Chapter 16: Crime, Deviance, & Social Control

Pages 442-471
Once we ask ourselves why wearing clothing is an obligation, we open up a whole series of
questions that go right to the heart of how society exerts its force over individuals & w/ what
consequences.
Case for 20 y/o Berkeley undergraduate Andrew Martinez naked guy who didnt wear
clothes
Raises questions:
Why do we have to wear clothes?
Who decided that clothes are a necessary part of our everyday appearance?
Why does the Berkeley city government arrest & punish someone simply b/c he
or she refuses to wear clothes?
Council passed measure banning public nudity & arresting Martinez every time he
appeared naked in public
1. What is deviance?
Deviance & group
Most fundamental building blocks of normality & deviance is the group
Establishing group boundaries
How do groups distinguish themselves?
Social group: collection of people who interact w/ one another & who have a shared
sense of belonging
Can range from small ones (families, sports teams) to larger ones (neighborhoods,
organizations, entire nations)
Most humans across the globe are born into families that impose fundamental rules like
when & how to eat food and whom to obey
Sigmund Freud in Civilization and Its Discontentsall cultures impose the young some
very strict rules about the most basic of needs
At young age, child is told to not play w/ food
o One of first lessons of dominance & social control
Child ultimately gives up & gives over to the behavioral rules
Power group (parents) determine what is normal & what is deviant
Deviance & control always constitute a paired relationship
Groups outside family exert similar pressures to conform throughout individuals life
Done via positive affirmations (claims) to establish boundaries
o Signal who is in the group & who is out
Negative affirmations: constitute what we arent allowed to do if we are to retain
membership
Positive affirmations of group membership
All groups set markers at their boundaries

Groups are often defined via objective criteria (shared language, same job) but identity of
group is more importantly tied to way group members defined themselves & are defined
by groups
In school, those who study too hard=nerds
In school, those who play sports: jocks
Symbolic boundaries: symbolic ideas & values about who the group members are
Give group its identity
Different spaces are defined
When entering church, it is a symbolic boundary b religious space & secular one
Immigration (process of moving from one country to another) gives example of
how physical & symbolic boundaries work to define groups
Countries often mark boundaries b/w themselves by establishing physical borders
o Ex: U.S.-Mexico border
Borders signal to us that we are moving from a territory belonging
to one group to territory belonging to another
Boundaries are used to differentiate symbolic space
Symbolic boundaries involve setting up ideas us & them to say that Mexicans
are different than Americans
Group boundaries are key aspect of understanding deviance b/c of role groups play in
defining & setting limits of acceptable behavior
We have powerful incentives to do what the group says we must
Being part of group means behaving w/n boundaries of the community
Breaking boundaries involves reprimands or risk of being removed from group
altogether
Behaviors defined as deviantcrossing boundaries
Includes group members who transgress boundaries of group
Includes nonmembers who try to break those boundaries
Symbolic & physical boundaries are set up for explicit purpose of keeping outsiders out
Crossing boundaries is considered act of deviance
Example of immigration: illegal immigration (unauthorized crossing of a
boundary)
o Deviance takes place when someone moves outside boundaries he/she is
expected to live in & enters another groups space

Negative affirmations of group membership

All groups have rules of what members must do as well as explicit designations of what
not to do
Prohibitions: excluded behaviors
Major religions contain explicit rules believers must follow
Christian commandments forbid murder, adultery, theft
Korean forbid murder, adultery, theft, alcohol consumption
Prohibitions empower authorities to punish those who deviate

Punishment of ostracism for violators is ultimate way that group maintains

boundaries
Explicit rules banning certain kinds of behaviors are often written down
Hammurabi code: oldest known written set of laws in human history placed
before public
o Originated in ancient city of Babylon around 1780 BCE
o Most known for famous retributive justice penalty of an eye for an eye
o Included specific set of punishments aimed at best to fit specific deviant
acts
Since the Hammurabi code, groups & societies began to prescribe punishments for
specific acts
Revealed what groups & societies valued
Whimsical or irrational sentences & punishments raise questions about the legitimacy of
the group or society making rules
Includes first prisons & criminal justice systems appearing in Western societies
during the late 18th-early 19th centuries
o Thieves were hung for stealing cloth worth very little
o Rapists & murderers often served only a few months in prison
Codification occurred in mid-19th century & swept through most Western societies
Most important influence on reform movementOn Crimes and Punishments published
by Italian social theorist Cesare Beccaria
Theory of how & why justice should be meted out to perpetrator
Concern was that citizenry had sense that criminal justice system was fair
Key element: open, transparent, public nature of laws & corresponding
transparency of punishment attached to criminal activity
o Left room for possible fluidity of severity of punishment (attached to
specific crime) if there was a public outcry about unfairness
o Unfairness becomes issue that remains heavily debated today
Ex: extreme cases when man was sentenced to 50y/o-life sentence
for stealing a few DVDs for his children at Christmas

