Deviance and Social Control

1. Deviance and Social Control

2. What is Deviance? • Refers to a violation of norms • According to Howard S. Becker, it isn’t the act itself, but how society reacts to it, that makes an action deviant • It is a relative concept • Different groups have different norms • What is deviant to some, is not to others • Varies from 1 time period to another • Crime is a violation of rules that have been written into law

3. Deviance • Sociologists use the term deviance nonjudgmental to refer to any act to which people respond negatively • All people are deviant bc everyone violates rules from time to time • Erving Goffman used the term stigma to refer to attributes that discredit one’s claim to a “normal” identity • Physical deformities, skin color • Defines a person’s master status, superseding all other statuses the person occupies

4. Social Order • A groups customary social arrangements • Norms allow social order bc they lay out the basic guidelines for how we play our roles and how we interact with others

5. Deviance as a threat • Deviance is often seen as threatening bc it violates a group’s customary social arrangements and undermines the predictability that is the foundation of social life • Human groups develop a system of social control, formal and informal means of enforcing the norms

6. Society and deviance • Society’s disapproval of deviance takes the form of negative sanctions and ranges from frowns and gossip to imprisonment and capital punishment

7. Sociological explanation of deviance • Explain deviance by looking outside the individual • Social influences • Socialization • Subculture group memberships • Social class • Education • Occupation • Income and wealth

8. Examples of deviance

9. 2 types of Deviance • Criminal deviance- involve violating a criminal law • Noncriminal deviance- homophobia, use of pornography, mental disorders

10. Homicide • More likely to be committed against acquaintance, friends, or relatives than strangers • Both a source of pleasure and frustration in a person’s life • Usually carried out under uncontrollable rage • Occurs most frequently during weekend evenings (Saturday night) • Handguns is the most commonly used weapon

11. Rape • Involves the use of force to get a person to do something sexual against his/her will • 110,000 rapes are reported per year but the number is much higher than that • Majority of these cases involve people in close relationships • Often times people don’t believe that what they are doing is forced

12. Culture of Rape • 3 prevailing attitudes towards women: • Women have been treated as property of men • Some states a man cant be prosecuted for raping his wife • What about women who are prostitutes? • Women have been viewed as objects of masculinity contests • To be accepted a man is pressured to have sex with as many women as possible • The myth that deep down women want to be raped • The “no means yes” myth, “she asked for it” etc.

13. Binge Drinking • Having at least 5 drinks in a row for men and 4 drinks in a row for women • At least 50 college students throughout the United States drink themselves to death every year • 40% of college students intend to binge drink or get drunk every time they drink • Binge-drinking students are more likely to miss class, fall behind in schoolwork, have poor grades, engage in unprotected sex, get injured, etc. • More likely to be male, white, involved in athletics or greek life

14. Corporate Crime • Committed by company officials w/o the overt use of force and their effect on the victims is not readily traceable to the offender • Can be perpetrated against employees and customers • Disregard for safety in the workplace, consumer fraud, price fixing, unsafe products, violation of environmental regulations • More rationally executed, more profitable and less detectable by police • 3 characteristics separate corporate crime from street crime

15. 1. The Criminal’s Noncriminal Self-Image • See themselves as respectable people • Rationalize their actions • Example: violators of price fixing: insist they are helping the nation’s economy by “stabilizing prices” • See themselves as the victims- unlucky to get caught for something that everyone does • “Everyone cheats on their income taxes” • Denial of criminal intent • “I made a mistake”

16. 2. The Victim’s unwitting cooperation • Many victims unwittingly cooperate with the corporate criminal • Example: a home improvement scam- the victims don’t bother to check the work history of the company and don’t read the contracts they sign

17. 3. Society’s Relative Indifference • Little effort is made to catch corporate criminals • If caught they seldom go to jail or receive a light sentence

18. Mental Problems • About 22% of US adults suffer from mental problems serious enough to require help or hospitalization every year • Psychosis- loss of touch with reality • Neurosis- persistent fear, anxiety or worry • Social class is a key factor in mental illness as well as gender, ethnicity and culture • Women experience more depression • Men tend to have more antisocial personalities

19. Suicide Bombings • Evidence seems to suggest the opposite of the popular belief that suicide bombers are psychotic, irrational, poor and uneducated • Come from relatively well off middle class families • Believe they are martyrs for their cause • Altruistic suicide- people are so strongly tied to their group that they effectively lose their selves and stand ready to do their group’s bidding