The Saints and the Roughnecks As Chambliss pointed out in his study of the “Saints and Roughnecks,” the label of deviance can become a self-fulfilling prophesy. This accords with what Lamert called the issue of primary and secondary deviance, with primary deviance being largely accepted and unpunished while secondary deviance leads more to punishment and the feeling of being an outcast (Liberman, Kirk and Kim). It also aligns with the concept of social strain theory, in which an individual is pushed to deviance by society because of inherent hypocrisy in society that angers the deviant and makes the deviant want to act out more in response (Agnew). Thirdly, it aligns with the idea of social control theory, which states that deviants act because they want to break from social controls and gain some power for themselves (Schreck and Hirschi). All three theories could be used to explain the situation of the Saints and the Roughnecks. The Saints were not punished for their deviance because society viewed them as good boys overall who came from good families and who would go on to do good things. As a result they went on to have successful lives and never felt the need to lash out, as per the theory of Lamert regarding secondary deviance, or strain theory or to gain social control. The Roughnecks on the other hand were punished for their deviance because society deemed that they came from bad families and had nothing to offer society and would most...
As a result, only a third of the Roughnecks went on to succeed. The other two-thirds lapsed into the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of deviance. Their secondary deviance pushed them into a feeling of social strain, wherein they sought to gain social control through deviance.Works Cited
Agnew, R. Strain Theory. In V. Parrillo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social problems. (pp. 904-906). Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2009.
Lemert, Edwin M. "Primary and secondary deviation." DR Cressey y (1969).
Liberman, Akiva M., David S. Kirk, and Kideuk Kim. "Labeling effects of first juvenile arrests: Secondary deviance and secondary sanctioning." Criminology 52.3 (2014): 345-370.
Schreck, C. and T. Hirschi. Social Control Theory. 21st Century Criminology: A Reference Handbook. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2009.
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