A Study of The Concept of Discretion

Susie Co-ed was ill prepared for her sociology exam. The teacher stepped out of the classroom for a moment during the exam and Susie decided to sneak a peek at what she believed was the key. When pressed by her peers to share her information, she generously did so. Of course, all this was unknown to the teacher.

We need to address the situation as it occurred. First Susie was ill prepared that is a given. What is not given is the why. There could have been an emergency in her family, work might have been stressful, the pressures to succeed may have stressed her, or she was just outright lazy and did not prepare. Any one of those givens, she knew she was not prepared and went into that exam looking for an easy answer. The reason I address that is because it shows possible intent to cheat, to act deviant. It would have been just as possible that she would have created a cheat sheet as to see the key and use it.

The situation given deals with three ethnical concerns: the right to privacy, confidentiality, and informed consent. We will first review and define each ethical concern and then apply them to the situation.

The right to privacy is an individuals right to have full protection in person and in property is a principle as old as the common law; but it has been found necessary from time to time to define anew the exact nature and extent of such protection. The professor had a right to privacy in his/her classroom. The key to the test is only to be viewed by the professors and school staff if need be. In this situation Susie blatantly cheated and broke the rules not only of the college but also of society.

Confidentiality derives from the root word confidential and is defined in Websters Dictionary as: 1: marked by intimacy or willingness to confide; ; 2: PRIVATE, SECRET ; 3: entrusted with confidences ; 4: containing information whose unauthorized disclosure could be prejudicial to the national interest; compare SECRET, TOP SECRET. How did Susie Co-ed break the definition of confidentiality? The answers were confidential to the teacher and other college staff.

The definition of informed consent is to consent to by a person or to participation in an activity by a subject after achieving an understanding of what is involved.

We perceive and understand the physical and social world based on a shared sense of order (predictability): the meanings we attach to people, things, and actions. "Otherness" challenges our assumptions, our taken-for-granted sense of normalcy and naturalness At a basic "gut" level it calls into question our basic beliefs and ideas: It threatens us.

At a social level it challenges the social order: the existing web of relationships, values, reality and meaning

Some form of Control is necessary to help maintain Order:

v External: a system of norms, sanctions and enforcement.

Deviance is problematic, yet essential and intrinsic to any conception of Social Order. It is problematic because it disrupts; it is essential because it defines the confines of our shared reality; and it is intrinsic to a conception of order in that defining what is real and expected, defining what is acceptable, and defining who we are- always is done in opposition to what is unreal, unexpected, unacceptable, and who we are not ("We defines They"). If we can accept the reality of change, then designations of deviance are crucial in locating the shifting boundaries of our socially structured reality.

And, when we define someone or some group as deviant- we strengthen our own position and simplify our response to the "other": ignore, expunge, destroy, or rehabilitate them. We convince ourselves of our own normalcy by condemning and controlling those who disagree. Deviance is a phenomenon situated in power: Winners are the good and the normal; Losers are the sick, the crazy, the evil (and they often accept the "label").

Deviance, therefore, exists in opposition to those who attempt to control it-- to those who have:

Losers: Are controlled (executed, shamed, jailed, hospitalized, cared for). They are just not treated as NORMAL. They are STIGMATIZED.

Deviance is not a matter of the cost or consequences of a particular behavior, or the behavior itself. Deviance is a label (PROCESS) used to maintain the power, control, and position of a dominant group.

Deviance is a negotiated order. Deviance violates some groups assumptions about reality (social order). It violates expectations. The definition of deviance defines the threat and allows for containment and control of the threat. The definition of deviance preserves, protects, and defines group interests and in doing so maintains a sense of normalcy. Deviance is a product of Social Interaction.

Susie acted with deviant behavior. Deviance is broken into two main categories, primary and secondary. Primary deviance refers to the initial act of rule breaking. Secondary deviance occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant accepts that new identity and continues the deviant behavior. Once a person accepts that there has been a negative label applied to the as a result of the primary deviance, they are more likely to continue the path of deviance. As was stated before we do not know Susies reasoning for feeling the need to perform the act of deviance by cheating, but it can be concluded that if she accepts her behavior and negative label that she will continue in the secondary deviance by repeatedly cheating on tests or other deviant acts.

You can show your approval or disapproval for morals and ethics you believe in by the act of positive or negative enforcement

Watch your words, they become actions

Watch your actions, they become your

Watch your, it becomes your character

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny

(Anonymous Author, Schlessinger, 1999)

Although it is clear that there are many forces contributing to the temptation to behave in an unethical fashion, it is equally clear that ethical behavior remains, in the end, a choice. Only by ensuring that people understand their ethical options and obligations as well, will the standards the culture demands of them be made clear. Not until such time will people be able to make the choice that exemplifies their ethics and ultimately, their character.