Chapter 9

Deviance
Chapter Outline

I. What Is Deviance? Deviance is defined as the recognized violation of cultural norms. Crime,
on the other hand, refers to the violation of a society’s formally enacted criminal law. People
whose behaviours or actions are deemed criminal or deviant tend to be treated as outsiders.
A. Social Control. Deviance is defined by social control, which are attempts by others to
regulate people’s thoughts and behaviour.
1. The criminal justice system is the organizations—police, courts, and prison
officials—that respond to alleged violations of the law. Decisions about who
is deviant and what to do about are shaped by the social organization of a
society.

B. The Biological Context.

1. Genetic research seeks possible links between biology and crime. Some
research suggests that a combination of genetic and environmental factors
could predict crime.
2. Evaluate: Biological approaches offer little in terms of explaining crime and
deviance because such approaches cannot account for the process by which
certain behaviours are defined as deviant in the first place.

C. Personality Factors.
1. Reckless and Dinitz’s (1967) containment theory suggests that strong moral
standards and positive self-image can keep boys from becoming delinquent.
2. Evaluate: Psychological approaches offer some insight into the crimes of
people with serious mental health disorders, such as psychopaths. However,
psychological explanations are limited because most crimes are committed by
people whose psychological profiles are normal.

D. The Social Foundations of Deviance. Both deviance and conformity are shaped by
society.
1. Deviance varies according to cultural norms.
2. People become deviant as others define them that way.
3. Both norms and the way people define rule-breaking involve social power.

II. The Functions of Deviance: Structural-Functional Theories.

A. Durkheim’s Basic Insight. Emile Durkheim (1893, 1895) argued that there is nothing
abnormal about deviance.

1. From Durkheim’s perspective, deviance fulfills four important social functions:

a. Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
b. Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries.

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 c. Responding to serious deviance brings people together.
d. Deviance encourages social change.

2. Kai Erikson’s (1966) classic study of the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay

illustrates Durkheim’s theory of deviance.

B. Merton’s Strain Theory. Robert Merton (1938, 1968) argued that the type of deviance
that people engage in depends on the extent to which society provides the means for
achieving cultural goals.

1. Strain results from a disconnect between social pressure to achieve cultural

goals and the distribution of available socially-approved means to achieve those
goals. Some people experienced blocked access to goal attainment and find
deviant ways to achieve cultural goals, while others have access to socially valued
goals and means (conformity).

2. Merton’s typology of deviant behaviour includes five adaptations:

a. Conformity
b. Innovation
c. Ritualism
d. Retreatism
e. Rebellion

C. Deviant Subcultures.
1. Cloward and Ohlin (1966) extended Merton’s theory. They argued the
illegitimate or deviant means of goal attainment are also socially structured. Not
everyone has equal access to deviant means of achieving cultural goals. They
identify three different types of delinquency subcultures:
a. Criminal subculture
b. Conflict subculture
c. Retreatist subculture

2. Albert Cohen (1955) and Elijah Anderson (1994, 2002) offer important
extensions of subcultural theories that address delinquency in the context of the
school and the street.

D. Evaluate: Durkheim’s work shows how deviance is functional to society, but research
suggests that crime doesn’t always unite community members. Merton’s strain theory
shows how deviance and conformity are both related to the distribution of goals and
means in a society, but his approach has been critiqued because wealth and success might
not be a central goal for all people.

III. Labeling Deviance: Symbolic-Interaction Theories. The symbolic interactionist approach

shows how people define deviance in everyday situations.
A. Labelling Theory. One of the main contributions of the symbolic interactionist
paradigm is labelling theory, this theory suggests that deviance and conformity

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 result, not so much from what people do, but from how others respond to those
actions.
1. Primary and Secondary Deviance. Edwin Lemert (1951, 1972) differentiates
between two forms of deviance.
a. Primary deviance refers to norm violation that provokes slight
reactions from others and does not influence a person’s self-concept.
b. Secondary deviance is when an individual repeatedly violates a norm
and begins to take on a deviant identity.

