SOCIOLOGY OF DISABILITY SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS: Pt 1-DEVIANCE

DEVIANCE Deviance is a recognized violation of cultural norms Question: How do Sociologists look at deviance?

CRIME AND CRIMINALITY When we think of deviance we often think of crime and criminality

Cesare Lombroso and the biological roots of criminality

William Sheldon body structure as a predictor of criminality

Major Theories in Sociology Functionalism Symbolic Interactionism Conflict Theory

STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

Emile Durkheim deviance affirms cultural values and norms -condemning something as “deviant” clarifies moral boundaries -constructing an act as deviant can unify social groups -what is constructed as deviant may often be reconstructed as a social or commercial good

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE ON DEVIANCE what we understand to be deviant is nothing more than a function of perspective examples: “crimes” such as murder, theft, statutory rape

Erving Goffman and Stigma Stigma: culturally negative label that greatly alters or shapes ones self-concept/identity

MEDICALIZATION OF DEVIANCE when behavior constructed as deviant becomes medicalized, the notions of objectivity and legitimacy associated with science and scientific inquiry alter the construction of the behavior; ?What is the difference between behavior that is “biologized” versus “medicalized”?

Travis Hirschi: Control Theory four types of social control 1. attachment 2. opportunity 3. involvement 4. belief

attachment Attachment to other people who respect the values and rules of the society; individuals do not want to be rejected by those to whom they are close or they admire

commitment Commitment to conventional activities (schools and jobs) that they do not want to jeopardize

involvement Involvement in activities that keep them so busy with conventional roles and expectations that they do not have time for mischief

belief Belief in the social rules of their culture that they accept because of childhood socialization and indoctrination into conventional beliefs.

LABELING THEORY Labeling theory focuses on how people define reality or what is or is not “normal” No behavior or individual is intrinsically deviant Behavior “is” deviant because individuals label it deviant Members of a society create deviance by defining behaviors as deviant; they then react to the deviance by rejection or by imposing penalties

Deviance and Conflict Theory

Conflict Theory This approach links deviance to social inequality Who or what is labeled “deviant” depends on which categories of people hold power in a society

Conflict Theory: Deviance and Capitalism Deviant labels have often been applied to people or populations that are perceived to have no or little use in a system of industrial or capitalist production