Similarities Between Saints And Roughnecks

James W. Loewen, essay “The Land of Opportunity,” discusses how many times Americans don’t know about social classes and the effects they have on society. Loewen argues that the common American people aren’t given equal opportunity in this day in age. He says that American history books have great influenced what we see about the class system because a great deal of history is often left out.

There is much debate about the issue of social class in the United States. There are arguments about whether social classes are distinctly separate or fluid, dependent upon one’s community or society as a whole, and if they are subjective or objective (Hughes and Jenkins). However, despite the debate surrounding social classes, it is still important to try to define them and analyze their effects, as they are such an important part of our identity and our opportunities in society. Although our society has tried to appear as though we have no classes, and it is becoming harder to tell what class someone is in by material goods, classes do still exist today (Scott and Leonhardt). The trend has been to divide the U.S. into four major

Throughout history, there have been good people and bad ones, and a major deciding factor in this is background. The chances of being dissatisfactory are often increased if a person has a low income or the person is living in a poor neighborhood and is a person of color. These illegal activities that are commonly found in poorer areas often lead a person down the wrong path in life. These paths are not the path to success, but a path to a jail cell. The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore demonstrates the effects of drugs and violence, two common actions that end up with an unfortunate aftermath. Bryan Stevenson mentions the consequences of being bad differ due to race and wealth in his TED Talk, “We need to talk about injustice”. In “Brown VS. Board of Education: 50 years later segregation by Income”, Nanette Asimov reports how “wealth has created separate and unequal schools”, this article relates to Bryan Stevenson’s TED Talk in the fact that the both refer to how schools have unequal opportunities due to money, which is a factor of background. 60 Minutes reports David Cash’s story, should he be charged for his actions? Raised in a poor neighborhood where parents are unable to pay their bills, a child’s chances of success are significantly lower than a child whose parents can provide every wish for them. A child who was raised in a poor neighborhood, has much greater chances of having a worse outcome in life, due to the influences of the poor neighborhood and what people have

7) In criminological theories, we saw how police activity is largely geared towards minor visible crimes committed by individuals from the lower stratums of society as oppose to “white collar crimes” committed by those of higher stratums (Dubé, CRM 3701, 2011). Abolitionists argue that by severely punishing some of the poor in order to deter society from committing crimes; we are only further contributing to the inequalities in today’s society.

Social class describes the different "layers" that exist in society. These "layers," or classes in society, are a division that civilization has been running on ever since the beginning of mankind. In most modern societies, our system of social class division is one of opportunity. We experience a good deal of social mobility, where people through generations or in their own lifetime can move up or down the social scale. By examining the many different perceptions of social class along with S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, it is illustrated that social class has an impact on people while they are growing up, and will usually deny them from rising above adversity.

Elijah Anderson creates two labels for society as mentioned, “street” and “decent”. In comparison with Becker, Anderson argues criminal definitions are carried out so to appeal to the wealthy, who ultimately hold the majority of the power in society. Those who aren’t fortunate enough to have the law held in their favor and who have a negative label tend to act out more against society committing more crime. The two labels “decent” and “street” are used by Anderson to categorize the residents in inner city neighborhoods, and this “labeling is often the result of a social contest among individuals and families of the neighborhood.” (Anderson Article PDF, 3 and 4). The labeling is created to pass judgment that benefits the status on the others, and the members of society who are “decent” such as the authorities and working class, create these labels. Therefore, the “decent” residents will perceive themselves as

Just as Grendel’s social status precludes his being shunned from society, so today is society’s relationship to wealth and social status significant in determining criminality within a population. The 2008 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) stated that “[i]n

The more powerful someone is, the more convincing they become to this large group of men (and women) in black. They can brush simple things under the rugs, leaking formation and still get away with it. Social classes become divided because of things like this, they think that if they can drop this charge, and you cannot because they have the power of influence by money that they are better. There are several social class whereas a few are always living comfortably and the others are struggling to stay in a home whilst the people of the bottom don’t have a home. The humbleness of these groups are very different in many ways than one.

“The Outsiders” is one of the favorite movies of teenagers made by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983. (Barsanti, 2010). “Saints and Roughnecks” is a paper written by William J. Chambliss which was first published in 1978. (Chambliss, n.d.). Both of them commonly point towards one issue i.e. future of individuals in the society is decided by the way they are treated by the materialistic society which tends to favor the richer and suppress the poorer to the extent that the latter are pushed into social exclusion. “The Outsiders” and “Saints and Roughnecks” form part of the vast literature that has preserved the different standards of justice for the rich and the poor, that

The only true bias in this film is the suggestion that only kids of upper classes families were trying to rebel and commit juvenile acts. Towards the opening of the movie one of the main characters parents arrive at the police station to pick him up, the father is dressed in a dinner suit and it is learned that they had to leave an affluent dinner party at the ‘country club' to get their son. As seen in our text and through films of this genre, it is known that youth from all social classes were lazy, promiscuous and of a delinquent mentality.

