SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANCE

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the sociological study of behaviors that have been labeled as "deviant" because they presumably violate social norms. The course takes a constructionist approach, critically analyzing how deviance is socially defined, organized, and managed. Students will be challenged to see the diversity and pervasiveness of deviance in society and to question the labelling of behaviors, individuals, and powerless groups as deviant. We will explore the social processes, powerful actors, and social institutions that create deviance as well as efforts to resist definitions of deviance. (Cross-listed with SOC 8136 ).