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Constructing Deviance
Differential Social Power:Labeling
- Specific behavioral acts are not the only things that can be constructed as deviant;this definition can also be applied to a social status, demographic characteristic, or lifestyle.
-A range or different factors give certain groups social power in society to construct definitions of deviance and to apply those labels onto others
-Money is one of the clearest elements
-In a society characterized by striving for social influence,status, and power, one way to attain this is to pass and enforce rules that define others' behavior as deviant
Differential Social Power: Resisting Labeling
-Powerful Groups may be successful in working to resist the application of definitions of deviance to them
-Higher status groups in society are less likely to be perceived as deviant whether they actively work to fight the label or not
-This differential social power may be applied either directly or comparatively, as when society judges the behavior of one group against another, or when individuals or a group are judged on their own
-Drug Wars are reactions to the various troubles people can have with drugs
Drug Scares and Drug Laws
- The first and most significant drug scare was over drink
-Americas first real drug law was San Francisco's anti opium ordinance of 1875
-In the Great Depression Harry Anslinger of the Federal Narcotics Bureau pushed Congress for a federal law against marijuana
-Recipe for drug scares and repressive drug laws that contain seven ingredients
1. A Kernel of Truth- sufficient ingestion of consciousness altering chemicals to provide some basis for some people to claim that it is a problem
2. Media Magnification- media dramatizes drug problems
3. Politico-Moral Entrepreneurs- most prominent and powerful moral entrepreneurs in drug scares are often political elites
4. Professional Interest Groups- "ownership" of drug problems
5. Historical Context of Conflict- This trinity of the media, moral entrepreneurs, and professional interests typically interact in such a way as to inflate the extant "kernel truth" about drug use
6. Linking a Form of Drug Use to a "Dangerous Class"
Chapter 16 Blowing Smoke:Status Politics and the Smoking Ban
Ch. 17 Failure to Launch
Consequences
1. Lack of media access-no journalistic exemption applies to very stringent federal laws and just looking is not possible
2. The invisibility of the problem- child porn material exists within a relatively self- contained universe that the ordinary user cannot simply stumble across
3. Preemption by other causes and interest groups- the topic can be appropriated in symbolic forms by various pressure groups
Ch. 18 Gender, Race, and Urban Policing
The Experience of African American Youth
-Young men more often reported being mistreated themselves
-Youths responses to survey items about how the police behave in their neighborhoods were consistent across gender
-Youths described frequent pedestrian and vehicle stops as the primary policing strategy in their neighborhoods
Young Men and the Police
-They believed that the police besieged their neighborhoods because officers believed that many of the people living there, particularly young Black men, were criminals
-They also believed the police sought to limit their use of public space by designating neighborhood locations as crime hot spots
Young Women and the Police
- Their most common complaint particularly alone or in the company of other girls was being stopped for curfew violations
Discussion
-Research on race and policing is often inattentive to gender and rarely considers the perspectives of minority citizens
-Central to the preservation of a patriarchal and heterosexist society is a well established gender order with clearly defined norms and sanctions governing the behavior of men and women
-This normative gender system is relayed to and installed in members of society through a pervasive socialization network that is evident in both everyday social interaction and social institutions
-Despite gender role socialization, not all individuals engage in behavior consistent with gender expectations
Viewing Lesbianism as a Personal and Irrelevant Issue
- A second indicator of the silence surrounding the lesbian stereotype was reflected in athletes general comments about lesbianism
Disguising Athletic Identity to Avoid Lesbian Label
- A third form of silence surrounding the lesbian stereotype was the tendency for athletes to hide their athletic identities
Team Difficulty in Addressing Lesbian Issue
-Not only did the silence surrounding lesbianism impact certain aspects of the lives of individual athletes, but it also affected interpersonal relationships among team members
Administrative Difficulty in Addressing Lesbian Issue
- Another manifestation of silence relayed in the responses of athletes was the apparent unwillingness of coaches and athletic directors to confront openly the lesbian stereotype
Conclusions
-Based on athletes responses it was evident that the silence surrounding the lesbian issue in womens sport was deeply ingrained at all levels of the womens intercollegiate sport structure
Athletes Internalization of Societal Stereotypes
Ch. 20 The Mark of a Criminal Record
Racial Differences in the Effects of a Criminal Record
- The evidence is suggestive of the way in which associations between race and crime affect interpersonal evaluations
Discussions
-There is serious disagreement among academics, policy makers, and practitioners over the extent to which contact with the criminal justice system in itself leads to harmful consequences for employment
-The persistent effect of race on employment opportunities is painfully clear in the results
-Blacks are less than half as likely to receive consideration by employers, relative to white counterparts, and black nonoffenders fall behind even whites with prior felony convictions
The Saints from Monday to Friday
-Get out of class early and go to Poll hall
-The boys would spill coke on the floor and put salt in the sugar containers
The Saints on Weekends
-They would go to Big Town where they would drink and drive drunk
-They would commit acts of vandalism and play pranks
The Saints in School
-they were successful in school
-The average grade for the group was a B
-Cheating on examinations was rampant
The police and the Saints
-The local police saw the saints as good boys who were among the leaders of the youth in the community
-Their pattern of deviancy was reinforced and breaking away from it became increasingly unlikely
- once the boys acquired an image of themselves as deviants, they selected new friends who affirmed that self image
-Other kids who have established a reputation for being bright disciplined and involved in respectable activities who are mobile, will be invisible when they deviate from sanctioned activities
-Health care has grown into a trillion dollars a yer enterprise
-the delivery of patient services involves not only physicians but also large scale insurance companies, government-financed benefit programs and health maintenance Organizations
The Protective Cloak: Status, Altruism, and Autonomy
- One element of the Cloak is high social status
-Professionals possess the financial and political wherewithal to influence the manner in which criminal statutes are written and enforced and they are more apt to escape arrest and conviction than those who lack such power
- Doctors have been relatively immane from legal scrutiny because of the medical professions historical preference for self regulation
Selected Medical Offenses
Medical Kickbacks: Free Splitting and Self Referrals
-Kickbacks are defined as payments from one party to another in exchange for referred business or other income producing deals
-Fee splitting occurs when one physician receives payment from a surgeon or other specialists in exchange for patient referrals
Prescription Violations
