Deviant Career Research Articles

Small-Scale Marijuana Growing: Deviant Careers as Serious Leisure

Previous research on marijuana growers in the United States has primarily focused on those who have been incarcerated for the activity (Weisheit, 1990; 1998). These growers tend to produce large amounts of the product. It may be that large scale marijuana growers who have been arrested may differ in their reasons for growing, their style of growing and distributing and in how they view marijuana growing as an activity from different types of growers; namely small-scale, indoor hydroponic growers who grow primarily for personal use and enjoyment. Our study analyzes one social network of marijuana growers in central and northern Florida. Through intensive field observations and qualitative interviews with 8 people involved in this closed social network of marijuana growers, we discovered that the growers all followed a similar pattern of initial trial and error, learning new techniques from one another to improve their product, to finally maintaining techniques that enabled them to maximize taste, potency and yield. All of the growers in our sample were white middle class men (6) and women (2) with at least a college degree who had already or planned to enter white collar occupations (e.g., a teacher or business owner). Although profitable, the growers greatly downplayed the importance of making money as a reason for growing, describing the endeavor as a passionate activity they performed for enjoyment, to save their own money, and for the high regard they have of plants in general. Discontinuing the activity (thus exiting the deviant career) is often influenced by such contingencies as risk of detection, commitment to family, and conventional occupations. Future research is needed to compare and contrast different kinds of marijuana growers including those whose growing activities are legitimated by state law.

Sugaring as a deviant career: Modes of entering sugar relationships and social stigmas

ABSTRACT While the research on sugaring has expanded in recent years, there are still many gaps in our understanding of these relationships and how women begin them. Therefore, in this paper I draw from 48 in-depth interviews to understand the methods by which women enter into sugar arrangements and the extent to which this process is intentional, inadvertent, or coerced. Specifically, I draw from the literature on deviant careers to discuss three modes of entry which include drifting, entering via conscious decision, and entering defensively. Additionally, I focus on the public and enacted stigmas women experience once they enter the sugar lifestyle. Specifically, these stigmas came in the form of others conflating sugaring with prostitution, receiving negative reactions due to the age disparity between sugar partners, being labeled immoral, and being called a “greedy gold digger.”

The Social Marginalization of People Living with a Mentally Ill Label–Family, Friends, and Work

This paper is based on qualitative research among people diagnosed with a mental illness who voluntarily attend a mental health center. Such individuals are given a degrading “mentally ill” label, which transforms them into a “new” person. This study showed that—due to their label—research participants are often socially marginalized—not only in the public but also in the private sphere. As members of an “organized deviant group” (the mental health center), they follow a “deviant career” and find a job outside the regular job market. Their marginalization is not only caused by their health problems (by their impairment), but they are also disabled through social reactions to these problems. Psychiatry based on the biological model of the disease cannot, therefore, help them without the cooperation of social science approaches dealing with social marginalization.

Analysis of U.S. Cannabis Industry, Legislation, and the Impact on Marginalized Populations

This essay analyzes the intersection between the United States quasi-legal cannabis industry and marginalized populations with a particular focus on state legislation and how certain policies have either restricted access to the cannabis industry via dominant narratives or have encouraged entry into the cannabis industry via equity programs. I argue that these latter policies can be considered counternarratives and, in doing so, become legitimated forms of master narratives within certain communities.
 In addition, I argue that due to the long-lasting, detrimental racial consequences from the “war on drugs”, individuals who were once targeted are now being socially stigmatized with a master status and face challenges in making the transition out of a formerly viewed “deviant career” and into the legalized cannabis industry. In this essay, I will analyze the legal and policy discourses of recreational marijuana. First, I will observe the racial influences and consequences of policy discourses. Second, I will examine California permits and licenses for cannabis businesses and in what ways their equity programs have achieved success and have failed. This essay seeks to examine not only how initial cannabis policies delimits business ventures amongst marginalized populations, but also to illuminate the racialized interactions between policies and minority populations.
 Recreational cannabis has slowly but steadily been legalized across America. The legalization process brings about a new growing cannabis industry, which in turn brings in much needed revenue. Currently, cannabis’ federal status remains under Schedule I categorization, but as states continue to pass legislation for both medical and recreational marijuana the rising industry in California is expected to become the largest recreational market in the US (Weed, 2018, para. 10). The purpose of this paper is to examine how marginalized populations (i.e., black and Latino communities) have been impacted by state policies that have restricted access to the cannabis industry. Due to the long-lasting impact that the “war on drugs” had on marginalized populations, individuals in these communities who have been targeted are stigmatized with an identificatory master status and struggle with transitioning out of previously perceived “deviant career” into the legalized cannabis industry (Becker, 1963).
 Dominant narratives surrounding the cannabis industry are focused on barring certain groups (i.e., formerly incarcerated cannabis felons/convicts, predominantly people of color) entry to the industry and maintaining the privileges of the dominant group. More recently, there has been a new focus on the negative impact that the “war on drugs” had on marginalized populations and how the rise of equity programs has provided valuable resources and opportunities for communities of color to gain access to the profitable industry. These new narratives of inclusion can be categorized as forms of counternarratives and help explain the recent pushback on dominant narratives in the cannabis industry.
 In this essay, I will critically analyze the legal discourse of recreational marijuana. First, I will observe the racial influences and consequences of new policy discussions. Second, I will examine California permits and licenses issued for cannabis businesses in relationship to equity programs with varying success. Overall, this essay seeks to examine not only how initial cannabis policies restricts business ventures amongst marginalized populations, but also to shed light on the racialized discourse between policies and “deviant” minorities.

