Bad blood genetic factors supernatural causes,
DEVIANCE AND
SOCIAL CONTROL
Social Control
Refers to the techniques and strategies for
preventing deviant human behavior
Sanctions
Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a
social norm
Stanley Milgram
Used the term conformity
Going along with peers; individuals of our own
status who have no special right to direct our
behavior
Obedience
Compliance with higher authorities in
hierarchal structure
Informal Social Control
Smiles, laughter, a raised eyebrow, ridicule
Formal Social Control
Carried out by authorized people
Can serve as a last resort when socialization and
informal sanctions do not bring desired
behaviors
Law
Defined as governmental social control
Ex. Prohibition against murder
Socialization
Primary source of conforming and obedient
behavior including obedience to law
Want to see ourselves as loyal, cooperative,
responsible, and respectful to others
Control Theory
Suggest that our connection to members of the
society lead us to systematically conform to
societys norms
Travis Hirschi our bonds to family members,
friends, and peers include us to follow the mores
and folkways of our society
Deviance
Behavior that violates the standards of conduct
or expectations of a group/society
Ex. Alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, mentally
ill
Involves the violation of norms which may or
may not be formalized into law
Stigma
Terms to describe the labels society uses to
devalue members of certain social group
evolutionary throwbacks to primitive ancestor; factors
that lead to deviance and especially to criminal activity
Aggression
Might lead to crime or can also lead to success in
the corporate world
FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
Deviance is a common part of human existence
with positive as well as negative consequences
for social mobility.
1. Kai Erikson
Illustrated the boundary-maintenance function
of deviance in his study of the Puritans of the
17th Century. Their changing social norms
created crime waves as people whose behavior
was previously acceptable, forced punishment
for being deviant.
a
2. Emile Durkheim
Anomie a state of normlessness that typically
occurs during a period of profound social
changes and disorder such as a time of economic
collapse
3. Merton
5 Basic Forms of Adaptation
a. Conformity to social norms.
b. Innovation
Accepts the goals of society but pursues
them with means that are regarded as
improper
c. Ritualists
Has abandoned the goals of material success
d. Retreatist
Has basically withdrawn form both the
goals and the means of society; drug addicts
e. Rebels
People attempt to create a new social
structure
They feel alienated from the dominant
means & goals and may seek a dramatically
diff. social order
Military groups
INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
1. Cultural Transmission
Humans learn how to behave in social
situations, whether properly or improperly
Sutherland first advanced the idea that an
individual undergoes the same basic
socialization process in learning conforming and
deviant act; this emphasizes that one learns
criminal behavior y interacting with others
2. Differential Association
Used to describe the process through which
exposures to attitudes favorable to criminal acts
leads to violation of rules
M o r a n o , M . A .
 3. Routine Activities Theory
Contents that criminal victimization increases
when motivated offenders and suitable targets
converge

4. Labeling Theory
Attempts to explain why certain people are
viewed as deviants, delinquents, bad kids,
losers, and criminals while others whose
behavior is similar are not seen in such harsh
terms

Howard Becker Deviant behavior is behavior

that people so label.

5. Societal-Reaction Approach
Reminds us that responses to an act, not the
behavior itself that determines deviance

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVE PERSPECTIVE

Deviance is the product of the culture we live
Social constructionists focus specifically on the
decision-making process that creates the deviant
identity

1. Conflict Theory
Points our the people with power protect their
own interest and define deviance to suit their
own needs

Richard Quinney
A def. of conduct created by authorized agents
of social control, such as legislators and law
enforcement officers, in a politically organized
society

2. Differential Justice
Differences in the way social control is exercised
over diff. groups

M o r a n o , M . A .