Before the activity I already had an idea of what my opinion on a subculture or counter culture that would have been deemed or viewed as deviant, but it was interesting to listen to my group member's ideas and their views. As they had some point of views I might not have thought of, which changed my perspective after the activity.

I chose this activity for the portfolio because of how many different perspectives and takes on how deviance and subcultures or counter cultures connect.

As someone who also struggles with mental health I already had a brief understanding about the topic but mainly from my own view, however I forget to take into consideration how different cultures have different societal norms which can make ones experience a lot more difficult when dealing then mental illness.

I chose this activity for the portfolio because of how it connects to theories as well as having my own personal connection to the topic as well.

This activity was a little more challenging as there was multiple options I couldn't quite determine which one I wanted to answer or had an answer for. But after talking with group members we were able to find a question of interest and determine an answer for each question and since they were open ended question it challenged us to think more. Which after the activity had me asking myself more challenging questions.

I chose this activity not just for the theories connected the counter deviance but also because I enjoyed how challenging it was for me.

As we know Status frustration mainly talks about youth struggling to reach a certain status and through that feelings of frustration emerge. Now this activity correlates through jealousy of popularity between certain subcultures or counter cultures. which through that could cause deviance to occur, whether it be bashing online through commercials or just on regular social media posts...theres always going to be a group wanting to reach that certain status.

When discussing conflict theory it also comes into play with subcultures and countercultures, since typically subcultures are more dominant. It could provoke a rebellion in counter culture and create a clash between values, social identity or even different levels of radicalism. But ultimately this clash would be based on who's right and wrong which could lead to deviance being an option to prove a point.

I would determine mental illness would connect best with labelling theory due to the social reaction to certain behaviour and in regards to individuals financial or living situation. As talked about in class theres many different cultures that treat mental illness with a type of attitude where it could be a weakness. Or even ecological factors which could also play a role as well.

Your able to connect this with functionalism, as when taking a look at the specific forms of counter cultures being, anti-vaxxers, cults as well as hate groups they all have an issue with how things are ran. Its believed through robert Mertons anomie strain theory that society(s) will push for deviance when forced to conform to societal traditions and norms.

As well as experiencing this is my own middle school, someone had created an account supposedly representing the school and their secrets, but the objective of the account was to expose the individuals and their secrets. Causing rumours to spread about different people and caused certain people to get bullied. Those individuals who experienced bullying from this account matched the description of risk factors for victimization being that most of them were girls, they had low self esteem as well as social anxiety.

In school they offered asynchronous learning for those who had anxiety to attend school and would do so through zoom meetings. As well as making masks mandatory, in and out the house. Also making group gatherings over 5 restricted at a point.

To this day the effects of the pandemic have changed everyones lives, emotionally and mentally, not just in Canada but across the globe.

Through studies on cults it shows that through other cases such as the charles manson its the demand for power and control which drives them.

In this case the church/cult following mackenzie would have been the counter culture and the subculture would have been society or even religous groups. Which he felt he had to pave his own way which to him was the right way.

As for how to apply it, it would just make me more cautious in terms of how different subcultures or counter cultures might feel about certain aspects of behaviour or words being used, and taking that knowledge to make myself more aware.

As for something id want to learn would probably be going depper into different types of mental illnesses which can cause deviance to occur such as a schizophrenia case and how that could link to deviance as opposed to depression.

As well as even just taking the time to look through society when I come to interact with groups to determine if they could be apart of a counter culture as opposed to a subculture.

I was able to gain different perspectives from group learning and through these weekly activties as well as even just a think pair share.

Deviance to me even before and after the course would mean something thats not deemed correct by society whether it be a crime or not it is still viewed as socially or culturally wrong. It doesn't follow the norm, such as smoking marijuana. Even though it is legal yes its still viewed as deviant for the social reaction to that behaviour for years it ended up having that label as deviant.