Sociology Of Deviance Research Articles

The Differential Perceptions of Male and Female Deviants

Abstract Hepburn (1975) stated that the definition of the audience determines whether deviance exists so that societal reaction can take place. However, the audience has not received systematic attention in the literature of the sociology of deviance. The existing literature examines mostly the reactions of official social control agents. Consequently, the purpose of this research is to determine the stereotypes held by a group besides social control agents. Further, the research explores whether the sex of the deviant affects the stereotypes associated with deviant behaviors. The data were gathered from a sample of college students attending a small liberal arts college. Twelve types of deviants representing a wide variety of behavior patterns were evaluated using an Osgood semantic differential scale. The data show that the respondents perceived each type of deviant as having a different stereotype and that the stereotypes did not overlap. Furthermore, the stereotypes were not complex ones, nor all nega...

Robert Merton's Contributions to the Sociology of Deviance

This paper assesses the theoretical and policy significance of one of Robert Merton's most influential contributions to modern sociology, the anomie or “strain” theory of deviant behavior. The enduring theoretical significance of strain theory lies in its sociological completeness. Strain theory preserves the interconnection between culture and social structure which is neglected or defined away by cultural and control theories of deviance. In its emphasis on socially structured contradictions in the relations of consumption, strain theory is also broadly consistent with and complements more conflict-oriented theories of crime and deviance. A major weakness of Merton's argument is its failure to clearly distinguish the etiological significance of the distribution of opportunities (mobility) and the distribution of outcomes (equality), which has led to misinterpretations of the policy implications of strain theory. Ironically, these problems are revealed through a kind of self-criticism that applies the basic tools of Mertonian functional analysis to strain theory. The paper concludes that, ambiguities notwithstanding, for purposes of theoretical integration and substantive insight, strain theory remains an important sociological perspective on deviance, especially when set in the context of Merton's broader sociological legacy.

On "being a prostitute".

The book "On Being a Prostitute" (Perkins & Bennett, 1985) is a valuable contribution to the sociology of deviance and sexual ideologies. However, comprehensive as it is, the book presents certain omissions and flaws, with implications for both is empirical data and theoretical underpinnings. In focusing on male (homoerotic) prostitution, and drawing upon Bennett's (1983) "Twenty-Ten" survey (which forms the main empirical base of that aspect of the book), I argue that certain categories of male prostitutes have been excluded. These omissions, I suggest, were necessary to allow Bennett's hypothesis that most male prostitution derives from economic necessity--a recurrent economic determinism reminiscent of Havelock Ellis (1906/1936), and somewhat contrary to a broader structural approach (see Mathews, 1983).

Structuralism and individualism in deviance theory

In this analytic essay. I shall utilize the framework of Individualism and structuralism in an attempt to realize an overview of theory in the sociology of deviance.1 A major advantage of this framework is that it provides a perspective that sensitizes one to a theory's basic locus of causation and motivation for deviance. This takes us into the question of why some people, but not others, commit deviant acts even though they know those acts will be negatively viewed by others and bring sanctions upon themselves. As I apply this framework to selected major theoretical orientations.2 I shall also note limitations of each theory. In addition. I shall Indicate contrasting practical Implications of deviance theory that have far‐ranging ramifications for social life—Interconnections between our changing political orientations and Individualism and structuralism in deviance theory.

Deviant modes of adaptations to a deviant involvement

Traditionally the sociology of deviance has focused on understanding why deviance occurs. This analysis goes one step further and pursues the issue: Once an individual becomes involved in deviance how does that person (and others aware of it) respond to this contingency. In this paper only deviant modes of adaptations to a deviant involvement will be developed. The main deviant modes of adaptations for the deviant actor are identified as: (1) deviance seeking, (2) deviance maintenance, (3) dazed consciousness, and (4) deviance erasing. The deviant responses, for others aware of the initial deviant act, are identified as: (1) deviance bandwagon and (2) deviance retaliation modes of adaptations. The analysis strongly supports the position that deviance can be viewed as an independent variable in the deviance amplification process.

Conceptual and theoretical issues in the study of deviance

The agenda for theorists of deviance remains as it has been for many years: adequate conceptualization of the phenomenon in combination with theoretical attention to the problems of how deviance is produced (deviance‐making), how and why deviance occurs (theories of deviance) and how and why responses to deviance take particular forms (reactions to deviance). We argue that deviance is best conceptualized as differentially valuated phenomena. Deviance‐making is identified as an important, yet generally neglected area of concern. While we regard theorizing in deviance as relatively stagnant, some trends and issues are identified, with particular attention being given to the recent rise of structural and macro‐level theorizing. Reactions to deviance are discussed under the rubric of a series of generalizations subject to additional empirical assessment and synthesizing. We conclude by noting that attention to the issues identified in our agenda is imperative if the sociology of deviance is to remain a viable...

