Deviant Behavior 1

Becker argues _____________ is far more
common than we assume — much rule-breaking
is never noticed or reacted to at all.

secret deviance

simultaneous model

all factors and causes are assumed to operate at the same time for deviance

sequential model

Deviance unfolds in stages
over time. Different factors
matter at different stages of
the process.

Becker’s approach. Becker argues that this approach is better

FOUR KINDS OF DEVIANCE/CONFORMITY

Conforming

Falsely Accused

Secret Deviant

Pure Deviant

OBEYS THE RULE, NOT SEEN
AS DEVIANT

Conforming

OBEYS THE RULE

SEEN AS DEVIANT

falsely accused

BREAKS THE RULE

NOT SEEN AS DEVIANT

secret deviant

BREAKS THE RULE

SEEN AS DEVIANT

pure deviant

the sequence of movements a person makes
through positions in a system — originally used for
occupations.

career

Becker applies careers to deviance:

Becker applies it to deviance: a person moves through stages, shaped by
“career contingencies” — social-structural facts and personal shifts in
motivation that affect what happens next.
Not just escalation — some “careers” move away from
deviance and back to conventional life.

The First Deviant Act:
Unintended acts

often from not knowing a
rule exists or applies — e.g., unfamiliar
subcultural norms.

The First Deviant Act:

Intended acts

most people feel deviant
impulses; conventional people are held back
by commitment.

The First Deviant Act:

Commitment

accumulated stakes (job,
reputation, family) that make deviance too
costly to risk.

like race or gender, the deviant
label gets treated as first and foremost — before
any other identity.

-causes people to lose friends and jobs

master status

Organized Deviant Group

Membership creates a sense of common fate

and a shared deviant subculture.

Groups offer a self-justifying ideology that

explains and legitimizes the behavior.

New members also learn practical tricks for

continuing with minimal trouble.

This step solidifies the deviant identity —

making a return to conventional life much harder.

LABELING THEORY

Emphasizes “deviance” isn’t
defined by the act itself but how
it’s labeled.

unintended deviance

Sometimes a person engages in deviance initially without even
knowing their behavior or condition is deviant

primary deviance

people act on impulse to secretly try

something once. They don’t see the deviance as part of their

identity.

“master status”

Some people do get caught and/or labeled, which can become part

of their identity and future choices in life

When a person’s self-concept and behavior starts to shift after

being labeled, we call their future actions __________________.

secondary deviance

WHAT IS SOCIAL CONTROL?

Every society — from a nation-state to a small group meeting occasionally — depends

on mechanisms that bring its members back into line.

Not Just Law

Layered & Constant

It Evolves

concentric circles and the 4 social control levels

Intimate Circle

Family & close friends — tied to your self-

image; the most psychologically powerful

ring.

Primary Groups

Persuasion, ridicule, gossip, and (in the

extreme) ostracism/shunning.

Economic Sphere

Job loss, blacklisting — often more

effective day-to-day than the law.

Legal / Political

Taxes, licensing, courts, police — violence

as the last resort.

Bergen’s control mechanism rankings

1) violence and law

2)economic pressure

3) ridicule and gossip

4)ostracism and shunning

WHAT IS SOCIAL CONTROL?

Every society — from a nation-state to a small group meeting occasionally — depends

on mechanisms that bring its members back into line. Without them, Berger argues,

the group simply dissolves. Social control is the process of ensuring conformity from

most people, most of the time, to the norms that the society embraces.

-not just law, but intimacy too

-layered and consistent

-it evolves over time

Conrad traces the rise of a different kind of

social control: one where problems get defined and managed in_________

rather than moral or legal terms.

medical

MEDICALIZATION vs HEALTHICIZATION

MEDICALIZATION-

A moral or social problem gets

redefined as a medical condition. (like alcoholism)

HEALTHICIZATION-

An existing medical condition gets

reframed as a lifestyle or moral

issue.

THREE LEVELS OF MEDICALIZATION

Conceptual- A medical vocabulary is used to frame the problem.

Few clinicians need be involved and no treatment is required.

institutional - Organizations adopt a medical approach

interactional - Physicians are directly involved — a doctor gives a diagnosis or prescribes a medical treatment

5 Stages in Medicalization of Deviance (Conrad and Schneider)

1. Definition: The actions/behaviors being discussed have been

historically viewed as immoral before medicalization (e.g., chronic

drunkenness).

2. Prospection: A medical “discovery” is announced that suggests a

medical/biological basis for the action.

