Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Durkheim and Crime




  1. I think that it is true that once enough people begin to do something, it becomes the norm. Even if the action being done is a crime or severely frowned upon by the society, it becomes the norm once enough people do it. I think what happens is that once enough people start doing it, others conform to it and it is no longer considered to be outside the norms. Conformity is such a powerful factor in controlling how people behave that it does have a strong effect on changing societal norms. For example, underage drinking is illegal but everyone knows that most teens still drink and parents also know. Now, it is almost outside the norm to come across a teen that has not had alcohol before turning 21.

  2. One thing I can think of in this time that might have the impact of change and reform is the use of text messaging. More and more people are considering texting to calling or emailing. I’m not just referring to the young crowd, but more and more I experience everyone texting. I wouldn’t doubt it if the next generation of cell phones will be considered text phones. Kind of like a beeper, but more for communication. People I know rather text each other than calling. It makes it much easier to talk between people.