Deviant behavior goode 10th edition pdf

Discussion

Read: Account: A Murder Victim's Brother Speaks pgs. 164-167

Click on Discussion and answer the following questions:

1. Which of the following generalizations about criminal homicide can be applied to the scenario? List each generalization and use examples from the reading to describe why you think each generalization applies.

2) Do you think the United States is too lax about the sale of guns? Explain your pon on gun control.

Using the generalizations about criminal homicide as a guide, begin a discussion about gun control. You must agree/disagree with at least one other student in the class and explain why.

I only need 4-5 sentence for each

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

Deviant Behavior provides a comprehensive study of the behavior, beliefs, conditions, and reactions to deviance, giving students a better understanding of this phenomenon. Deviance is discussed from the sociological perspectives of positivism and constructionism. Readers will grasp the reason behind deviant behavior through the positivist perspective and why certain actions, beliefs, and physical char- acteristics are condemned through the constructionist perspective.

New to this edition:

• Two chapters on crime make clearer distinctions between criminalization of behavior versus crim- inal behavior itself.

• More discussion of the relativity of deviance, including how murder is socially and legally constructed. • The notion that conspiracy theory is a form of cognitive deviance is expanded. • Discussion that furthers the difference between labeling theory and constructionism. • Section on environmental pollution with reference to “green criminology.” • Section added on deviance and harm. • An extensive, author-created instructor’s manual offering lesson plans, teaching tips, student

activities, film suggestions, web links, study questions, and more. Instructors may access this by clicking the “Instructor Resources” tab on the book’s Routledge page at https://www.routledge.com/ products/9781138191907.

Erich Goode is Sociology Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University; he has taught at half-dozen universities and is the author of eleven books. During his career, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lady Davis Teaching Fellowship, the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the SUNY- wide Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Goode is married and lives in New York City.

ELEVENTH EDITION

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ELEVENTH EDITION

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

ERICH GOODE

Eleventh edition published 2016 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2016 Taylor & Francis

The right of Erich Goode to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published 1978 by Prentice-Hall

Tenth edition published 2015 by Pearson

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Goode, Erich, author. Title: Deviant behavior / Erich Goode, Stony Brook University. Description: Eleventh Edition. | New York: Routledge-Taylor and Francis, 2016. | Revised edition of the author’s Deviant behavior, 2014. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2015043569 | ISBN 9781138656024 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138191907 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315643632 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Deviant behavior. | Criminal behavior. Classification: LCC HM811 .G66 2016 | DDC 302.5/42—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043569

ISBN: 978-1-138-65602-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-19190-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-64363-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK

http://www.lccn.loc.gov/2015043569
To Barbara, my lovely and loving wife,

without whom

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PREFACE xv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii

CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO DEVIANCE 1

CHAPTER 2 EXPLAINING DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 27

CHAPTER 3 CONSTRUCTING DEVIANCE 57

CHAPTER 4 POVERTY AND DISREPUTE 84

CHAPTER 5 CRIME AND CRIMINALIZATION 111

CHAPTER 6 CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR 138

CHAPTER 7 WHITE COLLAR AND CORPORATE CRIME 168

CHAPTER 8 SUBSTANCE ABUSE 195

CHAPTER 9 SEXUAL DEVIANCE 227

CHAPTER 10 UNCONVENTIONAL BELIEFS 253

CHAPTER 11 MENTAL DISORDER 282

CHAPTER 12 DEVIANT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 313

CHAPTER 13 TRIBAL STIGMA: RACE, RELIGION, AND ETHNICITY 341

CHAPTER 14 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 366

REFERENCES 378

AUTHOR INDEX 394

SUBJECT INDEX 401

Brief Contents

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PREFACE xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii

CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO DEVIANCE 1

Deviance: What Is It? 2

Deviance in Everyday Life 4

Deviance as Non-Pejorative 5

Societal and Situational Deviance 6

The Relativity of Deviance 8

TABLE 1.1: Changes in Public Opinion over Time, United States 11

TABLE 1.2: Cross-National Designations of Deviance 11

The ABCs of Deviance 12

Deviant Attitudes and Beliefs 12

Physical Characteristics 14

Tribal Stigma: Race, Religion, and Ethnicity 15

Deviance: Positivism versus Constructionism 16

What about Deviance and Harm? 18

Summary 19

ACCOUNT: My Life’s Ups and Downs 22

CHAPTER 2 EXPLAINING DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 27

Positivism 29

Deviant Behavior: Why Do They Do It? 32

Biological Theories of Crime and Deviance 33

Free Will, Rational Choice, and Routine Activity Theory 35

Social Disorganization: The Chicago School 37

Anomie and Strain Theory 38

Differential Association and Learning Theory 43

Social Control Theory 45

Self-Control Theory 46

Summary 49

ACCOUNT: A Former Homeless Man Speaks Out 51

Contents

CHAPTER 3 CONSTRUCTING DEVIANCE 57

Deviance and Social Control 60

Formal and Informal Social Control 62

Perspectives that Focus on Defining Deviance 63

Labeling or Interactionist Theory 64

Conflict Theory 70

Feminism 73

Controlology 75

Summary 78

ACCOUNT: Victimization and Abuse 79

CHAPTER 4 POVERTY AND DISREPUTE 84

Poverty: A Form of Deviance or a Cause? 86

Perspectives on Poverty and Stigma 90

Poverty in the United States 94

Unemployment 98

Welfare 99

The Indignity of Begging 100

Homelessness 101

What about Disease? 103

Race and Poverty 106

Summary 108

ACCOUNT: Being Poor in Appalachia 109

CHAPTER 5 CRIME AND CRIMINALIZATION 111

The Social Construction of Murder 112

Crime and Deviance: A Conceptual Distinction 114

Common Law and Statutory Law 115

Positivism versus Constructionism 117

Mass Incarceration? 119

TABLE 5.1: Inmates in Jails and Prisons, 1940–2013 120

Race and the Criminal Justice System 121

TABLE 5.2: Stop-and-Frisk by Race, New York City, 2002–2015 124

The Arrest–Incarceration Gap 124

Missing Black Men? 125

Banishing the Deviant from Public Life 126

Disparities in Sentencing 130

x CONTENTS

Summary 132

ACCOUNT: My Life In and Out of Prison 134

CHAPTER 6 CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR 138

The Uniform Crime Reports 139

TABLE 6.1: The FBI’s Index Crimes (UCR), 1992–2014 142

The National Crime Victimization Survey 142

TABLE 6.2: Crime Victimization Rates, NCVS, 1992, 2002, and 2013 (per 1,000) for Population Age 12 and Older 144

The End of the Crime Decline? 144

The Criminologist Looks at Murder 145

Forcible Rape 153

Property Crime 158

Shoplifting and Employee Theft 160

Summary 162

ACCOUNT: A Murder Victim’s Brother Speaks 164

CHAPTER 7 WHITE COLLAR AND CORPORATE CRIME 168

Individual versus Structural Deviance 172

The Discovery of White Collar Crime 175

White Collar and Corporate Crime 178

Corporate Crime: Correlative Features 181

Four Examples of Corporate Deviance 185

Environmental Pollution 186

Summary 188

ACCOUNT: Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS 189

CHAPTER 8 SUBSTANCE ABUSE 195

Rates of Use: NSDUH and MTF 196

TABLE 8.1: Drug Use, Driving while Drinking, and Number of Heroin Users, Persons Age 12 and Older, 2002 and 2014 197

TABLE 8.2: Drug Use, Past 30 Days, 1991, 2001, 2014 200

A Classification of Drugs and Drug Effects 200

Alcohol Consumption: An Introduction 202

Acute Effects of Alcohol 204

Alcohol Abuse and Risky, Deviant Behaviors 205

Alcohol Abuse and Sexual Victimization 208

CONTENTS xi

Accompaniments of Drug Abuse: ADAM and DAWN 210

TABLE 8.3: Arrestees Urine-Testing Positive for Drugs, Percentage, Median City Figures, 2013, ADAM-II 211

TABLE 8.4: ADAM, Adult Male Arrestees, Median City Figures, 2010 211

TABLE 8.5: Drug-Related ED Visits, DAWN, 2011 212

TABLE 8.6: NSDUH and Drug-Related ED Visits Ratios, United States Population, Age 12 and Older, 2011 212

