Deviance

1
Deviance

• Chapter 8

2
What Is Deviance?

• The word deviance connotes odd or unacceptable
  behavior, but in the sociological sense of the
  word, deviance is simply any violation of
  societys norms.
• Deviance can range from something minor, such as
  a traffic violation, to something major, such as
  murder.

3
Relativism and Deviance

• Deviance is a relative issue, and standards for
  deviance change based on a number of factors,
  including the following
• 1 Location
• 2 Age
• 3 Social status
• 4 Individual societies

4
Deviant Traits

• A person does not need to act in a deviant manner
  in order to be considered deviant.

5
Deviant Traits

• Sometimes people are considered deviant because
  of a trait or a characteristic they possess.
• Sociologist Erving Goffman used the term stigma
  to identify deviant characteristics.
• These include violations of the norms of physical
  ability or appearance.

6
Social Control

• Punishing people for deviant behavior reminds
  people what is expected of them and what will
  happen if they do not conform to societys norms.
  
• Every society has methods of social control, or
  means of encouraging conformity to norms.
• These methods of social control include positive
  sanctions and negative sanctions.

7
Positive Sanctions

• Society uses positive sanctions to reward people
  for following norms.
• Positive sanctions can be formal, such as an
  award or a raise.
• They can also be informal and include words,
  gestures, or facial expressions.
• A reaction to an individuals actions can be a
  positive sanction, even if it is not intended to
  be.

8
Negative Sanctions

• Negative sanctions can range from formal to
  informal.
• Some subcultures dole out negative sanctions for
  behaviors generally condoned by the rest of
  society.
• Academic achievement is usually held in high
  esteem.
• Some subcultures, succeeding in a way that the
  dominant society approves of is not considered a
  good thing.
• In some gangs, getting good grades is not
  acceptable, and gang members who do well in
  school are criticized by their friends for
  selling out.
• Conformity to traditional figures of authority,
  such as teachers, is negatively sanctioned.

9
Symbolic Inter-actionist Perspective

• Symbolic inter-actionists study how people use
  symbols to create meaning.

10
THEORY OF DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION

• Sociologist Edwin Sutherland studied deviance
  from the symbolic inter-actionist perspective.
• The basic tenet of his theory of differential
  association is that deviance is a learned
  behavior people learn it.

11
Edwin Sutherland

• He further explained exactly what one learns from
  people who commit deviance.
• He said that the future deviant learns values
  different from those of the dominant culture, as
  well as techniques for committing deviance.

12
Edwin Sutherland

• Part of Sutherlands theory is that if people
  learn deviance from others, the people with whom
  we associate are of utmost importance.
• The closer the relationship, the more likely
  someone is to be influenced.

13
Deviant Subcultures

• When individuals share a particular form of
  deviance, they often
• form a deviant subculture, a way of living that
  differs from the dominant culture and is based on
  that shared deviance.

14
Control Theroy

• Sociologist Walter Reckless developed the control
  theory to explain how some people resist the
  pressure to become deviants.
• According to control theory, people have two
  control systems that work against their desire to
  deviate.
• Each person has a set of inner controls and outer
  controls.

15
Travis Hirschi and Control Theory

• Sociologist Travis Hirschi elaborated on the
  control theory.
• He identified four elements that would render an
  individual more or less likely to commit
  deviance attachment, commitment, involvement,
  and belief.

16
Labeling Theory

• A key aspect of the symbolic inter-actionist
  perspective of deviance is labeling theory.
• First proposed by sociologist Howard Becker in
  the 1960s, labeling theory posits that deviance
  is that which is so labeled.
• No status or behavior is inherently deviant until
  other people have judged it and labeled it
  deviant.

17
Primary and Secondary Deviance

• Sociologist Edwin Lemert differentiated between
  primary deviance and secondary deviance.
• The difference between primary deviance and
  secondary deviance is in the reactions other
  people have to the original act of deviance.
• Primary deviance is a deviant act that provokes
  little reaction and has limited effect on a
  persons self-esteem.
• The deviant does not change his or her behavior
  as a result of this act.
• Secondary deviance includes repeated deviant
  behavior that is brought on by other peoples
  negative reactions to the original act of primary
  deviance.

