Deviance

Deviance
The recognized violation of cultural norms
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Deviance
The recognized violation of cultural norms
Norms guide almost all human activities
Most familiar examples are negative instances
of rule-breaking.
Especially righteous people also might be
called deviant.
Different or unexpected are often used to
describe deviance from a sociological
perspective.
Some categories of people are defined as
deviant regardless of action or choice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgso3Y-l0h8
Doing Nothing Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Social Control
Attempts by society to regulate peoples thoughts and
behavior
Informal Social Control
parents; teachers; peers
Formal Social Control

- Criminal Justice System: A formal
response by police, courts, and prison officials
to alleged violations of the law.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-
7970234619945159767#
Explanations for Deviance
Biological context
Genetic factors together with environmental
factors (especially abuse early in life) are
strong predictors of adult crime and violence.
Personality factors
Deviance is viewed as unsuccessful
socialization.
Reckless and Dinitz Containment Theory

Social Foundations of Deviance
Deviance varies according to cultural
norms.
No thought or action is inherently deviant.
People become deviant as others define
them that way.
How others perceive and label us
Both norms and the way people define

rule-breaking involve social power.
Rule-makers, rule-breakers, and rule-
enforcers
Norms and applying them are linked to social
position. h
Sociology, 13 Edition by John Macionis
Durkheim's Basic Insight
Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
There can be no good without evil and no justice
without crime.
Responding to deviance clarifies moral
boundaries.
People draw a boundary between right and wrong.
Responding to deviance brings people together.
People typically react to serious deviance with shared
outrage.
Deviance encourages social change.
Deviant people push a societys moral boundaries.
Mertons Strain Theory
Conformity
Pursuing conventional goals through normal
means
Innovation
Unconventional means to achieve approved
goals
Ritualism
Accept institutional means; reject goals
Rebellion
Define new goals and means to achieve goals

Figure 9.1
Mertons Strain Theory of Deviance
Combining a persons view of cultural goals and the conventional means to obtain them allowed Robert Merton to identify various types of
deviance.
Source: Merton (1968).
Deviant Subcultures
Cloward and Ohlin
Extended Mertons theory
Cohen
Delinquency is most common among lower-class
youths because they have the least opportunity for
conventional success.
Miller
Delinquent subcultures: trouble, toughness, smartness,
need for excitement, belief in fate, desire for freedom
Anderson
In poor urban neighborhoods, most people conform to
conventional values.

Labeling Deviance
Symbolic-interaction analysis
The assertion that deviance and conformity result not
so much from what people do as from how others
respond to those actions.
Primary deviance
Norm violations that most people take part in with little
harm to self-concept
Secondary deviance
When people make something of anothers deviant
behavior
Stigma
Powerful negative label that greatly changes a persons
self-concept and social identity
Labeling Deviance
Retrospective labeling
Re-interpreting someones past in light of
present deviance
Projective labeling
Predicts future deviant behavior
Medicalization of deviance
Transform moral and legal deviance into a
medical condition
How people respond
Personal competence of the deviant person

Sutherlands
Differential Association
Deviant behavior is learned.
Frequency of association is central to
the development of deviance.
If associates are prone to violation of
norms, then one is also more likely to
take part.
Conformity reaps rewards while the
lack of it reaps punishment.

Hirschis Control Theory
Attachment
Strong social attachments encourage
conformity.
Opportunity
The greater the access to legitimate
opportunity, the greater the advantages of
conformity.
Involvement
Extensive involvement in legitimate activities
inhibits deviance.
Belief
Strong belief in conventional morality and
respect for authority controls deviance.
Social-Conflict Analysis
Deviance and Power
Norms or laws reflect interests of
rich and powerful.
Powerful have resources to resist
deviant labels.
Belief that norms and laws are
natural and good masks political
character
Deviance and Capitalism
Steven Spitzer - likely targets of labeling:
People who interfere with capitalism.
People who cannot or will not work.
People who resist authority.
Anyone who directly challenges the status quo
White-collar crime
Those committed by people of high social position in the
course of their occupations
Corporate crime
Illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf
Organized crime
A business supplying illegal goods or services

Deviance, Race, and Gender
Hate crime
A criminal act against a person or persons property
by an offender motivated by racial or other bias
The Feminist Perspective & Gender

The world applies more stringent normative controls
to women.
Strain due to reality of gender-based inequality
Different standards are used to judge the behavior of
women and men
Why do women commit fewer crimes than men?

