SOC180 Week 1-5 Readings

Erikson’s Deployment Box

The concept that social control agencies (police, courts) are "deployed" to maintain a specific volume of deviance that a community finds useful.

Standard of Deviance (Erikson)

The idea that the amount of deviance a community "discovers" remains relatively constant over time, matching the capacity of its control agencies.

Commitment Ceremonies

Formal rites of passage (like trials or jailings) that strip an individual of their old status and provide them with a "deviant" status that is difficult to lose.

Circular Return (Erikson)

The phenomenon where the very institutions designed to "cure" deviance (prisons/asylums) actually reinforce the deviant identity.

Stability of the Deviant Label

Unlike other roles, once a person is labeled deviant, they are rarely "rewarded" for returning to normal behavior

Community as System

A social unit that seeks to maintain a "steady state" by regulating the flow of people across its boundaries.

Cultural Identity (Erikson)

The sense of "belonging" that is sharpened when the community distinguishes itself from "the outsider."

Public Scaffolding

The visible presence of social control (policing) that reminds the "normal" population of where the boundaries are.

Informal Sanctions

Subtle social cues (gossip, cold shoulders) that Erikson argues are often more effective at boundary maintenance than formal law.

The Functional Paradox

The idea that if deviance were totally eliminated, the community would lose its sense of moral identity.

Sociological Universality

Durkheim’s claim that because crime is found in all societies, it must be linked to the fundamental conditions of social life.

Collective Sentiments

The shared beliefs and values of a society

The Utility of Crime

Crime allows for social change by providing a path for "originality" and "moral evolution" (e.g., Socrates was a criminal but paved the way for new thought).

Dynamic Elasticity

The way collective sentiments adjust

Punishment as Ritual

The purpose of punishment is not to deter the criminal, but to heal the wound dealt to the collective conscience.

Pathological Crime Rates

Crime only becomes "bad" (pathological) when the rate is so high it threatens social order or so low it suggests total stagnation.

The Healthy Organism

Durkheim’s metaphor for society—just as a body needs bacteria, a society needs some deviance to remain "healthy."

Repressive Law

Laws aimed at punishing those who offend the collective conscience, common in smaller, "mechanical" societies.

Social Morphology

The structure and "shape" of society that determines the nature of its deviance.

The Burden of Uniformity

The "pathological" state where a society is so conformist that no one is allowed to be different.

The Outsider

A person who is believed to have broken a rule and is consequently viewed as a special kind of person who cannot be trusted.

Rule-Breaker vs. Deviant

Becker’s distinction that a person can break a rule without being "deviant" until the social audience reacts and applies the label.

Societal Reaction

The critical "third step" in deviance: 1. Rule exists, 2. Rule is broken, 3. Society reacts. Without step 3, there is no deviance.

Master Status (Becker)

A label (like "Ex-Con" or "Drug Addict") that overrides all other identities (like "Father" or "Electrician").

Auxiliary Traits

The stereotypes people associate with a master status (e.g., assuming a "drug addict" is also a "thief").

The Sequential Model

Becker’s argument that deviance is a process of "becoming" through stages, rather than a single choice.

Moral High Ground

The position taken by those who create rules to enforce their own version of "right" on others.

Differential Labeling

The fact that rules are applied more often to the poor, minorities, and the powerless than to the elite.

False Accusation

When an individual is labeled "deviant" despite not actually breaking any rules.

Secret Deviance

When an individual breaks rules but is never caught or labeled by society.

Culture vs. Structure

Culture defines the "goals" (wealth)

The American Dream (Merton)

The specific cultural goal of monetary success that is pushed on all classes regardless of their starting point.

Democratization of Consumption

The pressure to "keep up with the Joneses" which fuels innovation/crime among the lower classes.

Institutionalized Means

The socially approved ways to get what you want (school, hard work, saving money).

Strain (Merton)

The psychological and social pressure that occurs when there is a "gap" between goals and means.

The Conformist

The most common adaptation

The Innovator

Accepts the goal (success) but rejects the means (laws)

The Ritualist

Abandons the goal (success) but clings to the means (mindless rule-following)

The Retreatist

Rejects both goals and means

The Rebel

Rejects both goals and means and seeks to replace them with a new social order (the "revolutionary").

Magnitude of Strain

Strains are more likely to lead to crime if they are large, long-lasting, or frequent.

Unjust Strain

The perception that a negative event was "not fair," which is more likely to trigger an angry, deviant response.

Goal Blockage (Agnew)

The failure to achieve positively valued goals (e.g., money, status, or autonomy).

Removal of Positive Stimuli

A type of strain caused by losing something good (e.g., a breakup, death of a parent, or being fired).

Presentation of Negative Stimuli

A type of strain caused by being forced into a bad situation (e.g., bullying, abuse, or a bad neighborhood).

Negative Affective State

The "bridge" between strain and crime, specifically Anger

Cognitive Coping

Managing strain by "thinking differently" (e.g., "it's not that bad").

Behavioral Coping

Managing strain through action (e.g., exercising to reduce stress instead of fighting).

