Bias Implicit in Definition A totally unbiased definition of specific social problems is impossible, because each definition of a problem carries implicit assumptions about the causes of the problem and the kinds of policy outcomes that are desirable. Most statements of social problems, research designs, and policy recommendations have a bias, usually conservative - tending to preserve the major values and institutions of the existing society. These represent a series of attitudes toward the existing society and toward changes in it. Reactionaries would like to return to the society of some earlier period. Conservatives wish to preserve the existing society, but will accept some reforms to preserve the society.
Moderates accept a few more reforms than the conservative.
The liberal sees far more good than bad in the existing society, but advocates much more sweeping reforms. The radical or revolutionary considers the existing society too rotten to be worth saving and seeks a wholesale overturn of existing institutions and values. The term neoconservative has recently been applied to some prominent intellectuals who were liberal or radical in their youth, but who have developed a special brand of moderate conservatism as they have grown older. Your text illustrates these terms by considering attitudes toward business and government. Not all social problems lie within the sociologists' field of expertise.