Have you ever thought about how words can affect people? In some societies, including Turkey, words are perceived as arrows thrown out from the bow. In other words, using various phrases can have irreversible effects on individuals and society. Obviously, the first and the foremost of these must be correlated with swear words. It’s acknowledged that profanity has been evolving throughout history and has become tremendously prevalent since the past few decades. Nevertheless, using profanity words is not welcomed by a dominant majority of people. Despite this fact, another considerable proportion of people tend to consider profanity acceptable. I believe this can be attributed to a misleading perception that profanity is totally natural. In contrast, swearing can have detrimental impacts on various domains, ranging from children’s development to power structures in society. Hence, profanity is deviant as it can alter power structures and harm society, decrease motivation and self-esteem in workplace, and distort children’s social bonds. Profanity may alter power structures and damage society in various ways. One crucial way may be related to authority figures’ tendency towards exercising power. In other words, people with high power have a tendency towards using swear words to assert their authority. Unfortunately, this can shatter society’s fundamental structures. To exemplify, the following quote: “Macron said he wanted to severely limit the ability of unvaccinated people to participate in social life, vowing to make life difficult for them” (France24, 2022), demonstrates that authority figures can discriminate against minorities by using profanity. Consequently, this constrains unvaccinated people’s abilities to participate in daily life, hence, shifts power structures within society. Another way that profanity can distort society could be correlated with low status groups. It’s evident that nowadays many powerless people with low economic income are confronting considerable stress every day. It’s underlined in the Weber text that there are numerous distinct ways of exercising power (Weber, 2003) and profanity is a crucial aspect of this concept. Accordingly, these people may relieve themselves by swearing to people under their authority, including their children and elders needing their care, and may damage society. Furthermore, this can lead to psychological trauma within people, especially children, and result in a vicious circle. Therefore, profanity is deviant as it can distort power structures and detriment society. Another reason that makes profanity unacceptable is due to its various implications in workplaces. These effects have a broad scope and may include psychological trauma. Initially, one may tend to believe that profanity can be a regulator to maintain functionality of businesses. However, being insulted by superiors may shrink employees’ self-esteem and pride. As a result, this can decrease productivity and motivation in the workplace. Accordingly, bosses may feel the obligation to use profanity to their employees so as to retain higher productivity levels and profit. Accordingly, this may create a social conflict type in working environments, similar to the ones mentioned in Dahrendorf text (Dahrendorf, 1957). Consequently, this may trigger a chain reaction which boosts stress levels and leads to unhappy careers. On the other hand, avoiding profanity in workplace may have innumerable upsides. First and foremost, having a kind atmosphere during the job can be reflected to potential customers. For instance, people would prospectively prefer to do their regular grocery shopping in an intimate environment where the cashier greets customers. Thus, it’s mentioned in the Swearing At Work Text, that a French doctor preferred avoiding profanity and mean words so as to create an intimate environment in the hospital (Baruch Y. et al, 2017, p 5-6). It’s also underlined in the text that this intimate atmosphere has been helping the patients by boosting their morale. Nevertheless, if this was a hospital in which doctors insult their assistants it would certainly be detrimental for patients. For instance, patients may be mistreated by nurses who are under constant pressure. In brief, we can state that profanity is deviant as it can have numerous detrimental effects in workplaces. In addition to detrimental effects in workplaces and distortion of societal structures, profanity can also damage social bonds that are vital for children. One such bond is correlated with friends. Hirschi’s idea that conformity is directly related to four different social bonds; attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief(Hirschi, 1969), underlines key aspects regarding conformity. In this context, profanity amongst children may empower social bonds. Kids are inclined to use profanity so as to gain acceptance from their swearing peers. This can be attributed to the fact that attachment generates conformity. Consequently, it can be argued that kids tend to use profanity to gain appreciation from their friends. In other words, children who avoid swearing may be regarded as ordinary and boring. On the other hand, profanity can also harm children’s existing friendships. In a respectful environment of friends, using profanity would be perceived unacceptable. Accordingly, mean children may be excluded by their friends over time. Similarly, this can be attributed to Hirschi’s attachment approach. Another crucial type of bonds regarding children which can be harmed by profanity, is familial bonds. Families tend to incentivize moral values that they have inherited to their children. Accordingly, families may punish their children when they use profanity. For instance, a family may prohibit their kid from going outside for a while because of swearing. Consequently, profanity may trigger retreatism in children, with respect to Merton’s theory, and lead to self-isolation (Merton, 1938). Consequently, profanity may distort children’s familial bonds. Moreover, today’s children have been exposed to inordinate profanity from internet. It’s underlined in the Computers In Human Behavior offensive speech in online environments, namely cyber bullying, is contagious and detrimental (Song et al, 2019). Considering the amount of time children spend in web, it’s evident that usage of profanity may tear social ties and blur their conscience. Therefore, profanity can be regarded as deviant since it harms social and familial bonds of children. Despite crucial reasons labeling profanity as deviant, some people may suggest otherwise. They may suggest that use of profanity reduces stress levels, especially in workplace. Moreover, they can try and validate their argument by using the Swearing At Work (Baruch Y. et al, 2017). In fact, they may be partially right. It should be acknowledged that stress can be expressed as profanity rather than causing physical damage. However, in a fragile social environment such as workplace, using profanity can impose a domino effect in which people negatively affect one another other. This can be attributed to the fact that constantly swearing can reduce morale especially in a stressful environment which requires people to be consistently focused. Thus, it should be acknowledged that profanity has various detrimental implications including social trauma and drop in self-esteem. Nevertheless, deliberately avoiding swear words may enhance one’s life in a remarkable manner as it may boost morale. Accordingly, profanity may have a handful of upsides which cannot compensate for the innumerable downsides. In conclusion, usage of certain words may have a variety of implications on people’s life, and these may include profanity. It should be remarked that profanity has been undergoing various changes throughout time and has gained popularity over the past few years. Despite this fact, using swear words has not been fully approved by a vast, dominant proportion of people. Nevertheless, another group of people, which cannot be neglected, have an inclination towards welcoming profanity. This may be due to evaluating usage of swear words as a thoroughly spontaneous part of life. On the other hand, profanity may have numerous downsides on various spheres including social connections of children to power dynamics in society. As a result, profanity can distort power structures and detriment society, shrink morale in workplace and tear vital social bonds regarding kids, thereby profanity is deviant. Musa Yiğit Yayla Eng102-34 References: Dahrendorf, R. (1959) Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. Merton, R.K. (1938, October). Social Structure and Anomie. American Sociological Review, 3:5, 672-682. Baruch, Y., Prouska, R., Ollier-Malaterre, A., & Bunk, J. (2017) Swearing At Work: The Mıxed Outcomes of Profanity. Journal of Managerial Psychology. 32(2), 149-162, DOI 10.1108/JMP04-2016-0102. Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press. Weber, M. (1946). Class, Status, Party. In H. H. Girth, & C. W. Mills (Eds.), From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (pp. 180-195). New York: Oxford University.
