Theories of Deviance

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Theories of Deviance
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Differentiation Deviance

• differentiation refers to the myriad variations
  among people based on selected social
  characteristics
• e.g., age, sex, race, educational attainment,
  occupational status, etc.
• Early sociologists like Durkheim saw social
  differentiation as a master process of
  modernization
• modernization the transformation from
  traditional to complex, modern society
• Conditions that promote differentiation also
  promote deviance
• They also likely boost the degree and range of
  social stratification by increasing the of
  criteria for comparing people

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Theoretical perspectives on deviance two basic
types

• Structural theories
• emphasize the relationship of deviance to certain
  structural conditions within a society
• focus on epidemiology, or the distribution of
  deviance in time and place
• are typically macro-level and are considered
  general theories
• e.g., functionalism and conflict theory
• Process/Interaction theories
• describe the processes by which individuals come
  to commit deviant acts
• focus on etiology, or the origins and development
  of deviance
• are typically micro-level theories
• e.g., labeling theory, control theory, and
  learning or socialization theories

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The Normal and the Pathological

• Ch. 7, Emile Durkheim

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Crime is normal

• Crime is present in all societies of all types
• Its form changes
• acts thus characterized are not the same
  everywhere but everywhere and always there have
  been people whose behavior draws punishment
• Crime is not only inevitable, it is necessary -
  an integral part of all healthy societies

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What is crime?

• Crime consists of an act that offends certain
  very strong collective sentiments
• It is not the intrinsic quality of a given act
  that makes it a crime, but the definition which
  the collective conscience of society gives it

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Crime plays a useful role in social evolution

• Where crime exists, collective sentiments are
  sufficiently flexible to take on a new form, and
  crime sometimes helps determine the form they
  will take
• Socrates crime, independence of thought,
  provided a service not only to humanity but to
  his country, preparing the ground for a new
  morality faith in Athens, since traditions were
  no longer in harmony with current conditions
• his violation was a crime, but it was useful as a
  prelude to necessary reforms

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Crime has a social function

• Crime must no longer be conceived as an evil to
  be suppressed
• Instead, we should attempt to discern its social
  function, the purpose it serves for society

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On the Sociology of Deviance

• Ch. 8, Kai T. Erikson

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Deviant behavior in communities

• communities collectivities of people who share a
  common sphere of experience, which gives members
  a sense of belonging to a special kind and
  living in a special place
• communities are boundary-maintaining each
  community has a specific territory in the world,
  occupying a defined region of geographical and
  cultural space
• both dimensions of group space geographical
  cultural set the community apart and provide a
  point of reference for members

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Boundary drawing

• Q How do people know about boundaries and how do
  they convey it to future generations?
• A By participating in the confrontations which
  occur when persons venture out to the edges of
  the group are met by policing agents whose job it
  is to guard the cultural integrity of the
  community

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Confrontations between deviant offenders social
control agents

• Confrontations - criminal trials, excommunication
  hearings, courts-martial, psychiatric case
  conferences - act as boundary-maintaining devices
  in that they demonstrate where the line is drawn
  b/w behavior that is acceptable in the community
  and behavior that is not
• Each time the community moves to censure some act
  of deviation and convenes a formal ceremony to
  deal with the responsible offender, it sharpens
  the authority of the violated norm and restates
  group boundaries
• Still, community boundaries are never fixed but
  are subject to change - as the nature location
  of confrontations change

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Deviance, in controlled quantities, may help
preserve social stability

• Deviant behavior, by marking the outer edges of
  group life, provides a framework within which
  members develop a sense of their own cultural
  identity
• the agencies built by society for preventing
  deviance are often so poorly equipped for the
  task that we might well ask why this is regarded
  as their real function in the first place (98)

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Commitment ceremonies self-fulfilling
prophecies?

• The communitys decision to bring deviant
  sanctions against a member is a rite of
  transition, moving the person out of an ordinary
  place in society into a special deviant position
• commitment ceremonies highly public dramatic
  events set up to judge whether or not someone is
  deviant, mark this change of status
• the criminal trial is the most obvious example
• importantly, in our culture, they are almost
  irreversible, and might be called
  self-fulfilling prophecies

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Conclusion

• Two separate yet often competing currents are
  found in any society
• forces which promote a high degree of conformity
  among people of community so they know what to
  expect from one another
• forces which encourage a certain degree of
  diversity so that people can be deployed across
  the range of group space to survey its potential,
  measure its capacity, and patrol its boundaries
  for deviants
• Deviance is a natural product of group
  differentiation and contributes to the survival
  of the culture as a whole