Name: Alex Stewart

Form: L6

Centre No. : 100082

Candidate No. : 1000821177

Territory: Jamaica

School: Munro College

IN PART FULFILMENT

OF

THE SOCIOLOGY

SYLLABUS

FOR

CARIBBEAN ADVANCED PROFIENCY EXAM (CAPE)

FOR THE YEAR 2012-2013

2012-2013

Table Of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENT.................................................................................................................................2

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/INTRODUCTION................................................................................................3

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES................................................................................................................................3

LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................................................4

RESEARCH DESIGN.......................................................................................................................................5

SAMPLE SELECTION.....................................................................................................................................7

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT................................................................................................................7

PRESENTATION OF DATA...........................................................................................................................14

ANALYSIS OF DATA....................................................................................................................................20

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS.........................................................................................21

BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................................................23

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The completion of this Internal Assessment would not have been possible without the help of the Almighty God, who gave me the strength and health to complete the assignment. Also my family and friends played a major role in assisting me in obtaining the necessary research data for the project. And last but definitely not the least my wonderful sociology teacher Ms. Sheena Mowatt, who aided her students’ with well prepared tutorials and guided us every step of the way. I am extremely thankful.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/INTRODUCTION

This study is based on the labeling theory which was created and developed by Frank Tannenbaum and Howard S. Becker; According to Sociology Themes and Perspectives; labeling

is a process of social reaction by the “social audience,” (stereotyping) the people in society, judging and accordingly defining (labeling) someone’s behavior as deviant or otherwise.

Labeling theory, consequently, suggests that deviance is caused by the deviant’s behaviour being labeled as morally inferior, the deviants internalizing the label and finally the deviant’s acts in

accordance to that specific label. In other words it can be said that the social audience is responsible for forming positive sanctions [reward] or negative sanctions [punishment] whereby creating or diminishing deviants in society. In this research we will look at “the extent to which

labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

As students acquire labels such as ‘delinquents’, and ‘vandals’, and are subsequently rejected by peers, colleagues, and family, members; they may be under heavy scrutiny or stigmatized and are often suspended or expelled from schools or forced into the juvenile penal systems resulting in the individuals becoming worst off than they were with more enthusiasm to commit grave acts of deviance.

The aim of this Internal Assessment is to get a clear understanding of whether or not labeling promotes deviant acts in schools and how so.

In an effort to thoroughly evaluate the statement of problem, “the extent to which labels

or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”, the Internal

Assessment will be encompassing three major objectives. These are (1) To determine what

motivates students to commit acts of deviance in schools (juveniles). (2) To observe if deviant

acts are committed only by persons of a particular, gender, age category, and social class etc. (3)

The extent to which the family unit can be held responsible for producing deviants as they are

the primary unit of socialization. [Dysfunctional families] (4) To establish, that certain deviant

acts are sanctioned as opposed to others.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In conducting research for this study, information was extracted from numerous articles, books and internet sources in an effort to select appropriate coherent data that supports the study.

According to the research data, there is a distinctive link between labeling and deviant behaviour. From a sociological context deviance is described as actions or behavior that violates cultural norms including formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime) as well as informal violations of socials norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores). It is the purview of sociologists, psychologists,

psychiatrists and criminologist to study how these norms are created, how they change over time and how they are enforced. To support the aforementioned Howard Becker’s book Outsiders, which emerged in the 1960’s he states that “Social groups create deviance by making rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and

labeling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application of rules and sanctions to the “offender.”

The deviant is one to whom that label has been successfully applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label.” In other words, ‘deviance is in the eye of the beholder, what would be considered deviance in one instance is not in another.’ Another theorist noted was

Robert K Merton: he discussed deviance in terms of goals and means as part of his strain/anomie theory. Where Durkheim states that anomie is the confounding of social norms, Merton goes further and states that anomie is the state in which social goals and the legitimate means to

achieve them do not correspond. He postulated that an individual’s response to societal expectations and the means by which the individual pursued those goals were useful to

understanding deviance; with that said it can be concluded that deviant behavior is created by the pressures society places on individual to conforms to accepted norms. Albert Cohen’s Sub-

cultural Theory, opposed Merton’s views that the motivation for deviant behavior arises out of the frustration of failing to achieve success by legitimate means. He notes that deviant/delinquent acts are not always undertaken as an individual response to frustration but rather as a collective

response. Many delinquent/deviant acts are not always undertaken for financial gain but are non-utilitarian and malicious. He sees the cause of much delinquency as status frustration. Success is replaced with an alternative to gain prestige in the eyes of their peers. These are the values of the lower working class, delinquent subculture in which such boys are socialized. “Lower class boy,

middle class measuring rod.”

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research is defined as the systematic study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. The use of primary and secondary data was incorporated in this study; this entailed the use of questionnaires, books sociology websites and articles. In order to collect information, a data collection instrument and strategies had to be employed; a qualitative approach was utilized as a large sample was not required. In investigating, “the extent to which labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”.

