| Saints Roughnecks Essay, Research Paper
With the social perspective of the wealthy and poor
described in ?The Saints and Roughnecks? written William
Chambliss, there are several theories that are
identified with the two groups of boys. These boys are
both in the same grade and at the same high school.
There is the one group called the ?Saints? and the other
group that are known as the ?Roughnecks.? The ?Saints?
came from affluent families, wore nice clothes, and
drove nice cars whereas the ?Roughnecks? came from lower
class backgrounds, did not have nice clothes and hardly
ever had use of a car.
With the use of Macrosociology and Microsociology we can
understand the social structure and the social
interaction of these boys. With the Labeling theory we
can recognize the power of labels that we are given.
The Conflict theory can also be looked at with the two
groups of boys and there situations.
With the use of Macrosociology and Microsociology we can
look at the groups of boys? social structure and social
interaction to see why they differ. Using
macrosociology we can look at these boys social class.
In school everybody thought of the saints as good kids.
Their teachers often gave them the benefit of the doubt
on tests, regularly giving them higher grades than they
deserved. This opened up many opportunities for their
future by being able to achieve their goals. The
roughnecks on the other hand were thought of as bad kids
who had no direction in life, making it harder to
achieve the few goals that they had. By using
microsociology we can see that the saints were given the
benefit of the doubt most of the time because of their
high-income backgrounds. The roughnecks on the other
hand were never given a chance because they were from
low economic backgrounds. They were monitored closely by
the faculty at the school and were in trouble more
because of this.
The Labeling theory shows how important the labels that
society gives us are. It sets paths in where we want to
go in life and what we want to accomplish. With the
roughnecks hanging out on street corners and the saints
of somewhere else, the roughnecks were ore visible to
the community. The Saints had access to cars and were
often able to get away from the sights of the community
to do there partying, whereas the roughnecks, who did
not have access to cars, could in turn not remove
themselves from the sight of the community. The
community responded to the roughnecks as boys in
trouble, and the group of boys accepted that perception
and the Saints were still thought of as exactly that,
saints. The roughnecks lived up to the labels that the
community had given them. The disrespect and hostility
that the roughnecks constantly portrayed increased the
community’s negativism towards them, making the entire
situation worse.
Applying the Conflict theory we see the class struggle
is the key to the human society. Also, according to
conflict theory, the law is an instrument of repression,
a tool designed to maintain the powerful in privileged
positions and keep the powerless from rebelling and
overthrowing the social order. Where Marx believed that
social class is the most basic division in any society,
Max Weber saw conflict as having many possible
bases–including social class, but also religion, race,
ethnicity, and more. Where Marx believed that class
inequalities would ultimately be ended by revolution,
Weber saw conflict as eternal, although it could take
new forms. Group conflict theory derives from Weber’s
vision. That is why the roughnecks were perceived as
troublesome boys and the saints were looked at as boys
that were ?going somewhere.?
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