategies

Despite the renewed claims making, social change groups often conclude that the government and established interests are not responding adequately to their claims. Although the groups may continue to press their claims, they nonetheless realize that these claims may fail to win an adequate response from established interests. This realization leads them to develop their own strategies for addressing the social problem.

Key Takeaways

The definition of a social problem has both an objective component and a subjective component. The objective component involves empirical evidence of the negative consequences of a social condition or behavior, while the subjective component involves the perception that the condition or behavior is indeed a problem that needs to be addressed.
The social constructionist view emphasizes that a condition or behavior does not become a social problem unless there is a perception that it should be considered a social problem.
The natural history of a social problem consists of four stages: emergence and claims making, legitimacy, renewed claims making, and alternative strategies.

For Your Review

What do you think is the most important social problem facing our nation right now? Explain your answer.
Do you agree with the social constructionist view that a negative social condition or behavior is not a social problem unless there is a perception that it should be considered a social problem? Why or why not?

Allison, J. A., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1993). Rape: The misunderstood crime . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Ehrenreich, B., & English, D. (2005). For her own good: Two centuries of the experts’ advice to women (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Anchor Books.

Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., & Smith, N. (2011). Climate change in the American mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in May 2011 . New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

Robinson, M. B. (2011). Media coverage of crime and criminal justice . Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.

Rubington, E., & Weinberg, M. S. (2010). The study of social problems: Seven perspectives (7th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Spector, M., & Kitsuse, J. I. (2001). Constructing social problems . New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

Surette, R. (2011). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images, realities, and policies (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

How Technology Can Help Solve Societal Problems

April 21, 2017 • 14 min read.

Nonprofits must embrace Social Change as a Platform to reach more people and at lower cost, experts say.

In the next article of the series , “The Network Revolution: Creating Value through Platforms, People and Technology,” authors Barry Libert , Megan Beck , Brian Komar and Josue Estrada debut the concept of Social Change as a Platform. Libert is a Wharton senior fellow and CEO of OpenMatters; Beck is the firm’s chief insights officer. Komar is vice president of community engagement for Salesforce.org, the nonprofit reseller of Salesforce.com Inc. Estrada is the senior vice president of strategy and operations at Salesforce.org.

As Charles Dickens so astutely observed about life during the French Revolution in “A Tale of Two Cities,” it was the best and worst of times. One could say the same thing today. The Fourth Industrial Revolution of technology networks and platforms could usher in an era of mass societal disruption — as well as unprecedented social cooperation. Whether the latter would prevail depends on the ability of nonprofit entities and the broader social sector to boost their collective impact by adopting the new business models that are disrupting the for-profit world. It would also depend on whether they can embrace what we call ‘Social Change as a Platform’ or SCaaP.

During the turbulent 1960s, Bob Dylan wrote the following powerful lyrics for “The Times They Are A-Changin’” that seems apropos for today. “ Come gather ’round people, wherever you roam, and admit that the waters around you have grown. And accept it that soon, you’ll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you is worth savin’, then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin’.” At the time, anti-war protests ruled the day. A generational collide over the future of America was afoot. And all the images of a nation coming apart at its seams were emblazoned across a new communications medium — TV — that was coming of age.

And so is it today. The Fourth Industrial Revolution — what Klaus Schwab (founder of the World Economic Forum) defines as the fusion of technologies blurring the lines among the physical, digital and biological spheres — is upon us. Meanwhile, nationalism is colliding with globalism, machine learning and artificial intelligence advancing geometrically, and global warming is on a direct path to changing the very nature of our planet. Despite these many challenges, this revolution, like the many that have preceded it, also comes with a great promise of opportunity.

To be sure, there are reasons for great optimism. In just the past 30 years, the global poverty rate halved with many of the poorest people in the world becoming significantly less poor. These gains mirror dramatic improvements in health and education including advances in life expectancy, child mortality, health care provision, among other important areas. Moreover, most of these gains predate the effective integration of digital technologies into the cause. In short, it is reasonable to argue that the potential for social ‘changemakers’ armed with today’s digital platforms in partnership with large and growing virtual networks can dramatically improve the human condition.

“The potential for social ‘changemakers’ armed with today’s digital platforms in partnership with large and growing virtual networks can dramatically improve the human condition.”

Self-organization Powered by Technology

Civil society — the network of institutions that define us as actors in the civil sphere independent of governments — is supposed to serve as the leader in promoting pluralism and social benefit. As Klaus Schwab notes that “a renewed focus on the essential contribution of civil society to a resilient global system alongside government and business has emerged.” Unfortunately, nonprofit groups, academic institutions and philanthropic organizations engaged in social change are struggling to adapt to the new global, technological and virtual landscape.

Legacy modes of operation, governance and leadership competencies rooted in the age of physical realities continue to dominate the space. Further, organizations still operate in internal and external silos — far from crossing industry lines, which are blurring. And their ability to lead in a world that is changing at an exponential rate seems hampered by their mental models and therefore their business models of creating and sustaining value as well.

If civil society is not to get drenched and sink like a stone, it must start swimming in a new direction. This new direction starts with social organizations fundamentally rethinking the core assumptions driving their attitudes, behaviors and beliefs about creating long-term sustainable value for their constituencies in an exponentially networked world. Rather than using an organization-centric model, the nonprofit sector and related organizations need to adopt a mental model based on scaling relationships in a whole new way using today’s technologies — the SCaaP model.

Embracing social change as a platform is more than a theory of change, it is a theory of being — one that places a virtual network or individuals seeking social change at the center of everything and leverages today’s digital platforms (such as social media, mobile, big data and machine learning) to facilitate stakeholders (contributors and consumers) to connect, collaborate, and interact with each other to exchange value among each other to effectuate exponential social change and impact.

SCaaP builds on the government as a platform movement (Gov 2.0) launched by technologist Tim O’Reilly and many others. Just as Gov 2.0 was not about a new kind of government but rather, as O’Reilly notes, “government stripped down to its core, rediscovered and reimagined as if for the first time,” so it is with social change as a platform. Civil society is the primary location for collective action and SCaaP helps to rebuild the kind of participatory community celebrated by 19 th century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville when he observed that Americans’ propensity for civic association is central to making our democratic experiment work. “Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition,” he noted, “are forever forming associations.”

But SCaaP represents a fundamental shift in how civil society operates. It is grounded in exploiting new digital technologies, but extends well beyond them to focus on how organizations think about advancing their core mission — do they go at it alone or do they collaborate as part of a network? SCaaP requires thinking and operating, in all things, as a network. It requires updating the core DNA that runs through social change organizations to put relationships in service of a cause at the center, not the institution. When implemented correctly, SCaaP will impact everything — from the way an organization allocates resources to how value is captured and measured to helping individuals achieve their full potential.

SCaaP “requires updating the core DNA that runs through social change organizations to put relationships in service of a cause at the center, not the institution.”

Digital Platforms Empower Social Change at Scale

To be sure, early adopters are already using technology to effectuate change at a pace and scale not previously available in the physical and digitally disconnected world. The marginal cost of delivery remains too high. But with today’s technologies, with support from the board and management to make it happen, social change at scale is possible. Here are some organizations that are on the way to implementing SCaaP.

DonorsChoose.org: Every one of their 1.5 million donors can create engagement paths for each potential recipient of a classroom project, matching their specific giving preferences and history — something previously available only to large donors. It is the only nonprofit to be named to Fast Company’s list of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the world.
Health Leads: It is a healthcare organization that connects low-income patients with the basic resources they need to be healthy, as part of their regular doctor’s visits. As Forbes noted, “Community health workers, case managers and/or student volunteers screen patients for unmet needs and help them access any of the 50 basic resource needs relevant for their circumstances, such as food assistance, childcare vouchers, enrollment in a GED program — even negotiating with the utilities company to get their heat turned back on.”
College for America: Southern New Hampshire University went from a small, relatively unremarkable New England institution to one of the biggest nonprofit online educators in the country. According to Campus Technology magazine, “SNHU has succeeded in the online space by leveraging technology and providing well-constructed courses and Amazon-like customer service to mostly older students at a cost they can afford.”
Salesforce.org’s Power of Us Hub: Among the most successful online communities built on Salesforce technology, the Power of Us Hub facilitates peer-to-peer collaboration around the effective use of technology for more than 30,000 social change organizations. More than 98% of the questions asked get answered by the community, a real shared benefit model in action.

Just as Apple chose a platform approach when launching their App Store, these organizations are enabling their partners and contributors to share and co-create in the value chain they co-inhabit. Each has moved beyond allowing supporters to donate and promote, toward sharing real value through stakeholders’ talents and assets.

Tomorrow’s SCaaP

We are at the dawn of the SCaaP era. The future of social change as a platform is a world of connected platforms working to solve society’s most pressing challenges more effectively as fast as possible. These platforms will supersede and encompass existing social change organizations. Those organizations that embrace social change as a platform will lead the way in helping to usher in this new era of connected social change platforms.

The core assets needed today to advance social change — ideas, individuals and institutions — continue to be the primary ingredients. What is changing and will continue to change, however, is the way these assets are assembled to deliver maximum social impact. Organizations can achieve SCAAP to the extent that those with a shared cause can gradually maximize shared capability (platforms) and minimize organization products. This represents a radical shift in approach.

Every organization relies on its information, capabilities and assets to be effective, but their networks are largely untapped or underutilized. Creating more value and scaling social impact requires the organizations’ leaders to leverage their networks, tapping into new sources of value, both tangible and intangible.

Value in the social impact supply chain will continue to come from new sources, for those who allow that to happen. Existing stakeholders in social change organizations will add value in new ways and new stakeholders will interact in new ways with the community’s resources and assets via the platform. SCaaP will increasingly bring all those actors and sectors together.

Philanthropic institutions supporting similar causes will be working together out in the open, ensuring all their resources and those supported through their grant-making are at the disposal of the community working to advance social change — not any one individual or institution. These efforts will be focused on maximizing the way value is derived and how the agency is built, shared and advanced throughout the network.

“The future of social change as a platform is a world of connected platforms working to solve society’s most pressing challenges more effectively as fast as possible.”

Key SCaaP Advantages to Nonprofits

Social change organizations that leverage their stakeholder’s networks as well as their tangible (programs and services) and intangible (expertise and relationships) assets will gain these and other advantages from embracing the SCaaP business model.

Decreases costs: Stakeholders willing to share their opinions, skills, relationships and even real assets for shared value to the cause, at a very low or near-zero cost , stretch an organization’s very scarce resources. Moreover, reinventing the wheel each time social change products and services are created lead to duplication and waste.
Deepens community engagement: Enabling meaningful ways for stakeholders to add value increases engagement and deepens understanding and strengthens these relationships. SCaaP enables anyone with a good idea to build innovative services that connect citizens to the cause of their choice, allowing citizens to more directly participate.
Increases organizational flexibility and decreases risk: Operating as a network increases an organization’s adaptability and speed. Work is more distributed and lends itself to self-organizing, which makes it highly responsive to changing needs. Allowing common functions to be implemented as shared utilities across social change organizations instead of replicating them in each silo also reduces risk.
Enhances transparency and accountability: SCaaP fundamentally shifts the power dynamic within the social change community. Grant makers work with community stakeholders as peers, helping them achieve full potential as individuals and their organizations.
Expands impact: Ultimately, scaling relationships lets an organization secure more value, which helps maximize social impact. As co-creating partners who have a vested interest in advancing a cause, stakeholders’ incentive to add value is clear. The platform’s success is their success.

To succeed, a clear and understandable pathway to adopting SCaaP is necessary for this large, untapped market.

Seven Steps to Embracing SCaaP Today

Social change as a platform is first and foremost a business strategy, a theory of change that needs to be integrated into every organization’s five-year strategic plan. That effort begins by identifying how and where an organization can accelerate the transition to a network-model across the entire organization. Specifically, organizations must assess their business model and inventory network assets, and start to reallocate resources and capital to networks as well as develop network key performance indicators (KPIs).

Choose the right platform. Platforms that embrace intelligence, speed, productivity, mobility, and connectivity empower social change organizations to take advantage of the most significant transformations taking place in enterprise software.
Select the relationships to scale. Identify all the key stakeholders for advancing your mission and indicate which relationships are the most important to scale. Be sure to include existing and potential relationships, including other partners and organizations that can add value.
Connect programs and services. Plot the organization’s various offerings — programs and services offers to various stakeholders — and map how each contributes value to advance the relationships with different stakeholders.
Convert the data into intelligence. A unified view of relationships and programs creates troves of data. Convert the data into useful, real-time intelligence integrated into the organization’s processes in real-time.
Drive one-to-one engagement. Real-time intelligence lets organizations engage more effectively with all.
Track what matters. It’s not just financial performance that matters, but also engagement, sentiment and co-creation. Create KPI’s for each of these items and add them to daily performance reviews.
Keep platforms, networks and intelligence at the center. Products and services are helpful, but in the final reckoning, it is the breadth and depth of the network that will create the scale of social change desired.

The biggest hurdle to SCaaP is changing the mental models and core competencies of the leadership team and board of directors. However, nonprofit organizations and academic institutions are better positioned to embrace SCaaP because they are more accustomed to imagining their community as active participants, instead of passive recipients. But it is critical that leaders significantly change how they embrace today’s technologies.

With SCaaP, the nonprofit world will have the potential to enact social change on a scale previously unimagined. It is time to take up the mantle because doing so can unlock the future potential of every human being. People are worth it.

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Section 5. Addressing Social Determinants of Health and Development

Chapter 17 Sections

Section 1. An Introduction to the Problem-Solving Process
Section 2. Thinking Critically
Section 3. Defining and Analyzing the Problem
Section 4. Analyzing Root Causes of Problems: The "But Why?" Technique
Section 6. Generating and Choosing Solutions
Section 7. Putting Your Solution into Practice
Main Section

"Our children have dramatically different life chances depending on where they were born. In Japan or Sweden they can expect to live more than 80 years; in Brazil, 72 years; India, 63 years; and in one of several African countries, fewer than 50 years. And within countries, the differences in life chances are dramatic and are seen worldwide. The poorest of the poor have high levels of illness and premature mortality. But poor health is not confined to those worst off. In countries at all levels of income, health and illness follow a social gradient: the lower the socioeconomic position, the worse the health.

It does not have to be this way and it is not right that it should be like this. Where systematic differences in health are judged to be avoidable by reasonable action they are, quite simply, unfair. It is this that we label health inequity. Putting right these inequities – the huge and remediable differences in health between and within countries – is a matter of social justice. Reducing health inequities is...an ethical imperative. Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale." - excerpt from the 2008 World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health Final Report Executive Summary

What are social determinants of health and development?

“Social determinants” refer to broader social factors, such as income inequality or social exclusion, that lead to or influence health and development outcomes. In Section 4 of this chapter, for instance, a development worker in Mexico tells of realizing that one of the major causes of malnutrition in the area where he was working was not that there simply wasn’t enough food. Sharecropping farmers were able to grow enough to feed their families, but had to borrow seed from the landowner to plant their crops. The terms of the loan were that, for every liter of maize borrowed at planting time, three liters had to be repaid from the harvest. With this high interest rate, peasants went deeper and deeper into debt, and had to use more of their crop each year to pay the landowner. Without power, group solidarity, and influence, the farmers were unable to create conditions that assured the health and well-being of their families.

There is a great deal of research on the social determinants of health. Most of it points to three overarching factors:

Income inequality . Once a country has reached the point of development where most deaths come not from infectious diseases (tuberculosis, dysentery, cholera, malaria, flu, pneumonia, etc.), but from chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, cancer), the economic and social equality within the society is a greater determinant of death rates and average lifespan than the country’s position with regard to others. The United States, for instance, lags behind Japan, Sweden, Canada, and many other less affluent countries in the life expectancy of its citizens. The difference seems to be the size of the gap between the most and least affluent segments of the society.
Social connectedness . Many studies indicate that “belonging” – whether to a large extended family, a network of friends, a social or volunteer organization, or a faith community – is related to longer life and better health, as well as to community participation.
Sense of personal or collective efficacy . This refers to people’s sense of control over their lives. People with a higher sense or stronger history of efficacy tend to live longer, maintain better health, and participate more vigorously in civic life.

Many of the social determinants listed below are specific forms of or contributors to these three categories. At a community level, it may be difficult to influence income inequality directly, but a non-governmental or community-based organization may be able to approach it through addressing a particular issue. A small organization may be able to have more effect on social connectedness and the sense of efficacy, since collective action can influence both social ties and the experience of changing communities and systems.

The World Health Organization, in its publication The Solid Facts, recognizes the need to break these factors down into more manageable pieces. It lists ten factors that affect health and life expectancy, and advocates addressing each within a comprehensive program of social protection that addresses all of them within a society. These ten factors are:

The social gradient (extent of equity or the difference in wealth and opportunity between those with the most and those with the least)
Early life experience
Social exclusion (the opposite of social connectedness)
Unemployment
Social support

The factors listed below are, in most cases, more specific than the three broader determinants discussed above. In addressing social determinants, however, keep in mind these broader factors, and gear programs and policies toward influencing them at whatever level you can, given the resources and scope of your organization.

The social determinants of a particular community health or development issue may be unique to a particular community or group, or may be part of the larger society. People from different immigrant cultures, different social classes, or with different levels of education might experience the same issue very differently because of different social factors.

There are three major ways in which social determinants may affect specific populations. These can also be viewed as levers – points of intervention – that can be used to address those social determinants and lessen their effects.

1. Differences in exposure. Certain population groups, because of economics, geography, or other factors, may be more likely than others to encounter particular health risks. People in poverty, for example, are likely to be exposed to higher levels of stress, economic uncertainty, and unhealthy conditions than their wealthier countrymen.

A specific example : in developing, or even middle-income, countries, poor rural villages may get all their water – for drinking, washing, waste disposal, and other uses – from a single, above-ground source, such as a lake or stream. In that case, the villagers are far more apt to be exposed to water-borne diseases and pollutants than wealthier neighbors who can afford to buy bottled water or drill a well.

2. Differences in vulnerability. Because of their poverty, their exposure to stress and uncertainty, or other factors, those same population groups might find themselves more vulnerable than others to health problems. The inability to pay for regular health care or medical treatment increases the possibility of chronic illness. In the example of the village above, poor nutrition, as a result of poverty, could increase villagers’ vulnerability to water-borne disease, as would the inability to organize to finance a village well.

3. Differences in consequences. Differences in wealth, social standing, connectedness, and other factors can lead to very different outcomes where health issues are concerned. For a middle- or upper-class family in many countries, a minor health problem – missing a few days of work, paying a modest sum for treatment – might be just an annoyance. For a poor family, it might be the difference between a roof over their heads and homelessness, or between children attending school and dropping out to go to work. Discrimination, high stress levels, employment conditions, and other factors can result in disparities in health and health care among different groups.

There are a number of social factors to address to improve conditions for health and development. Some of the more common factors to be addressed are:

Economic factors.

The unemployment rate, for example, has a great influence on such issues as domestic violence, substance use, depression, or physical illness. Economic inequality affects people’s stress levels, exposure to violence and toxins, educational prospects, access to services, high-risk behavior, and mortality rates.

Social inclusion.

Social connectedness and the cohesion of the community have been shown to have a direct relationship to good health and lower mortality rates. These factors can also encourage civic participation in changing conditions that affect group goals.

More education means not only better jobs and more affluence, but also a greater sense of control over one’s life. People with more education have more choices in health, housing, careers, and other areas that affect the quality of their lives.

Racial or ethnic bias.

Social exclusion can be the result of prejudice, which results in different access to health care, education, or other services.

Social norms of acceptance of particular behaviors or practices.

Smoking, or even alcohol abuse, may be an accepted part of the culture of a community. In that case, many more people will adopt it than in a community where it is frowned upon.

Cultural factors.

There are many elements of culture that might have a bearing on social inclusion, efficacy, and income inequality.

Gender roles in different cultures may lead to differences in opportunities for men and women, and to disparities in nutrition, health, education, and life opportunities for their children as well.
Food preferences in different cultures may have profound health effects. For centuries, for instance, the Japanese ate a diet consisting largely of rice, vegetables, and fish, and, at least partly as a result, experienced fewer heart health problems than the meat-and-potato eaters in the United States.

