written assignment
!
DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Deviant Behavior provides a comprehensive study of the behavior, beliefs, conditions, and reactions to
deviance, giving students a better understanding of this phenomenon. Deviance is discussed from the
sociological perspectives of positivism and constructionism. Readers will grasp the reason behind
deviant behavior through the positivist perspective and why certain actions, beliefs, and physical char-
acteristics are condemned through the constructionist perspective.
New to this edition:
Two chapters on crime make clearer distinctions between criminalization of behavior versus crim-
inal behavior itself.
More discussion of the relativity of deviance, including how murder is socially and legally constructed.
The notion that conspiracy theory is a form of cognitive deviance is expanded.
Discussion that furthers the difference between labeling theory and constructionism.
Section on environmental pollution with reference to green criminology.
Section added on deviance and harm.
An extensive, author-created instructors manual offering lesson plans, teaching tips, student
activities, film suggestions, web links, study questions, and more. Instructors may access this by
clicking the Instructor Resources tab on the books Routledge page at https://www.routledge.com/
products/9781138191907.
Erich Goode is Sociology Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University; he has taught at half-dozen
universities and is the author of eleven books. During his career, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship,
the Lady Davis Teaching Fellowship, the Presidents Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the SUNY-
wide Chancellors Award for Excellence in Teaching. Goode is married and lives in New York City.
ELEVENTH
EDITION
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https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138191907
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ELEVENTH
EDITION
DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
ERICH GOODE
Eleventh edition published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2016 Taylor & Francis
The right of Erich Goode to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published 1978 by Prentice-Hall
Tenth edition published 2015 by Pearson
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Goode, Erich, author.
Title: Deviant behavior / Erich Goode, Stony Brook University.
Description: Eleventh Edition. | New York: Routledge-Taylor and
Francis, 2016. | Revised edition of the authors Deviant behavior,
2014. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015043569 | ISBN 9781138656024 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781138191907 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315643632 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Deviant behavior. | Criminal behavior.
Classification: LCC HM811 .G66 2016 | DDC 302.5/42dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043569
ISBN: 978-1-138-65602-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-19190-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64363-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
http://www.lccn.loc.gov/2015043569
To Barbara,
my lovely and loving wife,
without whom
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PREFACE xv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii
CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO DEVIANCE 1
CHAPTER 2 EXPLAINING DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 27
CHAPTER 3 CONSTRUCTING DEVIANCE 57
CHAPTER 4 POVERTY AND DISREPUTE 84
CHAPTER 5 CRIME AND CRIMINALIZATION 111
CHAPTER 6 CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR 138
CHAPTER 7 WHITE COLLAR AND CORPORATE CRIME 168
CHAPTER 8 SUBSTANCE ABUSE 195
CHAPTER 9 SEXUAL DEVIANCE 227
CHAPTER 10 UNCONVENTIONAL BELIEFS 253
CHAPTER 11 MENTAL DISORDER 282
CHAPTER 12 DEVIANT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 313
CHAPTER 13 TRIBAL STIGMA: RACE, RELIGION, AND
ETHNICITY 341
CHAPTER 14 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 366
