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SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING
The essential wisdom of sociology is that our social world guides our behavior and life choices.
Sociologists know a great deal about how society works and usually can predict behavior.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING (2)
The sociological perspective helps us critically asses the truth of commonly held assumptions.
The sociological perspective helps us to see the opportunities and constraints in our lives.
The sociological perspective helps us to be active members of our society
The sociological perspective helps us live in a culturally diverse world.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING (3)
A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related.
A theoretical paradigm provides a set of fundamental assumptions that guides thinking and research.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING (4)
The Structural-Functional Paradigm is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.
This paradigm points to social structure, meaning any relatively pattern of social behavior.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERTANDING (5)
The paradigm looks at a structure’s social function, or the consequences of any social pattern for the operation of society as a whole.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING (6)
Manifest functions are consequences both recognized and intended by people in the society.
Latent functions are consequences that are unintended and go largely unrecognized.
Social dysfunctions are any social pattern’s undesirable consequences for the operation of society.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING (7)
The chief characteristic of the structural-functional paradigm is its vision of society as orderly, stable and comprehensible.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING (8)
Structural-functionalism tends to ignore inequalities of social class, race, ethnicity, and gender which can generate considerable tension and conflict.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING II
The social conflict paradigm is a frame work for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING II (2)
Sociologists in the social conflict paradigm investigate how factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age are linked to the unequal distribution of money, power, education, and social prestige.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING II (3)
A conflict analysis of our educational system would explain how schooling perpetuates inequality by reproducing the class structure in every new generation.
Secondary schools channel new students into either college-preparatory or vocational-training programs.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING II
(4)
From a structural-functional point of view, such "tracking" benefits everyone by providing the type of schooling appropriate to a student’s academic ability.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING II (5)
Conflict analysis counters that tracking often has less to do with talent than with social background, so that well-to-do students are placed in higher tracks while poor children end up in lower tracks.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING II (6)
Because the social-conflict paradigm highlights inequality, it largely ignores how shared values and interdependence can unify members of a society.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING II (7)
Critics also complain that to the extent this paradigm pursues political goals, it cannot claim scientific objectivity.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING III
The symbolic-interaction paradigm is a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals.
Most theories are macro-level in their view of society meaning a concern with broad patterns that shape society as a whole.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING III (2)
The symbolic-interaction paradigm is a focus on small-scale patterns of social interaction in specific settings.
Reality, then is simply how we define our surroundings, our own identities, and our obligations toward others.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING III (3)
Part of this paradigm includes the social-exchange analysis which is the idea that interaction is guided by what each person stands to gain and lose from others.
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING III (4)
In the ritual of courtship, people seek mates who offer them at least as much—in terms of physical attractiveness, intelligence, and social background—as they offer in return
SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING III (5)
It also considers the idea that we resemble actors on a stage as we play out our various roles in society
.SOCIOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING III (6)
The symbolic-interaction paradigm reminds us that society amounts to people interacting.
Micro-level sociology, however, risks overlooking the widespread effect of culture, class, gender and race.
I
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Deviance is nothing more than the recognized violation of cultural norms.
All deviant actions or attitudes have in common some element of difference that causes people to regard another person as an "outsider."
How a society defines deviance, who is branded as "deviant" and what people decide to do about deviance are all issues of social organization.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Early theorists misunderstood human behavior to be the result of biological instincts.
Body structure might even predict criminality such as low foreheads, prominent jaws, protruding ears, hairiness, and muscular, athletic builds.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
At best, biological theories offer a very limited explanation of crime or deviant behavior.
The biological approach looks at the individual and offers no insight as to how some kinds of behaviors come to be defined as deviant in the first place.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Psychological explanations of deviance focus on individual abnormality.
Most psychologists think personality is primarily shaped by social experience.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Deviance, then, is viewed as the product of "unsuccessful" socialization.
Dinitz and Reckless concluded that personality traits reined in deviant impulses.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Biological and psychological research view deviance as an individual trait without:
Exploring how conceptions of right and wrong initially arise
Why people define some rule breakers, but not others, as deviant
What role power plays in shaping a society’s system of social control.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHVIOR
Merton’s Strain Theory:
Deviance arises from particular social arrangements.
Specifically, the extent and kind of deviance depends on whether a society provides the means (such as schooling and job opportunities) to achieve cultural goals.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
According to Merton, people raised in poverty, for example, may see little hope of becoming successful if they play by the rules. As a result, they may try to make money through crime.
Merton called this type of deviance, innovation—using unconventional means to achieve a culturally approved goal.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
The inability to succeed by normative means may also prompt another type of deviance that Merton calls ritualism.
These people obsessively stick to the rules to at least feel respectable
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Merton also had a third response to the inability to succeed, retreatism.
Retreatism rejects both cultural goals and means so that a person, in effect, "drops out."
Some alcoholics, drug addicts, and street people are retreatists.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Merton’s fourth response to the inability to succeed is rebellion.
Like retreatists, rebels reject both the cultural definition of success and the normative means of achieving it.
Rebels go further by advocating radical alternatives to the existing social order.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Cloward and Ohlin extended Merton’s theory by proposing that crime results not simply from limited legitimate opportunity but also from the readily accessible illegitimate opportunity.
According to these theorists, deviance or conformity depends upon the relative opportunity structure that frames a person’s life.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
When people are unable to find any kinds of opportunities, legal or illegal, their deviancy may take the form of conflict subcultures (armed street gangs) where violence is ignited by frustration and desire for respect.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Miller says that deviant subcultures are characterized by:
(1) trouble arising from frequent conflict with teachers and police
(2) toughness, the value placed on physical size, strength and agility especially among the males
(3)smartness or the ability to succeed on the streets, to outsmart or "con" others
(4)a need for excitement, the search for thrills, risk, or danger
(5) a belief in fate,or sense that people lack control over their own lives
(6) a desire for freedom, most often expressed as hostility toward all authority figures
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Durkheim made an important contribution by pointing out the functions of deviance. There is evidence, however, that a community does not always come together in reaction to deviancy.
Sometimes fear of crime drives people to withdraw.
Merton’s strain theory has been criticized for explaining some kinds of deviance (theft, etc) better than others (such as crimes of passions and mental illness).
Not everyone seeks success in conventional terms of wealth, as the strain theory implies.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
All of the mentioned theories fall short by assuming that everyone shares the same cultural standards for judging right and wrong.
These theories tend to also focus on the poor (they don’t account for things like stock fraud, a deviance of the affluent)
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
All Structural-Functional theories imply that everyone who breaks the rules will be labeled deviant.
Becoming deviant, however, is actually a highly complex process.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE II
The symbolic-interaction paradigm explains how people define deviance in everyday situations. From this point of view, definitions of deviance and conformity become very flexible.
The central contribution of symbolic-interaction analysis is labeling theory, or the assertion that deviance and conformity result not so much from what people do but from how others respond to those actions
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Labeling theory stresses the relativity of deviance, meaning that people may define the same behavior in any number of ways.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Lemert observed that some episodes of norm violation—such as skipping school or underage drinking—provoke slight reaction from others and have little effect on person’s self-concept. He calls these episodes primary deviance.
