chapter McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER OUTLINE Social Control Deviance Crime Social Policy and Social Control: Gun Control 8 DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 Social Control █Conformity and Obedience –Conformity is defined as going along with peers who have no special right to direct our behavior. –Obedience is defined as compliance with higher authorities in an hierarchical structure.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 Social Control █Conformity and Obedience –Conformity to Prejudice Research demonstrates that people may conform to attitudes and behavior of peers even when it means expressing intolerance towards others.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 Social Control █Conformity and Obedience –Obedience to Authority According to Milgram, in the modern world, we are accustomed to submitting to impersonal authority figures, whose status is indicated by a title or uniform. Because we view authority as larger or more important than the individual, we shift responsibility for our behavior to the authority figure.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 Social Control █Informal and Formal Social Control –Informal Social Control Informal social control is used casually to enforce norms. Informal social control includes: –smiles –laughter –ridicule –raising an eyebrow

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 Social Control █Law and Society –Some norms are so important to a society that they are formalized into laws controlling people’s behaviors. –Laws are governmental social control and are created in response to perceived social needs for formal social control.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 Social Control █Law and Society –Control Theory Travis Hirschi tells us that our bonds to members of society lead us to conform to society’s norms. We are bonded through: –family –friends –peers

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 8 Deviance █What is Deviance? –Deviance Deviance is behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. Examples of deviants: –alcoholics –gamblers –mentally ill

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 9 Deviance █What is Deviance? –Sociologically, we are all deviant from time to time. –Each of us violates common social norms in certain situations. –Deviance involves the violation of group norms which may or may not be formalized into law.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 10 Deviance █What is Deviance? –Standards of deviance vary from one group (subculture) to another. –Deviance varies over time. –Deviance is subjective, subject to social definitions.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 11 Deviance █ Sociology on Campus: College Binge Drinking Source: Wechsler et al. 2002:208.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 12 Deviance █What is Deviance? –Deviance and Social Stigma The term stigma describes the labels society uses to devalue members of certain social groups. Once members are assigned deviant roles, they have trouble presenting positive images to others.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 13 Deviance █What is Deviance? –Deviance and Technology Technological innovations can redefine social interactions and standards of behavior related to them. These innovations include: –Social Media –cell phones

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 14 Deviance █Explaining Deviance –Functionalist Perspective Deviance is a part of human existence and has positive and negative consequences for society. Durkheim introduced the term anomie, defined as a state of normlessness that occurs during periods of profound social change.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 15 Deviance █Explaining Deviance –Functionalist Perspective (continued) Merton examined how people adapted to the acceptance or rejection of a society’s goals. Merton’s Anomie Theory of Deviance examines how people conform to or deviate from cultural expectations.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 16 Deviance █ Table 8.1: Modes of Individual Adaptation Nondeviant Conformity Accept Accept Deviant Innovation Reject Accept Ritualism Accept Reject Retreatism Reject Reject Rebellion Replace with new means Replace with new goals InstitutionalizedSocietal Goal Means(Acquisition Mode(Hard Work)of Wealth) Source: Adapted from Merton 1968:194.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 17 Deviance █Explaining Deviance –Interactionist Perspective Focuses on everyday behavior and why or how a person comes to commit a deviant act. The cultural transmission theory holds that one learns criminal behavior through interactions with others. The routine activities theory holds that criminal victimization is increased when motivated offenders and suitable targets converge.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 Deviance █Explaining Deviance –Interactionist Perspective (continued) Labeling theory attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others are not and emphasizes how a person comes to be labeled as deviant and to accept this label.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 19 Deviance █Explaining Deviance –Interactionist Perspective (continued) Conflict theory holds that people with power protect their own interests and define deviance to suit their own needs. Conflict theory contends the criminal justice system of the U.S. treats people differently on the basis of their racial, ethnic, or social class background.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 20 Deviance █Explaining Deviance –Feminist Perspective Cultural views and attitudes toward women influence how they are perceived and labeled. The feminist perspective emphasizes that deviance, including crime, tends to flow from economic relationships.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 21 Deviance █ Social Inequality: Race and the Death Penalty Source: Based on Bureau of the Census 2002a; Dieter 1998:13; Snell and Maruschak 2002:10, 11.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 22 Crime █Types of Crime –Crime is defined as a violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties. –Laws divide crimes into categories based on: severity age of offender potential punishment jurisdiction

