Untitled Flashcards Set

Week 7 - Social Control Theories of Deviance & trajectories of deviance 

Control theories

• Assert that human being are attracted to norm violations 

• Assume that deviance is part of the natural order in society 

Development of Social Control theory

• NYE (1958) position is that most deviant behaviour is the result of insufficient social control, there are 4 clusters of social control 

1. Internalized control 

2. Parents and indirect control 

3. Direct control imposed by restriction and punishment 

4. Reason not to engage in deviant behaviour 

Social bonding theory 

• HIrschi’s (1969)  version of social control theory is often referred to as social bonding theory 

• This social bond comprises 4 parts:

1. Attachment 

2. Commitment 

3. Involvement 

4. Belief 

• If these bonds get weakened, it is more likely the outcome is to engage in deviance 

Power-Control Theory 

• Theory was developed by Hagan, Gillis, and Simpson (1990)

• Hagen et al. argue that parental positions in the workforce affect patriarchal attitudes in the house hold resulting in different levels of control placed on boys and girls 

• Differing levels of control affect the likelihood of the children taking risks and ultimately engaging in deviance 

• In patriarchal household the following conditions exist 

  • More controls are placed on girls 

  • More controls make girls less likely to engage in delinquent behaviours 

  • Less control make boys more likely to engage in delinquent behaviours 

Self-control theory 

• Gottfredson & Hirschi introduced their general theory of crime in 1990. 

• They argue that people engage in all behavior to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. 

• Self-control is a stable construct that develops early in the socialization process of an individual. 

• Low self-control develops from an “absence of nurturance, discipline, or training.”

• 6 elements make up the constructs of low self-control. Criminal acts 

1. Provide immediate gratification of desires. 

2. Provide easy or simple gratification of desires. 

3. Are exciting, risky, or thrilling. 

4. Provide few or meager long-term benefits. 

5. Require little skill or planning. 

6. Often result in pain or discomfort for the victim.

Life Course theory 

• Throughout life, individuals go through stages that give them social bonding opportunities 

• Sampson and Laub (1993) focus on an age graded theory of informal social control.

Critiques of Social Control Theories

• Predicts minor forms of deviance. 

• Hirschi’s four social bonds do not predict future deviance well. 

• Self-control may not be stable across life course. 

• Does not account for positive deviance. 

• What about structural factors?

Deviant careers and career deviance

Deviant careers and career deviance

• Some deviant and criminal careers are short lived and others continue throughout the life course 

• There are differences between “deviant careers” and career deviance” 

  • Deviant careers 

    • An actual career (escort, porn actor, drug dealer)

  • Career deviance 

    • Deviant events that occur over time with a beginning and an end 

• Different factors may influence 

1. The onset of deviance 

2. Continuation or escalation of deviance 

3. Desistance from deviance

Career deviance 

• Onset, continuation, desistance 

Risk and Protective Factors for Onset 

• Literature has emerged attempting to find risk factors for deviant involvement among young people 

• Risk factors have been categorized under 4 domains 

1. Individual and peer factors 

2. School 

3. Family 

4. The community 

• The protective factors are particularly important 

  • Community level 

  • Supports for high-risk families 

  • School-based programs 

Escalation, persistence & specialization in deviance 

• Research on specialization and the generality of deviance supports the idea that people engage in a multitude of deviant activities 

• One might escape situations that produce strain 

• Exiting a deviant career can be difficult 

Getting out of the game: desistance from career deviance 

• Social controls or bonds can emerge by entering a solid relationship. E.g. obtaining employment, marriage, children etc. 

• One might escape situations that produce strain

Week 8 - Labelling Theory

Labeling perspective 

• Central question: what circumstances and why are they labelled devaint 

• What subject of deviance does that person think of themselves 

Introduction 

• Charles Horton Cooley (1902): 

  • Looking-glass self 

• In defining deviance, the reaction to the behaviour or the person is the key 

• 3 elements 

  • The imagination of our appearance to others 

  • How are they appraising how we are 

  • Self feeling 

Development of Labeling Theory 

• Tannenbaum (1938) developed one of the building blocs of the labeling perspective 

• Edwin lemert (1951) made the important distinction between Primary and Secondary deviance 

How the labelling process works 

Labelling and Mental Illness 

• Scheff (1966) Laid out a theory of labeling and mental illness 

• Symptoms and stereotypes of mental illness are inadvertently reaffirmed in ordinary social interaction 

• While most residual rule breaking can be deemed insignificant, it can be beginning of labelling process 

Labelling and juvenile delinquency 

• An area where the labelling theory has been widely applied

The Long Arm of the Law: Effects of Labeling on Employment

• A recent study was conducted on formal labeling by schools and justice system 

• Davies and Tanner (2003) found that severe forms of labeling did have strong negative effects 

 Differential impact labelling theory 

• Using a series of within-person analyses that control for time-stable personal characteristics, this study finds that suspension amplifies black and hispanic students’ risk of arrest relatvie to that of white students 

• This study suggest that our understanding of labeling theory should be informed by broader theories of racialization and cultural stereotypes about racial and ethnic groups 

Crime, shame & reintegration 

• Braithwaite (1989)

Reintegrative shaming vs. stigmitizatrion 

Week 9 - Marxist conflict theories of deviance 

Development of marxist theory 

• Marx (1818-93) argued that the fundamental basis of society was “class conflict”

• Focus is on the capitalist system as one that creates conflict, inequality, and power differentials 

• Society isnt based on consensus, its focused on conflict 

• Macro-level theory 

Conflict 

• Marx believed that capitalism had sown the seeds of its own destruction 

• False consciousness 

  • Member of the working class are mislead into supporting ideologies benefiting the capitalists 

Dialectical materialism 

• Marx based much of his philosophy on the concept of dialectical materialism 

• Marx believed that nature (the material world) was full of contradictions (conflict)

• Wont be on exam

Marxism and the Creation of Law and Deviance

• Marx saw the law as a tool used to support the ideology of capitalism

• Marxist definition of deviance 

Marxism and the Creation of Law and Deviance

• William Bonger et al.

