DEVIANCE Failure to conform to the Norms

SOCIOLOGICAL NORMS Morés Essential to social stability; the most powerfully enforced Customs Important and enforced, but with milder sanctions Folkways Part of cultural interaction, observed and remarked upon, but rarely enforced or sanctioned

Deviance Disrupts Social Structure Social structure evolves, therefore… processes for defining social acts as deviant, and responding to, specific social acts also evolves. Norms Change, therefore social responses change

Labeling Theory Dominates Deviance Study Erich Goode and Seven Pathways to being labeled Deviant: 1.Actively engage in pre-labeled Behavior 2.Fail to Engage in Expected Behavior 3.False Accusation of Deviance 4.Profess Deviant Ideology 5.Association with Deviants 6.Defend Deviance 7.Involuntary State of Being

Foundations of Labeling Theory Subjectivity Contextuality Power

The Evolution Processes Leading to Labeling 1.Exaggeration 2.Centrality 3.Persistence 4.Disjunctive Affect 5.Homogeneity / Clustering

The Evolution of Deviance Three Levels 1.Primary 2.Secondary 3.Tertiary

RESPONSES TO LABELING Neutralization (Erich Goode) 1.Exceptionalization 2.Normalization 3.Excusing

Processes for Avoidance (Gresham Sykes and David Matza) 1.Denial of Responsibility 2.Denial of Injury 3.Denial of a Victim 4.Condemnation of Condemners 5.Appeal to Higher Loyalties

IMPACT OF DEVIANCE Negative? Criminal Deviance is most obvious Positive? Civil Rights Movement War Protest Women’s Liberation Movement Gay Rights Movement

Sociological Perspectives of Deviance Labeling Theory – Goode, Becker; other Interactionists Structural Strain Theory – Robert Merton; other functionalists (empirically based) Differential Association Theory – Edwin Sutherland; other symbolic interactionists Rational Choice Theory – Cornish and Clark; other functinalists (empirically based) Power-Conflict Theory – Conflict Theory