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 23 Crime █Types of Crime –Professional Crime: Crime pursued as a person’s day-to-day occupation. –Organized Crime: The work of a group that regulates relations between various criminal enterprises.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 24 Crime █Types of Crime –White Collar and Technology-Based Crime: Illegal acts committed in the course of business activities, often by affluent people. –Victimless Crimes: The willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 25 Crime █Crime Statistics –Crime statistics are not as accurate as social scientists would like. –Reported crime is very high in the United States and is regarded as a major social problem. –Violent crimes have declined significantly nationwide following many years of increases.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 26 Crime Source: Adapted from Department of Justice, 1988:59. █ Discretion within the Criminal Justice System

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 27 Crime █ Figure 8.3: Victimization Rates, 1973 to 2001 Source: Rennison 2002:12.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 28 Crime Source: Uniform Crime Report 2002,

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 29 Crime Source: United States Bureau of Justice Statistics,

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 30 Crime Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics,

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 31 Crime Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.http: //ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm#ncvs

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 32 Crime Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 33 Social Policy and Social Control (Click inside frame to start video) █ Policy Shift: Portugal takes a bold step of decriminalizing the use of drugs.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 34 Social Policy and Social Control █The Death Penalty in the United States and Worldwide –The Issue Historically, execution has served as a significant form of punishment for deviance. Capital punishment was once assumed to be morally and religiously justified. People in the United States and other countries that have the death penalty criticize capital punishment, especially when it might apply to young people convicted of murders.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 35 Social Policy and Social Control █The Death Penalty in the United States and Worldwide –The Setting Death penalties are not unusual anywhere in the world. In the decade of the 1990s, more than 30 nations abolished the death penalty. Only three nations have introduced the death penalty since It the United States, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was constitutional.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 36 Social Policy and Social Control █ Death Penalty Status Worldwide

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 37 Social Policy and Social Control ,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,593 In 1976 the Court upheld revised State capital punishment laws. In 1972 the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the death penalty as then administered. Source: Figure 1 in Tracy L. Snell for the Bureau of Justice Statistics Capital Punishment NCJ Accessible at █ Persons Under Sentence of Death, 1953 to 2000

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 38 Social Policy and Social Control ,000 1,500 2,000 Number under sentence of death on December 31 White Black All other races Source: Figure 2 in Tracy L. Snell for the Bureau of Justice Statistics Capital Punishment NCJ Accessible at █ Persons Under Sentence of Death, 1953 to 2000

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 39 Social Policy and Social Control Number of executions Source: Figure 3 in Tracy L. Snell for the Bureau of Justice Statistics Capital Punishment NCJ Accessible at █ Persons Under Sentence of Death, 1953 to 2000

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 40 Social Policy and Social Control █The Death Penalty in the United States and Worldwide –Sociological Insights Functionalists hold that the death penalty will prevent at least some criminals from committing serious offenses. Even if the death penalty is not a deterrent, such criminals deserve to die for their crimes. The alternative to capital punishment—life in prison—is a dysfunction because it is unnecessarily expensive.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 41 Social Policy and Social Control █The Death Penalty in the United States and Worldwide –Sociological Insights Conflict theorists emphasize the persistence of social inequality in society today. Poor people cannot afford the best lawyers and this unequal treatment may mean the difference between life and death. Race discrimination may also be a factor because defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death if their victims were White rather than Black.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 42 Social Policy and Social Control █The Death Penalty in the United States and Worldwide –Policy Initiatives How can the death sentence be handed out in a judicially fair manner? Federal and state lawmakers continue to make more crimes punishable by death. There is increasing international pressure on the United States to abolish the death penalty. Capital punishment remains popular with both the general public and lawmakers in the United States.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 43 Social Policy and Socialization █Gun Control –The Issue Over the past 10 years, two-thirds of all murders were committed with firearms. The 1994 Brady Act mandates that firearms dealers run criminal history background checks on people who wish to purchase handguns. About two percent of all purchases were denied as a result of the checks.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 44 Social Policy and Socialization █Gun Control –The Setting The Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the “right of the people to keep and bear arms.” 30 to 35 million people in the United States own handguns, and about 45 percent of U.S. households have some type of firearm on the premises.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 45 Social Policy and Socialization █Gun Control –Sociological Insights: Since the Brady Act, support for stricter measures has actually declined. Conflict theorists contend that groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) can dominate the legislative process because of their ability to mobilize resources.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 46 Social Policy and Socialization █Gun Control –Policy Implications: Advocates for stricter gun control would like to see: –A total ban on assault weapons –Tight restrictions on permits to carry concealed weapons. –Increased penalties for leaving firearms were they are easily accessible to children and others who could misuse them.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 47 Social Policy and Socialization █Gun Control –Policy Implications: In light of growing concern over terrorism on the home front, the handgun debate has turned to the question of allowing pilots to carry guns in the cockpit.