Part II Chapter 10

Construction of explanations of female behavior that are sensitive to its patriarchal context

Examines ways in which agencies of social control (the police, the courts, and the persons) act in ways to reinforce a woman’s place in male society

It would first and foremost be sensitive to the situations of girls.

Negative example: women’s movement causing increase in women’s crime

Part 2: Ch. 10

Data show that girls are more likely to be referred to court by non-law enforcement agencies (including parents and family)

This holds true for status charges (in which girls are overrepresented) as well

Part 2: Ch. 10

Girls may be trying to escape parents and families for several reasons:

Parent’s double standard of behavior at home may become a source of tension

Girls are more likely to be victims of child sexual abuse, which may occur at home

Studies of girls on the streets, or in legal custody, show high rates of physical/sexual abuse

Studies of adult women in prison who show high rates of childhood physical/sexual abuse including rape

Part 2: Ch. 10

A feminist theory of female delinquency would recognize these facts:Girls may have more reason to run away

from home than boysPatriarchy means the abusers (family) can

call authorities to apprehend and/or punish those daughters/victims

Girls are more likely to be defined as sexually desirableOnce on the streets, their lives are shaped by

patriarchal institutions that devalue women, such as prostitution

Girls and women get caught in a vicious cycle of victimization, delinquency and crime Part 2: Ch. 10

Why is a feminist theory of deviance necessary?

How do agents of social control reinforce a female’s place in a male-dominated society?

Part 2: Ch. 10

Part II Chapter 11

Part 3: Ch. 12

Show how social life shapes everything people know

Introduce term “social constructionism” to wide audience, which implies that problems are assigned particular meanings via social interaction

Part 2: Ch. 11

Conflict theorists charged it ignored how elites shape deviance definitions

Feminists charged it ignored women’s victimization by men

Gay rights activists and others argued they were political minorities, not deviants

Part 2: Ch. 11

Part 2: Ch. 11

Some labeling-oriented sociologists began to move away from the study of deviance

Kitsuse led several in study of how and why specific social problems emerged as topics of public concern

Redefined social problems as claims by certain interest groups or claims-makers that a particular set of social conditions were a problem

Part 2: Ch. 11

Part 2: Ch. 11

Constructionists’ study of social problems still reflected themes of deviance:Construction of rape, child abduction, illicit

drugs, family violence

Many studies traced rise of social problems on national level such as War on Drugs

Others looked at how problems were translated into action by police officers, social workers, and others

Example: The way police and the courts construct and label perpetrators and victims of family violence

The Return to Deviance

Part 2: Ch. 11

Part 2: Ch. 11

Today this approach is an influential stance for the study of deviance at macro and micro levels, and for how and why particular forms of deviance emerge as a concern

It emphasizes the interpretive work whereby various persons assign meaning and make sense of behavior as deviant

Constructionism’s Domain

Part 2: Ch. 11

What are the advantages of studying social problems?

What does the constructionist perspective emphasize and how does it differ from other perspectives of deviance?

Part 2: Ch. 11