Intrinsic characteristics
Mainly refers to the basic components or units that constitute social problems. Sociologists have different views on the elements of social problems. American sociologist R.C. Fuller believes that social problems have both objective and subjective factors. The former is manifested in one or more situations that threaten social security; The latter shows that most people in society are aware of this harm and have the desire to organize and solve it. Sun Benwen, a sociologist in China, also believes that social problems include two aspects: one is that there are obstacles in social life, and the other is that there are obstacles in social progress. These two aspects determine the number of people involved in social problems, either all members of society or some members of society. In the late 1950s, American sociologist C.W. Mills distinguished between personal problems and public problems. He believes that a problem that is popular in society for a while and deeply hurts individuals is not necessarily a social problem. Only the public * * * problems that transcend the individual's special living environment, are related to the life, system or history of human society, and threaten the values, interests or living conditions of most members of society can have the conditions to form social problems.
Since the 1960s, sociologists have paid more and more attention to the analysis of social problems. R.K. Merton put forward a two-dimensional analysis method, holding that on the one hand, social problems should be divided into social disorganization and deviant behavior from the perspective of types; On the other hand, social problems should be potential and obvious. At the same time, some sociologists emphasize the destructiveness of social problems and think that the elements of social problems should include sociality, disorder and destructiveness. In other words, social problems must be shared by the society, which is manifested in the disorder of social structure and function, the disorder of social norms and social life, which directly causes the destruction of social daily life.
Sociologists in China mostly examine the composition of social problems from four aspects. Some scholars believe that judging whether a social phenomenon is a social problem should be investigated from the following four aspects: ① the situation in which it occurs; (2) the imbalance or destruction of values, norms and interests; (3) Not caused or liable by individuals or a few people; Most people or the whole society must take action to improve it. Another scholar believes that the formation of social problems should consider its causes, scope of influence, nature of problems and social consequences. Generally speaking, social problems are composed of the following four elements: ① there must be one or more social phenomena out of balance; (2) This situation will inevitably affect many people; (3) This imbalance must attract the attention of many people; (4) It must be solved by collective action.
Characteristics of social problems
Mainly manifested in universality, variability, complexity and periodicity. Universality means that social problems exist in the real life of every nation, country and society from beginning to end; Variability means that social problems have different forms and characteristics in different times, regions, nationalities or societies; Complexity refers to the complexity of social problems in terms of causes, modes of existence or manifestations, consequences, etc., that is, social problems are compounded by many factors, and often several social problems coexist at the same time, resulting in a series of destructive social consequences; Periodicity refers to the temporal regularity of the occurrence and development of social problems. Generally speaking, the general time course and its stages of social problems are two basic meanings of periodicity. Sociologists especially emphasize the latent and repetitive characteristics in periodicity.
Contemporary social problems
Social problems reflect different contents in different times. At present, the most prominent social problems are: population, ecological environment, employment, juvenile delinquency and aging.
Population problem is one of the most important social problems in the world, and it is also the core of many contemporary social problems. Although its specific performance is different in different countries, its essence is mainly manifested in the imbalance between population reproduction and material reproduction, and population growth exceeds economic growth, resulting in overpopulation. Taking China as an example, all kinds of problems encountered in current social life and development are directly or indirectly related to the huge population pressure. First of all, the population pressure makes the society encounter insurmountable difficulties in providing the living conditions of the existing population and improving people's living standards. Outstanding performance is employment difficulties, housing shortage, food, fuel and other necessities shortage. Secondly, the population pressure has caused the imbalance between consumption and accumulation, the ecological environment has been seriously damaged, and the scientific and cultural level of the whole nation has declined.
Eco-environmental problems are characterized by ecological destruction and serious environmental pollution. It is the main obstacle to social operation and development. It is predicted that the main contradiction of social problems in the future will focus on the ecological environment. If it is not solved early, it will bring great damage to society, even global and devastating damage.
The employment problem stems from the imbalance between labor force and means of production. This imbalance has different manifestations in different societies and regions. But as a social problem, it mainly refers to overpopulation, slow or stagnant economic development, which leads to unemployment or unemployment of the working population. China's labor and employment problems, first of all, manifested as inadequate employment; There are still serious redundant staff, low labor productivity and low quality of employed and unemployed people. The social consequences of the employment problem, on the one hand, hinder the improvement of people's living standards, thus inducing social unrest and social crime; On the other hand, it is not conducive to the coordinated development of social economy, and then threatens the stability of the whole social structure.
Juvenile delinquency refers to juvenile or juvenile delinquency, which is an increasingly serious social problem facing all countries in the world. In the past 30 years, juvenile delinquency has increased dramatically all over the world. The outstanding features are: the increase in the number of crimes, the early age of crimes, the wide spread of crimes, the cruelty of means, the prominent gang crimes, the increase in repetitiveness and the difficulty of reform.
The problem of aging, also known as population aging, generally refers to the increase in the proportion of people aged 60 and over, thus affecting social production and life. Population aging is a major social problem that has attracted worldwide attention in recent years. At present, it is more prominent in developed countries, but in underdeveloped countries, this phenomenon is concealed by the rejuvenation of the population caused by the high birth rate. Judging from the age composition of the population, China will enter the aged society at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the next century. However, due to the large population base, the total number of elderly people in China will rank first in the world now and in the future. Population aging has brought a series of influences and problems to society, politics and economy, which requires corresponding adjustments to social production, consumption, distribution, investment, social security and welfare, and urban and rural planning.
Theoretical research on social problems
German sociologists started their theoretical research on social problems earlier. They have long understood social problems as labor problems. Many people have conducted extensive research on labor relations, class contradictions, distribution relations, employment, trade unions, strikes, labor housing and women's employment. French sociologist Durkheim has a broad understanding of social problems. He believes that the mutual contact between people should be appropriate, balanced and regular, so as to coordinate social relations and realize social movements, human civilization and social progress. If we lose health, balance and regularity, social problems will arise. Early American sociologists mostly attributed the causes of social problems to social imbalance in the process of social change. American sociologist W.F. Ogburn believes that social changes are fast and slow, and cultural imbalance often occurs between this fast and slow, and social problems are caused by cultural imbalance. In the early 1940s, American sociologist Fuller proposed that most people think that social conditions that deviate from some social norms they hold are social problems. In the middle and late 1940s, Sun Benwen, a sociologist in China, summarized various explanations of social problems at that time, and thought that there were four angles to define social problems: ① the angle of social change and cultural imbalance in ogburn. (2) that social problems have no special content, no matter what social situation, as long as it attracts the attention of most people in society and needs social collective action to adjust and remedy, it is a social problem. Social psychologists believe that social problems are not only a visible phenomenon, but also a psychological state and a value judgment of people. ④ The subjective and objective criteria of social problems put forward by Fuller and others. Among them, the objective standard means that it can be proved that there are several verifiable situations; Subjective standard refers to the situation that people realize that some social problem threatens their values. On the basis of summarizing the definition of social problems, Sun Benwen put forward his own definition. In his view, social problems are problems that hinder the life or social progress of the whole society or some people.
In the early 1960s, American sociologist Merton and others summarized the research on social problems since the 1940s, and proposed that social problems should include three aspects: the interruption of social expectations or the arrangement of things; Destroy legal things stipulated by society; The social model cherished by society is out of touch with the relationship. According to this understanding, they think there are two types of social problems: social disintegration and deviant behavior.
The gap between the rich and the poor is also a social problem. I study economics.