DEVIANCE and
SOCIAL CONTROL



Defined as an act that violates a social
norm.
Refers to any action that is perceived as
violating some widely shared moral values
or norms of a society or group culture.
Prerequisite to deviance is the violation of
standards of conduct or expectations of a
group of society.
Kinds of deviance

Positive
- develops, hones, and uplifts the
personality of the person.
Negative
- destroys, injures, jeopardizes the
personality of the person.
Some forms of deviance


Criminal and non-criminal deviance
- involves violation of criminal law.
Social definition of deviance
- involves violation of social norms.
Bio-Psychological Theories of
Deviance

According to Cesare Lombroso (18351909), considered as the Italian father of
criminology, “criminal deviants have
low cranial capacity, retreating
forehead, highly developed frontal
sinuses, tufted hair, large ears, and
relative insensibility to pain.”
1. Somotypes
- in 1940, William H. Sheldon conducted
another study related to Lombroso’s claim
that
“crime
is
biologically
determined.” He concluded that we
could predict man’s likes and dislikes by
measuring his body.
(The Varieties of Human Physique)

The theory of SOMOTYPES stated that
people’s behavior or temperament is
determined by their physique.

According to this theory there are 3
somotypes:
1. endomorphs – people who are fat,
and round, with short tapering limbs.
2. ectomorphs – people who are thin,
delicate, and bony, with small faces,
sharp noses, and fine hairs.
3. mesomorphs – people who are bigboned and muscular with large trunks,
heavy chests, and large wrists and
hands.


Temperamentally, ENDOMORPHS are
relaxed, outgoing people who like comfort
and eating.
ECTOMORPHS shrink from big crowds,
noise, and distractions and have
numerous complaints, allergies, and skin
troubles, and usually suffer from chronic,
fatigue and insomnia.

Mesomorphs
are
usually
the
troublemakers and have the greatest
chance of becoming delinquent.
- they are active, walk and talk, and often
behave aggressively.
2. Genetics
- this comprises one of the present day
criminology theories that continue to offer
a genetic explanation for the cause of
violent crime.

The theory suggests that excessive
aggression and hostility are the result of
the presence of an extra Y chromosome.
Proponents of this theory argue that there
is a disproportionate number of criminal
men with an XYY chromosomal make-up
as compared to the remaining population.
3. Pathology
- another biological explanation of
deviance today is evident in Alcoholics
Anonymous programs which, according to
Preston (1975), are based on the belief
that alcoholism is both “a physical
allergy and mental compulsion,” or
simply a physical sickness as a form of
social deviance.

According to Smith and Preston (1982),
pathology has been popular and satisfying
explanation for deviance because of two
main reasons:
1.Pathology-based
theory
is
easily
understood since everyone knows what
disease is and this is easily given
credibility.
2.Pathology removes the element of blame,
i.e., no person or institution is responsible
for deviant behavior since it is caused by
physical or emotional problem of the
individual.
4. Socio-biological theories
 In his book entitled Sociobiology:The New
Synthesis, Edward O. Wilson (1978)
conceives of sociobiology as a science with
a broad scope: entire societies. His
general assumption has been based on
the works of those applying biology in
explaining deviance behavior.


He (Wilson) assumes that human social
behavior is genetically determined to the
extent that biology defines human
learning potential.
The human mind is not blank that simply
records and assimilates experiences, but
instead, it is biologically programmed to
accept certain experiences while rejecting
others.

There
are
many
sociobiological
approaches to explain deviant behavior.
According to Charles H. McCaghy (1985),
in his book Deviant Behavior: Crime,
Conflict, and Interest Groups, the
approaches fall into one of the following
categories:
1.) Evolutionary process
- these theories are concerned with the
long-term development of specific
behaviors
over
the
course
of
generations. The most that these studies
contributed is that they sensitize us to
the manner in which biological factors
may affect behavior.
2.) Genetic Differences
- these theories are concerned with how
behavior is influenced by hereditary
factors that are mere immediate that
those formed during evolution.
- of particular interest here is the
hypothesis that certain mental disorders
often re-occur among generations of the
same family.
5. Neurophysiological differences
- these theories concern a wide range of
physiological factors that might influence
human behavior. They include:
1) hormone imbalance
2) vitamin deficiency
3) brain malfunctioning
4) any organic aspects that might
interfere with learning or behaving


It has to be noted that psychological, like
biological explanation of deviance, tend to
be
individualistic,
focusing
on
abnormalities in the individual personality.
Although some of these abnormalities are
hereditary, psychologists view most of
these as a result of socialization.
6. Psychological Causes
6.1 Psychodynamic Perspective –refers to
unfulfilled needs and unresolved
conflicts.
* Psychological deprivation –
parental-rejection, deprivation of
attention and affection due to strong
need for affiliation and social status.
* displaced aggression – direct
expression of antisocial impulses;
difficulty in impulse control.
6.2 Behavioral Perspective – refers to
the fact which states that “learning
theorists believe that a deviant
behavior is learned and reinforced;”
or the individual is conditioned to
doing it. Refers also to social
learning theory.
6.3 Cognitive Perspective – maintains
that a deviant behavior is manifested
as a result of some ideas or beliefs
that the individual has about.

