AHSS*1130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Erving Goffman, Victimless Crime, Labeling Theory
Sociology Week 7
Deviance and Crime
The social definition of both
- Norms vary widely and deviance is relative; what some people consider normal – others
consider deviant & vice versa; no act is deviant in & of itself; from a sociological POV, everyone
is a deviant in one social context or another
Breaching experiments
- Breaking norms and watch reactions
oFrozen Grand Central
The Difference
- Deviance occurs when someone departs from a norm and evolves a negative reaction from
others
- Crime is deviance that breaks a law; a law is a norm stipulated and enforced by government
bodies (formal or informal sanctions)
Stigma
- Negative labels act as a stigma
oAttribute that discredits an individuals social identity
-Goffman identified 3
o(1) bodily (physical or body taboos; ie face tattoos)
o(2) moral (character or personality; ie Trump)
o(3) tribal (group affiliations, guilty by associations)
Crime and Deviance
- Difficult to define – contested, culturally & historically specific, overt and covert characteristics
- Definitions based on behaviours, statistics (norms), harm produced
- Contested deviance
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Breaking norms and watch reactions: frozen grand central. Deviance occurs when someone departs from a norm and evolves a negative reaction from others. Crime is deviance that breaks a law; a law is a norm stipulated and enforced by government bodies (formal or informal sanctions) Negative labels act as a stigma: attribute that discredits an individuals social identity. Goffman identified 3: (1) bodily (physical or body taboos; ie face tattoos, (2) moral (character or personality; ie trump, (3) tribal (group affiliations, guilty by associations) Difficult to define contested, culturally & historically specific, overt and covert characteristics. Definitions based on behaviours, statistics (norms), harm produced. Measuring crime in canada, ucr (uniform crime reporting) stats are gathered from 1200 police sources across. Can, covering 91 categories of crime (annual report: weakness of ucr: crime is often unreported (victimless crimes prostitution, drugs, gambling; assaults family violence or sexual) ucr stats are those officially counted.