Sex roles and hedonism among members of “outlaw” motorcycle clubs

While difficult to investigate with standard sociological methods, outlaw motorcycle clubs are of great theoretical and practical interest to the sociology of deviance. Based on interviews with current and former bikers, law enforcers and personal experience, this study examines the roles available to women in this subculture, as well as some of the normative constraints faced by male bikers. Attention is focused on the sex role structure of these groups and the boundaries between areas open to personal choice and those controlled by subcultural prescription. An attempt is made to relate the operation of these structures to the violence and hedonism of the outlaw lifestyle using concepts derived from social exchange theory.

Book reviews

Deviant Behavior: A Text‐Reader in the Sociology of Deviance by Delos Kelly. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984, 846 pp., $15.95 paper. Behavioral Teratology: A Bibliography to the Study of Birth Defeats of the Mind compiled by Ernest L. Abel. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985, XV, 206 pp., $35.00 hardback. Drugs and the Human Body: With Implications for Society by Ken Liska. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986, 363 pp.

The Sociology of Deviance.

The Sociology of Deviance.

The Sociology of Deviance. Edited by M. Michael Rosenberg, Robert A. Stebbins, and Allan Turowetz. St. Martin's Press, 1982. 369 pp. Cloth, $15.95; paper, $9.95

The Sociology of Deviance. Edited by M. Michael Rosenberg, Robert A. Stebbins, and Allan Turowetz. St. Martin's Press, 1982. 369 pp. Cloth, $15.95; paper, $9.95

Competing perspectives on deviance

This paper presents an assessment of the theoretical conflicts and debates within the sociology of deviance over the past two decades. It delineates the epistemological and theoretical confusion that currently characterize the field, and points out some of the dangers that this factionalization entails.

The Sociology of Deviance

The Sociology of Deviance

Book Review: The Sociology of Deviance

Book Review: The Sociology of Deviance

Religious Sects and the Concept of Deviance: The Mormons and the Moonies

Religious sects have been studied sociologically as social movements, minorities and deviant groups. The perspective of the sociology of deviance has principally been adopted in attempts to understand those instances when a sectarian group has aroused public hostility. This is interpreted as a reaction to the activities of the religious movement which have become publicly defined as deviant. The escalation of such a hostile public response towards religious, and other 'deviant', groups has sometimes been accounted for in terms of the so-called deviance amplification model. The model has often been used in conjunction with its conceptual cousin, 'the moral crusade', to account for the arousal and intensification of hostility towards various minorities.l If the origins and escalation of hostility have been accounted for in these ways, the consequences of such an adverse public reaction for a religious movement's development have been examined with only oblique reference to the sociological notion of deviarlce. The long term careers of religious groups, notably those defined as sects, have more commonly been considered in the context of the transition from sect to denomination. Such a transition is said to involve, inter alia, the weaning of the sect away from radical, and by implication deviant, practices. If one takes a societal-reaction approach to deviance, then it follows that the hostile response of the public might be expected to affect the nature and speed of this transition. Both deviance amplification and the sect-to-denomination models can offer important insights into the role of public hostility in the life of a religious movement-but only with due appreciation of their limitations. The aim here is not to dismiss these forms of explanation in favour of new, more radical and esoteric principles, but rather to demonstrate the need to take a broader perspective. Specifically, we suggest the need to look more closely at the internal dynamic of the situation which engenders hostility. Such a situation needs to be seen as one

The Culture of Public Problems: Drinking-Driving and the Symbolic Order.

knows 'drunk driving' is a 'serious' offense. And yet, everyone knows lots of 'drunk drivers' who don't get involved in accidents, don't get caught by the police, and manage to compensate adequately for their 'drunken disability.' Everyone also knows of 'drunk drivers' who have been arrested and gotten off easy. Gusfield's book dissects the conventional wisdom about 'drinking-driving' and examines the paradox of a 'serious' offense that is usually treated lightly by the judiciary and rarely carries social stigma.-Mac Marshall, Science and Medicine A sophisticated and thoughtful critic. . . . Gusfield argues that the 'myth of the killer drunk' is a creation of the 'public culture of law.' . . . Through its dramatic development and condemnation of the anti-social character of the drinking-driver, the public law strengthens the illusion of moral consensus in society and celebrates the virtues of a sober and orderly world.-James D. Orcutt, and Social Research Joseph Gusfield denies neither the role of alcohol in highway accidents nor the need to do something about it. His point is that the research we conduct on drinking-driving and the laws we make to inhibit it tells us more about our moral order than about the effects of drinking-driving itself. Many will object to this conclusion, but none can ignore it. Indeed, the book will put many scientific and legal experts on the defensive as they face Gusfield's massive erudition, pointed analysis and criticism, and powerful argumentation. In The Culture of Public Problems, Gusfield presents the experts, and us, with a masterpiece of sociological reasoning.-Barry Schwartz, American Journal of Sociology This book is truly an outstanding achievement. . . . It is sociology of science, sociology of law, sociology of deviance, and sociology of knowledge. Sociologists generally should find the book of great theoretical interest, and it should stimulate personal reflection on their assumptions about science and the kind of consciousness it creates. They will also find that the book is a delight to read.-William B. Bankston, Forces

