THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS- Symbolic interactionist orientation and Postmodernist orientation.

1. Symbolic interactionist orientation is a theoretical approach where people build up their roles in society by communication, exchanging ideas and analyzing each other's behaviors. They do not follow certain rules set by the society on how to act - meaning they learn as they go on what is seen as wrong (mistakes) and as right. Here people strongly depend on symbols like words and gestures to comprehend their interactions and social problems appear through the reciprocal actions of individuals. The public observe the deviant behaviors from others- which can lead to crucial social problems that can offend the values of a certain powerful segment of a society.

2. Postmodernist orientation (theory) on the other hand is a belief that is tied in philosophy and cultural reactions to modern changes. It believes that people create knowledge by their own understandings of the world. Furthermore it states that reality should stay the way it is, this approach does not use old definitions to explain present situations. It is open to new theories, it is not strict by depending on specific beliefs. In sum postmodern theory sees reality as what people make it to be.

The similarity between symbolic interactionist and postmodernist theory is that they both depend heavily on what individual perceives as reality. They value human's perspectives and give them a platform to choose what can be social problems and learn from each other.

Lastly, the main difference on both approaches is that symbolic interactionist theory rely only on words and gestures of individuals to reach a common understanding, wheres postmodernist theory involves how humans view the reality, even as individuals without having to share ideas. Here objectivity is impossible, no absolute truths, traditional alternative views treated insignificant by science.