Socio Cognitive Theory of Personality Discussion

How does the ability to define deviance create privilege? Give an example of this relationship. Can you think of a way that this is connected to racial inequality in the United States? after u write ur response i need u to reply to either classmate’s 1 or 2’s response to the discussion

either reply to classmate 1’s response: Being able to define deviance is a privilege. In a lot of ways, our society’s social norms and expectations are set by dominant groups. This way, people who aren’t part of those groups have to navigate around having unfair stereotypes placed on them, as a way of “Othering” by the dominant groups. This is an added element for marginalized groups, as they have to be aware of the stereotypes in order to try and find their own identities outside of them, as well as needing to put extra effort into watching their behavior so as to not appear “deviant”. A lot of people from privileged groups take this kind of freedom for granted. It can be emotionally taxing to not know how your daily behavior is going to be perceived by others. Unfortunately, stereotypes can lead to tragedy. A teenager walking around a neighborhood shouldn’t be an indicator of suspicious activity, but this simple act is treated differently when you’re a Black teenager in the United States. Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012 for just that. White teenagers don’t have to worry about this, because typical and common behaviors aren’t labeled as “deviant” for them.

or classmate’s 2: I think that defining deviant is a privilege as it creates a divide between people. Especially, in the United States there is a clear division between the privileged ( the dominant in-group) and the non-privileged (non dominant out group). For example, a lot of black people in Detroit, Michigan are living in extreme poverty. The Detroit river is extremely polluted and used for industrial reasons and people living there are having health problems because of it. 77.9 % of the population of Detroit is black and about 4 in 10 Black residents in Detroit live in high-poverty neighborhoods while 1 in 10 or less of White residents in these states live in high-poverty neighborhoods. The government does not seem to be doing much to improve the living conditions in Detroit as it is mostly black people/immigrants that are living there. There are several other cities that have a clear divide on who lives where and how. Thus, it is mostly always people who are a part of the in-group who have more benefits than people of the out-group and this leads to a deeper divide between the in-group and the out-group.