Competencies and objectives

 

Course context for academic year 2024-25

Sociology of Deviance is a four-month subject in the fourth year (second semester), which has a transversal nature, given its relationship with many of the subjects of the Degree in Sociology (Structure and social change).

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 content (verified by ANECA in official undergraduate and Master’s degrees) for academic year 2024-25

Specific Disciplinary Training Competences (Theoretical)

  • CES1 : Analysis of the main concepts and generalisations on human society and its processes.
  • CES2 : Analysis of the main features of the modern historical system (structure) and the transformations and evolution of contemporary societies.

 

Specific Disciplinary Training Competences (Practical)

  • CEH3 : Capacity to plan, design and execute social intervention projects and public policies designed to deal with social problems.

 

Transversal Competences

  • CT1 : Capacity to analyse and synthesise.

 

 

 

Learning outcomes (Training objectives)

No data

 

 

Specific objectives stated by the academic staff for academic year 2024-25

The main goal of the subject is providing to the students the conceptual and methodological tools they need to make a sociological analysis of the processes of deviance and social control.
The particular goals are:
• To know concepts as social groups, structure and social change, as well as knowing the main theories and deviance models, deviance behavior and causes of crime.
• Knowledge and implementation of the sociological methodology in researching crime.
• To distinguish, from the classical authors to the most modern theories, the different theories in Deviance Sociology.
• To analyze the influence of social factors in crime phenomenon.
• To understand the role played by social control institutions in modern societies.

 

 

General

Code: 23041
Lecturer responsible:
Alcázar Ruiz, Rafael
Credits ECTS: 6,00
Theoretical credits: 1,00
Practical credits: 1,40
Distance-base hours: 3,60

Departments involved

  • Dept: SOCIOLOGIA I
    Area: SOCIOLOGY
    Theoretical credits: 1
    Practical credits: 1,4
    This Dept. is responsible for the course.
    This Dept. is responsible for the final mark record.

Study programmes where this course is taught