Round 8
Deviance. Or: What Muhammad Ali, Janet Guthrie, Lia Thomas, Draymond Green and Robert Merton have in common.
Hey, here’s a photograph of a jubilant boxing icon . . .
Now that we’re contemplating iconoclasts in sport, Let’s Review...
One way to think about difference is to recognize it as departures from the norm. In sociological parlance, this is known as “deviance.”
While sociologists characterize these departures as “transgressions,” this does not always entail a violation of law. Social missteps may simply be challenges to prevailing sensibilities, customs, or ways of thinking. As such, what is deviant often depends on where and when these acts transpire, who is doing the doing, and who is tasked with interpreting them.
This is because deviance, no different than norms, are products of particular social groups.
For those who have been following along since the first post (and thank you very much!), you likely can connect this idea of the “agreed upon” as the province of social construction; so, too, the ideas of departures from such agreement as (mainly) a functionalist concern—given that deviation threatens cohesion which, in turn, threatens stability. Deviance then, becomes a matter of social control; of reaction to transgression and the imposition of sanction.
The Contingency of Norms
Can you believe it?—there were times in human history when executing women accused of sorcery was considered within the pale; so, too, enslaving a particular racial class; as well as denying those of a particular sexual orientation from marrying.
These uncomfortable vestiges of time and place were all norms. They also highlight what sociologists call “the contingency of norms,” which basically means that prevailing beliefs and practices are a function of the times, places or groups within (or because of) which they arise.
This contingency explains why, depending on when and where one hung their hat, they might encounter things such as, say, tattoos, veganism, single parenthood, face lifts, and jogging, to be deemed deviant.
And, from a sports perspective, one can imagine that there were moments when throwing a curveball or switch-hitting or taking a charge in basketball or spiking the football after a touchdown were all considered abnormal.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Upon Further Review to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.