Chapter 1: from notes Flashcards
Why is there objective/subjective dualism or dichotomy?
There’s a general shift from objective to subjective definitions.
Dichotomy: characterized by 2 oppositional and mutually exclusive categories.
Objective: interested in the qualities of deviant acts
Subjective: interested in the processes by which we perceive certain acts as being deviant
What is deviance?
Refers to a person, characteristic. or behaviour that’s considered strange, inappropriate, or immoral–in need of some form of social control.
Four different defining traits that objectivists believe making certain behaviours or characteristics inherently deviant?
Statistical rarity, harm, negative societal reaction, and normative violation.
Statistical Rarity (objective):
Deviance is defined as people, behaviours, or characteristics that are statistical rare in a population.
Harm (objective):
Deviance is defined as those people, behaviours, or characteristics that cause harm–physical harm, social harm, ontological harm, and emotional
Physical harm: if someone harms others, the perpetrator of the harm is deviant
Social harm: harm directed at society itself, certain people or behaviours may constitute social harm, because they interfere with the smooth running of society.
Ontological harm: Can occur when there’s a threat to the fundamental ways we understand the world and our place in it
Subjective side of the dichotomy
Deviance is not determined by any inherent quality. Deviance refers to behaviours or characteristics that are deemed to be unacceptable by the dominant moral codes in society. Deviance is a social construction.
Objective side of the dichotomy
Defines deviance in terms of a single quality that makes certain behaviours or characteristics inherently deviant.
Societal Reactions (Objective)
Definition of deviance that’s based on the nature of societal reaction. Refers to those people, characteristics, or behaviours that society’s “masses” respond to negatively with dislike, anger, fear, distrust, or disapproval.
Normative violation (objective)
Don’t define deviance in terms of rarity, harm, or societal reaction. Deviance refers to people, behaviours, or characteristics that violate society’s norms.
Folkways: norms as standards or expectations of behaviour.
Mores: Standards that are often seen as the foundation of morality in a culture. Sometimes integrated into the legal system
Laws: Norms so central to the smooth running of society that they’re enshrined within the legal system.
Subjectivism: Deviance as a Label
Dominant moral codes: serves as the foundation for deterring who or what is deviant in society.
Deviance is defined as those people, characteristics, and behaviours that society’s dominant moral codes deem to be unacceptable and in need of control
Social constructionism:
Refers to the perspective proposing that social characteristics are creations or artifacts of a certain society at a specific time in history
Radical constructionists
Postulate a distinct theoretical perspective claiming that the world is characterized by endless relativism
Soft or contextual constructionists
Emphasize the pathways by which certain social phenomena come to be perceived and reacted to in particular ways in a given society at a specific time in history
Processes of deviance
Individual level: our own identities, conceptions of self, and ways of understanding of our own existence in the world affect the path of social construction
Interactional level: our interactions with other people influence the way we think and feel about others, which determines the role each of us play in social construction
Sociocultural level: beliefs, ideologies, values, and systems of meaning have an influence on the paths of social construction
Global level (part of globalization): processes that create “tight global economic, political, cultural, and environmental interconnections and flows that make most current borders and boundaries irrelevant.
Deviance dance
The interactions, negotiations, and debates among groups with different perceptions of whether a behaviour, or characteristic is deviant and needs to be socially controlled, if so how.
