Public Perceptions of Social Problems: Some Propositions and a Test

Abstract

Research on social problems has largely overlooked a central question: What characteristics must a phenomenon possess before the general public will consider it a social problem? Only by answering that question will one have a clear basis for predicting the outcomes of campaigns to define phenomena as social problems. The authors propose that any phenomenon will be perceived as a social problem to the degree that people (1) condemn it (i.e., view it as wrong or hazardous), (2) perceive it to be frequent or prevalent, and (3) consider it mutable. Data from a 1981 survey of Seattle residents provide strong support for this position, but they also show that the effect of perceived mutability is contingent on the type of social problem under consideration.