Key Terms Crime and Deviance

• Agencies of social control: the groups and organizations in society that control or constrain people's behavior and actions
• Crime: an illegal act which is punishable by law
• Deviance: behavior which does not conform to society's norms and values and, if detected, is likely to lead to negative sanctions. Deviance can be - but is not necessarily - illegal
• Formal social control: control of people's behavior based on written laws and rules. Formal social control is usually associated with the ways the state regulates and controls our behavior. The agencies of formal social control include the police force, courts and prisons
• Informal social control: control of people's behavior based on social processes such as the approval or disapproval of others. Informal social control is enforced via peer pressure. The agencies of informal social control include peer groups and families
• Negative sanctions: sanctions that punish those who do not conform to the group's expectations, for example by ignoring them
• Peer group: a group of people who share a similar status and position in society, such as people of a similar age, outlook or occupation
• Peer pressure: the social pressure that a peer group puts on its members to encourage them to conform to the group's norms
• Positive sanctions: sanctions that reward those who behave according to the groups' expectations, for example through praise
• Social order: this occurs when society is stable, ordered and runs smoothly without continual disruption