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Perspective of symbolic interactionism
Relation between poverty and crime
Explain social deviance in detail
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In the article The Saints and the Roughnecks, Chambliss (1973) details the observations made on the behavior of two groups of students from one school. The two groups were socially and economically diverse but they engaged in crime often. One group, the saints, came from well-off families but were some of the most notorious, although the community, teachers, and peers did not notice since they engaged in deviant activities away in the big city and were clever in disguising their bad habits. The other group, the roughneck, however, “engaged in equal amount of wild oat sowing” (Chambliss, 1973). Everyone agreed the boys were trouble since they were not well-dressed, well-mannered, or rich; which cements the symbolic interactionist perspective …show more content…
They frequented a pool hall or a café in the suburbs. In these entertainment areas they often caused trouble but got away with it because they spent money there. During the weekends, they went binge drinking and afterwards drove-drunkenly in the streets where they committed crimes and played pranks. In the midst of all the mischief, they were rarely arrested. The roughnecks engaged in occasional fights, drinking, and petty stealing, such as siphoning gasoline from cars as well as items from school lockers and automobiles. However, people in the community did not realize that the group’s stealing was more prevalent. The roughnecks believed that the police were unfair and corrupt due to the harassment they received from the police. They were arrested on different occasions and two of them were incarcerated for 6 months. In school, the saints were very successful academically, popular with the students and held offices. However, they cheated in exams with teachers’ contribution through inclinations. Only one student in the group talked back to teachers although the teachers made excuses for his failures. The local police thought the saints were good boys and were rarely stopped for speeding and if caught, they presented themselves as disciplined to gain
In the beginning of the story the narrator and his boys considered themselves to be bad boys because of what they did, what people thought they were, and what they wore. To them, it was cool to be dangerous and bad. The people who wasn’t, were irrelevant. The narrator and his boys “wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine” (par.1). Also they “struck elaborate poses to show that we didn’t give a shit about anything” (par. 1). The narrator looked forward to the nightlife and the bad stereotypes along with that, including: drinking, drug use, sex, violence, etc…. even though the narrator was only 19 years of age. The three of them would go uptown to Greasy Lake regularly, to party a hang out with others. Until one night the narrator and his boys encountered a rude awakening at Greasy Lake.
The police treat the Saints as if they did nothing wrong. They might give them a slap on the wrist instead of the punishment for the crimes they did. The police thought of the Saints as leaders of the youth in the community.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rouge Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh is the ideologies rooted in the African American community. The ideal facts cannot be denied here. The idea of being black and poor is not a simple answer of, very bad, somewhat bad, neither, somewhat good or very good. Being black and poor is a lifestyle. Being black and poor is a community. This book will give you understanding how structural racism among blacks is installed throughout history. The system is created to make sure the subject matter, blacks, in this case are subjected to fail. The crack epidemic in a Chicago neighborhood was only the beginning.
In chapter one we are introduced to our narrator, Ponyboy. Ponyboy is raised by his two older brothers Darry and Soda. They’re all apart of a gang called the “greasers” which is joined by Dally, Johnny, Two-bit, and Steve. There is another group called “ socs” which stands for socials, and everyone in that group is very wealthy. One day Ponyboy got jumped by a socs group, but luckily Darry was there to help before anything too serious happened. The first element of literature is characterization. Ponyboy is a keen observer, trying to make sense of the complexities of those around him. At the beginning of the story, he stops and spends several pages giving us brief character description on Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, and Johnny. This is also known as direct characterization. He tells us that Steve is "cocky and smart" ( Hinton 9). Two-Bit can 't stop joking around and goes to school for "kicks" (Hinton 10) rather than to learn. Dallas, he says, is "tougher, colder, meaner" ( Hinton 10) than the rest of them.
