Chapter 8 Deviance, Crime and Social Control

1. Chapter 8Deviance, Crime and Social Control

2. Good/Admired Behavior – Heroism; putting one’s life on the line for another, Intelligence; beyond normal • Lenny Skutnik, Air Florida 90 (1982), watch video • Albert Einstein Stephen Hawking Section 1: Introduction to Deviance

3. Odd Behavior – dress, style, different; living with 50 cats or being pierced all over Continue Section 1

4. Bad Behavior – law breaking or criminal behavior • Jeffery Dahmer Charles Manson Jim Jones Continue Section 1

5. Where does deviance come from? • Is deviance always bad? • Is it biological or learned? Nature vs. Nurture • Is it the person, the personality, the act or action? • Will it be inherent or can it be changed? Will one always be deviant? Can one be deviant on a temporary basis or is it a permanent change? Can it be situational? • What inhibits or initiates deviance? • These are the questions we’ll hope to address in this chapter. Continue section 1

6. Lord of the Flies and Worksheet • What is deviance? • A violation of established contextual, cultural or social norms (folkways, mores, law) • Not always bad • Rosa Parks • Little Rock Nine • Depends on factors such as location, audience and the individual committing the act • As norms vary across culture and time, so does what we consider deviance or deviant behavior Section 2: Deviance and Control

7. Quick review of key terms: • Society - a group of people whose members interact, reside in a definable area, and share a culture • Culture – a group’s shared practices, values, and beliefs • Norms - informal understandings that govern society’s behaviors • Morals - Rules or habits of conduct, especially of sexual conduct, with reference to standards of right and wrong • Mores - norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance • Folkways - norms for routine or casual interaction Continue section 2

8. For easier understanding: mores distinguish the difference between right and wrong, while folkways draw a line between right and rude • As norms vary across culture and time, so do the notions of deviance change as well • Women wearing pants (but not men wearing skirts) • Men with a single earring, then to men with both ears pierced (but not to women with a bald head) • Killing in war and rewarded for it (but not rewarded for killing someone for protecting yourself or property) Continue Section 2

9. Deviance can be situational which can also lead to conflict and differences in opinion • Dying for Everest video • Sometimes things viewed as outside of conventional norms (mild forms of deviance) can become a mark of distinction • Conformist vs. Non-conformists • Although deviance is often viewed as a violation of norms, it’s not always viewed in a negative light Continue section 2

10. Emile Durkheim made a very strong and controversial claim in The Rules of Sociological Method:”NO ACT IS INHERENTLY DEVIANT IN AND OF ITSELF. DEVIANCE IS DEFINED SOCIALLY AND WILL VARY FROM ONE GROUP TO ANOTHER.”  If we want to carry this further, can we say that Adolph Hitler or Joseph Mengele were criminals?  Whose norms did they violate?  What laws did they break?  (Certainly not their own!)  The Nazi's were found guilty of war crimes at Nuremburg, but by whom? The Allies! Would the Nazi's have ever found themselves guilty of crimes against humanity, had they won the war? Of course not!  The allies had the power and were able to enforce their definition of crime (and deviance) upon the vanquished. (The Nazi's would never consent to the Allies claim of authority over them). What about US crimes during WWII? Continue section 2

11. What happens when a person violates a social norm? • Speeding driver gets a speeding ticket • Student wearing a bathrobe gets sent home • All societies practice social control – the regulation and enforcement of norms • Goal is to maintain social order – an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society member’s base their daily lives • Analogy – Social order is like an employee handbook and social control is like a manager or boss Continue section 2

12. Enforcing the rules are know as sanctions • Can be positive or negative • Positive sanctions – rewards given for conforming to norms • Negative sanctions – punishments for violating norms • Can be formal or informal (positive and negative • Informal sanctions – emerge in face to face interactions • Formal sanctions - ways to officially recognize and enforce norm violations Continue section 2

13. Chart – Informal/Formal Sanctions • Summary • Deviance is a violations of norms. The context of the deviance depends on contextual definitions, the situation and people’s response to the behavior. Society seeks to limit (or some cases, increase positive) deviance through the use of sanctions that help maintain a system of social control Continue section 2

14. Functionalism (concerned how the different elements of society contribute to the whole) • 3 Functionalist Perspectives on deviance in society • Strain Theory • Robert Merton • Social Disorganization Theory • Researchers at the University of Chicago in the 1920’s and 1930’s • Cultural Deviance Theory • Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay • Emile Drukheim: The essential nature of deviance • Deviance is a necessary part of a successful society • Challenges people’s present views Section 3: Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance

15. Example: Sit-ins in the 1950’s and 1960’s during the civil rights movement in the South • When deviance is punished, it reaffirms currently held social norms that also contributes to society • Example: Seeing a student given detention for skipping reminds other students that it isn’t allowed and they too can get detention (deterrence) • Strain Theory – Robert Merton • Agreed with Durkheim about deviance being an inherent part of a function society but added to it by developing his theory that access to socially acceptable goals plays a part in determining whether a person conforms of deviates • We are encouraged to strive for the American Dream but not everyone in society stands on equal footing Continue section 3

16. While one may have a socially acceptable goal of success, they may lack a socially acceptable way to reach that goal (due to name, lack of grades, money) • Merton defined 5 ways to respond to the gap of having a socially accepted goal but no socially accepted way to pursue it • Conformity – Those who conform choose not to deviate; they pursue their goals to the extent they can through socially accepted means • Innovation – Those who innovate pursue goals they can’t reach though legitimate means by instead using criminal or deviant means • Ritualism – People who ritualize lower their goals until they reach them through socially acceptable ways; focus on conformity rather than attaining a distant dream • Retreatism – People who retreat and reject society’s goals and means; (beggars and street people) • Rebellion – Replace a society’s goals and means with their own (terrorists and freedom fighters) Continue section 3

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18. Strain Theory Basic Continue section 3

19. Stanley Milgram Experiment • Conformity • Obedience to authority figures • Milgram wanted to test the theory/question: "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?“ • Maintained consistent results throughout different societies, although percentages may change • Considered by some to be unethical and physically or psychologically abusive Continue section 3

20. While this may seem like deviance, if you are applying the theory that Milgram was working with (that the Nazi’s compelled the people because it was a socially approved goal) it would fall under conformity • Watch the Milgram experiment video Continue section 3

21. Social Disorganization Theory • Developed by researchers at the University of Chicago in the 1920’s and 1930’s • Asserts that crime is most likely to occur in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control • Individuals that grow up in poor neighborhoods with high rates of drug use, violence, teenage delinquency and lack of parenting is more likely to become a criminal than an individual from a wealthy neighborhood with good schools and families who are involved in a positive manner in the community Continue section 3

22. Uses broad social factors as the cause for deviance • One isn’t born a criminal but becomes one over time, many times based on factors in their social environment • Research greatly influences public policy • When positive public programs are put into disadvantaged communities (preschool, head start, etc), those individuals are less likely to engage in criminal activity Continue section 3

23. Cultural Deviance Theory – Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay • Conformity to the prevailing cultural norms of lower-class society causes crime • Based off of a 1942 study of crime patterns in Chicago in the early 1900s • Found that violence and crime is at its worst in the middle of the city and decreased the farther one traveled from the urban center toward the suburbs • Socioeconomic status correlated to race and ethnicity resulted in a higher crime rate Continue section 3

24. Further tested (1989) and found that poverty, ethnic diversity and family disruption in given localities had a strong, positive correlation with social disorganization • Also, social disorganization was associated with high rates of crime and delinquency (deviance) • More testing (2006) show that high rates of poverty and single-parent homes correlated with high rates of juvenile violence Continue section 3

25. Conflict Theory • Social and economical factors being the cause of crime and deviance • Conflict theorists see those variables not as positive functions of society but as further evidence of inequality • Feel that Social Disorganization Theory and Control Theory both ignore racial and socioeconomical issues and oversimplify social trends • Theorists look for answers to the correlation of gender and race with wealth and crime Continue section 3

26. An Unequal System – Karl Marx • Create the foundation for Conflict Theorists • Divided population into 2 rigid social groups: • Bourgeois – small and wealthy segment of society that control the means of production • Proletariat – composed of workers who rely on the means of production for employment and survival that is controlled by the bourgeois • The bourgeois have the means to control the way society is regulated (laws, government, authority agencies) giving them the opportunity to maintain and expand their power in society • Watch A Class Divided • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/ Continue section 3

27. The Power Elite – C. Wright Mills • Described the existence of the power elite – a small group of wealthy and influential people at the top of society who hold the power and resources • Often have access to national and international power • Many times their decisions affect everyone in society • They decide what is criminal and what is not; those who feel the effects most are those with little power Continue section 3

28. Continue section 3 25 years ago, the top 1% of Americans owned 33% of the nation’s wealth.

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30. Top 1% take home roughly 24% of the nation’s income, up from 9% in 1976. Continue section 3 Top 1% own over ½ of the nation’s stocks, bonds and mutual funds

31. Continue section 3 The top 1% have only 5% of the nation’s personal debt

32. Crime and Social Class • While crime is often associated with the underprivileged, crimes committed by the wealthy and powerful tend to be under-punished and are more costly to society • $15.3 billion loss for victims of burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft vs. Bernie Madoff whose Ponzi scheme cost close to $50 billion vs Enron Scandal cost close to $64 billion, vs. MCI fraud that cost over $11 billion • Crack epidemic in the early 1980’s, typically used by poor blacks vs. cocaine, typically used by rich whites. • Federal law mandated high sentences for less gram possession, 1 to 100 • Disproportionate sentencing in socioeconomic and racial classes • Does it correlate to those that make the laws (typically wealthy white legislators)? Continue section 3