Bullismo at School: a New Frame for Old Behaviours

The sensitizing concepts of Symbolic Interactionism are particularly useful to analyse and solve social problems. To understand the phenomenon of bullying we can consider it through the lens of concepts such as: definition of the situation , frame , moral panic , deviant career and so on. ‘Bullismo’ is, in Italian, a new word, but school aggressiveness is nothing new: behaviours which are now put into the frame of bullying were, in the past, tolerated or accepted; we can find testimonies of these attitudes in memories, autobiographies and novels. Mass media shows bullying as something new and terribly dangerous, driving public opinion towards a reaction of moral panic that amplifies it. To block deviant careers we must look at the phenomenon through rationality and not through exasperated emotions. We need better knowledge of the different definitions of the situation of the interacting parts, in order to neutralize the negative self-image of the offender and appeal, through both role-taking and behaving as looking-glasses , to the positive aspects of his/her self .

Health service and school: new interactions. Comparison between the Italian system and the Swedish system on the diagnostic process of pupils

ABSTRACT The present study aims to compare the Italian and the Swedish systems of special scholastic support followed by a discussion on the understandings they are founded upon and the social implications they favour. The two systems are compared using a priori criteria regarding the focus of intervention, the role of the operators, and the relation to the client. What emerges are two systems that are different in terms of the level of institutionalisation of medical and/or neuropsychiatric certifications related to scholastic support, the role of school and that of health services. In Italy, it is only a biomedical assessment that can lead to the most extensive scholastic support. The Swedish system on the contrary assigns a key role to the head teacher and the pupil health team who can decide on special support based on various kinds of evaluations. However, even though neuropsychiatric diagnoses are almost non-significant on a policy level in the Swedish system, the biomedical discourse might in practice be the prevalent understanding of learning difficulties. The connection between difficulties in school and psychiatric diagnoses favour a re-interpretation of the pupil through biomedical explanations and in the worst scenario a deviant career. To counteract, both systems might benefit from a context-based intervention aiming at generating alternative identity possibilities for the pupils.

Applying Labelling Theory to Selected Short Stories by James T. Farrell

For decades, “societal reaction theory” or “labelling theory” has provided the most significant explanation for deviant behaviour, particularly in the case of juveniles. The theory argues that once a stigma is attached to an individual, an irreversible process occurs whereby the labelled individual begins to identify as deviant and to embark on a deviant career. Hence, rather than deter bad behaviour, stigmatisation and shaming serve only to amplify it. Although the labelling perspective is rooted in sociology, we find proponents of some version of labelling theory in other disciplines, even in literature. The present study posits that in the short stories of Irish-American writer James Thomas Farrell entitled “Big Jeff,” “The Fastest Runner on Sixty-First Street,” “Young Convicts,” and “The Scarecrow,” labelling processes emerge as essential elements in a comprehensive understanding of each story. All four stories are the least critically acknowledged works by the author even though they demonstrate the author’s remarkable talent for illuminating the social and psychological factors associated with deviant behaviour among juveniles.

