Deviance and Social Control Chapter 8 Deviance and Social Control

Chapter Outline What Is Deviance? Dimensions of Deviance Theoretical Perspectives on Social Deviance Crime and Social Control

What Is Deviance? Deviance - behavior that violates the norms of a particular society. A deviant person is one who violates or opposes a society’s most valued norms.

Dimensions of Deviance Power Culture Voluntary versus involuntary behavior

Crime Many sociologists claim that some crimes are victimless. Others argue that even victimless crimes inflict damage on society. The overall rate of serious crime in the United States is 2 to 3 times higher than the reported crime index.

Crime The overall rate of serious crime in the United States is 2 to 3 times higher than the reported crime index.

The Crime Rate 1972 1982 1996 2001 Crime Index, total 3,961 5,604 5,079 4,160 Violent crime 401 571 634 504 Property crime 3,560 5,033 4,445 3,656 Murder 9 7 6

Biological Explanations of Crime Cesare Lombroso claimed to have proved that criminals were throwbacks to primitive, aggressive human types. William Sheldon postulated that body type was correlated with crime. Some modern researchers have concluded that both biology and social environment play a role in producing criminals.

Robert Merton’s Typology Based on the theory that social structures exert pressure toward crime or conformity. Hypothesized that people who do not accept cultural goals or the accepted means of achieving them would follow other—possibly criminal or deviant— alternatives.

Marxian Perspective on Crime Legal definitions of deviant behavior are imposed by the rich and powerful to protect their own interests. Definitions of criminal behavior are applied more forcefully to the poor and working class than to the upper classes.

Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Description Biological Theories Deviance is genetically determined. Social Pathology A deviant person is a product of social disintegration.

Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Description Functionalism Deviance results from the failure of social structures to function properly. Cultural conflict theory Cultural conflict creates opportunities for deviance and criminal gain in deviant subcultures.

Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Description Marxian theory Capitalism produces poor and powerless masses who may resort to crime to survive. The rich employ their own agents to break laws and enhance their power and wealth.

Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Description Differential association Criminal careers result from recruitment into crime groups based on association and interaction with criminals. Labeling Deviance is created by groups that have the power to attach labels to others, marking particular people as outsiders.

Crime and Social Control Research does not support the claim that capital punishment deters people from committing terrible crimes. Some ex-felons are denied voting rights, a serious concern about the way inequalities in imprisonment affect specific groups. Sociologists who have studied prisons agree that the least successful aspect of prison life is rehabilitation.

Justifications for Punishment Critical Issues Deterrence Does prison deter crime or socialize criminals? Rehabilitation What forms of rehabilitation actually work to prevent recidivism? Retribution Do extreme punishments reduce all members of society to the level of the criminal?

Quick Quiz

1. Which is true concerning deviance? People who bear a stigma, by definition, are also deviant. Deviance is something that people only engage in when they are alone by themselves. Definitions as to what is deviant often vary from place to place, and from one time period to another in a given society. Over the history of our nation, there has always been a high degree of consensus that wife and child beating constitute deviant behavior.

The following is true concerning deviance: Answer: c The following is true concerning deviance: Definitions as to what is deviant often vary from place to place, and from one time period to another in a given society.

2. Sociological explanations for deviance stress the idea that deviance is biologically inherited. personality type leads people to be deviant. the vast majority of deviants are sick or abnormal. deviant behavior is largely a function of social conditions and learning.

Answer: d Sociological explanations for deviance stress the idea that deviant behavior is largely a function of social conditions and learning.

3. A major criticism of functionalist theories is that they suggest that deviants are largely mentally ill. place too much emphasis on power and domination. fail to demonstrate that deviance may be a consequence of social environment. tend to assume that there is a single set of values that everyone shares within a given society.

Answer: d A major criticism of functionalist theories is that they tend to assume that there is a single set of values that everyone shares within a given society.

4. Essential to the cultural conflict perspective is the idea that social inequality is major factor in determining crime in a society. definitions of morality are not necessarily widely shared within a given society. people are basically good and decent—it is culture that tends to corrupt them. not all people have access to the cultural capital that would allow them to succeed.

Answer : b Essential to the cultural conflict perspective is the idea that definitions of morality are not necessarily widely shared within a given society.