18
Chambliss and the Saints and Roughnecks

• In the 1970s, sociologist William Chambliss
  studied two groups of high school boys to find
  out how strongly labels affected them.

19
Structural Functional Theory

• Another framework sociologists use to understand
  the world is the structural functional theory.
• Its central idea is that society is a complex
  unit, made up of interrelated parts.
• Sociologists who apply this theory study social
  structure and social function.
• French sociologist Emile Durkheim based his work
  on this theory.

20
Functions of Deviance

• Emile Durkheim
• Affirmation of cultural norms and values Seeing
  a person punished for a deviant act reinforces
  what a society sees as acceptable or unacceptable
  behavio
• 2. Clarification of right and wrong Responses to
  deviant behavior help individuals distinguish
  between right and wrong.
• 3. Unification of others in society Responses to
  deviance can bring people closer together.
• 4. Promoting social change Deviance can also
  encourage the dominant society to consider
  alternative norms and values.

21
Strain Theory of Deviance

• Sometimes people find that when they attempt to
  attain culturally approved goals, their paths are
  blocked.
• Not everyone has access to institutionalized
  means, or legitimate ways of achieving success.
• Strain theory, posits that when people are
  prevented from achieving culturally approved
  goals through institutional means, they
  experience strain or frustration that can lead to
  deviance.
• People also experience anomie, or feelings of
  being disconnected from society, which can occur
  when people do not have access to the
  institutionalized means to achieve their goals.

22
Institutionalized Means to Success

• In the 1960s, sociologists Richard Cloward and
  Lloyd Ohlin theorized that the most difficult
  task facing industrialized societies is finding
  and training people to take over the most
  intellectually demanding jobs from the previous
  generation.
• To progress, society needs a literate, highly
  trained work force. Societys job is to motivate
  its citizens to excel in the workplace, and the
  best way to do that is to foment discontent with
  the status quo.
• Cloward and Ohlin argued that if people were
  dissatisfied with what they had, what they
  earned, or where they lived, they would be
  motivated to work harder to improve their
  circumstances.
• In order to compete in the world marketplace, a
  society must offer institutionalized means of
  succeeding.
• For example, societies that value higher
  education as a way to advance in the work place
  must make educational opportunity available to
  everyone.

23
Illegitimate Opportunity Structures

• Cloward and Ohlin further elaborated on Mertons
  strain theory.
• Deviant behaviorcrime in particularwas not just
  a response to limited institutionalized means of
  success. Crime also resulted from increased
  access to illegitimate opportunity structures, or
  various illegal means to achieve success.
• These structures, such as crime, are often more
  available to poor people living in urban
  slums.
• A poor person can become involved in
  prostitution, robbery, drug dealing, or loan
  sharking to make money.
• While these activities are clearly illegal, they
  often provide opportunities to make large
  amounts of money, as well as gain status
  among ones peers.

24
Reactions to Cultural Goals Institutionalized
Means
Method of adaptation Cultural goals Institutionalized means
Conformists Accept Accept
Innovators Accept Reject
Ritualists Reject Accept
Retreatists Reject Reject
Rebels Reject / Replace Reject / Replace
25
Conflict Perspective

• A third important sociological framework is the
  conflict theory.
• Unlike the structural functional theory, which
  views society as a peaceful unit, conflict theory
  interprets society as a struggle for power
  between groups engaging in conflict for limited
  resources.

26
Conflict Perspective

• Karl Marx is the founder of conflict theory.
• Conflict theorists like Marx posit that there are
  two general categories of people in
  industrialized societies the capitalist class
  the working class.
• The capitalist class, or elite consists of those
  in positions of wealth and power who own the
  means of production or control access to the
  means of production.

27
Conflict Perspective

• The working class consists of relatively
  powerless individuals who sell their labor to the
  capitalist class.
• It is advantageous to the elite to keep the
  working class in a relatively disadvantaged
  position so that they can maintain the status quo
  and their own privileged positions.

28
Conflict Theory and Crime

• Conflict theorists believe that the broad
  division of people into these two categories is
  inherently unequal.
• Conflict theorists cite the criminal justice
  system to support their claim.

