SOC 224

Deviance

A person, behavior, or characteristics that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society

Conformity

behavior that is in accordance with social norms because of agreement with social values or fear of sanctions (problems or punishments)

Negative deviance

violates situational expectations

Positive deviance

Surpasses expectations; intentional behaviors that depart from community norms in honorable ways

Social norms

expectations of conduct in particular situations which vary depending on the individual

proscriptive norms

what not to do

prescriptive norms

what to do

Social role

Collection of norms that together convey expectations about appropriate conduct for

persons in a particular position

Dichotomy

mutually exclusive, opposite side of something; two contrasting views

Statistical Rarity Deviance

people, behaviour, or characteristics that are statistically rare in a population

Harm deviance

people, behavior, or characteristics that cause physical or emotional harm, harm to society, and harm to fundamental ways we understand the world.

Giordano Bruno

"world was not the centre." Back when religion was more prevalent, people who went against religion were seen

to harm the understanding of the world.

Societal Reaction Deviance

that society's masses respond to negatively with dislike, anger, fear, distrust, or disapproval (condemnation by society).

Four types of Societal Reactions

o Negative - when a behavior elicits criticism or punishment

o Tolerant - when deviancy is considered reasonable

o Denial - attempts to deny the deviance we see

o Romanticization or Demonization

Normative Violation Deviance

Deviance that violate society's norms; Absolutist view of norms vs culturally specific view of norms

Absolutist

deviant behaviors are inherent and universal; some norms should be followed in all cultures and all times

Culturally specific view

norms are culturally specific

Folkways norms

standard/expectation, i.e., informal, everyday behavior such as rules of etiquette, choice of clothing and behavior in the university classroom

violating folkways - considered odd or rude

mores norms

Standards that often seen as the foundation of morality in a culture, e.g. premarital sex

Violating mores - considered immoral

Laws norms

Considered so central to the smooth running of society

Some norms are very important so they are part of laws

consensus crimes

widespread agreement that these are inherently wrong, harmful, mandate severe response

conflict crimes

these are illegal acts, but there is vast disagreement about whether they should be illegal, how serious they are and how we should respond

Multiple moral codes

coexists at the same time, only some of them are reflected in the society's institution

Social constructionism

The perspective proposing that social characteristics are creations or artifacts of a certain society at a specific time in history just as objects

Radical (strict) social constructionists

Claim that the world is characterized by endless relativism, that "there is no essential to the social world at all, that if everything and anything is simply looked at in a certain way, that is the way it is"

Soft (contextual) social constructionists

Emphasize the pathways by which certain social phenomena come to be perceived and reacted to in particular ways in a given society at a specific time in history

Individual Deviance

Ways of understanding our own existence in the world the path of social construction

Interactional Deviance

Our interaction with other people the way we think and feel about others determine the role that each of us play in social construction

Sociocultural Deviance

Beliefs, ideologies, values, and systems of meaning. The path of social construction

Institutional Deviance

The structure of our society. Government, the education system, and religions

Global Deviance

Globalization interconnectedness of the world touches every aspects

of our lives

moral entrepreneurs

Manufacture public morality; politicians, Scientists, Religious institutions, Media, Commercial enterprise

Pre-18th Century Theories of Deviance

Theories of deviance inspired by religious beliefs and superstitions; Judeo-Christian teachings offer two explanations temptation and possession

The Enlightenment

focus on systematic doubt, empirical and sensory verification of ideas

Cesare Konbroso & the Positive School

Attempted to find scientific objectivity for the measurement and quantification of criminal behavior; studied Italian soldiers; tattoo - more likely to commit crime; skull - relationship between physical appearance and deviance; born criminals - stigmata of physical signs

Functionalist theories

Society is comprised of various structures (the family, education system, political

system)

Manifest functions

intended and recognized

Latent function

unintentional and unrecognized

Anomie (Normlessness) Theory

Emile Durkheim argues a certain level of deviance is functional for society (good) - maintains society's balance; increases social solidarity, helps determine moral boundaries, tests society's boundaries, reduces societal tensions; beyond a certain level, deviance is dysfunctional for society = beyond a certain level, deviance is dysfunctional for society = Anomie

Durkheim: Suicide

Two factors that influence suicide: 1) social integration 2) moral regulation

Anomic suicide

suicide that occurs as a result of insufficient social regulation; would rather die than feel this way.

