Chapter 7
Deviance
In Conflict and Order:
Understanding Society, 11th edition
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Deviance
• Deviance is
– Behavior that does not conform to social
expectations
– The violation of the rules of the group
– Socially constructed
– A property conferred up by the people who
come into direct or indirect contact with it
– A relative, not absolute, notion
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Traditional Theories for the
Causes of Deviance
• The Individual as the Source of Deviance
– Biological theories focus on physiognomy,
phrenology, somatology, genetic anomalies,
and brain malfunctions.
– Psychological theories assume that conditions
of the mind or personality to be the fault.
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The Sociological Approach
• Cultural Transmission
– Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association
Theory posits that through interaction one
learns to be a criminal.
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The Sociological Approach
• Society Goals and Differential
Opportunities
– Robert Merton argued that societal values
determine both what are the appropriate goals
and the approved means for achieving these
goals.
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The Sociological Approach
• Subcultural Differences by Social Class
– Edward Banfield argues that lower-class
individuals have a propensity for criminal
behavior.
– He asserts that a person in the lower class
does not have a strong sense of morality and
this is not constrained by legal rules.
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The Sociological Approach
• Blaming the Victim Critique
– Blaming the victim theories have been
criticized because they blame the victim and
the society is freed from blame.
– Sine the established order is thus protected
from criticism, necessary social change has
been thwarted.
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Society as the Source of
Deviance
• Labeling Theory
– Labeling theory holds the view of deviant
behavior that stresses the importance of the
society in defining what is illegal and in assigning
deviant status to particular individuals, which in
turn dominates their identities and behaviors.
– Labeling theorists argue that because deviants
are not much different from non-deviants, the
problem lies in organizations that label.
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Figure 7.1 – Death Penalty Facts
Information taken from the Death Penalty Information Center, 2005. 1001 Vermont Avenues NW, Suite 701, Washington, DC 2005.
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Society as the Source of
Deviance
• Consequences of labeling: Lemert’s
primary and secondary deviance
– Primary deviance is the rule breaking that
occurs before labeling.
– Secondary deviance is behavior that results
from the labeling process.
– People labeled as deviants tend to become
locked into a deviant behavior pattern.
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Society as the Source of
Deviance
• Critique of Labeling Theory
– It avoids the question of causation (primary
deviance).
– It assumes that deviance are really normal—
because we are all rule breakers.
– It relieves the individual deviant from blame.
– It focuses on certain types of deviance but
ignores others.
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Conflict theory
• Conflict theorists argue that all views of
rule violations have political implications.
– Punishment of deviants reflects a
conservative bias by legitimating the norms
and the current distribution of power.
– Support of the deviant behavior is also
political, because it rejects the legitimacy of
the people in power and their rules.
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Conflict theory
• Conflict theorists emphasize corporate and
political crimes, which cause many times
more economic damage and harm to
people than do street crimes.
– Corporate Crime
– Political Crime
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Deviance from the Order and
Conflict Perspectives
• Order theorists focus on individual
deviants.
– Because this perspective uses the prevailing
standards to define and label deviants, the
existing practices and structures of society
are accepted implicitly.
– The remedy is to rehabilitate deviants so they
conform to societal norms.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Deviance from the Order and
Conflict Perspectives
• Conflict theorists focus on social structure
as the source of deviance.
– There is a historical bias in the law that favors
the powerful.
– The administration of justice is also biased.
– The power of powerful interest in society
determines what and who are deviant.
• From the conflict perspective, the only real
and lasting solution to deviance is radial
transformation of society.
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007