all deviance is relative essay

be living in poverty. In order to obtain a higher level of socioeconomic status, crime is seen as the only option.” (Wilson, 1987). Crime exists everywhere in the world – in rural and urban areas in many countries, in the East and West, and among all types of people. This has led many government officials, especially those in urban areas, to focus largely on the reduction of crime among their respective constituencies and has led others to speculate on the factors that influence the amount of crime

the conflict theory and the last being the learning theory. All these theories will be explained along with what part of each theory will be evaluated. The labeling theory starts off with the basic assumption that deviance is relative too social or group norms and not inherently characteristic of certain human acts or people. Becker states, “Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance. Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a

world and throughout history there has always been a traditional measure of deviance through relative income gaps. Both poverty and crime as well as their connections are heavily weighed topics of political and social discourse. Opinions in these areas contain a great deal of variance. The prejudices of the old guard from the professional police era still utilize association with poverty as a measuring stick for social deviance. Meanwhile, intelligent social science continues to give insight to factors

Social Norms One of the main ways in which society functions is based on social norms, which help regulate the actions that people will carry out on a daily basis. Social norms can be learned as part of someone 's culture or can be influenced by authority such as a government. Examples of the different types of norms could be walking on the sidewalk, sitting during a class and going through a green light. Norms will change over time as society grows and times change, but social norms will sometimes

Crime and Deviance is Normal in Society Is crime an abnormal act committed by an abnormal person? Most persons confronted with this particular question would undoubtedly say, ¡§Yes¡¨. They would consider themselves, perhaps not angelic, but certainly law-abiding members of society. However, if these, law-abiding citizens were to focus on the question, their answer might be very different. They might discover that the gene of criminality is in us all. Crime and deviance is not only a normal part

Becker criticizes other theories of deviance for accepting the existence of deviance and by doing so, accept the values of the majority within the social group. According to Becker, studying the act of the individual is unimportant because deviance is simply rule breaking behavior that is labeled deviant by persons in positions of power. The rule breaking behavior is constant; the labeling

rates are abnormally high or low. According to Durkheim the purpose of punishment is not to eliminate crime completely but rather to maintain the norms and values of the majority, in order to keep a relative amount of “social order”. Robert Merton developed some of Durkheim’s ideas, arguing that deviance

normal person is a person acting in ways that are expected. To go against the norm is deviant. The society that a person is surrounded by determines what is considered the norm, which means that deviance is relative in space and time. Gangs are a seen as a deviant subculture within itself. While not all gang members have a criminally deviant agenda, many do perform deviant acts such as graffiti, robbery, larceny, assault, drug deals and homicide. Regardless of what the intentions of joining are,

one theory may prove to be more convincing in terms of applying the theory to the understanding of crime and delinquency. Social learning theory refers to Akers’ theory of crime and deviance. Akers attempted to specify the mechanism and processes through which criminal learning takes place by explaining crime and deviance; he did this in such a way that the likelihood of conforming or deviant behavior based on the influence of an individual’s history of learning was accounted for. This theory was based

first and really did not know people like him existed. He would kick me, slap me, throw things at me, the list goes on and on, but he never punched me. In fact he would say to people that he couldn’t stand “wife bashers”. He tried to isolate us from all those who loved us and new people we met would go through character assassinations by him. Life was continuous hell, fear and horror and he always blamed me for his violence. Towards the end of the relationship he threated to run us off the road in