Social Learning Theory and Social Control Theory Becker. (1953) Becoming a marihuana user WEEKLY DISCUSSION PROMPT This

This week you are required to read an article written by one of the most well-known sociology of deviance theorists, Howard Becker.  Howard Becker did his Ph.D. and worked as a professor at the University of Chicago for a number of years.  He has written several of the most popular books in sociology.  One that he is particularly well known for, titled Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, was published in 1963, shortly after the publication of the article you will be reading this week.  In Outsiders, Becker dedicates two chapters to talking about the process of becoming a marihuana user.  One of the two looks at the social learning process that novice users undergo as they learn to use and derive pleasure from marijuana, while the second deals with the social controls that users must learn to overcome.  It is no coincidence that I have assigned this novel reading on the week we cover social learning and social control.  Indeed, social controls are particularly germane to studies of crime and deviance, because we, as a society, seek to control the presence and prevalence of deviant behavior.

One major point that Becker considers is how some behaviors come to be regarded as deviant in the first place, and how it is that people engaging in the ostensibly deviant behaviors learn to overcome the associated barriers.  Ideally, you would read both articles (or book chapters) by Becker that talk about these paralleling learning process (that is, learning to become a marihuana user and then learning to overcome the barriers associated with being a deviant); however, I only ask that you read the one on becoming a marihuana user.  That being said, after you have read the article, I would like you to respond to the following questions and engage your peers in a lively conversation about the reading. 

Specifically, while you read the article, I would like you to note the answer to the following questions and include them in your discussion write up:

1. What are the stages/phases of the cannabis career described by Becker?

2. How do the stages/phases differ and why is this important for our understanding of learned behavior?

3. What unique qualities emerge from the article that you can link to the sociology of deviance?

4. What exactly do people learn as they become regular users?

5. Based on your understanding of the article, how can we deter people from engaging in deviant behavior?

6. Is marijuana use still a deviant behavior, or would you say that this article is now outdated?  If you believe it is no longer deviant, then provide some thoughts as to why 1) you think it is not deviant and 2) what this now means for our understanding of marijuana use.  In other words, if it is not deviant, then does this process of becoming a marijuana user still apply?  It will be helpful to reflect on the social learning perspective and the various ways in which we learn.