Getting Out In The Prison Cell
In every society, people are conformed to the rules and regulations that are established by their governing system. Hence, conformity molds the structure of society. Situations lead people to different sets of consequences depending on the acts they committed that may effectively disrupt the rules of the society. These are described to be related in a concept called deviance. From the term itself, it is defined as a disengagement and neglect from conforming to social norms. A common example of deviance is crime which states to be the violation of a society’s formally enacted criminal law (Macionis, 2011, p. 194).
Examples of this particular deviant act are stealing and killing which each has a different consequence or punishment. In the contrary, not all deviance matters in choices and actions. Also, not all deviant acts are in the form of crime. Such instances are chit-chatting with people,having pizza party and doing other sporadic stuff while discussing lessons in a classroom.People may mostly think that deviance only shows a negative aspect. Technically, it comprises with foundations of consequential results in both positive and negative sides that contribute in the formation of societal areas, since deviance and as well conformity shapes society.
In structural-functional approach of deviance, what consequences we would meet when we get out from our prison cell in such certain situations?Like based on the deviant acts I usually committed are cheating during Spanish quizzes to pass and stealing money from my parents for ridiculous things to buy but hey, not mostly. These acts show an unconventional way of reaching a goal which is called as innovation, one of the illustrations of Thomas Merton’s strain theory. In this theory, Merton argued that deviance is much of an encouragement for people to engage and stick with opportunities for success.
Coming to the focus of symbolic-interactionism approach, deviance deals about differences in terms of appearance and behavior considering what ‘normal’ for society is. For instance, when I was like 11 years old, there’s this schoolmate of mine who’s autistic and was so obsessed with me for 4 years. He’d always buy food for me without my consent, complimenting everything I do and stalking me. Many people bullied him because he’s different. I thought having someone so obsessed about you is cool, but it made me really depressed. I’m so depressed when he knew my crush, he forced him to have a public fight with him just to show who’s more impressive for me. Almost all teachers and students teased me and made rumors about us.
Labeling theory speaks to this situation stating that deviance and conformity result not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions (John Macionis, 2011, p. 200). According to psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, people quickly put labels on mental disorders that set to differences they do not like. We live in a world of people whose uniqueness in actions and mentalities may annoy us, but being different doesn’t mean being born with mental illness.
In social conflict approach, deviance is labeled in the basis of classes carrying power.According to Karl Marx, laws and other social institutions are the reflection of interests of people who are in wealth and power.People who are perceived as deviants in the eyes of the elite are threats for stealing their properties and trying to pursue a kind of society they advocate. Norms and laws are said to be just natural and good for holding means of a political character.Though laws may have been applied unequally, people may share their thoughts whether these are either fair or not.
References:
Chapter 6 - Conformity and Deviance. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.uky.edu/~drlane/teams/pavitt/ch6.htm
Macionis, John. (2011). Sociology. U.S.A:Pearson Education, Inc.