Hostile Architecture 

Marxism and the Creation of Law and Deviance

• Steven Spitzer (1975, 1983) argued that capitalism was changing to advanced (or monopoly) capitalism 

• Monopoly capitalism was likely to promote two realities 

  • Social junk

  • Social dynamite 

Development of Conflict Theory

• Gusfield (1967) 

  • Examined the lgeislation of morality 

  • Law has 2 functions: 

    • Instrumental 

      • the law tells individuals what actions they can and cannot engage in, and agents of the law enforce those rules by arresting individuals who break the law

    • Symbolic 

      • Cultural groups are in constant battle to be heard and apply their needs into law 

• Vold et al. (1958) 

  • Individuals are “group-involved beings” 

  • Conflict arises between groups due to competition 

  • Crime seen as a by-product of social inequality and political struggle 

The Use of the Law to Maintain Interests

• The law becomes a way for groups to maintain their interests and protect themselves 

• Law can also be understood as the tool that more powerful groups can use to maintain theri interests and service their needs 

Turk (1969) 

• He focused on the use od law as a socially controlling agent 

• He saw law as a resource that groups struggle to control 

• Laws were more likely to be enforced under 2 conditions:

  • (1) control of the means of direct physical violence, i.e., war or police power; 

  • (2) control of the production, allocation, and/or use of material resources, i.e., economic power; 

  • (3) control of decision-making processes, i.e., political power; 

  • (4) control of definitions of and access to knowledge, beliefs, values, i.e., ideological power; and 

  • (5) control of human attention and living-time, i.e., diversionary power. 

Quinney (1970)

• Our social relationships and, thus, our understanding of the world is a process 

Critiques of Marxist and Conflict Theories

• They dismiss Social Consensus 

• These theories are best described as perspectives, not theories 

• Conflict theory has not identified how is established 

• Theory has not specified how laborers will lose their false consciousness

Week 10 - Critical Theories of Deviance

Feminist perspectives 

• Feminism focused on the structural position of women in society 

• Patriarchy is viewed as the overarching structure producing fundamental inequalities and disadvantages 

• To establish gender equity, major changes are required to social structures and institutions 

Feminism perspectives 

• Liberal feminism 

• Radical feminism 

• Socialist feminism

• Postmodern & intersectional feminism

Intersectionality 

• Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989) 

• Examines how multiple forms of discrimination, power, and privilege intersect in ways that are erased when sexism and racism are treated separately 

Development - Feminist Criminology 

• Studies of women offenders was a rather small and neglected area of criminological theorising 

• Feminist argued that these studies were either overtly sexist in nature or extremely limited in what they could say about the nature of womens involvement in the criminal legal system 

• Silent on victimization of women 

• Key critiques of mainstream criminological theories 

  • 1

  • 2

  • 3

Feminist Criminology – Victimization

• Violence against women stems from a broad range of systemic issues rooted in patriarchal beliefs, such as colonialism, neoliberalism and capitalism 

• Intersectionality 

Feminist Criminology – Criminalization of Women

• Significant increase of incarcerated women in canada and globally 

• Women follow different pathways to criminalization and incarceration 

Critiques of critical theories 

• They do not see the world the way other theories see the world 

• Feminist criminology has been criticized as reductionist, focused on white, cisgendered women

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Week 11 - Societal Response to Deviance

Forms of Social Control 

• Formal 

• Informal 

Correctional Facilities and the Purposes of Punishment

• Hagan (1985) Offers 7 purposes of criminal sactions 

1. Restraint or incapacitation 

2. Individual or specific deterrence 

3. General deterrence 

4. Reform or rehabilitation 

5. Moral affirmation or symbolism 

6. Retribution 

7. Restitution or compensation 

Purpose of Sentencing in the Canadian Criminal Code

• Objectives to 

  • Denounce unlawful act 

  • Deter offender and other persons from committing offences 

  • Separate offenders from society where necessary 

  • Assist in rehabilitating offenders 

  • Provide reparation for harm done to victims or to communities

  • Promote a sense of responsibility in offenders, and acknowledgment of the harm done to victims and to the community 

Sentencing Options 

• Imprisonment 

• Intermittent sentence 

• Conditional sentence 

• Probation 

• Conditional discharge 

• Absolute discharge 

• Fines 

• Restorative justice 

• Restitution 

• Community service 

Gresham Sykes and the Pains of Imprisonment

• The Society of Captives ia a classic work on life inside a maximum-security prison 

• He outlines 5 central pains of imprisons 

  • Deprivation of liberty

  • goods and services

  • heterosexual relationships

  • Autonomy

  • security 

Re-Entry 

• Reentry is a shock to the system 

• For thise convicted, the repercussion can last a lifetime 

Felon (offender) Disenfranchisement

• Varies by jurisdiction 

Collateral Consequences: Effects on Communities and Families

• Families are disrupted 

• Social networks and other forms of social support are weakened 

• Health is endangered 

• Labour markets are thinned 

• Children are put at risk of the depleted human and social capital that promotes delinquency