Oct 30 (mid3)

Objective/Subjective

• Objective

  • deviance is a quality

  • common trait

  • deviance: behaviors or characteristics which have that trait

• Subjective

  • deviance is a process

  • no common trait

  • deviance: behavior that people in power say are in need of control

Deviant youth: objectivist

• next following slides

Biological Factors of Youth Deviance

• Nucleus Accumbens/Prefrontal Lobe development

  • nucleus accumbens is a rewards center and in teens it becomes sensitive which makes youth crave thrills, novelty, and peer approval

  • prefrontal lobe is underdeveloped which is responsible for control and risk assesment

• Risk Factor Examples:

  • FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders)

  • brain injuries

  • Neurodivergence*

  • learning disabilities

  • ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders)

• Protective factors:

  • intelligence

  • athleticism

  • resiliency

Psychological Factors in Youth Deviance

• Risk Factor Examples

  • poor mental health

  • low self esteem

  • antisocial behavior

• Protective factors:

  • intellectual and interpersonal abilities

  • positive self esteem

  • personal responsibility

  • pro-social behaviors

Deviant Youth Psychological Theories

• Social Learning Theories:

  • Operant Conditioning Theory (B. F. Skinner)

  • Modelling/Imitation Theory (Albert Bandura)

• The General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson & Hirschi)

• Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud)

• Cognitive Information Processing Theory

  • Theory of Moral Development (Lawrence Kohlberg)

• Psychiatric Disorders i.e. Conduct Disorder

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Sigmund Freud

• All unconscious

• ID: compulsive, unconscious, pleasure seeking

• Superego: internalized societal restraints; moral conscience

• Ego: balances the ID and Superego in cognitive conscious thought by satisfying ID in a socially acceptable way

Psychoanalytic Theory and Deviant Behavior

• Deviant/crimes may result from:

  • ID domination

  • Underdeveloped Superego

Cognitive Information-Processing Theory

• Behaviour result of complex thought process

  • Three step-process:

1. encode/interpret situation

2. search for best response

3. act on decision

• deviants/criminals may be using information incorrectly when making decisions i.e. misperceived threat; do not recognize the harm they do to others

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

• Moral Development- 3 Stage Process

• PRECONVENTIONAL (3-7 years old)

1. Avoid Punishment

2. Obtain Rewards

• CONVENTIONAL (8-13 years old)

1. Belong and Be Accepted

2. Obey Rules and Regulations

• POST-CONVENTIONAL (adulthood)

1. Make and Keep Promises

2. Live Moral Imperatives

Conduct Disorder

• Symptoms: disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorder, focusing on persistent rule-breaking, aggression, and violation of the rights of others

• Etiology: Interaction between genetic,

  biological and environmental

  factors

Sociological Theories of Youth Deviance

• Emile Durkheim- Anomie

• Trevor Hirshi-Social Bonds Theory

• Robert Merton- Strain Theory

• Robert Agnew- General Strain Theory

• Cloward & Ohlin- Differential Access/Differential Opportunity Theory

• Albert Cohen- Status Frustration Theory

• Regoli & Hewitt- Differential Oppression Theory

Structural Functionalism

• Emile Durkheim: deviance caused by anomie

• Societal Anomie: instability caused by breakdown of norms

• Individual Anomie: lack of social cohesion

Social Bonds Theory

• Travis Hirschi

• Attachment: to family members and friends that you don’t want to disappoint them

• Commitment: spending a lot of effort and time into your achievements and don’t want to lose them

• Involvement: too busy to be deviant

• Belief: trust in society

Robert Merton Strain Theory

• North American society and anomie

  • imbalance between institutionalized goals and legitimate means of achieving them

  • strain experienced owing the distance between the goals and the means of achieving them; strain experienced by blocked opportunities to attain the goal

• Institutionalized Goals:

  • goals that are culturally exalted, including wealth, status/power, prestige

• Legitimate Means:

  • socially acceptable ways of attaining the institutionalized goals in society

Robert Agnew General Strain Theory

• argued that Merton was too focused on economy as only source of strain

• Strain results from different sources:

1. being blocked from any positively valued goal

2. actual or anticipated loss of something valuable

3. actual or anticipated presentation of noxious stimuli

Cloward and Ohlin Differential Opportunity Theory

• Why do individuals adapt to strain in different ways?

  • opportunity structures

• differential illegitimate opportunity

  • some poor people lack both legitimate means AND illegitimate means (criminal gang) to achieve goals, so they have double failures and may resolve to become involved in drug use/sex trade subcultures

Albert Cohen Status Frustration Theory

• The structure of society is reproduced in the classroom

• Children face the middle-class measuring rod

• Lower-class boys will engage in:

  • Mutual conversion-join together with other frustrated children

  • Reaction formation- establish set of oppositional standards for group