SOC 1000 PART 3.5

what is deviance

what is deviance

violation of social norms + response to the violations

what is crime

deviance that is against the law

what is law

a norm stipulated and enforced by government bodies

formal punishment

penalization by the judicial system for breaking the law

informal punishment

mild sanction that is imposed during face-to-face interaction rather than by the judicial system

what is social diversion

minor act of deviance that is widely recognized and violates folkways

does a social diversion have consequences

not any formal consequences, but an individual may be seen as a weirdo

what is a social deviation

a serious act of deviance that is agreed to have social harm

does a social deviation result in consequences?

yes, often result in institutional sanctions, but not criminal sanctions

stigmatization

a process of negatively evaluating people because of a marker that distinguishes them from others

victimless crimes

violations of the law in which no victim has stepped forward and been identified

self-reported suveys

surveys that ask whether they have been involved in criminal activities as perpetrators

street crime

crimes including arson, break, and enter, assault, and other illegal acts that are disproportionately committed by people from lower classes

white-collar crimes

illegal acts committed by respectable, high-status people in the course of work

what are conflict crimes?

deviant acts are criminalized, but have controversy about whether they should be criminalized

what are consensus crimes

deviant acts that are criminalized and that are universally considered morally unacceptable

what is an institution self-concept?

the story of what the institution is, what they do, what it is within society

what is the conservative theory of crime?

crime is an undesirable or pathological phenomenon caused by individual moral failure

what is the liberal theory of crime?

crime is an undesirable or pathological phenomenon caused by social problems (poverty, lack of education, unemployment, etc.)

labelling theory

holds that deviance results not so much from the actions of the deviant as from the response of others, who label the rule breaker a deviant

strain

the result of a culture teaching people to value material success, but society failing to provide enough legitimate opportunities for everyone to succeed

control theory

• rewards of deviance and crime are ample

• everyone would engage in deviance and crime if they could get away with it

• people are prevented from violating norms and laws accounts for variation in the levels of deviance and crime

what does Durkheim believe about crime?

• crime exists in all society

• Even in societies in which the punishment for deviant behaviour is death, it still occurs

what is a manifest function?

the consequences of a social institution's organization that are a part of that institution's self-concept

ex. the function of the university is to educate students

what is a latent function?

consequences that are unintended and often hidden but are important to maintaining social structure

ex. the function of the university is to facilitate the reproduction of the social institution of the family

medicalization of deviance

the process of applying medical definitions to deviant behaviour, a practice that is becoming more prevalent

moral panic

widespread fear that occurs when many people fervently believe that some form of deviance or crime poses a profound threat society’s well-being

mechanical solidarity

‘cohesion within a society based on shared beliefs, lifestyles, and occupations’

what is the relationship between a criminal and an officer?

symbiotic and stabilizing

what is the difference between the perceived vs. actual rate of crime?

the actual rate of crime has gone down since it's spike in the 90s, but when asked, people are increasing scared of crime, age had an influence on fright

recidivism rate

the percentage of imprisoned people who commit another crime, usually within two years after release from prison

restorative justice

focuses not on punishment but on rehabilitating offenders through reconciliations with victims and the larger community

why are people more scared of crime?

the way the media presents crime and the fact that crime is more accessible as new ways of committing crime have been created (via internet)

what can contribute to victimization?

the social spaces a person grows up in can unequally distribute the life of crime or likelihood of being a victim

why are some people considered 'real victims' while others seem to be 'acceptable victims'?

the culture and preexisting notion of racism and socio-economic status allows for a 'justification' of who real victims

what is internal social control?

social control done by socialization that shapes attitudes to view deviant behaviour as undesirable comes from within

what is external social control?

imposes social punishment and offers rewards to externally force conformity

what is panopticism?

a power structure in which everyone is aware that they could be being watched by authorities at any time

what is a panopticon?

a building designed to allow a single watchman to observe inmates of an institution without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched

who are the founding fathers of sociology

marx, weber, durkheim

what is theoretical pluralism?

the fact that the way sociologists theorize is not united, but they agree that using multiple methods is the right way to understand society

why does observation need theory?

there is no such thing as 'pure observation' as culture and bias are ties into everyone's observation

cultural hegemony

control of a culture by dominant classes and other groups to the point where their values are universally accepted as common sense

poststructuralism

• originated in france

• denied the stability of social relations and of cultures, their capacity to always shape how people think and act, and the tidy categorization of social and cultural elements as binary opposites

postestant ethic

• belief that religious doubts can be reduced and a state of grace assured if people work diligently and lived modestly

• according to weber, it had a unintended effect of increasing savings and investment → stimulating capitalist growth

symbolic interactionism

• school of thought that examines how various aspects of social life convey meaning and thereby assist or impede communication

what does 'all observation is theory laden' mean?

