Sociology of Deviance Flashcards
Structural Functionalism
Social structure produces structural strain and causes deviance.
Organic Model
Like a physical organism, society needs to maintain itself. if there is a change in the environment, society adapts. what is no longer needed (no purpose) dies off..
Merton: Manifest Functions Vs. Latent Functions
Manifest: Visible and comprehensible consequences.
Latent: consequences are less obvious and often unrecognized.
Merton: Strain
the strain between the goals of the American dream (nuclear family) and the limited institutional means of goal attainment.
Merton: 5 Individual Adaptations.
- conformity
- innovation
- ritualism
- retreatism
- rebellion
Merton: 10 Eufunctions
deviance can bring positive functions
1. clarification rules
2. testing of the rules
3. alternative means of goal attainment
4. safety valve
5. tension release and solidarity
6. boundary maintenance
7. scapegoating
8. raising the value of conformity
9. early warning system
10. protection of vested interests
Merton: Dysfunctions
deviance bringing dysfunction.
Subcultural and social learning theories.
theories that explain deviance as ideas produced in subcultures and transmitted by learning.
Argot: main study.
the insider language of subcultures
Argot: vocabularies of motive
these are justifications and excuses for behaviour which work to neutralize the dominant narrative.
- the reasons why certain subcultures act in certain ways.
- why do biker gangs wear leather jackets?
Argot: Subculture
repeated and shared experiences.
Sutherland: Differential Association (Learning Theory)
why do some people become criminals and others do not?
Sutherland: 9 Postulates.
- Criminal behaviour is learned
Every criminal needs a teacher - An individual learns criminality through interaction & communication with others
- Now including digital communication
3)
The kind of interaction that matters most takes place within small, intimate groups. - The family - Peer group Significant others /reference others (people we admire)
Ideas and concepts learned from these groups are much more influential than mass media.
4)
What is learned in intimate interaction includes both the techniques of the crime and the motives for the crime
Just because you know how to pick a lock doesn’t necessarily mean you want to break into someone’s home.
Why?
5)
Motives and/or drives are learned from definitions of the legal/moral codes as favourable or unfavourable
Some subcultures evaluate deviant behaviour differently from other groups.
6)
Deviance comes from excess definitions favourable to violation of the law over unfavourable
Scale
7)
Certain variables affect the impact of favourable and unfavourable definitions
-frequency (how often you’re exposed to it/those people)
-duration (how long are the visits?)
-Priority (associations formed earlier in life than later in life)
-Intensity (how much we admire the people giving us these messages)
8)
The process of learning criminal behaviour involves all of the processes involved in any other learning (if you can learn deviance you can learn conformity, the only difference is what is learned, not how it is learned)
9)
The criminal is not exceptional in what he/she wants (normal people trying to meet their needs)
Sutherland: who becomes a criminal.
- If you are exposed to more definitions in your lifetime in favour of violating the law, you are more likely to violate the law. Visa Versa
- when someone is given a label it typically sticks for life.
Interaction Theory
Deviance is a human creation- a social construction that emerges out of interaction becomes real and affects subsequent events.
- Deviance is relative to the judgements made by others
Name of Mead’s theory?
“The Me and the I”
Mead: Me Vs. I
the ME: is responsive and receptive, composed of messages from others.
the I: The “I” is independent of particular situations
Only one “I” exists, but many “Me’s” can co-exist.