Download III

Health and Society
Deviance
1. Interpretations of normal and abnormal, qualifying theory of health
The physician’s function in the treatment of illness initially to arrive to a diagnosis and then applying
remedial action to the health disorder in such a way as to return the patient to as normal a state as
possible. The evaluation of illness by the physician contains the medical definition of what is good,
desirable, and normal as opposed to what is bad, undesirable, and abnormal. This evaluation is
interpreted within the context of existing medical knowledge and the physician’s experience. On this
basis, the medical profession formulates medical rules defining biological deviance and seeks to
enforce them.
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1. Any act or behaviour that violates the social norms within the given society.
a. → Naturalistic approach of normality: Health and illness are objective facts.
Those forms, symptoms which constitute health or illness could be empirically tested.
With the explanation of results we can easily identify healthy or ill conditions.
Healthy refers to well-adapted biological condition to the environment. Illness is the
opposite of that definition unsatisfactory adaptation to the challenges of the
environment. Maybe the society wouldn’t recognise that law-level adaptation and the
diagnosis but this attitude is not influential to health or illness which are objectively
determined conditions.
i. Deviant behaviour a variation from a statistical average. Healthy and normal
equal with frequent. (Gauss curve – the normal distribution ) ↔ There are
pathological conditions that are not abnormal.
ii. Healthy equal with the natural or typical in each species. All of our organs
function on a naturally and evolutionary established way. The body is healthy
if all the organs and parts are functioning. (That means that diagnosis of good
health can be defined like the good condition of a car. A car is in a good
general condition if it is looks and runs similarly to the planned. Maybe the
plan was not perfect, but the structure and the functioning have to follow the
rules of the plan.) → What is natural from the perspective of the race that is
healthy. (Dilemma: lactose intolerance → Lactose intolerance is the inability
to digest significant amounts of lactose, the major sugar found in milk.
Lactose intolerance is caused by a shortage of the enzyme lactase. Few
members of the Caucasian race suffer from that symptoms, which was
considered as a disease. But later it became clear that only those adults could
absorb the milk, who were related to the mentioned race. Adults from all the
other races showed intolerance with milk, so they couldn’t consume great
amount of milk. Therefore in the sense of natural approach of health lactose
tolerance is the disease, because it is not frequent within the human race.→
Statistical approach of health is unable to reveal the borders of health and
illness, normal and abnormal. In most cases biological, physical, chemical
parameters of a condition show continuous distribution. Therefore it is
difficult to decide where the boundaries of health are. (blood pressure)
b. Normative approach: Every physical condition, behaviour, mental condition is
normal, what is considered and accepted in a society as desirable, valuable, important.
Illness could be defined through the bad and destroying consequences of an act,
behaviour or condition. → When the doctor build up a diagnosis in individual cases,
he or she is an actor of a socializing process, because he or she represents and
transform culturally and socially based norms and values with his decision about
health and illness. → social functions of the physician.
2.
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A. Deviant behaviour may be defined as a non-conformity to a given set of norms that are
accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society. But no society can
divided up in a simple way between those who deviate from norms and those who conform
to them. Nobody breaks all rules, just as no one conforms to all rules. We create rules, just as
we break them. Conformity and deviance are the two sides of the same coin.
Even individuals who might seem wholly outside the respectable society (computer hackers)
are likely to be following rules of the groups of which they are members.
B.
Beyond the objective definition deviant behaviour involves making a social judgement about
what is right and proper behaviour shared by people in specific social settings, or they may be
more general expectations of behaviour common to a wide variety of social situations. Deviancy is
the subjectively defined boundary of behaviour. Deviation from the socially accepted norms is
required but not sufficient presupposition of deviancy –definition. Violation of the norms of
society not always interpreted as deviant act, so the circle of deviant behavioural forms
generally narrower than group of norm-breaking activities. In that sense it is important to note that
not all forms of deviant behaviour produce undesirable consequences for a society. Deviance from
the usual norms in such fields as art, music, etc. often provides very positive rewards both for the
creative deviant and society.
