Chapter 6

Question 1

Deviance

Answer 1

-A behaviour that strays from what is “normal”
-definitions of deviance often change and reflect power
-contested and differs across and within cultures
-social or cultural construct

Question 2

Characteristics of deviance

Answer 2

-Overt characteristics:
actions or qualities taken as explicitly violating the cultural norm
-Covert characteristics:
unstated qualities that might make a group a target for sanctions ex: age, ethnic background, race, sexual orientation, sex, physical and mental ability

Question 3

Conflict deviance

Answer 3

a disagreement across groups about whether something is deviant or not ex: legalization of marijuana

Question 4

1.Social constructionism vs 2.essentialism

Answer 4

1. certain elements of social life such as deviance, gender, race etc. are not natural and are created by society and culture
2. there is something natural and therefore objectively determined about those elements of social life

Question 5

stigma (who)

Answer 5

-Erving Goffman
-attribute that is seen to discredit an individual’s social identity
three types:
- bodily stigmata (physical deformities)
-Moral stigmata (blemishes of individual character)
-Tribal stigmata (transmitted through group association)

Question 6

The other relevant people

Answer 6

-image constructed by the dominant culture to characterize subcultures
-depicted as mysterious, or mildly dangerous but somehow inferior
-Edward Said
-once deviant behavior is associated with otherness it is often subject to negative sanctions

Question 7

Moral panic, moral entrepreneur (who)

Answer 7

1.campaign designed to arouse concern over an issue or group
2. Becker, a person who tries to convince others of the need to take action around a social problem they have defined

Question 8

Racializing deviance

Answer 8

-Linking ethnic groups (especially visible minorities) with certain forms of deviance
-making ethnic background a covert characteristic of deviance
-treating groups differently because of that connection
-no assimilating can be viewed as deviant

Question 9

Racial profiling

Answer 9

-is how deviance is racialized
-Actions taken supposedly for safety or public security based on stereotypes about race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, or place of origin rather than reasonable suspicion
-visible characteristics used to predict illegal activity
-person’s otherness is used as grounds for differential treatment

Question 10

Gender and deviance

Answer 10

-being female is treated as other and seen as inherently deviant
-misogyny
patriarchal construct: social conditions that favour men over women
-male values are normalized through customs, laws, and cultural production ex: well paying jobs are dominated by men

Question 11

sexual deviance link to gender

Answer 11

-the double standard applied to male and female sexual activity
-women in Ontario were put into reformatories under the female refuge act for being sexually active outside of marriage
-this behaviour and the women guilty of it were viewed as incorrigible

Question 12

class and deviance and who

Answer 12

-poverty can be considered a covert characteristic of deviance ex: drugs and alcohol is seen as deviant in poor people but less in rich people
-According to Reiman, the criminal justice system has a class bias
-research focuses mostly on crimes committed by the poor
-behaviors associated with poverty and criminality become synonymous

Question 13

white collar crime who

Answer 13

-A crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation
-Edwin Sutherland introduced concept
-Clinard and Quinney refined the concept and distinguished two types:
1. Occupation crimes
-Benefit the individual at the expense of other people who work for the company ex: sexual harassment
2.Corporate crimes
-Benefit the corporation and its executives at the expense of other companies and the general public ex: Enron fraud

Question 14

school-to-prison hypothesis

Answer 14

-biased application of zero-tolerance policies in schools
-poor schools are often located in racialized neighbourhoods
-constant surveillance and bias in the criminal justice system results in higher incarceration rates

Question 15

Crime in low-income communities

Answer 15

-lower class is over-represented in the amount of criminal convictions and admission to prison
Reasons for higher crime rate include:
-lack of social resources
ex: knowledge of law system, lack of social connection, ability to pay for lawyer
-limited ability for impression management
(control of personal information flow to manipulate how others see and treat you

