1. Deviant behavior
is any behavior that is contrary to the dominant norms of society. There are many
different theories on what causes a person to perform deviant behavior, including
biological explanations, psychological explanations, and sociological explanations.
Following are some of the major sociological explanations for deviant behavior.
Structural Strain Theory
Robert K. Merton developed the structural strain theory as an extension of the
functionalist perspective on deviance. This theory traces the origins of deviance
to the tensions that are caused by the gap between cultural goals and the means
people have available to achieve those goals.
According to the structural strain theory, Societies are characterized by both
culture and social structure. Culture establishes goals for people in society while
social structure provides (or fails to provide) the means for people to achieve
those goals. In a well-integrated society, people use accepted and appropriate
means to achieve the goals that society establishes. In this case, the goals and the
means of the society are in balance. It is when the goals and means are not in
balance with each other that deviance is likely to occur. This imbalance between
cultural goals and structurally available means can actually lead an individual
into deviant behavior.
Merton also classified people into five general categories with regards to their
relationship to culturally accepted goals and the means to achieving those goals:
 Conformists are people who believe in both the established cultural goals of
society as well as the normative means for attaining those goals. They follow
the rules of society.
 Ritualists are individuals who do not believe in the established cultural goals of
society, but they do believe in and abide by the means for attaining those goals.
 Innovators are those individuals that accept the cultural goals of society but
reject the conventional methods of attaining those goals. These people usually
have a blatant disregard for the conventional methods that have been
established in attaining wealth and are generally those we regard as criminals.
 Retreatists are individuals who reject both the cultural goals and the accepted
means of attaining those goals. They simply avoid both the goals and means

2. established by society without replacing those norms with their own counter-cultural
forces.
 Rebels not only reject both the established cultural goals and the accepted
means of attaining those goals, but they substitute new goals and new means of
attaining those goals.
 Labeling Theory
 Labeling theory is one of the most important approaches to understanding
deviant and criminal behavior within sociology. Labeling theory begins
with the assumption that no act is intrinsically criminal. Definitions of
criminality are established by those in power through the formulation of
laws and the interpretation of those laws by police, courts, and correctional
institutions. Deviance is therefore not a set of characteristics of individuals
or groups, but rather it is a process of interaction between deviants and
non-deviants and the context in which criminality is being interpreted.
 Those who represent forces of law and order and those who enforce the
boundaries of proper behavior, such as the police, court officials, experts,
and school authorities, provide the main source of labeling. By applying
labels to people, and in the process creating categories of deviance, these
people are reinforcing the power structure of society. Many of the rules that
define deviance and the contexts in which deviant behavior is labeled as
deviant are framed by the wealthy for the poor, by men for women, by
older people for younger people, and by ethnic minorities for minority
groups. In other words, the more powerful and dominant groups in society
create and apply deviant labels to the subordinate groups.
 Social Control Theory
 Social control theory, developed by Travis Hirschi, is a type of functionalist
theorythat suggests that deviance occurs when a person’s or group’s
attachment to social bonds is weakened. According to this view, people
care about what others think of them and conform to social expectations
because of their attachments to others and what others expect of them.
Socialization is important in producing conformity to social rules and it is
when this conformity is broken that deviance occurs.
 Social control theory focuses on how deviants are attached, or not, to
common value systems and what situations break people’s commitment to

3. these values. This theory also suggests that most people probably feel some
impulse towards deviant behavior at some time, but their attachment to
social norms prevents them from actually participating in deviant behavior.
 Theory of Differential Association
 The theory of differential association is a learning theory that focuses on
the processes by which individuals come to commit deviant or criminal
acts. According to the theory, created by Edwin H. Sutherland, criminal
behavior is learned through interactions with other people. Through this
interaction and communication, people learn the values, attitudes,
techniques, and motives for criminal behavior.
 Differential association theory emphasizes the interaction people have with
their peers and others in their environment. Those who associate with
delinquents, deviants, or criminals learn to value deviance. The greater the
frequency, duration, and intensity of their immersion in deviant
environments, the more likely it is that they will become deviant. This
theory really focuses on how people become criminals, not why they
become criminals.