SOC 104 Lecture Notes - Sociological Perspectives, Impulsivity, Conflict Theories
Document Summary
All societies have norms that govern acceptable behaviour and mechanisms of social control systematic practices developed by social groups to encourage conformity and to discourage deviance. Deviance is relative and it varies in its degree of seriousness: some forms of deviant behaviour are officially defined as a crime a behaviour that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and other sanctions. Becker: deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender. The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied. Deviant behaviour is the behaviour or persons so labelled. Norms of evasion: whenever the mores or laws forbid something that many people strongly wish to do so, norms of evasion are likely to appear. In that sense deviant behaviour represents future adaptations in their beginnings.
