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DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSIN-MA
COURSE TITLE: SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR
COURSE CODE: SOC 492
LECTURER: ZAKARIYYA, M.
LECTURE NOTE 1
TOPIC: THE CONCEPT OF DEVIANCE
INTRODUCTION
Before we define deviance, we need to see the meaning of social norms. This is because, norms are basic to the definition and the study of deviance (the potentiality for deviance exists within the confines of every norm or rule). The line of how and when behavior is to be interpreted as deviant behavior or to be tolerated as conformity is constantly shifting according to public views and the views of various groups in relation to the norm of such social setting WHAT IS A SOCIAL NORM? Social norm: is a way of thinking, feeling, or behaving, generally considered right or proper within a (sub) culture. It is also, a rule, value or standard shared by members of a social group and anchored in that group membership as ideal way of doing things. This implies how group members should or ought to think, perceive, feel or behave in a given circumstance. Therefore, for the social system to operate healthy, human social relations and behavior should be regulated and this regulation is measured through social norms. WHO IS DEVIANT? A Deviant person is a person who engages in any behavior that is /are not accepted by the norms and values of a given social group or society. Someone who engaged in what is termed as immoral or inappropriate according to the prescription of norms and values of a given society is called a deviant. Therefore, a deviant person is someone who exhibit any behavior that negates the approved standard rules or social norms in a given social setting. Deviant status arises only as a result of a variety or combination of acts and statuses. These include:
- That the action is regarded as serious, threatening to other persons, group or to the society.
- That there is an official reaction in the form of penal sanction for the act’s committed.
- That it is repeated with some consistency or frequency or that it is seen as a threat if repeated.
- That it affects the entire “moral character” of the person, not just a phase of his being.
- That it is sometimes geographical and hence not generally peculiar to a particular place.
- That the language accommodates the identification of the individual as one who commits or has committed certain acts or closes of acts that the social norms frowns. Generally, if a person satisfies the above acts and statuses, he/she could be successfully labelled as a deviant. DEFINATION OF DEVIENCE In a layman definition, deviance literally means: to move away or stray from a set of standards in society. These set of standards is what is literally referred to as norms. Deviance, then, constitutes the active violation of socially constructed norms. It refers to the act of moving away from social norms in any social setting or circumstances.
However, in understanding deviance, critical questions like: the precise nature of the norms violated, who supports and label them, and the degree of societal reaction to their violation among others represents a major problem in the definition of deviance. Some people regard certain behavior as deviant; others don’t. Thus, it is very difficult to give a universal definition to the concept of deviance. In trying to overcome the problem above, the mainstream sociologists provide four (4) major definitions of Deviance such as: absolutist, statistical, labeling and power definitions. ABSOLUTIST DEFINITION This definition viewed social rules as “absolute, clear and obvious to all members of a society in all situations”. This absolutist or arbitrary conception of deviance assumed that the basic norms of a society are obvious and that its members are in general agreement upon what constitutes deviance because the norms and values of society are explicit and doing otherwise constitutes deviance. Everyone is presumed to know how to act according to universally held values; violations of these norms constitute deviance and the possibility of some types of sanction is incurred. The absolutist definition of deviance is widely supported today, particularly by psychiatrists and psychologists who regarded deviance in terms of a “medical model”, as a form of “sickness”. Crime, mental disorder, suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction, and so on become absolutes much as diseases such as cancer, and they are universal expressions of individual maladjustment regardless of differences in cultural and sub cultural norms. Social differentiation, cultural differences and change in norms are generally ignored. In general, absolutists believed that deviance resides in the very nature of an act and is wrong at all times and in all places. For example, abortion is always wrong. For absolutists, abortion is an unacceptable act perhaps because they believe that life begins at birth. Anyone that commit abortion under any circumstances has deviated and hence, deviance. Absolutists’ definition of deviance has its own limitations. Basically, it ignores cultural differences across the globe. STATISTICAL DEFINITION Another way to define deviance is a statistical process that views deviance as variations or departures from “average’ norms of behavior. This approach assumes that whatever it is that “most” people do is the “correct” way. This definition faces some immediate difficulties because it can lead to some confusing conclusions since the minority could always be defined as deviants. This model applies the assumption that ‘What the majority is doing is normal behavior whereas those minority acts remain deviant behaviors’. Thus, deviance is seen as the violation of norms and values of the greater part of a society. For this definition, deviance is a question of number of actors. For example, in a given social groups where the majority of its members are homosexuals, drinkers, and marijuana users, those minorities or few members who are heterosexuals, don’t drink alcohol and have never used marijuana