Saturday, April 15, 2006
3:21 PM
Here goes...Summary of Deviance
Im gonna try and summarize deviance as far as possible without looking at my notes (as a test to myself on how much i have understood)
Deviance, by definition, is an act/person/condition that violates the norms of society. It offends the conscience collective and the extent of hurt signifies whether the act/person is different, deviant or criminal.
Durkheim mentions that the expression of Crime and Deviance is a result of deregulation in society as it transitions from mechanical to organic solidarity.This deregulation is brought about by a state of anomie in which there is a disjuncture between the internalization of cultural goals and the attainability of those goals due to structural incompatibities in terms of class, race, gender, ethnicity etc Robert Merton developed the Strain Theory whereby people suffer from 'illness of insatiable desires and infinite aspirations' hence express themselves in the form of C & D. He developed the idea that people commit deviance in 4 adaptations - innovator, ritualist, retreatist and rebel. However, a problem of this theory is that there is a time lag between the motivation and the actual action of committing deviance.
Sutherland fills in this gap with Differential Association which simply means the individual goes through a process of learning before he can become a 'professional'. The prison is a university of crime coz 1st time offenders learn the ways during their stay in prison from others. Albert Cohen extends this by saying that individuals do not learn in individualized and atomized ways but rather in intimate and personal groups which he termed as subcultures. The formation of subcultures is due to the incompatibility of structural realities with middle class institutions, values and socialization and hence create an alternative value system which presents an inversion of middle class values. However, Cloward and Ohlin argues that Cohen over emphasized on working class members and that all structural realities need to be taken into account. Differential Access in Illegitimate Societies explains that when u have the motivation to cross over into illegitimate society after falling out from legitimate societies, structural realities decide ur placement in Criminal, Conflict or Retreatist Subcultures.
The problem with functionalist theorists is that they are conservative and problematize deviant motivation. The labelling tradition and Marxists are more radical in the sense that they problematize social order ie social control constructs deviance and hence destabalise social order. Labelling theorists like Howard Becker explain that deviance is a conferred status and not an inherent condition and that labelling constitutes power relations. Labelling is two way because of the Insider and Outsider Perspective and the creation of a stigma contest between the labelled and the labellers. David Matza theorizes the Techniques of Neutralization where deviants/criminals deny responsibility, injury and victim, as well as appeal to higher loyalty and condemn condemners. He also explained the Delinquency Drift where individuals oscalate between legitimate and illegitimate societies and indulge in subterranean values. Edwin Lemert extends the concept of Primary and Secondary Deviation and Retrospective Re-interpretation.
Marxists argue that social classes play a very important role in the system of economic relationship within the mode of production. Our ideas of C&D corresponds with the smooth operations of capitalism. These ideas are reinforced by the ideological state apparatus (sch, media, family) and the coercive state apparatus (Criminal Justice System). Hence, deviant acts are defined by the capitalists against the proletariats and the actions which hinder the progress and goals of capitalism.
Power governs and define deviance and this. With the state at the helm of power, the creation of urban legends and moral panics is a conspiracy on the part of the state. State sponsors a moral panic to renew its legitimacy and maintain a particular conception of reality, conjure images of symbolic assailants and wad constitutes order.
There....heh
.sincera fazzy.
