Appearance Cues and the Shootings at Columbine High: Construction of a Social Problem in the Print Media

In this study, we used an interpretive approach to examine print media (newspaper) representations of the relationship between appearance and the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. Our work was guided by the social constructionist definition of a social problem. Grounded theory analyses revealed that both primary and secondary claims-makers staged claims and/or counterclaims contributing to the construction of Columbine as an appearance-linked social problem. The content and form of these claims varied according to the stage in the construction of the problem. Further, although both primary and secondary claims were made with respect to the conceptualization of the problem, an explanation for it, and solutions to it, the roles of primary and secondary claims-makers in constructing the problem varied. Implications of claims made within the media and related to the role of appearance in the shootings are considered, and a call is made for future work in this area.     

“Road Warriors” on “Hair-Tragger Highways”: Cultural Resources and the Media's Construction of the 1987 Freeway Shootings Problem*

Media constructions of social problems usually rework the claims of activists and other primary claimsmakers. However, the news media acted as primary claims-makers in discovering and reporting the 1987 Los Angeles freeway violence problem. The press drew upon cultural resources in constructing this problem, applying a conventional template for social problems stories and using familiar imagery to depict freeway shootings. The social organization of claimsmaking, as well as contingencies in the histories of individual campaigns, affect the choice of cultural resources used to construct social problems.     

Adolescent Residents Negotiate the Construction of Social Problems in a Low-Income Community: Making Claims on the “City of Sadness”

The social constructionist approach to research on social issues provides a conceptual means in understanding how specific problems are generated and handled by institutional claims-makers, including the state and mass media. In neighborhood research, the voice of adolescent residents is seldom heard, let alone the value of their claims in relation to the state's construction. This article endeavors to address this in several steps: by outlining the specific developmental trajectory of low-income community in Hong Kong; by examining the dominant state discourse on the nature and “solution” of community problems; and by analyzing the voice of adolescent residents. Empirically, 54 Chinese adolescents (aged 12 to 17 years) were recruited to participate in eight focus groups to express how they saw community conditions. Furthermore, a random sample of 22 parents of the participants was surveyed as comparison. Finally, the article suggests that adolescents' constructions provide significant opportunities developing more critically informed, “bottom-up” agendas for community revitalization.     

We really are all multiculturalists now

Treating multiculturalism as a social fact, this article develops the argument that it ought to be construed as a form of political claims-making advanced by spokespersons on behalf of what can be described as communities of fate. After brief examinations of the claims-makers and those groups that claims are made on behalf of, five types of claims are analyzed: (1) exemption, (2) accommodation, (3) preservation, (4) redress, and (5) inclusion. This leads to a concluding section devoted to analyzing the politics of identity as constituting an effort to ovecome the burdens of stigmatization, with a focus on the respective contributions of Goffman, Taylor, and Alexander.     

Problematic Sociality: Uncertainty and the Study of Social Problems

John Kitsuse and Malcolm Spector’s theoretical framework for the analysis of social problems is revisited and an alternative formulation is sketched out, albeit one that maintains a focus on constructivist processes. Spector and Kitsuse’s model posits actors (claims-makers and counter-claimants) who possess moral certitude regarding what is objectionable and worthy of remedial action; by contrast, the present discussion suggests grounding the study of social problems in experiences characterized by uncertainty. The concept of “problematic sociality” is proposed as a way of identifying such circumstances. Sociality — routine, coordinated and manageable forms of association among individuals and between groups — becomes problematic when interactions are experienced as persistently difficult to navigate, distressing, or otherwise viscerally onerous. Encounters with problematic sociality may be connected to underlying social transformations and disruptions. The concept of problematic sociality therefore suggests there is merit in pairing the study of social problems with the study of social change.     

Resistance,Space and Political Identities: The Making of Counter-Global Networks

Activists in seven US cities were interviewed about why they thought people in their communities mobilized against alcohol-related problems. The data were analyzed in light of the focus on resource mobilization theory in the social movement literature. In contrast with claims that resources are the primary catalyst for change, informants emphasized the role of grievances, and to a lesser extent, bridging factors that caused residents to be more aware of or frustrated by problems, and thus ready for change. Resources seemed to provide necessary but insufficient conditions for explaining movement participation, suggesting that, to be effective, resources must be channeled to address and be linked to the grievous social conditions of inner city communities.     

Prize Proliferation1

Recent decades have been characterized by growing numbers of awards, prizes, and honors distributed by a wide range of social worlds—prize proliferation. This article examines how claims for—and counterclaims against—establishing prizes lead to more awards being given. Unlike most constructionist analyses that explore how centralized claims‐making campaigns construct social problems, this study of prize proliferation illustrates how localized, independent social worlds can become arenas for claims, and how such largely unrelated efforts can shape broad social trends.     

