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 Downes | Rock | McCormick
“Downes, Rock, and McCormick have written one of the finest books on the topics of
deviance and social control that I have read. It presents the diversity of the field in a
thorough and well-documented manner.”
—David Brownfield, University of Toronto Mississauga

N ow in its second Canadian edition, Understanding Deviance continues to be the

definitive survey of theoretical developments in the study of crime and rule-
breaking. Taking a chronological approach, the authors offer in-depth coverage of Understanding Deviance
major schools of sociological thought, from the early work of the Chicago School
through to twenty-first-century developments, with discussions of such core theories Second Canadian Edition
as functionalism, anomie, symbolic interactionism, and phenomenology along the
way. The result is an engaging, invaluable introduction for students studying deviance
issues for the first time.
David Downes | Paul Rock | Chris McCormick

Understanding Deviance
Highlights
•  anadian examples. Coverage of fascinating examples ranging from
C
Statistics Canada’s groundbreaking research on victimization in the
1970s to recent policy debates surrounding crime control in Canada
makes key points relevant to Canadian students.

•  eal-life case studies. Boxed case studies—many new to this edition—

R
highlight essential concepts and engage students by challenging them
to draw their own conclusions from the research presented.

•  ew “Theory Summary” tables. New chapter-summary tables give

N
students at-a-glance study notes on pivotal theories.

•  nhanced “Explorations in Film.” Additional annotated

E
recommendations for films that explore topics discussed in each
chapter encourage students to think about the cultural impact and
interpretation of deviance issues.

Edition
Second Canadian
David Downes is an emeritus professor of social administration at the London School of
Economics and Political Science. Paul Rock is an emeritus professor of sociology at the London
School of Economics and Political Science. Chris McCormick is a professor in the Department
of Criminology and Criminal Justice at St Thomas University.

ISBN 978-0-19-544016-4

1
2

www.oupcanada.com/Downes2e

9 7 8 01 9 5 4 40 1 6 4
 Contents vii

Chapter 7 Symbolic Interactionism

Chapter Overview 156
Introduction 156
Symbolic Interactionism and Deviance 158
Criticism 177
Chapter Summary 180
Critical Thinking Questions 181
Explorations in Film 181

Chapter 8 Phenomenology
Chapter Overview 184
Introduction 184
Phenomenology: Some Premises 185
Phenomenology, Sociology, and Deviance 187
Criticism 202
Chapter Summary 205
Critical Thinking Questions 206
Explorations in Film 207

Chapter 9 Control Theories

Chapter Overview 209
Introduction 209
Sociological Control Theories of Deviance 210
“Situational” Control Theories 214
Miscellaneous Theories of a Control Character 224
Routine Activity Theory 226
Criticism 229
Chapter Summary 233
Critical Thinking Questions 234
Explorations in Film 234

Chapter 10 Radical Studies of Deviance

Chapter Overview 237
Introduction 237
The “New” Criminology 238
The Birmingham School 239
Radical Deviancy Studies in the United States 243
Allied Approaches 244

00_Downes.indd 7 7/9/12 4:21 PM

 viii Understanding Deviance

The Emergence of Left Realism 245

“New Directions” in Canadian Studies of Deviance 249
Criticism 256
Chapter Summary 260
Critical Thinking Questions 260
Explorations in Film 261

Chapter 11 Feminist Approaches to Deviance

Chapter Overview 263
Introduction 263
The Critique of Tradition 266
Female Emancipation and Deviance 270
Leniency and Control 272
Gender, Deviance, and Social Control 276
Feminism and the Female Victim 278
Criticism 284
Chapter Summary 286
Critical Thinking Questions 287
Explorations in Film 288

Chapter 12 The Metamorphosis of Deviance?

Chapter Overview 290
Introduction 290
How Theories Illuminate the Millennium—Prediction and Control 296
Chapter Summary 307
Critical Thinking Questions 308

Glossary 309
Notes 317
References 337
Index 364

00_Downes.indd 8 7/9/12 4:21 PM

 Preface and
Acknowledgements

When the opportunity came along to work on the first Canadian edition of Downes and
Rock’s Understanding Deviance, I knew it was too good to pass up. Understanding Deviance
has long been a classic compendium of theorizing in the sociology of deviance. Its review
of theories and its understanding of the deeper issues behind the standard interpretations
have enlightened students now for almost three decades.
At the same time, adapting a well-known classic means that one has to revise the text
to fit a new context while taking great care not to alter it beyond recognition or comfort.
What I particularly wished to retain was Downes and Rock’s narrative style of comparing
theories to one another and incorporating criticisms of each theory into the account.
Studying theories of the past is more than an exercise in intellectual archaeology. In
studying Durkheim, Merton, and Thrasher, we unearth the early roots of our discipline,
while reading Cicourel, Matza, and Garland reveals to us the importance of revising those
early approaches for present-day analysis. The work of theorizing is a discussion about
social conditions and a conversation with other theorists.
Going back and reviewing the roots of present-day deviance studies for this work
has reminded me of texts I had long forgotten. I would recommend that theorists go back
and read the original publications in such journals as the Canadian Review of Sociology and
Anthropology (since 1964), the Canadian Journal of Sociology (since 1975), the American
Journal of Sociology (since 1895), the American Sociological Review (since 1936), Social
Problems (since 1953), and the Journal of Educational Sociology (since 1927). Re-reading the
classics can give us a new perspective on works long forgotten.
In addition, it is also possible in this exercise to glimpse lesser-known work that one
has not seen before. As a theorist, I was excited when I discovered an article by Frederic
Thrasher from the 1920s on his research with gangs, an article that I had never seen referred
to; a piece by Carl Dawson from the 1920s concerning an address he gave in Montreal on
his kidney zone model of social development, significant for its contribution to a Canadian
sociology; and references to the work of Alfred Schutz that preceded what was thought to
be the beginning of his influence on sociology. Finding and reading these pieces reminded

00_Downes.indd 9 7/9/12 4:21 PM

 x Preface and Acknowledgements

me of how theorists talk about one another’s work in the interests of making their work
practical and relevant to current social conditions.
For this second Canadian edition, the original text has been updated and revised
to make it even more relevant to the Canadian context. Dozens of new studies have
been included, historical Canadian cases are referred to, and newspapers are used
as a source of information on how deviance has been handled in Halifax, Montreal,
Vancouver, and Toronto.
While Downes and Rock’s book was originally a British text, many of the trends in
deviance and control it describes are applicable to other Western countries, such as the
shift toward a law and order approach to deviance and control. Because the sociology of
deviance has traditionally maintained itself as distinct from criminology, we try to avoid
veering into a discussion of crime and prevention. The two fields are very different,
but we also adopt a new term, “deviantology,” to more easily describe our interest in
the scientific study of deviance and control. While many new Canadian features and
issues are used in this edition, I have also tried to keep its international flavour. Out of
approximately 50 boxed features, for example, 40 per cent are specifically Canadian,
and the same proportion deal with generic or international issues. About 4 per cent
are British, and another 14 per cent are American. Maintaining this international scope
helps to keep Canada in focus.
In addition to the revisions described above, various pedagogical features have
been added to this edition to enhance its value for students and teachers alike. As
a springboard for exploration, each chapter includes a discussion feature entitled
Deviance and Culture and another called Deviance Exploration, which highlight
interesting and critical issues that illustrate the complex character of deviance in the
modern world and relate them to topics in our culture, literature, and events in the
news. Each chapter also features a research Case Study; A Sociologist Looks At feature,
which explores how sociologists look at deviance; and Policy Matters, which explains
how issues do (or do not) translate into action. Some chapters feature case studies
taken from a newspaper column called Crime Matters that I have written since 2004,
presenting crime, deviance, and justice issues in a format for public consumption. The
chapters also include critical thinking questions and suggest recent and/or well-known
films for viewing. The glossary defines some 100 key terms, which are also defined in
marginalia throughout the book.
I want to thank the people at Oxford University Press for proposing this project
and for working to bring it to fruition, especially developmental editor Allison
McDonald and copy editor Dorothy Turnbull. I also thank the anonymous reviewers
who evaluated the proposal and manuscript, my colleague Dawne Clarke for suggesting
some great films, and, of course, David Downes and Paul Rock for their openness to
these changes in the first place.
Finally, this book is not only a summary of different theoretical approaches but
also an argument that theorizing is an important activity in itself and that applying it
to the developing character of deviance in research has direct relevance to our daily
lives in society.

