Social Problems as Collective Behavior

Author(s): Herbert Blumer

Source: Social Problems, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Winter, 1971), pp. 298-306
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social
Problems
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298 SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Stryker,
S.
group Relations. New
York:
Har1968 "In memoriam: Arnold M. Rose
per and Row.
(1918-1968)."
The American So1969 Sociology: The Study
of Human
ciologist
3(February): 60-61.
Relations, Third Edition.
New
Westie, F. R.
York: Alfred A. Knopf.
1968 "The American Dilemma: An emRose, A. M., and H. R. Stub
pirical test." Pp. 127-141 in Ray1955 "Summary of studies on the incimond W. Mack (ed.), Race, Class

dence of mental disorders." In

Rose, 1955a: 87-116.

and Power. New York: American

Book Co.

Rose, A. M., and L. Warshay

Young, K.
1957 "Adjustments of migrants to
1944 "Review of 'An American Dicities." Social Forces 36(October):
lemma.'" American Sociological
72-76.
Review 9(June): 326-330.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS AS COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR

HERBERT BLUMER

University of California, Berkeley

Sociologists have erred in locating social problems in objective conditions. Inste

social problems have their being in a process of collective definition. This proc
determines whether social problems will arise, whether they become legitimat
how they are shaped in discussion, how they come to be addressed in official po
and how they are reconstituted in putting planned action into effect. Sociolog
theory and study must respect this process.

ture standing in contrast to a normal or

My thesis is that social problems

are fundamentally products of socially

a pro-healthful society. In sociologcess of collective definition instead
of
ical jargon
it is a state of dysfunction,
disorganization, or deviexisting independently as a set pathology,
of obThe task of the sociologist is to
jective social arrangements with ance.
an inidentify the harmful condition or artrinsic makeup. This thesis challenges

rangement
and to resolve it into its
the premise underlying the typical
soci-

essential
ological study of social problems.
The elements or parts. This analythesis, if true, would call for a drastic
sis of the objective makeup of the
reorientation of sociological theory
social problem is usually accompanied
an identification of the conditions
and research in the case of socialbyproblems.
which cause the problem and by proposals as to how the problem might be
Let me begin with a brief account
handled. In having analyzed the obof the typical way in which sociologists
jective nature of the social problem,
approach the study and analysis of soidentified its causes, and pointed out
cial problems. The approach presumes
how the problem could be handled or
that a social problem exists as an obsolved the sociologist believes that he
jective condition or arrangement in the
has accomplished his scientific mission.
texture of a society. The objective condiThe knowledge and information which
tion or arrangement is seen as having an
he has gathered can, on the one hand,
intrinsically harmful or malignant na-

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Collective Behavior 299

be added to the store

scholarly
scene, wasof
of peripheral
sociological

a few years
back. Without
knowledge and, on concern
the other
hand,
be
drawing
other illustrations,
I merely
placed at the disposal
ofonpolicy
makers
assert that in identifying social proband the general citizenry.
lems sociologists have
consistently taken
This typical sociological
approach
from what happens
to be in
seems on its face totheir
becue
logical,
reasonthe Yet,
focus of in
publicmy
concern.
This conable, and justifiable.
judgclusion ismisunderstandsupported further by the
ment, it reflects a gross

of sociologists
and the
ing of the nature indifference
of social
problems

alike,ineffectual
to many questionable in
and
and, accordingly, ispublic,
very
harmful
dimensions of modern
life.
providing for their
control.
To give

Such
injurious
may be casan initial indication
of
the dimensions
deficiency
noted
but despite their
gravity
of the approach, letually
me
indicate
briefly
are given the
status of social problems
the falsity or unproven
character
of
by sociologists. A or
few instances
that
several of its key assumptions
claims.
come to mind are: the vast overFirst, current sociological theory and
organization that
is developing
in modknowledge, in themselves,
just
do not
enable the detectionern
or
identification
of in
society,
the unearned increment
land values which
Henry George camsocial problems. Instead,
sociologists

paigned
againstafter
three-quarters
discern social problems
only
theyof a
century
ago,
the
injurious
social
effects
are recognized as social problems by
of our national highway
system, the
and in a society. Sociological
recognition follows in the wake of societal
pernicious social consequences of an

recognition, veering with the winds ofideology of "growth," the unsavory

the public identification of social prob-side of established business codes; and
lems. Illustrations are legion-I cite may I add for my State of California,

only a few of recent memory. Povertya state water plan with hidden social
was a conspicuous social problem forconsequences of a repelling character.