In many cases, people only one generation removed from rural poverty – as typified by many Eastern European immigrants to the U.S. in the early 20th century – may eat more fat because being able to eat fatty foods, such as meat, symbolizes wealth in peasant cultures. Many turn-of-the-20th-century immigrants to the U. S. – the grandparents of contemporary Americans – thought fat children were healthy children, because fat children clearly get enough to eat, as opposed to going hungry. Starvation was a real danger in the time and place of their childhoods.

Religion can have profound effects on both health and development issues.
Attitudes toward mainstream culture can influence everything from medical care to whether or not high school students can attend dances. This, in turn, affects the type and amount of health care received, the sense of connectedness within a community, and many other factors.
Language barriers can cut people off from health care and other services, make it difficult for them to find and keep decent jobs, and affect their children’s education.

The influence of mass media.

The media, particularly television, can send powerful messages about community health and development. In the 1950s in the U.S., smoking was portrayed in movies, magazines, and TV as glamorous and sophisticated. Now, there are no TV ads for cigarettes, virtually no one in the movies smokes, and anti-smoking messages are everywhere. These conditions both reflect and are partially responsible for the fact that fewer than 25% of adults in the U.S. now smoke.

The media can help or hinder other efforts to improve health (through programming that shows people exercising as a matter of course, for instance, or that shows the same people eating fatty fast food or drinking too much). They can also, similarly, encourage or discourage tolerance for others, push a political agenda, or condone or condemn such behavior as solving disputes with violence and engaging in unsafe sex.

It is probably fair to say that all community issues are political to some degree. If a factory is poisoning town wells with its effluent, for example, local officials are faced with the choice of not dealing with the actual cause of the problem (the dumping of waste) and endangering citizens’ health, or addressing the dumping and endangering citizens’ jobs. Politicians with larger constituencies, using poll data, may pander to what they perceive as people’s selfishness and prejudice, passing legislation or instituting policies that discriminate against one group or another, or fly in the face of the public interest. Even honest differences of political opinion – over whether the government should be responsible for providing social services or not, for instance – can have enormous consequences in the community.

Living conditions.

Run-down or inadequate housing, dangerous streets, noise, and blighted neighborhoods all have their effects on those who experience them every day, as do manicured landscapes and calm environments. The stress of living in a difficult situation carries over into many other areas of life.

Location may have a great deal to do with whether people receive services or not. In developing countries, children from isolated villages in the mountains or on the seacoast may have no opportunity for school or medical care, for instance. In the U.S., as mentioned earlier, access to medical care and other services may depend on the availability of transportation. In urban areas, that access may have a lot to do with the neighborhood in which the services are located: another gang’s turf or a neighborhood perceived as hostile may be as effective in denying services as if they didn’t exist at all.

Why address social determinants of health and development?

Reasons for addressing the social determinants of an issue include:

If you want to solve or prevent a problem for the long term, you have to deal with its root causes .

If you address the root causes, you’re more likely to successfully address the issue for the short term as well . To cure a disease, you have to treat more than the symptoms – but you usually have to treat the symptoms, too. Dealing with social determinants will not only resolve the issue over the long term, but will make alleviating the current effects of the issue possible also.

To eliminate cholera, one of the most important steps is to provide people with clean drinking water. During the London cholera epidemic of 1854, John Snow, a physician, mapped the houses where the disease struck. He learned that many of the stricken were drawing water from a pump that tapped a filthy part of the Thames River, because conventional wisdom said it was better than the piped water also available to them – which actually came from a cleaner area. He was able to close the pump and substitute piped for pumped water, almost immediately ending the outbreak. Snow’s insights about the social determinants of cholera, along with the later work of others, eventually helped to eliminate the disease as a threat in most of the developed world. But they also served to stop the 1854 epidemic.

Who should address social determinants of community health and development?

The Community Tool Box advocates for participatory approaches to planning and, in this case, for a participatory approach to analysis and intervention as well. The presence of members of the groups affected by the issue will ensure that everyone knows its full context and history, as well as what various segments of the community might be willing and unwilling to do about it. Those who should be involved include:

Those directly affected by, or at risk for, a particular health condition or community development issue.
Policy makers, legislators, officials, or others who can affect the issue .
Human services staff, administrators, and others (such as police officers, teachers, and coalition members) who are responsible for dealing with the issue at hand.
Respected local figures, including advocates, clergy, and others in the community to whom people turn for support.
Members of groups that may be asked to change or sacrifice or take action in order to address the issue. Employers, landlords and other property owners, health and human service workers, police, and teachers all might fall into this category.

When should you address social determinants of community health and development?

You should always look at the social factors that play a role in community issues, but there are some times when analysis of those factors is particularly important.

When it’s clear that simply focusing on the issue isn’t enough . As cities have found again and again, all the enforcement in the world won’t really stop youth violence. There has to be a change in the culture that creates that violence.

In the late 1960s, Philadelphia was a city of gangs. One night in 1969 in North Philadelphia, there were five shootings in a one-square-block area. The neighborhood was crawling with police who were apparently powerless to stop the string of attempted revenge killings (“attempted” only because only three of the shootings were fatal). What eventually succeeded, a couple of years later, was a peacemaking effort that involved the gang leaders and that addressed the social issues that lay behind the existence of gangs and violence in the neighborhood: the isolation and alienation of black youth from the society at large, the lack of jobs, and the irrelevance of school to kids whose main concern was getting home alive. Gang members formed entrepreneurial businesses – making films, developing clothing lines – and school became relevant because education was necessary to run a business successfully. Community violence lessened as truces were signed and hope for a reasonable life grew.

When you’re advocating for legislation, policy change, or funding to address a community issue . The legislation, policy, or funding – and therefore your advocacy – should address the underlying causes of the problem you’re trying to solve, as well as its symptoms. Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with the symptoms forever.
When you’re trying to demonstrate that fundamental change is needed . Change is difficult for everyone. Trying to get a whole community to change its attitudes and/or behavior is even more difficult. Being able to explain clearly how the changes are related to positive results can make things easier.
When you’re looking for long-term solutions to long-term problems . Long-term solutions are impossible without taking into account the root causes of the problems you want to solve. Analyzing the social determinants of those problems makes it possible to address them, and come to real, permanent solutions.
When your focus is on community wellness and prevention . Whether you’re trying to guard against a disease or debilitating condition, or trying to create a healthy community, you have to look at the issue as a whole in order to be successful. You can’t lower your blood pressure, for instance, without adjusting your diet, exercise, stress levels, and daily activities, all of which may be governed, to some extent, by social as well as personal factors. By the same token, you can’t alter racial tensions in a community without somehow addressing all the history that led to those tensions, the preconceptions and misconceptions on both sides, personal experiences, the attitudes of community officials and police, the racial prejudice endemic in the society, etc.

How do you address social determinants of community health and development?

Now that you’re convinced that addressing the social factors that cause or influence community health and development issues is important, how do you go about doing so? There are really two parts to addressing social determinants. The first is identifying how various social factors affect the issue you’re concerned with, and the second is developing and implementing an action plan based on an understanding of how, and from what angle, to approach them successfully in order to change the way the issue plays out in the community and, ultimately, resolve the problem.

Identifying social determinants

The issue you’re dealing with may be obvious, but it’s likely that all of its social determinants are not. There may be local customs that seem so obvious to the folks you’re working with that they don’t consider them worth mentioning, even though they may control a great deal of the community’s functioning. If they’re unique to that community or region, and you’re not a native, you’ll have to learn about them if you have any hope of changing conditions. In other cases, social factors may have to be traced through several layers of the society before you reach the point where they originate and can be influenced. The way to find out about these and other social determinants is to do a community assessment.

Assess the community to find the social determinants of your issue . The purpose of community assessment is largely to assess the community for needs and assets, but the strategies it proposes are equally useful in searching for social determinants of health and development.

Start by talking to people:
Community leaders
Members of the group most affected by the issue
Government officials
Staff and volunteers of non-governmental health and community development organizations (NGO’s)
Community activists and organizers
Anyone who has a stake in the issue you are trying to address

If there are conflicting factions or “sides” involved in the issue, it’s important to hear from all of them. Even if you’re clear about who’s in the right, or about what needs to happen in order for the issue to be resolved, understanding all points of view can tell you a great deal about the social factors that underlie the situation in the community.

You can hear what people have to say in various ways:

Individual interviews
Group interviews
Focus groups
Community meetings
Informal conversations
Listening and observation at gatherings held for other purposes
Learning as much as you can about community history. Social determinants of health and development often run deep and go back generations.

The Battle of Montaperti was fought between the Italian cities of Florence and Siena, then independent republics, in 1260. In the 21st century, a sports contest between the two, whether on the high school or professional level, often spurs a cry of “Remember Montaperti” by the Sienese – the victors 750 years ago.

Apply critical thinking principles to analyze the results of the assessment. Very briefly, these include:

Make sure your information is accurate.
Consider the reliability of your sources.
Examine and challenge your own and others’ assumptions and biases.
Identify the interests being served or ignored.
Ask the right questions. This could also be considered a principle of critical thinking, and dovetails with the “But why?” technique. Some of the questions you might want to ask are:
Whom does the issue affect?
What do those affected have in common? Class? Race or ethnicity? Gender? Physical characteristics? Geographical origin or location? Behavior or personal practices? Lifestyle? Education? Employment? Personal history? Culture? Interests? Other characteristics?
What is the history of the issue in the community? When did it become an issue? What else was happening at the time, both in the community and in the society at large?
Who stands to gain, and who stands to lose – socially, economically, or politically – if nothing changes?
Who stands to gain, and who stands to lose if changes are made? Is there a win-win option, where everyone benefits?
Who has the power to create change in this situation? What are reasons they may or may not do so?
Where is the issue centered, geographically and socially?
Are there economic aspects to the issue? What would it cost to change the situation or to leave it as it is, and who would bear the cost in either case?

The “But why?” technique is actually quite simple. Once you have the answer to an initial question, you follow up the answer with “But why?” The answer to that question gets another “But why?” until you get as far as you can go. At that point, you have an answer that identifies the root of the problem, and therefore implies a solution.

Addressing social determinants

As we’ve discussed, most social determinants come down to:

Economic inequality
Social connectedness
A sense of efficacy

The lower people’s economic levels, the less connected they are to others – through family, social groups and organizations, faith communities, etc.; the less convinced they are of their ability to control their situations and their lives, the greater the likelihood that they’ll experience more health problems than those in the society who fare better in those categories.

And as we’ve also discussed, particular individuals or populations are most likely to be disadvantaged by health problems because of:

Differences between them and others in the society in the level of their exposure to those problems.
Differences in their vulnerability to those problems.
Differences in the consequences to them of those problems.

These characteristics feed each other in a cycle of poverty and powerlessness. An effective intervention has to break that cycle by understanding the social determinants behind it and changing them and the conditions that they cause in a truly profound way.

You can develop interventions that can reduce people’s exposure to, their vulnerability to, and their consequences from health problems, and that can also encourage gains in economic equality, social connectedness, and efficacy. By doing so, you can help people not only improve their health and that of their children, but move up the ladder of economic and social status, thus cementing their gains, and securing them for the next generation.

This may seem like an impossible task. How can you change a society? It’s hard for governments and even harder for most NGOs and community-based organizations, given the limits on their resources. Major social change often takes not a single type of intervention, but an all-out assault on a number of social factors over a long period of time. Unless you’re a high government official, or have access to unlimited funds, you’re probably not planning anything that broad . . . and you don’t have to.

Rather than trying to concentrate on the huge issues, you can intervene in the environmental and policy conditions that reflect social determinants and that can more easily affect differences in exposure, vulnerability, and consequences. In the process of addressing these types of issues, the folks you’re concerned with can learn much of what they need to change their position in society.

Environmental here refers not just to the natural environment, but to the total environment of the people in question. That includes the built environment – buildings, roads, power sources, farms, etc. – as well as the social environment – culture, social rules and norms, government, business, education, economics, etc.. The term “environment” here encompasses all the natural and human physical, social, economic, and political structures that surround people’s lives.

Environmental and policy conditions include:

Knowledge and skills . Individual and group knowledge and experience affect the availability of resources for supporting health and well-being. A villager who understands how to advocate with the government for clean drinking water, for instance, can greatly enhance the health prospects of his community.

Helping people gain knowledge and skills can be an intervention in itself, or be part of a broader intervention that nonetheless provides participants with tools to safeguard or improve their health and their lives. Some community development programs, for example, include literacy classes as part of the support they provide. With literacy, participants gain skills that allow them to continue and expand the community development activities they’ve begun, or to get jobs that will better serve them and their families. Literacy also gives people who’ve typically been powerless a means to power over their lives by helping them understand the forces working on them (not to mention the terms of contracts and other papers to which they’re asked to agree), and take action on their own behalf. Providing knowledge of specific health issues and practices can have a dramatic effect on the health of a community. Safe sex practices, for instance, can cut down on the incidence of HIV infection, and information about the treatment of infant diarrhea can drastically reduce infant mortality. In both these examples, addressing a specific issue serves to address efficacy, and, in the case of literacy training, economic inequality as well. Depending on how programs are structured, most can also address social connectedness, either by bringing a community or population group together to work on an issue, or by creating a community among those involved (in literacy classes, for example.)

Support within and between groups . Emotional support from family and friends, such as for the stress of difficult work or family situations, helps us cope with situations that cannot be easily changed. Links with other groups, such as faith communities or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), can provide access to goods and services. Just as important, joining with other groups to work for increased resources and better health conditions can permanently improve the quality of community life.

Again, an intervention to connect people or groups with others may stand alone, or may be integrated into a larger concept. A government agency might encourage groups to combine across ethnic or geographic lines in order to receive funding or training for health and community development projects. In a situation where the government is perceived as withholding support, a group of villages without access to health care, for instance, might come together to petition the government for a centrally located health clinic that would be easily reachable for all of them. Groups like this represent the most fundamental kind of community organizing , which brings groups and communities together to advocate for their interests and to take control of what happens to them.

Barriers to, access to, and opportunities for resources and services . Some social groups, such as women or ethnic minorities, face discrimination and other barriers in gaining access to education, jobs, and basic services. The quality and availability of even basic education and health services are unfairly distributed among social groups.

In cases where education, jobs, services, and other necessities are unequally distributed, the appropriate action may be to organize the community, as above, to demand equal treatment; to use the court system to try to gain access and opportunity; or to attempt to address the issue locally, using available community assets and the initiative of local people. If the initiative comes from the government, it might create programs that remove or address barriers to opportunities and services, such as discrimination, unaffordable expense, geographic isolation, lack of transportation, illiteracy, and lack of job skills.

Consequences of Actions . Research has long shown that people are more apt to take or continue action if it rewards them with goods, peer approval, pleasure, status, satisfaction, or the desired results than if it punishes them with high costs, disapproval, misery, loss of status, dissatisfaction, or frustration. If gaining access to health care or to healthy goods or practices is difficult, slow, and tedious, and often ends in failure, it won’t be long before people stop trying.

A possible remedy here is, as above, to improve access and break down barriers to access to goods and services, thus making the attempt to obtain them less frustrating and more likely to be repeated. Strategies might include providing transportation to and from existing services or distribution points, locating new services closer to where they’re needed, or lessening bureaucratic requirements. If the intervention involves action by participants, actions should be planned in small steps, so that people can easily experience success, at least at the beginning. A series of small successes is more likely to develop a sense of efficacy and keep people moving ahead than a grand failure.

Exposure to or protection from hazards . Contact with environmental hazards – polluted water, toxic substances or dangerous practices in the workplace, endemic diseases such as malaria, widespread violence – increase risk for disease or injury. By the same token, actions taken to reduce or eliminate those hazards – drilling a new well, instituting protective workplace safety procedures, disease eradication campaigns, negotiating a peace treaty – work to make disease or injury less probable.

An intervention to decrease or prevent exposure to hazards can take any one of several forms. A self-help program to dig a well or use filters to obtain clean water, channel sewage, grow food without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, eliminate VOCs (volatile organic compounds, often-toxic chemicals – used in glues, dyes, paint, and solvents – that vaporize at room temperature and can affect the health of many people) in a building, or clean up a neighborhood can not only improve health conditions, but increase participants’ sense of efficacy as well. A different approach might involve advocacy for government assistance or services – drilling a well, installing a sewer system, establishing a health clinic, instituting public transportation, etc. – or to pass or prevent laws that affect exposure to health risks. These actions would speak to both social connectedness (community organizing brings communities or groups together to apply pressure and advocate effectively) and participants’ sense of efficacy. A third possibility that also addresses both social connectedness and efficacy might involve an initiative to change the behavior of – or prosecute – a corporation or other party responsible for pollution, unsafe workplace practices, illegal dumping, shoddy and dangerous construction, selling harmful products, or other potential hazards.

Policies . Policies that affect community health and development may be formal or informal, and may be those of governmental or non-governmental bodies (e.g., corporations, institutions, foundations, professional associations). They may relate to the provision of goods and services (e.g., clean water, adequate food, health care, education, housing) or to regulations and their enforcement (e.g., environmental and drug laws, welfare rules, trade regulations, non-discrimination laws in employment and education.) Public policies often mirror a community’s or society’s norms (the unspoken rules of “how things should be”), and, as a result, are often a direct reflection of social determinants.

Changing or instituting policy is generally a matter of advocacy. It’s important because policies can, and do, affect all three of the differences – in exposure, vulnerability, and consequences – that create less healthy conditions for populations at risk. An initiative aimed at policy change can start at any level. It may begin with government, with the realization by legislators, other elected or appointed officials, or an agency that some sizeable group of citizens is in danger of, or already suffering from, disparities in health. It may begin with an NGO or grassroots organization that works with (or is composed of) that group. Or it may begin with the people themselves, who have simply come to the end of their patience with their situation. Policy change is often difficult, but, in the long run, it can be the most effective means of improving health and development outcomes, because it can lead to real social change. The ideal intervention would be one that either originates with, or involves those who will benefit from the change in question, since that gives them control over what happens to them.

Several principles, assumptions, and values help guide collaborative action to create conditions that promote health and development. These include:

Priority issues and strategies for collaborative action are best determined by people most affected by the concern. This can enhance community efficacy and empowerment, and is also most likely to address the issues most important to those involved.
Since health and development outcomes are caused by multiple and interrelated factors at multiple levels, single interventions are likely to be insufficient. This suggests the importance of comprehensive interventions that address environmental and policy conditions at all levels.

Multi-pronged, multi-faceted interventions are the ideal, and are, in general, necessary to create real and permanent social change. The reality for small organizations, however, is that such interventions may not be possible, because of limited resources and geographic and/or political isolation. There are at least two ways to deal with this reality: One is to form a coalition, pulling in other organizations – including national and international NGOs and even the government where possible – to mount a collaborative effort on many fronts. The second is to develop a long-range strategic plan that takes as its base the saying of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, “The longest journey begins with a single step.” That involves starting with a single issue in order to tackle something manageable and achieve a success that will energize and empower those affected. Then you can go on to the next issue and the next, always maintaining and consolidating gains as you go. In this way, you can end up with an effort that addresses the full range of social determinants, without exceeding your capacity at the beginning. It may take a while, but your chances of creating real change are better if you take it step by step, as long as you don’t lose sight of the goal.

Collaborative efforts must bring about change in multiple sectors and systems. (This requires leadership to engage groups with different interests, such as those in business or education, to share resources and responsibilities in common purpose.

Again, depending on your resources, even a coalition or other collaborative body might have to take this one step at a time.

The aim of support organizations is to build capacity so that local people can take action over time and across issues.

Capacity-building involves helping local people gain the skills and knowledge – and establish or strengthen the community organizations and institutions – necessary to allow them to take action and control their own fate. That may entail direct training, using resources like the Community Tool Box, and a certain amount of “on-the-job training”. There’s no substitute for experience in health and community development, although having some background before you’re thrown into it is certainly helpful.

At some point – earlier is usually better than later, and from the beginning is often best – local people have to be directly involved in planning and carrying out strategies for improving their situation. Taking on responsibility and leadership positions builds both a sense of efficacy and connectedness in the local population, and also puts their future where it belongs – in their own hands.

Health and development efforts should involve collaborative partners as catalysts for change. (Partners must convene conversations that lead to addressing the issue, broker relationships, and develop resources for those doing the work of changing communities and systems.)

Partners can be NGOs or community health or development organizations, government agencies, corporations, academic institutions, faith communities – any party that is generally respected, has some clout, and can function as an honest broker.