Under the psychological theories, it is held
that since personality is shaped by social
experiences throughout life, deviance is
usually understood to be the result of
“unsuccessful” socialization.

Psychological explanations of deviance
downplay biological factors and emphasize
instead the role of parents and early
childhood experiences, or even behavioral
conditioning,
in
producing
deviant
behavior.

Psychological explanation of deviance
assumes that the seeds of deviance are
planted in childhood and that adult
behavior is manifestation of early
experiences rather than an expression of
on-going social or cultural factors.

Ergo, the deviant individual is viewed as a
psychologically sick person who has
experienced emotional deprivation or
damage during childhood.
Anti-Social Personality Disorder
Jethro was the leader of a teenage
street gang that was reputed to be the
most vicious in the neighborhood. He
grew up in a chaotic home atmosphere,
his mother having lived with a series of
violent men who were heavily involved in
drug dealing and prostitution. At the age
of 18, Jethro was jailed for the brutal
mugging and stabbing of an older adult
woman. This was the first time in a long
series of arrests for offenses ranging from
drug trafficking to car thefts to
counterfeiting. At one point, between jail
terms, he met a woman at a bar and
married her the next day. Two weeks
later, he beat her when she complained
about his incessant drinking and
involvement with shady characters. He left
her when she became pregnant, and he
refused to pay child support. From his
vantage point now as a drug trafficker and
leader of a child prostitution ring, Jethro
shows no regret what he has done,
claiming that life has “sure given me a
bum steer.”
Diagnostic Features

This diagnosis is assigned to adult who as
children showed evidence of conduct
disorder and who, from the age of 15,
have shown a pervasive pattern of
disregard for and violation of all the rights
of others, as indicated by three or more of
the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Repeated engagement in behaviors that
are grounds for arrest.
Deceitfulness, such as lying, using false
identities, or conning others for personal
profit or pleasure.
Impulsivity, or failure to plan ahead.
Irritability and aggressiveness, such as
repeated fights or assaults.
Reckless disregard for the safety of self or
others.
6.Consistent
irresponsibility,
such
as
repeated failure to keep a job or honor
financial obligations.
7. Lack of remorse, such as being indifferent
to or rationalizing one’s hurtful or
dishonest behavior.
7. Psychoanalytic theory
- this is based on the work of Sigmund
Freud and his followers. This theory holds
that the unconscious (the part of
individual consisting of irrational thoughts
and feelings of which he/she is not aware)
causes one to commit deviant acts.

According to Freud, our personality has three
parts:
1) ID – our irrational drives and instincts.
2) SUPEREGO – our conscience and guide
as internalized from our parents and
other authority figures.
3) EGO – the balance among the impulsiveness
of the ID, the restrictions and demands of the
superego, and the requirements of the
society.


According to psychoanalytic theory, all of
us have deviant tendency because of the
ID. But, we learn to control our behavior
because of socialization.
Most of the people are able to function
effectively according to society’s norms
and values.
8. Behavior theories
- people adjust and modify their behavior
in response to the rewards and
punishments elicited by their actions. If an
action leads to favorable outcome, one is
likely to repeat the action. If a behavior
leads to unfavorable outcomes, one is not
likely to do the same action.


According to this approach, deviant
behavior is learned by a series of trials
and errors.
One learns to be a snatcher, or a thief in
the same way the professionals learned
their profession, or the artists learn their
craft.
9. Containment theory
- Walter Reckless and Simon Dinitz (1967)
explained juvenile delinquency as
outcome of the children’s personality
traits.
- under this theory, the desire to engage
in delinquent activities can be contained if
the young individuals have developed
strong moral values and a positive selfimage in younger age.

It is held in this theory that the “good
children” seem to have a strong
conscience
(or
Sigmund
Freud’s
superego), generally coped well with
frustration, and identified positively with
cultural norms and values. Hence, they
are far from becoming deviant. This is
usually not the case among what is
described as “bad children.”
Sociological Theories of
Deviance
1. Functionalist Theory
- Emile Durkheim said that there is
nothing abnormal with deviance. He
gave four major functions of deviance:
1) Deviance affirms cultural values and
norms.
2) Responding to deviance clarifies moral
boundary.
3. Responding to deviance promotes
social unity.
4. Deviance encourages social change.
2. Strain theory
- Robert Merton claimed that American
society pushes individuals toward deviance
by overemphasizing the importance of
monetary success while failing to
emphasize the importance of using
legitimate means to achieve success.

