Deviance
Crime, Punishment, and Society
Deviance
• The recognized violation of cultural norms
• Norms guide human activities – the concept of
deviance is broad
• Its more than the matter of individual choice or
personal failing.
Deviance is…
• How a society defines deviance
• Who is branded deviant
• What people decide to do about deviance
Categories of Deviance
• Crime – the violation of society's formally
enacted criminal laws
– Minor traffic violations to sexual assault to murder
Crime
Two elements:
– Act itself (or failure to act)
– Intent (willful conduct to negligence)
Types of Crime:
1. Crimes against the person
– Murder, aggravated assault. rape
2. Crimes against property
– Theft, arson, burglary
3. Victimless crimes
– Prostitution, drug use, gambling
Punishment
• Social Control – attempts by society to
regulate people’s thoughts and behavior
– Informal – parents scold/praise their child
• Criminal Justice System – a formal response
by police, courts, and prison officials to
alleged violations of the law
Response Thermometer
#1
• The US should continue to use the death
penalty.
#2
The death penalty stops criminals from
committing crimes
#3
The death penalty keeps people safe from future
crimes
3 Analyses of Deviance
• Structural-Functional Analysis
• Symbolic-Interaction Analysis
• Social-Conflict Analysis
Robert Merton
• Deviance is… a conscious
choice
• An individual who remains in
their circumstances by their
own free will instead of by
force
1. Conformity
• Individuals accept social norms and the means
to obtain them
2. Innovation
• Goals such as wealth and power are accepted
by any means possible
• Ex: insider trading for a stockbroker
3. Ritualism
• Instead of accepting the goals and rejecting the
means  a ritualistic deviant rejects the goal
but accepts the means
• Ex: hating your job but doing it
4. Retreatism
• Combo of innovative and ritualistic deviance
• Rejects both the goals of society and legitimate
means of obtaining the goals
• Ex: drug addicts, habitually unemployed
people
5. Rebellion
• Individuals that reject both the cultural means
of society and the venues for obtaining them
• Difference: they pursue alt. and seek to
replace existing cultural norms
• Ex: terrorists, gangs, revolutionaries