Explaining The Deviant Act Flashcards
Theories of Deviance Inspired By Religious Beliefs and Superstition
1: Beliefs in evil spirits and magic
2: People ascribed unusual phenomena of nature to the activities of evil spirits
3: Belief that any pathology in human behavior must be due to evil spirits
Judeo-Christian Teachings of Two Explanations for the Role Evil Spirits Played in Sinful Behavior
Temptation, Possession
What Did Blaming Social Problems on the Devil and Other Evil Spirits Achieve?
1: It diverted attention from the failings of elites and placed blame on individuals who were “possessed” by the devil
2: Those in power made themselves indispensable by saying only they could stop the Devil
Confluence of Civil and Religious Authority Brought:
The blur in the distinction between sin and crime
What Happened to Those Who Challenged the Status Quo?
Branded as heretics and subject to extreme punishments such as Inquisition, and witch hunts
Witch Hunts
Reinforced the power of the existing social hierarchy;
Those who were accused for it were mostly women;
Burning ‘witches’ alive, and death by hanging
The Enlightenment
Focus on systematic doubt, empirical and sensory verification of ideas;
Ideas shifted away from fanaticism and religious superstition to naturalistic explanation based on reason and the scientific method(observation)
Cesare Lombroso
Attempted to find scientific objectivity for the measurement and quantification of criminal behavior
Lombroso and the Positive School - Atavists
1: Observed physical differences between criminals and non-criminals
2: Applied Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory to criminals who were deemed atavists (less evolved)
3: They are born criminals who can be distinguished by stigmata: the physical signs of their atavism
Lombroso and the Positive School - Stigmata
1: Different types of offenders have different stigmata (robbers have quick-moving eyes)
2: Women had fewer stigmata than men and were closer to their primitive origins (less criminal)
Transition from Early 20th Century to Mid-20th Century on Theorizing Deviance
Biological theories of deviance to social theories of deviance
Positivist Theories
Composed of functionalist theories, learning theories, and social control theories
Four Functionalist Theories
Anomie theory, strain theory, differential opportunity theory, status frustration theory
Functionalist Theories
The social structure creates deviance;
Determine what structure in society has become dysfunctional to cause people to break the rules
Core Assumptions of Functionalist Theories
1: Social structures fulfill functions
2: Society is based on consensus
3: Concern with maintaining the social order
Anomie Theory
1: A certain level of deviance is functional
2: Beyond a certain level, deviance is dysfunctional
How Can Certain Levels of Deviance be Functional in the Anomie Theory
1: Increases social solidarity
2: Helps determine moral boundaries
3: Tests society’s boundaries
4: Reduces societal tensions
Durkheim’s Anomie Theory
1: Social solidarity is essential to most societies
2: In times of rapid social change, social solidarity can break down; no clear societal norms/values
3: Without norms, societies function poorly
4: When social cohesion breaks down and social isolation is great, society loses it’s traditional social control mechanisms
What Happens When a Social System is in a State of Anomie
1: No common values and meanings
2: New values and meanings have not developed
Durkheim’s Suicide Theory
1: Sociological factors contribute to changes in suicide rates
2: Suicide rate varies with time and place
3: Rate of suicide changes when social bonds change
4: Rate of suicide increases when the social bonds between people in a society are either: too strong or not strong enough
5: Two factors what influence suicide : social integration, moral regulation
Anomic Suicides
Happens from society that no longer justifies social order and no restraint upon people’s aspirations and desires
Egoistic Suicides
Happens from a society with low integration and low value given to human existence
Altruistic Suicides
Happens due to strong connection to the group or affiliation and the betterment for someone else (self sacrifice)
Fatalistic Suicides
Happens when an individual feels so oppressed due to excessive regulation and too much control over one’s actions (prison)
Merton’s Anomie/Strain Theory
Deviance emerges from the structure of society;
Anomie is a dysfunction between cultural goals and legitimate means
What is Strain According to Merton?
A normative social order creates unequal access to legitimate means;
results from the gap between goals and the legitimate means to achieve them, leads to innovation (deviance/crime)
What is Micro-Anomie According to Merton?
