Ontological Gerrymandering: The Anatomy of Social Problems Explanations

Recent explanations of social problems have increasingly adopted the “definitional” perspective. This paper provides a critical commentary on the form of sociological explanation common to this approach. Viewed as a practical accomplishment, both theoretical statements and empirical case studies manipulate a boundary, making certain phenomena problematic while leaving others unproblematic. We call the main strategy for managing this boundary ontological gerrymandering. After applying this concept to both theoretical and empirical studies of social problems, we show that the same conceptual problems arise with respect to the labeling theory of deviance. We argue that investigation of the practical management of these problems will contribute to a deeper understanding both of social problems explanations and sociological explanation more generally.

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