1. Sociology in Modules
Richard T. Schaefer

2. Social Control
Social control: techniques and strategies employed for preventing deviant human behavior in any society
Parents
Peer groups
Government
Bureaucratic organizations

3. Social Control
Sanctions: penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm
If we fail to live up to the norm we may face informal sanctions (fear and ridicule) or formal sanctions (jail sentences or fines)

4. Conformity and Obedience
The Milgram Experiment
Experimenter instructed people to administer increasingly painful electric shocks to a subject
Conformity: going along with peers who have no special right to direct behavior
Obedience: compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure

5. Conformity and Obedience
Reflecting on the Milgram Experiment
Two-thirds of participants fell into category of “obedient subjects”
People in modern industrial world accustomed to submitting to impersonal authority figures
Recent replications of experiment confirm findings

6. Informal and Formal Social Control
Informal social control: used casually to enforce norms
Smiles, laughter, raised eyebrows, ridicule
Formal social control: carried out by authorized agents
Informal social control can undermine formal social control, encouraging people to violate social norms

7. Law and Society
Some norms are so important to a society that they are formalized into laws
Law: governmental social control
The legal order reflects values of those in a position to exercise authority
Control theory: connection to members of society leads people to systematically conform to society’s norms

8. Figure 23-1: Executions by State Since 19768

9. Figure 23-2: The Status of Medical Marijuana9

10. What Is Deviance?
Deviance: behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society
Involves violation of group norms, which may or may not be formalized into law
Subject to social definition within a particular society and at a particular time

11. What Is Deviance? Deviance and Social Stigma Deviance and Technology
Stigma: labels society uses to devalue members of certain social groups
Deviance and Technology
Technological innovations can redefine social interactions and standards of behavior related to them

12. Sociological Perspectives on Deviance
Why do people violate social norms?
Early explanations blamed supernatural causes or genetic factors (“bad blood”)
Sociobiologists critical of emphasis on genetic roots of crime and deviance

13. Functionalist Perspective
Durkheim’s Legacy
Punishments established within a culture help define acceptable behavior and contribute to stability
Erikson illustrated boundary-maintenance function of deviance
Anomie: loss of direction felt in society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective

14. Functionalist Perspective
Merton’s Theory of Deviance
Anomie theory of deviance: five basic forms of adaptation
Conformity
Retreatism
Innovation
Ritualism
Rebellion

15. Table 24-1: Merton’s Deviance Theory15

16. Interactionist Perspective
Cultural Transmission
Cultural transmission: humans learn how to behave in social situations, whether properly or improperly
Differential association: process through which exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts leads to the violation of rules (Sutherland)

17. Interactionist Perspective
Social Disorganization Theory
Increases in crime and deviance attributed to absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions
Some claim social disorganization theory seems to “blame the victim”

18. Labeling Perspective
Labeling theory: attempts to explain why some people are viewed as deviants while others are not; also known as societal-reaction approach
Societal-reaction approach: another term for labeling theory, designed to remind us that the response to an act, not the behavior, determines deviance

19. Labeling Perspective Labeling and Agents of Social Control
Focuses on police, probation officers, psychiatrists, judges, teachers, employers, school officials, and other regulators of social control
Social constructionist perspective: deviance is a product of the culture we live in

20. Conflict Perspective
People with power protect their own interests and define deviance to suit their needs
Contends that the entire criminal justice system in the United States treats suspects differently based on their race, ethnicity, or social class
Differential justice: differences in way social control is exercised over different groups

21. Feminist Perspective
Adler and Chesney-Lind suggest existing approaches to deviance and crime developed with men in mind
Great effort undertaken by feminist organizations to redefine legal definitions of rape
Cultural views and attitudes toward women influence how they are perceived and labeled

22. Table 24-2: Sociological Perspectives on Deviance22

23. Crime
Crime: violation of criminal law for which governmental authority applies formal penalties
Six types differentiated by sociologists:
Victimless crimes
Professional crime
Organized crime
White-collar and technology-based crime
Hate crimes
Transnational crime

24. Types of Crime Victimless Crimes Professional Crime
Willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services
Professional Crime
Committed by a professional criminal: person who pursues crime as a day-to-day occupation

