SOCIOLOGY CHAPTER 8: DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL

SECTION 1: DEVIANCE

WHAT IS DEVIANCE? Any behavior that violates significant social norms

THE NATURE OF DEVIANCE Norms are helpful in the smooth operation of a society and safety of its members. Occasional violations are unavoidable because there are so many norms. Deviant behavior may vary from society to society. Example: Divorce is legal in the U.S., but divorce is ILLEGAL in the Philippines. People may be labeled as “deviant” due to repetitive violations of social norms. 1.Must first be seen committing a deviant act. 2.The person must be stigmatized (marked by social disgrace) by society.

PAIR PARTNER DISCUSSION What might be some ways in which society may treat those marked by a stigma?

THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF DEVIANCE 1.Clarifying norms 2.Unifying the whole group 3.Diffusing tension 4.Promoting social change 5.Providing jobs

EXPLAINING DEVIANCE Strain theory – believes deviance to be the natural outgrowth of the values, norms, and structure of society Individuals may become anomie due to the strain of cognitive dissonance Functionalist Perspective Believe that competition and social inequality leads to deviance Struggle between the social classes Conflict Perspective 3 explanations of deviance: control theory, cultural transmission theory, and label theory Control theory: deviance naturally happens Cultural transmission theory: deviance is a learned behavior Label theory: focuses on how persons become labeled as deviant Interactionist Perspective

PAIR PARTNER ACTIVITY Define and explain the following terms for Section 1 on the given index cards with your pair partner: 1.Deviance 2.Stigma 3.Criminologists 4.Strain theory 5.Anomie 6.Control theory 7.Cultural transmission theory 8.Differential association 9.Techniques of neutralization 10.Labeling theory 11.Primary deviance 12.Secondary deviance 13.Degradation ceremony

SECTION 2: THE AMERICAN CLASS SYSTEM

HOW WE DETERMINE SOCIAL CLASS – 3 METHODS 1. Reputational Method – community members are asked to rank other community members based on what they know of their characters and lifestyles 2. Subjective Method - persons are asked to determine their own social rank 3. Objective Method – Sociologists define social class by income, occupation, and level of education

Social classes in the United States Upper Class – makes up 1% of population; high income from “old money,” investments, fame, executives Upper Middle Class – high- income businesspeople and professionals Lower Middle Class – white collar jobs Working Class – lower income from jobs requiring manual labor Working Poor – lowest paying jobs of temporary or seasonal work Underclass – unemployment and poverty over several generations

SOCIAL MOBILITY Horizontal mobility – movement within a social class Example: person moves from one type of job to another, but it has the same social ranking (i.e. secretary at elementary school  licensed practical nurse (LPN) at the hospital) Vertical mobility – movement between social classes Example: person starts in one social class, but ends up in a higher or lower social class (i.e. child movie star gets addicted to illegal drugs and becomes homeless OR elementary school teacher marries an oil tycoon) Intergenerational mobility – social status changes between generations of the same family Example: Grandfather  sharecropper; Father  supervisor at a warehouse; You  principal of a high school

STRUCTURAL CAUSE OF MOBILITY Illness/Addiction, Divorce, Widowhood, Retirement Technology, Education, Merchandising Patterns

SECTION 3: POVERTY

WHAT DETERMINES THE POVERTY LEVEL Poverty: a standard of living that is below the minimum level considered adequate by society. Calculate the cost of providing an adequate diet, based on the U.S.D.A.’s minimum nutritional standards.

AMERICAN POVERTY The factors that affect poverty in America: 1. Age – children have the highest percentage in poverty statistics 2. Gender – women are more likely to be poor than men 3. Race/Ethnicity – African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to be poor than other racial group in the U.S.

POVERTY IN AN AMERICAN METROPOLITAN CITY