Chapter 8 SOC 110: Deviance

8.1 Explain how sociology addressed limitations of a biological or psychological approach to 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
- Often informal, such as when parents scold their children
Criminal justice system: the governmental organizations – police, courts, and prisons – that respond to alleged violations of the law
Deviance is shaped by society, although there can be biological and physiological links, they are due to how they are perceived in society. No individual is “born bad”
- Deviance varies according to cultural norms
- People become deviant as others define them that way
- How societies set norms and how they define rule-breaking both involve social power

8.2 Apply structural-functional theories to the topic of deviance

The key insight of the structural-functional approach is that deviance is a necessary part of social organization. There is nothing abnormal about deviance; it performs four essential functions
1. Deviance affirms cultural values and norms
2. Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries
3. Responding to deviance brings people together
4. Deviance encourages social change
Deviance can be born when the individual is unable to reach societal goals through traditional means

Deviant innovation: using unconventional means rather than conventional means to achieve a culturally approved goal
Deviant ritualism: not pursuing culturally approved goals out of interest, but pursuing them through conventional means out of moral obligation
Deviant retreatism: rejecting both cultural goals and conventional means
Deviant rebellion: rejecting both cultural goals and conventional means, but taking things an additional step further by forming a counterculture supporting alternatives to the existing social order

8.3 Apply symbolic-interaction theories to the topic of deviance

The symbolic interaction approach explains how people define deviance in everyday situations. Definitions of deviance and conformity become flexible
Labeling theory: the idea that deviance and conformity result not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions
1. Stresses the relativity of deviance
Primary deviance: norm violations that are generally regarded with less intensity and don't label individuals as deviant (like skipping school or jaywalking)
Secondary deviance: a type of deviant behavior that occurs after individuals have been labeled as deviant (secondary deviance typically arises when primary deviant actions form into habits, causing individuals to earn labels)
Stigma: a powerfully negative label that generally changes a person's self-concept and social identity
1. Operates as a master status
Medicalization of deviance: the transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition
1. Impacts who respond to deviance, how they respond to it, and differentiates the personal competence of the deviant person
Differential association theory: Deviant behavior is learned through interactions with others, particularly within intimate social groups
Control theory: Social control depends on people anticipating the consequences of their behavior (stronger societal ties typically result in less deviance). Conformity results from four different types of social control.
1. Attachment
2. Opportunity
3. Involvement
4. Belief

8.4 Apply social-conflict theories to the topic of deviance

The social-conflict approach links deviance to social inequality
People typically defined as deviant (“nuts and sluts”) aren’t inherently bad, just powerless
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 of people acting on its behalf
Organized crime: a business supplying illegal goods or services
Hate crime: a criminal act against a person or a person's property by an offender motivated by racial or other biases

8.5 Identify patterns of crime in the United States and around the world

All crimes are composed of two elements: the act itself and the criminal intent
Types of crime:
- Crimes against the person (or violent crimes): crimes that involve direct violence or the threat of violence against others
  - Murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery
- Crimes against property (property crimes): crimes that involve theft of property belonging to others
  - Burglary, larceny-theft, auto theft, and arson
- Victimless crimes (crimes without complaint): violations of law in which there are no obvious victims
  - Illegal drug use, prostitution, and gambling
Criminal statistics show that the rate of violent crimes has been increasing significantly
From previous data presented in government crime reports, we can create a general description of the categories of people more likely to be arrested for violent and property crimes
- Between 15-24 years old
- Males are much more likely to be arrested for both types of crime
- Street crime is likely much more common among those of lower social class

8.6 Analyze the operation of the criminal justice system

The criminal justice system is a society's formal system of social control
The primary point of contact between a society's population and the criminal justice system is the police (they maintain public order by enforcing the law). Police decision-making is generally influenced by six factors:
1. Severity of the situation
2. The victims wishes
3. How cooperative the suspect is
4. History of the subject (if they've arrested the subject before)
5. Presence of observers
6. Perceived danger (young, colored men are most likely to be arrested)
After arrests, courts determine a suspect's guilt or innocence
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 by which society makes the offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime
Community-based corrections: correctional programs operating within society at large rather than behind prison walls
- Lowers costs, reduces overcrowding and prisons, and allows supervision for the supervision of convicts while eliminating the hardships of prison life and the stigma that accompanies going to jail (aids in proper rehabilitation)
- Probation, shock probation, parole, and collateral damage as punishment
- The death penalty is a widely controversial issue involving criminal punishment, but the United States is ultimately shying away from it for three reasons:
  1. Increasing public concern that it is applied unjustly
  2. The high cost of prosecuting capital cases
  3. Most states allow judges and juries to sentence serious offenders to life in prison without parole

8.7 Apply political analysis to crime and criminal justice

Generally, conservatives support the legal system and favor “law and order”, taking a hard line against crime. In contrast, progressives seek to transform society and strive for greater social equality, often being critical of the justice system

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