The winning deviant
I sat through my first tutorial for Sociology of Deviance today. Our tutor is brilliant. I appreciate her passion. She speaks with such vigor that it is impossible to stray from her lesson. Yet when I wanted to participate, I could not. I desired badly to speak up and I needed to get that issue off my chest, yet I could not find my argument.
What does it mean to be deviant? Among some of the examples given, they are picking your nose in public, being queer in terms of mannerisms and behaviours and in worser cases, to break the law and be a criminal deviant.
One of the basic principles: the ones who hold power are the ones who decide what it means to be mainstream and what it means to be a deviant.
I am in Sociology to seek out the variables that will guarantee my success, as well as my family's and friends'. Why this overwhelming concern? Firstly, I need to feed myself in order to survive. I don't have land, and therefore I need money. Further, I need to feed myself for life. It is best that I am able to do so regardless of whether I can work or not, diseased or not. That is success.
Most in society have ascribed to what it means to be successful, and it does not stray far from my definition. Many argue that money is not everything, but if I may share, my only principle for defining success is: Don't cheat yourself. And therefore, most are mainstream. Or should I say, "mainstream."
This was precisely what I wanted to point out during tutorial. What is socially constructed to be deviant does not necessarily equate to what is actually deviant. What is socially constructed to be mainstream does not necessarily equate to what is actually mainstream.
Let's take the social construct of what it means to be successful. You crave success, you want to be wealthy in order that you can feed yourself and your family for life (and possibly because you want to show the world that you have done it). You want to be respected and you want to have built a career that is challenging, fulfilling and not monotonous. Yet, if you look around you, most realise that they have no ideas and clues as to how to go about being successful. There is a strain. There is something wrong.
We'll use the variable "rich" to illustrate this mismatch. If you want to be rich, it would be reasonable to suggest that you engage in what the rich does. Yet when faced with the answers, most find that they are unable to do as prescribed. Why not? One good example. It is inherent that successful people are outspoken and communicate their ideas across. More importantly, they do so with an intention to create values (be it monetary or intangibles), without which it is difficult for transactions to take place. Yet, most shun conversations that are skewed towards pragmatism. Some claim it to be "sensitive as we are Asian", others I do not know. Therefore, it does take a certain level of deviance to associate yourself with the successful, as you are, and you have to go against social norms. This is but just one example.
Therefore, my dear readers, this illustrates how artificial the world is (I have mentioned it in my article titled "A beautiful world" dated 15th November 2007). On one hand, you seem to be following the mainstream route to success by schooling and by finding a high prospect career, yet on the other, what you know to be mainstream is possibly the largest-scaled scam ever created by the most successful deviants; one that is so deeply rooted in our lives as we all depend on money for mere survival, let alone success.
The economy is driven by the elites and the powerful. What courses that are available in schools and Universities are also determined by the elites and the powerful. May I ask if it has occurred to you that these two groups of elites might be the same people, and that essentially reduces schools to be factories that merely produces workers to run the economy with their labour.
Lastly, regardless of whether the world is artificial and whether the majority of us are caught in the race, it is nobody's fault. This is the way the world runs and there's no stopping "them", the deviants, especially with globalisation (a big word thought too minutely by most). My dear readers, if I may point it explicitly out to you, with this little bit of awareness, you have to and you can, join the ranks of the successful. Please refer to my article "Bourgeoisie and Proletariat" dated 11th October 2007.
What does it mean to be deviant? Among some of the examples given, they are picking your nose in public, being queer in terms of mannerisms and behaviours and in worser cases, to break the law and be a criminal deviant.
One of the basic principles: the ones who hold power are the ones who decide what it means to be mainstream and what it means to be a deviant.
I am in Sociology to seek out the variables that will guarantee my success, as well as my family's and friends'. Why this overwhelming concern? Firstly, I need to feed myself in order to survive. I don't have land, and therefore I need money. Further, I need to feed myself for life. It is best that I am able to do so regardless of whether I can work or not, diseased or not. That is success.
Most in society have ascribed to what it means to be successful, and it does not stray far from my definition. Many argue that money is not everything, but if I may share, my only principle for defining success is: Don't cheat yourself. And therefore, most are mainstream. Or should I say, "mainstream."
This was precisely what I wanted to point out during tutorial. What is socially constructed to be deviant does not necessarily equate to what is actually deviant. What is socially constructed to be mainstream does not necessarily equate to what is actually mainstream.
Let's take the social construct of what it means to be successful. You crave success, you want to be wealthy in order that you can feed yourself and your family for life (and possibly because you want to show the world that you have done it). You want to be respected and you want to have built a career that is challenging, fulfilling and not monotonous. Yet, if you look around you, most realise that they have no ideas and clues as to how to go about being successful. There is a strain. There is something wrong.
We'll use the variable "rich" to illustrate this mismatch. If you want to be rich, it would be reasonable to suggest that you engage in what the rich does. Yet when faced with the answers, most find that they are unable to do as prescribed. Why not? One good example. It is inherent that successful people are outspoken and communicate their ideas across. More importantly, they do so with an intention to create values (be it monetary or intangibles), without which it is difficult for transactions to take place. Yet, most shun conversations that are skewed towards pragmatism. Some claim it to be "sensitive as we are Asian", others I do not know. Therefore, it does take a certain level of deviance to associate yourself with the successful, as you are, and you have to go against social norms. This is but just one example.
Therefore, my dear readers, this illustrates how artificial the world is (I have mentioned it in my article titled "A beautiful world" dated 15th November 2007). On one hand, you seem to be following the mainstream route to success by schooling and by finding a high prospect career, yet on the other, what you know to be mainstream is possibly the largest-scaled scam ever created by the most successful deviants; one that is so deeply rooted in our lives as we all depend on money for mere survival, let alone success.
The economy is driven by the elites and the powerful. What courses that are available in schools and Universities are also determined by the elites and the powerful. May I ask if it has occurred to you that these two groups of elites might be the same people, and that essentially reduces schools to be factories that merely produces workers to run the economy with their labour.
Lastly, regardless of whether the world is artificial and whether the majority of us are caught in the race, it is nobody's fault. This is the way the world runs and there's no stopping "them", the deviants, especially with globalisation (a big word thought too minutely by most). My dear readers, if I may point it explicitly out to you, with this little bit of awareness, you have to and you can, join the ranks of the successful. Please refer to my article "Bourgeoisie and Proletariat" dated 11th October 2007.
posted by keching at
1:42 AM
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