Saints and the S Rroughnecksoughneck
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CASE STUDY The Saints and the s RRoughnecksoughneck Both the Saints and the Roughnecks enjoyed rowdy nights out on the town. In 1973 sociologist William Chambliss pub- lished “The Saints and the Roughnecks,” an article documenting the two years he spent observing two groups of delinquent vandalism. The boys would break win- teenage boys. One group, which he called dows, remove furniture to the yard and the Saints, was made up of young men tear it apart, urinate on the walls, and from upper-middle class families. Despite scrawl obscenities inside. frequently skipping school, the Saints got Unlike the Saints, the other group that good grades, participated in school activi- Chambliss observed, the Roughnecks, had a ties, and were liked by students and teach- reputation for being delinquents. They were ers. The local police saw the Saints as good less well-to-do than the Saints, and their boys and leaders in the youth community. grades were not as good. Although they Chambliss described his observations. attended school more often than the Saints Eight promising young men . were and were not particularly disruptive, teach- some of the most delinquent boys at ers saw them as troublemakers. According Hanibal High School. While community to Chambliss, the police shared this view. residents knew that these boys occasionally Hanibal townspeople never perceived sowed a few wild oats, they were totally the Saints’ high level of delinquency. The unaware that sowing wild oats completely Saints were good boys who just went in occupied the daily routine of these young for an occasional prank. After all, they men. The Saints were constantly occupied were well dressed, well mannered, and with truancy, drinking, wild driving, petty had nice cars. The Roughnecks were a theft, and vandalism . different story. Although the two gangs of Every Friday and Saturday night boys were the same age, and both groups most of the Saints would meet . and engaged in an equal amount of wild-oat would go into Big Town. Big Town activi- sowing, everyone agreed that the not-so- ties included drinking heavily in taverns well-dressed, not-so-well-mannered, not- or nightclubs, driving drunkenly through so-rich boys were heading for trouble . the streets, and committing acts of van- The community’s impression of the dalism and playing pranks . degrees to which this group of six boys Abandoned houses, especially if they (ranging in age from 16 to 19) engaged in were located in out-of-the-way places, were delinquency was somewhat distorted. In fair game for destruction and spontaneous some ways the gang was more delinquent 156 CHAPTER 7 Watch the Video R 7 Explore topics on social control and CHAPTE deviance. SSOCIALOCIAL than the community thought; in other ways they were less . Although community members per- CCONTROLONTROL ceived that this gang of kids was delin- quent, they mistakenly believed that their illegal activities were primarily drinking, AANDND fighting, and being a nuisance to pass- DDEVIANCEEVIANCE ersby. Drinking was limited among the gang members . and theft was much more prevalent than anyone realized. Chambliss explored why the commu- Chapter at a Glance nity saw the Roughnecks as troublemak- ers but did not see the Saints that way. SECTION 1: Social Control He explained that the Saints’ delinquent ■ People generally follow social norms—and expect others to as behavior was less visible because access well—because they have internalized the norms that they feel to cars allowed them to leave the commu- are useful and appropriate. nity. The Saints were also more contrite ■ When a person has not internalized a norm, society uses sanc- and respectful when caught. Perhaps most tions to motivate his or her conformity. important was that once a group had been ■ Sanctions can be positive or negative, formal or informal. labeled as “good” or “bad,” the labels stuck: ■ Social control is necessary to ensure that a society functions Selective perception and labeling— smoothly. finding, processing, and punishing some kinds of criminality and not others— SECTION 2: Deviance means that visible, poor, nonmobile, out- ■ Deviance is any behavior that violates significant social norms. spoken, undiplomatic “tough” kids will ■ Deviance can serve positive functions, such as clarifying norms, be noticed, whether their actions are seri- unifying the group, diffusing tension, promoting social change, ously delinquent or not. Other kids, who and providing jobs. have established a reputation for being ■ Functionalists, conflict theorists, and interactionists offer differ- bright . , disciplined, and involved in ent theories to explain deviance. respectable activities, who are mobile and monied, will be invisible when they devi- SECTION 3: Crime ate from sanctioned activities. They’ll sow ■ Crime affects everyone in the United States, some as victims, their wild oats—perhaps even wider and some as criminals, and some as observers. thicker than their lower-class cohorts— ■ Crimes are grouped into five general categories: violent crime, but they won’t be noticed. property crime, victimless crime, white-collar crime, and orga- In this chapter, you will learn more about nized crime. how society typically responds to such ■ Crime statistics are gathered and reported by two main sources, delinquent behavior. the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey. What do you think? ■ The criminal-justice system—made up of the police, the courts, and corrections—deals with crimes that have been committed 1. How did community members view the Saints and the and reported. Roughnecks differently? 