Deviance and Crime PPT

Chapter 6 Deviance and Crime  For Starters… Greta Thunberg and Uncomfortable Deviance What do you think? Chapter Topics and Overview 6.1 What is Deviance? 6.2 Conflict Deviance 6.3 “Race” and Deviance: To Be Non-White is Deviant 6.4 Gender and Deviance: To Be F...

Chapter 6 Deviance and Crime  For Starters… Greta Thunberg and Uncomfortable Deviance What do you think? Chapter Topics and Overview 6.1 What is Deviance? 6.2 Conflict Deviance 6.3 “Race” and Deviance: To Be Non-White is Deviant 6.4 Gender and Deviance: To Be Female is Deviant 6.5 Class and Deviance: To Be Poor Is Deviant 6.6 Sexual Orientation and Deviance: To Be Gay is Deviant 6.7 Disability and Deviance: To Be Disabled is Deviant  6.1 What Is Deviance? Deviance: A behaviour that strays from what is “normal” – Does not mean bad, criminal, perverted, “sick”, or inferior in any way – It is different from the norm, the usual. – Is a category that changes with time, place, and culture. – Definitions of deviance often reflect power.  What Is Deviance? Characteristics of Deviance: – Overt characteristics: actions or qualities taken as explicitly violating the cultural norm – Covert characteristics: the unstated qualities that might make a group a target for sanctions – e.g., age, ethnic background, “race” and sexual orientation, sex, and physical and mental ability  6.2 Conflict Deviance Deviance Is Contested across Cultures – Deviance differs from culture to culture. – Deviance changes over time e.g. Tattooing was a respectable practice for generations before becoming a cultural taboo and then over time, being more acceptable – Deviance is contested  Conflict Deviance Deviance Is Contested within Cultures: – Definitions of deviance differ not only across but within cultures – Deviance is a social or cultural construct – Deviance can be contested Conflict Deviance is a disagreement among groups over whether or not something is deviant. – e.g. legalization of marijuana  Social Constructionism versus Essentialism Social constructionism proposes that certain elements of social life, such as deviance, are not natural are created by a society or culture Essentialism argues that there is something natural, true, universal, and therefore objectively determined about these characteristics. – When we look at certain social phenomena, we can see that each of these two viewpoints applies to some degree  Social Constructionism versus Essentialism Goffman’s study on stigma and deviance, (1963), illustrates the interplay of essentialism and social constructionism. He identified three types of stigmata (the plural of stigma): Stigma: human attribute that is seen to discredit an individual’s social identity – Bodily stigmata: physical deformities – Moral stigmata: blemishes of individual character – Tribal stigmata: transmitted through group  The Other An image constructed by the dominant culture to characterize subcultures Can be depicted as mysterious, mystical, or mildly dangerous, but somehow it is ultimately cast as inferior – e.g. Edward Said’s Orientalism discussion how the dominant West constructed the Middle East as Other Dominant Canadian culture defines “Indigenous” as Other Deviant behaviour, once it has been associated with Otherness, is often subject to negative sanctions or punishment. The  Deviance and the Moral Panic Moral panic: is a campaign designed to arouse concern over an issue or group e.g racialized deviance and illegal drugs Moral entrepreneur – According to Becker (1963), a person who tries to convince others of the need to take action around a social problem that they have defined e.g., Zoot-suiters, niqab debate in Canada  6.3 “Race” and Deviance: To Be Non-White Is Deviant Racializing deviance: Linking particular ethnic groups—especially visible minorities —with certain forms of deviance – Making ethnic background a covert characteristic of deviance – Treating these groups differently because of that connection e.g., Muslims wearing a niqab are seen as deviant, their faces are covered.  “Race” and Deviance: To Be Non-White Is Deviant Canada formally subscribes to multiculturalism: – A set of policies and practices designed to encourage respect for cultural differences But, racialized minorities face pressure to assimilate: – Pressure to become culturally similar to the dominant culture Not assimilating can be viewed as deviant  “Race” and Deviance: To Be Non-White Is Deviant Deviance is racialized through racial profiling: – Actions undertaken supposedly for reasons of safety, security or public protection, based on stereotypes about race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, place of origin rather than on reasonable suspicion – Visible characteristics used to predict illegal activity – A person’s otherness is used as grounds for differential treatment e.g., law enforcement, employers, service providers,  6.4 Gender and Deviance: To Be Female Is Deviant In patriarchal society (one dominated by men) “male” is normal and female is treated as Other and seen as inherently deviant In a patriarchal two concepts are important: Misogyny literally means “hating women” – In patriarchal societies, images of women are often constructed in ways that contain and reflect misogyny  Gender and Deviance: To Be Female Is Deviant Patriarchal construct: Social conditions that favour boys/men over girls/women – Male values are normalized through customs, laws, and cultural production – e.g., well-paying jobs are dominated by men  Gender and Deviance: To Be Female Is Deviant Sexual Deviance is Gendered: The double standard that has long applied to male and female sexual activity e.g. Magdalene asylums Gendered Deviance in Ontario: Thousands of women in Ontario (between 1913 to 1964) were put into reformatories under the Female Refuge Act for being sexually active outside of marriage. This kind of behaviour and the women guilty of it were branded “incorrigible.”  6.5 Class and Deviance: To Be Poor Is Deviant Poverty can be considered a covert characteristic of deviance e.g., drug or alcohol use are considered deviant in poor people, but less amongst those who are rich According to Reiman (1998), the criminal justice system also has a distinct class bias  White-Collar Crime Research focuses predominantly on the poor and the crimes they committed Behaviours associated with poverty and criminality become synonymous Edwin Sutherland (1939) introduced the concept of white-collar crime: – A crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his/her occupation  White-Collar Crime Clinard and Quinney (1973) refined Sutherland’s concept They distinguish two types of white-collar crime 1. Occupation crimes Benefit the individual at the expense of other individuals who work for the company e.g., sexual harassment 2. Corporate crimes Benefit the corporation and its executives at the expense of other companies and the general public e.g., Enron  Class and Deviance: To Be Poor Is Deviant From School to Prison: The Deviance of Students in Low-Income Neighborhoods – Class bias in the criminal justice system Schools-to-prison hypothesis – Biased application of zero-tolerance policies in schools – Poor schools are often located in racialized neighbourhoods – Constant surveillance and bias in the criminal justice system can result in higher incarceration rates  Class and Deviance: To Be Poor Is Deviant Crime in Low-Income Communities The lower class is over-represented in the statistics on criminal convictions and admissions to prison Reasons for higher crime rates include: – A lack of social resources e.g., knowledge of the law and legal system, lack of social connection, and the ability to pay for a lawyer – Limited ability for impression management: Control of personal information flow to manipulate how others see and treat you  6.6 Sexual Orientation and Deviance: To Be Gay Is Deviant Homosexuality is socially constructed as deviant to varying degrees around the globe. – The way homosexuality is sanctioned varies, from informal (social scrutiny) to formal (law) Penalties ranging from flogging and imprisonment to death – In Canada, homosexuality is informally sanctioned by comments such as “Don’t be so gay” This is sometimes referred to as the ideology of fag, which influences especially men to behave according to gender expectations  6.7 Disability and Deviance: To Be Disabled Is Deviant People with disabilities often suffer negative sanctions by society not accommodating differences in physical ability – Punished not by being singled out, but by omission – e.g., revolving doors, restricting sidewalks, public transport People with disabilities have been targeted because of their difference e.g., Members of the Deaf community representing surgically implanted devices in an attempt to be seen as normal.  Disability and Deviance: To Be Disabled Is Deviant Lennard Davis and the Politics of the Disabled Body: The politics of disability involves promoting respect for difference, as opposed to just respecting the “normal” and treating anything else as a problem to be solved. The social problem of disability is actually created by those people (typically able-bodied people) who view and treat those with a different set of abilities as “Other” rather than accepting their difference.  