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Deviance and Social
Control
What is Deviance?
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Deviance: Behavior that violates
the standards of conduct or
expectations of a group or society
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Involves violation of group norms, which
may or may not be formalized into law
Subject to social definition within a
particular society and at a particular time
Aren’t we all deviant?
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Defined as any behavior that departs from
societal or group norms
Negative deviance (underconforming)
Positive deviance (overconforming)
If never too thin is the norm,
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Anorexia =?
Obesity = ?
What is Deviance?
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Deviance and Social Stigma
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Stigma: Labels society uses to
devalue members of certain social groups
Deviance and Technology
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Technological innovations can
redefine social interactions and
standards of behavior related to them
Biological and Psychological
Theories
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Biological
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Physical traits, body type leads to crime
Personality, intelligence, and anatomy
Psychological
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Criminal personality
Why Sociologists Critique
Psychologists
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Often ignore social, economic, and cultural
factors
Miss other crimes like white-collar crime
View deviance as physical or psychiatric
not social
Cannot explain variation (why some
people and not others)
Nature focused not nurture
Three Circumstances
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Social status and power of individual
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Social context of behavior
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Saints and Roughnecks
gambling
Historical period of behavior
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Sex, drugs, rock and roll
Social Control
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Social control: Techniques and
strategies employed for preventing
deviant human behavior in any society
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Parents
Peer groups
Companies
Government
Social Control
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Sanctions: penalties and rewards
for conduct concerning a social norm
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Death penalty ultimate formal sanction
Subject of controversy centered on
effectiveness of this sanction as social control
Conformity and Obedience
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Conformity: Going along with peers who
have no special right to direct behavior
Obedience: Compliance with higher
authorities in an hierarchical structure
Criminal Justice System
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Police, Courts, Correctional System
Deterrence (drinking and driving?)
Retribution (making them pay)
Incarceration (them away from us)
Rehabilitation?
Bowling for Columbine?
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US versus the world?
Better economy means less crime?
Informal and Formal Social
Control
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Informal social control
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Smiles, laughter, raised eyebrows, ridicule
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Formal social control: Carried
out by authorized agents
Law and Society
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Some norms are so important to a
society that they are formalized into laws
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Law: Governmental social control
The legal order reflects values of
those in a position to exercise authority
Control Theory: Connection to
members of society leads people to
systematically conform to society’s norms
Functionalist Perspective
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Durkheim’s Legacy
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Punishments established within
a culture help define acceptable
behavior and contribute to stability
Erikson illustrated boundarymaintenance function of deviance
Anomie: Loss of direction felt in
society when social control of individual
behavior has become ineffective
Functionalist Perspective
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Merton’s Theory of Deviance
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Anomie Theory of Deviance:
5 basic forms of adaptation
Conformist
 Innovator
 Ritualist
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• Retreatist
• Rebel
Interactionist Perspective
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Cultural Transmission Theory
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Cultural transmission: Humans learn
how to behave in social situations,
whether properly or improperly
Differential association: Process
through which exposure to attitudes
favorable to criminal acts leads
to the violation of rules (Sutherland)
Interactionist Perspective
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Social Disorganization Theory:
Increases in crime and deviance attributed
to absence or breakdown of communal
relationships and social institutions
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Some claim social disorganization
theory seems to “blame the victim”
Interactionist Perspective
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Labeling Theory: Attempts to explain
why some people are viewed as deviants
while others are not; also known as
societal-reaction approach
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Societal-reaction approach: response to
an act, not the behavior, determines deviance
Interactionist Perspective
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Labeling and Agents of Social Control
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Focuses on police, probation
officers, psychiatrists, judges,
teachers, employers, school
officials, and other
regulators of social control
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Social constructionist
perspective: deviance
product of the
culture we live in
Conflict Perspective
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People with power protect their own
interests and define deviance to suit their
needs
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Contend that the entire criminal justice
system
in the United States treats suspects differently
based on their racial, ethnic, or social-class
Differential justice: Differences in way
social control is exercised over different
groups
Crime: A Sociological Approach
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Crime: Violation of criminal law
for which governmental
authority applies formal penalties
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6 types of crime differentiated by sociologists:
Victimless
 Professional
 Organized
 White-collar and technology-based
 Hate crimes
 Transnational crime
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Types of Crime
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White Collar and Technology-Based Crime
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White Collar crime: Illegal acts committed
in the course of business activities
Computer crime: Use of high technology to
carry out embezzlement or electronic fraud
Corporate crime: Any act by a corporation
that is punishable by the government
Crime Statistics
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Crime index is disproportionately
devoted to property crimes
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Only track crimes reported
to law enforcement agencies
Victimization Surveys: Surveys of ordinary
people, not police officers, to determine
whether they have been victims of crime
The Death Penalty in
the U.S. and Worldwide
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Looking at the Issue
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Execution significant form of punishment for
deviance from social norms and criminal
behavior
In North America, death penalty used for centuries
to punish murder, alleged witchcraft, and other
crimes
 Death penalty is still on the books in most states
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As of late 2010, 95 nations renounced capital
punishment, and many more use it sparingly
The Death Penalty in
the U.S. and Worldwide
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Applying Sociology
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Debate over the death penalty focused
on its appropriateness as a form of
punishment and its value in deterring crime
Sanctions against deviant acts help to
reinforce society’s standards of proper behavior
 Death penalty also creates some dysfunctions
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Conflict theorists: social inequality in
society puts poor people at a disadvantage
The Death Penalty in
the U.S. and Worldwide
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Initiating Policy
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Several states considering broadening
range of offenses for which convicted
criminals may be sentenced to execution
A movement away from the death penalty
based on doubts about whether
executions can be carried out humanely
About 40 to 50 death sentences handed out
for the more than 15,000 reported murders
 International focus on China and Iran
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Discussion Questions
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Are the homeless deviant? (use theories)
Where does self control come from?
Use differential association theory to solve
recidivism
How is labeling good? Bad?
Labeling and mental illness?
Why so much crime in US?
Discussion Questions
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What is the purpose of prisons?
Does capital punishment work?
What about terrorism?
Solutions?