My Personal Theory Of Deviant Behavior example essay topic

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR Just about everyone has done something that someone else disapproves of. In fact, almost all of us have done something we ourselves have reservations or second thoughts about. Perhaps we " ve stolen something, or told a lie, or gossiped about another person in an especially nasty way. Maybe on occasion we " ve gotten drunk, of high, or driven too fast, or recklessly. Have we ever worn clothes that someone else thought was out of style, offensive, or ugly?

Have we belched at the dinner table, or did we ever break pick our nose in public? Maybe we failed to show up for an important class or read a crucial assignment, or permitted our eyes to wonder onto a neighbor's answers during an exam. Do we like a television program that someone else finds stupid and boring? Didn't we once date someone our parents and friends didn't like?

Maybe our religious beliefs and practices don't agree with those of some other members of our society; it could be that they would regard us as too religious or not religious enough. For some people we may be too liberal, too conservative, or too much of a loser. Does someone else consider us too short or tall, too plain of exotic, to thin or heavy, too dark or to light skinned? The number of possible ways that what we believe, or do or are, could be judged negatively by others is infinite. This means that almost any action or characteristic we could do or think of is approved in some social circles and condemned in others. Almost inevitably, we depart or deviate from someone's rules, simply by acting or being ourselves, since we can't conform to all the different sets of rules that exist.

Sociologists refer to behavior that is regarded as wrongdoing that generates negative reactions in persons who witness or hear about it, as deviant behavior. Many definitions of deviant behavior exist. In the book titled Deviant Behavior by Alex This he states that there are many conflicting definitions for deviant behavior. There are many theories about how the world came to be, was it the big band, evolution or creation?

Well just like there are many different theories for this category, there are also different theories to the cause and origin of deviant behavior. I will mention a few and give a brief definition on what they state. Strain theory: Social strain causes deviance, Learning theory: Deviance is a learned behavior, Control theory: Lack of social control causes deviance. Those are the traditional theories of deviance. The modern theories of deviance are the following; Labeling theory: Relatively powerful persons are more likely to label the less powerful as deviant than vice versa, and being labeled deviant by society leads people to see themselves as deviant and live up to this self image by engaging in more deviancy.

Phenomenological theory: Looking into peoples's ubjective interpretation of their own experiences is a key to understanding their deviant behavior. Another modern theory is the Conflict theory: involves different areas like legal reality, social reality, marxist, feminist and power. All of these theories's put together make up my personal theory of deviant behavior. I think that each one of them is correct, just not alone. There could be many causes of deviant behavior, it could be the environment, the way people treat you, the names people call you, it can be a learned behavior, and you can learn form observing people. That's what I think that causes deviant behavior; it can be something out of the norm, but the "norm" can very with each individual so there really isn't a right or wrong answer to the causes of deviant behavior.

The origin of deviant behavior can go way back to the time Adam and Eve sinned. These two individuals had everything they could have thought of, they had no worries, no pain, no bills, no suffering, and no obstacles what so ever in there lives and they had to go mess everything up for the human race. They did something out side of the norm; they were "brain washed" by the serpent. They interpreted what the serpent said wrong. The serpent said that they would not die when they ate of the fruit, but what he did not tell them was that some day they would die as a consequence of eating the fruit.

So who is deviant in this story is it the snake or Adam and Eve? I think we can say that it is Adam and Eve since the serpent is not human. That goes to show that my theory of the origin of deviant behavior. Some people react and act in different manners to different situations. One person may react calmly if there mate forgot there anniversary while another person may react totally opposite and throw a tantrum and start a big argument. As human begins we react differently to different things and that's what makes us unique individuals.

Maybe being unique will classify us as deviant. Maybe expressing our opinions and thought with another person that thinks totally the opposite from us makes us weird, different, deviant in there eyes. Who are we to say what deviance really is? Maybe there is a lady who killed her children because she thought it was the right things to do because she lives in a third world country and her children were starting to die of huger and thirst.

Maybe there is a teenager who goes to school gets perfect grades and works part time and wastes all his money on drugs and in prostitutes. Maybe there is a man who worships God every single second of his life and he will not talk about anything else but God. He has no eyes or ears for anything else but God that's all he talks about and he refuses to talk about anything else. So my question is which of these persons is considered deviant? Is it the lady who killed her children, the adolescent who gets perfect grades, but is involved in drugs and prostitution, or is it the man who is obsessed by God and won't talk of listen to anything unless its about God? Maybe the answer to this question may never be answered, because we all have our different opinions on the causes and the origin of deviant behavior.