SOC 2070 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Homicide, Outline Of Health Sciences, Deinstitutionalisation

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2070
• Professor: Norman Dubeski

Document Summary

Deviance: behaviours, beliefs or characteristics that many people in a society find or would find offensive and which excite, upon discovery, disapproval, condemnation, hostility or punishment. The process by which the actor"s, the believer"s and the possessor"s character is tainted, stigmatized, and inferiorized. Denying the reality of deviance is entirely mistaken for three reasons: We can find widespread agreement that certain acts and beliefs are wrong. What is regarded and reacted to as wrong is not simply about firm society-wide consensus, but also about how certain social circles of people feel and what they do in specific situations and contexts. Some disagreement prevails even about widely accepted norms. There are 4 necessary ingredients for deviance to take place. An audience must be presont, someone who judges the normative violation to be wrong. There must be a measurable likelihood of a negative reaction by that audience (criticism, disapproval, censure, stigma)