CHAPTER 8: DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL
Objectives:
Explain deviance from a symbolic interactionist
perspective. Describing and applying the
components of differential association theory,
control theory, and labeling theory
List and give examples of neutralization
techniques
Know from functionalist perspective which
functions deviance fulfills in society
Understand Strain theory and discuss its social
implications
Understand the role power plays in defining and
punishing deviance from a conflict perspective
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
Differential Association Theory
Edwin Sutherland
associating with some groups results in
learning an “excess of definitions” of deviance,
and, by extension, in a greater likelihood that
one will become deviant
what we learn influences us toward or away
from deviance
Families, friends, neighborhoods, subcultures
all influence us
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
Control Theory
Walter Reckless
idea that two control systems—inner controls and
outer controls—work against our tendencies to
deviate
inner controls (conscience, religious
principals, ideas of right and wrong, desire to
be good, fear of punishment)
outer controls (family, friends, police)
stronger our bonds are with society, the more
effective our inner controls are
bonds are based on attachments, commitments,
involvements, beliefs
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
Labeling Theory
the view that the labels people are given affect
their own and others’ perceptions of them, thus
channeling their behavior either into deviance
or into conformity
labels are names and reputations
REJECTING LABELS
Techniques of Neutralization: ways of thinking or
rationalizing that help people deflect society’s
norms
1. Denial of Responsibility
I’m not responsible because…;I couldn’t help my self
2. Denial of Injury
I wasn’t wrong because nobody got hurt
3. Denial of a Victim
Do you think they deserved it?
4. Condemnation of Condemners
Who are you to talk?
5. Appeal to Higher Loyalties
I had to help my friends…wouldn’t you do the same thing?
LABELING CONT…
most people resist being labeled deviant, but
others revel in it
music, clothing, hairstyles
labeling can become a self-fulfilling prophecy
Roughnecks vs Saints
doors of opportunity open for those with
positive labels and close for those with
negative labels
FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
deviance, including crime, is a natural part of
society and fulfills necessary functions
Functions of Deviance (Durkheim):
1) clarifies moral boundaries and affirms
norms
2)promotes social unity
3) promotes social change
STRAIN THEORY
Robert Merton
analyze what happens when people are socialized
into desirable cultural goals but denied the
institutionalized means to achieve those goals
ie: people are socialized to be successful,
but their paths are blocks because of social
class, gender, etc…
being unable to achieve those goals leads to
strain (frustration)
this can lead to anomie (sense of normlessness)
because some people find it difficult to identify
with these norms
This can motivate people to deviant behavior
STRAIN THEORY CONT…
Responses to cultural goals and institutionalized means :
1) Conformity: using socially acceptable means to achieve
goals
Or when anomie is present…
2) Innovation: accept the goals of society but use
illegitimate means to try and reach them (drug dealer)
3) Ritualism: give up on achieving goals, yet accept the
means (burnt-out teachers)
4) Retreatism: reject both goals and means of achieving
them (severe alcoholics)
5) Rebellion: reject both goals and means; replace existing
goals with new ones (revolutionaries)
SOCIAL CLASS AND CRIME
Street Crime
robbery, burglary, drug dealing, prostitution, etc
lower classes want to achieve cultural goals, but
don’t fit into the institutionalized means
schools are set up based upon middle
class values and ideals; lower class don’t fit,
so many drop out
Illegitimate Opportunity Structure: opportunities
for crimes that are woven into the texture of life
for the lower class = street crime “hustling”
hustlers are role models and attract
disadvantaged youth into crime
SOCIAL CLASS AND CRIME CONT…
White Collar Crime
committed by people of respectable and high social
status in the course of their occupation
ie: bribery, embezzlement, price
fixing
Opportunity structures are different, but they still
commit crimes
can be more costly than street crime
 financially costs billions a year (Zeune 2001)
unsafe working conditions kill about
100,000 Americans each year, five times the
number killed by street criminals
SOCIAL CLASS AND CRIME CONT…
Gender and Crime
Women are committing a larger proportion of
crimes than they committed in the past
Women are still less likely to commit crime
than men
but are committing more and more,
particularly white-collar crimes as they enter
the professional and corporate world
CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
power plays a central role in defining and
punishing deviance
the group in power uses the law and
criminal justice system (system of police,
courts and prisons) to maintain its power
and privilege over other groups
the fundamental division is between the
capitalist class (those who own the means of
production) and the working class (those who
sell their labor to the capitalist class)
CONFLICT CONT…
Marginal working class: the most desperate
members of the working class, who have few
skills, little job security and are often
unemployed
many times they commit street crimes
through desperation, which threatens social
order, therefore they are severely punished