Societal Reaction Theories PDF

What is Theory? ​ A theory a set of interconnected statements or propositions that explain how two or more events or factors are related to one another ​ A theory makes a claim to understand two or more factors or phenomenon ​ Never in social sciences say "A equals B"...

What is Theory? ​ A theory a set of interconnected statements or propositions that explain how two or more events or factors are related to one another ​ A theory makes a claim to understand two or more factors or phenomenon ​ Never in social sciences say "A equals B" ○​ Instead we say they are connected in a social phenomenon ​ Theories are proposed explanations to problems or questions ○​ Ex. Michel Foucault, French contemporary theorist, in the 1950-60's he had severe depression. He thought why does this mental illness demonized? ○​ He also studied why homosexuality was demonized? (people were in hiding, because homosexuality was seen as a mental illness ○​ He published three books on these themes ​ They also help provide guidance to why things are the way they are ○​ Ex. Colonialism with Indigenous peoples (colonialism being the theory) ​ Criminological theories provide tentative explanations as to why crimes are committed, who commits them, and about the formal and informal social control system ○​ If an offender is indigenous the have to take into consideration when sentencing their history (colonialism) ○​ Formal control could be police, laws, judiciary (dictate us to act a certain way) ○​ Informal control could be your peers ​ Theories are statements about relationship between actual events, about what is and what will be and are NOT about what ought to be ​ Empirical data is data in real life (can be seen, collected and the researcher takes notes, ex. Survey questions) ○​ They collect real life experiences Types of Criminological Theory ​ Classifications of criminological thought theory ​ Theories of law and criminal justice ​ Theories of criminal and deviant behavior (a lot more theories in here) ○​ Try to create theories that help explain why people commit crimes Theories of Law and Criminal Justice ​ Deal with the law and how it is created ​ To explain the making and enforcing of the criminal law ○​ These theories answer questions by proposing that social, political and economic variables affect the legislation of law and deviance ​ The criminal code was created in 1892 (copied from Britain with common law)  ​ They also deal with who deicides what is 'normal' behavior and what is 'criminal' behavior ○​ Ex. Abortion is legal in Canada, but in the 1800's it was not, people had to go through loopholes to have an abortion. If they were not granted one they would find other 'illegal ways' to do it (this is an example of how the law creates deviant behavior) Theories of Criminal and Deviant Behavior ​ They are composed of; ○​ Macro and micro OR ○​ Structural and processual ​ Macro theories: focuses on structural issues in our society (economy, racial capitalism) ​ Micro theories: individual or small group of people (biological and psychological traits, or race and gender) ○​ Ex. Recent trends in employment (unemployment rate is low around 6-8%) ​ Neoliberalism (Macro level theory): late 1980-90's. It is deregulated market where the government pulled back all its law, and the market operated the way it wanted (focused on free trade) ○​ Ex. Over-consumerism, mass production (less jobs for people) ○​ Neoliberalism was not a good idea ○​ Created seasonal jobs, part time jobs, etc. People did not really have 'careers' anymore (how neoliberalism (macro) is effecting people's lives (Micro) is how it connects together Criteria for Evaluating Theory 1.​ Logical consistency ○​ The theory must make sense, central ideas are clear and concise ○​ Ex. Lombroso's atavist and women criminality (Lombroso's theory stated that if you commit crimes then you are pushed back in life, or you have certain traits that are biological throwbacks) ○​ Lombroso said women are the bottom of the evolutionary ladder and meant nothing compared to men (but this did not add up, and there was contradiction because most people who committed crimes back then were men) 2.​ Scope ○​ The overall area to which the theory can be applied ○​ A good theory accounts for a wide range of behavior than a limited range 3.​ Parsimony ​ Deals with the simplicity Criteria for Evaluating Theory 4.​ Testability ○​ Must be able to repeat the evidence to try to support the theory ○​ If a theory cannot be tested against empirical findings, it has not scientific value ○​ Theories can be no testable: not all concepts must be directly measurable for a theory to be testable, but once must be able to relate the concepts and propositions in a logical and clear way to measurable phenomenon 5.​ ​ Power could mean things like status, wealth/money, authority, etc. ​ Marx says that everyone has power (the notion of having power comes from what you have/possess 5.​ Empirical Validity ○​ The most important criterion for a theory ○​ Supports the theory through scientific evidence: if a theory cannot be supported, it is not valid 6.