W9.2 May 3 (Fri) - Song Seo Yoon

1. Summary

Deviation refers to any behavior that violates social norms. Norms refer to behaviors expected from a particular society or culture, and deviations are divided into two types: formal deviations and informal deviations. Formal deviations are acts that violate officially enacted laws and constitute crimes, such as robbery, theft, rape, murder, and assault. Informal deviations are behaviors that violate social norms that are not codified by law, including picking one's nose or burping loudly. These deviant behaviors can vary greatly from culture to culture.

The relativity of deviant behavior comes from the relativity of cultural norms. For example, in the United States, there are no norms restricting speech at certain times, but in the Christian Desert Monastery, speech is prohibited at certain times. This shows that deviations can be defined differently by cultural norms. In sociology, deviations are studied from various perspectives. It measures crime statistics, investigates how to define whether a behavior is deviant or normative, and covers several theories that try to explain the role and origin of deviations. Psychology and biology explain deviations from an evolutionary perspective, either in brain structure or in evolutionary terms. For example, boys with behavioral disabilities are more likely to have differences in brain structure.

Conflict theory sees deviations reflecting a power imbalance. White-collar crimes are committed by individuals from higher social classes, and these crimes are less prosecuted than property crimes. This suggests that the law can be applied to the wealthy. Crime statistics are useful for reporting criminal activity, evaluating the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, and understanding the scope and nature of crimes. However, crime statistics are limited to reported crimes, and reflect only a fraction of the actual crimes. Media such as TV tend to exaggerate and show crimes, especially violent crimes, so people may think that crimes are more prevalent than they really are.

In conclusion, deviations are influenced by various social and cultural factors, and to understand them, we need to approach them from multiple theories and perspectives. The study of deviations plays an important role in understanding the nature of social norms and regulations.

2. what did I learn

I realized that deviance is not just a violation of norms, but a multilayered phenomenon that must be understood in the complex context of society and culture. Different cultures have different definitions and reactions of deviations, which show the relativity of norms. Also, society changes and develops through deviations, and deviations play an important role in distinguishing between accepted and not accepted behaviors. Labeling theory reminded us that individual identity is closely related to social labels, and it is noteworthy that criminal statistics do not fully reflect the actual criminal situation, but play an important role in shaping social awareness.

3. question/discussion

Which theory do you think is the most effective to find out the way of deviance?



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