94 Examples of Social Issues

John Spacey, updated on July 03, 2023

A social issue is a problem that reduces the quality of life of people. This includes current problems and risks that represent a probability of future problems. The following are common examples of a social issue.

Ableism	Access to Education
Addiction	Ageism
Air Quality	Animal Rights
Anti-Competitive Practices	Bullying
Child Welfare	Children's Rights
Civility	Climate Change
Consumer Protection	Corporate Accountability
Cost of Education	Crime
Criminal Justice Reform	Cronyism
Culture Change	Debt Bondage
Disease	Economic Development
Environmental Destruction	Environmental Justice
Epidemics & Pandemics	Extinctions
Food Quality	Food Security
Fraud	Freedoms
Genetically Modified Food	Globalization & Trade
Government Spending	Healthcare
High Interest Lending	Human Rights
Hunger	Immigration
Indigenous Rights	Inflation
Information Security	LGBT Rights
Living Conditions	Mental Health
Minimum Wage	Misinformation
Modern Slavery	Monopolies
Natural Disasters	Natural Resources
Nuclear Weapons	Obesity
Pesticides	Policing
Political Accountability	Political Stability
Pollution	Poverty
Prisoners' Rights	Privacy
Public Debt	Public Safety
Quality of Life	Racism
Recessions & Depressions	Refugees
Right to Know	Rights
Sexism	Social Inequality
Social Safety Net	Social Stability
Substance Abuse	Taxation
Technological Change	Terrorism
Tobacco & Nicotine Products	Toxic Waste
Unemployment	Urban Development
War	Women's Rights
Working Conditions	Workplace Safety

2023 Additions

The following issues were added as notable in the past year.

AI Ethics and Risks	Academic Integrity and AI
Algorithmic Bias and Discrimination	Autonomous Weapons and Warfare
Cybersecurity	Deepfakes
Mental Health Awareness	Nuclear Power
Political Polarization	Social Media & Mental Health

Bikeshedding

Bikeshedding is the tendency for groups to focus on solving trivial problems while neglecting larger problems. This is an analogy to the management of a nuclear power station with safety and operational issues that spends half of an important management meeting talking about the construction of a new bicycle parking area. It is common for people who are familiar with executive management to identify with this analogy as a truism. In terms of social issues, bikeshedding could apply to focusing on minor issues such the semantics of politically correct speech while neglecting crushing and painful social problems that greatly influence quality of life.

Virtue Signalling

Virtue signalling is the use of social issues as a tool of self-promotion. In many cases, social issues that look the most virtuous or trendy get massive funding and attention while issues that create more human suffering may be neglected.

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