There is widespread concern about a crisis in Western cultural and moral values. This is said to be producing an unprecedented epidemic of depression, hopelessness, drug abuse, suicide, crime and ‘anti-social behaviour’. How credible are these ideas about social order and groups of people who threaten that order? To answer this, we outline and discuss four traditions that have been infl uential in shaping the ways people have thought about deviance and crime. We start with Durkheim’s account of deviance, and examine the value of the conventional sociologists’ conception of deviance. We then explore other more critical theories, which involve the work of symbolic interactionist and radical approaches to the conventional idea that some people are either naturally different, bad or criminal, or are made this way by society. We explore the work of Foucault, who rejects the conventional approach to madness, deviance and criminality. We argue against any biological or narrow sociological account of deviance, highlighting instead the role played by power in defi ning who or what is deviant or criminal.

Useful links

Australian Institute of Criminology’s Facts and Figures 2005 Report
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/facts/2005/

Sociology Online’s ‘Crime & Deviance’ Hangman quiz
http://www.sociologyonline.co.uk/quizzes/HangmanDev.htm

Part One : What is Sociology?

Part Two: Identity

Part Three: Globalisation

Chapter 17: Crime, deviance and power

Further reading

Useful links