Feminist Theory Chesney-Lind

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Feminist TheoryChesney-Lind

• Part II
• Chapter 10

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I. Toward a Feminist Theory of Delinquency

• Construction of explanations of female behavior
  that are sensitive to its patriarchal context
• Examines ways in which agencies of social control
  (the police, the courts, and the persons) act in
  ways to reinforce a womans place in male society
• It would first and foremost be sensitive to the
  situations of girls.
• Negative example womens movement causing
  increase in womens crime

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II. Criminalizing Girls Survival

• Data show that girls are more likely to be
  referred to court by non-law enforcement agencies
  (including parents and family)
• This holds true for status charges (in which
  girls are overrepresented) as well

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II. Criminalizing Girls Survival

• Girls may be trying to escape parents and
  families for several reasons
• Parents double standard of behavior at home may
  become a source of tension
• Girls are more likely to be victims of child
  sexual abuse, which may occur at home
• Studies of girls on the streets, or in legal
  custody, show high rates of physical/sexual abuse
• Studies of adult women in prison who show high
  rates of childhood physical/sexual abuse
  including rape

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II. Criminalizing Girls Survival

• A feminist theory of female delinquency would
  recognize these facts
• Girls may have more reason to run away from home
  than boys
• Patriarchy means the abusers (family) can call
  authorities to apprehend and/or punish those
  daughters/victims
• Girls are more likely to be defined as sexually
  desirable
• Once on the streets, their lives are shaped by
  patriarchal institutions that devalue women, such
  as prostitution
• Girls and women get caught in a vicious cycle of
  victimization, delinquency and crime

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Review Questions

• Why is a feminist theory of deviance necessary?
• How do agents of social control reinforce a
  females place in a male-dominated society?

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The Constructionist StanceBest

• Part II
• Chapter 11

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I. The Emergence of Constructionism Roots in Two
Developments
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A. Berger and Luckmanns (1966) work on the
sociology of knowledge

• Show how social life shapes everything people
  know
• Introduce term social constructionism to wide
  audience, which implies that problems are
  assigned particular meanings via social
  interaction

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B. Labeling theory, dominant approach to studying
deviance in 1960s, criticized

• Conflict theorists charged it ignored how elites
  shape deviance definitions
• Feminists charged it ignored womens
  victimization by men
• Gay rights activists and others argued they were
  political minorities, not deviants

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II. The Constructionist Response
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The Constructionist Response

• Some labeling-oriented sociologists began to move
  away from the study of deviance
• Kitsuse led several in study of how and why
  specific social problems emerged as topics of
  public concern
• Redefined social problems as claims by certain
  interest groups or claims-makers that a
  particular set of social conditions were a problem

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III. The Return to Deviance
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The Return to Deviance

• Constructionists study of social problems still
  reflected themes of deviance
• Construction of rape, child abduction, illicit
  drugs, family violence
• Many studies traced rise of social problems on
  national level such as War on Drugs
• Others looked at how problems were translated
  into action by police officers, social workers,
  and others
• Example
• The way police and the courts construct and
  label perpetrators and victims of family violence

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IV. Constructionisms Domain
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Constructionisms Domain

• Today this approach is an influential stance for
  the study of deviance at macro and micro levels,
  and for how and why particular forms of deviance
  emerge as a concern
• It emphasizes the interpretive work whereby
  various persons assign meaning and make sense of
  behavior as deviant

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Review Questions

• What are the advantages of studying social
  problems?
• What does the constructionist perspective
  emphasize and how does it differ from other
  perspectives of deviance?

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