Deviance

• Social Control


  Techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society
• Types of Social Control

  • Informal social control
  • Formal social control
• Informal social control


  Carried out casually by ordinary people through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule
• Formal social control


  Carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers
• Levels of Social Control (Stanley Milgram, 1975)


  • Conformity
  • Obedience
• Conformity


  Going along with peers (individuals of our own status, who have no special right to direct our behavior)
• Obedience


  Compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure
• The Types of Social Control


  • Built-in controls (INTERNALIZED)
  • Sanctions (EXTERNALIZED)
• Built-in controls (INTERNALIZED)


  Rely on deterrents such as personal shame or fear of supernatural punishment or magical retaliation
• Sanctions (EXTERNALIZED)


  Rely on actions taken by other members of the society towards a behavior that is either approved or disproved
• Formal sanctions


  • Penal laws
  • Fines
  • Death penalty
• Informal sanctions


  • Unfavorable and favorable public opinion
  • Giving or withdrawing of affection, love or friendship
  • Verbal admiration or criticism, reprimands or verbal commendations
• Social Disorganization Theory asserts that crime is most likely to occur in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control
• Absence of social control is the cause of deviance
• A person isn't born a criminal, but becomes one overtime, often based on factors in his or her social environment
• Social Constructionist Perspective Deviance is a product of the culture we live in
• Primary Deviance


  Deviance involving occasional breaking of norms that are NOT a part of a person's lifestyle or self-concept
• Secondary Deviance


  Deviance in which an individual's life and identity are organized around breaking society's norms
• Feminist Theory: Adler and Chesney-Lind argue existing approaches to deviance and crime developed with men in mind
• Cultural views and attitudes toward women influence how they are perceived and labeled