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Essays on social deviance
Essays on social deviance
Essays on social deviance
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"Social Deviance" Social deviance stems from the passive-aggressive attitudes parents have upon their children. This pressure, coupled with society's own conformist attitude, causes certain members of the society to drift toward what sociologists call deviant groups. These deviant groups, like punks, hippies or other radical organizations, often fight against a society they deem unworthy of their attention and thus ignore. However Emile Durkheim pointed out that deviance is important for the structure of society (Durkheim 1893,1964). Certain groups deviate from social norms because of both their raising and social pressures at the time while others conform for the exact same reason. "One of the main reasons people choose to conform to society is that their family responsibilities impose caution. Also the weakening of youth's rebelliousness because the youth has begun to find his own identity (Dr. Spock, 1969)." People who conform to society's wishes may also be greeted with more job expectations and higher wages. Oft times these people will choose a specialist in their field and pattern their behavior after this person. This type of social conformity is extremely necessary to any growing society. Without this kind of conformity the greats of civilization would likely never exist. As each great followed in the footsteps of another, for example Thomas Edison followed in the footsteps of Aristotle, society continues to progress in leaps in bounds. The social order can thus be maintained by social conformity. Conformity also adds to the level of social control a society can attribute to its overly passive citizens. The more conformist and meek a society is the easier it is for the controlling class to subvert the general citizen and force them in to their own beliefs of social control. "The conformist aspect of society seeks to subvert and control the more deviant aspect, taking an approach of them and us (Graffin, 1996)." The socialization process seems to favor those in society who would choose to conform. This makes sense since the socialization process is based upon parents teaching, and rearing, their children to become productive members of society. Almost all societal pressures aid those who would choose to conform to society, so why would anyone choose social deviance as their means of public o... ... middle of paper ... ...eving they don't need belief or other people. This type of self-destruction is common among social deviants and indeed expresses much about why youths would choose deviance as a way of life (Klockars, 1974)." The social deviant often conflicts dramatically and violently with the social conformist. Two examples of this are the 60's and, in Britain, the early 80's punk movement. More examples are likely to appear as our society's atrophy spontaneously creates more and more deviant subcultures. Social deviance is difficult to define, as each group chooses to be known in their own particular way. Social conformist is not as difficult as it is the standard with which we are all identified. Without deviance, however, how we come to know what is normal? The answer to that question is we wouldn't the deviant both makes our perception of society more clear and causes us to react and act according to our beliefs. Either hatred or understanding, the end result is irrelevant it is merely the existence of the action that is important. Thus, society can continue to grow and change thanks to those who would choose deviance over conformity and chaos over order.
With that being said, there’s a lot of disorganization in the society which increases the level of deviance occurring. The acts of deviant people challenge the boundaries of society and can eventually spread unto the masses, changing those boundaries. Deviance helps us affirm and define our own norms.
It can take the form of religion, crime, or political ideology, for example. Deviance is a never-ending cycle because society itself is deviant. There is no question, just by taking a general look at society, there is much deviance away from universal moral principles. Yet, when one speaks out against it, they are called social deviants. The reverse is also true.
The movie The Boondock Saints provides an excellent example of positive deviance through innovation. The Social theory of deviance can easily explain the brothers’ actions. The movie can be used to study deviance as the brothers kill people who are mafia members, breaking the norms of society. Even though the acts they are committing are clearly illegal and deviant, the people of South Boston do not react in a negative way. Since the Social theory is very broad, it will be easier to look at the brother’s acts under three sub theories: Labeling, Conflict and Strain theories.
Emile Durkheim (1901) argued that although definitions of what constitutes deviance vary by place, it is present in all societies. He defined deviance as acts that offend collective norms and expectations. Durkheim believed that what makes an act or appearance deviant is not so much its character or consequences, but that a group has defined it as dangerous or threatening to its well-being (Ferrante, 134).
