SOCI 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Labeling Theory, Substance Abuse
15 Jan 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
How about a list of deviant behaviours or identities? o. We can collapse that list into more general categories o. Problem: that list is too long and it"s not clear what belongs and what doesn"t belong. Suicide is illegal in some jurisdictions but not others. etc (impoliteness, dressing oddly, being american, and so on and on) o o o o o o. We can attempt to define deviance instead of classifying it: clearly, any attempt to classify will result in a virtually endless list, defining a concept is more appropriate as the definition can comprise many examples o. 1. the statistical definition - as concrete and clear as this definition may be, it is not used because it is just so unrealistic. Deviance is any behaviour or condition that represents a departure from majority and/or average experience. This is a very concrete and clear definition. Problem 1: this definition is overly inclusive: it makes everyone deviant.