William J. Chambliss, a sociologist, wrote an article called The Saints and the Roughnecks. Chambliss discusses the Saints as a group of upper-middle class white kids who society perceived as good because of their social status’ and the fact that they were well dressed and well mannered. The roughnecks on the other hand, were not well mannered, and not- rich, who society recognized as troublemakers, even though they both act similarly. This can be connected to the Crips and the Bloods by the similar treatment the African Americans receive compared to the roughnecks. This recognition as being a roughneck makes it much more difficult to get a job...
This paper presents how labeling theory and strain theory can explain the crimes that the White family from West Virginia commit on a daily basis. The wonderful White of West Virginia portrays corruption and poverty. They do not conform to any authority or rules; all they want to do is fuss, fight and party. The White family takes part in shoot-outs, robberies, gas huffing, drug dealing, pill popping and murders. They are famously known for their Hill Billy tap dancing and wild criminal ways.
The strength of this theory is that it clearly explains the cause of highest crime rates in inner slum areas. It points out factors that produce crime and provides solid explanation for high crime rates in poor neighborhoods. Shaw and McKay’s theory, however, fails to answer the questions of why the middle class commits crime, as well as why most of the lower class remains law-abiding.
The story of the Saints and the Roughnecks shows how great the impact that appearance, background, and action can have on a reputation following the future. While both groups participated in deviant behavior only one (the Roughnecks) were perceived as bad within the community and received punishment. Several sociology theories offer explanations as to why this came to be with each giving a twist on how human perception can be misleading in such events.
William J. Chambliss’ article “The Saints and the Roughnecks” show the two sides of these groups doing about the same thing and how the society looks at those actions. The Saints are looked upon as good, while the Roughnecks are the “troublemakers”. Saints are what we call the prep people and the Roughnecks are the people who have less than everybody else. Throughout this conflict it is presented mostly as well of course conflict theory and the labeling theory. The conflict theory is when there is a result of competition and social inequality of the haves and have nots. The labeling theory is the theory of once labeled as deviant, become more deviant and is the master status. Although in the article “The Saints and the Roughnecks” by Chambliss,
McCarthy’s plot is built around a teenage boy, John Grady, who has great passion for a cowboy life. At the age of seventeen he begins to depict himself as a unique individual who is ambitious to fulfill his dream life – the life of free will, under the sun and starlit nights. Unfortunately, his ambition is at odds with the societal etiquettes. He initiates his adventurous life in his homeland when he futilely endeavors to seize his grandfather’s legacy - the ranch. John Grady fails to appreciate a naked truth that, society plays a big role in his life than he could have possibly imagined. His own mother is the first one to strive to dictate his life. “Anyway you’re sixteen years old, you can’t run the ranch…you are being ridiculers. You have to go to school” she said, wiping out any hopes of him owning the ranch (p.15). Undoubtedly Grady is being restrained to explore his dreams, as the world around him intuitively assumes that he ought to tag along the c...
They were gangsters that caused problems for the community. These gangsters would go up to kids and try and jump them into their gang. For them, the more members they had, the more “territory they had.” One problem that major cities around the world have is gangs. Most of these gangs are made up of juvenile delinquents looking for trouble.
“Teen Gangs and Crime”. (1996, Feb. 9). Issues & Controversies On File. Retrieved Mar. 29, 2014, from Issues & Controversies database.
He and a friend would play a game. They would pose as gang members to be cool.
Mainly government agents and people with high political status such as: Mayors, Judges, Police Chiefs, Senators and Governors, found their names on gangsters payroll. To some surprise, the consumption of liquor in the years before prohibition, was actually very lower than that of the years throughout prohibition.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The example of the Saints and Roughnecks found in page 174 of the page supports the notion that criminals are created by the labeling activities of the powerful. Both the Saints and the Roughnecks were groups of delinquent male high school students who committed deviant behavior and got into fights. However, these deviant actions by the Saints were only considered to be harmless pranks while the Roughnecks were seen as troublemakers. What caused this difference is that the Saints came from middle class families and were never arrested, while the Roughnecks came from poor families. The Roughnecks were often in trouble with the police, mostly because of the label of trouble makers brought to them by their socioeconomic situation.