SOCI
2305 | Deviance | Spring 2026
Schedule
of Readings, Course Assignments & Due Dates
Jan.
21 Introducing the
course – spot the looney
In-Class Data
Workshop One - The Deviant Activities Inventory
Jan. 26-28
Explaining Deviance – exorcising
demons
What
to read:
Stephen
Pfohl, Ch. 1 Images of Deviance and Social Control: An Introduction, pp. 1-14
Stephen
Pfohl, The Demonic Perspective: Otherworldly Interpretations of Deviance, pp.
19-41
Readers
Response #1 (on each of the readings above) – email by class time, Monday, Jan.
26
Video
Workshop One: Making the Devil do it in The Advocate, Wednesday, Jan. 28
Feb.
2-4 Explaining Deviance
– it isn’t what you do but what others see
Joel
Best, Constructing deviance
John
Curra, The Dynamic Nature of Deviance, Ch. 1 – The Dynamic Nature of Deviance (in the physical book)
Readers
Response #2 (on each of the readings above) – email by class time, Mon., Feb. 2 *changed to Wednesday, Feb. 4*
Feb.
9-11 When Do We See
Deviance? Making Mental Illness
John
Curra, Ch. 4 – Mental Disorders
Gary
Greenberg, Not Diseases, but Categories of Suffering
Readers
Response #3 (on each of the readings above) – email by class time, Monday, Feb.
9
Data Workshop
Two – Putting a bandaid on stigma, report due,
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Feb.
16-18 When Do We See
Deviance? The many forms of social control
Ethan
Watters, “The Shifting Mask of Schizophrenia in Zanzibar” from Crazy
Like Us
Treatment
Advocacy Center, “Serious Mental Disorders in Prisons and Jails”
Readers
Response #4 (on each of the readings above) – email by class time, Monday, Feb.
16
Data Workshop
Two – Putting a bandaid on stigma, report due,
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Video
Workshop Two: The New Asylums and criminalizing mental illness, Wed. Feb. 18
Feb.
23-25 When
Do We See Deviance? Making Sex an Illness (and a Crime)
Curra,
Ch. 8 – Sexual Diversity
Roger
Lancaster, “The Cochon and the Hombre-Hombre in Nicaragua”
Kathryn
Kendall, Women in Lesotho and the (Western) Construction of Homophobia”
Readers
Response #5 (on the reading above) – email by class time, Monday, Feb. 23
Mar.
2-4 When Do We See
Deviance? – making and unmaking homosexuality as deviance
(Audio) Dismantling a
Diagnosis: Episode 1: A Kind of Madness, Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral
Histories (2023)
(Audio) Dismantling a
Diagnosis: Episode 2: The Cure, Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories (2023)
How Evelyn Hooker rattled the APA, Wendy Fenwick (2024)
Reader’s Response #6 (on the readings above) – email it by class
time, Monday, Mar. 2
Video: Cured or Stonewall, Wed., Mar. 4 (part of Data Workshop Three)
Mar.
9-11 When Do We See
Deviance? The Deviants Talk Back
Data Workshop
Three – Eliminating Deviance: The case of homosexuality report due Monday,
March 9
*** Mid-Term Exam – Wednesday, Mar. 11 ***
Mar.
16-18 Spring
Break
Mar.
23-25 When
Do We See Deviance? Moral Panics Making Monsters Abuse Children
Mary
de Young, The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic: A Sociological Analysis
Alan
Yuhas, It’s Time to Revisit the Satanic Panic
Readers
Response #7 (on each of the readings above) – email by class time, Monday, Mar.
23
Video
Workshop Three: Witch Hunt – why people believed ritual satanic child abuse occurred?
Wednesday. March 25
**We're swapping what was scheduled for the weeks of March 30 and April 6**
Mar. 29-Apr. 1 When Do We See
Deviance? Making Violence Predatory
Curra,
Ch. 5 – Predatory Violence
Readers
Response #9 Readers
Response #8 (on the reading above) – email by class time, Monday, Mar. 30
Video
Workshop Four: The Interrupters excerpts – the rationality of ordinary violence,
Wednesday. April 1
Apr.
6-8 When Do We See Deviance?
When is it rape?
Curra,
Ch. 6 – Sexual Violence
Readers
Response #8 Readers
Response #9 (on the reading above) – email by class time, Monday, Apr. 6
Video
Workshop Five: The Invisible War excerpts– how
rape victims are the deviant, Monday, Apr. 6
Data Workshop
Four – When we see rape: Exploring interpretations of an event - report due Wednesday,
April 8
Apr.
13-15 When Do We See
Deviance? Drug Use as Drug Abuse as Drug Addiction
Curra,
Ch. 9 – Drugs and Drug Taking
Readers
Response #10 (on the reading above) – email by class time, Monday, Apr. 13
Video
Workshop Six: The House I Live In excerpts – Waging War on Drugs, Wednesday. April
15
Apr.
20-22 When Do We See
Deviance? How You See It Shapes What You Do About It
Johann
Hari, “Snowfall and Strengthening: from Chasing the Scream
Maia
Szalavitz, from Undoing Drugs
Readers
Response #11 (on each of the readings above) – email by class time, Monday,
Apr. 20
Data Workshop
Five – Illicit drugs – identifying harm, assessing evidence - report due
Wednesday, Apr. 22
Apr.
27-29 When
Do We See Deviance – Not When Elites Do It
Curra,
Ch. 3 – Power and Organization Deviance
Readers
Response #12 (on the reading above) – email by class time, Monday, Apr. 27
Video
workshop Seven: The Merchants of Doubt excerpts, Wednesday. April 29
May
4 ***Final Exam***