Free Essay on How Deviant Behavior Is Sometimes Considered Acceptable or Even Encouraged

Notably, deviant behavior is common among young adults going through the adolescence stage. In most cases, the behavior is experienced among teenagers who tend to be exposed to some form of restrictions and more so those who study in the boarding schools. Typically, the deviant behavior commonly exists among the bright students in most schools. For instance, in Hannibal High School, about eight young men seemed to be responsible. The young men came from upper-middle-class families and were actively involved in the school affairs. Out of them being termed responsible, they also went ahead into engaging themselves in the sowing of the wild oats (Chambliss 24). Surprisingly, the community members were amazed at these actions without being aware of the reason behind them sowing the oats.

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Deviant behavior in most cases is considered acceptable whenever students with the best grades are involved in it. The reason for this is that most institutions have a fear of losing such students who engage in such actions because of the academic reputation that they bring out to the institution. A good example points out at Hannibal High School (Chambliss 24). Notably, in this school, it was evident that the top students in the classes were those involved in criminal activities. However, there was no action, which was implemented in curbing those individuals engaged with unlawful behaviors. Also, the deviant behavior is also considered acceptable whenever it involves students considered to obtain the highest social status in the society. A common case points at the Saints.

The Saints were mostly occupied with truancy, drinking heavily and driving wildly, stealing from other individuals and worst of it all vandalism (Chambliss 24). However, the most astonishing factor relating to these students was that none of them was ever arrested, for the two years in which they were being observed. Typically, this implies that indeed these students came from known families who were so much popular in society with their social status granting them an added advantage over the other students. Ideally, social status has contributed a lot in the destruction of the social norms with the less privileged in the society being subjected to discrimination, and the highly privileged engaging themselves in the defiant behaviors. A similar case points at the Roughnecks, whereby the students who were exposed to these behaviors experienced troubles from the police and the community, in as much as their delinquency was equal to that of the Saints.

In most cases, deviant behavior is encouraged through the community and parents being less involved in the affairs of these individuals. In the case of Hannibal High School, it outwardly portrays the fact that indeed the community was amazed on how these students would be performing well in school and engage in the sowing of the wild oats without experiencing hassles along the way. Typically, this points out that indeed the students were aware that this strategy was ideal for them to engage in criminal activities. Allowing students to get out of the school compound to engage themselves in such activities is one of the ways that expose them to deviant behavior. This, therefore, implies that a limitation on these activities should be provided to help in reducing these forms of behaviors amongst the young adults.

Is "race" biological or social? Explain.

Racism has been an aspect that has been more prevalent in most nations with America being on the lead. It creates some form of discrimination among individuals, which tends to limit their abilities in creating an impact on the lives of fellow human beings. In most cases, these discriminations are based on the aspects relating to money and resources at large. However, in our case, racism is portrayed from two different dimensions, basing it under the biological and the social aspect related to it.

Based on the arguments of the author, the race was mostly considered more of social than biological. The reason for this was that it was mostly portrayed in the social gatherings that involved individuals from different races. For instance, in events that incorporated activities such as dancing, it was quite evident that it carried different meanings to both parties with it having a fag associated meaning for the white boys and a masculine meaning for the African American boys who were actively involved in the hip-hop culture (Ferguson 6). Notably, among the white American boys, they associated dancing with fags, which typically implies that they tend to sexualize its meaning. However, for the African American boys, dancing had a deeper meaning in that it demonstrated the aspect of belonging to a cultural community. From these two views of the authors, it portrays some sense of racism in that they also had differences in their way of thinking concerning the social aspects that affected them and those, which they were actively involved.

With the aspect of the fags appearing, it makes the aspect of race to be more of social because it extends beyond the sexual identity of an individual (Ferguson 3). The term can be used, as a weapon, which makes it be more of a symbol on how the masculinity of the young men occurs. Identifying individuals as fags was considered inappropriate because it resulted in some form of discrimination. For this reason, the young boys and more so those at River High were fully aware that it was meant to refer to other young men as fags (Ferguson 3). Notably, in the case where young men were identified as fags, it outwardly portrayed some form of discrimination to the gay families, which resulted into them coming up with a movement that was quite effective in enhancing their expression of ideas, which they required to be implemented to enable them to fit in the society. This resulted in the young men coming up with different strategies on how to be a teenage boy without enforcing the gender duality with strictly focusing on the sexual meanings.

Race can also be considered as biological through the analysis of the fag discourse (Ferguson 5). In this analysis, it portrays how gendered power of individuals operates through the racialized selves. Notably, the discourse is invoked differently between the bodies of the young men from different races. Gendered homophobia is prevalent among the white American boys compared to the African Americans, and this is because of the rise of the debates on sexual representation. This aspect has also resulted in the male homophobia being considered as a neutral phenomenon racially. Also, homophobia has also been related to adolescent masculinity, with different literal meanings linked to it. Based on these different meanings portrayed by the young men through the homophobic language, it portrays of the aspects of it being more gendered and racialized.

Works Cited

Chambliss, William J. "The roughnecks and the saints." Society, November/December 1973 (1973): 24-31.

Ferguson, Susan J. Mapping the social landscape: Readings in sociology. Sixth Edition. Grinnell College (2010):1-6