I’m studying and need help with a Sociology question to help me learn.

Write 2 paragraphs answering the following questions:

• What are the social problems created by the criminalization of drugs and alcohol?
• In which ways would society benefit with the legalization of drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroine?
• Are you in favor of the legalization of currently illegal drugs? Why?

After submitting your answers, please reply to at least three (3) of our classmates’ posts, pointing out their good points as well as any limitation you see in their arguments.

Your original answer to the questions as well as your reply-comments to other students must be of substantial quality in order to get points. Substantial quality includes a demonstration that you have completed the required readings and videos and thought critically about them. Your answers and reply-comments must be original, use your own ideas and words. Do not copy from any website or written material from another person.

Defining Deviance

The sociological definition of deviance—as behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms—stresses: (1) social context, (2) recognizes that not all behaviors are judged similarly by all groups, and (3). recognizes that established rules and norms are socially created.

Sociologists distinguish between two types of deviance:

• formal deviance – behavior that breaks laws or official rules (crime)
• informal deviance – behavior that violates customary norms (body piercing)

The Social Construction of Deviance

• Labeling theory – evaluates the meaning of deviance in terms of the breaking of norms and rules AND how people react to those behaviors. Deviance is created by groups who make rules and label offenders as outsiders.
• The Context of Deviance – derives not only from what one does, but also from who does it, when, and where.
• Behavior that is deviant in one circumstance may be normal in another, or behavior may be ruled deviant only when performed by certain people (e.g. heterosexual or homosexual kissing in public).
• The definition of deviance can also vary over time (e.g. acquaintance rape).
• Emile Durkheim argued that deviance is functional for society because it produces social solidarity.
• The Influence of Social Movements – networks of groups that organize to support or resist changes in society, can reform how a behavior is perceived and dealt with by society (e.g., the anti-smoking movement and the gay and lesbian movement).
• Sociology looks at deviance as constructed by society rather than as the public commonly understands it – as the result of individualistic or personality factors. What is considered deviant or normal depends on the social context. Deviance may be: (1) a positive adaptation to a situation (the Andes survivors) or (2) a rational adaptation to some situations (gang membership).

The Medicalization of Deviance

• Sociologists criticize many psychological explanations of deviance that emphasize individual factors underlying deviant behavior because they see these explanations as incomplete for as they do not take into consideration the social conditions surrounding deviant behavior, ignoring the effects of social structures on the development of deviant behavior as in the medicalization of deviance, exemplified in some explanations of alcoholism.
• Sociologists include in their concept of deviance the idea that it is as an adaptation to the social structures in which people live. See Merton’s strain theory to further your understanding of this phenomenon.

  Here is the YouTube video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BGq9zW9w3Fw&feature=emb_title

  Explaining Deviance

  Last page we introduced deviance as a concept, but today we’re going return to the major perspectives in sociology and how each approaches deviance. We’ll explore how structural functionalism sees deviance fulfilling a function in society; how deviance is constructed, according to symbolic interactionism; and finally, how conflict theory views deviance as tied to power and inequality.YouTube vid: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=06IS_X7hWWI&feature=emb_title

  Crime and the Justice System

  It is time to examine the legal definitions of crime and the use of FBI data to get an idea of the amount and kinds of crime committed in the US. It is important to paint a demographic picture of who gets arrested, and explain why that’s not necessarily a full look of who commits crime. We need to discuss society’s response to crime in the criminal justice system, and how that response has resulted in mass incarceration. Watch the following short videos:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zBodqwAlW3A&feature=emb_title
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vFe_7sOGvGI&list=PLZapTuSHtu-CeejcJGLVBLqNT-ipS0Idh&index=44

  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nUZqvsF_Wt0&feature=emb_titlehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=om2hx6Xm2JE&feature=emb_title