Joseph Gusfield and Social Problems Theory

Joseph R. Gusfield was a key figure in the emergence of constructionist social problems theory. His approach was characterized by: his determination to identify the cultural, structural, and historical context of claims; attention to the choices among alternatives that shaped how problems were defined; and the rhetoric used by advocates. He highlighted the role of ownership–the ability to define the terms in which social problems are constructed. His work is also notable for its skepticism regarding social scientists’ theorizing.     

THE RISE AND (RELATIVE) DECLINE OF GLOBAL WARMING AS A SOCIAL PROBLEM

This article extends recent work on the public arenas approach to social problems (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988) by examining changes in audience receptiveness to claims-making activities. Scientists' claims about global warming failed to attract much public attention until the extraordinary heat and drought of the "summer of '88" created a social scare . That is, environmental claims are most likely to be honored—and accelerate demands in the political arena—when they piggyback on dramatic real-world events. The dynamics of this social problem over time reveal that both demand attenuation and issue redirection processes have diminished global warming's standing as a "celebrity" social problem. Social scares hold potential importance for prospective social problems that revolve around new technologies.     

Lived Realities and the Construction of Social Problems: The Case of Wife Abuse

This article examines the official and subjective realities of one social problem, wife abuse, and it considers consequences of differences between these two types of reality. First, claims appearing in the professional literature are used to define the specific content of the official social problem. Then, characteristics of violence as experienced are compared with this official definition. Finally, data from a shelter for battered women are used to illustrate consequences of official definitions in organizations designed to ameliorate the individual troubles associated with social problems. The study demonstrates how the official definition of wife abuse acts and actors has reduced the recognizability of the phenomenon in lived experience and also set the stage for reality-definition contests in social services for abused wives. This illustrates the importance of examining sociologically the specific content of social problems claims and the necessity of attending to social problems in their full phenomenological realities.     

THE DISADVANTAGE OF A GOOD REPUTATION: Disney as a Target for Social Problems Claims

Social scientists generally presume that a good reputation has advantages. Yet the Walt Disney Corporation, a firm that has long benefited from a reputation for producing wholesome popular culture, attracts more than its share of efforts to link it to various social problems. In particular, conservative moralists argue that Disney in fact produces morally questionable products, progressive critics claim that Disney's messages help preserve social inequities, and social scientists criticize Disney for fostering inauthentic and alienating entertainment. These claims are a form of blowback—negative reactions to the firm's positive reputation. While blowback makes it easier to construct social problems claims, a good reputation remains a significant resource in deflecting these criticisms.     

Postmodern Swing Dance and Secondary Adjustment: Identity as Process

In this article, the author describes activities of strategic consumption that members of a postmodern swing dance scene utilized to construct identity. He deploys Goffman's category of “contained secondary adjustment” for describing social interactions that are moments of purposeful resistance designed to usurp (while also being lodged within) organizational and/or institutional claims and constraints for identity and self. Specifically, the article describes swing dancers' presentations of unique selves, thrift store shopping, tavern socializing, and swing dancing. Swing dancers utilized these secondary adjustments to resist the dictates of corporate‐driven and mass‐mediated claims and constraints for “mainstream” consumer identities. These secondary adjustments add up to an “identity distancing,” which is the individual's and/or group's purposeful distancing and separation from other identities or groups associated with popular culture. Describing the swing dancers' secondary adjustments reaffirms the symbolic interactionist stance that identity construction is a durable social interactional process.     

Middle-Range Future Claims: Constructing the Near-Future Consequences of COVID-19

The extraordinary social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has generated many claims about the middle-range future—the period beginning in the late summer or early fall of 2020 and projected to last for some months or years. This paper surveys those assertions and seeks to explain the factors that led to them. Exploring questions about future claims can expand the scope of social problems theory.     

Primäre und sekundäre Effekte der sozialen Herkunft beim Übergang in die Hochschulbildung

Following Boudon social disparities at educational transitions can be linked to primary and secondary effects of social origin. Whereas primary effects describe social differentials in scholastic performance, secondary effects represent social differences in educational choices that are independent of performance. We use four panel surveys of graduate cohorts that have obtained eligibility for higher education between 1983 and 1999, provided by the German Higher Education Information System (HIS). By applying counterfactual decomposition methods we estimate the relative importance of primary and secondary effects at the transition to tertiary education. Our results indicate that secondary effects are the main driving force in the creation of social disparities at the transition to tertiary education, accounting for more than 80% of the differential between service class and working class offspring. Particularly financial aspects connected to the choice of post-secondary alternatives, interest in academic work and the type of Abitur degree can explain these effects. Furthermore, even though we observe a small increase in social selectivities at the transition to higher education, the relative importance of primary and secondary effects does not change within our observation period.     

What is a Vote Worth? A Focused Inquiry to Scaffold Elementary Historical Thinking

Abstract

Meaningful source work is at the heart of social studies learning, but often a tall order for elementary-aged students. In this article, the authors describe the construction and implementation of a fifth grade inquiry on the Suffrage Movement using a focused version of the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint. Using source analysis scaffolds coupled with discussion and organizational tasks, students used primary and secondary sources to create complex evidence-based claims showing the intersection between First Amendment rights, civic engagement, and the Suffrage Movement. This focused inquiry supported meaningful application of learning to an informed civic action project.     