sociologists a half-century ago, only toI think that the empirical record is
practically disappear from the socio- clear that the designation of social

logical scene in the 1940's and earlyproblems by sociologists is derived

1950's, and then to reappear in ourfrom the public designation of social

current time. Racial injustice and.ex- problems.

ploitation in our society were far Let me add that, contrary to the
greater in the 1920's and 1930's thanpretensions of sociologists, sociological
they are today; yet the sociologicaltheory, by itself, has been conspicuconcern they evoked was little untilously impotent to detect or identify
the chain of happenings following thesocial problems. This can be seen in
Supreme Court decision on school de- the case of the three most prestigeful
segregation and the riot in Watts. En-sociological concepts currently used to
vironmental pollution and ecologicalexplain the emergence of social probdestruction are social problems of verylems, namely, the concepts of "devilate vintage for sociologists although ance," "dysfunction," and "structural
their presence and manifestation date strain." These concepts are useless as
back over many decades. The problem means of identifying social problems.
of the inequality of women's status,For one thing, none of them has a set

emerging so vigorously on our currentof benchmarks that enable the scholar

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300 SOCIAL PROBLEMS

to identify in theologists
empirical
treat a social problem
world
as if its
the
being of
consisted
of a series of objective dysso-called instances
deviance,
items, such as strain.
rates of incidence,
the
function, or structural
Lacking
such clear identifying
characteristics,
kind of people
involved in the problem, their
number, up
their types,
their
the scholar cannot
take
each
and
social characteristics,
and the relation
every social condition
or arrangement
of their condition
to various
selected
in society and establish
that
it
is or is
societal
factors.
Is
it
assumed
that the
not an instance of deviance, dysfunction, or structural reduction
strain.
But
this
of a social
problem
into suchdeficiency, however objective
serious,
istheof
lesser
elements catches
problem
in its central
character and I
constitutes
importance in the
matter
am con-

sidering. Of far greater

its scientific analysis.
significance
In my judgment
is
this assumption
is erroneous.
As explain
I will
the inability of the
scholar
to
why some of the instances
of
deviance,
show much clearer later,
a social
probdysfunction, or structural
lem exists primarily instrain
terms of how itnoted

by him fail to achieve

the in
status
of
is defined and conceived
a society

social problems whereas

instead of being
other
an objective condition
instances
do reach this status.
are
allThekinds
with a There
definitive objective
makeup.

societal
definition,
and not recognithe objecof deviance that do
not
gain
tion as social problems;
tive makeup ofwe
a givenare
social condinever
told how or when tion,
deviance
becomes
a
determines whether
the condition

social problem. Similarly,

are
exists as a social problem.there
The societal
many alleged dysfunctions
definition gives theor
social structural
problem its
strains that never come to be seen as
nature, lays out how it is to be ap-

social problems; we are not told howproached, and shapes what is done
and when so-called dysfunctions orabout it. Alongside these decisive instructural strains become social prob- fluences, the so-called objective exis-

lems. Obviously, deviance, dysfunction,tence or makeup of the social problem

and structural strain on one side and is very secondary indeed. A sociologist

social problems on the other side are may note what he believes to be a
malignant condition in a society, but
not equivalent.
If conventional sociological theory is
the society may ignore completely its
presence, in which event the condition
so decisively incapable of detecting
social problems and if sociologists
will not exist as a social problem for
that society regardless of its asserted
make this detection by following and
objective being. Or, the objective breakusing the public recognition of social

problems, it would seem logical that

students of social problems ought to
study the process by which a society
comes to recognize its social problems.
Sociologists have conspicuously failed
to do this.

