SOC 224 - Midterm #2 - Summary Deviance, Conformity, and Social Control in Canada PDF

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Midterm #2 Study Guide. Covers Chapters 4-6...

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Sociology Midterm #2 Chapter 4: The Role of the Media - Media: any form of communication that targets a mass audience in print or electronic format o Books, magazines, radio, cinema, TV, recordings, websites, blogs, apps o “the single greatest pedagogical force of our time” – Jackson Katz - greatest amount of time is spent watching televisions, followed by radio, followed by internet o 2009 study, decline in some (radio) since - average Canadian spends 45.6 hours per month online - Stigmatized others: presented as threats to the way of life of decent people o People on social assistance, single mothers, those who engage in moderately deviant behaviour - Absolute others: inherently evil and include those who commit exception crimes o Suicide bombers, pedophiles, murderers - “Whoever controls the media controls the mind” – Jim Morrison - framing: the way the media select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communication text in such a way as to promote a particular problem, definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation o conflict frame: emphasizes conflicts between nations, institutions, groups, or individuals o human interest frame: focuses on human life stories and emotions o economic consequence frame: highlights material costs and benefits for countries, regions, groups, or individuals - ads may frame gender by using: o feminine touch: caressing, stroking (an object or themselves) o ritualization of subordination: lying on a bed, off balance, beneath men o infantilization: little girl poses such as peeking out from behind an object o licensed withdrawal: not paying attention, eyes, glazed over - convergence: media companies owning multiple forms of media - conglomeration: the trend toward media companies merging, or some companies purchasing others to form larger multinational companies - Canada’s media giants: Bell Canada, Woodbridge, Rogers, Quebecor, Shaw, Torstar, Postmedia - Media-deviance nexus: the types of relationships that can exist between the media and deviance o 1. Media as the cause of deviance  ex: violence o 2. The media as socially constructing deviance and normality o 3. The media as a tool used to commit acts of deviance  ex: cybercrime, cyberbullying o 4. The media as a site where the deviance dance is played out

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 a site of debate, struggle, social control, and resistance o 5. The media as deviantized itself and subjected to measure of control  ex: jazz cyberdeviance: deviant acts that are committed using the computer hackers: people who access computer systems without authorization and sometimes use that access for malicious purposes o cyberterrorism: most malicious form of hacking, uses viruses and malware to attack societal infrastructure o chaining: when an individual can only join the network after being introduced and recommended by an existing member digital piracy: the illegal downloading of music, software, and video cyberbullying: the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group that is intended to harm others o www.amandatoddlegacy.org o riot2011.vpd.ca It is important for sociologist to study the media because of the amount of time we spend engaged with it and the impact it has (both on individuals and society) Most time online is spent on social networking sites, although the amount of time spent watching videos online is rapidly increasing. The media has an impact on individuals and society in that it serves as one of the primary definers of boundaries between groups and the communities within, identifies social problems, and shapes public debate Administrative approaches to media studies focus on the effect of media messages on individuals. Findings from this type of research can be of value to media itself, such as in creating more effective advertisements. Findings can also be of value to groups who are concerned about the potential role played by the media in creating social problems, such as violence. Through framing, the media constructs a reality for us to see. The way it frames issues, events, and identities has an impact on individuals, interpersonal interactions, institutions, and larger cultural norms, values, and beliefs. Critical scholars claim that framing is influenced, in part, by the structure of media ownership, which is increasingly characterized by convergence and concentration. The media-deviance nexus is characterized by different types of relationships

Chapter 5: “Deviant” and “Normal” Sexuality - Nadleeh: refers to both masculine female-bodied and feminine male-bodied members of the (Navajo) community - Berdache: “male prostitute,” biological males who assumed female roles, including sexual relationships with men - Les femmes du pays: the aboriginal women with whom early European settlers formed relationships - Social purity or sex hygiene movements: equated social purity with sexual purity, sexuality as the heart of morality - Consent: what some now use to define “normal sex”