​ Usefulness and Policy Implications ​ They tend to do more harm than good ​ You should make sure your theory takes into consideration human dignity Article By Bloomer ​ The person who builds social constructionism and puts it together ​ He refers to Herbert Neat, who also helped develop this theory ○​ Bloomer was his teacher ○​ Took his theory and gave it a theoretical perspective Third Article ​ Easy introduction to social constructionism ​ Read this for an easier explanation compared to Bloomers article The Emergence of Labeling Theory (do not need to know all the history but the main outcomes and points) ​ 1960's based on symbolic interactionism ​ The social, cultural, political, historical context in the 1960's in the US set the stage for emergence of a different criminological thought. These texts include: ○​ The Civil Rights Movement: calling attention to disparities by race in all aspects of social and political life, and demanding change  ○​ Civil rights movement was about African Americans wanting the rights they deserve ○​ They were forcefully kidnapped from Africa, boated over to the US, sold into slavery, forced to work on plantations ○​ They were inflicted with violence and were forced to work for people from the US for financial gain ○​ After slavery was abolished the US had "black code" enacted that states any behavior from African Americans, those who choose to leave the plantations were able to have a place to live and work ○​ They went down south to recruit African Americans for work on assembly lines, etc. ○​ African Americans then left the southern states and headed up north in places like Chicago, but were still made out to be "outsiders" ○​ African American people were not allowed to go to school with "white children" and were also not allowed to be on the bus ○​ This all led to the Civil Rights Movement, people wanted their equal rights ○​ Tey had to fight for the rights they deserved ​ Civil Rights Act of 1964 – banned segregation in public places and employment discrimination ​ Voting rights of 1965 ​ Says a lot about America's social system ​ Assassination of Kennedy in 1961, Malcolm X in 1965, and Martin Luther King in 1965 ​ Women's Rights Movement: gender equality ​ Protests and time of great unrest in the US society: Vietnam war, riot in Attica (prison in the US) 1971, and Many of the scholars emerging as labelling theorist were graduates of the Chicago School ​ "Youth Culture": Elvis Presley a new cultural form, the birth of Rock and roll music, fashion, appearance and activities ○​ Meaning we are challenging the status quo ​ Social scientists: rethink their conception of society, social order and deviancy ○​ Society is no longer homogenous ○​ It is made of heterogenous ​ Deviant is different from criminal (deviant means not abiding by the law) ○​ Ex. Rosa Paks who broke the law from sitting in the "wrong" area of the bus, was challenging the status quo ​ Positivist school, these researchers were all taught in the Chicago school (deterministic) ○​ It is important because it was the first academic. Scientific school/University that applied the method of data collection and data analysis that relied on scientific method but applied to social life ○​ They found a way to systematically collect data Labelling Perspective ​ Labelling perspectives were introduced in the 1960's and 70's ​ Labeling perspectives challenge positivist criminology (biological, psychological, or sociological) by arguing that ○​ Biological: ex. They used to label people with certain learning disabilities as its own category and was seen as a mental illness ​ Most of these theories are micro oriented, and deterministic (not a lot of choices) ​ They all focus on the individual ​ They forget to think of broader macro factors (economic, political, sexism, racism, etc) ​ Crime is: ○​ not an "objective" phenomenon but subjective meaning is given to particular behavior ​ Ex. Mid-nineties made panhandling a crime, which is homelessness on private property is a crime, and they were ticketed ○​ A social process (meaning given to events depended on negotiated definitions) ​ Social interactionism says there is not objectivity, because we are constantly changing ○​ The outcome of a human interaction Social Context ​ The rise of labeling perspectives accompanied intellectual currents that critiqued the following dominant image of Western society in the 1950's: ○​ Society shares collective interest ○​ There is a consensus in society on core values ○​ Capitalism brings economic prosperity for everyone ○​ There are common standards of "deviance" and "conformity" Societal Reaction Theories as Critical Criminology ​ Societal reaction theories are said to be critical theories of criminology and hence ​ Societal reaction theories falls under the umbrella of critical theory ​ All the theories before the 1960's assumed that people were born with certain qualities that made them who they were/how they act ○​ Critical criminology examples include feminist theories etc. 1.​ Provide "a critique of the orthodox of mainstream (positivist) theories" ○​ Critique of the deterministic nature of the positivist theories and classical theories ○​ All critical criminology theories provide choice, you show agency 2.