Class Up-date
• 3 more “instructional” classes:
July 12th
July 14th - NO CLASS! WORK ON PROJECTS
Email me project proposal & article.
Google Docs & Blog still due.
July 19th – We will have class.
July 21st
---------------------------------------------------------------July 26th – We present projects in class.
July 28th - Final Exam (Critical Issues on Wiki)
Extra Credit
• 1st opportunity:
– Trying it: .25 added to final average
– “B”: .50 added to final average
– “A”: 1 pt. added to final average.
• 2nd opportunity:
– Scientific terms activity
Chapter Six
Deviance and Crime
Batman
• Think about these questions:
• What is deviant in this scenario? Why?
• Are we truly individuals?
• See wiki – critical points in sociology
Quick Write
Draw a picture of a “deviant” person.
List 3 adjectives.
Share your drawing with a partner.
Deviance
Behavior or characteristics that violate
important social norms and result in societal
sanctions.
But sociological definition:
- more complicated and situational
– relative to a particular setting
– dependent upon who is defining
What is Deviance?
– breaking a social rule
– refusing to follow one
• example: nudists
– deviance by association
Crime: deviance “bad enough” to
warrant formal sanctions
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–
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Why do people break rules?
Why don’ t most of us do it all the time?
What makes a deviant or criminal?
What can be done about it?
Pair and Share
• Work with a partner.
• Make a list of potential deviant acts.
• Circle your favorite three that you intend to
share.
Choosing Group Membership
• Anomie – feeling of confusion or loss = rapid change and
breakdown of social norms and values.
• Resocialization
• Argot (slang)
• Type of initiation
• Group think – If membership is important to us, we may
allow the group to pressure us into pushing our own values
aside.
Resocialization
• Not always negative
• Deviant group may adopt normative group (ie… finding
religion)
• Maco level: Apartheid to create a more tolerant and
social order
• Micro level: 6 year old kissing a classmate
• Is this deviant? Have we gone too far? Is this a sign of the times?
Moral Panics
• Exaggerated fears of a particular group
• 911 moral panic?
• Criteria:
– Volatile (erupts quickly)
– Great concern regarding behavior & consequences for
society
– Society defines the group an “enemy” and increases
hostility toward them.
– Widespread consensus that the threat is real
– Perception that a disproportionate number of people are
engaged in the behavior with a large number of innocent
members are being harmed.
Understanding Deviance
• Absolutist: the nature of the act is deviant. Wrong
at all times in every situation (abortion)
• Normative: What is deviant in one place at a
particular time may not be deviant in another.
(abortion)
• Reactive – Not deviant until it is defined deviant
by society (truancy)
Relative Viewpoints of Deviance
• Japanese Culture (respect) vs. American
(dishonesty)
• Defining and interpreting is open for
interpretation.
Theories of Deviance
• Individual Blame: functionalist (Individual is
responsible and must change)
– Freud (underdeveloped superego)
– Interpersonal conflict with intimate groups growing up
(serial killers – trauma)
• System Blame: Social Conflict (Manifestation of
inequality or attempts of the powerful to force
their views)
The Biological Context
• Caesare Lombroso proposed that criminals could
be identified by physical traits. (Hairy, long arms,
protruding ears due to failure to evolve)
• Learning disabilities, Schizophrenia, homosexuals,
ADHD (autism example)
• There is no conclusive evidence linking genetics
to criminality.
Biological Theory
• Social structure and social interaction do play
a role
• Ie.. Predisposition toward alcoholism
(correlation not causality)
• Genetically predisposed
Deviance and Social Coherence
• Explaining Deviance
– Differential Association (Sutherland)
• associate /socialize with people who are deviants
• deviant behavior is learned
• rewarded for deviant behavior (gangs)
– Control Theory (Hirschi)
• decisions through cost-benefit analysis
• determine punishment/reward/risks
• Attachment; commitment; involvement; belief
– Culture of Poverty (Banfield)
• Lower socioeconomic groups have different values
system than dominant class
Deviance and Crime
• Strain Theory (Merton) *The gap between what “ought to be” and “what is” leaves a person “strained.”
