Sociology of deviance

The sociology of deviance is the sociological study of deviant behavior, the recognized violation of cultural norms, and the creation and enforcement of those norms. The sociology of deviance is related to, but also distinct from the field of criminology. The field of deviance is primarily defined by the theories used to explain deviance.The sociology of deviance contains a number of theories that seek to accurately describe trends and patterns that lie within social deviance to help better understand societal behavior.

The sociology of deviance considers deviance to be a relative concept. If deviance was an absolute it would mean that, in all societies, at all times, certain forms of behavior would 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 is often the way rules are formulated in a specific society.

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.

Conflict theory

Conflict theorists generally see deviance as a result of conflict between individuals and groups. The theoretical orientation contributes to labeling theory in that it explains that those with power create norms and label deviants. Deviant behavior is actions that do not go along with the socially prescribed worldview of the powerful, and is often a result of the present social structure preventing the minority group access to scarce resources. Since it explains deviance as a reaction due to conflict between groups and individuals due to scarce resources, it does a great job of explaining deviance by poor citizens, etc. However, it does not do such an excellent job in explaining white-collar crime. This theory also states that the powerful define crime. This raises the question: Whom is this theory functional to? In this theory, laws are instruments of oppression. In other words, tough on the powerless and less tough on the powerful.

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.

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

• • All crime, by definition, is deviant, but deviance is not always a criminal. Michael R. Gotterfredson defines crime as an act of force or fraud undertaken in the pursuit of self interest. Although crime is only one aspect of deviance it is the most significant. It is hard to catagorize criminals as robbers, thieves, or murderers because most criminals commit an assortment of crimes. For many years the U.S. received a bad reputation for having a lot of crime. When other countries started keeping track of their crime statistics the Netherlands, Denmark, England, and Whales led the way in burglary rate per 100,000 population. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics[1] the rate of violent crimes has declined steadily since 1994 reaching its lowest rate in 2005 to 21.0 per 1,000 population over 12 years of age.
  • Recent theories on criminology have said that there are really two distinct tracks in explaining crime. First, the theory states that there is a difference between offenders and non offenders. That criminals have such characteristics as, feeblemindedness, emotinal instabilty, physical and mental deficiency, and an antisocial personality. The other tracks arugues that offenders and non offenders are not that different. That they do not differ in terms of pesonality traits. Criminals commit crime based on the situation at hand. Most all of these new theories on crime can be catorgarized into these two tracks.

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
6. "Bureau of Justice Statistics". U.S. Department of Justice. 8/18/07 <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/viortrdtab.htm>.