Deviance, Social Control, and Crime Part I

• ​The blueprint for social living, which is a culture’s norms and values, is learned through socialization.

• To act appropriately in any group, a person must understand the underlying social structure.

• The importance of social structure is that it helps people interact, or relate to one another, more smoothly.

• Learning the structure of each group includes learning about statuses and roles, which are major elements of social structure.

​Deviance can help society progress.

•It can challenge people’s current views. 

•For example, participating in a protest that involves marching and showing signs outside of a business that mistreats its workers is a deviation from social norms, but it can bring awareness and improve the situation.

•It can reaffirm social norms through punishment.

•When someone is prosecuted and punished for committing a crime, it helps provide an example for others that crime is not tolerated. 

•It can lead to societal cohesiveness through the “collective consciousness.”

•“A crime is a crime because we condemn it.”

•How would Durkheim respond to the gambling example – is it a crime if we don’t condemn it?

​Social Control

​Social Control is the regulation and enforcement of norms

Social Order is an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society’s members base their daily lives

Sanctions are the means of enforcing rules

Positive Sanctions are rewards given for conforming to norms

Negative Sanctions are punishments for violating the norms Informal Sanctions are sanctions that occur in face-to-face interactions

Formal Sanctions are sanctions that are officially recognized and enforced

Functionalists point out that deviance is a social necessity since it reinforces norms by reminding people of the consequences of violating them. Violating norms can open society’s eyes to injustice in the system

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​Functionlist Theory

​Émile Durkheim: The Essential Nature of Deviance

​Émile Durkheim believed that deviance is a necessary part of a successful society. One way deviance is functional, he argued, is that it challenges people’s present views (1893). For instance, when black students across the United States participated in sit-ins during the civil rights movement, they challenged society’s notions of segregation. Moreover, Durkheim noted, when deviance is punished, it reaffirms currently held social norms, which also contributes to society (1893). Seeing a student given detention for skipping class reminds other high schoolers that playing hooky isn’t allowed and that they, too, could get detention.