Howard Becker Social Control Theory

We never thought of pot as a drug. It was grass, herb, a non-addictive high that set your mind free and your spirit soaring. Smoking a joint was a way of connecting with young people. If you got high you were cool, if you didn’t you were straight, and ‘never the twain shall meet.’ (Ponzio, 1999)

“She’s not missing, she’s at the farm right now.” This haunting quote comes from the mouth of one of the most grotesque and brutal serial killers to ever live, Edward Gein. Edward was born on August 27th 1906 to an abusive alcoholic father, George Gein and an overly religious mother, Augusta Carter. Along with Edward, George and Augusta gave birth to Edwards older brother Henry in 1902. The family settled down in the little town of Lacrosse, Wisconsin where Augusta raised the young boys. For the most part, her husband George was left out of the picture mainly because Augusta believed he was a worthless alcoholic. This paper will discuss the connection between Edward’s crimes and social control theory in order to arrive at a conclusion as to why Gein committed the brutal murders he did.

Outlining the different ways that marijuana can be ingested can also pay a part in the effect and desire to use more than once or continuously use. Also, the user will only desire to use again if consumed in a pleasurable manner. In reference to Howard S. Becker’s Abstract, “An individual will be able to use marihauna for pleasure only when he 1, learns to smoke it in a way that will produce real effects; 2, learns to recognize the effects and connect with drugs use; and 3, learns to enjoy the sensations he perceives.” Howard S Becker also states that this proposition is based on an analysis of fifty interviews with marihauna users.

Social control theory and social learning theory are two theories that suggest why deviant behavior is chosen to be acted upon by some individuals and not others. Both take a different stance on the issue. Social control theory suggests people’s behavior is based on their bonds to society, if they have strong bonds to society they conform and if not they have a tendency to act out or become involved in criminal or deviant behavior. Social learning theory suggest that through vicarious learning people learn from observing others and based on what the observe make the choice of whether to copy those actions to obtain desired results or chose not to if

After reading the article “The Meaning of Social Control” by Peter Berger I agree that social control is present in our daily lives trying to get people to conform in different situations. There are several different kinds of social control from violence, to gossip to even being shunned from a community. In the article it even states, that social control “...refers to the various means used by a society to bring its recalcitrant members back into line. No society can exist without social control (Berger 1).” This quote means without social control people wouldn’t be able to conform to any specific situation which can lead to a lot of issues. Even though conformity in general is perceived as a bad thing it can also be used for good. Like the example given when a police officer gives a person a ticket it teaches the person to not speed or they would get into trouble.

How does Becker state the process by which the initial effects of marijuana use (which are often unpleasant) come to be redefined? Becker states the process by which the initial unpleasant; rather than pleasurable high the user originally expects, effects of marijuana use come to be redefined begins when the newcomer socializes with those who are more experienced marijuana users. During this interaction, the more knowledgeable

It was found that of those interviewed, none of them had traditional drug dependency, but rather they were able to “participate in responsible and controlled consumption.” All of the subjects had at some point in their lives refrained from cannabis use. The health benefits of cannabis were a primary factor in the users’ decisions to live a lifestyle involving regular cannabis use. It was found that the subjects believed the most harmful part of marijuana use was the risk of getting caught by law enforcement, not anything regarding the drug’s composition. Cannabis was generally seen as safer than tobacco and alcohol. In regards to relationships, it was found that the subjects’ parents were those most likely to not know of the cannabis use, sexual partners were always aware of the drug use, and parents were more likely to not want to tell their kids about personal drug use than the non-parents’ “hypothetical

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) is probably one of the most credible sources of information on the issue of substance abuse. For this article the survey conducted by the CASA had 1,987 teenagers participate to gain insight on marijuana use amongst the youth. CASA’s results where calculated in 2003 and the report was produce and copyright in 2004 making the information pertinent. Lynn Zimmer is a professor of sociology at Queens College in New York and coauthor of a book titled Marijuana Myths. Lynn’s resume speaks for itself making her knowledgably on the topic of marijuana use. This article could be look at as not

