Explaining Deviance: Interpretive and Critical Theories in Sociology

Deviance, Crime, and Social Control

Big Picture: Nonpositivist Theories of Deviance

Chapter 3 explores nonpositivist approaches to deviance, shifting focus from the causes of deviant acts to the processes by which deviance is defined, interpreted, and enforced. These approaches emphasize that deviance is not an objective reality but is socially constructed through interaction and power relations.

• Interpretive approaches: Focus on meaning-making in social interaction—how people come to define behaviors or traits as 'deviant' or 'normal'.

• Critical approaches: Focus on power, inequality, and social justice—whose definitions become official, and why.

Core idea: Deviance is constructed at multiple levels (individual, interactional, institutional, sociocultural, and global). The perception of deviance, reactions to it, and the role of power are central.

Interpretive Theorizing

Interpretive theories assume that social reality is created through shared understandings in everyday interactions. They study how meaning is formed and revised through symbols, language, and gestures, shaping identity and behavior.

• Symbolic interactionism: Social action follows meaning, and meaning is produced and revised through interaction.

• Role-taking: Imagining how others see a situation to adjust behavior.

• Looking-glass self: Forming self-identity based on how one thinks others perceive and judge them.

• Significant others vs generalized other: Some audiences matter more; society-wide expectations also influence behavior.

Application: Rules are learned and reinforced through interaction, so deviance is partly a product of how people learn what counts as wrong, anticipate reactions, and compete to define actions or people as deviant or normal (the 'deviance dance').

Labelling Theories

Labelling theories examine what happens after a person is defined as deviant. The process of labeling can shape identity and future behavior, not just reflect deviance.

• General sequence: 1) Label applied → 2) Social rejection increases → 3) Identity shifts → 4) Behavior adapts.

• Tannenbaum – Dramatization of evil: Condemning an act can lead to condemning the whole person, reorganizing their self-concept.

• Lemert – Primary vs secondary deviance:

  • Primary deviance: Minor rule-breaking, often unnoticed.

  • Secondary deviance: Sustained pattern linked to identity after labeling and reaction.

• Becker – Master status and outsider: A deviant label can become a master status, blocking conventional opportunities and pushing individuals toward stigmatized groups.

Stigmatization (Goffman): Spoiled Identity and Responses

• Stigma: A discrediting attribute that can spoil identity in the eyes of an audience.

• Types of stigma:

  • Physical stigma (body/appearance)

  • Moral stigma (character flaws)

  • Group stigma (social category membership)

  • Courtesy stigma (by association)

• Stigma management strategies:

  • Secrecy/passing

  • Withdrawal

  • Open disclosure and education

  • Pride/resistance

• Tertiary deviance (Kitsuse): Labeled individuals reject the deviant label and work to change norms or laws.

Dramaturgy (Goffman): Social Life as Performance

• Front stage: Where individuals perform roles for an audience.

• Back stage: Where individuals can relax and prepare for future performances.

• Impression management: Controlling self-presentation to shape audience reactions.

Deviant Career (Becker): Stages of Involvement

• Entry: Access to deviant activity and exposure to others involved.

• Learning: Techniques and interpretations are acquired.

• Management: Integrating deviance into daily life while handling risks and stigma.

• Turning points: Events that redirect the deviant path (e.g., new relationships, increased risk).

• Exit: Leaving deviant activity, either fully or partially.

Limitations of Interpretive Theories

• May over-focus on micro-level interaction and underplay social structure (inequality, institutions).

• Responses include linking interaction to structure, empirical research on group differences, and cross-cultural studies.

Bottom line: Interpretive theories are strongest for explaining meaning, identity, and reaction; structural analysis is needed to explain power differences.

Critical Theorizing: Power Relations and Social Justice

Critical theories focus on who has the power to create rules, define 'normal', and enforce boundaries. They aim to expose domination and support social justice.

• Spotlight on inequality and institutional power (law, economy, education, media, science).

• Explains why some groups' definitions become official while others are ignored.

• Deviance labels are tools or effects of power that maintain the status quo.

Conflict Theories

• Rules arise from conflict and tend to benefit influential groups.

• Powerful groups are less likely to be labeled deviant; rules reflect their interests.

• Less powerful groups are more likely to be labeled deviant.

• Key strands:

  • Marx (class conflict): Bourgeoisie vs proletariat; deviance shaped by alienation and inequality.

  • Instrumental Marxism: Law as a tool for the powerful.

  • Structural Marxism: Law protects the capitalist system.

  • Pluralist conflict: Multiple axes of conflict (economic, religious, ethnic, etc.).

  • Culture conflict (Sellin): Dominant norms imposed; conflicting norms labeled deviant.

  • Group conflict (Vold): Groups compete for legitimacy.

  • Authority conflict (Turk): Authority vs those subject to it; authority reproduces itself.

• Ideology, hegemony, false consciousness: Power is maintained through dominant worldviews promoted as 'common sense' (hegemony), which people may accept even when it works against them (false consciousness).