Disability and Deviance: To Be Disabled Is Deviant Henry Goddard and the Eugenics Movement The eugenics (“good genes”) movement was based on the mistaken beliefs: - Intelligence can be measured easily - Intelligence is inherited, transferred directly from one generation to the next. Popular philosophy during the first half of the twentieth century, it led to the so-called “feeble- minded” sexually sterilized so that they could not reproduce. e.g Alberta’s Sexual Sterilization Act (1928-1972)  6.8 Criminal Deviance Not all deviant behaviour is criminal Criminology: the sociological (and psychological) study of crime in terms of such elements as causation, prevention, management or control, and the statistical patterns of crime.  Theories of Criminal Deviance 1. Strain theory 2. Subcultural theory 3. Labelling theory 4. Social control theory  Theories of Criminal Deviance: Strain Theory Robert Merton (1938) explained why some individuals “choose” to be criminally deviant The American dream: anyone has the opportunity to be successful regardless of their background or circumstances as long as they work hard Strain is the disconnect between culturally defined goals and uneven distribution of means to achieve those goals (Durkheim’s anomie)  Theories of Criminal Deviance: Subcultural Theory Albert Cohen (1955) challenged and refined some aspects of Merton’s work Individuals from lower-class backgrounds experiences status frustration: – Failure to succeed in middle-class institutions Can become socialized into an oppositional subculture, a delinquent subculture – Develops values in opposition to mainstream society e.g., non-utilitarian crimes committed for group’s respect  Theories of Criminal Deviance: Labelling Theory Howard Becker developed labelling theory to explain – How subcultural values, beliefs, and practices become defined as deviant by mainstream society – How labels become internalized by both majority and deviant individual or group Labels may take on a master status, a status that dominates all others – e.g., image of the “Indian drunk”  Theories of Criminal Deviance: Social Control Theory For Travis Hirschi, a key factor was social bonding. “…delinquent acts result when an individual’s bond to society is weak or broken” (Hirschi, 1969} The “bond” encompasses attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief e.g. if a child is bonded with such social institutions as family, religion, athletic teams, and school, then that child is unlikely to engage in delinquent activities and has accepted the positive social values of the institutions and  Crime in Canada: Going Up or Down? A 2017 report by the Canadian polling firm Ekos (completed in 2015) reveals that many Canadians believe the crime rate is rising, and that the increase is being driven by violent crime. Why do Canadians tend to overestimate the rate of crime generally and of violent crime in particular?  Insert Visuals Let’s take a look at actual trends in the crime rate. Figure 6.4, 6.5 and/or 6.6  Crime in Canada: Going Up or Down? No one explanation has emerged in the literature, although many factors have been considered (Ford, 2016; Gramlich, 2017; Hayes, 2017; Zimring, 2007). Here are a few of them: -Demographics -Incarceration -The “Crack Years” are over -The number of crimes is under-reported  Summary Deviance can be examined from one of two positions: essentialism and social constructionism Deviance is not natural but is socially constructed, artificial, and varies from culture to culture and changes over time The social construction of what is considered deviant is often contested or challenged within a culture  Summary There is a power element found in deviance, with those who hold power in society getting to define what is deviant and what is “normal.” Looking at criminal deviance in Canada presents us with a contradiction: the crime rate is dropping, and yet people fear crime more than ever.  Learning Outcomes: Test Your Knowledge  Distinguish between overt and covert characteristics of deviance.  Discuss the reasons that deviance is sometimes associated with ethnicity, culture, “race,” gender, sexual orientation, disability, and class.  Explain how deviance is socially constructed and contested.  Define some of the leading theories of criminal deviance, including strain theory, subcultural theory, labelling theory, and social control theory.  Discuss recent trends in Canada’s crime rate.  Source Steckley, J. (2023) Elements of Sociology. (6th Edition). Oxford University Press Canada. 39