Chris McCormick, 2012, St Thomas University

00_Downes.indd 10 7/9/12 4:21 PM

 Confusion
and Diversity

1
Learning Objectives
• To become sensitized to some of the issues in the sociology of
deviance.
• To get a sense of the diversity of the field of deviance studies.
• To see that deviance is subject to societal definition.
• To understand that deviance occurs across different historical and
spatial contexts.

01_Downes.indd 1 7/20/12 11:57 AM

 2 Understanding Deviance

Chapter Overview
In this chapter, we comment on the diversity in the sociology of deviance and why
there are so many divergent perspectives on what should be a study of the same
thing—deviant behaviour. Not only are there different ways of seeing one specific
type of deviance, such as witchcraft, but there are also different philosophical per-
spectives on deviance in general. For example, some see deviance as political op-
position to the social order, whereas others see it as the result of poverty in society.
Some ways of looking at deviance are quite abstract, while others stress practical
issues. Each is based on different assumptions, and each yields different conclusions.
This chapter offers a brief overview of some of the major areas within the sociology of
deviance and explains how politics, institutional traditions, and even human nature
can influence the field. From our point of view, confusion and diversity are character-
istic of deviance in the world, as well as a feature of the sociology of deviance itself.

Introduction
crime The very name, “the sociology of crime and deviance,” is a little misleading. A singu-
Act that con-
lar noun and a hint of science seem to promise a unified body of knowledge and an
travenes a law, agreed-upon set of procedures. It suggests that there are definitive answers to prac-
censured by tical, moral, and intellectual problems. Moreover, the demands placed on the sociol-
authorities and ogy of deviance are probably more urgent than those placed on any other branch of
subject to formal applied social science. Deviance is upsetting and perplexing, and it confronts people
sanction
in many settings, but when people turn to sociology for answers, they are likely to
encounter something like the Tower of Babel. They are offered not one answer but a
deviance
series of different, sometimes competing and contradictory visions of the nature of
Actions not people, deviation, and the social order. Very often, their questions cannot even be
conforming to discussed until they are rephrased so that they can be analyzed in the context of one
group values,
defined by the
or other of the master theories of crime and deviance.
reaction of others In fact, the sociology of deviance is not a single coherent discipline at all but a
collection of relatively independent versions of sociology. What has given it unity is
a common subject, not a common approach. At different times, people with different
backgrounds and different purposes have argued about rule-breaking. The outcome
has been an accumulation of theories that only occasionally mesh but which resemble
a conversation. Since deviance is often about morality and politics, a lot of energy has
gone into evaluating these theories. After all, substantial consequences can flow from
the acceptance of any particular argument. Readers learn about claims and criticisms,
definitive approaches and final solutions. Few authors have attempted to reveal all of
the uncertainties and complexities of their stance; many have simply avoided contro-
versy or criticism, while others are openly partisan. The result is that textbooks are
often confusing, especially if they are premised on the assumption that a reader should
prematurely commit to one position above the others.
Novices in the reading of theory are particularly vulnerable. Only through pro-
longed exposure to a mass of conflicting ideas can they stand back and understand
what has been omitted from a text, what evidence has not been examined, and which
assertions have not been challenged. But at the outset, they are ill-equipped to judge
the merits of an apparently persuasive work.

01_Downes.indd 2 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 1 Confusion and Diversity 3

Understanding Deviance was written to resolve some of these difficulties. We have

prepared it as an intellectual framework in which the various theories of deviance can
be set and assessed. It aims to provide a rough map for someone entering the labyrinth
of deviantology for the first time. deviantology
We do not pretend that the very diverse perspectives on deviance can be reduced
Sociological
to a fundamental harmony. Admittedly, there are common preoccupations and meth- study of deviance,
ods that lend the sociology of deviance a loose working consensus. Despite their dis- focusing on its
agreements, one sociologist can still recognize and talk to another. But the consensus intersubjective
is rudimentary, and it is sensible to acknowledge disunity by examining the differ- definition
ences of opinion that mark the discipline. Accordingly, in this book we undertake a
survey of each of the major schools of thought, without pretending that they can be
easily reconciled. We state these schools’ assumptions in a straightforward manner,
marshal the doubts that others have voiced, and repeat or invent the replies of the
schools’ champions. Instead of promoting one or another fragment of the discipline,
we allow the various alternatives to converse so that the whole may be appreciated
and organized by the reader. The reader, in turn, would do well to suspend judg-
ment about the worth of particular ideas until the whole conflicting array has been
examined.

The Character and Sources of Ambiguity

We have observed that the sociology of deviance contains not one vision but many.
It is a collection of different and rather independent theories. Each theory has its
own history, supported by a long train of arguments that reach into the foundational
ideas of philosophy and politics. Each theory encompasses a number of distinct op-
portunities for explaining and manipulating deviant behaviour and, in general, uses
a distinctive terminology.
Thus, one intellectual faction, radical sociology (Chapter 10), speaks of the op-
pression and alienation caused by the institutions of capitalist society. It may call devi-
ance liberation and conformity collusion. It may point to contradictions and crises conformity
that will perhaps result in a society rid of all deviance.1 Another faction, control theory Behaviour that
(Chapter 9), depicts institutional restraints as indispensable to a properly conducted is in accordance
society. Deviance is seen as a regression to a wilder state of man (or, less commonly, with social norms
woman). Control theory views conformity as a laudable achievement.2 Yet another because of either
faction, functionalist sociology (Chapter 4), portrays deviance as an unintended part agreement with
social values or fear
of the social order. Seemingly harmful conduct is seen as actually underpinning the of sanctions
conventional order, as with prostitution, for example, which may in fact preserve mar-
riage. As Kingsley Davis wrote in 1937:

Enabling a small number of women to take care of the needs of a large num-
ber of men, [prostitution] is the most convenient sexual outlet for an army,
and for the legions of strangers, perverts, and physically repulsive in our
midst. It performs a function, apparently, which no other institution fully
performs.3

Similarly, organized crime can be said to undermine social inequality,4 while heresy
may be used to defend religious orthodoxy.5

01_Downes.indd 3 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 4 Understanding Deviance

These theories cannot be reconciled or matched, because they are embedded in

opposing metaphysical beliefs that can be neither proved nor disproved. One theory
can hold an image of people corrupted by society, while another retains the doctrine
of original sin.
The apparent disagreements should not be regarded as a failing that ought to be
remedied. Indeed, it is not obvious whether there would be any benefit in attempting
to reconcile such disparate ideas. Rather, it can be instructive to explore a diversity
of intellectual positions, because the existence of confusion can highlight the special
properties of deviance. Deviance would be a rather different process if people did agree
on its constitution and significance. But people do not agree, and thus deviation may
not be amenable to a single definition and a single explanation.
We believe that ambiguity and uncertainty are integral characteristics of deviance
itself. While some of the phenomena of everyday life can be neatly arranged and clas-
sified, others cannot. Sociologists do not always accept common-sense classifications
and often may wish to impose their own schemes and categories.
Ambiguity does seem to be a crucial facet of rule-breaking. People are often un-
decided about whether a particular action is truly deviant or even what deviance is.
Their judgment depends on circumstances, biography, and purpose. Certain behav-
iour can cause discomfort in those who witness it, but they may hesitate to define it as
wrong, sinful, or harmful. Many are prepared, for example, to tolerate some pilfering
(but only from institutions and not in excessive amounts),6 some sexual misconduct (if
it is discreet and does not impinge on others),7 or some rudeness (if it takes place where
liquor is sold, for example).8
As further evidence of ambiguity, there is often a reluctance to categorize an activ-
ity as deviant until other explanations are exhausted. In this way, deviance is a residual
category—that is, a label of last resort. Thus, in one study wives preferred to attribute
their husbands’ odd behaviour to tiredness or strain, unwilling to accept a diagnosis
of mental illness.9 In another study, husbands showed a similar inclination to consider
their wives’ behaviour as normal, such as hearing voices:

Mr Urey: We’d moved into an old house, I was working late hours. My wife
couldn’t sleep at night. There was an attic there, the house made
noises, the way old houses do. She was frightened, she used to
think there was someone in the house with the kids.

Interviewer: What did you make of that?

Mr Urey: I just thought it was that.

Interviewer: What?

