Study of Deviance Flashcards
statistical rarity
- used outside of academia
- not commonly used by deviance scholars bc of limitations
what is an example of formal norms
laws and regulations that are written
what are examples of informal norms
cough into your sweater, the way you stand in an elevator
list the 3 characteristics of a norm
- subject to change
- culturally specific
- circumstance specific
wearing a bikini in class is what type of norm characteristic
circumstance specific
_____ - the label
_____ - how we judge the person
______ - the way we react/act differently
description
evaluation
prescription
what is the description, evaluation and prescription of the redneck woman
description - working woman
evaluation - promiscous, frugal, lacking in sophistication
prescription - ignore and avoid
what is the objective definition of deviance
it is a quality and a common trait
match the example to its objectivist position
jaywalking
harm and normative violation
match the example to its objectivist position
butting in line
normative violation
match the example to its objectivist position
refusing to wear a mask when mandatory
harm and normative violation
who are moral entrepreneurs
they are individuals who devote their time to protect society from a threat
- Becker
- members of upper class
- rely on others to implement agenda
what was the most cited sociological theory of all time and what bigger picture theory did it come from
strain theory -> part of Functional theories
Robert Merton argued what?
he focused on understanding deviance related to crime and what is it that makes some people criminals
according to Robert Merton, what makes people criminals
because of the strain or tension of what makes a good life -> some of us cannot reach the ideal goal, so we commit crime to compensate
who studied why individuals adapt to strain in different ways ? what was the theory
Cloward and Ohlun - Differential Opportunity theory
who disagreed with Robert Merton’s theory and why
messner and rosenfield -> they believed he was too focused on the economy
the general strain theory was established by who and why was it important
Robert Agnew -> there are other sources of strain
1. being blocked from a valued goal
2. actual/anticipated loss of something valuable
3. actual/anticipated presentation of harmful stimuli
what is the marshmallow experiment and where did it stem from
give a child a marshmallow, leave the room and tell them before if they do not eat the marshmallow they will get 2 more = delayed gratification
-> it came from the frustration theory
delaying gratification is good, why? what is the exception?
children who are able to delay gratification will do better in middle class society . EXCEPTION : when you are poor, if you are given food and choose to not eat and wait for better food, there might not be another opportunity
why is meritocracy mentioned in the status frustration theory
if you teach children, if you work hard you will make it -> this only pertains to certain levels of society
where does the working class/poverty fit into the status frustration theory
poor children who do not align with the middle class values will form a group -> reaction formation -> establish their own norms that promote toughness -> defy norms
what bigger picture theory does classical conditioning belong to
social learning theory
______ is the basis of operant conditioning
classical conditioning
skinner and thorndike proposed what
operant conditioning
what were significant results of Bandura’s bobo doll experiment
the children who saw the acts of violence -> became violent and it generalized because they found other ways to be aggressive -> no MIMICKING
the children who did not see the violence -> did not partake in aggressive behavior
who are primary socialization agents
families and parents
who are secondary socialization agents
friends/media/teachers
match this description to the founders and the name of the theory
Ratio of
deviant people in our lives spend lots of time with us : non deviant people spending time with us
differential association theory -> Sutherland
what are the kinds of harm?
physical, emotional, social and ontological
what is ontological harm?
threat to the fundamental ways we understand the world and our place in it
societal reaction
society’s masses respond to with negative emotion
- variety of reactions and only certain ones will be acted upon
- punishment and incentive to create party unity
normative violation
violate society norms
- most objectivists now perceive norms that are culturally specific rather than universal
folkways
informal norms
- if violated considered to be odd and rude
mores
standards seen as foundation of morality in a culture
- informal norms
- morality
what is consensual view of law?
law arising out of social consensus and equally applied
what is conflict view of law?
law as a tool used by ruling class to serve own interests
what is interactionist view of law?
nonconsensual view of criminal law
- powerful define the law in response to interests groups that approach them to rectify perceived social problem
what did Thio do?
high consensus and low consensus deviance to distinguish between forms of deviance that have differential levels of support
limitations of statistical rarity
- quantifying “rare” is a limitation
- fails to correspond to our tacit understandings of deviance as behaviours that are strange, immoral - needs social control
limitations of harm
- perceptions of harm change based on time
- whether society is being harmed is subjective
- reaction cause more overt harm than the inital behaviour
- definition underlies great deal of social activism and policy
limitation of societal reaction
- focusing on negative societal reaction as defining characteristics raises many questions
- only some reactions may be acted upon within social institutions
limitations of normative violation
- we learn the behaviours expected and if we violate them then we are deviant
- hard to determine normative consensus
what are the multi-level processes in social construction?
- individual
- interactional
- institutional
- sociocultural
- global
what is the individual level of social construction?
- own identities, conceptions of self and ways of understanding our own existence
what is the interactional level of social construction?
- interactions with others influence way we think and feel and the role we play
what is the institutional level of social construction?
structure of society
- gov’t
- edu sys
- religion
what is the global level of social construction?
globalization
what is globalization?
- tight global economic, political, cultural and environmental interconnections that flows that make most current borders and boundaries irrelvant
what is the deviance dance?
steps to move the dance in the direction they desire or one previously ignored or changing public perceptions to reduce stigma faced by certain groups
how is the country line dance characterized in deviance dance?
considerable cooperation to achieve consensual goal
how is the waltz characterized in deviance dance?
opposing steps but still move together to negotiate outcome
how is the mosh pit characterized in deviance dance?
opposing direction for own individual desires
how is art a form of deviance?
