Deviance, Difference & Conformity
Overview
This unit introduces students to an understanding of a range of sociological and criminological approaches to deviance and non/normative interactions in the social and criminal world. The unit will familiarize students with a number of contemporary social problems and controversies subject to social control to manage deviance or non-normativity. As such students will be lead to analyse major forms of social control – in particular the legal system and social responses to crime and punishment – in addition students will analyse the forces that construct notions of social conformity or normativity. Finally, students will be lead to analyse and respond to differential power structures and the relativities of crime and criminal behaviour across a range of offending.
Requisites
50 credits of level 1 units for SOC20020
Equivalent
SOC20014 - Deviance, Difference and Conformity; SOC30015 - Deviance, Difference and Conformity
09-February-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Evaluate and apply a sociological perspective to the social world around them
- Identify and differentiate the major theoretical perspectives that explain the sociological concept of deviance
- Define and use a range of key sociological concepts to appraise the ways in which social processes and structures respond to notions and categories of deviance in a contemporary context
- Discuss and critique published work and communicate this through informed written argument
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| On-campus Class | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Specified Activities Various | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 7.50 | 12 weeks | 90 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Swinburne Online
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live Online Class | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 9.50 | 12 weeks | 114 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Individual | 30% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Project Presentation | Individual | 30% | 3,4 |
| Project Report | Individual/Group | 40% | 1,2,3 |
Content
- Traditional sociological explanations of deviance
- Sociological evolution of deviance
- Rules and the normative dimension: “kinds of people”; “kinds of rules”, notions of difference
- The modern context: the death of deviance
- Surveillance: Foucault and the postmodern world of post-deviance
- Feminism and deviance
- Law and deviance
- Crime, punishment and deviance
- Bodies and deviance
- Sex, sexuality, gender and deviance
- Minds and deviance
- Institutions: the church and the state and deviance
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.