Part V
Part 5
 Many people engage in deviance but only a
small percentage labeled deviant
 Pathway of deviant identity may be a
“deviant” (Becker) or a “moral” (Goffman)
career
 Deviant identity career: seven stages (Adler
& Adler)
Part 5
 Getting Caught & Publicly Identified
 Once labeled a person’s life changes in several
ways
 Others begin to think differently about newly
labeled person
Part 5
 Retrospective Interpretation (Schur)
 Reviewing new deviant’s past & current
behavior to see if it warrants being seen in a
different light
Part 5
 Spoiled Identity (Goffman)
 Erikson: commitment ceremonies publicly
announce one as deviant
 A tarnished reputation is not easy to restore,
few if any rites of passage exist
Part 5
 Exclusion (Lemert)
 Deriding and ostracizing: the new deviant is
excluded from reputable social groups
Part 5
 Inclusion (Lemert)
 As membership from some groups is closed,
other deviant groups may welcome or include
the newly labeled deviant into their deviant
circles or groups
 A deviant reputation will be repelling to some
but attractive to other groups
Part 5
 Treated Differently
 Others indicate negative view of deviant
through actions & expression of attitudes
Part 5
 Internalization of the Label (Cooley)
 Looking Glass Self: a person internalizes
deviant label and begins to think of
themselves differently
Part 5
Part 5
 Master status is one that defines our primary
identity, such as:




Race,
Gender
Age
Religion
Part 5
 Auxiliary traits are qualities often associated
with a master status, such as:
 Heroin-user
 Sexually promiscuous
 Obese
 Ex-felon
Part 5
 One who commits deviant acts but such acts
are unrecognized
 As a result, one avoids being labeled deviant
and avoids deviant identity
 Some persons may remain at this level
indefinitely while committing deviance
Part 5
 One commits deviant act and such acts are
reacted to by others as deviant
 Seven stages above describe this process of
secondary deviance
 Role engulfment (Schur): one who defines
oneself primarily through deviant identity
and accepts this as primary status
Part 5
 Identity Embracement: person decides deviant
label is unjust not intrinsic to their behavior
 They strongly identify with their deviance and




often organize with others to combat the deviant
label applied to them
May engage in “identity politics” such as protests,
rallies, civil disobedience, etc
Gender (view of women as inferior and movement
to win women’s right to vote)
Race (view of blacks as inferior and civil rights
movement),
Sexual orientation (gay/lesbian movement) offer
historical examples
Part 5
Part 5
 In conversation we present reasons to others
to explain meaning and intent of our actions
 Such “motive talk” provides normalcy to
interactions that are disrupted by certain
acts or events
Part 5
 People make “justifications” for deviance
seen as valid by deviants but not by legal
system or society
 Denial of responsibility:
 deviance due to acts or situations beyond
their control
 Denial of injury:
 mitigate act by alluding to lack of harmful
consequences to anyone
Part 5
 Denial of the victim:
 legitimate their behavior by suggesting no
specific victim can be identified
 that persons hurt “deserve” what happened to
them
 Appeal to higher loyalties:
 behavior justified as serving a greater good
 Condemnation of the condemners:
 turning the table on accusers
 focus on what accusers have done wrong
Part 5
 Deny full responsibility by distancing
themselves from blame
 Four types of excuses




