Deviance and Conformity PDF

Deviance: Perceptions, Reactions, and Power Interpretive and Critical Theories → argues that we cannot know deviance when we see it and it doesnt exist on its own instead we haevt o be told when a behvauour is deviant *positivist theories want to explain the causes of deviant beha...

Deviance: Perceptions, Reactions, and Power Interpretive and Critical Theories → argues that we cannot know deviance when we see it and it doesnt exist on its own instead we haevt o be told when a behvauour is deviant *positivist theories want to explain the causes of deviant behaviour ultimately they believe that deviance can be identified (objective) -​ Do not focus on the act, bhevaiour or person- have to look at the nature and context -​ Perceptions of the act -​ Reactions to the act -​ Influence of power in perceptions and reactions -​ Deviance is constructed through the social typing process: -​ The process by which some people come to be perceived as deviant and others as normal -​ Instead of looking at deviant people under a microscope the way an objectivist ot postivist theory would.. These theorists focus on society, societal expectaions, socialization and how they are lal shaped by power Ways of Thinking -​ Interpretive Theories: -​ Symbolic interactionism -​ Labellng theories -​ Deviant career -​ Critical Theories: -​ Conflict theories -​ Power-reflexive theories -​ Feminist theories -​ Postmodern theories ​ Interpretive Theories -​ Emphasize: -​ Social interaction-how we interact with each other and within society and the meanings, understandings, and interpretations of deviance and normality -​ Menaings, understandings, interpretation of deviance and normalness -​ Herbert Mead–didnt focus on deviance itself but more concerned with society as a whole (lays foundation of what we are trying to understand -​ Beofre interactionist theories… -​ Deviance was labelled as behaviour that defied a norm- something objectively wrong with them -​ Ignored the role of observers -​ Creation of ‘offences’ -​ How some were considered to be deviants -​ Ignored the social construction of deviance -​ Interaction theories (Herbert MEad) = radically changed devianae studies -​ DEviance: process of SOIAL CONSTRUCTION = created/developed by society and the people we live amongst- dont exist objeccively on their own ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ = ‘constructed’ through cultural or social practice -​ Categories of deviance change -​ Deviance is not rigid, these categories change frequently, things that ae considered today are not considered as such before and vice vesa -​ Early Interactionist THeory Mead’s “The I and the me” (used to understand deviance as well as our social lives) -​ Social self composed of: 1)​ Active “I” → independent of particular situations -​ Who u are to ur core, only agave 1 active I -​ Can e 2)​ Receptive “Me” → situated and responsive ​ ​ → composed by messages from others -​ Parts os us that are situated and responsive- respond to the context/ situation or the people that ur with -​ Many different parts (the many different roles u take on ex. Teacher, partner, daughter, etc.) -​ All of this is composed of the messages that I receive from other people, which wil be different for everyone -​ Different spaces we get messages in our lives, we incorporate these messages into the me parts of self  -​ When the me becomes affected, the active I can become less assertive and successful– impacts the way we see ourselves and how we act -​ Our understanfings of ourselves and who we are is deeply impacted and affected by others -​ An individual can: 1.​ Accept the situation a.​ Accept others assessment and reactions to us, accepting the situation 2.​ Attempt to change the messages by presenting a new image to the world a.​ If we dont like how others think of us, e can try and shift their perceptions and this understnading 3.​ Challenge the reflection by questioning is accuracy a.​ We can say that what they are perceiving is not accurate to who we are, and that they dont know us ​ ​ ​ *MEad used this to determine how interactional processes produce designations of criminalityy na dthe power in these desingations -​ Ex. cut people off from society because of our perceptions of them -​ And how we designate what criminality even is ​ → SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM -​ Society is created through social interaction (which isessential to the creation of our society) -​ Constant communication with symbols -​ All communicating is symbolic in nature -​ The ways we communicate with each other are symbolic we communicate with more than jut verbal communicatio and what we say.. We also communicate with things such as what we wear and how we chose to wear it -​ All of these ways sends signals of what were trying to convey to people -​ Also includes non verbal communication such as hand symbols ex. Thumbs up -​ Facial expressions -​ Body alngusge -​ Often taught that there are contracting meanings depending on ur positioning depending on who peopl