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| Figure 1 World of Sociology |
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Deviance In America
The first post I wanted to talk about is in Chapter 7 about Sociological Theories of Deviance. Deviance as defined by this book is," ...behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms." This chapter goes into the reasons behind why people have become deviant. There are many theories that suggest various reasons, but the one I want to focus on is Durkheim's study on suicide; and in particular, why people commit mass murders.
These instances have been seen more frequently throughout our modern day society. Instances like: Virginia Tech, Columbine, and Oklahoma City; just to name a few.
One of the most recent instances was the shooting that occurred in Aurora, Colorado. A man came into a theater during the premier of "The Dark Knight Rises" and open fired on everyone watching the film. The question we propose here is: how are these people so detached from society that they feel inclined to kill mass amounts of people?
According to the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, "Most of these crimes are being committed by males armed who have experienced challenging setbacks in social, family, and vocational domains." Many people that commit mass murders don't fit into society socially. There have also been an increase in white middle-class males committing these crimes. They may feel that they are entitled to belong wherever they go, this being the reason for trying to control their surroundings. When they feel they lose the power they must gain it back, and in this case, have resorted to killing. The man responsible for this was starting to slip in school and must have felt the need to be in control again.
One lecturer who spoke in class, Adam Harker, said:
This ties into white middle class men being responsible for these mass murderers. He suggested it's not only the poor who commit deviant acts.
Many theories suggest that video games and movies with violence bring about these actions, but it's more about the individual feeling detached from their peers that drives them to do this.What can we do as a society to include these people who slip away from the norms or is there no stopping these acts of violence?
There have been suggestions about tighter gun control, but there's a lot more to it than just access to firearms; there's the lost connection between this person and society.
http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2012-07-why-most-mass-murderers-are-privileged-white-men
This link will take you to a more detailed reasons to why white males are responsible for mass murders in recent times.
http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=78149407&site=ehost-live&scope=site
This link takes you to a scholarly journal on describing mass murders demographics, and studies done by the Secret Service and FBI.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/29/aurora-shooting-what-does-a-killer-think.html
This link will take you to an article about the recent Aurora shooting and also gives insight to what a killer thinks.
http://www.victimsofcrime.org/
This link takes you to an organization that supports those who have been victims from crimes. I feel this is important for people who have either been a victim or to get more information on understanding crimes.
This video is kind of long, but it has a good discussion on possible causes of why people become mass murderers. It also gives a little background on the most recent shooting in Aurora, Colorado.
These instances have been seen more frequently throughout our modern day society. Instances like: Virginia Tech, Columbine, and Oklahoma City; just to name a few.
One of the most recent instances was the shooting that occurred in Aurora, Colorado. A man came into a theater during the premier of "The Dark Knight Rises" and open fired on everyone watching the film. The question we propose here is: how are these people so detached from society that they feel inclined to kill mass amounts of people?
According to the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, "Most of these crimes are being committed by males armed who have experienced challenging setbacks in social, family, and vocational domains." Many people that commit mass murders don't fit into society socially. There have also been an increase in white middle-class males committing these crimes. They may feel that they are entitled to belong wherever they go, this being the reason for trying to control their surroundings. When they feel they lose the power they must gain it back, and in this case, have resorted to killing. The man responsible for this was starting to slip in school and must have felt the need to be in control again.
One lecturer who spoke in class, Adam Harker, said:
Surely, the elite class in society that is far more
comfortable than the other 99% doesn't need deviance
and/or crime to
advance. Arguably, it is to preserve their interests, their wealth and
status. To me this
would suggest deviance is a pretty normal function of
all individuals, and thus to society.
