Sociology: Chapter 7

Social Control & Deviance

Conflict Perspective

* Explains deviance in the terms of power and inequality
* Sociologist believe that competition and social inequality leads to deviance

Control Theory

* Interactionist Perspective
* Explains deviance as a natural occurrence
* theories are interested in why people conform rather than in the causes of deviance
* Travis Hirschi said people develop bonds to their communities in four ways

Crime

* Any act that is labeled as such by those in authority and is prohibited by law
* Example: When you rob a bank

Formal Sanction

* A reward or punishment given by a formal organization or regulatory agency, such as a school, business, or government
* Negative: low grades, suspension, termination from your job, fines, and imprisonment
* Positive: Graduation certificates, pay raises, promotion, awards, medals

Group Unity

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Deviance

* Behavior that violates significant social norms
* Examples: continually taking to oneself in public, drag racing on a public street, regularly using illegal drugs, using a weapon to attack another person
* Erving Goffman said this type of person is a spoiled social identity. He or She is no longer seen as being normal or whole

Negative Sanction

* A punishment or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity
* The threat of punishment is often enough to ensure acceptable behavior
* Examples: the thought of getting a parking ticket when parking in a no parking zone
* They can range from frowns, ridicule, and rejection to fines, imprisonment, & even death

Positive Sanction

* Sociologists call this an action that rewards a particular kind of behavior
* Introduced to them early in life through interactions with their families
* It is continued into later life
* Examples: pay raise, cheers from teammates, ceremonies, ribbons, badges, & rewards

Racial Profiling

* A practice of assuming that non-white Americans are more likely to commit crimes than white Americans

Minor Deviance

* Unauthorized demonstrations wherein certain people speak out against society at large
* Serves as a safety values for society because they allow people to express their displeasure with some element of society without disrupting the social structure

Secondary Deviance

* Deviance as a lifestyle and results in the individual being labeled as deviant and believing the label

Property Crimes

* Any crime in which the stealing or intentionally damaging someone’s property occurs
* Example of more common crimes: Burglary, Motor vehicle theft, Larceny, Arson

Corrections

* Sanctions used to punish criminals
* They include imprisonment, parole, probation, and community service
* they serve 4 basic functions: Retribution, Deterrence, Rehabilitation, and Social Protection

White-Collar Crimes

* Describe offenses committed by people of high social status in the course of their professional lives
* Examples of who could commit the crime: Politicians, employees of corporations, and corporations themselves
* Example of crime: Fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, price-fixing, toxic pollution, insider trading, & political corruption

Police Discretion

* The power held by police officers to decide who is actually arrested

Organized Crime

* A large-scale organization of professional criminals that controls some vice or legitimate business through violence or the threat of violence
* Also called crime syndicate

Cultural Transmission Theory

* Socialization is also central to this
* Theory of deviant behavior that views deviance as a learned behavior transmitted through interaction with others
* Views all individuals as conformists

Victimless Crime

* Prostitution, illegal gambling, illegal drug use, and vagrancy
* The person committing the crime is harming no one but themselves
* Crime still has a significant consequences for society

Differential Association

* Proposed by Edwin Sutherland refers to the frequency and closeness of associations a person has with deviant and non-deviant individuals

Social Control

* Enforcing norms through either internal or external means
* Learned through the internalization of norms
* Include police, the court, religion, the family, the peer group, and public opinion

Labeling Theory

* Focuses on how individuals come to be identified as deviant


* Heavily influenced by Edwin Lemert and Howard Becker
* They note that all people commit deviant acts, yet not everyone is labeled as deviant
* There are two types of deviance: Primary and Secondary

Informal Sanction

* Spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or a group
* Positive: Standing ovations, compliments, smiles, pats on the back, and gifts
* Negative: Frowns, gossip, rebukes, insults, ridicule, and ostracism- exclusion from a particular group

Categories of Crime

* FBI organized crimes into 29 separate classifications with 2 levels of severity
* The 5 broad categories:
* Violent crime
* Property crime
* Victimless crime
* White-collar crime
* Organized crime

Internalization

* Process by which a norm becomes a part of an individual’s personality, thus conditioning that individual to conform to society’s expectations
* Example: When you go to the movies you sit in the chair instead of sitting on the floor.
* Example: When the traffic light turns red, you stop without thinking.


* You do not take these actions because you are scared of punishment but because you have internalized society’s norms

Neutralization

* People suspend their moral beliefs to commit deviant acts
* The 5 techniques which are learned through one’s social interactions:
* Denying Responsibility
* Denying Injury
* Denying the Victim
* Condemning the Authorities
* Appealing to Higher Authorities

Conformity

* Accepts culture goals and pursues them through culturally approved ways
* Most common

Stigma

* A mark of social disgrace that sets the deviant apart from the rest of society
* Used to form a social control throughout history
* Example: Ancient Greeks cut/burn signs into the bodies of criminals to warn others to avoid them
* Today example: Prisoners have to wear special clothing and assigned numbers depending on what crime they commited

Anomie

* Individuals fall victim to this because of the strain of incompatible goals and means
* The situation that arises when the norms of society are unclear or are without sufficient guidelines for behavior, causing confusion both for the individuals and for society
* Originally proposed by Emile Durkheim to explain high rates of suicide in countries undergoing industrialization

Strain Theory

* Views deviance as the natural outgrowth of the values, norms, and structure of society
* Robert K. Merton says American society places high value on certain goals, such as economic success

Plea Bargaining

* The process of legal negotiation that allows an accused person to plead guilty to a lesser charge in return for a lighter sentence
* Allows courts to reduce their huge volume of cases while avoiding the risk of expensive and time-consuming jury trials that may not produce a guilty verdict

Innovation

* Accepts culture goals but use disapproved ways of achieving them
* Example: People may want to acquire wealth but rejects the acceptable means to obtain it

Recidivism

* Term for repeated criminal behavior
* According to the U.S. Department of Justice study, 68% of released prisoners will be charged with ne crimes and 50% will return to prison within 3 years of their release

Sanctions

* Rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms
* Types: Positive, Negative, Formal, & Informal
* Can become meaningless if you are rarely rewarded or punished

Primary Deviance

* Occasional violation of norms
* Individuals do not see themselves as deviant and neither does society

Arrest in the United States

* By sex: 75% male, 25% female
* By race: 70% white, 28% African American, 2% other
* By age: 52.7% 18-34, 28.6% 35-54, 15.5% under 18, 3.1% 55 & older

Vice

* Legal term for offense involving immorality, such as prostitution and gambling

Crime-justice System

* Once a crime has been committed and reported, it falls under this jurisdiction
* Most important components are police, courts, adn corrections