SOC212 - 1. Intro Flashcards
Introduction
deviant for 1 person may not be for another
deviant in 1 situation may not be in another
Selling organs – can be seen as helpful because saving lives
Introduction
concept of deviance uniquely sociological
Varies by time, place + situation
emerges from a social context
Happen more often in some places or times
Downloading Vs Piracy
Piracy – illegal
But a lot of ppl have done it
Internet has always been used to share it
Napster – first time to access tons of music for free
So many ppl doing it, but it’s illegal, is it deviant
What Is deviance?
little consensus
collection of conditions, persons, or acts that society
Disvalues, Finds offensive, Condemns
What Is deviance?
definitions avoid critical question:
How/why ppl classify acts and/or individuals as offensive
Positive Deviance: fail to recognize possibility that deviance might include highly valued differences
What Is deviance?: 1951 – Lenart
study grew out of social pathology perspectives
interested in behaviours that departed from norm
nature + what makes it deviant
how one comes to commit the act
consequences + how they are enforced
suicide, crime, substance abuse, addiction, prositution, sexual orientation
Definitions of Deviance: Reactivist (Relativist) Definition
no universal/unchanging entity that defines it
in eye of the beholder
occurs through reactions of other
social groups create deviance by creating rules
Definitions of Deviance: Problems
If results from reactions of others, how do ppl know what deviance is?
How do they know when/how to label a given instance of
behavior as deviance?
How do people know how to react to deviance?
Reactivist Problems
Norms provide basis for reacting to deviance, as social reactions express norms + identify deviance
Definitions of Deviance: Normative Definition
violation of social norms
Norm standard “what human beings should/should
not think, say, or do under given circumstances”
not necessarily common
What “should”/“should not” be rather than “what is”
What are norms?
social properties, shared group evaluations, or guidelines
expectations about behaviour + conduct that are based on habit/traditional customs
Violations draw reactions/sanctions from social audiences
many laws are based on norms, but not all norms are laws
Statistical Definition
Emphasizes behavior differs from avg experience
cites rare/infrequent phenomena
Statistical Definition
Problem – Missed meaning
looking only at frequency
no real concept for change
Absolutist Definition
Assumes everyone agrees on obvious, basic rules
results from violations of previously defined standards of
acceptable behavior
Assumes everyone agrees certain violations of rules
Absolutist Definition
What is deviant stem from interests of elite
Problem – Ignores many facets of social life. Top down.
focuses around values
lot of bottom up stuff as well
Reactivist Definition
deviance as behavior/conditions labeled deviant by others
acts as deviant only according to social reactions
determined through labels applied by society/agents of social control
Reactivist Definition
Critics acknowledge importance of interactions betw deviants + social control agents, but assert interactions do not define the term
Reactivist Definition
doesn’t explain why it is deviance
what happens if ppl don’t get caught? – is it still deviant because no one is reacting to your act
Social Norms
Expectations of conduct that regulate human behavior + social relations
Norms vary according to: How widely people accept them, How society enforces them, How it transmits them, How much conformity they require
Social Norms
Stable vs Variable: some require more force
most ppl don’t murder – doesn’t require much reinforcement
dress codes – more variable
•Proscriptive norms – not do
•Prescriptive norms – things we should do
Social Norms
deviance through social lenses of group or culture
social role – have an idea of the script
outlines proper conduct
pressured to act in ways depending on their role
Social Norms
certain acts more appropriate as a student in class than a patient in a doctors office
expectations diff depending on role and situation
someone can who conflicting roles - religious vs rebelious
can lead to strife
Differentiation & Deviance
ppl differ from 1 another in # of ways:
Age, sex, race, educational attainment + occupational status
refers to such variations
general level, deviance also refers to differentness
can occur in every society which have some differences
Differentiation & Deviance: Emile Durkheim (1895/1982)
Deviance is normal + constant
Conditions promote social differentiation also promote deviance
culture where not a lot of differentation, less criteria to compare ppl’s diff
Differentiation & Deviance
Modern, industrial societies may differ by:
Age, sex, race, urban v. rural, etc.
