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Deviance and Social Control
Chapter 6
What is Deviance?
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Pages 154-157
Deviance- violation of the norms
Sociologist Howard Becker (1966) “not the act itself
but the reaction to the act that makes something
deviant”
Relativity of deviance acceptable in one culture is
deviant in another- this statement is true within
societies. Deviance is relative
Specific form of deviance is crime- a violation of rules
that are written into law
Sociologists do not view deviance as a bad thing- it is
just acts that people see as negative- all of us are
deviant at one time or another
Stigma characteristic that discredits people- includes
violations of norms of ability (handicap), appearance
(obesity) and being an involuntary member (AIDS
victim)
Some stigmas can become a persons master status
How Norms Make Social Life Possible
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Norms make life predictable by making behavior
predictable
We are socialized to follow norms, play basic roles
that society assigns us.
Norms bring social order, a groups customary
social arrangement.
Deviance undermines this predictability
Groups develop a systems of social control ,
formal and informal ways of enforcing norms
Sanctions- expressions of disapproval of deviance
bring negative sanctions- range from frowns
(breaking folkways) to imprisonment (breaking
mores). Positive sanctions are used to reward for
conforming to the norms. Most negative sanctions
are informal.
Other types of sanctions
Shaming- effective when
members of a primary group use
it. Often used to keep children in
line and small communities.
Shaming can be part of a public
ritual
 Degradation Ceremony- a
formal attempt to brand
somebody as an outsider.
Individual is stripped of their
identity as a group member. This
dramatizes that the member is no
longer part of the group
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Explanations of Deviance
Sociobiologists look for explanations within people
 Assume that people have genetic predispositions.
Sociologists argue that genetics have little
influence on deviance
 Psychologists focus on the abnormalities within
individuals. Examine personality disorders.
Sociologists dispute that deviant individuals fit a
particular personality
 Sociologists search for factors outside the
individual. They look for social influences that
recruit people to break norms
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Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective of Deviance pages 159-164
Symbolic Interactionists argue that we act
according to our interpretations of situations
 Differential Association Theory
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Edwin Sutherland developed the theory-we learn deviance
from the different groups we associate with
Give us messages about conformity and deviance
We receive an imbalance of these messages one way or
another that tilts us in one direction
Factors that influence us- family, friends, neighbors,
subcultures
Family, Friends, Neighborhood and
Subcultures
Family is the primary agent of
socialization, difference whether we
learn deviance or conformity.
 Studies have proven that families
involved in crime, have lawbreaking
children
 Neighborhoods- people want to move
our of “bad” neighborhoods keep
children away from corrupting influences
 Some neighborhoods develop
subcultures of violence (gangs, mafia)
 People have choice in the groups we
associate with- we produce our own
orientations to life
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Control Theory
Control Theory (Walter Reckless)
We have two control systems that work against our
motivation to deviate.
 Inner Control- internalized morality- conscience,
religious principles, ideas of right and wrong
 Outer Controls- consist of people- family, friends,
police officers, etc. that influence us most not to
deviate
 The stronger our bonds are with society the more
effective our inner controls (attachments,
commitments and involvements)
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Control Theory
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Attachments – feeling affection and
respect for people that conform to
mainstream norms
Commitments- having a stake in
society that you don’t want to risk
Involvements- putting time an
energy into approved activities
Control theory how we learn selfcontrol. Learning self control is
achieved through socialization
Labeling Theory
 Labels-
names, reputations, etc. we are
given, become part of our self- concept
 Most people resist negative labels by others
 Some people that are deviant do not view
themselves that way. The deflection of
societies norms are rationalized in the five
techniques of neutralization- denial of
responsibility, denial of injury, denial of a
victim, condemnation of condemners, appeal
to higher loyalties
Functionalist Perspective of Deviance pages 164-166
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Stress the functions of
deviance to society
(Durkheim)
It is essential to the social
order
Clarifies moral boundaries
and affirms norms
Promotes social unity
Promotes social change
Strain Theory
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Functionalists see crime as a
natural part of society.
Mainstream values generate
crime
Strain theory was developed by
Robert Merton (1956) to explain
this:
When society socializes large
numbers of people to desire a
cultural goal (success) but
withholds the means of reaching
that goal to many people. An
adaptation to meet the goal is
crime (outside of the approved
system). To attain the cultural
goal.
Strain Theory
People who experience the strain feel anomie (a
sense of normlessness)
 Mainstream norms aren’t getting them anywhere,
find it difficult to identify with these norms, feel
wronged by the system, rules are illegitimate
 People match their goals to their means through five
ways- conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreats,
rebellion where they accept, reject or replace
cultural norms
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Four Deviant Paths
1)
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Innovation- accept goals but use illegitimate means to
reach them
Ritualism- give up on achieving goals but survive by
following rules of their job (job burnout)
Retreats- reject cultural and societal goals and the
means of achieving them- alcoholics, drug addicts and
nuns that enter convents are examples
Rebellion- reject societies goals . They seek to give
societies new goals. Revolutionaries are an example
Social Class and Crime
Social classes have distinct styles of crime
because of the unequal access to institutional
means.
