Stark Chapter 7: Crime and Deviance

1

• Two Approaches to Deviance
• Deviance as Norm Violation
• Deviance as a Label Imposed by Social Groups or
  Societies

II. Video clip on sexual harassment as a stigma
contest III. Labeling and Constructionist
Approaches
2
Deviance is any behavior or physical appearance
that is socially challenged and/or condemned
because it departs from the norms and
expectations of a group. (p. 210)

• What are the two central components of this
  definition?
• How does Ferrantes discussion of the Cultural
  Revolution in China and its aftermath illustrate
  these?
• Have similarly-radical shifts occurred in the
  United States?

3
Two Ways of Defining and Studying Deviance
1) As norm violation. Focus on explaining why
people violate norms. 2) As a label imposed by
society. Focus on why and how certain behaviors
are stigmatized and what the consequences of such
labeling are for the people who get labeled
deviant
4
Video Clip on Sexual Harassment
5
Video Clip on Sexual Harassment

• which approach to deviance does this film take?
• what is the films basic argument?
• what are other examples of contemporary stigma
  contests?

6
The sociological contribution to understanding
deviance.... Quote Ferrante, p. 211
7
Labeling and Constructionist Approaches to
Deviance

• a focus on the audience, not the norm violator
• stigma contests and claims making
• the power of deviant labels master status
• the transition from primary deviance to
  secondary deviance