The individual is in a state of anomie, places more emphasis on self-interest than collective values
Merton’s Anomie
No longer about normlessness, but about relative deprivation;
Relative deprivation vs Absolute deprivation
Merton’s Five Models of Adaptation
Composed of Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion
Mode of Adaptation - Conformity (Merton)
Accepts cultural goals, and institutional means;
Labelled as non-criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Innovation (Merton)
Accepts cultural goals but rejects institutional means;
Labelled as criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Ritualism (Merton)
Rejects cultural goals but accepts institutional means;
Labelled as non-criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Retreatism (Merton)
Rejects cultural goals and institutional means;
Labelled as criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Rebellion (Merton)
Rejects and tries to replace both cultural goals and institutional means;
Labelled as criminals
Differential Opportunity Theory (Cloward and Ohlin)
Society is structured on differential access to legitimate opportunities;
People also have differential access to illegitimate opportunities
Status Frustration Theory (Cohen)
Structure of society is reproduced in the classrooms, where schools expect “middle-class behaviors”;
Similar to strain, Status frustration develops oppositional standards at which they can succeed;
Creation of delinquent subcultures - Immediate gratification, toughness, opposition
Three Learning Theories
Differential association theory, neutralization theory, social learning theory
Learning Theories
People learn to be deviant through same processes that teach conformity but content and direction of learning differs
Differential Association Theory (Sutherland)
Deviant acts are learned through interactions and communications with others by primary or secondary learning;
Behavior deviants learn techniques of deviance and direction of motives, rationalizations, attitudes, that characterize that particular form of deviance
Neutralization Theory (Sykes and David Matza)
Deviance is rationalized by learned techniques of neutralization;
denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial/blame of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, appealing to higher loyalties
Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
People learn by watching others; we are more likely to engage in behaviors we are rewarded for;
the likelihood of future actions is based on: definitions, differential association, imitation, and differential reinforcement
Two Social Control Theories
Social bonds theory, self-control theory
Social Control Theories
Most of us are restrained from deviance;
There are barriers or lack thereof and deviance is a result of the absence of social control;
Core Assumptions of Social Control Theories
1: Deviance is inherently attractive, yet most of us don’t engage in deviance
2: Focus attention on what causes conformity, instead of what causes deviance
Social Bonds Theory (Hirschi)
People have a natural tendency to delinquency but here are 4 different forms of social bonds that influence our social control;
Attachment, Commitment, Involvement, and Belief
Self-Control Theory (Gottfredson and Hirschi)
Personality differences in deviance;
Self-control is determined by parenting, then relatively stable throughout life;
Low self-control correlates to deviance
Core Assumptions of Self-Control Theory
1: Assumed to provide more immediate gratification of desires
2: Provide easy and simple paths to gratification
3: Acts are exciting, risky, thrilling compared to conformity
4: Crime provides few long-term benefits
5: Most crimes require little skill or planning
1: Beliefs in evil spirits and magic
2: People ascribed unusual phenomena of nature to the activities of evil spirits
3: Belief that any pathology in human behavior must be due to evil spirits
Theories of Deviance Inspired By Religious Beliefs and Superstition
Temptation, Possession
Judeo-Christian Teachings of Two Explanations for the Role Evil Spirits Played in Sinful Behavior
1: It diverted attention from the failings of elites and placed blame on individuals who were “possessed” by the devil
2: Those in power made themselves indispensable by saying only they could stop the Devil
What Did Blaming Social Problems on the Devil and Other Evil Spirits Achieve?
The blur in the distinction between sin and crime
Confluence of Civil and Religious Authority Brought:
Branded as heretics and subject to extreme punishments such as Inquisition, and witch hunts
What Happened to Those Who Challenged the Status Quo?
Reinforced the power of the existing social hierarchy;
Those who were accused for it were mostly women;
Burning ‘witches’ alive, and death by hanging
Witch Hunts
Focus on systematic doubt, empirical and sensory verification of ideas;
Ideas shifted away from fanaticism and religious superstition to naturalistic explanation based on reason and the scientific method(observation)
The Enlightenment
Attempted to find scientific objectivity for the measurement and quantification of criminal behavior
Cesare Lombroso
1: Observed physical differences between criminals and non-criminals
2: Applied Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory to criminals who were deemed atavists (less evolved)
3: They are born criminals who can be distinguished by stigmata: the physical signs of their atavism
Lombroso and the Positive School - Atavists
1: Different types of offenders have different stigmata (robbers have quick-moving eyes)
2: Women had fewer stigmata than man and were closer to their primitive origins (less criminal)
Lombroso and the Positive School - Stigmata
Biological theories of deviance to social theories of deviance
Transition from Early 20th Century to Mid-20th Century on Theorizing Deviance
Composed of functionalist theories, learning theories, and social control theories
Positivist Theories
Anomie theory, strain theory, differential opportunity theory, status frustration theory
Four Functionalist Theories
The social structure creates deviance;
