Sociology of Deviant Behaviour - Understanding the Relevance and Timely Topics

This book delves into the sociology of deviant behaviour, exploring formal and informal acts of deviance, social reactions, and the changing moral landscape. It examines the relevance of timely topics such as terrorism, gay marriage, and drug use, and the role of social media in facilitating deviant acts. The book is a must-read for students of criminology and sociology.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR
Sociology of deviant behaviour
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
1 four elements
Brief overview of the book and the topic:
Sociology of the deviant behaviour has been the leading book in the market on the act
of deviance and criminology. It has ruled the market for a period of more than 40 years. It has
been composed by the combination of the findings of the timely research. They updated the
data with the sociological analysis. The book has been designed in order to appeal to the
students of the contemporary world. The fifteenth edition helps in examining the relevance
along with the timely topics as justified deviance like terrorism and mistakes such as the
General Motors igniting problem. It also talks about the changing moral landscape in relation
to the marriages of the gay and the use of drugs. It includes significance of the social media
in for facilitating the deviant acts along with political crime. It includes electoral crime along
with social reactions pertaining to act of deviance. The act of deviance or the deviant
behaviour refers to the behaviour which violates the social norms along with social
expectation. It can be stated that deviance is as small as dressing in gothic clothes or it can be
held as serious as killing someone. There is a formal laws and regulations in every society.
The informal laws aims towards deterring the people from committing the acts of deviance.
The acts of deviance are classified into two categories. One is the formal act and the other is
the informal act. The formal act of deviance relates to the acts of crime that has been dictated
by the law and on the other hand the informal act of deviance relates to the act that is dictated
by the social norms. The examples of formal deviance is robbery, rape and murder that are
punishable under the law. The example of the informal deviant acts are talking loudly,
picking one’s nose and similar examples1.
1Akers, Ronald L. "Deviant behavior: A social learning approach." (1973): 24-41.

2SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
How this topic relates to/effected by society:
Deviance is a behaviour that is considered to violate the social norms and it arouses
social reactions. It is extremely harmful for the society. Some behaviour is considered to be
very harmful that the government enact by taking recourse to written laws that can ban such
behaviour2. Crime is the behaviour which violates the set up laws and it is an important
deviance that deals with the individuals. Crime and deviance both arouse negative social
reactions. This is the reason every society should ensure that their members abide by the
social needs pertaining to daily interaction. The social control has a universal appeal. It tries
to prevent and preserve the behaviour that violates the social norms3.
Examples from the real world:
The deviance that is witnessed in the real world is the drug abuse and the addiction
towards it. The other example is the drunkenness and the alcoholism and the final is the
suicide. The most common example in today’s world is the heterosexual deviance. The
stigma is the most commonly witnessed phenomenon in the current world. it includes the act
of deprivation of the rights to the gays and the lesbians that also includes the homophobia.
The other example that is usually found in the current world is the physical disabilities and
the mental disorders. As discussed above some formal deviance include robbery, theft, rape,
murder and physical or mental assault. There are less serious deviant acts that are witnessed
in the society and they can be picking somebody’s nose in public, it might include naked
exposure in the public life, binge drinking, homicide and even indulging in the act of
prostitution4.
2Schur, Edwin M. Labeling deviant behavior: Its sociological implications. New York: Harper & Row, 1971
3Akers, Ronald L., and John K. Cochran. "Adolescent marijuana use: A test of three theories of deviant
behavior." Deviant Behavior 6.4 (1985): 323-346.

3SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Personal Reaction, Reflection:
Deviance has many angles and different perceptions. In this report we have
concentrated on the sociological perspective of the term deviance. It can be described as a
behaviour or act that violate social norms which includes the formally enacted rule that is the
crime. It might include the formal as well as the informal ways of violation of the social
norms. This can be the rejection of the folkways along with mores. However, deviance can
have negative implications. I feel that it has both a positive along with a negative
side.Violation of the social norms cannot always be held to be negative, it might be positive
at times. It is because the violation of the norm might be negative but the reason and the
behaviour behind it might not be a problem. In this case culture matters the most. It differs
from one place to another and most precisely it differs from the culture of one place to the
culture of another place. Deviance is relative to the place where it was committed or to the
time the act took place. There were many theories that supported the fact that deviance was
normal and an integral part of social organization. It is crucial for us to know the functions of
deviance. It has to be kept in mind that deviance affirms the cultural values along with
cultural norms. It helps in defining moral boundaries. People can differentiate right from the
wrong by the definition of people as deviant. Serious form of the deviances forces compel
people of coming together and it helps people in reacting in the same manner against it. It
helps in pushing moral boundaries within the society that can pave the path for social change.
In this context the idea of primary and secondary deviance come to forefront. It is described
to be the way of explaining process pertaining to labelling. Primary deviance is considered to
be any kind of general deviance before the deviant has even been labelled. On the other hand
4Akers, Ronald L., et al. "Social learning and deviant behavior: A specific test of a general theory." American
sociological review (1979): 636-655.

4SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
the secondary deviance is known as set of action which occurs place after primary deviance
that is the result of reaction to institutional identification of person being deviant.
There is a difference between criminology and deviant behaviour. They are
sometimes thought to be connected. Deviance is not exactly the crime but it is the diversion
of the individuals from the social norms. It is the divergence from the behavioural norms of
the society. We should take account of the fact that the criminal behaviour can or can not be
deviant however it violates the legal norm of the society. The stigma related to the deviant
behaviour is more harmful than any other aspects related to the same in the event of the
deviant behaviour failing to rise to that of thelevel of criminal action which can pave the path
for prosecution or punishment. Negative effects pertaining to deviance can be wide-ranging,
it can be prove to be severe in the long term. The people who are found to be deviant are
marginalised by the people of the society and this cats as a severe negative point for the ones
who want to improve themselves. It has global as well as multidimensional aspects which
needs enormous research and findings5.
5 Clinard, Marshall B., and Robert F. Meier. Sociology of deviant behavior. Nelson Education, 2015.

5SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
References and bibliography
Akers, Ronald L. "Deviant behavior: A social learning approach." (1973): 24-41.
Akers, Ronald L., and John K. Cochran. "Adolescent marijuana use: A test of three theories
of deviant behavior." Deviant Behavior 6.4 (1985): 323-346.
Akers, Ronald L., et al. "Social learning and deviant behavior: A specific test of a general
theory." American sociological review (1979): 636-655.
Clinard, Marshall B., and Robert F. Meier. Sociology of deviant behavior. Nelson Education,
2015.
Jessor, Richard, Theodore D. Graves, and Robert C. Hanson. "Society, personality, and
deviant behavior: A study of a tri-ethnic community." (1968).
Kaplan, Howard B., and Howard B. Kaplan. Deviant behavior in defense of self. New York:
Academic Press, 1980.
Kitsuse, John I. "Societal reaction to deviant behavior: Problems of theory and method." Soc.
Probs. 9 (1961): 247.
Rogers, Marc, Natalie D. Smoak, and Jia Liu. "Self-reported deviant computer behavior: A
big-5, moral choice, and manipulative exploitive behavior analysis." Deviant Behavior27.3
(2006): 245-268.
Schur, Edwin M. Labeling deviant behavior: Its sociological implications. New York: Harper
& Row, 1971.
Thio, Alex. Deviant behavior. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978.