25. Types of Crime Organized Crime
Group that regulates relations between various criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities
Dominates world of illegal business, just as large corporations dominate conventional businesses
Serves as means of upward mobility for groups of people struggling to escape poverty
Can be characterized by the process of ethnic succession

26. Types of Crime White Collar and Technology-Based Crime
White-collar crime: illegal acts committed in the course of business activities
Computer crime: use of high technology to carry out embezzlement or electronic fraud
Corporate crime: any act by a corporation that is punishable by the government

27. Types of Crime Hate Crime
Offender is motivated to choose a victim based on race, religion, ethnic group, national origin, or sexual orientation, and when evidence shows that hatred prompted offender to commit the crime
In 2013, official reports of more than 7,200 hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents

28. Figure 25-1: Categorization of Reported Hate Crimes28

29. Types of Crime Transnational Crime
Crime that occurs across multiple national borders
Once often limited to shipment of goods across single border; now, spans the globe
Slavery
Trafficking in endangered species, drugs, stolen art and antiquities

30. Table 25-1: Types of Transnational Crime30

31. Crime Statistics Index Crimes and Victimization Surveys
Index crimes include eight types of crime tabulated by the FBI
Violent crimes against people
Murder, rape, robbery, assault
Crimes against property
Burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson

32. Crime Statistics Index Crimes and Victimization Surveys (continued)
Crime index is disproportionately devoted to property crimes
Only crimes reported to law enforcement agencies tracked
Victimization surveys: surveys of ordinary people, not police officers, to determine whether they have been victims of crime

33. Crime Statistics Crime Trends
Public regards crime as major social problem, yet rate of crime being reported in was comparable to what it was in 1963
Changes in public policy, public health, technology, and demographics may explain
Feminist scholars: proportion of major crimes committed by women has increased

34. Crime Statistics International Crime Rates
Violent crimes much more common in U.S. than western Europe in 1980s and 1990s
England, Ireland, Denmark, and New Zealand have higher rates of car theft than U.S.
Rapid rise in homicide rates in developing countries that supply drugs to industrialized countries

35. Table 25-2: National Crime Rates and Percentage Change35

36. Figure 25-2: Victimization Rates, 1993–201236

37. Social Policy and Social Control: Gun Control
Looking at the Issue
Guns are big business in the U.S.; very high ratio of guns to people in the U.S.
Number of citizens favoring stricter gun control has dropped
Role of firearms in crime has remained steady
Brady Act requires background checks for gun purchases
Supreme Court has recently favored more gun rights

38. Social Policy and Social Control: Gun Control
Applying Sociology
Sociologists find it difficult to get funding for studies of gun violence
Near total cutoff of federal funding for gun studies
Conflict theorists point out power of NRA over legislative process
Interactionists note use of symbols by both pro- and anti-gun rights activists

39. Social Policy and Social Control: Gun Control
Initiating Policy
Advocates for more gun control favor strengthening law enforcement, extending background checks, regulating powerful guns, ending large-volume gun sales
The NRA has had major success in battling candidates for office that favor greater gun regulation
Public health advocates advocate making guns themselves safer to use

40. Sociology on Campus 23-1: Binge Drinking
Why do you think most college students regard binge drinking as a normal rather than a deviant behavior?
Which do you think would be more effective in stopping binge drinking on your campus, informal or formal social control?

41. Research Today 24-1: Does Crime Pay?
Do you know anyone who has stolen out of need? If so, did the person feel justified in stealing, or did he or she feel guilty? How long did the theft continue?
Economically, profit is the difference between revenues and costs. What are the costs of the illegal drug trade, both economic and social? Is this economic activity profitable for society?

42. Sociology on Campus 25-1: Campus Crime
Do some research on campus crime. What is the crime rate on your college campus, and how does it compare to crime rates at other schools? Relate what you have learned to sociological theory.
What have officials at your college done to discourage campus crime?

43. Taking Sociology to Work
Stephanie Vezzani, Special Agent, U.S. Secret Service
Besides an awareness of different beliefs, values, and cultures, what else might sociology offer to those who serve in law enforcement?
Law enforcement is a relatively new career option for women. What special strengths do you think a woman might bring to police work?