are -​ Source of all meaning -​ Gives meaning to our society and world -​ Symbols are complex -​ Mean different things to different people -​ Everyone has different experiences and interpret words and actions and gestures differently from te way we may intend them  -​ Central to how we understand the world– all of us have different interactions and different experiences that shape our worldview *our different interactions produce different perspectives -​ Deviance is a human creation -​ Social construction emerges out of: -​ Interaction = becomes ‘real’ -​ Once it become real is when it is able to affect future events -​ Affects subsequent events/behaviours -​ Focus on: -​ Interpretation or the social meanings attached to a particular bahviour -​ Communication aspect of the interaction, can be verbal or nonverbal -​ Role taking -​ What are other people’s experiences? -​ We can plac eourselves in another persons shoes, imgine what other people may want based off what we think other people want, and we can change ourselves accordingly (can be good or bad) -​ Thin about what the other person wants -​ Looking glass self -​ What do others think of me? → varied -​ How we appear to others, how they interpret us and what that might then shape, how we come off to other people -​ This helps us decide on how we might want to act -​ Significant others -​ What would my family/friends sya? -​ People that are important to us and have big impact on how we behvae -​ Generalized other -​ What would ‘people’ say? -​ Not referring to a specific person or a specific group of people, more of a random understanding of societal expectation -​ Think about how our social selves are produced through o=socialization -​ Qnd how we are influenced by it and other people which impacts how we appear and how we see ourselves -​ How we see ourselves and how we coem off often depends on other people- based on how we understand the world and how we understand our place within society *All of these determine how we choose our behaviour and actions, and our appearance- result in varied understandings of ourselves and others→ affects if we see ourselves as a rule follower or breaker -​ Through these processes, people with similar perceptions and experiences can get together and form groups- that sometime try to change perceptions of deviance that are held by others—> want to connect with other people with similar experiencews ​ → LABELLING THEORY -​ ‘Deviant behvaiour is behaviour that people so label’ - Becker -​ Deviance is to whom the label has been successfully applied, and deviant behvaiour is deviant baehaviour that people label as such -​ Looks at how people become outsiders– doesnt explain why people begin to engage in deviance -​ Instead looks at the process in which sciety defines some acts as deviant and some ascites as normal -​ Look at how negative sanctions such as punishments, can influence our future ebehvaiours -​ Interested in: 1)​ Process of being labelled - instead of the origin of deviant behaviour) -​ How these behvaiours are labeled 2)​ Consequences of that label -​ When people are labelled as ‘deviant,’ they are treated differently (precisely because of that label) -​ Change their self-identity -​ Might incorporate this label into their own identities even if bad -​ Potentially see themselves in a negative way -​ Being labelled as deviant may make us believe we actually are and behave that way -​ Causes change in self-identity -​ Changes how they act -​ Can affect future behaviour and decsions *Have official labels such as criinal or felon but also include inofficial labels that are just stigmatizing -​ Tannenbaum: ​ -​ Once tagged we start to generalize this judgement to the persona s awhole, see this person as an entely evil perosn -​ Dramatization of evil is when it is no longer about the singular act, but how a person as a whole comes to be understood and perceived as evil- which can change a persons image and self-identity which can then built around this entire concept and affect their future actions -​ Ex. chose to behave in an evil way since people already thought of them as such -​ Lemert: -​ Primary deviance: occasional rule breaking  -​ Little acts of rule breaking, mort or petty stuff that generally goes unnoticed ex. Jaywalking -​ Usually more common in how sociey operates -​ If u get caught once it changes how other people see us and changes how we see ourselves and affect our behvaiours -​ Secondary deviance: deviant lifestyle and identity ​ ​ ​ Primary deviance → getting caught → secondary deviance -​ Kitsuse: -​ Some deviants rebel against their labels -​ Attempt to re-affirm their self worth and lost social status -​ Tertiary deviants - rejecting, they are not participating or accepting the label put on them -​ Actively project their labels -​ ‘Reject the rejection’ -​ Becker: -​ Devnace is a master status (a core characteristic by which other identify a person) -​ How others identify you -​ Core characteristic around how we identify ourselves and others -​ Ex. a person who acts eccentric