Typologies of Deviance-Sociology: This video transcript above will review the concept of deviance.
Define the concept of deviant behavior in accordance to criminology and bring in a case example of deviant behavior;
describe the deviant behavior of the offender involved in the crime.
350-450 words excluding references, APA format and a minimum of 3 references.
ADINA NACK: Hi. I’m Dr. Adina Nack, Professor of Sociology here at California Lutheran University. I’m also the author of the book Damaged Goods– Women Living With Incurable Sexually Transmitted Diseases. And today I’m going to talk about illness stigma management. [Key Sociological Concepts] To begin with, some key sociological concepts will help us understand the material, in particular, how effective health benefits come from understanding social constructions of deviance, and how resulting stigma can harm both individual health. Typologies of Deviance-Sociology
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and threaten public health. So let’s begin with definitions of key terms, all of which are context specific, meaning that in some contexts they might be considered deviant, and in others they might be considered completely normal. The first term, deviance, simply means that which is outside the norm. [Deviance– That which is outside the norm.] And whenever we say norms, we’re talking about behavioral expectations. [Norms– Behavioral expectations.] Values would be the rationale behind the norms, why we should behave according to the norms. [Values– Rationale behind the norms and why we should behave according to them.] And then, in particular in talking about illness, we want to think about the idea of medicalization, when medical professionals define a deviant condition
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as a sickness. [Medicalization– When medical professionals define a deviant condition as a sickness.] Now, medicalization can either increase or decrease stigma. [Typologies of Deviance] There are two main typologies of deviance, or ways of organizing types of deviance. The first is to think about whether a deviance reflects a deviant attitude, a deviant behavior, or a deviant condition. [Two Typologies– Attitudinal, behavioral, or conditional.] The second sorts out whether the deviance is viewed as ascribed– something somebody is born with– or achieved, Typologies of Deviance-Sociology
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something somebody earns. [Ascribed or achieved.] So if a deviance is ascribed, it’s considered as being deviant from birth. You might think that in certain contexts, somebody’s race or ethnicity might be determined to be deviant. Somebody’s gender or congenital disability, or your height or weight might be deviant from the norms of your society. When we talk about achieved deviance, that’s where it’s earned or created. When I say created, it could be something like paralysis after an accident, or deciding to join a cult, or doing an extreme body Typologies of Deviance-Sociology
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modification. So let’s apply these typologies to the illness of skin cancer that a doctor may believe to be the result of a patient having spent years tanning. In that case, if the doctor sees that patient as deviant, they might view the behavior of going to a tanning salon as deviant, as a bad choice on that patient’s part. And if we were thinking about ascribed versus achieved, we would probably say that patient has achieved the deviance of skin cancer because they chose to engage in a behavior that medical society has determined to be
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dangerous to their health. Another helpful idea when talking about illness stigma is the concept of three general perspectives on deviance. Some people take an absolutist perspective of deviance. [Perspectives on Deviance– Absolutist] Absolutists would have to do with essentialism, that there is something innate in the act, belief, or condition that makes it different from the norm and wrong, regardless of context and social norms. The second perspective deals a little bit more
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with the idea of social power, or conflict in a society. [Social power or conflict] And in that sense, the definitions of deviance are going to reflect the values and norms of those with the greatest social power, and they are enforced to maintain or increase the power of the dominant. When we talk about social power, it can come from economic power, political power, as well as from being a privileged status, which could be a privilege based on your race and ethnicity, based on your sex, based on your gender, your sexuality,
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your age, your ability, your education level. All of those factors can either increase or decrease the social power somebody has in a particular society. The final of the third perspectives on deviance is what we might call a relativist perspective. [Relativist] Social constructionism is key to this perspective, in that the meanings and definitions are created, maintained, and transformed by individuals and groups. In that sense, we could say deviance is in the eye of the beholder. And sociologists like myself who study health and illness– we draw primarily on social constructionist approaches to deviance because we want to incorporate the analysis of social power