If someone takes notice of someone’s deviance and makes something out of it, the response to initial deviance can set in motion secondary deviance by which an individual repeatedly violates a norm and begins to take on a deviant identity.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
The development of a secondary deviance is part of the Thomas theorem: which states that situations defined as real become real in their consequences.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Secondary deviance marks the start of what some theorists call a deviant career. As individuals develop a stronger commitment to deviant behavior, they typically acquire a stigma: a powerfully negative label that radically changes a person’s self-concept and social identity.
Stigma operates as a master status, overpowering other dimensions of identity so that a person is discredited in the minds of others and becomes socially isolated.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Sometimes an entire community stigmatizes an individual through what Garfinkel calls a degradation ceremony.
A person "stands" before an entire community to be labeled in a negative way.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Once people stigmatize a person, they may engage in retrospective labeling, or the reinterpretation of a person’s past in light of some present deviance.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Retrospective labeling distorts a person’s biography by being highly selective, a process that can deepen a deviant identity.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Thomas Szasz charges that people apply the label "insanity" to what is actually only "difference." Therefore, he concludes, we should abandon the notion of mental illness entirely.
Illness according to Szasz is physical and afflicts only the body; mental illness, then, is a myth.
The world is full of people whose "differences" in thought or action may irritate others, but such differences are no grounds for defining someone as sick.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
Labeling theory helps explain an important shift in the way society understands deviance.
Over the past 50 years the growing influence of psychiatry and medicine has led to the medicalization of deviance
The medicalization of deviance is the transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition.
This is just swapping one set of labels for another: behavior is not "bad" or "good" but "sick" or "well."
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE II
Whether deviance is defined as moral or medical, the issue has three consequences:
1. It affects who responds to deviance. An offense against common morality typically provokes a reaction from members of the community or police. Applying medical labels, however, transfers the situation to the control of clinical specialists.
2. It affects how people in general respond. A moral approach defines the deviant as an "offender" subject to some kind of punishment. Medically, however, patients need treatment.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE II
3. The most important difference between the two labels concerns the personal competence of the deviant person.
Morally speaking, whether we are right or wrong, at least we take responsibility for our own behavior. Once defined as sick, however, we are seen as unable to control our actions.
And people who are incompetent are, in turn, often subject to treatment against their will. Defining deviance in medical terms for this reason alone must be done with extreme caution.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
Sutherland’s Differential Associations Theory.
Learning any social pattern—whether conventional or deviant—is a process that takes place in groups.
A person’s tendency toward conformity or deviance depends upon the amount of contact with others who encourage or reject conventional behavior.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
For example, questionnaires completed by junior and senior high school students showed a close connection between the extent of alcohol and drug use and the degree to which peer groups encouraged the activity
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
Hirschi’s Control Theory. Social control depends on anticipating the consequences of one’s behavior.
Everyone finds deviance tempting. But the thought of a ruined career is sufficient to deter most people or imagining the reactions of family or friends is enough.
Individuals who think that they have little to lose from deviance are likely to become rule-breakers
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
Hirschi links conformity to four different types of social controls
Attachment. Strong social attachments encourage conformity; weak relationships in the family, peer group, and school leave people freer to engage in deviance.
Commitment. The greater a person’s commitment to legitimate opportunity, the greater the advantages of conformity. Someone with little confidence in future success is freer to drift toward deviance
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
Involvement: involvement in legitimate activities—such as holding a job, going to school or playing sports—inhibits deviance.
No involvement gives people time to "hang out" and time and energy to get involved in deviant activity
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
Belief: Strong beliefs in conventional morality and respect for authority figures restrain tendencies toward deviance.
People with a weak conscience and who are left unsupervised are ore vulnerable to temptation.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE IIa
Hirschi’s analysis draws together a number of earlier ideas about deviance. Both a person’s relative social privilege as well as strength of moral character are crucial in generating a stake in conformity to conventional norms.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
The various symbolic-interaction theories all see deviance as process.
Labeling theory links deviance not to action but to the reaction of others.
The concepts of secondary deviance, deviant careers, and stigma demonstrate how being labeled a deviant can become a lasting self-concept.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
Labeling theory has several limitations.
Because it takes a highly relative view of deviance, labeling theory ignores the fact that some behavior—such as murder—is condemned virtually everywhere. Labeling theory is most usefully applied to less serious deviance, such as sexual promiscuity or mental illness.
Research on the consequences of deviant labeling is inconclusive. Does deviant labeling produce further deviance or discourage it?
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE IIa
Not everyone resists being labeled as deviant; some people actually seek it out.
Both Sutherland’s differential association theory and Hirschi’s control theory have had considerable influence.
Both theories provide little insight into why society’s norms and laws define certain kinds of activities as deviant in the first place.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE III
The social-conflict paradigm links deviance to social inequality.
That is, who or what is labeled "deviant" depends on which categories of people hold power in a society.
Liazos pointed out that everyday conception of deviants—nuts, sluts, and "preverts"—all share the trait of powerlessness.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE III
Karl Marx argued that the law (and all social institutions) supports the interests of the rich.
Bag ladies (not corporate polluters) and unemployed men on street corners(not arms dealers) carry the stigma of deviance.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE III
Social-Conflict theory explains this pattern in three ways:
First, the norms—including laws—of any society generally reflect the interests of the rich and powerful.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE III
People who threaten the wealthy, either by taking their property or by advocating a more egalitarian society, are often defined as "common thieves" or as "political radicals."
Richard Quinney said: "Capitalist justice is by the capitalist class, for the capitalist class, and against the working class."
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE III
The social-conflict theory explains this pattern in three ways:
Secondly, even when their (powerful)behavior is called into question, the powerful have the resources to resist deviant labels.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR DEVIANCE III
Government officials or corporate executives who might order or condone the dumping of hazardous wastes, check kiting at banks, the manufacturing of substandard products, or the destruction of wetlands are rarely held personally accountable.
THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVIANCE III
Thirdly, the widespread belief that norms and laws are natural and good, masks their political character.
For this reason we may condemn the unequal application of the law but give little thought to whether the laws themselves are inherently fair.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR?
Sociologists assume that, whether it is positive or negative, disturbing behavior or disvalued condition, deviance is real in and of itself.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? (2)
Deviance is endowed with a certain quality that distinguishes it from nondeviance.
WHAT IS DEVIANCE? (3)
Some sociologists observe that relatively powerful people are capable of avoiding the fate suffered by the powerless—being falsely, erroneously, or unjustly labeled deviant.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? (4)
There are two opposing perspectives on deviant behavior: positivism and social constructionism.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? (5)
The positivist perspective is associated with the sciences, such as physics, chemistry, or biology.
The constructionist perspective is fundamental in the humanities.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? (6)
In the sociology of deviance the positivist generally defines deviance as intrinsically real, while the constructionist more often defines deviance as a social construction—an idea imputed by society to some behavior.
The positivist perspective has also been called objectivist, absolutist, determinist, structuralist, factist and essentialist.
