Chapter 1 Learning Objectives

In this chapter the student should learn to do the following:

1. Understand what a social problem is and how sociology can help conceptualize the nature and solutions to these problems.
2. Understand the subjective and objective qualities of a social problem and how they link social problems to conditions and processes.
3. Understand what C. Wright Mills meant by the ‘sociological imagination’ and how the micro and the macro relate to one another.
4. Understand what social constructionism is and the role of moral entrepreneurs and whistleblowers in claims making and moral panics.
5. Understand the transience of social problems and the forces that cause problems to shift and change.
6. Understand individual and collective action as the two main ways of solving social problems.