Drinking and Deviance Disavowal: The Case of Child Molesters

propagandizing pederasty: a thematic analysis of the on-line exculpatory accounts of unrepentant pedophiles

“…Stigma is a social stain that has the tendency to ''spoil'' the social identity of its bearer (Go man 1963). Because of the stigma associated with deviance, identity management is an exigent consideration for anyone who engages in such behavior (McCaghy 1968). Deviants may use a variety of strategies to circumvent, or at least partially mitigate, the stigma that is normally associated with deviance.…”

“…Sociologists have advanced a plethora of theories and concepts to address this phenomenon. These include vocabularies of motive (Mills 1940), vocabularies of adjustment (Cressey 1973), techniques of neutralization (Sykes and Matza 1957), deviance disavowal (F. Davis 1961;McCaghy 1968), deviance avowal (Turner 1972), disclaimers (Hewitt and Stokes 1975), tertiary deviation (Kitsuse 1980), and accounts (Scott and Lyman 1968).…”

“…Sociologists have investigated the identity management strategies of a diverse array of people whose behavior or beliefs are considered deviant, including convicted child molesters (McCaghy 1968), dishonest shoe salespersons (Friedman 1974), motorists who are suspected of driving while intoxicated (Warren and Phillips 1976), participants in singles dances (Berk 1977), taxi-drivers (Hong and Du 1977), a hit man (Levi 1981), convicted rapists (Scully and Marolla 1984), college students who miss class (Kalab 1987), convicted murderers (Ray and Simons 1987), participants in chain letters (Boles and Myers 1988), pedophile organizations (de Young 1989), obese persons (Hughes and Degher 1993), police officers who work in internal a airs departments (Mulchahy 1995), and female bodybuilders (Du and Hong 1996).…”

There Must Be Some Type of Misunderstanding, There Must Be Some Kind of Mistake: The Deviance Disavowal Strategies of Men Arrested in Internet Sex Stings (2008 Presidential Address)

“…Moreover, sociologists have identified a number of stigma management strategies, including: accounts (Scott and Lyman 1968), deviance avowal (Durkin and Bucklin 2001;Turner 1972), deviance disavowal (Davis 1961;Durkin and Bucklin 2001;McCaghy 1968), disclaimers (Hewitt and Stokes 1975), semantic manipulation of the deviant label (Durkin 2004), techniques of neutralization (Sykes and Matza 1957), tertiary deviation (Kitsuse 1980), vocabularies of adjustment (Cressey 1973), and vocabularies of motive (Mills 1940).…”

“…At this juncture, the handicapped individual is able to ''integrate effectively a major claim to normalcy'' (Davis 1961, p.130). In his renowned study of deviance disavowal among convicted child molesters, McCaghy (1968) found that a number of these men acknowledged their offense, but attributed their sexual offending to drinking. By claiming alcohol consumption was the problem, he ''may be able to admit his behavior without surrendering his identity as a normal member of society.…”