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Concept of Deviance and Social Change

The idea of deviance as an unacceptable divergence from social values and norms by criminals and others is a familiar concept, and it is therefore not surprising to learn that since "people typically react to serious deviance with collective outrage" it also serves to bring them together, "reaffirm[ing] the moral ties that bind them" (Macionis 135). But deviant behavior has other means of bringing people together. One of the most interesting aspects of the sixth chapters in both Macionis' and Berger's books is the idea that deviance can be responsible for significant social change. It can encourage social change by pushing at the moral boundaries of a society, according to Durkheim's theory, or it can bring about fundamental changes in a society's view of the world through the influence of what Weber called the "charisma" of extraordinary religious or political leaders who can "make their deviant interpretations of the world stick" (Berger 126). There is, however, a great difference between these positions because Durkheim emphasized the "externality, objectivity, [or] thing-like character of social reality," while Weber emphasized the intentionality of social action (Berger 125).

Weber recognized the importance of subjective factors--such as intentions, meanings, and interpretations--that the actors bring to any social situation. It is necessary to interpret the meanings present in society in order to achieve a sociological understanding of a situation. Macionis, for example, provides as an example of Durkheim's idea of deviance and social change, the emergence of rock and roll, which was "condemned as morally degenerate in the 1950s [yet soon] became a mainstream, multibillion-dollar industry" (135). The change was the result of demand and the economic pressure to increase and satisfy that demand, so the deviance of a few was translated into the acceptable behavior of the many by the weight of numbers. Weber knew that "i...

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Concept of Deviance and Social Change. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:02, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712844.html