Download Introduction to Sociology SOC-101

Introduction to Sociology
SOC-101
Unit 11 - Deviance
What is Deviance?
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Sociologists use the term deviance to refer to a violation
of norms
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According to sociologist Howard S. Becker, it is not the act
itself that makes an action deviant, but rather how society
reacts to it
Deviance is a relative concept
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What is deviant to some is not deviant to others since different
groups have different norms
Crime is the violation of rules that have been written into law
What is Deviance?
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Sociologists use the term deviance nonjudgmentally to
refer to any act to which people respond negatively
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To sociologists, all people are deviants because everyone
violates rules from time to time
Stigma
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Erving Goffman
Attributes that discredit one’s claim to a “normal” identity
A stigma (e.g., physical deformities, skin color) defines a
person’s master status, superseding all other statuses the
person occupies
What is Deviance?

Norms allow social order—a group’s customary social
arrangements—because they lay out the basic guidelines
for how we play our roles and how we interact with
others
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Deviance is often seen as threatening because it violates a
group’s customary social arrangements and undermines the
predictability that is the foundation of social life
Human groups develop a system of social control; formal and
informal means of enforcing the norms
What is Deviance?
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Society’s disapproval of deviance takes the form of
negative sanctions
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Ranges from frowns and gossip to imprisonment and capital
punishment
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Most negative sanctions are informal
Positive sanctions are used to reward people for conforming to
norms
The sociological explanations of deviance differ from the
biological and psychological ones
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Psychologists and sociobiologists explain deviance by looking
within individuals
Sociologists look outside the individual
What is Deviance?
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Biological explanations focus on genetic predisposition
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Psychological explanations of deviance focus on
personality disorders
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Includes factors such as intelligence, “XYY” theory, or body
type
Includes “bad toilet training,” “suffocating mothers,” etc.
Yet these do not necessarily result in the presence or absence
of specific forms of deviance in a person
Sociological explanations search outside the individual

