Social Work for Sociologists: Theory and Practice

CHAPtEr 7

Analyzing and Solving

Social Problems

Anita Gibbs

Introduction

Sociologists understand social problems and theorize extensively about the
ills of society; however, making sense of social problems and moving beyond
mere critique require some new knowledge. The sociological imagination, a
term coined by Mills (1959), connects personal troubles, such as receiving
a low wage, to public issues, such as poverty, thus enabling sociologists to
reflect and theorize about the social and environmental causes of human
suffering. The social work imagination, which connects theory to action
(praxis), adds ideas about how interventions follow on from explanations and
how interventions connect to outcomes. Outcomes, in turn, feed back into
theory. Unless social theory is connected to intervention or change, social
theory potentially creates a void of unanswered questions, causing a disconnect
for sociologists between good theory and real action. The social work imagi-
nation ensures that theory cannot be divorced from practice.
This chapter considers how to analyze social problems in such a way that they
can be linked to interventive theory and action. Interventive theory addresses
the development and use of concrete strategies, like participation, compul-
sion, persuasion, and class struggle, in dealing with major social problems. This
chapter analyzes one social problem—that of family poverty—utilizing both
explanatory and interventive theory to develop change strategies at policy and
practice levels. By the end of this chapter, sociologists will have gained a useful
framework for tackling social problems from an interventive perspective, at
both the social or structural level and the personal level of people’s lives. This
chapter draws on Shannon and Young’s (2004) seminal work, Solving Social