Chapter 19

Deviant Behavior and Social Reaction

Chapter Outline

• The Violation of Norms• Reactions to Norm Violations• Labeling and Secondary Deviance• Formal Social Controls

Deviant Behavior

• Behavior that violates the norms that apply in a given situation.

• Includes:– Criminal activity– Cheating– Substance use or abuse– Fraud and Delinquent behavior– Behavior considered symptomatic of a

mental illness

Norms

• Whether a behavior is deviant or not depends on the norms for behavior in the situation in which it occurs.

• Types of Norms– Local and Group norms– Subcultural norms– Societal norms

Anomie Theory

• Suggests deviance arises when people striving to achieve culturally valued goals find they do not have any legitimate way to attain these goals.

• Legitimate means are acceptable ways of striving for goals.

• A person who strives to attain a legitimate goal but is denied access to legitimate means will experience anomie.

Four Responses to Anomie

• Individual may reject the goals, and give up trying to achieve success, but continue to conform to social norms.

• The individual might reject both the goals and the means, withdrawing from active participation in society by retreatism.

Four Responses to Anomie

• One might remain committed to the goals but turn to illegal ways of achieving success.

• One might attempt to overthrow the existing system and create different goals and means through rebellion.

Goal Achievement

• Goal achievement requires access to two structures:– Learning structure

• An environment in which an individual can learn the information and skills required.

– Opportunity structure• An environment in which the individual has

opportunities to play a role, which usually requires the assistance of those in complimentary roles.

General Strain Theory

• Proposes that emotion connects the experience of strain with deviant behavior.

• Strain elicits negative affective states (frustration, anger, or fear) that create the motivation to act.

Control Theory

• According to this theory social ties influence our tendency to engage in deviant behavior.

• This creates a bond between the individual and the other persons.

Four Components of Social Bonds

1. Attachment

2. Commitment to long-term educational and occupational goals.

3. Involvement

4. Belief - a respect for the law and for person in positions of authority.

Differential Association Theory

• Argues that although the law provides a uniform standard for deviance, one group may define a behavior as deviant, whereas another defines it as desirable.

• Principle of deviant association states that a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of the law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law.

Routine Activities Perspective

• Focuses on how behaviors emerge from the routines of everyday life.

• Deviant behavior requires the convergence of the elements necessary for the behavior to occur.

• This perspective focuses on the contributions of situations to behavior.

Labeling Theory

• The view that reactions to a norm violation are a critical element in deviance.

• Only after an act is discovered and labeled “deviant” is the act recognized as such.

Rule Breaking

• Behavior that violates norms.• People react to isolated incidents of unusual

behavior in four ways– Denial– Normalization– Making excuses– Balancing - recognizing it as a violation but

de-emphasizing it’s significance.

Determinants of Reactions to Rule Breaking

• Actor Characteristics– People are more tolerant of rule breaking

by family members than by strangers.– People are more tolerant of rule breaking

by people who make positive contributions in other ways.

Determinants of Reactions to Rule Breaking

• Audience Characteristics– Members of cohesive groups are more

likely to reward a member who punished a deviant person than members of groups with low cohesion.

– Social identity theory suggests that the group membership of the deviant person and the audience both influence reactions.

Determinants of Reactions to Rule Breaking

• Situational Characteristics– The definition of the situation in which the

behavior occurs. –Where did it occur?–How did others react?

Consequences of Labeling

1. Institutionalization of Deviance• The process by which members of a

group come to expect deviance by another member over time.

2. Backtracking• Even when the audience reacts favorably

to a rule violation, the actor may decide to discontinue the behavior.

Consequences of Labeling

3. Effective social Control • When others threaten to end their

associate with an actor who continues to engage in deviance.

4. Unanticipated Deviance• Negative reactions by an audience may

produce further deviance.

Consequences of Labeling

• Labeling leads members of an audience to change their perceptions and behavior toward the actor. – If they withdraw from the actor they may

create a self-fulfilling prophecy and elicit the behavior they expected from the actor.

• Labeling causes the actor to define the self as deviant.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

• When members of an audience behave toward a person according to a label and cause the person to respond in ways that confirm the label.

Secondary Deviance

• When a person engages increasingly in deviant behavior as an adjustment to others’ reactions.

Deviant Subculture

• A group of people whose norms encourage participation in the deviance and who regard positively those who engage in it.

Formal Social Controls

• Agencies given responsibly for dealing with violations of rules or laws.– The criminal justice system– Juvenile justice system– Mental health professionals, commitment

procedures and institutions for the mentally ill

Functions of Labeling

• Three functions of labeling a perosn as deviant– Provide concrete examples of deviant

behavior.– Provide scapegoats for the release of

tensions.– Unify the group or society.

Deterrence Hypotheses

• Suggests that the arrest and punishment of some individuals for violations of the law deters others persons from committing the same violations.

Long-Term Effects of Formal Labeling

• Most families do not stigmatize relatives following their release from mental hospitals.

• Most employers do not stigmatize ex-patients who have a competent work record.

• Employers may stigmatize minority men with prison records.

• Stigma may have long-term effects on the ex-deviant's psychological well-being.