Sociology: Chapter 7

• Explains deviance in the terms of power and inequality

• Sociologist believe that competition and social inequality leads to deviance

• Interactionist Perspective

• Explains deviance as a natural occurrence

• theories are interested in why people conform rather than in the causes of deviance

• Travis Hirschi said people develop bonds to their communities in four ways

• Any act that is labeled as such by those in authority and is prohibited by law

  • Example: When you rob a bank

• A reward or punishment given by a formal organization or regulatory agency, such as a school, business, or government

• Negative: low grades, suspension, termination from your job, fines, and imprisonment

• Positive: Graduation certificates, pay raises, promotion, awards, medals

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• Behavior that violates significant social norms

  • Examples: continually taking to oneself in public, drag racing on a public street, regularly using illegal drugs, using a weapon to attack another person

• Erving Goffman said this type of person is a spoiled social identity. He or She is no longer seen as being normal or whole

• A punishment or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity

• The threat of punishment is often enough to ensure acceptable behavior

  • Examples: the thought of getting a parking ticket when parking in a no parking zone

• They can range from frowns, ridicule, and rejection to fines, imprisonment, & even death

• Sociologists call this an action that rewards a particular kind of behavior

• Introduced to them early in life through interactions with their families

• It is continued into later life

  • Examples: pay raise, cheers from teammates, ceremonies, ribbons, badges, & rewards

• A practice of assuming that non-white Americans are more likely to commit crimes than white Americans

• Unauthorized demonstrations wherein certain people speak out against society at large

• Serves as a safety values for society because they allow people to express their displeasure with some element of society without disrupting the social structure

• Deviance as a lifestyle and results in the individual being labeled as deviant and believing the label

• Any crime in which the stealing or intentionally damaging someone’s property occurs

  • Example of more common crimes: Burglary, Motor vehicle theft, Larceny, Arson

• Sanctions used to punish criminals

• They include imprisonment, parole, probation, and community service

  • they serve 4 basic functions: Retribution, Deterrence, Rehabilitation, and Social Protection

• Describe offenses committed by people of high social status in the course of their professional lives

  • Examples of who could commit the crime: Politicians, employees of corporations, and corporations themselves

  • Example of crime: Fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, price-fixing, toxic pollution, insider trading, & political corruption

• The power held by police officers to decide who is actually arrested

• A large-scale organization of professional criminals that controls some vice or legitimate business through violence or the threat of violence

• Also called crime syndicate

• Socialization is also central to this

• Theory of deviant behavior that views deviance as a learned behavior transmitted through interaction with others

• Views all individuals as conformists

• Prostitution, illegal gambling, illegal drug use, and vagrancy

• The person committing the crime is harming no one but themselves

• Crime still has a significant consequences for society

• Proposed by Edwin Sutherland refers to the frequency and closeness of associations a person has with deviant and non-deviant individuals

• Enforcing norms through either internal or external means

• Learned through the internalization of norms

• Include police, the court, religion, the family, the peer group, and public opinion

• Focuses on how individuals come to be identified as deviant

• Heavily influenced by Edwin Lemert and Howard Becker

• They note that all people commit deviant acts, yet not everyone is labeled as deviant

• There are two types of deviance: Primary and Secondary

• Spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or a group

• Positive: Standing ovations, compliments, smiles, pats on the back, and gifts

• Negative: Frowns, gossip, rebukes, insults, ridicule, and ostracism- exclusion from a particular group

• FBI organized crimes into 29 separate classifications with 2 levels of severity

• The 5 broad categories:

  • Violent crime

  • Property crime

  • Victimless crime

  • White-collar crime

  • Organized crime

• Process by which a norm becomes a part of an individual’s personality, thus conditioning that individual to conform to society’s expectations

  • Example: When you go to the movies you sit in the chair instead of sitting on the floor.

  • Example: When the traffic light turns red, you stop without thinking.

• You do not take these actions because you are scared of punishment but because you have internalized society’s norms

• People suspend their moral beliefs to commit deviant acts

• The 5 techniques which are learned through one’s social interactions:

  • Denying Responsibility

  • Denying Injury

  • Denying the Victim

  • Condemning the Authorities

  • Appealing to Higher Authorities

• Accepts culture goals and pursues them through culturally approved ways

• Most common

• A mark of social disgrace that sets the deviant apart from the rest of society

• Used to form a social control throughout history

  • Example: Ancient Greeks cut/burn signs into the bodies of criminals to warn others to avoid them

  • Today example: Prisoners have to wear special clothing and assigned numbers depending on what crime they commited

• Individuals fall victim to this because of the strain of incompatible goals and means

• The situation that arises when the norms of society are unclear or are without sufficient guidelines for behavior, causing confusion both for the individuals and for society

• Originally proposed by Emile Durkheim to explain high rates of suicide in countries undergoing industrialization

• Views deviance as the natural outgrowth of the values, norms, and structure of society

• Robert K. Merton says American society places high value on certain goals, such as economic success

• The process of legal negotiation that allows an accused person to plead guilty to a lesser charge in return for a lighter sentence

• Allows courts to reduce their huge volume of cases while avoiding the risk of expensive and time-consuming jury trials that may not produce a guilty verdict

• Accepts culture goals but use disapproved ways of achieving them

• Example: People may want to acquire wealth but rejects the acceptable means to obtain it

• Term for repeated criminal behavior

• According to the U.S. Department of Justice study, 68% of released prisoners will be charged with ne crimes and 50% will return to prison within 3 years of their release

• Rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms

• Types: Positive, Negative, Formal, & Informal

• Can become meaningless if you are rarely rewarded or punished

• Occasional violation of norms

• Individuals do not see themselves as deviant and neither does society

• By sex: 75% male, 25% female

• By race: 70% white, 28% African American, 2% other

• By age: 52.7% 18-34, 28.6% 35-54, 15.5% under 18, 3.1% 55 & older

• Legal term for offense involving immorality, such as prostitution and gambling

• Once a crime has been committed and reported, it falls under this jurisdiction

• Most important components are police, courts, adn corrections