Deviance and Social Control

What is Deviance?

• understood as the acts, beliefs and characteristics that violate major social norms

• they attract or are likely to attract condemnation, stigma, isolation, censure and or punishment by relevent audiences

How do we study Deviance

2 main perspectives

objectivist

subjectivist

Objective approach of deviance

• presence of chracterisitcs

• deviant vs. normal

• easily identified

• cause and effect

• the fundamental assumptions

Objective approach of deviance pt.2

Objectivists view deviance as a reality that is

• absalute and essentalistic

• wrong in and in itself

• inherently bad, evil,moral

• pathologically done

• mald in se

• murder, rape, robbery

• violations of the criminal code

Subjective

• nothing inherently deviant

• told/labelled

• label contructs deviance

• societal vs.situational

• process

Identifying Deviance - 4 key characteristics

Something / someone is inherently deviant

1. Statistical Rarity - what is rare?

2. Social Harm- not all deviance is harmful

3. Societal reaction - reactions can change

4. Normative Violation - who creates the norms

Understanding norms

• Standards or expectations for behaviour 

• Prescriptive and proscriptive 

• Sumner's division level of importance and severity of punishment 

Separating crime and deviance

• Deviance is a violation of social norms (informal rules based on cultural customs). These norms vary widely across cultures and situations. Examples of deviance include picking one's nose in public or belching loudly at a dinner table

• Crime is a violation of formally enacted laws (norms specified in explicit legal codes). Crimes are behaviors considered so serious that the state sanctions them with formal punishments like fines, imprisonment, or court appearances.

The Deviance Dance

A way of thinking about the negotiations

• What is or what is not deviant

• What we should do about it

• Who, what , when/where, why

• Who's gonna do something about it?

• The state, social media, people in power( government, different political parties) different groups of power, organizations, teachers, academics, religion and the church - they have expectations of what is right vs. wrong It's an ongoing dance or different moral codes It can go on at multiple different times, sex work, but in line, etc- they all go on in society throughout different topics This happens because of the lack of universal moral corms and innerformity

• What should and what should not be considered deviant: the deviance dance takes place all the time, it may shift and it may change.

Durkhiems Suicide Study

Intergration

• low is egoistic

• high is atrusictic

Regulation

• low is anomie

• fatalistic

Hirschi social bond theory Juvenile delinquency 4 types of bonds with society

1. Attachment - attachment to others, family and friends - this holds us back from engaging in deviance - we have someone to hold us back from the social bond

2. Commitment - commitment to conventional society- we work hard to meet our goals, school, work,- if i engage in deviance all my hard work is lost

3. Involvement - the idea that if your busy you don't have time to get involved in deviant activities, ex- putting kids into after school sports

4. Belief - conventional norms and values- believe in what is right. Vs what is wrong - this holds us back

Merton Anomie And strain Theory

Society facilitates deviance Goals and means - Anomie - Strain - Different ways of adapting Not everyone has the same access to institutionalized means We get these when we accept or People engage in deviance because we have strain Mertain says we can have other reasons besides economics to have strain- negative and positive stimuli Institutionalized Cultural goals Reject: ritualism and retreatism - new rebellion Accept : conformity and innovation

Differential reinforcement

we learn if we should or should not engage in deviance- how deviance is treated- we learn from experiences of rewards and punishments- will i be rewarded for deviant behaviour- consequences for the deviance we learn from this

Sykes and Matza techniques of neutralization

• Pre deviance, getting around control

• We engage in deviance even if we know its wrong and even with the control factors - To explain deviance that does happen- people use different techniques of neutralization to pre justify their behaviour- key is that they believe this happens before we engage in deviance

Sykes and Matza techniques of neutralization- 5 techniques

• 1. Denial of responsibility - blame is directed elsewhere ( not my fault, or not my choice)- peer pressure

• 2. Denial of injury - no ones gonna get hurt - no ones gonna have any harm 3. Denial of the victim - the idea that the victim is deserving of the act done to them

• 4. Condemning the condemners- shifting away from your own defiance and looking at someone else's deviance - I could've done worse- other peoples deviance is the focus

• 5. Appealing to higher loyalties - deviant behaviour is excused bc of the higher purpose- other norms take precedent - driving the getaway car- not ratting out- not being a snitch - other values that take president ( family, friendship and loyalty)

people adapt in different ways - 5 types of adaptation

- Conformity

- Innovation (crime)

- Ritualism

- Retreatism

- Rebellion

various forms of stigma

 

• Bodily - balding - things carry certain stigmas 

• Moral blemishes of individual character - or perceived moral failings of an individual - someone who has an addiction or runs into finicial pronlems bc they do not run their money well

• Tribal “ race, nation and religion- beloning to a particular group - various ways 

• passing as straight - impression management

core assumptions that an interactionist would make about the nature of deviance

1. a deviant is created and maintained through ones interaction with others

2. deviance is a subjective entity and therefore we must reject the idea of things that are intrinsically deviant

Lemerts motion of secondary deviance is similar to tannenbaums description of someone who has been tagged because they both focus on the reaction to forms of deviance and consider how the social reaction can lead to further deviance

true

Discredited

Goffman would use the term -

to describe someone whose stigma is visible and has become known and transparent to others

Which of the following is NOT one of the three basic premises of symbolic interactionism

1. meanings are determined through ones social interactions with another

2. people act based on the meanings that people hold

3. symbolic interactionism is a specific theory that describes why a form of behvaiour happens

4. meanings encounter are handled in and can be changed through an interpretive process when they encounter those things and or the reaction of other

the answer is 3

True

Moral entrepreneurs according to howard becker can be diided into two groups, this includes those who are the rule creators and those who are the rule enforcers

examples of stigma

• shaming

• labelling

• sterotyping

• alientation

Why are photographs important- first option

• photos regularly depict large groups of prinicpally male asylum seekers and refugees often in quues or loitering outside.

