Addressing Sociology In taking sociology 101 this semester, I have truly learned a lot about the different aspects and perspectives that sociologists take on society. There is more to human behavior than just being happy or sad or depressed and etc. Sociologists go into further detail into explaining why people feel the way they do or think the way that they do. For example, my personal favorite chapter throughout this text, chapter six, has done a great deal in explaining social control and deviance. It is for a fact, like Conley stated, “It is the deviants among us who hold society together.” Furthermore, in order for a society to function, one is dependent upon deviants to allow us to differentiate between the “good” and the “bad.” 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. Over the past couple of years, I have become increasingly aware of a fast growing social movement that greatly impacts my life on a personal level. Reading further into the text, we learn about social integrati... ... middle of paper ... ...cial institutions can be a group, an organization, government or any entity that shares a common objective or goal. What is most important is the role chosen by the individual within the institution. As a young adult, I am particularly interested in the concept of the social institution because as I learn and further develop my own identity I will choose and experience many different institutions within society. As trends change, so will my beliefs, attitudes and behavior. Hopefully by better understanding the idea of the social institution, that can help me also effectively determine my role in society by using the strain theory, and understanding power relations and social integration and regulation, and by using the labeling theory, and so on. I can make better decisions, be better informed, and better understand how and why situations occur to other individuals.
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.
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.
In the world we live in today, deviance happens to play an integral role in within the societies that scatter our globe, whether we like it or not. Deviance describes actions or behaviors that violate the social norms of our society. These behaviors can violate formally enacted rules, such as laws that are put into place by government, as well as the informal type of “guidelines” that various cultures have informally established and shaped for themselves. As one may come to understand, norms are essentially expectations that are standard to a certain culture. These norms gently guide people in a society in “what to do,” and “what not to do,” in compliance with their societies' norms. With this said, it is important to keep in mind that social norms differ from culture to culture. One act that may be considered deviant in a particular society, may be generally accepted in another. Three main sociological theories of deviance include the cultural transmission theory (also known as the differential association theory), the labeling theory, and the control theory.
The topic of social deviance encompasses such a broad range of ideas. Something as monumentally significant as the Holocaust, as well as something as seemingly insignificant as not covering ones’ mouth while coughing, are both seen as acts of social deviance. Social deviance being any act that is contrary to that which is accepted in one’s society, it seems nearly impossible not to be socially deviant at least occasionally. Today, not only the culture in America but also the culture of human beings in their entirety, has been transformed by socially deviant acts. Some of these historical transformations have been for the better. Others have not. Regardless of the outcome, most acts of deviance are made in an attempt to better society. If the opposite effect is experienced, society reverts to a previous structure. For the less significant acts of deviance, tolerance is often the result of continued deviance, though it is possible that continued deviance will lead to stronger emphasis on cultural norms. An example in America of such an act is, as mentioned before, not saying “God bless you” following the sneeze of another. Society could either evolve to disregard the lapse in etiquette or to chastise any who do not conform to this mannerism. Social deviance is society’s way of introducing change. Whether accepted or rejected, social deviance does indeed have a purpose other than simply contradicting social norms.
...tter how hard they work, they cannot achieve the desired levels of wealth which they have been taught to aspire to, deviant behaviour may result. Howard Becker's approach to the labelling of deviance, outlined in Outsiders views deviance as the creation of social groups and not the quality of some act or behaviour ( Howard Becker website). According to Becker, researching the act of the individual is irrelevant as deviance is simply rule breaking behaviour that is labelled deviant by those in a position of power. Richard Quinney concentrates more on the development of a capitalist economy in the creation of deviants. He views the introduction of capitalism as condition where struggle is a natural component. In the book " Class, State, and Crime", Quinney states that deviance is a product of the condition of the social structure (p107) (Richard Quinney website). He believes that that the state maintains the capitalist order through the creation of laws. The state exists to serve the interests of the capitalist working class. The criminal law is merely an instrument of that class to perpetuate the current social and economic order and is used to repress those who are less powerful.
