Gone are the days when you used to think that life is all rainbows and butterflies. Now, you have to deal with bills and chores. And then, you have to take care of your career, academics, and social life.
Life is overwhelming.
And you visit plush fluffy to make it a little smoother.
Today, we are telling you a few reasons to be grateful about your life situation. If you don’t experience these social problems or a majority of these social problems, consider yourself lucky.
How Do You Identify Social Issues?
All societies are faced with certain problems that require urgent solutions. These problems, when affecting a larger population, are termed social issues or social problems. Social issues are essentially behaviors or challenges that negatively impact a large group of people as part of society. These usually have social, economic, or political causes and consequences. Due to their debilitating nature, they demand a solution. Social issues are not limited to individuals and have a much larger reach, causing hardships and disruption in the lives of a large number of people.
Here are four characteristics that help define whether or not a problem is a social issue.
It Affects a Large Number of People
Social issues often have negative consequences for a large portion of the population. Often issues affect individuals, but when a problem has mass consequences, it is considered a social issue that needs to be addressed urgently.
Recognized as a Problem
It is important that the social issue is recognized. When a population recognizes a problem to be widespread and affects many people, it is considered a social issue.
The Problem Contradicts Values and Principles of that Society
For an issue to be considered a social issue, it should go against that particular society’s set values and principles. This means that it fails to allow all members of that population to follow the set principles.
The Issue Can Be Solved
A social issue is always solvable through social action, resources, or regulation. If an issue can be resolved through these means, then it can be classified as a social issue.
Common Examples of Social Issues
1. Poverty
What financial situation constitutes poverty differs from country to country. So, if your income falls below the threshold set for your country, consider yourself poor.
Remember that the line of poverty is measured for one person. So, if you have dependents, you have to multiply the threshold with the number of your family members then compare it with the collective income your household earns.
One of the major reasons behind poverty is the lack of employment and business opportunities in a country. Other reasons include a high cost of living, lack of education, and bigger families. In some cases, health issues and poor infrastructure also translates into lower living standards and limited resources.
According to a recent consensus, almost 9% of people in this world live beneath the poverty line. Surprisingly, this rate is higher for the US and stood at 10.5% in 2019.
2. Bullying
If you think that bullying happens when one student physically, emotionally, or mentally harasses another student, you are wrong. Bullying is behavior that is not confined to schools and educational institutes only. It happens everywhere in every situation.
Visit plush fluffy to know how to deal with bullying.
Workplace bullying is an example. Teacher bullying is another. Then, there is sibling bullying, cyberbullying, and many more.
Bullying in schools is the most researched and highlighted topic. It is estimated that almost 20% of all school-going children experience bullying.
When you are online, the chances of bullying rise sharply. Almost 36.5% of netizens, regardless of age, claim to experience bullying in the digital world.
3. Unemployment
After bullying, this issue makes the root cause of most other social issues.
Unemployment refers to the number of qualified people who don’t get employed or self-employed in a country. Most often, this problem coincides with national income. It results in people facing financial difficulties leading to stress and lowered life standards.
A recent research points out that the unemployment rate in America stands at 6.7%. The same measure stands at 5.4% for the whole world.
The figures are higher than normal because of COVID-19. Before the pandemic, the world had a slightly lower unemployment rate of 54% and America’s rate was 3.5%.
4. Discrimination and Intolerance
Discrimination is another issue that plagues society. It appears in many forms such as gender discrimination, racism, and language-based discrimination. Oftentimes, bullying ensues from racial or language intolerance so it relates to bigger issues also.
Racial discrimination in America is the hottest debate and often is seen in schools, at workplace, and in police and law enforcement departments. According to this report, Black students are twice more likely to get suspension than their White peers. Even the healthcare sector is not free of this bias making White the most privileged sect of the society getting better service than 40% of Black patients.
5. Drug abuse
Drug abuse makes a primary reason for the deteriorating financial, mental, and physical health of most people. It includes abuse of prescription drugs as well as substance abuse.
It often escalates into violence, especially domestic violence.
It is estimated that in 2017, one out of every eight adults abused drug or alcohol in the US.
6. Domestic violence
The most commonly cited situation of domestic violence is violence against women. The term, however, is broader and includes violence against intimate partners. It can be directed from a man to a woman or from a woman to a man.
Only a handful of cases of domestic abuse remain restricted to abuse of intimate partners. Unfortunately, in most cases, it also involves children.
This CDC report concludes that every fourth woman and every seventh man experiences intimate partner abuse at some point in their lives.
7. Inadequate housing
Homelessness is a huge taboo for any society. But the problem of inadequate housing is more than just inadequate housing. It also includes housing in less than decent locality; residence without proper electricity, communication, or gas; and insecure housing.
People living in such houses fear for their lives and their health situations on a daily basis.
It is estimated that in America alone almost 5.2% of houses are void of necessary facilities.
Visit Plush puppy to know how you can make a difference in the world riddled with intolerance and injustice.
Conclusion
Many countries and societies worldwide are facing various issues affecting a large group of people. Although, they can be resolved, they persist and have caused a great deal of pain in people’s lives.