Deviance Behaviors - Research Paper Example

Drug and alcohol abuse has always been a widespread scourge on our society for many ages, regardless of an individual’s social standing or economic background and varies between the different social orders. This situation has proved to be a major political, social, scientific and economic setback for a country in terms of human capital. The reason for this is because it has health, social, economical and educational implications. The problem of drug and alcohol abuse seems to be a spoke in the wheel of healthcare and therefore it is an area of great concern for our healthcare professionals, scientists, researchers and policymakers.

Eric Schlosser, a well known journalist, who authored the famous book titled “Reefer Madness” Schlosser, E. (2004) gives us deep insight into the realms of drug- pedaling and pornography which is quite common especially among the stereotype immigrants and explains how ignorance on this subject leads to greater problems. To counter this problem, policymakers make use of racial stereotypes and drug- scares to create and maintain distinctions between the different social classes. People are stereotyped based on their race and ethnicity, culture, gender and social background.

Some drugs are used as a sort of status symbol within a particular group. For example, people associating with others who normally take alcohol and drugs are forced to do the same in order to belong or be a part of the group. Some drugs are used for medical purposes while other drugs are used for pleasure or entertainment. Among the people who use drugs, it is mostly the people who belong to the lower strata of society who are more likely to get penalized or punished for their deviant behavior, while drug abusers belonging to a higher social order usually pay others to carry out their criminal activities.

However, every society has their own norms of behavior based on their culture and historical background and hence there can be no generalization of what is accepted or not accepted as the norm. 2. Deviant Behavior – White and Blue-collared in relation to ‘Conflict Theory; ‘White collared crime’ is a phrase coined by the great sociologist Edwin Sutherland (1947) who described such crime as being sophisticated and committed by individuals who are respectable or belonging to a high social status.

According to Sutherland, These individuals commit these acts of deviance during the course of their occupations when they associate with people with similar deviant behavior and is easily learned or picked up. Some of these sophisticated crimes include embezzling money from people who employ them and these jobs include bookkeeping, accounting, stock marketing and other fraudulent activities. Corporate crimes also come under this category and are mostly committed by high officials or executives in order to bring laurels or high profits to their companies.

A good example of corporate crime is mentioned by (McCormack, 1999, p.36- 39) about the executives of Sears whose fraud crossed $100 million through deceptive practices. The victims were forced to file for bankruptcy and since the criminals pleaded guilty to avoid a criminal trial, the parent company was forced to undertake an out of court settlement. Race or class of people is not the main criteria that are responsible for committing such crimes. People in white or blue- collared jobs commit crimes according to their job and social standing.

However, People in higher social classes steal,