3. Claims-making: Actors connected to medical entities work to

promote a new definition of the action/behavior as a medical

matter. Usually emphasize the scale of the problem.

4. Legitimacy: Medical actors fight to get legal authorities or others to

see the medical perspective as correct and cede the oversight of

the issue to medicine.

5. Institutionalization: The medical understanding is widely accepted

and ”diagnosis” becomes part of the process.

criminalization vs. medicalization

Criminalization - accompanied by moral panic that justifies punishment

-stigmatizes individuals as a threat to order

-linked to racial and ethnic minorities

medicalization- frames behavior as medical condition rather than a moral issue

-reduces criminal stigma

-historically extended more towards white people

A mixed-methods design

-content analysis- taking media document and analyzing content that is shown

-vignette experiment 1-

-vignette experiment 2-

Case 1-

Media Framing

Media Framing-

coverage was mostly on ethnic and minority groups in the black community

-federal ad campaign used to frame black community

-explicit moral panic language described crack addiction as spreading uncontrollably through cities

-legislation named after white individuals

Human cost: Michael Harris

-19 year old black man swallowed crack cocaine during arrest to avoid charge. they did not care when he said he felt sick

The “good kid” archetype

the natalie clappa law named for a teen who died from hroin overdose champianed by law makers.

Experiment 2 showed ***5

-support for criminal charge was highest for black men

- support for treatment rose sharply for white men, and rose further still when the drug was heroin rather than crack

Berger

social control operates through countless channels- law, institutions,

Conrad

medicalization is one of those channels. it redefines counts as deviant and who is responsible for fixing it.

Lindsay and Vuolo

Sykes and Matza (1957)

-People in deviant subcultures often still feel guilt or shame about violating rules

-” Deviants” often admire and respect law-abiding people

techniques of neutralization of those guilty feelings/cognitive dissonance

Adolf Eichman

1. 1.denial of responsibility- “i am not responsible for this act.”

2. 2.Denial of Injury- “No one got hurt so this is not bad”

3. 3.Denial of Victim- “Act of revenge. They deserved it”

4. 4. Condemning the condemners- “You’ve done worse!”

5. 5. Appealing to Higher Loyalties- saying higher powers or authorities are better and say something else

ADHD

conceptualization

Three different views on what deviance is and what Becker’s view is and his criticisms on each other view:

The statistical view- deviance is behavior that varies or deviates too far from the average

Problem: this lumps people who haven’t really broken a rule with people who are murderers and traffic violators

The pathological view-Deviant behavior is pathologically deranged in comparison to normal behavior. This is a more medical view

Problem: There is no common view on what exactly constitutes a “healthy behavior”. It takes from the medical view and model that many physicians and psychiatrists would use to solve a problem in the body., buty who creates what normal behavior is? Society, which is always changing.

The rule-breaking view- failure to conform or obey a group’s rules

Problem: We all belong to different groups and what constitutes each groups rules versus another is quite ambiguous. Obeying one group’s rules may mean breaking another’s

Becker’s view is the Labeling view - it is not the act itself that causes a person to be an outsider, but the specific social group and their reactions. If the label given by the group successfully sticks, then that person is considered deviant.

what is beckers idea of a deviant career and career contingeny?

A deviant career is the series of sequential events that happen at different stages as a person gets increasingly involved in deviance. It is the socio-structural ladder they can climb, or they can also come back down. They don’t necessarily have to be getting more deviant. A career contingency refers to the relationship between social-structural facts and personal motivations or shifts in motivation to overcome a label or not. It is the shifts or points within that career that either drive them further into deviance or away from it.

How is it that a deviant act whether its intended or not, lead into a deviant career? how does that happen?

One deviant act can begin an almost self-fulfilling process, as it starts with a label. The person may commit a deviant act. The social group may recognize that act as outside of their social norm and label that person as deviant. That label alone makes people act differently towards that person or exclude them. Then, this may make the person start associating with other people who are labeled as deviant as a form of acceptance, thus perpetuating that label further into a deviant career. It is like a self-fulfilling domino effect.

What impact does joining a deviant group have on identity and behavior?

Just as joining any social group, it may serve the individual as a sense of belonging to that label, but more so, it is shared fate. Joining a deviant group really solidifies that deviant identity and makes going back to conventional life much harder. Deviant groups come with their own forms of subcultures, rules, and teachings that reinforce/legitimize the deviant behavior.