Announcements:

• Students must bring in a blue book either Wednesday or Friday – BEFORE the day of the exam. They must give them to the TA with their name, social security number, section number, etc. filled out.
• THON participants need written documentation so they can take the make up exam which will take place in the evening hours of February 23.
• Different exams will be given for the different sections.

1. Deviance

1. Definition: Deviance is a behavior that violates significant societal norms, conduct, and expectations, and it deeply offends a sizable segment of society, which condemns and punishes the deviant act or person.
2. The Nature of Deviance

1. Relative – Deviance varies according to cultural norms, time, place, and situation. Example: It is accepted that people urinate in the bathroom, but not in public. Example: In Texas, open containers of alcohol are allowed in cars, while in Pennsylvania it is against the law. Example: Abortion is a norm in China, but a deviant act to pro-life people in the US.
2. Perception – People have different ideas as to what deviance is. Example: If one steals shampoo from a hotel, some may think it is normal, others may think it is a deviant act.
3. Social Definition – Society norms define deviance – Deviance is in the eye of the beholder. Example: A Chinese girl was released from a Chinese university because she got pregnant.
4. Related to Power – People in power decide what acts are considered to be deviant. Marxist ideology – rulemaking, rule-breaking are related to power. Example: S & L scandal – the people involved in the scandal were people in power so they chose not to define their own actions as deviant.

1. Theories on Deviance

1. Structural Strain Theory – crime and deviance are the result of societal strain and pressures. Looks at society as the reason people deviate.

1. Durkheim – Deviance is a consequence of anomie (a state in which social norms do not exist, are not clear). Social norms are confusing so people do not know what to do. Deviance is natural in any society. There are 4 basic functions of deviance in society:

1. Reaffirms cultural values – Example: Clinton Sex Scandal. Example: When a child molester is arrested in a community, it reaffirms that kind of behavior will not be tolerated.
2. Clarifies moral boundaries – Example: Penn State University punishes those who plagiarize.
3. Promotes Social Unity – Example: a trucker rapes a female student and the university is so enraged that they are united.
4. Social Changes – Example: People smoke pot despite its illegality to try and get marijuana used for medicinal purposes. Example: Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus sparking large amounts of social change.

1. Robert Merton said that deviance is the outcome of imbalance in societal system. All societies have cultural goals and means gained by legitimate means (education, employment). When access to legitimate means are blocked, people innovate.

1. Robert Merton’s Typology of Deviance
2. Conformist – most people – say YES to Cultural goals and YES to Cultural means
3. Innovator – drug dealers, burglars – say YES to Cultural goals and NO to Cultural means. Positive Innovators – Very bright people who do not need a college education to change society, an example being Bill Gates.
4. Ritualist – not materialistic, very modest – say NO to Cultural goals and YES to Cultural means.
5. Retreatist – junkies, losers – says NO to Cultural goals and NO to Cultural means.
6. Rebels – Say NO to both Cultural goals and Cultural means but they replace them with their own ideal goals. The goal of wealth is replaced with the goal of equality. Examples: Marx, Religious people, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, David Koresh

1. Cultural Transmission Theory – linked to Symbolic Interactionism

1. Conformity to norms and deviance from norms is learned through interaction with others.
2. Edwin Sutherland’s Theory of Differential Association – Deviance learned from interaction – hanging out with the bad crowd, learning the deviant ways.
3. Delinquent Subculture – Learn the deviant knowledge, skills, resources, etc… the older generations pass it on to the younger generations.

1. Social Control Theory – Deviance is the outcome of failure of social control. Travis Hirschi lists 4 reasons people choose NOT to deviate:

1. Attachment to family
2. Commitments
3. Involvement – parents keep kids busy when they are young. "Idle minds are the Devil’s workshop"
4. Belief – instilled moral values

1. Labeling Theory (will be explained later)