Page 196 - Essencials of Sociology

the Functionalist Perspective 169

Down-to-Earth Sociology

Running Naked with Pumpkins on Their Heads or Naked on a Bike:
Deviance or Freedom of Self-Expression?

hey can hardly sleep the night before Halloween, thinking rest of it—uh, that is, don’t watch . . . uh, that is, don’t show
about how they will carve their pumpkins and all the fun anything else. You know what we mean. If you do, we will
Tto come. When night falls, they put sneakers on their feet, arrest you, and you’ll end up on the sexual offenders list.”
the pumpkins on their heads, and run into the street. There “Bad sports,” reply the naked pumpkin runners and the
is nothing between the pumpkins and the sneakers—except naked bike riders, pouting just a bit. “You’re trying to ruin
whatever nature endowed them with (Simon 2009). our fun.”
They join one another for “We didn’t make the laws,”
their annual chilly, late-night run. the police reply, not pleased
Do the gawkers bother them? about the many who have be-
Maybe a little, but it’s all in good come angry at their lack of un-
fun. The crowd is waiting, hoot- derstanding. “We just enforce
ing and hollering and waving them.”
them on. Trying to recover their tol-
“Not so fast,” reply the police erance, the police add, “Just
in Boulder, Colorado, where the wear a thong or a jock strap,
naked pumpkin run is held on and run and ride to your hearts’
the last day of each October. content.”
“You are breaking the law.” The American Civil Liberties
If the naked pumpkin run isn’t Union has stepped into the fray,
enough, the Boulder police also too, saying that nakedness is a
have to deal with the annual form of free speech. Participants
World Naked Bike Ride, which should be able to express their,
has become so popular that it is well, whatever it is they are
held in 70 cities around the world World Naked Bike Ride, New Orleans, Louisiana. expressing.
(Vigil 2009). The naked bike rides
seem to be a celebration of youth and freedom—and as older
people join in, just freedom and maybe the joy of being alive. For Your Consideration
Though the Boulder police have prided themselves on tol- ↑ Here is a basic principle of deviance: As people break rules,
erance, they don’t see the run and ride in quite the same way sometimes deliberately to test the boundaries of acceptable
as the participants do. “The law,” they say, “clearly states that behavior, the group enforces its norms, or bends them to ac-
no one can show genitalia in public.” commodate the deviants. How do the naked pumpkin runners
“Are women’s breasts genitalia?” they’ve been asked. and the naked bike riders illustrate this principle? What do you
“No, those are okay,” replied the police. “But watch the think the result will be in Boulder, Colorado?

sociologists Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin (1960) identified as the crucial problem
of the industrialized world: the need to locate and train talented people—whether they
were born into wealth or into poverty—so that they can take over the key technical jobs cultural goals the objectives held
of society. When children are born, no one knows which ones will have the ability to out as legitimate or desirable for
the members of a society to achieve
become dentists, nuclear physicists, or engineers. To get the most talented people to
compete with one another, society tries to motivate everyone to strive for success. institutionalized means approved
We are quite successful in getting almost everyone to want cultural goals, success of ways of reaching cultural goals
some sort, such as wealth or prestige. But we are far from successful when it comes to strain theory Robert Merton’s
providing everyone access to the institutionalized means, the legitimate ways to success. term for the strain engendered
People who find their way to success blocked can come to see the institutionalized goals when a society socializes large
(such as working hard or pursuing higher education) as not applying to themselves. Soci- numbers of people to desire a
cultural goal (such as success), but
ologist Robert Merton (1956, 1949/1968) referred to this situation as anomie, a sense withholds from some the approved
of normlessness. These people experience frustration, or what Merton called strain. means of reaching that goal; one
Table 6.1 on the next page presents a summary of Merton’s strain theory. The most adaptation to the strain is crime,
common reaction to means and goals is conformity. Most people find at least adequate the choice of an innovative means
access to the institutionalized means and use them to try to reach cultural goals. They (one outside the approved system)
try to get a quality education, good jobs, and so on. If well-paid jobs are unavailable, to attain the cultural goal