This CR requires that you demonstrate your sociological knowledge of the relationships
between deviance and social problems. Recall that we began our unit deliberating how
sociologists define deviance relative to social problems that are housed on individual
behavior. In this CR you will choose one of the topics that we studied (drug (mis)use or
crime) and discuss how this particular act of deviance is understood as a social problem
and why.
-Begin by explaining how sociologists define deviance and deviant behavior.
-Explain how your issue has been operationalized as an act of deviance. Consider the
following questions:
What behaviors are problematized and why? Who is a problem and why?
Who are the victims? Perpetrators? Why?
What social factors contribute to your topic?
-When do these acts of deviance shift from being a personal problem to a social one?
Why? -Give examples of community-based responses to address this problem.
In your writing, it is important to cite from the scholarship we have been reading, including
Anderson, Best, Dubois, Ferris & Stein, Lauer & Lauer, as well as the authors and activists
from When We Fight We Win, and your own sources. Putting scholars in conversation with
one another requires that you cite at least two different sources.
