SOCI 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Kai T. Erikson, Moral Panic, Teleology
8 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Functionalism was an approach in the late 1800"s and early 1900"s when the term norm was coined. Some scholars argue that deviance is functional : sets boundaries, group solidarity, more inventive and creative when they think differently, reduces tensions. Because you can always find benefits for all it is disprovable. Argument is that deviance is beneficial not for an individual specifically but the entire society. False teleology: the imputation of cause to be beneficial consequence. Revered logic: we look at the benefit and then it is the cause i. e. if i have an extra finger it is because keyboarding is so important to the society. If it were not functional, it would not exist. Decided to use court records to explain deviance in society: every time someone was punished the moral boundaries of the society were clarified. Norms are important in the society - punishment created the norms itself: the definitions of deviance were clarified by the values of society.