REFERENCES 378
AUTHOR INDEX 394
SUBJECT INDEX 401
Brief Contents
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PREFACE xv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii
CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO DEVIANCE 1
Deviance: What Is It? 2
Deviance in Everyday Life 4
Deviance as Non-Pejorative 5
Societal and Situational Deviance 6
The Relativity of Deviance 8
TABLE 1.1: Changes in Public Opinion over Time, United States 11
TABLE 1.2: Cross-National Designations of Deviance 11
The ABCs of Deviance 12
Deviant Attitudes and Beliefs 12
Physical Characteristics 14
Tribal Stigma: Race, Religion, and Ethnicity 15
Deviance: Positivism versus Constructionism 16
What about Deviance and Harm? 18
Summary 19
ACCOUNT: My Lifes Ups and Downs 22
CHAPTER 2 EXPLAINING DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 27
Positivism 29
Deviant Behavior: Why Do They Do It? 32
Biological Theories of Crime and Deviance 33
Free Will, Rational Choice, and Routine Activity Theory 35
Social Disorganization: The Chicago School 37
Anomie and Strain Theory 38
Differential Association and Learning Theory 43
Social Control Theory 45
Self-Control Theory 46
Summary 49
ACCOUNT: A Former Homeless Man Speaks Out 51
Contents
CHAPTER 3 CONSTRUCTING DEVIANCE 57
Deviance and Social Control 60
Formal and Informal Social Control 62
Perspectives that Focus on Defining Deviance 63
Labeling or Interactionist Theory 64
Conflict Theory 70
Feminism 73
Controlology 75
Summary 78
ACCOUNT: Victimization and Abuse 79
CHAPTER 4 POVERTY AND DISREPUTE 84
Poverty: A Form of Deviance or a Cause? 86
Perspectives on Poverty and Stigma 90
Poverty in the United States 94
Unemployment 98
Welfare 99
The Indignity of Begging 100
Homelessness 101
What about Disease? 103
Race and Poverty 106
Summary 108
ACCOUNT: Being Poor in Appalachia 109
CHAPTER 5 CRIME AND CRIMINALIZATION 111
The Social Construction of Murder 112
Crime and Deviance: A Conceptual Distinction 114
Common Law and Statutory Law 115
Positivism versus Constructionism 117
Mass Incarceration? 119
TABLE 5.1: Inmates in Jails and Prisons, 19402013 120
Race and the Criminal Justice System 121
TABLE 5.2: Stop-and-Frisk by Race, New York City, 20022015 124
The ArrestIncarceration Gap 124
Missing Black Men? 125
Banishing the Deviant from Public Life 126
Disparities in Sentencing 130
x CONTENTS
Summary 132
ACCOUNT: My Life In and Out of Prison 134
CHAPTER 6 CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR 138
The Uniform Crime Reports 139
TABLE 6.1: The FBIs Index Crimes (UCR), 19922014 142
The National Crime Victimization Survey 142
TABLE 6.2: Crime Victimization Rates, NCVS, 1992, 2002,
and 2013 (per 1,000) for Population Age 12 and Older 144
The End of the Crime Decline? 144
The Criminologist Looks at Murder 145
Forcible Rape 153
Property Crime 158
Shoplifting and Employee Theft 160
Summary 162
ACCOUNT: A Murder Victims Brother Speaks 164
CHAPTER 7 WHITE COLLAR AND CORPORATE CRIME 168
Individual versus Structural Deviance 172
The Discovery of White Collar Crime 175
White Collar and Corporate Crime 178
Corporate Crime: Correlative Features 181
Four Examples of Corporate Deviance 185
Environmental Pollution 186
Summary 188
ACCOUNT: Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS 189
CHAPTER 8 SUBSTANCE ABUSE 195
Rates of Use: NSDUH and MTF 196
TABLE 8.1: Drug Use, Driving while Drinking, and Number of
Heroin Users, Persons Age 12 and Older, 2002 and 2014 197
TABLE 8.2: Drug Use, Past 30 Days, 1991, 2001, 2014 200
A Classification of Drugs and Drug Effects 200
Alcohol Consumption: An Introduction 202
Acute Effects of Alcohol 204
Alcohol Abuse and Risky, Deviant Behaviors 205
Alcohol Abuse and Sexual Victimization 208
CONTENTS xi
Accompaniments of Drug Abuse: ADAM and DAWN 210
TABLE 8.3: Arrestees Urine-Testing Positive for Drugs, Percentage,
Median City Figures, 2013, ADAM-II 211
TABLE 8.4: ADAM, Adult Male Arrestees, Median City Figures, 2010 211
TABLE 8.5: Drug-Related ED Visits, DAWN, 2011 212
TABLE 8.6: NSDUH and Drug-Related ED Visits Ratios, United States
Population, Age 12 and Older, 2011 212
Marijuana Use as Deviance and Crime 214
