THEORIES OF

DEVIANCE
What is Deviance?
In sociology, deviance
describes an action or
behavior that violates social
norms, including a formally
enacted rule (crime), as well
as informal violations of
social norms (rejecting
folkways).
CRIME
1. PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY

Deviance, in this view, is

the product of disordered,
neurotic, or abnormal
minds.

Personality theories stress

early childhood
experiences.
 Early painful traumas produce
a certain type of abnormal
personality that, in turn,
expresses in antisocial acts, or
deviant behavior.

Psychology theories assume

that this process takes place
independently of the culture,
subculture, or society in which
the personality is raised.
 2. STRUCTURAL-
FUNCTIONALIST
PERSPECTIVE
Various aspects of society contribute
to the operation of the entire
system.
The emphasis is on the role of
culture in providing rules for living.
This approach argues that deviant
behavior plays an active,
constructive role in society by
ultimately helping to cohere
different populations within a
particular society.
 Deviance helps to distinguish between
acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

To Durkheim, deviance strengthens

social bonds by defining moral
boundaries, a shared sense of
acceptable behavior that establishes
right and wrong as well as sanctions for
behaviors that fall outside permissible
bounds.

In other words, identifying and

punishing deviance also identifies what
is considered acceptable.
SOCIAL BONDS
Social bonds were stronger in
preindustrial societies than in
industrial societies Durkheim.

In his view, preindustrial

societies were more conducive
to strong social bonds because
people had to work together for
the good of society.
 Crime is one of the costs
that we pay to live in the
type of society that we
do

This weakening of bonds can

result into anomie (an
uncomfortable and unfamiliar
state of normlessness that
result when shared norms and
STRUCTURAL STRAINS
According to Robert K. Merton,
structural strain theory, anomie
results from inconsistencies between
the culturally approved means to
achieve goals and those actual goal.

There are goal that most people pursue

(Financial and Material wealth, Power,
Status)
There are also socially acceptable
means to achieve these goals (Hard
work and Honesty)
Merton identified 4 deviant
adaptations to strains:

Innovation
Ritualism
Retreatism
Rebellion
 Innovation
Most common type of
deviance

People accept culturally

approved goals but pursue
them in ways that are not
socially approved.
 Ritualism
Ritualism occurs when
someone is unsuccessful at
achieving these goals, yet
continues to adhere to
social expectations for their
achievement.
Ex: Lower-level bureaucrats
 Retreatism
Retreatism occurs when
both culturally approved
goals and means are
rejected.
 Rebellion
When both goals and means,
the response is a rebellion
against those goals and
means.

Rebels substitute
unconventional goals and
means in their place. The may
even form counterculture.