explain how your chosen form of deviance is socially constructed as deviant

PAPER TOPIC: ________ is deviant

Choose a form of deviance we discussed in class. Using recent scholarly sources (not more than 10 years old), explain how your chosen form of deviance is socially constructed as deviant in the following format:

  • First, provide statistics that demonstrate this behavior/identity is in fact, deviant.
  • Second, provide research about how current attitudes toward this behavior/identity are negative and/or stigmatizing.
  • Third, provide research that illustrates the negative impact that being stigmatized/labeled as deviant has on this particular group.
  • SHORT ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE: Being a vegetarian is deviant in America. First, estimates indicate that only about 3% of Americans follow a vegetarian diet. Second, vegetarians are stigmatized by non-vegetarians as a result of their vegetarianism. Third, vegetarians suffer from family and peer rejection because of their deviant diets (Merriman 2010).

 

PURPOSE/GOAL:

To build a sociological argument using sociological concepts informed by sociological scholarly research that explains how your chosen form of deviance is socially constructed as deviant.

 

STRUCTURE/OUTLINE OF PAPER:

  1. Introduction and thesis statement summarizing main points of the argument.
  2. Point 1 of the argument
    1. Support point 1 with scholarly sources
  • Point 2 of the argument
    1. Support point 2 with scholarly sources
  1. Point 3 of the argument
    1. Support point 3 with scholarly sources
  2. Conclusion (reiterate thesis and summarize the arguments of the paper)
  3. References page (ASA format; at least 5 scholarly sources)

 

Upload your final paper on Canvas under “Assignments” -> “Term Paper” by the due date. Late papers will be deducted 10 points every day (including weekends) after the due date. EMAIL a copy of your paper to yourself. I do not like excuses (e.g. “My laptop died.” “My laptop got stolen.” “I lost my flash drive.” “I accidentally flushed/washed/dropped/broke my flash drive.”) I have heard them all. If you email the paper to yourself, you will not have these problems. Turnitin.com will automatically perform an originality check to look for instances of plagiarism when you upload your paper. A percentage score will be provided; however, this is automatically generated. I will review all papers myself to look for any problems. Your paper should follow all guidelines of this handout and should align with the Academic Integrity Code.

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS OF PAPER:

  • 8-10 pages (not including the title page or reference page(s))
  • Double spaced size 12 point Times New Roman Font
  • Include page numbers (do not number the title page, begin numbering on page 1 of

paper)

  • Include a title page with the following:

(1) Title of paper, (2) Title of Course, (3) My Name, (4) Your name, and (5) Date

  • Include an ASA style references page with at least 5 scholarly references

 

REFERENCES:

You MUST cite 5 scholarly references. Stick to sources published in the last 10 years for statistics and timely information (theoretical pieces may be older than 10 years). You may include the textbook, however, this will not count toward your 5 scholarly references. You can find the references I cite and use those, those WILL count toward your 5 scholarly references.

The Following ARE Acceptable Scholarly References: (use Googlescholar.com)

Books and Scholarly Journals

The Following ARE NOT Acceptable Scholarly References:

Class Lecture Notes/Textbooks

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Wikipedia.com

 

In addition, you MUST include an ASA style formatted reference page in your final paper with all references you cite in the paper (see example below and on the next pages).

 

(EXAMPLE REFERENCE PAGE)

References

Bruce, Alan and Theresa Severance. 2003. “Swinging Revisited.” Pp. 245-260 in Sexual Deviance: A Reader, edited by C. Hensley and R. Tewksbury. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Bullough, Vern. 2003. “Masturbation: A Historical Overview.” Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality 14(2/3):17-33.

Cowan, Gloria. 1992. “Feminist Attitudes Toward Pornography Control.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 16:165-177.

Macionis, John. 2007. “The Sociological Perspective.” Pp. 2-26 in Sociology, 11th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

 

ASA Style

References in the body of the paper:
Include the last name of the author and the year of publication. In order to avoid plagiarism (inappropriately using another person’s words without proper citation), you must directly quote verbatim, using quotation marks and the name, date, and page number in parentheses, or you must paraphrase and mention the source of the idea (name and date only).

Use page numbers only when you directly quote an author’s words:

Sociological analysis of cities is “critical to achieving far-reaching social change in this century” (Duncan 1959:71).

If you include the author’s name in the text of your paper, follow the name with the year in parentheses:

According to Duncan (1959), sociological analysis is critical for social change in America.

If you DO NOT include the author’s name in the text of your paper, enclose both the last name and year in parentheses:

Sociological analysis of cities is critical to creating social change (Duncan 1959).

For two or more authors: (Martin and Bailey 1988) or (Smith, Brown, and Williams 2000)

 

 

References Page:
The reference list is the last page of the paper. It is a separate page from the body of the paper. It should be titled “References.” It includes all the works you reference in the paper. List references in alphabetical order by authors’ last names. It should be double spaced with a hanging indention of all lines except the first line of the reference. Sample formats are listed below:

 

Book references should look like this:

Berlin, Gorden and Andrew Sum. 1988. Toward a More Perfect Union: Basic Skills, Poor Families, and Our Economic Future. New York: Ford Foundation.

Journal references should look like this EVEN if you downloaded them from a web site, they still look like this:

Goodman, Leo A. 1947. “Exploratory Latent Structure Analysis Using Both Identifiable and Unidentifiable Models.” Biometrika 61:215-31.

Information Posted on a Web Site should look like this (but not journal articles from online):

American Sociological Association. 2000. “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Workshop.” Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, Retrieved May 5, 2000 (http://www.asanet.org/members/socwkshp.html).