Chapter 8: Deviance and Self Control

deviance

violation of norms

stigma

“blemishes” that discredit a person’s claim to a “normal” identity

social control

a group’s formal and informal means of enforcing norms

sociobiologists

explain deviance by looking for answers within individuals

street crime

crimes such as mugging, rape, and burglary

psychologists

focus on abnormalities within the individual

personality disorders

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

sociologists

search for factors outside of the individual

differential association theory

people who associate with some groups learn an “excess of definitions” of deviance, increasing the likelihood that they will become deviant

control theory

operates on the general premise that we as individuals are bombarded with opportunities to engage in deviancy

degradation ceremony

a term coined by Harold Garfinkel to refer to a ritual whose goal is to remake someone’s self by stripping away that individual’s self-identity and stamping a new identity in its place

labeling theory

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

techniques of neutralization to deflect norms

denial of responsibility, injury, a victim, condemnation of the condemner, appeal to higher loyalties

techniques of neutralization

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

strain theory

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

illegitimate opportunity structure

opportunities for crime that are woven into the texture of life

white-collar crime

Eden Sutherland’s term for crimes that people of respectable of high social status commit in the course of their occupations

corporate crime

executive breaking the law in order to benefit their corporation

capital punishment

the death penalty

medicalization of deviance

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