The constructionist perspective has also been referred to by the terms humanist, subjectivist, relativist, voluntarist, individualist, definitionist, critical and postmodernist.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? (7)
Each perspective suggests how to define deviance, but reveals through the definitions what subject to study, what method to use and what kind of theory to use.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II The Positivist Perspective
The positivist perspective consists of three assumptions about what deviance is. These assumptions are known to positivists as absolutism, objectivism, and determinism.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (2)
Absolutism: Deviance as Absolutely Real
The positivist perspective holds deviance to be absolutely or intrinsically real, in that it possesses some qualities that distinguish it from conventionality.
Deviant persons are assumed to have certain characteristics that make them different from conventional others.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (3)
Early criminologists believed that criminals possessed certain biological traits that the noncriminals did not have.
The biological traits were believed to be defective genes.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (4)
Current positivist sociologists have largely abandoned the use of biological and psychological traits to differentiate criminals from noncriminals.
They recognize the important role of social factors in determining a person’s status. Such status does not remain the same across time and space; instead, it changes in different periods and with different societies.
Positivist sociologists still regard deviance as absolutely or intrinsically real.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (5)
A person may not have committed a ‘deviant’ act, but he/she did do something.
What he/she did was possibly a result of things that had happened to him/her in the past.
It is also possible that the past in some inscrutable way remains with him/her and that if he/she were left alone he/she would do it again.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (6)
"Some people are more crazy than others; we can tell the difference; and calling lunacy a name does not cause it."
Positivist sociologists tend to focus their study on deviant behavior and deviant persons, rather than on nondeviants who label others deviants, such as lawmakers and law-enforcers which constructionist sociologists are more likely to study.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (7)
Objectivism: Deviance as an Observable Object
Deviant behavior is an observable object in that a deviant person is like an object, a real something that can be studied objectively.
Positivist sociologists assume that they can be as objective in studying deviance as natural scientists can be in studying physical phenomena
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (8)
Current sociologists use terms such as innovation, retreatism, ritualism, rebellion, culture conflict, subcultural behavior, white-collar crime, norm violation, learned behavior and reinforced behavior
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (9)
Determinism: Deviance as Determined Behavior
According to the positivist perspective deviance is determined or caused by forces beyond the individual’s control. Natural scientists hold the same deterministic view about physical phenomena.
Early sociologists agued that like animals, plants, and material objects that natural scientists study, humans do not have any free will.
Currently, sociologists assume that humans do posses free will; however, this does not undermine the scientific principles.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (10)
No matter how much a person exercises free will by making choices and decisions, the choices and decisions do not just happen but are determined by some causes.
There is no inconsistency between freedom and causality.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (11)
The idea of choice simply cannot explain the difference between deviance and conventionality; it cannot explain why one person chooses to kill while the other chooses not to.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? II (12)
Even though positivists do believe in human choice, they will not attribute deviance to human choice.
They explain deviance by using such concepts as wife abuse, broken homes, unhappy homes, lower-class background, economic deprivation, social disorganization, rapid social change, differential association or lack of social control.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR II (13)
Review of the three assumptions of the positivist perspective:
Deviance is absolutely real in that it has certain qualities that distinguish it from conventionality.
Deviance is an observable object in that a deviant person is like an object and thus can be studied objectively.
Deviance is determined by forces beyond the individual’s control.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? III
THE CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
Relativism: Deviance as a Label. The constructionist perspective holds the relativist view that deviant behavior by itself does not have any intrinsic characteristics unless it is thought to have these characteristics. The so-called intrinsically deviant characteristics do not come from the behavior itself; they come instead from some people’s minds.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR? III (2)
Deviance is socially constructed, defined as such by society.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (3)
Since constructionists consider deviance unreal, they stay away from studying it.
They are more interested in the questions of whether and why a given act is defined by society as deviant.
This leads to the study of people who label others as deviants—such as the police and other law-enforcing agents.
If they study deviants, they do so by focusing on the nature of labeling and its consequences.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (4)
According to the constructionist perspective, there is a relativity principle in deviant behavior: behavior gets defined as deviant relative to a given norm.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (5)
Behavior is judged by how other people react to it.
If it is not related to the reaction of other people, a given behavior is in itself meaningless—it is impossible to say whether the behavior is deviant or conforming without the reaction of others.
Constructionists say deviance is like beauty, conceived in the eye of the beholder.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (6)
Subjectivism: Deviance as a subjective experience.
To constructionists, the supposedly deviant behavior is a subjective, personal experience and the supposedly deviant person is a conscious, feeling, thinking, and reflective subject.
Positivists assume that it is correct to study humans as objects because it may produce objective knowledge for controlling humans, but this violates the constructionist’s values and sensibilities.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (7)
Constructions are opposed to the control of humans.
They advocate the protection and expansion of human worth, dignity and freedom
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (8)
Constructionists feel that the positivists only collect surface facts about deviants, such as their poverty, lack of schooling, poor self-image, and low aspirations.
All this may be used for controlling and eliminating deviance, but it does not tell us "what deviant people do in their daily round of activity and what they think about themselves, society and their activities."
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (9)
In order to understand the life of a deviant, constructionists believe we need to used the relatively subjective approach which requires our appreciation for and empathy with the deviant.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (10)
Voluntarism: Deviance as a voluntary act
The constructionist perspective holds that supposedly deviant behavior is a voluntary act, an expression of human volition, will, or choice.
Lemert concluded that the arbitrariness of official action, stereotyped decision-making in bureaucratic contexts, bias in the administration of law, and the general preemptive nature of society’s controls over deviants convey the strong impression that control agents, being in positions of power, intentionally and purposefully control the "deviants."
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (11)
Constructionists analyze people who have been labeled deviant. The deviants are described as actively seeking positive meanings in their deviant activities.
Katz concluded that murderers see themselves as morally superior to their victims and the robbers feel that they are morally superior to their victims—regarding their victims as fools or suckers who deserve to be robbed.
WHAT IS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR III (12)
The constructionist perspective consists of three assumptions:
Deviant behavior is not real in and of itself; it is basically a label.
Supposedly deviant behavior is a subjective experience and should be studied with subjectivity and empathy.
Putatively deviant behavior is a voluntary, self-willed act rather than one caused by forces in the internal and external environments.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE
Most crime such as robbery, auto theft, carjacking, burglary and shoplifting are usually designated as underprivileged deviance.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (2)
Underprivileged deviance is deviance that typically occurs among underprivileged people, who come from relatively poor and powerless backgrounds.
Underprivileged deviance is generally distinguishable from privileged deviance in being less profitable or, in the case of successful organized crime, more disreputable and more liable to be punished and punished severely.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (3)
Robbery is simultaneously both a property and a violent crime. It is a property crime because it involves illegally taking the victim’s property.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (4)
Robbery is a violent crime for the use of violence or threat of violence against the victim in its commission.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (5)
As a property crime, robbery is a relatively rational, calculated act, and as such it involves making rational decisions.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (6)
For most robbers the decision to rob is based on their desire for money.
The pursuit of power in robbery is only a secondary motive.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (7)
Target selection for a robbery is usually based on two factors:
Robbers usually consider lucrative establishments where large sums of cash are available
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (8)
Robbers usually select from among targets with a lower risk of arrest.
