Reference no: EM132311952

Option 1: Share an example from your personal experience (of your own or of someone you know), or an example from history, where groupthink may have influenced people to behave or arrive at a decision in a way that many individual members privately might have avoided or thought unwise.

Option 2: Choose a form of deviance with which you are familiar (not necessarily something you have done, but something someone you know did). Examine why society views that behavior as deviant and whether perceptions of that behavior have changed over time. Determine and explain which theory of deviance you think works best for understanding the deviant behavior you have chosen to discuss. Remember to be respectful considering potentially sensitive topics and consider what you might be disclosing as there is no guarantee of privacy.

Choose option 2:

A deviant behavior I am familiar with is bullying because, unfortunately, I have been the one who was bullied. My experience came in all forms of bullying; physically, behind my back, or even just being taken advantage of, you name it, I've had it happen to me. Kids are mean by the way. My parents have always made sure I've had everything I needed and more. Sometimes even the "high maintenance" version of my "needs" in other words, name brand instead of store brand. One specific incident I remember, and till this day it still haunts me as an adult, was my 50 pack of Crayola crayons my mom sent me to the 3rd grade with.

I had a little girl sit next to me wanting to share my box of crayons with me, being that I was taught to share, I did. She would take a crayon out of the box and then replace it with one of her "off brand" crayons. Mind you, her crayons were just different shades of mine. But as kids, we didn't think that way. I told her to stop and give them back and she wouldn't. So like I was taught, I called in higher authority (teacher) and it was all taken care of and I got my stuff back. During our restroom break she managed to stay behind and not get noticed that she did. We came back and all 50 of my crayons were still in the box but all broken in half.

According to Very Well Family, one of the top 8 reasons why kids bully is because of prejudices. "More often than not, teens will bully kids for being different in some way." I was different because I just had to have the coolest biggest box of crayons. Then unfortunately, someone didn't like that very much, so I was bullied for it.

With my experience in mind I believe this is also classified as the "opportunity theory". In the book it is specifically called "illegitimate opportunity" (Kendall, D. E.) This happens when someone does something to get what they want in all the wrong ways. In this case, in a kids mind, it was a "if I can't enjoy it no one can." Also causing a sense of power for her in the end.

Resources:

Gordon, S. (2018, November 10). 8 Reasons Why Bullies Engage in Hurtful Behavior. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/reasons-why-teens-bully-others-460532 (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site.

Kendall, D. E. (2018). Sociology in our times: The Essentials. Boston MA: Cengage Learning.