A second deficiency of the conventional sociological approach is the assumption that a social problem exists
basically in the form of an identifiable
objective condition in a society. Soci-

down made by a sociologist of a

societally recognized social problem

may differ widely from how the prob-

lem is seen and approached in the

society. The objective analysis made by

him may have no influence on what is:

done with the problem and consequently have no realistic relation to

the problem. These few observations

suggest a clear need to study the

process by which a society comes to

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Collective Behavior 301

see, to define, and

to handle
their
sponsible
for the emergence
of social
social problems. Students
of
social
problems, for the
way
in which they
are ignore
seen, for the
way in
which they
problems notoriously
this
process; and it scarcely enters
into
are approached
and socioconsidered, for
logical theory.

the kind of official remedial plan that

is laid out, and

for the transformation
There is a third highly
questionof the remedial
plan in
its application.
able assumption underlying
the
typical
In short, the
of collective
orientation of sociologists
in process
the study
definition
determines
the career
and
of social problems. It
is that
the
findfate
of
social
problems,
from
the
initial
ings resulting from their study of the
pointaofsocial
their appearance
to whatever
objective makeup of
problem
be solid
the terminal
in their
provide society with may
the
andpoint
effective means for remedial
treatment
course. They
have their being of
fundamentally
in this process
of collective
that problem. All that
society
has
to
do, or should do, is definition,
to take
heed
of alleged
the
instead
of in some

objective area
of social
malignancy.
findings and to respect
the
lines
of

failure
to recognize point.
and respect
treatment to which The
the
findings
this fact constitutes,
in my opinion, It
the
This assumption is largely
nonsense.
fundamental
weakness
the socioignores or misrepresents
how
a in
society
logicalsocial
study of social
problems and in
acts in the case of its
problems.
knowledge a
of social
probA social problem sociological
is always
focal
lems. Letof
me proceed
to develop my
point for the operation
divergent
thesis.
and conflicting interests,
intentions,
lodge the
emergence, the career,of
and objectives. It is Tothe
interplay
these interests and objectives
and the fate of socialthat
problemsconin a
process of collective
definition calls
for
stitutes the way in which
a society
deals
an analysis
of the course
of this process.
with any one of its
social
problems.
I find thatof
the process
passes
through
The sociological account
the
objecstages. I shall label
these: (1) the
tive makeup of the five
problem
stands
far
emergence of a social problem, (2)
the
outside of such interplay-indeed,
may
the problem,
(3) the
be inconsequential legitimation
to it. of
This
distant

mobilization of action
with regard
to
removal of the sociological
study
from
the problem, (4) the formation
of an a
the real process through
which
official
of action,problem
and (5) the
society acts towards
its plan
social
transformation
of the ineffecofficial plan in
is a major explanation
of the
tiveness of sociological
its empirical
studies
implementation.
of I social
propose
to discuss briefly each of these five
problems.
The three central deficiencies that
stages.
I have mentioned are only a sketch of a

needed full fledged criticism of the The Emergence of Social Problems

typical sociological treatment of social

Social problems are not the result of
problems. But they serve as a clue and an intrinsic malfunctioning of a society
hence as an introduction to the de-

but are the result of a process of

velopment of my thesis that social
definition in which a given condition

problems lie in and are products ofisapicked out and identified as a social

process of collective definition. The

problem. A social problem does not

process of collective definition is reexist for a society unless it is recog-

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302 SOCIAL PROBLEMS

nized by that society

exist.
In not
problemsto
would
almost automatically
the need to study
this process by a
being aware of aseesocial
problem,
which given social
or ar-it,
society does not perceive
it, conditions
address
rangements come
to be recognized
as
discuss it, or do anything
about
it. The
problem is just not
there.
It by
isand
necessocial
problems. But
large,
sociologists
not either see the need
sary, consequently,
todoconsider
the
or detour problems
around it. Sociological
platiquestion of how social
arise.
tudes,
such as that the perception
of
Despite its crucial
importance
this
problems dependignored
on ideologies
question has been social
essentially
or on traditional beliefs, tell us practiby sociologists.
cally nothing
what a society
picks
It is a gross mistake
to about
assume
that

out as its social or

problems
and how it
any kind of malignant
harmful
comes
to pick them out. We have
social condition or
arrangement
in a
scarcely any studies, andapitifully
society becomes automatically
social
limited knowledge,
of such
relevant
problem for that society.
The
pages
of

