The Sociological Insight On The Portland Stabbing
On Saturday May 27, 2017, three men were atrociously stabbed after they tried to intervene and help two women as they were being verbally abused by a man yelling racial and religious slurs in Portland, Oregon. The 35 year old criminal, Jeremy Joseph Christian, is a convicted felon and a well-known white supremacist. According to witnesses, Jeremy Joseph Christian shouted bigot and racist slurs towards the two women whiched caused Taliesin Myrddim Namkai-Meche, Micah Fletcher and Ricky John Best to get involved.
This led to their to severe physical harm as Christian pulled out a knife and stabbed them. One man was critically injured while the other two did not survive the accident. Christian was arrested and was found guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of second-degree intimidation and one count of possession of a illegal weapon (CNN). How would a sociologist study this social issue or problem? What Research Method would they choose? A sociologist typically examines and interprets society and all its functions such as groups or institutions (sokanu. com). In this case, a sociologist would examine the ideological beliefs and motivations for various political/racial organizations including white supremacists.
Questions such as “why do individuals in certain societies commit violent and heinous crimes while the majority of the 7. 7 billion people in the world do not? ” would be asked by sociologists to get an insight on how humans react and interact in the world. Sociologist would essentially study how individuals such as Jeremy Joseph Christian are influenced by social surroundings and the society in which they are subjected to. Additionally sociologists would observe the social issues of racism and discrimination by conducting interviews by the means of primary research and reviewing case-studies for secondary research (class Notes). Sociologists will conduct interviews about discrimination to avoid potential bias. One example of potential bias is reporting findings. News outlets or academic journals can publish one form of research while disregarding the others (class notes).
Moreover, Sociologists can utilize case studies to gain information on discrimination as the case studies will describe past social issues and discrepancies connecting to discrimination. Connect and explain how your school of thought would interpret the social Issue/problem?
Sociology would interpret the social issue of discrimination by looking at the theories and concepts that are related. The first theory that can be used to interpret the problem is the frustration-aggression theory. This theory states that individuals express intolerance and prejudgments when encountered with individuals and/or groups who they consider different from society. (changingminds. org). In regards to the article, the two women were considered to be different and Christian expressed great intolerance due to his own xenophobic beliefs. Another way of interpreting this social issue is through the concept of overt discrimination. Overt discrimination are the actions that are initially taken out on specific individuals because of a differentiating characteristic. Christian intentionally asserted discriminated against two women on the bus because of their ethnicity and religion. Once again, the two women were scapegoats in Jeremy Joseph Christians mind as he choose to punish them due to their religious affiliations. Furthermore, the ignorance theory can be connected as incorrect conjectures were made about a specific group of people. This is typically caused by the absence of personal familiarity with different societies other than their own. This causes discriminatory behaviour.
What solution might your school of thought offer? One solution sociology offers is rehabilitation. Rehabilitation would help individuals who have had discriminatory and racist views better themselves for society as a whole. Those who profess harmful ideologies will be exposed to cultures, religions, and views differing from their own which will help to foster a sense of respect for the other. These individuals would receive support from people who have the credentials to educate them. Not only would rehabilitation help decrease violence in society, it will also help decrease populations in prisons as it will help them reevaluate poor life choices and to examine the problems leading to their criminal activity. Also, taxpayer money would be saved as there would be less prison costs.
