Mid term 1 Flashcards
Objective scholars define deviance using four criteria. Describe these four criteria.
1- Statistical Rarity
> Deviance = people, behaviours or characteristics that are statistically rare in populations
> Limitation:
- Criteria for “rare” are ambiguous
- Common acts may be considered unacceptable
- Rare characteristics may be considered acceptable
2- Harm
>Deviance = people, behaviours or characteristics that cause harm
>Limitations:
- Perceptions of harm vary over time
- Perceptions of harm are subjective
3- Negative Societal Reaction
>Deviance = people, behaviours or characteristics that societies “masses” dislike, hate, fear, district, etc
>Limitations:
- The criteria for determining society’s “masses” is unclear
- Some people’s reactions have greater impact than others
- People may be deviantized even when society’s masses react positively
4- Normative Violation
>Deviance = people, behaviours, or characteristics that violate societal norms
Changing views of norms
>Limitations:
- Lack of consensus over norms
- Does the criminal law reflect consensus?
Subjective scholars define deviance as behaviours that those in power say need to be controlled. Explain this. How does it differ from objective definitions of deviance ?
- Objective define deviance in terms of specific quality (ex- harm)
- Subjectivists argue that it is not the quality that lies at the core of deviance but rather a process. Groups with some influence on society have told us that certain people, behaviours, or characteristics are deviant
Who are agents of power or moral entrepreneurs?
Who in society has the ability to shape what is considered deviant or normative :
- Politicians
- Scientists
- Religious institutions
- Media
- Commercial enterprise
Explain the social typing process. how do people become ‘deviant’? Give an example to illustrate your answer
Three step process to becoming deviant:
> Description (the label)
- a label is placed on an individual because of an observed or presumed behaviour or characteristic
- ex: in contemporary Canada we are more likely to label someone as a ‘terrorist’ than a ‘heretic’
> Evaluation (the judgement)
- occurs when a judgement is attached to the individual by virtue of the label that was previously given or the category that individual was placed in under the description component
- ex: if someone is labeled a ‘terrorist’, in the first step of social typing process, than a corresponding judgement might be ‘dangerous’
> Prescription (social control)
- this is where the process of social control or regulation emerge. because of the label that has been given and the resulting judgement that occurs, the individual is treated in a specific way. individuals are subject to a range of social treatments designed to regulate or control their deviance.
- ex: someone who is a ‘terrorist’ and therefore ‘dangerous’ may face arrest or imprisonment
Social control can be formal or informal; retroactive or preventative; of others or, of the self. Explain and provide an example for each
Formal - in a sense it is formal rules ( laws, school or work dress code, hunting permits, school policies)
informal - informal rules such as social norms (how to dress in a club, how to act in different social situations)
Retroactive - treating a known deviant in a certain way
Preventative - trying to prevent deviance in the first place (through socialization for example)
Of others vs Of self - social control may be directed by an individual by someone else (ex: doctor, parent, judge) or may occur at the level of self regulation and control, where people regulate their own behaviours (dieting, joining a self help group, hiding characteristics bc they are frowned upon)
Functionalist theories are based on a consensus view of society. Explain what this means
A consensus view of society assumes there is an agreement on what is considered right and wrong held by the majority of society
- concerned with maintaining social order
- Rules & institutions (family, education, political) are necessary for a smooth-running society
Durkheim argued that some deviance and crime is to be expected in society and can actually be functional. Explain. provide examples for each of the four functions of crime
(1) increase social solidarity
> When people break the law other people come together, creates social bond (school shooting)
(2) Determine moral boundaries
> Makes us aware of what happens when someone breaks the law
(3) Tests society’s boundaries
> makes us look at what’s happening and the boundaries of normal and acceptable behaviours - harsher rules against drunk driving
(4) Reduce societal tensions
> Happens individually - shoplifting
> Things can go back to normal after something terrible happens
Explain the concept of anomie. How does it relate to crime
Anomie is a social condition in which there is a disintegration or disappearance of the norms and values that were previously common to the society – lack of normality
> The idea of anomie in regards to crime is that the person chooses criminal activity because the individual believes that there is no reason not to
Explain Merton’s theory
"The gap between aspirations and means"
> society puts pressure on individual to achieve socially accepted goals, though they lack the means. This leads to strain which may lead to deviance.
- Modes of Adaptation to strain
- conformity
- innovation
- ritualism
- retreatism
- rebellionExplain how Agnew expanded on Merton’s theory
linked strain with emotions, negative effect, experienced by those deviant people. Deviant behaviour is a coping mechanism for problems generated by negative social relations
- Cognitive, your response
- Emotional, management
- Behavioural, change the source of the strain
How has Merton’s theory been used to explain frame-seeking?