As is perhaps obvious from the discussion directly above, an important goal of addressing social determinants is strengthening the ability of the community to sustain the changes that an intervention brings about. If a population is malnourished, giving them food is only a temporary solution: helping them to develop self-sufficient and sustainable farming practices, or training them for necessary and available work, on the other hand, can be permanent ones.

Another important goal is to take on tasks that can actually be accomplished. A local entrepreneur, owner of a large and flourishing tire business, a real estate development firm, and several other successful ventures, was asked how he got to the position he was in. His answer was simple: “Crawl, walk, run.” He started small, with something he knew he could handle. When he succeeded at that, he used it as a base to take on something a bit more challenging, consolidated his gains again when he succeeded at that, and just kept going.

Social change often works the same way. Success breeds success, and you’re far more likely to be successful if you attempt something that’s challenging but doable. Once you accomplish it, you have a foundation from which to address the next issue, or the next level of issues. Communities never lack the most important resource – people, and their intelligence and determination – but they may lack the material resources that allow them to attempt overall social change – change that entails addressing several social factors and levels of power – all at once. They can do it, however, if they take it one step at a time.

The last bit of how-to in this section will be familiar to regular Tool Box users. You have to keep taking that one step at a time again and again and again for as far into the future as you want your community to exist. Addressing social determinants of health and development isn’t a one-time thing. People have to maintain their gains and their healthy practices, and teach the next generation what they’ve learned about creating a healthy community, so that it will continue to be one.

“Social determinants” of health and development issues are the social factors that determine or influence the issues. Most fall into the three categories of economic inequality, social connectedness, and sense of efficacy. By understanding and addressing these social factors, you can increase your chances of resolving issues over the long term by getting at their root causes.

It makes sense to use a participatory approach to analyze and address social determinants of health and development issues. By including those who know the history and context of the issue, and by subjecting it to analysis from many minds and perspectives, you’re more likely to arrive at a thorough understanding of it. This kind of analysis is especially effective when it’s clear that simply putting a Band-Aid on the symptoms of the issue isn’t enough, and that you have to employ a long-term strategy in order to address it effectively. Such a strategy may incorporate advocacy for a change in law or policy and leadership training, as well as community-based actions.

A community assessment will help you understand what the social determinants are in a particular case. By asking the right questions to determine community reality – Who is affected and how? What are the patterns in who is affected, who is opposed to action, what are the interests at stake? What are the costs of action and inaction, and who will pay them? – and talking to those affected and others who may already know what the social determinants are in the situation, you can create a complete picture of the issue.

Using that picture, you can address the social factors in order to reduce the population’s exposure to, vulnerability to, and consequences from the issue at hand. The best approach is usually through environmental and policy conditions, rather than through attempting to change social factors – which can be far-reaching and ingrained in the culture of the society – all at once. Work toward incremental, sustainable change, help local people learn the skills to take over and continue the effort themselves, and make sure the effort continues indefinitely, and you’ll ultimately be successful in developing a healthy community.

Online Resources

ACTION: SDH The aim of this tool from the World Health Organization is to provide public health, and other practitioners on the social determinants of health, with a one-stop portal. ACTION:SDH houses knowledge on the social determinants according to the five social determinants of health action areas identified in the 2011 World Conference on Social Determinants of Health. It also provides a platform for discussion of action on the social determinants of health. There are currently three main features to the tool:

embedded web-pages pages on SDH knowledge relevant to the five action areas for SDH that were identified in the Rio Declaration;
discussion forums that can be used to share tacit knowledge from practice - either by invitation only, or open to all members;
a document repository that initially is housing selected WHO materials on SDH - documents are classified as Examples (case studies), Tools & Resources, and E-library.

Actively Addressing Systemic Racism Using a Behavioral Community Approach - a journal article from Behavior and Social Issues .

Can Hospitals Heal America's Communities? from Democracy Collaborative illuminates the possibilities of hospitals and health systems healing America’s communities and explores how “all in for mission” is the emerging healthcare model.

CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report

Health disparities are differences in health outcomes between groups that reflect social inequalities. Despite progress over the past 20 years in reducing this problem, racial/ethnic, economic and other social disparities in health still exists and need to be addressed. This report is the first in a periodic series examining health disparities in the United States. The report can also be found as a PDF .

Chapter 13: Stress and Coping in the "Introduction to Community Psychology" details stress, its different forms, coping, coping strategies and styles, and how individuals and communities become resilient.

Closing the Gap in a Generation 2008 World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health Final Report Executive Summary

Closing the Gap: Policy into Practice on Social Determinants of Health This discussion paper for the 2011 World Conference on Social Determinants of Health shares experiences on how to address the challenges posed by health inequities and to mobilize commitment to the urgent implementation of feasible actions on social determinants in all countries. The paper lays out the key components that all countries need to integrate in their own context in implementing a social determinants approach, and was used at the World Conference to consider these themes and show how, in all contexts, it is possible to put policy into practice on social determinants of health to improve health, reduce health inequities, and promote development.

BALLE's field guide, The Future of Health is Local , gives health care providers actionable tools and examples on how to align the non-clinical assets of their organizations – such as procurement, employment, and investment – with local economic development strategies to improve human health and revitalize local communities.

Health and Well-Being for All Meeting-in-a-Box from the CDC Foundation is an innovative and compelling way to explore the potential root causes of illness—the social determinants of health—with health and health care professionals at all stages of professional development. It provides everything needed to explore the determinants underlying health problems faced by patients and communities. This hands-on tool simulates a 6-step process for leading change to improve the community’s health.

HealthEquityGuide.org is a website with a set of strategic practices that health departments can apply to more meaningfully and comprehensively advance health equity.

Health Equity Animated: Equity vs. Equality from the Center for Prevention in Minnesota explores the difference between the needs of various communities, and how addressing those specific needs requires specific solutions.

This ColorCode “Housing Is Health Care” podcast delves into how housing — and today’s housing crisis — intersects with health. It also explores how racial discrimination has played a part in causing this crisis, as well as present-day housing segregation on Long Island.

Michael Marmot and the Social Determinants of Health is a video from the American Public Health Association outlining key considerations in addressing the social determinants of health to ensure social justice.

No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of Housing Insecurity for Black Women from The Nonprofit Quarterly.

Pew Charitable Trusts provides an article regarding holistic approaches made by partnerships to promote healthy birth outcomes.

Social Determinants of Health in Rural Communities Toolkit by the Rural Health Information Hub organizes evidence-based models and resources to support the implementation of programs that address the social determinants of health (SDOH) in rural communities across the United States.

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Training Plan from the TRAIN Learning Network provides over a dozen hours of training over the foundational concepts and their applications to various issues.

Tackling social determinants of health through community-based initiatives An article by M. Assai, S. Siddiqi, and S. Watts, provided by the British Medical Journal. Also available in PDF format. Also available in print in BMJ, vol. 333, 21 October, 2006.

7 Things Advocates Should Know When Communicating about Health Equity Berkeley Media Studies Group blog about using the media strategically to advance policies that improve health.

Seven Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being is a useful framework for conceptualizing holistic well-being and the conditions that give rise to it, as well as identifying levers for community change and improvement.

Social Determinants and HIV/AIDS is a short discussion of the social determinants of health and their relationship to HIV treatment and prevention, from the British Columbia, Canada, Ministry of Health Services.

Social Determinants of Health and Older Adults covers new resources made available by health.gov specifically focusing on the health of older adults.

The Solid Facts is a booklet about the social determinants of health, edited by Richard Wilkinson and Michael Marmot, from the International Centre for Health and Society at the University College of London.

The Sustainable Development Goals Guide is a preliminary guide on how to "get started" with implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.

Transformational Community Engagement to Advance Health Equity is a report with case studies from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

What is Healthy Equity? This three-minute motion graphic video explains how social, economic, and environmental conditions can create health inequities and how these inequities can affect health disparities.

What is Privilege? A video from BFMP at Buzzfeed.

Print Resources

Bonnefoy, J.,Morgan, A., Kelly, M.,Butt, J., Bergman, V., With Tugwell, P., Robinson,V., Exworthy, M., Mackenbach, J., Popay, J., Pope, C., Narayan, T., Myer, L., Simpson, S., Houweling, T., & Jadue, L,. Constructing the evidence base on the social determinants of health: A guide .

Health in an Unequal World. Harveian Lecture by Michael Marmet. The Lancet, vol. 368, Dec. 9, 2006.

Undertaken as work for the Measurement and Evidence Knowledge Network (MEKN) established as part of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and run by the Universidad de Desarollo, Chile. November, 2007.

A Unique Approach to Solve Social Problems

Some critical challenges such malnutrition have been a problem since the beginning of humanity. Others, such as waste or pollution, are the result of modern lifestyles and rapid population growth. And then there are problems that are only emerging on the horizon, such as the impact of climate change on human or animal health, of which we yet know very little. Most of the world’s most pressing problems are wicked problems that — because of complex interdependencies — are understood differently by different stakeholder groups.

They also cannot be solved by breaking them down into their components, which means that a potential solution depends on how the problem is framed. Identifying emerging opportunities to address wicked problem spaces was the goal of a joint research effort between the Strategic Research team at The Rockefeller Foundation and Accenture Development Partnerships . The teams looked for gradual or event-triggered changes in those problem spaces that would indicate an opportunity to address a problem differently and in a much more promising way than was previously thought possible.

Scanning is a technique that is commonly used by corporations and governments but is rarely found within the development sector.

While the results that we are publishing here illustrate a moment in time, Scanning is an on-going process at the Foundation that supports all areas of work and particularly aims at identifying new areas of work for the philanthropic sector. Scanning is a technique that is commonly used by corporations and governments but is rarely found within the development sector. It presents an opportunity to not only think strategically about where to intervene but also how to identify critical areas of highest promise amongst many potential options. Scanning also is part of a new set of approaches at The Rockefeller Foundation to diversify where ideas come from and represents — reaching beyond our internal expertise —an outside-in approach to identify future areas of work with high impact potential.

View Full Report

We will share what we learned substantively in a series of four blog entries over the course of the next two months, looking at key challenges across four topic areas: health, ecosystems, urbanization and livelihoods , which are critical to global development in the 21 st century. These findings might be particularly relevant for development practitioners, public and private sector actors and peer foundations. And if you or your organization are using scanning for the identification of intervention opportunities I would be curious to hear from you.

2.4 Research Methods for Social Problems

Theories discuss the why of particular social problems. They begin to systematically explain, for example, why socioeconomic class is prevalent in industrialized societies, or why implicit bias is so common. But how do sociologists develop the theories in the first place or figure out if the theories are useful? For that, they must observe people interacting, and collect data. The ways in which social scientists collect, analyze, and understand research information are called research methods.

However, science isn’t the only way to understand the world. You may experience many more ways of knowing. When you consider why you know something, this knowledge may be based on different sources or experiences. You may know when the movie starts because a friend told you, or because you looked it up on Google. You may know that rain is currently falling because you feel it on your head. You may know that it is wrong to kill another person because it is a belief in your religious tradition or part of your own ethical understanding. You may know because you have a gut feeling that a situation is dangerous, or a choice is the right one. You may know that your friend will be late to class because past experience predicts it. Or, instead of the past, you can imagine the future, knowing that eating a hamburger will satisfy your hunger, just by seeing the picture on the menu. Finally, you may know something because the language you use supports you in noticing particular details. For example, how many ways can you describe the water that falls from the sky? People who live in Oregon, for instance, use several distinct words for rainy weather: drizzle, downpour, showers. Partly cloudy doesn’t change their plans, but they may throw a jacket in the car. In other regions, it may be more useful to describe snow or heat in great detail. The formation of language itself structures how you know something. The table in figure 2.23 organizes these ways of knowing.

Figure 2.23 Ways of Knowing and Examples

Each of these ways of knowing is useful, depending on the circumstances. For example, when my wife and I bought our house, we did research on home prices, home loans, and market value—reason. We talked about what home felt like to us—emotion. We walked through houses and pictured what life would look like in a particular house—imagination. Ultimately, when we drove down the cedar and fir-lined driveway, welcomed by the warm light through the window—sense perception—we turned to each other and said, “I hope this house is still for sale,” because we both knew we had found our home—intuition.

Of all of these ways of knowing, though, reason allows us to use logic and evidence to draw conclusions about what is true. Reason, as used in science, is unique among all of the ways of knowing because it allows us to propose an idea about how a social situation might work, observe the situation, and find out whether our idea is correct. Sociology is a unique scientific approach to understanding people. Let’s explore this more deeply.

As you saw in Chapter 1, sociology is the systematic study of society and social interactions to understand our social world. Although sages, leaders, philosophers, and other wisdom holders have asked what makes a good life throughout human history, sociology applies scientific principles to understanding human behavior.

Like anthropologists, psychologists, and other social scientists, sociologists collect and analyze data in order to draw conclusions about human behavior. Although these fields often overlap and complement each other, sociologists focus most on the interaction of people in groups, communities, institutions, and interrelated systems.

More simply, sociologists study society, a group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture. Sociologists study human interactions at the smallest micro unit of how parents and children bond, to the widest macro lens of what causes war throughout recorded history. They explore microaggressions, those small moments of interaction that reinforce prejudice in small but powerful ways. They also study the generationally persistent systems of systemic inequality. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage and the climate crisis worsens, sociologists turn even greater attention to global and planetary systems to understand and explain our interdependence.

2.4.1 The Scientific Method

Scientists use shared approaches for figuring out how the social world works. The most common method is known as the scientific method , an established scholarly research process that involves asking a question, researching existing sources, forming a hypothesis, designing a data collection method, gathering data, and drawing conclusions. Often this method is shown as a straight line. Scientists proceed in an orderly fashion, executing one step after the next.

In reality, the scientific method is a circular process rather than a straight line, as shown in figure 2.24. The circle helps us to see that science is driven by curiosity and that learnings at each step move us to the next step, in ongoing loops. This model allows for the creativity and collaboration that is essential in how we actually create new scientific understandings. Let’s dive deeper!

Figure 2.24 The Scientific method as an ongoing process Figure 2.24 Image Description

2.4.1.1 Step 1: Identify a Social Issue/Find a Research Topic and Ask a Question

The first step of the scientific method is to ask a question, select a problem, and identify the specific area of interest. The topic should be narrow enough to study within a geographic location and time frame. “Are societies capable of sustained happiness?” would be too vague. The question should also be broad enough to be of significance. “What do personal hygiene habits reveal about the values of students at XYZ High School?” would be too narrow. Sociologists strive to frame questions that examine well-defined patterns and relationships.

2.4.1.2 Step 2: Review the Literature/Research Existing Sources

The next step researchers undertake is to conduct background research through a literature review, which is a review of any existing similar or related studies. A visit to the library, a thorough online search, and a survey of academic journals will uncover existing research about the topic of study. This step helps researchers gain a broad understanding of work previously conducted, identify gaps in understanding of the topic, and position their own research to build on prior knowledge. Researchers—including student researchers—are responsible for correctly citing existing sources they use in a study or that inform their work. While it is fine to borrow previously published material (as long as it enhances a unique viewpoint), it must be referenced properly.

To study crime, for example, a researcher might also sort through existing data from the court system, police database, and prison information. It’s important to examine this information in addition to existing research to determine how these resources might be used to fill holes in existing knowledge. Reviewing existing sources educates researchers and helps refine and improve a research study design.

2.4.1.3 Step 3: Formulate a Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a testable educated guess about predicted outcomes between two or more variables. In sociology, the hypothesis will often predict how one form of human behavior influences another. For example, a hypothesis might be in the form of an “if, then statement.” Let’s relate this to our topic of crime: If unemployment increases, then the crime rate will increase.

In scientific research, we formulate hypotheses to include an independent variable (IV) , which is the cause of the change, and a dependent variable (DV) , which is the effect , or thing that is changed. In the example above, unemployment is the independent variable and the crime rate is the dependent variable.

In a sociological study, the researcher would establish one form of human behavior as the independent variable and observe the influence it has on a dependent variable. How does gender (the independent variable) affect the rate of income (the dependent variable)? How does one’s religion (the independent variable) affect family size (the dependent variable)? How is social class (the dependent variable) affected by level of education (the independent variable)?

Figure 2.25 Examples of dependent and independent variables. Typically, the independent variable causes the dependent variable to change in some way.

Taking an example from figure 2.25, a researcher might hypothesize that teaching children proper hygiene (the independent variable) will boost their sense of self-esteem (the dependent variable). Note, however, this hypothesis can also work the other way around. A sociologist might predict that increasing a child’s sense of self-esteem (the independent variable) will increase or improve habits of hygiene (now the dependent variable). Identifying the independent and dependent variables is very important. As the hygiene example shows, simply identifying two related topics or variables is not enough. Their prospective relationship must be part of the hypothesis.

2.4.1.4 Step 4: Select a Research Method and Design a Study

Researchers select a research method that is appropriate to answer their research question in this step. Surveys, experiments, interviews, ethnography, and content analysis are just a few examples that researchers may use. You will learn more about these and other research methods later in this chapter. Typically your research question influences the type of methods that will be used.

2.4.1.5 Step 5: Collect Data

Next the researcher collects data. Depending on the research design (step 4), the researcher will begin the process of collecting information on their research topic. After all the data is gathered, the researcher will be able to systematically organize and analyze the data.

2.4.1.6 Step 6: Analyze the Data

After constructing the research design, sociologists collect, tabulate or categorize, and analyze data to formulate conclusions. If the analysis supports the hypothesis, researchers can discuss what this might mean. If the analysis does not support the hypothesis, researchers may consider repeating the study or think of ways to improve their procedure.

Even when results contradict a sociologist’s prediction of a study’s outcome, the results still contribute to sociological understanding. Sociologists analyze general patterns in response to a study, but they are equally interested in exceptions to patterns. In a study of education, for example, a researcher might predict that high school dropouts have a hard time finding rewarding careers. While many assume that the higher the education, the higher the salary and degree of career happiness, there are certainly exceptions. People with little education have had stunning careers, and people with advanced degrees have had trouble finding work. A sociologist prepares a hypothesis knowing that results may substantiate or contradict it.

2.4.1.7 Step 7: Report Findings

Researchers report their results at conferences and in academic journals. These results are then subjected to the scrutiny of other sociologists in the field. Before the conclusions of a study become widely accepted, the studies are often repeated in the same or different environments. In this way, sociological theories and knowledge develop as the relationships between social phenomena are established in broader contexts and different circumstances.

If you still aren’t quite sure about how sociologists use the scientific method, you might enjoy “ The Scientific Method: Steps, Examples, Tips, and Exercise [YouTube Video] ,” which explores why people smile. It also reminds us that people have been using logic and evidence to explore the world for centuries. The video credits Ibn al-Haytham , an eleventh-century Arab Muslim scholar with pioneering the modern scientific method in his study of light and vision (figure 2.26). If the video makes you curious about the science behind why people smile, you might want to check out this current research related to gender and smiling in this article, “ Women smile more than men, but differences disappear when they are in the same role, Yale researcher finds .”

Figure 2.26 Drawing of Ibn al-Hayatham

You might remember that in Chapter 1 , we talked about human society like a forest. We said that individual trees did not exist in isolation. Instead, they were interdependent. They formed a living community. The video in figure 2.27 describes the science behind this knowledge. Please watch at least the first 10 minutes to see if you can discover all the steps of the scientific method that Canadian female scientist Suzanne Simard used in her revolutionary science.

Figure 2.27 Suzanne Simard: How Trees Talk To Each Other [YouTube Video]

2.4.2 Interpretive Framework

You may have noticed that most of the early recognized sociologists in this chapter were White wealthy men. Often, they looked at economics, poverty, and industrialization as their topics. They were committed to using the scientific method. Although women like Harriet Martineau and Jane Addams examined a wide range of social problems and acted on their research, science, even social science, was considered a domain of men. Even in 2020, women are only less than 30% of the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) workforce in the United States (American Association of University Women 2020).

Feminist scientists challenge this exclusion, and the kinds of science it creates. Feminist scientists argue that women and non-binary people belong everywhere in science.They belong in the laboratories and scientific offices. They belong in deciding what topics to study, so that social problems of gendered violence or maternal health are studied also. They belong as participants in research, so that findings apply to people of all gender identities. They belong in applying the results to doing something about social problems. In other words:

Feminists have detailed the historically gendered participation in the practice of science—the marginalization or exclusion of women from the profession and how their contributions have disappeared when they have participated. Feminists have also noted how the sciences have been slow to study women’s lives, bodies, and experiences. Thus from both the perspectives of the agents—the creators of scientific knowledge—and from the perspectives of the subjects of knowledge—the topics and interests focused on—the sciences often have not served women satisfactorily. (Crasnow 2020)

Figure 2.28 NASA “human computer” Katherine Johnson watches the premiere of Hidden Figures after a reception where she was honored along with other members of the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center.

