Social Groups And Deviance

Good discussion forum, everyone providing excellent tips and information which adds a lot more value to our learning, especially this week that I was not sure what answers were expected for the discussion.

This week was not too bad in regards to any of the work I actually needed to do. There are definitely some concepts that I think I need to improve my understanding but I think that I did take away what was available from the texts we were provided.

Summarize and discuss your activities at work during each week. Be sure to note any new on-the-job experiences and any unusual events. Discuss any work-related problems, and state how you resolved them. You may write about your activities each day or for a week. Your summaries may be longer than the space allowed below.

In a culture with such diverse commonalities, the differentials that set precedent come from social norms. These norms set the template for what acceptable behaviors are and are not. Social norms have the potential to change and evolve over time however. Take slavery for instance; in early American history slavery was very commonplace and socially acceptable for its time. Later, slavery was abolished and then in the 1950s and 1960s the Civil Rights Movement worked to gain equality for African American citizens. The evolution of our social norms is often precipitated by the actions of Social Groups that exist within our society. Other times, changes in our society are instigated by the actions of social deviants. Revisiting the example of the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks was in fact a social deviant; being a black woman in her time, her refusal to move to the back of the bus was socially unacceptable. Her actions prompted the unity of multiple Social Groups, thus provoking a civil movement that altered the perception of social normality. It can be said that societal change in itself is a social norm in which Social Groups, deviants are both necessary functions to bring about the growth that makes us who we are as a society.

5. Please outline in your own words, one other new thing you learned this week in the course. How does it apply to your life?

This textbook example would be extremely deviant to the American culture. American laws would not be accepting of such a criminal act to be performed as punishment for adultery. In America it is not illegal to commit adultery, but it is illegal to tie up and beat someone. Americans do feel by majority that the adultery act is deviant, but punishment that the Pokot women carried out are not accepted as a valid punishment in America.

Statistical deviance looks are rare or infrequent instances and if someone falls outside the norm they could have a disorder. On the outside it seems using common sense would be a good idea. If someone is acting different from the majority of the population there might be something wrong with them. This criteria is also very objective and measurements are easier to take. All one has to do is see how if someone acts outside the norm and how much. However, there are many problems with this criteria. Who’s to say how far is too far from the norm. Normal behavior would be set on a bell curve, any behavior on either ends would be considered abnormal, even if it’s just a high IQ that people are often praised for and not labeled as having a disorder. Not every unusual behavior is a disorder, as being left handed is unusual and not a disorder, and not ever disorder is rare, such as alcoholism.

crime as individual choice. They focus on the factors of the role of parents and one’s

What stood out to you in this week’s content material and why was it significant to your learning process.

To begin, social deviance is defined as to any violation of norms such as minor ones like getting a speeding ticket, or as serious as a murder. Then, social control is defined as formal and informal means of enforcing norms in a group. The conflict relationship between social deviance and social control is that conflict theorists regard power and social inequality as the main characteristic of society. It was given as an example from the book that when the power elite was to break a norm, the criminal justice system does not enforce strict punishment on the executives of cooperation because the criminal justice system doesn't want to outrage the working class so that's why power elite have a bypass not having to go to court or be imprison only

The two sociological theories of deviance I chose to study are the functional theories and the interactionist theories. The functional theories views crime and deviance as a result of structural tensions and a lack of moral regulation (Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum 172). A important concept of the functionalist view is that of anomie, this idea suggests that there are “…situation[s] in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior” (Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum 172). This view also suggests that deviance is necessary in modern society because it “…brings about change…” and sets boundaries “…between good and bad behaviors (Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum 172)

There are many things that can be taken away from our discussions in class. Personally what has stuck with me is the topic of imposter syndrome. To me imposter syndrome is pretending or trying your hardest to be something you are not, for the approval of your peers. Being someone who is involved in a lot of things on campus, I feel like I have to excel at everything I do. Attempting to excel at everything can become very draining and tiring. So I have taken on the attitude that I will do the best I can do and that is all I can do.

The group discussion has just passed, and it was really a hard work and challenging. There were many precious lessons I got, and, hopefully, so did with my friends. Our group was consisting of four students. As a quantity, reasonably, we had had enough power to do a better work and gained a satisfying result. As I flashed back to the group discussion, it was enriching my memories. Some were in high spirit, remarkable and enjoyable. Opposite to it, few were disappointing.

In the United States of America, societal deviance changes nearly on a daily basis. Depending on the current culture, deviance is modified to make societal heroes like celebrities, political figures, and sport players look less deviant and more like role models for the public. The change in what is considered “normal” is customarily a result of society in general. By using a reference group of people, individuals tend to identify with those who are in the lime light. Then when that role model does something appalling, the public becomes desensitized to this behavior and its abnormality and becomes less distinct thus adding to the change in social deviances.

This week we learned about Erickson and his theory on development. Erikson studied under the Freud method, but unlike Freud, Erikson actually did research on infants and children as they were developing. I really enjoyed learning about Erikson considering I have a 5-month-old at home growing away. It was interesting to compare these videos to where my baby was in development. Another interesting thing about this module was the James Marcia Identity Status which consists of 4 parts foreclosure, achievement, diffusion, and moratorium.