​ Have "an anti-essentialist conception of human identity, including deviant identity"  ○​ There is no intrinsic quality; rejects the idea that categories with which we make sense of human identity have identifiable traits such as criminal/non-criminal, normal/abnormal, fallacy of gender and race differences ○​ Critical criminology says there is not truth, the truth differs because it is socially constructed ​ gender roles are socially constructed, for example we identify certain traits to each gender for example men cannot be emotional while women are ​ We are automatically attach attributes to each gender, when in reality "male and female" only relate to the sex of the person ​ This also relates to everything else in society (why is it socially constructed) ○​ Focus is on social construction and the role of power, language, discourse, symbols, interaction, and reaction in the creation of meaning and categories ​ Lack of housing and immigrants in Canada connects back to social construction ​ There is no link between the two, but they blame immigrants and cut back on bringing them into the country 3.​ Describe deviance as the product of social construction" ○​ Deviance and "crime" are socially constructed phenomenon, it is the creation of laws and its application that a person/group get the label of 'criminal'…(crime does not automatically appear in the CC but those in power write ad enact laws), police and the CJS official enforce, apply, and interpret law and common to all its human factors 4.​ have an ideological view that the deviance and its control are inextricably linked to power dynamics in society" ○​ For example getting labeled as a deviant individual is linked to the power of the police (or others that hold power, define acts as criminal) Historical Development ​ Societal reaction theories were influence by social psychology, phenomenology, and ethnomethodology, which all are strongly linked to symbolic interactionist perspective ​ Phenomenology: a sociological approach in seeking to reveal how human awareness is implicated in the production of social actions, societal situations and social worlds (Eisler et. Al. 2024) ○​ Patriarchy: usually a hierarchy of men that have access of power and they are put in positions that allow them to have more power ​ Ethnomethodology: study of people's practices and methods – how social world is built and rebuilt by people's action and thoughts ​ Epistemological stance ○​ Gathman (ethnomethodology researcher) ​ Was a PHD student  ​ He wants to study the interactions in asylum ​ He admitted himself into an asylum with a friend (said he's suffering from depression) and he was accepted ​ He started taking notes in notebooks on nurses, patients, etc. ​ Did this research for 4 months ○​ They follow symbolic interactionism perspective (ex. peoples interaction) Symbolic interactionism (building block for societal reaction theories) ​ Blumer (1962) outlines the components of symbolic interaction based on Herbert Mead: ○​ "Human being has a self" ○​ Acts towards self- making indication to oneself – this is the new central mechanism with which human being faces and delas with the world ○​ Research shows a child around 3 months old can recognize their mothers voice (fed, held, touched) these are all senses that help a child develop indication to oneself ○​ Human beings are entities that constantly receive messages from the outside ​ world and internally ​ Descriving self = making indication to oneself ( we get outside messages, and those messages are building the self) ​ Indication refers to taking notations of the stimuli (sound, words, gestures) ​ Stimuli = messages that exists inside of that come to our mind, out self is forming from these internal messages ○​ A word Blumer uses with object (word is used to refer to symbols) (language itself is a symbol) ○​ Symbol = as soon as you see it you understand the message (ex. A wedding ring, the middle finger, body language) ○​ Symbols vary from culture to culture (we learn them through socialization) ​ To indicate something is to extricate it from its setting, to give it meaning or to make it into "object" (stimuli vs. object) ○​ Stimuli = when self takes a message/symbol and makes indications about it ○​ Object = once you interpret the stimuli, you then turn that stimuli into an object (this can cause you to react/acting on it) ○​ Object does not mean it comes an inanimate object ​ Human beings are bound to interpret because we are social beings ​ The object is the product of the individual disposition to act. This is process of interpretation. The meaning given to/the interpretation of the stimuli construct the object ○​ Construction of reality Symbolic Interaction and the Role of "Self"  ​ "Self": how one sees her/himself (depends on how others perceive us) ○​ Two important aspects of "I" by Mead: 1.​ First is the recognition that roles play a critical part in the formation of the 'self' ​ Example going to school surrounds us by stimuli 2.