Deviance Concepts
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Deviance involves a degree of stigmatization of a sub-population by the majority population on the basis of some difference, a difference that sets the sub-population apart and that is emphasized by the majority population in identifying the deviant population. Different theories have been offered for why and how the deviant population is identified and marginalized. At any given time, there are deviant conceptions and categories which determine who is and who is not to be identified as deviant according to behavior, status, or some other dimension. Social observers provide acts with meanings and so indicate whether the acts are deviant or nondeviant. At different times, certain behaviors may be removed from the deviant categories and so alter the picture of crime and deviance in society, just as behaviors might be added and accomplish much the same thing. As Thompson and Hickey note, At least four essential elements are involved in the process of defining deviance: norms, acts, actors, and an audience. Similarly, deviance is relative to time, place, situation, and culture (Thompson and Hickey 173). The concept of deviance evolves through time, and an analysis of fictional representations of deviant behavior can serve to show how society has viewed the issue over a historical period. This analysis shows, however, more clearly what the authors view as deviant than how society may view the issue. Indeed, the authors often serve as the real audience, while the societ
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to such a degree that he is finally driven mad. Hermann is an engineer who attends card games but never bets, always watching his friends but never turning a card himself. His friends comment on this fact, and when he finally does make a bet and play a game of cards, they are amazed. What they do not know is that their friend has been seduced by the story told by Tomsky about his grandmother and the secret of the three cards that made it possible for her to pay her debts and regain her lost wealth. The secret was told to her by Comte St. Germain, and the story of the cards has the ring of a fable, something fantastic that could never have taken place, the sort of story told by one gambler to another. The friends are also gamblers, but they are not seduced by the game to the extent that Hermann is. He separates himself from society by his obsession, and deviance is depicted here as precisely that--an obsession:
Pushkin. . . loved to gamble. Pushkin also. . . was a pioneer in describing the peculiar madness induced by Petersburg. He was also familiar with the works of E.T.A. Hoffman. Out of all this arose The Queen of Spades (Vickery 156).
From the moment he hears the story, Hermann thinks of nothing but the secret of
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Liebniz Christian, Underground Underground, Spades Vickery, Voltaire's Candide, Georg Büchner, , Thompson Hickey, Queen Spades, Alexander Pushkin, St Germain, wilkie james hurt, brian wilkie james, world volume ii, queen spades, brian wilkie, literature western, western world, ii brian, volume ii, world volume, volume ii brian, ii brian wilkie, york macmillan, wilkie james, macmillan 1992,
Approximate Word count = 2305
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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