Week 2 Flashcards
1
Q
Theory is Practical
A
- Theory guides our practical actions
- Theories are the central means of explaining and understanding deviance
2
Q
Deviance specialists use a wide range of theories…
A
- Core sociological theories (e.g. conflict theory)
- Theories specific to criminal and non-criminal deviance (e.g. strain theory)
- Interdisciplinary theories (e.g. feminist theories)
3
Q
positivist explanation
A
- Cause-effect relationships… Seek to explain why ppl act in certain ways from rules governing social environment
- objectivists
- Explain deviance in relation to social control
- Theories are: functionalist, learning and control theories
4
Q
functionalist theories
A
- Social structure creates deviance
- Society made up of various structures and each has a necessary function for the smooth rolling of society
- Manifest + latent
- Smooth running of society threatened if one structure stops doing its function… Maintain social order or else deviance happens… The rules of society are functional
5
Q
Durkheim Anomie theory (functionalist)
A
- Problem of too much social change
- He says (1) a certain level of deviance is function for society and (2) deviance happens when dysfunctional levels of deviance that occur when society changes too quickly
- A certain level of deviance enhances social order and increases social solidarity
- Serves as a way of reducing social tension in 2 ways…
1. Societal tensions can be reduced when there’s a scapegoat to blame
2. When individuals engage in small acts of minor deviance that act as a safety valve and let off some steam - Deviance functional only up to a point tho
- Urbanization and industrialization caused more deviance (less social integration and lower levels of moral regulation)
- Mechanical solidarity before urbanization, now we have organic solidarity
- When social change occurs at a too rapid pace, individualism gets out of control and bonds between people become weaker than is necessary for the well-being of society
- Traditional norms deteriorate, processes of social control decline and institutions become dysfunctional… a situation of anomie emerges
6
Q
Merton strain theory (functionalist)
A
- Deviance originates from the macro level (social structure) and the micro level (individual)
- Institutionalized goals + legitimate means
▪ Attaining the institutionalized goals has become more important than how you attain them - Not all ppl have equal access to legitimate opportunities which causes a gap and they must find ways to adapt
- Ppl can adapt to the gap in 5 different ways…
1. Conformity
□ Accepts institutionalized goals and legitimate means
2. Innovation
□ Accepts institutionalized goals but rejects legitimate means and finds alternates
3. Ritualism
□ Given up on the institutionalized goals but engage in legitimate means ( going thru motions)
4. Retreatism
□ Reject both institutionalized goals and legitimate means, isolate themselves
5. Rebellion
Reject both institutionalized goals and legitimate means, substitute new goals and means (vision for different world)
7
Q
Differential opportunity theory (functionalist)
A
- Social structure results in differential access to illegitimate opportunities
- Cuz of this, ppl in lower class communities may be a part of
1. Criminal gangs (criminal behaviour like small business)
2. Retreatist gangs (groups of ppl who retreat into drug/alc use)
3. Conflict gangs (competitive gangs)
Being a part of this makes certain illegitimate means more easily available
8
Q
General strain theory (functionalist)
A
- Strain creates negative affect and ppl don’t like this so try to get rid of negative feelings with the following coping strategies…
1. Cognitive coping strategies (reinterpret experiences)
2. Emotional coping strategies (can be deviant or conforming like health vs drugs)
3. Behavioural coping strategies (attempt to eliminate the strain itself) - These can sometimes cause deviance and sometimes not
9
Q
Status-frustration theory (functionalist)
A
- Classroom theory, lower class boys get treated poorly and then have status frustration then joining together (mutual conversation) and develop an oppositional standard to succeed
10
Q
Limitations of functionalist theories
A
- Logic…
Teleological (related to goals)
Tautological (circular) - Ideology
Ignore social and historical circumstances and has conservative bias in favour of the status quo - Bias
Social class and overemphasis on criminal behaviour, lack of attention to gender
11
Q
Learning theories
A
- Deviant behaviour as a result of learning processes
12
Q
Differential association theory (learning) small intimate groups
A
