SOCIAL PATHOLOGY

1. SOCIAL PATHOLOGY
YATHEESH BHARADWAJ H S
1st Mphil PSW
DIMHANS

2. INTRODUCTION
• Life from birth to death is a struggle for adjustment. The
struggle for survival has left along the road the bones of those
who have fallen in the fight.
• Social pathologies have existed as long as humans began living
in groups.
• They are as antique as humans themselves.

3. • The term pathology is a greek word, which is composed
of pathos and logos. It literally means the study of diseases and
disease processes.
• In medicine, pathology is the study of the causes and effects of
illness, which is usually conducted in a laboratory environment.
• Applying that same concept to society, modern psychologists and
sociologists have started to use the term social pathology to refer to
problems or behaviors that violate social norms and often have a
negative effect on society.

4. • In the social sciences, deviant behaviors and actions, like violent
crime, are known as social pathology.
• The term social pathology generally refers to the pathos of society,
i.e., the "social diseases" that affect society. However, a more
explanatory term is social problems.
• Social problems are those diseased conditions of society that affect
its normal functioning. A problem that is limited only to the level of
an individual person or to only a few groups may not be regarded as a
social problem.
• A social pathology affects society or its institutions and organizations
at large. However, the very term social problem may mean any
problem that has social origins, affecting at least two persons, that
goes beyond mere psychological and physiological levels (Kornblum
and Julian, 1995)

5. • Social pathology is the study of man’s failure to adopt or adjust
himself/herself and his/her institutions to the necessities of
existence to the end that he may survive and meet fairly well the felt
needs of his nature.
• The study of certain social conditions existing within a society, which
cause harm to members of that community. The conditions may be
poverty, social class, sexual orientation, ethnic background,
illiteracy, gender identity, and other economic or social
disadvantages.

6. • “ study of social problems (such as crime or alcoholism) that views
them as diseased conditions of the social organism” – webster’s
dictionary
• Social pathology is performing any act out of the courtesy which leads
to a futile society and pathology is the treatment in social work to
understand the causes and precautions related to social pathology.
• For instance, the murders and rapes are considered as social pathology
as it is the deviance from a normal behavior.

7. Social Pathology – historical view
• Definitions of social pathology are particular to specific times and
reflect the dominant moral concerns of the era. This concept fits within
the ideas of anthropologist Mary Douglas. In Purity and
Danger (1966) she examines the universality of cultural
explanations of things considered “out of order” as polluting and
dangerous.

8. Conti…
• Social Pathology was an attempt to use the science of the 19th century, even
though it became highly moralistic discriminatory.
• Social Pathology sees deviance as caused rather than chosen, and its
control is a medical like cure rather than penance or punishment.
• Social Pathology views deviance as sickness, not sin - a product of
disease infecting the body or mind.
• Social Pathology attempts to explain deviance – a violation of moral
expectations by individuals - Scientifically.
• It maintains the moral overtone of earlier times.
• Uses the existing science of the times.

9. Four conceptions of social pathology
• Arto Laitinen of Tampere university has proposed 4 conceptions
related to social pathology-
1. Social Pathology as an Umbrella Term for Social Wrongs
2. Social Pathologies as Non-Natural but Sharing a Structure: Second-
Order Disorders and More Encompassing Views
3. Social Pathology as Disease of the Social Organism: Revitalized
Social Organism
4. Social Pathology as Degeneration of Social Life: Naturalism of
Growth and Stagnation

10. Theories of Social Pathology

11. Social structure theory
• Social structure – made up of folkways, mores, ideals, standards,
traditions, institutions and organization.
• If the social structure is well adjusted to the needs of the individuals,
there is a sense of satisfaction on the part of the members of the
society MINIMAL SOCIAL PATHOLOGY.
• If well adjusted, marginalized won’t suffer.
• Although the causes for social problems are multiple, sociologists
contend that they are usually the manifestations of the failure in the
social institutions themselves.

12. • When an institution fails to address the basic needs of people,
social problems occur. It is usually easy for an ordinary person to
blame the cause of a certain social problem on the failure of
individuals themselves.
• For example, if we take the problem of begging drug addiction, the
individual victims are blamed for their actions. However, we need to
look into the broader sociological and cultural contexts (Indrani,1998).

