Sociology 262: Deviance and Social Theories

Sociology 262 Master Sheet per Lesson: Key Notes + Concepts + Real World Example + 1 Visual connected to themes Master Sheet Lesson 1: 🔑 Key Quote or Concept: “Deviance is not one thing, nor is there one way to study it” → Deviance is fluid, contextual, and socially co...

Sociology 262 Master Sheet per Lesson: Key Notes + Concepts + Real World Example + 1 Visual connected to themes Master Sheet Lesson 1: 🔑 Key Quote or Concept: “Deviance is not one thing, nor is there one way to study it” → Deviance is fluid, contextual, and socially constructed — it varies based on norms, power, group dynamics, and situations. 🧩 Core Concepts and Definitions: 📚 Term 💡 Definition 🧠 Example Norms Social expectations about behavior. Can be Dress codes, classroom behavior, formal (laws) or informal (customs). eye contact. Folkways Informal, everyday norms. Breaking them = Facing someone in an elevator. weird, not bad. Mores Norms tied to morality. Breaking them = seen Cheating on a partner, lying. as immoral. Laws Formalized norms, usually with legal Stealing, murder, plagiarism consequences. (academic penalties).  🔄 Models of Understanding Deviance: 📖 View 💬 Description 🔍 Example Consensus (Objectivist) Norms reflect what most people agree is Drinking laws, criminal laws. wrong. Emphasizes social agreement. Conflict (Marxist) Norms/laws protect powerful groups' Drug criminalization protects dominant interests. class interests. Interactionist Laws come from group negotiation & LGBTQ+ rights laws emerged through lobbying — whoever appeals best to power. activism and political pressure. 🌍 Real-World Example: Teen Alcohol Use​ → Even though 71.5% of Grade 12 students drink, it's considered deviant due to age laws, social concerns, and preventive systems like education or policing. 📌 Key Point: Statistical normality ≠ social acceptance. 🎨 Associated Visual: 🚦 Traffic Light stuck on both Red & Green:​ → Reflects the conflict between what’s common and what’s socially acceptable or legal.​ 🎭 Masks of a person in different groups:​ → Symbolizing multiple norms across subcultures (e.g., goth vs. skater norms).​ ⚖️ A scale weighed down by dollar bills:​ → Represents the Conflict Model — how power and wealth influence law creation. 🔁 Situational Deviance – Key Insight: Deviance is not objective — it's contextual. ​ Killing isn’t always labeled “murder”:​ → Self-defense, military, assisted dying, capital punishment = socially acceptable in specific situations.​ ​ Even the "norm against killing" can be flexible, depending on the setting, motive, and power dynamics.​ 🔹 Key Concepts Concept Description Subjectivism Claims deviance is not an inherent quality but defined by social context and interpretation. Howard Becker & “Deviance is not a quality of the act but a consequence of the application of Labelling Theory rules.” Social groups create deviance by making rules and labelling rule-breakers as outsiders. Reactions Define The societal reaction, not the act itself, determines whether something is Deviance deviant. Dominant Moral Norms are shaped by the most powerful groups in society and can be Codes challenged, resisted, and changed. Social Construction Dominant moral codes emerge through negotiations between different groups. This explains differences across cultures and times. Levels of Social 1. Sociocultural (values, ideologies) Construction 2. Institutional (church, education, government) 3. Interactional (day-to-day interactions) 4. Individual (self-identity) 🔹 Processes in Subjective Approaches Process Description Social Typing The process of labelling someone as deviant and treating them accordingly. Broken into three components: Description Labelling based on observed/presumed trait (e.g., “druggie,” “criminal”). Evaluation Attaching judgments based on label (e.g., “lazy,” “dangerous”). Prescription Responses and social control measures based on the judgment. Can be informal or formal. 