are considered to be deviant. Statistical definition would tell us “what is” according to the view of majority behaviour.it is criticized of over-generalization of behaviour and not taking cognizant of the act but the actors. LABELING DEFINITION A well-known definition of deviance is that of Howard Becker, who terms it the consequence of the application of rules and sanctions by others to an “offender”. The deviant is the person to whom the label “deviant” has been successfully applied and the deviant behavior is the behavior that people so label. In Becker’s definition acts can be identified as deviant only in reference to the reactions to the acts through the labeling of a person as deviant by society and its agents of social control. An act that constitutes deviant behavior must first be known to others and then be reacted to by formal agencies of social control. According to this model, deviance is, therefore, lodged in the eyes of the beholder rather than in the act itself. Hence, deviance is found outside of the act of the deviant person and thus, a social audience. The
for the other simply because there are norm variations. Thus, what is normal for the Hausa society may not be normal for Igbo society. For example, taking alcohol drinking during wedding ceremony is a serious crime in Hausas whereas it is a normal behavior within the Igbos. THE RELATIVITY OF DEVIANCE IN TERMS OF TIME It is obvious that society is dynamic in its nature. It changes across time. Hence, social norms also change along with the needs and demands of the society. In other words, as far as society changes across time, norms and value (which are basic elements of a given culture) also change. This, in turn, reveals that the change in norms across time brings about the changes in the attitude towards these norms. Thus, deviance varies. For example, termination of marital life (divorce) regardless of adultery was a serious deviant act at some few decades ago among the Yorubas in our country; but, today it becoming a normal act that can be ended up without any problem. THE RELATIVITY OF DEVIANCE IN TERMS OF PLACE Deviance varies from place to place. This means that the place where an act has been taken place determines whether the act is deviant or normal. For example, killing a person is usually a wrong act. But, it will be rewardable if it is taken place at the battle field. Still, it can be a serious crime if it occurs at someone’s home for the purpose of revenge. THE RELATIVITY OF DEVIANCE IN TERMS OF SOCIAL GROUP Social groups within a society have their own distinctive norms. For example, having two or more wives is a prescribed deed in Muslim communities of the world. However, this is a serious and intolerable behavior in real Orthodox Christians of the world. It is due to the fact that the norms and values that govern the behavior of Muslims social group are inherently different from that of the Orthodox Christians social group. THE RELATIVITY OF DEVIANCE IN TERMS OF SOCIAL SITUATION Social norms vary from one social situation to the other. So, deviation from those varying social norms also varies across different social situations. This indicates that there are conditions in which social norms can be violated for the sake of personal safety. For example, if someone kills a person for self-defending purpose, it is both non-deviant and non-criminal act while, an armed robber kills a person is seen as a deviant act. In a nutshell, despite deviance been a relative act or subjective social behavior, which depends on time, place, society, group and situation. It can also be seen in a positive direction which brings a new equilibrium while a negative direction that distorts the smooth running of a social system. DIRECTIONS OF DEVIANCE Deviation from the normal way of behaving may be occurred either to the positive or the negative direction. Those behaviors which deviate from the normal to the negative direction are known as negative deviance, whereas those which are positive achievements and positive actions beyond the normal (average) behavior are known as positive deviance. Crime, insanity, adultery, theft and other similar behaviors are good examples of negative deviations while those positive deviations are manifested by such behaviors as altruism, charisma, innovation, and so forth. POSITIVE DEVIANCE Positive deviance has been variously defined in the literature (Kelly, 2002). Many scholars have identified the following ideal types of behaviors as positive deviance: altruism, charisma, innovation, supra-conformity behaviors, innate characteristics and ex-deviant. People will publicly evaluate those behaviours (considered positive actions) and/or actors in a superior sense; and these behaviors can be categorized under one of the following types:
a. Altruism: includes saints and good neighbors, self-sacrificing heroes, Congressional Medal of Honor winners, etc. It involves an act undertaken voluntarily to assist others persons or other people without any expectations of reward. b. Charisma: Some of the examples of charismatic individuals include Gandhi, religious leaders in general, Emperor Tewodrous II, Mandela, etc. Charismatic people have extra-qualities that force followers or other people to be willing to obey their leadership. c. Innovation: This type of deviance is described by such behaviour as noble prize winners, innovative or creative figures (such as Freud, and Darwin), reformers, etc. Innovation refers to the combination of already existing cultural elements in a novel manner, or the modifying of already existing cultural elements to produce a new one. Innovations are fundamental factors for social change in a society. d. Innate characteristics: Scholars have come to an agreement on the idea that certain actions or actors, that are positive deviance or deviants, are at least partially resulted in innate characteristics. Some examples of this type are extremely beautiful woman, superstar athlete, movie stars and intelligent. In addition, these characteristics are culturally defined, for example, intelligence and attractiveness are also