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Nature of the sexual partner: the historical and cross-cultural variations play in determining sexual deviance Exhibitionists: people who enjoy having sex in places where others might see them McDonalization of society: capitalism is increasingly characterized by rationalization o Consists of four components: efficiency, predictability, control, and calculability o The characteristics that govern all industries Genre definitions: proposes that products are created for the purposes of arousing the consumer constitutes “pornography” Labelling definitions: focus on community standards, anything the community deems as being obscene Perceptions of “deviant” and “normal” sexuality vary cross-culturally and historically, but also vary among different social groups in a particular culture at a particular time in history Traditional Aboriginal societies had very different sexual cultures than those of the colonizing Europeans. With European colonization, the sexual cultures of Aboriginal societies were subjected to significant measure of social control. In North American from the 17th century to the 20th century, meanings of sexuality shifted from focusing on reproductive ideals, to intimacy in marriage, to personal fulfillment; agents of social control changed during this time as well. During all eras, hierarchies of race, class, and gender influenced the complexities of sexual culture In North America today, although sexual freedom has increased considerably since previous eras, judgements of “deviant” and “normal” sexuality contribute to be made. Criteria we use to make these judgements include consent, nature of the sexual partner, nature of the sexual act, and frequency. In any given culture at any given time, there is a multiplicity of perceptions, reactions, and social control measures surrounding sexuality In contemporary society, the deviance dance is particularly evident when considering issues related to sex work, such as exotic dancing, pornography, and prostitution

Chapter 6: The Troubling and Troubled World of Youth - Troubling youth: youth who are perceived as having lifestyles built around deviance o Young offenders, gang members, street youth - Troubled youth: perceived as being first and foremost threats to themselves - Youth: transitional time in life between childhood and maturity - Moral panics: exaggerated and sensationalized concerns of a particular phenomenon o Heightened concern, hostility toward the offending group, a certain level of consensus that there is a real threat, disproportionality, volatility - Parenting style: incorporates several characteristics, including supervision, parental control, and emotional ties between parent and child

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o The connection between parents and child’s deviance Ethnographic research: researchers embedding themselves in gangs for extended periods of time, interviewing gang members and observing their daily activities Material incentives: one of the reasons people may join gangs o an environment that increases the chances of making money Recreation: another reason for gang membership o Entertainment and a social life As well as a Place of refuge and camouflage, physical protection, time to resist, commitment to community (in neighborhoods where gangs have existed for years) Gang: any denotable group (of adolescents or young adults) who are generally perceived as a distinct aggregation by others in the neighborhood or, recognize themselves as a denotable group, or have been involved in a sufficient number of (illegal) incidents “gang problem”: the social construction and discussions of media representations of gangs and research from a particular perspective o Canadian newspapers racialize the gang problem Parens patriae: “parent of the country,” meaning that the state would act in the best interests of children under the age of 16 if it became clear that their own parents were unwilling or unable to Young offenders: an offending youth being seen as a criminal rather than a child gone astray Binge drinking: 5 drinks (4 for females) in one sitting Preventative paradox: the growing efforts to help “problem” drinkers on campus have not actually reduced the extent of harm caused by alcohol consumption o most of the harm comes from the larger number of low to moderate risk drinkers rather the smaller number of high risk drinkers At-risk youth: the warning that risks are everywhere and can be identified Sturm and drang: (storm and stress) of adolescence o Mimics the evolution of man Youth and deviance seem to go hand in hand in Canadian culture. Of particular concern are “troubling” and “troubled” youth, and “at risk” youth. However, to some extent, all youth are perceived as deviant The “troubling” youth who receive the greatest attention are those involved in crime and those who are members of gangs. However, a gap exists between popular images of youth crime and gangs and their actual prevalence of nature. The media particularly contributes to a moral panic, from which various groups potentially benefit Concerns over those youths who are involved in crime and gangs have stimulated a wealth of research. Research has highlights the role of family factors in explaining youth crime and a complex set of individual, family, educational, and community factors in explaining the emergence of and involvement with gangs. The social control of gangs is intertwined with the control of youth crime more generally, which has shown considerable variation over the past century

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“Troubled” youth, who are of particular concern in contemporary society, include those who use various substances. Although almost all youth have used alcohol by the time they graduate from high school, fewer youth regularly use tobacco, marijuana, or other drugs. Over the past decade, binge drinking on university campuses has drawn widespread attention, resulting in a wide range of social control efforts The concept of “at-risk youth” is a recent formulation that integrates various types of “troubling” and “troubled” youth. The science of risk attempts to identify those youths who are at greater risk of negative outcomes in their lives and then target risk management efforts at those youths. To some degree, all youth are perceived as being deviant and in need of social control. Adolescence is seen as an inherently deviant time in the life cycle, creating a “generation gap” between teenage and adult generations. Although the generation gap may be more of an exaggeration than a reality, some researchers suggest that current social patterns open the door for a real generation gap to emerge...