Main content
MCAT
Course: MCAT > Unit 11
Lesson 8: Normative and non-normative behavior- Normative and nonnormative behavior questions
- What is normal? Exploring folkways, mores, and taboos
- Perspectives on deviance: Differential association, labeling theory, and strain theory
- Aspects of Collective Behavior: Fads, Mass Hysteria, and Riots
© 2023 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
Perspectives on deviance: Differential association, labeling theory, and strain theory
Created by Jeffrey Walsh.
Want to join the conversation?
- Where do you draw the line in determining "deviance"? Is it a simple majority that determines the norm? If so, then smoking or abstaining from alcohol would be deviant behavior. Right?(10 votes)
- in the usa, people that claim to smoke cigarettes is 18% of the population while in malaysia nearly 100% of the population smokes cigarettes so in the usa smoking cigarettes would be considered deviant vs malaysia not smoking is considered deviant.(6 votes)
- My sociology book places Merton's Strain Theory under Structural-Functional Analysis, not Symbolic-Interaction Analysis(3 votes)
- As does my book (Essentials of Sociology by Henslin). Strain theory is functionalist, while the other 2 theories are symbolic interactionist.(3 votes)
- The sound quality in this video is not that great. It is hard to hear, I have the volume on everything turned up all the way and I'm still having a hard time hearing clearly.(4 votes)
- What is deviance(1 vote)
- That appears to be defined right at the beginning of this video ...(4 votes)
- What three things must be present in order for deviance to be learned?(2 votes)
- I have a slight problem with these theories, but I'm not sure how to word my thoughts. I'll give the example that's in my mind that's causing me to have trouble.
If someone is gay, and homosexuality is considered "deviant behavior" within a community, then none of these theories provide good explanation for "why" that person may be gay. We don't have control over some of our "deviant" behavior like homosexuality, so there isn't a "why."(2 votes) - in the last video, "norm" was defined as rules of behavior, where as here "norm" seems to have taken a statistical meaning of average. I don't think those two are equivalent.(1 vote)
Video transcript
Voiceover: In the last video,
we defined norms and outlined some basic ways that a person could
violate a norm. When a norm is violated, it's referred to
as deviance. And though the word, deviance, seems
negative, it's not. It simply means that an individual's
behaving differently from what society feels is
normal behavior. If a person is deviant from norms, that
doesn't necessarily mean that they are doing
something bad or immoral. As an example, most Americans eat meat on
a regular basis, and they feel that doing so is
normal behavior. Someone who doesn't eat meat, someone
who's a vegetarian, they would be considered
deviant. Their behavior is different than what the
majority considers acceptable and normal. And just like norms are relative, deviance
is relative, as well. It is dependent on the context, individual
group, or location in the world. And standards for deviance change, based
on those factors. Sociologists often use symbolic interactionist perspective when studying
deviance. The perspective basically states that
society is a product of everyday social interactions
of individuals. This means that looking at how people
behave in normal everyday situations, helps us to better
understand and define deviance. One view of deviance from this perspective, is the theory of differential
association. And differential association states that
deviance is a learned behavior that results from continued exposure to others
who violate norms and laws. So this situation in individuals who
commit deviant behavior learn values and norms that are different from
the dominant culture. So you can think of this as monkey see,
monkey do. But also the monkey believes this is
acceptable behavior. So imagine an elite athlete. This athlete grows up with coaches and
teammates that believe that cheating is wrong and to be a successful athlete one must train
hard, avoid drugs and alcohol and be respectful
to opponents. Now imagine the athlete switches teams and
his new team members believe that using steroids, partying, and heckling are the
best way to be successful in the sport. From his new team members the athlete
learns that drug use, partying, and heckling are acceptable even
though they were not acceptable before. The new team members may even show the
athlete how to be deviant by demonstrating how to take a particular drug or
introducing the athlete to a new type of steroid. The athlete rejects his norms and values,
and accepts the new deviant behaviors. With this in mind the theory differential
association asserts that the relationships a person forms are
very important. If a person forms strong relationships with someone who is incredibly deviant,
and provides constant exposure to violated
norms, they are more likely to learn deviance. However, if they form relationships with
someone who follows norms, they are less likely to learn
deviant behavior. Another view of deviance that's supported
by this symbolic interaction as perspective in
sociology is labeling theory. In labeling theory, a behavior is deviant
if people have judged the behavior and labeled it as
deviant. So think back on our early athlete. If he uses steroids, is that deviant? Well the answer depends on what is
considered acceptable within that specific team, sporting league, or
even within the greater society. See using steroids isn't necessarily right
or wrong. It is possible that in some situations,
steroids are medically necessary. However in the context of professional
sports steroid use can be labelled as wrong or unfair. And thus be considered deviant and subject
to criticism from others. Society's reaction to and its labels for
the deviant behavior and the person who committed the deviant
behavior are very important. An act labeled as primary deviance does
not have huge consequenceS. This act produces very little societal
push back. The reaction to the deviant behavior is
very mild and, and doesn't affect the person's
self esteem. The individual's able to continue to
behave in the same way without feeling immoral or
wrong. As an example, imagine that our athlete
took steroids and his teammates found out. Since they all use steroids, the athlete
is not labeled as deviant and his actions go
unnoticed. His deviance doesn't matter. However, an act labeled as secondary deviance can produce more serious
consequences. Secondary deviance is characterized by a
severe negative reaction that produces a stigmatizing label that can result in
even more deviant behavior. So imagine the teammates of our athlete
label his behavior as deviant. And they exclude him from practices and
tell him that he's a terrible player. The reactions may cause them to feel he
needs to continue to use steroids to be a better
player. He may even escalate and use steroids more often or try more dangerous forms of the
drug. His repeated deviance gives him a
reputation and the stigma of deviance stays with him for the rest of
his career. And the last theory of deviance that we'll
cover is called strain theory. And strain theory suggests that if a
person is blocked from attaining a culturally accepted goal, they become frustrated or strained and turn to
deviance. So in this viewpoint, individuals in a
group are pushed to attain certain goals, but they may not have the means or
legitimate a way to achieve success. Though society values a certain behavior,
they do not make the opportunity to success
available to everyone. In some situations a lack of equal
opportunity results in increase access to illegal means to
achieve success. So if we think about our athlete example,
imagine that he attends a school that doesn't have access
to proper training equipment. Or doesn't have access to a qualified
coach or solid funding. The athlete becomes frustrated with his
inability to become an elite athlete, and so he turns to
deviant behavior. Or maybe because the school athletic
program lacks the proper resources to be successful, there are more steroid
dealers in the area. And our athlete turns to steroids to try
to level the playing field. These behaviors are deviant but they
provide the athlete with a way to achieve the socially acceptable goal of being a successful, strong, and talented
player. So that's the strain theory