Summary Of Sydney Skaggs - 1727 Words

Sydney Skaggs Chapter One It’s well into the hours of the morning when my phone beeps, signifying he has texted me.The noise echos off of the walls, my headboard, it bounces off of everything before finally resting beneath the sheets with me. The air silences, and I swipe my finger across my phone screen already knowing what the text message says. Come over I ponder ignoring the two worded text, but even though it’s only two words it says enough to have my head swimming with thoughts. I can hear the rain outside, a so called spring shower, but it’s drenched the grounds of the earth so much that it couldn’t possibly even be considered that. I swing my legs over the edge of my bed as a roar of thunder echoes in the distance. My feet hit the†¦show more content†¦As I step out of my apartment and close the door behind me, my phone buzzes again. Hurry up. Im tempted to silence my phone, his impatience starting to wear thin on me. I know he’s an impatient person, i just figured i would be used to it by now. However though, after five months the only thing i’m used to is those late night come over texts and the feel of his hands upon my skin. I know that I should feel used, even neglected, but all I feel right now is wanted. As I step outside I realize that the temperature has significantly dropped and the rain has begun to come down even more vigorously than before. By the time I finally make it to his building, I’m soaked to the bone and I’m shivering from the below freezing temperatures. He buzzes me in immediately, impatiently.I don’t immediately knock when I reach his door, rather I loiter around a little bit. I wonder if I should just leave before he ruins me even more or before we ultimately self-destruct. I feel like leaving would be the best option, but yet I hesitate to leave. The decision is made for me when the door swings open, colliding with the wall behind it. â€Å"About damn time.† He grunts out, ushering me inside. Despite the warmth his place holds, i’m still shivering. He hugs me to his side, and despite my soggy clothes he’s still completely dry. He reaches for my soggy t shirt and only manages to get it above my navel before I push his hands

The BCS system versus the playoff system Free Essays

The NCAA division 1-A football is different from the rest of the sports in that it uses the BCS system to determine its champions instead of the normal playoff system. The BCS includes a polling system to determine the two best teams in the country, who then play against each other at a bowl game and the team that wins becomes the overall national champion. It has been said to be a very complicated formula and less preferred than the play off system. We will write a custom essay sample on The BCS system versus the playoff system or any similar topic only for you Order Now Supporters of the adoption of a playoff system in the ongoing debate argue that the BCS system is making the football fans to miss the high level of excitement that is normally there in other tournaments. Others say that the true champion can only be determined in the field, so the BCS system should be denounced. This is a well put phrase, in that out of the possible 28 games, only one game counts. If a play off system was adopted, then the fans would have 16 team playoff matches to watch, which is obviously much more exciting compared to watching just one determining game. (Bruce Varnadore, Will College football ever have a playoff? ) The BCS system was modified in 2004 and some champion determinants such as the records set by the team, how strong their schedule is and numbers of their wins were eliminated. The new system then included polling, where the coaches and the Associated Press writers were required to vote in order to determine the champions. This means that the voter’s influence on who the champions should be in the current system is two-thirds, compared to that of the old system which was only a quarter, which makes the situation even worse than before. (James Alder, About. com). The National Council of Athletic Association should adopt the playoff instead of the BCS system that is still in use. It does not seem to understand that the best and most legitimate manner that a champion can be crowned is through establishing a playoff system. They may say that the BCS is a far much better way to look for a champion among American colleges, but the truth of the matter is that it is not. I believe that a champion should defend his title at the pitch through the action he shows, not by being voted in. This would not only create a lot of excitement for the fans, but it would also give more meaning and gusto to the beginning of the year. Arguments for the playoff. The playoff system would generate as much money as the BSC system. The estimated cash in flows are estimated to be between three to four hundred million dollars, and if this money was distributed fairly among all division 1-A schools, then each school could get approximately 2. 5 million dollars every season. (Bruce Varnadore, will college football ever have a playoff? ) Deserving teams that have good players and who’ve got game are denied the chance to be in the competition for the national championship title. Such teams as the BYU, a non conference team, are not given an equal chance and are therefore left out. This is not only a waste of talent, but is also shows unfairness. The playoff system would establish who the champion is through a one on one competition among all the teams. This is the much preferred bowl among many football fans. A recent opinion poll showed that most people prefer the playoff system than the BSC system. The results were such that 82 percent of the respondents would love to see a change in the current bowl games system, BSC to a playoff. The playoff system has also been favored because it would at least minimize the doubts concerning who the national champions should be even if it would not completely eliminate them. The play off system would work out just as fine as it does in the other season’s games. Those in favor of the BSC system have said that the playoff would take a longer season and student players would not have enough time to concentrate on their academic work. However, this is not true because the division 1-AA applies a 16 team playoff system, and most times finishes ten days to the New Year, much earlier than the division 1-A games. It would also be much easier to implement the aforementioned system just as the NCAA implemented the BSC system. Arguments against the BSC system. Firstly, the basis on which a national champion is selected is unfair because it is based on statistics of people’s preference and personal opinion instead on the performance in the pitch. Secondly, there have always been controversies on who the real winner should have been had the game not been judged on the polls, but on action performance. Thirdly, just a single off game can cause the team to be eliminated from the championship contention, and finally, the minor non-BSC conference teams are often disadvantaged because they never get the chance to contend at the championship games. These are just but a few of the many shortcomings of the BSC system that make the fans of the game wonder why the NCAA won’t just adopt the playoff system. (James Alder, About. com). I think its time that the NCAA woke up, realize that this is the 21st century and bring a lot more excitement to the field. The empty seats at many of the bowl games should be enough indicators to them. Moreover, the idea of â€Å"preserving the culture and the integrity of bowl games† has been labeled as a lame excuse to avoid implementing the playoff system. They need to know that football fans deserve the kind of action there used to be just a few years ago, from Rose, Sugar and Gator to the big games at Orange bowl. (Gilbert Don, College bowls on road to nowhere. ) Works Cited 1) Alder. J. BCS vs. Playoff System, 1/5/2006. About. com, Retrieved 1/15/2009 http://football. about. com/od/bowlchampionship/i/bcsvsplayoffs. htm 2) Gilbert Don, College bowls on road to nowhere, January 4th 2009, HOF blog, Retrieved 1/16/2009: http://blog. hofmag. com/2009/01/04/college-bowls-on-road-to-nowhere/ 3) Varnadore Bruce, will college football ever have a playoff? 2003, College football, Retrieved 1/16/2009: http://iml. jou. ufl. edu/projects/Spring03/Varnadore/index. htm How to cite The BCS system versus the playoff system, Papers

