Section 1: Deviance
Section 2: Crime
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Section 1: Deviance
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Define deviance
Explain the nature and social functions of
deviance.
Compare the theories that have been
proposed to explain deviance.
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Continuously talking to oneself in public
Drag racing on a public street or
highway
 Regularly using illegal drugs
 A man wearing woman’s clothing
 Attacking another person with a
weapon
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What do they all have in common?
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Most people internalize the majority of the
norms in their societies, but may not
internalize all the norms and so there isn’t
total social control
There are always people who break the rules
of a society
Behavior that violates significant social
norms is called deviance
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Continuously talking to oneself in public
Drag racing on a public street or highway
Regularly using illegal drugs
A man wearing woman’s clothing
Attacking another person with a weapon
What do they all have in common?
They are all examples of deviant behavior
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Because there are so many norms governing
behavior, occasional violations are
unavoidable
What is considered deviant varies from
society to society…
 society determines what is deviant
 Society determines the consequences for deviant
behavior
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1. people are considered deviant for repeat behavior
▪
▪
So if they once get a ticket for driving their car too
fast…that is not deviant
If they continue to be caught driving at high speeds and
have reputation of a reckless driver, then called a deviant
2. commits an act that has serious negative
consequences for society
▪
i.e. rape, murder, sexual assault, robbery
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Labeling deviance has 2 components:
 to be considered deviant by society, an individual
must first be detected committing a deviant act,
behavior is known to others
 the individual must be stigmatized by society
▪ stigma – mark of social disgrace that sets the
deviant apart from the rest of society
▪ Cut/burn marks on person, public punishments,
executions, imprisonment, cut direct , spoiled
reputation
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What is considered deviant varies from society to
society and during different time periods
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Emile Durkheim’s The Rules of Sociological Method
observed that deviance has some uses in social life.
1.
2.
3.
Unifying the Group – serves to draw the line
between conforming members of society and
“outsiders” – the nonconforming members
Clarifying Norms – defines the boundaries of
acceptable behavior
Diffusing Tension – acts that allow individuals to
relieve tension without disrupting the basic fabric
of society
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4. Promoting Social Change – can help prompt social
change by identifying problem areas
(continued)
5. Providing Jobs – provides legitimate jobs for a wide
range of people
 judges, lawyers, police officers, prison personnel, parole
officers, crime reporters
 criminologists – social scientists who study criminal
behavior
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SECTION 1
Deviance
Perspective
Theory
Questions
Functionalist
Strain
How do individuals respond to culturally
approved goals and the legitimate means of
achieving them? (conformity, innovation,
ritualism, retreatism, rebellion)
Conflict
Conflict
What is the result of competition and
social inequality? (deviance) Who decides
what is deviant? (ruling classes)
Interactionist
Control
Why do people conform to norms? (The
strength of social ties determines conformity.)
Cultural
Transmission
How do people learn conformity or
deviance? (through socialization, or
interaction with others) Where does this
learning mainly occur? (primary groups)
Labeling
How do people become identified as
deviant? (through secondary deviance, or
being labeled as deviant)
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Functionalist
Theory
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Structural-Strain Theory–
 Proposed by Robert K. Merton
 Theory views deviance is a natural part of society and as the
natural outgrowth of the values, norms, and structures of
society
▪ American society places high value on certain goals, not
everyone has access to legitimate means to achieve these goals
▪ People are judged on the basis of how well they meet those
goals
 under the strain of incompatible goals and means,
individuals fall victim to anomie
▪ anomie – situation that arises when the norms of
society are unclear or are no longer applicable, leave
individuals without guidelines for behavior and
confusion
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Sociologist Robert K. Merton suggest that
individuals respond to the culturally approved
goals and legitimate means of achieving goals in 5
ways.
