The Policy Perspective: Social Problems as Investment Opportunities

Abstract

It is paradoxical that the methodology of social policy analysis has come into its own during the very period in which a subjectivist approach to social problems has achieved theoretical ascendancy. It is problematic as well because sociological studies of social policy and the field of social problems will both continue to suffer in the absence of mutually beneficial ties. While functionalism might appear to be compatible with social policy analysis, it fares no better than the value-conflict approach in providing grounding for policy analysis. In Gary Becker's social economics, however, we find an orientation which, allowing us to speak of the dollar value of nonmarket social phenomena, leads directly to a policy-oriented conceptualization of social problems as investment opportunities. The central portion of the paper describes this new policy perspective. A major restructuring of the traditional research questions in the field of social problems, implied by the approach, is then outlined. Solution of two major difficulties plaguing policy analysts is made possible by it.

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