Chapter 11

Deviance and Social Control

Content
 What is Deviance
 Functions of Deviance
 Dysfunction of Deviance
 Social Control
 Theories Explaining Deviance
 Biological theories of deviance
 Psychoanalystic theories of deviance
 Sociological Theories of Deviance
 Strain Theory of Deviance
 Conflict Theory of Deviance
 Symbolic Interaction theory
 Cultural transmission theory
 Differential Association theory
 Social learning theory
 Labelling Theory
 Reaction to Deviance
 What is Deviance
 Sociologist use the term deviance to refer to any violation of
rules and norms.
 From a sociological perspective, deviance is relative. Definition
of ;”what is deviant” vary across societies and from one group to
another within the same society.
 Symbolic interactionist stress, it is not the act, by the reactions to
the act, that make something deviant. In some cases, an
individual need not do anything to be labeled a deviant.
 He or she may be falsely accused or discredited because of a
birth defect, race or disease.
 Even crime is relative when interpreting the deviance of the
actor.
Deviance
 No culture or society has complete
behavioral conformity.
 Deviance exist in all societies.
 Deviance – variation from a set of norms
or shared social expectations
 Deviants – the people who violate these
shared expectations
 Conformity – when people follow the
norms of their social group or society
 Norms rarely state exactly what behaviors
are acceptable and which are
unacceptable
 Variations in behavior are allowed

 Deviance occurs when someone

pushes past the range of acceptable
behavior
Functions of Deviance
Durkhiem
 Deviance is a normal part of society because it
perform certain functions for society.
Functions of Deviance
Help to define the limits of social tolerance
 Shows the extent to which norms can be
violated without reaction.
 Helps to clarify the boundaries of norms.
 Public control of deviants illustrates the limits to
the general members of society.
 Increase solidarity and integration of the
group
 Deviance can increase solidarity among
group of deviants.
 Non-deviant groups can come together
to combat deviance.
 “Safety valve” for social discontent
 Allows people to escape from conventional
norms and rid themselves of frustration without
disrupting the whole social system.
 Can funnel anger in a different direction.

 Can indicate defects or inadequacies in the

existing social organization.
 Can set in motion steps that lead to social
change.
Dysfunction of Deviance
 Isolated instances of deviance have little effect on
system stability.
 Widespread, long-term or more extreme norm
violations can impair the functioning of groups or of
entire systems.
 Disrupt the social order
 Disrupt the status quo.

 Make social life unpredictable.

 Create tension and conflict.

 Disrupt the will of others to conform
 Unpunished norm violations decrease the
desire of others to conform
 Conformity only happens when

Other conform as well

Those who conform are differentiated

from those who don’t
Violators are punished
 Destroy Trust
 Social life is partly based on assuming
others are honest and trustworthy
 People become more dependant on the
legal system when trust is destroyed
 Divert resources into social
rehabilitation and control efforts.
Social Control
 Internal means of control
 People conform to norms because they believe they
should, even when no one else is present.
 People are socialized to see themselves in a certain
way.
 External means of control
 Others in the group utilize pressure or sanctions to
attempt to control an individual behavior
 Sanctions
 Rewards or punishments used to encourage proper
behavior or discourage deviant behavior
 Positive and negative sanctions

 Formal and informal sanctions

Theories Explaining Deviance
 Biological theories of deviance
 Medical model – assumes an unhealthy
biological organism
 Weakness or defects produce deviant
behavior
 Eugenics (selective breeding as
proposed human improvement)
 Doesn’t explain why others with the
same bio traits don’t become deviant
Psychoanalystic theories of deviance
 Freud – all human behavior is based on seeking pleasure
and avoiding pain.
 Id (pleasure principle), ego(reality principle), superego
( moral principle).
 Conscious –wants, needs, desires; what we are aware of.

 Preconscious – brought to the surface by a memory or

experience.
 Subconscious – repressed memories; biological desires
and urges.
Sociological Theories of Deviance
 Explained deviance by looking at the
socio-cultural processes and organization
structures
 Still consider acts and actors

 Does not dismiss biological or

psychological factors
Strain Theory
 Strucutural Functionist (Merton Strain Theory)
 Deviance arises from the struggle society
has between culturally defined goals and the
socially approved means by which they are
met.
 Deviance is the result of a strain between a
society’s culture and social structure.
 Conflict Theory
Societies contain many groups that have
different conflicting values
 Strongest group has the power to define the
values of the weaker group as deviant
 Powerful exploit the powerless

 Violence and inequality is institutionalized

 Laws are not fair

Symbolic Interaction theory
 Focus on socio cultural learning process
through which deviants acts are learned and
the conditions under which they are learned
 Emphasize the groups to which people belong
and how we learn the norms of those groups.
Cultural transmission theory
 When deviance is a part of a subcultures
cultural pattern, it is transmitted to new
members through socialization
 Deviance results not from violating norms, but
from conforming to them
Differential Association theory
 Deviance result when individuals have more contact
with groups that define deviance favorably than with
groups that define it unfavorably.
 Contact with actual criminals is not necessary.
 Exposure to favorable definitions is enough

Social learning theory

 Deviant and conforming behaviours are determined by
the consequences that follow them.
 Instrumental conditioning – behavior is acquired through
direct conditioning or imitating the modeled behavior of
others
 Differential reinforcement – persistent behaviours result
from the rewards or punishment following the behavior
Labelling Theory
 Some behaiours are labeled ‘deviant” and being
given such a lable influence as person’s
behavior
 Deviance is the result of human interaction
 Deviance is the relative act – not the result of a
specific type of act but rather the consequence
of applying a particular label.
Reaction to Deviance
 Deviance is inevitable, the larger issues
include
 Finding ways to protect people from those
form of deviance that harm them and or
others tolerating deviant behaviors that
are not harmful
 Developing system of fairer treatment for
deviants