Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Deviance
What is Crime?
Crime is usually associated with behaviour that
breaks the formal, written laws of any given
society.
What is Deviance?
Deviance is behaviour which does not conform to
the dominant norms of a specific society.
What is deviance?
Deviance is any behavior, a belief, or
condition that violates significant social
norms in the society or group in which
it occurs
deviance is a formal property of social
situations and social structure
deviance is a property conferred by
audiences
deviance is relative and it varies in its
degree of seriousness
Activity 1
You have to decide and justify whether the
following action is criminal, deviant, or both!
Action
Stealing a
bottle of
milk from a
doorstep
Crimina Devia
l
nt
Criminal +
Deviant
Why?
Burping
after a meal
Drinking a
bottle of
vodka on
the bus
Keeping
money you
have been
given in
error in
Criminal Activities
Criminal activities are defined by the laws of a
particular society.
Therefore, whether an action is seen to be criminal
or deviant can depend on four very important
factors:
Time
Place
Social situation, and
Culture
Types of crime
There are six main types of crime:
Modern Crimes
The most frequent modern crimes include:
Computer Crime
Identity Theft
Stalking
Consensual Crimes
Also known as victimless crimes, because it is an
act that all involved parties choose to be involved.
These crimes include gambling, drug use, and
prostitution.
However, some people argue that these crimes
are not victimless crimes, because social norms
are violated. (Territo 2004)
Social Control
All societies have ways to promote order,
stability and predictability in social life. Without
social control, social life would be
unpredictable, even chaotic.
There are two broad types of social control:
Internal
External
Internal
Social Control
Internal social control lies within the individual,
and is developed during socialization. You are
practising internal social control when you act
according to your conscience (ie. you do
something because it is the right thing to do).
Most people act according to this internal social control
(ie. they do the right thing) most of the time.
External
Social Control
The process of socialization does not ensure
that all people will conform all of the time. For
this reason, external social control must also be
present.
External social control is based on social
sanctions rewards and punishments designed
to encourage desired behaviour.
Positive sanctions (eg. smile of approval, awards,
raises) are used to encourage conformity.
Negative sanctions (eg. criticism, fines, imprisonment)
are intended to stop socially unacceptable behaviour.
21
Biological
Psychological
Sociological
The biological and psychological perspectives
locate deviance in the person, while sociological
perspectives locate deviance in the act.