Midterm Flashcards
Situational deviance
Situational deviance - manifests in actual, concrete social gatherings, circles, or settings
Norm violation in either of the following:
- within a certain social or physical setting
- within certain social circles or groups
Examples
- taking off clothes in the bedroom, but not in public
- underage drinking with your college friends, but not with your parents
deviance
behavior, beliefs, or characteristics that violate, or depart or deviate from, a basic norm, and that are likely to generate negative reactions in persons who observe or hear about that norm violation
Consider that deviance is all relative
- who, where, what, when
approach to deviance: essentialism
deviance is viewed as a specific, concrete phenomenon in the material world
the reality of deviance is taken for granted, indisputable, apparent and obvious to all observers
objective fact
approach to deviance: constructionism
deviance is viewed as a subjectively arrived-at phenomenon, dependent on time and place, society and culture, observer and enactor
the reality of deviance is not taken for granted
subjective
societal deviance
includes those actions and conditions that are widely recognized, in advance and in general, to be deviant
“high consensus”
example
murder, rape
a critical perspective on deviance
deviance is based on the socio, economic, political statuses in society; behaviors or conditions are not inherently deviant
deviance is established by those in power
- maintain and enhance their power
consider gender, race/ethnicity, social status, etc.
- i.e. rich white men usually have the most say on certain standards
the ABCs of deviance:
“A” - attitudes
unpopular or unconventional beliefs that may or may not manifest themselves in overt actions
the ABCs of deviance:
“B” - behavior
any overt action (which includes the failure to act) that is likely to attract condemnation, hostility, or punishment
the ABCs of deviance:
“C” - conditions
physical characteristics or traits that make someone a target of an audiences disapproval, avoidance, derision, or other types of negative social reaction
intentional deviance
committing a deviant while knowing you’re participating in it
examples
- vandalism
- robbery
unintentional deviance
when you are committing a deviant act, but are unaware that you are doing so
example
- sitting in the section for a team you are not rooting for without knowing at a sporting event
norms
culturally defined standard or rule of conduct
prescriptive norms
societal encouragement
examples
- “bless you”
- “thank you”
- holding doors open for people
- wearing certain types of clothes
proscriptive norms
societal discouragement
examples
- texting while eating with company
- talking in a theater
- not picking up after your pet
- wearing certain types of clothes
positive deviance (a vague concept)
deviant behavior that results in something positive
examples
- wilderness survivalism
- random acts of kindness
- civil rights movements
norms and values examples
- individualism
- loyalty
- moderation
- peacefulness
- productivity
folkways
the least important norms, but represent the accepted way of doing things
mores
norms most people believe are essential for the survival of their society
taboos
among the strongest norms
taboos = a social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing
sanctions
rewards and punishments intended to ensure conformity to cultural guidelines
social control
the sum of sanctions in society by means of which conformity to cultural guidelines is ensured
the social construction of deviance
the constructionist looks at how deviance is defined, conceptualized, and represented, and how those definitions, conceptualizations and representations are enacted, and with what consequences
why certain rules exist?
what their consequences are?
what the dynamics of enforcement are?
theoretical perspectives
deviane and its consequences are constructed by groups of people and institutions. there are a number of theoretical perspectives that can help us understand the process
- functionalism
- conflict theory
- feminism
- controlology
labeling theory
constructing the deviant v. constructing deviance
functionalism
- behavior is shaped by social structures and institutions
- functionalist theories show how social institutions and behavior (even deviant behavior) help to maintain the social order
- increasing solidarity
- providing needed services, which can reinforce the social order - adheres to the consensus paradigm
conflict theory
when one group benefits at the expense of others (class, gender, race, etc.)
conflict theory of crime and deviance focuses on the criminalization process
feminist theory
- “women experience subordination on the basis of their sex”
- seeks to understand the origins and purposes for discrimination in order to bring about a more sexually egalitarian society - largely opposed by male dominated institutions
feminist social constructionism - gender differences reflect the different social positions occupied by women and men and norms about their behavior
controlology
- focuses on the exercise of power by the state
- surveillance and control of large groups of people
examples
- the growth of the prison and mass incarceration and supervision
identifying and observing deviance
deviance is all around us, both positive and negative forms of it. get in the practice of noticing it and identifying what makes it deviant and how you could understand its construction from the different theoretical perspectives
where does the social construction process actually happen?