This ties into white middle class men being responsible for these mass murderers. He suggested it's not only the poor who commit deviant acts.
 |
| Figure 2: Individual singled out |
There have been suggestions about tighter gun control, but there's a lot more to it than just access to firearms; there's the lost connection between this person and society.
http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2012-07-why-most-mass-murderers-are-privileged-white-men
This link will take you to a more detailed reasons to why white males are responsible for mass murders in recent times.
http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=78149407&site=ehost-live&scope=site
This link takes you to a scholarly journal on describing mass murders demographics, and studies done by the Secret Service and FBI.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/29/aurora-shooting-what-does-a-killer-think.html
This link will take you to an article about the recent Aurora shooting and also gives insight to what a killer thinks.
http://www.victimsofcrime.org/
This link takes you to an organization that supports those who have been victims from crimes. I feel this is important for people who have either been a victim or to get more information on understanding crimes.
This video is kind of long, but it has a good discussion on possible causes of why people become mass murderers. It also gives a little background on the most recent shooting in Aurora, Colorado.
Social Conformity and Eating Disorders
One topic I find particularly fascinating is the need for people to conform to society's view of beauty; and specifically, the need to be skinny. This was briefly touched on in Chapter 11on Gender Socialization, but I feel like it's an important topic to be further discussed. Many women in America believe that to be pretty you must be skinny. However, there is a price to pay for being too thin. A lot of American women have turned to eating disorders to keep themselves thin and "beautiful," but in turn have put their lives at risk. .
The media has always played a nasty roll in making women who were stick-thin seem to be the epitome of beauty and success. You see this in fashion magazines, TV, movies, runways, etc. You see it in ads that are for the newest diet pill fad; and these pills generally have a lot of bad side affects.
Anorexia and Bulimia are two diseases that can be blamed on society's norms of beauty; and also for the need to be perfect. This is predominately seen in middle-class white women. They starve themselves to be beautiful and to obtain the idea of "perfection."
During an in-class discussion, Amanda Zohar's response to the theory of personality could explain why some women turn to anorexia. She said,
Social learning theory best describes the development of personality. Social Learning theory is the
theory suggesting that the formation of an identity is a learned response to external social stimuli. This
theory emphasizes how society shapes socialization, and therefore that identity is the result of
modeling yourself in response to what is socially expected from others.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399107001504
This link takes you to a scholarly article outlining anorexia. It gives demographics of who are the prime victims of anorexia and how it's portrayed in the media.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178112001321
This is another scholarly article on anorexia and bulimia. This one shows a lot of graphs for research that they have done on the demographics.
http://www.anad.org/
This link will take you to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc. Here, you will find information on the disease, treatment, help centers, etc.
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7409
This link takes you to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Here, they give you a brief overview on the disease and also basic information, like who it affects and causes why.
http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/08/anorexia_a_media-borne_illness.html
This link goes to an article called, "Anorexia A Media-Borne Illness." It's a more recent article that talks about the pro's and con's on the media's involvement in Anorexia.
This video from YouTube, talks about anorexia and the Media. They talk about when it first became prominent in the 60's and 70's by the media's projection of skinny being beautiful. They also go on to discuss what type of women this draws in, and the effects of anorexia, and finally what we can do as a society to help.
The media has always played a nasty roll in making women who were stick-thin seem to be the epitome of beauty and success. You see this in fashion magazines, TV, movies, runways, etc. You see it in ads that are for the newest diet pill fad; and these pills generally have a lot of bad side affects.
Anorexia and Bulimia are two diseases that can be blamed on society's norms of beauty; and also for the need to be perfect. This is predominately seen in middle-class white women. They starve themselves to be beautiful and to obtain the idea of "perfection."
During an in-class discussion, Amanda Zohar's response to the theory of personality could explain why some women turn to anorexia. She said,
Social learning theory best describes the development of personality. Social Learning theory is the
theory suggesting that the formation of an identity is a learned response to external social stimuli. This
theory emphasizes how society shapes socialization, and therefore that identity is the result of
modeling yourself in response to what is socially expected from others.
 |
| Figure 3: Anorexia Nervosa Ad |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399107001504
This link takes you to a scholarly article outlining anorexia. It gives demographics of who are the prime victims of anorexia and how it's portrayed in the media.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178112001321
This is another scholarly article on anorexia and bulimia. This one shows a lot of graphs for research that they have done on the demographics.
http://www.anad.org/
This link will take you to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc. Here, you will find information on the disease, treatment, help centers, etc.
