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Social Deviance & Social Control 1500
Part III: Studying Deviance
Child Reporting
Survey of Sexual Behavior of Americans
Researching Dealers and Smugglers
Part IV: Constructing Deviance
Moral Entrepreneurs: Campaigning the Social Construction of Drug Scares
Blowing Smoke: Status Politics and the Smoking Ban. The premise of Reinarman’s article is that major drug scares and anti-drug crusades are the most effective way to fight is abuse and addiction. Dug care is an old campaign strategy since is usage is dated back to the mid 1800s when anti-opium den laws were instituted to discourage the drug’s abuse by Chinese immigrants. Anti-drug crusades have generally been associated with middle-class, white, Protestant Americans. The seven elements of drug scares and laws include kernel of truth, media magnification, politico-moral entrepreneurs, professional interest groups, historical context of conflict, scapegoating and linking a drug to a dangerous group of people. Three factors have enhanced the impact of anti-drug crusaders. Firstly, the society has attributed the evils of drugs to the social problems affecting the modern world. Secondly, due to capitalism and Protestantism, the American society has strongly emphasized on the importance of self-control. Finally, consumers in the modern market have exacerbated the issue of self-control and self-indulgence.
Failure to Launch.
Differential Social Power: Labeling
Gender, Race and Urban Policing. The rich and wealth have the power to sway the decision made by politicians. By contributing to campaigns and funding research, they are able influence the politicians to favor or disfavor new laws. Secondly, due to their majority, dominant races and ethnic groups take advantage of their numbers to influence decision-making. In regards to gender and age, men and older people tend to have an upper advantage in the society. As a result, the poor, young, women and people from racial or ethic minority groups tend to have less social power to construct deviance.
Homophobia and Women’s Sport. Blinde and Taud state that cultural norms and sanctions have governed the behavior of males and females. The authors examine how women have violated these traditional norms and threatened patriarchy. Two stereotypes have been associated to sports. The first one is that there is silence surrounding lesbianism in women’s sport. Secondly, athletes have internalized societal stereotypes that have been base on personality, dress, physical appearance and type of sport. The public has found the topic of lesbianism in athletes disturbing and inappropriate. However, everybody has desisted from addressing the topic, and used the word ‘it’ for ‘lesbianism’. Despite the public silence, lesbian and heterosexual female athletes have been affected by the stereotype and limited contact with each other. Lesbian stereotype and negative labeling have diminished the sporting achievement of female athletes, caused psychological trauma, discourage socialization and prevented them from engaging in sports.
The Mark of a Criminal Record. The study by Pager focuses on consequences of incarceration on employment for white and black men. The subjects included two whites and two black. Criminal records for drug conviction and prison time served were used as profile testers. Black with or without criminal records, received fewer callbacks than whites did. From Pager’s study, it was evident that criminal records had negative effects on employment’ especially for blacks. It reduces the chances for employment by a huge margin. A concern raised from the study is that unemployment rate is likely to increase due to increase number of ex-offenders.
Differential Social Power: Resisting labeling
The Saints and the Roughnecks. According to Chambliss, the saints are individuals who practice truancy through deceitful practices. They are positively regarded by other people because of their impressive performances, good behavior and role models. They have the ability to carry out unacceptable practices without detection. Conversely, even though roughnecks are also fond of truancy, they are constantly caught in trouble. The society views roughnecks as dishonest, rowdy, under performers and lawbreakers.
Doctors Anatomy and Power.
Part V: Deviant Identity
Identity development
The Adoption and Management of a ‘Fat’ identity. The two environmental cues that make an individual identify self as sate are recognition and placement. Societal agents contribute to the deviant label because they transmit active cues by telling victims that they are fat. Victims might opt for two responses to societal reaction. The first group might not be affected by other people’s opinion. Conversely, some will be psychologically affected by negative opinions. Having picked up cues from the environment, a fat person might take measures to reduce their weight. A second alternative would be to be contented with their status.
Becoming bisexual. Bisexuals reject both homosexuality and heterosexuality. Becoming a bisexual involves four stages. The fist stage is initial confusion. At this stage, individuals question their sexual orientation because they are attracted to both sexes. In the second stage, finding and applying, bisexuals discover and categorize their sexual identity. Settling into identity, the third stage, would involve elf actualization. In the final stage, continued uncertainties, bisexuals who are in denial continue to question their sexual identity.
Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. Anorexia patients are obsessed with their weights. They aim at maintaining abnormally low weight through starvation and strenuous exercises. Conversely, even though bulimia patients are cautious of their weight, they have a tendency to secretly binge. Later, they try to get rid of excess calories through unhealthy practices such as induced vomiting. Between the two, eating disorder is more common among bulimia patients because they are willing to ingest dangerous substances to induce vomiting.
Convicted Rapists’ vocabulary of motive. Convicted rapists gave several justifications for their actions. Firstly, they argue that victims were the aggressors because they were the seductresses. They stated that victims were willing and made sexual advances, or consented to have sex in exchange for drugs and money. Secondly, rapists argued that ‘no’ meant ‘yes’. They stated that the victims were willing because they did not resist, or at least tried to do so. Thirdly, they argued that victims were relaxed and enjoyed the act. Fourthly, they stated that only ‘loose’ women are raped because they sexually provoked other people by their dressing and attire. Finally, admitters stated that rape was a minor wrongdoing. Conversely, there were rapists who accepted that rape was immoral, and blamed themselves for their acts. They had three excuses. Firstly, they argued that they were under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Secondly, they stated that emotional problems such as domestic violence and unhappy childhood were the root cause of their acts. Finally, rapists stated that they were nice people, and could not understand what drove them into the act. Scully and Marolla point out that justifications and excuses have one element in common. In both instances, rapists admitted the accusations and requested pardon.
The devil made me do it: use of neutralization by shoplifter. Sykes and Matza offered five techniques for deviance justification. They include Denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victims, condemnation of the condemners and appeal to higher loyalties. Cromwell and Thurman used these five techniques to classify the justifications issued by first-time offenders. In denial to responsibility, the offenders claimed they did not mean to do the crime. To avoid disapproval from other people, they blamed other factors such as alcohol, drugs, poor parenting or bad companions. In regards to denial of injury, the offenders claimed that they did not hurt anybody in the process. They argued that their victims were not financially affected because they are wealthy. In denial of victims, the offenders stated that they robbed deserving victims who made excessive profits by swindling other people. Finally, in regards to condemnation of condemners, they stated that lawmakers and enforcers were also thieves. Shoplifting is folk crime because it goes against the constitution since it causes financial harm to victims. Cromwell and Thurman suggest neutralization by shoplifter occurs prior to the crime since their actions are fueled by believes.
Most Informative and Interesting Article
Contribution