Deviant acts take many different forms often depending on the person committing the act, the people who witness it, the setting of the act, and the circumstances surrounding it, among many other factors. There are many approaches that people in order to convince themselves that they are not deviant. In the same sense, there are many ways that criminals escape being labeled deviant by others. Chambliss (1972) follows two groups of high school boys, the Saints and the Roughnecks. Both groups are involved in very deviant acts, although the Saints tend to avoid most trouble and are not viewed poorly by the community while the Roughnecks are constantly in trouble and have developed a poor image of themselves within the community.
Deviants are formed by society as Durkheim showcases with his example of the “society of saints” which he states that even in a society of exemplary individuals or ‘saints’ where crime as our society defines it may not be present, “faults which appear tolerable to the layman will create there the same scandal that the ordinary offense does in ordinary consciousness.” So assuming that one would be considered by a ‘deviant’ by society then one will also be labeled as a deviant as a negative result of whatever the ‘deviant’ did to reward
Adults are seen as the source of power in an educational setting. They have a lot of control on the success of students and serve as disciplinarians, molding adolescence and aiding in creating their thoughts of right and wrong. In the case of the Saints versus the Roughnecks, the boys in the Saints group were involved in a variety of activities and performed well academically. On the opposite side, the Roughnecks were C-average students. In educational settings, students are praised for their academic achievements.
The Story “The Man Who Knew Belle Starr” written by Richard Bausch has two main themes which are deviance and transgression. Deviance, according to Debra Marshall, is behavior that violates standards or expectations. She also mentions Robert K. Merton’s deviance typology. The chart displays five categories which are conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. According to Jenks’ “Whither Transgression?”, To transgress is to go beyond the bounds or limits set by a commandment or law or convention, it is to violate or infringe.
In the article, The Saints and The Roughnecks, by William J. Chambliss, we are told in great detail about two groups of high school delinquents that are view in different manners from each other in the eyes of the community. The Saints, one of the groups, were, despite their frequent bouts of delinquency, viewed as respectable boys where they lived and were expected to live long successful lives. The Roughnecks, on the other hand, were seen as hooligans and were not even expected to graduate from high school by most in their community. The differentiating circumstances between the two groups being mostly money since the Saints were upper to middle class while the Roughnecks were lower class. With that in mind, this reading honestly just emphasised
The labeling theory of deviance is how different people interpret the same action many different ways. This concept does not result from what people do but the way people react to certain actions. Primary deviance is the act itself then secondary deviance occurs if the label from primary deviance sticks. The taking on a deviant identity by talking, acting, or dressing in a different way, rejecting the people who are critical, and repeatedly breaking the rules. In this approach deviance is offered when anyone who breaks important rules would be then labeled as a deviant.
They are being deviant because they are committing crimes and turning against “Big
So, there is this idea of cultural norms. Primary deviance leads to a label and that leads to secondary deviance. We will use the example of a doctor. If the doctor commits a crime, then the doctor is no longer a doctor; he is a criminal and there tends to be a stigma. It is this stigma that has a lasting effect in which it sticks around.
I totally agree with your statement Mikayla. According to research, deviance a violation of social norms that define appropriate behavior under a particular set of circumstances, but not all deviance is a criminal act. I believe that many individuals; especially females’ behavior is their conformity to social norms. There are some individuals who view offending as a type of behavior that is similar in many respects to other types of antisocial behavior. It is possible that all these acts can slowly change and help people understand, that there is more to life, other the ways they have been taught or all that they may
Criminality established by those in power through the formulation of laws and their interpretation of those laws by police, courts and correctional institutions. The behavior of deviant, their norms and values are totally opposite of the dominant group. Sociologists believe that there is a process of labeling by which deviance will recognize easily. Based on
Module 6: •Define deviance and its relationship to the social context -deviance is a violation of a social norm but not necessarily a violation of our values; people do tend to be put off by deviant behavior, even if it’s relatively harmless; whether or not something is perceived to be deviant depends on the social context in which it occurs •Understand the differences between how conflict theory and functionalism explain deviance -functionalism of deviance -> to affirm cultural values and norms, to clarify moral boundaries, to bring people together, and to encourage social change -according to conflict theory, the most powerful group in society has the power to define what is considered normal and what is considered deviant; each culture has a fair amount of discretion over how it defines what is normal and what is not, however, not all members of a given culture have equal freedom to contribute to such understanding
According to Pennsylvania German the term Rumspringa means “running around.” This meaning is essentially what goes on during Rumspringa—teens are allowed to “run around” and partake in English activities like driving, drinking, partying etc. In the Amish community Rumspringa is the period when it is permissible for adolescence to participate freely in the outside world without penalty. This period starts at the age of sixteen when Amish youth are allowed to indulge in deviant behavior with hopes that they will decide, on their own, to come back to the church. The community expects its youth to make the conscious decision, without being pressured, to become baptized.
According to Hunt and Colandar (2011), a word deviant refers to when an individual’s actions contradict with society’s norms. For instance, majority peoples followed norms because society expect individual to behave in morally tolerate with each other. Those failing to conform the norms noted as deviant. In a social context, the task of the society is to blind the action of the social community together. Once failing to act them to the society’s reaction that seem as deviant.
For cultures that consider behaviors like murder and rape to be honorable, this will draw that attention back to how different cultures or times defined deviant. For instance, Japanese's kamikaze was not a deviant in Japan because it was considered as an act of honor to the country. People that came from that culture will think that 'kamikaze' is an act of honor and it is not a deviant but for people that came from the different culture will think differently. The act of committing suicide is known to be deviant but the standard of judging may vary for that situation in that culture. They knew suicide is going against the norm but because they thought of it as an act of honor, they disregard the action as an act of deviant.
According to our book “Criminology,” Labeling theory deviance is not a quality of the act a person commits; some people and behaviors are more likely than others to be labeled deviant (173). Labeling theories are used in many studies the results contribute to the definition of labeling. When a person is considered deviant in certain situations such as a child stealing a gum from the store or a teenager smoking marijuana. This two types of behavior are deviant on high class societies. This leads to costly punishment and or jail time for the deviant individuals.
