Deviance and Sociological Theories (Lecture Notes)

Deviance: Key Concepts

• Deviance requires two components:
  • A departure from a social norm
  • A negative or disapproving reaction from others
• If departing from a norm but receiving a high-five or positive reaction, it isn’t considered deviance in that context.
• The exercise suggested in class: identify the last deviant act you committed to practice the concept.
• Examples of deviant acts discussed or implied in the transcript:
  • Chaining a bike to trash cans when there was no bike rack (an improvised deviation from normative behavior around property/space use).
  • Running, walking, riding a bike in unusual ways or directions (e.g., run vs walk vs turn a bicycle down) as casual deviations from everyday norms.
  • Public actions in campus or public spaces that trigger sanctions or stigma.
• Core questions:
  • Which sociological theory best explains a specific deviant act? Functionalism, structural strain, or another framework?
  • How might the act be interpreted differently under various theories (e.g., Merton’s Strain Theory vs Differential Association)?

Theoretical Frameworks for Deviance

• Functionalism (briefly referenced): Deviance can play a role in reinforcing social norms and boundaries; it can contribute to social cohesion by defining what is acceptable.
• Structural Strain Theory (Merton):
  • Cultural goals are prescribed (e.g., success, education) and legitimate means are the socially approved routes to achieve them.
  • When gaps exist between culturally prescribed goals and legitimate means, individuals may turn to deviance to achieve those goals.
  • The speaker notes: it's a key theory for understanding why people deviate when blocked from legitimate paths.
• Conflict Theory (emphasized in the discussion):
  • Powerful groups define what is normative and what is criminal.
  • Laws are tools to protect power and suppress challenges to power; definitions of illegality can shift with political/economic interests.
  • Example given: regulations around THC products change rapidly, reflecting who has power to define legality.
• The role of definitions and enforcement in creating inequality:
  • If the powerful redefine what’s illegal or permissible, penalties and outcomes can disproportionately affect marginalized groups.
  • The “pipeline to prison” concept emerges from how offenses are defined, charged, prosecuted, and sentenced across social strata.
• Important policy-oriented example used in class:
  • In Texas, limited regulation and testing for THC products lead to situations where possession can be charged as a felony even when potency is unknown or exceeds stated limits due to lack of testing.
  • This demonstrates how legal definitions and enforcement practices can generate inequality in outcomes.
• Real-world examples tied to theories:
  • The “five grams of crack cocaine” vs “500 grams of powdered cocaine” discrepancy illustrates how policy and enforcement reflect racialized class dynamics.
  • The disproportionate representation in prisons and the long chain of steps from arrest to incarceration illustrate how structural factors shape criminal justice outcomes.

Differential Association and Labeling Theory (Symbolic Interactionism)

• Differential Association (learning deviance from peers):
  • People learn deviant behaviors through interaction with deviant peers.
  • Example in transcript: peer groups in certain contexts (e.g., American Pie reference, underground activities) can model deviant acts.
  • The idea that peers convey norms that may normalize deviance in some contexts.
• Labeling Theory and Self-Concept:
  • Deviance can result from the labels attached to a person by others (the “stickiness” of labels).
  • Once labeled as deviant, a person’s self-concept may shift, increasing the likelihood of continued deviance (self-fulfilling prophecy).
  • Key concept: once labeled, others respond to the label, reinforcing the behavior and the stigma.
• The Thomas Theorem (self-fulfilling prophecy):
  • If people define situations as real, they become real in their consequences.
  • In notes:
  • ext{Thomas theorem: } ext{If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.}
• Examples tied to labeling:
  • Juno (pregnant teen) as the “dirty girl” and how labeling affects perception and behavior.
  • The character in Youth in Revolt adopting a French alter ego to avoid a negative label and be seen differently.
  • The notion that mean labels (e.g., a label of “mean”) can influence behavior and social perception (tying to Taylor Swift’s song “Mean”).
• Stigma and its connection to labeling:
  • Stigma is a social attribute that is devalued and leads to exclusion from various levels of society.
  • Types of stigma (as discussed):
  • Physical stigma: visible physical attributes or conditions.
  • Moral stigma: stigma attached to character or ethics (perceived moral flaws).
  • Tribal stigma: membership in a discredited or oppressed group; ties to broader group identity.
  • Mechanisms to address stigma include passing (blending into the mainstream) and reorientation (forming new group-based identities with pride).
• Classroom activities suggested:
  • Talk with neighbors about stigma types and come up with examples for each type.
  • Use Camp Twitch and Shout (a program) as a prompt for discussing stigma and collective identity.

Stigma, Passing, and Identity Work

• Stigma defined:
  • A socially devalued attribute that leads to exclusion from social opportunities and resources.
• Passing vs Reorientation:
  • Passing: attempting to blend in with the mainstream to avoid stigma (e.g., a stigmatized individual trying to appear “normal”).
  • Reorientation: forming a new identity group that rejects external prejudice and defines its own standards of value.
• Rhinos analogy for passing:
  • A baby rhino dressed to look like a different animal (humorously presented as a baby passing as a different species) to illustrate how groups may try to blend in or reject stigma.
• “In-group orientation” or reorientation examples through popular culture (e.g., The Lion King reference to Akuna Matata):
  • Reorientation can involve adopting a new shared ethos that values identity and resilience over stigma.

The Pipeline to Prison and Inequality in Law Enforcement

• Key idea: crime definitions and penalties are wielded by powerful groups to control behavior and maintain order, with unequal outcomes.
• Illustrative steps in the criminal justice process (the pipeline):
  • Arrest
    ightarrow Charged
    ightarrow Trial
    ightarrow Conviction
    ightarrow Sentencing
    ightarrow Incarceration
• Disparities in enforcement and outcomes:
  • Although crime rates are similar across racial and class groups, enforcement and legal processes produce unequal outcomes.
  • Wealthier and whiter individuals have more opportunities to avoid conviction or receive lighter sentences due to advantages at each stage (e.g., bail, plea deals, better representation).
• The “pipeline” image of how individuals move through the system and accumulate worse outcomes due to structural advantages built into the process.
• Racial and class composition differences in the population vs. prison populations:
  • Population composition (as described): White ≈ 76%, Black ≈ 13%, Hispanic ≈ 19% (approximate values given in transcript).
  • Prison composition (as described): White ≈ 57%, Black ≈ 38% (and other categories implied by the discussion).
• Cracks in the system illustrated by drug policy:
  • Crack vs powder cocaine sentencing shows racialized policy impact, with harsher penalties historically applied to crack (more associated with poorer/non-white communities) than powder cocaine (more associated with wealthier/white communities).
• Economic implications of education funding:
  • Texas spending on K-12 per student cited as a driver of inequality; a noted increase of about $oxed{53}$ dollars per student in a recent year, and the broader point that underfunded districts constrain opportunities and perpetuate inequality.
  • Funding gaps contribute to unequal educational outcomes, which in turn feed into the broader patterns of social inequality and the likelihood of deviance being defined and punished differently across communities.

Law, Norms, Public Space, and Campus Governance

• Public space and university governance:
  • The UNT student code of conduct and campus rules regulate usage of public-like space on a state-owned campus.
  • While spaces like libraries, union, and classrooms are publicly accessible, universities impose rules about protests, assemblies, and demonstrations through timed scheduling and location restrictions.
  • The campus can be a public space in a legal sense but is policed by institutional rules, and students sign a code of conduct when enrolling or entering university spaces.
• The paradox of public space regulation:
  • The state owns the space (public), but the university restricts certain uses to minimize perceived threats, maintain order, and manage safety.
  • Students can organize protests in designated free-speech zones; other spaces may require prior notification or may be off-limits to organized demonstrations.
• Implications for civic life and political action:
  • Tension between free speech rights and institutional control in shaping who can protest, when, and where.
  • Illustrates the broader theme that institutions (e.g., universities) frequently regulate behavior in ways that produce normative boundaries and can reflect power dynamics.