Compare and contrast two main sociological theories of crime and deviance free essay sample

Compare and contrast the two main sociological theories of crime and deviance. Deviance and crime are wide-ranging terms used by sociologists to refer to behavior that varies, in some way, from a social norm. Cultural Norms are societys propensity towards certain ideals; their aversion from others; and their standard, ritualistic practices. Essentially the norm is a summation of typical activities and beliefs of group of people. This essay will evaluate the sociological theories associated with crime and deviance and to compare and contrast these main theories. And find links between these theories to today’s society. There are various Sociological deviance theories, including Structuralist: why do some people break the rules? , Marxists: who makes the rules, and who benefits from their enforcement? , and Interactionist: How did this person become processed (labeled) as a deviant? Sociology asserts that deviance is problematic, yet essential and intrinsic to any conception of Social Order. It is problematic because it disrupts but is essential because it defines the confines of our shared reality. According to sociologist , William Graham Sumner, deviance is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores, or codified law (1906). It can be as minor as picking one’s nose in public or as major as committing murder. Although the word â€Å"deviance† has a negative connotation in everyday language, sociologists recognize that deviance is not necessarily bad (Schoepflin 2011). In fact, from a structural functionalist perspective, one of the positive contributions of deviance is that it fosters social change. For example, during the U.S. civil rights movement, Rosa Parks violated social norms when she refused to move to the ‘black section† of the bus, and the Little Rock Nine broke customs of segregation to attend an Arkansas public school. Crime as cited by Mustapha is any action that breaks the law of the land and is punishable by formal controls (2009). Many theories and explanations have been put forward as to w hat cause crime in society, the Macro –sociological theories of crime and deviance are based on the premise that they arise from society’s social structure or organization . Taking the functionalist view in perspective, this approach based mainly on the work of Durkheim, argues that deviant and criminal behaviour plays an active, constructive role in society by ultimately helping to cohere different populations within a particular society. Durkheim postulated that a certain amount of crime and deviance as normal and an integral part of all healthy societies. (Haralambos and Holburn,2008). This is because it acts as a ‘safety valve’, providing a relatively harmless way for someone to express their discontent. For example, Cohen said that â€Å"prostitution performs such a safety valve function without threatening the institution of the family†, this is because he believed this crime of prostitution could relieve the stress in a discrete way without damaging the rest of the clients life. Clinard believed that crime also served the function of acting as a  warning device. This is because the crime indicates that there is an aspect of society that is malfunctioning. So the crime draws attention to the problem within society, which can then be fixed. Durkheim stated that crime in society isn’t genetically produced, but is natural in society. However, he did say that too much crime was dangerous in a society. The functionalist continue to say that deviance and helps to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. It draws lines and demarcates  boundaries. This is an important function that affirms the cultural values and norms of a society for the members of that society. In addition to clarifying the moral boundaries of society, deviant behaviour can also promote social unity by creating an â€Å"us-versus-them† mentality in relation to deviant individuals. Finally, deviance and crime is actually seen as one means for society to change over time. Deviant behaviour can imbalance the social  equilibrium  but—in the process of restoring balance—society will adjust norms. With changing norms in response to deviance, the deviant behaviour can contribute to long-term social stability. This provides the key to understanding the  disruption  and recalibration of society that occurs over time. Some traits that could cause social disruption will be  stigmatized. As traits become more mainstreamed, society will gradually adjust to incorporate the formerly stigmatized traits. Take, for example,  homosexuality. In urban America 50 years ago, homosexual behaviour was considered deviant. On the one hand, this fractured society into those marked as homosexuals and those unmarked as normative heterosexuals. While this us-versus-them mentality solidified social  identities  and solidarities within the two categories, there was nevertheless an overarching social schism. As time went on, homosexuality came to be accepted as more  mainstream. To confirm an article entitled â€Å"Most say homosexuality should be accepted by society† reveals that among the findings from the latest  Pew Research Center