Appeals to accidents
Appeals to defeasibility
Appeals to innate, biological drives
Scapegoating
Part 5
 Deny wrongfulness of act
 Accept full responsibility
 Two types of justifications
 Sad tales
 Self-fulfillment
Part 5
 Disclaimers in contrast are prospective in
nature
 Designed as verbal explanations to minimize
deviant acts or motives that will occur in
future
 Argue that Scott and Lyman’s verbal
accounts are retrospective in nature to
minimize impact of deviant behavior that
has already occurred
Part 5
 Hedging:
 Prefacing behavior with remarks suggesting
lack of certainty as to what they are can do or
will achieve (I am not sure this is going to
work but...”)
 Credentializing:
 Knowing their act will be discredited, they
attempt to give a purpose or legitimacy to it
 Sin licenses:
 Knowing their behavior will not be well
received, they suggest this is a time when the
ordinary rules should be suspended
Part 5
 Cognitive disclaimers:
 Try to make sense of something that looks as
if it would not be well understood
 Appeals for the suspension of judgment:
 Aim to deflect negative consequences of
offensive remarks
Part 5
Part 5
 Deviant label marks people with a stigma in
eyes of society, leading to devaluation and
exclusion
 Stigmatized persons fall into two categories
(Goffman)
 Discreditable: easily concealable deviant
traits who may manage themselves to avoid
the stigma (ex-convicts, secret homosexuals,
former or current prostitutes)
 Discredited: Those who have revealed their
deviance or who cannot hide it (the obese,
racial minorities, physically disabled)
Part 5
 Those with discredited stigma engage in
passing as “normal” in everyday life:
constant focus on secrecy and information
control to conceal deviance through:
 Stigma symbols -avoid contact with objects or
behaviors that would tip others off about to
their deviance
Part 5
 Disidentifiers: props, actions or verbal
expressions to distract or fool others
 Leading double life: maintaining two
different lifestyles
 Others may help others conceal their
deviance by covering for them
 Disclosure: stigma management if
concealment fails
Part 5
 Disclosure follows one of two courses:
 Deviance disavowal: some normal people
ignore a person’s stigma
 Deviance avowal: deviant person may
acknowledge their deviance but present
themselves in a positive light
Part 5
 Stigma may also be managed through group
or collective effort
 Example: AA, COYOTE
 Expressive dimensions: primary function to
provide support for members
 Instrumental dimension: members gather in
addition for political activism: NOW
 Groups vary between conformity and
alienation
Part 5
Part V
Chapter 23
 Data collection for this study consists of field
observations and in-depth interviews
 Identity Change Process
Part 5: Ch. 23
 Identity change involves two levels:
 Public (external): social status is socially
defined and promoted and involves public
cues
 Private (internal): as a person recognizes
current status is inappropriate they locate
new status
 Identity change is thus mediated through
status cues that exist in environment
Part 5: Ch. 23
 Status cues are the public or external part of
the identity change process
 Recognizing and placing comprise internal
component of identity change process
 Identity change process involves external and
internal elements
 Status cues transmitted in two ways:
 Active cues communicated through
interaction: others tell person they are “fat”
 Passive cues require individual to inform
themselves about their relevance
Part 5: Ch. 23
 What makes the identity change process
possible?
 Which cues are more important in changing
an individual’s view of themselves – status or
passive status cues?
Part 5: Ch. 23
Part V
Chapter 24
Part 5: Ch. 24
 Becoming bisexual involves rejecting two
recognized categories of sexual identity:
heterosexual and homosexual
 Initial confusion: first stage of bisexual
identity formation
 Persons report experiencing period of
considerable confusion, doubt and struggle
about their sexual identity prior to defining
themselves as bisexual
Part 5: Ch. 24
 They report having strong sexual feelings or both
sexes that was unsettling, disorienting and
sometimes frightening which they did not know
how to handle
 Others were confused because they thought same
sex feelings or behavior meant end to their longstanding heterosexuality
 A third source of confusion was due to
unsuccessful attempt to categorize such feelings
or behaviors
 A final confusion due to homophobia: difficulty
for some in facing up to same-sex component of
their sexuality
Part 5: Ch. 24
 Finding and applying the label: second stage
of bisexual identity formation
 Discovery of category and label of bisexuality
a turning point for many
 For others, their first gay or straight
experience coupled with recognition that sex
could be pleasurable with both sexes
Part 5: Ch. 24
 For others no specific experience but simply
recognition that sexual feelings for both sexes
just too strong to deny & unnecessary to
choose one over the other
 Encouragement and support of others who
already defined themselves as bisexual
including sex-positive organizations
Part 5: Ch. 24
 Settling into the identity: third stage of
bisexual identity formation
 This stage often result of becoming more self-
accepting, less concerned about negative
attitudes of others about sexual preferences
 Self-acceptance often attributed to support
from friends, counselors, organizations and
reading
 While a majority of subjects seemed “settled
into” their bisexual identity, 40% report that
they could someday define themselves as
lesbian/gay or heterosexual
Part 5: Ch. 24
 Continued uncertainty: fourth stage of
bisexual identity formation
 Belief that bisexuals are confused about their
“true” identity is quite common and has often
been promoted by some homosexuals
 Subjects report periods of doubt and
uncertainty even after discovery and
application of bisexual label to themselves
Part 5: Ch. 24
 What does the formation of a bisexual
identity entail and how easy or difficult is
this for the individual?
Part 5: Ch. 24