Chapter 7

What is deveiance?

Deviance is behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. In the United States, alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, and people with mental illness would all be classified as deviants.

Examples:

Stigma describe the labels society uses to devalue members of certain social groups (Goffman 1963; Heckert and Best 1997).

Examples: short people, redheads

-Stigmatization also affects people who look different from others in the eyes of their peers (refer to "spoil identity")

-Often people are stigmatized for deviant behaviors they may no longer engage in. (The labels “compulsive gambler,” “ex-convict,” “recovering alcoholic,” and “ex–mental patient” can stick to a person for life)

Deviance and

Social Stigma

When the Internet was first made available to the general public, no norms or regulations governed its use. Because online communication offers a high degree of anonymity, uncivil behavior—speaking harshly of others or monopolizing chat room space—quickly became common. Online bulletin boards designed to carry items of community interest became littered with commercial advertisements. Such deviant acts are beginning to provoke calls for the establishment of formal rules for online behavior. For example, policymakers have debated whether to regulate the content of websites featuring hate speech and pornography.

Deviance and Technology

Conformity and Obedience

Conformity and Obedience

Stanley Milgram

Milgram used the term conformity to mean going along with peers—individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior. In contrast, obedience is compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. Thus, a recruit entering military service will typically conform to the habits and language of other recruits and obey the orders of superior officers. Students will conform to the drinking behavior of their peers and obey the requests of campus security officers.

Informal and Formal Social Control

The sanctions that are used to encourage conformity and obedience—and to discourage violation of social norms—are carried out through both informal and formal social control. As the term implies, people use informal social control casually to enforce norms.

Examples include smiles, laughter, a raised eyebrow, and ridicule.

Formal social control is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, empolyers, military officers, and strangers of movie theathers.

Informal and Formal Social Control

Sociological Perspectives on Deviance

Victimless

Types of Crimes

victimless crimes is the willing exchange among adults of widely desired but illegal goods and services, such as prostitution, drug use

Who is the victim??