labelled in particular esy -​ Labels can affect how the peron acts and vlock acces to the pro-scoail or legitimate world -​ Labelled ina negative way (such as someone wit h an addiction) may exclude us form our social groups (our friends, family, school, place of worship, etc.) -​ A person with a deviant master status becomes an outsider – since excluded from these conventional groups that we wanted to participate in -​ Then all the other aspects about us seem not to matter as much- only seen as deviant as our master status, which concludes the reason as being excluded -​ When excluded from pro-scoail society only hanging out with ohers deemed deviant - then we begin to act in a manner consisten with our status (only group thatll take them in so u want to impress them and feel like u belong) -​ Affects how others treat you -​ Pushes you further into margins of society -​ You begin acting n ways that are consistent with that identity -​ Changes in identity and lifestyle -​ Predict future deviance if a person is labelled as deviant -​ This is a response to the label’s stigma -​ Pushes us towards more deviance and can lead toa spiral of reactions, that will continue with deviant behaviour and lifestyle- stigmatized to whatever label were given- can be sustained and lead to more serious deviance -​ Goffman: -​ Stigmatization: becoming an outsider -​ Dramaturgical approach: life is a stage where we take different roles -​ ‘Front stage selves’ or ‘back stage selves’ -​ Front Stage: We try to control the message that we convey to different audiences– control the different sides of self that we poetry depending on the audience watching -​ Control how u come off to ur audience -​ Present self in a certain way -​ The different ways in which we act send different messages about what u are doing and what u want to convey -​ Backstage: when we are with people who are part of our private lives (close, friends, partners, family) we leave frost stage and enter back stage -​ Organic and not playing a specific role (our tue self) -​ Happens in many different ways- all the different wayd of trying to present ourselves, depends on many things including the setting and audiences- all shift depneng on the context -​ If we have a deviant identity, no matter what we so, other swill still perceive us as deviant (ultimate goal is to not have this role at all) -​ Spoiled identity -​ Once u have a spoile identity no matter what u do, people still perceive u as deviant due to stigma -​ Responding to spoiled identity (impression management) -​ How we try to control or influence other peoples perceptions -​ We want their perceptions to match wiht our goals -​ Mostly through appearance- regardless of what u try to do- ur appearance is the irst thing people look at nd will judge u on -​ Signed vehicles: the mechanics we use to present ourselves to others (social setting, appearance, manner of interacting) -​ Humour- laugh off awkward situation or make a joke -​ Education- educate people and try to make it clear that their perceptions are  rooted in ignorance and dont have enough inforamtion -​ Defiance- standing up to others and saying it not right -​ Cowering- leave a situation because it is uncomfortable, removing self from setting -​ Passing- pass as something different, ex. Passing as a different race or religion, or being straight ​ → DEVIANT CAREER -​ Becker -​ Progression through deviance ​ ​ ​ ​ = progression through a career -​ Stages of progression -​ Beginner -​ Occasional -​ Regular -​ Career contingencies: turning points -​ That influence peoples deviance thet either pushes u or pull u away from deviance and crime- with these turning points people can progress through deviance -​ The smae events that push people towards deviance can alo push others away- the same thiig can have different impacts on different people ​ Critical Theories -​ Theoretical: -​ Look at the relationship between human struggles for power: -​ Construction -​ De-construction -​ Reconstruction of normative social boundaries ​ ​ *look for power and struggles for power within history and look at how they affect the construction, deconstruction, andd reconstruction of social norms -​ Practical: -​ Work towards social justice for society’s powerless -​ Emancipatory ​ ​ *more powerless groups working towards achieving greater equity and justice in our society ​ → CONFLICT THEORIES -​ Powerful groups make the rules -​ Power is not equally distributed amongst society -​ Rules tend to serve their interests, designed to benefit the powerful at the oct of those who have less power– perpetuates social inequality and reproduce existing social order  -​ Social rules emerge from conflict and serve the interests of the powerful -​ The rules reproduce the existing social order -​ Keep those without power without, and those with power and status are protected and reinforce the hierarchy thouehht e rules -​ The ‘powerful’ are less likely to break the rules - since created in your own self interest -​ The ‘powerless’ are more likely to break the rules - alienation and helplessness may cause people to break these rules ​ * origins attributed to Karl Marx -​ Karl Marx Wether u sit at the top or bottom of the hierarchy is due to the relationship to the means of production -​ Factory owner: Bourgeoisie owns the means of production-can be used to produce more economic value over just physical behaviour -​ Factory: means of production -​ Factory workers: proletariat, wage earners *this set up of society with bourgeoise at top and proleteriat at the bottom causes class truggle- people at bottom feel laienated (unhappy with working conditionslead them to act in ‘deviant’ ways)- this connection ties economic factors to social problems -​ CLass struggles - the most important relationship in industrial society is between the bourgeoisie, and te proleteriat -​ The state represents the interests of those who own the means of production -​ Protects the ruling class- those who have power/ money -​ Capitalism breeds egocentricity, greed, and predatory behaviour but the worst crime of all is the exploitation of workers -​ Society is not built on consensus- instead believes society is a n outcome of this ongoin struggle between the social classes -​ Definitions od deviance emerge from class conflict between powerful and powerless groups -​ The laws that we have legitimize this sort of intervention of social control -​ Criminal law tends to side with upper classes nd usd unfairly t keep upper classes in their more powerful positiion -​ Revolution: only way for change -​ Morally justifiable -​ Instrumental MArxism -​ Institutionalized social rules are created by the powerful to serve the powerful -​ A direct reflection of the interests of the ruling/capitalist class -​ Law is equated with class rule (the law is considered the same as class rule) -​ The ruling class controls the formation of law (wants this sort of coercive type of law, whenrein the state and legal system are instruments of the capitalist state) -​ The state and the legal system are instruments of the capitalist class  -​ Those who dont have power are driven to commit crimes because of outr frustration with seeing this unattainable affluence ​ ​ *instrumental marxism is similar to strain theory, however strain theory focuses on the individual person with instrumental marisi this is a genralized frustration to social classes and the idea that these social rules protect the ruing class -​ Structural Marxism -​ Opposes the idea that the state is a direct servant of the ruling class -​ State institutions function in the long-term interests of capitalism -​ Our isntitutionalized social rules like laws, were put in place to protect the system of capitalism not necessarily individual capitalists -​ Laws protect teh system instead of the individual richa nd powerful people -​ Institutionalized social rules are created to protect capitalism (as a system) -​ Bourgeoise can be labelled as deviant -​ If theu go against fundamental principles of capitalism -​ Many laws do not represent the immediate interests of the capitalist class -​ Laws that benefit the less powerful reflect the need to develop widespread consent for the existing social order -​ The idea is to preserve the exisiting social order with the ultimate oal being to protect the system- dont want to have riots or revolutions so u give those who are less powerful al title bit -​ Restrain endeavous and capitalists by a bit so it looks like u are treating people fairly, and that there is equality in how the law is applied -​ This is meant to keep us abiding by the system, keep us rom proetesting and keep us participating in this capitalist society -​ Other conflict heories ​ *marxist theories focus on the economic sturctures of inequality, other theories claim that power can be based on things other than money and economics- look at power in society that is nnot just economic -​ Power can be based upon non-economic factors too -​ Pluralist Conflict Hteory: -​ Multiple axis of inequality make up the structure of society -​ Based upon conflicts from economic, religious, ethnic, and political groups -​ Involvent in trying to form laws and definitions of deviance and assumes that in a diverse societywhere we have compeitng views, the winners in society are the ones that make the decisions, which then depdneds o multiple axis of inequality not just economically -​ Culture Conflict THeory: -​ When societies have diverse cultural groups, their different norms will conflict with each other  -​ Dominant cultural groups can impose their cultural norms on other groups- then label norms of other groups as deviant -​ Group conflict theory -​ Many groups are always trying to gain more power in society -​ Clash with each other because of this -​ Groups can get authorities on their side to have their norms or social rules legitimized **When conflict happens, crime and deviance occurs -​ The powerful construct of society’s dominant moral code (this is what defines crime and deviance in society) -​ In a democracy, the powerful must convince the powerless that the rules