Deviant Behavior and
Social Control
Defining Normal and Deviant Behavior:
Moral code:
Moral Code of a culture can be define as the symbolic system in terms of which
behavior takes on the quality of being “good” or “bad,” “right” or “wrong.”
Normal Behavior:
“ It is the behavior that conform to the rules or norms of the group in which it occurs”.
Deviant Behavior:
“It is behavior that fails to conform to the rules or norms of the group”.
E.g. Watching television is normal behavior for most Americans, but it would be seen as
deviant behavior among the Amish.
- When we try to assess an act as being normal or deviant, we must identify the group by whose
terms the behavior is judged.
Making Moral Judgements:
•
Social scientists recognize that normal and deviant behavior can vary greatly and that no science
can determine what acts are inherently deviant, certain acts are almost universally accepted
as being deviant.
i) For example, parent– child incest is severely disapproved of in nearly every society.
ii) Genocide, the willful killing of specific groups of people—as occurred in the Nazi extermination
Camps during World War II—also is considered wrong even if it is sanctioned by a government
or an entire society.
Functions of Deviance:
Functions of Deviance are as below:
1)
Causes the group’s members to close ranks.
2)
Prompts the group to organize to limit future deviant acts.
3)
Helps clarify for the group what it really does believe in.
4)
Teaches normal behavior by providing examples of rule violation.
5)
In some situations, tolerance of deviant behavior acts as a safety valve and actually
prevents more serious instances of nonconformity.
Dysfunctions of Deviance:
Deviance has a number of dysfunctions as well:
(1) It is a threat to the social order because it makes social life difficult and unpredictable.
(2) It causes confusion about the norms and values of a society. People become confused
about what is expected and what is right and wrong. The different social standards
compete with one another, causing tension among the different segments of society.
Continued…
(3) It undermines trust. Social relationships are based on the premise that people will
behave according to certain rules of conduct. When people’s actions become
unpredictable, the social order is thrown into disarray.
(4) Deviance also diverts valuable resources. To control widespread deviance, vast
resources must be shifted from other social needs.
Mechanisms of Social Control:
In any society or social group, it is necessary to have mechanisms of social
control or ways of directing or influencing members’ behavior to conform to
the group’s values and norms. Sociologists distinguish between
internal and external means of control.
1)
Internal Means of Control
2)
External Means of Control - Sanctions
Continued…
Internal Means of Control:
•
People are socialized to accept the norms and values of their culture,
especially in the smaller and more personally important social groups to
which they belong such as the family.
•
The word accept is important here. Individuals conform to moral standards
not just because they know what they are but also because they have
internalized these standards. They experience discomfort, often in the
form of guilt, when they violate these norms.
•
In other words, for a group’s moral code to work properly, it must be
internalized and become part of each individual’s emotional life as well as
of his or her thought processes.
Continued…
External Means of Control:
External means of control:
“It consist of other people’s responses to a
person’s behavior—that is, rewards and punishments”.
- They include social forces external to the individual that channel behavior
toward the culture’s norms and values”.
Continued….
“Sanctions are rewards and penalties that a group’s members use to
regulate an individual’s behavior”.
- Thus, all external means of control use sanctions of one kind or another.
“Actions that encourage the individual to continue acting in a certain way
are called Positive Sanctions”.
“Actions that discourage the repetition or continuation of the behavior
are called Negative Sanctions”.
Continued…
Positive and Negative Sanctions:
•
When society applies a positive sanction, it is a sign that social controls
are successful—the desired behavior has occurred and is being rewarded.
When a negative sanction is applied, it is due to the failure of social
controls—the undesired behavior has not been prevented.
•
Both positive and negative sanctions work only to the degree that people
can be reasonably sure they actually will occur as a consequence of a
given act. In other words, sanctions work on people’s expectations.
Whenever such expectations are not met, sanctions lose their ability to
mold social conformity.
Continued…
Formal and Informal Sanctions:
Formal sanctions are applied in a public ritual, as in the awarding of a
prize or an announcement of expulsion, and are usually under the direct or
indirect control of authorities. For example, to enforce certain standards
of behavior and protect members of society, our society creates laws. Behavior
that violates these laws can be punished through formal negative sanctions.
Informal sanctions are rules or norms that are 'unwritten' and not enforced
by an official authority.
For Example,
- A boycott against a business is a type of informal sanction.
- Gossip is an informal sanction that is used universally.
- In teenage peer groups, ridicule is a powerful, informal, negative sanction.
Continued…
Codification of Sanctions:
1. Informal positive sanctions are displays people use spontaneously
to express their approval of another’s behavior. Smiles, pats on the back,
handshakes, congratulations, and hugs are informal positive sanctions.
2. Informal negative sanctions are spontaneous displays of disapproval
or displeasure such as frowns, damaging gossip, or impolite treatment
directed toward the violator of a group norm.
Continued…
3. Formal positive sanctions are public affairs, rituals, or ceremonies
that express social approval of a person’s behavior. These occasions are
planned and organized. In our society, they include such events as parades
that take place after a team wins the World Series or the Super Bowl, the
Presentation of awards or degrees, and public declarations of respect or
appreciation (banquets, for example). Awards of money are a form of
formal positive sanctions.
4. Formal negative sanctions are actions that express institutionalized
disapproval of a person’s behavior. They usually are applied within the context
of a society’s formal organizations—schools, corporations, or the legal system,
for example—and include expulsion, dismissal, fines, and imprisonment.
They flow directly from decisions made by a person or agency of authority,
and frequently, specialized agencies or personnel (such as a board of directors,
a government agency, or a police force) enforce them.
Continued…
Positive
Informal
Formal
Negative
1.
Informal Positive:
Smiles, pats on
back and so on.
2.
Informal
Negative: frowns,
avoidance and
so on.
3.
Formal Positive:
awards,
testimonials and
so on.
4.
Formal Negative:
legal sanctions
and so on.
Figure. Codification of Social Sanctions
Thank You