2. What factors do you think influenced their views? SOCIAL CONTROL AND DEVIANCE 157 SSEECCTIONTION 1 SSocialocial ControlControl Before You Read Use a graphic Main Idea Reading Focus Vocabulary organizer Norms must be followed for 1. How do social norms become internalization like this one to take notes a society to run smoothly, internalized? sanctions on the different kinds of sanctions. and they are enforced 2. What are the differences positive sanction through internalization and between positive and negative negative sanction Types of Positive Negative sanctions. sanctions and between formal formal sanction Sanctions and informal sanctions? informal sanction Formal social control Informal 3. What is social control? TThehe Virtual Pillory What if your every misdeed were and rude people. For example, at one site used primar- posted on a Web site? The idea of ily by bicycle commuters, cyclists and other concerned public shaming as a means of social citizens send in photographs of drivers who endanger control is not new. Until the early 1800s, communities cyclists by parking in designated bicycle lanes. Vehicles’ across Europe used devices called pillories that restrained license plate numbers are displayed, and repeat offenders and displayed criminals in public places to punish and are shown in a special “Top Offenders” section. Another humiliate them. The criminal was locked in place, and Web site is designed to expose the entire range of socially people gathered to hurl abuse—along with rotten food, offensive behavior. Stories posted on the site range from dead animals, and even rocks—at him or her. This type of office food thieves and rude customer service workers to punishment also sent a message to the rest of the com- loud cell phone talkers and reckless drivers. Posters to the munity: Behave badly and this could be you. Web site often identify their targets by name, location, or Today people have found a less-physical way to pun- license plate number. Does the idea of bad behavior on ish and discourage violations of cultural norms. A number display make you nervous? If it does, these Web sites are of Web sites encourage users to expose petty criminals having the effect their creators are hoping for. 158 CHAPTER 7 Internalization of Norms Negative Sanctions Positive sanctions alone do not always ensure conformity. Society Every society develops norms that reflect the uses negative sanctions to discourage unde- cultural values its members consider impor- sired behavior. A nnegativeegative ssanctionanction is a pun- tant. For a society to run smoothly, these ishment or the threat of punishment used to norms must be upheld. Norms are enforced enforce conformity. The mere threat of pun- through two basic means—internalization ishment is often enough to ensure acceptable and sanctions. behavior. The possibility of getting a park- When people come to believe that a par- ing ticket and having your car towed is usu- ticular norm is good, useful, and appropriate, ally enough to persuade you not to park in a they generally follow it and expect others to “no parking” zone. However, if the threat of do the same. People do this because they have punishment is not enough, the actual pun- internalized the norm. IInternalizationnternalization is the ishment is there to remind you that confor- process by which a norm becomes a part of mity to the “no parking” rule is expected. an individual’s personality, thus conditioning that individual to conform to society’s expec- tations. For example, when you go to the mov- ies, you automatically sit in a chair, not on the floor. When the traffic signal ahead turns red, you stop without thinking. You do not take Quick Lab these actions because you fear being pun- ished. Rather, you have internalized society’s norms concerning eating and driving. Observing Norms Reading Check Identify Supporting Details in Social Interaction What characteristics describe a norm that is likely Have you ever thought about the norms you obey when to be internalized? carrying on a conversation? Most of us follow certain guidelines for social interactions without realizing it. Sanctions Most members of society follow norms with- PROCEDURE out conscious thought. However, not every- 1 Read the questions about conversational behaviors below. one internalizes all of society’s norms. Some Social Distance: How close or far apart do people people must be motivated by ssanctions.anctions.