Becoming politically discontented: Anti-establishment careers of Dutch nonvoters and PVV voters

Popular political discontent has become increasingly salient in western countries in recent decades, as can be witnessed by the rise of populist anti-establishment parties, nonvoting and increasing distrust in politics. However, these phenomena have predominantly been treated as ‘democracy’s deviants’, neglecting the perspectives of the people concerned. Taking an inductive approach, this article examines how ordinary citizens come to turn away from established politics. Drawing on in-depth interviews with politically discontented Dutch nonvoters and PVV voters, the article develops a three-stage ‘anti-establishment career’ – ‘introduction’, ‘validation’ and ‘consolidation’ – through which their conceptions of politics gradually change. This deviant career model takes into account the dynamics and agency involved in the process, in contrast to conceptions of discontented citizens as utterly passive and anomic. The article concludes by arguing for more cultural-sociological sensitivity in the use of concepts referring to social-political action.

FEATURES OF HOMELES DEVIANT CAREER

In the last decade the research interest in problems and opportunities of social support of the homeless became topical. It relates to two key points. On the one hand, despite the development of assistance and support system for the homeless in Russia, expanding the range of social services for rehabilitation of this population group, the number of homeless people remains consistently high and causes a number of obvious and latent risks for the society in general. On the other hand, we are dealing with a new ideology of the welfare state that aimed at the recognition of the rights, interests, requirements of all social groups, regardless of their social status. Purpose. Analysis of the main stages of homeless deviant career, revealing mechanisms leading to homeless people social exclusion. Methods of the research are narrative interviews with homeless people held during 2014 in «Mercy bus» belonged to the Orthodox mercy service in the large industrial city of Russia. The choice of high-quality research strategy is determined by the purpose of the research and specific features of the object. The closeness of this social group does not involve large-scale sociological researches. At the same time, investigation of individual life trajectory for revealing the main stages of deviant career determines the selection of narrative interviews as a method of the research. Further to the research we used the method of incomplete sentences, which allows to fix the respondents’ ideas about their own situation, the emotional relation to themselves, to the society, past and future of the respondents. Results. In the research stages of deviant career were denoted. The start point of deviant career is violations in the process of primary socialization of a child, the origins of which are in the family. The family becomes an initiator of social exclusion, limiting child’s access to the social resources and reducing child’s opportunities of implementing his self-empowerment. An important stage of deviant career is person’s acquaintance with street subculture. The subculture of homeless people offers the person concrete mechanisms of survival in a deep crisis situation. This process is accompanied by the interiorization of new values and valuable orientations, updating of other needs. The further movement on the deviant career ladder is connected with the fact that a person starts testing subculture practices. Subculture of the homeless, according to our research, is characterized by uniformity and the scarcity of daily events with the absence of motivation on any changes in the structure or content of his life. Conclusion: deviant career of homeless people relates to their limited social resources and a number of social barriers that prevent them from social inclusion and returning to more favorable living conditions. Increasing the availability of public services and recruiting the help and support of non-profit organizations can significantly enhance the resources of homeless people and reduce their rates of deviant career. Knowledge of development mechanisms of deviant career increases the possibility of timely implementation of preventive and rehabilitation of social work with the homeless.

Helping Others as a Response to Reconcile a Criminal Past

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the staff members working for prisoner reentry programs are formerly incarcerated persons. Moreover, criminologists have written that the strengths-based role of the “wounded healer” or “professional ex-” is exemplified by released prisoners who desist from a deviant career by replacing it with an occupation as a paraprofessional, lay therapist, or counselor. Despite these observations, there is a paucity of research about formerly incarcerated persons employed by agencies that provide reentry-related programming. This study begins to fill this gap by examining whether, how, and why the staff members of prisoner reentry programs differ from the clients. Characteristics of formerly incarcerated persons thought to be related to desistance and reconciling a criminal past such as overcoming stigma, prosocial attitudes and beliefs, active coping strategies, psychological well-being, and satisfaction with life are examined. Findings support the notion that the wounded healer or professional ex- role is related to desistance and can potentially transform formerly incarcerated persons from being part of “the problem” into part of “the solution” to reduce crime and recidivism.

Weighing the Consequences of a Deviant Career: Factors Leading to an Exit from Prostitution

Research on how individuals leave sex work examines this transition by focusing on either structural/economic conditions that keep them in the trade or internal changes that prompt exiting. Leaving certain roles, such as those deemed criminal and deviant, may be more challenging due to labeling, stigma, and a lack of resources. In this study, the author analyzes the particular factors that lead women to exit street prostitution via enrollment in “helping” organizations. The author finds extant theories do not fully capture how multiple factors combine to pull women off the streets. Rather, the author contends it is both internal and external factors that lead women to initially exit prostitution. This study draws on interviews with thirty-six street prostitutes from four different U.S. cities to address these concerns.