the idea that what we experience and observe is affected by our background beliefs, habits, and learning
→ all observation involves observing

what does theory replace

theory replaces the unconscious assumptions we make with explicitly stated assumptions

advantages of good theory

• encourages researchers to interrogate their own assumptions

• encourages fair criticism

• organizes observations so they can be understood coherently

ontology

ontology is concerned with the nature of existence (or what exists)

what are ontological reasons

reasons concerning the nature of existence

epistemology

concerns the nature of reliable knowledge; how do we know what we know? what counts as evidence?

what are epistemological reasons?

reasons concerning the nature of reliable knowledge

epistemology in sociological theory

foundational epistemological assumption in sociology: methodological pluralism

explain theorizing observations: categories

determining what observations should be grouped together
numerical, operational, ex. income, status class

explain theorizing observations: processes

determining how different processes interact with each other

marx + marxism (karl marx, 1818-1883)

• wrote before the institutionalization of sociology

• an early example of an “interdisciplinary thinker”

• formally an economist, but also considered philosophy, history, etc

• historical materialism

what is marx’s sociological theory called

historical mechanism

what is historical mechanism

looks for the causes of developments and changes in human societies through economic analysis, explains that the forces are always in tension

what is the biggest of the social forces for Marx?

structure

what is mode of production

the system that allows a society to achieve the collective production of the means of subsistence

what are the components for the mode of production?

• the means of production

• the relations of production

means of production

the facilities and resources for producing goods

relations of production?

the way a society's social relations are organized to regulate access to and control over resources necessary for generating the society's subsistence and needs

what classes are at battle according to Marx?

the proletariat (workers) and the bourgeoise (owners)

dialectical tension is responsible both for

1. historical change within some consistent MoP

2. historical change from one MoP to another (revolution)

verstehen sociology

the social world cannot simply be described, it must be interpreted

what are the most important factors in Weber's sociology?

• structure

• ideology

what is class according to weber

a person’s relationship to the economy

what is status according to weber

a person’s relationship to the “cultural order”

what is the Protestant work ethic?

the view that a person's duty is to achieve success through hard work and thrift, such success being a sign that one is saved

catholicism

transgression is forgiven via confession (clergy is in between the individual and their relationship with god)

lutheranism

• translation of the bible into german

• emergence of the cultural idea of the “calling”

• what is ‘calling’ for you

calvinism

• dogma of predestination

• commitment on working even after needs are met

what is the order of social forces from biggest to smallest in Durkheim's sociology?

• structure

• ideology

• agency

what is Durkheim's sociology?

sociological study presents social facts and are external of individuals

durkheim vs weber

• durkheim coined the term ‘social fact’, indicating there are forces beyond the individual that affected their behaviour

• weber said that individuals need to understand the meaning put on their behaviour to understand society

what holds society together

• society naturally tends towards stability

• constant need for society to manifest solidarity

solidarity

social cohesion and it is associated with societies that are stable and orderly

what would happen to societies lacking solidarity

become disorganized and disordered

what was the solidarity in a traditional society according to Durkheim?

• mechanical solidarity

• social cohesion is achieved when people have things in common

  • religious belief

  • moral judgement (durkheim’s theory of crime)

what was the solidarity in a modern society according to Durkheim?

• organic solidarity

• social cohesion is achieved when people are objectively inter-dependent

  • economic interdependence

what are the 3 components that lead to social reproduction according to Bourdieu?

habitus, capital, and field

what is habitus?

a social agent's way of being in the world

what are the two factors of habitus?

• presentation (the way one carries themselves)

  • bodily comportment

  • physicality

  • style of speaking an vocab.

• subjective experience (what things a person likes, how they evaluate importance)

  • spontaneous judgement

  • aesthetic taste

  • evaluation

  • assessment of importance

the professional classes reproduce…

a habitus that is reserved, demur, controlled, outwardly unemotional

the working classes reproduce…

a habitus that is more gregarious, straight-forward, and emotionally expressive

where is habitus produced?

in childhood through socialization

working class parenting

• Natural growth

• Lots of opportunities to engage in exploratory learning

• Parental involvement = authoritative

middle class parenting

• Concerted cultivation

• Systematic organization of child’s time

• Lots of opportunities to practice learning via instruction

• Invitations to participate in family decision making and activities

what is the field?

an arena of social activity

• the economy

• field of cultural production (art)

• education system

what is field logic?

every field has its own unspoken field logic which are the rules of the game and what is/isn't acceptable

who determines field logic?

those in power in that field

what is capital?

the value that a capitalist invests in the ownership of the means of production

what is cultural capital?

non financial social assets that promote social mobility beyond economics

• ability to play an instrument, knowledge about literature or fine art

• ability to be evaluated as someone who “knows what they are talking about” when it comes to culture

• institutionalized cultural capital: university degrees, professional honours and awards

how does the education act a meritocracy?

as the playing field in the public school system is set up to cultivate middle class children as they have already had experience with learning via instruction

how does the education create a cycle of meritocracy?

• from one family to the next will reproduce the cultivation of cultural capital

• still requires the child to do the work

• but the class background primes the child to do the work

education attainment

number of years of school that students complete

educational achievement

how much students actually learn

stereotype threat

the impact of negative stereotypes on the school performance of disadvantaged groups