Essay On Deviance And Conformity

For my final paper, the topic of Deviance and Conformity is an interesting topic that I relates well to the theory of Social Structure and Personality, as well as the theory of Symbolic Interactionism. Deviance is when a person’s “thoughts, feelings or behaviours” does not follow the norms and morals of society (Becker, 1953). When a person deviate from the norms of society, they are criticized by society for not adhering to what is expected of them, and are thought as immoral or trying to corrupt society (Rohall et. al, 2011, p.187). The act of deviance can be small matters, like burping out loud in public, orit could be larger matters, like starting riots or causing a fight to break out. Conformity is the act of behaving a certain way to

202). Regarding the topic of conformity, Rohall et. al says “Conformity is a natural process in social life” and it emphasizes “how hard it is to deviate from the norms and values of other people” (Rohall et. al, 2011, p. 202). Social Structure and Personality is a theoretical perspective that makes connections between society and individual personalities (Steeves, 2017). Social Structure and Personality emphasizes how macrostructures and hierarchies have an impact on an individual, and how that individual may adjust their thoughts and behaviours accordingly to adhere to the social systems (Steeves, 2017). Symbolic Interactionism is a theoretical perspective that focuses on the “meanings we create, work with and negotiate and sometimes change socially” (Steeves, 2017). It focuses more on how individuals interpret meanings and influence society based on those

A lot of the time when I have nothing to do, I would randomly research on the internet about disasters like school shootings, bombings, or any other tragedies caused by these criminals. When researching about these crimes, I find myself spending a lot of time reading the background of the criminals, and what kind of life they lived before they had committed their crime. I am very interested in why people commit crimes and what is going on in their head before, during, and after they do it. The topic of Conformity started to garner my interest after I learned about it in the Introductory Social Psychology course I took last year. That course first exposed me to the idea of conformity, and put a concept to a behaviour that I see and experience a lot . As someone who conforms, especially to authority, willingly, it was interesting to learn about why I do what people tell me to do even when I do not want