​ Second, 'self' interpret the role and rules and reacts to them and act back on the environment ​ Important to understand how the self develops itself ​ "you put a certain type of energy into the world" ○​ The way you interpret the situation is based on something you have heard or seen in the past (aware of the symbols, patterns in social situations) ○​ We are all different, and react different in social situations ​ Individuals respond to situations by reading symbols (gestures, words) around them ​ The self does not just simply respond to events. It is built through social interaction ​ We collectively construct reality into typification's (signs and symbols that each of us interpret the same way, ex. Wedding bands, we all assume they are married) ○​ Typification makes it easier to understand symbols ​ Human beings role-play taking on the role of "the other" (group behavior, people can take on the roles of others) Symbolic Interaction ​ The meaning of things arise out of social interaction ​ Human interaction is mediated by the use of symbols and by interpretations ​ Symbols = is "as a thing, the value or meaning of which is bestowed upon it y those who use it": language, gestures, cultural norms, values, signifiers... ○​ Ex. How to wear a wedding band has a typification (it communicates something) ○​ Tattoos (people get them to signify something, and relay a message) ​ Humans act towards things based on the message those things have for them. This is rooted in socialization process ○​ This is why we can explain shared symbols in society, but symbolic interactionism comes into play because we all interpret things differently ○​ We interpret stimuli differently ​ Many of the human interaction/actions aligns with other due to socialization processes ​ Meanings are created or changed through the process of interpretation ○​ The individuals interpretation is what matters in social interaction Symbolic Interactionism ​ Symbolic interactionism rests on notions that: 1.​ Humans act towards things based on the meaning those things have on them  2.​ The meaning of things arise out of social interaction 3.​ Meanings are created and changed through a process of interpretation ○​ Read Blumer, 1962, pg. 180) 4.​ Review from Last Class (Symbolic Interactionism) ​ Symbolic interactionism is a paradigm (more of a perspective of which we can get direction of a theory rather than being a theory) ​ It would say it's based on the premise that individuals make it aware of out surroundings and the stimuli coming towards us ​ We constantly react to symbols and interpret them ​ Interpretation of the symbols is at the heart of interactionism ​ Some symbols mean the same to all of us because we learn them from the process of socialization from an early age (ex. We all know what it means to wear a wedding band) Social Constructionism ​ Was introduced by Berger and Luckmann (1966) ○​ Published an article ​ They took the same idea of social interactionism and came up with social constructionism ​ It takes a critical stance toward taken for granted ways of understanding the world, including ourselves ○​ Micro level view ​ Example: 'man' and 'women' categories that are bound up with gender, normative notion of masculinity and femininity in a culture (clothing, toys, personality traits, etc.) ​ Challenges the view that conventional knowledge is objective, unbiased observation of the world ​ Beger and Luckmann (1966) argue that the "creation of knowledge is rooted in social interaction between people through common language and shared meanings in particular contexts" ○​ Example: "Illegal Allen" (people crossing to boarder to the USA without official documents; without a visa) ​ Using the word "illegal" makes people feel criminalized and makes them feel like an outsiders; Latin Americans from Mexico entering the USA is not illegal) ​ Dehumanizing ○​ They question the expert knowledge as well (ex. deviant behavior research) ○​ Social constructionism they focus on a micro level ​ Language: curtail in interactions and creation of meanings attached to events, places, situations...  ​ This ongoing creation of meaning occurs in a given political, historical, economic, social and cultural environment and are important for the social construction of knowledge and reality ○​ Example: Trump called Mexicans dirty, lazy, criminals, dangerous, etc. ○​ These notions are communicated by Trump in the media, campaigns, and more, and all the people watching hear the languages he uses and they start to believe him ​ The constructed knowledge gets communicated via different channels (laws, media, public opinion) and serves as source of legitimation and justification ○​ Evening News and reporting local crime ○​ Crime trends are on the steady decline since 1920 ○​ Canada is one of the most punitive countries in the world with high incarceration (USA being the highest) ​ The constructed knowledge becomes the reality and then then 'truth' ○​ Example: Mexicans as rapists or murders (criminals) Joyce Echaquan ​ Mother in Quebec who went to hospital for stomach ache ​ She was Indigenous ​ She started a live video saying that she thinks the doctors gave her to much morphine to which she was allergic, in the video she also called for help ​ People online commented awful things on the video ​ The doctor said to give her morphine because she was suffering from drug withdrawals, no one had told him this and it was not true ​ Using social constructionism the nurses already had assumptions in their head before Joyce told them what was wrong ○​ Just because she is Indigenous they assumed she was on drugs ○​ Indigenous woman are stereotyped to be prostitutes ○​ The staff questioned her intelligence ○​ They are assumed to be bad mothers ​ All these people treating her like this (doctors