Deviance and Social

Control

What is Deviance?
It is not the act itself, but the reaction to the act,
that make something deviant.
Howard Becker, 1966

What is Deviance?
Relative Deviance

What is Deviant to Some is not Deviant to Others

Deviance is Nonjudgmental Term

TERMS IN DEVIANCE

Deviance
Violation of Rules or Norms

Norms Make Social Life Possible by Making Behavior Predictable

Norms Bring Social Order

Crime
Violation of Norms as Laws

Stigma
Blemishes on Normal Identity

Social Control - Formal and Informal Means of Enforcing Norms

Sanctions

Positive
Negatives

Reaction to Deviance

Legal Change

Medicalization of Deviance

Neither Mental nor Illness?

Homeless Mentally Ill

Need for More Humane Approach

Explanations of Deviance
Sociobiology

Look for Answers Inside Individuals

Genetic Predispositions

Psychologists

Focus on Conditions Within Individuals

Personality Disorders

Sociology

Look for Answers Outside Individuals

Social Class

Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective
Differential Association Theory
Learn to Deviate or Conform
Through Group Association

Families

Friends, Neighbors

Subculture

Prison or Freedom?

Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective
Control Theory - Inner Controls
Morality
Conscience
Religious

Principles
Control Theory - Outer Controls
Attachments
Commitments
Involvements
Beliefs that Actions are Morally Wrong

Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective
Labeling Theory
Focuses on the Significance of Labels
Labels Become Part of Self-Concept
Propel Towards or Away from Deviance
Rejecting Labels
Denial of Responsibility
Denial of Injury
Denial of a Victim
Condemnation of Condemners
Appeal to Higher Loyalties
Embracing Labels
Outlaw Bikers
The Power of Labels
Saints and Roughnecks

Functionalist Perspective
Can Deviance Be Functional?

Clarifies Moral Boundaries and

Affirms Norms

Promotes Social Unity

Promotes Social Change

Functionalist Perspective
Strain Theory
Social

Values Generate Crime

Cultural

Goals

Institutional
Strain

Means

Leads to Anomie

Functionalist Perspective
Four Deviant Paths (Mertons
Deviance and Anomie)
Goal
(wealth)

Means
(Hard
Work)

Approach

Yes

Yes

Conformist

Yes

No

Innovator

No

Yes

Ritualist

No

No

Retreatist

Neither

Neither

Rebel

Conflict Perspective
Class, Crime, and the Judicial System

Power and Inequality

Capitalist Class

Working Class

Marginal Working Class

The Law as an Instrument of Oppression

Reaction to Deviance

Street Crime and Prisons

How Much is Enough? The Explosion in the Number of U.S. Prisoners.

Reaction to Deviance
Prisoners on Death Row

Sentenced state and federal prisoners by gender and race, 2003

1. Includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders.
2. Excludes Hispanics.

Males

Total1

Number

1,316,495

454,300

586,300

251,900

92,785

39,100

35,000

16,200

915

465

3,405

1,231

62

38

185

84

Rate per
100,000

Females
White2

Black2

Hispanic

Total1

White2

Black2

Hispanic

Recidivism of U.S. Prisoners.

Understanding Race and

Crime

Source: FBI, Supplementary Homicide Reports, 1976-2005.

U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm#vrace ) Accessed 12OCT07

Types of Offenses

Drug Offenses:
Weapons, Explosives, Arson:
Immigration:
Robbery:

100,588
29,803
21,848
8,629

(51.4 %)
(15.2 %)
(11.2 %)
(4.4 %)

Burglary, Larceny, Property Offenses:

6,867

(3.5 %)

Extortion, Fraud, Bribery:

9,969

(5.1 %)

Homicide, Aggravated Assault, and

Kidnapping Offenses:

5,407

(2.8 %)

Miscellaneous:
Sex Offenses:

1,871
8,606

(1.0 %)
(4.4 %)

Banking and Insurance, Counterfeit,

Embezzlement:

867

(0.4 %)

Courts or Corrections:

664

(0.3 %)

Continuing Criminal Enterprise:

520

(0.3 %)

National Security:

95

(0.0 %)

Data calculated for those with offense-specific information available.

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