Unit 5 Questions Flashcards
Define deviance
behaviors and beliefs that violate social expectations and attract negative sanctions
Identify the key components of social disorganization theory
the idea that deviance is more common in dysfunctional neighborhoods. These are neighborhoods characterized by insecure social networks, family instability, few job opportunities, poor-performing schools, an absence of local organizations, and neglected infrastructure.
Explain the role of peers in influencing deviance according to differential association theory
This is the idea that we need to be recruited into and taught criminal behavior by people in our social networks
According to Sutherland’s theory, people are more likely to engage in deviance if they’re recruited into a deviant act by someone in their social network. The more people we know, the more likely we are to know people who engage in deviance and the more likely we are to be recruited.
Identify how sociologists use survey research and historical sociology to study social phenomena
Historical sociology involves collecting and analyzing sources that reveal facts about the evolution of societies.
Research Survey allows for for researchers to obtain information describing characteristics of a large sample of individuals of interest relatively quickly
Explain how structural functionalism describes society
the theory that society is a system of necessary, synchronized parts that work together to create social stability.35 The complementary parts are the “structures” and the stability they produce is the “function.”
Describe the key concepts of strain theory including conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion
the idea that deviance is caused by a tension between widely valued goals and people’s ability to attain them
conformity” and “ritualism.” In both cases, the widely valued goals are pursued in socially sanctioned ways, even though there’s little hope of achieving them. Conformists do this earnestly and ritualists do it in a distrustful way that expresses self-interest.
Describe the technique of neutralization and give an example of each
the idea that deviance is facilitated by the development of culturally resonant rationales for rule breaking
Denial of Responsibility is a claim that rule breaking is outside of a rule breaker’s control (“it’s not my fault”). Denial of Injury is a claim that the rule breaking is allowed because no one is harmed (“no one got hurt”).
Denial of the Victim is a claim that any harm that comes is deserved (“they were asking for it”). Condemnation of the Condemners is a rejection of a critic’s moral authority to judge the rule breaker (“you’re just as bad as me”).
Appeal to Higher Loyalties is the claim that rule breaking is justified in pursuit of a greater good (“I did it for my family”).
Identify how labeling influences our behaviors via secondary deviation
We have many such labels for criminally and socially deviant identities: Delinquent, Gangster, Slut, Deadbeat, Wife Beater, Bum, Cheat. Becker argued that when labels like these are applied to us, they influence our behavior.
Explain the positive functions of deviance according to functionalism
Deviant behavior is proof that social rules can be broken, which also means they can go away.
In the early 1900s, for example, it was essentially required that all American men wear a hat when outside the house. Today, wearing a hat is optional. For that, we can thank the people who risked sanctions by leaving their hat at home. Those deviants did something different and, eventually, one by one, they changed society.
Identify the critiques of functionalism
unable to account for social change, or for structural contradictions and conflict
Describe how the conflict perspective differs from functionalism
Functionalism emphasizes the importance of social institutions for social stability and implies that far-reaching social change will be socially harmful. Conflict theory emphasizes social inequality and suggests that far-reaching social change is needed to achieve a just society
Differentiate between deviance and defiance according to conflict theorists
When people do resist the status quo, their actions may be cast as deviance. Some deviance, then, is not just deviance but defiance. It’s deliberately rebellious. It’s an effort to change the collective conscience.
