The Social Organization of Deviance

1. The Social Organization of Deviance Part VI

2. This section looks more closely at the lives and activities of deviants. • Best and Luckenbill (1980) have noted in their analysis of the social organization of deviants that relationships among deviants take many forms varying in: • (1) numbers of members • (2) task specialization • (3) stratification within group • (4) type of authority structure Part 6

3. A. Loners • Such deviants are most solitary interacting with others but keeping their deviant attitudes, behaviors or conditions secret • This category includes sexual asphyxiates, self-injurers, anorectics, bulimics, computers hackers, and pedophiles • Websites now permit many such “loners” to connect online with others like themselves thereby presenting potential surrogate forms of “community” Part 6

4. A. Loners • Such websites provide several latent functions for participants, they: • Transmit technical and ideological know-how enabling deviants to more effectively engage in and legitimate their deviance • Bring together persons into common discourse regardless of age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, or SES • Are global spanning several continents • Such deviant cyber-communities provide a “space” for deviance to grow Part 6

5. B. Colleagues • Such deviants have face-to-face relationships with others like themselves but don’t need their cooperation to perform their deviance • This category includes the homeless, recreational drug users & con artists • Big advantage over loners is that mutual association brings possibility of membership in a deviant subculture or counterculture • The individual gains social support from colleagues Part 6

6. C. Peers • Such deviants engage in deviance with others like themselves but have only minimal division of labor • This category includes neighborhood gangs who congregate with their friends but have little division of labor except possibly a leaders Part 6

7. D. Crew • A deviant group of 3-12 persons who band together to engage in more sophisticated deviant acts with larger monetary payoffs such as theft, smuggling, hustling at gambling • Especially fascinating to media and the public, crew deviance involves a complex division of labor involving specialized training and socialization Part 6

8. E. Formal Organizations • Larger than crews and extending over time and space, this category includes Cosa Nostra Mafia “families” and the Columbian drug cartels • Such organizations may involve transnational links to other similar groups • They are much larger than crews & may have 100 or more members • They are ethnically homogenous, employ violence & are vertically & horizontally stratified, and have been known to infiltrate and corrupt law enforcement Part 6

9. F. White-Collar Crime • Legitimate persons and organizations may engage in deviant acts although these may be an occasional or “side” activity to their main activity • This is crime that is directly related to those privileged persons and groups in a position to abuse financial, organizational or political power • Such deviance may be financial but may also extend to bodily injury and death • White collar crime can be divided into two main subsections: occupational and organizational crime Part 6

10. G. Occupational Crime • Pursued by persons acting on their own behalf • This includes employees at all levels of organizations who may steal from their companies, including embezzlement & computer crimes • Corporate executives at firms such as Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom looted their companies, shareholders & employee retirement plans through fraudulent accounting, offshore & dummy corporations to live in high style Part 6

11. G. Occupational Crime • Persons in charge of purchasing for their firms are in a position to accept bribes to give business to its vendors • In government sector persons evade taxes through offshore companies and false tax shelters often sold to them by accounting and brokerage firms who charge millions for their services • Politicians may sell political power such as awarding of military contracts Part 6

12. G. Occupational Crime • Professionals may collect money for their individual benefit such as doctors who accept gifts from drug companies to steer patients toward the use of their drugs • This includes a stockbroker who may engage in insider trading (e.g., Martha Stewart case) • Physicians who overcharge and/or over-service patients with Medicare/Medicaid fraud Part 6

13. H. Organizational Crime • Crime committed with support of a legitimate formal organization & designed to advance goals of the firm or agency • Examples: false advertising, fraud, Antitrust violations, corruption pertaining to government contracts • Unsafe products represent another area: drugs, auto and tire industry, medical products Part 6