You may have seen the movie Hidden Figures or read the book. In figure 2.28, Katherine Johnson, an African American mathematician, physicist, and space scientist, watches the premiere of the movie. In it, women, particularly Black women, were the computers for NASA, manually calculating all the math needed to launch and orbit rockets. However, politicians and leaders did not recognize their work. Even when they were creating equations and writing reports, women’s names didn’t go on the title pages.

The practice of science often excludes women and nonbinary people from leadership in research, research topics, and as research subjects. The feminist critque of the traditional scientific method, and other critiques around the process of doing traditional science created space for other frameworks to emerge.

One such framework is the interpretive framework. The interpretive framework is an approach that involves detailed understanding of a particular subject through observation or listening to people’s stories, not through hypothesis testing. Researchers try to understand social experiences from the point of view of the people who are experiencing them. They interview people or look at blogs, newspapers, or videos to discover what people say is happening, and how the people make sense of things. This in-depth understanding allows the researcher to create a new theory about human activity. The steps are similar to the scientific method, but not the same, as you see in figure 2.29.

Figure 2.29. Interpretive framework, Figure 2.29 I mage Description

White American researcher Brene Brown, who you will learn more about in Chapter 3 , describes the approach this way:

In grounded theory we don’t start with a problem or a hypothesis or a literature review, we start with a topic. We let the participants define the problem or their main concern about the topic, we develop a theory, and then we see how and where it fits in the literature. (Brown 2022)

In her own research she interviewed people who she considered resilient to understand how shame works. By listening to resilient people, she was able to develop a theory about how people recover from difficult situations in life. If you are interested in seeing her writing for yourself, check out this blog post on addressing social problems with the power of love: “ Doubling Down on Love .”

Even though both the traditional scientific method and the interpretive framework start with curiosity and questions, the people who practice science using the interpretive framework allow the data to tell its story. Using this method can lead to insightful and transformative results. You can find things you didn’t even know to expect, because you are listening to what the stories say.

2.4.3 Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

In the video you saw in figure 2.20, Suzanne Simard describes the amazing science she does when she researches how trees talk to each other. The methods she uses, with the possible exception of bringing bear spray, don’t work very well when you study people. Instead social scientists use a variety of methods that allow them to explain and predict the social world. These research methods define how we do social science.

In this section, we examine some of the most common research methods. Research methods are often grouped into two categories: quantitative research , data collected in numerical form that can be counted and analyzed using statistics and qualitative research , non-numerical, descriptive data that is often subjective and based on what is experienced in a natural setting. These methods seem to contradict each other, but some of the strongest scientific studies combine both approaches. New research methods go beyond the two categories, exploring international and Indigenous knowledge, or doing research for the purpose of taking action.

2.4.3.1 Surveys

Do you strongly agree? Agree? Neither agree or disagree? Disagree? Strongly disagree? You’ve probably completed your fair share of surveys, if you’ve heard this before. At some point, most people in the United States respond to some type of survey. The 2020 U.S. Census is an excellent example of a large-scale survey intended to gather sociological data. Since 1790, the United States has conducted a survey consisting of six questions to receive demographic data of the residents who live in the United States.

As a research method, a survey collects data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about behaviors and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire or an interview. Surveys are one of the most widely used scientific research methods. The standard survey format allows individuals a level of anonymity in which they can express personal ideas.

Not all surveys are considered sociological research. Many surveys people commonly encounter focus on identifying marketing needs and strategies rather than testing a hypothesis or contributing to social science knowledge. Questions such as, “How many hot dogs do you eat in a month?” or “Were the staff helpful?” are not usually designed as scientific research. Surveys gather different types of information from people. While surveys are not great at capturing the ways people really behave in social situations, they are a great method for discovering how people feel, think, and act—or at least how they say they feel, think, and act. Surveys can track preferences for presidential candidates or reported individual behaviors (such as sleeping, driving, or texting habits) or information such as employment status, income, and education levels.

2.4.3.2 Experiments

One way researchers test social theories is by conducting an experiment, meaning the researcher investigates relationships to test a hypothesis. This approach closely resembles the scientific method. There are two main types of experiments: lab-based experiments and natural or field experiments. In a lab setting, the research can be controlled so that data can be recorded in a limited amount of time. In a natural or field-based experiment, the time it takes to gather the data cannot be controlled but the information might be considered more accurate since it was collected without interference or intervention by the researcher. Field-based experiments are often used to evaluate interventions in educational settings and health (Baldassarri and Abascal 2017).

Typically, the sociologist selects a set of people with similar characteristics, such as age, class, race, or education. Those people are divided into two groups. One is the experimental group and the other is the control group. The experimental group is exposed to the independent variable(s) and the control group is not. To test the benefits of tutoring, for example, the sociologist might provide tutoring to the experimental group of students but not to the control group. Then both groups would be tested for differences in performance to see if tutoring had an effect on the experimental group of students. As you can imagine, in a case like this, the researcher would not want to jeopardize the accomplishments of either group of students, so the setting would be somewhat artificial. The test would not be for a grade reflected on their permanent record as a student, for example.

2.4.3.3 Secondary Data Analysis

While sociologists often engage in original research studies, they also contribute knowledge to the discipline through secondary data analysis. Secondary data does not result from firsthand research collected from primary sources. Instead secondary data uses data collected by other researchers or data collected by an agency or organization. Sociologists might study works written by historians, economists, teachers, or early sociologists. They might search through periodicals, newspapers, or magazines, or organizational data from any period in history.

2.4.3.4 Participant Observation

Participant observation refers to a style of research where researchers join people and participate in a group’s routine activities for the purpose of observing them within that context. This method lets researchers experience a specific aspect of social life. A researcher might go to great lengths to get a firsthand look into a trend, institution, or behavior. For instance, a researcher might work as a waitress in a diner, experience homelessness for several weeks, or ride along with police officers as they patrol their regular beat. Often, these researchers try to blend in seamlessly with the population they study, and they may not disclose their true identity or purpose if they feel it would compromise the results of their research.

At the beginning of a field study, researchers might have a question: “What really goes on in the kitchen of the most popular diner on campus?” or “What is it like to be homeless?” Participant observation is a useful method if the researcher wants to explore a certain environment from the inside. The ethnographer will be alert and open minded to whatever happens, recording all observations accurately. Soon, as patterns emerge, questions will become more specific, and the researcher will be able either make connections to existing theories or develop new theories based on their observations. This approach will guide the researcher in analyzing data and generating results.

2.4.3.5 In-depth interviews

Interviews, sometimes referred to as in-depth interviews, are one-on-one conversations with participants designed to gather information about a particular topic. Interviews can take a long time to complete, but they can produce very rich data. In fact, in an interview, a respondent might say something that the researcher had not previously considered, which can help focus the research project. Researchers have to be careful not to use leading questions. You want to avoid leading the respondent into certain kinds of answers by asking questions like, “You really like eating vegetables, don’t you?” Instead researchers should allow the respondent to answer freely by asking questions like, “How do you feel about eating vegetables?”

2.4.4 International Research

International research is conducted outside of the researcher’s own immediate geography and society. This work carries additional challenges considering that researchers often work in regions and cultures different from their own. Researchers need to make special considerations in order to counter their own biases, navigate linguistic challenges and ensure the best cross cultural understanding possible. This webpage shows a map and descriptions of field projects around the world by students at Oxford University’s Masters in Development Studies. What are some interesting projects that stand out to you?

For example, in 2021 Jörg Friedrichs at Oxford published his research on Muslim hate crimes in areas of North England where Islam is the majority religion. He studied police data of racial and religious hate crimes in two districts to look for patterns related to the crimes. He related those patterns to the wider context of community relations between Muslims and other groups, and presented his research to hate crime practitioners in police, local government and civil society (Friedrichs 2021).

2.4.5 Indigenous Knowledge

Indigenous scientists also critique traditional ways of doing science. Often, Western science will break things down into parts to understand what each part does. While that may help understand details, it doesn’t give the whole picture of a process or help understand the interdependence in the social and physical world. Also, Western science values intellectual ways of knowing. Intuition, empathy, and connection are not valued. Robin Wall Kimmer, an Indigenous biologist from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, writes this:

Native scholar Greg Cajete has written that in indigenous ways of knowing, we understand a thing only when we understand it with all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion, and spirit. I came to understand quite sharply when I began my training as a scientist that science privileges only one, possibly two, of those ways of knowing: mind and body. As a young person wanting to know everything about plants, I did not question this. But it is a whole human being who finds the beautiful path. (Kimmerer 2013)

When we can do science using all of our ways of knowing, our answers become richer. As the world becomes more aware of increases in the environmental crisis, researchers are more often acknowledging the ways that Indigenous peoples care for their ecological surroundings. As Indigenous communities conduct their own fieldwork to identify and document their own knowledge they are able to engage with research as agents of ecological conservation.

Figure 2.30 Consider This with Robin Wall Kimmerer [YouTube Video]

In the video in Figure 2.30, Kimmerer has a longer conversation about what it means to be American. Starting around minute 55:25 she shares the importance of naming, and how naming can sometimes shut down learning. Please listen to her words for yourself, and reflect on how the practices she introduces might change your own approach to science.

2.4.6 Community-Based Research and Participatory Action Research

Social problems sociologists and other social scientists often conduct their research so that they can take action. Action research is a family of research methodologies that pursue action (or change) and research (or understanding) at the same time. We see this when the government changes a policy based on data or when a community organization tries a new evidence-based approach for providing services. One of the most visible applications of social problems research is through humanitarian or social action efforts.

2.4.6.1 Humanitarian Efforts

One effective example of social action efforts is in the work of Paul Farmer. Farmer was a public health physician, anthropologist, and founder of partners in health. Until his death in 2022, he focused on epidemiological crises in low and middle income countries.

One trend that Farmer championed was the importance of good health and health care as human rights. He contributed to a broader understanding that poor health is a symptom of poverty, violence and inequality (Partners in Health 2009). If you want to learn more, please watch the NPR video essay, “ Paul Farmer: I believe in health care as a human right ” [YouTube Video] where he describes this view. What field experiences of Farmer’s do you see allowed him to develop this view?

Farmer applied this human rights perspective to pandemics. His book, Fevers, Feuds and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History , looks at the 2014 Ebola crisis, and what we can learn from it to apply to the COVID-19 epidemic. In a PBS Newshour interview he spoke of his work during the Ebola outbreak:

>Early in the Ebola outbreak, almost all of our attention was turned towards clinical services. But we kept on bumping into things we didn’t understand and sometimes even our colleagues from Sierra Leone and Liberia didn’t understand. And that just triggered an interest in a deeper understanding of the place, the culture, the history. (Public Broadcasting Service 2021).

Farmer shares his experiences both as a medical doctor and a researcher, asking the questions: “Who is most impacted by disease? How might things have been done differently? What can be done now?” His research on Ebola focused on circumstances in West Africa where lack of medical resources and decades of war played a role in the epidemic, and how the epidemic itself, as we experience in the United States with Covid, revealed underlying problems and inequities in society (Public Broadcasting Service 2021). We’ll explore topics of health, inequality and interdependence more deeply in Chapter 7 .

2.4.6.2 Community-Based Action Research

Community-based research takes place in community settings. It involves community members in the design and implementation of research projects. It demonstrates respect for the contributions of success that are made by community partners. Research projects involve collaboration between researchers and community partners, whether the community partners are formally structured community-based organizations or informal groups of individual community members. The aim of this type of research is to benefit the community by achieving social justice through social action and change.

2.4.6.3 Participatory Action Research

Community-based research is sometimes called participatory action research (Stringer 2021). In partnership with community organizations, researchers apply their social science research skills to help assess needs, outcomes, and provide data that can be used to improve living conditions. The research is rigorous and often published in professional reports and presented to the board of directors for the organization you are working with. As it sounds, action research suggests that we make a plan to implement changes. Often with academic research, we aim to learn more about a population and leave the next steps up to others. This is an important part of the puzzle, as we need to start with knowledge but action research often has the goal of fixing something or at least quickly translating the newly acquired findings into a solution for a social problem.

To learn more about participatory action research, check out this short 4 minute clip for an introduction with Shirah Hassan of Just Practice (figure 2.31):

Figure 2.31 Participatory Action Research with Shirah Hassan [YouTube Video]

Community-based action research looks for evidence. As new insights emerge, the researchers adjust the question or the approach. This type of research engages people who have traditionally been referred to as subjects as active participants in the research process. The researcher is working with the organization during the whole process and will likely bring in different project design elements based on the needs of the organization. Social scientists can bring more formalized training, but they draw both on existing research/literature and goals of the organization they are working with. Community-based research or participatory research can be thought of as an orientation for research rather than strictly a method. Often a number of different methods are used to collect data. Change can often be one of the main aims of the project, as we will see in the box below.

2.4.7 Research Ethics

How we do science and how we apply our results is more challenging than it might first appear. The American Sociological Association (ASA) is the major professional organization of sociologists in North America. ASA is a great resource for students of sociology as well. The ASA maintains a code of ethics —formal guidelines for conducting sociological research—consisting of principles and ethical standards to be used in the discipline. These formal guidelines were established by practitioners in 1905 at John Hopkins University, and revised in 1997. When working with human subjects, these codes of ethics require researchers’ to do the following:

Maintain objectivity and integrity in research
Respect subjects’ rights to privacy and dignity
Protect subject from personal harm
Preserve confidentiality
Seek informed consent
Acknowledge collaboration and assistance
Disclose sources of financial support

2.4.8 Unethical Studies

Unfortunately, when these codes of ethics are ignored, it creates an unethical environment for humans being involved in a sociological study. Throughout history, there have been numerous unethical studies, as we’ll explore in the following sections.

2.4.8.1 The Tuskegee Experiment

This study was conducted 1932 in Macon County, Alabama, and included 600 African American men, including 399 diagnosed with syphilis. The participants were told they were diagnosed with a disease of “bad blood.” Penicillin was distributed in the 1940s as the cure for the disease, but unfortunately, the African American men were not given the treatment because the objective of the study was to see “how untreated syphilis would affect the African American male” (Caplan 2007). This study was shut down in 1972, because a reporter wrote that at least 128 people had died from syphillis or related complications (Nix 2020).

2.4.8.2 Milgram Experiment

In 1961, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment at Yale University. Its purpose was to measure the willingness of study subjects to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. People in the role of teacher believed they were administering electric shocks to students who gave incorrect answers to word-pair questions. No matter how concerned they were about administering the progressively more intense shocks, the teachers were told to keep going. The ethical concerns involve the extreme emotional distress faced by the teachers, who believed they were hurting other people. (Vogel 2014). Today this experiment would not be allowed because it would violate the ethical principal of protecting subjects from personal harm.

2.4.8.3 Philip Zimbardo and the Stanford prison experiment

In 1971, psychologist Phillip Zimbardo conducted a study involving students from Stanford University. The students were put in the roles of prisoners and guards, and were required to play their assigned role accordingly. The experiment was intended to last two weeks, but it only lasted six days due to the negative outcome and treatment of the “prisoners.” Beyond the ethical concerns, the study’s validity has been questioned after participants revealed they had been coached to behave in specific ways. Today, this experiment would not be allowed because it would violate a participants right to dignity, and protection from harm.

2.4.8.4 Laud Humphreys

In the 1960s, Laud Humphreys conducted an experiment at a restroom in a park known for same-sex sexual encounters. His objective was to understand the diversity of backgrounds and motivations of people seeking same-sex relationships. His ethics were questioned because he misrepresented his identity and intent while observing and questioning the men he interviewed (Nardi 1995). Today this experiment would not be allowed because participants did not provide informed consent, among other issues.

2.4.9 Licenses and Attributions for Research Methods for Social Problems

2.4 Research methods for social problems.

Puentes and Gougherty https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BOCrIQ5xDJD1RbVdmS1glMeaKurj4fHgF5hkn2P77-U/edit#heading=h.lc1f68rgruem Slightly summarized

Figure 2.23 – Ways of Knowing and Examples by Kimberly Puttman. License: CC-BY-ND

Figure 2.24 The Scientific Method as an Ongoing Process by Michaela Willi Hooper and Jennifer Puentes. License: CC-BY-4.0.

Figure 2.25 Examples of dependent and independent variables. Typically, the independent variable causes the dependent variable to change in some way. [c] [d]

Figure 2.26 Drawing of Ibn al-Hayatham by Unknown Artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons public domain.

Figure 2.27 “ How Trees Talk To Each Other ” by Suzanne Simard. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.

2.4.2 Interpretive Frameworks by Kimberly Puttman. License: CC-BY-4.0

Figure 2.28 “ Hidden Figures Premiere ” by NASA/Aubrey Gemignani, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons public domain.

Figure 2.29. Interpretive Framework Source – Kim Puttman [e]

Figure 2.30 “ Consider This with Robin Wall Kimmerer ” by Oregon Humanities . License Terms: Standard YouTube license.

Figure 2.31 “ Participatory Action Research ” with Shirah Haasan by Vera Instit ute of Justice . License Terms: Standard YouTube license.

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Frequently asked questions

What Are Wicked Problems and How Might We Solve Them?

Have you ever come across a problem so complex that you struggled to know where to start? Then you might have stumbled upon a wicked problem. While wicked problems may not have a definite solution, there are certainly things you can do to mitigate any negative effects. When you learn how to tackle wicked problems, you learn how to improve the world and the lives of the people who live in it. Here, you’ll learn the ten characteristics of a wicked problem and five steps to tackle wicked problems.

What Is a Wicked Problem?

A wicked problem is a social or cultural problem that’s difficult or impossible to solve because of its complex and interconnected nature. Wicked problems lack clarity in both their aims and solutions, and are subject to real-world constraints which hinder risk-free attempts to find a solution.

Classic examples of wicked problems are these:

Climate change

Homelessness

Sustainability

What is the Difference between Puzzles, Problems and Wicked Problems?

Let’s create an overview by first looking into the difference between a puzzle and a problem, and then afterwards we’ll examine wicked problems.

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Which Wicked Problems Do We Need to Deal with?

Many of the design problems we face are wicked problems, where clarifying the problem is often as big a task as solving it… or perhaps even bigger. Wicked problems are problems with many interdependent factors making them seem impossible to solve as there is no definitive formula for a wicked problem.

A wicked problem is often a social or cultural problem. For example, how would you try to solve global issues such as poverty… or education? What about climate change, and access to clean drinking water? It’s hard to know where to begin, right? That’s because they’re all wicked problems.

What makes them even worse is the way they’re intertwined with one another. If you try to address an element of one problem, you’ll likely cause unexpected consequences in another. No wonder they’re wicked! It’s clear to see that standard problem-solving techniques just aren’t going to cut it when you’ve got a wicked problem on your hands.

You’ll need to gain a much deeper insight into the people involved and learn how to reframe the problem entirely if you want to have any sort of chance at coming up with a valuable solution.

10 Characteristics of a Wicked Problem

As you can see, we need to dig deeper to understand the essence of wicked problems. Horst W.J. Rittel and Melvin M. Webber, professors of design and urban planning at the University of California at Berkeley, first coined the term wicked problem in “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning” (1973). In the paper, they detail ten important characteristics that describe a wicked problem:

There is no definitive formula for a wicked problem.

Wicked problems have no stopping rule—there’s no way to know whether your solution is final.

Solutions to wicked problems are not true or false (right or wrong); they can only be good or bad.

You cannot immediately test a solution to a wicked problem.

Every solution to a wicked problem is a “one-shot operation” because there is no opportunity to learn by trial and error—every attempt counts significantly.

Wicked problems do not have a set number of potential solutions.

Every wicked problem is essentially unique.

Every wicked problem can be considered a symptom of another problem.

There is always more than one explanation for a wicked problem because the explanations vary greatly depending on the individual’s perspective.

The planner/designer has no right to be wrong and must be fully responsible for their actions.

We still face the classic wicked problems in today’s world; however, there are further examples we now have to consider. Business strategy, for example, is now often classed as a wicked problem because strategy-related issues normally meet at least five of the characteristics listed above.

From Wicked Problems to Complex Socio-Technical Systems

The rapid technological advancement of the 21st century has, in many ways, mutated wicked problems. In today’s hyperconnected world, it is difficult to look at problems in isolation.

