Deviance & Social Control
Dr. Kazi Shahdat Kabir
kazirimon@yahoo.com
Deviance
 deviance is violation of social control.
 It occurs when someone beaches a society’s
or group’s norms and values.
 Behavior which is unconventional or
atypical is not necessarily deviant. eg.
vegetarian
Deviance
 Deviance involves the violation of group
norms, which may or may not be formalized
into law.
 It is a comprehensive concept that includes
not only criminalized behavior but also
many action not subject to prosecution.
Deviance
 Standards of deviance vary from one group
to another. eg. Islam prohibits drinking even
mildly alcoholic beverages. In contrast
Judaism and Christianity incorporate wine
into their religious rituals.
Deviance & Social Control
 Social control refers to any and all efforts
to prevent and /or correct deviant behavior.
 The most powerful instrument of social
control is socialization.
 However, socialization is never perfect,
however, social control also operates to
enforce society's standard of living.
Deviance & Social Control
 Persons (1951) discussed three tools of
social control.
 Isolation: is designed to keep the deviant
away from their people and does not include
any attempt at rehabilitation. This is the way
prisons deal with many “hardened”
criminals.
Deviance & Social Control
 Insulation: restricts deviant’s contact with
others but does not completely remove him
or her from society. It allows deviants to
return voluntarily when they are ready to
meet society's norms. Placing person in a
mental hospital for a limited time would fall
into this category.
Deviance & Social Control
 Rehabilitation: Through Rehabilitation
deviant may be prepared to resume their
roles in a society. Many prisons have
rehabilitation programs and groups such as
Alcoholics Anonymous rehabilitate noncriminal deviants.
Deviance & Social Control
 These methods of social control can be both
informal and formal. Informal controls are
“unofficial” and tend to occur in small
groups. Formal controls are “official” and
usually involve large organizations such as
police departments.
Deviance & Social Control
 Crosbie (1975) has listed four basic types of
informal control.
 Social rewards: which include smiles, nods
of approval and more tangible acts such as
promoting an employee, reward conformity
and indirectly discourage deviance.
Deviance & Social Control
 Punishment: which includes frowns,
criticism and even physical threats, is aimed
directly at deviant acts and its intended to
stop them.
 Persuasion: is another way of bringing
deviants into line. A basketball player who
breaks training may be persuaded by coach
to shape up.
Deviance & Social Control
 Redefine norms: a more complicated kind
of social control is to redefine norms so that
what used to be considered deviant behavior
is no longer considered as such. For
instance, for a husband to stay home, do the
housework and care for the children while
his wife went to work.
Deviance & Social Control
 The agents of formal social control are the
organizations and rules that enforce
conformity. Police departments and other
law enforcement agencies, courts and
mental hospitals are organization of this
kind.
Deviance & Social Control
 The police: The first step in this process
usually consists of an encounter between a
police officer and someone who is
suspected of breaking a law. The legal
process itself begins with an ‘arrest.’ It is
fairly well established that the offender’s
age, race, social class and sex- as well as
how he or she behaves- affect police
decisions to arrest or not to arrest.
Deviance & Social Control
 The Court: After being arrested, offenders
enter the court system for the next step of
their processing. Many cases are settled out
of court and many others are settled through
a process of negotiation.
 Prisons: The usual penalty for commission
(and conviction) of a crime is a prison
sentence.
Deviance & Social Control
 They become part of new social system
with its own statuses and roles.
 Conclusion: The three stages that have been
discussed- police, courts and prisons- share
an important feature.
All the best
Thank you