WJEC A2 Unit 4, Crime and Deviance Week 1: Social Construction of Crime and Deviance?

1
WJEC A2 Unit 4, Crime and Deviance Week 1 Social
Construction of Crime and Deviance?
2
Questions to Think About in this Topic
How are crime and deviance defined?
How some people are more likely to acquire a
criminal identity?
How are some groups more powerful and able to
define behaviour of others as deviant or criminal?
Do criminal and deviant identities result from
natural or social factors?
Do social processes, and institutions like the
media, shape our picture of crime and criminals?
3
What is Deviance?
Deviant behaviour is
Behaviour that incurs public disapproval.
Behaviour subject to some form of sanction.
Behaviour that differs from the normal.
4
Anthony Giddens
Non-conformity to a given norm, or set of norms,
which are accepted by a significant number of
people in a community or society (Anthony
Giddens 1993).
5
Are These Acts of Deviance?
Look at the pictures on the next few slides.
Identify in what ways they may be viewed as
deviant.
Note deviance does not need to be criminal, have
any crimes been broken in these pictures?
6
(No Transcript)
7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
Deviance Controlled by Sanctions
Deviant behaviour is effectively controlled by
sanctions that promote conformity.
Sanctions may be
Informal
Formal
or
13
Legal Definitions of Crime
The OED defines crime as an act punishable by
law, as being forbidden by statute.
Crime is therefore a specific act of deviance
that breaks societys formal rules or laws.
The process of law-making is a social one
since laws are human products.
14
(No Transcript)
15
Deviance is Relative
Definitions of deviance will clearly vary between
Cultures
Time Periods
Sub-cultures
16
Religious Crimes
Before industrialisation the most serious
crimes were typically religious in nature
Heresy
Sacrilege
Blasphemy
17
Just and Unjust Laws
Some people regularly flout laws.
Dog licences were withdrawn because so few
bought them.
For example, many people ignore 30 mph laws in
towns or 70 mph on motorways
18
Middle-class Criminals?
Steal stationery
Respectable people may
Put private letters through office mail
Make private phone calls at work
Fiddle expenses
19
White Collar Crime
Marxists argue there is an enormous amount of
white-collar and corporate crime.
20
Crime is not Fixed or Permanent
Homosexuality and abortion are no longer crimes
in most societies.
During the period of prohibition in the USA the
possession and consumption of alcohol was
illegal.
Cannabis was recently declassified to a Class
C drug.
21
Becker and Labelling Theory
No action in itself is deviant.
It has to excite some social reaction from others.
Howard Becker (above) highlights the social
construction of deviance by stating
It depends upon who commits it, who sees it, and
what action is taken about it.
22
Conclusions on Chapter 2

• Deviance is behaviour by individuals or social
  groups that fails to conform to culturally
  expected norms of behaviour.
• It is a relative concept no act in itself is
  deviant per se.
• Labelling theory makes the important point that
  it is the social reaction or label that defines
  an act as deviant.
• Sanctions can be positive or negative, formal or
  informal.
• Deviance is distinct from crime, although crimes
  tend to be deviant behaviour, not all deviance is
  criminal.

23
Conclusions (continued)

• Deviance is controlled by sanctions.
• Crime is a formal act of deviance that violates
  statute law.
• Besides this legal definition, it carries
  normative judgements criminals are not viewed
  sympathetically.
• In pre-industrial society most crimes were
  religious in nature, or acts of theft against the
  aristocracy.
• According to peoples value judgements crimes can
  be just or unjust.