Summary 217
ACCOUNT: An Executives Substance Abuse 220
CHAPTER 9 SEXUAL DEVIANCE 227
Positivism versus Constructionism 229
Sex Surveys: An Introduction 231
The Kinsey Reports, 1940s1950s 232
The Sex in America Survey, 1990s 234
The General Social Surveys, 19722012 236
Gay Sex: Departing from Deviance 238
Adultery 244
Gender: The Crucial Ingredient 246
Summary 247
ACCOUNT: FacultyStudent Sex 249
CHAPTER 10 UNCONVENTIONAL BELIEFS 253
The Social Functions of Belief Systems 258
Religious Sects and Cults 261
Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution 264
Conspiracy Theories 269
Paranormal Beliefs as Deviant 272
Summary 275
ACCOUNTS: A Potpourri of Scientifically Deviant Beliefs 277
CHAPTER 11 MENTAL DISORDER 282
What Is Mental Disorder? 283
Essentialism Approaches Mental Disorder 285
Thought versus Mood Disorders 287
Constructionism 288
xii CONTENTS
Labeling Theory 290
The Modified Labeling Approach 292
On Being Sane in Insane Places 293
The Epidemiology of Mental Disorder 295
Chemical Treatment of Mental Disorder 299
Deinstitutionalization 301
Mental Disorder as Deviance: An Overview 302
Intellectual Developmental Disorder 303
Autism Spectrum Disorder 305
Summary 307
ACCOUNT: On Being a Paranoid Schizophrenic 309
CHAPTER 12 DEVIANT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 313
Abominations of the Body 317
Physical Disability 319
Looksism: Violations of Aesthetic Standards 321
Extreme Body Modification 324
Obesity 326
Disability and Tertiary Deviance 332
Summary 333
ACCOUNT: A Tattoo Collector Gets Inked 335
CHAPTER 13 TRIBAL STIGMA: RACE, RELIGION, AND ETHNICITY 341
Racism and Stigma: An Overview 343
Racism and Discrimination 347
TABLE 13.1: Attitudes toward Intermarriage, 19582011 352
Islamophobia 352
Anti-Semitism 356
Summary 361
ACCOUNT: Growing Up Colored in the South 362
CHAPTER 14 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 366
ACCOUNT: Reflections on Studying BDSM 375
REFERENCES 378
AUTHOR INDEX 394
SUBJECT INDEX 401
CONTENTS xiii
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A NEW ERA?
Racial polarization. Growing economic inequality.
Deeply entrenched poverty. New methods of com –
mitting corporate malfeasances. New and unique
cutting-edge drugs that get the user higher faster.
More homeless former mental patients roaming the
streets. Internet sites that promise all manner of
sexual services and thrills. A rise in the crime rate,
previously down to record-low levels. Conspiracy
theories about where an African American presi-
dent was born.
Where is this society going? What are we doing?
Are we entering a new age of deviance and crime?
Does the study of deviance demand a broader
scope, a more far-reaching vision?
NEW TO THIS EDITION
Ive enjoyed revising Deviant Behavior for Rout-
ledge, the books new publisher, because many
ongoing events have virtually cried out for an
update. In addition to updating this edition with
contemporary facts and figures and discussions of
recent publications and developments, here are a
few of the changes Ive made and new issues Ive
raised.
Several readers suggested that I devote more
discussion to the subject of race and the criminal
justice system, and so I have. These discussions
include sections on mass incarceration, stop and
frisk, disparities in sentencing, the black versus
white arrestincarceration ratio disparity, and the
question of missing black menwhich itself raises
disturbing implications for the African American
family. Ive expanded my discussions of crime and
criminalization into two chapters; among other
crucial issues, Ive made the distinction between
the criminalization of behavior and specific forms
of criminal behavior, what criminologists have
referred to as criminal behavior systems. Ive
Preface
captured the distinction between criminalization
and crime by discussing, in Chapter 5, how murder
is conceptualized, and, in Chapter 6, how the crim-
inologist draws empirical conclusions about mur –
der. Is environmental pollution a form of deviance?
Is it a crime? Does it belong in a deviance textbook?
The issue in turn connects with the newly emerging
field of green criminology.