2. Stigma was described by Erving Goffman (1963) as a powerfully negative

social label that radically changes a person’s self-concept and social
identity. Secondary deviance can instigate a deviant career by producing
stigma.
a. Harold Garfinkel (1956) notes that stigmatization can involve entire
communities who partake in degradation ceremonies which stigmatize a
deviant person. An example is a criminal trial.
3. Retrospective and Projective Labelling. Retrospective labelling involves
interpreting someone’s past in light of current deviance while projective
labelling refers to the idea that current stigma predicts future deviance.
4. Labeling difference as deviance: Thomas Szasz (1961) argues that mentally
ill is a label we attach to people who merely different. or who engage in
behaviour that bothers us. His work highlights the role of power in defining
deviance.

B. The Medicalization of Deviance. The medicalization of deviance is the

transformation of moral and legal issues into a medical condition.
1. The difference labels make. The medical versus moral definition of deviance
has important consequences:
a. It affects who responds to deviance.
b. It affects how people respond to deviance.
c. It affects whether the deviant is regarded as being personally competent.

C. Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory. Edwin Sutherland’s (1940) differential

association theory suggests that all deviance is learned in groups. Levels of deviance
are contingent on the extent to which we associate with people who accept or reject
conforming behaviour.

D. Hirschi’s Control Theory. Travis Hirschi’s (1969) control theory centres on the idea
that deviance or criminal behaviour is contingent on the extent to which people are
bonded to pro-social society.
1. Hirschi argues that when social controls are weak, deviance and crime are
more likely. When social controls are strong, people are less free to engage in
criminal and deviant behaviour. He identifies four types of social controls:
a. Attachment.
b. Commitment.
c. Involvement.

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 d. Belief.
E. Evaluate: Labelling theory evaluates deviance in terms of negative reactions from
others. However, there is mixed empirical support for this perspective. Research
suggests that negative labelling both encourages and discourages deviant behaviour.

IV. Deviance and Inequality: Social-Conflict Analysis.

A. Deviance and Power.
1. The norms of any society generally reflect the interests of the rich and
powerful.
2. The powerful have the resources to resist deviant labeling.
3. The laws may be inherently unfair.

B. Deviance and Capitalism: Steven Spitzer (1980) suggests that deviant labels are
chiefly applied to those who impede the operation of capitalism. In contrast,
behaviour that supports capitalism tends to be positively labelled.

C. White-Collar Crime. Edwin Sutherland (1940) defined white-collar crime in relation

to crimes committed by persons of high social position in the course of their
occupations.
1. It is usually controlled by civil rather than criminal law.
2. Most white-collar criminals are treated leniently.

D. Corporate Crime. Crime can be committed by people of high social positions who
operate as part of a corporation. Corporate crime refers to the illegal actions of a
corporation or people acting on its behalf.

E. Organized Crime. Organized crime is a business supplying illegal goods or services.

It can involve a wide range of activities including selling drugs, counterfeit passports,
and fraudulent credit cards.

F. Evaluate: Social-conflict analysis illustrate how economic power and social inequality
shape law and its application. A critique is that law also operates to the disadvantage
of corporate elites; as in the case of laws that protect worker rights.

V. Deviance, Race, and Gender: Race-Conflict and Feminist Theories.

A. Hate crimes are criminal acts carried out against a person or a person’s property by
an offender motivated by racial or other bias. A given crime is treated more harshly
by the criminal courts if it is deemed to have been motivated by hate.

B. The Feminist Perspective: Deviance and Gender. Gender is an important variable

affecting deviant labeling and other aspects of deviant behaviour. A key question is
why do women commit far less crime than men?

VI. Crime.

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 A. The Canadian Criminal Code defines crime in relation to two components: the act
itself and the criminal intent.

B. Types of crime:
1. Violent crimes are crimes against people that involve violence or the threat
of violence. An example is murder.
2. Property crimes are crimes that involve theft of property belonging to
others. An example is breaking and entering. 3. Victimless crimes are
violations of law in which there are no obvious victims. An example is
prostitution.

C. Criminal statistics show an increase in crime between the 1960s and 1990s and a
decline throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Property crime rates are much higher than
rates of violent crime but both are trending in the same direction.

D. The Street Criminal: A Profile.

1. Age. Official crime rates rise sharply during adolescence and peak in the late
teens, falling thereafter.
2. Gender. Men commit the vast majority of crime. The gender gap in offending
is greatest in the case of violent crime.
3. Social class. People of all social classes commit crime. Though wealthy and
socio-economically disadvantaged people commit different types of crimes.
4. Race and ethnicity. Aboriginal and Black people are grossly over-represented
among those incarcerated people. Criminologists evaluate this in terms of
racism that exists throughout the criminal justice system. Race also intersects
with social class position.

