Six Stages Of The Social Problem Process

There are six stages to the Social Problems Process. These stages include the claims making stage, the media coverage stage, the public reaction stage, the policymaking stage, the social problems work stage, and the policy outcomes stage. These stage are seen and used all the time during the Social Problems Process. Their influence can be seen in the problem of gun control. Stage one of the Social Problem Process is claimsmaking. In this stage, activist frame a claim to show that something is a social problem. Claims in this stage have a ground, warrant, and a conclusion. Grounds being information and evidence that there is a problem. Warrant telling us why we should care for the problem. Lastly, the conclusion telling us how we should solve …show more content…
In this stage, the media reports on the claim and claimsmaker. Claims must fight to be shown on media in the first place. The claims that are picked are usually aimed at a particular demographic and are entertaining enough to get attention. Once a claim is on media, specifically News networks, the media controls the claim and create the narratives that they want to when it comes to the claim. This stage directly affects public reaction as the public gets a lot of their information from media and depending on the media’s narrative, a person’s reaction can change. It can also affect the policymaking stage as policymakers also use media as a tool to see the public’s reaction and plan their policy around that reaction. It can also affect the claimsmaking stage as somebody can use what they headed from the media to create a counterclaim or piggyback of a existing claim. In this stage, gun control claimsmakers can bring up events like mass shootings to show that there is a problem with guns and have victims of the schooling speak about their …show more content…
In this stage, the public’s opinion on the claim is identified. The public’s opinions are taken in a few ways, such as, using social media to see public opinion, taking a sample survey, or by using focus groups to see public opinion. Public opinion can be affected by many things, such as recent events and media coverage. These points are taken into consideration in the policymaking stage as the public is who the government is trying to please. Public opinion can also affect the claimsmaking stage as depending on public opinion, a claim might have to change. On the topic of gun control, public opinion is spilt with many anting more gun control and many wanting less gun control. Stage four of the Social Problem Process is policymaking. This is when policymakers come up with ideas of policies that can solve the problem. Policymaking involves three streams that merge into one. The first stream is where policymakers recognize problems based on media coverage and public response. The second stream is where the policy community proposes changes. The third stream is where political parties make the political environment. The three streams blend together to create a chance to change the policy. Gun control faced this when the government decided to ban assault weapons in the early