Deviance and conformity

Mudassar ali
 Deviance and conformity
• What is deviance?
• Violation of cultural norms is called deviance
• Norms guide human behavior and all activities so the concept of deviance is very
broad.
Deviance
• Deviance is any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social
norms in the society or group.
• We are most familiar withbehavioral deviance, based on a person’s intentional
or unintentional actions. For example, a person may engage in intentional
deviance by drinking too much or robbing a bank, or in unintentional deviance by
losing money in casino or laughing at funerals.
• The definition of deviance varies widely across cultures, time, and situations.
• It depends on the reactions from those who witness the act, not qualities of the
act itself.
• An act becomes deviant when it is socially defined as such. Definitions of
deviance vary widely from place to place, from time to time, and from group to
group. Today, for example, some women wear blue jeans and very short hair to
college classes; some men wear an earring and long hair. In the past, such looks
violated established dress codes in many schools, and administrators probably
would have asked these students to change their appearance or leave school.
 Types of deviance
Evil
Violation of moral code of conduct or norms of society. Irrespective behavior towards elders.
Sin
Violation of religious code of conduct or norms. Not offering the Prayer, break the fast, to not
give the give alms in Islam.
Crime
• Acrime is a behavior that
• violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and/or other negative
sanctions. Crimes range from minor offenses (such as traffic violations) to major offenses
(such as murder).
• A subcategory of crime isjuvenile delinquency, refers to a violation of law or
• the commission of a status offense by young people.
What is conformity?
• Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to
what individuals perceive to be normal to their society or social
group.
• Acting in accordance with existing norms or standards is called as
Conformity
 Social functions or characteristics of deviance
• Deviance varies across culture according to cultural norms
Not any thought and action is inherently deviant, it becomes deviant only in
relation to particular norms.
Because norms vary from place to place so definition of deviance also varies.
• People becomes deviant as others define them that way
Every one deviate cultural norms at one time or another. Have you ever walk
around talking to yourself? Your that behavior define you as criminal or mentally
ill depends on how others perceive, define or respond.
• Both norms and definition of rule braking involve social power
Law always protect the interests of powerful people in society. A home less person
who stands on a street corner speaking about the government could be rest for
disturbing the peace.
But candidate of MNA doing same in the protection of police.
 To Emile Durkheim there is nothing abnormal
with deviance. It is functional for society
1. because……
Deviance affirms cultural norms and values
There is no good without evil and no justice without crime. So as deviance is needed to
define and support mortality.
2. Responding to deviance clarify moral boundaries
By defining some individuals as deviant people draw a boundary b/w right and wrong.
For example college marks a line b/w academic honesty and cheating by punishing
students who deviate from academic norms.
3. Responding to punishment bring people together
People together react to serious deviance and it brings unity within the group. For
example terrorist attack on APS brings Pakistani nation together against Talban.
4. Deviance encourage social change
Deviant people push a societies moral boundaries and suggest alternate to the existing
patterns. So todays deviance becomes tomorrow's morality. I.e. pope music condemns in
1980 but now it becomes popular among people
 Theories or explanations about deviance
• Biological explanation of deviance
According to this approach human behavior is the result of biological instincts.
Cesare Lambroso and William Sheldon are major followers of this approach.
Cesare Lambroso
In 1876 an Italian physician Cesare Lambroso worked in prisons. And fiend out that
criminals stands out physically with low foreheads, prominent Jaws and cheek bones,
hairiness. They look like apes.
William Sheldon
In 19 century William Sheldon theories that body structure might predict criminal behavior.
th

He found that criminal behavior is mostly found in athletic and muscular people.
Critique
It offer limited explanation of crime. Most of crimes committed by people with normal
physic. Environmental factors are also important with biological factors.
 Psychological explanation of deviance
• Psychological explanation focused upon abnormality in individual personality.
Some psychological traits are inherited, but to some psychologist personality is
shaped by social experience. Deviance than viewed as the result of unsuccessful
socialization.
Containment theory
This theory is given by Rackless and Dinitz
They found that good boys display a strong conscience to handle frustration and
identify with cultural norms.
And bad boys by contrast have weaker conscience. They display little tolerance of
frustration and violate cultural norms.
Critique
Some serious crime are committed by the psychopaths who have no guilt or shame
and fear of punishment. But mostly crimes are committed by psychologically normal
people as we see in biological explanation.
Sociological explanation of deviance
• Deviance is shaped by society. For that reason deviance varies
according to cultural norms, and people become deviant as other
people define them to be a deviant.
 Perspectives on deviance
• Functionalists argue that deviance serves a positive social function
by clarifying moral boundaries and promoting social cohesion.
• Conflict theorists believe that a society’s inequalities are reproduced
in its definitions of deviance, so that the less powerful are more
likely to be criminalized.
• Symbolic interactionist believe that crime and deviance behavior is
learned through the interaction with the deviant and criminal people.
Merton’s strain theory (functional explanation)
Merton’s Strain theory
To Merton deviance is resulted by the particular social arrangements.
• Merton’s structural strain theory argues that the tension or strain between socially
approved goals and an individual’s ability to meet those goals through socially approved
means will lead to deviance as individuals reject either the goals (achieving success), the
means (hard work, education), or both.

