Group items tagged

Cesare Lombroso

positivist criminology who thought he had isolated specific physiological characteristics of “degeneracy”

James Fallon

lack of brain activity has been linked with specific genetic markers

environment, and not just genes

psychopathy and sociopathy are recognized as problematic forms of deviance because of prevalent social anxieties about serial killers as types of criminal who “live next door” or blend in.

deviance is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores, or codified law

Folkways

Mores

laws are norms that are specified in explicit codes and enforced by government bodies

rime is therefore an act of deviance that breaks not only a norm, but a law. Deviance can be as minor as picking one’s nose in public or as major as committing murder.

Firstly, deviance is defined by its social context. To understand why some acts are deviant and some are not, it is necessary to understand what the context is, what the existing rules are, and how these rules came to be established

Whether an act is deviant or not depends on society’s definition of that act

deviance is not an intrinsic (biological or psychological) attribute of individuals, nor of the acts themselves, but a product of social processes.

moral entrepreneurs

individuals’ deviant status is ascribed to them through social processes

even when these beliefs about kinds of persons are products of objective scientific classification, the institutional context of science and expert knowledge is not independent of societal norms, beliefs, and practices

social control,

organized action intended to change people’s behaviour

maintain social order,

enforcing rules are through sanctions

Positive

Negative

formal or informal

Formal sanctions

Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince (1532),

It was not, however, until the 19th century and the invention of modern institutions like the prison, the public school, the modern army, the asylum, the hospital, and the factory, that the means for extending government and social control widely through the population were developed.

disciplinary social control 

Foucault argues that the ideal of discipline as a means of social control is to render individuals docile.

The chief components of disciplinary social control in modern institutions like the prison and the school are surveillance, normalization, and examination

seeing machine.

rows of desks

one-way glass or video monitors.

normalization

examinations

disciplinary social control as a key mechanism in creating a normalizing society.

One way deviance is functional, he argued, is that it challenges people’s present views

which also contributes to society

crime is most likely to occur in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control.

cial disorganization theor

A person is not born a criminal, but becomes one over time, often based on factors in his or her social environment.

Individuals who believe they are a part of society are less likely to commit crimes against it.

Attachment

Commitment

involvement,

belief,

studies have found that children from disadvantaged communities who attend preschool programs that teach basic social skills are significantly less likely to engage in criminal activity

strain theory

that access to socially acceptable goals plays a part in determining whether a person conforms or deviates.

Critical sociology looks to social and economic factors as the causes of crime and deviance.

but as evidence of inequality in the system.

accommodatio

consensus crimes

Conflict crime

Social deviations

The second sociological insight

secondary victimization

Women who are regarded as criminally deviant are often seen as being  doubly deviant. They have broken the laws but they have also broken gender norms about appropriate female behaviour, whereas men’s criminal behaviour is seen as consistent with their aggressive, self-assertive character

medicalize

n part the gender difference revolves around patriarchal attitudes toward women and the disregard for matters considered to be of a private or domestic nature

1970s, women worked to change the criminal justice system and establish rape crisis centres and battered women’s shelters, bringing attention to domestic violence.

Interestingly women and men report similar rates of spousal violence

more a result of differential socialization processes.

Labelling Theory

Labelling theory examines the ascribing of a deviant behaviour to another person by members of society.

not so much by the behaviours themselves or the people who commit them, but by the reactions of others to these behaviours.

Secondary deviance can be so strong that it bestows a master status on an individual

Primary deviance is a violation of norms that does not result in any long-term effects on the individual’s self-image or interactions with others

Secondary deviance occurs when a person’s self-concept and behaviour begin to change after his or her actions are labelled as deviant by members of society.

The criminal justice system is ironically one of the primary agencies of socialization into the criminal “career path.”

governments,

media

family

Durkheim argued that deviance, especially extreme forms are functional in that they challenge and offend the established norms in the larger collective conscience.

deviance reaffirms norms when the deviants are punished;

promotes solidarit

clear contrasting point of comparison

stimulates social change.

Extreme deviance does make us consider “normal” behavior on the personal and larger social level.

