Deviance Essay: Common Arguments

This essay sample on Deviance Essay provides all necessary basic info on this matter, including the most common “for and against” arguments. Below are the introduction, body and conclusion parts of this essay.

The assumption that there is something Inherent In a person, behavior or characteristic that is necessarily deviant Statistical Rarity If a behavior or characteristic Is not typical, It Is deviant. Harm If an action causes harm, then It Is deviant.

Folkways: If you violate these norms you may be considered odd, rude or a troublemaker Mores: Those standards that are often seen as the foundation of morality in a culture Consensual view: The law is perceived as arising out of social consensus and is then equally applied to all Conflict view: Perceive the law as a tool used by the ruling class to serve its own interests.

They believe that the law is more likely to be applied to members of the powerless classes in society.

Interactions view: Presents a nonsensical view of criminal law.

Society’s powerful define the law at the behest of interest groups, who appeal to those with power to rectify a perceived social ill. Subjectivism: Deviance as a Label Subjectivists say that we cannot recognize deviance when we see it; we have to be taught, through processes of colonization, that a person or behavior is deviant

Subjectivity and the “Social Construction” of Deviance Social constructionist: Refers to the perspective proposing that social characteristics are creations or artifacts of a particular society at a specific time in history, just as objects Radical constructionists postulate a distinct theoretical perspective claiming that the world is characterized by endless relativism Sociologists who are soft or contextual constructionists emphasize the processes by which certain social phenomena come to be perceived and reacted to In particular ways In a given society t a specific time Levels of Social Construction: Coloratura, Institutional, International, Individual Transcending the Objective/Subjective Dichotomy On the objective side of the dualism, deviance specialists claim that there Is a shared characteristic that all deviants have in common On the subjective side of the dualism, Social typing process: Description, evaluation, prescription Theorizing Deviance The scientific study of criminality is recognized as beginning with the work of Cesar Limbos – who explained criminality on the basis of evolution Suggested that criminals were atavists – evolutionary throwbacks whose biology prevented them from conforming to society’s rules Why people become deviant – Positivist theories Social typing process – the process through which deviance and normality are socially constructed – Interpretive and critical theories Why do People Become Deviant? Using Positivist Theories Interested in explaining why people act in particular ways Positivist-sociologists seek cause-and-effect relationships in the form of statistical relationships Pursuit of planning for a better society

Examples Of Deviance

Positivist explanations of deviance also try to prevent other people from becoming deviant Functionalist Theories: The Social Structure Creates Deviance In this perspective, society is seen as comprising various structures (e.

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G. The family) each of which fulfills necessary functions for social order Manifest functions: intended and recognized Latent functions: unintentional and unrecognized One of the core concerns in the functionalist perspective – the maintenance of the social order Anomie Theory: The Problem of Too Much Social Change Mile Druthers addresses the notion of deviance in two ways: 1 . A certain level of deviance is actually functional for society – serves a useful purpose – but only up to a certain point 2.

Dysfunctional – deviance occurs when society changes too quickly and anomie emerges Functions of Deviance: Deviance enhances social order and increases social solidarity because seeing someone break the rules leads us to realize the importance of rules Through observing behavior, society determines what its moral boundaries are Tests society boundaries and may demonstrate when certain rules no longer work and need to be changed Reduces societal tensions in two ways: . Societal tensions can be reduced when there is some sort of scapegoat that can be blamed for a social problem 2. Individuals engage in small acts of minor deviance that act as a safety valve and let off some steam Parsons and Smeller suggest that letting off steam through minor acts of deviance activates social processes that return deviant actors to their acceptable roles in society – Colonization, profit, persuasion and coercion Druthers noted that suicide rates were here in more individualistic communities – less social integration and lower levels of moral regulation…

Mechanical solidarity (before industrialization) – a society that is bonded together by likeness or by a collective commitment to conformity Organic solidarity (with industrialization) – and moral regulation have the potential to keep deviance at a functional level Marten’s Anomie and Strain Theories: The (North) American Dream Gone Awry Morton suggested that deviance originates not only from the individual, but also from the structure of society Morton said that in North America, the goals we are to aspire to include wealth, status/power, and prestige -Society is structured in a way that ivies benefit to or rewards those who have attained these institutionalized goals Our culture is also characterized by legitimate means of attaining those goals Anomie and strain have come to characterize American society Demonstrativeness’s of the means – simply attaining the institutionalized goals has become more important than how one attains them According to Morton, people can adapt to the gap between goals and means in 5 different ways, some of which result in deviance: 1. Conformity – person keeps pursuing wealth, power, prestige by working hard and going to school 2. Innovation – can result in deviance. Accepts the institutionalized goals, but rejects the legitimate means and seeks alternative ways to achieve goals 3. Ritualism – given up on or reduced the institutionalized goals but continues to engage in the legitimate means 4. Retreats – people reject both the institutionalized goals and the legitimate means (e. G. Alcohol abuse, drug addiction) 5.

