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Identity and Difference >> Content Detail



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Calendar

Lecture outlines are included (as PDF) with topic titles.



Reading Instructions


Full Notes (FN) read for detail, data, and argument
Abstract (ABS) read for general argument
As Time Allows (ATA) recommended reading if time permits

(packet) indicates readings available for purchase in collections prepared for this course





TOPIC #TOPICSREADINGS / VIEWINGSASSIGNMENTS
I.Introduction and Orientations (PDF)

Smith. Wealth of Nations. Excerpt. (Packet) (ABS)

Mill. On Liberty. Excerpt. (Packet) (ABS)

Bentham. The Principles of Morals and Legislation. Excerpt. (Packet) (ABS)

The Declaration of Independence. (Packet) (ABS)

Questions distributed via email.

Responses to questions posed via email on readings for first class.
II. Theoretical Perspectives on Identity and Difference
II. A.

Essentialist and Pathological Theories: Souls and Sin, Germs and Genes (PDF)

Poca barba e nium colore, soto ill cielo non vi ha peggiore. (There is nothing worse under heaven than a scanty beard and a colourless face.)
--- quoted in Cesare Lombroso, The Criminal Man.

Mauss. "The Category of the Human Mind: The Notion of Person; The Notion of Self." Excerpt. (Packet) (FN)

Greenblatt. "Fiction and Friction." In Reconstructing Individualism. Pp. 30-52. (Packet) (ABS)

Davis. "Boundaries and the Sense of Self in Sixteenth-Century France." In Reconstructing Individualism. Pp. 53-63. (Packet) (ABS)

Gould. "Measuring Bodies." In The Mismeasure of Man. Pp. 113-145. (Packet) (FN)
 
Conrad. "Discovery of Hyperkinesis: Notes on the Medicalization of Deviant Behavior." Kelly, pp. 65-75.

II. B.

Structural Theories: Cultural Conflict, Disorganization and Anomie (PDF)

Now don't it feel like you're a rider on a down bound train.
--- Bruce Springsteen, "Downbound Train."

Sellin. "The Conflict of Conduct Norms." Kelly, pp. 95-99 (ABS)

Merton. "Social Structure and Anomie." Kelly, pp. 139-149. (FN)

Hagedorn. "Homeboys, Dope Fiends, Legits, and New Jacks." Kelly, pp. 150-169. (ATA)

Cloward and Ohlin. "Differential Opportunity and Delinquent Subcultures." (ABS)

Hillerman. The Dark Wind; Ghostway. Excerpts. (Packet).

LaFontaine. "Person and Individual: Some Anthropological Reflections." Excerpt. (Packet) (ATA)

Elvin. "Between the Earth and Heaven: Conceptions of the Self in China." Excerpt. (Packet) (ATA)

At least one abstract and one full outline from readings in section II.
II. C.

Functional Theories: Boundaries and Identity (PDF)

Imagine a society of saints, a perfect cloister of exemplary individuals. Crimes, properly so-called, will there be unknown; but faults which appear venial to the layman will create there the same scandal that the ordinary offense does in ordinary consciousnesses.
--- Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method.

Durkheim. "The Normal and the Pathological." Kelly, pp. 80-84. (FN)

Erikson. "On the Sociology of Deviance." Kelly, pp. 85-92. (FN)

Erikson. Wayward Puritans. (ABS one per chapter) (except in packet)

Dentler and Erikson. "The Functions of Deviance in Groups." Excerpt. (Packet) (FN)

Analysis of the organizational structure, action, and themes of The Human Stain by Philip Roth.
II. D.

Constructivist and Conflict Theories: The Looking Glass Self

But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer, -- so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Pryne, were not impressed as if they beheld her for the first time, -- was the SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.
--- Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter.

Mead. Mind, Self and Society. Excerpt. (Packet) (ATA)

Cooley. Human Nature and the Social Order. Excerpt. (Packet) (ATA)

Goode. "Labeling and Interactionist Theory," and "Conflict Theory." (Packet) (FN)

Gibbs. "Conceptions of Deviant Behavior: The Old and the New." Kelly, pp. 14-19. (FN)

Lemert. "Primary and Secondary Deviance." (Packet) (ABS)

Scheff. Being Mentally Ill. Chap. 1-6 and 8. (ABS chapter by chapter)

At least one abstract and one full outline from readings in section III.
II. E.Post-Modern Selves: Constructed, Fractured, and Performed (PDF)

"Rape in Cyber Space." (Packet) (ABS)

Kondo. Crafting Selves. Excerpt. (Packet) (ATA)

MacIntyre. After Virtue. Excerpt. (Packet) (FN)

Wrong. "Adversarial Identities and Multiculturalism." In Society. January/February 2000. (Packet) (ABS)

Interpretation of empirical data using theoretical perspectives on deviant identities.
III. The Processes of Constructing Difference as Deviance
III. A.

Moral Enterprise: Creating Categories of Deviance (PDF)

The greatest instrument of political authority is the ability to give names and enforce definitions.
-- Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan.

"Reefer Madness." Atlantic Monthly. (Packet) (ABS)

"Reefer Madness." Video.