- Sutherland proposes deviant behaviour learned thru same process normal behaviour is learned
- Small intimate group interactions, depend on… Frequency
Duration
Priority
intensity - Individuals learn techniques and motives for certain behaviours
13
Q
Neutralization theory (learning)
A
- Motives (reasons)
- Techniques of neutralization rationalize peoples deviance
Denial of responsibility (shift blame)
Denial of injury (‘hurts no one’)
Denial of the victim (deserved it)
Condemnation of the condemners (person who caught them deviant) - Appealing to higher loyalties (serving higher purpose)
14
Q
Social learning theory (learning)
A
- Behaviour is the result of, definitions, differential association, imitation and differential reinforcements
- More likely to engage in behaviours we have been rewarded for not punished + what we see others getting rewarded and punished for
15
Q
Limitations of learning theories
A
- Can’t really know the amount of deviant and non-deviant associations in a persons life
- So difficult to test
16
Q
Control theories
A
- Direct their attention to why not all people become deviant cuz it is inherently appealing
17
Q
Social bonds theory (control)
A
- 4 types of social bonds restrain most of us from deviance
1. Attachment (to teachers parents etc.)
2. Commitment (to conformity)
3. Involvement (in conventional activities)
4. Belief ( in norms, values and assumptions)
18
Q
Self control theory (control)
A
- We restrain ourselves but some people cannot and this is from ineffective parenting
19
Q
Non-positivist theorizing, subjective
A
- Perceptions and reactions to deviant acts
- Interpretive theorizing is based on the assumption that the only reality is through understanding between people + how ppl develop understanding about the world
- Critical theorizing has a self-reflective value-orienting foundation
20
Q
Interpretive theorizing
A
- symbolic interactionism
21
Q
symbolic interactionism (interpretive)
A
- Social action comes from meaning and meaning is always created and recreated = society a process
- All interaction is through symbols
- We provide… conversational cues and interactional cues
- Role taking
- Looking-glass self
- These processes contribute to our understanding of the rules in society and how we identify ourselves in that
22
Q
Labelling theories (interpretive)
A
- ‘deviant’ labels make people treat them differently and has effect on how they perceive themselves
- ‘tagging’ plays in the dramatization of evil (while person considered evil not just the act)
- Primary deviance and secondary deviance (lifestyle)
- Master status (could have a deviant master status)
- Stigma (physical, moral and group stigma)
- Dramaturgy (front stage = spoiled identity, identity/impression management, stigma management, backstage)
- Tertiary deviance (between primary and secondary when someone can try to change social norms like LGBTQ)
23
Q
The deviant career (interpretive)
A
- Deviance emerges, progresses and changes over time and there are stages of involvement just like the development of a career
- Various career contingencies or significant turning points, influence the directions that people take at various points in the deviant career
24
Q
Limitations of interpretive theorizing
A
- Fail to address the social structure and its role surrounding deviance and normality
- Don’t explain the mechanisms by which some people are more able than others to determine the direction that the deviance dance will take
25
Q
Critical theorizing
A
- Theoretical and practical in nature
- Karl Marx said social scientists have responsibility to use their work for practical goals
26
Q
Conflict theories (critical)
A
- Social rules come out of conflict, members of powerful groups less likely to break rules than less powerful groups
Either their sense of oppression causes them to act out or social rules define the acts of powerless as deviant in the first place - Karl Marx: bourgeoisie and proletariat
- Instrumental Marxists (deviant label is an instrument used to control) vs. structural Marxists (social rules are to protect capitalism)
- Ideology teaches citizens ‘common sense’ via social institutions and achieve hegemony, society than develops a false consciousness
27
Q
Power-reflexive theories (critical)
A
- Foundation that emphasizes the intertwining of knowledge and power
- Multiple discourses coexist in society
- Prison panopticon when guards were always surveillance
proposed that the processes of industrialization and bureaucratization have created a panoptical society - Bureaucratization results in the development of numerous mechanisms of social control that ensure “normal” behavior and punish or prevent “deviant “behavior
