Sociology of Deviance

The Sociology of Deviance is a discipline that applies the knowledge and techniques of Sociology to understand the social and cultural structure placed behind of individual behaviour. The Sociology of Deviance aims to think about our current society, but from a critical and reflective perspective on the values that sustain it. We often wonder: What is normal and what is deviant? When we ask ourselves if this is normal or not, what we are doing, without noticed it, is building, and reinforcing the boundaries of the social and cultural norms that we share. What we consider normal refers to what a majority thinks, although this is not always the case, since a powerful minority can make the majority believe what should be done, what is considered normal.

The way how "normality" is constructed and, consequently, the deviant behaviour is defined, depends on each historical, social, and cultural context. Thus, just a few decades ago, homosexuality was considered a mental illness. Today this is not socially acceptable in western countries. The treatment not only of gender, but also of disability, childhood, crime, drug use changes over time and it is interpreted differently in each historical context.

What has changed in society? How are these labels built?

In Sociology of Deviance, we will think about the construction of these labels and their consequences for people. Anomy, stigma, discrimination, labelling, are concepts given by different authors that offer us the possibility of thinking critically and reflectively about our society and about ourselves.

Course will consist of 60hrs of in class work and 90 hrs of independent work outside the classroom.