Important notes

Deviance and its types:

• Concept and Meaning of Deviance: Deviance is a fundamental concept in sociology and criminology, referring to behaviours, actions, or thoughts that violate societal norms and expectations. What is considered deviant varies across cultures, time periods, and social contexts. Deviance can range from minor rule-breaking to serious criminal activities. The term originates from the Latin word "deviare," meaning "to turn away" or "to stray from the path". Sociologically, it refers to actions or behaviours that violate social norms, which can be formal (laws and rules) or informal (customs and traditions).

• Types of Deviance: Sociologists have categorized deviance in various ways:

  • Formal Deviance: Involves violations of codified laws and is punishable by legal institutions. Examples include crimes such as theft, murder, fraud, drug trafficking, corruption, and cybercrimes. It is regulated through laws, police, courts, and prisons.

  • Informal Deviance: Involves violations of social norms that are not legally codified, such as customs and traditions.

  • Positive Deviance: It's generally refers to actions that overconform to social norms in a way that is perceived as noble or altruistic.

  • Negative Deviance: Refers to actions that violate social norms and are negatively evaluated. The examples of formal deviance listed above generally fall under this category.

  • Primary Deviance: Refers to initial acts of deviance that do not lead to the individual being labelled as deviant.

  • Secondary Deviance: Occurs when an individual who has been labelled as deviant adopts a deviant identity and engages in further deviant behaviour as a result of the label. The Labeling Theory suggests that society labels individuals as criminals, influencing further deviance. For example, a juvenile delinquent struggling to find work turns to crime.

  • Individual Deviance: Deviant acts committed by a single person.

  • Collective Deviance: Deviant acts committed by groups of people.

• Crime: Crime is generally understood as an act or omission that violates a law and is punishable by the state. Unlike deviance, which includes violations of both formal and informal norms, crime specifically deals with violations of codified laws. Examples include theft, murder, fraud, and drug trafficking, which are universally considered crimes, while jaywalking, unauthorized protests, and gambling are considered crimes in some regions but not in others. The Conflict Theory posits that the ruling class defines crime to protect its interests, suggesting that corporate fraud might be punished lightly compared to petty theft. Social Learning Theory suggests that crime is learned from social interactions, where a child raised in a criminal environment may adopt criminal behaviours.

• Juvenile Delinquency: Juvenile delinquency refers to criminal acts or offenses committed by minors (typically under the age of 18). In India, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, governs how juvenile offenders are treated, aiming to reform and rehabilitate minors rather than punish them as adults.

  • Types of Juvenile Delinquency:

    • Property Crimes: Stealing, vandalism.

    • Violent Crimes: Murder, rape, gang violence, assault.

    • Drug-Related Crimes: Possession, selling, or using illegal substances like drug abuse, drug peddling, smuggling narcotics.

    • Cybercrimes: Hacking, cyberbullying, identity theft.

    • Individual Delinquency: Crimes committed alone due to personal factors like mental disorders or impulse control issues.

    • Group Delinquency: Crimes committed with peers.

  • Causes of Juvenile Delinquency: Family factors (broken families, lack of parental supervision, domestic violence), peer influence (friends involved in criminal activities), poverty and unemployment (lack of basic needs), lack of education (poor schooling), and mental health issues (depression, behavioral disorders).

  • Measures to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency in India: Strengthening family and education systems through awareness programs, providing employment opportunities through skill development and vocational training, community policing and counseling centers, and focusing on rehabilitation over punishment.

• White-Collar Crime: White-collar crime refers to non-violent, financially motivated crimes committed by individuals or organizations in business, government, or professional settings. It involves deception, fraud, corruption, and manipulation for financial gain. India faces a threat to its economic development due to increasing white-collar crimes.

  • Types of White-Collar Crime in India:

    • Corporate Fraud and Financial Scams: Fraud committed by corporations or executives by misrepresenting financial statements or engaging in illegal financial practices, such as banking fraud (e.g., Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines Loan Scam) and the Satyam Computer Services Scam (2009).

    • Corruption and Bribery: Misuse of power for personal gain by government officials, politicians, or private executives, exemplified by the Commonwealth Games Scam (2010) and the Vyapam Scam (Madhya Pradesh, 2013).

    • Cybercrime and Online Fraud: Financial crimes conducted through digital platforms, including hacking, phishing, and identity theft, such as the Aadhaar Data Breach (2018) and banking scams.

    • Tax Evasion and Money Laundering.

  • Challenges in Controlling White-Collar Crimes in India: Lack of awareness, complex investigation processes, political influence, and weak punishment mechanisms. Strict laws and their proper implementation are needed to address these crimes.

Meaning of cyber crimes:

Cybercrime encompasses financial crimes conducted through digital platforms, including activities like hacking, phishing, and identity theft. Techniques of neutralization have been found to predict a willingness to commit cyberattacks.

Types of cyber crimes:

Examples of cybercrimes include hacking, cyberbullying, identity theft, and online fraud.