Mr Urey: The way the house was situated—old and creaky. A person can
think a lotta things.10

The wife of the man quoted here is later committed to an institution after she
breaks all the dishes and burns down the house. This is an unusual example perhaps,
but the point is that if “shifting standards”11 work on deviant behaviour to render it

01_Downes.indd 4 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 1 Confusion and Diversity 5

ambiguous and fluid, no coherent and definitive argument can ever completely define
it. We may have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that logical and systematic schemes
are not always reflected in the structure of the social world.
That structure contains what seems to be a necessary measure of contradiction,
contingency, paradox, and absurdity, and some have even tried to develop a “sociol-
ogy of the absurd.”12 But social life often defies precise description. The analytic pos-
sibilities of sociology can be realized only when there is an abundance of discrepant
theories, each stressing anomalous ideas that no one theory can contain. Another way
of saying this is that the contrasting features of deviance may find adequate expres-
sion only in contrasting theories. Even so, difficulties will remain, because deviance
probably eludes final definition. Deviance stems from the construction and applica-
tion of moral rules, and as Bittner argues, it is impossible to predict and control all its
implications:

If we consider that for every maxim of conduct we can think of a situation

to which it does not apply or in which it can be overruled by a superior
maxim . . . then it is clear that all efforts to live by an internally consistent
scheme of interpretation are necessarily doomed to fail.13

In this view, deviance will always be messier than, say, geology. To be sure, sociol-
ogists may argue that the appearances of everyday life are deceptive and that an inter-
nally consistent scheme could be found with the proper methodology. Scientific reason
might illuminate deeper principles of organization that hide beneath the muddle of or-
dinary thinking about deviance. Yet as we have observed, there actually appears to be
little agreement among the sociologists themselves. As in Harding’s classic comment:

The social scientists tend obediently to accept their place in the hierarchy
without dispute. They say that human beings and animals are different from
metals and muscles and are most incalculable. They say you very well know
what will happen when you put two chemicals together, but that there is no
way on earth of telling what may happen when you put two human beings
together. . . . [However] the social sciences tend to be more complex, more
inclusive, and more exact, in the sense with making contact with life at more
points than the physical sciences.14

Each sociologist may be decisive individually, but collectively there is indecision

and many academic disputes. In the same way that an addict, a judge, a psychiatrist,
and a police officer may not share a single perspective on the use of opiates, so differ-
ent sociologists face deviation in numerous guises and situations. Psychiatric know-
ledge may be adequate enough, but it may not be capable of solving all the practical
problems of policing and justice.15 It would be the sole truth only if psychiatric issues
were the only ones of importance. Similarly, functionalists’ concerns may not be the
same as those of Marxists. For example, functionalist sociologists interested in the ef-
fect of store design on theft or of policing patterns on vandalism might find radical
sociology not particularly helpful. Whereas they are interested in the immediate effects
of control, radical sociologists are concerned with the ethical foundations of control
policies. However, such difficulties arise not simply because radical and functionalist

01_Downes.indd 5 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 6 Understanding Deviance

sociologists, although they move about in the same world, focus on different prob-
lems. To some significant extent, they seem to act as though they do not live in the
same world at all, because they perceive it in such different ways.
To further complicate the matter, the sociology of deviance cannot encompass
everything that may be relevant to it. This means that those who search for answers
to problems within it alone may find that they have missed much of value that lies
outside the field. Political science, economics, law, anthropology, cultural studies, biol-
ogy, psychology, and psychiatry also have much to say about how deviance and control
arise,16 so the search for an answer can become seemingly endless. And when we try
to find the answer to moral questions, things can become even more confused, as the
polygamy following discussion on polygamy shows.
A form of In short, there may be no still, perfect, and absolute centre from which deviance
organization in may be surveyed as it really is. Nor does there need to be a simple test for discovering
which a person which approach is superior. Proponents of each intellectual position may claim that
can have several that they and they alone can see what is true and real. But there are many centres, and
spouses we do not intend to ally ourselves with any one position for very long but rather to
show the diversity of perspectives. We also want to show that the very definition of
deviance depends on one’s perspective, as the following Deviance and Culture feature
demonstrates.

Deviance and Culture

Polygamy

Polygamy is the practice of being married to more than one person at the same time.
It contrasts with the more usual practice of monogamy in which a person has only
one spouse at any given time. Polygamy is illegal in Canada, but the government
seems to have adopted a hands-off approach, even though polygamy has been
linked with child brides, statutory rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, human
trafficking, and immigration scams.
At various times in the past and in different cultures, polygamy was and is prac-
tised for social and economic reasons, as is the case among Muslims in Pakistan and
Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Singapore, and some African countries.
In North America, polygamy has been associated with Mormonism, based in
Utah. Its founder, Joseph Smith, claimed in 1831 that he had received a revelation from
God allowing polygamy. One Mormon leader, Brigham Young, was arrested for polyg-
amy in 1871, and the US Supreme Court ruled against polygamy in 1878. Even though
Utah outlawed polygamy in 1890 under the threat that it would be denied statehood,
perhaps 40,000 people still practise polygamy in Utah and nearby states today.
Various individuals and groups have spoken out against polygamy, including the
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in 1902, the National Council of Women in 1905,
and the Moral and Social Reform Council of Canada at its annual meeting in 1912.

01_Downes.indd 6 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 1 Confusion and Diversity 7

Some members of the Mormon church relocated to Canada and set up new
communities, including one in Cardston, Alberta, where they could practise their re-
ligion freely. When the Mormons first negotiated the right to settle in Canada, they
agreed to abandon polygamy. However, some branches of Mormonism believe that
polygamy is necessary for entrance into heaven. In 2006, a number of children of
polygamist families spoke at a rally in Utah, saying that they felt their families were
misunderstood.
In the news recently is Bountiful, a small town populated by Mormons in south-
eastern British Columbia, where older men often have many, usually younger, wives.
Despite allegations of child abuse and sexual exploitation, charges have not been
laid. In fact, it seems that polygamy has never been prosecuted in Canada.
The community has split into two factions, one of which is loyal to Warren Jeffs, a
US sect leader who was arrested in the United States and convicted of arranging un-
derage marriages and thus being an accomplice to statutory rape. The other faction
is led by Winston Blackmore, who lives in Bountiful, has more than 20 wives, and has
fathered more than 100 children. The teen pregnancy rate in Bountiful is much higher
than the provincial average, as are the rates of childhood injury.
In 1990, the RCMP at Creston, BC, announced that they were recommending po-
lygamy charges. A woman willing to testify against Jeffs in Utah said she was forced
into a religious marriage when she was 14 and that everyone made her feel as though
she would be defying God and would never go to heaven if she resisted. Under Utah
law, it is illegal to have sex with anyone under 18 unless the two people are within
three years of each other in age and the act is consensual.
A 2005 study commissioned by the federal government actually recommended
that Canada decriminalize polygamy because, in the authors’ view, the law would not
survive a Charter challenge based on religious freedom. The report echoes a 1985
Law Commission study, which recommended that alternative forms of relationship
be treated in the same way as traditional marriages.
However, in 2006 Status of Women Canada pointed out that polygamy has
negative consequences for both women and children. And a new report commissioned
by the federal Justice Department has said that Canada is violating international
agreements regarding women and children in not prosecuting polygamists. In the
face of increasing public attention, speculation has arisen that the people of Bountiful
will simply sell their properties and move out, which, given the practice of non-
prosecution, might not be a bad thing.
A majority of Canadians surveyed in 2009 for the Institute of Canadian Values, a
Christian think-tank on public policy issues, said they believed that polygamy should
remain illegal and that governments should intervene more aggressively to protect
children in polygamous communities rather than accepting virtually any kind of be-
haviour in the interests of pluralism.

Source: C. McCormick, “Polygamy: Whose interests are being served?” Crime Matters column,
Daily Gleaner (Fredericton), 7 June 2007.

