Sociology of Deviance

Deviance Quite often in our day-to-day lives we hear the word "deviance," but never truly know the concepts behind it. It is not a complicated term although it is one with many theories behind it giving a vast variety of interpretations of just what deviance is and is not. Questions arise as to its relativity. Of course, no one can proclaim deviance is not relative, as deviance is behavior that does not follow common perceptions.

An important sociological concept states that people conform, or perform to societal expectation or norms (Brown, 1965). Conformity provides order in the society. Thus, when someone is doing something that the rest of society find unacceptable, or out of the ordinary, he or she is considered deviant. One sociologist, Erdwin Pfuhl, believes that the label "deviant" depends on a group's notion of actions and conditions that should and should not occur. This view also suggests that labels of deviance can change within different societies and times.

One might ask why there are so many interpretations of deviance. The answer is rather simple. Due to its relative nature, people will interpret activities quite differently (Clinard, 1998). Functionalism is a perspective advocated by such famous sociologists as Merton and Durkheim, viewing deviance as a clarification of moral boundaries, affirmation of norms, and promoter of social unity and social change. Merton's strain theory states that members of a society are socialized to desire certain goals, but many people are unable to achieve these goals in socially acceptable or legitimate ways.

Sociologists, Cloward and Ohlin, address illegitimate opportunity structures and state that when legitimate means to achieving goals are not accessible to some members of society, the seek out illegitimate opportunity structures as a way of achieving goals (Turner, 1996). Durkheim has examined the area of religion to look at moral interpretations of social organisms. In other words, while people who practice religions or philosophies believe they are doing so because it is the true religion, Durkheim sees the religion as fulfilling a social function.

Durkheim observed that a believer is stronger and feels within himself a force that can endure things that are put forth in life (Jones, 1986). Durkheim saw religious beliefs as away to a way to dodge being labeled deviant. Durkheim was also aligned with William James who suggested that religious beliefs rested upon real experiences (1986). Durkheim also believed that religion was necessary. It is difficult for a society to live through "transition" and "moral mediocrity" as he has described in some of his work (1986).

Even in Suicide his theory stated that religious people are less prone to particular deviant activity. Durkheim also relied on his theory of Anomie to explain a great deal of deviant behavior. Anomie draws upon the notion that the fragmenting effect of modern industry, village, kinship, and social authority, leaves a society without a set structure of norms. The widespread chaos may cause a break down of existing norms: it further reduces an individual's sense of belonging (Sev'er, 1993).

The original definition of Anomie included the idea of social isolation and disorganization, but Merton limited the concept to certain types of social disorganization (1993). Although Merton proposed this view as a general theory, later sociologists have attempted to redefine the concept (1993). A more modern advocate of the Anomie, is Alain Touraine, a well know contemporary sociologist who has written on a wealth of subjects; synthesized in his writings is the concept of Anomie.

He states that student protest during the 1960's and early 1970's was partially attributed to aspects of the Anomie theory (1996). According to Howard Becker, the notion of deviance is always socially constructed or that social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance; by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as "outsiders," they become deviants (Turner, 1996).

He further defined the term "outsiders," as those who are judged by others to be deviant from others deemed normal members of the group; also, the person that is viewed as deviant may see the people making the rules as outsiders (1996). Becker proclaimed that specific social groups create those social rules. He also established that we live in highly differentiated societies that are split along lines of social class, ethnicity, occupation, and culture.

The resulting differences cause the development of divergent sets of rules that may conflict with, and perhaps contradict one another (Turner, 1996). Deviance is thus created by responses of people to different types of behavior; rules created and maintained to label behavior as deviant are not universally agreed upon (1996). The social reaction to deviance is significant. If a behavior is accepted it would not be considered deviant, nor would a person be treated differently. The way society views a behavior affects the continuation of that behavior or other related conduct.

As discussed earlier, the definition of deviance is relative and in some sense, society constructs those various definitions as well. In looking at the labeling theory, the concept derived from a group of theorists who began to explore why, and how certain acts are deemed as criminal or deviant, and why others are not ("Labeling," 1997).

They also wondered what made certain people criminal or deviant, and rather than look at criminals as evil persons, they saw them simply as individuals who had a criminal status placed upon them by both the justice system and the community (1997). In that respect, criminal acts are not in and.