Relation to the course:
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Deviance is socially constructed – defined, identified and enforced. Certain people and segments
of society are in a position to define what is deviant and do something about it. They pass laws,
then they identify which behaviours are deviant. They provide examples of what it means to
engage in that sort of behaviour. Then you have to be able to react once you identify it (to
enforce).
One way to increase your crime rate is to pass more laws. There is an effort it identify so many
behaviours as criminal.
Labelling theory: not just that behaviour is labelled. It’s the consequence of labelling the
behaviour as deviant. Secondary deviance, primary deviance. Other people can then identify this
abd label it. However labelling theory is how people respond to being labelled. It makes a
difference what people think about you. The issue is people can take on the identity of the table
– calling someone a trouble maker, they eventually take on that identity and see themselves as
a trouble maker
The Chicago school: the sociology department – and endowed uni, brought all the top people in
the field. They made a difference and set the tone. One of the things they did was look at the
city as aan experimental space. Tjey did maps of diff areas, looking at juvenile behaviour in
particular. The incidence of this behaviour congregated in certain areas of the city. The idea was
deviane was some kind of individual/biological defect. And if it was it would be distributed
evenly but it wasn’t the case it was related to certain areas of the city.
o We talked about the different zones. Were people were speculating and not actually
living there
Richard quinney: based on karl marx
o Exploitation of labour. You buy labour and peiopole produce and produce and produce
ands what they produce exceeds far what you pay them. The idea that there is an
inherent intention between different classes. He details the efforts in controlling
classes…
o He tlaks about how crimes are constructed by people who have the power to define
what is criminal and what isn’t. if you are doing fine you want things to stay the same, if
oyu are struggling you want things to improve. The govt gets nervous by the population
hat isn’t doing well. They get worried for individuals because if they don’t seem
concerned they get worried about being voted out of office.
Michael Moore
o What happened in America – the majority if the pop is either under-employed or overemployed. There is a cycle (depressionary spiral). If you aren’t making much money tyou
are very careful about what you spend on. In result companies aren’t doing well, this
keeps the economy depressed. Then companies need to increase production and hire
more people to respond to increased demand. But this only happens if people spend
more money. If you take away these job then none of these things can happen. The only
jobs available are public service (like taco bell) but that isn’t enough .
o Trickled down economics. They give the money to the poepl who already have money –
thinkning they will exoand their business thinking they will hire more people and sell
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more products. But they cant unless there are people willing to buy their products
which there wasn’t.
o Now looking back its unbelievabke that they spent all that money.
o Stimulus spending: spending money on public works – spending money to employ
people. Instead of giving it to the rich, you hire people who don’t have jobs to build
highways, buildings, sewer systems
Edward gratinsky
o Shows us where the jobs are going – huge factories. That paid employees very little
money.
o Manufacturing landscape: what happens to those things that people spend money on.
o Deviance – individuals behaving in certain ways. The way people act doesn’t come out
of the blue. It comes from an economic and political circumstance – that people are sort
of born into. We are constantly being encouraged to fit into the culture that we are born
into
Atomic café
o You are encouraged to go along with the norm.
o People were balcklisted because of prior associations with the communist party.
o You don’t wanna get yourself in trouble, if you don’t anna get investigated they told oyu
what to do.
o …. Was being followed by… for finding an engineering error in ….. the cars were flipping
over due to the engine being in the back
o What happens if you don’t fit in?
Personal and social identities
Street corner society
*page 50-53 stigma and status
o Retrospective interpretation: in light of this new information
How all this relates to our day and age
My Notes
-Deviance has to be a reflection of those who are viewing the behavior or attitude.
- Someone has to pass judgement.
- It’s a judgement, not a fact.
- It’s a social phenomena (Social phenomena include all behavior influences or is influenced
by organisms sufficiently alive to respond to one another)
- It cannot be defined experimentally. It’s a Social creation.
- Social reality if different then scientific reality.
Durkheim: He wanted to establish sociology as it’s own discipline
- At that time, he had to show that it was scientific.
1st rule- Consider social facts as things ( they are not actually things, you consider them as
things
Suicide example- Investigators arrive and come up with a conclusion or “judgement” on what had
happened, and the job is done.
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- A Snub is a thing that concludes a social interaction.
- Dynamic and complication of the social world is the way it should be perceived.
- Max Weber- Defines social actions as oriented ( directed towards others)- In sociology, social
action refers to an act which takes into account the actions of and reactions of individuals (or
'agents'). According to Max Weber, "an Action is 'social' if the acting individual takes account of the
behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course"
- The judgement of deviance is a social judgement and is important to know how it originated.
