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Explore the concepts of conformity, deviance, and crime in society, including the definition of social deviants and the role of norms and sanctions. Learn about the different sociological theories that explain crime and deviant behavior.
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Conformity, Deviance, and Crime Chapter 7
Conformity, Deviance, and Crime • Homeless people, drug addicts, and gang members are individuals who: • (a) follow no codes of social behavior. • (b) are crazy. • (c) follow strict codes of social behavior. • (d) have no role in larger society.
Basic Concepts • Social Deviants • Individuals who refuse to live by the rules the majority follows. • May include violent criminals, vagrants, and down-and-outs • May also adhere to informal but strict codes of social behavior within their own groups (e.g. homeless)
Basic Concepts • Norms • Rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations. • The dos and don’ts of society • Norms reflect divisions of power and class • Whose rules/norms?
Basic Concepts • Deviance • Modes of action that do not conform to the norms or values held by most members of a group or society. • Most people sometimes transgress generally accepted rules of behavior. • Can be perpetuated by individuals or groups • Does not have to cause harm to others to be considered deviance. (cutters)
Basic Concepts • Sanction • A mode of reward or punishment that reinforces socially expected forms of behavior. • Can be positive (rewards for conformity) or negative (punishment for non-conformity) • Can be formal (applied by a specific group or agency) or informal (less organized)
Basic Concepts Courts, prisons, and police agencies are the main types of formal sanctions in modern societies. • Laws • Rules of behavior established by a political authority and backed by state power. • Crimes • Any actions that contravene the laws established by a political authority.
Basic Concepts • There isn’t always a general consensus on what is deviant behavior.
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Sociological Theories • Definition of crime depends on a society’s culture and social institutions • People decide collectively what is or is not deviant and what is or is not criminal • Powerful people and groups have greater influence over definition of crime
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • The sociological explanations for crime fall under different theoretical traditions—functionalism, symbolic interactionism, conflict, and control theory.
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Functionalist Theories • See crime and deviance resulting from structural tensions and a lack of moral regulation within society • If the aspirations of the group or individuals do not coincide with available rewards, the disparity between desires and fulfillment will be felt in the deviant motivations of some members of society.
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Functionalist Theories • Emile Durkheim • Anomie refers to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior • Crime and deviance are inevitable and necessary elements of modern society • Adaptive functions-new ideas and behaviors can create change in society • Boundary maintenance-when deviance clarifies norms and strengthens group solidarity.
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Functionalist Theories • Robert Merton • Extension of Durkheim’s Anomie • Deviance is a by-product of economic inequalities • Typology of Deviance • By showing the contrast between rising aspirations and persistent inequalities, Merton identified a sense of relative deprivation as an important element in deviant behavior.
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories Banker Drug Dealer Teachers Adult Dependent Terrorists?
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Functionalist Theories • Subcultural Explanation • Delinquent subcultures, such as gangs, replace middle-class values with norms that celebrate nonconformity and deviance because of lack of opportunity within their social system. • However, not everyone subscribes to the same definition of middle-class values
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Symbolic Interactionist Theories • study the process by which deviance is socially constructed (learned deviance) • Ask how behaviors get defined as deviant and why groups get labeled as deviant
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Interactionist Theories • Differential Association • Suggests that criminal behavior is learned through association with others who regularly engage in crime • People are more likely to learn deviance in primary social groups, especially peer groups • Contrasts with theory that psychological differences separate criminals from other people.
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Labeling Theory • Howard Becker (1963) argued that people who have the power to impose definitions of morality do most of the labeling • people become “deviant” because certain labels are attached to their behavior by political authorities and others • Primary deviation – actions that cause others to label one as a deviant (the crime) • Secondary deviation – occurs when an individual accepts the label of deviant and acts accordingly(internalizes label) • Ex. Marijuana, deviance according to neighborhood
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Conflict Theory • Draws from Marxist theory • Suggests that deviance is deliberately chosen and often political in nature • Reject idea that laws are applied evenly across populations • As inequalities increase between the ruling class and the working class, law becomes the key instrument for the powerful to maintain order • Ex. Bankers vs. petty thieves, Trump?
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Control Theory • People are socially controlled by certain types of bonds such as attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. • Views crime as the outcome of an imbalance between impulses toward criminal activity and controls that deter it • Criminals are individuals who take advantage of weaknesses in social and physical controls in order to maximize their rewards. • Target hardening and zero-tolerance
Society and Crime: Sociological Theories • Theory of Broken Windows • Suggests that any social disorder, even the appearance of a broken window, encourages more serious crime • Zimbardo study • Many social problems with theory
Research on Crime and Deviance Today • Emile Durkheim-deviance is important for an understanding of shared standards to maintain a well ordered society • The number of deviant offenders a community can afford to recognize will remain stable over time • Kai Erikson (1966) empirically tested Durkheim • Found that a community’s capacity for dealing with deviance could be approximated by counting its prison cells, hospital beds, policemen, psychiatrists, courts, and clinics
Erikson’s conclusion • the number of deviancies which come to a community's attention are limited by the kinds of equipment it uses to detect and handle them, and to that extent the rate of deviation found in a community is at least in part a function of the size and complexity of its social control apparatus • Problem-privatization of prison system
Research on Crime and Deviance Today • Reporting on Crime/Crime Statistics • Many crimes are never reported to the police • Crime is higher in urban areas • Crime has been steadily decreasing from 1990 to present • People in the inner-city are more likely to be victims of crime than those in suburbs.
Research on Crime and Deviance Today • Gender and Crime • Women less likely to be arrested or imprisoned than men (Chivalry Thesis) • Perhaps in part due to differential treatment of women in criminal justice system • “gender contracts”-using gender stereotypes to avoid criminal justice system
Research on Crime and Deviance Today • Women overwhelmingly the victims in domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape • Homosexuals experience a high incidence of violent crime and harassment • Victims of these crimes are treated with more respect than they used to be, and perpetrators of these crimes are punished more severely than they used to be.
Research on Crime and Deviance Today • Crimes committed by people in power • White-collar crime includes criminal activities carried out by those in white-collar, or professional, jobs • Corporate crime includes offenses committed by large corporations in society • Corporate crime categories: Administrative, Environmental, Financial, Labor, Manufacturing, Unfair Trade Practices
Research on Crime and Deviance Today • Cybercrime • Cybercrime is criminal activities by means of electronic networks or involving the use of information technologies • cybercrime cost American businesses almost $67 million in 2007. • Cybercrime is committed by both individuals and organizations, both rich and poor. • A lot of cybercrime is global because of the nature of the technology used to commit it.
Unanswered Questions • Are Prisons the Answer? • Prisons are expensive: $25,327 per year for a prisoner in the federal system • The U.S. has the highest per capita incarceration rate • Little evidence to suggest imprisonment deters crime
Unanswered Questions • Situational Crime Prevention • Target hardening and surveillance systems are popular approach • Does not address underlying causes of crime • Unclear if greater police presence translates into lower crime rates
Unanswered Questions • Policing • Now less about controlling crime and more about detecting and managing risks • Police are knowledge workers who process information • Requires connection and information sharing across multiple domains
Unanswered Questions • Crime and Community • Community policing is a renewed emphasis on crime prevention rather than law enforcement to reintegrate policing within the community • Shaming is a way of punishing criminal and deviant behavior based on rituals of public disapproval rather than incarceration
