Mark was born in New York City, and his father was an African American while her mother was a Latino. At school, Mark had shown symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), for he was very hyperactive. By 14 years, Mark was known for many positive aspects. Mark was known for being the most active boy in sports who could participate in almost all sports at school. Mark was the best baseball player, soccer player, rugby player, and even a boxing club member. Mark kept long black hair that twisted to form Rastas. The Rasta hair made him labeled a “Rastaman” in a catholic based school. Due to his new labeling, which he openly acknowledged, teachers often found him on the wrong side of the law, but he resisted correction viewing the teachers' correction as oppression to his identity. Thus lead to Mark being more resistant to school rules in the pretense of fighting for his rights as a Rastaman.
When Mark cleared high school and joined college in the same geographical area, his labeled identity by the community influenced him to involvement in binge drinking and drug abuse. With his hyperactivity, Mark would be involved in fighting with fellow students who may differ in principles when under the influence of alcohol. He would also confront the police and accuse them of undermining his rights as a Rastaman, which led him to arrest and serving a short jail term that disrupted his college education. After serving the short jail tern in a local cassation center, Mark came back to the community more radicalized, and instead of going back to college, he joined a local crime gang that engaged in violence and robbery in the streets of New York City. Mark became a known criminal by the name "Rasta," a name that he was labeled when he was 14 years when he joined secondary education.
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Mark provides a perfect example of how labeling has the ability to influence an individual towards defiance. By nature, Mark had symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but his hyperactivity enabled him to portray better characteristics in games that would have made him a better person sport wise. However, after he acquired the "Rasta" labeling, Mark started exhibiting primary defiance characteristics like being against the school rules and not abiding by teachers' correction and terming it as oppression to the Rastaman. Marks' behavior explains the labeling theory that posits that a person becomes defiant based on the defiant label they are given ( Goode, 2015) . Mark's defiance was based on his labeling as a "Rasta" thus, it was forced into him on his imposed label. According to Rubington and Weinberg (2015), defiance progressed from primary deviance to secondary deviance. In Mark’s case it was characterized by disobedience to school laws and progressed to secondary defiance activities which entail more severe defiant activities like drug abuse and confrontation with law enforcement agencies and later joining crime gangs that get involved in crimes like robbery with violence in the city.
According the conflict theory, the norms and laws in the community reflect the needs of the dominant or powerful in the community ( Franzese, 2015) . To Mark, the school rules were favoring the needs of the Catholic hence infringed his rights as a Rasta thus developed resistance and disobedience to the laws. The conflict existing between Marks label and the needs of law enforcement agencies made Mark to develop secondary defiance characteristics. According to Merton's strain theory, a person is socialized into defiance with expectations, but due to limited resources fails, leading to further (secondary) defiance ( Downes, Rock, and McLaughlin, 2016) . In marks situation, the labeling socialized him to defiance expecting recognition from peers, but it led him to problems with the school community and law enforcement agencies leading to the development of secondary defiance characteristics.
Reference
Downes, D., Rock, P. E., & McLaughlin, E. (2016). Understanding deviance: a guide to the sociology of crime and rule-breaking . Oxford University Press.
Franzese, R. J. (2015). The sociology of deviance . New York: Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Goode, E. (2015). The sociology of deviance. The handbook of deviance , 1-29.
Rubington, E., & Weinberg, M. (2015). Deviance: The interactionist perspective . London: Routledge press.