🔹 Types of Social Control Type Description Example Formal Social Institutionalized rules and Laws, codes of conduct, religious Control enforcement excommunication Informal Social Everyday interactions and reactions Teasing, avoidance, peer pressure Control Retroactive Control Punishes or corrects past deviance Jail time, academic sanctions Preventative Aims to stop deviance before it Drug education, social norms training Control begins Self-Control Internalized regulation based on Hiding personal traits, monitoring learned norms weight 🔹 Moral Entrepreneurs Term Definition Example Moral Entrepreneurs Individuals or groups who seek to Anti-smoking activists, political redefine social norms by framing certain figures promoting “tough on behaviours as social problems. crime” agendas Competing Moral When groups oppose each other in Activists vs. industries (e.g., Entrepreneurs shaping moral codes anti-pot advocates vs. cannabis companies) 🔹 The Deviance Dance ​ Definition: Ongoing negotiation and debate over whether a behaviour is deviant and what kind of social control it requires.​ ​ Example: Indoor smoking debates, debates over LGBTQ+ rights, and shifts in drug policy.​ 🧠 Reflective Questions for Review: ​ What makes a behavior deviant — its rarity or society’s reaction?​ ​ Can something be legal but still deviant?​ ​ How do power and politics influence what becomes a law or norm? Master Sheet Lesson 2: 🔑 Key Quote or Concept:​ “Rapid social change and unequal structures create conditions where deviance becomes more likely”​ → Durkheim and Merton argued that deviance is not just individual behavior but a symptom of societal imbalance (like norm breakdown or blocked opportunity). ​“Deviance results not just from blocked goals, but also from how people emotionally respond to strain and what opportunities they have to cope.” → Objective theories explain deviance as a product of structure, strain, and coping resources—not just personal choice. 🧩 Core Theories (Continued: Functionalist & Strain Theories)​ 📚 Theory | 💡 Core Idea | 🧠 Real-Life Example Durkheim – Anomie (Normlessness)​ When traditional bonds weaken (e.g., industrialization), society lacks shared values → 📍 anomie arises → deviance increases.​ After the collapse of the Soviet Union, increased alcoholism and crime due to social disorientation. Merton – Strain Theory (Expanded)​ Strain = tension between society's goals and people's means to achieve them. Deviance 📍 happens when means are blocked.​ A young person without access to education may turn to crime to gain status and income. Merton – Modes of Adaptation​ Different people respond to strain in different ways:​ → Conformity: Accept goals + means (e.g., grinding 9–5 job)​ → Innovation: Accept goals, reject means (e.g., fraud)​ → Ritualism: Reject goals, accept means (e.g., burned-out worker)​ → Retreatism: Reject both (e.g., addiction, drop out)​ → Rebellion: Replace both (e.g., activists, counterculture) 🧠 Key Concepts Table (Expanded)​ 🧠 Concept | 💬 Meaning | 🔍 Example Anomie | Social instability caused by weakened norms | A society shifts too fast, and people feel lost​ Strain | Frustration from blocked goals | Dreaming of success, but facing systemic barriers​ Modes of Adaptation | Individual responses to strain | Innovation = selling drugs to “succeed”​ Deinstitutionalization | Goals become more important than the means | Chasing wealth regardless of ethics​ Mechanical Solidarity | Unity through sameness | Small, tight-knit communities pre-industrial era​ Organic Solidarity | Unity through interdependence | Specialized roles in industrial society​ Retreatism | Withdrawal from goals + means | Homelessness tied to addiction or disconnection​ Rebellion | Replacing society’s rules | Youth activism or revolutionary movements 🌍 Real-World Example:​ Transition from Communism to Capitalism (Post-USSR)​ 🔁 → Loss of structure = norm breakdown = increased deviance​ Without stable norms or institutions, deviance like alcoholism, crime, and corruption surged. 📌 Key Point:​ 🔍 Deviance often reveals deeper issues—social disintegration, inequality, or cultural shifts—not just “bad behavior.” 🎨 Associated Visuals (Part 2 Inspired): 🧱 Cracked foundation under a cityscape​ → Represents society's weakening norms (anomie) beneath modern life. ⚖️ Unbalanced scale: “Goals” weigh more than “Means”​ → Visualizes Merton’s idea of goal-overemphasis leading to deviance. 💼🚪👟🚬👊​ → A person at a crossroads choosing between paths: school, retreatism (substance use), rebellion (activism), or innovation (crime). 