Lecture Eleven

Deviance (Or: What is ‘normal’?
)
Lecture #11
University of Hong Kong SOCI1004, Dr. Ioana Sendroiu

Plan for today
[Read for this week: ASE Deviance, Crime, and Violence; DC ch 6]
> Norms and deviance

> Explanations of deviance
> Social control
—> Effects of social control
—> Forrest Stuart
Norms and deviance
Have you ever:
Driven faster than the posted speed limit?
Ditched class in high school? (Or university…)
Gotten caught picking your nose in public?
Gotten body piercings that your parents didn’t want?
Talked in class?
What is a norm?
• Norms: rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a range of

social situations
• Folkways
• Mores
• Laws
• We learn them through socialization, the social process through which we
internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a society
• Deviance from norms is enforced through sanctions
What is deviance?
• Deviance: non-conformity to / violation of a set of cultural norms.

• Informal deviance: Minor transgressions of norms
• Formal deviance or crime: Violation of norms that have been codi ied
into law; punishable with ines, jail terms, or other sanctions
• **not all crime is socially deviant (and of course not all deviance is a
crime)
• Typically, deviant behavior results in sanctions
f
f
Social construction of deviance
• Varies across cultures / subcultures, over time

• Social status can in luence whether same act is de ined as deviant or not
for di erent people
ff
f
f
Italy: “Your spouse is unfaithful”
Austin, Texas: “Hook ‘em horns”

Tunisia: “I’ll kill you”
France: Zero or worthless
U.S.: Ok
Explanations of deviance
THEORY
6 major theories
1. Biological / psychological
2. Functionalist
2.1.Anomie/Durkheim
2.2.Strain theory/Merton
2.3.Opportunity theory
3. Symbolic interactionism
3.1.Di erential association
3.2.Social disorganization/broken windows
3.3.Labeling/Go man
4. Con lict theory
4.1.Power elite/Mills
ff
f
ff
1. Biological/psychological
• ¨Caesar Lombroso (1911) “observed” physical

characteristics of criminals
• shifty eyes, receding hairline, red hair, strong
jaws, wispy beards
• Yet, non-criminals may have these same features
• More recent work: Gene X environment interactions

2. Functionalist
2.1 Anomie/Durkheim
• Collective conscience: common set of norms and beliefs about how the world
works
• Binds people together, encourages conformity
• De ines what is considered deviant and how it is punished
• Deviance is inevitable and performs useful functions

• Tells us right from wrong
• Establishes boundaries
• Punishment is for us, not them
f
2. Functionalist
2.1 Anomie/Durkheim
• Anomie: sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when social norms no

longer strongly guide individual behavior & social life is no longer
predictable
• De ining deviance can reestablish collective conscience, clarifying moral

boundaries
• Deviance can also push/change those boundaries
f
2. Functionalist
2.2 Strain theory/Merton
• Strain theory argues that anomie &

deviance occur when a society does
not give all its members equal means
to achieve socially acceptable goals.
• People feel strain when unable to
achieve cultural goals through
culturally approved means
2. Functionalist
2.3 Opportunity theory
• Builds on Durkheim and Merton

• “Illegitimate means” == thwarted means + access to opportunity to deviate
• An apology for urban crime?
6 major theories
2. Functionalist
2.1.Anomie/Durkheim
3.3.Labeling
4. Con lict theory
ff
f
3.1 Di erential association
• Deviant behavior is learned though a socialization process that occurs

from associating with others who engage in crime.
• There’s support for the theory, but it can only explain some things
ff
3.2 Social disorganization/broken windows
• Deviance is caused by broad social factors, particularly disorganization in

