The Didactic Relevance of the Death of Deviance Debate

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the implications of the “death of deviance” debate for the teaching of deviance and related courses. There are two separate yet related phenomena at play here that deserve discussion. On the one hand, as the various chapters in this book illustrate, the “death of deviance” debate can be quite theoretical with policy implications. The issue is whether “deviance”, as a conceptual framework, leads to powerful explanations for certain types of social behavior. Critics of deviance argue two things. First, contemporary structural and/or social psychological theories can explain these behaviors without resorting to the moralistic, sometimes journalistic, often romantic and unfortunately politically biased baggage that the idea of deviance carries with it (Gouldner, 1975). Second, the emasculation of traditional deviance theory has been facilitated by the overwhelming popularity of labeling theory, which has effectively removed deviance as a dependent variable (Sumner, 1994). On the other hand, we need to address the implications of this theoretical debate for teaching sociological approaches to understanding moral and rule-related behavior.