Deviance

The recognized violation of cultural norms

 Deviance
The recognized violation of cultural norms
• Norms guide almost all human activities
– Most familiar examples are negative instances of rule-breaking
(such as stealing from a shop, assaulting a fellow student, driving
while intoxicated etc.).
– Especially righteous people also might be called “deviant”
although we might give them some respect (like students who are
too eager to express their opinions inside the class, people who are
obsessed with new technologies, people who spend too much of
time reading books etc.).
– “Different” or “unexpected” are often used to describe deviance
from a sociological perspective showing that deviance also means
“outsidedness”.
– Some ‘kind’ of people may be defined as deviant even without any
actions committed or choices made;
 Deviance
• Crime (laws)
– Violation of a society’s formal criminal law
– Criminal deviance spans a wide range of behaviors
• Criminal justice system
– A formal response by police, courts, and prison officials to
alleged violations of the law.
• Biological context
– Biological factors might have a real but modest effect on
whether a person becomes a criminal.
• Personality (Psychological) factors
– Deviance is viewed as unsuccessful “socialization.”
 Deviance
• Both these approaches view Deviance as a trait of individuals
which in itself narrows down the scope of understanding it from
a wider angle.
• These approaches do not sufficiently address (in fact not to a
great extent) the social base of deviance- that wrong doing has
more to do with the organisation of society.
• These approaches also fail completely to address the question
how certain acts have come to be identified as deviant.
 Social Control
• Social control refers to the consistent attempts made by society
to regulate people’s thoughts and behaviour. As a matter of fact
all the members of society are subject to social control.
• This often happens as an informal process like parents praising
or scolding their children, friends making fun of each other for
silly things.
• But this may assume serious forms in cases of serious acts of
crime.
 Social Foundations of Deviance
• Deviance varies according to cultural norms.
– No thought or action is inherently deviant.
• People become deviant as others define them that
way.
– How other perceive and label us
• Both norms and the way people define rule-
breaking involve social power.
– Rule-makers, rule-breakers, and rule-enforcers
– Norms and applying them are linked to social position.
 Durkheim's Basic Insight
• Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
– There can be no good without evil and no justice without crime.
• Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries.
– People draw a boundary between right and wrong.
• Responding to deviance brings people together.
– People typically react to serious deviance with shared outrage.
• Deviance encourages social change.
– Deviant people push a society’s moral boundaries.
 Merton’s Strain Theory
• Conformity
– Pursuing conventional goals through normal means
• Innovation
– Unconventional means to achieve approved goals
• Ritualism
– Accept institutional means; reject goals
• Rebellion
– Define new goals and means to achieve goals
 Merton’s Strain Theory
• Conformity - accepts goals and ways of achieving
them
• Innovation - accepts goals but rejects the traditional
modes of obtaining them
• Ritualism - rejects goals but accepts the traditional
roles in society
• Retreatism - rejects goals, ways of achieving them,
and removes oneself from society
• Rebellion - rejects goals, means of achieving them,
and actively supports a counterculture
Figure 9.1
Merton’s Strain Theory
of Deviance
Combining a person’s
view of cultural goals
and the conventional
means to obtain them
allowed Robert Merton to
identify various types of
deviance.
Source: Merton (1968).
 Deviant Subcultures
• Cloward and Ohlin
– Extended Merton’s theory
• Cohen
– Delinquency is most common among lower-class youths because
they have the least opportunity for conventional success.
• Miller
– Delinquent subcultures: trouble, toughness, smartness, need for
excitement, belief in fate, desire for freedom
• Anderson
– In poor urban neighborhoods, most people conform to
conventional values.
 Labeling Deviance
• Symbolic-interaction analysis
– The assertion that deviance and conformity result not so much
from what people do as from how others respond to those actions.
• Primary deviance
– Norm violations that most people take part in with little harm to
self-concept
• Secondary deviance
– When people “make something” of another’s deviant behavior
• Stigma
– Powerful negative label that greatly changes a person’s self-
concept and social identity
 Labeling Deviance
• Retrospective labeling
– Re-interpreting someone’s past in light of present deviance
• Projective labeling
– Predicts future deviant behavior
• Medicalization of deviance
– Transform moral and legal deviance into a medical
condition
– How people respond
– Personal competence of the deviant person
 Sutherland’s
Differential Association
– Deviant behavior is learned.
– Frequency of association is central to the
development of deviance.
– If associates are prone to violation of norms,
then one is also more likely to take part.
– Conformity reaps rewards while the lack of it
reaps punishment.
 Hirschi’s Control Theory
• Attachment
– Strong social attachments encourage conformity.
• Opportunity
– The greater the access to legitimate opportunity, the
greater the advantages of conformity.
• Involvement
– Extensive involvement in legitimate activities inhibits
deviance.
• Belief
– Strong belief in conventional morality and respect for
authority controls deviance.
 Social-Conflict Analysis
Deviance and Power
• Norms or laws reflect interests of rich and
powerful.
• Powerful have resources to resist deviant
labels.