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7409
This link takes you to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Here, they give you a brief overview on the disease and also basic information, like who it affects and causes why.
http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/08/anorexia_a_media-borne_illness.html
This link goes to an article called, "Anorexia A Media-Borne Illness." It's a more recent article that talks about the pro's and con's on the media's involvement in Anorexia.
Emerging Issues
One issue that seems to be gaining popularity is people's perception of love and relationships in society. Relationships have made a huge change from what they were even as little as two decades ago. Now, it's acceptable to meet people without ever physically meeting. For example, the internet. More people are choosing to be in "open relationships," which allows them a pardon from being monogamous, while still having their main partner. This is what society has made socially acceptable.
You can see this in the media. Movies and TV shows portray relationships in a completely different way than times past. Instead of people finding each other through complete chance or friends/family, they are now meeting each other through "one night stands"or internet sites. People have even been shying away more from the dating and commitment scene and it's no surprise after how it's portrayed. Especially with shows like Jersey Shore, where everyone is "hooking up" and to be a "player" is socially acceptable and even praised.
Texting and e-mail have become the new form of communication, and internet dating is becoming more and more popular. It's interesting to see how much of an impact technology has made on relationships and finding love. Internet dating became the new way to find people who are serious about a relationship and have similar interests.To an older generation this would seem strange and not as intimate as back in the day and I agree, I don't like society's portrayal of it.
http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/features/relationship-types
This link refers you to a site with modern relationships. It lists several different kinds of relationships on the rise.
You can see this in the media. Movies and TV shows portray relationships in a completely different way than times past. Instead of people finding each other through complete chance or friends/family, they are now meeting each other through "one night stands"or internet sites. People have even been shying away more from the dating and commitment scene and it's no surprise after how it's portrayed. Especially with shows like Jersey Shore, where everyone is "hooking up" and to be a "player" is socially acceptable and even praised.
Texting and e-mail have become the new form of communication, and internet dating is becoming more and more popular. It's interesting to see how much of an impact technology has made on relationships and finding love. Internet dating became the new way to find people who are serious about a relationship and have similar interests.To an older generation this would seem strange and not as intimate as back in the day and I agree, I don't like society's portrayal of it.
http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/features/relationship-types
This link refers you to a site with modern relationships. It lists several different kinds of relationships on the rise.
 |
| Figure 4: Modern Relationships |
Resources
(Figure 1) Sociology. Digital image. Http://notionwiz.com/2011/12/. N.p., n.d. Web
(YouTube Video) Eating Disorders: The Role of Media. YouTube. MiNDTV35, 5 June 2009. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izX60knYuww.
(Figure 4) Relationship Quotes. Digital image. Daily Inspirational Quotes. N.p., 25 Sept. 2012. Web. http://www.dailyinspirationalquotes.in/2012/09/25/relationships-these-days-are-harder-now-because-relationship-quotes/.
Feature, Katherine KamWebMD. "Modern Love and Relationships." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/features/relationship-types.
Cloud, John. "Preventing Mass Murder." Time
180.6 (2012): 33. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.
Cullen, Dave. "What Does a Killer Think?" The
Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 29 July 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/29/aurora-shooting-what-does-a-killer-think.html.
Schwyzer, Hugo. "Culture Politics." Why Most
Mass Murderers Are Privileged White Men. Role/Reboot, 23 July 2012. Web. 26
Nov. 2012. http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2012-07-why-most-mass-murderers-are-privileged-white-men.
Bowers, Thomas G., Eric S. Holmes, and Ashley Rhom.
"The Nature of Mass Murder and Autogenic Massacre." Journal of
Police and Criminal Psychology 25.2 (2010): 59-66. Print.