Let’s look at sustainability, for example. Recycling is often considered as one of the solutions to achieve sustainability. Don Norman , in his two-part essay for FastCompany , examined recycling and remarked: “I am an expert on complex design systems . Even I can’t figure out recycling.”

He describes in detail how difficult it is for people to send their household waste to get recycled. There are different rules for different materials—paper, plastics, glass, metals. And within a category, say, plastic, there are different rules for different types of plastic in different places. Not all plastics can be recycled. Those that can be recycled, demand specialized equipment and processes that are not universally available.

“Recycling is a poor solution to the wrong problem.” — Don Norman

The complexity of recycling is a problem. But why do we need to recycle at all?

It's because most of the products we use in our lives are made from non-reusable materials. Consider smartphones—most, if not all, have batteries that cannot be separated from the device. If your battery no longer functions as intended, you must replace it with a new phone.

What if the iPhone had a removable battery, which could be fixed or replaced so that you didn’t have to throw out the entire phone, if (when) the battery died? What if phones weren’t built to crack or become obsolete within a short time?

What if companies considered alternate materials to manufacture phones, or government legislation made it mandatory for companies to take back all their material, and put them back into the manufacturing process? The piles of garbage on the planet are a part of what Don Norman calls complex socio-technical systems . Let’s hear more on this from Don Norman:

Wicked problems, or as Don Norman prefers to call them, complex socio-technical systems , are not isolated. They are intertwined in existing systems—manufacturing systems and economic systems, political, social and cultural systems, technological and legal systems. And each of those systems is connected with the other.

So, how can you start to tackle wicked problems, both old and new? Let’s look at how design thinking —more specifically, systems thinking and agile methodology —can help us start to untangle the web of a complex socio-technical system.

Wicked Problems and Design Thinking

The design theorist and academic Richard Buchanan connected design thinking to the innovation necessary to begin tackling wicked problems. Originally used in the context of social planning, the term “wicked problems” had been popularized in the paper “Wicked Problems in Design Thinking” (1992) by Buchanan. Various thought leaders following Buchanan continued on to suggest we utilize systems thinking when faced with complex design problems, but what does that look like in practice for a designer tackling a wicked problem and how can we integrate it with a collaborative agile methodology ?

A Combination of Systems Thinking and Agile Methodology Can Help You Tackle Wicked Problems

Design thinkers proceeded to highlight how we utilize systems thinking when faced with complex design problems.

Systems thinking is the process of understanding how components of a system influence each other as well as other systems—and therefore it’s pretty much perfect for wicked problems!

And it’s even better when combined with an agile methodology , an iterative approach to design and product development. Agile methodology helps to improve solutions through collaboration . This agile, collaborative environment breeds the ability to be efficient and effectively meet the stakeholders ’ changing requirements.

Together, systems thinking and agile methodology lead us to a better solution at each iteration as they both evolve with the wicked problem.

Illustration showing the feedback loop, with users giving feedback and requests to the development team and the development team sharing demos and new releases to users.

In an agile methodology, every iteration incorporates feedback from the previous release. This process can help you tackle wicked problems when it’s combined with systems thinking.

5 Ways to Apply Systems Thinking and Agile Methodology in Your Work

If you’ve been faced with a wicked problem in the past, you’ll have undoubtedly experienced frustration from not knowing where or how to begin. There’s no shame in that—issues which are difficult or nearly impossible to solve will do that to a person! The next time you and your team must tackle a wicked problem, you can use these five handy methods which are based on systems thinking and agile methodology:

1. Break down information into nodes and links.

You can utilize systems thinking if you break the information down into nodes (chunks of information such as objects, people or concepts) and links (the connections and relationships between the nodes). This will make your private mental models (your representations of external reality) visible to the outside world and help you face wicked problems more effectively. Jay Wright Forrester, a pioneer in computer engineering and systems science, put it nicely when he said:

"The image of the world around us, which we carry in our head, is just a model. Nobody in his head imagines all the world, government or country. He has only selected concepts, and relationships between them, and uses those to represent the real system.” —Jay Wright Forrester

Four sketches of people showing how they make toast. It's a way of showing how people think about process.

In this illustration , the nodes are circled in red and the links are the red lines drawn between the nodes. All four illustrations are systems models that participants created from Tom Wujec’s workshops on collaborative visualization and systems thinking.

2. Visualize the information.

When you sketch out and place information into a physical space, it will help both you and your team take in and understand the systems at hand—as well as the relationships within and between them.

3. Collaborate and include stakeholders in the process.

Share your mental models to help other people build on your ideas, and vice versa. Your team can synthesize several points of view when you create physical drawings and group notes to produce different systems models.

4. Release solutions quickly to gather continuous feedback.

Feedback of success helps to solve problems which we don’t have one single obviously correct answer for. The more feedback you gather from your users and stakeholders, the more guidance you’ll have to get to the next step.

5. Carry out multiple iterations.

You and your team have the chance to utilize feedback at each iteration. The more iterations you do, the more likely you’ll determine what changes are needed to further improve the solution to your wicked problem.

Sketch of existing solution to next iteration with a bridge with people on it between the two concepts.

You’ll build a bridge between the existing solution and the next iteration when you combine user and stakeholder feedback with your team’s thoughts and ideas.

The Take Away

As designers, we have the responsibility to generate the best solution possible even when the wicked problem itself is indeterminate and the best solution does not yet exist. A combination of systems thinking and agile methodology can help us tackle these wicked problems. It encourages us to utilize these practices and share them with others so that we can, together, get to the next iteration of the design process .

When you start to tackle wicked problems, you can start to improve the world and the lives of the people who live in it. As a reminder, the five steps to do this are:

Break down information into nodes and links.

Visualize the information.

Collaborate and include stakeholders in the process.

Release solutions quickly and gather continuous feedback.

Carry out multiple iterations.

References & Where To Learn More

Rittel, H. W., & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy sciences , 4(2), 155-169.

Buchanan, Richard. (1992). Wicked Problems in Design Thinking. Design Issues , Vol. 8, No. 2, (Spring, 1992), 5-21.

Ana de Almeida Kumlien & Paul Coughlan, Wicked problems and how to solve them , 2018.

John C. Camillus, Strategy as a Wicked Problem , 2006.

Amy C. Edmundson, Wicked-Problem Solvers , 2016.

John Kolko, Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving , 2012.

Stony Brook University, What’s a Wicked Problem?

Tom Wujec, TEDGlobal, Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast , 2013:

Hero Image: © Diana Parkhouse, Unsplash License.

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25 Major Social Problems (Examples)

Social Problems constitute a key topic in Sociology. They refer to different kinds of troubles negatively affecting a society, its social structure , and its values.

Social problems can consist of global issues such as poverty, displacement, and terrorism. They can also include issues in a specific society or region, such as the pressing homelessness issue in Seattle and Portland.

Unlike personal problems or natural disasters, social problems are created by society and they can be solved by it.

Definition of Social Problems

In simple terms, social problems are issues that harm a group of people in the society.

They also refer to:

“Social conditions, processes, societal arrangements or attitudes that are commonly perceived to be undesirable, negative, and threatening certain values or interests…” (Jamrozik & Nocella, 1998, p. 1)

Social problems can be seen in a single country or affect the international global society. They can affect the society through harming its harmony, stability, safety or freedom.

Unlike physical issues or natural problems, social problems are related to social processes and social interactions . For instance, while malnutrition might seem like a physical condition, it is actually a social problem resulting from war, conflict, poverty, or abuse.

Most of the social problems are results of social inequality and its implications (Jamrozik & Nocella, 1998). For example, socioeconomic inequality leads to lack of affordable housing and homelessness.

A social problem can be identified by three main characteristics:

Social Reasons: A condition must have social reason in order to be considered a social problem.
Negative Impacts: A social problem should have a negative impact on the society by threatening its safety, freedom, or other values.
Social Solutions: A social problem should be a condition that can be ended by social solutions (Jamrozik & Nocella, 1998).

Quick Examples of Social Problems

Unemployment and Underemployment : While unemployment refers to not having a job, underemployed people only have part-time, casual, or temporary work. Both unemployment and underemployment are social problems on a global level. They harm individuals and communities by limiting their productivity and harming their socioeconomic status.
Racial discrimination : Racial discrimination includes all kinds of hostile treatment against an individual or a group based on their race. It is a social problem resulting from racial inequalities. Racial discrimination leads to unfair social and economic conditions for individuals and communities who are discriminated against.
Housing Crisis : Lack of affordable housing is an increasing social problem which affects most of the Canadian cities as well as parts of the United States and Europe. It includes rising costs of housing and renting, and it can lead to homelessness.
Malnutrition : Lack of access to nutritious and affordable food is a social problem that affects various societies globally. While in countries like Yemen, malnutrition is a result of war and conflict, in some other countries such as the United States it is a result of growing income inequality.
Healthcare Shortage : Lack of access to timely and quality healthcare is a social problem that is increasingly affecting Canadian and American societies, leading to extremely long waiting times for seeing a doctor. It also affects the overall quality of mental and physical healthcare negatively.
Displacement : Forced migration and displacement of individuals from their home countries is a social problem on a global level. Every year, thousands of people have to become refugees because of wars, conflicts, poverty, and climate change.
Political Corruption : Political corruption refers to the abuse of power by government officials to gain personal benefits. It is a social problem which leads to mistrust and suspicion towards political authorities.
Substance Abuse: The problem with substance abuse is often that it make society less safe, and can bring instability and harm into households with vulnerable people.
Obesity: Poor quality food in stores, high cost of fresh food, and poor social education campaigns can lead to obesity which lowers life expectancy.
Social Isolation: Social isolation often happens to elderly people or vulnerable populations with low social capital. Their isolation can be detrimental to their mental health.
Glass Ceiling : As a result of the social injustices in hiring practices , women make up just 19% of executive positions and 6% of S&P 500 CEO positions.
Gender Pay Gap: Women earn 83 cents for every dollar men earn. This is due to a range of complex social and cultural factors .
Ageism : This involves the mistreatment or bias against people due to their age. Up to 64 percent of older workers say they have seen age discrimination in the workplace.
Gerrymandering : This involves the rigging of electoral districts to preference one part over another. The USA is ranked as a flawed democracy due to gerrymandering.
Gender in Education: In the developing world, millions of girls are denied an education due to gender discrimination.
Forced Marriage: There are over 15 million people forced to marry against their will around the world. 88% of the victims are women.
Religious Discrimination: Christians face government-sanctioned discrimination in 168 countries . Muslims face government-sanctioned discrimination in 121 countries.
Child Poverty: Children from poor families in the USA perform 10% lower , on average, in tests scores, and face more mental health issues in childhood.
Unequal Service Delivery: Rural and remote areas often suffer most. For example, there are still 71 remote Indigenous communities in Canada without clean drinking water.
Human Trafficking: Vulnerable people are often taken from their homes illegally or with coersion so they can work for low wages. There are over 20 million victims of human trafficking worldwide today.
Stereotyping: Gender, racial, class-based, and other stereotypes continue to work to suppress people of various social identities.
Child Labor: There are 160 million victims of forced labor in the world today. Often, this is because families are too poor to send their children to school.
Disability Discrimination: People with disabilities are more likely to face discrimination and physical threats, and less likely to be taken seriously by police.
Digital Divide: Poor access to technology is increasing the gap between rich and poor. Only 39% of people in Africa have access to the internet, compared to 94% of people in the United States.
Colonial Practices: Indigenous people account for 5% of the global population but make up 15% of the world’s people in extreme poverty.

5 Best Examples

1. social isolation.

Social isolation is a pressing social problem for elderly people. It occurs when elderly people lose contact with their families or their families die out, and no friends or community members are available to step in to help.

It can lead elderly people to fall into depression and, in worse case scenarios, mean they do not have the support to survive in their own homes. Some societies deal with this through free or subsidized assisted living, while others do not have sufficient infrastructure and policies in place to alleviate social isolation.

Note that social isolation may occur at younger ages, especially among the disabled, neurodivergent, and others who struggle to interact with the community.

2. Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a significant social problem both in developed and developing countries, threatening the safety and functioning of these societies.

Many communities in the United States suffer from malnutrition as a result of living in food deserts: Areas which do not have affordable grocery stores or other sources of healthy nutrition in close proximity (Christian et al., 2020).

Another reason for malnutrition is having an eating disorder, such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. Studies show that eating disorders are an ongoing problem among teenagers, particularly teenage girls (Chamay-Weber et al., 2005).

3. Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is a social problem that causes thousands of deaths in Canada and other parts of the world (Rehm et al., 2006).

It also harms the society by causing healthcare costs, law enforcement costs, and loss of safety and productivity (Rehm et al., 2006).

Studies show that substance abuse closely interact with other social problems includng lack of access to proper mental healthcare and homelessness (Folsom et al., 2005). Increasingly, society is addressing this addiction as a mental health problem rather than a criminal one in order to help people to recover.

4. Housing Crisis

Housing crisis refers to the shortage of affordable, safe, and available housing and shelter options in a region. It also includes more specific social problems such as homelessness and housing insecurity.

Housing crisis has been prevalent in several North American and European cities for a long time.

However, recent global health events have worsened the crisis by increasing housing prices and rents in multiple countries such as the United States and Turkey (Li & Zhang, 2021; Subaşı & Baycan, 2022).

As a social problem, the housing crisis negatively affects the society by adding to the existing socioeconomic inequalities and making disadvantaged communities more vulnerable.

5. Displacement

Forced migration and displacement are global social problems which currently affect more than 89 million people worldwide (UNHCR, 2022).

Each year, millions of people have to escape from their home countries because of wars, conflicts, persecution, or climate change (UNHCR, 2022).

As social problems, forced migration and displacement reflect the injustices faced by refugees and asylum seekers who experience unsafe living conditions.

Thousands of asylum seekers lose their lives by drowning in the Mediterranean Sea each year while trying to reach Europe (Statista, 2021).

In many cases, refugees continue to face challenges even after reaching a safe country. In this sense displacement also interacts with other social problems such as racial discrimination.

Social problems refer to various types of issues and troubles that negatively affect a society’s safety, freedom, harmony, and other values.

Social problems are different from individual, physical, and natural problems as they have societal roots. They are social conditions that harm or threaten the society in any way. They can be solved through social means and measures.

Social problems can exist in one specific society, or they can affect multiple societies globally. Examples of contemporary social problems include poverty, homelessness, and displacement.

It is important to study and understand social problems as they illustrate how different forms of social inequalities can harm the society in various ways.

Chamay-Weber, C., Narring, F., & Michaud, P. A. (2005). Partial eating disorders among adolescents: A review. Journal of adolescent health , 37 (5), 416-426.

Christian, V. J., Miller, K. R., & Martindale, R. G. (2020). Food insecurity, malnutrition, and the microbiome. Current nutrition reports , 9 (4), 356-360.

Folsom, D. P., Hawthorne, W., Lindamer, L., Gilmer, T., Bailey, A., Golshan, S., … & Jeste, D. V. (2005). Prevalence and risk factors for homelessness and utilization of mental health services among 10,340 patients with serious mental illness in a large public mental health system. American Journal of Psychiatry , 162 (2), 370-376.

Jamrozik, A., & Nocella, L. (1998). The sociology of social problems: Theoretical perspectives and methods of intervention . Cambridge University Press.

Rehm, J., Baliunas, D., Brochu, S., Fischer, B., Gnam, W., Patra, J., … & Taylor, B. (2006). The costs of substance abuse in Canada 2002.

Statista. (2021, September 17). Deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea 2021 . Statista. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1082077/deaths-of-migrants-in-the-mediterranean-sea/

UNHCR. (2022). Global Trends . UNHCR. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends

Sanam Vaghefi (PhD Candidate)

Sanam Vaghefi (BSc, MA) is a Sociologist, educator and PhD Candidate. She has several years of experience at the University of Victoria as a teaching assistant and instructor. Her research on sociology of migration and mental health has won essay awards from the Canadian Sociological Association and the IRCC. Currently, she is am focused on supporting students online under her academic coaching and tutoring business Lingua Academic Coaching OU.

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Chris Drew (PhD)

This article was peer-reviewed and edited by Chris Drew (PhD). The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU.

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2 thoughts on “25 Major Social Problems (Examples)”

Dear Sanam Vaghefi, I am a retired Environmental Engineer, working on a book project now. I am trying to write a chapter on the relationships between social problems and environmental issues, to suggest how low income communities can work on both kinds of these issues on self-help basis. I congratulate you for writing such a beautiful and sensible article, which is the best piece of text I found on the internet, and which is EXACTLY what I needed. I wish you best luck in your PhD research. Please accept my sincere thanks for sharing your valuable effort online. You are a hero. My thanks also to Dr. Chris Drew, and your supervisors, and every one who is helping you! If I succeed in completing the book, I will proudly cite your name where I use points from your text! Regards, Wali

I read flowed and I agreed to 100% these liste of social problems

How to Solve Social Problems in Your Community: Effective Strategies and Practical Steps

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

Social issues are prevalent in communities across the globe and can manifest in many forms, including poverty, homelessness, mental health challenges, and inequality. These issues harm individuals and diminish the health and wellbeing of entire communities. The impact, however, is not irreversible, and addressing social problems is critical for creating stronger, healthier, and safer communities. In this article, we will explore effective strategies for solving social problems in your community, along with practical steps for launching a community empowerment initiative. We will also learn from the insights of successful community organizers and explain how social enterprise and building an inclusive community can help build sustainable communities.

5 Effective Strategies for Tackling Social Issues in Your Community

One of the best strategies for tackling social issues in your community involves identifying the root of the problem and developing a plan of action that aligns with your community’s unique needs. Effective strategies for tackling social issues include:

1. Advocacy

Advocacy is a critical strategy that involves creating awareness about social problems through social media, advertising, grassroots organizing, and public events. Advocacy helps to bring issues to the attention of policymakers, community leaders, and the general public. Successful advocacy campaigns have resulted in policy changes such as equal marriage rights, affordable healthcare, and basic human rights.

2. Collaboration with Non-profits and Civic Organizations

Collaborating with non-profits and civic organizations can help create a coordinated effort to tackle social issues collectively. Non-profits and civic organizations have the experience, knowledge, and resources to make an impact in the community. By working together, these organizations can pool resources and leverage expertise to make a lasting difference.

3. Grassroots Community Participation

Grassroots community participation involves empowering members of the community to take action to solve problems on a local level. When community members participate in grassroots efforts, they take ownership of their communities and work collaboratively to identify problems and develop creative solutions.

4. Digital Technologies

The use of digital technologies such as social media, websites, and mobile apps can help to raise awareness about social issues and connect people who are passionate about a particular cause. Mobilizing community members through digital tools can help amplify efforts and empower people to take action.

5. Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) emphasizes businesses’ obligation to contribute to the social and economic development of the communities in which they operate. Participating in CSR by volunteering, donating money, or advocating for social causes can help to promote social change, foster partnerships, and create a positive impact in the community.

Step-by-Step Guide to Launching a Community Empowerment Initiative

Launching a community empowerment initiative can help to mobilize people around a social cause and create a lasting impact in the community. Here are the steps for launching a community empowerment initiative:

1. Partner with Community Leaders

Identify local leaders and organizations that have similar goals and share the same values. This partnership will allow you to pool resources and leverage each other’s strengths.

2. Conduct a Needs Assessment

Conduct a needs assessment to identify the critical issues in the community. Gathering data will help you prioritize which issues to focus on.

3. Develop a Plan of Action

Develop a plan of action that is realistic, attainable, and aligns with your community’s unique needs.

4. Mobilize Volunteers and Supporters

Mobilize volunteers and supporters through social media, word-of-mouth, and local advertising. Communicate the potential impact of the initiative to inspire people to get involved.

5. Launch the Initiative

Launch the initiative in a way that creates local buzz and creates momentum around the cause. Celebrate milestones and achievements to keep people engaged and enthusiastic about the initiative.

6. Evaluate Progress and Outcomes

Evaluate the initiative’s progress and outcomes regularly to make adjustments and course-correct as necessary.

Why Social Change Begins with Local Action: Insights from Community Organizers

Community organizers play a critical role in driving social change in communities. Interviews with successful community organizers reveal insights and advice on how to make a difference in your community. Here are some of their stories:

1. Charlotte Roberts, Environmental Advocate

Charlotte Roberts is an environmental advocate who helped organize an initiative to clean up a polluted river in her community. She and her team of volunteers created awareness through social media, public events, and signs posted around the river. They mobilized a coalition of local businesses, schools, and civic organizations to help with the cleanup. Charlotte’s initiative resulted in a cleaner river and a renewed sense of community pride.