01_Downes.indd 7 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 8 Understanding Deviance

Deviance Is Not a Single Problem with a Single Solution

It seems as though virtually all of the contrasting styles of argument that abound
in the larger world have been applied to deviance at some point. Each represents a
distinct way of seeing deviant conduct, and as Kenneth Burke would argue,17 each
represents a distinct way of not seeing such conduct. Together, they constitute a great
kaleidoscope. An examination of even one small part of that kaleidoscope can be il-
luminating. It demonstrates how deviance reflects the ambitions and visions of those
who probe it, which makes deviance itself open to an extraordinarily broad range of
interpretations.
Some sociologists assert that deviance is a political phenomenon.18 After all, it is
intimately connected with the exercise of power and the application of rules.19 For
others, deviance can light the way toward the practical management of social pathol-
ogy. The study of deviance can provide useful knowledge, which can then be applied
to the formulation of policy. For this reason, researchers Clarke and Cornish as well as
James Wilson dismissed theories that made no contribution to the business of control-
ling crime. They took deviance to be distressing and disruptive action that inflicted
pain and subverted trust and community. Consequently, they believed, any theorizing
that did not assist legislators and administrators was both fanciful and irrelevant, mere
speculation without apparent purpose or utility.20
Others think that the study of deviance should be a repository of practical infor-
mation and advice, as do Morris and Hawkins in their The Honest Politician’s Guide to
Crime Control, which urges policy-makers to appreciate the unintended and undesired
consequences of their actions. It advocates caution in the construction of schemes for
the suppression of law-breaking. Some researchers focus on specific problems and
possible solutions, such as the design of public vehicles and its effect on vandalism,21
the design of public space and how it affects the monitoring of deviance,22 and the
organization of social life and the supervision of the young.23
But then there is a different position. Some say that the unrecognized conse-
quences of control are so diffuse that rule enforcement tends only to make social
problems worse. Thus, they preach a politics of laissez-faire, or “anything goes.” For
example, labelling theorists contend that almost any interference with juvenile delin-
quency amplifies deviance and that formal regulation merely confirms the deviant in
an outcast status.24 From the point of view of restorative justice, the important thing
is to ensure that the juvenile is reintegrated into the community.25 Some cities, such
as Toronto or San Francisco, for example, might be described as civilized compacts
between peaceable deviant groups free of undue control26 yet still subject to social
control: “In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom,
define or be defined.”27
More skeptically still, some have concluded that the supposedly “unintended”
consequences of control are actually intended. Politicians need the presence of a devi-
ant population that can be held responsible for the ills of society, so visible lawbreakers
are “manufactured” in large numbers to act as scapegoats. The deviant thus deflects
outrage away from the evils committed by the powerful elites,28 and a designated
pool of deviants is exploited for dramatic purposes.29 Michel Foucault, for example,
observed that it had long been apparent that prisons generate criminality. Yet prisons
continue to abound. It would seem, then, that neither neglect nor ignorance stands

01_Downes.indd 8 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 1 Confusion and Diversity 9

in the way of the abolition of imprisonment. Rather, the penal system is deliberately
intended as a deviant preserve.30
Pursuing that vision of oppression yet further, some argue that deviants could
be put to work in the service of revolution. For instance, Thomas Mathiesen played
a leading role in Scandinavian prisoners’ unions, trying to bring about changes
that would have led to an unspecified but profound upheaval in penal policy.
Maintaining that participation in rational negotiations would only strengthen
the grip of officials and tame the unions, he was deliberately irrational and non-
conciliatory in his approach.31 According to this kind of thinking, sociology can
become a combatant in class, gender, or race wars, and its ideas will be judged by
their impact on conflict.
It is possible that scholarly objectivity will always elude the sociology of deviance.
Marxist Richard Quinney32 and others33 proclaimed that it must surrender to the de-
mands of ideological struggle and promote only those truths that fuel the revolution.
However, a new twist in the argument has emerged, with a later generation of radical
“left realists,” in response to victimization surveys and feminism, pushing for the con-
trol of deviance with all the excitement of the “administrative criminologists” who
were once so criticized. All this is confusing, to say the least.
Marxist historians claim that deviance can provide a “history from below,” an
unofficial commentary by the dispossessed on their own past. According to this
argument, rule-breaking reveals the otherwise suppressed under-life of society, the
actions of the illiterate, voiceless, and dominated, laying out patterns of communal
opposition. For example, poachers and smugglers acted out the hostility that at-
tended the emergence of class society in England.34 Attempts by wealthy property-
owners to enclose land were opposed on the grounds of the traditional right of
people to share the use of pastures, commons, and forests.35 Efforts to mechanize
agriculture or to assert the supremacy of the market were stalled by what has been
called “collective bargaining by riot.”36 Acts of resistance to social control are repre-
sented as deviant by those who have the power to define what deviance is.37 Naming
something as deviant is a political act, and deviance involves conscious resistance by
those without power.38
This is a bit abstract, but deviance can certainly take expressly political direc-
tions. For example, some homosexuals organized to form the Gay Liberation Front39
and later Outrage, and prisoners adopted the tactics of student demonstrators.40 On
occasion, political action can also take a deviant path. The early Bolsheviks, the
Irish Republican Army, and the Baader Meinhof gang41 robbed banks, and Eldridge
Cleaver raped to revenge himself on a white world.42 In other cases, however, mat-
ters are not at all clear, and the deviant and the political can merge into a defin-
itional fog. Argument can turn on whether people are considered freedom fighters,
guerrillas, or terrorists. Is a particular riot a political event or “mere” lawlessness?
Sometimes political consequences flow from the acts of deviants who are not overt-
relativity
ly committed to a political stance. Conversely, people seeking an acceptable front
for predatory activity sometimes claim a political motive.43 All of these pronounce- How deviance
ments, shifts in meaning, and conflicts require delicate analysis, because they varies across
point to the “relativity of deviance,” a topic illustrated in the following Deviance cultures and
historical periods
Exploration feature.

01_Downes.indd 9 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 10 Understanding Deviance

Deviance Exploration
AnThe Relativity of Deviance
Overview
There are many forms of behaviour that are not criminal but are considered odd. These
forms of deviance range from such things as dressing in an unusual way to mildly ec-
centric forms of behaviour such as talking to oneself. However, what is considered de-
viant in this culture at this time might not be considered deviant in another culture at
another time. This means that deviance is relative. Sociology illustrates how deviance
is relative rather than absolute by making cross-cultural and historical comparisons.
For example, as we saw earlier, the founding father of Mormonism, Joseph Smith,
introduced polygamy in the new religion; he himself had some 50 wives. Historically,
one-third of Mormons practised multiple marriages in the nineteenth century, which
was considered normal behaviour in that society at that time. Today, polygamy is il-
legal in both Canada and the United States. However, many cultures in the world still
condone polygamy, either for purposes of ensuring survival or for displaying wealth
and status.
Historical comparisons are termed diachronic, and cross-cultural comparisons are
diachronic
synchronic, which means comparing cultures in the same time period. In Islamic coun-
The definition of tries, for example, the consumption of alcohol is prohibited, and the penalties for using
deviance changes it are quite severe. Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia have to be careful not to violate this
across historical time
standard. Similarly, a youth in Singapore was recently threatened with the traditional
punishment of a public caning for a crime that probably would have been punished by
synchronic a sentence in the community in Canada. Singapore is notorious for its strict rules about
The definition of behaviour in public places; for example, it is illegal to chew gum in public.
deviance changes In contrast to the prohibition against alcohol in Islamic countries, Western nations
across cultural space permit and regulate the sale of alcohol, sometimes dispensing it at government-
owned stores. Even though the long-term cost of alcohol to society is high, it is
attractive to governments as a source of revenue because the short-term profit is also
high. In Western culture, alcohol is associated with sociability—getting together with
friends and living the good life—and is considered one of the rewards of hard work.
In making historical comparisons, we look at social standards across time. An in-
teresting example, parallel to that of alcohol, is the use of narcotics. In the nineteenth
century, none of the narcotics prohibited in Canada today was illegal. Cocaine and
opium were widely available and were found in prescription medicines, toothache
remedies, and hair-care products, as well as in digestives and other tonics. It was not
that these substances were suddenly found to be hazardous because of their effect
on the user’s mind and body. Rather, social issues and standards changed. Looking at
the subsequent criminalization of cocaine, opium, and marijuana, we can detect the
specific social reasons for their criminalization, reasons that were quite separate from
the substances themselves and their use.
However, not all deviance is considered relative. Some deviance, such as child
abuse, is universally held in contempt. However, most forms of deviance are culturally
and historically variant. This is what we mean when we say that deviance is relative, as
illustrated in the following A Sociologist Looks At feature about noise.

