Deviant Behavior & Soc Control Module 1 Study Guide

I. . Defining Deviance- Overview of Deviance A. What is deviant behavior? 1. Deviance is the violation of norms and expectations set by those with the power to enforce social norms. II. What is normal? 1. By using Sumner's definition of folkways, mores, and laws. (1907) We determine that normal is a. Folkways which are everyday customs based on custom, traditions, and etiquettes. i. examples of these are fashion norms and table manners. b. Mores are moral norms that are based on social values. i. drug addition interracial marriage, and affairs. ii. when these mores are threatened it is believed that social order could be ruined. c. Laws are the strongest norms since they are supported by a formal code of sanctions. i. examples include adultery, murder, and assault. ii. violations can lead to imprisonment and even death. d. crime violates law e. sins violates religious values f. poor taste are violations of informal folkways C. crime and deviance a. While some acts do overlap with crime and deviance many acts of deviance like unwed pregnancy aren not criminal. and some acts of crime do not bring moral censure such as the Enron scandal and Martha Stewart. b. crime and deviance overlap with independent dimensions. III. ABCs of Deviance A. Attitudes 1. Being branded deviant for alternative attitudes or beliefs a. examples would be religious cults and terrorists. B. Behavior 1. overt acts that are determined as deviant a. kinky sexual behaviors or using drugs 2. achieved deviant status- when people are typed into deviant label for overt behaviors. C. conditions 1. seen as deviant for conditions or quality that may be achieved. a. based on conditions from birth that a person cannot control. b. socioeconomic status and physical disabilities. i. ascribed deviant status- based on a condition that is given at birth. IV. Three categories of S's A. Sin 1.Behaviors that were deviant from the norm were thought to be sinful and contributed to satanic influence 2. exorcisms were performed in order to exorcise demons from individuals. B. Sick 1. medicalization of deviance used to explain drug use, sexual behavior, homosexuality a. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders was used by psychiatrists to diagnose deviances and allow them to claim reimbursement by sending patients to in and outpatient care. 2. use of medical treatment for responding to deviance. America is the most legally medicated society in world History. C. Selected 1. Certain behaviors seen as intentionally selected choices or forms of recreation such as homosexuality, gambling, or obesity. On The Sociology Of Deviance- Chapter 1 I. Deviance and Boundary Maintenance for Communities A. Communities are Boundary maintaining 1. Every community has a special geographical location and cultural space1. Every community has a special geographical location and cultural space 2. A community's members tend to confine and limit themselves to a certain range of conduct and behavior making them feel like they belong to a special "time and special place" 3. These boundaries are maintained because they retain cultural integrity, make possible a degree of stability, and retain a pattern activity. 1. It is a voluntary restriction on it's own potential for expansion. B. Marking and Publicizing Boundaries 1. The behavior of members of a community are the only material found for marking boundaries. 2. Rituals such as wars and public ceremonies may also mark boundaries. 3. The most critical way boundaries are marked is through the encounters of deviant individuals and agents of the communities such as trials. II. Communities promote Deviance A. Boundaries are not fixed and constant for the following reasons 1. Over time there are changes in with people trying to find find a new way to define the outer limits of their universe which promotes change in the group structure and leadership 2. Changes in the surrounding environment 3. The new generation may challenge the old guard B. Deviance serves a Positive Function for Community 1. Every public censure of a deviant act provides the community with opportunity to restate the group's boundaries 2. Deviant forms of behavior give the inner structures of a community it's purpose and help the people within the community develop cultural identity. 3. Many institutions such as prisons that are supposed to work to stop deviant behaviors actually perpetuate them. 4. Offenders find it hard to successfully reenter into society because of the labeling of ex-convict and the stigma that comes along with it. a. When someone is given boundaries because we are afraid that they will fail and relapse into crime they are stifled and frustrated and with little opportunities they do relapse. Applying an Integrated Typology of Deviance to Middle-Class Norms Heckert & Heckert 1. An integrated typology that synthesizes normative definitions of deviance in attempt to get rid of the definitional problems that are in the field of deviant behaviors. 2. Deviance is still an important part of sociology. 3. There were four parts proposed in the typology a. negative deviance i. nonconformity or underconformity that is negatively evaluated. ii. examples include irresponsibility and deceitfulness b. deviance admiration i. nonconformity or underconformity that is positively evaluated. ii. examples include rebellion and exhibitionism c. rate busting i. overconformity or hyperconformity that is negatively evaluated. ii. examples include seclusion and puritanism d. positive deviance i. how overconformity or hyperconformity that is positively evaluated. ii. altruism and properness Relativisim: Labeling Theory Becker- Chapter 3 I. Labeling Theory of Deviance: A Definition A. Deviance is Created by Society 1. Social groups create the rules whose violation constitutes deviance 2. Those same groups apply their rules to persons labeled as outsiders B. Deviance is Relative Not Absolute 1. Deviance is not an objective quality of the act a person commits, it is the result of the rules and sanctions given to the "offender" 2. A deviant is someone who has successfully been labeled a deviant. This label changes one's self-image and drastically limits social participation. II. Consequences of A Labeling Perspective for the study of deviance A. Persons who have been labeled deviant do not