CAPE®

THE CONCEPT OF CRIME &

DEVIANCE

LESSON 6

Directed by
REMONE L. FOSTER
-

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 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you should understand:

• The concepts of crime and deviance

• The difference between crime and deviance
• The social construct of crime and deviance
• The concept of social order and social control
• The agents of social control
• The significance of the agents of social control
 “Assess the impact of the various agents of social
control in a named Caribbean society.”
ESSAY Discuss.
[25 marks]
QUESTIONS
 CRIME AND DEVIANCE
• Crime is to be distinguished from deviance.
• A crime is a deviance, but a deviance is not a crime.
• A crime is a wrong against the state. It is an offence, or wrongful act,
done by an individual that undermines the laws of a country or region.
It is punishable by law.
• Crime is controlled through the use of public sanctions which are
enforced by agencies of social control such as the police or the courts.
• A deviance is norm-breaking behaviour. Some people in society
would find such behaviours offensive and which excites, or would
excite, if it were discovered, disapproval, punishment, condemnation
or hostility. It is the violation of social rules, norms and
conventions.
 TYPES OF DEVIANCE
• There are 2 types of deviance: Formal deviance and Informal
deviance.
• Formal deviance arises when an individual commits an act that
violates the established laws of society. Formal deviance include
murder, robbery, rape, assault and so forth. A formal deviant is
therefore a criminal. Results in fines and other formal punishments.
• Informal deviance is that which arises when an individual (or group
of individual) may become slightly non-conformist to the general
trends of society. By this, their actions may raise an eyebrow but are
not illegal. Example of informal deviance include picking nose,
sneezing in public, bleaching the skin, bad manners etc. Informal
deviance results in social sanctions and stigmas.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVIANCE
• It is a condition, belief or behavior. Deviance can be more than
behaviour. It can be a frame of mind or condition. Obesity, HIV/AIDs,
cancer can be considered deviant conditions.
• It is associated with social stigmas
• It varies from society to society. Hence, what is deviant in one society
may not be deviant in another society
• It can be formal or informal
• It can change over time because people’s perspectives change over
time. This means that deviance is a social concept and is dictated by
social actions, behaviours and beliefs.
 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF
DEVIANCE
• It can be argued that deviance is more than behaviour because it
involves a moral judgment that is made by one person against another.
• Hence, any action can consider deviant once it breaks what a person
believes is the norm. Hence, it is necessary to consider the social
construction of deviance.
• Crime and deviance are relative concepts because they are
constructed by society. This means that crime and deviance in one
society, may not be crime and deviance in another society. Hence,
prostitution, smoking cannabis, homosexuality and so forth, are
criminal and deviant acts in one society but are normalized in another
society.
• It is not possible to find something that is absolutely condemned by all
societies. Societies tend to develop different interpretations of deviant or non-
deviant behaviours. Even within one society, what is deviant today may not
be deviant tomorrow. Consider, for example, social changes that have
occurred in the Caribbean such as the voting of blacks, the acceptance of
dancehall and soca music, gambling, Rastafarianism which at one point were
considered deviant.

