SOC 2070 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Ascribed Status, Erving Goffman, Philosophy Of Science

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2070
• Professor: Norman Dubeski

Document Summary

Deviance is behaviour, beliefs, or characteristics that many people in society find or would find offensive and which excite, upon discovery, disapproval, punishment, condemnation or hostility. Deviance is behaviour, beliefs, or characteristics that are likely to generate a negative reaction in others. Deviance refers to the process by which the actor"s, the believers, and the possessor"s character is tainted, stigmatized, and inferiorized. The sociology of deviance looks at informal and interpersonal reactions to behaviour, beliefs, and traits. The study of deviance is about making rules, breaking rules and reactions to breaking rules. Deviance describes what is likely to happen when people break rules that are held in a society. Most of us find it difficult to locate the general property or characteristic that defines an act, a belief or a condition as deviance. Sumner 1994 defined deviance as the departure from a clearly defined standard.