Deviance, crime and social control

Sociology · Structure, order and change. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Deviance is behaviour that breaks the norms of a group; crime is deviance that breaks the law. What counts as deviant varies between societies and over time.

Sociological theories look for causes in society, not in the body or mind of the offender (as Lombroso's 'born criminal' did). Durkheim linked deviance to anomie, a weakening of norms, and said some crime is normal and even useful. Merton placed the cause in the gap between goals and means. Sutherland said crime is learned. Labelling theory asks who gets called deviant and what the label does to them.

Social control is the set of means by which society secures conformity.

Rules to remember

Durkheim: anomie = normlessness; crime marks moral boundaries and can bring change.
Merton's strain theory, five adaptations: conformity (goals +, means +), innovation (goals +, means −), ritualism (goals −, means +), retreatism (goals −, means −), rebellion (replaces both).
Differential association (Edwin Sutherland): criminal behaviour is learned in intimate groups.
Labelling: Howard Becker, 'Outsiders' (1963); Edwin Lemert, primary deviance (the first act) and secondary deviance (after the label is accepted).
Formal control: police, courts, prisons, written rules. Informal control: family, neighbours, gossip, ridicule, praise.
Sanctions are positive (rewards) or negative (punishments), and formal or informal.
Durkheim: mechanical solidarity goes with repressive law; organic solidarity with restitutive law.

Common mistake

In Merton's scheme, innovation does not mean something good. It means accepting society's goal while using illegitimate means, so theft and fraud are 'innovation'.

Worked example

A man has lost interest in success and has also stopped working; he lives on the street as a drug addict. Which of Merton's adaptations is this?

Check the cultural goal of success: he rejects it.
Check the approved means, such as steady work: he rejects these too.
He does not offer new goals or means in their place, so it is not rebellion.
Rejecting both goals and means without replacing them is retreatism.

Answer: Retreatism.

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