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
In our society, there are several unspoken rules in regards to social norms. It is thought that “no human group can exist without norms: norms make social life possible by making behavior predictable (Henslin, 2012, pg. 159). Going against such behaviors is known as deviance. Deviance is defined as any violation of social norms, or rules/expectations. “Deviance undermines predictability, the foundation of social life” (Henslin, 2012, pg. 159). My assignment was to design and carry out an experiment in which I demonstrated deviance and elicited responses from others.
First, is the symbolic interactionist perspective of sociology is that we are thinking beings who act according to how we interpret situations (Henslin). In this perspective it looks at how people use symbols to interact with different people. They also look at the people and the situation to see how they define deviance. The top three theories in this perspective looks at the many ways people influenced or taught to be in deviance of norms that others live by. The first is different association theory is that people learn deviance by associating with other people with the same ways of thinking. The second theory is control theory it is that people have two control systems that work against their desire to deviate from the norms. The inner control is your inner voice that you hear that stops you from doing things that are not considered norms by others. The outer control is the people that you are around try to keep you from doing things that would not be norms in their eyes. They are able to influence your actions even though they are not around you at the time. The third is the labeling theory whe...
Deviance is a term used to describe behavior that goes against the established social and cultural norms. The concept of deviance is complex because norms vary considerably across groups, times, and places. Essentially, individuals commit deviant behavior when society defines it as such. Within the field of criminology, a number of theories exist that attempt to explain why some people engage in deviant behavior, while others abstain from it. One of these theories is Travis Hirschi’s, social bond theory, which eventually becomes the blueprint for subsequent control theories. This paper will analyze aspects of social control theory and social bonds, for the purpose of seeing if they can deter deviant behavior.
Our society as a whole is beginning to evolve into numerous classifications. Our society branches off of the social norm structure that we have thrived from for our whole existence. Now however, people in society are going throughout their lives not always aware of the impacts that their choices and influences make on the everyday world around them. From the time people are able to grasp the concept of right and wrong until it is their turn to pass down what is right or wrong, they are not only affecting the social structure of life, but the lives of so many around them, whether they may know it or not. Although most people in society try to avoid the negative forces around them, it is now becoming an excruciating challenge to avoid the pressure and rise to a daunting task. With so many types of deviance floating around the air, it is now nearly impossible to try and not get exposed to deviance and the consequences that come with it. Deviance does not just occur in one place either. Now, it is harder than ever to not catch this behavior. It is
In my essay, I will attempt to tackle one of the main questions, regarding crime and deviance: Why do people commit deviant acts?
The study of sociology exposes to individuals of the unique way of seeing the social world. Going more into depth with the aspect of sociology, we are able to see the relationships between individuals and the larger society in which we live in. There are many theories and concepts that can relate to many
Before I started taking the course of sociology I wasn’t really expecting to learn anything, it was just supposed to be an easy online class. However, that was not the case. It challenged my mind. I started to see sociology all around me, starting with family, then friends, and how I see things overall in general. The fact that we have an everyday life in which there are patterns in ways of living is what sets a platform for a sociological breakdown and for being a part in what we do. A better way of understanding ourselves. We use sociology in many ways every day. One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two different words and situations, but they tend to hold a close relationship. While sociology is the study of the human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction. Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things such as ideas. For an example, race and ethnicity are important concepts in the field of sociology and are ones that are studied a great deal. Race plays a large role in everyday human interactions and sociologists want to study how, why, and what the outcomes are of these interactions. Current sociological theories focus mainly on how there are many different factors in our everyday items of life, like movies. We were assigned a final to write a review for a movie in sociological form. The movie that was on the list that also happened to be one of my favorite movies, Toy Story. When we were assigned the assignment, I never thought about how in-depth it was with sociol...
To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper
The social institution that interests me the most would be family. Family is a core institution in all societies (Gowland). This institution provides the first and most immediate context for our physical, emotional, and social development. Family life influences people in deep ways; it is often difficult to exaggerate it 's importance. My family life, both as a child and as an adult has greatly impacted my life and has helped shape my identity.