1. Deviance
Asif Raza

2. Deviant Act?
Polygamy K Brown
Polyandry

3. Deviance Defined Deviance refers to a violation of norms.
H. Becker – it is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act that makes something deviant.
In sociology, we view behavior in the context of the culture.
In sociology, deviance is not a term of negative judgment.

4. Stigma
E. Goffman – stigma refers to characteristics that discredit people.
These includes violation of norms of ability (blindness, deafness, mental handicaps) and violations of norms of appearance (a facial birthmark, obesity).
They also include involuntary membership such as being the victim of AIDS or the brother of a rapist.

5. Suicide, Marriage and Sexuality in Cross-cultural Perspective
Japan – hara-kiri
Eskimos - Inuits
Iraqi refugees
Hmong
Kenya – Pokot
Mexico - Zapotec

6. What Constitutes Deviance?
Sexual activities between consenting adults
Smoking marijuana
Public nudism
Pornography
Drinking alcohol
Refusal to fight in a war
Chewing coca leaves

7. Durkheim and Crime Crime is normal – it is everywhere.
It is normal because:
It is impossible to reach complete agreement on what the rules and norms should be.
No society can enforce total conformity to its rules.
We continuously divide the social world into what is acceptable and unacceptable.

8. Functions of crime
If crime is present in all societies, it must be functional, or necessary. It must result in some social good.
Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries.
Responding to deviance brings people together.
Deviance encourages social change.
E. Durkheim – punishment is not to prevent further crimes but to reassert the importance of the rule being violated.

9. Abu Garib

10. Theories of Deviance and Crime
Biological theories - genetic predisposition.
Intelligence
C. Lombroso believed that crime was associated with an animal-like body type that revealed an inherited primitiveness.
XYY theory – an extra Y chromosome leads to crime.

11. Psychological Theories
Focus on abnormalities within the individual – personality disorders.
Childhood experiences are linked to deviance. For example, “suffocating mother”, “emotionally aloof father” or “bad toilet training”.

12. Sociological Theories
Sociologists search for factors outside the individual.
They look for social influences that “recruit” some people to break norms.
Forced into Prostitution

13. Control Theory
W. Reckless - social controls are the norms along with formal and informal means of enforcing them.
Mechanisms of control – internal and external. Sanctions (external).
Asks what causes conformity? Absence of what causes conformity causes deviance.

14. Differential Association Theory
E. Sutherland stressed that people learn deviance.
People learnt to deviate or conform to norms depending on the different groups they associate with.
For example, families, friends and neighborhoods, and subcultures.

15. Merton’s Strain Theory
American society pushes individuals towards deviance by overemphasizing the importance of monetary success but it fails to emphasize the importance of using legitimate means to achieve that success.

16. Merton There are 4 types of deviance
Innovators – use illegitimate means
Ritualists – give up but follow rules
Retreatists – reject goals & drop out
Rebels – seek to change society

17. Labeling Theory
Some individuals come to be defined as deviant by others.
This labeling process helps bring about more deviant behavior.

18. The Pathology of Imprisonment
Zimbardo’s experiment demonstrates that the social structure of prisons underlies prison violence. Based on this article, how do you think prisons might be reconstructed in order to minimize violence?

19. On Being Sane in Insane Places
When the personnel of one hospital found out about this experiment, they said nothing like that could ever happen in their hospital. Rosenhan said he would have a pesudopatient admitted to the hospital within the next three months. What happened? How could that happen?

20. Psychiatry Exposed