Deviance

Sociologists define deviant behavior as behavior that violates social norms. Norms are expectations or prescriptions that guide people into actions that produce conformity. Norms make social life possible because they make behavior predictable. While members of a society do not have to agree on all the norms of a society, conformity to norms rests upon agreement by most members of society. Therefore, deviant behavior is behavior that most people in a society find offensive or reprehensible. It generates disapproval, punishment, or condemnation of the behavior. Society [Page 737]applies sanctions to deviant behavior to reinforce social norms.

Sociologists conceptualize norms into three categories: folkways, mores, and laws. Folkways are everyday norms based on custom, tradition, and etiquette, such as standards of dress and eating behavior. Violation of these norms does not generate serious condemnation but may cause people to consider the violator as odd. Mores are norms based on important societal morals. Upholding these norms is critical to the fabric of society because their violation threatens the social order. Drug addiction, for example, constitutes a moral violation that generates strong social condemnation. Criminal laws are the most serious norms of a society and are supported by formalized social sanctions. People who violate them are subject to arrest and punishment. A person convicted of robbery, for example, will usually serve a term of imprisonment. While criminal behavior and deviant behavior share some common features, they are not interchangeable terms. Clearly, some behaviors in a society, such as murder, are both criminal behaviors and deviant behaviors. However, not all deviant behaviors are criminal behaviors. Inappropriate eating behavior, for example, is not usually considered criminal behavior.

Explanations of deviant behavior are a central task of the field of sociology. In addition to sociological explanations, scholars have also formulated biological and psychological explanations. Biological, psychological, and sociological theories of deviant behavior try to answer one of two questions: (1) Why are some individuals more likely than others to engage in deviant behavior? and (2) Why do certain behaviors become defined as deviant, and how does society enforce nonconformity to norms? Sociological explanations attempt to answer both questions, while biological and psychological explanations focus on answering the first question.