SA 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Howard S. Becker, Essentialism, Erving Goffman
8 Jun 2018
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Chapter 6: Deviance
WHAT IS DEVIANCE?
-Behavior that strays from the norm
-Different from the norm, the usual
-Does not mean bad, wrong, perverted, sick, or inferior in any way
-It is a category that changes with time, place and culture
-Is about relative quantity not quality
-Definitions of deviance often reflect power
OVERT CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVIANCE
Overt characteristics: actions or qualities taken as explicitly violating the cultural
norm
Ie; breaking into a car, wearing your bra outside of your clothing as Madonna did
in 1990
COVERT CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVIANCE
Covert characteristics – unstated qualities that might make a group a target for
sanctions
Ie; age, ethnic background and sex
DEVIANCE IS A MOVING TARGET
-Changes with time, place and culture
WHAT IS DEVIANT IS OFTEN CONTESTED
Ie; trump’s phrasing of “locker room talk” vs Obama’s retort that to know what Trump
said was wrong and not “normal” a person just needed to be a “decent human being”
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM VS. ESSENTIALISM
Social constructionism – proposes that elements of social life –including deviance, as
well as gender, race and other elements –are not natural but are established or created
by society or culture
Ie; quite common for heterosexual adult men to hold hands and walk down the
street with each other in Argentina. In Canada this practice would likely be assumed to
be the practice of lovers
Essentialism – argues that there is something “natural, “true”, “universal” and
therefore “objectively determined” about elements of social life
Ie; “women are just more caring” and “boys will be boys” arguing
STIGMA AND DEVIANCE
Stigma – a human attribute that is seen to discredit an individual’s social identity
GOFFMAN, STIGMA
Goffman in his book Stigma (1963), identified three types of stigma:
-Bodily sigma – physical deformities/physical variations from the norm
-Moral stigma – blemishes of individual character
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Document Summary
Does not mean bad, wrong, perverted, sick, or inferior in any way. It is a category that changes with time, place and culture. Overt characteristics: actions or qualities taken as explicitly violating the cultural norm. Ie; breaking into a car, wearing your bra outside of your clothing as madonna did in 1990. Covert characteristics unstated qualities that might make a group a target for sanctions. Ie; trump"s phrasing of locker room talk vs obama"s retort that to know what trump said was wrong and not normal a person just needed to be a decent human being . Social constructionism proposes that elements of social life including deviance, as well as gender, race and other elements are not natural but are established or created by society or culture. Ie; quite common for heterosexual adult men to hold hands and walk down the street with each other in argentina.
