In this issue, we provide a few examples of the growing number of sociological studies of "social problems." After decades of silence, social activities that are to a greater or lesser extent troubling to Soviet officials (and to sections of the public) are being opened up to sociological investigation. Although most of the impetus for the study of social problems has been provided by journalists, sociologists are now beginning to develop an agenda for more systematic sociological research. Journalists, though, have made it much easier for sociologists to probe into areas that were formerly taboo; the conservative and highly cautious norms that governed Soviet sociology for more than a decade made the profession unwilling and unable to move quickly into these areas. The muckraking of the press, therefore, provided most of the information available to the general population on such issues as drugs, prostitution, alcoholism, sexuality, youth gangs, and suicide. These accounts, valuable as they are, are too anecdotal to provide a basis for the development of programs and laws; for this, more systematic sociological research is necessary.