Social disorder and deviance

Meaning and definitions of social problems

The social problems in its simplest form can be defined as any problems that disturb the normal functioning of the society. A social problem is usually a term which is used in describing the specific problem of people and it affects the real life of the people. It makes difficulty in one’s life about how to adjust in the particular society or how to be involved in various social processes. The social problems might include many of the problems such as anti-social behavior, girl trafficking, abuse of drugs, unemployment, natural disasters and much more.

Disorder

In sociology, Disorder is the term that signifies an illness which might be a social and mental disturbance or illness in terms of communication. A disorder can be defined as the situation or a phobia in which the person fears of most of the things as he thinks all the time and fear of being judged, being noticed by the other people. They fear in most of the situations and have self-consciousness whether the other people in the society are watching, judging or criticizing them. Social disorder can be defined as the not well functioning of the society members due to the prevailing social taboos. It is the social situation in which the people in the society are mentally and physically disturbed. The nature of the people, such as criticizing people, judging them, putting question marks on everything and not appreciating them causes the social disorder. Social disorder is caused by the fear of what the other people thinks about them or what the society thinks about them.

The early symptoms of the social disorder occur from the people’s daily life. They feel low in every relationship; they become powerless, helpless, hopeless and ashamed to face the people of the society.

According to the survey, it has been found that

1) Most of the people of this world suffer from the social disorder.

2) The age group suffering from social disorder mainly starts from 13 years of age.

3) It has also been found out that more than 36 percent of people with social anxiety disorder talks freely about their problems.

Social Deviance

Deviance is any behavior that violates cultural norms. Deviance is often divided into two types of activities. The first crime is the violation of the formally enacted laws and it is referred to as the formal deviance. Example of the formal deviance would include robbery, theft, rape murder, assault just to name a few. The second type of the deviant behavior refers to the violation of the Informal social norms, norms that have not been codified into law. An example of the informal deviance includes picking one's nose, belching loudly or standing too close to another unnecessarily. Culture norms are relative; this makes the deviant behavior relative as well. 

The term deviance is used in the social science to refer to nearly any attitude and the activities that violate the belief or behavioral standard of the society or subculture. Deviance is often defined as the belief or the behaviors offensive to one's society. Deviance is any behavior that violates cultural norms or nonconformity to the group or social norm is deviance. Social theories emphasize social situations as the main cause of the deviant behavior. Deviant behavior is both negative and positive as well. It is the breaking of both informal and the formal norms. It is only forced by the social sanctions.

In everyday language, deviate means to stay away from an accepted path. Many sociologist definitions of the deviation simply elaborate upon this idea. Thus deviation consists of those acts which do not follow the expectation of the particular social group. The deviation may be positively rewarded, negatively punished, or simply accepted without the punishment and reward. Deviance is relative, this means that there is no absolute way of defining the deviant act. The deviation can be defined only in relation to particular standard and no standard are fixed or absolute.Deviation consists of those acts that depart from the shared value

According to the Kimberly,

The deviation is defined as the recognized violation of the cultural norms.In sociology, deviation means, the action or the behavior of the individuals in the society that violates the social norms and the values. Any thought, feeling, or action that members of the society perform that violates the norms and conduct of the social group. Deviance can be relative to the people and the time, one which is deviant in one of the society may not be deviant to other society.Genetically inherited characters either directly or indirectly cause the deviance.

According to the American sociologists, marshall B.Clinard,

The term deviation should be reserved for that situation in which the behaviors' is in a disproved direction and of the sufficient degree to exceed the tolerance limit of the community. Crime and the delinquency are the most obvious form of the deviation. Crime refers to the break of the law of the activities that are subject to the official punishment, whereas the delinquency refers to the crime of the young people.

In the nutshell, we can define the deviation as the act of doing behaviors and habits that are different from the social norms and  values and has negative impact on the society. It is the illegal act which is considered as the evil act in the society. The deviation causes the various social problems, such as crime.

According to the merges, Deviation results from the pathological personalities but from the culture and the structure of the society itself.

The three classes that describe the deviant behavior are

1.Structural-functionalism

Structural-functionalism is similar to the Merton's concept. They explain the origin of the deviation in terms of the positions of the individuals or the group in the social structure. Subcultural theories explain the deviation in terms of the subculture of the society.They argue that the certain groups develop the distinctive norms and the values which deviate from the mainstream culture of the society. The delinquent subculture not only rejects the mainstream culture it also reverse it.

2.Durkheim's concept

According to the Durkheim's, deviation is the normal and the necessary part of the organization which is social. When he studied deviance he stated four important functions of deviance.

"Deviance affirms cultural values and norms. Any definition of virtue rests on an opposing idea of vice: There can be no good without evil and no justice without crime".

Deviance defines moral boundaries, people learn right from wrong by defining people as deviant.

A serious form of deviance forces people to come together and react in the same way against it.

Deviance pushes society's moral boundary which, in turn, leads to social change.

3.Merton strain concept

Merton said that the deviation results not from the pathological personalities but from the cultural and the structure of the society. He begins from the standard functionalist position of the value of the consensus that is all the member of the society shares the same values.

References

bhandari, Laxman P. fundamentals of sociology. kathmandu: Buddha Publications, 2014.

Bell,Daniel.The coming of post-industrial Society.New York:Harper Colophon Books,1947.

Gisbert,p.2004.Fundamentals of sociology.OrientLongman,India