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Soc 224 > Chp1 > Flashcards

Chp1 Flashcards

1
Q

How do dictionaries define deviance?

A

Straying from objective norms.

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2
Q

What are the issues with using dictionary definitions of deviance?

A

How far do you have to stray to be qualified as deviant? Where do objective norms come from?

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3
Q

What are the two traditional types of definitions of deviance?

A

Objective and subjective.

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4
Q

What does the objective approach to deviance focus on?

A

The act of deviance; including why people do deviant things and how we should respond.

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5
Q

How is deviance objectively defined?

A

Deviance is defined by a common characteristic and we know it when we see it.

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6
Q

What does the subjective approach to deviance focus on?

A

The perceptions of and reactions to deviance.

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7
Q

How is deviance subjectively defined?

A

Deviance is not associated with a particular characteristic, but is instead socially defined. We are taught what is deviant.

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8
Q

What four objective criteria are available for labelling something as deviant?

A

Statistical rarity, harm, societal reaction, and normative violation.

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9
Q

What is the issue with the statistical rarity criteria for deviance?

A

How is “rare” defined?; some behaviours are not rare but deviant; many behaviours are rare but not deviant.

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10
Q

What is an example of an action that is rare but not deviant?

A

Homosexuality.

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11
Q

What is an example of an action that is not rare but still deviant?

A

Underage drinking.

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12
Q

What is the harm criteria of objective deviance?

A

Something is deviant if it causes harm.

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13
Q

What is ideological harm?

A

Any threat to the dominant worldview.

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14
Q

What are some problems with the harm criteria?

A

Perceptions of harm are subjective and can change over time.

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15
Q

What is one merit to the harm criteria?

A

It can point society in the direction of something where harm must be minimized, but can’t provide any solutions.

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16
Q

When does the harm criteria backfire?

A

When the reaction to the deviance causes more harm than the deviant act itself. E.g., the criminalization of drug use.

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17
Q

What are the problems with the societal reaction criteria?

A

Some people’s reactions count more than others, such as politicians; how many negative reactions are necessary to qualify something as deviant?. Policies often don’t even reflect what society wants.

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18
Q

What is the main issue with the normative violation criteria?

A

Not all norms are the same.

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19
Q

What are the 3 different types of norms?

A

Folkways, mores, and laws.

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20
Q

What are folkways?

A

Informal norms, everyday customs, society’s expectations around etiquette. (Ex: Standards of Dress) Reactions are less serious: A disapproving look but not being arrested.

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21
Q

What are mores?

A

More serious norms than folkways, but still informal. They are tied to the moral fabric of society. For ex: Homosexuality

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22
Q

How is breaking mores viewed?

A

As a moral threat to society. A bit of a harsher reaction, you could lose your job, be shunned by your community.

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23
Q

What are laws?

A

Norms thought to be so important to the proper functioning of society that they are codified.

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24
Q

What is the difference between prescriptive and proscriptive norms?

A

Prescriptive defines what we should do, proscriptive defines what we should not do.

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25
Q

What are the three sources of norms?

A

Consensus, conflict, and interactionist views.

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26
Q

What is a consensus origin of norms?

A

Society’s members all agreed on the norms that govern the society.

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27
Q

What is a conflict origin of norms?

A

Norms and laws are used by society’s elite to promote and protect their own interests.

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28
Q

What is the interactionist view of the origin of norms?

A

The powerful do not enact laws and create norms solely for their own benefit.

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29
Q

What are the two types of consensus deviance?

A

High-consensus deviance and low-consensus deviance.

30
Q

According to subjectivism, what serves as the foundation for determining deviance?

A

Dominant moral codes.

31
Q

What is key to understanding where dominant moral codes come from?

A

Power dynamics.

32
Q

How do dominant moral codes emerge?

A

Through processes of social construction. Something is only deviant once it has been labelled as such.

33
Q

What does radical/strict constructionism state?

A

We must understand deviance as having no essential reality; everything is constructed.

34
Q

What does soft/contextual constructionism state?

A

There are limits to constructionism, there is only an element of objective reality.

35
Q

What are the four levels of social construction?

A

Sociocultural, institutional, interactional, and individual.

36
Q

What is sociocultural social construction?

A

How a society’s values and beliefs determine what is deviant.

37
Q

What is institutional social construction?

A

The different institutions that make up our society such as education, religion, politics, etc.

38
Q

What is interactional social construction?

A

The things that you learn in your socialization and interactions teach you what is and is not deviant.

39
Q

What is individual social construction?

