Deviance Discussion Board

Go to a public place where there is a lot of pedestrian traffic or people (i.e. quad, the mall, the beach, bar, etc.) For 30 minutes, jot down the various people that you see. Do you see anybody or thing that would be considered deviant according to the definitions of deviance presented in class (i.e. body deviance, clothes, behaviors and actions). Then answer the following questions, are the actions of the individuals you are observing specific to the location you are observing them in or would their actions be different somewhere else? Did the situation you observed had high conformity or if you observed any levels of deviance. Did anything surprise you? What informal social controls are, then describe how informal and formal controls or sanctions factored into controlling or promoting the levels of deviance, or non-deviance, you observed? Describe why this was based on your observations.

you have to respond to these 3 people

Response 1: I went to the Irvine Spectrum today to observe the public. While it was a little hard to notice anyone doing deviant things. I mainly saw a lot of families out together or couples who were out eating food or going shopping. I also saw some kids, mainly middle schoolers, who were out in groups joking around with each other, without parents. Most of them weren’t wearing a mask, which granted wasn’t required while outside. I saw this act as deviant, as they were being selfish in only thinking of themselves and not being aware of the people around them. I believe that their behavior would have been different if they had parents around them as they would have followed the rules and thought of others instead of themselves. Another example of deviance I saw was when I went into Brandy Melville. Majority of the workers there were wearing crop tops or some lingerie type top. I found this deviant, as it isn’t typical attire that one would wear while they are working, at least majority of jobs require you to cover up, so it was interesting to see how the rules didn’t apply at the store. I believe that the workers would still wear those clothes out as their job clearly encourages it and even in public when they aren’t working, which some may say is showing too much skin. I witnessed more conformity than deviance, as majority of the people who were out at the mall were wearing their masks in stores and keeping their distance from others. I also saw a lot of people wearing more in-style clothes, as well as showing off the expensive things that they had, which I find to be a norm in OC. Factors I found that kept contained the levels of deviance were the number of people out at the mall, as the Spectrum is known for being busy, yet there were hardly as many people as there would be before the pandemic. Teens who would generally do more deviant things while out in the mall weren’t able to do so, due to the limited population out, security doing their routes around the mall, and that workers were following their job’s protocol. They were in a more high risk situation where they could get caught easily, versus a year ago where it would low risk for them

Response #2 I went to Bolsa Chica Beach in Huntington Beach, I noticed very few things that would be considered deviant. One thing I would consider was when I was walking down the side walk, an older women was walking in zig-zag lines, repeating “help me” to herself. As this rose curiosity, I looked around, several people stared in confusion, as she continued to walk and repeat the phrase. Another thing was as I parked, there were several restaurants filled with people drinking and eating. However, I noticed that not only was the restaurant filled much more than COVID capacity, no one was wearing masks. This applied to people riding bikes, walking on the beach, and there was no social distancing at all, as separate groups walked and sat right next to each other. As for the people there, I did not notice any different behavior than normally. I was surprised by the two forms of deviant ways, but the rest of the families spent time with their kids and people swam in the water. Informal sanctions include shaming, criticism, and social discrimination, as I would consider both my experiences to fit under this categories, as I believe many people judged these actions from their body language and facial expressions. I believe that informal/formal sanctions factored into controlling or promoting the levels of deviance, as people do what they see other people doing, as well as observing what they can get away with.

Response 3: For this exercise I went to Aliso Creek Beach which was crowded due to the heat wave. This location had very high levels of deviance which surprised me a lot. Almost NOBODY was wearing a mask which is against the law in Laguna Beach. People were breaking other laws there as well. I witnessed several large groups of people drinking alcohol on the beach which is also against the law. It seems that the population at this particular beach lacked outer control and possibly had a weak bond with society which led to their law breaking. Both the formal social control of wearing a mask due to COVID-19 and the informal social control of staying six feet apart, not a law in Laguna Beach but a CDC guideline, were being completely ignored. This surprised me that nobody had a mask and almost everybody was closer than six feet, there was no regard for personal safety when COVID-19 was concerned at this beach. While it was surprising that nobody was following the formal social control of wearing a mask, it was extremely hot out so that could explain why. However, if people were choosing not to wear a mask, I would expect them to be socially distant instead. One aspect that almost everyone was showing conformity was their clothing, ie wearing a bathing suit. This is an informal social control at the beach where it would be weird not to wear some form of swimwear.