Question 16

Homosexuality and deviance

Answer 16

-homosexuality is socially constructed as deviant to varying degrees around the world
-homosexuality is sanctioned in different ways varying from informal (social scrutiny) to formal (law)
-in Canada it is sanctioned informally ex: comments such as “don’t be so gay”
(this is sometimes referred to as the ideology of the f** which influences people (especially men) to behave according to gender expectations)

Question 17

Disability and deviance

Answer 17

-people with disabilities often suffer negative sanctions by society not accommodating differences in physical ability
-punished not by being singled out but by omission ex: revolving doors, restricting sidewalks, public transport
-people with disabilities are targeted because of their differences

Question 18

politics of disability

Answer 18

-Lennard Davis
-promoting respect for difference instead of just respecting “normal” and treating anything else as a problem to be solved
- the social problem of disability is actually created by able bodied people who view and treat those with a different set of abilities as “other” rather than accepting their differences.

Question 19

eugenics mouvement and who

Answer 19

-Henry Goddard
- intelligence can be easily measured
-intelligence is inherited, transferred directly from one generation to the next
-popularization of this philosophy led to the “feeble-minded” being sexually sterilized so they could not reproduce.

Question 20

Criminology

Answer 20

the sociological (and psychological) study of crime in terms of elements such as causation, prevention, management or control, and statistical patterns of crime

Question 21

What are the four theories of criminal deviance

Answer 21

1. Strain theory
2. Subcultural theory
   3.Labelling theory
3. Social control theory

Question 22

Strain theory and who

Answer 22

-Robert Merton, explains why some individuals “choose” to be criminally deviant
-The American dream promises anyone can be successful as long as they work hard
-the strain is the disconnect between culturally defined goals and uneven distribution of means to achieve those goal (Durkheim defined this as anomie)
-Those without the resources to achieve culturally defined goals turn to criminal deviance

Question 23

Subcultural theory

Answer 23

-Albert Cohen
-individuals from lower-class backgrounds experience status frustration (failure to succeed in middle-class institutions)
-can become socialized into oppositional subculture (delinquent subculture)
-develops values in opposition to mainstream society ex: non-utilitarian crimes committed for group’s respect
-delinquency is a learned behaviour

Question 24

labelling theory

Answer 24

-Howard Becker
-how subcultural values, beleifs, and practices become defined as deviant by mainstream society
-how labels become internalized by both majority and deviant individual or group
-Labels may take on a master status ex: “indigenous drunk”

Question 25

social control theory

Answer 25

-Travis Hirschi
-social bonding
-delinquent acts are a result of an individual’s weak or broken bond to society
-the “bond” encompasses attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief
ex: if a child is bonded with social institutions like family, school, sports teams then they are less likely to participate in delinquent acts , they have accepted the positive social values of the institutions and therefore will not commit anti-social acts

Question 26

Canada crime rate

Answer 26

-Canadians believe the crime rate is increasing
-believed 60-80% of crimes are violent
-Reality= crime rate is down overall and 18% of crimes are violent
-there was an increase since 2015 this is likely because more cases of sexual assault were reported due to MeToo movement and police were investigating them more seriously

Question 27

Theories for general decrease in crime

Answer 27

1. (demographics) the baby boom was a while ago so there are now less young men today then there were back then and they commit a lot of the crimes
2. (all the criminals are in jail) questionable racial bias
3. (the crack years are over) drug lord battles have settled and more drugs have been legalized
   4.(underreported crime) has no evidence no reason why this would be true
   5.(police have new laws and new methods to fight crimes) unlikely since these methods were introduced after crime had already begun decreasing and the decrease is happening in places that aren’t using these new methods

Question 28

why are Canadians more afraid of crime today than before

Answer 28

-24/7 reporting, news is available everywhere
- rise in terrorism
- more consumption of crime entertainment ex: true crime podcasts
-George Gerbner’s “mean world syndrome” all the media messages about crime combine to make us believe the world is a frightening place ex: the more we hear about terrorist attacks in France the more we see the world as dangerous.