Toward a Sociology of Social Problems: Social Conditions, Value-Judgments, and Social Problems

Two major approaches to the study of social problems are examined: the functionalist statement by Merton, and the value-conflict view of Waller, and Fuller and Myers. The ambiguities of the relationship between the concepts “objective conditions” and “social problem” contained in the statements of these writers are identified and analyzed. Some preliminary suggestions are made to define the subject matter of the sociology of social problems as a specialized area of study.