CHAPTER IV

DEVIANCE

What is deviance?

 Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms (Macionis, 2003).

 One familiar type of deviance is crime, which is the violation of the written norms or
laws of society.
 Deviance is a broad concept compassing a wide range of acts of nonconformity from
outrageous hair styles, picking one’s nose in public is murder.
 According to Maciones (2003), not all deviance involves action or even choice. Most of
us occupy status or engage in behaviors that could be regarded by others as deviant
(Newman, 2000).

Positive and Negative Deviance.

 Negative deviance involves behavior that fails to meet accepted norms (Shepard and
Greene, 2001).
 Negative deviance occurs when people either reject the norms, misinterpret the norms, or
are unaware of the norms.

Positive Deviance

 According to Shepard and Greene (2001), positive deviants idealize group norms can be as
disruptive and hard to manage as negative deviants.
 Norms regarding personal appearance as portrayed in the mass media idealize slim and lean
bodies.
 Negative deviants will miss the mark by becoming obese, while positive deviants may suffer
from anorexia.

The relativity of Deviance.

 The determination of which behavior or characteristics is deviant and which normal is

complex (Newman, 2000). It is not possible to neatly divide the society into “normal” and
the “deviants”.
 Howard Becker (1966 in Henslin, 2001) wrote that it is not the act itself, but rather the
reactions to the act that make something deviant.

1. Suicide is considered honorable in some cultures.

2. In tradition to Japanese societies, hara-kiri (a ritual of disembowelment) was considered to be the

proper course for disgraced noblemen or defeated military leaders.

3. Among European royalties, it is incestuous to marry one’s siblings, however, this was the pactice
of the Egyptian royalty.
What makes an act deviant then depends on who commits and who labels it: and where and when it
occurs.

 Audience relativity. Deviance is socially created by the collection of human judgments and
ideas. The judgment of what is good or bad, normal or deviant depends on the observer
who witnesses and evaluate the act. Like beauty deviance is in the eye of the beholder
(Newman, 2000).
 Actor relativity. Evaluations of behavior by an audience can be altered depending on who is
doing the act. Different positions, characteristics and groups bring forth different
expectations and hence, different conceptions as to what it constitute deviant behaviors.
 Situational relativity. Immediate situational circumstances can also influence definition of
deviance (Newman, 2000). “Why it is committed?” can also be alter audience’s reactions
and evaluations of the behavior.

Elements of Deviance

 Expectation- a behavioral expectation must exist, a norm that defines appropriate,

acceptable behavior, ideas or characteristics.
 Violation- deviance implies some violation of normative expectations, whether these
violations are real or alleged.
 Reaction- an individual, group or society must react to deviance. The reaction may be in the
form of avoidance, criticisms, and warnings, punishments or treatment.

Social control

The set of means of ensuring that people generally behave in expected and approved ways.

Two types of Social Control:

 Internal social control. Lies within the individual that developed during the socialization
process.
 External social control. Is based on social sanctions, or the system of rewards and
punishments designed to encourage desired behavior.

Explanations of deviance

 Biological deviance. Assumptions that human behavior is determined and human beings
lack free will became popular. Crimes were seen not as result of irrational individuals self-
interest but rather because of certain pathological defects in these individuals. Criminals ae
physically different from noncriminals (Farley, 1990).
 Psychological explanations. Psychologists focused on the personality of the individuals in
explaining deviance. They viewed deviance as a result of unsuccessful socialization.
 Societal explanations. Sociologist explains deviance as a result of societal processes and
structure rather than individual anatomies or psychologies.
 Functionalism and deviance. Functionalism looks at the negative and positive consequences
of deviance in the society.
 According to Emile Durkheim, (1901 in Ferrante), deviance is functional for the society for at
least two reasons.
1. The ritual of punishment (exposing wrong doings, determining the punishment, and
carrying it out) is an emotional experience that binds members of the group to gather and
establishes a sense of community.
2. Deviance is functional because it is useful in making necessary changes and in preparing
people for change (Ferrante, 1995). Deviants may force a group to rethink and redefine its
moral boundaries.
 Anomie – introduced by Durkheim which Is the societal condition in which norms are weak,
conflicting or absent (Shepard and Greene, 2001), which became the basis for another
important theory of deviance – structural stain theory.
 Strain theory – developed by Robert Merton, explains that deviance is more likely to occur
when there is a gap between societal goals and the ability to achieve this goals through
legitimate means.
 Comformity – when people accept the goal and follow the legitimate means of achieving.
1. Innovation – occurs when people remain committed to then goal but reject legitimate
methods.
2. Ritualism – happens when a person rejects the goal of economic success yet continues to
work hard as the appropriate aim was to succeed.
 Retreatism – are those who reject and withdraw from both the goals and means of society.
3. Rebellion – creating their own currency, deliberately violating gun laws, and threatening
violent behavior against law enforcers (Shepard and Greene, 2005)
 Control Theory – this theory of Travis Hirchi that conformity to social norms depends on the
presence of strong bonds between individual and society.

Social bonds have four basic, distinct yet interrelated components: attachment, commitment,
involvement and belief.

 Attachment – refers to the ties of the individuals to their families, friends, and institutions
such as schools and churches.
 Commitment – means embracing conventional activities, and the more committed the
individuals to mainstream values and goals, they are less likely to become deviant.
 Involvement – refers to the expenditure of time and energy to conventional behavior.
 Beliefs – in commonly held values bonds the individuals to the rules of the larger society and
reinforces the legitimacy of society.

 Social conflicts and deviance. Conflict theories explain deviance as a result of power
differentials and social inequalities.
 Symbolic interactionism and deviance. Look at deviance as an outcome of social
arrangements.
 Differential association theory – according to Edwin Sutherland, deviance is transmitted
through socialization the same way as nondeviant behavior is learned.
Learning of deviance depends on three things:

1. the ratio of deviant to nondeviant individuals.

2. whether the deviant behavior is practiced by the significant others.
3. the age of exposure.

Labeling theory – this theory focuses on the social definition of behaviors, that is, deviance
occurs when individuals or groups define as deviants.

Labelling is a two-step process:

1. Primary Deviance – individual engages in isolated acts.

2. secondary Deviance – when deviance becomes a lifestyle and personal identity.

Stigma – a powerfully negative label that greatly changes a person’s self-concept and social
identity.