Social Control and Deviance
• Social control is enforcing norms through either internal or external means.
It includes the techniques and strategies used for preventing deviant
human behavior in any society.
– Primary means is self-control
– Other agents use sanctions
• Police, religious figures, family, peer group, and public opinion
• Behavior that violates society’s basic norms jeopardizes the social order.
• Coaches losing Self-Control
• Fans Losing Control
• What factors keep coaches from losing self-control more often? What
about fans?
Social Control
Main Idea
• Norms (mores and folkways) are enforced through internalization and
sanctions.
• People generally follow social norms—and expect others to as well—
because they have internalized the norms that they feel are useful and
appropriate.
• When a person has not internalized a norm, society uses sanctions to
motivate his or her conformity.
• Sanctions can be positive or negative, formal or informal.
Internalization of Norms
• Internalization is the process by which a norm becomes a part of an
individual’s personality, thus conditioning that individual to conform to
society’s expectations.
• The process of internalization starts with learning what the norms are, and
then the individual goes through a process of understanding why they are
of value or why they make sense, until finally they accept the norm as their
own viewpoint
• Examples:
– Sitting in a chair instead of on the floor
– Stopping at a red light
Misbehavior and Sanctions - Analysis
Positive sanctions
Negative sanctions
• Positive sanction: An action that
rewards a particular kind of behavior
• Examples include: a teacher giving
good grades, cheers from teammates
• Negative sanction: A punishment or
the threat of punishment used to
enforce conformity.
• Examples include: a parking ticket,
ridicule
Formal sanctions
Informal sanctions
• Formal sanction: A reward or
punishment given by a formal
organization or regulatory agency
• Informal sanction: A spontaneous
expression of approval or disapproval
given by an individual or group
• Examples include: schools giving high
or low grades, a business giving a raise
or firing a worker
• Examples include: standing ovations,
gossip
Provide examples for each of the following forms of sanctions
Formal Positive Sanctions
Formal Negative Sanctions
Informal Positive Sanctions
Informal Negative Sanctions
Crime
• A crime is any act that is labeled as
such by those in authority and is
prohibited by law.
• An act that is immoral is not
necessarily illegal.
• “Never think that war, no matter
how necessary, nor how justified, is
not a crime”
• Ernest Hemingway
Types of Crime
Violent Crime
• The offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim.
• Murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault
• Make up small percentage of total crime rates, but still alarming
• One violent crime every 22 seconds in the United States
Violent Crime: The Numbers
• One robbery every 1 minute and 12 seconds
• One forcible rape every 5 minutes and 42 seconds
• One murder every 30 minutes and 54 seconds
Murder : Oscar Pistorius
• What makes this case
so newsworthy?
Rape: Duke Lacrosse Team
• What made this case so
newsworthy?
• What aspects of
contemporary American
life did this particular
cast of characters and
storyline engage?
College Athletes and Crime
Property Crime
• Property crime only involves the
taking of money or property, and
does not involve force or threat of
force against a victim.
• Burglary, larceny, motor vehicle
theft, and arson
• One every three seconds in the
United States
• People under 25 commit most
crimes
Victimless Crime: Gambling on Youth Sports
• Victimless Crime
• Actions that have been ruled illegal but
which are argued not to directly violate
or threaten the rights of any other
individual.
• Prostitution, illegal gambling, illegal drug
use, and vagrancy
• What negative consequences could these
crimes have on the rest of society?
Soccer Hooligans
• Organized Crime
• Crime syndicate: a large-scale
organization of professional criminals
that controls some vice or legitimate
business through violence
• Legitimate businesses can serve as
“fronts” for illegal activities
White-Collar Crime: Athletes' Charities
White-Collar Crime
• financially motivated nonviolent crime
committed by business and government
professionals
• White-collar crimes include fraud, tax
evasion, embezzlement,
price-fixing, toxic pollution, insider
trading, and political corruption
• Corporations can be charged with
crimes, not just individuals
The Nature of Deviance
Behavior that violates significant social norms is called deviance.
Violating Norms
• Some norms deal with fairly
insignificant behaviors.
• Because there are so many norms,
occasional violations are
unavoidable.
• Behaviors deemed deviant differ
across times, cultures, and
situations.
• Why are some of these actions not
considered an act of deviant
behavior?
The Label of Deviance
• Individuals must be caught
committing a deviant act and be
stigmatized by society.
• A stigma is a mark of social
disgrace that sets the deviant
apart from the rest of society.
• Sociologists usually refer to the
negative social reactions.
Are we born deviant or are we
made deviant?
• The Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment
Video: Albert Bandura and his Experiment on Aggression
– What were the most important findings of Bandura’s
experiments?
• Media Violence vs. Real Violence
– Quentin Tarantino and the role of violence in his films.
• The Mind of a Psychopath
– What does this interview tell us about the nature of deviant
behavior?
Social Functions of Deviance
Deviance has some uses in society
– Helps to clarify norms, unify the group, diffuse tension, and promote
social change
– Serves to define the boundaries of acceptable behavior
– Punishment of deviance can prevent others from same deviance
– Draws lines of society and “outsiders”
– Displays of minor deviance diffuse tensions
– Provides legitimate jobs such as lawyers and police
Conflict Perspective
Protesting the World Cup in Brazil
•
Sees social life as a struggle between the ruling classes and lower classes
•
Competition and social inequality lead to deviance.
•
Says people commit deviant acts to gain or maintain power
•
Ruling class deems any behavior that threatens its power as deviant.
Explaining Deviance
Functionalist Perspective
• Structural Strain theory: deviance is
the natural outgrowth of the values,
norms, and structure of society
• Pressure on individuals to meet
standards that they can’t meet
• Anomie: the norms of society are
unclear or no longer apply
• Results in confusion over rules for
behavior
Strain Theory in Sports
• Innovators: Cheaters in Sports
• Ritualism - "Going through the motions"
• Retreatism - NFL Player Retiring at 26
• Rebellion - Which of these controversial
athletes show a rebellious behavior?
Interactionist Perspective
• Three major explanations: control theory, cultural transmission theory, and labeling theory
Control theory: states that deviance is normal and studies why people conform; states that
people conform when they have strong ties to the community. People develop bonds in 4
different ways
1. Form attachment with others
2. Strong belief in society’s moral codes
3. Show commitment to traditional values and goals (education, jobs)
4. They are fully involved in their community (no time for deviant acts)
Interactionist Perspective
• Three major explanations: control theory, cultural transmission theory, and labeling theory
Cultural transmission theory: states that deviance is a learned behavior; deviants are socialized
into deviant behavior instead of acceptable behavior; individuals will adopt the behavior and
goals of whomever they are in contact with
•
Differential association: the relative closeness to deviant and non-deviant individuals
•
If a majority of a person’s interactions are with deviant individuals, the person is likely
to be socialized into patterns of deviant behavior.
•
Desean Jackson - Ties with Gang Members?
Interactionist Perspective
• Three major explanations: control theory, cultural transmission theory, and labeling theory
Labeling theory: focuses on how people come to be labeled “deviant;” suggests there are two
types of deviance
•
All people commit deviant acts, but not all people are labeled as deviant. The deviant
label often restricts an individual’s options and forces him/her into deviant lifestyle.
The deviant label is a self-fulfilling prophecy
•
Primary deviance: occasional violation of norms; neither self nor society labels person
“deviant”
•
Secondary deviance: deviance as a lifestyle; both self and society label person
“deviant”
•
Sports Labels: Dirty Players