SOC 2070 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Counterculture, Differential Association, Kai T. Erikson

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2070
• Professor: Linda Hunter

Document Summary

Deviance serves to remind us of the moral boundaries in society. Each time a deviant is publicly announced, society is united in indignation against the perpetrator. Society is reminded of what is right and wrong: kai erikson. The problem lies in the social structure in society. Deviant behaviour occurs when socially sanctioned means are not available for the realization of highly desirable goals: cloward and ohlin delinquency and opportunity. All disadvantaged people have some lack of opportunity for legitimate pursuits, but they do not have the same opportunity for participating in illegitimate practices. See society differently from functionalists in their view of society as pluralistic, heterogeneous, and conflictual rather than unified and consensual. Social conflict arises out of the incompatible interests of diverse groups in society. These groups have a structural conflict of interests. Powerful members of society create legal definitions of human conduct, casting those behaviours that threaten its interests as criminal: feminist theory.