ideas drawn from Goode, 1994-2008
and Pfohl, Images of Deviance and Social Control, 1985. See the disclaimer)
Consensus vs. Conflict
- Shared values vs. Competing
- Disorder vs. Disagreement
- Repair vs Radical change
- Collective Consciousness vs. Dominant
- Stability and Equilibrium vs.
Oppression and Inequality
- Self regulating system vs. Piecemeal
reform directed at maintaining status quo
Conflict Theories' Foci:
- Real Crimes? The issue of Institutional
vs. Individual Behavior.
- Society-- Limited Resources
- Power and Control: Deviance as
a Political Process
- Freedom in an unequal society
becomes: The ability to profit over others; to define deviance.
- Focus: Creation and Enforcement
Pluralistic (Cultural Conflict)
vs. Radical Conflict Theories: Differences-
- Source of group conflict and
the nature of the group.
- Radical: Economic Structure/Social
- Pluralistic/Cultural: Variety
of Interests and a Variety of Groups
- Social Relations of Production
vs. Cultural Plurality.
- Question of inevitability of Conflict?
Radical (Marxist) Conflict Theory
- Social Relations of Production
- Human Being as Creative (working)
- Capitalism and Alienation
- Class Struggle and Hegemony
William Bonger (1930-40)
- Crime is Social in origin...Normal
- Control and Punishment===>
- Distribution of Resources==>
Haves and Have-nots.
- Law serves the Haves
- Crime equated with harm or threat
of harm to the powerful
- Capitalism: Competition, Wealth,
Unequal distribution, Individualism==> Self Interest==> (Egoistic Impulses)==>
- Crimes of Rich and Poor are equal,
but poor have greater "recognition"
- Crime and poverty:
- Direct: Survival
- Indirect: Alienation
Richard Quinney (1960's)
- Instrumental Marxism
- Law (and the State) as a tool
of the Ruling Class: Supports Status Quo
- Control through a variety of Institutions
run by and for the elite (Mass Media, Education, Religion).
- Typical focus of the sociology
of deviance/crime is on the lower class
- Solution==> End of Capitalism
Marxism (Colvin and Pauly):
- Parent's class position and
workplace control==> alienated parents==> coercive family structure==>
- Juvenile from above background,
more likely to be in coercive (lower class) school environment==> further
- Doubly alienated juveniles==>
Stephan Spitzer (1970-): (merging
- Social Dynamite and Social Junk
- Not just capitalism: Dynamics
(dialectics) of the system and its internal contradictions.
- Higher classes also a threat (failed
capitalists, intellectuals, high-tech==> mass education and information
resources expand critical faculties.
- Problem (threat): impede production
(resist work), impede distribution (steal from the rich), impede socialization
(truancy), impede ideology (counter-hegemony)
- Populations are criminalized as:
- Size increases and perceived
- Political organization decreases--
controlling the powerless
- As other institutional control
(family, school, welfare, military) fail.
- Formation of two different types
of problem populations: Dynamite (immediate threat and swift control) and
Junk (costly, but harmless). "With the growth of monopoly capital, therefore,
the relative surplus-population begins to take on the character of a population
which is more and more absolute. At the same time, the market becomes a less
reliable means of disciplining these populations, and the "invisible
hand" is more frequently replaced by the "visible fist." The
implications for deviance production are twofold: (1) problem populations
become gradually more problematic--both in terms of their size and their insensitivity
to economic controls, and (2) the resources of the state need to be applied
in greater proportion to protect capitalist relations of production and ensure
the accumulation of capital." (in Pontell, 2002, page 121-122)
- How group in power uses position
to defuse threat and secure legitimacy of their position.
- The Ideology of success and failure
- England, 12th Century--depleted
labor supply. First laws gave landed aristocracy control over the movement
of their workers. Travel and charity defined as illegal (allows Church to
regroup after expense of Crusades).
- As labor supplies increase, laws
- By 16th Century: mercantilism
and trade. New concern: Keep countryside safe for transport.
- Today: keep "undesirables"
out of business (consumer) areas.
The Carrier Case of 1473
- Rights of Manufacturers
- Constructive Possession
Differential application of law:
- "Small" scale bias and
racism at 13 decision points in CJS produces
homogeneous population in prison.
