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In this paper we propose a macro level model for analyzing the creation of deviance rules. We begin by placing the phenomenon within the context of the social factist and social definitionist sociological traditions, identifying the insights and difficulties the social problems literature presents for explaining deviance rule creation. We suggest that the theoretical difficulties can be resolved by placing the process within a sociology of knowledge framework. The consequent dialectical model of deviance designation is based on the assumption that society is composed of a number of general interests in varying degrees of conflict with prevailing definitions of deviance representing outcomes of previous contests. This balance or accommodation becomes vulnerable with the introduction or increase in strain which is a potential resource for interest groups desiring a new definition. The outcome of the ensuing conflict is seen as dependent on the ability of the combatants to employ resources in the battle. We conclude by identifying the advantages the model has for studying the deviance rule creation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that the study of deviance be expanded to include organizations as actors to which deviance may be imputed. In contrast to traditional empirical studies which tend to emphasize powerless persons who passively accept attributions of deviance, this study focuses on powerful actors who actively defend themselves. Attention is focused on the types of accounts offered by one organization, the Central Intelligence Agency, in reaction to imputations of deviance to it at key times since its founding in the late 1940s. The various accounts have been aided by powerful third parties willing to use their resources in support of justifying and excusing claims by the CIA. As a result, the agency has escaped virtually unscathed from attempts to label it as deviant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically examines the claim that many theories of deviance only have utility for explaining deviance committed by males because their conceptual development was tainted with inattention to females. Five variables representing the essence of major theories of deviant behavior are measured for a self-report sample of 1993 cases. Each variable is tested to determine how well it can account for deviance among females compared to males. In volume of deviance more males than females were classified as deviant but the underlying processes which the five theoretical variables address operated equally for members of both sexes. These findings support the position that the processes by which females come to commit deviance is similar to the processes for males. The findings suggest that exclusive focus on females is unlikely to yield more adequate explanations of female deviance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important contributions of recent social problems theory is the insight that social problems are inherently political phenomena. Existing scholarship on this characteristic has not dealt systematically with (1) the degree of overt politicality of social issues, or (2) the dynamic element of this politicality. This paper first reviews recent literature in the "medicalization of deviant behavior," and suggests that this literature illustrates how the political element of social problem phenomena can be suppressed and replaced with a seemingly apolitical and technical perspective. Then it is proposed that interpretive social problems theory might deal more adequately with this pattern by incorporating a continuum ranging from "open" to "closed" social problems and analyzing the dynamics of social problem "enclosure," and that certain sorts of claims—cognitive as opposed to normative—are especially conducive to the depoliticization and enclosure of social problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on sanction threat-behavior relationships has suffered because investigators, using cross-sectional data, have failed to meet methodological requirements concerning the causal order of variables and the statistical control of other relevant variables. We estimate several models of a social-control process that meet these requirements, using longitudinal panel data from a sample of 265 adolescents. Our models consider the relationships among an inhibitor (threat of sanction), a generator (peer-group influence), and a measure of deviance (use of marijuana). The results obtained from the best-fitting model indicate that sanction threat does not exert any long-term effects (at least of one year), although there was evidence that it has modest instantaneous effects on deviance. Having marijuana-using friends has the greatest effect on marijuana use. The pattern of coefficients suggests that peers may initially be selected because of their deviant conduct, and that once chosen, they exert independent generative (or causative) influence on deviance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A defendant's prior criminal record is usually conceived of as a ubiquitous indicator of severity of sanction. Utilizing Black's (1976) conception of prior criminality— respectability—we argue that other, nonlegal indicators of respectability will also affect the sanctions female criminal defendants incur. In addition to prior criminal record, indicators of respectability include prior psychiatric care, previous drug or alcohol abuse, employer censorship, and peer deviance. Estimating a set of multivariate equations for a sample of 1,034 female defendants, we find support for Black's proposition: (1) regardless of the offense, the lower a woman's respectability, the greater the likelihood that she will receive a more severe sentence; and (2) respectability has similar effects on sentencing regardless of whether the indicators are internal or external to the criminal justice system. The degree to which these findings can be construed as sex specific is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several issues in the study of deviance are discussed: the definition of deviance; the significance of the deviant act; cultural relativism; the influence of social structures and causation. By using departures from rules to define deviance, sociologists may repeat fallacies of formalistic jurisprudence. Deviance is best left undefined, and preferably delimited ontologically in terms of middle range theory. Spector and Kitsuse's revisionist theory is judged insufficient for macro-analysis of deviance because they fail to reconcile the influence of objective and subjective factors. Cottrell's choice and feedback model is advocated as a means to study the dynamic process wherein values are aggregated in the social definition of deviance. The problem of bringing objective factors into this analysis is solved by showing how changing costs alter the order in which values are satisfied and thus change the overt pattern of societal reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of the labeling perspective to account for informal reaction processes is noted. Viewing informal labeling in terms of emergence and the documentary method, definitional processes are divided into two categories: (1) intra-situational definitions concerning the practical problems of negotiating an interactional encounter, and (2) frans-situational definitions in which the actor is evaluated in terms of cultural knowledge and prior experience. A repeated measures experimental study is discussed which indicates that intra-situational and trans-situational definitions are differentially responsive to variations over time in the typicality of an actor's behavior. Implications for the concept of "aligning actions" are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of data from draft protesters to the Vietnam War it is suggested that an actively pursued and morally enhancing identity is the "pay off" of some deviant acts. These qualities of such deviance, called virtuous deviance, play havoc with labelling theory's passivity and character-degrading assumptions. The study of such acts may be called a sociology of virtue. A distraction between two kinds of protesters (refusers and resisters), which reflects different commitments to risk, suggests guiding hypotheses for that study: From the point of view of the actor, virtue may be self-constructed and autonomously implemented. Yet, escalations of commitment to virtue may require interpersonal corroboration and support. From the point of view of the normative order, such acts firm up moral boundaries, defining what it means to be moral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between age and self-reported propensity toward criminal behavior is investigated among a large survey sample, and an attempt is made to explain the observed variations. Results indicate a clear negative relationship between age and criminal propensity which is in part attributed to generational differences and partly to life cycle changes. Efforts to account for the association show this relationship to be exceptionally stable and resistant to explanation. Nevertheless analysis suggests complex interactions among several variables as the appropriate explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]