chapyter6devianceandcrime with poll

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What Is Social Deviance?

• Social deviance is any transgression

of socially established norms.

– Formal deviance or crime involves the

violation of laws.

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Minor transgressions of these norms can be described as informal devianceinformal deviance. .

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Definitions of Deviance Change Definitions of Deviance Change Over TimeOver Time

Can you think other

examples?

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Once Deviant Now Fashion

Deviance and Social Control

Social cohesion refers to the way people

form social bonds, relate to each other,

and get along on a day-to-day basis.

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Deviance and Social Control

• Normative compliance is the act of abiding

by society’s norms or simply following the rules

of group life.

• Social control is the set of mechanisms that

create normative compliance in individuals.

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Deviance and Social Control

• Informal social sanctions:

– are unspoken rules and expectations about

people’s behavior.

– help maintain a base level of order and

cohesion in society and form a foundation

for formal social control.

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Deviance and Social Control

• Punitive justice is focused on making the violator

suffer and thus defining the boundaries of

acceptable behavior.

• Rehabilitative justice examines the specific

circumstances of an individual transgressor and

attempts to find ways to rehabilitate him or her. 9

Deviance and Social Control(Structural Functionalism)

Émile Durkheim theorized that social cohesion is

established either through:

mechanical solidarity — based on the sameness

of society’s parts or members (fraternity –

sorority)

organic solidarity — based on the

interdependence of specialized parts or members.

(football team)10

Deviance and Social ControlA Functionalist View

Robert Merton’s strain

theory argues that deviance

occurs when a society does

not give all its members equal

ability to achieve socially

acceptable goals.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuzYGzXJJcw

Strain Theory

Conformists Conformists accept the goals of the society and the means of achieving those goals

InnovatorsInnovators accept the goals of the society, but they look for new, or innovative, ways of achieving those goals

Strain Theory

RitualistsRitualists aren’t interested in the goals of the society, but they do accept the means of achieving those goals.

Strain Theory

RetreatistsRetreatists don’t accept the goals of the society or the means of achieving those goals.

Strain Theory

RebelsRebels don’t accept the goals of the society or the means of achieving those goals, so they create their own goals using new means.

Strain Theory

1. It is difficult to empirically test.

2. It works on the assumption that conformity is the norm and assumes a concensual society.

3. It doesn't explain all forms of criminal behavior.

4. It over-predicts criminality. does not explain hate-crime, violence etc.

Weaknesses of Strain Theory

Differential Opportunity TheoryDifferential Opportunity Theory1. Legitimate opportunities to pursue

culturally approved goals are socially structured and unevenly distributed—especially by class. 

2.  The social structure of a community determines access to both the learning and performance structures that underwrite career delinquency and criminal subcultures.

When young people grow up in a bad environment, they are more likely to have troubles. Opposite would be true, if a child grows up in an enriched, good environment, they would less likely grow up

to practice delinquent behavior.

Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance

• Symbolic interactionists Symbolic interactionists take a micro

view of society, examining the beliefs and

assumptions people bring to their

everyday interactions to find the causes

or explanations for deviance.

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Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance

• Labeling theoryLabeling theory

– People see how they are labeled and

accept the label as being “true.”

– People behave the way that they think

someone with their label should behave.

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Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance

• Primary deviance:

– the first act of rule breaking, which may result in the

rule breaker being labeled “deviant” and thus influence

how people think about and act toward him or her.

• Secondary deviance:

– refers to acts of rule breaking that occur after primary

deviance and as a result of a person’s new, deviant

label. 22

Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance

• Stigma– negative social label that changes your

behavior toward a person; also changes that

person’s self-concept and social identity

– has serious consequences in terms of the

opportunities made available – or rather, not

made available – to people in a stigmatized

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Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance

Broken window theory of deviance (Philip Zimbardo):explains

how social context and social cues impact the way individuals act

People who wouldn‘t exhibit a certain behavior in one social

context might do so in another context where the behavior

seems more permissible.24

People inspect an abandoned car in the South Bronx. Zimbardo placed this car in New York City

and University in Palo Alto, California.

The car near Stanford went untouched for days, but the car pictured above was in New Your City was

relieved of its hubcaps and other parts almost immediately.

Deviance and Social Control

• Examples of formal social control include laws

and the authority of police officers.

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Formal deviance or crime involves the violation of laws.

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George Zimmerman

Trevor Martin

Crime

• street crime street crime — refers to crime committed in public and is

often associated with violence, gangs, and poverty

• white-collar crime white-collar crime — committed by a professional

against a corporation, agency, or other business

• corporate crime corporate crime — type of white-collar crime committed

by the officers or executives of a company

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Which is it?Which is it?

White-collar Crime

Corporate Corporate CrimeCrime

Street Street CrimeCrime

Crime

• It can be difficult to measure crime rates over

time for a variety of reasons, including:

1. changes in how crimes are defined.

2. fluctuations in whether people report crimes.

3. in the case of murders, improvements in

medical technology. CSI

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Number of prisoners per 100,000 population.

Figure 6.2 Total U.S. Violent Crime Rate, 1960–2008You May Ask Yourself, 2nd Edition

Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

Crime Reduction

Deterrence theory is a philosophy of

criminal justice based on the notion that

crime results from a rational calculation of

its costs and benefits.

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Crime ReductionSince the 1970s, there has been a change from a more

rehabilitative sense of justice to a more punitive one in the United

States.

This is evidenced by historically high rates of incarceration.

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Unintended Consequences of Deterrence

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Societal Effects of Mass Incarceration

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http://www.youtube.com/embed/lUt_fIB6A_Y

• staggering costs • the disenfranchisement of millions

of former felons• a disproportionately high rate of

imprisonment for black males• a ripple effect throughout black

communities and beyond.