SOC325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Moral Panic, Sex And The Law, Maladjusted
22 Mar 2015
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Document Summary
How people view their behaviour depends on their own values (subjective construction of deviance) Someone is only considered a criminal when we successfully apply that label and society subsequently reacts to that label and treats the person according to their label (ex: sex offenders are stigmatized and alienated b/c of their label) Deviant definitions based on dominant groups in society (federal government is the dominant group and they make the laws) Durkheim believes there is crime (universal) in every society because it serves a function. Conflict between a deviant and the community (or society) Deviants are maladjusted into larger society but well adjusted into subgroups (deviant groups) which are at war with larger society. The conflict is characterized by tagging and the dramatization of evil. Tagging: when you get labelled bad, at some point you internalize the label act according to the label. A person becomes the thing they are described as being.
