Social Deviance PDF

MODULE 1 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL DEVIANCY Deviance  Refers to socially disapproved behavior- the violation of some agree-on norm that prevails in a community or in society at large. Social Deviation  It is any act that violates social expectations, elicits and social disapproval, an...

MODULE 1 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL DEVIANCY Deviance  Refers to socially disapproved behavior- the violation of some agree-on norm that prevails in a community or in society at large. Social Deviation  It is any act that violates social expectations, elicits and social disapproval, and causes people to exclaim, “Something must be done”. Absolutist definition - Being defined as deviant means being identifies as someone who cannot and should not be treated as an ordinary member of the society. Relativist definition - This approach is parallel to “cultural relativism” states that deviance is not inherent in any particular act, belief, or condition: instead, it is socially constructed, a creation of collective human judgements and ideas. Like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder. Consequently, no act is universally or “naturally” deviant. The Elements of deviance Expectation  Some sort of behavioral expectation must exist, a norm that defines appropriate, acceptable behavioral, ideas, or characteristics. Reaction  An individual, group, or society must react to the deviance. Violation  Deviance implies some violation of normative expectations. The violation may be real or alleged; that is, an accusation of wrong doing may be enough to give someone the reputation of being a deviant. Types of Deviance 1. Formal Deviance- crime is the violation of formally enacted laws e.g. robbery, theft, rape, murder and assault 2. Informal Deviance- violations of informal social norms, norms that have not been codified into law. e.g. picking one’s nose, belching loudly (in some culture), or standing too close to another unnecessarily (again, in some cultures) Classification of deviance Primary deviance  Refers to the process of defining behavior as abnormal or usual in that conventions or expected behaviors are not followed. Secondary deviance  Occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant accepts that new identity and continues the deviant behavior. Elements useful in Understanding Deviance  Deviance as negative quality - Deviance and conformity are necessarily linked together: each implies the existence of the other.  Deviance and Deviant Persons - A simple and direct tautology would tell us that deviance is that behavior in which deviant person engage.  Deviant Behavior and Deviant Attributes - Thomas Wolfe, the novelist, recounts the pain and strangeness he felt as a youth who was six feet seven inches tall before basketball became popular.  Deviant Statuses How people are categorized in our society  Definitions by Organization - Public reactions to deviant behavior are generally expressive rather that active. People become upset when they view or learn about certain behavior. MODULE 2: Theoretical Foundation of Social Deviance STRAIN THEORY What is Strain? A force tending to pull or stretch something to an extreme or damaging degree. What is a Strain Theory? State that certain strains or stressors increase the likelihood of crime. These strains lead to negative emotions, such as frustration and anger. These emotions create pressure for corrective action, and crime is one possible response. Major Types of Strain Major Types of Strain 1. Strain may be structural, which refers to the processes at the societal level that filter down and affect how the individual perceives his or her needs. 2. Strain may also be individual, which refers to the frictions and pains experienced by an individual as he or she looks for ways to satisfy individual needs. A. STRAIN/ANOMIE THEORY Robert K. Merton - American sociologist whose diverse interests included the sociology of science and the professions, sociological theory, and mass communication. Five Modes of Adaptation 1. Conformity It involves pursuing cultural goals through approved means. Conformists have accepted the goals of society and the societally-approved ways of attaining them. The 'American Dream,' for example, is financial security through talent, schooling, and above all, hard work. The problem, as Merton saw it, is that not everyone who wants conventional success has the opportunity to obtain it. (+ , +) 2. Innovation This is when one accepts the cultural goals, but they reject the traditional or legal means to obtain them. For example, an entrepreneur wants to buy a nice house and have a lot of money, but utilizes illegal methods to obtain that money. (+ , -) 3. Ritualism This involves rejection of cultural goals but acceptance of the means of achieving those goals. An example of this would be a factory worker in China who doesn't agree with the government's low wages of factory workers, but continues to work hard at his job day in and day out. ( - , +) 4. Retreatism This is rejection of cultural goals and means required to obtain those goals. An example would be a teenager who gives up on school and the prospect of college/work by smoking marijuana and getting high every day (- , -) 5. Rebellion It is the most extreme form of deviance according to American sociologist Robert Merton. Rebellion can lead to crime, violence, and terrorism. It is when a person rejects culturally and society-defined goals and means and actively replaces them with culturally unacceptable ones. This differs from retreatism because not only does a person reject both culturally accepted goals and means, but they actively replace them with completely different goals and means. (± , ±) B. STRAIN THEORY OF SUICIDE The strain theory of suicide postulates that suicide is usually preceded by psychological strains. Four Types of Strain That Precede Suicide 1. Differential Values When two conflicting social values or beliefs are competing in an individual's daily life, the person experiences value strain. 2. Reality vs. Aspiration If there is a discrepancy between an individual's aspiration or highest goal and the reality with which the person has to live, the person experiences aspiration strain. 