Category Archives: Assignment 3

Broken Windows Theory

Posted on August 22, 2011 by

This article in the Washington Post, talks about the broken windows theory and depending on what race you are then it depends on how you view the theory.  They did a couple of studies around this theory and what they found was very interesting.  Depending on your race, you viewed certain situations differently.  They took surveys, home videos, phone interviews to gather all of their information.  Whats interesting about the whole thing is that they all had negative things to say about other races, but nothing about their own.  The look at the faulty things on other people, and think that no-one from their race is capable of doing such graffiti on the wall, or throwing litter on the floor.  If something such as this is not part of their everyday lives, then they are against it, but me, growing up in the south bronx, its a normal everyday thing for me.  Of course its wrong, but no-one is the neighborhood seems to care.  They actually stand back and let it happen.  I see the difference when sometimes there is a home game at yankee stadium, and the white people (no offense to no-one) will not dare go pass the grand concourse, because everything seems different to them.  Its an environment that they are not used too, so they are against it.  Then again you hear so many bad things about the bronx, but its not always true, so i dont blame them for not wanting to stick around after the game.

-Armenis P.

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Disabled and Proud

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Kelly Reznick

The following video is a trailer for a documentary about the Empowered Fe Fes (females). These young disabled women take to the streets of Chicago to interview non-disabled people regarding their feelings about disabilities and the handicapped and disfigured. The women also talk about their experiences of being treated differently and discriminated against because of their physical disability. This video ties in to the Erving Goffman reading from class, “Stigma and Social Identity”, which discusses interactions between the disabled and the non-disabled.

In the video, a disabled interviewer asked a non-disabled man what he would do if he were to become handicapped. The interviewee responded that he would pray to God and ask God to make him like everyone else, meaning a non-disabled person. This reminded me of the part in the reading where it discusses that people develop justifications for discriminating against the disabled.

“Further, we may perceive his defensive response to his situation as a direct expression of his defect, and then see both the defect and response as just retribution for something he or his parents or his tribe did, and hence a justification of the way we treat him” (Goffman, 3).

The interviewee’s would-be plea to God to erase his disability reflects a view that can be held by religious people. A Christian might believe that if you do everything right in your life, you will be rewarded by God. Therefore, that Christian might feel that if one suffers from a handicap, then that person did something wrong and, as a result of their actions, is now being punished by God. This could lead the Christian to feel justified in treating the disabled person harshly, as if the person deserves the disability for some supposed wrongdoing.

A young disabled women in the video describes what non-disabled people call her:

“They call me stupid, slow.”

These words used to describe the girl are what Goffman calls “stigma terms.” These are words that people use to label and marginalize the disabled.

“We use specific stigma terms such as cripple, bastard, moron in our daily discourse as a source of metaphor and imagery, typically without giving thought to the original meaning” (Goffman, 3).

Another disabled girl tells us how she was treated in high school differently because of her physical handicap:

“It was totally awful! Because I would get talked about and put down because of my disability.”

And another girl says how people told her she wasn’t able of accomplishing certain things. They would say:

“You can’t do this, you don’t know how to do that…”

These situations clearly reflects the property of a stigma, that it is an

“attribute that is deeply discrediting.” (Goffman, 2)

– Kelly Reznick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix8ZPEC4qSE

 

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Cash-Strapped Port Authority

Posted on August 18, 2011 by ngolubin

I had to post about this article because it just makes me sick to think how the port authority is ripping us off. I mean every year they implement these new price hikes on tolls and buses or wherever they just try to make easy money off of the public. It really gets ridiculous more and more, port authority lacks in responsibility, quickens, and just more moral reasoning.

