SOCPSY 2YY3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Counterculture, Labeling Theory, Ethnomethodology

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 2YY3
• Professor: Kathleen Steeves

Document Summary

Deviance: thoughts, feelings, or behaviours that depart from accepted practices in a society or group. Some behaviours are seemed more deviant when you don"t break the law. E. g. speeding on the highway, underage drinking, experimenting w/ drugs. Most laws are mores that have been formalized. Rules of behaviour/customs that are passed down through a group or society. Understand the processes that lead people to break the laws. Deviance is expected in society b/c people have agency. You have to take the first step to make change. Ethnomethodology: emphasized how individuals construct and defend their views of social reality. The ideas of those who can convince others of what"s acceptable becomes the norms for others. Indexicality: people tend to index thoughts, feelings, and behaviours based on a person"s experience. E. g. things that are normal/deviant in one"s culture. Reflexivity : the process by which we think of things in social context and give meaning to them.