Deviance changes with social conditions
Differentiation & Deviance: Benefits
maintains social order help us change and evolve fosters social cohesion during times of strife, constrict, reinforces feel united against the other when the need lessens, loses cohesion
Differentiation & Deviance: Stratified Societies
↑ social stratification = ↑ criteria for comparing people = ↑ deviance
indivs fall to lower ranks, also feel disvalued based on rankings
lead to animosity or conflict + often unequal access to resources
Differentiation & Deviance: Stratified Societies
signals us as to which is important in society
High school degree vs. Masters degree
Factory worker vs. Corporate climber
Lower class vs. Middle class
Differentiation & Deviance
Some recommended leaving deviance undefined
judgments of deviance do not refer constant standards.
Deviance constantly changing + eliciting varying degrees of disapproval
Social Power
ability to make choices by virtue of control over political,
economic, or social resources (media).
Powerful people often define standards for deviance
Social Power
White-collar crimes – cause a lot of financial + environmental harm but not really punished
treat it less serious than street crime
upper lass can avoid label because dealt with through administration
Differentiation & Deviance: Why do some individuals get punished and others who do not over the same act?
Norm promotion: ability to successfully promote particular norms to exclusion of other, competing norms
Differentiation & Deviance
Social judgments of disvaluement represent a core component of the concept of deviance.
norms + definitions can change as diff groups gain power
Subcultures
culture within a culture – a collection of norms, values + beliefs which distinguished from the dominant culture.
For example: Gang subculture, Goth subculture, LGBTQ subculture
Subcultures
Acts labeled deviant in one group may be acceptable in another
implies that ppl still participate and share in larger culture
Subcultures
goth – black clothes, maybe not appropriate in other groups
gang subculture – violence would be diff
sexual expression would be diff –lgtbq
Subcultures
Counterculture – like a subculture but in opposition to larger culture
may arise in highly differentiated, complex societies
represent collective solutions to shared problems posed by dominant culture (Cohen, 1955)
Subcultures
Provides social support for members
Enhances self-esteem by suggesting rationales for conditions
Offers practical suggestions for independent survival
Relativity of Deviance
Deviance behaviors that happen to offend some groups
Norms imply relative judgments (limited to groups, places, and times), as such, deviance is also a relative phenomenon.
Relativity of Deviance
wide variety that exist in western society
same will gain status of deviant while others will not
often linked with deviant behaviours
influences and contextualizes substance abuse, crime, violence
Creating Deviance
Deviance often socially created condition
Deviance socially created when: Groups perceive threats + attempts alleviate threats by advocating to others of legitimacy of their priorities
Creating Deviance
Moral Panics: arousing social concern over issue
panics - use situation and present certain presentation of it to promote change
Drunk Driving, Drugs
Normative changes may display predictable patterns
sometimes will change as we change
Determining Norms and the Content of Deviance
Life Cycle of Deviance
Group campaigns: may gain legitimacy as they are campaigned for
Determining Norms and the Content of Deviance
Changing norms complicate attempts to evaluate standards for deviance
Determining Norms and the Content of Deviance
highlight rules that are unfair
smoking + drunk driving – used to be normal
changes due to change in status or advocacy of the group
can complicate standards for deviance
Social Problems
Social problems not necessarily linked to deviance yet, at times, may overlap.
Lack of education rates, Unemployment rates, Poverty
not a causal relationship, but a correlation
Why do ppl conform to rules and norms, even when obedience contradicts their own interests?
Social control may be narrowed down to “overt behavior by a human in the belief that
behavior increases or decreases the probability of some subsequent condition
increase or decrease is desirable
Social Control
how social groups deal with behaviour that violates social norms
Deviant behaviors result in sanctions/reactions to behavior or condition
nature + strength of reactions vary with deviant conduct
Social Control
how we enact sanctions
serves purpose of creating conformity
not all equal
some norms have more fluidity such as dress codes
Processes of Social Control
1) Internalization of group norms: Norms learned + accepted
socialization process that motivates members to conform to group expectations
Ppl generally learn mechanisms of social control, like customs, traditions, beliefs, attitudes + values, through interactions with others
Social Control
learn norms tend to accept them as default and we take them for granted
Sanctions (external pressures)
social reactions
Negative sanctions: punishments which discourage deviant behaviors
Positive sanctions rewards that encourage behaviors conducive to societal norms - raise or bonus marks
Informal Social Controls
Unofficial actions by groups or indivs
Churches, business and labor, groups, educational
institutions, and clubs
gossip, criticisms, glances, praises
Most effective among people with close relationships – family, friends
Informal Social Controls
Braithwaite (1989) shame as informal social control: shame can stop criminal behaviour more than law
didn’t want ppl to judge them as opposed to being locked up
Formal Social Controls
criminal punishments by official groups to express collective norms
Organized systems of reactions from specialized agencies + organizations informal social controls are ineffective or lacking, state agencies provide formal social control
Formal Social Controls
State agencies may include police, courts, and correctional system
teachers, employers, doctors, religious leaders
Formal Social Controls
administered by people who occupy positions or roles
within institutions
Society charges who agents of social control to determine reactions to (sanctions for) behavior
Formal Social Controls
societies with a lot of differentiation
not as many close relationships among ppl so end up relying more on laws
role – represent institutions
more prescriptive
Formal Social Controls
Institutions of social control reward those who comply with norms or exceeds expectations
Rewards may be given through bonuses, raises, awards + honored positions
political state agents do not distribute positive sanctions, or
rewards, as a way to maintain social control.
