SOC212 - 2. Theory I Flashcards
Socialization
indivs do not automatically learn social behavior
acquired process developed through socialization
modify behavior in response to demands + expectations
Behavior is a product of social interaction
Socialization
Deviants may be viewed as being hypocritical because they violate some norms while conforming to others.
deviant in 1 aspect of life may not be deviant in all aspects
cheating on taxes but not on wife
deviance has no moral connotation
Social Roles
perform a variety of roles
represent behavior society expects from person in a given position or certain status within a particular group (Mother, father, daughter, son, dentist, judge, student, lawyer)
Social Roles
learn to perform the deviant roles through socialization:
Drug user, burglar, murder, alcoholic, or thief
Social Roles
Role playing + role taking not only socializes an individual during childhood but this process continues throughout life
role playing: learn other ppl’s roles
Introduction
Individualistic Theories: Focus on internal reasons for deviance
Structural Theories: Focus on the relationship of deviance to certain structural conditions in society
Addresses the epidemiology of deviance: lower SES
across time + space
Introduction
Process-Based Theories: Emphasizes how indivs come to commit crimes
Addresses the etiology of deviance: causes
conditions that lead ppl to commiting crime
Post-Modern Theories: combinations, context specific
feminist theory
Theory & Deviance
Sociological theories of deviance focus on that underlie deviance:
social conditions
How society defines it
Theory & Deviance
How group + subcultural influences relate to it
How deviants come to occupy their roles
Why deviance is distributed in time and space
How others react to deviations from norms
Individualistic Theories
Focus on how individuals become deviant and
understanding the meanings for those acts.
Focus on evaluating conditions/circumstances that affect individuals
Individualistic Theories
Biological Explanations
Psychological Explanations
Rational Choice Theory
Biological Explanations
Physical anomalies, body chemistry compositions or hereditary characteristics
Biological Explanations
Biologists claim that inherited traits may include:
Alcoholism, crime, drug addiction, certain types of
mental disorders, and certain sexual deviations.
Biological Explanations
Lombroso: believed criminality was inherited, identified by physical deviance or bodily features
evolutionary throwback to subhuman type of persons - looked like neanderthals
incompatible with modern civilized society
sloping forhead, asymmetrical face, weird ears, long arms
Biology & Crime
Biology could influence the origins of crime in many ways:
Genetically inherited traits, Hormones, Body type
•Neuropsychological (brain) factors
•Chemical composition of body tissues
•Variety of other physical dimensions
Critique – Biological Approaches
Inheritance: Cannot determine deviant behaviour because culture and social norms cannot be transmitted biologically
Social norms + forms of deviance learned through
social interactions
Psychiatric Explanations
symptom of psychological illness
product of some fault within the individual
Psychiatric Explanations
Emphasize every person at birth feels inherent, basic needs
Deprivations during early childhood lead individuals to develop abnormal personality patterns
not having needs met has consequences which lead to deviant personalities
Psychoanalytic Explanations
Explain deviance through analysis of unconscious mind.
•Three personality components:
•Id – a buried reservoir of unconscious, instinctual animal
tendencies or drives.
Psychoanalytic Explanations
•Ego – conscious part of the mind which operates body
Superego – mediates conflict betw Id + Ego. The superego also defines the social self based on the principles of social norms and culture.
Psychoanalytic Explanations
Psychoanalysts attribute deviance to unconscious attempts to satisfy unresolved infantile desires
type of crime a person commits + types of objects involved
Psychoanalytic Explanations
Identified many personality traits associated behavior:
Aggressive or submissive, emotional or unresponsive
Suspicious, Self-centered, Withdrawn, etc
Psychological Approaches
Have applied dozens of personality tests, rating scales to try to distinguish deviants from non-deviants.
explain forms of delinquent and criminal behavior as products of abnormalities in the psychological structures of individual deviants
Psychological Approaches
personality differences between offenders and non-offenders (unsuccessfully).
deviant personality type as a criminal psychopath or a psychopathic personality