Prof. P. Marina
Social Deviance: Week Fifteen
Week Fifteen Assignment:
(1) Three questions for each reading.
(2) Prepare to discuss final paper topics and research process
(3) Field reports
Week Fifteen Readings:
Clarke Book:
Drifting into Dealing: Becoming a Cocaine Seller, Murphy, Waldorf, and Reinarman
Self-Control, Peer Relations, and Delinquency, Chapple
Goode Book:
Chapter 12: Rape
Riding the Bull at Gilley's: Convicted Rapists Describe the Rewards of Rape, Scully and Marolla
Is it Rape?, Estrich
The Readings:
(1) Drifting into Dealing: Becoming a Cocaine Seller, Murphy, Waldorf, and Reinarman
This paper describes a study of eight ex-cocaine sellers located via chain referral from eight
different levels of sales. To be eligible for the study respondents must have sold cocaine steadily for
at least a year and have stopped selling for at least six months. The authors describe modes and
levels of entree into cocaine sales, and the subtle transformation of identity that occurs when a
person moves from a user to a dealer. The interviews suggest that entry into social worlds of
cocaine sales is a fluid process akin to Matza's notion of drift (1964). Five basic ways in which
people begin to sell cocaine are identified.
(2) Self-Control, Peer Relations, and Delinquency, Chapple
The role of peers in the etiology of delinquency has been a well-researched subject. However, less
is understood about the process by which adolescents select into deviant peer groups, as well as
how self-control affects interpersonal relationships in adolescence. This study examined the
relationship between self-control, peer relations, and delinquency. Three questions were addressed
in this study: (1) does self-control predict peer rejection; (2) do people lacking in self-control select
into deviant peer groups; and (3) do peer relations mediate the effect of self-control on
delinquency? Data for this study were taken from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey
of Youth (NLSY-Child and Young Adult data). Findings suggest that peer relations exert a
significant effect on delinquency. In addition, the results indicate that both peer rejection and
association with deviant peers are predicted by low self-control. These findings suggest that the
convergence of low self-control, peer relations, and delinquency remain an important area for future
research.
(3) Riding the Bull at Gilley's: Convicted Rapists Describe the Rewards of Rape, Scully and Marolla
This paper argues that the popular image of rape, a nonutilitarian act committed by a few "sick"
men, is too limited a view of sexual violence because it excludes culture and social structure as predisposing factors. Our data come from interviews with 114 convicted, incarcerated rapists. Looking
at rape from the perspective of rapists, the authors attempt to discover the function of sexual
violence in their lives; what their behavior gained for them in a society seeming prone to rape. Their
analysis reveals that a number of rapists used sexual violence as a method of revenge and/or
punishment while others used it as a means of gaining access to unwilling or unavailable women. In
some cases, rape was just a bonus added to burglary or robbery. Rape was also a recreational
activity and described as an "adventure" and an "exciting" form of impersonal sex which gained the
offender power over his victim(s).
(4) Is it Rape?, Estrich
Susan Estrich, author of Real Rape, considers herself a lucky victim. This is not just because she
survived an attack 17 years ago by a stranger with an ice pick, one day before her graduation from
Wellesley. It's because police, and her friends, believed her. "The first thing the Boston police
asked was whether it was a black guy," recalls Estrich, now a University of Southern California law
professor. When she said yes and gave the details of the attack, their reaction was, "So, you were
really raped." It was an instructive lesson, she says, in understanding how racism and sexism are
factored into perceptions of the crime.
Weekly Questions:
According to Murphy, Waldorf, and Reinarman in Drifting into Dealing: Becoming a Cocaine Seller,
do most drug dealers fit the description of the big-time dealer stereotype? Explain. In what ways do
their informants differ from the stereotype?
What is Becker's four step model of deviant careers? Explain each. Which three apply to this study
on Cocaine sellers?
Explain how Matza's concept of “drift” and neutralization techniques fit well with becoming a
cocaine seller. In your discussion, explain Matza's overlap between deviance and conventionality.
What does it mean that “deviant motive follows behavior, not the other way around” (Pg. 570) How
does this contradict popular thinking on deviance in general and becoming a cocaine seller in
particular?
Describe in some detail:
(a) the various modes of cocaine selling (go-between, stash dealer, connoisseur, apprenticeship, and
existing product line)
and
(b) the levels of entree into cocaine sales
How does the cocaine seller learn how to deal (the practices, rights, and responsibilities in dealing)
Explain the subtle transformation of identity that occurs when folks who consider themselves
conventional move into deviant careers.
In Chapple's Self-Control, Peer Relations, and Delinquency, three research questions are posed: (1)
Does self-control predict peer rejection, (2) Do people lacking in self control select into deviant
peer groups, and (3) do peer relations mediate the effect of self-control on delinquency? Explain her
response to each question.
Rape
According to Scully and Marolla Riding the Bull at Gilley's: Convicted Rapists Describe the Rewards
of Rape, what are some of the cultural factors in rape? Explain each.
How do offenders view the rewards of rape? Explain each of the following with examples:
Revenge and Punishment
An Added Bonus
Sexual Access
impersonal Sex and Power
Recreation and Adventure
Feeling Good
Summarize Susan Estrich's article Is it Rape? What are her essential arguments? Explain your
position on the topic.