Fatalistic Suicide

suicide that occurs as a result of too much social regulation

egoistic suicide

suicide that occurs when one is not well integrated into a social group

altruistic suicide

suicide that occurs when one experiences too much social integration

Strain Theory

Deviance emerges from the structure of society; if anomie existed then mertons says the deviance and crime should be evenly spread out

Merton's Anomie

Anomie: imbalance between culturally prescribed goals and legitimate means of achieving the goals. When achieving the goals are more important then the means. anomie = relative deprivation

Institutionalized goals

goals that that we are taught we are supposed to want to

achieve

deinstitutionalization of the means

attaining the institutionalized goals has become more important than how one attains them

Strain

results from the gap between goals and the legitimate means to achieve them

Micro-anomie

the individual is in a state of anomie, places more emphasis on self-interest than collective values

Merton's Five models of adaptation

Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, Rebellion

Conformity(Merton's Five models of adaptation)

accept both institutionalized goals and the legitimate means of achieving the goals

Innovation(Merton's Five models of adaptation)

Accepts the institutionalized goals; reject the legitimate means

Ritualism(Merton's Five models of adaptation)

Has given up on the institutionalized goals; continues to engage in the legitimate mean. e.g. car, home, and clothes

Retreatism(Merton's Five models of adaptation)

Reject both goals and means. Retreat into own isolated worlds - alcohol abuse, drug addiction

Rebellion(Merton's Five models of adaptation)

Reject both goals and means. Substitute new goals and means

Differential Opportunity Theory

Extend and expand Merton's theory of anomie and strain. Agree that how social structure results in unequal access to

legitimate opportunities, but also argues people have differential access to illegitimate opportunities.

Status Frustration Theory

delinquency results from the failure of lower-class boys to do well in school because of its middle-class values

Learning Theories

Explains deviance as a result of learning process, i.e., people learn to be deviant through same processes that teach conformity but different content and direction of learning

Differential Association Theory

Assumption that deviant acts are learned behavior (through interactions and communications with others) Primary learning comes from friends and family and secondary learning comes from media.

Neutralization Theory

Deviance is rationalized by techniques of neutralization. Techniques of neutralization- denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial/blame of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, appealing to higher loyalties.

Social Learning Theory

Extension on instrumental condition - we not only learn from what we personally have been rewarded/punished for in the past, but also we see other people being rewarded and punished for through the process of imitation or modelling

Social Control Theories

Focus on why not all people become deviant when the deviant behaviors are inherently appealing, exciting and attractive

Social Bonds Theory

Most of us are restrained from deviance

Emphasis is on barriers

Deviance is a result of the absence of social control

Different types of social bonds

Attachment, Commitment, Involvement, Belief

Self-Control Theory

Self-control - restrain us from deviance

Delay gratification and control impulses

3 things must be present to develop self-control

o Someone must monitor the child's behavior

o The person watching the child must recognize the behavior is deviant

o The supervisor must punish when they saw the deviant behavior

5 main assumptions about deviant and/or criminal behavior

Assumed to provide more immediate gratification of desires

Provide easy and simple paths to gratification

Acts are exciting, risky, thrilling compared to conformity

Crime provides few long-term benefits

More crimes require little skill or planning

Interpretative & Critical Theory

Do not focus on the act, but rather:

o Perceptions of the act

o Reactions to the act

we have to be taught of what is deviant, i.e., deviance is "socially constructed"

o deviance is constructed through the social typing process - some people

perceived/being labelled as deviant while others are normal

interpretative theories

emphasis on social interaction that results in our perceptions towards meanings, understandings, interpretation of deviance and normalness

o symbolic interactionism

o labelling theories

o deviant career

before interactionist theory

objectivism ignored the role of observers, i.e., ignores social construction of deviance

