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Explain theories of deviant behaviors

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Deviance is defined as any behavior that violates social norms and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from the majority of society.Deviant behavior can be defined as any behavior that is contrary to the dominant norms of a certain society.
There are four major theories which explain the deviant behavior.They include:
1. Structural Strain Theory
This theory was developed by an American sociologist-Robert K. Merton.This theory traces the origins of deviance to the tensions that are caused by the gap between cultural goals and the available means people to achieve those cultural goals.Robert based the theory on two criteria:an individual's motivations or adherence to particular cultural goals and his/her belief in how to attain them.According to this theory, societies are composed of both culture(which establishes peoples goals in a society) and social structure which provides of fails to provide the means for people to achieve those goal. According to Robert, there are five types of deviant behavior which include innovation, conformity,retreatism, ritualism and rebellion

2.Differential Association Theory
This is a learning theory.According to this theory,the environment plays a major role in deciding which norms people learn to violate.Through interaction and communication,according to Edwin H. Sutherland, people learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior.The greater the frequency, duration, and intensity of their immersion in deviant environments, the more likely it is that they will become deviant.

3.Social Control Theory
This theory suggests that deviance occurs when a person’s or group’s attachment to social bonds is weakened.According to Travis Hirsch,the theory also suggests that most people probably feel some impulse towards deviant behavior at some time, but their attachment to social norms prevents them from actually participating in deviant behavior.?

4.Labeling theory
This theory refers to the idea that individuals become deviant when a deviant label is applied to them making them to adopt adopt it by exhibiting the behaviors, actions and attitudes associated with the label.The theory holds that behaviors are deviant only when society labels them as deviant.Typically,rules and labels are imposed on others in the society by those who hold more power over them on the basis of race, class, gender, or overall social status

Ms kim answered the question on November 5, 2018 at 13:08

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Explain theories of deviant behaviors

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