Policy Maker – individuals involved in making policy. The Cabinet and House of Lords
The State – Collective public services that create policies.
Social Problem:
A personal problem that has become a public issue in that it:
-Affect a significant number of people
-Captures public attention and seen to require social intervention
-Likely to threaten cherished social values.
E.g., poverty, homelessness, unemployment, gender-based violence, drugs, bullying, knife
crime, climate change, inequality, discrimination.
Social Policy:
The intentions and activities of government that are broadly social in their nature. (Baldock
et al. 2014) – COVID vaccines, housing, healthcare.
The study and research of various social policies with a particular focus on welfare politics.
Fabian Society – addressing poverty in UK, set up LSE school of administration and sociology.
Social Constructionism:
-Theoretical perspective highly influential in a number of disciplines.
-The way people assign meaning to the social world (Best,2011, p.11)
-Rejects realist/objective reality – we must identify problems; they only exist if we say they
do.
-Social constructionist perspective says social problems are fluid rather than fixed.
-Different societies give different meaning to problems as to what they say they are, e.g.
poverty in Gambia likely to look different to UK, poor sanitation vs can’t afford heating.
Claimsmakers and Framing:
-Claimsmakers are social actors/groups that aim to convince others that something is a
social problem.
-Constructed in different ways depending on position of actors/groups – involves framing.
-The way social problems are influenced by various factors e.g. ideology, knowledge and
language.
-Not all claimsmakers are equal – power is important, politicians are powerful as people
listen to them, as is the media.
E.g. Framing in Teenage Motherhood
-Claimsmakers focus on framing age of mother as being the problem.
-General public view them as inadequate mothers (Kirkman 2001)
-Medical professionals construct teenage mothers negatively and even treat them
differently.
-Research suggests social workers have rigid expectations of motherhood that teenage
women can’t achieve, for example breastfeeding
-Most media sources present teenage motherhood negatively.
However:
-Teenage mothers view their position positively as claimsmakers.
The State – Collective public services that create policies.
Social Problem:
A personal problem that has become a public issue in that it:
-Affect a significant number of people
-Captures public attention and seen to require social intervention
-Likely to threaten cherished social values.
E.g., poverty, homelessness, unemployment, gender-based violence, drugs, bullying, knife
crime, climate change, inequality, discrimination.
Social Policy:
The intentions and activities of government that are broadly social in their nature. (Baldock
et al. 2014) – COVID vaccines, housing, healthcare.
The study and research of various social policies with a particular focus on welfare politics.
Fabian Society – addressing poverty in UK, set up LSE school of administration and sociology.
Social Constructionism:
-Theoretical perspective highly influential in a number of disciplines.
-The way people assign meaning to the social world (Best,2011, p.11)
-Rejects realist/objective reality – we must identify problems; they only exist if we say they
do.
-Social constructionist perspective says social problems are fluid rather than fixed.
-Different societies give different meaning to problems as to what they say they are, e.g.
poverty in Gambia likely to look different to UK, poor sanitation vs can’t afford heating.
Claimsmakers and Framing:
-Claimsmakers are social actors/groups that aim to convince others that something is a
social problem.
-Constructed in different ways depending on position of actors/groups – involves framing.
-The way social problems are influenced by various factors e.g. ideology, knowledge and
language.
-Not all claimsmakers are equal – power is important, politicians are powerful as people
listen to them, as is the media.
E.g. Framing in Teenage Motherhood
-Claimsmakers focus on framing age of mother as being the problem.
-General public view them as inadequate mothers (Kirkman 2001)
-Medical professionals construct teenage mothers negatively and even treat them
differently.
-Research suggests social workers have rigid expectations of motherhood that teenage
women can’t achieve, for example breastfeeding
-Most media sources present teenage motherhood negatively.
However:
-Teenage mothers view their position positively as claimsmakers.