Merton meant that those people
occupying favorable positions in the social
class structures have many legitimate
means at their disposal to achieve
success. On the other hand, those in
unfavorable positions do not have such
means.

In this case, the goal of financial success
combined with unequal access to
important environmental resources creates
deviance.

Merton gave the following types of
deviance that emerge from this strain:
(pp. 218-219)
1) Conformity – involves accepting both
the cultural goal of success and the use of
legitimate means for achieving that goal.
- conformists use positive success goal
and legitimate means.
2) Innovation – this response involves
accepting the goal of success but rejecting
the use of socially accepted means to
achieve
it,
turning
instead
to
unconventional illegitimate meas.
- The innovator resorts to deviant ways of
reaching a cultural validated goal.
3) Ritualism – occurs when people no longer
set high goals but continue to toil as
conscientious, diligent workers.
- The ritualists are people who
deemphasize or reject the importance of
success once they realize they will never
achieve it and instead concentrate on
following or enforcing these rules than
ever was intended.
4) Retreatism – this means withdrawal from
society, caring neither about success nor
about working.
- The retreatists are individuals who have
pulled back from society altogether and
who do not pursue culturally legitimate
goals.
- Examples of these are vagabonds,
outcasts, drug addicts, alcoholics, and
other similar groups.
5) Rebellion – this occurs when people reject
and attempt to change both the goals and
the means approved by society.
- The rebels try to overthrow the existing
system and establish a new system with
different goals and means.
- The rebels reject both the goals of what
to them is an unfair social order and the
institutionalized means of achieving them.
- They propose alternative societal goals
and institutions.



It has to be noted that Merton applied
Durkheim’s concept of ANOMIE by linking
deviance to certain societal imbalances.
He started with the observation that
financial success is widespread goal in
America.
The society endorses certain means to
thata goal.



Ideally, success is achieved through
obtaining an appropriate education and
hard labor.
Success gained through theft or other
dishonest activities is a violation of cultural
norms.
He argued that if people are socialized to
aspire for success and to play by the rules,
conformity should result.
3. Deviant subcultures
- There is an extension of Merton’s theory
developed by Richard Cloward and Lloyd
Ohlin (1966).
- They pointed out that criminal deviance
results when there is limited legitimate
opportunity to achieve success plus
available illegitimate opportunity.


For Cloward and Ohlin, patterns of
deviance and conformity largely reflect the
relative opportunity structure confronted
by various categories of young people.
They also said that “if an illegal (criminal)
structure is not readily available in a given
social location, a criminal subculture is not
likely to develop among adolescents.”


Furthermore, “if violence offers a primary
channel to a higher status in a community,
a greater participation by juveniles in
conflict (violence) will normally occur.”
This means that if relative opportunity
favors what Merton might call “organized
innovation,” criminal subculture is likely to
develop.

Commonly, delinquency is pronounced
among lower-class youth because they are
denied the opportunity to achieve success
in a conventional way.
4. Control theory
- An advocate of this theory is Travis
Hirschi (1969).
- He assumed that the family, school, and
other social institutions can greatly
contribute to social order by controlling
deviant tendencies in every individual.
- If such control is lacking or weak, people
will commit deviant acts.



The control theory is based on the idea
that social ties among people are
important in determining their behavior.
It asks what causes conformity, instead of
what causes deviance.
This theory hold that what causes
deviance is the absence of that which
causes conformity.


Under the control theory, conformity is a
direct result of control over the individual.
It is, therefore, the absence of social
control that causes deviance.
This means that people will be free to
violate norms and standards of society if
they lack intimate attachments of their
parents, teachers, and friends.


The absence of these attachments and the
acceptance of conventional norms usually
lead young people to violate norms since
there is no expected disapproval.
According to this theory, many people do
not commit deviant acts because of their
strong bond to society.

Hirschi suggests four ways in which
individuals become bonded to society and
the conventional behavior prevailing in it:
1) Attachment to others
2) Commitment
3) Involvement
4) Belief
5. Shaming theory
- While Hirschi emphasized how society
controls individuals through bonding,
John Braithwaite (1989), an Australian
sociologist, emphasized how society
controls people through shaming.


Shaming involves an expression of
disapproval designed to evoke remorse in
the wrongdoer.
Under this theory, there are two types of
shaming:
1) Disintegrative shaming
2) Reintegrative shaming
Conflict Perspective-Deviance
and Social Inequality

Conflict theory
- this holds the view that some laws are
used to protect and preserve the capitalist
system.
- Richard Quinney (1974) blamed unjust
laws on the capitalist system contrary to
the assumption that the law is based on
the consent of citizens, that it treats
citizens equally, and serves the best
interest of society.

