Question

In his study of New England's Puritans, Kai Erikson concluded that

a. people everywhere define mostly the same things as deviant.
b. very religious people create very little deviance.
c. even this disciplined and highly religious group created deviance to clarify the moral boundaries of their community.
d. the proportion of people in the population that the Puritans defined as deviant kept rising over time.

Answer 1

Kai Erikson found that New England's Puritans created deviance to establish moral boundaries, supporting the idea that deviance can positively maintain social order. Historians vary on the impact of Puritanism, but it undeniably shaped early American society and values.

Step-by-step explanation:

In his study of New England's Puritans, Kai Erikson concluded that even this disciplined and highly religious group created deviance to clarify the moral boundaries of their community. This notion aligns with the sociological perspective that deviance can serve a function within a society, as suggested by sociologists like Émile Durkheim who postulated that deviance is necessary and can reaffirm social norms when it's punished. The Puritans, with their strong religions convictions and emphasis on communal virtue, inevitably defined and dealt with deviance to maintain the social and moral order crucial to their community's identity.

Through history, perceptions of the Puritans have varied, with some historians seeing their impact on American society as largely negative and others suggesting their influence was substantial in shaping American values. Regardless of perspective, it's clear that Puritanism and its values, including its disciplinary aspects, played a significant role in the early history of America.