Download Introduction to Deviance

PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR HIGHSCHOOL
[INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY]
Unit 4 - Deviance
DATE
Lesson 1 - What is Deviance?
SINDLER
OBJECTIVE
Students will understand the concept of social deviance and its relation to social order. Students
will also learn about traditional models that explain deviance and their shortcomings.
SUMMARY
The main purpose of this lesson is to introduce the concept of deviance and to make sure that
students grasp this unit's core concept before moving on to more advanced applications. This will
be done through both individual reflection and class discussion so that students mentally develop
their own definitions in addition to a given definition. The focal points of this lesson will be
analyzing a anthropologist's interaction with a South American tribe and also the changing image
of the pop starlet Miley Cyrus. The remainder of the class will be spent analyzing nonsociological approaches to understanding deviance and their shortcomings. Finally the class will
conclude by looking at a recent homicide near the school. This serves as a formative assessment
for how students will fair with material and tasks later in the course.
STANDARDS
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-onone, in groups and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts and issues,
building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
NCSS STRAND 5 - INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, INSTITUTIONS
TEXT
PowerPoint - What is Deviance?
Textbook - SOCIOLOGY - A Down-to-Earth Approach
The Baltimore Sun - Two People Shot and Killed in Upper Fells Point
MATERIALS
pen/pencil, markers, textbook, projector, handouts
VOCABULARY
Deviance, relative term, neutral terms, stigma, social order, social control, biosocial deviance
theory, empathy, psychological deviance theory
INTRODUCTION/DRILL
The drill for this lesson serves as a formative assessment to gauge what students already know
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about deviance. The key will be to see what acts they give as examples for deviance. When
going over the drill ask several students to share their answers to begin to allow students to
understand that deviance constitutes a range of acts.
LESSON PROCEDURE
After the drill the first thing students will do is read the anthropologist's account on pg 188 in
SOCIOLOGY. Students will take turns reading the text. After the reading start the PowerPoint What is Deviance?
[Slides of the Yanomano]
These pictures serve to add a visual element to the anthropologist's account. Be sure to point out
the picture of Chagnon.
[Reading questions]
Students will quickly discuss these questions in their pairs/trios and try to come up with
examples for a list on the board. Bring the class back together and make the list under the topic
of deviance. The purpose of this is to load the students into thinking that the native's actions
constituted deviance, which will be flipped on them later.
[Title Slide]
These pictures represent a range of different deviant activities. Some are harmless, while others
are quite severe. Point out specific instances... Obama picking his nose is a deviant act we all
have been guilty of - everyone commits deviant acts. The men that are tattooed are an example of
stigma. The streaker with YOLO painted on him foreshadows how people make deviant
decisions seem right in their mind. The pictures of crime are of what most people consider to be
deviance.
[Map of recent shooting]
For the last slide and this slide discuss the direction of the entire unit: In this next unit we will be
looking at why people choose to make bad decisions. We will first learn what it means to be
deviant. Next we will learn three frameworks sociologists use to analyze why people become
deviant. Throughout we will be looking at crime data, and at this point introduce the homework
assignment. Talk about how this will relate to the final unit project.
[What is deviance]
Make sure that students understand how to use the word deviance/deviant properly. Students
should also understand that it is people's reactions to certain acts that make them deviant.
[Relative/Neutral Terms]
Sociologists do not enter morality debates when talking about deviance - it simply exists. We are
only interested in what societal factors make people not question their actions.
[Group Discussion]
Students should come to realize that it was not the natives but the anthropologist who was being
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deviant. He is on the native's turf - it's their culture and he is the one who is acting out of place.
[Stigmas]
Hopefully students come up with a few stigmas on their own, and maybe one will mention that
certain people look "thugish" or threatening. Discuss the stigma of the hoodie following the
Trayvon Martin incident.
[Social Order and Social Control]
To demonstrate what life would be like without social norms read aloud the scenario found on pg
191 of the text. Students need to understand that anything that threatens social order is
considered deviant. Social norms and their sanctions are all we have that separates us from
animals.
[Deviant Examples]
Go through each example and state how it threatens social order. State that one of the reasons
that 9/11 was so traumatic because it reached a level of deviance never before seen - using an
airline full of innocent people as weapon.
[The Evolution of Miley Cyrus]
The purpose of this exercise is for the lesson to lighten up a bit while we examine the recent
deviance of a well known pop starlet. The fact today is that many people (particularly parents)
view Miley as a threat to the image of young women because of her recent actions. But how did
she get to this point? What factors made her feel that these decisions were a reasonable course of
action? Students should arrive at the conclusion that she felt the need to break away as many
teenagers have, but did so in a manner which is considered deviant as stated in our social order.
Many other singers have done the same - Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Madonna, and so forth.
[Bio-Social Explanations]
Bio-social explanations have tried to be used to explain deviance for decades. These sorts of
explanations are not the kind we plan on doing - they are too concerned with the individual and
so lack the ability to be applied to a larger population.
[Men vs Women]
There are some good points to bio-social explanations. One is that men are inherently more
deviant than men. Students should understand that the basic social fact that women bear children
inherently makes them more in tune with other people's needs and feelings, while men lack that
basic ingrained compassion. This is not to say they don't have it - it's just not part of their basic
package.
[Psychological Explanations]
Make clear how easy this connection was to make at first - psychology has come a long way
since its early days
[Examples]
These examples demonstrate the cliche that psychological explanations bring to the table - that
inherrently deviants must have experienced some event which made their minds shift. This is
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terribly false because most deviant acts are carried out just as much by people with nontraumatic pasts, and perhaps more so.
[Sociological Explanations]
This is what we are interested in. We are looking for factors which would make deviant behavior
seem perfectly normal
CONCLUSION
Class will conclude with the Baltimore Sun article being distributed. Students will read the
article and then discuss it with their neighbors. The discussion should revolve around societal
factors that student think might have influenced the shooter. If time permits, open the discussion
up to a full class discussion and make a list of factors students have come up with. Students will
write a paragraph for homework explaining their viewpoint on why this recent shooting
happened
ASSESSMENT/ HOMEWORK
Student statement of factors associated with 11/5 shooting. (paragraph length)
ACCOMODATIONS

Calculation Devices
Visual Organizers
Human Reader for Selected Sections
Multiple or Frequent Breaks
Books on Tape
Notes, Outlines, and Instructions
Spelling and Grammar Devices
Visual Cues
Extended Time
Graphic Organizers
Scribe
Change of Schedule – Over Multiple Days
Monitor Test Response
Reduce Distractions to Other Students
Human Reader for Entire Test
Screen Reader for Verbatim Reading of Selection Sections
REFLECTION & EVALUATION