2. Hector Hernandez, Housing Activist

Hector Hernandez is a housing activist who mobilized members of his community to raise awareness about the importance of affordable housing. He created a local advocacy group and organized rallies, public forums, and political lobbying efforts. Their work resulted in increased affordable housing in the community and a deeper understanding of the importance of housing affordability.

3. Sanjay Patel, Mental Health Advocate

Sanjay Patel is a mental health advocate who worked on creating a peer support group for people experiencing depression and anxiety in his community. His group met weekly to share experiences, offer support, and provide resources to help individuals access mental health services. Sanjay’s initiative helped to reduce stigma around mental health and provided a supportive community for people seeking mental health services.

The Role of Social Enterprise in Building Sustainable Communities

Social enterprise offers an avenue for creating a lasting impact in communities by combining social and economic objectives. Social enterprises turn a profit while also addressing social issues. Here are some examples of successful social enterprises:

1. The Empowerment Plan, Detroit

The Empowerment Plan is a social enterprise that hires and trains homeless women to manufacture and distribute warm coats designed to turn into sleeping bags and to help the homeless. Their work provides jobs for underprivileged women and helps to alleviate homelessness in Detroit.

2. Greyston Bakery, Yonkers

Greyston Bakery is a social enterprise that provides employment opportunities for people who have experienced obstacles in finding jobs, such as homelessness, incarceration, or addiction. Greyston Bakery produces high-quality baked goods for restaurants and supermarkets in the Yonkers area.

3. Toms Shoes, Los Angeles

Toms Shoes is a social enterprise that provides a pair of shoes to a person in need for every pair of shoes purchased. Toms Shoes has succeeded in the marketplace and has contributed to positive change around the world.

7 Ways to Build a More Inclusive and Supportive Community

Inclusive communities involve people from different backgrounds coming together and feeling included. Here are some ways to build a more inclusive and supportive community:

1. Celebrate Diversity

Celebrate diversity through local festivals and community events. Recognize and acknowledge different cultures, religions, languages, and perspectives in community events.

2. Foster Communication

Foster communication through dialogue, listening, and mediation. Encourage open and honest conversations that build trust and address issues that cross cultural, racial, and generational divides.

3. Provide Equality of Opportunity

Promote equality of opportunity by creating an environment where everyone has access to resources, housing, and healthcare.

4. Reduce Discrimination

Combat discrimination through education and awareness-raising. Provide anti-discrimination training for community members, businesses, and organizations.

5. Encourage Volunteerism

Encourage volunteerism by creating opportunities for different segments of the community to engage in volunteer work, collaborate, and connect around shared interests.

6. Support Small Business

Support small businesses and entrepreneurs of different backgrounds, as a way of building economic stability within the community.

7. Promote Collaboration

Promote collaboration between different groups in the community. Engage in joint initiatives and creative projects that bring people together around shared goals.

Tackling social issues in your community requires a proactive approach that mobilizes stakeholders, fosters community support and involvement, and focuses on a shared vision of sustainable community development. With the strategies, step-by-step guides, and insights provided in this article, you are now better equipped to facilitate change and empower others to do the same. By working together, we can create stronger, healthier, and safer communities for all. Take action today and become a catalyst for change in your community.

(Note: Is this article not meeting your expectations? Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.)

Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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1.1: What Is a Social Problem?

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Learning Objectives

Define “social problem.”
Explain the objective and subjective components of the definition of a social problem.
Understand the social constructionist view of social problems.
List the stages of the natural history of social problems.

The history of attention given to rape and sexual assault in the United States before and after the 1970s provides an example of this latter situation. These acts of sexual violence against women have probably occurred from the beginning of humanity and certainly were very common in the United States before the 1970s. Although men were sometimes arrested and prosecuted for rape and sexual assault, sexual violence was otherwise ignored by legal policymakers and received little attention in college textbooks and the news media, and many people thought that rape and sexual assault were just something that happened (Allison & Wrightsman, 1993).Allison, J. A., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1993). Rape: The misunderstood crime . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Thus although sexual violence existed, it was not considered a social problem. When the contemporary women’s movement began in the late 1970s, it soon focused on rape and sexual assault as serious crimes and as manifestations of women’s inequality. Thanks to this focus, rape and sexual assault eventually entered the public consciousness, views of these crimes began to change, and legal policymakers began to give them more attention. In short, sexual violence against women became a social problem.

Image courtesy of Women’s eNews, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wenews/5167303294/ .

Social constructionism’s emphasis on perception has a provocative implication: Just as a condition or behavior may not be considered a social problem even if there is strong basis for this perception, so may a condition or behavior be considered a social problem even if there is little or no basis for this perception. The “issue” of women in college provides a historical example of this latter possibility. In the late 1800s, leading physicians and medical researchers in the United States wrote journal articles, textbooks, and newspaper columns in which they warned women not to go to college. The reason? They feared that the stress of college would disrupt women’s menstrual cycles, and they also feared that women would not do well in exams during “that time of the month” (Ehrenreich & English, 2005)!Ehrenreich, B., & English, D. (2005). For her own good: Two centuries of the experts’ advice to women (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Anchor Books. We now know better, of course, but the sexist beliefs of these writers turned the idea of women going to college into a social problem and helped to reinforce restrictions by colleges and universities on the admission of women.

In a related dynamic, various parties can distort certain aspects of a social problem that does exist: politicians can give speeches, the news media can use scary headlines and heavy coverage to capture readers’ or viewers’ interest, businesses can use advertising and influence news coverage. News media coverage of violent crime provides many examples of this dynamic (Robinson, 2011; Surette, 2011).Robinson, M. B. (2011). Media coverage of crime and criminal justice . Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press; Surette, R. (2011). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images, realities, and policies (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. The news media overdramatize violent crime, which is far less common than property crime like burglary and larceny, by featuring so many stories about it, and this coverage contributes to public fear of crime. Media stories about violent crime also tend to be more common when the accused offender is black and the victim is white and when the offender is a juvenile. This type of coverage is thought to heighten the public’s prejudice toward African Americans and to contribute to negative views about teenagers.

The Natural History of a Social Problem

Stage 1: Emergence and Claims Making

Image courtesy of ItzaFineDay, http://www.flickr.com/photos/itzafineday/3085307050/ .

Stage 2: Legitimacy

Stage 3: Renewed Claims Making

Stage 4: Development of Alternative Strategies

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The definition of a social problem has both an objective component and a subjective component. The objective component involves empirical evidence of the negative consequences of a social condition or behavior, while the subjective component involves the perception that the condition or behavior is indeed a problem that needs to be addressed.
The social constructionist view emphasizes that a condition or behavior does not become a social problem unless there is a perception that it should be considered a social problem.
The natural history of a social problem consists of four stages: emergence and claims making, legitimacy, renewed claims making, and alternative strategies.

FOR YOUR REVIEW

What do you think is the most important social problem facing our nation right now? Explain your answer.
Do you agree with the social constructionist view that a negative social condition or behavior is not a social problem unless there is a perception that it should be considered a social problem? Why or why not?

71+ Free Social Problem-Solving Scenarios

Do you have kiddos who struggle with their social problem-solving skills? Teach your students the simple process of how to solve a problem along with having them review how well their solution worked or didn’t work.

Learning to problem solve is an essential skill that is used not only throughout childhood but also into adulthood. Social problem solving is the ability to change or adapt to undesirable situations that arise throughout our day. On a daily basis, a child will encounter social problems that they will need to solve. Anything from arguing with another student, to hurting a friend’s feelings, to having a difficult conversation, or working with others.

Start with Small Problems

Many of the “problems” children encounter are often small problems which the child may be over-reacting to, such as wanting a different coloring crayon or wanting to be first in line, however, these small problems are still very real to the child. Practicing problem-solving with these small problems can be a great learning opportunity. Children can practice problem-solving with a small problem which can help them learn how to handle bigger problems in the future.

Problem Solving Importance

Social problem-solving skills are critical to a child’s social interactions, personal and professional relationships. A child’s ability to handle change, cope with stress, and handle challenges improves with a child’s ability to successfully solve social problems.

The ultimate goal is that the child will be able to solve social problems all on their own, but until they can independently solve a problem they will need to learn how to communicate and self-advocate to positively solve their problems.

Students with Autism Problem Solving

Students with autism and other social challenges need to learn to problem solve as well. These social problem-solving skills will help them throughout their childhood and into their adulthood. Children can be taught how to problem solve through a guided process of breaking down the problem and using simple steps to solve the problem. Learning specific steps to problem-solving can allow children to remember how to solve a problem when they become overwhelmed or stressed. Although learning to solve a problem independently can take some time and practice it is well worth the investment to have a child who can eventually solve most social situations in a positive manner on their own.

Make Problem Solving Easier with this Freebie!

Download yours today to get started.

Problem Solving Form

Teach your students the 4 steps to becoming a social problem-solver.

Identify the problem. For instance, start by having your student identify the social problem.
Create three solutions. Also, have your student come up with three different solutions that they could use to solve the problem that they identified.
Identify the consequences. Then, identify the consequence for each individual solution.
Pick the best solution. Lastly, have your student identify which of their three solutions is the best choice Then have your student put into words why they think that solution is the best solution.

What we learnt about solving problems is don't freak out, if one thing doesn't work , try something else out. And work together as a team. #melthammathsweek #MELTHAMPUPILVOICE @problemsolveit pic.twitter.com/iVm1Im4Aue — yr6melthamce (@yr6melthamce) February 4, 2019

Problem Solving Review Form

After your students go through the social problem-solver have them use the social problem-solving review form.

What happened. For instance, after your student tried their solution have them explain what happened next.
Review the results. Also, have your student identify whether or not their solution got them the results they wanted.
Use this solution again. Furthermore, have your student identify whether or not they would use this solution again in the future to solve the same or similar problem.
What would you do differently? Finally, have your student explain what they would do differently if they didn’t get the results they wanted or if they wouldn’t use that solution again in the future.

71+ Social Problem Scenarios + 6 Blank Scenarios

Use the 71 social problem-solving scenarios to have your students get great experience practicing how to solve a social problem. Also, included are 6 blank scenarios. Then laminate them so you can use them over and over again. Therefore, create social problems that the student experiences and needs help solving.

Wordless Video teaching Problem Solving

Watch this super cute wordless animation with your students and have them discuss the problem they see and how to best solve the problem.

Use this as a fun practice example to get your students started towards learning how to problem-solve.

Demonstrate Through Modeling

Model and discuss empathy. First and foremost, children need to understand how another person might be feeling in a given situation in order to become a good social problem solver. The student needs to learn how to “stand in someone else’s shoes” for a little bit. One way you can work on this skill is during the reading time you can focus on how a particular character in the story might be feeling. Ask questions, such as, “How do they feel right now? How would you feel in that same situation? Why do you think they feel that way?”, etc.
Model problem-solving skills as the teacher. When you are faced with a problem you can solve the problem by thinking aloud for the students to hear how you solve a problem. You can state the problem, then come up with possible solutions, then identify the possible consequences to each solution, then pick and explain why a solution is the best option. For example, you could say, “I was hoping to take the class outside for a stress walk around the track before the reading test, but the problem is that it is raining outside. I could still take you outside, but then you will get wet, or we could walk the halls, but then we’d have to be really quiet because there are other classes learning, or we could just skip the walk and take the reading test, but then you might not do as well on the test. I think based on all of those solutions the best solution will be to walk the hallway, but you guys will have to promise to be quiet so that we don’t disrupt other classes. Modeling the problem-solving process can be very helpful for the students to watch, observe, and later implement themselves.

Teach Communication

Have students communicate how they are feeling . Teaching your students to share their emotions in a respectful way can improve their ability to problem-solve. Have students use an “I” sentence frame, such as, “I feel _____ (insert feeling word) when _____ (identify what made you feel that way).” For example, “I felt sad when Jackson broke my favorite pencil” or “I was mad when I wasn’t picked to be first in line. “This way students can communicate how they are feeling using honest and open communication. Teaching students to appropriately communicate their emotions can help solve some social problems from the beginning.

Encourage Independency

Encourage your student to problem solve. If your student is struggling to problem solve independently encourage them to do so using open-ended questions, such as “How could you fix this problem?” “What would be a fair solution?” “What would happen if you used that solution?”, etc.
Let the student try to problem solve independently. Give your students the space to try and solve their own problems using the guided strategies. Try not to come running to their rescue for every little problem. Some problems are small and a great opportunity for the student to learn and practice. If an adult does all of the problem solving for a student then what are they really learning. Give your students the time and space they need to practice solving small problems on their own. Of course, if it is a bigger or more serious problem then have an adult help guide the problem-solving process.
Tell an adult. Remind your students that there are still some problems that are too big for them to solve on their own and that it is okay to get help from an adult to solve big problems. For example, if the student doesn’t feel safe, someone is being hurt physically or emotionally, or if they tried to solve a problem independently but it didn’t work and they need help. Let them know that it’s okay to tell an adult.

Teach How to Disagree and How to Make Up

Discuss how to disagree respectfully. Remind your student that they won’t always agree with their teacher, friends, classmate, or parents and that’s okay. Even the people we like might have different opinions, interests, and likes than we do. However, even if we disagree with someone we should still treat them with respect. Treating someone with respect means to not call them names, ignore them, yell or hit them. It means that you do try to create solutions that both parties can agree with and to apologize when we hurt others’ feelings.
Role-play how to make up. Practice in everyday life how to make up after a social problem .

Get your free social problem solver today!

I hope you and your students love this freebie!

Students are really having to stretch their brains today. It's @NSPCC #NumberDay and @problemsolveit are challenging Y9 and 10 to solve the escape room boxes. It's not as easy as it looks! The promise of a few sweet treats for the winners seems to be helping though! pic.twitter.com/AxRRJnJIv2 — CongletonHS (@CongletonHS) February 2, 2018

Have your students use task card scenarios to help them identify how they and others might feel in different social scenarios. Be sure to discuss the problem, identify possible solutions, identify the consequences of those possible solutions, and then based on those consequences pick the best solution. Make social problem-solving a game by telling the students that they are social detectives and that it is their job to use what they know about social rules to help them identify the possible and best solutions. Start practicing today with 71+ free social problem social task cards! Do your students need more practice? Be sure to check out my other freebie for 31 wordless animated videos to teach problem-solving and so much more.

Get More Problem Solving Time Saving Materials

Next, be sure to check out the following time-saving materials to continue to teach your students how to solve their social problems in addition to this freebie.

Weekly Social Pragmatics Homework

Weekly problem-solving. Send home a weekly homework page that includes a problem-solving scenario plus an idiom and a conversational practice scenario.

Restorative Justice Problem Solving Flip Book

Restorative justice graphic visual. Use this graphic visual to help your student restore a social relationship after a social problem.

Self-Advocating Role-Play Scenarios

Self-advocating in high school. Teach your high schoolers the process to self-advocate for what they need.

5th-12th Grade Life Skills Problem Solving

Life skills problem-solving. In addition, this life skills differentiated bundle includes a problem-solving lesson plan.

I recommend you read Problem Solving Wheel: Help Kids Solve Their Own Problems , 61+ Free Fillable SLP Planner Pages 2020-2021 , 430+ Free Multisyllabic Words List Activity Bundle , or 432+ Free IEP Goal Bank to Save You Time posts because they include freebies as well and who doesn’t want more freebies!

Got questions? Leave a comment. Let’s chat!

Monday 30th of January 2023

Hello! I have entered my name and email twice (yesterday & today) to receive to 71+ Free Social Problem-Solving Senarios, but I have not received anything yet. Not even an email back to mine in order to subcribe. Thanks for your help! Tracy

Melissa Berg

Tuesday 31st of January 2023

Hi Tracy, Thanks so much for reaching out! Sorry about that. We went ahead and sent you an email with the PDF attached. Wishing you all my best, Melissa

Problem Solving Skills

Tuesday 30th of August 2022

I truly love your site. Excellent colors, theme and writing. Thanks for sharing.

Laura Ricca

Monday 11th of April 2022

Tuesday 12th of April 2022

Hi Laura, I'm glad you found this resource helpful. Melissa

Modified Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - Speech Therapy Store

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47+ Social Problem Examples (Issues In Society)

Ever wondered why life can feel like a rollercoaster ride? Well, part of that has to do with all the social problems we face every day. From bullying at school to unfairness in getting a job, our society is jam-packed with issues that can feel as wild as a jungle sometimes!

'Social problems' is our fancy term for these big, thorny issues that can make life hard for many people. But the cool thing is, they're not set in stone. Like a Rubik's Cube, they can be solved. But to fix them, we first have to know what they are, how they show up in our lives, and what causes them.

Social Problems are problems that affect parts of a society and can be solved by that part of society. They may be global or geo-specific, but negative consequences characterize them all.

That's why we've created this list. Think of it like a guide to the wild jungle of society's biggest issues. By knowing what we're up against, we can figure out how to work together and solve these problems. After all, every great adventure starts with understanding the challenge. So, buckle up, and let's dive into this huge list of social problems!

Racial Discrimination

Racial discrimination is like a mean old monster that won't retire. It's the unfair treatment of people based on their race or ethnicity. Imagine not getting a job, being bullied, or being denied certain rights just because of your skin color or where your family comes from. Sounds unfair, right?

It's a big social problem because it creates an uneven playing field. It means that no matter how talented or hardworking you are, sometimes, the color of your skin can be an obstacle, and that's not fair!

This monster has been around for centuries. From slavery to colonialism to modern forms of racism, it's one problem that has spanned continents and generations. It's not just a problem in one place. While some countries have a longer and darker history with racial discrimination, like the United States with its history of slavery and racial segregation, or South Africa with apartheid, it happens all over the world.

Every monster can be defeated! People are coming up with ways to reduce racial discrimination . Education is a big one - teaching kids about different cultures and races can help build understanding and respect. Laws are also important. Many countries have laws against racial discrimination, but enforcing them is key. Companies can do their part, too, by making sure they give everyone a fair shot, regardless of their race. It's a tough fight, but by spreading awareness, promoting diversity, and standing up against racism, we can make the world a fairer place.

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is like the sneaky villain of our story. It creeps up silently and can affect people without them even knowing. Malnutrition isn't just about not getting enough food - it's about not getting the right kinds of food.

If your body doesn't get the vitamins and nutrients it needs, it can cause many health problems.

This problem is as old as time. Wherever there's been poverty or war, there's often malnutrition too. It's particularly bad in parts of the world where people can't easily get healthy food, like in some parts of Africa, Asia, or even some areas in developed countries. But, it's not just a problem for the poor countries, even the wealthy ones can have pockets of malnutrition, especially among the less privileged communities.

How do we fight this villain? One way is by improving access to healthy foods, like fruits, veggies, and proteins. This can be through school meal programs or community gardens. We also need to educate people about the importance of a balanced diet.

Governments and organizations can help by investing in farming and creating policies that make healthy food affordable. It's a tough nut to crack, but we can all play a part in defeating malnutrition!

Housing Crisis

The housing crisis is like a tricky puzzle that's tough to solve. It's when there are not enough homes for people to live in or when the homes are too expensive for people to afford. Imagine playing a game of musical chairs, but half the chairs are missing. That's kind of what the housing crisis is like!

This problem has been around for a while, but it has gotten worse in recent years. It's especially bad in big cities, where many people want to live and work. Places like San Francisco, London, or Hong Kong have sky-high rents that many people can't afford, leaving them without a stable place to call home.

So, how can we put this puzzle together? One way is by building more affordable housing. Governments can make rules that encourage or require builders to include affordable homes. Another solution could be improving public transportation so people can live further away from the city center, where housing is usually cheaper, without spending hours commuting. The housing crisis is a tough puzzle, but with enough brains and willpower, we can solve it!

Political Corruption

Political corruption is a societal problem because it inhibits economic growth, deteriorates societal trust, and violates justice and the rule of law. It manifests in various ways, such as bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, and cronyism. These actions lead to inefficient resource use and eroding fundamental democratic principles.

The history of political corruption spans back as long as political systems have existed, and it occurs globally. However, it's more pervasive in nations with less political transparency and weaker institutions.

Proposed solutions include enforcing stringent laws and penalties, promoting transparency, fostering a culture of ethics and integrity, and encouraging citizen participation in governance.

