1. Deviance, Crime,
and Social Control
Chapter 7
Based on OpenStax
Introduction to Sociology 2e

2.  There are no absolute answers about deviance
 What people agree is deviant differs in various
societies and subcultures, and it may change over
time.
 Some things that were deviant are now widely
accepted.
 Change takes time and is accompanied by significant
disagreement.
Introduction

3. Deviance and
Control

4.  Deviance is a violation of established contextual,
cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores, or
codified law.
 It can be minor (nose picking) or major (murder)
Deviance

5.  Deviance has a negative connotation, BUT
 Deviance is not necessarily bad
 It can foster social change
Deviance

6.  Labeling of something as deviant depends on many
factors
– location
– audience
– who commits the act
– context
 Notions of deviance vary across culture and time
 Whether something is deviant depends on society's
response to the act
Deviance

7.  Social control is the regulation and enforcement of
norms.
 The goal of social control is to maintain social order -
an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which
society's members base their daily lives.
 The means of enforcing the rules are known as
sanctions.
Social Control

8.  Sanctions can be positive - rewards given for
conforming to norms
 Sanctions can be negative - punishments for violating
norms.
 Sanctions can be formal or informal
 Informal sanctions - emerge in face-to-face social
interactions.
 Formal sanctions - ways to officially recognize and
enforce norm violations.
Social Control

9. Theoretical
Perspectives on
Deviance

10.  Functionalists are concerned with the way different
elements of a society contribute to the
whole. Deviance is a key component to a functioning
society.
Functionalism

11.  Emile Durkheim:
– The Essential Nature of Deviance
– Durkheim argued that deviance is a necessary part of a
successful society.
– Deviance
• challenges societies norms - causes social change
• reaffirms currently held norms
• teachers others what the norms are
Functionalism

12.  Robert Merton - Strain Theory
– Deviance is an inherent part of a functioning society.
– Strain Theory - socially accepted goals play a part in
determining whether a person conforms or deviates.
• Societal Goals - we are encouraged to achieve the
American Dream of financial success
• Institutional Means - The proper way to achieve a societal
goal
Functionism

13.  Robert Merton – Strain Theory
– Modes of Adaptation:
• Conformity
• Innovation
• Ritualism
• Retreatism
• Rebellion
Functionism

14.  Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay - Cultural Deviance
Theory
– Cultural Deviance Theory - conformity to the prevailing
cultural norms of lower-class society causes crime.
– Socioeconomic status correlated to race and ethnicity
results in higher crime rate.
– The mix of cultures and values created a smaller society
with different ideas of deviance, and those ideas were
transferred from generation to generation.
Functionism

15.  Sampson & Groves –
– Poverty, ethnic diversity, and family disruption in given
localities had a strong positive correlation with social
disorganization.
– Social disorganization is associated with high rates of
crime and delinquency - or deviance
Functionism

16.  Conflict theory looks to social and economic factors as
the cause of crime and deviance
Conflict Theory

17.  Karl Marx: An Unequal System
– Conflict theory was greatly influenced by Karl Marx.
– Society falls into two groups:
– The wealthy who control the means of production - the
bourgeois
– The workers who depend on the bourgeois for survival -
the proletariat
– The bourgeois control government, laws, and authority
agencies to maintain and expand their positions.
Conflict Theory

18.  C. Wright Mills: The Power Elite
– The Power Elite - a small group of wealthy and influential
people at the top of society who hold the power and
resources.
– The rules of society are stacked in favor of a privileged
few who manipulate them to stay on top.
– They decide what is criminal and what is not.
Conflict Theory

19.  Crime and Social Class
– Crimes committed by the wealthy and powerful remain an
under-punished and costly problem within society.
– Those who hold power are the ones who make the laws.
– The powerful make laws that benefit themselves, and the
powerless suffer the consequences.
Conflict Theory

20.  Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical approach used
to explain how societies come to view behaviors as
deviant or conventional
Symbolic Interactionism

21.  Labeling Theory
– Examines the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another
person by members of society
– What is considered deviant is determined by the
reactions of others to behaviors
Symbolic Interactionism

22.  Lemert
– Primary Deviance - a violation of norms that does not
result in any long-term effects on the individual's self-
image or interactions with others.
– Secondary Deviance - occurs when a person's self
concept and behavior begin to change after his or her
actions are labeled as deviant by members of society.
– Master Status - a label that describes the chief
characteristic of an individual. Secondary deviance may
become one's master status.
Symbolic Interactionism

23.  Edwin Sutherland: Differential Association
– Individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to
them who provide models of and opportunities for
deviance.
– Deviance is a result of differential socialization
processes.
– May explain why crime is multigenerational
Symbolic Interactionism

24.  Travis Hirschi: Control Theory
– Social control is directly affected by the strength of social
bonds and the deviance results from a feeling of
disconnection from society.
– Four types of social bonds that connect people to society:
• Attachment to others
• Commitment to investments we make in the community
• Involvement or participation in socially legitimate activities
• Belief in common values in society
Symbolic Interactionism

25. Crime and the Law

26.  Crime - is a behavior that violates official law and is
punishable through formal sanctions.
– There is a difference between what is deviant and what is
criminal.
 Legal codes - maintain formal social control through
laws, which are rules adopted and enforced by a
political authority.
Introduction

27.  Violent crime
 Nonviolent crimes
 Street crime
 Corporate crime
 Victimless crime
 Hate crimes
Types of Crimes

28.  FBI's UCR - the FBI gathers crime data from law
enforcement agencies to create the Uniform Crime
Reports which is published annually. These reflect
only crimes known to the police.
Crime Statistics

29.  BJS's NCVS -
 The Bureau of Justice Statistics surveys 160,000
people in the U.S. about crimes they've experienced.
 These are self-report studies - data gathered using
voluntary response methods.
 The NCVS measures crime victimization, sometimes
unreported, and includes more detail than the UCR.
 Public Perception of Crime
 The UCR and NCVS can't measure all crimes, but
general trends can be determined.
Crime Statistics

30.  Crime rates have been consistently falling since the
early 1990s.
 Public perception is that crime rates are increasing
 Public perception is affected by the media and results
in increased fear of crime
Crime Statistics

31.  Definition - an organization that exists to enforce a
legal code.
The U.S. Criminal
Justice System

32.  The police are a civil force in charge of enforcing laws
and public order
 Exist at the federal, state, and local level
– Federal: enforce federal law - FBI, ATF, DHS, etc.
– State - enforce statewide laws - highway patrol
– Local - limited jurisdiction
Police

33.  Definition - system that has the authority to make
decisions based on law.
 Divided into federal, state, and local courts
– Federal courts - deal with federal matters. Judges are
selected by the President with the consent of
Congress. There are federal trial, appellate, and the
Supreme Court
– State courts - appellate and courts of last resort in the
state
– Local courts - trial courts that handle criminal and civil
cases
Courts

34.  Definition - charged with supervisiong individuals who
have been arrested, convicted, and sentenced for a
criminal offense.
 Incarceration rates are increasing, and the US has the
highest incarceration rate in the world.
Corrections

35.  Jail - temporary confinement - for those awaiting trial
and sentenced to less than a year
 Prison - houses those sentenced to longer than a year.
 Parole - conditional release from a prison or jail under
supervision
 Probation - supervised time as an alternative to prison
Corrections