01_Downes.indd 10 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 1 Confusion and Diversity 11

A Sociologist Looks At
Car Stereos and Culture
“Boom boy” and “sonic terrorist” are some of the terms used to describe people who
modify their car stereo systems to produce loud music. Within the car stereo culture,
such activity is a hobby; however, loud car stereo systems are one of the most com-
mon sources of noise complaints. While only 5 to 10 per cent of people bothered by
excessive noise file an official complaint, there is evidence of pressure to “crack down”
on noise violations caused by car stereo systems.
One study examined official police responses to 678 car stereo noise violations in
the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, between 1998 and 2000. The data was based on of-
ficial action such as an arrest, which occurred in less than 10 per cent of the violations.
Furthermore, the information came from one actor in the encounter: the police officer;
information from motorists would have shed additional light on what had happened.
Previously, city bylaws authorized police to arrest anyone making a loud noise
that was unreasonable at that time of day or night. However, in 1989 the city adopted
a zero tolerance approach, and a new moral entrepreneur, neighbourhood action moral
groups located near student housing, began to pressure the police to enforce the entrepreneur
bylaw more strictly. A person in
Cultural research helps us to understand how car stereo culture can become devi- a position of
antized and how policing car stereo noise may have unintended consequences beyond authority who uses
that of preserving the peace of a neighbourhood. It also helps us to understand how an opportunity
to capitalize on
the car stereo culture has become criminalized through mediated campaigns and the
defining deviance
consequences for those within this culture. For example, “boom boys” with their ag-
gressive rap music reflect a culture that defies authority and flaunts dislike of the police.
Another factor is evidence that drug dealers use loud car stereos to advertise, so
police use the pretext of a loud car stereo to stop a vehicle and then search it. In the
study, what was interesting was the degree of the officers’ leniency in resolving noise
violations. The strongest predictors of leniency were that the officer was white and
that the traffic stop had been initiated by the officer rather than triggered by a public
complaint. Black motorists, motorists with multiple charges against them, and unco-
operative motorists were less likely to be treated leniently. In short, white officers
were less likely to make an arrest than black officers, and black motorists were three
times more likely to be arrested than white motorists.
The issue of enforcing bylaws against loud car stereos is complex. Defining a
cultural style as deviant as part of a strategy to fight drugs creates other problems,
such as racial profiling. Cultural research helps us to understand how politics, me-
dia, and anti-crime campaigns can intersect to marginalize and “deviantize” a culture.
Moreover, legislating how others play music in their cars through excessive criminal
justice responses is not going to solve the problem because “extra-legal” factors such
as race and how we see youth will come into play.

Adapted from C. Crawford, “Car stereos, culture and criminalization.”

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 12 Understanding Deviance

Sources of Diversity
It is apparent that the sociology of deviance can encompass many ideologies, and part
of our task in this chapter is to recount why such diversity arose and how the various
explanations attained plausibility. Here are some reasons for the diversity:

• Sociology is not enclosed or sealed against arguments that exist in the wider world. Just
as intellectual variety is a product of exposure to diverse ideas, sociology is heir
to a long tradition of brooding about deviance and sin, politics being but one
strand of that tradition. Lawyers, psychiatrists, theologians, moralists, anthro-
pologists, philosophers, statisticians, social reformers, historians, and psycholo-
gists have addressed the problems of deviance and tried to impose their own
stamp on contemporary thinking. Each has had a stake in the outcome, because
broad acceptance of a particular view confirms a particular system of morals,
law, or politics and has implications for the rise and fall of policies as well as oc-
cupations.44 Thus, for example, the clergy, magistrates, and doctors all claimed
the right to manage the insane. The prize was control of the administration of
asylums.45 Similarly, social workers, psychiatrists, and lawyers fought over ju-
venile delinquents; the prize was power over juvenile courts and reformatories.46
• Sociology has its own language and techniques, but it has also fed on ideas that originated
in other fields. Thinking about social problems cannot be insulated from what has
gone before. Earlier thought shapes the environment in which all speculation
takes place. The disputes of medieval schoolmen and eighteenth-century
pamphleteers have been handed down and assume new shapes in the university
of the twenty-first century. For example, radical sociology can trace its lineage
back to such thinkers as Plato, Kant, Hegel, Rousseau, and Marx. Control theory
incorporates the political philosophy of Hobbes, the psychiatry of Eysenck and
Freud, and the sociology of Durkheim. Functionalists may be clustered with
the biologist Cannon, the political economist Petty, the philosopher Plato, and
the anthropologists Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown. The sociology of deviance
gives yet another life to the principal ideas of the principal schools. Just as these
schools are varied in their thinking, so the sociology of deviance is varied. Just
as these schools’ disputes have never been conclusively settled, so the internal
debates of the sociology of deviance remain unresolved.
• The various debates can involve very different goals for the study of deviance. Sociologists
may be required to control or exploit deviance; undertake dispassionate analyses
of pornography; provide moral commentaries on vandalism; design, criticize, or
close prisons; study past drug-use patterns; or predict the future of juvenile devi-
ance. They may, indeed, have no great interest in deviance but instead may be
searching for answers to analytic puzzles. For example, Aaron Cicourel explored
probation and police practices in order to illuminate some general properties of
social interaction,47 Émile Durkheim treated deviance as an indicator of social
cohesion,48 and Robert Merton took deviance to be a demonstration of the pro-
cesses by which a society maintains itself.49
• Such an interplay of projects and thoughts becomes more complicated as the minds
of different sociologists work on the materials offered them. The field contains an
ever-increasing body of arguments, criticisms, and studies, and no sociologist

01_Downes.indd 12 7/9/12 4:13 PM

 1 Confusion and Diversity 13

is capable of mastering, reading, or remembering everything that is produced.

Consequently, scholars acquire a selective experience of the sociology of devi-
ance, an experience shaped by contingency, knowledge, choice, fashion, and
practical objectives. They may consider a work important even though few
of their colleagues have read it. They may combine its arguments with those of
other writings, generating a new personal synthesis. What is considered fas-
cinating and provocative at a given time may later be seen as dull. Thus, the
intellectual significance of a theory or idea is unstable: it will depend on the cir-
cumstances of those who encounter it and on its place in a sequence of thoughts.
Ideas therefore reflect the biographies and preoccupations of particular people at
particular points in time.
• The sociology of deviance has thereby accumulated a vast number of nuances. These
nuances can become exaggerated and publicized as sociologists, often working
in a university, pursue the new and the original. The university is more than a
mere vehicle for transmitting received truths, because faculty submit doctoral
theses before or during their period of appointment and one of the chief criteria
for the acceptance of a thesis is its originality. Promotions hinge on successful
publication, and publishers are reluctant to print the simple parroting of
other people’s ideas. Sometimes sociological works are recognizably novel and
important, but sometimes they are not. Sociologists frequently strive for the
identifiably new, the special emphasis that will set them apart as original thinkers
who deserve honour and reward. That can result in a proliferation of attempts at
intellectual revolution, with almost every published work carrying the assertion
that it constitutes a major revision, synthesis, or formulation of ideas.50 Hence, the
very freedom of the academy has resulted in a diversity of thought.
• Product differentiation has inevitably been accompanied by the making of proprietorial
claims. People tend to develop a very real stake in their ideas. They “possess”
them, are reluctant to share authorship or ownership, and may strive to conserve
and guard them against adulteration. Moreover, the logic of a simplified argu-
ment is attractive, because excessive complexity can render analysis unmanage-
able to the extent that slight initial divergences can result in radically different
conclusions. John Douglas once complained of this drift toward the artificial
segregation of arguments: “Most . . . theories are right to some degree about some
part of the things they are studying, but they almost all deal with small parts—as
if the parts were the whole thing—and the theories wind up being distortions of
the vastly complex realm of human life.”51
• Then there is the impact of the academy, which both spurs and limits the growth of in-
tellectual variety. Universities and disciplines enforce their own special controls,
which is what they were designed to do. Ideas are scanned in reviews, lectures,
and seminars; sociologists and other academics dissect their colleagues’ work;
and arguments are examined for their logic, methodology, and coherence. The
routine activities of university work resemble a process of natural selection that
condemns some arguments and upholds others. Although some reputations have
been lost irrevocably in the process, what passes for damning criticism at any
given time is itself variable, dependent on the fashion of the moment and the
popularity of certain schools of thought. For example, interesting developments
in the social geography of deviance in the mid-nineteenth century had been