Marijuana Use as Deviance and Crime 214

Summary 217

ACCOUNT: An Executive’s Substance Abuse 220

CHAPTER 9 SEXUAL DEVIANCE 227

Positivism versus Constructionism 229

Sex Surveys: An Introduction 231

The Kinsey Reports, 1940s–1950s 232

The Sex in America Survey, 1990s 234

The General Social Surveys, 1972–2012 236

Gay Sex: Departing from Deviance 238

Adultery 244

Gender: The Crucial Ingredient 246

Summary 247

ACCOUNT: Faculty–Student Sex 249

CHAPTER 10 UNCONVENTIONAL BELIEFS 253

The Social Functions of Belief Systems 258

Religious Sects and Cults 261

Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution 264

Conspiracy Theories 269

Paranormal Beliefs as Deviant 272

Summary 275

ACCOUNTS: A Potpourri of Scientifically Deviant Beliefs 277

CHAPTER 11 MENTAL DISORDER 282

What Is Mental Disorder? 283

Essentialism Approaches Mental Disorder 285

Thought versus Mood Disorders 287

Constructionism 288

xii CONTENTS

Labeling Theory 290

The Modified Labeling Approach 292

On Being Sane in Insane Places 293

The Epidemiology of Mental Disorder 295

Chemical Treatment of Mental Disorder 299

Deinstitutionalization 301

Mental Disorder as Deviance: An Overview 302

Intellectual Developmental Disorder 303

Autism Spectrum Disorder 305

Summary 307

ACCOUNT: On Being a Paranoid Schizophrenic 309

CHAPTER 12 DEVIANT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 313

Abominations of the Body 317

Physical Disability 319

Looksism: Violations of Aesthetic Standards 321

Extreme Body Modification 324

Obesity 326

Disability and Tertiary Deviance 332

Summary 333

ACCOUNT: A Tattoo Collector Gets Inked 335

CHAPTER 13 TRIBAL STIGMA: RACE, RELIGION, AND ETHNICITY 341

Racism and Stigma: An Overview 343

Racism and Discrimination 347

TABLE 13.1: Attitudes toward Intermarriage, 1958–2011 352

Islamophobia 352

Anti-Semitism 356

Summary 361

ACCOUNT: Growing Up Colored in the South 362

CHAPTER 14 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 366

ACCOUNT: Reflections on Studying BDSM 375

REFERENCES 378 AUTHOR INDEX 394 SUBJECT INDEX 401

CONTENTS xiii

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A NEW ERA?

Racial polarization. Growing economic inequality. Deeply entrenched poverty. New methods of com - mitting corporate malfeasances. New and unique cutting-edge drugs that get the user higher faster. More homeless former mental patients roaming the streets. Internet sites that promise all manner of sexual services and thrills. A rise in the crime rate, previously down to record-low levels. Conspiracy theories about where an African American presi- dent was born.

Where is this society going? What are we doing? Are we entering a new age of deviance and crime? Does the study of deviance demand a broader scope, a more far-reaching vision?

NEW TO THIS EDITION

I’ve enjoyed revising Deviant Behavior for Rout- ledge, the book’s new publisher, because many ongoing events have virtually cried out for an update. In addition to updating this edition with contemporary facts and figures and discussions of recent publications and developments, here are a few of the changes I’ve made and new issues I’ve raised.

Several readers suggested that I devote more discussion to the subject of race and the criminal justice system, and so I have. These discussions include sections on mass incarceration, stop and frisk, disparities in sentencing, the black versus white arrest–incarceration ratio disparity, and the question of missing black men—which itself raises disturbing implications for the African American family. I’ve expanded my discussions of crime and criminalization into two chapters; among other crucial issues, I’ve made the distinction between the criminalization of behavior and specific forms of criminal behavior, what criminologists have referred to as “criminal behavior systems.” I’ve

Preface

captured the distinction between criminalization and crime by discussing, in Chapter 5, how murder is conceptualized, and, in Chapter 6, how the crim- inologist draws empirical conclusions about mur - der. Is environmental pollution a form of deviance? Is it a crime? Does it belong in a deviance textbook? The issue in turn connects with the newly emerging field of “green criminology.”