Law and Social Control: A Study of Truancy and School Deviance

Although the problem of truancy appears to have made good journalistic copy in the last few years (for example, in such headlines as Truancy Patrol Nets 50[1], it has rarely, if at all, come into the focus of the critical perspectives in the sociology of deviance and the sociology of law that have been established in the last decade or so. In all the readers, research literature and other texts that have been produced across these disciplines, we have only been able to find two references to truancy and school deviance.[2] However, it will be my intention in this paper, following an overview of the range of interventions and scope of the official decisionmaking process that now exists in the truancy field, to consider the issues raised by these developments, and to attempt to situate them in the context of current theoretical perspectives on the nature of law and social control.[3] The reasons for the neglect of truancy may perhaps be related to a number of factors: it may be less attractive as a research topic than other more exotic and more publicly visible forms of deviance; prosecutions of parents for the non-attendance of their children under s.39 of the 1944 Education Act are undertaken by the local education authority and not the police: as such, they may be comparatively few and appear to carry little weight. As far as juvenile court proceedings are concerned, truants need not even have committed an offence care proceedings under s. 1(2)(e) of the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act have to be initiated: as such, truancy cases can appear to be of rather marginal interest to the workings of the judicial process. Despite all this, recent studies of the juvenile justice system, in both England and Wales and Scotland,[4] have illustrated the importance attached to the issue of truancy, by various parties to the decision-making processes. Nonetheless, the net effect has been that truancy research has become very much the poor relation of the criminological and socio-legal field: in

The Social Psychology of Deviance: Toward a Reconciliation With Social Structure

The emergence of the labeling perspective in the early 1960s also signaled the invention of a new field, the sociology of deviance, which carried strong links to imagery from social psychology. Various aspects of many kinds of devi­ ance, from crime to political rebellion to homosexuality, seemed to be freshly organized by the perspective, with its reliance on the concept of stigma and related stress on the importance of status in negotiating deviant labels. These and related ideas have been much used and evaluated during the past six to ten years. The relative lack of innovation in theory during this period can be construed as the likely byproduct of normal science-namely, a broad and positive attempt to assess the conceptual value of the dominant paradigm: labeling. In agreement with Gouldner's (1968), Gove's (1975), and Hirschi's (1975) critiques, recent research suggests that the labeling perspective is, indeed, a conceptual suit ill-fitting an empirical body. First, it is no longer clear that categorizing all forms of nonconformities as deviance is useful to the extent anticipated by the labeling perspective. Second, by severing ties to long-

Female sexual deviance: A theoretical and empirical analysis

Societal analysis of sex role typing, attribution theory in social psychology, and reaction theory in the sociology of deviance provide theoretical convergences that enable us to focus on career contingencies in the drift toward deviance. In this paper we apply these concepts to a theory of sexual labeling by identifying six early sexual experiences that are empirically shown to shape deviant sexuality in adult women. The responses to a standardized protocol were obtained for two large samples of deviant adult women. The results are based on extensive analysis that controlled for race and economic status (ES) while an adolescent. The findings reinforce previous conjectures and hypotheses about the influential factors in the drift towards female sexual deviance.

Norms, definitions, and deviance: Comment on Meier

Meier's conceptualization and research strategy are sound and help move us toward the goal of clarifying central concepts in the sociology of deviance. His presentation of social learning theory and my treatment of deviance and norms, however, is inaccurate.

The concept norm: Enduring but indefensible

As rightly argued by Meier in this issue, the concept norm anchors the study of deviance in sociology's mainstream. Indeed, the sociology of deviance is now a strategic arena for a critical examination of normative notions, if only because the “reactive” conception of deviance, one of three distinct components of the labeling perspective (Gibbs, 1981), seemingly rejects the concept norm. A survey of the shortcomings and merits of the conception (Gibbs, 1981) suggests some problems with the concept norm. Meier's commentary takes that direction, but he does not propose defensible solutions to the problems.