33. Symbolic Functionalism • Explains how societies and/or social groups come to view behaviors as deviant or conventional • Labeling Theory, Differential Association, Social Disorganization Theory and Control Theory • Labeling Theory • Examines the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another person by members of society • Deviance isn’t necessarily the behavior itself or the person who commit those behaviors but by the reactions of others to those behaviors • Thus deviant behavior changes over time and across cultures Continue section 3

34. 2 Types of deviance that affects identity formation • Primary deviance – a violation of norms that does not result in any long-term effects on the individual’s self-image or interactions with others • Speeding as an example • Individuals still feel a belonging in society and more likely to conform to norms in the future • Secondary deviance – occurs when a person’s self-concept and behavior begin to change after their actions are labeled as deviant by members of society • They take on and fulfill the role of deviant to rebel against the society that has labeled them • Students that are labeled as “problem” students that accept that role and label, and embrace their deviant identity Continue section 3

35. Master Status – a label that describes the chief characteristic of an individual • Examples: Doctors, lawyers, beggars, convicts or addicts • Some of those statuses can continue long after the individual has changed and the label should be dropped • Differential Association • Theorizes that individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who provide models of and opportunities for deviance • Less of a personal choice and more as a result of differential socialization processes • May explain why crime can be multigenerational Continue section 3

36. Control Theory • States that social control is directly affected by the strength of social bonds and that deviance results from a feeling of disconnection from society • Those that believe that they are part of society are less likely to commit crimes against it • 4 types of social bonds connecting people to society • Attachment – our connection to others • Commitment – investments we make in the community • Involvement – participation in socially legitimate activities • Belief – out agreement on common values in society Continue section 3

37. Summary • Functionalists – deviance is a social necessity since it reinforces norms by reminding people of the consequences of violating them • Violating norms can open society’s eyes to injustices in the system • Conflict Theorists – crime stems from a system of inequality that keeps those with power at the top and those without at the bottom • Symbolic Interactionists – focus attention on the socially constructed nature of the labels related to deviance Continue section 3

38. Deviance is a violation of social norms, it’s not always punishable nor necessarily bad • Crime is a behavior that violates official laws and is punishable through formal sanctions • Ambiguity exists concerning what constitutes a crime and whether all crimes are in fact bad and deserve punishment • 1950’s and 1960’s civil rights campaigns and non-violent protest techniques • Legal codes maintain formal social control through laws which are adopted and enforced by a political authority • Those who violate these rules incur negative formal sanctions • Punishments are relevant to the degree of crime and the importance to society of the value underlying the law • In the US, punishment must pass Eighth Amendment challenges Section 4: Crime and the LAw

39. Types of crimes • Violent crimes – based on the use of force or threat of force (Murder, rape, armed robbery) • Street crime – Offenses committed by ordinary people against other people or organizations, usually in public spaces • Nonviolent crimes – the destruction or theft of property, but not with force or threat of force (Larceny, car theft, vandalism) • Corporate crime – crimes committed by white-collar workers in a business environment (Embezzlement, insider trading, identity theft); unseen damages Continue section 4

40. Victimless crime – the perpetrator is not explicitly harming another person (Underage drinking, prostitution); unseen damages • Hate crime – attacks committed because of a person’s race, religion or other characteristic • Majority are racial motivated (3 to 1) Continue section 4

41. Crime Statistics • A look at the crime statistics tabulated by the US Bureau of Statistics, US Census Bureau and the Federal Bureau of Investigations • http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats • http://www.bjs.gov/ • http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons.html Continue section 4

42. The United States Criminal Justice System • Criminal justice system – an organization that exists to enforce a legal code • In the US there are 3 branches: the police, the courts and the corrections system • Police • Police – civil force in charge of enforcing laws and public order at a federal, state or community level • Federal – FBI, ATF and Homeland Security: Deal with matters that are within the powers of the federal government and have a narrow field of expertise • State police have the authority to enforce statewide laws • Local or county police have limited jurisdiction with authority only in a town or county in which they serve Continue section 4

43. Courts • Court – a system that has the authority to make decisions based on the law • Divided into state (trial, appellate and state supreme courts) and federal courts (US District, US Appeals, US Supreme Court) • Corrections • Corrections system (prison system) – tasked with supervising individuals who have been arrested, convicted and sentenced for a criminal offense • Approximately 7,000,000 Americans are behind bars • Rehabilitation vs. Punishment • Roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of former prisoners re-offend within 3 years of release • Solitary confinement and Supermax Prisons • Zimbardo prison study (conformity and situational attribution) Continue section 4