Examples of deviant behavior for class discussion

The Hottest Game Show on Television

Is It Deviance?Yes, No,…Maybe

DevianceBreaking the rules, doing things wrong/illegal/

immoral/inappropriate, disobedience, not meeting expectations

ConformityFollowing the rules, doing what you’re

supposed to do, obedience, meeting expectations

Ferris Bueller just needs a day off from work, a day to play and relax. So he calls in sick, telling his boss he has a bad cold, then spends the day at the golf course, finishing off with a night at the theatre.

In August 1966, Charles Whitman, a sharpshooter trained by the Marines, entered the famous Tower on the campus of the University of Texas, Austin. Once there, Whitman shot and killed 17 people, mostly students at long-range.

While on a business trip to San Diego, Glenn spent a night of hot and heavy sex with Christine, a sales rep from the St. Louis office. While doing his laundry after he got home, Monica, Glenn's wife, discovered a lipstick stain on the collar of one of his shirts. Angrily confronting him, Monica accused Glenn of having an affair. Glenn denied it all, saying the stain was from a white board marker he used during his presentation.

Stating in May 1976, George began touching Melissa, his 9-year old daughter, on her “private parts,” telling her it was OK because he was her father and loved her. He said he just wanted to make her feel good. When Melissa’s sister Emily turned 10-years old in 1979, George began visiting her also on a regular basis.

Good friends for several years, Hank cheated Joe out of $2,000 and then had the audacity to brag and joke about it around the neighborhood. In a rage, fueled by alcohol, Joe shot Hank eight times at close range with a 38-caliber handgun. Hank died on the spot.

Ferris Bueller’s day off

Texas Tower shootings

Glenn’s infidelity

George touching his daughters

Joe’s deadly rage

Little 9-year old Timothy was a bad boy at school today. First he threw mud on Amanda Tully and then he got in a fight with Ben Sample. Timothy's mom heard all about this from the teacher and warned Tim, "Just wait till your father gets home." Sure enough Timothy is bent over his bed, pants around his ankles, and his father is giving a good spanking with a belt.

Timmy’s belt spanking

Norms change, so labeling of deviance changes

Cultural change standards for labeling deviant behavior

Past: “Good parenting” PraisedToday: “Child abuse” Arrested

Walt loves a drink, especially whiskey, every once in a while, well actually every night. Tonight, as usual, he's enjoying his third drink of the night while talking with old friends.

Walt’s wee bit of whiskey

The “law” = a cultural product

Struggles over legislation = cultural struggles

Social movements

Moral entrepreneurs

Prohibition: IllegalToday: Legal

Talilah Banks, a beautiful 26-year old African American woman, is in love with Ned O'Donnell, a half-Irish, half-Polish boy from Cleveland. Last year they got engaged to be married but in the meantime Talilah has moved into Ned's apartment and is living with him.

Talilah moving in with Ned

Racism built-into the lawLaw often reflects structure of prejudice and discrimination

Cultural change labeling of cohabitation

Anti-miscegenation laws: Illegal

Today: Tolerated/Accepted

Yegor is flying his MiG-29 through the cold winter skies far above eastern Russia. He has made visual contact with Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KAL 007), carrying 269 passengers and a crew of 9, which due to a navigation malfunction, has drifted over a super-secret Soviet naval base in the So. China Sea. Yegor's superiors have just ordered him to shoot down the unarmed aircraft. Without hesitation, Yegor does just that, killing everyone aboard.

Shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007National defense

Obeying orders

Controversy over KAL007Sovereignty as legitimacy (national interest)Struggle over labeling in inter-national arenaPower gets to define deviance

Alyssa knows she's going to be late getting back from lunch so she asks Jessica, her friend at work, to cover for her by telling the boss she's over at the other office getting some files she needs for the Roeker account. At 1:20 pm when Mr. Tilly comes looking for Allyssa, Jessica says she's over at the other office.

Jessica covering for Alyssa

Good friend

Bad employee (lying to the boss)

Conflicting norms. Role conflict.

“Normality” of deviance

Paul Oldman, the floor supervisor at the Green River plant of Robust Manufacturing Inc., has had it. Productivity is down because the workers keep sneaking out through the fire doors to take smoking breaks. First he tried talking to them. Then he posted signs on the doors. He tried surveillance cameras but they just got covered up by rags. Now he's chaining the doors shut. Take that you ungrateful bastards!

Chaining the fire doors

Raising productivity

Violation of worker protection and safety

Conflicting norms

Deviance and self-interest

After working all day, Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus around 6 p.m., December 1, 1955, in downtown Montgomery, AL. She sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats in the "colored" section was directly behind the seats reserved for white passengers. As the white-only seats filled up, the bus driver moved the "colored" section sign behind Parks and demanded that she and give up their seats so that the white passengers could sit. When she refused, the driver called the police who arrested Rosa.

