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Impact of deviance on society
Effects of deviant behavior on society
Impact of deviance on society
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Introduction Closeness is considered a deviant act when it involves invading individual’s personal space. It does not typically receive positive responses, humans are very defensive of their personal space. Why is one considered unusual or deviant for invading an individual's personal space? Deviancy is very complex, it is considered a violation of the social norms. Social norms are a set of rules that a society creates, which specify what is considered correct to do and what is not. Normative behavior within this topic is to not get close to someone who is not your friends or family. It is unusual, as a results of people, depending on your aspect, assuming you want to harm them or flirt with them. There are many factors that contribute to …show more content…
Both of these theories help explain, they go hand in hand, together they state that the majority of the society has to agree upon a normal behavior which then they enforce and bring attention to. They bring attention to it in order for everyone to know that if someone violates the rule they are able to “punish” them in some way. For this deviant act, the punishment would be the label and stigma you get in the eyes of those who see you after doing the deviant …show more content…
Park they examined the effects of disgust sensitivity on personal space. They state that from the perspective of the behavioral immune system, disgust is central to physical distancing from sources of threat. Their hypothesis is that human-contaminant disgust sensitivity may uniquely predict personal space. They had one hundred thirty four undergraduate students as subjects for this research. They all received a behavioral measure with the same method used in the prior research the stop-distance procedure. For the behavioral measure of personal space, contributors worked in groups of four or five. They received detailed instructions on the measurement of personal space, they then measured their own personal space which also aided as a target for their group members’ measures. The results are in the table
Bohm and Brenda L. Vogel, the Labeling theory is used to explain why people commit crimes and conceive themselves as criminals. Overall the Labeling theory consists of social groups creating rules and then applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. This theory is split into two types of deviances: primary deviance and secondary deviance. Primary deviance is the initial criminal act, for example, a man robs a bank. A secondary deviance is committing a crime after the first criminal act and accepting the label of a criminal. Following the previous example, after the man robs the bank, he decides to do it again because he now sees himself as a criminal bank robber and wants to continue doing it and is okay with being seen that
The theoretical study of societal reaction to deviance has been carried out under different names, such as, labelling theory, interactionist perspective, and the social constructionist perspective. In the sociology of deviance, the labelling theory of deviant behaviour is often used interchangeably with the societal reaction theory of deviancy. As a matter of fact, both phrases point equally to the fact that sociological explanations of deviance function as a product of social control rather than a product of psychology or genetic inheritance. Some sociologists would explain deviance by accepting without question definitions of deviance and concerning themselves with primary aetiology. However, labelling theorists stress the point of seeing deviance from the viewpoint of the deviant individual. They claim that when a person becomes known as a deviant, and is ascribed deviant behaviour patterns, it is as much, if not more, to do with the way they have been stigmatized, then the deviant act they are said to have committed. In addition, Howard S. Becker (1963), one of the earlier interaction theorists, claimed that, "social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders". Furthermore, the labelling theoretical approach to deviance concentrates on the social reaction to deviance committed by individuals, as well as, the interaction processes leading up to the labelling.
Along with this research Rozin, Haidt, &McCauley (2000) came up with the social disgust theory. They suggested that disgust is easily applied or extended to purely social violations. Disgust often leads to thoughts of contamination and generates a sense of offensiveness and revulsion (Rozin, Haidt, & Fincher, 2009). If disgust is elicited then the person will...
With the stigmatization that is placed on acts of deviance and deviant individuals, many of these individuals feel pressured by society to conform, or else be shamed and cutoff. Therefore, the deviant individuals in question need to be able to manage the stigma given to them. Managing a stigma plays a significant part of secondary deviance. Secondary deviance is a type of deviance associated with the Label theory, which was put forth by Edwin Lemert and Howard Becker. Secondary deviance only makes up one part of the Label theory. The other part of the theory is primary deviance. Primary deviance only involves individuals that commit and acts of deviance once and learns from their “mistake.” However, when it comes to secondary deviance, it is not defined by one act. Secondary deviance is a label that sticks with an individual for either as long as the lifestyle resides in the individual or for the rest of the individual’s life. Stealing a cookie and learning a lesson from that act would be an example of primary deviance. On the other hand, robbing ten houses over the course of two months would constitute as
The reactions of people when you break a social norm can vary quite drastically. Sometimes the reactions are quite large and other times they are rather subtle. The reactions typically vary based on what norm you break and how strong of a norm it is. In the case of invading people’s personal space, I did not receive and intense reactions. All of the reactions I received were subtle. Not ma...
the term is used by Edwin Sutherland in Hensli’s book to indicate that “people who associate with some groups learn an ‘’excess of definitions” of deviance, increasing the likelihood that they will become deviant”. This theory also implies the fact that individuals who commit deviant acts are influenced by primary groups (family’s members) and intimate social contacts (friends). An adolescent growing up in a family with racial issues and racial hatred (have racist behavior) or in family where they have illegal activities such as selling drugs or criminal activities will be much more influenced until becoming the final product (racist, criminal or drug dealer) of these families. Contrary to the previous situation of an adolescent, others adolescent may not be affected because they restrained their desire to take the bad path. According to Foucault, “instead individuals are controlled by institutions. Contemporary society is characterized by the lack of free will on the part of individuals because institutions of knowledge, norms, and values, are in place to categorize and control humans”. In this situation, the external control composed of police officers or authority figures have more affect and influence while responding to the adolescents who behave outside of the norm. If they need to be punished, then the actions should be taken.
