Rod, Deviant?

Rod was born in San Diego California but was raised in the Los Angeles for a majority of his life. Both of his parents were married. His father graduated from Oregon State University and his mother graduated from the University of Oregon. Rod’s upbringing as a child was different from other children. Rod and his older brother Calvin did not live with their parents in Portland, Oregon, but instead they both lived with their grandmother and grandfather in Los Angeles. Rod and Calvin did almost everything together growing up. Rod looked up to his older brother while Calvin consistently got into trouble. Consequently, Calvin would always get punished by his grandparents for disobedient and deviant ways.

One summer Rod and Calvin were outside playing baseball with some neighborhood friends as they did almost every day around noon. While playing, one of the kids hit the ball so hard it went over a neighbor’s fence. After the ball went over the fence the boys ended up with no ball to play with. They all gathered around to see who had an extra ball or who was able to get an extra ball. Unfortunately none of the kids were able. After a while of giving thoughts on where to get a ball, Calvin came up with an idea. He left and came back to the field 10 minutes later with a ball. None of the kids asked questions and they continued to play ball.

While continuing to play baseball the game once again came to a stop because a kid hit the ball into a large nearby pond. All the kids gathered back together to figure out where to get another ball. While gathering their thoughts Calvin made it a point to get that particular ball back. The kids asked why and Calvin explained it was a ball from his grandfather’s collection which was signed by Jose Conseco of the Oakland A’s. The kids were shocked and made it a mission to get the ball out from the large pond. Unfortunately there was no luck getting the ball back that afternoon. This situation is similar to the film The Sandlot. In the clip below it shows how a group of kids playing baseball lose a highly valued ball in a backyard. The kids do what they can to retrieve it.


Calvin made sure that Rod would not say anything to their grandfather. When they both got home their grandfather asked Calvin about the baseball and Calvin lied. Their grandfather called their parents in Portland and told them what Calvin did. Their grandfather was so mad he told Calvin he could no longer stay in his household. The next day Calvin was on a plane to Portland.

When Calvin moved, Rod was sad. He had nobody to look up to or play with anymore. He became frustrated that he had to be alone. Eventually Rod would end up stealing and lying like his older brother used to do. This got Rod into trouble. During school and while hanging out with friends Rod would teach others how act and commit the same bad behaviors.

When looking at Rods life, there are couple theories that may explain Rods deviant behavior. The first theory is Differential Association Theory by Edwin H. Sutherland, and Donald R. Cressey (1977). The theory says “When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes (a) techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated” (Cressey and Sutherland, 27). When Calvin moved his parents Rod started to act like Calvin. Before Calvin moved, Rod would not act in a deviant manner. Rods behavior was learned from his older brother and he did not want to quit his deviant behavior. According to Sutherland and Cressey they say “The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups”. Calvin would lie and steal consistently and Rod would observe.

Another theory that relates to why Rod commits deviant acts is Control Theory by Travis Hirschi (1969). According to Hirschi he states “Control theories assume that the delinquent acts result when an individual’s bond is weak or broken”. When Calvin moved, Rods heart was broken and the delinquent acts started. Hirschi further explains that in order to avoid deviant acts you must have involvement in conventional activities. Rod and Calvin played baseball together and did other activities. Their parents and grandparents were not always around which gave both Rod and Calvin time and reason to commit deviant acts and behavior. There may be other explanations and theories that can relate to Rods life and deviant behavior, but Differential Association and Control Theory help explain why Rod engaged in the behaviors and acts he did.


Edwin H. Sutherland and Donald R. Cressey. (1977). Criminology. In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior (pp. 27-29). Boston, MA

Travis Hirschi. (1969). Causes of Delinquency. In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior (pp. 30-32). Boston, MA

Word Count 783



Part 2

In my experiment and experience on acting deviant for an hour, I noticed different reactions from random people and how they treated me. On February 3, 2012, I went to the Westfield shopping mall with a friend. I chose to experiment walking through the mall for an hour wearing my clothes on backwards. As I entered the mall I automatically received weird looks from people. The first floor of the mall is where I walked through first. I went inside a few stores and I could notice people giggling at me. When I walked inside the Old Navy store I overheard a young girl tell her mother “Mom, why does that dummy have his clothes on the wrong way?” When I went to the second floor I arrived at the food court. At that moment people were starring, pointing and laughing. Shortly after, I made my way through a few other stores and ended up at a jewelry store. While in the store I was given immediate attention by the jeweler as if I did not belong inside that store. My friend and I left the mall a while after.

My appearance was considered deviant by mainstream society because it went against the normality’s that society views as normal. The norms are that you are supposed to wear clotes the forward way. The potential harm for having this appearance is getting made fun of and called names by people around you and are considered an outcast. People’s reaction towards me was a times not pleasant, especially when I went into the jewelry store. I felt like I was automatically labeled deviant and an idiot to society. I relate my experience and experiment to Howard S. Becker’s Labeling Theory. According to Becker he explains that deviance is defined on an agreed upon rule, and if the rule is broken or not broken, society labels you deviant (39). In conducting my experiment at the mall, society viewed me as “breaking the rule” which labeled me as deviant. This also relates to Images of Deviance by Stephen Pfohl’s who says “Are there actions truly more harmful than the actions of people not labeled as deviants?” Pfohl says no (Pfohl,1994). Based on my experience on appearing deviant at the mall, my actions were not harmful but some in society may see it as harmful.


Howard S. Becker. (1963). Group from Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior (pp. 39-41). Boston, MA

Stephen Pfohl. (1994). Images of Being Deviant: In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior (pp. 11-14). Boston, MA.

Word Count 389