Deviant behavior

One of the laws of our existence is that the social norms that are developed in the course of it, by which people are guided in everyday life, provide the society with a certain stability and predictability. Nevertheless, it often happens that individuals go beyond these norms and rules, which should be guided constantly. This kind of social behavior is characterized by the concept of "deviant behavior". Often in the socio-psychological content for the designation of this type of behavior is used and the concept of deviant behavior. In the most simplistic sense, deviant behavior is one that does not conform to the existing traditions, norms and patterns adopted in this particular society at a given historical time.

The most common forms in which deviant behavior manifests itself are such phenomena as suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction, crime, prostitution and some others. In analyzing these phenomena, some sociological scientists distinguish deviant and delinquent behavior in their content and forms of manifestation . Delinquent is considered such social behavior of the individual, in which he violates not only moral and ethical norms, but also the principles of legal behavior, and it falls under the jurisdiction of legal norms. The symptom of discrimination is based on the fact that deviant behavior is relative, as it is part of the moral and moral values of a particular group of people or community. Delinquent is the absolute category, because it concerns the norms within which all people live at the given time and which are fixed in the form of legislative acts.

For a long time, scientists have tried to describe and explain the causes and sources of the formation of deviant behavior. Therefore, quite a lot of various concepts and theories have been formed, in which an attempt is made to reveal the essence of the problem. However, we must admit that even today there is no single view of this problem. All known types of deviant behavior are described from the most different points of view, grouped into some general approaches to the interpretation of the causes of deviation.

Let's consider some of them.

The biological approach is that all people are different in their natural environment. These differences and determine the predisposition of each individual to this or that kind of behavior in society. There are teachings (eg Lambroso), which argue that the biological predisposition not only to deviation, but also to delinquency is reflected in the external appearance of the individual. In this case, all forms of deviation are considered as innate forms of behavior.

Psychological theories explain deviant behavior as the result of a special combination of psychological properties, character traits. This is understood in such a way that a special structure is formed from the entire complex of the social qualities of the individual, in which the antisocial attitudes are dominant and, as a consequence, the personality direction is formed . With the psychological approach, there is recognition that some of these settings are of a genetic nature, and some are formed by the social environment itself, an environment that exerts a dominant influence on the individual.

Sociological concepts argue that the causes of deviant behavior lie wholly in society and are its determining effect on the formation of the personality's attitudes and behavior. Here it is recognized that deviation is an abnormal state of society that arises after the disintegration of the previously existing value system.

The common for all approaches is the selection in the process of deviation of the primary and secondary stages. On the primary, the individual sporadically does not "fit" into social standards, and since the surrounding society does not form his attitude to this behavior, the actor does not recognize himself as a deviant. In the course of a secondary deviation, on the basis of a public assessment of the behavior of an individual, he begins to realize his deviance, and society begins to treat it appropriately.

Both deviation and delinquency can be individual and collective.

According to some scholars, the modern world is such that it is impossible to avoid the existence of deviant behavior in some people, therefore it is necessary to set the task not to liquidate it, but to minimize the negative consequences.