are logical and fair (that the powerful are working towards serving everyones best interests, which is how they stay in power)- jeustify wehn some groups are labelled deviant or criminal cause his allows them to enforce social control to keep soe groups down and maintain power; -​ Ideology– worldview held by the powerful, based on the interest of the powerful -​ Hegemony— the dominant way of seeing and understanding the world, since thee powerful control our institutions (such as schools and media) their worldview is taught to be common sense- assumed to be the correct worldview and correct moral code -​ False consciousness— when people see the dominant (hegemonic) worldview as rational and acceptable (fail to see how the hegemonic idealogy serves the needs and interest of the most powerful)- naive to this fact- people who flal ito this trap believe they have more power than they actually do and just dont see whats actually happening ​ → POWER-REFLEXIVE THEORY -​ Michel foucault: *knowledge is power, except allclaims to power are socially situated, on our societies, many nad multiple discourses exist -​ Multiple ‘discourses’ exist in society -​ Bodies of knowledge (discourses)- not all considered the same or o the same level -​ Power determines which ‘discourses’ are accepted as ‘truth’ in the specific society we live in -​ Ex. in america we privilege western knowledge and science and expertise over indigenous knowledges and way of knowing- refctive of colonialization and assumptions superiority in this context  -​ increasilgl y we accept government surveillance since we are told is for our own good, four our safety and survival ex. Cctv cameras -​ Since we are always being watched due to surveillance ino ur society, we are all under social control and engage in self-surveillance where we regulate our own behaviours -​ Power is associated with resistance -​ Jeremy Benthem’s Panoptican -​ Designed prison that allowed guards to sit in a watchtower in the middel to observe prisoners at all times- prisoners dont know when they are being watched -​ At any moment in time the guard could be watching, whic makes prisoners regulate their own behaviour so that even when their is no guard on watch there is always a chance there could be -​ Glasgow's CCTV Room -​ Many people monitor multiple cameras for a number of different reasons -​ Residents are aware that at any given moment they are being monitored by higher powers -​ It may make people think twice about committing a crime -​ Today’s Panoptical Society -​ Snart watch monitors our behaviours and lifestyle, companies can use this data to monitor their employees which impacts their health insurance -​ Google- many security breaches, tailored ads to individuals based on collected data from user -​ Surveillance is invisible, not as a ware that we are being watched ​ → FEMINIST THEORIES -​ Many different types of ‘feminism’ -​ Often seen as a ‘dirty’ word -​ Essentially: women have been oppressed in society in the past, women continue to be oppressed, and we need to change this -​ Women considers as other, with men as being the normative standard by which women were judged -​ Mainstream theories ignored women -​ And those who do not fit into male/female binary -​ The social construction of deviance; gendered -​ Different expectations for men/women  -​ Liberal feminism: works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into it -women enage in deviance because theyre disadvantaged, does not directly challenge the system itself just wants to integrate women more into society -​ Radical feminism: we need to a complete overhaul of the patriarchal system - patriarchy and sexims as the most important factors of womens oppression- seek complete overhaul of this system -​ Black feminism: sexism, class oppression, gender identity and racism are linked together through intersectionality​ -​ How sexism and racism are interacting, and how class oppression plays into this and how all f t these combine together -​ Kimberley Crenshaw -​ Aspects of gender and race are interlinked cannot be looked at seperately as they work together -​ Contrast with: white feminism? -​ Marxist Feminism: women’s oppression principally linked to the capitalist economic system - social class fundamental to how u are treated as a women, integrated ideas of patriarchy and racisism ​ → POSTMODERN THEORIES -​ Reject categorization and want to question our knowledge and all things we know to be true or not true -​ Based on rejection: -​ Theories of society -​ Social categories -​ ‘Truth’ -​ Society is commercial rather than industrial - due to rapid change, commercialism as the defining trait of our society, have to look at people as consumers, the individual is nothing ore than what is being pursued in the monment -​ People are consumers rather than citizens -​ ‘End of the individual’: an individual is nothing more than style or image being pursued at that moment -​ This image is disjointed and constantly changing -​ Erosion of any dominant moral codes by which deviance can be judged