Deviance: Anomie and the Promotion of Order in the StateEssay Preview: Deviance: Anomie and the Promotion of Order in the StateReport this essayDeviance: Anomie and the Promotion ofOrder in the StateThesis StatementAlthough deviant acts are unacceptable in the society, everyone must accept the fact that it is relevant in terms of promoting order in the state.OutlineDeviance in generalWhat is deviance?Is it relative?Anomie and devianceWhat is anomie?How does anomie cause deviance?Order in the stateWhat is order in the state?How it is attained?Deviance and orderHow does deviance affect order?Why are deviance and order related?Deviance is relevant to promote order in the stateThe First Quarter StormMartial Law in the PhilippinesAssassination of Ninoy AquinoEDSA People Power Revolution IThe return of democracy and order in the PhilippinesEvaluation of the historical eventsConclusionIt takes a valiant action to restore order. What kind of action is that? That action is deviance. What is really meant of that word?There are lots of studies and researches that are conducted and many papers are published to explain the concept of deviance. One of those are of Schaefer who states that it is socially built and is based to various social interpretations over the ages and amongst cultures (Schaefer, 2003, p. 178). Then this idea about deviance led to the fact that deviance is relative (www.angelfire .com/or3/tss/reldev.html).
Study of deviance is highly necessary because it explains the dynamics of the society. In terms of social order, it serves as a means of restoring order if and if the state undergoes normlessness or anomie.
This research is relatively different to those past researches since the researcher aims to explain the importance of deviance on promoting order in the state by means of anomie. Anomie is when the society is normless (www.d.umn.edu/~bmork/2306/theories/ BAManomie.htm). Included in this research is the excerpt in the Philippine history which serves as the basis. Finally, although deviant acts are unacceptable in the society, everyone must accept the fact that it is relevant in terms of promoting order in the state.
First of all, in order to understand this research, let the researcher define what deviance is.Deviance is a very big concept. It is an action that usually violates the norms or the expectations of the society (Schaefer, 2004, p. 181). Once a person violated a norm, he/she is now considered as deviant or when a person had done an extraordinary action which does not usually appears to be common in the society.
Deviance is also considered to be common on all the societies but it is only acceptable not because of the nature of the activity but because on how the society understands or views the activity. Hence, deviance is very common and just natural in a society and it is just normal and inseparable aspect of the social life. Deviation is inseparable in the moral character of the society. As it is cited by Farrell and Swiggert(p. 5), “giving one to laws and the chance on disobeying those laws are coming the same thing.” Thus, indeed, in deviancy, there is always a relationship between the individuals doing those kinds of behaviors and the society that defines that behavior (Farrell & Swiggert, 1975, p. 5). As an effect, deviance is considered as relative.
Deviant conduct has been said to be an “essential part” of human existence. Yet, unlike other mental disorders, deviant behavior, as one might understand it, can have a negative impact on the people involved, leading to a sense of hopelessness and guilt, and ultimately suicide. In order to deal with this, it is important to understand and understand the factors that affect deviant behavior when determining its presence on the people who should also be affected by it, and how these factors in themselves create the desire to commit deviant acts or to commit suicide in different societies, especially in those societies where there is a high amount of social discord between people. As noted by Farrell and Swiggert, “?> While in a particular society, deviant behavior is highly likely to be seen. As we discussed in Chapter 8, there is a “strong link” between deviant behavior but not on its own, a “strong link” which suggests two or more different processes in the life cycle for a given social group and society. So if a group of people who are deviant have more problems than they can handle being deviant they might not want to be, then their life may be a bit more complicated than others. They may not have that flexibility when dealing with specific problems of social life but in general there is enough stability and security of life and well developed social and political relationships that the people are happy in life. And in that kind of life there won’t be any deviation from normal and even good habits as in the real life life.
In a society, in order to deal with deviant behavior, you need to see deviant behavior because when you do that, all of your hard work becomes meaningless. In other words, as in anything that you say or do and that can be seen as being “wrong,” as described by Farrell and Swiggert, “?> and the more negative effect on the people involved, then it will almost always be a positive one. Hence, if you are involved in it as the person doing the abuse or in someone else using what you say then it will be “more negative.” It will be more positive than when it is not happening. There is less fear, less worry, less fear of losing that which is needed to live life. As noted by Farrell and Swiggert, “?> In order to deal with “deviant” behavior you need to be able to understand how it is happening to your society, which in turn helps you to see why it is happening. However, as discussed, it may be easy to misunderstand “deviant” behaviour by talking about it as “different.” As if some people are different because of their behaviour, it was originally said that “different people [and societies] have different cultures and different types of people” (Swiggert, 1983:21). But many people who do
Everybody must not be confused of what is deviance or in classifying deviant behaviors. This does not really rely on statistical rarity. For example, a person walks thousands of miles every day before taking his breakfast. Then, the society cannot be divided into good or bad. It is because most of the people do good things and incidentally do bad things. Thus, deviance is really relative (Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP, 1987, pp. 413-415).
Considering an action to be deviant is subject to many conditions:First, the time it happened. It must be considered that the time an activity happened is very important to categorize it as a deviant act.Second is the place it happened because every place has its own norms and laws which varies from one place to another. Third, what is the context or situation of the behavior? Some of the behaviors are permitted while some are not. Example, the situation on the boxing ring is very different on the fist fight in a basketball court. Fourth, who is the person/s who engaged in the behavior? Lastly, who is the person/s who observed it? This last factor is the society itself which entails to judge the behavior to be deviant or not (www.angelfire.com/or3/tsc/reldev.html). Thus, “deviance is constructed in the society and subject to various social understanding over time and across cultures.” (Schaefer, 2004, p. 178).
To understand more about deviance, anomie is put into this research. According to Durkheim, anomie refers to a situation in which cultural norms breakdown because of rapid change. Moreover, it is a situation in which the society becomes normless because of a sudden social change. Example, the community became normless because of a sudden economic downfall.
On the other side, Merton says that anomie refers to a situation in which there is an obvious lack of fit between the cultures norms and goals and the cultures norms and the means in which those goals are attained. This theory led to realization on why U.S. has high deviant rates compared to other societies, and it led to explain for the distribution of deviant behaviors defined by class, race, ethnicity and the like. Indeed, in America, success is probably a lot more highly than virtue.
In accordance to Mertons theory, there are five modes of adaptation namely: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. Conformity means that the norms are in accordance with their goals and means. Innovation