and people online) are doing this because of colonialism ○​ We created narratives about them that we believe Midterm ​ Consists of lectures from first three weeks ​ 10-50 multiple choice ​ 5-7 short answer ​ Understand the context (social, political, contexts) ​ Only info needed on exam is from class lectures ​ Know societal reaction theory (what is theory; definition), know what deviancy and outsiders by Becker  ​ Read article by Arches, followed by Blummer, and lastly Howard Becker Labelling Theory ​ Howard Becker sets the stage for labelling theory ​ Howard Becker ○​ Comes from a middle class white American family ○​ Not a criminologist, he is a sociologist ○​ Got his masters and a PHD (at 21) ○​ He played piano (and started playing in bars and clubs) ○​ In the 1930's he starts observing people and their interactions and notices two behaviors: ​ Jazz music as a deviant type of music (1940's in the USA) ○​ According to Becker deviancy is anything that is different from the norms in society ​ Marijuana smokers were seen to be deviant ○​ Based on his research he started developing his theory of labelling theory ​ Arrived at his theoretical perspective ○​ ​ "Deviance is not a quality of the act, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an "offender' ○​ According to Becker no act is deviant of itself – but the act of labelling which makes it so ○​ Anything that is not ' normal' to society is seen as a deviant ○​ If murder is murder than how can we give someone a death penalty; yet when we kill people in a war it's okay, or the police (1,600 people are killed in USA each year by police) ​ Becker questions positivist criminology and its explanation of deviancy ○​ Homogeneity in society and social response to deviancy ​ According to Becker, people are place on the "outside" because their particular behavior has been labelled so (by more powerful interest groups) ○​ Ex: the book/movie "the outsiders" ​ Labelling theorists suggest that self-reports and surveys indicate crime and victimization range across all classes, gender, and ethnic boundaries ○​ Survey's emerged in the 1960's in which it pointed out that a lot people were victimized, used drugs at some point in their life, or they shoplifted/stole something, etc. ○​ Labeling theories use these surveys to shoe these people were not caught, if they were they would have been given a label ​ Becker (1963) focused on people relegated to the margins of society ○​ Society has many groups, each to which its own set of rules and people belonging to many groups simultaneously ○​ These groups have their own set of rules, etc., can be labelled  ○​ Ex: Mormons that believe they can have more than one wife (they will sometimes hide this from others in order to not be labelled); because they are against the norm/law therefore they cannot show people that lifestyle ​ Becker approached deviance from an occupational sociology approach ○​ Sociological study of organizations took a holistic approach, but criminology often focused only on the criminal ​ How did Howard Beckers approach differ from the biological perspective: answer lies in these notes ○​ Focused on sociology ○​ People are bounded to different groups at the same time simultaneously The Labelling Process Howard S. Becker (1928-2023) ​ Howard Becker contends that society creates deviance and "outsiders" as such: ○​ "that social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance ○​ "by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as an outsider ​ Not everybody gets to label ○​ Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an "offender" ○​ The deviant is the one who that label has successfully been applied ​ The more rules and regulations we have in society = the higher level of deviance in society ○​ Deviant behavior is behavior that people so label ○​ It is the societal response that matters, for without it, deviant behavior has not occurred (ex: people's reaction to the behavior, which then gives someone a label once you get a label you are pushed out of society as an "outsider") ○​ Response is the reaction of the act How are Outsiders Chosen and Labelled (Becker) ​ Degree to which people react to a given act as deviant varies greatly 4.​ Variation over time (ex: heightened societal attention on an issue) 5.​ Ex: a time when jazz music was seen as deviant (no respectable woman would go to a jazz club); also enforcing drug laws (war on drugs) 6.​ Characteristics of individual doing the act 7.​ Studies show juvenile delinquency: middle-class vs lower-class boys OR Caucasian vs African American even if they committed the same offence 8.​ More lower class boys are charged with crimes rather than middle class boys  9.​ Same with more African American boys are charged with crimes compared to white boys 10.​Response to victimization of some rather than others 11.​Less socially powerful (age, social class) 12.​Membership in group with different values from dominant groups ​ Ex: people in gangs, or Omish people 13.