CJ 506-Social-Control Agents and the Application

Social-Control Agents and the Application of Diagnostic Stereotypes: The Beginning Destruction of Public Identity
28. The Epistemological Challenge of the Early Attack on “Rate Construction,” Troy Duster
29. The Organizational Career of Gang Statistics: The Politics of Policing Gangs, Albert J. Meehan
30. Trial by Fire: Media Constructions of Corporate Deviance, Gray Cavender, Aogan Mulcahy
Social-Control Agents, Sanctioning, and the Production of Institutional Careers and Identities
31. Criminalizing Women’s Behavior, Nora S. Gustavsson, Ann E. MacEachron
32. Medicalizing Homelessness: The Production of Self-Blame and Self-Governing within Homeless Shelters, Vincent Lyon-Callo

Points Possible: 20

Deliverable Length: 2-3 pages

Due: Friday, March 18, 11:55 pm

Answer two questions:

1. Troy Duster offers this description of epistemological crisis: “If what I am seeing is true, then other things that I thought were true are no longer certain.” Apply this description to an example of contemporary socio-cultural deviance (e.g., 9/11; the Newtown school children mass murder) to highlight the process by which meaning is socially constructed. Pay particular attention to mass media as well as other social groups and segments that contribute to the process.

2. List and discuss the four recurring elements of the crime news frame according to Cavender and Mulcahy. Why does this news frame better fit stories of street crime than corporate white collar narratives.

3. In Lyon-Callo’s study, how do routine homeless shelter practices “produce” homeless subjects. Be sure to frame your answer around the medicalization of homelessness and social inequality (i.e., resulting from drugs, alcohol, or social trauma).