Formal Social Controls
-
Law as Social Control
Law represents: formal system of social control + conditions of society
Two major views of the origins of law
Consensus: law emerges to embody and reflect the strong,
majority sentiment of the population.
Law as Social Control
Conflict: that law reflects successful actions by certain groups with enough power to legislate according to their
own interests.
Law as Social Control
Chambliss, 1964: plague wiped out half of labour force
increase in wages and problems for land owners
illegal to not accept work and to flee in search for higher wages
blatant attempt to keep ppl from looking for better jobs and prevent increases in wage
provide landowners with cheap labour
Law as Social Control
Laws originate from gov, many acts were recognized by society as being wrong + worthy of punishment by a central authority or otherwise beforehand.
Murder, robbery + assault have long been considered violations of common law, an Anglo-Saxon legal tradition
defining law as judicial precedent rather than statutory definition
Law as Social Control
Governments have incorporated common law by codifying the prohibitions
deviant before they were laws
1/3rd lives under common law
Law as Social Control
Henry 2nd in england propagated eventually to the rest of the world
Want initially to restore the religion
Law as Social Control
Same sex marriage
Issues like sex ed continue to evolve and change
Certain rules around sex work and drugs have arguable created more harm than good
laws around certain things such as cancer makes no sense
law can do very little sometimes such as robbery
What kinds of problems can the law solve?
Criminal law is social + political product
Disagreements about laws are unavoidable
Questions are raised regarding:
What acts are prohibited? How to punish violators?
What powers are appropriate for the police + government?
What kinds of problems can the law solve?
complex relationship between criminal law + problems that it addresses
What kinds of problems can the law fix?
Law and Social Control
What kinds of problems does the law create?
penalties can sometimes result in unexpected outcome
vandalism – ppl then wanna do it
What kinds of problems should the law address?
- should target behavior that represents harm to others
John Stuart Mill – states should exercise power over citizens to prevent harm to others
What kinds of problems should the law address?
- should highlight behavior that violates moral beliefs of a
large number of people
Acts that generate strong consensus of immorality should be prosecuted by the state
What kinds of problems should the
law address?
-
Limits of the Law
- should target acts that state can enforce
law itself, at times, can do little against crimes (random robberies, sexual assaults + residential burglaries)
Legal sanctions may deter some acts, but not all are premeditated
Limits of the Law
-
Limits of the Law
-
Irony of Social Control
expected outcome is different than the actual outcome.
Some indivs participate in deviant behaviours while occupying conventional roles
Primary & Secondary Deviance
Primary deviance (Lemert, 1951): do not see themselves as deviants
act itself is primary
Once engaged in primary deviance, may develop secondary deviance through further participation in deviant subculture
Primary & Secondary Deviance
Secondary deviants acquire deviant roles that increase participation in deviant subcultures
Promote acquisition of knowledge + rationalizations for behavior
Boost skills at avoiding detection + sanctions
deviant self concept, identifiy with deviant subculture – lgbtq
Primary & Secondary Deviance
start to feel they are being deviant + other ppl react to it as deviance
learn more about deviant subculture or how to get away with it
Primary & Secondary Deviance
Tertiary Deviance: attempt to change meaning of the label – prostitution – reframed to sex work
homosexual behaviour to lgbtq
