Alvin Deviant Behavior

Alvin; The Deviance of Walking Home
To be deviant in the united states has been constructed over time by society. What was once seen as deviant in the past may not be deviant today; perhaps it once was not and is now considered to be deviant behavior. Deviant behavior is constructed through the intersectionalities race, class, and location. For example, if you are drinking in the United States when you under the age of 21 then you are participating in deviant behavior. However, if that same person were to travel to another place in the world like Mexico then their actions would not be considered deviant. As we talked in lecture deviant behavior is typically associated with illegal behavior, or behavior that differs from societal norms. The

This idea of people of color being less-than helps in the creation of them being seen as deviant. This is derived using Conflict theory which “suggests that deviant behaviors result from social, political or material inequalities of a social group” (CITE: Lecture June 26, 2017). Consequently, as an hispanic Alvin is more likely to be seen as deviant. Additionally, in the United States “brown people” have been seen as “both disposable and rendered as enemy combatants” (CITE: Robin D.G. Kelley, 2012). The idea of people of color being the enemy allows for government to enact policies, like “Stop and Frisk” that strip people of color from their human rights to “protect” the public. Incidentally the stop and frisk conducted on Alvin can be considered racially motivated on account of the police using racial slurs when conducting the search. For example, during the video one of the officers can be clearly heard calling Alvin a “mutt.” Furthermore due to the color of his skin he is subjected to criminalization. This criminalization, explained by Robin D.G. Kelley, transforms Alvin from a rights-bearing individual into a criminal “poised to violate the law who thus require(s) vigilant watch” (CITE: Robin D.G. Kelley,

Alvin presumably comes from a non-wealthy family. This is derived from the way commentary the police officer in the video uses to talk about Alvins father, for example, the police office points out how his father is a “traffic cop” which followed by a demeaning laughing as if his job is inferior to him. The ideology of people who come from low-economic statuses being viewed as inferior and deviant is nothing new. Historically low-income families who typically minority groups were disadvantaged. Lipsitz article “From Plessy to Ferguson” describes how low-income home seekers were limited due to lack of homes, red-lining, and being denied loans due to income.These policies and social structures were used to segregate low-income minorities from white communities. Which was accomplished through the lack of affordable homes in white communities thus allowing white people to live in a certain part of town and displaced communities color into “subsidized public housing in ghetto neighborhoods” (CITE: Lipsitz 2015, pg. 130). These ghetto neighborhoods were “characterized by declining property values" (131). Thus by using the idea “presence of mind’ described in George Lipsitz article “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness” it is clear that the past has influenced the present (CITE: Lipsitz 1995, pg. 370). Since Alvin most likely comes from a lower-income family he is more likely to be determined as