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Chapter 7
Deviance and Social
Control
Chapter Outline
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Deviance and Social Control
Biological and Psychological Explanations of
Deviance
Functionalism and Deviance
Symbolic Interactionism and Deviance
Conflict Theory and Deviance
Crime in the United States
Global Differences in Crime
Approaches to Crime Control
Deviance
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Norms determine whether behavior is
deviant or normal.
Norms vary from group to group, society
to society, and time to time, so behavior
considered deviant varies.
Deviance – behavior outside the normal
range of social expectations; any
behavior that departs from societal or
group norms.
Positive & Negative
Deviance
Negative Deviance – involves
behavior that underconforms to
accepted norms.
 Positive Deviance – encompasses
behavior that overconforms to social
expectations. Conformity is done in
an unbalanced way.
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Distribution of Deviance
Relative to Norm of Leanness
Defining Deviance
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Defining deviance is a relative matter.
Depends on three circumstances:
1. Social status and power of the
individuals involved.
2. Social context in which the
behavior occurs.
3. The historical period in which the
behavior takes place.
Question for Consideration
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Consider the “Doing Research:
William Chambliss – Saints and
Roughnecks” discussion in the text
(p. 180 of 9th ed).
How can the idea that “deviance is
relative” be applied to Chambliss’s
findings?
 Can you think of other examples that
demonstrate the relativity of deviance?
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Forms of Social Control
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Social control – means for promoting
conformity to norms
 Internal control
•Self-imposed
•Acquired during socialization
 External control
•Exists outside the individual
•Based on sanctions designed to
control the individual
Biological Explanations of
Deviance
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Lombroso - believed criminals were
throwbacks to earlier human evolutionary
development.
William Sheldon - attributed crime to
body shape (endomorphs, mesomorphs most likely to be criminals, and
ectomorphs).
There is no convincing proof that
genetic characteristics cause people to
be deviant.
Sociologists’ Evaluation of
Biological Explanations
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There are five main reasons sociologists
have not placed much stock in biological
explanations of deviance.
1.
2.
3.
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.
Sociologists’ Evaluation of
Biological Explanations
4.
5.
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
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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.
2.
3.
They often ignore social, economic,
and cultural factors shown by sociological
research.
Focus on deviance such as murder,
rape, and drug addiction with relatively
little to say about such deviance as whitecollar-crime.
Tend to view deviance as a result of
physical or psychiatric defects rather than
as actions considered deviant by social and
legal definitions.
Critique of Psychological
Explanations
4.
5.
They cannot explain why deviant
behavior is engaged in by individuals not
classifiable as pathological personalities.
Psychological theories emphasize
pathology and suggest eugenic
solutions to the crime problem that
are unacceptable to some segments
of society.
Functionalist View of
Deviance
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Negative consequences of deviance:
 Encourages social disorder
 Erodes trust
 Encourages further nonconformity
in others
 Diverts resources from other
social needs
Functionalist View of
Deviance
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Positive consequences of deviance:
 Helps clarify norms
 Offers a safety valve
 Increases social unity
 Brings about needed social change
Strain Theory
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Merton’s strain theory adapted
Durkheim’s concept of anomie.
Anomie – social condition in which norms
are weak, conflicting, or absent.
Strain 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.
Responses in Merton’s
Strain Theory
Hard
Goal = work =
Success Success
Response
Accepts Accepts Conformity
Accepts
Rejects
Rejects
Accepts
Example
Executive
Innovation
Criminal
Ritualism
Bored
teacher
Responses in Merton’s
Strain Theory
Goal = Hard work
Success = Success
Response
Rejects
Rejects
Retreatism
Rejects
Rejects
Rebellion
Example
Skid-row
alcoholic
Militia
group
member
Application of Strain Theory
Albert Cohen (1977) – explained the
prevalence of gang delinquency
among lower-class youth.
 Cloward & Ohlin (1998) – refined
strain theory to emphasize that
deviant behavior is not an automatic
response but must be learned.