But, what if this distribution was not an indicat8ion of test scores, but rather the frequency of times potential roommates stole food from the private stashes of previous roommates? You’d clearly want a score closer to 0 than 80.

s homosexuality deviant or normal?”

ethnocentrism tends to burn cross-cultural bridges

shifting values.

ontributed to higher or lower levels of trust over time.

The point of this story is that in most social groups a beat down would be considered deviant. In a gang it’s very much normal. Yet, in this situation, not beating him down was deviant within his gang, yet a wise choice.

Absolutist Perspective claims that deviance resides in the very nature of an act and is wrong at all times and in all places.

Normative Perspective claims that deviance is only a violation of a specific group's or society's rules at a specific point in time

Reactive Perspective claims that behavior does not become deviant unless it is disapproved of by those in authority (laws

Stigma

Conformity

“random act of senseless kindness”

legal and normal

complies with group norms yet breaks the law, it’s called crime.

normal crime.

iolates norms and breaks the law, then it’s Deviant and Criminal behavior

issues of power and powerlessness. It’s about who has the power and how they attempt to force their values and rules upon those who don’t have it.

remember that Anomie is a state of social normlessness which occurs when our lives or society has vague norms)

disproportionately high level of non-whites who ended up among the 2006 1,570,861 incarcerated members of society

Labeling Theory claims

majority of US prisoners have been in prison before (perhaps 60-80%

Phrenology is an outdated scientific approach of studying the shape and characteristics of the skull.

White-Collar Crimes are crimes committed by persons of respectable and high social status committed in the course of their occupations.

Street Crimes are crimes

Organized Crime

Hate Crimes

Norm is a set of expected behaviors for a given role and social status.

Look at the diagram below.

Is a mean of 80 good or desirable?

Values also vary between groups

An absolutists would probably fall among the 1 in 4 who feel that abortion is always wrong, because it is an unacceptable act. A normative individual would consider the circumstances (rape, incest, diagnoses, or health of mother) while a reactive would consider the legality of abortion.

Attachments

Commitment

Involvement

Belief

Negative Sanctions are punishments or negative reactions toward deviance. Positive Sanctions are rewards for conforming behavior

Table 5. Robert Merton’s Five Goal—Means Gap Coping Strategies*** 1.

Each individual is born into a socially-organized network that both teaches and requires behavior and conforming beliefs

most part, individuals do not feel or recognize these coercive forces, and may attribute their choices and beliefs to internal processes

oercive influence of social organization on our morality and behavior both by describing what we are born into

e external is necessarily primary to the existence of an individual belief

born into familie

onstrained in every respect by the organization of law

ustoms of the societies in which we live. The businessman who tries to conduct business outside of the organized economy will fail

ules a

eligious leaders teach us what to believe and what to think about right and wrong

4Similarly, the lack of strongly aligned family structures or political structure signals a dangerous lack of integration.

challenges the view held by psychologists of his time, who maintained that suicide could be explained by individual psychological characteristic

This pursuit of knowledge, however, is not the cause of suicide rates to rise. Rather, it signals a lack of integration of the religious society’s norms and values.

belongs to a weakly cohesive society, and experiences a change in regulation, usually during a period of rapid change or crisis.

or a choice

s he describes, for society to regulate individuals’ cohesion into the society, “the passions first must be limited” (248). This is usually done with an establishment of social codes, laws and rules.

Anomic suicide

either integrated nor regulate

e wants sociology to be more scientific and move from the realm of subjectivity to objectivity

primacy of the “social fact.

Anomic Suicide

incessant communication

does not lead to intellectual growth, but rather to a stunting of genuine intellectual development

solipsistic,

"being online" can contribute to hyper-individualism and a sense of unearned celebrity,

ubiquitous

requires literacy

Human society has experienced three profound social, economic, and cultural transformations—the agrarian revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and now the electronic revolution.

we can blend the best of our traditional intellectual linear culture—Socrates' wisdom of the 5th century BCE—with the current digital culture, creating a new learning and intellectual environment consistent with the cognitive and expressive demands of the 21st century.