14. H. Organizational Crime • Worker safety violations & unsafe working conditions result in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries annually • including but not limited to coal mining, oil and chemical industries, nuclear power plants, pesticide manufacturers • Government activity such as illegal domestic or international police or military operations • Secret FBI files, Iran-Contra scandal, secret CIA prisons, etc Part 6

15. Drug Use & Disordered Eating Among College WomenSirles Part VI Chapter 32

16. Most research focuses on either eating disorders or drug use. • This study reports original research on college women who used licit pharmaceutical drugs or illicit street drugs in an ongoing effort to manage their body weight. • Evidence of eating disorders since ancient times, but before the late 1960s, virtually unknown to the general public. • Diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa & other eating related medical syndromes skyrocketed during the 1970s Part 6: Ch. 32

17. I. The Study Part 6: Ch. 32

18. A. Methods • In-depth life-history interviews conducted with 57 college-age women at large, public university (N=57) • Freshman to seniors, living on & off campus • Ages 18-25 years • From middle to upper-middle SES groups • Convenience sampling given difficulty of finding participants • Semi-structured interviews Part 6: Ch. 32

19. II. Instrumental Drug Users Part 6: Ch. 32

20. A. Types of Drugs • Licit: pharmaceutical, generally prescribed • Illicit: “street” drugs Part 6: Ch. 32

21. B. Instrumental Users • Instrumental: motivation to use predicated on substances’ specific effects • Instrumental drug-using women varied according to temporal nature: • Some reported disordered eating before onset of drug use • Others reported development of non-normative weight managing behaviors after a period of drug use Part 6: Ch. 32

22. III. Typology of Users Part 6: Ch. 32

23. A. Conventional Over-Conformists • Reported history (foundation) of disordered eating prior to instrumental prescription drug use for weight loss • Conventional in that they used more socially acceptable Rx drugs instead of street drugs • Overall motivation – achieving cultural ideal of thinness, thus the goal was to conform • Conforming became over-conforming • Most presented as thin, but not too thin • Largest category in typology (n = 24) Part 6: Ch. 32

24. B. Scroungers • Reported foundation of disordered eating after turning to street drugs for weight control • Drugs used were described as “dirty,” “unacceptable” & “inappropriate” • Access to drugs not as reliable or consistent, thus they scrounged to find them • Second largest category of instrumental users (n = 13) Part 6: Ch. 32

25. C. Journeyers • Those whose drug use pattern “journeyed” or “evolved” • Used Rx drugs recreationally or medicinally prior to their instrumental use for weight control • Journeyers comprised smaller typology (n = 11) Part 6: Ch. 32

26. D. Opportunists • Engaged in substance use before they turned into instrumental drug users • Initially used street drugs recreationally & later instrumental patterns for weight control purposes • Smallest category (n = 9) Part 6: Ch. 32

27. Part 6: Ch. 32

28. IV. Solitary Deviance Part 6: Ch. 32

29. A. Solitary Deviance Defined • Individuals engaged in deviance alone as “loners” (Best & Luckenbill, 1980) • Examples: sexual asphyxiates, self-injurers, substance abusing pharmacists, embezzlers, anorectics & bulimics • Solitary operators act alone & don’t associate with deviant others, while subcultural participants acted alone but their behaviors heavily influenced by group memberships (Prus & Grills, 2003) Part 6: Ch. 32

30. B. Loners & Secrecy • Lies & secrecy employed by participants in this research • They kept their deviant behaviors hidden • Many feared if others found out about their instrumental drug use, they would be forced to stop • Chose loner lifestyle to avert potential negative consequences • Online communities (“pro-anorexia” & “pro-bulimia”) provide community of support that encourages their deviance Part 6: Ch. 32

31. B. Loners & Secrecy • Often embarrassed about methods of weight control • Other methods employed by participants to control weight: • Severe caloric restriction • Episodes of bingeing & purging • Laxative abuse • Cigarette smoking • Dishonesty in the course of medical care • Obsessive thoughts about weight & body management Part 6: Ch. 32

