Chapter 8 SOC 110: Deviance

Deviance

The recognized violation of cultural norms.

Crime

The violation of a society's formally enacted criminal law.

Social control

Attempts by society to regulate people's thoughts and behavior.

Criminal justice system

The governmental organizations – police, courts, and prisons – that respond to alleged violations of the law.

Primary deviance

Norm violations that are generally regarded with less intensity and don't label individuals as deviant.

Secondary deviance

A type of deviant behavior that occurs after individuals have been labeled as deviant.

Stigma

A powerfully negative label that generally changes a person's self-concept and social identity.

Labeling theory

The idea that deviance and conformity result not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions.

White-collar crime

Crime committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations.

Corporate crime

The illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf.

Deviant innovation

Using unconventional means to achieve a culturally approved goal.

Deviant ritualism

Pursuing culturally approved goals through conventional means out of moral obligation.

Deviant retreatism

Rejecting both cultural goals and conventional means.

Hate crime

A criminal act against a person or property motivated by biases.

Community-based corrections

Correctional programs operating within society at large rather than behind prison walls.

Plea bargaining

A legal negotiation in which a prosecutor reduces a charge in exchange for a defendant's guilty plea.

Retribution

An act of moral vengeance where society makes the offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime.

Deviance affirms cultural values and norms

One of the essential functions of deviance within structural-functional theory.

Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries

One of the essential functions of deviance within structural-functional theory.

Deviance encourages social change

One of the essential functions of deviance within structural-functional theory.