ABSTRACT
Social problem claims about people also can encourage audience members to feel hatred. Claims-makers often greatly expand their grounds and diagnostic frames by constructing full-blown typifications of the types of people harmed by social problems and the types of people causing these problems. Terms for social problem victims—such as "abused child" or "anorexic teen"—or social problem villains—such as drug addict or child molester—are constructed in ways yielding images of people that go far beyond demographic description. Medicalized constructions neatly circumvent the problem that American audiences are prone to blame people rather than social structures or social forces for problems, while simultaneously being hesitant to condemn all but the most evil people. Audience members are practical actors who see and hear social problems claims as a package. In "Multicultural Education as Moral Drama", Shan Nelson-Rowe examines the social problems formula story of multicultural education.
