Sociological interpretation of social problems

Abstract

In the article, the author analyzes the main sociological approaches to dealing the social problems, their historical development. Social problems are one of the hottest topics of modern society, which requires consideration of sociological science. The topic of social problems gains special significance in the context of social and economic tensions in ukrainian society. Of course, that social problems are not a phenomenon, that is present exclusively in the crisis period, but their worsening and spreading occurs in difficult socio-economic conditions. Therefore, the aim of the article is to analyze the main traditional and modern sociological approaches to understanding social problems. To achieve this goal, a systematic analysis (to describe the phenomenon of social problems) and a comparative-historical method (to outline traditional and modern sociological approaches to understanding social problems) were used.The article considers such sociological approaches to social problems as social pathology, social disorganization, functional and critical approaches, the approach of value conflict, constructionsite approach and the approach of «labelling». Each approach has its own peculiarities of consideration of social problems, that is related with the historical period in which it arose and settled down, and the views of members of a particular sociological approach to social problems. Moreover, considering the basic sociological approaches to understanding social problems, there is a certain evolution of these views. Two sociological groups of approaches to social problems that approach their definition from the objectivist and subjectivist side are substantiated and singled out. Also, the article discusses the main advantages and disadvantages of sociological approaches to dealing the social problems.