Rebellion – reject both institutionalized goals and legitimate means – they substitute new goals and new means Differential Opportunity Theory: Access to the Illegitimate World Collard and Loin’s 1960) theory, like Morton, suggests that the way society is structured results in differential access to legitimate opportunities Collard and Olin go on to propose that the way society is structured also results in differential access to illegitimate opportunities – depending on one’s neighborhood, one may be more or less likely to be deviant – May Join criminal gangs, become part of retreats gangs or Join conflict gangs (which fight for status and power) Agnes General Strain Theory: The Effect of Negative Emotions Agene proposes that strain can be produced by a variety of processes. While it can occur when we are unable to achieve goals, it may also arise when valued stimuli are removed (e. G. He loss of a Job, divorce) Deviance emerges only when strain is accompanied by negative affect (anger, depression, anxiety) Recently, Agene developed a more macro-level strain theory: Suggests deviance will be more prevalent in certain locations within the social structure because of the large number of people who are experiencing strain Status Frustration Theory: The Middle Class Classroom Albert Cohen claims that inequalities in the structure of society are reproduced in he classroom, resulting in delinquent subcultures among lower-class boys Middle class norms dominate in society – this creates a middle-class measuring rod that lower-class boys find difficult to live up to The school’s emphasis on delayed gratification, politeness and the value of hard work does not correspond well with disappearing or being taken away. Politeness may compromise safety and toughness is emphasized instead – The value of hard work may be unapparent – see their parents working very hard with no progress Status frustration – experience a taxation similar to strain Mutual conversion – they Join together with other lower- class boys who are having the same experience Reaction formation – develop a set of oppositional standards at which they are able to succeed Limitations of Functionalist Theories of Deviance Macroeconomic: a state wherein an individual’s self-transcendence values are exceeded by self-enhancement values Learning Theories: People Learn to Be Deviant Learning theories: explain deviant behavior as a result of the learning process – people learn to be deviant Edwin Sutherland developed a theory that focuses on explaining the nature of the learning process – differential association Sutherland proposed that deviant behavior is learned through the same process by which conforming behavior is learned If people are exposed to more deviant definitions than conforming definitions overall, they are likely to become deviant themselves Not all group interactions have the same impact on our learning process The extent of group influence varies by frequency Duration Priority to small group interactions Intensity or in how important a particular group is to us Naturalization Theory: Rationalizing Deviance Sykes and Matzo (1957) – the most important motives that are learned, which open the door for deviance, are techniques of naturalization Part of what deviant people learn are the rationalizations of their behavior, by rationalizing their behavior, they can convince themselves that what they are doing is not really wrong 5 Naturalization techniques: Denial of injury Denial of the victim Denial of responsibility Condemnation of the condemners Appealing to higher loyalties Social Learning Theory: Rewards, Punishments, and Imitation

According to the Social Learning theory, all of our behavior is the result of definitions, differential association, imitation and differential reinforcement People engage in deviance because they either have been rewarded for it in the past or have seen other people being rewarded for it Akers suggests that dimensions of the social structure create the differential contexts in which learning occurs for different people focus on why not all people become deviant Suggest that deviant behavior inherently attractive, exciting, and appealing Social Bonds Theory: Social Bonds Restrain Us Travis Hirsch (1969) – Four types of social bonds rein most of us in, restraining us from deviance: 1 . Attachment to parents, teachers, and peers – emotional attachment 2. Commitment to conformity – being committed to conventional activities like school, work, organized sports 3. Involvement in conventional activities – less time for deviance 4. Beliefs in the norms, values and assumptions that compose the conventional world Self-Control Theory: We Restrain Ourselves Hirsch’ and Michael Cottonseeds suggest that self-control is central to explaining why some people are predisposed to deviant acts