week four notes on deviance

Deviant Actions

• involve defying socially constructed rules
• actions are defined as deviant within a particular setting or culture
• sometimes deviant behavior is regarded as acceptable and normal within subcultures
• deviant behavior may signal an individual’s master status
o when a deviant label is applied to a person, it overrides other characteristics
o a label can produce a self-fulfilling prophesy. E.g. “juvenile delinquents” begin to act in a rebellious manner
• examples of “deviance”; nudity, stealing, fighting, mental illness, homosexuality, drug addiction, alcohol addiction



this definition of deviance
o is based on a view of the world which emphasizes nurture over nature (i.e. based on social constructionism)
o applies to interaction in small groups of people
o emphasizes meanings (unfixed and sometimes unclear) that people bring to their own behavior and that of others
• Cooley: “the looking glass self”
o We build our identity according to what we see in others (as if looking in a mirror they provide)
 

Stages in the development of deviance
1. Public labeling of an individual as deviant
2. Rejection from social groups and negative official treatment (e.g. imprisonment)
3. Rejection may encourage further deviance
4. Acceptance of deviant identity, often as a positive character trait
5. Publicly joining “deviant” group
6. Development of a deviant sub-culture
7. Dialogue between subculture and mainstream culture
8. Removal of deviant label.
 
The veil of ignorance (a thought experiment)
- introduced by John Rawls in A Theory of Justice.
- method of determining the morality of a certain issue (e.g. slavery, mental illness, addiction, public nudity, racism, homophobia, theft)
- imagine that social roles were completely re-fashioned and redistributed, and that from behind your veil of ignorance you do not know what role you will be reassigned. Only then can you truly consider the morality of an issue.
- you don't get to keep any aspects of your current role, even aspects that are an integral part of yourself.
- ..."no one knows his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence and strength, and the like" (Rawls, A Theory of Justice).
Social Role: a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status
Role strain: difficulties that result from differing demands and expectations associated with the same social role
Role conflict: when incompatible expectations arise from 2 or more social roles
 
The experiment:
A Imagine that you don’t know whether you will be (choose one):
1. a slave or free
2. addicted or not addicted,
3. White, Asian, Black or Aboriginal
4. Heterosexual or homosexual
5. a juvenile delinquent or one who abides by the law
B Assume that you do not know what role you will be reassigned. Don’t keep any aspects of your current role
C consider the morality of
1. slavery
2. treatment of addicts
3. racism
4. homophobia
5. treatment of kids who violate the law