Chapter 9 Deviance and Control

The Cause of death: Inequality article written by author Alejandro Reuss discuss the relationship between social inequality and health, comparison of the health dangers in lower and higher-income families, Health inequality in the United States; Comparison of the life expectancy .

It’s a very well written article. It details even the orders of the rich among themselves. Even the affluent can suffer as much as the underprivileged when it comes to health issues because of stress related issues.  

Now an interesting study showed that “the more unequal the income distribution in a country, state, city etc, the lower the life expectancy for people at all income levels.” That’s a scary thought. One would think it would be in everyone’s best interest to help those at the lower end of the scale.
 I won't be surprised to find those in the lower incomes suffer from higher heart disease due to inability to eat more nutritious meals, afford proper healthcare or poor health habits such as smoking or lack of exercise, however; it’s not limited to just the poor.

Infectious diseases kill 1/3 worldwide; AIDS is top cause of death in developing region Worldwide, one death in three is from an infectious or communicable disease, such as HIV/AIDS. However, almost all these deaths occur in the non-industrialized world. Health inequality effects not just how people live, but often dictates how and at what age they die. The pie graphs show the different causes of death between regions of the world defined by the WHO as high and low mortality regions. These areas correspond closely with the non-industrialized and industrialized parts of the world. As the graph shows, the majority of people in high-mortality countries die of communicable diseases, while in low-mortality countries deaths are due largely to non-communicable diseases.

Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System

    

In the Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System article by David Cole, he argues the points about the inequality of race and class in the criminal justice system, providing that white defendants have more power in the court room than such as being able to afford a Lawyer, having a jury composed of members of their own race and their faces aren't seen as image associated with crime and the black defendants are poor and a member of racial minority. Cole stated “My claim is not simply that we have ignored inequality’s effect within the criminal justice system, nor that we have tried but failed to achieve equality there. Rather, I contend that our criminal justice system affirmatively depends on inequality.”
In the O.J. Simpson case where he was prosecuted for the deaths of his ex-wife and her male friend, the split screen image captures in a moment the division between Black and White people as 3/4 of black students at the Howard Law School supports O.J. Simpson throughout the whole trial as oppose to students at the George Washington University Law School sit shocked in silence as they watched the same scene.

The lingering effects of slavery for contributing to the breakdown of the black family, for example: the rise of single-parent families headed by females ("matriarchy"). The lack of a father in the home led to poor socialization of young black males, e.g., inability to deal with authority; and that matriarchy severely reduced the esteem of men as the family "breadwinner". Black people are seen as very arrogant, defensive and loud, but I believe this image is steered from time of slavery, the way in which they were socialized, oppressed by the whites, and as a result they become rebellious. The criminal justice system for one does not make it better for people of color, because they plaster this image on black people.

Statistics have shown that more than 60% of the people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities. For Black males in their thirties, 1 in every 10 is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the "war on drugs," in which two-thirds of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color.

The Meaning of Social Control

The Meaning of Social Control by Peter Burger. Social control as described on the Wikipedia-  

refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. A easy way to think of social control is by taking examples from our everyday world. We have a opinions about numerous things, opinions which help us know how to act in different situations. Often these opinions are formed through social mechanisms which is needed in every society in order to maintain formality without the use of violence which should be the last mean to restore order.

Through these agents of socialization we are taught our culture's norms, beliefs, knowledge, languages and behaviors. As a result social control structures society in ways that we are obedient to authority (POWER), learn to maintain order to prevent oppression and also to allow every human being an equal opportunity to socialize among themselves. 

A Call To Men

The "A call to men" lecture by Tony Porter, he argues that men perceptions of women are that they see women as less valuable to them. Traditionally, men have always known as the breadwinner, strong one, dominant, leader, fearless and tough as oppose to women, the nurturer,  weak,  follower, and obedient to authority (males).  

 Porter gave some examples of his experience he had, one as a child and as an adult. Two of which stood out to me the most are that:

At the age of twelve a man asked Porter if would like have a sexual encounter with a young girl in his bedroom, he then replied yes! He wanted to prove that he was man enough and also to avoid ridicule. However, in the back of his head he knew it would be wrong to engage in sexual act with the girl and could be punishable by law; also he was still a virgin. So he stood behind the door in the bedroom for a while, and then walked out into the Living room with his pants down to indicate that he had done it, where there were a lot of men waiting in line for their turn. This is evident that some men have no respect for women and sees them as their use toys (sexual object).

Secondly, he speaks of a time when he had a conversation with a young boy, asking him how he would feel if his coach called him “A GIRL” in front of all the players.

The boy then replied: “It would destroy me!”    

From an early age, boys are helped to acquire a masculinity that allows them to assume and maintain that position. By the same demonstration, girls are taught to cultivate a submissive femininity. The resulting difference in the male and female character is then described as inherent and used to defend the existing power arrangement. Only those who accept it are normal, and only they can expect to succeed. The male social role is designed to reward masculine men, while the female social role offers its relative advantages only to feminine women. (The aggressive man will run the bigger business; the pretty, agreeable woman will find the richer husband.) In other words, masculinity and femininity are gender qualities which are developed in response to social discrimination. However, once they have been developed, they justify and cement it. The masculine and feminine gender roles mutually reinforce each other and thereby perpetuate the inequality on which they are based.