The data collection instrument utilized for this study was the questionnaire. The questionnaire contained two types of questions, open-ended questions, which provides no choice or guidance as to what the answer is, that is left entirely up to the respondent. They are very useful in getting persons to express complicated ideas and feelings but on the other hand they are very difficult to code. The other type of questions was close-ended, these are much simpler and they offer the respondents a limited choice of answers, they are very easy to code but they often simplify issues too much. They do not allow persons to reply in detail, it guides the respondent to answer in a particular way, thus possibility exists the response is bias.

A total of 40 forty questionnaires were distributed to random persons from each of the High schools in Malvern. This was done so that the respondent’s responses would vary as they all are encapsulated in different environments with similar yet varied norms and expectations. Additional statistical data was also collected from the year supervisors for each year group.

Therefore, the primary source of data collection is the respondents themselves who gave explicit information relevant to the data collection process and the secondary source would be the year supervisors who provided the backup information needed to solidify the results of the primary findings.

SAMPLE SELECTION

A sample can be defined as a small part or quantity intended to show what the whole is like. A sampling frame was utilized to study the desired portion of the population; a sampling frame is a means of defining the population of interest. Stratified random sampling was incorporated, a total of forty questionnaires distributed in the two High Schools in Malvern. To achieve this, twenty (20) questionnaires were randomly distributed to students of each of the schools. In this way the ratio of boys to girls was 1:1. This method was chosen because it allowed for a broad variety of responses as the respondents would be of varies age groups, ethnicities, and genders.

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

COVER LETTER

Watchwell District

Watchwell P.A.,

St. Elizabeth

Dear, whomever it may concern;

I am Alex Stewart, a 6th form student of Munro College conducting a research on “the extent to

which labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”.

This questionnaire will be used to acquire information necessary for my research. Please answer

each question honestly. Everything you write on these sheets will be kept confidential. Thank

you for your time.

Yours Truly,

Alex Stewart

QUESTIONNAIRE

You are kindly asked to provide truthful answers to the questions below. All the

information provided will be kept strictly confidential; as such you are not required to

insert your name as a means of protecting your identity.

1. What gender are you?

Male□ Female□

2. To what religious sect do you belong?

3. Please state the name of your school in the line provided.

____________________________________________________

4. Which form are you in?

Form 1 □ Form 2 □ Form 3 □ Form4 to 6 □

5. What age category do you fall under?

12-14 □ 15-17 □ 18-20 □ Over 20 □

6. What ethnic group do you belong to?

African □

Chinese □

West Indian □

Caucasian □

Mixed □

7. To which social class do you belong?

Upper Class□ Middle Class□ Lower Class□ Neutral□

8. What does the word deviant mean to you?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

9. Have you ever committed a deviant act?

Yes□ No□

10. Have you ever seen someone committing a deviant act?

Yes□ No□

11. If your answer was yes for the question above, what action did you take?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

12. What do you think motivates an individual to commit a deviant act?

Status frustration □

Peer Pressure □

Immaturity □

A desire for material possessions □

To get attention/recognition □

13. In your view, are any of the reasons listed above justifiable for such actions?

Yes□ No□

14. Do you believe that some deviant acts are at times sanctioned or tolerated by some, which

make it difficult to penalize the problem in schools?

Yes□ No□

15. Do you believe that as a high school student the expectations from society are too high?

Yes □ No □

16. Which group of persons do you believe display the most deviant behavior?

Toddlers □

Young adults □

Grown adults □

17. Within recent times can you average the percentage of defacement of school property?

18. Do you believe that deviant acts are demonstrated by persons as a means of getting

attention?

Yes □ No □

19. What are some of the penalties for the defacements of school property and are they

regularly enforced?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

20. Would you say that parents who neglect to provide adequately for their children, or pay

attention to them, because they have some form of drug addiction or gambling problem

encourages deviant behavior?

Yes □ No □

21. Do you have any suggestions for remedying the problem of deviant behavior amongst

your peers, if so what are they?

Yes □ No □

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

22. Do you believe that defacement of school property namely graffiti is as sense of artistic

expressions?

Yes □ No □

23. Do you think that by including more curricular activities in the school syllabus will better

channel the attention of persons to more productive use of time?

Yes□ No□

24. Are you of the opinion that the breakdown of family life is the main contributor for the

number of deviants present in today’s schools/society?

Yes□ No□

25. Do you think that individuals, who come from poor broken homes, are most likely to

become deviants?

Yes□ No □

Thank you very much for your kind cooperation, I am extremely grateful and certain that the

information given will be of great use to me.

PRESENTATION OF DATA

Figure 1: Bar chart displaying the percentage of respondents who belong to the different social classes across the two schools. From the chart we can conclude that Lower Class boys are more susceptible to deviant acts while Middle Class Girls are more liable to commit acts of deviance.

