SOC212H1 Chapter : SOC212 Textbook Ch1
Document Summary
Living (in our hears) the apparently more exciting or interesting lives of others or by investigating them and discovering that our own lives are preferable. Psychiatrist tell us that fascination with deviance can be a way of dealing with disowned parts of ourselves. Watching sneaky, conniving people treat each other badly is much more interesting to most of us than watching pleasant, orderly people (tv program ratings, media moguls) Lead us to study rare deviance and a lack of attention to the more frequent but banal forms of deviance (e. g. cheating, exploiting) Sometimes an interest in reform is personal. Personal knowledge of the devastation of rape etc. may provoke the desire to know more about their causes and cures. Victims of crime often become experts on the criminal justice system. Some study deviance b/c they recognize that knowing how to do something about deviance has value.
