Deviance

Deviance
Deviance: Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. However, different culture defines deviance differently. Same behavior can be defined as conformity for some culture but in contrast defined as obedience for other culture. * Example: Alcoholism (some society look it as an acceptable behavior but some society (Islamic) look it as deviance.
Deviance involves the violation of group norms, which may or may not be formalized into law. These are carried out through both informal and formal social control. 1. Informal social control: Social control that is carried out casually by ordinary people. * Informally control people of society by norms. * Punishment given by society * Example: go back late will scolded by parents. 2. Formal social control: Social control that is carried out by authorized agents such as police officers, judges. * Govern by law. * Everything wrote in black and white. * Punishment given by law if someone violates the written law. * Example: Murderer will be jailed.
There are 3 major theoretical approaches defined the term of deviance:

Structural-Functional approach emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are work together to maintain its stability. Functionalists always compare the society to human body organism which need to work together to ensure our body can function well. According to functionalist, deviance is a common part of human existence, with positive as well as negative consequence for social stability. Deviance helps to define the limits of proper behavior. In Emile Durkheim’s view, he views every deviance act as a function and sees every function in every crime. 1) Durkheim’s Basic Insight – Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
The punishments established help to define acceptable behavior and thus contribute to stability. There can be no good without evil and no justice without crime. If there is no one commits crime, we do not know what behavior is right or wrong. Besides, law will become useless when there is no crimes happen. The law makers and law breaker will lost their role and this can’t maintain the social stability. 2) Durkheim’s Basic Insight- Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries.
Deviance can make us draw a boundary between right and wrong and know what moral behavior is, what immoral behavior is. Crime is important in set up moral boundary .It set up a guideline that tells us what we can do or what we cannot do. For example, if a person steal thing in a shop, then he get caught by the police, so society will realize that stealing is wrong. 3) Durkheim’s Basic Insight- Responding to deviance brings people together.
People typically react to serious deviance with shared outrage. Deviance can tie society together to fight against deviance. People want to live in a peaceful society so they will cooperate with each other to maintain peace in their society. For example, when someone commits crime in your company, you will cooperate with your subordinate to find his evidence, and then report to the authorities. 4) Durkheim’s Basic Insight- Deviance encourages social change.
Deviance also encourages social change. Deviant people push a society’s moral boundaries and people attempts to create a new social structure because we want our life better and improvement of our life. When we know deviance is bad, we create law and also punishments to those people who are commit deviance in the society. We try to change when deviance appear in our society.

The social-conflict approach view that social behavior is the best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or allocations of resources. Conflict theory point out that people with power protect their own interests and define deviance to suit their own needs. When we talk about conflict theory, we always think about Karl Marx.
He states that deviance is the result from social inequality. He argues that, under the capitalism, it is the conflict between two groups which are upper class and lower class in society. The upper class always defines lower class as deviance. People with little power are more likely to be labeled as deviant because people with more power will govern the society and define an act as deviance or not. For example, some country state poverty as a deviance and the poor people are not welcoming.
Besides, we hard to judge people with high power as deviance. When commit deviance, people with more power can skip from punishment as they have resources for example money or political representation. For example, people can skip from law punishment if they can hire a good lawyer with high spent to help them.
Another than that, people with high power always look clean. This is because some of them are using their resources for example money to cover their misbehavior. For example, many artists are using money to cover up their scandal.
In conflict theory point, it is not given the equal chance for lower class as they are enjoy unequal opportunity and make them commit deviance because upper class is always controlling the definition of deviance.

The symbolic-interaction approach generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction to explain society as a whole. The emphasis on everyday behavior is the focus of the symbolic-interaction approach.
Sutherland’s Differential Association explain why people commit deviant acts. I. Deviant behavior is learned.
We are not born to be a criminal but are learn to become a deviant. II. Frequency of association is central to the development of deviance.
When we more associate with a criminal, we will more likely to become a criminal.
Eg: influence by peer group. When you mix with your friends who are drug abuse, you are more likely to influence by them. III. If associates are prone to violation of norms, then one is also more likely to take part.
Eg: Family is alcoholic drinker, you also. IV. Conformity gain rewards while the lack of it gain punishment.
If you done something conform to social norms you can gain rewards. However if you deviance the social norms, you will gain punishment.
Eg: gain good result is a good student, will gain compliment. Gain poor result is a lazy student, scolded by teacher and parents.