matters
as the instances
following: the role of
history are replete
with
of
agitation in getting recognition for a
problem; the role of violence in gainthey occurred. Intelligent observers,ing such recognition; the play of interest groups who seek to shut off
using the standards of one society, may
recognition of a problem; the role of
perceive abiding harmful conditions in
other interest groups who foresee maanother society that just do not appear
terial gains by elevating a given condias problems to the membership of the
tion to a problem (as in the case of
latter society. Further, individuals with
police with the current problem of
keen perceptions of their own society,
crime and drugs); the role of political
or who as a result of distressing exfigures in fomenting concern with cerperience may perceive given social contain problems and putting the damper
ditions in their society as harmful, may
on concern with other conditions; the
be impotent in awakening any concern
dire social conditions unnoticed and
unattended in the societies in which

role of powerful organizations and

with the conditions. Also, given social
corporations doing the same thing; the
conditions may be ignored at one time
impotency of powerless groups to gain
yet, without change in their makeup,
attention for what they believe to be
become matters of grave concern at
another time. All of these kinds of
problems; the role of the mass media

in selecting social problems; and the

instances are so drearily repetitive as
influence of adventitious happenings
not to require documentation. The
most casual observation and reflection
that shock public sensitivities. We have
shows clearly that the recognition by ahere a vast field which beckons study

society of its social problems is a highly and which needs to be studied if we

selective process, with many harmful so- are to understand the simple but basic

cial conditions and arrangements not matter of how social problems emerge.
even making a bid for attention andAnd I repeat that if they don't emerge,
with others falling by the wayside in they don't even begin a life.
what is frequently a fierce competitive
Legitimation of Social Problems
struggle. Many push for societal recogSocietal recognition gives birth to a
nition but only a few come out of the
end of the funnel.
social problem. But if the social probI would think that students of social lem is to move along on its course and

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Collective Behavior 303

avoided,
others
not die aborning, itare
must
acquire
social have
legitimacy. It may
seem
to stat
way
to astrange
respectable
are rushed
to leg
speak of social problems
havingalong
to be-

and
influential
come legitimated. strong
Yet after
gaining
initial recognition,
know
a social
very problem
little of this s

which
pro
must acquire social through
endorsement
ifsocial
it

is to be taken seriously
pass in order
and move
to reach

legitimacy.
Certainly
s
forward in its career.
It must acquire
a
not due merely
to the in
necessary degree of respectability
which
entitles it to consideration
the recogof the in
social
problem. N

merely
the prior
nized arenas of public
discussion.
Instate

terest
or
knowledge;
n
our society such arenas
are
the
press,

other media of communication,

the
called ideologies
of th

church, the school, selective

civic organizations,
process is far m
legislative chambers,
cated
and than
the assembly
is suggested b
commonplace
ideas. Ob
places of officialdom.
If a social problem does not carry
ofthe
thecredential
factors which
of
ope
the recognition
of social
respectability necessary
for entrance
into these arenas, it
is doomed.
not in th
tinue
to play Do
a part
think because a given
social problems.
condition But it
of social
or arrangement is recognized
that there are
as grave
other con
by some people in a
tors
society-by
throughpeople
which the
who indeed attract of
attention
to it by
social respectability

their agitation-that
attached
this means
to social
that prob

do not
have much
kno
the problem will break
through
into
this
process, sinceTo
it is sc
the arena of public
consideration.
It is certainly
a cardin
the contrary, the asserted
problem may

should be engaging
th
be regarded as insignificant,
as not
students of
problem
worthy of consideration,
as social
in the

accepted order of things and thus not

Mobilization
of Action
to be tampered with,
as distasteful
to
codes of propriety, or
associal
merely
the
If a
problem
man
shouting of questionable
or the
subversive
through
stages of so

elements in a society.
Any
these
tion and
ofof
social
legitima
conditions can blocka anew
recognized
probstage in
its career
lem from gaining now
legitimacy.
the
becomes If
the
object
social problem fails of
to controversy,
get legitimacy
of it
differ
and of diverse
claims. Those of
who seek
flounders and languishes
outside
the
arena of public action.
changes in the area of the problem
clash with
those who
endeavor
to
I want to stress that
among
the
wide
protect vested or
interests
in the area.
variety of social conditions
arrangements that are recognized
Exaggerated claims
as and
harmful
distorted depictions,
subserving
vested interests,
by differing sets of
people,
there
are
commonplace.
Outsiders, less
relatively few that become
achieve
legitimacy.
bring their sentiments
Here again we are involved,
confronted
with and
a
selective process in images
which,
to bear so
on their
to framing
speak,
of the
problem.problems
Discussion, advocacy,
evaluamany budding social
are
choked off, others tion,
arefalsification,
ignored,
others
diversionary
tactics,

