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Book No. – 24 (Sociology)
Book Name – The Social System
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1. INTERACTION AND THE GENESIS OF DEVIANT MOTIVATION
2. THE DIRECTIONS OF DEVIANT ORIENTATION
3. SOME FURTHER SITUATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE GENESIS AND STRUCTURING OF DEVIANCE
4. ROLE CONFLICT AND THE GENESIS OF DEVIANCE
5 THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR TENDENCIES
6. THE MECHANISMS OF SOCIAL CONTROL
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Deviant Behavior and the Mechanisms of Social Control
Chapter – 7
Table of Contents
- The dimension of conformity and deviance is central to the conception of social action and social systems.
- Every system of social interaction includes common cultural patterns, which are normative, establishing expectations of conformity.
- Normative expectations define what is considered acceptable or approved behavior, such as speaking intelligibly in communication.
- The previous chapter dealt with the processes that build the motivational structures for behavior in conformity with normative social expectations.
- The focus now shifts to the resistances to conformity and the mechanisms that counteract these tendencies in social systems.
- All motivational processes occur in the personalities of individual actors and are primarily shaped by social processes through the interaction of the ego with a plurality of alters.
- Deviant behavior arises from social interaction and is influenced by the orientation of the individual actor towards the situation and normative patterns that define role expectations.
- Deviance and social control mechanisms can be defined in two ways:
- Individual actor’s perspective: Deviance is the tendency to behave against institutionalized normative patterns, and social control refers to the processes by which these deviant tendencies are counteracted.
- Interactive system’s perspective: Deviance is seen as a disturbance to the equilibrium of the interactive process, leading either to change in the system or re-equilibration through counteracting forces (social control mechanisms).
- The interactive system’s equilibrium perspective is crucial for analyzing social systems, but understanding individual motivational processes is also necessary.
- The conceptions of conformity and deviance are relative and should be analyzed in reference to the system or sub-system to which they apply.
- The structure of normative patterns is often intricate and not fully integrated in sub-systems, making it misleading to judge deviance without understanding its interconnections.
- Individuals act in a plurality of roles, and their actions can create conflicting expectations and tensions.
- Time allocation is another source of conflict, where actions and roles are linked over time and create varying tensions.
- These issues are central to understanding conformity and deviance within a social system.
- Despite the complexity, all social action is normatively oriented, and value-orientations in norms must be somewhat common across actors in an institutionally integrated interactive system.
- The complexity of the problem does not mean it cannot be analyzed; it is crucial because integration of the system depends on maintaining boundaries and defining the concepts of conformity and deviance.
- The concept of orientation is a primary focus in the analysis of social systems, as it relates to the boundary-maintaining functions of the system.
INTERACTION AND THE GENESIS OF DEVIANT MOTIVATION
- A stably established interactive process tends to continue unchanged, assuming equilibrium.
- Ego and alter have developed mutual cathectic attachments to each other, making them sensitive to each other’s attitudes.
- Attitudes are fundamental as sanctions, and the interaction is integrated with a normative pattern of value-orientation that both ego and alter have internalized.
- The interaction system is characterized by the complementarity of expectations: alter’s behavior conforms with ego’s expectations and vice versa.
- When a disturbance occurs in the system, ego faces a frustration of expectations, leading to a problem of adjustment.
- There are three components of the adjustment problem:
- Ego’s expectations are part of their need-dispositions which press for gratification.
- Ego has an attachment to alter as a cathected object.
- The value-pattern governing the relationship has been internalized, and its violation frustrates ego’s needs.
- In response to the frustration, ego may restructure in one or more ways:
- Restructure need-dispositions through inhibition or defense mechanisms.
- Transfer cathexis to a new object to relieve strain.
- Renounce or redefine the value-orientation pattern if alter’s behavior no longer conforms.
- Equilibrium may be re-established through learning: ego might learn to inhibit needs, cathect a new object, or change the value-pattern.
- Another possibility is that ego reaches a compromise solution, leading to an ambivalent motivational structure.
- If ego retains attachment to alter but experiences frustration, there’s a mix of positive (need to love or admire alter) and negative (resentment or hostility) attitudes toward alter.
- The value-pattern may also be internalized too strongly for ego to abandon, leading to ambivalence in ego’s adherence to the normative pattern.
- Repression of one side of the ambivalence may occur:
- If the negative side is repressed, ego will continue to be attached to alter or conform to the normative pattern.
- If the positive side is repressed, ego will abandon attachment to alter and/or refuse to conform with the normative pattern.
- The second fundamental option is for ego to find a way to gratify both sides of the ambivalent motivation:
- This might be possible in a more complex interaction system, either by segregating contexts or finding alternative objects for one side of the need-disposition.
- The negative component of the ambivalent motivational structure is called alienative need-disposition, while the positive component is a conformative need-disposition.
- Alienation is always part of an ambivalent structure, while conformity need not be.
- Indifference occurs when there is no attachment to the object or internalization of the normative pattern.
- In cases where alienation exists, but conformity is dominant, it is called compulsive conformity.
- If the alienative component dominates, it’s called compulsive alienation.
- Ego experiences both internal conflict and strain in their relation to alter, and uses defense mechanisms to cope with these conflicting motivations.
- The defense mechanism of reaction formation is when ego compulsively conforms to avoid disturbing the relationship further, even though they harbor negative feelings toward alter.
- If the alienative component dominates, ego becomes compulsively alienated by expressing negative reactions and resisting the need to conform.
- The tension between the alienative and conformative components creates a vicious circle in the genesis of deviant behavior, which can manifest as neurotic or psychosomatic illnesses, criminality, etc.
- The dynamic between ego and alter’s change in behavior leads to compulsive conformity or alienation, depending on which need-disposition is dominant.
- For example, ego may seek approval from alter after alter’s disapproval, leading to excessive demands and further alienation.
- Without social control, this may lead alter to approve even less, intensifying ego’s resentment and increasing compulsiveness to conform.
- Cognitive distortion may occur, where ego believes alter’s expectations are more extreme than they are.
- The vicious circle results from the complementary ambivalence between ego and alter, reinforcing the motivation for deviant behavior.
- The interaction of two actors forms the fundamental paradigm for understanding the genesis of motivation for deviant behavior.