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How to Define Deviance?What are Deviant Behaviors?
How to Define Deviance
Deviance or deviant behavior may refer to:
• A broad range of activities that the majority in
society may view as eccentric, dangerous,
annoying, bizarre, outlandish, gross, abhorrent, and
the like.
• It refers to behavior that is outside the range of
normal social toleration.
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Legality of marihuana
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How to Define Deviance (cont.)
The definition of deviance is relative:
• to the time
• to the place
• to the person making the evaluation
Some acts are more universally defined than others.
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Same-Sex Marriage
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How to Define Deviance (cont.)
In defining deviance, we assume cultural values –
practices and beliefs that are prized by or believed
to be of benefit to the members of a society.
No society has a single, unified set of cultural
values.
• Societies protect their values by creating norms, which
are basically rules or prescribed modes of conduct.
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Types of Norms (by Sumner)
Informal modes of social control
• Folkways
• The least serious norms; so preferred but are not
subject to serious sanctions
• e.g., Manner, etiquette, dress style
• Mores
• More serious customs that involve moral judgments
and sanctions
• e.g., lying, cheating, stealing, killing
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Types of Norms (by Sumner), cont.
Formal modes of social control
• Laws
• Codified rules of behavior
• Institutionalization of the mores
Folkways MoresLaws
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Distinction between Two “Wrong” Acts
“Wrong” because prohibited
• Acts mala prohibita
• Some acts are wrong because they are prohibited
• Not viewed as bad in themselves but are violations because the law defined them as such
• E.g., Traffic violation, Building modification without license, Gambling, Under-age drinking
• Viewed as assisting human groups in making life more predictable
• Disobedience carries little stigma
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Distinction between Two “Wrong” Acts (cont.)
“Wrong” in self
• Acts mala in se
• Some act are wrong in themselves
• Forbidden behaviors (by laws)
• Wide-scale consensus on the prohibition
• E.g., Murder, Rape, Assault, Arson
Not all deviant acts are criminal, nor are all criminal acts necessarily deviant
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Issue of Criminalization
Under-criminalization
• Referring to the fact that the criminal laws fails to
prohibit acts that many feel are mala in se
• E.g.?
Over-criminalization
• Involving the overextension of criminal law to
cover acts that are inappropriately or not
responsibly enforced by such measures.
• E.g. ?
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Social Change and the Emergence of Law
Gemeinschaft societies• Simple, communal, relatively homogeneous societies that
lack an extensive division of labor and are also characterized by normative consensus
• Controlled by informal modes: folkways and mores
Gesellschaft societies• Complex, associational, more individualistic, and
heterogeneous
• Controlled by laws
Without supports of the mores, laws will be ineffective
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Three Models of Law
Consensus model
• Law is arising from agreement among the members of society as to what constitutes wrongdoing
• Reflecting “social contract theory” Law as an institutionalization of mores
Conflict Model
• The definition of crimes is assumed to reflect the wishes of the most powerful interest groups
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Three Models of Law (cont.)
• “Criminal law is unfair” Crimes of the wealthy
people are not covered
• Law is working to preserve the status quo on
behalf of the power
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Three Models of Law (cont.)
• “Criminal law is unfair” Crimes of the wealthy
people are not covered
• Law is working to preserve the status quo on behalf of
the power
Interactionist Model
• Focusing on the process where an activity or a
situation is constructed as a crime or being illegal
• Criminality is viewed as a label or stigma attached by
a societal reaction that is subject to shifting standards
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Concluding Remarks for “Intro”
Having discussed so far:
• What are deviant behaviors? How can we define
them?
• Various perspectives viewing deviances, norms
and legal systems
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Concluding Remarks for “Intro” (cont.)
How about crime?
• Simple definition: “Violation of criminal law (defined by lawyers and politicians)”
• Criticism against criminology
• “defending the status quo”
• Sociological view of crime should not restrict its concept of criminality to those convicted of crime in a legal sense
• Must study the social structural contexts that define crimes
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