Saints Roughnecks Essay, Research Paper

With the social perspective of the wealthy and poor

described in ?The Saints and Roughnecks? written William

Chambliss, there are several theories that are

identified with the two groups of boys. These boys are

both in the same grade and at the same high school.

There is the one group called the ?Saints? and the other

group that are known as the ?Roughnecks.? The ?Saints?

came from affluent families, wore nice clothes, and

drove nice cars whereas the ?Roughnecks? came from lower

class backgrounds, did not have nice clothes and hardly

ever had use of a car.

With the use of Macrosociology and Microsociology we can

understand the social structure and the social

interaction of these boys. With the Labeling theory we

can recognize the power of labels that we are given.

The Conflict theory can also be looked at with the two

groups of boys and there situations.

With the use of Macrosociology and Microsociology we can

look at the groups of boys? social structure and social

interaction to see why they differ. Using

macrosociology we can look at these boys social class.

In school everybody thought of the saints as good kids.

Their teachers often gave them the benefit of the doubt

on tests, regularly giving them higher grades than they

deserved. This opened up many opportunities for their

future by being able to achieve their goals. The

roughnecks on the other hand were thought of as bad kids

who had no direction in life, making it harder to

achieve the few goals that they had. By using

microsociology we can see that the saints were given the

benefit of the doubt most of the time because of their

high-income backgrounds. The roughnecks on the other

hand were never given a chance because they were from

low economic backgrounds. They were monitored closely by

the faculty at the school and were in trouble more

because of this.

The Labeling theory shows how important the labels that

society gives us are. It sets paths in where we want to

go in life and what we want to accomplish. With the

roughnecks hanging out on street corners and the saints

of somewhere else, the roughnecks were ore visible to

the community. The Saints had access to cars and were

often able to get away from the sights of the community

to do there partying, whereas the roughnecks, who did

not have access to cars, could in turn not remove

themselves from the sight of the community. The

community responded to the roughnecks as boys in

trouble, and the group of boys accepted that perception

and the Saints were still thought of as exactly that,

saints. The roughnecks lived up to the labels that the

community had given them. The disrespect and hostility

that the roughnecks constantly portrayed increased the

community’s negativism towards them, making the entire

situation worse.

Applying the Conflict theory we see the class struggle

is the key to the human society. Also, according to

conflict theory, the law is an instrument of repression,

a tool designed to maintain the powerful in privileged

positions and keep the powerless from rebelling and

overthrowing the social order. Where Marx believed that

social class is the most basic division in any society,

Max Weber saw conflict as having many possible

bases–including social class, but also religion, race,

ethnicity, and more. Where Marx believed that class

inequalities would ultimately be ended by revolution,

Weber saw conflict as eternal, although it could take

new forms. Group conflict theory derives from Weber’s

vision. That is why the roughnecks were perceived as

troublesome boys and the saints were looked at as boys

that were ?going somewhere.?