sociology exam 2: key terms for deviance and social control

Control theroy

the idea that two control systems - inner controls and outer controls- work agains our tendencies to deviate.

corporate crime

crimes committed by executives in order to benefit their corporation

crime

the violations of norms written into laws

criminal justice system

the system of police, courts, and prisons set up to deal with people who are accused of having committed a crime. 

cultural goals

the objectives held out as legitimate or desirable for the members of a society to achieve.

degradation ceremony

a term coined by Harold Garfinkel to refer to a ritual whose goal is to remake someone’s self by stripping away hat individuals self identity and stamping a new identify in its place.

deviance

the violations of norms (or rules or expectations)

differential association

Edwin sutherland’s term to indicate that people who associate with some groups learn an “excess of definitions” of deviance, increasing the likelihood that they will become deviant.

genetic predisposition

inborn tendencies (ex: a tendency to commit deviant acts).

institutionalized means

approved ways of reaching cultural goals

labeling theory

the view that the labels people are given affect both how they perceive themselves and how others perceive them, which channels their behavior toward either deviance or conformity

Medicalization of deviance

to make deviance a medical matter, a symptom of some underlying illness that needs to be treated by physicians.

negative sanctions

an expression of disapproval for breaking a norm, ranging from a mild, informal reaction such as a frown to a formal reaction such as a fine or prison sentence.

personality disorder

the view that a personality disturbance of some sort causes an individual to violate social norms.

police discretion

the practice of the polices, in the normal course of their duties, to either arrest or ticket someone for an offense or to overlook the matter.

positive sanction

an expression of approval for following a norm, ranging from a smile or a good grade in a class to a material rewards such as a prize.

recidivism rate

the percentage of released convicts who are re-arrested.

social order

a groups usual and customary social arrangements, on which its members depend a d on which they base their lives.

social control

a group’s formal and informal means of enforcing its norms.

stigma

“blemishes” that discredit a persons claim to a “normal” identity.

strain theory

Robert Merton’s term for the strain engendered when a society socializes a large numbers of people to desire a cultural goal (such as success), but withholds from some the approved means of reaching the goal; one adaptation to the strain is crime, the choice of an innovative means (one outside the approved system) to attain the cultural goal.

Street crime

crimes such as mugging, rape and burglary

techniques of neutralization

ways of thinking or rationalizing that help people deflect (or neutralize) society’s norms.

white-colar crime

Edwin Sutherland’s term for crimes committed by people of respectable and high social status in the course of their occupants. or example, bribery of public officials, securities violations, embezzlement false advertising, and price fixing.