Act of Deviance - Essay Example

Act of Deviance Study groups are normal to come by in the school setting. I belong to a study group that is made up of five members. Members are expected to adhere to the set guiding principles for coherence purposes. Seriousness and commitment to duty are characteristic factors that enhance the performance of the group. When group discussion topics are issued, the group arranges a meeting to have the topics discussed. Where reports and presentations are required, every member has to play an equal role in having the job done.

There is this instance where Mike, one of the group members, failed to attend a presentation session although he had been in school that day. He informed group members via cell phone that he was not feeling well and had to leave to seek medical attention. It was only later that the other group members learnt that he spent the session in the library to avoid playing his role during the presentation. He did this because he knew the presentation could be done by one or more group members. Mike’s deviance caused the group a hard time in trying to reorganize the presentation.

Each part of the presentation that needed to be tackled had been allocated to the group members. Mike’s failure to attend the presentation session meant that the group had to redesign its plan. On the same note, his part had to be presented by one of the members who were in attendance. As a result, the workload of one of the members had to increase in a bid to accommodate Mike’s deviance relative to the presentation. With or without Mike, the presentation had to be done. One of the group members volunteered to combine her part of the presentation with that of Mike.

Mike’s deviance episode left the study group stronger than before. The moral order of the group was not intimated by the episode. Rather, all the group members in attendance learnt that is it always important to have an alternative course of action in case things fail to go as planned. Since the group members had previously expressed their seriousness and commitment to the interests of the group, Mike violated the group’s guiding principles. However, the episode did little to ruin the spirit, purpose, and performance of the group.