Deviance Among Society

Deviance among society

Deviant, in my own words would mean something cruel done to another person intentionally. This word "Deviant" can have many meanings to many different people, depending where in the United States one may live, someone's culture, or ethnicity can define the word deviant. Many young teenagers and young adults smoke and drink excessively, mainly to be able to socialize with a particular group, which they may think, is popular to the society they live in. Some young people may even smoke and drink to run away from certain problems they are having in their home at the time. This starts becoming a habit to them, which leads to them socializing with deviant people or groups, people that are not considered to be of the norm. There are times that society itself has put these young individuals in their own categories, so a young African-American boy might feel pressured, when all he had ever known is crime and violence and his friends may even be in a gang. The young African-American boy may feel the need to fit into this particular category, sometimes even for survival; this smart, caring, non-deviant boy may fall into the wrong crowd. If this young boy only hears negative things about his ethnic background , he may just think, "This is the way things are supposed to be."

With no encouraging words from a positive role model, this young African-American boy could be lost in the prison system. There is no need to lose any young person from the lack of knowledge or from the knowledge of knowing that there are ways out of society's crucial categories. Being an African-American boy does not mean you will lose yourself to the streets. Society does not have the right to define you and yet in many cases, it does. These young individuals need to know that they can break from the deviant category that society has put them in because of their ethnicity or economical background. Do cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and prescription drugs play a big role in these young adults? Whether these cigarettes, alcohol and drugs whether prescribed or not, they alter our minds. Cigarettes have so many different kinds of poisons in them and have claimed the life of so many and yet, it is still legal. Alcohol, a substance that impairs our judgment and is the reason to so many accidents and deaths and yet, it is still legal. Marijuana, a plant; that grows naturally and it is said to alter one's mind. Often used as a recreational drug, for certain medical ailments and also used for religious and spiritual purposes and yet, it is illegal. Prescribed drugs are medical drugs that help us feel better or get better but unless prescribed it would be considered illegal. Many would say the government has everything to do with it. Why are cigarettes still legal? They have claimed so many lives and yet it is still legal to buy and consume cigarettes. The government profits