Deviance and Control

Deviance is a highly contested concept in the social sciences and beyond. As with most scholarly topics, the research on deviance includes many competing perspectives and shifting historical frameworks that can generally be divided into two main camps: (1) positivism, or consensus theories; and (2) social constructionism, or conflict theories. The former approach can be described as conservative (conserving tradition) and is based on the premise that there is a shared understanding in society about social rules or norms, what constitutes the violation of norms, and how violations should be punished and regulated. Conflict theories are based on the premise that there is no underlying agreement about what constitutes norms or violation of norms, and that deviance is socially constructed based on the interests of those who hold or exercise power in society.

Most broadly, deviance can be defined as any behavior that violates a social norm or a rule of what constitutes socially acceptable behavior. Deviance and conformity are forms of response individuals and groups make to real or imagined pressures or threats. Norms and laws are key elements of social control used to maintain order and conformity. Rules about deviance and conformity vary dramatically across cultures and over time, which is why most contemporary scholarship on deviance tends to focus on the social bases, process, rules, and responses to deviance constructionism. Social scientific research on deviant behavior takes two major forms: (1) quantitative research that measures crime rates, for example, by relying on statistics of criminal behavior; or (2) qualitative research as seen in critical discourse analysis or historical orientations, or based on interviews examining how people (individually and collectively) come to define some conduct as deviant and other acts as normative.

Deviance and conformity are the social product of real or imagined pressures and threats. To understand the concept of deviance, it is also crucial to see it as inextricably intertwined with social control—regulating the way people think, feel, and behave. Norms and laws are key elements of social control used to maintain the social order and to ensure conformity. Depending on the controlling powers in a particular historical period, people classified as deviant are subjected to an array of social control practices, such as fines, shaming, beatings, incarceration, drugging, surgical interventions, involuntary hospitalization, and even torture and execution.

Social control refers to the various tactics and means used by a society to bring its transgressive members back into line with social norms. Social control can be seen in two ways: The first is internal or self-control: the processes of internalizing the norms of society, accepting them as valid, and personally investing in them. Internal social control operates by way of different agents of socialization such as the family, school, peers, and mass media. The second is external social control, which refers to the formal, semiformal, and informal (see below) efforts on the part of society to enforce social conformity.

There are three general types of social control that may work in concert or separately: formal social control, semiformal social control, and informal social [Page 186]control. Formal social control relies on agents and institutions such as the police, courts, and corrections that possess the legitimate authority to force conformity or impose punishment. Semiformal social control is enacted by social institutions and social agents, such as psychologists, social workers, counselors, and mental health workers in psychiatric hospitals, who treat individuals for the purpose of the resocialization of those who break formal (law) and informal rules (norms). Semiformal agents are experts who exercise power by virtue of their specialized training and credentials; although they do not possess the power of arrest and detention, they may have an important role to play in the formal deviant’s criminal justice outcome. Informal social control refers to expressions of displeasure with, or approval of, someone’s actions, such as frowning or smiling. Given that most individuals are approval seeking, informal social control forms a cornerstone of everyday life. The social control of deviance can also be referred to as criminal and noncriminal deviance. Crime is defined as the violation of formally enacted criminal laws and can be referred to as formal deviance such as robbery, theft, assault, rape, and murder. The second type of deviant conduct refers to violations of informal norms or social rules that have not been codified into law but may elicit a negative social reaction or response.

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