Samantha Armendariz

Sociology 366
10 December 2015

Bad Behavior:
An examination of deviance

All the items on the list of Heckert and Heckerts deviance list sounded embarrassing and

overwhelming to perform in public, and I could not see myself doing them. Honesty and

deceitfulness, however, are two norms that involve only words, and would probably not harm

anyone too much in the long run. I chose that middle class norm because I feel that lying

happens to be a regular part of our society, like ads for diet pills that promise people they can

drop thirty pounds in two weeks. I am often surprised that where I work every once and a while

people will lie about something being in their food to try to get a comped meal. It feels rude to

question these people in these moments.

At the gas station, sometimes homeless men with signs or stories will come up to me

when Im pumping gas and ask for change, usually mentioning a girlfriend and kids being stuck

in a van out of gas. So I decided to do something similar. I would make up a story about my

boyfriend losing his ticket stub to see if I could get a free movie ticket. First, though, I would lie

to my boyfriend and tell him that my stomach hurt and that I needed him to take me to a

convenience store. Finally, I would make up another story about my experience in the movie

being ruined by noisy people in the theater after seeing the movie and try getting my money back

at the front desk.

My boyfriend, Pete, arrived early at my house on a Sunday morning. I wanted to have

him there for protection, in case the person I approached got mad at me for lying to them.
Interestingly, as I prepared to lie to him about my stomach feeling upset on the way over in his

car, the lie became somewhat self-fulfilling as I felt stressed out about the assignment. We got

out of the car, and he did not seem to suspect that any of it was planned. I said, I feel so sick,

can you take me to the 7-11, and he asked Whats wrong? I did not explain, and just insisted

that I felt sick and needed to go to 7-11. He thought about it quietly and changed the radio

station, then he offered to buy me a soda. After that the initial fear of lying to someone went

away somewhat and standing in the checkout line I began to feel better. Anger, I realized, can be

a sociological response that keeps people from being taken advantage of. Mostly, I felt myself

fearing harm done to my reputation through word of mouth, which is how society punishes liars.

People who are found out to be liars can lose friends, relationships, and sometimes careers.

The first act of public dishonesty occurred outside of the theater. My boyfriend and I

waited by the doorway until a man came up with his wife. He had salt-and-pepper colored hair,

about fifty-five years old, and was walking with what seemed to be his wife. I walked up to him

as they approached the entrance of the theater, the doors just before they pull your ticket apart

and point the direction of the hallway of your movie. I said, Excuse me, to get his attention,

being as polite as possible, while walking directly in the middle of their paths to get him them to

stop. I presumed that they would have to stop and not walk right through me. I felt very tense

about being so direct and mildly confrontational. My hands were shaking and I was nervous.

My boyfriend lost his ticket stub and now we are trying to get back inside. Can you help

us? I asked. He paused for a moment, as if thinking about what to do, or running the situation

through his head and determining whether it seemed plausible, and taking into account my

appearance and whether I seemed to be telling the truth or not. I was dressed not too fancy, but

not too casually also. I was wearing black leggings with a leather jacket and a black top. He
looked over at my boyfriend, and said, You lost your ticket, huh? in a patronizing tone of

voice. My boyfriend just nodded and turned his palms face up. The man began digging in his

back pocket.

Help out the poor children, his wife said, touching his arm, slightly winking at me. The

man, Dave, I found out his name was, reached into his pocket and took out his wallet and handed

me twenty dollars in cash. I said thank you very much, and he said, Merry Christmas, in a

somewhat sarcastic tone. I was shaking a little and felt flushed with adrenaline. After he turned

to go into the movie theaters, I ran and touched him on the back and told him that it was just for

a school project, and that I didnt actually need his money.

A school project? he said, faking dismay. Why are you doing one of those? Joking,

in this scenario, seemed to be a way to ease tension and make light out of an awkward situation. I

felt pretty stupid for immediately giving the money back as I did, and was relieved that he took

everything in a humorous way.

Finally, after actually going into the movie theater and seeing The Hunger Games, we

went out to the front desk and I related my fictional story about the noisy kids in the theater. The

women who looked older and tough as if she had heard it all, looked at me blankly for a few

seconds. I wasnt sure I could stand the tension. Im sorry maam, she said, our policy states

that we cant issue refunds for that.

It was really noisy, I insisted, trying to convince her. I couldnt even hear half of the

movie.

She had obviously heard a lot of this before and did not seem to be accepting any of it. I

dont think my lie was particularly convincing in this case. I wasnt going to accept the money

either way.
 The norm that I violated was the norm that Heckert and Heckert categorizes as honesty.

The constructionist view model of deviance can best explain honesty by suggesting that human

beings have created this category in order to distinguish between honest intentions or statements

and false ones. Since every phenomenon between humans is constructed on a variety of macro

and micro levels, two individuals have to engage in dialog, and one has to establish an

inconsistency between what one person says and what they actually do. How they deduce what is

an honest intention from a dishonest one involves recall of a specific intention, and observance

of action that does not fit the statement. In this case, the man in front of the movie theater did not

find out that my story did not match up, and so no pattern of deviance was created. I had to

retroactively alert him to my mistruth.

The sociological theory of anomy is another way to explain why this kind deviance

occurs. As society there are implied rules that one should not misuse their word in order to take

advantage of others or get out of trouble. A lot of people hesitated to give me what I asked for,

because they were trying to quickly assess whether or not I was being genuine. They did not

know me or my reputation, and had to judge me based on my appearance. This kind of anomie,

or alienation, between individuals allows people to engage in acts of fraud like this. The lack of

strength of community, and anonymity allows causes people to be more skeptical of strangers

asking them for things.

I think that this experience showed me the importance of honesty in society as it shows

how much trust plays a factor in common culture. The reason why culture seems to be good for

individuals is that it allows them to follow a common narrative which most of the time keeps

people unified. Once one lies, it signals that one is intentionally trying to take advantage of the
system, and that can cause pain usually for the individual, a member of society, or society as a

whole, which is why it is classified as deviant.

 Sources Cited

Adler, Peter. 2012. Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context, & Interaction.

Belmont, CA: Wadsworth / Cengage.