culturally defined. e. The Ex-deviant: The previously stigmatized persons, labeled in a negative fashion that manage to convert to a status of normative person, is essentially a novel way to think of a positive deviant. Examples include de-stigmatization (an ex-convict) and transcendence (an accomplished person with a physically disability). To sum up, this analogy will hopefully help us clarify the concept of positive deviance. However, in nearly all literatures on deviance, it is the negative deviation that gains more attention, particularly due to its negative impact on the normative standards of the society. As a result, positive deviance has been found given only little attention. Thus, the remaining major portions of this course (SOC 492) will totally concerned itself with the issue of negative deviation alone. Therefore, you are advised to bear in mind that Sociology of Deviance behaviour is often focused on those behaviors which deviate from the normal to the negative direction. NEGATIVE DEVIANCE Several sociologists believed that deviance is the violation of social norms which are behavioral codes or prescriptions that guide people into actions and self- presentations conforming to socially acceptability. They further explain that norms are not expected to be agreed upon by every member of the social group, but a good majority should agree on them. These norms of a society can be classified into two categories: mores and folkways. Folkway norms are more simple day-to-day standards based on customs, traditions, and etiquette while mores are norms established upon broad societal morals which commands severe sanctions. Most folkways are merely frowned at. For example, interracial marriage, lack of greeting of elders and so on are not necessary demanding grieve sanction. In the other hand, Violations of mores of a given society are supported by codified sanctions and serious social condemnation. Similarly, the breaches of those codified laws leads to arrest and punishment. FUNCTIONS AND DYSFUNCTIONS OF DEVIANCE According to functionalist school, deviance is both functional and dysfunctional to the social system within which it occurs. Let us begin our discussion with the dysfunction it brings to the society at large. DYSFUNCTIONS OF DEVIANCE a. Dysfunctions of deviance, as to sociologists, are the negative or disruptive consequences of deviance. Obviously, several societies can tolerate a good deal of deviance without serious results. However, resistant
d. Deviance encourages social change. Russ Long (2008) explains that deviance is an important element of social change since it offers alternative definitions to what is right. Sometimes the alternatives become acceptable and it may even become the dominant view. Durkheim claimed that today’s deviance might well become tomorrow’s morality. Therefore, deviance brings about social change either through revolutionary actions against or amendment on the existing more rules of a society. Deviance is thus, a catalyst for a social change. A repeated deviance indicating that the existing social system is not functioning properly. This, in turn, forces social change to be realized. Others include: e. Deviance also provides job opportunities. It is due to the persistence of deviant behaviors within a given society that forced people to establish several social controlling institutions and organizations, no guard will stand by the gate of a bank if there are no deviants in a society. The layman considers that social deviation is bad by nature: social deviation weakens the social system and has no positive values. Although deviation often interferes with the willingness of person to take part in an ongoing activity and may seriously interfere with the continued dedication of the “rules” of society among its members, it is incorrect to assume that deviation is naturally bad and that it has no positive functions. Several functions of deviance may be citied. f. Many deviations develop form and are other consequences of legitimate and conventional controls. The rules and function of the social systems of a society create both deviation and non-deviation: both are normal in a society. As Durkheim pointed out, deviations are not necessarily “as bad” or at least “abnormal” Rather, they are normal within the context of society. According to Durkheim, crime is an integral part of all” health societies” since society makes that laws that constitute crimes. Thus, the conformist and the deviant are creation of the same culture, inventions of the same imaginations. g. The recognition of “deviations’ sets the outer limits of rules or norms, limits beyond which the group will not tolerate violation. Thus, the recognition of deviation indicates how much diversity can be permitted before the group loses its identity. Agents of social control help to define these limits, as in criminal trials and in psychiatric counseling. Each time that groups in power move to ensure a deviant in the form of what has been called “degradation ceremonies” as in the criminal trial the norms that have been violated are sharpened and the limits of rule toleration reinstated. h. A certain amount of deviance can well serve as a “safety valve” for persons and thus prevents excessive discontent and alleviates some of the strain on social institutions. It might be argued, for example, that prostitution serves as a safety valve without threatening the institution of the family and without involving emotional attachments outside of marriage that might result from premarital or extramarital relations. i. Deviance may well serve as a signal or warning of some basic defect within the social organization. Through the commission of the deviant act, the deviant helps to expose the inadequacies or defects of the system. Examples, school truants and runaway and disturbances within correctional institutions reveal unsuspected causes of discontent and leads to changes that enhance efficiency and moral. In conclusion, despite the numerous functions of deviant behaviour, its dysfunctions are so grief that it disrupts the social balancing of a society.