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304 SOCIAL PROBLEMS

to the given problem. take
It consists of
the
and advancing of proposals
place
in the media of communication,
in
hammering together of an official plan
casual meetings, organized
of action, such as takes
meetings,
place in legislegislative chambers,
andlegislative
committee
lative committees,
chambers,
hearings. All of this
constitutes
aplan
moand executive
boards. The official
bilization of the society
for
action
is almost always
a product
of bargain- on

ing, It
in which
diverse views
and inthe social problem.
seems
scarcely
necessary to point terests
out are
that
the Comprofate of
accommodated.
concessions, tradeoffs,
deference on
the social problem mises,
depends
greatly

what happens in this

process
ofand
moto influence,
response to power,
bilization. How thejudgments
problem
of what maycomes
be workable-- to
play bent
a part in thein
final formulation.
be defined, how it allis
response
to awakened sentiment,
how
is deThis is a defining
andit
redefining
picted to protect vested
interests,
process in a concentrated
form-the and
forming,
the re-working
and the rehow it reflects the
play
of strategic

casting of a collective
picture of the
position and power-all
are approprisocial problem, so that
what imporemerges
ate questions that suggest
the
may be aof
far crymobilization
from how the probtance of the process
for action.
lem was viewed in the earlier stage of
its career. The official plan that is
Again, as far as I can see, students
enacted constitutes, in itself, the official
of social problems by-pass concern with
definition of the problem; it represents
and consideration of this stage of the

collective defining process. Our best

knowledge of this stage has come from
students of public opinion. Yet their
contribution is fragmentary and woefully inadequate, primarily because of
a lack of detailed empirical analysis of
the process. The students of the public
opinion process tell us little about how
given social problems come to survive
in their confrontations and how they
are redefined in order to achieve such

how the society through its official

apparatus perceives the problem and
intends to act toward the problem.

These observations are commonplace.

Yet, they point to the operation of a
defining process that has telling signifi-

cance for the fate of the problem.

Surely, effective and relevant study of
social problems should embrace what
happens to the problem in the process
of agreeing on official action.

survival. Similarly, they tell us next to

nothing about how other social prob- Implementation of the Official Plan
lems languish, perish or just fade away To assume that an official plan and
in this stage. That students of social its implementation in practice are the
problems should overlook this crucial same is to fly in the face of facts. Instage in the fate of social problems variably to some degree, frequently to
seems to me to be extraordinarily short- a large degree, the plan as put into
sighted.
practice is modified, twisted and reshaped, and takes on unforeseen accreFormation of An Official
tions. This is to be expected. The imPlan of Action
plementation of the plan ushers in a
This stage in the career of social prob-

new process of collective definition. It

sets the stage for the formation of new

society as to how it will act with regard

lines of action on the part of those

lems represents the decision of a

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Collective Behavior 305

developing
a new perspectiveand
and apinvolved in the social
problem
proach
in the sociolgical
study of social
those touched by the
plan.
The people
who are in danger of
losing
advantages
problems.
It seems
to me to be instrive to restrict the
dubitably
plan
necessary
or bend
to place its
social
operation to new directions.
problems in the contextThose
of a process

who stand to benefit

of collective
from
definition.
the
It is this
plan
process
may seek to exploit which
new
determines
opportunities.
whether social problems arework
recognized out
to exist, new
whether
Or both groups may
accommodative arrangements
unforethey qualify for consideration,
how
seen in the plan. The
they are
administration
to be considered, what is to
be done about them,
and how
they are
and the operating personnel
are
prone
reconstituted
in the efforts
to substitute their
policies
forundertaken
the
to control them.
problems
have
official policy underlying
theSocial
plan.
Fretheir being,
their career, and their fate
quently, various kinds
of subterranean
adjustments are developed
in this process.which
To ignore this
leave
process
onlysocial
fragmentary
knowledge
intact central areas can
ofyield
the
problem or transform other
of its
areas
and a fictitious
picture
of socialin
problems.
ways that were never
officially intended. The kind of My
accommodations,
discussion should not be con-

blockages, unanticipated
accretions,
and
strued as denying
value to the convenunintended transformations of which
tional way in which sociologists ap-

