6 - Cultural Deviance & Labelling Theories

Question 1

Cultural Deviance Theories Def

Answer 1

Attribute crime to set of values that emerge in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Lower-class ppl have different set of values which conflict (clash) w/ those of the middle-class (dominant) culture, and by adhering to their own value system they may be violating middle-class norms.

Question 2

Sutherland’s Differential Association

Answer 2

Crime is learned through social interaction. Likelihood of criminal behaviour determined by one having an excess of definitions FAVOURABLE to violation of laws than UNFAVOURABLE. Associations vary in frequency, intensity, priority and duration.

Question 3

Cultural Transmission

Answer 3

process of values, beliefs and behaviours being passed from generation to generation through socialization.

Question 4

Critiques of Sutherland’s Differential Association

Answer 4

• Doesn’t explain why some ppl exposed to CB DON’T become criminal
• Doesn’t explain ALL types of crime (crime of passion)
• DOES NOT TELL US HOW FIRST CRIMINAL BECAME CRIMINAL
• No account for NON-SOCIAL variables (i.e. need, thoughts, feelings)
• Suggests inevitability of criminal / non-criminal (cross threshold you’re done)
• Can scientists even measure frequency, duration, priority, intensity?

Question 5

Policy Implications of Sutherland’s Dif Assoc.

Answer 5

• YOUTH CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT = diverts youth away from involvement w/ criminal justice system thru alternative punishment wherever possible, reducing # of criminal associates.
• Any program looking to replace / re-emphasize pro-social and positive associations is in keeping w/ DA theory (EX AA or NA)

Question 6

Sellin’s Culture Conflict Theory

Answer 6

Different groups have different conduct norms, norms of one may conflict with those of another. Individual may commit crimes by complying to norms of their group if they violate norms of dominant group. Main difference between criminal / non-criminal is response to different set of norms.

Question 7

Conduct Norms

Answer 7

rules that reflect the attitudes of the groups to which each of us belongs. Define what is considered appropriate / normal VS inappropriate / abnormal.

Question 8

Culture Conflict Theory Example

Answer 8

Indigenous ppl and the Trans Mountain Pipeline:

Protests to prevent it that blocked trains. Disrupted flow of goods like grain, propane, etc. and resulted in layoffs of over 1000 ppl. Canadians saw this as disruptive and problematic, whereas indigenous peoples saw it as frustration due to gov not adhering to TRC and violating their right to free, prior & informed consent ab projects affecting / on their territory granted by the UN and just wanted their voices heard and respected.

Question 9

Primary Conflict

Answer 9

Norms of two cultures clash

EX. Sicilian Father Killing Daughter’s Pre-Marital Sexual Partner in the States

Question 10

Secondary Conflict

Answer 10

One culture evolves into many, each w/ its own set of norms

Question 11

Subculture

Answer 11

subdivisions within the dominant culture that have their own norms, beliefs, and values.

Usually occur when ppl in similar circumstances feel isolated from the mainstream and band together.

Question 12

When do Delinquent Subcultures emerge?

Answer 12

Emerge in response to problems that members of the dominant culture do NOT face.

Question 13

Wolfgang and Ferracuti’s Subculture of Violence Theory

Answer 13

Value systems of some subcultures demand use of violence in certain social situations. Violence not considered anti-social, feel no guilt about violence / aggression. Those who do NOT resort to violence may be reprimanded.

Value system transmitted from gen to gen, long after og reason for violence has disappeared. Pattern VERY difficult to eradicate.

Question 14

Evaluation of Wolfgang and Ferracuti’s Subculture of Violence Theory

Answer 14

Supported by Crime data in the States and in Canada.

more and more ppl in these subcultures attach less and less importance to value of human life and turn increasingly to violence to resolve immediate problems / frustrations.

Question 15

Hegemonic Masculinity

Answer 15

Toxic Masculinity / “real man” -> socially constructed masculine ideal, opposite of femininity. Most prestigious forms of manliness, ideas of dominance, control and independence.

Miller’s Boys, Cohen’s Boys and Subculture of Violence Boys try to live up to this.

Question 16

Miller’s Focal Concerns Theory

Answer 16

Youth Crime stems from lower-class culture with its own value system which evolved as a response to living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods / single-parent households. That value system generates delinquent acts.

Committed to value system they grew up around.

Question 17

Miller’s 6 Focal Concerns

Answer 17

1. Trouble -> Staying out of VS getting into trouble. Can result in consequences OR prestige / reputation.
2. Toughness -> code requires show of masculinity, denial of sentimentality (don’t cry), and display of physical strength (fight). Join gangs in search of male role models.
3. Smartness -> Ability to gain something by outsmarting, outwitting or conning someone else. Awards prestige.
4. Luck / Fate -> many believe lives are subject to forces over which they have little control. If they could get lucky, things could change.
5. Excitement -> risks, danger, and thrills break up the monotony of existence. (EX. fighting, getting drunk, drugs).
6. Autonomy -> stems from lower-class person’s resentment of external controls; desire for personal freedom

Question 18

Critiques of Miller’s Focal Concern Theory

Answer 18

• Most people in lower-class do conform to conventional norms
• Lower-Class individuals feel guilt / shame when committing delinquent acts, contrast to notion that they have their own value system.

