🍺 Alcohol
In some societies, buying and drinking alcohol is legal for adults. In others, it is against the law. Drinking is a crime in one place and ordinary behaviour in another.
Crime, Deviance and Control » Crime, Deviance and Their Relativity
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 6.1.1
- The exam definitions of crime and deviance
- How an act can be one without being the other
- Why crime and deviance are relative, not fixed
- How they vary within and between societies, in different situations and over time
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Unlock This CourseCrime and deviance: two different ideas
People often use "crime" and "deviance" as if they mean the same thing. In sociology they do not. You will need both definitions word perfect for the exam.
Key terms:
- Crime: an act that breaks the law of a society and can be punished by the state.
- Deviance: behaviour that goes against the norms and expectations of a group or society. It may or may not be against the law.
Remember that norms are the unwritten rules of a culture. Deviance means breaking those norms. Crime means breaking the law. The difference is the rule that is broken: a norm (deviance) or a law (crime).
Because the two are different, an act can be:
- a crime and deviant,
- a crime but not deviant,
- deviant but not a crime.
Acts that are one but not the other
🚨 Crime and deviant
Robbery and murder break the law and are also seen as wrong by almost everyone. They break the law and the norms.
🚗 Crime, not deviant
Crossing a road where it is not allowed, or driving a little over the speed limit. These break the law, but many people do them and few think badly of them.
🎨 Deviant, not a crime
Dyeing your hair bright green, or shouting loudly in a quiet library. They go against expectations in many places, but no law is broken.
Notice that no act is "deviant" or "criminal" in itself. It depends on what people think and what the law says. That leads to the key idea of this lesson: relativity.
The relativity of crime and deviance
Something is relative if it changes depending on where, when and who is judging. Crime and deviance are relative. There is no list of acts that are criminal or deviant in every place and every time. They vary within and between societies, cultures, situations and across time.
Key terms:
- Relativity of crime and deviance: the idea that what counts as crime or deviance varies between places, groups, situations and times, rather than being fixed.
Variation within a society
Inside one society, different groups have different views. An act that one group sees as deviant may be normal to another. Teenagers and older people may disagree about loud music in public, or about which clothes are acceptable. A religious community may treat behaviour as unacceptable that most people in the wider society see as normal.
The law can also differ inside one country. In some countries, regions or states make their own laws, so an act can be a crime in one region and legal in the next.
Variation between societies and cultures
Different societies have different laws and different cultures, so the same act can be treated very differently.
🐄 Cattle
For many Hindu communities the cow is sacred, and many states of India have laws against killing cattle. In other societies, beef is a normal part of the diet and killing cattle for food is not a crime.
Even where an act is legal, the cultural view may differ. Showing a lot of skin on a beach is normal in some cultures, but would be seen as deviant in others.
Variation between situations
The same act can be criminal or acceptable depending on the situation it happens in.
- Hitting someone: in a boxing ring, it is part of a sport. In the street, it is assault.
- Taking a life: a soldier in a war, or someone acting in self-defence, may not be treated in the way a murderer would be.
- Taking off your clothes: normal at a doctor's examination or in a changing room, but deviant, and in many places illegal, in a shopping street.
So you cannot judge an act without knowing the circumstances.
Variation across time
Laws and norms change as a society changes. An act that is a crime today may be legal tomorrow, and the other way round.
- In the USA, making and selling alcohol was illegal during Prohibition (1920 to 1933). It was then made legal again.
- In Canada, cannabis became legal for adults in 2018. In many other countries, it is still illegal.
- New acts become crimes as society changes, such as online offences that could not exist before the internet.
Why this matters
Crime and deviance are socially defined. Societies decide what counts, so a rise or fall in "crime" can come from a change of law, not a change in behaviour. A sociologist studying crime must ask: who made this rule, in which place and at what time?
Worked example
Question: Is drinking alcohol a crime or deviance?
Answer: it depends. In a society where alcohol is banned, it is a crime and likely to be seen as deviant. In a society where it is legal, it is neither. In a society where it is legal but one religious group forbids it, it can be deviant for that group but not a crime. This shows relativity between societies, within a society and between cultures.
Common mistakes
1. Saying crime and deviance are the same. Deviance can be legal and crime can be normal. 2. Giving only one type of example. Show both: crime but not deviant, and deviant but not crime. 3. Saying an act is "always" a crime. Add where, when or who. 4. Writing "relative" with no example. Back it up with a clear case.
Exam-style question
Answer all parts. This follows the style of the Paper 2 crime questions.
(a) (i) Define the term crime. [2]
(ii) Define the term deviance. [2]
(b) Give two examples of behaviour that is deviant but not a crime. [2]
(c) Explain three reasons why what counts as a crime changes over time. [6]
Model answer
(a)(i) Crime is an act that breaks the law (1) and can be punished by the state (1).
(ii) Deviance is behaviour that goes against the norms of a group or society (1), whether or not it is against the law (1).
(b) Dyeing your hair a bright colour (1). Talking loudly in a library (1).
(c) Any three developed reasons, for example: Laws change as society's values change (1), so an act that was once a crime is made legal, such as alcohol after Prohibition ended (1). Governments change their policy (1), such as Canada making cannabis legal for adults in 2018 (1). New technology creates new crimes (1), such as online offences that could not exist before the internet (1).
Exam tip
In part (c), do not just name a reason. Say what it is, then add a short example, because each reason is worth two marks.