Deviance

The correct sociologists’ definition of deviance is an act (or actions) that seriously or repeatedly violate, or goes against, social norms. And this can either be positive or negative. Deviance is relative to time, place, and perception, creating an impact on every single person and our society. In class, we were to read this article on a man named Julio Diaz and his influence he had on deviance. Basically, this man daily rode the subway, just so he could go to his favorite restaurant. But one day he erratically got a knife pulled on him and was threatened if he didn’t give up his money. And while Julio was giving up his wallet, he questioned the boy and instead invited him to eat dinner with him. Usually, people who are being mugged do not invite their “mugger” to have dinner with them. But what was really surprising as well was the boy accepted the invitation. This act of positive deviance definitely had a twist on society, and shows the other sides of people that are more moral and respectable. Another topic of deviance that we discussed was the article on the “Saints and Roughnecks.” Essentially, both of the groups had few qualities that were in common, but and effects from society were pretty opposite. For example, the saints vandalize, drink alcohol, ditch class, violate driving laws, are dangerous to others, and have more money. And they overall get away with all of these things. The roughnecks, however, do not vandalize, drink alcohol, ditch class. They also are not a danger to others and have less money, but they do steal and fight, resulting in heavy consequences from the law (society is not kind/nice to them). I believe that deviance can change everyone’s perspective on life and it plays a huge role in our society today.

Nature versus Nurture

In class we discussed the different between nature and nurture. We were given a list of people (For example: NBA player, abusive spouse/parent, alcoholic, A/F student, and an accountant) and it was up to us to determine which one they fit into. And for a majority of the people selected, it was difficult to tell which category was correct. For the alcoholic, which was my groups topic, we said that it was nurture because it is something you do, an activity with influences around you. It is your choice to drink. But then we had a rebuttal that it was nature, because if you have an addictive personality, that is how the way you are/born with. But my opinion overall is that both in fact, meaning nature and nurture, play into everyone’s lives and both are what create who you are as in individual. It also relates to socialization, which is the process and factors that create the social animal in existence at this moment. Humans were made to be social and to learn (our cerebral cortex gives us that power), so therefore everything we do, such as even eye-contact or talking to one another influences every characteristic of our own lives.