There is seen to be a link between power and crime, the more powerful you are, the least likely to be committing a crime, so the lower classes are discriminated here as they don’t have the same power a middle-class or upper-class businessman might have therefore they are labelled to be trouble-makers, they are treated harsher by the criminal justice system than their peers, but the lower class is seen more favourably than ethnic minorities, especially ethnic groups that have less power than them. In the 1960’s, researchers found that blacks were more severely sentenced than whites. Hagan in 1974 reviewed many of the findings supporting racial discrimination and found that studies were not allowing for the possibility that black defendants may be charged with more serious crimes than whites, and may have more serious criminal records (cited in ‘Theoretical Criminology’). Lizotte in 1978 found that blacks have been shown to receive harsher sentences because they are less likely to make bail, since they are less affluent, and this reduces their ability to provide an effective defence.

His two groups of high school kids consist of the Saints and the Roughnecks. The Saints were eight white, upper-middle class boys. They constantly occupied with truancy, drinking, theft & vandalism, but the police never arrested the members of the Saints. The Roughnecks were six white, lower class boys, and they engaged in fighting, drinking and theft. They constantly in trouble with police and community. The boys in the Saints have a good family background with being respected in society. They are always judged good in quality and grades in school. Whenever they break the rules, they always know how to escape the detection carefully. For example, when facing the police, the Saints always show politeness, courteousness, cordiality and remorsefully apologies. Their ingenuity in their behavior has made them unconfirmed as a "deviants." Otherwise, the Roughnecks have background from families of lower socioeconomic status. In school, they are supposed to be inferior with poor reputations and grades. Moreover, they do not know how to be careful when breaking the law. When confronted with police, they are labeled as “deviants" by themselves or others because they have revealed hostile and insolent with the police. Their behaviors are not as subtle as the Saints. In other words, when both groups break the law, the Saints will be judged as "good" because of their politeness, which is the influence of the attitudes from their upper classes background. Meanwhile, due to

Throughout History, there have been many speculations as to why people commit crime. Criminologists, Psychologists, Sociologists and even Biologists have all, at one time or another claimed to have an explanation. However, there is one underlying explanation that has been maintained across centuries, presented by various theorists, and to this day, is widely perceived as truthful. That is the explanation that a certain propensity to commit crime exists within the lower classes of society that does not exist elsewhere. While this may be able to explain some crime, these explanations can lead to the perception that any and all types of offences, (the only exception perhaps being the complicated corporate fraud-type) including the most violent, are characterized by low-income neighborhoods and poor, under-educated individuals from broken homes. It is dangerous to assume that one’s position on the spectrum of social class affects their willingness and ability to disobey the law, especially if in a violent manner. Inversely, this suggests that those of a lower socio-economic standing somehow adhere to a different set of morals, in which violence and deviance is justified or normalized, as posited by Walter Miller (Alder, et al., 2012). Others like Albert Cohen, in his book “Delinquent Boys,” theorize that delinquent youth subcultures emerge when young men in the lower-class, feel the strain of not being able to measure up to middle class expectations.

The eyes of society has created the wall barrier for individuals to look beyond the exterior of a person. When a person is involved in a “bad group”, the community will view he or she as a bad person based on who they interact themselves with. The same concept goes based on what their background is as well. There are two different class groups in Hanibal High School that both participate in the same actions such as crimes and other minor situations. Despite the fact that they both share the same actions, the community view the Roughnecks as delinquents and the the Saints as guys that just like to do pranks. Based on their backgrounds, the police look more closely on the Roughnecks. This shows that people will base their judgment on a group, or an individual, on their background, ethnicity, and their social class.

Subcultural theories form some of the earliest quests by American criminologists towards explaining causes of crime, especially juvenile delinquency. Subcultural theories of delinquency dig into the common understanding that youths have a tendency to break the law when accompanied by their friends. Delinquent boys theory is one of the subcultural theories that explain criminal behavior among the young people. Cohen is one of the researchers who have explored behavioral patterns of boys involved in criminal behavior. Cohen’s research interest was that the offences committed by boys seemed to have little purpose and no significant rewards. Cohen’s interest was especially with boys from lower-class families, and noted that they portrayed negativity and maliciousness. For instance, Cohen observed that delinquent boys would hurt others and derive pleasure from it. To explain the behavioral patterns of boys from lower-class families, Cohen turned to the society class divisions. According to Cohen, children across these divisions tend to compete with each other across many dimensions. However, the class differences mean that those from the upper class have more background advantages. Youths become judged by what Cohen referred to as “middle-class measuring rod” which is mainly available to those of the middle and upper classes. Cohen listed nine norms that are considered essential for one to belong to the middle class. Such