29
Conflict Theory and Crime

• The capitalist class passes laws designed to
  benefit themselves.
• These same laws are detrimental to the working
  class.
• Both groups commit acts of deviance, but the
  system the capitalists created defines deviance
  differently for each group.
• The criminal justice system judges and punishes
  each group differently.

30
Conflict Theory and Crime

• In addition, the elite can often afford expensive
  lawyers and are sometimes on a first-name basis
  with the individuals in charge of making and
  enforcing laws.
• Members of the working class generally do not
  have these advantages.

31
White - Collar Crimes

• Conflict theorists also look at the types of
  crimes committed by members of the two classes.
• The working class is more likely to commit
  so-called street crime, such as robbery, assault,
  or murder.
• Members of the elite are less likely to commit
  acts of violence but more likely to engage in
  white-collar crime, or nonviolent crime committed
  by the capitalist class during the course of
  their occupations.
• White-collar criminals are difficult to catch and
  prosecute for two main reasons
• a. White-collar crime is difficult to identify.
  It leaves little physical evidence and no
  easily identifiable victim.
• b. White-collar criminals are sometimes able to
  use their power and influence to avoid
  prosecution. Because of their social and
  economic clout, white-collar criminals rarely
  face criminal prosecution.

32
Deviance and Power

• Conflict theorist Alexander Liazos points out
  that the people we commonly label as deviant are
  also relatively powerless.
• The people in positions of power make the laws of
  any given society they create laws to benefit
  themselves.

33
Deviance and Power

• According to the conflict view of deviance, when
  rich and powerful people are accused of
  wrongdoing, they have the means to hire lawyers,
  accountants, and other people who can help them
  avoid being labeled as deviant.

34
Deviance and Power

• Lastly, members of a society generally believe
  that laws are inherently fair, which can draw
  attention away from the possibility that these
  laws might be unfairly applied or that a law
  itself might not be good or just.

35
Crime

• White-collar crime is just one type of crime.
  Crime, or the violation of a written law, is a
  specific kind of deviance. What constitutes a
  crime varies from society to society. In our
  society, sociologists have identified three
  general categories of crime

36
Crime

• Crimes against the person These are crimes in
  which an act of violence is either threatened or
  perpetrated against a person. A mugging is an
  example of a crime against the person.

37
Crime

• Crimes against property These are crimes that
  involve the theft of property or certain forms of
  damage against the property of another. Arson is
  an example of a property crime.

38
Crime

• Victimless crimes These are crimes in which laws
  are violated, but there is no identifiable
  victim. Prostitution is often classified as a
  victimless crime.

39
Profile of a Criminal

• Sociologists studying crime and deviance study
  statistics on who commits crime. Identifying a
  criminal profile can help sociologists understand
  the causes of crime and other deviance.
• Sociologists use the categories of age, gender,
  social class, and race and ethnicity to create
  this profile.

40
Profile of a Criminal

• Age Young people, roughly between the mid-teens
  and early twenties, commit almost 40 percent of
  all crimes. The likeliness to commit crime,
  particularly violent crime, decreases with age.
• Gender Men are arrested for crimes far more
  often than women. Men are arrested for
  approximately 70 percent of all property crimes
  and 80 percent of all violent crimes. Several
  theories, including the following, attempt to
  explain this situation
• a. In all known societies, men are allowed more
  behavioral freedom than women are. More
  freedom means more opportunity to engage in
  deviant acts.
• b. Traditionally, police have been less willing
  to define a woman as a criminal, and the
  court system has been less likely to convict
  a woman and sentence her to jail or prison.

41
Profile of a Criminal

• Social Class Street crime, particularly violent
  crime, is more prevalent in poor, inner-city
  neighborhoods than in affluent communities.
  Violent crime in inner-city neighborhoods tends
  to be committed by the same group of seasoned
  criminals. Their victims are most often the
  law-abiding inhabitants of those neighborhoods.
  White- collar crime tends to occur in more
  affluent communities.

42
Profile of a Criminal

• Race and Ethnicity African Americans represent
  approximately 12 percent of the population in the
  United States and comprise 30 percent of
  property-crime arrests and 38 percent of
  violent-crime arrests. White people represent 66
  percent of the arrests for property crimes and 60
  percent of the arrests for violent crimes.