AN OVERVIEW OF A SOCIAL PROBLEM

1. What general category does the social problem fall under?

Norm Violations
___ problems related to sexual behavior
___ alcohol and other drugs
___ violence in society
___ crime and criminal justice
Problems of Social Inequality
___ economic problems
___ racial-ethnic relations
___ inequalities of gender and sexual orientation
___ medical care
Social Change and Megaproblems
___ the changing family
___ urbanization and population issues
___ the environmental crisis
___ war, terrorism, and the balance of power

2. What is the specific problem? Example: you want to address a problem related to sexual behavior.
We covered prostitution and pornography in class. You can pick pornography, and make it even more
specific by focusing on child pornography. You could get even more specific and focus on children
creating and sharing pornographic images of themselves, or the creation and viewing of artificial child
pornography, in which no actual child was involved.

3. What are the descriptive conditions? Cite either the pages in your textbook, or the website/article
you found the information and why you think it's credible?

4. What are the objective concerns (cite a source)? Their underlying values/moral claims?

5. What is the counterargument (those who do not agree it is a social problem; cite a source)? Their
underlying values/moral claims?

6. What do you think?