Determine what structure in society has become dysfunctional to cause people to break the rules
Functionalist Theories
1: Social structures fulfill functions
2: Society is based on consensus
3: Concern with maintaining the social order
Core Assumptions of Functionalist Theories
1: A certain level of deviance is functional
2: Beyond a certain level, deviance is dysfunctional
Anomie Theory
1: Increases social solidarity
2: Helps determine moral boundaries
3: Tests society’s boundaries
4: Reduces societal tensions
How Can Certain Levels of Deviance be Functional in the Anomie Theory
1: Social solidarity is essential to most societies
2: In times of rapid social change, social solidarity can break down; no clear societal norms/values
3: Without norms, societies function poorly
4: When social cohesion breaks down and social isolation is great, society loses it’s traditional social control mechanisms
Durkheim’s Anomie Theory
1: No common values and meanings
2: New values and meanings have not developed
What Happens When a Social System is in a State of Anomie
1: Sociological factors contribute to changes in suicide rates
2: Suicide rate varies with time and place
3: Rate of suicide changes when social bonds change
4: Rate of suicide increases when the social bonds between people in a society are either: too strong or not strong enough
5: Two factors what influence suicide : social integration, moral regulation
Durkheim’s Suicide Theory
Happens from society that no longer justifies social order and no restraint upon people’s aspirations and desires
Anomic Suicides
Happens from a society with low integration and low value given to human existence
Egoistic Suicides
Happens due to strong connection to the group or affiliation and the betterment for someone else (self sacrifice)
Altruistic Suicides
Happens when an individual feels so oppressed due to excessive regulation and too much control over one’s actions (prison)
Fatalistic Suicides
Deviance emerges from the structure of society;
Anomie is a dysfunction between cultural goals and legitimate means
Merton’s Anomie/Strain Theory
A normative social order creates unequal access to legitimate means;
results from the gap between goals and the legitimate means to achieve them, leads to innovation (deviance/crime)
What is Strain According to Merton?
The individual is in a state of anomie, places more emphasis on self-interest than collective values
What is Micro-Anomie According to Merton?
No longer about normlessness, but about relative deprivation;
Relative deprivation vs Absolute deprivation
Merton’s Anomie
Composed of Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion
Merton’s Five Models of Adaptation
Accepts cultural goals, and institutional means;
Labelled as non-criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Conformity (Merton)
Accepts cultural goals but rejects institutional means;
Labelled as criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Innovation (Merton)
Rejects cultural goals but accepts institutional means;
Labelled as non-criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Ritualism (Merton)
Rejects cultural goals and institutional means;
Labelled as criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Retreatism (Merton)
Rejects and tries to replace both cultural goals and institutional means;
Labelled as criminals
Mode of Adaptation - Rebellion (Merton)
Society is structured on differential access to legitimate opportunities;
People also have differential access to illegitimate opportunities
Differential Opportunity Theory (Cloward and Ohlin)
Structure of society is reproduced in the classrooms, where schools expect “middle-class behaviors”;
Similar to strain, Status frustration develops oppositional standards at which they can succeed;
Creation of delinquent subcultures - Immediate gratification, toughness, opposition
Status Frustration Theory (Cohen)
Differential association theory, neutralization theory, social learning theory
Three Learning Theories
People learn to be deviant through same processes that teach conformity but content and direction of leaning differs
Learning Theories
Deviant acts are learned through interactions and communications with others by primary or secondary learning;
Behavior deviants learn techniques of deviance and direction of motives, rationalizations, attitudes, that characterize that particular form of deviance
Differential Association theory (Sutherland)
Deviance is rationalized by learned techniques of neutralization;
denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial/blame of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, appealing to higher loyalties
Neutralization Theory (Sykes and David Matza)
People learn by watching others; we are more likely to engage in behaviors we are rewarded for;
the likelihood of future actions is based on: definitions, differential association, imitation, and differential reinforcement
Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
Social bonds theory, self-control theory
Two Social Control Theories
Most of us are restrained from deviance;
There are barriers or lack thereof and deviance is a result of the absence of social control;
Social Control Theories
1: Deviance is inherently attractive, yet most of us don’t engage in deviance
2: Focus attention on what causes conformity, instead of what causes deviance
Core Assumptions of Social Control Theories
People have a natural tendency to delinquency but here are 4 different forms of social bonds that influence our social control;
Attachment, Commitment, Involvement, and Belief
Social Bonds Theory (Hirschi)
Personality differences in deviance;
Self-control is determined by parenting, then relatively stable throughout life;
Low self-control correlates to deviance
Self-Control Theory (Gottfredson and Hirschi)
1: Assumed to provide more immediate gratification of desires
2: Provide easy and simple paths to gratification
3: Acts are exciting, risky, thrilling compared to conformity
4: Crime provides few long-term benefits
5: Most crimes require little skill or planning
Core Assumptions of Self-Control Theory
