Goode, Erich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda. 1994. Moral Panics. 

 

Two camps in the definition of deviance

 

The objective approach

·      Morals are clearly stated in the bible

·      There is good and bad, right and wrong, virtue and evil

·      Immorality is immanent, it exists in the act itself

·      There are crimes against nature

·      Groups: Inquisition, Nazis, Christian, Moslem or Jewish Fundamentalists, anti-abortion pro-lifers…

The subjective approach acknowledges different moralities.  Morality is relative to culture and historic time.

·      Constructionist, subjectivists, or relativists

·      The same act can be moral or immoral

o    in different cultures

o    at different historic times

o    in different subcultures

·      Immorality is not immanent, it does not exits within the behavior but depends on the interpretation of the behavior

·      Importance of the audience

·      Deviance is situational

·      Deviance is constructed

·      Defiance reflects power differentials in society

·       “Criminalization is the explicit use of power to impose the view of one specific symbolic-moral universe on other universes” (Ben-Yehuda, 1990, p.65).

 

 

We can differentiate between

1. Moderate Constructionists:

·      although moral and deviance cannot be defined  by the objective severity of the condition they cause, there is a relationship between the objective damage to society and the likelihood that an act will be seen as immoral.

2. Strict Constructionists:

“It is impossible to determine the objective damage and subjective concern because there is no such thing as objectivity in the first place”. (p.94)

 

 

 

Constructionism: Satanic Ritual Abuse

 

Victor, Jeffrey S. 1994. Fundamentalist Religion and the Moral Crusade against Satanism: the Social Construction of Deviant Behavior. Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal 15:305-334.

 

To complement the readings of

Goode, Erich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda. 1994. Moral Panics.  Good overview of the moral crusade against Satanism. 

 

Adds

(1)            the function of  fundamentalist churches,

(2)            the police,  and

(3)            false memory syndrome to the discussion of the social construction of Satanism.

Here are some key quotes:

 

overehads

There is no Satanism without Christianity.

"Fundamentalist religion plays a central role in the social construction of satanic cult crime because it offers

·      a receptive ideology,

·      a well-established communication network,

and organizational resources for moral crusaders"(p.305).

 

 

 

Definition of Christian Fundamentalism

“Christian fundamentalism is an ultraconservative ideology that uses orthodox, evangelical Protestantism to give supernatural sanction to attacks on contemporary social change” (p.314).

 

“Fundamentalist Protestants can usually be distinguished from other evangelicals by their belief in the immanent end of the world, after which only true believers in Christ will be saved; strict biblical literalism; and a personal morality that forbids drinking, dancing and gambling (Ammerman 1987)”(pp. 313 and 315).

 

“While some fundamentalists proudly identify themselves fundamentalists, others prefer to regard themselves as "born-again" or "bible-believing"” (p.315).

 

 

It does not matter which religion you have:

“American fundamentalists share with Islamic, Hindu, and Jewish fundamentalists a view of themselves as being under siege by the sinful modern society, and a fierce need to defend traditional cultural pattern” (p.315).

---

 

 

Schwartz, Richard, and Jermone Skolnick. 1996. Legal Stigma. In: Rubington, Earl and Martin Weinberg. 1996. Deviance: The Interactionist Perspective, Sixth Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 239-243.

 

 

 

IV: 4 Job application folders indicating different degrees or no criminal record were sent to 23 employers.

DV: success of applications

 

 

 

 

	No record	Acquitted with letter of judge certifying  innocence	Acquitted without letter	Convicted
Positive Response	36	24	12	4
Negative response	64	76	88	96

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOVIE ABOUT FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME

 

---

Back to the homepage of Dr. Andreas Schneider http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider/

Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University or Dr. Andreas Schneider. @Copyright 2005 Andreas Schneider