- 10.2% African-Am. vs. 2.7% Whites
who are arrested become institutionalized.
- Working Class vs White Collar
- Visibility of the powerless
- Sanctioning: "Great Electrical
Conspiracy-- GE fined $1.8 million, "profit"--$1.7 billion.
- Fine for White Collar criminality
is often tax deductible (not usually a criminal sanction, but regulatory action).
- From 1890-1969: 1551 cases of
White Collar "incidents." 45% tried as criminal cases, 35 convictions,
2% of convictions institutionalized for an average length of 6 months.
Solution to the problem of Deviance:
Redistribute wealth and power. (How?)
Critique of Marxist Conflict Theory
Not all conflict represents economic or social class interests
Crime continues to exist in (so-called) socialist societies
There is a similarity between socialist and capitalist societies
in erms of the workings of the legal system: arrest and imprisonment as solutions
to the "crime" problem
- Thorsten Sellin: Conduct norms
and culture conflict.
- George Vold: Modern society and
variety of groups. Compete for Authority: legitimation.
- Ralf Dahrendorf: Groups' access
to authority is key to understanding competition of modern society. Authority==>Legitimate
- Austin Turk:
relationships within institutions with little concern for overarching or overlapping
authority-subject relationships across institutions. Within this general framework,
Turk focuses on legal conflict and criminalization. Specifically, he asks
the following two questions:
- Under what conditions are authority-subject
cultural and behavioral differences transformed into legal conflict?
- Under what conditions do those
who violate laws (norms of the authorities) become criminalized? In other
words, under what circumstances are laws enforced? (Liska, 1987: 178)"
Turk's answer to these questions
is summarized a set of six propositions.
"In answer to the first question
- Proposition 1: Conflict between
authorities and subjects occurs when behavioral differences between authorities
and subjects are compounded by cultural differences. (Ethnic/minorities, Gays: Thio, Deviant Behavior, 1995,
p. 62-63 suggests- "If authorities consider a law highly significant
and important, they are likely to assign criminal status to subjects who
violate the law.") added explanation
- Proposition 2: Conflict is more
probable the more organized are those who have an illegal attribute or engage
in an illegal act. (Gays after the Stonewall Riots,
SDS) added explanation
- Proposition 3: Conflict is more
probable the less sophisticated the subjects. (Organized vs. Street Crime) (White collar vs. Street Crime, Gays)
The probability of enforcement
can be conditionalized as:
- Proposition 4: The probability
of enforcement of legal norms increases as the congruence between the cultural
and behavioral norms of authorities increases. (White
collar vs. Street Crime, Gays: Thio, Deviant Behavior, 1995, p. 62-63
suggests- "If law enforcers find the subject's legally prohibited behavior
to be greatly offensive, the subjects are likely to be treated as criminals)
- Proposition 5: The lower the
power of the resisters (subjects), the higher the probability of enforcement.
(Working Class vs Middle Class) (White collar vs. Street
Crime) added explanation
- Proposition 6: The lower the
realism of norm violators (resisters), the higher the probability of enforcement."
(flagrant violations) (Thio, Deviant Behavior,
1995, p. 62-63 suggests- realism applies to authiorities as well.
This places limitations on the use of brute force and a desire to
follow the letter of the law. Subjects "achieve" realism
by concealing violations, decreasing the offensiveness of visible violations,
and avoiding behaviors which unite authorities.) added explanation
Turk presents a picture of crime
and deviance in a modern, complex and heterogeneous society as an ongoing struggle.
- Equilibrium is difficult, if not
completely impossible to achieve.
- The behavior of any group, and
perhaps most importantly, the cultural meaning and significance attached to
the behavior is destined to provoke a negative reaction from another group.
- In particular, authority groups
will continuously strive to maintain and expand there control over societal
resources by defining the activity of "subject groups" as threatening
(therefore deviant and/or criminal), to the existing order (implicit here
is the idea that the existing order is the order, the only legitimate order).
Solution? Conflict is inherent in
human relationships, therefore deviance will always be a feature of social life.
Through reform we can reduce the intensity and extent of deviance.
Feminist Theories of Deviance
Owner: Robert O. Keel firstname.lastname@example.org
Credits for this Page of Notes
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 11:51 AM