Scribd
Upload
7 views5 pages

UNIT III

The document discusses social control and deviance, defining deviance as a violation of cultural norms and crime as a violation of formal laws. It explores various perspectives on crime, including functionalist theories like Durkheim's concept of 'Anomie' and Merton's Strain Theory, as well as interactionist and conflict theories. Additionally, it categorizes types of crime, including lunatic deviants, vandalism, and cyber crime, highlighting the complexity of deviant behavior in society.

Uploaded by

jahnavi.dubey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
7 views5 pages

UNIT III

The document discusses social control and deviance, defining deviance as a violation of cultural norms and crime as a violation of formal laws. It explores various perspectives on crime, including functionalist theories like Durkheim's concept of 'Anomie' and Merton's Strain Theory, as well as interactionist and conflict theories. Additionally, it categorizes types of crime, including lunatic deviants, vandalism, and cyber crime, highlighting the complexity of deviant behavior in society.

Uploaded by

jahnavi.dubey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

UNIT III: SOCIAL CONTROL & DEVIANCE

A. Meaning & Forms

Deviance - recognized violation of cultural norms.

Crime - the violation of a society’s formally enacted criminal law - one category of deviance.

SOCIAL CONTROL - attempts by society to regulate people’s thought and behaviour.

Formal Social
Informal Social
control
control

B. PERSPECTIVES ON CRIME

Functionalist Theories:

a. Emile Durkheim – The concept of ‘Anomie’

Anomie – feeling of normlessness (of an individual)

− Crime & deviance – social facts / necessary in modern societies


Adaptive function
Deviance has two functions

Boundary making

• Deviance affirms cultural values and norms


• Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries
• Responding to deviance promotes social unity
• Deviance encourages social change
b. Robert Merton – Strain Theory

Stress Anomie
(feeling of normlessness

Strain
(material success)

REASONS:

Lack of equal opportunities


Relative
Deviance
Economic inequalities Deprivation

5 possible reactions:

1. Conformists – accept both generally held values & conventional means of achieving
them

2. Innovators - accept socially approved values’ use illegitimate means to follow them

3. Ritualists – accept socially approved standards but have lost sight of values behind them;
follow norms compulsively

4. Retreatists - have abandoned the competitive outlook altogether, thus rejecting both
the dominant values and the approved means of achieving them.

5. Rebels - reject both the existing values and the means, but wish actively to substitute
new ones and reconstruct the social system
Interactionist Theories:
ask the question as to how certain behaviour or group is termed as deviant while others are
not termed as such.

Differential Association (Edwin Sutherland):


− Addresses the question: How individuals learn deviant behaviour
− Individuals become deviant through association with people who are carriers of deviant
norms.
− Learnt within primary groups, such as peer groups

Labelling theory (Howard Becker)


− deviance and conformity result not so much from what people do as from how others
respond to those actions

− those who have ‘power’ in society create labels


− powerless/ disadvantaged – labeled as deviant

Conflict theories:
− Marxist theory
− attribute deviant behaviour to unequal distribution of resources in modern society.
− believe that deviance is deliberately chosen and is political in nature
C. TYPES OF CRIME

- Lunatic
Deviants
- Alcoholic (against the social norms)

- Cross-dressers

- Vandalism

- Theft of property

Crime
- Robbery
(against the law)

- Assault

- Fraud

- Rape
5.
Cyber Crime
(Technology based)
4.
Organized Crime
(Many people involved at diff
levels)

TYPES
3.
Corporate Crime
Govt./Companies
which give
1. 2. “certified” products
Professional White Collar
Crime Crime

skilled job position

You might also like