Rich John / Poor John

This week’s blog post will be broken down into two parts. For part 1, I will analyze who I am as an individual to determine if I am considered a deviant member of society. I will give an overview of two theories about deviance, and how these theories apply to me. Part 2 of this post involved me going out in public and behaving in a way that society would consider deviant; during this time, I evaluated individuals and how they responded to my deviant behavior. My deviant behavior involved disguising myself as a poor panhandler. I will conclude by examining the reactions individuals had towards my deviant behavior, as well as examining why this type of behavior from the poor is considered deviant within our society.

Part 1: Rich John

To begin, I will provide a brief description about who I am, as well as a personal history of my upbringing, concluding with how the two theories (Control Theory and Differential Association Theory) apply to me. In doing so I will either be labeled deviant or non-deviant in the eyes of society. For those of you who do not know me, my name is John Consiglio. I am 21 years old, and I am, and considered by society, a White heterosexual male.

I was born in San Jose, California on June 27th, 1990 and I am the youngest of three children. My family moved to Battle Ground, Washington when I was five years old. My father is/was the primary breadwinner for my family, working in the electronics field designing circuit boards. My mother works as a bank teller for Bank of America. I’ve never really had to want for anything in my life. I still live with my dad in an upper-middle class house, in an upper-middle class neighborhood. My car was completely paid for by my dad. The same can also be said for my insurance, as well as my entire college tuition. I only pay a fraction of my cell phone bill, as well as only paying for half of my gasoline. I have often been labeled by many of my friends as a “rich boy.”

My friends and neighbors have been predominantly White or Caucasian. I grew up in the Catholic Church, many of those years participating in church activities, including being an alter boy for several years (I have since abandoned church, and all religious beliefs.) I have wanted to “fight crime” as a profession ever since I was a child reading Superman and Batman comics. Presently, I am the first one in my immediate family to attend a four-year university, obtaining a Bachelor’s in Social Science with a major in Criminal Justice. I currently work as a Security Officer at the KeyBank Tower in Portland, OR. The job requires me to wear a suit and tie (I spend 15% of my week in a suit!). I also am currently interning with Washington State’s Department of Corrections.

Now that we know who I am, we can take a look at our theories and determine if I am considered deviant by society’s standards. To begin, let us examine Travis Hirschi’s Control Theory. A loose definition of Control Theory is that the controls and bonds that one has growing up throughout life will influence whether he or she will be deviant. More specifically, Hirschi breaks down Social Theory into commitments, involvements, attachment, and beliefs. Looking at myself in regards to Control Theory, I see many controls and bonds I’ve grown up with that would label me as a non-deviant. For example, I am very close with my family and friends; therefore I would not run the risk of doing something that would distance me from them. In terms of commitment, I cannot run the risk of doing something deviant that WSU would like appreciate and expel me from the school. Being involved in school, work, my internship, plus time with my girlfriend make it so I have little time to be deviant even if I wanted to be. Consequently, my urge to work in law enforcement has given me a strong sense of belief in right and wrong, and has conditioned me to live to the norms society adheres to.

The second theory is Edwin H. Sutherland and Donald R. Cressey’s Differential Association Theory. Differential Association states that deviant behavior is learned, usually by interaction with others; the learning of deviant behavior occurs within intimate personal groups; when behavior is learned, one learns the techniques involved and the motives behind it; the motives and drives are learned based on the social norms and social deviance assigned by society; a person becomes deviant when the cost of being deviant outweighs the cost of conforming to societies norms. When we apply this theory to me, we again find evidence that this describes me more as a non-deviant individual. This is because while I may have friends who are deviant, I do not follow and apply all their deviant behaviors; I still adhere to the social norms and would rather follow the path of least resistance by following the social norms. The groups I do associate with closer are generally considered non-deviant as well.

Part 2: Poor John

Part 1 of this analysis showed us that I am by most accounts, not a deviant individual, but instead a fairly non-deviant individual who comes from an economically decent household. So for this segment of the assignment I decided to experience what it is like to be someone on the bottom of the economic spectrum, an impoverished panhandler. I panhandled at school, and off an I-5 exit-ramp. I will give a brief description of my experience panhandling and what it’s like to be considered a deviant member of society.

When I parked my car at school and headed for my class, I immediately felt disgusting and out of place. As I walked across the parking lot with my panhandler sign and my ripped garbage bag filled with school supplies, I noticed a security guard in the lot not 50 yards away. I carefully walked as far away from him as humanly possible, not because I didn’t belong in the school, but because I was afraid he would take one look at the shabby, mismatched clothes I was wearing, or my dirty unwashed face, and think I was lying or trying to con my way inside.

I reached class a tad early, so I decided to sit on the ground and set up shop right outside the classroom. For roughly fifteen minutes I sat motionless with my sign as students walked by me. I distinctly remember people looking down at me, and then quickly looking away from me, as if they were looking for anything that had nothing to do with me. I described it to someone as being totally apparent yet completely invisible all at once. Only one individual at school came up to me and asked if I was hungry, and only one individual openly laughed at me as they walked by.

After school I headed towards 99th Ave in Vancouver. I parked two blocks away at McDonalds and headed towards the Northbound Exit 5 off-ramp across from 99th Ave. When I arrived I did what I have seen so many others do at that ramp, I held up a sign and hoped someone would take pity on me. I can tell you right now, I have never felt more invisible or unimportant in my life as I did for that hour of panhandling. As cars came off the freeway and stopped at the light, they would look over and see me holding that sign. Just like the students at school, they looked around for anything else that could distract them from my presence. I felt as though I had somehow ruined their day for simply existing there on that corner off-ramp. After an hour of feeling like an outsider, I walked away without my pride and only eight dollars to call my own.

What is it about panhandlers that individuals find so uncomfortable? Why are these individuals who ask for your money shunned while corporations or politicians who ask for your money are accepted? I believe the answer can be seen in Howard Becker’s Article, Outsiders-Defining Deviance. In it, Becker explains that social groups make rules, and that those rules are enforced by society. Those who deviate from those norms are marked as “outsiders” and considered deviant members of society. Regarding panhandlers, our society believes that one should work to make ends meet, and that asking others to lend them a hand means that they do not want to work, and only want to leech off of others. They are therefore labeled as outsiders, with many individuals preferring to think of them as something less than human. In conclusion, I would ask you to see others not by what they do or how they look, but as the people they are, no matter how rich or poor they may be.

Word Count: 1500 (Ha!)

All money made during this experiment was donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charity…because every child deserves Big Macs.

Sources:

Becker, (1963). Outsiders, Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. (Pgs 1-18). The Free Press.

Hirschi, T. (1969). Control Theory. “Readings in Deviant Behavior sixth edition.” (Pgs 30-32). Pearson Education Inc.

Sutherland, E. H., & Cressey, D. R. (1977). Differential Association Theory. “Readings in Deviant Behavior sixth edition.” (Pgs 27-29). Pearson Education Inc.

Photos taken by John Consiglio