Before the 1950’s theorists focused on what the difference was between deviants and criminals from “normal” citizens. In the 1950’s researchers were more involved exploring meaning and reasons behind deviant acts. This led to the most dominant question in the field of deviance, “what is the structural and culture factors that lead to deviant behavior?” This question is important when studying deviance because there is no clear answer, everyone sees deviance in different ways, and how deviance is created. Short and Meier states that in the 1960’s there was another shift in focus on the subject of deviance. The focus was what causes deviance, the study of reactions to deviance, and the study of rule breaking and rule making. In the 1960’s society was starting to speak out on what they believed should be a rule and what should not; this movement create chaos in the streets. However, it gave us a glimpse into what makes people become deviant, in the case it was the Vietnam War and the government. Short and Meier also write about the three levels that might help us understand were deviance comes from and how people interact to deviance. The first is the micro level, which emphasizes individual characteristics by biological, psychological, and social sciences. The second level is macrosociological that explains culture and
Social deviance is when people who are faced with social norms either choose to conform or to rebel
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.
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).
Goode, E 2006, 'IS THE DEVIANCE CONCEPT STILL RELEVANT TO SOCIOLOGY?', Sociological Spectrum, 26, 6, pp. 547-558, SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 3 June 2014.
Societies that esteem social conformity view defiance as a by-product of insolence rather than an act of courage. Isolation of individuals that do not abide by the set restrictions is another common characteristic of systems that encourage mob mentalities. As a result, in order to be accepted by peers, individuals often have to function based on societal expectations. Some consider pursuing their own opinions and ideas against the social norms. This often garners backlash and hostilities from other members of society, ranging from physical and verbal abuse to denial of individual’s competence and sanity to complete alienation from society. Although some people are able to champion their freedom of expression and right to opinions over the need
Social deviancy is the violation of social norms. A deviant is someone who rejects folkways and mores. Any action that violates the values or rules of a social group is deviant behavior. In order to actually be characterized as a deviant, the individual must be detected committing a deviant act and be stigmatized by society. A stigma is a mark of social disgrace, setting the deviant apart from the group. Criminality is healthy for society. Deviance affirms our cultural values and norms. Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries and brings people together. There will always be people who break society’s rules and that’s important.
Human beings are defined as ''social animals'' because in every aspects of life they live together, they form a variety of groups and improve relationships with each other. Interaction with others is a natural result of living in society. In the process of interaction, society and its rules has a social impact on each individual. If people face with any kind of social impact such as group pressure, great part of them show conformity by changing their behaviors, ideas, decisions in expected way. A person conforms if he or she chooses a course of action that a majority favors or that is socially acceptable. Some kind of conformity is natural and socially healthy but obeying all the norms, ideas, and decisions without thinking or accepting is harmful for the society and its democratic norms....
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.
To come to understand why people act with deviant behavior, we must comprehend how society brings about the acceptance of basic norms. The “techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in a society” are called social control (Schaefer, 2009). As we respect and acknowledge these social norms we expect others to do so as well. Therefore, according to our behavior sanctions are carried out whether they are positive or negative. Conformity, which refers to “going along with peers, people of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior” (Schaefer, 2009), is one way social control occurs in a group level which influence the way we act. On the other hand, obedience is the compliance with a higher authority, resulting in social control at a societal level. The sanctions used to promote these factors can be informal and formal social control. Informal social control can be very casual in enforcing social norms by using body language or other forms of discipline, however formal social control is carried out by authorized agents when desired behavior is not obtained by informal sancti...
Sociology defines deviance as a behavior that violates norms set by a society, the violation of which leads to social disapproval. Social deviance can range in severity from acts such as murder and incest to simple body modifications like tattoos, and even the smallest departure from the norm can be seen as deviance. Social deviance is also relative to the community in which it is seen, for example one society might consider driving on the right side of the road normal while it could be seen as deviant for others. So as a way to explore the topic of minor deviant behaviors, and public reaction to those behaviors, this paper will discuss the results of social experiments involving