Certainly some of the things boys are being taught about girls are absolutely immoral and destructive to the female body. Until we as a society step up and reconstruct the thoughts we instill in our children, the perception men have against women will not stop and may mimic the behavior against Islamic and African women causing VIOLENT OPPRESSION.

                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKgaXGMPJDs 

An average of 6000 girls per day in Africa is circumcised as early as age three, having parts of their genitals removed such as the clitoris and the walls of their vagina. Females are seen as unclean if they aren't circumcised and as a result thrown out of their village in the street and are referred to as "Whores."

SOCIALIZATION

A Call To Men

The "A call to men" lecture by Tony Porter, he argues that men perceptions of women are that they see women as less valuable to them. Traditionally, men have always known as the breadwinner, strong one, dominant, leader, fearless and tough as oppose to women, the nurturer,  weak,  follower, and obedient to authority (males).  

Porter gave some examples of his experience he had, one as a child and as an adult. Two of which stood out to me the most are:

At the age of twelve a man asked Porter if would like have a sexual encounter with a young girl in his bedroom, he then replied yes! He wanted to prove that he was man enough and also to avoid ridicule. However, in the back of his head he knew it would be wrong to engage in sexual act with the girl and could be punishable by law; also he was still a virgin. So he stood behind the door in the bedroom for a while, and then walked out into the Living room with his pants down to indicate that he had done it, where there were a lot of men waiting in line for their turn. This is evident that some men have no respect for women and sees them as their use toys (sexual object).

Secondly, he speaks of a time when he had a conversation with a young boy, asking him how he would feel if his coach called him “A GIRL” in front of all the players. The boy then replied: “It would destroy me!”    

 From an early age, boys are helped to acquire a masculinity that allows them to assume and maintain that position. By the same demonstration, girls are taught to cultivate a submissive femininity. The resulting difference in the male and female character is then described as inherent and used to defend the existing power arrangement. Only those who accept it are normal, and only they can expect to succeed. The male social role is designed to reward masculine men, while the female social role offers its relative advantages only to feminine women. (The aggressive man will run the bigger business; the pretty, agreeable woman will find the richer husband.) In other words, masculinity and femininity are gender qualities which are developed in response to social discrimination. However, once they have been developed, they justify and cement it. The masculine and feminine gender roles mutually reinforce each other and thereby perpetuate the inequality on which they are based. Certainly some of the things boys are being taught about girls are absolutely immoral and destructive to the female body. Until we as a society step up and reconstruct the thoughts we instill in our children, the perception men have against women will not stop and may mimic the behavior against Islamic and African women causing VIOLENT OPPRESSION.

In a recent video I watch called "KILLING US SOFTLY" by author Jean Kilbourne, she stated that women's body are being advertised as sex products and how advertisement have a great impact on our daily lives as we are exposed to an average of 3000 ads per day that most people today are hardly aware of it and assume that advertising has no effect on them. Contrary to popular belief, however, advertising exerts an enormous influence on our thoughts, attitudes, perceptions and actions.

 For years society have been socially structured in ways that separate males from females with high expectation from women to be sexy, beautiful, educated, slender, attractive and maintain a pleasant odor at all times. The anxiety girls and women experience from feeling unattractive is arguably one of the most pervasive and damaging consequence of advertising. Only one body type is almost always presented in the media and in advertisements that of a very tall, thin woman one who would meet the criteria for anorexia as 15% below normal weight. In reality, this unhealthy body shape is unattainable for 99% of women. As Jean Kilbourne said, many times, even these "beautiful" women are deemed not good enough for advertisements. Photographs are airbrushed or otherwise changed to remove any lines, bumps, or lumps, anything less than "perfection." If the ideal of beauty is physically unachievable, then consumers will never be able to attain the image they want, and therefore there will be an endless demand for new beauty products.

This is the reason for the incredible proliferation of the weight-loss, fashion, and cosmetics industries, which are among the largest and most profitable consumer industries.

As a result, the millions of women and girls who are unable to reach this standard of beauty feel a sense of failure, shame, and guilt. This dissatisfaction with one's body is a major cause of eating disorders which have increased through the years as women's ideal body weight as it is portrayed in the media has lessened. One study revealed that women who view the media's image of beauty as ideal are more likely than any other group to have a very negative body image.

 In comparison, both videos speaks of the roles females and males play in society as a result of how they were taught to socialized. Advertisement depict images of portraying women as sex objects, in order to increase the appeal of their product, being as sexy and desirable as oppose to men, strong, dominant, fearless, violent and breadwinner. I remember growing up i wanted to do almost everything that the boys did, especially my brother, who were a role model to me as a child. I wanted to engage in activities they did such as playing soccer, cricket, ride bicycles, climbing trees to pick fruits because they are always engaged in activities that are adventurous. However, my mother would object on that saying that girls should stay home play with dolls, read a book, help with cleaning and learning how to cook.