- in all processes - both macro (institutions) and micro (small groups ad dyads)
- supported by culture
- enforced through formal and informal social control
formal social control
- efforts to bring about conformity to the law by agents of the criminal justice system
- exists in large societies
informal social control
- occurs during interpersonal communication, among people acting on their own, in an unofficial capacity
cultures
the sum of practices, languages, symbols, beliefs, values, ideologies, and material objects that people create to deal with real-life problems to deal with problems or issues
subcultures
a particular social world that has a distinctive way of life, including its own set of values and norms, practices and beliefs, but that exists harmoniously within the larger mainstream culture.
a subculture can be based on ethnicity, age, interests, or anything else that draws individuals together
where do norms come from?
general and specific values rooted in culture
- institutions such as: religion, economy, politics
moral entrepreneurs
rule creators
rule enforcers
moral crusades
when rule creators and rule enforcers come together
moral panics
a threat to society is depicted, and concerned individuals promoting the problem, reading legislators, and sensationalist news media whip the public into a ‘feeding frenzy’
example
- drug panic: media and politicians on crack
- serial killers
- child abductions
characterization common among crime myths and moral panics
- the identification and targeting of a distinct deviant population
- the emergence of an “innocent” or “helpless” victim population
- the emergence of brave and virtuous heroes
- the existence of a substantial threat to established norms, values, or traditional lifestyles
the construction of moral panics
- presentation of opinion as fact
- value loaded terminology
- anonymous or selected sources
- stripping fact from context
- linking to other accepted problems/issues
why are moral panics constructed?
- the media’s economic interests
- the government’s wish to focus our attention on an issue we can all agree upon
- groups interest in “owning” an issue
- career advancement
- a problem with a straightforward solution
- can build social solidarity
- association of a dangerous behavior with a dangerous or problematic population
- individualizes larger social issues
why do we buy into moral panics?
- trust in authority
- distract us from other problems
- don’t have the time or ability to find out the full story
- reinforce the collective conscience
- give other beliefs we have, they seem believable
why are moral panics a problem?
- focus our attention away from more important issues
- generate misinformation
- create credibility problems
- they are expensive
- create fear
- create deviants who are sanctioned
stigma or stigmata (plural)
a mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as one’s reputation
the phenomenon whereby an individual with an attribute which is deeply discredited by his/her society is rejected as a result of the attribute. stigma is a process by which the reaction of others spoils normal identity
the stigma is in what it means to the audience
Erving Goffman and forms of social stigma: overt or external deformations
such as scars, physical manifestations of anorexia nerves, leprosy (leprosy stigma), or of a physical disability or social disability, such as obesity
deviant physical characteristics
- the physically disabled
- esthetically wanting or ugly
- the radically altered
- the obese
Erving Goffman and forms of social stigma: deviations in personal traits
including mental illness, drug addiction, alcoholism, and criminal background are stigmatized in this way
Erving Goffman and forms of social stigma: “tribal stigmas”
traits, imagined or real, of ethnic group, nationality, or of religion that is deemed to be a deviation from the prevailing normative ethnicity, nationality or religion
master status
the social position that is the primary identifying characteristics of an individual
poverty and deviance
poverty causes deviance v. poverty is deviance
compared to employed peers, unemployed people are more likely to:
- commit suicide
- contract a serious or fatal illness
- commit most types of street cries
who is counted as unemployed?
people are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work
race
refers to socially significant physical differences, such as skin color, rather than biological differences that determine behavioral traits
the social construction of race
- racial distinctions are social constructs, not biological “givens”
- many scholars believe we belong to one human race which originated in Africa
- migration, geographical separation, and inbreeding led to the formation of more or less distinct “races” (meaning groups with distinct pigmentation and physical features)
ethnic group
composed of people whose perceived cultural markers are deemed socially significant
differ in . . .
- language
- religion
- customs
- values
“ethnicity contains all the essential elements of deviance: an audience who condemns a people and their supposed sins”
theories of gender: essentialism
gender differences reflect naturally evolved dispositions
theories of gender: social constructionism
gender differences reflect the different social positions occupied by women and men and norms about their behavior
gender socialization
a set of ideas about what constitutes appropriate masculine and feminine roles and behaviors
“doing gender”
gender as verb instead of noun
what’s deviant about sexual behavior?
- consent
- nature of the sex partner (who?)
- nature of the sex partner (what?)
- nature of the sex act (how?)
- nature of the sex act (where?)
sexuality and norms around sexual behavior
other than a common (though not universal) physiological experience and its potential relationship to procreation, everything else is socially constructed
- what is appropriate (type of sex, positions, etc.)
- when it is appropriate (age,, type of relationship, etc.)
- with whom it is appropriate (gender, age, race, etc.)
- where it is appropriate (private v. public, bedroom v. kitchen)
- why it is appropriate (for procreation, for pleasure)
- how much is appropriate
heterosexuals
prefer members of the opposite sex as sexual partners
homosexuals
prefer sexual partners of the same sex
the term is a social construct
bisexuals
enjoy sexual partners of either sex
- approximately 2.8% of American men and 1.4% of American women identify as homosexual or bisexual
why such aggression against certain types of sexual norm violators?
