In the fields of the sociology of deviance and criminology a most central issue still remaining unresolved is that related to the possibility of forming a general theory of deviant behaviour. Against the background of an already fully recognized theoretical impasse, the recent guidelines of the modern sociology of deviance and criminology seem designed to determine: whether and to what extent the manifestations of deviant behaviour can be attributed to social conditioning, rather than to biological inherited elements; if and to what extent it is possible to say that the former is prevalent, or less so, in comparison with the biological mechanisms of adjustment; and whether and to what extent a social mediation in the structure of every behavioural and instinctive response changes its contents and its possible outcome, adapting the response to the conditions of existence produced by the social system. In the domains of Criminogenesis and Deviant Behaviour, a turning point has progressively been reached, and is now well established, in the correspondence between some physicalgenetic factors and other social factors; also the comparison Nature Vs Nurture has been redefined with regard to the relationship between genetic and environmental framework. The central points of the debate relate essentially to the terms of confrontation about the eternal relevance of the innate structure of the cognitive and behavioural processes, about the limits of the learned capabilities of adaptation to cultural forms and processes, and about what must be considered as innate natural endowment and what can instead be identified as the limits of the processes of socio-educational processes. The debate centres on the relationship between nature and culture, the limits of mutual interference, and their greater or lesser impact on modelling agency. The objective of this work is to reframe the current questions about the role of culture in orientating the nature-given state in the specific ambit of deviant behaviour, in the light of an ever clearer need for interdisciplinary models of explanation.

Normality and Deviance in the debate Nature VS Nurture

DE FELICE, DEBORAH
2011-01-01

Abstract

In the fields of the sociology of deviance and criminology a most central issue still remaining unresolved is that related to the possibility of forming a general theory of deviant behaviour. Against the background of an already fully recognized theoretical impasse, the recent guidelines of the modern sociology of deviance and criminology seem designed to determine: whether and to what extent the manifestations of deviant behaviour can be attributed to social conditioning, rather than to biological inherited elements; if and to what extent it is possible to say that the former is prevalent, or less so, in comparison with the biological mechanisms of adjustment; and whether and to what extent a social mediation in the structure of every behavioural and instinctive response changes its contents and its possible outcome, adapting the response to the conditions of existence produced by the social system. In the domains of Criminogenesis and Deviant Behaviour, a turning point has progressively been reached, and is now well established, in the correspondence between some physicalgenetic factors and other social factors; also the comparison Nature Vs Nurture has been redefined with regard to the relationship between genetic and environmental framework. The central points of the debate relate essentially to the terms of confrontation about the eternal relevance of the innate structure of the cognitive and behavioural processes, about the limits of the learned capabilities of adaptation to cultural forms and processes, and about what must be considered as innate natural endowment and what can instead be identified as the limits of the processes of socio-educational processes. The debate centres on the relationship between nature and culture, the limits of mutual interference, and their greater or lesser impact on modelling agency. The objective of this work is to reframe the current questions about the role of culture in orientating the nature-given state in the specific ambit of deviant behaviour, in the light of an ever clearer need for interdisciplinary models of explanation.
2011
criminology; general theory of deviant behaviour; biological theory of behaviour
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/112947
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