Chapter 7

 Deviance is more than a matter of individual choice or personal failing.  How a society defines deviance depends on how that society is organized.

*All behaviors are shaped by society. Deviance varies according to the cultural norms of a society. People become deviant as others in society define them that way. Both the acts of rule-making and rule- breaking involve social power. The Function of Deviance: Structural – Functional Analysis

 Durkheim felt that there was nothing abnormal about deviance.  Deviance affirms cultural norms and values.  Responding to deviant behavior clarifies a society’s moral boundaries and promotes community unity.  Deviance also encourages social change.

Robert Merton: Structural- Functional Analysis  Merton proposed that excessive deviance results from certain social arrangements.  The type of deviance depends on whether a society provides people the means to achieve cultural norms.  For example, the strain between our own culture’s emphasis on wealth and the limited opportunities people have gives rise to crime.

Labeling Deviance: Symbolic- Interaction Analysis

Medicalization of Deviance

Medicalization of Deviance: Sutherland and Hirschi Sutherland’s TheoryHirschi’s Theory  A person’s tendency toward deviance depends on the degree or amount of contact they may have with other deviants.  Social control depends on a person imagining the consequences of his/her behavior.

Deviance and Inequality: Social-Conflict Theory  Deviance reflects social inequality.  People we think of as deviant share the trait of powerlessness.  The norms of any society generally reflect the values and interests of the wealthy and the powerful  People who threaten the rich are defined as radicals and/or thieves.

Deviance and Inequality: Steven Spitzer  Spitzer contends that deviant labels are attached to people who interfere with the operation of capitalism.  People who threaten the property of others are labeled as deviants.  Those who will not or cannot work also risk being labeled as deviant.

Deviance and Capitalism

Deviance and Social Diversity

Crime

The Criminal Justice System  The criminal justice system is society’s formal system of social control.  Police serve as the primary point of contact between the system and the people.  90% of criminal cases are resolved before trial through plea bargaining.  The oldest justification for punishment is the public’s craving for revenge. (map pg. 180, chart pg. 182, map pg. 184, graph pg. 185)