Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Social-functional theories of deviance

1. What kind of evidence do you see of Merton's strain theory at MHS? Without disclosing names, please give at least two examples.

2. Cloward and Ohlin's theory attempts to explain the formation of gangs based on certain individuals being denied access to both legitimate and illegitimate means of achieving success. Do you think there are individuals who fall into this category in Vermont? If so, why do you think that there are no gangs in this state?

3. Also, please read pages 179-183 for tomorrow's class.

9 comments:

  1. 1. For the sake of simplicity let's focus on Students. Students who fit into the Rebellion category by not doing their work and breaking the rules on purpose. Students who fit into the Conformity category by doing all their work and following all the rules. Students who fit into the Innovation category by finding their own unique way to do their work. And Students who fit into the Retreatism category by following the rules, but not doing thier work so much.
    2.Yes, there are always people like that wherever you go. And I'm not aware of whether or not there are or are not gangs in Vermont.

    - Coti

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  2. 1. I don't know what strain theory is but ima give it a go anyhow. Some behavior I see at MHS that I find interesting: People pretending they do not care about school when they get close to straight A's. This probably has something to do with the fact that good grades, I'd argue, are not "cool", and they will gain you little to no peer acceptance to some. Rather you are more likely to be "accepted" if you have an apathetic attitude towards your grades. I also found that myself, personally, am more likely to conform to a teacher's expectations (try harder for them) the more I like and respect them.
    2. I do indeed think there are people in Vermont who have a higher stack against them for achieving success, sometimes a near impossible one. Although this population is certainly smaller than in other areas, it does exist, although perhaps not enough as so a "gang" is formed on the scale of the bloods or anything.
    3. OK
    -Andrew

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  3. 1. In school, the rules are generally pretty cut-and-dry. Life at MHS may be relatively flexible with regards to this, but it still applies. Students know what the goals and expectations are, and know what it requires to achieve them. Thus, Merton's five categories of coping with society's requirements applies quite nicely to this situation. There are the conformists, who do all their homework and spend their out of class time with after school activities and homework. There are the ritual students, who go through the motions of passing tests and turning in enough homework, but refuse to see the worth of any of it. There are the innovators, who cheat on tests and break the rules to find new ways of achieving the goals. There are those who have retreated and given up on the goals and means altogether; they stand against the wall in gym class, sit in the back of the class, and never talk to anybody. And of course there are the rebels. These are the students who kick up dust just to make noise. They pick fights with teachers and disciplinarians, violate dress codes, engage in illegal activities on school ground, and skip classes to hang out with friends.
    2. There are indeed gangs in Vermont, uncommon as they are. The reason they are so infrequent probably has something to do with Vermont being comprised mostly of small towns. In small towns, it is much easier to achieve a relatively high amount of success because standards are not as high and there is less competition. Legitimate means of success are much easier to find in such situations. In larger states with more urban areas, the pressure to succeed is often greater and the means to do so are often harder to come by.

    -Julian

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  4. 1. Julian summed it up pretty well. You see students who have accepted the rules and expectations of high school and do their homework and study, and for their hard work are rewarded with good grades. These are the conformists. Then there are those who reject conventional means of succeeding in school and become innovative in ways to succeed in school to meet the cultural goal. This could be done by cheating or not studying at all.
    2. I believe there are gangs in Vermont, as with most places you go to, there will be people who have been denied of success.

    - Jack.

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  5. 1. We disscused this in class, and I still have to say that as far as I know, I have not witnessed anything in that area. For that reason, I cant really think iof anything.

    2. This happens to indaviduals everywhere. I would deffinitely say this happens in Vermont. Also, to say that there arent any gangs in Vermont would be a pretty inaccurate statement. There are plenty of gangs, there just arent any overly large and established gangs such as the bloods or the crypts.

    -Collin

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  6. -lets try something other than school. something easier and broader would be society. uhhh, some people think you need to have money to be good and happy, so they do all they can to get that money, weather or not its something they want to do, they conform to look like a socially acceptable person, because thats what that means to them,of course this may work for them, money can buy a lot of happiness, artificial happiness but joy none the less, but for the most part (im not a succesful adult so im making an observational opinion)that happiness from being very secure with a fat bank acount and having flashy things is a goal and a way of life that the person did not come up with themselves, others take another route like being artsy, and working free lance job to job, or on a piece of literature for a long time., or they just live in the woods, maybe they didnt go to a lot of school or do very well in it but they are happy with what they do and have all they need.
    -yes, very few gangs, like shootem up bang bang gangsters, but social groups is what i would call them, this happens everywhere i feel, at least in a capitalist society, for people to be on someone needs to be below them, in Isan though the village i stayed at in Thailand everyone was pretty much in the same situation, sure some had electricity and some didnt, but electricity doesnt get you a lot except your house is alluminated later and you can have some fans going, other than that its just an expense, everyone lived a simple life with pure values, and everything anyone did was accepted, that was just how they did things, sure there were some town drunks but that was just what they did, the spiritual healer guy, the doctor of the village partied it up with the others at a wedding, just cause hes a doctor doesnt mean he cant have fun, all anyone needed was food and clean water for themselves and thier family and as long as they had that they were ok, and everyone knew that and lived like that.

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  7. that was charlie o

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  8. 1. well, everyone has pretty much said everything i was going to say, but its interesting how some nonconformists are only nonconformists because they are influenced to act that way by their nonconformists peers, making the influenced nonconformists not actually nonconformists at all.
    2. i think that some people have a much better chance of succeeding than others based on their backgrounds. in Vermont there are no gangs that i know of.
    -Brendan

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  9. 1. What kind of evidence do you see of Merton's strain theory at MHS? Without disclosing names, please give at least two examples.

    most people at our school study, do homework, sometimes even extra credit when it is not needed. these people conform to the goals set for them by society... to do well and succeed in school. go to college ect. there are others that barely get by. giving the minimum amount of effort possible to just move on from high school, then there are those who choose to drop out of school and not fallow the norms of society or share the same values as most people in society.


    2. Cloward and Ohlin's theory attempts to explain the formation of gangs based on certain individuals being denied access to both legitimate and illegitimate means of achieving success. Do you think there are individuals who fall into this category in Vermont? If so, why do you think that there are no gangs in this state?

    well for one. there are only about 700,000 people in vermont. also most gangs arnt started because people cant succeed. gangs are started because of things like diversity. most gangs are started because of issues with race/decendance, religion, or "ownership" of an area. vermont does not have much diversity at all. this is one of the biggest reasons there are no gangs... well, no large sclae gangs, im sure there are gang like groups. as for people being denied access to means for succeeding in vermont... i dont believe this is true. vermont is a fairly easy place to live in. there are alot of opportunities here for people to do well

    -jacob g

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