Justin Orndorff
Social Deviance Sociology 320
Blog #1
How do you spot o deviant?
For my first blog, “How do you spot a Deviant” I’ve chosen people with body art. Some of my best friends have most of their entire bodies covered in tattoos along with stretched ears and numerous other piercing. But for now I’m just focusing on how people perceive people with tattoos.
The population I’ve chosen to analyze are people with body art, tattoos, mainly and most importantly people with visible tattoos. The sample within my population will be four of my closest friends. People that are frequently measured as deviant are people at the bottom end of the socio-economic scale, drug addicts or people that look different whether it’s a birth defect or someone with too many tattoos are more often then not considered deviant by society. Deviance in this analysis is that we respond to, through social control reactions, as deviant.
Many of my friends have tattoos. One of my closest friends, “Matt” has almost his entire body covered in tattoos among other body alterations I need not mention in this blog. Matt is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life. Matt will do just about anything for a friend. He’s helped me move countless times, given me rides, babysat for me, and numerous other things. Matt’s never asked for anything in return. Matt also doesn’t do drugs, has no criminal record, works full-time, and goes to college.
Know I realize that I know Matt very well, over 15 years in fact, but your run-of-the-mill stranger doesn’t. So when Matt and I go into a store or a restaurant people look at us or should I say Matt as if he just got out of prison. I can see the disgust on peoples faces as they look Matt up and down and even give me the occasional stink eye for just being with him from time to time. I myself do not have any tattoos, well no visible ones anyway. Am I better person because I’m not covered with tattoos? My short answer is of course “NO”.
Matt’s tattoos send a very obvious message to society. That is I’m diverse and that he’s chosen to cover his body in art which comes in the form of tattoos. People don’t know Matt when were walking into a store. They don’t know that he has no criminal record; he doesn’t smoke or use drugs. So then there is no deviant behavior, just a deviant stereotype seen by society. So then it’s ridiculous to assume that one may perhaps judge deviance on appearance alone. So then it’s simply Matt’s tattoos that send a deviant message to society.
What do people have to gain by avoiding or separating themselves from Matt or people covered with tattoos? The answer is the path of least resistance. People are chicken shits simply put. And they have nothing to gain by accepting someone like Matt in the fear that they themselves might be judged for associating with an “outsider” like Matt. So the consequence then of having what many may consider being too much body art is being ostracized from society.
Hey Justin, I do agree with you that your friend matt is the honest person who really looks like a brother to you. The help that Matt always does to you remind me of how the Sudanese do to themselves here. They do help each other wherever they are without reciprocity. I am not disagreeing with you but how deviance is defined. I am disagreeing with the definition of deviance like any others sociologists in the text book. To me deviance is something that does not violate the norms of the society. Simply because it’s something that just happen to anybody at any time. For instance, it can happen to the rich, disables, poor, and lesbian and gay. Good luck for having Matt as you Friend.
ReplyDeleteHere is my little story. When I came to this country, I had faced so many bullying. Some
American asked why I am so black or dark touches my skin and kept laughing at my skin. I was
so deviance at that time. They make fan at me .In general, I was an outsider and so alienated. In
all the bullying that I had experienced, I do not considered them as a big deal simply because
most people did not seen someone like me in the lives.
Conyers, C. Thio, Alex and Calhoun,Thomas 2010. Readings in Deviance Behavior
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteI’m having a hard time saying that I disagree with just about any of the blog posts in our class. I agree whole heartedly with several of the things you mentioned in your post, especially the part about it coming down to people just being chicken shit (well put by the way!). I have found that people let fear guide their thoughts and actions far too often.
However, where I disagree, or maybe just where I see a change occurring in this type of deviance, is that having body art has become so much more main stream than ever before that it’s almost becoming abnormal NOT to have some type of body modification. Now, that’s not to say that the negative, or presumptuous reactions Matt encounters aren’t valid proof of him being labeled as deviant. I just think they’re coming from a steadily shrinking percentage of people in our society, which is a good thing! As Becker wrote, “social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance” (Calhoun, Conyers & Thio, 2010). From my perspective, the social groups whose rules say Matt’s tattoos don’t indicate he’s a criminal, is fortunately growing in our society.
Still a great post!
~Jaime
I want to start this blog response off by saying that I really like the group of individuals you chose to analyze. I have known plenty of people with many visible tattoos that get dirty looks in public because of their body art. And after all, what is so inherently wrong with tattoos? What’s this difference between art hanging on your wall and art portrayed on your skin? As Becker describes in his article “Outsiders—Defining Deviance,” it isn’t necessarily that what the “deviant” individual is doing, but rather the way it is perceived by social groups and the ideology these groups have about that certain behavior or appearance.
ReplyDeleteI think your blog post got off to a great start, but I did however, notice that you only included specific information for one of your four subjects. I really liked your real-life examples of how your friend Matt has been treated as an outsider because of his appearance, but I would have loved to hear more about your other subjects.
Overall, your blog post was great and I would love to know more about how your tattooed friends feel about society judging them the way it does.
-Holly Morseman
Blog response #1
This is a very interesting subject and a perfect example of a group that faces marginalization based on stereotypes and prejudicial assumptions. The association with tattooing seems to still be largely based on outdated standards agreed on by older or more conservative members of society to help identify troublemakers or criminals. As discussed by Pfohl, "labeled deviants are viewed as such because they threaten the control of people who have enough power to shape the way society imagines the boundary between good and bad, normal and pathological, acceptable and deviant" (Images of Deviance 14).
ReplyDeleteAlthough your topic was fine, your future posts would be improved by integrating quotes and references and incorporating images or other types of media. Describing artwork is fine, but providing a photo to illustrate your point would be appropriate and add a lot of interest. -Amy Gambill
Great post. I agree with the aspects of that since your friend chose the path of least resistance that he is automatically labeled different or that body art is okay as long as nobody can see them. I don't have any body art myself but all my friend and my husband do and I think they are an expression for the most part of something meaningful to that individual. My husband carried around his tattoo in his wallet for 10 years before he got it and when he did it was absolutely amazing. I think unfortunately for the United States we are so focused on the "Puritan" views that tell us that we should never demolish our bodies. The example you gave ties into the ideal man/woman we discussed in class. If a person is visibly outside our perceived norm then that person must be deviant.
ReplyDeleteAmber Emery