This translates into a branch bank in an outlying commercial area with fewer people and close to a highway rather than the main bank in a busy central business district.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (9)
Deciding how to rob involves varying degrees of planning.
Profession robbers who are after a big score, plan their crimes with great care and minute detail.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (10)
Amateur robbers who suddenly feel the need for a small sum of cash, commit robbery on the spur of the moment with hardly and planning.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (11)
There are two facets to robbery as a violent crime: one involves actual violence and the other potential violence.
Because they do not carry a weapon, unarmed robbers usually have to resort to actual violence. Armed robbers rely on potential violence or the threat of force.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (12)
Unarmed or strong-arm robberies are more likely to result in injury to the victims.
Offenders believe that victims are more likely to resist when there is no weapon involved than when there is a weapon.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (13)
As a threat of force, potential violence in armed robbery rarely turns into real violence because the use of a weapon, particularly a firearm, often ensures the successful execution of the crime.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (14)
Robbery is basically a big-city crime. The more urbanized a region, the higher its rate of robbery.
Robbery usually involves strangers. The larger the city, the more opportunity to encounter a stranger.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (15)
Robbery occurs most frequently in the cold winter months usually reaching its peak during the holiday season.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (16)
The cold weather keeps most people off the streets making it easier for robbers to victimize lonely individuals.
The cold weather also makes it look natural for robbers to wear a heavy coat which is ideal for concealing a weapon.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (17)
The increase in hours of darkness in winter further enhances the opportunity for robbing without getting caught.
In the winter there is a higher rate of unemployment which comes from the loss of seasonal jobs such as construction, etc.
The cost of living is higher in the winter because of the extra money needed for clothing, shelter and heating.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (18)
Most armed robberies are committed by adults.
Unarmed robberies are most usually committed by juveniles.
Unarmed robberies usually occur closer to the offender’s home.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE (19)
In contrast with violent crimes which are predominantly intra-racial, robbery is more likely to be interracial—involving minorities robbing whites.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II
Amateur and Professional Robbers
Compared with professionals, amateurs generally commit robbery for smaller sums of money with less planning and skill and higher risks of arrest. Adults are more likely than youngsters to be professionals and youngsters tend more to be amateurs.
The majority of amateur robbers are opportunist robbers. They tend to target individual persons rather than commercial establishments. The criteria for choosing such targets are the victim’s easy accessibility and vulnerability rather than large sums of cask.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (2)
Addict robbers commit robbery to buy their next "fix."
Like opportunists, addicts rarely go after lucrative targets and thus often commit robberies that yield small sums of money.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (3)
Alcoholic robbers are least like to engage in robbery and most likely to be caught when they rob.
They often get involved in a situation that unexpectedly leads to a robbery. They may get into fights or drunkenly assault people and then take away their victims’ money as an afterthought.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (4)
Professional robbers as a whole have a strong commitment to robbery as a way of earning a living and usually seek a series of big scores to support an expensive, hedonistic lifestyle.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (5)
Two sociological theories seem useful for explaining robbery.
One focuses on the motivation to commit robbery and the other on the opportunity for committing robbery.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (6)
Relative Deprivation: During times when the social and economic conditions improved for minorities and the poor, so did the rates of robbery among the same group.
The theory maintains that the improvement in their lives induced them to hold higher expectations of enjoying as many opportunities as the non-poor. When they failed to realize these expectations, the poor became frustrated and as a consequence, tended to commit robbery.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (7)
Increases in the amount of property would serve to increase the relative deprivation of those who were still not sharing in the ownership of the property.
At the same time, the increase in property makes it easier for the poor to steal the property for their own use.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (8)
Car theft is very profitable and has become a big business.
The majority of auto thefts do not involve any violence against the victim because the offender typically steals the car when the owner is not around.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (9)
Carjacking is usually done by young men.
Carjackers usually are African Americans; however, so are most of their victims.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (10)
The most vulnerable to carjacking are people who are most likely to become victims of crime in general.
They include men more than women, blacks more than whites, Latinos more than non-Latinos, the divorced more than the married and urban residents more than rural or suburban dwellers.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (11)
The motivation for committing auto theft appears to be about the same as for other property crimes. Car thieves have a strong motive for monetary gain.
Inadequate law-enforcement makes it easy to steal cars without getting caught or prosecuted.
DEVIANCE AS CRIME II (12)
Shoplifting cost U.S. businesses approximately $13 billion a year.
Only a few shoplifters are boosters, or professional criminals who shoplift for profit.
Most shoplifters are snitches, or amateurs who steal articles of small value for personal use.
Shoplifting is predominantly a juvenile offense.
Those between the ages of 11 and 15 shoplift the most.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (13)
Shop lifting can be explained by criminal motivation and opportunity.
Shoplifting, however, seems to be unique in the reasons for the crime.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (14)
Economic motivation for shoplifting is usually defined by poverty since poor people are more likely than others to shoplift.
Shoplifting becomes more common when unemployment is high.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (15)
Economic hardship alone cannot explain most cases of shoplifting.
Many shoplifters are people who can afford to but the things they need but are driven to steal by a desire to stretch their budget.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (16)
Many young shoplifters commit shoplifting because they do not have the money to buy designer jeans, fancy shoes and other fashionable items that enhance peer acceptance.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (17)
Social psychology explains shoplifters as wanting to experience a sense of thrill, excitement or fun.
Another important motivation is the desire for social acceptance, which makes juveniles highly vulnerable to peer pressure.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE II (18)
A third motivation is a cluster of rationalizations that the shoplifter can use to justify the crime before committing it:
"My friends make me do it"
"It’s only a cheap bottle of perfume"
"It’s such a big store they won’t miss it"
"It serves them right because they rip us off every time we buy something from them"
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE
Privileged deviance or highly profitable deviance typically occurs among the relatively rich and powerful.
Privileged deviance can be divided into white-collar deviance and governmental deviance.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (2)
White-collar crime may be defined as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his/her occupation.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (3)
Two things characterize white-collar crime: it is occupationally related and the economic deviant is a relatively respectable, high status person ranging from a manager and an executive to a wage earner who wears good clothes at work.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (4)
The commission of white-collar crime is more than the act itself.
It also involves how the act is executed.
White collars are more likely to commit an offense with skill, with sophistication, or most importantly, with the resources of power, influence or respectability for avoiding detection, prosecution, or conviction.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (5)
White-collar deviance refers to both criminal and non-criminal forms of economic deviance carried out by high status people as part of their occupation for personal gain or on behalf of their corporation.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (6)
There are four general types of corporate deviance:
Deviance against employees
Deviance against customers
Deviance against the government
Deviance against the enviroment
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (7)
There are three reasons for deviance against employees:
Profit maximization
A corporate structure which rewards short-term success only.
