The Moral Enterprise

1) How does power affect definitions of deviance?


2) Is the media ‘free and open’ in the US?


3) Describe how media representations attach positive or negative (moral) meanings to particular acts/behaviors/events.


4) Consider the clips viewed in class relating to gang violence and drunk driving, and think about how media processes create moral meanings around deviance and crime. Remember, drunk driving only recently came to be viewed as morally reprehensible... As you consider those clips (as well as the images below), reflect on the following concepts....

• Moral Panic
• Generating ‘fear’
• Amplification of threat
• Justifying response
• Consequences of moral crusade

Reference and define each concept as you consider how moral meanings are attached to drunk driving or gang violence.

Strain or Learning

Dear Class,

Since you're working on your presentations, I want to make sure that you understand how we apply and test theories (as you will be doing through your presentations). I am asking you here, and in your presentations, to consider how useful theories are in explaining criminal or deviant behavior. As critical criminologists, please think about the limitations of each theory and consider how other theories might address the limitation of another theory. Often, social scientists integrate the most useful parts of a few theories to create a new theory... The best presentations will do this.

Please view the following clip and consider the following questions:

1) How does strain theory help to explain the deviant behavior?

2) How does differential association theory help to explain the deviant behavior?

3) Considering the limitations of each, is there a way to integrate the theories in order to create a more effective explanation of the deviant behavior?