SOCL 3501 : EXAM 1
Document Summary
If no one knows we do it, it doesn"t elicit a negative reaction. If norms change, so does the definition of deviance. Positivist theory (chapter 2)- high consensus: absolutism- deviance is real. If deviance is real, it is different from conventional behavior. People engaging in deviance are different from conventional people: can be counted, measured, explained, can be controlled and eliminated, who gets to control it all, there will be a consensus among people to react a certain way, objectivism. They are uniformly: economic success- tells us what the best ways are to achieve the goals; distributed. Constructionist theory (chapter 3)- low consensus: relativism, nothing is inherently good or bad. So this makes it not a deviant act: not everything is deviant to everyone in the same way, voluntarism. Idea of free will: people act voluntarily, why is it deviant, constructionists and positivists work together to give us a better understanding of deviance.
