Stark: Chapter 7

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Sociology 101
Chapter 6 Crime and Deviance
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Deviance

• This is behavior that departs from social norms
• a. Nudist Colony
• b. Obesity
• c. Body Piercing
• Depends on social context

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Crime

• This is behavior that violates local, state or
  federal statutes

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Examples of Crime
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The Criminal Act
Most involve short range choices
Characteristics of the Criminal Act
Most are brief in duration
Most reap small but immediate rewards
Most are easy to commit, simple in design, and
exciting to the criminal
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Crime and Deviance The Differences

• Not all crimes are deviant
• a. Marijuana smoking
• b. Speeding
• Not all deviance is criminal
• a. Nudist colony
• b. Full body tattooing

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Functionalist Perspectives

• Deviance is universal because it serves three
  important functions
• Deviance clarifies rules
• Deviance unites a group
• Deviance promotes social change

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Types of Functionalist Theory

• Strain Theory (Robert Merton)
• The U.S. is a materialistic country and success
  is often defined in terms of material wealth
• People who are denied the legitimate
  opportunities to achieve goals innovate by
  developing deviant strategies
• 5 modes of adaptation
• Critiques
• Some poor people dont turn to crime
• Doesnt explain white collar crime
• Opportunity Theory (Richard Cloward and Lloyd
  Ohlin)
• expansion of Merton

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Mertons Typology of Individual Adaptation to
Anomie
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Conflict Perspective

• Conflict Perspective
• Point out that crime is often defined as
  activities of the less fortunate. But what about
  the fortunate?
• Note that armed robbery is often punished with a
  heavier sentence then, say, price fixing, even
  though the later cost society more
• Marx points to the capitalist system as
  inherently faulty and the cause of crime
• The system must convince people to buy goods
  while simultaneously keeping wages low to ensure
  higher profits for businesses
• This contradiction forces workers to turn to
  crime to get the things they cannot afford
• Similar to anomie theory, yet differs in that it
  suggests that full employment wont solve the
  problem. Why?
• Because its the system that causes the problem
  in the 1st place.

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Symbolic Interactionist Perspectives

• Social Constructionism
• Differential Association-social learning (Edwin
  Sutherland)
• Friends and relatives teach us to to deviate by
  rewarding us for deviant behavior and not
  rewarding nondeviance
• Lots of support from research. About 50 of
  young defenders have deviant friends/relatives
• Doesnt explain why kids have deviant relatives
  friends though
• Control Theory (Walter Reckless, Travis Hirschi)
• People are more likely to become delinquent when
  social bonds are weak
• Attachments, investments, involvements, beliefs
• Labeling Theory (Howard Becker)

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Producing Deviance

• How does something come to be defined as deviant
  (not necessarily criminal)?
• Often, something becomes deviant when people are
  persuaded to see it as morally or socially
  discrediting
• Sociologists call this process the social
  construction of deviance
• Smoking as an example
• Smoking is not inherently deviant, its
  deviance is socially constructed

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An Example... Smoking In The Early 1970s

• Non-Deviant Deviant
• 1. Smoking in an 1.Smoking in the
  presence
• airplane of a lady without asking
• 2. Smoking outdoors prior permission

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An Example... Smoking In The Early 1970s

• Non-Deviant Deviant
  
• Smoking outdoors
  Smoking in an airplane Smoking
  in the presence
• of a lady without
  asking

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Smoking In The 1990s

• Non-Deviant Deviant
• Smoking outdoors Smoking on an
• Airplane

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The Steps Of Constructing An Activity As Deviant

• 1. The idea of a boundary must occur to someone
• 2. Create public horror stories
• 3. Create a moral panic
• 4. Impute responsibility to outsiders
• 5. Recruit opinion leaders
• 6. Develop practical responses or legislation
• 7. Enact legislation

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Behavior
Noticed
Not Noticed
Label as a Violation of Norms
Not Labeled
Apply Sanction
Do Not Apply Sanction
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Assumptions of Labeling Theory
Rules are Socially Constructed
Definitions of What Constitutes Deviant
Behavior Varies Across Time and Place
Arbitrary Enforcement
Some People Who Break Rules Are Not Detected or
Not Sanctioned If They are Detected and Some Who
Do Not Break Rules Are Treated As If They Had
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Postmodern Perspectives

• Power, knowledge and social control are
  intertwined
• New means of surveillance creates a form of power
  of some over others.
• The Panopticon

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Consider this

• Foucault contended that new means of surveillance
  would make it possible for prison officials to
  use their knowledge of prisoners activities as a
  form of power over inmates. How is this power
  being exerted by these guards?

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How the Law Classifies Crime

• A felony is a serious crime such as rape,
  homicide, or aggravated assault, for which
  punishment typically ranges from more than a
  years imprisonment to death.
• A misdemeanor is a minor crime typically punished
  by less than one year in jail.

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FBI Crime Clock
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Arrest Rates by Gender, 2010
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Arrests by Race, 2010
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Discretionary Powers in Law Enforcement
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Death Row Census, July 2011