What is Deviance?

The concept of deviance is defined as violation of cultural norms of a group or all of society. Since cultural norms affect such a wide range of human activities, the concept of deviance is correspondingly broad. The most obvious and familiar type of deviance is crime - the violation of cultural norms that have been formally enacted into criminal law. Criminal deviance is itself quite variable in content, from minor offenses such as traffic violations to serious crimes such as homicide and rape. Closely related to crime is juvenile delinquency — the violation of legal standards by children or adolescents.

Deviance is not limited to crime, however. It includes many other types of nonconformity, from the mild to the extreme, such as left-handedness, boastfulness, and Mohawk hairstyles, as well as pacifism, homosexuality, and mental illness. Industrial societies contain a wide range of subcultures that display distinctive attitudes, appearance, and behaviour. Consequently, to those who conform to society's dominant cultural standards, artists, homeless people, and members of various ethnic minorities may seem deviant. In addition, the poor - whose lack of financial resources makes conforming to many conventional middleclass patterns of life difficulty - are also subject to definition as deviant. Physical traits, too, may be the basis of deviance, as members of racial minorities in America know well. Men with many highly visible tatoos on their body may be seen as deviant, as are women with any tatoo at all. Even being unusually tall or short, or grossly fat or exceedingly thin, may be the basis of deviance. Physical disabilities are yet another reason for being seen by others as deviant.

Deviance, therefore, is based on any dimension of difference that is considered to be significant and provokes a negative reaction that serves to make the deviant person an outsider. In addition to the experience of social isolation, deviance is subject to social control, by which others attempt to bring deviant people back into line. Like deviance itself, social control can take many forms. Socialization is a complex process of social control in which family, peer groups, and the mass media attempt to influence our attitudes and behaviour. A more formal type of social control is the criminal justice system — the formal process by which society reacts to alleged violations of the law through the use of police, courts, and punishment. Social control does not have to take the form of a negative response to conformity. Praise from parents, high grades at school, laudatory mention in newspapers and other mass media, and positive recognition from officials in the local community are all forms of social control that serve to encourage conformity to conventional patterns of thought and behaviour.

Exercise 7. Choose the right answer.

1. What is the most obvious and familiar type of deviance?

a) traffic violation; b) homicide;

c) minor offense; d) crime.

2. What is deviance based on?

a) industrial societies; b) cultural standards;

c) dimension of difference; d) negative reaction.

3. What is deviance subject to?

a) social control; b) social isolation;

c) social difference; d) social reaction.

4. What is a complex process of social control?

a) deviance; b) socialization;

c) nonconformity; d) isolation.

5. To what does social control not have to take the form of a negative response?

a) conformity; b) nonconformity;

c) punishment; d) positive recognition.

Exercise 8. Fill in the gaps using the words given below, and translate the sentences into Russian.

conform culture reacts norms communities

reaction social control violate socialization negative

1. Deviance describes actions or behaviors that … social norms. 2. … are rules and expectations by which members of society are conventionally guided. 3. Deviance is a failure to … to norms. 4. Social norms are different in one … as opposed to another. 5. Deviance can be observed by the … social reaction of others towards these phenomena. 6. Criminal behavior, such as theft, can be deviant, but other crimes attract little or no social …. 7. Deviance and social norms vary among societies, …, and times. 8. The study of deviance can be divided into the study of why people violate laws or norms and the study of how society …. 9. … is important in producing conformity to social rules and it is when this conformity is broken that deviance occurs. 10. … theory focuses on how deviants are attached, or not, to common value systems and what situations break people’s commitment to these values.

Exercise 9. Match the verbs on the left with the nouns on the right. Make up sentences with the phrases you’ve got.

1. to refer to	a) methods;
2. to have	b) to do smth;
3. to adopt	c) an effort;
4. to become	d) in charge of;
5. to make	e) a document;
6. to be built	f) the advantages of;
7. to provide	g) on sand;
8. to illustrate	h) available;
9. to be	i) control over the affairs;
10. to be bound	j) guidance;

WRITING AND COMMUNICATION

Exercise 10. Write an essay on the given topics.

1. Deviance as a violation of social norms.

2. Functions of deviance.