Sociology - Deviance

1. 1

2. What Is Social Deviance?
• Social deviance is any transgression of
socially established norms.
– Formal deviance or crime involves the
violation of laws.
2

3. Minor transgressions of these norms can be described as
informal deviance.
3

4. Deviance and Social Control
Social cohesion refers to the way people form
social bonds, relate to each other, and get along
on a day-to-day basis.
4

5. Deviance and Social Control
• Social control is the set of mechanisms that create
normative compliance in individuals.
• Normative compliance is the act of abiding by society’s
norms or simply following the rules of group life.
5

6. Deviance and Social Control
• Punitive justice is focused on making the violator suffer and thus defining the boundaries of acceptable
behavior.
• Rehabilitative justice examines the specific circumstances of an individual transgressor and attempts to
find ways to rehabilitate him or her.
6

7. Deviance and Social Control
• Informal social sanctions:
– are unspoken rules and expectations about
people’s behavior.
– help maintain a base level of order and cohesion in
society and form a foundation for formal social
control.
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8. 8
Once Deviance
Now Fashion

9. Deviance and Social Control
(Structural Functionalism)
Émile Durkheim theorized that social cohesion is established
either through:
mechanical solidarity — based on the sameness of
society’s parts or members (fraternity – sorority)
organic solidarity — based on the interdependence of
specialized parts or members. (football team) 9

10. Deviance and Social Control
A Functionalist View
Robert Merton’s strain
theory argues that deviance
occurs when a society does not
give all its members equal
ability to achieve socially
acceptable goals.
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11. 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuzYGzXJJcw

12. Strain Theory
Conformists accept the
goals of the society and
the means of achieving
those goals

13. Innovators accept the
goals of the society,
but they look for new,
or innovative, ways of
achieving those goals
Strain Theory

14. Ritualists aren’t
interested in the goals of
the society, but they do
accept the means of
achieving those goals.
Strain Theory

15. Retreatists don’t accept
the goals of the society
or the means of
achieving those goals.
Strain Theory

16. Rebels don’t accept the
goals of the society or the
means of achieving those
goals, so they create their
own goals using new
means.
Strain Theory

17. 17
1. It is difficult to empirically test.
1. It works on the assumption that conformity
is the norm and assumes a concensual
society.
1. It doesn't explain all forms of criminal
behavior.
Weaknesses of Strain Theory

18. Symbolic Interactionist Theories
of Deviance
• Symbolic interactionists take a micro view of
society, examining the beliefs and assumptions
people bring to their everyday interactions to
find the causes or explanations for deviance.
18

19. Symbolic Interactionist Theories
of Deviance
• Labeling theory
– People see how they are labeled and accept the
label as being “true.”
– People behave the way that they think
someone with their label should behave. 19

20. Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance
• Primary deviance:
– the first act of rule breaking, which may result in the rule
breaker being labeled “deviant” and thus influence how
people think about and act toward him or her.
• Secondary deviance:
– refers to acts of rule breaking that occur after primary
deviance and as a result of a person’s new, deviant label.
20

21. Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance
• Stigma
– negative social label that changes your behavior toward
a person; also changes that person’s self-concept and
social identity
– has serious consequences in terms of the opportunities
made available – or rather, not made available – to
people in a stigmatized group 21

22. Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Deviance
Broken window theory of deviance (Philip Zimbardo):explains how
social context and social cues impact the way individuals act
People who wouldn’t exhibit a certain behavior in one social context
might do so in another context where the behavior seems more
permissible.
22

23. People inspect an abandoned car in the South Bronx. Zimbardo placed this car in
New York City and University in Palo Alto, California. The car near Stanford
went

24. Deviance and Social Control
• Examples of formal social control include laws and the
authority of police officers.
24
https://www.ted.com/talks/tracie_keesee_how_police_and_the_public_can_create_safer_neighb
orhoods_together#t-194253

25. https://btb.nypdonline.org/

26. Formal deviance or crime involves the violation of laws.
26
George Zimmerman
Trevor Martin

27. Crime
• street crime — refers to crime committed in public and
is often associated with violence, gangs, and poverty
• white-collar crime — committed by a professional
against a corporation, agency, or other business
• corporate crime — type of white-collar crime
committed by the officers or executives of a company
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28. Crime
• It can be difficult to measure crime rates over time for
a variety of reasons, including:
1. changes in how crimes are defined.
2. fluctuations in whether people report crimes.
3. in the case of murders, improvements in
medical technology. CSI
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29. 29
Number of prisoners per 100,000 population.

30. Which is it?
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31. 5 facts about
crime in the
U.S.

37. Figure 6.2 Total U.S. Violent Crime
Rate, 1960–2008

38. Figure 6.5 Size of Death Row
Population since 1973
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39. Figure 6.6 Number of Executions and Race of
Prisoners
Executed, 1976–2009

40. Crime Reduction
Deterrence theory is a philosophy of criminal
justice based on the notion that crime results from
a rational calculation of its costs and benefits.
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41. Unintended Consequences of Deterrence
41

42. Crime Reduction
Recidivism occurs when a person who has been involved in the criminal justice
system reverts back to criminal behavior.
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43. Crime Reduction
Since the 1970s, there has been a change from a more rehabilitative sense of
justice to a more punitive one in the United States.
This is evidenced by historically high rates of incarceration.
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44. Societal Effects of Mass Incarceration
44
http://www.youtube.com/embed/lUt_fIB6A_Y
• staggering costs
• the disenfranchisement of millions of
former felons
• a disproportionately high rate of
imprisonment for black males
• a ripple effect throughout black
communities and beyond.

45. A 2003 performance by the
Surveillance Camera Players in
Times Square. They are trying to
You May Ask Yourself, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

46. A surveillance camera map from the
iSee project.
You May Ask Yourself, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

47. This map of Brooklyn, New York,
shows the
density of prison admissions in 2003.
You May Ask Yourself, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company