The legalization of marijuana and other controlled substances is a highly discussed and controversial topic. Opponents have generally repeated arguments formed from long lasting government propaganda in the past, and proponents have been working tirelessly to break down those preconceptions. There are many arguments for and against the legalization of marijuana, and in many ways it is the same discussion that led to the end of prohibition. Generally, the opposing arguments are geared toward moral standards and focus on correlation as causation; the arguments for legalization are generally based on university studies and case studies from other countries and states that have already legalized marijuana. This essay will attempt to dispel the

Within today’s society, Cannabis is seen as a harmful substance of such negative controversy. Marijuana is a very prominent and controversial issue in society today. Despite many malicious allegations have been made regarding marijuana today, the truth of what marijuana’s real dangers are are beginning to come about again. Sadly, these facts have been held under considerable judgement because of what people stereotype a pot smoker as. This has been brought under heavy criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people view as the typical “pot smoker.” This image society has of a lazy and unambitious America has all been the result of almost one hundred years of false propaganda and stereotypes gossiped by certain private individuals trying to keep weed illegal for their own personal benefit.

Social control theory has become one of the more widely accepted explanations in the field of criminology in its attempt to account for rates in crime and deviant behavior. Unlike theories that seek to explain why people engage in deviant behavior, social control theories approach deviancy from a different direction, questioning why people refrain from violating established norms, rules, and moralities. The theory seeks to explain how the normative systems of rules and obligations in a given society serve to maintain a strong sense of social cohesion, order and conformity to widely accepted and established norms. Central to this theory is a perspective which predicts that deviant behavior is much more likely to emerge when

Marijuana is one of the world’s most popular recreational drug. Hundreds of thousands of people use it on an average basis. This is common knowledge to almost anyone who is alive today. People are in a continuing fight for the legalization of marijuana across the world but North America seems to be at the forefront of legalization. With three states having legalized recreational marijuana and the District of Columbia also legalizing recreational use in the past month, it is obvious that legalization is spreading. Not only recreational but medical marijuana use is becoming legal. As cannabis use grows in acceptance we must look at why people use marijuana. It could play an important role in legalization in the near future. Motives are an important factor as to what make people act and think the way do.

There is a salient and continuous negative stigma concerning the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The pathology that arises from this issue is a subjective matter, highly provocative because those who oppose and those who endorse present rhetoric in a very polarized manner. Like many in the medical marijuana community “…People start out a skeptic intent on researching marijuana’s harms.” (Flatow, 2014) It seems that there is a preponderance of people who have a proclivity to naturally oppose the legalization of marijuana, because there is what is called an apparent distortion in understanding. Psychiatry professor Lester Grinspoon penned a necessary explication on medical marijuana, detailing his own encounter from natural

The second reason that the government should not legalize marijuana is that doing so will send the message that is okay to use other psychoactive drugs. Legalizing marijuana could result in advertising of this drug to adolescents. A study was conducted during 2003 showing that roughly 48 percent of twelfth graders reported using alcohol in the past thirty days and 24 percent reported smoking cigarettes in the past thirty days. Household access to illicit substances is coupled with a greater risk of marijuana use among both younger and older adolescents. This is often coupled with parental drug use which sends the message that it is okay to use psychoactive drugs (Joffe & Yancy, 2004, p. e636). The general idea is that we, as people, shouldn’t be making it easier for our children to get drugs. Thus far, it is shown that there is a struggle to educate the youth to avoid the use of psychoactive drugs. However, certain organizations, such as DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), have made solid efforts to

Education is an important structure in society that shapes the most important years of your life, and therefore many theorists have ideas about what is wrong with education, what is right, and what needs to change or develop. Education is confined a lot by social control and social reproduction. Social control is a concept that refers to how social systems control the way we feel, think, behave, and even how we should present ourselves. These can appear openly, shown as rules and laws, or they could be not openly acknowledged and just appear as the “common” thing to do. Social reproduction is the reproduction of inequalities throughout generation-to-generation, one way education does this is how it supplies “wealthy” schools more and “poor” schools less. Michael Apple and Maxine Greene both define Social reproductions and Social Control. Throughout this text, I will explain the theories of Greene and Apple, as well as comparing and contrasting them against one another while applying some of my own experiences of education.