CHAPTER 8 Deviance and Social Control

CHAPTER 8Deviance and Social Control Section 1: Deviance Section 2: Crime

Section 1: Deviance Objectives: • Explain the nature and social functions of deviance. • Compare the theories that have been proposed to explain deviance.

Section 1: Deviance Nature of Deviance • Because there are so many norms governing behavior, occasional violations are unavoidable. • deviance – behavior that violates significant social norms • people are considered deviant for repeat behavior, commits an act that has serious negative consequences for society

Section 1: Deviance Nature of Deviance • Labeling deviance has 2 components: • to be considered deviant by society, an individual must first be detected committing a deviant act, behavior is known to others • the individual must be stigmatized by society • stigma – mark of social disgrace that sets the deviant apart from the rest of society • What is considered deviant varies from society to society and during different time periods

Section 1: Deviance Social Functions of Deviance • Emile Durkheim’s The Rules of Sociological Method observed that deviance has some uses in social life. • Clarifying Norms – defines the boundaries of acceptable behavior, punishment serves as warnings to others • Unifying the Group – serves to draw the line between conforming members of society and “outsiders” – the nonconforming members, reinforces sense of community and belief in shared values

Section 1: Deviance Social Functions of Deviance • Diffusing Tension – acts that allow individuals to relieve tension without disrupting the basic fabric of society • unauthorized demonstrations • Promoting Social Change – can help prompt social change by identifying problem areas • Providing Jobs – provides legitimate jobs • judges, lawyers, police officers, prison personnel, parole officers, crime reporters • criminologists – social scientists who study criminal behavior

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Functionalists – deviance is a natural part of society • American society places high value on certain goals, not everyone has access to legitimate means to achieve these goals • strain theory - as the natural outgrowth of the values, norms, and structures of society • under the strain of incompatible goals and means, individuals fall victim to anomie • anomie – situation that arises when the norms of society are unclear or are no longer applicable, leave individuals without guidelines for behavior

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Sociologist Robert K. Merton suggest that individuals respond to the culturally approved goals and legitimate means of achieving goals in 5 ways. • conformity: many accept culturally approved goals and means • innovation: accept cultural goals, but do not accept the approved means to reaching these goals, devise new means for achieving goals and then violate accepted norms (become deviants)

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Merton’s Functionalist Perspective: • ritualism: find it impossible to achieve cultural goals by acceptable means, they abandon the goals while continuing expected rules of behavior • retreatism: reject both cultural goals and acceptable means of attaining them, may drop out of society • rebellion: want to substitute a new set of goals and means for the approved set

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Conflict Theorists – deviance is a result of competition and social inequality, struggle between those who possess power and those who do not • people with power commit deviant act to maintain power • people without power to obtain economic rewards or because of low self-esteem and feelings of powerlessness

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Richard Quinney’s Conflict Theory: • ruling class labels threatening behavior as deviant • lower class has limited opportunity, forced into deviant behavior • to protect their power, ruling class establishes ideologies to explain deviance as a problem among lower class • law enforcement are directed toward the types of crimes committed by lower classes (results in higher arrest rates) • people without power do not necessarily commit more crimes than others, but are the types of crimes that are most likely to be detected and punished

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Interactionists – as either natural in people with weak ties to the community (control theory), as a learned behavior (cultural transmission theory), or as a label (labeling theory) • control theory – natural occurrence, interest in why people conform rather than the causes of deviance • social ties determine conformity, high integration causes conformity • communities with strong social bonds have lower rates of deviance because strong social control over those who deviate

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Travis Hirschi Interactionist Perspective: • control theory: • people form bonds in 4 ways • form attachments with others who accept the norms of society • strong belief in the moral codes of society • show commitment to traditional societal values and goals • fully involved in non-deviant behavior and activities

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Hirschi and Gottfredson Interactionist Perspective • control theory: • conformity is a result of self-control • people with strong self-control conform • socialization determines a person’s level of self-control • children develop high levels of self-control if parents punish deviant behavior and reward for conformity

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Interactionist Perspective • cultural transmission – based on socialization, deviance is a learned behavior through interaction with others, the norms and values being transmitted are deviant, the individual becomes socialized into deviant behavior rather than socially acceptable behavior • cultural transmission views all individuals as conformists • difference between deviants and rest of society is the norms the individual chooses to conform to

