Simone de Vallee Eckhardt

CNM ID 010568362

Sociology of Deviant Behavior, SOC 2210

Everyone is Deviant Assignment

June 14, 2020

1. The ten acts of potential deviant behavior, depending on the individual assessing the

action, I have participated in, or actively participate in, include, but are not limited to:

shoplifting; body modification via tattoos and piercings; speeding (though this is

considered a “norm” in Albuquerque, I still drive too fast); veganism; constantly running

late; refusal to respect authority blindly; work theft; public intoxication; strong, vocal

opposition to capitalism; bisexuality; and cyberloafing -- using work or school computers

for neither work, nor school, purposes.

2. Ten acts of potentially deviant behavior, depending on context and assessment, my

roommate has participated in include, but are not limited to: speeding; drug use;

shoplifting; work theft; driving while under the influence; public intoxication; providing

alcohol to minors; body modification via tattoos; cyberloafing; and a lack of desire to

have children.

3. Ten acts of potentially deviant behavior my mother has committed include speeding,

refusal to wear a seatbelt, disrespect for police, disrespectful of authority, consistently

voting democrat (she lives in Wyoming), body modification, eating a keto diet, lacking a

steady 9-5 job, living as a “starving artist,” refusal to drink alcohol, and refusing to

participate in heteronormitive gender roles dictated for American mothers (not cooking,

not a stay-at-home mother, etc.).

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4. Folkway: cyberloafing, body modification, bisexuality, cyberloafing, lack of desire to

have children, starving artist trope, having a stable job, opposition to capitalism

● More: disrespectful treatment of authority or police, voting preferences, deviation from

gender roles, opposition to capitalism (to some in this country, at least), keto diet,

veganism, holding a steady job (again, to some in this country as this directly conflicts

with the ideas of American individualism and capitalism)

● Law: drug use, theft, speeding, public intoxication, alcohol to minors, driving under the

influence, refusal to wear a seatbelt

5. Deviant behaviors correspond directly to the context in which they are committed.

Though having a stable job or being a stay-at-home mother is part of the “American

dream” in which we all prescribe to heteronormitive gender roles, these actions, when

viewed in a vacuum, can be prescribed as violations of folkway or more based on the

opinions and influences weighing on the individual judging them. For example, a single-

mother working nights to provide for her child is not considered deviant behavior by

most people, but a mother who isn’t working a steady job/doesn’t need the additional

income who does not want to be a stay-at-home mom is considered a deviation from the

norm. My mom worked a lot on historical preservation on top of completing a ph.D while

I was growing up -- to many, this was deviant behavior. To assign deviant behavior to my

mother for prioritizing her education and passions while not assigning deviant behavior to

single-mothers working outside of the home is a demonstration of how similar actions

can be categorized differently based on the situation being analyzed.

6. The actions I struggled to categorize included those relating to an individual's belief

system or opinions that could be construed as moral stances. For example, I’ve worked in

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restaurants for $2.95/hour and have had bosses tell me that I am not allowed to call out

for rheumatoid arthritis -- both being influences that have led to a strong opposition to

American capitalism. This is a deviation from traditional American values and ideas and

is, as such, a deviation from a folkway, but, to many, American individualism holds a

degree of “morality.” As such, anyone who opposes the current system of free-markets

and deregulation can be categorized as a communist, socialist, or radical leftist -- all

terms that indicate a lack of morality to those who prescribe to neoliberalism. As our

political culture has become increasingly intertwined with religious/moral/ethical beliefs,

support for the free-market has become a moral issue rather than an economic debate and

could be defined, for this purpose, as a deviation of mores.

7. The concept of normative deviance theory is the most effective and understandable form

of evaluating deviance because it accounts for the industries, influences, and societal

pressures weighing on any particular deviation. For example, growing up in Wyoming

meant that the one black kid in my class was a deviation because heternormative white

people is, for better or worse, the “norm.” That being said, I was born in New Orleans

and my sister taught in the 9th ward where she was the 1% as one of the few white people

in the building. Understanding deviance as a violation of whatever norm social circles or

populations hold is helpful in analyzing content and context of behavior and is, as such,

the best way to view behavior, not through a vacuum, without considering it to be a

deviant individual.

8. Conceptions of deviance vary greatly dependent on nature and nurture. An individual

raised in a polygamous, Mormon household may find only-children to be a deviation,

where others view it to be abnormal to share your husband with three other wives. An

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individual's upbringing, and genetic predispositions, lead to very different concepts of

moral compasses and, as such, view various behaviors as deviant or not. I don’t find body

modification, for example, to be a deviant behavior given that 1 out of 3 individuals in

my generation has a tattoo. My mother, on the other hand, wouldn’t even let me dye my

hair as a teenager lest I risk the wrath of society and dishonor the family as a Jewish

woman. Context is key! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