Title: What Is a Social Problem?
Headings: 1.1
What Is a Social Problem?

1.1 What Is a Social Problem?
Learning Objectives
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

Content: 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. 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.