If institutions such as school do not properly socialize children or offer them resources they may become products of their environment

ex: In PUNISHED: Policing the Lives of Black and Brown Boys Victor Rios is raised in a poor minority community and due to not receiving proper education, resources, or feeling safe he joins a gang and spends his youth as what society looks as “deviant”.

How we perceive different people or groups, based on our experiences with socialization, can affect what behavior we categorize as deviant

ex: in the documentary “A Class Divided”, the teacher Jane Elliott notes how easy it was to change the perception of her students on what was good vs. bad based on who she deemed superior due to their eye color.

If both eye colors blurted out an answer without raising their hand only the inferior eye color was punished and the blame was shifted onto their characteristic trait. The belief was pushed that they acted with deviance behavior because of their trait and much of their actions would be categorized as deviant behavior.

This can be translated into society with black people and injustices rooted in discrimination and bias that black people take part in deviance simply because they are black.

Sanctions is used to promote behavior and enforce laws, rules, and norms. Historically, sanctions were used in slavery to promote black inferiority and keep whites from assisting them as well as keeping them enslaved.

ex: In “The origins of policing in America” negative sanctions are explained to be used against whites and blacks to keep blacks oppressed and enslaved. Whites were forbidden by “slave codes” to allow slaves to leave, read, write, defend themselves, and gather without a white person.

Whites were enforced by positive sanctions, being given the opportunity to be employed into powerful positions such as slave patrol, night watchers, and militia members (prior to 19th century) and police officers (19th century). They were encouraged to brutalize slaves and both citizens and law enforcement were offered monetary rewards for capturing runaway slaves.

Pushing for acceptance towards norms by awarding people for following them

In contrast, punishing people for violating them and labeling them and/or behavior as deviant

Sanctions promote behavior that is believed to keep society in order

Helps us challenge broader social patterns

By digging deeper into the systemic institutions that influence deviant behavior we can move towards solutions and social change

ex: lack of education, racism/discrimination in the justice system, low income neighborhoods with high crime rates and low resources

Reaffirms the influence social structures have on our choices and behaviors

Deviant labels can result in stigmas, social rejection, and inequality

ex: In The Uneven Scales of Capital Justice, Christina Swarns highlights black defendants inability to receive knowledgeable well trained attorneys and thus, being statistically more likely to be sentenced to death. She displays how racism ultimately affects black people being labeled as deviants and not only being punished harsher but, seen as irredeemable. She also calls attention to bias in prosecutors, judges, and jurors who have the ability to mislabel minorities as deviants because of their position in power.

Swarns underlines the labeling theory by focusing not on the actions of these defendants but, how they are viewed by the judicial system and ultimately how the defendants image is further pushed into society to their peers. This image creates reactions by society, typically reinforcing thoughts and stigmas about deviance and who is to be labeled as so.

Socialization

Sanctions

Sociological imagination

Conflict theory by Karl Marx

Labeling Theory by Howard Becker