SOC211 - Deviance and Social Control

Deviance : A person, behaviour, or characteristic that is socially typed as deviance and subjected to measures of social control. Conformity   A person, behaviour, or characteristic that is considered normal and acceptable, the opposite of deviance   In Merton's strain theory, the mode of adaptation that involves acceptance of both the institutionalized goals and the legitimate means of attaining those goals     Do we need to be deviant to do something new?     Deviance Specialists: Scholars who

Atavists: In early criminological theories, the view that criminals were evolutionary throwbacks whose biological prevented them from conforming to society's rules. Positivists   Theories that attempt to explain the causes of behaviour  Theoretical Integration: Combining theories to explain a particular phenomenon. Seek cause and effect relationships in the form of statistical relationships    Technical interest in planning for a better society   Why Do People Become Deviant?   Functionalist The

Nonpositivist Theorizing  Interpretive Theories   Theories that draw attention to people's intersubjective understandings of the world around them, other people, and themselves   Something that might be unique and unrepeatable (not generalizable like positivist theories)  Critical theories  Theories that focus on the power relations that underline the creation of social rules, and that have an interest in emancipation and social justice    Emphasis on interpretation as the source of understandin

Media  Any form of communication that targets a mass audience in print or electronic format   The media permeates all aspects of life in the Western world  We have become dependent on the media for the conduct of everyday life   Influences moral codes  Used as a tool by a wide range of moral entrepreneurs in their efforts to change society  The media provide the primary means by which we learn about ourselves, about others, about the world around us  We must understand media to understand everyd

Summary Remember that a deviant label is not a product of individual perceptions but rather, of social processed   Objective deviance specialists refer to cultural and historical variations in the norms that are used as the standard against which deviance is judged  Subjective deviance specialists refer to processes of social construction  Social processed determined who is socially typed as deviant through: description (placed in a category because of their sexuality), evaluation (judged on the

Youth are perceived as having lifestyles built around deviance more than any other age group   Troubling youth: Youth who are considered to be primarily a threat to others or to society, such as through criminal activity.  Troubled youth: Youth who are considered to be primarily a threat to themselves, such as through substance use. Also seen as potential threats to society, likely to become "troubling" if their problems are not solved early enough. Also seen as troubling because they are troubl

Physical appearance is the stimulus for the social typing we do every day and to which we are subject every day   There are larger patterns of social typing that occur in our society   Voluntary and Involuntary Physical Appearance   Body Projects  The ways that people adapt, change, or control characteristics of their bodies   Four categories of body projects   Integral in constructing and representing identity over the life course   Camouflaging: Body projects that reflect normative processed l

Mental Disorder: Alterations in thinking, mood, or behaviour associated with significant distress and impaired functioning.   Images of difference and alienation   The concept of mental disorder consists of two dimensions The experiences of the disorder itself. The ways that the illness affects people's thoughts, feelings, or behaviours   Social dimension: the ways that others perceive and treat those with mental illness  Via both dimensions, mental disorder enters the realm of deviance   DSM: T

Both religious and scientific beliefs are part of our everyday lives   Both religion and science are moral entrepreneurs   Belief systems can serve social control functions   Although these belief systems proclaim truths, they emerge through processes of social construction or creation (just as art does)   Two types of relationships between belief systems and deviance Belief systems as deviance, when acts of deviance occur within groups of people who adhere to particular belief systems  When an

The Search for Standards   Human Dignity: The right to be treated with respect, a fundamental human right.  Discrimination: Differential treatment of the basis of group membership, a violation of human rights.   Security of Person and Property: A fundamental human right that protects individuals' physical well-being and entitles them to control over their own property.