Welcome - Deviance and Society: Making Norms, Regulating Difference SOSA 3260   Deviance and Society: Making Norms, Regulating Difference
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course examines how social norms are enforced—and what happens when they are broken. So many aspects of our lives are regulated by and measured against socially defined norms and standards, from our weight and sexual behavior, to how we dress and which substances we consume. But social norms get violated, too, and such ‘deviance’ has long been a preoccupation of sociologists and social anthropologists. What and who counts as deviant and how deviance is managed vary dramatically across historical periods, cultures, and regimes of social control. By applying social theories of deviance and normalization to case studies in health, law/crime, and morality, this course encourages students to think more critically about how and why our society responds to difference. In the first half of the course, we will focus on the concept of norms and on sociological approaches to theorizing deviance from social norms. In the second half of the course, our focus shifts to experiences and techniques of social control--the management of deviants and deviance. Approved with Law, Justice, and Society programs.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES: One SOSA 1000 level course or FYP