Becoming a Hit Man

Research Question

In the article, “Becoming a Hit Man” Ken Levi discusses the deviance of a hit man named Pete and Pete’s recount of his profession. When Levi started this research, he wanted to know how the hit man, who generally shares society’s ban against murder, fully aware that his act of homicide is unlawful, self-serving, and intentional, and does not have the usual defenses to fall back, manages to overcome his inhibitions (a feeling that makes one self-conscious or unable to act in a relaxed manner) and avoid serious damage to his self-image.

World Views:

There are many worldviews that are included within this article. One of those views is the exchange theory, which is people make decisions depending on the rewards they will receive in exchange for the price they must pay. Basically, people commit deviant acts or behaviors because they view the end results of their actions or choices as worth the decisions they made. The article addresses the question of whether the profession as a hit man is worth going to jail for killing people. Many times why people acquire that kind of profession is to earn money to make a living and to build up their reputation to earn more money. Levi notes this idea in the article, “To him big money meant not only a way to earn a living, but also a way to maintain his professional reputation” (91). Reputation and money go hand in hand because reputation reflects how much money the hit man earns when hired for a kill; however with money there is always that sense of egotism that comes with it. For instance, when ones reputation is high and he or she popular among clients, that person may feel a sense of pride within themselves and might use this pride to justify their profession.

A second worldview is Idealism, which is a qualitative method that discusses the accounts that people give and how rules they make for their actions are real. The research involved in this study was a collection of interviews from the hit man to better understand how the hit man manages to overcome his inhibitions, and avoid serious damage to his self-image, knowing quite well of the society’s ban against murder. Usually, one way is through symbolic interactionism, which is an interaction that are guided by symbols that have been rooted or compatible with what people are aware of. In the article, most of the symbols used were to negate every aspects of the occupation. For example, the reference to his victims as targets was to impersonalize or relief any attachments to his victims. “After that, Pete says that killing became routine. He learned to view his victims as “targets,” rather than as people” (94). In contrast, Levi states hit men need to have a cold heart in order to perform their job, which is intended to symbolize those hit men, do not feel any remorse or empathy for their victims. Pete emphasize[s] that ‘heart’ is the determining factor in becoming a professional hit man (96). Moreover, Phenomenology is the concern with how people classify and label one another. We notice the different labels used within this article, such as hit, it, targets, cold heart, and hit man are labels. This his way of impersonalizing his victim, “reframing the hit,” and justify his line of work. Pete states, “ ‘Like in anything you do, when you do it, you want to do it just right…on your target and you hit it, how you feel: I hit it! I hit it!’ this focus on technique, helps the hit man to ‘deny responsibility’ and intent”(92).

We discuss Realism, as conceptual things that may not be observed, but are underlying structures, such as his line of work is described as a job but this is not just any work a deviant one. We see this through Historical Materialism, which is a structure explained by patterns of relationships, which includes alienated workers separated from ownership of their work or by society. Pete, the hit man is an alienated worker because he works alone as a freelance agent and get paid for his job and his occupation in done in secretly away from the society. Mostly due to the stigma held against hit men’s, so to avoid this he alienates himself from the society and people

We conclude with the last world views as conflict theory, which is an inevitable theory that is seen within each social aspect. Because of his deviant acts the hit man is always in conflict with society, he stray away from the society norms of what is right and wrong. He knows his job can lead to many consequences, so he take precision to secure himself so he does not get caught. Also he is conflicted with himself such as learning how to view his victims as targets and showing no emotions or remorse towards his “targets”

Author’s Methods

Ken Levi taught sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio and