soc chapter 7-9

Sociology of Deviance

Chapter 7

Social Control Theory

  • Influenced by Beccaria, a classical criminology theorist 

    • We are rational actors who weigh the costs and benefits of our decisions 

  • The assumption that people are antisocial 

    • That if people could people would act deviant 

  • Not trying to understand deviance but trying to understand compliance 

  • Criquite: recognizes that people don’t regularly think of free will and weighs the costs and benefits 

  • Internal control: rules that come from our conscious 

  • External control: society places these rules to keep us from engaging in deviance 



Development of Social Control Theory: Nye

  • First cluster: internalized control

    • Every society tries to give, particularly, children the rules and norms of society, and that parallels the idea of building them a consciousness that would allow them to build behavior internally

    • If everybody had this Nye believed the other controls wouldn’t be needed 

  • Second cluster: indirect control 

    • An example would be expressing disapproval, only if they care about the person’s opinion

  • Third: direct control

    • Examples would be punishment and ostracizing 

  • Final cluster: a reason to avoid deviant behaviors

    • “Stakes and Conformity-” things you are working towards that motivate you to comply with the norms and the laws



Hirschi Social Bonding Theory

The assumption is that everyone is deviant and if people are not deviant then it needs to explain how social bonds encourage conformity (our emotional bonds that make us care what they think of us) 

  • Attachment-The most important attachment is parents, but also friends and teachers could keep us away from deviance (emotional) 

  • Commitment- weighs the costs and benefits, a strong commitment to conventional society and something to lose, the more you have to lose the easier it is to be committed 

  • Involvement- time people spend on conforming or pro-social activities 

  • Belief- Your understanding of the rules and the norms, has a moral component 





Power and Control Theory

  • Tries to understand the gender imbalance in deviance and crime 

    • The nature of the power imbalance at home may contribute to the difference 

    • Patriarchal attitudes- when the home is more patriarchal the boys are given more freedom and the girls are controlled to a greater extent 

    • If the parents are equal, there tends to be the same level of control between the boys and girls and fewer gender differences in deviance 



Gottfredson and Hirschi’s Theory of Self Control

  • Believes that behavior is influenced by maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain

  • What guides this balance of pleasure/pain is the level of self-control

  • If they have high self-control when they’re young they’ll have high self-control when they age 

  • If people have low social control they are looking for immediate gratification, but delaying that gratification they are exercising self-control



Life Course Theory 

  • Key transitions in life that help promote social bonds are major life-changing events/transitions 

    • Carrer, marriage, parenting 



Application of Social Control Theories 

  • Family as a primary controlling agent of deviance 

    • All families are not equal in the socialization of their children 

    • Family process quality v.s. Structure

      • One-parent or two-parent households

      • Family quality could be discipline, attachment to the parent 

    • Supervision-making sure the kids are going and doing well in school, that they have activities 



Chapter 8

Symbolic interactionism 

  • Focuses on miro-contexts and how people relate to each other in their day-to-day lives including the meanings we give to people, objects, and interactions 

  • Concept: The looking-glass self 

    • How we are shaped by the ways other people perceive us

    • We imagine how we appear to other people, and how they judge us, & our assessment of that judgment can either lead to pride or self-mortification 

    • Loops back to the self-constructionist concept where deviance is what we make of it and it isn’t always evil 





Development of Labeling Theory



Franklin Tannenbaum

  • He believed that our reaction to behavior can change the nature of said behavior 

  • “Police contact can turn basic juvenile behavior into a dramatization of evil” which can lead to more deviance 



Primary and secondary deviance 

  • Primary- the initial act

  • Secondary- deviance a person commits in response to how they are treated/labeled (defensive act/self-fulfilling prophecy)



How The Labeling Process Works 

  • Interactionist theory- people don’t have to stay on the path of deviance 

  • 3 ways to secondary deviance- It can encourage deviant subcultures,  and it can affect how one perceives oneself, and make it harder to conform

  • A deviant master status- A thinking that you are better than all or most others that evokes a reaction. An example of a master status would be a sex offender.



Labeling and Mental Illness 

  • Residual rule-breaking theory- not illegal behavior but it draws attention that makes people uncomfortable; not going along with the rules of polite society 

  • Rosenhan’s study of “pseudopatients”



Labeling and Deliquenicy 

  • Saints and roughnecks- they would be treated differently depending on their group

  • How deviance is seen depends on the status or wealth of the perpetrator 



Application of Labeling Theory

  • Braithwaite- believed that our response should be reintegrative shaming- “hate the sin, not the sinner” 

  • Restorative justice- taking responsibility for their actions, acknowledging your harm, and making amends 

    • Mental health/drug courts- the judge has the role of being a support mechanism by problem-solving and separating the behavior from the person 



Chapter 9

Marxist and Conflict Theories of Deviance 



Both are related but Marxism focuses on the economic perspective 



Development of Marxist Theory 

  • Both Marxist and conflict theories highlight conflict in society, and conflict exists because of differences in power 

  • Both also focus on structural factors of the process of labeling and responding to theories 

  • Two key ways they are different- what the sources of power are

    • Marxism is focused on capitalism 



Marxism 

  • Although he didn’t practice crim, soc, or psych he is known in the psych world as a key theorist 

  • Foundational theory-society has conflict, inequality, and power differentials 

  • Marx thought people should think- how do people relate to each? 

  • For the most part, laborers accept their positions but they are workers, one way laborers can gain more power is by increasing wages 



Marxist Philosophy 



Dialectical Materialism: Basis of Marxist Philosophy

  • We have to focus on the material conditions of the worlds

    • Where reality exists or something concrete, not religion or the spiritual world  

  • Negotiation of contradictions- helps us shape a new reality 

  • Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis of an idea 

    • Once people come to a synthesis it's almost like a new starting point or evolution 



Marxism, Law, and Deviance 

  • Importance of the law

    • A tool to support capitalism

  • Function of the law

    • One function of the law is to make it look like we’re equal, b/c we are on paper but in practice 

  • Bonger’s Idea

    • Economic crime is expected in a capitalistic system 

    • Business owners will dominate and take advantage of people

    • His solution was a redistribution of wealth 

  • Spitzer's theory of deviance 

    • Advanced capitalism- he believed capitalism would become more efficient and that there would be a new labor class 

    • More people would become educated and then in that process they might start to become critical of capitalism

    • Problem populations:

      • Social junk- workers you don’t need anymore

      • Social dynamite- workers that become critical of the system

  • False consciousness

    • The idea that the laborers aren’t aware they’re being exploited 

Development of Conflict Theory 

  • Legislation of morality 

    • Laws against homelessness, panhandling

  • Instrumental function of the law

    • Tells us what is and isn’t illgeal 

  • Symbolic function of law

    • There to send us a message of right and wrong behaviors or people 




Vold

  • Group conflict- confclit is inevtiable because of differences in power 

  • The creation and maintenance of the group-  it is human nature to crave acceptance so group behavior can be a way to know that we belong 

  • The use of the law- gives powerful groups more control in society 



Turk

  • The law is a resource and its a difficult resource to control 

  • The actual enforcement of the law is more likely when it is targetted towards less powerful groups