Deviance theory.pptlknkn

7/29/2019 Deviance theory.pptlknkn

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Ericksons Functionalist Perspective

Deviance helps maintain boundaries of

acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

Deviance bolsters cohesion and solidarity of

a community.

Deviance promotes the stability of social

life.

Deviance provides employment.


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Erickson Continued.

A deviant is someone whose actions/identities

have moved outside the margins of the group-

when society holds him/her accountable for it, itreinforces boundaries.

Every time society reacts to deviance it sharpens

its authority and power.

Agencies designed to curtail deviance often

perpetuate it.


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Durkheim

Crime and deviance are normal, providedthey dont exceed a certain level.

Deviance and Crime free societies areimpossible to attain (see example with druguse and legalization debate).

The authority the moral conscience enjoysmust not be excessive. Individualoriginality must be able to express itself.


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Durkheim and Anomie

Anomie= absence of social ties that bind people to society,

state of where norms about good and bad have little

salience in peoples lives. Outcome of advanced

Capitalism and ideology of individualism (latter 20th

century U.S.)

Who are you responsible to? Example of deviance and

responsibility.

Weakening of social ties destabilizes society and leads to chaos. Collective good versus individual self-interest? Did Durkheim

believe functional societys had to chose between these two things

or did he advocate balance between them? Why?


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Interactionism and Labeling

Theory (cont.) As Becker relates, "Social groups create

deviance [crime] by making the rules whose

infraction constitutes deviance [crime], andby applying those rules to particular people

and labeling them as outsiders


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Theory (cont.)

Note that labeling theorists attempt to

explain only what Lemert called "secondarydeviance

Secondary deviance = the commission of

crime after the first criminal act, with the

acceptance of a criminal label


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Theory (cont.) Secondary deviance begins with an initial

criminal act, or what Lemert called

"primary deviance"

The causes of initial criminal acts are

unspecified


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Theory (cont.) If society, especially official agents of the

state, reacts negatively to an initial criminal

act, the offender will likely be stigmatized,or negatively labeled


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Theory (cont.) It is possible, even likely, that an initial

criminal act will not be reacted to at all, or

that the offender will not accept orinternalize the negative label


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Theory (cont.) However, if the negative label is

successfully applied to the offender, the

label may produce a self-fulfilling prophecyin which the offender's self-image is defined

by the label


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Theory (cont.) Secondary deviance is the prophecy

fulfilled

The crime prevention implication of

labeling theory is simply not to label or to

employ "radical nonintervention

This might be accomplished by:


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Theory (cont.) Decriminalization (the elimination of many

behaviors from the scope of the criminal

law)

Diversion (removing offenders from

involvement in the criminal justice process)


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Theory (cont.) Greater due process protections (replacing

discretion with the rule of law

Deinstitutionalization (a policy of reducing

jail and prison populations and

construction)


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Theory (cont.) Once a person is labeled and stereotyped as

"criminal," he or she probably will be

shunned by law-abiding society, havedifficulty finding a good job, lose some

civil rights (if convicted of a felony), etc.


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Theory (cont.) The criminal (and delinquent) label is

conferred by all agencies of criminal

justice-- police, courts, and corrections--aswell as the media, the schools, churches,

and other social institutions


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Conflict Theory

Deviance is caused by economic and political

forces in society.

Criminal law and the criminal justice system are

viewed as vehicles for controlling the poormembers of society.

The criminal justice system serves the rich and

powerful. Deviance and Crime are defined in ways that meet

the needs of those who control society.

Unit 2 - 16


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Conflict Theory (cont.)

Crime is a function of the extent of conflict

generated by stratification,hierarchicalrelationships, power differentials, or theability of some groups to dominate other

groups in that society


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Crime, in short, is caused by relative

powerlessness

Conflict theory has two principal crimeprevention implications:


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On the one hand, dominant groups could

cede some of their power to subordinate

groups, making subordinate groups morepowerful and reducing conflict


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Increasing equality in that way might be

accomplished by redistributing wealth

through a more progressive taxationscheme, for example


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On the other hand, dominant group

members could become more effective

rulers and subordinate group membersbetter subjects


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To do so, dominant groups would have to

do a better job of convincing subordinate

groups that the current inequitabledistribution of power in society is legitimate

and in their mutual interests


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Members of subordinate groups, in turn,

must either believe it or resign themselves

to their inferior status


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Either way, dominant group members hope

that over time subordinate group members

will learn to follow those who dominatethem

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Deviance theory.pptlknkn