Deviance of the Rich and Famous

On the morning of February 8, 2009 there was an incident that took place between R&B singer Chris Brown and Pop star Rihanna. The two were in Brown's car driving when Rihanna noticed Chris was texting other females on his cell phone and she instantly became outraged. At once, Rihanna began trying to take the phone from Chris but Chris would not give his phone up. However, due to Rihanna's persistence to retrieve the cell phone in question, Chris Brown then became full or rage and anger and attacked Rihanna. Rihanna received numerous closed fist blows to her head, eye, cheek, and lips from her boyfriend Chris Brown. Later that evening pictures began to leak to the public with the aftermath of Rihanna's face. Once the public caught wind of the incident that took place between the couple they became upset and furious. The public began to blast Chris Brown with all kinds of negativity and hate, his fan base dropped significantly, and he lost all his endorsements. Brown was arrested and had to appear in court, where he was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community service for one count of felony assault.

Every society and culture has its own values, norms, and sanctions that are to be expected in order to be a part of it. If however, any of the norms or values are violated there are negative consequences that follow, these consequences can be either formal or informal sanctions. One of the norms in our society is that men should never put their hands on a woman under any circumstance; this is considered domestic and physical abuse. Chris Brown violated this norm big time the moment he reach over and brutally attacked his girlfriend Rihanna with his closed fists. The norm Chris Brown violated was domestic and physical abuse against women. In our society women have the same equal rights as men. Women should be treated with respect and cared for as if she was your mother. Moreover, women should be appreciated by men. These are the social values towards women of our society, and the whole point of the norm is to uphold these values of women. Chris Brown broke these values once he violated the norms and this caused major sequences on his part. Domestic violence against women is against the law in our society and is punishable by the courts of law if committed. Because Chris broke this law he was arrested and sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community service. Chris' punishment was a negative formal sanction.

After reviewing this whole Chris Brown and Rihanna situation I have come to the conclusion that this theory is differential association theory. Differential Association Theory is described as people who learn deviance through their interactions with different groups, and learning the attitudes and ideas that are favorable to following norms or to violating them. Moreover, the more time we spend around people who practice deviance, the more likely