- protest art makes explicit statements- resistance graffiti
how is naming of people and place constitute resistance?
- means of social control over marginalized groups
- one-drop rule: anyone with single Black ancestor is Black
- European names given to Indigenous even though they have names
- Indian Act placed restrictions on names and receive entitlements
what is a form of resistance?
reclaiming the right of naming themselves and land
what is a critique of functionalist logic?
- not able to explain why that specific institution at the expense of others is required to achieve a particular societal goal
what is a critique of functionalist ideology?
ignore social and historical circumstances from which those aspects emerge sociohistorical circumstnaces that give rise to specific family forms or certain education curricula
- no critique means they support status quo
limitations of differential association theory
methodological criticisms
- difficulties arriving at tally of number of deviant and non-deviant association
- difficult to determine whether priority, duration, freq or intensity take precedence
limitation of neutralization theory
- what it hasn’t explored
- techniques vary based on type of behavior
- reasoning and methodology
- technique used after act occurred
limitation of control theories
- critiqued for way self-control is defined and measured
- assumes remains stable in life
- self-control and social bonds theory criticized for ignoring importance of peer association
why is shoplifting good to test merits of Sykes and Matza’s theory?
- normative nature
- used to test why some commit crimes
- frequently committed by non-criminals
- widely distributed amongst those who are moral
- theory of neutralization- allows them to participate in delinquent acts that would otherwise be wrong
what are the 4 techniques of neutralization?
- defence of necessity
- everybody does it
- justification by comparison
- postponement
defence of necessity
- reduce guilt through argument that offender had no choice under circumstances to engage in criminal act
everybody does it
reduce guilt or justify by arguing that behavior is common
- diffusion of guilt
- widespread similar acts
justification by comparison
- compare crime to more serious offences
- offenders not committed to conventional norms
- attempting to maintain sense of self-worth
postponement
offender suppresses guilty feelings by putting it out of their mind to be dealt with later
- common among informants
why did Pogrebin have a problem with interviewing shoplifters being interviewed after committing crime?
- postevent reasons given for deviant behaviour are not neutralizations but accounts or “socially approved vocab that serve as explanatory mechanism for deviance”
- no one can empirically verify existence of preevent neutralization
what was Hirschi’s position on interviewing shoplifters being interviewed after crime?
post-crime rationalization may serve as pre-crime neutralization the next time crime is contemplated
what is potential outcome of continued and habitual use of neutralization and rationalization techniques?
- weaken the social bond, reducing the need to neutralize at all
why do authors assert that neutralization technique serve as a form of situational morality?
- they make adaptation to convention that permits deviation
- whether adaptation is truly neutralizing or rationalizing the result is same- crime without guilt
example of retroactive formal control
drinking and driving underage is misconduct of official regulation- given fine and license taken away (legal system involved if violation)
example of preventative informal control
syllabus says to not make others feel uncomfortable or unsafe so do not laugh or criticize when peers ask questions and are aware
example of retroactive self-control
you have a habit of going on shopping sprees and now you have overspent so now you have a tight budget for the rest of the month
who created the social bonds theory?
Travis Hirschi
what are the 4 components of social bonds theory?
attachment
commitment
involvement
belief
what component of social bonds theory is the strongest?
attachment
what does involvement include?
extracurricular activities
- children involved in structured activities benefit more than unstructured
t or f: belief is social bonds theory is about religious beliefs?
f
- moral values of society
what theories did Hirschi and Gottfredson make?
self-control and general theory of crime
how does self-control restrain us?
- determined by parenting in early life
- remains relatively stable through life
what is the point of the marshmallow test?
strong self control can prevent criminality and risky behaviors
- delayed gratification
what is Freuds POV about marshmallow test?
blames parents for this
what are norms subject to?
social control
what is a subjectivist definition of deviance?
process
no common trait
behaviors that people in power need to control
- deviance is a social construction
- violation of dominant moral codes
bootleggers vs baptists
- Bruce Yandle
- baptists oppose alcohol consumption
- bootleggers more restrictions on licit sale of alcohol
- Sunday was the only day they couldn’t sell alcohol
what are the objectivist theories
functionalist
social learning
social control
institutionalized goals
culturally exalted- wealth, power
strain theory modes
- conformity (a goals and means)
- innovation (a goal, r means)
- ritualism (r goal, a means)
- retreatism (r goal and mean)
- rebellion (r/a goal and means)
who created status frustration theory?
albert cohen
elijah anderson
code on the streets
- the code (willingness to use violence) governs choices young people make in daily lives
- weakly bonded to institutions, families, anger, little hope for future, little self-respect, lack of trust in (police)
what are the 4 kinds of social learning theories?
conditioning
modelling
differential association
neutralization
example of positive reinforcement
extra allowance for doing dishes
example of negative reinforcment
brush teeth to prevent cavities
example of positive punishment
given time-out for throwing tantrum
example of negative punishment
license revoked for drunk driving
what is the important learned attitude among criminals?
disregard for community legal code
- one acquires attitude by associating with those who hold it and not associating with those who don’t
what are the 5 techniques of neutralization by Sykes and Matza?
- denial of responsibility
- denial of injury
- denial of victim
- condemnation of condemners
- appealing to higher loyalties
