SOCI LECTURE 3 Notes

Question 1

ERIKSON What are the two counter-intuitive claims in sociology?

Answer 1

• Deviance is not necessarily bad. It can even be good for society.
• The institutions that are meant to control deviance may further add and generate deviance

Question 2

Why do human societies maintain boundaries?

Answer 2

• to retain and promote community solidarity
• to maintain cohesion
• to retain cultural integrity

Question 3

How do people learn about boundaries?

Answer 3

• it is passed down through a network of social interactions
• It is also learned through a deviant subject and send a message through social control
• If we did not have deviance we wouldn’t know where the boundaries are

Question 4

How do people learn about boundaries?

Answer 4

It is passed down through a network of social interactions
- It is also learned through a deviant subject and sends a message through social control
- If we did not have deviance we wouldn’t know where the boundaries are

Rituals or behaviours that mark boundaries
- wars, religious acts and ceremonies

Marking and Publicizing Boundaries: social boundaries are publicized between deviant persons and social agents
- Criminal trials
- court-martial trials
-psychiatric determinants of sanity
- public executions in the past
- media

Question 5

Good aspects of deviance

Answer 5

• it generates lots of jobs for the criminal sector
• it prevents society from stagnant
• allows society to change for the better
• a deviant society is more creative

Question 6

What is Erikson’s 2nd counter-intuitive claim suggests?

Answer 6

• that every deviant act provides a possibility for society to reinstate the boundaries
• As a result, marking and reaffirming boundaries, society is organized to promote deviance

Question 7

How are prisons making a better “school of crimes”?

Answer 7

• people who go to prison come out far worse than they did going back (most likely to go back)
• it is extremely hard for individuals who committed a felony to get a job
• they are expected to draw more and more into deviant behaviour
• Self-fulfilling prophecy due to the dramatic and confrontational nature between the deviant and society