Final answer:
Cesare Lombroso erroneously believed that deviance resulted from inherited physical defects, a view now discredited. In contrast, Durkheim saw deviance as a social construct, arguing that deviant acts and their punishments serve to uphold societal norms and values.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cesare Lombroso, a 19th-century Italian criminologist, believed that criminality was inherited and that someone "born criminal" could be identified by physical defects, which he called stigmata. This theory has since been discredited and is considered deterministic and biased against certain body types and ethnicities. However, Lombroso's work is still noteworthy as one of the first attempts to scientifically study crime, although it lacked an understanding of the social and environmental factors contributing to deviance.
Contrasting Lombroso's view, Émile Durkheim, another sociologist from the same period, argued that deviance is a social construct rather than a result of biological abnormalities. Durkheim considered deviance a necessary part of society, maintaining social order by setting examples of unacceptable behavior and affirming cultural values and norms through the act towards punishment. Essentially, he saw the result of deviance as a function that reinforces the collective conscience of a society.