SOCIAL CONTROL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpHcTGXy76I
Societal attempts to regulate people’s thoughts &
behavior. Three types:
1.
Personal Control
 How you see yourself

2.
3.
Informal Social Control
 How others respond to you
Formal Social Control

Enforced by authorized agents, including police
officers, employers, military officers
Deviance
•
Any behavior, belief, or condition that
violates social norms in the society or
group in which it occurs
•
Examples:
1.
2.
3.
Drinking too much
Robbing a bank
Laughing during a funeral

Early interest in criminality focused
on biological causes Cesare Lombroso
(1835-1909)

Criminals stand out physically
Criminals distinguished from noncriminals by multiple physical
anomalies


To the trained eye people
organized into categories.

Those in group "A" are
shoplifters

"B" are swindlers

"H" are purse snatchers,

"E" are murderers, etc.

You can see a man's real
character at a glance.
Sheldon
 Body structure and criminality
Sheldon

Endomorph - tendency toward plumpness
 Temperament:
tolerant, love of comfort and luxury,
extravert

Mesophorph- tendency towards muscularity
 Temperament
courageous, energetic, active,
dynamic, assertive, aggressive, risk taker

Ectomorph- tendency towards slightness
Temperament artistic, sensitive, apprehensive, introvert
CRITIQUE: BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
1.
Limited explanation of crime
2.
Most actions defined as deviant are
carried out by people who are
physically normal
3.
Biological approach looks at individual
4.
No insight into how some kinds of
behavior come to be defined as deviant
Deviance

Behavior that fails to conform to
the rules or norms of the group
(Emile
Durkheim)
Deviance vs Conformity

Range of unacceptable behavior
outside the ideal norm

Outside the boundary =
deviance
Example: Body Mass Index

BMI=Weight Status
Below 18.5 Underweight
 18.5 – 24.9 Normal
 25.0 – 29.9 Overweight
 30.0 and Above Obese

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm
BMI Index Calculator

Over conforming
Under
conforming->
n 1:
The Statistical Definition

Deviance--any behaviour or condition
that is a departure from majority
and/or average experience
Very
concrete and clear definition
Normative Definition

Deviance--Violation of a norm
 A socially-shared standard of conduct

Norms=What you should/should not do
 Behaviors that are “normal” in certain
situations

Most popular sociological definition of
deviance
Legalist Definition

Deviance=Breaking a law

Problem 1: Not all deviant acts are
illegal

Problem 2: Not all illegal acts are
deviant
Odd Laws






By law, if a man promises to marry an unmarried
woman, the marriage must take place. (SC)
It is considered an offense to get a tattoo. (SC)
Horses may not be kept in bathtubs. (SC)
It is illegal to give or receive oral sex in South
Carolina.
The drinking age on Furman University campus
is 60 years old.
Eating watermelons in the Magnolia Street
cemetery is forbidden.
Structural-Functionalist

Functions of Deviance:

Affirms cultural values

Generates & sustains morality

Clarifies moral boundaries

Promotes social unity

Encourages social change
Absolutist View of Deviance

2 fundamental types of human behavior
1.
2.

Inherently good
Inherently bad
Deviance is potentially destructive
 Society needs to control or
eliminate it
Relativist View of Deviance

Deviance is socially created by collective
judgments
 No
Absolute right & wrong
 No action is inherently deviant
 People become deviant (not born deviant)

Key factor--Who does the defining
 Deviance
involves power
 Powerful can create & apply norms
No Typical Deviant Characteristics
Examples:
 Parking ticket to murder


Crying in public– women vs men

Speaking loudly—party vs church

Standing too close—standing too far
away
Societal Reaction Theories
Societal Reaction
Processes by which:
• Certain types of behavior become
viewed as unacceptable, deviant, or
criminal
• Deviance does not exist independently
of people’s reaction
• Deviance is not a quality of an act
Societal Reaction
Theories
•Theoretical Approaches:
•Symbolic interaction
•Labeling theory
Symbolic Interactionism
Stresses the importance of the
real or imagined reactions of
others to how we act and how
we view ourselves.
George Herbert Mead
Herbert Blumer
Charles H. Cooley
Response
Stimulus
Response
Stimulus
Symbolic Interaction: Deviance

Looking Glass Self (C.H. Cooley)

Situations defined as real are real in
their consequences.(W.I. Thomas)
Symbolic Interaction:
Labeling Theory

Concerns:
•
How does society label certain
behavior as deviant?
•
Why does society label certain
behavior as deviant?
•
What are the consequences of a
deviant label?
CONSEQUENCES OF LABELS

Three consequences:
1. Affects who responds to deviance
2. How people respond
3. Personal competence of deviant
person
 When are people not responsible
for their behavior?
Edwin Lemert:
Primary & Secondary Deviation
Process of labeling:
• Deviant behavior results from
stigmatized sense of self

Primary deviance: General deviance
Example:
Person gets drunk at party several
times—sees self as enjoying party
Secondary deviance

Secondary deviance—Based on
responses to primary deviance
Example:
• Person notices that friends hide
liquor when he visits
• Sees self as a drunk
• Continues to drink because he is a
“drunk”
Merton’s Strain Theory
•
Some deviance may be necessary for
society to function
•
Extent and kind of deviance depends
on whether society provides the
means to achieve cultural goals
•
Conformity=Pursuing cultural goals
through approved means
Strain Theory: CONFORMITY


SOCIALLLY
APPROVED
GOAL:
Making $$$
•
SOCIALLY
APPROVED
MEANS:
•
Get a college
education
•
Work Hard
DEVIANCE: Innovation

SOCIALLLY
APPROVED
GOAL:

Making $$$
NOT SOCIALLY
APPROVED
MEANS:
 Sell illegal drugs
 White collar crime
 Join the mafia

Deviance: Ritualism

SOCIALLLY
APPROVED
GOAL:

Fail to Achieve
Socially Approved
Goal:

Making $$$

Keep working
hard anyway
Deviance: Retreatism


SOCIALLLY
APPROVED
GOAL:
Making $$$

Reject Goal and the
Means:

Work in supermarket &
live with parents
Deviance: Rebellion

SEEK NEW
GOAL:

Work for political
change
 Start a revolution
 Start a cult

Adventure
 Promoting
equality

NEW MEANS
Medicalization of Deviance

Transformation of moral & legal
deviance into medical condition
Moral terms
 “Bad” or “Good”
 Medical terms
 “Sick” or “Well”

Example:
Alcoholism no longer considered a sin or a
moral weakness; it is now a disease
Medicalization of Deviance



Peter Conrad documents how hyperkinesis
(attention deficit, hyperactivity) became a
medical term
Initially, children’s very, very active behaviors
considered ‘normal’
Or just much more active, curious, anti-social,
rebellious or stimulated than the average child
Medicalization of Deviance

Slowly, pharmaceutical revolution

Psychological disorders increased use of
medicines for childhood disorders

Growing interest in child psychiatry

Credible foundation to educate public
about new disorder
Deviance and Social Inequality
•
Who or what is labeled deviant
depends on access to power
•
People labeled deviant are
typically low power or powerless
Three social-conflict explanations
1. Norms & laws of society generally reflect
the interests of rich & powerful
2. The powerful have resources to resist
deviant labels
3. Widespread belief that norms & laws are
natural & good hides political character
The influence of who we are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWXO-_Hoyhk&feature=related