Transcript Deviance and Social Control Notes (Chpt 6)

Deviance and Social Control Notes
(Chpt 6)
Ashley Jones
What is Deviance?
• The term DEVIANCE refers to any violation of normsminor or major.
• It is not the act itself, but the reaction to the act that
makes something deviant
• Relativity to Deviance: What is deviant to some may
not be considered deviant to others. (Yanomamo story
of hallucinogenic drugs, dripping mucus, nudity or the
Pokot in Kenya who sneak up on husbands in their
sleep to hog tie, beat, and humiliate men who do not
sexually satisfy their wife)
• A CRIME is a specific form of deviance- The violation of
rules that have been written into law
• STIGMA: this term refers to characteristics that
discredit people- Victim of AIDS, Pitbull dogs, brother
of a rapist etc.
How norms make social life possible
• No human group could exist without norms, for
norms make social life possible by making
behavior predictable
• We are socialized to follow norms, to play the
basic roles that society assigns to us
• Norms bring about SOCIAL ORDER-a groups
customary social arrangements
• Deviance undermines predictability, the
foundation of social life
• Consequently, human groups develop a system of
social control-formal and informal means of
enforcing norms
Sanctions
• NEGATIVE SANCTIONS-Expressions of
disapproval of deviance is frowns, gossip,
capitol punishment
• POSITIVE SANCTIONS-Used to reward people
for conforming to norms ie smiles, hugs,
formal awards
• Whether you consider the breaking or
honoring of the norm merely an amusing
matter or one that deserves a more serious
infraction depends on your perspective.
The Three Competing Explanations of Deviance:
Sociobiologists
• Sociobiologists focus within and individual. They assume that
GENETIC PREDISPOSITIONS lead people to such deviances as
juvenile delinquency and crime.
• Among their explanations are these three theories:
1. Intelligence: Low intelligence leads to crime
2. The “XYY” theory: an extra Y chromosome in males leads to
crime
3. Body Type: people with “squarish, muscular” bodies are more
likely to commit SREET CRIME- acts such as mugging, rape, and
burglary.
• These theories are subject to much debate. It is noted that
criminals are usually highly intelligent, most men who commit
crimes have the normal XY chromosome combination, not to
forget that this characteristic cannot be applied to females. And as
far as body type goes, criminals exhibit the full range of body
types.
Phsycologists
• Psychologists also focus on abnormalities within
an individual. They examine PERSONALITY
DISORDERS.
• This supposition is that deviating individuals have
deviating personalities-subconscious motives
drive people to deviance based on personal
negative experiences.
• However, no childhood experience can be directly
linked to deviance. For example, someone who
grew up with a “suffocating mother”, “bad toilet
training” etc. have the same chance as ending up
a military hero as they do a bank robber, all the
same.
Sociologists
• In contrast, sociologists focus on factors outside the
individual.
• To account for why people commit crimes external
influences are examined such as: Socialization,
membership in subcultures, and social class.
• The question sociologists ask is “Why should we
expect to find something constant within people to
account for behavior that is conforming in one
society and deviant in another?”
• Three sociological perspectives are applied:
1. Symbolic interactionism
2. Functionalism
3. Conflict Theory
The Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective
• A basic principle of symbolic interactionism is
that we are thinking beings who act according
to our interpretations of situations.
• The three theories of Symbolic
Interactionalism
1. Differential Association Theory
2. Control Theory
3. Labeling Theory
Differential Association Theory
•
•
•
•
Edwin Sutherland
This refers to our experience within groups.
Extreme example: Joining a gang or Joining the Scouts
DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION-From the different groups
we associate with, we learn to deviate from or conform
to societies norms.
• Basically, our differential association gives us messages
about conformity and deviance which may cause mixed
messages but we usually end up with more of one and
less of the other resulting in an imbalance. In the end,
we either learn to conform or deviate.
• Our family, friends, neighborhoods, and subcultures
affect whether or not we are deviant or conformist.
• Symbolic Interactionists stress that we are not
prisoners of socialization , rather, we help to produce
our own orientations to life.
Control Theory
• We all have temptations to break societies norms.
Most of the time we manage to stifle these urges and
keep ourselves out of trouble.
• The main question of the Conflict Theory being “With
the desire to deviate so common, why don’t we all just
‘bust loose’”?
• Walter Reckless stressed that two control systems work
against our motivations to deviate.
1. Inner controls-conscious, religious principles, ideas of
right and wrong, fears of punishment, feelings of
integrity, and the desire to be a “good” person.
2. Outer controls- consist of people such as family,
friends and the police. In other words people who
help us to not deviate.
Labeling Theory
• Focuses on the significance of reputation, and whether or not that
label steers us towards deviance or leads us away from it.
• There are five techniques used to deflect societies norms:
Techniques of Neutralization.
1. Denial of responsibility-”I couldn’t help myself”.
2. Denial of injury-”Who really got hurt”?
3. Denial of a victim-”Don’t you think she deserved that, after what
she did”.
4. Condemnation of condemners-”Who are you to judge”.
5. Appeal to higher loyalties-”I had to help the people I am obligated
to”.
• Labels open and close the doors of opportunity
• “Saints” and “Roughnecks” research- Those perceived as saints are
let off the hook easier and generally treated better and receive
better treatment and opportunity than “roughnecks” paving the
way for the rest of each groups lives.
The Functionalist Theory
• Funtionalists are likely to stress the FUNTIONS of
deviance
• Emile Durkheim claims deviance, including crime,
is functional for society, for it contributes to the
social order.