Power-Reflexive (Poststructuralist) Theories

• Knowledge is inseparable from power. Multiple discourses exist, but power shapes which become truth.

• Foucault's concepts:

  • Discourse: What is sayable/thinkable about a topic.

  • Genealogy: Tracing the historical formation of discourses.

  • Surveillance and self-surveillance: People internalize monitoring and regulate themselves.

  • Panopticon: Model of surveillance producing self-regulation.

Feminist Theories

• Society is structured by gender; deviance is gendered.

• Androcentrism: Traditional research centers male experiences.

• Gendered norms: Judgments of 'normal' and 'deviant' differ for women and men.

• Intersectionality (Crenshaw): Overlapping identities and inequalities (race, class, gender, sexuality, ability) create a matrix of domination, shaping how deviance is defined and enforced.

Postmodern Theories

• Challenge grand theories and single truths.

• Skeptical postmodernism: Doubts knowledge/truth is possible; emphasizes chaos.

• Affirmative postmodernism: Deconstructs dominant narratives, focuses on the local/specific.

• Key questions: How is deviance defined when moral codes erode and messages conflict? Who sets norms in a consumer society? Does a fragmented public become easier to influence?

Limitations of Critical Theories

• Some are broad perspectives/ideologies rather than testable theories.

• Empirical support for conflict claims is mixed.

• May underplay genuine consensus on some rules.

• Responses include theoretical integration, empirical refinement, and context-specific research.

Quick Comparison Table: Positivist vs Interpretive vs Critical Approaches

Approach	Main Question	Focus Level	Key Concepts
Positivist	What causes deviant behaviour?	Actor/act; measurable variables	Functions, learning, control, deterrence
Interpretive	How does something become defined as deviant and what happens after?	Micro/interactional (with some structural add-ons)	Meaning, symbols, labeling, stigma, identity, deviant career
Critical	Whose definitions become official, and how does power enforce norms?	Macro/institutional + inequality (can include micro)	Power, ideology, hegemony, discourse, surveillance, patriarchy, intersectionality

Key Terms and Definitions

• Social construction: Meanings, categories, and rules are created through social interaction and institutions.

• Symbolic interactionism: Social life is explained through meaning-making in interaction using symbols.

• Role-taking: Imagining others' perspectives to guide actions.

• Looking-glass self: Self-concept shaped by perceived judgments of others.

• Labelling: Assigning a deviant identity and the consequences that follow.

• Primary deviance: Minor rule-breaking not central to identity.

• Secondary deviance: Sustained rule-breaking linked to identity after labeling.

• Dramatization of evil: Generalizing from a condemned act to the whole person.

• Master status: Dominant label overriding other identities.

• Stigma: Discrediting attribute that can spoil identity.

• Courtesy stigma: Stigma transferred to associates of a stigmatized person.

• Dramaturgy: Social life as performance (front stage/back stage, impression management).

• Deviant career: Staged progression of involvement in deviance.

• Praxis: Using theory/research for practical action toward social change.

• Ideology: Worldview reflecting particular interests, justifying power relations.

• Hegemony: When a worldview becomes taken-for-granted 'common sense'.

• False consciousness: Accepting a dominant ideology as natural even when it works against you.

• Discourse: System of knowledge and language defining truth about a topic.

• Panopticon: Model of surveillance producing self-regulation.

• Intersectionality: Overlapping identities and inequalities create layered oppression.

• Postmodernism: Perspectives skeptical of grand narratives and stable truths/identities.

Exam-Ready Mini Answers

• Interpretive theories of deviance: Deviance is meaning made in interaction; behaviors become deviant when people interpret them as such and react accordingly, focusing on symbols, identity, and reactions.

• Primary vs secondary deviance: Primary deviance is minor rule-breaking not central to identity; secondary deviance is sustained rule-breaking that develops after labeling and rejection change self-concept and opportunities.

• Master status: A label that becomes the main way others define a person, overshadowing other traits, which can block conventional roles and push toward stigmatized groups.

• Critical theories and deviance: Deviance labels and rules reflect power relations; critical theories ask who benefits from rules, how institutions enforce them, and how inequality shapes labeling and control.

• Conflict vs power-reflexive theories: Conflict theories emphasize group struggle and rules serving the powerful; power-reflexive theories focus on how knowledge is produced within power relations and how surveillance maintains norms.

• Limitations: Interpretive theories may underplay social structure; critical theories can be hard to test empirically and may underplay consensus. Both respond through integration and context-specific research.

Practice Questions

• Explain the 'deviance dance' and give an example.

• Describe a situation where role-taking or the generalized other shaped your behavior.

• Use labeling theory to explain how a minor rule violation could become a deviant identity over time.

• Give two stigma management strategies and one possible cost of each.

• Outline the stages of a deviant career and add two possible career contingencies.

• Using conflict theory, explain why one group's norms might become law while another group's norms are criminalized.

• Explain how surveillance can become self-surveillance (Panopticon) and give a modern example.

• Explain intersectionality with a deviance-related example.

• What does postmodern theory suggest about moral codes and defining deviance?