SOC 224: Part B Youth and Deviance

Oct 28 - Nov 6

Social Typing: Sk8ter Boi (Avril Laveinge)

Description: Skater boi

Evaluation: Rebellious, a loser, out-of-control → don’t fit social standards

Prescription: Rejects/ turns him down → “not the one, you let meet your parents” / ‘type of guy, you hide your feelings for”

What are the statistics for youth crime date by gender and age?

Gender: males at all ages are more likely to commit crime

Age: from 14-16 theres a huge spike for both genders / from early 30’s start to decrease

What is the trend for youth crime severity index?

• 2006 - 2007 : spike

• 2009 : decline

• 2021 - covid : spike again

Why →

1. structure is disrupted, aka no school

2. socioeconomic factors, job insecurity and increased aggression

What is the reality vs perception of youth crime?

Reality: Strong decline since early 2000’s

Perception: youth are out of control and commit more violent offences

• Huge gap due to media (moral panic), social media (echo-chamber), myopic view (pick out specific ie) spikes vs LT trend)

What are troubling youth?

Primarily a risk to others

• ie) crime; gangs

What are troubled youth?

Primarily a risk to themselves → people are more sympathetic towards this group

• ie) substance use

What is the objectivist approach on deviant youth?

“Why do young people engage in deviant behaviour?”

• Views deviance as behaviour and actions that breaks established social rules or norms, regardless of how others react to it

What are the biological/ genetic factors related to youth deviance?

the role of the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal lobe development

What is the role of the nucleus accumbens?

involved in rewards circuits

• has DA → correlated to good feeling and excitement

• this section develops much quicker

What is the role of the prefrontal cortex?

is the command centre → looks at the long term view

• helps coordinate proper decisions

• this section develops much slower

What are the psychological factors related to youth deviance?

Risk factors: Increase the likelihood of deviant behaviour

• ie) poor mental health and low esteem

Protective factors: reduce likelihood

• ie) personal responsibility, interpersonal abilities, and resiliency (optimistic thinking, self-regulation)

What is the psychoanalytic theory pov for deviant youth?

Can result from unconscious conflicts and an imbalance between the id, ego, and superego

• Id domination

  • 1. too strong for superego to tame and ego to negotiate

  • 2. normal Id but weak superego

What is ID? (Sigmund Freud)

pleasure seeking without thinking about consequences → compulsive

• is unconscious

What is Superego? (Sigmund Freud)

has internalized societal restraints/ norms

• tries to balance desires with reality → reasonable

What is Ego? (Sigmund Freud)

balances/ negotiates ID and superego

• conscious thought → represents morals and society's rules

What is the cognitive information-processing theory pov for deviant youth?

Can result from how young people interpret situations, process information, and make decisions

• behaviour results of a 3-step process

  • 1. interpret situation

  • 2. search for best response→ poor decision-making

  • 3. act on decision

What is the moral development theory pov for deviant youth?

Can be influenced by how developed a young person's understanding of right and wrong is

• moral development is a 3 step process

  • 1. Preconventional (3 - 7 Y)

    • depends of rewards and punishment

  • 2. Conventional (8 - 13 Y)

    • depends of society rules and expectations

  • 3. Post-conventional (adulthood)

    • depend on personal ethical principles → justice and fairness

What is conduct disorder?

A mental health condition in children and teenagers involving a repeated pattern of behaviour that violates others' rights or social norms

• ie) animal abuse, typically anti-social

What is the subjectivist approach on deviant youth?

“Why are certain young people or behaviours labelled deviant by society?”

• Focuses on how society labels certain young people or behaviours as deviant, rather than what causes the behaviour

What is the general strain theory pov on deviant youth?

They engage in deviance when they experience stress, frustration, or negative emotions and struggle to cope → not only economic

• sources

1. blocked from any positively valued goal → unable to achieve goal

2. loss of something valuable → ie) parent died

3. experience of noxious stimuli → ie) bullied

From Agnew

What is the differential opportunity theory pov on deviant youth?

Occur when young people have lack both legitimate and illegitimate means to achieve goals → have double failures

• they withdraw from society’s expectations and turn to drug use/ sex trade subcultures

From Cloward and Ohlin

What is the status frustration theory pov on deviant youth?

Engage in deviant behaviour when they feel frustrated because they cannot achieve the social status or respect that society values

• structure of society is reproduced in the classroom

  • focused on meritocracy but their status and income → affects their benefits

  • works hard but don’t succeed → internalize failures and blames themselves

• tend to be racialize and based on class

From Cohen

How do youth react to the status frustration theory?

Youth may reject society's standards of success and create their own standards where deviant behaviour is rewarded → gain respects from peers

• will establish set of oppositional standards → ie) bully A+ students

What is the difference of deviance seen between genders?

• Females : engage in indirect, relational, and socially aggressive deviance

  • rates are similar to boys, and even higher at times

• Males : engage in more serious/ violent offense

  • Rates are significantly and consistently higher than females

What is the moral panic of female violence? (The case of Reena Virk)

Society becomes extremely concerned about violence among young girls, especially because girls are traditionally expected to be gentle

• ie) Reena Virk → beaten and murdered by 8 youth (1 boy and 7 girls)

  • media focused on Kelly Ellard → “Killer Kelly”

What is ‘Nasty girl’ moral panic?

Represents projection of late-modernity anxieties onto crime

• viewed as sinister products of feminism

• western promotion of “bad girls” → correlating to “girl power”

From Barron and Lacombe

What is the conflict theory pov on deviant youth?

Is influenced by social inequality and power differences

• Powerful groups create and enforce rules that often disadvantage less powerful youth

What is Karl Marx pov on deviant youth?

Capitalism creates inequality between the wealthy (bourgeoisie) and working class (proletariat) → contributes to deviance

• wants to establish a communist society

  • a classless society, where resources and means of production are owned collectively not by private owners → equality

What is structural marxism?

The capitalist system itself benefits the wealthy, even without their direct control → how system works

• politicians are not just puppets of the elites, have own interests

• ie) laws and institutions tend to protect businesses and private property because the economy depends on capitalism

What is instrumental marxism?

The wealthy directly control laws and institutions to protect their interests → who controls the system

• politicians are puppets for elites and governments

• ie) Wealthy business owners influence politicians to create laws that benefit them

What is the instrumental theory of deviance pov on deviant youth?

Focused on inequality in decision-making of public policies and laws

• Wealthy elites use their power to create and enforce laws that protect their interests

• crime = political concept → meant to suppress those without power

• ie) pharmaceutical company

What is differential treatment hypothesis pov on youth deviance?

Youth from disadvantaged groups may be treated more harshly by the justice system than privileged youth, even if they commit similar offences

1. police focus minority groups → racism

2. police surveillance higher in communities with high levels of poverty and social disorder

3. race and ethnicity influence police discretion → racial-profiling