Contrasting the Study of Disorderly Behavior by Cohen, Hall, and Huesmann - Essay Example

?Compare and Contrast Cohen’s Study of Disorderly Behaviour with That of Hall et al Table of Contents Introduction 3 Compare and Contrast the study of Stanley Cohen, Hall et al and Huesmann et al 4 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction According to the present situation of United Kingdom (UK), the community oriented people living in contemporary world are required to consistently deal with catchphrases such as “broken society”, “social disorder” and “antisocial behaviour”. Taking into deliberation of modern democratic states, UK’s communities are found to be arranged in a certain order. Among the people of UK, a certain kind of ubiquitous fear of worsening social order is found to exist which is believed to have been triggered by negative consequences. These are a few definite kinds of disruptive behaviours which are known to be displayed by the media and other interest groups of the community in order to reveal the importance pertaining to the UK society. According to the contemporary situation of UK society, it becomes necessary to consider the two theories stated by Stanley Cohen i.e. the theory of “Folk Devils” and “Moral Panic”. Social order is supposed to be quite significant among the people of UK as they work, interact and live together in a highly complex situation which refers to social order, pattern and practices. Social rules deliver a structured vision regarding people possessing the experience to organise themselves within the society (Bowling & et. al., 2010). Communal transformations are considered to be a frequent phenomenon where social order expectations as well as rules undergo alterations. Therefore, it needs to be stated in this context that social order and disorder cannot be regarded as fixed terms. Moreover, according to the notion of social order or disorder, it has been observed that different living groups within a community pursue dissimilar values regarding social orders which are supposed to be based on the factors of religion, gender, ethnicity and age relating to the people of other community. It has been found that with regard to every community, certain groups of people are known to obtain authorisation as well as knowledge for explaining the social rules in order to control the aspect of social disorder. Therefore, certain significant questions were raised regarding social disorder such as the way of identifying the one possessing the authority to describe social order or disorder and what is actually recognised in terms of disorder along with the kind of initiatives needed to be considered for dealing with social disorder (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, 2000). Compare and Contrast the study of Stanley Cohen, Hall et al and Huesmann et al Social order is measured to be a significant aspect of social life and various social scientists were found to have made attempts towards recognising the various ways of social life in terms of order and disorder. It is considered to be essential in this regard to consider the study of sociologist Stanley Cohen who identified conflict between individuals or groups. Stanley Cohen originally conducted a study on a particular case which involved a local fight between the mods and rockers at the British seaside in the1960s. From the analysis of the mentioned social study, it was learnt that expressive media coverage regarding antisocial behaviour developed a group of ‘folk devils’, where individuals were noticeably recognised to display abnormal rather than normal behaviour. According to Cohen (2011), the development of ‘folk devils’ and the idea of ‘antisocial behaviour’, created through the media, were regarded as the two major aspects which triggered the condition of ‘moral panic’, which frightened and annoyed the people of an entire community. Moreover, with regard to the aspect of social disorder, it is essential to consider the views of psychologist Rowell Huesmann who also focused on the reasons behind violent behaviour of the matured groups within a community. It was suggested by him that a potential negative impact was posed on the children owing to media and television programs which as a result triggered violence within them. In case of longitudinal studies, a few chosen individuals of a community were communicated with and observed to identify the behavioural changes in their different stages from childhood to adulthood. The analysis of the findings of the study made by Huesmann et al demonstrated a direct form of correlation amid the aspect of media exposure which posed an effect on the children and violent behaviour which gave rise to a disorderly attitude in their present life. Moreover, from the study of Stanley Cohen and Heusmann et al, it was identified that both of them attempted to specifically define the concept of social disorder phenomenon. However, it was found in this regard that Cohen’s theory provided increasing emphasis towards recognising the one who held the power to control the ‘disorderly attitude’ within the community whereas, Heusmann and others focused on identifying the reasons pertaining to communal disorderly behaviour. Stuart Hall is considered to be another significant cultural theorist as well as sociologist who also defined social disorder in terms of street crimes. He offered more emphasis on the concept of ‘Mugging’ which implied a classification of street theft. ‘Mugging’ is considered to be an association