Perspectives on Deviance

Question 1

what is the social constructionist approach to deviance?

Answer 1

focuses on the way norms are created, under what conditions, and who applies the norms

Question 2

what is Hendershott’s absolutist argument?

Answer 2

early 1900s sociology asserted that social stability was founded on a moral order and common worldview of what was acceptable; rapidly changing society stimulated by industrialization generated anomie, which caused deviance and the need for boundaries; inability of the middle class to criticize deviance generates more problems so it is necessary to re-moralize public discourse and assert boundaries

Question 3

what is Becker’s relativist perspective?

Answer 3

the essence of deviance is not in the act but in the response of the audience; no act has inherent qualities that make it indisputably deviant across all times and places; emphasizes the deviancy labelling process and consequences for those labelled

Question 4

what do relativists criticize absolutism for?

Answer 4

assuming deviants are a distinct group based on their behaviour and ignoring that the audience generates rules and perceptions of deviance; there is no definitive ‘moral order’ as claimed by Hendershott