Last week, I participated in an online symposium convened by the American Enterprise Institute marking the thirtieth anniversary of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s seminal essay “Defining Deviancy Down.” Though it’s less well-known than Moynihan’s 1965 study,
This comment was emailed in by Pastor C. Stanley Morton. I'm posting it here with his permission.
Dear Prof Loury,
Wow! That was a fantastic summary of the situation facing our people. I got your Substack email version, but I hunted down the YouTube and played it for my wife. In our subsequent discussion, we came to see four processes that have transformed our capacity to identify and deal with deviance.
1- Defining Deviancy Down - you described it well
2 - Reimaging Deviance - Kay Hymowitz's point - looting becomes the cry of the poor and a legitimate expression of frustration with oppression, for instance.
3 - Medicalization of Deviance - restlessness which used to call for discipline is now defined as ADHD or whatever and medicine is administered.
4 - Politicization of Deviance - the criminal has become a freedom fighter for justice against the strictures of society that prevent them from becoming their unique selves. I wonder if a recent book on Mr Floyd seems to be heading in that direction?
Together, these processes have made it almost impossible to figure out what is the framework or script for building a functional life in reality. This is where biblical wisdom comes in, I believe.
Great insights shared by Prof Loury and the other participants in the discussion! Indeed events vindicated Moynihan and others who saw the proverbial writing on the wall and like prophets spoke out but were ignored by the populace which in the post civil rights dispensation preferred lies to the truth.
While I hope a good portion or summary of this sees the light of day beyond this site and group, this will most likely not happen. The msm and progressive elites simply cannot fathom any factual reasoning for what is going in the lower echelons of the black communities other than it being oppression, systemic racism or lack of “ social Justice”. Everyone should read Thomas Sowell’s latest book, Social Justice Fallacies. As he is so great at doing, he rips apart todays fallacies with superb empirical data. As he notes, “ consequences matter, and should matter, more than some fashionable theory”. He notes in another passage “that equal opportunity has been changed to equal outcomes…all based on the social justice perspective of myths presented as history, and assertions presented as facts. “ i do not see this changing, yet the fight must continue.
A range of opinion is voiced by these four speakers, as well as a range in terms of their clarity of expression such that their points of contention are difficult to locate. That, I guess, is the air they breathe in academia. My simple observation is that just because a society defines deviancy down to make behaviors once unacceptable now acceptable does not necessarily contribute to making people happier with their lives and choices. This assumption that human beings are infinitely flexible in nature ought to have been ditched a long time ago.
This comment was emailed in by Pastor C. Stanley Morton. I'm posting it here with his permission.
Dear Prof Loury,
Wow! That was a fantastic summary of the situation facing our people. I got your Substack email version, but I hunted down the YouTube and played it for my wife. In our subsequent discussion, we came to see four processes that have transformed our capacity to identify and deal with deviance.
1- Defining Deviancy Down - you described it well
2 - Reimaging Deviance - Kay Hymowitz's point - looting becomes the cry of the poor and a legitimate expression of frustration with oppression, for instance.
3 - Medicalization of Deviance - restlessness which used to call for discipline is now defined as ADHD or whatever and medicine is administered.
4 - Politicization of Deviance - the criminal has become a freedom fighter for justice against the strictures of society that prevent them from becoming their unique selves. I wonder if a recent book on Mr Floyd seems to be heading in that direction?
Together, these processes have made it almost impossible to figure out what is the framework or script for building a functional life in reality. This is where biblical wisdom comes in, I believe.
Keep up the good work!
Great insights shared by Prof Loury and the other participants in the discussion! Indeed events vindicated Moynihan and others who saw the proverbial writing on the wall and like prophets spoke out but were ignored by the populace which in the post civil rights dispensation preferred lies to the truth.
Glenn Loury is a national treasure
While I hope a good portion or summary of this sees the light of day beyond this site and group, this will most likely not happen. The msm and progressive elites simply cannot fathom any factual reasoning for what is going in the lower echelons of the black communities other than it being oppression, systemic racism or lack of “ social Justice”. Everyone should read Thomas Sowell’s latest book, Social Justice Fallacies. As he is so great at doing, he rips apart todays fallacies with superb empirical data. As he notes, “ consequences matter, and should matter, more than some fashionable theory”. He notes in another passage “that equal opportunity has been changed to equal outcomes…all based on the social justice perspective of myths presented as history, and assertions presented as facts. “ i do not see this changing, yet the fight must continue.
There's a fascinating article in Unherd tangential to this discussion: California's criminals need an audience
https://unherd.com/2023/10/californias-criminals-need-an-audience/
A range of opinion is voiced by these four speakers, as well as a range in terms of their clarity of expression such that their points of contention are difficult to locate. That, I guess, is the air they breathe in academia. My simple observation is that just because a society defines deviancy down to make behaviors once unacceptable now acceptable does not necessarily contribute to making people happier with their lives and choices. This assumption that human beings are infinitely flexible in nature ought to have been ditched a long time ago.
Striking and poignant that Moynihan remains so relevant today. Very powerful, Glenn.