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Interactionist Perspective • differential association – the frequency and closeness of associations a person has with deviant and nondeviant individuals • Edwin Sutherland, learning of deviant behavior occurs in primary groups • Sykes and Matza: some show strong commitment to society’s norms yet still engage in deviance • techniques of neutralization – people suspend their moral beliefs to commit deviant acts, learned through social interaction are a block on the controls that discourage deviant behavior

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Interactionist Perspective • Sykes and Matza 5 techniques of neutralization • deny responsibility • deny injury • denying the victim • condemning the authorities • appealing to higher loyalties

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Interactionist Perspective • labeling theory – focuses on how individuals come to be identified as deviant, rather than why people perform deviant acts • all people commit deviant acts yet not everyone is labeled as deviant • Lemert and Becker • deviance has 2 types: primary and secondary

Section 1: Deviance Theories of Deviance • Interactionist Perspective • labeling theory: • primary deviance – nonconformity that goes undetected by those in authority, occasional acts and well concealed acts, do not consider themselves deviant and neither does society • secondary deviance – results in the individual being labeled as deviant and accepting the label as true • degradation ceremony – public setting, individual is denounced, found guilty, or given new identity of a deviant, people are judged in light of their new label, becomes master status, restricts options in society, self-fulfilling prophecy

Section 2: Crime Objectives: • Identify the principal types of crime in the United States. • Explain the characteristics of the American criminal-justice system.

Section 2: Crime Crime Statistics • crime – any act that is labeled as such by those in authority, is prohibited by law, and is punishable by the government • Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) published annually by the FBI • chart page 187 • limits on statistics: • not all complaints make it to official stats of formal reports • not all crime reported (family or friends) • only file formal reports on serious crime • officer is influenced to file a formal report based on attitude of individual making the complaint

Section 2: Crime Types of Crime in the U.S. • charts page 188-189 • Violent Crime– includes murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault; most victims are African Americans; small percent of all crimes committed • Crime Against Property – stealing or damaging other’s property; includes burglary, larceny (theft other than auto), vehicle theft, arson; more common than violent crimes (1 every 3 seconds) • Victimless Crime – includes prostitution, illegal gambling, illegal drug use; offender is the only victim

Section 2: Crime Types of Crime in the U.S. • White Collar Crime – committed by high-status individuals in the course of their professions (politicians, corporate employees); includes fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement; estimate costs of $300 billion • Organized Crime – the pursuit of crime as a big business, use legitimate business as a front for criminal activities • crime syndicate – large-scale organization of professional criminals that controls some vice or business through violence or the threat of violence

Section 2: Crime American Criminal-Justice System • Police – have most immediate control over who is arrested for a criminal act • police discretion – police have the power to decide who is actually arrested • size of population, number of criminal offenses, and number of police officers make discretion necessary • factors that influence police discretion: seriousness of offense, wishes of the victim, attitude of suspect, presence of bystanders, race • racial profiling - practice of assuming that nonwhite Americans are more likely to commit crime than white Americans

Section 2: Crime American Criminal-Justice System • Courts – determine the guilt or innocence of an accused person by means of a trial and assigns some form of punishment if there is a guilty finding • 90% of all case are settled through plea bargaining • plea bargaining – process of legal negotiation that allows an accused person to plead guilty to a lesser charge in return for a lighter sentences • allows courts to reduce volume of caseloads with avoiding expensive and time-consuming trials

Section 2: Crime American Criminal-Justice System • Corrections – sanctions (prison, parole, probation) used to punish those found guilty of crimes • sanctions serve 4 functions • retribution: act of revenge for victim and society • deterrence: discourage offenders from committing future crimes • rehabilitation: reform criminals so they can return to society as law- abiding citizens • social protection: prevent additional crimes • recidivism – term for repeated criminal behaviors, 62% of released prisoners will be charged with new crimes, 41% will return to prison within 3 years

Section 2: Crime American Criminal-Justice System • Juvenile-Justice System – used to punish offenders younger than age 18, developed in the 1960s • courts must now guarantee juveniles same legal rights and privileges as adult defendants • try to provide more services • can be tried as adults for serious offenses

CHAPTER 8 Deviance and Social Control