Soc 319: Sociological
Approaches to Social
Psychology
Deviance & Labelling Theory
Tuesday April 28 and Thursday April 30, 2009
I. What is Deviance
A. Deviant behavior is behavior that violates the norms that apply
in a given situation.
1. Two different views of deviance exist:
a. Absolutist view of deviance
b. Culturally relative view of deviance.
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i. Symbolic interactionists believe that deviance is socially
constructed or culturally relative.
2. Where do these behavioral norms come from?
a. “Local” and group norms.
b. Subcultural norms are norms that apply to large
numbers of individuals who share a given characteristic.
c. Societal norms are the broad norms that are widely
adhered to in a given society.
A. Anomie theory (Robert Merton)
1. Robert Merton argues that anomie is a discrepancy
between socially engendered goals and the
availability of legitimate means to achieve those
goals.
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a. Legitimate means refers to the socially acceptable
pathways for reaching a social acceptable goal.
b. See chart of Merton’s typology.
c. Merton’s typology emphasizes the different
adaptations that people may make to the socially
structured contradiction between cultural goals and
means of attaining goals.
d. Strengths of anomie theory
 It takes blame off of individual for deviant behavior,
and recognizes that unfair distribution of resources is
associated with deviant behavior.
Merton’s anomie/strain theory
Incarceration rates by ethnicity
B. Control theory (Hirschi)
 1. The premise of control theory is that social
ties or “social bonding” influence our
tendency to engage in deviant behavior.
 2. Social bonding has both inner and outer
dimensions.
 3. The inner dimension of social bonding is
characterized by socialization into a set of
conventional beliefs about how one should
act.
B. Control theory (Hirschi) cont’d
 4. Outer dimensions of social bonding may also
operate as controls against deviant behavior.
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a. Attachment - This refers to the strength of a person’s
ties to others, particularly to other persons who
conform to society’s normative standard.
b. Commitment. This refers to the degree to which a
person is tied to conventional ways of behaving by
virtue of the social rewards one obtains from acting in
accordance with prevailing norms.
c. Involvement - This refers to the proportion of a
person’s time engaged in the pursuit of conventionality.
 5. Empirical assessments. Sampson and Laub’s
(1990) longitudinal study of 1,000 white males from
childhood to age 32.
Age-Crime Curve
C. Differential Association
 1. Argument: We learn deviant behavior the
same way we learn conventional behavior.
The extent to which we learn the behavior of
others depends upon:
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a. the point in the life course when we interact
with the group. Associations earlier in life are
more important.
b. the degree to which we are emotionally
attached to the group
c. we have more frequent and longer
associations with group members
Recidivism, based on 15-state study
III. Labeling Theory
A. What is labeling theory?
1. Labeling theory suggests that deviants are those people who have
been successfully labeled as such by others.
2. Example: the power of a label – Rosenhan’s “on being sane in
insane places” study.
B. What is the labeling process?
1. The first step is “primary deviance” or the behavior that initially
evokes the deviant identity. It is the initial act of “rule breaking.”
2. Simply applying the label of “deviant” to an individual may evoke in
others a schema of beliefs about how the labeled person will behave.
This process is referred to as secondary deviance.
3. Confirmation of the label:
a. Others create a setting whereby the label is confirmed.
b. The deviant’s may change due to their new stigmatized social
status.
c. The deviant might join a deviant subculture.
Labeling Theory (cont’d)
IV. Differential reactions to “rule breaking” or deviance
A. Whether or not this act is labeled as deviant often
depends on the characteristics of the actor, the
observer, and the context in which the behavior
occurs.
1. Perceptual bias of control agents.
a. Example: William Chambliss’ “Saints and
“Roughnecks” study
B. Implications
1. Uniform Crime Reports
2. Race, class and arrests
Not all crimes are reported. Few lead to
arrest. What factor account for
discrepancies?