Sociologists believe that both deviance and race are things that have been socially constructed in the society and have been embedded in people’s way of life (Innes, 2003, p.34). Deviance attributes to the actions of one defiling the social norms engrained in the society, which causes one to be marginalized in a given society. Race is also a social construct of the society based on one’s phenotype, which often results to the stereotypes of certain people in the society (Lemelle, 1995, p.56). This paper will discuss how a given race is treated different in the society based on different acts of deviance such as crime through looking at different sociological theories that explain deviance.
Give that deviance is often linked with one’s social class and racial profiling. In the US the black people are often associated with crime because they occupy the lower quintile in the American social class. This means that crime is one of the society’s deviances but often associated with the African American community (Tepperman, 2006, p.103). According to the labeling theory, deviance not only applies to people breaking the social norms and rules but also how the society responds to certain behaviors. Stereotypes arise when the society makes a deviant label to a given community of people (Innes, 2003, p.123). Given that the African Americans are mainly associated with crime in the US, it has resulted to the society tagging most black males as criminals. According to statistics, the African American account for 33% of the crimes in the US whereas white people account for 60% of the crimes (Innes, 2003, p.93). This indicates that the African American community has less criminal activities compared to the White Americans but the latter are often stereotyped as criminals. The African Americans have less power in the society and are the subordinate group, which explain why they have a deviant label in that they cannot influence the greater society (Lemelle, 1995, p.45).
Given that the deviant labeling is significant in the society, prejudice and discrimination are integrated in the society way of life. Gordon Allport discusses the contact theory that explains how this form of prejudice and discrimination can be eliminated in the society. Allport believes that a good way to annihilate the prejudices of a given race and the deviance labeling is through the interaction of races (DeKeseredy, 2005, p.175). Though it is important to study ways of eradicating prejudices, it is significant to study why there are instances of deviance in the community. Both the conflict theory and the Merton’s structural theory try to explain why deviance is in a given society and why it is often linked to one type of race in the US (DeKeseredy, 2005, p.178). This is important to my research because it explains the social constructs in the society and explains which group is dominant and has the power.
In conclusion, deviance and race are both socially constructed and that both attribute to societal prejudices and stereotypes. Deviance labeling is also a significant factor in studying how deviance and race and interrelated. It is important to note that one’s social class is deemed as a key factor in deviance. Given that most African Americans are below the social class hierarchy, they are often associated with criminal activities because of the social prejudices. This is known as deviance labeling. It is also important to study both structural and functionalist theory as a way of explaining behavioral features in a given society.
References
DeKeseredy, W. S., Ellis, D., & Alvi, S. (2005). Deviance + crime: theory, research, and policy (3rd ed.). Newark, NJ: LexisNexis/Anderson.
Innes, M. (2003). Understanding social control deviance, crime and social order. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Lemelle, A. J. (1995). Black male deviance. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Tepperman, L. (2006). Deviance, crime, and control: beyond the straight and narrow. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University
