Sociology of deviance

What is Social Deviance?

Social deviance is a term used by sociologists to describe the idea of averting from social and societal norms, may it be in a severe context, or not. Furthermore, it descrbies any sort of "rule breaking" behavior.

The concept itself of deviance can be seen in many different forms of severity, ranging from very severe, to less severe. Some examples of severe deviance are murder, arson, and robbery. Examples of deviance with less severity are wearing inappropriate clothing (according to societal norms) or failing to turn in homework on time.

When it comes to explaining the forms of severity with deviance, it is almost necessary to describe the types of behavior the deviance transcends from. There are three major types of deviance. Admired behavior, although it is thought of as positive behavior, is still thought by sociologists to be abnormal. It is abnormal for most people to commit admirable behavior all of the time. Heroism, for example, is considered admired behavior because it is abnormal to put your own life in danger to save the life of another. The second major type of deviance is odd behavior. Odd behavior pertains to anything that appears to be different in a society, criminal behavior set aside. Odd behavior may be outlandish clothing apparel or even living in a house full of cats. The final type of deviance is considered bad behavior. Bad behavior is what is thought of when assosciating criminal behavior with deviance. It is ually thought of as breaking legal rules.

Social deviance can be broken down even more to further explain its meaning. Determining whether deviance is absolute or relative helps definte it more accurately. Deviance as defined in absolute terms would mean that in all societies at all times certain forms of behavior will be considered deviant. All societies would develop rules that proscribed certain forms of behavior, allowing us to understand the essential nature of deviance. On the contrary, deviance as defined in relative terms would mean that different societies at different times develop different ways of seeing the same form of behavior. Under a relative definition, there is no one "cause" for behavior. Because there are different ways in defining the same form of behavior, the focus of study should be on the way rules are formulated in a specific society.

Being able to simply define social deviance is not nearly enough. However, when sociologists complete studies on societal norms. Sociologists in the past have created theories that more accurately describe trends and patterns that lie within social deviance to help better understand societal behavior. Although there is constantly a change in the belief of why certain behavior arises, some theories have lasted longer than others. Listed below are some theories that continue to be studied in the field of sociology.

Labeling theory

Main article: Labeling theory

Howard S. Becker, a leading sociologist in this field, theorized in 1963 that "social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance." Labeling theory suggests that deviance is caused by the deviant person being negatively labeled, internalizing the label, and acting according to the label. For example, if a teacher labels a student as unruly, the student may internalize that label from the authority figure and behave unruly as if the labeling was a self-fulfilling prophecy. This theory, while very much a symbolic-interactionist theory, also has elements of conflict theory as the dominate group has the power to decide what is deviant and acceptable, and enjoys the power behind the labeling process. An example of this theory is a prison system that labels people convicted of theft, and because of this they start to view themselves as thieves.

Biological Theory

Cesare Lombroso was among the first to research and develop the Theory of Biological Deviance which states that some people are genetically predisposed to criminal behavior. He believed that criminals were a product of earlier genetic forms. The main influence of his reserach was Charles Darwin and his Theory of Evolution. Lombroso theorized that people were born criminals or in other words, less evolved humans who were biologically more related to our more primitive and animalistic urges. He stated that little could be done to cure born criminals because their charcateristics were biologically inherited. Over time, most of his research was disproved. His only theory that still holds true today is that all criminals seem to have a severe lack of intelligence.

Strain theory (sociology)

Strain Theory Table

	Accepts Goals	Rejects Goals
Accepts Means	Conformist	Ritualist
Rejects Means	Innovator	Retreatist

Robert K. Merton discussed deviance in terms of goals and means as part of his strain/anomie theory. He postulated that an individual's response to societal expectations and the means by which the individual pursued those goals were useful in understanding deviance. Specifically, he viewed collective action as motivated by strain, stress, or frustration in a body of individuals that arises from a disconnection between the society's goals and the popularly used means to achieve those goals. Often, non-routine collective behavior (rioting, rebellion, etc.) is said to map onto economic explanations and causes by way of strain.

Merton devised a typology that helps elucidate the kinds of coping strategies that any given actor under strain might adopt. Acceptance of both goals and means is defined as conformity (e.g. founding a business to achieve the American goal of wealth and materialism). Acceptance of the goals and rejection of the means is described as innovation, which can be positive or negative (e.g. acquiring wealth by robbery would be negative, while inventing a new business method would be positive). Rejection of the goal and acceptance of the means is ritualism - going through the motions, such as the disillusioned Milton in the movie Office Space (although his ritualism later changed to a mix of innovation and rebellion). Rejection of both the goal and means is retreatism - a homeless person is often cited as an example. Rebellion is a special case, where the individual rejects both the goal and means and actively attempts to replace them with other systems which are more acceptable. Anything other than conformity is a form of deviance from the accepted societal norms of behavior.

Differential association

Main article: Differential association

Also known as Social Learning Theory, it explains deviance as a learned behavior. The most important variables in this theory are the age of the learner of deviance, the quality of contact between the learner and the deviant role model, and the relationship between the learner and the deviant model. It does a great job of explaining how children grow up to become law-breakers or juvenile offenders, but it suffers from a paradox. If all deviance is learned from a teacher, and the teacher learned from their teacher, how did the first teachers learn to be deviant?

