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Define Deviance In Sociology

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Maya Gough
04-05-2018
Sociology 101-02
What is Deviance?

Deviance to every individual can be interpreted differently. I personally, did not know how to define the term deviance before learning about it in sociology. Deviance is defined as the violation of social rules and conventions. Deviance ranges widely, from minor cases to major. Taking someone’s stapler from their desk is a form of deviance, but so is murder. So I decided to ask 5 people what their idea of deviance was. The first person I asked replied with “ummm” which was not very helpful. I also got responses such as “sidetracked, going against”, “going away from your focus, meaning getting distracted”, “mischief”, and “behavior out of the norm”. Even though deviance is in our everyday …show more content…

This is not breaking any crime, yet our society still disapproves of it. This is also categorized as being deviant. Although, if you asked a person how they differ the two, they would give a response saying that rape is worse. So why are these things both considered under deviance? The only word that separates the two are formal and informal. Which in my opinion is not enough. Looking back to when I asked five people of what their definition of deviance was they did not decipher from the two. From the responses I received most were not the true meaning of deviance. Our society knows these things are crimes.
A branch of conflict theory known as critical theory deals more directly with the hefty amount of social control that goes into keeping people from not being criminally deviant and neither socially deviant. Since we have the law of freedom of speech, those who attempt to reveal a system of power and oppression must be labeled as deviant in our society. This is true for anyone who questions the systems of authority in our country. America has been in a battle between the dominant norms of a certain few and the norms of different groups that challenge …show more content…

However, most of these behaviors are considered informal. There are times when I accidently burp in public or stick my fingers in my nose to fix my nose ring. To me these do not define who I am, nor my behavior as a person. Burping is something each and every one of us has to do, and is a completely normal body function. It is considered deviant because it can smell or be loud and disrupting. Our society is so fixed on what other individuals do and we are so easy to judge. In my own personal opinion I think deviant behaviors need to be more highlighted. Informal and formal deviance are two completely different things, and even though they are viewed differently, they are still under the same category. Our communities are so easily conformed to fit a certain standard and when individuals fight back to break these standards they are often punished. Formal deviance is very serious and that is why there are certain set laws in this nation on how we deal with them. Although i do not believe all situations are handled well, such as the Brock Turner case, we have elected such people who are in charge of handling these situations. All in all my research gave me a lot of knowledge on how certain deviant behaviors have the reactions that they do. After I asked the five individuals what deviance was I told them the true definition. Each person acted like they knew the true meaning, although they

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