Oriented Moral Action
- Oriented= person knows and has reason for what they are doing
- Moral= good intentions ( even if it’s not socially acceptable)
Relativity- is a term used to describe and evaluate the pros and cons of different behavior (egocentrism,
ethnocentrism)
- Ethnocentrism- Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and
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standards of one's own culture. Ethnocentric individuals judge other groups relative
to their own ethnic group or culture, especially with concern for language, behavior,
customs, and religion.
Egocentrism is characterized by preoccupation with one's own internal world.
Egocentrics regard themselves and their own opinions or interests as being the most
important or valid.
Evil can come from very normal people.
- Following orders is not an excuse for partaking in immoral situations.
Deviance is not a self-evident category. It does not just float down from the skies applying itself to
people who quite obviously are deviant. Deviance is a historical term and its application and/or adoption
can create a status which dwarfs all others in its consequences for the individuals’ existence. Even the
most deviant of all deviants does not just “happen”. Someone must pass judgement, to portray, to
stigmatize, to insult, to heap abuse, to exclude or to reject.
Creaser Lombroso- Adopted the term “Atavistic Anomalies” – Indication that some people were lower
on the evolutionary scale than others. Certain indicators on the human would be more likely or unlikely
to commit a crime
Due to the labelling theory, those that live in the less developed areas of town have adopted (over time)
the judgement from society that they should act in a deviant way (commit crimes). Street crimes exist
more often in these areas, which allows for more focus from authority’s. Not saying that the same
activities do not occur in more developed areas of town, but the authorities are not there to catch those
criminals in action ( due to their social class of having a job and contributing to the society developed by
the ones in power), whereas in the less developed areas, the chances of catching somebody doing
something “illegal” is in the interest of the upper class and officials.
- Financial crimes are not focused on because police officers are not trained to catch these
types of criminals.
- This distance between the upper class, and authorities ( the ones who create and enforce
the laws, due to their societal power) and the lower class, enables the upper class to choose
which types of crimes are more “dangerous”, which is, of course, those crimes that are not
associated with upper class illegal activities. This allows the focus to be stressed on those
that have been labelled as criminals, due to their lack of power within the society.
1. Social Darwinism (theory of evolution)- Natural selection is the gradual process by which
biological traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of the effect
of inherited traits on the differential reproductive success of organisms interacting with their
environment. It is a key mechanism of evolution.
2. Survival Of The fittest- the continued existence of organisms that are best adapted to their
environment, with the extinction of others, as a concept in the Darwinian theory of evolution.
Herbert Spencer) survival of the fittest) – Certain people are more fit to survive in the social
world than others. Give resources to those who are more fit and take away from those who are
less fit. This lead to Eugenics- Term used to describe trying to influence the outcome of the
society you have (Formed Sterilization)
The Chicago School- was an endowed school (not a normal school)
- Helped turn attention from physical reasons for social behavior and looked at
psychological reasons.
- Students of this school when into the communities and observed what was going on.
- They noticed most crime was in zone 2 area that surrounded the heart of the city.
- From observing, they realized it was not the individuals, it was the setting that they
were living in. They tried to make the areas nicer so less crime would be committed.
The Chicago School is best known for its urban sociology and for the development
of the symbolic interactionist approach. It has focused on human behavior as
determined by social structures and physical environmental factors, rather than
genetic and personal characteristics. Biologists and anthropologists have accepted
the theory of evolution as demonstrating that animals adapt to their environments.
As applied to humans who are considered responsible for their own destinies,
members of the School believed that the natural environment which
the community inhabits is a major factor in shaping human behavior, and that the
city functions as a microcosm
1. Edward Sutherland- ( influenced by the Chicago school)- Differential Association-In
criminology, differential association is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that
through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives
for criminal behavior. The differential association theory is the most talked about of the
learning theories of deviance.
-He coined the term “ white collar crime” (Typical white-collar crimes include fraud,
bribery, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, embezzlement, cybercrime, copyright infringement,
money laundering, identity theft, and forgery.)
- He also said that crimes, like anything else, is a learned thing and you learn from people
around you that you care about.
- he also said that you don’t learn how to commit crimes, you learn the rationale to doing
so. (The meat story)
The first prisons were isolated environments because criminals would hang around each other
and they taught each other how to commit crimes. Isolation stopped because people went
nuts.
How can social control create deviance? By naming, labelling, or categorizing some attributes,
behaviors, or conditions as types of deviance, separating them from other attitudes, behaviors,
or conditions that are considered to be proper, or even desirable.
The labelling theory- How the people “so labelled” respond to the label and adapt to it.