Figure 2: Displays a pie chart of the responses to question eighteen (18) which asked if deviant’s

acts are demonstrated by persons as a means of getting attention. Thirty one (31) persons said

yes which totaled 77% and nine persons (9) said no which accounted for 23%.

Figure 3: Cluster cone diagram portrays the age group percentage of respondents who have been

involved in deviant acts, ages 18-20 having the largest percentage.

Figure 4: Exhibits a column graph of the number of recorded deviant acts committed, for the

month of April over a period of four years in one of the selected schools. This graph clearly

shows a gradual increase between the years 2007 and 2011. However 2012 proved a 150%

increase in deviant acts from the year before.

Figure 5: Demonstrates some of the major motivations for committing acts of deviants,

according to the responses of respondents, with Peer Pressure being the most dominant, followed

closely by Immaturity.

Figure 6: Shows the percentage of respondent who believe that the breakdown of family life

(dysfunctional families) is responsible for the number of deviants present in today’s school

society.

SCHOOL PENALTIES SUGGESTED PENALTIES BY RESPONDENTS.

Detention Obligation to situations of utter discomfort as to discourage future occurrences.

Suspension Specific period of time spend out of the classroom environment whether on campus or at home.

Expulsion Seek alternative education. Educate others who have not yet committed acts of deviance, of the consequences of deviant behavior.

Banned Boarding Privileges Loss of the privilege of living on campus.

Figure 7: Displays a table, showing the penalties for the defacement of school property and other acts of deviance.

ANALYSIS OF DATA

From the data collected during the research both primary and secondary information were

referenced, in an attempt to achieve the desired outcome of this study which aim it is to

determine “the extent to which labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High

Schools in Malvern” key questions were extracted from the data collection instrument and was

analyzed using line graphs, pie charts, tables, bar charts and other visual presentation

instruments. This provided the necessary statistics and facts to assist with the accomplishment of

the set objectives which were all efficiently met. Figure 1’s presentation looked at the percentage

of males to females who committed deviant acts in the two sample schools. The percentage total

of all schools showed that 67% of boys are responsible for deviant’s acts while 33% of girls

committed deviant acts; coming out of this analysis it can be said that the male gender is more

susceptible to deviant behavior. Figure 2 compared the responses to the closed-ended question

eighteen (18) of the questionnaire which asked “Do you believe that deviant acts are

demonstrated by persons as a means of getting attention?”

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

From objective 1 which sets out to determine what motives persons (juveniles) have for committing acts of deviance in schools, it was discovered that, persons are motivated to commit acts of deviance in school, mainly as a result of peer pressure, status frustration and simply to defile and show disrespect and disregard for the school environment, because it gives them a slight feeling of superiority over their peers.

Objective 2 was set to observe if deviant acts are committed only by persons of a particular, gender, age category, or social class. It is evidenced that vast majority of persons who have committed acts of deviance were males with the age group of 18-20 years, but were of various ethnic groups, religions and social classes. The number/percentage of males who responded to the questionnaire was an alarming 67%. The reason for that being that they claimed to be under peer pressure, and come from broken homes.

Thirdly, the objective which states the extent to which the family unit is responsible for producing deviants as they are the primary unit of socialization. [Dysfunctional families] 87% of respondents agree with the fact that when children are poorly socialized and live in an environment not conducive to productive learning where fine examples are set, they tend to take all their suppressed attitudes and feelings of negativity into the school environment plaguing others with their disease.

Research have shown that deviant behaviour have long been a problem plaguing the school populations; what is interesting is that the acts can be seen as a means of expressing one’s frustration about societal norms which tend to put too much pressure on adolescents. Responders were not afraid to voice their dissatisfaction with the penal system which they view as a cover for the real issues plaguing society.

CONCLUSION

Pen ultimately, it can be said that deviant behaviour is heavily influenced by labeling, individuals tends to live up to the labels that are given to them, and this leads persons to self fulfillment of their label and they turn to a life of deviance which further leads to a life of crime. Hence, the Howard Becker’s labeling theory strongly supports the statement. All of the aims and objectives of this study was achieved and gave the researcher great insight into the topic of research.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sociology Themes and Perspectives; Michael Haralambos, Martin Holborn and Robin

Heald; 2004.

Caribbean Sociology Introductory Readings; Christine Barrow and Rhonda Reddock;

2001.

Sociology for Caribbean Students; Nasser Mustapha; 2010

Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance; Howard S. Becker; March 1st 1997

Crime and deviance with theory and method: As/A-level Sociology; Steve Chapman;

April 15th, 2010.

CAPE Sociology.org

JSTOR Journals.com

Siegel, Larry J. Delinquency. Belmont: Wadsworth Group, 2002.

Adams, Mike S. ET. Al.” Labeling and Delinquency.” Adolescence. Academic Search

Premier. Vol. 38 p171. San Diego, 2003.