Deviance and Respectability: An Observational Study of Reactions to Shoplifting

In general, observational field studies dealing with reactions to deviance have lacked the kind of control that allows for experimental manipulation of variables and the systematic examination of posited relationships. In addition, there are few studies dealing with public reactions to deviance. The research reported here consisted of a field experiment in which rigged shoplifting events were enacted in the presence of store customers who were in a position to observe and react to the shoplifting incidents. Three variables were varied as part of the field experiment: (1) appearance of shoplifter, (2) sex of shoplifter, and (3) sex of store customer. Major findings were that sex of shoplifter and sex of store customer had little effect on reporting levels whereas appearance of shoplifter exerted a major independent effect on reporting levels. The interactionist-labeling perspective in deviance asserts that audience responses to deviant acts are crucial to the understanding of deviant behavior. Furthermore, to understand audience response-reactions toward various types of deviance-investigators need to discover the meaning these behaviors have for potential reactors. These meanings may vary with the deviant's other social identities, with situational factors such as social support and social setting, and the characteristics of potential reactors. Although some research relates these variables to audience reactions, few studies have manipulated such variables within a field setting. A growing body of observational field studies treats the reactions of official control agents such as the police (e.g., Black, 1970; Piliavin and Briar, 1964) and courts to deviant actors (Emerson, 1969). But such research has generally lacked the kind of control that allows for experimental manipulation of variables and the systematic examination of posited relationships. In addition, studies examining the reactions of the general public have been largely ignored. With few exceptions (e.g., Darley and Latane, 1968; Denner, 1968; Freed et al., 1955; Lefkowitz et al., 1955), there is a dearth of experimental field research that systematically examines posited relationships between reactions of the general public and deviant behavior. Current thinking in Sociology indicates that the study of deviant behavior must overcome problems in the validity of official statistics (see, especially, Douglas, 1971a; Kitsuse and Cicourel, 1963; Wheeler, 1967), must recognize that while official control agents are important it is the general public that usually initiates responses to deviant behavior (e.g., Black, 1970), and must study deviance in its natural setting rather than as mediated through the official reports and actions of formal control agents (e.g., Douglas, 1971b; Humphreys, 1970). This research attempts to shed some light on the nature and basis of reactions to a particular kind of deviance and, in doing so, tries to overcome the aforementioned problems by (1) using field research methods, (2) ascertaining responses of the general public to instances of deviant behavior in real life situations, and (3) making direct observations of behavior of members of the social audience. Specifically, appearance and sex of the deviant are varied systematically in order to assess their effects upon the * The authors are grateful for financial assistance provided by the Center for Research in Interpersonal Behavior and the Graduate College of the University of Iowa. We would also like to thank Renee Steffensmeier for critical readings of earlier drafts of this paper and Larry Rhoades for helpful suggestions regarding final editing.