1. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 1 SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer Deviance and Social Control 8

2. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 2 8. Deviance and Social Control Social Control Deviance Crime Social Policy and Social Control

3. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 3 –Conformity: going along with peers who have no special right to direct behavior –Obedience: compliance with higher authorities in an hierarchical structure Social Control Techniques and strategies are employed for preventing deviant human behavior in any society Sanctions: Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm Conformity and Obedience

4. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 4 Social Control Research demonstrates that people may conform to attitudes and behavior of peers even when it means expressing intolerance towards others Milgram pointed out that in the modern industrial world, we are accustomed to submitting to impersonal authority figures, whose status is indicated by a title or uniform Conformity and Obedience –Conformity to Prejudice

5. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 5 Social Control –Informal Social Control: used casually to enforce norms –Formal Social Control: carried out by authorized agents Informal and Formal Social Control Under conducive circumstances, otherwise normal people can and often do treat one another inhumanely

6. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 6 Social Control –Some norms are so important to a society that they are formalized into laws Law: governmental social control Control Theory: our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society’s norms Law and Society

7. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 7 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 What is Deviance?

8. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 8 Deviance Figure 8-1. The Status of Medical Marijuana Source: Developed by author based on data from Marijuana Policy Project 2004, 2005

9. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 9 Deviance 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 What is Deviance? –Deviance and Social Stigma

10. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 10 Deviance Deviance common part of human existence, with positive as well as negative consequences for social stability. Durkheim Legacy –Anomie: loss of direction felt in society when social control of individual behavior becomes ineffective Explaining Deviance –Functionalist Perspective

11. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 11 Deviance Explaining Deviance –Functionalist Perspective Merton’s Theory of Deviance Anomie Theory of Deviance: how people adapt in certain ways by conforming to or by deviating from cultural expectations, including conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion

12. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 12 Deviance Table 8-1. Modes of Individual Adaptation Source: Adapted from Merton 1968:194

13. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 13 Deviance Cultural Transmission Theory –Cultural Transmission: humans learn how to behave in social situations, whether properly or improperly –Differential Association: the process through which exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts leads to the violation of rules (Sutherland) Explaining Deviance –Interactionist Perspective

14. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 14 –Criminal victimization increases when motivated offenders and suitable targets converge Labeling Theory/Societal-Reaction Approach –Some individuals or groups have the power to define and apply labels Deviance Explaining Deviance –Interactionist Perspective Routine Activities Theory

15. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 15 Agents of social control and other powerful groups can impose their own self-serving definitions of deviance on the general public –Feminist Perspective Society tends to treat women in stereotypical fashion Emphasizes deviance, including crime, tends to flow from economic relationships Deviance Explaining Deviance –Conflict Theory

16. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 16 Deviance Table 8-2. Approaches to Deviance

17. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 17 Crime –Laws divide crimes into categories based on: Severity of offense Age of offender Potential punishment Jurisdiction Types of Crime Crime: violation of criminal law, for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties

18. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 18 Crime –Victimless Crimes: willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services –Professional Crime Professional criminal: person who pursues crime as a day-to-day occupation –Organized Crime: group that regulates relations between various criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities Types of Crime

19. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 19 Computer Crime: use of high technology to carry out illegal activity Corporate Crime: any act by a corporation that is punishable by the government Crime Types of Crime –White Collar and Technology-Based Crime –Transnational Crime Crime that occurs across multiple national borders

20. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 20 Crime –Not as accurate as social scientists would like –Understanding Crime Statistics Reported crime is very high in the U.S. Public regards crime as major social problem Crime Statistics Victimization Surveys: surveys of ordinary people, not police officers, to determine whether they have been victims of crime

21. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 21 Crime Violent crimes much more common in U.S. than Western Europe in 1980s and 1990s Disturbing increases in violent crime are evident in other Western societies Crime Statistics –International Crime Rates

22. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 22 Crime Table 8-3. Types of Transnational Crime Source: Compiled by author based on Mueller 2001 and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2005

23. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 23 Crime Figure 8-2. Victimization Rates, 1973—2003 Source: Catalano 2004:1

24. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 24 Social Policy and Social Control Over the past 10 years, two-thirds of all murders committed with firearms 1994 Brady Act mandates firearms dealers run criminal history background checks on people who wish to purchase handguns –About two percent of all purchases denied Gun Control –The Issue

25. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 25 Social Policy and Social Control The Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the “right of the people to keep and bear arms” 30 to 35 million people in the United States own handguns About 45 percent of U.S. households have some type of firearm on the premises. Gun Control –The Setting

26. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 26 Social Policy and Social Control Since Brady Act, support for stricter measures declined Conflict theorists contend that groups like National Rifle Association (NRA) dominate the legislative process because they can mobilize resources Gun Control –Sociological Insights

27. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 27 Social Policy and Social Control Advocates for stricter gun control want: –Total ban on assault weapons –Tight restrictions on permits to carry concealed weapons –Increased penalties for leaving firearms where they are easily accessible Gun Control –Policy Implications Unlawful use of guns is a global issue