Governmental reluctance to take action against offending corporations in health and safety issues
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (8)
The most common forms of corporate deviance against customers is:
Dangerous foods
Unsafe products
Frauds
Deceptive advertising
Antitrust violations
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (9)
The food industry has been known to seek greater profits by selling adulterated or contaminated foods.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (10)
An national supplier has taken stale meat returned by its retail-store customers and then "reconditioned," repackaged and resold it for a higher profit to other stores without the legally required re-inspection by the US Department of Agriculture.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (11)
It has become customary for the food industry to use all kinds of additives in its products, many of which have been suspected as a cause of cancer and other diseases. The purpose is not only to keep the foods from spoiling, but to make them look fresh and appealing as well as give them the right taste and aroma.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (12)
The profit motive also underlies the manufacturing and selling of unsafe products by the car, drug, tobacco and other industries.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (13)
Dealing in unsafe products also appears frequently in the pharmaceutical industry.
Sale of impure, over-strength, out-of-date or non-sterile products
Falsification of clinical data
Withholding data from the FDA about a drug’s negative side effects
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (14)
Fraudulent practices can be found in various industries such as banking, insurance, real estate and securities.
CRIME AS DEVIANT: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (15)
Frauds can be divided into three types:
Illegal non-banking activities—violating banking laws by engaging in unsafe practices such as concentrating investment in one high-risk area, say construction loans, without having conducted any marketability study
Collective embezzlement—stealing depositors’ money (the best way to rob a bank is to own one)
Falsifying records to make the institutions look normal or financially healthy
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED CRIME (16)
The most common insurance frauds include phony assets and small-business scams such as those which have existed in the Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement.
There is no federal agency which polices the insurance industry.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (17)
Deceptive Advertising:
Most advertising is an exaggerated claim for a product (which is not illegal)
Some advertising is false with serious consequences for the consumer
For illegal advertising, the company is not subject to punishment. They need only to stop the advertising.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (18)
Antitrust Violations:
Antitrust laws prohibit companies from conspiring to reduce or eliminate competition.
If there is little or no competition, prices will go up and consumers will have no choice but to pay them.
To violate the antitrust laws, companies selling the same kind of products-usually get together to fix prices that are abnormally high
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (19)
Some times corporations prevent new competition from entering the market.
Visa and MasterCard tried to bar banks from issuing American Express and Discover cards.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE (20)
Antitrust violations can be found in the baby-food industry.
The three largest producers agreed on a formula-industry code of practice that prohibits consumer advertising.
This kept the prices high and inhibited new companies from entering the market.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II
Deviance against the government
Most corporate deviance against the government involves tax evasion.
Tax evasion by corporations is not always illegal.
Large corporations can legally evade taxes through tax breaks provided by legislation and through tax loopholes made possible by the complexity of tax laws
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (2)
One law exempts from taxation Profit made by US companies located abroad. Some companies set up corporations in foreign countries that have very low corporate tax rates and then make it appear that most of their profits are earned abroad.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (3)
Corporations also give large sums of campaign donations to both political parties to influence legislation towards their business interests.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (4)
Most of the illegal activities engaged in by US companies involve giving bribes worth millions of dollars to foreign officials.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (5)
Most corporations in one way or another dump their wastes onto the land and into the air and water.
According to the US Congress, corporations in the petrochemical, metals, electrical and transportation industries are the more severe polluters of the environment.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (6)
Residents in poor or minority neighborhoods suffer significantly more than others because landfills, garbage incinerators, toxic dump sites, and environmentally plants tend to be located near the homes of the poor and minorities.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (7)
Industry and insurance companies have been advocating that all the cleanup costs be paid for through taxation. The argument is that the general public should help pay for the cleanup because it has enjoyed many products of the industry.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (8)
"It could probably be shown with facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress." (Mark Twain)
Governmental deviance falls into three categories:
Political corruption
Election improprieties
Official violence
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II
(9)Outright bribery is not common in U.S. politics; however, kickbacks, abusive management of public funds and abusing the frank—the privilege of sending mail free—are common.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED CRIME II (10)
The officials in charge of purchasing goods and services for the government many times allow businesses to send the government outrageous bills from which they receive a pay-off.
The government is billed for work that was never done or for materials that were never delivered.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED CRIME II (11)
City or state treasures can be tempted to misuse the millions of dollars of city and/or state money for personal gain.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED CRIME II (12)
In deciding which bank to deposit government funds, an official may base his/her decision on whether it will profit him/herself financially and politically.
They may choose a bank of which he/she is a shareholder or a bank that will give family member or business associated loans at low interest rates of use a bank that has promised to contribute substantially to a political campaign.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED CRIME II (13)
The Founding Fathers intended the frank to be for official use only name for answering letter of constituents; however, members of Congress turn the franking system into a taxpayer supported propaganda machine for their re-election campaigns.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (14)
Election Improprieties include:
Political dirty tricks: spreading rumors, sending hecklers to an opponents rally, defacing billboards, stealing the opponent’s campaign mail and the "telephone sleaze"
Campaign finance abuse: the return of favors for large contributions, the buying and selling of political favors and use of campaign funds for personal obligations.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE II (15)
Government officials neutralize deviance by:
Denying the obvious
Ignoring the deviance through failure to reply or evasive responses
Accusing the accuser
Promising to take action but not carrying it out
Justifying the deviance as necessary for the greater good
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III
Compared with the offenses committed by corporations, those perpetrated by individual white-collar employees for their own gain are usually less costly to the victims.
They still, however, cost considerably more than the common crimes committed by the underprivileged.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (2)
Occupational Deviance includes:
Employee theft
Embezzlement
Financial frauds
Computer crimes
Professional deviance
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (3)
Theft by employees from the companies where they work is extremely common and costly. Companies lose about 2% of sales every year or about $120 billion from employee theft.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (4)
Because of employee theft, more than a thousand businesses go under every year.
Other businesses pass the cost of employee theft on to consumers in price increases.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED CRIME III (5)
Most employee thieves are middle class.
They are predominantly solid respectable citizens who pay taxes.
For the most part they believe in the virtues of hard work and honesty.
They are upset by the thought of welfare chiselers and street hoodlums.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (6)
Employee theft has much to do with large and impersonal corporations.
To the employee thief, stealing from a large and impersonal company is like stealing from nobody.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (7)
A society with a tradition of union-management conflict tends to have a high incidence of employee theft, because worker feel exploited by and resentful toward the company.
Employee theft becomes an expression of the workers’ desire to get back at the company.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (8)
Workers may steal if they find their jobs too boring.
Employee thieves who steal for the satisfaction of getting away with it outnumber those who steal for money or on impulse.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (9)
Employee thieves do not see themselves as criminals.
The non-criminal self-image receives reinforcement from the stereotypes of real criminals as those who commit street crimes.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (10)
Embezzlement is a form of employee theft but the term is often used to refer to the stealing of money while "employee theft" usually denotes stealing merchandise.
Many low-level employees who embezzle are middle-class bank tellers who occasionally steal several hundred dollars to solve some financial problems.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (11)
Management embezzlers usually go through three phases:
They encounter what they perceive to be an unshareable financial problem.
In the second phase, the individuals become aware of an opportunity for secretly solving the financial problem.
In the final, third phase, they rationalize away the criminal nature of embezzlement, defining the act as merely getting a temporary loan rather than as committing a theft.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (12)
The most common form of financial frauds involves the failure to pay income taxes.
