Sociology

Mary Goods question regarding the effective steps that must be taken in stopping Fee from going to raves and taking drugs does not require an immediate answer without the benefit of a more profound study on the problem first.  In restating the problem, it is clear that Mary might be serious in pressuring her daughter to avoid both drugs and raves.  In fact, she applied sanction to press her point.  The sanction would have been enough to compel Fee to succumb to what Mary wanted.  However, Fee was clearly not serious in agreeing to her mothers proposition.  Mary has been a heavy marijuana user herself.  When Fee pointed this out with her laughter, Mary retracted her demand that Fee stop using drugs.  Instead, she insisted only that her daughter should stop hanging out with her best friends.  Mary considered Fees best friends as bad influences.  It was easy for Fee to agree with it because, apparently, her mother was not around to check what she would be doing.  Even if she did agree, it was also clear that she was not really convinced about not taking drugs anymore.  After all, her mother actually conceded with a lesser demand.  Under such circumstances, there was basically no effective control over Fees behavior.  It only took a little egging from her best friends and she was went to the rave, ingested heavy doses of drugs and landed in the hospital later. 

Fee was obviously was obviously into deviant activities since she was spending more of her time hanging out with friends in raves and taking drugs.  Deviant events are behaviors and the circumstances in which these occur.  This circumstance involves the deviant person, the victim, the situation in which they interact, and the historical context that ties them both.  In Fees case though, she was both deviant and victim, which is what usually happens to people suffering from drug addiction.  The raves and her friends provide situation in which her deviant behavior victimizes herself.  The history that prompted this is Fees mothers influence, herself a drug addict.  Actually, both Fee and her mother are secondary deviants.  Primary deviants may commit some acts considered abnormal or unacceptable by group or society they belong to.  Secondary deviance, on the other hand, is cultivated when the deviant role is played too often and when it is boosted with the presence and interaction of persons with similar conduct.  Fee had a circle of drug addict friends and she had a place to go to mingle with similar personalities and behavior.  The information also said that Mary was a pothead.

However, there was an absence of social control in her case.  Although her mother was pressuring her to avoid drugs, this still was not effectual not because of her distance but because of the fact that Mary was pothead too.  Although Mary is now interested in knowing the proper means of social control, it is best that she is made to understand first conditions and implications that revolve around Fees drug problem.

It must be explained to Mary that although Fee was very much involved in deviant behavior, there is still a possibility for her to change provided that proper social control is applied.  It must also be pointed out to Mary that her being a drug user was a contributive factor to Fees deviant behavior.  There may be influences external to the family though, such as her best friends.  However, her family, particularly her mother, was not in the proper standing to provide social control.  Social control is the explicit action or statement by a person with an objective to increase or decrease the prospect of an ensuing situation and to achieve what is desired.  It can be achieved through the process of internalization and sanction.  Internalization is a process that requires the individual to belong to a group that upholds norms.  By merely assimilating the norms of a group or of society, an individual identifies what is acceptable behavior and what is not.  Therefore, he or she consciously applies restraint self-restraint in line with the norms.  Sanctions, on the other hand, are the reactions of a group or of society to what is perceived as abnormal or unacceptable behavior.  These are, therefore, forms of external coercion that can be done through rewards and punishment.  Rewards are given to those who turn their backs on deviance.  Punishments are meted on those that continue their deviant behavior, especially if these already harm other people or compromise their properties. 

In Fees case, there was no way for internalization process to be implemented. Although there was no mention whether her family is dysfunctional or not, the information alone that her mother is a hooked to marijuana does give the impression that Fee was not with a group of people with norms similar to that with most of society.  Granting that she knew her mother as a pothead early on,  her ability to distinguish even at a younger age of what is right and wrong, what is acceptable behavior and not, and what normal and abnormal was surely blurred already.  It only took another external condition provided by her friends and the raves for her to be hooked on drugs later.

There are options that may serve as solutions to Mary and Fees problem with drug addiction.  The approach may be three-pronged one that strikes all factors that contributed to the worsening of the problem.  These will require positive sanctions, internalization of group norm, and the use of the law as a form of formal control. By internalization of a group norm, both Mary and Fee must turn their backs on conditions and persons that will only encourage them to continue their deviant behavior.  This means that they have to choose their friends, having only those that do not do drugs.  Not all raves are binges on drugs.  Therefore, while Fee may still occasionally go to these parties, what is important is that she is with company that does not tolerate drug use.  Soon, she will be accustomed to the norms of her wholesome group and she will begin to think of drug use as act that will only let her lose friends and earn ridicule instead.  Internalization of the norm should be applied at home too.  This means that Mary too has to turn her back on drugs and the people who encourage her from doing this.  Instead, she should join groups that can reinforce her effort in keeping herself drug-free.  Her success in doing will also positively affect Fees on efforts. 

In the case of Mary and Fee, punitive actions may not work on them too soon. Being hooked with drugs for a long period of time, they may only strive to keep their deviant behavior hidden so as not to get punished since, internally, they still do not see the reason why they should stop taking drugs.  However, positive sanctions may be provided to them to complement their process of internalization.  In whatever form appropriate, both should be given rewards for every sign of progress they show in steering clear from deviant behavior.  The rewards will serve as inspiration for them to continue the struggle of transforming themselves.  These will also make them feel that society appreciates their efforts.

While Mary and Fee takes serious exertion in staying on the path acceptable by society, the law should also be used not against them but on the conditions that encouraged them to sustain playing deviant roles.  Drug dealers must be identified, arrested, and prosecuted.  If those raves happen to be just outward shows to cover up drug dealings and binges, these should be stopped by the authorities.  Those responsible for holding such kind of parties should be held responsible and prosecuted.  If not, clubs and bars that host these deviant activities should, at least, be sanctioned legally.

Entering a drug rehabilitation facility may not be a very effective measure.  It has been said earlier that one of the factors that inspire deviants to commit unacceptable behavior is when they are in the company of fellow deviants and victims.  Being in a rehabilitation facility dissociates them from society and immerses them with characters of similar tendencies.  Therefore, they only identify themselves not with the rest of the normal members of society but with the drug addicts.  This forms a self-conception that they can only be part of the deviant population and not with the rest of society.  In such circumstance, the objective of turning away from drugs and preparing themselves to join society may not be achieved.  In fact, they may even get the feeling that that they have been isolated from society because of their deviance.