Präventionsperspektive
David Matza unterscheidet zwischen einer Verstehens- und einer Präventionsperspektive (im englischen Original: correctional viewpoint). Beyleveld & Wiles (1975: 111 f.) erläutern die Problematik der Präventionsperspektive so:
"Appreciation involves a recognition of the diversity of human behaviour but implicit in a correctional viewpoint is the notion of pathology; the idea that there are essentially two types of person, the deviant and the non-deviant, to be distinguished on the basis of differential etiology. This distinction implies that either the deviant or his social world are in some sense abnormal. The simple bifurcation it creates does violence to the complexity of the relationship between deviant and non-deviant phenomena in the real world. It is fairly clear that Matza holds the methodological directives of naturalism and " scientism " to be mutually exclusive: 'The basic difficulty with a correctional perspective is that it systematically interferes with the capacity to empathise and thus comprehend the subject of inquiry. Only through appreciation can the texture of social patterns and the nuances of human engagement with those patterns be understood and analysed." (Matza, 1969: 5).
According to Matza etiological accounts of deviance have been dominated by two notions: those of "affinity" and "affiliation". Affinity expresses the idea that a person becomes deviant as a result of factors in his background: social, cultural, psychological, biological or a combination of these. On the other hand affiliation refers to the notion that deviance is learnt from others. Under affiliation he distinguishes a "primitive" and "mature" conception. The primitive conception is distinguished from the mature form in that the latter operates with the idea that the subject is converted to deviance, whereas the former presupposes the more deterministic notion of contagion. Matza insists that the significance of circumstances and other people can only be fully understood when affinity and affiliation are comprehended in the light of a mature conception of affiliation and under the notion of signification. Whereas affiliation refers to a process of becoming deviant, where the act itself is seen under an innocent aspect, 'signification' takes account of the authority and workings of the State. The activity is viewed as being guilty: action takes place under the authority of ban, the threat of apprehension, and the danger of control."