13. Social Exchange Theory
• The social exchange theory focuses on how people weigh costs and
benefits when making decisions. It suggests that people consider the
amount of resources invested against the reward.
• The theory helps explain deviance, as it states that individuals are
more likely to engage in deviant behaviour if they perceive a small
chance of getting caught or punished, and the rewards outweigh the
costs.

14. Social Ecology Theory
• This theory suggests that an individual’s behavior results
from social interaction with their environment and the
conditions within it.
• Social factors are often the most important determinants of
behavior. If individuals lack social skills or cannot find a job,
they may be more likely to engage in deviance.

15. Social Control Theory
• argues that the more people value conformity, the less likely they will
break the rules. It also suggests that an individual’s likelihood of
engaging in deviant behavior is affected by their relationship with
society.
• In societies where deviant behavior is expected, an individual’s
possibility of participating in criminal activities is greater.
• every person is naturally prone to make deviance, but most of us
conform to norms because of effective system of inner and outer
control. It is those who have less effective control who deviate.

16. Labeling Theory
• It claims that people are labeled as deviant by society, regardless of
their behavior. This theory suggests that labeling is the leading cause
of deviant behaviors in society.
• Once people are labeled, they decide to act in a particular way to
confirm the label. This theory helps us understand how social
pathologies develop and allows us to understand the role of
community and culture.
• behaviors are deviant when and only because people label them as
such (Caffrey and Mundy, 1995)

17. Anomie Theory
• The norms of society change so quickly that people never have a
chance to adjust. This leads to an unstable society where individuals
do not know what to expect from society.
• The theory suggests that people are more likely to engage in deviant
behavior if they do not conform to normal standards of conduct.
• Societal instability leads to social pathologies. People become
frustrated by the constant change in society. Also, because people are
unable to adjust to these changes, they look for alternative solutions.

18. • Theory of natural selection of Charles Darwin: survival of the fittest
• Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist, created the foundation for the
modern sociological study of society by focusing on social facts,
structures, and systems rather than individuals.
• Durkheim introduced two analogies for a smoothly functioning social
order characterized by solidarity: the machine (mechanical) and the
body (organic). He envisioned society as a system seeking equilibrium
with norms for behavior. Anomie was a pathological condition of
moral breakdown at the societal level.

19. • Differential association theory maintains that people learn
deviant acts through socialization;
• structural strain theory maintains that deviance occurs
when conformity to widely accepted norms of behavior fails
to satisfy legitimate, culturally approved desires.

20. Causes of social pathology
• The deviations in social behavior as abnormal and traumatic causes and
underlying factors that can affect the most important are:
• a) Individual factors such as gender, age, appearance and countenance,
weakness and strength, disease, and genetic factors.
• b) Psychological factors such as tenderness, hatred, fear, anxiety, low
intelligence, fantasy, power, low attractiveness, aggression, jealousy, mental
illness.
• C) that the most important social factors include: lack of adherence to
religious families, the focus of family breakdown, social exclusion,
occupation, unemployment, and unemployment, poverty and economic
problems, unsuitable friends, environment, poverty, cultural and improper
training, media and mass communication

21. • According to Bernad, the repressive and tense condition consequent of
social problems may be involving three types of elements
(i) Tension factors which challange some values of society,
(ii) Social values which are being challenged and
(iii) intense reaction of individuals and groups to challenge.

22. • Disintegration
• Socio-economic factors
• Political condition
• Interconnected – many social issues are interconnected.
For example: poverty, unemployment, crime
• Tensions between systems and subsystems

23. References
• Arto Laitinen, University of Tampere, Arvi Särkelä, University of
Lucerne- “Four Conceptions of Social Pathology”
• Ghaffari, Far, Hassan, 2000. “Surveillance and social control, women's
book”.
• Mohammad Husseini, 1999, “Introduction to Sociology and evolution
and the evolution of society”, Tehran, Pacific Publications
• Social Pathology by Milena Büchs