political typology survey, released May The survey conducted ,stated that while the public is divided over same-sex marriage, a majority of Americans (58%) say that homosexuality should be accepted, rather than discouraged, by society. Among younger people in particular, there is broad support for societal acceptance of homosexuality. More than six-in-ten (63%) of those younger than 50 – 69% of those younger than 30 – say that homosexuality should be accepted. Far fewer of those 50 and older (52%) favour societal acceptance of homosexuality. On this note, Merton developed on Durkheim’s point that too much crime is dangerous to society . Merton observed American culture. He said that this society bought into the ‘American dream’ of having a successful career with lots of money, material possessions and a nice family. Merton said that in a balanced society everyone will be happy, however, he said American society isn’t balanced, so when people struggle to live up to societies norms and values they try and find other ways of achieving this success, and act normlessly. Merton called this a strain to anomie, and it is this normless behaviour which he said caused crime in society. Merton said there are five ways in which members of American society could respond to this strain to anomie: Conformiity, Innovation, Ritvaiailism, Retreatism, Rebellion. Merton believed the pressure exerted on people to succeed, a strain to anomie, meant that if they didn’t they would act normlessly to cope, and this could manifest itself in any of the 5 ways mentioned above. There are weaknesses mentioned to the functionalist perspective as   critics say they exaggerates working class crimes and ignores white-collar crimes committed by the wealthy in society.  ­The biggest criticism of Merton’s work is that it doesn’t explain why people commit crimes that can’t be explained by a strain to anomie. For example freedom fighters who act criminally because of commitment rather than the effects of anomie. However, evidence shows that after communist countries moved to free market economies (which stress the importance of individual material success) crime rates have rocketed. Similarly, as the UK moved to Thatcherism (which again places more value on material success and hard work) crime rates increased. This suggests that the strain to achieve what society considers ‘success’ can lead to crime, so it supports Merton’s view. However the Marxist perspective has a different view to this, they believe that the capitalist system is responsible for creating crime to protect their interest by reducing strains inherent in the capitalist mode of production, while the functionalist believe that crime and deviance establishes the moral boundaries of the community. Marxist theory suggests that deviant behaviours result from social, political, or material inequalities of a social group. In response to these inequalities, certain groups will act defiantly in order to change their circumstances, change the social structure that engendered their circumstances, or just to â€Å"act out† against their oppressors. An example of conflict theory would be the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in the fall of 2011. Angered at the extreme inequalities in wealth distribution in the United States, protesters began to organize more communal ways of living in Zucotti Park—near Wall Street in New York City—in order to protest the lavish means of life of those at the top of the socioeconomic ladder. The protesters were deviating from social norms of coherence in order to articulate  grievances  against the extremely wealthy. Their actions and perspectives demonstrate the use of conflict theory to explain social deviance. So the ruling class as cited by Mustapha(2009) is keen on maintaining the status quo, that is the norms and values of capitalist society (ideology). The â€Å"soft edge† of control is ideology- the â€Å"hard edge† is the police, the armed forces, the courts and prisons. To concretize an article entitled â€Å"Youth Curfew†, where Commanding officer for the Kingston Western police division in Jamaica, Senior Superintendent Steve McGregor, has disclosed there is to be a curfew for children in the West Kingston community. Under this measure children will not be allowed to be on the streets after 9 o’clock at night. The Marxist would view this as the ruling class way of enforcing their power over the lower class in relation to this planned curfew . Functionalist on the other hand might view this as a natural state as the social order in society is reinforced by law and collective conscience. As the article mentioned that with the aid of community members who are on board with the idea of this curfew will aid the police in curbing gang violence in the division. To conclude, the ideas brought forward b both functionalist and Marxist aid in giving light to the many concerns that revolve around crime and deviance and to open understanding of this. While both theories had their own interpretation of crime and deviance and proved to be applicable to society, there were limitations certain issues that both theories failed to mention. They are nevertheless both important having a greater appreciation of crime and deviance.