Sociology 2c06

Category 1: Situational Relativity

Based on the lecture, situational relativity is that whether the behavior is deviance depends upon the situation, explaining as the same behavior in one situation regarded as deviant but not in another.

The proper example is a news story that the person in charge of a Winston-Salem jewelry store who shot and killed an armed robbery suspect will be innocent and no charges accused. There were three masked suspects armed with guns entered the store and two of them threatened customers and workers, while one suspect was smashing the display cases and beginning to remove the jewelry. As the incident occurring, the person in control of the jewelry store was fear of his life and the lives of employees and customers, and fired one robbery suspect two shots by gun.

In general situation, killing someone’ life is a deviance and will be accused and punished by court; however, in the news above, the person who shot the robbery suspect received no charges because the situation is different. According to the situational relativity, considering homicide as a deviance should depend on different situations, meaning that killing someone’s life is fine if he or she is doing something wrong, like threatening other people’s lives. The appropriate explanation of the news story is that the person in charge of the jewelry store was suffering looting from the suspects and aiming to protect his and others lives by shooting the robber. The offenders were threatening others, robbing the store and should be punished; the victim was only to defense himself and other people. Therefore, the person who shot the criminal will be innocent and regarded as self-defense instead of being accused of homicide.