You can view something called the perceived corruption index , which is a list of countries ranked by their public sector corruption.

Gender Inequality

Gender inequality is the unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender, leading to social problems such as income disparity, limited access to education, and inadequate healthcare. It persists in many parts of the world due to deeply entrenched societal norms and biases.

Historically, women have been particularly disadvantaged, with certain rights and opportunities withheld from them solely based on their gender. Though this issue is global, it is more pronounced in societies where patriarchal systems are prevalent.

Proposed solutions include enforcing gender equality laws, promoting equal opportunities in education and employment, and engaging in campaigns that challenge gender stereotypes and prejudices.

Child Abuse

Child abuse is a social problem that encompasses physical, sexual, and emotional maltreatment, as well as neglect of a child. It has profound negative impacts on the child's development, leading to lifelong physical and mental health issues, impaired social skills, and a potential propensity to engage in crime or substance abuse.

In the past, child abuse has been a hidden issue due to societal stigma and the private nature of family life. It's a global problem but more prevalent in contexts marked by social and economic stressors such as poverty and substance abuse.

Solutions include strengthening social service systems, improving parental education and support programs, implementing policies to alleviate poverty, and promoting public awareness campaigns to break the stigma associated with reporting abuse.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying involves the use of digital communication tools to intimidate, harass, or harm others. It's a significant social issue because it can cause severe emotional, psychological, and even physical harm to victims, leading to anxiety, depression, and, in extreme cases, suicide. Cyberbullying has grown with the advent of social media platforms and is most common among teenagers and young adults.

It's prevalent globally, with countries having high internet users seeing more cases. Proposed solutions include implementing strict cyber laws and regulations, promoting digital citizenship education, setting up support and counseling centers for victims, and developing robust reporting and moderation mechanisms on digital platforms.

Substance Abuse and Addiction

Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. A common root cause of substance abuse is when individuals “self-medicate” because of emotional issues or physical pain. This is a global issue that leads to serious health problems, including mental disorders, organ damage, overdose, and death. Substance abuse also negatively impacts society through increased healthcare costs, loss of productivity, and crime.

It has a long history tied to cultural norms, economic conditions, and the legal status of substances.

Solutions include improved access to treatment, early intervention programs, public education about the risks of substance use, and enforcing regulations on substance sale and distribution.

Unemployment

Unemployment, defined as actively seeking employment but being unable to find work, is a significant social problem. It leads to economic hardship for individuals and families, increased crime rates, and social unrest.

Historically, unemployment rates fluctuate with economic cycles but are also influenced by technology and globalization. It's a global issue, but regions with economic instability or transitioning economies often have higher rates.

Proposed solutions include providing vocational training and education, implementing job creation programs, and supporting industries with the potential for high job growth.

Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

Climate change and environmental degradation threaten biodiversity, human health, and socioeconomic structures. Global warming, deforestation, and pollution have led to increased natural disasters, loss of habitats, and the spread of diseases.

These issues are historical and global, from centuries of industrial development and expansion. Climate change, in particular, is most harshly felt in regions already vulnerable to extreme weather, such as small island nations and arid regions.

Mitigation strategies include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting renewable energy, implementing sustainable farming practices, and increasing public awareness about the environment.

Income Inequality

Income inequality refers to the unequal income distribution within a population, leading to social stratification, political instability, and limited economic mobility.

Historically, the gap between the rich and the poor has varied, often alongside shifts in policy and economic structures. Today, income inequality is a worldwide issue, albeit more severe, in developing countries and countries with less progressive tax systems.

Proposed solutions involve increasing access to quality education, implementing progressive tax systems, increasing minimum wages, and supporting job creation in lower-income communities.

Lack of Access to Quality Education

The lack of access to quality education limits individual growth and societal progress. It leads to lower income and reduced opportunities and perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality.

Historically, access to education has been limited by gender, race, and socioeconomic status. This problem is pervasive worldwide, particularly in low-income and conflict-ridden regions.

Proposed solutions include investing in education infrastructure, teacher training, promoting inclusive policies, and supporting initiatives that lower barriers to education, such as providing scholarships or subsidies.

Immigration and Refugee Crisis

The immigration and refugee crisis is a social issue that arises when large groups of people are displaced from their home countries due to war, persecution, or economic instability. The resulting mass movements can lead to overcrowding, resource depletion, and social tension in host countries. At the same time, the displaced individuals often face severe hardships, human rights violations, and a lack of basic services.

Historically, crises have occurred for various reasons ranging from political conflicts to natural disasters and are most prevalent in areas affected by war or extreme poverty.

Proposed solutions include developing comprehensive international agreements for refugee protection, improving asylum procedures, and supporting integration efforts in host countries.

Human Trafficking

Human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery, involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to control another person for exploitation. It's a grave violation of human rights that leads to physical, psychological, and emotional harm for victims.

Historically linked with organized crime, it occurs globally but is especially prevalent in regions with high levels of poverty, corruption, and armed conflict.

Solutions include strengthening laws and their enforcement, raising public awareness, enhancing victim support services, and improving international cooperation in tackling this crime.

Police Brutality

Police brutality, the undue or excessive use of force by police towards civilians, undermines the rule of law, promotes mistrust in law enforcement, and perpetuates systemic racism.

Historical and contemporary instances can be found worldwide, often in countries with deeply ingrained racial or ethnic conflicts and weak checks and balances in law enforcement. While any region can be affected, it is especially notable in areas with high racial tension or socio-political conflict.

Solutions encompass implementing police reforms, improving accountability with body cameras or independent oversight bodies, and providing better training to law enforcement officials.

Mental Health Stigma

Mental health stigma refers to societal prejudice and discrimination against people with mental health disorders. This stigma can deter individuals from seeking help, leading to a worsening of symptoms and a lower quality of life.

Historically, mental illnesses have often been misunderstood and stigmatized, leading to isolation and discrimination. While this issue is global, it is particularly prominent in societies with low mental health awareness and a lack of resources for mental health care.

Proposed solutions include public education campaigns, mental health inclusivity training, increased funding for mental health services, and legislative measures to protect the rights of people with mental illnesses.

Food Insecurity

Food insecurity refers to the lack of consistent access to enough nutritious food for an active, healthy life. It contributes to malnutrition, stunted growth in children, and increased disease susceptibility. Causes range from economic instability, climate change, and armed conflicts. It is particularly prevalent in regions of poverty, such as sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.

Solutions include improving agricultural practices, developing policies to stabilize food prices, strengthening social safety nets, and combating climate change.

Access to Healthcare

The lack of access to quality healthcare services can lead to unaddressed health issues, untreated illnesses, and premature death.

Historically, access has been limited by factors like high costs, distance, and social stigma, with these issues more pronounced in rural, impoverished, or conflict-ridden regions.

Proposed solutions include expanding healthcare coverage, improving healthcare infrastructure, implementing mobile clinics or telemedicine for remote areas, and promoting healthcare policies that prioritize the needs of marginalized communities.

Child Labor

Child labor refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially, or morally harmful. It's a social problem because it perpetuates poverty and inequality and violates children's rights.

Historically, child labor has been employed in various industries, and today it's more prevalent in impoverished and conflict-ridden regions, particularly in parts of Africa, Asia, and South America.

Solutions include enforcing child labor laws, improving access to quality education, offering economic support to families, and raising public awareness about the negative impacts of child labor.

Homelessness

Homelessness is a societal problem marked by individuals lacking safe and stable housing. It results in numerous social issues, including increased health problems, vulnerability to crime, and marginalization. Economic instability, lack of affordable housing, mental health issues, and substance abuse are historical and ongoing contributors to homelessness.

While it is a global problem, it's notably prevalent in urban areas and countries with high-income inequality.

Solutions encompass expanding affordable housing options, providing job training and employment support, improving access to healthcare, and strengthening social safety nets.

Elderly Abuse

Elderly abuse encompasses physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as neglect and financial exploitation of older individuals. It's a significant social problem as it can lead to physical injuries, emotional trauma, and even premature death. The aging population worldwide has seen an increase in cases, particularly in settings where the elderly are in someone else's care.

Solutions include improving elderly care standards, strengthening social support services, enforcing strict penalties for abuse, and promoting public awareness about elder abuse and ways to report it.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is abusive behavior in a domestic setting, such as in marriage or cohabitation. It's a significant social issue as it leads to physical, psychological, and emotional harm.

Historically, domestic violence has been a largely hidden issue due to societal and cultural norms. While it's a global problem, it is more prevalent in societies with deeply ingrained patriarchal norms and weak law enforcement.

Solutions include strengthening legal responses, offering protective services for victims, implementing public awareness campaigns, and promoting gender equality.

Gun Violence

Gun violence refers to violence committed with the use of a firearm. It can lead to injury and loss of life, increased healthcare costs, and heightened fear and anxiety in communities. The history and prevalence of gun violence vary worldwide, largely dependent on a country's firearm regulation.

It's particularly problematic in countries with loose gun control laws, such as the United States. Proposed solutions include implementing stricter gun control policies, improving mental health services, and promoting public safety education.

Terrorism, the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to induce fear and achieve political, religious, or ideological aims, poses a significant threat to peace and security. The rise of international terrorist groups and the increasing ease of spreading extremist ideologies online have heightened global concern.

Terrorism occurs globally but is more prevalent in regions with ongoing conflicts or where extremism flourishes. Strategies to counter-terrorism include strengthening international cooperation, combating radicalization, enhancing intelligence efforts, and addressing the socio-economic factors that contribute to terrorism.

Human Rights Violations

Human rights violations occur when actions by state or non-state actors abuse, ignore or deny basic human rights, including civil, political, cultural, social, and economic rights. Such violations are significant social issues because they infringe on the freedom, well-being, and dignity of individuals, potentially leading to conflict, displacement, and social instability.

These violations have been historically linked with totalitarian regimes, armed conflicts, and social discrimination and are more common in regions with weak rule of law or ongoing conflict.

Solutions include enforcing international human rights laws, strengthening civil society, promoting education and awareness about human rights, and improving the rule of law.

Digital Divide and Technological Inequality

The digital divide refers to the gap between individuals who have access to modern digital technology and those who do not. This inequality exacerbates issues of social and economic inequality, as those without digital access are often left out of educational, economic, and social opportunities offered by the digital world.

While the rapid growth of technology has accentuated this problem, it is more prevalent in less developed regions or among older, less educated, or lower-income populations.

Proposed solutions include improving access to digital infrastructure, offering digital literacy training, and promoting policies that make technology affordable and accessible.

Animal Cruelty and Factory Farming

Animal cruelty encompasses a range of behaviors harmful to animals, from neglect to malicious killing. Factory farming, which often prioritizes efficiency over animal welfare, is a significant source of such cruelty.

This presents social issues as it often leads to public health risks and environmental degradation and raises ethical concerns. The rise of industrial agriculture has heightened these problems, which occur worldwide but are more pronounced in countries with large agro-industrial complexes.

Solutions include improving animal welfare laws, promoting humane farming practices, and encouraging consumer demand for ethically produced products.

Water Scarcity and Clean Water Crisis

Water scarcity refers to the lack of sufficient accessible water resources to meet the demands within a region. The clean water crisis is the struggle to access clean, safe drinking water. Both are significant social issues contributing to health problems, food shortages, and resource conflict. These crises are amplified by climate change, population growth, and pollution and are especially severe in arid regions, areas with poor infrastructure, and parts of Africa and Asia.

Solutions involve implementing water conservation techniques, improving water infrastructure, investing in water treatment technologies, and enforcing water management policies.

Age Discrimination

Age discrimination involves treating individuals or groups differently based on their age. This social issue can limit job opportunities, contribute to social isolation, and negatively impact physical and mental health.

Ageism has a long history, but in modern times, it often affects older adults in societies with a high value placed on youth. It's a global issue but more prevalent in industrialized nations with more elderly citizens.

Solutions include enforcing anti-discrimination laws, promoting age diversity in workplaces, and raising public awareness about the negative impacts of ageism.

LGBTQ+ Discrimination and Rights Infringement

Discrimination and rights infringement against LGBTQ+ individuals is a severe social issue that can result in mental health issues, violence, and other forms of harm. Historically, LGBTQ+ rights have varied dramatically across different cultures and periods, with the modern fight for equality beginning in the mid-20th century.

Discrimination occurs worldwide, particularly in societies with conservative religious or cultural values.

Solutions involve implementing and enforcing anti-discrimination laws, educating the public about LGBTQ+ issues, and promoting inclusivity and representation in all sectors of society.

Child Marriage

Child marriage is a formal marriage or informal union where one or both parties are under 18. This practice infringes on child rights, hampers education, exposes children to health risks and violence and perpetuates poverty.

Rooted in cultural, traditional, and economic reasons, child marriage occurs globally but is most prevalent in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Proposed solutions include enforcing and strengthening laws that set the minimum age for marriage, promoting education (particularly for girls), and implementing programs that empower girls and provide economic opportunities for families.

Overpopulation

Overpopulation occurs when an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. In human terms, it refers to a situation where the population density is so high that it causes environmental deterioration, a decline in living standards, or a population crash.

Historically, overpopulation became a concern following the rapid increase in global population in the 20th century. Overpopulation is most likely in areas with limited resources, such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Proposed solutions include improving access to family planning services, empowering women through education, and sustainable development.

Religious Discrimination and Intolerance

Religious discrimination and intolerance involve treating individuals or groups differently based on their religious beliefs. This can result in social tension, conflict, and human rights violations. Historical and contemporary instances are found worldwide, often in countries with a dominant religious group or where secularism isn't fully upheld.

Solutions include promoting religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, educational programs about different religions, and enforcing anti-discrimination laws.

Internet Privacy and Data Breaches

Internet privacy concerns the storage and use of personal information on the web. Data breaches, where unauthorized parties access or steal this information, can lead to identity theft, financial loss, and reduced trust in digital systems. These problems have grown with the rise of the internet and digital data storage.

While they are global issues, they are particularly concerning in societies with a high degree of digitization and weak data protection laws.

Solutions include improving cybersecurity measures, implementing stricter data protection regulations, and educating the public about safe online practices.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Controversy

The GMO controversy revolves around the use of biotechnology to alter the genetic makeup of organisms, often to increase crop yield or resistance to pests. Critics argue it could pose health risks, harm the environment, and increase dependence on multinational agricultural companies. This controversy has grown as GMOs have become more prevalent since their introduction in the 1990s.

While it's a global issue, the level of acceptance of GMOs varies, with Europe being particularly cautious. Solutions include conducting further scientific research, implementing clear GMO labeling, and developing regulations that balance benefits and potential risks.

Anti-Vaccine Movements

Anti-vaccine movements, fueled by misinformation and mistrust, oppose vaccinations despite their proven effectiveness in preventing diseases. This can lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases, public health risks, and strain on healthcare systems. Such movements have existed since the introduction of vaccines but have been amplified by social media. They occur globally but are more prominent in societies with high internet usage and where medical misinformation spreads easily.

Solutions include spreading accurate vaccine information, combating medical misinformation online, and implementing policies that encourage vaccination.

Child Obesity and Unhealthy Eating Habits

Child obesity, often driven by unhealthy eating habits, is a significant social issue leading to health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and mental health disorders. Historically, child obesity has been on the rise due to increased access to processed foods, sedentary lifestyles, and lack of nutrition education. The issue is especially prevalent in developed countries like the United States but is a growing concern globally.

Proposed solutions include implementing school-based health and nutrition programs, promoting physical activity, regulating unhealthy food advertisements targeted at children, and supporting policies for healthier food environments.

Substance-induced Health Problems (Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking)

Substance-induced health problems stemming from the abuse of substances like alcohol, drugs, and tobacco contribute to a wide range of health issues, from liver disease to lung cancer to mental health disorders.

These problems have been persistent throughout history but are increasingly recognized as significant public health issues. While these problems occur globally, patterns of substance abuse can vary based on cultural, legal, and socioeconomic factors.

Solutions include public education campaigns about the risks of substance abuse, increased access to addiction treatment services, and policy measures such as increased taxation and regulation of harmful substances.

Neglected Tropical Diseases

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions. They can lead to debilitating illness and life-long disabilities, perpetuating cycles of poverty and stigma.

NTDs have historically been overlooked in global health priorities but are prevalent in poor communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Solutions include improving access to effective and affordable treatments, strengthening health infrastructures in affected regions, and investing in research and development for new treatments and vaccines.

Cybersecurity Threats and Cyber Crimes

Cybersecurity threats and cybercrimes, including hacking, data breaches, and online scams, can lead to significant financial losses, erosion of privacy, and potential threats to national security.

The prevalence of these threats has risen with the growth of the internet and digital technologies, and they occur globally, though countries with more digital infrastructure are often more targeted.

Proposed solutions include improving cybersecurity infrastructure, implementing stringent cyber laws, and raising awareness about safe digital practices.

Discrimination against People with Disabilities

Discrimination against people with disabilities involves treating people unfavorably because of the presence, history, or perception of a disability. This can lead to exclusion, poverty, and reduced quality of life. Such discrimination has been a longstanding issue globally, but awareness and recognition of it have increased in recent decades.

It's prevalent worldwide but particularly problematic in areas with inadequate disability legislation or accessibility.

Solutions include enforcing disability rights laws, promoting inclusivity, improving accessibility, and raising public awareness about disability issues.

Casteism is a form of discrimination and social stratification based on caste, primarily associated with South Asia and particularly India. Casteism can result in severe social inequality, exclusion, and human rights violations. Its roots are ancient, intertwining with religious, cultural, and historical factors, and it continues to affect millions of people, despite legal measures against it.

Proposed solutions include strict enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, improving education and economic opportunities for lower-caste individuals and social campaigns to challenge and change caste-based prejudices.

Youth Unemployment and Underemployment

Youth unemployment and underemployment refer to jobless young people, working fewer hours than desired, or in positions that don’t fully utilize their skills. These issues can lead to economic instability, increased poverty, and societal unrest.

Globally, youth are disproportionately affected by unemployment, a problem worsened by economic crises and automation trends. These issues are most pressing in regions with large youth populations and weak job markets, such as parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Solutions include promoting skills training and vocational education, implementing youth-targeted job creation policies, and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation among young people.

Media Bias and Fake News

Media bias involves the perceived or real imbalance in news coverage, while fake news refers to misinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media or online social media. These issues can distort public perception, fuel polarization, and undermine trust in institutions.

Media bias has been a longstanding concern, but fake news has surged with the rise of social media. Both issues occur globally but are particularly prevalent in societies with high political polarization and online connectivity.

Solutions include promoting media literacy, enforcing transparency in news reporting, regulating online content, and strengthening independent journalism.

Inadequate Waste Management and Pollution

Inadequate waste management refers to insufficient or inefficient systems for disposing of and treating waste, leading to pollution and public health issues.

It's a global problem but more prevalent in regions with rapid urbanization and limited infrastructure, like parts of Asia and Africa. As societies industrialized, waste generation increased, but management practices have not always kept pace. Pollution can cause various health issues and harm ecosystems.

Solutions include promoting recycling and composting, implementing waste reduction strategies, improving waste treatment infrastructure, and regulating industrial emissions.

Illiteracy, the inability to read or write, restricts individuals' potential for employment, hinders personal and societal growth, and can perpetuate cycles of poverty and disadvantage. Historical factors such as lack of access to education, poverty, and social inequality contribute to this problem. Although global literacy rates have improved, illiteracy is still a significant issue, particularly in regions with low access to education, like parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Solutions include increasing investment in education, implementing adult literacy programs, and promoting policies that ensure equitable access to quality education.

High Rates of Incarceration and Prison Reform Issues

High rates of incarceration, often due to punitive criminal justice policies, can strain public resources, disrupt communities, and exacerbate social inequality. Prison reform issues encompass a range of problems in prison systems, including overcrowding, inhumane conditions, and insufficient rehabilitation programs. These issues have a long history globally but are particularly prominent in countries with harsh criminal justice policies, such as the United States.

Proposed solutions include implementing alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders, promoting rehabilitation over punishment, and enforcing regulations to ensure humane prison conditions.

Social Stratification (Definition + Historical Examples)
Signs of Emotional Abuse (Definition + Examples)
47+ Social Injustice Examples (History + Solutions)
Social Institutions (Definition + 7 Examples)
50+ Woke Examples - Definition and Meaning Explained (Unbiased)

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The health care problems that money doesn’t want to solve

S ome of America's most challenging behavioral health care problems include a key disadvantage: They're not very profitable to treat.

