Hammond, Ph.D.Ī typical dictionary definition of deviance sounds something like this: "one that does not conform to the norm " "one who behaves in sharply different ways from customs " or "one who ignores the common and behaves in unique ways." A thesaurus might also list: "abnormal aberration, anomaly, weird, irregular, and even unnatural" as similarly related words. Model of Deviant Versus Normal Behavior © 2009 Ron J. Conversely, don’t discredit information even if it is difficult for you to consider and don’t assume that a Sociologist agrees with a social issue just because they address it. Never let any professor dictate or decide for you what you will think or how you will form the opinions you form. The burden of what you do with Sociological information is up to you. There are many in academics who are politically motivated and even some who try to promote their points of view and changed you.īut, Sociologists in general know that our value is in the objectiveness of our information. In this chapter more than the others it is important to read the content of the information and judge its value to you based on the merits of the information. Talking about a specific issue does not mean a Sociologist endorses or opposes it. I explained then and do again here, that when you read a Sociology course, read a Sociology study, or hear a Sociology online Ted Talk, that Sociologists may or may not be “liberal,” “conservative,” or even “neutral” about the issue. I explained that Sociologists study society and are typically willing to study controversial topics even if most people don’t feel comfortable even talking about them in private conversations. When I asked this student why he thought I was liberal he said, “well you talk about abortion like you talk about the weather report.” That was a revelation to me. One asked me about my education, one asked me about why I chose to become a Sociologists, and then another asked why I was so “liberal.” I was a bit surprised because I had felt that I was more conservative at that time (still to this day most of my colleagues consider me to be very conservative in comparison to the “norm” of university Sociologists). I even finished early, so I asked if any students had any other questions for me. My teaching demonstration was amazing! I was able to have active classroom discussion participation, created an environment where students could ask me open questions, and replied to every question they asked during my lesson. I believed I could impress both the students and faculty considering me for this job. Since I had already been teaching a Social Problems course part-time at another institution, I felt ready and well-prepared. I had been asked to teach on the social problems topic abortion.
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY FREE EBOOKS FULL
When I was interviewing for a full time professor job back in 1992, I travelled to a rural and relatively small college. Let me provide a brief example of how students sometimes misunderstand this. A Sociologist can ask survey questions about issues, among people, and in a variety of scientific ways that do not specifically represent their own support of options to the social issue, people interviewed, or scientific method.
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY FREE EBOOKS PROFESSIONAL
Most Sociologists will tell you they study topics of academic and professional interest to them as well as topics they find to be most interesting.
Sociologists tend to ask questions about both controversial and non-controversial topics. In an effort to provide context for you to more clearly understand Sociology as a discipline, let me point out a simple truth. Deviance is a violation of norms or rules of behavior that are typically outside of the norms (see figure below). Deviance is not as easily defined and established as some might think (especially if you are sensitive to cultural relativism and ethnocentrism). But, I wondered back then if swimsuits were in fact deviant given that so many students at WGU wore them to class. It was a striking departure from what I had experienced while in high school. Many of the female students wore Bikinis to classes. Yet, I witnessed this back in 1982 as a student in the newly accredited West Georgia University. Attending class in your European Bikini might not be normal for some. For example, wearing casual clothes to class is normal on many campuses. In most societies, the majority of people conform to the most important norms most of the time. As was mentioned in the culture chapter a Norm is a set of expected behaviors for a given role and social status.
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