Merton suggest five ways to respond culturally approved goals and legitimate means to
achieve these goals
1. conformity: many accept culturally approved goals and means and they consider to
ne conformist or normal people of society,
2. innovation: some accept cultural goals, but do not accept the approved means to
reaching these goals, they adopt new means for achieving goals so they violate accepted
norms and become deviants. For example drug seller, prostitutes and robbers.
Cont.….
• Ritualism: some people find it impossible to achieve cultural goals
by acceptable means, they reject the goals while accept the means.
For example people who believe in hard work and higher education
for their respect and morality but not for economic success. The are
also deviant people.
• retreatism: reject both cultural goals and acceptable means of
attaining them, may drop out of society. For example drug addicts.

• rebellion: they also reject both means and goals of society but want to
substitute a new set of goals and means for the approved set. Like
Taliban in Pakistan.
 Theories of Deviance
• Conflict Theorists – deviance is a result of competition and
social inequality, struggle between those who possess power and
those who do not
• people with power commit deviant act to maintain power
• people without power to obtain economic rewards or because of
low self-esteem and feelings of powerlessness
Theories of Deviance
• Richard Quinney’s Conflict Theory:
• ruling class labels threatening behavior as deviant
• lower class has limited opportunity, forced into deviant
behavior
• to protect their power, ruling class establishes ideologies to
explain deviance as a problem among lower class
• law enforcement are directed toward the types of crimes
committed by lower classes (results in higher arrest rates)
• people without power do not necessarily commit more crimes
than others, but are the types of crimes that are most likely to
be detected and punished
 Theories of deviance
• Interactionist – as either natural in people with weak ties to the community
control
( theory ), as a learned behavior cultural
( transmission theory ), or as a
labellabeling
( theory )
 Cont…
• Travis Hirschi Interactionist Perspective:
• control theory – this theory interest in why people conform rather than the causes
of deviance
• social ties determine conformity, theory says that societies with high
integration causes more conformity and lower rates of deviance, because
society have strong social control over those who deviate from norms of
society.
• people form bonds in 4 ways
 Attachment refers to a person's sensitivity to and interest in others.
 Commitment involves the time, energy, and effort expended in conventional lines of action,
such as getting an education and saving money for the future.
 Heavy involvement in conventional activities leaves little time for illegal behavior.
 People who live in the same social settings often share common moral beliefs; they may
adhere to such values as sharing, sensitivity to rights of others, and admiration for the
legal code.
Trough the process of socialization level of self control determine among the
children and conformity is resulted by self control.
Section 1: Deviance
Theories of Deviance
• Interactionist Perspective
• cultural transmission – based on socialization, deviance is a
learned behavior through interaction with others, the norms
and values being transmitted are deviant, the individual
becomes socialized into deviant behavior rather than
socially acceptable behavior
• cultural transmission views all individuals as conformists
• difference between deviants and rest of society is the
norms the individual chooses to conform to
Section 1: Deviance
Theories of Deviance
• Interactionist Perspective
• differential association – the frequency and closeness of
associations a person has with deviant and nondeviant
individuals
• This theory is given by Edwin Sutherland, to him
learning of deviant behavior occurs in primary groups.
Section 1: Deviance
Theories of Deviance
• Interactionist Perspective
• labeling theory – focuses on how individuals come to
be identified as deviant, rather than why people
perform deviant acts
• all people commit deviant acts yet not everyone is
labeled as deviant
• Lemert and Becker
• deviance has 2 types: primary and secondary
Section 1: Deviance
Theories of Deviance
• Interactionist Perspective
• labeling theory:
• primary deviance – nonconformity that goes undetected by those in
authority, occasional acts and well concealed acts, do not consider
themselves deviant and neither does society
• secondary deviance – results in the individual being labeled as deviant and
accepting the label as true
• degradation ceremony – public setting, individual is
denounced, found guilty, or given new identity of a deviant,
people are judged in light of their new label, becomes
master status.
Stigma. A negative label for the degradation of a person
who deviate from cultural norms.