Chapter Eight
Deviance
John J. Macionis
10th Edition
Sociology
Created by Lori Ann Fowler
What is Deviance?
Deviance – the recognized violation of
cultural norms.
Crime – the violation of a society’s
formally enacted criminal law.
What deviant actions or attitudes have in
common is some element of difference
that causes us to regard another person
as an outsider.
Social Control
 Social control –
attempts by society to
regulate people’s thought
and behavior.
 The criminal justice
system – a formal
response by police,
courts, and prison
officials to alleged
violations of the law.
 Deviance is more than a
matter of individual
choice or personal failing.
 How a society defines
deviance depends on
how society is organized.
The Biological Context
 Caesare Lombroso proposed that criminals
could be identified by physical traits.
 William Sheldon suggested that body shape
predicted criminality.
 Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck suggested that
powerfully built sons grow up less sensitive
toward others.
 There is no conclusive evidence linking genetics
to criminality.
Personality Factors
Psychological explanations focus on
individual abnormality.
Walter Reckless and Simon Dinitz found
that “good boys” display a strong
conscience.
“Bad boys” demonstrate a weak
conscience.
The Social Foundations of Deviance
All behavior is shaped by society.
Deviance varies according to cultural
norms.
People become deviant as others define
them that way.
Both rule-making and rule-breaking
involve social power.
Structural-Functional Analysis:
Emile Durkheim
Durkheim stated there is nothing abnormal
about deviance.
Deviance affirms cultural values and
norms.
Responding to deviance clarifies moral
boundaries and promotes unity.
Deviance encourages social change.
Structural-Functional Analysis:
Robert Merton
 Merton argued that excessive deviance results
from particular social arrangements.
 The kind of deviance depends on whether a
society provides the means to achieve cultural
goals.
 The strain between our culture’s emphasis on
wealth and limited opportunity gives rise to
crime.
Deviant Subcultures
 Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin proposed that
crime results from readily accessible illegal
opportunity.
 Albert Cohen suggests that delinquency is most
pronounced in lower class youths because they
have the least opportunity to achieve.
 Walter Miller characterized delinquent
subcultures.
Labeling Theory:
Symbolic-Interaction Analysis
Labeling theory – deviance and
conformity result not so much from what
people do as from how others respond to
those actions.
Primary deviance – has little effect on a
person’s self-concept.
Secondary deviance – a person begins
to take on a deviant identity.
The Medicalization of Deviance
The growing influence of psychiatry and
medicine in the United States has
influenced definitions of deviance.
The medicalization of deviance – the
transformation of moral and legal deviance
into a medical condition.
The Medicalization of Deviance:
Sutherland and Hirschi
 Sutherland’s Theory
A person’s tendency
toward deviance
depends on the amount
of contact with other
deviants they may
have.
 Hirschi’s Theory
Social control depends
on imagining the
consequences of one’s
behavior.
Deviance and Inequality:
Social-Conflict Analysis
Deviance reflects social inequality.
People we commonly consider deviants
share the trait of powerlessness.
The norms of any society generally reflect
the interests of the rich and the powerful.
People who threaten the wealthy are
defined as thieves or radicals.
Deviance and Inequality:
Steven Spitzer
Spitzer argues that deviant labels are
applied to people who interfere with the
operation of capitalism.
People who threaten the property of others
are labeled as deviant.
People who cannot or will not work risk
being labeled deviant.
Deviance and Capitalism
 White-collar crime –
committed by people
of high social position
in the course of their
occupation.
 Corporate crime –
the illegal actions of a
corporation or people
acting on its behalf.
 Organized crime – a
business supplying
illegal goods or
services.
Table 8-1
Sociological Explanations of
Deviance: A Summary
Deviance and Social Diversity
 Racial and ethnic hostility motivate hate crimes.
 Hate crime – a criminal act against a person or
person’s property by an offender motivated by
racial or other bias.
 Gender is an important variable affecting deviant
labeling as well.
 Men often escape direct responsibility for actions
that victimize women.
Crime
 Crime consists of the
act itself, and the
criminal intent.
 Crimes against the
person – direct
violence or the threat
of violence against
others.
 Victimless crimes –
there are no readily
apparent victims.
 The crime rate is two
to four times higher
than what official
reports indicate.
FIGURE 8-2
Crime Rates in the United States, 1960-2001
The Criminal Justice System
 The criminal justice system is society’s formal
system of social control.
 The police serve as the primary point of contact
between the population and the system.
 Ninety percent of criminal cases are resolved
prior to court appearance through plea
bargaining.
 The oldest justification for punishment is the
public’s craving for revenge.
Table 8-2
Four Justifications for Punishment
A Summary