Examples Of Deviance In The Outsiders

After reading these articles I garnered a greater insight on what deviance is and how it is formed. According to the Outsiders reading, deviance is essentially a label that is put on a person of whom commits an act or exhibits behaviors that stray from what is normal or expected. These people are therefore also labeled as “outsiders”. Outsiders in that they are seen as those who are to be placed outside of a certain group do to their deviant behaviors. There exist many views of deviance. Becker states four primary views of deviance which include statistical, pathological, functional, and relativistic deviance. The statistical view incorporates aggregate data regarding behaviors and actions and ultimately averages out from this data the standard

These views are not without issues. Statistical views of deviance tend to oversimplify what is deviant behavior. For example, homesexuality is technically not the average in regards to sexual orientation, but one wouldn’t typically categorize a person who is gay/lesbian as being a deviant or an outsider. Pathological, functional, and relativistic views all fall prey to a similar issue. What is considered “unhealthy”, “dysfunctional”, or “outside a set of rules” differs from person to person and determining which/who’s reasoning in regards to those considerations is a futile effort. Time, space, and context are also important in regards to deviance. When someone commits a deviant act, where they commit it, and who commits it/what setting they commit it in can affect other people’s reactions to the deviant behavior. A deviant action or behavior will not be viewed in the same way by everyone. Each person has their own perspectives and what might constitute grievous deviant behavior to one person might just be a minor inconvenience to another. The same principle applies to deviant behavior when setting is

Labeling a certain behavior as being deviant can ultimately be a self fulfilling prophecy. In Rio’s Punished, kids in poverty stricken neighborhoods were routinely labeled as being potentially deviant even when they were not explicitly or apparently committing any deviant acts. The constant expectations from others that one will likely behave in a certain way or likely commit a certain act is an easy way for one to eventually believe in those expectations and carry out those expectations. Both Tyrell and Jose had to deal with those expectations on a regular basis and through these regular assumptions thrown at them about their behavior they both came to believe that they had nothing to lose and fufilled those assumptions. Tyrell was regularly assumed to be at risk for selling drugs even though he didn’t believe so at the time. But after a while he self-imposed those assumptions and started selling drugs. Jose hated the gangs in his neighborhood that regularly harrassed and beat on him. He went to the police with the expectation for them to help