Deviance, social norms and Social Control

Question 1 

Deviance is the description used on an action or behavior that violates social norms. The society has its norms which are used to judge the rightness of an action, and thus actions and behaviors that go against those norms are considered deviant acts. Deviance actions differ from cultures and religions. Thus, an action might be considered deviant by a certain type of people, but it is acceptable in other parts. Deviance can be considered formal or informal. Formal deviant actions have been put on law such as murder or rape. However, there are times or under certain situations where formal deviant actions are accepted. Thus, there can be negative and positive deviance (McIntosh, & Rock, 2018). For example, killing a person is a deviant action in society, but when the government allows it such as when killing terrorists or during self-defence, then it is not a bad act. Informal deviant actions are against the society’s norms, but they have not been listed in a country’s laws such as dropping out of school or disrespecting a person’s privacy by standing too close to them.

In the movie “The Matrix,” Neo does deviant actions after associating with Morpheus. Morpheus introduced him to the new world where criminal behavior was not a big deal. Neo fights against the control of the Matrix, and in so doing he offers to sacrifice his life to be killed to save Morpheus. Neo had gotten to a place from being a normal hacker to where he does think killing a person is right. Moreover, the deviant act of betrayal is expressed by Cypher, a crew member who betrayed Morpheus to get Smith for a comfortable life in the Matrix.

Question 2

Social control is society's ability to regulate itself. Various actions take place in society, and thus the society has to come up with various ways to take care of itself. Therefore, social control is used to maintain the level of acceptable norms in society. Social control exists in two types which are formal and informal (McIntosh, & Rock, 2018). Informal social controls are the measures which are taken by the society to reward or punish an action, but the measures are not included in the legislation. For example, the qualities that parents and societies instil in a child that he or she grows knowing the right and wrong. On the other hand, formal social control is when the government comes in and lays down certain social controls as law. For example, a person is usually jailed for sexual harassment or theft. The period and type of punishment differ from societies.

Social control is used in the “The Matrix” when people who live in the matrix are kept under certain systems in pods to prevent them from action wildly. Also, the agents have powerful computer programs which are a threat to the systems where humans in the pods live. Therefore, the agents can socially control the superhumans by simply messing up with their system; thus, “The Matrix” is a system of social control.

Question 3

Norms are the acceptable actions and behaviors of a particular society and the perceptions that outsiders have about society (McIntosh, & Rock, 2018). Therefore, norms are the standard behavior in a community that experienced on a daily basis. Social norms govern the behavior of the members of the society. Living freely is a norm that is broken in “The Matrix.” As much as humans want to live freely in the matrix, they are denied this chance and put in pods where they do not know their fate. Another norm being broken is the human norm where humans are supposed to live in healthily. In the movie, humans eat tasteless food which has been mushed and wore tattered clothes. Morpheus and his team badly treated them. In our society, all humans are expected to live freely and not to be forced to live in a particular way as what is expressed in the movie. It was a norm to live in the pods, and thus when humans broke and went to fight caused humans to create robots that would destroy the humans living in the matrix. The methods used for social control in the movie such as agents are also destroyed which leaves the matrix in a confused state.

Question 4

The three symbolic interactionist theories of deviance are labeling, differentiation association, and control. Labeling interactionist theory is the symbolic view that the labels people are given affect their own and other people’s perceptions of them. Therefore, at times people behave in a certain way, because of the title that they have been given. This can be negative or positive behavior. In the movie, labeling interactionist theory is shown when Neo was labeled “the one” after Trinity kissed him. This would have caused pressure on Neo to behave in a way that the one is supposed to act. In one way, Neo conforms to the behavior and promises to provide a world for the prisoners where anything is possible. However, he acted in deviance by fighting agents because the one was supposed to fight for the matrix. Instead, he would have made peace with the agents and work to understand their upgraded computer programs.

Differentiation association a symbolic interactionist theory is used to indicate the ways people learn to deviate or align with societies norms in terms of behaviors and actions. Therefore, a person can learn to act positively or negatively depending on who they surround themselves with. Neo was a normal hacker who believed in societal norms and lived according to the laws. After he took the red pill and found himself around with superhumans who behaved differently, he started acting that way. He was influenced to act in a deviant manner towards the machines and the matrix.

Control theory expresses that there is two existing control systems work against the motivations to deviate from societal norms. The two systems are inner control and outer control. The inner ones are the inner beliefs which include religious beliefs, fear of punishment, morality, conscience, and the thought of what is right and wrong. The outer controls are parents, family peers, society members, and friends. Cypher deviated from his inner controls of morality and loyalty and betrayed Morpheus to Smith that he might get a good life back in the matrix.

Question 5

Robert Merton’s strain theory refers to the frustration that people feel when they are going after success, but they realize there is no smooth way and all ways they thought of are blocked. People find different ways to adapt to achieve these goals. The four adaptation steps are conformity, ritualism, retreatism, and innovation. Conformity is when people accept the situation that they are in without finding new ways or alternatives of doing things. For instance, Neo conformed to the new life and did not fight to get his life back before taking the red pill. Ritualism is an adaptation step where people become discouraged and decide to live as usual. For example, after the oracle said that Neo is not the one, he was ready to go back and live like others. Retreatism is when people reject cultural goals and the ways to achieve them, but they choose different ways which are not good. For example, Cypher saw the easier way to get a good life is by betraying Morpheus. Innovation is an adaptation step where one accepts the cultural goals set by society and find new ways to achieve them. For example, the agents are innovators as they had come up with innovative computer programs that can control any character in the matrix. The cultural goal of the agents was to eliminate anyone who threatened to reveal the matrix as a false reality. They possess the ability to terminate any program or human by converting them in a copy of their own. They did this to humans who threatened to bring instability to their made reality.

Reference

McIntosh, M., & Rock, P. (2018). Deviance and social control. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.