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DISCUSSION
CONFORMITY-DEVIATION AND THE SOCIAL CONTROL CONCEPT
ROGER NETT
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DISCUSSION
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ETHICS
control under such diverse headings as (to hunting," in which the nonconformer is
name a few) "structureand function," "col- constrained ostensibly for degeneracy (hislective behavior," "role and status." In gen- torically, extra-human). It is true, as writers
eral these emphasize the conformity tend- have indicated, that many social deviators
encies of men.
are no more than pathological failures or inadequates (in complex societies a significant
II
number), and that these, on first observaBefore discussing relationships between tion, cannot always be separatedfrom other
the deviation aspect of persons and social types of deviators. Logical linking of such
organization, it is necessary to make clear categories, however, is arbitrary, for as a
what meanings of "deviation aspect of per- rule the factor "pathological" can be kept
sons" are reasonably possible. Once these discrete, both for purposes of study and
are determined it will be pertinent to at- (ideally) in social control practice. If such a
tempt to show the relative significance of separation were not possible in order to
each to social control theory. Whereverpos- clarify concepts, it would be necessary to
sible, standardized terms are used with an introduce a frame of reference in which
attempt to pinpoint their meaning. Addi- there could be discernedother oblique relational types are presented, however, which tionships. For example, no one has atfor the moment escape orthodoxy.
tempted to ascertain what percentage of
First, it is pertinent in social control the- conformersare also pathological failuresand
ory to distinguish two types of social devia- how being pathological affects conformity.
tion: social and social-organic personality (Especially one might suppose that the confailure and inadequacy which is discernibly dition of inadequacy favors simple condegenerate and which we can therefore in formity.18) This is to say that it is likely that
good usage call "pathological," and devia- the element, pathological failure, is not retion discernibly falling outside of this cate- ducible to social deviation except in regory which is "nonpathological."It is here stricted reciprocal usage. Since the society
implied that the area of confusion between (i.e., peers of the individual) determines the
the two is smaller than is sometimes con- degeneracy or constructiveness of a specific
tended. The terms pathological and non- act of deviation, the simple pathological
pathological simply indicate conditions of deviator does not ordinarily produce an
persons individually or segmentally and are effect of any serious consequence for social
not intended to carry loose implications as control and is only a part of calculated sodo such analogical terms as "pathological cial or social-organic personality failure.19
society."
There may be found a proportion of conWhile the first of these, pathological structive deviates represented by such hisdeviation, is causally related to areas of so- torical figures as Gibbon, Nietzsche, etc.,
cial problems and is important to applied who have coincidentally suffered pathosociology, it can, as far as social control logical circumstance, and in such cases the
theory is concerned, largely be dismissed as
two conditions might be shown to have a
a calculable entity. Quantitatively it occurs
connection, but, pertinent to this
causal
as either a constant or an easily discernible
the product of their efforts is
discussion,
(hence predictable) linear function, subject
for inadequacy. Most detaken
to numerical manipulation, including (as seldom
follows
patterns well known to a
generacy
will later be suggested) cancellation. The
and
is, therefore, accepted as
society
given
one instance where it can be made to affect
of
a
percentage-expectancy
with
consistent
social control is where a confusion or a false
a
That
behavior.
understood
pathological
other
types
identification of it is made with
of deviation. In practice this would produce Columbus or a Galileo can be "mistaken"
in a society a condition known as "witch for a fanatic carriesa message to the student
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DISCUSSION
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ETHICS
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DISCUSSION
"lesser-alternative" category provided an
example which could, with referenceto preexisting understandings, be recognized as
wrong and therefore as emphasizing what
was right, the deviator could only leave in
his path bewilderment and "disorganization." The strength of the much lauded
''primary-groupmorality" lay in reducing
the number of alternatives to action to a
most "practical"minimum and then guarding them jealously. In such systems prediction tends to be at a maximum and security
of the system is correspondinglyassured. In
such systems the social deviator is conveniently seen as a threat to the controlling
factions and will be shown something approaching maximum hostility.26One might
generalize that he is therefore "dangerous"
in inverse proportion to the number of accepted alternatives to action, and that those
who most want conformity want it as a
means of consolidating a social control position, an always incomplete process since
"socialization" of the individual is never
complete and new individuals are being
born constantly.
The genius of "democratic"27social organization, where and to the extent that it
exists, lies in its utilization of the deviation
aspect of persons within its organizational
context. In such an instance the deviator,
since he is potentially productive (going
back to our proposition that a problem of
regulating a society is to tap, organize and
adapt its creative strength), can expect
maximum acceptance and is dangerousonly
to select minority elements or "fasces"
thereof.
Such a (hypothetical) society, in which
the deviator is not kept in marginal status,
optimizes the society's chance of applying
its own criticisms and correctives to the
social process in a somewhat constant (i.e.,
controllable) manner. It does so by substituting a relatively smooth change continuum for more violent processes such as the
radical change function of the history of
human societies brought to our attention in
different ways by Sorokin,28 Spengler,29
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ETHICS
NOTES
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DISCUSSION
the extent that the group has failed to induct him
into the social ways, the individual is 'free' to work
out his own individual ways; and there is the possibility, however small, that . .. he may devise a
mode of action that will be adopted by others. ..."
(Richard T. LaPiere, Sociology [McGraw-Hill: New
York, 1946], pp. 53-4.) Weiss notes that man can
deviate because there is a time gap between the
cause and effect of what would be otherwise social
determinism. (Paul Weiss, Nature and Man [New
York: Holt, 1947], pp. 6 f.) Linton says, "Thus the
origination of new forms of behavioral response
seems to be a function not of the society as a whole
but of some one, or at the most a few." (Ralph
Linton, The Cultural Background of Personality
[New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1945], p.
121.)
26. A clear example of this tendency in operation
is found in Arensberg and Kimball's description of
rural Ireland (Conrad Arensberg and Solon Kimball, Family and Community in Ireland [Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1940]), an instance where
the controllers are the top-extreme male age group.
45
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