A major reason is the complexity of income tax laws
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (13)
There is a wide range of deviant acts that are considered computer crimes including electronic embezzlement, online financial theft, computer hacking, internet vandalism, dissemination of computer viruses, electronic spying, phone phreaking and Internet pornography. The most common crimes are online theft and fraud.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (14)
Professional deviance usually falls into three categories:
Medical misconduct
Lawyer abuse
Accounting abuse
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (15)
Medical misconduct usually comes in three different areas:
Fee splitting which usually involves a doctor receiving kickbacks from another for referring patients
Unnecessary surgery which usually is the desire for maximum profits rather than honest misdiagnosis
Fraudulently claiming payment for services not given (usually insurance companies and state and federal government)
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (16)
Most legal abuse comes from overcharging clients.
A lawyer can intentionally delay the resolution of a case so as to have more court appearances and charge the client.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (17)
Accounting abuse usually comes in the form of falsifying tax information or in making a company look financially sound when it is actually almost bankrupt.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (18)
White-collar deviance is distinguishable from common crime in the rational execution of the offense to maximize profit along with the use of power, influence or respectability to minimize detection
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (19)
White-collar deviants typically see themselves as respectable individuals rather than as common criminals.
The self-image plays an important part of the perpetration of various white-collar crime.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (20)
In contrast to crimes such as murder, robbery or rape, white-collar crime requires an unwitting cooperation from its victims.
This cooperation is unwitting because it is based on the victim’s carelessness or ignorance.
Most victims would find it difficult to know that they were being victimized even if they were trying to find out.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (21)
Little effort is made to catch white-collar deviants and if they are caught they seldom go to jail.
CRIME AS DEVIANCE: PRIVILEGED DEVIANCE III (22)
Most white-collar crime is caused by fear of loss and greed for gain: the benefit of high position and power: weak social control in lax law enforcement
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE
Who is more likely to kill?
The most striking thing about killers I that they are mostly poor.
Since blacks are generally poorer than whites, they are more likely than whites to commit homicide.
Large cities have more killings than smaller cities.
Men are more likely than women to kill and teenagers more like than adults.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED IN PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (2)
Class and Race:
90% of the murderers in the U.S. are semi-skilled workers, unskilled laborers, and welfare recipients.
Poverty is one of the largest factors in homicide.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (3)
Compared with people of the higher classes, the poor are more likely to have financial, marital, and other stressful problems, which in turn tend to cause interpersonal conflict.
The poor also tend more to resort to physical violence as a way of dealing with interpersonal conflict.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (4)
The African-American higher rate of homicide simply reflects their higher rate of poverty, which, along with racial discrimination, generates greater frustration and alienation.
Most killings are intra-racial, with whites tending to kill whites and blacks tending to kill blacks.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (5)
Regions, large cities and rural areas
:The southern region has the highest murder rate, the western region has the next highest rate, and the northeastern and midwestern states have the lowest rate.
The dispersion of people in rural areas (as contrasted with the congestion of people in most cities) reduces community integration, thereby forcing family members, friends, and acquaintances to spend too much time with each other. This enhances the opportunity for violent disruption in primary relationships
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (6)
A large city size encourages homicides by reducing community integration.
City size diminishes community integration via population heterogeneity.
Rural areas reduce integration by population dispersion.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (7)
Gender and Age:
Men are more likely to kill than women because men are far more concerned about defending their manhood. Most killings involve men killing other men.
Men who kill their wives or girlfriends do so mostly because they have persistently tried to kill their victims in an abusive relationship.
The killing is the culmination of a long series of physically violent acts perpetrated by men against their female victims.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (8)
Females who kill are more likely to kill someone of the opposite sex.
Women kill for very different reasons than men kill.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (9)
Women rarely kill in response to their husband’s infidelity . Most women tend to kill a a desperate attempt to get out of an abusive relationship.
Women tend to kill more basically for self-preservation or in self-defense.
Violence by women, then, is primarily defensive, in contrast to violence by men which is distinctly offensive.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (10)
When older people are in violent confrontations with younger people, the older person is more probably going to be the one who is killed.
Younger people tend to be more impulsive and tend to kill more quickly.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (11)
Most murders are committed in the heat of passion, and there does seem to be some, relatively weak, connections between the season of the years and murder.
Homicide increases slightly during the hot late spring and summer months peaking in July and August.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (12)
Sociologists explain this phenomena by the association of potential killers and victims who are relatives, friends, and acquaintances (rather than strangers) tend most to get together and drink in public places such as restaurants and taverns.
Homicide decreases during the cool autumn and early spring and even more during the winter months of January and February.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (13)
Homicide peaks again in December because it’s a holiday season and it brings together the kinds of people who are more likely to get involved in homicide.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (14)
Homicide occurs most frequently during the weekend evenings, particularly on Saturday night.
Weekend killings are more apt to include family member than the homicides occurring during the week.
Weekday homicides tend more to involve strangers.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (15)
Murders in the middle and upper classes are more likely to be calculative or premeditated.
Lower-class killings are more likely to be carried out in a burst of rage, usually after heavy drinking.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE (16)
Men are as likely to commit murder in and outside the home.
Women are far more likely to kill at home than outside it.
A bedroom is a more dangerous place for women than for men, as women are more frequently killed there by their husbands and boyfriends.
Sociologists think that perhaps men have been socially conditioned to use the bedroom as a place for demonstrating their "manliness" and end up using it as a place for physically subjugating a woman to death
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II
Most killings are carried out against family members, friends or acquaintances.
Homicide is the least likely to involve strangers.
Ordinarily, killing requires a great deal of emotion. It is more difficult to kill a stranger about whom we don’t have much feeling unless we are a professional killer.
In at least one out of four homicides, the victim has first attacked the subsequent slayer and such a murder has been call victim-precipitated homicide.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (2)
Mass murders and serial murders are extremely rare.
Some mass murderers are trying to get even with people that they feel have wronged them.
Some kill family because of feelings of alienation, helplessness, depression, and usually aided by abuse of drugs and alcohol.
Some are pseudo-commandos who lash out at an unjust or evil world.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (3)
The mass killer appears to be extraordinarily ordinary.
He is indistinguishable from everyone else.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (4)
Religious beliefs have, at times, sparked deviant behavior which included physical violence.
In Western society, religious beliefs are not criminal but they may be deviant.
If a religious belief becomes the basis for illegal behavior, than the participant in that behavior may be arrested such as the Branch Davidians, the remnants of Jim Jones’s Peoples Church and the Muslim terrorists.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (5)
Because religion invokes divine sanction, it lends to its believers and adherents a special aura of righteousness, an absolute righteousness that dictates that the heretic is not only wrong but unholy, unclean and defiling.
The heretic is a threat to "godliness" and worthy of annihilation
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (6)
According to the sociological view, it is the task of every religion to create a worldview, construct a "sacred canopy," carve an encampment of "meaning…out of a vast mass of meaninglessness, a small clearing of lucidity in the formless, dark, always ominous jungle.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (7)
If religion really was created to alleviate the terror that comes with the awareness of meaninglessness, then any threat to a society’s religion generates that self-same terror.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (8)
Most humans want their religions to comfort them and are most comforted by being told that their beliefs have an eternal, inevitable, cosmic quality.
