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:

   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

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.