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Evaluation of Strain Theory
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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
This theory purports conformity
to social norms depends on a
strong bond between individuals
and society.
 Social bonds control the behavior of
people; it is the social bond that
prevents deviance from occurring.
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Basic Elements of
Control Theory
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attachment – the stronger the attachment,
the more likelihood of conformity.
Commitment – the greater one’s commitment
to legitimate social goals such as educational
attainment and occupational success, the more
likely one is to conform.
Involvement – participation in legitimate
social activities increases the probability of
conformity.
Belief – subscription to norms and values of
society promotes conformity.
Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective of Deviance
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Cultural transmission theory contends
deviance is learned, just like any other
aspect of culture.
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.
Labeling Theory Concepts
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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.
Mental Illness and
Labeling Theory
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Labeling theory views mental illness as the
result of social interaction in which others
respond to us and we imagine what those
responses mean.
Mental illness is considered a matter of
social definition.
Psychiatrist Szasz sees mental disorder
behaviors as adaptations to interaction-based
stresses threatening to overwhelm an individual.
Scheff sees mental illnesses as violations of
social norms.
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.
 Relate deviance to capitalism,
pointing to the relationship between
race, ethnicity, and crime.
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Race, Ethnicity, and Crime
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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.
African Americans account for 13%
of the population, but are 40% of the
prison inmates.
White-Collar Crime
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White-collar crime is any crime committed
by respectable and high-status people in the
course of their occupation.
Usually reserved for economic crimes such as
price fixing, insider trading, illegal rebates,
embezzlement, bribery of a corporate
customer, manufacture of hazardous
products, toxic pollution, and tax evasion.
Cost are higher though. White-collar crimes
cost $200 billion annually – 18 times greater
than the cost of street crime.
Theoretical Perspectives:
Illustrating Deviance
Perspective
Concept
Example
Functionalism
Anomie
Delinquent gangs
Conflict
Theory
Whitecollar
crime
Powerful people
get less prison
time for the same
crime
Theoretical Perspectives:
Illustrating Deviance
Perspective
Concept
Example
Symbolic
Labeling High school
Interactionism
students who
reject dating
because they have
been consistently
described as “not
cool.”
Questions for Consideration
What are the functions and/or
dysfunctions of plea bargaining?
 How might a conflict theorist look at
plea bargaining?
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Crime in the United States
Crime is defined as acts in violation
of the law.
 Data is collected for major
categories of crimes in the U.S.
 In 2006, violent crime made up 12%
of the known crimes.
 Property crimes made up 88%
(2006).
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FBI Crime Clock: 2007
Juvenile Crime
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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.
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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 Differences in Crime
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Homicide
 The U.S. homicide rate per
100,000 population is around 5.5.
 The rate of homicide in Europe is
less than 2 per 100,000.
Global Differences in Crime
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Rape
 The U.S. rate was 32 per 100,000,
6 times higher than the average for
Europe.
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Burglary
 The only crime for which the U.S. rate
was less than double the average for
European countries.
Global Differences in Crime
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Robbery
 U.S. rate is around 145 per
100,000 .
 The average European rate is less
than 50 per 100,000.
Approaches to Crime Control
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A criminal justice system may draw on four
approaches to punishment:
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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.
Americans and
the Death Penalty
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About 70% of Americans currently support
the death penalty for murder.
Yet, this decreases to 47% when life
imprisonment without parole is an
alternative.
Between 1970 and 2000, the frequency of
U.S. executions spiked.
Since 2000, the number of inmates
sentenced to death and in turn executed
has dropped.
Attitudes Toward the Death Penalty and Life
Imprisonment without Parole in the U.S.
National Death
Penalty Policy
Crime Control: Domestic
and Global
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U.S. does not have a consistent commitment
to any one of the major approaches.
Singapore takes deterrence, retribution, and
incarceration very seriously, yet there is a
reduction in individual liberty and increased
brutality toward prisoners.
All countries use incarceration, yet their
position on imprisonment varies significantly.
Sweden emphasizes rehabilitation,
treatment, and job training.
Questions for Consideration
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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.