Social Problems, Deviance, Crime and Social Control
Social problems
A social problem is a condition widely perceived as harmful and demanding collective action. Distinguish objective conditions from subjective perception and social construction of problems. Know the stages of the natural history of a social problem: emergence, legitimisation, reform and decline.
Deviance
Deviance is behaviour that violates significant norms. Note that deviance is relative, contextual and not identical with crime. Know the main theories: biological (Lombroso, criticised), psychological, anomie/strain (Durkheim, Merton's typology of conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion), cultural transmission/differential association (Sutherland), labelling (Becker, Lemert, primary and secondary deviance) and control theory (Hirschi's bonds).
Crime and social control
Distinguish crime from deviance; know categories such as violent, property, white-collar (Sutherland) and organised crime. Understand social control: formal (law, police, courts) versus informal (family, peers, opinion), and internal versus external. Note the functions of punishment - deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation - and the sociological critique of prisons.
Traps
Do not assume all deviance is criminal or all crime is deviant. Do not treat labelling theory as claiming that crime does not exist. Merton's strain theory is about the gap between goals and legitimate means, not about personality.
Worked example
A student who wants a good job (cultural goal) but lacks access to education (blocked means) may turn to the informal economy (innovation). This illustrates strain, not pathology.