But every year they try to raise the prices…how does that work?? I still dont get it to this date, and all these oppositions approve their hikes…Why? It bewilders me every single time. Especially with this new hike on port authority, this one particularly doesnt affect me because I take the MTA everyday to work to school but what makes me crazy is that they paid over 86.5 million in overtime to their employees last year..and now they want a bigger spending budget and more money. Does that make any sense? Why should we honor their price hike and it is their own fault for capping the budget and paying out so much overtime to their employees. One employee made 156, 000 in overtime in one year…..does that sound reasonable. Learn how to create a better spending plan and ask for price hikes. If this price hike gets approved I just cant see how we are not being robbed. I mean how much do we have to pay for these damn bridges that have to be repaired every single year. Verrazano Bridge is already 13 dollars…I dont even go on that bridge anymore. I cant wait till it costs 20…Im going to love that day.

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Broken Window Theory in New Haven, Conn.

Posted on August 17, 2011 by robert.rahmanian

The Broken Window Theory is present in everyday life and is occurring in the world around us. Rachel Ranis, a sociology professor at Quinnipiac University, makes the argument that she has seen the Broken Window Theory play out on New Havens Whalley Avenue. She goes on to say that the little things are the reason people have left the neighborhood in shambles. The little things she is referring to is graffiti, broken windows and petty crimes. A result of these actions has led to many shop owners and businesses leaving the neighborhood.

The second half of this article describes what kind of gentrification Ranis has experienced in her life and what she sees in the future for Whalley Avenue. She talks about her experience in moving to Hudson, NY and how the neighborhood is filled with antique shops and trendy artist. She makes the same argument for the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. In my opinion, the Broken Window Theory is very apparent and can easily be seen when traveling.

 

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Experts: Mentally ill face criminal stigma

Posted on August 16, 2011 by ricardo.ledan

 

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051124/NEWS01/511240312/1001

Tired of persecuting and convicting the mentally ill, Thomas Testa of San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney office, has said enough is enough. Each of his cases deal with a victim dying  “under heinous circumstances” as he says, with the perpetrator having to serve life sentences in a state prison or shipped off to a mental institution. At least for Testa it could have easily been avoided if either the family or a local agency made sure the perpetrator took their prescribed medicine in the proper amount. But as other attorneys and psychologists have articulated, the situation is not as simple as it seems. Despite the small population of mentally ill people that commit violent acts, they argue that there is disproportional attention in relation to the act. Evidence of this can be found in the frequency that these acts are exhibited in the narrative of the national media; as well as the fierce sentencing that occurred in response, in several of the cases they portray. Collins of the Health services alludes to the fact of the stigma that mentally ill violent offenders face: “Criminals first rather then fighting a chronic disease”.

Goffman in “Stigma and Social Identity”, gives us an inside glimpse into the sources and justification of Stigma and its effects within the framework of society. In it we can specifically classify mental illness as of the “discreditable” kind, and the notion that stigmatized individuals are constantly linked  with their “defect” (in this case mental illness) in a way that is nonexistent in the traits of a normal person.

 

 

 

 

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Moral Panic Continues

Posted on August 15, 2011 by michael.plutchok

Moral panic is something that is always happening, there is always something going on in societies that are causing moral panics, and trying to stop and control it well, how are we going to answer that question. Whether for example it is Britain not want the American “mugging” to come over seas, causing the citizens to panic, Newark wants to stop the panic over gang related deaths, and put an end to the gang related behavior, but do they, are they truly providing a way to end this cycle of gang related deaths and panic throughout the streets, something has to give.

I came across a video of the moral panic going on in Newark, New Jersey about gang violence. About the life experience going on in the neighborhoods, gangs have become the family in which they have. When the try to break this cycle of joining gangs they argue that it is impossible for this to happen since most of the people in gangs have criminal records so nobody will be able to hire them. So how are they supposed to get out of this, and they are forced to go back to the gang because it the only thing they have for support.

The gang violence that goes on in Newark causes a moral panic, officials say that they are there to help but can you really trust them? If they aren’t providing a way to break the cycle shouldn’t they be the ones to blame for allowing this moral panic to prolong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVrryRGg4GY

 

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Curfew City

Posted on August 15, 2011 by aherrera

Philadelphia  is one of the latest cities world-wide to experience Flash Robs. In recent weeks, the city has witnessed several robberies and assaults. Similarly to flash mobs, people learned of and then participated in the mobs through social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and BBM.  In response to these attacks the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, has ordered a city-wide curfew for “youths” under 21 years of age at 12am and those under 18 at 10 pm. In areas deemed to be more violent, the curfew has been set as early as 9pm.

