A Look Ahead
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When does conformity verge on deviance?
How does a society manage to control its
members and convince them to conform to
its rules and laws?
What are the consequences of deviance?
Conformity and Obedience
Conformity: Going along with peers who
have no special right to direct behavior
█ Obedience: Compliance with higher
authorities in an hierarchical structure
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Deviance
What is Deviance?
 Deviance is behavior that violates the standards
of conduct or expectations of a group or society
 Sociologically, we are all deviant from time to
time.
 Each of us violates common social norms in
certain situations
 Deviance involves the violation of group norms
which may or may not be formalized into law
Deviance
Examples of deviants:
 alcoholics
 gamblers
 mentally ill
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Standards of deviance vary from one group
(subculture) to another
Deviance can only be understood within its social
context.
Deviance is subjective - subject to social
definitions - it varies with time, culture and place
Informal and Formal Social Control
Informal Social Control


Informal social control is used casually to enforce
norms
Usually carried out by primary groups

Informal social control includes:

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smiles
laughter
ridicule
raising an eyebrow
Formal Social Control
Formal social control: carried out by
authorized agents
Law and Society
 Some norms are so important to a society that
they are formalized into laws controlling people’s
behaviors.
 Laws are governmental social control and are
created in response to perceived social needs for
formal social control

Deviance (Functionalist Perspective)

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Deviance is a part of human existence and has
positive and negative consequences for society
Deviance promotes social unity for it reaffirms
the groups’ norms
Durkheim introduced the term anomie, defined
as a state of normlessness that occurs during
periods of profound social change
Explaining Deviance

Early explanations centered on
supernatural or genetic factors.
Biological Context
Cesare Lombrosso
Italian physician wrote that most
criminals were biologically
different from normal people
 Lombroso observed that
criminals had easily identifiable
physical traits such as sloping
foreheads, small brains,
overdeveloped jaws, and other
apelike characteristics
 In general, sociologists reject
any emphasis on the genetic
roots of crime and deviance
Robert Merton - Theory of Deviance
Functionalist Perspective (continued)

Merton examined how people adapted to the
acceptance or rejection of a society’s goals.

Merton’s Anomie Theory of Deviance examines
how people conform to or deviate from cultural
expectations
Functionalist Perspective
█
Merton’s Theory of Deviance
– Anomie Theory of Deviance: How people
adapt in certain ways by conforming to or by
deviating from cultural expectations
• Conformist
• Innovator
• Ritualist
• Retreatist
• Rebel
Table 7-1: Modes of
Individual Adaptation
Interactionist Perspective
Cultural Transmission Theory
 Focuses on everyday behavior and why or how a
person comes to commit a deviant act.


Edwin Sutherland introduced the cultural
transmission theory which holds that one
learns criminal behavior through interactions with
others.
Differential association: the process through
which exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal
acts leads to the violation of rules


Not only techniques of lawbreaking but also the
motives, drives, and the rationalizations of criminals
Whether a person engages in an activity
deemed proper or improper depends on
frequency, duration, and intensity of
relationship.
Labeling Theory/Societal-Reaction
Approach


1.
2.
Labeling Theory Emphasizes that deviance and
conformity result, not so much from what
people do, as from how others respond to those
actions
Labeling theory attempts to explain
why certain people are viewed as deviants while
others are not and
emphasizes how a person comes to be labeled
as deviant and to accept this label.

Labeling theory focuses on regulatory agents
(police, probation officers, psychiatrists, judges,
teachers, etc.), who play a significant role in
creating the deviant identity by designating
certain people as deviant.
Conflict Theory
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People with power protect their own
interests and define deviance to suit
their needs
– Differential justice:
Differences in way
social control is
exercised over
different groups
Conflict Theory

Conflict theory contends the criminal justice
system of the U.S. treats people differently on
the basis of their racial, ethnic, or social class
background
Table 7-2: Sociological Perspectives on
Deviance
Types of Crime
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Sociologists classify crimes in terms
of how they are committed and how
society views the offenses
–
–
–
–
–
Victimless crimes
Professional crime
Organized crime
White-collar and technology-based crime
Transnational crime
Crime


Crime: violation of criminal law, for which
some governmental authority applies
formal penalties
Index crimes
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Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
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Burglary
Theft
Motor vehicle theft
Arson
Types of Crime

Laws divide crimes into categories:
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Severity of offense
Age of offender
Potential punishment
Jurisdiction
Types of Crime

Victimless crimes: willing exchange
among adults of widely desired, but illegal,
goods and services

Professional Crime
 Professional criminal: person who
pursues crime as a day-to-day occupation
Organized Crime: group that regulates
relations between various criminal enterprises
involved in illegal activities

Types of Crime

Transnational crime

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Crime that occurs across multiple national
borders
International crime spans the globe
Table 7-3: Types of
Transnational Crime
Source: Compiled by the author based on Mueller 2001 and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2005.
Crime
 Types of Crime
 Crime is defined as a violation of criminal law for which
some governmental authority applies formal penalties.
 Laws divide crimes into categories based on:
 severity
 age of offender
 potential punishment
 jurisdiction
Crime
Types of Crime
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
White Collar and Technology-Based
Crime: Illegal acts committed in the course of
business activities, often by affluent people.
Victimless Crimes: The willing exchange
among adults of widely desired, but illegal,
goods and services.
Crime

Crime Statistics
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Crime statistics are not as accurate as social
scientists would like.
Reported crime is very high in the United
States and is regarded as a major social
problem.
Violent crimes have declined significantly
nationwide following many years of increases.
Crime
█ Discretion within the Criminal Justice System
Source: Adapted from Department of Justice, 1988:59.
Understanding Crime Statistics

Reported crime is very high in
the U.S., so public regards crime as major
social problem


Only track crimes that are reported to law
enforcement agencies
Victimization surveys: surveys of ordinary
people, not police officers, to determine
whether they have been victims of crime
Understanding Crime Statistics

International Crime Rates


Violent crimes much more common in U.S.
than Western Europe in 1980s and 1990s
Disturbing increases in violent crime are
evident in other Western societies
Figure 7-2:
Victimization Rates, 1973-2004
Source: Catalano 2005:1.
Table 7-4: National Crime Rates
and Percentage Change
Source: Department of Justice 2005:Table 1.
The Death Penalty in the
United States and Worldwide

The Issue
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Historically, execution has been significant
form of punishment for deviance from social
norms and criminal behavior
Can the government prevent the execution
of innocent people?
Is life in prison enough of a punishment for
truly heinous crimes
The Death Penalty in the
United States and Worldwide

The Setting
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Fewer than half of all nations allow the
death penalty
Within the U.S., 38 states, the military, and
the federal government continue to sentence
convicted felons to death for selected crimes
The Death Penalty in the
United States and Worldwide

Sociological Insights

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Traditionally focused on the death penalty’s
appropriateness as a form of punishment
and its value in deterring crime
The conflict perspective emphasizes the
persistence of social inequality
The Death Penalty in the
United States and Worldwide

Policy Initiatives
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Most people, when confronted with a
horrendous crime, feel the death penalty
should be available
In U.S., fairly rare that death penalty is
assessed
International attention focuses on nations
where executions are relatively common,
such as China and Iran
Figure 7-3: Executions
by State since 1976