In sociology, deviance describes an action or behavior that violates social norms, but is disapproved by large numbers of people. In the 1940’s American sociologist Robert K. Merton came up with his strain theory. This was and still is an important contribution to the study of crime and deviance. Back in the day when he first released his theory it helped to explain why crime existed in countries, such as America, these countries were going through increasing economic growth and wealth. In Merton’s theory there are five types of deviance. These are conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. Merton describes these 5 things take place from once individuals are face a problem between their goals and where their current statues
For example episode 11 when a guy named Jason Robert physically attacks a girl named Megan in front of an audience , he behavior is considered deviance because he harms another person. Attacking another person and stalking is prime example that he is different from most people. Another example is episode season 15 episode 10 when detective Benson attacked and kidnapped by a murder. This broke into her apartment and held her captive for four days where he would tie her up and make her watch as he did unspeakable things to another. His behavior would be considered as deviance because what he does is unsocial and it violates what is considered normal in today’s society.
After reading these articles I garnered a greater insight on what deviance is and how it is formed. According to the Outsiders reading, deviance is essentially a label that is put on a person of whom commits an act or exhibits behaviors that stray from what is normal or expected. These people are therefore also labeled as “outsiders”. Outsiders in that they are seen as those who are to be placed outside of a certain group do to their deviant behaviors. There exist many views of deviance.
a. Deviance: Page 194, the violation of norms (or rules or expectations). This gang is a deviant group of people because they are breaking the rules of law. They extort money from business owner for protection. They are taking over large areas of entire cities and they are expecting non-gang membered people to follow their rules or face the consequences.
Crime is any act which breaks the laws of society, such as murder, rape, speeding etc. Social control is enforced by agencies such as police and the courts, more specifically defined than deviance. Deviance is behaviour which moves away from controversial norms and values such as burping, pass wind in public and queuing. It Can be positive e.g. extreme intelligence. Although in some situation in nature – time dependent of factors, place, who is involved.
1. How does Strain Theory define and explain deviance? Strain theory defines deviance as the situation whereby there exists a gap or difference between societal success goals and the determined means available to the society for achieving these goals. In a society, individuals share similar goals towards success and thus have agreeable means of achieving the same, however, when such an agreement is foregone such a society has a high rate of deviance.
Deviance is described as a violation of culture norms. In Jonestown as a Perverse Utopian they described it as a cult. There are cults all round the world however, it is not a norm to be in on or know of one personally. On December 8th, due to their utopian cult there was a mass suicide of 911 people. The leader believed that for many years the “followers needed” to be poisoned with opium and then cyanide.
Deviance has many functions in society. Although deviance violates social norms, without it, we would not have rules, so it helps form, guide, and shape society’s norms and goals. Social norms are different from culture to culture. Norms that may be acceptable in one culture may be frowned upon in another. Emile Durkheim quotes that “deviance and deviant behavior is an integral part of all healthy societies (Adler, 2014, p74).”
Deviant behavior is the behavior that is different from the most powerful norms of the society or can also be defined as odd or unacceptable behavior. In sociological way deviance is simply any violation of societal norms. There are many reasons why a person has deviant behavior which includes biological , psychological and sociological explanations. the most popular sociological theories are Structural Strain Theory which was developed by Robert K merton as an addition of the functional point of view on deviance. The theory discovers the origin of deviance that these are caused by the difference
Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from the majority of society. Deviance can be criminal or noncriminal. Media helps us frame the way we think, act, and choose. Children have growing brains
According to Hunt and Colandar (2011), a word deviant refers to when an individual’s actions contradict with society’s norms. For instance, majority peoples followed norms because society expect individual to behave in morally tolerate with each other. Those failing to conform the norms noted as deviant. In a social context, the task of the society is to blind the action of the social community together. Once failing to act them to the society’s reaction that seem as deviant.
Functionalists, conflict theorist, and interactionist all have different views and focus on different parts of society and its people. What is deviance? Deviance is a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group (Ferris and Stein 151). It is considered a social construct.
As indicated by Agnew, deviance happens when an individual has neglected the idea of accomplishing positively valued goals, positively valued goals are dismissed, or a individual has a confrontation with the negative stimuli. The main strain, failure to achieve the positively valued goals, is the sort that is normally alluded to by exemplary strain and anomie. When dealing with children or juveniles, a study noted that it was more proper to gauge the
Although the term deviance usually carried a negative characteristic in first impression trough out history, afterward the term positive deviance was also introduced and analyzed. To begin with according to (“positive deviance.org”2015), “Positive Deviance is established on the inspection that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their colleagues, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or even worse challenges”. “Positive deviance somehow exceeds social expectations. Moreover positive deviance can also be defined as individual or acts of individuals in a society that are superior because they super pass
To fully understand what Robert K. Merton contributed to sociology. We must understand who he was, what he believed in, why he believed what he did and finally, why he argued against other sociologists. In this essay, I will be talking about Self Fulfilling Prophecies, Middle Range Theories, Manifest and Latent Functions and the Strain between Culture and Social Structure. Robert Merton, is one of America’s most significant social scientists. He was born on the 4th of July 1910 and died 23rd February 2003, aged 92.
Sociology is “the scientific study of human life, social groups, whole societies and the human world as such” (Giddens 2009). Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) was an American sociologist who contributed greatly to the sociology we study today. He is best known for his theories of deviance, for his development of the concepts "self-fulfilling prophecy", “unintended consequences”, “role strain”, “reference group” ,"role model” and for founding the sociology of science. He is considered to have been one of America 's most influential social scientists. Robert Merton was born into a working class Eastern European Jewish immigrant family in Philadelphia as Meyer R. Schkolnick.