SOCL 3501 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Motor Vehicle Theft, Larceny, Labeling Theory
Document Summary
Deviance: violation of a social norm that elicits a negative reaction. Social norms: rules that governs our behavior: norms are relative: the change over time & vary from place to place, folkways: etiquette or expectations; not usually law, but keep our interactions moving. Mores: more serious norms, or morals distinguish good people from bad; usually formalized into law. Taboo: mores that are so serious that people refuse to talk about. Incest- every society has an incest taboo. Eating human flesh (cannibalism) in the. Us there are strict laws and norms against this because of religious traditions. Sanctions: how we get people to follow social norms: negative sanctions punishments, positive sanctions rewards, formal: law, police, informal: gossip, hitting, parenting. Positivism: looking for explanation using qualitative methods (high consensus deviance) Absolutism: deviance is absolutely real; if deviance is real then it is different from conventional behavior. (lombroso theory) atavistic criminals were physically different than law abiding people.
