Causes of Deviance Biological Theories There is a long tradition which traces deviant or anti-social behaviour back to biological causes.

s. This approach maintains that deviants are born, not made. In the history of Criminology, Cesare Lombroso developed a complex description of what he called the born criminal; who he claimed could be recognized by a variety of physical characteristics. The Italian school of criminology contends that biological factors may contribute to crime and deviance. Lombrose theorized that people were born criminals. Psychological Causes - Sociologists have been much more open to the psychological explanations rather than the Biological ones because these very commonly overlap with the sociological ones. It is generally assumed that most psychological disturbances can be created. Psychological pathology is assumed to be related to faulty relations between parents and children, especially in the early years of life. If nothing else, then, such psychological explanations relate to the sociology of family life and therefore are more acceptable to sociologists than theories that explain deviance in purely biological terms. Sociological Causes - The ecology of the city can also be a cause for deviant behaviour. Findings indicate that various types of deviant behaviour (crime, juvenile, delinquency, alcoholism etc.) were witnessed in a particular neighbourhood. Thus, the ecology of the city is also a cause of deviant behaviour.