A

Our own self-conceptions and identities come to determine what we think of as deviant.

40
Q

How do contemporary understandings of deviance treat the subjective/objective dichotomy?

A

It is thought of as a continuum.

41
Q

What does understanding an act of deviance require of us?

A

We must situate it within the larger context in which it occurs; therefore the study is about rule-making as much as it is rule-breaking.

42
Q

What are moral entrepreneurs?

A

Those who seek to define something or someone as deviant and dictate the appropriate response.

43
Q

What does the social typing process refer to?

A

The process by which a person, behaviour, or characteristic is deviantized.

44
Q

What are the three elements of the social typing process?

A

Description, evaluation, and prescription.

45
Q

What is the description element of the social typing process?

A

The label or category where someone or something is placed.

46
Q

What is the evaluation element of the social typing process?

A

The judgement or assumptions about the deviant behaviour.

47
Q

What is the prescription element of the social typing process?

A

The social control or sanctions put in place to deal with the deviant behaviour.

48
Q

What are the four types of sanctions?

A

Formal and informal, retroactive and preventative.

49
Q

What are formal sanctions?

A

Formal actions sought by people working in their official capacities within an institution.

50
Q

What are informal sanctions?

A

Sanctions that occur within our informal social interactions between friends, family, and even strangers.

51
Q

What are retroactive sanctions?

A

Punishment after the fact.

52
Q

What are preventative sanctions?

A

Done to stop deviant behaviour from occurring.

53
Q

Where do our ideas of Deviance come from?

A
  • Parents
  • Media
  • Religion
  • Education
54
Q

Who is Deviant?

A

Traditionally: “nuts, sluts and perverts”, those who are criminal

55
Q

Lots use ‘deviance’ to refer to their own … however, deviance transcends..

A

Their own pet peeves. However, Deviance transcends the individual level and exists at the societal level.

56
Q

Studying deviance requires you to…

A

Move past your individual beliefs and analyze the broader social processes that occur in society (whether you agree with them or not)

57
Q

What is the “Problem of Definition”

A

Among specialists the study of deviance has historically been characterized by considerable disagreement over the concept, even specialists can’t entirely agree on what deviance is

58
Q

What is the Contemporary Approach?

A

Older definitions suggested that there is an objective way of determining deviance but have shifted to more recent definitions that deconstruct the notion of objectivity and instead point out that it is subjective

59
Q

What is the underlying assumption of the subjective/objective Dichotomy

A

there is an unmistakeable distinction between objective and subjective definitions of deviance

60
Q

What is Statistical Rarity?

A

something is deviant if its rare/not typical

61
Q

What is normative violation?

A

Something is deviant if it violates a norm. This is the defining characteristic of deviance on the Objectivist side.

62
Q

What is Societal Reaction?

A

something is deviant if society reacts negatively

63
Q

What is an Absolutist Norm?

A

Conceptions of norm violation where: a particular behaviour is inherently and universally deviant. Ex: Incest

64
Q

What would a Relativist view of Norms be?

A

A relativist would argue that Incest is not deviant but is normative in some cultures, you have to look at the context to understand deviance, you’re only deviant if you violate the norms of your culture at a specific time (norms are culturally specific)

65
Q

What is High-Consensus Deviance?

A

Relates to things that we in society generally agree on (Theft, murder, assault are wrong). Most norms reflected in criminal law.

66
Q

What is Low-Consensus Deviance?

A

Relates to things that we in society generally don’t agree on (Body modification, adultery, gambling, pornography, marijuana)

67
Q

What about Situational Variations of norm violation?

A

Killing someone is an absolute, however it is an, expected/legitimate behaviour in self-defence, capital punishment and military/police action.Therefore killing someone is deviant at sometimes but not at others, depending on the situation.

68
Q

Subjectivism sees deviance as a ..

A

Label. We cannot recognize deviance when we see it, we have to be taught through processes of socialization
No singular trait or characteristic shared by all deviant people, other than the fact that people have said they are deviant.

69
Q

Absolute Moral Order

A

Norms that are permanent, fixed, absolute (no deviation or variation) – Objective

70
Q

Radical Constructionism

A

No essential or objective reality, everything is a matter of construction. Can argue from the importance of constructionalism while arguing that things like statistical rarity or harm are equally important (they can coexist). – Subjective

71
Q

Howard Becker says deviance is..

A

that which is so labelled, but that this process of labelling depends on who has committed the act and who feels harmed by it (incorporating Sub & Ob.)

Soc 224 (10 decks)

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