While these preemptive actions may very well be justified, there has been quite some controversy regarding the comment Mayor Nutter made last Sunday at his church regarding the attacks: “you’ve damaged yourself, you’ve damaged another person, you’ve damaged your peers and, quite honestly, you’ve damaged your own race.” In this class, we have seen time and time again how race has been linked to crime. While Mayor Nutter is attempting to solve a problem, he is also creating one. By being a public official and perpetuating this idea that a particular race is behind an act of violence he is, in my opinion, perpetuating more crimes. By saying that black people are disgracing their race, he is creating a population of “suspects” that can be viewed with suspicion and even hostility by others. This label, as the article points out, takes away from the good things that that same target population is accomplishing, such as the award-winning Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement.  This is just an example of how stereotypes can perpetuate attitudes that encourage crime.

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Protected: Deviance & Hollywood

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Justice

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Hannibal the Cannibal

Posted on August 13, 2011 by gaby.torres

As I mentioned on a response to one of the blogs psycopathy has always been of my interest. Unlike the picture on the left and the Sex Offender Registry for instance, psycopaths don’t wear a tag nor do they list themselves anywhere as such.

According to Psycopathic Behavior, by Charles Montaldo, psychopaths are “generally cunning, manipulative and know the difference between right and wrong but dismiss it as applying to them, [they are also] incapable of normal emotions such as love.” On a more simplistic level psychopaths are characterized as charming, intelligent (at different levels of course), appear to be rational however egocentric, either antisocial or very outgoing, etc.

If there’s one person I automatically think about when I hear the word “psychopath” is Anthony Hopkins in the Hannibal Lecter series, specifically in The Silence of the Lambs. In this brilliant work Anthony Hopkins plays a “cannibalistic serial killer” who is taken into custody to help find another murderer; Buffalo Bill. Lecter is seen as pleasant, courteous, educated, incredibly patient not to mention intelligent, among other traits that are very hard to link with the image we get when we think of a mentally imbalanced person.

As I mentioned Lecter’s purpose is to help find Buffalo Bill. Clarice, an FBI agent that’s assigned to the case, is to get all the information she can from Lecter that would direct her to the murderer. As it turns out Lecter agrees to tell her about Bill if she shares information about her childhood with him, which she does although she’s previosly warned no to do so. Eventually, Clarice gets what she’s looking for thanks to Lecter, goes after the killer and the rest is history.

If you’d like to see Lecter in action Click Here.

**Warning: Brilliant but Bloody**

Nothing New Yokers can’t stomach tho (enter sarcasm here LOL). Enjoy!

 

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Psychopaths. A successful adaptation?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by james.chambers

Psychopathic behavior is hard to think about in any other way but deviant. If we forget about the socially constructed ideas which Psychopaths deviate from, we can see that this difference in behavior may be beneficial to the individuals themselves.  This article highlights the idea that Psychopaths may have physically adapted In order to survive in a world where manipulation and lack of loyalty can give them an advantage.  A lack of devotion to one’s partner will allow a psychopath to have many mates in one lifetime, thus carrying on their traits.  The lack of empathy and an extremely narcissistic attitude can also allow psychopaths to become successful.

The article also points out that a disorder is defined as something which inhibits the ability for a human to adhere to its most basic nature, which, at its heart, is the ability to reproduce. Therefore, psychopathy should not be defined as a disorder, but a reproductive advantage.  It’s interesting to think of psychopathy from this standpoint because if we look at how psychopaths function, it seems beneficial to them. In reality, the forces which inhibit a psychopath’s success are social norms and more importantly, laws. But, without these laws, a psychopath would truly thrive.

This psychopathic behavior is beneficial for the individual rather than the group and can only exist if the majority of people are empathetic and trusting of others.  Therefore, it begs the question, would a society where only psychopaths (or what we define as psychopaths) exist be functional?

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