Lecture 7 Deviance 02 28 2014 Deviance any transgression of socially established norms related to breaching Crime violation of laws enacted by society Not all deviance is crime but crime is deviant o Laws in cities and municipalities wherein some laws are considered criminal but not deviant Oral sex is illegal in 18 states including Kansas and Utah Illegal in Oregon for men to talk dirty to their wives during intercourse Sexual intercourse between unmarried couples is illegal in Tennessee it is illegal for a lady to call a gentleman for a date o Laws in cities and municipalities wherein some laws are criminal and Georgia deviant Florida it is illegal to have sex with a porcupine Wisconsin it is illegal for a man to shoot of a gun while his female partner is having an orgasm What we call deviant is false in a sense that it is arbitrary Arbitrary in a sense that it is social Any societies that have different norm than us are going to define deviant differently Deviance is socially formed o E g Suicide in some social groups suicide is not deviant Japanese airplane bombers during World War II samurai hara kiri FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE of social cohesion Emil Durkheim s Theory of Deviance and Social Control There are two types o Mechanical solidarity basis of cohesion is sameness shared values and norms A society that is primarily held together by mechanical solidarity have the same values and norms e g Nationalism Punitive Justice punishing crimes that go against the collective conscience going against norms The point is to give a lesson function to reaffirm the shared values and norms that everybody has Punishes to affirm mechanical solidarity e g King would publicly execute traitors Saddam Hussein was killed o Organic solidarity basis of cohesion is difference we all play different parts in the society but you all contribute to the overarching roles Cohesion in society based upon your contribution to society everybody has a particular role to play e g Teachers Doctors Lawyers Restitutory or restitutive justice restoring an equilibrium in society e g when we put criminals into rehabilitation programs Social Control o Formal and social sanctions explicit rules of society reinforced by force like the police and army Lecture 7 Deviance 02 28 2014 o Informal social sanctions unspoken rules of social life not reinforced by force but by subtle cues of society SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE Mental illness as a type of deviance o Individuals who transgresses societies norms we label them as mentally ill This is arbitrary because it is social E g Buddy the Elf insane Elf stuck in New York following elf norms and rules There is no intrinsic thing that constitutes are mental illness even in its medical sense it s arbitrary In medicine our categorical lines and diagnosis are changed over time but they point that deviations are socially flexible product of social forces We take deviant patterns construct arbitrary lines and categorize them as categories of mental illnesses Women and minorities are more prevalent diagnosed with mental illnesses Women in olden times that cried were considered hysterical Kids who act abnormal are considered ADD What is the normal reaction to a tragedy how long are you allowed to be sad before you get diagnosed as depressed Excessive medical categories listed in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders from 60 then to 400 now Labeling Theory People in interactions notice how other people see them or label them and we response with our reactions in reference to those labels Labels stick and can become the basis of self identification and behavior o Rosenthal Experiment they acted normally in a mental institution because they claim that they were hearing voices Regardless of what they did the doctors and nurses still acted as if they were still mentally ill Example of a man labeled as schizophrenic talked about his life in general doctors read schizophrenia in his behavior and claimed that he had ambivalent relationships Primary and Secondary Deviation o Primary Deviation somebody does something deviant but has done it by accident however people think it was done deliberately e g The teacher labels a child of being naughty because he accidentally dropped his juice box o Secondary Deviation the label becomes internalized by the person the person who was initially the label identifies himself with the claim e g The teacher keeps treating the child as naughty so he becomes naughty