 Conformity
 Innovation: end up deviant
 Ritualism: end up deviant
 Retreatism: end up deviant
 Rebellion: end up deviant
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Mode of
Adaptation
Definition
Stand on
Cultural
Goals
Stand on
Cultural
Norms
Conformity
many accept culturally approved
goals and means of achieving these
goals
Accept
Accept
Innovation
accept cultural goals, but do not
accept the approved means to
reaching these goals, devise new
means for achieving goals and then
violate accepted norms (become
deviants)
Accept
Reject
Ritualism
find it impossible to achieve cultural
goals by acceptable means, they
abandon the goals while continuing
expected rules of behavior
Reject
Accept
Retreatism
reject both cultural goals and
Reject
acceptable means of attaining them,
may drop out of society
Reject
Rebellion
want to substitute a new set of goals Reject and
and means for the approved set
Replace
Reject and
Replace
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Conflict Theory
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Conflict Theorists – deviance is a result of
competition and social inequality, struggle
between those who possess power and those
who do not
 people with power commit deviant act to
maintain power
 people without power to obtain economic
rewards or because of low self-esteem and
feelings of powerlessness
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Richard Quinney’s Conflict Theory:
 ruling class labels threatening behavior as deviant
 lower class has limited opportunity, forced into deviant
behavior
 to protect their power, ruling class establishes
ideologies to explain deviance as a problem among
lower class
 law enforcement are directed toward the types of
crimes committed by lower classes (results in higher
arrest rates)
 people without power do not necessarily commit more
crimes than others, but are the types of crimes that are
most likely to be detected and punished
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Interactionists
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as either natural in people with weak ties to
the community (control theory)
as a learned behavior (cultural transmission
theory)
or as a label (labeling theory)
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 control theory – natural occurrence, interest in why
people conform rather than the causes of deviance
▪ social ties determine conformity, high integration
causes conformity
▪ communities with strong social bonds have lower
rates of deviance because strong social control over
those who deviate
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Travis Hirschi Interactionist Perspective:
 control theory:
▪ people form bonds in 4 ways
▪ form attachments with others who accept the
norms of society
▪ strong belief in the moral codes of society
▪ show commitment to traditional societal values
and goals
▪ fully involved in non-deviant behavior and
activities
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Cultural Transmission theory [Interactionist]– based on
socialization and sees
 deviance is a learned behavior
 Learned through interaction with others who are
engaging in deviant acts
 the norms and values being transmitted are deviant, the
individual becomes socialized into deviant behavior rather
than socially acceptable behavior
 cultural transmission views all individuals as conformists
▪ difference between deviants and rest of society is the
norms the individual chooses to conform to
▪ Deviant chooses to conform to norms that are not
accepted by the larger community
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differential association – refers to the
proportion of associations a person has
with deviant versus non-deviant
individuals
 If the majority of a person’s interactions are with
deviant individuals, the person will be socialized
into patterns of deviant behavior
 Based on Edwin Sutherland, learning of deviant
behavior occurs in primary groups and have
personal relationships with people who commit
crimes
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 labeling theory – focuses on how individuals
come to be identified as deviant, rather than
why people perform deviant acts
▪ all people commit deviant acts yet not
everyone is labeled as deviant
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 Lemert and Becker: deviance has 2 types:
primary and secondary
▪ primary deviance – nonconformity that goes undetected
by those in authority, occasional acts and well concealed
acts, do not consider themselves deviant and neither
does society
▪ secondary deviance – results in the individual being
labeled as deviant and accepting the label as true
▪ degradation ceremony – public setting, individual is
denounced, found guilty, or given new identity of a
deviant, people are judged in light of their new label,
becomes master status, restricts options in society,
self-fulfilling prophecy
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
Section 2: Crime
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Identify the principal types of crime in the
United States.
Explain the characteristics of the American
criminal-justice system.
