Chapter 7 Deviance and Crime

1. Chapter 7Deviance and Crime • What Is Deviance? • Functionalist Perspectives on Deviance • Symbolic Interactionist Perspectives on Deviance • Conflict Perspectives on Deviance • Postmodernist Perspective on Deviance

2. Chapter 7Deviance and Crime • Crime Classifications and Statistics • The Criminal Justice System • Deviance and Crime in the U.S. in the Future • The Global Criminal Economy

3. Deviance • Behavior, belief, or condition that violates social norms in the society in which it occurs. • Deviance is relative and it varies in its degree of seriousness.

4. Functionalist Perspectives Deviance is universal because it serves three important functions: • Clarifies rules. • Unites a group. • Promotes social change.

5. Strain Theory • People feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals they are unable to obtain. • Merton identified 5 ways people adapt to cultural goals and approved ways of achieving goals.

6. Merton’s Five Modes of Adaptation • Conformity - accept culturally approved goals and pursue them through approved means. • Innovation - accept culturally approved goals but adopt disapproved means for achieving them.

7. Merton’s Five Modes of Adaptation • Ritualism - give up on societal goals but not the approved ways of achieving them. • Retreatism - abandon approved goals and the approved means of achieving them. • Rebellion - challenge approved goals and advocate an alternative set of goals.

8. Symbolic Interactionist Perspectives on Deviance Three approaches: • Differential association and Differential reinforcement theory • Control theory • Labeling theory

9. Control Theory: Social Bonding Deviant behavior is related to social bonds: • Attachments to other people. • Commitment to conformity. • Involvement in conventional activities. • Belief in conventional values and norms.

10. Labeling Theory Stages in the labeling process: • Primary deviance - initial act of rule breaking. • Secondary deviance - acceptance of identity as a deviant. • Tertiary deviance - normalizing deviant behavior by relabeling it as nondeviant.

11. Conflict Perspectives on Deviance • People in positions of power use the law to protect their own interests. • Laws ensure that individuals at the bottom of the social class do not infringe on the property or threaten the safety of those at the top.

12. Feminist Perspectives • Liberal - women's deviance is a rational response to gender discrimination. • Radical - women's deviance and crime is related to patriarchy. • Socialist - women's deviance and crime is the result of women's exploitation by capitalism and patriarchy.

13. Sociologists Classifications of Crime • Conventional (street) crime • Occupational (white-collar) a crime • Corporate crime • Organized crime • Political crime

14. Four Types of Political Crime • Secrecy and deception designed to manipulate public opinion. • Abuse of power. • Prosecution of individuals due to their political activities. • Official violence, such as police brutality against people of color or the use of citizens as unwilling guinea pigs in scientific research.

15. Functions of Punishment • Retribution - a penalty is imposed on the offender. • Social protection -restricting offenders so they cannot commit further crimes. • Rehabilitation -returns offenders to the community as law-abiding citizens. • Deterrence - instilling a fear of punishment.

16. Deviance and Crime in the U.S. • People agree that crime is an important issue but are divided over what to do about it. • The best approach for reducing delinquency and crime is prevention. • As long as racism, sexism, classism, and ageism exist, people will see deviant and criminal behavior through a selective lens.