Deviance and Conformity

Question 1

crime

Answer 1

a concept used to designate certain behaviours and actions (including acts of negligence) that require a formal response through control and that warrant social intervention

Question 2

deviance

Answer 2

involves actions that violate social norms, and in some cases may be against the law (Winterdyk, 2006). In this case, social norms are a given society’s accepted standards and social expectations
Howard Becker (1963) argued that it is not the act itself but instead other people’s reaction to the act that make it deviant

Question 3

moral entrepreneurs

Answer 3

those who define social deviance. people in positions of power who develop, define, and change society’s moral codes. They can be politicians and governments, scientists, religious institutions, the media, and even peer groups

Question 4

Moral Regulation

Answer 4

Public order crimes (victimless crimes) are crimes that violate moral principles, including gambling, pornography, prostitution, and substance abuse. Here, the primary goal of the law is to protect society by legislating against behaviours that are considered to be immoral or socially harmful.
Social purity movement in the late nineteenth century
Welfare recipients as targets of moral regulation
Sex and sexual relationships
Stereotyping of crime victims (e.g. aboriginal vs. non aboriginal)

Question 5

types of crime

Answer 5

Violent crime (assault, assault causing bodily harm, sexual assault, torture, murder)
Non-violent crime (theft, fraud, unlawful solicitation, public intoxication, traffic offences, trespassing, selling illegal drugs, vandalism)

Question 6

anomie; Emile Durkheim

Answer 6

a state in which social norms are confused, unclear, or not present. People are at risk of criminal or deviant behaviour when social norms are absent or in a state of disarray

Question 7

strain theory; Robert Merton

Answer 7

people experience ‘strain’ when their goals cannot be reached within culturally defined means. So people who want to get rich yet are not educated enough to become wealthy in the formal economy will turn to organized crime instead

Question 8

illegitimate opportunity theory; Richard Cloward, Lloyd Ohlin

Answer 8

not all people who pursue goals by illegitimate means have the opportunity to do so. Individuals must be in a deviant ‘learning environment’ (e.g. a gang) that will give them the opportunity to gain the skills and abilities needed to commit crimes

Question 9

Conflict Theory

Answer 9

Crime is the outcome of class struggle. The laws are biased in favour of the wealthy and powerful. 
Some crimes, such as white collar crimes committed by the upper middle class, are punished more leniently than street crimes committed by the lower class.
Criminal law, as a social institution, is merely a ‘tool’ that is used to protect the interests of wealthy and powerful individuals and groups.
Karl Marx argued that superstructure of society (i. e. its institutions) is determined by its economic base.  So laws are formulated and the justice system operates to protect and promote the interests of the dominant economic class.
When the behaviour of subordinate groups brings them into conflict with the law, they are less able to fight against apprehension, prosecution, conviction, and incarceration

Question 10

differential association; Edwin Sutherland

Answer 10

Edwin Sutherland argued that criminal and deviant behaviour are learned. It is based on shared experiences and perceptions, and through social interaction with others people learn the values, norms, motives, rationalization, and techniques of criminal behaviour

Question 11

labelling theory; Howard Becker

Answer 11

deviance is socially produced by making rules whose violation represents deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as ‘outsiders’. No particular act is inherently deviant until a group with a socially powerful status or position labels it as such. And if an individual is labelled, he or she will accept that label and continue to behave in a deviant manner

Question 12

Feminist Theory

Answer 12

Feminist theorists are concerned with how men and women are treated differently in the criminal justice system.
For example, if a man kills someone, he is labelled as ‘evil’ or ‘predatory’, but if a woman kills someone she is labeled as ‘pathological’ or ‘sick’.
Chivalry hypothesis: assumption that male police officers, prosecutors, and judges have a traditional chivalrous attitude toward female offenders and treat women more leniently than men. Feminist theorists have challenged this hypothesis by arguing that the justice system is paternalistic and reinforces gender roles by punishing female offenders more harshly for crimes such as running away or truancy.
Patriarchy is seen as the underlying condition for crimes such as sexual assault and domestic violence. Women are more likely to be victims of these types of crimes.

Question 13

Consensus view

Answer 13

the law is a neutral framework for maintaining social cohesion (to maintain social order and stability)

Question 14

conflict view

Answer 14

the law is a ‘tool’ used to protect the property of those in power and also serves to suppress potential political threats to the elites

Question 15

interactionist view

Answer 15

crime and law reflect the opinions of people who impose their definitions of right and wrong on the rest of society

Question 16

critical legal studies

Answer 16

focus on the contradictions and inconsistencies of the law. Law is contradictory and inconsistent in that it allows the context of a case to determine its outcome

Question 17

feminist legal theory

Answer 17

the law is a key instrument in women’s historical subordination

Question 18

critical race theory

Answer 18

focuses on oppression and discrimination against visible minorities and questions the absence of diversity in the legal profession