Police Foundations LAW120 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Aloha Shirt, Schizophrenia
27 May 2016
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What makes people shady characters is that they have crossed the line between conformity and deviance. Something is deviant because an individual, group or society takes offence and reacts negatively to it. Examples: a mother beating her child in the store, a man walking through downtown yelling a racial slur. Mild/informal: gossiping about a person who cheats on their spouse. Formal/severe: the arrest of a person who committed a serious crime murder. Negative reactions need not be external and are often internal to the individual some people who drink to excess react negatively to their behaviour. Are external and include official warnings or legal punishment ie. arrest and prosecution. Whether informal (gossiping, ridicule, ostracization) or formal (arrest), mild or severe, negative reactions serve to define what is deviant and act as social controls. Objective: deviance is theorized as a violation of existing and concrete societal norms that are absolute.