Conceptually and theoretically, I’ve also distin- guished more clearly labeling theory and construc- tionism—two approaches that some observers have confused. All too often critics have inter- preted constructionism to imply that a particular real-world problem, such as murder, is “only” a construction, which is completely false; murder is both, as I’ve emphasized. To illustrate that truth, I have included in Chapter 6 the account, “A Murder Victim’s Brother Speaks.” Moreover, along these lines, I’ve added a section on whether and to what extent deviance should be defined by the harm that some actions inflict upon others, whose advocates use this position as a critique—in my view, naïve and misguided—of the social construc- tion of reality. Appropriately, I’ve added a section on deviance and harm. Further, I’ve expanded the argument that believing in certain kinds of conspiracy theory represents a form of cognitive deviance.

Some readers felt that in the previous edition I devoted too much space to substance abuse, so I’ve trimmed the material in the previous edition’s Chapters 7 and 8, merging them into the new Chapter 8 of this edition. Both researchers and informed observers have suggested new approaches to several of our topics—for instance, on schizo- phrenia, on race, and on racism, and I have accom- modated their ideas in this edition. More than half of the personal accounts following the chapters are new. A few include “Faculty–Student Sex,” “A Formerly Homeless Man Speaks out,” “Victim- ization and Abuse,” “A Tattoo Collector Gets Inked,” “An Executive’s Substance Abuse,” and

“Reflections on Studying BDSM,” the last of these, an essay written by a sociologist studying sado- masochistic sex. In the discussion on tribal stigma, or the deviance of race, ethnicity, and religion, I’ve added a section on genocide. I’ve deleted several sections throughout that were probably redundant and excessive.

New to this edition is an extensive, author- created instructor’s manual offering lesson plans, teaching tips, student activities, film suggestions, web links, study questions, and more. Instruc- tors may access this by clicking the “Instructor Resources” tab on the book’s Routledge page at: https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138 191907.

ONGOING POSITIONS

The sociology of deviance demands empathy. Soci- ologists should live inside the skin of their subjects, informants, audiences, and interviewees, so that they can see the world through their eyes and emotionally experience life the way they live it. This is difficult and gut-wrenching, involving, as it does, taking the role of the other with a diversity of actors whose perspectives often contradict one

xvi PREFACE

another, as well as, quite often, clashing with one’s own point of view. How can we possibly empathize with people who inflict serious harm on human - kind? The task is daunting. Rule-violators are not always offbeat, good-guy rebels, and mavericks; sometimes, they are abusers, exploiters, mur derers, and true villains—whether corporate, govern- mental, or individual. But empathy can help us understand them, what they do, and perhaps the harm they inflict, if they do. Usually they don’t, though empathy helps either way. At the same time, I try to avoid the eerily detached attitude of superiority that some social scientists adopt; these sociological observers shall remain nameless.

It almost goes without saying that what I pre- sent here is a sociological perspective on deviance. I am not a psychologist, I am not a neurologist, and what happens in the brain is a domain that stretches continents away from my geography of competence. Other disciplines define the term I use in entirely different ways and marshal different mechanisms to explain how the human organism engages in activities that fall under their definition. Theirs may be more fundamental, more primal, but my domain is more out in the open; it’s there, it’s what I study and write about, and it’s what I know.

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For earlier editions of this text, I discharged debts of gratitude to multiple friends, relatives, col - leagues, students, collaborators on various projects, interviewees and respondents, and critics. I’d also like to reiterate my gratitude to two Prentice- Hall editors, one, Ed Stanford, who got the orig- inal book project rolling, and the second, Nancy Roberts, who kept it going. Naturally, I wish to express my enormous thanks to the brave folks who contributed the accounts that appear after each chapter, some from past editions, others for this one. These human-interest stories impart a veri - similitude to the book that perhaps the expository paragraphs and statistics lack. I am humbled by the honesty of these authors and interviewees. In previous editions, most of these account-givers were pleased to read their narratives in print, but a small handful recoiled when they encountered their supposed sins and drawbacks self-chronicled and concentrated into a few pages. I apologize to the latter category, but this is what this book is about —deeds, beliefs, and conditions that some of us regard as wrongful. There’s no getting around that fact, except to be truthful and sagacious about such matters; context and perspective are crucial here.

