Social Deviance Chapter 2
Positivist Theories
There are 2 distinct but interlocking enterprises that make up the study of deviance:
1. Essentialism: Objectivity, real, scientifically explainable
2. Constructionism: rules, judgements, labelling, contexts, audiences
Essentialism implies positivism. All positivists believe than an objective
common core or threads hold all deviance and crime together—non believed
that they are just a matter of social convention or construction. Positivism is
the application of scientific method to the study of human behaviour
3 assumptions:
1. Empiricism: material world is real and science can know the world through
the senses
“I trust my senses to tell me what is true”
Things that are not directly or indirectly observable through the
senses cannot be explained/integrated into theoretical and
conceptual perspectives and therefore are not scientific
This poses a problem because most human behaviour cannot been
seen at the moment enacted
2. Objectivism: deviant behaviour is an objective ad real phenomena that can
be distinguished from conforming behaviour
Reject the notion of right and wrong and believe there is a
common and material reality to crime that is contained within the
actions themselves, not how the actions are thought of
Things exist regardless of definitions. Ex: mental illnesses are not
present just because we say there are or because of how they can
be defined. They would be there regardless or acknowledgment or
definition
3. Determinism: What causes deviant behaviour, beliefs and conditions?
Why do people commit crimes and deviance? How do certain
characteristics and social situations influence this? What are the
patterns?
Seeks natural explanations that can be found in the material world
Looks at the cause and effect explanations
Theories
Freewill/ Classical Sound
Tied to the enlightment period: philosophical ideas, tried to make sense of
human nature and link it to social control
Role of hedonism: self interest causes people to seek pleasure and avoid
pain o Why people may not want to commit crimes ex: reputation, don’t
want to go to jail, morals and ethics
o Why people may turn to crimes ex: make money, satisfy desires
o Difficult to balance the impulsive side of people and the cautious side
Importance of free will: we determine our own behaviour
o People chose to commit crimes or choose to conform to the law
o Costs and benefits of committing crime
False assumptions made:
o We now see that people are not completely rational in their
behaviour, engage in deviant/ criminal behaviour for reasons aside
from please and pain
o What is pleasurable to one person may not be to another
o The calculation of pleasure and pain when committing crimes is more
complicated that what was thought because many criminals fo not get
caught
Routine activity theory: argues that criminal behaviour will take place
when and where there is
o A) A motivated offender
o B) A suitable target
o C) the absence of a capable guardian
o Ex: If students writing a test has no one watching over them, they
would be much more likely to cheat
Social Disorganization and the Chicago School:
Deviance and crime is not result of the individual, but rather the social
structure
Entire neighbourhoods become so disorganized that merely living in the
increased the likelihood of engaging in certain forms of deviant behaviour
Why are some neighbourhoods more disorganized than others?
o Land values: low rental and property value are seen as undesirable
and unattractive to live in, however, they attract individuals that are
geographically unstable and socially, racially and ethnically
heterogeneous; hence, they do not form unified and organized
communities
Doesn’t explain many other types of deviance such as homosexuality, most
types of cognitive deviance and white collar crime, doesn’t take power into
high enough consideration.
Anomie/Strain Theory
Anomie: disturbances in the social order
Cartain pressures can produce very unconventional behaviour even if it
comes from very conventional origins or intentions
Merton’s theory of anomie:
o Disjunction between culturally defined goals and structurally
available opportunities o Our greedy desires are created by our culture
o It is the gap between the cultural order that says we must become
materially successful and the economic order that doesn’t give use
what we want that causes deviance
Malintigrated society
Macro scope
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