The Importance of Understanding Social Deviations among Adolescents

The Importance of Understanding Social Deviations among Adolescents
Writer :
Nusation Anwar
Editor :
Early Febriana
Translator :
Intan Qonita N

Reading articles from several local online media about incidents of social deviations towards public facilities, which were carried out by a person or group of teenagers speeding along the city's main street some time ago, is truly sad and concerning. The efforts of the local government to improve the city and pamper its citizens by providing social facilities, playgrounds, recreation, and relaxing areas must accept the heartbreaking reality caused by the nosy and dirty hands of their own citizens. These unscrupulous citizens must have damaged the good faith of the local government as well as tarnished the good name of the community. It's as if the madness and silliness are being shown in a vulgar and cheap way to the public that social behavior like this shows the image of the habits of the people, even though the social reality doesn't necessarily show all of that as incidents like this can indeed happen anywhere and at any time. So, is there anyone who should be blamed or responsible for deviant behavior like this….? Certainly, more in-depth investigations are needed into cases that perhaps are not only cities in Bangka Belitung.

The emergence of a person's behavior is inseparable from the reciprocal relationships that occur in the learning process and the influence of the situation in his life. Deviant behavior can be influenced by various factors, including an identity crisis, family environment, community environment, or association as well as weak self-control and self-control. Before discussing this article, the author cites several sources, one of which is from gramedia.blog that social deviance or deviant behavior is an action or behavior carried out by a person or a group that is not in accordance with the social norms that apply in a community or group that has agreed on rules or social norms. The question is, do social deviations such as the destruction of public/social facilities violate state law?

From another point of view, the book Sociology of Introductory and Applied Texts was released in 2004. According to Marshall B. Clinard and Robert F. Meier who explained that deviant behavior or social deviation has four points of view, namely: first, statistically, that deviant behavior or deviant Social behavior is any behavior that is contrary to the behavior or actions that are commonly carried out. Second, in absolute terms, it is meant that deviant behavior or social deviation is any behavior that is considered an act of deviating from the existing norms or rules of a group or community environment. Third, according to the activists, deviant behavior or social deviation is a social phenomenon that occurs due to the actions of a person or individual which results in a reaction from the community environment in which he is located. Fourth, normatively means that deviant behavior or social deviation is a deviant act committed by someone as a result of violating the norms or rules that exist in society.

Returning to the behavior of destroying public facilities above, in the view of most people, both lay and knowledgeable (intellectual), any form of action that results in anxiety, damage, misery, loss, and distress for oneself or others is not a commendable attitude of behavior and it is considered despicable. especially if it is against the law. The habit of destroying public facilities is classified as a mental illness or an action that is contrary to the rules of positive law. Sociologists generally categorize deviant behavior or social deviation into two types based on their nature and behavior, namely positive deviation and negative deviation. Negative deviance can be interpreted as deviant behavior that has or has a negative impact on the social system because it has elements that are demeaning and always cause bad things to happen such as theft, robbery, vandalism, abuse, bullying, and rape.

Destruction of public or public facilities is a form of intolerable deviation, causing harm to other people or the regional government. Deviant behavior is generally defined as behavior that is considered contrary to the norms or regulations that apply in society. There are several factors that make a person have deviant behavior, one of which is psychological problems. There is also an assumption that deviant behavior can be subjective and contextual. This means that a behavior that is considered deviant in one place may be considered normal in another, depending on the prevailing culture, norms, and rules of society.

However, according to criminal law experts, vandalizing public facilities is a criminal offense accompanied by criminal sanctions. The criminal delict of vandalism is an act of violating the law by damaging or destroying the method carried out by an individual or a group of people, eliminating the usable nature of the item. As explained in Article 406 of the Criminal Code regarding vandalism which reads; "whoever deliberately unlawfully destroys, destroys, renders unusable or loses something that totally or partially belongs to another person, is threatened with imprisonment for a maximum of two years and eight months or a fine of up to IDR450,000".

Responding to the problem of the emergence of social deviations that occur not only in cases of destruction of public facilities, but the authors also draw from several sources, it is alleged that there are several situations or factors that can influence the actions or actions of social deviations, including:
1) Changes in social values ​​and norms. As time progress, there are often several groups of people who cannot keep up with these developments, so the values ​​or norms they have become different from the others and are often grouped as deviant behavior;
2) Imperfect socialization process. Deviations that occur to an individual due to the lack of counseling, information, and education regarding good and correct principles or norms;
3) Labeling theory is a theory that describes deviations that can occur when a person or individual has previously formed a negative stigma from the people or groups around him. So, they think that their good or bad grades have no effect anymore because their environment is already under-estimated (negative) towards them;
4) Anomie theory is a theory that describes deviations that can occur when a person or group does not have values ​​and norms that can be held and used as a guide in life in a community environment so that they have the possibility to carry out deviant behavior or social deviations;
5) Differential Association theory is a theory that describes deviations that can occur when a person or individual can be influenced to engage in deviant behavior if he continues to interact with other individuals who have deviant traits.

Introducing behaviors that have the potential to be deviant or abnormal should be given early to the younger generation, especially our youth. The inculcation of value systems, social norms, legal norms, ethics, and religion cannot only rely on educational institutions such as schools/madrasas but involves all components, especially the family environment. When teenagers are more dominant in getting their life values ​​outside (read: community), they will develop behavior and group value systems that are not necessarily aligned with the prevailing normative value system. Why should the establishment of a value system or life norms be introduced to the younger generation institutionally because the critical period in the search for identity and self-recognition takes place significantly at the age of under 25 years? If not, the inculcation of values ​​actually moves wildly and uncontrollably which allows for the emergence of anomalies in social attitudes and behavior which in turn will lead to stagnation of the ethical young generation.

It is the roles and responsibilities of regional government and related stakeholders, youth organizations, mass organizations, political parties, and society to understand, educate and embrace the younger generation by opening dialogic space, communication, and openness in accessing the entire development process so that the younger generation feel part and have every process that is observed and felt. Sufficient and clear socialization and information to the younger generation on any change or development paradigm can at least be carried out starting from the lowest level of RT or RW as the subject as well as the object of change or development itself. Hopefully, by introducing historical, juridical, moral, and socio-cultural aspects to the younger generation, especially teenagers institutionally, the importance of understanding development goals and regional progress can reduce the ego and indecision of adolescents in finding identity as children of the country who are always proud and appreciate the struggles of their leaders and their government. properly and correctly.

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