Deviance
Deviance
• Recognized violations of cultural
norms
– Purpose or function?
• Affirms cultural values and
norms
• Responding to it clarifies moral
boundaries
• Responding to it promotes
social unity
• Encourages social change
• Provides jobs
Functionalist theories
–Merton’s Strain Theory
• tensions that are caused
by the gap between
cultural goals and the
means people have
available to achieve those
goals.
Conformists
• Conformists are people who believe in
both the established cultural goals of
society as well as the normative
means for attaining those goals. They
follow the rules of society. An example
would be a successful investor or
businessman who is economically
successful because of their
employment or hard work.
Ritualist
• Ritualists are individuals who do not
believe in the established cultural
goals of society, but they do believe in
and abide by the means for attaining
those goals. For example, a middlemanagement worker who cares little
for wealth but still continues to climb
the socioeconomic ladder through
traditional means and hard work.
Innovators
• Innovators are those individuals that accept the
cultural goals of society but reject the
conventional methods of attaining those goals.
These people usually have a blatant disregard
for the conventional methods that have been
established in attaining wealth and are generally
those we regard as criminals. An example is a
stockbroker who engages in illegal insider
trading. The cultural goal of wealth is accepted,
but nontraditional means of insider trading are
used. Drug dealers, thieves, and prostitutes are
also examples of innovators.
Retreatist
• Retreatists are individuals who reject
both the cultural goals and the
accepted means of attaining those
goals. They simply avoid both the goals
and means established by society
without replacing those norms with
their own counter-cultural forces.
Severe alcoholics, some homeless
people, and hermits are examples of
retreatists.
Rebel
• Rebels not only reject both the
established cultural goals and the
accepted means of attaining those
goals, but they substitute new
goals and new means of attaining
those goals. Examples of rebels
include the American Nazi party,
“skinheads,” and the Ku Klux Klan.
Interactionist Theories
– Differential association
• Criminal behavior is learnable and learned in
interaction with other deviant persons. Through
this association, they learn not only techniques of
certain crimes, but also specific rationale, motives
and so on.
• criminal behavior emerges when one is exposed
to a social message favoring criminal conduct
more than messages favoring prosocial behavior
–Labeling theory
•behaviors are deviant
only when society
labels them as deviant
• Primary and Secondary
Deviance
– The difference between primary
deviance and secondary
deviance is in the reactions other
people have to the original act of
deviance
• Primary Deviance
– An adolescent who smokes cigarettes
with other adolescents is not at risk of
being labeled a deviant among her peers,
since they all smoke. Even though
adolescents who smoke cigarettes are
considered deviant by the larger American
society, that teenager’s actions go
relatively unnoticed, unpunished, and
therefore unchanged. The primary
deviance is of little consequence
• Secondary Deviance
– The same adolescent moves to a new
school where his peers never smoke and
where smoking is considered a deviant
behavior. The students call him names
and exclude him from all of their social
activities. Because of their reactions to
his smoking, he feels like an outcast and
begins to smoke more, perhaps
engaging in other deviant activities, such
as alcohol or drugs
• Control Theory
– four elements that would render an
individual more or less likely to commit
deviance
• Attachment - People who feel a strong attachment to other
people, such as family or close friends, are less likely to be
deviant.
• Commitment - Individuals who have a sincere commitment to
legitimate goals are more likely to conform to society’s norms
• Involvement - The more involved people are with legitimate
activities, the less likely they are to deviate from appropriate
behavior.
• Belief - An individual who shares the same values as the
dominant society, such as respect for authority, the importance
of hard work, or the primacy of the family, is less likely to
commit deviance
• 1) a crime sufficiently serious to be punishable by
death or a term in state or federal prison, as
distinguished from a misdemeanor which is only
punishable by confinement to county or local jail
and/or a fine. 2) a crime carrying a minimum term of
one year or more in state prison, since a year or
less can be served in county jail. However, a
sentence upon conviction for a felony may
sometimes be less than one year at the discretion of
the judge and within limits set by statute. Felonies
are sometimes referred to as "high crimes" as
described in the U.S. Constitution
offenses may include first degree
murder (premeditated), murder with
special circumstances (such as
intentional, multiple, involved with
another crime, with guns, of a police
officer, or a repeat offense), and rape
with additional bodily harm, and the
federal crime of treason. A charge of a
capital offense usually means no bail
will be allowed
• The death penalty system in the US
is applied in an unfair and unjust
manner against people, largely
dependent on how much money
they have, the skill of their attorneys,
race of the victim and where the
crime took place. People of color
are far more likely to be executed
than white people, especially if the
victim is white
• The death penalty is a waste of
taxpayer funds and has no public safety
benefit. The vast majority of law
enforcement professionals surveyed
agree that capital punishment does not
deter violent crime; a survey of police
chiefs nationwide found they rank the
death penalty lowest among ways to
reduce violent crime.
• Innocent people are too often sentenced
to death. Since 1973, over 140 people
have been released from death rows in 26
states because of innocence. Nationally,
at least one person is exonerated for every
10 that are executed
•Retribution
•Incapacitation
•Deterrence
•Rehabilitation