Sociologically, religious beliefs must be clothed in an aura of sacredness.
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (9)
Humans want to hold religious beliefs because they are true and valid—not because they make people feel better and help hold the society together.
The socially constructed character of religion must be wrapped in certitude and absolutism—given a cosmic status
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY VIOLENCE II (10)
Religion must be sacred and convince its adherents that it is sacred.
Any challenge to established religion must be seen as a challenge to the cosmos itself
Enemies of an established religion must be demonized because they threaten to "unmask" the very foundation of society, the bedrock on which all social life rests
DEVIANCY AS EXPRESSED BY PHYSICAL VIOLENCE II (11)
The enemies of established religion announce that the whole enterprise on which one’s beliefs rest is a lie.
Hence the fury and bitterness of the many religious conflicts in which we humans have participated over the centuries
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE
WARM BLOODED MURDER
Most killings are carried out against family members, friends, or acquaintances rather than strangers.
Since killing requires a great deal of emotion, it may be more difficult to kill a stranger about whom we don’t have much emotion.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (2)
In one out of four homicides, the victim has first attacked the subsequent slayer and such murder has been called a victim-precipitated homicide
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (3)
Because they provoke another person to kill them Wolfgang assumes that these self-precipitated murder victims may have secretly wanted to kill themselves.
If this theory is correct, why do they not just kill themselves?
Some theorists feel that these "victims" have been influenced by what may be considered a culture of showy masculinity, which is typical of a sexist society.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (4)
The culture encourages males to show off their toughness, to act like a "man" and avoid "sissy" cowardice
.They, instead, display masculine bravado by making an assault on another person who is secretly designed for their own annihilation.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (5)
TRIVIAL AGRUMENT HOMICIDES
Ordinary quarrels, which often seem to be over nothing, are the most common reason for poor people to kill
Murder appears to be a quick and effective way for the poor to win and argument.
Middle-class people usually use a much less drastic means, such as verbal or intellectual ability to settle an argument.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (6)
The poor seem to suffer from a lack of verbal and intellectual ability; therefore, they more often resort to physical strength to end an argument.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (7)
Although most of these "homicidal" arguments seem trivial to the middle class, the same arguments are apparently taken by poor males as reasons for defending their dignity or honor as men
An explanation can be found in the economic and social oppression of the poor. His dignity as a man and as a human being has been significantly diminished by the frustrating and humiliating forces in his life
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (8)
Most of these kinds of homicides are termed character contests
VIIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (9)
HOMICIDE AS AN ADJUNCT TO SUICIDE
The first type of this kind of homicide are those who first kill another person and then finish themselves off.
Most of these kinds of killers are males who are severely depressed, violent, and jealous
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (10)
The homicide-suicide is seen as "normal" by some sociologists and "abnormal" by psychologists.
According to the sociological view the murder-suicide is normal because after killing the loved one, the killer is able to feel remorse for doing such a horrible thing which causes his own suicide
VIOILENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (11)
The murder-suicide is considered abnormal or psychotic in that instead of feeling remorse, the offender anticipates a reunion with the victim in the other world and kills himself in order to achieve that goal
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMIDICE (12)
Phillips (1981) determined that there was also a kind of homicide-suicide that resembled the victim-precipitated murder in that the perpetrators conceal their suicidal wishes.
They disguise their homicide-suicide as an accident to protect their survivors from insurance problems and from "social stigma."
A bus-driver with passengers on board might deliberately crash the bus but make it appear as an accident.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (13)
Mass murder involves killing a number of people at about the same time and place
It usually ends with the murdered dying at the scene of the murders
The murder’s death results from either committing suicide or forcing the police to take lethal action
Most mass murders are not mentally ill; instead he/she appears to be extraordinarily ordinary. He/she is indistinguishable from everyone else
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (14)
Some mass murders are disgruntled employees who want to get even with their boss who has wronged them in some way; however, they usually kill other people as well in the process.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE (15)
Other mass murders are heads of family who kill their wives and children after having long felt alone, alienated, and depressed usually aggravated by heavy drinking
Some mass murders are pseudocommandos who turn their home into an arsenal and then lash out at what they consider to be an unjust or evil world.
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Some mass murders work as a team under the direction of a charismatic leader such as Jim Jones or Osma Bin Ladden
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II
Slightly more common than mass murder is serial murder, which involves killing a number of people one at a time
In a study of serial killers, only 16% attended college and only 4% had actually graduated with a degree
The majority had "blue-collar" jobs
Most did, however, possess a lot of cunning and were skillful in presenting themselves as friendly and trustworthy
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Most serial killers are white males in the late twenties or early thirties
Serial killers are most likely to kill strangers
Serial killers are harder to catch in that they are more elusive and accomplished at what they do
Many serial killers have a childhood with incidents of torturing cats and dogs for the thrill of watching them suffer
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (3)
Most serial killers have been subjected to a lot of physical and emotional abuse by their parents
Most sociologists think that this history apparently taught the killer to become incapable of feeling remorse or guilt for hurting others
The motive behind most serial murders in a desire for power and sadism
The vast majority of serial killers are not determined to be mentally ill
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (4)
School violence is most often caused by:
Availability of guns
Glamorization of violence by the media
Culture of violence where force is an acceptable method for settling interpersonal conflict
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (5)
Stalking is pursuing someone in a way that creates the fear of being assaulted or killed
Stalkers usually kill the victim if they are not interrupted
Most victims are stalked an average of 2 years
Most stalkers know their victims and were usually ex-intimates
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (6)
Hate-Motivated Violence:
Hate crimes are relatively rare but receive much attention
African Americans and gay Americans are more likely than any other group to be victims of hate homicide
VIOILENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (7)
Hate-motivated violence is targeted not only at the particular victim but also at all the other members of that person’s group
Hate-motivated killers are also more likely than perpetrators of other, less serious hate crimes to have joined an organized hate group
Membership in such a group assures them that they are not alone in their bigotry. They are more likely to feel bolder and more willing to take risks when encouraged by the group to attack the victim of their hate
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (8)
Fox and Levin found the hate killers can be divided into three types:
Thrill hate killers who are seized with the idea of going out together to look for someone to attack. These perpetrators are marginalized and alienated youth who feel powerful and important from the attacks.
