CHAPTER 6: DEVIENCY

Punishments and Time

Acts deemed criminal and their punishments change over time

Secondary deviance

Acts of rule breaking that occur after primary deviance and as a result of a person's new, deviant label

•Labeling theory

•A symbolic interactionist perspective developed by Howard Becker •States that deviance is caused by external judgments (labels) that change a person's self-concept and the way others respond to him or her •Becker suggests that "labeling" can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy—a prediction that causes itself to come true.

Crime Reduction

•Deterrence theory is a philosophy of criminal justice based on the notion that crime results from a rational calculation of its costs and benefits. •Recidivism occurs when a person who has been involved in the criminal justice system reverts to criminal behavior.

Functionalism

•Deviance serves a function in our society. •According to Émile Durkheim, deviance serves a positive social function by clarifying moral boundaries and promoting social cohesion. Without seeing deviant behavior, we would have a hard time classifying what is normal. It isn't until our group norms are challenged that we come together as a group to defend these norms.

Types of Punishments

•In the United States, serious crimes are punished by imprisonment. •In other cultures, types of punishments can include: •Shunning •Banishment •Corporal punishment

Punitive justice

Laws that rely on punishment as a deterrent to criminal activity •focuses on making the violator suffer, and thus defines the boundaries of acceptable behavior.

Deviance Across Cultures

What is deviant in one culture may not be deviant in another culture!

Merton's Typology of Deviance

This table shows the possible combinations of goal and mean acceptance. In the following slides, we'll expand on the previous definition talk about examples of each of these. Remember, goals are not individual or personal goals, like saving enough money to buy a new mp3 player. They are socially acceptable goals, like "The American Dream"—having a good job, a nice home, a car, money, and so on. Means are ways of making that happen; for instance, means may refer to socially acceptable routes to achieving the aforementioned goals, like going to college, working hard, starting at the bottom of the company ladder but working your way to the top, and so on.

Social Control Theory

a theory of delinquency that links deviance with the absence of bonds to society's main institutions •Theory developed by Travis Hirschi explaining crime •Strong social bonds increase conformity •Strong social bonds decrease deviance Suggested internal and external forces influence behavior.

Corporate crime

a type of white-collar crime committed by the officers or executives of a company

Conformists

accept the goals of the society and the means of achieving those goals Conformists are those individuals who work hard in school, go to college, get a job, and save money because they want to buy a nice house, have a prestigious car, wear expensive clothes, and contribute to their retirement plans.

Innovators

accept the goals of the society, but they look for new, or innovative, ways of achieving those goals Innovators are people who want the same things that as conformists—a nice house, prestigious car, expensive clothes—but they aren't interested in going to college and working their way up the company ladder. For discussion, ask the class if they can think of examples. Some popular responses are: Bill Gates, who dropped out of college; drug dealers; and celebrities. They have all found different means of achieving the culturally accepted goals.

Ritualists

aren't interested in the goals of the society, but they do accept the means of achieving those goals. Ritualists don't seem to think about the goal or the big picture. Instead, they live their lives day to day, paycheck to paycheck. They go to work, have a steady job, and so on, but they probably live in a modest rental apartment or in their parents' basement. They don't talk about career moves or retirement, they just maintain their daily routines.

White-collar crime

committed by a professional against a corporation, agency, or other business

Edwin Sutherland

developed a symbolic interactionist perspective •States that we learn deviance from interacting with deviant peers •Definitions favorable and unfavorable to law breaking occur in our groups and motivate our behaviors. •Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity

Retreatists

don't accept the goals of the society or the means of achieving those goals. Retreatists aren't interested in the goals, nor do they follow the day-to-day routine to achieve the means. Retreatists have often withdrawn from the system completely. An example could be a hermit or a person who goes to the mountains to live with the wild goats.

rehabilitative justice

examines the specific circumstances of an individual transgressor and attempts to find ways to rehabilitate him or her

What are social bonds?

include family, religious, and civic ties among others.

Formal deviance or crime

involves the violation of laws

Social deviance

is any transgression of socially established norms.

Social cohesion

refers to the way people form social bonds, relate to each other, and get along on a day-to-day basis.

Stereotype Promise

self-fulfilling prophecy in which positive stereotypes lead to positive performance outcomes. Lee's work with Asian Americans.

Stereotype Threat

self-fulfilling prophecy in which the fear of performing poorly, and thereby confirming stereotypes about one's social group, causes students to perform poorly.

In order for the powerful to maintain their power

they marginalize and criminalize the people who threaten their power. Inequality is reproduced in the way deviance is defined.

Hate Crimes

•Occurs when criminals specifically target victims based on demographic characteristics •Charges typically increase the punishment associated with another crime such as assault •Official statistics likely underreport the true number of hate crimes Demographic characteristics include race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

Prison: Punishment or Rehab?

•Research has shown that prison has very little effect on whether adults commit future crimes. •For juveniles, time spent behind bars actually increases the likelihood of their reoffending.

Vagranyc laws

•Sociologist William Chambliss looked at how the vagrancy laws have been applied differently over the years to homeless, unemployed, racial minorities, or whoever seemed most threatening at the time. He determined that vagrancy laws actually reproduce inequality in our society.

Passing

•Stigmatized individuals may try to pass as if they are part of the mainstream.

Stigma

•Term coined by Ervin Goffman •Describes any physical or social attribute that devalues a person or group's identity, and which may exclude those who are devalued from normal social interaction •A negative social label that changes your behavior toward a person and also changes that person's self-concept and social identity •Has serious consequences in terms of the opportunities made available—or, more likely, not made available—to people in a stigmatized group

Primary deviance

•The first act of rule breaking, which may result in the rule breaker being labeled "deviant" and thus influencing how people think about and act toward him or her

Deviance

•a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group. •Deviance isn't necessarily bad, it's just different from what the group considers to be normal. When sociologists use the term deviant, they are making a social judgment, not a moral one.

Robert Merton's strain theory (structural strain theory)

•argues that deviance occurs when a society does not give all its members equal ability to achieve socially acceptable goals. •States that there are goals in our society that people want to achieve, but they cannot always reach these goals. This creates stress (or strain).

Rebels

•don't accept the goals of the society or the means of achieving those goals, so they create their own goals using new means. Rebels are those people who don't accept the goals of society and disagree with the means of achieving them. That means that these people don't covet such things as lots of money, a fancy house, or a nice car.

Crime

•is the violation of a norm that has been codified into law.

Tertiary deviance

•redefining the stigma associated with a deviant label as a positive phenomenon. "Owning it!"

Street crime

•refers to crime committed in public and is often associated with violence, gangs, and poverty