Real-World Examples and Connections from the Transcript

• Everyday deviance examples:
  • Getting off a plane and crowding around baggage claim; the implied negative social pressure of crowding and failing to respect others’ space.
  • Bike rack issue: chaining a bike to trash cans when no bike rack exists; illustrates improvisational deviance in response to lack of infrastructure.
• Media and popular culture references:
  • American Pie (deviance among peers) and Juno (pregnant teen labeling) demonstrate how media portrays deviance and labeling effects.
  • Youth in Revolt (alter ego to alter social perception) illustrates self-redefinition under social pressure.
  • Full Metal Jacket example: labeling soldiers as killers can influence their self-perception and behavior.
  • Taylor Swift’s Mean: connects labeling to social consequences and self-perception.
• Historical and contemporary examples of stigma and social response:
  • Rosa Parks as a case where deviance (to sit on a bus) became heroic through shifting social definitions and responses.
  • Whistleblowers and public accountability (e.g., January 6 commission references) as moments where deviance and legitimacy are contested in political life.

Implications for Policy, Ethics, and Society

• Ethical implications:
  • Fairness and justice require scrutiny of who defines deviance and why certain groups are more heavily policed or punished.
  • The tension between maintaining social order and protecting civil liberties in public spaces and on campuses.
• Societal implications:
  • The way crime is defined and punished shapes inequality; unequal enforcement creates disproportionate incarceration of marginalized groups.
  • Education funding and resource allocation influence long-term opportunities and crime trajectories.
• Practical implications for students and policymakers:
  • Recognize how legal definitions and enforcement practices can produce differential outcomes across race and class.
  • Consider policy reforms that reduce the punitive incentives that disproportionately affect marginalized communities (e.g., drug policy reform, fair bail, access to robust legal representation).
  • Support inclusive campus policies that balance safety with free speech and protest rights, while clearly communicating guidelines and consequences.

Quick Reference: Key Terms, Concepts, and Equations

• Deviance: departure from a norm plus negative social reaction.
• Norms and sanctions: rules guiding behavior; sanctions can be formal (laws) or informal (shaming, ridicule).
• Functionalism (brief): deviance can contribute to social cohesion and the reaffirmation of norms.
• Structural Strain Theory (Merton):
  • Cultural goals vs legitimate means gap → deviance as adaptation to strain.
  • Key idea: ext{strain} = ext{goals} - ext{means} (conceptual, not a numeric formula in the transcript).
• Conflict Theory: power dynamics shape what is defined as deviant; laws protect power.
• Differential Association: deviance learned from deviant peers through social interaction.
• Labeling Theory: deviance results from the labels attached to individuals; labels influence self-concept and future behavior.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy: the expectation of deviance can produce deviant behavior.
• Thomas Theorem: ext{Thomas theorem: If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.}
• Stigma: a devalued social attribute leading to exclusion.
  • Types of stigma discussed: physical, moral, tribal.
• Passing vs Reorientation:
  • Passing: blending into the mainstream to avoid stigma.
  • Reorientation: forming a new, value-affirming group identity that resists outside stigma.
• The pipeline to prison: a stepwise sequence from arrest to incarceration, highlighting how cumulative disadvantages create unequal outcomes:
  • ext{Arrest}
    ightarrow ext{Charged}
    ightarrow ext{Trial}
    ightarrow ext{Conviction}
    ightarrow ext{Sentencing}
    ightarrow ext{Incarceration}
• Inequality in drug policy: different penalties for crack vs powdered cocaine historically reflects racialized policy.
• Public intoxication and campus policy examples:
  • Local laws and campus rules can penalize behavior in public or semi-public spaces differently depending on context and enforcement practices.
• Notable numerical references from the transcript:
  • Drug policy potency example: 5 grams of crack cocaine versus 500 grams of powdered cocaine as a basis for differential sentencing discussions.
  • Education funding (Texas K-12 per student): mentioned increase of about 53 dollars per student (first increase since 2019).
  • Population vs prison composition (as stated in transcript):
  • Population: White ≈ 76%, Black ≈ 13%, Hispanic ≈ 19% (approx.).
  • Prison: White ≈ 57%, Black ≈ 38% (other categories implied in discussion).
• Real-world relevance:
  • Theoretical frameworks help explain why individuals engage in or resist deviant behavior and how social structures shape these outcomes.
  • Policy and ethics discussions highlight the need to address systemic inequalities and the fairness of enforcement and punishment.