Deviance

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear, “deviance” or “deviants”?

How do you define deviant behavior?

Sociological Definition: Deviance

•Behavior,

• belief, or

• condition

•that violates social norms

Sociological View of Deviance•N

ot just a personal characteristic•R

eflects social order and social conflict

•Power•Of deviants to engage in non-normative behaviors undetected;

•Of some groups to create rules and labels for others

•Nothing inherently deviant•Always social comparison

•Diversity often labeled deviance

Deviance

Describe an instance when you (or someone you know) was defined as “deviant”.

What norm(s) had been violated?

What were the consequences?

Who was the “enforcer”?

What gave the “enforcer” the right (or power) to define you or someone you know as deviant?

Distribution of Deviance: Crime

•“Violation of a norm that has been codified into law.”

•Crime Rates vs Crime Statistics•Reporting Issues•To Police•To FBI•By Type of Crime•By nature of offender and victim•Location•Blaming the Victim

UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS’ CRIME INDEX

OFFENSES:1.

Homicide 2. Forcible

Rape 3. Robbery 4.

Aggravated Assault5.

Burglary 6. Larceny-

Theft7. Motor

Vehicle Theft8. Arson

UCR HOME PAGE IS FOUND AT: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

Property Crimes

Organized Crime•C

riminal activities carried out by organizations established as businesses.

•Power structure

•Complex division of labor

•Violence or the threat of violence

•Restricted membership

•Illegal enterprises

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/glossary

Organized Crime•L

ong-standing history in U.S. (Prior to 20th century)•F

lourished around time of Prohibition

•Most profitable activities:

•Gambling

•Loan sharking

•Narcotics trafficking

•Extortion (paying for “protection”)

•Prostitution

•Bootlegging

White Collar Crime

•Idea of white-collar crime first introduced by Edwin H. Sutherland during his presidential address at American Sociological Society Meeting in 1939.

•Concerned with criminological community’s preoccupation with the low status offender and “street crimes”

White Collar Crime

•The relative inattention given to offenses perpetrated by people in higher status occupations

•Sutherland stated that white-collar crime “may be defined approximately as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation”.

Examples of White Collar Crime •E

mbezzlement (Take money for one's own use in violation of a trust)

•Bribery

•Environmental law violations

•Price fixing

•Identity theft

•Computer fraud

10 White Collar Crime Cases That Made Headlines

http://www.criminaljusticeusa.com/blog/2011/10-white-collar-crime-cases-that-made-headlines/

Deviance: Drugs and Drug Use

•Laws that make drug use “deviance” symbolize the moral superiority of members of the dominant culture

The Social (Legal) Drugs•T

obacco•Smoker as “deviant”

•Caffeine•Coffee as a symbol in American culture

•Alcohol•Social and economic forces encourage drinking

•Alcohol’s damage•The medicalization of alcoholism

Preventable Causes of Death

Toxic agents: Pesticides, cyanide, radiation, snake venom

Microbial agents: Bacteria, viruses, such as anthrax, Ebola, cholera

Is deviance always criminal or bad?

•Basic forms of rule-breaking behavior:

•1. “Good” or “Admired” behavior•Heroism –saving another person’s life, while putting your life in great danger

•2. “Odd” behavior

•Outlandish or inappropriate modes of dress

•Mildly eccentric behavior (shares house with 50 cats) to outright madness (shares house with 50 dead cats)

10/23 Deviance in Everyday Interactions

“Everyday Deviances” are occasional slip-ups which temporarily mark us as awkward.

Efforts to avoid everyday deviances:1.

Control of Space (social distance)

2. Control of Props (spilling drink)

3. Control of Bodies (tripping, falling down)

Everyday Deviance- Style

Appearance & Gender – What kinds of sanctions are applied when people don’t dress consistent with their sex?

Appearance & Age – What expectations (in terms of appearance) do we have of someone based upon his/her age?

Everyday Deviance - Sports

Sports & Deviance

•Deviant conduct on field of play

•Deviant conduct off the field•Manipulation of the outcome of games (e.g., gambling)

Everyday Deviance - Emotions

Sociologist Arlie Hochschild

Feeling rules

How we ought to feel in given situations

Emotion work

Attempts to change, in degree or quality, an

emotion or feeling

Why do people follow the rules most of the time?

• Social Control• Societal attempts to regulate people’s

thoughts & behavior: Three types1. Personal Control2. Informal Social Control3. Formal Social Control

Criminal Justice System• Formal response by police, courts, and

prison officials to violations of the law

Common Institutions Of Social Control

•Institutions

Religion

Business

Political State

Family

Explanations of Deviance

•Historical non social-scientific explanations

•Patterns of Bumps on head

•“The Devil made me do it”

•Mental issues

•Bad Seed

•Functionalist:

Helps maintain social stability•Deviance provides examples of what must be avoided

•Some deviance can lead to positive social change

Sociological Explanations

Merton’s Strain Theory of Deviance

Society causes deviance by placing pressure on individuals to conform. •5 forms of adaptation to cultural expectations

1. Conformist2. Innovator3. Ritualist4. Retreatist5. Rebel

1. CONFORMIST

• SOCIALLLY APPROVED GOAL:

• Making $$$

• SOCIALLY APPROVED MEANS:

• Gets a college education

• Works Hard

2. INNOVATOR

• SOCIALLLY APPROVED GOAL:

• Making $$$

• NOT SOCIALLY APPROVED MEANS:

• Sells illegal drugs• White collar crime• Joins the mafia

3. RITUALIST

• SOCIALLLY APPROVED GOAL:

• Making $$$

• Fails to Achieve Socially Approved Goal:

• Keeps working hard anyway

4. RETREATIST

• SOCIALLLY APPROVED GOAL:

• Making $$$

• Reject Goal and the Means:

• Works in supermarket & lives with parents

5. REBEL

• SEEKS NEW GOAL:

• Adventure

• Promoting equality

• NEW MEANS

• Works for political change

• Starts a revolution

• Starts a cult

Symbolic Interactionist or Labeling Theory

•Howard Becker's approach to the labeling of deviance, as described in Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (1963), views deviance as the creation of social groups and not the quality of some act or behavior.

Conflict Theory: Power and Inequality View

• Links deviance to social inequality

• Who or what is labeled deviant depends on people who hold power in society

• Example: • Criminal justice system serves the

interests of the powerful

• Protects their interests

• Define deviance to suit their needs

Power and Inequality View People labeled deviant are typically those

who share the trait of powerlessness

Three social-conflict explanations:Three social-conflict explanations:

1. Norms & especially laws of society generally reflect the interests of the rich & powerful

2. Even if their behavior is questioned, the powerful have the resources to resist deviant labels

3. The widespread belief that norms & laws are natural & good hides their political (power) character