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 14 Understanding Deviance

suppressed by the end of the century, only to be revived in the 1930s52 and again
in the 1990s.
• Further complicating the matter are the very different traditions within the university
departments and schools where “deviantology” is studied and taught. Processes of nat-
ural selection may be inhibited because institutions of learning are so numerous
and the sociological profession is so large that antagonists need never confront
one another. The advocates of a particular theory can surround themselves with
their own circle of followers and their own network of journals and publishers.
It is quite possible for one intellectual faction to create, examine, and extend its
ideas without much interference from outsiders. Like middle-class neighbours
who prefer to simply avoid one another rather than to quarrel,53 sociologists can
simply ignore challenges. For example, radical analysis did not come to dominate
the sociology of deviance, since most sociologists did not accept its assumptions
and therefore ignored them. In this way, phenomenology, interactionism, struc-
turalism, functionalism, feminism, and all the other major schools can flourish
quite independently and unmolested, constituting parallel intellectual universes
that need never intersect.
• Such insulation may be further reinforced by the division of intellectual labour within
universities. Students require schooling in a number of specialist areas, and uni-
versities recruit the appropriate staff to teach them, which means that individual
sociologists may not have an adequate background for monitoring and judging
the works of their colleagues in the same institution. Sociologists of religion or
development may believe they are not equipped to assess the competence and
range of deviance scholarship. There may also be a reduction in discipline: soci-
ologists of deviance (or any other sociologists) come to believe that they are free
to issue almost any argument as long as a publisher will give them a forum and
some colleagues, somewhere, will endorse it.

The Social Contexts of Differentiation

One of the chief constraints on intellectual production is the place in which it takes
place. The sociology of deviance is practised in different settings, all of which frame
what may be said and the manner of its expression. We can give only a few scattered
capitalism examples of these settings, but they do highlight the part played by environment.
Perhaps the largest single setting is government. Clearly, the sociology of devi-
A form of social
organization ance has implications for moral and political reasoning. Since particular conceptions
characterized by of deviance can subvert the authority of government, they may require censorship.
private profit and One important example is the position of sociology in the former Soviet Union, where
competition the government was based on Marxism. Deviance was held to stem from the defects
of capitalism—that is, the moral disorganization, inequalities, and possessive indi-
criminology vidualism of a society based on social classes. As the director of the Moscow Institute
Interdisciplinary of Criminology once pronounced, “socialism does not give birth to crime [and devi-
study of the causes ance] . . . the regularities immanent in socialism do not give birth to crime.”54 A non-
of crime and Marxist sociology would have located some of the sources of deviance in Soviet social
techniques for its organization, but that would have gone against the tenets of Soviet Marxism, so such
control
thinking was not allowed to develop. In Soviet sociology, deviance was presented as a

