Chapter 8
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Talking to oneself in public
Drag racing on a public street
Using illegal drugs
A man wearing women’s clothing
Attacking another person with a weapon
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Behavior that violates social norms
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Some norms are fairly insignificant, others
are essential to a working society
Violating unavoidable
Deviance varies by society-divorce prohibited
in Philippines, legal here, businesses on
Sunday
Labeling someone deviant 1.must be detected
committing a deviant act, 2. be stigmatized
by society. Ex. Scarlett Letter, Erving
Goffman calls the “spoiled social identity”.
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Clarifying norms- better defines boundaries
of social behavior, serve as warning of
consequences
Unify group-draws line between us and them
Diffusing tension-minor acts of deviance
allows safety valve without disrupting basic
fabric of society
Promoting social change-identify problem
areas, when enough violate, triggers change
in norm
Providing jobs- police, criminologists,
uniform makers
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Strain theory- Robert K. Merton- deviance is
a natural outgrowth of the values, norms, and
structure of society. Some are incompatible
with reality, ex. Economic success. Not
everyone has tools to achieve, poor judged
Anomie is the situation that arises when the
norms of society are unclear or are no longer
applicable. Not enough guidelines for
behavior leads to confusion, Durkheim
studies Industrial Revolution
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Societal distance
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Hand Gestures
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Eye contact
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Facial expressions
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How to respond to culturally approved goals
and legitimate ways of achieving? 5 modes of
adaptation
CONFORMITY- accept cultural goals and
norms
Always involves legitimate means
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INNOVATION- accept cultural goals, but
reject cultural norms
Want to be successful, but non-traditional
means for achieving. Ex. Drug dealer.
RITUALISM- reject cultural goals but accept
cultural norms
Abandon goals but continue to observe
acceptable rules of behavior. Ex. Turn down
promotion
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RETREATISM- reject both cultural goals and
norms
Make no effort to share, drop out of society.
Ex. Hermits, drug addicts
REBELLION- reject and replace cultural goals
and norms, want to substitute new values. Ex.
Members of revolutionary social movement.
Last 2 bigger threats to society
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Competition and social inequality lead to
deviance
Life as struggle between those who possess
power-the ruling class- and those who do
not- the lower classes. People with power
commit deviant acts to maintain their
position. People without power commit
deviant acts to obtain economic reward or
because of feelings of powerlessness.
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Richard Quinney- the ruling classes label any
behavior that threatens their power as deviant
To protect power, ideologies are established
(belief systems) to explain deviance as a
problem of the lower classes
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Law enforcement is directed against these
people, higher arrest and conviction rates
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Ex. SC and crack babies cases
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Control theory-deviance is a natural occurrencewhy DO people conform rather than causes of
deviance
COMMUNITY TIES- if weak, less conformity
Travis Hirschi, people develop social bonds in 4
ways
1.form attachments with others who accept
norms
2.have a strong belief in the moral codes of
society
3.show commitment to traditional societal values
4.fully involved in nondeviant activities
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Cultural transmission theory- deviant behavior is
learned through interaction with others, just as
conformist behavior is learned. SOCIALIZED to
deviancy
Differential Association-the frequency and
closeness of associations a person has with
deviant and nondeviant individuals, Edwin
Sutherland
Techniques of neutralization-people suspend
their moral beliefs to commit deviant actsdenying responsibility (accident), denying injury
(no one hurt), denying the victim(had it coming),
condemning the authorities(police corrupt),
appealing to higher loyalties(to protect family)
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Labeling theory-how do individuals come to
be indentified? All commit acts during life.
Primary deviance is a nonconformity that
goes undetected by authority. Do not view
self as deviant nor does society.
Secondary deviance- results in labeling and
most accept as true
Harold Garfinkel, degradation ceremony- a
public setting, trial, individual is denounced,
found guilty, and given new identity
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An act, labeled by authority, prohibited by law,
and punishable by government
Moral code v. legal violation
Types of crime:
Violent-rape, murder, assault, robbery
Crimes against property-theft, vandalism, arson
Victimless crimes-illegal drug use, helmets
White-collar crime-toxic pollution, political
corruption, embezzlement
Organized crime- crime syndicate
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Police- discretion, racial profiling
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Courts- plea bargaining
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Corrections-sanctions to punish include
imprisonment, parole, and probation, Serve 4
functions:
1.retribution-act of revenge for society
2.deterrence-think twice
3.rehabilitation-to prevent recidivism
4.social protection-death penalty ultimate
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3rd largest category of criminals juvenile
offenders
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Lower level of responsibility for acts
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Same rights?