Herbert Mead

radically changed the studies of deviance by introducing the

interaction theories

Early Interactionist Theory - Mead's "The I and the Me"

Social self is composed of:

Active "I" - independent of particular situation

Receptive "Me" - situated and responsive; composed by messages from others; determined by who we interact with

An individual can:

Accept the situation

Attempt to change the messages by presenting a new image to the world

Challenge the reflection by questioning the its accuracy

Symbolic Interactionism

Society is created through social interaction

o Constant communication with symbols - all communication is symbolic in nature source of all meanings

o Symbols are complex

o our different interactions produce different perspectives different interpretation

Labelling theory

Interested in:

o Process of being labelled

o Consequences of that label

When people are labelled as "deviant", they are treated differently

o Changes in their self-identity

o Changes how they act

Tannenbaum

tagging (identify a specific act as evil) dramatization of evil (transitionfrom "evil act" to "evil person') identity becomes built around this label

lemert

primary deviance: occasional rule breaking and secondary deviance: deviant lifestyle and identity

primary deviance to getting caught to secondary deviance

kitsuse

some deviants revel against their labels

attempt to re-affirm their self-worth and lost social status

tertiary deviants

people that resist the labelling and fight against the label

actively protest their labels

"reject the rejection"

Becker

Deviance is a master status (a core characteristic by which others identify a person)

Goffman

Predict future deviance if a person is labelled as deviant

This is a response to the label's stigma

Effort to control or influence other people's perception/ideas of us

Humor, Education, Defiance, Cowering, Passing

Deviant career

Becker

o looks at deviance and how we progress through deviance

o Progression through deviance = progression through a career

Critical Theories

Theoretical: Looks at the relationship between human struggles for power

Practical: Work towards social justice for society's powerless

Conflict theory

Powerful groups make the rules

o social rules emerge from conflict and serve the interests of the powerful

o the rules reproduce the existing social order

o the rules are meant to benefit powerful; keeps down the powerless people

Karl Marx

o Society is comprised of very small group of powerful people and the rest fall into powerless

o the power difference in the society can be attributed due to economic factors, specifically to the means of production

instrumental Marxism

o institutionalized social rules are created by the powerful to serve the powerful

o direct reflection of the interests of the ruling/capitalist class

o law is equated with class rule

the ruling class controls the formation of law

the state and the legal system are instruments of the capitalist class

structural Marxism

o state institutions function in the long-term interests of capitalism

o institutionalized social rules are created to protect capitalism (as a system)

o bourgeoisie can be labelled as deviant

pluralist conflict theory

multiple axis of inequality, i.e., gender, race, sex, etc, that makes up the structure of society

based upon conflicts from economic, religious, ethnic and political groups

whoever wins the conflict makes the decision

culture conflict theory

when society have diverse cultural groups, their different norms will conflict

with each other

dominant cultural groups can impose their cultural norms on other groups

focusses on cultural groups in our society

group conflict theory

many groups are always trying to gain more power in society

clash with each other because of this

groups that are able to get authorities on their side have their norms or social rules legitimized

when conflict happens, crime and deviance occur

ideology

worldview held by the powerful

hegemony

the dominant way of seeing and understanding the world

false consciousness

when people see the dominant worldview as rational and

acceptable

Power reflexive theories

Power determines which discourses are accepted as "truth"

Feminist theories

Women have been oppressed in society in the past, women continue to be oppressed

Liberal feminism

works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into it

Radical feminism

we need a complete overhaul of the patriarchal system

Black feminism

sexism, class oppression, gender identity, and racism are linked together through intersectionality

Marxist feminism

women's oppression principally linked to the capitalist economic system