Spring 2027

Processes of Deviant Behavior

Examines factors underlying disagreement about fundamental values informing deviance, personal/social maladjustment, and deviant behavior across social contexts. Evaluates sociological theories like structural functionalism and labeling.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Michael Massoglia

One student found the workload demanding, stating each week required multiple hours of reading and potentially attending office hours, especially with a heavy course load.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Critically evaluate major sociological theories of deviance, including structural functionalism, conflict theory, labeling theory, and social control theories, and apply them to contemporary and historical cases.

  • Analyze the social construction of deviance and how definitions of deviance vary across cultures, subcultures, and historical periods.

  • Assess the role of institutions (e.g., family, education, criminal justice, media) in the identification, regulation, and reproduction of deviant behavior.

  • Analyze the intersection of deviance with race, class, gender, and sexuality, and how power dynamics influence who is labeled as deviant and why.

  • Interpret empirical research on deviant behavior, including qualitative and quantitative studies, and evaluate their methodologies and findings.

  • Formulate and defend evidence-based arguments regarding social responses to deviance, including policy implications, rehabilitation, and punishment.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing or (SOC/​LEGAL ST 131,SOC 181,C&E SOC/​SOC 210, or 211)

SOC 421

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MICHAEL MASSOGLIA is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2016, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Michael Massoglia

Past students described Michael Massoglia as passionate and caring, noting he applied course material to real-world examples in his lectures.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.13 GPA, 64.1% A/AB (n=39 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.03 GPA, 48.6% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.96 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=36 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Michael Massoglia

One student found the workload demanding, stating each week required multiple hours of reading and potentially attending office hours, especially with a heavy course load.

Past student reviews · Michael Massoglia

A student found essay exams manageable by taking notes on readings, though they noted the instructor did not post the promised generous curve.

Topics

  • Disagreement about fundamental values, personal and social maladjustment, and deviant behavior across social contexts.
  • Sociological theories of deviance: structural functionalism, conflict theory, labeling theory, and social control theories.
  • Social construction of deviance and variations in definitions across cultures, subcultures, and historical periods.
  • Role of institutions such as family, education, criminal justice, and media in identifying and regulating deviant behavior.
  • Intersection of deviance with race, class, gender, and sexuality, and power dynamics influencing labeling.
  • Social responses to deviance including policy implications, rehabilitation, and punishment.

Skills

  • Evaluate sociological theories of deviance such as structural functionalism, conflict theory, labeling theory, and social control theories.
  • Analyze the intersection of deviance with race, class, gender, and sexuality, and how power dynamics influence labeling.
  • Interpret empirical research on deviant behavior and evaluate qualitative and quantitative study methodologies.
  • Formulate and defend evidence-based arguments regarding social responses to deviance, including policy implications.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1316 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "a87ddb61740b1b7f0824b1bec765338f198edb183d66d5c44935da233086858d",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}