A Sociological Look…
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Continuously talking to oneself in public
Drag racing on a public street or highway
Regularly using illegal drugs
A man wearing women’s clothing
Attacking another person with a weapon
All of these scenarios involve someone
breaking the rules or norms of society.
Behavior that violates significant social
norms is called deviance.
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Not ALL norm violations are deviant acts. It is
society’s judgment on which behaviors are considered
deviant. For example, everyone knows that killing is
wrong, but it is understandable when a police officer
does it in the line of duty. The police officer is not a
deviant person in this case.
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Many people become labeled deviant as they
continue to repeat the offense. If a person gets caught
speeding while driving once, they are not deviant, but
if it continues, they may have their license taken away
because they are a danger have on the road. That
person has just become deviant.
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You must be caught committing the deviant
act.
You must also be stigmatized by society.
 What is a stigma?
▪ A mark of social disgrace that sets the deviant apart
from the rest of society. (Example: Prison mates wear a
special uniform so they can be identified. This serves as
a warning sign to others as well as a form of public
humiliation.)
Unifying the Group
 Draws a line between those who are within the “normal group”
and those who are breaking social norms.
Clarifying Norms
 Deviance helps clarify what the social norms are, when they are
broke, it helps others to understand what is “normal” or
acceptable behavior.
 Punishment of deviant people serves as a warning for others.
Diffusing Tension
 Minor acts of deviance can be used as “stress relievers” for
those unhappy with a certain situation. For example,
participating in a small demonstration could help someone
battling over their discontent with the current political system.
Identifying Problems
 Deviance can help bring about social change by identifying
problem areas. If many people are participating in the
deviant behavior, it could be a warning sign that
something in society needs to change.
Providing Jobs
 Dealing with deviance provides a multitude of jobs
including judges, lawyers, police officers, prison personnel,
parole officers, crime reporters, criminologists, etc.
 Views deviance as a learned behavior, just as non-
deviant behavior is learned (through interaction
with others)
 In many cases, deviant people have been exposed
to deviant behavior more often and, as a result,
the person is socialized into deviant behavior
rather then into socially acceptable behavior.
▪ Differential Association—The proportion of
interactions a person has with deviant vs. non-deviant
behavior will determine their socialized behavior.
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The cultural transmission theory is an
interactionist theory of deviance
The difference between deviants and the rest
of society lies in the norms to which each
person chooses to confirm.
 The deviant individual conforms to norms that are
not accepted by the larger community.
 The non-deviant conforms to socially accepted
norms.
 A functionalist perspective on deviance.
 Views deviance as the natural outgrowth of the
values, norms, and structure of society. Not
everyone in society has the ability to achieve
economic success, and therefore deviant behavior
is the result of unequal opportunity (lack of
education, cannot find job, etc.)
▪ Anomie—A situation that arises when the norms of
society are unclear or are no longer applicable.
Individuals do not have sufficient guidelines for
behavior. (This leads to high rates of suicide)
 Conformity—When people accept the cultural goals of society
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and the means of reaching those goals
Innovation—When people accept the cultural goals of society,
but not the means of reaching those goals. Many become
deviants, using illegal means to gain wealth, power and status.
Ritualism—Instead of violating the norms for achievement,
they give up the goals while continuing to observe the expected
rules of behavior (Passing up a job promotion due to fear of
rejection.)
Retreatism—Reject both cultural goals and ways in which to
achieve them. Usually these people are drug addicts and
beggars.
Rebellion—Trying to set new group of goals and means by
which to achieve these goals. These are where members of
revolutionary groups fall.
 Turns to social structure for an explanation of
deviant behavior. Control theorists see deviance
as a natural occurrence and conformity as the
result of social control.
 People who have weak ties to the community are
likely to commit deviant acts. Individuals who are
integrated into the community are likely to
conform.
 Competition and social inequality lead to deviance.
They see social life as a struggle between those with
power (upper class) and those without power
(working/lower class).
 People with power commit deviant acts to keep
power. People without power commit deviant acts for
two reasons—to obtain economic rewards or because
they have low self-esteem/feel powerless.
 Deviance here is anything that threatens the power
base. They blame deviance mostly on the lower
classes.
 From the interactionist perspective, this theory
focuses on how individuals come to be labeled as
deviant and believe all commit deviant acts at some
point in life—but not all are labeled deviant.
 Two types of deviance:
▪ Primary Deviance: nonconformity that goes undetected by
those in authority. These people do not consider themselves
deviant—nor does society.
▪ Secondary Deviance: Results in individuals being labeled
deviant and accepting this label as true. Because they are
labeled, it changes his/her life. This becomes the person’s
master status. (adopt permanent deviant life-style)