Deviance Sociology

Deviance

behaviors, beliefs, or actions that violate a society's norms, rules, or expectations, which can include both formal laws and informal social conventions. Not universal; it varies across cultures, time periods, and groups, making deviance a relative and complex concept. 

Social control

Regulation and enforcement of norms, maintain social order

Sanctions

enforcing norms.

Positive Sanction 

a reward, incentive, or favorable reaction given to an individual or group for conforming to socially accepted norms or expectations

Negative Sanction

a punishment or penalty, actual or threatened, imposed on an individual or group for violating societal norms or rules, with the goal of discouraging such behavior

Informal Sanction

A reaction from individuals or groups in everyday social interactions that encourages/discourages conformity to social norms and expected behavior casually. 

Example: disapproving looks, compliments, exclusion

Formal Sanction

Official rewards or punishments for behavior that conforms to or violates established rules, laws, or norms, enforced by recognized authorities like governments, courts, or organizations.

Functionalist view on Deviance

Durkheim viewed deviance as a normal, necessary, and even beneficial aspect of society that contributes to social order and stability by reinforcing norms, promoting social cohesion, and facilitating social change.

Merton’s general strain theory

predicts that deviance is likely to happen when there is a misalignment between the cultural goals of a society (such as monetary wealth) and the opportunities people have to obtain them.

Adaptations to strain

conformity – innovation – ritualism – retreatism – rebellion

Conformity

agree with society’s goals (e.g., financial success, career achievement) and follow legitimate, socially approved methods to reach them, even if opportunities are limited.

Innovation

still aim for society’s goals but use unapproved or illegal means to achieve them. This adaptation is often linked to crime because individuals bypass legitimate channels when those channels seem blocked or insufficient.

Ritualism

abandon society’s high-value goals, such as wealth or status, but continue to follow the approved rules and routines.

(e.g, a long-term employee stays in a low-paying clerical job without seeking promotion, simply maintaining the daily work pattern without pursuing career advancement.)

Retreatism

reject both the goals society values and the legitimate ways of achieving them, effectively “dropping out” of conventional life. This often involves social withdrawal or self-destructive behaviors.

Rebellion

reject existing cultural goals and means, but go further by substituting them with new visions and strategies. They seek to change the social system, often challenging authority and existing institutions.

Social disorganization theory

explains that high crime rates result from weak social structures and a lack of social control within a community, rather than individual factors.

(e.g, high unemployment, population)

Social Control

how society ensures conformity to its norms, either informally through customs or formally through laws, to maintain order.

Self Control

an individual's ability to manage their impulses, emotions, and behaviors to resist immediate gratification and pursue long-term goals

Social Bonds

suggests that people are less likely to be deviant or criminal because they have strong social bonds that attach them to society.

Attachment

This refers to an individual's emotional connection to important people in their lives, such as family, friends, or teachers.

Commitment

This is the investment an individual makes in conventional pursuits, like education, a career, or building a family.

Involvement

This element describes participation in conventional activities, such as sports teams, community programs, schoolwork, or part-time jobs. Engaging in these activities leaves less free time for delinquency and fosters a sense of belonging and conformity. 

Belief

This is an individual's acceptance of societal norms, values, and the legitimacy of laws. People who hold these in the moral code of society are less likely to violate rules, as doing so would go against their own sense of right and wrong. 

Cultural deviance theory

posits that criminal or deviant behavior results from the adoption of norms, values, and beliefs that are contrary to mainstream culture, often forming in response to social disorganization or conflict within lower-class communities.

(e.g, conforming to lower-class norms, living in cities.)

Conflict theory

suggests that deviance arises from societal power imbalances, where dominant groups define norms and label behaviors as deviant to maintain their power and control over marginalized groups.

Bourgeois influence on government and laws

Mills theory

The power elite’s decisions affect everyone, and these rules favor those in power

Symbolic interactionism

Labeling theory, ascribing deviance to others

Thomas theorem

if people define a situation as real, it becomes real in its consequences, shaping their behaviors and actions regardless of its objective truth

Primary Deviance

no long-term effects for violations

Secondary Deviance

Violation of norms changes self-concept.

Role Engulfment

Deviant role takes over » master status (e.g, a pedophile will primarily be known as only a pedophile).

Official Label

a formal designation by institutions like courts or schools that identifies an individual as deviant, which is a violation of social norms.

Informal Label

a label applied to someone by community members or individuals in everyday social interactions, rather than by formal institutions like the police or courts

Stigma Label

a label and disapproval of a person because they do not fit the required social norms that are given in society

Social positioning

Determines labels – the powerful can resist deviant labeling.

Becker’s deviance theory

labeling theory, arguing that deviance is not an inherent quality of an act but a consequence of others' labeling that act or person as deviant

Pure

Labeled and Deviant

Secret

Not labeled and deviant

Falsely Accused

Labeled and not deviant

Conformist

Not labeled and not deviant

Differential association

explains how deviant behavior is learned through social interactions with others, particularly in close-knit groups

control theory

social bonds affect social control, deviance results from feeling disconnected from society

Moral entrepreneurs

attempt to change norms through creating public morality, generate awareness, provide danger messages, testimonials, data, and non-ambiguous cases

Moral conversion

media attention • endorsements • coalitions

moral panic

derives from successful moral entrepreneurship • exaggerated fear • folk devils

Medicalization of deviance

the process where behaviors, thoughts, or conditions previously viewed as moral failings, sins, or criminal acts are redefined as medical or psychological illnesses.

Techniques of neutralization

denial of responsibility – denial of injury – denial of victim – condemn the condemners – appeal to higher authorities

Stigma management

the strategies individuals with a discredited or discreditable identity use to cope with social stigma and "deviance," the labels society places on them for attributes that deviate from mainstream norms

Passing

types » fabrication » concealment

Revealing

signaling » normalizing » differentiating