The deviance of women: a critique and an enquiry

The deviance of women: a critique and an enquiry

<i>Enjo Kosai</i> as a Deviant Career

本論文は，逸脱行為の継時的変化を説明した Becker の「逸脱キャリア」を援用し，未体験者が「援助交際」体験者として変容していくプロセスを「援助交際」体験者へのインタビュー調査によって明らかにすることを目的とする。 分析の結果，初回の「援助交際」に対する肯定的な解釈が，行為の継続への動機づけとして作用することがわかった。継続の過程で，「援助交際」をめぐる３つの学習（「援助交際」の技法の学習，技法と成果との関連づけ，個別的な楽しみの発見）が行われ，「援助交際」体験者としての適切なふるまいが獲得される。 また，「援助交際」に対する個別の「楽しみ」を発見することで，動機をめぐる語りも発展した。 学習に際しては，「援助交際」に関する漫画や雑誌，インターネット上の情報など，不特定多数にむけて発信される情報が行為の準拠枠として参照された。ここから，「援助交際」における逸脱キャリアは，“対面的な経験者集団との相互作用の機会”をもたずに常習化するが，インターネットなどを中心とする不特定多数にむけて発信される情報や，情報の発信者に含まれる「援助交際」体験者の存在自体が，（経験者集団に代わる）行為の準拠枠としての影響をもつことがわかった。

The Fifth Element: Social Class and the Sociology of Anorexia

Epidemiological research has identified a significant association between upper- or middle-class membership and a woman's probability of becoming anorexic, but the extant literature has yet to address the social processes underlying this association. In order to fill this gap, this article frames anorexia as a deviant career that entails the adoption of an anorexic set of practices and orientations that may be recognized as a distinctive type of Bourdieuian habitus. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews conducted in France, this article argues that the set of practices and orientations acquired through an anorexic career builds upon practices and orientations clearly identified with middle- and upper-class status.

Patterns of deviant career in the history of female methadone clients: an exploratory study

The aim of this article is to describe the drug career of 71 severely opioid‐dependent women who had a history of selling sex and were enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews, from medical records and reports from social agencies and correctional institutions. The sequential pattern could be described in the following order: initiation of the first drug of abuse, opioid onset, initiation of selling sex, first non‐methadone treatment episode, first sentence and, finally, methadone maintenance treatment. There were significant age differences and correlations between most of the events. The main correlation (r= 0.70) was the one between debut of opioid use and selling sex, which was confirmed in a stepwise multiple regression analysis. In addition, a history of running away from home advanced the age at which the women started selling sex for those with an onset of opioid use at an older age than the mean of 18.4 years.

Cannabis Usage in Tourism: A Sociological Perspective

The present study aims to investigate the social forces that shape tourists’ motives in consuming cannabis while on vacation. The underlying premise of this paper is that cannabis consumption in tourism is driven and influenced by the wider process of the normalization of cannabis use in Western societies and, therefore, should be examined in this context. Using a grounded theory approach, this study suggests four umbrella groups of motivations to consume cannabis while traveling: experimentation, pleasure and diversion‐seeking, quest for authenticity, and accessible purchasing. Each category is illuminated and discussed, respectively, in the light of four theoretical explanations: loosening of social control, the leisure behavioral continuum, shaping and manifestation of social identity, and smuggling as a deviant career. Given the lack of previous research, it is suggested that these explanations can be viewed as an initial framework for further investigation of this under‐explored topic. The paper concludes by examining several theoretical and epistemological issues revolving around the relationships between cannabis use, tourism and everyday life.

Commitment to Crime

Commitment is an important contingency in the criminal career and signifies a refutation by the offender of other possibilities of action. It is often facilitated by the perception on the part of the offender that little is to be gained by abandoning the criminal career. This perception is strengthened by a number of processes, including contact with the criminal justice system. This paper adopts a symbolic interactionist framework and explores how 41 incarcerated young offenders in Malta perceived their contact with the police, the courts and the prison as having influenced their involvement in crime. These young people were interviewed in depth, and their biographies were then used to develop grounded theory. The findings show how interventions by the criminal justice system were interpreted by young offenders as an intrusion that contributes to a reduction in their status. Offenders did not view themselves as locked into a deviant career; they regarded themselves as having chosen such a career after consideration of the costs and benefits. The paper concludes that commitment to criminality is not a passive process. Rather, commitment grows out of offenders’ interpretations of the contingencies encountered along the career path. Contacts with the police, the courts and the prison often solidify commitment because they are perceived as reducing the offender’s opportunities in the conventional world.

