Theories of deviance
What is deviance?
Our assigned reading offers a number of compelling examples of acts of deviance and of how through a process of social change things that were once considered deviant are now considered normative.
Some of the foundational concepts in the sociology of deviance that you should now understand include:
- social control (who does this and for what purpose?);
- norms (including mores and folkways);
- moral panics (again who sparks these and why?); and
- stigma
For today’s class, we are – once again – going to rely on you to dig into the major questions and debates that we’re introduced to in our assigned reading.
Work with the others around you to come up with answers to the questions on the next two slides.
If we’re lucky, this will help us all to better understand what deviance is and how it’s explained through different theoretical perspectives.
Functionalist perspectives
- What are the main questions about deviance asked from the functionalist perspective?
- What sorts of answers to these questions do we get from sociologists adopting this perspective?
- Finally, what are the key terms or concepts that they use or develop in their explanations?
- Can you come up with an original, recent example from your own world(s) to illustrate the functionalist theory of deviance?
Conflict perspectives
Let’s address the same questions from the conflict perspective:
- What are the main questions about deviance asked from the conflict perspective?
- What sorts of answers to these questions do we get from sociologists adopting this perspective?
- What are the key terms or concepts that they use or develop in their explanations?
- Finally, can you come up with an original, recent example from your own world(s) to illustrate the conflict theory of deviance?