- Therefore we regulate our own behaviours
28
Q
Feminist theories (critical)
A
- Academic research traditionally been male-oriented
- Structure of society is gendered, so are everyday experiences
- Research and theory must intertwine gender
- Intersectionality… Matrix of domination, structured inequalities intersect to form overlapping systems of oppression
29
Q
Post modern theories (critical)
A
Based on notion of rejection… Rejection of overarching theories of society, rejection of social categorization and rejection of the possibility of truth
- Skeptical postmodernism: says knowledge is not possible and only chaos and meaninglessness exists
- Affirmative postmodernism: deconstructs master narratives, overarching theories of knowledge and focuses analysis on local and specific
- Advanced capitalist societies faced rapid social change following the end of World War 2
- “the end of the individual” for this very reason; the individual is no more than the style or image being pursued at a given moment in time, an image that is disjointed and constantly changing”
30
Q
Limitations of critical theorizing
A
- conflict, poststructuralist, feminist, and postmodernist assumptions may be more appropriately considered processes, perspectives, or ideologies rather than formal theories with empirically verifiable propositions
- Theoretical integration is common… Critical and interpretive theories combines paint a picture of the social construction of deviance
31
Q
Social & political philosophy
A
- Influenced by historical, cultural and belief systems… dominant moral codes
- “To live together in peace, humans must follow a system of rules that Is indented to provide security, equality and justice
32
Q
Contractarianism
A
- Social contract… People give up sovereignty to a government / authority in order to receive or maintain social order
- Begin with examining human condition absent from structured order (the state of nature)
- Individual action is motivated by personal choice and conscience
33
Q
The controls, moral entrepreneurs
A
- Whatever our dominant belief system, the labels and sanctions will correspond
- Moral entrepreneurs: Take on the responsibility of persuading society to develop or to enforce rules that are consistent with its own ardently held moral beliefs
- The label might change, the sanctions might change, but the players end up being alarmingly similar
34
Q
Semantics
A
- Words and the ideas that they represent are culturally constructed and reproduced
- The words and ideas that we use frame how we see and interact with the world
35
Q
Ideology
A
- The process of production of meanings, signs and values in social life
- A body of ideas characteristic of a particular social group or class
- Action oriented set of beliefs
- False ideas which help to legitimate a dominant political power
- The medium in which conscious social actors make sense of their world
36
Q
Kinds of ideologies
A
- Political
- Religious
- Social
- Economic
37
Q
Antonia Gramsci
A
- Cultural and social analysis
- Cultural hegemony - ruling groups use cultural institutions to produce and maintain control
Naturalize
Habituate and normalize
Codified (laws, rules)
Control through consent
38
Q
Social change
A
We don’t own or possess an ideology - we live it In our thinking and interactions
○ Continuously enacted, adhered to, reproduced
○ We also resist
- It requires a collective cultural shift to have any meaningful change
○ Will not typically change inherently on their own
○ Exist through and are the result of collective social action
- If groups question the dominant ideology, powerful groups will justify and reinforce the ideology … How? By labelling those who dissent as morally wrong, evil or unnatural
39
Q
Our system encourages us to stay separate
A
- we are actively motivated to avoid exposure to each other’s opinions
○ Harm relationships - Social values inform social norms
- Many aspects of the way we socialize encourage us to right, to feel that it is our responsibility to prove we are right at the expense of someone else being wrong… Taught this is natural
40
Q
Forms of social control
A
- Punishment as retribution
2. Punishment as deterrence
3. Punishment to protect society
4. Punishment to rehabilitate
- Control through punishment
41
Q
Praxis
A
- Action –> reflection –> theory
- Refection and action upon the world in order to transform it
42
Q
4 main ways of studying deviance characteristics…
A
something that…
1. is statistically rare?
2. causes harm to society?
3. evokes a negative societal reaction?
4. is it a normative violation?
43
Q
A