Applying Theory
Deviance

Crime
The violation of criminal laws enacted by a locality, state,
or the federal government
Two elements
The act itself
Criminal intent
Crimes against the person
Direct violence or threat of it
Crimes against property
Involves theft of property
Criminal statistics
Victimization surveys: Crime rate is two to four times
higher than official reports
National Map 9.1
The Risk of Violent Crime across the United States
The Street Criminal: A Profile
Ages 15-24
14% of population
40.9% of arrests for violent crime, 46.8% of
property crimes
Gender
Males commit 66.6% of property crimes and 81.8%
of violent crimes
Social class
Violent crimes committed by a few in poor
neighborhoods
White-collar and corporate crime committed by
more affluent
Race and ethnicity
69.7% of arrests involve white people
People of color are over-criminalized
Figure 9.2
Crime Rates in the United States, 1960-2006
The graphs show the rates for various violent crimes and property crimes during recent decades. Since about 1990, the trend has been downward.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (2008)
Crime in Global Perspective
United States
The US crime rate is high by world standards.
The rate of US violent crime is several times higher than in Europe.
Elliott Currie: Crime stems from our cultures emphasis on
individual economic success, frequently at the expense of strong
families and neighborhoods.
Other countries
Crime rates are high in some of the worlds largest cities, which
have rapid population growth and millions of poor.
The traditional character of low-income societies and their strong
families allow informal crime control outside of big cities.
Different countries have different strategies for dealing with
crime.

US Criminal Justice System
Due Process
The criminal justice system must operate
according to law.
This principle is grounded in the Bill of Rights.
Anyone charged with a crime must receive:
1. Fair notice of the proceedings
2. A hearing on the charges conducted according
to law and with the ability to present a defense,
3. A judge or jury that weighs evidence
impartially

Due Process
Police: Primary point of contact between population and
criminal justice system
The police maintain public order by enforcing the
law.
Officers quickly size up situations in terms of six
factors.
Gravity of situation
Victims wishes
Cooperation of suspect
Has suspect been arrested before?
Presence of observers increases chances of
arrest
Officers are more likely to arrest people of color.

Global Map 9.1
Capital Punishment in Global Perspective Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Courts
Plea bargaining: A legal negotiation in which a
prosecutor reduces a charge in exchange for a
defendants guilty plea.
Widespread because it spares the system the
time and expense of trials.
Pressures defendants to plead guilty.
Undercuts both the adversarial process and
the rights of defendants

Justifications for Punishment
Retribution
An act of moral vengeance by which society
makes the offender suffer as much as the
suffering caused by the crime
Deterrence
The attempt to discourage criminality through
the use of punishment
Rehabilitation
A program for reforming the offender to
prevent later offenses
Societal protection
Rendering an offender incapable of further
offenses temporarily through imprisonment or
permanently by execution.
Summing Up
Four Justifications for Punishment

The Death Penalty
Majority of the population supports the
death penalty
Death penalty sentences have declined:
1. Decline in crime rates has resulted in a
decreased fear of crime.
2. Fear of wrongful convictions.
3. Increased use of life sentences without parole.
4. High cost of prosecuting capital cases.

Community-Based Corrections
Correctional programs operating within society at
large rather than behind prison walls.
Probation
A policy permitting a convicted offender to
remain in the community under conditions
imposed by a court
Shock probation
When a judge orders a convicted offender to
prison for a short time, then suspends the
remainder of the sentence.
Parole
Releasing inmates from prison to serve the
remainder of their sentences in the community.

Violent Crime Is Down
Reduction in youth population

Changes in policing
More prisons
Better economy
Declining drug trade


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Deviance

The recognized violation of cultural norms

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Formal Social Control

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Both norms and the way people define

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

The Feminist Perspective & Gender

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

Reduction in youth population

Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis

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