Social Theories Of Deviance

Theories of Deviance

Every society has its conventional norms that everyone is required to adhere to all the time. Violation of the dominant norms is usually met with harsh punishments since the society consider violation of societal norms as deviance. Deviance, according to Thio, Taylor and Schwartz (2012), is any behavior that violates the society's dominant norms. Conversely, in sociology, the term deviance is used to refer to the violation of the societal social norms. According to Henslin et al. (2013), deviant behaviors vary in magnitude and can be as small as violating traffic rules to murder. Normally, what is considered deviant behavior varies from one society to another. For instance, whereas some societies consider possession or use of marijuana as a deviant behavior, such as Canada, some societies, such as Jamaica does not consider marijuana possession or use as a deviant behavior. In Canada, section 4.3 of the criminal code considers possession or use of marijuana a crime, thus a deviant behavior. This implies that possession or use of marijuana violates the Canadian social norms. Although sociologists agree as to the definition of deviance, Henslin et al. (2013) noted that there has been a strong disagreement as to why people engage in deviant behaviors. The persistent disagreements have resulted in the emergence of different theories of deviance that attempts to explain how deviance operates in society. The theories include structural strain theory, labeling theory, social control theory, differential association theory and deterrence theory. However, as much as the perspectives of all the theories can be relied on, differential association theory appears to be a theory that best explains how deviance operat...

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... best in explaining deviance. The theory holds that the deviance is learned through social interaction with others, which is true of what can be observed in the society. This certainly makes differential association theory the best in explaining how deviance operates

Works Cited

Brinkerhoff, D., Ortega, S., & Weitz, R. (2013). Essentials of sociology. Toronto, ON: Cengage Learning.

Clinard, M., & Meier, R. (2010). Sociology of deviant behavior. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Henslin, J. M., Glenday, D., Duffy, A., & Pupo, N. (2013). Sociology: A down to earth approach sixth Canadian edition, loose leaf version. Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Canada.

Sacco. (1992). Deviance: Conformity and control in Canadian society. Ontario, ON: Prentice-Hall Canada.

Thio, A., Taylor, J. D., & Schwartz, M. D. (2012). Deviant behavior. Princeton, NY: Pearson Education, Limited.