Major Issues in Deviance Theories - Essay Example

Section/# Drug Addiction: A Deviance Prospectus Addiction is an issue that faces a great many individuals within the current world. However, there is no clear consensus with respect to the causes of addiction or what elements of addiction can be ameliorated in what ways. As such, one of the oldest debates that exist within the realm of psychology and psychological research is whether or not environment or heredity is the most determinant factor in helping to define and decide the way in which human individuality is evidenced. Although this debate has been raging for well over 150 years, advancements in psychology and psychological research have ultimately only added fuel to the fire and provided arguments for and against each approach. Within such an understanding and definition, the reader can come to an appreciable level of understanding that personal experience, gender, race, and socio-economics play a powerful role in determining the overall extent and level of exposure that a certain individual might have with respect to drug addiction. As a function of this level of realization, the following analysis will deal with addiction from both its hereditary standpoint as well as the social determinants/elements that factor into it. Further, a brief discussion and analysis of the contemporary theories can be attributed to such an approach will also be leveraged within the initial section of the discussion. It is the hope of this author that the reader can utilize this preceding discussion to gain a more informed and realistic interpretation/understanding of how addiction affects the lives of diverse groups of individuals. The relativist would likely understand that drug addicion serves as evidence of a rejection of societal norms and an acceptance of personal choice/decision making. Further, the inclination to advocate changing the law and promoting a further level of inclusion and personal responsibility/freedom of choice would be contingent components of the behavior and underlying values that the relativist perspective would engage with. Similarly, the relativist would not only point to the personal drawbacks of drug laws. Instead, they might necessarily point to the fact that drug laws are extremely expensive to enforce and require a high societal cost; at least in terms of tax revenues that are required from society as a means of supporting police and judicial processes that seek to punish this behavior. By weighing this alongside the harm that drugs can cause, those that approach this issue from the relativist perspective would be inclined to represent the fact that although there are extreme costs to the use of drugs that can affect nearly all members of society, there are inherent drawbacks to the application of drug laws and the means by which they can have far reaching and inordinate costs as compared to the benefits that they represent. Absolutists and others would engage the issue based upon what they believe to be immutable moral dictates and ethics; however, the relativist is able to equally weight the situations overall impacts and represent the fact that even though a particular action might be harmful to the individual and to society as a whole, outlawing it entirely is not necessarily the best approach as a means of effecting a better and more equitable society. In short, the emphasis on personal responsibility and the need to consider the negative and positive externalities of the determinants of a situation is ultimately what sets the relativist perspective from others philosophical constructs. Further, in seeking to understand perhaps the most important element within a socioeconomic perspective of drug addiction and drug usage within society, the reader must focus heavily upon Marxist theory and the means through which the haves and the have-nots interact with one another and understand their respective societal roles. Whereas it is true the drug addiction and drug abuse has long been an outgrowth of depression, seeking to categorize this depression in terms of a broader sociological outlook, aided by the Marxist perspective, is perhaps the most relevant and useful of all approaches. As individuals feel themselves of or belonging to a second-rate status, the temptation of ameliorating this pain via drug abuse is maximized. Whereas the Marxist paradigm did not originally integrate with drug abuse and the evils of society that it gives rise to, it is nonetheless salient and useful to consider this particular perspective in terms of a response mechanism directed towards the inequality and unfairness that exists throughout society. Yet, socioeconomics in and of itself is not sufficient with respect to seeking to understand the different social constraints and causal mechanisms that encourage certain members of society to integrate with illicit substances at some point in their lives. For instance, Hirschi pointed to the fact that the breakdown in the functionalist approach could ultimately coalesced into a situation in which tens of thousands of disaffected minorities realized that the dream of integration and assimilation was merely a pipe dream (Hirschi 54). Accordingly, the research that was conducted othersdrew specifically upon conflict theory as a means of debunking the failures that functionalism and its misinterpretation had affected upon so many minority communities throughout the United States. Whereas this particular piece of research was concentric upon the geographic area of the United States, the extrapolation it can be made is effective and useful with respect to understanding drug addiction and racial dynamics in a litany of other regions/nations. Moreover, from the research that was conducted, the reader can appropriately note that understanding drug addiction and race is not something that requires a rudimentary level of understanding of sociological theory. Instead, the author of the piece in question noted that even though functionalist theory appropriately explained many of the behaviors that were exhibited within key demographics, conflict theory and others were more appropriate and defining the overall level of drug addiction/drug usage that were exhibited correspondingly (Spitzer 233). As generation after generation of minorities struggle with addiction, the genetic/hereditary argument has come to fade into near obscurity. Instead, as psychologists, sociologists, and help researchers understand this reality to a greater and more diverse level, it is clear and apparent that drug addiction is not concentric upon a particular group of individuals based solely upon key genetic markers. Instead, what is likely evidenced is a situation in which entire demographics feel as if their contributions and overall worth to society has been extraordinarily limited; as such, the ability and subsequent desire to resist from coping mechanisms, up to and including drugs, is drastically reduced. Similarly, scholars such as XYZ have indicated that labeling theory also has a profound impact with respect to the way that individuals understand and identify with socially deviant behavior. With respect to the labeling theory, the individual is represented along the lines of an identity that typifies a group of individuals. Therefore, the reader can note that the degree of humanity that is exhibited and/or the individuality of the person is necessarily diminished. Moreover, the labeling theory also runs the inherent risk of maximizing the extent to which stereotyping takes place. Beyond this, the labeling theory encourages a degree of self fulfilling prophecy; with respect to the degree and extent to which the individual that suffers from drug addiction will come to identity their needs, desires, and behaviors based upon the labels that are typically associated with drug addiction. Rather than helping the individual this oftentimes exhibits a “least common denominator” that only further diminishes the potential for stakeholders in society to speak to the individual needs of these individuals. First and foremost, what the reader should come away with as a result of the preceding analysis is an understanding of the fact that regardless of the genetic indicators that predispose an individual to a particular behavioral action, such an action is never guaranteed. Environmental and sociological continue to have a powerful and active role in determining whether or not these behavioral predispositions will ever be realized. As such, seeking to put too much of an emphasis upon the genetic factors as a means of identifying whether or not an individual will act in a certain way can oftentimes yield incorrect results. By very nature, humans seek to reduce each and every situation or issue to its least common denominator (Hirschi 77). As science advances to delineate the means by which these genetic markers can impact upon the lives of the individuals in question, it will very likely be the case that a very broad range of genetic markers are at least partially responsible for some of the behaviors that are noted; however, that being said, the inherent danger then becomes living in a society or a medical community that seeks to diminish the role of personal choice and/or personal responsibility can play in determining behavior and actions. Finally, from the evidence that has been presented, the reader can gain an actionable understanding for the fact that psychological addiction is not only evidenced with respect to substance abuse; it can be evidenced in a number of other behaviors as well. Sadly, as long as these very real and prescient sociological explanations for drug use/drug abuse continue to be sidelined, society will likely suffer the long-term effects that they portend for a much longer period of time than might otherwise be realized. By seeking to understanding and define substance abuse in terms of genetic/physical addiction and psychological addiction, the researcher can come to understand the greater shades of meaning. Works Cited Becker, Howard S. "Labelling theory reconsidered." Deviance and social control. London: Tavistock (1974). Hirschi, Travis. Causes of delinquency. Transaction publishers, 2002. Spitzer, Steven. "Toward a Marxian theory of deviance." Criminological Theory: Selected Classical Readings (1998): 229-241. Read More