Primary Deviance- It hasn’t been recognized as deviant by people, or the people
engaging in the deviance.
Secondary Deviance- The response to the deviant label given. The deviance that seems
to be encouraged by the label. They don’t see themselves as trouble makers but are being
labeled as being trouble makers by the people around them. Thus, the behavior is encouraged
as a reaction against the label
- Everyone commits primary acts of deviance, but rarely think of ourselves as
criminals. When someone commits an offense of a more serious nature, then one is
likely to be labeled, internalize the label, and act out accordingly in future criminal
behavior (situations we define as real become real in their consequences).
During the time of Michael Moore’s film, Trickle Down Economics was occurring. The idea was
to give money to the top, to build factories to allow for more poor people to gain jobs.
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Trickle down economics (Reaganomics) is a system in which the government cuts (lowers)
both corporate taxes and income taxes (most notably affected are the taxes on the
wealthiest). With more incentive for firms to innovate and create, this will create more jobs.
With more revenue and more income, the wealthier of the population will spend more and
save less, thus stimulating the economy for both lower and middle class earners (with more
spending, there is more demand for goods and services; this creates more opportunity for
employment). With all the spending in the economy, the government will reap the benefits
of taxation on goods and services.
STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM NOW WE HERE. Give money to the poor, give the rich a tax
break. The companies in turn will have bigger profits, which would benefit the city. The govt
would have more money and be able to spend it on infrastructure. And the more projects
you get going the more people you have to hire, and the more money they have in their
pockets. The Govt could also increase welfare checks etc. People who are hungry and
stressed out don’t do well with interviews. People don’t want to hire people who are
desperate; they want people who are competent and confident. -
Alternative- Give money to the bottom and watch it trickle up to the top.
- Tax breaks= more spending= more money to rich owners. This increases revenue tax
which goes back up to the city.
Alternative - Spend money on infrastructure/ projects, which gives jobs through the
government (stimulate spending)
- More projects= More money from the bottom up for spending
Alternative- Increase unemployment insurance for the poor.
- Less stress over money= more chance at a job.
Quinnney Reading – Everything that makes up a crime is related to the established legal
order. The social reality of crime is constructed on conflict with the upper class.
1. Crime- is a legal definition of human conduct that is created by the agents of the
dominant class in a politically organized society.
-Crime is an officially determined, allowing for those in power to use it against those
who conflict with what has be created.
-Agents of the law are responsible for formulating and administrating criminal law.
-Upon formalization and application of these definitions of crime, persons and behaviors
become criminalized.
-It follows then, that’s the greater the number of definitions of crime that are
formulated and applied, the greater the amount of crime committed.
-Definitions of crime are composed of behaviors that conflict with the upper class.
Quinny’s point- When crime rate goes up, don’t look at the individual crimes. Look at how the
laws are formulated
- Think of crime like a social creation.
2. Formulating Definitions of Crime- Definitions of crime are comprised of behaviors that
conflict with the interests of the dominant class.
- From the initial definitions of crime to the subsequent procedures, correctional and
penal programs, and the policies of controlling and preventing crime, those who
have the power regulate the power of those without power. ( so rich vs. poor,
educated vs. non-educated; majority vs. minority)
3. Applying definitions of crime- Definitions of crime are applied by class that has the
power to shape the enforcement, and administration of criminal law.
- In order to protect the interests of those who formulate the law. The laws must be
enforced and administered
- The probability that definitions of crime will be applied= how much the behaviors
of the powerless conflict with the interests of those in power.
- The determination of criminality and the application of legal sanctions ultimately
depends upon the evaluations and discussions of legal agents. ( legal agents have
exercise discretion at every stage of the process)
4. How behavior patterns develop in relation to definitions of crime.
- Behavior patterns are structured in relations to the definitions of crime, and within
this context people engage in actions that have relative probabilities of being defined as
criminal.
- Once behavior patterns become established with some regularity within the
segments of society, individuals have a framework for creating personal action patterns.
- In the experience shared by the definers of crime and the criminally defined,
personal-action patters develop among the latter because they are so defined.
- The personal-action patters of both the defined and the deifiers are shaped by their
common, continued, and related experiences. The fate of each is bound to that of the other.
5. Constructing an Ideology of Crime: An ideology of crime is constructed as diffused by
the dominant class to secure its hegemony.
- .. An ideology of crime depends on the portrayal of crime in all personal and mass
communication. The ideology is diffused throughout the society. (Hegemony refers to the
process and effects of this diffusion)
6. Constructing the Social Reality of Crime- The social reality of crime is constructed by
the formulation and application of the definitions of crime, the development of behavior
patterns in relation to these definitions of crime, and the construction of an ideology of crime.
