Becker Deviance Theory

Deviance is a social boundary. As Becker states, deviance is defined as “The infraction of some agreed-upon rule”. This may not always be the case though. While breaking a law such as committing murder is considered deviance, there are unwritten social agreements that can result in a deviance. This is possible because as Becker states, “Deviance is a consequence of the responses of others to a person’s act”. It need not necessarily be bound in legislation or formally agreed upon. For instance, someone may respond in a negative manner to how someone looks, or a particular trait of said person that they may not directly be able to control. Becker makes a very important note- “Deviance: it is created by society”. The rules we have created for …show more content…
Becker states “Behavior of any kind might fruitfully be studied developmentally, in terms of changed in meanings and concepts, their organization and reorganization, and the way they channel behavior, making some acts possible while excluding others”. All behavior committed by us has been influenced and decided through social factors and a complicated process by which we do not even recognize within our own minds. The possibility of a deviance as the result of our behavior changes how we interpret ideas, organize them, and act upon them. This most definitely is resulting in the subsiding of acts society has determined to be deviant. Let us take homosexuality as a deviant. Although it should not be, and should never have been; homosexuality was and still is a deviance in some geographical locations around the world and even within our own country until extremely recently. Laws that prohibited homosexuality made the very fact of its existence a deviance. These rules that created the deviance of homosexuality indefinitely influence the changes in meaning, concepts, organization, and the way behavior is channeled. This caused people to act in a manner other than they may have otherwise acted. For instance, a straight man may act or do something to seem more “straight” because of the deviance. This is a result of the negative connotation regarding the labeling of the aforementioned deviance. It is an …show more content…
Feminists and Marxists alike have made significant points in regards to this matter. Which gender you identify as can affect both your power, and place in society. The same can be said for which sexuality you claim. These correlations of core personal attributes are a part of an intentional system of exploit for capital gain and disempowerment of marginalized groups due to wrongful discrimination. Capitalism uses both oppression and expression of sexual expression for monetary gain. The gender you identify with and the sexuality you claim are both used as a wrongful basis for discrimination and disempowerment of human rights and suppression of freedom of expression. Imagine having an attribute that you cannot control being used against you for the gain of others. Traits people are born with, and cannot change are used as a baseline for social hierarchy