Sociology Case

Social Deviance

In everyday interactions, issues of deviance occur. The society permits the occurrence of some of these issues while denouncing the existence of others. In America, the general reaction to social deviance is either walking away or distancing oneself from the perpetrator. The goal is to understand why the society does not admire certain qualities. I went out to two malls to study the reactions that people will give to certain uncommon social occurrences. I wore a surgical mask and went to two public areas where I observed the occurrences elicited by the mask I was wearing. I decided to take this form deviant behavior for my study because of the common uses of surgical masks. In hospitals, the nurses and doctors wear them as a precautionary step to avoid the spread of viral diseases as well as airborne contaminations. In Asia, the dirty air and the smog-field atmosphere forces most people to wear masks as a precaution. The aspect of the avian flu that had made headlines in this part of the world was also a common concern as the masks came in handy to prevent an increase in the number of infected persons. I thought that if I wore the mask people would probably think there was a warning of probable air contamination.

The notion of a surgical mask in the American society will differ based on the status quo because of the fears and exposure that people have. Some have higher exposures to the use of such masks because of their wide travels while others will use the general notion of contamination as seen from Asian countries. Some children also wear these masks after flu infections to avoid spreading to others. However, people still find it funny and may even ridicule those wearing such masks. The health benefits are profound but the social connotations of the same abide in the society. In an attempt to define this aspect of deviance, I will look at different theories and examine the role played by the society in defining and reacting to deviance. Status quo will explain this further by observing how people react to the deviant behavior. The rich will react subtly while the middle class will react sharply to

an individual wearing a surgical mask in their midst.

Literature review

Deviance

The concept of deviance is intricate depending on how one views the society. The rich and the middle class will react differently to cases of deviance. The poor also have a way of relating to some of the issues that go on in their neighborhoods. A belief that exists amongst researchers is that since all behavior is learned; people learn deviant behaviors as well. The factors that determine the ability to learn such behaviors are; the learner’s age, the intensity and frequency of contact with the one teaching the deviant acts (the teacher), and the ratio of the good and bad social contacts one

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