Defensive hate killers who feel the need to defend what they consider to be their birthright from the offending group
Mission hate killers seek to destroy all members of a hated group, so they kill indiscriminately
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (9)
If mission hate killers turn out to be political leaders of a state, they are able to carry out their mission by committing genocide.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II
The victims of genocide are killed not for what they have done, but for who they are
They are no seen as individuals but as members of stigmatized category of people who are perceived as deserving to be killed
The perpetrators of genocide are usually not identified as being abnormal or psychopathic
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II
The theories of genocide include the concepts that:
There is a large physical and psychological separation between perpetrators and victims
There is a de-humanization of the victims who are treated as objects rather than persons
There is a syndrome of "obedience to authority"
There is an ability to dissociate their normal selves from the insanity of mass killing
There is a base in power—the more power a government has, the more able and willing it is to kill on a massive scale
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (12)
Two sociological theories are the main basis for explaining homicide:
External restraint theory
Subculture of violence theory
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (13)
Andrew Henry and James Short developed the external restraint theory:
They consider suicide and homicide to be the
same—both are acts of aggression resulting from frustration
Intensely frustrated people would choose self-directed aggression (suicide) if they experience weak external restraint, but would choose other-directed aggression (homicide) if they suffer strong external restraint
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (14)
Strength of external restraint is defined as:
The degree to which behavior is required to conform to the demands and expectations of other persons. People who suffer a great amount of this kind of social control are more inclined toward homicide than suicide because they can legitimately blame others for their frustration
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (15)
Gold extended the theory to include factors that mediate between strong external restraint and murder. The strongest mediating factor is socialization in aggression by physical punishment.
Gold believed that there are two types of socialization in bringing up a child. Physical punishment leads to outward aggression against another person while children psychologically punished turn their aggression against themselves
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (16)
A third variable would be "external attribution of blame" or blaming others rather than oneself for one’s own frustration.
VIOLENCE II CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMICIDE II (17)
Marvin Wolfgang thought that:
A subculture of violence which does not define personal assaults as wrong or antisocial and in which quick resort to physical aggression is a socially approved and expected outcome produces homicides
Other sociologists felt that the subculture of violence does not cause homicide but rather encourages it especially among those frustrated by the structural problems of poverty and inequality
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION
The most conservative estimates have put the average woman’s chance of being raped at 1 in 10.
The overwhelming majority of these women know their rapists.
In an early study of rape cases from Philadelphia police files, Menachem Amir found that most of the rapists were poor.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (2)
Amir also found that blacks were more likely than whites to be both rapists and victims.
He also found that rape was mostly intraracial.
The severe legal penalty against blacks who raped white women
Racial segregation made black women more accessible than white women to those men who expressed their aggression in rape
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (3)
By the 1980s, black-against-white rape had soared to 19 % of all rapes committed by both blacks and whites.
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Wilbanks (1985) proposed that most black-against-white rapes occurred because:
As members of an oppressed minority, some African American men may want to "get even" with the white society by raping its women
The white-dominated society has enshrined the white female as the ideal of sexual attraction.
However, most rapes still involve members of the same race
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (5)
Age is another factor in the relationship between rapists and their victims.
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Females from the age of 1 year all the way up to above the age of 80 are subject to rape.
The age group most vulnerable to rape is 16-20 years old.
In intraracial rapes, offenders are generally somewhat older than their victims.
In interracial rapes, black offenders tend to be younger than their white victims which is usually a matter of availability since many of these rapes occur in the commission of burglary or robbery.
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There is also a situational factor in rape.
The number of rapes tends to increase during the hot summer months and rapes tend to occur on weekends.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (8)
Summer increases the social interaction between potential offender and victim which makes the rape more likely to happen.
The use of alcohol also serves as an excuse for sexual aggression.
Rapes are generally planned.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (9)
Most rapes involve acquaintances, friends, or lovers and the planning largely entails the offender using sweet talk, romantic moves, alcoholic beverages or drugs to induce the woman to have sex.
The rapist "single-mindedly" strives to achieve his aim without paying any attention to the female’s wishes.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (10)
Rapists operate differently if they do not know the victim well or at all.
Offenders tend to choose women who, they believe, are vulnerable.
Mentally challenged females, a sleeping female, an old woman or a young woman under the influence of alcohol or drugs are potential victims.
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Women viewed as submissive or passive are vulnerable.
A woman is said to suggest submissiveness to a potential rapist if she "walks slowly and tentatively, stares at the ground and moves her arms and legs in short, jerky motions."
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Some rapists prefer the too aggressive or domineering women because they feel that the rape "puts her in her place."
Women who project confidence without appearing too aggressive are less subject to rape.
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Perpetrators of gang rapes are mostly adolescents aged 10-19. Most are members of lower-class families and are members of street gangs.
A smaller number of gang rapes take place on college and university campuses. These are done usually when the woman is drunk or high on drugs.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (14)
Some have theorized that gang rape is an expression of latent homosexuality; however, other explanations seem to be more plausible:
Gang rape fulfills a social need more than a sexual desire particularly for younger boys who feel peer pressure to prove that they are not "chicken" or gay
College men may find it hard to resist the pressure to participate because they are afraid of having their masculinity questioned
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In acquaintance rape, the offenders are more likely to use verbal or psychological coercion and are less likely to use guns or knives.
Acquaintance rapists tend more to premeditate only a sexual relation.
Most victims of acquaintance rape blame the rape partly on themselves for being careless or trusting the person too much.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (16)
From a study in 1996, half of the college women surveyed had been sexually assaulted in one way or another and about 15% were forcibly raped by their dates.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (17)
In a survey of college men 8% admitted to engaging in sexual behavior which can be legally defined as rape; however, none of them identified themselves as rapists.
Campus rape may represent an extension of culturally idealized male behavior.
Rape-free societies have a culture that discourages sexual aggression while rape-prone societies have a culture that encourages it.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (18)
Martin and Hummer (1995) concluded from their study that fraternities contribute heavily to campus rape in a number of ways:
The brotherhood norm requires "sticking together."
The emphasizing of maleness over femaleness causing members to devalue women by using them as sex objects
The proving one’s masculinity through sexual conquests even though those conquests have been coerced
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION (19)
Schwartz and Nogrady (1996) found that the excessive use of alcohol and peer pressure toward sexual aggression are prevalent in "independent" men especially the athletes.
Athletes may be more susceptible to the idea of rape since they subscribe even more to the norms and practices of proving the maleness or masculinity.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION II
The Myth of Victim Precipitation
In Amir’s study (1971) of Philadelphia rape cases, he found that 19% were "precipitated" by the victims.
The victim actually—or so it was interpreted by the offender—agreed to sexual relations but retracted before the actual act or did not resist strongly enough when the suggestion was made by the offender.
A common victim behavior that was reported as an invitation to sexual intercourse was a woman agreeing to have a drink or ride with the offender.
The implication was the victim was a much to blame as her offender.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTION II (2)
The concept of a victim-precipitated rape usually reflects a biased male-centered view.
LeGrand (1973) found that hitchhiking and even walking alone at night was considered behavior that encouraged sexual attack.
Kanin (1984) suggested the term "victim contribution" be used in that some of the victims have engaged in some form of advanced intimacy prior to the occurrence of the assault.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION II (3)
If the concept of "victim contribution" is considered than virtually all dating women would contribute to rape because they had engage in some kind of uncoerced intimacy with their dates.
There is a difference between prerape intimacy, which does not involve the use of force and rape itself, which involves the use of force and, therefore, is a crime.
RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION II (4)
One study found that 50% of the young men interviewed considered it acceptable for a man to force a girl to have sexual intercourse when she initially consents but then changes her mind, or when she has sexually excited him.
Shotland and Goodstein (1983) found that 76% of male high school students regard forced sex as acceptable under the above circumstances.
TEST II ENDS HERE