• Factors that have influenced the relativity of crime and deviance include:
a) the historical period of the crime or deviant act e.g., the 1800s v the 1900s
b) the culture of a society
c) the particular social situations (for example, being naked in your
bathroom as oppose to a football pitch; wearing a bikini at a beach as
opposed to a mall
d) the interest of those who create the law – the issue of power.
e) the presence of sub-cultural groups.
 SOCIAL ORDER AND SOCIAL
CONTROL
• The concepts of crime and deviance are related to social
control and social order.
• The break down of social order is associated with crime
and deviance.
• Social control aims to preserve social norms and so, in
theory, should prevent crime and deviance.
• Crime and deviance is associated with anomie, which
occurs when a society’s previously common norms and
values disintegrate, break down or disappear.
 SOCIAL ORDER
Social Order is a necessary feature of society. It is a set of linked social structures, social
institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce “normal” ways of
relating and behaving. The concept refers to all those facets of society which remain
relatively constant over time.
• Functionalists argue that social order is achieved because people need each other. As
society moved from traditional to industrial, the development of different social
institutions facilitated the needs of people created social order. These social institutions
interlock and work together to bring equilibrium. Durkheim argued that society has
a “collective conscience” which is a shared collection of beliefs, values, attitudes, and
knowledge.
• Marxists believe there is no such thing as social order. People are unconsciously forced
to conform to the different rules and values set by the elites in society. This is called
false-class consciousness. Working class people are exploited and are unaware of their
exploitation. Marx belied that real social order can only be achieved in a communist
society.
• Interactionists believe that social order is a matter of a shared value system. People
interact with each other through this value system and this maintain order in society.
 SOCIAL CONTROL
• Social control is the control society has over people. It includes the mechanisms created
by society to ensure stability over time. It is the regulation and enforcement of norms. All
societies practice social control.
• The underlying goal of social control is to maintain social order, an arrangement of
practices and behaviors on which society’s members base their daily lives. It therefore
goes hand in hand with deviance and exists to prevent negative deviances, i.e., deviance
which can be damaging to society.
• Social Control is ensured through the use of sanctions, which can be positive as well as
negative.
• Positive sanctions are rewards given for conforming to norms. A promotion at work is a
positive sanction for working hard. Negative sanctions are punishments for violating
norms. Being arrested is a punishment for shoplifting.
• Sociologists also classify sanctions as formal or informal. Formal sanctions are ways
to officially recognize and enforce norm violations, e.g. being fined or imprisoned.
Informal sanctions emerge in face-to-face social interactions.
 AGENTS OF SOCIAL CONTROL
• Social control is ensured in society through the co-operative efforts of
the various social institutions in society. These are considered the
agents of social control.
• The formal agents of social control include the legal system and the
Court.
• The informal agents of social control include the family, religion,
mass media, health care system and education.
• Some agents can be both formal and informal, such as education.
• The agents of social control have changed significant has society
advanced. As society expand, the agents had to change and adapt to
the changes in society.
 LEGAL SYSTEM
• The most powerful of social control. It is the arm of the state and its
sole purpose is to exercise social control. This differs from other
agents of social control which have other major functions, though they
might indirectly help to preserve social order.
• Includes the police and the court which are the physical
representation of the agent
• Enforces certain sanctions and laws
• Offers punishment for the breaking of laws and sanctions
• Needs the help of mass media to express its influence. Hence, it is for
this reason that crime and deviance is reported to a wide audience. It
deters future crime and deviance.
 FAMILY
• First agent of socialization- consider the functionalist
perspective of the family
• Parents socialized their children into what is right and what is
wrong
• Enforces the first means of punishment- a child is punished
because he/ she had done something wrong
• Introduces the concept of sanctions
• Uses religion, mass media and education to enhance its roles
in the shaping of the individual
 RELIGION
• Acts as a means of bringing social changes and shared consensus.
• People are afraid to do things because they fear to anger God.
• Religion attracts morality with simple actions.
• Historically the church was an important institution
• It had influenced the actions of the legal system, family and media, for
example, the ten commandments are incorporated in the legal system
• Works well with the other social control agents.
• Critics have looked at secularization: Religion has lost it significant due
to secularism
 EDUCATION
•Education has been cited as a form of control
•The hidden curriculum enforces control –
consider the Marxist perspective by Bowles and
Gintis
•People spend more time at school (actively) than
in the home for the first 18 years of their life.
•People learnt formal education which
prepares them for work and keep them from
becoming deviants
 MASS MEDIA
• Provides models of discipline for us to copy
• Shapes the public’s opinion on what is good or bad
• Helps other agents to fulfil their role e.g., the family, the legal
system, religion and education
• Educate the public on the consequences of being deviant.
• Criticism: The mass media can be an awful agent of social
control. Music and movies can do more harm to society by
promoting deviance
 HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
•The health care system is a positive agent of
social control
•Encourages people to be responsible about our
health
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