Too Much Fun: Toys as Social Problems and the Interpretation of Culture

Toys are a frequent subject of contemporary claims concerning social problems. Rooted in our culture's longstanding ambivalence regarding leisure and its concerns about children's vulnerability, claims about troublesome toys also reflect anxiety about children's increased susceptibility to non-familial influences, their growing access to toys, and an expanded toy industry, as well as an active social movement sector. Typically, these claims argue that toys represent undesirable values, and that children who play with the toys acquire those values. Parallel arguments may be found in claims regarding other forms of popular and material culture. Interactionists should be wary of making or accepting these claims, because rather than treating children's play as a topic (or empirical study, such claims locate meaning in objects, rather than actors.     

The Save the Children Fund and the Russian Famine of 1921–23: Claims and Counter‐Claims about Feeding “Bolshevik” Children*

Drawing on literature on the social construction of social problems, this paper examines the British Save the Children Fund's claims making activities regarding support for child famine victims in Russia in 1921–23. It examines 1) how the Fund constructed famine in Russia as a social problem that was worthy of British, and wider international, support and attention; 2) the rhetorical strategies used by the Fund to construct the causes of the famine for the British public; and 3) the claims the Fund made about why Britons should care about starving children in Russia. We also attend to counter‐claims made about the Fund and its involvement with Russia. We used unpublished letters, memos and reports from The Save the Children Fund archives to examine how the Fund responded to attacks on its activities coming from Russian émigrés and from The Daily Express. We suggest that the examination of this case through the concept of claims making offers a lens to understand how children in distress in the early 20^th century became the objects of British, and wider international aid.     

Parental education, children's performance and the transition to higher secondary education: trends in primary and secondary effects over five Dutch school cohorts (1965–99)

According to Boudon, social background affects educational transitions as a result of differences in children's academic performance (primary effects) and differences in transition probabilities given children's level of academic performance (secondary effects). This study addresses historical changes in both primary and secondary effects on the educational transition from primary school to higher secondary education in the Netherlands. In addition, it considers changes over time in the relative importance of these effects. The study compares five cohorts of Dutch pupils, specifically those enrolling in secondary education in 1965, 1977, 1989, 1993 and 1999, and it employs counterfactual analyses. The main findings are that secondary effects have been stable and primary effects have fluctuated to some extent. As a result, the proportion of the total effect of social background accounted for by primary effects has increased somewhat, from 53 per cent to 58 per cent.     

Between argument and coercion: Social coordination in rural environmental governance

Increasingly, partnerships and other cooperative forms of governance are common-place in addressing problems of environmental management in rural landscapes. These forms of governance are multi-dimensional in the policy instruments employed; the make-up of actors; and, the types of rationalities that actors use to debate the problem and proposed solutions. This paper pursues the question of how different modes of social action, represented in argumentative claims of participants, influence social coordination in these governance arenas. An empirical study is presented of agri-environmental governance in Australia where actors debate planning and policy initiatives to reduce diffuse water quality impacts from farms on the adjacent Great Barrier Reef. Forester’s conceptualisation of practical social action which locates communicative action in the ‘real world’ of interest-based planning contexts, is used as an analytical frame to identify: (i) the type of claims made by governments, farmer groups and other actors in argumentation; (ii) the claims association with communicative, strategic and instrumental modes of action; and, (iii) their consequence for social coordination in formation and maintenance of inclusive, legitimate and viable forms of governing. The study finds that the interconnected character of claims made by actors, and the ready switching between modes of action observed, point to a situated and dynamic expression of rationality within these contested and prolonged debates on how to legitimately and effectively govern rural environments.     

Reacting to Invasive Species: The Construction of a Moral Panic over Burmese Pythons

A variety of animals occupy the bad side of the Arluke‐Sanders (1996) socio‐zoological scale, including “invasives.” We contribute to the literature on animals and social problems by examining the societal reaction toward invasive Burmese pythons, focusing on the claims‐making process that culminated in the construction of a moral panic about these snakes. We seek to enhance sociological and public knowledge about social problems involving invasive species—a category of non‐human animals, plants, and organisms that attract significant scientific, political, and public attention. We draw from the work of, among others, Arluke and Sanders (1996), Nagy and Johnson (2013) and Jerolmack (2008) and argue that problematizing some animals, especially invasive species, involves the use of claims about ecological and physical harms. However, these claims do not come from the same sources or arouse similar responses. For strategic purposes, claims‐makers may rely on assertions that an animal is physically threatening, rather than ecologically threatening. They may emphasize the dangerousness or lethality of the animal to create fear and generate momentum toward a desired policy response, typically involving control or eradication of the animal. The goal is to restore the boundary between humans and nature which the animal's presence has disrupted.