Exam 4

Question 1

main idea of drift theory?

Answer 1

people believe in conventional values, but sometimes drift into deviance. people are able to do bad things by neutralizing the guilt

Question 2

Drift theory: what are techniques of neutralization used for?

Answer 2

set of beliefs/excuses that justify criminal behavior in certain circumstances. deviance is seen as valid by delinquent but not by legal system/society.

Question 3

Drift theory: according to sykes/Matza when do people be deviant

Answer 3

individuals offend at certain times in their life when social controls are weakened. when supervision is absent and ties minimal, the majority of people are most “free” to do what they want and then drift to deviance.

Question 4

whats drift theory say about subcultural theories that say youth become so immersed in criminal value system that they ignore prosocial standards

Answer 4

this is not so, rather most youth internalize the dominant normative system and when they violate these norms they feel guilt and shame

Question 5

what are the different kinds of techniques of neutralization?

Answer 5

denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim, condemnation of condemers, appeal to higher loyalties.

Question 6

techniques of neutralization: denial of responsibility

Answer 6

“it wasn’t my fault”. goal is to deflect blame attached to violations of social norms and to establish the violation as independent of a particular personality structure.

Question 7

techniques of neutralization: denial of injury

Answer 7

centers on harm involved in delinquent act / whether anyone has been hurt by their deviance. person feels that their behavior doesn’t cause any great harm despite the fact that it is socially seen as unacceptable

Question 8

techniques of neutralization: denial of victim

Answer 8

argues injury is not wrong in light of circumstances. not really an injury, rather a rightful retaliation or punishment. see themselves as avenger and victim as the wrongdoer.

Question 9

Goffman’s Stigma: what is stigma?

Answer 9

a sign of disgrace/attribute that is deeply discrediting. Attribute is not the source of stigma, but rather social relationships. Not a property of individual, but rather how they are treated because of their attributes

Question 10

what are the two types of stigma?

Answer 10

discredited and discreditable

Question 11

stigma: discredited type

Answer 11

difference between stigmatized and normal is evident on the spot (like race)

Question 12

Stigma: discreditable type

Answer 12

differentness is not immediately perceivable and can be hidden (sexual identity)

Question 13

how is stigma a social process?

Answer 13

1. individual might have been received easily
2. a particular trait garners attention that is discrediting
3. people respond by turning away

Question 14

What does stigma being a master status mean?

Answer 14

Stigma is a master status – all other traits are interpreted in reference to this master status.

Question 15

Goffman’s Stigma: Social Identity

Answer 15

everyone has a social identity. we anticipate social identity from appearances which Goffman calls demands.

Question 16

Goffman’s stigma: what is virtual social identity?

Answer 16

imputed social identity, we impute traits to people based on assumptions. undesirable traits might be exposed.

Question 17

what happens when stigmatized and normals engage in social interaction?

Answer 17

stigmatized is always “on” and unsure of how they will be perceived/unsure of they are seen as approachable. these are primal scenes of sociology (like the breaching exp).

Question 18

Goffman’s Stigma: stigma theories

Answer 18

discriminatory ideologies that naturalize deviance associated with stigma.

Question 19

Goffman’s stimga: what is the result of social process

Answer 19

shame and powerlessness.

Question 20

stigma: what are the responses to having stigma

Answer 20

correcting the failing (like treatments, psychotherapy, etc), overcoming the failing, self transformation/becomes a new self and re-interpreting ones social identity.

Question 21

what are degredation ceremonies:

Answer 21

public identity of person is transformed into something looked on as lower in social scheme of social types. master status is imposed.

Question 22

drift theory: why do some people rape according to trait theories/medical model

Answer 22

rape is caused by physiological or mental sickness

Question 23

drift theory: why do some people rape according to social learning theory?

Answer 23

rape is learned thru social interaction. people learn how to do it and excuse/justify/or frame it as culturally appropriate. basically, healthy normal people do rape when they’ve learned its okay/excusable to do so

Question 24

what is account

Answer 24

linguistic framing/story that reinterprets and removes culpability for an act after it has occurred. accounts allow deviant to feel less shame, diminish responsibility, and avoid stigma.

Question 25

what are the two types of accounts?

Answer 25

excuse: admit behavior and that it was wrong, but they don’t deserve condemnation b/c of (insert excuse).
justification: admits to behavior but not that it is wrong.

Question 26

what are the five techniques to construct rape as culturally acceptable

Answer 26

women as seductress, no mean yes, most relax and enjoy it, nice girls dont get raped, its only a minor wrongdoing.

Question 27

what is a fritter?

Answer 27

way to deal with an “open-role”, way to do something else when one should be working, and way to explain and remove culpability for a deviant act after committed.

Question 28

Brent staples reading

Answer 28

black guy who’s j a regular grad student has stigma placed on him when walking so he develops tactics to make people feel more around him. people assume things about him, so he has to change himself to make them feel more comfortable. example of the extra work people with stigma’s have to do

Question 29

mead: the nature of human beings?

Answer 29

hostile and friendly impulses. they must be balanced by each other. we are fundamentally social creatures, the self only exists as a member of a group

Question 30

friendly impulses?

Answer 30

love, understanding, humanitarian causes, neighborliness towards those in need.

Question 31

Hostile impulses?

Answer 31

hate, subrogation and domination, warfare exploitation of those in need.

Question 32

mead in a nutsehll

Answer 32

humans are social with friendly and hostile impulses. social selves/societies are co-created via these impulses.

Question 33

how has science of morality been possible by empirically tracking these impulses

Answer 33

healthy societies have achieved balance between these impulse. our society is unhealthy because it has overemphasized hostility.

Question 34

imagining others

Answer 34

leads to social organization. you need to image an other in order to exchange with them, give to them, or take from them,

Question 35

mead: whats easier friendly or hostile impulses?

Answer 35

construction of society appears to be easiest thru hostile impulses.

Question 36

categorical imperative

Answer 36

the problem of reconstruction

Question 37

moral test

Answer 37

can you identify the motive and end you are pursuing with common good? if so, then happiness is moral happiness

Question 38

perfected society

Answer 38

generalized other includes all members equally.

Question 39

According to Goffman, what are the “own” and the “wise”?

Answer 39

the own are people who possess a particular stigma and the wise are people who do not possess that stigma

Question 40

fundamental attribution error

Answer 40

tendency of people to place too much weight on individual and not enough weight on the social situation