Conformity and Deviance

Conformity

Obedience to norms that makes a person acceptable

to a society, group, or setting — accepting cultural

goals and the approved means of achieving them.

Conformity

“A new employee studies the office dress code and

shows up dressed like everyone else on their first day

— even though no one told them to.” example of?

Deviance

The recognized violation of cultural norms — e.g.,

crime, a violation of a society's formally enacted law. It

is socially constructed:

False; society itself decides what counts as "deviant."

T/F: society does not decide what counts as "deviant."

Deviance

“Jaywalking is a crime in one city and completely

normal in another — the same act is bad only

where the community has defined it that way.” example of?

Social Control

Attempts by society to regulate people's thoughts and behaviors — checking deviance so that

norms and conventions are safeguarded and preserved.

Social Control

Society's way of keeping conformity and deviance in balance

True

T/F: Social control is characterized by being sometimes gentle, sometimes strict.

Social control

“A resident throws a loud party past midnight. Neighbors

first give disapproving looks, then complain directly, and

finally call the police when the noise doesn't stop.” example of?

1. Direct control

2. Indirect control

Types of Social Control

Direct control

Regulates behavior directly, through primary social groups: family,

neighborhood, and play-groups.

Indirect control

Regulates behavior indirectly through secondary groups — customs,

traditions, rationalized behavior, and public opinion.

1. Labelling Theory

2. Gossip

3. Laws

Mechanisms of Social Control

Labelling Theory

Society labels an individual as “deviant,” and the community

treats them with distrust, fear, or hate afterward

Gossip

Common in small, close-knit communities. Talking behind

someone's back reinforces norms and punishes deviants through shame.

Laws

Formal codes of conduct backed by negative sanctions when

violated. Only those with recognized authority may impose them

Robert Merton

Strain Theory — advanced by sociologist ______?

Strain Theory

Deviant behavior occurs when people feel strain

or tension between the cultural goals society tells

them to pursue, and the limited legitimate means

available to actually achieve them.

strain

Society tells everyone to “get rich and succeed,”

but a person from a poor neighborhood may be

shut out of good schools and jobs — that gap

between the goal and the means is the ____.

True

T/F: Criminal deviance doesn't only come from a lack of culturally approved means to

succeed — it can also come from having easy access to unconventional (illegitimate)

means instead.

1. Conformity

2. Innovation

3. Ritualism

4. Retreat

5. Rebellion

Five Responses to Strain

Conformity

Accept the goals and pursue them

through approved methods.

Innovation

Accept the goals but pursue them

through disapproved means.

Ritualism

Follow the approved rules but

give up on the goals themselves.

Retreat

Abandon both the cultural goals and

the approved means.

Rebellion

Reject existing goals and means,

and replace them with new ones.

False; Conformity and deviance are fundamentally linked—each exists only in relation to the other, defined and regulated by the same social forces.

T/F: Conformity and deviance are fundamentally not related