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Deviance Essay Sociology

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Deviance as a sociological term does not mean perversion or depravity, deviance is exhibiting behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. When on the topic of deviance, we are discussing the violation of social norms. Social norms are the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit, meaning they are either expressed clearly or simply implied indirectly. There are many different causes of deviance, willingly or unwillingly. When talking about deviance, a person can get a deviant identity in many ways. You can look at it in terms of physical or behavioral characteristics. When people acquire a deviant role, it is common to be viewed in a negative way by many people. One cause of deviance can be viewed through the labeling theory which attempts to explain why people are viewed as deviants, delinquents, bad kids, losers, and criminals, while others whose behavior is similar are not seen in such harsh terms. It looks at how people become labeled as deviant or accept that label. In theory, though everyone may be doing things that appear …show more content…

This theory suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society’s norms. In other words, our family members, friends, and peers attempt to lead us to follow the mores and folkways or our own society. Rather than focussing on deviant control, the control theory focusses on why deviance is not done more often. Driving forces that lead us to behave well when maintaining social bonds are attachment, commitment, involvement and beliefs. Reputations are created within communities which create a reason for people to compel to the social norm of society, and follow rules or laws created. When people become involved in their community, doing harm to it as a deviant could be doing harm to them as

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