Objective I propose to creat a YouTube Video that poses certain questions about why elite politicians in the United States choose to engage in deviant acts, in particular, the act of hiring prostitutes that service only government officials and politicians. I will also explore how they choose to deviate inspite the fact that they have many social and moral bonds that should reduce the probability of these elite engaging in such acts.
Interest This is interesting because most people do not automatically associate prostitutes and elite officials in our society. When one thinks of prostitution they probably think of ordinarily criminals/felons who hire the services of a young lady desperate or at least every eager to make money quickly. The general ideas of politicians and government officials, however, are probably opposite that of the regular prostitute scene. A lot of Americans expect all or at least most elite officials to be honest, hard working, honorable and righteous. But the participation of elite officials in deviant acts such as prostitution is far more prevalent than what is expected. In addition, these prostitutes are far more professional, competent and expensive than the average prostitute one would find on a Las Vegas Strip. The sociological relevance of these topics is that it deals with the issue of issue of crime and deviance. The common usage and meanings of crime and deviance often differs from the meanings these words have in the sociological field. Would this special type of prostitution and prostitution in general be considered as crime or is it highly organized form of deviance? And if this is crime or deviance what type of crime or deviance can it be classified as? Also, there are many sociological theories that explain the reasons why many people choose to participate in deviant acts. Some examples of sociological theories of deviance are The Differential Association Theory, The Labeling Theory, Structural Strain Theory and The Conflict Theory. In the process of classifying and explaining these deviant acts many of the sociological concepts will have to be reviewed. So these major concepts in these theories will have to be explored to see if they satisfy any reasons as to why these elite officials would engage in such behaviors. Also, the meanings of crime and deviance have to be explored and dissected to see how to classify these elite cases of prostitution. I suspect that using Gottfredson definition of crime and the above theories that this is deviance not crime and fits under the ideas of White Collar Crime.
Background reading: I will read Wikipedia and The Tenth Edition of Rodney Stark’s Sociology to gain a basic idea of sociological theories and how sociologists classify certain acts.
This assignment may also require that I do reading and Internet research on prostitution and search for previous cases of politicians caught in prostitution acts. It will also be beneficial to see what certain media outlets have to say about this American “crime.”
In addition to make sure I am sufficient enough other with the subject matter I will read other sociology texts on the following topics: Conflict Theory, White Collar Crime, The Structural Strain Theory, The Differential Association Theory and The Labeling Theory.
General Plan I plan to. . .describe the major next steps to get the project done. If working in a team, specify the parts that you plan to do.
Collaborators I hope to team up with a small group of people, especially people with more video editing skills than I have. I also hope to work with highly motivated people who are dedicated to the subject, sociology and school in general.