Conceptually and theoretically, Ive also distin-
guished more clearly labeling theory and construc-
tionismtwo approaches that some observers
have confused. All too often critics have inter-
preted constructionism to imply that a particular
real-world problem, such as murder, is only a
construction, which is completely false; murder is
both, as Ive emphasized. To illustrate that truth,
I have included in Chapter 6 the account, A
Murder Victims Brother Speaks. Moreover, along
these lines, Ive added a section on whether and
to what extent deviance should be defined by the
harm that some actions inflict upon others, whose
advocates use this position as a critiquein my
view, nave and misguidedof the social construc-
tion of reality. Appropriately, Ive added a section
on deviance and harm. Further, Ive expanded the
argument that believing in certain kinds of
conspiracy theory represents a form of cognitive
deviance.
Some readers felt that in the previous edition I
devoted too much space to substance abuse, so Ive
trimmed the material in the previous editions
Chapters 7 and 8, merging them into the new
Chapter 8 of this edition. Both researchers and
informed observers have suggested new approaches
to several of our topicsfor instance, on schizo-
phrenia, on race, and on racism, and I have accom-
modated their ideas in this edition. More than half
of the personal accounts following the chapters
are new. A few include FacultyStudent Sex,
A Formerly Homeless Man Speaks out, Victim-
ization and Abuse, A Tattoo Collector Gets
Inked, An Executives Substance Abuse, and
Reflections on Studying BDSM, the last of these,
an essay written by a sociologist studying sado-
masochistic sex. In the discussion on tribal stigma,
or the deviance of race, ethnicity, and religion, Ive
added a section on genocide. Ive deleted several
sections throughout that were probably redundant
and excessive.
New to this edition is an extensive, author-
created instructors manual offering lesson plans,
teaching tips, student activities, film suggestions,
web links, study questions, and more. Instruc-
tors may access this by clicking the Instructor
Resources tab on the books Routledge page at:
https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138
191907.
ONGOING POSITIONS
The sociology of deviance demands empathy. Soci-
ologists should live inside the skin of their subjects,
informants, audiences, and interviewees, so that
they can see the world through their eyes and
emotionally experience life the way they live it.
This is difficult and gut-wrenching, involving, as it
does, taking the role of the other with a diversity
of actors whose perspectives often contradict one
xvi PREFACE
another, as well as, quite often, clashing with ones
own point of view. How can we possibly empathize
with people who inflict serious harm on human –
kind? The task is daunting. Rule-violators are not
always offbeat, good-guy rebels, and mavericks;
sometimes, they are abusers, exploiters, mur derers,
and true villainswhether corporate, govern-
mental, or individual. But empathy can help us
understand them, what they do, and perhaps the
harm they inflict, if they do. Usually they dont,
though empathy helps either way. At the same
time, I try to avoid the eerily detached attitude of
superiority that some social scientists adopt; these
sociological observers shall remain nameless.
It almost goes without saying that what I pre-
sent here is a sociological perspective on deviance.
I am not a psychologist, I am not a neurologist,
and what happens in the brain is a domain that
stretches continents away from my geography of
competence. Other disciplines define the term I
use in entirely different ways and marshal different
mechanisms to explain how the human organism
engages in activities that fall under their definition.
Theirs may be more fundamental, more primal,
but my domain is more out in the open; its there,
its what I study and write about, and its what I
know.
https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138191907
https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138191907
For earlier editions of this text, I discharged debts
of gratitude to multiple friends, relatives, col –
leagues, students, collaborators on various projects,
interviewees and respondents, and critics. Id also
like to reiterate my gratitude to two Prentice-
Hall editors, one, Ed Stanford, who got the orig-
inal book project rolling, and the second, Nancy
Roberts, who kept it going. Naturally, I wish to
express my enormous thanks to the brave folks who
contributed the accounts that appear after each
chapter, some from past editions, others for this
one. These human-interest stories impart a veri –
similitude to the book that perhaps the expository
paragraphs and statistics lack. I am humbled by
the honesty of these authors and interviewees. In
previous editions, most of these account-givers
were pleased to read their narratives in print, but a
small handful recoiled when they encountered their
supposed sins and drawbacks self-chronicled and
concentrated into a few pages. I apologize to the
latter category, but this is what this book is about
deeds, beliefs, and conditions that some of us
regard as wrongful. Theres no getting around that
fact, except to be truthful and sagacious about such
matters; context and perspective are crucial here.
