SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AND CRIME

Content

Objective

This course aims to demonstrate the relativity of deviant behavior and crime. It enables students to identify core definitions, conceptualizations, and debates surrounding both criminal and non-criminal deviance. It introduces students to classical, modern, and contemporary critical theories of crime and deviance. It examines several prevalent forms of modern criminality, such as organized crime and white-collar crime, as well as non-violent forms of deviance associated with physical or psychological conditions. Furthermore, the course analyzes various organizational and institutional responses to criminal and non-criminal deviance (e.g., criminalization, punishment, incarceration, surveillance), alongside associated societal reactions (e.g., stigmatization, medicalization, moral panic, fear of crime).

Course Content

This course offers a sociological introduction to the study of deviance, crime, and criminality. It focuses on how societies define and construct norms, deviance, and crime, as well as the social and institutional processes through which certain behaviors are criminalized and specific categories of individuals are designated as deviant or criminal. The course will address various forms of deviance and crime—including juvenile delinquency, violent crime, organized crime, state crime, corporate crime, hate crime, etc.—alongside major sociological approaches that provide insight into their manifestations, logic, and social drivers. Finally, particular attention will be given to social and institutional reactions to deviance and crime: social control, stigmatization, sanctions, prevention, and criminal justice. The objective is thus to understand crime and deviance not as fixed, timeless realities, but as socially constructed, defined, and regulated phenomena.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Define and conceptualize foundational notions, contemporary debates, and key distinctions related to criminal and non-criminal deviance.
• Mobilize and compare major critical theories (classical, modern, and contemporary) of deviance and crime to demonstrate the evolving, socially constructed, and context-dependent nature of deviant behaviors.
• Critically analyze various contemporary forms of criminality (white-collar crime, organized crime) as well as non-violent deviance associated with physical or psychological conditions.
• Evaluate institutional and organizational responses to deviance (criminalization, incarceration, surveillance, punitive systems).
• Deconstruct societal reactions to deviant and criminal behavior (stigmatization processes, medicalization, moral panics, and the fear of crime).

Teaching and Learning Methods

The initial part (1/2 to 2/3) of each session will be devoted to formal lectures, followed by seminars discussing assigned readings and practical case-study workshops.

References

Durkheim Emile, « Le crime phénomène normal », Denis Szabo et André Normandeau (textes réunis par), Déviance et criminalité, Paris, Librairie Armand Colin, 1970, 76-82.
Source : http://biblotheque.ucaq.ca/

Castel Robert, “Les marginaux dans l'histoire”, in Serge Paugam (sous la direction de), L'exclusion. L'état des savoirs, Paris, Editions la découverte, 1996, 32-41.

Durkheim Emile, “Définitions du crime et fonction du châtiment”, Denis Szabo et André Normandeau (textes réunis par), Déviance et criminalité, Paris, Librairie Armand Colin, 1970, pp. 88-89.
Source : http://biblotheque.ucaq.ca

Lombroso Cesare, “La folie morale et le crime chez les enfants” in Cesare Lombroso, L'homme criminel, Tome premier, Paris, Ancienne Librairie Germer Ballière et Cie, Félix Alca, Editeur, 1895, 109-121.
Source : http://biblotheque.ucaq.ca/

Tarde Gabriel, “Etudes criminelles et pénales” in Gabriel Tarde, Etudes pénales et sociales, Paris, G. Masson, Editeur, 1892, 265-286.
Source : http://biblotheque.ucaq.ca/

Chapoulie Jean-Michel, “Ernest W. Burgess et les débuts d'une approche sociologique de la délinquance aux Etats-Unis, Déviance et Société, 2003, Vol. 27, No. 2, 103-110.

Chamboredon Jean-Claude, “La délinquance juvénile, essai de construction d'objet”, Revue française de sociologie, XII, 1971, 335-377.

Mucchielli Laurent, “Regard sociologique sur l'évolution des délinquances juvéniles, leur genèse et leur prévention”, Comprendre, 2004, No. 5, 199-220.

Xiberras Martine, “L'Interactionnisme symbolique” in Martine Xiberras, Les théories de l'exclusion, Paris, Armand Colin, 2000, 95-119.

Merton Robert K., “Structure sociale, anomie et déviance” in Robert K. Merton, Eléments de théorie et de méthode sociologique, Paris, Armand Colin, 1997, 163-187.

Becker Howard S., « Type de déviance : Un modèle séquentiel », in Howard S. Becker, Outsiders, Paris, Editions A. - M. Métailié, 43-63.

« La culture d'un groupe déviant : Les musiciens de danse », 103-125.

« Les entrepreneurs de morale », 71-188

Mucchielli Laurent, “Clochards et sans-abri : actualité de l'oeuvre d'Alexandre Vexliard, Revue française de sociologie, 1998, 1, 105-138.

Malewska-Peyre Hanna, “La socialisation et la déviance des jeunes immigrés”, Actes du colloque de Syracuse, décembre 1982, Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Vaucresson, 109-132.

Théry Irène, Tasserit Sophie, “Sida et exclusion”, in Serge Paugam (sous la directin de), L'exclusion. L'état des savoirs, Paris, Editions la découverte, 1996, 363-373.

Plaisance Eric, “Les enfants handicapés à l'école”, in Serge Paugam (sous la directin de), L'exclusion. L'état des savoirs, Paris, Editions la découverte, 1996, 136-145

Dubet François, “Introduction: Une Expérience” in François Dubet, La Galère : jeunes en survie, Paris, Fayard, 1987, 9-16.

Burgess Ernest W., “L'Etude du délinquant en tant que personne”, Déviance et Société, 2003, Vol. 27, No. 2, 111-130.


Social Control Theory and Delinquency , Michael D. Wiatrowski, David B. Griswold and Mary K. Roberts, American Sociological Review, Vol. 46, No. 5 (Oct., 1981), pp. 525-541, Published by: American Sociological Association.

Weekly Contents

Assessment System

Relation of Proficiency

ECTS