The Milgram Experiment

"The Milgram Experiment" 1961 by Social Psychologist, Stanley Milgram is a scientific study of human behavior. The study measures the willingness of participants to obey people in authority who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their own personal conscience. Twelve volunteers were selected and they were informed that the experiment was a memory test, after which the actual participants were introduced to an actor (as another volunteer). The Learner was given a list of multiple choice questions to review that the teacher will ask questions from. The teacher was then taken into another room, where he/she is shown the generator that will shock the learner if he gives an incorrect answer, and for every wrong answer the voltage will be increased from 15 up to 450 volts. 

Three of the twelve actual participants refuse to perlong with the experiment because they thought it was very scary, stressful and inhuman to be perform such cruel act on a human being after the actor started to bang on the wall that separated him from the subject. After several times banging on the wall and complaining about his heart condition, all responses by the learner would stop.  

Whenever the teacher indicated his desire to halt the experiment, he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter, in this order:

1.     Please continue.

2.     The experiment requires that you continue.

3.     It is absolutely essential that you continue.

4.     You have no other choice, you must go on.

The experimenter (E) orders the teacher (T); the subject of the experiment, to give what the subject (teacher) believes are painful electric shocks to a learner (L), who is actually an actor and confederate. The subject believes that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual electric shocks, however in reality there were no such punishments. Being separated from the subject, the confederate set up a tape recorder joined with the electro-shock generator, which played pre-recorded sounds for each shock level.

What I have concluded from both "The Five Faces of Oppression" and "The Milgram Experiment" is that they are both based on the matter of POWER, OBEDIENCE, DEVIANCE AND ORDER. We are obedient in following instruction from people in authority in any institution such as the family, school, church, government etc. and as bear consequences in any group, people tend to use social mechanism such as ridicule, gossip, opprobrium as a mean of punishment  for violating the social norms, rather than using physical violence which is the oldest method that have been used for decades to restore formality  

I remember growing up, my mother being the breadwinner of the household and a single-parent, I had to obey her every rules, and if I am disobedient she would use ridicule as a mean of causing embarrassment to me. Like one night i was down the street with my friends chit chatting and the lights went out, and even though i knew i should have make an attempt to find my way home to avoid any potential threat, i insist on staying to chat with them, little after I felt someone grab me from behind and start hitting me, when turn around it was my mother saying "likkle gal yuh nuh see light gone and you  pon di road like you a boy pickney and man can tek yuh wey and rape yuh. Go inna di yaad before me embarrass you out yah!" Little she knew I was already feeling that way because my friends were all laughing at me and for days I refused to see them. But, now I understand the true meaning of what mom was try to tell me. Now I realize the importance of social control, because if she had not put her feet down firmly on the ground and raise me in the right way I might have ended up elsewhere.  

THE FIVE (5) FACES OF OPPRESSION

Oppression is a feeling of being heavily weighed down in mind or body. Oppression allows people in authority or who has greater access to resources the power of belittling or manipulate others in lower position of society. Oppression can only survive through silence. As the title indicates, there are five faces of oppression:

1. Exploitation- demanding labor without a fair wage

2. Violence- is the oldest method use by any society with the help of the military force or police to sustain civilization by preventing physical violence on racial, gender, age discrimination and also disabilities etc.

3. Marginalization- depriving a group of people from their livelihood by taking away their only means of survival (resources, education, culture, norm) 

4. Powerlessness- depriving people from their social life taking away their rights to FREEDOM. These people are like slaves 

5. Cultural imperialism- is forcing your culture or language on to another society. The insight of McDonalds and junk food culture globally. Another one is the flooding of violence and sex filled comics from Japan.

   

The ones that really standout to me the most are "MARGINALIZATION and POWERLESSNESS" which reminds me of the movie "Apocalypto" by Mel Gibson. The first time i watched this movie i thought it had mimic act of the Caribs depriving Taínos of their social life. Tainos were challenged by an invading South American tribe called the Caribs. Fierce, warlike, sadistic, and skillful at using poison-tipped arrows, they raided Taíno settlements for slaves and bodies for the completion of their rites of cannibalism. Some ethnologists argue that the reputation of the Taínos, shaken by the attacks of the Caribs, was already jeopardized by the time of the Spanish occupation. In fact, it was Caribs who fought the most effectively against the Europeans, their behavior probably led the Europeans to unfairly attribute warlike tendencies to all of the island's tribes. A driving tension between the Taínos and the Caribs certainly existed when the Christopher Columbus landed on Puerto Rico. However, it has much similarity to this movie, like who has more POWER, KNOWLEDGE and RESOURCES to use a group of people according to their wish or even remove them from social existence. 

One other thing that i had concluded from this movie was the use of "RITUAL" that Professor Applewhite discussed in class and assign a article called "Body Ritual Among The Nacirema" by Author Horace Miner. This shows that it's something that have been in existence for decades and still utilize in today's society. This way we become familiar with all the different cultures, beliefs, norms, knowledge, languages etc. which is a good means of integration.