3. Relative Deprivation In the situation in which an extremely economically poor individual realizes some other people of the same or similar background are leading a much better life, the person experiences deprivation strain.  4. Deficient Coping Facing a life crisis, some individuals are not able to cope with it, and then they experience coping strain. Psychological Strains and Suicide: A Theoretical Model C. GENERAL STRAIN THEORY Robert Agnew developed General Strain Theory in response to the criticisms leveled against classic strain theories. Agnew broadened the definition of strain to include “events or conditions that are disliked by individuals”. Although this definition encompasses the types of strain highlighted by classic strain theorists, it also includes a wide array of stressors that were not considered in earlier versions of strain theory. It includes, for example, stressors that could be experienced by both lower-class and middle- class individual. Three Major Types of Strain 1. Strain as the failure to achieve positively valued goals. Difference between the aspirations/expectation and actual achievements: Influenced by factors such as social class, intelligence, physical attractiveness, physical ability, etc. 2. Strain as the removal of positively valued stimuli from the individual. Caused when a positively valued stimuli is removed and the result is delinquency. This criminal behavior may present itself as an attempt to prevent the loss of the stimuli, obtain a replacement for the stimuli or as an act of revenge for the loss of the stimuli. 3. Strain as the presentation of negative stimuli It is based on the actual or anticipated presentation of negative or noxious stimuli. Examples of negative and/or noxious stimuli are physical and sexual abuse, child neglect, domestic violence, dangerous school, etc. MALE VERSUS STRAIN AND CRIME 1. Male Strain Male are mostly concerned with material success. They have higher rates of property and violent crime. Face more conflict with peers and are likely to be the victims of crime. Failure to achieve goals may lead to property and violent crime. They are more likely to respond with anger, followed by moral outrage. Quick to blame others and are less concerned about hurting others Men tend to be over-represented in arrests, prisons, and overall crime statistics 2. Female Strain Female are mostly concerned with creating and maintaining close bonds and relationships with others. Face negative treatment, such as discrimination, high demands from family, and restricted behavior. Failure to achieve goals may lead to self-destructive behavior. They are more likely to respond with depression and anger.  More likely to blame themselves and worry about the effects of their anger. SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY Control Theory The Social Control theory explains how social factors such as religion, economics, family and education relate to the choices and actions of an individual. Classification of Control Centralized Control - is considered bureaucratic control centralized control such as bureaucratic control maintained through administrative or hierarchical techniques such as creating standards of policies. Decentralized Control - is considered market control. Is typically maintained through factors such as price, competition, or market share. Mixed Control - is clan control which has characteristics of both centralized and decentralized control. It is typically maintained by keeping a set of values and belief and norms and traditions. Social Control Is a concept that refers to the ways in which people's thoughts, feelings, appearance and behaviours are regulated in social systems. One way this is done is through coercion, from imprisoning those who commit in crime to physicians administering drugs that make difficult patients more manageable. Forms of Social Control Informal Control - the social values that are present in individuals are product of informal social control. Formal Control - societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behaviour, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group undertaken by the state through legal action. Travis Hirschi Author of the Social Bond Theory. According to him humans, are selfish beings. Social Control theories of crime and delinquency attribute law-breaking to the weakness, breakdown, or absence of those social bonds or socialization processes that are presumed to encourage law-abiding conduct. Social Bonds When one of these bonds are broken the person becomes known as “free individual” they become free of the morals that prevent any of us from pursuing crime. Elements of Social Bonds 1. Emotional Attachment – Children need to be attracted to someone with a positive attitude and a good life style, because technically what they see is what they learn to be. 2. Material Commitment – it is good for a child to set goals in life for him this will make the child committed to achieving his goals. 3. Temporal Involvement –is about giving children activities to learn from in other words this is having children occupied on something positive to keep them away from any criminal activity.  4. Moral Belief – Since you are a kid, morals are a great factor of being part of society. Believing in morals is important because without moral an individual would think it is okay to commit crimes. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY Edwin Sutherland (1883-1950) Born on August 13,1883 in Nebraska Considered as the most influential criminologists of 20th century Differential Association Theory - A general theory of crime and delinquency. -A theory in criminology, proposing that through interaction with others, individual learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior. LABELLING THEORY Definition of Labelling Theory Labelling theory is one of the most important approaches to understanding deviant and criminal behaviour. The Labeling Tradition (Becker 1963) - The term Labelling Theory, comes from Becker’s version of the relativistic definition of deviance. “Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by other rules and sanctions to an offender. The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label.” Important Concepts in Labelling Theory (Edwin Lemert – 1951) 1. Primary Deviance – acts not been publicly labelled e.g. fare dodging. Those who commit them do not usually see themselves as deviant. 