Social Problem or a Social Illness

Social problem or a social illness is a condition in a specific society that is viewed as undesirable by different people. In this sense, a social problem is subjective as a condition may be an issue to some but not to all. Examples of social problems include crime, poverty, drug abuse, and the like.

In the context of 1984, a lot of social issues were discussed. Some of these include total control of the government, significant differences in social classes, the struggle and extreme desire for power, psychological manipulation, physical control, and control of information and history. The ruling class in 1984 made the society in such a way that even the word “freedom” did not exist in the minds of people, not to mention the concept of the word.

Today, the world still experiences a diverse set of social problems, and the Philippines is not exempted. As someone who commutes via LRT and jeepney to and from school everyday, I can say that I am well-exposed to the happenings around in Manila. What I can say is that poverty, corruption, and crime is still very evident in our society today.

Poverty. In the context of 1984, poverty was depicted through the proles who were described in the book as a collective character, the nameless and mindless mass. They have nothing but they live happy lives, which is very much envied by Winston Smith, the protagonist of the story. The proles do not know how to overthrow the government n 1984; in fact, they do not know that they are being oppressed.