Chapter 7, Deviance, Conformity and

Social Control

 The Role of Context in Defining Deviance

 Deviance: The Violation of Norms
 Defining Deviance
 Structural Strain Theory
 Differential Association Theory
 Factors that Shape U.S. and Chinese Systems
of Social Control
The Nature of Deviance

1. Almost any behavior or appearance can

qualify as deviant under the right
circumstances.
2. Conceptions of what is deviant may vary over
time and place.
Deviance Is A Complex Concept

 Definitions of deviance change over time and

place.
 Not everyone who commits a deviant act is
caught and not everyone who is punished
committed the crime.
 Rule makers, rule enforcers and the larger
social audience affect how behaviors or
appearances are defined as deviant.
Deviance and Society

Deviance is important to society for two reasons:

1. Ritual for identifying and exposing
wrongdoing, determining a punishment,
and carrying it out, binds together the
members of a group.
2. Deviance is useful in making necessary
changes and preparing people for change.
Labeling Theory

For every rule a social group creates, four

categories of people exist:
1. Conformists
2. Pure deviants
3. Secret deviants
4. Falsely accused
Labeling Theory: 2 Assumptions

 Rules are socially constructed.

 Those rules are not enforced uniformly or
consistently.
Structural Strain

Three factors:
1. Culturally valued goals defined as legitimate
for all members of society.
2. Norms that specify the legitimate means of
achieving these goals.
3. The actual number of legitimate opportunities
available to people to achieve the culturally
valued goals.
Responses to Structural Strain

 Conformity
 Innovation
 Ritualism
 Retreatism
 Rebellion
Traits of the Chinese Civilization

 Confucian system of ethics - emphasizes

order, justice, harmony, personal virtue and
obligation, devotion to family and respect for
tradition, age and authority.
 System of family responsibility making each
member responsible for the conduct of other
family members.
Traits of the Chinese Civilization

 Imperial tradition gives rulers supreme

authority over the lives of the people.
 No regime in China has ever relinquished its
power with out first resorting to bloodshed.