Chapter 6

Social Problems
Chapter 6
Youngjoon Bae

The Role of the Public
Slide 1
What are some of the ways that the general
public reacts to the claims they hear?
Social Problems, Third Edition
Copyright © 2016 W.W. Norton & Company

Slide 2
 How do claims reach the public?
 Directly from primary claimsmakers
 At a rally or event or through a website
 Through the media (secondary claimsmaker)
 Through the news or through entertainment
media

Slide 3
 The general public is an active audience and
can have a variety of reactions to claims.
 They may be moved to action (ex: donate).
 They may share the claim (ex: on social
media).
 They may be apathetic and ignore it.
 Some may react negatively and oppose it.

Measuring Public Opinion
Slide 1
 Claimsmakers, the media, and others use
many techniques to measure public opinion.
 The most common is polls or surveys
 This method has several limitations:
 It is difficult to find a truly representative sample.
 Survey results can be influenced by wording.

Slide 2
 In order to assess the validity of opinion polls,
critics ask key questions.
 How representative is the sample? Does it
accurately reflect the population?
 How were the questions asked? Did they
assess nuances in respondents’ thoughts?

Slide 3
 How are public opinion polls used in the
social problems process?
 Feedback about the usefulness of claims
being made, frames, symbols being used
 They offer claimsmakers opportunities to fine
tune their messages early on in the process
 Policymakers often base their decisions (to act
or to not act) on poll results

Other Methods of Assessment
Slide 1
 Other methods of measuring public opinion:
 Focus groups
 Public responses in the media
 Folklore

Slide 2
 Focus groups
 Researchers use a small number of
individuals for an in-depth discussion of their
views.
 Groups can be designed to reflect a particular
racial group, level of education, region, or other
factor.
 Focus groups reveal that individuals tend to
draw on popular wisdom, personal
experiences, and media messages.

Slide 3
 Focus group strengths
 More time to develop and share opinions
 Greater ability to observe nuanced opinions
 Members can pose questions and respond
 Focus group limitations
 More costly than most surveys
 Researcher must draw out participants
 Group may not be representative

Slide 4
 Public responses in the media
 Traditionally, this could include reading letters
to the editor in newspapers.
 Now this method is more likely to analyze
comments on online articles.
 Semantic polling involves software that
interprets large numbers of social media
messages to study public responses.

Slide 5
 Folklore
 Information spread informally
 Contemporary legends are stories wherein
teller and listener believe the events are true
 “This really happened to my roommate’s cousin.”
 Legends often invoke familiar motifs.
 Motifs = maniacs with sharp objects, villainous
conspiracies, or drugs slipped to children.

Slide 6
 Folklore revolves around social tensions.
 Folklore translates claimsmakers’ concerns
into stories that capture the public imagination.
 People telling these stories are unknowingly
part of the social problems process.
 For example, a 1943 race riot in Detroit was
inspired by rumors that a baby and mother were
thrown off a bridge.

Slide 7
 Joke cycles are sets of jokes that share a
form or a topic.
 Some analyze the popularity of particular joke cycles
as a reflection of public opinion about social issues.
 Jokes can offer a glimpse into short-term
popular worries and concerns.
 Popular memes and jokes allow the public to
express their thoughts and respond to more
visible claimsmakers.

The Social Problems Process
 Claimsmakers measure public reactions and
reframe their claims based on feedback.
 Public reaction is diverse, complex, and
changes over time.
 With many claims competing with one
another, many fail to attract the public’s
attention at all.

Chapter 6

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Chapter 6

Similar to Chapter 6 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Chapter 6