Why it matters: Serious mental illness and addiction have a profound effect on families and communities, but their complexity and their concentration among lower-income people make them issues that the private market has little incentive to solve.

The big picture: More than 100,000 Americans are dying of drug overdoses every year, and around 5% of the adult population experiences serious mental illness each year.

Fentanyl use, addiction and serious mental illness — often in the context of homelessness — have become increasingly controversial political topics, partially a reflection of their growing societal impact.
But despite a clear need for more behavioral health care, the supply of such care is lacking, and millions of Americans go without treatment .

Between the lines: U.S. health care is a big, successful business, and companies are able to command the highest prices in the developed world for their products and services.

But some parts of the market are much more lucrative than others. Oncology, for example, is generally much more attractive from a business perspective than primary care.
Near the bottom of the profitability ranking is behavioral health care. That's in no small part because people suffering from serious mental illness and addiction tend to have poorly paying government insurance or can't pay at all.

What they're saying: "At root, the folks being affected are often the ones who don't have the ability to pay, which [limits] the incentives for the market participants," said Zack Cooper, a public health and economics associate professor at Yale. "Those challenges are both really hard for the individuals, and they have negative externalities to those around them."

People suffering from behavioral health issues face a vicious cycle: Their health conditions often have a negative impact on their income, and being low-income makes it much harder for them to receive the care they need.

This can be true of people with physical health conditions, too. But mental health care faces a unique set of hurdles beyond its demographics and lingering stigma.
Behavioral health conditions are often scientifically complex and require labor-intensive, long-term treatment. They also tend to overlap with several other socioeconomic issues , and successful treatment can require interventions outside of the traditional health care arena.

Yes, but: It's not just about money.

"A lot of mental health professionals, particularly psychiatrists and psychologists, they tend to steer away from the sickest patients, because very sick people with serious mental illness or serious addictions are difficult populations to deal with," said Richard Frank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
"If you talk to people who have been social workers, mental health therapists, it's an extremely taxing job. It's hard, it's not well paid, we have these issues with the supply of providers," added Catherine Maclean, a health economist at George Mason University.

The other side: The market dynamics are better for people who do have access to employer coverage.

"I think there will be more of an understanding on the part of corporations that they need to invest in these kinds of services to keep the workforce productive," said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Health.

The bottom line: Under the current structure, no one has clear incentives to solve these behavioral health issues.

"You're talking about the edge between health care and social services, which is always a messy edge," Mendelson said.
"It's very intertwined with social issues and food security and having a home — all of these things are wrapped together."

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The health care problems that money doesn’t want to solve

Can Donald Trump's Truth Social deal save him from his financial woes? Maybe.

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump is facing money challenges as he contends with legal fights on multiple fronts while trying to raise cash for his bid to reclaim the White House.

In a civil fraud case, Trump has been ordered to pay a half-billion dollar bond which his lawyers have called a “practical impossibility.” And in the 2024 presidential campaign, President Joe Biden has been lapping him in fundraising.

But a deal to take his social media platform, Truth Social , and its parent company public could provide the former president and business magnate a critical lifeline and could more than double his net worth and net him more than $3 billion.

The deal isn’t set in stone yet and Trump still has a few hurdles to clear if he wants immediate access to his newfound wealth. Here’s what to know about Trump’s social media deal and his financial woes.

What is Truth Social?

Truth Social is Trump's social media platform he launched after the 2020 election. The app is similar to X, formerly Twitter, and is Trump's favored messaging tool after his X account was permanently suspended for his false claims of election fraud. His account has since been reinstated after Elon Musk took control of the platform, but Trump has stayed on Truth Social.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

The app is marketed as an alternative social media platform for conservatives. Trump said in a statement he started the platform to "stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech."

What is the Truth Social merger?

Investors on Friday green lighted a merger with Trump’s media and technology company, aptly named Trump Media & Technology Group. The company, which owns Truth Social, will merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp, an SPAC – companies aimed at raising cash and merging with other entities.

If all goes well with the agreement, Truth Social can start trading on Monday labeled DJT – Trump’s initials .

Trump’s stake in Truth Social’s parent company values over $3 billion but a prior agreement bars Trump from selling any of his shares or borrowing cash against them for six months. If the agreement sticks, Trump's financial problems won't be going away anytime soon.

What are Trump’s financial problems?

Trump’s most immediate problem is a nearly half billion dollar bond he is ordered to post by Monday.

Last month a New York judge ruled in a civil fraud case that the former president inflated the values of his properties and delivered a penalty of almost $454 million. Trump is seeking to appeal the ruling and must put up a bond equal to the penalty. His lawyers however, told an appeals court it was a “practical impossibility” to put up the bond.

“Despite scouring the market, we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the Judgment Amount for Defendants for the simple reason that obtaining an appeal bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented,” his lawyers said in a court filing.

If Trump can’t post the bond by Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James can begin collecting the penalty from last month’s case. If Trump can’t pay up, James could begin seizing his assets.

Trump's fundraising numbers

Trump is also significantly trailing Biden in campaign fundraising as he runs for a second term while he is mired in legal trouble.

Biden raised $21.3 million in February, nearly double what Trump raised the same month – $10.9 million – according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Not only that, Biden’s campaign has $71 million cash on hand compared to Trump’s campaign which falls behind at $33.5 million.

Can the Truth Social deal save Trump?

Trump could ask the company Truth Social is merging with to waive the six-month waiting period – called a “lock-up” provision – before he could turn his stake into cash but that has its own set of complications.

But waiving the requirement could lower the company’s value and might not even allow Trump to tap into all of his shares as he could be limited to how much stock he can sell.

With the Monday deadline quickly approaching, it’s still unclear how Trump will be able to post up the $464 million bond. In the meantime, Trump’s lawyers are attempting to either reduce the bond requirement or completely waive it.

Store closures aren’t SF’s fault—but they are its problem. Here’s how to solve it

Former Gap Inc. chairman Bob Fisher on new ways to cure the city’s retail blues.

shoppers on stockton street in San Francisco

By Bob Fisher

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What is happening with San Francisco’s retail businesses? Why are iconic stores and local businesses closing in our downtown area but doing better in the neighborhoods and suburbs? What is causing these changes?

As a native San Franciscan who has been deeply involved in the city’s and country’s retail industry, I have a pretty good perspective on what is driving a difficult evolution in how people buy their jeans, dishes and books. My parents founded the Gap with one San Francisco store in 1969, and now it’s a global company. There is no doubt that the city helped the Gap become what it is today because of the city’s unique ability to attract the best creative minds in the world.

We’ve seen many trends and innovations through the years, just like other retailers. We’ve opened stores and, yes, we have closed stores as well. I know these ups and downs are part of the retail business.

And I know that the dynamics that are driving recent announcements, like the closure of Macy’s, are much bigger than San Francisco—and have been in play for a long time.

We all know about the large economic changes that have pummeled in-store retail in recent decades. The internet created a marketplace that is easy to access and has a huge amount of goods to select from. A digital marketplace, by definition, is not constrained by the inventory of what a bricks-and-mortar building can provide. Plus, we’ve all gotten used to purchases that can be delivered to our doors and returned for free via the mail.

The convenience, scope and low cost of goods bought on the internet have permanently reduced retail store-bought sales by 30-40%, a massive number that has triggered an equally massive drop-off in store-based customers and an epidemic of store closings across America.

The pandemic just added fuel to this fire. Not only did people stop coming into downtowns throughout our country, but the rise of a viable work-from-home employment model allowed many to stay away from business centers after the pandemic was over. In San Francisco’s case, it looks like there may be a permanent 50% reduction of people working in downtown office towers. That means a lot of people are not visiting our stores or eating out as they used to.

And, as we all know, anxiety around whether San Francisco’s streets are safe and clean is another serious ingredient contributing to a decline in people choosing to be downtown. This means our core downtown area is lacking a lot of customers who might otherwise be there. Fewer customers equals fewer sales and less revenue to keep the doors open.

Adapting to retail’s new normal

While research shows that these situations are being experienced in most major U.S. urban cities —not just in San Francisco—we still have to deal with what is happening here. We must figure out how to persuade more people to visit, work and live in our urban core. We must create a reason to come downtown.

Simply put, we must adapt. And there has to be a robust plan to help that happen. In many cases newly vacant downtown buildings, especially around Union Square, may be converted to housing. However, it is clearly understood that the conversion of commercial offices or large retail space to housing cannot singularly resolve downtown’s problem. It will take a mosaic of solutions to do that.

Another possibility is the growth of unique and more personally scaled boutique shopping experiences. People are attracted to opportunities that they can’t find anywhere else. Retailers have to create excitement—a buzz. That is well known. Coal Drops Yard in London, for example, offers open-air movies, cafes and bespoke shopping. It is a sensory experience for shoppers. Closer to home, we can look to Marin Country Mart, with its broad array of local eateries and independent shops.

One crucial solution is the abundance of entertainment, eating and cultural activities that can only be found in major urban cities. If we are to stay competitive, we need to better utilize the city’s streets to create joyous gatherings as a part of the culture of consumption—experiences like the recent Chinatown Night Market and the upcoming Downtown First Thursdays, which my wife, Randi, and I are helping to fund.

We know that internet shopping is not going away nor is the work-from-home model. To attract more people to the city in the new world we’re facing, we must support the development of options that address people’s new expectations and interests. The sooner we get behind the need for change and come to an agreement on what that may mean and look like, the better off we will be.

Our city’s unique history, geography, neighborhoods and innovation-based economy are strong foundations for building such a bright future. But we must do the work to achieve it.

Bob Fisher is the former chair of Gap Inc. and a lifelong resident of San Francisco.

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Brian X. Chen and Mike Isaac sit at a white table. Both are wearing black Ray-Ban glasses.

Meta’s Smart Glasses Are Becoming Artificially Intelligent. We Took Them for a Spin.

What happens when a columnist and a reporter use A.I. glasses to scan groceries, monuments and zoo animals? Hilarity, wonder and lots of mistakes ensued.

Brian X. Chen, left, and Mike Isaac, reporters for The New York Times, trying out Meta’s new Ray-Ban smart glasses. Credit... Aaron Wojack for The New York Times

Supported by

By Brian X. Chen and Mike Isaac

Brian X. Chen is The Times’s personal tech columnist, and Mike Isaac is the beat reporter covering Meta.

March 28, 2024

In a sign that the tech industry keeps getting weirder, Meta soon plans to release a big update that transforms the Ray-Ban Meta, its camera glasses that shoot videos, into a gadget seen only in sci-fi movies.

Next month, the glasses will be able to use new artificial intelligence software to see the real world and describe what you’re looking at, similar to the A.I. assistant in the movie “Her.”

The glasses, which come in various frames starting at $300 and lenses starting at $17, have mostly been used for shooting photos and videos and listening to music. But with the new A.I. software, they can be used to scan famous landmarks, translate languages and identify animal breeds and exotic fruits, among other tasks.

To use the A.I. software, wearers just say, “Hey, Meta,” followed by a prompt, such as “Look and tell me what kind of dog this is.” The A.I. then responds in a computer-generated voice that plays through the glasses’ tiny speakers.

The concept of the A.I. software is so novel and quirky that when we — Brian X. Chen, a tech columnist who reviewed the Ray-Bans last year, and Mike Isaac, who covers Meta and wears the smart glasses to produce a cooking show — heard about it, we were dying to try it. Meta gave us early access to the update, and we took the technology for a spin over the last few weeks.

Hands holding a brown case and a pair of black eyeglasses.

We wore the glasses to the zoo, grocery stores and a museum while grilling the A.I. with questions and requests.

The upshot: We were simultaneously entertained by the virtual assistant’s goof-ups — for example, mistaking a monkey for a giraffe — and impressed when it carried out useful tasks like determining that a pack of cookies was gluten-free.

‘Hey, Meta, What Am I Looking At?’

What happens when a columnist and a reporter use A.I. glasses to scan groceries, monuments and zoo animals?

A Meta spokesman said that because the technology was still new, the artificial intelligence wouldn’t always get things right, and that feedback would improve the glasses over time.

Meta’s software also created transcripts of our questions and the A.I.’s responses, which we captured in screenshots. Here are the highlights from our month of coexisting with Meta’s assistant.

BRIAN: Naturally, the very first thing I had to try Meta’s A.I. on was my corgi, Max. I looked at the plump pooch and asked, “Hey, Meta, what am I looking at?”

“A cute Corgi dog sitting on the ground with its tongue out,” the assistant said. Correct, especially the part about being cute.

MIKE: Meta’s A.I. correctly recognized my dog, Bruna, as a “black and brown Bernese Mountain dog.” I half expected the A.I. software to think she was a bear, the animal that she is most consistently mistaken for by neighbors.

Zoo Animals

BRIAN: After the A.I. correctly identified my dog, the logical next step was to try it on zoo animals. So I recently paid a visit to the Oakland Zoo in Oakland, Calif., where, for two hours, I gazed at about a dozen animals, including parrots, tortoises, monkeys and zebras. I said: “Hey, Meta, look and tell me what kind of animal that is.”

The A.I. was wrong the vast majority of the time, in part because many animals were caged off and farther away. It mistook a primate for a giraffe, a duck for a turtle and a meerkat for a giant panda, among other mix-ups. On the other hand, I was impressed when the A.I. correctly identified a species of parrot known as the blue-and-gold macaw, as well as zebras.

The strangest part of this experiment was speaking to an A.I. assistant around children and their parents. They pretended not to listen to the only solo adult at the park as I seemingly muttered to myself.

MIKE: I also had a peculiar time grocery shopping. Being inside a Safeway and talking to myself was a bit embarrassing, so I tried to keep my voice low. I still got a few sideways looks.

When Meta’s A.I. worked, it was charming. I picked up a pack of strange-looking Oreos and asked it to look at the packaging and tell me if they were gluten-free. (They were not.) It answered questions like these correctly about half the time, though I can’t say it saved time compared with reading the label.

But the entire reason I got into these glasses in the first place was to start my own Instagram cooking show — a flattering way of saying I record myself making food for the week while talking to myself. These glasses made doing so much easier than using a phone and one hand.

The A.I. assistant can also offer some kitchen help. If I need to know how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon and my hands are covered in olive oil, for example, I can ask it to tell me. (There are three teaspoons in a tablespoon, just FYI.)

But when I asked the A.I. to look at a handful of ingredients I had and come up with a recipe, it spat out rapid-fire instructions for an egg custard — not exactly helpful for following directions at my own pace.

A handful of examples to choose from could have been more useful, but that might require tweaks to the user interface and maybe even a screen inside my lenses.

A Meta spokesman said users could ask follow-up questions to get tighter, more useful responses from its assistant.

BRIAN: I went to the grocery store and bought the most exotic fruit I could find — a cherimoya, a scaly green fruit that looks like a dinosaur egg. When I gave Meta’s A.I. multiple chances to identify it, it made a different guess each time: a chocolate-covered pecan, a stone fruit, an apple and, finally, a durian, which was close, but no banana.

Monuments and Museums

MIKE: The new software’s ability to recognize landmarks and monuments seemed to be clicking. Looking down a block in downtown San Francisco at a towering dome, Meta’s A.I. correctly responded, “City Hall.” That’s a neat trick and perhaps helpful if you’re a tourist.

Other times were hit or miss. As I drove home from the city to my house in Oakland, I asked Meta what bridge I was on while looking out the window in front of me (both hands on the wheel, of course). The first response was the Golden Gate Bridge, which was wrong. On the second try, it figured out I was on the Bay Bridge, which made me wonder if it just needed a clearer shot of the newer portion’s tall, white suspension poles to be right.

BRIAN: I visited San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art to check if Meta’s A.I. could do the job of a tour guide. After snapping photos of about two dozen paintings and asking the assistant to tell me about the piece of art I was looking at, the A.I. could describe the imagery and what media was used to compose the art — which would be nice for an art history student — but it couldn’t identify the artist or title. (A Meta spokesman said another software update it released after my museum visit improved this ability.)

After the update, I tried looking at images on my computer screen of more famous works of art, including the Mona Lisa, and the A.I. correctly identified those.

BRIAN: At a Chinese restaurant, I pointed at a menu item written in Chinese and asked Meta to translate it into English, but the A.I. said it currently only supported English, Spanish, Italian, French and German. (I was surprised, because Mark Zuckerberg learned Mandarin.)

MIKE: It did a pretty good job translating a book title into German from English.

Bottom Line

Meta’s A.I.-powered glasses offer an intriguing glimpse into a future that feels distant. The flaws underscore the limitations and challenges in designing this type of product. The glasses could probably do better at identifying zoo animals and fruit, for instance, if the camera had a higher resolution — but a nicer lens would add bulk. And no matter where we were, it was awkward to speak to a virtual assistant in public. It’s unclear if that ever will feel normal.

But when it worked, it worked well and we had fun — and the fact that Meta’s A.I. can do things like translate languages and identify landmarks through a pair of hip-looking glasses shows how far the tech has come.

An earlier version of this article misidentified the blue-and-gold macaw. It is a species, not a breed.

How we handle corrections

Brian X. Chen is the lead consumer technology writer for The Times. He reviews products and writes Tech Fix , a column about the social implications of the tech we use. More about Brian X. Chen

Mike Isaac is a technology correspondent for The Times based in San Francisco. He regularly covers Facebook and Silicon Valley. More about Mike Isaac

Tech Fix: Solving Your Tech Problems

Brian x. chen, our lead consumer technology writer, looks at the societal implications of the tech we use..

Ditch Your Wallet: Using your phone as a digital wallet is attainable , but it requires preparation and some compromise.

Managing Subscriptions: The dream of streaming — watch what you want, whenever you want, for a sliver of the price of cable! — is coming to an end as prices go up. Here’s how to juggle all your subscriptions and even cancel them .

Apple’s Vision Pro: The new headset teaches a valuable lesson about the cost of tech products: The upsells and add-ons will get you .

Going Old School: Retro-photography apps that mimic the appearance of analog film formats make your digital files seem like they’re from another era. Here’s how to use them .

Cut Down Your Screen Time: Worried about smartphone addiction? Here’s how to cut down on your screen time , and here’s how to quit your smartphone entirely .

A New Age of Surveillance: Meta’s $300 smart glasses can inconspicuously take photos and record videos. They also offer a glimpse into a future with less privacy and more distraction .

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1.1 What Is a Social Problem?
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How to Solve Problems in Society

A Method for Solving Social Problems

Define the Problem

Identify the Causes

Define the Goal

Identify Strategies

Take Action

Keep Improving

Why Is it Important to Solve Problems?

What Are Some of Our Most Pressing Social Problems?

What are Some Ways to Solve Social Problems?

Clearly – the government won’t help

Nonprofit groups are overmatched

Businesses Have the Resources to Help

Strategies for Solving Social Problems:

Strengthen Communities

Increase Accountability

Align Incentives

Whistleblower Protection

Impact Consumerism

Reduce the Influence of Money in Washington

Redistribute Wealth

What are the Fundamental Causes of Social Problems?

So What Are the Goals?

Universal Happiness

Equal Access to Upward Mobility

Feeling of Progress

World Peace / Peace on Earth

A Healthy Planet

Healthy People

Thriving Communities

Prosperous Middle Class

Productive Government

Helpful Private Sector

Competitive Marketplaces

We Can Make Things Less Bad

Related Posts

Top 10 world problems and their solutions

Climate Change

Wars and military conflicts

Water contamination

Human rights violation

Global health issues

Global poverty

Children’s poor access to healthcare, education and safety

Access to food and hunger

Weapons accessibility

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Social Problem-Solving

A Model of Social Problem-Solving

Problem Orientation

Problem-Solving

The skills required for positive problem orientation are:

The skills required for rational problem-solving include:

Potential Difficulties

An Academic Term for a Human Process?

1.1 What Is a Social Problem?

The Natural History of a Social Problem

Stage 1: Emergence and Claims Making

Stage 2: Legitimacy

Stage 3: Renewed Claims Making

Stage 4: Development of Alternative Strategies

Key Takeaways

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How Technology Can Help Solve Societal Problems

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Chapter 17 Sections

What are social determinants of health and development?

Economic factors.

Social inclusion.

Racial or ethnic bias.

Social norms of acceptance of particular behaviors or practices.

Cultural factors.

The influence of mass media.

Living conditions.

Why address social determinants of health and development?

Who should address social determinants of community health and development?