between the crime and response to crime. This term is incapable of being isolated from the circumstances which determine the crime. Stuart Hall and his associates carried out an analysis about the duty and responsibility of police, the court’s decision and the role of media about the phenomenon of concealing the truth regarding the offence. The forceful arguments revealed an increase in the awareness of communal people regarding ‘mugging’. Their study also critically analysed that the aspect of ‘mugging’ was either derived from police’s record or occurred from the practice of guiltless casualty. Moreover, the major argument of Hall et al depended on the essential relationship among the ideological conditions of advanced communities and the way they worked jointly or at times unsuspectingly in order to create friendly circumstances. Hall and his fellow scholars considered ‘mugging’ to be a real and tangible impact which was created based on the street crimes within the society. Moreover, it was also stated by them that this issue was not considered to be the concept in relation to a person who robbed another (Davis, 2004). In relation to the aspect of social behaviour, Stanley Cohen defined the term vandalism in 1973. According to Cohen (2011), vandalism was supposed to be the most tangible demonstrations of the extent to which the activities of media, press and public were considered to be hooliganism. Therefore, it can be well understood that vandalism played a significant part in comparison to the less histrionic effects of mods as well as rockers which were considered as annoyance and hassle among many communal adults. Nevertheless in actuality, the degree of vandalism offence was considered to be quite less. It was observed that a few offences by Clacton criminals or lawbreakers were charged under vandalism (Cohen, 2011). The study of Huesmann regarding media approach influenced the communal groups that existed in the current environment of UK. Moreover, the study also explained about the direct communication between the violence portrayed in television programs which created a negative impact upon the children and the aggressive kind of behaviour displayed by an adult group within the community. In case of the present situation with regard to the communities of UK, various facts were identified and also related to the concept of social disorder. Moreover, various evidences were also found which offered a strong support to the study of Cohen that stated the actuality that the majority of the media utilised the aspects of ‘antisocial behaviour’ in order to form striking headlines. Therefore, this specific reason triggered an increase of apprehension as well as uncomfortable feelings within the society (Cohen, 2011). Another significant similarity was identified among the theories of Cohen and Heusmann i.e. both of them highlighted the essential role of media in terms of social disorder. In the study of Heusmann, it was demonstrated that violence was a result of media which directly posed an effect on the children which later created ‘disorderly behaviour’ among the adults. According to the statement of Hall et al, in several instances, it was observed that human civilisation had a tendency to segregate a particular community or cultural group based on the presumption that the people of such a community are aggressive and are affected by severe disorderly behaviour. These presumptions were found to be mostly rooted to traditional beliefs and findings concerning that particular community, irrespective of the circumstances or hardships that were caused owing to such responses. Moreover, the study of Hall et al also delineated the notion of demonisation about the black community as well as the formation of powerful ‘folk devils’ (Hall, n. d.). Conclusion From the overall study, it can be inferred that social order and disorder are considered to be a complicated term which directly related to social behaviour. The existing communities in UK are known to witness various challenging visions regarding social disorder as well as suitable initiatives such as ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO)’ to protest against communal disorder. Moreover, the extent to which a particular communal group held the power as well as the authority to restructure their society in terms of order and disorder can also be deciphered from the discussion. The significance of social order within the communal people helps to influence and conduct scientific studies as well as develop different arguments with respect to social order and disorder. References Bowling, B. & et. al., 2010. Policing Ethnic Minority Communities. The London School of Economics and Political Science. [Online] Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/9576/1/Policing_ethnic_minority_communities_%28LSERO%29.pdf [Accessed October 6, 2012]. Cohen, S., 2011. Folk Devils and Moral Panics. Taylor & Francis. Davis, H., 2004. Understanding Stuart Hall. SAGE. Hall, S., No. Date. Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities. Culture, Globalisation and the World-System. [Online] Available at: http://missingimage.com/files/mi/hall_identities.pdf [Accessed October 6, 2012]. Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, 2000.The Political Economy Research Centre Annual Lecture. Stuart Hall - The Multicultural Question. [Online] Available at: http://red.pucp.edu.pe/ridei/wp-content/uploads/biblioteca/Stuart_Hall_The_multicultural_question.pdf [Accessed October 6, 2012]. Read More