Deviance Flashcards
Deviance
Norm violations ranging from minor infractions, such as bad manners, to major infractions, such as serious violence.
Biological Theories
Focus on individual abnormality; explain human behaviour as the result of biological instincts; Lombroso claimed that criminals have apelike physical traits; later research links criminal behaviour to certain body types and genetics.
Psychological Theories
Focus on individual abnormality; see deviance as the result of unsuccessful socialization; Reckless and Dinitz’s containment theory links delinquency to weak conscience.
Sociological Theories
View all behaviour as products of society; deviance varies based on cultural norms; behaviour/individuals become deviant as others define them that way; deviance reflects who has/does not have social power.
Criminal Justice System
The organizations - police, courts, and prison officials - that respond to alleged violations of the law.
Crime
Violation of a society’s formally enacted criminal law.
Émile Durkheim
Deviance is a normal element of society that: affirms cultural norms/values, clarifies moral boundaries, brings people together, and encourages social change.
Strain Theory
(Merton) Explains deviance in terms of a society’s cultural goals and the means available to achieve them.
Deviant Subcultures
Discussed by Cloward and Ohlin, Cohen, Miller, and Anderson
Labelling Theory
Claims that deviance depends less on what someone does than on how others react to that behaviour; if people respond to primary deviance by stigmatizing a person, secondary deviance and a deviant career may result.
Medicalization of Deviance
Transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition; change in labels, replacing good and bad with sick and well.
Differential Association Theory
(Sutherland) Links deviance to how much others encourage/discourage that behaviour.
Control Theory
(Hirschi) States that imagining the possible consequences of deviance often discourages such behaviour; people who are well integrated into society are less likely to engage in deviant behaviour.
Stigma
Powerfully negative label that greatly changes a person’s self-concept and social identity.
Social-Conflict Theory
Laws and other norms operate to protect the interests of powerful members of society.
White-collar Offences
Committed by people of high social position as part of their jobs; Sutherland claimed that such offences are rarely prosecuted, and are most likely to end up in civil rather than criminal court.
Corporate Crime
Refers to illegal actions by a corporation or people acting on its behalf; although they cause considerable harm, most cases of corporate crime go unpunished.
Organized Crime
Long history in North America, especially among categories of people with few legitimate opportunities
