Deviance Flashcards
What is deviance? (statistical terms)
In statistical terms
- rare or infrequent behaviour (outside of the norm)
- deviance as rarity
- deviance can be positive and negative
- obscure and distinction between people who exceed people who fall short of certain expectation
What is deviance? (as harmful)
Although many people labelled as deviant cause harm, many do not
- those experiencing mental health issues may be categorized as deviant although they don’t harm
- Disruptions of social order can be seen as harmful, so groups pursuing social change or behaving contrary to accepted values are often labelled as deviant
How is deviance a sociological concept
Deviance is not inherent in certain behaviours, or physical features, but how these are treated in society
The moral status accorded such thoughts, actions and characteristics
What is deviance and the law?
Deviance need not be criminal or illegal, crime may nor be deviant
Enforcing laws is a form of social control
What is social control?
The way in which individuals, groups and institutions express their disapproval of people and behaviour
Intended to produce conformity and compliance with rules, norms, laws
What is the law?
We think of it as an autonomous, overarching set of rules that constrain our actions
Scholars tend to see law more as a resource for action to achieve results or to chape the world in a particular way
Sociologist are less interested in making a distinction between what is il/legal and more interested in observing how this distinction is made in practice
- law exists as a process
- mobilized by actors, or brought into existence each time it is needed
What is socio-legal studies?
Less intended in what is law, more interested in how law works as part of society
Law is a social institution and can be studied like any other
Studies how the law is actually used or enforced
Legal actors respond to particular situations rather than following general prescriptions or recipes
Law is a resource used by citizens and legal actors
A law can develop different uses as these problems changes
What do socio-legal studies learn from?
Mundane
- how law shapes our everyday life, why people engage with the law what happens when they do
How people use the law
What is the sociology of deviant behaviour: strain theory?
Deviance is a result of strain caused by mal-integration of cultural and social structures of societies
- Lack of fit between the cultural goals that people are encouraged to seek and the means available to achieve these goals
-innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion
Culturally perscribed goals and legitimate means to get there. Disconnect = deviance
Why is Merton’s strain theory criticized?
Becuase he assumed reliability of officials stats and failure to account for middle-class and upper-class crime + deviance
What is Agnew’s strain theory?
Looks at other kinds of strain such as negative conditions or loss of something that is valued
Studied juveniles offenders
Comes in many forms. Not all about difficulty meeting cultural goals. Strain may or may not result in deviance
Strain alone does not always produce delinquency
More likely to lead to delinquency if they have certain characteristics
- high magnitude
- unjust
- low social control
- when the crime pays off
What is cultural support theory?
Consider how cultural beliefs create and sustain deviant behaviour
Deviance grows from exposure to learning experience that makes deviance more likely (Sutherland)
-learning specific drives, motives, attitudes, rationalization
-deviant behaviour seem acceptable when supported by a groups cultural values, even though many others might disapprove
1) People learn how to encourage crime
2) Learn through interactions with others who have already learned
3) Learned: criminals technique, motives, attitudes and rationalization
What is control theory?
Human beings are neither good nor evil
People are born with the capacity to do wrong
No special motivation is needed to explain deviance
Focuses on WHY WE REFRAIN FOR DEVIANCE
Social bonds have a controlling effect. deviance results of weak bonds
What are Travis Hirschi’s social bonds?
Individuals are more likely to turn to illegitimate means if their bonds to society are weak or broken
What are the 4 components of social bonds?
Attachment (affective ties with others)
Commitment (degree to which an individual pursues conventional goals)
Involvement ( degree to which an individual is active in conventional activities)
Belief (conventional values and the legitimacy of the law)
What are the transactional character of deviance?
Attention should be directed to situations rather than individuals
Murder is the result of situations in which people feel offended and turn to violence
The driving force is emotional rather than rational. Violence depends on how people negotiate emotional tension
How to make sense of the facts of deviant behaviours
Sociologist have demonstrated that deviance is not randomly distributed
Rather it is highly correlated with gender, class and ethnicity
Young men and socially disadvantaged groups are often over-represented
Debate as to whether disadvantageed people are more likely to become deviant or whether they are just more likely to be targeted for social control and caught
What is the conflict theory in terms of deviance?
Conservative and radical perspectives on deviant behaviour
- conservative: social conflict surrounding moral conduct comes from many different sources
- Radical/Marxist (the social construction of deviance reflects economic realities of capitalism including class exploitation
What is the process of labelling?
Those who exercise social control often label deviant in certain ways
Primary and secondary deviance
Among the factors leading to secondary deviation is society’s tendency to treat someone’s criminality as a master status
What is master status?
Trumps all other status considerations
Someone’s criminality can become their defining characteristic, overriding all others in importance
What is stigma?
Disapproval of a person or a group on the basis of some trait that can be perceived or understood to distinguish them from other members of a society
How to manage stigma?
Discreditable stigma: becomes/is evident or known to others
Secrecy and considerable work are used to control information people have
The discredited require little impression management because their stigma is apparent
What are the social constrionism (post modern)
Actions are not inherently deviant
Definitions of deviance vary across time and space
Social constructionists believe it is best to study how behaviours and people come to be considered deviant (discourses of social control)
