Module 5 Flashcards
Deviance
-Any behavior, trait, or belief that violates standards of conduct or expectation of a group or society
~We are rule breakers and we are all rule followers
~Sociologists see deviance in terms of group processes, definitions, and judgments and not as unusual individual acts
~Whether an act is labeled deviant or not depends on many factors, including location, audience, and the individual committing the act
Laws
-Formal written rules of behavior (mores) established by a political authority and backed by state power (governmental social control)
~Police, courts, and prisons main types of formal negative sanctioning
~Creation of laws are as social process, laws are created in response to a perceived need for formal social control. Change in response to social values and beliefs
*Slavery was legal, Jim Crow racial segregation was legal, Stop and frisk was legal
Crimes
-Behavior that violates laws, who can be arrested, charged and prosecuted by the state
~Violent crimes, robbery, assault, rape, and murder
Adaptive function
- Promotes social unity: Punishment of deviants creates a sense of “we”
- Can promote social change: If violations gain enough support to become new acceptable behavior
Boundary maintenance
-Clarifies boundaries between acceptable behaviors and deviant behavior
Robert Merton’s Structural strain theory
-A form of anomie that occurs when a gap exists between cultural goals and success and the institutional means avaiable in a society to achieve those goals
institutional means
-Access to education, employment, etc>) to achieve
Cultural goals
- The American Dream, wealth, power, etc.
- When faced with a gap for achieving “success,” or realizing what is, versus what ought to be, this strain leads a person to one of five adaptation strategies
- Crime/deviance increases when discrepancies exists between the cultural goals and institutional means to achieve them
Typology of Deviance
- Cultural goals
- Institutionalized means
- If both are accepted then it is Conformity
- If Institutionalized means is rejected then it is innovation (breaking bad illeagally sealing drugs)
- If Cultural goals is rejected the it is Ritualism (helping other)
- If both are rejected then it is Retreatism (withdraws from society)
- New means and new goals it is Rebellion (Martin Luther King jr. challenging white supremacy)
Conflict Theory
-What is labeled deviant and punishable is deliberately chosen and often political in nature ~The working-class does not commit more crime, they are simply perceived as committing more crime *Chambliss (1973) The Saints and the Roughnecks **Found the labeling and stereotyping shaped responses to two different high school groups illustrating class bias
Class dominance theory
-Propose that what is labeled deviant or criminal- and therefore who get punished- is determined by the interests of the dominant class ~The ruling class often seeks the development and implementation of laws (key instrument for the powerful) in order maintain their position and the status quo *Focuses primarily on the social structure and the preservation of power among the ruling class
Blue Collar Crimes
-Committed by workers or individuals
~Examples: theft/larceny, petty and low level crimes
~Often in direct public view
White collar crimes
-Was coined by Edwin Sutherland who studies 70 of the larget US manufacturing, mining, retail corporations in the 1940s and found numerous law violations
~FBI estimates
*Burglary and robbery cost the US $3.8 billion per year
*Unnecessary medical treatments alone, such as unwarranted scans, blood tests, and sergical procedures cost at least $210 billion annually
*The total cost of white collar crimes like fraud, bribery, embezzlement, insurance fraud, and securities fraud amounts to close to $500 billion a year
Deviance of the powerful
-Often escape punishment
Symbolic Interaction Theory on Deviance
-Deviance is socially constructed and shaped interactions. Asks how behaviors get defined as deviant and why
Labeling Theory
-suggest that people become “deviant” because certain labels are attached to their behavior by political authorities and others
~Primary deviation: smoking pot
~Secondary deviation:
*Likelihood of getting more labels after a first one has be put on
Erving Goffman: The power of Stigma
STIGMA
-The process by which the reaction of other spoils normal identity
~It describes the label society uses to devalue member of certain social groups
Measuring and Reporting on Crime and Crime Statistics
-Crime rates can be difficult to measure over time of varity of reasons
~Changes in how crimes are defined
~Fluctuationc in whether people report crimes
~In rhe case of murders, improvements in medical technology can save people who might have died in the past
Two main sources of crime statistics
- FBI Uniform Crime Reports
- National Crime Victimization Survey
US Public focuses on crimes of violence
-Murder, assault, and rape only 13% of all crimes are violent
~Violent crime most prevalent in urban areas
~Males that are between the ages of 18-35 commit the most crime
Measuring Crime in a Society
-Criminologists prefer the homicide rate rather than reported number of crimes to judge the health of a society
~Contrary to popular belief, most victims of murder usually know the murderer
Violent Death Rates: A Comparative Perspective
-Analysis of 2010 mortality data from the World Health Organization, comparing 23 high-income countries
-Key findings
~US homicide rate 7x higher than other high-income countries
~It is driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25.2x higher
~82% of all people killed by firearms were from the US
-Most likely explanations for overall higher level of crime in the US that in other countries
~Wide availability of firearms
~A history of violence
~The rising inequality
Why have our prison population grown so much?
-According to a report from the National Academies, reasons for growing prison populations
~Increases in mandatory minimum sentences
~Long sentences for violence and repeat offenders 3 strike law
~Intensified criminalization of drug-related activities
-The results
~1973 US prison population 200,000
~2009 US prison population 2.3 million (including those in jail)
~60% of those incarcerated are Black and Latino in 2011
~Produces considerable financial as well as social burden on the society