🔁 Situational Insight – Expanding Functionalism​ Deviance can signal: 🔍 Structural breakdown (anomie, blocked means) 📣 Need for reform (rebellion can lead to change) 🌐 Changing values (shift from collective norms to individual goals) 🔹 Quick Review – Extended Functionalist/Strain Theories​ 🧠 Theory | 🎯 Focus | 📌 Summary Durkheim | Rapid change & weakened norms | Anomie causes deviance​ Merton | Goals vs. Means | Strain → 5 responses (some deviant)​ Modes of Adaptation | Personal reactions | Deviance as adaptation to social pressure​ Post-Soviet Case | Real-world application | Rapid change = spike in deviance​ Deinstitutionalization | Economic dominance | Goals > legitimate paths → deviance 🧠 Reflective Questions for Review (Part 2): 1.​ What happens when a society changes faster than its norms can adapt?​ 2.​ Why might someone “follow the rules” but still be considered deviant (ritualism)?​ 3.​ How does Merton’s theory explain white-collar crime?​ 4.​ Can rebellion lead to positive societal transformation?​ 5.​ Are we more likely to see deviance when social bonds are weak? 🧩 Core Theories (Extended Functionalist & Strain Theories)​ 📚 Theory​ 💡 Core Idea​ 🧠 Real-Life Example 📚 Cloward & Ohlin’s Differential Opportunity Theory​ 💡 Society gives unequal access not only to legitimate paths (like school/jobs) but also 🧠 A teen in an area with gang presence might see joining a gang as the only available to deviant ones (like gangs/crime).​ route to status and money. ⚔️ 3 Deviant Subcultures: ​ Criminal gangs → Profit-driven (e.g., drug trade, Hell’s Angels)​ ​ Conflict gangs → Violent prestige-seeking (e.g., skinhead fights)​ ​ Retreatist gangs → Escape-based (e.g., heavy substance use)​ 📚 Agnew’s General Strain Theory (Expanded)​ 💡 Strain + Negative Emotions (anger, anxiety, depression) → deviance depends on 🧠 A bullied teen (strain) who feels powerless (negative affect) may vandalize school coping style.​ property (externalized deviance). 🔄 Coping Strategies: ​ Cognitive → Reframing the event (“It’s just one bad grade”)​ ​ Emotional → Managing feelings (e.g., playing with pets, drinking)​ ​ Behavioral → Changing the situation (e.g., tutoring or cheating)​ 📚 Cohen’s Status Frustration Theory​ 💡 Working-class boys fail to meet middle-class school norms → feel rejected → form 🧠 Teens rejected by school standards might form a crew that values toughness and subcultures with new values.​ disrespect to feel empowered. 🧭 Key Concepts: ​ Middle-class measuring rod → School values (e.g., politeness, delayed rewards)​ ​ Reaction formation → Rejecting dominant values​ ​ Mutual conversion → Grouping with peers in same situation​ 🌀 Key Concepts Table (Expanded) 🧠 Concept 💬 Meaning 🔍 Example Differential Unequal access to deviant vs. legit Gangs flourish where legit Opportunity paths jobs are scarce Negative Affect Emotional response to strain Anger → vandalism; Depression → self-harm Cognitive Coping Changing the way you think about “It’s just one bad grade, I’ll strain improve” Emotional Coping Managing feelings from strain Working out, drinking, isolating Behavioral Coping Changing the situation Studying harder or cheating Middle-Class Norms in school/work that favor Politeness, delayed Measuring Rod middle-class behaviour gratification Reaction Formation Rejection of norms after failure Valuing toughness over obedience Mutual Conversion Shared frustration → group Forming a delinquent peer identity group 🌍 Real-World Example:​ Substance Abuse Among Youth​ → Youth facing bullying (strain), depression (negative affect), and peer influence (social 📌 environment) may cope by drinking or using drugs.​ Key Point: Emotional and structural context both matter — deviance often reflects how people cope when life feels out of control. 🎨 Associated Visuals:​ 🔀 Pathways splitting: “Job,” “Gang,” “Escape,” “Anger”​ → Shows how different environments and emotions lead to different deviant responses. 😠😢😨 Faces above arrows to actions (e.g., anger → graffiti, depression → cutting)​ → Visualizing how emotional strain maps onto deviance. 📚 Classroom with a "Measuring Rod" poster​ → Symbolizes the school system judging all students by middle-class standards. 🔁 Situational Insight – Objective Theories (Expanded)​ Deviance is shaped by: 📉 Blocked means (strain)​ 😡 Emotional responses (negative affect)​ 🧠 Coping strategies (conforming or deviant)​ 🌍 Social structure (access to support or gangs) 🔹 Quick Review – Extended Functionalist/Strain Theories 🧠 Theory 🎯 Focus 📌 Summary Durkheim Social Norms Anomie = norm breakdown → deviance Merton Goals vs. Means Inequality creates strain → 5 adaptations Cloward & Legit + Illegit Gangs form where deviant options are more Ohlin Paths available Agnew Emotion & Strain + negative emotion → deviant or Coping conforming coping Cohen School Failure & Lower-class youth create their own values when Class school rejects them 🧠 Reflective Questions for Review: ​ How does your environment affect the kind of deviance available to you?