What does the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy have in common with the rise in attacks on Asian Americans? Both news stories represent deviance, the violation of social norms, in some important way. Let’s consider the fundamentals of each story. First, former French President Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison for influence peddling and corruption related to his campaign finances while he was in office. While this ruling was monumental, the judge did suspend two years of the sentence and say Sarkozy could serve the remaining year at home while wearing an electronic ankle monitor for surveillance, the use of technology to monitor the action and behavior of others. The second story highlights a string of vicious attacks directed toward Asian Americans that have taken place across the United States in the past year. These attacks are based on the wrongheaded notion that members of the Asian community are in some way responsible for the health and economic circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. The victims’ experiences highlight the fact that anything can become a social stigma, a label associating an individual to a set of unwanted characteristics that form a stereotype. Stigmas can occur regardless of whether the circumstances surrounding them are factual or make any sense at all.
In analyzing these stories, it is important to remember that deviance is relative to time, place, and culture. What is deviant in one culture or group may not be deviant in another culture or group. While technically, any violation of a social norm is deviant, in most instances, society ignores minor violations like folkways, informal and common norms that guide everyday behavior, and instead focuses on laws, formal and legal rules enforced by the state. Both of the stories mentioned above involve the violation of some type of law. As a result, the criminal justice system, formal institutions designed to enforce, arbitrate, and carry out the laws of the society, had to get involved.
In the case of Sarkozy, we find that his behavior was seen by the French courts as an offense in violation of public law, or crime. More specifically, he engaged in a political crime, action, or the absence of action that influences the political process. The misuse of government funds, bribery, treason, and voter fraud are all examples of political crime. Other categories of crime include organized crime, corporate crime, white-collar crime, and public order crime.
The category of public order crime best explains the attacks on Asian Americans. Specifically, it consists of crimes that violate the norms and standards of a community or impair a person’s ability to function. These attacks exemplify hate crimes, criminal behavior directed at individuals or groups based on their race, ethnicity, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religion. Estimates are that hate crimes against Asian Americans have gone up by 150% across the U.S. in the last year.
