Verified Document

Deviance Biography Term Paper

Deviance Biography Susan Smith was born into a traditional, middle class family. One of five daughters, Susan displayed a higher willingness to shoulder responsibility than her siblings at a very early age, which led to her parents' turning to her, for support, very frequently. The support sought was initially in the form of household chores, and then financial, once Susan was able to work, and especially after her marriage to a man who rapidly climbed the rungs of corporate success. Susan, herself, never resented her role in supporting her family's needs and in fact, based her self-esteem after the fact. Almost a model dutiful daughter, wife and mother, anyone who knew Susan in those years would have found it hard pressed to believe that Susan would one day be seen as a 'deviant,' and that she would increasingly resort to antisocial and criminal behavior.

A closer look would, however, reveal that the seeds of Susan's later behavior were, in fact, sown in her childhood with Susan's family committing an 'act of omission' in neglecting Susan's own emotional needs....

This led to a marked personality fixation in Susan casting her in the typical mould of a personality who seeks 'participation' through identifying the ego with external persons and symbolic constructs and seeking to lose its separate identity through fusion (Shoham, 2000).
Susan's lifestyle changed considerably with each step upwards that her spouse took into the corporate world. Susan welcomed the changes, taking pride in her husband's achievements and enjoying its fruits. Both Susan and her husband embraced with delight social activities such as partying and social gambling, initially driven by their somewhat misguided anxiety to 'belong.' Unfortunately, what began as social gambling led to Susan growing into a pathological gambler when faced with a situation where a series of bad career moves finally led to the financial downfall, broken spirit and eventual death of her spouse.

Susan's turning into a pathological gambler fitted her profile of being reared in a family where her own emotional deprivations were not addressed. Add to that, the…

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

Books

Shoham, S.G. (2000). Personality and Deviance: Development and Core Dynamics. Praeger Publishers. P. 183.

Internet Source

Final Report of the Task Force on Gambling Addiction in Maryland. (1990, December 31). Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.nyu.edu/its/socsci/Docs/task_force_1.html
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Deviance Refers to Behaviors That
Words: 1838 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Yet instead, Glass had the savvy of knowing which way opinion was sliding, and simply say what most of the readers were already thinking. Had his pieces been billed OpEd, the discussion would be over. Instead, he mistakenly purposed his facts as just that, and thus moved from unbiased journalism to political and social pundit -- certainly no guiltier of lying that most High School Paper editors, but certainly

Labeling People As Deviant
Words: 742 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Social Control and Deviance How does this TV show present deviance? 'Tabboo' airs on National Geographic which shows stories of different people with deviant behaviors. It presents a complete biography along with the history of that particular behavior. One particular episode of deviant behavior that I witnessed in the program was about the Ethiopian Tribe in which beauty represented the strength of a woman. That strength was measured by the amount

David Berkowitz, Known As "Son
Words: 3683 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Paper

She notified police and the parking ticket (because Berkowitz had parked too close to a fire hydrant) was traced to Berkowitz. But the police were just thinking that Berkowitz might be a witness; however, when the Yonkers police searched that Galaxie belonging to Berkowitz, they found a rifle and a .44 caliber Bulldog pistol -- along with detailed maps of the crime scenes that Berkowitz had created with his

Criminological Theories and How They Apply to a Fictional Characters...
Words: 4431 Length: 13 Document Type: Essay

Criminological Theories and Their Application Character History Nikita Voronov was born in Omsk, Russia in 1977 to a 17-year-old mother named Natasha Voronov. She had gotten pregnant with him after dating a man for one month, another Russian male who was working in the mining area at the time. Once Natasha became pregnant she never saw the father of her child again who fled the town. Desiring a better life for her

Tom Shulich "Coltishhum" a Comparative Study on
Words: 9196 Length: 20 Document Type: Chapter

Tom Shulich ("ColtishHum") A comparative study on the theme of fascination with and repulsion from Otherness in Song of Kali by Dan Simmons and in the City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre ABSRACT In this chapter, I examine similarities and differences between The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre (1985) and Song of Kali by Dan Simmons (1985) with regard to the themes of the Western journalistic observer of the Oriental Other, and

Day in a Life
Words: 1372 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Life My morning ritual begins at 7:30 A.M. when I wake up, wash my face, apply fresh make-up, fix my hair, put my clothes on and let the dogs out. This is a weekday ritual that I have performed everyday, except Saturday and Sunday, for seventeen years. I know that it takes me exactly twenty minutes to get myself ready for work. At 7:50 A.M., I woke up my 4-year-old grandson

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now