Schwyzer, Hugo. "Culture Politics." Why Most Mass Murderers Are Privileged White Men. Role Reboot, 23 July 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2012-07-why-most-mass-murderers-are-privileged-white-men.
"Welcome to the National Center for Victims of Crime." Welcome to the National Center for Victims of Crime. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.victimsofcrime.org/.
(Figure 2) Rosales. Deviant. Digital image. Deviant Art. N.p., n.d. Web. http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=deviant+sociology#/d33of4s.
(YouTube Video) Rense & Celente- Making Mass Murderers. JRense, 30 July 2012. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXZUrjFRLz0.
Ohara, S., and K. Smith. "Presentation of Eating Disorders in the News Media: What Are the Implications for Patient Diagnosis and Treatment?" Patient Education and Counseling 68.1 (2007): 43-51. Science Direct. Web. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399107001504.
Konstantakopoulos, George, Eleytheria Varsou, Dimitris Dikeosa, Nikoleta Ioannidia, Fragiskos Gonidakis, George Papadimitriou, and Panagiotis Oulis. "Delusionality of Body Image Beliefs in Eating Disorders." Psychiatry Research 200.2-3 (2012): 482-88. Science Direct. Web. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178112001321.
"ANAD." National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.anad.org/.
"NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness." NAMI. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness.
Lawyue, Matthew, and Oriana Schwindt. "Anorexia: A Media-Borne Illness." Bloomburg Businessweek. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/08/anorexia_a_media-borne_illness.html.
(Figure 3) Anorexia Nervosa. N.d. Photograph. Http://www.myerscrosstraining.com/food-journal/2012/10/8/earliest-signs-of-anorexia.html. Web.
Schwyzer, Hugo. "Culture Politics." Why Most Mass Murderers Are Privileged White Men. Role Reboot, 23 July 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2012-07-why-most-mass-murderers-are-privileged-white-men.
"Welcome to the National Center for Victims of Crime." Welcome to the National Center for Victims of Crime. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.victimsofcrime.org/.
(Figure 2) Rosales. Deviant. Digital image. Deviant Art. N.p., n.d. Web. http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=deviant+sociology#/d33of4s.
(YouTube Video) Rense & Celente- Making Mass Murderers. JRense, 30 July 2012. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXZUrjFRLz0.
Ohara, S., and K. Smith. "Presentation of Eating Disorders in the News Media: What Are the Implications for Patient Diagnosis and Treatment?" Patient Education and Counseling 68.1 (2007): 43-51. Science Direct. Web. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399107001504.
Konstantakopoulos, George, Eleytheria Varsou, Dimitris Dikeosa, Nikoleta Ioannidia, Fragiskos Gonidakis, George Papadimitriou, and Panagiotis Oulis. "Delusionality of Body Image Beliefs in Eating Disorders." Psychiatry Research 200.2-3 (2012): 482-88. Science Direct. Web. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178112001321.
"ANAD." National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.anad.org/.
"NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness." NAMI. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness.
Lawyue, Matthew, and Oriana Schwindt. "Anorexia: A Media-Borne Illness." Bloomburg Businessweek. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/08/anorexia_a_media-borne_illness.html.
(Figure 3) Anorexia Nervosa. N.d. Photograph. Http://www.myerscrosstraining.com/food-journal/2012/10/8/earliest-signs-of-anorexia.html. Web.
(YouTube Video) Eating Disorders: The Role of Media. YouTube. MiNDTV35, 5 June 2009. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izX60knYuww.
(Figure 4) Relationship Quotes. Digital image. Daily Inspirational Quotes. N.p., 25 Sept. 2012. Web. http://www.dailyinspirationalquotes.in/2012/09/25/relationships-these-days-are-harder-now-because-relationship-quotes/.
Feature, Katherine KamWebMD. "Modern Love and Relationships." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/features/relationship-types.
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