Week 1 Flashcards
Deviance is
A continuum
- Objective and subjective continuum
- Objective scholars: high-consensus crime (murder, gangs)
- Subjective scholars: low-consensus crime (porn, gambling)
Objective vs subjective
- Once almost exclusively objective and now we have more subjective focus
- There are different ways of trying to answer the question, “who is deviant?”…
Objective (trait)
- argue that certain acts are inherently moral or immoral
Statistical rarity (objective)
- Deviance defined as people, behaviours or characteristics that are statistically rare in a population
- Not rly accepted cuz ‘rare’ hard to quantify, it doesn’t rly correspond to how we view deviance (e.g. teen drinking normal but bad)
Harm (objective)
- Deviance defined as people, behaviours or characteristics that cause harm
- Physical harm, Emotional harm, social harm, Ontological harm (threat to fundamental ways we understand the world)
- Limitations; not that clear, perceptions of harm have changed, whether society is being harmed is subjective, there is a difference between harming society and changing society
Negative societal reaction (objective)
- Deviance defined as people, behaviours or characteristics that society’s ‘masses’ respond to negatively (anger, fear, distrust)
- Limitations; how many ppl is masses, why does society get mad at some
Normative violation (objective)
- Deviance defined as people behaviours, or characteristics that violate society’s norms
- Early objectivists = certain traits inherently deviant
- Norms: folkways (everyday behaviour), mores (morality in society) and laws (legal system)
Subjective (process)
- argue that it is not a quality that lies at the core of deviance, but a process
- groups w influence tell society certain ppl or behaviours are deviant
Dominant moral codes (subjective)
- Determine who/what is deviant in society
- Multiple moral codes exist at the same time + dictate ppl to what’s right and wrong, complex power relations
Social constructionism (subjective)
- Social constructionism is a perceptive saying social characteristics are creations of a particular society at a specific time in history
- Strict (no reality) vs. contextual (social phenomena)
- Its a process: behaviours place in the social order –> the role assigned to ppl who exhibit that behaviour –> meanings attached to that behaviour
- Individual level (own identities), interactional level (other ppl), institutional level (society structure), sociocultural level (beliefs, values etc.), global level (globalization)
Deviance dance (subjective)
- Understanding an act of deviance requires understanding its larger context in a society’s value system and the configuration of power relationships that influence moral boundaries among different groups
- This analysis is the ‘deviance dance’
- Interactions, negotiations + debates among groups w different perceptions of whether a behaviour is deviant and in need of social control
- It can either have considerable cooperation or by opposition but still moving together
- Nature of power relations can influence the direction the deviance dance takes
- Some ppl in better positions to be moral entrepreneurs than others
- Moral entrepreneurs identify a social problem and try to mobilize resources to address the problem
Social typing process
- Process which some ppl are seen as deviant and other as normal
Description, evaluation and prescription
- 3 component process can change the way society treats ppl who’re typed as deviant
- description : Label placed on a person cuz of observed or presumed behaviour/characteristic
- evaluation : Judgement attached to the individual cuz of the label
- Prescription : Process of social control or regulation emerges, individual treated in specific way
Forms of social control
- Formal/Informal social control
- Formal = organizational/institutional level (e.g. dress code, school policies)
- Informal = patterns of informal social interaction
- Retroactive/Preventative social control
- Retroactive = treating a known deviant in a certain way
- Preventative = trying to prevent deviance in 1st place
- Control of others/self-regulation
- Control of others = directed at an individual by someone else
- Self regulation = ppl regulate their own behaviour
- Multiple may be going on at any given moment
Shame + guilt
- Shame = focus on self ‘I am bad’
- Guilt = focus on behaviour ‘I did something bad’
Studying a groups sanctions…
tells you a lot about their value system
Complex society structure =
complex social structure
Social contract…
- Ppl give up sovereignty to a government/authority in order to receive/maintain a social order
- Individual action is motivated by personal choice and conscience
Social inclusion
- About making sure that each person is able to participate as valued, respected + contributing members of society
Social exclusion
- Works in a variety of ways to differentiate and OTHER certain kinds of ppl from the main social body
Letter to a law student
○ “the first thing I lost in law school was the reason I came”
§ We all grow tired at points and lose our direction
○ We must never confuse law and justice, what is legal is often not just and what is just is not often legal
○ Critique the law, lawyers + justice, build relationships and network, develop humility, reflect regularly
○ Justice is a counter-cultural value
§ Those who practice social justice law are essentially swimming upstream while others on the way down
○ Markers for success are different
It has to be creative, determined, flexible and patient
Social justice
○ The commitment to act w and on behalf of those suffering cuz of social neglect, social decisions or social structures/institutions
§ Tied to critiquing the status quo, being critical, tied to the left
§ Interconnected nature of society
§ Role of the state, the people, the organizations
Avoiding dogma
What is self-awareness
○ 2 types of self-awareness, internal self-awareness and external self-awareness (how others see us)
§ Most ppl overestimate their self-awareness
○ Experience and power can hinder self-awareness (overconfidence e.g.)
- the article emphasizes the importance of building internal and external self-awareness, seeking feedback from critics, and asking “what” questions to enhance self-awareness and reap the benefits of increased self-knowledge
Summary objective
- human nature + relationship with society
- opportunity
- goals, values
- strain (merton, Agnew)
- relationships and connection
- socialization