Functionalism

Functionalism views deviance as something needed by society. For one, deviance tests boundaries and also reaffirms social norms. Deviance also provides jobs for medicine, law enforcement, social workers, politicians, religious leaders, etc. The persistence of deviance is explained by the fact that deviance is important in adaptation, and because people who work with social control do not want to completely end deviance because it provides them jobs. According to Durkheim, society is based on people sharing common values (collective conscience) which form the basis for actions. However, in periods of change or social stress, the collective conscience may be weakened. In this situation people may start to look after their own selfish interests rather than adhering to social values. Durkheim called this situation anomie. Hirschi,who was heavily influenced by Durkheim's concept of anomie, suggests that if people are not 'controlled' by shared social values, then they look after their own short-term interests without concern for others. Hirschi turned around the question of 'why people commit crime?' to another, equally intriguing one: 'Why don't people commit crime?' Hirschi argued that criminal activity occurs when people's attachment to society is weakened in some way. Deviance has also been defined as the deviance from the set rules and norms of any proscribed area(ANU,'97).Functionalism, from this perspective would assert that such deviance serves a function, possibly creating cohesion in the exclusive membership of a particular group. Bear in mind, value judgements in sociology, or the scientific study of people in society, is not easy to escape. In fact, true sociology seeks to understand social behaviour, and not assert a superior position; nor is this view an apology for crime.For example, a famous sociological study once enquired as to why a particular suburb had above average number of swimming pools. With permission,a study was done and the common answer was that "everyone else had one". This taken for granted explanation became 'sociological' when research indicated that increased wages, or more money to spend, was probably a more accurate explanation. So to with any explanations of deviance: that which can be explained from proper research.

Subculture

Subcultures can use deviance as a way from differentiating themselves from main stream society. This can be through clothing, tattoos, hair styles etc., (for example punks) or violent criminal behaviour (criminal gangs). Deviance therefore provides members of the subculture with a sense of common identity. It is interesting to note that members of a subculture are still following norms, just different norms from the rest of society. Norms are learned from other members of a subculture, a new member learns ways to act, dress, music to listen to etc. Deviance within a subculture will still be subjected to sanctions and possible expulsion from the subculture.

Degrees of Deviance

There are two main degrees of deviance, primary and secondary. Primary deviances are actions that cause someone to be labeled a deviance. Examples are robbing a bank, or passing out at a party from drinking too much. Secondary deviances are actions that one does because of other deviant acts. Examples being, robbing a bank to support a drug habit, or passing out at a party from drinking too much to impress your friends.

Medicalization of deviance

Sociologists have also studied what is called the "medicalization" of deviance. Power of the ability to label deviants has greatly shifted from religious insititutions to healthcare institutions. This is evident by the increase of scientific and medical explanations for deviant behavior. For example, a person with a mental disorder under a religious explanation may would be considered to be possessed or blessed with supernatural powers, depending on the religious tradition. However, the medicalization of deviance has caused mental problems and other health problems to be given medical explanations, and have impacted the roles in which a person plays. A person labeled as sick or mentally ill must then play the "sick role" where they are forgiven reasonable violations of norms so long as they are trying to receive medical attention from the healthcare professionals. Many sociologists have questioned the power in which mental health and other healthcare professionals have been able to maintain, and have even questioned the objectivity of the medical labels. Sociologists have also commented on the role medicine plays as an institution of social control much like the government.

Prosecution of deviance

Sociologists have also observed that criminal deviance may be seen by law enforcement, but not prosecuted. Many incidents that are technically deviant, maybe be ignored by police as it is not judged to be harming anyone, or judged serious enough to warrant a sanction.

Crime

Crime refers to acts of force of fruad undertaken in pursuit of self intrest. Although crime is only one aspect of decivance, it is the most signifcant. All crime is considered deviant behavoir, but not all deviance is considered criminal. Deviance could be as small as not tipping a waitress or comminting a robbery. Most crime are spur of the moment acts with little or no preperation. Its is hard to catagorize criminals as burglars, robbers, or murderers, becasuse they usually commit an assortment of crime. Over the years many statistics have been collected on crime. For many years the the U.S. received a bad reputation for having a high crime rate compared to more civilized nations. This was because those nations did not calculate their crime stats. The Netherlands, Denmark, England, and Whales headed the list on burglary per 100,000 population. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics[1],since 1994 violent crime rates have declined to their lowest rates ever in 2005.

References

1. Farrell, Ronald, Swigert, Victoria (1988). Social Deviance Third Edition. United States of America: Wadsworth Inc..
2. Flowers, Barri (2003). Male crime and deviance. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas Publisher LTD.
3. Goode, Erich (1996). Social Deviance. Needham Heights, MA: A Simon and Schuster Company.
4. Livesey, Chris. “A” Level of Sociology: A Resource Based Learning Approach. http://www.sociology.org.uk/ddeviate.htm
5. Stark, Rodney. 2007. ;Sociology: Tenth Edition. Belmont, CA. Thomson Wadsworth