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CHAPTER 8
Deviance and Social Control
Chapter Outline
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What Is Deviance?
Dimensions of Deviance
Theoretical Perspectives on Social Deviance
Crime and Social Control
What Is Deviance?
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Deviance - behavior
that violates the
norms of a particular
society.
A deviant person is
one who violates or
opposes a society’s
most valued norms.
Dimensions of Deviance
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Power
Culture
Voluntary versus involuntary behavior
Crime
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Many sociologists claim that some crimes are
victimless.
Others argue that even victimless crimes inflict
damage on society.
The overall rate of serious crime in the United
States is 2 to 3 times higher than the reported
crime index.
Crime
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The overall rate of serious crime in the United
States is 2 to 3 times higher than the reported
crime index.
The Crime Rate
1972
1982
1996 2001
Crime Index, total 3,961 5,604 5,079 4,160
Violent crime
Property crime
Murder
401
571
634
504
3,560 5,033 4,445 3,656
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9
7
6
Biological Explanations of Crime
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Cesare Lombroso claimed to have proved
that criminals were throwbacks to
primitive, aggressive human types.
William Sheldon postulated that body type
was correlated with crime.
Some modern researchers have concluded
that both biology and social environment
play a role in producing criminals.
Robert Merton’s Typology
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Based on the theory that social structures
exert pressure toward crime or conformity.
Hypothesized that people who do not
accept cultural goals or the accepted
means of achieving them would follow
other—possibly criminal or deviant—
alternatives.
Marxian Perspective on Crime
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Legal definitions of deviant
behavior are imposed by
the rich and powerful to
protect their own interests.
Definitions of criminal
behavior are applied more
forcefully to the poor and
working class than to the
upper classes.
Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance
Perspective
Biological
Theories
Description
Deviance is
genetically
determined.
A deviant person is
Social Pathology a product of social
disintegration.
Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance
Perspective
Description
Functionalism
Deviance results from the failure
of social structures to function
properly.
Cultural conflict
theory
Cultural conflict creates
opportunities for deviance and
criminal gain in deviant
subcultures.
Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance
Perspective
Description
Marxian
theory
Capitalism produces
poor and powerless
masses who may resort
to crime to survive. The
rich employ their own
agents to break laws
and enhance their power
and wealth.
Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance
Perspective
Differential
association
Labeling
Description
Criminal careers result from
recruitment into crime
groups based on
association and interaction
with criminals.
Deviance is created by
groups that have the power
to attach labels to others,
marking particular people
as outsiders.
Crime and Social Control
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Research does not support the claim that
capital punishment deters people from
committing terrible crimes.
Some ex-felons are denied voting rights, a
serious concern about the way inequalities
in imprisonment affect specific groups.
Sociologists who have studied prisons
agree that the least successful aspect of
prison life is rehabilitation.
Justifications for Punishment
Justification
Deterrence
Critical Issues
Does prison deter crime or
socialize criminals?
What forms of rehabilitation
Rehabilitation actually work to prevent
recidivism?
Do extreme punishments reduce
Retribution
all members of society to the
level of the criminal?
QUICK QUIZ
1. Which is true concerning deviance?
a. People who bear a stigma, by definition, are
also deviant.
b. Deviance is something that people only
engage in when they are alone by
themselves.
c. Definitions as to what is deviant often vary
from place to place, and from one time period
to another in a given society.
d. Over the history of our nation, there has
always been a high degree of consensus that
wife and child beating constitute deviant
behavior.
Answer: c
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The following is true concerning
deviance:
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Definitions as to what is deviant
often vary from place to place, and
from one time period to another in a
given society.
2. Sociological explanations for deviance stress
the idea that
a. deviance is biologically inherited.
b. personality type leads people to be
deviant.
c. the vast majority of deviants are sick or
abnormal.
d. deviant behavior is largely a function of
social conditions and learning.
Answer: d
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Sociological explanations for
deviance stress the idea that
deviant behavior is largely a
function of social conditions and
learning.
3. A major criticism of functionalist theories is
that they
a.
b.
c.
d.
suggest that deviants are largely mentally ill.
place too much emphasis on power and
domination.
fail to demonstrate that deviance may be a
consequence of social environment.
tend to assume that there is a single set of
values that everyone shares within a given
society.
Answer: d
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A major criticism of functionalist
theories is that they tend to
assume that there is a single set
of values that everyone shares
within a given society.
4. Essential to the cultural conflict perspective
is the idea that
a.
b.
c.
d.
social inequality is major factor in determining
crime in a society.
definitions of morality are not necessarily widely
shared within a given society.
people are basically good and decent—it is
culture that tends to corrupt them.
not all people have access to the cultural capital
that would allow them to succeed.
Answer : b
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Essential to the cultural conflict
perspective is the idea that
definitions of morality are not
necessarily widely shared within
a given society.