Rosa ParksBreaking the lawSocial protest

Protest = interesting and ambiguous form of deviance

Ambiguous role of social control

Jamar lives in the poorer section of Centerville, a medium-sized city in Ohio, where the schools are generally failing. Jamar's aunt (mother's sister) lives in Cozy Hills, a nice adjacent suburban town with great schools. Recently Jamar's mother registered him as a student in Cozy Hills Elementary School using the aunt's address.

Registering Jamar in suburban school districtParent’s responsibilityBreaking the law

Conflicting norms

Deviance and social disadvantage

Rationality of rules vs. social justice

Christie has to squat down to get a file from the lowest drawer of the filing cabinet. Tom leans over from his desk and says, “Whoa, nice legs. You can get my files anytime.”

Tom comments on Christie’s legsUntil recently: Accepted behavior

Today: Sexual harassment

Glenn is married to Jenny, his first cousin on his father's side.

Sage Energy Developers is a high-flying darling of Wall Street. For the past three years its earnings have greatly exceeded expectations so Sage's stock price has soared. Last year, though, Sage made some risky investments in several natural gas wells in Pakistan and lost lots of money. Knowing these bad investments would negatively impact on Sage's stock price, Kim Masterson, Sage's CFO, created several dummy companies wholly owned by Sage and shifted the bad investments into the balance sheet of those companies. Wall Street was none the wiser and Sage's good fortunes in the stock market continued

6. Chaining the fire doors

7. Rosa Parks

8. Tom comments on Christie’s legs

9. Glenn married to cousin

10. Moving liabilities to dummy company

Chaining the fire doors

Raising productivity

Violation of worker protection and safety

Rosa ParksBreaking the lawSocial protest

Tom comments on Christie’s legsUntil recently: Accepted behavior

Today: Sexual harassment

Glenn married to cousin

Moving liabilities to dummy company

Clever, smart business tactic

Stock manipulation

Past: Common practice

Today: Morally suspect

Doctor David Gunn, 47, was shot to death outside his abortion clinic when a man who prayed for the physician's soul stepped forward from a group of antiabortion protesters and opened fire. Just before shooting Dr, Gunn, the assailant yelled "Don't kill any more babies."

By 2003 Iran had conducted studies related to nuclear weapons design, including detonator development, the multiple-point initiation of high explosives, and experiments involving nuclear payload integration into a missile delivery vehicle. U.S. intelligence believes that Iran can achieve nuclear weapons capability by 2013 or 2015.

Lucia is a recent hire at the Massive Dynamics Corporation, where they offer generous benefits, including a good health insurance program, to all their employees, but Lucia was turned down for that insurance because she is diabetic and has a moderate form of asthma.

Joe Franks came home drunk one night and demanded sex but his wife refused. So he tied her to the bed and had sexual intercourse with her three times in the next 24 hours.

Out on the football field behind Dumont High School, under the visitor's bleachers, around section B, rows 5-8, Joe, Sam, Luke, and Mark are getting stoned on some righteous weed.

11. Shooting of Dr. Gunn

12. Iran’s development of nuclear weapons

13. Denying Lucia health insurance

14. Joe’s demand for sex from his wife

15. Smoking weed

Abu gradUsing heroin or other substance (victimless)Driving 75 mph on MA TurnpikeLooting grocery store after KatrinaHomosexual sexIran-ContraSecret campaign contributionsBack dating a checkOK City bombingClaiming damage as storm damagePadding expense acct, taking home office suppliesShooting in of black teenager in Fla

Tyrone was just coming home late (11:30 pm) after work and some time at the bar with his buddies. In the dark vestibule of his apartment building he was struggling to get the key in the lock. Suddenly two police officers, who had just pulled up in their cruiser, confronted him with drawn guns. Frightened, Tyrone reached into his jacket pocket to get his wallet. He wanted to identify himself as a resident of the building. Misinterpreting the move, the officers pumped 12 bullets into Tyrone, killing him instantly.

Chris enjoys watching online porn, especially of women undressing when they don’t know they’re being videoed. He finds it relaxes him and it’s harmless.

He also makes regular visits downtown to solicit prostitutes in the local hotels. He only goes for the higher priced call girls.

Julia has a very painful, debilitating disability called -----. It’s terminal with no hope for cure or remission. It only gets progressively worse. After struggling with it for over 15 years, she’s gotten to a point where she is almost completely paralyzed and in extreme pain all the time. With the help of Ralph, her brother, she uses a lethal dose of ----- to commit suicide.

--- and --- have been cohabiting (living together) for about a year but they keep this secret from the local welfare office. If the caseworkers ever found out about their living arrangement, --- would lose her monthly welfare check, which she desperately needs for herself and her three children.

Labeling examples - struggleGun controlAbortion