Social work and social deviance theory: Causes and cures at loggerheads

Abstract

A taxonomy of social deviance theories is presented on the basis of dichotomisiny and crosstabulating two variables central to the study of human behaviour and social action: the nature versus nurture and the individual versus system notions. The result ing four types of social deviance theories — theories attributing deviance to individual versus group heredity and to personal versus systems shortcomings, respectively — suggest that there is considerable similarity among theories which often goes unnoticed and unnecessarily complicates the understanding of social deviance. Recommended cures for social deviance implied by the (meta)theoretical assumptions of these theories are identified. Recommended cures are found to be at loggerheads with implied causes of social deviance. © 1983, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.