SPIRITAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

EJISU ASHANTE
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

COURSE: DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL

COURSE CODE: SOC 359
LECTURER: FR. JACOB YEBOAH
COURSE OUTLINE

OBJECTIVES:
The course is designed to provide a framework for discussion on the central issues in
criminal behaviour. The course is intended to provide students with a better
understanding of the various theories and concepts which seek to explain deviant
behaviour and social control. It aims to enable students to appreciate the conceptual
approach of sociologists in defining and identifying deviant behaviour and crime. It also
aims to equip the student of sociology with the required academic and professional
skills to research into crime and deviant behaviour in the contemporary Ghanaian
society.

CONTENT:
A deviation from the norm of a society or a group is an area of interest in sociological
investigation. Various theories and concepts which seek to provide a better sociological
understanding on the subject will be highlighted. Main topics will be definition of social
deviance from the sociological perspective, structural strain theories, deviant attachment
theories, theories on the labelling approach to deviance and other sub theories that
explain deviance.
WEEK TOPIC READING MATERIAL
1 and 2 Presentation of course outline and The normal and the
Introduction to deviance Pathology (Emile
Durkheim); Sociology of
Deviance (Kai T. Erickson)
3 Social deviance/definitions/ who is a -
deviant/types
4 Origin and purpose of social -
norms/values
5 Theories of deviance: Structural Strain Social Structure and Anomie
Theory (Emile Durkheim); Anomic
Suicide (Emile D).
 6 Deviant Attachment theories Differential Association
(Edwin Sutherland).
7 and 8 Labelling theory, Control Theory, Career Deviance (Howard S.
conflict, functionalist theory Becker)
9 and 10 Crime Akers, Ronald (1997) Akers,
Ronald (1997)
11 and 12 Theories of criminal behaviour

Methodology: the method of teaching would be largely student centred while

emphasising discussions, motivations, self-expressions of students’ concrete/practical
examples, metaphors, problem solving, brainstorming and synthesis of methods.
Sometimes notes, handouts and portions of books may be issued.
Course assessments
- There will be two quizzes during the semester which will constitute the mid
semester exams (25 marks) and an end of semester exams (70 marks)
- There will also be 5 marks awarded for class attendance and participation.

Reading Materials:
Akers, Ronald (1997) Criminology Theories: Introduction and Education, Roxbury
Publishing Company, Los Angeles California.
Durkheim, E. (1966). The Rules of Sociological Method. transl. by Sarah A. Solo way
and John H. Mueller, Macmillan Publishing Company Inc.
Ferrante, J. (2014). Seeing Sociology: Core Modules. International Edition, Wads worth
Cengage Learning, Canada.
Fitzgerald, M. et al (1981). Crime and Society, R.K.P.
Marshall, B. & Robert, M. (1998). Sociology of Deviant Behaviour, 10th ed. Harcourt
Brace College Publishers.
Stark, R. (2007). Sociology, 10th ed. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.
White, R. & Fiona, H. (2000). Crime and Criminology, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.
INTRODUCTION
That which departs from society’s norms, weather by choice, by circumstances or by
design is referred to as deviance. All of us violate the norms on time or the other. How
we define deviance can vary with time and from one society to another. Society
enforces their version of accepted norms through social controls, both formal and
informal.
Deviance can bring about social change, but it also results in many social problems like
crime.
What therefore is deviance?
Ask about hundred people in your hometown or city this question and you may get the
same answer, but ask the same question to people in different countries or societies
and you may get a different answer. Strictly speaking, the concept would include any
behaviour that does not conform to social norms. In practice, though, many norms are
not regarded as particularly important, and nonconformity to them may be tolerated
or even ignored. The social reaction you get if you turn up late for appointments, don’t
eat three meals a day, or occasionally wear mismatched socks is very different from
the reaction you get if you mug an old lady in the street, participate in orgies, or
announce that you are Napoleon. Minor deviations from norms, or deviations from
norms that nobody bothers much about, have few if any social consequences and are
not of particular sociological interest.
The sociology of deviance is primarily concerned with violations that are considered
offensive by many people. The one characteristic shared by those who are widely
regarded as deviant is STIGMA – the mark of social disgrace that sets the deviant apart
from those who consider themselves normal. Erving Goffman (1963b) perceptively
remarked that the stigmatized person has a spoiled identity as a result of negative
evaluations by others. For our purposes, then, deviance is behaviour that violates
significant social norms and is disapproved by large numbers of people as a result. This
definition brings us closer to an understanding of deviance and two additional points
will clarify the concept further.
The first point is that society cannot be divided neatly into the sheep and the goats,
the NORMALS who conform and the DEVIANTS who do not. Although a majority of
people usually conform to specific norm that is important to society, most people have
violated one or more important norms at some time in their lives. If we were to
subtract from NORMAL society all the people who have ever stolen something all the
people who have suffered a mental disorder, and all the people who have engaged in
prohibited sexual acts, all the people who have used illegal drugs- to mention but a
few out of hundreds of possibilities, we would have every few NORMAL people left.
Most people, however, escape discovery of their deviant behaviour, are not
stigmatized, and generally do not regard themselves as deviant at all.
The second point is that deviance is relative. No act is inherently deviant. It becomes
deviant only when it is socially defined as such, and definitions vary greatly from time
to time, place to place and group to group. The heretic of one age may be the saint of
the next. The freedom fighter of one group maybe a terrorist to another.
According to Claire M. Renzetti, Deviance is any act attribute with belief that violates
the cultural norms and elicit from others positive or negative response to reaction. The
definition of deviance depends on a particular society or group. The social fabric of the
group. Sociologists use the term deviance not judgementally. They don’t agree that an
act necessarily is bad, they just recognize that society judges that act negatively. A
behaviour that is totally prohibited in one society might be acceptable in another.
Example is alcohol consumption in different parts of the world: the minimum drinking
age in the USA is 21, but 16 in France and 18 in Brazil. In Jamaica there is no minimum
drinking age. But in most Muslim countries, alcohol is forbidden at any age.
Sociologists
Time and Deviance
A behaviour that you might consider deviant in one time, will not be the case at
another time and place. Therefore, the definition of deviance can change over time.
Example wind ware in the beech, tattoo, taboos.
No matter how society define it norms, some people can choose to defile these norms.
Most people conform to them most of the time, and social life therefore takes on a
regular and predictable pattern. Yet this picture is incomplete. We need only to look at
the world around us to see that social norms are often violated as well as adhered to.
People rob, rape and defraud. They wear peculiar clothing, smoke crack and take part
in riots. They embrace alien religions, become mentally disordered and commit
bigamy. A full picture of society, therefore, must include deviance from social norms.
Deviance and choice
In other case deviance is not a matter of choice: people can be labelled as deviants for
doing nothing at all, simply because they possessed a biological situation whereby the
person has no control over it, example is obesity.
In other to address deviance, society set up forms of formal and informal society
control. The formal control is when an official authority determines who violated the
norms and impose a particular sanction on the individual (the police, the courts etc).
on the other hand, the informal deviance are those we experience in the course of our
daily life.
How do we explain peoples behaviour