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Deviance
Sociology
Mrs. Daloia
Deviance
In just a few moments I was to
meet my first Yanomamo, my
first primitive man. What would
it be like?
I looked up from my canoe and
gasped when I saw a dozen
burly, naked, filthy, hideous men
staring at us down the shafts of
their drawn arrows.
Deviance
Immense wads of green tobacco were
stuck between their lower teeth and
lips, making them look even more
hideous. And strands of dark-green
slime dripped or hung from their
noses. We arrived at the village
while the men were blowing a
hallucinogenic drug up their noses.
Deviance
One of the side effects of the drug is a
runny nose. The mucus is always
saturated with the green powder, and the
Indians usually let it run freely from
their nostrils. I just sat there holding my
notebook, helpless and pathetic…The
whole situation was depressing, and I
wondered why I ever decided to switch
from civil engineering to anthropology in
the first place.
Deviance
Soon I was covered with red pigment, the
result of a dozen or so completed
examinations.These examinations capped
an otherwise grim day. The Indians would
blow their noses into their hands, flick as
much of the mucus off that would separate
in a snap of the wrist, wiped the residue
into their hair and then carefully examine
my face, arms, legs, hair and the contents
of my pockets.
Deviance
I said in their language, “Your
hands are dirty.” My comments
were met by the Indians in the
following way: they would
“clean” their hands by spitting a
quantity of slimy tobacco juice
into them, rub them together,
and then proceed with the
examination.
Deviance
• How does this story relate to deviance?
• What acts do we consider deviant in this
story?
• Deviance  The violation of norms.
– This applies whether the infraction is minor
(speeding) or major (murder).
– Is it the act itself that makes something
deviant or is it the reaction to the act that
makes it deviant?
Deviance
• To the Yanomamo, their actions were
normal and not deviant at all.
• Because different groups have different
norms what is deviant to some is not
deviant to others.
• Crime  A specific form of deviance
where the violation of a norm is written
into law.
Deviance
• Unlike the general public,
sociologists use the term nonjudgmentally, to refer to an act to
which people respond negatively…to
sociologist we are all deviants from
time to time.
• To be considered deviant, a person
does not even have to do anything.
Deviance
• Stigma  “blemishes’ that discredit a
person's claim to a “normal” identity.
• These include violations of norms of
ability: blindness, deafness, mental
handicaps; norms of appearance: facial
birthmark, a huge nose; Involuntary
memberships: AIDS, brother of rapist
Deviance
• Norms make social life possible by
making life predictable…
• Go to the store to buy milk.
– “I won’t sell you any milk. We’re
overstocked with soda, and I’m not going to
sell anyone milk until our soda inventory is
reduced.” At checkout, the cashier then says,
“Sorry! There is $5 service charge for every
15th customer.”
Deviance
• Without norms we would have social
chaos. Norms lay out basic guidelines for
interactions with others.
• Social Order  A group’s usual and
customary social arrangements, on which
its members depend on and which they
base their lives.
Deviance
• Deviance undermines predictability, the
foundation of social life…therefore
humans develop a system of social
control.
• Social Control  Formal and informal
means of enforcing norms
Explanations of Deviance
(Sociology)
• Search for reasons outside the individual.
They look for social influences that
“recruit” people to break norms.
• Socialization, membership in subcultures,
and social class.
The Functionalist Perspective
• Can deviance be functional for society?
1. Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and
affirms norms – deviant acts challenge the
boundaries and punishment affirms the
social norm
The Functionalist Perspective
2. Deviance promotes social unity – punishing
violators fosters a “we” feeling. It affirms the
rightness of the group’s ways.
3. Deviance promotes social change – groups do
not always agree on what to do with people who
push beyond their accepted ways. If boundary
violations gain enough support they become
new acceptable behaviors.
The Functionalist Perspective
• Functionalists argue that crime is a natural part of
society, not an aberration of some alien element.
• Society’s goal is to find and train its talented people.
Society tries to motivate all people for
success…through feelings of discontent so they better
themselves.
• Not everyone chooses to compete.
The Functionalist Perspective
• Most people want to meet cultural goals;
 The objectives held out as legitimate
or desirable for the members of a society
to achieve.
• But not everyone has access to
institutionalized means  the approved
ways of reaching cultural goals.
The Functionalist Perspective
• Strain theory 
– When a society socializes large numbers of
people to desire a cultural goal (success), but
withholds from some the approved means of
reaching that goal;
– One adaptation to the strain is crime, the
choice of an innovative means (one outside
the approved system) to attain the cultural
goal.
The Functionalist Perspective
• Anomie  When you can’t reach the
cultural goals through institutionalized
means you experience a gap that is called
anomie, a sense of normlessness.
• Most people take the accepted path.