Social Support (Agnew)

The primary "buffer" that prevents strain from turning into crime.

Conditioning Variables

Factors like temperament, intelligence, and peer groups that determine how an individual reacts to strain.

Medicalization

Defining human problems as medical conditions to be "cured" by doctors.

Biotechnology

The new "engine" of medicalization (e.g., pharmaceutical companies marketing drugs directly to consumers).

Consumers as Drivers

Patients who demand medical diagnoses (like ADHD or Fibromyalgia) to validate their experiences.

Managed Care

Insurance companies that dictate which "medicalized" behaviors get covered and which don't.

Demedicalization

The rare process where a condition is no longer seen as a sickness (e.g., Homosexuality in the DSM).

Expansion of Medical Jurisdiction

When doctors gain control over behaviors previously managed by religion or law (e.g., alcoholism).

Prozac Era

A shift where we use pills not just to cure disease, but to "optimize" normal personalities.

Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA)

Commercials that tell viewers "Ask your doctor if [Drug] is right for you," bypassing traditional medical authority.

The "Broken Brain" Narrative

Reframing social deviance as a chemical imbalance to reduce social stigma.

Medical Social Control

Using medicine to enforce "normalcy" (e.g., using Ritalin to keep children quiet in classrooms).

Social Pathology

Lemert’s term for the study of people who are "stigmatized" or "disqualified" by society.

Primary Deviance (Lemert)

Minor rule-breaking that doesn't define who you are

Secondary Deviance (Lemert)

When a person starts using their deviant behavior as a way to defend themselves against society's labels.

The Deviant Career

A sequence of steps where a person moves from "normal" to "fully deviant."

Societal Reaction (Lemert)

The "independent variable" that causes secondary deviance to occur.

Objective vs. Subjective Deviance

The difference between the actual act and how that act is interpreted by others.

Normalizing Primary Deviance

The way friends and family often "make excuses" for a person's behavior to avoid labeling them.

Internalization

The moment a person stops saying "I made a mistake" and starts saying "I am a criminal."

Degradation Rituals

Public events (like a sentencing) that "lower" a person's social standing.

The Role of the Audience

Lemert’s focus on how the "reactors" are more important than the "actors."

The Folk Devil

A person or group who is portrayed by the media as the "enemy" of society.

Inventory (Cohen)

The initial "stock-taking" by the media where they exaggerate the damage of an event.

Exaggeration and Distortion

Taking a small event (like a beach scuffle) and making it sound like an apocalyptic riot.

Prediction (Cohen)

When the media "warns" that the deviant behavior will happen again, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Symbolization

When an object (like a leather jacket or a "hoodie") becomes a symbol of the "Folk Devil."

Moral Barometers

People (like judges or bishops) who speak out during a panic to "measure" how bad the moral decay is.

Sensationalism

Reporting that focuses on shock value rather than facts.

Mods and Rockers

The specific 1960s British youth groups Cohen studied to develop his theory.

Mass Media as "Engine"

The claim that moral panics cannot exist without the amplification provided by newspapers and TV.

The "Disaster" Analogy

Cohen’s idea that societies react to moral panics the same way they react to natural disasters.

The Youth Control Complex

A "web" of institutions (police, teachers, probation officers) that work together to criminalize youth.

Hyper-Criminalization

When a youth's every action (walking, talking, dressing) is seen as a potential crime.

Punitive Social Control

Discipline that focuses on "punishing" rather than "mentoring" or "teaching."

The Shadow of the Law

The way even "non-criminal" institutions (like schools) start acting like the police.

Criminalized Peers

When a youth is punished just for being friends with someone who has a record.

The Stigma of Probation

How being on probation makes a youth a target for police even when they are doing nothing wrong.

Resistance as Deviance

When youth act out as a way to maintain dignity, but teachers see it as "criminal" behavior.

The "Guilty" Label

The assumption that a youth from a certain neighborhood is already a criminal.

Labeling as Exclusion

How being labeled "gang-affiliated" locks youth out of jobs and legitimate social life.

Community Policing (Rios)

Often acts as "community surveillance" in marginalized neighborhoods.

Enclave vs. Integration

The shift from needing a "safe space" (enclave) to wanting to live anywhere (integration).

The "Post-Gay" Era

A time when sexual orientation is seen as "just one part" of a person's identity, rather than the defining part.

De-Gaying

The process where gay neighborhoods lose their specific "queer" character as straight people move in.

Residential Imagination

The way we "map" our cities in our minds (e.g., "the gay part of town").

Cultural Anchors

Institutions like gay bars or bookstores that keep a neighborhood's identity alive.

Assimilation (Ghaziani)

The desire to "blend in" and be "just a neighbor" rather than an "outsider."

The Paradox of Progress

The idea that the more successful the gay rights movement is, the less "gay neighborhoods" are needed.

Commercialization

When gay neighborhoods become "tourist spots" rather than residential communities.

Safe Haven

The historical role of the gayborhood as a place to avoid violence and discrimination.

Urban Enclaves

Geographical areas where a minority group is concentrated to provide social and economic support.