Sociology
1004
Dr. Patti Adler
Deviance in US Society
Spring, 2014
Tender Cut in a way that is deeper and more creative than you have the time
or space to do on the exams.
It asks you to compare and contrast the readings in The
Tender Cut (TC) with those in Constructions
of
Deviance (CofD) and the material
from lectures and labs. In order to obtain any credit for this extra credit
assignment you must get and read The
Tender Cut; just drawing material out of the other sources is inadequate.
This assignment is limited to 10 pages (double spaced 12-point font) and must be
handed in by EMAIL to me
no later than the day of the final exam, and no
late papers will be accepted. It will be graded the same way
as the extra credit norm violation assignment.
A. Imagine a hypothetical
self-injurer and, drawing on your experiences or imagination and The
Tender Cut,
describe how
he or she lives with regard to disclosing this behavior in the solid
and/or cyber world. While
you are offering this description, punctuate your scenario with an analysis of
some of the identity
processes
discussed in lecture and in chapters 23, 24, and 25 from CofD.
Finally, drawing on readings and lectures,
go beyond the concepts and scenarios from these to creatively apply three
different types of (non-demographic)
sociological factors that you think are likely to affect your self-injurer’s
identity as a deviant or non-deviant
and discuss their effect. The best papers will compare your hypothetical
self-injurer’s identity and behavior
to cases discussed in The Tender Cut.
B. Drawing on the concepts
of stigma and defining deviance that we have studied in this course, apply the
three perspectives on defining deviance (as discussed in the lectures
and readings about definitions of
deviance) to the self-injurers discussed here. Describe and analyze the way
different audiences would stand
behind and use each of the three.
C. Select another deviance
of your choice (excluding any of the examples covered by chapters 43-47 in
the book—prostitution, drug dealing, burglary, homosexuality, mental illness)
and draw on the class lectures
on deviant careers, chapters 9, 10, and 12 in The
Tender Cut, and chapters 43-47 in Constructions
of
Deviance, to compare the career
progression of the deviance you have chosen.
In writing this extra credit
assignment, I suggest that you approach it as a paper and organize it around
each
section (A, B, & C) separately. Where you draw on concepts or terms from the
readings please use citations in
the text to where you got them. So, for example, should you discuss Becker’s
concept of how variations in
consequences (Becker, CofD, p.43) might affect society’s responses to
deviant acts, please use this citational
form. It’s also never a bad to italicize your concepts or list of concepts
(see above example) to draw attention to
them. Your effort will be more strongly rewarded for its sociological analysis
and relation to specific trends,
patterns, and concepts in the readings (TC
and CofD) and lectures than your
particular story (although the
grounding of these in a realistic story you create will carry some weight).