Chapter Six: Deviance
Discuss the argument that the definition of deviance is relative.
Feedback:Whether an act is deviant depends on how other people react to it. Evidence for this is found in two sources:
inconsistencies between societies as to what is deviance and inconsistencies in the labeling of behavior as
deviant within a single society. There is abundant anthropological evidence that what is right or wrong varies
from society to society. Differential treatment for similar behavior within a single society provides further proof
that deviance is not a property of the act but depends on the reaction of the particular audience.
Source ID: 3.0.1
Learning Objective: The Characteristics of Deviance
Topic/Concept: LO 6.1: Know the five principles that help us understand the concept of deviance.
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q6.2.52
Discuss the concept of the culture of poverty, and contrast the views of Banfield and Gross.
Feedback:The culture of poverty is the view that the poor are qualitatively different in values and lifestyles from the rest of
society and that those cultural differences explain their poverty; i.e. people, because of their social class position,
differ in resources, power, and prestige and hence have different experiences, lifestyles, and ways of life. Edward
Banfield argues that lower-class individuals have a propensity toward criminal behavior. He asserts that a person
in the lower class does not have a strong sense of morality and thus is not constrained by legal rules, and has
weak ego strength, a present-time orientation, a propensity for taking risks, and a willingness to inflict injury.
Daniel Gross argues that we should forget about the underclass because it is the “overclass” that is hurting
society. He writes: “In the underclass, unmarried fathers don’t take responsibility for their children. In the
overclass, twice-married, middle-aged Wall Street daddies don’t own up to the consequences of their insane
financial miscues.” Unlike Banfield, Gross points to crimes by economic elites within major corporations.
Source ID: 3.0.2
Learning Objective: LO 6.2: Critique the theories that point to the individual as the source of deviance.
Topic/Concept: Traditional Theories for the Causes of Deviance: The Individual
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q6.2.53
Explain the system-blame approach and discuss the dangers of relying completely on it for explaining deviance.
Feedback:The system-blame approach asserts that societal problems such as crime and poverty exist because of problems
within the social system rather than being the fault of the individual. The system-blame approach provides a
balance to the person-blame approach common in society, and is used in the chapter because society is the
subject of sociology, not the individual. Problems include: (1) It only tells part of the truth. Social problems and
deviance are highly complex phenomena that have both individual and systemic origins. (2) A dogmatic system-
blame orientation presents a rigidly deterministic explanation for social problems. Taken too far, this position
views individuals as robots controlled totally by their social environment. A balanced view of people is needed,
because human beings have autonomy most of the time to choose between alternative courses of action.
Source ID: 3.0.3
Learning Objective: LO 6.2: Critique the theories that point to the individual as the source of deviance.
Topic/Concept: Traditional Theories for the Causes of Deviance: The Individual
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q6.3.54
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