E. Crime: Canadian, American and Global Perspectives.

1. The U.S. crime rate is high. Two factors which may help to explain this are -
their culture’s emphasis on individual economic success and the extensive
private ownership of guns.
2. Crime rates, in particular violent crime rates have declined in Canada and the
United States.
3. With increasing globalization, multinational types of crime have increased.

VII. The Criminal Justice System

A. Police.
1. The police serve as the primary point of contact between the population and
the criminal justice system. Police exercise discretion and are more likely to
make an arrest if an alleged crime is serious. Factors that affect police
discretion include: the seriousness of the alleged crime, the alleged victim’s
wishes, the race and demeanor of the suspect, and the presence of bystanders.

B. Courts.

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 1. Courts determine guilt or innocence. In principle, courts in Canada rely on
an adversarial process involving attorneys in the presence of a judge who
ensures adherence to legal procedures.
2. Plea bargaining is a legal negotiation in which the prosecution reduces a
defendant’s charge in exchange for a guilty plea.

C. Punishment. There are four basic rationales for punishment:

1. Retribution is an act of moral vengeance by which society subjects an
offender to suffering comparable to that caused by the offense.
2. Deterrence is the attempt to discourage criminality through punishment.
a. Specific deterrence reflects an attempt to deter a specific offender.
b. General deterrence is the notion that punishing one person deters others
from committing crime.
3. Rehabilitation involves reforming the offender to prevent subsequent
offenses.
4. Societal protection is rendering an offender incapable of further offenses
temporarily through incarceration or permanently by execution.
5. Evaluate: According to Durkheim, punishment increases moral awareness
among members of society. However, high rates of punishment and
incarceration in North America co-occur with high rates of criminal
recidivism, or subsequent offences by people convicted of crimes. The death
penalty has limited value as a general deterrent and prisons offer little in
terms of rehabilitation.

D. Community-Based Corrections. Community-based corrections are correctional

programs located within society at large rather than behind prison walls. Such
programs have the advantage of reducing prison overcrowding, reducing costs, and
allowing for supervision of convicts, while eliminating the stigmatizing hardships of
prison life.

1. Probation. Probation is a policy of permitting a convicted offender to remain

in the community under conditions imposed by a court and subject to regular
supervision.
3. Parole. Parole is a policy of releasing inmates from prison to serve the
remainder of their sentences supervised within the local community.
4. Sentencing Circles. These are a form of community-based corrections that
determine a suitable punishment for Aboriginal offenders.
5. Evaluate: These are less expensive alternatives than incarceration though
empirical support for the efficacy of community-based programs is mixed.
Evaluations of probation and parole are mixed.

VIII. Chapter Boxes.

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 A. THINKING ABOUT DIVERSITY: RACE, CLASS, & GENDER BOX— Suicide
among Aboriginal People (p.230) looks closely at the social context of suicide among
Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

B. SOCIOLOGY AND THE MEDIA — Crime in High Places (p. 237) provides
examples of white-collar crime.

C. SOCIOLOGY IN FOCUS: Dangerous Masculinity: Violence and Crime in Hockey.

Reviews several scholars’ works on masculinity, violence and crime in sports.

D. SEEING OURSELVES BOX—Canada Map 9-1: Homicide Rates for Canada,

Provinces and Territories, 2010-2014 (p. 243)

E. CONTROVERSY AND DEBATE – Homicide in Toronto by Method and Region:

Surprising Findings (p. 246). Evaluates the extent of violent crime in the Toronto area.

F. SOCIOLOGY IN FOCUS BOX – Cops are People Too! Reconciling Role Constructs
with the Reality of Police Work and Explaining Police Deviance (p. 249) examines the
lived reality of police officers.

G. WINDOW ON THE WORLD BOX: Global Map 9-1─ Capital Punishment

In Global Perspective (p.250) charts the use of capital punishment globally.