32. B. Loners & Secrecy • In general, research participants were high achievers or perfectionists, included: • Honor students • College athletes • Social leaders • Award winners • Future professionals Part 6: Ch. 32

33. C. Secrecy Among Licit Users • Participants worried that instrumental drug use would be associated with disordered eating, which was generally negatively stigmatized • Obtaining their medications entailed lies & secrecy: • Visiting campus clinic during the week • Created alibis for such visits Part 6: Ch. 32

34. D. Secrecy Among Illicit Users • Different kind of secrecy employed in that street drug illegal & frowned upon socially • Had to access those who valued and used psychoactive substances • Secrecy about their drug use dropped when around others who engaged Part 6: Ch. 32

35. V. Social Isolation Part 6: Ch. 32

36. This was voluntary during episodes of drug use • Fear of others finding out would result in benefits of weight control diminishing Part 6: Ch. 32

37. VI. Practical Hurdles Part 6: Ch. 32

38. A. Health Consequences of Drug Use • Participants not truthful with medical personnel thus they were forced to rely on self-created systems of interpreting signs & signals regarding changes in their bodies • Rx users too felt the need to withhold negative information from their doctors • Most Rx users went to psychiatrists, thus no physical exams conducted to make sure they were “fit” enough to take medication • All users reported effects on their moods & energy levels Part 6: Ch. 32

39. B. Financing Drug Use • Costs varied depending on dosages of drug use & specific substances • On average, cocaine users spent more for their supply ($50-$100 per gram) • Rx users costs’ varied (estimated $40-$200/mo) • Some given generous allowances, others worked • None engaged in selling to support drug use • Some played “middleman” role hooking sellers with users without benefits for themselves • But more time they spent with dealers & drug subculture, less their drugs costs Part 6: Ch. 32

40. B. Financing Drug Use • Rx drug users filled prescriptions & the cost varied depending on whether they had health insurance • Patterns of use depended on supply – the more available the more they did, however, money was not a significant concern for participants • Overall, financing drug use didn’t force illicit drug users out of their deviant careers Part 6: Ch. 32

41. Review Questions • How does this form of deviance differ from other forms in the context of its stigmatizing effects? • What were some of the major differences among illicit & licit drug users? Part 6: Ch. 32

42. Cyber Communities of Self-Injury Adler & Adler Part VI Chapter 33

43. I. Self-Injurers Part 6: Ch. 33

44. A. Characteristics • Those who cut, burn, brand, pick at, or otherwise injure themselves in a deliberate but non-suicidal attempt to achieve relief by harming themselves • They grew from relatively small & unknown population into a burgeoning but largely secretive group in the late 1990s Part 6: Ch. 33

45. A. Characteristics • The early 2000s saw rise of online communities of self-injurers • first just as places where individuals could find each other and gain non-judgmental acceptance • later as support groups composed of like-minded others. • Self-injurers thus represent a hybrid associational form, behaving as loners in the solid world and colleagues in the cyber world. Part 6: Ch. 33

46. II. The Study Part 6: Ch. 33

47. A. Data Analysis / Methods • In-depth interviews with 25 self-injurers conducted between 2001 to 2004 (N = 25) • Ages 16-35 years with most given up behavior • Self-injury for most occurred in middle & high school, with just a few continuing past that age • Three-quarters women, all white • Convenience sampling used • Focus on loner self-injurers – 80% of total Part 6: Ch. 33

48. A. Data Analysis / Methods • Characteristics of loners outlined • Describes ways self-injurers are similar & differ from Best & Luckenbill’s (1982) ideal typical model: where some deviants organize & commit their acts as loners, without the support of fellow deviants Part 6: Ch. 33

49. III. The Social Organization of Solitary Deviance Part 6: Ch. 33

50. A. Reasons for Self Injury • Depression, alienation, rebellion, malaise • A form of comfort during stressful periods Part 6: Ch. 33