Deviance/week7/Ami Kim

1.       Summary

Deviation violates cultural norms (the social expectations leading to human behavior). Deviation is divided into two types of biased activities: formal deviation and informal deviation. Also, cultural bias may vary from culture to culture as cultural norms may be relative. Sociological concerns of deviance include an understanding of formal deviance, how people define deviant and different normative things, and many theories that try to explain both roles. Sociological studies of deviance have been conducted, among which Robert Kay Multon has divided deviation into fit, innovation, consciousness, and rebellion based on two criteria: a person's belief in meeting a person's motivation or cultural goals. According to the structural functional approach, deviance helps distinguish acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and abnormal behavior plays an important role in society. In addition, labeling theory defines that an individual leaves the label by applying the derailed label and by showing a person the behavior and attitude associated with the label. This approach to deviation recognizes cultural relativity and shows that it can be caused by power imbalances.

2.       What is interesting / what did you learn

I find the part about criminal statistics interesting. I thought there was more to it than I knew because I heard about crime through the media. But I was surprised to find out that there was a lot of air to attract viewers. I also wondered if it was really reliable in that criminal statistics do not provide a complete view of crime.

3.       Discussion point

These days, our country is having a lot of discussions on the sentences of people who have deviated and committed crimes. In fact, if you look at the map of this article, the proportion of people in prisons in Korea is not that high. Do you think the percentage of people in prisons in our country should be high?