 The illegitimate opportunity structure is the term
given to the opportunity for crime woven into the
texture of life
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Street Crime
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Industrialized societies socialize all
classes into the desire for material
possessions (all Americans can afford
society’s goods and services)
Education the most common route to
success, not an option for the poor
School system is out of touch with the
poor- closes the door to them as a
legitimate avenue to success
Urban slums there is an opportunity –
crime (drug dealing, prostitution,
burglary, gambling)
The “hustler” is viewed as a role modelthe image of easy money, only ones
seen as coming close to the ideal of
success
White Collar Crime
More privileged classes have different
opportunities for crime
 White collar crime (embezzlement, money
schemes opportunities encountered by these
classes)
 Another form is corporate crime committed by
executives to benefit their corporation
 White collar criminals rarely spend a day in jail
even though it costs more than street crime
 Most Americans are concerned with street
crime and the disruption it will cause in their
lives.
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Conflict Perspective
Conflict theorists- power
and social inequality as
the main characteristics of
society.
 Power elite that runs
society also runs the
criminal justice system.
 Division between the
haves and have nots
 Those at the lower end of
the scale are at the
highest risk for poverty,
prison
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Conflict Perspective on Deviance
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“Justice for all” myth promoted by the elite. Conflict
theorists see the law as an instrument of oppression
designed by the elite to maintain their position.
Criminal justice system does not focus on the corporate
criminals, directs energies toward the working class.
When the corporate class is prosecuted and the case
receives attention- stabilizes the justice system and provides
evidence of “fairness”
To a conflict theorist this is a cultural device that the power
elite uses to carry out self protective and repressive policies
Reactions to Deviance
Decline in Crime and
Recidivism
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Reaction to deviance from minor
sanctions to death penalty
Past 20 years more and more people
have been put in prison and three strikes
laws have reduced early release.
At the same time the crime rate has
dropped sharply.
Sociologists question if this has caused
the drop in crime rates
Statistics demonstrate prisons fail to
rehabilitate criminals.
Recidivism rate (prisoners that are
rearrested) is high.
If the purpose of prisons is to keep people
from being criminals, and to teach those
that crime does not pay; are the prisons
failing?
A Profile of A Street Criminal
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14% of US population between ages of 15 and 24,
account for 40% of violent crimes and 45% of
property arrests
65% arrested are male
Most are poor36% of those arrested for violent crime
are African-American even though they are 13% of
the population
Race is closely related to social standing which
affects the likelihood of engaging in street crime
African American family patterns – most grow up in
single parent homes (66%)
Prejudice leads to more arrests of African Americans
(they are over criminalized)
Death Penalty and Bias
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Capital punishment is the
most extreme measure
the state takes against
criminals.
It is a very divisive issue
on moral and
philosophical grounds
The death penalty is not
administered evenly
Factors like geography,
social class gender are
factors in who is given
the death penalty
Punishment
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Why should society punish wrong doers? Four basic
reasons
Retribution: oldest form of punishment
 Act of moral vengeance, makes offender suffer as much
as those they harmed
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Deterrence: attempt to discourage criminality
through use of punishment
 Originally used to reform retribution
3.
Rehabilitation: reforming offender to prevent later
offences
 Leads to prisons as places to teach proper behavior
 Motivates offender to reform
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Societal Protection: renders offender incapable of
further offences through imprisonment or execution
 Led to US incarcerating a higher percentage of its
population than any country in the world except China
Mental Illness and the Medicalization of Deviance
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Shift in the way society deals with deviance
Mental Illness is when society “medicalizes” it
Medicalization of deviance created when psychoanalysis was founded in
the late 1800’s,deviance related to mental illness was seen as a medical
condition that needed to be treated
Some mental illness is organic and chemical (depression). Some are
defined by society (ADD)
When something becomes deviant in ways that disturbs others and a
satisfying explanation can’t be found to explain it, mental illness is seen
as the cause
Thomas Szaz describes these as behaviors not mental illness. Szaz
thinks that mental illness as an explanation is a myth to get
nonconforming , or deviant individuals to conform, to accept societies
definition of “normal”
Szaz explains that deviant or bizarre behavior depends on a person’s
particular experience in life, not an illness in the mind.
Szaz’s research demonstrates the power of socialization and social
structures that underlie deviant behavior
Mental Illness and the Medicalization of Deviance
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When deviance is defined as a medical
issue it has three consequences
First who responds to deviance- medical
label places situation under control of
doctors and psychiatrists, not law
enforcement
Second is how people respond to
deviance- medically they become patients
that need help not punishment
Third is the label that explains the
personal competence of the deviant
person- medical definition takes
responsibility from the individual
Individual seen as unable to control their
actions