SOC227 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sex Offender Registry, Social Constructionism, Cultural Lag

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC227
• Professor: Fred Desroches

Document Summary

Use of formal social control to respond to sexual behaviour. Formal: legal decision making p(cid:396)iso(cid:374), pa(cid:396)ole, (cid:396)egist(cid:396)y (cid:272)odified la(cid:449)s (cid:272)(cid:396)eated (cid:271)y so(cid:272)ial constructionism . i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)al: la(cid:271)els, stig(cid:373)as. Stigmatization of those with a bad moral record can function as a means of formal social control. Law defines some forms of behaviour as criminal/deviant. Law can inhibit therapy for certain kinds of addictions. Sources of societal reactions: safety, political pressure, media, parental anxieties, recidivism rates. We use social controls not to protect the individual but to protect society. Folkways, mores reflect deviance as a violation of established social normalcy (informal) How we view sexuality and respond to certain types of sex offenders. Child predators and the sex offender registry. We respond to moral panic through social constructionism. Dramatization of evil: person is defined as the label. Tagging/labelling/stigmatization la(cid:271)els a(cid:272)t as a stig(cid:373)a. We create meaning through sharing common understandings and social interaction. Knowledge production is a social process/political process.