SOC101Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Romantic Hero
Document Summary
The book is about any behavior or characteristic that is improper. It"s also about the rule makers and enforcers. Deviance and its control are central aspects of social life. This has to do with living the apparently more exciting or interesting lives of others, or investigating them and discovering that our own lives are preferable. Vicarious living is a habit that our culture reinforces. Vicarious experience as a research motivation, however, can distort our understanding of deviance. This results in a concentration on violent, sexual, crazy deviance and a lack of attention to the more frequent forms like cheating and exploiting. Sometimes the interest is more abstract and professional but still oriented toward changing something. Reform as a research motivation also has dangers. 1) our search for reform policies can outrun our tested knowledge. 2) the belief that understanding means excusing often interferes when reform is the motivation.
