Needless to say, computers and especially personal/micro computers have changed society. Like all technologies, these instruments have changed aspects of social life, including the nature of crime and deviance. This course will explore the ways in which the computer technology now organizes and presents opportunities for deviance in modern society. Students will explore the nature of Internet deviance from a normative and reactive perspective in order to discern the sociological dimensions of technologically created deviant forms. Topics to be discussed include consumer fraud, hate group, pornography, cybersex, terrorism and threats, hacking, and identity theft. Students will also study policy responses to these deviant forms, reporting on the ways in which deviance on the Internet subject to “social control.”.
This course will, by its very nature, discuss topics that for some individuals may be controversial or, elicit disgust. Students are forewarned that we might look at areas of social life that would cause some people to “look away.” As sociologists, we prefer not to look away, but rather, explore these social realities with objectivity, using scientific frameworks. I expect students taking this course to treat all subjects discussed with objectivity, fairness, and with an intellectual spirit grounded in critical inquiry. Your continued enrollment in this course means that you have accepted responsibility for helping to maintain this academic tone
Prerequisites: six hours in Sociology or permission of instructor; this course meets the requirements for the Criminal Justice Emphasis in Sociology.
- Teacher: Tim Buzzell