ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews two ways that social problems are currently defined. One is the functional approach, which stresses the idea of social disorganization. The other is the normative approach, which is characteristic of both the functional and more eclectic formulations. The chapter examines in detail the definitional statements of several authors and explores whether these definitions are, in fact, implemented and reflected in their analyses of the empirical work they present. The concepts of deviant behavior and social disorganization have been the objects of extensive commentary and criticism. The functionalist and normative definitions of social problems continue to reflect implicitly the values that shape the sociologists' assessments of social conditions. Theories of disorganization are presented as value-neutral and objective; theories using normative definitions carefully specify that social problems are conditions that violate society's standards and values, not those of the sociologist.
