Deviance

The word deviance connotes odd or unacceptable behavior, but in the sociological sense of
the word, deviance is simply any violation of society’s norms. Deviance can range from
something minor, such as a traffic violation, to something major, such as murder. Each
society defines what is deviant and what is not, and definitions of deviance differ widely
between societies. For example, some societies have much more stringent rules regarding
gender roles than we have in the United States, and still other societies’ rules governing
gender roles are less stringent than ours.

Deviance refers to rule-breaking behaviour of some kind which fails to conform to the norms
and expectations of a particular society or social group. Deviance is closely related to the
concept of crime, which is law breaking behaviour. Criminal behaviour is usually deviant, but
not all deviant behaviour is criminal.

The concept of deviance is more difficult to define than crime. Deviance includes both
criminal and non-criminal acts, but it is quite difficult to pin down what members of any
society or groups actually regard as deviant behaviour. Downes and Rock (2007) suggest that
ambiguity is a key feature of rule-breaking, as people are frequently unsure whether a
particular episode is truly deviant or what deviance is. Their judgement will depend on the
context in which it occurs, who the person is, what they know about them and what their
motives might be.

Deviance is defined as the act of doing something that does comply with the norms and the
rules of the society, this behavior goes against the general ways of behaving and is often
subject to some kind of punishment or penalty that the one engaging in deviant behavior has
to pay. Often institutions set up strict codes that must be followed and maintained, any kind
of behavior that will not obey this code will be considered as deviant behavior. E.g. in a
society where one is expected to earn money by working hard, the act of stealing becomes a
deviant behavior, this behavior is punished by the law. In every kind of society, even in
primitive societies, there is always a body of heads which will determine what deviant
behavior is and what consequence will the indulgence in such behavior entail.

Two Types of Activities:

Deviance is often divided into two types of activities. The first, crime, is the violation of
formally enacted laws and is referred to as formal deviance. Examples of formal deviance
include robbery, theft, rape, murder, and assault. The second type of deviant behavior
involves violations of informal social norms (norms that have not been codified into law) and
is referred to as informal deviance. Examples of informal deviance include picking one’s
nose, belching loudly, or standing unnecessarily close to another person.

Societal and Situational Deviance

There are two aspects of defining deviance, using the concepts of societal deviance and
situational deviance.

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Societal deviance refers to forms of deviance that most members of a society regard as
deviant because they share similar ideas about approved and unapproved behaviour – murder,
rape, child abuse and driving over the alcohol limit in the UK generally fall into this category.

Situational deviance refers to the way in which an act being seen as deviant or not depends
on the context or location in which it takes place. These two conceptions of deviance suggest
that, while there may be some acts that many people agree are deviant in one society, those
acts defined as deviant will vary between groups within a society. Whether or not an act is
seen as deviant often depends on:

The historical period – definitions of deviance change over time in the same society as
standards of normal behaviour change. For example, cigarette smoking used to be very
popular, now it is illegal to smoke in restaurants or buses.

The place or context – nudity is often seen as deviant in public (though in itself it is never
criminal), but rarely in private; playing loud music is deviant on public transport, but not at
music festivals, and drinking to excess is deviant almost anywhere, but not necessarily in
pubs or clubs.

The social group – What may be regarded as unacceptable at a societal level may be
regarded as acceptable in small groups or even whole age cohorts – binge drinking and sexual
promiscuity are two such examples.

The context dependency of deviance

The context dependency of deviance simply refers to the idea that deviance is socially
constructed – whether or not an act is seen as deviant depends on the historical period, the
place, and the group witnessing the act.

The context dependency of deviance can be illustrated by a simple example:

Wearing a mini skirt is Deviant in Saudi Arabia:

Abortion.

Cheating.

Not washing your hands.

Walking on wrong side of the hallway.

In the Chinese Culture: Drug use

US: Examples of formal deviance include robbery, theft, rape, murder, and assault.

Functions of Deviance:
Durkheim argued that deviance is a normal and necessary part of any society because it
contributes to the social order. He identified four specific functions that deviance fulfills:

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Affirmation of cultural norms and values: Seeing a person punished for a deviant act
reinforces what a society sees as acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Sentencing a thief to
prison affirms our culturally held value that stealing is wrong. Just as some people believe
that the concept of God could not exist without the concept of the devil, deviance helps us
affirm and define our own norms.

Clarification of right and wrong: Responses to deviant behavior help individuals

distinguish between right and wrong. When a student cheats on a test and receives a failing
grade for the course, the rest of the class learns that cheating is wrong and will not be
tolerated.