I am speaking can be seen abundantly proach the topic of social problems.

in the case of many past attempts to Knowledge of the objective makeup
put official plans into actual practice. of social problems (which is their aim)
Such consequences were conspicuous in should be sought as a corrective for
the implementation of the prohibition ignorance or misinformation concernamendment. They are notorious in the ing this objective makeup. Yet, such
case of the regulatory agencies in our knowledge is grossly inadequate with
country. They are to be seen in the regard either to the handling of social
case of most new law enforcement pro- problems or to the development of
grams designed to combat the problem sociological theory. In the handling of
of crime. I scarcely know of any facet social problems, knowledge of the obof the general area of social problems jective makeup of the social problem

that is more important, less under-area is of significance only to the extent

stood, and less studied than that of the that the knowledge enters into the
unforeseen and unintended restructur- process of collective definition which
ing of the area of a social problem that determines the fate of social problems.
arises from the implementation of an In this process the knowledge may be
official plan of treatment. I am unable ignored, distorted, or smothered by
to understand why students of social other considerations. For me, it is selfproblems, in both their studies and evident that sociologists who wish their
their formulation of theory, can afford studies of social problems to bring
to ignore this crucial step in the life- about improved conditions had better
being of social problems.
study and understand the process of
I hope that my discussion of the five collective definition through which
discernible stages in the full career of changes are made. On the side of
social problems brings out the need for sociological theory, knowledge of the

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306 SOCIAL PROBLEMS

functions,
breakdown
o
objective makeup of
social problems
is
of social
values,
essentially useless. clash
It is useless
because,
as I have sought tofrom
show,social
social conform
problems do not lie in the
objective
areas to to
wittingly
transfer
social
structure
which they point but
in the
process what
of
being seen and defined
process
in the
of collective
society.
d
said earlier,
no on
All the empirical have
evidence
that I can

find points indubitably

concluceptsto
isthis
capable
of ex
sion. I would welcome
any
evidence
to
some
of the
empirical
in
the contrary. Sociologists
who seek
to
by the concept
become
others
do not.
Th
develop theory of and
social
problems
on

the premise that must

socialbe
problems
sought in are
the pr
tive
If sociol
lodged in some kind
of definition.
objective social
to be grounded
in kno
structure are misreading
their world.
empirical
world
of soci
To attribute social
problems
to premust heed
and
respect
sumed structural strains,
upsets
in
the
empirical
equilibrium of thethat
social
system,world.
dys-

STABLE WORKERS, BLACK AND WHITE*

JOSEPH A. KAHL
Cornell University

JOHN M. GOERING
Washington University
A study of stable working and middle-class men, both black and white, shows
two comparative tendencies: 1) the two races are similar on job aspirations and

satisfactions, both races indicating economic ambition, a sense of personal security

in employment, adequate advancement on the job and in consumption, and high

hopes for children; 2) the two races differ in political perspectives, with the

blacks indicating a sense of partial marginality to the system reflecting discrimina-

tion, and a determination to protest. Putting the two tendencies together, it is

concluded that stable jobs among blacks are associated with high levels of personal
satisfaction but not with political conservatism, since awareness of group deprivation and desire to protest are independent of personal achievement and are not

frustrated responses to blocked ambition.

There has been much interest in re- Munoz, Herman Noah, William Pollard,
Robert Sheak, Glaucio A. Dillon Soares,

cent years in sociological studies of and Michael Wright; Lee Rainwater served

American Negroes. Most of this inter- as consultant. We were supported by a

est, however, has been directed at the grant from the Ford Foundation to The

Interamerican Group for Comparative Sociology, administered by the Social Science

* This article reports a small segment Institute, Washington University, St. Louis;
of a cooperative research endeavor. In the by N. S. F. grant G22296 to that Univerdesign, field work, and analysis stages our sity's Computer Center; and by the Center
co-workers were: Mrs. Martha Batt, John L. for International Studies and the Office of
Brown, Charles K. Cummings, Eduardo
Computer Services, Cornell University.

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