Deviance and Social Control

Every year on Halloween night in a small town in Central California something happens. If you ask those who live in this town about their town they would say, “Nothing really exciting ever seems to happen in our community” or “This is a very law-abiding place…” But on Halloween night every year the high school boys break a dozen laws. These boys are described as “beer-saturated boys.” These boys collect a surplus of spoiled fruit, vegetables, and eggs in the back of their pick-up trucks and use the “ammunition” or “rotten produce” to battle. Strangely the police are absent even though they know this is going to occur. The town folk say that this is just a “mischievous prank” and that “boys will be boys.” SO IS THIS DEVIANCE? WOULD THIS BE CONSIDERED DEVIANT IF IT HAPPENED IN YOUR TOWN? WHAT IF A HIGH SCHOOL BOY DECIDED NOT TO PARTICIPATE, WOULD THAT BE DEVIANCE? (Image courtesy of marin/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

One year the boys changed it up a bit. They filled the back of their pick-up trucks with manure and spread it all down the main street of the town. WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED? The “boys were dismissed from school for the day to clean up the town.” SO WAS THIS CONSIDERED DEVIANCE? As you can see the audience (the town) defined what was deviant and what was not. 

IS THIS DEVIANCE OR CONFORMITY?

Questions:
What is deviance? What is conformity? What makes something deviant? What is social control? What systems of social control do we have in our society? How do our social theories explain why individuals and groups of individuals in our society are deviant?

DEVIANCE
Something is deviant if the audience or the society in which the act occurs states that it is deviant. For instance, is abusing one’s wife deviant? It depends on the specific society’s norms. Is interracial marriage deviant? It depends on the time in history one is in.

EXPLANATIONS OF DEVIANCE

Biology
Some say that biology can explain deviance. Some say that a person with an extra Y chromosome (XYY) or that has a specific body type is more likely to be deviant. Cesare Lombroso (founder of biological positivism) researched what he called the atavistic criminal or born criminal. He studied the skulls of violent criminals and compared them to skulls of “conformists” or those who did not break laws. He described violent criminals as having “enormous jaws, high cheek bones, prominent superciliary arches, solitary lines in the palms, extreme size of orbits, handle-shaped for sensile ears…” Basically he was describing people that look like primitive man. He stated in his findings that 90% of the time individuals who had such appearances were violent criminals. His work was highly criticized and he eventually modified his theory to state that this was the case 40% of the time…not enough for us to label people in such a way. One note on Lombroso, he contributed a lot to research and research methods as he was one of the first to use control groups…we don’t want to bash him too much!

Psychology
Psychologists look inside the person to explain deviance. Studies have indicated that those with personality disorders or a chemical imbalance are more likely to engage in criminal activity.

Sociology
So, how does a sociologist explain deviance and criminal behavior? A sociologist looks outside the person and at the person’s external environment to explain deviance. The following are our five theories of deviance or the five sociological explanations of why individuals or certain groups are deviant and engage in criminal activities. The goal here is to understand why individuals are deviant, not excuse the behavior, but to understand.

DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY (Edwin Sutherland, 1924, 1947)
This theory states that people learn deviance or conformity by the groups they associate with. Our significant others (or those key players in our lives) teach us to be deviant or to be conformists. Our significant others include our family, friends, and community just to name a few. So, if several of my family members have been in prison it is more likely that I will also be in prison one day. The idea is that I am learning (part of social learning theory), by observing the role models in my life, to be deviant and how to behave in my society and environment.

CONTROL AND BOND THEORY (Walter Reckless, 1973)
There are two parts to this theory. 1) We have two sets of controls. Our inner controls, such as our conscious and moral values (that little voice inside our head that says “don’t yell in the library”) which tell the difference between right and wrong. Our outer controls, such as our parents and police, also play a role in whether or not we are deviant. 2) The more tightly bonded we are to our family and the society in which we live the less likely we are to commit deviant acts. Deviant acts are more likely if our social bonds are broken or weak. For example, if I have an absent father (broken bond) and my mom works two jobs and is never home (weak bond; lack of outer controls) and I “hate” the police because they are just “out to get me” (weak bond with society; lack of social controls) I am more likely to be deviant. And if I have weak outer controls then I will in turn have weak inner controls. We provide our children with outer controls in hopes that they will in turn become their inner controls as they mature (teaching them self-control)

LABELING THEORY
Labeling theory states that “the labels that people are given affect their own and others’ perceptions of them.” The idea is that if a person is labeled a particular way over time he or she will become the label…remember our “stupid kid” and self-fulfilling prophecy? Read the section in our text on the “Saints and the Roughnecks”, a study by Chambliss. How were each group labeled? What were the long term effects of the labeling? If a person is labeled a “thug” by his or her peers, the police, etc. what do you think that person will become?