To Nachman Ben-Yehuda, whose companion-
ship and fruitful association, collaboration, and
sage advice I have long treasured; to the memory
of my dad, William J. Goode, who died too soon
Si, I thought youd live to celebrate your 100th
birthday! To Dean Birkenkamp, sociology editor at
Routledge, whose persistence, patience, and faith
in me and in this project kept me at my computer.
And to Amanda Yee, Deans assistant, I likewise
express gratitude. Ive mentioned numerous others
in the acknowledgments of the previous editions of
this book and so I stop, because a complete list
would become far too long and cumbersome far too
quickly.
My wife, Barbara. Im grateful to her. My tower,
my flywheel. My love. Shes the main influence in
my life.
I have borrowed several phrases, sentences,
paragraphs, and even pages from a couple of my
published articles, principally those that discuss the
fanciful death of deviance notion. I gratefully
acknowledge my use of this material.
Erich Goode
Greenwich Village, New York
Acknowledgments
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WE LIVE, it would appear, in troubledandtroublingtimes. Lots of people around the
world engage in behavior that doesnt seem right.
In as many cities across the United States, police
gun down a dozen unarmed African American
suspects on the street in blatant violation of accept-
able tactical protocol. In Baltimore, four teenagers
crouch in an alleyway, suck on and then pass
around a glass pipe and stare dreamily into space.
Mental hospitals everywhere release disordered
patients onto the street, unsupervised, unmedicated,
and unhoused, where they sleep, or beg from,
jabber to, or scream at passers-by. The collapse of
the subprime housing market vaporizes billions
C H A P T E R
1
An Introduction to Deviance
Source: Tim Gerard Barker/Getty Images
1
of dollars and leaves hundreds of thousands of
families deep in debt and troubled about their
lives and their futures. Chemical company execu-
tives bribe politicians to allow them to dump toxic
waste in rivers, streams, and lakes. Somewhere
in cyberspace theres a dark net where purveyors
sell illicit goods and services to customers seeking
them outmurder for hire, child pornography,
drugs, forged passports, counterfeit drivers licen –
ses, stolen credit cards, untraceable and unlicensed
semiautomatic weapons, a forum for dissidents in
authoritarian regimes to voice their political griev-
ances, and even computer viruses (Bartlett, 2014;
Halpern, 2015).
From there to here, from here to there, funny
things are everywhere, says Dr. Seuss in the
opening line of One Fish Two Fish Blue Fish Red
Fishand we can only agree. Except that many of
these things are not very amusing; in fact, they are
tragic.
What I intend to do in this book, insofar as such
a thing is possible, is to put these and similarand
some very differentevents and developments into
focus. How peopleand, hence, sociologists
conceptualize deviance is a recurrent theme that
runs throughout this volume, and we may encounter
some surprises along the way. What were inter-
ested in is the what, who, how, where, and when
that is, the structure and dynamicsof whatever is
likely to elicit condemnation. But what counts in
the deviance equation is not what each individual
observer, including the studentand also including
the individual sociologistfeels is really, truly
right or wrong. It is something altogether different.
DEVIANCE: WHAT IS IT?
Marshall Clinards classic textbook defined
deviance as deviations from social norms which
encounter disapproval (1957, p. vii)a standard
and widely adopted definition that seems entirely
sensible, although limited. Still, Id like to qualify,
shade, and complicate matters a bit. Who defines
or promulgates these social norms? How widely
held are they? How much disapproval do these
devi ations elicit? Are they sanctioned by the society
at largeor do different, diverse, and scattered
audiences, different social circles, sanction
different norms? How large do such social circles
or audiences have to be? How many audiences
need to disapprove of normative violations for them
to qualify as deviance? And likewise, how serious
are these deviations or violations? These intriguing
questions raise a host of conceptual, intellectual,
and theoretical issues. All of the behaviors des –
cribed in the introductory paragraph of this chapter
would encounter disapproval from some members
of the society, but not all. Disapproval comes, not
from everyone in a society, but from members of
certain circles of collectivitiesgroups of people.
