Homosexuality: The Formulation of a Sociological Perspective

Homosexuality, as well as other forms of social or sexual deviance, has tended to require special conceptual approaches, approaches that all too often treat non-deviant forms of behavior (e.g., heterosexuality, noncriminal behavior, nonsuicidal behavior, etc.), as unexplained residual categories. The failure to link deviant and non-deviant behaviors or roles has produced a literature that grossly exaggerates the deviant component in behavior and role management. Often the deviant is located in a social landscape that has been stripped of everything but his deviant commitment. The present paper considers the homosexual within the conceptual framework of general developmental processes; it approaches homosexuality as a heterogeneous category, indicating the diversity of homosexual and non-sexual roles the homosexual may play, the significance of transitions associated with life-cycle changes, and, reversing the typical approach, takes into consideration the way in which non-sexual roles and commitments influence sexual roles and commitments.