Page 233 - Sociology and You

U S I N G
Your Sociological Imagination
What would a Martian, after watch- ing an evening of prime-time television, think about American culture? If the impression of our culture were formed solely from these programs, the Martian likely would conclude that the inhabitants of Earth are an exceptionally violent people. If the Martian then began to display violent behavior, could we conclude that he or she had been watching too much television?
Before answering this question, think for a moment about these statistics: Children aged two to eleven spend an average of twenty-eight hours per week watching tele- vision (compared to thirty hours in school). Fifty-seven percent of television program- ming contains violence. In one-quarter of the violent interactions, a gun is used. Finally, in about three-quarters of all violent scenes, the persons committing the violent acts go unpunished (National Television Violence Study, 1998).
In the past sociologists have hesitated to link violent behavior with exposure to tele- vision violence. But after hundreds of stud- ies, researchers now confirm a link between televised aggression and personal aggres- siveness. This link between imagined and actual violence is an example of culturally transmitted social behavior.
As humans learn the culture around them, they adopt certain patterns of behav- ior. In this chapter we will examine the learned behavior called deviance.
Sections
1. Deviance and Social Control
2. Functionalism and Deviance
3. Symbolic Interactionism and Deviance
4. Conflict Theory and Deviance
5. Crime and Punishment
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to ❖ define deviance.
❖ define social control and identify the major types of social control.
❖ discuss the positive and negative consequences of deviance.
❖ differentiate the major functional theories of deviance.
❖ discuss the conflict theory view of deviance.
❖ describe four approaches to crime control.
Chapter Overview
Visit the Sociology and You Web site at soc.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 7— Chapter Overviews to preview chapter information.
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