Deviance and crime are not synonymous, although in many cases they overlap. The concept of
deviance is much broader than that of crime, which refers only to non-conformist conduct that breaks
law. Many forms of deviant behaviour are not sanctioned by law but by informal punishments of the
society.
Sanctions: We most follow social norms because, as a result of socialization, we are used to doing so.
All social norms are accompanied by sanctions that promote conformity and protect against nonconformity. Sanctions maybe positive = offering of rewards for conformity; or negative = punishment
for behaviour that does not conform. Sanctions can be formal = that are applied by a specific body of
people or an agency to ensure that a particular set of norms is followed. The main types of formal
sanctions in modern societies are those represented by the courts and prisons. A law is a formal
sanction defined by government; informal = are less organized and more spontaneous reactions to
nonconformity.
The concept of deviance can be applied both to individual behaviour and to the activity of groups.
Deviant behaviour appears in the individual segment of life, but in an indirect sense it is a cultural
product.
Sociological theories of deviance
Functionalist theories
Functionalist theories see deviance resulting from structural tensions and lack of moral regulation
within society. If the aspirations held by individuals and groups in society do not coincide with
available rewards, this disparity between desires and fulfillment will be felt in the deviant motivations
of some of its members.
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Anomie → E. Durkheim and R. K. Merton
Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, introduced the concept of anomie in his book The Division of
Labour in Society, published in 1893. He used anomie to describe a condition of deregulation that was
occurring in society. This meant that rules on how people ought to behave with each other were
breaking down and thus people did not know what to expect from one another. Anomie, simply
defined, is a state where norms (expectations on behaviours) are confused, unclear or not present.
It is normlessness, Durkheim felt, that led to deviant behaviour. In 1897, Durkheim used the term
again in his study on Suicide, referring to a morally deregulated condition. Durkheim was preoccupied
with the effects of social change. He best illustrated his concept of anomie not in a discussion of crime
but of suicide. He suggested that in modern societies traditional norms and standards become
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undermined without being replaced by new ones. Anomie exists when there are no clear standards to
guide behaviour in a given area of social life.
Durkheim saw deviance as social fact → inevitable and necessary elements in modern societies. He
recognised that no society would ever been in complete consensus about the norms and values which
govern it.
Deviance is necessary for society. Two important functions:
- Adaptive function. By introducing new ideas and challenges into society, deviance is an
innovative force.
- Deviance promotes boundary maintenance between good and bad behaviours in society. A
criminal event can provoke a collective response that heightens group solidarity and clarifies social
norms.
Robert K. Merton modified the concept of anomie to refer to the strain put on individual’s behavior
when accepted norms conflict with social reality.
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Robert K. Merton: aspirations and rewards
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Merton saw deviance as a natural response by individuals to the situations in which they find
themselves. He identified five possible reactions to the tensions between socially endorsed
values and the limited means of achieving them:
Conformists accept both generally held values and the conventional means of realizing them,
whether or not they meet with success. The majority of the population falls into this category.
Innovators continue to accept socially approved values but use illegitimate or illegal means to
follow them. Criminals who acquire wealth through illegal activities exemplify this type.
Ritualists conform to socially accepted standards although they have lost sight of the values
behind these standards. The rules are followed for their own sake without a wider end in view,
in a compulsive way. Ritualists would be people who dedicate themselves to boring jobs, even
though the jobs have no career prospects and provide few rewards.
Retreatists have abandoned the competitive outlook altogether, thus rejecting both the dominant
values and the approved means of achieving them. Such individuals largely 'drop out' of
society. An example would be the members of a self-supporting commune.
Rebels reject both the existing values and the means, but wish actively to substitute new ones
and reconstruct the social system. The members of radical political groups fall into this
category.
SEE MORE on http://tarstud.uw.hu/
In: Goffman, E.: The Stigmatized Self.
Addler. P.: Defining Deviance
Becker, H.: Labeling Theory
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