Social Problems and Social Welfare
A social problem is a condition widely regarded as harmful and requiring collective action. The exam tests your ability to define a problem, explain causes and consequences, and link welfare measures to constitutional and legal provisions.
Major problems
Poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, gender inequality, dowry, child labour, caste discrimination, communal tension, alcoholism, trafficking and disability exclusion are commonly studied. Each should be analysed at structural, cultural and institutional levels rather than blamed on individual failure.
Welfare framework
The Constitution directs the state through the Directive Principles of State Policy and guarantees equality and prohibition of discrimination. Welfare measures include reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes; ICDS for child nutrition; MGNREGA for rural wage employment; midday meals; Beti Bachao Beti Padhao; and legal protections against dowry, child marriage and domestic violence.
Worked example
Question: ‘Dowry is a social problem, not merely a family matter.’ Explain. Reasoning: define dowry as a marriage transfer; show causes in status competition and patrilineal inheritance; show consequences in debt, coercion and violence; then connect remedies to law, education and women’s economic independence. This structure covers definition, cause, effect and remedy.
Traps
- Blaming individuals or ‘bad families’ instead of structural causes.
- Confusing the poverty line with all forms of deprivation.
- Treating welfare as charity rather than rights and entitlements.
- Listing laws without explaining enforcement gaps.
- Ignoring intersection: caste, gender and class can compound disadvantage.