Mercury pollution in Oak Ridge, Tennessee : an analysis of the collective definition of a social problem

In May, 1983 the Department of Energy disclosed that 2.4 million pounds of mercury had leaked into the environment in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This disclosure was the result of the employment of the Freedom of Information Act by an area newspaper. This topic was discussed in light of the social problems literature provided by sociologist Herbert Blumer. A theoretical model depicting the collective definition of a social problem was applied to discover the status of the Oak Ridge mercury pollution. Furthermore, public opinion on the topic was gathered to further define the social problem. Newspaper accounts of the pollution provided data as did the transcript of a Congressional Hearing. The bulk of the data came from interviews with voluntary association group leaders in the city of Oak Ridge as well as in the surrounding area.

The results showed that the social problem of mercury pollution has not yet traveled through all five stages of Herbert Blumer's model of social problems. Furthermore, the initial social problem of mercury pollution showed that the underlying concern of area residents was the information disclosure policies of the Department of Energy. Residents, as a general rule, were not concerned about the health effects of the mercury but did find fault with the Department of Energy's policies on how information could be allowed to become classified and thus withheld from public disclosure. Oak