2. Secondary Deviance – results from societal reaction i.e. from labelling. Labelling someone as an offender can involve stigmatising and excluding from the normal society. Others may see the offender solely in terms of the label, which becomes the individuals’ master status or controlling identity. In general, labelling (or social reaction) theorists focus on two related, but distinct processes through which deviant meanings become attached to actors and behaviors. Labeling Theory Part II: Secondary Deviance Process Most versions of labelling theory also direct attention to a second social process--secondary deviance-- that flows from the experience of labelling and exclusion from conventional group relationships. Actors who have been socially labelled as deviant may change their group affiliation and begin to associate with others who have been similarly labelled. DETERRENCE THEORY A THEORY OF DETERRENCE Two utilitarian philosophers of the eighteenth century, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham, formulated the deterrence theory as both an explanation of crime and a method for reducing it. Beccaria argued that crime was not only an attack on an individual but on society as well. This extended the issue of punishment beyond retribution and restitution to aggrieved individuals.  Underlying theory  Prevention through deterrence is the primary justification for punishment.  According to deterrence theory, people are most likely to be dissuaded from committing a crime if the punishment is: 1) Swift Applied - the punishment must be administered swiftly. The time between detection and punishment must be short enough for offenders to ‘get the message’. For punishment to have an educative effect in the public mind, it needs to be swift. 2) Certain Application - offenders & those contemplating crime must be convinced that non-conforming behavior will carry sure & certain consequences. 3) Severe Punishment - any criminal penalty must be severe enough to outweigh the benefits to be obtained by crime. ELABORATIONS OF DETERRENCE THEORY  General, Specific, Incapacitation 1) General deterrence manifests itself in policy whereby examples are made of deviants. The individual actor is not the focus of the attempt at behavioral change, but rather receives punishment in public view in order to deter other individuals from deviance in the future. 2) Specific deterrence focuses on the individual deviant and attempts to correct his or her behavior. Punishment is meant to discourage the individual from recidivating. 3) Incapacitation is considered by some to be a subset of specific deterrence. Incapacitation aims to prevent future crimes not by rehabilitating the individual but rather from taking away his ability to commit such acts. Under this theory, criminals are put in jail not so that they will learn the consequence of their actions but rather so that while they are there, they will be unable to engage in crime.  Absolute vs. Restrictive  Absolute deterrence refers to the fact that the existence of punishments does deter an unknown amount of crime and wrongdoing (Zimring and Hawkins, 1973).  Abstention  Restrictive deterrence is the process whereby offenders limit the frequency, magnitude, or seriousness of their offenses to avoid pain. Prior research on drug dealing and restrictive deterrence largely focuses on the effect of formal control, or political sanction.  Less frequent  Less severe  Displacement ETHNO-METHODOLOGICAL THEORY Harold Garfinkel(October 29, 1917 – April 21, 2011) Term Etymology:  Ethno refers to a particular socio-cultural group [think a particular, localized community of surfers]  Method refers to the methods and practices this particular group employs in its everyday activities [related to surfing].   Ology refers to the systematic description of these methods and practices. Definition:  Study of methods people use for understanding and producing the social order in which they live.  Ethnomethodology is a branch of the social sciences which is concerned with exploring how people interact with the world and make sense of reality.  Ethnomethodology provides methods which have been used in ethnographic studies to produce accounts of people's methods for negotiating everyday situations. There are two central ideas in ethnomethodology: 1. Indexicality is the gestures, cues, words and other information sent and received by interacting parties have meaning in a particular context. Without some knowledge of the context the biographies of the interacting parties, their avowed purpose, their past interactive experiences and so forth-it would easily be possible to misinterpret the symbolic communication among interacting individuals. Example: "An illustration of this process can be seen in the American-English address term dude (Kiesling, 2004). Dude is used most frequently by young white men, and indexes a stance of casual solidarity: a friendly, but crucially not intimate, relationship with the addressee. This stance of casual solidarity is a stance habitually taken more by young white American men than other identity groups. Dude thus indirectly indexes young, white masculinity as well.” 2. Reflexivity refers to the fact that our sense of order is a result of conversational processes: it is created in talk. Yet we usually think of ourselves as describing the order already existing around us. For ethno-methodologists, to describe a situation is at the same time to create it. Example: People who wait in line for a bus, or to pay for goods, we can see a person is doing this; by the way they position their bodies. As well as this the individuals who are waiting in line will be able to answer and understand a question like “are you in this queue?” or “are you standing in line”? Garfinkel notes that the ability to express and understand any activity is an essential part of an action involved within a conversation.