Although a huge amount of papers were written on social problem, there is no universal definition of social problem. However, in academic literature, many authors have already agreed, to some extent, on the nature of social problems. One of those authors shows that in fact, in twenty-four definitions of social problems found in thirty-four widely referred texts, twenty one included the requirement that the public or some segment of the public must perceive the condition as problem before we can justly say that a social problem exists (Lauer, 1976: p. 125). That is, social problems exist when there is certain objective condition and people/public define it problematic. In other words, social problems exist when people think they are. If there is no perception of a particular social problem as problematic, then it does not exist. Nevertheless, the issue of social problems is not problematic itself. The most controversial issue here is what is meant by the term of public/people. Is it a significant part of people or a group of people who have concerns about a particular issue? This question lies at the heart of the problem of the methodology for identifying social problems. If it is not clear what is meant by the term ‘public’, then another question arises: How to identify social problems? Is it valid to simply conduct a survey and thus, to leave it only in the responsibility of people? Or should it be defined by experts?
İn order to avoid these questions, the definition suggested by Lauer, which utilizes the notion of “quality of life” is deployed. The author defines the points at which public opinion and experts can enter into the definition of social problems. Accordingly, public opinion should be used to determine the quality of life desired by people and experts identifies those conditions which are incompatible with the desired quality of life, and analyzes the causes of those conditions (ibid. p. 128).As it is obvious, people’s perception of a certain objective condition is considered to be important for defining social problems. At this point one may ask a question: Why do we need to study people’s perception? – Rudely put, why do we need to know what people want?
The reason why we need to study perceptions rests in that these perceptions are heavily influenced by judgments about the desired quality of life which is considered to be under threat. Simply put, if people think that the quality of life desired by them is under threat or they do not have the desired quality of life, then it means there is a social problem. No less significantly, the ways in which a problem is perceived and judged strongly affect the kind of solution suggested (Manning, 2008: p. 31). To paraphrase, if it is not known what quality of life is desired by people – what people want, then the solutions suggest cannot meet their problems. Thus, it is reasonable to argue that the solutions suggested by policy-makers must be based on the study of people’s perceptions of social problems and expert’s views on the conditions which are incompatible with the desired quality of life and analysis of the causes of those conditions.