THE ABC’s of DEVIANCE

• A = Attitudes
– Achieved statuses based upon beliefs or
convictions
• B = Behaviors
– Often Achieved statuses based on outward
actions. May also be Ascribed
• C = Conditions
– Most frequently Ascribed statuses that are
acquired from birth
 POSITIVE DEVIANCE
• Altruism – self-sacrificing (good Samaritans)
• Charisma – leaders outside of the norm who have
followers and eventually whose views are adopted
(intellectuals, shamans, military leaders, prophets)
• Innovation – creative and innovative figures that
profoundly impact the life of a culture (music, films, Ben
Franklin, Isaac Newton)
• Supra-Conformity – collective evaluations of what
behaviors “ought” to be (extreme moralists, a-students)
• Innate Characteristics – subject to environmental
conditions (movie stars, athletes, based on ascribed status)
THE PROCESS OF DEVIANCE
• Societal reaction to
deviance is a complex
social-cultural-historical
process based on shifting
definitions, organizational
interests and professional
“expertise”
• The “reaction” and the
“deviance” are a mutually
interrelated phenomenon
 REACTION PROCESS
Societal Reaction to a given event Norms

Labels as Deviant

Societal reaction to Revised More

label Norms Deviance

And it continues on
 Determination of Deviance is
Subjective/Relative
• What is deviant to one person is not
deviant to another.
• What is deviant in one society, culture, or
subculture is not deviant in others.
• What is deviant at one time may not be
deviant at other times.
• What is deviant in one context may not
be deviant in others.
 Social Control and Deviance
• When deviance rises or falls too much, society
alters its moral criteria to maintain the level of
deviance at an optimal range.
• If deviancy is too high, society will adjust its
definition of deviance, thereby normalizing the
high levels
• If deviance is too low, it will redefine behavior
that wasn’t considered deviant and give it a
negative association
 Competing explanations of
Deviance
- Biological —medicalization of
deviance, a physical illness
- Psychological —personality
disorder
- Sociological —socialization into
deviance (symbolic
interaction, functional, and
conflict perspectives)