Becker. "Moral Entrepreneurs." Kelly, pp. 33-40. (ABS)

Spitzer. "The Production of Deviance in Capitalist Society." Kelly, pp. 57-64. (ABS)

Pfohl. "The Discovery of Child Abuse." (Packet) (ABS)

Chambliss. "A Sociological Analysis of the Laws of Vagrancy." (Packet)

III. B.

Becoming Deviant
(PDF 1)
(PDF 2)

Don't get up-tight that you're hesitating or you're fumbling, within the first week or even the first five years. Because it takes that long to become a good hustler. I mean you can be a whore in one night. There's nothing to that. The first time you take money you're a whore.
-- Ann, a madam interviewed by Barbara Heyl

Best, and Luckenbill. "The Social Organization of Deviants." Kelly, pp. 486-503. (FN)

Katz. "Sneaky Thrills." In Seductions of Crime. Excerpt. (Packet) (FN)

Lyon-Callo. "Medicalizing Homelessness: The Production of Self-Blame and Self-Governing within Homeless Shelters." Kelly, pp. 428-446. (ABS)

Evans. "Examining the Informal Sanctioning of Deviance in a Chat Room Culture." Kelly, pp. 282-293. (ABS)

Murphy, Waldorf, and Reinaman. "Drifing into Dealing: Becoming a Cocaine Seller." Kelly, pp. 528-549. (ATA)

Adler and Adler. "Tinydopers: A Case Study of Deviance Socialization." Kelly, pp. 246-262. (ATA)

Second draft on paper analyzing the formation of identity and deviance in The Human Stain.

At least one abstract and one full outline from readings in section IV.
III. C.

Managing a Deviant Identity (PDF)

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts,

I am sixteen years old now and I don't know what to do and would appreciate it if you could tell me what to do...I was born without a nose...What did I do to deserve such a terrible bad fate?
Sincerely yours,
Desperate
-- Nathaniel West, Miss Lonelyhearts.

Goffman. Stigma. (ABS chapter by chapter)

Sykes and Matza. "Techniques of Neutralization." Kelly, pp. 122-127. (FN)

Scott and Lyman. "Accounts." (Packet) (FN)

Read at least 4 of the following 6 articles (ABS):

Siegel, Lune, and Meyer. "Stigma Management Among Gay/Bisexual Men with HIV/AIDS." Kelly, pp. 263-281.

Goffman. "The Moral Career of the Mental Patient." Kelly, pp. 449-466.

Sandstrom. "Confronting Deadly Disease: The Drama and Identity Construction Among Gay Men with AIDS." Kelly, pp. 550-564.

Martin and Hummer. "Fraternities and Rape on Campus." Kelly, pp. 568-582.

Szaz. "Corporations, Organized Crime, and the Disposal of Hazardous Waste: An Examination of the Making of a Crimogenic Regulatory Structure." Kelly, pp. 583-599.

Nack. "Damaged Goods: Women Managing the Stigma of STDs." Kelly, pp. 610-630.

IV. Confining Identities and Differences (PDF)
IV. A.

Informal Social Control: Family and Community

I: When was the first time you noticed she was a deviant?
S: I didn't notice it. I thought she had a masculine appearance when I first saw her anyway.
I: Did you notice anything else about her at the first meeting?
S: No, because you really don't know unless you're looking for those things.
-- Interview by John Kitsuse, "Societal Reactions to Deviant Behavior."

Merry. "Rethinking Gossip and Scandal." (Packet) (ABS)

FILM: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

IV. B.

The Professionalization of Control: The Great Incarcerations

Some men probably abstain from murder because they fear that if they committed murder they would be hanged. Hundreds of thousands abstain from it because they regard it with horror. One great reason they regard it with horror is that murderers are hanged.
-- J. F. Stephens. A History of the Criminal Law in England. 1862.

Currie. "Crimes without Criminals: Witchcraft and Its Control in Renaissance Europe." (Packet) (ABS)

Sudnow. "Normal Crimes." (Packet) (ABS)

Hunt and Manning. "The Social Context of Police Lying." Kelly, pp. 339-357. (ABS)

Kelly. "Bureaucratic Slots and Client Processing." Kelly, pp. 299-312. (ABS)

IV. C.

The Carceral Archipelago and Governmentality

...every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, every single day, every word you say, every night you stay, every vow you break, every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I'll be watching you...
--"The Police"

Foucault. "The Spectacle of the Scaffold." Chap 2 in Discipline and Punish. Excerpt. (FN)

Cohen. "Inside the System." Chap 2 in Visions of Social Control. Excerpt. (FN)

Simon. "Post-Modernization of Social Control." (Handout).

Rose. Governing the Soul. Excerpt. (FN)

Shichor. "The Corporate Context of Private Prisons." Kelly, pp. 313-338. (ABS)

Shearing and Stenning. "From the Panopticon to Disneyworld: The Development of a Discipline." Excerpt.

V.Women. (A case of double deviance) (PDF)

Readings to be assigned.

Final paper on The Human Stain due in class.
VI.

Conclusions and Summary

The most fortunate of normals is likely to have his half-hidden failing, and for every little failing there is an occasion when it will loom large, creating a shameful gap between virtual and actual social identity. Therefore, the occasionally precarious and the constantly precarious form a single continuum, their situation in life analyzable by the same framework.
-- Erving Goffman, Stigma.

 


 



 








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