To Nachman Ben-Yehuda, whose companion- ship and fruitful association, collaboration, and sage advice I have long treasured; to the memory of my dad, William J. Goode, who died too soon— Si, I thought you’d live to celebrate your 100th birthday! To Dean Birkenkamp, sociology editor at Routledge, whose persistence, patience, and faith in me and in this project kept me at my computer. And to Amanda Yee, Dean’s assistant, I likewise express gratitude. I’ve mentioned numerous others in the acknowledgments of the previous editions of this book and so I stop, because a complete list would become far too long and cumbersome far too quickly.

My wife, Barbara. I’m grateful to her. My tower, my flywheel. My love. She’s the main influence in my life.

I have borrowed several phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and even pages from a couple of my published articles, principally those that discuss the fanciful “death of deviance” notion. I gratefully acknowledge my use of this material.

Erich Goode Greenwich Village, New York

Acknowledgments

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WE LIVE, it would appear, in troubled—andtroubling—times. Lots of people around the world engage in behavior that doesn’t seem right. In as many cities across the United States, police gun down a dozen unarmed African American suspects on the street in blatant violation of accept- able tactical protocol. In Baltimore, four teenagers

crouch in an alleyway, suck on and then pass around a glass pipe and stare dreamily into space. Mental hospitals everywhere release disordered patients onto the street, unsupervised, unmedicated, and unhoused, where they sleep, or beg from, jabber to, or scream at passers-by. The collapse of the subprime housing market vaporizes billions

C H A P T E R

1

An Introduction to Deviance

Source: © Tim Gerard Barker/Getty Images

1

of dollars and leaves hundreds of thousands of families deep in debt and troubled about their lives and their futures. Chemical company execu- tives bribe politicians to allow them to dump toxic waste in rivers, streams, and lakes. Somewhere in cyberspace there’s a “dark net” where purveyors sell illicit goods and services to customers seeking them out—murder for hire, child pornography, drugs, forged passports, counterfeit drivers’ licen - ses, stolen credit cards, untraceable and unlicensed semiautomatic weapons, a forum for dissidents in authoritarian regimes to voice their political griev- ances, and even computer viruses (Bartlett, 2014; Halpern, 2015).

“From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere,” says Dr. Seuss in the opening line of One Fish Two Fish Blue Fish Red Fish—and we can only agree. Except that many of these things are not very amusing; in fact, they are tragic.

What I intend to do in this book, insofar as such a thing is possible, is to put these and similar—and some very different—events and developments into focus. How people—and, hence, sociologists— conceptualize deviance is a recurrent theme that runs throughout this volume, and we may encounter some surprises along the way. What we’re inter- ested in is the what, who, how, where, and when— that is, the structure and dynamics—of whatever is likely to elicit condemnation. But what counts in the deviance equation is not what each individual observer, including the student—and also including the individual sociologist—feels is really, truly right or wrong. It is something altogether different.

DEVIANCE: WHAT IS IT?

Marshall Clinard’s classic textbook defined deviance as “deviations from social norms which encounter disapproval” (1957, p. vii)—a standard and widely adopted definition that seems entirely sensible, although limited. Still, I’d like to qualify, shade, and complicate matters a bit. Who defines or promulgates these social norms? How widely held are they? How much disapproval do these devi ations elicit? Are they sanctioned by the society at large—or do different, diverse, and scattered audiences, different social circles, sanction

different norms? How large do such social circles or audiences have to be? How many audiences need to disapprove of normative violations for them to qualify as deviance? And likewise, how serious are these deviations or violations? These intriguing questions raise a host of conceptual, intellectual, and theoretical issues. All of the behaviors des - cribed in the introductory paragraph of this chapter would encounter disapproval from some members of the society, but not all. Disapproval comes, not from everyone in a society, but from members of certain circles of collectivities—groups of people. Sociologists of deviance call these groups “audi- ences,” because they constitute collectivities that decide whether certain acts are wrongful and ex - press approval, disapproval, or neutrality about the actors’ moral character.

