10270 Social Deviance

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Sociology & Anthropology

Prerequisites: none

Recommended: Introduction to Sociology, Social Psychology

Authors: Giora Rahav, Moshe Adad, Bracha Katz-Sheiban. The materials include a translation (by Y. Sadeh) of Deviant Behavior (6th ed.), by E. Goode (Prentice Hall, 2000).

Objectives: To provide intellectual understanding of the area through acquaintance with the theoretical literature on social deviance; To provide practical understanding – the ability to apply the theory to real life situations; To provide emotional understanding – the ability to understand deviants and their acts as well as the condemnation aimed at them.

Topics: Part One: The distinction between positivist theories and constructionist theories of deviance. Part Two: The many different forms of deviant behavior: criminal behavior (mainly murder, rape, and white collar crimes), legal drug use (alcohol and tobacco) and illegal drug use, “immoral” heterosexual and male and female homosexual practices, deviant physical characteristics (handicaps, tattoos, obesity), cognitive deviance (religious cults, parapsychology) and mental illness as a form of social deviance.