LONDON RIOTS 2011

2011 Riots in the UK and Deviancy Theory

2011 Riots in the UK and Deviancy Theory

Introduction

All societies have established parameters of what is appropriate and acceptable. No one breaks all the rules of society as no one respects them all. The study of crime and deviant behaviour is one of the most fascinating and complex sets of sociology. It teaches us that none of us are so "normal" as we like to think. Sociologists contribute to criminology through their theories producing two views of utmost relevance: Criminal Sociology and Forensic Sociology. Sociologists in the study of social facts and the conduct of the individual in society have focused on the relationship between society and crime. Sociological theories provide a sociological approach to understanding the phenomena related to crime. Thus in this paper I am going to apply aspects of Deviancy perspective on riots of UK 2011. In addition, relationship between deviancy theory and riots of UK 2011 will be discussed. The purpose of writing this paper is to let readers know about the relationship between London riots in 2011 and the result of people learning in a social environment. Sociologists along with other readers will get to know that the Sociology by contrast, understand first that the deviation does not exist, but it is a social and deviant behaviour is determined among other things by the context. This is explained by observing that: the deviation varies from society to society, deviant behaviour is defined by the other, and the definition, implementation and violation of the rules are not equally distributed in the population.New Deviancy perspective

Since the 1980s, the theory of criminology was not able to give convincing explanations of the fundamental questions of criminology. This issue gave birth to "The New Criminology" whose purpose is build "a fully social theory of deviance that can explain the shapes that assume social control and deviance in developed societies" In recent years there has emerged a critical orientation towards the traditional ways to explain and treat the problem of deviance. Today, Deviance is a considered as much broader concept. From a new sociological perspective, the deviance is considered as non-compliance with a rule or set of rules accepted by a significant number of individuals within a community. No society can be easily divided between those who uphold the law and those who do not respect them. Most of us, on certain occasions, violate generally accepted standards of behaviour. Deviance is by definition linked to the norm of the society. Deviancy describes all sorts of behaviours, actions, opinions, etc. which are not expected by the society. Crossing specified lines lead either punishment or disapproval. We can define social deviance as any behaviour that does not correspond to the norms of a given society. Deviant behaviour is the one that transgresses socially established standards (although it has a margin: may not meet the standards or may even destroy society).

Deviance and crime are not synonymous. Crime specifically is related to conduct that violates the law; the ...