Deviance Historical Records Deviance Is the Violation

DEVIANCE

Historical Records

Deviance is the violation of social norms. Norms are codes of ethics that act as guidance to people on how to live their lives. According to William Somner, there are three types of norms; Folkways are what a society considers being right with regard to culture and tradition. Issues like dressing, mannerisms are in this category. Different cultures and people have their own guidelines on dressing and etiquette. Violations of these folkways will not lead to the arrest of an individual, but people will consider this person as weird. Mores are those beliefs that are held by the larger community. Most societies are against interracial marriages, substance abuse, pregnancies out of wedlock or abortion (Alder & Alder, 2010). Laws are those guidelines that incorporate mores and folkways. They vary from society to society. When an individual violates mores, laws and folkways they are considered to be deviant. Deviance and crime are two things that overlap yet they are different entities altogether (Jonathan, 2006). It has been argued that most of the deviant cases are not criminal, and some crimes are not deviant as they do not go against societal norms. For instance, an individual who is mentally ill is considered deviant but not a criminal as he has not gone against the laws of the land. A person in a cult is deviant but not a criminal Also; there are some criminal activities that are not deviant like in the case of over speeding.

Question #2

Merton's theory of deviance tends to analyze what might be the reasons behind the crime in a society. It tends to look into crime in the society and not individuals. According to Merton, the varied social "strain" leads to varied crime patterns. This strain is as a result of the pressure that is put on people to meet the societal goals and the inability to achieve these goals (Alder & Alder, 2012). The society has set goals that are considered legitimate to be achieved by people. In this case, individuals are not barred from achieving these goals since they are culturally acceptable. This "strain" is as a result of the goals people can meet and the procedures they are to use to meet these goals. According to Merton, people opt for ritualism, conformity, retreat and rebellion when they fail to balance their goals and ways of attaining these goals (Alder & Alder, 2012).

People have been forced into being nonconformists rather than being conformists (Alder & Alder, 2010). When people succumb to pressure caused by strain, they tend to take up deviant behaviors. If a society emphasizes the need to achieve goals rather than the legitimate ways to achieve these set goals then deviance will be prevalent in that society. At times, people are forced to be deviant so as to achieve goals. Effective procedures are preferred even though most of them are against institutional procedures. Most people are concerned with end and not the means since society views attainment as the only reason for gratification (Alder & Alder, 2012).

Question #3

There are three primary sources that are used in the study of deviant behavior. First, there are official statistics. These are data entries that are listed by the government or social services agents. Statistics on deviance in various levels deals with crimes, census, cases of victims of violence as well as court cases. Survey research looks into the various behaviors that sociologists consider being deviant. Questionnaires are used to get information on these deviant behaviors. Examples of survey research include; the National Youth Survey and the Kinsey surveys (Alder & Alder, 2010). The other primary source is field research. In this case, research is compiled by sociologists after they interact with people so as to study their deviant behaviors. Intimate attitudes and emotions are looked into and recorded.

These sources have their advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages of official sources is that it is inexpensive. Another advantage is that official sources are quick to access since they are published for public viewership. The fact that these publications are collected over a long period makes them advantageous. They are, however, inaccurate, inconsistent as most deviant behaviors are not kept. Information tends to fluctuate from time to time. Survey research is accurate and consistent (Alder & Alder, 2012). It is, however, expensive, time consuming, unreliable as it has some validity inconsistencies. Field research is accurate and subjective as researchers make observations support the information they gather from the research. It takes a lot of time and is not easily affordable. It is also quite difficult to reach many people so as to conduct research.

Question #4

Several articles have been written to look into the issue of deviant behavior. One such article is the article that tried to answer the question; is deviance "dead"? The author of this article wanted to know whether whatever Sumner said about the decline of sociological deviance was factual. Sumner had written an article named "an obituary." This study was to about the death of sociology of deviance. According to Sumner, there were no more studies on deviance carried out from 1975. The author of this article, Best sets out to try and find out whether Sumner was actually right. He looked into most of the works by sociologists and found out that the researchers conducted by sociologists were in other fields especially criminology. There were only about two articles from 1975. Best also took time to look into citations by several scholars. They then analyzed these citations and made their conclusive findings. According to Goode, the study of deviance is not dead because there are still many deviant cases that are being recorded. He also states that students are still being enrolled in the deviant class (Best, 2004).

The other article is about homosexuality as deviant behavior. This article tried to look into people's ideas on their perception of homosexuality as deviance. The issue of lesbianism is also looked into so as to determine how the sexual orientation has become a prevalent issue is many institutions. Travis has used the method of interviewing gays, lesbian and bisexuals. The data that was filled by these people was meant to determine whether people considered the sexual orientation of homosexuals deviant (Alder & Alder, 2012). The finding showed that what was considered deviant in women did not happen to the men.