01_Downes.indd 14 7/9/12 4:13 PM

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
¿porqué? Ellos me dixeron[633];
allá os lo dirá el juez. Entonçes
me pareçió que no estaua
cansada mi triste ventura de me
tentar, pero que començaua
desde aqui de nueuo a me
perseguir. Començose de la gente
que acompañaua la justicia a
murmurar[634] que yo yua preso
por adultero. Dezian todos
quantos lo sabian mouidos de
piedad; ¡o quanto te fuera mejor
que huuieras muerto a manos de
turcos, antes que ser traydo a
poder de tus enemigos! ¡O
soberano Dios! que no queda
pecado sin castigo; y quando yo
esto oía Dios sabe lo que mi
anima sentia. Pero quierote dezir
que avnque siempre tube
confiança que la verdad no podia
pereçer[635], yo quisiera ser mil
vezes muerto antes que venir a
los ojos de Arnao. Ni sabía cómo
me defender yo; antes me
determiné dexarme condenar
porque él satisfiziesse su honrra,
teniendo por bien enpleada la
vida pues por él la tenia yo; y ansi
dezia yo hablando comigo; ¡o si
condenado por el juez fuesse yo
depositado en manos del burrea
que me cortasse la cabeça sin yo
ver a Arnao! Con esto me
pusieron en vna muy horrible
carçel que tenia la çiudad, en vn
lugar muy fuerte y muy escondido
que auia para los malhechores
que por inormes delitos eran
condenados a muerte, y alli me
cargaron de hierros teniendolo yo
todo por consolaçion. Todos me
mirauan con los ojos y me
señalauan con el dedo auiendo
de mí piedad: y avnque ellos
tenian neçesidad della, mi miseria
les hazia oluidarse de sí. En esto
passé aquella noche con lo que
auia passado del dia hasta que
vino a visitar y proueer en los
delitos de la carçel, y ansi en vna
gran sala sentado en vn soberuio
estrado y teatro de gran
magestad, delante de gran
multitud de gente que a demandar
justiçia alli se juntó, el gouernador
por la importunidad de Arnao
mandó que me truxiessen delante
de sí, y luego fueron dos porteros
en cuyas manos me depositó el
alcayde por mandado del juez, y
con una gruesa cadena me
presentaron en la gran sala. Tenia
yo de empacho incados los ojos
en tierra que no los osaua alçar
por no mirar a Arnao: de lo qual
todos quantos presentes estauan
juzgauan estar culpado del delito
que mi contrario y acusador me
imponia. Y ansi mandando el
gouernador a Arnao que
propusiesse la acusaçion ansi
començó. ¡O bienauenturado
monarca por cuya rectitud y
equidad es mantenida de justiçia
y paz esta tan yllustre y
resplandeçiente republica, y no
sin gran conoçimiento y
agradeçimiento de todos los
subditos! Por lo qual sabiendo yo
esto en dos años passados que
vusco en Ingalaterra, Brauante,
Flandes y por toda la Italia a este
mi delinquente me tengo por
dichoso por hallarle debajo de tu
señoria y jurisdiçion, confiando
por solo tu prudentissimo juizio
ser restituido en mi justiçia[636] y
ser satisfecho en mi voluntad; y
por que no es razon que te dé
pessadumbre con muchas
palabras, ni inpida a otros el
juizio, te hago saber que este que
aqui ves que se llama Alberto de
Clep... Y hablando comigo el juez
me dixo: ¿vos, hermano, llamais
os ansi? Y yo respondi: el mesmo
soy yo. Boluio Arnao y dixo: El es
o justissimo monarca: él es, y
ninguna cosa de las que yo dixere
puede negar. Pues este es vn
hombre el mas ingrato y oluidado
del bien que nunca en el mundo
nació. Por lo qual solamente le
pongo demanda de ser ingrato
por acusaçion, y pido le des el
castigo que mereçe su ingratitud,
y por más le conuençer pasa ansi:
que avnque las buenas obras no
se deuen referir del animo liberal,
porque sepas que no encarezco
su deuda sin gran razon, digo que
yo le amé del mas firme y
constante amor que jamas vn
hombre a otro amó; y porque
veas que digo la verdad sabras
que vn dia por çierto negoçio que
nos conuenia partimos ambos de
Françia para yr en Ingalaterra, y
entrando en el mar nos sobreuino
vna tempestad la mas horrenda y
atroz que a nauegantes suçedió
en el mar. En fin con la alteraçion
de las olas y soberuia de los
çielos nos pareció a todos que era
buelto el dilubio de Noe. Cayó él
en el agua por desgraçia y
indispusiçion, y procurando cada
qual por su propria salud y
remedio, en la mas obscura y
espantosa noche que nunca se
vio me eché al agua y peleando
con las inuençibles olas le truxe al
puerto de salud. Suçede despues
desto que tengo yo vna muger
moça y hermosa (que nunca la
huuiera de tener, porque no me
fuera tan mala ocasion) y está
enamorada de Alberto como yo lo
soy, que della no es de marauillar,
pues yo le amo mas que a mí; y
ella persiguiendole por sus
amores la responde él que en
ninguna manera puede en la fe
ofender a Arnao, y siendo por ella
muchas vezes requerido vino a
las manos con él queriendole
forçar, y passa ansi que vna
mañana yo me leuanté dexandola
a ella en la cama y por limpiar mi
cuerpo me lançé a vn retrete sin
me ver ella. De manera que ella
pensó que yo era salido de casa a
negoçiar, y suçedio entrar por alli
Alberto por saber de mí, y ella
asegurada que no la viera yo le
hizo con importunidad llegar a la
cama donde estaua, y tomandole
fuertemente por la capa le dixo:
duerme comigo que muero por ti;
y Alberto respondio: todas las
cosas de su casa y hazienda fió
de mí Arnao, y sola a ti reseruó
para sí: por tanto señora, no
puedo hazer esa tu voluntad; y él
luego se fue que hasta oy no
pareçio; y como ella se sintio
menospreçiada y que se yua
Alberto huyendo dexando la capa
en las manos començo a dar
grandes bozes llamandome a mi
porque viesse o de quién solia yo
confiar; y como del retrete salí, y
conoçio que de todo auia yo sido
testigo, de empacho y afrenta
enmudeçio, y subitamente de ay a
pequeño rato murio; y como tengo
hecha bastante esperiençia de
quién me tengo de fiar, pues
mucho más le deuo yo a él que él
a mí, sin comparación, pues si yo
le guardé a él la vida, él a mí la
honrra que es mucho más, agora,
justissimo monarca, yo te
demando que me condenes por
su deudor y obligado a que
perpetuamente le aya yo a él de
seruir: que yo me constituyo por
su perpetuo seruidor[637]; y si
dixere que por auerle yo dado la
vida en la tempestad me haze
graçia de la libertad, a lo menos
neçesitale a que por ese mesmo
respeto me tenga en la vida
compañia, pues por su causa
perdí la de mi muger; y diziendo
esto Arnao calló esperando la
sentençia del juez. Pues como yo
entendi por la proposiçion de
Arnao que auia estado presente a
lo que con su Beatriz passé, y
que yo no tenia neçesidad de me
desculpar, porque esto era lo que
más lastimado y encogido tenia
mi coraçon hasta aqui, luego alçé
mi cabeça y lançé mis ojos en
Arnao, y con ellos le agradeçí el
reconoçimiento que tenia de mi
fidelidad, y aguardé con mucha
humildad y mansedumbre la
sentençia del juez, esperando que
sobre el seguro que yo tenia de
Arnao, y con el que él auia
mostrado de mi, ningun daño me
podia suçeder; y ansi todos
quantos al rededor estauan se
alegraron mucho quando oyeron
a Arnao y entendieron dél su
buena intinçion, y que no
pretendia en su acusaçion sino
asegurarme para nuestra amistad
y que fuesse confirmada y
corroborada por sentençia de
juez, y ansi todos con gran rumor
encareçian vnos con otros la
amistad y fe de Arnao y se
ofreçian por mi que no apelaria de
ningun mandado del juez, pues
me era notorio el seguro de mi
amigo Arnao; y haziendo callar el
gouernador la gente se boluio
para mí y me dixo. Di tú, Alberto
¿qué dizes a esto que contra ti se
propone? ¿Es verdad?
Respondi yo: señor, todo quanto
Arnao ha dicho todo es conforme
a verdad, y no auia otra cosa que
yo pudiesse alegar para en
defensa de mi persona si alguna
culpa se me pudiera imponer sino
lo que Arnao ha propuesto:
porque hasta agora no padeçia yo
otra confusion sino no saber
cómo le pudiera yo persuadir la
verdad. Lo qual de oy mas no
tengo porque trabajar pues Arnao
estuuo presente a lo que passé
con su muger. Por lo qual tú,
señor, puedes agora mandar, que
a mi no me resta sino obedeçer.
Luego dixo el juez: por çierto yo
estoy marauillado de tan
admirable amistad; en tanta
manera que me pareçe que
podeis quedar por exemplo de
buenos amigos para los siglos
venideros y ansi pues estais
conformes y çiertos ser en
vosotros vna sola y firme
voluntad, justa cosa es segun mi
pareçer que sea puesto Alberto
en su libertad, y mando por mi
sentençia que le sea dado por
compañero perpetuo a[638] Arnao
en premio de su sancto y vnico
amor; y ansi me fueron luego
quitados los hierros y me vino
Arnao a abraçar dando graçias a
Dios pues me auia podido auer,
con protestaçion de nunca me
desamparar, y ansi nos fuemos
juntos a Paris perseuerando
siempre en nuestra amistad
mientra la vida nos duró.
Miçilo.—Por çierto, gallo,
admirable amigo te fue Arnao
quando te libró del mar pospuesto
el gran peligro a que las
soberuias hondas amenaçaban.
Pero mucho mayor sin
comparaçion me pareçe auerlo tú
sido a él, quando ofreçida la
oportunidad de goçar de su
graçiosa muger, por guardarle su
honrra con tanto peligro de tu vida
la huyste. Porque no ay animal
tan indignado y arriscado como la
muger si es menospreçiada
quando de su voluntad ofreçe al
varon su apetito y deleyte, y ansi
conuierte todo su amor en
verdadero odio deseando mil
muertes al que antes amó como a
sí; como hizo la muger de Putifar
a Joseph.
Gallo.—Çiertamente no teneis
agora entre vosotros semejantes
amigos en el mundo; porque
agora no ay quien tenga fe ni
lealtad con otro sino por grande
interese proprio y avn con este se
esfuerça hasta el peligro; el qual
como se ofreçe buelue las
espaldas; ya no hay de quién se
pueda fiar la vida, muger, honrra,
hazienda ni cosa que inporte
mucho menos.
Miçilo.—No hay sino amigos
para los plazeres, combites,
juegos, burlas, donayres y viçios.
Pero si se os ofreçe vna
neçesidad antes vurlarán de vos,
y os injuriarán que os sacaran
della. Como me contauan este dia
passado de vn Durango hombre
muy agudo y industrioso, que en
la uniuersidad de Alcala auia
hecho vna vurla a vn Hieronimo
su compañero de camara, que se
fió del ofreçiendose de le sacar de
vna afrenta y metiole en mayor; y
fue que siendo ambos
compañeros de camara y letras,
suçedió que vn dia vinieron a
visitar a Hieronimo vnos parientes
suyos de su tierra, y fue a tiempo
que el pobre mançebo no tenia
dineros, como aconteçe muchas
vezes a los estudiantes;
prinçipalmente si son passados
algunos dias que no les vino el
recuero que les suele traer la
prouision. Y porque los quisiera
combidar en su posada estaua el
más afrontado y triste hombre del
mundo. Y como Durango su
compañero le preguntó la causa
de su afliçion como doliendose
della, él le començó a consolar y
esforçar prometiendole el
remedio, y ansi le dixo: no te
aflixas, Hieronimo, por eso, antes
ve esta noche al meson y
combidalos que vengan mañana
a comer contigo, que yo proueere
de los dineros neçesarios entre
mis amigos; y el buen Hieronimo
confiandose de la palabra de su
compañero hizo lo que le mandó;
y ansi los huespedes aceptaron, y
el dia siguiente se leuantó
Durango sin algun cuydado de lo
prometido a Hieronimo y se fue a
su liçion y no boluio a la possada
hasta mediodia. Donde halló
renegando a Hieronimo de su[639]
descuydo que auia tenido; y el no
respondió otra cosa sino que no
auia podido hallar dineros entre
todos sus amigos; que el auia
hecho todo su poder; y estando
ellos en esta porfia llamaron a la
puerta los combidados, de lo qual
reçibio Hieronimo gran turbaçion
vuscando dónde poder huyr
aquella afrenta; y luego acudio
Durango por dar conclusion a la
vurla por entero diziendole que se
lançasse debajo de vna cama que
estaua alli, y que él los despideria
lo mejor que pudiesse cunpliendo
con su honrra; y ansi con la
turbacion que Hieronimo tenía le
obedecio, y los huespedes
subieron preguntando por
Hieronimo, los quales Durango
respondio: señores, él deseó
mucho combidaros a comer
avnque no tenia dineros,
pensando hallarlos entre [640] sus
amigos, y auiendolos vuscado,
como no los halló, de pura
verguença se ha lançado debajo
de esta cama por no os ver; y
ansi diziendo esto se llegó para la
cama alçando la ropa que
colgaua y le començo á
importunar con grandes vozes a
Hieronimo que saliesse, y el
pobre salio con la mayor afrenta
que nunca hombre reçibio, lleno
de pajas, flueco, heno y pluma y
tierra, y por ver reyr a todos[641],
quiso de afrenta matar a su
conpañero[642] si no le huyera.
Por lo cual los huespedes le
lleuaron consigo a su meson y
enbiaron luego por de comer para
todos, y trabajaron por le sosegar
quanto pudieron.
Gallo.—Desos amigos ay el dia
de hoy; que antes mofarán y
vurlarán de vos en vuestra
neçesidad que procurarán
remediarla.
Miçilo.—Por çierto tú dices
verdad, que en estos tiempos no
ay mejores amigos entre nosotros
que estos; mas antes muy
peores. Agora te ruego me digas,
¿en qué suçediste despues?
Gallo.—Despues te hago saber
que vine a naçer en la ciudad de
Mexico de vna india natural de la
tierra, en la qual me engendró un
soldado de la compañia de Cortés
marques del Valle, y luego en
naciendo me suçedio morir.
Miçilo.—Desdichado fueste en
luego padeçer la muerte; y
tanbien por no poder gozar de los
tesoros y riquezas que vienen de
allá.
Gallo.—¡O Miçilo! quan
engañado estás. De contraria
opinion fueron los griegos, que
fueron tenidos por los mas sabios
de aquellos tiempos; que dezian
que era mucho mejor, o nunca
naçer, o en naçiendo morir; yo no
sé porque te aplaze mas el viuir;
prinçipalmente vna vida tan
miserable como la que tienes tú.
Miçilo.—Yo no digo que es
miseria el morir sino por el dolor y
pena grande que la muerte da; y
ansi tengo lastima de ti porque
tantas vezes padeçiste este
terrible dolor, y ansi deseaua
mucho saber de ti por ser tan
esperimentado en el morir: ¿en
qué esta su terribilidad? Qverria
que me dixesses, qué ay en la
muerte que temer? Qué cosa es?
En qué está? Quién la siente?
Qué es en ella lo que da dolor?
Gallo.—Mira, Miçilo, que en
muchas cosas te engañas; y en
esa mucho mas.
Miçilo.—Pues ¿qué dicesmuerte
no da dolor?
Gallo.—Eso mesmo digo: lo qual
si atento estás façilmente te lo
probaré; y porque es venido el dia
dexalo para el canto que se
siguirá.

