Howard Becker describes the way an act of deviance can cause total disruption within the society/social group. I feel this is extremely important because it is the social group that holds almost all the power, and it is the social group that says what is right and what is wrong. If the social group says that something is right thing to do, then more out of times the people will listen and do so. The social group is the one who says who belongs and who doesn’t, and no social group wants to have to deal with someone who disobeys or disrespects it. It’s important to know what is “right” and what is “wrong” because it allows for the person to be a part of the group. Honestly, no one truly wants to be left out or shamed for being different, in fact,
Society is not a realm in which all of the rules are listed on paper; people naturally abide them due to their countless experiences. The results of these incidents or the incident as a whole sometimes transform itself into an unspoken code that people are assumed to know by heart. For example, humans are treated differently - usually with more respect and higher expectations (such as CEOs or famous actors and actresses) - when they are in a very high position or level in an industry. No matter how much or little they do, they are frequently noticed more by the media than anyone else. But how about those who live in their normal lives trying to bring home the bread and milk for their families? Or those who do a substantial amount of service and deeds for their communities and companies? Ty...
Carl Zimmer an evolution scientist wrote an article called” Bringing Them Back to Life”. In July 2003 a group of scientists brought back the bucardo to life. The bucardo is a wild goat that was found in the mountains of the Pyrenees. In 1989 it was found that there were only slightly over a dozen of the goats left. “Ten years later a single bucardo remained: a female nicknamed Celia.” (Zimmer, 445) Bucardos were officially extinct, however, Celia’s cells remained preserved in labs. For a few years a team of reproductive psychologists led by Jose Folch injected nuclei from Celia’s cells into goat eggs removed of their own DNA, they then implanted the eggs into surrogate mothers (Zimmer, 445) Over 57 implantations, only one was born. The clone was born with several problems and died quickly.
The movie “The Help”, shows that many people will avoid being different in order to fit in with societal norms. When given a choice, societal expectations are considered more important and valuable than embracing differences. Different groups have different expectations that are held sacred to them. These rules are good and bad as they provide a safe acceptable path for people to follow, but also creates a wall that no one dares pass in fear of being belittled and scoffed at. If anyone does happen to intrude past this barrier, then they would be reprimanded by others for their brash behavior. These groups are made based primarily on a person’s sex and race. Throughout “The Help”, the many groups clearly display that societal norms are held
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.
Learning about it and talking about it are two different things to me. Even though Divergent is set in a futuristic world a lot of the structures in that society go hand and hand with our society today. We have achieved or ascribed statuses, kids who are born into religion or parents who decide they want to be a certain religion. We have kids born into a certain job and do it because their parents want them to choose it. I see day in and day out people following the rules because they don’t want to be an outcast in society. If you don’t follow our society’s norms people look at you like you are crazy and no one wants to be looked at like they are crazy. If you don’t follow society’s rules then you can end up in poverty and have no one to care about you. So many people in the movie followed the rules because they thought that’s the only way society can be ran but it isn’t. Today I also see a lot of the same things going on. In the movie Tris stepped up and did the right thing, once Tris did that more and more stepped up and joined the cause. We today do the same thing, we don’t step up and do the right thing until others do. In present society we have primary groups who each have their purpose of keeping society functioning. We have teachers who teach knowledge to kids who someday will have jobs to keep society running. We have the work labor force to do the things that people like politicians don’t want to
...ther, and nearly kills an innocent woman. In a broader perspective, conformity can leave people walking aimlessly down the beaten path with no real direction except conformity, doomed to live yet another meaningless life in a society based on archaic principles.
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).
Social deviance is when people who are faced with social norms either choose to conform or to rebel
The presence of others seems to set expectations to behave in certain ways in certain situations, even if they do not want to. Social conformity is a “type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. This change is in response to real (involving the physical presence of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social norms / expectations) group pressure” (McLeod, S. (2007). People will tend to agree openly but privately be thinking and knowing it is wrong. People feel they need to socially conform to have a sense of belonging or connectedness, fit in, have a positive social identity, or to simply adapt to their situation and surroundings at the time. I feel it is rare to find those who exude confidence (not to be confused with arrogance), that are comfortable in their own skin, and speak their mind with the facts/truth and break the norms. It might be hard at first to take this approach, but in my experience, those individuals are also the ones that are highly respected. On the other hand, those who go against what society claims is right or wrong may be seen as deviants. Deviance is any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs (Kendall, 2012-01-01, p. 180). Examples are tattoos, Goth, not leaving a tip for the waiter/waitress, pink hair, not believing in God or simply walking down the wrong side of the hallway.
There are many cases of deviance answering a person’s identity. Deviance in the broadest sense is a socially disapproved behavior in which violates the perceived agreed on norm within a community or the society at large. Robbing a bank, staring at a stranger intently, setting off a bomb where hundreds of people are, and talking to oneself in public are all considered to be acts of deviance. Though deviant acts can be a violation of a simple norm- like going over the speed limit- sociologists focus on deviant acts that are assaults on mores, the most serious of society’s norms (Newman, 212).
In conclusion, once an individual is labelled deviant, the pressure within society to conform to the ‘said norm’ is an ever demanding and increasing pressure. Whilst the intention of the said individual may well be to follow the path of ‘ normal individuals’, once labelled, for whit ever reason it is ever increasingly difficult to return to the ‘normal way of life’ without this shadow overwhelming most.
The theoretical study of societal reaction to deviance has been carried out under different names, such as, labelling theory, interactionist perspective, and the social constructionist perspective. In the sociology of deviance, the labelling theory of deviant behaviour is often used interchangeably with the societal reaction theory of deviancy. As a matter of fact, both phrases point equally to the fact that sociological explanations of deviance function as a product of social control rather than a product of psychology or genetic inheritance. Some sociologists would explain deviance by accepting without question definitions of deviance and concerning themselves with primary aetiology. However, labelling theorists stress the point of seeing deviance from the viewpoint of the deviant individual. They claim that when a person becomes known as a deviant, and is ascribed deviant behaviour patterns, it is as much, if not more, to do with the way they have been stigmatized, then the deviant act they are said to have committed. In addition, Howard S. Becker (1963), one of the earlier interaction theorists, claimed that, "social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders". Furthermore, the labelling theoretical approach to deviance concentrates on the social reaction to deviance committed by individuals, as well as, the interaction processes leading up to the labelling.
Though conformity is a humane feeling, many examples of conformity going wrong can be found throughout history. For example, multiple Germans conformed to follow Nazism and prosecuted millions of innocent Jews. Southern whites conformed to segregate thousands of African-Americans. By looking at multiple sources of literature, one can see conformity becomes unacceptable when innocent people are hurt and/or killed and affects the way one thinks or acts.
As we all have observed, throughout history each culture or society has unique norms that are acceptable to that group of people. Therefore, to establish and come to the acceptance of these basic norms, each society must develop its’ own strategies and techniques to encourage the fundamentals of behavior, which is clear in our modern society. Most do assume that everyone in a society will follow and respect such norms. However, some tend to deviate from the adequate norms and demonstrate deviant behavior. Nevertheless, we are inclined to ask ourselves, why do people decide to violate such important standards of living?
Conflict Theorists see deviance as a power struggle. It is an outlet for class exploitation. They believe that the first quality of deviance, its emergance in social context, applies specifically when speaking about the