Does this essay question have a grammar error?
Solution 1:
In a comment John Lawler wrote:
It's academic style in its worst noun-compounding avatar, but it's not ungrammatical. I'd paraphrase it as Discuss social scientific perspectives on religious beliefs, addressing issues of societal change. The three noun phrases are compounded clumsily, but grammatically; if it were spoken aloud, it would pass unmentioned because it would be clearly intoned and stressed.