List Matza and Sykes’ Five Techniques of Neutralization. Provide examples and/or explanation of each to show you know the process of each.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The Denial of Responsibility
- Rationalization we are not responsible, mistakes or accidents
- “helplessly propelled” into their bad behavior—unloving parents, a bad teacher, and boss
The Denial of Injury
- If deviance is perceived to not cause injury or harm to anyone; “but no one was hurt by it”
- argue that behavior should be allowed and is not all that bad if no one is hurt
The Denial of Victim
- victim might exist, but they deserved the harm; “brought it on themselves”
- Robin Hood’s behavior of stealing from the rich to give to the poor is justified
- may be against the rules to steal, but the rich brought it upon themselves by stealing from the poor first
The Condemnation of the Condemners
- individuals that are pointing the finger at the deviant’s behavior are also deviant
- behavior is also deviant and therefore, those “condemners” have no right to call into question the behavior of the deviant individual
The Appeal to Higher Loyalties
- larger group (society) lose out to the wishes of a smaller, more intimate group
- loyalty to the group requires they break the rules for the good of the smaller group
- For example, a young boy fights to protect his younger brother or show loyalty to their group