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Chapter Objectives
14) Discuss limitations of official crime
1) Discuss sociological critiques of statistics.
biological and psychological explanations of
deviance. 15) Provide a profile of the “street”
criminal.
2) Discuss the structural-functional
approach to deviance. 16) Evaluate the efficacy of punishment and
imprisonment.
3) Discuss the social-conflict approach to
deviance. 17) Discuss the change in crime rates that
has occurred in Canada.
4) Discuss the symbolic interactionist
approach to deviance. 18) Identify and discuss the major
components of the Canadian criminal justice
5) Explain Merton’s concept of strain and system.
typology of deviant behaviour.
19) Identify and explain four rationales for
6) Evaluate subcultural theories of punishment.
deviance. Identify three types of deviant
subcultures.
Essay Topics
7) Outline the major dimensions of
labeling theory, including the concepts of 1) Sociological approaches to the study of
primary and secondary deviance, stigma, deviance highlight how definitions of
degradation ceremonies, and retrospective deviant behaviour change over time and
and prospective labeling. across cultures. Can you think of examples
of behaviour that used to be consider deviant
8) Discuss race-conflict and feminist and is no longer? Can you think of examples
approaches to deviance. of behaviour that is thought of as deviant
now but didn’t used to be?
9) Summarize Edwin Sutherland’s
differential association theory. 2) Discuss Durkheim’s argument that
deviance is functional. Apply his theory to
10) Describe Hirschi’s four types of social the following topics: prostitution, marijuana
control. use, same-sex marriage.

11) Distinguish between white collar, 3) Use Merton’s strain theory to account
corporate and organized crime. for illicit drug use.

12) Evaluate the relationship between race, 4) Compare and contrast structural-
racism, hate and crime. functionalist and social-conflict approaches
to the study of deviance. Which do you find
13) Distinguish between violent, property more compelling?
and victimless crimes.

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5) Evaluate the labelling perspective. Do
you think that deviant labels produce or
discourage deviant behaviour?

6) Most of us have been labelled at least

mildly deviant at some time in our lives.
Recount your own experiences with deviant Using the ASA Journal Teaching
labelling, making reference to relevant terms Sociology in Your Classroom
such as primary and secondary deviance,
stigma, and retrospective labelling. Any discussion of deviance and/or
deviant behaviour involves the concept of
7) The chapter discusses the concept of sanctions in general, and punishment in
degradation ceremonies in relation to crime particular. Joseph W. Rogers has provided
and deviance. Can you think of any positive an interesting strategy for teaching the
ceremonies that indicate a person no longer concept of punishment. Rogers’s approach
has a deviant stigma? consists of three key areas: 1) a framework
for understanding the functions of
8) Discuss the four rationales for punishment; 2) a delineation of ideal criteria
punishment. Do you think that punishment for the application of punishment; and 3) a
is useful or moral? Do you find one of the description of compliance, identification,
rationales more compelling than the others? and internalization as processes that
influence conformity.
9) In the past, biological and psychological In his article, Rogers takes the reader
explanations of criminality were more through each of these areas, step-by-step,
popular than sociological ones. Why do you laying out a very interesting procedure that
think this has been the case? you may be able to utilize in your classroom
during your discussions of deviance and
10) The sociological perspective stresses deviant behaviour.
the relativity of deviance, but most people in A second article by Denise Woodall
any society regard deviant behaviour as (2016) presents a self-report questionnaire
inherently rather than arbitrarily wrong. that can be used in the classroom to teach
What might be some positive and negative students about the problems of validity and
consequences of a more widespread crime rates. The criminal activity check-list
awareness of the sociological interpretation can be adapted to reflect violations in the
of deviance in Canadian society? Canadian Criminal Code. Woodall (2016)
asks students to complete the checklist,
indicating any of the behaviours listed that
11) Do you think that deviance and they have engaged in since age 14. The
conformity are two sides of the same coin? sheet is for their use only and should not
Can any of the theories in the chapter include their names or identifying
explain deviance and conformity? information.
Woodall suggests that the exercise
12) Discuss the relationship between gender works best when students are encouraged to
and crime. Why do you think more men be honest. An activities checklist is included
commit crime than women? How does this in the article. Students can then be asked to
relate to the concept of masculinity? reflect critically on why they think they

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weren’t caught. How might it connect to Evaluate how other characters in the film
race, class and gender? How their lives make sense of this characters behaviour. Are
might have been different had they been there examples of retrospective and
caught? Woodall suggests that the checklist projective labelling? Discuss your findings
exercise is an effective way to teach students in a two page report.
about criminalization and privilege.