Technical fixes to our outdated educational system are likely to be inadequate.

Critical reflection enables us to see the world from multiple points of view and imagine alternate outcomes

Thinking empirically is a form of social responsibility

education has taken on the role of dispensing "cultural capital" to individuals on the basis of a merit system that is a camouflaged proxy for social class and social position.

real basis of teamwork is the willingness to think collectively to solve common problems

that all knowledge is social.

When we think about thinking, we turn our mental pictures around ever so slowly to view them from different angles

multiple frames of reference

where knowledge creation is fluid, fast, and far more democratic.

we will incorporate a whole array of technological options into how, when, and where we learn. We will cease to think of technology as something that has its own identity, but rather as an extension of our minds, in much the same way that books extend our minds without a lot of fanfar

answers were always steps on the way to deeper questions.

Current high school dropout rates clearly indicate that our standardized testing regime and outdated curriculums are wasting the potential of our youth

f we stop thinking of schools as buildings and start thinking of learning as occurring in many different places, we will free ourselves from the conventional education model that still dominates our thinking.

"personal learning network,"

Even thoug

but many questions still remain. "What am I going to do with my life," and "Should I go to college or take a job."

There are many factors involved in a teenager forming that self-image or self-ideal.

rough adolescen

inherited traits

two ways

Families account for one of the largest areas of impact

structure and content of the values espoused by the family

young person may reject all or part of the parental value system

look around to replace it with one of their own

physical traits of the individual

Do they consider themselves too short or fat?

It would appear from autobiographical material, that the adolescent not only is acutely aware of every physical variation from his concept of what is normal or beautiful or handsome, but that is perhaps his most frequent frustration

physical deviation can be of great concern

to any young person

positive or negative

Anywhere that teens spend a large percentage of their time

spiritual life

Social and economic factors, geographic location, rebellion, television, movies, music, radio, books, hobbies, clubs, death of loved ones, divorce, remarriage, heroes, role models, and many more.

many other factors

re they popular, artistic, or athletic.

If they are seen by their peers as

he relationship between the teachers, coaches, and administrative personnel

Relationships with peers

Any group that teens belong, or adhere to, will affect their development of identity

Music training enhances a brain function that dies away.  Studies show that early experiences of childhood determine which brain cells (neurons) will connect with other brain cells, and which ones will die away. Because neural connections are responsible for all types of intelligence, a child’s brain develops to its full potential only with exposure to the necessary music enriching experiences in early childhood. (Music Beats Computers at Enhancing Early Childhood Development, American Music Conference via PR NEWSWIRE: Neurological Research, February 1997)

Music achieves non-musical positive effects.  It has been shown that children develop faster socially, mentally, and even physically when exposed to music in their early childhood. "Thus, it appears that music studied for good and sufficient reasons for its own sake has beneficial ‘side effects’ on cognition." (Rausher, F.H.,Shaw G.I., Levine, L.J., Ky, K.N. & Wright, E.I. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Los Angeles, CA., August 13, 1994.)

here are layers of social stratification in every society

here are the "haves" who coexist with the masses or "Have nots."

he PRB uses a measure of relative economic well being called the GNI PPP. The GNI PPP is the gross national income of a country converted to international dollars using a factor called the purchasing power parity.

That means the stratification difference between the world's top five countries is over 149 times higher than the bottom 5 countries.

More Developed Nations are nations with comparably higher wealth than most countries of the world including: Western Europe; Canada, United States, Japan, and Australia-these are also called Now Rich Countries.

lso called Now Poor Countries.

The higher the GNI PPP the better off the average person in that country

Females made much less income than males in all categories.

In sum, the females with the highest income are married.

Single females reported the lowest income

Basically, the higher the education, the higher the annual income in 2007.

