Module III

1)    Biographical Sketch

·       Claim to fame

o   Major proponent of “structural functional” approach in sociology for crime & deviance

o   Developed “anomie” theory of crime

o   President of American Sociological Association

o   Awarded Edwin Sutherland Award by American Society of Criminology

o   Influenced later criminologists like Cloward and Ohlin with his work on social structure and deviance

2)    Key Works

·       Social structure & Anomie

·       Continuities in Theory of Social Structure & Anomie in Social Theory & Social Structure (1968)

3)    Basic Assumptions

·       Social system – society functioning property, crime remains a minor issue ; with crime it is a symptom of social malfunctioning

o   Cultural – values & norms

o   Social – social stratification

o   Cultural mal-integration occurs when goals or norms are overemphasized

·       Anomie – breakdown in norms & values due to the inability to achieve goals legitimately, often due to social inequality

·       Cultural forces producing anomie – unequal distribution of opportunities across social classes

o   Malintegration of culture- favoring expediency over normative behaviors

·       Adaptations to Anomie

o   Conformity (upper class) – accepts norms & values

o   Innovation (lower class) – accepts goals, rejects norms

o   Ritualism (middle class) – follows norms, rejects goals

o   Rebellion (working class) – rejects existing norms & values but accepts new ones

4)    Criticisms

·       Terminology – certain types of adaptation may be mislabeled

·       Class bias – Merton’s theory overestimates crime in lower class & underestimates it in the upper class

·       Casual Direction of Retreatism – argued that it could be a cause of anomie in certain cases of substance abuse

·       Solution for crime through equality – argued that equalizing opportunities would require a classless society

·       Mutually Exclusive Adaptations – treated the modes of adaptation as distinct and static, though individuals often adapt in multiple, fluid ways (drug addicts committing crimes for survival)

1)    Key Works

·       Outsiders: Studies in Sociology of Deviance

·       Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your Research while Doing It

2)    Basic Assumptions

·       Deviance as a process

o   Proposed that deviant acts & careers develop gradually in states

·       Naturalistic Approach to Studying Deviance

o   Becker advocated for qualitative methods like life histories and participant observation – study criminals in their natural environments

·       Contingent causation

o   Becker rejected both strict determinism and complete free will, favoring “contingent causation” – individuals make choices with constrained conditions

3)    Key Ideas & Concepts

·       Becker’s Marijuana Study

o   Stages of Becoming a Marijuana User

§  Stage 1 – learning to smoke correctly to achieve an effect

§  Stage 2 – recognizing the effects as “being high”, often guided by experienced users

§  Stage 3 – finding enjoyment in these sensations, which is socially learned

o   Social Control & Obstacles in Marijuana Use

§  Supply – users must develop access to the drug, moving from casual access to personal sources as usage increases

§  Secrecy – users need strategies to conceal use from non-users, increasing in complexity as use becomes more regular

§  Morality – users rationalize their behavior by questioning societal norms, especially at more committed stages

o   Morality & Rationalizations

§  Becker noted that users overcome societal moral prohibitions by adopting rationalizations & testing their control over usage to dismiss fears of addiction

o   Definition of deviance

§  Deviance – created by social groups that make the rules whos infraction constitutes deviance and apply those rules to people, labeling them as outsiders

§  Deviant labeling – deviant is someone who is labeled as such , whether an act is deviant depends partly on the rule it breaks and society’s reaction to it

o   4 types of deviance

§  Falsely accused – labeled as deviant despite not breaking any rules

§  True Conformist – not labeled as deviant and has not broken any rules

§  True deviant – labeled as deviant and has broken the rules

§  Secret deviant – has broken rules but not labeled as deviant, as their actions are undiscovered

o   Becker’s Notion of a Deviant Career

§  Process of becoming deviant – deviant career unfolds in stages, reflecting an evolving relationship between the individual and society

·       Stage 1 – acting on deviant impulses

o   Moral restraints – people have deviant impulses but often don’t act on them due to moral constraints

o   Neutralization techniques – rationalize deviant acts if they occur under justifiable conditions, such as lack of choice of absences of a real victim

·       Stage 2 – Public Labeling as Deviant

o   Impact of labeling – being publicly labeled as deviant changes one’s social status and self-identity

o   Identity transformation – person branded with a deviant label adopts a new public identity

·       Stage 3 – Joining a Deviant Group

o   Group solidarity – membership in a deviant group reinforces one’s identity as an “outsider”

o   Deviant ideology – provides justifications for deviance, often involving rejection of conventional moral values

o   Maintaining deviant behavior – group membership helps individuals continue deviant activities in a society that disapproves of them

4)    Critique of Becker’s Theory

·       Repackaging of Lemert’s Ideas – criticized as a repackaging of Lemert’s societal reaction theory; reclassifying primary deviants as people with conventional identities and secondary deviants as those who adopt an outsider status

·       Focus on secondary deviance – emphasizes secondary deviance over primary deviance, leaving the origin of initial deviant impulses largely unexplained

·       Explaining secret deviants – struggles to account for “closet deviants” who keep their deviant activities secret and thus avoid public labeling

·       Lack of distinction between types of deviance – work does not differentiate between victimless crimes, harmful criminal acts, and deviant acts that criminal or otherwise