According to Mills (1967), trouble and issue are two different entities. While trouble has something to do with an individual’s character, issue has something to do with matters around the environments of an individual. Troubles and issues have direct connections to culture and social structure in a society. This paper compares and contrasts troubles and issues in terms of social structure and culture.
Trouble has something to do with the limited areas of one’s social life whereas issue has many things to do with an individual’s environment (Mills, 1967). In other words, trouble is a private matter whereas issue is a public matter. For example, unemployment is a personal matter. It can create a lot of problems in the life of a person. On the other hand, violence is a public issue which can cause problems not only to the culprit but also to the victims.
As mentioned by Wilson (2010), poverty, social structure and culture have direct connections with troubles and issues. For example, poverty is common among the African American community. Moreover, culture and social structure in this community are extremely weak compared to that in other communities. As a result of that, troubles and issues like youth violence, unemployment, and fragmentation of families take place in this community quite often. Both violence and unemployment are symbols of a society in which weak culture and social structure exist.
To conclude, trouble is a private matter whereas issue is a public matter. Both trouble and issues take place in societies which have weaker culture and social structure.
- Mills, C. W. (1967) Power, Politics and People. The collective essays of C. Wright Mills. New York: Oxford University Press
- Wilson, W.J. (2010) More Than Just Race. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (6 April 2010)