Defining Deviance Up
Dear Ester:
I am not certain whether we were to wrap up our conversation yesterday or
today, however, I will send at least one more message. The quote from your last
message is, of course, the crux of the issue that Alan Wolfe raised and has
been at the core of much of my thinking.
I, too, view myself as a religious person; however, I've been mostly out of
the church since I left a Lutheran seminary in 1958. Having studied Christian
existentialism, indeed all existentialism, avidly in college and seminary, I
was wrestling with the idea of freedom from secular and religious institutions
in terms of my personal morality quite early. And, for me, morality is a very
personal issue. Over time, however, as the power of authoritative institutions
waned--church, state, even family--I was increasingly struck by the reality
that while many have handled their "moral freedom" responsibly, many others
have used lack of external constraints to exploit and prey on
others--personally, financially, sexually, violently, etc. Moreover, I became
persuaded that society's reluctance to come down on such persons for minor
incivilities and offenses, in one sense, trapped these people--especially young
persons--into believing that there were no consequences for anything. So, we
decriminalized virtually all minor offenses, we refused to confront young
persons meaningfully for minor offenses--in New York City even burglary was for
all practical purposes decriminalized (police didn't even bother investigating
it)--and to use Moynihan's phrase, we "defined deviance down." To get into
trouble, one really had to be a "bad-ass"--that is be outrageously
confrontational and violent. Authority was a bad joke to them until they ran
into "three strikes, you're out": the disastrous outcome for both society at
large and individuals when society fails to meet its responsibility to take
preventive actions early--both nurturing and controlling actions.
So, I still wrestle with your phrase about moral authority. How can society
maintain civility when everybody is "free" to define personal morality on their
own terms, while some members of society are eager to use this "freedom" to
intimidate, exploit, and prey on others?
To provide an answer to my own question--"Why now" does the "great
disruption" seem to be receding?--I would suggest that society in broad terms
came to an understanding in the late 1980s that we had largely lost control of
a relatively large number of youths and public spaces. And, a new idea
developed: We had to enforce a balance between individual liberty and personal
responsibility--certainly with nurturing and moral authority, but even with
state authority.
Anyway, I hope that sometime we can really have breakfast. I hope that your
kids are well. I checked on my grandchildren (four) yesterday, and all seem to
be doing well. (One refused to be seated in the school bus, and consequently
ran into a massive assertion of parental authority.)
Be well,
George
