SOCI-1015EL Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Social Constructionism, Erving Goffman, Dominant Culture
16 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOCI-1015
November 16th, 2017
Deviance
•What is Deviance?
•Behaviour
•Out of the “norm”
•not usual
•not necessarily wrong, perverted, sick, or inferior
•Social or cultural construct
•Who defines it? Dominant culture (“The norm”)
•Reflection of power
•The norm is rewarded, deviants get punished
•conflict deviance: disagreement
•across cultures
•within cultures
•over time
•e.g.; tattooing, marijuana, etc
•Deviance VS Social Constructionism VS Essentialism
•Essentialism: argument
•deviance is seen as “natural”, “true”, “universal” — “objectively determined”
•Social constuctionism— constructed socially// created by society or culture, not natural
•Social constructionism VS Essentialism
•Goffman- study ons stigma (deviance), notes on the management of a spoiled identity,
1963
•Stigma: human attribute- discredits social identity
•Bodily stigmata- physical deformities, differences, disabilities// VISUAL
•Moral stigmata- character blemishes
•Tribal stigmata- group discredited
•Overt and covert characteristics of deviants
•Overt characteristics
•actions or qualities- explicitly violate norm
•Covert characteristics
•unstated qualities, make group a target, sanctioned
•age, ethnicity, gender, “race”
•Other
•“Othering”- dominant group defines another group as different and inferior
•Negative sanctions
•Ex; physical disabilities
•Intersects with concepts such as
•Ethnocentrism
•Colonialism
•Essentialism
•stereotypes
•Prejudice
•Deviance and Moral Panic
•moral panic: “concern” over an issue
•e.g.; drunk driving- MADD
•Driver or motor
•moral entrepreneur
•person behind panic- the driver//the motor
•incites actions
•Howard Becker (1963)
•e.g.; terrorism abortions, yellow scare, niqab debate in Canada
•Race and Deviance
•multiculturalism- Canadian value
•Policies and practices encourage respect for cultural differences
•Radicalized minorities face pressure to assimilate
•(Become culturally similar to dominate culture)
•not assimilating could be viewed as deviant
•Racializing deviance: link group to deviance
•ethnic group- visible minorities
•becomes covert characteristic of deviance
•Racial profiling: process of radicalizing deviance
•actions undertaken for safety, security or public protection
•based on stereotypes- colour, ancestry, ethnicity
