The idea that drug use should have been treated as a public health crisis rather than a criminal epidemic really resonated with me. I think society could have looked very different if drug abuse had been viewed as an illness that disproportionately affects people of color due to environmental factors, including the socioeconomic impacts of systemic racism. Because addiction is a disease, you can’t overlook how strongly an individual’s environment influences their health. #so345

I found it interesting that the author discusses how these "copwise" individuals are unable to form small, temporary relationships with people because they are often rushing through public, focusing on going unnoticed. Forming these small connections helps people find information about jobs, childcare, or housing opportunities. This lack of social capital keeps people stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty. #so345

I thought it was interesting how Hunt shows the way police officers make sense of their actions, especially when what they do doesn’t fully match official policy. It seems like group norms and experiences on the job really shape how they justify their decisions. Do you think policing today still relies on informal norms, or do you think departments have become more strictly policy-driven over time? #so345

One thing that stood out to me in the Hunt article was how different official police policies can be from the informal norms officers actually follow on the job. It seems like a lot of what officers do is influenced by the expectations of other officers and the culture within the group, not just the written rules of the department. This made me think about how workplace culture in general can shape behavior just as much as formal policies. #so345

Chambliss really shows how much social class affects who gets labeled as “deviant.” The Saints did just as much (or more) delinquent stuff, but because they were middle class and seen as good kids, they got away with it. The Roughnecks were watched and punished way more. It just proves that perception and status play a huge role in shaping people’s futures. #so345

When the authors claim that self-control is really just social control, I thought about self-control in a new light. When you really think about it, practicing self-control is something we do when we are about to do things out of the social norm. It is called self-control because we are looking at ourselves from society's perspective and changing our behavior based on that. #so345

Chapter 5 shows that deviance isn’t usually about people being “bad,” but about how they justify their actions to themselves. Henry and Howard explain that techniques of neutralization let people temporarily set aside their morals so they can engage in behavior they would normally see as wrong. I found it interesting that deviance can happen even when someone still believes in society’s rules they just reinterpret the situation to make their actions seem acceptable. #so345

The culture shift between day and night highlights how easily norms can be challenged, yet how strong social control remains. When one person breaks a norm, it can invite others to follow, exposing the fragility of social order. Still, informal reactions like disapproval or avoidance quickly reinforce expectations, showing that civility in the square is constantly negotiated. #so345

Discipline and surveillance is integrated into almost every aspect of society, so much so that I think many people are unaware of how much they are being watched and directed. As the Disney article illustrated, subliminal messaging has a huge effect on us, and people build careers on understanding how we think, and what are the best ways to influence us when least expected. This is how advertising and similar fields have become so successful. #so345

Chapter 3 explains that deviance cannot be understood through a single theory, as it is a complex concept influenced by multiple perspectives and ways of thinking. My main takeaway from this chapter is that we should avoid making broad generalizations about people, groups, or places, because behavior and deviance is shaped by many factors and cannot be explained in just one way. #so345