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Deviance and Social
Control
CHAPTER
7
WHAT IS DEVIANCE?
“It is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act,
that make something deviant.”
Howard Becker, 1966
DEVIANCE

Order and stability are the cornerstones of social
life.

Deviance – behavior outside the normal range of
social expectations; any behavior that departs from
societal or group norms; any violation of norms.

Deviants – people who violate rules, whether the
infraction is minor or serious.
POSITIVE & NEGATIVE DEVIANCE

Negative Deviance – involves behavior that
underconforms to accepted
norms.
Negative deviants reject the
norms, misinterpret the norms,
or are unaware of the norms.

POSITIVE & NEGATIVE DEVIANCE
Deviance –
encompasses behavior
that overconforms to
social expectations.
 Positive

Positive deviants conform to
norms in an unbalanced way.
DISTRIBUTION OF DEVIANCE RELATIVE TO
NORM OF LEANNESS
DEFINING DEVIANCE
Deviance is a matter of social definition.
Because norms vary from group to group,
society to society, and time to time, the
behavior considered
to be deviant varies.


What is Deviant to Some is
not Deviant to Others
Deviance is ‘relative’.



Can you think of other examples that
demonstrate the relativity of deviance?
DEFINING DEVIANCE

Depends on three circumstances:
1.
2.
3.
social status and power of the individuals involved
social context in which the behavior occurs
the historical period in which the behavior takes place
FORMS OF SOCIAL CONTROL
control – means for promoting
conformity to norms
 Social
Internal control – lies within the individual; self-imposed;
acquired during socialization
 External control – exists outside the individual; based on
sanctions designed to encourage desired behavior

Negative sanctions – frown, gossip, imprisonment, capital
punishment, death penalty
 Positive sanctions – smile, award, prize


Shaming – a sanction that is particularly effective when
used by members of a primary group or in a small
community.

Degradation Ceremony
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF DEVIANCE
 Lombroso
- believed criminals were
throwbacks to earlier human evolutionary
development.
 Sheldon
- attributed crime to body shape
(endomorphs, mesomorphs - most likely to
be criminals, and ectomorphs).
 Explanations
focus on genetic
predispositions
SOCIOLOGISTS’ EVALUATION OF BIOLOGICAL
EXPLANATIONS
 There
are five main reasons sociologists have not
placed much stock in biological explanations of
deviance.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
They ignore the fact that deviance is more widely distributed
throughout society than are heredity and other physical
abnormalities.
They almost totally discount the influence of social, economic,
and cultural factors.
Early theories were based on methodologically weak research.
There are ideological problems and controversial implications
inherent in the biological approach.
Biological factors are more often invoked to explain the
deviance of armed robbers, murders, and heroin addicts than,
say, the crimes of corporate executives, government officials,
and other high-status persons.
PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF DEVIANCE

All psychological explanations of deviance locate the origin
of criminality in the individual personality.

They take for granted the existence of a “criminal
personality,” a pathological personality with measurable
characteristics that distinguish criminals from noncriminals.

Contend that criminals are born, not made.
CRITIQUE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
1.
They often ignore social, economic, and cultural factors
shown by sociological research.
2.
Focus on deviance such as murder, rape, and drug
addiction with relatively little to say about such deviance as
white-collar-crime.
3.
Tend to view deviance as a result of physical or psychiatric
defects rather than as actions considered deviant by social
and legal definitions.
4.
They cannot explain why deviant behavior is engaged in by
individuals not classifiable as pathological personalities.
5.
Psychological theories emphasize pathology and suggest
eugenic solutions to the crime problem that are
unacceptable to some segments of society.
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF DEVIANCE


Look for Answers Outside Individuals

Socialization

Membership in Subcultures
Social Class
Perspectives…
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE OF
DEVIANCE
 Differential
association theory states deviant
behavior is learned principally in primary groups. The
idea of “birds of a feather flock together.”
 Labeling
theory views an act as deviant only if other
people respond to it as if it were deviant; the view that
the labels people are given affect their own and others’
perceptions of them, thus channeling their behavior
either into deviance or conformity.


Most people resist being labeled deviant, but some revel in
a deviant identity.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
LABELING THEORY CONCEPTS

Primary Deviance – a
person engages in an
isolated act of deviance.

Secondary Deviance – acts
of deviance become part of
one’s lifestyle and personal
identity.