• Belief that norms and laws are natural and
good masks political character
 Deviance and Capitalism
Steven Spitzer’s likely targets of labeling
• People who interfere with capitalism.
• People who cannot or will not work.
• People who resist authority.
• Anyone who directly challenges the status quo
• White-collar crime
– Those committed by people of high social position in the course of their
occupations
• Corporate crime
– Illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf
• Organized crime
– A business supplying illegal goods or services
 Deviance, Race, and Gender
• Hate crime
– A criminal act against a person or person’s property by
an offender motivated by racial or other bias
• Gender
– The world applies more stringent normative controls to
women.
– Strain due to reality of gender-based inequality
– Judge the behavior of women and men differently
– Why do women commit fewer crimes than men?
Applying Theory
Deviance
 Crime
• The violation of criminal laws enacted by a locality, state, or the
federal government
• Two elements
– The act itself
– Criminal intent
• Crimes against the person
– Direct violence or threat of it
• Crimes against property
– Involves theft of property
• Criminal statistics
– Victimization surveys: Crime rate is two to four times higher than
official reports
National Map 9.1 The Risk of Violent Crime across the United States
This map shows the risk of becoming a victim of violent crime. In general, the risk is highest in low-income,
rural counties that have a large population of men between the ages of 15 and 24. After reading this section of
the text, see whether you can explain this pattern.
Source: American Demographics magazine, December 2000 issue. Copyright (c) 2004 by Crain Communications, Inc.
 The Street Criminal: A Profile
• Ages 15-24
– 14% of population
– 39% of arrests for violent crime, 45% of property crimes
• Gender
– Males commit 68% of property crimes and 82% of violent
crimes
• Social class
– Violent crimes committed by a few in poor neighborhoods
– White collar and corporate crime committed by more
affluent
• Race and ethnicity
– 70% of arrests involve white people
– People of color are over-criminalized
Figure 9.2 Crime Rates in the United States, 1960-2005
The graphs show the rates for various violent crimes and property crimes during recent decades. Since about
1990, the trend has been downward.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (2006)
 Crime in Global Perspective
• United States
– The US crime rate is high by world standards.
– The rate of US violent crime is several times higher than in Europe.
– Elliott Currie: Crime stems from our culture’s emphasis on individual economic
success, frequently at the expense of strong families and neighborhoods.
• Other countries
– Crime rates are high in some of the world’s largest cities, which have rapid
population growth and millions of poor.
– The traditional character of low-income societies and their strong families allow
informal crime control outside of big cities.
– Different countries have different strategies for dealing with crime.
 US Criminal Justice System
Due Process
• The criminal justice system must operate according to law.
• This principle is grounded in the Bill of Rights.
• Anyone charged with a crime must receive:
1. Fair notice of the proceedings
2. A hearing on the charges conducted according to law
and with the ability to present a defense,
3. A judge or jury that weighs evidence impartially
 US Criminal Justice System
Due Process
• Police: Primary point of contact between population and criminal
justice system
– The police maintain public order by enforcing the law.
– Officers quickly size up situations in terms of six factors.
• Gravity of situation
• Victim’s wishes
• Cooperation of suspect
• Has suspect been arrested before?
• Presence of observers increases chances of arrest
• Officers are more likely to arrest people of color.
Global Map 9.1 Capital Punishment in Global Perspective
The map identifies 68 countries and territories in which the law allows the death penalty for ordinary crimes; in 10 more, the
death penalty is reserved for exceptional crimes under military law or during times of war. The death penalty does not exist
in 89 countries and territories; in 30 more, although the death penalty remains in law, no execution has taken place in more
than 10 years. Compare rich and poor nations: What general pattern do you see? In what way are the US and Japan
exceptions to this pattern?
Source: Amnesty International (2007a)
 US Criminal Justice System
Courts
• Plea bargaining: A legal negotiation in which a
prosecutor reduces a charge in exchange for a
defendant’s guilty plea.
• Widespread because it spares the system the time and
expense of trials.
• Pressures defendants to plead guilty.
• Undercuts both the adversarial process and the rights of
defendants
 Justifications for Punishment
• Retribution
– An act of moral vengeance by which society makes the
offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the
crime
• Deterrence
– The attempt to discourage criminality through the use of
punishment
• Rehabilitation
– A program for reforming the offender to prevent later
offenses
• Societal protection
– Rendering an offender incapable of further offenses
temporarily through imprisonment or permanently by
execution.
 Summing Up
Four Justifications for Punishment
 Community-Based Corrections
Correctional programs operating within society at large
rather than behind prison walls.
• Probation
– A policy permitting a convicted offender to remain in the
community under conditions imposed by a court
• Shock probation
– When a judge orders a convicted offender to prison for a
short time, then suspends the remainder of the sentence.
• Parole
– Releasing inmates from prison to serve the remainder of
their sentences in the community.
 Violent Crime Is Down
• Reduction in youth population
• Changes in policing
• More prisons
• Better economy
• Declining drug trade