Social Control, Deviance and Criminology: Understanding Conformity and Deviant Behavior, Slides of Social Security Law

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• Chapter

 The forces and processes that encourage

conformity, including self-control, informal

control, and formal control

 Informal (Internal) social control…self restraint  Formal (External) social control…administrative sanctions  Fines, imprisonment

 Drinking too much

 Robbing a bank

 Laughing at a funeral

 Arriving late for school

 Negative deviance is deviance that fails to

meet accepted norms.

 One either chooses to ignore the norm or is not aware of the norm.  This is the most popular type of deviance.

 Positive deviance is behavior that over-

conforms to norms and social expectations.

 A perfectionist  One my go too far with positive deviance:  Anorexia

Structural-Functional

 Is Deviance Functional for Society?

 Various sociologists feel that deviance can

provide positive social functions in terms of

its consequences:

1. Deviance clarifies rules…society is aware of deviances that are punishable.
2. Deviance unites a group…people will untie when deviance is threatening to their group.
3. Deviance promotes social change…deviance may violate norms in order to get them changed.  Civil disobedience

As a Dysfunction

 Obviously, deviance can be dysfunctional as

well.

 If too many people are deviant, everyday existence may become chaotic.  In extreme deviance, society may be threatened  9/

Merton’s Modes of Adaptation to

Cultural Goals

1. Innovation…adopting disapproved means for achieving goals (robbing for money etc…)
2. Ritualism…opposite of innovation. One gives up on goals but still follows the means for achievement in order to maintain respect (still works hard).
3. Retreatism…abandonment of both goals and means of achieving them (drug addicts).
4. Rebellion…adopt a new set of goals and means of achieving them (civil disobedience)

Opportunity Theory

 Sociologists suggest that for deviance to

occur, people need alternative opportunities.

 Through Illegitimate Opportunities, people can pursue deviance.  Gang members may not be able to achieve goals through normal means as strain theory suggests, but achieve goals by illegitimate opportunities.  Robbery, black markets

Conflict Theory and Deviance

 According to conflict theory, deviance is an

inevitable product of competition for

available resources.

 Class differences lead to deviance

 The rich and the powerful use their positions

to determine what is deviant

 The criminal justice system defines, and responds to crime differently based on the competing groups

Race, Ethnicity, and Crime

 Conflict theorists believe that minorities

receive unequal treatment in the criminal

justice system.

 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/race-

death-row-inmates-executed-

1976#deathrowpop

White Collar Crimes

 Job related crimes committed by high status

people.

 Tax evasion  Price fixing  Insider trading  Toxic pollution  White collar crimes are 18 times more costly to society than street crimes.  40% or more receive probation only as a sentence.

Symbolic Interactionist

 According to the symbolic interactionist

approach, deviance is transmitted through

socialization.

Deterrence Theory

 Deviance results when social sanctions

provide insufficient rewards for conformity

 More reward in being deviant  View a low cost to the deviant behavior  Explains why those who are not exposed to deviance may become deviant

Labeling Theory

 States that some acts of deviance are

created by society through labeling of

individuals

 Cell phones in school  Teenage mothers vs. teenage fathers