Fin del deçimo canto del Gallo.

 NOTAS:
[618] G., tenia.
[619] (Tachado): Siguesse el deçimo canto del Sueño o Gallo de
Luciano, famoso orador griego, contrahecho en el castellano por
el mesmo auctor.
[620] G., generoso.
[621] G., y ansi.
[622] G., pereçieron.
[623] G., los.
[624] G., los miserables.
[625] G., los.
[626] G., la.
[627] G., corrupçion.
[628] G., siendo nuestro mas prinçipal mantenimiento solo pan de
çeuada o çenteno.
[629] G., del Emperador.
[630] G., la çiudad.
[631] G., y demandole que.
[632] G., se.
[633] G., respondieron.
[634] G., començose a murmurar de entre la gente que
acompañaua la justiçia.
[635] G., faltar.
[636] G., en mi honrra y satisfecho en mi justiçia y voluntad.
[637] G., deudor.
[638] G., de.
[639] G., por el.
[640] G., en.
[641] y como fuesse la risa de todos tan grande.
[642] G., Durango.
 ARGUMENTO
DEL HONZENO
CANTO[643].

En el honzeno canto que se sigue

el auctor imitando a Luçiano
en el libro que intituló de Luctu
habla de la superfluidad y
vanidad que entre los
cristianos se vsa en la muerte,
entierro y sepoltura.
Descriuesse el entierro del
marques del Gasto, Capitan
general del Emperador en la
Ytalia; cosa de muy
de notar[644].

Miçilo.—Ya estoy, Gallo, a punto

aguardando para te oyr lo que me
prometiste en el canto passado:
por tanto comiença tú a dezir, y yo
a trabajar, y confia de mi atençion.
Gallo.—Por çierto no tengo yo,
Miçilo, menos voluntad de te
conplazer que tú de oyr; y ansi
porque tengamos tiempo para
todo vengamos a lo que me
demandaste ayer. Que me
pediste te dixesse como honbre
experimentado algo de la muerte,
pues por esperiençia tanto puedo
yo dezir; y ansi ante todas cosas
quiero que tengas por aueriguado
esta conclusion; que en la muerte
no ay qué temer.
Miçilo.—Pues ¿porqué la huyen
todos?
Gallo.—Porque toda cosa criada
se desea conseruar, y ansi
procura resistir su corruçion.
Miçilo.—¿Qué, no ay dolor en la
muerte?
Gallo.—No en verdad. Quiero
que lo veas claro, y para esto
quiero que sepas que no es otra
cosa muerte sino apartamiento
del anima y cuerpo: el qual se
haze en un breue punto, que es
como solemos dezir, en vn abrir y
çerrar de ojo. Avn es mucho
menos lo que llaman los
philosophos instante: lo qual tú no
puedes entender. Esto
presupuesto quiero te preguntar;
¿quándo piensas que la muerte
puede dar dolor? No dirás que le
da antes que el alma se aparte
del cuerpo; porque entonçes la
muerte no es; y lo que no es no
puede dar dolor. Pues tanpoco
creo que dirás que la muerte da
dolor despues de apartada el
alma del cuerpo; porque,
entonçes no ay subjeto que
pueda el dolor sentir; porque
entonçes el cuerpo muerto no
puede sentir dolor; ni el alma
apartada tiene ya porqué se doler.
Pues muy menos dirás que en
aquel punto que se aparta el alma
del cuerpo se causa el gran dolor;
porque en vn breue punto no se
puede causar tan terrible dolor, ni
se puede mucho sentir, ni mucho
puede penar. Quanto más que
esto que digo que es muerte, no
es otra cosa sino careçer del alma
que es la vida; y careçer (que los
philosophos llaman pribaçion) no
es cosa que tiene ser; es nada;
pues lo que nada es y no tiene
ser ¿cómo puede causar dolor?
Ansi que claro está si bien quieres
mirar, que la muerte no tiene qué
temer, pues solo se auia de temer
el dolor; el qual ves que no ay
quien le pueda entonçes causar; y
ansi de mí te sé dezir, como aquel
que habla bien por esperiençia,
que nunca la muerte me dio dolor;
ni nunca yo la sentí. Pero con
todo esto quiero que notes que ay
dos maneras de muerte: vna es
violenta; que estando sano y
bueno el hombre, por fuerça o
caso, o por violençia se la dan.
Como si por justiçia degollassen,
o ahorcassen vn honbre. Desta tal
muerte bien se podra dezir que el
que la padeçe sienta algun dolor;
porque como el paçiente está
sano y tenga todos los sentidos
sanos y enteros es ansi que al
passar del cuchillo por la
garganta, o al apretar de la soga
en aquel punto que sale el alma
por causa de la herida se le dé
pena; y no qualquiera pena, pero
la mayor que en esta vida vn
honbre pueda padeçer y sentir,
pues es tan grande que le
baste[645] matar. Pero ay otra
manera de muerte que llamamos
natural, la qual viene al honbre
por alguna larga enfermedad y
indispusiçion, o por la vltima
vejez. Esta tal çiertamente no da
dolor; porque como el enfermo se
va llegando a la muerte vansele
suçesiuamente entorpeçiendo los
sentidos y mortificandosele todos,
de manera que quando viene a
salirsele el alma ya no ay sentido
que pueda sentir la partida si
algun dolor vsasse[646] causar.
Que de otra manera ¿quien
dubda sino que el honbre haria al
tienpo del morir gestos, meneos y
visajes en que mostrasse
naturaleza que le diesse alguna
pena y dolor la muerte? Mas
antes has de tener[647] por
verdad, que ansi como en las
cosas que os perteneçen y
conuienen de parte de vuestra
naturaleza no se reçibe ninguna
pena ni trabajo al tienpo que las
effectuamos[648], mas antes todos
los animales nos holgamos y nos
plaze ponerlas en obra y exerçiçio
porque naturaleza nos dio
potençias y organos y
instrumentos conque sin
pesadunbre alguna las
pudiessemos exerçitar. Pues
desta mesma manera como la
muerte nos sea a todos los
honbres cosa natural, quiero
dezir, que los[649] conuiene de
parte de su[650] naturaleza;
porque todos los honbres y
animales nacieron mortales y[651],
no se les puede excusar, ansi
deues presumir, y avn creer, que
la muerte natural no solamente no
causa dolor, pero avn consuela y
reçibe el alma gran plazer en se
libertar y salir desta carçel del
cuerpo y yr a vibir mejor vida.
Porque la verdad este morir no es
acabar sino passar desta vida a
otra mejor, y de aqui viene a los
honbres todo su mal y dolor al
tiempo del morir, por careçer de fe
con que deuen creer que esto es
verdad. Porque aquellos
bienauenturados[652] martires que
con tanto regoçijo se ofreçian a la
muerte ¿de dónde piensas que