Question 19

Bill C-24 definition of a gang

Answer 19

1. composed of THREE OR MORE PERSONS
2. main purposes / activities is the facilitation and commission of ONE OR MORE SERIOUS OFFENCES
3. would likely result in the direct or indirect receipt of MATERIAL BENEFIT, including FINANCIAL BENEFIT, by group or persons w/ in the group

Question 20

Gangs are…

Answer 20

• Always changing (lots of fluidity / movement)
• Not as prevalent in Canada as in the States
• Some gangs in Can are offshoots / mimics of America’s, and ours are influenced by American Media
• Link between prison and street gangs
• Regional Variation (BC vs Ontario)

Question 21

Gangs in Canada

Answer 21

• Estimated # of youth gangs in 2002 in Can was 434 w/ 7071 members
• In 2018, Edm reported highest rate of gang related homicides (followed by Van, Tor, the Mont.).
• Street Gangs increasingly multi-ethnic, putting aside racial differences in the name of profit. (UN gang -> reference to its racial inclusiveness).

Question 22

Female Delinquent Subcultures

Answer 22

• Socially and Economically Disadvantaged backgrounds
• Histories of Abuse (sexual, physical, emotional, neglect)
• Sexual offences, property offences and drug running.
• Role in gangs in part explained by Hegemonic Masculinity.
• Added responsibility of unprotected sexual activity and multiple partners (producing future gang members, gang babies ‘blessed’ into the gang)
• Less likely to leave gangs than males

Question 23

Middle-Class Delinquency

Answer 23

Affluent youth join gangs too, not just low-income city neighbourhoods.

• Come from broken homes, abuse, neglect (trauma). Can be searching for identity. Miller’s -> seeking excitement, autonomy, etc. Want MORE money / drugs no delay of gratification.

Two types of Suburban Gangs:

1) Street Gangs -> members seek money, peer recognition, the thrill of high-risk behaviour, or even protection

2) Hate Gangs -> attach themselves to an ideology that targets racial and ethnic groups and otherwise minorities (gender, sexuality, etc). Assaults and even murder justified by their belief system.

Explanations -> extensions of subcultural defs of lower-class delinquency. Cohen says changes in social structure has weakened value of delay of gratification. [GROWING NUM OF MIDDLE-CLASS YOUTH NO LONGER BELIEVE THAT WAY TO REACH GOALS IS HARD WORK AND DELAYED PLEASURE].

Question 24

Symbolic Interactionism (Cooley, Thomas and Mead)

Answer 24

Human self is formed through a process of social interaction.

Focused on Micro sociological processes: suggested people construct their reality through face to face interactions. Through this we learn and assign social / symbolic meanings to the world around us. Includes learning labels / how to label others.

The way ppl conceive of themselves, others, society and situations affects their actions.

Question 25

Labelling Theory

Answer 25

Explores how / why certain acts and certain people are defined as deviant or criminal.

Reaction of members of mainstream / dominant society important in creation of subcultural groups.

Question 26

Labels

Answer 26

Powerful terms that affect self concept and societal response. Can be positive or negative, but usually negative.

EX. ‘biker’, ‘addict’, ‘prostitute’

Question 27

Lemert’s Labelling Process

Answer 27

1. Youth Commits simple deviant act (PRIMARY DEVIATION)
2. INFORMAL Social REACTION (I.E. warning or parents get upset)
3. Youth CONTINUES to break rules
4. Increased Social Reaction (i.e. being watched more closely)
5. Youth commits a more serious deviant act
6. There is a FORMAL REACTION (caught / in trouble w/ police)
7. Youth now labelled as ‘delinquent’ by court and ‘bad’ by neighbourhood
8. Youth beings to think of themselves as delinquent
9. Youth commits another, yet more serious, deviant act (SECONDARY DEVIATION)
10. Youth returned to juvenile court, has offences added to record, cast out from conventional society, takes on completely deviant lifestyle.

Question 28

Primary Deviations

Answer 28

Initial deviant acts that bring on the first social response, they DO NOT affect individual’s self-concept (usually not yet caught either, but may be known by others).

Question 29

Secondary Deviations

Answer 29

Acts that follow the societal response to the primary deviation, are of major concern. ALSO, self-concept changes as a result of the label society gives the person (may or may not be caught by cops, but usually known by others who have labelled them now). Label has STUCK.

Question 30

Becker’s Labelling Theory Addition

Answer 30

Asked who makes rules that define deviant behaviour including crime.

By making rules that define criminal, certain members of society CREATE outsiders.

Social definition / interpretation of deviance.

Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders.

Question 31

Moral Entrepreneurs

Answer 31

People whose high social position gives them the POWER to MAKE / enforce the social RULES by which members of society have to live.

Question 32

Master Status

Answer 32

Label becomes chief characteristic of an individual and overrides other statuses regardless of context.

Question 33

Critiques of Labelling Theory

Answer 33

• Fails to explain why individuals get involved w/ socially disapproved behaviour KNOWING they may be labelled.
• Labels may IDENTIFY rather than create real behaviour
• Role of offenders too passive, whereas CJS and community too active (too much focus on audience)
• What about those who go thru formal processing and don’t continue to commit?
• Too much focus on NUTS, SLUTS AND PERVERTS (street criminals and not powerful ppl who can avoid the labels)

Question 34

Policy Implications of Labelling Theory

Answer 34

• Not Identifying young offenders in public record / the media (and victims)
• Criminal Pardons / Wiping criminal records (expunged)
• Court Diversion (rehab based rather than courts)
• Anything moving AWAY from stigmatising