Sources: Supplemental Lecture Material

An Epidemic of Cheating?
Rogers, Joseph W. "An introductory
procedure for teaching the concept of In 1987, a national survey conducted by
punishment." Teaching Sociology 20.2 UCLA’s Graduate School of Education
(1992): 135-142. found that 18 percent of a sample of college
sophomores admitted to having cheated on
Woodall, Denise. "Interrupting their exams, and that 29 percent said they
Constructions of a Criminalized Other had copied someone else’s homework, 36
through a Revised Criminal Activities percent had done both. In another study,
Checklist Classroom Exercise." Teaching Michael Moffatt distributed questionnaires
Sociology (2016): 0092055X16673137. to 232 students and found that 33 percent
had cheated on a fairly regular basis and an
additional 45 percent admitted to having
done so less frequently.
Student Exercises Economics majors and members of
fraternities or sororities were found to be
1. Access the journal Deviant Behavior especially prone to academic dishonesty.
through your university’s library service. More recently, Abedinipoor and colleagues
Pick an article from the journal and write a (2014) distributed surveys to 536
two page summary of the type of deviance undergraduate students and asked them to
evaluated and the key results. report on the incidence and rationales for
cheating. Similar to the national study
2. Use Google News to locate a recent news conducted in 1987, they also found that the
story about crime. Evaluate and explain the prevalence of cheating differed across the
crime using one of the theoretical area of study.
perspectives presented in the chapter. Popular methods included copying from
another student’s test paper, studying with
3. Violate a simple social norm in public. the help of old exams, using cheat sheets,
Examples include looking backward in an plagiarizing term papers, and even stealing
elevator, cutting in line at a store, or wearing tests in advance. Widely publicized scandals
clothes inappropriate for the context. Report at several military academies reinforce the
your findings in a paper. What kinds of suspicion that cheating is rampant on some
reactions did you get? How does this campuses. Students’ reasons for cheating
exercise illustrate the social dynamics of vary, from the time-honored preference for
deviance? partying over studying to more recent
pressures to succeed in an increasingly
4. Review a film in which a character is competitive environment.
committing an act of deviance or crime.

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 The fact that academic dishonesty seems For example, Hosney and colleagues’
to be especially common in large classes and (2014) research suggests that cheating and
at larger schools suggests that the plagiarism are very common – yet most
impersonality of the multiversity may also students report that the behaviour is
be a contributing factor. For this reason, unethical or against religious values.
Moffatt suggests that smaller classes and Overall, research suggests that motivations
more teacher-student contact, along with and methods of cheating are diverse and that
more frequent revision of tests and less cheating among university students is an
reliance on multiple choice questions, may issue that has persisted for several decades.
be effective ways of reducing the prevalence
of cheating. Sources:
Ironically, the Internet hasn't just made
research easier, but also cheating, as the Applebome, Peter. "On Internet Sites, Term
availability of student papers either for sale Paper Files Become Hot Items." The New
or even free has exploded. When Anthony York Times, August 8, 1997, pp. 1 and 30.
Krier, a reference librarian at Franklin
Pierce College searched the Net in January Gordon, Larry. “Survey By a Rutgers
1997, he found about 50 sites that offered Professor Shows Widespread Student
term papers. Just six months later, he was Cheating,” Philadelphia Inquirer
able to find about twice as many online. (November 25, 1991).
Though Krier intended the list for professors
worried about plagiarism among their Hosny, Manar, and Shameem Fatima.
students, he also received requests for the "Attitude of students towards cheating and
list from students apparently looking for plagiarism: University case study." Journal
more sites to find papers. More recent of Applied Sciences 14.8 (2014): 748.
reports suggests that deviance in the name of
academic success extends beyond cheating Sattler, Sebastian, et al. "The rationale for
on exams and assignments – some consuming cognitive enhancement drugs in
contemporary students are also using university students and teachers." PloS one
cognitive enhancing drugs (Sattler 2013). 8.7 (2013): e68821.
Which students are most likely to
cheat? And how to students feel about Wei, Tianlan, et al. "University students’
cheating? Wei and colleagues (2014) perceptions of academic cheating:
conducted a mixed-method study of Triangulating quantitative and qualitative
students’ attitudes toward cheating. Their findings." Journal of Academic Ethics 12.4
results are surprising and in some ways (2014): 287-298.
consistent with previous research from
decades past. Gender affected cheating:
male students were more likely to cheat than Discussion Questions
female students. The authors also found that
definitions of cheating among undergraduate 1) Ask students how widespread they
students were flexible. Students were more believe cheating to be on their campus. Do
likely to cheat when the environment they think that this is becoming an
facilitated it. Cheating was often a conscious increasingly serious problem? What steps
decision and justifications offered were might help to alleviate it?
ambiguous.