• alysum seekers are facless and de -identified

• - the unknowing allows for the contruction of a panoply of feared objects

why are photos important - second option

• close up photos of one or more asylum seekers with their face or their body obscured, or hidden are frequent

• such images appear to show telltale signs of asylums seekers deviant nature

• they have spoiled identities achieved through stigma

why are photos important - third option

mug shots or images of asylum seekers under apphrension for criminal offences substantiate the true nature of such groups and individuals the mug shot verifies our sterotypes, prejudices, and anxieities and is depicted as making visable the very essence of the invdivual

moral panics

A disproportionate social reaction to a percieved threat

summary of the Erich Goode reading

labeling theory is a prediction about what people are likely to do as a result of being stigmatized by audiences, formal or informal. Essentialists argue that deviance can be defined in advance, independent of human judgments and reactions. The chapter discusses the historical and sociological importance of institutional violence. The sociology of deviance is not coterminous with the field of criminology. The chapter highlights that there is a kind of rough “division of labor” between the fields of the sociology of crime and the sociology of deviance.

Mathieu Deflem

This chapter reviews the most important moments and movements in the transformation of the idea of social control in the field of sociology, and indicates some of its potential and implications for theory and research. Influenced by Foucault's ideas, a host of research and theorizing has developed to contemplate on new directions in social control. Generally, historians have turned to the study of social control on the basis of various conceptualizations, broadly corresponding to the relevant variations that exist in sociology and related disciplines

First, there is a tradition in history that focuses on social control in specific terms related to crime and deviance. Second, historians have also, and even more distinctly so, applied the concept of social control in their study of aspects of society that do not involve the institutions of social control purposely oriented at controlling crime and deviance, but that nonetheless fulfill such functions.

DeKeseredy, W., Ellis, D. & Alvi, S. (2005).

The passage explains that although sociologists and criminologists have long studied deviance and crime, there is no single, agreed-upon answer to why people commit criminal or deviant acts. Even with extensive research, scholars often disagree, and anyone claiming a definitive explanation is usually criticized by others in the field. Both professionals and students find the wide range of criminological theories confusing and overwhelming. Rather than covering every existing theory, the book focuses on the most influential sociological perspectives, organizing them into five broad categories: strain, social control, interactionist, ecological, and critical theories. While these categories overlap, they are distinct enough to be useful. Before examining these theories, the book emphasizes the importance of understanding what a theory is and developing a sociological imagination to better analyze deviance and crime.

TANNENBAUMS DRAMATIZATION OF EVIL

Tagging 

Bad thing = ‘bad person’

Contributes to further behaviours, reinforces the label 

Benefits of a spoiled identity 

• Secondary gains = advantage that occurs that is secondary to the application of the label 

• Sick role- the idea of secondary gain- advantages that occur that are secondary to the application of the label- the label does not always need to be negative - there are certain rights and responsibilities from this role- somewhat excused - expect from daily responsibilities 

• Rights- right not to be blamed for your illness - exempt from responsibilities

• 2 responsibilities- you are obligated to try and get better - deviance can be functional 

• Responsibilities 

Braithwaite's reintegrative shaming

• Good and bad shame 

•  Reintegrative- they can reintegrate into society from the learning process  

• Disintegrative - spoiled identity stigmatization of evil - being thrown out of society ( particular) - stigmitization  

conflict theories

• Conflict and competition for power 

• Powerful write the rules, dominant moral codes

• Those less powerful are more likely to be deviant 

Act out 

Defined as deviant 

Why focus on the media 

• Being deviant - it can tell us who is deviant, what we should do about the forms of deviance- deviance dance for negotiations over two things  

•  What is or isn't deviant and what we should do about it- moral codes and moral values through the media 

Why focus on the media 

• Being deviant - it can tell us who is deviant, what we should do about the forms of deviance- deviance dance for negotiations over two things  

•  What is or isn't deviant and what we should do about it- moral codes and moral values through the media 

media vs. media media

Mass media refers to information technologies that permit broadcasting and communications to large audiences 

Commonalities ?- 

However this is complicated because once you realize how much media there is it is harder to distribute to niche audiences 

This is why we have the new york times and the new york post 

Factual media outlets

Overall media that is publicly funded by taxes tends to be complete and factual information 

• This is why we have certain media sources that will conventionalize certain stories- stories that encourage support and dominant social control measures - 

• Rely on stereotypes and sensationalized

the media and the deviance nexus

•  Media causes deviance 

• Media constructs norms and shapes 

• Understanding of normative violations 

• Media is used to commit deviance 

• Deviant media

• Media is used by moral entrepreneurs in the deviance dance- media as a tool by other- moral codes as dominant - also used as a tool by those looking into engage in tertiary deviance( push back and challenge the norms that are in place)

Folkdevil and moral panics

Folk devil - broader public concern

Moral panics ‘media and the deviance dance 

What are the essential characteristics of a moral panic  

• Social control measures 

• It seems like its a bigger issue 

• The media can have a role in creating moral panics 

• But it also can be a tool for law makers, police, activist groups