REAL AND VIRTUAL PROBLEMS - UFO ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES AS A TEST-CASE FOR (PROBLEM-ORIENTED) SOCIOLOGY

This essay suggests an analytic differentiation of public discourse in real and virtual problems and uses a career model of social problems, in which theoretical assumptions from both the objectivistic and the constructivistic sociology of social problems are integrated. The stru ctural basis of social problems in this model are ''consensual conditi ons'', which are determined by the fact that they are also considered real by actors who do not agree with the interpretation as social prob lem. In contrast, we identify problem perception without these consens ual conditions. The quality of such ''virtual problems'' is demonstrat ed by the example of ''UFO abduction experiences''. The essay ends wit h a discussion of the consequences of this new category for scientific analysis and sociopolitical valuation of public problem perception.