Social influences—such as socialization, subcultural group
memberships, or social class—account for why some people
break norms
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What is
deviance?
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
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Edward Sutherland and Differential Association
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We learn to deviate from or conform to society’s norms
mostly from the people with whom we associate
The key to differential association is the learning of ideas and
attitudes favorable to following the law
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Because we learn both from the various people we associate with, the
end result is an imbalance
We conform or deviate depending on which set of messages is
stronger
Studies have demonstrated that families do teach their
members to violate the norms of society
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Families involved in crime tend to set their children on a lawbreaking
path
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Differential Association (con’t)
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The neighborhood is also likely to be influential
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Sociologists have found that delinquents tend to come from
neighborhoods in which their peers are involved in crime
Symbolic interactionists stress that we are not mere pawns, but
help produce our orientation to life
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Our choice of associates helps to shape our sense of self
Control Theory
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Walter Reckless and Control Theory
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Everyone is propelled towards deviance, but two control
systems work against these motivations to deviate
Inner controls are one’s capacity to withstand temptations
toward deviance
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Include internalized morality, integrity, fear of punishment, and the
desire to be good
Outer controls involve groups that influence a person to stay
away from crime
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Include family, friends, the police
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
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Travis Hirschi
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Noted that strong bonds to society lead to more effective
inner controls
Bonds are based on attachments, commitments, involvements,
and beliefs
The likelihood that we will deviate from social norms is
related to the strength of our control systems
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If the systems are strong we will be less likely to deviate than if
they are weak
Labeling Theory
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Labeling theory
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The labels people are given affect their own and others’
perceptions of them, and thus channel their behavior either
into deviance or into conformity
Most people resist being labeled as deviant, even when
engaging in deviant behavior
There are five different techniques of neutralizations:
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Denial of responsibility (“I didn’t do it”)
Denial of injury (“Who really got hurt?”)
Denial of a victim (“She deserved it”)
Condemnation of the condemners (“Who are you to talk?”)
Appeal to higher loyalty (“I had to help my friends”)
Labeling Theory
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Some people invite a deviant label
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Examples: motorcycle gangs may pride themselves on getting
into trouble, laughing at death, etc.
Chambliss’s study of the Saints and the Roughnecks
provides an excellent illustration of labeling theory
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There were social class differences not only in terms of the
visibility of the law-breaking behavior, but also in the styles of
interaction with those in authority
These influenced the way in which teachers and the police saw
and treated them
The study showed how labels open and close the door of
opportunity for the individuals involved
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Robert Merton
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(1910-2003)
Functionalist Perspective
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Emile Durkheim
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Stated that deviance is functional, for it contributes to social
order
Deviance clarifies moral boundaries—a group’s ideas about
how people should act and think—and affirms norms
Deviance promotes social unity
Deviance promotes social change (if boundary violations gain
enough support, they become new, acceptable behaviors)
Strain Theory
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Robert Merton and Strain Theory
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Anomie
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What happens when people are socialized to desire a cultural
goal but denied the institutionalized (i.e., legitimate) means to
reach it?
The strain people experience when they are blocked in their
attempts to achieve those goals
Deviants are products of their society
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Some people experience greater frustration in achieving
cultural goals because of their location in society, making them
more likely to deviate
Strain Theory
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Merton identified five reactions to cultural goals and
institutionalized means:
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Conformity - Using acceptable means to seek the goals society
sets
Deviant innovation - Using illegitimate means to achieve them
Ritualism – Giving up on achieving cultural goals, but clinging to
conventional rules of conduct
Retreatism - Rejecting cultural goals, dropping out
Rebellion - Seeking to replace society’s goals
Illegitimate Opportunity Theory
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According to illegitimate opportunity theory, social
classes have distinct styles of crime due to unequal access
to institutionalized means of achieving socially acceptable
goals
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Many poor children in industrialized societies, who are
socialized into wanting to own things, end up dropping out of
school because of educational failure
Therefore, the doors are closed on many legitimate avenues to
financial success
Illegitimate Opportunity Theory
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Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin suggest that
opportunities for remunerative crime are woven into the
texture of life
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May result when legitimate structures fail
In this way the poor may be drawn into certain crimes in
unequal numbers
Illegal income-producing activities are functional for those
who want to make money, but whose access to legitimate
activities is blocked
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This includes robbery, drug dealing, prostitution, pimping,
gambling, and other “hustles”
Illegitimate Opportunity Theory
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Gangs offer disadvantaged youth an illegitimate
opportunity structure
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Research by Martin Sanchez Jankowski demonstrated that
young men joined gangs because they provided them with
access to steady money, recreation, anonymity in criminal
activities, protection, and a way to help the neighborhood
White-collar crime refers to crimes that people of
respectable and high social status commit in the course of
their occupations
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Such crimes exist in greater numbers than commonly
perceived, and can be very costly—totaling ~$400 billion a year
They can involve physical harm and sometimes death
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Conflict Theory
The Conflict Perspective
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Conflict theorists address the issue of why the legal
system is inconsistent in terms of providing “justice for
all”
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This inequality is central to their analysis of crime and the
criminal justice system—the police, courts, and prisons
The criminal justice system is controlled by the wealthy
and powerful—a power elite
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This group determines the basic laws whose enforcement is
essential to the preservation of its power
The Conflict Perspective
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According to conflict theory, the law is an instrument of
repression
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It is a tool designed to keep the powerful in privileged
positions and the powerless from rebelling and overthrowing
the social order
When members of the working class get out of line, they are
arrested, tried, and imprisoned in the criminal justice system
While the criminal justice system tends to overlook the
harm done by the corporations, flagrant violations are
prosecuted
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The publicity given to white collar criminals helps to stabilize
the system by providing evidence of fairness
The Conflict Perspective
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Usually the powerful bypass the courts altogether,
appearing instead before some agency whose members
are people from the same wealthy background
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Given this, it is not surprising that the usual sanction is a token
fine
Property crimes committed by the masses are handled by
the courts
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These crimes not only threaten the sanctity of private
property, but ultimately, the positions of the powerful
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Reactions to Deviance
Reactions to Deviance
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Imprisonment—a reflection of a “get-tough”
orientation—is an increasingly popular reaction to crime
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There has been a tremendous growth in the U.S. prison
population
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It is estimated that more than 1.8 million people are currently
incarcerated
About 94 percent are men, and about half are African American
The recidivism rate in the U.S. runs as high as 79%, and those
given probation do no better
Reactions to Deviance
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Research on the death penalty reveals that the death
penalty is not administered evenly
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Biases including differential treatment based on geographic
location, gender, social class, as well as racial and ethnic biases
As opinions change, or different groups gain access to
power, definitions of deviance and laws also change
Reactions to Deviance
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Medicalization of Deviance
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View that deviance is a symptom of some underlying illness
that needs to be treated by physicians
Thomas Szasz argues that mental illness is simply problem
behaviors:
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Some forms of “mental” illnesses have organic causes (e.g.,
depression caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain)
While others are responses to trouble with various coping
devices
Some sociologists find Szasz’s analysis refreshing because it
indicates that social experiences, and not illnesses of the mind,
underlie bizarre behaviors
Reactions to Deviance
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Just the experience of being homeless can cause mental
illness:
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Because you are on the streets and often have no place to
wash yourself or your clothes, you are stared at or ignored,
which results in withdrawal
Homelessness and mental illness can be reciprocal:
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Just as “mental illness” can cause homelessness, so can the
trials of being homeless and living on the streets can lead to
unusual and unacceptable thinking and behaviors
Reactions to Deviance
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With deviance inevitable, one measure of a society is how
it treats its deviants
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The larger issues are how to protect people from deviant
behaviors that are harmful to their welfare, to tolerate those
that are not, and to develop systems of fairer treatment for
deviants