According to Quinney, some criminal laws
are used by the state and the ruling class
to secure the survival of the capitalist
system.

1)
2)
3)
Furthermore, according to Quinney:
It hires law enforcers to apply those definitions
and protect its interests.
It exploits the subordinate class by paying low
wages so that the resulting oppressive life
conditions virtually force the powerless to
commit what those in power have defined as
crimes.
The dominant class defines as criminal those
behaviors like murder, robbery, etc., that
threaten its interests.
4) It uses these criminal actions to spread
and reinforce the popular view that the
subordinate class is dangerous in order to
justify its concerns with making and
enforcing the law.

Power theory
- this can also be a significant cause of
deviance.
- it may stem from relative deprivation, the
feeling that disables to achieve relatively
high aspiration.

The powerful enjoys greater opportunities
for
deviance.
This
explains
why
corruptions are likely to involve people in
high positions.

Likewise, the powerful are subjected to
weaker social control because they have
more influence in making laws and in they
have more influence in the making of
laws and their implementation

Symbolic Interactionalist Perspective
- This describes deviance as a product of
slavery.
- This considers deviance as a process of
interaction between the person
considered deviant and the rest of
society.
- This considers deviance as learned.
1. Differential association and
opportunity theories
- According to Edward Sutherland
(1930s), individuals are likely to become
deviant if more of their primary group
interactions favor deviance rather than
oppose it.
- For him, deviance is learned in the same
way as normative behaviors through a
differential association.

Differential association and opportunity
theories are founded on the following
premises:
1) All criminal behaviors, including
habitual, professional, organized, and
white-collar is learned.
2) Social interaction and communication
are essential to the learning process.
3) Criminal behavior is the result of
personal participation in groups, rather
than impersonal contacts with mass media
and formal agencies of institutions.
4) The learning of criminal behavior
includes the acquisition of criminal
techniques and the formation of new
attitudes, motives, drives, and forms of
neutralization
that
have
been
systematically reinforced.
5) Criminal behavior occurs because group
norms favor rather than oppose, violation
of the law. This is reinforced by the group
commitments
or
relationships
the
individual has established.
6) The tendency to commit crimes reflects
the contacts an individual has with a
group that accepts or approves of such
acts.
7) The criminal and non criminal behaviors
are learned by the same process.
8) Criminal and non-criminal behaviors are
both expressions of the goals and/or
values of the individual or group.
2. Labeling theory
- This view emerged in the 1950s from
the writings of Edwin Lemert in 1972.
Since then, many sociologists have
elaborated on the labeling approach.
-
-
According to labeling theory, society tends
to react to a rule-breaking act by labeling
it as deviant.
Deviance is not something that a person
does but merely a label imposed on that
behavior.
-
-
Once a person is labeled a thief or a
delinquent or a drunkard, the individual
may be stuck with that label for life, and
may be rejected or isolated as a result.
Paradoxically,
this
labeling
process
actually helps bring about more of the
deviant behavior in society.
-
-
Being caught and branded as deviant has
important consequences for one’s further
social participation and self-image.
It creates a drastic change in the
individual’s public identity.
- Tischler (1990) identified at least three
factors that determine whether a person’s
behavior will set in motion the process by
which he/she will be labeled deviant:
1) the importance or gravity of the norms
that are violated.
2) the social identity or status of the
individual who violates them.
3) the nature of the social context of the
behavior in question.
- Two types of deviance (acc. to labeling
theory):
1) Primary deviance – refers to the
original behavior that leads to the
individual’s being labeled deviant.
2) Secondary deviance – emerges as a
result of having been labeled deviant.

Functions of deviance
1) Deviance serves as an outlet for diverse
forms of expression.
2) Deviance serves to define the limits of
acceptable behavior.
3) Deviance may also promote in-large
solidarity.
4) Deviance can serve as a barometer of
social strain.
Social Control of Deviance

Social control refers to the efforts of a
group or society to regulate the behavior
of its members in conformity with
established norms.

Social control involves the application of
systematic behavioral restraints intended
to motivate people to obey social
expectations.


Ideally, people conform on their own
because they have internalized the norms.
They have absorbed deeply into their way
of thinking through the process of
socialization.

Two types of deviance:
1) Informal sanctions
a. Social – gossips, intrigues, ostracism,
alienation
b. Psychological – low self-esteem
c. Spiritual – remorse of conscience
2) Formal sanctions
a. Administrative – warning,
suspension, termination, expulsion
b. Civil – indemnity (payment for
damages)
c. Criminal – incarceration
(imprisonment)