– Conformists – agree to societal norms (education, employment, investing….)
• Conventional goals through normal means.
– Innovators – People with less access to (education) but believe in idea of
material success
• Adjust goals, extend length of time, find ways outside the norm to achieve goal
• Unconventional means to achieve approved goals
– Ritualists – Believe in values of society and try to achieve goals when there is
no hope of success
• Accepts institutional means; reject goals
– Rebels – reject values of society (Rosa Parks)
• Define new goals and means to achieve the goals
– Retreatists - Refuse to follow socially approved means for reaching goals
(alcoholism)
Deviance and Social Coherence
– Labeling Theory
• Powerful determine what is deviant
– primary deviance (most people take
part in – but does little harm to selfconcept):
If caught – behavior would be excused.
Behavior is not part of repertoire of
behaviors
– secondary deviance
Deviant behavior becomes a part of
lifestyle
– tertiary deviance
Once defined by label placed upon us
Deviance and Social Coherence
• deviance is useful to society (Durkheim)
•
•
•
•
It affirms cultural norms and values
It clarifies moral boundaries
It heightens group solidarity
It encourages social change
Society and Social Deviance
• Positive:
– Self-evaluation and Change: (tethering of horses)
– Clarification and Change: (groups come together
for a common cause)
– Pressure Valve: Measuring our own behavior
against others (obscene gesture vs. shooting
driver)
Society and Social Deviance
• Negative:
– Costly $554 billion in the country to combat crime
– Disrupts social order
– Lack of trust
– Structural functionalists: Due to accommodating a changing
world (single parent households, teen pregnancy, working
parents)
– Social Conflict: Opposition has been lawful and peaceful against
the dominant group but failed. Caused moral panic and radical
groups.
Criminal Behavior
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Gender based crime
Rape
Juvenile Crime
White collar crimes
Government Crime
Mental Illness
Hate Crimes
Crime
• The violation of criminal laws enacted by a locality state,
or the federal government
• Two elements
– The act itself
– Criminal intent
• Crimes against the person
– Direct violence, or threat of it
• Crimes against property
– Involves theft of property
• Criminal statistics
– Victimization surveys state crime rate is two to four
times higher than official reports
Sociology, Tenth Edition
Crime in the United States
But only 50% of
all crime is even
reported.
1. Fear of
perpetrator
2. Certain
crimes likely
to be
victimized
again
3. Victims of
crimes are
usually
engaged in
their own
illegal
activity.
National Map 8-1 The Risk of Violent Crime across the United
States
Sociology, Tenth Edition
The Street Criminal: a Profile
• Age-persons between the ages of 15 and 24
• 14% of population
• 39% of arrests for violent crime
• 46.8% of property crimes
• Gender
– 70.1% of property crimes and 82.6% of all violent crimes
are committed by males
• Social class
– Violent crimes committed by a few in poor neighborhoods
– White collar and corporate crime committed by more
affluent
• Race and ethnicity
– 69.7% of arrests involve white people
– People of color are over criminalized
Sociology, Tenth Edition
Figure 8-2 Crime Rates in the United States 1960-2000
Sociology, Tenth Edition
Justice System
• Police: primary point of contact between
population and criminal justice system
– Lots of discretion
•
•
•
•
•
•
How serious is the crime?
What is the victim’s preference?
Is the suspect cooperative or not?
Have they arrested the suspect before?
Are bystanders present?
What is the suspect’s race?
• Courts: plea bargaining often results in pressure to
plead guilty
– Reduced charge
– Reduced sentence
– Compromises the adversarial process
Sociology, Tenth Edition
The Criminal Justice System
• Police
• Courts
• Punishment and Corrections
– Prisons Justification
• Retribution
Moral vengeance inflicted
• Deterrence
Discourage future criminality
• Protection
Temporary removal of offender (incarceration)
Permanent (execution)
• Rehabilitation
– The Death Penalty
What Does America Think?
Rosenhan’s Experiment
@ 18 seconds