- Opportunity structures - goals outside of economic realm
- Media saturated goal - pursuit of fame = institutionalized goal*
Explain what factor Cloward and Ohlin incorporated into their theory as they expanded on classical strain theory
- Lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve goals
- People under strain cannot become any kind of criminal they choose
- They are limited by the opportunities available to them
- Need to have the skills, know how or the connections to engage in illegal activity
- Ex- joining gang more likely if various gangs exist in one’s community/city
- Ex - pretty young girl could become a sugar baby, but older not as pretty women would not have that opportunity
What does Cohen mean by ‘middle-class measuring rod’. how does that relate to deviance/crime?
The structure of society is reproduced in the classroom
- Children face the middle-class measuring rod
- lower - class boys will engage in:
- Reaction formation
- Mutual Conversion
Boys from a lower class do not see values as important in there family Ex- delayed gratification and politeness
what does ‘master status’ refer to? Given an example
A result of secondary deviance - when deviant acts are caught by authorities and agents of social control and then lead deviant label to by applied to that person. This then causes Rejection by conventional society & acceptance by “deviant” society, Deviance becomes a part of their identity, Results in change in a person’s master status (Becker, 1963)
Master status = new label that people start to solely view themselves as
ex- teenage girl steals alcohol story
What did the PMRC achieve?
PMRC - parental music resource center
-
what does ‘white-washing’ refer to?
Whitewashed/whitewashing = white actors playing characters that were non-white in the original books
Sykes and Matza described 5 techniques of neutralization. using the example of a student cheating on an exam, explain each of the 5 techniques
Ex- students cheats on exam
(1) Denial of responsibility
- Put the blame somewhere else - “ I heard the teacher gives out really hard exams”
(2) Denial of injury
- “Well, no one was hurt by me cheating on an exam”
(3) Denial of victim
- Thinks the victim deserves what happened to them
(4) condemnation of condemners
- When the person being accused of something would rationalize it by condemning the person who does it - the university “ if the professor was better than I wouldn’t need to cheat on the exam”
(5) appeal to higher loyalties
- “I am not doing this for me “, “ I have to do it because I need good grades to get into co-op”
How might Hirschi’s social bond theory explain a young person running away from home and engaging in drug dealing?
- Young person may not have had the 4 aspects of social bonds that constrain our behaviour
- Attachment, involvement, commitment, belief
- May not be involved in any extracurricular activities, may not have any religious beliefs, no attachment to close others, no conventional goals or activities
What role does parenting play in the General theory of crime?
- Self-control restrains us
- Cause of lose self control is caused by ineffective parenting
- Up to parents to socialize children in having self control
- Ex - parent sees that child has a toy that doesn’t belong to them, they must punish them in some way then they will not develop proper self control
Determined by parenting in early life
Remains relatively stable through life - Ex - risky driving behaviours, risky sexual behaviours, thrill-seeking behaviours, criminality
- Ex - parent sees that child has a toy that doesn’t belong to them, they must punish them in some way then they will not develop proper self control
How would the general theory of crime explain how/why a person would engage in a criminal activity after a ten year break from that kind of behaviour
- They could engage in criminal activity even after a ten year break from the behaviour because the general theory of crime is said to be relatively stable throughout an individuals life
- It could be because they are very risk taking and thrill seeking towards the criminal behaviour
Interpretive theories are based on symbolic interactionism. Explain the four concepts proposed by symbolic interactionists: role-taking, looking-glass self; generalized other; significant other
Role-taking: take on the role of others and change our behaviours to meet their expectations
Looking glass self: we imagine how we appear to others and what they think of that appearance, and change our behaviour based on that
Generalized other: People in general, “what would they think”
Significant other: those in our life whose perceptions matter of us
Explain labeling theory. How does one progress from primary to secondary deviance?
- A sociological explanation of deviance that proposes that negative labelling can predispose people to feel like outcasts, increasing the likelihood of further deviant behaviour
- Has its roots in symbolic interactionist tradition
- The formal & informal processes of social control can increase deviant behaviour because the labeling process increases the likelihood that the person will develop a deviant self-imagine
- move from primary to secondary deviance when someone is caught by ‘caught’ by authorities / agents of social control and thus labeled as a deviant within society
Labelling theorists argue that social control leads to deviance (not that deviance leads to social control) explain
Formal and informal social control can increase deviant behaviour because the labelling process increases the likelihood that the person will develop a deviant self-image
Explain Bill C-36 and the controversy (or critiques) around it.
Bill C-36 The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons
- Explicity equates working in the sex trade with sexual exploitation
- Critics voice concerns about the safety of workers in the sex trade