​Rule enforcement may depend on consequences (ex: premarital sex punished wen pregnancy results, in 1950's) ​ Deviance is not a quality that lies in the behavior itself but in the interaction between the person who commits it an act and those who respond to it Backer: Labelling ​ Whose rules? ​ Societal rules are the creation of specific groups ​ The rules that end up being broadly applied represent the rules of groups enjoying a power differential in society ○​ Referring to differential power ​ Old vs. Young (age, status); men vs woman (sex); race; class, ethnicity ○​ State, government, police, legal system ​ Becker contends that deviance is not static ○​ Deviance changes based on social groups ○​ The reaction of a group of people matters! The reaction people give is what leads to people being labelled; it can change overtime (groups change) ○​ Characteristics of the group people and victims matters Labelling Theory? ​ Different social groups within society from their own operational rules ○​ Different groups judge different behaviors to be deviant ○​ Thus, the process of forming this reaction is intimately bound up with defining deviance ​ Group can have a range of potential reactions to rule-breaking, from ignoring it, to mild reaction, to outright scorn, to criminal proceedings ○​ Becker does not talk about criminal proceedings ○​ What can affect the range of how people react to an act? ​ Look at the slide of how individuals are labelled ​ Thus deviance is created by society: not through causes such as "social factors", but by making the rules that govern behavior, and reacting to certain rule-breakers by considering them deviant ​ Rules are created from social processes, interpretation of symbols, which are then made into social norms (rules)  Q.​ What is the most important aspect of labelling theory in the construction of deviance labeled A.​ Social reaction Becker Labelling ​ The label can create deviant behavior by: ​ Catching the attention of the social audience, which then watches more closely for deviance (as soon as you break the rules you get a label; rule-breaker) ○​ Particularly those in occupations that deal with deviance (agents of social control: police, religion; or informal social control: parents) ​ Being internalized by the individual, who then accepts this self-concept of deviance ○​ Being internalized happens by symbolic interactionism ○​ When you interpret messages/behavior, you then attach feeling to that deviant behavior and start to believe those labels ​ ​ These two points not on midterm: ​ Either of these processes can create a 'career deviant' ​ Can become the individual's "master status" (concept borrowed from Everett Hughes 1945 and Goffman) Becoming Marihauna User: Becker (1963) ​ Empirical study: data collection ​ Becker studied – 50 qualitative interviews- and proposed a theory of the processes of how one learns to become a marijuana user. His focus is on the social process and NOT psychological, character traits, and on deviant careers ○​ About social processes: Smoking marijuana is a social activity ​ The legal context of his time: use of marijuana was severely punishable by 2-5 years for first time offenders, 5-10 years for second offense and 10-20 years for third (act of 1952 and Subsequent Act of 1956) ​ The cultural context of his time: "Reefer Madness" - Marijuana use was violent behavior and regarded as immoral ​ Back then they said use of marijuana was because of biological and psychological traits, and people who used it were criminal ​ The use of marijuana occurs in social settings: the novice (the first-time user) must learn to overcome barriers (social controls) in order to continue and maintain their career (use) ○​ Barriers described by Becker: ○​ Restricted supply access ○​ Hiding use from nonusers (secrecy)  ○​ Definition of use as (im)moral ○​ If a user cannot keep it secret then they might not use the drug anymore Becoming a Marijuana User: Focus is Only on Recreational Users ​ Learning the techniques to produce real effect -> experiencing effect -> Perceiving the effects as enjoyable and pleasurable 2.​ If an individual does not complete one of these steps then 3.​ Learning the techniques = oberserving from other people (learning the social context, symbols) 4.​ Experience the effect of the high 5.​ Then you must interpret if the high/feeling is pleasurable; if not then you most likely will not enjoy it ​ At the course of his framework are two separate, albeit overlapping, learning processes that users must master if they wish to become regular consumers of the drug 2.​ On the one hand, novice users must learn to navigate the social, cultural, and political climate of being a "deviant" 3.​ For example, they must learn the vocab and cultural nuances of the deviant social group, techniques to avoid being ostracized by people who disapprove of their lifestyle, and how to conceal their use from agents of control (Becker, 1963) 4.​ Additionally they must learn the proper way to consume the drug and perceive its effects as pleasurable – the theoretical aspect End of Class Questions ​ Object: when an individual makes themself aware of the symbol in their surroundings they interpret the symbols (some symbols have already been interpreted by society; example a wedding ring), we turn the interpretation of the symbol into an object ​ Stimuli: anything an individual is aware of in their its surrounding (feeling of jealousy) ○​ Takes the stimuli into an object ​ Society is full of symbols; some are learned in the process of symbolization (all society knows the symbol)