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 9 - 11

2) Given the sociological definition of conducted an ethnographic study of a
deviance, if well over half of the students at Norwegian remand centre. His research
a college admit to academic dishonesty, can addresses the intersection of race and
this practice still be regarded as fully masculinity in prison and the problems of
deviant? ethnic-minority fathers in prison. In
particular, he presents the ways that
3) Do you think that some students cheat incarcerated fathers attempt to narratively
even though they believe it is unethical? If present themselves as real men and good
so, how do you think students justify this fathers.
apparent contradiction? In a second application of Sykes’ classic
work, Canadian sociologist Rose
Ricciardelli (2014) has investigate how male
prisoners manage the threat of victimization
Supplemental Lecture Material – or, the deprivation of security – in prison.
Pains of Imprisonment Her work shows how imprisoned men use
both individual strategies that centre on self-
In 1958 Gresham Sykes published his dependence to deal with the threat of
classic work Society of Captives in which he victimization, as well as alliance strategies
details the various pains that prisoners that involve developing relations with others
experience as a result of their incarceration. for self-protection. Other works (Foster
He called these hardships the pains of 2012) have shown how the pains of
imprisonment. They included several imprisonment affect women prisoners and
deprivations including: deprivation of their children.
autonomy, deprivation of liberty,
deprivation of goods and services, Sources:
deprivation of (hetero)sexual relationships,
and deprivation of security. For example, Foster, Holly. "The strains of maternal
prisoners are denied goods and services that imprisonment: Importation and deprivation
they might be accustomed to in the free stressors for women and children." Journal
community (such as certain foods, a private of Criminal Justice 40.3 (2012): 221-229.
toilet etc), forced to comply with a set of Ricciardelli, Rosemary. "Coping strategies
rules and routines enforced by authority investigating how male prisoners manage
figures, share small cells with other the threat of victimization in federal
incarcerated people and are physically and prisons." The Prison Journal 94.4 (2014):
geographically isolated from their families 411-434.
in the free community. Sykes’ argument is
not a matter of whether prisoners deserve or Sykes, Gresham M. The society of captives:
don’t deserve this treatment – but rather, A study of a maximum security prison.
that prisoners experience incarceration as Princeton University Press, 2007 [1958].
painful.
Sykes’ work is a classic in prison Ugelvik, Thomas. "Paternal pains of
sociology and his ideas have sparked much imprisonment: Incarcerated fathers, ethnic
debate and extensions. For instance, Thomas minority masculinity and resistance
Ugelvik (2014) has recently considered how narratives." Punishment & Society 16.2
the pains of imprisonment are uniquely (2014): 152-168.
gendered for male prisoners. Ugelvik

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 9 - 12

 However, some people have blocked access
Discussion Questions to cultural goals and have to come up with
other, deviant or socially disapproved, ways
1) Should incarcerated parents be able to to achieve those goals.
maintain contact with their children? Should For example, a person who does not
children be allowed to stay in the prisons have access to post-secondary education as a
with their parents? means to a well-paying job might innovate
by using crime to accrue wealth. Merton
2) Research clearly shows that prison is a identified five deviant adaptations:
painful experience. Do you think that this is conformity, innovation, ritualism,
productive in terms of crime prevention? Or retreatism, and rebellion. Robert Agnew
does the pain of incarceration make (1992) later extended Merton’s original
subsequent criminal activity more likely? model to consider the role of emotions in
strain.
3) Do you think that men and women Canadian scholars Patrick Parnaby
experience prison in different ways? If so, and Vincent Sacco (2004) have considered
how? Do you think that the pains of whether fame – and not material success as
imprisonment differ according to race or Merton originally envisioned it – is the new
age? cultural goal. The authors argue that popular
culture relentlessly presents fame and
celebrity as desirable – yet access to fame is
Supplemental Lecture Material differentially distributed among people.
Fame, Strain and Crime Popular television shows such as American
Idol and Survivor, for example, offer
Robert Merton’s theory of anomie is contestants a chance at celebrity. The
discussed in detail in the chapter. Merton authors offer a compelling case that
offered a typology or model of deviant celebrity and fame have become important
behaviour that suggests that the same cultural goals. But how to people with little
structural conditions that produce access to celebrity respond to this anomic
conformity also produce various forms of strain? The author argue that some
deviant behaviour. For Merton, deviance is contemporary criminals are innovators who
structured socially. The explanation of use crime and deviance as a way to achieve
deviant behaviour lies in the relationship fame and celebrity. One example is Ted
between cultural goals and the socially Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, who
approved ways of achieving those goals to killed three people and injured twenty-three
which people have access. Merton identified more in a series of bombing attacks and then
social goals largely in terms of material sent his manifesto to a number of
wealth and success. newspapers and demanded it be published.
The problem is that everyone is The authors also link fame and celebrity to
socialized to desire this goal – but not ritualism, rebellion, and retreatism.
everyone is equal in terms of their access to More recently, Adam Lankford
these goals. Some people accept the cultural (2016) has considered the phenomena of
goal and have access to means by which fame-seeking rampage shooters. His
they can achieve that goal – for example, a analysis includes twenty-four examples of
family inheritance is a socially accepted fame-seeking rampage shooters over the
means of achieving material wealth. period of 1966-2015. Interestingly, only one

