Chapter 3: Constructing Deviance Book: Deviant

Transcript:Chapter 3: Constructing Deviance Book: Deviant:
Chapter 3: Constructing Deviance Book: Deviant Behavior, 12th Edition Author: Erich Goode Getting Started: Key Questions How does a society create deviance by thinking about behavior, beliefs, and physical traits in certain ways? How do certain acts, beliefs, and traits come to be considered acceptable or deplorable in some societies versus others, in certain social circles versus others? How do societies ascertain the appropriate punishments for wrongdoing? How and why do societies devise rules? What is the role of learning or socialization in social control? Who are the major agents of social control? What is Constructionism? Constructionism is a critique of the common-sense notion that societies devise rules simply to protect themselves from harmful behavior. Unlike positivists, constructionism does not stress “Why do they do it?” Constructionists Ask … How is deviance conceptualized, imagined, defined, and represented? What are some negative examples of negative reactions to what society considers wrongfulness or deviance? How do norms and laws arise, and to whom do they apply? Constructing Deviance How do audiences construct and react to what they perceive as deviance? Categorize Judge if wrongful Determine appropriate punishment, if any Formal and Informal Social Control Rules themselves are universal, and the punishment of rule violations is universal, but what the rules and the punishments are is variable. Formal – Official (rational-legal) efforts to enforce conformity. Informal – Unofficial, interpersonal interactions that convey approval or disapproval. Constructionist Perspectives Symbolic Interactionism and Labeling Theory Conflict Theory Feminist Theory Controlology Symbolic interactionism Three Premises of Symbolic Interactionism People act based on the meanings that things have for them. Meanings grow out of interaction. Meanings continually modified through interpretation. Labeling Theory Labeling theory (or the Labeling Perspective) took the emphasis away from the person who attracts a deviant label and toward the labelers of deviance. Frank Tannenbaum (1893-1969) is considered the “grandfather” of the interactionist/labeling perspective toward deviance. Author of Crime and the Community (1938), Tannenbaum was the first to stress the importance of the labeling process. Edwin Lemert (1912-1996), author Social Pathology (1951) underplayed the causality of behavior that comes to be labeled as deviant and stressed the distinction between primary and secondary deviation. Primary and Secondary Deviation Primary deviation is simply the enactment of behavior or the expression of beliefs that become the basis of judgments of deviance. Secondary deviation constitutes the adjustments someone who is labeled a deviant makes to the negative label. Howard