Sociologists of deviance call these groups audi-
ences, because they constitute collectivities that
decide whether certain acts are wrongful and ex –
press approval, disapproval, or neutrality about the
actors moral character.
Heres a telling example. In October 2015, the
Democratic and Republican candidates for the 2016
election engaged in debates about Americas prob-
lems as well as their solutions. In their one debate,
the Democratic candidates characterized climate
change, police shootings of African Americans,
and a failing criminal justice system as the most
important issues for society that were in need of
repair. The Republicans held two debates; they
featured abortion, illegal immigration, high taxes,
the regulation of business, and free-spending
government social welfare programs as the central
problems of the day, all of which contribute to the
rotting of Americas moral core (Healy, 2015,
p. A1). In other words, the leaders of the two parties
disagree about whats wrong with American
society and what constitutes wrongful behavior;
each side defines deviance in very different ways.
All societies on Earth are comprised of social
circles, groups of people, or scattered individuals,
whose members judge and evaluate what they see
and hear about. When they encounter or hear about
behavior, expressed beliefs, and even physical traits
or characteristics that should be considered offen-
sive, improper, unseemly, or inappropriate, theres
a likelihood that they will punish, denounce, or
humiliate the violator. In a similar fashion, if the
behavior in question is illegal, law enforcement
may step in and make an arrest. But does it always?
In other words, all societies exercise some forms of
social control. If social control is never exercised,
societies almost inevitably collapse into chaos and
2 AN INTRODUCTION TO DEVIANCE
anarchy. But this formulation leaves some issues
unresolved. When members of audiences observe
something of which they disapprove, when and
under what circumstances do they express disap-
proval? Much of the time, people ignore untoward
behavior, the expression of wayward beliefs, and
unconventional physical characteristics. How does
all this behavior, this action and interactionand
inactioncome about? Even if we see something
we regard as wrong, we sometimes intervene and
sometimes ignore it. Why? Whats the pattern here?
Under what circumstances do we do the one, or the
other? Here, I address these issues; they are central
to the sociology of deviance.
Sociologists define deviance as behavior,
beliefs, and characteristics that violate societys, or
a collectivitys, norms, the violation of which tends
to attract negative reactions from audiences. Such
negative reactions include contempt, punishment,
hostility, condemnation, criticism, denigration,
condescension, stigma, pity, and/or scorn. Perhaps
the most common reaction to someone doing or
saying something or looking a certain way is the
withdrawal of sociabilitywalking away from the
person in question. But how strong does the nega-
tive reaction have to be to allow the sociologist
to view the action, attitude, or trait as deviant?
The short answer is: It doesnt matter; deviance
is a matter of degree. The stronger the negative
reaction and the greater the number of audiences
that react this wayand the more sizable and influ-
ential the audiences arethe more likely it is that
the violator will attract negative reactions or
labeling, and the more certain sociologists feel that
they have an instance of deviance on their hands.
Not all members of a given audience will react in
the same way; usuallyeven within a specific
society or social circlereactions to normative
violations vary.
Sociologists dont necessarily agree with a
given negative assessment, or react in such nega-
tive waysthey dont always think that the violator
ought to be chastised or punishedbut, as sociol-
ogists, its their obligation to notice that certain
audiences do react negatively. Sociologists study
such reactions, because these social exchanges
define or constitute deviance. There is no essence
to deviance, no hard, concrete reality that we can
put our hands on that exists independent of such
condemnatory or scornful reactions, no quality all
deviancies possessand, hence, no categorical or
generic cause of deviance. The defining charac-
teristic of deviance for most sociologists is not
harm, injury, wrong, pathology, sin, or abusiveness;
these qualities or attributes are socially constructed
and attributed, and, however they are defined, what
is considered deviant varies independently of them.
Under certain circumstances, powerful people
can get away with doing things that othersless
powerful peoplefind offensive. The less powerful
parties may be afraid to react in a way that ex –
presses how they feel, so they may express these
feelings in different contexts, under other circum-
stances. Perhaps theyll tell a friend, a teacher, or
a relative about it; perhaps theyll wait for the
appropriate time and place to react. Or perhaps they
simply sublimate their reactions and feel resentful
and lash out at someone else. All sociological
general izations apply other things being equal;
power, like audiences, qualifies or contextualizes
sociological definitions of deviance.
