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Social Problems In Societies

Social problems are issues that are considered to affect all members of a society.
These problems arise due to differences in opinion, religion, lifestyle, background
and social caliber. Social problems vary from society to society, and as such not all
societies face the same social problems. Social problems encompass political,
economic, and human life issues within society.
Environmental Pollution and Global warming is one of the greater problems facing
societies worldwide. It is said that environmental pollution (air pollution to be
precise) causes 20% of deaths around the world annually, according to data
gathered by the World Health Organization in partnership with the World Bank
(Study Mode, 2010). Air pollution through carbon emissions from factories,
automobiles and the day-to-day activities of the human race causes depletion of the
ozone layer. This causes increased solar heat that reaches the surface of the earth,
as the UV rays are unfiltered at the ozone layer. This is the source of global warming
that has been attributed to cause various kinds of illness, including skin cancer.
This also causes the icecaps at the poles to melt, thus destroying the natural habitat
of other species.
Overpopulation is one of the biggest problems facing societies all over the world.
Overpopulation shows a situation in which the population of living species surpasses
the carrying capacity of the ecological niche (Anderson & Taylor, 2007). Population
density has a huge bearing on a wide range of socio-economic issues, such as land
division, land prices, cost of housing, distribution of wealth, security, availability of
social amenities, even employment. For example, rather densely populated nations
such as Japan have greater prices for land than the less densely populated nations
such as Australia. This causes high costs of housing, inequity in distribution of
wealth and a huge strain on government sponsored social amenities such as parks.
Overpopulation causes stress on the natural resources of a country like land, water
bodies and minerals. Hunger is a common element in overpopulated nations as the
government cannot afford to feed the whole population.
War has been, is and will probably be one of the worlds recurring social problems.
Different groups hold different opinions on different issues, be it political, religious
or ethnic, and as such each group would want to defend their stand whenever they
feel threatened by opposing opinions or concepts. Dialogue has always been the
preferred avenue to solving wrangles, but more times than most, war is resorted to
solve disputes. Most recent wars have been between superpower The United states
and several Middle-Eastern Nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan, due to their
affiliation with terrorism (Stout, Buono, & Chambliss, 2004).
Ethnicity has always been a social issue in African states. Ethnicity can be a
beautiful thing when it is taken as a sign of diversity, but when ethnicity becomes
the basis to draw political lines, then catastrophes like The genocide in Rwanda
happen. Not long ago, the post-election violence that rocked the Kenyan nation in
2007 brought to a halt the nations economy for a while. African states seem to be

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Social Problems In Societies
most vulnerable to this problem as is evident with the civil wars that keep disrupting
some of the countries in the continent.
Unemployment occurs when people are actively looking for work but are not
engaged in any productive revenue-generating activity. As mentioned earlier, this is
a common occurrence in overpopulated countries as there arent enough job
opportunities to cater to the available pool of labor. A country experiencing
unemployment is prone to high crime rates.
All the highlighted social problems are specific to different societies and can all be
solved by apllying socio-economic strategies.

Bibliography
Anderson, M. L., & Taylor, H. F. (2007). Sociology. New Jersey: Cengage Learning.
Environmental Pollution Guide. (2012). Environmental Pollution Guide:
Environmental Pollution as a Social Problem. Retrieved October 4, 2012, from
Reduce Pollution Tip:
http://reducepollutiontip.com/environmental/environmental-pollution-as-asocial-problem.php
Mooney, L. A., Knox, D., & Schact, C. (2010). Understanding Social Problems. New
Jersey: Cengage Learning.
Stout, A. K., Buono, R. A., & Chambliss, W. J. (2004). Social Problems, Law and
Society. Maryland: Lawman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
Study Mode. (2010, November). Social Problem-Environment and Global Warming.
Retrieved October 4, 2012, from Study Mode:
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Social-Problem-Environment-And-GlobalWarming-474902.html