Meaning of development:

The understanding of development has evolved. Initially, an income and economic growth-based approach emphasized rising incomes or expanding output. However, the human development (HD) approach treats the well-being of people as the end of human development, and looks at economic growth as a means to this end. Economic growth is considered a necessary, but not sufficient condition for human development. Human development aims to enrich people’s lives by widening their choices through investing in education, health, safety, and so on, to build human capability, which is what people are actually able to do and to be. The four pillars of human development are equality, sustainability, productivity, and empowerment. This approach emphasizes that the quality and distribution of economic growth determine the extent to which it enriches people’s lives sustainably. The idea of human development is also linked with the concepts of rights, liberty, and justice.

Types of development:

The sources explicitly discuss:

• Economic Development: Focuses on income growth and expanding output. It is seen as indispensable for the progress and prosperity of any country, preventing status quo and enabling growth.

• Social Development: Encompasses improvements in areas like education and health. Human Development Reports in the early 1990s emphasized public expenditure allocations in these areas.

• Human Development: Views the well-being of people as the ultimate goal, with economic growth as a tool to achieve it. It focuses on expanding people's capabilities and choices.

Dowry as social issues in India:

Theories of development:

• Lerner: Daniel Lerner's ideas are discussed in the context of development communication. Shah (2011) reviewed meta-research projects on development communication since the publication of Lerner's Passing of Traditional Society. These reviews suggest that while Lerner's broadly universal and teleological model of societal change based on Western history is no longer widely supported, some of his variables, descriptions, and vocabulary related to his modernization theory persist in more recent studies.

• Rostow:

• Smelser:

Concept of eco development:

It highlights the relations among ecology, environment, and development, the consequences of development on ecology and environment, and the concerns of ecological movements. Development projects are discussed as ecological concerns. There is a recognition of the dilemma of development and the need for equitable and sustainable development. The internationalization of environmental concerns is also noted, with debates on issues like the North-South divide and responsibilities for global environmental degradation. The concept of eco-development would align with the need for sustainable and eco-friendly projects that give more power to the community.

Agrarian crisis in India:

India is described as one of the biggest growing economies, where agriculture is the primary occupation for nearly half the population. However, the agriculture sector's contribution to economic growth has decreased over the past few decades. India has been facing an unprecedented agrarian crisis affecting farmers across the country for nearly a decade.

Concept of intergenerational and intra generational conflict:

Juvenile crimes:

Features of India's rehabilitation and resettlement policy:

Development projects in India often lead to the displacement of people, particularly tribals, Dalits, and other marginalized sections. This is termed Development-Induced Displacement (DID). Studies show the impoverishment of Displaced Persons (DPs) and Project Affected Persons (PAPs) as they are deprived of their livelihood. Article 21 of the Constitution, guaranteeing the right to life with dignity, is affected when livelihoods are lost. While some projects have Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Packages, the approaches have often been ineffective, leading to further marginalization of the weak and vulnerable. Decision-makers meticulously plan financial and technical aspects but often neglect the living patterns and needs of those affected, and the specific problems of marginalized groups, women, and children are ignored.

Key features and issues include:

• Lack of a comprehensive database of displaced and rehabilitated people.

• A much lesser number of resettled DPs compared to those displaced. Only about a third have been resettled even partially.

• Widespread ignorance about the problem of displacement.

• DPs and PAPs belong to a wide range of social strata, but Dalits and tribals are disproportionately affected, comprising a large percentage of the displaced population.

• Multiple displacement arising from the absence of long-term planning.

• The near impossibility of measuring the pain and distress of the displacement affected people.

• Resettlement practices have often been inadequate.

• The focus of development activities on economic growth often leads to the neglect of the social sector and the consequences of displacement.

• A National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation for Project Affected Families (2004) has been formulated by the Government of India.

Global warming, climate change:

Global warming and climate change are described as international issues with major health implications for all of humankind, not solvable at the local level alone. It is considered mostly a man-made phenomenon and crisis, and human beings are responsible for undoing the damage, at least partially. While development is needed to improve living standards, it must be sustainable for present and future generations. There is a need to evolve green initiatives for development and bring about basic changes in production and consumption patterns. India needs to evolve a policy that will sustain its resources for future generations, considering the global course of action on climate change. The Human Development Report 2007/08 focused on Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World.

Constitutional provisions and government policies for the development of Scheduled Castes in India:

Dalit movements have historically centred on the problem of untouchability and have also raised issues of agricultural labourers and reservations in elections, government jobs, and welfare programmes. The module discusses how discrimination against Scheduled Castes based on work and descent has been officially discussed in a UN forum, with India as a main example. This framing redefined caste as a universal wrong, facilitating links between Dalits and marginalized groups globally. While the module does not detail specific constitutional articles or government policies, it highlights that despite national institutions and constitutional protections, the social realities of discrimination and violence faced by Dalits persist. The very objective of the post-colonial state in India, enshrined in the Constitution, was the abolition or at least reduction of social inequalities and the improvement of the lot of the 'depressed' through measures like 'reservations' and 'quotas' in education and the job market.