Introduction
Social control is defined as “mechanisms that ensure conformity” (Eitzen, 107) while deviance is defined as “any behavior that does not conform to social expectations” (Eitzen, 130). These two words play a huge role in the U.S. Prison system considering a vast majority of inmates and ex-inmates are those who were or still are unable to conform to the current time’s norms, values, and laws. It is important to sociologists and those who run prison systems to consider social control and deviance to examine if there is anything we can do as a society to prevent others from straying off course and becoming labeled as a deviant.
Literature Review In Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in the U.S. Incarceration …show more content…
"Compounded Disadvantage: Race, Incarceration, and Wage Growth." Social Problems: 257-80. Print.
Pettit, B., and B. Western. "Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration." American Sociological Review (2004): 151-69. Print. …show more content…
Becky Pettit and Bruce Western examine the inequality of education found throughout the U.S. prison systems. In a four year period of births Pettit and Western found that only 3% of these white men went to prison by their mid-thirties while nearly 20% of these black men went to prison by the time they were in the mid-thirties. Out of the black men, nearly 90% of them had an education that was less than equivalent to college. While examining this inequality, Lyons and Pettit found that the 17% difference had a correlation with the difference in white and black men education levels. In another journal, Pettit and Christopher Lyons examined the inequality of wage increases among black and white men who previously went to jail. Theorists who have examined the inequality in prison systems will look at it one of two ways: both the deviant was unable to conform to modern time’s norms, values, and laws, or the society was unable to meet the needs of individuals to keep them from acting out. Unfortunately, no matter what view a theorist may take on the subject it is nearly impossible for every member of a society to completely conform to the ever changing norms, values, and
Social control is defined as “mechanisms that ensure conformity” (Eitzen, 107) while deviance is defined as “any behavior that does not conform to social expectations” (Eitzen, 130). These two words play a huge role in the U.S. Prison system considering a vast majority of inmates and ex-inmates are those who were or still are unable to conform to the current time’s norms, values, and laws. It is important to sociologists and those who run prison systems to consider social control and deviance to examine if there is anything we can do as a society to prevent others from straying off course and becoming labeled as a deviant.
Literature Review In Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in the U.S. Incarceration …show more content…
"Compounded Disadvantage: Race, Incarceration, and Wage Growth." Social Problems: 257-80. Print.
Pettit, B., and B. Western. "Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration." American Sociological Review (2004): 151-69. Print. …show more content…
Becky Pettit and Bruce Western examine the inequality of education found throughout the U.S. prison systems. In a four year period of births Pettit and Western found that only 3% of these white men went to prison by their mid-thirties while nearly 20% of these black men went to prison by the time they were in the mid-thirties. Out of the black men, nearly 90% of them had an education that was less than equivalent to college. While examining this inequality, Lyons and Pettit found that the 17% difference had a correlation with the difference in white and black men education levels. In another journal, Pettit and Christopher Lyons examined the inequality of wage increases among black and white men who previously went to jail. Theorists who have examined the inequality in prison systems will look at it one of two ways: both the deviant was unable to conform to modern time’s norms, values, and laws, or the society was unable to meet the needs of individuals to keep them from acting out. Unfortunately, no matter what view a theorist may take on the subject it is nearly impossible for every member of a society to completely conform to the ever changing norms, values, and