Deviant Action and Self‐Narration: A Qualitative Survey through ATLAS.ti

This paper has its roots in qualitative analysis of accounts produced by an Italian serial killer. Theoretical references are related to symbolic interactionism and its developments in the field of psychology and criminology. The whole contribution is aimed to twofold purposes: A) to provide a set of criteria specifically addressed to study deviant action as system of meanings into two related contexts: the single action itself and the whole life history. According this point, paper introduces the concept of “deviant career” and it explains its development and steps; it also provides some psychological social points of views and contributions that scientific works offers. B) to think about potentialities of accounting interviews as powerful tools in clinical practice and empirical research too.Specifically, we discuss narrative about behaviour and life story as a resource in order to take suggestions about meanings, goals and rules of action. It also suggests something about functions that crime discharges in the whole pathway of one's life. Juridical case analysis, run by means of the software ATLAS.ti, is aimed to demonstrate theoretical reasoning proposed.

Geezer talk: An emeritus professor looks back

What has this sociologist been doing in the years since his accession to the not quite exalted Emeritus state? Not much sociology, that's for sure. Retired or not, sociologists who don't see each other often have the habit of asking "what you're doing these days," by which they mean "what are you working on." Not to be working on something is an admission of idleness, stagnation, or worse. When I'm asked I usually reply, "Not much, some gardening, some carpentry, cooking, home maintenance; I don't use a cleaning woman, not even a cleaning person; I spent most of a day recently polishing my oak floors. I'm really retired." I had a deviant career (to put the best light on it), making it mostly on my criti cism and my writing skills rather than one timeless project after another. But I was well and quickly rewarded; I belonged to a demographically lucky cohort of Ph.D.'s. No assistant professor anxieties. In my first post-Ph.D. job I was promoted to ten ure by the University of Illinois after three years without even knowing I was being considered for it. No accumulation of files, no gathering of letters of recommenda tion, no ad hoc committees. The head of the department simply informed me one day that I was being promoted. Maybe one of the last gasps of the old boy network. One of the early high points (and an introduction to the ambiguities of university life) was when, as a young academic, I was solicited by The New York Times for articles in its Sunday Book Review and its Magazine. This was met by some of my then senior colleagues with a peculiar combination of envy and disdain?disdain because the Times was a "popular" (i.e., not scholarly) medium, envy because (something I didn't know then) the Times was harder to get into than even the most prestigious of the professional journals. But the highest points were my three years doing the field research for my commune book, followed by the three years run ning the journal Contemporary Sociology?those events being the closest I ever came to creating a community around me, although, as an "alienated" type, I never had much gift for community. I liked teaching too-never burned out on it?espe cially graduate students, though for some of them I was an acquired taste. Still I was most pleased to mentor a bunch of first class Ph.D.'s (inevitably, some medio cre ones as well) to teach theory to first year graduate students and, in a small

The Sociology of Youth Subcultures

The main theme in the sociology of youth subcultures is the reladon between social class and everyday experience. There are many ways of thinking about social class. In the work of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu the main factors involved are parents' occupation and level of education. These have signilicant effects on the life chances of their children. Social class is not a social group: the idea is not that working class kids or middle class kids only hang out together. There may be some of this in any school or town. Social class is a structure. It is shown to exist by sociological research and many people may only be partly aware of these structures or may lack the vocabulary to talk about them. It is often the case that people blame themselves—their bad school grades or dead-end job—for what are, at least in part, the effects of a system of social class that has had significant effects on their lives. The main point of Bourdieu's research is to show that many kids never had a fair chance from the beginning. I n spite of talk about globalizadon there are significant differences between different sociedes. Social class works differently in France, Mexico and the U.S. For example, the educadon system is different in each country. In studying issues of youth culture, it is important to take these differences into account. The system of social class in each country is always experienced in complex ways. These include differences between living in the city, a provincial town or the country. In many societies—including the United States—social class is lived out as differences in ethnicity. In most societies there are also significant gender differences. We wdll expect to find the effects of these differences in youth subcultures. In American sociology in the 1950s—a very conservadve time in academic research—research on youth gangs and deviance indirectly showed the effects of class. It was argued that youth who cannot achieve according to social norms, who cannot do well in school or find good jobs, create subcultures. These in turn have their own roles and norms which these youth can fulfill. The idea was that youth who do badly at school create their own litde societies in which they can achieve status by smoking, being tough or engaging in petty crime. This actually extends beyond youth. Black men who were in effect excluded from good jobs in straight society could perhaps achieve success in their own terms through a deviant career as a jazz musician. British research on subcultures in the 1970s had as its goal to argue against