• Its three main functions are:
1. Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms
norms
2. Deviance promotes social unity
3. Deviance promotes social change
Strain Theory
• The crucial problem of the industrialized world:
the need to find and train its talented people.
• CULTURAL GOALS: success of some sort, such as
wealth or prestige, that everyone wants.
• INSTITUTIONALIZED MEANS: the legitimate ways
to reach those goals that are not easily accessible
to everyone.
• Strain refers to the frustration people feel when
they want success but feel the way to it blocked.
Four Deviant Paths
• Innovation: Accept the goals of society but use
illegitimate means to try to reach them. (embezzlers,
robbers, con artists)
• Ritualism: Give up on the main goal, yet still cling to
rules and regulations. (a teacher who becomes burnedout yet still remains in the classroom without
enthusiasm.)
• Retreatism: reject both the cultural goals and the
institutionalized means of achieving them. (a person
who becomes a drug addict or alcoholic.)
• Rebellion: Convinced that their society is corrupt, like
retreatists, rebels reject both cultural goals and the
means of achieving them, yet they seek to give society
new social goals as well as new means for achieving
them.
Social Class and Crime
• Street Crime: Illegitimate Opportunity Structure-Its not
that the poor are left without opportunity, its that an
alternative door to success opens: “Hustles” such as
robbery, burglary, drug dealing, prostitution etc.
• These types of roles present an image of a glamorous
life, of people who are in control and have a lot of ‘easy
money’. Its easy to see then how this would attract a
significant amount of poor people to this world.
• As a result of our opportunities due to our social class,
street crime is higher among the lower social class.
Social Class and Crime cont.
• White Collar Crime: Edwin Sutherland coined the term to refer to
people of respectable and high social statuses committing crimes in
the course of their occupations. For example, Physicians cheating
Medicare, evading income tax, bribing public officials, and
embezzling.
• Corporate Crime- A special form of Whit Collar Crime, these are
crimes committed by executives in order to benefit their
corporation.
• As a result of our opportunities due to our social class, white collar
crime is higher among the higher social class.
• Companies like Sears defraud millions from victims so poor that
they had to file for bankruptcy. Other similar companies like
Bloomingdales and Macy’s, in order to avoid the same fate, settled
out of court for committing the same crimes. Another corporation,
Citigroup, is notorious for stealing from the poor as well as
sweeping money from its customers credit cards even though some
of the owners of the credit cards were deceased. For its crimes, this
company has had to pay out a total of about 90 Million dollars. It is
noted that not one of these executives has done any time in jail for
committing said crimes.
The Conflict Perspective
• Conflict Theorists regard power and social
inequality as the main characteristics of society.
• They stress that the power elite uses the legal
system to control workers and to stabilize the
social order, all with the goal of keeping itself in
power. If the poor rebel, they pose the serious
threat of dislodging the members of the power
elite from their place of privilege. To avoid such a
thing, the power elite enforces heavy penalties
on those whose crimes would upset the social
order.
Reactions to Deviance
• No matter the action, and violation of norms invites a reaction.
Street Crimes and Prisons
• The amount of people sent to jail for committing crimes has
dramatically increased. 816% and 17 times greater than the POP
growth between 1970 and 2007
• “Three-Strikes” law: Anyone convicted of a third felony receives
a mandatory sentence, sometimes life in prison.
• The RECIDIVISM RATE- the percentage of former prisoners who
are rearrested. Within three years of arrest, two out of three
(62%) are rearrested. It is safe to conclude that prisons do not
teach people that crime doesn’t pay.
• There is an idea that prison is just a school for criminals, a place
where criminals get sent to learn how to become better
criminals; A vicious and dangerous cycle.
• Death Penalty and bias: Geography, Social Class, Gender, RaceEthinicity
• Hate Crime- Crimes motivated by bias (dislike, hatred) against
someone’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability etc.
Reactions cont.
The Medicalization of Deviance: Mental Illness
• Medicalization- to make something a medical matter
• The MEDICALIZATION OF DEVIANCE: In this view,
deviance, including crime, is a sign of mental sickness.
Rape, murder, stealing, cheating, etc. are signs of internal
disorders.
• A perfect example is the “diagnosis” of ADD/ADHD.
Children are known to misbehave and be rambunctious,
but now their behavior is considered a mental illness.
• Peoples reactions to how they deal with life, good or bad,
are behaviors not mental illness stresses As Szasz.
• Why do people react to life the way they do? The
answers depend on those peoples particular experiences
in life, not an illness in their mind.
The Homeless Mentally Ill
• A homeless person is thought of, generally, as
bizarre and not fitting any reality we know.
• The question being, how much could you take in
the life of a homeless person before you became
considered “insane” according to societies
norms?
• The catch 22 that Mental Illness causes
homelessness and homelessness causes mental
illness.
The need for a more Humane
approach
• As Durkheim pointed out, Deviance is inevitable- even in a group of
saints.
• Because of this, one measure of society is how it treats it deviants.
• Obviously a “warehouse of the unwanted”, aka a prison, where the
poor, uneducated, and unskilled are locked away from a functioning
society doesn’t say much good about the U.S. system.
• Where white collar criminals “get away” with a their crimes with a slap
on the wrist while street criminals are severely punished.
• Some deviants who fail to meet the requirements of prison or mental
institutions retreat into shelters or a cardboard box under the viaduct.
• Although no one has the “right” answer, it is clear when you really look
at it that there is a better, more humane way to approach these issues.
• In the absence of fundamental changes, most efforts are usually in
vain.
• What we need is a more humane social system, one that would
prevent todays social inequalities which is the main focus of the next
four chapters.