Here’s a telling example. In October 2015, the Democratic and Republican candidates for the 2016 election engaged in debates about America’s prob- lems as well as their solutions. In their one debate, the Democratic candidates characterized climate change, police shootings of African Americans, and a failing criminal justice system as the most important issues for society that were in need of repair. The Republicans held two debates; they featured abortion, illegal immigration, high taxes, the regulation of business, and free-spending government social welfare programs as the central problems of the day, all of which contribute to the “rotting” of “America’s moral core” (Healy, 2015, p. A1). In other words, the leaders of the two parties disagree about what’s wrong with American society and what constitutes wrongful behavior; each side defines deviance in very different ways.

All societies on Earth are comprised of social circles, groups of people, or scattered individuals, whose members judge and evaluate what they see and hear about. When they encounter or hear about behavior, expressed beliefs, and even physical traits or characteristics that should be considered offen- sive, improper, unseemly, or inappropriate, there’s a likelihood that they will punish, denounce, or humiliate the violator. In a similar fashion, if the behavior in question is illegal, law enforcement may step in and make an arrest. But does it always? In other words, all societies exercise some forms of social control. If social control is never exercised, societies almost inevitably collapse into chaos and

2 AN INTRODUCTION TO DEVIANCE

anarchy. But this formulation leaves some issues unresolved. When members of audiences observe something of which they disapprove, when and under what circumstances do they express disap- proval? Much of the time, people ignore untoward behavior, the expression of wayward beliefs, and unconventional physical characteristics. How does all this behavior, this action and interaction—and inaction—come about? Even if we see something we regard as wrong, we sometimes intervene and sometimes ignore it. Why? What’s the pattern here? Under what circumstances do we do the one, or the other? Here, I address these issues; they are central to the sociology of deviance.

Sociologists define deviance as behavior, beliefs, and characteristics that violate society’s, or a collectivity’s, norms, the violation of which tends to attract negative reactions from audiences. Such negative reactions include contempt, punishment, hostility, condemnation, criticism, denigration, condescension, stigma, pity, and/or scorn. Perhaps the most common reaction to someone doing or saying something or looking a certain way is the withdrawal of sociability—walking away from the person in question. But how strong does the nega- tive reaction have to be to allow the sociologist to view the action, attitude, or trait as “deviant”? The short answer is: It doesn’t matter; deviance is a matter of degree. The stronger the negative reaction and the greater the number of audiences that react this way—and the more sizable and influ- ential the audiences are—the more likely it is that the violator will attract negative reactions or labeling, and the more certain sociologists feel that they have an instance of deviance on their hands. Not all members of a given audience will react in the same way; usually—even within a specific society or social circle—reactions to normative violations vary.

Sociologists don’t necessarily agree with a given negative assessment, or react in such nega- tive ways—they don’t always think that the violator ought to be chastised or punished—but, as sociol- ogists, it’s their obligation to notice that certain audiences do react negatively. Sociologists study such reactions, because these social exchanges define or constitute deviance. There is no essence to deviance, no hard, concrete reality that we can put our hands on that exists independent of such

condemnatory or scornful reactions, no quality all deviancies possess—and, hence, no categorical or generic “cause” of deviance. The defining charac- teristic of deviance for most sociologists is not harm, injury, wrong, pathology, sin, or abusiveness; these qualities or attributes are socially constructed and attributed, and, however they are defined, what is considered deviant varies independently of them. Under certain circumstances, powerful people can get away with doing things that others—less powerful people—find offensive. The less powerful parties may be afraid to react in a way that ex - presses how they feel, so they may express these feelings in different contexts, under other circum- stances. Perhaps they’ll tell a friend, a teacher, or a relative about it; perhaps they’ll wait for the appropriate time and place to react. Or perhaps they simply sublimate their reactions and feel resentful and lash out at someone else. All sociological general izations apply other things being equal; power, like audiences, qualifies or contextualizes sociological definitions of deviance.

What’s deviant is a definition, not a theory. It defines what the sociological conceptualization of deviance is; it does not formulate a cause-and- effect explanation for why people behave the way they do, believe what they do, or are the way they are—or react the way they do. These are separate matters. Why people do what they do, and why members of certain audiences react the way they do, and what conditions influence them to react one way rather than another, all demand an explanation. The same behavior, beliefs, and conditions elicit diverse reactions, depending on the audience. But this diversity is not without boundaries. Social and cultural constraints and conditions place …