Since social norms and rules are subject to change, there is a wide concept as to what deviance actually means. The concept of social deviance is explained as the transgression of socially established norms. For example, there is a wide variety in defining social deviance, but one might consider “sex before marriage” deviant, whereas in other places this practice is common. Also, killing someone might be considered deviant until we do further research. One might propose the question of self-defense, and this is where the “ABC’s of deviance” come to play. I was interested in social deviance because it filled a gap of ignorance for me. Often times I wondered why people performed deviant acts and what was their motive. By understanding social control I was able to fill that gap with knowledge.
Deviant behavior is sociologically defined as, when someone departs from the “norms”. Most of the time when someone says deviance they think against the law or acting out in a negative behavior. To sociologists it can be both positive and negative. While most crimes are deviant, they are not always. Norms can be classified into two categories, mores and folkways. Mores are informal rules that are not written; when mores are broken, they can have serious punishments and sanctions. Folkways are informal rules that are just expected to be followed, but have no real repercussions.
There exists conflicting theories among sociologists in the area of determining why a person is considered to be a deviant, and the reasons behind why he or she has committed a deviant act. From a positivistic perspective, deviance is based on biological or social determinism. Alternatively, from a constructionist perspective, deviance is created and assigned by society. Both perspectives seek to give a theory for why a person may become known as deviant. Although they both view similar acts as deviant, the basic differences between positivists and constructionists theories are clear.
Societies are founded on various social norms. Norms can best be defined as a set of acceptable attitudes and practices by a given society. These norms however are found to vary from one society or cultural setting o the other. Deviance on the other hand is simply when one does something that goes against the set societal norms. Deviance is gauged on a scale of attitudes and behavior contradicting to acceptable social standards (Samuels, 2012).
The first theory is known as the social conflict theory. This theory states that people are more likely to commit crimes against people from a higher social and economic status than theirs. This theory can best be exemplified in the earlier example of the rich African man and the poor Hispanic woman. The poor African woman cannot find a job because she has an extensive criminal history, so she needs money and food to provide for her three children. She walks in the rich African man’s residence and finds a wallet full of money. She grabs twenty dollars out of his wallet and sneaks out. A few minutes later she is caught by the rich African man’s security guard and he calls police. Upon arrival, the police arrest the woman for trespassing right on the spot. After police ask the woman why she trespassed, she states that she was desperately trying to find money to support her kids. The second theory involves the cultural deviance theory. According to Julian Hermida, the cultural deviance theory states that conformity to the norms of lower class society is what causes crime (n.d.). In the previous example, the woman was conforming to standards of the lower class by trying to steal from the rich simply because of the idea that poor cannot afford
Deviance is any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs (Kendall, 2012). Our experiment will study the behavioral deviance of a social norm. Sociologists use symbolic interactionism to study face-to-face interactions. We are expected to follow these certain unwritten rules of behavior telling us the way that we should act in certain situations. The social norm or folkway I chose to break was that of invading an individual’s personal space. See Figure 1.0 showing the proximity generally utilized by Americans, according to Edward T.Hall. Personal space is the region surrounding a person, approximately 18 inches, which they regard as psychologically theirs. People value their personal space, and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when their personal space is encroached (Personal space, n.d.). We walked around to find the best scenario and individuals to interject our teammate in purposefully invading their comfort zone.
"Sociological Theories To Explain Deviance." Sociological Theories To Explain Deviance. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. .
Different sociological theories have been put across in describing deviant behaviors. They include: cultural transmission/differential association theory; control theory; labeling theory; structural strain theory/anomie theory; subcultural theories; and medicalization of deviance (Sociolog...
Deviance is defined as actions or behaviors that violate socials norms. In turn the concept of deviance is dependent on the social observation and perception. “By it’s very nature, the constructionism through which people define and interpret actions or appearances is always “social.” ”(Henry, 2009 , p. 6) One’s perception of a situation may be completely different from another depending on cultural and social factors. The way someone talks, walks, dresses, and holds themselves are all factors that attribute to how someone perceives another. In some cases what is socially or normally acceptable to one person is deviant in another’s eyes. For this reason there is a lot of gray area involving the topic of deviance because actions and behaviors are so diversely interpreted.