Criminalization and Deviantization as Properties of the Social Order

• NCJ Number: 138080
• Journal: Sociological Review Dated: (1992) Pages: 73-108
• Author(s): N Ben-Yehuda
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 36 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: Israel

Annotation

This paper suggests a broader sociological interpretation within which deviance can be understood in a way that integrates the specific interpretation of deviance within large sociological processes.

Abstract

Two key analytical terms used in this theoretical framework are "deviantization" and "criminalization." These two terms mean that a particular form of behavior is not only regarded as deviant, but as worthy of sanctions. Processes of deviantization and criminalization occur within cultures, and they must be interpreted by taking into account the nature of these cultures. The development of a sociological interpretation of deviantization and criminalization thus requires the adoption of a broader view of cultures and social systems. A "symbolic universe" provides the necessary vocabularies of motives that are used by the in habitants to explain and justify their past and future behavior. The various accounting systems expressed by inhabitants of various symbolic-moral universes would necessarily expose the cultural variance between these groups. The author conceptualizes the legitimization of power in terms of a moral order that in turn defines the boundaries of symbolic-moral universes. Problematic behaviors that occur at the boundaries of different symbolic-moral universes and that involve challenges to power and morality are considered deviance. A distinction is made between regular deviance, where the element of power is typically implicit and the element of morality is much more salient, and political deviance, where the elements of power and morality are both explicit. This concept of deviance permits the interpretation of the processes of deviantization and criminalization within the context of central social processes. The author uses the November 1944 assassination of Lord Moyne to show how the theoretical approach proposed can be used to develop a sociological interpretation of the case. 10 notes and 66 references