Lecture 1 notes - While my professor put the slides on blackboard, a good bulk of the information PDF

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While my professor put the slides on blackboard, a good bulk of the information is from his lecture and not on the slides. Every class I made sure to include all pertinent information that he said....

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

SOC 116 The Meaning and Nature of Deviance!

- Components of Culture! • values: ideals! • norms: rules enforcing values! - prescriptive: commands about what you should do! - proscriptive: commands about what you should not do! - folkways (poor taste), mores (sin), laws (crime)! • sanctions: actions upholding norms! • social statuses: position someone occupies! - ascribed, achieved, deviant statuses! - social roles: collection of rules linked to a status! - Deviance: Definitions and Approaches! • the scope of studying deviance! - moral character! - contradictory (no consensus)! - prominent in 1950s, after WWII! - interested in:! • (1) causes! • (2) nature (characteristics)! • (3) roles! • (4) sanctions (consequences)! • (5) context! • definition of deviance - (1) something violates a social norm/rule! • there must be an infraction! - (2) a person(s) to whom that violation is attached! • there must be a violator! 1

Thursday, January 25, 2018

- (3) a group that judges/evaluates the normative violation! • there must be an audience! - (4) likelihood of negative social reactions follow the violation! • there must be a sanction! • conflicting approaches! - (1) statistical! • does not include moral judgement in results! - (2) absolutist! • assumption that there are universal values that are applicable in every context! - (3) normative • not every violation of a norm is deviant (ex: emergency phone call in class)! - (4) reactivist/relativist • depends on the audience, in addition to the infraction! • deviance as an event! - act + role + place + time + victim (not always present)! - Deviance: Some Characteristics and Clarifications! • scope: the ABCs and the Three S’s of Deviance! - ABC: attitude, behaviors, conditions! - SSS: sin, sick, selected! • deviance = differentiation + evaluation - differentiation: quality (ie, diversity, subcultures); quantity (ie, stratification! - evaluation: audience (social, significant, formal) + power! • what deviance is not! - marginalization, extremity, outlier! - harm! - social problem, social pathology! • deviance = ironic! - Social Control! • Behavior/Action that:! 2

Thursday, January 25, 2018

- increases/decreases probability of a subsequent condition and;! - the subsequent condition is desirable! • processes of social control! - internal (socialization processes): self-control! - external: formal and informal sanctions! • formal social control (law): what should it target?! - address behavior that is harmful to others (how about to self?)! - address behavior that violates moral beliefs of large numbers of people (but how many?)!

- address behavior that can be fixed or prevented! • social control is ironic! - it is meant to eliminate deviance, yet it enhances it

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