Whats deviant is a definition, not a theory. It
defines what the sociological conceptualization of
deviance is; it does not formulate a cause-and-
effect explanation for why people behave the way
they do, believe what they do, or are the way they
areor react the way they do. These are separate
matters. Why people do what they do, and why
members of certain audiences react the way they
do, and what conditions influence them to react one
way rather than another, all demand an explanation.
The same behavior, beliefs, and conditions elicit
diverse reactions, depending on the audience.
But this diversity is not without boundaries. Social
and cultural constraints and conditions place limi-
tations on whats considered deviant. Nowhere is
an unprovoked killing of the members of ones
own band, tribe, family, group, kin, or intimate unit
considered acceptable or praiseworthy; certain
physical conditions are considered so hideous
that in no society are they beauty features. In other
words, there are limits to relativity, limits as to
the ways in which cultures or subcultures con-
struct notions of good and bad, beautiful and ugly,
acceptable and unacceptable, righteous and wrong –
ful, moral and immoral. But the limits are broad,
and, for the most, relativity in these judgments
prevails.
AN INTRODUCTION TO DEVIANCE 3
DEVIANCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Just about everyone has done something that
someone else frowns upon; just about everyone
believes something that certain others view as
immoral or wrongful, holds attitudes of which
somebody disapproves, or possesses physical or
ethnic characteristics that touch off disdain or
hostility or denigration in this, that, or some other,
social circle, audience, or person. Perhaps at least
once, weve stolen something, or told a lie, or
gossiped about another person in an especially
unflattering manner. Maybe more than once weve
gotten drunk, or high, or driven too fast, or reck-
lessly, or gone through a red light without bothering
to stop. Have we ever worn clothes someone else
thought were out of style, offensive, or ugly? Have
we ever belched at the dinner table, broken wind,
or picked our nose in public? Have we ever cut
class or failed to read an assignment? Do we like
a television program someone else finds stupid and
boring? Didnt we once date someone our parents
and friends didnt like? Maybe our religious beliefs
and practices dont agree with those of the members
of another theological group, organization, sect, or
denomination. Perhaps politically were a liberal,
or a conservative, or somewhere in the middle
someone doesnt approve of those views. At some
point, didnt we put on a little too much weight?
All of us make judgments about the behavior,
beliefs, appearance, or characteristics of others. All
of us evaluate others, although in variable ways.
Societies everywhere formulate and enforce rules
or norms governing what we may and may not do,
how we should and shouldnt think, believe, and
say, even how we should and shouldnt look. Those
norms are so detailed and complex, and so depen-
dent on the views of different audiences or social
circles of evaluators, that certain things that others
do, believe, and are, are looked on negatively by
someonein all likelihood, by lots of other people.
Believers in God look down on atheists; atheists
think believers in God are misguided and mistaken.
Fundamentalist Christians oppose the beliefs of
fundamentalist Muslims, and vice versa. Liberals
disapprove of and oppose the views of conserva-
tives; to conservatives, the feeling is mutual. Many
college campuses are divided into mutually exclu-
sive ethnic and racial enclaves; in student unions,
often, the whites sit together in their own area,
and African Americans in theirs. Jocks and drug-
gies, brains and preppies, Greeks, geeks, hippies
the number of ways that what we believe, or do, or
are, is judged negatively by some others is almost
infinite.
There are four necessary ingredients for devi –
ance to take place or exist: one, a rule or norm; two,
someone who violates (or is thought to violate) that
norm; three, an audience, a person or collec-
tivity who judges behavior, beliefs, or traits to be
wrong ful; and four, the likelihood of a negative
reactioncriticism, condemnation, censure, stigma,
dis approval, punishment, and the likeby the
members of at least one of those audiences. To
qual ify as deviance, it isnt even necessary to vio –
late a norm thats serious, such as the Ten Com –
mandments. Norms are everywhere, and they vary
in seriousness, and different social circles believe
in and profess different norms. In other words,
deviance is a matter of degree, a continuum or a
spectrum, from trivial to extremely serious, an