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crime – any act that is labeled as such by
those in authority, is prohibited by law, and is
punishable by the government
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Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) published annually by the FBI
 chart page 187
limits on statistics:
 not all complaints make it to official stats of formal reports
 not all crime reported (family or friends)
 only file formal reports on serious crime
 officer is influenced to file a formal report based on
attitude of individual making the complaint
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1. Violent Crime – includes murder, robbery; most victims are
African Americans; small percent of all crimes committed
▪ Robbery- larceny from the person or presence of another by violence or threat.
2. Crime Against Property – stealing or damaging other’s
property; includes burglary, larceny (theft other than
auto), vehicle theft, arson; more common than violent
crimes (1 every 3 seconds)
▪ Burglary- the act of breaking and entering a dwelling at night to commit a felony
▪ Larceny- the unlawful taking and removal of another person's property.
3. Victimless Crime – includes prostitution, gambling, illegal
drug use; offender is the only victim
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4. White Collar Crime –
committed by high-status
individuals in the course of
their professions
(politicians, corporate
employees); includes fraud,
tax evasion,
embezzlement; estimate
costs of $300 billion
(continued)
Bernie Madoff
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5. Organized Crime – the pursuit of crime as a big
business, use legitimate business as a front for
criminal activities
 crime syndicate – large-scale organization of
professional criminals that controls some vice or
business through violence or the threat of violence
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SECTION 2
Crime
Question:
What are some
characteristics of the
American criminal-justice
system?
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SECTION 2
Crime
AMERICAN CRIMINAL-JUSTICE SYSTEM
Police
have the most control over who
is arrested for crimes; use
police discretion, which has
raised the controversial issue of
racial profiling
Courts
determines the accused’s guilt
or innocence in a court trial and
then assigns a punishment;
actually settles 90 percent of
cases through plea bargaining
Corrections
includes probation,
imprisonment, parole; serves
four functions—retribution,
deterrence, rehabilitation, and
social protection
Juvenile-Justice System
applies to offenders younger
than 18; guarantees juvenile
defendants the same legal rights
and privileges as adults; often
provides more services
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SECTION 2
Crime
AMERICAN CRIMINAL-JUSTICE SYSTEM
Police
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Police – have most immediate control over who is arrested
for a criminal act
 police discretion – police have the power to decide who is
actually arrested
▪ size of population, number of criminal offenses, and
number of police officers make discretion necessary
▪ factors that influence police discretion: seriousness of
offense, wishes of the victim, attitude of suspect,
presence of bystanders, race
▪ racial profiling - practice of assuming that nonwhite
Americans are more likely to commit crime than white
Americans
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SECTION 2
Crime
AMERICAN CRIMINAL-JUSTICE SYSTEM
Courts
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Courts – determine the guilt or innocence of an
accused person by means of a trial and assigns some
form of punishment if there is a guilty finding
 90% of all case are settled through plea bargaining
▪ plea bargaining – process of legal negotiation that
allows an accused person to plead guilty to a
lesser charge in return for a lighter sentences
▪ allows courts to reduce volume of caseloads
with avoiding expensive and time-consuming
trials
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SECTION 2
Crime
AMERICAN CRIMINAL-JUSTICE SYSTEM
Corrections
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Corrections – sanctions (prison, parole, probation) used to
punish those found guilty of crimes
 sanctions serve 4 functions
▪ retribution: act of revenge for victim and society
▪ deterrence: discourage offenders from committing
future crimes
▪ rehabilitation: reform criminals so they can return to
society as law-abiding citizens
▪ social protection: prevent additional crimes
 recidivism – term for repeated criminal behaviors, 62% of
released prisoners will be charged with new crimes, 41%
will return to prison within 3 years
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SECTION 2
Crime
AMERICAN CRIMINAL-JUSTICE SYSTEM
JuvenileJustice
System
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Juvenile-Justice System – used to punish
offenders younger than age 18, developed in
the 1960s
 courts must now guarantee juveniles same
legal rights and privileges as adult
defendants
 try to provide more services
 can be tried as adults for serious offenses
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