- threatened masculinity/sexuality
- doing gender
- cultural acceptability
example of social construction in action
- the gender binary and gender identity
instrumental use
use for medical reasons or religious purposes
recreational use
using for the effects of the drug when the drug is not needed for any other purpose
example
- marijuana
- hallucinogens
drug panic: media and politicians on crack
- in 1986 Tom Brokaw reports that crack is “flooding the nation” and that it has become “America’s drug of choice”
- in 1988, ABC News termed crack a “plague” that was “eating away at the fabric of America”
constructing drug-related deviance
- 88,000 alcohol-related deaths in the US - annually
- nearly 4% of all deaths are related to alcohol
- zero overdose deaths from marijuana (both recreational and prescription) ever
common causes for drug use
- low self control
- inability to delay gratification
- overly developed patterns of pleasure seeking
- taste for risk
relationship between drugs and American norms/values
- responsibility
- conventionality
- participation
- courtesy
- moderation
- privacy
- prudence
- responsibility
- peacefulness
- conventionality
legalization to the rescue?
- legalization exempts in the other countries
- regulation of drug use doesn’t increase the rate of drug use
- potential for an increase in deviance in other areas
property crime
when an individual takes or damages something of value that does not belong to them without the use of force or threat of force
- includes larceny, burglary, auto theft, vandalism, some types of fraud, forgery, theft of services, etc.
violent crime
when one person uses force or threat of force against another person
- includes assault, forcible rape, robbery, and murder
violent crime
when one person uses force or threat of force against another person
- includes assault, forcible rape, robbery, and murder
instrumental crime
crimes that are committed for material gain
financially-motivated
not an official category of crime
expressive crime
crimes that are not committed for some type of material gain but are viewed as expressions of emotion or non-material gain
non financially-motivated
not official categories of crime
homicide
- murder
- manslaughter
- justifiable homicide
“killing” v. “murder”
measuring crime: official records
- arrest records
- uniformed crime reports (UCR) - only reports the most serious offense known to police, including:
- homicide
- forcible rape
- robbery
- aggravated assaults
- burglary
- larceny theft, auto theft and arson arrests - SHR suplemental homicide reports
- in depth information concerning all of the homicides that have taken place around the country
official records
advantages of UCR and SHR
- comparisons across the nation’s regions, states, counties, and cities can be made
- consistence/reliability of data collection has been in place for years
- SHR give us more detail about crimes
official records
disadvantages
- unreported crimes
- crimes excluded
- most don’t lead to arrest - lack of information about offenders
- bias in arrests - those that do lead to arrest may be biased
- bias in reporting by police department
- non-reporting
official records
disadvantages
- unreported crimes
- crimes excluded
- most don’t lead to arrest - lack of information about offenders
- bias in arrests - those that do lead to arrest may be biased
- bias in reporting by police department
- non-reporting
measuring crime: victimization of survey
the national crime victimization survey (NCVS)
advantages
- consistency of collection methods over time
- not filtered by police
- not dependent on reporting to police
disadvantages
- some offenses not reported: domestic abuse/ child abuse, white collar crime/ corporate crime
- memory may depend on type of crime
- perceptions of crime/ignorance of law
- info on offenders is limited
measuring crime: self-report survey
advantages
- don’t depend on victim or anyone else to detect or report crime
- allows detailed information about the offender
- the research design (national, regional, longitudinal
potential problems/ disadvantage
- underreporting - lying and forgetting
- under-represents serious crime s- surveys often measure trivial acts like smoking, tardiness, disobeying parents . . . as well as low level crimes
substantial findings
- a lot more crime committed than anyone imagined
- a small proportion of the population report committing a majority of the offenses
- almost everyone interviewed has committed some illegal acts, suggesting that most offenders are like you and me - “normal”
Emile Durkheim and Crime
“what confers this character (the label of criminal) upon them (the criminals) is not the intrinsic quality of a given act but that definition which the collective conscience lends them”
correlates of criminal behavior
characteristics of paces or people tend to be associated with higher crime rates
distribution of crime
how crime is distributed across time and place
correlates of crime
- age
- sex
- class
- race/ethnicity
correlates of crime
- age
- sex
- class
- race/ethnicity
correlates of crime: age
- criminal activity peaks during late adolescence, and declines rapidly thereafter, for all “street” crimes
- age-crime curve: 15-25 years olds have the highest crime rates compared to all other age groups
why the drops later in life?
- increased bonds to society
- cognitive development
- biological factors
- social status and role changes as you age
correlates of crime: sex
men are more frequently arrested for violent and property crime than women, but difference depends on offense
why sex difference?
- gender norms
- gender roles
- social controls
- biological differences