represent a homogenous category 1. A person's deviant status is the result of the responses of others to that person's actual or presumed act. 2. The process of labeling is faulty. a. A person could be innocent and wrongfully prosecuted for an act they did not commit. b. Others may have escaped conviction even after committing acts that could have resulted in a deviant label B. Study the process of labeling deviants 1. Deviant Actions responds are warranted to who it is that commits the act and who feels they have been subjected to harm from it. a. juveniles from the middle class do not go as far in the legal process as boy from the lower economic class. b. race is a key here as well. a black man is more likely to be convicted for attacking a white man. C. Being labeled as deviant has important consequences for the person's future 1. There is a major change in one's public identity, one acquires a new status that is a master status (Hughes) 2. Being labeled as a deviant is the single most important characteristic that overrides all others. A deviant's life is forever changed. They can not contribute to society equally ever agin 3. A deviant will always be viewed as a deviant before all else. Natural Law and the Sociology of Deviance Hendershott Natural Law and the Sociology of Deviance- Hendershott- Chapter 4 The Absolutist Perspective on Defining Deviance According to the sin-based model society is founded on consensus with most people agreeing about right & wrong An example is having a child out of wedlock Another example is how a terrorist is viewed as deranged but not evil II. Moral order From the 19th century to 1960s: Social stability was founded on moral order which is a common world view that binds people to their families, communities, and to larger economic and political institutions B. Today very few sociologists hold such views. C. Globalization has increased societies based on a shared culture rather than on the narrow calculations of individuals self-interest D. A commitment to common moral order is more difficult within a culture that has strong individualism A cutlure like the one that exists in America is an example of this. III. Moral Boundaries Testing the boundaries of established norms can be positive as well as negative B. Types of alienation occur when social regulators begin to splinter, and controlling moral authority is no longer effective Postve: 1950’s and 1960’s: identifying racism at deviance which led to the social change that included discrimination being censured in the legal system. Negative: Fail to acknowledge the deviant behavior that occurred with the increase of out of wedlock births in the black community and the negative effect that it played. C. Anomie (Durkheim) When an individual is caught between loosening moral norms that regulate behavior and that individual’s own personal moral misgivings. Identification and the stigma that is associated with defiant behavior is functional for society, because it can produce certainty for individuals, and solidarity for group Dramatic social change can occur through the rapid definitional change of what deviance is can lead to a dysfunctional society an example is an individual who does not see fault in an extramarital affair but see himself as having a mental illness. The loosening of moral codes of conduct on campus Allowing coed dorms and passing out contraceptives on campus are examples of this. D. National Study of Attitudes & Values (Wolfe) Interviewed over 200 middle income class people to find out that they shared a reluctance to judge the behaviors of others Wofle stated that there is an “Eleventh Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Judge” a. Originally predicted 30 years earlier by Rieff who said that the “psychological man” was replacing a “Christian man” because a men would no longer feel the need for salvation and reject the idea of sin. IV. Moral Consensus There must be hard principles of a moral consensus in order for it to be constructed Re-moralization of public discourse is necessary in these difficult times where evil is everywhere Refusal to admit and negatively sanction deviance are examples of the lost ability to confront evil and are dehumanizing Social Power: Conflict Theory of Crime- Quinney Chapter 5 The Official Definition of Crime The legal definition is created by agents of the dominant class that holds power. Crime is not determined by behavior but instead judgement is passed by a select few about a vast group of others. The greater the number of definitions the more crimes there will be. II. Formulating Definitions of Crime Definitions of crime are composed of behaviors that conflict with the concerns of dominant class, and include legal policies for the treatment of criminals Definitions of crime chafe as the interests of the dominant class changes. III. Applying Definitions of Crime Crime definitions are shaped by the class that has the power to mold the enforcement and administration of criminal law. B. Criminal law is not applied by those in power, but enforced by selected legal agents This results in number of definitions that can be applied. The law application is also affected by the standards that the community sets on law enforcement. IV. How Behavior Patterns Develop in Relation to Definitions of Crime Behavior patterns are structured in relation to the different definitions of crime, and people that engage in actions that could earn the definition of criminal. The dominant class exclude their own behaviors from the definitions associated with crime typically 2. Because those who have been defined as a criminal begin to self-identify as one their is a high likelihood that they will continue to commit actions that earn the criminal definition. V. Constructing an Ideology of Crime An ideology of crime is constructed and diffused in order for the socially dominant class to secure its hegemony These ideas about crime are held by the dominant class and are included into the way society views crime and criminals a. An example is the hiring restrictions on felons VI. Construction the Social Reality of Crime A. The social reality of crime is constructed by these things: 1. The forming and applying of the numerous definitions of crime 2. The development of behavior patters in relation to these definitions 3. The construction of an ideology of crime