Statistical vs Social deviance

How does statistical deviance differ from social deviance?
Rare behaviors are deviant b/c they are uncommon but not necessarily deviant in
sociological sense
Statistically deviant: uncommon behavior that isnt violating societal rules
Ex: In class of 60 students, small group of students choose to wear a baseball cap
or scarfwearing head coverings is defined as statistically deviant (most students
dont wear head coverings during class)
o Wearing hats in classeven if only a few students wear themis socially
acceptable, not deviant
Socially deviant: behavior violating societal rules
Ex: Case of Andrew Martinez by choosing to take off clothes & get naked
socially deviant behavior

What is considered deviant (or criminal) has little to do w/ how common it is

Ex: Adultery is deviance
o Violates social norm about marriage & crossing boundaries of what is
considered acceptable behavior for a married partner
o Actually statistically common but still considered social deviance
Distinction b/w deviant behavior & deviant persons
Just b/c someone engages in some form of behavior that others in the group might
label as deviant does not characterize the person as deviant
Each of usin normal course of lifewill transgress some rule
Normalize deviant behavior: recast behavior into a frame that rescues person is
normal even as behavior is deemed deviant

Social norms: unstated rules of everyday life

What is a social nom?
When explicit, written rules are violated, we have names for deviantsmurderer, thief,
arsonist, rapist
Vital aspect of social control is enforcement of unstated, unwritten, nonarticulated rules
(norms)
Norms: basic rules of society that help us know what is & what is not appropriate
to do in any given situation
In every society, there are elaborate written rules & criminal codes as well as unwritten
rules that individuals must follow to avoid appearing deviant
French sociologist Emile Durkheim saysrules of behavior dont need to be written
down in order to require conformity
Unstated rules tell us a lot about the nature & character of our society
One of normsnorm of engagement
Archival research: historical records, legal case law
Reveal that origins of norms are more obscure & often impossible to uncover
Norms have roots in societal process where desires & preferences of powerful groups get
extended throughout entire society
Norm of personal space might have roots in larger ideas about personal privacy
Norms grow out of social process of defining what is normal in light of other
ideas about proper behavior
2. How is morality defined & regulated?
Problem of moral regulation
At all times & places, societies struggle w/ questions of moral behavior
Moral behavior: types of behaviors that will be considered good & right vs.
behaviors that will be considered bad & wrong
What is considered immoral behavior is constantly at issue
Different groups will have different views & understandings
When societies attempt to outlaw certain kinds of previously common,
widespread behavior, its a highly controversial process

Interested vs disinterested punishment

What is the distinction b/w interested & disinterested punishment?
Interested punishment vs disinterested punishment refers to 2 different kinds of deviants
& 2 different kinds of reasons for punishment (those arising from desire to protect wealth
& private property and those attempting to direct & control individuals behavior)
Most privileged groups & classes have strong, direct interest in maintaining wealth &
political domination
We all have interest in having our private property protected, but holders of great
wealth have higher stakes
Disinterested punishment: rules & transgressors have little to do w/ wealth redistribution
Designed to control the morals & social behavior of people
Laws explicitly written & targeted at poor & working class
o Many cases were created by upper-class groups seeking to control & shape
lower classes
Ex: laws related to tobacco use, alcohol/drug consumption, gambling, prostitution
Effort to control morality among certain lower-status groups (minorities, poor,
immigrants) have been closely connected to interests of powerful in maintaining social
order
Moral reformers have always hoped that encouraging good behavior on poor will
make them better workers, more committed citizens, less likely to revolt against
those w/ more wealth & power
Temperance movement as moral crusade
What does the history of alcohol & opium use tell us about what is normal & deviant?
Examine how moral & immoral behavior gets defined then redefined over timestudy
historical examples & how they evolved over time
Ex: Case of campaign against alcohol
Beginning of nation & first 2 centuriesAmericans drank so much alcohol they were
called Alcoholic Republic
In early 18th century, Americans drank 5 gallons of alcohol per capita every year
By 1830, per capita consumption had gone up even further to 7 gallons of alcohol
o Equivalent of nearly 2 bottles of 80-proof hard liquor per adult person per
weekeven factoring in abstainers
Prohibition periodU.S. became only industrialized country to enact constitutional
amendment banning consumption of alcohol
Movement for prohibition of alcohol was crusade to reestablish traditional values
that upper middle classes experienced as slipping away
Temperance Movement (temperance during this period meant moderation not abstinence)
Strong & insistent calls for moderation of alcohol consumption for much of
previous 3 decades
Consensus that new immigrants drank alcohol excessively
Womens Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)small group of women praying
at Ohio saloons for temperance movement in Dec 1873 developed into larger
group

