the Roughnecks and the Saints

The article examines how the public and the police perceive two high school gangs’ behavior and image. One of the two gangs examined in this investigation is known as the Saints, while the other is known as the Roughnecks. The essay claims that although these two groups participate in essentially the same activities, their perceptions and treatment of one another are completely different. As the author points out, there are a number of explanations that explain why the two groups are not treated equally while being claimed to participate in nearly identical activities. The first reason that the author uses to explain such discrepancy is the level of visibility each group has. According to the author, the saints in most cases avoid the eyes of the community in most of their operations as compared to the roughnecks (Chambliss, 1973). This is basically because of the fact that the saints have an easy access to vehicles which makes it easy for them to do their funny and prohibited activities away from the community’s eyes. On the other hand, the roughnecks have no access to a vehicle and in most cases have to borrow which makes them stay around town and places which are much open to the public.

The author also notes down demeanor as a factor towards the community’s and police’s reaction towards the two groups. Demeanor as per the author, refers to the way one reacts when under arrest or confronted. According to the article, the saints’ demeanor is much apologetic and remorseful towards their actions. This cuts across both to the police or the teachers in school. This makes them be forgiven and looked at as people who have the ability to improve in their actions (Chambliss, 1973). This explains why the community, the police, and even the teachers are not disturbed by this group’s actions. For the roughnecks, their demeanor is not anything close to being apologetic or remorseful. They choose to fight back something that displays them as disrespectful. This makes the society to view them as people who have no chance to improve and need a lot follow-up. Even in schools, the roughneck group is viewed by teachers as a very disrespectful group which not be tolerated at any given point.

The next factor the author claims bring such reaction is bias. With regard to this factor, it comes out clear that both police and the community are in the practice of creating a bias concerning the various conducts by the two groups (Chambliss, 1973). For example, the author notes that the police and the community view stealing a wallet from somebody as a more serious offense than stealing a lantern from a construction site. This explains the reason as to why the roughnecks who are said to engage in theft more than the saints are viewed as a more destructive and wrong group.

From the above analysis, it is more clear that the two groups all engage in wrongful activities but the difference in the way each is treated and perceived relies on the three factors highlighted above. The factors include bias, demeanor, and visibility. The three factors help in explaining the reason as to why the two groups are handled differently especially by the members of the public, the police, and the teachers. It must, however, be understood that both groups engage in mischievous and wrongful activities despite one being viewed as a better group.

References

Chambliss, W. J. (1973). The saints and the roughnecks. Society, 11(1), 24-31.