Managing a Deviant Identity

1
Managing a Deviant Identity

• Attempts at Normalizing primary deviance in the
  Labeling process
• When people are judged as deviant, they are
  expected to explain their behavior (primary
  deviance)
• Often accomplished by the use of Vocabularies of
  Motive
• Provides a strategy for the individual to
  create/maintain distance between the deviance
  and their own self concept
• Common Assumptions about Vocabularies of Motive
• Rely upon consensus about conventional norms
• - Those labeled deviant feel the sting of
  stigma and moral judgment it implies
• - Deviants admire respect those with some
  claim to conventional status

2
Vocabularies of Motive The Sociology of
Mitigating Stigma

• Vocabulary of Motive (C. Wright Mills)
• An attempt to present an act that produces a
  negative reaction in terms that are culturally
  acceptable
• 2 Frameworks that identify types of Vocabularies
  of Motive
• Techniques of Neutralization (Matza and Sykes
  1957)
• Accounts (Scott and Lyman 1968)

3
Negotiating a Deviant Identity

• Techniques of Neutralization
• People labeled deviant employ rationalizations
  to free them from social bonds (constrained
  acts). Employed prior to act.
• Sometimes associated with Control theory
  (Hirschi). How come?
• Denial of Responsibility (Social forces caused
  individual action)
• Denial of Injury (No real harm was caused no
  blood no foul)
• Denial of Victim (Victim deserved harm)
• Condemnation of Condemners (Shift focus to
  actions of social control agents)
• Appeal to Higher Loyalties (Subcultural
  values/associations take precedence over
  conventional value systems)

4
Influence of Situational Cheating Among College
Students (Reserve 5 - McCabe)

• Analysis of Techniques of Neutralization used by
  students.
• Data Source?
• Extent of Cheating?
• Review of Neutralization Techniques
• Most common techniques used? Examples?

5
Vocabularies of Motive

• Accounts
• Linguistic tools that attempt to remove some of
  the blame or responsibility for an act judged as
  deviant after it has been committed.
• Socially approved vocabularies effectively
  neutralize the act or its consequences for the
  actors self concept
• Note that this is one important difference b/t
  Accounts and Techniques of Neutralization (which
  Matza and Sykes claim must occur before the
  (deviant) act).

6
Vocabularies of Motive

• Accounts
• 2 Types
• Excuses
• Justifications
• Both entail 2 elements
• Stance on the moral judgment of the act
• Stance on the culpability of the (deviant) actor

7
Vocabularies of Motive

• Excuses
• Admit the act is bad (agree with social judgment
  of the act)
• Does not accept full responsibility
• Justifications
• Deny social judgment of the act as wrong (in
  conflict with social norms)
• Justifications suggest that the act was
  appropriate in light of the circumstances
• Accepts responsibility for the act (logical -
  since the act is not conceived of as morally
  wrong)

8
Rapists Vocabulary of Motive (Scully and Marolla,
Ch 23)

• Data Source?
• Breakdown of Rapists Linguistic Strategies
• Admitters
• Deniers
• Excuses
• Use of Alcohol and Drugs
• Rapist vs. Victim Patterns
• Emotional Problems
• Nice Guy Image
• Social Capital of Rapist

9
Rapists Vocabulary of Motive (Scully and Marolla,
Ch 23)

• Justifications
• Broadly available in contemporary American
  society
• Available to both Rapists/Victims and Society as
  a whole
• Women as Seductresses (sexually aggressive)
• No really means Yes
• Most relax and enjoy it
• Nice girls dont get raped (Sexual reputation of
  victim)
• Guilty of a minor wrong
• What strategy was being employed by Kobe Bryants
  defense team?
• Conclusions about the Medical Model?