Chapter 8

deviance

behaviors that violate significant social norms.

stigma

a mark of social disgrace that sets the deviant apart from the rest of society.

strain theory

looks at deviance as the natural outgrowth of the values, norms, and structures of society.

labeling theory

focuses on how individuals come to be indentified as deviant. Includes primary and secondary deviance.

degradation ceremony

the process of labeling an individual as deviant in which the individual is denounced, found guilty, and given the new identity as deviant.

white collar crime

a crime offense commited by people of high social status in the course of their proffesional lives. i.e fraud, embezzelment.

anomie

the situation that arises when the norms of society are unclear or are no longer applicable.

primary deviance

nonconformity that goes undetected by those in authority. Consists of the occasional deviant act and the acts that are well concealed.

Richard Quinney

a sociologist that says that the ruling class defines deviant behavior as behavior that threatens their power base.

criminologists

social scientists who study criminal behavior.

control theory

explains deviance as a natural occurance. is interested in why people conform, rather than the cause.

differential association

the frequency and closeness of associations that a person has with deviant and non-deviant individuals.

secondary deviance

results in the individual being labeled as deviant and accepting that label as true.

cultural transmission theory

deviance as a learned behavior

techniques of neutralization

people suspend their moral beliefs to commit deviant acts

crime

any act labeled as such by those in authority

terrorism

the threat or actual use of violence to achieve political goals

crime syndicate

a large-scale organization of professional criminals that controls some vice or business through violence or the threat of violence

criminal-justice system

the system of police, courts, and prisons set up to deal with people who are accused of having committed a crime

police discretion

police have considerable power to decide who's arrested

racial profiling

assuming that non-white Americans are more likely to commit crimes than whites

plea bargaining

(criminal law) a negotiation in which the defendant agrees to enter a plea of guilty to a lesser charge and the prosecutor agrees to drop a more serious charge

corrections

sanctions-such as imprisonment, parole, and probation- used to punish criminals

recidivism

term for repeated criminal behavior

Merton

strain theory

Hirschi

people develop strong social bonds in 4 ways

Sutherland

proposed differential association

Lemert

labeling theory(l)

Becker

labeling theory

Garfinkel

named degradation ceremony