​  ​ What role do emotions play in turning frustration into deviance?​ ​ How does school reinforce class inequality?​ ​ Can coping strategies help avoid deviance — or lead to it?​ Social Strain Example of the JOKER: -​ Deviance and crime are not objective facts, but are socially constructed to benefit the dominant and powerful interests of society. Often at the expense of the marginalaized IDEOLOGICAL -​ Some can avoid legal scrutiny because of their privilege, and can determine the controls of the law, and in some cases, can become its representatives -​ Those high in society have images that no wrong doing could ever be done by them. So, if they commit a crime, it would be hard to convince the public as they would turn directly to who killed them. (good educated) -​ If the law cannot protect them, they must protect themselves. -​ In the JOKER, he is invisible to society, even by his therapist not taking seriously not being listened to. -​ He imagines that he has a good dad, and he turns to harmless ways to preserve his goal, but the society shows him that it won't be enough, so he turns to more deviant ways. -​ Robert Merton; social strain; when confronted by a lack of opportunity some individuals are forced to seek deviant to acheive traditional goals others may go even further and completely reject conventional pursuits altogether by becoming social outlaws. They deliberately become enemies of conformity and champions of anarchy. -​ The clown becomes an idea of rebellion; they will come together, materializing as subcultures; visibility is seen as those who make the boldest moves so that the JOKER can approve of them. -​ He founded a culture where is so happy, definition of good has changed -​ It is present in today’s city, as a representative of Gotham City, it is simply too close to home, corruption, alienation, and lack of opportunity, are all key sociological forces that lead to crime. POVERTY: 1.​ Absolute Poverty, where society sets a certain income level and says that those who earn less are considered poor no matter where they live 2.​ Relative Poverty, based on locations/countries. Even if the lower income people start to win more than the global bank income level defining them as poor, the richer people will win even more hence still being unequal.  Sociologists and Theories Sociologist Ideas Theme Emile Durkheim ~ Viewed social deviance as an Deviance plays a necessary role in inevitable part of how society functions social stability and adaption, ~ Deviance helps clarify moral especially during times of rapid boundaries and reinforces social norms change (anomie) ~ Can promote social change when norms are challenged Robert K. Merton (American ~ Developed Strain Theory: deviance Deviance depends not just on strain, sociologist) occurs when people can’t access but on unequal access to deviant legitimate means to achieve cultural paths. Environment shapes which goals deviant opportunities are available. ~ ​Identified 5 adaptions to strain: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion Cloward & Ohlin ~ Developed Differential Opporutnity Deviance depends not just on strain, Theory but on unuequal access to deviant ~ Not everyone has the same access to paths. Environment shapes which illegitimate opportunities (e.g, deviant opporutnites are available. organizied crime, gangs) ~ types of deviant subcultures: criminal (profit-oriented), conflict (status through violence), and retreatist (escape through substance use) Robert Agnew ~ Developed General Strain Theory Emotional responses to strain ~ Strain results from more than blocked (especially when its perceived as goals - also from loss, abuse, or negative unjust) are key triggers for deviant experiences behavior. ~ Strain leads to negative affect (anger, depression, anxiety), which can lead to deviance if coping fails ~ Coping strategies: cognitive,  emotional, and behavorioural Albert Cohen ~ Developed Status Frustration Theory Deviance arises from structural ~ Working-class boys fail to meet inequality in education and social middle-class school expectations -> feel status, especially among youth alienated forming collective identities. ~ Develop alternative value systems in deviant subcultures (reaction formation + mutual conversion)