DEVIANCE

VALUESbeliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or bad and desirable or undesirable.

DEVIANCE•Any significant departure from what is considered “normal” or normative.•behavior that departs from the norm; i.e. departs from whatever standard is typical within a given situation or in Society as a whole.

DEVIANCE IS RELATIVE

•Deviance may vary in time and place

•What is deviant for one group may be acceptable to another group

DEVIANCE IS RELATIVE

•Deviant behavior may be tolerated, approved, or disapproved. Modern societies encourage some amount of deviation which moves in the direction of the ideal pattern of behavior.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IN DETERMINING IF A CERTAIN TYPE OF BEHAVIOR IS DEVIANT

OR NOT

•Which norms are violated?•Who violate them?•Members of the upper class or lower class?•How visible is the deviation?

Basically, what is considered deviant depends on how others, who are socially significant in power and influence, define act

•The degree of deviation depends on its variations from the norms and the value placed on the norm

EXPLANATION FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

THEORIES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

SOCIAL PATHOLOGY

explains that deviant behavior is caused by actual physical and mental illness, malfunctions or deformities.

SOCIAL PATHOLOGY•Social pathology includes: substance abuse, violence, abuses of women and children, crime, terrorism, corruption, criminality, discrimination, isolation, stigmatization and human rights violations.•Solutions: Education, re-education, hospitalization, rehabilitation, imprisonment, capital punishment.

•Deviant behavior is a result of abberant genetic traits • Cesare Lombroso – an Italian criminologist who studied the skulls and bodies of many prisoners, reported that there are “animalistic” physical patterns found in criminals, savages and apes; that people with enormous jaws, high cheekbones, and prominent superciliary arches – are born criminals.

BIOLOGICAL THEORY

BIOLOGICAL THEORY

•Charles Goring – a British physician, who found no differences between criminals and ordinary citizens.•Witkin (1976) – found that prisoners with an XYY chromosome pattern or with an extra Y chromosome (a normal man has an XY chromosome pattern) might predispose themselves to deviance.

BIOLOGICAL THEORY•Danish study – the researchers speculated that men with an extra Y chromosome are less intelligent and easier for the police to catch.

Solutions: Education, re-education, hospitalization, rehabilitation, imprisonment, capital punishment, and behavior modification.

•Deviant behavior is brought about by inner conflicts or by the inability to control one’s inner impulses or failure to structure one’s behavior in an orderly way•Solutions: Psychiatry, psychological counseling, hospitalization, and rehabilitation; shock therapy.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

• believes that deviant behavior as caused by the breakdown of norms, laws, mores, and other important values of society.

Solutions: Modification or rehabilitation in the part of the system which suffers from disorganization.

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

•there are ecological factors that lead to high rates of crime in these communities, and these factors linked to constantly elevated levels of "high school dropouts, unemployment, deteriorating infrastructures, and single-parent homes" (Gaines and Miller).

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

•The theory is not intended to apply to all types of crime, but instead to street crime at the neighborhood level. The theory has not been used to explain organized crime, corporate crime, or deviant behavior that takes place outside neighborhood settings.

LABELING THEORY•Society’s labeling on behaviors as deviant causes deviant behavior. Behaviors are labeled or tagged as proper or improper, moral or immoral, good or bad. Behaviors which transgress the social norms and values are labeled or socially defined deviant; they are, in turn, sanctioned by ostracism or punishment.

LABELING THEORY

• concerned with how the self-identity and behavior of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. It is associated with the concepts of self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotyping. Labeling theory holds that deviance is not inherent to an act, but instead focuses on the tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from standard cultural norms

LABELING THEORY

•Unwanted descriptors or categorizations - including terms related to deviance, disability or diagnosis of a mental disorder - may be rejected on the basis that they are merely "labels", often with attempts to adopt a more constructive language in its place.

ANOMIE THEORY OR STRUCTURAL STRESS

THEORY

– posits that deviance exists when people are denied access to accepted means to reach approved goals.

ANOMIE THEORY OR STRUCTURAL STRESS THEORY

• Durkheim – introduced the concept of “anomie” as a condition within society in which individuals find that the prevailing social norms are ill-defined, weak, or conflicting. For example, many people expect to have a job, but the economy may not provide enough jobs for everybody. Thus, a jobless job – seeker may resort to illegitimate or illegal means to achieve his goals.

Solutions: Giving access to approved goals; equal opportunity for all.

CONFLICT THEORY

– states that deviant behavior is caused by an unjust social structure where unequal distribution of wealth and power exists.

CONFLICT THEORY

•Solutions: The moderates propose more reforms in the various social institutions; the radicals advocate a sweeping transformation or a revolutionary approach, an overhaul of the existing unjust social structure in order to bring about a more or less equal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige in the new social order.

CULTURAL TRANSMISSIONS OR DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY

deviance is created through the socialization or transmission of norms within a community or group.

Solutions: Education, re-education, role models of successful people hospitalization, rehabilitation, imprisonment, fines, censures, capital punishment.

CULTURAL TRANSMISSIONS OR DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY

• is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior.•This theory focuses on how individuals learn to become criminals, but does not concern itself with why they become criminals

MERTON’S TYPES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

•Conformists: Most people are conformists. They accept the goals their society sets for them, as well as the institution-alized means of achieving them. Most people want to achieve that vague status called a “good life” and accept that an education and hard work are the best ways to get there.

MERTON’S TYPES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

•Innovators: These people accept society’s goals but reject the usual ways of achieving them. Members of organized crime, who have money but achieve their wealth via deviant means, could be considered innovators.

MERTON’S TYPES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

•Ritualists: A ritualist rejects cultural goals but still accepts the institutionalized means of achieving them. If a person who has held the same job for years has no desire for more money, responsibility, power, or status, he or she is a ritualist. This person engages in the same rituals every day but has given up hope that the efforts will yield the desired results.

MERTON’S TYPES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

•Retreatists: Retreatists reject cultural goals as well as the institutionalized means of achieving them. They are not interested in making money or advancing in a particular career, and they tend not to care about hard work or about getting an education.

MERTON’S TYPES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

•Rebels: Rebels not only reject culturally approved goals and the means of achieving them, but they replace them with their own goals. Revolutionaries are rebels in that they reject the status quo. If a revolutionary rejects capitalism or democracy, for example, he or she may attempt to replace it with his or her own form of government.

IV.TYPES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AND THE MEANS OF INDIVIDUAL ADAPTATION

1. Innovators – are those who accept culturally approved goals but disregard the institutional means to achieve them.

Examples: government officials and low-wage earners who commit graft and corruption to achieve a higher standard of living.

2. Ritualists – are those who give up cultural goals but follow the prescribed norms.

Examples: a religious fanatic; an employee who reports to work but does nothing about it.

3. Retreatists – are those who abandon both the cultural goals and the prescribed means to achieve them.

Examples: drug addicts, hippies, alcoholics.4. Rebels – are those reject both the societal goals and prescribed means to achieved them but try set up new norms or goals.

Examples: rebel soldiers; New People’s Army.