SOCY 5530 Studies in Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
This seminar involves a critical sociological exploration of social control and the deviance that powerful forms of control exclude, marginalize, and silence. How do gendered, class-based, and racialized formations of power influence what society views as normal and what it labels as deviant? What prompts people to resist dominant rituals of social control? Of particular concern are new global technologies of control and resistance; racialized policing and mass incarceration; the management of madness; omnipresent surveillance; elite and governmental wrongdoing; and the global trafficking of people, sex, drugs, body parts, weapons, terrorism, and mesmerizing media images that fascinate and create fear.
Course overview
- Department
- Sociology
- School
- MCAS
- Credits
- 3
- Level
- Both
- Offered
- Periodically in the Fall, Periodically in the Spring
Course evaluations
- Course rating
- 4.50 / 5 · Excellent
- Instructor rating
- 4.54 / 5 · Excellent
- Terms evaluated
- 2
| Term | Instructor | Course overall | Instructor overall | Well organized | Clear learning objectives | Intellectually challenging | Helpful assignments | Applicable beyond course | Attendance necessary | Weekly effort | Responses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | Stephen J Pfohl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4–6 hrs/week | 7 of 11 |
| Spring 2023 | Stephen J Pfohl | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.5 | — | 8 of 13 |