Social Deviance and Control

Social Deviance and Control

Vivian Edoja

Franklin University

Social Deviance and Control

Reading 26: The Normality of Crime

In this reading by Emile Durkheim, crime is a deviance from social control. Social control is exemplified in individuals who conduct themselves in what their societies would refer to as a good-mannered way. Although crime deviates from these laws, it is still considered a norm. This is because, as explained by Durkheim, a society cannot exist without crime (McIntyre, 2009, pp. 258-259).

Crime, in this context, refers to acts by human beings against other human beings that may degrade or endanger an individual. In the absence of crime, moral inadequacies – such as lying – would become more detrimental to a society and carry consequences that “normal” crimes would, consequences that are punishable under law.

Reading 27: The Saints and the Roughnecks

William J. Chambliss’ observations on the Saints and the Roughnecks showed different forms of social deviance and control in one society. The Saints were a group if teenage males that portrayed social control when interacting with elders and officials, but still deviated from it in the truancy at school and by being public nuisances. They came from homes with higher social standings and had more access to money the Roughnecks. The Roughnecks exhibited the same deviances that the Saints did, but were less privileged than they were. The Roughnecks came from less prominent families and didn’t show respect for the elders and authority figures they encountered (McIntyre, 2009, pp. 267-269).

Both groups lived in the same society and deviated from the norms of their culture, but the effect that the Roughnecks had on the community were more adverse than that of the Saints. The Saints came from wealthier families (which had a lot to do with the way the rest of the community perceived them), but they also knew how to conduct and humble themselves when dealing directly with authority, so...