Unification of others in society: Responses to deviance can bring people closer together. In
the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001, people across the United States, and even
the world, were united in their shock and grief. There was a surge in patriotic feeling and a
sense of social unity among the citizens of the United States.

Promoting social change: Deviance can also encourage the dominant society to consider
alternative norms and values. Rosa Parks’s act of deviance in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955
led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s declaration that segregation on public transportation was
unconstitutional.

Gender and Deviance:

In the United States, women who cry in public in response to emotional situations are not
generally considered deviant—even women who cry frequently and easily. This view of
women has remained relatively constant. Over the past fifty years, however, society’s
perception of men who cry has changed. A man who cried publicly in the 1950s would have
been considered deviant. Today, men who cry in response to extreme emotional situations are
acting within society’s norms. Male politicians cry when announcing defeat, male athletes cry
after winning a championship, and male actors cry after winning an award. By today’s
standards, none of these men is committing a deviant act.

Relativism and Deviance:

Deviance is a relative issue, and standards for deviance change based on a number of factors,
including the following:

Location: A person speaking loudly during a church service would probably be considered
deviant, whereas a person speaking loudly at a party would not. Society generally regards
taking the life of another person to be a deviant act, but during wartime, killing another
person is not considered deviant.

Age: A five-year-old can cry in a supermarket without being considered deviant, but an older
child or an adult cannot.

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Social status: A famous actor can skip to the front of a long line of people waiting to get into
a popular club, but a nonfamous person would be considered deviant for trying to do the
same.

Individual societies: In the United States, customers in department stores do not try to
negotiate prices or barter for goods. In some other countries, people understand that one
should haggle over the price of an item; not to do so is considered deviant.

Cultural Norms and Deviance:

In Japan, there are strict norms involving the exchange of business cards. One person presents
his or her business card with the writing facing the recipient, who looks at it for a moment
and asks a question about some of the information on the card. The question may be
irrelevant, but it tells the giver that the recipient has read the card and acknowledges the
person and his or her company. A Japanese executive who receives a business card and does
not take the time to look at it and ask a question would be considered deviant.

Deviant Traits:
A person does not need to act in a deviant manner in order to be considered deviant.
Sometimes people are considered deviant because of a trait or a characteristic they possess.
Sociologist Erving Goffman used the term stigma to identify deviant characteristics. These
include violations of the norms of physical ability or appearance. For example, people who
are confined to wheelchairs or who have IQs over 140 are deviant because they do not
represent the usual behaviors or characteristics of most people.

Social Control:
Punishing people for deviant behavior reminds people what is expected of them and what will
happen if they do not conform to society’s norms. Every society has methods of social
control, or means of encouraging conformity to norms (see Chapter 1). These methods of
social control include positive sanctions and negative sanctions. A positive sanction is a
socially constructed expression of approval. A negative sanction is a socially constructed
expression of disapproval.

Positive Sanctions:
Society uses positive sanctions to reward people for following norms. Positive sanctions can
be formal, such as an award or a raise. They can also be informal and include words,
gestures, or facial expressions.

Example: The smile that a mother gives her child when he says “thank you” is a positive
sanction. A reaction to an individual’s actions can be a positive sanction, even if it is not
intended to be.

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Deviance and Social Stigma
Social stigma in deviance is the disapproval of a person because they do not fit the require
social norms that are given in society. Social stigma is the extreme disapproval of an
individual based on social characteristics that are perceived to distinguish them from other
members of a society. Social stigma is so profound that it overpowers positive social
feedback regarding the way in which the same individual adheres to other social norms. For
example, Terry might be stigmatized because she has a limp. Stigma attaches to Terry
because of her limp, overpowering the ways in which Terry might be social normative–
perhaps she is a white, Protestant, or a heterosexual female with a limp. The limp marks
Terry, despite her other traits.

Deviance and Technology

Advances in technology have resulted in new forms of deviance as well as new forms of
control. As technology has opened up a new space for cyberculture, new forms of deviance
and social control have appeared. Some individuals use technology as a means of deviating
from more traditional cultural norms. For example, in the United States, employees in offices
are encouraged to remain productive and efficient, letting their minds wander off-task as little
as possible. In the past decade, most companies have installed high-speed internet access as a
means of improving efficiency. However, employees often reappropriate the internet access
to avoid work by using social networking sites. Such procrastination and corporate
inefficiency stemming from internet access is called “cyberloafing. ”

Four Mechanisms that Regulate Our Behavior: Our behavior in our everyday lives is
regulated by social norms, law and policy, technology and design, and market forces.