Chapter 6: Deviance And Social Control Flashcards
Deviance
The violation of norms
Crime
The violation of norms written into law
Stigma
“Blemishes” that discredit a persons claim to a “normal” identity.
Example: being an ex-cons
Social order
A groups usual and customary social arrangement on which its members depend on and base their lives
Social control
A groups formal and informal means of enforcing its norms
Negative sanction
An expression of disapproval for breaking a norm, ranging from a frown, to a prison sentence
Positive sanction
A reward or positive reaction for following norms, ranging from a smile to a material reward
Differential association theory
Edwin Sutherland’s term indicating that people who associate with some groups learn an “excess of definitions” of deviance. Which increases the likelihood that they will become deviant aswell
Control theory
The idea that two control systems - inner control and outer control - work against our tendencies to deviate
Labeling theory
The view that the labels people are given affect their own and others perceptions of them
Function of deviance
Clarifies boundaries
Affirms norms
Encourages unity
Promotes social change
Strain theory
The strain engendered when a society socializes large numbers of people to desire a cultural goal but withholds from some the approved means of reaching that goal
Conformity
People who accept the cultural goals and use socially acceptable means to try to reach them
Innovation
Accept the goal of society but use legitimate means to try to reach them
examples: drug dealers, robbers
Ritualism
Rejects both the cultural goals yet cling to conventional rules of conduct
example: teachers
Retratism
Rejects both the cultural goals and the institutionalized means for achieving them
example: they retreat to alcohol and drugs
Rebellion
Convinced their society is corrupt, rejects both society’s goals and its institutionalized means but retreats
Illegitimate opportunity structures
Opportunities for crimes that are woven into the texture of life
Street crimes
Crimes such as mugging, rape, and burglary
White collar crimes
Crimes committed by people of respectable and high social status in the course of their occupations
examples: bribery to the public, embezzlement, false advertising, price fixing
Corporate crime
Crimes committed by executives in order to benefit their corporation
Criminal justice system
The system of police, courts, and prisons set up to deal with people who are accused of having committed a crime
Recidivism
The percentage of released convicts who are rearrested
Capital punishment
Death penalty
Serial murder
The killing of several victims in three or more separate events
Police discretion
The practice of the police, in the normal course of their duties, to wither arrest or ticket someone for an offense or to overlook the matter
Hate crime
A crime that is punished more severely because it is motivated by hatred of someone race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin
Medicalization of deviance
To make deviance a medical matter, a symptom of some underlying illness that needs to be treated by physicians
