Social Deviance in Australia

Deviance

Whatever the term deviance creates , in general it is popularly assumed that 'deviants' are individuals who are somehow less capable, less socially responsible, less adjusted, and consequently less useful to society than their more fortunate, upright and 'normal' fellows ( Social Deviance in Australia, p 4). In the case of Aboriginal drinking, alcohol is the main source of criminalisation and incarceration. This public labelling gives the individual an entirely new status- one which tends to dominate the person's self conception. Once this assumes a 'master status' it becomes the major reference for personal identity and relegates all to other 'normal' characteristics to a subsidiary status. This process insures that characteristics such as sexual preference, comes to intrude upon and influence almost their entire existence. Once identified publicly, (homosexuals), the person is treated differently and expected to behave differently (Study guide p18). The creation of deviance according to Merton is seen as the responsibility of society ( or the law abiding and respectable members of society) and of the official agents of social control ( police, magistrates, social workers, teachers, judges, doctors and psychiatrists) ( Social Deviance in Australia p 5). Merton draws attention to the causal significance of social, economic and cultural factors of all kinds in pushing or pulling certain types of individuals into courses of action which involved rule breaking. Interactionists', however, like Becker are primarily concerned with the role social control plays in the social production of deviance, which may take two main forms- rule making and rule enforcing. As Becker (1963:9) writes: 'social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance... and by applying these rules to particular people and labelling them outsiders. While Quinney states that crime is created. He refers to the social definition of deviance, to the fact that the system of government we have created for ourselves was and is constructed by those who have titled authority and power. Control is exerted through a variety of institutions run by and for the elite (Mass media, education, religion). It is those who are in power who define what is seen as deviant behaviour.

Robert Merton strongly believes that the problem of deviants is created by a soc...

... middle of paper ...

...tter how hard they work, they cannot achieve the desired levels of wealth which they have been taught to aspire to, deviant behaviour may result. Howard Becker's approach to the labelling of deviance, outlined in Outsiders views deviance as the creation of social groups and not the quality of some act or behaviour ( Howard Becker website). According to Becker, researching the act of the individual is irrelevant as deviance is simply rule breaking behaviour that is labelled deviant by those in a position of power. Richard Quinney concentrates more on the development of a capitalist economy in the creation of deviants. He views the introduction of capitalism as condition where struggle is a natural component. In the book " Class, State, and Crime", Quinney states that deviance is a product of the condition of the social structure (p107) (Richard Quinney website). He believes that that the state maintains the capitalist order through the creation of laws. The state exists to serve the interests of the capitalist working class. The criminal law is merely an instrument of that class to perpetuate the current social and economic order and is used to repress those who are less powerful.