Understanding Deviance: A Relative and Constructed Concept, Slides of Criminology

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Deviance is not an inherent quality of an act

 Deviance is relative

◦ Across cultures/societies ◦ Within cultures across time ◦ Across situations

 Symbolic interaction (Weber, Mead, Blumer)

◦ W.I. Thomas: “what we define as real is real in its

consequences”

◦ we mutually define one another's actions and act

on the basis of those definitions

◦ Focus on the definitional process

 Both between labeler and labeled  And historical process

◦ Definitions of Actions  Why do some come to be labeled as deviant?

◦ Moral Entrepreneurs (Howard Becker)  Create categories of deviance  Have some stake in creating the category

 Secondary Deviance (Ed Lemert)

◦ Versus primary deviance

◦ Once labeled, the person internalizes the deviant self-image

◦ Organizes identity

 Stigma (Erving Goffman)

◦ “Spoiled Social Identity”  Based on actions (or physical appearance)  Prevents Positive “Impression Management”  “Courtesy Stigma”

 Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (The

Social Construction of Reality)

◦ Arnold Gehlen: humans must make a world they can inhabit  instinctual deprivation  extended dependency

 Berger & Luckmann: how is social reality

constructed?

◦ Externalization ◦ Objectivation ◦ Internalization ◦ Reification