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was female (1979 San Diego school shooter Agnew, Robert. "Foundation for a general
Brenda Spencer). The results of the study strain theory of crime and delinquency."
reveal that fame-seeking rampage shooters Criminology 30.1 (1992): 47-88.
are younger than (20.4 years old on average)
other rampage shooters (who were on Parnaby, Patrick F., and Vincent F. Sacco.
average 34.5 years old). "Fame and strain: the contributions of
Compared to other rampage mertonian deviance theory to an
shooters, fame-seeking rampage shooters understanding of the relationship between
killed more people (an average of 7.2 celebrity and deviant behavior." Deviant
victims for fame-seeking rampage shooters Behavior 25.1 (2004): 1-26.
compared to 3.0 victims for other rampage
shooters) and also wounded more people Lankford, Adam. "Fame-seeking rampage
(8.0 victims compared to 3.9 respectively). shooters: initial findings and empirical
Lankford offers a number of predictions: 1) predictions." Aggression and violent
the number of fame-seeking rampage behavior 27 (2016): 122-129.
shooters will continue to grow; 2) fame- ____________________________________
seeking rampage shooters will attempt to Supplemental Lecture Material
kill more people than previous fame-seeking Race, News, Television and Crime
rampage shooters; and finally, 3) they will
innovate new ways to get attention. The chapter addresses patterns in race
These works are interesting and and criminal offending. However, another
important extensions of Merton’s theory that aspect of this relationship you might find
encourage us to think seriously about how useful to discuss with your class is the
crime will change contingent on shifting extent to which media reporting shapes
cultural goals. expectations of what victims and offenders
look like.

Richard Lundman (2003) investigated

Discussion Questions the extent to which journalists’ perceptions
of the newsworthiness of homicides were
1) Do you think that fame and celebrity have shaped by race and gender stereotypes. In
replace material success and wealth as the short, Lundman was interested in whether
primary cultural goal? Why or why not? some homicides receive more new media
coverage because of the race and gender of
2) Do you agree with Lankford’s predictions the people involved. In a review of the
that fame-seeking rampage shootings will literature, Lundman notes that what makes it
continue? What are some implications of his into the news tends to be shaped by what
argument? news-makers (journalists) consider
newsworthy.
3) What role do you think social media One thing that makes a story
plays in the relationship between fame, newsworthy is the extent to which it is
strain and crime? unusual or out of the ordinary. A second is
the tendency of news media to cover stories
Sources: that are consistent with the existing status
quo. Lundman identifies a number of
limitations on this topic: previous literature

