social evil

noun

anything detrimental to a society or its citizens, as alcoholism, organized crime, etc.
prostitution.

Origin of social evil

First recorded in 1855–60

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Heck, even the Pope tweeted, “Inequality is the root of social evil.”
How to Really Rein In the Super Rich | Sally Kohn | April 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
With safe sex advocates on the run, Warren and Ssempa trained their sights on another social evil.
Rick Warren's Africa Problem | Max Blumenthal | January 7, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
First, such an attitude is not a desirable one to adopt when seeking a remedy for a social evil.
Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents | Oswald Chettle Mazengarb et al.
The transportation of women has been a great social evil to the colonies.
The History of Tasmania , Volume II (of 2) | John West
Mr. Wellcome was for the propagation of Tuberculosis and the direct encouragement of the social evil.
Gray youth | Oliver Onions

All I am concerned about is in arriving at a sense of the enormity of the impulse behind the "social evil."
A Preface to Politics | Walter Lippmann
The second sentence says that no study of the social evil is complete which leaves out the causes of divorce.
A Preface to Politics | Walter Lippmann

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