Categories of Ownership and Responsibility in Social Issues: Alcohol Abuse and Automobile Use

Abstract

The case of alcohol abuse and automobile accidents illustrates the moral and political nature of social problems. Knowledge about the causation of automobile accidents is socially organized to document and confirm an image of the alcohol-impaired driver as a public threat. This individualistic definition of the causation of automobile accidents is sustained by various organizations and agencies which claim “ownership” of this social problem and assume political responsibility for its control. Rather than taking the preveiling conceptions of causality and responsibility for granted, consideration of alternative frameworks for defining public problems is an important task for sociological analysis as well as a promising means for policy change.