7.2 Deviance and Social Control
Alexandra Olsen
What, exactly, is deviance? And what is the relationship between deviance and crime? According to sociologist William Graham Sumner, deviance is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores, or codified law (1906). It can be as minor as picking your nose in public or as major as committing murder. Although the word “deviance” has a negative connotation in everyday language, sociologists recognize that deviance is not necessarily bad (Schoepflin 2011). For instance, the actions of Black activists who occupied public spaces reserved for Whites only were considered deviant during the civil rights movement. Yet, these forms of deviance led to significant positive social and legal changes that began to address racial inequality in the United States (figure 7.2).
Crime versus Deviance
When we think about deviance we often think about crime, a behavior that violates official law and is punishable through formal sanctions. However, deviance is a more encompassing term than crime, meaning that it includes a range of activities, some of which are crimes and some of which are not.
Sociologists may study both deviance and crime with equal interest, but, as a whole, society views crime as far more significant. Crime preoccupies several levels of government, and it drives concerns among families and communities. Because of this, we see more research on crime than on the breaking of other social norms, such as students cursing in class. It should also be noted that scholars rarely frame research on civil rights or gay rights activism as an examination of deviance. Instead, this research examines the dynamics of social resistance, how social change occurs, and the effectiveness of different social movement tactics. Sociologists view “positive” deviance through the lens of community-led struggles to address inequality rather than through the lens of socially undesirable behavior that should be analyzed in the same way as crime.
Still, deviance also encompasses crime, and our definitions of crime have changed over time. For example, on November 3, 2020, ballot Measure 110 passed in Oregon. This ballot measure decriminalized drug possession and established drug addiction treatment and recovery program funding through both the state’s cannabis tax revenue and prison savings. The passage of this ballot measure was significant because it was the first of its kind in the United States. In passing the measure, it shows how what is considered criminal and deviant can vary across time and place, even from state to state. While cities and other localities have passed measures decriminalizing drugs, this was the first time a state had shifted its policies so significantly. Then in 2024, in a reversal, Oregon recriminalized drug possession. Decriminalized and recriminalizing drug possession in Oregon is not the only significant change we’ve seen in how drugs are dealt with in societ