CRIME, DEVIANCE, AND SOCIAL CONTROL

• Deviance


  An act that violates established contextual, cultural, and social norms
• Deviance


  • Encompasses anything that deviates from what people generally accept as normal
  • Includes behaviours that are harmful to others (e.g., crime), but also includes behaviours that are simply outside the mainstream way of acting
• Crime


  An act that contravenes the criminal law
• Deviance


  Social norms-breaking
• Crime


  Criminal law breaking
• Norms and laws are socially driven
• Definition of deviance and crime changes in TIME and SPACE
• The boundary between deviance and crime is sometimes blurred
• Crime refers to violations of the criminal law which are legally punishable. Sometimes they are also regarded as deviant, but sometimes not
• Although the word "deviance" has a negative connotation in our everyday language, sociologists recognise that deviance is not bad per se
• Deviance


  • Fosters social change (from a structural functionalist perspective)
• Deviance


  • Is a normal and necessary part of social organization (according to Durkheim)
  • Helps define cultural values and norms
  • Society's response to deviance defines moral boundaries
  • Brings members of the society together
  • Pushes society's moral boundaries leading to social change
• Social control


  Attempt by the society to regulate people's behaviours in order to limit or punish deviance
• Social sanctions


  • Negative sanctions (negative social reactions to deviance)
  • Positive sanctions (affirmative reactions in response to conformity)
• Formal sanctions


  Negative sanctions from the criminal justice system (police, courts, prison system)
• Given the power of social control in sanctioning people's behaviors, why does anyone do deviant things?
• Social control theories posit that human behaviour is inherently self-interested, and deviant behaviour is anticipated in every society. Therefore, they seek to understand why the majority of people do not engage in criminal behaviour. Why do most people conform?
• Theory of Conformity


  Social control theories focus on the presence or absence of controls as the key variable in explaining deviance
• Social bond theory


  • Based on self-report survey with approx. 4,000 12-17 year olds
  • Deviance is 'normal', but most people can be adequately socialised – why don't we do it?
  • Strong emphasis on social influences– the stronger the social bond to society, the lower the likelihood to commit a crime
  • Four elements of social bond: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief
• Attachment


  Emotional bond with significant others
• Commitment


  Investment in conventional society to gain rewards
• Involvement


  Time spent in conventional activities
• Moral beliefs


  Beliefs concerning the laws and rules of society
• Delinquent acts result when an individual's bond to society is weak or broken
• Some considerations: Chicken-and-egg problem, explains why certain individuals start offending but not why they continue or escalate, and evidence that effect of attachment varies and offenders are not weakly attached to social norms