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 9 - 14

has not adequately addressed the newsworthy?." Justice Quarterly 30.5
intersection of race and gender or made use (2013): 755-783.
of quantitative, multivariate techniques in
studying bias in news stories about Lundman, Richard J. "The newsworthiness
homicide. and selection bias in news about murder:
Lundman’s (2003) study uses Comparative and relative effects of novelty
quantitative measure to determine racial and and race and gender typifications on
or gender bias in homicide reporting. The newspaper coverage of homicide."
study reveals a number of interesting Sociological Forum. Vol. 18. No. 3. Kluwer
findings. Homicides in which there is a Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers,
Black, male perpetrator and a white, female 2003.
victim received the most coverage. This was
followed by homicides involving a black Discussion Questions
make perpetrator and a white male victim,
and next, white male – white female 1) What implications do these studies have
homicides. He suggests that homicides are for who we see as a real victim? Do you
seen as more newsworthy by journalists think that vulnerability is an expectation of
when they involve entrenched typifications femininity? Does this make stories with high
of race and gender. victim vulnerability more newsworthy when
In short, homicides that reflect the victim is female compared to male?
stereotypical beliefs about relationships
between Black and white people, men and 2) Are you surprised that the race of the
women tended to receive the most coverage. victim and perpetrator shape the extent of
More recently, Gruenewald and news coverage a story receives? Do you
colleagues (2013) evaluated the think that this is related to public
characteristics of minority homicides that perceptions of whose life matters and whose
make these incidents newsworthy. The doesn’t?
authors analyzed 866 homicide incidents
that occurred between 1977 and 2007. One
factor that increased the likelihood that a
homicide would receive media attention was
the vulnerability of the victim. Female
homicides received more media attention
than male homicides. Another finding is that _________________________________
among Hispanic victims, homicides Supplemental Lecture Material
motivated by robbery received more Canadian Scholars: Elizabeth Comack
attention that homicides motivated by
domestic dispute. Other implications are One of the ways that you can engage
discussed. Canadian undergraduate students with the
topic of crime is to feature the work of
Sources: Canadian criminologists and criminologists.
Dr. Elizabeth Comack is a Canadian
Gruenewald, Jeff, Steven M. Chermak, and sociologist and professor in the Department
Jesenia M. Pizarro. "Covering victims in the of Sociology at the University of Manitoba.
news: what makes minority homicides Comack has written extensively on women’s
gendered experiences with law-breaking, the

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 9 - 15

criminalization of women, and women’s published in 2008 on the experiences of men
gendered pathways to crime. Several of her in prison. The book presents the results of
books might be of interest for you in qualitative interviews from the standpoint of
teaching students about women and crime. men. It addresses the relationship between
crime and masculinities, the pressure on
Women in Trouble: Connecting Women’s boys to conform to hegemonic masculinities
Law-Breaking with their Histories of Abuse outside of prison and in the child welfare
(1996) is a great qualitative evaluation of and residential school systems. The second
women’s gendered experiences with crime. half of the book considers men’s lived
The book details the results of a qualitative experiences with crime as adults inside and
study with women convicted of a range of outside of prison and centres on questions of
criminal offences. The first chapter of the masculinities and doing gender.
book introduces the notion of understanding
women’s crime from the standpoint of These are just three suggestions for
women themselves and introduces abuse as additional readings from a long list of great
an important factor in understanding contributions by Canadian sociologist
women’s relationships to law-breaking. The Elizabeth Comack.
second chapter draws on qualitative
interviews that illustrate women’s Sources:
experiences with abuse in childhood and
adults. Here, Comack discusses abusive Comack, Elizabeth. Women in trouble:
experiences in relation to survival and Connecting women's law violations to their
resistance. Next, Comack charts the histories of abuse. Halifax: Fernwood
intersection of histories of abuse and law- Publishing, 1996.
breaking activity among women and
whether or not what she calls the prisoning Comack, Elizabeth, and Gillian Balfour. The
of women helps women to cope with their power to criminalize: Violence, inequality,
abuse experiences. and the law. Fernwood Pub., 2004.

The Power to Criminalize is a second great Comack, Elizabeth. Out there/in here:
book the Elizabeth Comack co-authored Masculinity, violence, and prisoning.
with Gillian Balfour, who is a professor in Fernwood Pub., 2008.
the Department of Sociology at Trent
University in Ontario. This book critiques Discussion Questions/Exercises
the legal process as a neutral, objective,
application of law to facts. Instead, the book 1) Do you think that people who have been
highlights criminalization as a process convicted of a crime share certain
relevant to gender, race and class. The book characteristics in common? Are there
explores the legal process in relation to commonalities in the histories of men and
cultural and social expectations of women in conflict with the law?
masculinity and femininity, race and class.
The book pays special attention to the role 2) Pick a topic related to crime and
of lawyers. deviance. Investigate Canadian scholars who
conduct research on your topic and generate
Out There, In Here: Masculinity, Violence a list of their specific contributions to the
and Prisoning (2008) is a book that Comack study of crime and deviance.

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 9 - 16