o W/n 3 months of first pray-in, spark ignited closing of taverns in over 75

communities
o School boards across nation inserted new instructional materials
denouncing alcohol as evil
Jurisdictions became dry (no alcohol sales permitted) or wet
Movement was successful primarily (if not exclusively) wives of most successful uppermiddle-class professionals whose husbands were bankers, doctors, lawyers, or successful
businessmen
Membership in WCTU was overwhelmingly drawn from ranks of most privileged
groups in American society
In 1919, Prohibition advocates succeeded in getting constitutional amendment
passed that made alcohol consumption illegal anywhere in U.S.
<2 decades later, Americans refused to stop drinkingcreating campaign of mass civil
disobedience
Undermined legitimacy of new constitutional amendment
NY governor Franklin Delano Rooseveltafter becoming Presidentlead shift in
constitution of moral center when it came to alcohol
Prohibition became repealed
Consumption of alcohol today is permitted w/ relatively few restrictions
o Major restrictions: laws against driving or operating machinery while
under influence of alcohol

Campaign against opium

Contemporary moral crusades

What does the failure of the crusade against same-sex relationships say about the future of moral
crusades?

3. Who defines deviances?

Deviance, crime, & power
First experiences w/ idea of normality & its boundaries (deviance) is from social group
into which we are born w/--universally the kinship unit
As we grow up & encounter other groups, stronger, more compelling forces determine
which groups view of normality will prevail
Advocates w/ greater access to political power will surface
Only when powerful groups sought to criminalize alcohol & opiates that
campaigns succeeded
Labeling deviance & crime
How does labeling theory explain deviance?

From deviance in streets to deviance in suites: white-collar crime

Enron Scandal
What does the 2008 U.S. financial crisis tell us about power & dominant behavior?

U.S. Banking & financial crisis

State deviance, terrorism & war crimes

When does violence committed during wartime become criminal?

State terror: case of torture & drone strikes

Sociological perspective: who is responsible for deplorable acts at Abu Ghraib?

Power & deviance: final note

4. How is social control maintained?

Institutions of social control
Society imposes rules about normal & deviant behavior by establishing criminal laws &
codesdelivering word about what is deviant behavior
When some kinds of deviance becomes crime, they pass into realm of institution of
social control (police, criminal courts, prisons, jails)
Social control: various ways societies regulate & sanction behavior to encourage
conformity to & discourage deviance from norms
Sanctions & rewards as forms of social control

Criminal justice system

How does the criminal justice system exert social control?

Mass incarceration in America today

Why is the incarceration rate in U.S. so high?

Incarceration rates in U.S.

U.S. has highest rate of incarceration in world

Largest increase in incarceration rates occurred in last 30 years, since 1980s

Many other countries experienced increasing incarceration rates in last few decades, ex:
England, Australia, Brazil, South Africa
Increases dont come close to those of U.S.
Countries w/ incarceration rates most similar to U.S. have vastly different
political, economic, cultural terms
Sending large numbers of people to prison often impacts family, friends & community of
convicted offender

Consequences of Mass incarceration

What are some consequences of mass incarceration?

Conclusion: deviance & sociological imagination

Individuals & groups w/ power have special capacity to define or impose particular
definitions of deviance & turn that definition into written laws & forms of punishment
Defining deviance downward (powerful define ordinary behavior of weak as deviant) is
common pattern
Current controversy in NYC: polices department use of stop and frisk tactics
Police officers are free to detain anyone who they think might be carrying a
weapon or posing a threat to the police officer
Over 80% of those people frisked were African American or Latino
Majority of cases where arrest is made is found to be marijuana or other drugs,
not gun
Societies often pay more attention to the possibility of deviance from below than
above
Challenges of social imagination is to look beneath surface of social life to uncover
normally hidden forms of inequality & injustice in world around us