Edward Burtynsky- (Manufacture Landscape)
- Film about a factory built in China
- They don’t need machines in factories. There is so many people willing to work that
it is cheaper to hire a bunch of them then to purchase machinery that needs repair
maintenance. ( modern day slavery)
- “Everything ends up somewhere” when you have disregarded something. Where
does it go?
- Global Responsibility
- There is an element of deviance (socially irresponsible) in the way we treat what we
create. The problem that has been created to a westernized consumer culture.
Personal and Social Identity
- How we come to conclusions about people.
- Personal Identity- The real self. How people who are around you know you. (beyond
the stereotype)
- Social Identity- How we make sense of people/ categorizing people, stereotyping.
An example of a man who stabbed a person. (Personal and Social Identity)
To what extent does the social identity challenge the personal identity and why?
- Based on the social identity, his actions of harming another person and receiving a
sentence make him appear violent+ deviant. However through his personal identity
he is a good parent are more of the story could be known such as his past with the
“victim” and how he felt when it happened such as his helplessness and how he was
actually defending himself. So his personal identity shows more of the person and
gives reason for the crime. The social identity offers only an outline for the event
and is very limited and does not include more background and personal information.
Personal identity thus should dominate because it offers a more in-depth
understanding of the person, however, the social identity is usually dominant
focusing on the crime committed as the most important issue rather than why he
did it.
To what extent does the personal identity undermine the justice (or appropriateness) of the
social identity? How?
- Through the personal identify the knowledge about the person and their
background offers contradictory points to the social identity that is constructed
based one the crime alone because the crime alone does not show why the person
would commit the crime. Through the personal identity one can know history of the
person. However, the social identity placed upon person can overtime influence the
behaviors + actions that fit the stereotype of a deviant person. Thus the balance of
the two identities can be difficult to determine because overtime the social can
overtake the personal identity
** Most deviants most of the time do things that are normal, most of the time, instead of
abnormal. “Ray Rice”
- Deviance is around us, it’s a part of all of us in a sense.
- Contrast between social identity and personal identity
- Police are not after those who do drugs that live a good life and have a good job and
are contributors to the created society ( by the people with power such as upper
class and officials). They are after those who are visibly acting deviant and doing
deviant activities, who also can’t afford lawyers and get put into the judicial system.
- The powerless (poor, “uneducated”) people join gangs because they want a social
identity that cannot be proved in the main stream social world. They make what
they can of their environments to survive (Back to the idea of survival of the fittest).
No matter what your occupation consists of, the outcome for all humans stand the
same, survival.
Street Corner Society “The Slum” Study.
- Researcher goes and lives in the slums (participant observation)
- People were recovering from the Great Depression (1930’s)
- Many men would hang around the streets because they could not find jobs- hence
the title of the book “ Street Corner Society”
- In the late 1930s, William Whyte (author) lived in a slum district of Boston that was
mostly inhabited by first and second generation immigrants from Italy. The
neighbourhood was considered dangerous and crime was prevalent. Some Italians
were suspected to be potential allies of Italian fascism under Benito Mussolini.
Whyte lived in that district for three and a half years, including 18 months he spent
with an Italian family. Through this work, Whyte became a pioneer in participant
observation.
Atomic Café- Atomic Cafe is a review of the atomic age and the beliefs held by Americans at
the time. Many things such as Burt the Turtle who was the figurehead the "Duck and Cover"
campaign are featured. Along with these film clips are portions of Army training films and
demonstration films concerning atomic testing. All of these clips are combined to show how
little the experts knew about atomics at the time. And even more to the heart, the point is
to show the extent propaganda was used to mollify the fears of the American public, and
her soldiers.
Points to consider:
The advantage of science has erased social intensions.
Instill fear in the population about the atomic bomb so that it was ok for the
government to have one.
What was the idea behind the fallout shelters? The idea of “safety” if we get attacked.
The nuclear war was “survivable” – shredded leather suits- duck and cover.
The whole idea of the atomic bomb was published everywhere, even peoples lifestyles
around protecting yourself from the bomb was demonstrated.
What is the message from the film makers?
- The effects of a nuclear fallout
- How much of an effect the government has on our daily lives.
What are the lessons of the film for us today?
That out of this horrific tragedy, this horrible death and destruction affecting future
generations, has come this monument to peace and this movement to peace.
Whenever there are anti-Iraq war or anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations on an
international scale, there will always be peace activists from Nagasaki and
Hiroshima. That's a real testimony to the depth of feeling and the organizing that's
come out of it, and that's something that can inspire everyone