Stigma – termed coined by
Goffman, an undesirable
characteristic or label used
by others to deny the deviant
full social acceptance.
FUNCTIONALIST VIEW OF DEVIANCE

Negative consequences of deviance:
encourages social disorder
 erodes trust
 encourages further nonconformity in others
 diverts resources from other social needs


Positive consequences of deviance:
helps clarify norms &
offers a safety valve
 increases social unity &
brings about needed social
change

STRAIN THEORY
 Merton’s
strain theory adapted Durkheim’s concept
of anomie.
– the strain people experience when they
are blocked in their attempts to achieve those
goals.
 Anomie
theory – deviance is most likely to occur
when there is a discrepancy between a culturally
prescribed goal (economic success) and a
legitimate means (education) of obtaining it.
 Strain
APPLICATION OF STRAIN THEORY
Cloward & Ohlin (1998) – refined strain theory to emphasize
that deviant behavior is not an automatic response but must
be learned.

Illegitimate Opportunity Theory – Explains why social classes have
distinct styles of crimes.
EVALUATION OF STRAIN THEORY

Strain theory has had great staying power due to its applicability
to juvenile delinquency and crime.

Its emphasis on social structure rather than individuals has been
a strength.

However, it assumes a consensus in values (everyone values
success in economic terms).

Does not explain an individual’s preference for one mode of
adaptation over another.

It offers no help in explaining other types of deviance (e.g., mental
illness).
CONTROL THEORY

Everyone is propelled towards deviance, but a system of
controls work against these motivations to deviate.
 1. Inner Controls
 2. Outer Controls

Effective Inner Controls
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attachment
Commitment
Involvement
Belief
CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE OF DEVIANCE

Emphasizes social inequality and power differentials.

Most powerful members of a society are said to determine
group norms and the definition of deviant.

Law is an instrument of oppression.
ILLUSTRATING DEVIANCE
RACE, ETHNICITY, AND CRIME
 Statistics
show that African Americans and Latinos
are dealt with more harshly than Whites – from
arrest through indictment, conviction, sentencing,
and parole.
 Even
when criminal offense is the same, African
Americans and Latinos are more likely than Whites
to be convicted and serve more time in prison than
Whites.
OCCUPATIONAL AND CORPORATE CRIME
 White-collar
crime is any crime committed by
respectable and high-status people in the course
of their occupation.
crime – illegal acts be people
either in their employment or in their personal
financial pursuits.
 Occupational
crime – crime committed on behalf of
organizations.
 Corporate
CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES

Crime is defined as acts in violation of the law.

Data comes from the Uniform Crime Report and
National Crime Victimization Survey.
CRIMES IN THE U.S.
JUVENILE CRIME

Juvenile crime refers to violations of the law
committed by those less than eighteen years of age.

Juvenile offenders are the third largest category of
criminals in the U.S.

Juvenile crime reached its lowest in a decade in 2001.
Several factors account for this.
A decline in the demand for crack cocaine.
 Gangs have reached truces.
 Police have clamped down on illegal guns.
 Repeat juvenile offenders have been given stiffer
sentences.

GLOBAL CRIME

The United States has more violent crime than
other industrialized countries – highest murder,
rape, and robbery rates.

According to the United Nations Survey of Crime
(1996-2006):
rape and robbery increased, assault increased, burglary
decreased
 homicide declined


General trend in crime suggests that the world is
becoming slightly safer.
GLOBAL TERRORISM
– the illegal use of violence to intimidate
a government or group or individual in pursuit of
political, religious, economic, or social goals.
 Terrorism

Transnational terrorism – involves terrorists in one country
committing terrorist acts against targets in another country.

Domestic terrorism – occurs against targets in the same
country as the perpetrators.

According to U.S. Justice Department (2008):

12,000 terrorist attacks against noncombatants
occurred around the world in 2008.
40% in the Near East
 35% in South Asia


Terrorism occurs under certain social conditions:




in politically weak states or in nations that have
undergone years of political violence
in countries with a foreign occupier
in countries with widespread racial or ethnic
discrimination
in the presence of extreme secular or religious
ideologies
CRIME CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES
A
criminal justice system may draw on four
approaches to punishment:




Deterrence – emphasizes intimidation, using
threat of punishment to discourage crime.
Retribution – criminals pay compensation equal
to their offenses against society.
Incarceration – removes criminals from society.
Rehabilitation – attempts to resocialize
criminals.
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
 Select
one of the approaches to crime control that you
believe has been successful. Explain why you believe it
has been successful.
 Do
you think there are parts of the world where it would
not be successful? Why? Elaborate on your position.
 How
have you seen labeling theory demonstrated in
society? Provide examples and explain.