Research Paper on Deviance: Excessive Gambling, Alcoholism & More

Introduction

Deviance refers to any behavior that is not consistent with the social norms and tends to have sufficient severity that warrants disapproval from the majority member of the society. It is worth noting that deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. The sociological discipline that deals with behavior that violates laws referred to as criminology also referred to as criminal justice. In contemporary society, activities that include excessive gambling, alcoholism, nude in public, stealing, refusing to bath, lying, buying prostitutes' services, among many others are all considered as deviant (Courtois & Gendron, 2017). This paper discusses deviance behavior in current crime news.

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What is Deviant Behavior?

The current tedious crime news can be easily overlooked since they appear familiar as well as mundane (Jacobs, 2017). However, having an understanding of the forces that influence crime news is critical since the social, as well as the political impact on such news, remain entirely abroad. It is worth noting that the media emphasis on the crime, for instance, assists in maintaining the salience of the crime as a political issue. Journalists choose which crime to report and at the same time which to ignore. The reality is that the majority of the crimes not reported in the news and findings on the journalist's selection process demonstrate that the most likely reported crime is a homicide. Mainstream media tend to give more attention to homicides that involve white than homicides that involve non-white. From this viewpoint, deviance refers to the construct that subsumes standard advanced clarification regarding patterns in crime coverage by the current news. Conflict, unusualness, impact, and prominence of the news criteria concerning a given social status and race are good examples.

Demographics of the Group That Witnessed the Behavior

As noted by Jong Hyuk Lee (2008), journalists have a hard time explaining how event newsworthiness evaluated. Research about the journalists' selection process must go beyond the pure analysis concerning the content of media, thereby analyzing the situations and events. There are various forms of deviance associated with journalists as a demographic of the group that witnesses deviance behavior. Normative deviance entails the extent to which formal norms, including statutes, are violated by the action. Statistical deviance involves the degree to which a given event stand unusual compared everyday events. Social change deviance refers to the status quo of the political threatened by an event.

How the Group React to the Behavior

The reality is that every homicide remains a sophisticated social event. Journalists who report on crimes with deadlines daily rarely have time. Hence journalists, because of their tight deadlines, make hasty judgments concerning the newsworthiness of an event (Jong Hyuk Lee, 2008). To a greater extent, guided by the knowledge they have concerning how related events have in the past covered.

How the Group Attempt to Control Deviant Behavior

Jacobs, (2017) notes that crime reporters undertake that it is crucial first of all to evaluate the newsworthiness quickly. Such an undertaking is paramount as it explains how control of the findings relating to race, age, and gender of the participants of homicide. In particular, include the victims who remain the strongest newsworthiness predictors. Concerning more complex homicide social aspects including the nature of the victim's association with suspects and in consideration as to whether the victim was involved in gangs, prostitution, gambling, or drug mainly takes longer to emerge. Thus, reported ends up judging newsworthiness based on the first fact they get.

References

Courtois, C., & Gendron, Y. (2017). The "Normalization" of Deviance: A Case Study on the Process Underlying the Adoption of Deviant Behavior. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 36(3), 15-43. https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-51665

Jacobs, L. (2017). Patterns of criminal threat in television news coverage of ethnic minorities in Flanders (2003-2013). Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, 43(5), 809-829. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2016.1217152

Jong Hyuk Lee. (2008). Effects of News Deviance and Personal Involvement on Audience Story Selection: A Web-Tracking Analysis. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 85(1), 41.