12/9/2023 0 Comments History of deviancyIt is probable that most deviant behavior in the normative sense is produced by personalities that are clinically normal and that most behavior that is symptomatic of personality defect or mental illness does not violate normative expectations. However, behavior is deviant in the first, or normative, sense because it departs from the normative rules of some social system, whereas behavior is pathological because it proceeds from a sick, damaged, or defective personality. For sociological purposes deviance is seldom defined exclusively in terms of psychopathology, mental illness, or personality dis-organization, although it is commonly assumed that these phenomena are at least included within the scope of deviance. However various the definitions and usages, they seem to have in common the notion of something that is, from some point of view, less “good” or “desirable,” and not merely less frequent. There is fair consensus that “deviant behavior” does not mean departure from some statistical norm. It is important to note that although deviance, in this sense, and conformity are “opposites,” they represent the poles within the same dimension of variation therefore, a general theory of the one must comprehend the other. Legal norms are then but one type of norm whose violation constitutes deviant behavior. However, normative rules are inherent in the nature of all social systems, whether they be friendship groups, engaged couples, families, work teams, factories, or national societies. Crime is the prototype of deviance in this sense, and theory and research in deviant behavior have been concerned overwhelmingly with crime. This is the most common usage of the term and the sense in which it will be used here. Deviant behavior is behavior that violates the normative rules, understandings, or expectations of social systems. Turning first to the concept of deviant behavior, we must distinguish among the several definitions of the term, which are discussed below.īehavior that violates norms. However, they point to a number of distinctions that sociology must take into account.Ĭoncept of deviance. True, there is no consensus on the meaning of these terms, and they are, indeed, burdened with value connotations. Such nihilism and counsel of despair are not justified. According to this view, these terms have no scientific value and no legitimate status as sociological concepts. In fact, it has been suggested that they are not different, that along with “social problems*’ and the somewhat outmoded “social pathology,” they signify only a potpourri of conditions that are considered undesirable from the standpoint of the observer’s values, conditions that vary at different times and with different observers. Both “deviant behavior” and “social disorganization” have been variously defined, but there have been few efforts to distinguish between the two concepts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |