Deviant Behaviour
What is deviant behaviour?
Deviant behaviour is any behaviour that does not conform to generally
accepted social or cultural norms and expectations. Murder is a classic
exemplar of extreme deviant behaviour as, according to the cultural
norms of our society, killing another human being is unacceptable. There
are many different theories on what provokes someone to commit a
deviant act, including physiological explanations and psychological
explanations.
Deviance, in everyday language, is the act of being different from the
popular belief, usually in a bad way. That being said, in order to
understand and define a person’s behaviour we must first study the
cultural norms of the society surrounding him. Norms vary across
cultures and, in some situations, what is considered as deviant behaviour
in a particular society and time may be seen as acceptable in another. For
example, there was a time when it was a social norm for the ladies of the
Western world to wear gloves in public but such an act would nowadays
be considered as bizarre, unless the weather was cold. The determination
of deviant behaviour depends on the general population or an individual.
A common question is what triggers people to perform deviant
behaviour. From the perspective of physiology, brain variations lead to
expressions of deviance. They claim that genetically inherited
characteristics such as chromosome abnormalities, chemical imbalances,
vitamin deficiencies and hormonal differences make certain people
naturally more prone to criminality. However, many sociologists tend to
respond negatively to such theories. While there is some evidence to
suggest that inheritance and the biochemistry of the brain may be factors
in abnormal behaviours, biological factors on their own cannot interpret
crime.
On the other hand, psychologists are interested in the thought
processes behind deviant behaviour.
Deviant behaviour is any behaviour that does not conform to generally
accepted social or cultural norms and expectations. Murder is a classic
exemplar of extreme deviant behaviour as, according to the cultural
norms of our society, killing another human being is unacceptable. There
are many different theories on what provokes someone to commit a
deviant act, including physiological explanations and psychological
explanations.
Deviance, in everyday language, is the act of being different from the
popular belief, usually in a bad way. That being said, in order to
understand and define a person’s behaviour we must first study the
cultural norms of the society surrounding him. Norms vary across
cultures and, in some situations, what is considered as deviant behaviour
in a particular society and time may be seen as acceptable in another. For
example, there was a time when it was a social norm for the ladies of the
Western world to wear gloves in public but such an act would nowadays
be considered as bizarre, unless the weather was cold. The determination
of deviant behaviour depends on the general population or an individual.
A common question is what triggers people to perform deviant
behaviour. From the perspective of physiology, brain variations lead to
expressions of deviance. They claim that genetically inherited
characteristics such as chromosome abnormalities, chemical imbalances,
vitamin deficiencies and hormonal differences make certain people
naturally more prone to criminality. However, many sociologists tend to
respond negatively to such theories. While there is some evidence to
suggest that inheritance and the biochemistry of the brain may be factors
in abnormal behaviours, biological factors on their own cannot interpret
crime.
On the other hand, psychologists are interested in the thought
processes behind deviant behaviour.
Bibliography: Haralambos & Holborn, 2000 ‘Sociology; Themes and Perspectives’, Collins