Sociological Theories of Deviance

In the world we live in today, deviance happens to play an integral role in within the societies that scatter our globe, whether we like it or not. Deviance describes actions or behaviors that violate the social norms of our society. These behaviors can violate formally enacted rules, such as laws that are put into place by government, as well as the informal type of “guidelines” that various cultures have informally established and shaped for themselves. As one may come to understand, norms are essentially expectations that are standard to a certain culture. These norms gently guide people in a society in “what to do,” and “what not to do,” in compliance with their societies' norms. With this said, it is important to keep in mind that social norms differ from culture to culture. One act that may be considered deviant in a particular society, may be generally accepted in another. Three main sociological theories of deviance include the cultural transmission theory (also known as the differential association theory), the labeling theory, and the control theory.
If we take a look certain agents of socialization, for example, a school system, it becomes very easy to pinpoint and understand the facets of the cultural transmission theory. This theory considers deviance to be a behavior that is learned through interactions with other people. Within a social institution, such as a particular high school in the U.S., many students are able to come together and meaningfully interact with one another. Schools, especially school systems in the United States, serve as a sort of “melting pot” for numerous children of different backgrounds to come together, exposing many children to different cultures. Within many schools exist groups of stu...

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... value system. For example, we can compare a middle class man who has a career and is living in the suburbs with his family, and a homeless man living in the ghetto with no ties or bonds with anyone. The man that “has nothing to lose” is more likely to commit deviant acts, due to his lacking in a career, possessions, and close bonds in a community. The homeless man would feel more free to deviate, versus the middle class man that has a status to uphold to, and a family to tend to.
In retrospect, although there are many people that view deviance as something that is negative for a society, it is also believed that deviance is a very important part of our history. It provides a mode of innovation and creation that would otherwise be hard to achieve without some sort of deviance. Overall, deviance itself is inevitable, and very evident in the society we live in today.