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Narrative essay about drug abuse
Narrative essay about drug abuse
The dangers of underaged drinking
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Personal Narrative: Deviance and Underage Drinking I think that I shall attempt to be original on this topic. Just joking. The worst act of deviance that I have taken part in to my recollection was underage drinking. Before I start talking about this particular act of deviance I would like to say that it was a blast and I would gladly do it again. Also I did know this act was one of deviance, I believe most people know what they are doing when they break the law and I particularly did about this act. My parents and I had talked about underage drinking on several occasions and how there would be plenty of time later in my life to party and get drunk. In the beginning I never drank or even really went to any "parties" until I was a junior in high school. So here it is my junior year. It is my first year not playing football in the fall. I wrestled in the winter and played baseball in the spring. This being the first time in my athletic career that I hadn't been involved in a sport that was in season. Being the popular individual that I was the all of the hot girls in school persuaded me to start partying. This was enough for about the first month of class. Then I eventually began to start drinking and doing various other activities that include girls. I never used any illicit drugs or anything like that, but my life pretty much consisted of drinking and having sex. I do not consider having sex a deviant act, but the drinking was illegal so I do consider it a deviant act. Now that the foreground for this act has been laid let me talk about the night that the deviance became known to my parents. It was a cool, breezy, slightly rainy Friday night. I believe it was our fifth football game of the year. It was a hom... ... middle of paper ... ... rejected the means to achieve these goals (we got beer illegally and drank it). This is a perfect example of innovation as it pertains to the anomie theory of deviant behavior. So yet again for a third time, and sociological theory of deviance explains my behavior. In the end all three theories of sociological deviance that I talked about explain the deviant behavior that I was partaking in. I feel that the one that fits the act the most is differential association. The reason that I feel this is that I do not feel that I would have participated in this behavior if it was not for the individuals I was hanging out with at the time. I hope you enjoyed my story and I hope that you are not disappointed that I have not partaken in any more deviant acts. Believe it or not I am one of the good guys. Scary isn't it? Muuuaaahhhhhhhh Bibliography:
Differential association theory was founded by Edwin H. Sutherland (Lilly, 2012, p. 43). This theory states that “any person will inevitably come into contact with definitions favorable to violation of the law and with definitions unfavorable to violation of the law” (Lilly, 2012, p. 44). Whichever definition is more prominent in a person’s mind, will lead to their decision of “whether the person embraces crime as an acceptable way of life” (Lilly, 2012, p. 44). Sutherland composed nine propositions that explained the theory. He explained that “crime is learned through the process of differential association” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). The nine propositions explained that “criminal behavior is learned” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). He explained that by communicating with others, especially those that are close to them they are more likely to pick up behaviors from those people. Differential association theory also explains that learning criminal behaviors “involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). While learning a criminal behavior one not only learns “the techniques of committing the crime” but also the “specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes” involved with crime (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). This is theory is shown throughout the book when the young Mr. Moore was influenced by the life of crime that was present in his
While watching “The Philadelphia Story”, there were many occasions where deviant behavior can be observed from the characters. Every character’s actions are impacted and labeled by the theories somehow no matter what the deviant act was. Different theories were used to label some of the deviant acts in different ways according to the deviant act they committed. The three examples that I felt were very noticeable to the social deviant theories were: Dexter’s unannounced return and actions for Traci’s wedding, Traci’s behavior the night before the wedding and with Dexter, and Macaulay’s actions the night before Traci’s wedding and snooping around her family. I believe that Dexter’s and Macaulay Connor’s can be connected to the Anomie theory, and Traci’s behavior can be connected with the Labeling theory. Each theory goes hand in hand with the deviant act that was committed by the person. Both the Anomie and Labeling theory are used in different ways by each character’s actions.
The social deviance anomie theory also known as strain theory is defined as means to an end. This means that if the goals that society holds for people are unreachable individuals may turn to illegitimate ways of getting there. Throughout this paper I will provide details as to why we should use anomie theory when defining deviance among brothel workers presented in Brothel Mustang Ranch and its Women written by Alexa Albert.
Differential Association Theory is defined as a theoretical perspective that examines how people learn to be deviant or a conformist based on the community they are a part of. For example, because students are sitting in class room they have learned to conform to gain rewards and now are able to achieve in society. Edwin Sutherland coined the term differential association to indicate this: from the different groups we associate with, we learn to deviate from or conform to society’s norm. (Handlin 2015, Smith 2017).
How to research or ideas fit in with the assigned reading. The study was able to illustrate the dynamics of Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory and Aker’s Social Learning Theory through the simple fact that the study focuses on social behaviors, particularly deviant behaviors that can be the result of society or interactions. These deviant behaviors are typically learned actions as a survival mechanism due to a deteriorating community. Allen and Lo constructed their study from Anderson’s (1999) study of black male behavior within poor neig...
"Sociological Theories To Explain Deviance." Sociological Theories To Explain Deviance. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. .
The movie The Boondock Saints provides an excellent example of positive deviance through innovation. The Social theory of deviance can easily explain the brothers’ actions. The movie can be used to study deviance as the brothers kill people who are mafia members, breaking the norms of society. Even though the acts they are committing are clearly illegal and deviant, the people of South Boston do not react in a negative way. Since the Social theory is very broad, it will be easier to look at the brother’s acts under three sub theories: Labeling, Conflict and Strain theories.
Deviant behavior is sociologically defined as, when someone departs from the “norms”. Most of the time when someone says deviance they think against the law or acting out in a negative behavior. To sociologists it can be both positive and negative. While most crimes are deviant, they are not always. Norms can be classified into two categories, mores and folkways. Mores are informal rules that are not written; when mores are broken, they can have serious punishments and sanctions. Folkways are informal rules that are just expected to be followed, but have no real repercussions.
Goode, E 2006, 'IS THE DEVIANCE CONCEPT STILL RELEVANT TO SOCIOLOGY?', Sociological Spectrum, 26, 6, pp. 547-558, SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 3 June 2014.
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.
A lot of the time, teens think it is ‘cool’ to drink because everyone else does it. Almost every television show that young people watch have some underage substance abuse, leading adolescents to believe that it can’t be that bad. While society plays a big part in this huge problem, both teens and parents need to learn that there can be severe consequences from as little as one drink. Allowing them to think this kind of behavior is acceptable will haunt them for the rest of their lives, even if they are not alcohol related. Believing that such behavior is acceptable now will lead them to bad decision-making skills in the future when faced with an ethical decision. Teens need to know the major effects can come from underage drinking before going to that party or when being pressured into something they may not be willing to participate in. It is obvious that the long and short-term effects of alcohol abuse can be easily avoided by getting educated and thinking before engaging in any self-destructive
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
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.
High school is normally the time when teenagers begin to dabble in the world of alcohol – to discover their limits and develop habits and this experimentation carries over into college. That is the norm and its not a bad thing, but of course there are a few exceptions. In high school I never went to a single party, was never invited to one, and barely ever even heard about them. It was something that none of my close friends were a part of and the thought of drinking never really crossed my mind. I was so busy with my school work, my job, and the cross country team that I didn’t have much spare time, and when I did I wanted to relax and hang out with my friends. My parents raised me in the faith of the Catholic Church and this background gave me a strong moral base. I always laugh and I have fun doing the simplest things so it was easy for me to find activities to be a part of besides drinking. It was only the summer after high school graduation that I began to feel peer pressured to drink and the fact that I am always sober started to make me feel a bit isolated.