SOCI 350: Sociology of Crime and Deviance
KOÇ UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
SPRING 2009
Class Hours: M & W 12:30-13:45 am (SOS B42)
Teaching assistant: Pınar Dinç
Office: SOS Z15
Phone: (212) 338-2600
Email: pdinc@ku.edu.tr
Office hours: M & W 11:00 am-12:30 pm
Instructor: Murat Ergin
Office: SOS 252
Phone: (212) 338-1411
Email: muergin@ku.edu.tr
Office hours: M & W 2:30-4:00 pm
COURSE CONTENT AND PURPOSE
The essential goals of this course are to introduce students to social deviance, to explore some
of the most prominent and important sociological theories of deviance, and to review the
current research on deviance in contemporary society. Drawing on “sociological
imagination”, we will focus on the complicated relationship between individual and society,
distribution of power and structures of inequality, and cultural definitions of morality, crime
and deviant behavior.
REQUIRED READINGS
1) Deviant Behavior, Erich Goode, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008 (8th Edition), available at the
bookstore.
2) Course packet, available at the copying center.
COURSE ORGANIZATION AND REQUIREMENTS
Lectures: Lectures will build upon assigned readings for each week but will not simply
provide a summary; therefore, students are required to do the assigned readings before each
class. Active student participation in class is expected.
Exams: Students learn and retain course material better when tested frequently. There
will be a total of eight exams in this course: seven quizzes and a comprehensive final. Quizzes
will also be comprehensive, i.e., you are responsible both for assigned readings for each week
and everything else we covered before. Only highest six scores among the quizzes will count
toward your final grade and your lowest score will be excluded. All exams will be in essay
format.
Prison and hospital field trips: In an effort to reconsider the course material in an
applied setting, we will visit a prison and a mental hospital in Istanbul. Participation in these
trips will most likely increase your grasp of the readings and give you invaluable experiences.
If you attend only one of these field trips (either prison or hospital), you will receive 2% extra
credit. If you attend both, the extra credit will be 5 percentage points. In order to claim your
extra credit, you have to turn in a maximum 3-page (double-spaced) reaction paper in which
you discuss your observations at the site and relate them to course material. Papers are due on
the first Monday following a field trip.
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GRADING
Final grades for this course will be based on the following distribution.
#
% each % total
6 (out
Quizzes
10
60
of 7)
Final
1
32
32
Participation
-
8
8
100
Total (%)
Letter grades will be assigned based on the following distribution.
%
Grade
96+
A
92+ 88+ 84+ 80+ 76+ 72+ 68+ 64+ 60+
96- 92- 88- 84- 80- 76- 72- 68- 64A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
60F
These borderlines may be reduced slightly depending on class performance.
POLICIES
Professionalism: As a professional, you can expect me to do my best efforts to cover
course material in a thought-provoking manner, abide by the rules and regulations in the
syllabus, be available to students when necessary, and grade exams on time. In return, you are
required to act like professional students. This means, you need to come to classes on time,
remain in your seat throughout the class period, and avoid talking with other students.
Anytime you violate any of the rules in the syllabus, your participation score will go down.
Details are below.
The syllabus: This document is a contract between you and me. You are responsible
for all the policies, requirements, and information in this syllabus. By taking this course, you
agree to comply with all course requirements. By giving this syllabus to you, I agree to follow
everything in it. (However, the instructor can make changes to the assigned readings, exam
dates, etc. under extenuating circumstances. All changes will be announced in class).
Announcements in class: Announcements in lectures are official. Students are
responsible for all announcements made in classes even if they are absent that day. If you
happen to miss a lecture, ask other students or me for announcements you may have missed.
Being on time: Students who show up late for classes or leave early create
considerable disruption and affect everyone’s learning. For this reason, late students (those
who arrive after the classroom doors are closed) will lose 2% out of their participation grade,
if they decide to enter. However, those who have only one violation will receive their 2%
participation score back at the end of the semester. Each student can use this right to come in
late (at the expense of their participation grade) a maximum of four times during the semester.
Habitually late students will not be allowed to attend the lectures after their fourth violation.
These rules also apply to students who leave early and come back without a valid reason. No
exceptions!
Classroom conduct: Disruptive behavior has a negative influence on everyone’s
learning. As everyone taking this class has a right to learn in peace and quite, disruptive
behavior in any form will not be tolerated and will be penalized. Disciplinary action may be
taken against disruptive students in accordance with university regulations. Disruptive
behavior includes, but is not limited to:
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Using cell phones: Cell phone policy includes making and receiving calls, sending
messages, and using the phone in any way. Do not leave you phones on the desk.
Leaving classes early: Do not leave in the middle of the lectures unless you absolutely
must. Otherwise, leave and do not come back.
Engaging in personal conversations: This type of behavior is extremely
unprofessional. Talking about class related issues does not make the offense any less serious.
Talking in any form will not be tolerated.
Attendance: Attendance is not required.
Make-up exams: If you miss two or more quizzes, the rule about being able to drop
your lowest quiz score without an excuse does not apply to you. In this case, you are allowed
take make-up quizzes only if you have documented medical or other emergencies for all of
your missed quizzes. In other words, if you miss two quizzes and you have an excuse for only
one of these absences, you may not take a make-up exam.
Extra credit: No other extra credit opportunities will be granted to any student for any
reason.