Official data begin to tell you the story about how the layers look in a society.

difficulty sharing with peers, prefers adult company, and uses adult language

oldest child

authoritarian and feel power is their right but can become helpful if encouraged.

lpful if en

turn to the father for reassurance after the birth of the next child.

second child

overtake the older child, which leads to rivalry.

more competitive

rebel or try to outdo everyone

the middle child may be even-tempered, assuming a “take it or leave it” attitude

trouble finding a place and thus become a fighter of injustice

youngest is frequently spoiled and may never be dethroned of their place as the baby of the family

ig plans fueled by the desire to outdo the others

Adler did document exceptions

birth order is sometimes not a major influence on personality development and that the child's opinion of himself and his situation determines his choice of attitude

mélange of two distinct sciences: sociology and psychology

Like all sciences, social psychology searches for concrete proof before belief

“the biologizing of human beings is not only bad humanism, but also bad science.”

study at Ohio State University conducted in the winter of 2001 showed that birth order affects career interests. In the Journal of Career Assessment, researchers noted that only children and first born children tended to have more cognitive and analytical interests, while those later-born were more artistic and outdoors oriented.

twenty-five types of marriages according to birth order

most common marital relationship is between an only child and a second child, and it has a fairly high rate of success, while first born-first born relationships seem to rarely happen. Firstborns are less likely to connect romantically.

seems to have no scientific proof

influence of being the first born of a specific gender, the influence of changing family dynamics, and the potential for methodical pitfalls in birth order research interest not only studies on birth order, but the research of many other social trends.

Dating relationships begin much earlier than adults realize. 47% of tweens and 37% of 11 and 12-year olds say they've been in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. 72% say dating relationships begin by age 14. Nearly one-third of tweens and parents say sexual activity is a part of tween dating relationships. Specifically, the percentage of tweens and parents identified below acknowledge the following acts as part of a dating relationship: Touching and feeling up - 37% of tweens and 31% of parents Oral sex - 27% of tweens and 26% of parents Sexual intercourse - 28% of tweens and 26% of parents Tweens in relationships report sexual activity among their peer group. 47% know a friend or someone their age who has touched and felt up a partner. 31% know a friend or peer who has had oral sex. 33% know a friend or peer who has had sexual intercourse. Parents continue to believe 'it's not my child.' Of the parents who say that sex is part of a tween relationship: 59% know that their child has kissed a boyfriend or girlfriend. 17% know their child has made out with a partner. Only 7% say their child has gone further than kissing or making out. The "Tween and Teen Dating Violence and Abuse Study" was conducted January 2-18, 2008 by TRU (Teenage Research Unlimited) and the survey's findings were released July 8, 2008. Suggested ReadingTween DatingTeen Dating, Sex and RelationshipsRelating to Your Tween Related ArticlesFacts on Tween Dating Abuse and Violence - Statistics on Tweens and Dating ...Kids, Dating and Safety - What Parents Should Know About Kids, Dating and K...Tweens - Understanding Today's TweensSingle Parent Dating - Before You Start Single Parent DatingGrandparents Rights in Oregon - Grandparents Rights by State Linda LowenWomen's Issues GuideSign up for my NewsletterMy BlogMy Forum Advertisement Issues Ads Dating Women Online Dating Dating Tips Dating Chat Rooms Dating Girl

What the sociological imagination does is provide a way of thinking through and understanding social life, of how the inner lives of each of us as individuals are conditioned by social forces,

the imagination is also a ‘terrible’ realisation as it shows that our fate is largely something that is done to us, regardless of our choices.

He argues that every age has a common intellectual denominato

Consciously and unconsciously, social policy, sociology, emerging nationalisms, encouraged the view that relations between human beings were essentially an extension of the evolutionary struggle each and every species wages in the natural worl

Economists are forced to acknowledge the social dimension outside of their equations to explain the crash of 2008

sociological imagination is the habit of mind par excellence sociology as a discipline is stuck on the doldrums

full 65 percent of people went all the way.

Until they emerged from the lab, the participants didn’t know that the shocks weren’t real,

It’s a phenomenon that’s been used to explain atrocities from the Holocaust to the Vietnam War’s My Lai massacre to the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

one of the most famous experiments of the 20th century.

It’s inspired songs by Peter Gabriel (lyrics: “We do what we’re told/We do what we’re told/Told to do”