Chapter 1, Textbook

Question 1

Is there a single definition of deviance agreed by upon the objectivism side of the deviant debate

Answer 1

• no there is not

- >some see it as statistical rarirty, some base it on harm

Question 2

Does statistical rarity mean the action or person is deviant

Answer 2

• no
• > left handed people are rare but that doesn’t meant they are treated as deviant
• > sports prodigies are rare but they are respected and envied

Question 3

What is social harm

Answer 3

-they interfere with the smooth running of society

Question 4

What is ontological harm

Answer 4

-there is a threat to the fundamental ways we understand the world and our place in it

eg; when relegious beliefs of people contrast with those of another people
->this threatens the fundamental way that people in the world understand their place in it

Question 5

Was masturbation viewed as deviant during the victorian era

Answer 5

• yes

- >beds were hard, intense exercise promoted, cold baths, anti-masturbation devices

Question 6

What is normative violation

Answer 6

-it is that deviance refers to people, behaviors, or characteristics that violate society’s norms

Question 7

Describe the absolute moral order

Answer 7

• what is considered wrong in one place should be considered wrong everywhere
• > eg; incest

Question 8

How do objectivists today view norms in opposition to before

Answer 8

• they view it as being culturally specific rather than universal
• > that is based on society’s moral code rather than any type of absolute moral order
• > we are socialized into norms from birth
• > we learn the standards and expectations the

Question 9

Are norms associated with the Canadian Criminal code

Answer 9

• yes

- >these norms then become laws

Question 10

What is the consensual views of laws

Answer 10

-they see it as arising out of social consensus and then it is equally applied to all

Question 11

What are critiques of the consensual views of law

Answer 11

-the critiques are that laws only reflect the behavioural expectations of only some of its citizens

Question 12

What is the conflict view on laws

Answer 12

• laws are a tool used by the ruling class to serve its own interests
• > laws are more applied to the powerless individuals in the society

Question 13

What is the interactionist view on criminal law

Answer 13

• society’s powerful define the law

- >ignoring the interest groups of those who appeal to those in power to rectify a perceived social ill

Question 14

What did the researcher Theo suggest about deviance

Answer 14

-he used the terms high-consensus deviance and low-consensus-deviance to distinguish between forms of deviance that have differential levels of support in the broader society

Question 15

What is the foundation of the moral codes that subjectivists use

Answer 15

• they argue for a process that lies in the dominant moral code
• > this basically argue that certain moral codes like the criminal justice system attain positions of dominance in society

-note groups that hold the most power are more likely to dictate which moral codes become dominant

Question 16

What are the two different types of constructionism

Answer 16

• one is referred to as radical and or strict

- the other is labelled as soft and or contextual

Question 17

How is social constructionism socially significant as a process(describe the three ways)

Answer 17

1) It does not refer to the individual behaviour or characteristic
- >rather the place in social order

2) Roles assigned to people who exhibit that behaviour or characteristic
3) Meanings attached to the behaviour or characteristic

Question 18

What is the sociocultural aspect of the social construction hierarchy

Answer 18

-beliefs, ideologies, values and systems of meaning

Question 19

What is the global aspect of the social construction hierarchy

Answer 19

• these refer to processes that create tight global economic, political, cultural and environmental interconnections
• > basically just globalization

Question 20

Describe deviancy along a continuum with obejctivism and subjectivism being at either end

Answer 20

• at the objectivism extreme end
• > individuals adhere to the absolutist view of norms as the standard for determining deviance
• at the subjectivism extreme end
• > are most radical constructionists
• > they suggest that there is no reality outside of perception
• note those who lean towards high-consensus forms of deviance may lean more towards the objective side
• those who lean towards low-consensus forms of deviance may lean more towards the subjective side(marijiana, porn, sexual fetishes etc)

Question 21

How do objectivism and subjectivism differ in the way that they focus on social processes or on the individual itself

Answer 21

• objectivism focuses more on the individual itself
• > what characteristics makes an individual deviant

-subjectivism focuses more on the social processes(perceptions and reactions to the act) that make the act deviant

Question 22

What is the deviance dance

Answer 22

• a subjectivism idea
• interactions, negotiations, and debates a among groups with different perceptions of whether a behaviour or characteristic is deviant

Question 23

What is the definition of moral enterpreneurs

Answer 23

• groups of people who “manufacture public morality”
• > they first bring the problem to public awareness
• > and then they begin moral conversion
• eventually they have an influence on the moral codes
• perhaps the most central group in society that has a relationship with moral enterpreneurs are politicians

Question 24

What is the process of social typing

Answer 24

• the process by which people are come to be seen as deviant

- >it is essentially society typing or categorizing individuals as deviant

Question 25

What are the three steps of social typing

Answer 25

1) Description
- >label is placed on an individual because of an observed behaviours

2) Evaluation
- >judgement is attached to the individual by virtue of the label that was previously given
- >eg; if someone was described as a terrorist earlier, then they may also be associated with the term dangerous

3) Prescription
- >processes of social control or regulation emerge
- >individual is treated in a specific way
- >they are subject to social treatments
- >eg; arrest for someone described as a terrorist

Question 26

Was informal regulation the dominant way to control deviance prior to industrialization

Answer 26

-yes

Question 27

What are the two types of social control

Answer 27

-they may be either retroactive(treating a known deviant in a certain way) or preventative(trying to prevent deviance in the first place through socialization)