Deviance and Crime Ch 7

Are you a deviant? What is a deviant? Deviance can include so many different behaviors. Behaviors in one culture may be seen as a norm but in another culture as a taboo, this makes it hard to establish who is and isn't a deviant world wide. Culture by culture it's easier to see deviant behavior. As defined in the text Sociology the Essentials by M. Anderson and H. Taylor, deviance is behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms. There are different types of deviance. Formal deviance is behavior that breaks laws or rules. Crime is a great example of formal deviance.Informal deviance is behavior that violates customary norms. I chose the picture to the left because it is a perfect example of informal deviance, there is nothing against the law about piercing or tatooing ones body but in some cultures it is seen as an act of deviance. I chose it mostly for the caption "A way to make daddy mad" that is a perfect example of deviance.

There are many theories on deviance including functionalism, conflict, and symbolic theory. All having impacts on society as a whole.

Functionalist theory on deviance is a perspective that interprets all part of society. Some may seem dysfunctional but most functional theorists agree that deviance creates a social cohesion. Emile Durkheim (1938 -1950) works on deviance helped create the functionalist theory. He studied suicide and found that there were three types of suicide, anomie is when social regulation in a society break down, altruistic is where there is excessive regulation of individuals by social forces, egotistic when people feel detached from society.

This is a video on Functionalist Theory, it shows some of the common forms of this theory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU-nWtmXnKE

Conflict theory emphasizes the unequal distribution of power and resources in society, linking deviance with social inequality. The following article explains social inequality among Americans and that's why I choose it. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21235

Survivalist

Anger growing, ever flowing. Crimson heartbeat, quiet slowing. Written words of mortal lies, Leading world to it's demise. Innocence is ever lost, Petty price survival's cost.

Author Unknown
I chose this poem because it is how some deviance is started, people get angry and feel they are being treated unfairly.


Symbolic theory holds people to behave as they do because of the meanings people attribute to there situations. Basically, deviance originates in the interaction between different groups and is defined by society's reaction to certain behaviors.

I chose the links below because they give more insight into Symbolic Theory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_interactionism Wiki's link to the definition of Symbolic Theory
http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/symbolic_interaction.htm Describes Symbolic Theory and how to use it.

Crime is one form of deviance, specifically behavior that violates particular criminal laws. Not all deviance is crime. There are many crimes some include, personal, hate, property, and victimless crimes.

Review Guide
You will find the definitions to the words in this word search in the above text.