Academic dishonesty: Official university regulations describe academic dishonesty and
sanctions against it as follows: “Academic dishonesty in the form of cheating, plagiarism, or
collusion are serious offenses and are not tolerated at Koç University. University Academic
Regulations and the Regulations for Student Disciplinary Matters clearly define the policy
and the disciplinary action to be taken in case of academic dishonesty. Failure in academic
integrity may lead to suspension and expulsion from the University. Cheating includes, but is
not limited to, copying from a classmate or providing answers or information, either written
or oral, to others. Plagiarism is borrowing or using someone else’s writing or ideas without
giving written acknowledgment to the author. This includes copying from a fellow student’s
paper or from a text (whether printed or electronic) without properly citing the source.
Collusion is getting unauthorized help from another person or having someone else write a
paper or assignment”.
Disability statement: If you have a disability that you think might interfere with your
performance in this course, please talk to your instructor as soon as possible for proper
accommodation.
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CLASS SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNED READINGS
PART I: WHAT IS DEVIANCE?
Week 1: Feb. 9 and 11
Introduction to Deviance
Textbook: Chapter 1
Week 2: Feb. 16 and 18
Approaches to Deviance
Textbook: Chapter 2
Reader:
Howard Becker, Moral Entrepreneurs: The Creation and Enforcement of Deviant Categories.
Recommended:
Stephen J. Pfohl, The “Discovery” of Child Abuse.
PART II: THEORIES OF DEVIANCE
Week 3: Feb. 23 and 25
Positivist Theories
Textbook: Chapter 3
Reader:
Howard Becker, Becoming a Marihuana User.
Edwin Sutherland, Differential Association.
Recommended:
Gresham Sykes and David Matza, Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency
Week 4: Mar. 2 and 4
Constructionist Theories I: Functionalism and Conflict
Textbook: Chapter 4 (relevant parts)
Reader:
Alexander Liazos, The Poverty of the Sociology of Deviance: Nuts, Sluts, and Preverts.
Meda Chesney-Lind, Girls’ Crime and Woman’s Place: Toward a Feminist Model of Female
Delinquency.
Recommended:
Emile Durkheim, The Normal and the Pathological.
Robert K. Merton, Social Structure and Anomie.
Robert Agnew, A General Strain Theory of Community Differences in Crime Rates.
Steven Spitzer, Toward a Marxian Theory of Deviance.
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Week 5: Mar. 9 and 11
Constructionist Theories II: Labeling
Textbook: Chapter 4 (relevant parts)
Reader:
Edwin M. Lemert, Primary and Secondary Deviation.
Erich Goode, On Behalf of Labeling Theory.
Recommended:
Charles Horton Cooley, The Social Self.
Erving Goffman, Stigma and Social Identity.
Week 6: Mar. 16 and 18
Foucault
Reader:
Michel Foucault, The Body of the Condemned; Panopticism; The Carceral.
PART III: RESEARCH ON DEVIANCE
Week 7: Mar. 23 and 25
Methods and Criminal Behavior
Textbook: Chapter 5 and 6
Reader: Laud Humphreys, Tearoom Trade.
Week 8: Mar. 30 and Apr. 1
Criminal Violence
Textbook: Chapter 7
Reader:
Henry N. Pontell and Wayne N. Welsh, Incarceration as a Deviant Form of Social Control.
Recommended:
Charles M. Terry, The Function of Humor for Prison Inmates.
Wilson, James Q., and George L. Kelling. "Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood
Safety." The Atlantic Monthly March, (1982): 29-38.
April 3, Friday: Prison field trip (1).
Apr. 6-10: Spring Break.
Week 9: Apr. 13 and 15
Illicit Drugs
Textbook: Chapter 8
Reader:
Joseph R. Gusfield, Moral Passage: The Symbolic Process in Public Designations of
Deviance.
Recommended:
James D. Orcutt, Deviance as a Situated Phenomenon: Variations in the Social Interpretation
of Marijuana and Alcohol Use.
April 17, Friday: Prison field trip (2).
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Week 10: Apr. 20 and 22
Mental Disorder
Textbook: Chapter 12
Reader:
D. L. Rosenhan, On Being Sane in Insane Places.
Recommended:
Erving Goffman, The Moral Career of the Mental Patient.
Ronny E. Turner and Charles Edgley, From Witchcraft to Drugcraft: Biochemistry as
Mythology.
April 24, Friday: Hospital field trip.
Week 11: Apr. 27 and 29
Crimes of the Powerful
Textbook: Chapter 9
Reader:
Edwin Sutherland, Is “White Collar Crime” Crime?
Michael L. Benson, Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in a White-Collar
Crime.
Week 12: May 4 and 6
Sexual Deviance
Textbook: Chapter 10
Reader:
Nancy A. Wonders and Raymond Michalowski, Bodies, Borders, and Sex Tourism in a
Globalized World: A Tale of Two Cities—Amsterdam and Havana.
Recommended:
Diana Scully and Joseph Marolla, Convicted Rapists’ Vocabulary of Motive: Excuses and
Justifications.
William E. Thompson and Jackie L. Harred, Topless Dancers: Managing Stigma in a Deviant
Occupation.
Week 13: May 11 and 13
Cognitive Deviance
Textbook: Chapter 11
Reader:
Gordon, How Socially Distinctive Is Cognitive Deviance in an Emergent Science? The Case
of Parapsychology.
Week 14: May 18 and 20
Physical Characteristics as Deviance
Textbook: Chapter 13
Reader:
Jill Leslie Rosenbaum and Meda Chesney-Lind: Appearance and Delinquency: A Research
Note.
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