SOCIOL 2CC3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Social Constructionism, Symbolic Interactionism, Body Modification
30 Apr 2018
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Wednesday, February 14, 2018
1
Lecture 1: Introduction to Sociology of Deviance
Focus of Course
• THREE focuses for this course:
1. Social constructionist approach to the study of deviant behaviour in the West
2. Adopting a sociological perspective that views deviance as a product of individuals who
engage in definitional processes
3. Examine how individual perceive, define and assert conditions to be deviant
Course Goals
• TWO course goals:
1. Understand how our conceptions of criminal and deviant behaviour are shared by culture,
history and societal institutions and groups
2. Provide one with a foundational understanding of concepts and theories of deviance from a
social constructionist perspective
Course Topics
1. Early Positivist Theories of Deviance
- Early non-scientific (supernatural) theories
- Biological/physiological explanations
2. American Positivist Theories of Deviance
- Structural functionalism and the Chicago School to explore alienation, formlessness and
social disorganization
3. Symbolic Interactionism and Labeling Theory
- Explore the rise of and a response to deviance such as a deviant career
- Process of developing a deviant identity
- Rationalizing deviance and stigma management — protecting the self
4. Social Problems and Social Constructionism
- Rise of and response to deviance
- Tenets of each approach, how similar and different to SI
5. Explore social construction through a number of experiences such as:
1. Deviant Bodies: tattoos and extreme body modification
2. Deviant Sexuality: exploring the shift in Western conceptions of sex from sin to sickness
and pathologizing non-reproductive sex
3. Gender deviance: femaleness as deviant and the female criminal by Lomborso
4. Medicalization of Deviance: creation of sexual dysfunction
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Course topics: early positivist theories of deviance. Biological/physiological explanations: american positivist theories of deviance. Structural functionalism and the chicago school to explore alienation, formlessness and social disorganization: symbolic interactionism and labeling theory. Explore the rise of and a response to deviance such as a deviant career. Rationalizing deviance and stigma management protecting the self: social problems and social constructionism. Deviance: anything that causes us to view another as outsider, other or different. Context of time and place alters the definition, the degree and the severity of deviance. Involves the violation of cultural norms, more and laws. For example, ideas, beliefs, actions and embodiment that others find problematic, weird, strange and wrong. A broad concept that covers a broad range of activities including mundane non-conformity such as tattoos and piercing or formal rule-breaking such as grand theft auto and murder. A contested concept since there is disagreement over what constitutes deviance.
