Description
- Explain the following observation (made by Jeffrey Reiman) using specific sociological concepts (which you clearly define) and evidence from the text as well as any other evidence you might know: “In America, the rich get richer and the poor get prison.”
- Address any other issue of interest to you
Also 3 reply to 3 students paper
Chapter 8 – Victoria Chiles
Contains unread posts
Victoria Chiles
The following observation shows that in our society today more of the poorer communities get harsher crimes than someone in a rich community. Going back to the text he talks about how ” poor people of color are likely to fit the image of the “typical criminal ” and with that, I think that’s true. We see more people of color going to jail than any other race. They don’t have the same resources as we do to get those good lawyers, so the system will still find a way to lock us up. If they do get a lawyer it’s not a good one. You see more police in poorer environments because of the type of people that’s in the community. The basis on your community determines if you hold a higher authority in the system. We are dehumanizing the poorer communties because people of color fit the crimnal image .
2.Deviance
is any behavior that violates social norms. A person doing something that’s not “normal”. It can be criminal or non-criminal. Today, Americans find all types of things to be deviant. For example, a person liking a certain type of music or a person wearing neon colors out in public. Different things can determine an individual judgment, but anything that we do is going to have an opinion about it. The topic itself varies because we don’t know what norms some people have and some don’t . Some people don’t like gays and find it unacceptable and some think it’s normal. Our environment plays a major role in interpreting what’s deviant behavior and what’s not.
Dhatri Sagpariya
“In America, the rich get richer and the poor get prison.”
My first impression after reading this quote is that the rich get richer because their status gives them more opportunities to be more successful than they already are. For the poor, they get prison because they get less opportunities to be successful. They have less money to help them in situations which could lead them to commit crimes which could eventually lead them to getting in trouble landing them in prison. This describing absolutism. In the book it describes absolutism as “two fundamental types of human behavior: (1) that which is inherently proper and good and (2) that which is intrinsically improper, immoral, evil, and bad.” Being wealthy automatically gives you more chances to achieve their goals because they have those opportunities. As for being poor, it they have been “normalized” to commit various crimes that will get them harsh sentences.
The topic of deviance itself interesting to read about. Deviance is socially disapproved behavior–the violation of some agreed-on norm that prevails in a community or in society at large.” (pg. 215). Any kind of behavior that is looked down upon by society would be considered deviant behavior. The several different shootings that have taken place in the past few years at different churches would be an example of deviant behavior. I personally never thought to view certain behaviors that were mentioned in the book as deviant. It mentions that staring at a stranger in an elevator would be an example of it. I can understand where society views these behaviors as deviant because if they were considered normal then we wouldn’t think they were important or take them seriously. Let’s say we saw a pedestrian walking across the street and we were speeding so we couldn’t, we would be at fault for hurting them and the speeding is looked as an act of deviance.
Jaime Garcia posted
In America, the rich get richer and the poor get prison.
The observation I made based on what I learned from the textbook, is that most people have an absolutism perspective of a “good” or a “bad” behavior. People with more power than others have the power of deviance and how it is defined, and people with power come with wealth. It is easier for people with wealth to obtain legitimate goals because legitimate means are more accommodating. While the poor are more deviant with the same legitimate goals as the wealthy. Which from my perspective defines where majority of absolutism. White collar crimes pose a great threat, even though we believe street crime does. Poor people are more likely to be arrested, convicted, and receive harsher sentences than affluent(wealthy) people, because the don’t have access to the needs that the wealthy can have and fits more into a “typical criminal”, reflecting to a street crime away from the real crime that is being sugar coated by the wealthy because unintentional is better than intending to do a crime.
Going more in depth about the wealthy and minority and comparing the two. It was interesting reading information I had never seen. Burglary and robbery cost the U.S. 3.8 billion. The total of white collar crimes like corporate fraud, bribery, embezzlement, insurance fraud, and securities fraud amounts to 680 billion a year. Wealthy corporations rarely receive heavy criminal punishment when their actions violate the law, buying there way out with the expensive fine but barley a dent to the revenue the wealth corporations make. A drug company agreed to pay 3 billion in fines, the largest settlement today. People with money make it easier to avoid criminal prosecution and keep it much hidden compared to street crimes.
Sample Solution