the social environment.
• broken windows” theory of deviance
• Any sign of social disorder leads to more disorder
• Zimbardo experiments
3.3 Labeling/Go man
• Labeling: deviance and conformity result not so much from what people
do as from how others de ine their actions
• People see how they are labeled and may accept the label as being “true.”
• They behave the way they think someone with their label should
behave.
ff
f
• Primary deviance • Secondary deviance
• the irst act of rule breaking, • acts of rule breaking that occur
which may result in being after primary deviance and as a
labeled “deviant” and in luence result of a person’s new, deviant
how people think about you label
f
f
• Stigma • Can dramatically reduce the
opportunities available to people
• a negative social label that
in a stigmatized group
changes your behavior toward a
person and also can change • Go man argues that people
that person’s self-concept and conceal deviance in order to
social identity avoid stigma (e.g., they conceal
criminal records, cover up
• Spoiled identity
tattoos, etc)
ff
6 major theories
2. Functionalist
2.1.Anomie/Durkheim
3.3.Labeling
4. Con lict theory
ff
f
4. Con lict theory
4.1 Power elite/Mills
• Those with power protect their own interests and de ine deviance to suit
their own needs
• A ects what gets de ined as deviant
• Di erential justice: di erent suspects are treated and sentenced
di erently
• E.g., College students who smoke weed are much less likely to be
prosecuted than low income minority youth.
ff
ff
ff
f
f
ff
f
Social control
Social control
• Social control: regulation and enforcement of norms through sanctions.

• Di erent sorts of sanctions:
• Formal – o icial (e.g., laws, police)
• Informal – uno icial (e.g., looks of disapproval)
• Negative - punishments
• Positive - rewards
ff
ff
ff
Punishment as deterrence?
Does the threat of prison/punishment deter crime?
• Much debate, particularly with respect to capital punishment

• No clear evidence that it does, but di icult to study
• Other goals: deterrence versus retribution
• Does prison make o enders less likely to reo end?
• Research has shown that prison has very little e ect on whether adults
commit future crimes.
• For juveniles, time spent behind bars actually increases the likelihood of
their reo ending.
ff
ff
ff
ff
ff
Approaches to social control
• Punitive justice: make the violator su er, often at the hands of a group, in
order to de ine acceptable behavior and create unity.
• Rehabilitative justice: examine why a particular individual was deviant and
try to rehabilitate them.
• Crime reduction (Rosenfeld & Messner):
• Reducing criminal opportunities through criminal justice – mass
incarceration, policing, etc.
• Reducing criminal motivation: guarantee decent standard of living
f
ff
YOUR READING
Becoming COPWISE
• Cop wisdom: “allows…individuals to render seemingly-random police

activity more legible, predictable, and manipulable” (2016: 280)
• Leads to “creative and circumspect tactics for evading, de lecting, and
subverting criminal justice interventions” (2016: 280)
• Tracking collateral consequences: negative e ects of criminal justice

that extend beyond traditional sentencing/courts
ff
f
Becoming COPWISE
Context and methods
• Context: Dramatic increase in incarceration in the US

• Skid Row is a place where police adhere to the broken windows theory
of crime
• 5 years of ethnographic ieldwork
f
Becoming COPWISE
Findings
• Police suspect (and therefore threaten) everyone

Becoming COPWISE
Findings
• Residents realize that refraining from violent behavior isn’t enough to

prevent unwanted (and sometimes violent) police contact
Becoming COPWISE
Conclusions
• Paper “demonstrates that the constant threat of police contact operates

as a powerful ‘cultural agent’ that signi icantly transforms the cultural
contexts and social relations of poor communities of color” (2016: 280)
• Describing a mechanism through which “heightened law enforcement
(re)produces inequality” (2016: 280)
• Which theories of deviance is Stuart deploying?

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Deviance (Or: What is ‘normal’?

University of Hong Kong SOCI1004, Dr. Ioana Sendroiu

> Norms and deviance

• Norms: rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a range of

• Deviance: non-conformity to / violation of a set of cultural norms.

• Varies across cultures / subcultures, over time

Austin, Texas: “Hook ‘em horns”

France: Zero or worthless

• ¨Caesar Lombroso (1911) “observed” physical

• More recent work: Gene X environment interactions

• Deviance is inevitable and performs useful functions

• Anomie: sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when social norms no

• De ining deviance can reestablish collective conscience, clarifying moral

• Strain theory argues that anomie &

• Builds on Durkheim and Merton

• Deviant behavior is learned though a socialization process that occurs

• Deviance is caused by broad social factors, particularly disorganization in

• Social control: regulation and enforcement of norms through sanctions.

• Much debate, particularly with respect to capital punishment

• Cop wisdom: “allows…individuals to render seemingly-random police

• Tracking collateral consequences: negative e ects of criminal justice

• Context: Dramatic increase in incarceration in the US

• Police suspect (and therefore threaten) everyone

• Residents realize that refraining from violent behavior isn’t enough to

• Paper “demonstrates that the constant threat of police contact operates

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