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Analyzing Technology & Deviance
Instructions:
Analyzing Technology & Deviance In this unit’s learning module, you learned about technology and deviance. Take a moment to reflect on your experiences with social media – for example, Facebook or Twitter – before answering the following questions:
- Describe an episode of deviance on social media.
(Please avoid deeply offensive incidents that will upset yourself OR classmates) - How does the context of social media contribute to this incident?
- What sociological theory best accounts for this episode?
- Why do you think that theory is the best means of explaining the incident?
Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.
Response
Analyzing Technology & Deviance
Instructions:
Please respond to a minimum of two peers. In your peer response, you are asked to respond to the following:
- How do your experiences with deviance on social media compare/contrast with those of your peer?
- Do you agree with your peer’s theoretical analysis OR do you think a different theory better explains the incident they described?
- Explain your reasoning.
Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format. Analyzing Technology & Deviance
Response One: J- Z
This week we are discussing deviance through the use of technology. Deviance is the behavior or act that is not within the social norms. Currently, there are numerous examples on every platform of social media (antivaxers, trump haters/supporters, the left vs. the right). One experience I went through was during the recent election. I believe that everyone is entitled to believe in whatever they want. I think of politics like religion (everyone has one, but not everyone is the same), and often it should not be discussed. As the world knows, the last election was loaded with scandals and a lot of crap. I believe that the whole government system is rigged. Unfortunately, society is suffering while the rich get richer. Not to digress, during the last election, I kept my opinions to myself. However, the people I have known for a long time (like family) did not. They felt entitled to call everyone that did not agree with their views racists, bigots, and even wished that people would be killed. I am not a fan of bullying, so I defended other people’s opinions as they have the right to them. Those people who I thought were friends (over 15 years of knowing each other) decided to attack me and everything I stand for. First off, I did not mind because I can have a rational conversation with anyone no matter the subject type. After they realized that they were not changing my viewpoints on anything, they decided to try and get me fired from my current position. They called my employer, giving false claims to attempt to hurt me and my character. I was able to dispute all claims and prove to my employer that they were wrong. In the end, I walked away from people I thought were family because they could not get over the fact that other people believe in a difference of opinion. It did not matter to them who or what I thought in, but because I stood up for others against their “entitlement,” I was an enemy and out to get them.
Social media can warp a person’s mind into thinking a specific way. The perfect example is FaceBook. Look at your current feed, and you will see that it shows you stories about something that you agree with. Please take all the covid stories; items are being flagged as nonfactual and blocked because it does not fit a specific narrative. The context needs to make sense to the reader, so all data is essential in posts. (Turner, 2015) The same situation happened with the last election (to make anyone who supports Trump negatively and Biden positively).
The best sociological theory for this event would be the differential association theory. The differential association theory is based on learning behavior via social settings. As more people shape that manner to be ok, more people will emerge in that state. Everything becomes rationalized in that state of mind to where the behavior is acceptable. Now, the actions taken were not that of a criminal, which defines the differential association. However, it does fit the activities to justify the means for those people. They are learning what acceptable behavior by the social interactions going on around them is. They see leaders acting a specific way, saying particular things, assuming it is the new normal and should be doing the same thing.
References:
Turner, B. (2015). 5 Reasons Why Context is So Important in Your Social Media Posts. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-reasons-why-context-so-important-your-social-media-posts-bob-turner/
Response Two: M -M
This week we are talking about deviance specifically seen on social media. Deviance is the act of straying away from social norms. A time this was apparent when my life was on social media was in high school; there was a Twitter account devoted to my high school and spreading information true or false about students and faculty. Much like the show Gossip Girl, there was a person sitting behind a screen and posting personal information about those who attend and work at the school. This caused rifts in relationships, friend-groups and even resulted in the firing of a teacher. This person also became an outlet for people to send in their complaints and rumors about others, which would eventually be published. As you can imagine, some of the things posted became very malicious. Being this information was coming from an anonymous source on social media, there were no repercussions for this individual and the cruel things they said and exposed.
The sociological theory that best fits this incident is the differential association theory. “Differential association theory proposes that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for certain behavior” (Libretexts, 2021). With other students sending in their complaints, this validated and motivated the anonymous poster. If the account was given no attention, there would have been no issue, but because it blew up and caused a lot of pain, the poster got exactly what they wanted, with no repercussion. They continued to post until the account was shut down.
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. The best response to negative posts is ignoring them, do not give them the attention they so badly urn for.
Reference
Libretexts. (2021, February 20). 7.6A: Differential ASSOCIATION THEORY. Social Sci LibreTexts. https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Book%3A_Sociology_(Boundless)/07%3A_Deviance_Social_Control_and_Crime/7.06%3A_The_Symbolic-Interactionalist_Perspective_on_Deviance/7.6A%3A_Differential_Association_Theory (Links to an external site.).