The Functionalist Perspective
The Functionalist Perspective
• Innovators  people who accept the goals
of society but use illegitimate means to
try to reach them. (Crack dealers,
embezzlers, robbers etc.)
• Ritualism  people who become
discouraged and give up on achieving
cultural goals. Yet they still cling to
conventional rules of conduct. (Teachers
in burnout).
The Functionalist Perspective
• Retreatism  People who reject both the
cultural goals and the institutionalized means of
achieving them. Some people stop pursuing
success and retreat into alcohol or drugs.
• Rebellion  People convinced that their society
is corrupt , rebels like retreatists reject both
society's goals and its institutionalized means.
Rebels seek to give society new goals as well as
new means for reaching them (Revolutionaries)
The Functionalist Perspective
• US does an excellent job at socializing everyone
to want “success”
(TV, iPads, phones, games, etc)
MESSAGE: All full-fledged Americans can afford
society's many goods and services.
• Path: School System– at odds with the poor.
What the poor take for granted at school is
unacceptable, questioned and mocked.
The Functionalist Perspective
• Example
Speech: is built around nonstandard
grammar and is often laced with what the
middle class considers obscenities. Their
ideas of punctuality and their poor
preparation in reading and paper/pencil
skills make it difficult to fit in.
• The door for success is not closed, but
another door opens…
The Functionalist Perspective
• Illegitimate opportunity structure 
opportunities for crimes that are woven into
the texture of life; robbery, burglary, drug
dealing, prostitution, pimping, gambling,
and other crimes. “Hustler” becomes the
role model. (Blue-collar crime)
The Functionalist Perspective
• Illegitimate opportunities for the upper classes
are different; Doctor cheats Medicare, Bernie
Madoff cheats customers around the world,
evading taxes, bribing, etc.
• White Collar Crime  crimes that people of
respectable and high social status commit.
• Corporate Crime  crime committed by
executive in order to benefit their corporation
The Functionalist Perspective
The Functionalist Perspective
• Crime has changed for women…new jobs and
opportunities also brought with it a new chance for
crime.
The Conflict Perspective
• Sioux Manufacturing: Accused of making
helmets for the US military in Iraq and
Afghanistan…without the correct amount of
Kevlar (2008). Government investigated and
found doctored records and the incorrect
amount.
• What is their punishment?
Who spends time in prison?
The Conflict Perspective
• Answer: No one.
Why?
– The government gave them another contract with a “slap on
the wrist” fine and now they have to use the correct amount
of Kevlar.
– But… poor people caught stealing cars can be sent to
prison for years.
• The question becomes… is our justice system “justice
for all?”
– Criminal Justice System  the system of police, courts and
prisons set up to deal with people who are accused of
having committed a crime.
Deviance is…
…according to conflict theory,
the product of social inequality.
The Conflict Perspective
• Power of the elite
– use the criminal justice system to protect its
position of power and privilege.
• “…Justice for all”
– myth promoted by the capitalist class.
– point out that law is really an instrument of
oppression designed by the powerful to
maintain their power/prestige.
The Conflict Perspective
• Working class and lower class outnumber the
upper-class; potentially, they could rebel and
overthrow the current social order.
• Law comes down hard on its members who get
out of line – preventative measure.
• Working poor and underclass are the biggest
threat – least tied to society.
• Law comes down harder on this group – majority
of prison inmates are from this class.
The Conflict Perspective
• Criminal system does not focus on the
executives of corporations and the harm
they do.
• Violations of the capitalist class cannot be
ignored – if they behave too outrageous or
oppressive
– Enraged lower class
– Might cause a revolt
The Conflict Perspective
• To prevent this…
– occasional prosecution occurs to a member of the
capitalist class and publicity given to provide
“evidence” of fairness in the justice system.
• Powerful are usually able to bypass the court
altogether…appear in front of commissions that
have no power to imprison anyone (Federal Trade
Commission).
– agencies are usually run by the wealthy that have
worked in these types of corporations themselves and
provide sympathy to their situations.
Interactionist Perspective
• Differential Association Theory
– individuals have a greater tendency to deviate
from societal norms when they frequently
associated with those who are more favorably
inclined towards deviance and conformity
– Old adage, “If you lie with dogs, you’ll get
fleas”
Interactionist Perspective
• Social Bond Theory holds that probability of
deviant behavior increases when a person's ties to
society are weakened or broken
• social bonding consist of
–
–
–
–
attachments to other people
commitment to conformity
involvement and conventional activities
belief in the legitimacy of conventional values and
norms
Interactionist Perspective
• Labeling Theory states that deviants are those
people who have been successfully labeled as such
by others
– primary deviance is the initial act of role breaking
– secondary deviance occurs when a person who has
been labeled a deviant accepts that new identity and
continues the deviant behavior