RATIONAL CHOICE OR EXCHANGE THEORY
In every situation we weigh our options and make the logical choice for us. We weigh the risks and rewards before every choice we make. If the overall risk is low and we might not be held responsible we may choose to be deviant. For example, if I am poor and have a hard time feeding my kids on a daily basis what choices will I make? I know stealing is wrong but I weigh that with my children starving and I decide to steal. If I live in a neighborhood full of gangs is it a rational choice for me to also join the gang even though I know that my activities are illegal? What would be the risk of not joining the gang?

STRAIN THEORY
Every society has cultural goals such as high status, wealth, and material possessions (cars, shoes, houses,…). Each society also has the accepted institutional means for achieving the cultural goals. What are the cultural goals in our society? What are the institutional means for achieving those goals? Those that do have or are not taught the institutionalized means to reach the goals utilized illegitimate means as a consequence of their frustrations. These individuals become what we call innovators (see text). For example, I want a nice car, but I am poor, do I graduate high school, go to college, graduate from college, get a job, save my money, and then get the nice car some years later? Or, do I steal the car and have it today? Or, do I become a drug dealer and buy the car? The idea is not that this is desirable but that some individuals (those in poverty) are not taught the legitimate means to get to our societal goals. They lack the role models to teach them legitimate means (differential association; see how the theories interact?). Strain theory is a consequence of poverty. See the Henslin text for the “Modes of Adaptation.” We learn to be conformists or, as in the case of strain theory, an innovator.

What is recidivism? What is the recidivism rate? We see a trend in our society in that those that are arrested and spend time in prison just continue the cycle over and over (once out of prison they continue the deviant behaviors, are rearrested, and end up back in prison). How do the theories of deviance explain the recidivism rate? Use the theories to explain why this occurs. This is one of your discussion board questions. Do we have a problem in our society of deterrence? Do we not create enough fear so people will refrain from breaking the law? Historically if a person stole we cut his/her hand off…if they stole again we cut the other hand off. Do you think that was a major deterrence for individuals who lived in that time period? Do we not instill enough fear in people today? Should we start cutting hands off? Just kiddingJ

Juvenile Delinquency
A hot topic today is the issue of juvenile delinquency. Many feel that juveniles who commit some of the more violent or serious offenses should be treated, tried, and convicted as adults. As a sociologist I have to question this. What do you think studies have shown us about the recidivism rate for juvenile tried and convicted as adults? As a sociologist I have to disagree with this (note that I have not had anyone I care about hurt by a juvenile delinquent and maybe I would feel differently if that was the case). Studies comparing juveniles who have been tried as juveniles and placed in a juvenile detention centers with those tried as adults and placed in an adult prisons have some very unpleasant findings (note both groups were convicted for similar violations). The juveniles tried and convicted as adults are much less likely to be rehabilitated and much more likely to become “career criminals.” Being placed in an adult prison is what has been called a “Harvard for juveniles,” teaching them to be “better criminals.” Those placed in juvenile detention centers are more likely to be rehabilitated and not be part of the recidivism rate. Think about how you feel about this issue.

APPLICATION
Read the following study (Wall Street Journal) and apply our theories of deviance:

Sample: 250 juvenile court judges
Research method: questionnaire
Major research question: Can we predict chronic offending juveniles?

The judges were asked to state whether they can predict the recidivism of the juveniles that come before their courtroom and what the characteristics are of those who will be chronic offenders. ALL of the judges stated, “Yes” they could predict which juveniles they would see before their courtroom again and again. Note that juvenile court judges receive a file of information on each juvenile before the juvenile comes before their courtroom. The following were the specific characteristics the judges stated as being those of chronic juvenile offenders (recidivists):
1) Conviction of a crime before 13 years of age
2) Low family income
3) Rated as a “troublemaker” by teachers
4) Poor school performance (bad grades)
5) Have a convicted sibling
6) Have an absent father or low paternal involvement

What theories of deviance are at work here? What theory is playing the major role in this situation? Look at each characteristic individually as well as the entire group of characteristics. If a juvenile comes before one of these judges in the courtroom and has some of these characteristics how do you think that will affect the sanction given?

Related Posts

• 

  Global Stratification Assignment Guide
  Global Stratification Assignment Guide
• 

  Vitual Environments Assignment Guide
  Vitual Environments Assignment Guide
• 

  Cultural Relativism Assignment Guide
  Cultural Relativism Assignment Guide
• 

  Diversity Training Assignment Guide
  Diversity Training Assignment Guide