Chapter 7

Deviance and Crime

Defining Deviance

Behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms.

Behavior that departs significantly from social expectations.

Sociological Definition of Deviance

Stresses social context, not individual behavior.

Recognizes that not all behaviors are judged similarly by all groups.

Recognizes that established rules and norms are socially created.

Sociological Perspectives of Deviance

Functionalism Deviance creates social cohesion.

Symbolic Interaction Deviance is learned behavior.

Conflict Theory Dominant classes control the definition of deviance.

Sociological Perspectives of Deviance

Functionalism Deviance results from structural strains in society.

Symbolic Interaction Deviance results from social labeling.

Conflict Theory Deviance results from inequality in society.

Sociological Perspectives of Deviance

Functionalism Occurs when attachment to social bonds is

diminished

Symbolic Interaction Those with the power to assign deviant labels

create deviance.

Conflict Theory Elite deviance goes largely unpunished.

Defining Deviance

This photo of a woman being executed by the Taliban illustrates the extreme sanctions that can be brought against those defined as deviant by a powerful group.

This photo mobilized world condemnation of the Taliban regime for its treatment of women.

Smoking and Deviance

Once considered “cool”, smokers are now considered to be deviants, scorned as polluters, and often banished to outside

office buildings, as here.

Durkheim: Three Types of Suicide

1. Anomic - disintegrating forces in society make an individual feel lost and alone.

2. Altruistic - for the sake of a higher cause.

3. Egoistic - occurs when people feel totally detached from society.

The Navajo

Strong ties among the Navajo produce social integration, resulting in the fact that the Navajo have one of the lowest suicide rates of any group in the United States, and also lowest among other Native American tribal groups.

Merton’s Structural Strain Theory

Culture establishes goals for people.

Social structures provide, or fail to provide, the means for people to achieve those goals.

Imbalance between cultural goals and structurally available means can compel individuals into deviant behavior.

Merton’s Structural Strain Theory

Cultural goals

accepted?

Institutionalized

means toward

goal available?

Conformity Yes Yes

Innovative deviance Yes No

Ritualistic deviance No Yes

Merton’s Structural Strain Theory

Cultural goals

accepted?

Institutionalized

means toward

goal available?

Retreatism No No

Rebellion No (old goals)

Yes (new goals)

No (old means)

Yes (new means)

Social Control Agents

From the point of view of conflict theory, social control agents play a significant role in defining deviant behavior.

Social Control Theory: Hirschi

Travis Hirschi developed social control theory to explain the occurrence of deviance.

According to social control theory, deviance occurs when a person’s (or group’s) attachment to social bonds is weakened.

Most of the time people internalize social norms because of their attachments to others.

When that bond is broken, deviance occurs.

Symbolic Interaction Theories

Differential Association

Deviant behavior is learned through interaction with others.

People pass on deviant expectations through their social groups and networks. Labeling Theory

Responses of others is most significant in deviance.

A person may become deviant because of a label, even if he/she did not engage in deviant

behavior.

Deviant Communities

Some deviance develops in deviant communities, such as the “skinheads” shown here marching in a Ku Klux Klan rally protesting the Martin Luther King,Jr. holiday.

Such right-wing extremist groups have become more common in recent years.

Social Stigmas

A stigma is an attribute that is socially devalued and discredited.

People with stigmas are defined in terms of their presumed deviance.

In hiding their stigma, they isolate themselves from communities where they can find support.

Substance Abuse

Patterns of use vary by many factors such as age, gender, and race:

◦ People under age 25 are more likely to use marijuana and cocaine and binge drink.

◦ Men are more likely than women to be problem drinkers and drug abusers.

◦ African Americans and Hispanics are less likely to drink than Whites and are far less likely to be binge drinkers.

Use of Selected Substances by High School Seniors

Crime and Deviance

Crime is a type of deviant behavior, but not all deviant behavior would be called crime.

Deviance becomes crime when it is designated by the institutions of society as violating such a law or laws.

Criminology is the study of crime from a scientific perspective.

Sociological Theories of Crime

Functionalist Crime is learned through social interaction.

Symbolic Interaction Societies need a certain level of crime to clarify norms.

Conflict Theory The lower the social class, the more the individual is

forced into criminality.

Sociological Theories of Crime

Functionalist Crime results from social structural strains within

society.

Symbolic Interaction Labeling criminals tends to reinforce rather than deter

crime.

Conflict Theory Inequalities in society tends to produce criminal activity.

Sociological Theories of Crime

Functionalist Crime may be functional to society, thus difficult to

eradicate.

Symbolic Interaction Institutions with the power to label produce rather than

lessen crime.

Conflict Theory Reducing social inequalities will reduce crime.

Violent Crime in the United States

Classifications of Crimes

Personal crimes - murder, aggravated assault, rape, robbery

Property crimes - burglary, larceny, auto theft, arson

Victimless crimes - gambling, illegal drug use, prostitution

Hate crimes - assaults and other malicious acts motivated by bias

White-collar or Elite Crime

Examples: embezzlement, insider trading, tax evasion

In terms of dollars, white-collar crime is much more consequential for society than street crimes

Andrew S. “Fast Andy” Fastow, former chief financial officer of the Enron corporation, is being taken to court by FBI agents.

Martha Stewart the media/household tycoon, spent five months in prison for stock fraud.

Organized Crime

Crime committed by organized groups, typically involving the provision of illegal goods and services to others.

Organized crime syndicates include any group that exercises control over large illegal enterprises, such as the drug trade, illegal gambling, prostitution or weapons smuggling.

Corporate Crime and Deviance

Occurs in the context of a formal organization or bureaucracy and is sanctioned by the norms and operating principles of the organization.

Can occur within any of organization: corporate, educational, governmental, or religious.

Example: Sexual assault of youths by Catholic priests, and the attempted cover-ups by assigning offending priests to parishes in different towns or states.

Race, Class, Sex and Crime

Certain groups are more likely than others to commit crime given that crime is linked to patterns of inequality in society.

Sociologist Ramiro Martinez Jr. explored the connection between rates of violence in Latino communities and the degree of inequality in 111 U.S. cities.

His research shows a clear link between likelihood of lethal violence and socioeconomic conditions for Latinos in these different cities.

Race and Crime

Minorities constitute 25% of the population of the United States but are more than 33% of the people arrested for property crimes and almost 50% of the people arrested for violent crimes.

Sociological research has shown that police discretion is strongly influenced by class

and race judgments.

Victimization by Crime: A Class

Phenomenon

Arrests by Race

Crime White Black American Indian

Asian/

Pacific

Islander

Murder 48.7 48.8 1.0 1.5

Forcible Rape 63.7 34.1 1.1 1.1

Robbery 44.2 53.9 0.6 1.2

Forgery 68.0 30.0 0.6 1.4

Incarceration Rates for Selected Nations

State and Federal Prison Population, 1980–2004

Terrorism

A crime that violates international and domestic laws.

Terrorism, whether domestic or international, is best understood not only as individual insanity, but also as a politically, economically, and socially oriented form of violence.

Threats of terrorism, such as bioterrorism, have resulted in increased security and countermeasures, particularly in urban areas