OUTLINE OF A TOPIC

Outline of the topic “Symbolic Process in public Designation of Deviance.”

Joseph R. Gusfield. Moral Passage: Symbolic Process in public Designation of Deviance. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.

Instrumental and Symbolic Functions of Law2

Government agents are the only persons who can claim to represent society.

The function of laws like The Wagner Labor Relations Act and the Taft-Hartley Act lies in their enforcement.

We are oriented less to behavioral consequences as a means to a fixed end; more to meaning as an act, a decision, and a gesture important in itself.

Robin Williams has labeled such institutionalized yet illegal and deviant behavior the "patterned evasion of norms."

Enforcement of Prohibition law indicates unwillingness of Dry forces to utilize all their political strength.

Designation of morality is an issue of deep conflict.

Deviant Nonconformity and Designator Reaction

A law weak in instrumental functions may never perform significant symbolic functions.

The designators of deviant behavior react differently to different norm-sustaining implications of an act.

The Repentant Deviant

There is a consensus between designator and deviant.

Sykes and Matza described techniques of neutralization which juvenile delinquents use with enforcement agencies.

The Sick Deviant

The open admission of repentance confirms the sinner's belief in the sin.

The designation of a person as ill changes the obligations which others have toward the person and his obligations toward them.

A behavior pattern caused by illness makes a hostile response toward the actor illegitimate and inappropriate.

The Enemy Deviant

Writing about a Boston slum in the 1930s, William F. Whyte

Coincidence of ethnic and religious distinctions with class differences accentuates conflicts between group values.

"Off-track" betting shows an area where clashes of culture have been salient.

It becomes an issue of political conflict, ranging group against group and culture against culture, in the effort to determine whose morals are to be designated as deserving of public affirmation.

The Cynical Deviant

Behavior is not a great threat to ...