social issue

Brendon McNeil
Social Issue Final
Fall 2014

What makes something a social issue?

Four individuals walk into a bar, a functionalist, neo-Marxist, an investigative journalist and a person of color and the topic of discussion is what makes something a social issue? A social issue encompasses issues that a small to representative group of people within a society disagree with or find undesirable. A social issue or a social illness, a topic or issue must both influence the society where that problem is. Each of the individuals will have different opinions of what problems will classify as a social issue. Social issues can be local, national or international. Other examples of social issues or problems include hunger, alcohol and drug abuse, gambling, racism and inequality.
The functionalist theory of a social issue will be different from the rest of the people at the table. The functionalist perspective, also called functionalism, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. They believe that order and sustainability in the public will make the society evolve. It has its origins in the works of Emile Durkheim, who was especially interested in how social order is possible or how society remains relatively stable. A functionalist sees that the whole society needs to contribute to ensure the stability of the whole society. Each part of the society depends on each other in order to work as a whole. A functionalist sees that a society needs to work together an example, the government, provides education for the children of the family, which the family pays taxes for the education. The family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process the children become tax-paying citizens and the process starts over with their children. If all goes well, the parts of society produce order, stability, and productivity. If all does not go well, the parts of society then must adapt to recapture a new order, stability, and productivity.
The neo-Marxist adds elements of other intellectual traditions to the classical Marxist theory Neo-Marxism is basically Marxism but without the class determinism. Neo-Marxists say that the ruling class labels certain members of the working class in order to gain benefits themselves. They look at more reasons for why there could be inequality in society and the social status in the society. Also how inequality has changed over the years. A Neo-Marxist would believe that an important social issue would be within the role of capitalist states, welfare institutions rather than advancing socialism. A neo-Marxist will agree that the economy is the most important part of society, and it is from this that crime is born, and that the capitalism is to blame for crime as it causes an inequality in society, which is the root of crime. Therefor the neo-Marxist social issue is crime. A neo-Marxist will want to eradicate crime but first they must see a transformation of society away from capitalism in order to solve the crime problem.
The person of color sitting at the table will have a total opposite viewpoint of a social issue as the Neo-Marxist. People of color are usually within the working class. Neo-Marxists say that the ruling class labels certain members of the working class to benefit the upper class. The person of color will argue that social inequality is the reason why they are in the working class and there is very little room to grow with in the society. Also that Neo-Marxists say that this is just one of many examples of how social background being you’re ethnicity and class, can result in you being deviant, but it is only because of the labeling from the ruling class that you become lower in the social class. That being said the person of color will argue that the color of their skin will forever label them as being the cause of crime.
Now the investigative journalist, he may have a personal viewpoint on which problem may become a social issue, but from a professional standpoint he will have to cover every social issue that comes his way. An investigative journalist will see a social issue from Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Discrimination, Drug Abuse / Drug Addiction, crime, inequality, and immigration and everything in-between. A journalist’s job is to cover stories and most news breaking stories are social problems. Now the journalist does not have to agree with what is happening in the society, but what he does have to do is investigate the issue that is upon the society. Each individual sitting at the table will have their opinions and they are all valid on which makes a social issue a problem. They may not agree with each other but all have one thing in common, they all live in a society with problems and they all need to work together to resolve them. From Neo-Marxist valuing social class, functionalist needing social order, a person of color having problems with inequality and finally the investigative journalist seeing all the social problem as they come up.