SOCA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Social Control Theory, Differential Association, Informal Social Control
Document Summary
Deviance is non-compliance with social norms that provokes a negative social reaction, and an attempt to control the behavior and/or punish the perpetrator. Object and subjective concepts of deviance: moral status accorded thoughts, actions, characteristics, and persons. Social diversions: harmless non-compliance to social norms; it does not elicit sanction ( fads ). E. g. dye your hair pink in color in high school. Social deviations: non-compliance to social norms that elicits an informal sanction. E. g. using computer to buy shoes in class. Conflict crimes: non-compliance to law; members of society disagree about its seriousness and the appropriate sanction. E. g. smoking weed, downloading music without paying for it. Consensus crimes: most members of society agree on their seriousness. Structural-functionalist theories: strain, cultural support, differential association. Post-modernist: discourse as means of social control-normalized by the powerful; minority views are unheard. Lack of fit between the accepted cultural goals and socially acceptable means available to achieve these goals.
