Chapter 3 Overview

Deviance is any minor or serious act that breaks an accepted social standard. Definitions of deviance vary depending on the severity of public response, perceived harmfulness, and degree of public agreement. There are three basic levels of deviant acts: (1) minor deviances, which are not crimes and are not seen as harmful to society; (2) lesser crimes, which are criminal in nature but are not considered serious violations of social norms; and, (3) consensus crimes, which are criminal in nature, perceived as serious, and widely regarded as harmful to society. White-collar crime, or stealing in a workplace, is also considered criminal, harmful, and a serious violation of social norms.

The chapter introduces you to the theory of social construction, a theory used to explain how what we consider deviant or criminal acts is often developed during our interactions with each other. In other words, deviant and criminal acts can be explained as being as a product of the individual’s environment as opposed to being based on individual explanations such as defective genes, for example. Several social explanations are outlined in the chapter: strain and subcultural theory, learning theory, labelling theory, and control theory.

Finally, this chapter explains to you what the function of punishment is in human societies; it is the penalty inflicted on someone for committing a transgression. Punishment serves various functions in human society such as retribution for the suffering caused by the crime, as a deterrent to future law breaking, as potentially rehabilitating, as protection for society, as restoration, and, finally, as boundary-setting.