Chapters 6, Deviance

Deviance

deviant behavior must be sufficiently serious or unusual to spark a negative sanction or punishment.

Norms are universal and always identified as deviant across cultures and times

What is considered deviant changes over time.

Yes, it would be in the United States, although there are other cultures that would consider it normal or desirable.

Deviance can help society clarify its moral boundaries: what is right and wrong. Promote social cohesion(functionalists value this): people can be brought together in the face of crime or other violations.

Conflict theory

Differential association theory: Edwin Sutherland's hypothesis that we learn to be deviant through our association through deviant peers.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy: an inaccurate statement or belief that, by altering the situation, becomes accurate; a prediction that causes itself to come true

Earlier societies did not have sufficient resources to operate prisons.

Conflict Theory

Differential association theory.

Physical disability, alcohol addiction, mental illness, and having served time in jail. All of the above.

They want the thrill of getting away with breaking the rules.

Burglary

Instances where a rule violation is, or seems to be, an admirable act, that should be supported.

A behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction.

Robert Merton's argument that in an unequal society the tension or strain between socially approved goals and an individual's ability to achieve those goals through socially approved means will lead to deviance as individuals reject either the goals or the means or both.

Individuals who accept society's approved goals but not society's approved means to achieve them.

Individuals who have given up hope of achieving society's approved goals but still operate according to society's approved means.

Individuals who reject both society's approved goals and the means by which to achieve them.

Individuals who reject society's approved goals and means and instead create and work toward their own (sometimes revolutionary) goals using new means.

The formal and informal mechanisms used to increase conformity to values and norms and thus promote social cohesion.

Edwin Sutherland's hypothesis that we learn to be deviant through our associations with deviant peers.

Howard Becker's idea that deviance is a consequence of external judgments, or labels, that modify the individual's self-concept and change the way others respond to the labeled person.

In labeling theory, the initial act or attitude that causes one to be labeled deviant.

In labeling theory, the subsequent deviant identity or career that develops as a result of being labeled deviant.

Redefining the stigma associated with deviant label as a positive phenomenon.

An inaccurate statement or belief that, by altering the situation, becomes accurate; a prediction that causes itself to come true.

Erving Goffman's term for any physical or social attribute that devalues a person or group's identity and that may exclude those who are devalued from normal social interaction.

Presenting yourself as a member of a different group than the stigmatized group you belong.

Among stigmatized individuals, the rejection or prevailing judgments or prejudice and the development of new standards that value their group identity.

According to Howard Becker, those labeled deviant and subsequently segregated from "normal" society.

Process by which an individual self-identifies as deviant and initiates her own labeling process.

The use of electronic media(web pages, social networking sites, email, instant messengers, and cell phones) to tease, harass, threaten, or humiliate someone.

A violation of a norm that has been codified into law.

An official measure of crime in the United States, produced by the FBI's official tabulation of every crime reported by more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies.

Crimes in which violence is either the objective or the means to an end, including murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.

Crimes that did not involve violence, including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Crime committed by high-status individual in the course of his occupation.

The tendency of individuals to age out of crime over the life course.

Stealing minor items in small amounts, often again and again.

An approach to punishment that relies on the threat of harsh penalties to discourage people from committing crimes.

An approach to punishment that emphasizes retaliation or revenge for the crime as the appropriate goal.

An approach to punishment that seeks to protect society from criminals by imprisoning or executing them.

An approach to punishment that attempts to reform criminals as part of their penalty.

A collection of social institutions, such as legislatures, police, courts, and prisons, that create and enforce laws.

The death penalty.

Actions considered deviant within a given context but are later reinterpreted as appropriate or even heroic.